About My Mom

A few years ago, my mom moved into a not-so-awesome area, but the price was right for her retiree income so she took the opportunity.  She recently made friends with some of her neighbors.  On one hand, I'm ecstatic she has people nearby to visit with regularly.  The thought of her sitting at home all by herself, day after day, eats at me.  On the other hand, her options out there are limited.

She was telling me about how she gets her grandma fix by playing with one of her neighbor's babies.  I then asked if it's the baby with the schizo mom.  The funny part is I'm not exaggerating.  The woman has actually been diagnosed with schizophrenia and is supposed to be medicated.  She doesn't take her medication though, because she doesn't think she needs it.  Even though she thinks aliens are trying to get her...

Anyhoo, my mom's response to my question about the schizo mom was priceless:

That's legit, folks.

Whirlwind Week in Illinois

This past week we drove to Illinois to celebrate Christmas with our family.  It was easier than previous years because we were able to split up the celebrations so there was one day per family (both our parents are divorced which equates to FOUR Christmases).  In the past, everyone wanted to celebrate ON Christmas Eve or ON Christmas Day.  That meant splitting up the visits into 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening on both days.  Crazy.  

It's been three years since we were in our hometown.  It was Alex' high school graduation.  Aiden wasn't even a year old yet.  It was strange to see the area.  It has changed so much since we were there last.  Tons of new construction.  It was sort of like playing an old video game.  I had some muscle memory about how to get around, but I couldn't lay out a map of the area in my head.

I spent a couple days with my friend Chrissie, who I miss dearly.  We have been best friends since I was in 3rd grade (she was in 1st).  We both live busy lives filled with work, family and a social life, so we don't spend a lot of time talking on the phone.  What I love about her is we can go months without talking, but when we do find a moment when we are both free to chat it's like no time has past.  Neither of us holds a grudge against the other for being out of touch because we are in the same chaotic boat of life.  It's the same way when we see each other.  We can immediately talk to each other about anything.  No limitations, no judgement.  It's liberating, really.  I hate that we don't get to do that every weekend. 

Thursday night Travis and I left the kids with my dad and went out for dinner and drinks with Alex, his girlfriend Laura, Chrissie and her husband Jordan.  We had SO much fun.  We went to a Mongolian barbeque place called 301 Mongolia in downtown Champaign.  Its a stir fry buffet where you physically pick out what you want (rice vs noodles, veggies, meat, sauce) then hand it to the cook.  The server brings it out to you when you're done.  After dinner we walked down the block to a bar where we drank more wine and played pool.  We skipped over to a pub at some point and tried a few fancy beers.  We finished the night at some greasy diner.  Despite both of us having a terrible cold, we were able to really enjoy ourselves.  It was fabulous.

I will have to post separately about our drive there and back.  For now, here's the rest of the week in photos:

Aiden, Travis, Alex and Callaway played in what little snow they could find.

Grandpa Ken and Mila really hit it off.

Aiden showed everyone his new LeapPad from Gpa.

Gaga and Mila meet.

"Christmas" dinner at Dad's

All bundled up with places to go.

Aiden and his Uncle Sean were best buds.

Damn smokers (Travis is just faking)

Christmas at Gpa's - his place is tiny, but it's homey.

Chistmas at Grandma Carol's - great food and tons of grandchild spoiling.

Too Much

Ugh.  Travis and I are both sick now.  Thankfully neither of us have a fever.  Just pressure filled sinus cavities that require a box of Kleenex per day. 

I feel horrible that my mom's visit has been filled with so much chaos.  She came two weeks ago and stayed with my sister for the first week.  It rained that entire week.  She came over here last Thursday and we went to the hospital Friday.  Now we're sick.  Not the best visit, that's for sure.

Sunday night I hurt my neck in my sleep.  I have no idea what I did.  I'm not sure if it was a muscle spasm/cramp or if something went out when I rolled over.  Either way, the pain woke me up.  I fell back to sleep as soon as it went away.  When I woke Monday morning, I couldn't turn my head to the right at all and there was some pain when I looked to the left.  Thankfully I was able to make it to the chiropractor last night.  I haven't been in over three years.  He thought I'd moved away.  HA.  I said, "No.  I just have kids."  I'm a little sore today from the adjustment, but I feel SO much better.

Today was Mila's 2-month Well Baby visit. The appointment was in the middle of the day so I had to pick her up from daycare and bring her back.  It was also considered her post-hospital-stay check up.  The doctor was pleased with her. 

• She is in the 75th percentile and she has gained sufficient weight (she lost a few ounces since her stay in the hospital - she's at 11 lbs, 14 oz, 23.5 in. long) that the doctor is okay with her feeding on demand throughout the night.  At the moment, we wake her up between 2 and 3 to feed her.  I'm really excited about the prospect of being able to sleep through the night, or at least most of the night.  I'm hoping if we feed her close to 10, before we go to sleep, then she will sleep all the way until my alarm goes off in the morning.  Fingers crossed.
• She received 4 vaccinations, 1 oral and 3 intramuscular.  One of which is for two types of meningitis.  That means if she ever goes into the hospital again, they will be MUCH less likely to do a lumbar puncture like they threatened to do.
• The doctor hypothesized that Mila is sensitive to fevers.  When she was 7 days old, she had an elevated body temperature of 99.6.  That's not considered a fever, but the doctor wanted to see her at the time anyway.  We were told to monitor her and bring her to the ER if it went over 100.4.  Thankfully it never did.  It's so strange because Travis, Aiden and I rarely get fevers.  I get a cold once a year, but that's about the extent of it.  Hopefully it's all just a fluke.
• I got the doctor's approval to take her outside with baby sunscreen on.  Not that we spend much time out in this humid heat, but it's good to know!

When I signed in at the front desk for her appointment, the receptionist said Mila was not listed on my insurance.  I about shit a brick.  She said perhaps the paperwork hadn't gone through yet.  But when we were in the hospital, the nurse said the same thing and I totally forgot about it.  I got really caught up in what they were doing with Mila and it slipped my mind.  I called human resources immediately to see what is up.  They said they never received my paperwork (I sent it via email).  Holy crap I should have checked on that!

Meh.  After some back and forth with HR, I found that they will add her to my insurance immediately and since I already have family insurance, she will be covered from birth.  THANK. GAWD.  Hospital stays are expensive WITH insurance.  I don't even want to think what it would be without it.  The receptionist was hopeful that my insurance would come through, so she did not make me pay for Mila's appointment this morning. 

I'm so exhausted.  Still figuring out how to live life with two kids.  Mila spent the weekend in the hospital.  She still has a stuffed up nose, so she's not sleeping well.  Travis and I are both sick.  Travis is on-call this week (he had to go out on a job last night).  I hurt my neck.  Trouble with insurance.  Aiden fights anything we ask him to do.  On top of it all, we're approaching the end of the fiscal year which means its our one annual chance to make changes to our benefits at work.  I'm working to create a more lucrative retirement plan to my account and a flexible spending account for daycare.  Both will take a chunk out of my paycheck, so I want to make sure I'm doing it right.

I wonder if anyone would notice if I curled up under my desk for a nap...

Christmas Break

Christmas came and went in a whirlwind!  I can't even remember everything we did while my family was here.  Here's what I can recall:

Saturday morning (Christmas Eve), Travis, Aiden and I went over to Ariel and Robert's house for lunch.  We went a little early so Aiden could nap there and I could cook.  We ate a lot and then hung out for a few hours.  That evening, Ariel and Robert had to go into work.  Bummer, but they gotta make that paycheck.

That night I made roast beef sandwiches for dinner, then let Aiden open up one gift - his first of the season!

He went to bed right after that and we stayed up for a while.  It was nice to have time to talk to Alex and my mom spent a lot of time outside bonding with Sagira.

The next morning, Aiden woke up to a couple gifts from Santa and a full stocking.  Santa got him a camera and a Dinosaur Train car and dino-shark.  He played with that for a while and we helped him go through his stocking gifts.  He also got to eat some candy before lunch.  Around 10, we let him open some more gifts to play with that day.  He opened the Dinosaur Train tracks from Grandma Brenda and a Tag Junior from us.  We wanted to wait to open his gifts when everyone was around, so we kept postponing opening up the remaining gifts.

When Uncle Alex woke up, Aiden opened a few more gifts, including those from him.

His Great Grandma Margie sent some gifts that he really enjoyed.

He loves the Dinosaur Train tracks, but I they fall apart too easily.  They are recommended for 3 years old and above, so he's not that good at putting the track together himself.  I may have to hide the tracks and keep the cars out for a while so I don't lose my sanity.  It's frustrating when he needs it put back together every 10 minutes.

That evening, Ariel and Robert came over for dinner.  My mom and I made a beef tenderloin.  It was my first time to ever make one, so it was interesting.  We overcooked it a little bit, but it was a learning experience.  Dinner was great, and as you can see, we were not able to get those Spiderman PJ's off Aiden the entire day.

After dinner we let Aiden open his remaining gifts.  We put together his new grill right before bed, which in hindsight, was not the best idea.  Getting him down for nap that day and for bed that evening was a trying experience.  He just wanted to play with all his new toys!

I also tried a new idea for displaying Christmas cards this year.  Linsey saw the idea online and I thought it was really cute.  My bow was a little sad though.  Next year I'll have to look harder for a better ribbon since this one was a bit droopy.

Nutshell News

It's raining!  Perhaps we'll put a dent in our deficit?  Or maybe not.  We're about 25 inches under average rainfall for the year.  I just read that Lake Conroe (just north of Houston) is 8 feet below normal levels.

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I got a parking spot at work!  I didn't have one for a while because I figured it was a way to save our family $40 a month and it was the only exercise I got.  I had to walk about 5 blocks from my car to my building.  I am thoroughly ecstatic to have that 20 minutes back to my daily commute (10 minutes each way).  I was starting to feel guilty about never driving when we go out for lunch because my car was too far away.  When you have a 60-minute lunch, 20 minutes seems like a lot.

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I have had almost an entire week constipation free!  Get excited, people.  That's a big deal in Nikki's life.  I think it's a combination of not needing the Zofran for a while (let's hear another hoorah!) and incorporating dried apricots into my diet.  Whoever said prunes are good to keep the bowels moving had nothing on dried apricots.  Maybe a combination of both would be good if you're having serious problems. 

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Travis bought me an iPhone for Christmas and gave it to me a week early!  My cell phone is my alarm clock.  My last cell phone decided it was going to start draining the battery instead of charging it at night, leaving me without an alarm clock in the morning.  Since I don't have a car charger, that meant I only had an hour (tops) to charge my phone in the morning.  It would inevitably die before the end of the work day.  My other complaint with that phone was the touch screen didn't work well.  The iPhone has been SUCH an improvement in that department.  TOTALLY worth the cost.  Other perks:

• Apps like Word Feud, Kindle, Facebook and Pandora.
• Voice to text function (can be funny at times)
• Facetime (with Grandma Brenda and Travis)
• Instant weather and radar
• A camera app that is eating up my time, called TiltShift Generator, that takes photos like this:

That Christmas tree used to belong to our Grandma Rose.
Now it sits in Ariel's living room during the holidays.

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My mom and brother Alex are here!  They got in late Sunday night and went straight to Ariel's house.  They are staying with her until Christmas Eve.  Travis, Aiden and I are going over there for breakfast and spending a portion of the day there.  Then Mom and Alex are coming back with us that afternoon/evening.  Ariel and Robert have to work that night, so they won't be coming with us.  =(  But!  They will be over first thing in the morning to see what Santa brought Aiden.  I LOVE this holiday.

Mom and Cara

This photo cracks me up. My mom was going through old photos and came across this one of her (left) and her cousin (right) when they were somewhere around 9 or 10 years old. Whenever they had family visits, everyone had to dress up. My mom said that their parents used to like to make them pose like adults. It is pretty funny. Although nowadays you'd probably get a visit from Child Protective Services.

I haven't seen it in years, but I remember seeing a video of my mom and her three siblings when they were kids. My mom was the youngest, at somewhere around 5 years old I think. She was a waitress, walking around smoking a cigarette and serving her brothers and sister drinks like they were in a club. Ohhhhh funny...

Saturday Grad Party

On Saturday, after Alex' track meet, my mom threw a graduation party and invited all of our family. This was the first time we got to see her house since she moved out of the house we lived in during high school. It was also the first time we have seen our extended family since Travis and I got married three and a half years ago. It was insanely awesome to see everyone and finally meet several of their kids...

Jason, Jenny and Holden

Aiden has always seemed to adore the big kids. He follows along with them with his eyes, since (at this point) he is unable to run after them. Here he is playing with Holden, Mia (belongs to my cousin Matt and his wife Christy) and Ryan (belongs to my cousin Michelle and her husband Mike). All the kids were so cute. It reminded me of when I was little and my cousins and I would run around playing during the holidays.

Holden found some binoculars, which he then proceeded to look at Travis through them. From 3 feet away. With the binoculars facing the wrong way.

The hostess, Pierre and I

Mia and Ryan eating St. Joseph-Ogden High School colored cupcakes.

We had such a great time at the party, but had to head to bed around 10pm. We just don't have the energy we once did. I suppose it's a good thing we headed back to my dad's so "early". Aiden had fallen asleep at my mom's, but just WOULD NOT go back to sleep at my dad's. After an hour of attempting to coax him to sleep, Travis gave in and decided to take Aiden for a drive. He was gone for about 40 minutes before he came back with a sleeping baby. ROUGH NIGHT. And not for the same reason we used to have rough nights. HA.

Baby Hair Gel

Big boy bath! I always worry that he gets too cold during his baths in the baby tub because of the low water level, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Turns out it's too hard. He kept tipping over. It's like the water threw off his balance or something. I did enjoy watching him try to reach the drain. I kept thinking he would stick his nose in the water, but it never happened.

The other day I tried to spike Aiden's hair so he looked like Daddy. Gah, so CUTE. Didn't last very long though, cuz I used baby lotion...




Last week we went out for Cajun seafood in Galveston. My mom and I each got cajun shrimp and Travis got the cajun grilled snapper. The seasoning on everything, including the potatoes, was ridiculously spicy, but it was DELICIOUS! Aiden had a great time playing in the high chair (SO COOL). As we were packing up the baby gear, the server asked if we were leaving. I told her ya, the baby was getting cranky. She was surprised we thought so because she hadn't heard a peep out of him all night. Gotta love it.

No time, no time!

So you get photos. ;-)

Aiden's Christmas sweater

Christmas dinner
(My mom, Rich, Brenda, Robert, Alex, me and Travis)


Santa Claus

Earl and Robert

The gangstas

The in-laws

The Week in Photos

Dinner at Auntie Ariel's

Kate and Mommy

Kate'n'Kaboodle

Big yawn! Aiden wearing his conductor outfit. He was so hot we had to take it off...


A stop at Fish Tales

Last day with Grandma before she heads back to Illinois.

More Babies!

Last week I got to go visit little Luke - son of Linsey and Zach. That's when I realized how much Aiden has grown in the last month. He is a MONSTER compared to Luke.

Luke, 1 week - Aiden, 4 weeks

I was talking to my friend Chrissie from Illinois about Aiden's weight and she said that her daughter Audrey weighed 11 pounds when she was three months old. And she weighed that much for two months thereafter. If I am remembering correctly, Chrissy from Texas said that her six-month old son Mattie weighs 15 pounds. HA.

It was nice to catch up with Linsey and get all the details on her delivery. Zach had a few gory details to add. I think I'm a little thankful that Travis was so engrossed with Aiden immediately following the delivery. He didn't pay much attention to my clean up. LOL! Anyhoo, Linsey still looks great and is enjoying her maternity leave with Luke and Zach. The baby slept the entire time I was there. He is so sweet! I cannot believe the number of babies that surround me. =)

Aiden has been growing developmentally also. He can hold up his held 90% of the time. I need to break out the Bumbo so he can start taking advantage of that. Every morning he talks to me and smiles a bunch. I LOVE IT. I had to sit Travis down last week so he could see how well Aiden can talk and interact. When I get ready in the morning, I prop him up on a pillow on the bed. He follows me as I walk around the room. He also loves to stare at the ceiling fan. Ha! Aiden and Dad's first conversation:

My adorable sleeping baby.

This past Friday, Grandma Carol played babysitter for the night while Travis and I went out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. It sounds like everything went pretty smoothly. It gave me a little peace of mind about sending Aiden to daycare for the first time next Wednesday. I feel good that he will do well with someone else in charge. I know he's been around my mom before, but I don't think he's spent that much time with her yet. Grandma is leaving for Illinois this week. The last of our family to leave. I'm already looking forward to Grandma Brenda's visit in October and Grandpa Greg's possible visit at Christmas!

This past Saturday we went to get our photos taken professionally, partially courtesy of Alexa (thank you!). I could not believe how many prints we got for the price we paid. And the pictures are amazing. Here's a taste...

9 Days

Reverse Stretch

First lunch out! Texas Roadhouse has the best butter ever.


My little elf can hold his head up so well!