Strange Weekend

I felt like such a bum Saturday.  I had plans for a girls night out and didn't feel like doing much during the day.  I didn't sleep very well Friday night because Mila woke up a few times.  Travis came home sick Friday.  He was vomiting, so he had trouble getting much done at work.  He slept all afternoon, woke up for a bit in the evening and was back in bed by 8.  I'm not sure if it was a stomach bug or a migraine.  Usually he gets a headache, then starts throwing up.  But he threw up, then got a headache on Friday.  Meh.  I don't know.  

Needless to say, Travis was well rested by Saturday morning.  He proceeded to clean the entire house - vacuumed, swept, mopped, cleaned the bathroom, took out the trash.  It was awesome.  Except I felt guilty because I only had a few moments to rest during the day when I wasn't taking care of the kids or getting myself ready to go out.  It was super nice to see such a clean home though!

Saturday afternoon was a birthday celebration for my friend Inaia.  My girlfriends picked me up and we went to a nail salon.  We had a Groupon for a mani-pedi.  I don't usually get manicures.  One, I am very particular about my fingernails and I don't like it when other people mess it up.  Two, there is no point painting my nails because they WILL chip within 24 hours.  It's pointless.  If I get them painted at a salon, sometimes it will last two days.  But still, it's just a waste of money.  But this Groupon was for gel color.  One of my friends gets this done fairly regularly and her nails always last two weeks.  Most of the time, she takes off the color because her nails are growing out.  I'm up for the challenge!  I am currently on Day 2 without any sign of wear and tear.  Now if only I could afford to get my nails done every two weeks!  Ha.  Oh, another plus?  The gel helps prevent nail breakage.

After we were all primped, we stopped at Starbucks.  We are all old ladies and were falling asleep after the relaxing afternoon at the nail salon.  We chugged our coffee and headed into Thai Seafood for dinner.  We had so much fun.  15 people made it to dinner, including several of Inaia's friends from Houston.  They were hilarious.  Our server was quite the comedian, a little old Thai man who pulled out a few jokes.  Good times.

Everyone was planning to go to the bars on the island.  Since it was already after the kids' bedtime by this point, Travis had no problem with me going down with them.  We went to a pub I used to go to all the time when I was in college.  We played darts and I even saw an old friend at the bar.  We eventually made our way over to my sister's dance club.  I definitely got a work out there.  My calves are a little sore today from all that dancing.  LOL!  

I didn't want to be a party pooper, so I went with everyone over to another person's house for the "after party".  I'm too old for that.  I didn't get home until 5 IN THE MORNING.  Sweet bejeebs that is insane.  I had horrible sleep until 10, then I got up to help with the kids.  

We recently hired someone to mow the lawn every other week.  On the off week, Travis edges the yard so it stays nice.  It's frivolous, but Travis works so much.  The only time he has to do the lawn is on the weekend.  It takes him 3 hours to mow the lawn.  Let's just say I am excited to have him around for that extra time each weekend.  Next frivolous activity: hire someone to deep clean the house once a month.

Anyhoo, Travis took Aiden outside while he edged the yard. That's when Aiden stepped in a fire ant hill.  Travis didn't hear him crying immediately over the weed eater, so Aiden got eaten up pretty badly.  We smashed all the bugs on him then rushed him into the bath tub to soak his feet in cold water.  I know that's what makes me feel better when I get bit.  Afterward I saturated him in Bactine to numb the pain a little.

I was in the middle of getting some food in the crock pot when Mila started to get really cranky.  I felt her forehead - it was hot.  I checked her temperature and of course she had a fever.  I didn't know how much Tylenol to give her, so I called the Nurse's Line at our pediatrician's office.  It took them about an hour to get call me back.  That's when the nurse recommended not giving her any.  She said, if the fever is under 102.0, it's considered a "beneficial fever".  Soooo, Travis just let her sleep on his chest while I finished getting the food in the crock pot.  

The rest of the day was spent alternating our energy on each of the cranky kids.  HORRIBLE day to have a hangover.  Really, as a parent, there is never a good day to have a hangover.  Just a fact of life, I suppose.  

This morning I had to send Aiden to daycare in the sandals he was wearing when he got bit.  He has 10 bites on one foot.  Then there are several more on his other foot and on his hand.  Those sandals are the only pair of shoes that don't rub his bites, so that's what he wore today.  His daycare has a "no sandals" policy, so that means he doesn't get to play outside with the rest of the class today.  I feel so bad.  Not only is he in pain, but he doesn't get to play with his friends for part of the day.  Poor kid.  

Both kids are going to be so cranky tonight.  Mila didn't have a fever this morning, but her cough got worse again and she is not her normal happy self.  Personally, I'm still exhausted.  Mila woke up twice last night, despite the Tylenol I gave her before bed to help her rest.  I'm thinking I might break my "No TV on a school night" rule tonight.  It was pretty much a sign when I received a free Redbox rental code via text a few minutes ago.

My Worst Enemy

Another great weekend under the belt!  Travis worked Saturday morning, so Aiden and I tried to take it easy.  Aiden wanted to play outside, so I figured I would attempt to work in the garden again.  I still had those dead tomato plants that need to be pulled up.  I put on socks, tennis shoes and wore Travis' Home Depot gloves.  I am going to a wedding this weekend and it will just be Aiden and I, so the last thing I need is some fire ant bites slowing me down.

I was in the middle of pulling up the second plant when Aiden starts screaming, "Ouch!  Ouch!" And it was fairly frantic.  He was looking at his foot so I immediately assumed fire ants.  Sure enough.  I am KICKING myself, for putting socks and full shoes on myself, but not on my son.  SO STUPID.  The fire ants were in ever crevice of his sandals.  I was trying to simultaneously smash the ants as I pulled that sandal off his foot.  After they were all mashed, I ran inside with him to wash his foot.  I don't know if that actually gets rid of anything, but I do know the cool water helps soothe the burning. 

Aiden never cried through the whole thing.  I was freaking out more than I think I ever have with anything related to Aiden, but I was mostly silent.  I just kept saying, "Ohnoohnoohno..."  After a thorough rinse, I saturated his right foot in Benadryl spray.  I blew it dry and counted the welts.  TWELVE BITES.  UGH.  I put socks and tennis shoes on Aiden before we went back outside.  While Aiden played in the garage, I went out to murder the culprits.  He had full on stepped in a giant fire ant hill.  I did a walk through of our yard and found dozens of hills.  I killed the hill by the garden and then called Travis to ask him to get something we can sprinkle on the entire yard.

I really wanted to keep Aiden off his feet, to prevent swelling if that was going to happen, so we took a walk to the park with him in the wagon.  When we got to the playground, I realized the majority of the playground was covered in fire ant hills.  The two playgrounds that we frequent near our house belong to schools that have been vacant since Hurricane Ike.  It is very obvious that they are not keeping up with the playgrounds.  Aiden was mad we had to leave, but I explained that there were lots of bugs that might bite him there. 

Travis was home soon after Aiden went down for a nap.  That afternoon we met the Ramby's at Palm Beach.  It was the last weekend we could use our season passes, so we wanted to take our last chance.  We got lucky and got front row seats at the wave pool.  That meant we got to sit under an umbrella with our feet in the sand while Aiden and Blair ran in and out of the wave pool.  PERFECT.  

It was dinner time when we left the park, so we stopped for dinner.  There is a new Chinese buffet that opened on the island that I've been wanting to try out, so we went there.  I wasn't impressed.  I know most people are not impressed by Chinese buffets in general, but I love them.  We used to eat Chinese food ALL THE TIME in Illinois. But we quickly turned to Mexican food as we moved closer to the border.  

Aiden got to bed 30 minutes late that night.  As we were laying him down, he started scratching at his ant-bite-ridden foot.  He has a habit of scratching mosquito bites as he falls asleep, causing them to eventually bleed.  I know how painful it is to scratch fire ant bites, so I went ahead and gave him a dose of Benadryl.  

He slept in until 7:15 the next morning!  That is a HUGE deal seeing as he has been waking up at 5:45 for a month now.  That's what time our alarms start going off on weekdays, so I'm sure that's what has started this horrible habit.  But I DON'T want to wake up at 5:45 am on weekends too.  Too bad we can't take him to the water park every afternoon!

Fantastic Three

Sunday was just as fantastic.  We had originally made plans to go to the beach with my new co-worker, but it started raining.  RAINING!!  We are months overdue for some rain, so it didn't bother me in the slightest.  Instead, we went over to my co-workers house and let the kids run rampant.  Travis got called out on a job before we left the house, so he wasn't able to go with us.  After a couple hours of play, we headed home.  Aiden and I ate sandwiches on the ride home so all he had to do was climb in bed when we arrived.

Travis pulled up immediately after us.  I was exhausted.  Aiden has been getting up once a night for as long as I can remember.  It's probably only been a couple weeks, but it feels like forever.  So after Aiden fell asleep, I passed out as well.  Travis watched football in the living room all by his lonesome.  But I know he enjoyed a few hours to himself. 

I woke up to my alarm an hour and a half later and hopped in the shower.  I could have slept the rest of the day away.  It was dark in my room because of the rain.  PERFECT napping weather.  Aiden woke up soon after I got out of the shower. 

We decided to go to Marble Slab for ice cream.  We got Aiden a cup of vanilla mixed with M&M's and assorted sprinkles.  He almost ate the whole thing.  Thankfully he was full about the time it turned into a bowl of ice cream soup.  Travis and I had waffle cone bowls.  I tried a combination of mocha ice cream mixed with graham crackers.  It was awesome and I'd like to go back right now and have more.  RIGHT NOW.

It was still raining when we got home.  Still raining?  So weird.  I let Aiden run around the yard and play in the rain.  He loved it.  I folded laundry in the garage and then attempted to do a little gardening.  Yes, in the rain.  We have a bunch of tomato plants that have not survived the drought and I figured it was time to pull them up.  I had pulled up the second plant by the roots and was banging the dirt off when I felt a bunch of stings on my hand.  I looked down to realize what I thought was dirt was actually fire ants.  There was a nest of fire ants in the roots of the plant and I had pissed them off.

I ran inside to wash my hands as quick as I could.  I don't know if the venom sits on the outside of the skin at all, but I figured it couldn't hurt.  Turns out I only got bit three times on my left hand.  Twice on my pinky and once on my ring finger.  Thankfully it hasn't swollen out of control like I've done in the past.  But it's still bad enough that I can't wear my wedding rings.

For dinner we had BBQ stuffed baked potatoes - one of my favorite Texas meals.  It is so much better with real BBQ, not the kind in a tub from the grocery store.  Either way, it hit the spot!

See?  Fantastic Sunday.

We keep making changes...

Last Wednesday Travis was working on the wall again and I mowed the lawn. It has rained enough lately the grass decided it would start growing again, and our yard was much overdue for a trim. It has been neglected lately due to all the work on this wall. While mowing the lawn, I came across two fire ant hills. The first I didn't notice until I was coming back to pass it. That was about the time I felt the first bite. By the time I could dig under the tongue of my shoe to smash the little bugger, he got me again.

I used to have severe reactions to fire ant bites. I finally went to the doctor at one point and she said I have hypersensitivity to the bites, which means that my reaction gets stronger each time I get bit. Oh and there was nothing she could do to treat it. I just had to wait it out. But after I had Aiden, my allergy seemed to have gone away. Aiden turned 2 July first. Between the time I had Aiden and now, I have been bit by a fire ant three times. And I never had a severe reaction. Until this past week, that is.

The bite itself swelled into a welt that night. Thursday morning, after my walk into work, half my ankle had swollen and after my walk back to my car after work, the rest of my foot swelled up. Friday was the worst of it. It was so swollen that I couldn't put my foot flat on the ground. It felt like it would burst with the pressure of it. This is what it looked like Friday night (with a little petechial hemorrhaging around the bite):

Every day the swelling seems to go down a little more. It gets worse when I walk a lot or when I'm in the heat for too long. Today the top of my foot and ankle are still swollen, but at least I can pull my foot up now. I haven't been able to bend my ankle for four days! Oh and I can wear shoes again.

To top it all off, I misused some crutches on Friday and severely bruised my underarms. Who does that?! The muscles in my shoulders were so sore on Saturday and Sunday. So stupid.

Saturday afternoon during Aiden's nap, Travis started looking through AutoTrader. In case you don't know, that's a website for advertising vehicles for sale. We were planning to start looking for a replacement for the Murano in December, but there are several things that need to be done on the car. Since it would be annoying to drop $1500 into a car that we are planning to get rid of in a few months, we decided to look into getting a new car now. The four main points for us are lower payments, certified pre-owned, large trunk space and NO BLACK INTERIOR. We live in southeast Texas. What was I thinking purchasing an all black car?!

We had one car in mind when we went to the dealership, but we decided to look at a couple other cars. We looked at a Mazda CX-7, Ford Edge and Ford Explorer. The Mazda CX-7 won. We liked it better on the inside and it comes with some perks being a certified, pre-owned foreign car from that dealership. (Like free oil changes for life!) The problem was it was 8:30 at night and we had Aiden with us. He was delirious since it was 30 minutes after his bedtime. I told the dealer that we would come back Monday to deal with the financial side of things. That's when he offered to let us take it home for the weekend while they keep the Murano for appraisal.

I said sure! Why not?! So here it is:

2008 Mazda CX-7 Sport

Black cherry exterior, black and tan interior

Turbo charged 4 cylinder with AWD

Seats 5, large storage space, good gas mileage and in our price range!

While we were talking to the dealer Saturday night, we let Aiden roam free in the cars. It helped corral him so we could focus more on our conversation with the dealer. Now Aiden things the car is a jungle gym.


It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the Murano has, but I need to let go of that. Lower payments = less fancy buttons and switches. It also has less leg room in the back seat, but after we get another car seat back there (maybe in the next year?) it won't really matter. We're hoping to get at least three years out of this car before we need to upgrade to a larger vehicle. By that point, we should have two loans paid off and will be able to afford a nicer SUV.




Auntie Ariel is coming up tonight to hang out with Aiden at home while we head to the dealership to talk money and do a little haggling. I think it will be a lot easier to negotiate a few items this time since it's not imperative that we get rid of the Murano today. We have eight months to find a good deal. Crossing my fingers that they don't figure out what a piece of crap that Murano really is.

Weekend Catch-up

We had a full weekend, including a trip to the Ramby's for dinner, a 1-year old birthday party and a "gardening party" at Ariel and Robert's. Let's just say we really tested Aiden's ability to switch up his sleeping schedule this past weekend.

Friday night we went out to dinner at a restaurant for the first time as a family. We honestly have not been out to eat at all since Aiden has been able to sit in a high chair. Needless to say, the trip was interesting - but totally worth it. We chose Chili's, which is only 15 minutes away from our house. Unfortunately, Travis had to work a little late Friday night, so we were late getting out for dinner.

Aiden did really well, especially considering how I've seen kids act in public before. He was a handful for us, but I don't think it affected others all that much. No screaming, no tantrums, just lots of throwing toys and crackers on the floor. Don't worry - I picked the crackers up off the floor before we left. It was a Friday night, and that server barely had enough time to bring us our food and drinks, let alone pick up a baby mess.

Travis and I splurged and got an appetizer - something we almost never do. It wasn't until after our dinner came that I remembered why. Neither of us had any room for our meal, after shoveling that Triple Sampler Platter in our face. We were both starving, since it was late. Plus it has been FOREVER since I have eaten junk food like that. YUM.

Saturday, Aiden and I went to a 1-year old birthday party in Galveston. The party was slow to get moving, so we had to leave around the time it started to pick up. That was okay with me though, because we had dinner plans at the Ramby's! We are in a tough stage with Aiden. He can't walk yet, but he is determined to be mobile. I just don't have the guts to let him crawl around in the grass at this point. Not only will he be crazy dirty (which means I will be dirty once I pick him up), but I worry about things like mosquitoes and fire ants. By the end of get-togethers like that, my back is aching from hold Aiden the entire time.

Dinner with Chris, Alexa and Blair was nice. They always serve a nice spread and we got to take a peak at the club house Chris is building for Blair. That was a late night for Aiden though. Again with the tough stage - Aiden wants to be mobile, which means that for as long as he can get around, he WILL try to get to where the fun is at. We used to be able to tie him down in his car seat to get him to fall asleep, but that is no more. We ended up leaving around 9:45pm because Aiden would just NOT go to sleep. It was probably for the best anyway, since I'm an old lady who prefers to go to bed at 9!

Sunday, we slept in an hour. We also slept in on Saturday, which is a huge deal. We ALWAYS get up at 6 with Aiden, so he can remain on schedule when the week starts again. He did so well this weekend that I think I might let him sleep until 7 every weekend morning (if he'll allow it)! Sunday morning, we tried banana pancakes for the first time. They were pretty good, but I think next time I will use two bananas instead of one. Aiden seemed to enjoy these more than the blueberrie pancakes I made the previous weekend. Probably because they are not as tart. I made an orange coulis out of marmalade to use as a topping. Since I'm not a huge fan of syrup on pancakes, I was ecstatic to find it worked pretty well.

After breakfast Travis worked in the yard. Then we headed to Ariel and Robert's for the afternoon. They had a bunch of plants they had bought that really needed to be planted before they wilted away. Travis spent the afternoon working his butt off tilling a third of their yard for the vegetable garden. I never lifted a finger. Honestly, I was disappointed. I agreed to go work at their house because I really enjoy working in the yard. I did get about 10 minutes of full sun, which was PLENTY for my ghostly complexion. I spent the rest of the day taking care of Aiden and socializing with everyone else who was there.

It was a nice weekend, spent mostly outdoors. I'm trying to absorb as much of this weather before it turns into Sauna Season. We have more plans to do so this weekend!

Chocolate Covered Ants

I've decided to postpone weaning Aiden. No idea how long I will go for. I'm just going to take it day by day for now. I enjoy it too much to give it up yet.

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It was a long weekend, so no way am I going to get it all in one post. I would definitely like to mention that Ariel ate live ants this weekend. I should probably start with a little background on my sister: She DOES NOT like waking up. At all. It's funny because every once in a while, Robert and I argue over who has to wake Ariel up when we have plans to go somewhere. No one wants to do it because they know she will bite their head off in her groggy, half-awake state. It's no fun.

In the past year, twice Ariel has placed her cell phone in a glass of water during this groggy, half-awake state. Because she is not quite awake, it is not until three hours later when she finally gets out of bed that she notices what she has done. If anyone would like to donate old cell phones to the Ariel Fund, please let me know. We have already given her two of ours. I told her when we get our new phones in a couple of weeks she has to either get a super duty waterproof phone or get insurance.

Here's where the ants come in. Ariel was in one of those modes where she easily could have placed her phone in a glass of water. Instead, she chose to take a bite of her already half eaten candy bar that was sitting on her night stand. After spending several seconds trying to bang the last bite out of the bottom of the wrapper and only getting crumbs, she opened her mouth to see what the problem was. To her horror, the candy bar was covered in ants. Those were not crumbs she had been eating. They were ants. Immediately she began spitting on her bedroom floor in hopes of removing any that might be left from her mouth. Unfortunately, this pissed them off and they began biting the inside of her mouth. She ran to the bathroom to rinse in the sink. Ariel was so upset she even threw up.

She made it out of the whole ordeal with two bites on her tongue, one on the roof of her mouth and possibly some in her throat. She's not sure if those were bites, or just damage from vomiting. Either way, her tongue swelled up. Thankfully, they were not fire ants. That would have been BAD because we are both pretty allergic to those little buggers. She said they were little and black, so maybe sugar ants? Robert was on his way home from work when this happened, so he was there to take care of her in case the swelling got out of hand. In the end, he only had to take her for ice cream and she had a slight case of speech impediment for the night.

Only in Ariel's world...

1 Week

One week ago...

Ah, labor. It was hard, but not has horrible as I thought it would be. Ha! I was scheduled for induction Tuesday (June 30) at 7AM and I had to go into the hospital the day before for blood work. When I was leaving after the blood work, the nurse told me to call in the morning to make sure they had room for me. !!! I guess that between the already busy summer months and nine months after the power went out for weeks during hurricane Ike, June is turning out to be a busy month in Labor and Delivery.

I called first thing when I woke up Tuesday morning at 5AM and called right away. We planned to leave the house at 6:15 and were packing the car at 6 when I got a call from the hospital. The nurse said they just had an emergency arrive and I would need to call back at 8AM to see if they had room then. I hung up the phone, sat down on the couch and started crying. I was so ready for this! What if it didn't happen soon? This baby was only going to get bigger! I told Travis and my mom what they had said and we settled for watching some TV to take our minds off the looming possibility.

At 6:40AM I got another call back from the hospital. The nurse said to come in! We immediately jumped in the car, in hopes that if we were standing at the check in desk they would be less likely to turn me away. I was 41 weeks pregnant for gosh sakes! As soon as we walked in the doors, a nurse showed me to my delivery room. Lucky number 13! I was in a gown, hooked up to a Pitocin drip at 8:40AM and ready to wait.

It took about 12 hours for me to finally start feeling discomfort with my contractions. Family was in and out all day, so that helped keep us busy. Because of my hypoglycemia, they eventually put me on a dextrose drip to manage my blood sugar. The evening is where I start to get a little fuzzy. Everyone left in the evening so I could focus on the contractions. After about an hour, I decided to ask the nurse if I could start some sort of pain control. Unfortunately I was not dilated enough to get an epidural, so they gave me an IV drug called Stadol to hold me over and let me rest. IT WAS HORRIBLE. I never want that stuff again. I guess it did give me the ability to sleep. But waking up every couple of minutes to a contraction did not make for the most restful of sleep.

A little over an hour later (which felt like a lifetime in my drug-induced state), I asked if they could check me again. I wanted that epidural dammit! Thankfully, I was ready. Once I got that, I slept for several more hours. The Stadol was still in my system and I could finally sleep through the contractions.

Shortly after 2 in the morning, I was dilated enough to start pushing. They waited a little while for the doctor to get there and for the baby to drop a little more, but eventually I couldn't wait anymore. I started pushing at about 3. It was the toughest thing I have probably done to this point in my life. I had the epidural, but they only gave me enough medicine to take the edge off. I still felt every contraction and had use of my legs. By 5 I was exhausted and asking them to get the forceps because I didn't know how much longer I could go on. They gave me an oxygen mask so I could catch my breath easier between contractions.

At 6:07AM, Aiden was born! It was awesome. I was exhausted and ready to sleep immediately, but wanted to see my son first. I attempted to feed him, but he wasn't very interested. The doctor said he was probably worn out from the long labor (What?! He was worn out?!) and it turned out he had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice the whole time. Poor little guy! Because of that, Travis was unable to cut the cord. That made me sad, but the experience was still awesome for the both of us.

Family came in to say hi and they left us to rest. I attempted to feed Aiden once more before they took him to the nursery for his check up. He fed whole-heartily that time. They brought me breakfast, I pigged out and then Travis and I passed out. We didn't wake up until the baby nurse brought Aiden back at lunch time.

That afternoon they had a recovery room open up. I got lucky and got a single suite, which meant no sharing space! The rest of my stay at the hospital was nice. Everyone was so great to me there. They fed me in bed, brought the baby to me when he needed to be fed and we visited with friends and family.

My only hiccup was getting bit by a fire ant three times in my hospital bed. Don't ask me how that happened. I have no idea. I didn't actually see the ant, but I know how my body reacts to fire ant bites. Because I didn't have enough discomfort already. I felt like I had run a marathon - half on my legs, half on my arms. I'm still sore, but I think it's different now. I'm constantly having to correct my posture because I stoop over to do everything with Aiden: changing diapers, feeding, picking him up, burping him. I'm getting better about it though.

I feel pretty good considering what my body has gone through. It is amazing what the human body can do. I didn't know how to grow a baby, but my body did. I didn't know how to push out a baby, but my body did. It's just amazing. I'm happy to say I have ankles again!! And to date, I have lost 28 pounds (out of 41). I'm pretty sure that's at least 10 pounds in each foot! ;)

Well, off to care for the little one!

DMB

Oh Dave, how I love thee. Well, actually, not as much in concert as I thought I would. Friday night, Travis and I went for our planned Babymoon to see Dave Matthews Band in concert. Travis has started getting off work at 4 on Fridays, so we got out of the house by a record breaking 5:15pm. Unfortunately, the venue is an hour and a half a way in good traffic and the show was supposed to start at 7.

Since the show was north of Houston, that meant we got to drive through the evening rush hour and IT WAS HORRIBLE. I get car sick very easily - pregnant or not. The ride was miserable. I had the seat all the way back and I decided to keep it a secret that I had to pee like a race horse so Travis wouldn't flip out anymore than he already was in his road-rage stricken state.

We pulled into the line of backed up traffic at our exit at exactly 7pm. After the teenage girl in front of us let in the 15th car in front of her and then seeing a sign that said we had another mile and a half until our actual exiting of the highway, Travis floored it around more than three quarters of the cars before merging back into the exit lane. Despite his jerky movements, I think it was a good move.

When we got to the parking lot, it looked like we weren't the only people who were late for the show. Luckily, they had a couple other random bands play before DMB, so we were able to walk the three miles to the pavilion and wait in the line to have our bags and bodies checked for weapons, alcohol, drugs and food. Sheesh. Then we had to check our camera. =( That was really scary. I was a little bummed I couldn't bring it in, but I was more worried about someone stealing it while we were inside (despite it being watched over by two employees).

Oh and I was also 50% sure that I would forget to get the camera on my way out. Usually Travis is the one to remember important things like that, but since I knew he would be drinking a few beers I worried about the quality of his memory for the evening. As a precaution I set my phone alarm as a reminder. We could have walked it back to the car, but that took FOREVER in my prego state. I know Travis probably could have jogged back in half the time. It's just that we were already late and I didn't want to be sitting so far back that Dave looked like an ant.

Speaking of ants, I think I got bit by one at the concert. It was an outdoor venue, and we had lawn seats. That means we sat behind all the people who paid for a covered seat for half the price because we have to sit in the grass. I thought it was a mosquito bite, but when my calf swelled into a welt that made it look like I got whipped with a softball I decided it might be something else. Clarissa mentioned at the baby shower that maybe it was an ant and I was reminded of my hyper-sensitivity to fire ants. They are nasty little buggers that usually leave my ankles swollen to the size of an apple with just two bites. It's looking a lot better today. I think the 4-inch welt has shrunken to about a 2-inch welt.

Anyhoo, Travis and I found a nice spot in the lawn, center stage to lay out our blanket. We were thinking about renting a chair that is made for the incline of the lawn, but I'm glad we waited. As soon as the concert started EVERYONE stood up. I ended up standing up and sitting back down throughout the whole show. Sitting for the five-minute solos and standing for all the songs we knew. They really are more of what I would call a jam band. I think if I were at a bar or even at a coffee shop, that is the type of music I would want playing. But to see them in concert where they are the main event wasn't as entertaining.

Travis and I spent half the show talking and laughing about the other people while listening to the electric violin or soprano sax jammin in the background. Seriously, there were some funny people there. Half the guests were wearing some form of tie-dyed material (shirts, skirts, dresses, etc). Plus, I was completely sober, so it was entertaining to watch the drunk people stumbling around on that sloped lawn and the guys who were most definitely tripping on Ecstasy jumping around like mad men. Oh and the POT SMOKING. Good lord. There must have been a lot of people with joints hidden in their butt cracks on their way through security, cuz there was a lot of pot smoking. I'm hoping one night of secondhand exposure doesn't damn my unborn child to a life of pot-headedness.

Travis imbibed a few $10 beers, while I stuck with my $5 bottle of water and $5 bucket of Pepsi. Yes, I know, pot and caffeine all in one night. It kept Lil Wodie amazingly level. Finishing the night off with the purchase of a $35 t-shirt made for an expensive evening, but it was worth it. Travis and I got to spend our last hurrah seeing a band that I have wanted to see for years. It was even worth the fact that I had to have another snack around midnight because we didn't get home and into bed until almost 1 in the morning. I was TIRED. Thank goodness for lazy Saturday mornings...

BBQ's Galore

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was packed full of entertainment. Friday night we went to Jenna and Seth's neighbors' (Lillie and Greg) house to celebrate Independence Day. Travis spent the first half of the evening grilling. Don't worry, I know he loved it. After we ate, the guys played a little beer pong.

Of course, soon after, Lillie broke out the shot glasses. Yikes.

We didn't go watch big fireworks anywhere, but we did get quite the show on the street. It's weird because I'm used to it being illegal to shoot fireworks off in town. I'm guessing that's either not the case in Jenna and Seth's neighborhood, or no one cares to follow the rules. I swear to you there were two houses per block shooting off fireworks. There were Roman Candles and smoke bombs going off everywhere. We went to watch down the street and ended up running back to the house because I was worried we were going to get hit by fireworks. Flippin crazy. We had a nice evening and headed back home at a decent time.

Saturday afternoon we headed up to our friends Ashley and Scott's house. We met them through JR and Sara, so they are some of our newer friends. They just bought a house a month ago and were finally settled enough that they wanted to have some people over to check it out. I cannot get over how large that house is! We had a great time eating too much and drinking too much. It's a regular pattern in our life. It's a wonder I'm not the size of a whale. We ended up playing a drinking card game - I cannot remember the last time I did that. It was pretty hilarious. I didn't get any photos, but I'm hoping to snag a couple from my friend's website whenever she gets them up.

Sunday was another busy day for us. We slept in until 10. Awesome. Then I cleaned house for an hour before getting ready for lunch with Chris, Alexa and Blair. We went to The Spot in Galveston. It was a pretty laid back meal with plenty of Blair play-time.


After lunch we drove up to the dike to watch kite boarders. Sadly, they were all beginners just learning how to board, so there wasn't anything exciting. We just ran around avoiding fire ants and rogue kites. I don't know why he was so tired, cuz he wasn't the one doing all the running, but Blair passed out the second we got into the car.

We finished the evening off by letting JR kick our butts in Liverpool Rummy. Travis said if we keep going at this rate we're going to have to take out a loan to keep playing. =(