Happy Holidays!

I haven't had the mental energy to sit down and put my thoughts in any coherent order.  Instead, I will show you some photos from our Christmas break.  We got a new camera that I'm still trying to figure out.  It's not a big fancy Canon SLR like I want someday, but it's still nicer than the last camera we had.  So far I like it!

 

Mila, at 7 months old

 

Christmas Eve PJ pic

Stocking goodies!

Auntie Ariel bonding with Mila

There were LOTS of presents from Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Rich!

We spent a lot of time in front of the TV watching Christmas movies.  It was guiltless and wonderful.

  

Matching shirts on New Year's Eve with Zach, Linsey, the kids and Michelle.

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.

Gummy Bear

Well, Ariel still has not scheduled an appointment with the neurologist or the follow-up visit with the general practioner.  She continues to have episodes pretty much every day.  She said she can feel it coming on for an hour beforehand.  It sounds horrible.  Sometimes I find her very frustrating.

We had a good weekend.  A friend came to visit from out of town so I had a few of our mutual friends over for dinner.  We stayed up late and I drank too much.  It was totally unplanned, but we had a great time!  We let Aiden stay up since our friends had their daughters with them (3 and 8 years old).  Both girls fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie.  Aiden was sitting straight up, eyes wide open, refusing to fall asleep.  When everyone left and it was time for him to go to bed, he still fought us.  I swear, that kid would never sleep if it was up to him.

Sunday we went over to the Yeager's house for dinner.  Aiden and Luke had a dance party towards the end of the night.  I had turned on music before everyone came on Saturday and he showed me his break dancing moves for the first time.  I had no idea he liked to dance like that!  In the past, he has pretty much refused to dance for us.  That's why we put him in the dance class at his daycare.  I guess it opened him up to getting his groove on because he chose to dance on his own.  The funny part is he and Luke have very similar moves.  It was so cute.  They really enjoyed dancing to this music (it really is very catchy):

TRYING to Relax

I tried to keep this weekend laid back.  I think I did so-so.  Friday night we took it easy at home.  Travis and Aiden put together Mila's crib.  Aiden was really excited about sharing the space with his baby sister.  I REALLY hope he keeps up that attitude after the crying baby is here.  We'll see.

Saturday morning we needed to go grocery shopping, so Travis went with to help me out. He's not very good about finding the deals like I am. That's why he doesn't usually go by himself.  That evening, we headed over to my boss' house for a crawfish boil.  It was the only day the majority of us were available - not directly related to Cinco de Mayo.  Though Travis did drink Dos Equis in honor of the day.  We have hung out with one of my co-workers a few times now and his kids just happen to go to the same daycare as Aiden.  We got to meet another co-worker's two boys as well.  They all got along pretty well - only a few tifts over the tricycles that some of us brought along. 

The little girl that was there (who is also in his daycare class) brought her pink Dora the Explorer helmet.  She took it off at some point and Aiden put it on.  He was obsessed.  He wouldn't even take it off to go in the house to use the restroom.  It was so cute.  Travis didn't flinch too much at the color. 

Aiden has been asking for a helmet for a few weeks now, I guess ever since we bought his motorcycle.  He noticed a lot of people wearing helmets as they rode their motorcycles on the Interstate, so of course Aiden had to have one.  And hey!  Who am I to inhibit safety??  Last night we stopped at Target and found a Spiderman helmet.

It matches his Spiderman sunglasses and "Spiderman" motorcycle.  It's not actually a Spiderman motorcycle, but Spiderman drives a red motorcycle, so I can see the relation for him. 

The funny thing about Aiden's Spiderman obsession?  He has been talking about how much he wants a Batman birthday.  Not Spiderman.  Batman.  Funny.

Sunday we didn't do anything in the morning except for a few things around the house.  That afternoon we went to see The Avengers with Aiden and a couple girls from my work.  Aiden LOVED it.  He did cover his ears through most of it.  I guess it was too loud for him, but he never took his eyes off the screen.  Before we saw the movie, if you asked him what The Hulk says, he would say, "HULK SMASH" and smash his fists together.  Since he saw the movie, he puts his fists in the air and says, "ARRRRGGGHHH!!!"  Ha!

After the movie we met Ariel and Robert for dinner at a fried shrimp place in Galveston.  I was having a craving and everyone obliged.  We sat on the back patio and Auntie Ariel tickled Aiden almost the entire time.  It's always nice to hang out with other people so they entertain Aiden a bit for me.  Takes some of the pressure off, which I wholeheartedly appreciate. 

We did a lot of things this weekend, but none of it was very stressful.  I'm hoping to relive that this weekend as well.

Trying to Rest

I'm so glad Travis' on-call week is over.  He had to go out on calls three out of the seven days.  Not too bad.  Sometimes I get irritated because WHY CAN'T THE LIGHTS IN YOUR SUN ROOM WAIT UNTIL MONDAY, but then I realize people probably don't understand Travis' side of things.  Plus it's extra cash in the pocket.

I had a nice weekend.  While Travis was at work Saturday morning, Aiden and I went grocery shopping.  That evening we had a few friends from my work over for dinner.  They all have kids, so it was nice to sit back and let them run rampant.  I wasn't up for catering, so I just ordered a few pizzas.  I found a recipe for a dessert on Pinterest that looked AMAZING, so I did make that in the afternoon before anyone showed up.  Travis got called out that night, so I was bummed he didn't have more time to get to know my co-workers a little better.

I'm feeling pretty huge these days.  Not just because of the belly.  I'm at +29 lbs (eek) now and the swelling has permanently set in.  It used to come and go, but now it's around all the time.  I can still fit my sandals though, which is more than I can say about the last go around.  I hate not fitting my wedding rings though.  My hand feels naked. 

Sunday was fabulous.  It didn't start off great.  Aiden woke at 5:20.  I let him lay in our bed, but all he did was wiggle for an hour before I made him go back to his room.  He came back at 7 when he is allowed to get up.  I plopped him in bed with us, turned on a DVD and fell asleep until 8:30.  That was pretty magical.  I made breakfast, but Aiden didn't want it.  He just wanted to lay in bed and keep watching TV, so I sat in front of the living room TV with my breakfast and vegged out for another hour.  At that point, we worked our way out to the yard so Aiden could play in the water.  I heated up leftovers and we ate lunch outside.  Travis bathed Aiden while I cleaned up the kitchen (bending over the tub is a little uncomfortable these days).

While Aiden was napping, I watched a show on TV and eventually fell asleep.  Apparently Travis fell asleep too because we didn't wake up until 4:30.  Aiden slept for three hours!  EEK.  He usually sleeps two.  Thankfully he didn't have trouble falling asleep that evening.  We originally made plans to go buy plants that afternoon with a Groupon I got a few months ago, but then Travis got an itch to go play disc golf.  He left and I turned on Toy Story for Aiden.  I made a casserole for dinner.  Right when I was getting Aiden ready for bed, Travis got home saying he had to run out on a call.  I was grateful Aiden went down without a fight.

I watched a couple more shows off the DVR before heading to bed.  Travis got home just before 11 pm.  I was still awake from all the resting I did that day.  Up until this point, I have felt too guilty to have the TV on this much.  I have officially moved into the I-don't-give-a-$h!t category.  I am exhausted.  Aiden turns into a zombie when the TV is on.  What more can a gigantically pregnant girl ask for?

Jenn and Jeff

Saturday night Travis and I went to my friend's wedding.  The ceremony and reception were held at her parents' house not to far from ours.  We got a sitter for Aiden and had five hours of adult time.  The wedding was beautiful and very personal.  I thought they did a great job.  The weather was perfect.  I was reminded of our wedding on private property.  Though it was insanely windy and no one could hear the pastor.  Ha.

We were sat at a table with some mutual friends from my work.  I also got to meet her boss, who is a big name at work.  That was interesting. 

The food was great - catered by Texas Roadhouse (where they met) and there were a thousand different cake balls to choose from.  I had the red velvet to reminisce about our wedding cake.  They had an open bar with various Anheuser-Busch products.  I believe Jenn's dad works there, so he had to represent.  We didn't stay late - left at 10 because I knew I wouldn't be able to stay awake much later than that. 

Again with the sideways photos.  I am sorry.  Some day I'll find time to do this on a different computer.  I forgot to bring my computer, so all the photos are from my phone.

The bride was BEAUTIFUL, though I am annoyed I didn't get any close shots.

Our table centerpiece.

The wedding colors were white and purple.  They had purple lights in the big white tent that made all my photos turn out with a purple tint. 

Cake balls, courtesy of the Matron of Honor

Groom's cake

Coozies came with the beers

36 weeks and still going strong



Casa del Suerte

Oh what a wonderful weekend!  Our friends, the Luck's just bought their first home.  They planned a housewarming party for next weekend that we are unable to attend due to a prior engagement.  I really wanted to see the house, particularly before Mila is born, so we made the trek to Austin this past weekend. 

We originally wanted to leave Friday after work so we would have all day Saturday to hang out, but as the day approached, we realized that neither of us were capable of staying awake that late (it's a 3.5-hour drive).  So instead, we woke up and got on the road first thing Saturday morning.  We arrived right at lunch time.  Logan and JR were on their way back from Logan's teeball game, so Sara gave us the grand tour.  They had the home built almost to their specifications, but left a few details to change themselves in hopes of saving some money.  They were hoping to finish everything before we arrived, but ran out of time.  It was okay though because the place looks great!  I think they've done a great job with everything.

JR got home before we got to the second floor so he joined the tour.  After we had seen everything, we headed out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  Everyone partook in a few spirits.  I was very jealous of Travis and JR's beeritas.  I want to try one so bad.  It will have to wait a couple more months though.  I am sure if I drink one of those soon after having Mila I will be severely plastered with just one.  The food was good, and the kids entertained themselves with Aiden's toys.

After lunch we went back to their house and a couple of their friends came over.  The guys went off to play disk golf in the gale force winds while the ladies stayed behind with the kids.  At first I was annoyed at the prospect since I thought I would have Travis around to help me with Aiden.  I am just SO tired lately.  I have no energy.  But!  It turned out great because Aiden had Landry and Logan to play with - and all of Logan's toys.  In fact, that was such a relief all weekend.  I didn't have Aiden constantly hanging on my leg.  He always wants me to play with him, or he wants to show me something.  All of which I appreciate and I do not ignore, but sometimes it's nice to just sit.  Particularly when you are 30 lbs heavier than normal.  Yes 30 lbs.  I'm probably going to hit the 40 mark in the next month.  Poo.

One of Sara's friends has an 8-week old son.  He reminded me so much of Aiden.  He was so sweet.  It really made me look forward to having Mila.  Though things will be a little different this time: 1) We have a better idea of what we are doing.  2) We're having a girl this time, so the clothing situation will be different.  Ahhh!  I can't wait!!  Well, I'm not particularly looking forward to the birthing process, but the end result will be awesome, I'm sure.

For dinner, we went back out for Mexican food with everyone.  That meal turned out to be a little stressful.  Aiden didn't take a nap that day AND we left for dinner when Aiden would normally be going to bed for the night.  Sara, Landry, Aiden and I ended up leaving before everyone else.  I got Aiden to bed as soon as we got home and he passed out immediately.  Sara and I stayed up chatting until the guys got home.  Travis passed out immediately as well.

Sunday I slept until 7:15.  Travis and Aiden got up around 7:45.  I would have preferred to sleep later than that, but it was way better than getting up at 5.  Blech.  Travis and JR got us donuts and kolaches for breakfast, then we went to the playground.  After the kids had played on everything for a bit, we walked over to the community pool.  It was so nice.  I really appreciated having other kids around for Aiden to play with.  There was a kiddie pool that didn't get any deeper than a foot and a half, so I didn't have to get in and hold up Aiden the entire time.  The water WAS freezing though.  We eventually had to force the kids out because they were all turning purple.

For lunch we went to Steak 'n Shake - a favorite of mine from Illinois.  I ate SO much.  It's no wonder I've gained 8 lbs in the past two weeks.  It's just that I'm SO hungry ALL the time.  It never seems to go away!  I didn't have any trouble losing weight after Aiden, so I'm not horribly worried about it.  I'm just worried about not being able to get around because I've gained so much.  Meh.  Only five weeks left now.

We decided to just head home after lunch instead of sticking around for Aiden's nap.  Aiden and I slept for two hours on the drive home.  It was AMAZING.  I was exhausted after a weekend of doing nothing.  I guess I'm just tired all the time.  We got home just after 7, so we fed Aiden dinner and unpacked.  Aiden went right to sleep with only a couple hiccups.  Then we laid in bed and watched The Rum Diary.  I didn't really like it, but it was nice to finish the weekend with more relaxing.  A thunderstorm rolled in before we fell asleep and it persisted through the night.  I've started using a sound machine and the only one that helps put me to sleep is thunderstorms.  That means real thunderstorms = sleepiness. 

FABULOUS WEEKEND.  Thanks so much Sara and JR!!

Cookies, Eggs, Candy, Ham...

Sunday was just as hectic, although I did find a total of 45 minutes to sit down.  As soon as I woke up, I started in the kitchen.  I wanted to make decorated cookies from scratch, but the dough is supposed to be refrigerated for at least two hours before using.  So the first thing I did was get that going and get the rolls out to start rising.  Then I baked an apple crisp for that afternoon.  After that was done, Aiden and I used Easter cookie cutters to cut out the dough.  I learned it is very important to follow the recommended 1/8" thickness.  Any thicker than that and the cookie looses it's precut shape.  We had an incident and had to throw away half of them.  Thankfully they were the blob ones.

By the time Aiden went down for his nap, the cookies were cool enough to decorate.  I did all but a few of them, which I left for Aiden to decorate after he woke up.  I got the ham in by 12:30 and worked on tidying up the house a bit and getting table settings out.  Travis spent the morning doing the yard and running to the convenience store.  I think Ariel and Robert showed up around 2:30 and they brought appetizers.  Soon after they arrived, our friend Mike got to our house.  We snacked for a bit and I got the casseroles in the oven.

After Aiden woke, he decorated those cookies and then went outside to play with a Crayola Color Explosion kit Ariel and Robert brought for him. 

When I was done in the kitchen, I came out with the kit for dying eggs.

The guys enjoyed some whiskey.  My dad got Travis on this kick when he was here last month.  Thanks DAD for that expensive venture.

Right before dinner at 5 another friend showed up.  As we were sitting down for the meal, I was worried there wouldn't be enough food.  I feel like there are usually way more platters set out.  I think I made just the right amount though.  There were leftovers, but not so much that I will be throwing anything out at the end of the week.  There was a lot of ham leftover, but I made my dad's ham and bean soup out of that last night.

After dinner we ate a few of the Easter cookies (which I didn't get a picture of), then went back out to the patio for Aiden's Easter egg hunt.  He was so cute.  Every time he saw a new egg he would gasp and say, "Another one!"  Every time.  He even found another one Monday night when I was out watering the plants.



Spiderman eggs, courtesy of Gpa



After the egg hunt, we sat for a bit while Aiden went through his goodies.  Then Travis brought out the Spiderman pinata that Ariel and Robert got him for Christmas this past year.  Aiden has had a good time beating the crap out of that thing over the months, but I was ready for it to go.  It's bigger than Aiden, which means it was a little daunting standing in our living room all this time. 



That pinata was so hardcore that it took 15 good hits from Travis to break open a hole.  We were hoping Aiden would hit the rest out, but the second a toy hit the ground he was focused only on collecting the goodies.  He now has two Easter baskets full of candy and toys.  There is no way he will ever be able to eat all that before it goes bad.  I guess I better help him out with that dilemma.

Aiden spent a good portion of the day high on candy.  Even though we withheld candy after the egg hunt, he still had trouble falling asleep.  Not a surprise since he has trouble on a normal day.  After the sun went down and Aiden was in bed, we enjoyed the apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.  At this point, I had to call the quits on the patio because the mosquitoes were out full blast.  It was just as well because I had a kitchen to clean and was ready to pass out by that point.  Overall, I think it was a good day.  But next year I need to split up the fun over two days!!

A Shower for Mila

A week ago on Sunday, I got to attend my baby shower for Mila, courtesy of Alexa and Linsey.  (Thank you, ladies!)  They decided I needed some pink in my life since I will be reusing a lot of the unisex stuff from Aiden.  What better way to accumulate baby gear than a shower?! 

Baby sock roses (Linsey took a floral arrangement class not so long ago)

The whole thing was so cute. First, it was just girls. We were able to flaunt our girlyness without getting shot down by a guy. Second, instead of shower games we did crafts!  Everyone was able to create a onesie, hair clips or head band for little Mila.  I was really excited to get my hands on some of Alexa's craft supplies.  I went straight to the hair clips.  I have to admit, I stole my idea from my friend Chrissie who makes and sells hair accessories.  It really was a lot of fun.

After craft time, we ate some of this beautiful cake.  It was a little sad to cut into it!

Then we opened the pink gifts!  I think I'm finally starting to accept that I'm really having a girl.  Sort of.  I've got the baby stuff now.  I still can't imagine dressing a baby in it just yet.



Alexa's giant living room was the perfect fit for my girls.




Zhenya, Nadya and Kate - Kate was so disappointed that Aiden wasn't there and that she couldn't see the baby in my belly.



My fashionably late sister wielded my camera for a bit.  I'm glad she remembered to pull it out because I certainly didn't.



Sara crocheted a black sheep for me.  She thought it was horrible, but we all thought it was cute.  And hilarious.



Baby bumps



My friend from college, Clarissa, is pregnant with her first child.  She is having a girl as well and is three weeks behind me.  I felt like a monster compared to her.  Reminded me of Nadya and I when we were incubating Kate and Aiden.  Ha.

I did not get a good photo of my hostesses and I, so I'm going to direct you to Alexa's website.  She has a great camera.  You can also see all the onesies we made.  Check it out!

Now that I've had the baby shower, I feel like I can really start organizing.  But first!  First, I need something to organize with.  We just finished our taxes and are awaiting the direct deposit.  As soon as that puppy clears, we're heading to Ikea for storage furniture galore.  I'm really excited about having the new furniture, but what I'm really looking forward to is organizing Mila's stuff.  At the moment, I have nowhere to put her things in the house.  It is currently sitting in bags in the garage.  I'm itching to get out there, wash everything and see what we've got. 

We should also have some cash leftover to get a few baby items that we didn't receive.  Nothing is imperative to bringing an infant into our home.  It will just be stuff to make our life easier.  The two things I'm looking forward to most?  A new baby monitor and a bottle drying rack.  We have a hand-me-down monitor that crackles at anything (when you turn on a light, when you walk by, etc).  The drying rack I have from Aiden (and still use for his sippy cups) is a nightmare.  It was the cheapest one we could find and it tips over with the slightest agitation.  It's very frustrating to come home to find all the cups I had neatly stacked scattered all across the kitchen floor.

Like I said, not imperative to having a child, just nice.

Oh wait, there is one slightly imperative item.  We would like to get a new car seat.  It is recommended to retire a car seat after two years.  They are constantly making more and more strict regulations, so it's a good thing to keep up-to-date.  I think we can swing it.

Monster Jam 2012

Doing things without Aiden are becoming increasingly difficult.  I'm not exactly sure why it's any different than it was a year ago.  Maybe because we used to do more stuff in Galveston and that's where our babysitters are?  Not sure.  So when I had TWO nights in a row without Aiden this weekend, I started to feel pretty guilty. 

Saturday night, Travis and Aiden went to a monster truck show with Chris and Blair.  They left before 5 and didn't get home until almost midnight, I believe. 

I was ecstatic to learn Aiden chose to wear the ear protection courtesy of the Ramby's.  Travis has a pair of adult ear muffs, but they are as big as Aiden's head.  No wonder he was willing to wear these, but always refuses ours.  We might need to invest in a pair before the next loud activity.  It sounds like Aiden had a blast.  Travis probably had as much fun as he did.  He came home with tons of photos and videos on his phone.  When I asked Aiden what he like the best about the show, he said the Spiderman truck (of course) and the popcorn.  I don't ever let him have popcorn because I'm irrationally terrified he will choke on it.  Meh. 

The next day, Aiden spent a good portion of the day driving his monster truck toys all over the place.  He has the Gravedigger monster truck, which I didn't realize was an actual truck.  Gravedigger was at the show, so that worked out!  Travis showed him how to run over his other matchbox cars with the monster trucks.  Oh boys.

I, on the other hand, suddenly had a free evening and wasn't sure what to do with myself.  I decided I wanted to do something I can't normally do when I have Aiden.  I ended up going to see a movie with a bunch of girls from work.  We saw the second Sherlock Holmes movie at one of those theaters where they serve you dinner and drinks at the same time as the film.  None of them had ever been to a theater like that, so it was a lot of fun.  A bunch of us got a Groupon that included one ticket and a large popcorn for $5.  GREAT deal.  I shared my popcorn with a girl who didn't get a Groupon because a large popcorn is entirely too much for me.  It would be perfect for Travis and I.  My friend and I barely made a dent.  Granted, we also ate other food.  I got bruschetta and she got cupcakes. 

After the movie, everyone came back to my house and we chatted for an hour before they continued on the road back to the island.  I had a really good time.  I only went to the bathroom three times while we were there.  HA.  One of those times, I saw a man walk into the men's room carrying a mug of beer.  I decided he must not have wanted to leave his drink unattended.  You know, roofies and all that.

At the end of the movie, the servers brought out the bills for everyone.  An elderly woman in the row in front of us whipped out a lighter so she could read and pay her bill.  I don't know why, but that seemed so absolutely outrageous to me.  Did she not have a cell phone to light her way?  Perhaps it didn't cross her mind?  Or was the first thing she thought of her tinderbox?

Before Travis made plans to go to Monster Jam, I had arranged for him to keep Aiden Sunday night while I went to a friend's house for a birthday dinner.  We had Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr Day, so we opted to celebrate on a Sunday night.  Our plans were quite dorky, so try not to judge too much.  We all brought food and planned to watch Aladdin. 

Aladdin was one of my VHS tapes from when I was a kid.  My mom brought an entire box of Disney VHS tapes on her road trip this Christmas.  I finally convinced Travis to figure out how to plug in the VHS player we've been keeping around for just such an occasion.  Travis was always asking if he could throw out that thing.  My response?  "But what if we need it?!"  So glad we kept it. 

Sadly, things didn't work out exactly as we had planned.  My friend's cassette player ate my Aladdin tape. It didn't tear the tape, so we winded it back up.  I haven't had a chance to play it to make sure everything is all right.  Hopefully all is well.  It was pretty funny though because I couldn't tell you the last time I had to wind up a destroyed cassette.  Good times.

Since everyone had Disney on the brain, we opted to watch another Disney movie: Lilo and Stitch.  I have watched a good portion of that movie several times recently because that was another movie in the box from my mom.  Aiden really likes that one.

Dinner was great, and I wasn't home too late.  There's a little more fun left in my weekend to share, but I'll save that for later. 

Holiday Parties, Part I

Fabulous weekend.  The end.

No not really the end, silly!  I like to talk!  Or type.  So here's the rest.

We made plans to go to two Christmas parties this weekend.  The one on Saturday was a child-friendly party.  They have an entire room dedicated to toys, so of course the kids took over that room.  We arrived before most of the group did, so here's a photo of the room before chaos struck:



Left to right: Blair, Matthew, Juliet, Aiden and Skylar

I have started to notice that Aiden does really well with kids of all ages.  He seems to adjust his play level to his playmate's needs.  If he's looking at a baby, his voice gets soft and higher pitched and he gets down on their level to check them out.  But if it's an older boy that he has to run to keep up with, he pumps up the volume and the energy.  The one thing he's not good at, all around, is sharing.  He has the toddler mentality.  The rules: everything is his.  Doesn't matter who is taking it from him, he will get upset.  I found myself explaining to Aiden several times that night, babies are too little to know better.  I showed him how to give the little ones a toy to distract them from what he's playing with.  I'm not sure if that's the right way to go about it, but both parties seemed okay with it. 

Here is an example of Aiden learning to share a house with Skylar:

Everyone brought some food.  It was all awesome.  I ate horribly this weekend.  I need to reel that in a little bit because my goal this pregnancy is to NOT gain 41 pounds.  I don't know if that will be possible, but I'm going to give it a try.  Honestly, I didn't have much trouble losing the weight last time.  Well, the last 5-10 pounds didn't come off until after I quit breastfeeding, but I will keep that in the back of my head this time.  I just want to remain as healthy as possible.  I do have to say one of the annoying parts of being gigantic, was my inability to use stairs.  It would be nice if I didn't have an asthma attack every time I need to go up a few stairs.

ANYHOO.  In addition to the food we all brought, we also brought a gift for the kids' gift exchange.  I was so excited about this part.  Chrissy (pictured below) numbered the gifts, then each child drew a number that corresponded to the gift they would receive.  She obveriously has a magic brain because she knew EVERY child's birth date.  She let the kids draw starting with the youngest and going up from there.

Aiden had a rough time understanding that he didn't get to choose which present he got to open.  He wanted one that belonged to another child, so we had a minor breakdown at that moment.  But as soon as I got him back to our spot on the carpet and he got to open the present, he was better.  He got a variety of card games aimed at kids 3 and up.  He's almost to three and I've thought about buying him some card games, so I think it worked out wonderfully.



Plaid



Aiden LOVES puzzles.  There is a card game in the set called Matching.  I haven't read how you are actually supposed to play the game, but I shuffle the deck and hand it to Aiden.  Then he finds the three-card sets and puts them together.  It's a little like a puzzle, only a little more difficult.  He seems to enjoy it.  If anything, he just likes shuffling through the cards and looking at them.  I taught him how to pick up a bunch of cards at once and straighten them, so he really likes doing that now.  He gets a little frustrated when it comes to fitting the cards back in the box, but we're working on that.

After all the kids opened their gifts, they walked around and played with each other's presents.  It was so cute.  There was a really neat underwater puzzle set that required the use of a magnetic fishing pole to take the pieces out of the board.  Might be getting that for our little man...

T-day in Galveston

Thanksgiving was so easy going this year, it was amazing.  We went over to Ariel and Robert's house in the morning to help them clean and cook.  Since it was nice out, Ariel decided to do the seating outdoors. 

Hostess with the mostess

We ate around 4 pm, an hour later than planned.  Not too bad, considering how things have gone in the past.  We invited our friend Scott to dinner since he doesn't have any family nearby.  Ariel's roommate Bettye and their friends Brandon, Blake and Christy came as well. 

Dinner was FANTABULOUS.  I couldn't believe it, but none of my green bean casserole was left at the end.  I don't usually feel like that's a popular item, but apparently everyone liked it the way I made it with fresh green beans.  The canned mushy green beans gross me out.

I also made a new sweet potato casserole this year.  I don't generally like the sweet potato casserole, so I took control of it it this year.  The bottom layer is mashed sweet potatoes, the middle layer is a pecan crumble (basically it's pecan pie) and the top layer is toasted marshmallows.  The toasted part was an accident, but it turned out really great.

Ariel and Robert fried a turkey and roasted a turkey.  The fried turkey was more firm and really hit the spot.  Travis and I heated up the honey baked ham he got from his boss.  It turned out really great as well.  Thankfully we were able to reheat it right before the meal.

Christy and Blake

Aiden LOVES Brandon.  Brandon is so good with kids, so I know that helps.  Aiden sat in this hammock with him for a good 20 minutes and held on while Brandon rocked the "pirate ship". 

After dinner we ate pie: pecan, pumpkin and apple.  I made the pecan pie because I was hell-bent on getting it right.  For some reason I am only capable of making pecan soup.  The stinking thing never firms up.  Of course it was pecan soup again this year.  We still ate a quarter of the pie.  I took the rest of it home and baked it for another 35 minutes.  That did the trick.  FINALLY.

As we were eating dessert, the Luck's stopped by to say hi!  They were in town to visit family for the holiday.  Logan hung out with family while Sara and JR brought Landry over to visit with Aiden.  They colored with crayons and played with a magnet set that was Robert's when he was little.  Too cute.



I hope everyone had a great holiday!  I enjoyed my 4-day weekend and was quite reluctant to come into work this morning.  If only every month had a 4-day weekend...

Mommy's Nights Out

It's been a busy week.  I feel like I'm running around at work trying to keep up half the time.  Then the other half of the time there is NOTHING to do.  That's typical in a lab though.  Your assays need to incubate for a certain amount of time and there's generally only so many things you can clean or tidy up on during the incubations. 

I think the reason it's getting on my nerves so bad this week is because I have had some headaches from hell.  I talked to my doctor about it.  She said it could be pregnancy, it could be the Zofran, or it could just been from my previous neck problems.  The difficulty is that I'm limited on what medication I can take to treat the headache.  In the past, ibuprofen has always worked will for me.  Sadly, I can only take acetaminophen while pregnant.  It doesn't help.  These headaches just barrel on through my day.  It makes the nausea worse.  So when I turn my head, I feel sick.  Or maybe the nausea is causing the headaches?  Gah, I don't know. 

I've also been pretty busy after work this week.  Monday night I went on an impromptu girl's night out with a friend from work who recently quit to work at another hospital in Houston.  She's been having a rough month and I haven't seen her for a while, so I went out even though I had prior plans for a girl's night out Thursday.  We went to get pedicures, but I forgot my wallet.  So I just sat and chatted while everyone else was pampered.  Then they all went out to dinner and thankfully bought my meal.  I totally owe them!

Last night I went with a few girls to see Breaking Dawn on opening night.  I knew it was a bad idea, but I did it anyway.  Didn't want to miss out on the fun.  One of my friends from work has a movie theater membership card so she was offered tickets to see the 8 pm showing.  We got to the theater an hour early, thinking we might not get awesome seats, but I figured we wouldn't get front row.  I thought wrong. 

Lucky for us, no one was in the front row yet, so we were right in the middle!  It was horrible.  I got dizzy during several scenes.  There was one scene with subtitles - I had to turn my head back and forth in order to read it.  I actually didn't finish reading a few of the sentences because I couldn't turn my head quick enough.  Ridiculous.  I stared at Edward and Bella's pores the whole movie. 

I think I liked it.  I know most of the movies are cheesy to a certain point.  And Bella and Edward can be just plain awkward at times, but that's how the characters are in the books.  The difference between the movies and the books is that you get to read about the internal struggle of the characters.  During the movies, you just have to watch it on their faces.

Our biggest joke last night was that Jasper is the constipated vampire.  He always looks like he needs to take a giant crap.  But the books explain that he constantly struggles with the need to drink Bella.  He's struggling with hunger, not digestion.

Overall, it was good.  I would like to see it again from a better seat.  I do plan to buy this movie eventually.  I need to buy the rest of the Harry Potter movies and I think I still need the last Twilight movie that came out.  I'm a little behind on that.  Later, later, later!

Busy Bees

Aiden and I had a full three-day weekend.  Unfortunately, it was Travis' weekend to be on call.  So he had to work Friday and Saturday morning.  I didn't want to stay home the whole time, so I made plans for Aiden and I to get out of the house.  Friday morning, we went to a park we've never been to before.  It had lots of structures for Aiden to play on and there were several trails and ponds.  First I let Aiden run around with the other kids on the playground.

I am really annoyed that I can't get these photos to load upright. It would probably be fine if I did it from my computer at home, but I won't have time to deal with it later.

The structures seemed to be aimed at various age groups.  The one closest to the parking lot was the least scary one for me.  It was low to the ground, with lots of virtually risk-free things to play with.  The one furthest from the playground (there were 4 structures within walking distance) was the one Aiden liked the best.  It had the highest slide that he kept climbing to and going down.  I call those types of slides tornado slides because it spirals all the way down.  It prevents the kids from shooting off the end when they get to the bottom.

After the playground, we walked over to the nearest pond to see if we could find any wildlife.  We saw three turtles and a ton of dragonflies.  We walked down one trail for a bit, but then had to turn around because I was getting hungry.  I get more panicky that usual these days when I get hungry.  I live in constant fear of setting off the nausea.



One of the serious downsides of my fear of hunger and the resulting nausea is that I find myself eating out more often than I'd like.  Generally, I only eat out zero to two times a week (including breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner).  The fast food grease makes me feel really bad about myself and I find that I don't get enough fiber in my diet when I eat out frequently.  But for the past few months, I have been eating out two to four times a week.  If I am out of the house and I get hungry, I don't wait until I get home.  I immediately pull into the nearest drive thru and proceed to shove face.

So, Friday when we left the park, I realized it was already noon.  We usually eat lunch at 11:30 and Aiden naps at 12:30.  I wanted to go to the grocery store before we got home, so I opted for eating out.  Again.  I didn't know the area very well, so I just drove until I saw something easy that sounded good with Aiden along.  Cici's Pizza!  Ha!  Travis hates going there because he said he always ends up spending hours on the toilet after that place.  I don't know if he's serious, but if I could have that side effect, I would be GRATEFUL.  Pregnancy is not the best on an already iffy digestive system.

Turns out, kids 3 and under eat for free!  I only had to pay for myself, and it's not an expensive place to start with (salad, pasta and pizza buffet).  That helped with the financial guilt that I usually feel after eating out as well.  Aiden was so spoiled this weekend.  We went to the park, we had pizza for lunch AND he got to watch cartoons while he ate lunch.  That rarely happens at home.

After lunch we went to the grocery store, then headed home for nap time.  I'm trying to get Aiden to go down for nap time on his own.  He does fine at night when it's dark in his room, but it's always been a struggle during the day when he can easily see all his toys.  I have to go in his room every 5 minutes to tell him to stop playing with his toys and get back in bed.  It's so time consuming because that takes 30 minutes to an hour.  We've been going in and laying on the futon in his room so he would stay in bed.  Half the time we fall asleep in there too.  But we need to stick with it this so we can have our noon time back!

Friday night I had a couple girls over from work for dinner.  I made lasagna for the first time and I think it turned out pretty good.  We watched Bad Teacher.  It was okay.  I had a hard time getting into the love interest at the end because I didn't think they made a good couple.  It was a comedy though, so that didn't entirely ruin it for me.  Travis put Aiden to sleep, so I got a little break there. 

It was a busy day, but it was nausea-free.  That made it awesome.