Father's Day 2012

Pics from the mister's FIRST real Father's day!

 Got this idea from Pinterest!  I traced all our hands and cut them out of cardstock, easy and super cute!  (look at Kai's little chubber hand!)

 This was not from Father's Day, but it was right around then, and I love this pic of father and son.

 We met up with my fam for brunch at the Nutty Brown Cafe, which we had never been to, and it was AMAZEBALLS!  Kai had fun hanging with his Gramps, and checking out his watch.

 Thought this was cute... the bottom reads: All others vehicles will be raffled as door prizes.

 After Nutty Brown we were off to Zilker!  We played 9 holes/baskets of disc golf in the crazy arse heat, but it was fun!

 Then it was train time!  Well first a snow cone was in order and then we got a ride from the Zephyr!

 The fam.

 Daddy is weird.

 Baby is the best!  (he has some yellow going on there due to my pina colada snow cone.)

Happy first Father's Day, Daddy!  I wuv you!

Day Fifteen: Something I don't leave my house without...

There are a lot of things I take with me these days when I leave my house, here's a standard list:
baby (of course)
baby bag (with all the essentials)
purse
etc.

I have noticed lately that I ALWAYS take water with me wherever I go.  I get home and a lot of times I haven't even taken a sip!  Maybe it's a comfort level thing that I like to have my snuggly little water bottle with me all the time.  (I'm sure my mister has noticed this, and just never given me a hard time about it)  Anyhoo, I'm trying to drink tons of water while I'm nursing so I gotta keep up the water guzzling.  Cheers!

Shout out: to the mister for leaving a pound of meat and a thing of fresh guacamole in my car when unloading the groceries.  I thought my car smelled weird the next day, but then it was heinous the day after that!! 48 hours in the 100 degree Tejas heat?!?  That was rank.  And what memories are made of.  

Mom vs. Parking Lot

I went to HEB the other day and I got the BEST Parking spot EVER (for a mom).  When you become a mom with a little one in tow your parking priorities change.  Big time.  I stopped looking for places that are the closest to the store and now I look for places that are next to the cart returns.  Being next to the cart return can make or break your shopping trip.  You can grab a cart easily, put it away easily, AND if it is on the correct side of your car you get ample space to open up that car door nice and wide and not ding anybody!  You do risk getting dinged by unruly cart returners, but you gotta take what you can get, am I right?

UPDATE: I'm not doing so great on giving up soda.  blerg.

Day Fourteen: A TV show I'm currently addicted to

SCRUBS!

Scott bought the ENTIRE series for me for my birthday last year.  I think it was as much a gift for him as it was for me.  We have been loving the series and watch it every night before bedtime.

I'm pretty sure that Scott and I have watched "Friends" all the way through the series at least six times.  We also have watched "Gilmore Girls" quite a bit (much to Scott's dismay) However, today I came into the living room and my manly hubby was sitting there watching Lorelai flirt with Luke on the ABC Family Channel.  What wife doesn't love that?!!?

Day Thirteen: My Favorite Musician and why...

I have so many favorite musicians...

but,

if I had to pick right now, it would be Coldplay!

Why? I love the ease of their music. Easy to listen too, easy to sing along with, not offensive (I know what you are thinking, NOT OFFENSIVE?  that is not a reason to love a band!  But really, it just makes life better knowing you can pick out the Coldplay album and just chill.

Close seconds:
Better Than Ezra
Nickle Creek/The Punch Brothers/Chris Thile
Hanson
Yo-Yo Ma
The Black Keys
Garth Brooks
Adele
The David Crowder Band
Kanye

Day Eleven: What's in my makeup bag

Here's what's in my makeup bag....
MAC- foundation, coverup, blush and one of their eyeshadows (which I'm not super impressed with, I like all the other items I bought, but the eyeshadow is definitely falling short)
Maybelline- Great Lash- Unless I go buy a $30 tube of mascara (which I don't very often) this is my go to!  Simple cheap and works great!
id eyeshadows- These are my fave!  I love the ones with shimmer, mmmmmmmmm.
L'Oreal Infallible eyeliner- I get the brown-black color.  Goes on smooth, sometimes smudges to my upper lid, but stays put pretty well
Revlon-Just Bitten lipstain- I like these!  I don't love reapplying my lip stick, and my hair always gets stuck in gloss which drives me batty.  This is a good compromise for me!

Day Twelve: A photo of my hometown

Here's two photos of my hometown.  I grew up in central Austin.  (Technically, I was born in Dallas, but we moved to ATX when I was 3, so this is the place of my childhood.)

Once, in college a guy told me Austin was just a big cesspool...hmmmmmm, I'm thinking he never went anywhere in the city and only got stuck in traffic on 35.  Who judges a city on that?!?  Or maybe he was an Aggie at heart (but a Frog by association, which is doubly worse...HFFL!)


Recently, the mister and I (and our little dude) moved to ATX, and I'm enjoying sharing the town with my family!  I'm glad that Kai will be able to grow up being active in this town, experiencing live music, and enjoying the hill country and the lakes.  Much like his mama, Grams and Gramps, aunts and uncles,  and great-grandparents were all able to do!

Intermission

That is the SECOND time I've gone to the hospital and they have strongly suggested that my only problem is gas.  wow.

Imagine this, 5 o'clock AM, Jane gets up to go tinkle and comes back to lay down for another precious 45 minutes- an hour...and as she gets back to the bed serious ab pain develops and then the room starts to spin, fuzzy sounds overwhelm, and the grayness comes. 

Wake up husband with serious hits to the hip.

Try to get out of bed, more spinning, more grayness.  Down to floor.

Husband gets baby so we can go to hospital.

Helps wife downstairs...worse dizziness, grayness, down to knees.  Vomitous feeling.

Husband gets food for baby, and tries to help wife to car, near blackout in laundry room.

Back to couch.  Husband calls 911. 

Room full of firemen, and EMTs. 

-----

I was then loaded on a gurney, put in the ambulance, and taken to the hospital.  After hours of tests, a full IV, ultrasound, bloodwork etc.  There was nothing wrong.  I'm normal.  The doc said the pain was probably gas and there was no real explanation on the dizziness.  Thanks for that!  And the bills to come. 

I have a feeling my blood sugar got wonky, or I slept funny and maybe cut off the circulation to my brain?!?!  Is that possible? Probably not.

Shout out: to the hubs for being so patient and taking such good care of me. To my baby boy, mom, grandmother, uncle, and dad for being there for us when we needed it! I'm so blessed to have people to depend on.

Note: Days eleven and twelve of my 30 days blog to come...though no one probably cares that I have those two to write...b/c I haven't told anyone about this blog yet!

Day Ten: My favorite place to eat

Right now, right now?

TORCHY'S!

Scott is a little iffy on Torchys (because of the vegetables!) but I'm all in.  This place has it all!**  Fried avacado tacos, chicken fajitas, burritos, breakfast, a taco called a trailer park, which you can get trashy (that means take off all veggies and add queso! yes please!)  I would eat there everyday if I weren't trying to look more like Kate Middleton.

Oh Kate Middleton...  Every time I see a picture of you I want to starve myself. Or play field hockey. Or wear a fascinator. Or wear nude hose.  

**Please note, I was going to link to a video of Stefon from SNL here, however, nothing I could find was appropriate.  Google him.  You won't be disappointed.

Day Nine: A photo of the item I last purchased

I didn't take a photo of all my groceries, but let me tell you, I went to HEB and bought a bunch of stuff! Last night with said groceries, I made scalloped potatoes and pork chops from my efforts to cook recipes from the same cook book all month!  I've made about 4 recipes from the book so far and they have come out....okay.  The cook book is a New Orleans/plantation/southern food cook book so everything has been pretty rich.  Bacon, butter, crab meat etc. have all been major players this month. 

Listening to: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (The NPR news quiz)

Enjoying: Kai's nap (that will only be 2 hours today b/c we have to go meet up with Kai's grandpa!  um, yesterday was a 3 HOUR NAP!! It had been a while, and it was glorious.

Also enjoying: Sweet Leaf Tea from shopping trip yesterday.

Looking forward to: Girls night on Thursday with my chickadees from churchy church, a baby shower for my friend, Ali, and the Howard's visit on Saturday with D1 and D2!!

Day Eight: A Song and Photo to match my mood

Kai took FOREVER to go down for his nap...So in my head I started singing that 90's hit (Finally! It has happened to me blah blah blah blah) once he finally gave up and fell asleep... I knew n-o-n-e of the other words, so there was a lot of blah blah blah-ing.

Jane gets on the interwebs and YES! This song and video is posted on Youtube.  What luck!  Please follow this link to a dream of a music video that only could have happened in the great United States of America in the 90's.   This is like one of those videos that the Real Housewives/Kris Jenner makes when they get bored and need to make a music video (stat!).

Here's a pic just to entice you to go back to the link and click!

That photo matches my mood too.  Day eight: check and check!

Day Seven: My Dream Wedding

Okay, so I HAD my dream wedding!  I maybe would go back and change just a few details now that Pinterest is in existence! However, I married the love of my life so that's the most important thing right?!?!

I guess to think of a different locale...I maybe would have had it in Paris or Rome, something like that.  Or on the beach!  yum.  So Maui was an amazing honeymoon, so maybe a wedding out there?  The only thing is, if you have a destination wedding, all your guests are there in the same place where you are honeymooning.  I mean who wants to come out for brunch the next day and run into their dad? 

Maybe we could have gotten hitched, then gotten in a boat and sailed to another island.  That sounds nice. 

and P.S. Honey, in case you are reading this, renewing our vows in Maui would be super amazing someday!  Think about it.

Happy First Father's Day!

To my wonderful husband- you are an amazing dad!  And in the FIRST words of Kai said just last week, we love you, "da da!"

Day Six: Revisited

After I posted last night, I was thinking that the blog list probably meant something more exotic for an animal that I would like to have as a pet.  After discussing it with Scott, I came to the conclusion that I would love to own a dolphin.  We would have a big pool in our back yard (one that a dolphin could survive in) and he would just hang in the the pool!  Every morning we could go out back and he would greet us just as Flipper would! 

Here's some pics from out trip to Jamaica where we got to swim with dolphins!

Day Six: Pet I would like to own

**I just took down all the photos on this post, so if it doesn't make sense, I'm sorry!

This is a baby Pomeranian.... oh. my. gosh.  These little guys are just the cutest, itsiest, bitsiest little fluffer fluffs!!  I know it's a little yapper but I have wanted one ever since I found out what they look like as little puppies!! It's like their little fur is about to overtake their entire little faces, I just can't handle it!   Here are a few more...

Eeek!  So precious...

and lastly,

Look at his little fur!  Such a happy pupper!


Okay, so I know I will probably never own one of these.  It's a little out of my normal personality.  In all reality, I could more see myself with a sweet lab, or a golden, but I've always just looked at these little guys and thought they were cuties!

The other little animal I would love to have eventually is a smooshed face cat!  They are kind of sad because I think the smoosh face is from being inbred, but they are just so ridiculous looking and funny.  It looks like everything they think would have a sarcastic tone to it.

For example: Seriously, mom, why are you taking a picture of me right now, I'm dreaming of mice and don't have time for you to be all up in my kool-aid.  Go get me some milk.  I need that yesterday, woman.

Day Five: A picture of me two years ago

Me and Scotter pre-baby.  Look at how happy and carefree we were.  Le sigh.

Day Four: A Picture of my Best (est) friends

So I don't have just one best friend, I have 3!

First and foremost is my Mr. Hatter himself.  We have been together for 7 years now (if you count dating, engagement and marraige)  yikes! I can't believe it's been that long.  And I know that I love him more now than ever.  I've always had a hard time understanding that statement because it makes it sound like when we got married I didn't love him as much as I do now.   However, with a kiddo now, I feel like I understand that better.  It's like you share so much of the complexities of life and  joy/sorrow/fun/new experiences are just multiplied to make the love that much more.  hmmmm.  Anyway, here's a pic! (it's old but it does the trick!)

Next up we have Cecilia.  She is my dearest girl from college (Go Frogs!) We were roommates for a long time and now we are each other's children's Godparents.  I couldn't think of a better woman to call Godmother to my little Kai man.  This is one of my fave pics of us, I will let it speak for itself. 

 

My other bestie is a girl I've known for a loooooong time, Elemily!  We started out as friends when we played clarinet together in middle school and the rest is history.  We have been through a lot together and she is just such an awesome gal.  

I'm so lucky to have all of these wonderful people in my life!

Day Three: My Fave Store

Easy, and anyone who knows me will know...

FOSSIL!

I love their dresses (though nursing makes it hard to wear dresses in public) and I love their jeans and watches...and purses, and wallets. oh my!  I have an issue.  And I'm drooling.

I just recently bought this tank.... I wear it with jeans and wedges...muah! great easy Austiny outfit.

However, if anyone would like to send me this:

or better yet this:

I'm open to that.

Luckily, my husband used to work at Fossil when we first started dating (which gave him a much more heightened sense of style...well working there and hanging out with his friend Nate...who got him the job...) and that meant gifts from this glorious land of clothing and fine leather goods and now we are still addicted!

Day two

Something I ate today:  I'm starting early with blogging this morning!  This is my coffee beverage of choice in the morning, made from our Keurig, with a splash of 2% milk, and some Stevia. I savor my mug of coffee in the AMs.  And Scott and I collect coffee mugs, so I have plenty to pick from to suit my mood.  I love my Kate and William mug.  I also have a rounded SBux mug that I love... mmmmmmm coffee, I heart you.

 

30 Days Blog...

I came across this 30 day blogging list on Pinterest... I want to conquer it! I SHALL conquer!


Day one...

Caption: This pic of me is SCARY! but Kai is cute.  We were watching So You Think You Can Dance.  Um, also Kai said his first word today!  He may not know what he is saying (AT ALL) but he said DA-DA!  It was so exciting, and I got so pumped he was really proud of himself!  So, I'd say my day was awesome to VERY awesome!  What a joyful mommy moment.

Mom vs. Voicemail

I got to go to the grocery store by myself yesterday.  Which is as restful as taking a nap when you are a stay at home mom.  I put on my headphones and danced my way through the aisles.  I think I at least entertained the sample giver-outers at HEB!  I did make one mom mistake though.  On my way there I called a dear friend from Funky Town.  (Fort Worth for all you non-DFWers) and had to leave a voicemail.  On my way home, I decided to try another friend, and she was traveling and asked to call me back today.  So I tried one more friend and I got her voicemail too!  Blerg! Now I have 3 dear friends who owe me a call.

I am excited to hear from them, however, being a momma it's hard to catch people at the right time (the right time being when my child isn't screaming bloody murder and their child isn't howling into the phone sending me straight into a phonic oblivion.)  It's like kiddos know when to pump up the volume, get into fights, bump their little heads, and get "I'm so hungry if I don't eat now my toe is going to fall off" syndrome...eh?

Oh well, hopefully I will get to chat with you soon friends!

Movie Night

Scott went out tonight, so I bathed KaiBear and put him to bed.

Now I'm watching this...The Vow.

Next up! this...Breaking Dawn.

Good times.  Oh and I made crab meat stuffed chicken breasts tonight...wrapped in bacon.  I'm cooking recipes from here...Oak Alley

 That's the Oak Alley Plantation.  I got a cookbook when I visited.  It is pretty awesome.

And I love this guy:

Chiropractor

I fell...fell bad. 

Back in January or February I was walking down the stairs, holding my baby, and whoosh!  My foot slipped right out from underneath me and I landed on my hiney.  Kai was fine, but really scared!  He immediately started wailing, and as such (as a sensitive new mom) I did too!  I didn't realize I hurt myself until much later, but yipes...I really think I moved something or pinched a nerve or something.  I've decided to try a Chiropractor next week!  I have had many friends go, and I've always dismissed Chiros as "voo doo" science, but I'm very interested to try one.  I'm not too keen on going to physical therapy right now, because I've tried it before when I had a ballet injury back in high school and it worked to an extent but I don't know how much it will help this time.  I've been going to yoga and trying to stretch/move and use ibuprofen to help me relax the muscle but it's just not working.  So this time I will start with the Chiropractor and see how that goes! 

All for today.  Baby is napping, and we are meeting a friend at Chick-Fil-A today for lunch, so I gotta get some stuff done around the house before we head out!

Dang it!

I went 2 days...small victories I guess.

The Clan of Cave Bear

I just finished The Clan of Cave Bear!

My mom bought this book for me on my Kindle (nice gift!) and said it was a series she read when she was younger, the first of which was published in 1980.  It looks as though there are six books total!  I have some serious reading to do if I want to keep up with Ayla.  (the main character)

Ayla is a cro-magnon human girl who is orphaned in an earthquake and ends up being saved by a neanderthal clan.  So this is set in an ancient era and explores her communication, differences, and struggles in growing up completely immersed in a culture foreign to her own.  I don't want to give too much away and I do feel like the first book was fairly slow but it was setting up the plot for more drama in the next books!

I'm going to set this series aside for a bit and switch gears into Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.  I haven't read many any books related to Christianity in a long while so I'm overdue, BUT judging by the remarks of friends who have read this book I'm excited to get going! 

No coke today so far...but I almost stopped on my way home from yoga.  yikes...I was ____this close!  Sweet Leaf Half and Half it is!  (the Arnold Palmer of SLTeas!)

Thinking back...

My little lovey!  He was so tiny in this picture.  That was my gift to you, my readers, today.

I'm watching the Hatfields & McCoys with my hubby.  This show is ridiculous, there is so much killing and drama.  It's so crazy to think that some of this stuff actually happened.  I'm sitting here on the couch and my husband doesn't know that I'm also BLOGGING!  It's a secret remember?!?!  It makes this a little more fun.  I even just put a new funky background in place.  thankyouverymuch.

I've made it two days without a Coke (yesterday and today)!  I may have replaced them with fudge, from a stop at The Berdoll Pecan Farm.  So that is awesome.  I'm so good at dieting, don't be jealous.

Vice (not the Miami kind)

I have a serious addiction...to Coke! (the soda kind)

That bubbly, so sweet, beverage never ceases to amaze me.  I can be in a bad mood or having a seriously rough day and the moment where that sugary concoction reaches my lips I feel all my problems just melt away.

yikes. 

I need a replacement.  I really don't want my child addicted to this stuff!  I've kicked the habit before, but always come back to it months later.  It's one of those easily accessible things, and I tell myself that if Coke is one of my biggest problems in life that I'm doing pretty good right?  (I know I have bigger issues, but this is what I tell myself)

Also, I don't drink the diet stuff!!  I tell myself that's better too because at least it isn't that aspartame crap or whatever fake stuff they put in there...I'm doing the hard stuff!  The real deal! 

Should that make me feel better about myself?!?! NO!  

I've read that Coke can eat acid off a car battery, that it can eat away your stomach lining, dissolve a nail in a cup over time etc. etc. etc.  but I just can't permanently kick the habit! 

The combination of the pounds of real sugar and the battery acid melting ingredients of Coke which enter my body at a rate that is ungodly needs to be squashed!

Any advice here?  My first attempt is to switch to Sweet Leaf Tea as often as possible.  I do love that stuff and it replaces the caffeine and sugar...But no battery acid removal in those bevs!  I'm going to take it day by day because to me each day without a coke is a victory and I am not going to be able to do this cold turkey. 

Visit for Erin and Pat's birthdays

We are in Katy this weekend! My (oh so grown up niece) and brother-in-law, celebrated birthdays so we were on hand for the festivities!

I went on an emergency swimsuit run because I knew that everyone would want to swim and pre-baby swimsuits don't work on this post-baby mama... Honestly, its because my top half won't fit in anything I currently own. Benefits of nursing I guess??? So into the fitting room at Target I went.  That little adventure made me really need a cocktail.  I tried on a couple 2 pieces and ultimately decided that was a no go, BUT I didn't give up!! So I think I found a tankini  that I liked (the 12th suit that I tried on). A least the husband professed his appreciation of the suit, but I think he knows not to be negative (about that at least!).

Kai did great today. Lots of family, snuggles, kisses, swimming etc. love that big baby! I love how serious he gets when he meets new people, and then he just has this big charming grin that comes out when he is ready to play.

He's about 23 pounds now! Yikes. My back pain is very justified!

Baby's asleeeeeeeeep.

Off to Katy today to see the in-laws!  Every time I take Kai somewhere to see people he hasn't seen in a while I'm reminded of how quickly all this goes.  He's starting to kind of say, "maaaaaaa" which is awesome!  He is also pushing up high on his little hands to work on getting his big honking legs underneath him so he can crawl.  He'll get on his hands and then fall down on his chest, and then get his legs under him and then stretch them out and start over with the hands again.  He does this little rocking boat number for a while and then puts his head down on the floor to rest.  So cute!  I'm so smitten with him.

Need to start picking up the house, and packing for our departure.  Then I have to take furball #2 to the kennel.  Wish we had someone who could come keep her at our house.  I should look into that over the summer.  At least we know that furball #1 roams free with no dog chasing him everywhere!  I can't even imagine his inner monologue...poor kitty.