Friday, February 27, 2009

12%


SBW has started eating. Yesterday I was in the 12% of American women whose babies are exclusively breastfeeding past six months. Today I am not.

He didn't NEED to eat food. It is just that he got a JAZZY new high chair from Momo and I felt like I needed to give him something to do while sitting in the chair. He didn't tell me that he was hungry, but I just couldn't stand it. Can you say 'starting the bad food habits young'?

Here is an OUTSTANDING article from latest edition of Oprah magazine. I don't normally jump on the breastfeeding band wagon, but this article is really great. Give it a read. I guarantee you will walk away feeling 7,260 times better about the people that we share this world with.

Oh, and by the way, the SBW is 6½ mos. old and weighs 17lbs and 4ozs. Now this I can pat myself on the back for. Go ME!!

Just Sayin'


Shouldn't this sign say bacon, not sausage?!? I'm just sayin'.

Do you think?

Do you think this could be why I can't stop thinking about the beach???

February. Yes, it is still February. Our A/C has been on for the last few days. Man-o-man.

Two Double Oh Four

I have been spending a whole lotta time in dreamland lately. I can remember being a kid and hearing grown up people talking about the good ol' days and wondering what all the hype was about. What good ol' days?

Well, I am not old, but I have been thinking a lot about the good ol' days. We went to Galveston this past Sunday to take the kids to Mardi Gras. It was a ton of fun. The sun was bright, the sky was cloudless and I was in the car with my family, but my mind was back in a different time and place.

When we were young, I would often find myself in the car driving every back road on the way to the beach. Curvey winding roads past Yellowjacket market, through Danbury, through Santa Fe (slow down), past chemical plants, over bayous and ALWAYS ending up at the beach. We'd go to Galveston and Surfside. We'd drive our car right on the beach. It was daytime. It was nighttime. Wide open sky, wide open beach. Always there. Always always always there.

There were no worries on those beach days. We'd leave our spot on the beach and drive over to 7-11 for some Doritos and a Coke-Cola. That'd be lunch. Sometimes, planned trips to the beach, we have a little sand with our sandwich. Nothing like the taste of sand, mayo, ham and some super fresh Sunbeam bread. Now that is good stuff.

I can hear the waves. I can smell the ocean water. I can feel the warm sun shining down on my body. I can hear my young self solving the world's problems with my bff and the B-52's blaring in the background. I can picture the beach towel I was laying on when we picked the name of my life long across the street neighbor's baby. She was 18, single and pregnant and that sweet baby is now 19 years old. I can remember the stars in the wide open sky on prom night and the taste of cold cheap champagne. I can remember my mom pouring warm water from old milk jugs down my legs to get the sand off before I got in the car. I can remember riding horses down the beach on our honeymoon and feeling like I was on top of the world. I can remember Spring Break with the Manvel Girls and the sounds of all of the people. There are so many times that I will be going about some normal part of my day and I am hit with a memory. Out of the clear blue sky, I will be taken back to that place. Back to that innocence.

I want to go to the beach. I want to get in the car and go to the beach. I want JC to drive fast. I want to recline the passenger seat with my feet hanging out of the window. I want the music to be blaring and the kids to be cramming Doritos in their mouths. I want to roll in the sand. I want to lay on a towel with my face towards the sun. Eyes closed, listening to the sounds that the beach bring.

And maybe, if I am lucky, we will drive down 2004 on our way.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Bluebonnet Time


We saw the first signs of spring when we were driving home from Houston yesterday morning. I LOVE BLUEBONNETS. I hope that seeing them so early doesn't mean that we aren't going to have very many this year.

Monday, February 23, 2009

18 oh 18!


Wow. Today is 18 years. Yep, that's right. Today we have been married 18 years. My oh my - where has the time gone???

I am so thankful for my Jeff. He loves me. He takes care of us. He laughs. He plays with me. He plays with the kids. He is fun. He is thoughtful and hard working and artistic and so so so kind. He lets me sleep late all of the time. He irons. He loves our kids. He is kind to strangers. He loves his brothers. He takes friendship very seriously. He is proud of our family. He smiles a lot.

I just love him.

When we got married, I didn't think about what our life would look like 18 years later. I thought about that day. We've always done a pretty good job at living in the moment. I could have never guessed that it would be so good.

I am so thankful. I am proud of our 18 years. I am really really proud.

P.S. Happy 19 Wendy and David! :) I am proud of you guys too!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Ah ha!

Ah ha...so this is why I can't seem to return a phone call!

Break not Broke

I took a short blog break. I've been feeling kinda broke. Not in the pocketbook but in the thinking cap. And not like I don't have tons of things to say, but that I needed to take a few days off to clear my head.

So come back and check me out cause I've got lots in queue.

Oh, and here are a few notable things I heard this week...

Loose lips sink ships.
He who argues for his limitations gets to keep them.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Sky Show

Tonight we had another great show in the sky. The clouds were incredible. I mean REALLY incredible.

They were all so 3-D like that it seemed I should be able to jump in the air and touch one. The pinkish/orangish glow and the visual texture made me feel like it was a huge line of cotton candy.
Becky and I were both snapping pictures of them during soccer practice. Krob was at her house snapping pictures. Seems like everyone was moved by this amazing gift of an evening sky.
And then before we knew it, the glow was gone and all of the clouds were just plain old gray again. Just like that, the sky went back to normal. Isn't that something?

Field Trip Around The 'Hood

I LOVE driving through our neighborhood. And I especially love walking through our neighborhood. Seems like there are always treasures to be found. One very nice thing about where we live is the freedom to express in your yard. There is no HOA. No one cares if your laundry is hanging out - and at the same time, most of our neighbors have very very nice yards.

I have been walking through the neighborhood with the SWB and the big kids pretty often. All of these pictures were taken this week by #3. I hope by enjoying these small things with our kids when they are young, they will have the ability to see and appreciate the simple things when they grow old.

I LOVE when folks decorate the cactus in their yard. This is a pretty common site here in South Austin. And this is easily considered a year 'round piece of art. This is the home of one of #1's BFFs. They also have GREAT metal art in the their backyard. Maybe I'll hafta sneak over and get a shot of it for you.


This next yard is one of my favorites! It has these three whirly-gigs in the front and then there are a few in the backyard that we can see over the fence. This isn't the best angle for whirly-gig viewing, but I think that you can probably tell that they are pretty darn cool.

And if you look to the right of the whirly-gigs, you will find this really cool mailbox. It looks like a plaster mold of a real persons face, hands and even feet. I might hafta get a closer picture of this guy so that you can see the detail put into this fun mailbox.

And up the street from the saintly mailbox, you will find our neighborhood pigs. We LOVE the pigs. They are often in different positions in the yard. And during most holidays they are sportin' some sort of holiday decor like a Santa hat during Christmas and bunny ears during Easter.

Then around the corner from the pigs is a fun blue glass tree. This is another thing that is not uncommon to see in our part of town. Those crazy South Austinites just gotta get a little bit nutty in the yard!

And last but not least is my current VERY favorite display of creativity. This yard has all different sized balls in the yard. All over the yard. Some big. Some little. Mostly orange, blue and green. Some are on the ground. Some are balanced on a rock. Every time I walk by, I spot a ball that I hadn't noticed before.

Some day I am going to walk by and there is going to be someone outside. I am going to stop and ask them about their yard art. Where did the balls come from? What are they made out of? Are they heavy? How do you keep them from rolling off of the rocks? Who thought of this idea?

And then I am going to make sure and say thank you for giving us such a cool display to walk past everyday. We always talk about this yard. And I want them to know that I appreciate it.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Shadows

I love winter tree shadows! But it has only been in the past few months that I've thought to take a picture of them.

This morning I was driving down the road on the way home from #3's doctor visit (yes, she is sick), and noticed this incredible shadow on the road. We turned around and went back so that I could take a picture of it.

Wow - isn't it cool?!?!?

I wish someone would get a bucket of brightly colored paint and trace it so that it could be there as street art all year long. That would be the tops!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Hairy Situation


SBW has a new comfort thing. He's taken to sucking his thumb and pulling my hair. Sometimes it is just a gentle grab, but other times, he pulls kind of hard. It really seems to soothe him.

Last night he was so upset in the car that I leaned my head over his car seat the whole ride so that he could suck and pull. He stopped crying, but I felt like I was gonna puke by the time we got home - not to mention the crick in my neck. Oh the things a mother will do.

Earl, Patron Saint of Cell Phones


Last night, I was having a particularly tough night. Tuesday and Thursday nights are generally pretty hectic. We are very fortunate that basically all of our extra activities are on Tuesday and Thursday, but it makes for a CRAZY evening.

So I had dropped one kid for carpool, taken another to practice, gone to pick up one from practice and then headed to get JC. Well, it turns out that I got to JC's work and had no way to let him know that I was there and waiting with three kids in the car needing to be at the next pick-up within 20 minutes. I am walking around his building, the doors are locked and there isn't a soul in sight. I consider tapping my keys on the window of his office, but I didn't want to go that route - you know, just in case his boss was sitting in the cubicle with him. So I am walking all around and I poke my head into the mail room to see if there is a phone I can use.

Holy cow, I look down and there is a cell phone on the ground! Can you believe it! It was like a technology miracle. The phone had obviously been dropped because it was apart on the ground. I picked it up, put it back together and wa-la...it worked! I called JC and told him to come on out and then I looked in the last dialed numbers for the phone. The last number dialed said 'mom'. So I called mom. Boy was she surprised to hear from me. Her son is the FedEx man at JC's office. The phone must have dropped from his pocket and he didn't know it. She was thrilled to hear from me. Earl called us late last night. He was very very thankful. JC put the phone in a Fedex envelope and dropped it in the slot for Earl to get today.

The beautiful thing is that Earl had no way of knowing how much his dropped phone helped me last night. It was truly one of those crazy miracles!

Thank you SO much Earl.

From my fridge

My cyber-friend cjane made a blog post about the front of her fridge. That got me to thinking about the front of ours.

I LOVE the front of our fridge. I know that JC would love to have a clean fridge, but he doesn't say a word about my cluttered up mess of love and art. Most all of these treasures have graced the front of our fridge for a handful of years. I am actually kinda nutty about it. My family adds things to the fridge as a secret little gift to me. I often find a chocolate wrapper with a touching saying or a little love note under a magnet that one of the kids has left for me.

I think a stranger could walk in and glance at our fridge and get a good sense of who I am. Oddly enough though, I don't have any pictures of JC or the kids on the front of the fridge. Oh, except for the picture of #2 when she was an infant because she had jet black hair and no one ever believes me and a photo booth strip of me and the girls on our night out to see the Cheetah Girls a few years ago.

I think that some folks are a little shocked the first time they come over and I catch them handing their kid my little troll doll from the fridge. Nope, not a kid toy, give me back my doll! And don't even try to play with my skeleton.

Oh, I just love the front of the fridge.








Tuesday, February 10, 2009

My Side of the Street

I read two funny sayings today. They both apply to me in one way or another and both of them made me laugh out loud.

A friend's status on Facebook: I am feeling like it is a dog eat dog world and I am wearing milkbone underwear.

A comment from a friend about a 'co-worker' that she isn't seeing eye to eye with: she can keep crazy on her side of the street.

I'm feeling a couple of t-shirts coming on!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Spilled Milk


No use crying...and it appears to be a sign to keep on rockin'!

Sign of the Times

Hmmm...selling posters of the new president right next to posters of the Jonas Brothers. Okay. I guess it is just a sign of the times.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Crawling or Hopping

I have always wanted to go on a pub crawl. I know a handful of people that do it on occasion, but none of my people do it. I guess if we are going out for drinks, we usually plop ourselves down in one place where drinks are cheap and sit for hours on end. Or just stay home.

So since I've got no one to pub crawl with, I've decided to start a restaurant hop with JC and Krob. We are thinking it'd be fun to go out to eat at a different restaurant once a week. Last week we had our favorite Chic Fil A (ooo la la).
This week, we went to Mike's Pub downtown. Mmmmmm - it was such a delicious juicy greasy hamburger and some yummy yummy fries.

Mike's Pub has been around since the 70's (I think), which is crazy because it can hold about 20 people. Multiple times we looked down the long and narrow row of booths only to see the line going out the door.

It has been sometime since Jeff and I have had one of these yummy hamburgers. We discovered it when I worked downtown. It is a pretty regular hangout for office types and isn't even open past 7pm. I love the fact that they still write down their orders on a yellow steno pad and scratch through it when your food is ready. I also love the fact that it is your responsibility to remember your own number.
While we were there this week, I overheard a guy at the counter enquiring about his food. The guy behind the counter said 'that old lady took your food, now you are going to have to wait for more'. It was so so so funny. And he was telling the truth, a white haired old lady took the wrong food. Oh well. The burger is worth the wait.
And on a side note, Sweet Baby Wyatt's really enjoyed his time downtown. I think he LOVED all of the sights and sounds. Maybe he is gonna grow up and be our city kid.

Things I LOVE

I love beautiful days.

I LOVE Texas.
I love flags flying in the wind on beautiful days in Texas.

P.S. That is our Texas flag flying over the Texas State Cemetary with the downtown Austin skyline in the background. Ahhhh...home.

The Fog

Last week we had horrible fog. I mean really a ton of fog. I took a picture of the fog. I thought I'd take a picture of the same roadway today - because it is the most beautiful day ever - and post them so that you can see how horrible the fog really was.
Ewweee - I was kind of afraid to drive on that crazy fog day.
Somehow that didn't stop me from taking the picture though. Hmmmm....


Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Okay Already

I know I was harping on the old ladies that call my sweet baby a girl.
I know, I know!
But can you really blame me for buying the most perfect for this baby onesie that you ever did see, even though it was on the clearance rack in the baby girl department?
Can you?!?!? CAN YOU?!?

Best $2.00 I've spent in a long time. And I actually think the puffed and pleated sleeves look very nice on him.

The View Today

I took myself out to lunch today. Just me and the Sweet Baby Wyatt. We had a very busy morning, so he slept through the whole lunch. It was a very very quiet lunch.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I sat in the car for a few minutes trying to decide if I was making a good choice. Should I spend the money? Should I get the sleeping baby out of the car? Do I really want to sit by myself in the restaurant? Do I REALLY want to carry that heavy car seat in?

So while I sat and tried to figure out what I should do, I looked out the window to my left. This is what I saw...

Then I looked out the window to my right and saw this...

And how about the fact that this that this is the t-shirt that I am wearing today.


I love that all around us are people willing to love and send positive messages. I really really do. I wonder if the people that put the letters up on the signs really think about how they can very positively impact a person's day. I hope so, because they definitely made me smile today.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Bright Morning Sun


This morning I was standing outside of the Hobby Lobby. Just couldn't stop staring at these shadows. The pictures don't do them justice. They were beautiful.

Biggest Best Buddy


Tonight, like every Tuesday night, we were gathered around the TV watching The Biggest Loser.

About halfway through the episode, Miles says 'When I grow up, I wanna go on the biggest loser with Quinn.'

Now that is some kind of friendship. Six years and 40lbs now, 36 years and 300lbs later - and still friends.

Gotta love it.

Posterboard

Today's savings brought to you by Hobby Lobby. Yep, that's right - Hobby Lobby.

#4 needed a piece of poster board for his 100 days of school project. It frustrates me to by poster board. I know every time we buy it, that at some point it is going to end up in the trash. Even the VERY BEST projects end up in the trash eventually.

This time when we are throwing out the project, I won't cringe as much. Poster board is 30% off at Hobby Lobby this week. That's right - only $.60 per sheet. What a deal. I might even go back tomorrow and buy some more just to have a stock of it. And FYI - it can be as high as $1.39 per sheet when purchasing at HEB or Walgreen's. UGH!

Oh, and another thing about Hobby Lobby music. Did you know that most of the music that is played in the store are traditional hymns from the Baptist Hymnal? Today while shopping I heard 'I Surrender All' and 'Rock of Ages'. They are sneaky though, because it just sounds like elevator music. So I am guessing that the general population doesn't realize they are listening to church hymns.

How 'bout that.

My Shoes

So put yourself in my shoes.

Superbowl Sunday. #1 has three friends over to watch the big game. They are excited and whopping it up.

And then comes Danica.

I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces after this commercial aired. Four 12 year old boys sitting our couch. They all turned beat red and then repeated 'I'll show you enhanced' for the rest of the night. Nice, huh? They are making memories I suppose.

Good thing I was sitting in the chair by the couch breastfeeding at the time.