Reed

Bedtime chat

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I was talking to Reed last night about the weekend we had at Jellystone Park with the Pikes. We started to talk about Kate and how much they played together (and fought), shared the beds in the loft of the cabin and went on the slides in the water park. I asked Reed, “Is Kate a pretty girl?” He smiled sheepishly at me and then said, “Yes, but she doesn’t have a dress.” “Does she need to wear a dress to be pretty?”, I asked. “Yes, and then she will spin (in her dress).”, he replied.

Then he talked more about the water slides… “When I get bigger I will put Kate on my lap on the slides, and when we go down I will hold her so that she does not get water in her face and she does not have to pinch her nose in the water. I will do that when I get bigger.”

Family, Travel

Jellystone Park

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Our annual trip with the Pikes took us to Jellystone Park in Waller, Texas. We have finally settled that tubing the river, or doing anything around a public river is just going to have to be put on the back burner until the kids get older. So, we have abandoned our usual spot in New Braunfels and in fact have leaned more towards the Houston-side of Texas, to the family-friendly Jellystone Park.

Right out of the Hanna Barbera cartoons, Yogi, Boo Boo, Cindy and Ranger Smith are all part of the scene. There are cabins, RV slots and tent camping spots for all types of accommodations. All of this seems to revolve around the great water park that  is perfect for kids of all ages.

We opted for the 2-room cabin to share with the Pikes for our usual 4 days, 3 nights stay. The living room had a loft above it, which was perfect for Reed and Kate (both 3 yrs old) to sleep in. The loft had a fixed ladder leading up to an enclosed space that had two full-size mattresses on the floor. The extremely low ceiling clearance was only about 3 ft (no lie), which made it a perfect space for the kids. The bedrooms were quaint and could have used a few extra square feet, but we didn’t spend much time in there at all. The lone bathroom had only a shower which made bath time for the little ones a little makeshift. The best feature was by far the screened-in porch. Having the kids within earshot after they went down for bed and able to sit outside without the gnats was clutch.

We were pretty adventurous with our cooking, and opted to do all dinners over the camp fire, even though our cabin had a full kitchen. We didn’t know that the water park had pizza and burgers, or we certainly would have done that the first night there. I think the most success we had on the fire were the kabobs of chicken, beef, pineapple and peppers… the worst experience had to be the pigs in a blanket that Julie and I never really had a clear idea of the cooking and prep process (once again, had we eaten at the water park we would have avoided that catastrophe).

The water park is where it’s at. I will admit that it was overwhelming the first day we were there because of the sheer number of people. Unfamiliar territory and the first time on big water slides took a little while for Reed to get comfortable. However, by Sunday afternoon the park had significantly cleared out and it was much more bearable to settle in and spread out at the kiddie pool and the slides. In fact, Reed did eventually go on the slides all by himself after a series of rounds with him in my lap. Once again, having Kate around gave him the extra peer pressure he needed to suck it up and just do it. By the end he was doing the circuit (up the stairs, down the slide) by himself and we got to live the good life on the sidelines and cheer him on.

The other things we did while we were there:
1) Tried fishing with Reed for the first time… 2) Played some miniature golf… 3) Played football, teeball, and chased each other around in the field by the cabin… 4) Reed took a shower for the first time… 5) The girls took the older kids to the outdoor theater (saw Despicable Me) while Jim and I watched a Spurs playoff game.

Family, Travel

Aggie Baseball Weekend 2012

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This is the baseball weekend that almost wasn’t.  I dropped the ball (big time!) and didn’t realize the first weekend we planned was also Parent’s Weekend.  This meant no hotel rooms and no baseball tickets available.  Instead we made a last minute switch to the Tech series the first weekend of May.  This was not ideal for several reasons: Joe’s birthday, so no Browns :(, same weekend as Cornyval so no parade, we had a 1 day turnaround from New York to College Station.  Thankfully we are all pretty good at this by now and it was still a great time!

Next year I promise to plan a little better 🙂

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Alison

Alison’s 15 & 16 month updates

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Again, I’m a slacker.  Alison is already 16 months old and I never did a 15 month update on her.  Oh well.

As for measurements, she is still a little pipsqueak.  (I have no idea where she gets this.  I was 9 pounds, 8 ounces when I was born).

Length: ****(I have to check the paper) – 50th percentile

Weight: 21lbs – 35th percentile

*This morning I got her dressed and after I got her to school I realized she was wearing size 6-12 month shorts and shirt.  And the scary part is they fit!!

She is finally a very solid nighttime sleeper.  This has been such a life changer for us.  We finally feel rested!  I think we have to take some of the blame for her terrible sleep habits.  When she was a tiny baby we were so worried about her waking Reed up that we didn’t let her cry it out enough.  Course that girl would cry for 45 minutes when we did try.  Not the typical 15 minutes.  Somehow I think we have a diva/drama queen on our hands.

I love this age because her personality is coming out.  She is so much more communicative than Reed was.  She has several words and is able to tell us what she does and doesn’t want very clearly.  Too bad the only sign she knows is ‘more’. 

She is so sassy.  I love it, and hate it at the same time.  She gets so angry when you walk away from her.  She just whines and throws her bossiness around while she is chasing after me.  It is so pitiful that its hilarious.

I am also starting to think she will be ready to potty train MUCH earlier than Reed.  She is already showing the signs of wanting to start.  We aren’t going to push it, but I imagine in the next couple of months she will want to start.  Funny thing is that she is still in size 3 diapers.  I don’t know if she will even make it to size 4s before she is ready to potty train.

She is also all female.  She doesn’t really like to eat meals, instead she prefers to snack all day long.  And given the choice of foods, she will ALWAYS choose carbs and sugar.  Lord help her!

Alison is still a HUGE momma’s girl.  Last night in the pool she flat refused to let anyone else hold her.  Every time I tried to pass her off she squealed and jumped out of their arms and back towards mine.  Speaking of pool…she is a fish.  No fear of the water, but also no respect for it.  Makes me crazy nervous for this summer.

Sorry for the long out dated update, but there you have it!

Holidays, Julie

Mother’s Day 2012

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This Mother’s Day was wonderful.  It started off by Randy sending me flowers to work on Friday.  They weren’t just flowers…they were amazing.  Then on Saturday I spent the entire day alone with my kids.  I’m not going to lie…it wasn’t all puppy dogs and rainbows.  Having these 2 all to myself for the day is a ton of work, but it made me feel like a good mom.  Then on Sunday we went to church, came home for lunch and naps, and then went to my parents house.  We went swimming in the pool and grilled pizzas.  There was nothing special or amazing about it.  It was just the perfect way to spend my mother’s day.  With my mom, relaxing and enjoying all the happiness I have been granted. 

I am truly living my dream.  I couldn’t ask for more than I have at this very moment.

Reed

One day I will be more consistent

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I have come to the conclusion I don’t write enough on this blog because I have this weird idea that all posts must include pictures.  Problem is, I have time to write when I’m at work.  But the pictures are at home.  (Yes, I realize I have said this before).  I have so many stories to tell and things I want to write down…and then I don’t.  And then I forget them.  And then what is the point of having a blog anyway?  So you might see more posts with no photos.  Oh well.  I need to write the stories that happen in our little world.

On saturday we went for a hike with our friends the Swayzes.  It was just the mommies and the kids.  The 3 big kids walked the whole 2 mile hike, and I wore Ali on my back.  This is the first time I have used the Ergo Baby carrier that everyone loves…and let me say I get why you love it!  I wish I had bought myself one a year ago.  Ali fought it at first because she wanted to walk with the big kids, but once we stopped for a snack and I let her run around for a few minutes she was more than happy to get back in the carrier.  I seriously loved that thing.  I will definitely be buying one before we have #3.  (For the record, I’m not pregnant, just planning).

One the way home both kids were obviously tired.  Ali was asleep before we hit the highway.  Reed was a little more awake and so he asked if we could listen to Pink.  (Sorry Randy, he just loves Pink and asks for it all the time).  After a song or two he abruptly said with total seriousness in his voice, ‘Mommy.  Turn off the music. I don’t want to wake up my sister’.  Can you believe how sweet he is?  I just love how protective he is of her.  Don’t get my wrong, he isn’t perfect.  He will push her down with the best of them…but then he is fiercely protective in the next moment.

 

Julie, Randy, Travel

New York!

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**This is an overly long post.  I just needed to document our fantastic trip in all its glory**

Randy needed to attend a management training.  There was a session in New York in April.  We knew we needed a break.  So we booked it.  I wasn’t so excited about New York.  I have been there several times and really wanted to go to Chicago.  Randy won since it was his trip, and we went.  I was wrong.  It was awesome.  It was exactly the break we needed from life and kids and parenting. 

The quick timeline:

Friday night – Zac Brown Band (San Antonio) best.show.ever.  Seriously.  Awesome show, awesome musicians, awesome entertainers.  Go see them.  (It helped that our generous friends invited us to join them in their suite with food, beer and wine, and to ride in the party bus.  Double awesome.  Only way to go to a show in my book)

Saturday morning – wake up early, shower and get ready for airport.  Kiss the babies goodbye and head for the airport.  Make it to the airport and through security in about 12 minutes.  What the heck do we do for the next 90 minutes?  Oh yeah…relax!!  I could already feel the stress melting away.

Saturday evening – totally uneventful trip.  In the best kind of way.  We checked in, took a quick nap and then headed to find dinner.  Ate some Chinese food and walked around Times Square and 30 Rock for 2 hours (our hotel was half a block from Times Square)

Sunday – sleep in.  I know.  Crazy talk.  We rested and took our time getting out of bed.  Crazy.  Finally headed for Grand Central around 9:30.  Hung out and shopped and relaxed some more.  Hopped on the train to Yankee Stadium.  Hopped on the wrong train going the wrong direction.  Oops.  Guess we won’t be watching batting practice.  Made it to the stadium on time.  I do not love the Yankees.  I don’t even like the Yankees.  But man they have a gorgeous ballpark.  Wow.  (Too bad it was FREEZING!!  Should have taken a coat and not just sweaters)

Sunday evening – meet DB (little sister) and Jeff (boyfriend) for dinner.  They brought a little treat…dominoes!  We ate at an overpriced touristy Italian place…but none of us cared.  We just wanted something simple where we could hang out together.  And we did.  Dinner was fine, the company was outstanding.  After dinner we went to the pub across the street from our hotel.  And we played bones for hours.  We had THE BEST TIME EVER!  Isn’t it funny how that happens?  We were just planning to grab dinner and it turned into a super fun night (with a few more drinks than we planned on).  DB and Jeff got on the train heading for New Jersey (and his parents house) at like midnight.  It is another 90 minutes from there.  Yikes!

Monday morning – all 4 of us are moving pretty slow. DB had hoped to catch an early train and spend the day with me in the city while Randy went to training.  She didn’t show up until lunchtime.  No worries!  Just gave me more time to relax.  DB and I spent that afternoon shopping and walking and chatting.  Just a good sister date day.

Monday night – When Randy came home from training DB went to NJ and Randy and I went to dinner.  We ate at “Bar Americain”.  It is one of Bobby Flay’s restaurants, so I knew I would like the style of the food.  I was right.  I ordered fried chicken and it was amazing.  For real.  Who would ever pay $30 for fried chicken?  I guess me 🙂  After the previous night’s alcohol consumption we laid pretty low and just went home on Monday night. 

Tuesday morning – I woke up to the sound of a sound check at 4:45am.  And never went back to sleep.  So much for sleeping in!  Good Morning America had Carrie Underwood on their spring concert series.  The stage was less than a half block from our hotel.  It was raining and I was being lazy.  As Randy was leaving for the day he gave me the little nudge I needed to go down there.  It was pretty cool, I must admit.  The rain kept the crowds away and I was able to get pretty darn close to the stage.  (When we got home we watched the recording of the show.  You can actually see me several times.  Too bad I didn’t put ANY makeup on and was wearing workout clothes…so I was actually hiding from the camera).  It was pretty fun for something that just fell in my lap.

Tuesday afternoon – DB and Jeff came into the city again and this time we went down to Chelsea to the Chelsea Food Market.  This is a super cool place for foodie nerds like me (plus the Food Network offices are upstairs).  We spent some time just walking about the market and buying gifts.  My favorite part was the olive oil and vinegar tasting shop.  Holy moly there was some awesomeness in there.  My favorite was the blood orange oil with dark chocolate vinegar.  It came home with me.  Jeff was born in Brooklyn and is a good Jewish boy…so he wanted to take us to the oldest kinishery in the country.  I had no idea what a knish was or what a kinishery was, but I am totally down for traveling around and seeing non-touristy stuff, so off we went to the lower east side.  This is what a knish is:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knish.  I didn’t LOVE it, but whatever.  I’m glad we went and I’m glad to see a different part of the city.

Tuesday evening – we headed back to the hotel to grab Randy after his training ended.  Then we all headed for Brooklyn.  As you can tell by the content in this post I’m a foodie and a fat kid at heart…and Jeff had been raving about the pizza place he was going to take us for 2 days.  I couldn’t wait!  After a 70 minute train ride we were there.  And it was everything he promised.  Seriously.  Best pizza of my life.  We relaxed some more and chatted and ate delicious pizza and salad and wine and then had spumoni (again, not my favorite thing, but this place was famous for it).  After another long train ride back to the city we said goodbye to DB and Jeff and hit the sack.  We had to wake up at 4:30 for our return flight the next morning.  Yikes!

Wednesday – this was another uneventful trip home…except in Baltimore.  We were sitting at the gate for our next flight to SA when I realized this wasn’t the right flight.  This flight had like 4 stops before San Antonio…and we landed in like 3 hours.  I frantically pulled Randy out of the boarding line and we literally ran through the airport to the right gate.  We ran up and the Southwest lady said the whole flight had already boarded and was ready to leave.  Holy Crap!!  I knew there was no way we were sitting together and apologize profusely…but somehow when we got on the plane there were 2 seats next to each other in the third row.  Thanks for that one God 😉

We got home and took a quick nap before we picked up the kids.  This last part was my favorite part of the entire trip…we opened the door to Randy’s parents’ house…and Reed lunged into my arms.  He full body hugged me and didn’t let go for several minutes.  This is huge coming from my non-hugging boy.  Ali looked at us and when Randy picked her up she couldn’t stop giggling.  She just giggled and giggled and giggled some more.  Then we switched kids and they both did the same thing again.  Wow.  I wish I had it on video because it truly was the highlight of the whole trip for me.  Love those sweet kids so much (but I REALLY loved our extended date!)

Alison

15 Month Update

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I feel like I haven’t actually written a blog post in ages…and I haven’t.  We have had such a busy life the last 3 months.

Alison has hit the big 15 months and boy has her personality blossomed.  She is such a sassy little girl.  It’s hard to put into words the differences between my two kids because they are both such huge personalities and so spirited, but in completely different ways.

We have already talked about how much Ali loves to play in the dirt, which is hilarious and awesome.  But she is also a shoe horse who always chooses her blue sparkly tennis shoes when given the chance.  I have a feeling she will be my little tom boy playing in the dirt, while wearing her best sparkly shoes and tutu.  I let her choose her Easter dress and she chose the super frilly pink and purple one.  All day she kept playing with the skirt and looking at it.  I have no idea what to do with a girly girl who loves sparkles and dresses, but I can probably relate to the part of her that loves to play with her brother and get dirty.

Alison is also in the copycat phase.  She copies everything she is capable of copying…but her favorite subject to copy is Reed.  At dinner time Reed makes sure we stop and say prayers.  As soon as he reminds us to pray she holds her hand toward him.  (Melt my heart)

Alison, Videos

Alison loves dirt and sand

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Alison loves to play in the dirt or sand. Her brother on the other hand, would always whine if there was any dirt or sand in one of his Crocs, and insist that we help him get it out… or heaven forbid he get his shirt dirty or wet, he would insist on a different shirt. No, Ali is far from a “dirt-phobe”, and loves to sit down in the middle of it and move it around with whatever tool she can find.

Reed

Stuttering

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As a matter of documentation, we are noting on here that Reed started stuttering within the last few days. He has had a tendency to repeat the first words of a sentence, but never been stuck on individual letters or sounds like he is doing now. It does not seem to frustrate or embarrass him yet, but he does talk to us about it being “hard to talk” sometimes.

What we have read says that there is no need for alarm yet, but we will be monitoring it from this point forward.

RB