Thursday, January 19, 2012

sick house

...
So today, I cleaned my entire house in preparation for playgroup tomorrow only to have Gabriel throw up everywhere. Welcome back, Strep throat. We’ve missed you.  At least with the open windows and residual smell of lemony pledge lingering about I could almost trick my brain that this was not “sick house”.

About an hour before all of this, I kidnapped someone’s cat thinking it was a lost cat I had seen on a neighborhood flier. It wasn’t. All that stealth like form... A for effort? You can bet your bunnies, I was gifted the ole, “What the frick, lady” look from the cat as I tossed it back into the wild. It went all judgey-face on me.

Like this.
Only less haunting.


Never mind that Kel had dug through the trash for the flier and I had called the lady on the phone only to crush her spirits. Oooog.

It was one of those days.  A dove/coca cola day.  A moment where you look up to see just how FAR away that Mother-of-the-year title lives. Thank you, reality for keeping me in check. Don't want to go getting ahead of myself.

At least I have a fantastically clean house now and no reason to get out of jammies before 2pm.  Believe me, I am not the ever optimist… it’s the Coca-Cola and chocolate talking.

Thank goodness.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

An old flame

...
It seems that more often than not, January is just all about the new. New year, new resolutions, new school routines, yada yada all wrapped up in fancy hues of new. I get it.

And why not? I mean, January can be a perfect little catalyst for change. Couldn't we all use a little spark of newness? This gal can- most days.

Unless...you happen to uncover that super-special-better-than-magic-completely-free-and-abundantly-available-everywhere goodness. It's rare but out there. And when you find that? Don't you dare touch it!

Our personal rare and magical goodness has come in the form of Austin Parks. Dallas Parks. Anywhere Parks. Quite frankly, Mays just reeeeealllly realllly heart parks. In fact, we will drive to different neighboring cities just to check out parks. It's weird and yet wonderful all at the same time.

Yes, the temperature tango of Texas weather is a bit annoying and the ever-growing mold/cedar count definitely comes with some congestion these days... but despite it all, we are owning it and dosing up on all the vitamin D we can. February is fiercely marked with unpredictable cold and she is juuuuuust around the corner, folks. We are seizing this park weather while it's here!

 My park loving crew:

The super swinger

Austin daydreamer


and my static clinger gal

Embracing ducky days...


that feed a Gabe


And keep us in the sun.
 It's our oh-so exciting...
 all too enticing...
 lovin'-a-turtle fun.

So as a NEW way to perhaps SHARE something that we LOVE to you... here is a small list of our top 10 around Austin favorite parks.*** (Lots of linkies!)

 Enjoy!

1. Northwest Balcones Park aka "Gabe's birthday park": OUR favorite and best for riding bikes at.
2. Katherine Fleischer Park aka "house park": Our second favorite park!! Best for make believe
3. Robinson Playground aka "Dino Park": great for really littles/small groups
4. Central Market Playground: live music, dance party with your friends weekend fun
5. Nature and Science Center aka "Dino Dig": Our favorite place to be explorers
6. Mueller Lake Park aka "Mommy's Hospital Park": Wackiest park around and right by Dell CMC.
7. Creative Playground aka "Castle Park": best old school park around (Georgetown)
8: Springwoods Park aka "Fire Station Park": totally redone and incredible! Located right across the street from a fantastic fire station too.
9. Elizabeth Milburn Park aka "Spiderweb Park":  redone! Best my dare-devil kid needs to climb park.
10. Zilker Park aka "Green train park": obviously this park is awesome... although, not the favorite as it is REALLY crowded and hard to keep an eye on your kid.

And because I couldn't stop at 10.

11. Mayfield Park aka "Peacock Park": No playscape, really quiet... but so cool you'd be a fool to miss this park.

*** reviews from Little Austinite.

Perhaps our old flame will lighten up your 2012 with a nice dose of new.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Proven Wrong

...
When you are a worrier by nature, life can sometimes be a big struggle to relinquish control. Makes for fun living conditions, no? It seems that as soon as one worry is eased another little one just pops right on up, like a daisy... only this flower doesn't smell so pretty. It would be understandable to think that my concerns with global warming, world peace and corruption within the education system were keeping me up at night. Scary stuff and totally worthy of worry. Believe me, I would RATHER be worrying about that, but unfortunately my internal hamster wheel is constantly sorting through all the important worries life. Like planning playgroups, kindergarten drama,  promotions, crock pot fails, etc. I mean life just can't get much worse than a burned crock pot potato soup, right?  It's a work in progress, peeps.

It seems every so often, life just throws me a moment of "See. I told you so. Lay off it lady and just chillax' a little. This ain't worth your worry." (That's how the I told you so voice in my head talks. Is it strange that it is a very opinionated Man's voice? Hmm.)


All that time I spent worrying about the 3 year age gap between Gabriel and Lucy, the sadness Gabey would feel with Molly at school all the time and Lucy constantly feeling left out from her siblings' close bond...






Man, it just feels so good to be proven wrong. I should just listen to my internal bossy-pants man voice more often.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

9 Months!

 ...
Well, it's official. Our Little Miss has been out now as long as she was in.

In case you didn't know this... 9-months is SO much FUN!
9-months-old is Kelly's most favorite baby age. I have always been unsure though (I love all babies!!) but really, after Lucy... I have to agree. We are having a blast with this sweet girl.

For starters. She moves. All the time. Everywhere. And for someone so tiny, she is fast!
We are learning all sorts of little quirks about Lucy. For starters, she eats her food in sections. If we mix it all up she will pick out all the meats first, then the noodles, then the squash. She does this with all food and all meals. It is amazing to watch. She definitely does not adopt her brother's cram and shovel method for eating that he still fully endorses. Right now, Lucy's favorites include grilled cheese sandwiches (she eats the whole thing!), avocados, cuties and spaghetti. While organized in her eating style, she is still a total mess by the end of most meals!
We have also learned that Lucy has a preference for Adele. As soon as she hears music she starts "singing" but if you crank on some Adele, she will sing top volume.

Lucy is also becoming the master of all things sneaky. She will do almost anything for a smile... if you catch her in the act, then she will just start laughing.

Case in point.




 Right now our little chatter box says: Hi, Bye, Mamama, Dadadada, Gab, and yaya (pacifier). She also signs more and all done appropriately. So much to say... especially when you have two LOUD siblings to keep up with.

 Lucy, this month you celebrated your first Christmas in Dallas with family. We participated in all sorts of holiday fun around Austin and have learned that you are beyond intrigued with Christmas lights. You continue to have a HUGE love for outlets, dog food and pea gravel. You have stepped up the safety level in this house for sure. You can now scale playscapes which has made playgroups at the park that much more exciting for you. Swings continue to be a favorite. You can crawl, stand and cruise. This past week you stood by yourself in the middle of the room. We fear that walking will be here soon. What an exciting month for you!

9 Month Stats

weight: 15 lbs 4 oz. (5%)
height: 27 inches (30%)
head: 17.3 inches (50%)


Hard to believe that first birthday is right around the corner. Looking forward to another great month!