Summer Camp

Syneca is off to camp today. I just dropped him off for summer camp and he will be gone for 20 days. I know I should be sad but I am thrilled to have a quite house once again, even if it is only for 20 days. This pregnancy has left me little patience with him, actually as I told Kevin today, I have negative patience. I start out the day out of patience with him. I try but it just isn't there. So, he too, is also happy to be going off to camp. I have determined that starting at 10 is a hard thing to do with a kid for one main reason. The first 10 years are for bonding over all the cute things they do and training them on the things that annoy you, then you get the next 10 where they want to be thier own person and refuse to listen to anything you have to say but you can go back to those 10 years of cuteness and reflect on how they grow up so fast. You can teach them to brush thier teeth don't look fuzzy after a week at Grandma's. You can teach them that, just getting wet doesn't equal a shower and that smell coming from thier room is not how "all boys smell". You can spend those 10 years teaching them how to play outside with friends, and that poop is never something that should be played with.

I love my nephew, I really do. But some days, I wonder if all 11 year olds feel that they are a genious trapped in a kids body. I wonder why the 11 year old that I have is obsessed with never being wrong and refuses to take responsibility for any of his actions. Everything is "someone" else's fault and he had absolutly nothing to do with it. These are the things that drive me nuts. I feel myself falling into arguments with an 11 year old and trying to apply logic when there isn't any. It doesn't help that we are both stubborn but doesn't it count that I am the adult??? Some days, I think not.

It will be a miracle if I survive long enough to send him away to college. But at least for now, I can send him away to camp. It is a small price to pay (ok, not so small) for our sanity. I am tired of yelling at him and Kevin is tired of listening to us argue.

Is it bad that I am thinking about searching the internet for winter camp? Ok, maybe just spring camp? I am going to enjoy my 20 days, of those I will probably start missing him tomorrow. But for today we can enjoy the peace and quite, at least until Chloe starts barking :)

Baby Update

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and all is well. Thankfully, I didn't get the "look" about my weight gain this month. Baby Ethan is growing strong, 26cm was his measurement yesterday.

He kicks and moves around a lot. It's a bit like having an alien inside. You can see him moving. I didn't know babies were so active! It is now our evening event to watch the show after dinner.

I am doing good, I was having some stomach ulcer problems but my doctor has okay'd my medicine so it shouldn't be a problem anymore. We did have a scare with some abdominal pain but they hooked me up to the heatbeat and contraction monitors and decided it was just stomach problems. The doctors all say Ethan looks good and is healthy.

Next month is my diabetes screening, I get to drink a bottle of glowing orange juice. I am not sure what it is but I have a feeling it is not going to be very tasty. Next month, I get to start going to the doctor every 2 weeks.

I am so happy to have 2 weeks left in the 2nd trimester. The doctor also says that my weight gain should slow down and it will pretty much be all baby weight after that. I am not having my back pains now that I am not traveling and I don't have any more events. I don't think airlines seats or hotel ballroom seats work well for supporting the back. Since I have been home, the pain is gone. But Kevin has made this coorelation as well and I won't be able to go to NY for the summer :( I have finally given in to the fact that I won't be very comfortable, even at home in my own bed in August.

Other than that, everything is going well. My doctor doesn't have any concerns and says everything is going well. I was trying to get a C-cection but my doctor has advised me not to volunteer for the surgery. So it looks like I am going natural - with drugs of course.

Baby Projects

We are almost done with the baby projects. I didn't realize that babies needed so much stuff. We have bought a pack and play which, in my opinion, is not up for much packing. I think it weighs 100 lbs! This was my first baby purchase and when looking at all the options, I went with the Eddie Bauer branding, thinking it was the best one. After unpacking the monstrosity and trying to put it together, I realized this may not be the case. First baby lesson - search the internet first for ratings! I finally got it together but I don't see how I will get it apart, let alone, pack it up and put it back together somewhere else. I will have to let Kevin play pack mule on that one! My original thought on the pack and play was to have it in our room so that the baby could sleep there until he slept long enough to go in the crib. Well the "rocking bassinet" portion is a bit scary and it doesn't really secure enough to ever stop rocking. As a pack and play it will do fine, as a bassinet, not so much. I found this co-sleeper that connects to the bed and can be stand-alone. I think that this will work much better.

Our second major purchase was finding a car seat and stroller. If you have every seen a "travel system", it is a thing of wonder. There are so many buttons, gadgets, layers, drawers and accessories, it might as well have been a new car. I never would have thought that it would take days to be able to pick one out. I didn't want a mini cooper for a car seat, I just wanted a car seat that was light. After Kevin's frustration of trying to get each travel system to fold and un-fold, we decided that there had to be a better, simpler way. We decided on the car seat frame. It is a wonderful invention by Graco, where you buy a compatible car seat and it locks into a stroller frame. No gadget, gizmos, cup holders or wipe warmers. Just a stroller. Being in Dallas, it was amazing that we were able to find something like this. Most stores probably would not carry this option for fear of offending the Plano Princesses with it lack of options. The beauty of the system is that online I found the matching swing frame. I love it!

We decided that since we have very limited space for furniture, we would reuse what we have and try and make it as space efficient as possible. We have a baby's room that double as Alicia's room and the guest bedroom. That makes Ikea a wonderful place. We bought a bed that is has a dresser as the base. It is fantastic. Although we filled half of it with closet stuff to make room for baby stuff, it still has enough room for Alicia's clothes and toys. We also needed a dresser for Ethan, so Kevin had a brilliant idea to refinish to dresser he had that I think is 100 years old. It was a fabulous shade of mustard yellow. I wasn't aware that there was ever a stain invented that was that color. After days and days of sanding, staining and varnishing, it looks beautiful. The only downside is that we picked a stain that was between walnut and cherry. While it looks fabulous, matching a crib is not so easy.

Our last purchase was the crib last weekend. I think I have seen every style of crib that has ever been made. I don't think I put as much effort into my own bed, ever. First, we were going to try and match the crib to the dresser. Impossible. Then we decided to ditch the color and go for black. But then there are all the options (sound familiar). Do you want to he crib to just be a crib, should the sides go up and down, should it convert to a toddler bed, day bed, love seat, full size bed???? How many different ways can a person use one piece of furniture. The kicker is that you have no way of knowing what you kid will want. So they con you into buying all these accessories - just in case. We decided to leave to accessories for the other suckers and just buy a crib. Just black, goes up and down, converts to a day bed. However, my dissapointment came when we went to purchase it and it was on backorder. I don't know about you, but I love the instant gratification of purchasing something new. I want to get it home and see how it fits. Especially after all the work that went into picking one out. Now I have to wait 2 weeks to see the crib in the room so I can, yet again, rearrainge all the furniture. I guess waiting the 2 weeks isn't nearly as long as I have been waiting for this little guy.

Last project - ceiling fan. The babies room started out being the guest bedroom/NY Yankees memorabilia room. All of Kevin's Yankees pictures are there and, being Kevin it took a very long time to get them all in EXACTLY the right place with the perfect spacing and alignment :)
When we first found out we were going to have a baby, I wanted a jungle themed room with baby animals. However, given that we found out we are having a boy, I am going to lazy route. Why take all the Yankees stuff down when you can just add to it? I am not sure how Alicia is going to feel in the yankees room but we will have to cross that bridge when we get to it. We had replaced all the light fixtures in the kitchen and living room and ended up with a stock brass and white fan. Instead of throw it away and buy one for the baby's room, Kevin again had a great idea. He wanted me to paint a Yankee's themed fan. If you haven't noticed the theme, he is the idea guy and I do the implementation. That day, I went out and bought spray paint and the next day, we had our Blue and Gray fan up. It really does complete the room and a good idea to save money.

All we have left to buy is the mattress. We are waiting for the crib to arrive so we can go pick it up. Kevin has found the one he wants so thankfully we don't have to go out and look at all of them.

For now, that is everything. Now we are just waiting for our little Ethan to come play. We can't wait!

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes Baby in a ... Of Wait...Doh!

My favorite holiday is Halloween. It is one of those holidays that hasn't been ruined by commercialism. No one ever feels lonley or sad on Haloween. It is all about having a good time watching kids get a sugar high. While candy sales have gotten out of control, it is still the same holiday it was when I was growing up.

Our last Halloween started with Bubba and Brandy (left). He's a bit country, she's a bit trashy. I am not sure how our neighbors felt about our festive display but we don't talk to them anyway so it doesn't matter.

After losing my sister in early October, I didn't think that I was going to feel very festive. Kevin convinced me that we should go out, mainly because that is what my sister would have wanted. Anyone who knew her would agree.

Kevin was Johnny Cash and I was his faithful groupie. I wanted to remember who my sister was and for that reason we made the long trek to Ft. Worth. We met up with some friends and did some bar hopping. We ended up at a bar called Houston Street Pub and have a few cans (hey, they were free!) of Miller Light. On the rooftop of the bar, Kevin asked me to marry him. My answer of course was, Are you serious??? Followed by a Yes! Kevin then wispers sweetly in my ear, "You can't tell anymore yet, because I haven't got the ring yet" :) It was the most wonderful, romantic, loving event in my life. It just felt right. Even though Kevin thinks he should have done a better job, I think it was just perfect. Very much a symbol of who we are together.

December 19 is our official date, when I was finally allowed to tell the world we were going to get married!!! Kevin bought me a beautiful ring.

I won't be able to do any home improvements for a while, but it is absolutely perfect.

Then came January 23, 2008. Surprise! We going to have a baby! The funny part about this story is that we did have a plan and a timeline and it was all set. We were going to get married in July, we would start to try for a baby at the end of the year. All of this was layed out. All I have to say is thank goodness Kevin convinced me to get better health insurance in November just in case, we were successful.

Smile damnit, we are having a baby! Well we had just landed an 11 year old, how hard could it be?

Sure, this took some adjusting. I was planning a July wedding on the beach in Mexico. So, instead, we opted for Las Vegas. They have sand, right? I know, I could have still gone to Mexico but I am vain and I didn't want to look pregnant in my wedding photos.

I would have to say that I was not a fan of the shotgun wedding. I thought they were the easy way out. I was wrong. The MGM Grand was wonderful and I would highly recommend Vegas to anyone who wants to have a wedding that truly belongs to the bride and the groom. Not to mention, the fabulous photographer!

It was beautiful, elegant, romantic and I didn't have to stress about wedding colors, bridesmaids, flowers, food, invitations. I have tons of photos to share and let's face it, that is the part that everyone remembers.

So while we may not have had the perfect plan, I am happy with the way everything has turned out.

Europe

Day 1 - Does Kevin look like he just got off a 9 hour plane ride? This is the first of many trips on the train. On our way to drink some beer.... mmmm.... beer :) I do not recommend the white brauts in a lake. Gross!

Day 2 - Going to the castle. As much as I love my friend Matt, he does not have the best navigation skills. Since the BMW navigation system told us we were in a lake, I didn't trust that much either. Oh well, it may have taken hours to get there but we did find the Neuschwanstein Castle.

However, first things first. The wait for the castle tour was a couple hours away.... so when in Germany, you drink beer. I think it was 11am or so. I am not sure if Kevin is so happy because we are looking at the castle or because the beer in Germany is that much better.

Can you see that castle, way up there on the mountain. Yeah, the one that looks like it is a days hike from where I am standing? Yes, we hiked that. Even with the buses that were shuttling people up the mountain. Even with the horse drawn carriages that would take you up for $5. The good news is that I am still alive. I will say, thank goodness I had quick smoking the month before or I don't think I would have survived!

We made it! Can you see the bridge dangeling betweent he clifs over the gulley in the picture below? Well that is the only place you can take the picture above. Did I mention my fear of heights? The things I do for Kevin ;)

I will admit, tt was beautiful up there.

Moving on, to the beer. Our visit to one of the oldest breweries in Munich - the Hoffbrauhaus. Mein beir was ser gut! Pictured here - Ein
Hofbräu Dunkel und ein Münchner Weisse :)

Off to Austria. We took the train (okay multiple trains) to Wein (you westerners call is Vienna). The funny thing is that Europeans pack very light for a reason. I learned this very valuble lesson. Do not take your closet, it is very heavy when there are lots of stairs!

What I remember about Wien... lots of old buildings. I don't think we are as cultured as everyone else. Not much into the Symphony or Museums.

My favorite part about Europe wasn't Motzart's home but Coke Light. I love the stuff. I couldn't get enough. I am thinking about petitioning Coca Cola to bring this stuff to the US. It is diet coke but without the nasty after taste. I think that if they did bring this to the US, no one would drink regular coke anymore. Yes, it is that good! I would probably end up drinking more Coke Light than Kevin drinks Diet Coke.