Memorial Day

Today started off pretty boring. We had no plans & were just sitting around the house. Then our friends Christian & Lauren called to see if we wanted to go to the horse races. Admission, hot dogs, drinks & ice cream were all $1 today. That sold me!

E just got done petting a horse. Lane said she didn't really care about it.

Group picture

Customize a free slideshow Lane recorded the last race. I don't know what was in the horses' water today, but we saw 3 jockies get bucked off their horses & one of the horses started taking off the opposite direction around the track. Pretty amusing.

Teeth

E hasn't gotten any more teeth since the bottom 2, but they have come in a little more.

I got a couple of shots where you can see them.

Can't wait til she gets more so I can feed her more table food.

The Greats

Today we drove down to Beeville to visit with Lane's grandparents, Elliot's great grandparents. The trip was a little rough on E. It was a 6 hour round trip & it was all in one day, so there was a lot of car time for her, but she made it. We were able to stay about 4 hours & she was very happy the entire time. She had fun playing with cats, all the little figurines they had in their house & entertaining everyone.

E with her Paw Paw

E with her Great Granny. She kept commenting on how heavy Elliot was & that she's never held a baby that heavy. It was pretty funny.

She was obsessed with this spoon all day.

3 La-Z Boys in a row. You don't see that everyday.

Recipes

I created a little food blog of all the recipes that I love. None of them belong to me. Most came from my mom. And then I've collected some from friends & the internet. I still have some more to add. I don't plan on continuously updating it. I just created it because I can organize the recipes with labels to make it easier to sift through. When I'm done, I'm going to create a blog book so I can have it on hand. ANYWAY, feel free to browse through if you're looking for something new. Who knows, maybe you'll find one of your recipes that I stole! I also added the link on the side under "Yummy Sites". The blog is called The Best Recipes of All Time...clever I know.

Clapping

Free slideshow design personalized with Smilebox I have tried several times to get Elliot to clap but she never seemed to care, so I gave up. Then today I tried again & she did it! It was so exciting. Here's a short clip. This isn't her best, but you get the idea.

Feed Me

Waiting for scraps.

Couscous covered mouth.

Galveston

Free slideshow customized with Smilebox What a day we had. Lane was post call so he had today off. We took advantage & decided to head down to Galveston. It was so nice not having to fight traffic & crowds with it being Thursday. This was our first time with E. We definitely need to invest in a beach bag. My diaper bag has sand all in it. You take so much more stuff with you when you have a kid. We bought one of those tent looking things to keep the sun off of Elliot. I know it kind of defeats the purpose of going to the beach, but whatever. She did really well. She loved the water & waves until one knocked her down. But overall it was a success.

Anxiety

The past couple of days, Lane & I have been talking about where he's going to apply for residency programs. This subject makes me super excited because once he applies, I'll at least know that those are the places we will possibly live for the next 3 years. It narrows things down a bit. At the same time it makes me want to throw up because what if we DON'T get into a Texas program? I've always assumed & have actually counted on us staying here. Will it be the end of my world? Maybe. And I have to remember that this process is different than getting accepted into a college. Lane ranks the places he interviews at & they rank all of the applicants they see & then they match them up. Pretty confusing to me, but that's how it is. And then I just saw a friend of mine's blog & they're going to Fort Worth (my ideal spot) for her husband's job. I know we still have a year to go until we end up wherever, but the decisions are about to start. I want to live by my family & friends. I want Elliot to be close with them. We've already been away for 3 years & if we don't go back it will be a total of 7 years when it's all said & done. We both want to be in the DFW area, so at least we're on the same page. But there's only 1 tier 1(the best) program in Texas. Yes there are some other tier 2 programs, but Lane has pretty good grades & can possibly get into the good programs. Of course we want the best for him. We're not pouring money into his education to not at least shoot for the top, right? Which means that he'll rank Southwestern (Dallas) as #1 & keep his fingers crossed. Then from there who knows. What if he gets his #2 or #3 choice? It could be Arizona, Carolinas, etc. Can you tell I'm stressed? I just need to put this out of my mind until he actually interviews in the fall. Things will be more clear then.

9 Months

E is 9 months today! Here are her stats:
17 lbs 10 oz (25%)
28 inches (60%)
17 head cir (25%)

She is growing beautifully. Everything is right on track. Developmentally she is crawling everywhere & pulling up on everything! She has her bottom 2 teeth, but they're not fully in yet. She babbles a lot. And she's constantly smiling. Especially at other little people. Sometimes when her pacifier is in it covers up her smile, but you can always tell because her eyes give it away. I say she "smiles with her eyes" Tyra Banks style.

Lately her tongue is constantly out.

I love her closed mouth smile. It puffs her cheeks out even more!

"Sidetracked"

Let the record show that Lane has let Elliot fall off 2 things now. A week ago it was the couch. He was sitting RIGHT NEXT to her & still she managed to slip off without him noticing. And today it was the bed. I set her down & told him to watch her. In the time that it took me to use the bathroom & wash my hands I heard a loud thud. Sure enough it was my sweet little baby crying on the floor. I was SO MAD at him. Why couldn't he just protect her for 2 seconds? And his excuse...I got sidetracked. What kind of excuse is that? Luckily neither of the surfaces she fell from were very high. But I'm afraid she will land wrong & break something. Yes, I'm sure one day I will think back & laugh at his inability to multitask. But for now, I'm thinking about her. She shouldn't have to cry over that.
**Side note--Lane was supposed to go to the bank & work out, but came home early because he felt bad about it.

Because I'm Bored...

What is your husbands name? Lane
How long did you date? 6 months before we got engaged
How old is he? 31
How long have you be married? 3 years
Who is taller? Lane by a foot
Who eats more? This is a toss up. I eat A LOT, but I guess I'll give him this one because sometimes he will make himself snacks after we've had a meal & I'll still be full.
Who is the better singer? Me. I barely ever hear him sing...only in church.
Who is smarter? Lane's a genius...seriously.
Who does the laundry? I do.
Who pays the bills? I do.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're facing the bed, then Lane.
Who mows the lawn? N/A because we live in an apartment. But if we did have a lawn, it would be Lane's job.
Who cooks dinner? I'll say 60%-40% Lane, but he probably thinks he does a lot more than that.
Who drives? He does.
Who is more stubborn? Me. Lane is very passive.
Who kissed who first? He did. He almost gave up on me because I would never give him the green light. Luckily he held out.
Who asked who out? He did. Although he claims the 1st time we went out wasn't a "date", he still asked me out the 2nd time & so on.
Who proposed? Lane. He came up to my school on a teacher work day.
Who is more sensitive? Neither one of us are very sensitive...as in, we don't get our feelings hurt easily.
Who has more siblings? If you count his steps, then he does with 11! But otherwise I beat him by 1. I have 5 siblings.
Who wears the pants? Probably me, but I feel I am very open to whatever he wants.

Crawling

This slideshow made with Smilebox! E has now started crawling. Lane predicted May 5 & I said May 8th. On the 5th she was only taking 1-2 steps & then going down on her stomach. By the 8th it was around 4-5 steps. Every day we would say, "This is the farthest she's ever crawled!" And now, she can pretty much go wherever she wants. I wish our apartment had more carpet for her. I always feel bad when she ventures off the rug, which is all the time. I don't want her to get bruises on her knees like I get when I'm crawling around fishing out toys from under the sofa. Anyway, here are 2 video clips for you.

Weekend

What a busy weekend we had. Saturday aka Party Day was full of fun. I hosted a baby shower that morning. My friend is having a boy & we had a bird themed shower.

That afternoon my cousin's little girl Emerson had her 2nd birthday at Gymboree. E & I attended that & it was so much fun. Elliot really enjoyed the soft mats to crawl around on. Big difference from home.

Right after that, I headed back home to have a little BBQ at the pool. Lane's mom, brother & step dad were in town. Brian, Christina & their boys were able to join us too. It was so nice to just hang out & catch up.

And today is Mother's Day. I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home with my sweet little girl. She seriously makes my life so much better. I don't know how I got so lucky!

Just look at her!

I Had No Idea

Apparently today I dressed like a mom. My friend informed me of this & it really took me by surprise. What? I thought these jean capris were in style. They're fitted, have the worn look & even a torn spot. I realize this picture is unflattering, but TRUST me, the whole outfit works. We were at Costco during my revelation & sure enough, 2 out of 3 women had capris on. Of course all of them were over the age of 40. I will say that mine were more stylish than theirs, but I had no case. I had a good laugh about it & you think I would throw them out immediately. However, I'm keeping these babies. They are sooo comfy & it's HOT in Houston, so there!

Fiesta

To me Cinco de Mayo is an excuse to eat Mexican food. Until just now, I always thought it was celebrated as Mexico's Independence Day, but according to Wikipedia it commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over the French forces at the Battle of Puebla. Interesting.

We had a few friends over to enjoy the insane amounts of food we had. There were only 7 of us, but we had:

-margaritas (non alcoholic of course)
-flautas
-chicken enchiladas
-tacos
-chips w/ guacamole, salsa & cheese dip
-sopapilla cheesecake
-tres leches cake (thank you Diane & Fernando!)

Here's part of the spread.

Of course we had to have a pinata. Here's Lauren. She had a pretty good run, but in the end the donkey won.

But it was Diane that really let him have it. It only took her 2 swings to do...

this.

This may be a hot button topic

*I am not a real political person. I may occasionally watch Fox News when Lane has it on, but that does not make me an expert. The following is just my opinion. I do not mean to offend anyone. If you don't agree with me, don't feel the need to make a comment. It's not going to change my mind...and I think it's rude because this is my blog & I can say what I want. Again, no offense.

So I saw a story on Yahoo Sports about the Phoenix Suns wearing their "los Suns" uniforms to make a statement about the happenings in Arizona. This caused me to think about all of that craziness, which caused me to get all fired up. I think it's completely ridiculous that there have been riots & uprisings about this issue. I understand if they're against racial profiling (ex: pulling someone over without reasonable cause). However, the real issue is about legal vs. illegal. Don't we have laws for a reason? Why should they get flack because they're enforcing them? It does not mean that we hate Latin Americans. We just believe that they need to be here legally. I'm not a hater. I just believe in following the rules. I think Glenn Beck says it best "America, this is what you have to understand: equal justice, not social justice. Equal justice of the law demands that law-breakers not be rewarded for their illegal activity, that instead they be treated like everyone else."

Baby Time

A friend of mine invited us to go to a baby class at the library. I think all the kids are under the age of 1. We sang songs, looked at books & played with toys. E really liked it, so I think we'll go back.

Little Swimmer

We decided to introduce E to the pool today. She loved it! She didn't fuss at all. She had so much fun splashing around with us. I'm so glad she liked it because I plan on spending a lot of time by the pool this summer.

Happy as a clam

She loves hanging out in her raft

She looks so happy floating around

Time to dry off

Cool cat