The Tyler Family

On the day that you were born. . . .

2012-01-26T10:25:00.000-06:00

before

Welcome to the world Calvin Piers Tyler! Here is what happened- the story is pretty quick so don't blink! We checked into Seton Main hospital about 8AM. We got settled into the labor and delivery room. There was an admin nurse that went over a bunch of questions with us. There was a training nurse and her instructor that gave me an IV port. Dr. Gooch came in about 9AM and broke my water, started a pitocin drip about 15 minutes later. About 9:30AM I started having regular contractions. About 10AM I asked for an epidural. About 10:10AM the nurse came in to check on us and to get the epidural started. This is when things got interesting. She checked me and then said she would be right back. She came back into the room about 10:15AM and much to my dismay informed me there was no time left to give me an epidural because I was already at 10cm. The look on my face must have been priceless followed up with "chris- whatthefuckamigoingtodo ican'tdothiswithoutanepidural!".
I only had about 3 minutes to panic because the next contraction I had was a pushing contraction she told me not to fight it- to go with the flow. 3 minutes later the head nurse in charge was in the room telling me not to push and at the same time telling Dr. Gooch that if she was going to deliver this baby that she better run, Calvin's head was already out. The nurse in training was in the corner of the room looking like a deer caught in headlights (probably similar to my look when I found out there would be no epidural). My doc got into the room just in time to catch the rest of Calvin. His official birth time is 10:25AM. The lady next door to me asked for an epidural at exactly 10:25:01AM. The first piece of info we got was the baby was a boy. The second piece of info we got was that he weighs 9 pounds 5 ounces. The third piece of info we got was that he was healthy with all of his limbs, 10 fingers and 10 toes. The rest of the info I got is TMI but let's just say, Calvin is a big baby that came out very fast. . ..

The rest of the day was spent recovering and staring endlessly at our handsome baby boy. My parents brought Maria to the hospital later on in the day. She was very interested in meeting Calvin for the first time. She was very sweet and gentle with him.

my parents, maria and chris went to eat dinner at waterloo ice house and brought back my free chocolate shake! this my new favorite picture of chris and maria.

The first night with Calvin was about as smooth as it can be with a newborn. Between him being checked out, me being checked out, him needing to be fed and nurses dropping in, there wasn't much sleeping going on.


this is chris changing one of the 6 poop diapers that calvin made on the first day.

I can't help but feel blessed- somewhere, sometime in my life I made some kind of good karmic choice so I that ended up with 2 sweet, beautiful healthy children- at least for the time being....

talkin' and drinkin'

2011-11-17T17:14:00.000-06:00

Dear Maria- I have no idea where you picked up on this. . . .

lazy sunday

2011-09-25T13:40:00.000-05:00

yay! maria slept all the way through the night last night! i hope she is on the mend and this cold is going away. she was pretty quiet this morning. chris made french toast and then we hung out on the sofa and watched some cartoons for a little bit. maria is starting to look more like a little kid and not so much like a baby anymore. i am also feeling very, very, very pregnant these days.

cute pix of Maria

2011-09-24T13:22:00.001-05:00

These are my newest favorite pictures of Maria.

She grabs on to this little bell on the back door whenever she wants to go outside. She grabs it like every 5 minutes! Unfortunately she picked up a post trip cold and we've been dealing with snot and coughing and several wake ups through out the night. I hope she gets better soon.

LA: Day 8

2011-09-17T13:15:00.001-05:00

This was our last morning in LA. We got packed up and checked out of the hotel. We turned in our rental car at Hertz and they were nice enough to leave us in the car and drive us to LAX. Let me just say- the Hertz rental car place at LAX is huge!!! The guy that drove us said this location is the biggest Hertz in the world. I believe him. We thought we had left with plenty of time but alas we had to get bumped up in the baggage check line for American Airlines. I don't know what the deal was but there were about 100 people in line to check bags and 3 agents checking bags. All I can say is at least they pulled us forward and took our bags before the check in time expired. Security was a breeze to get through- I guess because everyone was stuck in the baggage line. The flight back pretty emtpy. We had a whole row to ourselves! We enjoyed our trip out to the west coast but we were very happy to get back home too.

BTW- way to go horns!!!!!

LA: Day 7

2011-09-16T13:05:00.001-05:00

Today we didn't do much- after chasing Maria around all day yesterday I was totally exhausted! This pregnancy is wearing me out! I took Maria to Downtown Disney and we shopped around for awhile. I loved going in the LEGO store and Maria just liked being outside. We bought Chris a vinyl TRON Mickey figure. I think he liked it.

LA: Day 6

2011-09-15T12:54:00.001-05:00

Today I took Maria to the beach! I was 33 years old the first time I saw the Pacific Ocean- Maria was 16 months! She hated it at first. She hated the sand, the water, the breeze- everything. I took her to a little grassy area with picnic tables and her let pick up sticks and feathers for a while. I took her back into the sand and she decided she liked it. I took her to the shoreline and she decided she liked the water. Since she had gotten braver I decided to put her swimsuit on her and let her really get in the water. OMG- she went from crying at the water to running full force towards the waves! I was glad she liked it but it was exhausting chasing after her. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel pool talking to other wives/ moms.

LA: Day 5

2011-09-14T12:36:00.001-05:00

Today was fun- we drove down to Oceanside to meet a friend of mine- Sandy and her son Sean. Sandy and her husband Sonny produce a podcast all about geocaching called Podcacher. If you want to check it out click here. (If you listen to show 337 you can hear my intro!) Sandy picked up lunch for us and we met up at a neighborhood park. Sean and Maria had a great time playing on the swings and slide and sand. Sean showed off a little stuffed dog we gave him when he was 6 weeks old. He loves that dog! Here are some more pics of the day (taken by Sandy).

We ended the afternoon with a trip to the hotel pool. I met another wife/ mom and her girls and they were from Austin! What a small world. . . .Damn! That song is still stuck in my head!

LA: Day 4

2011-09-13T12:32:00.001-05:00

i don't have any pictures because we had a relatively quiet day. we were pretty exhausted from traveling and disneyland. i found a hike and bike trail with a park not too far from the hotel so maria and i drove there. i found 2 geocaches and met a geocacher on the trail. he and i helped each other out finding caches- it was pretty fun. later in the afternoon i took maria to the hotel pool. the pool was fun but kind of cold!!!

LA: Day 3 Disneyland

2011-09-12T22:41:00.001-05:00

Today we went to Disneyland. Maria was such a good little trooper. I wanted to go on more rides but seeing as how Maria didn't meet the height requirement on many rides and I am pregnant we had to settle for more of the attactions and fewer rides. We have more pictures than the ones I am posting but they are on our phones and I don't feel like trying to copy them to the computer. We did splurge and buy Maria some Mickey Mouse ears and got her name sewn on them. She instantly started crying everytime we put them on her. Awesome. The other super awesome thing was that she fell asleep just before we got on Its a Small World ride. The one ride she would get a kick out of and she slept through the entire song- over and over again. . .

LA: Day 2

2011-09-11T22:25:00.002-05:00

Today we sort of slept in and had a late breakfast at Foxy's with Tony, Austin, Rachel and Lyric. Afterwards we regrouped at Tony's house and then went to Rocket Fizz- a candy and soda pop shop in Burbank. It was pretty fun. I had to open a can on Chris though.

After we were sufficiently sugared up we went to the Japanese Garden in Van Nuys. The whole park is part of a water reclamation project. The smell was a little funky but the scenes were pretty.

LA: Day 1

2011-09-10T22:09:00.000-05:00

Today we flew to LA to spend the weekend with Chris's brothers. Surprise of all surprises we got upgraded (for a fee) to first class when we checked in at the Austin airport. The first class flight was awesome- Maria did great and we enjoyed the hot towels and warm nuts! Ha! After we got our car we drove to Glendale to Tony's house in the hills. Maria got to meet her cousin Lyric for the first time. I think she was more into chasing the cat and torturing Grendel but she seemed to like Lyric and his adorably cute baby face. After that we ate at Outback Steakhouse to enjoy some nice steaks cooked by Austin.

Bug Life: Month 16

2011-09-10T11:34:00.000-05:00

Hey bug-a-bugs! Today you are 16 months old! Guess what we are doing? We are flying to California- Los Angeles to be exact and in first class! I haven't done a post for you in forever because the summer was so amazingly hot!! You started walking in June, went swimming a lot, played with your little friends James and Evie and Vedder, went to the library story time, bounced around at locomotion (an indoor inflatable play place), went to Utah/ Idaho and Montana to see family, friends and national parks. You also got molars and learned how to gently place yourself on the ground and scream/ cry. Those last 2 things are very forgettable. This will be a short posting but at least I posted something. I will try to do a better job with your month to month updates.

the austin zoo

2011-09-09T17:20:00.000-05:00

today, lynn and james and maria and i went to the austin zoo. despite the later start (our fault) and warmer temperatures, we still had a good time. we started out with a train ride and then moved on to feed the deer, sheep, llamas and goats. we wandered around and saw the tigers and lions, monkeys, turtles, pigs and birds. the zoo is small and mostly houses rescued animals. we'll check it out again when the weather cools off.

gardening!

2011-09-04T16:30:00.000-05:00

this morning maria helped chris clear all the dead plants from the veggie garden. we did get to enjoy some home grown tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, potatoes, and squash this summer but alas the heat has taken its toll on our plants.

maria cooled off by playing with her water table.

responsible parenting

2011-08-31T23:18:00.002-05:00

something tells me this might end up on parent fail but oh well. maria's new favorite toys lately have been a bottle of target brand pepto (ms. pepto) and a box of target brand gauze pads (mr. gauze). ms. pepto was replaced tonight when maria figured out how to get the lid off. let this be a warning to all parents- it doesn't matter how young your child is, nothing is child proof.

here are the photographic memories of ms. pepto and mr. gauze and the joy they brought maria. let it also be noted that ms. pepto was always carried in her right hand and mr. gauze in the left.

vogue swimming

2011-08-30T16:15:00.000-05:00

our little fashionista swimmer.

it's hot.

2011-08-28T23:06:00.000-05:00

here was the temp today. this has been the hottest summer on record. this explains why i didn't blog for the past 3 months. btw, the thermometer is in the shade.

maria got the ipod touch away from me and took some random shots before nap time.

august pix

2011-08-28T18:22:00.002-05:00

here are random pix from august (minus vacay):

july pix

2011-08-28T17:40:00.000-05:00

random pix from july:

pix

2011-08-28T17:28:00.000-05:00

here are some random pix of maria from june:

chris on father's day with his major national award.

chris and maria on father's day

maria and evie at loco

maria at loco

i know- it has been a long time

2011-08-28T17:11:00.000-05:00

alright- i know it has been a long time since the last post but it has been incredibly hot which has led to a lot of laziness and i am also pregnant which has led to a lot of tiredness. is that enough excuses?

let's do a quick recap since maria's first birthday. it got progressively hotter. maria started walking in july. she started out with a couple of steps here and there then she took more steps and less crawling, then a lot more walking until she stopped crawling completely. her grandma bonnie came to visit for 2 weeks near the end of july. we had regular play dates with james and evie at locomotion- an indoor inflatable playland for little kids. we also went to story time at the hampton branch library on tuesdays and fridays. we had lunch with my parents sometimes on thursdays, mostly on fridays. we went to the neighborhood pool 2-3 times a week. we went on vacation to utah/ idaho/ montana to see family/ friends/ yellowstone national park. maria now walks in circles, backwards, runs and is really trying to communicate. she says daddy, ma, doggie. when she wants to go outside (which is every 2 minutes) she grabs this little bell that hangs from the door knob and then gets her shoes. she even fetches our shoes and tries to put them on our feet for us to speed up the process of getting outside. she tries to help with laundry, sweeping and cooking. (yay! my sweet little girl!) she loves daisy very much. she loves crayons and pushing buttons.

Bug Life: Month 12

2011-05-10T11:34:00.001-05:00

My little bug is 1 year old today. Wow. I can't believe she is one today. In the last 30 days Maria has been to 2 crawfish boils- one we hosted and the other was at a friend's house. She was pretty ambivalent about the crawfish- hopefully she will be more excited next year. . . One thing we learned after these parties- she loves watermelon. She would probably eat it all day long if we let her but we don't because I fear what her diapers would be like afterward! She also went to her friend that is a boy named James' first birthday party. She had her first taste of cake and ice cream. She loved both of those. We also watched the royal wedding of Will and Kate. Well- maybe it was just her mom that was watching it but Maria did participate by waving at the happy royal couple when they were riding in the carriage and waving. The best party of all was her own party. I always said I wasn't going to have a big party for my kid's first birthday but lately I've been doing a lot of things I said I was never going to do. The party was in our backyard and all of her little friends we in attendance. You can read all the details in the blog. (After I write it. . . ) Her accomplishments this month mostly center around food- she is a lot more interested in self feeding. She has also moved on to whole milk- no more formula! She loves watermelon and chicken. She mimics a lot. She likes to wave. She loves putting things into things- ie putting golf balls into shoes, bath tub, on the sofa, etc. . .

I guess this leads us to her actual birthday. Chris took today off from work and we went to Disneyworld! No- just joking we went to the pediatrician for her 12 month check up. Her official stats are 28 1/2 inches long and 20 lbs 6 oz. She is right around the 50th percentile in weight and length. After the doc's office we went to Zilker Park and rode the Zilker Zephyr. She was pretty worn out from screaming and crying after getting shots so she mostly slept through the whole train ride. We came home, ate lunch and she took the longest nap I think she has ever taken! She woke up about 5pm-ish and played with all of her new toys. She had a special dinner of milk, green vegetable dinner, watermelon and a little piece of birthday cake. afterwards we went for a little stroll in the neighborhood. She got a bath and surprisingly enough went right to sleep.

We love you little Maria bug! Heres to many, many, many more birthday celebrations!

the day after

2011-05-09T18:00:00.000-05:00

today was much better than yesterday. maria was feeling all better- kid illnesses are weird- here today, gone tomorrow.

happy mother's day- barf

2011-05-08T17:58:00.000-05:00

so this would be my first mother's day. i was looking forward to a nice breakfast in bed. what i got was a sick kid with a temperature of 103.8F and barfed on. oh the joys of motherhood. you'd think that at some point there would be a picture taken of me with maria. guess what? she fell asleep on chris and this is the only picture that was taken.

Maria's super sweet first birthday party

2011-05-07T16:44:00.000-05:00

We had a great time having her party in the backyard. We spent all week getting ready for it and all spring fixing up the back yard! All of her little friends were there, some of her cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles and of course us. There was food, swimming, horseshoes, sidewalk chalk drawing, water table playing, cake, presents and party favors.

hangin out

2011-04-27T17:50:00.000-05:00

neighborhood egg hunt

2011-04-23T17:40:00.000-05:00

this morning we took maria to the neighborhood egg hunt. we had just enough time to get her picture taken with a weird looking easter bunny before the big hunt. ummm- well, maybe hunt isn't the right word. we sat her down right in front of the eggs but she was more interested in the treat i put in her basket than she was in picking up eggs. it took a lot of prompting from us to get her to pick up an egg.

Mobile Maria

2011-04-20T23:02:00.000-05:00

maria and yardwork

2011-04-18T11:38:00.000-05:00

here are a couple of pix of maria. we've been busy working in the back yard lately trying to get it spruced up. i will be so happy when it is all done!

her top teeth are really making an appearance now and i suspect she might be getting some more teeth because she has been chewy, drooly and a little cranky lately. her hair is getting longer in the back- the baby mullet is starting to take shape. she is also confident in standing and walking along the sofa. she has been letting go of support and standing on her own for a few seconds.

maria in the bluebonnets

2011-04-11T20:36:00.000-05:00

chris came home from work early today so we could get a picture of maria in bluebonnets before they are all gone.

Bug Life: Month 11

2011-04-10T11:34:00.001-05:00

today you are one month shy of being a year old. the time has gone by so quickly. your personality is growing everyday. your schedule hasn't changed much- sometimes you nap, sometimes you don't. for the most part you sleep all the way through the night unless you are teething. i no longer give you a bottle in the morning and then wait to give you breakfast. you get bottles and meals together at the same time. i haven't been as good about going out on walks so we mostly play inside. you still love daisy although i'm not sure the feeling is mutual. you are working on sprouting some top teeth- right now you got some little nubs.

here are the things you are super into- golf balls, draping things around your neck (your pj's and one of daisy's vet leashes are you favorite), hiding out in small spaces and looking super cute. let us start with the golf balls because this is linked (ha!) to hiding in small spaces. you love hanging out between the futon/ bookcase in the office. that is where you found the golf balls. not only did you dig out all the practice balls but you opened up all of the sealed with plastic, stored in little boxes golf balls. you love rolling them on the ground, crawling with them in your hands, throwing them at daisy, and spreading them all over the house. i have a feeling that we will be finding golf balls for years to come. you love draping things around your neck. we have an extra leash from the vet that you drape along with pants, shirts, jammies- anything that you can drape. you are most happy with a golf ball in each hand, stuff draped around your neck and hanging out in the little space between the wall and your crib. i know- this sounds like real responsible parenting but it makes you happy. you are also obsessed with the following books- if you give a mouse a cookie, the cookie monster book, daddy kisses, curious george opposites, and goodnight moon. you hand these to us at every opportunity.

i'm trying to remember things we did this month and i am totally drawing a blank. i know we hung out with your friend that is a boy- james. your grandma bonnie was here for a week (spring break) and we took you to the rodeo fairgrounds. my parents bought a new house in driftwood so we have seen them a few times. daddy takes you out on weekend shopping/ errands adventures while i am at work. there have been several nights where you were a terrible sleeper- i think that is why my mind is so blank right now.

today we went to opal divine's and had brunch with my cousin candis and her husband patrick. you were mostly good but were ready to go when we left. from there we went to james' first birthday party. you had a lot of fun in his play room but kind of stayed away from the other kids. you had cake and ice cream for the first time. i think you really liked it but you won't be getting any more until next month- for your birthday! you fell asleep on the way home. you were so sleepy we were able to transfer you from your car seat to your crib and you went back to sleep for about an hour. right now you are crawling around the office and hallway with a bag, a silver gift bow and your pink striped jammies.

you are our amazing, funny, curious, healthy, strong little girl and we love you so much.

bath time super fun

2011-03-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

asleep

2011-03-30T20:46:00.000-05:00

i will laugh every time she does this.

daisy and maria

2011-03-23T20:38:00.000-05:00

isn't there a quote about working with kids and animals?

maria and her table

2011-03-21T20:33:00.000-05:00

maria wants you

2011-03-21T20:29:00.000-05:00

maria wants you for serious baby fun.

Bug Life: Month 10

2011-03-10T11:34:00.018-06:00

Today Maria is 10 months old!! I think we are celebrating this with her first cold. Poop. Sad face. Yesterday afternoon she started to get a really runny nose and had a slight little cough. By the time night rolled around you had a lot of trouble sleeping. We both took turns rocking you back to sleep. It was a looooong night for us- we are super tired today. I hope you feel better really soon because I'm not sure how long I can deal with snot and no sleep. A couple of nights ago I had to pack away all of your little baby clothes to store them in the attic. You are no longer our little tiny baby.

This month has been a little hectic since I started working part time. It is only 16 hours a week at night and weekends but it is way too much time away from my little girl. This month your first friend moved away. Owen's parents moved to Idaho and took him with them. You weren't totally broken up over the move but we were. You like to touch fingers. You like to hang out in Daisy's dog bed. You like being pulled around in one of your toy tubs. You laugh at the most random things. You have started dancing- sort of. Your dancing consists of you kind of swaying back and forth, smiling and claping your hands or waving them frantically- its ok- you got your dancing ability from your dad. You snuggle a little bit- not really on us- on one of your soft blankets. You show a preference for 3 things now- soft blankets, link from monsters versus aliens (we call him your baby) and a soft fuzzy stuffed hippo. You love your bottle and you can hold your own bottle. Nobody better touch your bottle when you are drinking from it. You crawl all over the house with lightening speed. You pull up on everything and your grabbing range has grown exponentially. You had your first and last Gray family dinner at my parents' old house. They are moving to be closer to us later on this month!

Your typical day starts between 7:30am and 8:30am. You wake up in such a good mood- you play in your crib and make little happy noises. Daddy gets you out, changes your diaper and fixes you a bottle. You are holding the bottle all on your own now. While you drink it down I have breakfast and Daddy gets ready to go to work. When we are done we play in the living room. You are still obsessed with Daddy's work id badge. You cry when Daddy goes to work not because he is gone but because he takes the badge with him. We watch ellen at 9am. I love that show- you mostly just crawl around the living room while I watch it. You have started dancing when music comes on. It is pretty cute. At 10am you get your solid breakfast and then we brush your teeth and get you dressed for the day. We usually go for a walk after that or we run errands or we go to the library. We've been hanging out with Jessica and Vedder on Tuesday and Thursday. You like Vedder even though he pushes you down all the time. You have lunch around 1pm and a bottle around 4pm. Daddy usually comes home at 6pm. You have dinner around 7pm followed up with a bath and then it is bedtime! Your naps occur at different times. Sometimes you nap right after breakfast, sometimes after lunch and sometimes none at all. I don't know how you make it through the day without a nap because you are always moving and wiggling! If you aren't going to fall asleep you will at least hang out in your crib for an extended quiet time.

Today we went for a walk with Jessica and Vedder and then we went to the grocery store.We saw Lynn and James at HEB. We dropped off some books at the library on the way home. Daddy came home from work a little early because you weren't feeling well. We think you are either teething or have your first cold or both. Tonight Daddy bought you a Vicks cool mist humidifier for your room while I was at work. You slept all the way through the night!!!

We love you Maria bug!

ps Daddy finally fixed the middle drawer on changing table!

some one passed out. . .

2011-02-24T22:40:00.003-06:00

someone passed out while drinking and this time it wasn't me!

bye petersons

2011-02-20T22:31:00.001-06:00

bye guys- i hope you have a great vacation in idaho. . . ..

maria's new bed

2011-02-16T20:54:00.001-06:00

maria has decided she likes daisy's dog bed more than daisy likes it. i can't believe we spent all that money on a crib when a dog bed would serve the same purpose! ;)

2 seconds after i took this picture she conked her head on the floor. here she is with chris- tears, blankie, and pacifier.

happy birthday nanna!

2011-02-13T20:18:00.000-06:00

cruising in my toy bin

2011-02-12T20:10:00.000-06:00

dancing on the ceiling

2011-02-12T20:08:00.001-06:00

oh what a feeling
i'm dancing on the ceiling!

hanging out in the crib

2011-02-11T20:07:00.000-06:00

here are some pix of maria. she was just hanging out in her crib.

the scrape in her cheek is not from crawling through the doggie door. it came from bonking her head on a little bookcase when she fell on it. the bruise on her forehead came from the deck hitting her head when she plowed through the doggie door. yeah- it was one of those days.

Bug Life: Month 9

2011-02-10T11:34:00.002-06:00

alright- i have to end the practice of starting these posts with "i can't believe you are another month older- where did the time go?". but just one more time- omg- you are 9 months old??? when did this happen?? this marks the "you've been out longer than you were in" milestone! you continue to grow everyday. it seems like every week i am having to pack away more of your little clothes. . .

your firsts this month included attending your first texas women's basketball game, your first trip to zilker park to ride the train, your first superbowl/ going away party and your first snow fall. your grandparents have been visiting a lot lately because they are in the process of buying a house closer to us! we are all very excited about them moving! unfortunately you went to another funeral- my cousin ronnie passed away. you were really great during the service except for when you farted super loud during taps. i was so embarrassed!!!!! the other sad news this month is that your little friend owen is moving to idaho. we are bummed that our game night friends are moving away. at least we can go visit them during august when we can't take the texas heat anymore! you are crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything. you have gotten to be a very fast crawler and you like to explore the house. your favorite spots are by any door- including the doggie door- which you crawled through the other day. you love pulling books off shelves- it is your new favorite past time.

your typical day hasn't changed much- you wake up around 8am-ish. we change your diaper, give you a bottle and daddy hangs out with you so i can have breakfast. lately we've been watching ellen in the morning after daddy goes to work. i give you breakfast around 10am and get you dressed for the day. normally you take a nap after that- around 11am-ish to 1pm-ish. i give you a bottle when you wake up and we play for the rest of the afternoon. we've haven't been going on regular walks because it has been so cold outside. i keep thinking the weather is going to warm up but it keeps getting colder! you get another bottle around 4pm. sometimes you take a little nap in the afternoon- most of the time you don't. we give you dinner around 7pm and a bath afterward. occasionally you go right to sleep after that but lately you have been staying up until close to 9pm. you decided that you don't like daddy to dance you to sleep anymore. we are trying to figure out how to get you to sleep at night now. it seems like the best thing is to put you in your crib and let you fall asleep on your own. you have a thick pink fuzzy blanket with satin edges that you absolutely love to snuggle up with. i think you have also grown attached to a fuzzy purple hippo.

today was a fun morning. i decided to run some errands since you were not going to take a nap. the first stop was babies r us to pick up a crib rail protector because you have been chewing on the rail. i had a whole list of errands to run but guess what? we saw lynn and james! lynn and i decided to go out for lunch instead of run errands. it was a lot more fun than dropping off books at the library and going to the grocery store! you eventually fell asleep in your car seat while we were eating. we came home after lunch and you got a diaper change and a bottle and finally fell asleep for a real nap! starting tonight you get some special maria/ daddy hang out time because i am going to start a part time job! it is only for a couple of months and only at night/ weekends. i can now say i have worked for every mapping company in austin! the newest place is right on front of the neighborhood. i hope you are really, really good for daddy- he loves your smiles and giggles!

we love you little maria bug.

cute bottle pix

2011-02-04T13:03:00.000-06:00

one more post before she wakes up from her late morning/ early afternoon nap.

maria's reaction to snow

2011-02-04T12:50:00.000-06:00

snow!!!!!!

2011-02-04T12:47:00.000-06:00

for all those in the northern states laughing and rolling your eyes at us- whatevs! this is a pretty rare occurrence for us so we make the most of it. (only if it lasts just a few hours)

imma bee

2011-02-03T22:32:00.001-06:00

yes- this was part of daisy's halloween costume from a couple of years ago. maria has made it her own.

me and my baby

2011-01-29T22:23:00.001-06:00

there aren't many pictures of maria and me together because i am always the one taking pictures. here are a couple though. i love her.

zilker park

2011-01-22T22:00:00.000-06:00

we went on our first family outing to zilker park today. it was a lot of fun. we strolled around the barton springs area, showed maria the play ground and rode the zilker zephyr!

maria and her first texas women's basketball game

2011-01-16T20:51:00.000-06:00

today we went to see the texas women's basketball team play ou. unfortunately the team lost but maria won a new experience!

maria and her first wabash cannonball

2011-01-16T20:23:00.001-06:00

sfdsfsdfsdfsdfsdf

level 1 product support

2011-01-10T19:01:00.000-06:00

i would not have believed this response had it not come directly to me. WTF? way to fail leap frog!

Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

only speaks spanish

Response (Aubrey)

01/10/2011 12:58 PM

We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Learn and Groove Musical Table is a bilingual product. Make sure that the switch is on the English Mode. The switch is located at the top portion of the table.

Should you have further query, please let us know.

Auto-Response

01/05/2011 10:03 AM

Thank you for your inquiry to LeapFrog Enterprises. Your business is important to us, and we want to let you know we received your email and your question will be answered in the order it was received.

Our goal is reply to emails within 24 business hours. During peak volumes in the holiday season, our response times may be up to 3 business days.

While you're waiting to hear from us, please visit our most frequently asked questions at
http://leapfrog.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/leapfrog.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php where you may find your answer there.

Customer (a tyler)

01/05/2011 10:03 AM

the table only speaks in spanish! yes- we turned it off and on and changed the batteries and yes we used the english/ spanish switch. how do we get it back to english?

Question Reference #110105-000779

Product Level 1:	Learn & Groove Musical Table
Date Created:	01/05/2011 10:03 AM
Last Updated:	01/10/2011 12:58 PM
Status:	Waiting

[---001:001190:53545---]

Bug Life: Month 8

2011-01-10T11:34:00.020-06:00

i don't believe it- i'm writing another bug life. seriously- where does the time go? maria you were very busy this month. you had a lot of firsts. your first airplane ride. your first trip out of the state. your first funeral (hopefully the last one for a looooooooong time). you helped daddy celebrate his 36th birthday. you got your first teeth- that was hellish on our sleep. we celebrated your first christmas and new year's. you won't remember the new year celebration because you were totally asleep but i gave you a kiss and put your blanket back on you. you got your first (probably only) high chair. you are picking up and eating little pieces of food now. you are pulling up with confidence now and trying to stand by yourself. you like to bounce when you stand- i think you are trying to dance. you are growing like a weed- we've had to retire so many clothes and jammies because they don't fit you anymore. you are waving at everyone and everything! you love daisy- i caught you pulling her tongue while she was licking you- it was totally hilarious. i love getting you all riled up and laughing- it isn't hard to do these days. you squeal and giggle and grunt and make all kinds of funny little noises with your mouth. you scrunch your face up and make breathy noises. you blow raspberries like nobody's business. you are taking a bath in the real tub- not in your baby tub. i'm not breastfeeding you anymore. daddy dances you to sleep with lady gaga. yes- it cracks me up and no- it doesn't work when i try it.

today you woke up around 7:30am. daddy changed your diaper and fixed you a bottle. he played with you while i got breakfast ready. after breakfast we played on the ground for a little bit. you wanted to follow daddy out the back door when he went to work. it was pretty cute. shortly after that you started crying- a lot. i'm thinking that maybe your top teeth are going to make an appearance soon. right now you are taking a nap and i am very happy about that! it breaks my heart when you cry like you did this morning. i'm sorry that your mouth hurts- i'm doing my very best to get you through teething. you like peaches a lot so i gave you peaches for breakfast this morning. i hope you enjoyed it.

just when i think you have reached maximum cuteness you leap across the threshold. we love you bug.

daisyogurt

2011-01-09T23:11:00.000-06:00

i've been on a yogurt kick lately. daisy loves this because i let her finish off whatever is left in the container. chris and i cracked up laughing tonight when he gave her the empty container.

chicken and the big tub

2011-01-09T21:22:00.000-06:00

tonight there were 2 milestones. first- maria had little pieces of chicken for the first time. she seemed to like it. if she could talk she would have said- 'huh- tastes like chicken.' the other milestone tonight was that she took her first bath in the tub and not her baby tub. she has outgrown her little baby tub. she has also outgrown my favorite jammies for her. my little girl isn't so little anymore.

cautious

2011-01-09T20:22:00.000-06:00

maria is starting to get a little cautious about her new mobility. instead of falling over to sit down from the standing position she is sllllllooooowwwwwllllllyyyy sitting down.

tgif

2011-01-07T21:30:00.001-06:00

chris took these pictures of maria today. she is dragging his work laptop bag like she is off to make the donuts!

Maria's new high chair!

2011-01-04T20:12:00.000-06:00

big milestone! maria got a high chair today! no more bumbo seat!

here are a couple of cute pix of maria:

i tried to get a picture of daisy tonight but she kept moving around!

Austin 2010 NYE: reflections and thoughts

2010-12-31T23:25:00.000-06:00

2010 started a new phase of my life. it was the year i became a parent and a stay at home mom. this year will be a marker. when i'm older and i look back at my life i will say- 2010, that was the year maria was born. that was the year i quit my job. that was the year my grandmother died. that was the year i had so many responsibilities that i finally felt like a real adult.

i have no idea what to expect in 2011 but i do look forward to spending time with maria and watching her grow. i look forward to sharing laughs with family and friends. i look forward to the few quiet moments i get with chris. i look forward to going on walks with daisy and maria. i look forward to just looking forward.

goodnight 2010.

Austin 2010 NYE: Home

2010-12-31T23:05:00.000-06:00

we took a little drive around the neighborhood to see some of the christmas lights one more time. we stopped by the snowman army to get a picture of maria. she ended up in the nativity also. she wasn't very happy.

maria had sweet potatoes for her last meal of 2010. here are a couple of super funny pictures:

i think maria was still on her secondary buzz from the bikers at zilker.

the last bath of 2010:

Austin 2010 NYE: Auditorium Shores

2010-12-31T22:53:00.001-06:00

so i'm not a patient driver and i really hate traffic and i really hate parking and i really hate paying to park so you can imagine my frustration level on barton springs rd sitting in traffic to pay to park. we finally made it to the parking garage, unloaded and got over to auditorium shores. i'm not sure if the family friendly party was really worth the hassle of going but in a way i am glad we went. we got out of the house and took maria to her first baby rave! she tolerated all the commotion. she even laughed and smiled a few times and i think she really did enjoy the baby rave.

Austin 2010 NYE: Zilker Tree

2010-12-31T22:38:00.000-06:00

we made it to the zilker tree tonight! it wasn't crowded at all except for all the stoned out bicyclers. i think we got a little secondary buzz going. . .

dinner fail

2010-12-30T21:11:00.000-06:00

i don't know what happened tonight. this was a total dinner fail!

maria spent a looooooong time in the bath tub tonight!

tony grendel and maria and daisy

2010-12-30T20:09:00.000-06:00

thanks tony for sticking around for a few days to help out while chris recovered from getting his wisdom teeth taken out!

maria the bit torrent

2010-12-27T20:09:00.000-06:00

maria rides again

2010-12-26T20:12:00.000-06:00

the day after

2010-12-26T12:24:00.001-06:00

omg- we found another maria tooth for a grand total of 2!!!!!! we can talk about her 'teeth' now instead of her 'tooth'!

maria's first christmas!

2010-12-25T15:03:00.000-06:00

this was maria's first christmas. i'm just saying it will probably be downhill from now on because she got a pony. just sayin'. . . .

christmas eve

2010-12-24T23:40:00.002-06:00

today is christmas eve!!! we finally put up the tree!! once we got the tree up we asked ourselves- 'selves- why did we wait so long to put up the tree? oh yeah- maria crawls!'. sooooo- note to selves- don't put up the tree early.

in addition to putting up the tree we ran by hancock fabrics to pick up a couple of sewing things my MIL needed to finish out the shopping cart/ restaurant high chair baby protector she is making for us. we also went by texas honey ham to pick up the most glorious christmas honey baked, spiral cut ham. it rained the entire time we were out. this is the first time in almost 3 months it has rained!

we made a super great tasty christmas eve dinner and enjoyed a nice, relaxed candle lit meal with chris's mom. maria hung out in the baby einstein jumper with some cheerios and daisy went back and forth between the table and maria sniffing for scraps of food.

this next picture will always make me laugh. i almost feel bad about posting it on the internet for anyone to see. i'm sure maria will be upset with me in the future for releasing this on the www however i can't not post it- sorry bug.

now that you have stopped laughing. . .

chris and i stayed up to greet chris's brother, tony. he got in about 11pm. while i was waiting for tony to get here i finished my portion of the christmas cards. if you are one of chris's relatives or one of his friends from high school and/ or college and you read that christmas cards were sent out and you did not receive one- blame chris! ;)

while we were waiting up for tony, we had the distinct honor of eating some cookies with santa. santa really liked the chocolate chip snicker doodle cookies i made and filled our stockings accordingly!

early christmas present

2010-12-23T22:32:00.001-06:00

well, we know why maria has woken up multiple times screaming and crying over the last couple of nights. she has a tooth! for reals this time- she really has a tooth! we got a very, very quick glimpse of it. there is no way we can photograph it so you'll just have to trust me.

here is a cute maria pic:

3-6 mafia

2010-12-20T22:33:00.001-06:00

happy birthday chris!

we spent the late morning at the mall getting maria's picture taken with santa. it was an ok experience. maria did really well- only one short meltdown.

chris's 3-6 mafia cake with gold pimpin' candles for the 6. i know- it isn't a snoopy m&m lined cake but i did the best i could.

cheerio belt

2010-12-19T13:52:00.001-06:00

maria is now eating/ playing with melt away cheerios. she ate a few but they mostly ended up around her waistline. i even found a few in her diaper. i have no idea how that happened.

tears and no napping

2010-12-16T22:24:00.001-06:00

today was a day that i wish i had kept my job at txdot.

em-eye-ess-ess-eye-ess-ess-eye-pee-pee-eye part 3

2010-12-13T23:23:00.000-06:00

today was the day we buried my grandmother. it was terribly cold and windy this morning. the internment service was short. we mostly huddled together to stay warm but also for support. it didn't really hit me until this morning that this was it. after the internment we went to the church for another service. i did a reading from revelation. i was super nervous because i hate public speaking. i told myself to get it together- this was for granna. i don't really remember the reading but i didn't stumble over any words or trip while walking to and from the podium. my uncle melvin gave a really nice speech about my grandmother. i think he gave us a new family phrase- i love you and there is nothing you can do about it.

after the church service we had a lite lunch in the parish hall. we were able to take a few family photos. the kids threw ice chunks at the building. maria was super chill and fun to be with. we went back to the hotel for about an hour. we changed clothes and gave maria a bottle. we looked at some old family photos. we said our good-byes and drove away from starkville around 3pm. we got to jackson a little after 5pm. the jackson airport is pretty small so it was super easy getting checked in and getting through security. we had an overpriced dinner at a cruddy airport restaurant. it wasn't totally bad- it just wasn't very good. the flight left jackson shortly after 7pm. i left mississippi with a heavy heart.

the kid cousins were pretty rowdy on the flight from jackson to houston. i'm sure many people were annoyed but oh well. since our flight was late leaving jackson we weren't sure if we would make the flight from houston to austin. i guess southwest held the plane for us because we made it. we were all split up. a really nice guy gave up his seat so chris and i could sit together with maria. i offered him my last drink coupon since i wasn't going to use it- he said no. i think he was relieved to not have to sit next to a baby! maria did great again- until the very end. she had a poop diaper that could have been classified as a low level biological attack. then edie threw up. fortunately both bodily functions were mostly well contained. the landing was pretty hard in austin. the southwest crew had a funny line- 'now that we've hit austin we'd like to thank you for flying southwest. . .' everyone on the plane laughed.

maria did a great job on this trip. she had a lot of tears on the ride home from the airport but i'd rather her have a meltdown in our car instead of a plane. i'm happy we all went to starkville for the funeral. i got to meet some relatives that i had never met before and some that i hadn't seen in many, many years. i'm sorry that it was my grandmother's funeral that brought us together but at least we were together. a big thanks goes out to my brother for arranging the flight and rental car and driving. in the end your family are really the ones that go above and beyond.

i love you and there is nothing you can do about it.

em-eye-ess-ess-eye-ess-ess-eye-pee-pee-eye part 2

2010-12-12T23:24:00.001-06:00

today was super duper cold and super duper windy. i don't have many pictures because we were too cold to take any. the highlights of the day were my dad driving us to the house he grew up in, around campus (including eckie's pond) and around starkville. the house he grew up in is no longer the house he grew up in. my grandmother sold it to the university and it is now the 'student life center'. i'm not sure what the inside looks like but the outside has been extensively remodeled- i would have to say not for the better. we made a quick stop at eckie's pond. it was a lot smaller than i remember. all of the trees and thick vegetation around it had been removed. it didn't look horrible but i liked it better when it was a little overgrown. campus has grown by leaps and bounds. there were a lot of new buildings. fortunately miss. state has done a really nice job of keeping a uniform and consistent look to the campus. you can tell the original buildings from the old ones but only because the new ones are really clean. we drove by the first house my grandparents lived in when they first got to starkville. it was very, very tiny. kind of romantic and cozy when you think of it in nostaligic terms but highly impractical for today!

after seeing the sites we went back to the hotel and took a little afternoon nap. at 3:30pm we went to the family viewing and the public visitation for my grandmother. i'm not saying the funeral home did a bad job but she didn't really look like herself. death really changes how a person looks. after the viewing we had a big family dinner at the veranda. it was really nice to have a formal meal with everyone. my grandmother was always all about formalities.

we kind of turned in early but i did hang out in the lobby to wait my sister and her family to arrive. the gray unit felt complete once they arrived.

em-eye-ess-ess-eye-ess-ess-eye-pee-pee-eye part 1

2010-12-11T22:47:00.001-06:00

i'm not even sure how to begin this entry so i guess i will just dive right in. today we flew from austin to houston to jackson, mississippi and then drove to starkville. i can't put into to words exactly how much i was dreading flying with maria but omg she was absolutely amazing! she was such a great little trooper today!

our first stop was dropping daisy off at the vet. we decided for her health and our neighbor's sanity we should have a professional tend to her wounds while we are gone. i know that right now she is a pathetic pile of fur and sad eyes because she isn't at home but her bite wounds are taking a loooooooong time to heal. poor thing. chris took her into the vet while i stayed in the car. i have to say- he has gone above and beyond the call of being a beagle parent to her these past several days.

the next stop was ABIA. here is a shoutout to the fine ticket agent folks at the southwest airlines counter. not only were they super friendly to us but they gave us a little certificate for maria to commemorate her first flight. thanks to the business select ticket purchase we breezed through security. we got to skip to the front of the line. if you are flying southwest it is totally worth the extra money to do this. plus you will get drink tickets for the flight! speaking of security. . . it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be but i forgot a lot of things- like taking off my shoes, leaving my cell phone in my pocket, struggling to get maria out of the car seat. i think i was just so happy about skipping the long line that my brain ceased to function. yes- i was that person. sorry to all hundreds of people behind us. . . after we got through security we got our picture taken with santa. it was free! i'll post the pix when i get home and can check email.

now for the dreaded take off and ears popping. we gave maria a bottle and she was happy as a clam. she fell asleep before we reached altitude. she was such a great little baby. chris did a wonderful job holding onto her so naylor, laura and i could enjoy a quick drink! the layover in houston was shorter than expected and take off went just as smooth as the first one. this time we added some cousins to the flight. oh yeah- my grandmother was with us too- just in a different part of the plane. . . .we turned in another drink coupon and before i knew it we were landing in jackson. my brother and cousin kelly picked out rental cars and my niece and nephew ran off some energy. chris and i ended up driving with my cousin kelly and fiancée, kara. maria mostly slept the whole way. she was awesome. i love my little traveler.

we got checked into the starkville hampton inn and went out to dinner at mugshots. we cut the after dinner talk short because we really needed to get maria back to hotel and put to bed. she was still awake after we got her bathed and fed so we joined the rest of the gray's in the lobby. we looked at a bunch of pictures and news articles that my grandmother had saved through out the years. some of the news briefs were kind of funny- like my uncle had a party at the house- there were 18 teenagers in attendance for informal games and dancing. i didn't know that my grandmother had a masters in journalism from the university of iowa.

well, this was a long entry but today was long day. i'm really happy we made the trip out here.

Bug Life: Month 7

2010-12-10T11:34:00.024-06:00

OMG maria bug! it feels like i just wrote your 6 month entry yesterday! you are growing and exploring and learning and doing new things everyday! your biggest accomplishment is crawling. you have totally mastered crawling. you are a crawling machine. when you aren't crawling you are pulling up on everything! it doesn't matter if it is my legs, the sofa, your crib, the fireplace, the french door. sometimes the more dangerous the surroundings the more likely you are to really want to pull up on it! you are also walking/ scooting along the sofa and fireplace. your other accomplishments include sleeping in your own room at night. we moved you from the pack and play in our room to your very own crib in your room. you really like your crib. you have been doing a great job of sleeping at night. you are having 2 solid meals a day- a fruit in the morning and a veggie at night. you mostly like everything so far. you don't really like squash or zucchini anymore since the all night barfing incident at thanksgiving. you and your tongue are pretty funny. you love sticking out your tongue and flopping it around. you also really like getting the mail. last week you spent about 30 minutes playing with the junk mail. you were scooting it around, flipping it over, holding onto a certain envelope that had our first christmas card. all the while you had a very serious expression. it was really cute. you still love going outside. you love petting daisy in the morning when we are all in bed. you cry when daddy goes to work. you make funny little screechy, grunty noises. sometimes i think you really are talking to me. we call it bug language. you like the christmas lights we put on the house.

today you woke up in such a quiet mood. i fed you and you played with daddy while i took a shower and ate breakfast. we played in the living room until close 10am then you got solid breakfast. we drove up to north austin to pick up some sandals for aunt laura. i got a chocolate shake at mighty fine burgers. when we got home i started packing for our big trip to mississippi. tomorrow we are getting on a plane to fly to jackson, ms. when we get to starkville, that will be the furthest you have been from your house in austin!

we love you maria bug!
mommy and daddy

granna

2010-12-07T11:40:00.001-06:00

lima beans. ice cream. drinking tea in the sunroom. ice cream. the 2 volume, hardbound box set of the oxford english dictionary complete with a little drawer for a magnifying glass. red brick and white painted trim. pecans. ice cream. brown lazy boy recliner. lincoln logs. ice cream. the secret garden. proper english. straight backs and table manners. ice cream. sac and save. feeding the ducks at eckie's pond. mississippi state. ice cream. picking up sticks in the yard. tiddly winks. national geographic magazines. ice cream. uncle melvin's leg cast. ice cream.

those are my childhood memories i have of my grandmother and her house in mississippi. despite the physical distance from her, i never felt too far away just because i have some some very 'kelly' and 'gray' personality traits. i hope she has been reunited with all the others in her life that have moved on- especially my grandfather. we love you and we'll miss you granna.

spam comments

2010-12-01T16:55:00.000-06:00

due to spam comments i had to add word verification and not allow anonymous users comments.

thanksgiving in the fire swamp.

2010-11-26T18:38:00.003-06:00

geocaching with isaac and edie

well, we survived thanksgiving- that is all i have to say about that. i don't know why we still think it is ok to go to my grandparents old ranch house for more than just a few hours much less overnight. nobody lives there anymore and the house is kind of falling into disrepair.

the fun thing that happened was i took my niece and nephew geocaching on wednesday. they seemed to really enjoy it. my nephew had a really good eye for finding caches and my niece loved looking through all the swag to trade.

thanksgiving started at midnight with maria waking up crying and then emptying the contents of her stomach for the next 2 hours. yeah- we were covered in it. unlike the popping sounds made in the fire swap to warn trespassers of impending spouts of fire, maria spewed out with no warning what so ever. if i had more than 2 gallons of gas in my car, i think i would have packed up and driven home in the middle of the night.

the morning started at 7am with my niece and nephew waking up. then maria waking up. then we found out that sometime during the middle of the night (the 2 or 3 hours that everyone was asleep) something had chewed off the cord to the coffee pot. the coffee pot!!!! given that the cord was just gone- and i mean gone- it was chewed off at the base of the coffee pot- i suspect it was a r.o.u.s. chris thought it was getting a little lord of the flies- esque so he drove 10 miles into town to fill my car with gas and to get everyone coffee. he single handedly saved thanksgiving. the situation calmed down after coffee was consumed. maria was doing fine and the cold front we'd heard about all week finally blew through and cooled off the house. my mom did a really superb job of getting all the food prepared and put out for consumption. maria slept through her first thanksgiving lunch. the meal was great and so was the company and conversation but it lacked my grandmother. thanksgiving was always her holiday. we shared a lot of really great memories of her.

chris took off about 2pm-ish. he had to borrow a pair of pants from my brother because all of our clothes had been blessed by maria. the plan was that i would stay until friday but i ended up leaving shortly after chris. i could not have another night of maria barf. plus, none of us had any (clean) clothes left. i got back to austin and chris was still home. he helped me get everything unpacked and in the washing machine before he went to the texas- a&m game. i watched some of the game but zonked out before it was over. friday was a very quiet, sleepy day at the tyler household.

where's maria?

2010-11-24T20:47:00.001-06:00

where's maria?

there she is!!! standing in her crib grabbing for the curtains! ohhhhhhh boy!

cuteness

2010-11-24T16:57:00.000-06:00

hello kitty

2010-11-23T20:37:00.003-06:00

today maria and i went to target and to the lady bird johnson wildflower center. we had a lot of fun getting out of the house. we spent a long time at target picking out some new jammies for maria and looking at toys and sunglasses. the wildflower center has a special exhibit of yard art. i had forgotten how pretty the center is. we had a nice time strolling around and enjoying being outside.

mini cathedral of junk

maria at the mini cathedral of junk

ipod instagram

2010-11-23T09:07:00.000-06:00

if anyone has been wondering where the square shaped, color enhanced pictures are coming from that i post on twitter/ facebook then wonder no more- they come from my new ipod touch and the instagram app.

here are my most favorite pictures:

got overalls?

2010-11-20T08:44:00.002-06:00

beware the cuteness following these words!

tunnel of crazy

2010-11-18T08:38:00.001-06:00

maria has grown out of playing with her play mat. she doesn't want to just lay on her back and swat at toys anymore. good thing the play mat converts to a mysterious tunnel of crazy fish!!!

big news!!!

2010-11-16T08:37:00.000-06:00

ok, so it isn't that big but we have started putting maria in her crib in her room to sleep. i'm kind of missing her being right next to me at night but i think we are all sleeping better. our room feels a little empty without the pack and play next to the bed but i will finally- finally- finally have a table next to the bed to put stuff on. (mostly just a book and my glasses)

ps maybe i should be a little more diligent in taking pix for the blog. i thought i had a pic of our room without the pack and play and then with the table next to the bed. oh well. i would show the table now but there is a bunch of junk on it!

cute maria pix

2010-11-12T11:58:00.000-06:00

here are some cute maria pix taken on my birthday.

well it's my birthday too!

2010-11-11T23:11:00.000-06:00

today i turned 35. omg- where has the time gone??? for the first time i'm no longer feeling so young and spry! don't get me wrong- i'm not feeling old but i'm not exactly in the prime of my youth anymore. to mark this magical passing of time, i convinced chris to take the day off from work and go geocaching. we spent the better part of the day solving the clues for gc2b034. it was a lot of fun and i really appreciate everyone who worked to build this cache. so the other big present was chris and maria gave me the new ipod touch! i totally love have a forward and backward camera and all the other apps! i'm sure that over the next few days i will be bombarding my facebook/ twitter account with easily taken and uploaded maria pix! as if my day of birth couldn't get any happier- chris made me a snoopy cake. he used a cake pan from my grandmother's collection. i totally love him. this was the first time in a long time that i really felt like celebrating a birthday. i really had a wonderful day. i think maria might have had a little bit to do with it. . . . :)

Bug Life: Month 6

2010-11-10T11:34:00.000-06:00

OMG! Maria you are 6 months old today!!! My little baby isn't such a little baby anymore. You have had quite the month. You went to your first wedding. You spent a long weekend at the Natural Causes Farm (Grandma Bonnie and Aunt Cassie's ranch). We made another trip to Houston to visit my parents. You have met all of your great- grandparents. You are eating a solid meal at night, you have completely mastered rolling over and you have graduated to crawling. You fully enjoy bath time now. The strangest things make you laugh. I spend most of the day trying to figure out what will get you to giggle. I think you will have a very quirky sense of humor. You still love being outside. We go for an hour long walk every morning with Daisy. You have experienced cold weather- even though it was just a couple of days. You like meeting other babies. You have gone through your first daylight saving time. You are waking up super duper early now because of the time change. I really wish you would sleep in a little longer.

Today you woke up at 5:45am. Daddy changed your diaper and I fed you. You and Daddy played in the living room while I ate breakfast. To our shock you successfully crawled over Daddy's leg to navigate your way off the play blanket. You and Daisy and I went for our regular morning walk. When we got back I fed you and changed you. We played and watched some tv. I tried giving you juice in a sippy cup this morning. It didn't go over so well. Most of it ended up dribbling down your chin. We went to TxDOT to see some former co-workers and to go to a baby shower. You had a great time seeing all of my colleagues. You took another nap when we got home. We played outside on a blanket until Daddy got home. Then all hell broke loose. You were really grumpy tonight. I suspect it had everything to do with you being tired. You aren't adjusting well to the time change- your internal clock is off. Plus I think you might be cutting a tooth. Of course- I've been thinking that for a while though.

We love you so much Maria- I can't believe you have already been with us for 6 months. You are so wonderful- even when you are crabby.

random from the end of october

2010-11-09T21:43:00.000-06:00

here are a few maria pix from the end of october.

random pix from houston visit

2010-11-06T21:15:00.001-05:00

here are a few random pix from my latest visit to houston.

mercer arboretum

2010-11-04T21:03:00.001-05:00

i made another little mini vacation to houston to stay with my parents. it is such a nice break. i get to see my parents, visit my old stomping grounds and my mom does my laundry.

today we went to mercer arboretum. it has changed a lot since the last time i was there. actually, i don't remember the last time i was there. i highly recommend a visit though. the entrance is more botanic garden and the back part is crushed granite walking trails.

this is halloween

2010-10-31T23:48:00.001-05:00

today we went to the neighborhood halloween party. it was kind of on the small side but we did get there a little late. i was so sure maria would win the costume contest but a 10 month walking harry potter took the prize. whatever- his parents were politicking for him. . .

after the party we came home and chris and maria carved the pumpkin. i think chris really enjoyed scraping out the innerds. maria was a little ambivalent to the whole process.

chris and i sat outside with our next door neighbors and handed out (ate) candy until a little before 8pm. we had a lot of fun covering our dogs in glow stick necklaces. i wish i had gotten a picture of daisy glowing in the dark but she was too fast.

couple more pix

2010-10-26T14:56:00.000-05:00

here are a few more pix of maria (as if there aren't already a zillion!) these were taken monday morning when chris was playing with her.

i'm not really sure what she is doing here- it looks like she is stretching her hamstrings!

baby halloween

2010-10-26T14:50:00.000-05:00

got the camera back today. i thought i had taken more pictures. oh well.

here's a funny pic of maria. she fell asleep on the way to the grocery store this morning. i caught her with her mouth open!

kid art and other firsts

2010-10-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

here is maria's first drawing. it is from glow draw (an ipod app).

today included a few other firsts. this morning was the first time i took her on a walk in the stroller without using the carseat. she seemed to enjoy it although she did fall asleep rather quickly. i was a little worried that the stroller straps are still too loose but it we were just walking in the neighborhood on the street not off-roading. i missed being able to look right at her and tell her about everything we were seeing while walking. the other first was that we got together with some other moms/ babies today for a halloween themed get together. it was a lot of fun and the babies looked adorable in their costumes. i left my camera at my friend's house otherwise i'd be posting pix of that. the other first was that maria was really splashing in the tub tonight during her bath. it was super cute. i think she splashed out half the water!