Future Pele?

I am sure Pele didn't start off with steady feet, either :)

Marquette reunion

love these ladies!!!!
picking up where we left off.... sleeping in the dorm

taking the limo home

schameel, schmazel.... hassenfeffer, incorporated! on the brewery tour

my new sweatshirt. i don't think i've loved an item of clothing, more

God that was fun. I spent the weekend with the Marquette ladies and it really couldn't have been any better. I am exhausted. I left on Friday at 6:30 and got back today at 4:30 and in the meantime enjoyed every moment. It made me incredibly happy to see my beloved girls, again. Like with all good friendships, we picked up where we left off. I laughed so hard I cried more than once. I cried out of happiness more than once. I drank. A.lot. And, totally left my responsibilities and cares in Austin.

A recap....
The weather was gorgeous. Mid 70s and sunny.
Lakefront Brewery Tour (I LOVE that this was an official reunion event)
Drinks at the Harp
Met up with all the ladies at our dorm room and got ready together
Saw a bunch of people I knew and didn't know at reunion welcome party. I was most excited to see my freshman year roommate, Jamie, I must say.
Danced at some place with a bunch of 20 somethings.
Wolskis
Woke up feeling pretty bad, went for a run all by myself to the lakefront and felt such peace that I accidentally ran 5 miles
Brunch at new egg yolk place on campus
Out to Karen's house and off to the pool
Bagpipers at the pool?
Good girl chat in pool
Dinner out at Root Cellar dodging F-50s from the air show
Lixx for custard
McGuillicudys for Marquette happy hour
Bootleggers to see Katy's relatives and free drinks
Dancing
Being called cougars by some 24 year olds trying to hit on us. huh?
Hegartys dance party
Limo home
Mass outside with gospel choir
Farewell brat breakfast at airport
Flew home and back to my loves

Man, I am blessed. Thanks for letting me go, honey! I will be detoxing the next few days, indeed.

JM's book recommendations

We may have a future librarian on our hands. I say this because our boy has very distinct favorite books out of our collection. Actually, it brings back memories of my sister's childhood when she would watch the Little Mermaid over and over, again (damn you, you stupid sea witch!). Much in the same way, JM wants to be read the same five stories. For the past few weeks, when I go get him after naptime, the first thing he does upon seeing me is point to the bookshelf and say "Doh" as in "Dog," his *favorite* book ever. If I respond by going to pick it up, he gets super duper excited. He loves Dog.

1. Dog by Matthew Van Fleet. If your child likes dogs in any way, you may want to check out this delightful interactive book. It's silly and has tons of dog pictures to touch and feel and make move. I love dogs, myself, and enjoy the silly rhymes of this book so much that I almost don't mind reading it for the thousandth time.

2. First Numbers by Paradise Press JM loves to look at the pictures in this book. He squeals with delight when we get to the pages with the teddy bears and fish (some of his favorite things) and there is even an entire spread of balls, his favorite thing ever! He will say "baaah" for ball and "beah" for bear (like with a Boston accent). We also have the First ABC, which has pages of different photos identifying objects starting with different letters, also a big hit.

3. Animals/Animales by Eric Carle I am not sure how much Spanish he's learning, but he loves to slide the pictures over the letters.

4. 10 Friendly Fish JM's little friend Will gave this to us for his birthday and he loves the pop-up action at the end in particular.

5. Baby Talk He loves to lift up the flaps and look at the babies.

I love that he loves to read!

P.S. May I add that the shirt JM is wearing in these pictures is 3-6 month size? Thank you to The Children's Place for making your shirts nice and wide, so he can still wear this... with 18-24 month shorts!

A letter to me...

then

now


Dear New Mommy,
I am writing to you from 1 year past a very stressful time in your motherhood. I went to Dr. S's new office this morning and saw all the cute pregnant ladies and new moms and it seems like only yesterday that that was you, whereas in fact a LOT has changed. I wanted to acknowledge the growth that has taken place in you between now and then. Last year at this time you blogged about it, but you really didn't tell the internet how really "off" you felt mentally. You were a stressed out mess. Your baby was 6 weeks old and he was not gaining much weight. He was getting up every three hours like clockwork to eat and still scrawny. You were exclusively breastfeeding and worried about your milk supply all the time. You were constantly anxious that you were doing everything wrong.

Relax! If he doesn't take a nap at the time you want him to, don't sit around worrying about it, just accept it and do the best you can. Stop reading books about what he is "supposed to do" and worrying about comments that other people make, because that is going to stress you out, more. Get out of the house more and seek out other mothers in the same stage as you. If because of this, JM misses being home for his nap in the crib, who cares? Trust your instincts and the doctor. John Michael will grow and if Dr. T. is okay with his growth pattern, then you should be, too. Trust Dr. T when he says that all babies grow differently. Actually, you may find it interesting that your child will grow significantly between 6 months and 1 year. He will gain 10 pounds and grow 5 inches. At 14 months of age, he will be said by many to be a "good eater" "solid" and "wow- he is big for his age!" He weighs 25 pounds and your arm will get tired holding him. Can you believe that?

Either way, your son is perfect. He is happy and healthy, mobile and fun and already you want another one. Next time around, remember that JM thrived despite your worries and biologically you produced enough milk to grow him well until almost a year. Even if he/she gets a little formula here and there, it's not the end of the world. It is good for babies to have different kinds of food from different sources. Bottles are not the enemy. Feed him whenever he seems hungry and don't worry about what time it is. Don't be a slave to schedules in feeding nor in sleeping. Babies are resilient and constantly changing!

If you can believe it, you feel back to your old self and normal at your son's 14 month mark. You feel happy and balanced and pretty. You have good mom friends. You delight in JM daily. He can walk, loves being read to and talks endlessly in multiple languages (human, ewok and chinese). He just added a few words to his vocabulary; including flower and dog. Starting at around 6 months, he will start to grow so fast, so relax and try to enjoy it.

Love,
Me/You

Shrimp Tacos

Though I love them, I never know what to do with shrimp. Actually, they were the first thing I ate when I started on the unholy path to cease being a vegetarian, which is another story. I digress. The other day at the fish market, these gorgeous gulf shrimp called to me, so I bought some and found this recipe that I'll have to add to the rotation. Never again will I wonder what to do with shrimp, as this recipe was in line with my favorite shrimp tacos at Zuzu that I crave on a twice-monthly basis.

Servings: 2 hearty servings, with leftovers
Courtesy of Allrecipes and suggestions

1 lb medium gulf shrimp, peeled, deveined and de-tailed :)
juice only from 7.5 oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
juice of two limes
2T white flour
1/2 white onion, chopped
salt to taste
10 corn tortillas
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
sliced avocado

Put shrimp in a ziploc bag and drain can of chipotle peppers on top to release sauce, add lime juice and flour and shake thoroughly. Marinate at least 30 minutes. Heat a large frying pan and add a few tablespoons of oil, sauteeing the onion for 3-4 minutes until clear, then add the shrimp, including sauce, to the pan. Stirring often, cook for 3-4 more minutes until shrimp is opaque. Add salt to taste. Wrap a stack of corn tortillas in a paper towel and heat for 30-60 seconds in microwave. Use two tortillas per taco and top with shrimp, cilantro and 1 slice avocado. I served with sour cream and salsa like any other taco. Bon appetit!

feelin hot hot hot

we're still here! lack of blog updates has a direct correlation to the fact we are on our umpteenth day of triple digit temperatures, which has pretty much turned me into an even more lazy unmotivated slob than usual. here is a snapshot of our current life...

we play in the pool... filled or empty

we push jm around the driveway. little tikes car= big hit!

playing in the dog bowl. always a good way to cool off!

he has started opening the cabinet door and chasing me around with snacks making the "eat" sign. a subtle hint!

little eyes are watching me! this picture is blurry, but this morning i was holding onto this post and stretching after a run and jm started doing the same thing underneath me! it's scary to think that he is watching and listening to my every move!

multi-tasking at it's finest



We have been doing way more shopping, lately, since the mall is oh so cool. Today at lunchtime, we joined seemingly every other mom and child in town at the Nordstrom anniversary sale (apparently the economy isn't as bad to see the chaos at BC Mall today- or everyone else was bored inside like us!). I am proud of JM as he is generally really good out in public and is a pretty good shopper, either at the mall or grocery store. I hope he stays this way. I know my mom has horror stories with me throwing a fit when she had a full cart of groceries back in the day. So far for us, it's mostly it's about keeping things interesting:
1. I usually leave right when he wakes up so he is happy for a while. If we are out shopping, I break up the trip mid-way with a meal.
2. He is pretty happy in the stroller as long as I go prepared. I have a "spillproof" cup of raisins, goldfish and dried fruit and he will happily eat them if he starts getting squirmy. I never bring out the snacks until we are there for a while (since usually it's not his mealtime).
3. I have a cup of ice water.
4. I have a few books.
5. In the dressing room, I ask for the largest room they have and let him get out and run around. He likes to look in the mirror and bang on the walls with the hangars.

I LOVE living in Texas, but I am strongly considering 'summering' somewhere up north in the future. Good gawd, it's hot! I am leaving in a week for my 10 year college reunion and can't wait for a *high* of 80. What will that feel like?

Happy 4th!

we kicked off the holiday wed. night with the j's on lake austin. here the boys are begging for cupcakes from kim. i love jm's enthusiasm, in particular
3wm boys with their boys

then it was off to the lake for lots of spoilage of us and jm. here he is enjoying his first lollipop

rub a dub dub, three cousins in the tub

the annual porch swing picture! one of these things is not like the other. jm didn't get the memo, obviously.

we took the boat out and discovered a pristine new beach

my 71 year old grandpa never went tubing! go grandpa h!

Baby curls

Love those baby duck wisps! Also note his first tye-die shirt, courtesy of Aunt Betsy....