Five Months

It is pretty hard to imagine another month has passed for me. Five months old. Still cute as can be.

Last week was a good week for me. A week ago, I got to hang out with the guys. Mom was busy at home, so Dad took me over to see Jeff & Rix. I wore my personalized Cardinals gear to try and fit in with guys time but I pretty much slept the whole time. Even though the Cards are out of it for this year, Dad is teaching me to be a good fan. He stayed with them through the bad years that were most of the 1990s, so I can do the same when they have a bad month.

Last week was a bit unique for me. Grammy was out of town so I had an extra day downtown with Grandma Patty. Dad took me down there on his way to work on Monday and Tuesday. Even with me being outside my home, I was still able to get some good rest in. I took an almost three-hour nap after lunch. Dad came by to get me and Mom got home just in time to say goodnight to me. Tuesday was more of the same. I had a good day downtown. Dad actually came down to see me for lunch. Unfortunately, his showing up didn’t completely align with my schedule, and he got about 5-10 minutes with me before he had to put me down for a nap. So, instead of some joyous time with me, he got to see me scream my head off when I was laid down for a nap. (Now, it is not that bad as I am still acting angelic with my sleeping habits and after two minutes of screaming, I was passed out asleep.) I had a good afternoon, then Mom came to pick me up.

Wednesday I got a bit of a normal day at home. Mom had some work to do for Bless Your Heart at home. So, I stayed home, got a good nap in during the morning, and then went with Mom over to Pepar’s house around lunchtime. They did some furniture work for the store, while I hung out. That night, I was over with Mom & Dad to community group, so I didn’t get to bed until after 9:30. Thursday was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday. Instead of group that night, we met for a birthday party for Kris (Wimberley and Hadessa’s dad) at a pizza place in Leon Springs. So, Mom got the joyous task of getting to put me in my car seat and drive me home for over 30 minutes while I was screaming. (I’ve taken to not liking being in the car seat when I am tired.)

On Friday, I stayed around the house with Mom in the morning, nothing too exciting. She dressed me up a bit (big shock!). Bless Your Heart got recently selected for an interview with “San Antonio Women” magazine under the theme, ‘Women Owned, Family Owned Businesses’. So, I was up there, being that I am a woman (or soon will be) and part of the family. That evening we headed downtown as Dad’s cousin Steven and Michelle were in town with Sean & Maddie (and the future little one). They had been displaced by Hurricane Ike and were ready for a break from College Station. Again, another late night, but I got to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning. Dad slept until almost 10 am. Then, we got up and had breakfast. Mom and Dad needed to run, so they did the run at the gym, so I got some time in the KidsZone. It was a bit more time than normal as they ran for 8 miles, so I was there from about 11:45 until almost 1:15. I was good as always. We came home and hung out around the house. Dad had to run some errands during one nap, and then Mom left a bit later for some errands of her own. I got all dressed up to watch the Aggies game. They got us all excited with a touchdown on their very first play, but then they stunk it up as usual. Maybe, they'll be good by the time I am in school there in 2026. At least for now, I have Chase Daniel and Missouri who are winning. I needed another nap so we couldn’t go out to eat, so we stayed around and had some Chinese food and watched a movie.

I stole the show on Sunday with my blue outfit. Blue is Dad’s color and I don’t wear it too much. But, with Grammy out of town visiting Chicago with Aunt Kate, Mom felt this was an appropriate outfit for today. I don’t mind saying that I looked really cute. Mom even let me stay out of the nursery and be in big church for a bit today. I got fussy around communion time, so I spent the last half of service in the nursery. I started to get in the habit on Sundays of having to miss my Sunday morning nap, so I got fussy towards the end of our time there. I started to cry and Mom put me in my car seat in the car. I pretty much was laid down in there, and almost instantly closed my eyes and was asleep. Mom & Dad wanted me to sleep so they just laid my car seat in the house when we came home.

Later, I sat down and watched “Cindarella” while Dad read the newspaper. We all took a nap mid-afternoon (I only slept for like 45 minutes, so Dad didn’t get a long nap). We played dress-up some; this time, Dad approved of Mom’s dressing me up (you’ll find out later what that means). Then, it was on to the airport to get Grammy after her vacation week. We met with Pepar and Aunt Rachel at SoLuna for dinner after that. Then, I came back home, played a bit with mama and then took a bath and went to bed.

Dad stayed up later to watch the finale of Yankee Stadium, closing after 85 years. A couple of interesting points Dad told me about. First, there was a total attendance of 151,959,005 over the years to see the Yankees there. Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncles Andy & Jay got to be 5 of those attendees back in 1994. It was interesting to see that of all the facts they mentioned about the Stadium, one fact was not entirely unique to Yankee Stadium. The Yankees were the first team to win a World Series in their stadium during its first season in 1924….that is, until the 2006 Cardinals and Busch Stadium #3. Even with the Cards not going on this year, we can’t feel too bad given the Yankees aren’t going either.

On Monday, I spent the day downtown again. I was in a good mood when I got there and got a really good nap in after lunch. Dad came to get me about 7:15 and then we headed home. I cried hard the last half of the trip home; I was hungry but he got me taken care of when I got home. He told me he had never seen me down a bottle as quickly as I did tonight, almost 9 ounces. I got to see Mom for about five months before being put down for bed. Mom & Dad said they stayed up to watch a classic season premiere of “How I Met Your Mother”. Ted made his new fiancée (whom he admitted he didn’t know very well) watch “Star Wars”. How can you marry someone who’s never seen Star Wars and may not like it? Stella said she couldn’t understand why there was a “bear” (aka. Chewie). Dad said he didn’t make Mom pass that test, but I’m not so sure, given that my first viewing of Star Wars, A New Hope, was when I was less than a day old.

Mr. Mom

Well, I got to see what life at home with Lily is like. The week of August 25, I stayed home with Lily while Katy headed back to work at Bless Your Heart. We are quite fortunate in our plans with Lily, having both grandparents in town. She will spend Mondays with the Brockmans and Tuesday and Wednesdays in Live Oak. However, we felt it was good to ease back into this routine a bit. So, I stayed home for the week. I went up to the store on Monday mid-afternoon to let Katy feed Lily and we spent the rest of the day at home. On Tuesday, Uncle Andy came over to hang out, put Lily's high chair together. We watched Episode III of Star Wars, and Lily knew that was going on so she took an extra long nap. That evening, I took Andy down in an intense game of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit (thankfully, for Lily's sake, she didn't have to witness that). I surprised Katy when she got home as I was making dinner, and I was dressed up as in the picture below. Wednesday, I had some work things to do so Lily joined me for lunch with Mrs. Amber and then I hung out at the store for a bit as I had to take a work call. We had a breakfast food potluck dinner with our community group that night (fell off the Weight Watchers diet wagon). Thursday, Katy stayed home. We had a fun surprise and as I was headed home from the gym, we saw a pink fire truck parked at the U.City F.D., so we got some good shots. Lily had some dinner and played with her Star Wars McDonalds toys.

That Saturday was the Bless Your Heart, 8th birthday party. Lily added some cuteness to the party, I got the joy of bringing lunch back to the BYH crew. We had a nice long weekend as I was off most of Monday as well. I went into work for a half day and Lily got some time with Grandma Patty and even Aunt Bethany was in town from Michigan (we have certainly been blessed to see them so much since Lily has been born). On Tuesday, Katy and Lily headed up to Austin to visit Lisa and get their nails done at Embellish. Grammy and Lisa's mom were along as well. Later in the week, on Friday, Lily and Katy came downtown and met me for lunch. We got to show Lily off at Mi Tierra, and she got to see how much her mama likes the Mexican cookies (who doesn't). Katy and Aunt Bethany went shopping in the afternoon and then Uncle Andy & Bethany were over that night for dinner.

Later that evening, it was Lily's best friend, Faith, who came over to visit. Faith and her mom & dad, along with Aunt Emily were over for the weekend. Lily didn't get to spend much time with them on Friday night, but then Mom & Dad were out early on Saturday for a run, so Lily got to be awaken by everyone else, and get a bottle from Kelly. The rest of the group went to Sea World for the day (too soon for Lily to go out there). We hung out at home for most of the afternoon, although Lily's big outing for the day was riding in the car while we went to get a Happy Meal at a couple of different McDonalds restaurants so Dad could collect some Star Wars toys to add to Lily's high chair (although we know he is really getting them for himself). That night was date night for Kelly & Steven, so we had a big girls night in, making cookies, cupcakes, and watching 'Finding Nemo'. Sunday we went to church and Lily got to wear the new outfit that Faith brought to her. After church, we had lunch at Bellacino's and then Lily got a long nap in, while Dad went to the gym. That evening, Justin and Kimber were over for dinner, and Lily provided some noise accompaniment during the meal.

Last week started Lily's first week of normal activities. It is Monday with Grandma Patty and Tuesdays and Wednesdays nearby with Grammy. This week was a bit unusual, though (as probably most weeks will be). Monday was nice to take her downtown to my parents. Even though the drive is not really the time to be claiming quality father-daughter time, I did feel like it made my commute a bit more interesting. Tuesday, Lily and her mom and grandma and aunt headed over to Houston to be shown off. This made for a hard hard day for Lily. She sure was a hit over there with some of the store owners Katy has been working with for a long time, but she did not like being in her car seat for so long. Wednesday, Katy and Grammy stayed home to price jewelry, so Lily could have a bit of a normal day. At one point during the day, Katy laid her down for a nap; she didn't cry at all and Katy was actually able to see Lily put her thumb in her mouth, close her eyes, and instantly fall asleep. The rest of the week was pretty good for Lily as she got to be home with Katy both days. I was pretty lazy and didn't feel like running so we had some time at home on Thursday night.

Friday, Katy's prayer group came over during the money, so Lily got to play with Wimberly (Hadessa is not yet playing but soon will be a good playmate). The girls loved on Lily. Later that day, we had a meeting with our financial planner so Lily got some time with Grammy while we were there and then we headed over to eat at Order Up. Katy went over to Sylvia's house to help with baby Player's nursery. Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast that night, so I picked up Lily and we headed home to watch Geraldo and the other crazy reporters braving the elements (talking about the storm of an "apocalyptic and draconian" nature). Check out Geraldo's tumble: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW0M-DvkEn8 Saturday, we were expecting bad weather here, so I wasn't mentally prepared to run so we just had a lazy morning around the house. We took Lily out with us to get some Starbucks and run by the bank. Then, Lily had a nap and I dragged myself to do a gym run and watch Missouri play football (looking good so far, with a 69-17 win, but Nevada is not known as a football powerhouse). We had an evening out for Candes' birthday party that night so Lily got some more time with Grammy before her vacation in Chicago.

Sunday was a good day. Lily had a good morning and we were right on time for church (another change of color, with a blue outfit for Lily). Lily had another day in the nursery. After church, Lily took a long nap and then Katy had a spa party for Robi. Lily and I went to hang out with Rix & Jeff. I would say Lily was forced to chill with the fellas, but she slept almost two hours over there. We came home, did some stuff around the house, and got ready for our week ahead.