Bumbo Boy

A friend of mine was gracious enough to lend me her Bumbo chair since her little boy has outgrown it. Jack seems to enjoy sitting it so far (for short periods of time). Last night Brian and I were getting a kick out of watching him discover his toes while sitting in it. Next challenge...reaching far enough to grab them.

The Magic of Auntie

When Kaylyn and Jack are hanging with mom and dad for the day they refuse to take naps. The only nap Kaylyn takes for me these days occurs when I "happen" to be driving around in the car around four o'clock in the afternoon. All naps end when the car ride ends. With gas prices the way they are these days we aren't taking afternoon drives anymore. However, for some unknown reason whenever my children are around their Aunt Clarissa, aka "auntie", they drop off into deep sleep for hours at a time. I'm beginning to wonder what it is exactly that she is slipping into their bottles and sippy cups. I have already informed her that whatever job interviews she goes on she must stipulate that she be able to leave her job between the hours of 3-7pm to come over to my house and make my children nap. We'll see what happens.

Under the weather

I am behind in posting because I've been fighting a cold for the past week now. Today is the first day I have felt halfway normal. Thank you Mucinex...you're my hero! More to come when I'm feeling better.

A Nice Day

I planned to take the kids to the indoor playground at the mall today and found out that they shut it down. According to security, they are building a new one, where and when it will open I don't know. Instead, we had lunch and stopped at a playground that we passed on the way home. We had a great time! There are 2 sets of swings and slides. There is also a splashpark area that will probably be working when it gets warmer. We're definitely coming back again. We ended the day by visiting aunt Clarissa at work. We got a bird feeder while we were there and hung it up when we got home. The kids were so good today. I love days like this!

Baby Signs Class

Today I dropped off Kaylyn with Grandma and Grandpa and took Jack to a baby signs class. Leslie, one of our Child Life specialists where I work teaches baby signs classes in addition to her duties at TCH. We got a group of mommies of new babies from work together and had a class. For those of you not familiar with the concept....baby signs is the use of sign language (most of the signs are actual ASL) to communicate with your baby until they become verbal. I have parents tell me stories first-hand about how great it works. I am excited to see how this turns out. Jack is still on the young side, but Brian and I can start practicing our signs now. Here is Jack with BeeBo the baby signs bear.

Texas Bluebonnet "Whine" Trail

Well, last Thursday Brian and I had the brilliant idea of taking a road trip to see the bluebonnets in bloom. We wanted to take the ever-popular "kids in the bluebonnets" pictures for future scrapbooks and such. Brian printed out the Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail that outlined scenic highways where we were sure to see the popular blooms alongside a few local wineries. His hopes were that I could sample a few wines and take a few bottles home to enjoy in addition to the Kodak moments we were hoping to have. Three hours into the trip we had seen plenty of bluebonnets - all in areas we could not physically get to without knocking down a fence, introducing ourselves to the local cattle, and/or getting run over by traffic. Needless to say, we gave up and went to College Station to reminisce. By then, Kaylyn had had enough and was in full-blown whine mode. Jack would sleep off and on and occasionally fuss, but he actually did really well. So...here's a picture of the master whiner sitting by the fountain next to the MSC on campus. This was one of very few whine-free moments.

Tuesday Night Programming

Well, as much as I miss my family, it was kind of nice watching my Tuesday night shows without crying babies, chatty toddlers or grumpy husbands to interrupt.

Biggest Loser - I love this show and what it has done for so many people, but I have never seen so many grown men cry so much in my life! Can we have 5 minutes without an emotional breakdown?? Sorry to see Jay go, but go GIRL POWER!! I am cheering for Ali all the way. She looks amazing and worked so hard to get that way.

American Idol - Didn't think I would like the Dolly Parton episode so much, but I enjoyed it more than I'd like to admit. I don't think Simon Cowell enjoyed it so much. What crawled up his rear end?

I absolutely LOVED Michael's performance...he's back! Didn't like Syesha's performance, second to last note held a little too looooooooong. Archuleta and Smithson were pretty good too. Not a big fan of Carly's so the wardrobe bashing by Simon was probably the most interesting portion of the night. By the way, why is Kristy Lee Cook still there?? Just wondering.

I think I'll wait to watch the season premiere of Hell's Kitchen with Brian since that is the one show we have always watched together. Can't wait Chef Ramsay, I've missed you!

I'm actually finding time...

Well, I saw the progress that my husband made on his blog Diary of a Mad White Man and it seems that I have found the time to work on mine! I am jealous that his looks so good.


Well, I also finished my Annual Performance Evaluation for work. It is a work in threefold - a personal portfolio of accomplishments, a self-evaluation tool, and 3 confidential peer reviews. I should get a raise just for completing the evaluation!

Kaylyn is better now...still with a snotty nose but running around in usual manic fashion again. The kids will be visiting their Nia, Papa and uncle in Lufkin tomorrow. Maybe I will get some sleep for a change. More later...