Category Archives: Friends & Family

Going to Vegas

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I don’t know how I completely forgot to mention this on the blog, but: I’m going to Las Vegas. Tomorrow. I know, you’d think that might’ve come up earlier, right? Oops.

My friend Kris is getting married, and for some bizarre reason that I cannot begin to fathom, they’re having the wedding in Las Vegas. (Different strokes, right? You couldn’t have paid me to have a destination wedding, but that’s just me.) I have very mixed feeling about going, mostly because I hate to fly, and I’m not a huge fan of Las Vegas. I don’t gamble, I don’t drink that much, I have no need for legalized prostitution, and that’s about the sum total of Las Vegas’s appeal right there. But you know, someone I love is getting married, so off I go.

Also: I’m going by myself. Dave and Catie were invited, of course, but Dave can’t really take time off from work right now, and flying six hours with a two year-old sounded only slightly less fun than a poke in the eye, so I decided, no. My mother-in-law is visiting right now (she got here on Wednesday, another thing I forgot to mention on the blog), so she and Dave are going to take care of Catie while I go.

The weird thing is, in Catie’s two-plus years on this planet, I have spent a grand total of one night away from her. ONE. In her WHOLE life. (This trip here, in case you were wondering.) So I’m very nervous about this trip, because I’ll be gone for two nights, and this will be Dave’s first time ever doing the solo-parenting gig overnight. And ok, he’s not technically a solo-parent, since his mom is here to help out, but still. You know what I mean. Since I’m usually Catie’s “translator” because I understand a lot of her gibberish that Dave doesn’t get, I’m a little worried about how they’re going to do on their own.

At the same time, though, I’m going to be flying by myself for the first time since Catie was born. That means no stroller to lug through security. No portable DVD player. No bag loaded down with toys, books, snacks, sippy cups, diapers, and a million other things. Just me. My purse, a book and my iPod. The end. It sounds so easy. I might actually enjoy this flight just because I’m going to have a few solid hours of alone time, which almost never happens.

Oh, and I’ll be staying in a hotel room. With a king-size bed. By myself. Where no one will wake me up at 4 a.m. by screaming, “Mommy! Daddy! Help help help!!!” into the baby monitor. I almost can’t imagine that.

So, yeah. Look out Las Vegas, here I come. I won’t be partaking in your casinos, your hookers, or (very much of) your booze. But I am very much looking forward to your hotel room, where I will be sleeping. A lot.

Valentine's Weekend Recap

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We’ve had a very nice, low-key weekend. Valentine’s Day is kind of a non-event for Dave and me. Nothing against people who like it, we’re just too lazy. We typically leave the big romantic night for our anniversary.

We did, however, take Catie to the neighborhood Valentine’s Day party on Saturday morning. I think it’s safe to say she was not into it at all.

this is how she spent most of the neighborhood Valentine's Day party

She basically freaked at all of the noise and people, plus we were in a strange place (our local community center, which we had never visited before). I’m not sure exactly why she was so scared, but she spent the entire party clinging to either me or Dave.

Catie & Dave having a snuggle

(I really love that picture of the two of them, even though Catie was in between crying jags at the time.)

Catie & me at the neighborhood Valentine's party

So yeah, not such a great idea on our part. Maybe next year, she’ll deal with it better. Once we got home, though, she was back to her normal self, and we had a lot of fun.

I love the motion in this pic: the legs flying & the ponytail straight out behind her

rocking her sunglasses

With the weather being so nice lately, both yesterday and today, Catie and I have gone out for walks on our greenway. Today, we were having so much fun that I thought it would be a good idea to walk all the way to our neighborhood playground. It’s maybe a 10 or 15-minute walk at a normal, adult pace. With a two year-old who wants to stop and check out all kinds of neat stuff along the way? It’s more like a 45-minute walk. Yeesh.

By the time we got to the playground, I realized that I had forgotten to bring any sort of supplies with me (sippy cup, extra diaper, whatever). Plus it was getting cold, and there was a big gray rain cloud heading straight for us. I wasn’t sure if we’d make the walk back at Catie’s pace, so I whipped out my cell phone (the one thing I had remembered to bring with me) and called Dave. Good husband that he is, he came to the playground and fetched us. Still, when you add up the time of our walk, plus the time we spent at the playground – oh, and then we played some more with the neighborhood kids when we got home – Catie and I were outside for almost two hours. I’m hoping this means she’ll be good and tired and not fight me too much at bedtime tonight.

Oh, one last picture that I have to share. Last week it was abnormally warm, and I had to break out some springtime clothes for Catie. I picked out this one outfit that my sister gave her for her birthday (and Catie totally understands that my sister gave it to her, because all day long, she’d occasionally point at her own shirt, and say, “Tracy!!” Such a smart girl). It’s completely adorable.

possibly the best picture I've ever gotten of her

Cute new outfit + ponytail + genuine laugh + actually looking at the camera for a change = this might be one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken of her.

Introducing…

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Welcome to the world, Austin Truxillo Romaine.

Cat and baby Austin

Oh y’all. He’s so precious. He looks so much like his big sister Elizabeth looked when she was first born. Just adorable, and SO. MUCH. HAIR. The strange part is that I know he’s bigger (by a couple of inches and more than a pound) than Catie was when she was first born, but holding him felt so strange. He’s just so teeny-tiny. It’s like your arms get used to your baby at whatever size they currently are, and you forget what it was like before, when they were so tiny and new.

Don’t get me wrong, it also feels pretty darn great to hold them when they’re this little.

me with baby Austin

It even got Dave and I talking about maybe, possibly ditching the birth control and seeing what happens next. Three years is a pretty good spacing between kids, isn’t it?

Anyway, enough about my stuff. More baby pics over on Tony’s site.

baby boy is a-comin'!

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Catie and I just got home from spending the last couple of hours over at my cousins’ house. Guess why we were there? Because we were taking care of Elizabeth while Cat & Tony went to the hospital to HAVE THEMSELVES A BABY!!!

Cat’s water broke this afternoon, so this baby is definitely on his way out, and it sounds like he’s coming sooner than later. Yay! I’m sending out my little ::easy labor vibes:: all over the place.

Tony’s parents arrived to take care of Elizabeth, so after they got settled in, Catie and I headed home. I can’t wait to go to the hospital tomorrow to meet that brand new baby boy! Whee! So excited!

EDITED TO ADD: Baby boy is here! They’re still undecided on a name (eek!), but he’s a healthy & perfect 7 pounds, 1 ounce. Thank heavens he came a little early, he probably would’ve been a 10+ pounder if he’d gone all the way to 40 weeks. I talked to Cat on the phone, she says he looks just like Elizabeth when she was first born, except not as fat. We’re going to meet him later this morning, and have no fear, there will be lots of pictures!

The Shred, tricycles, etc.

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* I’ve been doing The 30-Day Shred consistently for the past couple of weeks, and I seem to have overdone it at some point. I have wonky knees to begin with (my right knee is worse than my left), so I was trying to be careful. I wore a knee brace on my right leg when I worked out, which I always do when I’m doing any type of strenuous exercise. Even with the brace on, though, my right knee is now all swollen and aching. And my left knee doesn’t hurt exactly, but I can feel it when I walk, which isn’t good – it’s usually a sign that I’m about one workout away from really hurting myself. And you know, I have a two year-old to chase around, I can’t afford to be incapacitated right now.

So, I’m easing off and I’m working out with the Wii Fit (which is a lot of fun, but let’s face it, it’s way easier than The Shred) for the next few days until my knees start to feel “normal” again. I do really enjoy The Shred, though – I love that it totally kicks my butt in such a time-efficient manner – so I look forward to picking it up again soon.

* All of the new behaviors that Catie’s picked up in the past week are blowing my mind. I’ve heard moms talk about how their kids suddenly changed when they turned two, but I don’t think I actually believed it until I saw it firsthand. But while she used to run away laughing when I tried to change her poopy diaper, now she wants me to change her as soon as she poops (“Mommy, help! Stinky!”, complete with a tushie-grab to make sure I understand). I’m starting to think that potty training is in our near future.

And she no longer just says, “Hi, [name].” Now it’s, “Hi, Mommy [or Daddy]! It’s me, Catie!” Oh, that’s a relief. I’m glad you clarified that, or I might’ve gotten you confused with that other blonde two year-old that lives here. So there are some developments that are right on track for her age, and some that are just flat-out random. But luckily, she’s pretty hilarious most of the time, so it makes up for some of the more… er, annoying toddler traits.

Also, my parents got Catie a tricycle for her birthday. She hasn’t figured out the pedals, but luckily we have the one with the parent-height handlebar so I can steer and push while she rides. I’m sure she’ll figure out the pedals eventually, but she has fun with it anyway.

helmet girl

testing out her new tricycle

* Last thing: I got a phone call this morning from my cousin Cat. It sounds like she maybe, possibly, might kinda-sorta be in early labor. She’s full term (37 weeks), but this is a little bit early for baby Jambuca to make his appearance. I’m waiting to hear more, but in the meantime, everybody send her “if this is the real thing, let it be quick & easy, with a happy, healthy mom & baby” vibes. (Boy, that was awfully specific, wasn’t it?)

Catie's Birthday Party

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Catie’s birthday party yesterday was so much fun. I’m really glad we decided to have the party at Chick-Fil-A. We had our own assigned person to take care of us, everybody seemed to have a really good time, and the best part? I didn’t have to clean up the mess afterward. Score!

close up of the previous pic: you can tell she dug the Pooh decor

party table

I have to say, our neighbors rock. All of the kids were so good, and the moms are so much fun to hang out with (um, not that I had much time to sit down and chat, but still). I guess the perk of having the older kids there is that at this point, they’re all birthday party pros. They know the drill: play, eat, play some more, cake & ice cream, squeeze in a few more minutes of play, presents, then go home. The whole thing was over and done in less than 2 hours. Perfect.

kids swarming the Chick-Fil-A cow

As I predicted, Catie hated the Chick-Fil-A cow. She freaked out if he got within ten feet of her. But the older kids loved him, so it was fine.

Besides the neighbors, we also had Cat, Tony & Elizabeth there. Since Elizabeth is around the same age as Catie, I wasn’t sure how she would react to the Chick-Fil-A cow. Her reaction was… different than Catie’s, to say the least.

Elizabeth LOVED the Chick-Fil-A cow

She freaking LOVED the cow. It took her a minute to warm up to him, but oh man. Love. She cried when he had to leave. Meanwhile, Catie was all, “Good riddance, cow. Don’t let the barn door hit you on your way out to the pasture.” It’s so funny, those two kids could not be more different if they tried. And yet they seem to like each other. Go figure.

My only two (tiny) gripes about the party:
1. I have no pictures of Dave at all because he was the one using the camera. He was there, I promise. We have witnesses.
2. You know how I was all excited about not having to clean up afterward? Well, it turns out, when all the kids bring presents for your kid, those gifts have to go somewhere after the party. And that somewhere is all over my living room. So there was still a pretty big clean-up job left for Dave and me today. Oh well.

But really, overall it was fantastic, and just so much fun. I guess I’m surprised because I thought having this big birthday party for a two year-old would be one of those migraine-causing, “sweet Jesus, remind me to double up on my birth control”-type experiences, and it totally wasn’t. It was busy, sure, but it was fun busy.

All the pictures from the party are here.

the shred

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My brother’s visit this weekend was a lot of fun. He and his girlfriend Debbie were planning to get here around 1 p.m., but – and this is not surprising if you know Chris at all – they got here closer to 6 p.m. It wasn’t a big deal since I didn’t really have anything planned, it was just one of those things that made me roll my eyes because it’s so typical of him. Fortunately they showed up with birthday gifts for both me and Catie, so I got over it quickly. We had dinner and played board games, which probably sounds incredibly dull, but we had a really good time.

For the record, Catie already adores my brother, but she absolutely loved Debbie too. I was a little concerned since they’d never met before, but in no time, Catie had learned her name and was giving her unsolicited hugs. So I think she found a new friend there.

This morning we all went out for brunch. Chris and Debbie headed home shortly afterward, since it’s a long-ish drive back to Charlotte (about 2-3 hours). So it was a short visit, but good.

On an entirely different topic: I have finally caved to the peer pressure from all of the other bloggers who’ve been talking about it, and I ordered a copy of the 30-Day Shred. I’ve been doing this damn diet for two weeks and I have yet to lose a single pound, so I’m going to try something drastic to kickstart my metabolism. It arrived on Friday (happy birthday to me!), and I tried it out during Catie’s nap. It really is just as much of a butt-kicker as everybody says. I haven’t done it this weekend since we’ve been busy with company, but I plan to start my official Thirty Days of shredding tomorrow. Monday is the day for fresh starts, right? My only worry is that I have very weak knees (so do most women on my dad’s side of the family – thanks, crappy genes!). So I’m being very careful, because I really don’t want to end up needing a bionic knee like Alexa got.

And yes, it’s kind of silly to order a workout DVD when I have a gym membership, but the thing is? I haven’t been to the gym in ages. Catie hates the Y’s daycare and is totally miserable when I leave her there. I mean, sometimes she’ll be ok – she’s not happy, but she’ll manage. Then there was the time that a lady from the daycare had to come and get me fifteen minutes into my yoga class because my kid wouldn’t stop screaming and it was upsetting the other children. (And let me tell you, any relaxation or de-stressing that the yoga class had given me by that point? Was promptly undone by the embarassment of having to grab my shoes & yoga mat, and bolt out of class.) Sigh.

Perhaps even more importantly, there’s also the fact that I’m lazy. With the gym, I have to get Catie and myself dressed, get her daycare bag packed, get in the car, drive over there, make sure it’s during the gym’s (rather limited) daycare hours… it’s sort of a hassle. With a video, I just pop in the DVD and work out for 20 minutes during Catie’s nap. It’s basically impossible to come up with an excuse why I can’t work out. So that’s my plan. We’ll see how it goes.

EDITED TO ADD: OMG! I totally forgot to mention that my husband is awesome and got me the greatest birthday gift ever: he got me a Nintendo Wii. Right now all I have is the Wii Sports game, because the Wii Fit was on backorder. The sports game is fun (bowling in your living room!), but it’s not exactly aerobic exercise. I should have a Wii Fit in a few days, though, so yay! This way, if Jillian Michaels does totally kick my butt and I need to rest my muscles a bit, I’ll just do a little Wii Fit yoga in my living room, and either way, I don’t have to go past my front door to get my daily exercise. Woot!