Everything's bigger in Texas

Since moving to Texas four months ago, we're learning that Texas is practically it's own country. The people here have state pride like no other! Everywhere you look something is claiming to be Texas' best. They have their own grocery store, the trucks are bigger and it seems like every one of them is "Texas' Best Truck". And the restaurants, oy! They all claim to be the "Best Hamburger/Mexican/BBQ in Texas". So when we were on our way to Sissy's four month check up and took a back road to avoid traffic, we excitedly but apprehensively stopped at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. 

The parking lot wasn't too full, we didn't have a lot of time and it smelled delicious. They were able to seat us right away and despite being a "Mexican Cafe" they had a lot to offer. it's a crowded little place, the walls are covered with pictures, articles, old ticket stubs, magazine pics, coloring book pages and everything but the kitchen sink. The booths are old Long John Silver ones and the waitresses are loud and friendly. After looking at the menu, I opted for the Chicken Fried Steak. Afterall it's a Texas staple, I love it and I hadn't had it since we moved. I expected it to be a big serving. I didn't quite expect it to be bigger than my daughter is...

Okay so I exaggerated, but just slightly. What you can't see is that the plate is full of french fries underneath the steak. Or the Texas toast that Pooks had already swiped. I ate a good portion of the steak for lunch, took the rest home and ate a bit for dinner and B polished off the rest the following day. So are you wondering the price?

$10.

Yep, everything is bigger in Texas and I'm not complaining about this one!

Five!

Five. Years. Old.

One word.

Bedtime at our household has been a wee bit rough as of late. The boys caught the virus that I had, and it's {of course} caused their asthma to flare up. We're up to our necks in vapor rub, breathing treatments and oral steroids but they are doing better. The breathing treatments and oral steriods tend to stimulate them and despite the fact that they are exhausted, they have trouble settling down at bedtime. Sunday night, I was on edge. Dinner time had been horrible, the boys had been back-talking, refusing to clean up toys and I was just over it. We quickly did baths, brushed their teeth and put them to bed.

Well, I put them in their beds but they were talking. Talking turned into loudly talking with giggling. This went on for 45 minutes. I gave them two reminders to settle down and go to sleep. By the one hour mark, I had it. I went in, told them they needed to close their eyes, close their lips and go to sleep. I said that I did not want to hear one word out of their mouths.

Pooks response?

"What word Mom?"

Seriously!?

Happy Birthday Bubba!

Today, my oldest "baby" turned five years old.

FIVE.

If you're a mom, you know that's doozie. He is no longer a baby, not a toddler, not even a pre-schooler...he's five. He's gonna be *gulp* a kindergartner. That's scary. Seriously if you have a baby, squeeze them tight because you will blink and they will be five. No joke.

We already had a party when my parents were here, but today we have a few moms and kiddos from our Playgroup over for a playdate and cupcakes. I do have pics but they'll have to wait til I find my SD reader. And his well child check and stats, I'll have those on the 9th. Since we're going back ''home'' in 11 days, I scheduled his check up with Dr. S, our normal lovely family doctor :)

Happy Birthday Bubba! I love you more than words can say!

Watch out Jillian Michaels...

Miss Sweetcheeks has mastered push-ups and plank holds at 5mos....she could probably snap you like a tiny twig. Why did I pay $9 for the Shred when apparently my daughter could whoop me into shape!?

 

 

Look at that strength! That concentration and poise! Check out just how high she can lift herself off the floor, and not to brag too much but baby girl breaks out the reps too.

"What? Like this is hard to do? Just wait til I can pull myself up!"

It seems to happen about once a year

That I get sick. I mean the kind of sick where it hurts to move. Being the Mom, I rarely get the break and usually just have to power through.

Yesterday and today, I have been that sick. It started out with just a congested nose, sore throat and ear pain. I was sucking down fortified juice, eating Oranges and drinking tons of water to help combat the illness. This went on for four or five days and on Sunday, I thought I was getting better. Until I woke up Monday. I just felt tired and out of it. Monday evening I could barely breathe and was plowing through tissue after tissue. My throat was killing me and because I'm breastfeeding Sweetcheeks, about the only thing I can take is Benadryl. So I popped a Benadryl and fell asleep sitting up in the recliner {it was the only way that I could breathe}. I woke up on Tuesday and felt like I had been ran over by a truck. I mean I woke up wanting to curl up into a ball and just cry. I couldn't smell anything. My entire body ached and I had a killer headache. By 10 am I had called B at work as asked if there was anyway he could come home early, so I could rest. He had a meeting, then would head home.

At 10:45am, I noticed Peanuts diaper was sagging and I plopped him down on the floor to change, what I thought was a wet diaper. Keep in mind, I can't smell anything. Imagine my surprise when I pull down his pants and #2 is seeping out the diaper, all over his sweatpants, and now all over my carpet. I was bawling. Poop is everywhere. I'm mad that it's messy. I'm mad that I had no warning. I'm made that my perfectly capable two year old isn't potty trained {simply because he doesn't want to, not because he can't}. So I clean him up, chuck his pj's in the trash, and start scrubbing the carpet. Never have I been so glad as to not be able to smell because it's at this moment when B walks in the front door, McDonalds in hand and says "Hey Boys, Daddy's home. I brought McDonald's for lunch...get up at the table."then turns to me and asks "What smells like shit?"

Yep, angel in disguise that one is! He helps me finish cleaning up. The boys start eating an early lunch and after munching on a few nuggets, I take Sissy and retire to the bedroom. We napped from 11:45am-3pm. I then slept on and off on the sofa until 11:30pm when I moved to the bedroom. B was an absolute doll and took off today too, so I was able to sleep {on and off} from 11:30pm-10am this morning. It would have been perfect had Sissy slept through the night but she is also congested and waking frequently, fussy and just miserable. Plus, I think I may be slightly dehydrated which obviously affects my milk supply so she was most likely, genuinely hungry.

Now its 1pm on Wednesday, I'm eating a bowl of soup and then, most likely, going back to bed. Luckily B has been healthy and wonderful. He's done the dishes, countless loads of laundry, entertained the boys, vacuumed and hasn't so much as complained. I can only hope that I feel better as the day goes on.

Whew!

What a busy last few days we have had! Nanaw and Papa arrived on Wednesday night, I think it was almost 8pm. The kids were, to say the very least, excited!

So Wednesday night, we didn't go anywhere. Just hung out at the house, the kids stayed up til well after 10pm and we just enjoyed having Nanaw and Papa here.

Thursday we went to Sea World.

Got there before noon and didn't leave until almost 7. We caught the Azul show, the dolphin feeding and of course, Shamu!

 

Thursday night, we feasted on Taco Cabana! Friday we took them out to lunch at a local hole in the wall that we love, then we went to Central Market and finally, the Riverwalk. 

  

We didn't last too long down there. It was super crowded (It's Spring Break here and a Friday night), but we ended up trying a BBQ place that we had heard good things about. Needless to say, we were let down. But while there, Sissy did try babyfood for the first time. I took along Baked Sweet potato. She was also, less than impressed.

Saturday we again kinda took the morning slow, then left in time to go grab lunch. We ended up eating at Rudy's BBQ. Freaking. Delicious. We loved, loved, loved it. No pics, but it was awesome. Afterward we headed down to the Quarry. Went shopping, walked around Whole Foods, took in the sights. Then we headed home and grilled dinner. Sunday we had originally talked about just hanging around the house and doing nothing. Not going anywhere, and just celebrating Bubba's upcoming 5th birthday. Well that last til 3:30pm when we decided that we were bored and we ended up driving out to Gruene TX. It's an old historic town with antique shops, arts and crafts booths, a general store, and an old country music hall. 

We then returned to the city to go out to dinner at Red Robin (the birthday boys' choice) and returned home to open presents and eat cake. 

 

 

 

Now consider how much we did, how many places we went and remember that we did all of the above in four days with 8 people (four of which are UNDER the age of five!). It was a busy, busy couple of days and a lot of time in the car, but we loved it!

-Love-

Not a lot of blogging for the next few days, too much loving going on :)

Wordless Wednesday

Lifes' a garden, can you dig it?!

Well it's March in Texas which means it's time to start planting our garden. Odd since we usually don't plant until May but, the meteorologists all say that the chance for frost is gone and Lowes/Home Depot and every other greenhouse place it promoting it, so we dug right in.

Well, we tried to. But Texas dirt isn't exactly optimal soil for a home veggie garden. And in this pic of the kids, look behind them...there is some edging and overgrown/dead plants against the fence line {I didn't think to take an actual ''before'' pic}

zoomed in...

See the dead vines over-growing our fence line? Well I wanted them out. I thought we could then rake up the area, get some new soil and plant our garden there but, there was no way. B had to dig and dig to get the roots of whatever plant that was out. The ground was so dry, it was almost sand. So I suggested that we get some lumber and make a raised vegetable garden.

So impulsive people that we are, we threw the kids in the van and off to Lowes we went. We purchased an 8x4 piece of plywood, then bought a 2"x12"x16' piece and had them cut the plywood in half, and cut the long piece into 4ft sections. Our total spent on lumber was under $30. So we are making a smaller garden box, 4feet x 4feet and 12inches deep, then adding some tall corner posts and {eventually netting} so that our vine/climbing plants (cucumbers, peas, and squash) will have room to grow upward. All in all, it took maybe 30 mins to construct, then B threw in a bag of topsoil and let the boys scoop it out into the box.

Peanut, excited about the dirt. You can see the ground in front and the huge dead plant behind, that was there previously.

We are using the existing pots/planters that were left in our backyard by previous tenants, and planting our tomato and pepper plants individually in those. We planted our watermelon and cantaloupe seeds along the outer edge, so that as they grow we can move the vines and will then to grow over and infront of the raised bed. (We are growing the little mini watermelons that only get 6 inches round). While I know that B would like to have a bigger garden, we're starting out small so we can see what it's like to grow veggies in Texas, which ones are successful and then we can go from there. We can always add another 4x4 bed next to our existing one. The boys had an absolute blast helping scoop out the dirt and choosing the seeds of what we will be growing. Last night, they planted the seeds. Carefully, since our garden is little we only planted 1/2 of each pack of seeds. They like to dump the entire package in so B went through after they "helped" and cleaned it up a bit.

Last year we successfully grew cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions, peppers, carrots, lettuce and herbs. Pumpkins didn't really turn out (we grew one), potatoes flopped, and the lettuce we couldn't eat fast enough so a lot of it was wasted.

This year we are trying cucumbers, peas, cauliflower, (less) lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, basil, watermelon and cantaloupe. It sounds like a lot for our tiny space but I think using less seeds, and the fact that we're planting the tomatoes and peppers separately...it should all work out.  Wish us luck! Ideally we're hoping it turns out looking similar to this:

Image courtesy of Google images, on Home Depot site

We're excited to see what grows and eat some delicious fruits and veggies.

Kids say (and do!) the darndest things...

Like the other night when watching TV and the studio audience laughed, Pooks turned to me and said "Mom...dat guy is not laughing, that kid is not laughing...den who is laughing? Where is it coming it from? I hear it but I not see anybody laughing." So I explain that the laughing is from people who we can't see, that are watching the show as they are making it. His response? "HA HA HA HA...now they hear me laughing too!"
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Today I am nursing Sissy and Peanut tells me that he needs to wash his hands. So I say okay and he heads to the bathroom. I hear water for a second, then nothing. I {foolisly} assume he's done and just assume that he's playing in his brothers' room. That is until Bubba comes running into the living room to tell me that his brother ''has soap ALL over da bathroom". So I set Sissy down and run to the bathroom. I find Peanut covered in the thick, clear Softsoap that had previously been inside the soap pump. Sticky thick soap up the sleeves of his shirt, all over the counter, all over the sink. I'm not kidding, he had pumped out the entire bottle {and it was just opened yesterday} all in the bathroom. I am stripping off his shirt, asking him why he did that? "Why did you need so much soap?" And his response? "Theres no bubbles. I need 'da bubbles''. So I exhaustively respond that you need water to make bubbles. "Oh..."

Yeah,  that was fun to clean up. Not.
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This morning we were watching the local news and they were showing footage from the Tsunami that hit Japan. Bubba was asking what it was and what was happening. So I explained, and I reassured him that he didn't need to worry. We live far, far away from Japan and even farther away from the Pacific Ocean where the storm was at. I let him know that it might cause it to rain here but it wouldn't be that much rain and reassured him that since our city didn't have an ocean, we wouldn't have to worry. He asked a couple questions (were those cars in the water? did it knock down those trees?) and I answered those. I let him know that even though it was really really bad now, that it would get better. It would take awhile but the people living in Japan and even people from here, would help clean up Japan and get it back to normal. He seemed satisfied and walked away. Fast forward to tonight before bed...."Mom, did they get Japan cleaned up?" So I explain that it takes a lot longer than one day to get it cleaned up. That it takes a long time and that they would probably have most of it cleaned up by the time he turns six. "Dat's a loooong time away. Why they not just ask Kung Fu Panda to help?"

Oh how the mind of an almost five year old works!
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Yesterday I was on the phone with Nanaw, but telling Bubba to stop running or else he would start wheezing {he's been dealing with allergies the last week or so}. I asked him if he needed a breathing treatment and he said no. I start talking to Nanaw and Peanut comes up and says ''Me need beaving treatment ma." He's not. "Are you coughing?" he replies "Yeah, I coughing all the days.''

My Rollie-Pollie

Gosh all-mighty, I love this little girl...slobbery toes and all :D

I'm on my way to being shredded...

I think that's a good thing!?

As I mentioned in this post I have started working out to "The Shred'' DVD's. I did my first level 1 workout on February 23. I did them every other day until Thursday the 3rd and haven't done one since. My reasoning is two part. One, Aunt Debbie was here and I prioritized spending time with my family. Two, I should be moving up to level 2 now {as level 1 isn't as challenging} and I am terrified. I'm finally to the point where I'm not sore at all and I know that level 2 will be brutal.

So I've done the DVD 5 times and get this, I've lost 3.5lbs since workout #1! Is that not insane?! I made 2 dietary changes: eating breakfast each day & cutting down on soda intake. I let myself have one Dr.Pepper a day but no more. Instead of my usual 3-4 glasses, I drink water, tea or even limeade. I know soda is horrible empty calories but I didn't realize how much so until now. The really crazy thing? Apparently I'm already looking more toned, B actually noticed and said something. Seeing how I can get a haircut and highlights and he doesn't notice, I figure this has to be a good thing right? So today, I will allow myself to do level 1 {it has been 5 days since I did a workout} again and then, on to level 2.

I can say that it's already worth the $9!

Can I get a little Catch-up?

I am seriously lagging in my blogging. I think you can all understand why but it frustrates me because I am doing this so my kiddos can someday look back and see what we did. They each have a mostly finished baby book but I'm not a scrapbooker, I don't keep a paper journal...this is it so I need to keep up on it! Someday I hope to be rich enough to print my blog, lol. But it's expensive and I ramble. A lot.

So as I mentioned here Aunt Debbie and Chris were visiting this weekend. Well, Wednesday night-Saturday night, and then they left before the sun was up this morning. We had SO much fun. I can't say that we did anything spectacular, we did go down to the Riverwalk and we took them to Taco Cabana twice, we mostly relaxed at the house, grilled dinner, made ice cream sundaes, enjoyed the warm Texas weather and really just hung out. The other options would have been the zoo or Sea World but we're saving those for when Nanaw and Papa visit (in just 11 days!).

 

 

 

 

Ohmygosh, 5 months already!

 Even Sissy is amazed at how quickly time is flying by!

Well Sissy, today you are FIVE months old. We can barely believe it! You are getting so big and really starting to show us your personality. You are just as happy as ever; still so content. It's becoming more and more apparent that while you are uniquely you, you are also a little bit of Mom and Dad. While you have mom's coloring and you look a lot like me, your facial expressions and attitude are spot on-just like your fathers. Just the perfect little mix of both of us :)

So what are you up to at five months? Well, you've put yourself on a pretty predictable routine. You usually wake around 7:30am and eat, then play on your play mat or in your jumper for a bit. When mommy takes her shower, you hang out in the bathroom in your bouncy seat. Sometimes, you like to lay on the floor and watch PBS with your brothers. This all lasts til about 9:30 when you nurse quickly and take a nap. Some days you sleep 1pm but most days, you're up around 11. If we run errands I don't wait til you wake up, I just slip you into your carseat and 9 times out of 10, you don't raise a fuss or even wake up! Such a good baby. By 1:30 you're back asleep for your afternoon nap and wake around 3pm. Then it's pretty much a mix of being held, playing on your floor gym or in your jumper. Around 5 I put you in your swing so I can start supper. Some days you sleep long enough that I can make supper and eat, other days you wake up just as I set my plate on the table so I tend to nurse you while we eat at the dinner table.

Now that you are five whole months old, we'll start baby food soon. Lately you watch us like a hawk when we eat. You try to grab food off of mom or dad's plate if we're holding you while we eat or even grab the spoon from us, so it's about time. I was really, really hoping to hold off til 6mos or later but I guess you have other ideas. I did get some cereal for you but we'll probably go straight into veggies and fruits. Mommy needs to buy a new steamer basket, then I'll start making your baby food stockpile. So, on to your stats & fun facts:

• you now weigh roughly 15lbs. this is at our scale at home but regardless, almost 2 lbs heavier than you were at 4 months!
• you are wearing 6-9 month clothing. in your monthly pic the tshirt is 9mos, the skirt is 6-9mos and the leggings are 6mos
• have discovered your toes! i found you sucking on your toes when i got you out of your crib today
  

• you wearing size 3 diapers still {but in a pinch, the 4's will work too}
• roll belly to back and back to belly
• you are starting to sit for brief moments without anyone holding you. this makes mommy extremely nervous but you like to show off i guess. here is a picture of you sitting at and holding on to the kiddie picnic table without any help at all. no photoshoping or fancy trickery...you really did it!

•  you like to hold rattles and teethers and can move them from hand to hand
• are teething big time. no sign of actual teeth yet but oh-mylanta the drooling is crazy!
• you know your name and if Bubba is the one saying it you always let out the BIGGEST smile

So, happy 5 months Sissy! The last 151 days have been amazing and I can't wait to see what's in store :)

We have visitors!

For the first time since moving to Texas on November 28th, we have family visiting! Happy now Dad? I didn't say we're ''seeing'' family for the first time even though I don't think that Skyping counts as ''seeing''. And let me just say that this is huge. I went over 3 months without physically seeing my family...up until this move I saw (at very least) my Mom (and often my Dad) every day, sometimes multiple times a day. I was no more than 2 hours from almost all of my family {means parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, some cousins and siblings} so the fact that we went 3 months without driving back ''home'' is amazing.

But I digress... 

Aunt Debbie and Christopher stayed with us last night, after making the 10 hour drive to get here. We took it pretty easy. Lounged around the house, then went to Taco Cabana for dinner. We LOVE us some Taco Cabana and the boys were super eager to share that love. I kinda thought that maybe it was just us who were super impressed by it. After all it's good Mexican food and all 5 of us can eat there for $17...and that's including a Frozen Margarita. But we went there nonetheless and much to our delight, Aunt Debbie and Christopher love Taco Cabana too!

 

Is it just us? Are we just super easily impressed or do other out there love Taco Cabana too?! I'm curious.

So tonight, we're actually going to do stuff; We're gonna go down to the Riverwalk, take in the sights and smells and enjoy this Texas weather. I might even take a few real pictures too ;)

Wordless Wednesday

How to Roll over, as demonstrated by Miss Sweetcheeks

Step 1: Get so distracted by a toy that you end up on your side....this is optimal positioning

Step 2: Heave your arm over while simultaneously thrusting your face into the ground and grunting.

Step 3: Continue grunting; if available grab onto something to help you shift your body weight.

Step 4: Quickly look up and glare at anyone who questions your methods...

 

Sweetcheeks is quickly becoming a pro at rolling. If you can ignore all of the clashing colors in the above photos (seriously...it's overwhelming!), you'll see she's got it down. She's been rolling from belly to back for about a month and a few weeks ago she started rolling back to belly. It's only been within the last few days however that she seems to be intentionally doing it. Prior to this she always had the ''What the heck did I just do?" face and would start fussing/crying and needed us to flip her back over. Now she will start out on her play-mat and end up four feet away because she just rolls like a little log until she meets an obstacle and can't roll anymore. 

She doesn't yet change directions, but I've warned her big brothers to watch out and keep their toys out of her reach. Pretty soon she'll start rolling to get to things that she wants...when did my tiny baby get so big? It's almost been 5 whole months since she was born, if you can believe it!

One month later and Peanut is walking!!

Walking, climbing and playing to be specific!

Peanut hurt his leg on Jan 24th and was in a full leg cast until Feb 18th. Even though that was over a week ago, he just started walking again. Up until now, he had been crawling and dragging his leg but this weekend, he literally just stood up and said ''I walkin Mom'' and resumed walking again.

And it is wonderful! Not having to carry his 26 pounds is a blessing. My back is already feeling better and his mood and attitude is much much better! So in honor of him walking, here is a bunch of pics from this weekend and Monday of him playing.

 

 

 

 Woohoo!