Utah!

Man I have been a blacker (blogging/slacker-I just made that up. Boy am I tired). I was in Utah almost a month ago and am just now writing about it. Anyway, the flight there was...let's just say I have blocked it from my memory. Now you really want to know what happened, don't you? Here goes. My friend dropped me off at the airport and she has a baby so I didn't want her to have to park and walk me to the ticket counter so I just had her drop me outside. I figured I would get a cart or something for my luggage and I didn't want to bring the car seat or stroller because I thought it would be a hassle. But I had no idea the carts cost $3.00! That seemed scandalous at the time and I decided I could make it the few feet that I had to go to get to the counter. So here I am with Kate on one hip and trying to roll two suitcases with one hand. It doesn't work that way. But how many people watched me struggling and were thinking to themselves "That poor lady, someone should help her?". No one did! Oh well. I somehow got to the ticket counter and got through security. I went to the gate to find out the plane had been delayed due to rain. So we sat and waited, We didn't have to wait too long and the seat next to me was empty so I thought my luck was changing. But Kate was so hard! She is at the age when they don't want to sit still and she was constantly up or down or throwing things or grabbing the hair of the woman in front of me. One minute I was ready to break down in tears and the next minute I felt okay. I wasn't on a direct flight; I had a stop over in Denver and by some miracle got to Denver. But because of the plane delay in Houston, I missed my connecting flight! I went to the customer service desk and the line was so long. Kate hadn't had a nap and all I had packed for her was grapes and crackers. Luckily I was able to get on a flight to SLC only about an hour and a half later than my original plan. I had just taken Kate to change her diaper and saw that she had had diarrhea and it had leaked out onto my white shirt. By that point I didn't even care anymore. She slept on the short flight to Utah so that flight wasn't bad. But poor Kate! The next day her diaper was full of undigested grapes!
Anyway, the awful flight was worth it to get to see my family, especially my brother Paul who has been in Afghanistan and I haven't seen since Thanksgiving. I also got to see some of my awesome high school buddies and meet their adorable kids. My sister Alicia and my dad and I took Kate to the zoo. I figured she was probably too young to really enjoy it, but she did seem to have fun. My sisters and I also took her to the fountains at Gateway one day but she did NOT enjoy that! It was a great trip and so refreshing to be out of the humidity for awhile. And don't worry, the plane ride home was not nearly as traumatic as the ride there!

Goodbye 20's, it's been nice

It's official. I am 30 years old as of Friday. I really don't mind because I think I am in a pretty good place in my life. I have a good job skill that lets me work when (and if) I want, a great marriage, a child, and a house. I mean, yes, I would prefer to be living in Utah, but maybe that will happen by the time I am 40. So turning 30 wasn't too hard. Anyway, on Friday we had some neighbors over to eat cake and watch the Olympic opening ceremonies (hence the sports themed cake). But the real day of celebration for me was Saturday. The Aveda company (they make hair and skin products) has a school here in Houston so if you don't mind having a student work on you, you can get facials, mani/pedi's, massages, etc for really cheap. So I had myself a spa day and got a massage, facial, and highlights all for under $100! It was so fun and relaxing. Thanks to Jason for staying home with Kate all day while I was gone! For those of you living outside Houston, if you ever decide to take trip here (and why on earth wouldn't you), we will definitely have to go to the Aveda school. And for those of you who DO live here; is anyone up for a girl's day out? Call me!

Breaking Dawn

I have read the Twilight books and enjoyed them, but I am by no means an obsessive fan. So how did I find myself at Barnes and Noble at midnight surrounded by a bunch of high schoolers (and one guy dressed up as a vampire, see picture) buying the latest book in the series? I am still asking myself that same question.

And the award for worst mom goes to...

I hesitated whether or not to write this post, but it has been a few days so I think I can laugh at the situation now. Wednesday started out so fun. My friend Angela and her 3 cute (and tan!) kids came down from Kingwood to go swimming at my neighborhood pool. The day was sort of cloudy and rainy so when we met at the pool it had been closed temporarily due to thunder. We went back to my house to wait and see if the weather got any better and the kids had fun playing the Wii and with George. The pool reopened about an hour later and because it had been closed earlier we were the only ones there for quite awhile. We stayed for a couple of hours and then decided to call it a day. Kate loves to play with my keys, and being the indulgent mother (i.e. pushover) that I am, I let her play with them while we walked to the car. I put her in her car seat and quickly grabbed my keys from her and replaced them with her toy keys that were in the car. I tossed my keys on the front seat and shut Kate's door. When I tried to open my door....locked. I tried Kate's door...locked. I ran around to the other side....locked! Angela was still in the parking lot so I went to her car and said "I locked Kate in the car, what do I do?" She said "call 911". So I reached into my bag to get my cell phone and couldn't find it of course. Angela very kindly let me use hers and I called 911. The operator asked me "what is the address?". Well I didn't know so I said "umm...the Fall Creek pool?" That apparently didn't cut it so I had to run back to the pool to ask the lifeguards what the address was. Meantime, the call was dropped but I didn't realize it and the operator tried to call me back but I thought it was someone trying to call Angela so I hit ignore on her phone. After I realized what had happened I had to call 911 again. Keep in mind this is the middle of July. In Texas. And the car was not running so there was no AC. Luckily the day was cloudy so it wasn't too terribly hot. Anyway, I could hear sirens coming so I went back to the car and a cop car pulled up. Out jumped a short, bald cop. Then another cop car came, and again, out jumped a short, bald cop. Angela turned to me and whispered "Are they twins?". Man, I wish I had checked their name badges to see if they had the same last name! Oh well. Then a fire truck (not a fire engine, just a truck) and an ambulance came. They popped the lock in record time and I got Kate out of the car. She was pretty mad but I think it had more to do with her being tired than being in distress. Everyone was very nice about the situation, but I felt pretty stupid. So what do you guys think? Do I win the award or what? Here's a poll:
A. Nope, there are wayyyy worse moms out there.
B. Yep, you win. Someone call CPS!
C. I can't answer the question, I'm too busy trying to get my kid out of my locked car.

Where does the time go?

So I know July 4th was forever ago, but I had to post some pictures. Our neighborhood had a little parade so I decorated the stroller and we paraded around that morning. It totally reminded me of decorating my bike and riding in the neighborhood parade when I was little. Of course, I was also dressed up as a pioneer because it was July 24th, but close enough! Then that night the golf course near our house had a firework show. It was a fun day (from what I can remember because it was so long ago!)
Kate turned 10 months last week. She is finally crawling around! It has been nice to have her be able to follow me around instead of sitting her down and then have her start crying because she can't follow me. But now I have to keep a close eye on her so she doesn't get into things or put everything in her mouth! She makes a really funny noise whenever we say "meow", like she is trying to copy us or something. But she only does it after "meow". She is eating lots of new things and likes most of them as long as she can feed herself. I can't believe she is almost a year old!

Memory Lane Tag

You're It!

Memory Lane.... the tag that gets everyone involved
Got this from a friend and I thought I would play the game.
Here's how you play
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and i had together. it doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory of you. it's actually pretty funny to the responses. if you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

A perspective on work

I have been working at a hospital near our new house (I'm an ultrasound tech for those that don't know) while one of their regular techs is on maternity leave. I have to say...working is so much easier than being a stay-at-home mom! It is really hard to leave Kate, but once I get to work, I have clear objectives and an immediate reward (in the form of a paycheck). At home, I have a child that can't tell me what she wants, a house that never seems to stay clean, and no paycheck! I can totally understand why some moms would choose to go back to work and respect even more the moms that decide to stay home. I remember my mom being there to greet us when we got home from school, and it meant so much to have her there. But I can see now why she went back to school as soon as Paul was in elementry! Anyway, my hat goes off to all you stay-at-home moms, the most difficult job on the planet!