Shoes, socks, MONKEY!

Walking the monkey.

Trying to take the monkey on a ride.

Oh, she almost has it. This was a challenge to get herself and the monkey on the race car.


Well, I still don't have my camera but if I did here's what it would look like:



The camera was mailed out last Wednesday and still has not arrived. Why not? Huh!!! This is going to be the death of me. I have a tendency to obsess about things (such as the camera)...just a little flaw I have. But, this is also a flaw that allows me to get things done in a sort of military style. Once the "to do" list is made, I'm on a direct mission to get it all done and usually don't allow myself a break until complete. So, in the meantime, I continue to go back in my photo archives.

Before there was "horsey" there was "monkey". Lola loved several things during this phase....her monkey, socks and shoes. So why not combine all three and put the shoes and socks on the monkey. Man, this is genius! Lola was very particular about her monkey and very diligent when putting on the shoes and socks. She would pick out exactly which ones she wanted to put on the monkey each day. The monkey would play with us in the yard in the afternoons and Lola would take her for walks and attempt to take her for rides on the race car and then the monkey would go to bed with Lo. It was cute! But, the monkey is now in the past and Lola is really into horseys. Of course, we haven't been able to find the perfect small horsey for the little girl but we're on the search. In the meantime, she's loving her rocking horsey that her great grandmother, Memaw, got her for Christmas

I continue to mention over and over on this blog how challenging this toddler stage can be. Although there are so many challenges, little Miss Lola continues to bring us muchos joy every day. She never ceases to amaze me. She is constantly talking. Literally non-stop. Obviously, we don't always understand what she's saying (we just nod our heads and agree) but lately she's really started speaking much more clear and some of the words/sentences she's using actually make sense. Here are some of her new sayings:

• "OH NO!!!" She says this with a ton of drama. Seriously, you should see the expression on her face when she uses this term.
• "Outside hot" Hot has been a new word for Lola over the past couple weeks. If she touches food, bath water, etc that is too hot she'll say "hot". She says her "hot" with a bit of an accent...not sure which language...maybe French. Last weekend at the lake she was barefoot and stepped on some hot concrete....she suddenly stopped in her tracks, froze up and started screaming loudly "hot, hot, hot" (with the french accent). I had to run and grab her to save those little feet. It really was hot! During the rush to save Lo's feet, I actually burned my feet too. Now she's learned to put hot with other words. When we go outside she says "Outside hot" which is soooo true. Man, it has been hot, hot, hot!!!
• "Where'd it go?" - She says this with the cutest little tone and usually lifts up her hands and shrugs her shoulders when saying it. This little girl is very expressive when she talks. I also have a feeling she's going to be a big hand talker.
• "here'ya" or "mere'ya" (the second one actually means come here) - She says both as if she were herding cows...."here'ya, here'ya". Lo uses this term when she wants something or when she has something to give you or when she wants you to pick her up she'll say "here'ya". Not sure where the "ya" comes into play but it makes it all the more cute. On top of everything else, she's a demanding little thing!
• "Ha-ppy Bir -d-tay to you" - At school they celebrate birthdays for all the kids. I always know when it's a child's birthday b/c Lola sings "Happy Birthday to you" all the way home in the car and then continues to sing it through the night and sometimes even the next morning. She says the "to" part with just a tap of the tongue and usually puts two fingers up. I guess she thinks "to" is also "two". This may be her longest sentence to date.
• "Hi Lola" - When Lola looks in the mirror or sees a picture of herself she'll say "Hi Lola" to herself with a sweet little tone.
• "My God" - This is my favorite. I know it technically shouldn't be my fav but it is. More than once Lola has used this term when something doesn't go exactly her way and she says it as if she is overly exacerbated. Seriously, where did she get this??? Now, we obviously don't want her to use God's name in vain but when kids say something like this, you can't help but giggle. It's kind of like that famous scene in Jerry Macguire...you all know what I'm talking about.

It truly doesn't get much better than this!!!

It's me time!!!

Man, I'm excited!!! I'm taking a week vacation. No plans. Just going to have some much needed me time. So, what will I do with all this time? Well, I'll get a pedicure. Haven't had one since the day I went into labor. I'll also clean out and organize closets. I need to get rid of a ton of clothes. I'll go to several backyard fitness classes. This is fun. It's a group of mom's I found that work out in this ladies beautiful backyard. Kids can go and entertain themselves and mom's can get a good workout in and let me tell you...the work outs are tough. I'll also complete my weekly runs. I'll go watch a movie. I'm thinking maybe I'll see The Hangover, Whatever Works or Away We Go. Shoot...maybe I'll see all three....why not?!?!? I'll take Lola to school every morning but will probably pick her up early and we'll either go to the local park and swim/play on the playground or go to Barton Springs. I'll also go to Dallas to visit everyone and get my hair highlighted. Maybe my mom and I can go hit up some of my favorite Dallas shopping spots. It will be easy to convince her to buy Lola something new and cute and maybe I can even convince her to buy me something new and cute....not that I need anything. I'm really looking forward to this...it is going to be heaven all wrapped up into one week of vacation. Can't wait!!!!

I still don't have our new camera so I have to go back to some of my old albums. Lola loves the book "Not a Box" - it has simple line drawings of a rabbit and a box. The author dedicates the book "to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes" and celebrates the magic a large box brings to a child. The book opens with a question: "Why are you sitting in a box?" The young rabbit replies, offended, "it's not a box." And the illustration shows him sitting in a race car. And, so on. Rabbit climbs a mountain, fights a fire, wears a robot costume. His box is anything, but "it's NOT NOT NOT NOT a box!" '. It is a really cute book! Lola loves to play with, in, on and around boxes. This particular evening she was having a blast inside the box . Who knows what the box actually was to her b/c I'm sure it was "not a box". You gotta love a kids imagination and the fact that something as simple as a box can bring a child so much joy!

Camera # 3

Well, Hola Lola is temporarily out of service again. This time the cause is a broken camera. ANOTHER broken camera! Yes, Clay took it upon himself to put an open water bottle into a bag upside down. Naturally, the water poured out everywhere and smothered our camera and my blackberry with water. The blackberry survived...the camera didn't. So, I just bought our 3rd Canon in less than a year. I absolutely will be buying a warranty this time.

Instead of running out and quickly buying a camera at Best Buy, I decided to price shop and purchased on-line....I'm still waiting for the arrival. Can't wait for it to get here so I can post some new pics. I really wish it would arrive before we head to the zoo on Saturday. Lola is really into her animals so I think she will LOVE it! Of course, everything seems to be a "horsey" right now. This includes her big green float that is clearly a turtle. Well, it's a horsey to Lo. I think she thinks this b/c she rides in it and she correlates riding with a horsey. Kids....gotta love 'em!

Lo is also going through a phase where she puts the word "little" in front of everything so she'll say "little bottle" or "little horsey" or "little baby" or "little book"...get the point. If you heard her say it, you would just die!!! Her "littles" are a "little" slurred. She has a hard time with this word which makes this phase even more adorable. As soon as I get the camera I'll try to capture it on video. I'm sure this will never happen but I'll give it a shot!

In the meantime, since I don't have updated pics I figured I would post a family pic from a couple weeks ago. It's been a while as they are very hard to capture. One of us never looks quite right...it's usually me of course. Lately, I've found that I pretty much hate the way I look in all pics...Ugh...I guess it's age! The other pic is of Lo being a somewhat mischievous. She was really up to no good in this pic. We told her a thousand times not to go past the door as we didn't want her to fall down the steps. Well, she still tempted us and threatened to go out the door anyway. Actually, she went out the door and down the steps despite us saying "No,No Lo" over and over. She's a hoot and doesn't really mind yet...I guess that comes with time....right?!?!?

Bad/Good mother?????

I seem to question each and every decision I make as a parent. It goes a little something like this: Is this what I (we) should do? Am I (we) doing the right thing? Sometimes I'll even ask Clay his opinion such as when Lo is throwing one of those lovely "toddler fits" at my feet...."Should I pick her up or not?" You want to show her compassion and love but then again you don't want to support fits. What's the right thing? What makes us a good parent? Am I a good mom? Am I a bad mom? I assume these are all normal questions to ask for first time parent or is it not?!?!?!

So, last week I was having a conversation with my mom and asked how do we really know if we're doing everything right and making the right decisions. Her reply was "You really don't know". Coincidental, that same night I also ran upon this book Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace and video. I thought it was fitting. Here is a good review of the book:

In the tradition of recent hits like The Bitch in the House and Perfect Madness comes a hilarious and controversial book that every woman will have an opinion about, written by America’s most outrageous writer.

In our mothers’ day there were good mothers, neglectful mothers, and occasionally great mothers. Today we have only Bad Mothers.

If you work, you’re neglectful; if you stay home, you’re smothering. If you discipline, you’re buying them a spot on the shrink’s couch; if you let them run wild, they will be into drugs by seventh grade. If you buy organic, you’re spending their college fund; if you don’t, you’re risking all sorts of allergies and illnesses.

Is it any wonder so many women refer to themselves at one time or another as “a bad mother”? Ayelet Waldman says it’s time for women to get over it and get on with it, in a book that is sure to spark the same level of controversy as her now legendary “Modern Love” piece, in which she confessed to loving her husband more than her children.

Covering topics as diverse as the hysteria of competitive parenting (Whose toddler can recite the planets in order from the sun?), the relentless pursuits of the Bad Mother police, balancing the work-family dynamic, and the bane of every mother’s existence (homework, that is), Bad Mother illuminates the anxieties that riddle motherhood today, while providing women with the encouragement they need to give themselves a break.

Poor Birdie...

Poor Lady Bird (a.k.a Birdie or LB)...she's having some issues. Now, if you haven't had a chance to meet and spend time with Lady Bird (one of our gorgeous girls), I should give you a brief description of her personality. For the most part, she's manic and can't hardly function unless I'm around and can barely function then....she has LOTS of anxiety issues to say the least(kind of like her mom) and tends to be a bit frantic at times. Anyway, last night she didn't seem quite right...even more so than usual. I thought her strange behavior may have been caused by the chaotic night we had which consisted of Lola running around screaming (she has some big teeth coming in so it's caused a good amount of fussiness). So, when Lo FINALLY went to sleep, I decided to take a breath and spend some quality time with Birdie. As I was rubbing her ears, I noticed they were both swollen up huge like a water balloon. I panicked and started doing research and discovered she has a hematoma in both ears. Here's the definition and a visual of what Birdie is and will go through:

"Hematoma is a blood filled space under the skin of a dog's ear flap. Ear hematomas generally develop when blood vessels in the pinna, or flap, burst due to injury, scratching at the ear or vigorous head shaking."

Poor baby girl! So, Lady Bird basically inflicted this on herself by abrasively scratching her ears...she's a little nuts....see what I mean by manic/frantic!?!?!? I feel just horrible about it! Oh and the worst part is there is no home remedy for a hematoma meaning the treatment will consist of one of two things 1) hopefully it can be drained (sounds painful and expensive) or 2) the ears may also need surgery (sounds even more painful and more expensive). Nice (you notice I've used this term frequently lately...Huh)! Why is it always something!?!? Always! Can't we get a break every once in a while. At least can we get an ear break...first Lo now LB. I guess this is life with a baby and dogs.

To make a long story short, I'm in the process of calling the vet in Austin and Midlothian and probably even Baird to test out the pricing. I'm willing to drive the distance so I don't have to spend a small fortune on this.

On a lighter note, attached is a pic of Lo on her "moo chair" as she calls it. She loves to soft of it. I did this as a child too. I also have a cute story. Yesterday, my mom went with me to pick up Lola from school. I had to run errands after so drove a separate car (BTW...it was really nice to run errands without Lo saying "Hi" over and over to EVERYONE and running around pulling things off shelves). My mom put Lo in her car and when they were heading off Lola said "Where's Amy?" My mom responded by saying you mean "Where's Mommy?" and Lo responded by saying "I don't know". Oh man...she is too cute even if she runs around calling me Amy (and knocking things off shelves). Everyone said this Amy thing would be a quick phase but it's now been 6 weeks....not so quick!!!

On a not so light note, I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 3:30 a.m. this morning. I decided not to fight it and was at the computer at 3:45 a.m. working. Now, I'm feeling it and I'm exhausted! I too have been a little fussy tonight. Time to hit the sack now.

Ride that horsey up and down

Well, I know I've been MIA (missing in action) lately. Once again, things have been more than hectic. Where does time go???? Basically, work has been insane (as usual) but now that I don't have any travel on the calendar in the near future I should find life to be enjoyable again. Whoo...all this travel has killed me! I got so far behind and have been working insane hours trying to get back above water. Almost there though...Yea!!!

As for Miss Lola...WOW...she's just a ball of energy which translates into total exhaustion for Mama. This child is a real firecracker...I call her my "wild child". In addition to the constant chase and clean-up, my favorite is when she strategically lays herself down on the ground and then throws a little fit. Nice. I still question if all toddlers are like this. If so, I need advice on how to deal. With that said, although Lola can be handful and requires a close watch at ALL times, she is such a boisterous little angel face...so lively...so sweet...so entertaining...such a joy. Seriously, it doesn't get much better than this and I wouldn't change one thing about this little girl!

More news...Lo is talking like crazy. Putting two, three and even four words together. She says "Find shoes" or "Want to go outside". It's really amazing to see her language develop. Every day I'm in awe by the new words she says and new sentences she puts together. I get so many comments from people...they can't believe a person as little as Lo is talking away like she does (BTW...if she's awake, it's non-stop!). Even at Lola's school I've had several teachers come up to me and tell me how advanced she is with her language skills. They actually ask me what we do with her at home b/c they are so impressed. This makes me feel good as Clay and I sometimes wonder if we are doing/focusing on the right things when it comes to Lo's development. Comments like this gives us reassurance and as a parent that is great to get ever so often. And of course, the word "No" is back and has become a VERY common word in Lo's little dictionary once AGAIN. It goes a little something like this "Lola, Do you want a cookie?" and she answers "No" as she reaches up for the cookie. Or, "Lola, What's your name?" and she answers "No". Or, "Lola, Did you miss Mommy today?" and she answers "No". BTW...she STILL is calling me "Amy" and "Mammy" at best. Huh!!!

Anyway, that's it for today. I leave you with these pics of Lo playing "Ride that horsey up and down, ride that horsey don't fall down" on Lady Bird....I'm telling you, she is something else. Poor dogs...they are in for a rude awakening over the next couple years. They already get tugged, ridden and pulled more than they would like to and actually take it real well. Lola loves the dogs to pieces. She calls both of them "Bella" and always is running to give them hugs and kisses...too sweet!!!

My mom is coming in town to help me out with some things this week. I'm hoping her being here will help us get some of those things done that we haven't been able to get done and then I can get completely caught up with work. Hopefully this will allow me to recap our NYC trip and get some pics posted too. We had a blast! Plus, I have so many more Lola updates that I just have to get posted.

Heading to NYC....

I heart NYC and miss it oh so much....especially all of our fab friends! Our apartment/street we lived in for 4 years. It was really cute. Crazy to think we've been back in Texas for 4 years now...it seems like just yesterday. Boy, how our lives have changed!

Well, I'm happy to be back in Austin after being in Dallas all week. It certainly was great to spend time with the fam! I was able to spend time with my Mom & Dad, Brana & Adam, Molly & Ben and I was even able to briefly see my Aunt Bobbie. Now, I've been here for less than 24 hrs and we're heading to NYC this evening. We're really excited to get away for a mini-vaca! It's been a while since we've been back to visit all of our friends so we're elated to see everyone. We have lots of big plans including party on a sailboat on Saturday, hitting our fav restaurants/food vendors, hanging out on patios and of course shopping. It will be such a blast!!!

Naturally, I'll miss my baby girl. The older Lola gets, the harder it is for me to be away from her. She's my little BFF! At any rate, it will be good for us and her to take a little break. I already can't wait to get back and see her though!

Well, everyone have a fab weekend. I hope to have some good NYC pics to post next week.

Here "she" comes.....

Baby Curry in the making

Adam and Brana with Lo in Mom & Dad's new pool. The pool was chilly and didn't sit well with Lola as you can tell from the pic.

I'm THRILLED to announce that Lola has another cousin on the way. Woohoo!!! We can't wait! I was actually one of the first ones to learn of the big news. Those of you who know me well know I have a very hard time keeping secrets (but will if I have to) especially when it's exciting news like this. But, I did it...YEAH!!!

Poor Brana. She's had a tough first trimester....she's even had the morning sickness, afternoon sickness and evening sickness which includes throwing up....Ugh! Man, I can't image. Wait...actually I can....it's not fun!!! I keep telling her "One day you'll wake up and all of the sudden you'll feel great". Right now she kind of looks at me like I'm crazy. I think she fears she'll never get through this phase. You will Brana...I promise!!! Hang in there!

Uncle Adam (Bubba) and Brana (Beans) are going to be great parents. They are excellent with Lola...they're naturals and you can see it! They are compassionate and loving and devoted and warm-hearted with Lola....they embrace her. It's clear they love Lola and Lola loves them. I have a cute story....From the day Lola was born, Brana has always called her "beans". You have to hear Brana say it...it's so cute. Every time she sees Lola she says "BBBEEEAAAANNNNS" and gives her a big hugs and kisses. Well, Lo has now picked up on this and she has started calling Brana "Beans". The other day she picked up a picture of Adam and Brana and said "Adam" (in her own little way..."Ada") and pointed to Uncle Adam in the pic and then she said "Beeaaannns" the same way Brana says it and pointed to Aunt Brana in the pic. So, it looks like Brana won't be Aunt Brana but will be Lola's Beans....too cute!!!

Now, I want to take a minute to talk about my brother. Wow....it seems like just yesterday I was 6 years old and had a new baby brother. I think my parents wanted to name Adam Michael (or Gary Jr.) but I couldn't spell it so I whined and he ended up with the name Adam. It's very possible I made this story up in my mind (apparently I do this with childhood stories...good imagination I guess) but I like to believe this is what happened. Adam and I have a 6 year age difference so his whole life I've felt VERY protective of him. As Adam grew up and became a "man" he became very protective of me. He has always been there for me...has always made the call to defend me or stepped in to fight for me...always! Today, our relationship has grown. Now, the age difference is insignificant. We talk on a weekly basis if not more (mainly b/c Adam is following up for Lo's social security # (inside joke) or trying to sell me something...he,he...not really...well, actually really) and I love how the relationship has developed. The fact that he will soon have a baby means the world to me....the baby will mean the world to me the same way Lola means the world to him. He would do anything for her just as he would do anything for me. That's Adam!

We can't wait for the baby to get here. The due date is December 14, 2009...also cousin Doss and Foy's birthday...it will be crazy if the baby actually comes on the due date. This day will come upon us before we know it. We're pretty sure it's a girl! I can feel it and I think they can feel it too. If anything, the baby's heartbeat is telling us (if the myth is true). We'll see if our instincts are correct soon. They may find out the gender next week. I think this calls for another WOOHOO!!!

Uncle Adam and Beans - We're so happy for yall and can't wait for the new cousin to arrive!!!

Alright, while we're talking about Adam and Brana, I guess I better promote the business. I'm very proud of Adam. He's gotten married, started a new business (a very successful one at that) and now has a baby on the way... all in a year. Talk about following your dreams...you think a year doesn't make a difference...well, talk to Adam. So, if you need insurance, see contact info on the car below...