Lola is on her way to walking!

Well, we're about two weeks shy of Lola's 1 year birthday and she is on her way to walking around like a little clown upside down (Not sure what this means but Clay says this to Lola all the time in a fun voice). In a matter of days, she has really made great progress. Last weekend Lola started to get very comfortable with the walking thing. She would take our hand and just walk and walk and walk (see pics above). I was actually sore the next day from leaning over for extended periods of time. BTW...do babies get sore when they're learning to walk? They're using new muscles so you would think. I've been curious about this lately.

I told you last week that Lo took 3 steps and we were elated. We thought that was big until Friday when she basically started walking around like an adult (maybe a little exaggeration). She of course is still most comfortable with the crawl b/c she can get from point A to point B quickly but she is really getting good with the walk too. She is now taking multiple steps at one time. I really want to catch it on video but haven't been able to yet....bummer!

Basically, within a 3 day period her walking has drastically improved! I guess once they figure it out they're ready to go. Here's the sad part....I left today for a business trip to Atlanta. I won't be back until Thursday evening. This is the longest trip away in a while...three nights away from baby girl is likely to kill me. Anyway, based on her progress so far, I fear that by the time I get back home she'll be a full blown walking baby and I would have missed it all. I was thinking last night....goodness...I may never see Lola crawl again. Now, I know I'm being a little dramatic but I'm just sad to leave for so many days. Of course, it's really on two full days that I won't see her but I'm still dying inside. I envision that when I get home on Thursday instead of her crawling to me to say "hello" and give me a big hug she'll be running over to me. I guess we'll see in three days. I miss baby girl!!!

Since we'll be moving in about 4 weeks (Can you believe that?), I thought it would be fun to start a new segment on the blog. It will be "The things I'll miss about Big D". So, my first thing I'll miss is Dolly Python which is one of my fav vintage stores. I've had so many great finds at Dolly Python! Anything from a fab vintage dress that even Carrie Bradshaw would die to have, groovy art work, funky furniture and my latest purchase were some FABULOUS vintage boots (I'm wearing in pic below). I love them!!! I throw them on with everything and they add a fun flare that every boring outfit needs. Anyway, although I'll miss Dolly Python, Austin is known for it's fun/funky vintage stores so I figure I won't be lacking too much in this category. I'm definitely looking forward to some fun shopping and can't wait to find my favorite places that I'll hit up often.

P.S. My food intake has been HORRIBLE today. It consisted of a 5 day old bagel (that had been sitting out for 5 days) for breakfast, a pre-made "cobb" salad that I got out of a cooler (not good at all...actually it was pretty disgusting) for lunch and m&ms on the plane for dinner....nice! I'm STARVING now but it's too late to eat and I'm stuck in the hotel. However, I will say that there is nothing better than kicking back in the hotel room, watching TV and writing on the blog....this is my idea of heaven. I was also happy to be able to watch the bachelor without Clay complaining non-stop. He thinks they over use the word "journey" and it drives him crazy (they really do...pay attention next time you watch). I have to say I'm a little bummed that Jason chose Stephanie (very strange fake southern chick) vs. Nicki and I'm also a little bummed that he didn't give a rose to Lauren (although she was a little aggressive, I kind of liked her). Now I can't decide if I should watch CSI Miami or The City (OH, my FAV show right now but I can also catch On Demand later). Anyhoo, that's all for now...time to go to sleep.

A new president, a new time

Lo celebrating inauguration at Lincoln Memorial

Lo with Obama...I bet you didn't know she would get VIP seating huh

Lola with Obama & Biden....staring intently and very focused on them

Lola watching Bono - One of papa bears all time favorite bands.

Lola and Bona again...look at that smile

It's time for change! We finally have a new president in office. We're excited to see what might come over the next couple years. Regardless, we're happy we finally feel hope again. It means a lot when you have a 11 1/2 month old. Now I don't feel so scared about her growing up in this world.

I bet you didn't know Lola had VIP seats for the inauguration concert. Well, of course she wasn't actually there but we did give Lola a "hall pass" to watch TV. You know usually she can't even glance toward the TV without Clay freaking out. On Sunday night, Clay let Lola join in on the fun.

A couple of quick updates: Lola was fabulous last night - no fits. YEA!!! And, she slept through the night (we've been having issues w/ this lately). Then, she stood up on her own without holding onto anything and took 3 steps. Woohoo!!! I tried to catch it on video but she wouldn't do it again. How does it always work like that? You ask them to do it and they won't but as soon as you stop asking, they decide to do the thing you were asking them to do. She does this all the time with the bye-bye thing. Anytime we're leaving a place I tell her to say "bye-bye" and wave. She just stares and acts like she has no clue what I'm saying. Then as soon as we get to the car...guess what....she'll start waving and saying "bye-bye, bye-bye" over and over again. Oh man...these kiddos are something else!!! You have to wonder what goes through their little minds on a daily basis.

Everyone have a fabulous weekend!!! We're off to Austin tomorrow on a day trip to look at houses again. Wish us luck....

What happened to my perfect child!?!?!?!?

What happened to my perfect child?!?!?! I need HELP!!! - "Houston we have a problem" - Lord HELP me!!! - Dude, what's the deal here?!?!? - Something just ain't right! - OH MY!!!

These are all statements that I've said and felt over the past 48 hours. Seriously, I'm not quite sure what happened to my "perfect child" (she was still perfect in the picture attached to the right).

Lola has always been an "angel face"...just sweet as can be. Lately (the past two days), to put it simply, not so sweet. She's actually been throwing little hissy fits. WHAT?!?!? This is all craziness and a new thing to us. Like yesterday, she took it upon herself to roll around and throw a fit until we finally picked her up. OK....I get it....I really do know what the problem is...I guess I just answered it myself in the prior sentence... right? She wants to be picked up....preferably by her mom. So what do we do about this? Most of the day yesterday, I was in a little shock by the attitude (a.k.a tude) Lola was putting on. I kind of let her fuss around a bit but then the screaming became obnoxious so I would just give her what she wanted. As mentioned in prior blogs, Lo's eye teeth are coming in so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and thought "she's teething". Well, I must say she is taking that a little far now.

When I picked her up from school today I was nervous to hear how their day went so I asked in a really sweet already apologizing for anything that may have gone wrong today kind of tone "Was she fussy today?" Well, guess what their answer was???? NO, oh my gosh...she is a breath of fresh air compared to the other kids...she was "perfect". Yep, that's what they said "perfect". So, I figured maybe we just had a rough day yesterday. Of course, the minute we walked in the door she changed that thought process for me.

What happened do you ask??? Well, we spent the entire evening with a fussy child who rolled around all over the living room screaming (the fussy roll is her new thing), climbed out of her high chair and just about killed herself, wouldn't eat, screamed again, rolled around some more and finally passed out. OMG....what in the world is going on....what do we do????? At one point, I was trying to eat my roast beef and potatoes in peace and she was SCREAMING in my ear so I finally just surrendered my plate of food to her and let her do whatever she wanted with it....I didn't care anymore....I needed some relief...ASAP!!! So, she proceeded to dig in it and feed it to the dogs and make a HUGE mess. Oh my!

With that said, I'm pretty much exhausted and can't get into anymore detail on this b/c 1) My brain is not functioning anymore after a long day and ending it with a child screaming isn't really ideal. AND 2) It kind of makes me want to cry....literally what happened to my perfect child. Clay asked tonight "Are we doing something wrong to cause this". I answered "I have no idea". I really don't! I know I say this often but "oh the trials and tribulations of being a parent"....it's pretty much like a roller coaster.

Since I can't get into any more detail due to the exhaustion, I thought I would attach a couple videos to break down our evening a little better. Please note: In one of the videos it may appear that I was abusing her. Just know I wasn't of course....she was trying to take the camera from me and was being a little aggressive....Once again I surrendered. Lord help me!

EXHIBIT 1

EXHIBIT 2

Who does she most resemble?????

So, this shows how far behind I am on this blog thing. I believe this pic was taken on November 4th so Lola would have been around 9 months old. I bet you wonder how I randomly came up with this date. Well, I remember seeing signs on the door that Lo's school pics were being taken on a Tuesday. I knew I was traveling the day the pics were being taken so I sent myself a reminder to sit an outfit out for Clay to put on Lo that day. Well, obviously, based on the pic above, I flew out of town and forgot to put an outfit out for the school pics. Clay put on his favorite outfit which at that time was the owl shirt. Granted...it's cute but"school pic" cute....I don't think so. Also, don't you love the "fly away" hair...I guess he forgot to run the comb through Lo's hair that day too. I love it!!!

Anyway, I've been meaning to post these pics for a while. How cute is Lo's first little school pic?!?!?! She kind of looks like a little adult all propped up there. I also attached a pic of me at 10 1/2 months and Clay at around 10 months (I think). It's amazing to see all three pics together. Who do you think she most resembles???

Good-Bye Big D

Good-Bye Big DHello Big A (i.e. Austin)

The big news is that we're moving to Austin. Can you believe it? It seems so easy to type those words out on this blog like it's no big deal but actually it is a HUGE deal!!!

Clay and I have put a TON of thought into this before we finally made the decision. We've basically exhausted ourselves thinking and talking about it. The whole thought process took place over about 4 or 5 months. It's been a wild ride and a very hard decision. In the end, we decided to go and take advantage of the opportunity that has presented itself to us.

So, what exactly is taking us to Austin? Clay has been offered a fabulous position with a great firm in Austin. Clay has had many other great opportunities in the past and he still looks back and thinks "Should I have pursued that opportunity". We didn't want to look back anymore so this time we are pursuing the opportunity. I'm very excited for Clay and his new career ahead of him and hope it turns out to be everything he wants it to be.

The hard part about all of this is our family and friends live in Dallas. Plus, we LOVE our house. So, there were definitely some pros and cons lists being made. Unfortunately, the lists didn't do much good. Why? Well, the pros outweighed the cons by far but the tricky thing was that the cons of moving were all of the emotional investments that you just can't weigh out on a list. Once the decision was finally made, there were lots of tears but we are now both very excited. Thank goodness for all the support we have received from friends and families.

This brings me to the book "Who's Your City?". Molly and Ben introduced us to this book a while ago. The author gives a very interesting prospective as to why we should put more thought into the city we choose to live. Basically, his thought process is that where you live should be one of our three major life decisions (along with choosing a spouse and career) and in fact can have a strong effect on the other two. But most people give this little thought or at least not like we do love and work. So, we've started analyzing this point and began giving it the thought it deserves. With that, we don't know if Austin will be our city but we'll give it a shot.

So, this is one of the things that has made our lives so INSANE lately. Try to put a house on the market with a 11 month old. FYI...NOT FUN!!! We felt like our lives were taken away from us while "the troops" were constantly stomping through our house invading our privacy. And, trying to keep everything immaculate on a daily basis was merely impossible. But, we did it....somehow. Luckily, by day 3 of our house being on the market we had 4 offers. Wowsers!!! I guess our love for our house is legit. Can you believe that in this market?!?!?!? Basically, it looks like we'll get above asking price...it was all kind of crazy. So, it appears the move will come much quicker than we initially expected. I'll keep everyone updated on all the details and fun to come.

I'm so far behind...Part III

Alright...I'm doing horrible with this whole blog thing lately. I get so frustrated with myself and it really does eat me up but I just run out of time b/c life is CRAZY! I want to tell you why life is so CRAZY but I don't want to get ahead of myself and spoil all the fun. So, I thought, let me go ahead and post the "I'm so far behind...Part III" which I was suppose to go out over a week ago and then I can post fun/current blogs telling you why life is so INSANE right now. So, lets catch up real quick...here we go

1. Lo's upper teeth finally came in (Gosh...this has been about a month ago by now). Woohoo!!! It was rough! At times, we could tell it was really painful for her. They are big ones so I can see why. Since the two front teeth started coming in, she does this cute little smile where she squinches her little nose up and just grins with all her might (see pic above). I guess she's trying to show off the new pearly whites. Now the two upper teeth next to the two front teeth are coming in too. So, as long as these teeth keep coming, it looks like we'll be dealing with the on and off fussiness. Actually she's been really good about it...she is such a good baby and really seems to have a high pain tolerance....just like her mama.
2. Ok...now, here is my FAVORITE! The baby girl has become a very lovable baby. She also loves her "babies". Over the past month or so, Lo has really gotten into her dolls. She'll take the dolls and give them "love"....she'll hug them and kiss them. Then she'll look at the doll and point to her eyes or nose or mouth and then give her another big hug or kiss. She also loves to look at herself in the mirror and "kisses the baby" (this is what we call it). She'll look and then try to peek behind the mirror to see where the baby is and then goes back to kiss the mirror. Clay said the other day (jokingly of course) that he hopes she's not a narcissists b/c she sure does love looking a pictures of herself and/or looking at herself in the mirror and then kissing. Luckily, Lo takes the hugs and kisses and gives them to her parental guidance too. Oh...it melts my heart!!! She'll crawl up to me, crawl up in my lap, wraps her arms around my neck and just hugs....all the time too. I'll say "Lo, give mama a kiss" and she'll open the mouth wide and kiss my cheek or nose or whatever she can reach. I love it!!! I hope she continues to be a lovable baby, then toddler, then kid, then teenager, then adult. I kind of have a hugging/lovable phobia and would hate for her to take after me here. To be determined I guess.
3. Lola is also going through a phase where she points at everything and makes little "hoo-hoo" noises....sounds a little bit like an owl. Half the time we have no clue what she is pointing and hooing at but we just say "Yes, we see it baby girl" and smile.
4. Some other miscellaneous things she's started.....plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo. Oh, the peek-a-boo thing is the cutest thing. She'll duck behind the chair and pop out and I say "peek-a-boo" and she'll just start rolling laughing...then she'll duck back behind the chair again and pop back out. Oh, breaks my heart in a funny sweet way just thinking about it.
5. Lola knows Chinese. Yep...the child is obviously a genius b/c she speaks Chinese. I know you don't believe me so I'll have to make sure and capture this one on video so you can see it for yourself. It's funny!!!

I guess I could go on and on but I'm going to stop. INSTEAD, I'm going to try to stay up to date and post a blog when something fun happens. That way, yall are always up-to-date on everything. But, I'm glad I finally got "I'm so far behind...Part III" out of the way. I have to say I was dreading posting this one in fear that I couldn't remember all the little milestones. And, I was right...I can't remember. So, I did my best and now I'll try to stay on top of everything. It's all so much fun...right?!?!?!

Two More...

Oh, I have two more New Year's resolutions that I didn't include in my last blog. They are to:

• SAVE MONEY - Clay and I plan to make this a big year to save money and pay off any/all debts. Oh, I so hope we're able to stay focused here.
  


• GET/STAY ORGANIZED - We worked on getting organized over the holidays. I've found that if you're not organized, you work full time and you are a parent, things can get out of control pretty quick. We want our lives to be less stressful and we think we can accomplish that by getting/staying organized. We'll see.

So, now I have 5 New Year's resolutions that I absolutely have to stick to. My hopes are that if they are written down (i.e. on the blog) then I'll stick to them.

I know we're past the holiday now but I was never able to get this pic posted. Attached is Lo with Santa at school. She had three visits with Santa. All of them went about the same, she was semi-terrified i.e. stiff as a board and puckering her little bottom lip. Poor baby girl.

I'm back to work now. Although taking some vacation days was wonderful, it's good to be back on a schedule and what I like to call "back to reality". The first day back is always tough though.

I'll be back tomorrow with "I'm so far behind...Part III".

New Year's Day 2009 - We made it!!!

Well, we made it to 2009. I always love looking back over the year. 2008 was a great year for us. Mainly b/c Lola entered our life but a lot of other good things happened too. I started a new job, Clay accepted a new job and we have survived as parents for 10 1/2 months (quite an accomplishment I must say)

New Year's Eve was fun!!! Of course, you know you're getting old and you're "officially" a parent when you have to leave the party before the clock hits 12:00 a.m. We almost made it but not quite. For us this year, we weren't popping open a bottle of champagne and kissing when the New Year came. Instead, we were bringing Lo home and putting her to bed. We had plans to spend the night at our friends house so we didn't have to worry about waking Lola up and bringing her home at 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. but that didn't pan out. Lola wasn't sleeping well so at about 11:30 we decided it would be best to head home and put her to bed. We still had a great time celebrating the New Year.

And, now it's New Year's Day. How did we celebrate??? Napping. Lola was an angel and decided to extend her normal 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap to 3 hours. Thank you Lola! So, Clay and I were able to take a long wonderful nap also. We put the Christmas decorations up. What a mess!!! I sure am glad to have the non-infant friendly Christmas tree out of the living room. Once that tree went up, Lo was constantly heading for the ornaments, lights, etc...it was a constant chase. We cooked two good meals, ate and drank cold beer. We watched football of course...the games have been pretty disappointing so far this year. But, most importantly, I contemplated the 2009 New Year's resolutions. So, what are my resolutions? I put some thought into it and here they are:

1. Lose 10 lbs (So stereotypical...right?!?! Everyone has this as one of their New Year's resolutions but it has to be set). I hit what I thought was my "goal" weight (minus the 5 lbs I've put on during the Holidays) but unfortunately I'm still not exactly where I want to be. So, the "goal" weight has changed. I think if I lose 10 more lbs I'll be there. I started running this week and will continue on in 2009. My goal is to run at least 3 times a week (3 to 6 miles and/or interval training) and do yoga once a week. I'll also have to watch what I eat if I want this 10 lbs to come off so starting Monday, the diet will begin. Yuck!!!


2. Be a better parent. Sometimes I feel I'm not very patient and I want to make a point to be more patient. As Lola gets older and heads toward being a toddler, it gets real tough and your nerves can suffer (Please tell me other mother's out there go through this too and it's not just me!!!). But, I'm going to make a point to take deep breaths and keep those nerves under control. If I do that, I know I'll be a much better parent.


3. Have a baby. Yep, we think we're ready for another baby. Of course, can you ever be "ready"??? The answer to this is "NO". I've always wanted my babies to be close in age. If I become pregnant within the next two months, that would put the kiddos about 2 years apart...Perfect! Also, I DREAD being pregnant again and I'm just ready to get it over with so I don't have to think about it anymore. Of course, if it's going to happen in 2009, we better get to work quick!!!

So, those are my New Year's resolutions. Not too hard right. Surely I can make all of those happen.

We're getting geared up for the Cotton Bowl. GO TECH!!! We're meeting at a friend's house at 8:30 a.m. and are heading to the Cotton Bowl to start tailgating. I really can't believe that we are starting so early but I guess there is nothing like having an excuse to have a Bloody Mary at 9:00 a.m. Something about that is very exhilarating. It should be fun...keep your fingers crossed that Tech gives us a big win!!!!

We took Lola to see the trains at North Park on Wednesday. This is something we did in my family when I was growing up. We want to make it a tradition to take Lola every year too. She really liked it this year. She pointed and cooed...it was exciting for her. Attached are some pics.

Happy New Year to everyone!!!

NYE in Big D

Clip - LailaLu

Pony tail holders - FlashyFish

Cute owl clips - FlashyFish

Clips - jennymccarney

Headband - louandlee

I wanted to get this one but figured Clay might Freak. Love it though.

Once again, I'm not posting the "I'm so far behind...Phase III" blog today. I had some great finds this morning so I thought I would share.

Well, you know how I told you we're going through a funny hair phase with Lo. Lately, it's been hard to keep it under control and her bangs out of her face. I found all these fabulous clips for a stellar deal on Etsy (www.etsy.com). I love them all and can't wait for them to get here. I wanted so many more but held back. Eeeek...it was hard!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful NYE in Big D or where ever you may be (That rhymed pretty good...I may be a poet and didn't know it). We're celebrating with friends tonight. As a matter of fact, by the time this blog posts, we're probably in full on NYE action. Luckily, everyone is bringing their kids, babies, etc so we're able to bring in the New Year with Lola. Woohoo!!!

See you next year !!!

The Sentra lives on....

I had plans to post the "I'm so far behind...Phase III" blog today but some other things happened that I thought called for a it's own blog. So, although it gives me anxiety to wait as I hate the fact that I'm not caught up on the blog, we'll have to wait just one more day.

Man oh man...What a day!!! It was already scheduled to be pretty hectic but it got even more hectic than originally expected. Let me back up a bit....

When we moved back from NYC, we bought a Volkswagen Passat that we love. We lived downtown for about a year and I could walk to work so we only needed one car. Then when we moved to our house, we tried to live with only one car but that didn't go so well....lasted about a week. Lets face it...Dallas isn't cut out for walking, public transportation, etc. Well, after purchasing a new house, we didn't want another car payment so my dad lent us his old company car a Nissan Sentra.

The Sentra....oh, what do I say about this car. It's pretty pitiful (as noted in the glorified pic above....yep, she's a beauty!). However, it's been reliable and gets us from point A to B. We don't need a second car that often so we just keep driving it. We thought we would only "borrow" the car for a month or two and now here we are two years later and I'm still zipping around in the Sentra. The funny thing is that I've grown to be attached to the little car....I'm not sure why.

About two weeks ago, I was zipping around running errands in the Sentra and something happened.. I wasn't sure what exactly but I knew it wouldn't go anymore. We initially thought it was the transmission which would cost more to repair than the car is worth. Basically, any repair would cost more than the car is worth. So, when the car was towed off we thought we would never see it again. It was actually a sad day!

Clay and I talked about buying a new car OR Clay thought we could live with one car and he would either get a bike and/or a Vespa and tool around town. Yea, I'm not so sure how well that would work but I patronized him. After many conversations, we decided we aren't ready to take on another car payment so we would have the Sentra repaired. While the car was in the shop, we asked them if they could give us a complimentary paint job (preferably black) and tint the windows as dark as possible so people can't see straight in when we're driving it. They wouldn't do it. Dang it!!!

Anyway, the Sentra was ready to be picked up this morning. I woke up, went on a run, then we were off to pick up the Sentra (I did miss her while she was gone!). We picked her up and I was heading home to get some work done (even though I'm suppose to be on vacation...never works out that way). Before I get home, I got a call from Clay. One of the tires blew out on the Passat while he was heading up the toll road (thank goodness he was ok...right!?!?!). Keep in mind, we just replaced the two front tires two weeks ago. Well, this was one of the back tires....they obviously needed to be replaced too. Problem was our car was still FILLED to the rim with Christmas stuff and he couldn't get to the spare tire. I headed over to meet him and we got the tire changed. I have to say I was very impressed with Clay's tire changing techniques. He's not a real "rough tough " kind of guy and I've never really seen him do much that requires a lot of manual labor. I loved the fact that "my man" changed that tire no problemo!

So, over the past two weeks we've had to replace 4 tires on the Passat and replace both axles on the Sentra. I guess when it hits it all hits at one time. And, our long hectic day became even more crazy! It was 12:00 p.m. before we got anything started. Oh I guess you win some and you lose some but fortunately life still goes on and we always seem to survive.

I'm so far behind...Part II

Ok. I didn't want to overwhelm everyone in one big swooping blog so I decided to break it up (how nice of me). So to continue from the last "I'm so far behind" blog, here we go...

1. For a while, Lola has been talking away. She started saying "mama" around Labor Day. Of course, back then she didn't really know what she was saying....anyone could have been "mama"....even the postman. Now, she finally realizes that I'm "mama"!!! Woohoo! A couple weeks ago she started saying "dada" too. Both very special moments. Lola also says a real sharp "hi". She'll even take a phone or remote control or any object, put it to her ear and say "hi". Or, anytime she hears a door open, you'll hear her say "hi". She also says "uh oh" all the time now. She'll purposely push something off a table just so she can say "uh oh". We get few other cute little mumbles too but last night topped it all. We were playing with a little puzzle that had farm animals on it. For the rooster, we said "cocka-doodle-do" and she tried to say it...I'm not kidding. The cutest thing you have EVER heard. She's tried it several more times too. It's all almost more than I can take. I can't imagine what we'll feel when she actually starts talking.
2. About three weeks ago Lola started waving good-bye. Lola has a little friend at school named Victoria (preface: V just turned 1). Every time Victoria accomplishes something (i.e. pulling up, crawling, clapping, waving) Lola will start doing the same thing within a week. We of course think we have a little genius on our hands but I'm sure this is pretty common. So, V started waving good-bye a month ago or so and low and behold about a week later, Miss Lo started doing it. I have to say the wave is just as cute as the clapping.
3. Another big thing!!! About a month ago, Lola learned to stand on her own. Woohoo!!! More than once, I looked over and she was free standing...not holding to a thing! Then, she wouldn't just fall, she would actually then let herself down. It's pretty impressive!!! And again....soooo cute!!! Now, she has attempted to take a step but hasn't quite accomplished it yet. However, I think it could come within the next couple weeks or less. Oh, that will be a whole new phase. I'll of course be thrilled when Lo reaches this milestone but not sure that I'm looking forward to the "chase". It's already hard enough with her crawling (especially now that she has the quick take-off). I can only imagine what it will be like when she is tearing off on her feet...Whew...scares me to think about it.
4. Lola's hair is growing so fast these days. We're going through that "out of shape/straggly" phase right now. However, Lo's hair is now long enough to wear a pony tail (as shown in pic above). Go Lo!!! That's quite a milestone....right?!?!? I can't even do that. I got my hair chopped off about month ago. I needed a drastic change so I went for it! I've really loved and embraced it until I watched the Victoria Secret Fashion Show a couple weeks back and realized that all those women with really hot beautiful bodies (some of them even post-baby...still don't understand this) had long beautiful hair. Now, I want my hair back so I can be a "sex-pot" like them. Anyway, since taking this pic, I've given Lo her first trim. We saved the precious curls.

Alright...so we're really making some headway with the countdown now. I have to say, it's been a little exhausting. Plus, I just know I'm missing some stuff . We only have "I'm so far behind...Part III" left and then we'll be all caught up. After that, I'll have to make sure to stay up to date with all the fun going on in our house. Miss Lola is something else...she really brightens my life everyday.

Thanks to everyone who sent me emails, text messages, phone calls, etc telling me you missed the blog when I was on my hiatus. Sometimes I think I'm writing this only for myself to read but it's good to know I have some loyal readers out there. I'll try not to let you down again.

It was a very Merry Christmas!!!

We made it through Lola's first Christmas!!! I must say...it wasn't easy....the holidays are never easy...right?!?!?!?

Even pre-baby, holidays were always a little stressful in our family. Why? Well, just trying to squeeze in everything in 1 day mainly. We usually try to squeeze in Christmas with my family, Christmas at my grandmothers and Christmas with Clay's family...literally all in 1 day! Basically, in the car most of the day with two dogs I might add.

This year was no different of course. What we didn't realize was that if you take the scenario above and throw a baby in there too things get much more difficult. Add in a baby with a cold/cough/ear infection and it gets even more difficult. Basically, it would have taken an act of God to make it all work. But, we tried anyway....End result...didn't happen exactly as planned. Now, keep in mind, I'm a planner so it's really hard on me when things don't go "as planned".

The anxiety I felt working up to the Holiday this year like others was pretty intense. I kept thinking..."How in the world are we going to make this work?!?!". Regardless, we thought we would give it a "go". In the end, despite the fact that things didn't go "exactly" as planned, Lola's first Christmas was wonderful!!!

We were actually able to spend Christmas morning with our little family (Amy, Clay, Lola, Lady Bird and Bella). Lo opened some gifts from Santa Clause. Of course, she really has no conception of Christmas right now so it was pretty uneventful but still real cute. I really loved our little family Christmas time and look forward to starting many wonderful traditions.

Then, we all jumped in the car and we went to spend lunch and the afternoon over at my Grandmother, Memaw's, house (Lo's great grandmother - Lo's middle name, Ruth, was named after Memaw) . I love going to Memaw's for many reasons...1) It always reminds me of when I was a child, spending time with family. We've been going to Memaw's for Christmas since I can remember and we'll continue this tradition with Lo. 2) The food is always fabulous at Memaw's and I eat more than my belly is capable of taking in. 3) The trading gift game always provides massive entertainment! The woman in the fam tend to be very loud. I wish I could record the laughter so you can really understand what I'm talking about. 4) I have to say out of all of this my fav reason is that Memaw always makes me feel so good. She says things like "You're so pretty...you look like a model". Yes, my friends...she thinks I look like a "model"...seriously. So, with that, who wouldn't feel like a million bucks after spending some time at Memaw's house.

After Memaw's, we went to pick up the dogs at our house and then headed to Midlothian to spend the rest of the evening with my family. More gifts of course. Lola's big gift was a black baby baby grand piano. It is adorable! Of course, after she banged on it for about 20 minutes, I realized the black baby baby grand piano may have been a mistake. Could shock the parental's nerves pretty quick. After opening gifts, we spent the rest of the evening watching old family Christmas videos and played some scrabble with the fam...Adam won!

The next morning we woke up, loaded the family up and we were off to Baird to visit Clay's parents. Once we arrived...more gifts of course. I have to say this gift thing in really insane...I'm telling ya...this child lacks nothing (tangible (gifts) or intangible (love)) Anyway, we spent the rest of the weekend eating and relaxing. Now I feel FAT, FAT, FAT...I mean SERIOUSLY...how much can one woman possibly eat?!?!?!? I feel like that girl on Willy Wonka that ate all the candy and ended up blowing up like a balloon and floating away. I'm not kidding...I really feel like that now! I have to start running tomorrow...no more excuses. Luckily, I've already placed to call into Angie, my running partner, to make sure that happens.

So, to make a long story short, everything didn't work out exactly as planned but Lola still had a wonderful first Christmas and received lots of gifts and love from everyone around.

Run the Rock

Me & Angie - This was my running partner for the past 6 months.

Me crossing the finish line in massive pain....legs barely functioning at this point.

I did it!!! I ran and completed the White Rock 1/2 marathon!!! It all started by simply wanting to lose some baby weight and now I've not only accomplished a huge goal but I've also discovered/developed a love for running.

The race...How do I describe it. Well, it was pretty much insane! The conditions were HORRIBLE!!! 1) It was bloody hot and humid. I never have done a long run with heat/humidity like it was the day of the race. 2) The first 7 miles were all up hill. I've been training at the lake which is relatively flat so going up hill wasn't something I was used to. This, in turn, caused my arches to hurt so000 bad during the race and it also caused blisters to form. After about mile 6, all I could think about was taking off my shoes and giving my feet some air. 3) Due to the heat, I was chapping which is a pretty miserable feeling. This started at about mile 7 or 8. Thank goodness they were handing out Vaseline along the way otherwise I would have been in trouble.

After about mile 7 it was all down hill (literally) and I thought it would be all uphill from that point on and that "the hard part is over". Wow, was I wrong about that. It only got worse!!! As noted in the blog yesterday....I was in so much pain at about mile 10 on to the finish line that I literally had thoughts of jumping off a bridge to end the pain. Then I thought about Clay, Lola and everyone else and figured that I probably wasn't thinking reasonably. What do you mean?!?!?

Anyway, with all the pains, I still did it. And now that I'm able to look back, I can actually say it was fun and all worth it. I have to admit that when I was crossing the finish line a tear came to my eye. I couldn't believe I had accomplish this goal. This is something that in my mind I had always wanted to do and I had finally done it. I'm not sure I'll run another 1/2 marathon again. The training is very long and it takes a lot of time. Plus, I've discovered through all of this that I love running but not long distances so much. I most likely will keep my runs between 3 and 6 miles in the future.

I do love the marathon atmosphere so I'm already signing up for the Austin marathon in February. As noted above, I'm not sure I have it mentally in me to do the full 13.2 miles but I plan on doing a relay. I'm in the process of "rallying the troops" and trying to get the relay team together now. I'll keep you posted.

My statistics weren't so good during the race. I pretty much did horrible but again...at least I did it. Overall, I think there were about 17,000 participants. Not sure what the split was between the 1/2 marathon and marathon. Here is where I placed: 4495th place overall (I only finished in front of 12% of the males...dang it), 2377th by gender (female of course), 442nd place in division.

The "little man" finally arrived

OMG...I'm so far behind AGAIN. Ok....lots of catching up to do....I still need to give you Phase II & III of Lola's milestones plus I have to update you on the marathon plus our big move to Austin plus Lola's first Christmas holiday but we'll start with the most important "happening" this week...Molly & Ben finally had the baby and Lola now has a cousin!!! Woohoo!!!.

If you read this blog often, you know I LOVE giving full on detail to everything. But, unfortunately, this isn't my place to give "full on" detail. I'm not sure Molly & Ben would appreciate me giving all the details of the birthing process so I'll keep it to the fun stuff which is the end result.

Doss Sheppard Magill (a.k.a. Jerry or Only) was born on Sunday, December 14 at 10:07 a.m. I was actually running the 1/2 marathon when he was born. I was probably on about mile 11 or 12 when he was born and was debating if I should jump off a bridge to make the pain go away but we'll talk about that later. Anyway, Doss was 8 lbs 12 oz and around 21 inches long. Doss pretty much looks just like his father. He is very long and thin. He even has his dad's skinny legs. He's really cute!!! Goodness...you forget how tiny these little guys are when they come out. I look at him and can't believe Lola was this small (actually smaller) at one point. Now she looks like the Jolly Green Giant next to him.

On a very special note, those of you that know us well know Clay & Molly had a brother, Foy, who passed away several years ago. Doss was born on Foy's birthday and he was also the exact same weight as Foy when he was born. Such a special thing for everyone in the Odom family.

I thought we were bad waiting 2 days to name Lola but it took Molly and Ben 4 days to name the baby. When the day came when they absolutely had to decide, there was some coin flipping going on (literally). He actually had the name Hugo Foy Magill for about an hour before they called to change it to Doss Sheppard Magill. What an adorable name to fit an adorable baby! When Doss was in the womb, Molly & Ben couldn't decide on a name (natural...this is a VERY hard thing...right?!?!?) so Steve (gramps) would call the baby "Jerry". Clay and I started calling him "Only"(kind of a long story). Anyway, I told Molly the other day that we're having a very hard time switching gears and calling him Doss. Our natural instinct is to still call him either Jerry or Only....poor little guy.

Molly, Ben and Doss are all doing great! Just trying to get through those first few weeks of getting to know each other and trying to figure out the whole parenting thing. You also forget what it's like having a newborn. Wow...how those memories drift away so quickly. I was trying to dress Doss the other day and I had no clue what to do...so weird! It really is amazing how the motherly and fatherly instincts just kick in and you learn to function without sleep, with massive pains, etc. It's pretty amazing and they sure are worth it all!

I'm taking vacation the next two weeks so my full focus will be on the blog. I'll continue to keep yall updated on baby Doss and everything else going on in our world. Hope to see you tomorrow!!!

I'm so far behind...Part I

I feel like I'm so far behind on this blog thing. Wow...life is like a tornado and twirls by right in front of your eyes. Over the past month or so Lola has started doing so many new things! I feel like I haven't been able to capture it on camera or on the blog. So, I thought I would try to quickly (this is a relative term of course) recap all the fun progress and development she has been giving us lately. Now, please keep in mind it will take more than one blog for me to get caught up so hold tight.

Firstly, I haven't given everyone the recap of the 9 month doc appt (Yes, I know, I'm a month behind). I lost the paper the doc gave us with the actual statistics so here they are based on memory:

• Weight: 21.5 lbs 50th percentile (she dropped down percentile here)


• Height: 29.5 inches 75th - 90th percentile


• Head: ?????? (Don't remember the measurements but I do remember that it is still kickin' it up in the 95th percentile.
  

Now, I'll try to list all some of the other fun things that have happened over the past month or so. I'll also try to keep this to 4 "accomplishments" per blog so it doesn't get too obnoxious and I'll try to go in chronological order but this will be tough....The ol' memory isn't as good as it used to be. Plus, so much has happened this week and it's hard to hold out but I'm going to try. Eeek!!! So, here we go (in order...I think):

1. One of my favorite things Lola has started is clapping. OMG...absolutely adorable!!! I'll have to try to capture this on video b/c words can not explain how cute it is! When Lo was sick, she would still try to do the clap but it was real slow and pitiful. Now she is back to the full blown exciting clap. She specifically LOVES to clap when we sing her favorite songs. Her fav song right now is one Clay made up for her titled "Suki". Maybe on a future blog I'll tell you the full song (it's soooo cute) but for now we'll keep it to a minimum. Again, don't want to get too carried away all at once (this is very hard for me you know).


2. Lola has really taken to dancing lately too. I guess she takes after her mom here (ha,ha). Anyway, anytime she hears music on radio/cd or we sing, she'll start bouncing up and down and doing a little dance. How fun is that?!?!?!?


3. She has also started developing a love for hip hop. I've had to work on this when papa Clay is not around b/c he despises hip hop (What's wrong with him?!?!?). There have been many times in the car when T.I. or Pink or Rihanna or dare I even say Sir Mix-a-Lot will be playing on the radio and Lola is in the back just bouncing and clapping. She definitely knows good music when she hears it.


4. Here's my favorite (for today or actually last week...this is almost old news now)...For a month or so I've been a little concerned that Lola may be a bit of a bully. I know I know...she is only a baby but seriously...all the signs were there (and may still be there but will explain in more detail later). How did I come to this conclusion?!?!?! Well, when I would drop Lo off at school, she had a tendency to immediately start stealing toys, bottles, food, etc from the baby next to her and they would just let her take it. The teacher's never said anything so I didn't either but I was still a little concerned. Fortunately, it seems we may be moving past this phase but the verdict is still out. Lola still takes things but she also gives them back and shares now. It's real cute! One day last week she kept taking my water bottle from me then she would immediately give it back and wanted me to drink it. We did this over and over and she would just giggle and giggle (the things that can entertain a baby). However, this can be a problem when it comes to the dogs. I'll give Lola some food like a banana or cookie and she reaches out to "share" with the dogs. Well, it obviously disappears and is never seen again. Too funny!!! Here's a little video we captured of her trying to give a ball to Bella. I wish we could have started the video earlier but we couldn't get to it quick enough. It's a little dark...I have to work on my filming skills.
   
   

Hope to be back tomorrow with the next 4. YEA!!! This is so much fun!!! Just so you know, I actually feel like I HAVE to catch up on the blog b/c I haven't written one thing in Lo's baby book. So, I try to keep the blog up-to-date and one day when things slow down I plan to go back and update the baby book.

So, stayed tuned as I anticipate there will be a Part II & III next week. I also anticipate some other fun things and big news to come such as results of the 1/2 marathon on Sunday - 13.2 miles (OH MY!!!) and cousin Magill. Molly's mucus plug (gotta love this term) broke so we hope it will be any day now.

It's cold and I'm LOVING it!!!

Seriously, this weather RULES!!! LOVE IT!!! Hopefully my ALL CAPS makes you realize how much I REALLY REALLY REALLY love this weather. Oh....it reminds me of NYC....my fav city in the world!!! The crisp weather is so ideal...perfect for coats and scarves and layers upon layers. I really do wish it would stay like this through Christmas but not likely. Oh well!!! I'll just take advantage of it while it's here.

How cute are Clay and Lo. Clay walks the dogs every morning and takes Lola outside with him to enjoy the fresh air. This morning we had to get her all bundled up. You can't see it in the pic but she also has on some leg-warmers. Too cute!!!

P.S. I got soooo irritated at Clay last night. I literally wanted to explode but held it in (Yea me!!!). At around 9:00 p.m., he began sneezing so loud (over and over and over) that he woke Lola up...Seriously, what's up with the loud sneezing?!?!?! Once she's up, it's always so hard to get her back to sleep so I got mad. We don't have much "adult" time anymore around our house and I cherish it when we can get it. When I see moments like the ones above and cute pics like this, it makes all my irritating feelings go away....YEA!!!

It's pretty bad that I get irritated over my hubby sneezing...right?!?!? I'm usually not that bad I promise. I think I may be PMSing (most likelyTMI but oh well) and I'm a little sensitive lately. ACTUALLY, I can't be PMSing b/c I've been on my period for a week! Yes, ladies (and gents if your reading)....I said a WEEK! OH MY GOODNESS!!! I told Clay I could potentially make the world book of genius records with this whole deal. That would be my luck...my 15 minutes of fame would be due to the thing I hate most in the world. HUH!!!

Cousin Magill is almost here

Cousin Magill is almost here and I'm fairly certain no one could be happier about this than Tia Molly.

Molly is now 38 weeks and counting. I thought those of you who know her might get a kick out of her belly. It's still growing. I figured you may also get a kick out of her little sleek leotard she has on in the pic. I'm definitely going to borrow this the next time I'm pregnant so you can get a real good look at the full blown prego bod.

I personally think Molly should go ahead and start drinking some beer and castor oil to induce labor but she hasn't seemed interested in doing that yet. When my mom was pregnant with Adam she did this and went into labor....of course he was a 10 lb baby and I believe she was 2 weeks late so I'm sure she was beyond desperate....pretty funny!!!

I'll keep yall posted on the delivery. We can't wait for baby Lola to meet her new cousin. She loves kids and babies so I'm sure she'll have a ball with him too!

The almost perfect day

Yesterday was the "almost" perfect day. I actually love days like that. Why was it only "almost" perfect....well, I'll walk you through the day....

Ok. So I started it in the perfect way which was spending time with the baby girl, getting her ready and then off to school. Although there isn't always a lot of time, I love our mornings. Once I got everyone off to school and work, it was time for a "me" day. Do you ever have those??? Well, they're the best!

The funny thing about my "me" days is I usually keep them to myself...they're my little secret. I'm not sure why these "me" days are so secretive....I guess it's b/c I don't want anything to go wrong and I just want to be with myself and by myself the entire day....no questions asked. I've even found that I won't tell anyone after the fact...not even Clay. It's kind of a weird thing I have with myself....I actually can't believe I just confessed this.

So, I started the "me" day off right with a little Christmas shopping. I LOVE this time of the year and I love giving. So, although money is a little tight right now, I still enjoy finding the perfect gift for everyone (of course, it always seems impossible to find the "perfect" gift...I always hope I'll find it though). I was able to snag some great finds which made the day even better. I got Lo a couple things. She loves music so I added to her collection and I got a few other toys that I think she'll love. Here are some of the fun gifts Santa will be bringing Lo:

Bath toys

Hammer toy
Pull toy

After I got some Christmas shopping done, I did the one thing I LOVE to do BY MYSELF which is go to a movie. Oh...it was sooooo enjoyable!!! It has been so long since I've been to a movie (way before Lola was born). When we lived in NYC, this was my thing. I went to the movie by myself all the time and it was always very therapeutic to me. Well, now I remember why that it was therapeutic. I'm telling you....IT WAS AWESOME!!! I basically feel like a new and improved person now. I'm going to make a point to do this often. Of course, it will have to be on one of the "secret" "me" days to make it real good.

I went to see Four Christmases. Loved it and recommend it to all. It was fun and will put you in a great mood. I'd go see it again...

Now, this all sounds perfect so far right?!?!?! So, where does the "almost" come into play. Well, after the movie, I met my running partner at the lake and we ran 10 miles...OUCH!!! So, this is where the day isn't so perfect...I pretty much dreaded this run all day as 10 miles is a lot (just in case you didn't already know this). HOWEVER, it wasn't so bad and I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. It too was very therapeutic! We had a lot of time to talk (10 miles worth) so I opened up about some things that I usually wouldn't talk about to someone I don't know that well. It was nice to get an unbias opinion on some issues I haven't been so sure about lately and a great way to get stuff off my chest. AND, for some reason, my body didn't ache the last 2 or 3 miles like usually does. I guess I'm finally getting in shape. Just in time....the marathon is a week and a half away. Eeeekkk!!!

To finish off the day, I came home to see baby Lo and my fab hubby. We ate, bathed and then it was her bedtime. I then decided to wind down with a glass of wine and finished the evening off in bed watching a new episode of my favorite show The Hills.

Oh, it was a day I don't want to forget for a while and I can't wait to have another one soon. Of course, it will be a "secret".

A crazy couple of weeks....

It's been a crazy couple weeks. Clay was sick, then Lola was sick, then I was sick, then Clay was sick again. Oh my!!! It all started with a little bout of diarrhea and throw up (I hate these terms but have to use them in order to get the full story across). And, it was Clay that started it all(Sorry Clay). Then Lola got the stomach bug (much better term) which in turn caused her to have a HORRIBLE diaper rash AGAIN. It was all terrible! I hated seeing Lo this sick. Since she had the horrible diaper rash, we would let her go diaper free trying to make her feel better. Of course, that meant we had a lot of cleaning up to do as baby girl's stomach was not quite right. You probably get the picture but just in case you don't there was lots of poop clean up. Poor thing!

The worse part of all the sickness was definitely the diaper rash. I don't wish this on anyone or anything.....not even the worse person in the world. Well, I could maybe think of one or two people that deserve it but those peeps will remain nameless. Lola would just cry and shake when we had to change her diaper. We got to the point where we would just stick her in the bath and hose her off. It was rough!!!

THEN, on top of this, she got another sinus infection that turned real bad. During all of this, we went to the doctor several times. The doctor kept saying that she didn't want to give her an antibiotic prematurely. I completely agree with this as we don't want to shove medicine down Lo's throat if it's not necessary. This is one of the reasons why we chose this doctor. They tend to have the same theory we have on medicine. But, when your baby is sick, it is sooooo hard to hold out.

After a week of the sinus infection, Lola got worse! She was crying all the time, not sleeping, she would wake up to her eyes matted shut and the only thing she wanted to do was snuggle(this was so sweet). It all got worse over the weekend of course. Why is it they always seem to hit rock bottom on the weekend when the doc office is closed??? So, I took her to one of those 24 hr facilities. Very interesting experience to say the least (Yes, while we waited, there was a domestic dispute that involved cops and all). Also, it's very hard to keep a 9 month old baby entertained in the waiting room for 2 hours (especially when you don't want her to touch the floor, chairs, etc....yuck). To make a long story short, after almost 9 days of being sick, she ended up having an ear infection which was causing her major pain, therefore, the cries and no sleep came along with that. So, after everything, we had to put her on an antibiotic.

Lola is doing great now!!! Attached above are some pics of baby Lo when she was sick. It was really so sad and pitiful. And, this picture below was what we had to deal with afterwards (i.e brattiness /temper tantrums).

For that week or so that Miss Lo was sick, she was pretty much coddled nonstop. So, when she finally got well, it was back to our old ways....she didn't like that very much. She wanted to be held all the time. We have finally broke her of that and we're trying to get her sleeping through the night again. It seems right when you get them sleeping 12 hours something happens that throws it off. It's all never ending isn't it?!?!?!? We're just glad Lola is back to her old self...

I've since disinfected the house in hopes that this evil bug STAYS AWAY!!!

I also want to thank everyone that helped us during this hard time. Boy it's tough being a working mom and dad with a sick baby. Lola was out of daycare the entire week so family really pulled through to help us when we needed them. Molly and Ben even took some time off of work to help us out one morning so we could still make our meetings. Thanks to everyone!!! It's much appreciated...we'll always be there for you too!!!