We can't forget about Willie!

Gotta love it!!!

I guess I've become an "official" blogger. I've learned I used up all my free blog space (1 GB) and now I have to pay for my space. Nice!! This really makes me feel like a real true seriously professional blogger. Woohoo!

Out with the Mommy, in with the Mammy!

Alright...I'm really frustrated now. I've had some MAJOR technical difficulties over past couple days with the blog. I wrote a blog on Tuesday (over 48 hrs ago) and was ready to post. However, I couldn't post b/c I was having issues getting the video to upload. Well, I finally found another option and got the video up and running and got the blog posted. Then, tonight I was about to post another blog and this blog deleted....I have NO CLUE how this happened. So, to make a long story short, I have to re-write this blog. Of course, it's never as good the second time especially when you write what's on your mind like I do but I'll give it a shot. Ugh!!!

So, little Miss Lola is going through a new "precious" stage where she calls me Amy...ALL THE TIME!!! No more Mommy....just Amy. Clay loves it and thinks it's just adorable. I have to admit, at first, I also thought it was adorable....not so much anymore.

This all started when I was out of town a couple weeks ago. Lola woke up and Clay could hear her shouting from her bed "Amy, Amy...Amy....Amy, Amy". Since that day when she calls for me or when she is talking to or about me she calls me "Amy". Yea...it sucks! I've been called Amy my entire life and I have to say I'm not all that crazy about my very common name. It was such a great moment when I became a mother and such a special milestone when Lola called me "mama" for the first time then "mama" became "mommy" and now here we are today back to Amy....same 'ol same 'ol. Well, to make a long story short, over the past couple weeks anytime Lola calls me "Amy" I respond by saying "Mommy...I'm Mommy...Lola say Mommy". Now Mommy has turned into Mammy (that's Amy with a M in front of it). Clay actually likes Mammy...he even refers to me as Mammy now. I'll continue to work on the Mommy thing but for now I'll have to settle with Mammy.

We had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! Clay's place of business had a Chili Cook off at Zilker park. We had tons of fun!!! Clay's team were called the Chili Willies and they dressed up as Willie Nelson. Clay looked a lot like Willie.....it was kind of scary. Lola had a great time running around playing with the other kids and loved the bounce house. We look forward to the next festivity.

The parental guidance also came in town to visit over the weekend. It was so great to hang out at our new digs and enjoy the fabulous Austin. We'll continue to look forward to more visitors.

Lets have a good long weekend!

Nothing much to say today...can you believe?!?!?! Actually, I have a lot to say but I'm going to hold off until next week. Very nice of me I have to say! However, I will say this....I can't believe the Hola Lola blog is 1 yr old....actually even a little older. Man, the things we've been through and the challenges we've confronted and it's all documented right here on the blog.

Before we head off to enjoy the holiday weekend, I wanted to post this pic and me & Mary. Oh how I love Mary!!! Mary came to visit Austin a couple weeks ago. We had a great time!!! We've been friends since 1998...crazy!!!. I worked with her hubby, Brian, at my first job with State Farm back in the day. Brian and I hit it off immediately and became BFFs. Then, I had the honor to meet and become great friends with Brian's girlfriend at the time, Mary. She is such a great girl and I hardly can believe we've been friends for 12 years now...Yikes!!! Mary and Brian live in Illinois now but I keep hoping they'll move back to Texas...maybe one day. They have two precious kiddos....Kate who is 8 yrs old and Kyle who is 3 yrs old. They are little darlings. It was great to spend time with Mary. I miss her muchos!!!

I've been working my rump off lately so I'm thrilled to have a long weekend to sit back and relax ...well, as much as you can relax with a toddler. We'll be heading to the SHW Group (Clay's work) Chili Cook-Off in about 2 hours...Woohoo!!! Can't wait!!!

Everyone have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!!!

Call me crazy

Ok, call me crazy but several months ago did I not say I would never run another half marathon again? Let me quote my exact statement written in the Run the Rock blog on 12/23/08:

"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."

As I read through that blog again it brought back memories of the horrible pain I felt that day both during and after the race. It also brought back memories of the 5:30am. /6:00 a.m. morning runs, 5 days a week for 6 months straight. Boy, once it was all over, it sure was nice to finally sleep in until 7:00 a.m. again (if Lola allowed this of course). I guess it's the same thing with a baby. If we make the decision to have a another baby, you have to wonder why in the world would we choose to go back and suffer through the hassle of pregnancy, the pain of the birth, recovery, breastfeeding and lack a sleep a second time?!?!?!? Drive, passion and love I guess.

Well, for some reason last night I found myself signing up for another half marathon. Yep, I sure did!!! Training starts next Saturday 5/30/09 at 7:00 a.m. sharp. I have no clue why I'm doing this again. Actually, I do. Drive, passion and love of course plus I've discovered I need structure to force myself to exercise. If I don't have structure and a long-term goal to achieve, then I won't do it. Lately, I've done a very poor job with the whole exercise thing and have been very frustrated with myself....mainly b/c I've lost all tone in the old 32.94 yr old bod. The good news is this week I started up again but discovered running isn't enjoyable if you don't have some sort of long-term goal such as a half marathon. So last night I bit the bullet and signed up for the Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio half marathon which will take place on November 15, 2009. I'll be training through one of Jeff Galloway's training programs. With that, it looks like I'll have 5 1/2 months of hard training in front of me....Woohoo!!! As always, I'll keep you posted on my progress and certainly the misery that will go into the training. I'm actually very excited and looking forward to it. The worst thing that can come out of this is I get in shape and meet new people...can't complain about that right!?!?

She's a maniac (I mean this in the nicest way of course)!!!

What a weekend!!! It was Clay's 36th Birthday. I can't believe I'm married to someone who is 36. I can't believe I'm about to turn 33. How did we get so old so quick?!?!?!? I'm sure this is a question we all ask ourselves every day. I remember being in my 20s and looking at people who were my age now and thought they were old...kind of scary.

In celebration of Clay's birthday, we had a fun filled weekend! We basically spent most of the weekend watching Lola run around like a maniac. Seriously...it was NON-STOP!!! This toddler thing is CRAZY!!! How does this child go and go and go (with very few naps I must add) without feeling absolutely exhausted and just collapsing. Oh to have energy like this again! I have to say that by the time Sunday bedtime comes along I'm pretty excited to drop Lo off at daycare first thing Monday morning. Is that bad? It's not that I don't love spending time with Lola b/c I do...more than anything. I actually miss her so much during the day but sometimes she has a tendancy to wear me out to the point of exhaustion and I feel like I need a break asap!

After Lo went to bed last night, I started researching the "toddler years". Basically wondering how long we would be going at this speed. Well, it seems it will last until at least 36 months. Oh man...we're only at 15 months. Lola has started a lot of this "toddler" stuff a little early which means our toddler years are going to last a lot longer. Most babies just start walking good at about 13/14/15 months but not Lola. She was walking good at 12 months and is now 15 months and is full on sprinting...usually away from us. I found I can't even have a nice relaxing conversation with our neighbors without constantly saying "excuse me" and chasing Lola, then "excuse me again" then chasing Lola again....non-stop! Literally, we spent the entire weekend blowin' and going' and just try to keep Lola from killing herself. Trust me on this one...you can even ask my mom who after two days of keeping Lola is usually so exhausted that she has to stay in bed for a full day after the fact just to recover. I was talking to a friend the other day about losing weight. She wants to pull off a few pounds and asked me if I had any suggestions. I immediately suggested she should have a baby! She looked at me as if I was crazy but I said "I'm serious" b/c once they hit the "toddler years" you will NEVER sit...EVER!!! This is true. I NEVER sit down...EVER!!! But, on a positive note, at least I don't have to worry about my eating habits so much as I'm burning 10 trillion calories a day chasing Lola.

Temper tantrums! Fun, fun, fun!!! Well, they say these usually don't start until between 16 - 18 months. Of course, we've had the joy of experiencing tantrums for about a month or so. They got a little more fierce over the weekend. So, we just let her throw them and act like we don't hear her. She stops pretty quick. Clay and I absolutely will not have a brat child who throws fits. I let Lola get away with a lot but I won't let her get away with this. So, we're pretty stern when it comes to the temper tantrums.

The new thing this week is hitting. Yep...hitting...nice!!! She slaps me and laughs. She'll take her sippy cup and swing it at the dogs heads...poor things...they are taking it really well. I also caught her riding Lady Bird like a horse on Saturday. I wondered if she learned this from the horse race we had just watched on TV. Anyway, back to the hitting thing....Clay says it's ok and it's their (meaning babies) way of learning. They don't understand empathy right now and have to learn when you hit it hurts by actually doing it....not sure this makes sense to me but I'll go with it. My question is how do you teach and explain to a 15 month old it's not right to hit? When I tell her "ouchy" or "no, no...you don't hit", she just laughs uncontrollably and starts hitting again so I'm not real sure how to address this phase. I mean it's not like I can hit her back to show her it hurts. We'll see how long this one lasts.

I often ask myself if all toddlers are like this or if we just have a wild child on our hands? She was a good infant so are we paying for it now? Clay assures me that all toddlers can be hard to manage and we're doing just fine. I have to say little Miss Lola is full of personality and she has definitely come into her own so I guess this is just all part of it!

Oh, I almost forgot. We had Lola's 15 month appointment on 5/4. Can you believe it??? She is 15 months. I swear it seems like I just had her yesterday. Here are her stats:

• Weight 24 lbs 75th percentile
  
• Hight 30 3/4 50th - 75th percentile
  
• Head 48.6 cm 97th percentile

Compound Crawfish Boil

I'm slightly behind on my blogging but hope to catch up soon. The weekend before last we had several sets of friends in town visiting. It was perfect timing as we were able to pull off yet another Crawfish Boil which consisted of fabulous food (thanks to Clay Kennedy's exceptional ability to cook up crawfish cajon style), excellent company with new and old friends and downright good times at the compound. I thought I would post some pics of the fun.

Yummy Crawfish!!! As you can see, everyone basically ate it all up and left a Lone Star beer can for good measure.

The Chef, Clay Kennedy, and Kara taking in all the wonderful odors of the Crawfish. Luckily, once cooked, it just smells like fabulous Cajun seasonings.

Amy, Clay and Kara. Getting our belly's ready for a mind-blowing meal.

Rick, Christian, Heather and Clay. Rick and Heather have a 2 year old little boy named William who Lola played with all afternoon. Christian and Jody (Jody was out of town) have a 4 1/2 year old named Cade and a 2 1/2 year old boys named Leyton. Good times for the kids...they ran around and played all afternoon.

Amy & Jesse. Jesse and Matt are old friends from NYC who now live in Kansas City. It was so great to see them!

Kristen, Kevin and Gang. Love all of Kristen and Kevin's friends!!!! All great people.

Jeff, Summar and Clay. Happy as can be!!! Jeff and Summar tie the knot in October. Can't wait for the big day!

Little Miss Puffy Eyes. Lo took a 4 hour nap this day. Longest ever!!!! She was just getting up in this pic below. She's like her mama...takes her a little while to wake up before she is ready to socialize.

Guitar time...Hondo is back!!! Jeff and Clay provided some great entertainment and played some old school Hondo songs. Oh....love to reminisce. Lo sat right next the Clay the entire time. She LOVES to hear him play guitar.

And now Clay and Clay toast to a successful Crawfish Boil and a fabulous night.

Hola Lola temporarily out of service!

I feel like it's been ages since I've posted a blog so I thought I would drop a quick note to let you know Hola Lola is temporarily out of service but will be back in full force soon. Boy...life has been a bit hectic lately....let me recap real quick...

I'm currently in LA. This will be my 6th straight week of traveling for work. CRAZY!!!! Just when I think I'm about to get a travel free week I learn I have to be in Big D next week for a meeting. On top of this, over the past 6 weeks (in between business trips) we've had guests in town every single weekend (Can't wait to show yall pics and tell you about our Crawfish Boil last weekend). We LOVE the company but WOW things are very busy to say the least...this is what we like to call "blowin' and goin'". Basically, I've struggled to find time to wash sheets in between guests...should be a very simple task right? Yea...not so much.

With that, I still have TONS of work to get done. It's a matter of finding the time so I'm squeezing it in where ever I can which is usually my daytime hours and then back again between 8:30 p.m. (after Lo goes to bed) to 11:00 p.m. then I try to squeeze in a little sleep too...why not!?!?!? The worst part is Clay is on the same schedule...he comes home around 6:30ish for dinner, fam time, puts Lo to bed and then heads back to the office for more work. What a man...always home to put his little girl to bed no matter how busy life is. I keep thinking "A break would be great!". But to be honest....I most likely wouldn't slow down. It's weird...I can't slow down anymore...I can't sit still....I have to be constantly going. I actually think I would go insane if I had a day (or even an hour) to myself with no plans...I would go stir crazy. The biggest problem with all the traveling/non-stop guests is I'm not finding the time to exercise and I'm craving it like you wouldn't believe!!! So, next week I'm going to start the 6:00 a.m. runs up again...can't wait!!!!

Today was FABULOUS!!! I was able to visit one of my childhood BFFs Ashley "Cox" Drysdale in Santa Monica. Ash and her hubby, Jono, moved from D.C. to Santa Monica a year ago. They have a new 4 month old baby girl named Stasya....such a happy baby...such a beautiful baby. I believe she is a spitting image of her gorgeous mother. It was so nice to spend the afternoon with Ash and Stasya. We ate lunch, walked up the coast, talked, shopped, hung out on the couch at their fab home, etc...such fun girl time! I really love Ash more than anything. The best part of our relationship is that as we get older we find ourselves becoming even closer (that's hard considering we grew up living next door to each other...every waking and sleeping hour together) and we don't let distance get in the way of our relationship. I really feel a special connection with Ashley and love that she is still a part of my life after all these years.

Tomorrow is a new day. I start my meetings off at 7:00 a.m. sharp and go until who knows when but THEN another one of my BFFs, Elizabeth, who I met in NYC is also visiting LA so we'll get to see each other. Woohoo!!! She is 8 1/2 months pregnant so I can't wait to see her buddha belly.

Anyway, I have lots of updates so hopefully I can find time to kick back and focus on the blog next week....I'll make sure to find the time. Of course, I can't get away without posting a pic of Lo...

Totally freaked out.....

Let me preface this blog by saying I'm not one of those "crazy" moms who runs to the doc every time one little thing is wrong with my baby. I'm more like one of those moms who finally goes to the doc after a couple days of sickness only to learn my baby has had a horrible ear infection for who knows how long...then I always have one of those "I'm a terrible mom" moments. But, it's a fine line...when do you really know it's time to go to the doc????

We've all heard the news about the swine flu. I've been very concerned about the whole deal but not completely freaked out. Well, to back up, Lola just got through antibiotics and an ear infection. Over the weekend, she still didn't seem 100%. So, before I left for Dallas on Monday, I took her to the doc....just to make sure all was well. At that time, the swine flu didn't cross my mind. Then, the past two nights Lola was up non-stop...whining around...just not feeling right. I was still okay...just figured she's still fighting through something. Then I get in the car this morning and the first thing I hear is a 23 month old died from the flu (the first death in the US)...uh oh. Then as we keep going on our trek back to A town Clay informed me that someone in their San Antonio office has the swine flu. OH NO!!!! This is really hit close....so my mind starts spinning....I start thinking the worst possible scenarios. As I'm thinking all of this, Lola is screaming bloody murder in her car seat while she's hacking up stuff with a horrible cough and seems to be running a fever. I stopped at the gas station to get some milk and Tylenol...she wouldn't take either....just said "no" "no" and pushed my hand away. I called the doc as I was officially in panic mode now and asked "Should I be concerned and/or should I bring her in?" The only answer they gave was "Well, if you think she's worse, bring her in". THAT'S NOT WHAT I WAS ASKING!!! I wanted to know if I should be concerned and if I should bring her in....under normal circumstances I wouldn't but there is a dang swine flu out there taking over so TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME!!! Ok, I didn't really say that....I decided to take it easy on them but I did want a much more clear answer...didn't get it.

I made the decision not to take Lola to school this afternoon as I wouldn't want another parent to bring their runny nosed, coughing, running a low grade fever sick child to school so I respected that (do unto others right). Now, I'm SO STRESSED as I lost an afternoon of work and have SO MUCH TO DO!!! Yea, get the point...I'm a little freaked on many levels (calm down Amy...it will all get done at one point). I'm glad I made this decision though b/c when we got home poor baby Lo was whining around the house and wouldn't let me put her down (see attached video...poor thing). At one point, I was on a conference call and she was just whaling...all I could do was apologize. But, as she was whaling, I did notice that she has two front teeth popping through. Whew!!! What a relief!!! Now it all makes sense...this could be causing all the problems we've been having over the past couple days. Now, I'm starting to feel much better about the fact that Lola most likely doesn't have the swine flu.

BUT (love the buts) it got worse...AGAIN. Lo took a dramatic turn...she started running a high fever and became very lethargic. It was scary!!! She was limp and had this blank look in her eyes. Her eyes are always filled with so much personality and life and they just seemed empty. I panicked again and called Clay to come home to make sure I wasn't going "crazy". He too was very concerned so I took her to the after hours doc. I'm happy to say Lola is swine flu free (say that 3X fast), however, she has ANOTHER ear infection (we literally JUST got off the antibiotic). This one is so bad that the doc said her ear drum may burst (she says this sounds worse than what it is...not so sure about that). Anyway, I don't know what to do...tubes? I really think it may be allergies since it's become so severe since moving to Austin so maybe we'll try a nutritionist. I don't know...more questions!!! But, for now, we'll just inject her with antibiotics, Motrin and ear drops to make her feel better...poor baby girl...I just hate it...

Oh, the trials and tribulations.....how many times have you heard me say that?!?!?!!?

Man, it hurts...

Man...I miss this little girl so much it hurts....my stomach is aching. Is this normal? I've now been gone three days which is just too long... Luckily, I leave this evening and can't wait to get home to see Miss Lola (of course, she'll probably be asleep when I get home...bummer). Right now, I'm so excited that the ache in my stomach has actually turned into butterflies due to the anticipation of finally seeing Lo when I get home. Oh man...home sweet home....but only for the weekend until I take off again.

Clay has really enjoyed having some "alone" time with Lo this week. I think they've bonded even more. He says she's been great this week....eating a ton which is good b/c she went through a phase where she wasn't eating much just drinking milk. So, thank goodness that problem is behind us....I wonder what the next one will be....

So, I haven't talked much about Lola's new school....it's a Montessori school. We actually love it and Lo loves it too. Our only complaint was/is that she is the oldest in the class and the other babies aren't quite as active as her. Also, there aren't many babies in the room...this is good news b/c she gets lots of special attention from the teachers that she loves oh so much but we feel she's not getting enough playtime with other kids (specifically older babies/kids). At Lola's old school in Dallas, she was always the youngest and we felt she learned so much from the "older" babies. We've been okay with the current situation b/c they have lots of fun activities throughout the day (one being art class and Lo always comes home with finger paints on her clothes...BTW....hard to get out) and she moves to the older class at 17 months...only a couple months right?!?!? Anyway, Clay told me yesterday that they've started letting Lo go play outside with some of the other kids. YEA!!! So, it looks like they're starting to transition her over a little early. YEA again!!! I hate to even say this b/c I do love her current teachers and they are so good with Lola but I REALLY want her to have an opportunity to hang out with the older babies/kids. Well, it looks like that's starting to happen. It makes me happy!!!

Ok, gotta finish up some auditing and then head home...Woohoo!!!

Does this make me a bad mother??????

Does this make me a bad mother?????? Take a REAL close look at Miss Lola in the background in the pictures below....I'll even commentate for you....

In this pic, Lo is glancing around to make sure no one is watching so she can make her move....

We obviously weren't watching so she decides to swoop in for the kill and picks the bottle up...however, she is still only glancing at it....

AND THEN she puts the beer bottle in her mouth....NICE!

Ummmm....yea!!! No she didn't. This just goes to show that you basically have to watch these babies non-stop....or don't leave beer bottles on the floor (This was Ashley's beer btw). To make matters worse, I didn't even know she was doing this until I was downloading the pics today....Oh man...can you believe?!?!?!? Anyway, I'm sure the bottle was empty. I guess it happens to every parent at least once.....or, maybe I'm just telling myself this to help get over the "I'm a terrible mother" moment I'm having right now. I actually haven't had one of these moments in a while so I guess I was due one.

So, with that, we had a fabulous weekend. Some of our BFFs Ashley and Mark and their kiddos Isabel and Caroline came in town from San Antonio. Lola had a blast hanging out with the girls. They all entertained each other the whole weekend which was great. As for the adults, we had a good time with good company. As usual, we all had plenty to talk about and our conversations went into the wee hours of the night. It was raining on Friday when they arrived so we put our screened porch to use. Man, it is really great to have this area.

Below is a pic of Clay reading to the girls before bedtime. You like his hair and beard??? Well, on Friday night, we shaved it....it's completely gone....he now has very little hair on his head. He also trimmed his beard to a gotee so he's all cleaned up. Once again, winter has passed us and Clay is coming out of the hibernation.


On Saturday, we took the girls to the Austin Children's museum and then had a night out on the town...ADULTS ONLY!!! It was VERY nice to have a little break....it's been a while.


After a great weekend with friends, I'm on another business trip. This time....Nashville, TN. I certainly do hope I run into Kenny Chesney or Alan Jackson or maybe even Garth Brooks. Not really....I'm actually not a big fan of Nashville country. Anyway, I have a week full of auditing....sounds exciting right!?!?!? The good news is I'll get a ton of work done while I'm here.....the bad news is I'll miss Lola sooooo much!

Free Hugs!!!

I walking down South Congress the other day, saw this sign and had to stop and take a picture. I loved it. See....some things are still free in this very expensive world!!!

Splish Splash

Last Thursday we had fun playing with the water hose. Lola LOVES water in all shapes and forms....baths, water hose, pool, rain, drink...you name it...if it requires water, she's there. However, she's not so much into the sprinkler yet. We tried this last Friday and it didn't work so well....she actually seemed a little scared. Anyway, this little water episode ended up causing quite a mess...dirt, mud and water was spread across several rooms of the house. Oh well, if Lo enjoyed it then it's all worth it (of course, we should be more prudent about the water shortage...we'll have to invest in a little pool for the yard). Here's what Lo looked like before, during and after this little adventure:

BEFORE. Oh...so cute and happy on a beautiful sunny Thursday afternoon.

Lola even helped me water the plants. These days she likes to be a little helper.

AFTER!!! The fun was over! She got too wet and became very frustrated with the water hose! She came running over to me and wanted to be picked up asap. She was also very hungry....if she's not sitting in her high chair eating dinner right at or before 5:30 on the dot, then you better watch out.

See what I mean. Now she's happy again after eating some avocados, turkey and cheese. Look at that big 'ol smile!!!

It's Easter time!!!

What a fabulous Easter weekend! Once again we were busy bees and were very productive. It's funny...we've done more in the 6 weeks that we've lived in Austin as we did in 3 years of living in Dallas. It's such a great feeling. We're rarely ever home on the weekends and I love it! If we are home, we're outside doing something. All greatness. So anyway, as noted, this weekend was no different. Here's what we did:

Friday, we weren't hungry but we still ran down to Guero's (our home away from home) for a quick drink and to watch the band.

Here's a pic of Lola with Virgin Mary. How funny is this?!?!?!? She always hangs out with Mary when we're at Guero's. I think she likes those little rocks sitting there....she'll lift them up and bring them to us one by one over and over and over again and then she'll say "Tank You" (thank you) which actually means "you're welcome"....she has the terms a little messed up right now but that's okay b/c she's saying them...right?!?!?!?

Lola also watched the band at Guero's. I will HAVE to get this on video one day. She LOVES the bands and dances like you wouldn't believe. She's started a new move that will send you to the floor hysterically laughing. She sticks her hip out to the right (far out) and does a big BOOTY SWIRL. Ha,ha,ha,ha. I'm not kidding....you have never seen anything like it. I mean she has some moves! Where in the world has she learn to swoop her pelvic area/booty around in such a way?!?!?!? I'm thinking maybe at school they do the Hokie Pokie song or something...."stick your right hip in and your right hip out and move it all around"...I don't know but it's a serious RIOT!!!

Saturday we went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. You know, our Lady bird is named after this Lady Bird. We really wish she could have gone with us. The Wildflower Center was great. We actually bought an annual membership.

Then we went to the famous Threadgills for dinner. You like how my shirt matches the tablecloth??? Pretty nifty huh!

On Sunday, we went to church. There are several neighborhood churches so we took a Sunday stroll and walked down to the Methodist church. We really enjoyed it! Below are some pics of Lo in her Easter attire. She looked too cute and did great at the church daycare. She is seriously a little social butterfly and adapts to pretty much any atmosphere these days.

After church, we went to a friend's house for Easter lunch. On the way, we stopped at my favorite garden center, The Great Outdoors, to pick up a plant as a gift and the Easter bunny was there! Woohoo!!! Thank goodness b/c time slipped away and I was never able to take Lo to get pics with the bunny. So, I was THRILLED that we got pics with The Great Outdoors Easter bunny. You probably can kind of tell from the pic but Lo had a grip on me like you wouldn't believe...that's probably why I look a little strained. She was also saying "no, no" every time I tried to put her close to him. It was cute!

To wrap up the weekend, we planted more flowers. Oh man, I love planting flowers and "trying" (I put this in quotes as I'm not always successful...I sure do wish I had my mom's green thumb) to make the yard look beautiful. I'll show yall pics once I'm done. AND, we started our garden....YEA!!! We're planting squash, tomatoes, peppers and jalapenos in the compound....it will be a community garden. Can't wait!!! We also planted some fab herbs.

What a weekend!!!

236 boxes down 2 to go...

Can you believe!?!?!?!? We just about have all the boxes unpacked and we're almost COMPLETELY organized. Man oh man...it's only taken 6 weeks. I won't be moving again for a long long long time. It's been utterly exhausting....especially since I want everything done yesterday.

Anyway, we hope to finish everything up this weekend. Just in time for lots of visitors. We're basically booked from now until late May with people visiting or planned trips, etc. I'm so excited!!! So, I wanted to show you a few more pics. We only have to get the office and guest/music room complete and we're all done. Woohoo!!! Here they are:

Upstairs foyer. Still looking for that perfect rug but what great light this little area has. As we do this tour of upstairs, check out all the groovy ceilings, fun shapes of the rooms and the fab sunlight that comes in from all angles. Too much fun!!! Also, it's probably hard to tell from the pics but these rooms are huge.

Lola's new nursery. All the woods are the original from when the house was built in 1886. How fun is that!?!?!?!? I absolutely ADORE this house and could stay here forever.

Master Bathroom. It is totally funky and cool and huge!!! There is a whole other half that you can't see in the picture. And the shower...fabulous!!! Double heads on each side. Lola loves to climb in with us when we're taking showers and bathe herself too. She's had a lot of fun with it. My mom made the shower curtain and the curtain in the window. Thanks Madre...Love them!!!

And finally the very odd shaped master bedroom. I mean really....you can't stick a large orange shag rug in many rooms but in this one it works. This room still needs lots of work. I actually have no clue what to do with it and you can probably see why. As soon as I find the "perfect" bedding then we'll work on it but for now it's going to stay as is. This room, like the master bathroom, is HUGE and also has a whole other half you can't see in the pic. Eventually, I would like to have a little sitting area but this is way down the road.

I can't believe the week is almost over! Goodness...I feel like I haven't gotten much done...just one of those weeks. I found out today that Lo's school is closed tomorrow for Good Friday so it looks like I'll be working late tonight. Anyway, since she's off, we have lots of fun plans for this Holiday weekend. We plan to go get pictures with the Easter bunny, either go to the neighborhood pool or the zoo (haven't decided yet), go to Austin City Hall and watch music in the plaza (Live from the Plaza: http://www.cityofaustin.org/music/live.htm), try out some new fun restaurants and head to church on Sunday. Oh, and finish the guest/music room and office.

Should be a great weekend!!!!

Toddler Wise

In the early stages of the Hola Lola blog, I mentioned the book Baby Wise and noted how I really believe in it. Well, now we're in the process of starting Toddler Wise in hopes that it will provide us with some excellent insight into this parenting thing.

We do believe we're good parents and possibly even great parents, however, we continue to run into these little "phases". This is what we call them in hopes that they are actually just a "phase". So, what's the newest "phase"??? Well, Miss Lola will absolutely not go to sleep at night. She hardcore refuses!!! When I say won't go to sleep, I mean she wants to stay up and rally with the folks until 11:00 p.m. or later if we would allow it. This all started Friday night and it continues which means Clay and I feel we have had no alone/adult time.

Any time something like this occurs, Clay and I start to question our parenting skills. The natural questions come to mind... "Are we doing everything right?", "What do we do about this?", "Are we good parents?", "Has something we've done caused this?", etc. Now that Lola has started refusing bedtime, we wonder if we've done something to cause this. So, last night we decided to hit the books and busted out with both Toddler Wise and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Funny, the first line I read was as follows:

"It cannot be emphasized enough: The major sleep problems in babies from five to twelve months old develop and persist because of the inability of parents to stop reinforcing bad sleep habits.....The failure of children to fall asleep and stay asleep by themselves is a direct result of parents' failure to give their child the opportunity to learn these self-soothing skills"

NICE!!!! I love this term "parents' failure"...they just put it all out there don't they. So, I guess this answers the questions we had in our minds. But, to be honest, we've known this. Lola didn't sleep through the night until she was 12 months old. All along we knew we needed to let her "cry it out" (a.k.a - CIO) but we chose not to take on this approach. There are two sides of the story to the "cry it out" method and we don't agree with it 100%. Some say "CIO methods consider leaving a child alone and crying to be unnatural, unkind, and a betrayal of the trust your baby is developing into adults and the world around him/her." But, to be honest, the lack of sleep has never really bothered me (crazy right?!?!?). So, here we are today...we have a baby who FINALLY sleeps through the night but now we can't get her to go to sleep. Huh!!!

Last night we finally decided to kind of use the "cry it out" method or what they call the "Ferber" method. We put her to bed and said "nite, nite". She knows what we're saying b/c she gets her blanket, snuggles up with her babies (dolls) and lays down like she's going to sleep. She'll even fake snore. But, then she pops back up and is ready to rock. It's so cute and really hard to resist but we put our foot down last night. I stayed in her room with her for a bit and then walked out. She cried for about 9 minutes and then fell asleep. Just so you know we were only going to let her cry 10 minutes and then go back in there to soothe her and then leave again. This is the difference between the CIO method and the Ferber method...you don't leave them cold turkey to cry it out for an infinite amount of time rather you do it in increments...we're on board with this one. Anyway, we'll attempt it again tonight and hopefully within the next two weeks, we'll be able to lay Lola down in bed at the same time every night and she'll fall asleep on her own. As usual, I'll keep you posted.

On a lighter note, Clay and I have continue to explore Austin and love it more and more each passing week. On Saturday, we walked over to 1st street to a restaurant/bar called Freddie's. What a great atmosphere! These people really have it figured out. There is a huge back patio area/beer garden.....they have a stage for the bands to rock out AND a playground for the kids. This is GENIUS I tell ya...genius!!! The parents can sit back and enjoy themselves while the kiddos are playing on the playground. Seriously, what a great idea! Here are some pics of Lo on the playground. It was truly some of the cutest/best moments we've had so far and that's saying a lot.

Lola was initially a little shy but soon met many friends to play with on the playground. She had a blast! And, of course, she attempted to eat all those little rocks you see there on the ground.

Lo LOVES to swing. I'm still trying to find one exactly like this to hang in our tree in the yard.

Lola has become quite the social butterfly (after she gets past the initial shyness). Just one of the girls. Lola took it upon herself to climb up onto this little table and sit with the girls while they were eating. She even took a french fry right off their plate...of course, since she can't speak full sentences yet, she did this without asking. Too funny! Luckily, the little girls were okay with it.

Lo loved this little girl in the picture below and really took to her. She's 6 yrs old and was so sweet. She drug Lo all around the playground.

Is it just me or is Lola almost as big as this little 6 yr old?? Her head is definitely the same size if not larger. Oh...too funny!!!! No wonder my left shoulder is killing me...we have a big girl on our hands!

Time to head home...Lola was beat after a long afternoon on the playground. We weren't done yet though. We hit up Eco-wise and purchased our seeds so we can start our garden...Woohoo!!!!