Sunday, January 31, 2010

Double Fistin and Sittin Pretty

Maison has starting sitting up on her own in her bumbo chair and has just learned how to hold on to two things at once...so here's Maison 'double fistin' and 'sittin pretty'
     


Friday, January 22, 2010

Happy 3 months, Maison!

Yesterday Maison turned 3 months old.  She celebrated her birthday with screaming and crying from noon until 6pm and then she stayed up all night being fussy and cranky.  We were able to get a few 'good' pics while she was hanging out in her boppy pillow:

"Holding my head up high"
     

"Waving at the camera"

 

Monday, January 18, 2010

Major milestone meltdowns

Major Milestone 1 - Moving Maison to her own room
Adam and I had agreed that we would move Maison to her crib in her own room when she turned 3 months on 1/21. This would have been a few days before I was scheduled to return to work on 1/25. Unfortunately, I was asked to come back to work a week early and start on 1/19 and thus we planned to move Maison to her own room this weekend. Being the procrastinators that we are, we didn't get around to moving her until last night.

We've been napping Maison in her room in her crib so that it wouldn't be a shock to her when we moved her; but Maison is not a very good napper and we are lucky if she stays in her crib 30 mins 2 times a day. So as you can imagine, last night was just a blasty blast...


I could not bear to think the poor little thing was sleeping alone in her big girl crib and could possibly die of SIDS because of our beautiful, frilly bumpers...or could break an arm or a leg if we removed the bumpers. Adam wanted to remove the bumpers since all the classes we went to said they contribute to SIDS. I wanted to leave the bumpers because she moves a lot and I didn't want her to catch a foot or a hand in the slats....so we compromised. We removed the front bumper and left the other 3. I went to sleep in her room so I could be the nighttime watchman just in case major trauma or death was at our door.


Maison has started sleeping on her side or rolling to her side so that she can change her direction in her crib. Twice I got up last night to find her foot through the front of the crib where we had removed the bumper (Told you so Adam!). I carefully tried to move her back to a back sleeping position. Twice I woke up to her coughing and then gasping for air...each time bolting out of bed only to find her pleasantly sleeping on her back and stirring because I had flung myself in her direction. Once I took a peek and found her turned 90 degrees from where she started and her head was up near the back bumper (ok...so I'm not right either...sigh). Around 4am Maison had had enough of my antics and threw a "Class A" fit until we broke down and gave her a bottle....she'll show us!


So overall, I got roughly 2 and 1/2 hours of sleep and had to wake Adam up at 7am to give Maison her bottle because I was afraid I would fall asleep on her if I tried. Let's hope tonight goes better...if not, I'm pretty sure Maison won't be the only one having a meltdown.


Major Milestone 2 - Maternity leave is over; back to the real world
I was not scheduled to go back to work until 1/25 but was asked to come back one week early and will thus start work tomorrow. I'm really not ready. I had prepared myself for 1 more week and then it was just snapped away from me. I cannot imagine not being with Maison all day. I already arranged to work from home a large portion of this week since I agreed to return early but not sure how things are going to work out long term. I miss her when I'm gone just for a few hours...how will I ever cope? Do you think if I have a meltdown at work I'll get sent home and thus will get to be with Maison anyway???


Major Milestone 3 - Maison does Tummy Time for real!
So Maison has been rolling from her back to her side for a few weeks now but has really gotten more aggressive the last few days. We knew it was only a matter of time before she could roll all the way over onto her tummy and today she did! Yes, little Maison who HATES 'tummy time' rolled onto her tummy while playing on her Baby Einstein mat. Where was Mommy when this major event occurred? At Target! Yes, that's right I was running errands and missed out...B-O-O, H-O-O. Hopefully I see it tomorrow while I'm working from home!

Update 1/20:
Maison has done great since we moved her. She slept through the night Monday and Tuesday without me sleeping in the room with her. We hooked up the video monitor so now I just stay up all night monitoring her from afar (ok...or the room next door ;o) Let's hope she continues on this good trend!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Destruction of clothing, Exhibit B

I have previously mentioned that Adam is extremely hard on clothing.  He doesn't just have normal wear and tear like most people.  He out and out destroys things.  See previous post "This deserves a Cadbury Egg".

The day after the NC game Adam said "I guess I can't wear these shorts home." and showed me this:

I asked him when that happened and he said "I don't know.  Maybe when we were walking out of the game."  So he could have been walking around all day with his 'wears' hanging out and he didn't even notice or care nor did anyone else tell him he had a rip in his shorts.  Maybe that is the one benefit of being in a massive crowd...everyone is too busy pushing and shoving to notice that you have half of your bootie hanging out of your shorts.

Where is our McCoy?

Adam, Shari, Kelly and I went to Pasadena to go see the Longhorns play Alabama in the BCS National Championship game.  It was extremely hard for Adam and I to decide whether or not we were going to go to this game even when we thought there was a good chance it would be Texas vs Florida.  Maison would only be 10 weeks old on the day that we left.  She is still so little I really didn't want to leave her.  I knew my parents would take exceptionally good care of her but no one can care for you like your mommy and I didn't want to disrupt her schedule when she had been doing so good at sleeping through the night...she was going on a month of sleeping 9+ hrs a night.  So we decided the potential of UT vs UF was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we decided to go...ordered our tickets, made hotel reservations and booked airline tickets.  Then we played like crap in the Big 12 championship game and Florida was out of the National Championship picture so we started having 2nd thoughts again.  Was it going to be worth leaving Maison to see UT get their butts kicked by BAMA?  I think not but it was too late to back out so off we went to Pasadena on Wednesday...

Thursday morning we started the day with a good base breakfast* at Tallyrand outside of Burbank.  It was awesome!  Good food, good alcoholic coffee drinks, and very polite waitstaff and customers.  Several people made comments about our UT garb and who they thought would win the game.  The owner of the restaurant sent us a stack of pancakes because he wanted us to try their speciality...how nice is that?

After breakfast we headed to the Rose Bowl.  Traffic was pretty bad and the exit that was given in the Rose Bowl guideline handbook was blocked by cops.  How f'ed up is that?  As we approached the exit the cop drove away so Adam decided to go ahead an exit and we had literally no traffic all the rest of the way to the Rose Bowl.  We easily got into the parking lot. 

We had gotten tickets to the Texas Exes Alumni tailgate that started at 1:00.  After stopping to say hi to Dan Mier and running into Kerrie Davis we didn't arrive until almost 2:00.  The line was horrific.  It was a mass of people trying to funnel into the tailgate.  We waited a good 15-20 min before getting in.  Once in we waited in line for the port-a-potty, waited in the beer line, waited in the food line and then left at 3:30.  The food was completely gone by the time we got there so I had 2 $25 beers and 2 $25 cookies for my $100 entry fee...not exactly a good use of our time or money when we had a trunk full of beer and snacks.

So off to the stadium we went...Adam and I were with Dan, Paul, and their friends.  Shari and Kelly were still at the tailgate with Shelley and Lynne.  When Adam and I got to the stadium the Men's bathroom line was longer than the Women's so Adam told me to go ahead to our seats without him.  It was the biggest mess of people you have ever seen in your life.  I'm not exactly good in crowds and I'm way worse when I'm by myself and no one is there to talk me out of panic attack but I forged ahead anyway.  I got in line for our tunnel and was doing ok for the first 10 min or so and then I was in the middle of a very large group of people and I realized there was no way out.  I couldn't go forward because they were blocking the entrance until the tunnel was clear.  I couldn't go right, left or backwards because I was about 50 people deep in all directions.  I started to panic...eyes tearing, short breathing, saying 'oh my god, oh my god, oh my god" really fast 10,000 times, panic.  The guy next too me asked if I was ok...as if there was a need to question.  I told him I wasn't exactly fond of crowds and he informed me we were still a good 30 yds from the entrance. ...ggrrrreeeaaat.  I started to put my hands out in front of me so as the crowd closed in I could control the space in front of me and the guy next to me helped me maintain a little lateral space.  I was doing ok until this Indian couple stepped right into said created space.  What is it with these people (yes, I said 'these people') and their violation of personal space???  Did they think I carved our a little nook for their convenience...NO, this is the good ole U.S. of A.  We don't enter other people's personal space unless there is a sporting event on the line and even in those circumstances if there is a girl about to go psycho bitch crazy you don't enter that available space.  Please take note for future reference!  So somehow by the grace of God I got to my seat unharmed.  

I got to our seats and no one was there 30 min before kick off.  I started to worry when it was 5 min until kickoff and still no Adam, Kelly, or Shari.  Where on earth could they be?  Shari makes me look like I'm good in crowds.  I started to worry she had a panic attack and was in the 1st aid area.  Finally, Adam showed up.  He said the crowd was horrific and he got into a flow of people and said if he didn't keep walking he would have been trampled.  He was thrilled that I went ahead of him because he said there was no way I would have made it had I been in the crowd he was in.  Right as they started the coin toss Shari and Kelly showed up completely flustered.  Apparently they had gotten in the wrong tunnel, waited 30 min only to be told you must go in the tunnel printed on your ticket so they had to leave that tunnel and start over in the correct tunnel and got in the biggest mess ever.  They said the crowd pushed through the security that was trying to hold the crowd until the tunnel cleared.  Kelly had to hold Shari up to prevent her from being trampled.  People were pushing and shoving and somewhat of a riot broke out.  Shari started crying, she closed her eyes, and Kelly carried her through the crowd.  Can you say FREAKING RIDICULOUS???  Can the BCS please take notice that this stadium is completely outdated and needs to be bull-dozed and start over?  It is over 100 years old and not built to withstand the size of today's people with their "I'm above waiting my turn" attitudes.  It is ridiculous to have only 26 entrances for 100,000 people...that's close to 4000 people per entrance all who want to enter at relatively the same time.

So the game started and ended within the first 5 min.  Poor Colt McCoy received a game ending injury after only 5 plays and we played a NC game with a true freshman quarterback.  Everything was going UT's way, we had all the momentum and then McCoy went down.  The defense played amazing and Gilbert, true freshman quarterback, played good given the circumstances.  He only played 20 some odd downs the entire season and then was thrown into the NC game with no preparation.  Amazing a 18-19 year old kid could keep his composure under such pressure.  I agree that Alabama won fair and square but even for Bama fans it was bittersweet.  Like us they came to see the 'real' Longhorns play a competitive game not a high school quarterback.  

So here's my visa commercial summary:
BCS National Championship ticket - $275
Flight to LAX - $640
Hotel in Pasadena - $250 per night
McCoy not playing in the NC - PRICELESS as in no one would pay a penny to see that

* Good base breakfast is a heavy carby greasy breakfast you need to consume if you will have a lengthy day of drinking.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Shower Sanctuary

Before having a baby I was a total bath person.  I LOVED to soak away sports injuries in a hot Epsom salt bath for hours while I read my gossip magazines.  Due to my love for baths I insisted on putting in a 6 foot heated Jacuzzi tub when we did our home remodeling. 

Since we have finished our remodeling and had Maison I've used the bathtub exactly ZERO times.  That's right...the luxurious tub I insisted on has turned into a holder for Maison's little blue infant tub.  Who has time for an hour soak with a newborn?  Ok, so even if you could find the time who would want it?  The tub area is open...open to sounds, interruptions, etc.  Not exactly a relaxing environment if you have to hear a crying baby, Baby Einstein songs, or the hustle and bustle of a house with a newborn.  So...what is my new must have?  Adam's shower...

Yep, I'm taking over Adam's master bathroom must have...a nice tall shower with a 'rain' shower head.  It is warm, relaxing, quiet...free of interruptions quiet!  I use to shower twice a day before having Maison (I'm OCD..what can I say).  Since having Maison I'm lucky if I get to shower once a day so when I do get to shower I make it worth my while.  I must admit if Adam's home or my mom is watching Maison I tend to linger..."linger WAY too long" linger..."run the hot water out" linger, "fall into a day dream" linger.  It is my new sanctuary...a quiet, silent, spiritual experience.  I'm sorry Adam, the shower is now mine.  You can have 'my tub'...I knew I insisted on a 6 foot tub for a reason!

Happy 2010, a family affair...

This year we went to my parents house for New Year's Eve!  We rang in the NY with Ryan Seacrest, Dick Clark (so sad!), and Snooki and The Situation.  Yes, that's right we flipped between Dick Clark's Rockin New Years and Jersey Shore.  If you haven't seen it you have to tune in on MTV.  It is so trainwrecklicious it is not even funny!
   
Maison made it to New Year's despite several attempts to put her down at her normal bedtime.  That child is a true Warbington...nosy as can be.  She comes from a long line of 'nose-balls'.  Starting with her great-great g-ma, Maw-maw, followed by her great g-ma, Annie Boo, and the biggest 'nose-ball' of them all her g-ma, Nooey, aka Snoop Dawg, aka Conni Warbington Ellington.  Yes, that's right my mom is the modern day Mrs. Kravitz.  She has to know what's going on ALWAYS regardless of circumstance and Maison is following right in her footsteps.  She will not sleep if she thinks something is going on.  'Something' could be defined as little as a rotating fan and that child will watch for hours...I mean HOURS.  So since 'Miss Thang' was up all night we turned it into a photo op...
    
Maison working the room in her fur coat (due to political pressure Miss Thang decided to wear 'faux' this year)
    
Three generations of Warbington-Ellingtons:  Conni (Nooey), Shari, and Maison

Four generations of Ellingtons:  Claudia (Nannie), Byron (G'Daddy), Marcia, and Maison
     

3 Maslows - Adam, Marcia, and Maison
     

3 look-alike Ellingtons - Shari, Marcia, and Maison


Hope everyone had a Happy New Year and got to ring it in with family and friends.

Soccer Mom...literally!

I knew once we had a baby we would have to buy all sorts of new things but never in 10 million years did I think that having a baby would require that we buy a new car...and not just a new car but a car the size of a Sherman tank.  I mean...come on....the baby doesn't even weigh 12 lbs yet but she warrants a car the size of a tank?

Ok...so it's not completely all Maison's fault...it is also her father's fault; her 6' 7" feet tall father's fault.  We didn't realize that given Adam's height a car seat cannot fit behind his chair or in the middle seat so the 7 passenger mid-size Lexus SUV was just reduced to a 2 1/2 seater (2 adults plus a baby).  So how does this happen...

1.  Lexuses are made for Japanese people not tall Americans so the 3rd row of seats is so useless it was removed the first week we bought the car and left in the garage to collect dust.  Let's put it this way...they have been in the car ONE time and I sat in the 3rd row by myself turned sideways.  Yes!  at 5' 3" I'm too tall for the 3rd row 'stadium seating' (i.e. NO LEG ROOM) that was built for Japanese children.

2.  There isn't much distance between the front row and the 2nd row so if Adam is the driver or passenger no on can sit behind him and that includes the car seat.

3.  Issue #2 renders the 2nd row middle seat useless as well.  

Summary, if Adam is in the car then only one other adult and the baby can fit thus only a 2 1/2 passenger car...sigh.

So unless I want Adam to complain indefinitely about being cramped we had to get a new car and get rid of the Lexus...that's right...Adam would rather have his F150 than the Lexus.  Call it supporting American made companies, call it Japanese cars are not made for COS (that would be Customer Of Size per Southwest Airlines).   Whatever you want to call it, my husband would rather drive a big 'ol RED F150 truck than a luxury foreign car....and he says he's NOT turning in to a Texan...hehehehe ;o)

So on NYE we went to Ford (does anyone else sell American cars?) and bought an Expedition.  Yes, the 3 row, 8 passenger, AMERICAN MADE SUV, that only a good Texan would go buy.  And no it's not red but black...what can I say ... despite the Texas heat, all the Ellington kids have a thing for black cars.

That's right, I now have everything required to be a soccer mom:
Child - check
Child that plays soccer - in progress, but I play...that should count, right?
Huge Ass SUV - check
Drives while on cell phone - check
Bad driver in general, really bad driver in HA-SUV, especially while on cell - check

So if you live in the Dallas area and see a black expedition drifting into your lane...being slow to start at a green light...or driving in circles to find a 'left turn' parking spot (aside...I can only park to the left...don't ask!  this was true in all cars I've driven not just the Expedition) then take my advice and stay out of my way as my nerves are probably shot from hearing a crying baby and having 4 hrs sleep and I'm probably texting or searching the web for directions while driving the car and talking on my cell (on bluetooth of course!) to Adam, my mom, or my sister.
God help you if you don't heed my advice because now I'm bigger than you (unless you are in an Excursion or Suburban) and would win if we were to make contact.  OMG....am I that competitive??? 



A baby's 1st Christmas

Christmas was so exciting this year for everyone since it was Maison's first Christmas.  It is just so much more fun to experience it with a 'little one'.  As usual, we went to my parents on Christmas Eve for our family dinner and gift exchange.  We did 'secret Santas' again this year for everyone except Maison.  Maison was so good and enthralled with the lights.  She sat in Adam's or my lap during dinner and then quietly sat in her bouncer while we opened presents.  She received more toys and clothes than you could ever imagine but she also got some really amazing and touching gifts from my family....some of the highlights:  Shari gave her a performance stage with lights and a microphone...a perfect gift for a little drama queen in training.  My parents gave her a Spode Santa Cookie plate...it's never too early to start her China collection, a Red Envelope ABC quilt with her name and birth date monogrammed on it (it is truly precious!) and Silver Christmas ornaments to denote her first Christmas.  Nannie gave her her 1st American Girl doll so that she could build up a collection before she was old enough to play with them.  

Maison all dressed up in her Christmas dress ready to open presents...


ABC monogrammed quilt and Spode Christmas plate from my parents:
    

The most amazing gift of all was from my brother....he requested Shari to set up a trust fund for Maison that he will be funding to pay for her education and travel expenses until she finishes school.  Adam and I were both speechless at how thoughtful this was of my brother and what an unbelievable life changing gift this is for Maison.  We have been VERY WORRIED about the proposed changes in the Plano school district (busing in kids from economically disadvantaged areas or large number of ESL students, redrawing lines so a large number of these kids would be in 'our' central cluster) and now we definitely have the option to send her to private school if deemed necessary.    Not to mention, we will never have to worry about how to pay for college or expensive international (yet very educational ;oP ) vacations.

Ready to go to bed...gotta rest up for Christmas Day!


It is tradition in our family to open all non-Santa gifts on Christmas Eve so after all the gifts Maison got the night before she still had Santa to go on Christmas Day...

Maison coming down the stairs at Nooey's and G'daddy's to see what Santa had brought.


Maison checking out her swing and other presents from Santa.
      

Hanging her "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament on our tree at home.


When we were little my Dad always had us lay out all our presents and took a picture each year.  So here is Maison with her 1st Christmas 'loot'...


Maison was the best 'present' of all!


It was truly a magical Christmas this year and a great first Christmas for Maison!

Here we grow again

At each of Maison's wellness checks they do a height and weight measurement and provide the percentile of how they compare to other children the same age.  When Maison was born she weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long.  At her 2 week appointment on Nov. 9 she was 8 lbs 11 oz and 21 3/4 inches long.  Dec. 22 was Maison's 2 month check-up so Adam and I wagered on how big she was going to be and we were both way off.  Maison weighed 11 lb 14 oz and was 24 inches long.  24 inches long?  Are you kidding me?  Our 2 month old is 2 feet tall and grew 3 inches in two months?  I didn't ever grow 3 inches in 2 years much less in 2 months!  24 inches is 95% for height meaning she is taller than 95% of babies her age.  At this rate Maison will probably be taller than my 5' 3" by the fifth grade.  She goes in for her 4 mo check up on Feb. 22...any guesses on how tall she'll be by then?

Christmas in the Park or Cluster F in the Park?

On Dec. 19th we went to the "Christmas in the Park" event at Fair Park.  Shari was a host this year so we were a lot more involved than we were last year.  We went Friday night to help decorate which was a complete 'cluster F'.  The person in charge didn't know what to tell each person to do and there was no 'game plan' as to where the decorations were going.  There were at least 20 people there to help and about 15 of us were standing around doing nothing.  We were there a good 30 min before anyone found anything for us to do which was to wrap lighted holly around posts and tie red bows to the top.  We stayed about one more hour before calling it quits.  There is only so much time you can stand around until you start thinking of the 100s of things you could be doing instead...like being at home with your 7 week old child or in Shari's case getting a few more billable hours in before your year ends on Dec. 20th.  Anything seemed like a better use of time than standing in a empty pavilion in the one of the most crime ridden areas of Dallas.

Saturday night Shari was supposed to be there early but she opted not to go help after the lack of organization the night before.  Adam and I went to her condo to get ready for the party.  We had some wardrobe issues that delayed us from getting there on time.  I never tried on my dress before heading to Shari's.  Apparently, my fab (yes, that is sarcasm) post-prego bod doesn't exactly fit into the formal I wore on New Year's Eve last year.  So instead of putting Shari's hair up, which was the whole point of going to her house before the party, I spent an hour trying on every formal in Shari's closet.  After trying on a dozen dresses and several attempts to convince Shari I just wouldn't go she forced me to wear a black dress of hers, her underwear (DON'T ASK!!!), her 5 inch Charles David heels, carry her hot pink clutch, and told me to shut my trap, have a glass of wine, and then go get in the car. 

Andrea and her husband Matt and Lori and her husband Arthur had been waiting on us forever.  We finally got to the party at 10:30pm and we were supposed to be there at 8:00pm.  NICE!  They couldn't find Shari's host name tag and she didn't hear them call for the hosts to come up to the stage so that they could introduce them to the guests and thank them for their charitable contribution.  What is it about this party that it is jinxed with issues (see last year's post "Can you bail on a charity event?") ?  You hate to not participate in charity events, but maybe next year we should find a new holiday charity to support...

Rub a dub dub, Maison's in the tub

Maison HATED having baths when we were still doing the sponge baths when she was a newborn.  Since we started giving her real baths she absolutely loves it until you take her out and start to dry her off.  We don't know if it's the shock of getting out of the warm water into the not so warm bathroom or if she's enjoying the bath so much she just throws a fit when it's over.  Here are some pics of Maison's bath on Dec. 17th...

    

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Happy Hanukkah

It certainly seems like everyday is a holiday around here.  It was a complete blur of Halloween turning into Thanksgiving, turning into Hanukkah, turning into Christmas.   This year we barely got the Christmas decorations up in time for Christmas and since it was the baby's first Hanukkah and Christmas we wanted to make sure we did both of them up right...

Hanukkah started on Dec. 11.  We lighted the menorah and gave Maison a present each night.
  
Friday, Dec. 11, Night 1 - Maison getting her Baby Einstein blue dolphin

Saturday Dec. 12, Day 2 - Adam made potato latkes

Sunday, Dec 13, Night 3 - lighting the menorah

Thursday, Dec. 17, night 7 - Maison watching the menorah

Friday, Dec 18, night 8 - Maison watching the lights and getting her Curious George book
   

Adam opening his All Clad non-stick pan 


I would not be happy if I got a pan for a gift; in fact I would be furious, but Adam loves to cook and it's what he wanted.  Besides his love for cooking prevents us from having to suffer through mine!

My Hanukkah gift is not pictured because I was running around screaming my fool head off in full dramatic flare.  Adam gave me new diamond earrings as a combo 'mommy gift' (for those who don't have children it's customary to get a spendy gift for having to suffer through 9 mos of pregnancy, labor, delivery, and then living with a fat out of shape body until you have time or energy to do something about it) and Hanukkah gift.  I had been hinting through my entire pregnancy that I wanted new earrings but Adam said I couldn't get new earrings until he got a new motorcycle.  We have a deal that he gets to put money in his motorcycle fund every time I buy a new handbag.  I will unfortunately be out of handbag collecting as soon as we get with in reach of the price of the motorcycle he wants ;o)  Needless to say I'm thrilled he gave me the earrings and I didn't have to wait for the motorcycle purchase (which will hopefully never happen...)

Big 12 Champs...if you can call it that

On Dec. 5 we went to the Big 12 championship game at Cowboys stadium to see Texas play Nebraska.  We really had no business going to a football game when Maison was only a few weeks old but since it was in Dallas and at the new Cowboys stadium we thought it would be a nice opportunity to get out and to get to see the stadium without having to suffer through a Cowboys game (not a fan!).  

Unfortunately the SEC Championship was the same day in the afternoon and Florida was playing Alabama.  These two games would determine who would play for the BCS National Championship and we were hoping it would turn out to be Florida and Texas since we were almost positive we would get tickets to that game.  Of course Adam wanted to be somewhere when the SEC game came on and I wanted to be with Maison as long as possible before dropping her off at my mom's.  So Adam rode to Arlington with Kari, Lee, and Dan and I waited to go with Shari and my dad.

I have such a hard time judging how long it will take me to get out of the house with Maison when she is staying anywhere for over an hour.  It takes forever to determine everything she will need while I'm away...so needless to say I was super late getting to my parents house to pick up Shari and my dad.  My dad offered to drive which was great since I couldn't imagine dealing with game traffic after the chaos of taking Maison and somehow he got us there in record time.  We were in Cowboys parking 45 min after we left Parker.  We were supposed to swing by and pick up Adam and Dan at Chili's where they were watching the SEC game, but we somehow got in line for Cowboys parking and didn't want to circle the stadium to try to pick them up.

It was so completely freezing cold when we got there we just decided to go into the first gate we came to.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  Shari and I breezed through the women's security line but then had to wait on Dad to clear the men's line for like 20 min.  Once we got inside the stadium no one knew how to tell us to get to our seats and everyone we asked told us something different.  You couldn't walk in a complete circle on the level we were on so we kept having to go up and down stairs like 10 times.  It was completely annoying!  By the time we got to our seats the teams were running out and we weren't exactly impressed with the $4 billion "Jerry World".  Adam walked from Chili's, changed from his Florida shirt to his Texas shirt, walked in the CORRECT gate and made it in time for kickoff.  Are you kidding me?  It's that hard to maneuver inside the stadium if you don't go in the gate listed on your ticket?

The game completely sucked.  UT played like stir fried ass and we had absolutely no business winning the game.  For those that didn't watch...when the clock showed 0:00 UT was LOSING but apparently when McCoy threw the ball out of bounds there were a few seconds left on the clock.  Nebraska had thought they had won the game and ran out on the field celebrating only to be told there was a few seconds left.  The poor UT kicker had to make a field goal for Texas to win...uh no presure.  If I was a Nebraska fan I would be livid.  There were bad calls throughout the entire game on both sides but it was so close for them to almost pull off a major upset.  UT ended up winning 13-12 and were named Big 12 Champions and Florida ended up losing to Alabama...so will be arriving in Pasadena as two Longhorn fans and since UF lost we won't be contemplating divorce over a football game!

2 families, 1 Thanksgiving...and a baby

This Thanksgiving Adam's entire family came to spend the holiday with us and to meet Maison.  We just moved back to our house on Wednesday, as in the day before Thanksgiving, so there was no way we could do Thanksgiving for 7 people.  We hadn't even stayed at our house in 5 weeks, our dinning room table chairs hadn't arrived yet, and my dad and I were distressing our kitchen table and it was sitting in the garage half finished.  So we literally had NO place to eat.  My wonderful mother graciously agreed to host everyone at her house.  We had 12 people for dinner plus Maison.  After dinner we watched the UT vs A&M game before heading back to our house. 

Adam's family stayed until Monday.  Through the weekend we did a tour of local Dallas restaurants.  We even took Maison to the original Sonny Bryan's on Saturday for lunch and to Bread Winners for brunch on Sunday.  Both were learning experiences for dining with a newborn...

Sonny Bryan's only has old fashioned school desks inside and a couple of picnic tables outside.  Maison's carrier wouldn't fit in an old fashioned school desk so we didn't have much choice but to sit outside.  Luckily, the weather was warm enough for her but the table next to us had several smokers.  Not exactly the best environment for a 6 week old and this wasn't exactly the part of Dallas where you could politely ask them to stop.

At Bread Winners on Sunday it was packed we had called ahead so luckily got a table in the corner with a booth on one side.  But the hostess had counted Maison as a 'child' so she brought us a booster seat...uh she is 6 weeks old...what on earth would I do with that?  We told her we didn't need it since we were trying to make it work so her carrier could sit in the booth with me.  Then she brought us a high chair which too was useless.  Third try she just bought a normal chair after I had told her twice I would just put her carrier in the booth with me.  The restaurant was super busy and the table was rather cramped with the carrier taking up more than a seat, but what are you going to do?   That's not really 'news worthy' but the fact that they discontinued their impressive coffee drink menu was rather disappointing.

So lessons learned:  Don't take a baby to a restaurant that doesn't even have adequate sitting even for an adult and don't take a baby to a crowded brunch place and expect the hostess to appreciate your situation of trying to eat with a newborn in a carrier...much less expect them to know the difference between a child and a baby.  But most importantly, call ahead to make sure they still have fab coffee drinks especially when you could use a little something to take the edge off ;o)

Adam's family returned home on Monday and it was back to work for everyone except me as I'm still on maternity leave until 1/25.

Newborn Photo Poop?

On November 17th we took Maison for her newborn photo shoot so that we would have some pictures to use for her birth announcement.  I had already come up with the idea to do the "party animal" birth announcement so we knew we wanted some pics with her in her white tiger Halloween costume.  The photographer suggested that Adam and I wear black and that we have Maison naked in the other pictures.  I was a little leery of having Maison naked when she was only 3 weeks old but we decided to go with it.  

This obviously wasn't the photographers first newborn shoot as she had 'puppy pads' laid down in case Maison were to pee while she was shooting.   Surprisingly, we didn't need the puppy pads because Maison didn't pee at all...she just decided to poop on me and on Adam.  There is a reason we call her the 'poo poo princess'.  I felt like an embarrassed dog owner when your dog pees on a display at Pet Smart.  They obviously expect animals to have accidents you just don't want it to be YOUR pet.  The photographer could have cared less.  She wasn't the one pooped on and she said she could edit out anything on us if it were to show up in the pictures.  Poor Adam had to go back to our house before he could go into work because he didn't have another shirt with him.

Despite the shit storm (literally!) we were very please with how the pictures and the birth announcement turned out.  We went ahead and had them design our Christmas cards with the 'best' family shot.  

         

Birth Announcement (front and back):