Football, stollers and tats

As I mentioned in the previous post, the kids spent the weekend with my parents, and as usual, they had a great time. Friday night they just hung out around the house, playing outside until it was time for baths and bed. Saturday's big event was the Homecoming football game. The weather was perfect for a day at the football field so the kids got to play and run until they were both tired and ready for naps. Sunday was rainy so they had to come up with some fun indoor activities. Lauren took this as an opportunity to work on her "mothering skills" by learning how to push a baby stroller around. She apparently loved it. Ash took a couple of pictures to show her excitement.So that only leaves Ryan. What can you do with a three year old to keep him happy? Maybe play a board game, watch a movie, or even just have a simple conversation. Apparently none of that sounded good that morning so they went for something else - tattoos. Ryan, as we all know, loves tattoos and luckily we had packed up a sheet of them and sent them with him for the weekend so they had a variety to choose from. When they had finally decided on the perfect tat, it was time to figure out where to put it. Now, I know Ryan had a few tattoos on his arms and legs at the time, but there was still plenty of room to stick another one his shoulder or calf, but instead, Auntie and Grandma (although they both claim it was Ryan) decided to put the tat here . . .

. . . great, now Ryan has a tat just like Auntie - I'm so proud. The best part is that he is sooo excited about it and will you tell, "I have a tramp stamp just like my Auntie." Awe, isn't that precious! Do you think I should let him show it off on Thursday during "show and tell" at school?

Let's pretend we're rich!

Trav and I had another kid-free weekend - yes, we are very spoiled to have two sets of grandparents who love spending time with their grandchildren - thanks grandmas and grandpas, we really appreciate it and the kids love spending time with all of you. Back to the weekend . . . with the kids away, mama and papa got to play. Trav had gotten a gift card to Manny's (it is apparently one of the best steak houses in the US and a very expensive one) a couple of weeks ago so we decided Saturday night was the perfect night for "date night", and what better place to have a date than Manny's. We got to dress in "real"clothes for a night - no sweatpants or sweatshirts, I actually did my hair - this means washing, blow drying, and styling, and we got to drive in a quiet car all the way to a restaurant where we got to focus on each other instead of keeping the kids entertained - it was a sight to see! The place, which is known for their steak (obviously), had a great atmosphere (very adult) and good food, although Trav and I both decided we probably couldn't tell the difference between the "top of the line" steak we were eating, and a steak we bought at a local meat market - whatever, it was free and we were having a good time. Because the gift card was for $150, we made sure to use up every penny, even if that meant eating way too much (steaks, loaded mashed potatoes that could have feed at least 4 people, and a "brownie" the size of a cake covered with whipped cream, caramel, and hot fudge) and having that one extra beer that we didn't really need - so fun when it isn't your own money you are spending! After a couple of hours at the restaurant, we both managed to squeeze out of our chairs and head back home. We were home by 8:00pm - an early night, but a very fun one. Here is a picture I made Trav take with me so we would have a memory of our night living like the "rich folks" do.

Go Hoosiers!

Trav bought this sweatshirt for his nephew, Tyler, almost 10 years ago when his good friend, Luke Jiminez played basketball at Indiana when Bobby Knight was the coach. Trav's sister, Dawn, hung onto it all these years, and Ryan is finally big enough to wear it. This morning when I put it on him, I told him that his daddy bought it for him and had his friend sign the sleeve so it was a really important sweatshirt. Once he was dressed, Ryan walked out into the kitchen and told Trav he was the best dad ever and gave him a hug. Trav looked at me and I said,"he really likes the sweatshirt you got him." Trav gave a little smile and hugged Ryan back. When you are telling a 3 year old a story, sometimes it is better to give only parts of the truth, especially if it makes him really happy!

9-Month Well-Child Exam

Lauren had her 9-month check-up today even though she is actually 10-months. Getting a physical for a kid in the month of September is nearly impossible as everyone is heading back to school and needs to have to have one so today was the earliest I could get her in. There are no immunizations given at a 9-month check-up so it wasn't a big deal to be a little late. Anyway, Lauren is a happy, healthy little (big) girl. Here are her stats:

Weight: 22lbs 15 and 3/4 oz - 93%
Height: 31 and 3/4 inches - 97%
Head: 18 inches - 85%

When I look back at Ryan's 9-month check-up, he weighed only 20 lbs 15 oz and was 30 and 3/4 inches long so Lauren actually is bigger than him on paper, but she has an extra month on him so it isn't really accurate. I've already scheduled her 1-year appointment so I'll do a better comparison between the two of them then - not that it even matters, but it is fun to do.

Both Ryan and Lauren got their flu vaccines. Lauren's was given in the form of a shot, Ryan lucked out and got to have his sprayed in his nose - let's just say Ryan was overjoyed when he found out he didn't have to get a shot. On the other hand, he didn't want Lauren to cry so he kept telling her, "don't be scared - it doesn't hurt." Funny how reassuring he can be when he knows he won't be suffering the same pain she will. When it was all said and done, Lauren gave her one or two screams and was back to normal, Ryan was happy, and very proud of himself for not crying, and I walked out without any screaming kids - not a bad visit to the clinic if you ask me.

Trav leaves for a business trip to Vegas tonight so Auntie is coming up to help out with the kids for a couple of days while I work - should be good times.

Minor accident

Trav had a minor car accident this morning on the way to work. As Trav tells the story, he had just made a left turn at a four way stoplight (he turned on the green arrow) and the other guy who was coming from the opposite direction was making a right turn and for some reason, he decided to veer right into Trav's lane without even looking what was going on. Trav said he could tell the guy was going to hit him, but his only other option was to go over the center median and into oncoming traffic - I think he made the right decision. Anyway, after many calls to insurance companies, auto body shops, and the local police, everything seems to be getting taken care of. The "minor" accident resulted in about $2,200 worth of damage to Trav's car that will hopefully (if the other guy sticks to his story and admits it was his fault as he did right after the accident to both Trav and the police officer) be fully paid by insurance, and I don't mean our insurance. The good thing is that Trav can still drive the car so we won't have to try to manage with one car, or rent one until his is repaired.

Other news for the day . . . today, I realized that Lauren is either a hard-core bottle addict, or a short-fused, temperamental little girl, or worse yet, both. We did our usual Tuesday morning routine today and dropped Ryan off at school right around 9:00am. It usually takes me about 10 minutes to drop him off, get back in the car, and get back home, which leaves me about a five minute cushion before Lauren demands her bottle. Well, the drop off took a little longer today because Ryan was having a hard time deciding which locker to put his coat in so by the time we were half way home, Lauren started freaking out. I knew what she wanted, but unfortunately I do not carry a bottle making set-up in my car so she was just going to have to wait. The more driving I did, the more red lights we hit so at the final light, I decided to give her some things from the car that might entertain her. The keys entertained her to about two seconds, my crumpled up piece of paper worked for about thirty seconds, but she still wasn't happy. Then I saw a half empty bottle of water which I was sure would keep her happy for the last minute of the trip. I tried to give it to her but she was too busy screaming to notice so I gave it a little shake to get her attention - BIG mistake. The minute she heard the shaking sound, the crying stopped, her eyes went straight to the bottle and she started grabbing for it - you would think this is exactly what I wanted, but I knew better. Whenever she hears that sound, she knows she is getting a bottle which she grabs for until it is in her mouth. Well, when she did that today, it obviously wasn't the bottle she was expecting so she grabbed it with two hands and did a whole body convulsion which resulted in her throwing the water bottle over the seat and screaming at the top of her lungs - not only did I not make her stop crying, I actually made things worse by accidentally teasing her with a bottle. What else could I do but laugh at her. She was almost beside herself by the time we got home. Her face was bright red, tears were falling everywhere, and I could barely get her out of her car seat because she kept arching her back and throwing her head - how could our smiling, happy baby turn into such a little terror? I did eventually get her a real bottle and she managed to settle down and take a nap. Luckily when she woke up, she was back to her normal, happy self. Let's hope that bad side doesn't come back too soon.

Here is a picture of Lauren working on her phone skills and one of Ryan showing off his Halloween pajamas.

Girl's Night

We had another "girl's night" this past Saturday so I was on my own for the entire weekend - no husband, no kids, just me. Trav and the kids left late Friday afternoon for a weekend at the lake with Grandpa and Grandma Quast. After they were gone, I used my free time to catch up on some reading, pick up the house a little, and get ready for work. Yes, some of us have to work on Friday night - bummer. Anyway, work was work, I got home around 11pm, read some more, and finally feel asleep around 1:00am. The next morning I was up early to head back home to get my hair done and spend a day back in St. Pete with Mom, Dad, and Ashley. It was weird to be home without the kids - so much time to do nothing. Ash, Mom, and myself used the time to watch some movies and have a few drinks - not something I could do very easily with two kids running around. By the time our movies were over, we had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat, and get ready for our girl's night out. Girl's night started out like most - lots of conversation catching up on each other's lives, lots of food and drink, and most of all, lots of fun! Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how you look at it, I had started my girl's night at about noon that day so I was probably having a little more fun than everyone else and that is when I did a few things you probably shouldn't do, such as . . .

1) calling your college basketball coach (which I didn't even remember until Monday morning when I got an email from him asking if I had called his office phone). Let me check on that real quick, um, yup, that was me. Sure enough, my call history had it listed right there - a call made at 11:59pm - was I shocked that he didn't answer at that time on a Saturday night - at the time, probably. Anyway, the details started coming back to me and I recall a conversation we were having about an Alumni gathering so I apparently thought it best to call him that evening and find out the date so I could start making arrangements - pretty sure that is not going to happen.
2) when you see an old classmate you haven't seen in like ten years at the local bar, that does not mean you should run up to him and tell him your life story - pretty sure he doesn't care and neither does his wife who is staring at you because you are all up in her husband's face - whoops! Let's hope I don't run into him again for another ten years especially because I can't remember what his wife's name was or his kid's names which I'm pretty sure he rattled off a couple of times for me.
3) you should not dance on the bar no matter how much fun you think it will be - it is not only dangerous once you are up there, but getting up and down is pretty hard too and I think I might have pulled a muscle or two - ouch!
4) having to call your mom and dad to come get you at 2 in the morning seems a little weird when you have two kids of your own and know that someday you will be getting that exact call - gotta love them for coming to get us though - such nice parents.
5) recovery time after a long night takes way too long. It is now Monday morning and I am just starting to feel normal again after spending most of the day in bed yesterday, and drinking more water than I ever thought my body could handle - I wish I had drank that much water on Saturday night instead of that much wine - what was I thinking.

Anyway, another successful girl's night is done. Trav and the kids are back home, I'm feeling better, and life is back to normal. Until next girl's weekend . . .

Cruisin' for chicks

Ryan's mouth never stops, and while usually it is just his constant "small talk", it never seems to fail that when you least expect it, he comes up with something totally new and unexpected. A couple examples . . .

The other day we were out for a bike ride and Ryan really started to go fast. I actually had to jog a little to keep up with him so I said, "Wow Ryan, you are really cruising." His response, "I know Mom, cruising for chicks." As usual, my next question is, "who taught you that?" Ryan's answer, "Grandpa Doug." I give a little smile and ask him if he knows what chicks are and he replies with, "Yeah Mom, you know, like chickens." That's right buddy, jut like chickens - let's just keep it that way.

Another good one . . about two weeks ago, Ryan comes out of his room with his hand in his pants and asks, "what are these?" I see that he is holding his nuts so I do some quick thinking - do I tell him that they are his testicles, or do I keep it simple and call them his nuts. I go with the simple answer, and even give him an option, he can call them his nuts, or his balls. So for about the next fifteen minutes all he can talk about are his nuts - he is just like his daddy. Anyway, after that, he sort of forgets about them and I don't hear anything more until last night when he is getting in the bath. I put him in the tub and he just stands there so I ask what he is doing, and he says, "just fixing my nuts." I of course laugh. Trav happens to be walking by and he asks what I am laughing about so I tell Ryan to tell him what he is doing and he repeats, "just fixing my nuts" which makes Trav laugh as well. Obviously we are horrible parents because as we are laughing, Ryan is telling us to "stop laughing, my balls (apparently he is comfortable with both terms, nuts and balls) hurt so I just had to fix them, it is not funny guys." He is right, we shouldn't laugh, but it is just too funny to hear him saying that sort of stuff.

And finally, we are outside yesterday eating popsicles when part of his falls on the ground. I go over and pick it up and throw it in the bushes and Ryan immediately turns to me and says, "Dog nammit Mom, I was going to eat that." For anyone who has read this blog before, you know that Trav always says "Dog nammit" instead of "God damn it", so obviously Ryan has picked up on this and is now using it in his vocabulary - super, at least it is better then the alternative.

Here are a couple of pictures of our little chatter box playing/wrestling in the backyard with Trav.