Park Pictures

Today and tomorrow I am attending a conference with a few of my colleagues/friends. It has been pretty interesting so far and best of all, I’m getting 12 hours of continuing education credits (which is awesome since I have to get a total of 36 in the next two years).

After sitting in a lecture hall all day, then going out for dinner (and maybe a couple of drinks), I am exhausted, but I wanted to post a few pictures I edited yesterday.

I took them at our favorite park a few weeks ago. They were pretty grainy but I like them with the aged effect.

How grown up does he look??

-Lauren-

Putting Cabinet Doors to Good Use

I am always looking for ways to clear off our kitchen counters. For one, I hate clutter, so I like to keep things clean and simple. For another, we don't have much counter space, so we need what we do have to be open.

A few years ago I added some cork boards to the inside of two cabinet doors. I use them to pin up coupons and our favorite recipes.





Recently I had been thinking I should put the other cabinet door to good use too. I picked up some 3M hooks at Target and hung them up.




Then I hung up our pot holders, which always seem to be floating around the counters.



Then I realized our spice cabinet was excessively messy! I know, a little "if you give a mouse a cookie" of me.

But look at everything that was in that small cabinet!




I cleaned it out, threw out a few expired spices, realized we have duplicates of at least 3 spices (no doubt because we couldn't see anything in the cabinet), and then put everything back in.



Looks much better, although we still can't easily see the spices in the back. Oh well, it will do for now. Love having the pot holders handy but still put away.

Have you put your cabinet doors to good use?

-Lauren-

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Our Weekend Update

This last weekend my sister came down for a visit. She actually got in on Thursday night, which was awesome because Jon was out of town most of last week and didn't get home until Friday.

Thursday night Kym helped me with Aedan and after he went to bed we watched some new TV shows (I love premiere week!!).

Friday morning Kym and I took Aedan to Gymboree and then ran a few errands. Kym went to have lunch with my grandmother while Aedan napped and I got some work done. By the time Aedan was awake (after a 3.5 hour nap!), Jon and Kym were back.

We decided to head down to Southpark meadows for the evening. We did a little shopping and then had dinner at Waterloo. I love how the patios of all the restaurants look out to a playground. Aedan loved watching all the kids play.

After dinner we stopped by Best Buy and I bought myself an iPad. I have been thinking about getting one for awhile and I think I am going to get lot of use out of it for work. I have been playing around on it ever since and I love it! I am looking for an app that will let me edit word documents, so if you know of a good one let me know! I am leaning towards quickoffice pro...

On Saturday, my sister and I got up bright and early and headed down to San Marcos to shop at the outlets. We got some good deals at Old Navy but weren't impressed by much else, plus it got super crowded pretty early. By the time we got home we were pretty tired so we just relaxed around the house for the afternoon.

Saturday night, Jon's half brother got married. Kym babysat while we went to the wedding. The wedding was at the Oasis overlooking Lake Travis. It was really pretty and very fun! We got to see a lot of people we hadn't seen in quite awhile. I'm glad we had my sister babysit because we didn't get home until midnight which would have made for a steep babysitting bill. Thanks Kym, I know Aedan had a blast!!

Sunday morning my parents came over for brunch on their way down to San Antonio. Jon had a soccer game at noon so I enjoyed a quiet afternoon while Aedan took another 3.5 hour nap. Jon came home with a pretty nasty bruise on his foot. Can you believe he played a whole game with that?

Ouch!




We ran some more errands Sunday evening and then just relaxed at home. All in all it was a great weekend, I just wish it wasn't still in the 100s outside (today's high was 104 I think!). I am not sure I am ever going to be able to wear the fall clothes I bought this weekend!!

-Lauren-
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Austin City Limits

We went to ACL this past weekend. It was my 6th and Jon’s 7th year to go. Last year was our first year to miss the festival since we met. We decided not get get tickets ahead of time last year and it ended up being a good thing because my best friend got married the same weekend.

This year we were all in. Got tickets early and arranged for Jon’s mom to come down and watch Aedan (which was a lifesaver!). We took Aedan for a little while on Friday but after the stomach bug, he got a cold, so he wasn’t feeling the best.

Even though Aedan didn’t get to dance to his favorite band, he had a BLAST this weekend. He got to go visit great grandparents, aunts and cousins. He got to eat out and stay up late and get pretty much all the attention he could ask for. Thanks MawMaw for coming all the way down and watch Aedan for us!!

So while Aedan was having fun without us, we got to see some great shows. The weather was not the best (but really it never is for this festival). They seem to have the worst luck when it comes to weather, but that doesn’t seem to cut down on the people going at all. It is crowded.

Like, a lot of people.

(source)

Friday was hot and humid, Saturday was hot and then wet, since we got the first decent rain in about 3 months and Sunday was just plain hot. But each evening was really comfortable so it made up for the hot/wet afternoons.

This year we saw Brandi Carlile, Foster the People, Sara Bareilles, Cold Play, The Antlers (love them!), Young the Giant (my new favorite), Alexander, Iron and Wine, Broken Social Scene, Gomez and Social Distortion (really good show!). We also listened to Arcade Fire as we left Sunday night. We could have seen more, but we took it pretty easy since I caught Aedan’s cold and Jon had a soccer game on Sunday.

Since this is the 10th year of the festival Austin Monthly did a write up all about it. I thought I would share some fun facts…

• There are 8 stages, and 120 different bands across 3 days.
• More than 200,000 people in one park – which is craziness!
• 700 portable toilets are set up for the festival – wow
• A diamond wedding ring was lost at 2003’s festival and it was found 4 months later by a soccer player at practice – crazy!

Overall it was a pretty fun weekend. The crowds get to me a little but everyone always really nice and it makes for some great people watching. 

Anyone else go to ACL?

-Lauren-

18 Months!

*So I wrote this about a week ago and thought I should probably post it before he turns 19 months!*

It has been awhile since I did a monthly update on Aedan. So I figured and 18 month update would be perfect.

It is official, Aedan is totally a toddler. What happened to my little baby??

I have to say he is so fun right now. Exhausting but fun! Check out this multi-tasking…

 

Aedan, here is what you have been up to lately…

• You weigh 25.5 pounds which I think is right around the 50th percentile. I’m not sure how tall you are, but you have definitely had a growth spurt in the last couple of months.
• You wake up around 7:30 am and go to bed around 7:30 pm. And I think you are finally down to one nap! You still take two naps on the days you go to the sitter’s house (because you don’t sleep as well over there). But on the days we are at home you nap from 12-2:30/3.
• I don’t think you are a picky eater but some days I feel like you eat nothing and then other days I feel like you eat twice what you should. I guess it all evens out. Some of your favorites are pancakes, eggs (w/cheese), mango, strawberries, cranberries, spinach, cucumber, mac and cheese (really just cheese in general), chicken, beans and rice. And of course you still love your milk and juice.
• You still love music (“nunic”) and will dance on command.
• You love wrestling with daddy and chasing/crawling all over Hiro.
• You love to help me sweep. I bought you a toy broom and you will get it out and ask me to sweep. You even pick up the kitchen rugs so we can do a thorough job!
• You talk all the time! About a month ago I started counting your words and I stopped at 25 even though there are much more. Here is a handful of the things you say everyday…mommy, daddy, Hiro (“O”), doggie, birdie, book, ball, thank you, socks, shoes, out, cheese, grape, waffle, juice, hot, bye, hi, no, uh oh, nana, chair, hat, wow, moon (from goodnight moon), eyes, nose, baby, more, and this (when you want me to tell you the name of something). You also repeat just about anything we say.
• You understand pretty much everything too and can follow instructions (when you want to). I taught you to throw your diapers away and give Hiro a treat (which you think is so fun).
• You know your body parts, but like to point to them on other people vs. yourself.
• You love building with you blocks, reading books, drive your cars, playing with your golf set and little people farm.
• You love watching Baby Signing time and will sign along with them and say the words.
• We started doing time out for things you know you are not supposed to do, like touching the TV or stereo. You have to sit in the hallway corner for 1 minute. You aren’t ever happy about it, but you will actually sit there until the timer goes off and I get you.
• You still love to carry around your sheet protector (which we call num num). It goes with you everywhere.
• You are a total ham and love to show off when people come over.

Aedan you are so much fun! We love you so much and are having so much fun watching you learn new things every day!

-Lauren-

Sick Baby

I was going to post Aedan’s 18 month update yesterday, but I was waiting until I got a good picture of him.

Well, that never happened because he came down with a stomach bug yesterday evening. We had a long evening and night! My washing machine has pretty much been running non-stop since ever since.

By this morning Aedan was running a fever and still not able to keep water down so we headed to the doctor. We got a prescription for zofran (which was my best friend for a long time!) and things are looking better. When I picked up the prescription I also picked up these supplies.

Aedan spent the morning resting with Hiro and I spend the morning disinfecting the entire house.

I was able to get him to drink some Gatorade and eat some applesauce before going down for a nap. He has been asleep for 3 hours so I am hoping he feels better when he gets up! Poor baby!

Now just hoping neither Jon nor I get sick. Hopefully I can get some pictures edited and get his 18 month post up later this week!

-Lauren-

Labor Day Weekend Recap

M-kay, how did a whole week go bye without me posting anything?!?

We have had a pretty busy and I haven’t taken any pictures this week. I need to be better about that!

I guess should recap our Labor Day weekend.

Friday, after our eventful morning, we had a pretty uneventful afternoon/evening. We did a little shopping at the mall Friday night. I rarely go to the mall anymore, but we needed to find some new shoes for Aedan. I tried buying some from Old Navy and Gap but Aedan has wide feet so they didn’t fit well. I got him measured at Stride Rite and decided I didn’t like anything they had (I ended up ordering some from zappos.com, love the free shipping!). We decided to get dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. We had the Tostada Pizza and the Greek Pizza, both were delicious!

Saturday morning we went up to see my parents and grandmothers for brunch. Aedan had a blast being the center of attention! Jon and Aedan headed back for nap time and my mom, grandmother and I did a little shopping. We stopped by Bath and Body Works and my grandmother bought be some lotion. I am in love with the new Carried Away scent! Saturday evening my parents came over for dinner and we just relaxed at home.

Sunday we ran some errands and then had our friends Jason and Meredith over for dinner. We had a great time just hanging out.

Monday we headed to our favorite breakfast diner. I love that all the waitresses know us and don’t even bother giving us a menu. Aedan gets way too much attention from them and loves it!

It finally cooled down (read: it was below 100 degrees for the first time in 80 days!) on Monday so Jon and Aedan did some hiking with his friend Phillip and Hiro’s BBF Woodrow. I enjoyed a couple of hours home in a quiet house.

I realized that doesn’t happen much. There are plenty of times that I go somewhere and leave Aedan home with Jon, but rarely do I get to stay home without Aedan. It was nice, although, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself!

All in all we had a great weekend and I can’t believe it is Friday again (although I am pretty happy the weekend is here again!).

-Lauren-

An Eventful Morning

On Friday mornings, Aedan and I go to Gymboree. He loves it! This morning he was a little bit on the tired side because he only took one nap yesterday.

Yes we still take two naps at almost 18months old. What can I say, he totally gets this from Jon.

Anyway, only one nap yesterday and then daddy kept him up late snacking on cheese puffs while mommy went out with a friend.

Despite being tired, Aedan was having a lot of fun at Gymboree until the end. They were doing the closing song and of course Aedan was running around. He found an inner tube and decided to climb in. I’m not sure what he did, but he must have climbing in weird because he immediately started crying. I went and got him and he was so upset. He didn’t look hurt but he would not calm down.

I packed up our stuff and went out to the car. I figured he would calm down once he was in his carseat with his blanket and milk but it was a no go. About half way home, I glanced in the review mirror and noticed he was holding his right arm up close to his chest. I thought maybe he had hurt his arm so we hurried home and as soon as I brought him inside Jon came out of the office to see what was wrong (Aedan was still crying, poor guy). He would let Jon mess with his arm so I called the doctor and they said to bring him in.

Back in the car and off to the doctor we went  (Jon joined us too). Aedan cried the whole way there. As soon as we walked in the office, Aedan saw the train that goes around the top of the waiting area. He reached out with his right arm and immediately stopped crying.

Doesn’t that always happen. As soon as we get to the doctor he is fine. Sigh.

Of course we saw the doctor anyway and as she checked out his arm she said she heard a little pop at his elbow. She said it was probably Nursemaids Elbow and he partially popped it back in himself when he pointed to the train.

By the time we left he was back to normal and talked the whole way home. So I think we are all ready to enjoy a three day weekend (hopefully with no more injuries)!

-Lauren-

Our New Floors

On Monday we got our new floors installed!

Aedan and I spent the day at my grandparent’s old house (which my parents use when they come visit) in Round Rock. It was great to have a place to go for the day! Aedan had a blast because my parents have made him a little room complete with fun toys and books (most of which my sister and I had growing up).  We even got to spend some time with my grandmother, who brought us lunch. All in all it was a fun day!

We came home after Aedan’s afternoon nap and finally got to check out the new floors. I have to say, I knew I would like them, but I love them!!

And the rug…it is perfect!

I looked everywhere for a rug that wasn’t too contemporary (not really my style), but still had a little black to go with our couches. I think I checked just about every online store possible, plus visiting actual stores like World Market, Target, Home Goods, Home Depot, etc…I finally found the perfect rug at Lowes. As soon as I saw it I was in love. It has a little bit of black to tie in the couch color, it had the teal blue that matches our accent wall and accessories and it has some green and a rust red color that I wanted to bring into the room.

Love it all! We still have to paint the trim and the shoe molding but you can’t really tell in the picture.

Oh and those sunburst pillows got returned. I like them but I don’t think they fit with the rug. So ignore those. I picked up some red ones that match the rug and look great!

We very happy with how it turned out and Aedan loves that his toy cars go so much faster on the floor.

-Lauren-