Details From the Dechiros

Ducks

2012-02-15T20:46:00.001-06:00

The neighborhood across the street from ours, has a duck pond. We driven by a few times and pointed them out to Aedan, but we haven’t had a chance to let him get out and really see then.

Earlier this week, we decided to head over there as soon as Jon was done with work. Aedan loved it!

(pointing at the water, and reminding himself that he shouldn’t go in. haha!)

(doing some duck chasing)

And my favorite

I’m sure we will be going back soon!

-Lauren-

Love Letters

2012-02-14T12:48:00.001-06:00

I’m linking up with Lindsey over at A Dollop of My Life. Go check her out and join in for a chance to win a $30 gift card!

Love letter to my two favorite valentines…

Jon: Where do I begin? I can’t believe I was only 21 when we met. That seems so young now! I knew the night we met that there would be something between us. I don’t know if I understood just how much, but I have this feeling about you. Now look at us…about to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary! I can’t imagine life without and wouldn’t want to experience it with anyone else. Thank you for working so hard for your family and always putting us first. Thank you for always being on my side, for being a sounding board for my thoughts and vents, a shoulder to cry on when life gets rough and most of all a partner to love. You are quick to jump in when you see that I am frustrated or have had a hard day. You know just how to make me laugh, even if I am not in a laughing mood.

Watching you with Aedan is so special to me. You are such a wonderful father. He may ask for me when he is sick or tired, but he loves his daddy and wants to play with you all day! It makes me so happy to see your special relationship with our son. I can’t wait to watch it grow more and more. I love you the mostest! :)

Aedan: Oh Aedan, what did we do without you? Our house was definitely more quiet and definitely more boring! I wouldn’t trade the noise and the messy for anything. You are so full of life. You are so extroverted and strong-willed, sometimes I wonder where you came from! Your smile is precious and your laugh is so contagious. Daddy and I talk every night about how much you have made us laugh though out the day! I love watching you grow and learn. I am amazed by the things you pick up each day. My wish is for you to always know how special you are and how much you are loved.

Happy Valentines Day guys!!

Love,

Lauren/Mommy

To check out more love letters, go here and link your up!

-Lauren-

Home with a Sick Baby

2012-02-13T15:35:00.001-06:00

Last night around 10:30, Aedan woke up crying. It's pretty unusual for him, so I went in to check on him and he just wouldn't calm down. While I was holding him, he just kept saying he wanted night night and trying to dive into bed. I finally just put him back to bed and after another few minutes of him crying Jon went in and had the same result.

I thought maybe he had had a bad dream or something so I brought him into our room since we were able to go to bed ourselves. He would not calm down in our bed so I finally decided I'd just go put him back to bed. Literally 2 seconds after I picked him up out of our bed and walked into the kitchen he threw up all over himself and me. Ugh. Poor guy was so upset.

We got him all cleaned up and calmed down and decided to let him watch a show. I wasn't sure if he was going to throw up again and have a repeat of this. Well an hour later, he seems fine and even asks to go play. Ha! So we put him back to bed and crossed our fingers that he would be able o fall asleep. He did for about 30 minutes and then he was up crying again. Sigh.

Jon has a really busy week at work this week and I didn't want him no be up all night so Aedan and I camped out in the living room for a couple of hours. I finally put him to sleep around 2:30 but he kept crying off an on all night so I just stayed on the couch with the baby monitor.

He was up again at 6 so we watched yet another episode of Bob the Builder before he passed out on he couch. I put him back to bed at 7:30 and headed straight to bed myself. We both slept for a couple of hours and basically just laid on the couch all morning. I'm not sure what he has, but I am thinking maybe it's his two year molars? He has been drooling like crazy and he doesn't want to eat anything. He hasn't thrown up again so I don't know if that was a fluke or related to the teeth. I gave him some Motrin this afternoon and he has been down for a nap for awhile now. He is sleeping pretty restlessly but at least he is sleeping.

I've been useless all day. Its hard to function on only a couple hours of sleep! I'm hoping he wakes up feeling more like himself and we have a better night tonight!

-Lauren-

Weekend Recap

2012-02-12T13:11:00.001-06:00

It has been a really nice relaxing weekend around here.

Friday night we did our typical shopping/running errands and then out to dinner. We went by World Market and looked at curtains. I am have second thoughts about the curtains I picked out last weekend. Jon isn’t crazy about them either, so I guess I am back to square one there. We stopped by Lowes to look at rugs before ending up at Home Depot.

Our new house has tile floors throughout the kitchen and living room and wood in the office. It also has pretty tall ceilings everywhere. It is great and we love it but it can be a little echoy. We have been looking for a rug for Jon’s office as well as a couple of runners for our entryway/long hallway. We ended up finding a couple of options for Jon’s office so we took one home on Friday night. Aedan insisted on helping carry it out.

When we got home, we decided that the rug was too small and too light so we went back Saturday morning and exchanged it for a bigger darker rug. It looks great in the office and Jon really likes it (which is good since he spend a lot of time in there). You can’t really tell from the picture, but it has dark brown, tan and blue mixed in.

After lunch on Saturday, both Jon and Aedan took a 3.5 hour nap. I got some laundry done and finally watched Break Dawn. I really wanted to see it when it came out, but I didn’t want to drag Jon to the theater for this one. It came out on Redbox yesterday so I grabbed it on our way home from Home Depot. The movie was so so, but I wasn’t really expected much. I just wanted to see it since I read all the books.

When the boys woke up, we got ready and headed up to my grandmother’s (Grandy) place for dinner. My parents were in town, so we all got together with my aunt, my other grandmother (Grandmom) to celebrate Grandy’s birthday. We got to eat in a private dinning room at her apartment which was really nice. Aedan did great, but it was nice that he could just run around the room once he was finished.

After dinner we headed over to the Dover House for dessert (it used to be Grandmom’s house, but she moved to an apartment and my parents now own it to use when they come down). It’s on Dover Ln, hence the name. :) Aedan had a blast and played his little heart out.

This morning, Jon went up north for a soccer game but apparently the other team didn’t show. Probably because it was only about 32 this morning and has since started sleeting off and on! Jon and his team played for awhile and he is now on his way home with P. Terry's for us for lunch. Yay!

After Aedan’s nap, we are going to do a little grocery shopping and just hang out inside for the day.

How was your weekend?

-Lauren-

Five Things Friday

2012-02-10T14:42:00.001-06:00

My goal is to get back to blogging regularly. Last month I only posted 7 times! Since this is essentially my scrapbook and I love looking back at posts, I need to make more of an effort to actually post!
Along those lines, I totally fell off the picture a day band wagon. I did it for the whole month of January (although I never posted all the pictures) and then I just stopped. Opps.
Aedan totally thinks he has become a master manipulator. Here is a typical conversation between us….“mommy, I want juice” “sorry Aedan, no juice right now. you can have milk or water” “um, mommy, I need daddy” Jon comes over…“daddy, I need juice” “wease (please)” Ha! Sorry buddy, it will never work but nice using your words. :)
It’s supposed to be cold here on Sunday so I am going to make chicken & dumplings in the crockpot. I am trying this recipe except, I am going to add some more veggies and half the chicken broth amount. Hopefully it turns out!
Another goal of mine is to get out my good camera more often and upload the pictures within the same week! I finally pulled of some photos from early January. Note to self…take pictures and then upload them as soon as possible or you will forget you have them!

Have a great weekend!

-Lauren-

Our Love Story

2012-02-09T13:37:00.001-06:00

I’m linking up with:

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

We meet in March 2005 and pretty much started dating right away, so we have been together for almost 7 years. We got married in March 2007, so we have been married for just about 5 years.

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We met when my best friend and I came down to Austin for a weekend during spring break. We stayed with my aunt and she took us to a concert with some friends. One of her friends ended up bringing Jon along. I posted more about how we met here and here.

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

We will celebrate our 5th anniversary in March!

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?

We had an outdoor wedding here in Austin. The place was perfect. I think it was pretty average size, about 100 people. We had a blast and I think everyone else did as well. I posted more details about our wedding here.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

Mostly we just call each other dear. Sometimes Jon says babe but 90% of the time its dear.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

There are a lot of things I love about Jon, but most of all…

I love that he is funny. He tends to be pretty reserved around most people, but he cracks me up on a daily basis.
He also works really hard for our family. He has always been a great provider.
He loves me for me. For the girl who doesn’t like to get dressed up, is not the best cook and is always cleaning.

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

Jon designed my ring and ordered it in time to propose on my birthday, but when it came in they had messed up and it had to be re-done. It ended up not being ready until the week after my birthday. It was a Saturday and I had gone to run errands that morning. When I got home Jon asked if I wanted to go to lunch...which I would never turn down. So we decided to go to our favorite lunch place and Jon suggested that we take lunch out to Mt. Bonnell and have a picnic. We ate lunch over looking the great scenery and Jon started telling me how I was his best friend and that he loved me. I didn't catch on so I kept responding back with how he was my best friend and I loved him too. Finally he pulled my ring out of his pocket and asked me to me his wife...I obviously said yes!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

I guess more of a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy. We aren’t big on celebrating valentines day. I would much rather get flowers or a card on a random day than one that prompted by retailers.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Definitely a pop in a movie and relax on the couch. I am such a homebody. Luckily so is Jon. We like to go out every now and then, but some of our best dates are the ones were we just hang out at home.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

I guess it would be to travel somewhere cool. I’d love to go to Europe someday, although the though of being on a plane for that long does not sound fun.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

Probably nothing special. We will probably just exchange cards and maybe get take-out. There is no way I am getting a babysitter only to sit in a super crowded restaurant!

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Nope. We usually just exchange cards. Sometimes Jon will get me some candy but that’s pretty much it.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

I think my best advice would be to communicate well and often! When Jon and I have a argument we can talk it out without things escalating. One of us will always say something funny to break the tension and I think that is so important.

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

What’s your love story?

-Lauren-

Weekend Recap

2012-02-06T14:10:00.001-06:00

Usually I see clients on Monday, but Aedan’s sitter couldn’t watch kids today, so I flipped my schedule to Tuesday for this week…perks of working for yourself. :)

This morning we got up and did some grocery shopping and cleaning up from the weekend. Aedan is down for a nap now, so I thought I would recap our weekend.

My sister drove in Thursday night ,so we had all day to spend together on Friday. We did a little shopping Friday morning. I took her to Costco because she had never been before (and we needed a few things). She loved it. Haha. I scored some new hangers too. At $10 for a box of 35, I was able to switch out all of our old hangers for just $30. I feel like it makes my closet look cleaner and they are the kind that don’t let clothes slip off. I hate when all my tank tops or sweaters slide of the hanger!

After Costco, we headed to the mall. Aedan had a blast ~~walking~~ running around. I found a new bag at Macy’s and got a great deal on it! It is a cross body bag which is perfect since I usually hate caring a purse. It is the perfect size for all of Aedan’s stuff and mine and has tons of pockets to keep things organized. I love it! It was already 25% off and then Macy’s was giving an extra 20% off if you were wearing red (which my sister had heard about, so we dressed accordingly). I had a gift card from Christmas so I only spend $10 for the bag, not too bad.

We came home just in time to put Aedan down for a nap, only he was a little too excited to have his “Emmie” in town so he only slept for about an hour. He made it pretty clear he was done sleeping so we took him for a walk and to the park to play.

My sister’s roommate, Lexie, flew in Friday night (perks for working for Southwest; she can fly whenever she wants). We all had taco soup for dinner and watched 50/50 after Aedan went to bed super early (his lack of nap caught up with him pretty fast).

Saturday morning, my sister, Lexie and I headed out to do a little more shopping. I have been looking for some curtains for our living room/kitchen. I think I found what I want at World Market, but I need them to go on sale first. :) I did pick up a new vase at Homegoods to get me motivated to decorate the top of our kitchen cabinets. I still need to get some greenery and a platter of some sort to go in front of the tray, but I think it’s coming along.

While we were out shopping, Jon and Aedan hung out with some friends. I got a text with this picture from him at lunch. I think they all had fun.

Saturday night we were all pretty tired so we had pizza and TV night. We watched an episode of MOB Wives on Hulu. Yes, there is a show called MOB Wives and yes, it is as dramatic as it sounds. Haha.

My sister and Lexie left Sunday morning and we call had a pretty quiet day at home. It was rainy and cold so it was nice to just stay inside. We a couple of friends over last night for the Superbowl which is funny since we don’t usually watch football (Jon is more into soccer and while I don’t mind watching football, I am not going to turn it on myself). We couldn’t even remember the last Superbowl game we had watched. Haha. It was fun to watch this one with friends though.

-Lauren-

A Day at Home & Weekend Recap

2012-01-31T15:41:00.001-06:00

Today, Aedan and I have just been hanging around the house. It has been really nice to not have anywhere to be, since we have had a pretty full schedule the past few weeks.

This morning we did a little cleaning, a little Sesame Street watching (Aedan has gotten really into it over the last week and Netflix seems to have an unlimited supply of episodes) and a lot of playing. I love just watching him play with his toys. I always try to sneak pictures, but most of the time he catches me and then just wants to talk on my phone. :)

While Aedan napped this afternoon, I got a lot of work done and even had some extra time to do a little blogging and watch the latest Bachelor episode (so dramatic).

Now, onto our weekend recap…this weekend we did a lot of entertaining and it was super fun.

Friday night we did our typical out to dinner and errand running. Such an exciting life right? :)

We had a lazy Saturday morning and afternoon around the house and then had some of my good friends and their husbands and boys over for dinner. It was great to visit with everyone and watch our boys all play together.

On Sunday, we took a long walk through some trails that are just across the street. Hiro had a blast splashing through some creeks and we found a new park for Aedan to play at about halfway through the walk so he was happy.

After our walk, Jon and Aedan headed up north to visit with his grandparents and mom. I stayed behind to get caught up on some work that I hadn’t gotten done the week before (read: Aedan woke up early from his nap a few days in a row). I was able to get everything work related done and get the house cleaned up before they got home.

Here are a couple of pictures of Aedan and his great grandpa…I think they both had fun!

After a quick trip to the grocery store and a little play time, we put Aedan to bed around 6:30. He skipped his nap and was super tired. We weren't going to put him down til 7 but he kept asking to go night night, poor guy. Around 7 one of Jon’s good friends and his girlfriend came over to see the new house. I made Vegetable Bibimbap and it was a big hit. This was the second time I had made it and I think it will be something I put into our regular meal rotation. Its pretty easy to make and you could really throw in any veggies you have on hand. We had a great time hanging out and catching up, although we stayed up way too late and as usual Monday morning came way to fast.

My sister and her roommate are coming down this next weekend, so we get to do some more entertaining. I can’t wait!

-Lauren-

Play time

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000-06:00

As soon as Jon gets off work in the evenings, this is what play time looks like. Aedan loves it! I like to think Aedan and I have a lot of fun during the day, building towers, reading books, playing with stuffed animals…but really I don’t hold a candle to this kind of play time…

-Lauren-

Weekend Recap

2012-01-24T14:31:00.001-06:00

I am having a hard time blogging on a regular basis this year! I keep hoping to get better, but we have been so busy!

We had a great weekend so I thought I would do a recap.

Friday, Jon finished up work early so we went to the park for some play time. After the park, we went out to dinner. We tried a new Indian food restaurant and really liked it. Aedan loves rice so he always enjoys Indian or Chinese food! Jon got a mango lemonade and may or may not have let Aedan drink about half of it. Aedan was wired by the time dinner was over. He was laughing at everything and being pretty loud, luckily we were eating outside!

After dinner we did a little shopping. Jon and Aedan picked up some things at Petsmart for Hiro, while I did a little browsing at Ultra and Charming Charlie's. I found a perfume that I love…I am not a huge perfume person, but I am thinking about picking this up soon.

I am on the lookout for a new everyday purse/diaper bag. I still love my cross body bag from Fossil, but it’s a little small when I am caring Aedan’s cup and a snack, plus my stuff. I haven’t found exactly what I want yet. Any good recommendations on diaper bags that don’t look too much like a diaper bag? :)

Saturday, we had a lazy morning. We were actually hanging around the house waiting for an ADT guy to come turn on our alarm system, but he never showed. Lame! Although it was nice to just be around the house with nowhere to go. After Aedan woke up from his nap, we went to run some errands before trying out a Pizzeria place that is close by. We gave it a B, it was good but nothing special.

We came home and I started baking a chocolate cake. Jon’s grandmother, mom and aunt all make the best chocolate cake ever. I don’t even like chocolate cake and I love this one. I decided to try out the recipe since I think I am going to make it for Aedan’s birthday soon. It turned out great!

My parents stopped by for the night on their way home from a conference in San Antonio. They got in around 9 and we all enjoyed some cake before heading to bed early.

Sunday morning we made a big breakfast with my parents before heading to the park for Aedan to play. My parents had to leave around noon, but Aedan had a blast with them!

After Aedan’s nap, we headed to the grocery store. We have been doing our grocery shopping on Sundays and it has been fun to go all together. We have also been trying to shave down our grocery bill and so far we have been doing pretty good. Hopefully we can keep it up!

Jon and I have become a little addicted to Redbox and since there is one at the grocery store, we picked up this move for Sunday night…

It was bizarre. Good acting, but a really strange movie. Not sure if I recommend it, but it was filmed in Texas and it was fun to recognize a few Austin locations.

-Lauren-

Getting Involved

2012-01-19T19:31:00.001-06:00

One of my goals, when we moved to our new neighborhood, was to find some fun things for Aedan and I to do on the days I get to work from home. He loves getting out and running errands or going to the park, but I thought it would be great for him to have some play time with other kids and hopefully allow me to meet some other mom’s in the area.

First, I checked out our library. They have a few different story times each week and one just happened to be starting up last Wednesday. Aedan and I went to check it out and it was pretty fun. All the kids are 1-3 years old so its more of a song and dance & a few short stories, story time. It is fun to watch Aedan interact with all the kids. We went back yesterday and had some more fun. Aedan already has a little buddy named Lincoln. They are so cute together and his mom is really nice. :)

Another thing I checked into was a Mom’s Group. I have seen a ton of different ones on Meetup.com but I couldn’t find one in our old area of town. I checked for one in our new area and found one! After emailing the coordinator last week, I decided to try out one of their events. Yesterday after nap time, we met at the park for play time. Aedan and I both had a lot of fun. I am sure we will be attending more events soon!

-Lauren-

Project 365

2012-01-18T13:39:00.001-06:00

I love following Project 365 posts. I was always so impressed that people could stay on top of taking a picture a day and then posting about it. How fun to look back on once the year is over! Sarah over at Life {Sweet} Life is on her second year of Project 365. She did a post about a few of the apps she uses to help her out and I totally love them! You can check out her posts here and here.

I downloaded this app a while ago and back filled some pictures going back to January 8th. This app is awesome. You can set a reminder to help you remember to take a picture and you can add a caption right to the picture so you don’t forget what was special about it.

I also download this app which lets you add some fun templates to your pictures right on your phone.

I decided with these apps, I can totally do my own Project 365. So I missed the first week of January and I totally meant to post this on Sunday, but here are my pictures from last week…

Sunday 1/8

Monday 1/9

Tuesday 1/10

Wednesday 1/11

Thursday 1/12

Friday 1/13

Saturday 1/14

This week I am going to try to decide on a format for my post and my goal is to actually post them every weekend instead of the middle of the following week! :)

-Lauren-

Weekend Recap and Play Spots

2012-01-11T14:32:00.001-06:00

Okay, I think we are finally back into the grove of our normal routine.

We had a great weekend. Thursday, night we had dinner with some good friends. Their two boys are 4 and 2 and Aedan loved having them over to play! Friday, we had a relaxing night at home. Jon and I watched the last Harry Potter movie and went to bed early.

Saturday, we headed way up north to celebrate Jon’s grandfather’s birthday. We met for lunch at Mighty Fine and then had homemade cake and ice cream at Jon’s aunt’s house. Aedan got lots of attention and loved every minute of it!

We also got to take home this little picnic table. Jon’s mom had it for two of Jon’s nephews when they were little. Once they were done with it, it went to Jon’s aunt to use for her grandkids. Now that they have out grown it, it is Aedan’s turn. He loves it (and he loves sharing his snack with Hiro).

I have been meaning to take some pictures of the house now that we are all settled in, but my mom borrowed my normal lens. The only one I have now is my 50 mm, which is great for close ups, but not so much for room shots. Soon though! I saw that Kelly’s Korner is going to do Show Us Your Life – around the house again soon. Can’t wait to participate again!

I did manage to take some pictures of Aedan’s two favorite play spots…

In our new house, he has a play room, which is great! I am not sure where all his toys were before, but I love having a play for them all to go now! My parents gave him this little tent for Christmas. At first he didn’t really seem to care for it. But when we had our friends over last week, their boys played in it and now Aedan thinks it so cool. He will go get toys and take them in the tent to play.

Opps, caught mommy taking pictures…

Another one of his favorite spots is the stairs. He always seems to have a collection of toys sitting on his two steps. I was thinking the stairs might be a good time-out spot, but now not so much. He will use his tools to “fix” the gate or the wall all the time.

He also loves the backyard. So does Hiro. They will just go back there and run around and then both crash next to each other and just sit. Best friends…

-Lauren-

First Week Back

2012-01-06T13:52:00.001-06:00

So glad it’s Friday! Our first week back at work was a little rough.

Isn’t that how it always is though? We basically had about 2 weeks off from most work responsibilities, which was great and allowed us to get all settled in, but man it was hard to get back in the routine of things.

Anyway, we made it and are really looking forward to the weekend.

Jon had a couple of long days at the beginning of the week, where he had to be up in Round Rock all day. About 95% of the time he works from home and when he does have to go in (a couple of times a month), he is usually able to plan the times around traffic. That is one of the reasons we decided to buy in the area we did. Unfortunately there are a few times (two of them this week!), were he had to be up north and drive home during peak rush hour. It took him about an hour to get home one night. :(

On top of that, we had to get some maintenance done on his car this week. The work cost about double what we were expecting. Not so fun, but thankfully doable with savings. We are hoping his car hangs on for a couple more years…

Other than that and forcing ourselves back into a routine, things have been going great. Aedan is loving having two parks that we can walk to on a daily basis. As an added bonus the weather has been gorgeous this week. Whenever I am home, the back door is wide open and we have played outside as much as possible.

Tonight, we are having date night in and watching the newest Harry Potter movie thanks to Redbox. I’m not the biggest Harry Potter fan, but I did read all the books and since I have seen all the other moves, I feel like I need to complete the series. Can’t believe the first one came out when I was in high school!

Tomorrow, we are celebrating Jon’s grandfather’s birthday with a family lunch and then we are hoping to have a relaxing weekend around the house.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-Lauren-

A Look Back at 2011

2011-12-31T15:00:00.001-06:00

For the last two years I posted the highlights from our year. You can check out the highlights from 2010 here and 2009 here.

In January, we had to find a new home for Aedan’s baby monitor, I did my tenth installment of things we loved, Aedan had his first experience being sick, poor baby, and we came up with a homemade baby gate.

In February, I talked about some work changes here, here and here. Jon celebrated his 30th birthday, we had a snow day and Aedan showed off his laundry skills.

In March, Jon and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, Aedan turned 1 and had a few celebrations, I got a Nook Color (which I loved until I replaced it with my iPad), I talked about the baby things we loved/used the most during Aedan’s first year and Aedan showed off his love for books.

In April, we Jon built a garden, Aedan said goodbye to bottles and hello to using spoons on his own.

In May, my great aunt, Tia passed away and is still greatly missed by all. Aedan showed off his table manners and learned how to go out the doggie-door. Jon and I both did some traveling for work (although he went a lot farther away!), I celebrated my second Mother’s Day and shared some of our go-to dinner recipes.

In June, I shared a day-in-my-life for the days I go to see clients and for the days I work from home. Jon and I both did some more traveling and we showed off our growing garden (along with our little gardener).

In July, we celebrated the 4th of July in Plano, Aedan showed off his dance moves and remembered how much he loved his bouncy seat.

In August, I shared my favorite crockpot recipe and I refinished my grandparents’ old dresser for Aedan’s room. I thought about getting lasik and we had a little stay-cation and got to spend some time with Jon’s parents.

In September, we installed new floors, I bought myself an iPad (and LOVE it!), we went to Austin City Limits, Aedan officially became a toddler and came down with his first stomach bug.

In October, we went up to Plano and took Aedan to the zoo and a pumpkin patch, I talked about a few things I love and did my first Pinterest project.

In November, we bought our dream home and put our current home up for lease, recapped our Halloween celebrations, and I took Aedan to the Children's museum.

In December, we found a renter for our house and had to move out a little earlier than expected. We made it work and moved into our new house just before Christmas. I shared our Christmas card and recapped both our our Christmas celebrations here and here.

We have definitely had a full year and have been so blessed. I cannot wait to see what 2012 brings!

Happy New Year!

-Lauren-

Christmas Recap: Part Two

2011-12-30T21:38:00.001-06:00

Sunday morning, after a quick breakfast, we headed up to John’s grandparents’ house. We spent the morning with them, Jon’s parents and two of Jon’s nephews. Jon’s parents (aka Mama & Papa) got Aedan a Cozy Cope and a tool set, both of which were (and still are) huge hits! Aedan has been using his tools to “help” Jon all around the house this week. They have hung up blinds, put the table together and fixed a fence post. So cute!

Aedan was kind enough to help Jon put the car together…(sorry, these pictures are super grainy. It was dark inside and again I only brought my phone…I will do better next year!)

The picture above is right about the time Aedan dropped his screw driver in the gas tank of the car. It took awhile to get back out…

Jon’s aunt, uncle and cousin joined us for lunch. And then we all exchanged gifts. We had a great time hanging out but eventually we had to head back home.

After a quick stop home to take care of Hiro, we headed to Jon’s sister’s house. We got to see Jon’s parents and nephews again along with my sister-in-law’s family. We all enjoyed a great dinner and good company. Before we knew it, it was time to head home to get a tired little guy to bed.

All in all we had a great Christmas and were able to spend lots of time with all of our family (along with getting everything on our wish list). I am only sorry I didn’t remember my good camera at either get together.

-Lauren-

Christmas Recap, Part One

2011-12-29T22:39:00.001-06:00

I think it is about time I did a Christmas recap post…

First check out this cute picture. My parent’s yellow lab, Ruby spent a night with us at the new house since my parents went out to dinner with my Grandmother after helping us unpack. Both dogs are a little spoiled and since we only have one dog bed, my sister told Ruby she could get on the couch. Hiro jumped up at the same time because obviously he wasn’t going to miss out on a night on the couch.

So we spent Saturday with my side of the family. Check out what Santa left for Aedan…

I was most excited about the great wagon my parents (I mean Santa) left Aedan. But I’ll let the video show which toy Aedan was most excited about…

After Aedan played with his Santa toys for awhile and my Dad went out to get Round Rock donuts (a must have by the way!), we opened the rest of our gifts. It was so fun to see Aedan open everything. He would stop and play with each item as he opened it.

After everyone had opened all their gifts, we had a big breakfast and spend the day hanging out. My grandmothers, aunts, uncle and one of my cousins came over for dinner. We did a gift exchange, but I of course took zero pictures. We had lots of fun and Aedan of course was spoiled with even more gifts from everyone.

We headed home after dinner and we were all pretty exhausted. We got a good nights sleep and headed back up north to spend the day with Jon’s side of the family on Sunday….more on that tomorrow. :)

-Lauren-

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T22:46:00.001-06:00

It's been a whirlwind week here, but I wanted to jump on and wish everyone a merry Christmas!

We closed on the new house on Monday and started moving in on Wednesday. Thanks to my mom and my sister watching Aedan, we were able to get about 80% unpacked by Thursday night. Neither Jon nor I can relax until everything is put away so we worked really hard to get settled before Christmas weekend. I will post pictures soon, but I have to say we are all loving the new house!

We celebrated Christmas with my immediate family on Saturday morning and with my extended family Saturday evening. Today we were able to spend time with Jon's family at two get toegthers. I will have to do separate posts with pictures and such, but "Santa" (aka Nonnie & Pop and Mama & Papa) were very good to Aedan (and Jon and I too!) and we had a great time with everyone!

Jon and I have the week off so we are going to get some things done around the house and try to do a lot of relaxing. It has been an exciting and crazy month and we are exhausted!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day with friends and family!

-Lauren-

Trip to the Park

2011-12-18T20:06:00.001-06:00

We are still staying up in Round Rock at my grandparent’s old house. There is a park down the street and we took a little walk down there this afternoon.

There was a slide to play on…

It’s always more fun to climb up the slide than slide down.

Big kid swings…

And since I am usually behind the camera, here are a few of me and my little guy…

Such a fun afternoon. I am so excited that our new neighborhood has two parks for us to walk to. :)

-Lauren-

That's a Wrap

2011-12-16T16:17:00.001-06:00

Our first house together is officially all ready for our new tenant to move it tomorrow!

It has been a long week and both Jon and I have decided we are never moving again. Good thing we feel like this new house is going to be our forever home.

100% of our stuff is either loaded up and being stored in a POD or hanging out with us in Round Rock.

The house has been cleaned from top to bottom, the carpets have been shampooed and all the paint has been touched up. We (read: Jon) actually ended up having to re-paint our entire living room and hallways and our bedroom. Since Jon is a bit of an over achiever he also painted the utility room, which have never been painted before. The house looks great and I'm a little jealous, but then I remember we will be in my dream home soon and I feel better. :)

We were supposed to close on the new house today, but it got pushed to Monday. Actually, is it going to be kind of nice to just relax this weekend instead of moving in. We are hoping to start unpacking next Tuesday and hopefully be getting settled in just in time for Christmas.

For now we are going to relax and finish up Christmas shopping/gift wrapping while we enjoy the weekend!

-Lauren-

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Christmas Card Carousel

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

This is my third year to participate in Faith’s Christmas Card Carousel. I love receiving Christmas cards, as well as picking out cards to send to our family and friends. You can check out our past cards here and here.

We are right in the middle of moving, and things have been crazy busy. Usually our friend Aaron takes family pictures for us sometime in November and I order cards around Thanksgiving. I like to have them go out in early December. But this year that just didn’t happen.

We never had a free weekend to take pictures and I haven’t even had a chance to get some good pictures of Aedan on my own (other than with my iPhone). But, I still wanted to get Christmas cards and get them out, even if it was a little late.

I used a picture of Aedan that I took a few months ago and I think I found the perfect card to go with it.

So if you are on our Christmas card list, I promise our card is on its way! Better late than never, right?

Thanks for stopping by and go check out Faith’s blog for some other great Christmas cards!

-Lauren-

Another House Update

2011-12-08T11:54:00.001-06:00

Things seem to be on the right track as far as the house stuff goes. We met our new tenant Wednesday night to get the lease signed. Jon and I were both a little worried about what our tenant was going to be like. Even though our realtor/sister-in-law had done all the background and credit checks, you just never know, right?

Well, we were both pleasantly surprised. She is really nice and normal. :) She signed an 18 month lease, which means we won't have to worry about finding another renter during the holidays next year. We both feel really good about it and I think she is going to take good care of our home.

We also got the appraisal and site survey back on the new home. Yay for a decent chunk of equity in the home already! Our closing date has been moved up to 12/16 and everything is good to go.

Everything is happening so fast, but seems to be lining up well. Our house is almost all packed up, we have a Pod coming on Friday and friends helping us load it up on Saturday. We will be staying up in Round Rock for the week while we do some touch up work on the house. The cleaning crew and carpet cleaners have been scheduled and the lock guy is coming next week.

This time next week, our current house will be already for our tenant to move in and we will be 24 hours away from closing on our new house!

Now who wants to help me finish packing, address Christmas cards, finish up my Christmas shopping, and entertain my busy toddler? Anyone? Anyone? :)

-Lauren-

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Our Weekend and House Update

2011-12-05T22:03:00.001-06:00

This past weekend, we headed up to Tyler to visit Jon’s parents. We had a great weekend but I didn’t take any pictures (fail).

We headed up Friday morning and made pretty good time. Aedan has become a really good traveler. He loves to read books or watch Bob the Builder or All About Airplanes on my iPhone. But what he loves to do most of all is say “mommy, mommy, Mommy, MOMMY”, then when I turn around and say “yes”, he points to something random, like his shoes, his book, a truck or tree outside, and labels it. It cracks me up. It is like it is the most important thing in the world and I have to look at it. :)

Jon’s parents live on some land with lots of animals. I think Aedan and Hiro were both in heaven. We got to see huge turkeys. Jon’s dad taught us how to do a turkey call that was hilarious. I took a video but apparently I did something wrong because there is zero sound (second fail).

They also have a horse, a donkey, chickens, rabbits and goats. The donkey was hilarious and Aedan has been imitating his “he-ha” whenever I say donkey.

We had lots of fun hanging out playing games, even though Jon and his dad beat his mom and I at Sequence. Aedan had a blast with his cousin Jesse and all his fun toys.

Jon’s mom made me a birthday cake and we celebrated my birthday Saturday night. Jon’s parents gave me a recipe binder that will let me organize all the recipes that I print out online (so perfect) and a holiday baking cookbook that I can’t wait to try out.

We had a lot of fun, but we had to head back early Sunday because Jon had to work that afternoon. The weekend went by too fast!

Oh and an update on the house situation…

We found out last Tuesday, that we had someone put in an application. On Wednesday our realtor (which happens to be Jon’s sister – so great!) got all the info and did all the background work and everything looked great. We have gotten the deposit and will be signing the lease tomorrow. Yay!

The only downside is that she wants to move in by 12/17. Which is super soon!

We are planning to move up to my grandmother’s old house (my parents own it now and use it when they come to down) this coming weekend. We are so blessed that we have a place to stay while we finalize our close. Next week we will be doing any touch up work on our house so it is all ready for our new tenant!

All that to say, I may be a little MIA for a while!

-Lauren-

The Inside

2011-11-30T14:26:00.001-06:00

Aedan and I went up to the new house today to do a walk through with the inspector. I took a few pictures of the inside, so I thought I would share. I just had my phone with me so the quality is not the best, but you get the idea.

The house is mostly one story, with 4 bedrooms and an office on the first floor and then a bonus room and a third full bath upstairs. It is an awesome floor plan and at just under 2400 sq. ft., it is double what we have right now!

We will be able to use the bonus room for so many things, including a guest space or a game room. It was definitely the part that we fell instantly in love with.

The kitchen…right now, I have 3 drawers and 3 upper cabinets compared to the 9 drawers and 9 upper cabinets I will have.

The living room…not the best picture, but basically the kitchen, eating area and living room are one big rectangular room so it is super open. This one thing we have right now and love, so it was a must have for us.

The backyard…this is just one side of it. It is pretty big and comes complete with a full sprinkler system and big covered patio.

The master bath…probably another of my favorites. Compared to what we have now, this is a huge huge upgrade. I cannot wait!!

The master closet…along with good size closets in the 3 other bedrooms, we also have a downstairs hallway closet and two closets in the bonus room. Love love love the storage!

The study…it is at the front of the house, away from the bedrooms and living room which will be great for Jon. Hopefully his conference calls won’t be filled with the sound of Bob the Builder and Popper!

Then the bonus room…you can’t really tell for this picture, but it’s a pretty big room. The bathroom and closets are off to the side.

We are super excited! Now we just need someone to rent out our house and we will be good to go! Fingers crossed; we had someone turn in an application today so hopefully they will work out. If not we have a couple of more showings this week/weekend already scheduled.

-Lauren-

Christmas Cards

2011-11-28T20:54:00.001-06:00

I love picking out Christmas cards to send out to our family and friends each year. I equally love receiving cards. It’s so fun to see pictures and get letters from people we don’t get to see very often.

This year I am getting my cards from Tiny Prints. Their selection is huge! I am trying to decide if we are going to do a family picture or if I am just going to do a few pictures of Aedan…or maybe both…

Here are a few cards that I love…

What are your favorites?

Another thing I love is displaying all the picture cards we get. Two years ago I hung them all on my homemade bulletin board.

Last year I hung them on a wreath made of clothes pins, that I apparently didn’t take a picture of. Opps.

This year I am thinking about trying out this idea…

(source)

How do you display your Christmas cards?

-Lauren-

I was selected to receive 50 free Christmas cards from Tiny Prints in return for this blog post, however my opinions are my own. I have used Tiny Prints for invitations and Christmas cards in the past and always been very happy with them. :)

Black Friday Shopping

2011-11-25T13:59:00.001-06:00

We did a little black Friday shopping and here is what we got...

It is totally my dream home! It's the house we walked away from last weekend...the builder came down a little more and our lender found a great option for us. We are all set to close on December 28th as long as our current house rents out. We are so excited!!

I'll post some interior pictures soon!

-Lauren-

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

2011-11-24T12:24:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We had a lazy morning around the house, building block towers, playing outside and watching the Macy's Parade.

Now Aedan is down for a nap, my caramelized green beans are cooked and Jon and I are just hanging out until we head to my cousin's house this afternoon (my camera battery is currently charging so hopefully I will come back with lots of pictures).

I have so much to be thankful for and I am so looking forward to all the time we are going to be spending with family.

-Lauren-

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-20T21:36:00.001-06:00

Apparently one post a week is becoming my normal! Things have been pretty busy around here and I have a feeling they aren't going to slow down with the holidays right around the corner! How can it already be Thanksgiving week?!?!

I'm not too sure where to begin with an update...

Aedan is been doing much better and totally back to himself. I'm glad we are all feeling well and I hope it lasts though the holidays.

Work has been going well, and I only have one meeting tomorrow, then I am off for the week! My goal is to get some Christmas shopping done on Tuesday and Wednesday, then we will be hanging out with my side of the family Thursday and Friday and Jon's side Saturday and Sunday. I can't wait!

The other big news is that we put our house up for rent. We have been saving up for a new house for awhile now. We love our house, but it's a little small for our two parents working from home, one loud toddler and one big dog family.

We started causally looking about a month ago and we found an area we really like. It's a new neighborhood and we feel in love with one of their floor plans. It is totally my perfect house. As an added bonus the schools are excellent.

They actually had a spec home with everything we wanted and tons of upgrades, up for a quick move. We came really close to putting in an offer, but ultimately decided it wasn't the right time. The builder came way down on the price, but it was still at the top of our budget. We could have done it, but it wouldn't have been the best financial decision.

So for now, we are going to see if we can get our house rented out. We are pretty excited that we will be able to keep it as a rental since that was our long term plan when we bought it five years ago.

We are going to keep looking at options, but right now we are leaning towards building (although we keep flip flopping so who knows, we may end up staying here for a couple more years and then moving).

My goal is to write some posts with pictures this week, but if I don't, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

-Lauren-

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:An Overdue Update

2011-11-11T15:07:00.001-06:00

Yikes, another week without a blog post...

We have a tough week around here, but it's Friday again and things are looking much better!!

Jon headed up to Colorado, for work, last Sunday and just got back about 30minutes ago. I wasn't too excited about spending the week as a single mom and as luck would have it, my sister was able to skip some school and come down to hang out! And I am so glad she did!!

Monday, when I picked Aedan up at the sitter's house, she told me that his cough (which he has had for awhile now) had gotten much worse. So on our way home, I went ahead and made an appointment for Tuesday morning with the doctor.

Monday night was rough. Aedan was up from about 9pm-3am just coughing. I tried everything I could think of to help him, including us sitting in the bathroom while I ran a hot shower at about 1am. I'm pretty sure Aedan thought I was going crazy.

We headed the doctor Tuesday morning and they sent us home with a few prescriptions after doing a chest x ray and a WBC. I figured we could stop by Target and pick up some groceries and his medicine and then head home for the day to rest. I was wrong...

First, the pharmacist told me it would be at least 30 minutes before it was ready. So I tried to grocery shop slowly, which is hard with a sick baby in the cart. Finally 30 minutes was up and I waited in line to pick up the medicine, only to find out they needed me to activate a coupon card my doctor had given us. I got to sit on the phone for another 10 minutes to get that activated. Then we got our medicine, only to find out they didn't carry one of the things we needed...would have been helpful for them to tell me that at the beginning!!!

From Target, we headed to Walgreens to get the missing item. Get to Walgreens, in the rain I might add, and find out we need the prescription for the item, which is still at Target. I think I almost started crying. The pharmacist there was very nice, called the doctor and got us what we needed pretty quickly.

Aedan and I finally get home, I lay him on the cough and get the first dose of medicine out to give him, hoping to give him some relief from the coughing. Apparently it tasted pretty bad and he promptly threw up all of me, himself and the couch. Awesome. A quick bath for Aedan and I put him to bed so I could get everything cleaned up.

My sister arrived Tuesday night and was such a huge help for the rest of the week. We ended up having to go back to the doctor Wednesday morning since Aedan was still not breathing well and cough a lot. He got a steroid shot and just a few hours later, I could see a huge difference. He still has a bad cough but is able to breath and sleep so much better.

We had a lazy end of the week, just hanging out around the house. My sister was awesome and ran a bunch of errands for me along with helping with Aedan. I am so glad we were able have some sister time and I am so thankful she was here to help while Aedan was sick.

Now I am off to enjoy the weekend!!!

-Lauren-

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Being Sick is No Fun

Happy Friday!

2011-11-04T13:31:00.001-05:00

Considering I felt like Tuesday was Friday, I am really happy it is finally here! We have fun family night out planned as soon as Aedan wakes up from his nap.

I was looking through my edited pictures and realized I never posted these…better late than never right?

My little laundry helper can be pretty expressive. :)

-Lauren-

Children’s Museum

2011-11-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to talk Aedan to the Austin Children’s Museum for awhile now. I did a little research and found out that on the first Tuesday of every month is No Tour Tuesday, so no big groups. I marked it on the calendar and this past Tuesday, we visited for the first time.

Aedan had a blast.

There was the train exhibit…

The construction area…

And the big train table…

And of course music playing…

We had lots of fun and I am sure we will be going back soon!

-Lauren-

Halloween Weekend Recap

2011-11-01T14:07:00.001-05:00

How was your Halloween weekend? We had a blast!

Friday night, we did our normal errands/shopping and out to dinner. We went to DSW and checked out some shoes. Aedan loves all the mirrors and had a blast. Haha! I found a pair of shoes I wanted, but they didn’t have my size. I ended up coming home and ordering them from Zappos and they got here on Monday. I love that website!

Saturday morning, we got up and went to breakfast at our favorite place and then came home and hung out until nap time. I think both Jon and Aedan took a 3 hour nap! Then we got ready to head to a Halloween party at my sister and brother-in-law’s house. It was lots of fun! Aedan got to jump in his first bounce house; he was a fan as long as there weren’t too many big kids in there with him.

Aedan was a puppy and this is how he felt about having to wear his costume hood…that face just screams lame. Haha!

Really I am just impressed he kept the jacket part on. He has decided he is not into long sleeves any more. As in he takes off his shirt if I put one on that has long sleeves. We have been talking about jackets a lot and now he thinks those are cool, so I guess that helped.

Blurry proof of Aedan in the bounce house…

On Sunday, Aedan and I hung out at home while Jon went to his soccer game. After the game and nap time, we ran a couple of errands and then hung out at home for the evening. The weather was great so we played outside a lot.

Last night we headed over to our friends’ house for another Halloween party. Aedan got to run around and check out everyone’s costume.

Typical, showing off his surprised face. :)

We came home and passed out candy in our neighborhood for awhile before bedtime. Last year we ran out so I was more conservative on how much I gave each person. We had just a small bag of leftovers…I’m not sure if that is good or bad, but I am sure I will have no problem finishing it off. :)

I can’t believe it is already November! This is my favorite time of the year and I just know it is going to fly by!!

-Lauren-

Trip to Plano

2011-10-25T15:08:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we headed up to Plano to spend some time with my parents and sister. We had a jam-packed weekend, but it was so much fun!

We headed out Friday morning for a non-eventful 3.5 hour drive up I35. Check out these best buds…

We got to Plano just in time for Jon to take a conference call, so Aedan and I hung out until everyone got home/done with work. Once everyone was free, we walked down to the neighborhood park. Aedan had a blast swinging, going down the slides and following around my parent’s dog Ruby (“ru-beeeee” as Aedan calls her). After the park, it was home for a yummy dinner and a relaxing night around the house.

I took zero pictures on Saturday, I guess I was too busy enjoying myself. Oh well.

Saturday morning my mom, Aedan and I headed over to a huge consignment store. I stocked up on fall/winter clothes for Aedan and got 8 long sleeve shirts, 2 pairs of pants and a jacket for under $50, not bad! My mom picked up a couple of new toys for Aedan to play with at their house, which of course Aedan loved.

We all took a long afternoon nap and then got ready for a Halloween party. My parent’s best friends throw an amazing party every year. It was so fun to see old family friends. I have know most of the families since I was 5/6 years old and now most of us kids have our own kids, which is so fun to see. Aedan had a blast and may or may not have eaten more sugar than he has ever had before. He even got his first lollipop and was in love. Haha! We stayed out until his sugar high crashed and I think he was asleep about 5 minutes after we put him down.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed down to the Dallas Zoo. The weather was great and there was no one there first thing in the morning. Aedan had fun checking out all the animals and my mom and sister even rode a camel.

We came home for lunch and a quick nap before going to meet our good friends Steven and Allison at a pumpkin patch. Aedan did pretty well until we were about to leave and trying to take a group picture. Then he lost it. Sigh, what can you do?

We headed home for dinner and put Aedan to bed pretty early (he had a long day!). Once he was down, my dad, sister and her boyfriend, Jon and I headed down to a haunted house. I think it has been a good 8+ years since I have been to a haunted house. It was pretty fun and I think we are going to make it an annual tradition.

We were up early Monday morning to head home so Jon could get to work. As soon as we got home, I got everything unpacked, clothes washed and the house cleaned so I could be ready for the week.

We had such a fun weekend! It was great to see everyone and I know Aedan had a blast!

-Lauren-

Videos of Aedan

2011-10-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

It has been awhile since I posted a video of Aedan. I have gotten really bad about taking videos of him. Jon always has cute video clips on his phone and I was jealous. So, new goal, take a short video clip of Aedan as much as possible.

Here is a demo of Aedan’s mopping skills.

Not bad, right? My video taping skills are lacking though, I really need to work on that.

Here is another one I took while Aedan was swinging (hopefully it doesn’t make anyone motion sick!). It is seriously just a fraction of the things Aedan says on a daily basis…

-Lauren-

A Few of My Favorites–Beauty Edition

2011-10-20T13:47:00.000-05:00

Today I thought I would make a list of my favorite beauty products. You know instead of working on a progress report, cleaning the house or doing laundry during Aedan’s nap. I love reading other’s favorite things post, so why not…

First off, I have been using this face wash for the past 3+ years. I occasionally try something different and then remember why I have been using it for so long. It works for me and I feel like it gets my skin clean.

I also use this eye makeup remover. I have been using this stuff since high school. My grandmother started buying it for me and I have never used anything else. I am honestly not even sure where to buy it since I have had my current bottle for forever (and I use it just about every night). When I was in drill team in high school, we had to wear a lipstick called Cherries in the Snow. It was awful. I don’t like lipstick and this one was horrible and stayed on forever. Seriously, it would never come off. But when I used this stuff it came off beautifully.

I have never used anything special on my hair. Obviously I wash it with shampoo and conditioner (oh, anyone have a good conditioner that detangles?? I need one!), but other than that I don’t put anything in it. When I got it cut a couple of months ago the ends felt so healthy and I wanted to keep them that way so I started using this heat protectant. I really like it and notice a big difference when I use it vs. when I forget.

I am not a big makeup person. I wear it, but not a lot of it. In fact all the makeup I own fits into my Vera Bradley bag, which I love. So even though I don’t own a lot of it, there are a few products that I love.

I recently started using Mac Paint Pot in Painterly. It is the perfect base for any eye shadow or to just wear alone.

The other thing that I have been using for a good 6 months now is the VitaZing moisturizer from Origins. I love, love, love it. It is like a tinted moisturizer but it is the best one I have ever tried. Most days I put it on with a little powder and I am good to go. It comes out of the bottle a cream color, but then as you rub it in it adds a tint and gives some coverage, it’s amazing!

What about you guys? Favorite beauty item?

-Lauren-

19 Months!

2011-10-18T14:10:00.001-05:00

I can not believe Aedan is closer to two years old instead of one year already. I thought his first year went fast, but this one is going by so much faster!

Aedan, what are you not doing these days?!? You are so busy!

I think you are probably around 26 lbs. You are still wearing size 3 diapers, which cracks me up, since you have been wearing that size since you were 6 months old! You are too skinny for size 4. You wear size 24 month/2T (can someone tell me why these are two different sizes??) in shirts and size 18 months in pants. You wear size 5 wide in shoes; you still have chubby feet!
You would probably drink milk 24/7 if we let you, but most days I limit you to 2 glasses. You love orange juice and get so excited when I give it to you some mornings. You are okay with apple juice, but I think you like water better.
You are still talking all the time and coming up with more words everyday. Yesterday I found you following Hiro around and telling him to “da pit” (drop it) because you wanted to throw his ball.
You absolutely love Hiro. You follow him around all the time and ask for him as soon as you wake up in the morning and from your nap. You even insist on him coming in for story time before bed every night. Too cute!
Speaking of sleep, you still go to bed between 7:30/8 and you have started to sleep in if we let you. Most mornings you wake up around 8, but this last weekend you slept until 9! You are taking a great afternoon nap, usually from 12-3. I wasn’t sure I would like it when you went down to one nap, but I love it! We get so much done in the mornings and I get lots of work done while you are asleep.
You love playing with your cars, blocks, bouncy balls and all your other toys, but what you love most is sweeping and mopping. You get so excited when I tell you were are going to vacuum (with the floor vacuum; you still are not a huge fan of the carpet vacuum), and you love to pull out the steam mop or broom. Your daddy says it means that I clean too much since you love to imitate. :) Maybe so, but your future wife will thank me someday.

Aedan, each time I look at you, I just can not get over how big you have gotten. You can do so many fun things and are so precious to us. We love you so much and are having so much fun watching you learn everyday. Love, mommy

-Lauren-

2011-10-14T20:51:00.001-05:00

I love Fridays. It's the end of the week, the cusp of the weekend, and a fun day all around.

On Friday mornings, Aedan and I got to Gymboree. He loves it! I'm pretty sure he could climb on the play equipment there all day.

He also loves the bubbles...

After Gymboree, we ran a few errands and came home for lunch. While Aedan napped, I worked on a progress report and cleaned up the house.

Aedan woke up from his nap and we played until Jon finished up work early. Then we decided to hit up Costco to stock up on a few things and then had dinner at Kirby Lane.

Now we are home, Aedan is asleep, and I think Jon and I may watch a movie. Yes, that is our Fridays; Gymboree, errands, out to dinner and home for a movie. I love it!! :)

Oh and my sister has a question for you all...she got invited to an evening wedding at a nice hotel in Dallas. The invite says black tie affaire. Does that mean full length dress? What would you wear??

-Lauren-

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Fridays

Our Weekend and a Pinterest Project

2011-10-09T15:29:00.001-05:00

We actually got rain this weekend. As in it rained for more than 5 minutes at a time! Jon and I woke up last night to the sound of heavy rain and it continued all morning and is still sprinkling now. Maybe fall weather is actually here!?!?

Friday evening we headed down to Town Lake and did some walking/jogging (I’m trying to get back into working out!). After a little workout, we picked up dinner at P Terry’s and ate at one of our favorite parks. Aedan had a blast running around.

Saturday morning while I got my hair done, Jon and Aedan went down to Cabela’s. We all got back just in time for lunch and then everyone took a long nap. When Aedan finally woke up, we headed out to do a little shopping. We browsed World Market, picked up some fall clothes for Aedan at Old Navy and picked up a new Xbox game for Jon at Best Buy. We came home for dinner and just enjoyed a quiet night at home.

This morning we went to breakfast at Dan’s and then came home and got the house cleaned before lunch. While Aedan napped, I ran a few errands and got the supplies to make my first Pinterest project. If you haven’t heard of Pinterest, you must check it out. If you need an invite, let me know.

So here is my inspiration…

(source)

And here is mine…

I found the hurricane glass at Target for $9 and then the peas, beans and corn kernels were just a few dollars. I decided to do one bigger glass and left out the candle. I may change it up later, but for now I like it just the way it is on our kitchen table.

-Lauren-

Mid Week Update

2011-10-05T23:22:00.001-05:00

Man, where has the week gone? Last Friday while I was at my conference, I got a text for Aedan’s sitter saying she thought Aedan was coming down with a cold. Jon picked him up early and the poor guy was pretty miserable all day. Then Saturday, Jon started to feel bad and sure enough on Sunday I started to feel sick. We are all just now starting to get over this cold.

We tried not to let being sick ruin our weekend. The weather was amazing and it has been too hot for way to long, so we took advantage of it. Saturday morning we went for a hike on the Greenbelt with some good friends. Then Sunday morning, Aedan and I meet my good friend Larissa and her son at the park for a breakfast play date. Other than that, we just relaxed around the house and all enjoyed long afternoon naps.

Oh and check out this expressive guy…

This is Aedan’s surprised face, which he does when he is legitimately surprised and on command, especially when it is to impress the ladies. What a mess!

And this is what he does when I ask him to say “cheese” and smile. Oh my.

-Lauren-

Park Pictures

2011-09-29T22:07:00.001-05:00

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

2011-09-27T20:26:00.001-05:00

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

2011-09-26T19:50:00.000-05:00

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

2011-09-22T14:58:00.001-05:00

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!

2011-09-19T12:14:00.001-05:00

*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

2011-09-14T14:33:00.001-05:00

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

2011-09-09T15:19:00.001-05:00

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

2011-09-02T15:23:00.001-05:00

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

2011-09-01T13:15:00.001-05:00

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-

Taco Soup–Crockpot Style

2011-08-31T10:55:00.001-05:00

Today I am linking up at Kelly’s Korner for Crockpotalooza, so if your just stopping by, welcome!

I love using my crockpot in the fall and winter. There is nothing better than coming home to a wonderfully smelling house and dinner made! I have a few crockpot recipes that I like, but this is my all time favorite. I’ve shared it a couple of times already, but it is so good I thought I would share it again.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped, 1 can chili beans (15oz), 1 can black beans (15oz), 1 can whole kernel corn (15oz), 1 can tomato sauce (8oz), 1 bottle of beer, 2 cans of Rotel (if you want it spicy you could do 1 hot and 1 regular), 1 package Taco Seasoning, and 2-3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Directions:

Place everything except the chicken in the crock pot and mix together. Add the chicken breasts (make sure they are covered by the other ingredient) and set the cooker to low. Cook for about 5 hours. Remove chicken and chop/shred and then put it back in the crock pot and continue to cook for about 2 hours.

*the first time I made this I wasn’t home to take the chicken out so I just let it cook for 6-7 hours. I chopped the chicken just before serving. While it tasted fine, the leftovers were much better because the chopped chicken had been able to soak in the soup.*

This tastes great served with tortillas or tortilla chips, and topped with sour cream and cheese.

Oh and just for the record, we are on day 70+ of triple digit temperatures (yesterdays high was 108!), BUT they are calling for a high of only 98 on Friday. I think I may need to break out the sweaters and make this soup. Haha!

Check here for more great crockpot recipes!

-Lauren-

Oh and our floors look amazing! I tried to take pictures last night but it was too dark. Hopefully I will get some taken today and post them tomorrow!

The Finished Dresser

2011-08-28T15:19:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I painted my grandparent’s dresser for Aedan’s room. Then I spray painted the drawer pulls. This weekend we were able to move it into Aedan’s room.

Before:

And after:

I love it! I don’t know what to do with all the drawers. At least 2 of the big drawers are totally empty.

When we moved the old dresser out, we also moved out his rocking chair. Now Aedan has so much more room to play. I spend the afternoon organizing his toys and ~~decided he has way to many~~ setting them up on his toy shelf.

The bins hold stuffed toys, wooden blocks, foam blocks and then random toys. We used to have a lot of toys in a basket in the living room, but now that he has more room to play, I wanted to move most of them to his bedroom.

Oh and speaking of blocks, Aedan totally into building with them. For a long time he was into knocking them down because ~~I taught him how to do that when he was about 6 months old~~ he is a boy. But now he really likes to build and I love to watch him.

Really I love to watch him play with any toys. I work really hard writing and planning programs designed to teach my clients how to play appropriately with toys, so to see Aedan just do it is pretty fun.

Our new floors get installed tomorrow! I am so excited!! I also found the perfect rug for our living room so I’ll post some before and after pictures soon!

-Lauren-

Dresser Drawer Pulls: Update

2011-08-25T15:22:00.001-05:00

I decided to take my mom’s advice and try my hand at spray painting the original drawer pulls for 3 reasons.

1. I already had them so the project only set me back a can of spray paint.

2. The drawer pulls came with the dresser so they obviously fit unlike all the new ones at Home Depot.

3. And of course, because everyone knows that moms are always right. ;-)

So Aedan and I dropped by Home Depot again this morning. He didn’t wear ~~his~~ my sunglasses this time because it was actually raining! It rained for about 4 minutes and I actually had to think twice about how to turn on my windshield wipers.

Back in Home Depot, I picked up this little can of spray paint. I have to say, I am not usually big on the whole spray painting idea. It has been awhile since I have used it and when I did it was a MESS. All over my hands and I could never get an even coat. BUT I have heard great things about this stuff so I went for it.

Oh my goodness, this stuff is amazing! It took me all of 3 minutes to get the first coat on and my hands were totally clean. The paint went on even and looks great even after just one coat. I’m super excited!

Before:

Progress (I need to add at least one more coat before they are actually finished):

I think we are going to move the dresser into Aedan’s room this weekend so hopefully I will have some true after pictures soon!

I have been looking for some fun wrapping paper to put in the drawers but I am coming up empty handed. Any good store/sites I should check out? I thought about using scrapbook paper, but then I would have seams where the papers would have to line up…

-Lauren-

Midweek Randomness

2011-08-24T20:45:00.001-05:00

First, how it is only Wednesday? It should at least be Friday already.
Jon has been out of town since Monday (he got back this afternoon) and I am always more tired when he is out of town. You would think it’s because it I don’t have any extra help with Aedan, but really Aedan was great and pretty easy over the last few days. I am tried because somehow I managed to stay up until at least midnight both nights watching random shows on Hulu. I may or may not have actually watched an entire episode of The Secret Life of an American Teenager. Worst acting ever, yet I sat through the whole thing.
We are officially going to to pick up our new flooring on Friday and it will be installed on Monday! So excited. Now we just need to find a rug for the living room…where should we look?
We don’t have cable. We haven’t had cable for almost a year actually. If you know me, you should know that this is very impressive. I’ll admit it. I enjoy my TV time. Even so, I haven’t missed cable too much. We get all the local channels in HD thanks to our HD antenna and we have Netflix and Hulu Plus, so we have plenty to watch. However, I really miss TLC, HGTV and the Food Network. I may or may not be trying to convince Jon to order cable just so that I can watch this show. So far, he’s not buying.
Today marked day 70 of triple digit temperatures in Austin. And it hasn’t been 70 days of 101 highs, it has been 70 days off temperatures in the 104-107 range. And guess what…this weekend they are calling for highs of 108/109. Awesome. Oh and rain. Well, I have pretty much forgotten what that looks like.
I’m dreaming of this…

Until then, I guess I will just have to have a bowl of ice cream. :)
-Lauren-

Painted Dresser

2011-08-22T11:30:00.001-05:00

Back in the day, you know, before Aedan came around, I actually used to blog about crafts and DIY projects. For the past 17 months, I haven’t done too many projects. Shocking, I know.

BUT, this weekend I tackled a project and I thought I would share the details.

Last year, after my grandfather passed away, my grandmother moved to an independent living community. In doing so, she needed to get rid of a few pieces of furniture. One of them was the dresser she and my grandfather bought together in the 1950s.

I have been wanting to get a new dresser for Aedan because I hate the one that came with his crib. We have been pretty happy with the crib, but the dresser is awful. The drawers fall apart all the time and it is just cheaply made.. We decided we would get him a new dresser when we move him to a big boy bed. But since my grandparent’s dresser became available I jumped at the chance to have it.

Growing up, I had my great grandparent’s bedroom furniture in my room and now Aedan gets to have his great grandparent’s furniture in his room, love it!

I decided I wanted to paint the dresser – hence the project post. Here is the dresser before.

Well, not exactly before, since I had already removed all the hardware and then remembered to take a picture, but you get the idea.

I love that it has so many drawers! I haven’t decided how I am going to organize it, but I will do a post on that soon.

Last Friday Aedan and I made a trip to Home Depot.

What? Doesn’t everyone wear oversized sunglasses inside Home Depot? Seriously, he wore these the entire time we were in the store. Clearly his shirt says it all. :)

I picked up some tinted primer (a must have), some black paint, foam brushes and a roller. Then we stopped to look at the hardware selection. Here is the drawer handles that came on the dresser…

In this picture they look black, but they are not. I think maybe they used to be a gold, but they are pretty weathered now. I thought it would be easy to pick out some new ones.

I was wrong (and this is quickly becoming the longest post ever!).

Apparently now most drawer/cabinet handles are either 3 inches or 5 inches long. Guess what mine are…4.5 inches. Lame. I haven’t decided if I am going to shop around and find something that fits or if I should just spray paint the ones I have…

Anyway, back to the project. So I started by priming.

Then I applied 3 coats of black. I totally could have gotten away with 2 coats, but I painted the second coat at night (you know, when it was only 99 degrees outside) under poor garage lighting so I missed a few spots.

Oh and here is a painting tip that I love. When you know you are going to have to paint multiple coats and hate washing brushes, just put them in a plastic bag and stick them in the refrigerator.

I am going to let everything dry for a full 48 hours, which is so hard for me. I haven’t decided if I want to leave it straight black or distress it and stain over it, but hopefully I will have some after pictures soon (which I will take with my nice camera and not my iphone). :)

Oh and I did sand it down before and after the priming stage to get it nice a smooth. while I am not going to paint the inside of the drawers, I am thinking of putting some fun paper in the bottom of them like this.

Have you ever painted furniture? Any tips? Any advice on where to find a large selection of drawer handles?

-Lauren-

Home Improvements and a Video

2011-08-18T20:41:00.001-05:00

First, thank you all for your comments about Lasik. I think I have decided to go through with it…just not until next year. There are a few things we want to get done on the house and I can handle contacts for another year.

Which leads me to what we want to get done on the house…

First we are going to have laminate floor put down in our living room and hallways. It is something we have wanted to do for awhile. Our living room carpet is looking pretty pathetic thanks to Hiro and Aedan. We already picked out what we are going to put down and they came to measure this today. Maybe I will have before and after pictures next week!!

The second thing we want to add is a sprinkler system. This we will probably do in the fall because let’s face it, no matter how much we water, our grass is still going to look bad with an excessive amount of days over 100. Speaking of which, is it fall yet?!?!

So recently I made the mistake of showing Aedan videos of him on You Tube. He now thinks that anytime I am on my computer I am watching these videos. Sigh

How cute is that smile. :)

We have had a busy week around here, so I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend!

-Lauren-

Lasik…to Do or Not to Do

2011-08-12T21:03:00.001-05:00

I’ve been thinking about getting Lasik done. It is something I have been thinking about for a long time, but lately I have been seriously considering it.

Seriously enough to get more information from my doctor, who has been telling for the past 4 years (since I started seeing him) that I would be a good candidate. My prescription hasn’t changed since I got contacts my junior year in high school.

My doctor set me up to get a formal screening for the surgery. The screening went well and it looks like they think I am a good candidate too.

After the tests, the doctor walked me through the Lasik procedure. Actually what they want to do is called iLasik.. Since when does everything get an “I” in front of it. I made me smile since he was showing me all of this on an iPad.

Anyway, he explained the whole procedure. Like every.single.detail.

I should probably tell you that when I first got contacts, my doctor made me stay at the office until I could put in and take out each contact. I was there for what seemed like forever. It took me so long to get used to the fact that I was basically trying to poke myself in the eye.

Since then I have gotten 100% better about the contact thing, but hearing all about this procedure was a little uncomfortable.

So here I am, doctor says it’s a go, Jon says I can go ahead with it and I know it will be awesome to not have to deal with glasses or contacts. BUT I’m not sure I can handle the 7-8 minute procedure. Well, that and I have to wear my glasses for 2-3 weeks straight, yuck!

Anyone had Lasik done or know someone who has? What was your/their experience??

-Lauren-

Let’s Make This Happen!

2011-08-08T12:49:00.001-05:00

About a month ago I read about this family and it broke my heart. I can not imagine having to go through something like this. I don’t think anyone can.

Today I saw this and I thought it was such a neat story. Check it out and take a few minutes and a stamp to help out. Oh and don’t forget to pass the message on!

-Lauren-

Staycation Almost Over

2011-08-05T15:24:00.001-05:00

I was right, our week off has flown by! How can it already be Friday?!?!

I thought I would do a little recap of our week…

On Monday we headed down to Gruene to spend a couple of days with Jon’s parents. They rented a cute little condo for the entire week and it’s only about an hour drive from us, which is perfect.

We had a lot of fun, even though it was so so hot!

Oh and check out someone’s new hair cut! Jon and I decided to buzz it and we did not mean to do it that short! We used Jon’s beard trimmer and apparently a 4 on that is different from a 4 on hair clippers. Oh well, lesson learned, it already looks longer than it does in these pictures.

Oh and I don’t think I ever mentioned that I got a hair cut too. I chopped of 6 inches! It doesn’t look the greatest in this picture, but I LOVE it!

Okay, back to our week…

So Monday and Tuesday we hung out in Gruene. We spent some time at the pool, did some shopping, and played at a very fun park.

We are actually headed back down there for the day tomorrow.

On Wednesday my sister drove in and my parents and grandmother came over for dinner. It was fun to see everyone! My sister stayed with us until today and even babysat Aedan last night so Jon and I could have a date night. So fun!

Aedan has had a blast having an extra playmates everyday, he may go through withdrawals next week when it is just he and I during the day!

Looks like its going to be a quiet night at home for us since we are going to have busy days on Saturday and Sunday. Then it’s back to work on Monday, sigh.

-Lauren-

Cars Overboard

2011-08-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

Aedan likes to play with his cars. He drives them on the floor all over the living room or his bedroom. But lately, this is he favorite thing to do with them…

He puts one up on the entertainment center…

Pushes it…

If it doesn’t go far enough, he pushes it again…

Then he tries to reach them after they have fallen off…

Hmm, that didn’t work. Maybe moving the speaker will work…

Nope. Didn’t work either. Time to sit down and look sad so mommy will rescue the cars so I can ~~play~~ do it all over again.

Silly boy.

-Lauren-

Vacation

2011-07-31T10:45:00.001-05:00

Well more of a “staycation”…

For awhile now, I have known that Aedan’s sitter was going to be on out of town for the first week of August. I made sure not to plan on seeing clients for the week since I would need to be home with Aedan.

As the time came closer, I decided I should just take the week off for a staycation of sorts. It has been a busy summer and a very busy last month when it comes to work. I thought this would be a good chance to take a break before the school year starts up again.

Once I decided to take the week off, Jon decided he could take the week off also. He has lots of vacation time this year and has not touched it at all.

We are both excited to have the time off! We went out to breakfast this morning and were talking about how nice it is that we don’t have to work tomorrow.

We have some fun things planned for the week, including heading down to New Braunfels for a few days to hang out with Jon’s parents and spending some time with my sister and parents later in the week.

I know this week off is going to fly by but for now I am going to relax and enjoy the fact that we are on ~~vacation~~ staycation.

-Lauren-

Bringing the Bouncy Chair Back

2011-07-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, when I picked Aedan up at the sitter’s house, she opened the door and said I had to come see where he was hanging out. I walked across the room and found him lounging in a bouncy seat. Yes, my 25lb 16 month old hanging out in a seat made for a little baby. He looked ridiculous! I wish I had had my phone with me and had a picture of it. The bouncy seat was practically laying flat with him in it. The sitter said he kept going over and getting in all morning. Silly boy!

When we got home I told Jon about it and he decided to go get Aedan’s old bouncy seat out of the garage. When Aedan woke up from his nap, he was pretty excited and decided he needed to have snack in his “new chair”.

He has grown up a lot!!

He spend the afternoon crawling in and out of the seat and bouncing on it like it was a trampoline.

-Lauren-

Spending Diet–Update

2011-07-27T14:38:00.001-05:00

So we have been at this little spending diet for 13 days (only 2 days to go). I have to be honest, we have cheated a time or ~~two~~ three. BUT I have not been to Target once in the last 13 days, which is pretty huge. I tend to get bored during the day and just go to Target. I usually never leave empty handed so while I don’t spend too much at each trip, the total adds up quickly.

So where have we cheated?

Well last Wednesday Jon found out he was going to have to go to LA to help with a Dell commercial over the weekend (it’s not for TV, but he totally got to be in it! If we get a copy of the commercial, I’ll post it!). So on Thursday night we decided to get veggie burgers from P.Terrys. BUT I had taken our jar of coins to the grocery store and got cash so we used that money (I will also be using some of that cash when I go to girl’s night tonight, yay for margaritas and girl chat!!). So it was kind of cheating and kind of not, right?

Then I totally found the perfect jacket online at Old Navy and it was on sale (no doubt due to the ~~warm~~ hot front that seems to be everywhere). I have been looking for a jacket like this for awhile now and I just knew it would be sold out if I waited to buy it. So I cashed in our Discover points for an Old Navy gift card and ordered it. It came yesterday and I love it. Too bad it is going to be like 4 months before it will actually be cold enough for me to wear it!

Cheat number three is all on Jon, but it was for me so I am not complaining. I was a little jealous that he got to go to LA for the weekend and I had to stay home. He did have to work, but he had all day Saturday to explore and he kept telling me about all the stores and restaurants he could walk to from his hotel. Lame. So I had mentioned awhile back that I wanted to get this wallet from Vera Bradley. It is just like my beloved fossil wallet that I used for years (I even bought a second one and used that for a long time, but sadly the zippers broke on both of them). Well when Jon got back on Sunday, he causally left a shopping back on the table. It was from a bookstore so I figured he had picked up a book for his trip back. But it was the wallet I have been wanting! I was super surprised. :)

And I guess I should admit I have used my business credit card at Starbucks a couple of times over the last two week when I was working or doing interviews. BUT since that is work, I don’t think it counts. :)

Now with only 2 days left, we are already planning another spending diet for the last part of August and who knows maybe I will hold off on going to Target for a whole month.

-Lauren-

The Many Faces of Aedan

2011-07-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

On Friday Aedan and I stayed home all day. It was really nice to not have anywhere to go, especially since it was 105 outside! We spent the day playing, cuddling and taking it easy. I played with my camera and got these funny shots.

This first one is the reaction I got when he noticed I was taking his picture. He gives me this look a lot; whenever he is trying to tell me something really important. Can we say extrovert! Goodness!

This next one is the look I got when I told him to “say cheese” and modeled a fake smile. Nice right?

Haha! Apparently this is what I look like when I fake smile.

-Lauren-

Instagram

2011-07-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

I jumped on the Instagram bandwagon. It makes taking pictures with my iphone so fun!

Check out this little guy’s new trick. Good grief!

-Lauren-

Snack Time

2011-07-22T12:01:00.001-05:00

I took these pictures awhile ago with my new camera. I’ve been slacking on getting the pictures onto my computer lately. First I couldn’t find the cord I needed. Then Jon changed the way we are storing/backing up all of our documents and pictures and I couldn’t get Lightroom to recognize where all the pictures were.. Jon finally fixed that for me, so now I should be good to go. :)

Anyway. Aedan usually have a snack after his afternoon nap. Sometimes he eats at the table, sometimes outside and sometimes I give him his snack in a snack cup and let him pick were he eats (his favorite). Most of the time he takes his drink and snack and sits on the tile in our entry way. After a few minutes he gets up and attempts to share his snack with his best friend…

Hiro didn’t mind at all, he has decided that veggie straws are pretty good too.

-Lauren-

p.s. these pictures are really grainy. I had my iso up high because it was cloudy outside and dark inside, Aedan moves fast and I am still exploring with my new camera. :)

Spending Diet

2011-07-16T22:16:00.001-05:00

Jon and I have decided to try a little spending diet. We started yesterday and for the next two weeks we are only spending money on gas and groceries. Nothing else (well nothing other than our bills of course). I don’t think it will be too hard except it means no shopping here for me…

Target is my weakness. It also means no eating out, which is something we tend to do a lot on the weekends. Today we went to Costco and the grocery store to stock up. Jon made some homemade black bean burgers for dinner and they were delicious. So far so good. :)

I think this two week spending diet will be good for us. It will force us to find other things to do on the weekends besides shopping or eating out and stop me from going to Target when I really don’t need a thing.

We decided we would see how it goes and maybe even try to do it for the whole month of September (We have a mini vacation planned for August so we know we will be eating out and such then).

On a completely different topic, I watched this documentary yesterday. It was really good and totally made me want to go buy a juicer and try it for myself. BUT that would defeat the whole spending diet so I changed my mind. Plus we don’t eat very much meat in the first place. I probably cook chicken maybe once a week/two weeks and I don’t cook red meat at all. I do think I am going to try and make one of these smoothies tomorrow. I’ll let you know what I think. Definitely check out the movie too!

-Lauren-

He’s Got Some Moves

2011-07-14T14:29:00.001-05:00

Since pretty much forever, Aedan has loved music. He was swaying to music before he could sit up or crawl. Now that he is older he loves to dance.

Check out his latest moves…

Haha! I think he is ready for ACL!

-Lauren-

Quick Update

2011-07-11T21:07:00.001-05:00

Yeesh, where did the week, er and weekend go? How has it already been a week since my last post!
When we got back from our weekend in Plano last Monday, my throat started hurting. I figured it was just allergies or the cold that Jon and Aedan have had over the last week.
Then when I woke up Tuesday morning and still had a score throat I was a little bummed. It is never fun to be sick, but being sick when it is over 100 degrees outside just seems wrong.
As I was cleaning up breakfast I noticed a small red blister on my palm. Then about and hour later, I noticed a couple more. Ugh. Stupid hand food mouth disease.
Tuesday afternoon, Aedan had his 15 month check up (he is 24 lbs. (50%) and 32 in. tall (95%)). I asked the Dr. to confirm my suspicion about what I had. She did and when she looked in my throat she said it looked like it had turned into strep. Awesome. She was nice enough to give me a prescription.
Needless to day, all last week Aedan and I pretty much chilled at home. I have no idea where I caught it. Aedan never got it and none of the kids at the sitter’s house have had it. None of my clients have had it either, that I know of. Sigh.
By Thursday my throat felt much better but I still had blisters on my hands and feet. Jon was a little freaked out and wouldn’t even let me unload the dishwasher. He also kept saying I had the hoof mouth disease. Lame.
Thankfully, by the weekend I was pretty much all better and Jon and Aedan never got sick. We still took it easy this weekend and pretty much hung around the house or ran errands.
Oh and we finished Son’s of Anarchy – loved the season 3 finally!! We have to wait until November for season 4, but not to worry, I have a new obsession – Prison Break. Love it!
-Lauren-

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T22:14:00.001-05:00

I hope you all had a great long weekend! We definitely did!

Friday morning we loaded up the car and headed to my parents house in Plano. Aedan did so great in the car. He slept for about 45 minutes but he has had a bad cough for the last few days so that woke him up. But he was in a great mood and had fun reading books, eating snacks and pointing out the window.

We made it just in time for lunch and soon after Aedan crashed for his afternoon nap. Jon had to get some work done so while he worked (so great that he works from home and thus can work from anywhere), my mom and I went grocery shopping. Her grocery store has a Starbucks inside and I told her I would be in trouble if I shopped there every week. I am obsessed with their iced white chocolate mochas. When we got home, Aedan was up so we took him to Costco, which he loved. :)

Friday night Jon and I made Indian food for dinner. It was a big hit! We just hung out and watched a movie for the rest of the night.

Saturday after Aedan’s morning nap, we all (Jon, Aedan, my sister and parents and I) headed to the pool. It is the pool my sister an I both worked at through high school/college. My sister still works there a few days a week and still knows everyone on staff, which means we all got in for free. Love it!

Aedan wasn’t such a fan of the baby pool because it was super crowed and there was lots of splashing. As soon as the main pool opened up, we headed over there and he had a much better time. We all had a blast going down the slide and playing water volleyball.

That afternoon while Aedan and Jon took long naps, my mom and sister and I did a little shopping. I sometimes forget how much better the shopping in the Dallas area is compared to Austin. Sigh.

Saturday night we had delicious homemade fish tacos and mango salsa. After dinner we went out for some frozen yogurt (another thing I am obsessed with right now). We were out past Aedan’s bedtime and it was getting late so my Dad and Jon were supposed to take Aedan back home while my mom and sister and I did a little more shopping. BUT I got this picture in a text while we were headed home. Apparently they made a detour at Cabela’s and Aedan did a little shopping of his own. I’m not sure why, but that ore made it home with him. Sheesh.

Sunday we had a low key morning of playing at the park, taking naps and relaxing. That afternoon we headed over to my parent’s friends house for our annual get together. This group has been getting together every forth of July for 30 years! How fun is that! We had fun catching up and enjoying good food. Unfortunately it was another late night and Aedan was done around 8pm so we headed home. I heard we missed a great game of catch phrase and gestures. haha.

This morning we headed back home (Aedan did great on the trip this time too!) and all crashed as soon as we got here. We had such a great weekend, it was great to spend time with family and friends!

-Lauren-

A Day in the Life Part 2

2011-06-30T16:22:00.001-05:00

I usually see clients on Mondays and Thursdays, so those days typically look something like this. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I work from home. I guess I work from home on Fridays too, but lets be honest, I don’t do a lot of work on Fridays so its more like a catch up day/fun day.

This is what Tuesday looked like:

7:30am: I didn’t set my alarm so I get up with Aedan. Jon is working from home today too so we all get to eat breakfast together. This time Aedan has fruit and an egg so no syrup in the hair.

8:30am: I load up the stroller so Aedan and I can head out to Town Lake. I usually meet up with a friend to walk the 3 mile loop at least once a week but she is in Hawaii right now (LUCKY!). I decided to start the couch to 5k running program again. I’m not sure why, but I apparently like to start this program in the middle of the summer. Not smart. Oh well, here’s hoping I keep it up!

9:30am: we are home from our walk/run and nice and sweaty! Aedan goes down for his nap shortly after we get home and I take a much needed shower and answer a few emails.

11:00am: Aedan is up and it’s time to go to the grocery store. We make is a quick trip and get home for lunch with Jon.

12:30-2:00pm: Aedan plays and I do some chores around the house. We go outside for a little while and play with sidewalk chalk but it is just too hot!

2:00pm: Aedan goes down for his nap. I have 5 phone interviews do to so I spend the two hours he sleeps on the phone. I conclude that I would be horrible with a job that required me to be on the phone all day, it is exhausting!

4:00pm: Aedan wakes up and we get a snack together and play while Jon finishes up with work.

4:30pm: we head to the park/pool. After swimming for about 5 minutes they make everyone get out for a break. Aedan is more interested in swinging and going down the slide so we dry off and play for a little while. Thank goodness this park is practically all shaded!

5:30pm: we are home and start getting dinner together.

6:00pm: Aedan eats dinner. Jon heads over to help out a friend and Aedan and I play until bath time.

7:00pm: bath time for Aedan. His hair is getting so long so I decide to try and give him a haircut. He was not a fan of getting it cut at the salon so neither one of us wants to go back.. I think I did an okay job.

7:30pm: Aedan goes to bed just as Jon gets home. We make dinner and sit down to watch some more Sons of Anarchy (have I mentioned that I am obsessed??).

8:30pm: Jon plays some Xbox and I catch up on some blogs and reality TV on Hulu.

9:30pm: I talk Jon into watching one more episodes of SOA and then it is off to bed for us.

So those are what my two types of weekdays typically look like.. What do your days look like?? Anyone else obsessed with Sons of Anarchy?

-Lauren-

A Day in the Life Part 1

2011-06-28T21:52:00.001-05:00

I’ve seen a few other blogs doing this and I thought it would be fun, you know since my life is so interesting. haha! I do think it will be fun to look back and see what a day looked like during this session of my life.

I have two types of weekdays; ones where I see clients and ones were I work from home. So I thought I would do two different posts. I’ll start with Monday…

7:00am: I set my alarm to get up, but around 6:50 I wake up and change my mind. I turn off my alarm and decide to wait until Aedan wakes up. Jon gets up and starts to get ready for work.

7:30am: okay Aedan’s up now so I get up too. I know, I know, 7:30 is a pretty great wake up time. I have had my share of early mornings for work, so I am going to enjoy it while I can. I get Aedan up and changed and give him his milk and then I make up the bed. I always make up the bed. It drives me nuts if it stays unmade for too long!

8:00am: breakfast. Aedan had fruit and waffles with syrup. Unfortunately he thought it would be a good idea to rub the syrup in his hair. Sigh, guess it will be time for a bath after breakfast.

9:30am: Aedan and I clean up all the toys we he got out over that last hour. We read a few books and then its time for his morning nap around 9:45.

While Aedan naps, I get ready for work, make Aedan’s lunch and straighten up the house.. I also post an ad on craigslist for a new therapist since I am losing one in just a few weeks. I’m so sad to see her go!!

11:15am: I get Aedan up and we head off to the sitter’s house. When we get there, Aedan walks to the door all by himself, such a little kid! I follow with his lunch and blanket (num num).

12:00pm: I arrive at my first client’s house. Today I am overlapping with another therapist. I check up on the programs and I only get scratched and pinched a couple of times, which means it’s a good day. :)

2:00pm: Done with the first overlap, so I head off to see my next client with a quick stop at sonic for a cherry limeade because it is too hot outside!

2:30: I meet up with my next client and his therapist at a park. We are working on social skills and following directions in community places. We play for about an hour and man it is HOT! I’m glad I don’t have a dress code for work and shorts and sandals are okay because it is 100 degrees out here!

3:30: We head to the grocery store because that is another problem location with this little guy. We actually have a pretty uneventful trip and he does really well!

4:30pm: Done with work for the day! I glance at my phone and realize I have already gotten 10 resumes about the new position. That’s a good sign, but I am not looking forward to going through them all!

4:45pm: I get to the sitter’s house to pick up Aedan. He starts dancing when he sees me, so cute! He had a fun day at the sitter’s house. Her daughter (who Aedan loves) sometimes babysits for us on the weekends and she was home all day so Aedan got lots of attention.

5:30pm: We finally get home, I hate traffic! Jon is already home so he helps me get all of our stuff out of the car. That is another thing I can’t stand; leaving things in my car. Jon thinks I ‘m a little OCD about how clean I like things, but I can’t help it!

6:00pm: Aedan gets dinner and Jon and I sit down with him and chat about the day.

6:30pm: Aedan is super tired because he didn’t nap very well at the sitter’s house. We give him a bath early and put him down around 6:45. I think he was asleep by 6:50!

7:00pm: Jon and I eat dinner and I glance through all the ad responses as well as catch up on Facebook and blogs.

7:30pm: I have a friend over to watch the Bachelorette. I haven’t really gotten in to this season, but I think want JP to ~~win~~ fall in love with Ashley. Don’t feel too bad for Jon, while we watched our girly show, he was attaching zombies on the Xbox.

10:00pm: Time for bed! Jon and I think about watching a Son’s of Anarchy episode (and by that I mean that I begged him to), but we he decides it’s too late. Which is a good choice because I am pretty tired too. Time for bed it is!

-Lauren-

Weekend Wrap Up

2011-06-26T21:46:00.001-05:00

We had a great weekend around here!

Friday night, I had a late meeting and didn’t get home until 6:30 so Jon and Aedan had some 1:1 time.. After Aedan went to bed, Jon and I made a grilled tomato basil and mozzarella pizza. It was so good and fun since we used basil from our garden.

That reminds me, I don’t think I ever did an update on our garden. I need to do a full post but it has been doing really well! I’m pretty impressed. It’s funny because we built the fence mostly to keep Hiro out, but he hasn’t even set food inside. BUT this little guy, well he is totally into ~~gardening~~ digging in the dirt. Such a mess!

Saturday I got up bright an early and headed to boot camp. I really love being able to walk down the street to work out. Such a great start to the weekend! When I got back, Jon left for the greenbelt for some trail running.

After Aedan’s morning nap we headed to P Terrys to pick up veggie burgers and lemonade for lunch. We had a picnic in our new favorite park. After some playing on the playground, we took a dip in the wadding pool. When we got home, we were all tired so it was nap time for all!

Saturday night, we had a babysitter for Aedan and Jon and I went to see Bridesmaids. It was so funny! I was laughed so hard I almost cried in several parts.

This morning we all headed out to Town Lake after breakfast. We got back just in time for Aedan to take a nap before heading to lunch with some friends. For the rest of the afternoon, we just hung out around the house.

Such a great family weekend!

-Lauren-

15 Months

2011-06-22T14:12:00.001-05:00

I’m a little late on this and I totally skipped month 14. Opps!

Aedan, here is what you are up to these days…

You still go to bed around 7:30pm and wake up around 7:30am. You are hanging on to your two naps (you may be the only baby that tries to climb into your crib instead of out of it!). You usually sleep for about an hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.
You don’t have your 15 month check up until next month (Mommy slacked on making the appointment and they were booked). But we went to the doctor this morning (which is another post entirely) and you weigh 24 lbs.
I’m not sure how tall you are, but you have definitely slimmed down and gotten taller since you turned 1.
You have become a pretty poor eater lately. You eat great at breakfast. You love eggs, waffles, pancakes, yogurt and fruit. Lunch and dinner are hit or miss, but you will inhale a serving of spinach anytime!. Sometimes I feel like you eat nothing, but you don’t seem to complain between meals so I guess you are getting enough….
You are so so busy and rarely sit still. You are usually running through the house chasing Hiro, pushing popper, or kicking a soccer ball.
You are always “talking” and now we are starting to understand a few of your words. You say “out” (for outside), “hot”, “uh-oh”, “all done”, “night night”, “no”, “shoes”, “whoa” (usually when you run into something or knock something over!) and of course “dada” (sometimes its “daddy”) and “mama”. You also try an repeat words we say pretty frequently.
You imitate so well. I am always in awe of how you can watch us do something and then you try and do it yourself. It is so fun to just watch you play and explore new things.
You still love to be outside and it doesn’t seem to bother you that it is over 100 degrees here. You love to swing, dig in the garden, chase Hiro or find rollie pollies under the porch mat.
You can point to your head, nose and eyes. You find socks or shoes and immediately point to your feet.
You still love to play chase, but if someone corners you, you put your hand out and say “nonono” (you also do this when you don’t want us to stop you from doing something).
You love to wave hi to anyone and you have become much more comfortable around other people. You love attention and will usually flash a cheesy, eye squinty smile whenever someone gives you any (especially girls)!
You sleep with your sheet protector still and you love to carry it around. It is the first thing you look for if you are upset, tired or hurt. We call it your num num because that is the sound you make when you hold it near your mouth.
You love to go bye bye. I have to be careful and say it only when I am truly ready to leave, otherwise you will try to find the keys and run to the door and whine until I’m ready to go.
You recently figured out how to open the doors in our house and are pretty proud of yourself when you do it. Sigh.
You still love reading books and will bring me various ones to read to you throughout the day.

Aedan, you are so much fun! At night Daddy and I just talk and laugh about the different things you did throughout the day. We love you so much and are so blessed to have you!

Love, Mommy

-Lauren-

Midweek Randomness

2011-06-15T21:34:00.001-05:00

Goodness, where has the week gone? I can’t believe tomorrow will already be Thursday. I figured I should write a quick post so I don’t go a full week with nothing.
Highlights from the weekend:

Jon got home late late late Friday night. Aedan was so happy to see him Saturday morning!
Aedan and I helped my parents and grandmothers out with a garage sale on Saturday. Aedan had a blast running around rearranging things, pulling things out of boxes and playing with anything and everything covered in dust. We were both filthy when we left!
After the garage sale we met up with Jon for a birthday party for Aedan’s BFF. I wasn’t sure how Aedan would do without his morning nap, but he did great (with a quick snooze in the car) and had lots of fun.

Random thoughts/highlights from the week:

I upgraded my camera. Thanks Aaron! I have taken a few pictures, but I ~~haven't had a chance~~ have been too lazy to put them on my computer and edit them. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to play with it this weekend and have some good pictures to show soon.
Jon and I like to find TV show series to watch on Netflix and such. We started watching Sons of Anarchy a few months ago. I wasn’t too into it, but we just finished episode 6 and I am hooked. I’m guessing we finish season one by the end of the weekend.
Moms, when did you start giving your little ones a pillow to sleep with? I hadn’t really thought about it, but I just checked our video monitor and Aedan is using his stuffed animal as a pillow. Maybe he is trying to tell me something?
It is supposed to be 103 here for the next 4 days. Ugh. It is only June, I am not looking forward to August at all!! Aedan and I checked out a wadding pool not too far from our house on Tuesday, I am guessing we will be spending lots of time there this summer!
Today I finished up the progress report I have been working on for awhile. Now I just have to proof read it. I hate proof reading! I know some people love it, but I hate it. I just have no desire to reread everything I just wrote. Especially when it is 18 pages long. Sigh.

Looks like Jon has finished playing Xbox so hopefully I can talk him into another episode of Sons of Anarchy before bed!
-Lauren-

We’re Back!

2011-06-10T20:38:00.001-05:00

Well Aedan, Hiro and I are back home and Jon is on his way. He emailed me from Shanghai last night and told me that his flight to Chicago was delayed 6 hours. Since it would make him miss his connection to Austin, he got switched to a flight to LA. Hopefully he will get home tonight!

It is never fun when Jon has to travel for work, but I have to give a huge thank you to my mother-in-law who spend last weekend with us and to my parents who let Aedan, Hiro and I ~~visit~~ take over their house for a week. It made the week go by pretty fast.

We had a great time in Plano. I got to catch up with some good friends, spend time at a few pools and hang out with my family. Aedan was in heaven at my parent’s house. Their house basically has a circle type floor plan downstairs so he could run around and around with his favorite toy, Popper! They also have a fantastic backyard and a park just down the street. I think he wants to go back already. :)

My Dad had to come down to Austin for work on Tuesday so he took Hiro down a couple of days early and then yesterday my mom and I drove back into town. Tomorrow my parents and both of my grandmothers are having a big garage sale so Aedan and I are going up to Round Rock to help out. I know Jon is going to be exhausted and since Aedan’s favorite thing to do is run around with popper, I decided it would be best for us to spend the morning away from the house.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

-Lauren-

Traveling

2011-06-06T18:46:00.001-05:00

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned Jon had just returned from Amsterdam? Well look where he is this week…

Yup he is spending the week in Malaysia and mere 5000+ miles away. He logged 22 hours in the air (not counting layovers) to get there. He is staying at a pretty nice resort like hotel.

He said I would really like the pool. Haha! I’m sure I would, but I will not be traveling that far away for any pool.

So while he is being a world traveler and getting lots of work done, Aedan and I are here…

We are visiting my parents and doing zero work. :) Today we went and hung out at the pool with my sister, my good friend Allison and her son Jackson. Aedan wasn’t too sure about all the kids running around the wadding pool, but he did pretty well. We all got some sun and came home for a relaxing afternoon.

Tonight I am going to meet my best friend, Amanda, for coffee. We have been best friends since 8th grade which means we are going on 14 years! We used to do everything together. She was pretty much part of my family and I was part of hers. Now that we are both married, working and living in different cities, we don’t get to spend as much time together. It is going to be nice to catch up tonight!

-Lauren-

I Wear My Sunglasses…

2011-06-04T22:26:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Aedan and I did a little shopping. I was picking him up some shorts at Children’s Place and saw that their sunglasses were on sale for $2. Not bad.

For a long time now, Aedan has loved to pull our sunglasses off and wave them around. Sometimes I put my sunglasses on him and he laughs and then takes them off. I wasn’t too sure he would wear sunglasses if I bought them, but for $2, I thought it was worth a try.

Um, he loves them. He wouldn’t wear them for very long inside but as soon as I took him outside and put them on, he totally got it. Then we went back inside and he didn’t want to take them off. He thinks he is pretty cool. :)

Sorry about the quality, but look at that face! Talk about attitude! haha!

-Lauren-

Exploring the Garage

2011-06-02T19:37:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday, Jon had to take my car into the dealership. I got an oil change about a week ago and ever since, we noticed a burning rubber smell every time we pulled it into the garage…never good.

While he was gone, Aedan and I decided to play in the garage. He did lots of exploring.

The bike pump…

The lawnmower…

Daddy’s motorcycle…

He also loves to park his popper toy like this. It cracks me up, he always leaves it standing up instead of just laying it on the floor.

He leaves it parked and then turns around and runs back to it laughing, silly boy!

Oh and of course I had him do a little manual labor, you know sweep to driveway and such. haha! Seriously though, I feel like he looks all grown up in this picture!

Oh and apparently the guys that did my oil change, put the filter on wrong and my car was leaking oil all week, which is why it was smelling so bad. Luckily it was an easy fix and it is good to go now.

-Lauren-

Back Home

2011-05-30T13:54:00.001-05:00

Last Friday my alarm went off a 4am! Way too early! My good friend Jesse came over at 4:45am and we headed to the airport to catch our 6am flight to Denver. We headed up to Colorado for a big Behavior Analyst conference. We got to see our good friend Korie (she just moved up to Denver for a new job a few months ago) and here about some new research that is coming out in the field.

The conference was good and I had a great time hanging out with some good girlfriends. We stayed up way too late each night and it made for some tired mornings, but it was definitely worth it!

I got back last night, and it is so good to be home with my boys. This morning we went up to Round Rock and had breakfast with my parents (they were in town this weekend moving my grandmother up from Galveston). We had a nice visit and now we are all home enjoying the rest of the holiday weekend.

Happy Memorial Day!!

-Lauren-

What I’m Loving Wednesday

2011-05-25T20:45:00.001-05:00

Jon got back yesterday from Amsterdam and we are so so glad to have him back!! Aedan was so excited to see him. When we got home from the airport Aedan was dancing and clapping all around the living room. It was too cute!

Jon brought Aedan back the coolest toy. It is a little wooden car that has a stick that attaches to it and lets you push the car. You can even steer the car while pushing it. Oh my goodness, Aedan LOVES it. I think it is the only toy he played with all evening!

How cute is that?

Talk about attitude, he goes everywhere with purpose, including walking away from the camera when he doesn’t care to have his picture taken!

I didn’t really want anything specific from Amsterdam and Jon said he didn’t see anything that he thought I would really like to have. Today he went to lunch with his boss and came back with this gift for me.

I have been wanting one for a while now and I am so so excited! I wasn’t much of a coffee drinker until I had Aedan. Now I love to enjoy a cup every morning. I am so excited because I can make iced coffee which is perfect! I’ve already tried it out and I love it!

We had a great day today and Jon gets to take tomorrow off as well which is always nice!

-Lauren-

A Long Week

2011-05-24T14:13:00.001-05:00

It has been a long week around here. Jon left for Amsterdam last Wednesday for work. It has been hard because I can’t call him (he doesn’t have an international plan) and he is 7 hour ahead over there. We have talked each afternoon using his internet work phone or google talk. We video chat so Aedan can say hi too.

Luckily my sister was already planning on coming down for a few days this month so she got here on Sunday. I’m so glad she was able to come! I am used to taking care of Aedan most of the day by myself (while Jon is working) but in the evenings we have a good routine and doing it all alone is hard. Plus Aedan goes to bed at 7:30 and then it is just kind of lonely to sit at home all evening.

Kymberly got here just in time to help with dinner/bedtime on Sunday and was a huge help. Then while I put Aedan down for bed, she went out and picked up dinner. We had a fun night catching up and watching a movie.

On Monday, Aedan went to his sitter’s house and my sister and I spent the afternoon getting pedicures and shopping, absolutely perfect!

This morning she got up with Aedan and they had breakfast together, while I got to sleep in. After Aedan’s morning nap, we headed to Target and went out to lunch. Aedan did great and we had a lot of fun. I have a little work to do this afternoon and then we are headed to the airport because Jon is coming back a day early!!

-Lauren-

Go-To Dinner Recipes

2011-05-19T22:11:00.001-05:00

We have a couple of recipes that we make pretty much once a week. We have made them so much, that I don’t even have the recipe written down anymore for the first one.. They are both super easy and are ready in less than 30 min.

Jon and I don’t eat a lot of meat. We aren’t vegetarians and we love our hamburgers like the best of them, but we just don’t cook a lot of meat at home so both of these dishes are meatless. However, I have made both with some pan fried seasoned chicken and they taste great.

I’m pretty sure this one if from allrecipe.com but I can’t seem to find it. We call it cherry tomato pasta.

Ingredients:

1pk cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (I buy the ones in the red mesh bags, I think they taste the best)
angel hair or spaghetti pasta
a few cloves are garlic, sliced or chopped (I typically use 4-5 but we love garlic)
red pepper flakes (I think the recipe calls for a 1/4 teaspoon, but I don’t measure and probably use more because we like it hot)
olive oil (maybe 2 tablespoons; enough to coat the bottom of the pan)
grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

boil water and cook pasta per directions on the package
heat oil in a saucepan on medium heat
add sliced garlic and sauté for a few minutes
sprinkle in the red pepper flakes and cook for a minute or two more
add in cherry tomatoes and sauté for a couple more minutes
serve tomato mixture over the pasta and top with grated parmesan.

This one is from food.com. We call this spinach olive pasta

Ingredients:

penne pasta (really anything will work)
olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
a few garlic cloves sliced or chopped (again I use 4-5, but I think the recipe calls for 3)
about 2 cups of fresh spinach chopped
1/2 cup kalamata olives
2 tablespoons capers
3/4 cup feta cheese
black pepper to taste

Directions:

cook pasta per package
in large bowl, mix oil, vinegar, and garlic and whisk together
add spinach (once you add the hot pasta it will wilt down), olives and capers. and feta
drain pasta and add it to the mixture.
add pepper to taste (I don’t usually add any pepper because I think it has enough flavor already).

Both these taste great with a big slice of buttered French bread and a glass of wine.

Do you have any go to recipes? The ones whose ingredients you know off the top of your head and you can just throw together at a moments notice?

-Lauren-

Snack Time = Kick Your Feet Up

2011-05-17T20:22:00.001-05:00

A while ago we started to put Aedan’s highchair up to the table instead of using the tray. We have a space saver highchair that transitions into a booster seat. For now we just use the chair and put it up to the table, it works perfectly.

One afternoon we were having a snack and I looked over and saw this…

Apparently afternoon snack is also a good time to kick back and enjoy a granola bar with your feet up on the table.

I’m really not sure where he picked this up, good grief.

-Lauren-

p.s. yes this happens to be another group of pants-less pictures, again right after nap time. I really need to get better about taking pictures at different times of the day!

p.s.s. since taking the pictures above as well as the ones in this post, I have cleaning my glass door. It looked great for about 1/2 a day, then it was covered with little finger prints (thanks Aedan) and wet nose prints (thanks Hiro).

Well It Finally Happened…

2011-05-15T10:37:00.001-05:00

I knew this day was coming.

For months Aedan has hung out by the back door watching Hiro outside. Not only does he look out the window, he pushes on the doggie door too.

I knew it was only a matter of time before he figured out that Hiro was not the only one who could fit through the doggie door…

“Hey Mommy, check it out, I got out by myself!”

Sigh.

To recap: I need to go clean my glass door a.s.a.p.. Aedan does where shorts, I promise, but he had just gotten up from naptime and that’s how he rolls. Instead of telling him “no”, I immediately grab my camera and document the whole process, because that’s how I roll.

So far he hasn’t tried to go out again, but I know it will happen. Silly boy!

-Lauren-

Clean House? Yes Please!

2011-05-13T14:33:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I got a groupon for a house cleaning. It was sooo nice to come home to a totally clean house!

Well, Jon just got a raise (he has been working so hard and I am so proud of him!) and he said I could look for someone to clean our house on a regular basis. Our house is s.m.a.l.l. so I had a budget in mind and was firm that I wouldn’t pay someone an arm and a leg to clean it!

I checked with a couple of companies and it was pretty clear that, in my opinion, they were going to charge way too much. I really just wanted to find a person vs. a company anyway.

The day I was writing this post instead of working, I also decided to check out listings on craigslist. I found a ad that seemed promising so I gave the number a call. The lady on the other end was super nice and had a very reasonable rate (less than my self designated budget and my budget was pretty small). She was also available on the day of the week I wanted someone to come. I thought it would be best if it was on a day when Aedan was at his sitter’s house because we all know how much he loves the vacuum.

She came by on Wednesday so we could meet in person and I felt like she was going to be perfect. She came Thursday and cleaned the house top to bottom. It looks great!! Most definitely worth it!

Today, instead of cleaning the house, I got to catch up on a little work, run some errands and just enjoy playing with Aedan. Perfect!

-Lauren-

{Randomness}

2011-05-10T15:39:00.001-05:00

There are lots of things I love about my job, but writing progress reports is not one of them. I have a report due for one of my clients at the end of June and I am trying to get a head start by working on it little by little (the report will probably be 16-18 pages complete with graphs and tables, not too fun!). I should be working on it right now, but I am not motivated so I thought I would write a post instead.

This morning Aedan and I went walking with a good friend around Town Lake. Usually we go around Aedan’s morning nap and he sleeps a little in the stroller, but since it is getting hotter (it was 98 here yesterday!!) we went earlier in the morning. Aedan had a blast, but did not sleep a wink.

After our walk, we stopped by the grocery store before going home. By the time we got home it was too late for a morning nap so I decided to make it a one nap day. We had lunch a little early and I put Aedan down about an hour before his normal nap time. I’m crossing my fingers he sleeps long enough to not be super cranky before bed tonight! Especially since we have a babysitter coming over. So far it has been 2.5 hours and he is still sound asleep.

I know lots of little ones go down to one nap around 1 year, but Aedan has always slept a lot and dropped naps later than “average” I guess. Those of you with little ones, when did you go down to one nap?

With summer rapidly approaching (remember the 98 degrees yesterday), I have been looking into swimming lessons for Aedan. I’d love to do a waterbabies class with him this summer, but everything around here is pretty expensive. I’m pretty picky about swimming lessons since I used to teach them. If we had a neighborhood pool, I would probably just teach him myself. But I think it would be fun for him to go to a class with other babies. What do you all think? When did you start swimming lessons?

I picked up some new snacks at the grocery store today and I am loving these little rice cake.s. They are just the right amount of sweet. Aedan thinks they are pretty yummy too!

Okay, I guess I should get back to work. I have been way too distracted today! Oh and by the way, Aedan as now been asleep for 3 hours, I may just have to wake him up soon. The boy likes his sleep!

-Lauren

Happy Mother’s Day!

2011-05-08T21:08:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend!!

I have to start by wishing our mothers and grandmothers a very happy Mother’s Day. We love you all so much!!

We had a really nice weekend around here. I usually don’t see clients on Fridays (it’s a nice perk of working for yourself, I suppose). I generally try to get all my work done so Friday is just kinds of a catch-up day which is perfect. Jon usually tries to be done with work around 4 and we get to enjoy the evening as a family.

This last Friday, however, I did have a late afternoon team meeting. By the time I got home (and Jon and Aedan got home from a friends house) we were all kind of tired. We put Aedan to bed and just relaxed around the house.

A friend of mine may be moving to Austin soon, so she came down to look for apartments. She spend the night Friday night and Saturday morning she and I did a little apartment searching. Aedan was thrilled to have someone over when he woke up Saturday morning, he has become such a ham. :)

After lunch on Saturday, Jon, Aedan and I headed to our new favorite park. Aedan had a blast and we got home just in time for a long afternoon nap. Whenever we go to the park before his nap, Aedan will sleep 2.5-3 hours (he would probably sleep longer but I wake him up so he will go to sleep at bedtime). I foresee us spending lots of afternoons at the park this summer!

After his nice long nap, we decided to go out to dinner. We headed to Serrano’s down at South Park Meadows. It’s a new shopping center, and lots of the restaurants back to a big playground. We ate out on the patio and had the place to ourselves. Aedan was in heaven. After he ate, he got to run around to his hearts content.

When we were done eating, we took Aedan over to the playground. Two playgrounds in one day was too good to miss.

After we put Aedan to bed, Jon and I watched Black Swan. It was good. Weird, but good.

This morning, Jon took me out to breakfast for Mother’s Day. Then after Aedan’s nap we headed to the mall for some shopping. I picked up some new candles from Bath and Body Works (I love their big candles). I needed to get some summer scents and it was so hard to choose just two, but I decided on Mango Cilantro and Island Margarita.

I also got a new cross body purse. According to my sister they are “very in style”. It’s cute and I think having a hands free purse is a must with a active toddler.

This evening we went over to my friend Larissa’s house for some good BBQ. It was great to visit and enjoy time with friends.

I can’t believe the weekend is already over. I’m not ready for Monday, but I know the week will fly by.

-Lauren-

A Visit to Great Grandmom’s Place

2011-05-04T16:11:00.001-05:00

My grandmother recently moved to an apartment/independent living center. I have been meaning to take Aedan up for a visit for a few weeks now, and we finally arranged it for today.

When Aedan woke up for his morning nap, we headed up to Round Rock. We had a great visit and had lunch in her apartment. At first Aedan wasn’t too sure about the new place, but he quickly warmed up and was making himself at home (i.e.., moved the trashcan all around the kitchen, and opening/closing doors and cabinets) in no time.

After lunch Grandmom took us on a tour of the complex. Aedan had a blast. We walked through the courtyard, cafeteria, the main entry way and lots of hallways in between. Aedan smiled at everyone and made lots of new friends. For a baby that was so apprehensive of new people, he has turned into a social butterfly (as long a Mommy or Daddy are not too far away).

We had a great visit, and I would have taken more pictures, but I was busy following my busy busy toddler around as he made all his new friends. Haha.

-Lauren-

All Out Of and What To Eat

2011-05-03T16:34:00.001-05:00

When we were at my parent’s house last week, I walked passed the refrigerator and did a double take. What was that on refrigerator door, I asked myself? I stopped and looked. It was this handy pad of paper. Um, it was love at first sights. Can you fall in love it a pad of paper? Apparently you can, or I can anyway.

When Jon and I first got married we would make weekly trips to the grocery store. We always enjoyed running errands together, and we still do. But get this, we never made a meal plan or a grocery list. I know, I know, my mom is shaking her head at this right now, because she always makes a meal plan and a grocery list.
But we didn’t. Occasionally we would make a note if we were out of something, but for the most part we would wonder through the store and drop items into the cart that we normally would buy. Oh the insanity.
Fast forward a few years and now I have another grocery partner. We prefer to go to the grocery store during the week to avoid shopping with everyone who shares our zip code. Since Jon is working in the middle of the week, Aedan and I tend to head to the store on Tuesday mornings.
Around the time Aedan was born, I decided it was high time I make a meal plan for the week as well as grocery list that goes along with it. I know, genius right? So Sunday or Monday night, I figure out a few meals for the week and make my list. Then I have to add to my list the items that we have jotted down throughout the week as we run out. I try to group everything together based on where it is in the store to make my trip faster.
Really it is not that time consuming, but how great that grocery list? It hangs on the refrigerator and we can check off things we think of during the week, then I can add to it when I make my meal plan. I love that everything is organized and already grouped together. Love it! I found it here, and while I was looking around I also found this, love it too!

Can you believe you just read a whole post on grocery lists? I’ll have to think of something more entertaining next time. :)
-Lauren-

Tia

2011-05-01T21:39:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday, Easter morning, my phone rang at 7am. I was still in bed, and when I saw my Dad’s name on the caller id, I paused. My stomach sank and I knew something was wrong. I knew my Dad wouldn’t call on a Sunday morning at 7am if it was just to say “hi”. A thought passed through my mind, for just a split second, I thought maybe I could just ignore the call. If I ignored the call, then I wouldn’t have to face the bad news.

I didn’t ignore the call. I answered and when my Dad said my name, I could hear the sadness in his voice. He told me my great aunt had passed away the night before in her sleep. My great aunt, who I have always known as Tia (pronounced “ta ah”, ever since my mom was little and couldn’t say tia) was 93. I know what you’re thinking, 93, wow! I know, she lived a long life. But she was Tia. She was healthy and still full of spunk. She was going to outlive all of us. We were not ready to say goodbye. We would never be ready to say goodbye..

This past week, we made the trip up to Plano to help with and attend her memorial service. On Thursday as I helped my parents scan old pictures for a slide show, I couldn’t help but remember the times we had shared. I could her her distinct voice (it never lacked for volume) and her unforgettable laugh (it was infectious).

See I grew up with three grandmothers. Tia had helped raise my mom from the day she was born so I had always seen her as more than a great aunt, as I know she was more than an aunt to my mom.

(my grandmother, my mom and Tia)

When I was little, I would spend the day with her when my family headed down to Galveston to visit my grandparents. She used to give me coffee with ice cream and I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. It was always made more special because she told me I couldn’t tell my parents. It was our secret.

She was a wonderful cook. She was famous for making everything from enchiladas to mincemeat cookies. She helped me make tortillas one day when I was little, and I ‘m pretty sure I made more of a mess than anything, but she and I both had fun.

When it comes down to it, it’s the little things that I remember the most.

How she would always say to carry an umbrella because “it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it”.

When she told Jon at our wedding that he should probably start carrying antacids with him.

How she would call Hiro “chocolate” and then tell me he wasn’t a good listener. “Lauren, he doesn’t even listen to his name” she would say.

How she would yell “lefono” when the phone would ring, just incase we didn’t hear the ringer.

How she would wash and then hang ziplock bags on hangers from the tree outside the kitchen to dry (effects of living through the Depression, I imagine).

How she always called Jon “palone” and Aedan “butterball” and had a nickname for just about everyone else too.

She was one of a kind and I could go on and on about witty remarks she has said and hilarious stories she has shared.

It was a hard week. but after seeing my grandfather’s both so sick before they died, I am thankful she passed away in her sleep. She was never one to sit still or have others care for her. She was one who lived life to it’s fullest everyday and she was able to do just that until the very end.

Both my Mom and Dad spoke at the memorial service and my Dad ended with this quote from Janis Joplin. I thought it was perfect,

“I’d trade all my tomorrow’s for a single yesterday”

because even though I know without a doubt I will be reunited with her someday, someday is just too far away.

I love you Tia. We all love you and will miss you dearly, but your legacy will live on. We will talk about you, and continue to reminisce about your life and stories.

Aedan will grow up hearing your name and how just maybe, he gets that big personality of his straight from you.

-Lauren-

Snack Time

2011-04-27T14:30:00.001-05:00

Recently Aedan has decided that he can feed himself with a spoon/fork. He wants zero help, and is intent on getting the job done on his own. A lot of the things he eats are finger food, but we do use a spoon to feed him at least one thing every meal (oatmeal, yogurt, mashed potatoes, etc….). We now have to have two spoons, one for him and one for us to use (otherwise we would be there for hours).

This is what snack time looked like at our house yesterday.…

So proud of himself.

On a much more somber note, my great aunt passed away on Sunday. She passed away in her sleep, so it was sudden for us in that we didn’t get to say goodbye, but it was very peaceful for her. After losing both my grandfathers this passed year; both of which were very sick in the end, I am truly happy she didn’t have to go through anything like that. Of course we were not ready to lose her and it has been a tough week for my family. I want to write a post about her but I am still working on getting my words together. If you could keep our family in your prayers this week, it would be much appreciated.

-Lauren-

Laugh

2011-04-22T15:27:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh at life’s situations. I can think of hundreds of times where the only thing I could do was laugh…

There was the time that I lost my drivers license on our honeymoon in San Francisco. It was our second day out on the town and we decided to do a lot of walking and shopping around the city. I thought I wouldn’t want to carry a purse around (I have never been a big purse fan) and for some reason I thought I should carry my license, so I put it in my back pocket. Then right after this picture was taken, I realized it was not in my pocket anymore.

We retraced all our steps to no avail. It was a little stressful, you know since we were on our way to Napa Valley the next day (apparently they assume that if you go to Napa, you are old enough to drink and no one asked for my id). Then of course there was the whole getting on a plane to come home with no id. But everything worked out and a few weeks after we got back, someone mailed me my license, which they had found on the vary corner this picture was taken…all you can do is laugh.

Then there was the time that Jon woke up hearing Hiro go in and out of the doggie door over and over. He got up to find out why, and when he turned the porch light on he saw every single pair of my shoes spread across the backyard. When I asked what was wrong, he said “Lauren don’t freak out, it will be okay” Needless to say I jumped out of bed and when I saw my flats, my boots (including Uggs), my tennis shoes, etc…I just had to laugh. How can you get mad at this little guy (although he wasn’t quite this small when he carried out my shoe collection)…

Then there was a an afternoon a few days ago. I made Aedan a smoothie and put it in this type of cup. He loved it. We then headed outside to play with his sidewalk chalk. He was having a blast walking around with his smoothie, when he saw a small glass candle on the table on our porch. He walked over an grabbed it. Me, being ever so smart, told him to “put it down”, instead of walking over and taking it from him. He has been really good about listening all week and guess what he did? Yup, he put it down. Just let go and let it drop to the concrete. Of course it shattered, so I quickly scooped him up (he was totally fine) and put him in his swing. While I went to grab the dust pan, I gave him his smoothie to drink. Just as I got the glass picked up I looked up at Aedan, who was covered in his smoothie. Apparently the top of his cup had come partly off and in my hurry to get the glass picked up, I had not noticed. He was basically sitting in a puddle of berry smoothie and had it everywhere. Sigh, I just couldn’t win. So I laughed. Then Aedan started to laugh and clap his hands. And few paper towels later we were good to go.

What about you all? Have you found yourself in a situation and the only thing left to do is laugh?

-Lauren-

Clean House

2011-04-20T20:24:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I bought a Groupon for a good deal on a house cleaning. I called and scheduled for them to come out yesterday. Seriously, it is a little ridiculous how much I had been looking forward to them coming out.

I am a neat freak, maybe a little too much so if you ask Jon. But having a clean house puts me in the best mood. With work, Aedan and a dog that seems to shed more an more everyday, it is hard to keep the house clean.

So yesterday morning, I got Aedan up and after breakfast we heading out to Town Lake to walk, so we would be out of the way when they came to clean (Jon worked from home yesterday so he was here to let them in).

Usually I go walking with a friend once or twice a week, but she was out of town this week so it was just me an Aedan.

It was perfect. It got pretty hot yesterday (high 90s already…we are in for it this summer!) but in the morning it was pretty cloudy and breezy so it was comfortable. Aedan feel asleep for most of the walk so I just enjoyed the quiet time outside.

On our way back home, we stopped at the grocery store and bought food for the week. I like grocery shopping…is that strange? The only thing I dislike is the amount I spend every week. I have tried to get on board with coupons, but I just can’t seem to do it. Plus usually half of my cart is full of produce which rarely has coupons. If you coupon, how did you get started?? I need help!

Aedan and I made it back home just as the cleaning crew was finishing up. We had lunch and then I put him down for an early nap and enjoyed my clean house. Love it! Now if I could afford to have them come out every week, I’d be good to go…

And since no post is complete without a picture…

Gotta love the bear crawl with chalky hands and feet.

-Lauren-

TV Watching

2011-04-18T20:54:00.001-05:00

We don’t watch commercials. I’m sure most people don’t watch commercials anymore with the invention of DVRs and such. But not only do we not watch commercials, but we don’t fast forward through them either. How? I don’t know, but it is one of the many benefits to having a computer guy for a husband.

We don’t have cable – shocking since I am a TV lover, but it hasn’t been too bad. We get basic channels like ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.… and I can watch most of my cable shows online (you know like Army Wives, Teen Mom and the Real Housewives of where ever) – as you can see I only watch quality TV. All I need is for TLC to jump on the band wagon and put up full episodes like everyone else!

We watch TV through Xbox media center and Jon has some program that goes through our recorded shows and takes out the commercials. Best.thing.ever.

Well almost the best thing. See, while I love not sitting through annoying loud commercials, I don’t love that I miss previews for new shows. I tend to miss the first episodes of new seasons because I miss all the ads that announce the air date. Tragic right? I know, it is tough.

It happened on Friday. I miss the first episode of the new season of Friday Night Lights.

I heart this show. And guess what? It is totally filmed in Austin. Not only in Austin, but a lot of it is filmed on the east side of Austin, our stomping ground. One morning Jon and I were driving to our favorite breakfast place and drove right by Ray’s BBQ.

Luckily I am watched the first episode online this morning (instead of getting work done) and I have already set up my fancy DVR, so next Friday I will be watching episode 2 without commercials.

-Lauren-

Our Garden: Part One

2011-04-17T16:10:00.001-05:00

We have wanted to build a garden in our backyard ever since we moved in 4 1/2 years ago…go us for being on the ball on that one. Oh well, life happens.

Recently Jon was over at our neighbor’s house and they happen to have a super nice garden. He decided it was high time we get our rolling. Um…have I mentioned that the only plant I have had luck with is my indoor ivy? I’m pretty sure this thing could live in a closet and be fine. Hopefully we will have better luck with our garden than I have had with plants in the past.

After checking out our neighbor’s garden, Jon decided he wanted to build a similar type fence around ours. Have you seen my husband’s handy work? He build this without plans. Like just had the idea in his head, bought the wood and build it. I was/am impressed. So, I knew he would have no trouble building our garden fence.

Friday night we went to Home Depot to check out supplies. We are the “window shop and then come home and talk before making purchases” kind of people. Aedan had a blast at Home Depot. Now that he is walking, I decided to let him walk with us down the isles. He loved the idea of walking, but the idea of walking next to us not so much. Mr. Stubborn…

Saturday morning, Jon got started clearing away our garden area. I didn’t take a before picture, but basically it was just grass. By then end of the day, he had the spot cleared and holes dug for the posts. We headed back to Home Depot to get the wood.

Today he has been out working on the fence and is just about done. with the first step. We Jon is going to fill in the frames with wire and then put a ledge to finish off the top. Once that is done, we will make some boxes for the planting area and filling in a pathway with our leftover crushed granite. We are hoping to get it finished up next weekend and start planting soon after that so stay tuned for more pictures.

While Jon worked on the fence, Aedan and I thought it would be a perfect day for some sidewalk chalk, bubbles and bare feet.

Love this spring weather!

-Lauren-

13 Months

2011-04-15T10:05:00.001-05:00

I’m not sure how long I will keep doing these monthly updates, but I feel like Aedan has changes so much this last month so I knew I needed to record it…

(This cute picture was taken by our good friend Aaron. He is good right?!?! He took our family pictures and my maternity pictures. Maybe someday, I’ll take pictures like this.)

Aedan, here is what you are up to these days…

At your 1 year check up, you weighed 23 lbs. I can’t remember how tall you were (and I am too lazy to get up and look) but you have evened yourself out and are now in the 50% percentile for everything.
You sleep from about 7:30/8pm-7:30/8am
You also still take two naps a day, in the morning for about 1-1.5 hours and in the afternoon for 2-2.5 hours.
You love to WALK. You are officially a walker. Around your birthday you were taking a few steps, but you weren’t standing up without pulling up on something. About a week or two after your birthday, you started to stand up all on your own and since then you pretty much walk everywhere.. Nana (your babysitter), sent me a text today saying you were just walking all around the house and loving it).
You love to wave and clap your hands.
You have also learned how to sign “all done”. It makes me laugh because you do it all the time…like when I lay you down to change your diaper, when we are waiting in line at the grocery store, when I put country music on in the car (apparently you are not a fan), or when you get tried and are ready for a nap. This morning you fell down and bumped your head and immediately started signing all done…I think you have over generalized it a bit, but it’s okay because it is too cute!
You love to look your books. You pull them out of your basket one by one and give them to us to read.
You can throw you toy balls and you even kick Daddy’s little soccer ball around.
While you have decreased the amount of food you eat, you have increased the variety. You will pretty much try whatever we give you. Your current favorites are blueberries, cheese, and chicken.
You officially have a blanket (sheet protector), you look for it when you are tired or upset and you love to hold it close to your face.
You have always been a fan of being outside and that has not changed a bit. When you want to go outside you will stand and ~~knock~~ bang on the door. You get excited when I ask you if you want to go outside or if I tell you we need to find your shoes.
You still love Hiro and you think he is chasing you every time he comes through the doggie door. As soon as you hear the door open, you drop what you are doing and start laughing while you try to run away. I don’t think Hiro gets the game yet, but you think it is hilarious!
You say “Dada” and “Nana” often and Daddy says you say “Mama” a lot when I am not around, but apparently you see no reason in calling my name when I am already present.
You also say “dat” when you want something. I have also heard you say “ook” (book) and “nahnah” (banana), but you only say them when you want too. Mostly we hear a lot of “DAT” and “NahNa” while you point at various things you can’t reach/are not supposed to have. or “uh uh” (uh oh) when you drop something.
You throw some pretty awesome tantrums when you don’t get your way. You like to kick and scream or crawl in slow motion with you head down while screaming – you definitely have a temper and a dramatic side. We are totally in for it when you get older, I’m sure!

Aedan you make us laugh everyday and definitely keep us on our toes! We love watching you grow and explore as you show us more and more who you are. You are very loved and we are very blessed. –love, mommy.

-Lauren-

Goodbye Bottles

2011-04-13T15:17:00.001-05:00

About a week after Aedan turned one, we decided it was time to say goodbye to bottles. I was a little nervous, not because he was super attached to his bottle, but because I just knew there was no way he would drink as much milk out of a sippy cup.

Well after a couple of days of me worrying and him getting used the the whole milk in a sippy cup, I am happy to say that it was an easy transition. He gets 3 servings of milk a day and some days he drinks more than others, but overall I know he is getting plenty.

He prefers his milk out of these sippy cups and I like them because they have oz. measurements on them just like a bottle. I replaced the bottle like top with a sippy top and we are good to go.

Oh and it is so great to not have to wash bottles all the time! All and all, we are pretty happy.

-Lauren-

Mondays

2011-04-11T21:01:00.001-05:00

Mondays…sigh. I’m already ready for the weekend, enough said.

Last night I got a text from Aedan’s sitter. She wanted to remind me that she would be out for the day because she and her oldest daughter were going to visit Baylor. Her mom was going to be watching the babies. No big deal, right? Really it wasn’t. Her mom lives in the neighborhood and has met Aedan many times before.

BUT, lately Aedan has been having a hard time when I leave him at the sitter’s house. This is how it goes. We drive to her house. Aedan “talks” the whole way there. I talk to him about how he is going to Nana’s house (that’s what the kids call her). He totally says “Nana” by the way. It’s cute. So we pull up at her house. He is all excited about getting out of the car. We walk to the front door and he holds the screen door open while I knock. He sits in my arms and smiles as he waits for Nana to come to the door. She opens the door and Aedan flashes her a big grin and waves. We walk in and he reaches for her. She takes him and I put his stuff on a bench. Then I try to make a quick exit. AND that is when Aedan loses it. Like hardcore crying. I can usually hear him when I get to my car. Sigh. Nana says he always calms down pretty fast, but still. Oh and get this, Jon dropped him off last week and did Aedan cry? Nope, not one tear. Sigh.

So, I was a little nervous about Nana’s mom having to deal with my dramatic little guy. Sure enough as soon as I start to leave, Aedan loses it. But when I went to pick him up a few hours later, he was all smiles. Nana’s mom said he did really well, and only got mad once (when she took away the baby carseat he was not suppose to be playing with). Have I mentioned he has a temper? Um, we are totally going to be in for it when he turns 2! I’m just glad he wasn’t too much of a handful. :)

And now Monday is done, and I have two days to work from home and hang out with my little guy.

-Lauren-

Our Weekend

2011-04-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend my parents and sister came for a visit. We all had a blast!

Friday evening, we got hamburgers and headed to the park for a picnic. I learned an important lesson…if I want Aedan to actually eat dinner, I need to feed him before we go to the park. He was way to busy exploring the park, playing in the dogs water bowl and trying to steal everyone’s lemonade (he is obsessed with any drink with a straw).

Regardless of Aedan skipping dinner, we all had fun.

Saturday morning, Jon, my sister and I got up early and set up for our neighborhood garage sale. We were able to get rid of a bunch of stuff and made a good profit. Everything that was left when we closed up, got loaded into the car and taken to Goodwill.

Aedan enjoyed eating his breakfast and waving at everyone that stopped by. Oh and don’t worry, no one took us up on the free baby, even though he came with a walker, milk and breakfast bar. :)

Saturday afternoon I got to go shopping with my mom and sister while Pops babysat Aedan. We had a great time and I got some cute stuff for the house. I am redoing our guest bathroom. I’ll post some pictures once I get everything done. By the time we got home, we were all pretty tired so that evening we all relaxed with pizza and good beer.

Sunday morning, my sister and I went to boot camp before she headed up to Round Rock to see my grandmother.

Sunday afternoon, Jon, Aedan and I all took a long nap and then while I was getting everything ready for my Monday meetings, Jon cleaned the house. He did a great job, like on his hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floors. There is nothing better than relaxing on Sunday evening in a clean house and work taken care of. :)

Happy Monday!

-Lauren-

Goings On

2011-04-06T16:59:00.001-05:00

I’m not sure why I have gotten in a habit of only blogging once a week. I think of random things to post, but then never end up publishing them. So here are a few things in bullet points before I let another week go by…

Work – everything is going pretty well. I think I have finally decided on a name for my company, but I need to do a little more research to see if I can use the name. Seriously everything I have thought of has turned out to be a name of a company somewhere else, it is pretty difficult to come up with something original!
Aedan is a walking maniac. He walks all around the house and is pretty stable. BUT he loves to walk with thing in his hand. Things like a spoon, blanket, or stick. You know, things that are totally safe to walk with and not easily tripped on…yeah right!
I have been going to a neighborhood boot camp for a few weeks now. I love it! It started off as a once a week thing, but now the trainer is leading a class 3 times a week. The fact that it is only down the street has been a huge part of why I have been so consistent in going.
This weekend we are having a neighborhood garage sale. Jon and I spent a good part of last weekend cleaning out closets and drawers. I really didn’t think we had that much, but now that it is all stacked in the garage I changed my mind. We have a ton of stuff to sell and what doesn’t sell will be loaded straight into the car to take to Goodwill.
My parents and my sister are coming in town for the weekend. We are planning to go on our family picnic Friday night and maybe I will even be able to squeeze in some shopping with my mom and sister – my favorite!
Tonight I am getting together with some good girlfriends for happy hour tonight, so excited!!

-Lauren-

We Love Books

2011-03-31T22:43:00.001-05:00

I love that Aedan has reached an age where he loves to look at books. I have always loved books and reading and it is something I hope to pass on to him. There are few things better than getting totally swept away to another time/place through reading.

Obviously right now Aedan is more in the look at pictures, point to fun things and touch different textures stage of reading, but still he loves his “ook”.

Of course he doesn’t just look at one book at a time.

It’s way better to get out all your favorites and have them spread around you.

I love when I get sneak in with my camera and just capture him doing things like this.

Of course it is short lived, because he quickly realizes that I have that black thing that makes noise…

But check out this walking baby with his big boy haircut (man oh man, that is a whole nothing post!!).

-Lauren-