Wordless Wednesday

18 Months

Yesterday Liam had his 18 month appointment with his pediatrician. It is still hard to believe that my little baby is now a big boy! He had several shots but remained in great spirits. He currently is in the 50th percentile for height and weight. His head is still in the 75-90th percentile.

He constantly amazes us with his energy. It is very common for us to have to chase him, pull him off of furniture and keep him from destroying the house. He is definitely all boy! Vocabulary wise he says about a dozen words and relies on signing to communicate a lot of his needs. He points to items all the time and says, "That?" He LOVES to look at himself in the mirror and flirt with the ladies. I think he will be a handful in his teenage years. He dances...all...the..time. He sings "Old McDonald" (really he mostly chimes in with E - I - E - I - O) and "Do Re Mi" from the Sound of Music. He loves turning on and off lights. He has recently become obsessed with our Swiffer (a man after my own heart), so I have to sneak-clean when he is around or he insists on pushing it around...for ever.

He is starting to mimic our actions. The other day I scolded Cooper for stealing a sock and he came up behind me and tried to spank Cooper (yikes). He copies me when I yawn or talk on my cell phone. He likes to comb his hair and brush his teeth. Going to the playground has become an obsession for him; one that usually ends in him melting down when we are forced to go home.

Because Liam has had so many ear infections, several of which have been back to back, this past Friday he had tubes inserted in his ears. During the procedure they also did a nasal scope to determine whether his adenoids had to be removed. If there was a blockage of 75% or more, the adenoids were going to be taken out. However, despite his persistent congestion, he was only about 30% blocked. I guess he is just destined to have cruddy allergies like his Mom and Dad. He is starting to feel a lot better and today was his final day of ear drops. I recently told one of my friends that putting ear drops in a baby's ears is akin to trying to give a cat a bath.

In other news, Eric has had a persistent cough for the past month resulting in an upper respiratory infection. I decided to add to the trifecta by getting a horrible stomach virus this past weekend. We hunkered down for a long, germy few days. Hopefully this next weekend is a lot better!

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we went with our neighbors, the Gragerts, to Owens Pumpkin Farm. In addition to it being Liam's first time to a pumpkin patch, it was actually my first time too! Earlier in the day Liam and I went to Fall Fest in Sachse, so needless to say, he was a little tired even after his nap. For those of you in the area looking for a good pumpkin patch, this was a great place for little kids. They had a petting zoo where you can feed the goats, hayrides, and of course, lots of pumpkins!



I am not sure if it is a boy thing, but Liam is obsessed with sticks. After we arrived at the farm, he had little interest in the pumpkins. What drew his attention where the stiff pieces of straw. Every time he found a superior piece of straw, he would discard the former piece. The piece de resistance was when he found an actual stick. If you take a look at the pictures that follow, you will see that he would NOT let go of the stick.


Dad tries desperately to show Liam how cool the pumpkins on the ground were. Nope. He only has eyes for the stick.

Double-fisting it in the pumpkin patch

Feeding the goats. Or rather Eric is. Perhaps Liam was afraid they would go for the stick.

That goat does seem to be eying the stick....

The Gragert Family on our hayride. We definitely got a workout chasing all of our kids around!

Perhaps Eric and I got more out of the pumpkin patch than Liam did! The stick traveled all the way home with us, whereupon we distracted Liam to get rid of the dirty, farm souvenir. Overall, a really great day with great friends!

Week in review

This past week, my best friend Stephanie, gave birth to a baby girl, Annabelle Eden Baca. She is truly one of the prettiest babies I have ever seen, and such a perfect combination of her mom and dad. I know that Stephanie will make a really wonderful mother, and I can't wait to see Belle grow up!

Such a pretty little pout!

Growing up in Albuquerque, Eric and I had the opportunity to go to the Balloon Fiesta. For those of you who do not know, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the largest hot air balloon festival in the entire world. In my head it always signals the official start of autumn.
People come from all over the world the participate in this two week event, and it is quite a sight to see over 700 hot air balloons ascend into the air.

Plano has a much smaller balloon festival in September, but it is still really neat to get to experience the fun. Some of our friends moved to a new home that is just a short distance from the festival in Plano. Needless to say, when we received an invite for dinner, cocktails and balloons, we couldn't say no!

Liam got the opportunity to see horses up close and personal for the first time. While it is difficult to see, he was much more interested in the stick he found on the ground. In fact, he could care less about the beautiful creature that wandered right up to him! He also showed little interest in the hot air balloons, but maybe next year when we try to go to Albuquerque for the fun he will get into the excitement.

This month at school, Liam is learning all about diversity. To kick off the weekend, his school had a diversity parade. Each class represented a different country. I was able to make out almost every country, except for the class that dressed like dragons (possibly England?). During the parade (which we later learned was just a bunch of kids running around furiously, while their parents tried desperately to keep them from running into traffic) the kids joined hands in the unity circle to sing "It's a Small World." His class represented Mexico. Later this week I will post a picture of Liam in his sombrero. He also got the opportunity to eat his first biscochito cookie.

Liam with his toddler class.
They were all dressed to represent the colors of Mexico.

After eating his own cookie, he stole mine and couldn't hide his excitement from the camera!

The cooler weather has been a blessing. It means more walks in the BOB and trips to the neighborhood playground.

Playing with legos from Ms. Stephanie. This is by far his favorite toy right now.

He also loves playing with the Star Wars card that Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jolyn got Daddy for his birthday. Believe me, listening to the Star Wars theme dozens of times in a row, never gets old.

On Saturday, I woke up and made the boys pumpkin pancakes with chocolate chips. We were supposed to go to Maize Days in Murphy, but unfortunately the rain (which would be welcome almost any other time) led to the cancellation of the event. We will just have to get our fill of fall festivals at Sachse Fall Fest in two weeks and the State Fair!

Last night, our friends Jen and Craig were nice enough to watch Liam for us so that we could attend the SPCA's fundraiser, "The Fur Ball." The company that Eric is working for is responsible for the remodel/design of the new SPCA of Dallas building so we got the opportunity to go have some grownup fun! They had a Las Vegas theme and live entertainment. It was definitely fun to get out.

Me and the King.

It was a great weekend and I am loving the fall weather. Tonight we are having Mi Casa Sausage Soup from the Junior League of Albuquerque cookbook. Many thanks to Becky for the gift that keeps on giving. Definitely a great way to start off the week.

Girls Trip!

A few months back, our friend Sasha invited me and some other friends to spend a whole week in Destin, Florida. My first thought was that there was no way that I could leave my family for an entire week. But Eric, being the wonderful husband he is, convinced me that it was important for me to take time off to relax and enjoy life. So off to Florida I went with 6 other of the most awesome girls you could ever meet. My sister-in-law, Jolyn, who introduced us to Sasha several years back, was able to travel down from Kansas. Janelle came all the way from the Netherlands to partake in the festivities. And rounding out the crowd were Tiel, Sherry, and Stephanie.

We had an amazing time shopping, eating, swimming in the ocean and riding wave runners. I was able to "sleep in" everyday. For me, sleeping in means 7 a.m.! We were able to take great walks on the beach, drink fruity drinks, and explore picturesque towns like Rosemary, Seaside and Santa Rosa. Between all us moms, we left behind 15 kids and 7 husbands! While it was a wonderful experience, I am glad to be back with my boys.

Final hugs from Mommy for a WHOLE week! We tried Skyping while I was away, but Liam just looked at me like "Why is Mom trapped in the computer?"

Our ride to Destin

Family shot before the girls boarded the plane.

Liam was ready to board the plane once he got sight of the stairs.

"What do you mean I am not going with Mommy! Put me down man!"

Toasting the beginning of our girls week!

Jolyn walking to the plane, drink in hand.

Chocolates and champagne with Jolyn. Life is hard.

Our house at Rosemary Beach was called Turtle Cove. On the front porch was a great swing. And the back porch on all three stories had a porch which came in handy for having a cup of coffee in the morning or reading a good book.

Living room

Entryway

Seaside Village with Stephanie

Stephanie, Jolyn and Tiel (the cutest pregnant mom ever! In addition to Stephanie, my best friend in NM)

One of the amazing sunsets from the beach.

Our house was only a block from the boardwalk to the beach.

One day, after being chased away by seaweed at the beach, we opted for the pool instead. Drinking Sasha's yummy, grownup strawberry lemonade.

I earned a merit badge in building a base tan.

One night several of the girls went crabbing. Food always tastes so much better when you have worked for it!

Chocolate soup at a local tapas bar

Amazing grouper with lobster rosoto.
I always thought grouper sounded like an ugly fish so I wouldn't eat it.
But it was fantastic!

Hands down the biggest shrimp I have ever seen! They were wrapped in pancetta and severed with cranberry cous cous. Yum yum.

Cocktails on the beach as the sun sets. I had to pinch myself several times!

Our last night

The view from the plane. It was my first time on a private plane, and lets just say...I could get used to it. You only have to be at the airport 15 minutes before the plane departs and you can drive the car right up to the tarmac!

Destin from the air.

I needed at least one corny shot coming out of the plane. All that is missing is a ridiculously large hat and a small dog in my arms!

Final group shot. What an amazing experience! We have talked about trying to do a yearly girls trip since it was so much fun!

Keeping up with the Pates

Ok. Let me begin this blog post by saying that the title is a complete joke. Let me explain. Eric and I love our satellite television. We have often times joked that our cable is our country club. When we were both growing up, neither of our families had cable television. In fact, like so many of our friends, our parents did not get cable until we went away to college. Along with white couches. And super nice vacations. You know, all the things they could now afford not having kids at home. But I digress.

Things would have to get really bad before we got rid of our service. I mean really bad. I would stand out on Preston Road in rush hour traffic carrying a sign that said "Please provide money for cable television. God Bless." We recently decided to switch our satellite provider so that we could take advantage of one of those nifty bundle packages where you can get phone (our first land line since like 2004), Internet, and cable. And yes, I realize that these packages are nothing new and have been around since the inception of digital cable.

However, as in life, you can never plan the switch over to go flawlessly. So here we are, a week after our initial satellite service has ended but days away from our new service being installed. I am having a bit of a difficult time adjusting. Do you realize that you can't rewind or DVR on regular television? It is really difficult to have like, two channels (PBS being one of them). I guess I could put my English degree to good use, but my brain powers down at the end of a long day. So here I am talking about...keeping up with us - which, let's be frank, is not hard to do.

I am totally not on the bandwagon for major trends. For anything. And it is not one of these intentional feats, like "I am sooo independent that I am going against the grain." It is more like I just can't get it together to be on the cusp of what's happening. Case in point: Didn't get a VCR until my senior year in college (who knew they were still even making them at that point). Started the "Sex in the City" series the year after it ended. I read the Twilight series several years after it became mainstream. Those horrible pancho sweaters that make everyone look pregnant except for supermodels? Yep. Eric and I don't even text. When everyone is just about over a fad, we are just getting in to it. As evidence, check out my blog at Christmas 2014 when I receive my first i-Phone and talk to people like it is the newest insider secret out there.

I sometimes long to be one of those gals that is on the cutting edge of "What's hot now." But for right now I will settle for what was hot...and then not...yesterday.

Being a mother means never being alone...ever

Sometimes I remember what it is like to be alone. I mean really alone. The days where I could sleep in. Read a novel. Have an orange without having to share it with the entire household. Where I could have a glass of water that was mine alone. Where I could listen to any song on the radio without wondering whether its contents could possibly skew my son's view of the world.

But somewhere after you say "I do" the privacy starts to diminish. Pretty soon your spouse is walking in on you while you are using "the facilities" to ask you what sounds good for dinner. Then you get a dog and the privacy starts to further reduce itself. I distinctly remember the first time I felt like I was being "watched" in the shower. As I rinsed the shampoo out of my eyes, I looked down and saw my maltepoo Cooper watching me, chewing on my discarded underwear from the other side of the glass door. Before long both dogs had to be pried off of our bed at night so that we could get a decent night of sleep.

Perhaps it is irony. I remember standing outside of my parent's bedroom as a child, yelling, asking why their bedroom door was locked. Walking into the bathroom as my mom showered to inquire where she had put my blue sweater.

With motherhood comes new sets of challenges. I would not change my life for anything. But sometimes I have a difficult time remembering what it was like to be in the sanctity of my own bathroom without a little man banging on the door, screaming "MaMa! MaMa! MaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaMa!" as his little hand pokes it's way underneath the door.