CaseyAndKelly.Com

Today was another overcast day in the ATX. 🙁 I’m pretty bummed that we’re not able to do all the stuff that we (I) had wanted since Casey’s been off. Our trip to Barton Springs (natural spring with a year round temp ranging from 68-71) was cancelled because of a vandalized sewer main leak and the pool being shut down as a precaution. We also wanted to go to the top of Mount Bonnell (I would say hike but it’s actually limestone stairs so not exactly a hike) and take pics from the highest point in Austin. Casey has to go into the office for an all-hands in the morning but I’m hopeful that we might be able to do some sightseeing before the week is up. Although Brady’s mood/pain level might be a factor as well. She’s still teething (with no end in sight) and needing Tylenol or Motrin (depending on what’s nearby) 1-2 times a day. I’ll be glad when the teeth are through and our happy baby returns – although she does seem to nap more in the day when she is teething, but also nurses more and eats less solids.

Brady had another pool day today. She loved it, even though we didn’t take pictures. She has this extreme fascination with a few of the items from a doctor kit that Memaw and Hankaw sent and used them as pool toys. Dudey is still not ready to accept that the pool is no longer his and will try to drink it all up/get in it. Hopefully with time he’ll start accepting Brady’s right of pool passage. I guess the alternative is to get Brady (us?) a bigger pool and give Dudey his pool back as the temps heat up and we all need to be in the water but for now the pool is hers. Brady is a little daredevil (if I haven’t said it before). She loves to try and climb onto the couch and back over the back of it. She loves to climb in and out of the pool, even if it means face planting and getting a mouth/noseful of water. She thinks she’s able to walk down stairs face first and has no sense of gravity. We might have to begin controlled fall exercises soon so there are no free falls.

Summer is almost here which means less TV viewing. The Amazing Race is over – boo the cowboys didn’t win. Only two more episodes of Survivor (go Parv, Colby, maybe Russell, and even Jerri). Final four prediction there? And only two more episodes of LOST. I went and got my hair did and ended up sticking with the brunette so dressing up for the LOST finale party at Kevin & Adele’s may require a wig. Fortunately, there’s been an offer of a short blonde wig to ensure I take the Shannon role. Hmmm. Not exactly the most comfortable costume but I should be able to scrounge something together (way better than going with a person that fits the hairstyle – the dang flight attendant).

Saturday morning we got up early to head downtown for the March for Babies.  Adele and Meredith were already there when left but luckily traffic was light and we managed to find parking in the lot closest to the park.  Justin, Robin, and Jude showed up pretty soon after we got there and Team Bradycakes was ready to walk!  We took a very scenic walk across the bridge on Congress, up and around the capital, and back to Auditorium Shores.  I haven’t heard any estimates as to how many walkers there were but there were a lot.  It was quite impressive to be in a crowd with hundreds (thousands) in front and many behind.  I was disappointed it was overcast and kind of breezy when we first arrived but by the time we crossed the finish line it was in the mid-70s and ended up being great weather for the walk.  I’m really glad we were able to get out there and raise money and awareness about prematurity and hope we’ll keep walking in the future (hopefully next year it won’t be Mothers Day weekend).  Thanks to everyone that donated and/or walked with us!  We worked up an appetite during the walk and we to Pluckers for wings and beer with Adele and Meredith.  After lunch, we headed home and all three of managed to get a nap before heading out again.

We woke up and drove down to San Marcos for Maebry’s 1st birthday party.  It started sprinkling right as we were showing up but the weather ended up cooperating and we had a great time hanging out, eating cake balls, and chasing Brady around the playground and fields.  After the party, we went to Justin & Robin’s and hung out for a couple of hours before driving home.  Brady was worn out from all the activity but with the change of schedule was a little restless with her sleep.

Yesterday, was my second Mothers Day!  We ended up just hanging around the house and Casey bought some Framboise Lambec and made me his version of vanilla dream cupcakes…Texas-sized!  Since we didn’t do anything yesterday, today we went to the NXNW Brewery and had lunch.  The beers were good but the food was meh.  Even Brady’s chicken fingers were overcooked and bland.  We decided since we were nearby, we’d stop by Austin Home Brew and pick up a mozzarella cheese making kit.  It’s just sitting in the fridge right now (we need to buy some more milk) but I’m excited to get started.

Poor Brady is still teething with no end in sight.  We’ve had to give her Tylenol a few more times lately.  She has 10 teeth and the remaining 6 are at various stages of coming in and she is just sore and miserable.  She’s gravitating towards liquids and super soft foods.

Here are some pics of Brady swimming in the pool and from the March for Babies 2010!

[Show as slideshow]

[Show as slideshow]

It’s getting late and we have the March for Babies bright and early so I’ll just do a quick recap.

We went to our second Wonderful Wednesday (WW) at Red’s Porch this week. I was a little worried when we found out we were there first and was sure I was commandeering more seating than we needed and the rest of our party would already have a table but we were actually the first to arrive for once. I got a somewhat stunned look when asked if there would just be 2 of us and I replied no, there would be 15. There ended up being 12 adults and 6 toddlers! It was one of the hotter days we’ve had so far but I loved being able to sit outside and enjoy the weather and the view. The food was surprisingly good and we got to enjoy a little Tex-Mex without the crowd of a traditional (all) Mexican restaurant which we assumed would be packed for Cinco De Mayo.

The rest of this week has been pretty low key. We’ve had a lot of gardening, cleaning, and just general house stuff keeping us busy. The weather has been a little too warm for me to run in but I’m hoping I’ll be able to find some exercise DVDs that will keep me moving inside during Brady’s naps at least until I can figure out the best times to run and see how that works with our schedule.

Switching loads of laundry and then off to bed. Gotta be ready to March for Brady in the morning!

Dear NBC,

Why must you air The Biggest Loser on Tuesday nights?! I have three shows that air at the same time (TBL, LOST, Glee) and I can only record two. It ends up being TBL and LOST but I have to stay up ridiculously late to watch the entire show OR split it into two nights.   I already make sure to record you instead of Glee because it’s way easier to watch an hour on Hulu than two.  Wednesdays are much better for me as nothing I watch is on then.  And/or you could condense the show into one hour – is two really that necessary?  I appreciate your consideration of proposal!

Sincerely,
Kelly Tomlinson

We ended up making progress on the yard this weekend. Yesterday we woke up early and went to the Barton Creek Farmer’s Market. We only walked away with a couple grass fed NY strips, shrimp, lettuce, cilantro, and strawberries but so far, all of it has been good (although the strawberries ended up turning pretty quickly). Since it’s so far out of the way, I doubt this will be a regular thing but it really did get us worked up hoping that our garden will eventually be productive and we won’t have to go far at all for fresh, organic produce! After dropping off our bounty at home and eating lunch, we went to Home Depot and bought some more flowers and plants to go under the tree in the front yard. It definitely filled things in. And while I’m not completely pleased with it, I think it looks much better than it did and will suffice.

Last night, Nicole drove up from San Antonio. We laid Brady down for a late nap and decided we’d venture out for dinner. We went to Flores again and had much better food than the last time. I think our expectations were too high and we were comparing it to another restaurant (Chuy’s) that we really like and it just ended up falling short. But just looking at it as some place close and with a patio, it’s really pretty good. Brady did really well and we had a good time. Nicole’s birthday is this coming week so we bought cupcakes on the way home and made ourselves sick with sugar before she drove back to San Antonio.

Today, Nicole came back up again for a trip to Ikea. Brady and I went with her to hang out some more before she leaves. It was a quick trip but I’m glad we got to hang out again before she goes back to Colorado for good this time. When we got home, Casey was still busy doing yard work. He mowed, weeded, and mulched/bordered around the trees in the backyard and it looks so much better now. All those extra bags on mulch I bought, came in handy and now the backyard is looking much more manicured and landscaped. We still have a ways to go before we’d consider it done but I was shocked when I got home and how much he accomplished so quickly!

Off to bed and time to start another week.

I went to the Natural Gardener twice this week with flowers in mind. The first time I only bought mulch for the vegetable garden (10 bags, when 2 was all it needed). I looked at the flowers but was just overwhelmed trying to figure out color combinations and quantities and all so I just planned on coming back again with Casey. Well I told Casey about wanting him to go back with me and he urged me to just talk to the hippies and see if they could recommend anything. The chick I found was willing to help but didn’t help much more than me just walking around reading labels and signs. Nevertheless, I bought 5 perennials (3 salvias and 2 of something else), 9 annuals (various shades of impatients), and another tomato plant. After a lot of stress (Casey thinks needlessly) over placement, I finally got all of the flowers in the ground tonight and still don’t know if I’m completely happy with the outcome. And while I thought I was buying way too much, apparently I didn’t buy nearly enough and probably need to buy at least another batch of the same size. I guess at least some progress was done towards getting the yard in order. While I was planting the flowers, Casey and Brady were playing in the front yard. Tonight was the first time, Brady’s taken notice of the holly berries on the bushes and now we’re debating what to do about those. Pull them and plant blueberries in their place?

Today was a pretty lazy and unproductive day.  Casey got up when Brady did to spend some time with her before he went to work and let me sleep til 10:30.  Brady started nursing and I fell back asleep until Casey was getting ready to leave at 11.  Sadly, I probably could have kept on sleeping but instead got up.  I tried to put Brady down for a nap in her crib but she just screamed and Casey rescued her before he left.  Brady was still in fine form today and I think trying to make me feel bad for “abandoning” her yesterday because other than eating, she just didn’t want me as much as Casey.  She did eat better for me today but I know her teeth are still killing her because she chews on her fingers (or anything else she can get her hands on – today it was magnetic chip clips) all day long.  Poor girl!  She did manage to keep it together for a video chat with Nana and Papa this afternoon but we had to cut that short around 2:30 because she was just getting way too tired.  I jumped at the chance to take a shower and attend to my sunburn.  I’m going to have such a messed up tan when this burn fades (tops of the knees, streaky top of my back and around my hips/upper thighs – ouch!).

The rest of the week we don’t have much going on.  I probably should go to the Natural Gardener and buy some sort of mulch/fertilizer for the vegetable beds and see if they perk up some more.  One of our tomato plants was looking pretty grayish so I pulled it up and put in a pot to see if maybe the ants were just getting to it or I don’t know what.  I’m trying really hard not to over water and kill things and hope I’m not under watering either.  I also need to pick out what I’m going to plant around the tree out front.  I was originally thinking all perennials but now I might mix perennials and annuals and see how that works.  I’m in love with the hibiscus plants I keep seeing at nurseries.

I’ve had several people ask how the yogurt turned out.  I tried it for the first time last night and it actually turned out alright.  I think I might need to let it culture longer next time so it’s not as sour.  It seems to taste like plain yogurt (although I don’t ever buy plain).  I added some honey and vanilla to it and the flavor was much better but the texture was a little clumpy but I don’t know what that’s about.  Now that I’ve made it and didn’t get sick, I’ll try making Brady some yogurt with whole milk (organic still) and see if the texture is better there.  I have to say, I’m quite pleased for a first go at it.  Not only does my homemade yogurt have no artificial colors or flavors but at $1.50 for a 32 ounce container of organic yogurt is super cheap too!

I spent all day with friends (there were 10 of us) at the Lake Austin Spa and it was bliss (minus the lack of booze)! I left here at a little after 9 and picked Lana up and then we drove over to the spa. I told the masseuse I’d never had a massage before when she asked about pressure but I don’t know if she just assumed I’d been to a spa before in general or what. I think she figured out I was a newbie pretty quick though because after signing my health form, she said now the only thing we need to do to get started is for you to hang up your robe on the hook and get under the sheet. HAHA as she’s finishing up her statement I’m disrobing and she’s like go ahead and put your robe back on, I’ll leave for you to do that. Seriously, I was already done and obviously not shy so let’s get on with it. I ended up getting the Perfect Pomegranate treatment for my first foray into spaland – a salt scrub and massage! So it starts out with the scrub, then a shower, then a massage with shea butter instead of oil. Well when she told me i could get up to get into the shower and I had 10 minutes, she said she’d change out the sheets while I was in the shower and as soon as she held the towel over her head I could get in (um, OK?). But other than that everything went really well! I even liked the head massage but could have done without her putting lotion in my hair (although a lot of the girls ended up with oil in their head so maybe not quite as bad).

After our treatments we all met back downstairs and had lunch. I’ve never had a spa type lunch before and it was what I expected (decent just lacking my favorite seasoning – salt). Then we headed out to the pool for a few hours to sunbathe and socialize. Even with reapplying SPF 30 three times (yay me for remembering to reapply) I still ended up burnt. I don’t know if it was the wind or the scrub pulling off my top layer or skin or what but I have a splotchy sunburn at that. I guess it’s not too bad for my first “sun” of the season but I hate to burn and wish I had gotten more even color (mental note to rotate more often).

Even though I had my usual guilt at spending money, I had a really great time relaxing and hanging out! Casey and Brady enjoyed a nice father/daughter day from what I hear too! But about five minutes before I came home, apparently Brady started getting fussy and she took it up a notch when she saw me. Her teeth have to be just killing her because she was just not a happy girl, wouldn’t eat dinner, couldn’t just sit or be held, wanted to nurse and go to sleep. I ended up laying her down for the night the first time at 5:50 (over an hour early) and she woke up half an hour later, so I nursed her some more and took a nap with her and laid her back down and she’s been asleep upstairs for 2 hours solo. Hopefully she makes it through the night – poor girl! She has so many teeth coming in at one time – of her baby teeth, there are eight she doesn’t have yet (or at least all the way in). Right now she has her two upper molars, two upper i-teeth, one lower molar, and one lower eye tooth all confirmed and with tooth that has broken the gum in various forms (upper molars are almost all the way in now). That only leaves two teeth left (a molar and an i-tooth) and where they’re not coming through yet her gums are so hard and inflamed I’m sure they’re making their way out soon. This is definitely the worst that teething has been for her.

I had quite the productive day today! This was my morning to get up with Brady and thankfully she slept in til 8 but from then on I kept busy. Before noon I managed to make homemade yogurt, make homemade blueberry waffles for Brady and freeze them in individual portions, make coffee, run a load of dishes, start laundry (did three loads), vacuum the first floor, dress Brady, and shower and get ready myself! I was feeling pretty content with getting the first two things done, let alone the rest! The yogurt took 8 hours to culture and is still chilling so I have yet to taste it, hopefully it’s good!

Casey made grilled some bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers and sweet and spicy fajitas for dinner! Everything was really good and less spicy than it sounds. My other hope for this weekend is we’ll make it to get some organic fertilizer for our garden and some new flowers for out front. Now we’re just resting up and watching “Crazy Heart” before heading to bed. Gotta love the Dude!

This last album is full of pics from when my Mom was here for 2 weeks (first half of April) and when my Uncle John was here last weekend.  At the time, I always feel like I never take enough pictures, but apparently from the 40 I’m posting, I’m doing alrtt.  You can also see by the pics that although at the time it didn’t seem we were very busy – we actually did quite a bit.  A quick recap since I failed to post: lunch at Mandola’s, dinner at Flore’s, BBQing for Easter dinner, Mayfield Park peacock watching, the University Co-op, Round Rock outlet mall, lunch at the Hula Hut, and lunch at Rudy’s.  And we had our first date night thanks to Mom!  We had dinner at Guero’s and beers at Doc’s!  Although the food wasn’t great, we still had a great time!  For Uncle John’s visit we had brunch at Moonshine, napped, and had dinner at Plucker’s (we like to eat)!  Good times!

[Show as slideshow]

1 2 ►