CaseyAndKelly.Com

Spring Break is over now and I’m exhausted (but content)!  Adele and Emma came up from San Antonio on Wednesday morning and stayed with us until yesterday.  It was so much fun and I definitely got to get to know/experience more of Austin!  Wednesday we had breakfast at Pacha and then went shopping on South Congress.  We spent a couple of hours popping in and out of shops before meeting Kevin for lunch at Threadgill’s (Casey was getting ready for work early and couldn’t come).  After lunch, we went to Half Price Books and I bought a cookbook to make healthy food for Brady that I’ve had my eye on (The Sneaky Chef) and Five Little Ladybugs (Brady is obsessed right now).  Next, we went to Toy Joy (a local, eclectic toy store) for Emma to look around at before heading up to the outlet mall in Round Rock.  PJs for babies go from 12 months to 18 months with nothing in between.  It seems Brady has outgrown her 12 month P’s and J’s already so I hit the Carter’s outlet while we were there to stock up for summer.  Since she won’t sleep with a blanket, I still buy footie pajamas which is actually increasingly difficult to find.  Since these new ones already seem to be a little snug, I’m thinking it might be time to transition to the easier-to find, non-footie variety. We headed back to the house and relaxed for awhile, before we headed to Kerbey Lane (sans Casey) for some dinner and then caught up on some TiVo.

Thursday, Adele had a meeting at the Omni Hotel for an upcoming conference so we headed over there so she could have a meeting and lunch.  Since we were already downtown, we went to the Children’s Museum for a little while and let Brady and Emma have some fun exploring!  Then we headed to Whole Foods where we got some gelato and sorbet, before Adele planned a crazy feast for dinner!  She made a super tasty salad with Fuji apples, balsamic vinegar, candied bourbon walnuts, and greens; parmesan risotto, asparagus with lemon and butter, and grilled, dry aged steak!  So good and who would have thought gourmet food could come out of my kitchen!  After dinner we played Chrononuats (I think) a crazy time machine historical card game and then a game of Scrabble before heading to bed.

Yesterday we went to the Austin Zoo.  We had a lot of fun but it was a little disappointing.  Not exactly the zoo experience I was hoping for.  It ended up being more of a preserve/sanctuary than a traditional zoo.  The animals I was hoping for Brady to see like elephants and giraffes weren’t there.  But I think she still had a lot of fun pointing out the lions, and tigers and bears (oh my!) and especially feeding the llamas!  Adele got a cute pic of her in action so hopefully I can post that sometime.  Until then I need to upload the pics I took here and hopefully there’ll be something I was fast enough to capture.  After the zoo, we went downtown again and had lunch at Leaf (a Cosi-type, create your own salad place) before heading back to the house.  We had just enough time to pack up the car with all their stuff and get Casey before heading down to Uchi for dinner.  Brady’s schedule was a little thrown from all of the goings on and lack of naps so she was a little restless but overall did really well for her first time with sushi and we even got her to eat some small fish eggs!  Hopefully this is the first step towards her eating sushi!

We all took it easy relaxing this morning and after getting ready.  Nicole came up to visit from San Antonio this afternoon and we hung out around the house just playing with Brady before we went headed to Chuy’s for dinner.  We got there at 5:15 and expected to get right in but had to wait almost an hour before getting seated.  In our rush to get out the door, I was totally unprepared – no sippy cup and no snacks.  I managed t keep her mostly content with an olive and some milk before her quesadilla arrived.  That didn’t keep her happy for very long before getting fussy again and Casey ended up taking her to the car while Nicole and I finished up.  Once we got back, Nicole headed back to San Antonio and we started Brady’s bedtime/bath night routine before watching a little more TiVo and hopefully going to bed soon!

I’ve learned from staying so busy, that I’m absolutely awful at keeping up with the outside world when in public with Brady and being social and driving.  There’s barely enough time for me to read my email, let alone respond or keep up with Facebook.

Saying Daddy and playing Peek-a-boo with Mama:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDg7c8lJ1tc

Brady doing her fake laugh.  She’s started doing a fake laugh when we laugh at her.  SO funny!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iLnB4ty9xQ

February was full of appointments for us.  Brady and I each went to the doctor twice and Casey and Stoli each went once.  Brady’s ears looked “beautiful” when she went in for her 10 day check up so the antibiotics did the trick again.  I saw a couple of white specs (teeth) coming through yesterday so between that and her trying to go to one nap a day (of her own doing) she’s still a little fussy.  Since the beginning of February, she’s been sleeping with us again.  I lay her down between 7-7:30 and by 11 or 12 she’s up again and in bed with us for the rest of the night.  She’s a stomach sleeper in her own bed and now that she’s so long, sleeping attached to me all night isn’t exactly comfortable.  She’s started rolling herself off or letting me put her between Casey and I and sleeping on her tummy there for a couple of hours.  And while I know she’s getting better sleep laying on the bed instead of me, my sleep isn’t quite as good because I worry about her suffocating so I throw my pillows on the floor and will randomly wake up and make sure she’s still breathing.  What’s the definition of co-sleeping?

I dropped Stoli off Friday morning at the vet (the closest one yet of the three we’ve tried) to get her teeth cleaning and for her vaccinations.  She ended up being gone all day but came home with good breath and no plaque.  Dude gets very jealous and territorial with bones (even though he has his own) so Stoli never gets the chance to chew and keep her teeth and gums healthy and in order.  This is only the second time we’ve gotten Stoli’s teeth cleaned and now I know why we put it off.  Stoli has a really tough time recovering from the anesthesia.  Until this morning, she hadn’t drank or ate since Thursday night.  She did get IV fluids on Friday but I still worry when she goes that long.  Friday and Saturday she was very lethargic and not herself but I could tell as soon as I came out to the living room this morning that she was back!

Here’s a video of the snow we had on Tuesday.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt88SGjA4BI

It came down like that for several hours and there was enough that people made snowmen (surprisingly).  We had a reunion with Bryan at Trudy’s in South Austin that night and surprisingly the traffic wasn’t bad.  Pretty much non-existent.  At 5:45pm, at one point we were the only car at the “Y” how often does that happen at that time of day?!  The food was really good and although I know I’ll get some flak for this I’m gonna say the Texas Martinis were not as good as Chuy’s.  They just seemed a little too sweet and I couldn’t tell that there was anything in them.  We did have a great time catching up and trying a new restaurant!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g25_FBGKGk

Now that we’ve made it to the one year anniversary of Brady’s due date, I hope to think of the preemie thing even less from from now on.  She’s 14 months and 2 days old, not turning one today.  She’s a Capricorn, not a Pisces.  While it’s taken time to say this, everything happens for a reason.  God had a purpose when he allowed Brady to be born when he did instead of today and ensured there would be no lasting reminders health-wise of her early debut.  Our lives are forever changed and blessed because of Brady and for her this was just another day.

I’m sure those of you on Facebook have heard enough from me on this but it’s pulling at my heartstrings the more I read it.  Please pray for Layla Grace a 2 year old little girl with stage 4 neuroblastoma in Houston.  Her story breaks my heart and creates a panic in me at the same time.  I cannot stop crying.  Tonight, I started at the beginning when they found out about the cancer (at 16 months) and am slowly making my way through their heart wrenching journey.  Little Layla will most definitely be on my mind and in my prayers tonight.