Mile High Club

Bridget was our nanny for Brady from August to December of last year. It was great..... She sent me text updates continually throughout the day..... pictures..... and if I had a question about his day I could call her at 10pm and ask her..... Austin & I were so grateful we wanted to do something BIG to thank her..... if you know Bridget at all.... she LOVES Taylor Swift..... So.... we bought her tickets to see Taylor tomorrow in Omaha.... It was great..... see Taylor & sees the Omaha family in one trip..... since she hasn't been back in a long time..... and We could bring Brady with us for the weekend to see everyone too..... my plan was genius....

Or so I thought......

We left EARLY this morning...... woke up Brady at 5:30am for the trip to the Good Life State.... I was a little sad that Bridget was only sitting next to us from San Antonio to Houston and not all the way to Omaha.... especially because I knew it would be more "challenging" with Brady waking up 3 hours before his normal wake up time......

However, Brady was not doing too bad.... considering..... the short flight was only 56 minutes long.... we could survive that, right? Well, as we started to descend Brady INSISTED on going to his Aunt Bridget..... and Bridget was more than willing to take him.... even asking him, "You love me more than Aunt Molly, right?" and teaching Brady to shake his head "yes". (Brady is somewhat annoying in how much he likes his Aunt Molly... and screams hysterically when he has to go to ANYONE else.... especially his momma)....

Well, in the middle of teaching Brady this new trick, I saw it..... just a little bit of drool coming out of his mouth..... just like he used to do when he'd spit up a little when he was younger..... but before I could process exactly what was going on.... he started..... he started vomitting.... not just spitting up.... but full fledged vomit all over his Aunt Bridget and mom.... okay, mostly his Aunt Bridget.... I grabbed a sweatshirt I had brought and started cleaning up the mess as quick as I could but before I could even get to his mouth he continued to vomit... over and over and over again.... everywhere.... the lady on the aisle seat was in complete disbelief..... just starring at us with her mouth open.... People started looking from behind and in front of us.... then.... just when we thought it couldn't get worse..... it happened.... the smell took over.... and then Bridget and I started gagging while trying to clean up the mess.... I feared that The situation was going to turn into the pie scene in Stand By Me.... and nobody could help us because the plane was now landing.... we had used all our resources to try and clean it up.... but gave up.... there was too much.... we decided it s best to just try and cover ourselves up with any extra blanket or piece of clothing avaiable..... to protect the sanity of those around us.... and our noses....

Needless to say.... Bridget was very glad not to have to sit by us on the plane from Houston to Omaha.... but I am pretty sure the people sitting next to each of us wondered why we smelled of vomit.....

Oh wait.... is that not what the Mile High Club is?

Baby Fever?!

I recently started a new job.... For those of you that know me, I have been working as a nurse on a Neurosurgery floor since we moved to San Antonio last July. Before that I was working on a Neuro/Orthopedic floor in Omaha.

Well... I am doing something different now... much, MUCH different. I am working on a Mother/Baby unit. I am currently still on orientation, but I will be taking care of Moms & their babies after they deliver. I am super excited about the types of patients I will be working with. It is such a "happy" environment... much different from the broken bones & very sad cases I was working with previously.

The most frequent question I get when I tell people where I am working is, "Doesn't it make you want to have another baby?!?" It is awesome seeing all they babies & seeing how precious they are at such a young age. I still am in awe that Brady was ever that young.... and when I come home & see him walking around and eating solid foods.... it makes me sad to think he is growing up so darn fast. However, I also think about how fun he is & how much he makes me laugh and proud with each new thing he has learned... but, I can't stop thinking how nice it would be to have such a little baby again... and eventually have a little sibling for Brady to play with...

But... there is a second side to my job.... it isn't just the cute, little, innocent babies.... it is the mothers... who, are happy for the most part.... but are in pain, exhausted, and have many long months ahead of them.... of being sleep deprived, pain, and coming off their pregnancy hormones.... and I remind myself that I am not quite ready for that again. :)

Measles?!?

Brady sleeps very good throughout the night. We are very lucky of this. One bad part of this, however, is the days I work I do not get to see the little guy at all. He sleeps in until 7:30 or 8am, long after I have gone to work. This means Austin has the job of taking him to daycare on these days.

A few weeks ago after Brady ate dinner I wiped his face with a baby wipe. He had eaten Mac & Cheese and had gotten it all over his face, head, hands, arms, etc. Well, after wiping his face & head I noticed he got a few red bumps on him... I thought he must have just been a little sensitive from the wipes & being out in the sun all day (we had gone to the zoo), and put him to bed. That night was awful. He was up crying all night. This is not like Brady at all. He sleeps silently for 11-12 hours per night with no problems... so being up for 3-4 hours crying is definitely not like him. It was dark, and we didn't really turn on the lights... I did give him some Tylenol & we thought he must be teething because he went to sleep about an hour later. The next morning, (while I was at work) I got several texts messages from Austin... starting at 9am... I did not see them until 1130am.... They went like this...

8:40am "I don't know what to do about Brady. He is super cranky right now."

9:16am "Rejected at daycare. can't come back without a note from the doctor. Not sure what to do about class."

10:30am "Hello?"

10:52am "Hello? It looks like he has the measles."

After I received these texts, I got off work early (since it was a huge week for Austin is school, he needed to be there). I got home... and this is what I saw...



Oh my!! My first thought was "You TRIED to TAKE him to daycare like this?!?" haha. But, Brady seemed okay otherwise. He was a bit cranky, but still playing with his toys and what-not.

We took him to the doc & found out that it was an allergy to Penicillin.... that he had just finished a 10 day course of!! Since he was not even taking the antibiotic anymore, we did not even think this could be the reason!

Anyway, I guess you cannot take your kid to daycare if it looks like he has the measles.... Apparently, it scares the other parents quite a bit.... On the bright side, I felt like we got a glimpse in the future on what Brady will look like in 15 years....

Firsts!!

This post is a bit late.... but Brady turned one!!! I cannot believe how many "firsts" he's had in the past year.... First Day...

First girlfriend... (and yes, him a Chloey ae still going strong... even through the long distance... I guess that is what happens when your first date is in your undies...) First tanning booth.... First time getting beat up... (by his "big" cousin Liam) First Bonnet (and first embarrassing picture).... First Smile (and he still smiles like this... and it makes me smile every time I watch it!) First house.... (miss you Omaha!!) First friend.... First Swim... First wig & facial hair... First time giving the finger... First helmet... First Christmas.... First Spanish lesson (also first wave and first dance)


First Boat Ride!!


First... (actually first 1-8) TEETH!


First time Painting!!


First Snow.... (yep... that's right folks.... rounded up all the snow in San Antonio to take this picture....)


First Steps!!!


First Swing!



and First Birthday!!! (of course, he shared this day with his cousin, Jack, born just 8 hours earlier!!)


And.... I am not allowed to post any more pictures, so I guess that's it!! :)

HAPPY Valentines Day?

Valentines Day for Austin & me consisted of me spending the day with Brady, and Austin staying late at school studying. I have no complaints of spending the day with Brady, but Austin seriously did not get home until about 10pm. Needless to say, we did not have anything planned. He has been somewhat "stressed" with Law School (Why, I do not know... seems like it would be pretty easy to me) and didn't have much time to do anything but study anyway....

The following day, however, I decided to surprise him.... not with anything sappy or romantic... but with beer, burgers, brats, and a cake. For those that know me, I hardly ever buy beer.... this is mostly because if I buy it, I hardly get any of it. So, me having a cold beer open for Austin when he walked in the door was a BIG DEAL... and having brats & burgers was even better. I was going for the "Wife of the Year" award.

However, things hardly ever go as planned....

You see, having a child, it makes it a bit tougher to grill burgers & brats and make sure he isn't getting into trouble inside the house (have I mentioned that Brady started walking on his 11 month birthday? It complicates these kinds of plans.) Well, to put it lightly, I burnt the hell outta all the burgers & brats. I was so disappointed thinking my "Wife of the Year Award" was going to get taken from me...

However, Austin was so excited to have not just BEER, but MEAT also... so he ate it all up & told me how much he loved it, and me. I was feeling rather grand. You would think having a burnt meal would be the worst part of Valentines Day, right? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

After dinner we went on to dessert. I made his FAVORITE kind of cake, German Chocolate, and even splurged & bought little candy letters to spell out "I love you." So cute. It was great....

Until about an hour later... When Austin started to get violently ill. Yep, you read it right folks... instead of giving my husband a "great, quick meal so he could hurry up & study", I gave him food poisoning. Apparently we waited a day or so too long to freeze the ground beef that I had bought the week before....

So, instead of my husband getting extra time to study, I have set him behind over a day while he recovers from my poisoning. Why didn't I get sick, you ask? I didn't eat it, it was too burnt!

I always do what I'm asked....

Some of the people who read this blog are my friend on Facebook. As you may recall, a couple weeks ago I posted a picture of my husband.... It looked like this:


My dear husband did NOT find this picture "entertaining". He was actually quite upset with me for posting it on Facebook for "all the world to see." AND.... he is in the middle of trying to get an internship for the summer and thinks this picture will affect him getting one. WHAT?!? If I were an employer I would think this would give someone an extra boost to get employed!! And... if you can't joke around, then who wants to be an attorney anyway?

Well, this reaction from Austin really made me sad... because I had so many other great pictures of him I still wanted to post on Facebook... GREAT pictures too... pictures like these:





It is also too bad because I had a GREAT idea for a Christmas picture for next year too... but I think if he wouldn't allow that picture on Facebook, he probably won't let us send this one to all our friends and family....

The Belated Christmas post....

So, I don't know why I waited to long to post anything about Christmas.... maybe because we were enjoying quality family time? Maybe because we were traveling to New Mexico to meet Ashley, Brady's cousin just a month older than he? Maybe because I was just too darn lazy? Yes, I think so.

So, since I have waited so long, I will just give you the basics, and then let you look at some pictures of the holiday.

We spent Christmas day in San Antonio at home, and then went to Grandma & Grandpa Mac's house so Brady could enjoy his first Christmas opening gifts with the extended family. Though it was neat to see Brady play with the wrapping paper (wasn't tooo interested in anything else yet...) my favorite part was the present we gave to my little sister, Bridget. She has been Brady's nanny since Austin started school, and we are VERY thankful for that.... though she loves hanging out with Brady, we know she wants a "real" job that she went to school for.... so we wanted to give her a big thank you present. If you know Bridget, she is obsessed with Taylor Swift.... Seriously.... it is kinda creepy... so we surprised her with tickets for Taylor's opening show (in the USA) in Omaha the end of May.... she was shocked. It was awesome.

Merry Christmas!!


Brady's new baseball toy from his cousin in England, Alexis! (He DID like this one!!)


My OTHER favorite part of the holiday was flying to New Mexico & surprising Austin's mom, AKA Nana. She was there spending the holiday with Austin's brother, Wes, and his family. He had a baby girl, Ashley, just 5 weeks before Brady was born. It was awesome to see the two together and see their similarities & differences.... I can't imagine Brady being as smart as Ashley in just 5 weeks.... but we will see!! :)

Ashley!


Cousins!!


More Cousins!


Quality Time with Aunt Jaime


Nana, Brady & Ashley


Nana with her boys & babies


Grandpa Bob with the kids


Wes with Ashley & Austin with Brady