Carin is 30?

I am waiting for thirty. Thirty seems to be the magical number of respect. Thirty means that you are not the 'green' one at the office. That when you speak you have enough years under your belt not to be brushed off. Thirty means that you can officially be a mom. Thirty means you are old. I do not think that saying bye to my twenties will be that big of a deal to me. Because my thirties are gonna rock! I should have enough money saved for vacation and eating Ramen noodles will forever be a thing of the past. You have amazing friendships built by thirty and you are considered 'wiser!' Well, I don't know how wise I will be when I am thirty but thirty is going to be smack dab in the middle of the best years of family! Where the little one's worlds still revolve around mommy, but mommy is still young enough to potentially be called 'hot!' I have heard that 40 is the new 30, so does that make 30 the new 20? Bring them on!

Last Sunday we kissed Carin's twenties goodbye by celebrating with her family and friends on a Sunday afternoon by the pool. It is was so thirty perfect! Carin couldn't look thirty if she tried... I think she is totally considered a thirty hot mamma!

Month of Language

Post 'Visit with Shamu' broke a record with a whopping 10 comments! (even if one of them was my response) I have to admit, I was getting a little sad when several friend's blogs were getting tons of comment hits... but 10 comments! Whoo hoo! It's the little things in life!

SA Zoo

I am starting to feel the commenting love... Absolutely makes my day!


I am a little behind on blog posting, but stay with me because the posts are coming!


On Sunday, after a visit with Shamu and all of his sea water friends, we decided that we could not leave San Antonio without paying a visit to all our favorite land animal friends at the zoo.

Vacation with Shamu

I would like to start out this blog with a thank you to all my blog commenter's. It's been 2 months of comments! Even if most of the thank yous are owed to my mother, grandmother, mother-in-law and precious Kim, I am truly grateful. Because writing to yourself or into this black hole of blogging without feedback can sometimes be scary. What did you think? Agree? Totally off-base? Are you still reading? Am I the only idiot out there that thinks that way? I wonder what you must think about me. About my family. My friends. My photographs. My thoughts are being poured into blog titles and filed away by a date timestamp... lost into the world of blogging. So thank you for reading, the very small few of you and for leaving your thoughts. Thanks mommy, because even though you post anonymously you knew that it meant enough to me to figure out this crazy technology blogging world and post a comment anyway you know how!

And without further adieu... Shamu!

Reggae Banana

Every good friendship has a story and ours is no different. The story of the Robbins and the Robinsons goes somthing like this...

Bill and I were two weeks into the whole parenting thing when my parents suggested that we get out of the house for a couple of hours. So I finished feeding the baby and we dashed out knowing that we had about 2 1/2 hours before the next round. With those free 2 hours we went where? Babies-R-Us. As if we were not totally consumed enough, but I will say that we needed some supplies and it was meant for a quick dash in and dash out kind of thing. On with the story...

On our way out Bill recognized someone he had hung out with at several work events... pregnant wife in tow. A simple Hi and nice to meet you would have been fine I am sure, but she had that look in her eyes. The one that puts you into tears in the bottle aisle because how the hell are you supposed to know which is BPA free, which nipple size and shape to choose and which brand for that matter. I remember that look. The very same look that walked me out of Babies-R-Us just a few months prior. The look of complete defeat! Open the flood gates of discussion. I am sure that I would have freely given mommy tips that I had learned from my other girlfriends, but let's be honest... I had just come off of 13 weeks bedrest and 2 more sleep deprived weeks with a newborn so I was ready for human interaction. I was full of "I wish someone had told me" moments! In fact, I think that so many moms have selective amnesia after giving birth. They simply choose to forget. Two weeks is the perfect time to get mom information. To manage proper expectations. Although I am not sure that I helped with the look of fear. I am pretty sure I scared Sayler half to death.

They don't tell you that 3 days after you give birth your boobs swell to watermelons, get hot and stand straight up under your chin. Just call me Pamela! They don't tell you that you might have baseballs as ankles so don't walk around so much or that hemorrhoids are just part of the package along with a blown-up donut "Booby prize." They don't tell you to eat or drink before you go to the hospital if you go right before a meal because ice chips just don't cut it or to bring your own pillow with color case so they don't get mixed up with the white hospital ones. They forget to mention buying pampers wipes but one package of huggies for the box because the Huggies box is better as it has teeth to grab the wipes but pampers are much softer. You end up wasting time and money on the wrong damn wipes!

They do tell you about how it is all worth it. How that amazing little life fills you with so much joy and so much love. And really, in the end all the other stuff doesn't matter. It gets forgotten as it should. We ended up spending 2 hours laughing with the Robbins in the Babies-R-Us aisle. The more we talked, the more we laughed. You know how some personalities just mesh? And you can talk to some people like you have known them your entire life? That is how we feel about the Robbins. The fact that Sayler's favorite is cotton candy and that she didn't eat blue m&ms because they turned her mouth blue probably set the friendship over the top, but so our story began and we have been good friends ever since. We could not be more blessed that our paths crossed that day and when they gave birth to their son, Sam we were so thrilled for them.

Rodeo Kids

Bill and I have lived in Houston for a while now and we have been lucky enough to attend the rodeo and concerts at least once a season if not more. We always have a great time. Our absolute favorite is to watch the 5 year olds Mutton Bust and it is on the list for Liam for certain! The bull riding is a close second as it is so intense to watch and the crowd goes wild for those who manage to hang on the entire 8 seconds. This year we got to watch Amazing Race's Cord McCoy ride which was an extra treat. And I cannot watch the girls ride barrels without reminiscing about my very own barrel racing experience. I completed the race without falling off and red floppy bow in tact. I always had adventures with Lauren Holmes and I did learn a few things that day:

1. Walking a horse near an open door arena means "Go" to the horse

2. Yelling "Whoa" to a horse only works if you are not digging your heels into their sides holding on for dear life. This only encourages the horse to go faster.

3. Always wear your number while in the arena or the announcer might dis-qualify you whether you are in the race or not

4. Always wear a floppy bow so that Billy and Charla can identify you. They need to contemplate how in the hell they are going to explain this one to your parents.

5. And last, but not least don't agree to walk a stubborn horse unless you are a much more experienced rider! Love you Lauren!

A Talk with the Animals

We dusted off our boots, dug out the pearl-snap shirts and denim jackets, turned on the country radio station and practiced our Howdy greeting. It's Rodeo time in Houston!

Two By Two

As his name suggests, Noah's second birthday came in twos. After celebrating with all of his smaller friends at Gymboree and a nice long nap, it was time to party with the 'older' friends. Older friends meant fajitas and margaritas. Pulling down the lever to release the frozen green stuff proved to be quite entertaining.

Ringmastered Two

I remember the day that Noah was born. Bill was mowing outside when I got the call that he had come early and I must have screamed pretty loud because Bill came running to the door to see what all the excitement was about. Excitement quickly turned into panic as I had not put the final touches on the baby hospital box I was gathering for the new arrival. I mean, I thought I still had two weeks and with first children, everyone knows they almost always miss their due dates, right? When we got to the hospital we were introduced to the most amazing little 7lb baby boy.

Animals

We were finally able to catch a little of the animal game on video last night even though he did not make any of the animal noises and he cheated at the end mostly because I think he was over it! I wish he would do it the way he does when camera's aren't watching. His animal impressions are hilarious... maybe his mommy just thinks so!

Special thanks to Mea's CBS friends for picking out the foam animal cutout book! As you can see, we took them all out and have lots of fun with them! Liam stashed the chicken somewhere... hummm.

Ba Boo

When is the cutoff for counting in months? In any case... we just celebrated month 13 and it was a big one! There was so much to celebrate! We received the best present in the mail from Paige of PLO Photography! Our birthday photos! Thank you again Paige for bottling our precious memories!

A Playhouse

Last weekend my parents came in town to visit and now that both their children and grandchild live within a 2 mile radius, all their ducklings were together. It has been wonderful to have Uncle Steven so close and Liam just lights up when he makes a stop after work. He has already taught Liam how to make the vroom sound of a car and it is adorable the way he chases him around the house with an arm barrier in case he falls. He is so protective and an incredible uncle. He even changed his diaper like a pro and helped with the incident involving a bath, poop, and a baby!