Taking Care of Business

Last month I was discussing vacations with a coworker, and I mentioned that Chuck and I used to take real vacations - but now the only days I take off are sick days, days when daycare is closed, and the occasional long weekend for a quick family trip. He suggested I take one personal day off per month as a "me" day. I LOVED the idea, and started planning my days off right away.

Of course, the first thing I thought of was our weekend in Houston, which technically doesn't meet the criteria. Today was my personal day off for March, and while I wouldn't call it entirely relaxing, it was just what I needed. A day all to myself to catch up on life. I went to the dentist, got our taxes done, went food shopping (which is SO much easier without the husband and kiddo), got a mani and pedi, and even took a short nap.

Proof that I got a pedicure - Aurora insisted on wearing the disposable flip-flops! I look forward to the day we can go get pedicures together.

I might end up taking two days off next month. Daycare is closed April 2nd (teacher workshop?), and of course Aurora's turning TWO in April and my mom's coming to Austin for the party!!! Perhaps I'll take an actual "me" day in May...

Flooded

This afternoon daycare called to tell us that they had some plumbing issues and the classrooms were flooded, so they had to close. They tried calling me first and left a message, then called Chuck and left a message, and then actually tried calling Daniela (who's still on file as an emergency contact) and left HER a message! They finally got a hold of Chuck, who somehow got a hold of me, and I left work a couple hours early to pick the up the little Rora Rooster. PHEW! Maybe I should keep my cell phone on me at all times. Nah.

We headed out to the mall and stopped at Chick-fil-A for dinner. She was in such a silly mood and we had a fun time shopping and eating!

Here's hoping daycare is cleaned up and open for business tomorrow...

Houston

We had a fun time in Houston! It's a big city with toll roads, traffic, and LOTS to do. We got a great deal on a room at the Four Seasons downtown and bought the Houston City Pass, which gave us access to NASA, the Children's Museum, Natural Science Museum, Aquarium, and the Zoo. We definitely made the most of it. As usual, the photos tell the story better than I could, so here ya go!

Cute and Crazy

This has been a seriously crazy week. The snow left as fast as it came, as did the pink eye. Aurora HATES the eye drops, but the amoxicillin is potentially the best thing she's ever tasted. My coworkers have also been sick and traveling all week, and tomorrow we're off on a mini-vacation ourselves! If Tuesday's weather and health concerns had happened today, I'm pretty sure we'd be canceling our plans, but as it is we should be good to go on all fronts.

We'll be heading out tomorrow morning for Houston. Aurora's traveled quite a bit in her short life... Florida, Arizona, Las Vegas, Seattle, and San Antonio. We really loved staying at the beach on our last visit to Florida, but the road trip to San Antonio was probably the easiest and most relaxing trip we've taken. Here's hoping this one's just as nice!

Before we go, I wanted to leave you with a cute video I took this afternoon.

Sick Day, Snow Day

I was destined to stay home from work today.

Yesterday we got a notice at daycare saying that one of Aurora's classmates had pink eye, so I was not surprised when she woke up this morning with puffy goopy eyes. I made an 8am appointment and we headed out in the cold rain to see Dr. Sood.

It was actually a great doctor appointment. Aurora was patient, charming, and amazingly cooperative, which is not the norm for her when doctors are involved! She usually squirms and tries her hardest to avoid the poking and prodding, but today she readily opened her eyes and mouth and offered her ears for inspection. When the nurse said good bye, Aurora waved and said "See you tomorrow!"

Dr. Sood diagnosed her with pink eye and a mild ear infection, so we headed up to HEB to get two prescriptions filled and decided to have breakfast at Chick-fil-A. Suddenly, it started SNOWING!!! If I could just say, it was close to 80 degrees on Sunday so I did not believe the weather reports. The snow started out light, but before we'd even finished our food huge snowflakes began to stick. All the Chick-fil-A employees ran outside to play and take pictures, so we went out and did the same.

By the time we were ready to head home, there was close to an inch of accumulation and the roads were slick. I almost crashed on my last turn into our house! Yes, this is Austin, Texas.

While Aurora was napping, daycare announced they were closing early, so I'm actually kind of thankful for the pink eye. As miserable as it is to be sick, I didn't have to rush home and Aurora was a trooper. We were able to spend the afternoon safe and warm, watching snow fall all day from the comfort of our own home.

I did miss a really fun day at work. It was our 1 year anniversary @livestronghq! Once you're done reading my personal blog, why not head over and read my PROFESSIONAL post at the LIVESTRONG Blog?

Bailey time!

This weekend we got to do one of Aurora's absolute favorite things... SHOE SHOPPING! She's not at all interested in shopping for toddler shoes, but once she sees a woman's shoe department, it's all over. She sits directly on the ground and frantically starts tearing her shoes and socks off so that she can try on every pair within reach. High heels, flats, boots, she wants to try them on and walk around in them.

As if shoe shopping weren't exciting enough, we got to bring Bailey along! Bailey and Aurora both have really good taste in shoes.

After finding the perfect pair of boots (uhm, for me, not Aurora) we headed to Mandola's for lunch. We were just hanging out, watching Aurora pour parmesan cheese all over the table and fling noodles around, when a little boy came up to us and mumbled something. We couldn't hear him, so we both asked "what?" and he repeated it. Then repeated it again. And finally on the 4th try we heard... "I have ONE mom." We looked at each other and back at him and just had to laugh! I mean, it took real conviction to say that 4 times! I told Bailey that we must've looked like a very happy family, which is kind of great.

PS: Aurora likes chocolate ice cream.

Sesame Street LIVE!

This morning we headed across town to Sesame Street (okay, so it was actually the Frank Erwin Center at UT) to see for ourselves where Elmo and Big Bird live.

It was very exciting to dance and sing along with all our TV friends. Abby, Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie, the Count... it was so much fun!

After a lovely morning at the theatre, Aurora and Chuck are both upstairs taking naps, and I think I just might go join them. I hope you're all having a fun weekend too.

Greed?

Today Aurora is 1 year and 10 months old. Just two more months until she turns TWO! I still get monthly Baby Center emails - the same ones that told me when Aurora was the size of a blueberry, rubber ducky, or cantaloupe when I was pregnant. Now they tell me about her developmental milestones. This month's was called "Decoding your Toddler" and said: Though their outbursts may seem random, their motivations are fairly constant: independence, stability, playfulness, and greed.

Greed!? As in "MINE"!? Yup. Aurora is definitely getting more opinionated and when she wants something, she wants it NOW. Lately she's also been a little more shy around strangers - at least upon first meeting. Over the weekend we hung out with friends on Saturday and Sunday, and at first she wouldn’t even look at them. Eventually she warmed up, ate, then transformed into the most energetic and goofy toddler possible, constantly squirming, talking, and climbing onto the tables to dance, jump, and generally cause chaos. Once she gets going she does not stop!

Here we are with our friends the Binstead’s and the Sartin’s. We’re all connected through LIVESTRONG, and I have to say I couldn’t be involved with a better organization for finding loyal volunteers and friends.

In this picture we’re hanging out with our friend Elaine and her family, who were in town for the Austin Marathon. We met Elaine 5-years ago on our trip to China! Last time we saw her I was pregnant, and it was great catching up.

Elaine lives in Dallas, and we're considering a trip up to visit and potentially stay at the Great Wolf Lodge this winter. Until then, we have a weekend road trip to Houston planned for later this month and some fun stuff happening this weekend as well. Hopefully it'll be enough to keep our active toddler happy - allowing her to play and exert independence while maintaining her sense of stability. Perhaps her 2nd birthday party will fulfill that need for greed.

"No like that clown, Mommy."

I don’t mean for my blog to become a big daycare rant. I really love our daycare and Aurora has a great time with her teachers and friends. They do a fantastic job introducing her to new activities and experiences. Each month special guests come visit the kids – firemen, dentists, bakers. It’s great!

Last week they brought in a clown. I didn’t look on the schedule ahead of time, so Thursday when there was a sticker on her daily report that said Penelope the Foolish had visited, I just had to laugh! I asked how that went over with the kids, and it turns out they were not amused. Penelope was so scary that Aurora’s entire class refused to go in the same room as her!!! The surprising part to me is that, considering she didn’t even go into the room with her, Aurora cannot stop talking about her. And really, she's not THAT scary...

Thursday night Aurora started saying “No like that clown, Mommy.” So I told her not to worry – the clown went home. I think she thought I meant the clown went home to OUR house, so I had to assure her that the clown went bye-bye to its own house. Now – almost a week later – Aurora will out of the blue say “Mommy, no like that clown. Clown go bye-bye. Clown go OWN HOUSE.” She loudly enunciates that last part, as it’s VERY IMPORTANT.

She didn’t even seem to notice the clowns at the circus!

Be Mine

Today was a fun day of celebrations at work and daycare. We had heart-shaped pizza and gave each other "I appreciate" cards (in lieu of Valentine's) at work, and Rora's class had a party this afternoon. We both came home with big stacks of cards, candy and little gifts. Aurora was definitely feeling the love when I picked her up. She showed me her Valentine's then gave all her friends and teachers hugs while saying good bye!

Aurora does have sweet little friends and we like her school. But I have had one internal struggle lately about their programming. Now that she's in the 2-year old group, they're offering dance classes, but once you sign up it's an additional costume charge and monthly fee through September. They kicked off the dance season with a free class, and apparently Aurora had a great time, but I chose not to sign her up for it. I don't really like the idea of putting her in tutus and dance costumes this young, and it's not like the extra cost gives us a weekend or evening activity - it just happens during regular school hours, and I already pay (a lot) for daycare. So I didn't sign her up, but of course the other girls in her class ALL signed up. Their first class was Tuesday and she automatically thought she should be able to go with her friends and cried when they left her behind. She did fine hanging back with the boys, but I feel bad about it. I do love my sweet girl and will pay extra for her to take swim lessons this summer, but I just feel like I'd rather hold off on dance until the day she actually expresses interest in it. What would you do?

Okay, well Chuck's eating my candy and the Olympics opening ceremony is starting, so I'd better wrap this up. I doubt we'll do anything else for Valentine's Day, but if we do I'm sure you'll be the first to know!

Valentine's Cookie Party

You might think this would be the perfect toddler activity for a cold Sunday afternoon. And it was a very fun way to spend the day! But I think Aurora would've enjoyed it much more if I'd let her dip her hands in frosting and pour sprinkles everywhere while grabbing everything and shoving it in her mouth. Instead, Aurora participated sporadically while Amelia and I made adorable cookies.

I really think this is the first time I've ever made sugar cookies from scratch, and it was fun and easy! We'll definitely have to make this a holiday tradition. And when I say holiday, I mean Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, Christmas...

I know I'm a week early, but Happy Valentine's Day!

Hazeled

My friend Natalie happens to be a professional photographer (www.hazeled.com), and we were lucky enough to spend an afternoon with her at UT a couple of weeks ago. These are just a few of the beautiful pictures she took...

Have no fear, we will indeed be printing copies to frame and send to the grandparents. Thank you Natalie!!!