Update on Tater

Do you remember your first family pet? A dog, cat, rooster, bird or rat that your family had when you were a kid? As much trouble as Tater is, I think she's worth devoting a blog to this week, as she is Aurora's first pet and she won't be here forever. Aurora has been interacting with her more and more lately - and by "interacting" I mean Aurora's been saying things like "No, Tater!" and "Tater, walk away."

Tater's always had behavioral problems, but earlier this week she peed outside the litter box 3-times in 2-days. We would've just thought it was gross, but Chuck noticed that there was blood in her urine. As a grumpy, obese, 13-year old cat, we figured this could really be the end. I mean, that can't be a good sign, right?

Yesterday we took her to the vet, and surprisingly it was her best visit ever. She was calm and polite, allowing them to examine her, draw blood, and give her a shot without attacking. They decided it was a urinary tract infection and prescribed special food (which also happens to be low calorie) and antibiotics - but took a blood sample to the lab just in case. Today we got a call with the results, and I'm sorry to say Tater might be staying with us for awhile longer. No diabetes, no cancer, nothing wrong with her but well, obesity, grumpiness, and old age!

Here's hoping the antibiotics really solve the problem. While Tater may not be the best cat, she is part of our family.

Copycat

Aurora's been mimicking us and her friends for a long time now. It's usually pretty subtle and you can tell she's just learning and trying things out. This weekend we took her to the park where a few little girls, maybe a year or two older, were playing - and she literally copied them word for word, action for action.

I'm pretty sure if she was just with us she would've been fine thinking these were just drums, but with these little girls around they became toys to climb, walk on, and hang from!

While she does love to copy other kids, she's also thinking for herself - asking lots of questions, telling us exactly what she thinks, what she wants, and what she doesn't want. It's so crazy to watch our tiny baby turn into a little girl right before our eyes!

Weekend with Friends

We've been having a great weekend with our friends the McGinty's (from Boston) and the Binstead's (from San Antonio). I've already posted these pictures to facebook and twitter, but I think they're worth blogging as well.

Aurora and AJ are really enjoying playing together. He's about a month younger and such a sweet little guy. Definitely all boy! The grown-ups have been having fun as well. Last night we got a babysitter and went out for dinner and ice cream.

I can't resist a photo booth...

This weekend really made me think we should hire sitters more often. Our current babysitter is pregnant, so I guess we better take advantage of her time while she still has it!

It's a wrap...

With Aurora's birthday festivities firmly behind us, I wanted to close it up with one more very special birthday post. That's right, it's part two of the JCPenney photo shoot!

And speaking of wrap, I also wanted to send thanks to everybody who sent and brought such wonderful gifts to our girl. Aurora got: an amazing tea set, an awesome apron, a bunch of great books, and some of the cutest outfits you can imagine - including a swim suit, shorts, a tutu, dresses, pajamas, underwear (seriously!), adorable socks, and the purse pictured above. She got a puzzle, a boat, sprinklers, sunglasses, gardening and art supplies, a glittery ball, a snuggle puppy... I mean, this girl got everything a 2-year old could possibly want!!! Including lots of great friends AND her grandma, who all came out and spent the day with her, which was definitely the best gift of all...

We'll be sending copies of these cute photos with thank you cards soon!

How big is a 2-year old?

THIS BIG!!!

2' 9" and 24.5 lbs to be exact. Today was Aurora's two year check-up, and instead of putting her on the baby scale, they weighed and measured her standing up for the first time. They also gave her a silly hospital gown to wear while we waited, which wasn't long because the doctor was right on time, and there were no shots and no needles!

Grandma Slane got to meet Dr. Sood and spend the morning with us before heading home after a short but very full and fun weekend. We'll miss you Grandma - I hope you enjoyed your trip!

Party time!

What a day. I'd say Aurora probably had the most fun birthday any 2-year old could possibly ask for. We had a relaxing morning setting up the house with Grandma Slane and playing with Aurora's new mini-kitchen (our present to her), then the bounce house arrived. Wow - a bouncy castle in our very own front yard? It was almost too much for Aurora to handle!!!

The guests started arriving around 3pm, and before I knew it we had more friends in (and out of) our house than we've ever had before! We bounced, we ate, we played, we made a huge mess, we got TONS of presents, took lots of great pictures, and certainly wore ourselves out.

What a great way to celebrate 2-years of Aurora. They've definitely been the most challenging, most fun, and fastest 2-years of my life.

Birthday Weekend

Aurora's Birthday weekend has officially begun! Grandma Slane came in last night and holding to tradition we started the trip with catfish from Springhill. This morning we headed over to JCPenney for a photo shoot, and they already emailed me the proofs, so I thought I'd post a few as a teaser of things to come...

We also did a special sitting with Aurora only, and of course there's lots of fun on the horizon with Aurora's birthday party coming up. I can't believe our tiny baby is turning TWO!

$10

This morning Aurora and I were on our way home from having coffee with friends, when I noticed a garage sale sign just a block before our house. We turned in and at first it didn't look like much more than a lemonade stand with a bunch of kids out front, but we decided to stop anyway - and I'm so glad we did! Not only did we spend a good portion of our morning getting to know our neighbors, we also found some great deals.

Turns out most of the stuff was down the driveway a bit, and while there wasn't a lot, what was there was in pretty good condition and VERY cheap. The kids were thrilled to have us, as they got to keep any money they made. So, we ended up with an artist easel (white board on one side, chalk board on the other, with a roll of paper=$3), a nice IKEA shelf with colorful plastic bins (honestly, just what we needed=$5), a red plastic lawn chair (not pictured, $1), a 2T dress and 3 little toddler plates (25c each).

We came home, rearranged her play area, filled up the bins, and she started drawing on her easel immediately. She's such a cute little artist - she likes to tell us what she's drawing, and for a 2-year old it's kind of impressive! This is a rocket ship, and she'd just drawn a happy face, an umbrella, rainbows, and polka-dots.

It seems to me that these days, Chuck and I spend a lot of money on services and intangible things. As homeowners and working parents with 2 incomes, we spend money now on things I never would've imagined 10 years ago; lawn service, the occasional house cleaning, Terminex, hair salons (I used to go to SuperCuts), daycare, restaurants, babysitters... all things that make our lives so much easier, and we're SO fortunate to be able to afford the life we have. But wow, if that wasn't just the best $10 I've ever spent!

2-year old Amber

For those of you who think Aurora just takes after her daddy...

Okay, she does have his nose. But I was the one with the blonde curley hair! Chuck was blonde too, but his was lighter and stick-straight.

Of course, the best thing about these pictures is seeing my family over 30-years ago. It really makes me think about the passage of time. I mean, I already feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and Aurora's going to be 7-years old... I guess all I can do is stop and enjoy the day she turns two and ALL the sweet moments we have together, today and always.

Eggs

Today we celebrated easter by decorating and eating tons of hard boiled eggs. I honestly can't remember the last time I dyed eggs... it must've been 20+ years ago! You're supposed to add vinegar to the dye mixture, and Chuck said the smell even brought back memories for him.

Chuck also got some ham to go along with his eggs, but Aurora was having none of it. I think she may end up being a vegetarian like her mama. Actually, it seemed like she was equating the meal with green eggs and ham! Silly girl.

Aurora got to play with eggs all week long. Thursday they had an easter egg hunt at daycare, and earlier in the week we got a package in the mail from Grandma Nancy. Rora loves presents (who doesn't?), and was so surprised by all the cute toys and stuffies. When we discovered that the plastic eggs from Grandma contained play doh, Aurora was thrilled. She just kept saying "Rora like play doh mommy!" then got down on the ground and started rolling it into "snakes," making circles and moons. We've never done that at home before, so it surprised me too!

All in all, a great weekend - maybe the nicest we've had in a long time. And not just because of the eggs. There were hardly any melt downs, power struggles, or frustrations involved. Not that we have a lot of that, but when we do it's exhausting.

Bluebonnets

Here it is, our official 2010 Texas bluebonnet photo taken at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Okay, it's one of many, but it's my favorite:

This morning could not have been much nicer. The weather was perfect, we arrived early and beat the crowds, and Amelia is one of our favorite people to hang out with. It was a happy day.

Spring is in the air

It has been absolutely gorgeous this week in Austin, and we've been lucky enough to have lots of opportunities to get outside and enjoy it. Earlier this week we had our LIVESTRONG company picnic, which was SO much fun. I brought Aurora and she was hilarious. She started out a little shy, and ended up jumping around, showing off her yoga moves, hugging my friends, and having a great time. Except for when her water balloon broke, but we'll just put that behind us.

Doug Ulman, our CEO, took my favorite picture of the day. He tweeted this photo and titled it My Blackberry:
I found where my old blackberry has been hiding. @amberwadey's daughter Aurora must have had it all this time. Go figure.

I thought that was funny!!! Mona took a bunch of great photos, and this one really shows off Aurora's latest camera smile (and mine, apparently).

And here are two of my BWF's (best work friends) Bailey and Laura, after winning the egg toss. I realize this doesn't have much to do with Aurora or my blog, but it makes me happy!

Today Aurora's daycare was closed for Good Friday and while we were out and about, I decided to take her to Pots & Plants, the famous flamingo place on the corner of Bee Caves & 360. It was SO cute - they had flamingos and huge easter eggs on display with bluebonnets growing EVERYWHERE, and Aurora loved it.

My friend Amelia said that this can't count as our "official" annual Bluebonnet pic, but I think she's just trying to convince us to go to the Wildflower Center with her. Which we're going to do tomorrow morning! So you should have more gorgeous bluebonnet pics coming soon, along with more easter egg pics by the end of the weekend.