Radio Silence

I am oh-so-many blog posts behind...let's see, we did our first day of Mother's Day out (and our second), the first MOPS meeting of the year, a trip to San Antonio for my cousin's wedding and a trip to Victoria, but alas, our computer crashed last Sunday and my e-mailing/facebooking/blogging has been subject to the limited capabilities of my now-dead itouch. I need to charge it, but considering we charge all of our igadgets on the afore mentioned computer (may it rest in peace), even my e-mailing and facebooking has been sorely neglected this week.

I know you all stalk my blog for updates, and are crying over the lack of new material, but I really do promise to post several updates when we are back up and running; mainly because this blog is my excuse for not doing a scrapbook or even a decent photo album for our life post-children, and I do plan to print out all my posts someday and have them bound for our enjoyment/amusement, not because I actually think my loyal fans are truly losing sleep at night ;).

Oh, and in case you are curious, our computer is not the only appliance around our house that decided to kick the bucket recently. Our vacuum is busted, the dryer is acting up, the dishwasher is on the fritz, and the spray faucet in the kitchen sink broke. The last two problems, I'm convinced, are a direct result of the fact that we have incredibly hard water and no water softening system, which we always questioned whether we could afford, and are subsequently questioning if we can afford to put it off any longer. And, as if that were not enough, we had a user-related problem with our frige (I though I was making it colder, but apparently I made it warmer) and had to throw out over $150 worth of groceries. So if you are keeping track, that's about a gillion dollars worth of stuff we are sorting though on top of the impending expenses of adding a new child to our home. Jeez, when it rains it pours.

Ok, I'm done with my pity party and putting my big girl pants back on now, but thanks for listening - have a great weekend!

Lactation Cookies

These are supposed to help nursing mom's with their supply...I made them for a nursing mom I'm taking dinner to tonight, and thought I'd post the recipe for anyone interested. Even when I'm not nursing, I like to make them as a healthier alternative to reg choc chip cookies - they are really tasty and for the record Mr. C loves them too! :)

• 8 Tbs water
• 4 Tbs flax seed meal (no subs)
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 2 lg eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 Tbs brewers yeast (no subs - can be found at HEB in the those bins near the health food stuff)
• 3 cups thick cut oats (not instant/quick cook)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer dark choc and use the Ghiradelli 60% choc chips...I also tend to use closer to 1 and 1/2 cups, but since a lot of chocolate, especially dark chocolate, in mom's diet can sometimes upset a newborn baby's tummy, I recommend milk choc chips if you are making these for a new mom :)

Preheat oven to 375. Mix flax seed meal and water in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each one. Add flax seed mix and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Sift dry ingredients (except oats and choc chips). Slowly add dry ingredients to butter mixture while mixer is mixing on the lowest speed. Continue mixing only until dry and wet ingredients are incorporated (don't over mix). Fold in oats and then the choc chips. Drop by rounded tbs on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake 8-12 minutes. Makes 4-5 dozen depending on cookie size.

I would eat at least 4 a day while I was nursing...for medicinal purposes of course :)

Labor Day Weekend Getaway to Fredericksburg

Our Texas road trip started with a trip to Ikea (hey, this is Houston...just because a store is also in 'Houston' doesn't make it close by!), then it was off to Fredericksburg, TX. We rolled in just in time to check into the Camp David B&B, scope a few shops and clean up for dinner at the Navajo Grill (excellent food, but service was a miss. In fact, had we not gotten our dinner for free, I wouldn't even be mentioning them here).

Next morning we got up not-so-bright-and-early for the late service at Bethany Lutheran church (totally thought of you Bethany! :). Then we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Peach Tree Tea Room, and then...lots of shopping of course! We shopped til we dropped with a brief break at the Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe for this decadent mexican chocolate cake thing that was so rich Mr. C and I couldn't finish it, though we tried. Our shopping excursion ended a little early when a big rain store blew through. I normally would have been put out, but they needed rain so badly, I figured the storm was a blessing for the the area as well as our checking account, so we headed back to the B&B for a nap (yes a NAP!) and then to clean up for our second delicious dinner at the Cabernet Grill (formerly the Cotton Gin Restaurant).

Today we got up (again, not-so-bright-and-early :) and hiked Enchanted Rock. Then it was time to go home, but first we made a quick stop at the Pottery Barn outlet store in San Marcos to look at couches and rugs. No luck at PB, but we did get some good stuff for Mr. C at the J Crew Outlet across the parking lot! :)

Our next vacation sans kids will probably be in the the year 2011, if we are lucky, so with that in mind Mr. C and I just tried to enjoy each moment to the best of our ability, not inhale our food (though that's almost become second nature), and do little stuff we don't normally get to. I took time to fix my hair and make-up every single morning, and I took a bath every night. Naps and sleeping-in were a must, and we even took as few highways as possible opting for Farm-to-markets and Ranch Roads to enjoy the scenery and 'just because we could'. All-in-all, a great babymoon! :)

Peach Tree Tea Room

Rather Sweet and the wonderful chocolate thing that defeated us

Pioneer Park


Cabernet Grill

Enchanted Rock

Ok, I have to brag just a little bit :)

This morning we made it in and out of Ikea in less than an hour and found/saw everything we needed to.

This afternoon we bought our first original painting from an actual art gallery - I feel so grown up! It's not a big painting, and it wasn't expensive at all, but it's an original one-of-a-kind and I love it. I feel like I found a little treasure and I can't wait to find the perfect place to hang it in our home.

Then, this evening we enjoyed a delicious and expensive meal completely free of charge. Granted we had to put up with some pretty terrible service, but when we asked to speak with the manager, we were expecting our dessert and/or drinks to be gratis, not the whole meal!! I started to argue and you should have seen the look I got from Mr. C (the most frugal person on the planet). Needless to say, we ultimately took the offer and high tailed it out before they could change their mind!

All in all, the first day of our babymoon/belated anniversary/birthday trip to Fredricksburg has been wonderful! Only hiccup is that Little C has a bit of a tummy bug. He's in the wonderful and capable hands of my mother, though, and she's been sending me hourly updates via text on his food intake and bowel movements. I can't even begin to tell you how much more I love my mom for being 'that grandma' this weekend.

Sick day

Earlier this month Little C went through a rough spell - he was dealing with allergies and cutting some teeth. I always had heard some kids had a hard time with their molars, but I was not expecting it to be this rough. He was up screaming from 10pm til 4am the night before this picture. It was so scary, we didn't know what was going on! Luckily a trip to the doctor and dentist confirmed it was just teething, but he looked so pitiful. Poor little guy :(

Mr. Self-sufficient

I know it's a source of great pride for a toddler to feed themselves, but it can be SO messy! I'm having to take baby steps, but I'm getting there :)

Little boxes of raisins are a big hit. He loves digging them out one at a time with his two little pincher fingers plus they kind of stick together in the box and aren't quite as bad about dumping out everywhere as crackers or cookies.

Also, we learned a GENIUS trick with the baby yogurt while visiting the adorable Reese and her mommy and daddy in Dallas. Shake up the yogurt, pop a hole in the top, add a straw and viola! Instant solution to an otherwise messy food!! It was so cute to watch Little C and his friend Reese sitting side by side in their high chairs sucking down their yo baby yogurt.

Here's to hoping simple things like getting his own yogurt or box of raisins will always make him this happy!

These boots are made for walking

Little C finally fits in his first pair of cowboy boots :) They are a little big, and very stiff...not sure how a toddler is supposed to break in new boots, but they definitely need some wearing before they will be easy for him to walk in. And I promise he doesn't hate them as much as it seems...he just really wanted to hold the camera and we were having to restrain him to get a picture.

Tour de Family and Friends

While our hardwood was being installed, Little C and I took the opportunity to visit some friends and family we hadn't seem in a while. We drove up to Little Rock, AR with a stop in Dallas on the way there and back to break up the trip.

We first stopped to visit Little C's friend Reese. Reese's mommy and Daddy just moved (back) to Dallas and into the cutest house you've ever seen. They are expecting their second and both sets of our kids will be 20 months apart! (both of their two will be three months older). We had so much fun visiting with them, and these two kiddos were crazy playing with each other. We had to cut them off at night because they'd get each other so worked up before bed. It was so fun/funny to watch them interact!

Then it was off to Little Rock to visit my aunt and uncle. We also got to catch up with my cousin, her husband and their two adorable dogs (well, one of the puppies actually belongs to my aunt, but there is definitely some shared custody going on :) Little C had so much fun with the puppies, but the littlest of the two wasn't feeling very good while we were there. We hope Gretta feels better!!

Back in Dallas, we got in a quick visit with my other aunt and uncle and her two sons. We also got a chance to visit my Grandparents on our last afternoon in Dallas. Little C was pretty fed up with travelling at that point, so the visit was brief, but it was so good to see everyone!

I took pitifully few pictures, but here are some highlights.

Playing on the keyboard with Reese in Dallas

The prettiest sunset I've ever seen just outside of Dallas

Are we there yet?? :(

Playing peekaboo with a blanket Grammy had for him

Playing with Grandad's scooter

Trying (unsuccessfully) to get a picture with Grammy and Grandad

So I don't have a single picture from our time in Arkansas...Aunt P if you are reading this, you'll have to send me a copy of the ones you took!!

Thanks to all the people that put us up. We left a trail of crumbs and dirty diapers in our wake, but it was so wonderful to see you all! Thank you for a wonderful trip!!