Great Nana

I'm not sure what she'll be called, but Parker met my Nana (his great grandmother) for the first time last week. I've been to Wichita Falls several times with Parker, but her schedule is so busy =) that she has been out of town whenever we're in town. He smiled and cooed appropriately and then reminded her he was a baby by spitting up all over her leg.

Adult Disneyland

We spent the weekend in San Francisco and Napa Valley for Allison & John Spears' wedding. Thursday night we stayed in the Chinatown district of San Fran and went to Water Bar for dinner. The food was amazing - oysters Rockerfeller, prawns, and black sea bass with risotto. We went with two of Benton's IBM buddies who were out there for work.

I slept in Friday morning while Benton worked. We walked around the Union Square area and took some touristy pictures and did some shopping. We went to Neiman's and Nordstrom, but every store seems better when you're somewhere away from home!

Benton's rent car for the weekend was a big grey Mercury Marquis -not exactly cool to cruise around the wine country in, but it was free so I can't complain. We drove out to Napa around lunchtime on Friday and had a great lunch at Rutherfords. We also did a tasting at the Cakebread winery. I had been there when I went to Napa for work several years ago, and it was as good as I remembered. I highly recommend going there! The rehearsal dinner was at the Carneros Inn. The weather was perfect for cocktails on the lawn and the dinner was delicious with wine pairings for each course.

We stayed at the Harvest Inn in St. Helena for the rest of the weekend. The grounds were gorgeous and it was conveniently located in the middle of the valley. After breakfast the guys headed to Ana's Cantina to watch the USA vs. Ghana game. I got dressed and did some shopping in St. Helena - lots of cute shops with wine collectables, kids books, housewares, etc. We met up with Katie and Blair Lang for a burger at Gott's Roadstand, then it was time for wine! Benton's favorite winery is Frog's Leap in Rutherford, so he showed us out to their hidden vineyard and LEED-certified farm building. There were amazing wildflowers, a patio straight from a Crate and Barrel catalog, oh and the wine was great too! We also drove to downtown Napa so I could get a piece of champagne cake at the Butter Cream Bakery. Then Benton and I toured the Louis Martini winery and Mumm sparkling wines before getting ready for the wedding.



The ceremony was beautiful with the setting sun behind the Harvest Inn vineyard. We had more wine, a wonderful seated dinner, and great dancing with friends. We took some fun polaroids to go with their guest book and there was a large photo booth for the guests to play with as well. We were so thankful to be included for such an intimate wedding - thanks to John and Allison for an amazing mini vacay!

Parker the Munchkin was in Wichita Falls with both sets of grandparents while we were gone. From all reports, he giggled, cooed, squealed, and throughly hammed it up the entire time!


Notice how much hair he's lost - think he's going to have much lighter hair when it come back in.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm a Rebel

I may regret it in the morning, but I decided to put Parker in his crib without the Nap Nanny tonight. We have about three weeks until our vacation in Jackson Hole and we're going to limit how much baby gear we fly up there with. I'm paranoid about him rolling over, so thank goodness for modern marvel of technology. I'll let you know in the morning how things went!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Father's Day Blow Out

No, it wasn't a flat tire on I-35 South or a big party at Amon Carter Lake. For his first Father's Day, Parker decided to give his daddy one of the few gifts a ten week old can make - a huge blow out diaper that goes all over the car seat when you're still 30 miles from home. It was a two person clean up job at the Shell station in Denton today and Parker patiently waited while we cleaned him up and did our best to wipe out the car seat.




So happy Father's Day to Benton, my dad, and my father-in-law, Mark!









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thank You's

Major accomplishment - I finally finished my thank you notes for Parker's gifts. I did really well when I came home from the hospital and was all caught up, but I got behind after Parker came home. We were are so lucky to have so many friends and family that care about us and our new addition!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tales from the Motherhood

I love reading mommy blogs and facebook posts from my friends when they admit they screwed up as a mom. Not to be mean, but because it makes me feel better when I don't know what I'm doing either.

When I was in Waco a couple of weeks ago, a friend and I were sharing some of the things no one tells you after you have your baby. There is plenty of advice when you're pregnant, but I admit that I half listened because it didn't seem real yet that I was going to be a mother. Then when you need advice after the baby is several months old, friends and family assume you know what you're doing and don't offer any suggestions or reminders.

My friend shared that no one told her that there were different sizes of nipples as your baby gets older and can swallow and digest faster. I didn't know this either, so I was thankful she saved me any future embarassment.

Today at Target I happened to notice that Dr. Brown's did indeed make level 1,2, & 3 sized nipples. Size 1 is for newborns - check, size 2 is for 3+ months, and size 3 is for 6+ months. Parker has been taking almost 30 minutes to take 6 oz., so I think maybe we should try the size 2 nipples a little early.

Some of you probably can foresee what is coming, but I'll go ahead and share the messy details anyway. I made Parker's 5pm bottle and put on one of the freshly sterilized size 2 nipples. Parker seemed to like it and quickly gulped down 5 oz. in 10 minutes. He burped three times during the feeding and I was so excited that we'd cut down on his feeding time.

Parker is super relaxed and is almost ready to fall asleep when he suddenly squints his eyes and frowns. I'm talking out loud to him and telling him he's making a wierd face when he has two projectile spit ups all over himself, my dress, and my lap. I am staring at him in shock while he grins at me with spit up on him from head to toe.

He promptly got a bath, I'm still working on laundry, and I haven't made it to the shower yet. I guess we'll wait another couple of weeks to try size 2 nipples again. So that's my tale from the motherhood - good night!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Trick of the Week - Week 9

Parker has discovered he can lick his hand like a lollipop - or he's practicing to kiss the ladies one day according to Pops!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone