May 2012

BIRTHDAY

My birthday (May 1st) was during the week of Russ's finals, so we didn't really do any celebrating.  But I did get to have a free lunch on my birthday at Taco Cabana with my friend Valerie whose birthday is the day after mine.  We signed up for all of the free birthday meals but since the month was so busy I only really used a few of them :( The only thing I got for my birthday was $$$$ because that's exactly what I wanted!  I am saving it for a plane ticket to see family and friends this fall. 

Anna helped me eat my free ice cream cone from Marble Slab creamery.  I was so excited that they have cinnamon flavored ice cream!!

SAN ANTONIO + JONES FAMILY VISIT

On May 4th we packed up and drove down to San Antonio to meet Russ's parents and brother for the weekend.  Russ's parents rented a mini-van for us (since they wouldn't all fit in our tiny civic), and until riding in said mini-van I had sworn that I would never ever, under any circumstances own or be seen driving a mini-van.  But I am a changed woman.  I might actually consider owning one some day.  It was a pretty sweet ride - lots of bells and whistles.  But hopefully we won't be considering a mini-van until we have our third or fourth kid, and by then I just pray we can afford an SUV. 

We got Anna a new front-facing car seat the day before our road-trip because we thought it would be easier and that she would be happier if she could see us.  She did pretty well on the way to SA, but on the way back she had a hard time.   On our trip to Kansas it was even worse.  She whined at us nearly the entire time that she wasn't sleeping.  But isn't she adorable???

 

We went to Sea World, the Alamo, and the Riverwalk.  We loved Sea World even though it was hot and humid - which meant we were all wet, sticky, and stinky by the end of the day.

Poor Anna crashed in her tiny cheap-o Walmart stroller that we had to buy because I forgot to bring hers!!!  

Because we were so hot and sweaty Anna's hair was super curly the whole day, it was so cute!

First swim of the year at the hotel

The Alamo

The Riverwalk

I was actually a bit disappointed by the Riverwalk.  It was fun to walk around, but that's really all you do...walk around and look at restaurants.  I guess if we wanted to spend the money we could have taken a boat tour. 

When we got back to Dallas we went to the Dallas Aquarium which is one of my very favorite places in Dallas.  It is so much better than the zoo!  They have all sorts of exotic animals, and it is indoors!  The animals are much easier to see than at the zoo (where I swear half of them are always sleeping in the furthest corner) and a lot of them not even caged, so you get a better look.  

Here is my favorite - a sloth!

My other favorite - the Jaguar.  He had fun running back and forth in his cage and head-butting us through the cage each time.  

And of course we had to have a picnic at the lake!  We loved having the Joneses visit, come back soon!

FIRST 5K

On May 10th I ran my very first 5K.  This is pretty pathetic considering that seemingly everyone I know is running marathons, but I've got to start somewhere!  I wouldn't have even done it if my employer hadn't torn her calf muscle and asked me to take her place at the 5K with her girls (the ones I babysit).  Honestly, I'm not sure I'll ever do more than a 5/10K.  Running just ain't my thang.  I tried.  I don't like it.  I want to go to an air-conditioned gym and do zumba or kickboxing or do a 20-minute interval run on the treadmill. 

KANSAS

For the memorial day weekend we took our second road trip of the month to Wichita, Kansas for the 2nd Annual Myers Family Reunion.  We got to meet 3 new cousins and eat tons of good food.  I only have the pictures I took with my phone because I made my bro/sis take lots of pics with their awesome new camera and I don't have said pics yet.  

The first thing we did was go to Tanganyka Wildlife Park which is by far the best zoo I have ever been to.  Everything is interactive and you get to go into the animals' cages as long as they aren't dangerous.  We got to feed and pet giraffes, rhinos, birds, lemurs, kangaroos, turtles, snakes and more.  It was amazing!

Look at my cute little granny in the background!

The birds were landing on everyone's shoulders and heads.  Unfortunately my mom got poo on her head.

Auntie Sara and Anna

Russ rode a camel with Carter

GOODBYE MARY

I had to say goodbye to my friend Mary at the end of the month because she moved to Lubbock, TX.  It was such a sad day for me.  Mary wasn't just my friend, she was my very best friend, my bosom friend, even.  Before I moved to Texas I knew I was going to need a friend when I got here.  I knew I was going to be lonely with Russ gone to school all the time.  I prayed and prayed and prayed for a friend - not just a regular friend, a BEST friend...someone that would be more like family.  My prayers were answered and I got exactly what I asked for.  We had only been in Dallas a few days when a classmate from law school invited Russ and I over because he thought that his wife and I would be good friends.  Well, he was right and the rest is history.  She has been such a good friend to me, and such a great example as well.  She is an amazing person and I know we will always be friends no matter how far from each other we are.  I am so grateful that my prayer was answered, but next time I will have to remember to also pray that my friend won't have to move away so soon!!!

Since Mary will be having a baby girl in September, we had a small baby shower/goodbye party with some people from her church.  We met at Bread Winners Cafe - the food was so good!!!  

I got the Crab-crusted Red Fish with Tomato Basil Risotto.  This was DE-LISH.  I was so excited to be able to eat fish - usually when I eat out Russ and I share a dish, and he won't eat fish....so this was exciting for me.

See that Mac-N-Cheese in the back?  That was supposed to be for Mary's little boy Brenden but he didn't eat it, so she sent it home with me.  It was the best macadoodle I have ever had.  Russ concurred.  It inspired us to start trying a bunch of different homemade macadoodle recipes, but none even comes close to the one at Bread Winners.  

ANNA

Anna started taking a few steps at a time at the beginning of the month, right in time for Russ's family to see.  She started walking in the middle of the month, and by the time we saw my family at the end of the month she was almost a pro.  Church is difficult now (not that it wasn't before) because ALL she wants to do is walk walk walk everywhere.  It is bittersweet because I sure will miss her adorable "scoot" but many things are much easier now that she can walk (and I no longer have to clean the stains off of her clothes/legs/shoes that she got from dragging her leg around all over the place). 

Anna still has only two teeth (the 2 bottom ones).  She started waking up at 6 AM some days so Russ put blankets over both her windows in her room.  I don't think it really helped and it also looked dumb so I took them down.  We will definitely be trying some different things to get her to sleep in later.  She is such a happy girl, she is usually content to play by herself if I am busy doing something...she just follows me around the house and plops herself down to play with whatever she can find nearby.  Anna is quite the chatterbox, but as far as I can tell the only "real" words I can make out are "dada" (which she says all day long), "no no no" and "baby" or "bubby" (which is what I call her).  Only rarely does she say "mama" and recently she has started saying "hi."

Anna isn't quite the good eater I was hoping she would be.  She has been pretty picky about fruit but at least she usually eats her veggies.  She shovels broccoli into her mouth as fast as she can.  Once in a while she'll eat some grapes or banana, but most of the time I have to smash up fruit and put it in oatmeal to get her to eat it.  I guess I just need to get more creative about meal time.  

She thinks it is hilarious to put things on her head.

Swimming with Mary and Brenden

Bubbles!