Phew!

We spent the better half of our Sunday night looking high and low throughout our house for my keys that Eli somehow misplaced earlier in the day. You never know where he could have put them. And it did cross my mind, and I am pretty sure Blaine's as well, that there was a slim possibility that I had taken them from him and placed them in an odd place given the things that I have done lately throughout this pregnancy. We looked in the oven, the dishwasher, the refrigerator, under every pillow in the house, the bathtubs, our shoes, dumped out the bucket of toys in the living room, twice, the front yard, the ignition of my car, the pantry, and I acted like a spy with a flashlight looking in Eli's room while he slept soundly, as he should given our busy, busy day. Anyway, you get the point. We finally found them inside a toy that Eli had played with for about 4 seconds while Blaine and I went back and forth picking up a painting we just got framed discussing how heavy we each thought it was...because it really mattered! :)
The other half of our day was even more exciting than that. It started out with a cup of coffee at our old coffee shop (I'm surprised I have written a post about it yet...it is sure to come)with our little family. Those Sunday morning visits to the coffee shop aren't like they used to be, but still just as good, and maybe a little less relaxing. We hurried out to get to our friends Dan and Gretchen's children's birthday party at Zilker Park.

But we didn't stay long because we were invited to a "Picture Party" by a friend whose friend is a photographer and trying to get her business off the ground. It was just five families with their little people and we all have mini sessions with the photographer. It was great, although we skipped Eli's morning nap all together and with all the excitement earlier on in the day (don't forget, our days start eaaaaaaarly), by 11am our little man was starting to fade. He was probably the most dreaded subject to try and photograph. As I was apologizing to the photographer for being a not-so-great subject by being fussy and running off the set, and explaining to her that in general its hard to get good pictures of him, instead of trying to make me feel better by saying something like 'oh its OK, I'm used to it' or he's doing great, just being a 14 month old', she simply agreed with me and said "Oh good, so its not just me to not get any good pictures." Thanks.
Oh well, hopefully we was able to get one or two good ones. I will share them when I get access to them in a couple of weeks.
By the time we got back on Mopac he was out cold in the backseat. But in true fashion only slept one hour.
So after the "nap" we headed to birthday party #2 at Hey Cupcake for our dear friend Sara who is in town this week who was turning the big 3-0! It was so much fun to see all of her family and of course enjoy a giant cupcake. Eli could have cared less for the actual cupcake and went straight for the icing.
I actually had my camera and didn't take any good pictures, I guess chasing after Eli had me preoccupied. From there we headed to dinner at my parents for my dad's famous steak.

Ethan came in town on Thursday to spend the weekend with family and to celebrate Passover, which was on Monday night.
We made sure to prepare Eli for the holiday.... (note the shirt)...

By the time Monday rolled around we were all exhausted, including Eli who took at 3 hour nap that afternoon. Passover dinner is usually a big-to-do and a lot of fun. But Eli only lasted through the appetizers, mingling and the very exciting news that our cousin is pregnant with her first baby--congrats Kim and Jared! By the time dinner rolled around, he had had enough. We packed up a to-go plate, and we headed home.

Eli and a couple of his cousins Sam and Max

We spent the night at my parents house Monday night so we could spend more time with Ethan before he left on Wednesday morning. It was a gorgeous day and we spent a lot of time outside playing. The day ended with Chinese take-out with the family.

Ethan and Eli playing ball

Working very hard on a puzzle

....and eating the puzzle

playing with Buddy, the neighbors sweet dog

Phew! We are back and home and heading to bed. Good night!

Silly Face

I hope this boy never loses this silly little smile! I could stare at these pictures all day long!

And to add to the silliness, check out this video. Sorry to be the dotting mom, I just dont ever want to forget the sounds of this! I mean seriously, is there a better sound than a babys laugh? I could listen to Eli all day long. It is the highlight of my life!

You know you are old when....

....you go back to your college sorority house with friends and while looking at your composite picture a current Zeta says "yeah, we like to count how many denim shirts you guys wore in the 90's".....gasp, the 90's! Yes, we were in college in the 90's, and we are now those old, alumnae with kids who came back to see our old house and realize just how old we are when we see just how much the hair styles, and fashions have changed.

You know you are old when your friend feels the need to stop on the side of the highway to stretch her legs on her drive from Dallas to Austin because she became achy.

You know you are old when you are at the bar and the topic of converstaion is no longer boys, but hemerroids and labor. 

You know you are getting old when you have had dear friends in your life that you met in college 10 years ago that have been there for you through weddings, funerals, babys, break-ups, good times and bad. 
Eight wonderful friends of mine came down to Austin to celebrate Paige's 30th birthday this past weekend. We stayed at Hotel San Jose and embrassed what South Congress has to offer.

If you havent been down there lately, there are a plethera of air stream trailers selling what can only be described as delectible goodies...have you heard of The Mighty Cone? Delicious.  Its basically whatever you want, fried, in a tortilla cone.  This one is the fried chicken and fried avocado.

When discussing "must-dos" on the trip, we quickly realized that they all had to do with food.  So, we started out our weekend at Guerros.  It was so great to be back together to be celebrating such a fun event!  The only thing missing was our friend Natalie, who couldnt make it into town this weekend. 

To sum it up, there were margaritas, Tex-Mex, sangria, Eggs Zapatino, pitchers of Dos Equis, Magnolia Mud, cupcakes, champagne, pinot - both grigio and noir, vodka tonics, Max & Cheese, fried oysters and Mighty Cones, Jo's coffee,  and Mexican Martinis. There was laughing, shopping, dancing, lots of eating, story telling, pictures of babies passed around, a visit to our old stomping grounds and lots of smiles and hugs.

We visited our old "home" where we all lived our junior year

Of course we made a quick stop for a famous Mexican Martini at Trudy's, it was a virgin Bloody Mary for me!

Coffee breaks at Jo's

Dinner at Max's Wine Bar where everything on the menu is fried--our table was covered in fried pickles, okra, chicken, eggs, calamari, oysters, tomatoes, macaroni....it goes on...and we ended with some bread pudding and brownies for the birthday girl

We ended the weekend with lunch at Hula Hut, and my little munchkin joined in for the fun! (did you really think you would get a whole post without any pictures of Eli?!?!?)

It was a fabulous weekend! I only hope we can meet back up again next year!

Happy Birthday Paige!

Freedom!!!!

Eli had a slumber party with Lolli and Pop Friday night. I was so excited to have a day to myself and to hang out at home with Blaine that I was giddy, full of energy, went to seven different stores in a matter of two hours, just because I could, and felt like we were newlyweds again (not in that way!).  Its amazing how much you can do and how productive you can be when you dont have a 21 pound bunddle attached to your hip that you have to entertain and strap in and out of the car each time you make another stop. 
We went out to dinner, laughed a lot, it felt just like it did when we first got married--carefree and fun!  Saturday morning after laying in bed and watching TV until I was ready to get up, I headed to the gym and then to get a haircut. Talk about letting yourself go---I have had my hair cut once since Eli has been born and just painted my toe nails for the first time since I wore flip-flops last summer.  Blaine headed off to work and I headed to meet my dear friends Lauren and Brooke for lunch. It was heavenly. I drove as slow as I could that afternoon to pick up Eli.  Dont get me wrong, I missed him dearly, and in fact, he was the topic of all of our converstaions, but I was just relishing in my last few moments of freedom. 
I was expecting him to jump up in down in excitement and have a huge smile from ear to ear when he saw me. Not so much.  He could have cared less.  I dont think he realized that he hadnt seen me for the last 36 hours.  He just pointed to Lolli so she could do the funny things that she does to make him laugh.  Oh well. I keep telling him that one day he will miss me when I leave! :)
It was a welcome break but I couldnt wait to see that guy and squeeze those chubby little cheeks!

This is his new face, his "furrowing of the brow, what are you thinking" look.

To Lolli and Pop, thanks for the being the best parents/grandparents and for keeping our little man so I can remain a sane human being!  Im having a hard enough time being pregnant and having a 13 month old, can you imagine how I will feel with a 19 month old and a new born?!?!?

P.S. I will be bringing him back over in a month for another night of freedom.

Birds!!!!

Our trip to the lake....we went out for a little run, but of course had to make the stop to see the ducks...."birds! birds!"