Don't Quit Your Day Job.....

So I decided to cut Livi's bangs because they were constantly in her eyes.  I was always trying to hold her bangs back with barretts or clips, but they usually lasted no more than 10 minutes before she ripped them out and her hair was back in her eyes.  So Wednesday morning she was sitting in her high chair eating breakfast, her bangs were all over the place and she kept trying to push them out of the way so I finally said, "I'm just going to have to do this."  I have an EXTREME aversion to cutting hair, because basically I suck at it.  I do cut Phil's hair.  However, the first handful of times I cut it, I was literally crying at the same time, swearing to him that I would never do it again.  He is rarely happy with the way people cut his hair, so he endured my tears (and few crooked hair cuts) in order to train me to be the master stylist I am now.  But it is one thing cutting with clippers, it's an entirely new ball game working with scissors.  Back to the point at hand, I decided to cut Livi's bangs, so I grabbed the scissors, scooped up all her bangs in my fingers and just cut as straight across as I could.  She was trying to grab the scissors so needless to say they are a little shorter and a little more uneven than I would have liked.  But I knew if I kept trying to make it all even that they would get progressively shorter until they were all gone.  At least they're not in her eyes anymore, right?

Before

After

New Orleans

We had an amazing weekend in New Orleans.  The week before we left I spent hours and hours researching the history of the city as well as things to see and do.  I went to the library and checked out a few books in order to get a better understanding of the city and its past.  I am going to do that for every trip we take in the future.  It was so much more interesting to walk around the city and know so much about it.  Who needs a tour guide?!  We left early Saturday morning about 5am.  We arrived at the Nottoway Plantation about 11am and got  a tour of the house.  What an incredible place. Unfortunately, Livi was exhausted, hungry and tired of being cooped up so she was not her usual self.  Phil knows how obsessed and fascinated with history I am so he took Livi downstairs and outside entertaining her so I could listen to the tour.  Thanks sweetie!  The house is 53,000 square feet, and the largest remaining plantation home left in the South.  I wish I could have seen every nook and cranny of the house, but we still got to see a lot.  The slave cabins had all been torn down because of their disrepair so I was a tad bummed about that, but I was still on cloud 9 just to be there. 

 After the plantation we got back on the road for the last hour and half leg of our trip.  We got into New Orleans about 3.  We got to our hotel and things did not get off to a very good start.  While checking in we reminded them that we needed a crib (we had reserved one when we reserved the hotel) and the clerk told us they didn't have any but they were trying to track one down from a neighboring Marriott.  I was trying to not to freak out, so Phil and I were discussing what we would do with her if we couldn't get a crib.  We thought about flipping the coffee table upside down and putting some pillows down for her to sleep on and tying a sheet around the legs so she couldn't get out, or pushing the couch against the wall and barricading the sides so she wouldn't get out.  We were getting pretty creative. Well we got to our room and it smelled like smoke so Phil went back to the office and they gave us a new, bigger room so that was nice, and they told us they would let us know about the crib when they heard anything.  So we decided to go walk around the French Quarter and go get dinner.  We knew we wanted to go to Bourbon St but everyone warned us about going there at night so we decided to go there first.  It was CRAZY!  At one point, Phil crossed the street to take our picture and this lady with one eye came up to him and said that she had been ordered to handcuff all the good looking men, Phil laughed and said no thanks and so she handed him a paper that was a "Party Pooper Award" for being: too handsome, girl watching, and not partying hard enough.  There were women walking around in lingerie, there were sex shops everywhere, obviously everyone was drunk, and it was pretty much just crazy.  I was beginning to wonder if that street somehow made every one's moral compass go bonkers.   After leaving there we headed over to Mulates for some authentic Cajun food.  We had read some great reviews of this place so were really excited.  Unfortunately, it didn't quite meet our expectations.  Phil got an array of different foods like frog legs, craw fish, alligator, shrimp and they were all pretty fishy tasting.  But the next day we ate at the Gumbo Shop and that made up for it.  I had some chicken gumbo and Phil had shrimp creole, both of which were delicious.  When we got back to our hotel around 7:30 they still hadn't got a crib, but they said the Marriott a few blocks away had one we could use if we were willing to go and pick it up.  So we went and got a crib and it all worked out wonderfully.  

an assortment of frog legs, alligator, craw fish and who know what else

The next day we went on a ferry ride across the Mississippi to Algiers and then we took it back and we went back to the French Quarter because there were some historical sites I wanted to see. We went to the French Market, the longest running market in the country.  We went to. Washington Square and saw the Cabildo, where the Louisiana Purchase was signed.  Later that day we took a street car ride down to the Garden District and saw a lot of amazing homes.  

her love hate relationshop with ice cream

Zoltar...remember Big?

 

Algier's and the ferry across the Mississippi

                                                 

Then Monday morning we woke up bright and early and headed an hour east to do a swamp tour.  That was incredible!  It was pouring rain during the tour, but I think that made the swamp seem extra swampy.  Luckily, the boat was covered.  We saw alligators, snakes, turtles, herons, flying fish, the spot where they filmed parts of Interview With A Vampire (I've never actually seen it though) and all sorts of crazy plants.  It was a two hour tour and by the end Livi was ready to jump over the side of the boat.  Phil and I were trying everything we could think of to entertain her so she wouldn't cry.  Luckily, we had some cheerios and those kept her happy for a while.  After the swamp tour we went and got lunch, changed out of our partially wet clothes and made the 6 hour trip back home.   It was an absolutely perfect weekend.  We got to see and do all of the things we had wanted and Livi was an absolute champ.  I couldn't believe how well she did with all of the traveling.  I'm sure she is glad to be home and back on her schedule.

Here is a video of some of the things we did.  That is a marshmallow the alligator is eating.

Honey Island Swamp

Big Al, who was in fact, big

Livi, the OG

One Year Old!!!

The stroller 

the bowling set

a mixture of joy, fear and surprise?

Livi turned one yesterday!  I can't believe how fast the time as gone.  I remember when we first brought Livi home and Phil and I were just staring at each other surrounded by all this baby stuff, and thinking, "maybe we weren't ready for this?"  Lucky for us, Livi is such a gem, and we have loved every minute with her and couldn't be happier that she has joined us.  I don't know what I would do without her.  We love you Livi!!

I made cupcakes and we sang to her and let her go to town on one of the cupcakes.  I thought she would rip it apart and get it all over.  But she just took little bites and was very neat about the whole thing.  I think the frosting was her favorite part.  I'm not a fan of regular frosting so I frosted them with cool whip mixed with a little pudding mix to thicken it up.  It's delicious.   Phil's grandma sent Livi a doll and a barn yard animal bowling set, and we got her a stroller.  She has been pushing around her laundry basket so we figured we could get her something easier to push.  She hasn't quite taken to it yet, I think she is still trying to figure it out.  It was a great day (other than the Rockets and Celtics both losing in game 7).  I am looking forward to this coming year and all of the wonderful, adorable things that Livi will be doing. 

Also, we are going to New Orleans for Memorial Day!! I'm SO excited.  We are staying in a hotel about a mile away from the French Quarter and this week I'm going to find all of the fun things to do.  We have wanted to head over there for a while and figured this would be the perfect weekend.  It's about a 6 hour drive so we are planning on waking up really early Saturday morning in order to miss the holiday weekend traffic, and so that Livi will hopefully stay asleep for most of the trip.  A girl in our ward is from that area and we asked her for ideas on things to see and do and she gave us quite a list so we are really excited.   She told us that, "they are the sweetest people yull ever meet, but they'll rob you blind." (Imagine that in a thick Louisiana accent.)  She said people will come up to you and say, "I'll bet you 5 bucks I can guess where you got your shoes." And then they will make you give them 5 bucks.  She gave us some good pointers and advice though so I'm REALLY looking forward to it! 

Ice Cream With Mary Jane

The Texas summer is here and hotter than ever.  She got so red in the face and so exhausted even though I kept dousing her with water.  I felt so bad cause she looked so miserable.

Livi had just cracked my glasses right down the middle

For those of you from Wayne County, remember Mary Jane Robinson?  Through the wonderful world of facebook we discovered that we actually live only about 10 minutes away from each other!!  We met up for ice cream on Wednesday and caught up after, I don't even know how many years, since like 6th or 7th grade.  She is great, has two kids Isaac and Penn and is expecting her third son in July.  It was so great to catch up with her....she has the same laugh!  We had fun reminiscing about middle school and our fun sleepovers.  We plan on getting together again soon and having dinner with our husbands.  What's funny is that a few months ago was our stake conference, and I was standing in the back with Livi because she never sits still in church.  And I looked over and about 15 feet away from me I saw this girl with her son and I kept staring at her because she looked just like Mary Jane, but I thought there was no way it would be her and I didn't want to just go up to her in the middle of some guys talk and ask her name, so I just let it go.  Well, come to find out, we are in the same stake and she was there standing in the back with her son as well! It was her! What a small world.  It's so crazy that of all the places to live in Houston (and there are A LOT) we ended up so close to each other. 

Food Storage

Perhaps it is because hurricane season is approaching, or maybe it's the fact that I have a child I am responsible for providing for, but I have been thinking about food storage a lot lately. Last year when Hurricane Ike hit we didn't have power for a week. Before that I never fully appreciated how much we use electricity. The first day was fine, we ate the fruits and veggies we had in the fridge, finished the milk and other perishables, but then the food in our fridge and freezer started to go bad (thank you Texas heat). For two days we lived on sandwiches, pop tarts, canned fruit and we would make hobo dinners on the grill outside at night. Luckily, we had some friends close by that didn't lose power so we packed up after three days of living like cave men and went and stayed with them for a night and then we went to my uncle's in Dallas for the next few days. If we hadn't been able to go to my uncles I'm not sure what we would have done. We wouldn't have starved by any means, but the food would have been meager and not nutritious. We definitely were not prepared to the extent we should have been. Because of all this I have set a goal to really get my food storage in order. Last night for enrichment they did a whole thing on food storage and had wonderful ideas as well as recipes for 30 days that don't require electricity. That was the tricky part for me, we had the food, but no way to prepare most of it. No restaurants were open, no gas stations had gas, the supermarket shelves were bare. It had the potential to be a fairly scary week. At the time Livi was only 4 months old, so she was getting all of her nutrients from me. But now that she requires food just like Phil and me, that puts a little extra urgency into it for me. I'm so grateful that we had the opportunity to go through the hurricane, because now I really understand the importance of food storage and why the leaders of the church are constantly bringing it up. For anyone who reads this...even if you don't live somewhere that has natural disasters very often, get your food storage!!! You never know when you are going to need it. Here are some pictures from Ike.

Our delicious hobo dinners eaten on the balcony by candle light (this part was fun)
no gas

The grocery store a few days after the hurricane

Mother's Day

I had a fabulous mother's day this year, my first one actually.  Phil was wonderful and got me some sweet goodies.  He got me a salad spinner and a big non stick frying pan, both of which I have been wanting for quite some time. And the pan is red which makes it even more perfect!   

Besides mother's day, yesterday was a momentous occasion because I officially weaned Livi. I never thought it would be so difficult. It was definitely harder for me than for Livi. She will be a year this Sunday and she was losing interest in nursing as it is. She would eat for 5 minutes and then want to play. So I figured it was time. Phil and I were both so sad at the thought of it.  And interestingly enough, we were both sad for the same reasons (not the big boobs).  We are both going to miss her nursing mannersims.  Livi would do the most adorable things while eating. She has this patch of really long hair on the top of her head (we call it her toupee) and she would always grab it and run her fingers through it, twist it, pull it and pretty much anything else you can do with hair. She would also stick one of her legs up on my shoulder and I could see her cute chubby little toes. It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen.  Weaning her also reaffirms that fact that she is growing up SO fast.  She is walking all over the place, she's trying to form words, and she has SUCH a personality.  I just can't believe that a year ago I had this teeny baby that couldn't do anything and now she is so independant in so many respects. For those and many other reasons I am a little sad to be finished.   However, I love the new things that she is starting to do and that makes it all worth while.  

She LOVES books! I started reading to her a while ago, even though she didn't really pay attention and she would get bored after a few minutes and want to get down and play.  Then all of a sudden this past week she has started bringing me books. She will carry over a book, hand it to me, then put herself in my lap and point at the book and grunt.  And if I only read it once she gets upset and points at the book and grunts. I have to read each book at least 3 times to make her happy. Which is fine with me, I love reading to her. Especially the interactive books, she loves to lift the flaps or pull the tabs or feel the different textures.   I honestly can't believe how much I love her. Everything she does blows me away.  She is so smart, and so strong and so sweet and fun.  Phil and I love to just sit and watch her go.  Being a wife and a mother is everything I hoped it would be and more.   So Happy Mother's Day!

Fun With Grandma!

My mom left yesterday after a fun filled week.   The day she flew in there was torrential down pour and I have never been so scared driving.  As I was driving to the airport to pick her up I literally could not see anything except the white line on the side of the road.  I was even more scared because of all the flooding. Some places in Houston got 11 inches of rain in 3 hours! I don't even know how that's possible. People were driving their cars into what they thought were puddles but were actually little lakes and had to be rescued by fireman in boats. It was nuts.  But luckily, that was the only day with adverse weather. Every other day was just as hot and humid as expected!  We hit up some antique shops and my mom got a neat frame.  We played a little tennis while my mom played with Livi, we went to the park, and we went to the BEST BBQ place ever (and I don't even like BBQ) and had some delicious brisket.  Needless to say it was a great trip and it was so fun seeing my mom and Livi together. It only took Livi about 10 minutes and then they were best friends.  My mom let her eat graham crackers off her leg and she was hooked after that. 

We went to Old Town Spring to eat some fried oreos and ice cream and the lady had closed her shop for the day! I was so bummed, because I love those things. But while we were there we walked around all the houses that have been converted to shops and had a good time doing that. We both agreed that the Amish store was the best. They had the most delicious cinnamon honey butter EVER! We almost ate the whole sample jar.  She also loved the quilt/fabric store that was there.

The park after church (our Sunday ritual)

We went to Market Street and walked around and played in the water with Livi

She loves the make up brush

Since my mom loves history I decided to look into some cool historical sites to take her to. I found out that the oldest neighborhood in Houston is called the Old Sixth Ward, so we drove down there one day expecting to maybe see some cool old victorian mansions or something....no, it was the ghetto. All the houses were run down and the neighborhood was a little creepy. We did find the house that Mary Kay grew up in (above), but even that was not that impressive. 

We went swimming a couple of days

we went and saw Wolverine at the drive in with some friends

Livi's stinker face that she LOVES to do because we always laugh