Parent's Getaway

While we were in San Antonio, Mike and I had a little fun on our own. We fully acknowledge that life is a little (or a lot) crazy with two kids under two so we were very excited to have a night on the town with just the two of us.

I have to say that it was really one of those wait-to-the-last-minute deals because we weren't confident that Miss Carolina would take a bottle for her grandparents. It's one thing to leave your five month-old overnight. It's a whole other story to leave your "screaming-because-I-hate-bottles-and I-want-my-mom-to-nurse-me" five month-old AND her tons of energy 22- month-old brother. We wanted to ensure that Mike's parents weren't traumatized by the whole experience!

The night before we left, Carolina let her Nana give her some bottles (of breastmilk) and she ate like a champ! We made our reservations for the hotel that morning and by late afternoon, we were on the road (with two empty car seats).

I really wanted to stay in a bed and breakfast in Fredericksburg but we felt like it was a little too far given Carolina's tendency to be fickle. So, I picked a B&B in the city and we loved it from the second we arrived!

Our home away from home was the Ayres Inn. It was beautiful, charming and all those things you love about staying in a B&B. When we rounded the top of the stairs, I saw the huge, mahogany double doors to our room and I fell in love! Our room was beautiful, with 14 ft. cathedral ceilings, a chandelier, two alcoves and a sitting area with a flat screen tv (they had a DVD library!).



I absolutely love older houses with character and I would love to have the room we had for a master suite. The bedding was that rich, heavy fabric with 800 thread count sheets (I need some of those!) and a memory foam mattress. I have the hardest time relaxing at home (too many things to do!) but this room made me forget everything else.

We checked in and relaxed for a little while and then had dinner at a fun restaurant (courtesy of Mike's parents, thanks!). It was so nice to have uninterrupted conversation and be able to enjoy our food without saying, "Sit on your bottom, now". We loved it (and missed our babies all the same).

We went back to the Inn and relaxed some more, watched a movie and turned in for an early night (and nobody woke us up crying, amazing!). We had a great deluxe continental breakfast which they allowed you to bring up to your room (so nice) and we enjoyed our last few minutes of silence.

The kids didn't seem to miss us much while we were gone although Clay asked about me and Nana told him I was at church with Aunt Becca (good one, Nana!) and she told him Mike was at work (he's used to that). The kids did great (in Nana and Papa's totally unbiased opinion) and Nana and Papa didn't seem frazzled at all. It was a huge blessing for us to have a night away and we certainly couldn't have done it without Mike's parents' help. We were so grateful (and we hope they're up for it again sometime!).

We had such a good time and we felt like we had been away for days upon our return (funny what a little sleep does). It was so nice to reconnect and hopefully, we can do it again soon!

She's Getting Big!

Guess Who's Six Months Old Today??

This Girl!
That's right! Our little Carolina is the big six months and she is so excited! She gets more adorable by the day and I wanted to share with you some of her latest loves (and not-so-loves) and achievements.

She is eating solids now. Her doctor would like for her to eat fruits and vegetables every day but Carolina has other thoughts. She loves fruits (pretty much any kind) but does NOT love vegetables (any kind). I try to trick her by giving her a couple of bites of fruit and then slipping in vegetables but she spits them out and cries (every time!). We have tried many and haven't found a single vegetable that Miss Priss will eat. The only exception would be the french fry she stole from Clay and gnawed on for a good ten minutes (see pic below).

She loves to "eat" bread and gets very upset in restaurants when we don't give her something. Of course, she still has no teeth and therefore never really eats anything but she sure gnaws on what she thinks she's eating!


She loves to hold things while she's trying to sleep. When I place her in her bed, I have to put blankets by her hands so that she will have something to grab and fiddle with. We are trying to get her used to sleeping without her Miracle Blanket but she always wants to take her pacifier out and make herself mad. If I give her things to play with (like her Easter cat), she leaves the pacifier alone and sleeps like a baby!

Speaking of sleeping, she sleeps through the night (most nights) from 8:30-6 or 7. She is a super light sleeper. When we stayed at Mike's parents house for a couple of weeks she woke up every night, several times a night for the first couple of days we were there. One night I decided to put her in the closet (which has folding doors with slats in them) in her Moses basket and she didn't wake up one time.

She is also weaning off the Moses basket. I wasn't too sure about it when I first bought it but the girl has just now started sleeping in her crib because she loved her basket so much!

Our girl has something else she really doesn't like: rolling over. We have done rolling over boot camp and she does know how to roll over- she just chooses not to. I was worried about her trunk muscles getting strong enough for her to sit up but she seems to be doing fine with that, too. She will sit up for a couple of seconds at a time and seems to be getting better by the day.

Our Carolina has a lot of fans but one is quite arguably her biggest: Clay. He loves her and she loves him. He talks for her ("Hi, brudder") as he holds up her hands and loves to bring her toys. If she is crying, he will bring her a pacifier and a toy. He loves to help her and can't wait for her to get big enough to play with.

Her "helper" sharing her Exersaucer with her (and accessorizing her):



Carolina has a VERY happy personality. She loves to observe but she gets the cutest grin when you catch her eye. She is a giggle box and especially loves to be jostled about (upside down, side-to-side).

Our girl is still quite the noisy one. She coos the entire time she eats and makes noises while she sleeps, too. She is definitely going to be a talker!



I could go on and on about how sweet our girl is but there really aren't enough words. She has been such a wonderful addition to our family and I can't believe how the time is flying with her. She's just precious!

Taking Care of Business

Dear Mr. "I'm done with my "waggles"* so I'll throw my plate across the room to let you know",

I am sending you this bill in regard to the dishes you have broken in the last week. Three plates in three days is a little excessive. I was willing to let it slide until I made the trip to Pottery Barn and saw the total bill for dish replacement. Ten dollars a plate seemed reasonable enough when I registered for them and the plates were supposed to last at least ten years. Now that you have come along, though, we seem to be running short on plates, glasses and multiple other breakables that your slippery hands like to hold.

So, son, here's your first bill:

3 Salad Plates from Pottery Barn @ $10 per plate + 8.25% sales tax= $32.48




Love,
Your Mama

And yes, kisses do count for currency in this house.


*Clayspeak: Waggle=waffle

You Learn Something New Every Day

The last couple of days have been fun for Clay because he has tried a few new things. He got this really fun water table for his birthday last year but he's only used it a handful of times. It wasn't very nice weather outside the other day and I thought it might be fun to try something new (and I'm a rule breaker at heart!) so we brought it inside and set up shop in the middle of the living room. He had a blast!



We have a mall that has a beautiful carousel in it but Mike's never there with me so Clay has never gotten to ride it (I don't want him to miss Clay's first Carousel ride + how else could I get video and camera shots of such an important event?!). So finally yesterday I had some stuff to grab at that mall and Clay got his chance to ride the carousel. He LOVED it! All of the horses have names and he picked "Joe Joe". He kept saying, "Wheee" and "horse" the whole time.

He was so excited to ride and he definitely was NOT ready when it was time to get off! All he would say was, "I sit on horse!" and cry, cry, cry as we left. Poor baby!





Today we went to the zoo but I didn't take my camera so no pictures- bummer! (Am I the only one who is secretly glad when they forget their camera so you can actually enjoy the experience with your child and not worry you're missing a "good shot" all the time??)

Carolina

This girl loves the camera!

Sweet Girl

Could she get any cuter??

What's So Funny??

Easter

Easter was the last full day of our time in San Antonio and we lived it up!

Clay and I started our morning decorating Easter cupcakes. I am trying to start little traditions with the children (a little harder when we're away from home) and this was something fun and easy. He had the best time putting all the sprinkles on and he was very proud of his work!



Some of the Sklosses came to Mike's parents' house and Clay got to play with his cousins again. (This visit in San Antonio was extra fun because we spent so much time with other kids and Clay would get so excited when we would tell him we were going to see the "kids".)
We had such a fun, eventful day! Here's some of the highlights:

An Egg Hunt




Learning what a cascarone is (Clay did NOT like it!)

Trying watermelon for the first time (both babies!)

First bite
And...he doesn't like it.

Dying eggs



We had such a fun time on Easter -it was a great way to end our trip!

Easter Buckets

Instead of Easter "baskets" this year, the kids ended up with Easter buckets. I looked high and low and every time I would find a boy/girl one I liked, the girl version would sell out. Boo.

Finally, I found these cute buckets (and six other runner ups in case they ran out!) on Etsy. I had them painted and shipped to my in-laws. They were adorable-- with two slight problems. Carolina's was a lot smaller and it said, "Caroline". So I talked to the lady and she sent me a totally new, same-size-as-Clay's bucket with the right name on it. Yea!



It seems like things get a little crazy when we're traveling because the kids ended up opening their Easter stuff on Easter night before they went to bed instead of first thing in the morning. They were both so cranky by the end of the day that I was a little nervous about getting out a new set of toys. As soon as we showed them the buckets, though, they were both in fabulous moods!


Carolina was SO into her bucket and all of her toys.

I loved how she seemed to be trying to figure each toy out.


Clay's big hit was his little train set. He LOVES the trains!


And that was our Easter 2009!

Happy Easter

Wishing you a Hoppy Easter!

Love,

The Little Skloss Bunnies

On the Road

One of my good friends, Jessica, is getting married this month so the Skloss Family has been on the road. We've been in San Antonio for a little over a week and will continue to be here for another week. While we are here in SA we are staying with Mike's parents (Nana and Papa).

We have done lots of fun things while we have been here. Carolina and I have been to a shower, bachelorette party and bridal luncheon. I had such a good time at the lingerie shower and bachelorette party hanging out with the girls (lots of catching up with old youth group girls) and being with adults (even though my sweet girl slept in the next room). Clay joined us for lunches with my dad, dinner with my sister and her kids and lots of other fun outings.

One of the big bummers of our trip was that my cell phone was stolen. I had it in Carolina's car seat and we went to lunch and Toys R Us. At one of the two places, someone else got it. I hate to think someone at Toys R Us would be that shady but oh, well. The bozo who took it racked up 736 text messages, accessed the internet and used almost all of my minutes- all in 36 hours. Hopefully, Sprint will feel generous when my bill comes in. Yuck.

Tonight was fun for Clay and I because we had a Mommy/Son date night at Dairy Queen and the City Park (hey, Mike's parents live in a small town, you know?). He was so cute. He climbed on my lap and ate his dinner and we did some people watching together. Then we went and played at the park and did the stairs and the slide over and over and over. He loved it (and I loved watching him).

Since we are here for so long, Mike is still working back at home (he came in for a couple of days last week) and won't be here for good until tomorrow. We can't wait!

It's been a fun trip but one of the best parts is the trip is the kids' Easter present from Nana and Papa. They have been teasing us for a month or so about getting Clay a real bunny for Easter. Mike and I don't think that's very funny. We have three animals and two babies already. Why would we need something else that can't control it's "business"?? Yikes.

We had a pretty good idea that they had bought a bunny for Clay and Mike couldn't help but prod his mom about it. His mom told him it was medium sized, kept in the back yard and the kids would love playing with it. I made it clear no bunny was going back to Dallas in my car. No way.

So when I got here with the kids Mike's mom took me outside to see the "bunny". It's not quite the "bunny" I was expecting.

It's a swing set- or "play" as Clay says ( and yes, my kids are spoiled by their Nana and Papa). The kids love it (and I love that I'm not a bunny mama) and it's been so much fun to watch Clay play on it. Such a good surprise!

( I love this pic because Clay rolls his eyes back every night at the dinner table as one of his silly games and I always wish I had a camera. Finally, I caught it! )

This week we have stuff planned every night so it should be pretty eventful. Maybe I'll even get around to snapping a few pictures (which I've totally neglected this past week).

Other than Jessica's wedding next weekend, the highlight of our upcoming week is a little getaway Mike and I are planning. It's our first night away from Carolina so keep us in your prayers that she'll take a bottle and she'll be nice to Mike's parents. She is definitely a Mama's girl.

So that's what we've been up to. Lots of fun stuff already and more to look forward to!

P.S. Aren't the babies getting big? Clay turns two in a month!