Nixon March 2012

Nathan, meet Nature.  Nature, meet Nathan.  Yes, Nature, I know he's adorable, but this post really isn't about that!

The weekend of March 17/18 (St. Patrick's Day and my Papa's birthday) we packed up the house (or at least it felt that way) and traveled the 2.5-ish hours to my Uncle Skipper's ranch in Nixon.  "Where is Nixon?" you ask.  For those of you from the city, suffice to say Nixon is Po-Dunk, Texas, in the middle of nowhere.  Population roughly 2,200 people (per the 2000 census) and 220,000 cows (per my estimate).  For those of you who grew up in a little town such as this, Nixon is in Gonzales and Wilson Counties, roughly 50 miles east of San Antonio and 140 miles west of Katy off of Highways 80 and 87.  The ranch, predictably, is outside of Nixon a ways.  When my grandparents first bought the land they had about 55 acres.  Skipper has expanded it to around 500 acres, give or take.  We actually never went into Nixon itself on this trip.  Side note, "a ways" is an acceptable term used by country folk to describe something between 1 and 100 miles away.  See also, "yonder."  The spring-time drive down I-10 and Highway 80 was absolutely beautiful with flowers of every color in God's rainbow.

Anyway, we arrived at the ranch on Saturday afternoon just in time to have the most amazing corned beef and cabbage you will ever put in your mouth.  The cabbage was home grown and the corned beef was perfectly tender and fall apart delicious.  Then we all sat around to talk and catch up and watch the little ones play while we waited for mom, Cantrell and Allen to arrive.  Chris, Kelley and Tyley were already there as were Skipper, Dayle and Grandma.  Kimberley's crew was going to come, but Chance decided to get a stomach bug Thursday and Berley graciously decided it was best not to share the fun with the rest of us.

Playing on the porch at the Cantina

Nathan and Uncle Skipper became good buddies right away!

After Mom arrived, the kids (young and old) played catch and kick ball in the yard for a while until it was time for dinner.  Also during this time Nathan took a super long nap so I hung out in the main house with Dayle and Grandma and supervised (Bryan word for watch and offer unsolicited advice) Aunt Dayle making a yummy apple enchilada dessert.  Skipper again spoiled us at dinner with bar-b-que pork ribs, cabrito (baby goat), spanish rice (Papa's recipe) and beans and salad.  There may have been more, but the food coma that followed seems to have hampered my memory.  The day was so exciting that Nathan decided he didn't want it to end and fought me for a solid half-hour while I tried to get him to go to sleep.  Thankfully, he slept until 5:30am although he didn't go back to sleep after that as is his norm.  Oh well, everyone wakes up early in the country anyway.

This was Nathan and Tyley playing kick ball.  Nathan would get so excited and start kicking his legs in the air when Jimmy lifted him up to "kick" the ball.

Waiting expectantly for the ball to come back.

Good picture of the back of the main house.

Can't have a ranch without tractors and gators!

Relaxing by the Cantina

Sunday was an equally relaxing day.  We went and visited the cows for a few minutes (they aren't great conversationalists) then went back into the house for a scrumptious breakfast.  Aunt Dayle made sausage patties, eggs (farm raised at the ranch hand's place) and biscuits (from a can...lets not get crazy here!).  While we were playing in the house, Uncle Skipper, Cantrell, Chris and Allen were all out "working the cows."  This involved everything from vaccinating to castrating.  Oh yes, you heard me right...its not so bad. Jimmy didn't join them, not because he wasn't feeling "manly," but because it involved skipping breakfast, which just isn't acceptable in our house.  So we watched Allen beat Aunt Dayle at Monopoly Junior (twice) and played with Nathan and Tyley on the porch.

While we were in Nixon we got word that Jimmy's Aunt Lucy passed away early Sunday morning.  So we left after lunch to make it back to Houston to re-pack for South Texas.  Apart from that very sad news we had a wonderful weekend with the family.  I took lots of really great pictures, mostly on my phone, which were all lost 2 days later when my phone arbitrarily decided to restore itself.   Fortunately, Jimmy had sent a few to his mom, my mom took some with her camera and we had some on our camera from before the battery died. Here is the last batch.

Pardon the hair, but you're allowed to look like this in the country!

Snuggling with Daddy after a long day of playing with cousins.

The Pit

Eating breakfast Sunday morning at the house with Grandma.

Nathan's First Haircut and Sippy Cup

My biggest boy is 11 months old, and the last time I gave an update on his shenannigans was almost 2 months ago!!  Since then we've had a few firsts that I want to catch you up on.

First Haircut

The two things that I hear most from people who see Nathan are, "His eyes are sooo big!" and, "Wow! He has a lot of hair!"  Well, you're welcome, both of those traits happen to come from me.  I don't hear as much about his precious button nose or his very pinch-able cheeks (those come from daddy). You'll probably remember that he was born with a ton of hair...then that fell out (recall the comb over) and then came back very quickly.  He has needed a haircut for weeks and weeks but I wanted to be there for his first "real" haircut, so it had to wait until I was done with busy season.  So, on February 18th we (me, Jimmy and Grammy) took Nathan to a place that specializes in children's haircuts and got my boy cleaned up.  His haircut's resemblance to Peyton Manning's is pure coincidence...

Before (front view).  Also, "Hey Mom, can I have that camera?"

Before (side view).  Also, "Mmmm, teething ring!"

This is a cool chair!

This lady had a vice grip on his head, but he handled it well.

Beep beep!

"Seriously! She's going to cut it how short?!"

Clean it up...high and tight!

Finishing touches...

Look how cute I am!

Now Dad needs a haircut (and Mommy needs some sleep!)

He actually did really great while getting his hair cut.  No crying or fussing, although he did get a little squirmy toward the end because Mommy and Daddy were standing up and he was sitting down.  So we finished the haircut in my lap.  Sadly, he already needs another one, but it is going to wait until just before his birthday.

First Use of a Sippy Cup

I wanted to be able to give Nathan milk from a cup on his first birthday, so we had to start practicing early.  Especially since he is slow getting the hang of anything that has to do with mealtime.  I take comfort in the fact that once he learns to eat there's nothing more to teach!  Anyway, I started with a cup with handles and left in the gizmo (technical term) that keeps the cup from spilling.  That turned out not to work so well because he would only chew on the mouth piece and not suck anything out.

So I decided to take the gizmo out of the cup so he would actually know what this cup thing was supposed to be doing.  Besides, I read somewhere that it is better not to use the spill proof cups because it continues to promote the bottle type sucking motion instead of actual drinking.  At any rate, once he started getting something out of the cup it went marginally better.

Finally, I decided to try a cup with no handles.  This one worked the best and is the one we have at most meal times now.  I should have known to start with his Aggie up first!

Busy Season 2012

"Where have you been!?" "Are y'all okay?" "Man, tax season must be really tough!"  These are just some of the expressions I've heard (repeatedly) in the last few weeks since emerging from what was easily my worst busy season ever.  In the past, the worst part of my busy time was reserved for my second, slightly smaller, client that I dropped from my schedule after having Nathan.  Little did I know that God gave me a happy "easy" baby in exchange for seven weeks of well....you know!

For those of you new to the public accounting world, let me help with a few fun facts to help you put things in perspective.

• Busy season is typically the three-month period following a client's year-end, where an auditor can expect to work 12+ hour days. My client happens to be an accelerated filer, which means they only have 45 days to file their annual report instead of the standard 90 days.  
• Busy season is similar to a black-out period if you work in retail: no vacation, minimum 55 hour weeks (heavy on the minimum), and expect to work 6 to 7 days per week.
• I do NOT do taxes!  I am an external auditor, the people who enable you to invest in the stock market with confidence.
• I do this with a group of other people who also decided at some point during college that this was a good career move.  It's the internship that sucks you in...
• A typical busy season for me involves working 60-70 hrs per week, 6 days a week at the office and Sunday at home (also working).  During this time my sweet husband (who married me despite knowing all of this information) cooks large batches of food on the weekend to sustain him during the week.
• This happens every year and yes, we all know what we signed up for!

This year was quite a bit worse than the "norm" and was not helped by the fact that Nathan was at home with Jimmy while I was at work until all hours of the night.  I made it a point to drop Nathan off every morning and would pick him up on Tuesdays from daycare since Jimmy had a meeting that would run late.  If I came home I would work again for a few hours after he went to sleep.  Not an ideal situation and there were many a morning  featuring tears during the commute.  The only thing that kept me together was the incredibly supportive team I have, both at work and at home.

There are a few other secrets to getting through busy season:
1. Suspend emotion.  Hint:  Do NOT tell your son "I'll see you in the morning," when you drop him off at school.  It doesn't matter that it was no different than any other day, but verbalizing it was a mistake!
2. Have fun at work.  I didn't participate much, but some of the other team members (mostly the boys, but not exclusively) started an 11:00pm putting contest and quarter stacking challenge.  This was lead up by the partner in charge of the audit...efficiency at its finest!  At least they would shut my office door so the inefficiency storm wouldn't rain on me too much.
3. Consume massive quantities of caffeine. I don't normally drink coffee, but during busy season I survive on Coke, Starbucks mocha frappuccinos (yes to the whipped cream), and hot tea.
4. Have people who love you feed your husband!  Thank you to Joe and Annie Jo, my Misty Sue, and Mom and Lori.  There were several times that Grammy and Lolo came to the rescue on weekends that I spent in the office.

Here are a couple of pictures from busy season.

Some evenings when I would come home "early" to see Nathan, this is what I would see instead.

Nathan helping Mommy work.

This was the day after filing.  Nathan had been sick since Sunday and Grammy came to the rescue!

So happy that mommy was home!

Thanks for coming to take care of me Grammy!

So, what happens now?  Well, my FWA (flexible work arrangement) was approved and is effective starting next Friday (hooray).  That means I'll be working 30 hours a week most weeks except during quarter filing and year-end (i.e. busy season).  My total hours for the year will still average to a normal person's 40 hr/wk schedule. We are making a huge effort to plan the audit to avoid a repeat of this busy season, and I'm going to rely on the support of my team to help me keep everything balanced.  I'll let you know how it goes.  And to end this post...a gratuitous cute baby picture (I can't resist)!

Cute Baby Fix!

Hello world!  We made it out of busy season alive (more on this later) and while I collect my thoughts here is a cute baby fix for you.  These are from the last 2 months (wow, it's been a long time) in no particular order. 

Mmmmm, pears!

These stars are all the rage.  Nathan has his own workout video starring the star stackers (see what I did there, haha)!

Being so cute is pretty tiring.

Popo's hat almost fits!

Notice the stars in the background and the fourth (orange) in his hand

Oh, hi mom! What do you have there?

Almost there...

I'm ready for my close up!

This sippy cup is funny.

My new favorite thing to do is pull all my books off the shelf then browse through them.

That's a wrap!

9 Big Months!

This is the busy season edition of Nathan's 9 month post.  Maybe sometime later I can come back and add some more color, but for now you are going to have to be happy with a bullet list of my sweet angel's accomplishments between 6 months and 9+ months.  At his well check with Dr. Haney he was 29.13" long (78%), 20 lbs 2 oz (43%) and head circumference of 17.72" (40.5%). Still my long baby but starting to even out a little.

• Learned to sit (i.e. balance) unassisted (around 6 1/2 or 7 months was pretty stable on his own)
• Started finally getting the hang of baby food (7 months...he's consistenty a late bloomer in the food category)
• Learned to get himself into a sitting position (8 months)
• Started the "wounded soldier" version of the "army crawl" (imagine those war movies where that last wounded soldier is on the battlefield dragging his way to the enemy with one arm and one leg) (almost 8 months)
• Graduated to 3 "meals" of baby food a day @ 4 oz each (9 months)
• Learned to do the conventional crawl (January 12th - 9 months) - yes this is a new developement and it has REALLY broadened his horizens.  The good thing is that it has made him a tiny bit less clingy since he knows he can get to us quickly if he wants to.
• Learned "gimme 5" right around the New Year, although it was more like "gimme 15"!
• Started saying "dada" on January 8th (but doesn't mean it yet).  Still no "mama" but "baba" is very popular and apparently can mean anything from, "Come HERE Biggles!" to "Hmm, I'd rather tell you about my day than swallow this food."
• He's about to graduate to size 4 diapers
• Eats four 6 oz bottles a day (if we're lucky) to complement his baby food
• Still does not sleep all the way through the night.  Usually we have one waking where the binky saves the day (or night, as it were) but sometimes he actually gets up for a middle of the night snack.  It is pretty hit or miss.
• Is still (barely) fitting in his 9 month sleepers, although I really think it is just because they have stretched.  He wears almost exclusively size 12 month clothes now (and has since before Christmas)
• We just started more solid type foods and he is not really picking it up too quickly.  So far he has tried the Gerber Graduates Puffs (sweet potato flavor) and banana.  Today (1/17) Jimmy had some moderate success with 3 puffs (i.e. no choking or gagging noises during "chewing")
• Cut his first tooth sometime in mid-December (accompanied by an ear infection...not fun times)
• Cut his second tooth in early January.  The top ones are now looking like they'll make an appearance any time now.
• Has had 3 ear infections since October and is on his way to a fourth if we're unlucky.
• Started trying to pull himself up just before Christmas.  Santa brought him an activity table and between that and the ottoman he has really gotten quick at it!  Now, when he wakes up in the middle of the night, if I'm not fast enough to get the binky to him he is standing up holding onto the crib railings when I get in there.  Luckily we had already lowered the crib after he learned to get himself into a sitting position on his own.
• Has has lately started to try and get in a standing position from the middle of the floor.  He is no where near able to do it, but he's starting to figure out the mechanics!
• He is more clearly recognizing some words.  I think he knows: Mommy, Daddy, cat, book and no (although the jury is still out on that last one).  If we ask, "Where is Mommy or Daddy?" he'll look to where we are, and if we say, "Do you want to read a book?" he'll look at the bookcase where his books are and start to get excited.  My baby loves to read and snuggle!
• He's still an early to bed baby.  We start the bedtime process around 7:00p and he goes to sleep anywhere from 7:30 to 8:00 depending on whether he gets a bath or not.
• Speaking of bathtime...it is impossible to bathe him laying down.  When he is sitting up he wants to lean forward to play with the running water or the drain.  He won't let you stand him up to wash his bottom half.  So we have the slippery baby wrestling match several times a week where we figure he is cleaner than before the bath by the virtue of him getting wet and some soap bubbles make it into the water around him!  Our saving grace is that he doesn't mind water in his face, so you can wash his hair while he is sitting up and douse him to rinse and he just continues playing as if nothing were happening.
• Still a terrible and inconsistent napper at school.  He naps anywhere from 1 to 3 times a day at school, from 5 to 30 minutes each.  At home, we have the bad habit of holding him while he sleeps and so (shockingly) he sleeps for at least an hour for his 3 naps at home.  I can always find a reason to justify holding him while he sleeps, but the biggest one is that I really don't get to see him that much during the week, especially these days.  Oh well, I'm pretty certain he won't be scarred for life because his mommy held him while he slept.  If we put him in his crib to nap he'll usually stay down for 20 minutes to an hour.
• Likes to wave his arms in the air, sometimes in a dramatic "why me??" fashion.  Also has this funny way of turning his head to look at things sometimes.  I tried to capture it on camera with limited success...see below.





I'm ready to go jogging, Mommy!

 



I'm a big standing up boy!

 



"How do I get out from under here?"

 



These next 2 were taken while I was working upstairs this past weekend.  All of a sudden I see a little head bob up and start laughing!







Head turning!  Ignore the Thanksgiving bib...this was really just the other day!



Oh What a Year (2011)!

I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the things that happened this year that didn't get captured in this little history catcher I've created.  This year was full of some very sad and very happy memories.  To help my faulty memory along I'll try to step along the months in order.

January
As with most January's of my working life this last one was a bit of a blur.  I was focused on making it through my client's 10-K filing while simultaneously not going into pre-term labor.  Sometime during January I actually did end up going to the hospital for observation for a few hours for some contractions, but Nathan wasn't really serious about making an appearance, so life and work went on as usual.  I had my first baby shower hosted by my sweet girlfriends at the church here in Katy and it was beautiful and Nathan received bunches of wonderful gifts.

February
This was a transition month for me, and not an easy one.  My client filed their 10-K in mid-February after which I started working exclusively from home to transition my other client to the new managers who would be taking over while I was on maternity leave.  Sometime mid-month Lori's teacher friends also held a "new grandma" shower for her where Nathan was again showered with many sweet gifts. I was supposed to attend but was informed by my doctor that I shouldn't travel.  The aforementioned trip to the hospital in January may have had something to do with that recommendation. Then, on February 25th my Papa passed away at the age of 90 (just a few weeks short of his 91st birthday).  His body had been getting very tired for the last few years and it was time for him to leave us.  I was 34 weeks pregnant and my doctor advised that I should not travel down for the funeral, and that was heartbreaking.  I almost went anyway, but the grief or something else caused me to start cramping and that pretty much decided things.  As much as I wanted to be with my family to say goodbye to Papa I really didn't want to have Nathan 6 weeks early in South Texas. 

March
Drumming fingers were all the rage at my house.  I impatiently counted down the days until I went on maternity leave while also expecting that Nathan would come at any time!  I was just so sure that he would come early.  On March 2nd Nathan's friend Rylan was born and I just couldn't wait to meet my sweet boy for the first time.  My days were spent reading baby books, watching game shows, napping and getting Nathan's stuff ready.  Oh, how I miss those naps!

April
Finally!  I thought this month would never come!  My precious angel was born and life as we know it changed completely.  Apart from that big event, I don't really remember much that happened for the next couple of months, but I'm pretty sure I captured the high points in some of my past posts about Nathan.

July
Yeah, I wasn't kidding when I said I don't remember what happened for a few months.  I remember July because it was the first time I left Nathan for more than an hour at a time.  I was still breast feeding and my little angel was refusing to take a bottle of anything, including breast milk.  But my sweet friend Amy was marrying the love of her life and I had been looking forward to going since she set the date!  So Grammy came to town so Jimmy and I could go and enjoy an evening at the wedding.  To our credit I think we did not check our phones during the actual ceremony, but I probably looked at mine every 5 minutes or so at the reception.  We left before the real party got started, unfortunately, but I knew Nathan hadn't eaten since the last time I fed him and I wanted to be home by the time he woke up for the first time that night, which usually fell anytime between 10pm and midnight.  It was still nice to get out of the house for a date and see a beautiful bride get made fun of at the alter by the person who has, among other things, promised to cherish her forever.

August
This month I went back to work after being at home for almost 4 whole months with Nathan.  Not fun.  My hubby also turned 30 and, because I am a terrible wife, I don't actually remember what we did to celebrate his birthday.  I tend to take a pretty casual approach to my own birthday and so don't get very worked up about others. I know that I didn't get him a present directly, but instead approved the purchase of his Garmin running watch that he wanted.  I also didn't get him a card and am moderately sure we didn't even go to dinner or cook a special meal or anything.  Wife fail!  Maybe I can make it up on his 31st birthday.  Nobody cares about 30 anyway, right??? 

September and October were rinse and repeat.  Me trying to figure out how to balance work and home, Nathan doing a great job of adjusting to daycare and Jimmy doing a great job of being a daddy.

November
Besides Thanksgiving, the biggest thing that happened this month was that Jimmy and I decided I would go on a flexible work arrangement (FWA) via a reduced schedule starting March 1, 2012.  I still haven't filed the official paperwork at the office, but my schedule already reflects the change, so I'm pretty confident it will get approved with no problem.  We are hoping that changing my schedule so I work hours that are more in line with a normal person that will make it easier for me to get the balance I want so desperately.  I still have to make it through "busy season" this January and February, but after that hopefully things will get better from a work perspective.

December
Ah, the last month of the year.  It got here before even knew what was happening.  Many times I wondered where 2011 went, then I looked at the pictures of my son and remembered!  I turned 30 this month and my sweet husband did a better job of taking care of me than I did of him.  Both Nathan and Jimmy got me birthday cards and Nathan "gave" me mine himself (he was holding it and looking very proud of himself...so precious)!  My birthday fell on a Wednesday this year and, despite having entirely too much work to do, I left on time so that Nathan's 'Aunt' Misty could come over to babysit while Jimmy and I went out to dinner.  We went to El Rioja, a little Spanish tapas place in West Houston, and had a wonderful meal and some much needed time together.  The weekend after, Kelley came up to watch Nathan while Jimmy and I went to my engagement team's Saturday evening Christmas party. During the day Kelley and I went to the nail place near the house that I like where they mistook her for my daughter.  Yes, you read that right...my DAUGHTER!  She is only 3 1/2 years younger than me and I don't look that old!!!  My feelings were clearly hurt and, instead of apologizing to me they tell her, "Oh, you look very young!"  I shouldn't have left a tip.

December has given me a much needed vacation and time to spend with Nathan and Jimmy before busy season starts on January 3rd.  Mom came up to visit this weekend so Jimmy and I could have a new year's date and we went to dinner and a movie (Babin's and the new Sherlock Holmes movie).  I'm so thankful to the friends who offer to keep Nathan, even when we don't take them up on it, and to the family who comes to help so regularly.

Resolutions
And that brings me to the obligatory new year's resolutions.  I could pretend that I am going to update the blog sometime soon, but with work starting back with a vengeance on Tuesday I know that's not happening.  For that matter, don't expect to see anything until late February.  I don't always make new year's resolutions, but I thought if I made some this year and actually put them in writing I might actually have a better chance at keeping them:

1. Read my Bible and pray more regularly.  I pray almost every day, but do a very poor job of reading my Bible.  There is no excuse to not pray every day, multiple times per day, and the same goes for reading the good Book. 
2. Figure out how to be a great mom and just a good auditor (instead of a great mom and a great auditor...it can't be done).  The FWA is intended to help with this one.
3. Devote more attention to my marriage.  It turns out that you can't have a baby, go back to work, devote all your waking energy to those two things and sleep the rest of the time (or at least try to) and expect your marriage to be hunky-dory. Thankfully no irreparable damage has been done, but things can and will be better!

I think that's enough for this year.  Good night and sweet dreams!  Oh, and happy new year!