finally the weekend

Time flies by so quickly these days. It's already Labor Day! Last weekend we went down to DC to partially celebrate our 1 year anniversary. Of course we had to choose the day of Ted Kennedy's funeral, which baffled us as to why it was sooo crowded, until we finally realized what was going on. So while everyone else was waiting for the funeral procession, we took pictures by the Capitol.

Our main reason for going downtown was to try out Granville Moore's , which claims to have the best Mussels according to Bobby Flay's Throwdown. The food was aaaamazing. We went with our friends Matty and Jodie and decided that we would start a new tradition and try a new restaurant twice a month. Every time I'm in DC I always tell myself we need to go more often. There's so much to do and we take for granted that we live so close!

Last week was a super busy week with workdays lasting from 7:30am to 8pm. I couldn't be happier that it is finally the weekend! That means football & BBQs! After this long weekend there is so much more to look forward to. On Tuesday, Brian and I are going to the Kings of Leon concert! Then, Friday afternoon I leave with the girls for a weekend at Ocean City to celebrate Sarah's bachelorette party. Can't wait!

Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband!

august august august

My sister Tracy and her fiance Matt came over tonight for dinner and they came with gifts in hand as always. I'm Lily is starting to get spoiled with all of the pajamas, dresses, and toys! 

My sister painted her portrait based on one of her photos:

and then she put this together for her:

I LOVE Love LOVE the gifts! and of course Lily does too.

It seems like these days if anyone wants to see us, they have to come to our place! We've both been so busy with work and now throw in a sick baby and all of our time is consumed. I feel like the sun is rising before it even begins to set. Plus there's a lot coming up within the next few weeks. 

• Tracy's birthday - Aug 7th
• LLS Light the Night Campaign kick-off party - Nationals Park - Aug. 7th
  
• Matt's birthday - Aug 12th
• Lilyan's Baptism - Aug 15th
• Poconos trip - Aug 20-24th

I can't believe Tracy is going to be 2-3! Every time a birthday comes up for Tracy, I try to remember what I was doing at that age. Let's see at 23, I was pretty much living in LA for work. Traveling back and forth every week up until Christmas where I flew home Christmas Eve and returned to LA the day after Christmas. Those days were some of the best days of my life. I met Brian and had the best time with all of my co-workers. I stayed at the Portofino Inn at Redondo Beach, had the master suite with an ocean sound view and woke up to barking seals and breakfast on the marina. We worked hard and partied hard back then! ohh memoriesss....if it weren't for our family all being in the area, I really think I would want to live out in Cali...maybe one day!

[this was the view from my balcony i mentioned...horrible i know]

I'm excited for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society kick-off. I started volunteering for the LLS and this will be a great event for a great cause. Plus it doesn't hurt that my friends and I get tickets to the game afterwards! The Light the Night walk is coming to Reston in October and I'm heading up a team to walk. We walked as a team at Valon Salon when I worked there for a million years, so I asked them to walk again. I'm really hoping that enough people sign up so we can raise a significant amount of money! So, don't be surprised if you see something on facebook asking for your donations! 

[yes, that is me up in front with the hair up to my ears]

After my soon-to-be-brother-in-law Matt's 2-?th bday is Lilyan's baptism! Usually this consists of being baptized at church during service and going to brunch afterwards as a family to celebrate. Welllll thanks to Brian's HUGE family (did I mention that they all live within 30 miles of us?) this will be another big party. Let's just say I invited about 75 people. I feel like I'm prepping for another wedding! Lily's Christening outfit that I'm purchasing this weekend (supposedly the same one Jessica Alba's daughter wore) is beautiful.....! My friend Sera Cho of Project Cupcakes is making the cupcakes for the reception (a mix of red velvet and carrot cake) and decorating them to match the theme of the invitations:

[cherry blossoms!]

...and our friend Matty is catering the reception with his award winning barbeque. I can't wait to see everyone! It will be such a special day and I'm so thankful that we are making a big celebration out of it. 

Last, but not least, we head to the Poconos for a long weekend Aug 20-24th to celebrate my sister-in-law Jessica's birthday. This will be my first time up to her in-law's mountain house, but hopefully not the last! I'm already looking forward to the winters we will get to spend there. I have to make up for all the snowboarding I missed out on last year! 

ughhh...it just hit me that I might be catching what Lily and Brian have so I am off to bed [with some nyquil]! Besides, this post is long enough as it is! 

busy bee

My lack of blog posts have not only been a result of pure laziness, but also because I've been way too busy with vacation, work, work, and work. So I am taking advantage of a canceled meeting and quickly typing away.

June 28th - July 4th:

We drove to Seneca, SC to visit my relatives at their house on Lake Keowee. This is how we spent the majority of the week:

Aunt & Uncle's House

Baby Pool

Swimming

Playing in WaterfallsBoatingRelaxing on Islands

We returned home on July 4th where we watched the fireworks in Ashburn. Surprisingly, Lily enjoyed the fireworks and barely even flinched while they were going off.

And now I am back at work. The vacation flew by and it's only a matter of weeks before I'm back in Dallas. These next few days, weeks & months will be extremely busy at work with our upcoming realignment, but I'm up for the challenge. I'd much rather be busy at work than the other way around. One thing I have noticed is how hard it is to keep up with things at home when I'm busy at work. There are not enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished.

On my to-do list:

1. Send out invitations to Lily's upcoming Baptism in August
2. Plan reception afterward, order cupcakes
3. Get car inspected
   
4. Change my last name to my legal name on all things (so I'm a year behind...)
   
5. Update Lily's baby books and send out recent pictures to family
   
6. Organize nursery and clothes
   
7. Help Tracy with wedding planning
8. Help plan Sarah's bachelorette party, get bridesmaid dress
9. Look for bigger place to live
10. Plan a getaway for our 1 year anniversary (8.31.09)

I'm sure there's a bunch more I have to do, but 10 is enough for now! I'll try to blog more later, but for now it's back to work. Also, I'm frustrated with how Blogger sucks at formatting posts and pictures and don't have the patience in me today.

back from dallas y'all

I survived my first trip to Dallas! I'm not a fan of the small planes we took to get there, but that's all United offers on a one way trip. Oh well, I'll save the worrying for my next trip in about a month. 

Surprisingly, Dallas is really nice! Not that I expected it to be some crap-hole, but I didn't realize how up and coming the area is. I stayed in Irving and was impressed with all of the restaurant options, shopping centers, and new buildings. Everything really is bigger in Texas! My favorite place there was the Southlake Town Square. Another place that we were supposed to go to was the Dallas Arboretum. Every Thursday they have outdoor concerts where you can bring your own picnic and listen to live music. It was sold out this time, but next time we're there some of my co-workers and I plan on going. 

Overall, this week was physically and mentally draining. Work was intense and I missed home like crazy. I found myself scrolling through my phone during meetings to look at pictures of Lily over and over again. I'm so glad to be home. I used to love traveling for work, but now I'd do anything to have all of the project work based out of VA. At least while Lily is still a baby. I swear I came back yesterday and she seemed so much bigger! When she first saw me, she stared at me for about 10 mins. like she was trying to figure out who I was. Although, I'm sure some of it had to do with the fact that I woke her up from her nap. Anyways, enough wasting time on the computer, I have to make the most out of this weekend! 

Happy 5 months Lilyan Grace!

separation anxiety

I googled the term "separation anxiety" and among the returned search results: "...help your child overcome this common phase," "...many kids develop separation anxiety," "...a fairly common anxiety disorder that affects children."

Apparently, I'm too old to be suffering from this disorder. This Sunday I'm flying to Dallas for a business trip for a week...a whole week...without Lily. Ever since I booked the trip, I've been having anxiety over the whole thing. Mainly over the fear of flying itself. Which is silly, since at one point I was racking up so many frequent flier miles with United Airlines that I reached Premier status and earned free first class upgrades and enough miles to pay for round trip tickets to Mexico & Utah. Now all of a sudden, I'm afraid of flying. Then to further attribute to my fears, I had a dream about a plane crash, followed by the crash of Air France, followed by *2 birds repeatedly flying into our apartment windows. In the past week I've done everything I can to justify my anxiety, which has led nowhere. Maybe my dream about the plane crash was foreshadowing the Air France incident...does this mean I have psychic abilities? Great, so each time I have a bad dream, is it going to come true? I even called the office at the apartment complex to reassure myself that its common for birds to fly into windows on our side of the building. That didn't help..."Oh, no we never receive ANY complaints about birds...there must be something about YOUR apartment! How funny!" ...Funny? Not quite the word I was thinking.

So, just as I was thinking I'm doomed...the maintenance guy came by to repair the toilet and I asked him about the bird issue. Thankfully, he said he sees it all the time on our side of the building since it faces the woods, especially this time of year. Another thing I found out online (I swear the internet is a double-edged sword) is that it's common to develop anxieties after having a baby since now you are responsible for the safety and upbringing of another person. I even found a couple other people who blogged about the same fears. So, I'm not alone, which is always comforting. After all of this I've finally concluded that it's normal to be scared about leaving Lily for a week and also to just trust in God's plan for me. Nobody can promise that I'll be okay on my trip, but knowing that what is meant to be is meant to be offers some relief. I'm just wishing this trip was over already...the verge of a full blown panic attack is really stressing me out.

By the way, I should start a list of all the things that have happened to me postpartum, so I'm better prepared next time.

• hair loss
• stretch marks
  
• anxiety
• anxiety
• anxiety
  

I'm starting to think these symptoms are a result of weaning Lily off breastfeeding. I should ask the internet a therapist.

Anyways, I thought I'd feel better after posting this, but it has basically re-opened the can of anxieties I was having. So, to end on a good note, I am going to re-read this post I came across from Danielle Steel's blog (yes, the author). Like I said, knowing that other people are going through what I am, gives me comfort in the fact that I'm not completely crazy!


*If you haven't heard the superstition, please don't bother, it will only freak you out if a bird ever flies into one of your windows or into your house.

4 months old and 2 weeks late!

I can't believe my Lil G is already 4 and 1/2 months old. It didn't hit me until this morning how big she has gotten. As I held her in one arm and made a bottle in my other, she kept grabbing for the bottle. Then as I'm washing one of the 20 parts to the Dr. Brown bottles, she grabs the middle piece right out of the bottle and puts it in her mouth. She clearly understands what a bottle is these days, assembled or not. Even more impressive, she can hold her own bottle now! Of course when I'm not helping her hold it I stuff a blanket under for some support, but still, how did she get so big so fast? Another thing she's fond of is rolling over and over until she's about 6 feet from her playmat. As always, it's the little things she does that never cease to amaze me. So, in addition to grabbing and rolling, she's eating baby food now! I started her out on oatmeal and rice cereal and have moved on to butternut squash, sweet potatoes, bananas, and avocado. I have yet to get the Beaba Babycook, but nonetheless am still attempting to make her food myself. So far it's been pretty easy and the butternut squash, which I roasted for 40 mins., made about 10 servings! Cheap, easy, and yummy (I ate some myself).

oh and just an FYI, b/c I'm weeks late in posting this...
@ Lily's 4 month check-up she weighed 13lb 6 oz. and was 24.5 inches long


So, in other news....


Last weekend was Brian's birthday! I'm so glad it's over...but only because I had planned a surprise outing and it was stressing me out having to keep it a secret from him.

So in a nutshell here's how it went:


Friday - Brian goes out with friends, I stay home worried that his friends are ruining the surprise for the following night.


Saturday - 9am: Brian almost ruins my plan for the night when he claims he is "too hungover to go out tonight." 6pm: Cookout at Brian's parents...I'm still stressing out about everything. I can't enjoy myself because the limo bus is picking up all of his friends while we're there and I'm getting antsy. 8pm: Limo bus is on it's way to Brian's parents to surprise Brian. 8:15pm: Bus has arrived and Brian still has no idea. We get ready to go out to a bar in "Ashburn", head out the door, then I wrap a blindfold around his eyes. He gets on the bus and 25 of his close friends are on the bus..SURPRISE! We take him to Arlington and go on a mini bar crawl, meanwhile he is wearing a list of tasks he has to complete throughout the night. Some of my favorites..."Kiss a Cougar", "Back that thang up to a dirty girl", "Take a blowjob shot". hahaha what a great night.

Sunday - Charles Town...Races and Slots! Surprisingly, I've never been there. Also surprising was the fact that we actually went considering the massive hangovers we all had. Nothing a little bloody mary couldn't fix! So, we went there and I won 3 of the 5 races I bet on....beginner's luck? I ended on a good note thanks to betting on horse 9 Shining Charlotte to win straight up in the last race!

Next weekend I leave for Dallas for a week for work. I am not pumped at all. For starters I hate hate HATE flying, (but love traveling...how does that work?) and second, this will be the first time I'm away from Lily for more than a day. Ughh....oh well...que sera sera! One thing I am looking forward to? Our one week vacation in Seneca, South Carolina at my uncle's lake house! We leave on June 28th...I can't wait!

winery fun

4.18.09 -The wine tour this year was amazing! 48 girls on one charter bus = drunken fun! We hit up Hillsborough then trekked over to Breaux and ended at Quattro Goomba. The weather was perfect and the live music made it that much better. I don't know why I don't go more often to wineries, they're the perfect way to spend a beautiful day out.

On another note..it's about time that I start to detox. I think I've almost caught up on my 9+ months of not drinking. I need to get my butt back into shape and when it's raining out, the last thing I want to do is go for a run (ok - walk). I guess it's time for me to stop putting off the inevitable work out routine. I've used this whole "having a baby thing" as an excuse for too long!

Baby update: Lilyan is 3 months old! Ahh where has the time gone! I can't believe how much of her personality is showing more and more these days. All day long she wants to chew on her hands and now you can tell she is recognizing the difference between other people and her parents. Even though she's growing way too fast, I love this stage! I also just bought her the Your Baby Can Read series. Who knows if it'll work, but it can't hurt. Besides, if she's going to be watching tv at home (which is inevitable since we live in a small apartment with a 60 inch tv) , she might as well be watching something educational!

easter weekend

April 9-10th: Atlantic City was so much fun! It was great to get away with Brian for the night. We arrived at 10pm and gambled at the casinos of the Borgata and Tropicana until 4am. The next morning Brian and I went to the boardwalk and gambled away our winnings. Luckily, I have some self control and was able to convince Brian that it was time to go home. We broke even and walked away with a video poker addiction. 

On the way home we stopped by Babies R Us and picked up a new playmat for Lily. I think she suffered from sensory overload because after 5 mins of playing with all the rattling, vibrating, crinkly, light flashing, mozart musical toys, she passed out. Oh and let's not forget the big mirror that's attached to it, so she can stare at her cute, yet, terrified reflection. 

April 11th - Brian's Dad and my Dad's Bday. How cute that our dads share the same birthday. We went to breakfast to celebrate Brian's dad's bday and then went home to enjoy the rainy day indoors.....Then about after 10 mins of being stuck indoors, I dragged my nephew with me to Target, Wegman's & Best Buy to battle the herds of people getting ready for Easter Sunday. He didn't mind though because he made out with a Wii Fit (an early bday gift) and I decided it would also be the perfect gift for my Dad. So we headed home with 2 Wii Fit's, a trunkful of groceries and the usual random purchases from Target. As we start to unload my car (my bright red VW Golf) I accidentally swung my door open...and it slams into the bright flawless white car next to me. DAMMIT! Keep in mind that we live in an apartment complex. So my options are 1) pretend it didn't happen, move my car and go inside. 2) Sit there and try to buff out the red mark that was left on the side of their car. 3) Write a note like a responsible and courteous person. I went with option 3, realizing that the owner of the car could be watching me through his windows as I contemplate what to do and also because it's the right thing to do...I suppose. Anyways, it's not like it won't buff out and up until now they haven't called me...yet.

April 12th - Easter Sunday! Brian and I went to church and left Lily in the hands of my 14 year old nephew. All of his experience with his 2 younger brothers paid off and Lily was well taken care of. Then we headed to Brian's Aunt's for Easter lunch and an Easter egg-hunt. Lily made out well with 12 eggs....hmm I wonder how she managed that?

Afterwards, we went to my Dad's to celebrate his birthday and to have Easter dinner. Thanks to Cody & I's culinary skills, we made an awesome carrot cake for his birthday. It was probably the best carrot cake I've ever had. Don't worry, I'm not trying to brag about it, anyone can make this cake using this recipe! So after a long weekend of birthdays and Easter celebrations we headed home where we all passed out on the couch for the night.

 

"insert clever post title here"

Brian and I are off to Atlantic City today! An overnight stay at the Tropicana. Like I said earlier, this should be interesting, as it's my first time in a casino. Let's hope I get beginner's luck and win big! Either way, I'm just excited to have a fun night out of town. We're leaving Lilyan in the hands of Tracy & Josh. Don't worry, I made sure to type up an instructions manual. I used to hate when I'd babysit and there would be a long list of directions and rules to follow...pshh like I didn't know what I was doing. Yet, that didn't stop me from detailing out Lily's daily schedule from sleeping to eating down to what to do if she gets the hiccups. I've become the stereotypical mother, but it's not until I became a mother that I realized there's no other type of mother. It just took me having a child of my own to finally understand it all. Although, I still refuse to get a mini-van and carry around a Winnie the Pooh diaper bag....and please please shoot me if I ever show up at your house wearing a pair of these:

-------------------------------------------

In other great sports news..

C-A-P-S CAPS CAPS CAPS!

It's a great time to be a CAPS fan!

One more point and they clinch 

the No. 2 seed and home-ice advantage

in the second round of playoffs. 

LET'S GO CAPS!

UNC beats MSU = Bracket Challenge Winner!

Finally, I won a pool at work! All the time that I put into running the various pools at work for football and March Madness and yet I have not won once...until now! 

P.S. - Is anyone else going to Cooley's Rally for the Cure? 

tuesday bluesday

This week at work is going by so slowwww ....it's only Tuesday! On a brighter note, next Thurs, Brian and I are going to Atlantic City! We're staying the night with a couple of our friends at the Tropicana. It should be interesting considering the fact that I've never stepped foot in a casino. Let the gambling begin! Let's hope we come away with some winnings so I can start crossing items off of my wishlist.

I hope I'm not a nervous wreck since it will technically be my first night away-away from Lily. My sister Tracy is watching her. I'm betting that next Thurs will be the first night Lily decides to wake up crying at all hours. I hope she's a good baby for her! I'm not looking forward to the extra pumping I'm going to have to do to make bottles for her while I'm away. Sometimes I want to give up altogether on breastfeeding. Even though Lily sleeps thru the night, I still have to wake up every 3 hours to pump, just to make bottles for her while I'm at work. It's exhausting and a lot of work! Not to mention I have to lug a "discrete" pump to and from work each day and I have to watch my caffeine intake. There are pros to breastfeeding of course: the extra 30 mins. a day I get to sit in the Mother's lounge at work and catch up on my reading, the money I save (formula is expensive as hell!), and the nutritional benefits. So, I suppose I will stick with it for the time being...

One more thing...is it bad that I love pictures of Lily frowning?
I think it's the cutest thing!

30 - part 1

So I know I have a few years before I turn 30, but recently I started thinking about how quickly the years are passing and how much there is in life that I still want to accomplish. Plus, given the fact that nobody is guaranteed tomorrow, who knows how long I'll have to accomplish my life goals (besides God)? All my life I have lived in Northern Virginia. Granted, I don't think I could ever move away from my family, but it really puts things in perspective if you compare Nova to the rest of the world. There's so much out there that I have yet to see and I'm not getting any younger! Even though I've traveled my fair share for the occasional vacation getaway, I have never been to Paris, Italy, Japan, or Ireland...all the places I dream of going. So until Lily gets a little older and my paycheck gets a lot bigger, I'm going to have to settle for achieving the smaller goals in life that are within reach. My first goal is to actually list out my personal goals, since I can't say I have one. To get me started on my own list I've browsed some books & websites on What to do before you're 30, What you should know before you're 30, Where to go before you're 30...etc etc. I'm horrible at making long term goals or even considering the fact that I'll live past 30 since I'm terribly superstitious and think the moment I plan for the future, something terrible will happen to me (I know, it's stupid). So, I'll start with 30. A reasonably safe age I hope to reach.

Anyways here is the first list I found after surfing the web all while being semi-productive at work:

30 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do Before Turning 30 (by Siobhan Adcock)

1. wrap a present
2. start a successful fire in a fireplace(does a gas fireplace count?), at a campsite, and in a barbecue
3. finish a piece of furniture
4. get a raise (something i'm horrible at...negotiating)
5. order wine at a restaurant without getting stiffed
6. parallel park in three breathtakingly beautiful movements (i can do it in 10 beautiful movements)
7. dance a “slow dance” without looking like an idiot
8. use a full place setting properly, including chopsticks and Asian soup spoons(duh, i live for the asian soup spoons)
9. clean your place in under 45 minutes, when friends, relatives, or prospective lovers are coming by unexpectedly, and soon
10. hold your liquor
11. cure a hangover
12. do the Heimlich Maneuver
13. use a compass ta da!
14. change a flat
15. jump start a car
16. open a champagne bottle(even though it scares me)
17. send a drink to someone’s table
18. cook one “signature meal”
19. whistle with your fingers
20. take good pictures(at least I think they're good)
21. fold a fitted sheet(thanks to my mom!)
22. remove common stains(Dreft baby stain remover spray works wonders)
23. sew a button
24. carve turkey, lasagna, and birthday cake
25. hold a baby (i better know how!)
26. change a diaper
27. keep a plant alive for more than a year
28. make dogs and cats love you
29. help someone out of a car
30. write superior thank you notes(superior? maybe not, but good enough)

Well, not too bad, I seem to know most of these. Although, I'm not positive that "making a cat love me" will make it to my own list, there are a few things from this one that I'll definitely consider...Heimlich Maneuver, Get a Raise..

To be continued..