Bumpa Steve, Bumma Sharon and Ike Come to Visit

My parents came to visit about a week and half ago to visit and we had a blast. As you have probably already guessed EZ refers to them as Bumpa Steve and Bumma Sharon. Both kids loved getting showered with attention and I loved having people around while John was at work.

It was a crazy time for a visit because of Hurricane Ike, which hit while they were here and we thought that we were going to be seeing some of the affects of it in Austin. They kept forecasting that we would get tons of rain, but in the end the storm hit ground and headed north east with it's affects completely missing us. All we got was some wind and the weather cooled down, which was actually a blessing. Finally, we were able to go for walks outside because it dropped to the low 80s. I am not sure how I feel about the fact that the weather here actually got better because of a hurricane which devastated so many people. Just shows the power and unpredictability of mother nature. What makes it even crazier is that my parents actually witnessed the affects of Ike when they got back to Pittsburgh. As it headed north it hit a cold front and my parents got home to find the power had gone out and wind gusts up 90mph had hit by their house and ripped apart the big tree in our front yard.

Anyway, besides spending a lot of time watching the news about the hurricane, we also got to show my parents around the Austin area, which of course included lots of BBQ and greasy Mexican food again, but it also included two trips to Whole Foods, which we love. Austin is the headquarters of whole foods so there is a smaller one in North Austin and then the huge one attached to the headquarters downtown. We visited both and ate lots of yummy food, most of which although "all natural" can in no way be good for you since it comes from the fancy pastry shop. I guess we just feel better saying we got it at whole foods.

My parents also got to relive the fun of life with little kids, which of course includes bath time. Both EZ and Netta love it and I have started bathing them together, which EZ thinks is hilarious. He especially likes to run around after the bath with his towel hanging from his head yelling "Super EZ!!!" as seen in the picture below.

Netta loves bath time too, but unfortunately her rolls keep her from achieving super hero status.

I have to thank my parents for spoiling the kids with attention. The adjustment to being a stay at home mom, having two kids and taking on home ownership has been a bit rocky at times. Having them here gave John and I both some much needed rest and my handy dad helped me finish some decorating projects and other odds and ends that I kept meaning to do, but never seem to get around too. Oh and we couldn't have gotten them done without my mom keeping the kids occupied and away from the hammer. So thanks mom and dad!

Here is a pic of Netta with my mom and then EZ with my dad. The bond seems to be strongest along the gender lines. My dad helped EZ find a new love for his drums and was actually able to keep EZ so entertained that he refrained from wearing his guitar all day like he usually does.

Sadly my parents had to leave and as soon as they did EZ went back to his ways. He can't even take off the guitar to watch tv for fear that he might miss the chance to rock out to his favorite theme songs. I also love this picture because Netta is started to be able to do more and here she looks like she is following in big brother's Diego and Dora loving footsteps.

Craigslist You Are Driving Me Crazy

Well maybe my actual complaint isn't with craigslist, but with the people who use it. My experience has been hit or miss. Sometimes I hear back right away and make the purchase and other times my emails go unanswered while the ad stays up and even sometimes is relisted. For example, I have been trying to buy this snap-n-go stroller for Netta's car seat for a couple of weeks. There was this add selling it for $30 and I emailed the person about it and never got a response. Fine, maybe they had so many people respond that they just sold it and didn't have time to let me know. Well, I go looking again yesterday and the original add is gone, but then I see the same person has reposted the add for now $25. Ok so obviously it hasn't sold. So I think maybe my email got sent to this person's junk mail or something so I try again with my MSU email instead of gmail. Still no response. What the heck! Whoever you are check your junk mail and sell me the frickin stroller!!!!

Netta Wins This Time

So we took Netta in for her 4 month check up. She has been feeling heavier and heavier and I had no doubt that she was a chunk, but I didn't think any bigger than EZ was at the same age. Well she got weighed in and she wins the fat contest. EZ weighed in at 17 lbs 3oz and Netta at 17 lbs 14 oz! To make it worse for the poor girl she is actually almost an inch shorter than EZ was at this point and her head is smaller, which makes her even rollier. As you can see in the following pictures Netta is definitely winning in the arm rolls department and I think the cheeks as well.



EZ at about 4 months

Netta at about 4 months

Our First Visitors

About a week an a half ago my sister Katie and her husband Brad came to visit. They were our first out of town visitors and they even beat my parents here, who are coming next week. Very impressive. We wanted to show them a taste of Austin, which means we went out to eat a lot. There is a reason Texas is one of the fattest states. Who can resist the BBQ and greasy Mexican food. We also went downtown to see the ginormous colony of bats that lives under one of the bridges. They take flight every night and there are millions of them. It's cool and gross at the same time. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the bats because of course as soon as we got there someone had to eat. So here is a picture of us after watching the bats. Try to ignore how mad EZ is and the fact that I am breastfeeding. I do that a lot so I am surprised there aren't more pictures of me doing it.

We took EZ to one of those places with all the inflatable toys. I wondered how he would react because he isn't much of a daredevil. Infact some may call him a pansy. Luckily, with the help of Uncle Brad he worked up the courage to try some of the slides.

Eventually though, he ended up playing in the little kid area with some foam cubes and he would have stayed there all day. I guess I just have to remind myself that even though he is taller than most kids a year older than him he is still only 2. I was looking for a picture of him and Katie playing with the cubes and to my astonishment there was a picture with my nursing in the background. So basically while Brad and Katie were here I spent the whole time breastfeeding.

We were so glad they were able to come and we can't wait for more visitors, so come on down. Once they left we got back to our routine of EZ pretending to play the guitar all day. Oh wait, he did that while they were here also. Basically all day he runs around asking for dance songs and saying "You rock!". His favorite dance song is "Slow Ride" by Foghat, which he refers to as "So High," which they probably were while they wrote the song. So whenever he gets to rock out he likes to take whatever he can find that is somewhat guitar like and pretend he is playing it. He recently took it to a whole new level by playing in the nude.

When he isn't running around playing the quitar and decides to put some clothes on he is quite the fasionista. Here is a shot of him wearing my shoes and doing his best vogue pose. (Ok this is driving me crazy. This stupid blogger will not let me left justify this line like all the others. What is up with this thing.)

And last but not least we can't leave out Netta. So here is a picture of her and her daddy showing off her great legs.