A Weekend Away for Mother's Day‏

Cary gave me the best Mother’s Day treat with a weekend away in New Braunfels. It was our first family trip alone, on our own agenda, and it was fantastic! During our weekend we spent a lot of time at the famous and beautiful Landa park. Margo loves nothing more than to be outside, so this was our best option. She spent hours on the swing and they had a wonderful toddler play ground with a neat fire truck to climb on and easily accessible slides and toys. Her favorite new thing on the play ground was the disc you sit in and spin around in. Margo squeeled with laughter every time and would fall over dizzy afterward. It was so cute! We also fed the ducks twice, but Margo didn’t really catch on to the concept until the very end. Instead, she stuffed the bread in her mouth and enjoyed the taste of cheap white bread! Last but not least, Margo took a few train rides and I think she was quite impressed and in awe because she remained near expressionless—ha ha! However, since we have been back, every time we hear the trains from our house she says “choo choo”.

We ate at our favorite restaurants… Pat’s and Huisache and enjoyed the great view we had at the fun Gristmill, although my steak was inedible. We also hit up the wonderful Children’s Museum in NB, which is only $5 and Margo had so much fun. She LOVED shopping in the pretend grocery store, dancing to the old fashioned radio, the music exhibit outside was a huge hit and she had a fascination with the rings at the water exhibit and lined them up all the way on her arms like bracelets. It was really cute!

On Mother’s Day, we had a special treat and met my best friend, Razil, and her family at Landa Park for Rudy’s BBQ and some playtime for the kids. Although it was a quick visit, it was so great to lay my eyes on her precious kids and get a big hug. Olivia is such a sweet little girl and tried to interact with Margo who just doesn’t know how to play with others very well yet. I got to hold and smell baby Jonas who is a chunk of sweet baby love! Margo was so exhausted that she slept the ENTIRE drive home! You have no idea what a feat that is for her… she usually sleeps only about 45 minutes max in the car.

It was different going to bed at 9 pm on vacation, but we woke-up early and refreshed each day and I think that made us enjoy our trip even more! Cary and I long to be back in NB. It is such a quaint, slower paced, little slice of heaven in the hill country and our year there was some of the most memorable times in our lives. It was truly special spending Mother’s Day with my most favorite people on earth in my favorite place on earth!

Zoo Take Two

In April, we took our second trip to the zoo… this time with daddy and now that Margo is older, she seemed much more aware and really enjoyed it. We went on a weekday as soon as it opened while it was still nice outside. You could hear the monkeys howling like crazy all the way in the parking lot! However, by the time we got to the monkeys they had calmly settled in for the day.

Lots of animals were out and about, but lots weren’t. I received a recommendation to go in the morning because there would be more animals out and awake, but I found that many of them were still asleep or MIA and it wasn’t much different than going in the afternoon. Nonetheless, after a great tour of the elephants, lions, bears and monkeys we made a final stop to the children’s area. Margo was ready to get out of the stroller and play. She loved pressing the buttons for the animal sounds and especially loved the playground… it is clearly the simple things! It was a great visit and I look forward to many more trips to the lovely Houston Zoo!

Fun was Aplenty in Month Twenty‏

Gosh, I cannot believe that we are nearing the two year mark and what fun Margo is at this age! She seriously does something that either cracks me up or amazes me every day. Margo changes on a daily basis and I can see what a “sponge” she has become as babies this age are often described. I have completely lost count of all of her words at this point, but her vocabulary is quite extensive and I am certain she has single words in the several hundreds. In the past month, she has begun to put two words together in a few instances, such as “Hi and bye + the name”, “Excuse you”, “All gone” and just last night when I sneezed she said, “Bless you”! Sometimes I wonder where in the world she learns these things—this is what I mean about being amazed every day! She knows all kinds of animals including the octopus, reindeer, fox, hippo and many more. She can identify by name all of the primary colors including pink—naming colors has actually become one of her favorite activities this month.



She still loves music, asks to turn it on every day and will shake her bootie like you would not believe. I don’t know where she got it, but our girl has some serious rhythm . Her favorite songs of the moment are the “ABCs” which she can sing but not clearly and “Rain Rain Go Away” which she sings even when the sun is shining bright. She is also into saying everyone’s names, which I think they are practicing this a lot in school. Usually it only takes meeting someone one time, repeating their name a few times and she says it and remembers it if she sees a picture. Matter of fact, we have a birthday invitation on the fridge for a boy named Ryder who she saw a month or so ago. Last week, she pointed at the fridge and started repeating his name over and over. I could not believe my ears that she had remembered! Cary has an elephant’s memory and clearly she inherited this from him. I on the other hand, suffer from a serious case of CRS on a daily basis.



This month we have gone swimming a few times and it had been since last summer, so I wasn’t sure how Margo would respond. At her friend Alexis’ birthday party I plopped her right in the water and she did great, but it was just on the steps around the edges and I think she felt safe and in control. On Memorial Day weekend, my sweet sister and brother-in-law set-up an awesome baby pool for Margo. Arrggghhh, she never even sat down in the water. I think I was pushing her too hard to jump right in and it had the reverse effect. Finally, we went swimming at my niece Catie’s summer place and we took our time adjusting to the water. She was scared and fussed quite a bit, but by the end of the swim date she loved it and was going back in forth between Catie and I and even letting go of us and floating. Ever since, Margo has been enamored with Catie, so it was clearly such a great experience for her! We will be having lots of fun in the baby pool and going to the big pool this summer! Might I add, unlike me, Margo is crazy tan! I cannot believe how brown she has already gotten and I put sunscreen on her almost every day! I think she inherited her PaPa Ron’s olive complexion, thank goodness. The one thing I hoped she wouldn’t get from me was my freakishly white skin!

Margo’s most favorite thing this month is swinging. She will swing for a solid hour and has no interest in any other activities at the park. Every day, one of the first things she says is “Park and Swing”. Thank goodness, I just found a great swing under a huge shade tree that will be more enjoyable in the summer heat. We have a swing in the back yard, but it is not to her liking and she refuses to get in it… silly girl! I have a feeling we will clock more hours swinging this summer than just about anything else.

In my last update, we were working hard at Margo’s dexterity. I am happy to report that in a few short months, she has mastered stacking blocks and has maxed out at nine high. She has also mastered sorting shapes like a champ. She has become much better at using her hands and even made homemade shakers, placing lots of little colored beads in a bottle with ease.

This month I decided to buy a potty to introduce to Margo since she had started to tell me before she goes poop. I am not going to push her with potty training, but she likes to sit on it and we talk about the potty when we are in the bathroom. Much to my surprise, when she told me she had to go that first week we got it, I removed her diaper and sure enough, she pooped in the potty. Another time, she was in the bath saying she had to poop. In a quick effort to avoid an accident in the bath, I scooped her out and sat her on the potty… she peed. My guess is she does not understand the difference between #1 and #2. A week later, she was suffering terribly from constipation. Without getting too graphic, she had been screaming terribly trying to go almost 10 times. We finally had success when I sat her on the potty!! However, because it was painful she has been resistant to try it again. I am giving her a break because I know she is not emotionally or quite physically ready, but I think ultimately she is going to be easy to potty train once we decide to get serious about it.

Last, but not least, we have entered the land of the toddler appetite slump and extreme pickiness. My once amazing eater who would devour any vegetable hates them now. Her diet has become limited to lots of grains, the occasional fruit/veggie and cheese. I can barely get her to eat any meat, although if it’s the right day she will still enjoy a fish stick or cheeseburger for a treat. She still loves sweet potato fries and loves the dried snap pea crisps which are actually quite healthy. She despises some of her old favorites like asparagus, beans, blueberries and turkey. It is challenging trying to find ways to sneak in healthy things, but she loves eggs, peanut butter and I do not feed her any white foods. I have started her on a daily vitamin with iron to make up for the lack of nutritious foods and am just trying not to worry about it. I am serving her well balanced meals and she can choose to eat or not eat them. For example, the other night I gave her meatloaf, potatoes, lima beans and apple slices. All she ate was the apples and she drank her milk. I didn’t offer her anything else and she was fine. I figure she’ll eat when she is ready and I am not going to start offering less healthful options just so she will eat. Her weight and size is healthy and she is happy, so I am just trying to go with the flow with this whole eating strike!

So… that’s that! Everything about this age is fun and rewarding and amazing! I love being a mother beyond all explanation. This past Mother’s Day I found it kind of funny that I was being celebrated because really I think it is the best, most wonderful thing in the world being a mother. I do not need to be thanked for doing my God-given job. It is a blessing and a privilege to be Margo’s mommy and I cannot wait for all that is yet to come!