Baseball, Babies and Pedis! (Weekend Edition)

Another great weekend...I suppose I could say that about every weekend these days because we have been having an amazing summer!

On Friday night we got tickets to the College World Series, so we headed downtown and met up with Kyle & Kurt in the Mattress Factory tents. Then we made our way to our club seats at the game and Cruzer was the life of our section. Around the sixth inning we headed down to visit with Nanu and Grammy. Nanu had ice cream and fed a bit to little man...and he LOVED it (good lord, of course he did knowing our sweet tooth!), except when daddy was lifting him into the air. The ice cream came up and all over the hubby's shirt and down the side of his face, just millimeters from his mouth. It was HIL-AR-IOUS.

College World Series with our little Gamecocks fan!

Visiting Nanu and Grammy at the game

On Saturday, Cruz and I hit up my friend Crystal's baby shower at Lazlo's. It was a gorgeous day and I couldn't be happier for Crystal and Justin who have been trying to have a little one for so long. They are waiting to find out the sex of the baby....something I could NEVER do. I'm too impatient. Can't wait to meet Baby M.

Cruz, Crystal and I
(Such a gorgeous preggo!)

On Sunday, the hubby went golfing with the guys, so Cruz and I met up with my friend Sirvan for brunch at Le Peep (a fave) and pedicures. I was interested to see how Cruz would react sitting on my lap for 45 minutes, BUT he was excellent. For the first 30 minutes he was intrigued by the process and then he fell fast asleep. It was a nice relaxing morning before I had to work in the afternoon.

Pedicures with Cruz

Girls day with a little boy mixed in
Pedis with Sirvan

I look forward to many more wonderful weekends...this just being one of many.

Helmet Update

Yesterday afternoon we had an appointment at Trust Orthotics for our third scan to see if Cruz has had any improvement on evening out his little melon. We had our first scan on April 2, 2012, to determine if he would in fact need to get a cranial remolding helmet, and after seeing he was at 12 1/2mm assymmetry (severe category) we ordered Cruz's helmet.

It arrived much sooner than we anticipated...a mere 10 days later Cruz was fitted for his helmet and it was definitely a tough day for us. Fortunately he got used to it and we did as well which made it easier having to put it on him every day.

On May 10th, we went in for our month scan and were excited to see how much his head had improved, but not expecting anything too crazy since our Orthotist told us on average there will maybe be 3mm improvement in a given month and some months none at all. Imagine our surprise when he came in after the scan and told us Cruz's head had improved from 12 1/2mm to 5 1/2mm - 7mm in one short month!

Two weeks later we had to go back in because the helmet was rubbing on Cruzer's head and Tim did another scan since we were there...there was no improvement since our one month scan and that was frustrating for us to hear.

At our appointment yesterday, I have to say I was very optimistic because his head looks so great these days. Tim took one look at little man and couldn't stop exclaiming how much his head has grown (you can tell because so much more of his forehead is visible). We took off the helmet and he continued telling us how great his head looked, it's shaping better and he could tell it had grown tremendously. You can see from the dirt marks (sounds gross, but it's a good thing) in the helmet that it's touching at a lot of points . 

Awaiting the results of his scan

After his scan, we nervously awaited the results. When Tim came back in an exclaimed it was only 1 1/2mm improvement (down to 4mm assymmetry), we were bummed, however, we are excited that there was at least some improvement which gets us closer to our goal of 2mm or less.

Here are shots of his head from our first scan compared to his scan from yesterday.

April 2, 2012 - initial scan

June 25, 2012 - 3rd scan

The improvement has been amazing and it makes us so happy that we made this decision to put Cruz in the helmet, even if it has been difficult for us at times.

Shopping Buddy

Some of my favorite times with little man are cruising the aisles of a grocery store or spending some time walking around the mall. This morning was no exception....love that he's my big guy and can sit up in the carts now. Look at our little cutie!

(My sincerest apologies to the man in the background...
...I don't have the technology to block out his face.)

My Baby Boy: Thirty-Two Weeks Old

Happy 32 weeks to our smiley baby boy!!

Ready for swimming lessons
(the baseball was a decoy so he wouldn't wipe off the chalk!)

Fryin' Up A Hog

There are so many things wrong with this post title...


First off, only a small town, farm girl would use the word "hog." However, I actually did fry up some pig by means of cooking real bacon for the first time EVER last night for my hubby (and, yes, he still stays with me despite my many deficiencies, lack of cooking being one of them). I even had to Google "how to make bacon." Now that's a tad bit embarrassing.

Second, I've never talked so much about pigs and cows as I have today. Cows because there was a hilarious story yesterday regarding an overturned semi (driver was not injured, so it's ok that I call it "hilarious") and it's occupants (e.g.cattle) were loose on the interstate, thus shutting down traffic in Omaha. Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up.


Third, no one told me just how bad cooking real bacon would smell. The house still smelled of bacon this morning...even though I had all the windows open and sprayed A LOT of air freshener. I guarantee everyone at work today craved bacon whenever I walked past them....

Father's Day Fun

We started off Nick's first Father's Day at the Divot's Lodge & Hotel in Norfolk, NE, following his cousin's wedding the night before. Definitely not glamorous, but it served as Cruzer's first hotel stay and he did so well, albeit for the loud cooing around 5:30am.

Cruz and I woke up early and went downstairs so the hubby could sleep in. We walked around the property and then fixed up a plate of The Lodge's finest breakfast fare to bring back upstairs. I got little man changed into his special onesie and we set out his daddy's breakfast and gifts and proceeded to wake him up!

Little man hooked his daddy up with a College World Series dri-fit, tickets to the pavilion tent with his dad and brothers and a special pasta bowl Cruz hand-made created with love with his handprint and foot prints. I absolutely LOVED how it turned out...and so did his the hubby.

"Daddy, I love you like a fat kid loves cake!"

Daddy's pasta bowl...from Daddy's Little Meatball
(love that baby hand)

Foot prints!

We drove back to Omaha (not after a detour to another breakfast joint...guess daddy didn't love The Lodge breakfast) and quickly got ourselves unpacked and then packed back up for an afternoon at the College World Series downtown. I personally LOVE this time of year and under normal circumstances would be tailgating with the best of them, but I have to say this year was even more fun than I've had before...seeing Nick in his element with his baby boy. It's a blast celebrating all of Cruzer's "firsts" together.

After spending a couple hours in the Pavilion tent watching one of the games, Nick and I packed up little man and just walked around stadium. We swung by and finally found a hat that fit...even though it was USC...and then met up with Ross, Kyle and Kirk at the Matt Factory tent. 

Nanu and his grandbabies: Cruz, Dom & Sicily

Cruz & grand uncle Kirk

Our USC fan (or maybe it was the only hat in his size!) and uncle Kyle

Love, love, love the extra large baseball mitt!

Based on our conversation when we were headed home, I have to say that the hubby had a great first Father's Day. And I just absolutely love spending time with our little family!

Goin' To The Chapel

On Saturday morning, Nick and I packed up the Jeep and little man and headed to Norfolk, Nebraska, for his cousin's wedding. It was a gorgeous June day and we got to celebrate the newly married couple in style. Wait...make that it would've been "in style" had the hubby not forgotten Cruz's actual outfit. Which was laying next to on top of all of the other items he packed, but let's not dwell on that. :)

We had such a great weekend with his mom's side of the family, who we don't get to see enough of and little man was such a ham the entire day...he actually made it until 11:30pm with a few cat naps here and there. Then we ended the night with his first hotel stay at the Divot's Lodge & Hotel. Ahhh...memories.

Here are a few pictures from our day...

Love family pics....love our little family

Grandpa Florian, Mook & the hubby

My future sister, Britt

Hmmm....great training for their own!

Dancing queen...Emma!

Love this guy...even more so now that I know he's such an amazing father

Nick w/ little man and his mama

Great time with this group!

Grandma Carol & Duane
(she looked beautiful that night!)

Two of Cruzer's favorite ladies

A Little Bit Country

On our road trip to northeast Nebraska this past weekend, the hubby and I exposed Cruz to one of the finer things in life...which happened to be a country music sing-along to our favorite artist Kenny Chesney.

I grew up on a farm, but in no way was a fan of country music growing up. My dad would flip the station in our pickup truck to country and one or all of us girls would cry and nag until he flipped it back to a pop music station or something equally annoying.  I'm not entirely sure when I started falling for country music...it could've been the many nights spent road tripping in high school with my friends or bartending in college at the local Irish pub which coincidentally played quite a bit of country music or listening (on repeat) to the break-up CD filled with Kenny Chesney and Rascal Flatts that the hubby made for me during our year and a half apart. 


I've since been to many country music concerts and can say that some of the best nights of my life have been during a Kenny Chesney concert. Our group has been to many over the years - the first was at the Qwest Center in Omaha - my cousin & I happened to be in the right place at the right time, because we got our group upgraded to Sandbar passes right along the stage. My favorite Chesney concert was on a group trip to Las Vegas and we saw him at The Joint in the Hard Rock Casino, a 4,000-seat venue where he played for four hours straight - Most. Amazing. Show. Ever.  And one of the most memorable was March 2011, where again he played in Omaha - it was just after we found out I was preggers and hadn't told anyone. I had to strategically pretend to drink the entire night...but even without the alcohol flowing through my system the show was still amazing.


I'm not sure what it is, but a good country music song just puts me in a great mood. I think a big part of it is because you can actually understand every single word of country music and, therefore, easily learn the songs and sign along to them. And there is something about summer that brings out my love for country music in full force. It makes me think of sitting outside, around a fire, drinking a beer and just enjoying life.


So it's only right that on the first day of summer, I pay a little homage to the music genre that I adore so much. Thank you, country music, for getting me through this little thing called life.

My Baby Boy: Thirty-One Weeks Old

Happy 31 weeks, Little Mango!!

On a side note, the hubby asked when I was going to stop taking pictures each week....I suppose at 52 weeks. That seems to make the most sense, but I guess I hadn't really thought of it.

Cruz has taken to wiping his hand all over the chalk...we're just going with it

Weekend Fun w/ Little Man

Last weekend was all about family time (seems all of our weekends have been that way lately - love it!) and we had a jammed packed three days of fun!

On Friday night after work, my parents met us at our house (they stayed with us the entire weekend) and we headed to Charleston's for some appetizers and cocktails before going to Burke High School for Dayvaney's dance recital. The recital ended up being about 2 1/2 hours long BUT Day's dances were spaced out enough that we were excited with anticipation for her next performance. She did such a great job...and really was the leader amongst her age group (as if we expected anything less from our little diva)!

Our little princess Day at her dance recital

Proud parents - Tessa & Chris w/ the star of the show

On Saturday, the girls & Cruz met up with the Lynch familia and headed down to the Children's Museum to check out their Wizard of Oz exhibit, while our men golfed in the Shevy's annual golf tournament (e.g. the chance to drink for six hours on the course and then continue drinking late into the night at Shevy's following golf). The museum was AWESOME and the kids had a great time. I can definitely envision many days of fun with Cruzer here when he gets a bit older.

Tornado simulator...

...flying hats and skirts!!

I played check out girl at the Grocery Store for all of the kiddos
(Have I ever mentioned I love the self serve check out at the grocery store?!
Maybe I missed my calling.)

Cruz was in awe of the tin man

After lunch at Ingredient, we headed out to Elkhorn to watch Kayden pitch in his little league baseball game. It was a very warm day, especially for little man in his helmet, so we kept the kiddos shaded - Ace and Day were so good playing with Cruz so we could watch the game.

Pretending to be asleep - though none did it very well.

After the game, mom, Cruz and I did some shopping at Village Pointe and also attended the Wine Festival there. I have to admit I felt a bit awkward being the only person pushing a stroller amongst all of the heavy drinkers...UNTIL I spotted another couple with their stroller doing them same thing...and then another and then two couples each pushing a stroller. Whew! I'm not the only terrible wine-drinking mother.

PLUS a woman stopped us admiring Cruz's baseball helmet - she works in a PT office and deals with many helmet wearers and had never seen a helmet wrap like little man's. I was so happy to finally be able to share information about the Wrap Buddies program and she was so excited to go back to work on Monday and share this information with her patients. Good deed of the day...check! (Does that make up for my wine drinking while pushing a stoller?!)

On Sunday, we lounged around the house for a while and then got ourselves ready to head back to Elkhorn to watch another of Kayden's baseball games. Unfortunately the other team didn't show up, so we packed it in early and headed to lunch at Cunningham's. After lunch, the ladies along with Day and Cruz headed to help me make a little Father's Day surprise for the hubby and later we met up with the guys at the Lynch's where we sat around their fire pit, made s'mores, had some cocktails and watched the kiddos play on the swingset. Nanu and Grammy Jan even swung by for a quick visit.

Papa was lounging right next to Cruzer and they  both passed out

Everyone else I knew did the Warrior Dash...and Cruz wanted in on the action!

First time in a swing - he loved it

We had such a great weekend with family. It makes me think about how nice it would be to have Saturdays and Sundays off like normal people, but I have to tell you that I sometimes love having Mondays off so I can run errands without the craziness that weekends bring. I also love having our family so close since it makes having weekends like this possible.

Playing the Role of a Single Mother

The hubby is gone on a poker trip this week. He left Monday and won't be back until Saturday...but then he turns around and leaves Monday for another week in Vegas next week. As well as little man and I are managing, it sucks not having him around.

I can't believe how much I miss having someone to talk to at night when Cruz is asleep or even to just sit in silence with while we catch up on computer work and our TV shows. I even miss having another set of hands during our night time routine to give some little man some attention, while I'm trying to make dinner or get things ready for the next morning.

The mornings are tough as well as I try to juggle getting myself ready as well as little man. The last couple of months, Nick volunteered to get Cruz up and ready for daycare and drive him there on Wednesday and Friday mornings....and as much as I treasure my quiet morning time with the little guy, I really love having time to myself to get ready without balancing a baby on my hip while trying to put on make-up. Plus, I've even started using that time to squeeze in a morning run, which means after work I'm free to spend all of my time with both of them. This week, though...no "me" morning time and no morning run.

And the helmet? Don't even get me started on the helmet. I thought having the cheek pad removed would make it so much easier to get the helmet on Cruz's head. And it does...or at least it did when I had Nick to hold Cruz while I maneuvered it on his little head. But for some reason now that it's just me and having to place him in his Bumbo chair so he's somewhat still, I cannot get the helmet on correctly the first time for the life of me. It's so exasperating! Plus, little man cries when it's on wrong....and then I get emotional....and then neither of us want that dang thing on his head. Fortunately I've been able to get it on after two or three times, but it's still proving to be the one thing I dread at night.

I don't know how single parents do it and I tell you I have so much respect for them.  Being a single parent (even if for just a few days) is tough work.

Oh...how I can't wait for Nick to come home. He's got two people that miss him very, very much.

Our Little Guy: Seven Months Old

Happy 7 months, Cruzer!

What has Cruz been up to?

• Big News: It seems this last month has been a crazy month of changes for our little guy! He graduated from his Puj tub to the bathtub and LOVES splashing in the water. Speaking of water, he also starting swimming lessons and after two lessons, he has been fully submerged under water! While we were gone in NYC, he mastered sitting up on his own and we haven't looked back since. He has even held himself standing up against the couch - in no time he will be crawling and walking and I cannot believe it!  And finally, he had two big firsts - his first trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo and his first baseball game at Werner Park.

Swimming lessons with daddy!

Sitting up like a big boy

Family outing to the baseball game

• Eating: Cruz is down to eating 6oz every 3-4 hours and we supplement that with solids throughout the day - fruit/oatmeal in the a.m., veggies in the afternoon and some more veggies at night. We've also graduated from Level 1 to Level 2 which includes blended up meals (turkey & rice, chicken & veggies) and introduced Gerber Puffs (the verdict is still out on this one). Late this month, we started putting his formula into his sippy cup and he feeds himself - and grins throughout the entire bottle, so proud of himself!

Trying out Gerber Puffs...not a fan at first

• Sleeping: we are so lucky that little man sleeps so well. We put him down between 8pm-9pm and he sleeps until at least 6:30am, but generally 7am is when he opens those gorgeous blue eyes. My favorite part of my morning is going into his nursery and seeing him smiling up at me - he never cries, just smiles and rolls around until someone comes in to get him. He naps sporadically throughout the day, though I think his best nap is when he and I go running around Lake Z - a solid 45-50 minute nap and he sleeps the entire time!

Sucking down a bottle..while taking a little snooze

• Developments: our guy is weighing in at 20 lbs even.  He is growing so quickly and it's so much fun to watch.  On the helmet front, his head has grown so well and we are so happy we went with the cranial helmet. This month we got his helmet wrapped (like a baseball) and he finally got that darn cheek pad removed! It's so much easier to put the helmet on, plus now I can get close to his face for some great snuggles! We will go back for a scan in two weeks and hope to see much more improvement...on our way to get this darn thing off!

Helmet update: removed the cheek pad!

• Features: Cruz's best feature (besides everything about him) are his beautiful baby blues. They really pop in pictures and I love when he looks up at me through his long eye lashes. I also can't get enough of his goofy smiles - he is always smiling and I'm so grateful we have a happy baby.  He's also developed these amazing little rolls of fat on his arms and legs that I cannot get enough of....our little chubby bunny and I wouldn't have him any other way! I will say one thing, I can't believe how different he looks from day to day...just looking at these pictures it doesn't seem like it's the same baby in some - he's my little chameleon!

Kisses from his favorite furry friend, Maya

Cruzer - we love you so much and are so lucky to have you in our lives! Happy happy seven months, baby boy! xoxo

Best buds forever

First Baseball Game

Last Thursday night, the hubby and I met some friends out at Werner Park for the Omaha Storm Chasers baseball game...which also happened to be little man's FIRST (of many) baseball game! We had great seats, however, I was scared to death of a foul ball screaming toward Cruz and made sure the guys were on high alert all night :)

It was a gorgeous night...and $1 beer night for the guys and we had such a blast! I can't wait to take Cruzer to many more baseball games and, of course, when he finally is able to start playing on his own!

Cool dudes in their shades

Mommy & Cruzer

Uncle Kurt

Uncle Mook teaching his nephew about his favorite sport

Happy family!