Memorial Day 2013

Ah, who doesn't love a road trip?

We embarked on our first family trip over Memorial Day.  I am thrilled to report that we did well.  

When we were about to depart, I wasn't so sure.

Trinity installed the new DVD player.

I wish this was staged.

It wasn't.

I had a good chuckle over this one.

We quickly strapped it to the head rest located IN FRONT of le bebe and off we went.

2 hours to Cincinnati, where we picked up my in-laws and our pimped out rented minivan from Avis.

It was a Town & Country.

It was amazing.

As we packed our new vehicle for the weekend, G busied herself on the floor of her spacious ride.

*I don't travel sans Cheezits.

Then the Clampetts were off for their cross country visit to Trinity's Wellie in Pennsylvania.

Eddie and Patsy rode most of the 8 hours in the back with Miss Priss.

Pat took lots of pictures of Genevieve sleeping.

My baby was a champ.

She slept, watched videos and clapped.

We rolled in to PA a little later than expected.

It seems traveling with a baby is a bit more challenging than without one.

I perfected my diaper changing/outfit changing skills on the floor of that minivan after Genevieve shat all over herself and  I discovered Chipotle lacked a changing station.

Jerks!

If it wasn't for your amazing guacamole and chips, I might just boycott you!

Our first night as a family in a hotel room also went superbly.

We found out just how much our child babbles at about 5:30 a.m. before finally losing her cool and screaming for us about 45 minutes later.

We took her to meet her bisabuela (Spanish for great-grandmother) the next morning.

Imagine my shock when I discovered Genevieve was about as big as her Wellie.

Adorable.

We all went to a beautiful little park and our munchkin experienced her first swing ride.

Under the watchful eyes of Wellie and Papi.

The whole crew:

Pat, Eddie, Aunt Rose (Eddie's sister), Uncle Paul, Wellie and T

They had a tunnel called the rabbit hole.

It was super cool when Trinity wheeled her through, narrowly escaping his own decapitation.

There were lots of snuggle sessions!

Ladybug fell in love with Wellie's hair.

You see, they basically have the same do.

I decided Wellie should wear a matching critter bow so they could be twinsies.

90 years + 8 1/2 months

4 generations of awesomeness

We loved Aunt Rose so much too.

She helped Wellie prepare the lbs of traditional Cuban fare that we ate for every meal.

We also brought home 2 coolers full of it for future meals.

We went to a site called The Old Horseshoe Curve, which was a cool train track that curved perfectly up in the hills of PA.

We had to take a lift up the small mountain.

Wellie and G conversed all the way.

I waved at the top of the hill in front of the Hunt car.

This puts Wellie to scale with yours truly, the Giantess.

I could just put her in my pocket!

Papi was in charge of feedings, as he is a pro.

G wasn't so sure about the bright sun.

She kept pulling her hood down.

That little thug!

Eddie handled the feeding while Wellie took over foot kissing.

That baby lives the life, I tell you!

The goofs head back down the mountain.

Wellie loved watching our sweet girl sleep.

Here she is on her bed taking a nap.

This is my favorite picture of the trip.

Followed closely by this one.

Wellie made her a new capelet.

We loved visiting with our precious Wellie and Aunt Rose.

I'm so thrilled that our trip was so wonderful.

We're hoping to get Wellie to visit us soon!

Baby Free

Lady Love visited YaYa and Bob for the weekend.

We scheduled our drop off at the Chickfila.  

I was able to rid myself of my baby for the weekend AND snarf down one of those Christian chocolate chip cookies straight from Jesus himself.

Oh, I jest.

I was sad to see my nugget go.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 showed up for retrieval.  

Annette and my mother are quite the pair.

They immediately took Genevieve to Target, as if she hadn't been there in the last 24 hours.  We go often.

Target and Nordstrom continue to be my happy places of consumerism.

How could YaYa not buy that face a bunch of new crap?

Genevieve had a big time with her grandparents.

She scored some Beauty and the Beast Little People.

She took a bath in the kitchen sink with the cat.

She became entranced with the 1980s style sliding closet doors that are full length mirrors in my sister's old bedroom.

She spent quite a bit of time staring at herself, cooing, rocking back and forth and chattering away.

Mother convinced her that she could go play with her friend, Nora, who lives in YaYa's mirror.

Nora is Genevieve.

Genevieve is Nora.

Get it?

Nora is also a little baby in G's daycare room.

So now she's all confused.  

I busied myself.

There was closet rearranging.

Proof of my propensity to purchase prints.

That was poetic.

I instagrammed this picture of my Mrs. Roper clothes.  Snarky Sista Katie snapped a photo of her closet, which is basically about 3 different styles of tops in about 8 different primary colors.

Oh, wait, there are only 3 primary colors.

Boring, I meant boring colors.

We couldn't be more different, you see.

Opposites attract, sista and me.

I also attended a yoga class with a man wearing a back hair sweater.  I'm usually distracted my exotic tattoos, but this morning I was mesmerized by the full on coat of man hair covering this dude's back.

I can't get my Om on with that going on, guy.

Of course, my focus is similar to that of a fruit fly, so perhaps it wasn't just the Yetti in front of me.

Trinity and I went to Napolese for dinner.

I snapped a picture of my salad pizza.  

That's a lot of arugula, people.

That's what she said. 

We met for lunch this afternoon to do a quick baby hand off.

G wasn't down with her new $14 designer baby shades.

Those puppies shall be returned.

Not sure what's up with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle back here in this photo.  

Thank you to my parents for taking G.  

We need a little B/T time now and again.  

8 Months

Genevieve is 8 months old.  

In honor of that, I have updated Fancy Nancy in the glider pictures.

Ah, I want these glasses.

Mother, why am I wearing this headband?

Have you seen my feet?

They're amazing.

Wardrobe change.

That headband was cramping my style.

Or I tried to eat it.

I look everywhere but at my mother's camera, or at the cooing baboon standing behind her that is my father.  

Get that camera out of my face, jerks!

I feel so violated.  I feel like Kim, and Kanye's gonna break your lens!

I'm sorry.  

That was harsh.

I never write from G's perspective, but these ridiculous monthly photos lend themselves beautifully to baby monologues.

My First Mother's Day

We had a such a nice Mother's Day weekend.  On Friday evening, we decided to lay low and do nothing.  

Genevieve and Trinity relaxed on the couch.  She watched a little Barney, and I really hate that purple dinosaur.

Part of my  "Betsy is a fabulous mother" festivities included a solo trip to the movie theatre.  As I have mentioned before, Trinity pretty much refuses to go to the movies.  He agreed to hang with Li'l G while I went to see The Great Gatsby in 3D.

I had never been to a 3D movie before, so imagine my surprise when the teenage girl handed me these Wayfarer lookalikes.

I took a selfie, since it was10:20 a.m. and there were like 4 grandparents getting ready to watch this movie with me.

Yes, I went at 10:20 a.m.

I enjoy a morning show.

My verdict?

I enjoyed it.

Jay Z provided some music.

I wish I was cool enough to know more about Jay Z than that he is Mr. Beyonce Knowles.  

Carey Mulligan stunk, which means she did a great job representing the most despicable character in literature, one Mrs. Daisy Buchanan.  

I loathe that selfish skank. 

Leo made me swoon.  He was a close runner up to Mr. Redford.  

Robeghan came to babysit on Saturday evening so Trinity and I could hang with Court, who was in town for the evening.  We celebrated her 33rd birthday.

They did a great job, despite disturbing her sleep and scaring the wits out of her because they were convinced she had stopped breathing.

Baby girl sleeps in some quirky positions, though none restrict her baby breaths.  

What a hoot.  They reminded me of sweet T and I during the first 2 months of parenthood.  We were convinced she was dying every second.  Now we're pros.  Ha!

We enjoyed mass with a very quiet baby on Sunday morning.  Her father brought me Starbucks before church and so I was ready to roll.  We went to Bakersfield Taco and Tequila company after church, where G  slept under the table while we enjoyed margaritas and chips and salsa.  

We returned home for a mini photo shoot in front of our newly landscaped casa.

Genevieve then took a 2 1/2 hour nap and happily played with her father so I could go to yoga.  

I can't express how much my sweet bunny has enriched my life.    

She soon became my best friend-

after she stopped being afraid of the giant blow holes that she encountered when she gazed up at me for the first time.  

I couldn't ask for a sweeter girl, and I'm so blessed to be her mama!

Our Teenaged Feline

Today I received an email notification from Kashmir's vet wishing her a happy birthday.  She encouraged Kashmir to "purrrty down" and dance to her favorite "mewsic."  

I couldn't make that up if I tried.

I was so sad when I read the email at work.

I was just like Molly Ringwald's mom in 16 Candles.

I forgot my little lady's special day.

On May 8, 1999 a teeny li'l ball of fur entered the world.

She was destined to be my furr-ever companion.

These puns!!!!!

When I got home this evening I gave Lady K a few extra Whisker Lickins.  

I abstained from putting her back in the "trenches."

I'm on fire, here.

This photo was taken when Kashmir was in 1st grade.  I think she's about 7 here.

She's been very patient with some of my silly schemes.

Like when I adopted that harlot kitty who came knocked up and we enjoyed the Summer of the Cat, 2007.

She judged those poor fatherless kittens.

As I searched for Kashmir pictures, I came across this favorite.

Genevieve looks a bit like Caroline here.  

C is about 14 months in this picture, and roughly the same size as my 8 month old.

Too cute.

Abby and Papi came to visit us on Saturday.  We gave Abby some good smellies for an early Mother's Day gift.  

We also watched the Kentucky Derby.

We went out for dinner and I wore my feather fascinator.

I'm sure no one at the sushi restaurant thought this was strange.

G was jealous, so the next morning I had to break out her feather headband.  

She loved it.

Pat rearranged our furniture for a little playroom for G.

She loved it!  

We will see Abby and Papi again soon when Genevieve goes on her first big road trip!