RED TOUR

My really cool awesome little sister has some connections to Taylor Swift so we were able to get amazing seats to her Red Tour concert last week. Girl's night out! We started the evening with what every pregnant girl deems a necessity, dinner at ZTejas minus the margarita! 

Who doesn't love Taylor Swift? A little, never ever ever getting back together, teardrops on my guitar, love story, 22, and a little I knew you were trouble. This girl writes about her life which makes her so relatable to my teenage self and all the other hundreds of teens in the audience! The audience was a mix of the tweens, the teens, and the moms. Everyone knew every word to every song and we stood the entire time! 

TSwift puts on a great show complete with dancers and costume changes galore. She's all over the stage, up in the air, and performs a couple songs for those in the back row. We had a fun night channeling our inner teens and I would for sure go see her again (minus the emotional teen who sat behind us and sobbed into her boyfriend's shoulder during a breakup song)! 

TRI-ing for a Cause update

A BIG thank you to everyone for your support of TRI-ing For A Cause! We reached our goal this year of $8,000 for the Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund! Thank you for your calls, texts, cheering, support, and fundraising! Because of your support over the years we hired a social worker to support children and families affected by cancer and we are one step closer to starting research for childhood cancer!

It was another memorable memorial day weekend at the Cap-Tex-Triathlon in Austin. I didn't compete this year because I didn't think Baby #2 would appreciate a little kick in the stomach during the close encounter swim or a potential bike fall. I did get to run a couple miles with my mom to encourage her during the last leg of her race. We had so much fun cheering on the triathletes and raising money for the Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund. 

My mom got 2nd place in her age group!!!

Thanks for all your support and keep checking for updates on my sister's blog: TRI-ing for a Cause

More Fiesta Festivities

Fiesta festivities are for all ages and all sizes and it was one busy week trying to fit it all in! At Davis' school, they had a shoebox parade. For those crafty moms out there, you're thinking, oh fun! For me, I had opposite thoughts of fun. Because let's be honest, who was going to be making the parade float? Not Davis! 

We decided to do a beach theme float because Davis loves the beach and I figured the decor would be easy to find at Michael's. Surprisingly, little palm trees and tiny fishes were hard to find. Instead, we went with some sandpaper, wrapping paper, tissue paper, seashells, a wooden fish that Davis colored, and many under the sea stickers. 

Before the parade, King Antonio and all his entourage came to visit the kids. They loved it! Davis loves all the medals! 

School parade time!

The next day was the Battle of Flower's Parade. It's on a Friday and all the schools are out for the day. Many people even get the day off from work! Not me :) but I took the day off to spend it with Davis and my parents at the parade.

Davis and his best friend Sam, they loved the horses in the parade the best!

Easter

Easter weekend was a very exciting one for us! We found out that week about baby #2, which was perfect timing because our families would be together for Easter. We wanted to share our news right away with our immediate families and tell them in person. The weather was so wonderful all weekend, the kids were able to swim and we enjoyed many of our meals on the patio.

Saturday we went to Nana and Pop's house to swim, dye eggs, and have dinner. Forrest and I decided to share our news before dinner by handing a rather large Easter egg to Sara (Forrest's sister). When she opened it, out popped a card that said "baby love." My mom immediately saw it and started screaming. It lasted a good 5 minutes. Thinking back, I'm surprised the neighbors didn't come over to check on us! 

One of the many many many photos to celebrate announcing our second baby!

This year we hosted Easter. Forrest decided to smoke a brisket. It turned out amazing! But the poor guy had to work so hard. He put the meat on the night before and woke up every 3 hours to check on it. We were both up every 3 hours and I could barely fall back asleep each time because Forrest smelled like smoke and meat, ick!

Easter morning! The bunny came!

After the egg hunt!

Davis with his cousins, Kate and Alex.

Trampoline Toddler

Going back a couple weeks to Fiesta Fireworks night, here are couple pics of Davis doing his trampoline stunt! He loved it and would have done it over and over again, except the line was really long. I didn't mind waiting in it for the first time, but I was tired of other kids asking me if I was really going to jump in a dress?? 

2013 Post Triathlon Celebration: May 27th!

We are less than 1 week from race day and couldn't be more excited! As of TODAY we have raised $4,000!

Come cheer on the triathletes on Monday, May 27th at the Cap Tex Triathlon at Auditorium Shores. We would love all the support we can get. If you have a TRI-ing For A Cause t-shirt (from any year) please feel free to wear it so the racers can find you in the crowd. Before the race begins we will gather by the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue so be on the look out for us!

This year, my sister and I won't be racing. But there are many others who are!!!
Triathletes to look for:

Triathlete	Distance	Start Time
Ann Francese	Olympic	8:02
Jeana Lowry	Sprint	9:22
Meghan Brindley	Sprint	9:22
Renee Bain	Sprint	9:22
Chris Lowry	Sprint	9:58
Christopher Cannata	Sprint	9:58
Robert Bain	Sprint	9:58

POST RACE CELEBRATION
After the triathlon we will be celebrating our triathletes victories, another great year of fundraising for the Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund, and to thank you for all of your support while training and fundraising!

For more details about the after party and to RSVP please click here!

For more details on watching the Cap Tex Tri please click here!
(Includes race times, race day parking, race course, and more!) 

We hope to see you at the race and/or after party! Thank you for all of your support and helping us to reach towards our goal!

Good-bye Paci

Davis has used a paci since his 2nd night home from the hospital. My mom tells the story well as she was the one up with the inconsolable infant that night. But let's be honest, the whole house was up. That was one loud cry. Forrest got up to help my mom and they decided to try out a pacifier. We hadn't even opened the package yet. Forrest was diligent, read the directions, boiled the paci, and what felt like three hours later (to my mom especially), Davis was peacefully asleep, paci in mouth.

Fast forward to the 6 month mark. I remember the pediatrician telling...more like warning...me that after 6 months babies really start to form habits so you might want to consider dropping the paci. Um, no way! That thing gave us comfort and much needed sleep (Davis didn't sleep through the night till after turning 1). At that point however, I did decide to make the paci a nap-time/bed-time use only.

When Davis turned 3 I really felt like it was time to get rid of the paci. Maybe I was making excuses at the time and postponing things, but when Davis turned 3 we were potty training, selling our old house, living with my in-laws, and buying a new house. It was all just a little much.

Our new goal was 4 years old. It HAD to go by 4! Davis seemed okay with this. He told us "when I turn 4, I will take my paci's to the dentist (I think he confused hospital and dentist) to give them to the new babies." Somehow, over the past couple of weeks the paci conversation kept coming up. So Forrest and I decided to end it once and for all. And how, you ask, did we accomplish this? Good old fashioned bribery!

I took Davis to Target and told him he could pick out any one toy he wanted. We walked up and down those aisles forever looking for the perfect toy. He finally picked out a hot wheels toy. When we got home, the toy went on top of the fridge. We then made a chart with three boxes, one for each night he went without a paci. If he could make it three nights, he could have the toy.

The first night was probably the hardest. He kept coming out of his room saying, "I can't make it!" Just for peace and quiet I wanted to give in. We just kept giving Davis positive reinforcement and changing the subject away from the paci. He finally fell asleep two hours after bedtime. The next two nights were easier and besides having to hear a couple whines about "I want my toy today," it worked. He made it three nights, plays with his new hot wheels toy, and accepts the fact the pacis are gone!!!!!

Baby T-Two!

The news is officially out there! We are expecting an addition to our family on December 4th 2013! Davis is excited to share the news, even though he's not 100% sure what's about to happen. He asks me a lot of questions about "is there a baby in your tummy?" "but why isn't your tummy big?" "how did the baby get in your tummy?" "did you eat the baby?" 

Davis was such a good sport for the photo shoot! He recently had his picture in a newspaper (from a wedding), so he gladly agreed to these pictures by saying, "sure, these are going to be in the newspaper, right?" I might have told a white lie. But it worked, because they turned out really cute!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!