girl down

Don’t you love when people post pictures of you on facebook from different events on different weekends and you are wearing the SAME outfit. Like oops, you just got outed…

Glorious weekend = Baby Wyatt + Bruno Birthday Surprise

Baby Wyatt is beautiful. I hope the black hair / blue eye combo stays. He has gorgeous coloring. He is just perfect. I also changed my first newborn, just circumcised yesterday diaper… wow. stressed me OUT! I have a new found respect for all you mom’s of little boys out there. Let’s see, I accidently let him kick his penis...then he started peeing… so I got pee on his “going home” outfit… and finally I accidently got a little poop on his penis. So failed failed failed. I looked at Cat and was like … ummm I don’t know what to do with this penis… sorry. Picture me, Cat and Stacy all trying to change one little bitty tiny baby’s diaper. Poor Wyatt was like “Note to self… never let Aunt Nicole change my diaper again".
Also, Catherine and Alecia make their own wipes. Seriously. Have you ever heard of this before? And apparently it is easy and cheap and Alecia’s baby, Porter, never gets diaper rash. Just saying.

Next, Anthony and I decided to drive to Baton Rouge and surprise Sarah and Matthew at their 27th birthday party. Because what’s another hour on the road there and hour and a half back… Well it was SO WORTH IT! All of the Bruno kids were there and some Holbrooks. It was real good feel good. Dance party, great mix of people, two kegs, and cookie cake. I’m so happy we made the effort this weekend to see and enjoy our family. That’s what it’s all about.

Blake, Anne and Annie had their own little party Saturday too. They visited the great grandmothers and went to a dinner party! Mom said it was the best day of her (mom’s) life.

It was such a great weekend. I have a truly blessed life.

precious

Wyatt Kent Stropolo
born July, 21st at 5:08pm.

8 lbs 7 oz

Black Curly Hair

He is breastfeeding like a champ and in Catherine's words "has beautiful skin. and he is chubby, but not too chubby. the perfect amount of chubbiness."
Anthony, Annie and I are heading to New Orleans this afternoon.  I can't wait to get that baby in my arms.

there will be a baby today!

Cat is officially in labor! At 7am this morning she was 3 cm and on pitocin. They will break her water at 9am and hopefully things will progress rapidly from there. No epidural so far. EVERYONE is at the hospital with her and I’m so jealous I’m not there. Since mom works there she gets to go check on Cat all day.

I love those couple of hours right before you deliver (assuming you have an epidural of course). Your family is there, practically jumping out there skin with anticipation. You have this eerie sense of calmness wash over you. like this is it. your mom and grandmother looking at you with that little smile thinking…my baby is having a baby. you are about to be in the “club”. you are about to be a mom. What a day!

I just want to be there right now. With Kent making jokes and looking over the nurses shoulder… Shirley keeping the nurses in check. Stacy and Lynn just glowing with excitement. Cat and Ryan are having a baby. Seriously. Ain’t Life Grand.

this little light of mine

i'm gonna let it shine! let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

good morning! don't you love being in a good mood? yesss. i love it too. i love waking up on the right side of the bed.

Annie might be that the most fun age ever. she is such a happy little girl. when i walk in her room in the morning she immediately holds her head up and says "puppies!". and then the puppies rush in the room and stick their nose through the crib slats and try to lick her. she thinks that is really funny. she also answers almost every question with "yesss" (with a lisp). and she is requesting (requesting yall!) for me to put a bow in her hair in the morning. where did this come from? she never ever ever used to let me put anything in her hair/on her head. now i put the bow in her hair she looks in the mirror and admires herself. it is hilarious. this morning she was looking in the mirror and making faces. then she watched herself say daddYYY... so i guess she loves herself... sooo i guess she gets this from Sarah Bruno.


i'm doing a weight loss competition at work. we weigh in once a week and the biggest loser of the week by percentage gets $50 and a half day off of work. it started Monday and ends at the end of October. i've worked out the last two nights and also have been eating healthier. i'm definitely joining weight watchers too. yall it is the only thing that works. for reals. even my dietitian is a lifetime member at WW. so what i'm saying is join me and motivate me! i desperately want to keep this up. i think it 1000% contributes to this fabulous mood i'm in.

get your mod on...

i got a new crate and barrel catalog last week and surprise... i want so many things. usually c&b is a bit too modern for my taste, but my style is changing and i want to start incorporating some modern touches into my life. here are a few fun splashes of mod that i think could really work for me.

pigtails finally

last Friday was our second meeting with our financial advisors. the meeting left me feeling so responsible and happy and "in good hands".. ya know. i love the feeling of making responsible adult decisions. we reviewed our mortgage, health insurance, savings, disability, life insurance, car loans, home insurance, investments, debt. e-v-e-r-y-thing. everything. when you think about all that we have to manage when it comes to moneys and insurance, it is overwhelming! i know anthony and i are smart enough to do it on our own, but why waste the brain cells... just like i know anthony and i are more than capable of doing our own taxes every year, but we still pay our CPA friend to do it for us. anyway, some things they focused on were disability and having a will. do you have a will? i don't know if Anthony and i are just really behind... but we don't. and we discussed so many other things, like which health insurance options make the most sense for us high premiums or high deductible. It was just very enlightening, and empowering, and i loved the spreadsheets! call me a nerd.

Sarah’s baby shower blew any other baby shower previously done out of the water. it was storybook themed and i can't wait to see the pictures on milkweed!! and the Garin house… drooled all over it all day Saturday. i’m jelly jelly jelly (as Sarah would say) Kaley Garin!

and for the biggest news of all BABY WYATT WILL BE HERE THIS THURSDAY if not sooner!!! to say i'm over the moon with excitement would be an understatement! keep Cat and Ryan in your thoughts and prayers for a safe delivery. i'll be heading to nola either Thursday night of Friday afternoon. can't wait to see who Wyatt looks like and get to relive all the emotions through Catherine. side note: cat is having a photographer for the birth (from the top end only..lol). isn't that the coolest thing ever?!? it takes the pressure off of Ryan and the grandparents to have to take pictures; so they can all focus on baby Wyatt and living in the moment. i saw some other birth pictures the photographer has taken, and they made me teary-eyed because it brought back all the emotions i felt the first time i saw my baby girl. wow. just the raw emotions of it. omg, i can't wait to see this baby.
it really is not normal for me to be having baby fever. i'm scaring myself.

i put pigtails in Annie’s hair yesterday! she's cute yall!

playing hookie

the week so far has been an emotional roller coaster...


Monday at lunchtime right as i begin writing blog / g-chatting with jess i get a call from daycare that a few of Annie’s sores are oozing and i need to come get her. jess had just mentioned that she was taking the girls to the children's museum and so i said screw daycare and work, Annie and i are going to have a mother/daughter day. so we met the girls at the children's museum.  all of the pups loved it.  there are so many fun things for toddlers to do there. and not having to be in the heat.  what a perfect summer playdate.  we finished the day with  popsicles in rice village. so much fun!

then anthony got home that night he looked at Annie’s sores and said he was concerned and i should call the nurse. the nurse tells me that i need to make an appt with the doctor asap.
i then proceed to have a meltdown because we literally just got “over” chicken pox / just got her off of the pacifier (like this weekend) and now we are going to be off schedule and back on pacifier again because she has no schedule/normalcy in her life. and why couldn't i tell that my child’s sores were infected? etc. etc. Welcome to motherhood. so after the meltdown i treated myself to some gorgeous flowers from kroger and a big glass of wine.

tuesday we went to the dr and she has staph infection in two of the sores. Annie stayed in Pearland with nona and pawpaw for the day and had a blast (which made my heart sing!!).

today Annie was back at daycare and i get a call at 10am that i need to come get her. ARG! i've been on the verge of crying all morning. i don't know why i'm so emotional over this. i'm frustrated and i want to be done with Annie being sick. the end.

OK OK OK that is out. and i feel better.

did you read about our playdate last weekend with the samet girls?

july fourth, two thousand eleven (part 3 & 4)

Saturday we took Annie to storyland in city park. it was just as i remembered from my childhood. cinderella's carriage, going in the whale's mouth, the dragon slide. they have done a decent job of maintaining the park too. Annie loooooved it. she walked around on her own like a big girl checking everything out. she loved the slides, the mermaid sitting on the rock in the water and the fire truck. Here are a few pictures Catherine took.

The FOOD Diary...
Lunch @ Slice Pizzeria on Magazine
Appetizer: 1) BBQ Shrimp 2) Mussels
Main Course: 1) Slice of the Greek
Beverage: 1) Abita Strawberry beer.
slice is a tradition of ours for nola trips.

Cocktails To-Go from El Gato Negro on Decatur & Casey's on W. Esplanade
Beverage: 1) Margaritas (made with fresh squeezed orange juice. yum) 2) Snowballs (flavor of the summer - old fashion nectar)

Dinner @ Lola's on Esplanade
Appetizers: 1)Crabmeat served over avocado 2)Garlic mushrooms
Main Course: 1)Seafood Paella
Beverage: 1)Homemade Sangrias
this is a little spanish restaurant tucked away in lauren and nathan's new neighborhood in midcity/bayou st john. note: not midtown... midcity. thank you. what a treat! the paella was absolutely superb!

Sunday we hit the lake on the boat. we had a great time soaking up the sun. Annie drank lots of lake water which i had some internal conflict over. it was a fun day! thank you to my parents for living on the water and being “boat people” and always taking my friends out for rides. thanks to the brunos and mitchell and stropolos for hanging with us and making the day so fun.  and as always thanks to cat for capturing it all on camera.

july fourth, two thousand eleven (part 2)

Friday was our fifth year wedding anniversary! best five years of my life thus far! who says high school/college are the best years of your life? not for me. i love my life at this moment. i love being a (almost) thirty something, baby momma in my volvo station wagon. i love sitting on the back patio on a Friday night after we have put Annie to bed and talk about our goals and dreams of the next ten years. sipping wine, redecorating my house in my head and sending up thank yous to the heavens for this beautiful life i have. i know, i'm a broken record. i just love Anthony, Annie and my little haven on napfield.

Anthony made dinner reservations at La Provence in LaCombe, LA. it is literally in the middle of nowhere. just a little farmhouse on the side of the highway. everything on the menu is either grown on the farm or bought local. it’s a green restaurant. there are big live oaks along the highway covered in spanish moss. things like that i appreciate now since i don't get to see that in Texas. there are so many things that i used to take for granted when i lived in New Orleans that i cherish now. it was great to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city... like going to Jacques-Imo's or Irene's where it is so crowded and a long wait for a table and you always feel in the way... NOTHING like that. it is quiet. no rush. no traffic. take your time. eat slow. enjoy the food. enjoy your company.

we started with CHARBROILED OYSTERS and MALFATTI OF CREOLE CREAM CHEESE (sort of like a warm cheese salad with cherry tomatoes, bacon and mushrooms. for the main course Anthony got SWORDFISH PICCATA and i got LOCAL SOFTSHELL CRAB ÉTOUFFÉE on top of jalapeno cheese grits. food orgasm. dessert... oh yes. WARM BREAD PUDDING and MOLTEN CHOCOLATE TORTE with hazelnuts. it was one of the best meals i have ever had. all of that food, a bottle of wine and coffe and we did not leave a single morsel on our plates! if you ever find yourself on the northshore of Lake Ponchatrain, Louisiana, make yourself a reservation at La Provence. Side note 1: i know it is not good manners to talk money, but the food bill was only $103 (the bar bill, however, was $65... oops.) Side note 2: i wanted to take pictures of the food for blogging purposes but anthony would not have it! he told me i would embarrass him...

check out these adorable "oak notes" on etsy 

july fourth, two thousand eleven (part 1)

oh hello! do you want to hear about my amazing weekend in nola? want to hear about how cat and i saw each other every single day i was there? want to see a sneak peek of wyatt's nursery? want to hear about the amazing dinner anthony and i had for our fifth year anniversary at John Besh's restaurant, La Provence? want to hear about Annie's first trip to storyland? want to hear about all the other AMAZING food we ate? want to hear about how Jenn/Matt/Sarah/Mitchell/Cat/Ryan came with us sunday on the boat and soaked up Lake Ponchatrain all day? want to know how good casey's snowballs are and how delicious El Gato Negro margaritas are?

if you answered yes to any of those, then stay tuned for the rest of the week as i break it down slow and steady. nice and easy. big easy style.

thursday 7pm - friday 3pm
anthony and i made a great decision thursday to break the trip up and drive to lafayette that night and then head to nola friday morning. it was really great to see Bobbo and Jengers, who we hadn't seen in forever! they took us to breakfast at the broken egg friday morning before they headed to work and we got back on the road.
all aboard to metry!! stuffed and ready for a nap, the next 2 hours were a breeze.

bissonet street, metairie, la.
holy belly! cat looks like she might go into labor if she sneezes too hard. we loved on each other and then loved on each other some more! then she walked me through wyatt's nursery... yall. divine design. i mean... everything. perfect. sophisticated baby. the walls are elephant gray. dark brown bed with white/blue monogrammed trim bumper from pottery barn kids. seersucker boppy cover! modern, masculine wooden/metal initial letters above the crib. a vase full of antique baseballs. so many great elements to the nursery that my little iphone camera just couldn't do justice. look at the adorable monogrammed jumpers.  i can't wait for wyatt to get here!

 
we followed the nursery tour with take-out from caffe caffe. chicken salad on croissant, crab and corn soup and a chocolate cookie. i know this probably has no significance to anyone reading this... but just trust when i say that lunch blew my mind. caffe caffe, catherine, the nursery, metry.