Women's Weekend

The weekend after the Inc 500 conference was Women's Weekend. I've mentioned it before, but this was the real deal. For the first time in years we all actually went somewhere. This was the most exciting place of all, Mexico. We flew to Phoenix, rented a car, and drove to Shaun's parents house in Puerto Penasco. They were generous enough to let us overrun their house for the weekend. The weather was perfect, the water was warm, everything was perfect (except our car was broken into). We went out on Dennis' boat, we swam in the ocean, we walked on the beach, we saw dolphins, and snorkeled and of course had yummy Mexican food. Can't wait to do it again, once we have all saved up enough vacation days with our husbands :)

Here we are enjoying lunch and I'm sending a picture of it to Shaun, trying to make him jealous :)


This is our version of going crazy in Mexico. What silly mothers I have!


My sister Tammy buying presents for her kids from an adorable Mexican child.

Inc 500 conference

So the first weekend in October (I know I'm late in telling the story) I took Cecilia up to my parents house and drove to the airport to meet Shaun. The Inc 500 conference in DC had come! I had my dress in hand and a good book for the 5 hour flight WITH NO BABY! The first few hours were nice to read my book, but by the end I was going crazy. That was the longest stretch of time that I've had by myself (Shaun got upgraded to first class) to do nothing since Cecilia was born. I was missing my baby by the end of the flight and I was anxious to get going. We got a car, drove to a restaurant for dinner and then drove to the conference. They had a networking event that night at which we stopped by for a bit before crashing. Next day I went shopping while Shaun went to the conference. I was proud of myself for driving to a place I've never been, to the tux place, and back to the hotel by myself with no navigator and without getting lost. Shopping in Alexandria was fun, they have some quaint shops where I found the cutest coat for Cecilia. It is just a little big which is perfect because she will be able to grow into it this winter. After shopping, it was time to get ready. I was pretty impressed with how my hair and dress came out. I looked pretty good, we looked pretty good. Don't you think?

We are holding the award they gave Shaun. It is pretty cool. It looks like the magazine inside this plastic cube. It will look great as a paperweight on his desk. Congrats again Shaun and Dan!
That night we went to an after party at a club. It was so late by the time we got back to the hotel! I haven't been up that late since way before Cecilia was born. I'm sure before I was pregnant with her. We slept in the next day, but I just felt crappy the whole day from lack of sleep. And we didn't even drink anything! Boy am I getting old. Next day we visited with Shaun's partner and his family. It was nice to see them again, it has been a while. Then off to the airport and home. I was so happy to be home. What a whirlwind weekend! I was so glad we didn't have Cecilia with us! What a nightmare that would have been! Monday morning when I got her up she gave me a big smile and a hug. I was on cloud nine since this is not a cuddly kid and was probably the first time she has done something like that. And I hear she had a great time with grandma and grandpa. My mom told me this week she missed Cecilia. That tells me that it wasn't too much of a burden to watch her and they will probably do it again :)

I know I'm really behind

But I have a good excuse. I've had this monstrous cold for the last week that has wiped me out. I've gone back to the old you nap when the baby naps routine. I'm surprised at how tired this cold has made me. Although I think that is partly because I keep waking up coughing up a lung. But on the bright side my stomach muscles are in good shape.

So much has happened this month it is amazing! First let me update you on Cecilia and then I'll get to Shaun and I. Which for the first time have had more to say than C has :)

Cecilia has gone potty several times since that first time a few weeks ago. She goes about every other day and I'm sure we could do a better job at listening to her when she tells us she needs to go and run her in there. It is just hard to tell when she really needs to go and when she just says she does because it is a good distraction during dinner. Regardless, I don't think she will be potty trained anytime soon (maybe partly because mommy isn't ready to be consistent and partly because she still goes so much when she is asleep) and this will probably just drag out the process for a year. But I'm trying to be a relaxed parent and go with the flow. She has also started putting two words together. This child is a gabber! All day long she walks around talking to herself (and me). The other day she was on my bed and I told her be careful I don't want you to fall down and she looked at me "fall down." I said "yes don't fall down." Next day she is on the bed and looks over the edge and goes "fall down." I was impressed she remembered and was able to put the two words together. There are other examples, but I can't remember any right now.

I took her to the doctor last week for a checkup. She mentioned that Cecilia is the average height of a 22 month old. Yeah, she is tall for her age. She did really well during the shots. She of course looked at me like, "why did she just hurt me? And why did you let her?" I tried to warn her that she would get poked and after it was over she could have a binky. We never give them to her so this was a real treat. She cried and after the nurse was done I asked her if she wanted the binky and she stopped crying and said "Binky!" I was surprised that she stopped crying so fast, but I guess she is getting older and they are less traumatic. Anyway after I got the binky for her I laid her back on the table so I could get her dressed. She found the caps of the needles and looked at them for a minute and then jabbed her thigh with it like the nurse did. I thought it both smart and a little morbid at the same time.

Last update about Cecilia. She was able to go to nursery for the first time last week. I wasn't there, but Shaun told me she did great and didn't cry at all. She looked around at everything and all the toys and then they sat her down for a treat, which I was notified was fruit loops and she was happy as a clam. Shaun said he "hovered" outside the door several times to check up on her and other kids were crying and she would look at them like "why are you crying? this place is great!" All in all she had a good time and was a good helper at the end cleaning up. We both thought she would love nursery because she loves kids. I didn't realize the snack would be something like fruit loops, but I have to tell myself that it is ok to have a treat every once in a while and I'm sure that she will always love nursery if they give her special treats for showing up. On a side note, can I say I can't believe my baby is 18 months old and is going to nursery! She seems so young to be dropped off with a ton of other kids and three leaders. I wish I didn't have to teach my own class and could "hover" and watch what they do and how well the kids listen. I know they have some kind of a lesson, and the kids actually sit and listen to it. Pretty amazing! I can see Cecilia doing this, but some of the other kids might have a hard time sitting for more than about 2 seconds. I remember when Cecilia was in the cast and the primary president was saying it wouldn't be long before she was in nursery and I just couldn't fathom it. She has progressed so much since then! Shaun and I were worried about her not being able to get up and walk around with the other kids and here she is, Running everywhere! Talking! Time flies!