My sweet baby has the trots

Yup you have read that right. I’ve been classy long enough. 3 whole blog posts! Classy no more. It’s time to get down the nitty gritty. Today was a really trying day. Brooks had FOUR yes 4, quatro, FOUR dirty diapers.

My husband is a football coach. This morning he left at 6:30 a.m. and he will not be home until 10 or 11. So who changes them all??? Well, our live in maid took the day off, so it was me. Now, here’s the scoop for WHY my poor little man had so much movement. Disclaimer: this is the long version.

This morning he woke up at 4 a.m. because he has his very first ear infection. He was diagnosed early Saturday morning before the Kansas game. Um, hardest thing I have dealt with yet. I have been having a hard month. It’s a lot of things all wrapped up and multiplied by the fact that I really, really need this football season to be done and Zac to be home with us more! But when the doctor told me his right ear looked a TEENY BIT off, I literally started to ball.

That poor on-call doctor did not know what he walked into! Over emotional mommy, that’s what. I felt overwhelming guilt, if I had taken him in earlier for a little cough he has had, would he have not gotten it? He has not been sick at ALL since he was born besides the reflux he battled for 9 months. So this was just new, and I wondered if I have been negligent taking him to the Gold’s gym day care, etc? Overwhelming “bad mommy” thoughts sprinted through my brain as I sobbed and clutched him in the outdated doctor’s office. That sweet man was awesome. He gave me a little hug and went on and on about it is wonderful Brooks was a month early, weighed 6 lbs, and is now a stout 23 lbs, and just experiencing his first ear infection. He told me that I’m doing wonderful. And I loved him for it! I really needed that sweet encouragement. Who cares if he was a total stranger and probably just worried I wasn’t going to be able to stop crying!? Bahah!

So back to the poops-Brooks wakes at 4 a.m. fussing, and we get up and play and watch Barney and eat breakfast. I am in a tired haze and didn’t realize it but the food I grabbed to feed him was spinach, and more spinach. Poor kid! So at about 5:15 he pukes bright green all over our stark white slipcovered beautiful couch. Yes I’m the idiot with a baby boy and a white couch. Sue me! Praise the Lord he goes back down at 6 a.m. until about 8.

At this point Zac has left and when Brooks gets up and I try to act like it’s just a normal morning and the 4 a.m. thing didn’t happen. So I feed him some fruit, and while I was washing the high chair tray I notice he has gone into my bedroom. I have made our house very safe for Brooks and allow him to go wherever he pleases. He typically wanders and comes right back to me, but this time he is gone about 20 seconds and I hear a squeal of excitement, so I run into the room. The child has gotten into a plate of about 12 homemade chocolate chip cookies on my night stand and has chocolate all over his face, and his fists are bursting with chocolate ooey gooey goodness. And he is ecstatic with himself.

*yes, I had cookies on my nightstand. Yes, I eat cookies in bed. Often. there is literally always something chocolate on my nightstand. I have a problem.
I clean up quickly and count about 8 or 9 cookies still remaining. Meaning my almost one year old 23 pound hot mess of a baby just ate 3 HUGE chocolate chip cookies. He is bouncing off the wall and I have no idea what to expect for the rest of the day! Well news flash: chocolate chip cookies give Brooksy the trots. I felt like it was a nonstop poop train today! Hahaha.

Here is what I have gathered from my sweet little man’s first ear infection though – it’s something I’ve really struggled with since he was born. WE MOMS ARE TOO HARD ON OURSELVES! I am embarrassed to tell people that he has his ear infection. Which is really cray cray! I think we should all be shouting from the roof tops our fears and our insecurities because it will make us all feel better to know we are with faults and we all make mistakes. I have to remind myself that Jesus is the only perfect perfect to ever live.

I do feel at times like this society is pushing moms, women, to just try to one up each other, and be that perfect, put together mom who has just finished 10 crafts, made homemade baby food, and teaches their baby Spanish and French when it’s rainy out. Then there’s me at the park, Brooks is eating rocks and I smell like a lovely mixture of BO and Body Works vanilla sugar, I’m wearing gross workout clothes that probably have baby food on them and I’m sweating and chasing after him but I’m happy. Imperfectly happy. Luckily I do have quite a few normal mommy friends who are not interested in this competitive business. And I really appreciate them!

Tonight I walked with my sweet neighbor Jaime and carried a glass of wine with me. Neighborhood booze cruises are so totally necessary once in a while. It was blissful. We committed to one another that we will start going to a body pump lifting class twice a week in December. I’m posting that on here so I have another reason to hold up this deal. I have wanted to get back into this class since my wedding. When I was engaged I did this classy quite religiously and had wonderfully taught gams on my wedding day. Since that point I have really upped the amount of chocolate I eat in bed and have not been back to the class consistently and it seems my wobbly bits are a bit more wobbly. So I’m looking forward to that Jaime! I’m hoping by February or March I will look like Camille from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Hahahha. Until next time!

Charity Ball Revealed

Howdy friends! I’m back and I am deathly afraid I am about to disappoint everyone (and by everyone I mean all 7.2 of my readers-Hey Nan and Pop!) when I reveal my Charity Ball dress choice. It was so much fun to see what everyone chose. I have to admit I was a little shocked that so many people voted for the classic blue. I guess I wish I had the guts to have shown pictures of myself actually IN the dresses, but I’m not sure the public is ready for that kind of blog. I wish I would have been able to do pictures of me in the dresses so that you could have seen that the blue was just a little bit big, and the floral was just a smidge tight. So even though it seemed the majority of people wanted either the blue with classic black pumps or the floral satin with the amazing heels, I still wasn’t sold that either of them were right – to me, there is nothing worse than being excited to dress up but tugging at your dress all night.

So for some reason, I was crazy enough to trudge back to the Post Oak mall from 1982 one more time to just double check that there wasn’t something I missed in Forever21. This may have had something to do with the fact that on Monday, I really wanted to go out of my comfort zone and get the Auntie Annie’s “Pizza Pretzel” but I chickened out and got the original. I just had to know what the Pizza Pretzel was like! Well, I am so glad my curiosity with food got the best of me. Because when I went back I found a little sequined number that I actually really like. Usually the issue with Forever21 is that the dresses are too short, or too tight. I guess they made this one dress for old gals! It was just above my knee, and the size large fit just right. It didn’t EXACTLY go with the studded pumps, but to me it was a fun and funky combo I actually really liked. And I really wanted to wear those shoes!

So here is a picture of my sweet friend Natalie and I at Charity Ball. We got ready together and watched the end of the Aggies game. Oh be still my heart. This football season has probably been some of the most heart wrenching games I have ever watched! People I know will stop me and tell me that they were heartbroken over the game, and I just want to tell them, you have no idea!

I know many of the amazing young men on that team. I know how hard it is for them to balance girlfriends, homework, and the insane practice and meeting schedules they have. I know all of the coaches and managers and graduate assistants and recruiting assistants up there. I know that they don’t know what it’s like to be off on a weekend. Ever. And so my heart aches for them. I think one of the hardest things in the world is to work really, really hard for something and be gravely disappointed. And every single weekend in football, half of the people are disappointed! That really sorta stinks. My sweet dad is probably the hardest worker I have ever met in my entire life. So when I see his face over the course of games like that, oh I just ache for him. I was recently telling a friend that I think it’s one of the hardest things in the world to watch your parent be sad. I think we are used to picking up our girlfriends, maybe even our husband. But our parents don’t often ask us to do that for them. It’s like a role reversal. And so for that reason, it is even harder to know my dad is sad!

On top of all that, I have the best hubby in the entire world. He is just so darn good to me. Sometimes I wonder how he does it all. He has a VERY intense job because he is a graduate assistant, in school for his masters degree, and coaches the tight ends. And did I mention he does all the signal calling? There are hundreds, if not thousands of signals he has to memorize, and be able to spit out at a seconds notice. And not just at the games! At practice every day too! So he has his players to coach, his signals to call, his homework in school to handle, and all of his regular Graduate Assistant duties. And when he actually gets to spend even 5 minutes with us if we get to drop him off a Starbucks, he is the most patient and kind husband, and completely in awe of our son and whatever new trick he has learned that day. He never has any bitterness about his situation. This is such a good lesson for me. Sometimes I will find myself crabby if Brooks has not taken a typical nap, or if he is cranky, and I try to remember how Zac handles things with such positivity. He is so wonderful, and I am so happy he is mine!

Ok I got off on a little tangent there – woops. That is just in a nutshell the emotions I have been feeling this fall. Lots of angst! But at the end of the day I do truly know that God has a plan for us. I try so hard not to question what he brings to the table for us. I have at times over this season questioned if we are doing the right thing, if we are a family that is ready for this coaching world. It’s very intense! But I know my husband is so talented and it makes him so happy. So I look at my job as “big mama”- making sure everything else in our house and our family is going smoothly so that he can go and enjoy his job. It’s a work in progress J After the result of the game, I actually had a 20 second feeling of – do I even want to go to Ball? But I do believe if we are going to stay in this coaching world for life, I have to be able to recover from these things swiftly for the sake of my family, and for myself. So I just pulled on my big girl panties and decided to go. Literally (more on that below). So Natalie and I finished our make up, maybe enjoying one extra glass of champagne after that four-overtime stinger, and we headed over to Ball.

I had a wonderful time catching up with people I don’t get to see often! It was so fun. I also LOVE to dance, and Ball had a really good band. Probably my only negative from the night was the issue I have come to face with my post-baby body. And her name is Spanx. Darn you wonderful underwear! Darn you. I just cannot decide if they are meant for me or not. The forever21 dress was cheap, and therefore, it was thin and showed every little rumple that existed. It seemed like all the mallocreme pumpkins I had eaten over the course of this fall had created a little community below my rear. And I needed spanx to pull it all together. However, this was my first time wearing Spanx with a dress (I have worn them before with pants, right after Brooks was born). And I discovered that with every single move I made, those darn things moved with me. If you stand perfectly still, the spanx does hold it all in, I admit! And so for a picture, or if you want to just stand in a corner all night and look 5 lbs thinner, spanx is your answer. However, it seemed like every time I leaned forward at dinner, they popped over like cotton pants, rumpling to the point that I had no choice but to straighten them out, thus definitely revealing to anyone who happened to be looking my way that I was wearing underwear almost as large as my dress. So my dilemma from this weekend is: To Spanx, or not to Spanx. This will be a work in progress. And yes, I do realize if I just stopped eating mallowcreme pumpkins and Auntie Annie pretzels, I could just wear regular undies. But then life isn’t really worth living is it?!

Until next time sweet friends!
Side note: if you are interested in buying this dress, which I feel is a steal for a super fun sequin number you could wear to a Christmas party or New Year’s Eve function, here is the link! :)
http://www.forever21.com/Product/Product.aspx?BR=f21&Category=whatsnew_app_dresses&ProductID=2086806278&VariantID=

Happy Thursday! I am back and looking forward to sharing with you my BCS Junior League Charity Ball choices.



As I mentioned the other day, I have no idea what to wear. I went to our local Post Oak Mall on Monday, and if you are in College Station you will know what is coming next - our mall just plain stinks! I adore clothes, so it is probably for the best since our budget is quite tight right now, but man, there are times I wonder who is in charge over there. It just a hot mess of outdated non-chain stores that make it feel like it's 1982, a lot of elderly mall walkers (I respect y'all, you just aren't helping my dress cause) and a pretzel stand that challenges my willpower whenever I make it over there.
*Side note-Of course I got a pretzel Monday. However they were rolling the pretzels with just one glove on, one hand naked, and while I was able to shrug it off because I wanted the salty goodness so bad, I would like to warn all you other Auntie Annie Lovers that it's a bit of a health hazard up in that kiosk.
Ok so anyway, back to my dress dilemma. I went in Forever21 for a loooong time - I didn't have my sweet baby boy so I had the chance to try on quite a few options. However, I have come to a realization. It is that I am 28 years old, and dresses from this store are just going to be too short on this mama for a classy event like ball. Now, I still love the store for trendy options that I can get for cheap like scarves and skinny jeans. However, it seemed like each dress was shorter than the last! And this event is quite classy, with many women in long dresses. So if i'm going to opt for short, I feel it needs to bring an element of class I just didn't find in Forever21.
So after a long time trying on dresses and finding nothing, I left exxasperated (there's no way I spelled this word right. And I can't find spell check on here. I have lots to learn with blogging). I strolled over to Charlotte Russe, which was crazy because it's the exact same type of store. However, I found myself drawn to the shoe section, and thought, well if I find a fun new pair of heels, that might spice up a dress I already own and make me feel special!? So I bought the heels below, and they are wild. They are funky and spiky and different and the man working in Charlotte Russe, who I wanted to fold up and take home in my pocket, told me they were statement shoes. He also told me I had dainty feet. Probably should have run then, but instead I bought these fabulous weapons/shoes.

After I left Charlotte Russe, I began to trek back to my car. I mulled over the fact that I had just spent almost 30 dollars on shoes with huge silver spikes on them. I imagined my husband's crinkled brow that would appear when I showed him the shoes, and the thoughtful way he pauses before saying something like "Oh. Are those.....in fashion?" HAHA! I thought about how I don't really do anything in my life to warrant spiked nude heels, because really, was I going to wear them to the grocery? And then I imagined walking into Charity Ball in them, and feeling like I was trendy, tall, and like my calf muscles might look nice. And so I kept on walking.
When I got home, I really looked through my closet and tried to find a few dresses that I thought would work for this weekend. As I looked, I realized the options I had wouldn't all go with the spiked heels, and I really want to wear them. But at the same time, most people probably won't even notice my shoes, and once I really start to boogie, the shoes are coming off anyway. So I need to decide on an outfit that will have me dazzling overall. So here below are what I think my options are.....

I haven't worn this dress since my honeymoon. It will be interesting to see what it looks like on my post-baby body. I should have taken a picture of the back. It's neat and a cross strap and quite fun. The dress is hunter green and those shoes are GOLD GLITTER HEELS! Yes, I like outrageous, closet candy shoes. I can't help it! Sorry about the picture quality on this blog. As of now, I'm just winging it with my Iphone... This dress is fun, it's satin, strapless, has a pretty floral pattern, and it is very fitted. Inside it has a built in corset that I love because it sort of forces you to stand straight and thus look thinner. My worry is that it's outdated. Is the floral pattern a bit too "fabric on the chairs at a chinese restaurant"? Not sure. But I thought it would be a fun offset to what I will now refer to as my killer shoes.

Ok so this little red number is kind of hard to tell what is going on in this picture. it was hard to lay it right. It's a rayon, drapey fabric, and it is really pretty on, but I am just not sure it's dressy enough for this event. I didn't pair shoes with it because if I chose this option, I would borrow my mom's Kate Spade glittered pumps with a bow - these ones

Aren't these shoes amazing?! They are so delicious I could almost eat them. Sometimes I wish I was on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and had events every other day so I could wear shoes like this all the time. But who am I kidding, I am in my work out clothes, haven't brushes my teeth yet, and I was my hair twice a week. I wouldn't last long!

Here's the next option. I realize now you can see my toes in this picture. I have a lot of work to do to get better at this Blog. Hehe. This is a reallly pretty dress. I have never worn it which is embarrasing to admit. My mom and I found it at a great Neiman's sale, and I had it tailored to fit me, but I just haven't had the right event yet. It's a blue satin with a crinkly sheen to it. It has a belt that hits at the right part of the waist, very Audrey Hepburn I feel. I paired it with black patent Christian Louboutins....I feel this outfit is classy, fits the event well, however it just doesn't have the SASS I really want. I keep going back to my killer shoes and want that kind of punch on Saturday.

Ok so friends I am depending on you! Which outfit should I wear?! Were the killer shoes a stupid purchase?
Thanks for reading:)

Here I go!

Hi Friends! I would first like to thank you if you are taking the time to read this. I'm new at this so hopefully each post will get better and better. I have been wanting to blog for awhile. Now that I am a stay at home mom, it does feel like my brain could use a little stretching now and again, and this seems like a great outlet to me. I'm really not sure yet how I will use this.....I think it will be fun to tell the silly stories about being a mom that make me laugh....I think it will be fun to share the crazy life of a coaches' wife (and daughter).....I think it will be interesting to post the pictures and blogs I look at for house ideas, because I love to share, and to read others' posts.....and finally, I think it will be fun to archive all my thoughts so that I can reflect with my family on them later.

I will start today with what we did this morning. Tuesday/Thursday my hubby gets to go in at 7, not the usual 5 am, so we got to push Brooks around on the Thomas the Train engine toy my mom bought him yesterday. Since Zac is a GA our money is tight so I am so incredibly thankful for my mom who brings over a treat for Brooks (and sometimes me;) at least once a week. I really cherish these mornings we can spend even 20 minutes together before Zac is out the door for the day. Most days he will not see Brooks again, unless we make a special effort to go up to practice or Tuesdays (TODAY!) because it is "family night" and we go up to eat dinner with Zac and all the coaches. This morning Brooks enjoyed being pushed around on the train by Zac and I enjoyed watching.

This weekend I am going to Charity Ball for the Bryan/College Station Junior League. I am so excited for a night out and my date is one of my dear friends in town Natalie Johnson. Zac will be away at the Kansas State game, and her hubby Will Johnson does all the announcing for the football games, and naturally, he also does not want to attend a ball either. So I am excited for a night of fancy dresses, dancing, and wine :) I just cannot decide on what to wear and I think I will post some of my options tomorrow, and hopefully all of my friends can help me decide. HAH! If you are reading this, I am depending on your help.

Well I think this is a good start for me, thanks for reading and I do hope things get more interesting each day....stay tuned!