Something everybody should know

Here's a video taken today of my new friend Sheila D. (the Amy Elizardo look-a-like) showing everybody an incredibly important thing that you should all know....how to roll lumpia.

In case you don't know what lumpia are, wikipedia explains: Lumpia are pastries of the Philippines and Indonesia of Chinese origin and are similar to spring rolls. The term lumpia derives from lunpia (traditional Chinese: 潤餅; pinyin: rùnbǐng; POJ: jūn-piáⁿ, lūn-piáⁿ) in the Hokkien language. The recipe, both fried and fresh versions, was brought by the Chinese immigrants from the Fujian province of China to Southeast Asia and became popular where they settled in the Philippines and Indonesia. In the Netherlands, it is spelled loempia which is the old Indonesian spelling for lumpia and has also become the generic name for "spring roll" in Dutch. A variant is the Vietnamese lumpia, wrapped in a thinner piece of pastry, in a size close to a spring roll though the wrapping closes the ends off completely, which is typical for lumpia.

Shelia and her coworker Amy S. worked as an expertly cohesive lumpia-wrapping team and made about 100 of the tasty treats, which will be fried and eaten at the office holiday party tomorrow, which I was invited to even though I don't really work here (only in Biloxi, MS for a week).

Is that really the best you can come up with?

I travel a lot. Or as my friend Thu-Mai says, "A lot-lot." So I stay in a lot of hotels, and I've seen signs saying "Welcome to the best hotel in..." or "Free WIFI" or "Best hot breakfast in town!"

This is my hotel in Biloxi. Um, thank you?

Henderson Beach State Park

Some pictures from my trip last week to Florida. Here is Henderson Beach State Park in Destin, FL. No, the 3rd picture is not a tasy piece of sourdough bread...it's a broken piece of the biggest sand dollar I've ever seen.

Single Ladies

Oh, my god, I just watched this and I was laughing so hard I was crying. This little girl is dancing to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video.



And the original video for reference:



I can't post this without including Austin's favorite version:



That damn song is so catchy.

Biggest Loser Finale

Congratulations, Michelle, the winner of The Biggest Loser...she was my favorite to win.

Did anybody vote last week's audience poll as to who should move on to the finale, Ed or Heba? When they were both begging for Heba to stay? I totally voted for Ed, twice, and him staying was the 2nd best part of the finale...no, wait, Heba's look of dismay was the 2nd best part.

Who else giggled when Heba and Psychopath Vicky slipped when they were walking? I hear somebody coated the floor in "Bitch Slip." Hee!

What a Difference a Year Makes (or really....9 months and 6 days)

It wasn't until I posted the playground pictures the other day that I realized how much Amelia has grown in the past year. I really miss the chubby, pliable, cuddly baby that she was, but, man....I LURVE the tall, skinny, sassy, kissy, madly-in-love-with-her-daddy two year old that she is now. No, really, I mourn the baby that she used to be, and I terrorize her by rocking her in my arms and saying she is my baby, which she secretly adores.

Maybe I will say this next year, when Amelia is three, but I really do believe that the biggest changes happen between one and two. And trust me, you won't believe how fast they grow up...so this is a message to the first time moms out there...(especially new moms Thu-Mai and Kyla)...seriously...I know it sounds silly, but savor every moment of your baby. It really goes by too fast. I remember wishing that Amelia was one, or two...so she would be easier, and more fun to play with, but, you WILL miss your baby. For me, it went by too... too fast.

Below is a picture of Mimi from February 2008, with short hair and chubby cheeks, and under it is a picture of Mimi from last month...long hair, sassiness, motormouth that is always running.

New words!

Amelia is talking and talking and talking...

About a week or so ago, Amelia gave something to Austin, and he said, "Thank you." Amelia responded with, "De nada."

What??? Did we hear that right? I told Austin to say "Gracias" to her, and she responded again with "De nada." Now she knows that when we say "Thank you" to her, that she should respond with "You're welcome" (or Keh-come), and to say "De nada" when we say "Gracias."

I know Amelia watches a lot of TV, even though we promised to ourselves that she would not be a TV baby, but she totally learned that from watching Dora and Diego. She can also say "Hi," "Grandpa," and "Thank you," in Mandarin Chinese. She's so awesome...and tri-lingual.

Her new words are "turtle," "octopus," and "crab," which are the animal shapes that her bath toys are in.

Today when I called home, Austin asked if she wanted to talk to Mommy. (She always calls me "Mama"). And she got on the phone and said, "Hi Mommy!" and since I'm homesick and I miss my family it made me smile hugely while also tearing up a little.

Amelia and Daddy

I miss Austin and Amelia!

Fort Walton Beach

Well, it's not Hawaii, but it's still pretty here in Florida. I'll be here for a week. I don't know why I possibly thought that Florida would be warm this time of year, but it's colder than San Antonio. And the water is freezing....I accidentally got my feet wet while taking pictures. Just last month in Biloxi, Amelia was happily splashing in the warm gulf water....and here, it's so cold that I've been wearing jackets and sweaters. And who would have known that sunset here is at 4:46pm???

Below are some pictures, some taken from the balcony in my hotel room, and some taken on the beach while it was raining.

New Video

Please scroll down a few posts to see a video that I attempted to post of Mimi last night, but for unknown blogger reasons, it wouldn't "publish" until today. Enjoy!

I love this little girl!

Here's the most recent pictures of Amelia, taken this morning before I left for a week of work in Florida. I am mad about this kid!

I am a FUN MOM!

I am such a FUN MOM that I wasted my expensive Wilton food gels to dye Amelia's bathwater PURPLE! Five minutes earlier, I was on the phone with my co-worker Bonnie, who has 5 kids, 10 grandkids, and owns a day-care center, asking her if putting food coloring in the bathwater would make my kid purple. I can say that adding food coloring did not turn Amelia's skin purple.

At the playground

My girl is so sweet. And cute. Here's some pictures taken recently at the playground on Brooks. Austin takes her when I'm TDY and after I came back from Colorado in November, the 3 of us went together. Amelia loves the slide...and was more than happy to go down it again and again, until I got enough pictures.

Amelia is such a *kid* these days...long hair and talking and counting and being such a little person that we have almost forgotten what it was like to have a baby. Here is Amelia, one year ago (about 14-15 months old) at the same playground, shortly after we moved back to San Antonio. So tiny!

Toodee!

Austin bought Amelia this Toodee (from Yo Gabba Gabba) sweatshirt a few weeks ago. In a time where we have a hard time keeping a shirt on Amelia (she just yanks it off or whines for help), it's really amazing that we can find something that she likes enough to not just keep on, but request that it gets put on. She loves this sweatshirt!

Amelia can count!

Amelia has been able to count to ten (or twelve) for about 6 months now, but this is the first time that I got it on video. And then we rocked out to the counting song from Schoolhouse Rock.

Be patient!

Everybody must see a pattern....I only have time to post updates and pictures when I'm traveling for work. Well, I leave again on Monday, so check back in a few days.

In the meantime, I'm busy making candy!

Oh Baby!

We have a new niece!

Announcing the arrival of:

Kinley Addison

Weight: 7 pounds, 6 ounces

Length: 18 inches

Monday, November 17, 2008

8:17 p.m.

Kinley's parents are Austin's brother TJ and his girlfriend, Kyla.

We can wait to see her!

Congratulations, TJ and Kyla!!!!!

I'm Number 2,593,630, Baby!

According to Technorati, I have the 2,593,630th most popular blog in the world! Oh, that's funny.

Just realized something....

When Austin and I were deciding what to name our baby over 2 years ago....it was important to me to consider what her initials were going to be. I didn't want initials that would sound weird, or look weird. So we ended up with ASH, which is great.

Today during class (most of you know I'm an instructor, and during class we have the students use their initials when entering data) I realized that if Amelia married someone with a last name starting with an S....which is, um, pretty freaking common....that her initials will become ASS.

Dammit. Sorry, Mimi.

Barry O is in charge!

I just love this picture! Thanks for voting, Sal!

Introducing your new President, Mr. Hotness...

OBAMA WINS!!!!!

Just wanted to send a special thank you to my mother, Sally Driscoll,

for voting for Barry O in the elections, leading the way for Wisconsin to

give its electoral college votes (and a smooch!) to the Democratic party.

Thanks, Sal! You've made this girl proud!

Have I said I lurrrrve Barry O's voice? Love, love, love it!

Hello, My Name Is...

I'm not sure when Austin and I merged into a single parenting unit, but it's becoming pretty clear that we are just one being. Example: Amelia refers to us with one name "...here you go, DaddyMyDaddyMama." (Why can't it be "MamaMyMamaDaddy?") It doesn't matter if she is talking to Austin or me....it's interchangeable.

Okay, maybe she won't drink anything!

Amelia had a great time at her Grandpa Jack and Grandma Lauren's house last weekend, running around like a cavegirl and drinking out of everybody's Diet Cokes that she could grab. We said that she would drink anything out of a can, so Grandma Lauren gave her a V8. That turned out to be the ONE thing she won't drink.

It runs in the family...

Here's the hottest father-son duo in the world, Austin and his dad, Jack. After being married to Austin for years, I FINALLY met his dad last Sunday.

Beach pics

I took Mimi to the coast at Biloxi, MS this weekend...it was warm and sunny enough. Unlike our last few trips to the beach in TX, Amelia wanted nothing to do with the sand. In fact, she refused to touch it and stood like a flamingo when I tried to make her stand in it (see 2nd pic). I finally realized she was nervous about the hovering seagulls, and once we walked away, she was fine to get down and run around. And of course she wanted to go right in the water.

Toddler nutrition

I just realized that my last 2 posts contained pictures of Amelia eating junk food, and that looks really bad. We're on vacation! Amelia does eat healthy food. Right now her favorite foods are milk and apples (beeples). In fact, today I tricked her into eating a peach by saying it was a beeple.

One thing that she absolutely won't eat is any kind of meat, except for an occasional cheeseburger. If I give her spaghetti in meat sauce, she will pick off the bits of meat and hold her fingers to me with a pained expression until I wipe it off. She used to eat anything we ate...chicken, sausage, steak, etc. She's going through a picky stage right now, and all she wants is crackers, milk, beeples, bananas, grapes, french fries, string cheese, and go-gurts.

Funny!

So my mom makes a comment on my blog asking for more pictures. So I post some from yesterday of Amelia playing. And then I realize that in not one of the pictures that I posted can you see Amelia's face!

So here you go, Sal. This is a picture of Amelia on Saturday night, in our hotel in Gulfport, MS. She got hungry waiting for our pizza to be delivered and started eating Pringles. Then she took a straw, and poked the chips until they shattered and left the mess on the nightstand.

The Good News and the Bad News

The good news is that Amelia definitely inherited her father's ability to tan, and not my sunburning potential. The bad news is that after playing in the Alabama sun for an afternoon, she is rocking a redneck-y farmer's tan.

We honestly can't keep a shirt on Amelia. After wearing one for about an hour, she chose to yank it off. By that time, the farmer's tan was already in place. The cute little baby in the pictures is Briley (hope I'm spelling that right), who is Austin's stepmother Lauren's sister's daughter's baby, so I think that would make her Amelia's step-second cousin? She is 10 months old and already *running*!

Chatterbox

People told me that my kid would start talking all of the sudden and then not stop, and I couldn't see it happening, but it has. She's learned so many words. Let me try to list them...

Hi, Bye Bye, Go, Eat, Cheese, Na (banana), Milk, Mapple (apple), Beeps (grapes), cracker, water, bubble, ball, Hi Kai-Lan, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11, No No No, Come on, Here you go, Daddy, Mama, Stinky (a BIG help because it means she needs her diaper changed), Night, Bath, Dig, and a bunch of other words that I can't think of.

Last night, she was looking at a magazine that had an advertisement for Sea World on the back cover. She kept saying "Way-oh" and we didn't know what she was saying until we looked at the magazine...she was pointing to a picture of Shamu and saying "whale." I said to Austin, "Our kid is a genius!"

I'm a Mama!

No, I'm not pregnant. Gross. What happened is that Amelia finally learned my name! After 2 long years, my kid is calling me "Mama." I should be kind of insulted, since she learned all sorts of complicated words before "Mama," like Jaguar and cracker, but it's so sweet. The other night, Austin said to me, "You just love that, don't you?" And it's awesome.

All the time it's: "Hi Mama," "Thank you Mama," "Come on, Mama," "Here you go, Mama," "Mama Mama Mama"...

And it's AWESOME!

I swear this happened!

Since I turned 33 in August, I've realized two things.

1. I've reached an age where I am going to start lying about my age. So, from now on, I'm actually 31 years old.

2. Next to my handsome younger husband, I look pretty old.

So I went today and bought my first jar of anti-aging night cream. I bought the Neutrogena stuff with active copper.

I'm in Tucson, AZ, until tomorrow, working. Myhotel has a manager's reception every night, so tonight I went down to get my free glass of wine. The bartender, a lovely Spanish woman in her forties, asked for my ID. I told her I left it in the room, but that I could get it. I thought, at this point, she would say, "Oh that's okay, don't worry about it," but she said, "I would really appreciate it."

So I go to my room, get the ID and go back to get my wine. She looks at my ID, does the math, and says, 'Oh my god! I thought you were SEVENTEEN. Your skin is beautiful!"

And sitting there, at sunset, at a table near the pool, drinking my wine, I actually felt that my skin WAS beautiful. And then I went to my room to slather on my new night cream so I will look seventeen even in the bright daylight.

"Go Mimi, it's your birthday!"

Happy 2nd birthday Amelia! This whole weekend, Austin and I have been saying, "I can't believe she is TWO!!!" And it's true. It's like she was just a baby yesterday, while at the same time, it feels like she's been in our lives forever. For the birthday details, I baked a pink and white cake with Diego decorations, and we got her (from top to bottom) 2 hand puppets, a number puzzle, color wonder markers and book, and a My Little Pony, (not seen, a Toodee doll). You might think from the last picture that Amelia was wiped out after eating cake, but she was actually just tired from dancing on the table top while I ate out the side of her cake (I don't like frosting).