Bland-Land

I had no idea it would be so tough keeping up with a blog...or did I? So here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to since my last posting...

- We had a fantastic time at Zoobilee! It was Connor's first trip to the Houston zoo, and Mimi & Grammy joined us for the adventure. We made sure to stop by and visit the zoo's newest addition, Toby the red panda (we thought he looked more like a raccoon).

- Katie & Connor got a new back yard playset. Of course, Katie's the one one who uses it for now - although Maggie seems to enjoy hanging out in the upstairs clubhouse and Bailey has journeyed down the slide a time or two.

- Katie has been hard at work on Monday evenings getting ready for her upcoming Ballet & Tap recital! Everyone's welcome to come see our little starlet in action - Sun. 5/17 at 2:30 p.m. at the Stafford Performing Arts Theatre.

- We took our annual trek over to Lake Arthur, LA for our family's Good Friday crawfish boil - mmmm...the best crawfish & Bloody Mary's we've had in ages! Katie gobbled them up (the crawfish - not the Bloody Mary's) for the first time this year, and her daddy had a hard time keeping up with her appetite. Connor wasn't feeling his best since he'd had four vaccinations just before we left Houston, but he was back to his cheerful self by Saturday. He was happy to finally meet the rest of our Louisiana side of the family!

- On April 19th, Katie & Mimi were off to see the wizard - the Wizard of Oz play, that is! From what they described, the show sounded extraordinary; they even hung around afterward to get autographs & pictures with Dorothy and a couple of Munchkins!

- Our family, along with Wayne's parents, his sister Jamie's family and Mom, had dinner on April 22nd at La Escondida, then headed over to the Methodist Day School for Katie's first Open House. It was amazing how well-organized the event was, and we were especially impressed with the music teacher Miss Farley. She had 3, 4 and 5 year olds singing in unison, using props and even playing instruments. They sounded like perfect little angels - I'm fairly certain I only used two Kleenexes, but I would have used an entire box if I'd let my emotions take over. After the big assembly, we visited Katie's classroom to see her projects. One was a book entitled "A Book About Katie" which included a line that read, "I am happy when ____ " - and she put "I am with my Mommy" (and there went my third Kleenex). The next line was "My favorite thing to do at school is ____" - she put "to read books." That's my girl!

- Our 5th anniversary was April 24th; unfortunately, Katie was diagnosed that morning with Scarlet Fever (much less dramatic than it sounds - it's actually Strep Throat accompanied by a red rash). We spent a not-so-romantic evening at home taking care of our sad little Bug.

That's about it from Bland-Land! I'll try to include some pictures next time - I haven't had time to download them in a while.

Cheers,

mgb

Proud of My Big Girl

Oh, I'm so very proud of my sweet Katie! She's been potty trained for quite some time now (the pic below is from March 2008, when we started potty training), but hasn't even attempted sleeping in panties. We put a pull-up on her every time we take a nap and go to bed for the night. But not last night. She decided she was ready.

I put an extra water-proof mattress pad on her bed (one from Connor's crib, so I could just take it off in the middle of the night, if need be), and Wayne made sure she went potty right before bed. Lo and behold, SHE DID IT! Not only did she not wet the bed, she even got up at some point in the night and went to the bathroom all by herself - without waking us up - and went back to bed. WOO HOO!!!

Other exciting news - Wayne & I are going to see Jerry Seinfeld LIVE in May!!! I can't wait :-)

mgb

Getting Started

Apparently being on Facebook isn't enough these days. Now to be truly hip and connected, one has to have a blog, too. So here goes...

I'm sitting on the bed with a sweet, snoozing Connor while Wayne puts Katie to bed. For those of you who haven't met Mister Connor Owen Bland, he's now 9 weeks old (where have you been?!?). He's the cutest little man I've ever seen, as evidenced by this photo.

Now even though he's completely adorable, he does have his naughty side. A couple of days ago after feeding him, I was changing his diaper when he started to spit up. I reached over to grab a burp cloth, and when I did, he tee-tee’d right on my leg and our bed! That sneaky little turkey distracted me just so he could GET me! Boys. Katie would NEVER have done such a thing!

Here's Connor again, smiling & talking at almost 8 weeks (although for some reason I say 4 weeks in the video):

Now, don't think Katie's been ignored - not by any means! This past Saturday, Mimi & I took her to see the play Alice in Wonderland at Company OnStage, a little theatre that only seats around 80 people. It was loads of fun, and we even stayed afterward so she could meet the cast.

Wayne, Mimi & I are taking Katie & Connor to Zoobilee tomorrow evening at the Houston Zoo - should be fun!

One last video before I sign off. This is the first time Katie met Connor - hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

Until next time,

mgb