DING - Round 1 goes to Ben

So you all know what huge sports fans Ben and I are. I'm sure you also know that we pretty much can't agree on any team and our favorites just happen to be in the same conference/division. People have been asking us who Taylor is going to cheer for....Redskins or Eagles....Terps or Hokies? Well - once she is old enough to make her own decision - we will stand by and respect it (unless it's Dallas - sorry Amanda but there will be none of that in this house!!) Until then - Ben and I are going to have to fight about what outfit she will wear on a particular Sat & Sun. My solution for the time being is .....on the Saturday she wears VA Tech - she will wear Redskins on Sunday. And for the Saturday that she wears Maryland - she can wear Eagles on Sunday! Let's be honest though.....she will look better in Burgandy & Gold than in Green! Obviously!! ;)

Anyway - The fight has begun and I'm at an unfair disadvantage......Ben's parents bought Taylor a prize when they dropped off her Uncle Billy at school last week. I got home from working at the hole last night to find a few pictures strategically placed on my keyboard so I would be sure to see them.....Taylor was dressed in her new VA Tech onsie! OH NO! I'm a slacker and she doesn't have anything with Terps on it yet! Looks like she'll be a Hokie fan this weekend for the start of the college football season!
Don't fear fellow Maryland fans - our time will come. But for now.....Round 1 of this fight goes to Ben.

Thank you Scott & Leslie! As much as it hurts to say it......it's adorable! And hey - it could be worse....it could be DUKE! HA! Dear Crazy!!

Beach Trip!

Hey everyone! For those of you that don't know - Ben, Taylor and I went to Ocean City this past weekend for a quick trip with Tom & Angela and Lauren & Antonio. After a LOOOOONG week at work - I couldn't get out of the house any faster on Thursday night. :) So let's start there. Actually - let's back up a bit. I've only been to OC once.....for beach week after my Senior year of High School - 14 years ago! I'm not the biggest fan of bridges so I was never really interested in crossing the Bay Bridge just to go to the beach. Well - then we had the offer to join our friends for the weekend and I figured why not!?!

So we meet Antonio and Lauren at their house for some pizza and a bottle for Taylor. After we're all done we finish packing up the car and hit the road. BTW - traveling with a baby is insane! We had to give T&A the stroller or else that would have been the only thing we could have taken. HAHAHA! It was a pretty easy ride - no traffic at all! I texted with sissy (Jacqueline in case you didn't know) about how far away from the bridge I was so I could prepare myself. Antonio was driving and he and I made Ben and Lauren's life pretty miserable for a bit while we sang along to the Grease and Grease 2 soundtracks.....all the while - we go through a toll booth and get on the bridge and I didn't even know it. So it's all clear now - go over it in the dark with what you think is fun music and everything is A-OK! Anyway - we met up with Tom & Angela shortly afterwards and followed them the rest of the way to their condo. The first night was spent on the balcony with a couple of beers and lots of conversation! Good times!

The next morning, Angela and I went to the store to stock up the place and I made breakfast for everyone. Then the fun began! We got Taylor all ready in her new bathing suit for her 1st trip down to the beach. She was too cute for words! We covered her all up and strapped her in to the little carrier and we were off. It was just a hop, skip & a jump away. The boys set up the big tailgating tent so the sun wouldn't get anywhere near Taylor. You'll see in the pics that she had fallen asleep before we even sat down so we just layed her down and she slept peacefully for a while. After a fun & relaxing time - Ben took her up for a feeding and a nap while the girls stayed down for a little bit more fun in the sun. Then it was time to go back and get ready for our night out. We headed down to the Boardwalk to find a place to eat while taking a stroll. It was a little chilly so Taylor got a new (pink - shocker) OC jacket. After passing a million places to eat we finally decided on Shenanigan's Irish Pub. It was great! They had a meal called "The Deadliest Catch Dinner" - I had to do it because of my love for the show and the fact that we were at the beach- how could I not!?! Dinner was followed by a little bit more walking and then back to the condo to rest up for the next day.

Saturday morning started with another Kristen breakfast. The boys were off to the golf course and the girls were heading back to the beach. Taylor did great again! Just like the day before - she napped and just hung out. I decided to try putting her toes in the water to see how she liked it. She LOVES her bath so i was hoping she would like the ocean too. Well - there is a BIG difference in the temperatures and she did NOT enjoy the little dip. She let out a little scream and gave me a nasty look. So we went back to the umbrellas and she was happy again. She and I started to get a little warm - even in the shade so we headed back to the house for a bottle and to relax before we went shopping. The afternoon and evening went by quickly and after some shopping for us and 36 holes of golf for the boys - we were all pooped! Antonio made us a yumm-o sloppy joe dinner and we just hung out on the balcony again. I tried so hard to stay up to watch the gold medal basketball game that started at 2:30 in the AM. I got to see the 1st period before my eyes just wouldn't cooperate anymore. Don't worry - Ben and I got to see the replay as soon as we woke up the next morning. GO USA!!

Our last day was pretty chill. Lauren, Angela and I went to Bethany Beach to check out a couple of shops and a fun little place called Mangos. Mangoritas are fantastic!! Gotta find those somewhere around here! :)

We came back and cleaned up and headed back home. So sad to leave but the real world was expecting us back. BTW - it was dark again when we went back over the bridge - holla!!

So now that you have spent your entire lunch break reading my recap - go check out the pics! Here is the link.....

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=241900912/a=5781352_5781352/t_=5781352

Hope to see you all soon!
:) K

Good Luck Billy!!

So today is the big day for my bro-in-law Billy! Ben's parents are taking him down to VA Tech where he will begin his college career! I met Billy when he was 11 so the fact that he is off to college is crazy to me! We're so proud of him and know he will do great!
Billy - try to have some fun in the middle of all that studying! AHAHAHA! Miss you already!

thought of the night

So I'm sitting here watching the Olympics and just saw the end of the Women's marathon. First of all - the woman that took gold ran 26 miles in 2 hours and 26 minutes. Unbelievable!!! My thought as I watched the 2 runners that came across the line in 4th & 5th place was - I would be BITTER if just ran 26 miles and didn't win a medal! But then again - I'd never run a marathon.....just too darn lazy for that! HA! Dear Crazy!

BTW - on a different subject.....I heart Colt Brennan!

Daycare update

Thank you to everyone that has checked in on Taylor to see how she is doing with daycare. It's been so far so good. I was a little anxious on Sunday night and not looking forward to the next day. I tried to forget about it so I started going through her clothes to pick out her outfit for her first day. That ended up being harder than it needed to be so I just went to bed to watch the Olympics! HA! Dear Crazy.....

I thought Monday morning was going to be harder than it turned out to be. When I dropped her off she was happy and smiling so I knew she would be ok (as would I). The day kind of dragged on and on as I counted down the hours & minutes until I could go and pick her up. She was awake when I got there and the smile that she gave me when I picked her up just melted my heart. :) She did well again today - sleeping and eating peacefully. There is a little girl at the daycare that was so excited that there was a new baby there on Monday. Today when we were leaving she looked so sad and said "bye bye baby - bye bye baby's mommy" Adorable.

On another note - the first shift back at the bar last night went well. It was tons of fun to see all of my regulars again and to show off some pictures of Taylor. Thanks to Ben, Amanda, Tiz & Lauren for coming by. It was a nice little break but I'm super excited to be back. Can't wait to see all of you!

Weekend Recap & Picture Link

What a fun weekend! Friday my parents came over to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies. I think they were sad that I didn't have a world atlas here so they could show me where all of the different countries are as they were introduced like they did when Jacqueline and I were kids. No need for them to worry - Taylor has lots of opening ceremonies to come so I'll let them do that with her so she can think they are crazy and not me for giving her a geography lesson on a Friday night! ;0)

Later that night we had bar cleaning. Needless to say - its not the best part of the job but it has to be done. It was the 1st one without PJ - sad day! It was a long night with lots of hard work but the 'Hey Mickey' dance tradition still lives on! Leslie S - it will never be the same without you.....miss ya girl!

Saturday morning - Taylor and I headed to Fairfax to hang out with Aunt Jack. It was nice to just relax and spend time with her - especially since I was running on no sleep (literally). After a few hours of fun, yummy lunch and a quick power nap - we jumped back in the car to go to meet up with Ben at his parents house cause DA (his grandfather) was coming to town. We haven't seen him since the wedding so we were pretty excited for his visit. We had a nice dinner and good quality time catching up and introducing him to his great grand-daughter. Ben's family "generation" pic below.....

We came home - gave Taylor a bath & fed her and put her down at 9:30.....she slept until 6am!!! That's right people - our little 10 week old angel slept for 8 1/2 hours! There is a god! ;0)

Today was another day of running around. Taylor and I stopped by Glory Days to have a quick bite with Aunt Heather since she was working the day shift. Then we went to my parents house to check out their new TV. They have finally joined us in the 2000's and have a flat screen HD tv. Good job guys! Then it was back to Ben's parents for dinner and more time with DA. Melissa and Kiara were there again. Kiara looked so excited when we walked in and we thought she was excited to see the baby - we then realized she was excited to see the car seat which means there were buckles to hook and unhook. She's a hoot! We're home now watching the Olympics and I'm ready for bed. Taylor starts day care tomorrow so I need to get some rest since I'm sure I'll be a mess all day. :(

Here is a link to some more pictures. They are in the same "August album" from last week so you need to scroll down a little bit to see the new ones.

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=223603304/a=5781352_5781352/t_=5781352

Hope you all had a good weekend!

The Tuesday you all have been waiting for......

It's official - I'm going back to work on Tuesday nights at Glory Days - starting next week - the 12th. I know its been a long sad summer for you guys without me there (modest huh?) so come one up to visit whenever you have time! I'd love to see you all!

Pictures Posted

I finally posted some pictures on Snapfish. Here is the link.....



http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=223603304/a=5781352_5781352/t_=5781352

Some are random - most are from dinner tonight at Ben's parents house. We had a nice family dinner - Melissa, Kiara and Buck were there. Kiara loves to play with Taylor's car seat - just buckling and unbuckling over and over. Love it!

ENT

The appt with the ENT went well. We just talked with her about the procedure that is performed to snip the membrane. I was assuming we were going to have this done while we were there but apparently Taylor is too old. The only time they do this in the office is for baby's a week or two tops - that are having problem s with feeding. Well - we're past that mark and she definitely doesn't have any problems eating. So we have to wait until she is at least 3 months old and it is an out-patient surgical procedure. The doctor explained that she will be given anesthesia and it will take 15 seconds from start to finish. Most babies feel just fine shortly afterwards. This will be scheduled for sometime after Aug 31st.

Later last night I met up with Heather, Heather, Tyler and Don to go over some promotion ideas for Football Sundays and Mondays at Glory Days. A lot of great ideas were passed around - they will be doing beer and food specials (a first for us and Football) and they will be having give-aways for the Sunday and Monday night games. The Sunday "prizes" will be something with the team logo for the teams playing on that specific night! So what I'm trying to say - GO WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS PLAY AT THE HOLE! You might even get lucky and see me working a Sunday or two ;0)
After our meeting we hung out for a little while and Heather and I learned that we are way too old (and sober) to be hanging out with those girls. We couldn't keep up even if we wanted to. HA! Dear Crazy! We still love them and I did get a good pic of the lady bartenders.........
Happy Friday everyone! :0)