Not too much longer

Occasionally, when I take Nico to school, the drive goes by quicker and we get a few minutes at his school, before there is supervision (read: before I can leave Nico).  Often he climbes into the front seat and cuddles on me before he goes.  He's really getting too big for it, it requires quite a lot of gymnastics to get into the front seat when you're starting to get tall.  

Definitely going to miss these days when he is a rotten teenager and I have to put the muscle on him.  

Mama Nico Date Night

This weekend was the first in a while where didnt have anything we HAD to do.  Saturday morning, I headed to CrossFit to photograph a weight-lifting competition.  In the past, that hadn't really been my thing.  "Lifting weight just to lift weight?  Ugh, spare me..."  But, something that I have come to understand is that it's almost impossible to do CrossFit right without a solid base in some olympic weight lifting.  Snatches, cleans, jerks, deadlifts, etc. allow one to build functional strength, which allows one to do "work" (whatever that may be) easier.  Also, no one thinks it's cute when I announce, "Yeah, I am not going to do that... "  Plus, a lot of my adversion to olympic lifting has been that I just haven't done any of it.  So, I have no idea what it is supposed to look like, feel like, etc.  For example, I just sort of lumped cleans, jerks, and snatches all into a category called, "shit I can't do."  But turns out, that it's actually cleans and snatches I can't do (due to the absence of any protective cartilige in my left knee... also, I never regained full range of motion on that knee after two knee surgeries).  I can do the end part of a clean and jerk (the jerk part).  So by shooting a lot and paying attention, I am starting to get a feel for how these moves build real strength.  Am I going to be cleanig and jerking in some competition?  No.  But I am starting to get a real appreciation for how important these moves are.

If you are interested in seeing some of the photos I took, click here.  The good news is that it's fairly easy to shoot meets... just shoot in continuous mode and model out your settings.  The bad news is that it could be a lot better if I had better glass (lenses).  I could *easily* drop $500-$1000 on some lenses that could get me much further shooting action shots in low light.  But I will try to make do until I get that kind of gear.  

That said... Nico and Dave went to the Family Fun Fest at Hollywood Park on Saturday morning.  We were under the impression that there would be a firetruck (there wasn't).  It was relatively disapppointing.  When I got home, Nico and I ended up snuggling and taking a nap.  When we woke up, we rode over to Petersen Park for a play on the playground.

 Sunday, we rode up to Highland Park (a suburb just northwest of Chicago), which should really be called "Super Swankville".  There is a relatively famous place for breakfast there (called Walker Brothers Pancake House).  We had a delicious breakfast... seriously, Dave and I both had to narrow down our choice to one of about five different things we wanted.  Afterwards, we strolled through an art fair that was going on.  Seriously, here are snatches from two different conversations I heard:
"Well, the place had a gourmet kitchen, so you know I was set.  That was pretty much all I cared about."
"It was so strange- the other day, I went to pay for something and pulled a ruppee out of my wallet.  I hadn't been to India in years."

Both of these make me want to start a tumblr called "rich people problems".

Sunday after our nap, Nico and I went out for a little date night.  We started by taking the bus to the train and getting some dinner in Irving Park.  Then we found a new playground and ended the night with some ice cream at Margies onn Montrose.  It was really fun.

Settling into Chicago

Not much new going on here in Chicago.  I am flying back to Tallahassee on Friday for Mother's Day Weekend.  I am definitely looking forward to seeing my boys.  Especially squish.  I call Nico lots of names: Squish, Meatball, Nicholas Michael Royse, the Boy, Lil Man, etc.  I started calling him Squish because Ms. Sue (his teacher at his old school), would ask, "Jessi, why is he so squishy? (huggable)".  And he is.  You just have to snuggle my boy!!  

Here is a picture of the place where I wait to catch the bus.  I dont know what that kind of tree is called, but it was in bloom last week and the blossoms hadn't fallen completely off- so it was beautiful.  I don't mind waiting for a bus when I get to wait here.  

Last month I bought a groupon for OnRamp Crossfit classes.  Crossfit is... I guess its a bit like a cult.  It meets most of the sociological definitions of a cult.  But it's mostly based on functional movements and strength.  Every year, they have Crossfit games- which are kind of like the Olympics.  The winner is the "Fittest Man/Woman on Earth."  The workouts combine running, rowing, gymnastics, power lifting, olympic lifting, etc.  In any case, I went to the first class yesterday.  It was 1.2 miles from the office, so I walked over there (knowing full well, I might have difficulty getting myself back to the office on my own volition).  

It wasn't too bad.  I thought that my left knee was going to be a big problem, but we worked on technique for squats.  If I do squats "right", then my left knee is not a problem.  I did a 6 set tabata (which is 20 seconds of action followed by 10 seconds of rest).  Squats/situps/lunges.  So I did squats (as many as I could in 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest). Six times.  Same with situps.  Same with lunges.  I bailed on the last 5 seconds of the 5th set of lunges (mostly because my legs were shaking so bad).  In all, it wasn't too bad.  And I walked my own self back to the office.  

Bonus: I got a pic of the bridge.  I have this goal of running/walking over all the bridges in Chicago.  I already have a bunch done.  It's nice to unexpectedly add one to the list.  

Other than that, not much is going on.  I rode my bike to campus on Saturday, just to see if I could.  It wasnt too bad.  Bike lanes or bike paths almost the entire way.  But then I got lost heading back to North Park.  Per usual.  

I went up to Evanston on Saturday night to Robyn and Jordan's house.  Robyn was the one who sent me the job post for the DePaul job.  I basically fell in love with their street.  I think that when the time comes, we are definitely going to have to consider Evanston (when its time to buy a house).  We had deep dish pizza with Kevin (who I also know from FSU) and his girl Jen, and another couple (Cheryl and Andy).  It was pretty fun.  

Sunday, I went for a run and hit up whole foods (yay!), even if it was like Mad Max Beyond Thunder Dome.    I am trying to eat a lot more fruits and vegetables lately.  I make kale or spinach smoothies for breakfast, have salad for lunch and some type of protein for dinner.  I thought I would try this Odwalla juice because there was sale on it at the grocery across the street from my work (yeah, that is pretty much awesome).  The only problem with this juice is that it tastes like carrots.  

I dont know what I was expecting- maybe something that didnt taste so much like the carrots?

Polo Shirt

When we were in Orlando over the weekend, we went to the outlet mall.  Grandma bought Nico a polo shirt because we decided that he would be adorable in it.

I think we can all agree that he is adorb.

On another front, I think we may have turned the corner in the bathroom situation.  Nico has been extraordinarily good about the whole going #2 on the potty.  For serious.  Like sometimes he will just take himself in there and get it done.

I think that the conversation I had with him regarding his desire for a sibling might have something to do with this.  I He has mentioned a couple of times that he wants a little brother or sister, so I told him that before we can talk about that, he needs to get the potty training under control, because we cant be having a baby in diapers and having to deal with that whole situation.  He still wears diapers at nap and bed time, but I think that won't last for too long.  He seems to be thinking that he is going to get a firefighter truck bed when we move to Chicago- which he says that he is going to sleep in, and put him self to sleep in.  #toogoodtobetrue?

When we came home from school on Monday, Nico and I did some exercising.  A friend had given me an older ellipitical, so I did that for a while and then Nico did it while I lifted weights.  He did calves with me.  He is pretty excited about how big our muscles are going to be.

That is where we are at.  Still trying to find a house that we can live in in the Chicago area.  But, it seems to NOT be a renter's market.  At least not for people with two large dogs who want a yard with a fence.  

Squish

Not much going on around here.  I am under a pretty crazy deadline for our presentation for the APHA meeting later this month.  What else is new? Also, we started tryouts this week.  It's tough because I am feeling kind of a let down from last year.  They had so much excitement last year.  Maybe because there were 11 seniors, so much of their excitement was about being seniors.  And being awesome at soccer.

We havent had many girls out for soccer.  Not enough for two teams, which is crazy.  Just crazy.  We have decided to put off naming teams until next week.  We're trying to get enough kids so we can have a JV team... and not have to have 16843546 kids on varsity or worse, cut kids out of the program.


While I was on lockdown last weekend, Dave and Nico had lots of funs.  They went to Airport Fest, which was out at the airport.  Nico got to sit in a plane and a firetruck (I am not sure what the firetruck had to do with anything, but oh well).

Seriously?  Look at that face!  Doesn't he look so happy?

A stomach bug has been going around Nico's big school, so I kept him home from school today.  Can't you just squish him?

Cupcake=Muffin?

Nico was funny this morning.  He asked for a cupcake for breakfast.  Normally, he doesnt usually request things by name for breakfast.  Of course, his whole eating situation is all weird anyways.  But I wansnt about to entertain him on that... cupcakes for breakfast?  Who does he think he is?  Jessi Bishop-Royse?  Yeah, that is how I roll!!  So I got him a muffin... which was decent.  I think I caused some sort of internal glitch at Bagelheads because I ordered something other than my usual (an asiago toasted with butter).  Seriously- I order it probably 2-3 times a week.

Here is a picture of Nico at the park from earlier this week.  Don't you just want to bite him?

Seriously... adorable.

Do you know Borund?

Nico is really saying some funny things lately... some are things he comes up with on his own... some are things that just surprise me...

So, its no surprise that Nico loves drums... most kinds. In fact, he was at something a little while ago and got introduced to the Bodhran (pronounced like Borund). Its pretty cool because its a hand-held drum and you play with only one stick. As seen here:


Well... one of the really funny things he is saying lately is, "Do you know Borund?" Its pretty great.

He is also saying stock phrases whenever we play ball. So he will say, "Good pass, mom" or "Almost!" (even if he is not even anywhere even close to the basket). Which is pretty hilarious.

And the boy LOVES biscuits. Biscuits. He actually asked for them last night. I was coming back from practice and Dave texted me to say that Nico wanted biscuits. It's not very often that he makes a request for something, so if its not too terribly inconvienent, I will try to get it for him. So we had KFC last night. For dinner. Uggh. Luckily they have a grilled recipe now... but I sorta feel like going to KFC for grilled chicken is kinda like going to a whorehouse for a hug... know what I am sayin?

Also, he says "I'm just happy," whenever I catch him cracking himself up. Sometimes we will be eating dinner and he will be eating something he likes (like biscuits or oranges or grapes) and he is doing the big smile/silent laugh thing. I ask him what is going on and he says, "I'm just happy." Its pretty much amazing.

Please dont stop the music...

Okay... so Nico is pretty much adorbs. Every time we pass by statue animals, he wants to go hug them. Seriously... how freakin' adorable is that? He's done it several times... down in the county we drive by a butcher shop that has a statue pig outside. He goes on and on and on about how he wants to "go hug that pig!" Last night we were down in the county and drove by Lindy's Chicken place on 319 when he declared he wanted to go hug that chicken.

So much so that I narrowly averted a THROW-MELT-DOWN over the matter. The only way I got him through dinner was to promise that we would go by after dinner (a fundraising thing for WHS) so that he could hug the chicken. I sat him up there and he was pretty happy.

He is hilarious because he says things like, "He's so cute!" (about the chicken, the pig or even the dogs). And it sounds so great coming from him...

I also introduced him to The White Stripes yesterday in the car. He wanted to listen to bag pipes- which I didnt have. I did have a mix cd that included "Seven Nation Army" which is pretty awesome, because its a duo- a drummer and guitarist.


I totally killed it on the air drums, which Nico thought was AWESOME.

Speaking of music... is everyone here aware of how much I used to hate live versions of songs and covers? WITH A PASSION. I think it was mostly due to the fact that I listened to a lot of greatest hits growing up (esp Bruce Springsteen), so I thought anything DIFFERENT than the original version was CRAP. Well... it started when Dave got me the 1975-87 Live Bruce Tour album, and my mind was changed. I love covers of songs I already love... and the live versions... sometimes they get a little different, but most the time its cool. For example, my favorite version of Thunder Road is off of the Hammersmith Tour, back when Bruce was a BABY... seriously... its so chilled out- a totally different feel than the Thunder Road you yell at the top of your lungs with the windows down doing 85 on the interstate.



In any case, because I am the biggest nerd of all nerds, I have a twitter account, which I use to "follow" people and things I like... so that I dont have to wade through lots of crap on the internet to see things I like. I follow the Counting Crows and was intrigued when they announced that they were putting out an album of live versions of songs off "August and Everything After", which is one of my favorite albums. EVER. So I downloaded. It hasnt been disappointing. At all. Long story long, if you havent had the chance, you should check it out.

Just want to bite him...

So I went to TOC today.  They did a bunch of xrays and long story short- my left ankle is pretty jacked up.  The degree of movement in a "normal" ankle is about 8 degrees.  My right ankle which is my "good" ankle has 12 degrees.  Not good- but it might just be that I am loose jointed.  The degree of movement in my left ankle?  31 degrees- which I suspected given my propensity to not just kinda roll/sprain my ankle, but to REALLY do it. 

The ankle guy says that at this point, its pretty much beyond repair with rehab and physical therapy.  The surgical option is to go in and stitch the ligaments back together-tighten them up and to scope the ankle.  If I manage to do this AGAIN after correcting it this time, they would surgically fix it by taking part of a hamstring tendon.  Isn't that cool? 

So I have to decide whether/when to have the surgery.  Whether isn't really a decision, because I would like to stop falling on my face any time I step sorta crooked on some uneven sidewalk.  I am also pretty afraid that I am going to be carrying Nico when it happens next- and that isn't probably a good thing.  So at this point, I am trying to think of a good time.  I am thinking maybe early/mid may- after the session and after women's state cup (hopefully?). 

On an unrelated matter, video of Nico telling Granny You thanks for the valentines!! Isn't he precious?  Seriously- last week he was bitten twice at school.  I wonder if its because he was so precious and the other kid couldn't help but bite him... I can barely stand it!!

Where is Nico?

Pretty good weekend around here. Although not nearly long enough. There is a club tournament being hosted in Tallahassee in March, and the registration is due on the 12th, so even though the highschool season just got over, we're already starting preparations for the club season.  I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  In one sense, I am glad because there are people who care and are trying to establish the soccer infrastructure in Wakulla county.  In another sense, I am annoyed because the highschool soccer season JUST got over and I'd like to have more than a week where soccer wasn't absorbing all of my time and extra mental energy.  I'll let you know what I decide. 

Nico is incredibly adorable lately.  When he first started being able to recognized himself in the mirror, I'd stand in the bathroom holding him and point to him and say Nico and point to me and say Mama.  Sometimes I go fast like, "Nico, Mama, Nico, Mama, Nico, Mama."  Somehow, he got confused about who Mama is (he thinks its him sometimes).  Which is pretty cute.  So I ask, "where is Drake?"  and he points.  "Where is Gor-Gor?"and he points.  When it gets to "Where is Nico?"  He leans forward so that you can "see him".  Its like, "Oh, you couldn't see me before.  Here is my face.  Here I am!!"  Its pretty adorable. 

i can haz cute!

Quick post today... got lots to do.  But I give you not one, but TWO videos!!

Back story:  Nico was teasing with the cookie.  Just before I got up to get my phone, he was offering me the cookie and then taking it back before I could get it.  So I think:  how rotten is this kid?  No one will believe how rotten he is!  I gotta get this on video!!  So I get up, get my phone, roll camera action. 


Some might believe after this video that Nico was sharing.  It's a ruse!  Dont believe it!  He knew the camera was on him and decided to be all cute like!  Everyone knows that his genes predispose him to selfishness when it comes to cookies (his Auntie Nic-Nic and myself have the selfish cookie gene.  Unfortunately its a dominant gene... so good luck with that!). 

This one is from the cruise.  Cant remember if I posted it or no... but it's really cute.  Nico and Emme dancing on stage during the cruise.  I can has cute?


I could just eat him up!!

Regular Season District Champs!

So the big news around here is that we are the regular season distric champs!!  Waka waka!! 

Yeah, we are pretty much awesome.  We beat Rutherford on Saturday, despite getting down by a goal early.  Difference between this team and previous teams?  Prior to this year if we got down by a goal early on, we'd fold up like a bunch of lawn chairs.  We seem to be at a place now, where we're like?  Its only one goal!  And we have 70 minutes of game ahead of us.  Lets see you hold on to that lead!! 

So we have two regular season games left Tuesday (senior night) and Saturday (we go on the road to Sewannee).  Then next week, we skip the play in game (first time in 5 years that we have gotten to skip the play in game :)  We go to Panama City on Friday night to play the District Championship game.  Whoot!!  That is pretty exciting. I think this photo pretty much sums it up:

On another note- I ran a 5K on Saturday (before the game).  Again, with the lack of preparation.  I dont know who I think I am- maybe Kelly the Baller?  First, who thinks they can just show up to run a 5K?  Secondly, who cant do the math to see what that would entail?  Seriously- since I started my "Run Every Day of 2011" Resolution, the furthest I have run is 1 mile... which wasnt a big deal when I calculated that a 5K is 2.2 miles (its not).  A 5K is 3.1 miles.... so much of the race was Sucktownvilleburg.  But I am glad I ran it.  I had planned on running the Resolution 5K on FSU's campus this coming Saturday.  But Leslie (a friend and the other assistant coach (pictured next to #21) suggested that I run the Billy Bowlegs race this saturday... and she would run the Resolution 5K next week. 

On another note- how cute is THIS guy?

Don't you think he should be selling jeans for Gap?  Or hooded fleece sweatshirts for Old Navy?  Here is the thing:  If this soccer/judo/track/cross country/baseball/academic thing doenst work out for Nico, I think he might have a future career as a model.  No seriously.  Look at him and his cuteness! Can't you just eat him up?

The FAIR!!

WOW.  What a great weekend!!

So Dave had to go to Phoenix for work Friday-Saturday coming back on Sunday.  Mama Bishop and Uncle Billy came up to help pick up the slack with Nico.  They met us in Taylor County for our game on Thursday (JV tied 2-2 and we lost 2-1).  It was definitely interesting- for the first time EVER, we didnt get our heads down when we got down.  We poured the pressure on and actually got a goal back in the second half.  So that was cool.  Friday I ended up taking so Sick Leave because Nico wasnt feeling well. I guess I could left him home with Mom and JJ- but I didn't want to do that to them  :)  He was feeling better Friday afternoon, so JJ and I took him the Fair.  Whoo- hoo.  It was very cool, Nico loved him so goats.  We had some street food and called it a day.  I am trying to learn how to crochet- so Friday night mom taught me something I have been trying to learn- so that was cool. 

He loves animals... dogs, goats, cats.  If we didnt have dogs, this might be weird... but he is always loving on them.  Saturday morning, I got dogfood and it was sitting in the kitchen.  He was hugging the dog food bag because there was a picture of a black lab that looked like Gordon on the bag.  Definitely heart breakingly cute!!



Saturday we were due to play in Panama City at Rutherford.  We decided to leave Nico at home with Mom, who proceeded to wear him out.  They read a ton of books, played, went out side, sang songs and did a little dancing.  FOR. REAL. He was sound asleep when we got home.  It was pretty awesome. 

We, on the other hand were not awesome against Rutherford.  We got a goal early on and hung on to win 1-0.  I say hung on, because I was pretty sure we were going to give up a goal.  Did not play well... which is a shame, because it should have been a celebratory occassion (first time ever beating Rutherford- we played them four times last season).  We're 2-0 in the district.  But didnt play well.  Had a hard time putting passes together.  Should have had a ton of more goals- but we have a small issue "staying on-sides".  But it is pretty cool that we can play badly against a tough district opponent and still win...unlike last year where we played badly against a tough district opponent and got our a$$es handed to us.  So there is that. 

Sunday JJ and Mom left to go home after breakfast.  Nico and I hung out. We went to the park and got some groceries, did some cleans.  Speaking of cleans, does anyone know where I can get one of those awesome step stools for kids where its like they are standing on a chair, but, the top part is enclosed, so we dont have a situation like yesterday where Nico was reaching for the door and stepped off?  Yeah, I am a bad mom... I know. 

Back on the grind this week!

Up in his big class!!

One of my new favorite things to do with Nico is put away the groceries.  I know, it sounds weird.  Usually it is a chore I hate.  Plus, its a PITA whne everyone doesn't their own weight (I'm looking at you, Nico!)  What makes it fun is that I also have to clean out the fridge while we are putting away groceries... this usually entail Nico rummaging about taking stuff out and us snacking.  This week was awesome because I still had a piece of chocolate eclair cake leftover... so you know Nico got some!

Plus, he is starting to be able to "help".  And by help, I mean, carry things half way from the foyer to the kitchen before throwing them on the floor. Its great.

He moved up to his big class today.  He rejoined a bunch of kids that aged out of the baby room.  I was a little nervous because he has been acting like a baby lately... seems like every day lately, he has had a meltdown meltdown meltdown at the end of the day... not happy about ANYTHING.  Well... up in the big room, there is none of that. 

Seriously, on Monday, I showed up to get Nico and barely recognized him because he was sitting on the floor with the other kids, listening to Sue-Sue read books... NO JOKE... I'm all like, what did you do with my kid?  Because the only thing my kid likes to do with books is close them while you are reading them to him... but he sat there for like 4 books.  Are you kidding me?  Really?  He has been rockin and rollin up there... sleeping well... eating well.  So far its great.  He seems to be very happy.  And, I dont really want to mention anything, because I might jinx it... but homeboy sleeps like a champ these days.  Its awesome. 

Video of a game we like to play:


Dont understand why he cricks his shoulder up to his neck- I guess he thinks I am going to tickle his neck?  Isn't he precious?

Also, I am doing this- with all this "free" time on my hands:

Walkin' his own self...

As my mom would say, "Nico walkin' his own self up to the door!!"

NICOBEAST

So, I never really appreciated how awesome it was to take pictures of my kids to give their parents while I was a preschool teacher. It wasn't until one of Nico's teachers gave me a cd that she burned of pictures that I realized how amazing it is... its so hard to get good pictures of kids/babies as it is.  Indoor pictures are the hardest because of the flash/whiteout/blurry etc.  But while they are being cute?  Forgetaboutit!!  

Here Nico is doing one of his favorite things; playing with the door.  Let me tell you... I think we might have an engineer on our hands... he seems to be really interested in how things work.  

Here is, "crackin his own self up" as my mom would say.  He clearly has Dave Royse's sense of humor.

Speaking of Dave Royse, Nico looks just like him here... He's got Dave's expression here, where he's half smiling and tucking his chin down.

But this one takes the cake- the color picture of this one is probably better (his eyes look SOOOOO blue).  But I like the black and white.  Even with his weird Mom haircut.  Seriously- he is quite precious.  Can I be egotistical about it?  Just a little?  When I tell my coworkers about Nico, I state very matter of factly that he is cute- in such a way as to inform my audience that there is no discussion about it.  Nico is cute.  FACT.

Can't believe that he is going to be 11 months old tomorrow.  That is just crazy talk.

Gimme some cake!!

Not much going on here.

Nico has a new trick, which is pretty funny. Whenever you get a tasty snack or treat, he helps himself to it. It happened over the weekend when I went to Publix with him... I had him in the seat part of the cart and he was happy as a clam. I got one of those individually wrapped Oatmeal Creme Pies (because I make bad choices if I get the whole box). I realized that I wanted to go back to the yogurt section and get some "Yo Baby Yogurt." I turn around and next thing you know he has figured out how to open the package of the Little Debbie Cake. Milka-what? In my family, that is a good way to get your butt kicked!!

So last night, Dave goes by New Leaf and brings me home a piece of their Crack Cake- I mean their cookies and cream cake.  I set it on the table next to Nico and he starts trying to help himself to it.  Just like JJ would say, "You give this kid an inch, and he starts thinking he is a ruler."

Out of control!!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was pretty awesome. We ended up leaving mid-afternoon on Wednesday. It was slow going though- especially once we got on I-75. But once we got on the turnpike, it picked up a little and we ended up making it into Miami around 1 am. As expected, the craxy traveling schedule+new surroundings threw a wrench in Nico's flow. This meant that instead of sleeping until 552 am, he proceeded to wake up at 3am. AWESOME. Naturally this lead to a lot of napping over the holiday.

Dave's Mom and Aunt made a huge Thanksgiving Feast, which was delicious- including a very tasty cranberry sauce- which I proceeded to eat most of by myself. That is how I roll.

On Friday, we went up to Christian and Heather's place to meet their new baby, Liam. Their older child (Miranda) is about 2 and half and is a genius. Overheard: "Mommy, can I get another marker? The pink doesnt show up well." The pink doesnt show up well? Srsly? Good grammar at two and half? Yes please. Apparently, the fact that she is pretty smart helps- but they dont talk to her like she is a little kid. They talk to her like she is a human. LOVE IT. Of course, Dave and I would like to have a genius kid like that- but I dont know if its worth not talking in LOLSpeak. For real- how much fun is it to say things like, "I can haz some milk?" or "All of ur diapers are belong to us nao!" And its even awesomer since we talk for him anyways.

Saturday we went to a place called "The Field" for lunch (an Irish Pub). It was delicious, thank you very much. I had Bangers and Mash- both of which I highly recommend.

On Sunday, we skipped across Aligator Alley and swung into Ft. Myers to do brunch with my parents. We saw a ton of alligators- which was very cool. They dont play! In any case, brunch with my parents was cool. My dad got to meet Nico for the first time, which was awesome. I think the jacked up sleeping schedule, plus all the stimuli got to Nico, because it wasn't long after we got on the road when he had a MELTDOWN MELTDOWN MELTDOWN. Not a lot of fun. I spent much of the drive on Sunday reclined back in the passenger seat trying to keep him from crying his face off.
We ended up getting back on Sunday night around 930 pm. Not too bad. Was actually a pretty fun weekend, if tiring. Right now, we're just trying to get our feet under us for this upcoming week. Its pretty out of control.

On a completely unrelated matter- I am thinking about entering Nico into a cute baby contest. Trying to figure out what kind of picture to send in. Any thoughts? How do you guys feel about these? I dont have any really great pictures of him smiling...and he's not really extradordinary looking (like the Nelson tripletts who are very adorable, with their curly blonde hair and blue eyes). Advice?

All day long, just takin it easy...

Nothing new on the Nico front to report. He's getting big and is more fun every day. The whole "wearing" him during soccer games is working out pretty well. Its funny, though. Last night at Chiles one of the Chiles players asked Stevey as she was walking off the field, "Is that a baby on your coach?" Even funnier, is that in the second half, one of their players cleared a ball out of the back to the side line, kind of close to Nico and me... A collective gasp went up from our parents when I reached up and caught the ball over his head. Someone said something like, "Watch out for that baby!" to which I replied, "Its okay- I am a keeper"... and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night!
He doesnt seem to be bothered by it much...except when we have to practice at Medart and he gets eaten up by the sand gnats... which is fair, because I hate practicing there (the sand gnats are awful). Of course it might help if I didnt always forget the bug spray. Its something I have been thinking about a lot lately...I have just kind of treated this little dude, like, "Alright little homey, we gotta do this, then this, then we gotta go to practice. And then..." Maybe I should be more like Betty Draper, and stay at home only doing domesticated stuff with him.

Speaking of Chiles. Wow. So back story: we lost to Chiles 7-0 our first year coaching. Last year we lost 6-0. We had sort of been resigned to the fact that anytime we play Chiles that its going to be a beating- they have too many elite club players, we have a lot of girls that only just recently got serious about playing soccer. But, it is what it is. We actually went into last night's game with a game plan- and executed it. It was pretty brilliant. Without getting into too many specifics- we needed to be patient and disciplined last night. Patient and disciplined. The plan worked pretty well and we lost 3-1. It would have been 2-1, but about half the team got willy-nilly when one of our girls straight jacked the ball from a Chiles player. One of our captains, Mandy had the goal, a really nice set piece half way between the side of the box and the sideline. And Shay. Wow. Shay. She was amazing. She didnt really have much to do through out the game, not like some games in the past where its like shooting practice. During most the game she made the saves she should have, and in the last five minutes, came up with two ridiculous, game winning saves. It was awesome!!

So today we've just been taking it easy. My girl Julia came to town this weekend and we went to get pedicures. Just in the nick of time really, because my feet were FUNKY. And not in a good way. Mostly doing cleaning and stuff around the house... listing stuff on Ebay (so I can get rid of it- man we collect some stuff.)

The picture below is from Friday morning... I had to meet with Ike in the morning and I got us up and going- but had to put him down to do some stuff (get the diaper bag ready, get dressed, etc). He eventually fell asleep in his crib... isnt he precious?

Snug as a bug...

So the conference weekend got better (sort of). I nailed my talk on Saturday morning. Its so strange- but I felt so chill about it. Which was a far cry from when I gave the talk three weeks ago (at the CDPH brownbag). Even crazier, is that the three guys who wrote a pretty important book on mortality ("Living and Dying in the USA") were all in the session (one is currently a professor at FSU (retired), one is at CU-Boulder and the other is at UT Austin, but got his PhD from FSU). So I feel like I should have been a lot more nervous than I was. But Ike told me I did well, and I felt pretty good about the talk.

We left Saturday afternoon after grabbing lunch from a place called "Gaidos", a really old restaurant across the street from the beach. Then we took the ferry (instead of going back up through Houston). Really glad we did, because we got to see dolphins swimming along side the ferry. We ended up staying the night in Lafayette, after having one of the best meals ever. We ventured away from the high way in search of Cajun food and food a place called, "Randols", which was complete with a dancefloor and a zydeco band. It was pretty great.

Sunday, things to a turn for the worse when we went to get going and the 4Runner wouldnt start. Long story short, turns out the battery was completely dead... so we got a late start out of Lafayette. I didnt make it back in time for tutoring :(

How was Nico's first road trip? It was good. He was awesome. He got a tad crantastic at the end (when we were about an hour away from Tallahassee), but other than that, it wasnt too bad. Exhausting dealing with all the logistics. And all the stuff...Its amazing how much crap it takes to keep this kid clothed and in clean diapers. Absolutely amazing.

So we are trying to get back into our old routine. Practice and job market and whatnot. Speaking of whatnot... check it out:So I have been trying to figure out another possibility for hanging onto Nico while doing chores, being at practice, etc. I love the Baby Bjorn, but its hard to do chores around the house, because it doesnt stay close to my body... so when I am leaning over the kitchen sink doing dishes, Nico just sort of dangles there. Not very comfortable. Plus, its hard because I keep knocking his legs when I sweep the floor. One of the hippie blogs I read talks about "baby wearing"... and I was intrigued. Turns out you can take a 5-6 yard piece of knit fabric (20-30 inches wide) and wrap it around your body in a special way that makes the most comfy carrier/wrap thing. You slide the baby in the top, so you're tummy to tummy and pull this band up over him, and Voila!

I have gotten a lot of comments about it- mostly about how ingenius it is... but also about how comfy Nico looks. We went to the grocery today and a bunch of people thought it was cool that he was in there, snug as a bug.

It was pretty sweet.