Ruby's First Haircut!

If you're a new reader to my blog, let me just say that my kid has curls. Crazy, soft, gorgeous, dreamy curls. That have never been cut in her 2-1/2 years of life. Until now.......

I've been reading a lot about the best products to use on her hair, the best tips and tricks to keep her hair looking amazing with her ringlets and not like she just stuck her finger in a light socket (speaking from experience, this is a very, very fine line). A recurring theme was that every mom said that they swore by regular haircuts. Not just a quick chop from one of the kid cut places on the corner, but they specifically recommended Aveda stylists that specialized in curly hair.

Well, Ruby hit the jackpot by having me as a mom. I was able to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, because I also use an Aveda stylist that specializes in curly hair. So we went in last Friday for our appointments.

I got my hair cut first, while Nana and Ruby toured the salon and surrounding shops in the West 7th area. When it was Ruby's turn, she was none too pleased.

"NOOOOOO MOMMY! IT'S GOING TO HURT!!!!!! PWEEEESE NO!!!!"

Lauren, the stylist, was incredibly great with her and showed her with one quick snip that there wasn't any pain associated with it.

"See - did that hurt?" "Hmmmm........nope!"

With that, we were off and running with her haircut. She just got a quick trim to even out her ends (we haven't even remotely begun thinking about the concept of layers at this point - her hair is naturally layered pretty well right now).

She was all smiles after she was finished and made a point to turn in circles for everyone to see her new 'do. She's asked me a few times since then when her next haircut will be.

Success!!!

Girl's Trip

I just got home from one of my very favorite annual traditions - the Girl's Trip! There's really nothing like having the opportunity to get away from your day-to-day life, being around the people who always make you laugh so hard that you cry, and stocking up on some much-needed R&R.

The girls that I'm talking about are some of my best friends in the whole world. I love these girls to the moon and back. I have been friends with most of them since fourth-grade, with a few of the girls joining our group along the way. Even though we might not always have the opportunity to talk to each other on a weekly basis, when we do talk it is easy to pick up right where we left off.

We met at my house and loaded up my car on Friday afternoon. We were a car full of moms (5 moms with 8 kids between us and 2 more on the way!) leaving all of our cares behind. I had considered making a play list for the drive to Austin, but who was I kidding - we were going to be talking the whole time! We put on Willie Nelson playing in the background and hit the road.

We drove down to Austin to visit Allie and see her new (gorgeous) home. Allie was the most gracious hostess - ready with glasses of wine, snacks, and hugs for us all. Saturday was spent at Barton Creek Spa - getting massages, spending time in the steam room and sauna, resting in the tranquility room (note to self - I need my own tranquility room), and getting cabana service pool-side. Pure heaven.

After our afternoon naps, we went to dinner at a great little Mexican place on Lake Austin and then headed back to Allie's, where we ate birthday cake to celebrate Lindsay's upcoming birthday and watched episodes of that show about gypsy weddings (seriously, that sub-culture is just fascinating. I decided that if I ever get married again, I want a gypsy wedding - ha ha).

Sunday morning brunch was followed by goodbye tears and hugs, then the long drive back home. We were all anxious to see our sweet babies, but sad that the weekend had to end so quickly.

I hope that one day Ruby has a group of girlfriends like this. Girls that will make her laugh till her belly hurts, hold her hand while she ugly-cries, encourage her to be a better person, teach her new things, celebrate her accomplishments, pray with her, and make special memories like this. These girls are true blessings.

Concerts in the Gardens

Every summer I am finding myself becoming more and more thankful for things in my life. I've mentioned it before, but I am beyond thankful for my amazing friends. I am so thankful to live in such a fantastic city that has so many fantastic cultural events and that we live in a neighborhood that is almost walking-distance to the majority of them. And air-conditioning....I am thankful for air-conditioners......holy Texas heat.
Our dear friend Kayleb recently accepted a position with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, so we have gotten the opportunity to attend a few Concerts in the Gardens performances, which are held at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. It's always been a favorite summer-time activity for me and I was excited to get to share it with Ruby. Ruby, Me, and Kayleb at the Old 97's Concert - super excited that Kayleb was able to join us for the performance!


Saying that Ruby "loved" Concerts in the Gardens would be a drastic understatement. That is all this girl has talked about for the past several weeks. Most of our conversations go something like this:


"Mommy, remember the concert with all the muuuuusic.......and all the laaaasers.........and all the coloooorrrrrs.......and all our friennnnds.........AND THE FIREWORKS?!?!?!?!"


"Yes, Ruby, that was so much fun, wasn't it?"


"Mommy, it was so fun and so beautiful and so music-y. Can we go again tonight?"


Dancing the Night Away

Ruby has attended two performances this year - the first one was the music of John Williams (i.e. Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc)performed by the FWSO, and the second one was the Old 97's Concert. For each of them we had a VIP Table and valet parking (thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou Kayleb!). Ruby loved both of them, but really had a ball during the symphony performance. She was imitating the conductor - and had everyone near us cracking up! The girl has got some rhythm!!!

Future musical prodigy? Most likely.....


With Tom, who is totally normal, I promise.

Ruby, Me, and LeeAnne ("Lee-Lee")

Silly Ruby, sippy-cups are not for Cabernet!

We had such a great time! Hoping that we will be able to fit in a few more concerts before the season is over! Fireworks during the finale

Mini Summer Vacay

Visiting family on vacation is always so much fun! We just got back from an extended weekend in New Mexico. Land of Enchantment. And just for clarification, "Enchantment" is clearly synonymous with "dusty" "drought" "dry"....well, you get the idea. The poor state hasn't seen a drop of rain in over a year. Fires all over the place. I was shocked that I hadn't heard about the drought and/or the fires on the news - and then I remembered that I don't watch the news anymore......

Thankfully, most of the places that we went in New Mexico were just as beautiful and special as I remembered. My family would summer in Ruidoso every year, so I've spent many a school-free day swimming, hiking, horseback riding, picnicing, and frolicking in the mountains and deserts of New Mexico. I was beyond excited to take Ruby back to where I had made so many fun memories.

We started the trip on Thursday evening after I got off of work, and we drove to Artesia where my Aunt and Uncle live. Driving at night with a toddler was genius. The little angel slept the whole way. Score one for me. And then the next morning at 5:47am, Ruby woke up well-rested and excited to take on the day! "Let's go exploring! I want a banana! I want to watch Dora! No, Little Einsteins! I don't want the banana any more! Raisins! I want Raisins! Why are you sleepy, mommy?!?!?!" Score one for Ruby.


After a pot and a half of coffee, we drove to Alamogordo, where my Granny lives. Granny's house is one of my favorite places. First of all, Granny is probably the nicest, sweetest, kindest, most loving women in the entire world. She gives the best hugs, and is always SO EXCITED to see you (even when you're shaking from the caffiene high you've been on all morning and your bladder is about to explode because you didn't stop after the 1.5 pots of coffee).

SUPER GRANNY!

We swam at her community pool for a while in the afternoon. I'm not sure how it's possible, but that pool has been shrinking over the years. It was HUGE when I was 5. Pretty big when I was 10. Good sized when I was 15. And a whole heck of a lot smaller now that I've had the 3rd anniversary of my 28th birthday. But it was just as fun as I remember. And I'm pretty sure that it was huge to Ruby.

After a long nap with Ruby (thank you, sweet baby Jesus), we loaded up the family, grabbed a picnic, and headed out to White Sands National Park. If you've never heard of White Sands before, you need to google it now. I'll wait.... This place is so fantastic! I remember always having picnics out in the dunes, burying each other in the sand, looking at the stars and the full moon. It truly is breathtaking.

The next day, we drove up to the mountains of Ruidoso. We visited some old friends and more family, did a bit of shopping, and ate lunch at one of our old favorite restaurants.
Later in the evening, we went to a wedding reception for a dear friend. The reception was held at her parent's mountain ranch and was just beautiful. During the summers when I was little, I spent so much time there that I practically felt like that was my second home. She and her little brother would take me out to play in the creek and pick fresh mint (where I would be terrified of the possibility of seeing a snake), teach me how to jump horses (where I fell off and sprained my wrist), roast marshmellows on a campfire at night (where I was thisclose to being abducted by the ghosts on the ranch). Those two were a lot tougher than I was. But we had a great time and made some great memories. Now we're all grown up. I was happy that Ruby got to play in the same creek that I did (until I remembered the snakes), and she picked some fresh mint for me. I think she liked it just as much as I did.
The next morning we had a breakfast picnic out at White Sands, per Ruby's request. It is amazing how HOT it gets during the day, but how cold it gets at night. The air was already starting to heat up, but the sand was still nice and cool. Ruby had such a great time playing.


That afternoon started our long trek back to Home Sweet Home. Overnight spent at Aunt & Uncle's, then on the road again in the morning. It was a terribly long drive, but the vacation and time spent with family was worth every second. I wish we could get up there more often....

Fun day at the zoo!

On Saturday morning, bright and early (had to beat the crowds), Ruby and I loaded up and went down the street to the Fort Worth Zoo. We are so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing zoo close to our neighborhood!

Ruby absolutely adores the zoo and this Saturday was no different. She had a perma-smile on her face the whole day - well, until it was time to say "bye-bye" to the zoo and ooohhh, those tears were real.

She's already talking about our next trip, which she had mentally scheduled for today. She was none-too-pleased when she realized that I was off to work instead. It looks like a season pass is a purchase that will be in my immediate future. Ruby and the Meerkats. She kept asking where Diego was. Note to self: don't let Ruby watch quite so much tv.

Ruby explaining to me which giraffes were the mama ones and which giraffes were the baby ones. She's quite the subject-matter-expert.

Ruby and the "ew-wa-pant"

Ruby loved watching the jaguar. She made me take about 10 pictures with her and the jaguar. And she screamed "Mrow Mrow!" at it the entire time.

At one point, I believe near the hippos, Ruby was so incredibly excited that she broke out into a spontaneous dance.

Outside the Museum of Living Art (MOLA). Such a cool exhibit. I knew this could've gone one of two ways. Either Ruby would leave crying and terrified after seeing the animals and bugs inside, or I would.....


Ruby was quite impressed with the big "croc-e-dyle". But more impressed with the turtles. She asked if I would let her get in there to hug the turtles. Nope, sorry kiddo.

She makes my heart so happy.

Arm's Length

*Deep breath*

I feel like I need to give an apology to pretty much everyone that I know. I've recently realized that I've purposfully been distancing myself from you. Family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances. And I'm not sure why, which is the most frustrating part.

I've been keeping people at an arm's length from me. When I feel like someone is getting close, I back further away. I make excuses a lot about why I can't do something or why I can't talk.

Granted, a lot of the time the excuses are valid. Keeping a 2.5 year old from destroying my home can be a full-time job sometimes. As angelic as she looks, I'm pretty sure that Ruby-issued-destruction wouldn't be considered an "Act of God" by my insurance company....

Other times I rationalize the fact that I rarely return phone calls by thinking "Oh, I have to pay some bills," "I'd really like to listen to this thing on the radio," or "This laundry isn't going to do itself."

When I do actually talk to my friends or spend time with them, I try incredibly hard for that to be "quality" time. But I've noticed that I tend to guide the conversations towards relatively neutral topics like what our kids have been up to, how work is going, and if they watched Glee last week because OMGmyDVRhatesme&didn'trecordthewholething.

But some of my close friends - the ones who feel like they're the other half of me - notice that I'm pulling away and call me out on it. I get all defensive and inevitably end up asking what their plans are for the upcoming weekend, or something along those lines. Deflection.

Even though I feel like I'm running a zillion miles an hour when I'm with Ruby (clean, play, clean, cook, play, clean, diapers, sing, clean, eat, dance, clean, etc.) - that's really the only time that I feel like I'm at peace. When things get quiet - when she's fallen asleep for the night - that's when I start to feel panicky.

If you know me, you know that I'm a very scientifically-minded person. Everything can be explained, one way or the other. Which is why this has been bothering me so much. I can not, for the life of me, figure out why I am pulling away and why I feel so unsettled.

Maybe it's because if I keep everyone at a safe distance, there's a less likely chance that I'll get hurt. Again. Who knows. It's probably some sort of defense mechanism that would make sense if I had time to read some self-help book about it. But y'all....I'm so excited when I have time to do something like even take a shower, books aren't even on my radar.

So, for whatever reason, I'm sorry if I've made you feel like I don't care or I don't want to spend time with you. I do want to spend time with you and I do care. A lot.

A friend from college, I literally haven't seen her since then, told me last weekend that she reads my blog because I inspire her. That floored me. I feel so incredibly honored that I've inspired even one person out there to be a better parent.

Ruby is my happy-place - the thing that makes me want to be a better person. She is my inspiration. If you have kids in your life, I can only pray that they are your inspiration as well. There's not a whole lot better in the world than banana-and-milk-scented kisses as you're walking out the door to go to work to give you motivation to do what you have to do.

I hope that some day she can see me as the role-model that I want to be. I want her to see me as a strong, independent, successful, loving, faithful woman. But I'm scared that I'll teach her to guard her heart too much. I'm scared that she won't be willing to take those necessary risks in life.

Maybe it is time for change......