Magic of "more"

oh the wonders of this small 4-letter word. Quade first learned of its powers when he simply clapped his hands together and was presented with "more" of what he had just enjoyed.

Once he discovered the power extended to more adults when he used the simple verbal utterance of "ma", he became quite fond of this word.

Recently we have been both amused and frustrated at his requests for "more":

Easy to fulfill:
"more strawberries"
"more swing"

More difficult to fulfill:
"more firetruck" (i'm not planning on setting the house on fire to make this one happen)
"more airplane" (not going to campout at DFW for this one)

Impossible to fulfill (and hilarious):
after quade "passed gas" he said "more"---that one's all up to you big guy!

Reliable transportation?

Not many tourists opt to rent a car and drive themselves around the country. However, Bruce figured since he's driven in 3rd world countries, he could handle it. So we got a car from Hertz. In the U.S. Hertz is viewed a respectable rental option, hmmm...not so much in Costa Rica. Oh, they still had the trademark yellow colored marketing strategy (including fake yellow lilies and yellow cellophane candies), but that's where the similarities ended.

We drove in "luxury" in our manual, 4x4 (quatro a quatro), DAIHATSU! However, this was no ordinary diahatsu...it had zero suspension and amazing dents and scratches. Here are pictures of our dear friend:

Here's a memorable quote from the trip...after driving for an hour on winding, ascending/descending, bumpy roads (after a four hour flight), my belly was contracting painfully and i was trying to be subtle about my desire to stop for a little while. I pointed out another place we could pull-over when Bruce said, "i'll pull over if there's a reason". I responded in a very angry, illogical, pregnant way: "If you don't want your son to die you'd better pull-over now!". Needless to say, he immediately turned that car off the road and i got out to stretch and get a break from the trauma. When we were back on the road it was less than 2 km when the bumpy road ended and we had smooth sailing to our destination.

leisure for heather...adventure for bruce

There is an activity in Costa Rica that a lot of tourists enjoy during their trip. It's called a canopy tour and it's an exciting way to see the rain forest...hanging from a cable in the trees. We asked several people if they thought this was an activity a pregnant woman should attempt. The response was 50/50...guys said "go for it", ladies said "not worth the risk to the baby". So needless to say i went the conservative route and passed on the cable adventure.

So you can see from the pics Bruce had a fabulous time. After seeing his pics...i think i made the right choice...doing Su DoKu while lounging at the beach nearby. =)

Oh, too appease "my fans" here is a pic of me in my "bikini" with the view from the lobby of our hotel to the pool and ocean behind me.

golfing in the rain...and rain forest

Well our first full day here began with a light drizzle of rain. so bruce was thinking about going golfing. i wasn't going to join him for 2 reasons: 1) it's been 3 years since i picked up a golf club 2) i'm 6 months pregnant (i guess a 3rd reason may have been that it was raining).

However, i did a practice "air swing" to see if i could clear my belly and realized it may not be so bad. So i went for it. I'm soooo glad i did. It was an absolutely beautiful course and since it was raining we had it practically to ourselves. We took a leisurely pace and played 9 holes in 3 hours! I must brag that i "bogeyed" (sp?) on 2 holes (meaning i got one more hit above par). We won't talk about the holes on which i had more than 10 shots. =)

Oh, the rain forest was beautiful. We saw some wildlife. A monkey ran across the fairway of one of the holes and you'll see in the following picture...a bird was attracted to my ball. (they do look like eggs). =)

Phantom sounds

We have arrived safely in absolutely gorgeous Costa Rica. Last night at a wonderful dinner overlooking the ocean I realized something odd that your mind does to you. I swore I heard our cell phones vibrating. What's interesting about this is that 1)we didn't have them with us 2) they don't work down here 3)we needed this vacation. Then this morning i was laying in bed and i "heard" the sound that our alarm makes when someone opens and shuts the door to our house ("beep beep"). i'm sure sometime today while i'm at the pool i'll "hear" the sound of my sweet boy calling "momma".

My goal at the end of this trip is have cleared my mind of the cacophony of our busy lives in Dallas. So that when we return to Dallas I start to hear the phantom sounds of birds chirping, the ocean waves and ice clinking in my cool cabana drink.

The perfect mother's day...

My mother's day began with Quade reading me "the Very Hungry Caterpillar" while i stayed in bed. The story went like this "moon, egg, 'pop', strawberries, leaf, butterfly". It was fabulous.

Bruce made quade and i some delicious scrambled eggs before we headed off for church.

After church we went to an amazing mother's day brunch buffet. The owners i think were a little frightened when they saw a pregnant woman enter the restaurant! I definitely ate a fair portion of food. =) Quade ate two plates full of fruit and he was thrilled.

After the large meal, Quade and i both took long naps. sooooo nice!

Then we headed to a local water spray park. It was super fun. Quade was a little hesitant at first, but before long he was completely soaked!

We ended the day with a trip to Chips hamburger joint...yummy! I think i'm going to treat myself to a bowl of rocky road ice cream. yea!

First hair cut

Yes, you read that correctly. Quade will be 21 months in a week and he just had his hair cut for the first time!

I've included some pics for your enjoyment. Here is the "pre-cut" shot:

He did quite well and did not shed one tear. I thought he looked like a serious, old man sitting in a barber shop.

Lunch container mystery...solved!

I know you have all been staying up late at night, tossing and turning in your beds awaiting my next posting to reveal which container is actually "bigger".

Well, i conducted the official water experiment (using a standard glass liquid measuring cup). By my surprise in regards to liquid capacity the two containers were EQUAL! (the long, narrow container required 2 more drops of water, but considering the confidence interval, accounting for any spills and experimenter error, they were relatively equal).

However, in regards to bulky, solid objects I believe that i can "fit" more into the long, narrow container. Also, for my little toddler son, I can fool him into believing there is actually more in the long container (given the longer surface area).

Thank you all for your input and appeasing my silly mind.

Poll: which is bigger?

I could really use some input on this important issue. Every time i make quade's lunch for mother's day out i have the same conundrum...which food container is larger. (editor note: Now, of course, i could pour water from one container into the other to figure out this simple issue. But it made me think...just looking at the two objects, which one looks bigger?) silly musings of a stay-at-home mom.

Quade likes fruit best so i want to use the biggest container for fruit.

I don't want to influence the opinions...but i do consistently choose one of the two for fruit.

my new enterprise...

move over sprinkles. here comes something yummier (and cuter):

"how adorable" you may exclaim! well, i created several of these lovely delicacies for a baby shower last weekend. The entire production process got me thinking that perhaps there is real money to be made in the cupcake business. The cost per cupcake was less than $1...i think i could charge $3 to 4! what a profit!

But then there is labor time involved, and the 'hired help' (aka Amber Lee) to make the adorable little booties and stars for the top.

All in all, i think that although it's fun to "create" something delicious and adorable, working as a speech-language pathologist is probably more lucrative than a cute cupcake corporation!

First "booby" talk...

Today at lunch during our playdate one of the moms was breastfeeding her newborn. Quade had the perfect vantage point from his high chair and at the time commented “booby”.
I ignored it and continued to eat my delicious lunch.

After lunch, before he went down for his nap, we were reading “Wheels on the Bus” in his room. I decided now was the time to have the “booby talk”. On one of the pages is the part about “The parents on the bus go ‘sh sh sh’.” The picture has the mom feeding the baby a bottle. Since quade is in awe of babies right now I decided to talk about this page some more: “This mommy is feeding the baby a bottle of milk. Mary’s mommy fed her baby with her booby b/c her booby had milk in it. Mommy will feed our baby milk with her booby”.

I figured the entire monologue had gone over his head.

Until he responded with: “Nina booby”!!! =) (‘Nina’ is his nickname for his Aunt 'Christina’ and quade has seen her nurse her daughter before).

So I don’t know if Quade is very perceptive, is fascinated with Christina’s boobs or if he’s seen them a lot! (she happens to be known as quite the exhibitionist around the family).