Our Big Weekend

After two and a half years of 12-hour days, Bryon's project is wrapping up. This week marked the grand opening of both the Wyly theater and the Winspear Opera House. All of the big donors finally got to see what their money was being used for. And, boy, was it spectacular! We were lucky enough to get tickets to any of the events, so we went to the opening of the Wyly on Friday night and the Winspear on Saturday night.

Where to begin? It was all so spectacular. The Wyly Theater is amazing. I felt like I was at the theater in New York, only ultra-modern and no tourists. I hope to see more productions in the future. Everything is very sleek and polished, and it was so cool to have Bryon as my date to tell me all the capabilities of the building. At the end of the performance, all of the "walls" seemed to rise to the sky revealing the huge windows to downtown Dallas. We could see the traffic going by outside. It was so glamourous! After the production, a few of Bryon's coworkers went on stage to check things out. I had them snap my picture at the piano so I could say I had performed at the Wyly...ah, one of these days!

Saturday night was a huge black-tie affair. I keep telling everyone I felt like I was at the Oscars, with all the media, ball gowns, and glitz. After seeing my favorite performer, Kristen Chenoweth, and several other acts, there was a huge reception outside, catered by the one and only Wolfgang Puck. Of course, I had to take pictures of the food!

After stuffing our faces with duck, buffalo, tuna, mac and cheese (gourmet of course!), and shrimp, we ventured back over to the Wyly. It had been converted into a night club, with furnishings by Neiman Marcus. I couldn't help but stare at all the jewelry and dresses. Here we are posing in the Wyly after a long night:

Congratulations, Bryon, on a spectacular job!

Innocent until proven guilty! Part 2

Someone really loves her freedom while mom is busy feeding the baby! What trouble is she going to get into next?

And, just to keep things equal, here is the daily picture of Haley. She is finally opening her eyes long enough to snap a picture of her beautiful baby blues!

Innocent until proven guilty!

Busted! She knows she is in trouble but is still proud of herself for finding a little leverage to dig through the drawers.

To My Dearest Shelby

Shelby,

You have no idea how much fun it is to watch you play. You don't know it, but I secretly watch you as you are busy tinkering with your Little People Schoolhouse or climbing on your slide. You can spend an hour on getting things just in the right spot that you want. It is so cute! Soon enough, you will have a little playmate to teach all of your tricks. I can already picture you bossing Haley around just like I used to do to my little sister. I just hope you are nicer to Haley than I was to Molly!

Your Peeping Tom,

Mom

A Follow-Up to Bone Marrow Transplant

As a follow-up to this post, please go to www.bethematch.org and sign up to donate bone marrow. I finally enrolled, and it couldn't have been easier. Filling out the forms took MAYBE 5 minutes, and the swab collection kit came in the mail in less than 3 days. As scared of needles as I am, I still really hope to be a match for someone.

Random Thoughts

So, as I've mentioned before, breastfeeding is boring. Especially at 2:00 AM. Especially when you've had NO sleep in the past 24 hours. Especially when everyone else in the house dares to be snoring away!! One tends to have the MOST random thoughts during these trying times. Here is my list from last night:

1. All of my DINK (double income, no kids) friends have turned into DIMK (Didn't Imagine Mini-van full of Kids) friends. My cool neighbor, Jenn, is so proud of her Honda mini-van that I'm almost jealous. She went from hanging out with celebrities on Broadway to showing off the automatic sliding door on her mini-van. My equally cool cousin, Heidi, went from traveling the world and working in the coolest building in downtown Dallas to not only becoming a proud mini-van owner, but also managing to recruit her really cool friend, Suzi, into buying one. So, to all my DIMKs, you guys are still cool in my eyes!

2. Cigarette smokers have really cool social lives. While at work, they get to go outside and gossip several times a day, while the rest of us nerds hang out in a stuffy breakroom. Too bad smoking is out of the question for me, as meeting strangers and chatting for a few minutes everyday is right up my alley.

To all you 12 year olds keeping up with my little blog, DO NOT SMOKE! It's gross. I can smell it a block away. You WILL die from it one day. It will not be a fun way to die. Quitting smoking is the hardest addiction to break. I know because I lost my dear Granny Nelle to emphysema several years ago. I still get teared up about her not getting to watch me become a mother. My girls will never know what a special person she was. But, Granny Nelle met some pretty cool people while she was outside smoking!

3. Raisins were invented for mothers of toddlers. Shelby LOVES them. They aren't too messy. They come in a box. They are relatively healthy. Raisins ROCK!

Haley Charlotte Pfaff

Welcome to our crazy home, Haley Charlotte Pfaff! Our second daughter was born September 25, 2009 at 12:01 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs 1 ounce and was 19 inches long. She, like her older sister, has dark hair and a beautiful complexion. Everything was just perfect...almost!

For those of you that don't know my deep, dark, ugly secret, here goes. I am allergic to needles. Okay, so it's more like a little afraid of syringes. Nope, I'm not being totally honest. A true live phobia against all things sharp coming near my body is more appropriate! I've been known to faint a time or two or twenty. I thought I had outgrown this silly little phobia with my first pregnancy, but alas, it roared its ugly head when we went in for the c-section.

All I know is that the nurse was starting my i.v., and Bryon was trying maintain eye contact. The room started spinning. The lights started twinkling. My whole body started sweating. The next thing I remember is a WHOLE bunch of people in the room talking about blood pressure and baby's heart rate. Bryon was throwing on his scrubs, and "Page the doctor" was being murmured. Apparently, Haley's heart rate dropped from 150 to 40 in about 1 minute. It took about 5 minutes to get everything back to normal, and everything turned out just fine...I like to make a scene every now and then for some attention!

Shelby wasn't thrilled at all with our new bundle of joy. She spent most of the hour that she visited us in the hospital on the floor screaming. This picture is about as close as we got to a family photo. Classic! It just about sums up our crazy life--me trying to sweet talk Shelby into sitting still, Bryon shooting her the "straighten up or shut up" look, and Haley sleeping peacefully through it all.

So, everything wasn't perfect, but it was perfect for our little family! We are so glad to be home with everyone healthy and somewhat happy. One of these days, Shelby will come around!