What is this for?

This picture and a note he is off to Home Depot. What is about to happen in our lives?

Christmas!

Woah. Having a child brings a whole new meaning to Christmas! Absolute joy!

We had a rough start as Russ was diagnosed with Croup and given a pack of steroids. A few days later, he seemed so much worse, so we jetted back to the doc. This time we were told he had RSV/ bronchiolitis and we proceeded to give the little man 30 breathing treatments at home (not fun.)

However, it was a Christmas miracle, and Russ was feeling better on Christmas Day. Normally Christmas presents are opened over an hour or so but it took us 3 days! Between playing, eating, cooking, napping, etc, we couldn't get through it all! However, celebrating Christmas for 3 days wasn't so bad!

We had such a nice time with family!

                                                Evan's parents gave us our dogs! So funny!

                                                 Sunday Brunch at Hattie's- our favorite!

                                              Chinese Christmas- Mom stealing Dad's gift.

                                                                         Present time!

                                                          Russ in his new Track Suit!

                                                      So much cooking- no time for pants!!

                                         2 days after Christmas and we are still opening presents!!!

Russ Gives Back

A blogger I follow/ love put it like this:
As part of G’s birthday traditions through the years, we want him to donate at least one of his gifts to a child in need to teach him to not be an asshole as he grows up.


I put it like this:
I want Russ to grow up to be compassionate. I want him to want to help others. I want giving to just be a part of who he is. And yes, I don't want him to grow up to be an ___. 


How do you teach one to be compassionate? I have a good guy friend, Charlie, who is always volunteering. I don't know many dudes who volunteer because they want to; usually they have to be pushed into it by a nagging wife or are trying to impress some hot girl. When I asked Charlie what got him so involved, he said his parents were always involved with a charity or volunteering at special events. He said he didn't know anything else. Now that he is grown, he and his wife, Lindsay, spend a lot of time together helping others.


SO, Evan and I wanted to start Russ out early too. This year we adopted an Angel. I picked an 11 year old boy names Jahmon for 2 reasons: 1) His name reminds me of Michael Jackson 2) His one wish was for legos. Side note: Evan has tried to buy Russ legos 47 times. Apparently they aren't baby appropriate, so he has been bummed about that. When I saw Jahmon wanted legos, I knew he was our Angel. We took a family trip to Target and loaded up on legos and big kid clothes. I just wish we could have seen his face when he opened his gifts. This will definitely be a tradition in our home.


Round 2 of giving happened at our Neighborhood Happy Hour. Our neighborhood is really fun and we have started getting together for food and cocktails once a month. This month we asked that people donate new toys and books for the kids at Scottish Rite Hospital. Russ, our cute neighbor Ashley, and I delivered the items to the hospital today.  It was so easy and the staff was incredibly thankful. 
Here is a picture of Russ Man with one of the wagons filled with donations.

Piano Man

I literally tried not to make eye contact with my husband when he carried a keyboard into our house.  (It's actually the second time he has bought one. Hey bud, your music career didn't take off with the first one...)Why did he buy a keyboard? I have no idea. It's probably the same thing inside of his brain that also told him to buy a Russian Sniper Riffle and a kayak. Anyway, he bought a keyboard and actually surprised me by sticking with it for about a month. Every morning I would find him taking a lesson on our Mac. I thought I might actually walk in one morning and find him all dressed up and ready to play a mini concert in his office. Nope. Once he joined the fly fishing club (more to come on that one) the keyboard was left in the dust...until a few days ago.

Like father, like son. Here is Russ discovering his new favorite instrument for the first time.

Santa! I know him!

I am so excited to announce that Russ has met Santa!! Not just any Santa, the REAL Santa. Everybody knows that the REAL Santa has been at Northpark Mall for the last 23 years. He is beautiful, amazing, and such a nice man. When I saw him, I got dizzy. I told Evan that he would have to be in charge of getting Russ situated because I was too nervous and excited about Mr. Claus. Russ, who had not taken his afternoon nap, was a little on edge. However, when we sat him on Santa's lap, Russ turned to him and said, "SANTA?? I KNOW HIM!!"

(Then he looked at us, made a sad face, and started fussing. So, as we thought we never would, we became the parents who waved toys and jumped up and down inside of Santa's house while trying to get the baby to smile.) I still can't believe we took OUR KID to see Santa!!!??? Awesome.

6 months

You know those dumb bumper stickers that say, "My kid can beat up your honor student?" Even worse, when "pug people" have the sticker "My pug can beat up your honor student." (I LOVE dogs. We own a ton of them. However, I don't get pugs. I don't think I have ever even touched one. But this isn't about my dislike/fear of pugs, this is about my son.) SO, anyway, if I were to join the cheeseball bumper sticker club, mine would say, "My Baby could eat your honor student." 

I am pleased to announce that I am the proud owner mother of one of the biggest babies to ever walk the Earth. Russel Reed Batt is in the 90th percentile in weight and OVER the 99th percentile for head size. (What does over 99th even mean? Go ahead and just say, "It's the biggest head we have ever seen.") I think that whenever you are told you have a child that is "over the 99th percentile" he should win some sort of door prize. Or wait, maybe I need the prize. I mean, I carried him, gave birth to him, and now am carrying Mr. 21 lbs all over town. Thoughts?

To waiters...
NO, he doesn't need a children's menu and NO, he does not need crayons.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Just when things seemed to be getting normal around here... I just had a lovely lunch with my 2 best friends from high school when I came home to this...

Please don't focus on the fact that our backyard is completely torn up. (Ollie (our boxer) decided to re-do our landscaping for us. Our next home project is to completely renovate the backyard- hopefully before and after shots soon!) THE MAIN FOCUS IS THE FACT THAT I WALKED INTO THE BACKYARD TO TELL HIM HOW DELICIOUS MY SALAD WAS, AND THIS IS WHAT I SAW. Excuse me, but didn't you join the fly fishing club a month ago? 

Evan Wants to be a Police Officer, story 1 (of many)

 Evan has always “threatened” to quit his job and become a cop. Sometimes I thought he was serious but then the conversation would usually turn into how cool he would look with a mustache or how fun it would be to play good cop/ bad cop when busting up high school parties.

This is a picture of Evan busting our own High School Themed party a few years ago. I’ll write about that in a future “Evan wants to be a Police Officer” blog entry.

Well, about a year ago he busted into our kitchen all excited and said, “Guess what? I am going to take a 7 hour volunteer police officer training! Oh, and I need a partner, so I signed you up too.” By this time, I wasn’t really surprised. I’m often added to his random activities.

So, we spent about 7 hours at the police station and realized it was more of a neighborhood crime watch class and that we were the only non-retired people there. However, we took it seriously and had fun. (Several people remarked that I must be an awfully responsible teenager to be so involved in my neighborhood.)

2 pieces of good news.

1: We earned these certificates. (Evan will do ANYTHING as long as there is a certificate involved.)

2. We became pals with our area Chief of Police and patrolmen.

The Chief emailed me because he knew Evan wanted to do a ride along and told me that I should sign up too.  I told him that since I didn’t want to see drugs, violence, or gangs that I would probably just as well stay home. Chief told me that I could ride with him and decide which calls I was comfortable with and that he would send Evan out in a patrol car. We ended up going out on the same shift, which was about 7pm-3am. Actually, Evan started earlier because (naturally) he wanted to be a part of roll call.

Evan’s night:

-Domestic Disturbance between teens- one teen went to jail

-Answered an alarm call (raced down 75 but stopped short when lady realized it was her daughter’s friend who had come over)

- Saw a pimp with a tattooed neck, carrying a silver briefcase to his Mercedes. Officer ran plates but car was in one of his gal’s names.

- Pulled up behind a Highland Park police officer who had pulled over teens riding on the side of their Tahoe. Evan’s favorite part of the night was watching the Dad lay into them.

Sally’s night:

- Talked to the Crips in South Dallas (scary)

-Talked to Nicole, a “frisky” prostitute who works behind a gas station off of 635

- Talked to 3 “lovely” (MEAN) Ladies of the Night in front of a motel (also scary)

- Pulled up on cops talking to another prostitute. (They were actually nice to her because they have arrested her many times over the last ten years.)

- Investigated a fight at a martini bar (stayed in car)

- Drove around looking for a car that was involved in random gunfire.

A good time was had by all. Oh, and we also have joined our neighborhood crime watch and have been on patrol. We reported that 3 garage doors were open.

Halloween Week

Halloween with a little one sure is neat! We are thrilled that young couples with babies seem to be moving in all around us! Young, active neighbors + our new neighborhood Facebook page= lots of Halloween fun. On Sunday we had a neighborhood walk which was lead by one of our crime watch patrol cars. Costumes: Russ- Batman, Evan- Robin, Sally- Cat Woman, Jammie- Proud Grandmother. On Monday morning, Russ and I went to Stroller Fit which is a workout class for mommies and babies. Russ and his buddies looked ridiculously adorable in their costumes! Costumes: Russ- parrot, Sally- Mom trying to loose her baby weight. On Halloween evening we attended a neighborhood block party. Costumes: Russ- parrot, Sally- Mom of a baby who wouldn't sleep, Evan- Dad who came straight from work. After the party, Evan dashed home to throw on his pirate costume. He could't wait to take his baby boy trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, Russ made it to one house before passing out in Daddy's arms. Evan, still super proud Dad, carried his sleeping baby down to one more house before ending our Halloween celebration. By the way, Evan bought FULL SIZED CANDY BARS again this year. Shoulda come to our house!

BATTman, Robin, and Cat Woman before the Neighborhood Walk (Russ in the swing he gave his Dad for his birthday.)

Here are some of the boys who couldn't sit up for the toddler pic. Don't you just wanna smooch em?

Pirate and parrot

Trick or Treating

Passed out parrot.

Evan's Birthday

Evan is normally a 10 year old when it comes to his big day. However, having a child will do weird things and Evan kept "forgetting" about his birthday. Whenever I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate, he would shrug his shoulders and then go play with Russ. I was challenged with finding something that would put him in the birthday mood. After a lot of thinking, I thought of something pretty darn good.

My friend, John, is an amazing chef. He is consulting for many area restaurants as he waits for his new place to open in December. I asked him if he were at all available to cook for Evan and his friends for his 31st bday- AND HE WAS! I then called our buddy, Nick, and asked him to do a wine pairing with the food.

John prepared a delicious and pretty salad, handmade ravioli (to die for), pork with a berry sauce, and we had Italian cream cake for dessert. Nick paired each course with fabulous wine. A good time was had by all!

Russ visits The Big Easy

New Orleans is our favorite place and we have so much history there. I realized I had a huge crush on Evan while in New Orleans! We ended up going back (as a couple) to a few Pi Kapp date parties, my 20th birthday, several road-trips, New Years, Running with the Bulls, and he even proposed there!!! New Orleans meant Hand Grenades, Lucky Dogs, masks & boas, dancing all night, Clover Grill for an after dancing snack, and just TONS O' FUN!  Here are some pre-baby pics in The Big Easy...

This is us gearing up for running with the bulls. It's just like Spain except instead of real bulls, you are being chased by Roller Derby Girls with nerf bats.

Here is Evan with 2 of the friendlier bulls after the race.

This is our standard "Lucky Dog Sharing" picture on New Years Eve. (We flew in just for the night because we had no plans. Luckily we had some good friends join us last minute too. Remember the days when you could fly somewhere last minute? Me neither.)

Sidenote: I am sad to say that I don't have any of the proposal pictures saved on this computer. Also, it would be funny to see us as 20 year olds running around Bourbon Street. Maybe Evan can help me scan some later.

So, as you can see, we are in love with this place! We were thrilled that we could take Russ to New Orleans last month! Taking a baby is a whole new ballgame but it was just as fun! We had an amazing time even if there were no hand grenades, masks, or boas.

Wild partying at the W Bar

 Russ getting ready to enjoy a delicious meal at The Palace Cafe

 The obvious tourist pic in front of the church.

Russ relaxing after a long night on Bourbon Street.

First Post- Halloween Season

Halloween is basically a season at our house. Pre-baby, we would take out all THREE of our costume boxes and decide which ones we would wear to our various October events. We have everything from bedazzled Elvis outfits to inflatable costumes with built in fans. Evan and I even won best costume for our Dog and Beth (the bounty hunters) outfits.

Now, I have been kicked to the curb because Russ Man looks much cuter in Halloween gear. This year Evan has ordered multiple costumes for the little guy.  I know it's not quite the 31st but we have already started celebrating.

                 "BATTman" and Robin will have more accessories when not at a work function.

Evan proud of his parrot purchase. Will be paired with pirates soon! Happy early Halloween!