November with the Scotts

So here's a recap of our November...

Matthew: Well into his surgical rotation and studying for his surgery board exam. Matt enjoyed his time in the burn unit and completed a couple of weeks on a general surgery team that does procedures for patients with cancer. He just started working with a team that does bariatric (weight loss) surgeries. Although he is extremely busy, he is good about making time to spend with Jonathan and I. The cooler weather has meant more zoo trips and walks in the park. He is also pretty pleased that one of Jonathan's favorite pastimes is watching ESPN.

Sarah: I'm adjusting to life as a stay-at-home momma and enjoying my "new normal." I'm getting better at venturing out into the world with an infant--walking/running in the mornings, playgroup, etc. There are always plenty of errands and chores to get done, not to mention the sheer amount of time it takes to care for a baby and meet his every need. But it makes such a difference in my day when I get out of the house--especially to do something fun! I took Jonathan to a morning matinee last week because I was dying to see a movie. We saw Interstellar and it did not disappoint.

Jonathan: 4 months old! He is still waking up 2-3 times at night, but he's getting better at napping during the day. We have finally started to figure out a good feeding/napping routine and it has made all the difference. Jonny is starting to laugh and goo more often, which melts my heart every time. He also found his voice in a high-pitched yelp scream . . . not quite as heart melting. No rolling over yet, but he has found his feet and rocks back and forth in a perfect "happy baby" pose. He is so talented :) Our healthy boy weighs 15.5 lbs and is 26 inches long.

Confessions of a Pinterest Addict

Having an infant means a lot of down time for feeding and snuggling throughout the day and night . . . and when you only have one free hand, and you're trying to keep your eyes open in the middle of the night, scrolling through Pinterest is the ideal pastime. I don't even want to know how many cumulative hours I've spent "pinteresting" over the past 3.5 months... Anyways, one of my favorite things to pin is pretty parties. Wedding receptions, garden parties, dinner parties, birthday parties. I have a dream, and that dream is to throw a pretty party. All I needed was an occasion!



So when it was looking fairly sure that Matt and I would be on our own for Halloween, my mind started running wild. I could put my own twist on a Halloween party and make it a magically spooky affair, complete with twinkle lights! Fast forward to October 30th at 3 in the morning and I am scrolling through Pinterest, my mind racing with ideas for outdoor lighting, extravagant centerpieces, garlands of bats and ghosts, elegantly arranged spiderwebs, and fall Mums strategically planted in the garden to enhance my flowerbeds. Sunrise brought with it a much needed reality check, but the twinkle lights remained. Although it was pretty simple, I was thrilled with how everything turned out, including the Scott family tradition of homemade clam chowder and bread bowls.

Happy Halloween!

 

 

Keep Austin Weird

Our last little fall break "hurrah" was an overnight trip to Austin. We decided to bring the dog with us which was a little crazy, but turned out ok. She did surprisingly well in the car. She and Jonathan are great little travel buddies!

The first thing we did when we got into town was walk around Barton Creek Park and then around Ladybird Lake. It was so fun to be in the middle of the city and out in nature at the same time. We decided that Austin felt like a Utah/California hybrid. It was just so strange to see hills again--Houston is completely flat.

Our next stop was lunch at Salt Lick BBQ. Living in Texas, we have become quite the barbeque connoisseurs. This was a good one. As you can see, Jonathan was pretty pleased with it too. Or maybe he was just excited to get out of his carseat. (We are such barbeque lovers that we went to another place for lunch the next day -- La Barbeque. It's a little food truck downtown. If you are ever in Austin, GO. It was incredible.)

We dropped the dog off at our hotel and ventured out to explore UT campus and grab some Tex Mex at Trudy's. It is such a beautiful campus with all of the old architecture and buildings. But let me tell you, it made us feel OLD. College wasn't so long ago, but there's something about being surrounded by backpack-wearing 19 year olds with a baby strapped to your chest that can make you feel a little out of touch. (And what's with every single girl wearing teeny Nike exercise shorts and oversized T-shirts? Seriously. Every single one.)

The next morning we hit the Texas History Museum right when they opened, which was perfect because we had the place to ourselves! The state of Texas does nothing halfway, I tell you. The exhibits in the museum were impressive and check out the size of that star in front.

Driving home took a little longer than we thought. Doggies and babies need a few more stops along the way. We found a nice city park, Scout slid down the slide . . .

And stopped at this not-so-little Mexican pottery stand off the highway. So many colors! I got the most beautiful flower pot and tile.

And now it's back to reality. Matt has started his surgery rotation and is spending his first month working in the burn unit. He says it's pretty gross, but he likes his attending doctor and he gets normal hours and weekends. Yahoo!

A Proper Scott Family Houston Stay-Cation

Must include:

1. A trip to the Zoo . . . The description of Jonathan was uncanny.

"Jonathan is very vocal and enjoys attention. He likes to roar early in the morning and late in the night."

2. Sleeping in. Yes we have a newborn, but after Matt's last rotation 7:00 am feels like heaven.

3. Fine Cuisine-- Guy's Meat Market for smoked hamburgers and the Gyro King food truck. Pure class. 

4. A brisk fall morning (80 degrees) at the arboretum. Scout was a little nervous about the pond and the turtles. I think her summer swims in the pool may have traumatized her more than we thought . . . 

5. Sunday naps and photo-shoots. 

I love my little family :)

"Howdy Folks!"

As most of you know, Matt is in his 3rd year of medical school. This year he will complete a series of 2 month rotations in various specialties, each culminating in a national board exam. To say he is busy would be an understatement--the poor guy hasn't even had a weekend off in 3 months! So you can see why we were both pretty excited for his fall break . . .

As soon as he finished his test we hopped in the car and headed to Dallas for the Texas State Fair! You guys. I have been wanting to go to this fair for years. I saw a Food Network special on all of their crazy fried food inventions and I've been thinking about it ever since.

Being Californians at heart, our first major stop was In-N-Out. Jonathan was très impressed.

But the next day we were Texans through and through. For anyone unfamiliar with this fair, one of the main attractions is this creepy guy standing behind us. Big Tex! A giant automated cowboy (because everything really is bigger in Texas) who waves his arm and welcomes you to the fair. "Howdy folks!"

We were there on the last weekend so we weren't able to see a ton of livestock. We did, however, enjoy a nice long visit with the bunnies (at my insistence). They were so cute and creepy at the same time! But mostly cute. I couldn't get enough--Matt basically had to drag me out of there.

Our tour of the animals also included Boris, the 1500 lb giant boar, a surprisingly impressive dog show, and  some sheep. A couple of other fun surprises were the 3,000+ lb butter sculptures and the coolest train set I have ever seen.

But let's be honest we were really just there for the food. And as you can see, I was pretty excited about it.

With so many delicious rarities to choose from (fried butter and fried coke??), we decided to stick to the award winners. Fried Cuban, Texas Bluebonnet--fried blueberry muffin stuffed with cream cheesy goodness and topped with blueberries and whipped cream, the ORIGINAL corn dog--they were invented here, Fried Spinach Artichoke Dip Bites, and this year's winner, Fried Gulf Shrimp Boil Balls. Whew!

Jonathan's Biggest Fans

We were treated to a stream of family and friends after Jonny was born. It was so much fun! I definitely needed the help and appreciated the company. We had my mom and Ellie for a week, Matt's parents for a few weeks, his sister for a weekend, my dad for a long weekend, and my best friend Emily for a long weekend. This boy is LOVED.

WE LOVE YOU, JONNY BOY!

Welcome to the World, Baby Boy!



Well, he's here and we are IN LOVE. Life with a newborn is no picnic, but with a face like that, even during those first few weeks, it was hard to stay down for long (even if I was running on 4 hours of sleep). At two months he's doing much better with sleeping and napping, but my world is still consumed with feeding, baby talk, diapers, cuddles, and exorbitant amounts of spit up. He is growing and changing every day and I feel so blessed to have a front row seat.

Jonathan was born on at 3:10 pm. I had been having stronger, more regular contractions all week, and on Thursday they were starting to hurt. So of course we downloaded our contraction timer app--hoping to be checked in to the hospital before dinner. Matt didn't want to go to work in the morning, and I was ready for this baby get out! But no such luck; the contractions died down, and we went to bed. Matt had a restful night's sleep. I, on the other hand, lay awake all night breathing through contractions and fervently timing them so that we could get the show on the road the second they had been 5 minutes apart for an hour.

We were checked in to the hospital around 6 am. The nurse was surprised at how fast and strong my contractions were coming . . . that made two of us. I have to say that my three hours of real labor before the epidural were intense and excruciating and I don't know how anyone could survive natural childbirth. I have so much respect for those women, but I'm an epidural girl. All the way.

Post-epidural labor was great. I ate orange popsicles, took naps, and enjoyed time with Matt. We were so grateful that he could take the weekend off. I couldn't have done it without him. I was nervous, terrified actually, but so excited to finally meet our little boy! The most uncomfortable thing was itchy arms and face (weird epidural side effect) and severe hunger. Of course once I started pushing it was a different story, but you don't want the details on that. Let's just say that after 1.5 hours of pushing, there was a baby! And he was mine! It was so surreal. They placed him on my chest and I was overwhelmed by the love and protectiveness that I immediately felt. And don't even get me started on the emotions of seeing Matt holding him for the first time. Watching my husband become a father was one of the most perfect moments of my life. I have never been so happy and grateful! Thus begins our life as "Scott, party of three."

Remember that time when we went to DC?

Our spring break to trip to the DC area was amazing, and this little post will not to do it justice. But this was months ago and my blog life needs to move on! So here is a quick recap of the rest of our last "pre-baby hurrah."

On our way out to Antietam we stopped for a quick run through of the famous Air and Space museum. Matt was in heaven! 

Bloody Row at the battle of Antietam. The history of these Civil War sites is sobering--we were never really sure how to pose for these pictures. It felt strange to smile in a place where such horrible things had happened. This was a fun day though! We met up with a couple of Houston friends who just happened to be in the area, and Matt played "tour guide"as he explained some key points of the battle.

After Antietam we said goodbye to our friends and drove to Gettysburg. The next day we got an early start and joined the masses of retirees for a morning tour of this enormous battlefield. To be perfectly honest I think I would have been a little bored spending so much time out there if Matt hadn't suggested I read Killer Angels before the trip. It is a historically accurate account of the Battle of Gettysburg, but it reads like a novel. Reading the book helped me to visualize and understand the complexities of the battle, but it also brought the names to life and made the experience much more personable. I highly recommend it!

 That afternoon we drove to Baltimore and enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the wharf after a delicious dinner in Little Italy.

We spent the next morning exploring the city . . .

 . . . and then spent a few hours driving along the Chesapeake Scenic Byway. This drive was something I really wanted to do and Matt was a good sport to agree to more time in the car. I had envisioned a waterfront drive along the bay, but it ended up being mostly farms and fields with a beautiful beach at the end. The landscape was gorgeous though, and I even saw a bald eagle sitting in one of the fields! So I'd say it was definitely worth it.

After Baltimore we drove back to DC and we spent our last couple of days running around the city and seeing as much as we could!

Library of Congress

Capitol Building

US Botanical Gardens 

Symphony Concert

Ford Theatre

We also went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and did a quick run-through of the National Gallery of Art. This was the perfect trip for us and we really tried to appreciate the luxury of doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, knowing that once the baby comes things will be much more complicated!