13 Months Old

On the 5th, Tate turned 13 months old. What a fun month this has been. The holidays are still somewhat of a blur, but at each occasion we’ve celebrated, I couldn’t help but look at this little boy and be so thankful for the year we’ve had with him. It’s hard to believe that last Christmas he was just three weeks old. This year was lots of fun, and we’re still able to celebrate because our home has turned into Toys ‘R Us!

With a birthday and Christmas in the same month, we went from not that many toys, to welcome to the Strzinek Land of Fun. In fact, I’ve taken some of the older toys and put them away for a few more months.

His big birthday present was an outdoor swing. Sadly, our little 4-year-old trees have a ways to go before they could support a kid on a swing. So, we went with the frame version. Since I’m not the handy one in the family, here is a glimpse into what is sure to be the first of many toys that Wade will put together.

I love that he reads the instructions! That’s a trait we definitely need to pass along to Tate. His wife will thank us one day.

And voila! Wade did a great job putting it together, and Tate absolutely LOVES it! He loves it so much that if we go by the window inside the house and he sees it outside, he’ll throw a small little fit wanting to go swing.



The big Christmas present to Wade…I mean Tate…was a bike carriage. It attaches to the back of Wade’s bike. Tate did not enjoy putting on the helmet at first. But once he was strapped in and riding around, he loved it. I was on my new bike behind them (yes we’re now a full cycling family), and I couldn’t believe how big and grown up he looked.



And yet another Chuck E. Cheese moment at our house is the new ball pit. This was Daddy’s present to Tate. I think I’m saving it for rainy day activities in the house. But, the kid can not get enough. He could play in this thing all day if we let him.

One holiday celebration we had this month was with our friends the Manes and Lamberts. I used to work with the two girls. Now we all try to get together once a month or so. This month we had a holiday brunch at yummy Brio. Before we had even all sat down at the table, Tate had already broken a plate. Needless to say, restaurants seem to get a little more difficult at this age. We’re big fans of Chipotle and Pei Wei, since we can get his food fast. Once he’s eating, he does great. It’s the before and after that are really hard.

Speaking of food and frustration…oh my goodness. I love the fact that he seems to have a little bit of an independent spirit. I really do, but that spirit can just about send me over the edge sometimes. It’s turned into quite the daily battle to see what he will eat. Besides yogurt and anything in the carb/bread family, what he likes and will eat changes every day. As of today, the favorites seem to be pasta, peas, bagels, cheese, mac & cheese, and yogurt, of course. He seems to now detest fruits and meat.

His physical therapy is continuing to go well. It’s a very slow process, but he is showing small improvements. He is getting a little more mobile trying to get on all fours and slide around. In his crib, he’ll pull up on his knees. When we’re in therapy/work mode, he’ll stay up on all fours with assistance and will stand with assistance. We still crack up at his Sit & Spin move. Just picture a kid on the Sit & Spin toy, but without the toy. He’s quite good at the 360 degree turns. So far, the pediatrician and physical therapist are both calling the issue low muscle tone. So we’re working hard at building up those muscles.

As I seem to say every month, he is still quite the talker. I’ve heard him say bird and shoe after repeating me (nobody else was there), but most of his words are still his Tateish. It’s obvious that in his head, he is clearly trying to communicate something. He will look right at you and emphatically “talk” or even pick up a book on his own and “read” it aloud to himself. Too bad we have no idea what he is saying. Here’s a glimpse into some of his noises and the impressive volume that goes along with them.



Right now, he loves to turn the pages of the book we’re reading, play parachute under the sheets on Mommy & Daddy’s bed, take a bath, be tickled, throw anything he can get his hands on, knock over his blocks, do the sign for “please,” watch Macy run around, give you a “kiss” by burying his face into your face, throw a little fit on the changing table during diaper changes, pull off his socks, and play, play, play.

Love him!

Crank That!

I figured I should record this to go back to when I needed a laugh. One of the funniest moments of 2007 had to be the evening that my sister and I decided to learn how to do the Crank That -Soulja Boy dance. Being that neither of us has a ton of rhythm and the fact that she was 8 months pregnant at the time, it was quite a sight.

After about 30 minutes of replaying the instructional video, I think we were turning into quite the Soulja Girls. Yes, the Enright sisters are two wild and crazy gals! And before you ask, there will be no pictures or You Tube videos to prove our impressive skills.

2007: My Year In Books

So this is the first year in I can't remember when (maybe since my Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley High days) that I've had the time and opportunity to really enjoy reading for something other than a test, presentation, or figuring out how to do a job. Here's what my year in books looked like. Don't worry, the baby book theme doesn't last the entire year.

What to Expect the First Year:

• Liked it.


• Helpful month-by-month info.


• Didn't seem to answer all questions.

The Baby Whisperer:

• Liked it, but did skim a lot.


• The most helpful to me was the cycle of eat, awake, sleep.


• Had good tips.

The Happiest Baby on the Block:

• Loved it.


• My favorite book about baby stuff.


• Almost all of the "S's" worked for Tate.


• The whole fourth trimester concept makes a lot of sense to me.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child:

• Liked it.


• Somewhat hard to read because he wrote it from a doctor's perspective.


• But, the sleep training tips were very useful and worked for Tate wonderfully.

To Kill a Mockingbird:

• 2007 New Year's Resolution.


• Had never read it in school and wanted to see what the big deal was.


• Loved it.


• Loved the storyline, characters.


• The Dad was my favorite.


• Even watched the movie. Glad I read the book first.

My Sister's Keeper:

• Loved it.


• Really interesting story.


• Makes you think... a lot.


• Great characters.

Nineteen Minutes:

• Liked it.


• Scary that it could be a true story.


• Somewhat predictable ending.

Plain Truth:

• Liked it.


• Interesting culture to read about.


• Sad story.

The Kite Runner:

• Loved it.


• I went into it thinking the Afghan culture would be too difficult to understand and read about. Not true.


• Totally drawn in to the two main characters. Heart wrenching!


• Made me cry, and books typically don't make me cry.


• Can't wait to see the movie.

A Thousand Splendid Suns:

• Loved it.


• Again, it was easy to become engaged in that culture.


• Learned a lot of recent history that I really didn't know very well.


• Made me sick to my stomach to learn about how some women in other countries are currently treated.


• Heart wrenching as well.

So that about did it. It looks as though my 2008 has started off with a similar theme as last year, except this time it's books about toddlers. Now that I think about it, I guess I still am reading books about how to do a job. Too bad I can't get a raise for that!

2007 Finale

What a fun way to end 2007...with a 42-36 CAL win over the Air Force at the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth.

Don't let this picture fool you. There were actually 40,000+ at the game. In fact, about 39,500 of them were cheering for the Air Force. As we drove to the game, I made my Dad and Wade promise not to be obnoxious "visiting team" fans. I didn't want the crowd revolting on us.

I then became very nervous about what our car ride home would be like when at the end of the 1st quarter, the score was 21-0...not in our favor. It was a little quiet in our quaint cheering section. But, the Bears came back in a big way. (Wow, do I sound all sports talk radio or what!!??)

The game was fun. The cheese nachos were tasty. My gold & blue pom-pom was well utilized.

GO BEARS!

I Need a Vacation

I'm just observing, laughing, getting perspective, and thought I would share. The last 45 days of our lives:

• Thanksgiving #1.
• Kelly's sick with weird throat thing.
• Thanksgiving #2 out of town.
• Tate's birthday party at the house.
• Tate gets stomach bug.
• Wade gets stomach bug.
• Tate turns 1.
• Wade survives company layoffs.
• Kelly does half-marathon.
• Kelly recovers from half-marathon.
• Wade, Kelly, & Tate go out of town to see friends.
• Kelly gets stomach bug.
• Wade gets stomach bug.
• Kelly & Tate go out of town for Baby Morgan's birth.
• Christmas #1 out of town.
• Christmas #2.
• Christmas #3.

In between you can throw in training for the half-marathon, Tate's twice a week physical therapy, Christmas shopping, blah, blah, blah. I haven't been more excited for "normal" in quite some time.

Christmas 2007

The whirlwind of Christmas seems to have finally come to an end. I've always loved this time of year, but this year it seemed to be so fast and furious, it's kind of nice for it to be over.

The festivities began with the first ever visit to see Santa Claus. Taking a 3-week-old to sit in a stranger's lap covered in other kid's germs just didn't seem that appealing last year. But hey, he's 1 now. Germs, scherms.

We weren't sure how Tate would respond. Surprisingly, he didn't have much of a response except wanting to pull on his beard while looking at him like he's the strangest looking person he had ever seen. We were even able to get a little smile out of him for the camera.

Next up was the oh-so-picturesque carriage ride. Several weeks before Christmas, I got it in my head that we must do this. Not sure why, but it seemed to be the ultimate in celebrating the season. Yes, I have officially over hyped something in my head once again. As I walked up with much satisfaction of my family bonding idea, the sign that read carriage rides are...gulp...$30 didn't even detract from my excitement. Considering the ride cost $2 per minute and considering we rode around the square that I've walked around about 100 times before, it was fun. Tate had this wide-eyed look the entire time. Ahhhh, memories!

Then we were off to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family at my sister's house in Temple. Two years ago, my parents had no grandchildren. This Christmas, they have three all under the age of two. Needless to say, it was fun and there were lots of toys!

Here are the Enright cousins with the newest addition, Baby Morgan.

Once it was finally time to open presents, Tate was just about ready for a nap. So, he made it through his stocking, and that was about it.

Such a bummer that her eyes are closed, but this was one our presents to Mallory. She was a hoot walking around while looking down at her Elmos.

Next was Christmas with Wade's side of the family. The love of cycling has spread from son to father. Here's Wade giving the overview of the latest and greatest in air pumps.

Tate was in pretty good spirits most of the day. Since he was the only little one, there was no lack of attention and cuddle time. Here he is with Aunt Tisha.

Tate's latest fascination is people's teeth. Here he is with Mo Mere counting teeth and realizing he has a lot more to go.

And here are the Strzinek cousins, Mary Tish and Trip. They have already proven to be great playmates with Tate, and I predict they will be great babysitters very soon!

And last but not least, here is the portion of Christmas at our house. Tate loved looking and grabbing at the tree and LOVED watching all of Frosty's lights change colors. We are swimming in presents and toys over here, which may be an entire post in itself. I'm running out of steam.

Here's Macy humoring us.

It was a wonderful Christmas. I was reminded day after day of the many blessings surrounding me. Every year, I wish I would slow down a little more and soak in the true meaning for this season.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining.

Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

O night divine, the night when Christ was born;

O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Catching up on tags

Things around here have been a little crazy. Why does this happen every holiday season? Anyway, I was beginning to have blogger's guilt from not responding to some recent tags. So instead of returning e-mails or wrapping Christmas presents, I wrote these. That's dedication, folks. Or just a need for something a little mindless and to get rid of that guilt.
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This is from a tag by Joanna. You're supposed to take each letter of your middle name and come up with a word that describes you. Wow, even with only four letters in my middle name (Erin), I had a hard time coming up with descriptions. Here goes:

E – Emotional. I’m not emotional as in crazy and all over the place. I’m emotional as in I wear my emotions on my sleeve…and on my collar, my buttons, everywhere. At times, I really wish I could change this about myself. If something gets me going in the tears department, there’s no holding back. I can’t stop them. And unfortunately, I don’t really have the sweet, pretty cry. I typically have the face-turns-red-lips-swell-up ugly cry. Wade says my cry stars with the lips first, so at least he has some warning that it’s coming. You can only imagine what raging hormones during my pregnancy did. Good times!

R – Relaxed. I hope this is accurate and I’m not just oblivious. Although after saying how emotional I am, you may wonder. I’d like to think that I have a relaxed and easygoing nature. I like to be adaptable, not too uptight, and ready for whatever life brings.

I – Introvert. In my last job, we took the Myers-Briggs personality test a zillion times. Ever single time, I scored as an introvert with a strong extrovert tendency. My boss and my team were always surprised. For my job as a manger, I had to be an extrovert. Things just worked better that way. But as the test tells you, your true tendency is in regards to what fuels you. For me, that’s downtime and quiet. A good friend once told me that when she first met me, she thought I was snobby. Of course, I was mortified to hear this. Unfortunately, this comes from the introvert side that gets shy and a little self-conscious when meeting new people. I’m glad she told me that, and I try now to be a little more assertive. But if I’m meeting you in person for the first time, help me out some.

N – Neutral. The word I really wanted was objective, but this is the best synonym that starts with an n. I’m sure it drives many of my family and friends crazy, but I’m one of those people that always likes to see the other side of the story. “Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, you never know until you’ve walked in their shoes, etc., etc.” It may not be the answer for world peace, but it just seems to me that we’d all be a little better off if more people would take the time to think from someone else’s perspective. Sorry for the soapbox.

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This tag is from Wade. You're supposed to write 12 random things about Christmas for you. Again, this proved to be a little more difficult than I thought. You can sense the desperation for ideas toward the end.

1. I was one of those kids that searched through the entire house (or my parent’s trunks) to get a sneak peak at my presents. Once I was a little older, I would even try to unwrap the presents under the tree to see what they were and then wrap them back up.


2. I was also the kind of kid that woke up at 3:00 a.m. and ran to the living room (after going in to wake up my sister) to see if Santa had come already. One year, my parents had just finished getting everything wrapped and under the tree and hadn’t even made it to bed yet. Woops.


3. While growing up, the only presents that were under the tree were ones from other relatives (maybe because my parents figured out #1). So Christmas morning was so much fun waking up to see two or three times as many presents. Too bad my dad would make us wait until about 10:00 a.m. to even start opening. Then we would have to open one at a time, so the entire process wasn’t finished until almost lunchtime.


4. One of my all-time favorite presents growing up was when I got my own phone line and my own Garfield phone (hello ‘80s!). I opened the box to discover the phone, which was pretty exciting. But then, I heard a distant ringing in the back of the house. My mom was dialing my new number. I about lost it with excitement.


5. Some close runners-up were the Barbie Cottage, the Cabbage Patch Kid, and even the recycled stereo with a tape player, record player, and 8-track player. I thought I was pretty big time.


6. Our stocking presents were never wrapped. In Wade’s family they wrapped the stocking presents. We’ve decided to go the Strzinek route, and it is pretty fun.


7. As an adult, one of my biggest holiday traditions is the day-after-Christmas sales. I am up bright and early ready for some bargains. I have just about the same route every year: Target, The Container Store, Crate & Barrel, and Pottery Barn (in that order). We have lots of Christmas decorations, and I don’t think I’ve paid full price for any of them.


8. I’m excited to start some traditions with Tate. I want to buy him an ornament and Christmas PJs each year, pick out a Christmas book each year, and eventually have a special “Tate” tree in his room.


9. I love Christmas music. Despite what my husband says (you know what I mean if you read his blog), I could shop in a Christmas-decorated store and listen to Christmas music from October-December.


10. The first Christmas Wade & I spent together as a married couple was memorable. We both had a stomach bug. I have now officially referred to a stomach bug on this blog way too many times.


11. I’m running out of randoms here. I’ve only had one White Christmas, and it was when we were visiting family in Oregon.


12. I hate egg nog.

Welcome to the family!

Introducing my newest niece.....

Morgan Paige

Tate & I made the trek to Temple on Tuesday in time to be there when she was born. Everything went great, and it's hard to believe that my younger sister is a mom of two little girls. I know that Morgan's life will be filled with lots of love...and laughter! I can't wait to find out what her personality will be like and tell her all of the goofy and funny stories about her mom:

• from when I made her let me pick out all of her outfits
• when we played school and I was always the teacher and she was the student
• when we would talk to each other from the bedroom next door with our Cabbage Patch Kid walkie-talkies
• when she didn't like the boy Cabbage Patch Kid she got for Christmas, so I got 2
• when I gave her a bloody nose (I cried more than she did)
• all of the funny moments of "Grumpy Shannon" when she would wake up
• and our fun (we are actually friends) semester @ ACU together

The joys of aunthood! :) If Morgan turns out to be anything like her mom or dad, she'll be a wonderful person to be around full of faith and love. I'm so happy for your new family of four.

Love, Aunt Kelly.

The Latest & Greatest

So, what’s worse than getting the stomach bug for the second time in two months? Getting the stomach bug in the middle of the night three hours from your home in a hotel room. Tate & Wade got round two of the bug a couple of weeks ago, and for some strange reason, it just hit me again while we were in Brownwood overnight. I’m beyond frustrated and bummed that I missed out on a fun day with my friend, Lori, and that we’ll also miss a fun Christmas dinner with friends tonight. I’m now sticking out my tongue and acting like a 4-year-old.

I’m also really beginning to wonder about my immune system. I have been sick more in the past year than probably the past five years combined. I don’t get it…I sleep good every night, take my vitamins, wash my hands. What else is a girl to do?

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In case you just haven’t seen enough pictures of my son on my blog, check out the great photo montage Wade made for Tate’s first birthday. So sweet…yes, I cried.

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As I’ve mentioned before, I love getting the mail. So you can imagine that this time of year is the ultimate season of mail-getting. I love finding out which Christmas cards and photos we’ll get each day. And here’s a little tip. Instead of throwing away all of those great pictures of your family and friends when Christmas is over, cut the picture portion out of the card and then you can put that in a frame, on the fridge, photo album, etc. I have a giant bulletin board up in our family room that is covered with pictures from all of the Christmas cards we’ve received in previous years.

Hopefully I’ll get ours out by this weekend. Even in our pre-baby days, we sent a Christmas card with a family picture. Wade, me, and Macy. Unfortunately, Macy might not make the cut next year. It was tough getting a picture of two smiling adults, one happy baby looking at the camera, and one still dog. It definitely wasn’t the photographer’s fault (she’s great!), but we may simplify the process a little more next year. Sorry Macy!


So to all of the healthy folks with no stomach bug out there, enjoy your evening of holiday parties and fun. Yes, I’m sticking my tongue out again.

Sloooooooooooooooooow and Steady Wins the Race

Well I didn’t quite win the race, or even come close, but I finished! Woo-hoo!!!! Sunday was the big day, and the saying that “if you don’t like the Texas weather, just wait 5 minutes” proved true once again. Saturday – 80 degrees, sunny, warm. Sunday – heavy mist/light rain, windy, cloudy, 40 degrees. Lovely.

The roads were slick and my arms and hands were cold and numb, but I survived. My goal was to finish hopefully by 3:30. I actually finished at 3:26, so I was pleased. Yes, that’s 3 hours and 26 minutes. I walked the entire thing. It didn’t break records by any means, but at least I wasn’t the last one. Whew!

I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad I did it. I’m glad it’s over. Oh, I think I said that already.

And big props to the over-50 crowd! My Dad (on the left sporting the goofy—must be genetic—thumbs up) and his friend, Mark, both ran the half marathon and finished with some impressive times – 2:12 and 1:57. Not bad for a couple of baby boomers.

Also congrats to my friends, Laura and Mike, who finished as well. No pictures, since it was hard to spot them in the crowd of 11,000.

I don’t see another full marathon in my near future (at least until the small children stage of life is over). But, I definitely want to do another half. In fact, my favorite part of the entire race was taking that turn for the half route, while the fools (I mean fulls) had to keep going straight.