Recommendations
After enjoying so much all the suggestions I received in response to my request, I thought I’d share the gems that we’ve come across in and around Austin. So here are my Top 5 Specialty Stores/Services for all things baby/toddler & Top 10 for Education/Entertainment of the little ones. Enjoy! Please do share your favorites in the comments!!
Specialty Stores/Services
1. Austin Baby Store and the Sling Library
Austin Babywearers
When: 2nd Wed of the month, 10:30am – 12:00pm
Where: 701 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704
Description: Learn about babywearing and meet with other babywearers at this informal group. Extensive baby carrier library available for trial and check out. For more information and updates, please join Austin Babywearers at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/austinbabywearers/ No RSVP required; free. (And of course, babies welcome!)
This group is really awesome. Definitely recommended if you are new to babywearing, wanting to try something before you buy or just speak to some really seasoned babywearers! Thanks, Laura, for introducing me to the group!
2. Baby Earth
If you love the stuff you can only find online for your baby/toddler but don’t want to pay shipping or want to check it out in person before purchase, hurry over to Baby Earth in Round Rock (near the outlet malls). They sell some really awesome stuff that you can’t normally find in a store because they’re an internet store that just so happens to be in our neck of the woods! Helpful, friendly staff, too (but limited in-store hours).
3. Family Connections’ Family Place Library (aka the toy library)
The Family Place Library contains children’s books and educational toys; books on child development for child care professionals and books on parenting; resources for parents and child care professionals.
I haven’t been going much since I have 3 “babies” and an abundance of toys, but when I had just one, I loved going down to the toy library and trying stuff out. Plus, it was a cool place to hang out and meet other moms.
This awesome maternity & nursing boutique was one of my favorite places to hang out as a new mom. The staff are so sweet & helpful and couldn’t be more supportive & informative regarding breastfeeding. Their products are on the pricey side, but of good quality. And the bonuses include a nursing room, a scale to weigh your baby and plenty of knowledgeable staff to get you just what you need (including nursing bra fittings).
I also want to give a shout out to my friend, Laura Nattinger, who offers childbirth education, professional labor assistance, and postpartum/breastfeeding support. She is a DONA-certified birth doula & a La Leche League leader. She was our childbirth educator and though we didn’t use her as a doula, I know she’d be awesome!
DRIVE -THRU ADDITIONS:
And just because it’s so convenient, here are a couple really handy drive-thrus.
You can reserve books on-line and pick them up in the drive thru the next day!!
2. Great American Storage/USPS
Eliminate the challenges of getting your children AND your packages into the post office and just drive-thru the fully licensed (meaning no additional fees) Post Office!
Education/Entertainment
1. Catechisis of the Good Shepherd Atrium (Austin)
There are several parishes in the Austin area that have an atrium (St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Louis, & St. William’s for sure). We are new to CGS so I don’t know how it works as far as dropping by (Sharon, maybe you could speak to this?) but after touring the one at St. William’s at a parents’ info session, I was completely smitten! There is a little altar section that is just like Church only preschool-sized – it’s adorable!
2. Capital Gymnastics (Austin)
There is a gym a couple blocks from our house that has open gym days regularly for $5 per child. It is a fun, cool (aka not out in the TX heat), fairly inexpensive way for the kiddos to run off some steam.
3. Sprinkler Parks – Brushy Creek & Champion Park (Cedar Park), Robin Bledsoe Park (Leander)
All free. All fun. Personally, I think I like Champion Park the best for 3 & under. It is smaller, less crowded and has less dramatic bursts of water. The one in Leander is quite a drive for us, but is a good size, too and gated, which is helpful.
4. Elgin Pumpkin Festival & Christmas Tree Farm (Elgin)
So far, we have made this a family tradition for the Pumpkin Festival. Helps us get in the spirit of the season amidst the sweltering heat (and it is definitely still HOT in October). We haven’t been out at Christmastime since we decided not to purchase a live tree because we go home (to Nebraska for Christmas) and don’t want to leave a live tree in the house or throw it away before Christmas day. Surprisingly, the fake tree is actually really nice and with an evergreen scented candle, I can hardly tell a difference! Check out our video here and enjoy the Christmas photos that JR put up last night! Slowly but surely, we will get the photos updated . . .
5. Sweet Berry Farms (Marble Falls)
We’ve never actually been here, but it comes highly recommended and I am hoping to get there eventually. There was a strawberry farm near my home growing up and I have fond memories of going to pick strawberries at Pine Crest Farms (who also ran Red Cross swimming lessons in the summer & sold Christmas trees in the winter & is now a Bed & Breakfast!).
CORRECTION: Well, I guess the memories are there, but the details are not! According to my mom, I picked strawberries at Martin’s Fruit and Berry Farm (about 1 mile north of 14th and Agnew Road) not Pine Crest–they only grow trees!
6. Zilker Zephyr (Park Train) (Austin)
The girls & I enjoyed this train ride when Great Aunt Jo came to visit. It was quite charming with a wonderful view of Ladybird Lake & downtown Austin.
7. Austin Nature & Science Center (Austin)
Again, we haven’t tried it yet but it comes highly recommended from our friends the Nattingers (see Trinity Childbirth above), especially for homeschoolers.
8. McKinney Falls State Park (Austin)
We have camped twice now at McKinney Falls and had a great experience. Best advantage – within the Austin city limits & pretty falls. Drawbacks – no swimming beach or swimming area good for little ones & a pretty pathetic playscape.
9. Bastrop State Park (Bastrop)
We have also camped twice at Bastrop State Park (both times following the Pumpkin Festival) and it was awesome. We did the primitive camping, which was totally worth the effort to be “lost” in the woods and all on our own. The Lost Pines are beautiful and provide plenty of opportunity for exploring for the girls. The drawback is that it has no natural water sources for swimming (though there is a small lake for fishing). It does have a pool, however, it didn’t seem right to be primitive camping and hike over to the pool (which I guess is why we’ve only gone in October/November)!
10. Cabela’s (Buda)
Have to give a shout out to Cabela’s out of hometown pride. Their founders are from Nebraska and the headquarters are there, too. They have a very impressive stuffed animal collection (and I mean stuffed as in dead and taxidermied) from all over the world as well as a large aquarium of local fish. We make it a usual stop on the way to & from San Antonio.
Suggestions?
So there are a few things for the summer that I have been wanting to research, but haven’t found the time. I thought I’d throw them out here and see if I could find any shortcuts from our local readers. Do you have any suggestions for the following in and around Austin?
1. Swim Lessons – I’m thinking of starting Livy in swim lessons and wondered if anyone knew of a quality place for a great price. One friend told me the key is making sure the child will have the same instructor through the entire course (in a 2-week session I assumed that was a given!). Any other tips?
2. “Big Girl” Activities – Now that Livy is older, I’m looking for some places to go that are more fun for a preschooler and if possible, also doable with a double stroller 
. . . something educational, cultural, or just plain fun. 
3. Community Pool Membership – I’m thinking of getting a pool membership for the summer so the girls & I have a place to cool off and they learn to be comfortable in the water. I know some of the neighborhood pools are open to non-residents for a fee. In order to take them myself, though, it’d have to be a fairly small baby pool, preferably gated and ideally with a sprinkler park or playscape attached. I think the sloped entrance ones are too much for me on my own. Oh, and again I”m looking for a good deal! Anything like that out there?
4. Family Day Activities – JR is thinking about taking a few Fridays off over the summer and we are looking for fun things to do on our “Daddy Days.” What family activities have y’all enjoyed most?
5. Photo Shoot – We have been taking our own pictures of the girls (instead of doing studio portraits) and are always looking for good place to take pictures. Seems they turn out best outdoors, but I’d be interested in trying some indoor shots if there are places with good backgrounds & good lighting.
6. Children’s Hair Salon – I think we are finally going to cut Livy’s hair. She’ll be 3 1/2 in a couple weeks and her hair is getting pretty unmanageably long (& hot). Where have you gotten your little girls’ hair cut? She is a little nervous about it since she’s never had a haircut and I’d like to make it a special day for her & I – one of our first Mama/Daughter outings.
For those not in the Austin area, feel free to chime in with whatever works for you and I will look into whether or not we have that here.
TIR: Lonestar Finish
The end is in sight, for both the race and the story. I had finished up my third leg around 7 AM and after some breakfast I felt pretty good. Not that I had any trouble waking up thanks to my cold shower that morning. But now it was time to zip around Houston in the active van while my teammates ran. Because of the staggered start times we had caught up to a lot of teams so there was a lot more going on at the transition points. The governors team couldn’t have been too far behind us because I actually saw him at one stop. He seemed in pretty good spirits and was happily taking pictures with a lot of people. While walking around at that stop, I ran into the wife of one of my teammates whom I had met a couple of days prior. She was running on another team so we chatted a little bit about how the race was going. Then she asked, “Do you have some BodyGlide I can borrow?” Now, I don’t expect you to know what BodyGlide is because I didn’t before preping for this race, but basically it is a anti-chafing balm that looks like a stick of deodorant. I responded, “Errh, sure <nervous smile>” and I tried to figure out the socially acceptable thing to do as we walked to the van. Luckily, there were some other people at the van. Instead of grabbing my BodyGlide, which I knew exactly were it was, I asked if anyone had some that she could borrow. Another male teammate, who knew her much better than I did stepped out from behind the van door. “You want to borrow BodyGlide?” he said with a bewildered look. “Yeah”, she responded. Then he asked the question that I couldn’t bring myself to ask. “You know where I use it, right?” I stood there awkwardly. “Yeah” she replied again. He looked at her as he tried to make sense of her response. “No, you know where I use it, right?” he asked again, to which she replied, “Yes.” You could see the wheels in his head trying to logically explain how she could answer yes and really know where he meant. At this point she, showed us her inner thigh which was raw and close to the point of out right bleeding. It looked really painful and I could then at least begin to understand her request. Fortunately, our one female teammate had joined us by that point and volunteered her stick and ended the awkward drama.
The rest of the morning was relaxed and enjoyable. I think there was one more transition to the rest van, but there was no point in trying to sleep at this point. I was excited about my last leg, which was 3.3 miles. I had run pretty hard on my first three legs and the previous one hurt, but I was planning on really dropping the hammer on this last one. 3.3 miles? That’s a warm up for a guy like me. As Matt came into sight, I got into position to run with him the last 20 yards to the exchange to make for a smooth transition. And by “getting into position”, I mean jumping out of the porta-potty like Superman flew out of a phone booth. Apparently the lady moderating this exchange point took her job very seriously and yelled at me as we ran through the “official” transition area of about 3 feet marked off in sidewalk chalk. We did hand off in the “official” zone, so I didn’t look back. It was about noon by now and it was sunny and hot. I hadn’t worn a shirt for any of my runs and on this one I could really feel the sun. I felt good though and I blazed through the first mile at an aggressive pace. There weren’t any runners around at this point and it was just a suburban neighborhood so there wasn’t much to it other than just running. The second mile hurt. I started to realize this wasn’t going to plan. Usually when I’m tired I check my watch a lot, but I didn’t need my GPS watch to tell me how slow I was going at this point. With about 3/4 mile out from the transition my teammate Rich was standing on the side and he asked me how it was going. All I could muster was, “bad”. I don’t know if he knew how bad I meant. I was beaten. Physically and mentally. If I would have been out there on my own, I wouldn’t have been walking; I would have been sitting. Luckily this was a team event, because Rich hopped out in front of me and paced me in. I know it was all mental, but it totally worked and I finished it. A few dry heaves as I walked to the van indicated that I had pushed it hard enough. In the end my average time was pretty close to my other legs.
4th Leg complete. Distance: 3.3 miles. Time: 25:31. Pace 7:45.
However, that wasn’t the end of the race. There was still one leg left, but there was no pressure. We were all just doing it for fun. Except that in the last few legs we knew that we would be close to finishing in under 24 hours. Luckily the anchor leg was assigned to the only Ironman on the team, Noel. Yes, she was the only female in this group of sweaty stinky guys and yes, she is an Ironman. Needless to say she pulled it off with 9 minutes to spare.
Total time: 23:51 Total Distance: 203.2 miles
So we did break the 24 hour mark and we ended up finishing 7th overall. Yeah, overall. The average pace was 7:03 per mile! Did I mention these guys were fast? And in case you were wondering, we beat the governor’s team by about an hour and a half.
The finish was at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. They had a pizza, soda, and sports drinks for us which we took over and ate by the reflecting pool as we reflected on the race. Our rest van crew had a surprise for us which was a cooler full of beverages. They had some high end selections, however feeling like I just earned my Texas citizenship I opted for the 16 oz. can of the “National Beer of Texas“.
Finally. The end of the story. Or is it?
Tags: running
Gallup finds More Americans “Pro-Life” Than “Pro-Choice”
PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42% “pro-choice.” This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995. Read the rest here.
Hallelujah!!
Sponsor Olivia in the TAL Walk for Life
Once again, Olivia is gearing up for the annual Texas Alliance for Life Walk. This year she can actually do the whole Walk herself (2 miles) and her sisters will be joining her in their stroller. The Walk will take place Saturday, June 6th at the Quarries in Austin. To sponsor her with a one time, tax-deductible donation, click here: Sponsor a Walker. You can make a donation right away using your credit card or make a pledge to be billed later. To join the fun and participate as a walker, click here: Walker Registration. Either way, I hope you will support this worthy cause. Olivia will be walking with hundreds of Texans from dozens of churches to promote the Culture of Life and to raise funds for life-saving programs and agencies in the Austin community. 100% of the proceeds will support peaceful, legal efforts by Texas Alliance for Life to protect mothers and children and to promote respect for all human life. To learn more about them, visit their home page here: Texas Alliance for Life. All donations are tax deductible. Thanks for your support!
This is our 4th year participating in the Walk and I have my eye on the 4 tickets to the TAL Family Safari Day!! Will you help us get there??
Incentives for Walkers
* $200 — Walk 2009 T-Shirt.
* $500 — TAL Commuter Mug
* $1,000 — 4 tickets to the TAL Family Safari Day at the Texas Disposal Systems Exotic Game Ranch in Creedmore (20 minutes south of downtown Austin)
* $2,000 — TAL Duffle Bag OR 2 tickets to TAL’s 2009 Annual Benefit Dinner on Thursday, October 22, featuring abortion survivor Gianna Jessen
* $4,000 — 4 tickets to TAL’s 2009 Annual Benefit Dinner
* $6,000 — Table for 10 at TAL’s 2009 Annual Benefit Dinner
Small Successes (vol. 1)
Faith & Family has a regular Thursday meme called Small Successes. They describe it as follows:
It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that.
This week I decided I’d join in. So here are my small successes for the week of Mother’s Day . . .
1. I left all 3 girls with friends on Monday (as part of a babysitting co-op we’re starting) for 3 hours! Granted, I had to return half way to feed Violet, but still we spent a good chunk of time apart. I went for a run for the first 35 minutes, returned to my friend’s house to shower & feed Violet and then went off to an Adoration Chapel to say a rosary and sit in *blessed silence* for a bit. Very refreshing.
2. I started reading real books!! Last time I went to Confession, the priest gave me an unusual penance (usually I get something pretty standard like ’say 3 Hail Marys’). But this time, Father said I should read the book Return of the Prodigal Son. So I “had” to order it online and when it came the other day I “had” to read it! Thankfully, it is a short, easy read since I haven’t gotten through many books lately! And it is also a lovely reflection on Rembrandt’s painting of the same title (obviously taken from the biblical story). Fr. Nouwen has many words of wisdom to share about both the younger son & the older son (I see myself in each of them). I plan to read his reflection on the role of the Father tonight – I forgot how wonderful it is to be lost in a book!!! I’m so glad I decided to order 3 books to get free shipping.
3. While the babies were napping yesterday, Olivia and I baked homemade biter bisquits for Violet. They didn’t turn out that great, but Olivia was so proud to have made something for her sister. And delighted to be working in the kitchen with me. She must’ve said “I like cooking with you, Mama” a dozen times. And for the 16 minutes while they baked, we sat & read books, just me & my big girl. It was a beautiful thing – just what we each needed.
Breakfast Taco Recipe
A couple weeks ago, I was responsible for providing breakfast tacos (read why here). Aubrey asked for the recipe and even though you’ve probably forgotten all about them by now, they are so yummy, I thought I’d take the time to type up the recipe so all you northerners, especially, could enjoy a little TexMex for breakfast sometime!
I adapted the “Country Egg Scramble” recipe from Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook. I’ll include detailed instructions, but for you cooking pros, you basically just fill a tortilla with cheese, scrambled eggs & bacon.
Breakfast Tacos
Prep: 5 min, Cook: 10 min, Assemble: 5 min
Makes 8 tacos.
6 Large eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 T. margarine or butter
1/2 cup sliced green onions
8 flour tortillas (6 in. – the bag might say “fajita-size”)
2 cups Mexican flavored shredded cheese (we used Kraft’s “Taco Cheese”)
8 slices bacon, crisply cooked & crumbled (crumbling optional)
1. Beat eggs, milk, salt, and pepper with fork or wire whisk until a uniform yellow color.
2. Melt butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onions 1 minute, stirring constantly.
3. Pour egg mixture into skillet. As mixture begins to set at bottom & side, gently lift cooked portions with spatula so that thin, uncooked portion can flow to bottom. Avoid constant stirring. Cook 3 to 4 minutes or until eggs are thickened throughout but still mosit.
4. Assemble breakfast tacos by laying out tortillas and sprinkling a line of cheese down the center. Top with scrambled eggs & sprinkle with bacon. Depending on the quality & freshness of your tortillas, it may improve your taco to heat it 20-30 seconds in the microwave. Roll up & serve warm (or wrap in tin foil for transporting to work). Serve with salsa or Tabasco sauce to your liking.
Enjoy!!
Alternative: Many breakfast tacos are served with cubed, boiled potatoes. I find it is a lot of extra work for “filler” but if you need something a little heartier (and cheaper), by all means add them!
Having a Baby
Olivia has gotten especially creative lately with her imaginary play. Yesterday, I overheard the following:
“Okay, Molly, you can be Dr. Guerrero (our pediatrician) & I’ll be the nurse.”
They got out the doctor kit and were happily playing. Apparently, it turned out Olivia was going to have a baby. At that point I heard:
“Do you see the baby sticking out there (pushing her belly out)? She wants to come out and be with her mommy.”
Molly seemed to be losing interest at this point, to which Olivia encouraged her:
“Don’t worry, Molly, after you get the baby out, you can have a party, okay?”
So Molly handed Livy a doll to which Livy responded:
“That’s not the baby I wanted!”
They seemed to work it out, however, because the next thing I knew I heard them singing Happy Birthday to the new baby. The party that followed was also quite elaborate and lasted a good 20 minutes! They even had to run to HEB (our local grocery) for a pink & purple cake to celebrate the arrival of their new baby named Violet (of course!).
At some point, I also heard this from Livy:
“Only God puts babies in the mommy’s tummy, Molly – only God can take them out!”
Marathon Plans
I know I left things up in the air with my marathon plans. Well, there is good news! I’ve gotten registered and we have hotel reservations. If you’ve been keeping up with things you’ll know that it isn’t for the Lincoln Marathon which was last weekend. For this one we’ll be heading to Omaha. The Omaha Marathon is Sept. 27, so mark your calendars. September will work much better logistically for a bunch of reasons. I have to take two weeks of vacation in Q3. The new Lyons will have been delivered by then. And right now is definitely not a good time for me to be taking time off from work. At work we’re in the home stretch of a major software release and the days have definitely gotten longer. Plus it gives me five more months of training. OK, so I was really ready for Lincoln after passing on the Austin marathon. It’s gonna take some mental toughness to continue training at 35+ miles a week for another five months and some physical toughness to do it through the blistering Texas summer. I am taking a little time off from training here in May while work is crazy. I’m only running about 20 miles a week which is just enough to keep me sane.
The girls are excited about the trip, especially seeing the new Lyons baby. They’ve already decided on their accommodations and have reservations at the Downtown Embassy Suites. Besides having a suite room and all the amenities, the hotel is also located right off the marathon course at mile 7 and 14 which makes it ideal. I’m sure we’ll also be visiting Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo (I’ll be going twice since the course cuts through the zoo).
So I’m registered and we’ve got hotel reservations. Now the only thing to do is to get a new pair of running shoes. By the time I actually run my first marathon, I’ll be close to having put in enough miles to have run from Austin to Omaha and back.
Tags: running
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