Splish Splash Max was takin' a bath....

Baby Max had the best day ever with his girlfriend Natalie. She is only a little older than him and they play together so well. We were two tired mommies today, but with our bouncing babies and some mommy mojo we made it happen. Kelly is such a wonderful mother and I love being with them!

Blessed days like these are what dreams are made of. And it is my dream for Max to have a clean baby bootie all the time. Sounds like a win, win to have happy, clean babies, huh! Love that.....Heck, I just loved this day!

Sweet little Maximilian's updates include:

He slides down the baby slide at the park all by himself. He dives face first like superman....yikes!

He knows how to put the lid back on a water bottle. I was very surprised to see him turn the lid around to screw it on correctly.

He gives french kisses to boys and girls with his mouth open. He also helps himself to food out of his friends' mouths....even if they were planning on swallowing and keeping it for themselves.

He sits in his own little chair that has his name monogrammed on it. It's a fun game him and Marc play. "Go get in your chair!" And Max runs back and forth from his chair to his toys.

He says a lot more words. A few that I heard this week include up, blueberries, i love you, and kitchen.

If your cocktail needs a little stir, he does that with his entire fist. Then he will proceed to feed you ice cubes--even if you are wearing a beautiful dry clean only suit and you don't want your cranberry drink to spill on your front.

He climbs three flights of steps in less than a minute. This has become a daily ritual because he loves it so much and it wears him out.

He has 11 or 12 teeth, 3 of which are molars.

When he wants milk he rips off my shirt--regardless of where we are.

He cleans his air jordan basketball shoes in the toilet.

He falls about 3000 times a day and manages to get away with only about ten bruises on his knees and shins.

He growls when I take his pacifier away.

He gives lots of hugs and wraps his arms tight around my neck. He is the center of our world......xoxo

Dallas Cowboys 50th Anniversary Alumni Reunion

Cowboys and DCC alumni from the past 50 years took the field during the half time performance in the game against the Eagles on Sun. Not only did I get to see the new Cowboys stadium for the first time, but I got to groove on the turf with ring of honor legends Roger Staubach and Randy White....just to name a couple. It truly was an honor to be there!

The weekend began with a trip to "the ranch" where baby Max got to hang out in the Cowboys Cheerleaders' locker room. He clearly loved it as you can tell. Regina and her kids were barking like a dog to get Max's attention for this picture. It had been a long time since I danced for hours on end in that studio, and it was definitely a new dynamic to walk in there with my baby. Like any good mom, I had my son's future in mind when we snapped that shot....bragging rights!

Sat. night we had a lovely dinner at Mi Cocina where I had a blast catching up with my old buddies and making friends with girls I had never even met before. It's so few and far between to be a part of this elite club limited to a number in the 500's. If you think about it, that is a very low number compared to all the girls in the world who would love to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.

I especially love making friends with girls that cheered way before me because they have the best stories about the DCC history. We could compare notes for hours on how things have changed! None of us can believe how small the girls' poms are today. The girls from the 70's think we had it soooo easy in the 90's with a smaller version of the biggest poms. But now, we all agree that the current cheerleaders have such a light, fluffy sparkle in their hands that they hardly qualify as poms.

You may wonder what the big deal could possibly be. Cheerleaders have been carrying poms in their hands for years while they danced and maybe size does not matter. But the truth is that size is everything in the sport of cheerleading. When you are dancing for hours night after night in training camp and can't feel your numb arm muscles because they are so tired, it would mean the world to be able to drop a pom or at least have one a fraction of the size. So yeah, we compare notes about every little detail of every single change from then til now and it is fascinating!

We spent the whole entire day on Sunday at the brand new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. That arena is so crazy/huge and could be its own city. When you look up at the big screen, you are certain the ball could fly in your face if a player doesn't catch it. High definition on the movie theatre above the field puts that old jumbo-tron at Texas Stadium to shame. According to Texas standards, if it's bigger, it must be better, right! You can see the cheerleaders so clearly that they better not forget to pluck an eyebrow or they might look lopsided!

My favorite part of the whole entire weekend was at the end of our half time show. As I walked off the field, I took some moments to focus on the fans and remember my own experience as a DCC. It has been over a decade, but the memories came back as if it were yesterday. I looked at the celebratory uproar and soaked it all in. I just waved and waved and waved. And smiled of course. And waved. And waved.....

And when I walked back into that tunnel for the last time that weekend, I had tears in my eyes. I honestly could not believe I was so lucky to be there. It was a rare opportunity to enjoy the moment that I may not have done when I was a cheerleader. It's such a different experience at this point in my life.

I'm not a person full of regrets. I believe we live and learn, and if we make mistakes that somehow shapes us to be a better person in the future. But if I had to do it again, I would have done something differently. I would have taken out school loans and quit all my jobs to enjoy being a cheerleader in college. It would have been more than worth it to be one of America's Sweethearts for another year or two while furthering my education. It sucks that I have always been so fiscally aware and financially responsible!

Oh well, at least I still get to enjoy being a cheerleader with the alumni every few years. I can hear the tune in my head right now...."We are family!"

Art Rebels

My friend Emme had the BEST 30th birthday party this weekend. We went to Art Rebel art studio for a most extraordinary obsessive compulsive painting party. And we had more than a hangover to show for our good time the next day!

This party consisted of body painting, speed doodling, dancing, spin art, and did I forget to mention NAKED body painting???.....Ahahaha!!! It was a paint party extravaganza! The night began rather calmly when we painted the studio-length community canvas. But the night ended in an all out paint fight, and let's just say that the paint won that competition.

Believe it or not, the naked body painting was NOT my favorite part. Don't get me wrong. I didn't mind painting the chiseled abdominals on the oh so generous volunteer. I mean, what was I supposed to do? Focus on his foot? Uhhh, no thanks! But as much as I didn't mind outlining Patrick's abs with blue and green, there were so many other aspects of this evening that made it one of a kind.

Spin art was my favorite. I wanted to sit at the spin art machine all night long, but didn't want to be a hog about it. I love love loved dropping different colors of paint into the squares and was fascinated at the way the paint splattered to the outer edged of the picture. I'm still amazed that you get concentric circles and streaks simultaneously by dropping paint onto the moving paper. When can I do spin art again? I am ready!!!

Gosh, it's too bad we couldn't all be as creative as Emme on our 30th birthdays. Most of us spend a ton of money on a night that ends up blending in with so many other fabulous nights out. But not this girl. She entered her 30's with a bang. And all of her friends got to wake up with a few masterpieces that we got to bring home. I am so happy we were part of her celebration!!!

This is my favorite picture of the night. I really love all these girls. I've known Paisley and Renee for over a decade and just became friends with Emme this year. You can tell that we are having the best time being art rebels together!

Halloween Monkey Kisses

Happy Halloween! All weekend we are reminded of our own childhood joys of dressing up in homemade costumes and trick or treating all over the neighborhood. And we can't help but remember the sorrow of having our parents throw away all the candy. And the joy of having an extra secret stash that they didn't know about. And the sorrow of eating so much sugar that we had to vomit.

It probably wasn't necessary to eat the entire trash bag full of candy in one night. Just thinking about it gives me a simultaneous sugar high and low....I do not know how we were physically able to tear open hundreds of wrappers and shove that many nerds, reeses, and tootsie pops into our mouths in one sitting. In my old age (early 30's) I've graduated from binging on sweet confections to getting a head ache after a single peanut butter cookie. And I'm simply unable to resist the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. It has become rebellious of me to eat two whole cookies.

Contesting how much junk food I can ingest on Oct. 31 is not the only thing that has changed for me this halloween. Now all I care about it my little monkey. Seeing him at the park with his friends yesterday was the most precious thing in the entire world. All the mommies were eager to show off their little ghosts and goblins. Whether it was a lobster, farmer, or angel in tow, you can bet it was stinkin' cute.

As an outsider looking in, I probably would have thought that we were a bunch of nutball mommies torturing their little ones by forcing them to wear ridiculous outfits. However, I was on the inside all the way and loving every minute. Nothing could have been more normal and natural than staring at our little pumpkins.

Ballerina Calli was leaning in for a kiss, and Monkey Max decided to chew on some keys rather than reciprocate his lady friend's affection. Silly monkey....happy halloween!

Happy Birthday Nori!

My friend Nori is one of the very few people that reads my blog, so I'd like to take a second to tell her happy birthday from Max and me. In Nori's honor, Max got his 2nd tooth today! Yep, that's right folks! My baby boy has two bottom teeth now. He's so timely to get this tooth on his Aunt Nori's birthday!

We went on a little birthday hike this weekend to celebrate Nori's special day. Lucky for us, she was able to break away from an Emmy Awards filled weekend for some exercise and food. It's so great that my friends and I all love birthday hikes. Don't tell anyone but those are our favorites!

While we were gone hiking, Marc was busy cooking breakfast burritos for a small group of friends that came over. I am super spoiled with my own personal chef. He had been cooking in the kitchen for over an hour to make sure everything was perfect for us when we got to the house. It was delicious and fun catching up with friends.

There was even more excitement on this weekend's agenda. Max made his Hollywood debut by appearing in a webisode of Bitter Waiter. He was a natural. It was a favor to his Aunt Kristi that we helped that production. They are a talented bunch of awesome people! I'm so glad we were able to be a part of it for my magnificent friends!