Vegas Baby

Near the resort where Mark got married.. huge homes.
Mark and Liz getting married and back of Jennifer's head

Alex and I got back from Las Vegas on Sunday. As is typically the case, we were both dead tired when we got back as we had been up very late on Saturday and up early Sunday to catch our flight. We were there to see my friend Mark, from my KSN days, get married. It was at a resort in Lake Las Vegas, about 15 miles south of the strip. We left Friday afternoon and had dinner with Mark's (the groom) other friends and family at a restaurant near the resort. Alex and I not only got to hang out with Mark, but also my friend, Jason, and his partner, Tim. It was a great time! I miss Jason and Mark so much. We used to have a lot of fun together. Jason has promised to send me the pictures he took of all of us. The ones above are from Alex's camera phone b/c I forgot to bring mine. After the dinner, we gambled at a resort casino nearby and slept in Saturday morning! How lovely that was!! Saturday, I had scheduled a couples massage for Alex and me. It was truly awesome.. one of the best we've ever had and that's saying something b/c we get them semi-frequently. We hung out by the pool and relaxed, shopped and got ready for the wedding. The wedding was beautiful. I had forgotten what a truly great writer Mark is. He now writes for the TV show Extra. His wedding vows were to die for, what every girl would want to hear! I think many of us were choked up. Another friend from KSN, Jennifer, and her husband, James, were also at the wedding. It was great to see them as well. We ate, danced, and even watched a party crasher get kicked out! The funniest part was much later in the night. We went to the Planet Hollywood Casino on the strip as a group. Planet Hollywood is one of the newer, hipper, younger casinos. Girls in garterbelts and not much else were elevated and dancing between the craps and poker tables. Mark's wife had gotten us all in free, with no waiting in line and with bottle service (so Hollywood) to this super hip club at the casino. It was awesome people watching as we don't go to places like that typically. In fact, the first time I was in Vegas in '97, there was only one club like this. Now there is one at all of the newer casinos. It's crazy there. Of course, there were more scantily clad women dancing high above the crowds, lots of pumped in smoke, crazy lighting and dancing. There were also tons of security/bouncer people acting like the secret service.. so funny. The best was that a female weightlifter convention was in town! There were so many EXTREMELY masculine-steroided out women walking around with hardly anything on. It was horrifying and awesome people watching all at the same time. A club like that is SO NOT LIKE MARK, who barely sips on a cocktail ever, but it is important to soak up the Vegas experience when you go there. It was such a good time. I really wanted to hang out with my friends for a few more days, but we came back and the best part was, I got to see Solomon. He had been with my parents and we really, really missed him. He missed us too b/c he wouldn't even think about taking an afternoon nap, he just wanted to hang with us. It's good to be home. Hopefully, I'll post more pictures soon!

Week between weeks

Before I forget, I posted some new/newish photos.  Some are of our family reunion early last month from Alex's camera, that he just never processed and also the ones he took of Solomon's birthday last week. I love the photo above of Solomon and Lauren hugging. It's so sweet.

Family Reunion: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun13

Solomon's 1st b-day: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun12

So this past week and this week are just the two weeks between Solomon's b-day and our short trip to Las Vegas. My friend, Mark, is getting married just outside of Vegas at Lake Las Vegas on Saturday. He and I met when I worked at KSN and we've always just kept in touch. He came to Wichita for my wedding and we will go to his. It should be a good time. It's very quick and we're leaving Solomon with my parents for the weekend.  It should be a lot of fun to get away and see a few friends I haven't seen for a while.

Alex and I mostly spent this past weekend catching up. We installed the new carseat that I had to get, due to being rear-ended a few weeks ago. I did some yardwork, went on a bike ride, etc... On Friday night, Alex and I went to Brett and Abby's house for a while and Saturday afternoon, Solomon and I went to Sara and Shane's while the guy's worked at Beerfest.  Our kiddos napped half of the time and we chatted and watched TV. Sara and Shane are as crazy about Notre Dame Football as I am with KU Basketball, so it was fun to watch Sara.  Alex watched a documentary about a guy who lived among grizzly bears on Saturday night. I did the usual thing where I try to watch, but fall asleep a mere 10 minutes in. 

My parents bought Solomon a swingset for his b-day so they put it together this past week and Solomon is REALLY enjoying swinging in it. In fact, he usually get svery upset when it's time to get out. :(  It's fun to watch him giggle in it though.

Solomon is ONE!!

Solomon turned the big O-N-E yesterday! I REALLY can't believe it. It's been such a fast year with so many changes. He's such a sweet little kiddo and we're so lucky to have him. We had his birthday party on Saturday. A lot of family and a few friends attended. All in all, I think we had about 35 people, so our house was super full, but it was a lot of fun. My mom and sister made the special monkey cake you see pictured and some extra special cupcakes.. just ask me later about the humor I found in those... :) Solomon raked in tons of good clothes and toys. It was so fun to open fun stuff like toys and little clothes. Plus, he got some money for his college fund which we all know is the best.. at least it will be in 18 years when it costs an unimaginable amount for college. Let's just hope he gets a huge scholarship! Also, that's my nephew, Sam, playing Happy Birthday on the fiddle. It was such a treat. :) I'll post some video and other pictures once we get them loaded.

A couple of the other pictures are from our photo shoot last week. Alex took some photos of Solomon and a quick family picture as well. Solomon was so sleepy so we felt so lucky to get a few good ones.

My friend Amy and her husband Jeff stopped by last weekend as well to drop off a gift for Solomon since they couldn't come to the party. Their little girl Natalie is the one on the couch next to Solomon. It was cute to see them side-by-side. I like how their feet are touching and Solomon's gut is sticking out!

Things I've learned this year:

1. No first time parent ever has ANY earthly idea what they're in for before his or her child is born.


2. You spend half of your time as a new parent trying to get your child to sleep at night and as a result you get very little sleep.


3. Sleep is a cornerstone to my sanity, therefore explaining why I felt insane and outside of myself for most of the first four months of Solomon's life.


4. I used to waste a lot of time doing something, although I'm not sure what because now I get almost everything done, more or less, that I did before and take care of another person.


5. Boogers, poop, pee and puke are bodily fluids/solids that aren't as gross as I used to think.


6. I'm officially an adult.


7. A baby's giggle is almost the sweetest thing in the world.


8. A sleeping baby is even sweeter.


9. Solomon's little face is the sweetest and that makes me very, very lucky.

Our Little Walker

Every time I think to get video of Solomon walking, one of the following happens: he sits down, I can't find the camera, or the camera isn't charged. The clip below is very dark, but it's funny. He likes the guitar, but it reminds me of someone playing a harp.

So much, so little time

So much has happened since my last post! I had such a fun Labor Day weekend. I took last Friday off and got so much stuff done that I never have time to do. I went on a bike ride on my new bike which was so much fun, although a little scary at first b/c it's been so long since I've ridden a bike. Then, I cleaned and played with Solomon. The recycling place wasn't open so that's the one thing I didn't accomplish. My parents came over Friday night and helped us with some house stuff. I finally put the cabinet door kid-proof things on two of the cabinets in the kitchen. I was tired of dealing with Solomon opening them and discovering all kinds of potentially harmful chemicals. He can't get in now and it's one less thing I have to deal with.

Saturday, Alex and I dropped Solomon with my parents and we went to Lawrence. Erin, Cherie and I met up, had lunch, had manis/pedis and some drinks at Free State. It was so much fun to catch up and gossip. Then, Cherie dropped me off at Sol's and Alex and I went to the KU football game. It was sold out, record attendance. We had gotten suite tickets through my job and that was awesome. Afterwards, we hung out with Sol for a bit and headed to Alex's brother/sister-in-law's house. They are always so nice to let us stay with them. We actually slept in until around 9:00! Alex wanted to sleep more, but I made him get up. :) Meanie Kelly.

Sunday was my b-day!!!!!!! We hung out in Lawrence for a while, drove back to Wichita and relaxed a bit.

Monday, I went on another bike ride while Alex took Solomon to a political rally that he didn't end up finding! :) It was soooo incredibly nice out in the morning. We went for dinner to Saigon for my B-day and came back to my house for my favorite, DQ ice cream cake. My mom actually bought the new variety that is topped with reeces pb cups crumbled up... YUMMY.

in other news, Solomon is just changing so much everyday. He is walking all over, across the room and everything. He's doing his best to get into everything. He loves being tickled more than anything else so we do that a lot and while he loves sleeping at home he doesn't at school, so I think he recovers on the days he's home with me.... ahh to be a baby and be able to sleep whenever you want!