Here at Hold the Gluten Please, nothing is off limits. I am a proud mom and wife. I love God, food, wine and movies and I plan on talking about it all.
How old? 19 weeks Likes? Billie Marie, oatmeal, being tickled Hates? I notice that he is starting to get a little bored at night. He does fine with his play stuff during the day, but at night, he is over it. Luckily Christmas is approaching and he will be getting some new stuff to help occupy his time. Milestones this week? He can fully go from his back to his front without any help. I have been watching him struggle for a couple of days now with it. He would almost get there, but not know how to move his arm from under him to be flat on the ground in front of him. It always got stuck and he would get pissed. But Sunday night, I watched him master it. Since his bed is elevated due to his acid reflux, he still sleeps on his back at night. He hasn't figured out the comfy level of his tummy yet! Sleeping? He does really good at night. He goes from about 9/9:15 pm to about 2:30am and takes a bottle and is right back out. I am back in bed by 3ish and then he will sleep till about 8am. He does tend to wake up around 4:30/5am but he puts himself back to sleep. Naps are a different story. He is just an awful napper. Afraid he is going to miss out on something. He will just scream in his bed. He knows how to put himself to back to sleep at night, but during the day it's a different story. Can't figure it out. Eating? He is taking three 5 ounce bottles during the day and two 6 ounce bottles at night. Then he gets 3 bowls of rice cereal or oatmeal during the day. Wakes up and has cereal, hour later a 5oz bottle. Then at lunch he has cereal, hour later a 5oz bottle. Then he has an afternoon 5oz bottle. Then cereal at dinner and then we hold him off for his night time 6oz bottle around 8:45/9pm. Then a 6oz bottle during the middle of the night and then the whole process starts again. There may be a time where he has an extra bottle somewhere in there but not very often.
What a week last week was. I went non stop! From getting home from Vegas, work, laundry, being a mom, night time feedings, Christmas shopping, church, blogging and being an awesome Aunt...I'm exhausted.
Oh being an awesome Aunt you ask? Why yes, thank you I am. When we were in Vegas, Kristen was informed that the lady who keeps Billie Marie during the day was needing to take the week off to go out of town. Knowing I work part-time, she asked me if I could keep BM any day that week. The only days I had off were Wednesday and Friday, so little momma came to play with me and Brody for those 2 days!
Words cannot even begin to describe how much I love this little girl. Brody and Jace are her babies. I think she gave him more kisses than I do in one day (and that's a LOT)! She's funny, sweet, and loves to eat. I mean, the girl can put food away. I think she ate more cheese sticks in one day than most people eat in one month! She is so well behaved and very adventurous. When she falls down, she picks herself right up and keeps going. She is a diva and a princess and these boys that surround her don't stand a chance.
So Kristen brought her Wednesday morning and Brody was still asleep. I told her that as soon as she walked in and when Kristen started talking to me, Billie looked at her and said "Shhhhhhhh". I just laughed. Little momma was in full force. He was just waking up when Kristen was leaving so it was perfect timing to distract BM so she went into the room with Bobby to get him. Everywhere he was, she wanted to be. And every time she could, she wanted to hold him. She gave him his pacifier when it would fall out. She read to him (well pretended to read but still). She sat on him like he sits on her. I had to inform her that he was smaller than her so she couldn't sit in his lap.
Then again on Friday I got to keep her. Billy brought her this time and she thought he was asleep again so she kept telling Billy "Shhhhhhh" but he was actually sitting in his highchair eating his cereal. When she saw him, her face lit up and she started playing with his toes. She found that she loves to push him in his Johnny Jump-Up but she doesn't quite know how to push him correctly. She goes with him instead of letting it go so it ends up knocking him into the wall and her to ground. Everytime she did I just laughed cause she was so determined to figure it out. We gave up and read books to him instead. And gave him more kisses and snuggles, even after he spit up so bad we had to do a wardrobe change!
I hope him and her have a special friendship. She's only 15 months older than him so it won't surprise me if they grow up like brother and sister. Cause homegirl is going to school him and lecture him even if he wants it or not.
When I realized we were going to go to Vegas, I knew there had to be something I could do for the 30 in 30. With all the things to do, I knew I could come up with at least one. And the one I knew I wanted to do was a Vegas show. But not just any show, a Cirque Du Soleil show. There are few different ones and it wasn't until Saturday night when we booked our tickets did I actually pick which one I wanted. I decided on KA (but more on that later). And I knew we needed to get dinner before hand but I didn't want to eat at just any place. I wanted it to be a place that I have never been before and I wanted it to be by someone famous.
So here we are: 30 in 30: number 6: Gordon Ramsay BurGR
I am a HUGE fan of Gordon Ramsay, like a HUGE fan. I watch all his shows and every time he cooks something, I'm hooked. And on top of it all, he's good looking and has an accent I could listen to for days. I don't care if he's got a hot head and loses his temper easily, he has a huge passion for what he does and wants his fellow employees to succeed. So Gordon has 3 places in Vegas to choose from: His Pub and Grill at Caesar's Palace, his Steakhouse at Paris and BurGR at Planet Hollywood. Since we were going to have to take a Taxi to the MGM for Cirque, I didn't want to have to travel and rush to get to another place. So I decided on BurGR.
When you walk up, there is this really cool fire display behind glass. It's super bright and is always going.
When you are seated at your table, this is what the menu looks like.
They also bring you the drink menu on an iPad and you can scroll through and see what all they have. You can also click on each cocktail and it will tell you what it is. We got the hummus to start and it was delicious! I love fresh hummus.
I decided on the Hell's Kitchen Burger which was a beef burger grilled over apple and alder wood. On the burger it had asadero cheese, roasted jalapeno peppers, avocado and oven roasted tomato! We also got the Truffle Parmesan Fries that came with truffle aioli. When I tell you that this burger in the top 3 of my all time favorite burgers, I kid you not. It was PERFECT! Juicy, savory, cheesy, hint of spice, hint of sweet. Ahh...I want to go back for just this burger!
So after we stuffed our faces we made our way to the lobby to get a taxi.
So here we are: 30 in 30: number 7: Cirque Du Soleil
So Saturday night, Bobby and I went to the concierge to order our tickets. They kept trying to talk us into a show at Planet Hollywood but I kept saying, No! I want a Cirque show. Before we left for Vegas, I looked them all up. So I knew my options. It's just not every show plays every night so we had to see what was available for Sunday evening. I knew I wanted either KA or Michael Jackson's. But I wasn't sure if Bobby would have liked the Michael one. He likes action and adventure so I knew KA would be the right choice for us.
We chose the 7pm showing, got the best seats on the lower level, Row P, seats 9 and 10.
Fun fact: Bobby and I got married on 9.10!
So we get in the taxi after dinner, make our way to MGM, check in for our tickets, and as we are walking into the theatre, there is this large dragon!
Then we made our way down the hallway. Coolest theatre I have ever been in! If you have ever seen the Hunger Games Movie, the third one where she in running around a spiral staircase in the dark with only a hint of light, trying to save the cat for her sister and almost not making it the door in time, that's exactly how it looked inside!
We found our seats and I loved how close we were. We were close but not so close it would have been hard to watch. It was just right.
And I was sitting there, waiting for it to start, camera out, ready to take pictures when I got told we were not allowed to take any photos or record anything. All cell phones had to be put away! So I got no photos of the actual performance.
I can't even begin to describe how amazing this show it. It's the story of twins, a boy and a girl, who are on a boat and the boat gets over run with these devil looking pirates. The twins get separated and each have their own adventure to get back to one another and to survive. They each find love along the way. But the acrobatics and the physical ability of these people blows my mind. There was this vertical wall that they climbed and fought and did flips and turns and so much stuff.
A few facts about KA:
*There are over 300 people that make up the production team, 80 of those are performers.
*KA is a story about conflict and love, but KA itself is the fire that has duel power to destroy or illuminate. It is an invisible spirit in the body that accompanies them throughout their lifetime and on to the next.
*There are 14 different scenes.
*Not only is it acrobatics and dancing, they have human life size puppets. There is a sand crab, a sea turtle, a caterpillar, a starfish, a snake and a grasshopper.
*On June 29, 2013 (my birthday of all days), there was a lady named Sarah who died after she fell 94 feet from the show's stage. It was the first and only (so far) death from an accident onstage in Cirque Du Soleil 30 year history.
*The show and theater cost $165 million to develop.
Favorite thing about the show:
*The hamster wheel of death at the end. These 2 men, dressed identical, are in this hamster wheel thing that goes round and round and they perform death defying acts on them. One guy does the jump rope on the outside and does it while it is spinning. Oh how I wish I could have taken photos!!!!!
*There is a scene where the girl twin and her maiden have been capsized and their ship is sinking. The scene looks like they are under water. The maid falls and it looks like she is falling in water, drowning and the twin sister swims down to get her. But the way they do it and the skills of these people, it's so real life. And soft piano music plays during this. Was just stunning.
Since I couldn't take photos myself, I found some online to show.
This is the hamster wheel. The guy on top is the one who does the major tricks. This is when the wheel stops and he jump ropes on top while the guy below is balancing it.
And here is he doing even more crazy tricks while the wheel is moving. My husband was on the edge of his seat during this.
This is the 360 stage that moves up and down and side to side and eventually goes straight up and they have a huge fight scene on it.
Here is the preview video for it!
I seriously had my mouth open the whole time. I was purely entertained from start to finish. And I was so glad to have my hubby next to me. He loved it too. His favorite part was the hamster wheel of death thing.
Thank you baby for taking me on this adventure. It was one of the best things I have ever seen and I love you so very much!
So Saturday morning I woke around 10am feeling like a new women! So B and I got ready and we headed downstairs. Again, everyone else was already down there. But they all (except Josh) have children who sleep through the night so they understood my want to sleep in. We made our way over Caesar's Palace, the guys wanted to gamble there and the girls wanted to go shopping. We found our way to a bar and got mimosas to start our morning off right!
We walked and shopped for a couple of hours. Victoria's Secret was having great deals so I couldn't pass it up and I always love H&M so I got me a few things there. For some reason, I thought I was going to be freezing so I overdressed and got really hot walking around. So Julie and I made our way back to Planet Hollywood so I could change. Everyone else decided to come back not long after us and we decided to split up as couples. Bobby and I needed to eat lunch so we went to the buffet at PH. They had bottomless champagne and all the food you could ever want. They had the best dessert table. And even had hand spun fresh cotton candy. I LOVE cotton candy!
After that, everyone met back up and they all gambled again. We decided to go have dinner at Cabo Wabo, where I had a cucumber margarita (one of the best margaritas I have ever had) and then headed on over to the Bellagio to see all the Christmas decorations they had put up. So the Bellagio is one of my dream places to stay, but it's just so expensive. But I have to go see it. As we were walking over, the fountains were going and it was to the tune of Santa Baby by Madonna. It was the perfect time for a photo opt for me and the hubs.
Then we made our way into the Bellagio and wow.....was it something else. Like out of a story book. And it was super crowded! We had a hard time making our way around but I was able to snap a few photos.
Here's that good looking group again!
We went back to PH to gamble some more and when we had visited the Candy Factory the day before, they had this awesome duck that you could get filled up. And I kept thinking about that duck. So I finally forced myself to get it. I got it filled up with an adult version of an Arnold Palmer; Sweet Tea Vodka and frozen lemonade! I told Kristen I needed a name for him and Quackers came to mind. So he will be my drinking cup around the house when we have parties.
I ended the night back up in the room with another slice of Pin-Up pizza! This time Bobby enjoyed the slice with me. So amazing!
And again, I slept like a baby!
Vegas: Day 4
I am skipping day 3 because that is my 30 in 30 post tomorrow.
Monday morning we slept in and decided to go have brunch together. The last time we went to Vegas, we had dinner at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris but they also have a wonderful brunch menu with an amazing patio. You overlook the Bellagio fountains. The weather was cool but with the heaters they had going, it was perfect. Coffee, Bloody Mary, nutella waffles, fresh whipped cream, warm syrup, date glazed bacon, the view and my husband.....was just a perfect way to end the Vegas trip.
After we were done, we headed back to the hotel, checked up and went to the airport. Our flight wasn't till 5:50 so we just hung out there. Once we landed, my sister picked us with Brody. He was asleep so I wasn't able to love on him. But once we got home, I couldn't put him down. He looked at Bobby and I for a good minute, like he was trying to figure out if he was dreaming or his mom and dad were actually there. They he pulled my hair to come to him and give me the biggest, wettest kisses EVER! Oh I missed him so much. Rocking him back to sleep was just a joy to me. He just kept snuggling up as close as he could. I just stared at his face, seeing how big he already looked to me. I loved having time with my husband and sleeping, but getting back to him was the best!
I had such a wonderful time with everyone! I really have such amazing friends and we all really get along. Everyone is always laughing, joking, keeping each other going. They all (besides Josh) left Sunday to go home while Bobby and I stayed an extra day to do some things I wanted to do. To do some 30 in 30's.
