A Tale of Two Z-Packs

The universe had a great laugh at my expense merely hours after I wrote my last post. My seesaw of balance broke right down the middle--both home and work landing on the ground with a solid thud.

The baby woke up in the night with fever and a cough. The same cough I'd been nursing myself for the two days prior. If I'm not coughing, he is. It's not pretty. We both saw a doc on Wednesday.

Add in a deadline at work, and we're a mess.

Here's hoping for a weekend of full recovery. I hope yours is well.

Balancing home and work.

My boy back in November at 8 months old. Being his mom is the BEST!
I've heard on many occasions that it's impossible to find the proper balance between home and work. At different times (hopefully), one of them is requiring more attention than the other. I've found that to be true much of the time so far in my official one year (on May 26th, but who's counting) as a working mother.

When I went back to work last year, it was in the middle of a project working long hours. As much as it was (and is) not fun to be away from my baby, at the time it was an area of my life that had familiarity. You know, since my clothes didn't fit, my sleep schedule was chaotic, and every day was different, it was nice to feel like a bit of my former self in some way.

It's no longer a novelty to me to be a working mom. It's now just what I do. And sometimes work takes more time than usual, and other days, work simmers on the back burner while I take care of my high calling at home. Sometimes the baby is sick and needs me, or I'm sick and need my bed. Life at home happens, and not according to my Type-A project plan.

But even though it may be that work/life balance teeter-totters based on the day, home matters are always the priority.

And totally random side note. We're watching the Hatfields & McCoys miniseries on the History channel because we are old souls. Mr. G and I are in total agreement that it would be totally improved by the casting of Sam Elliott in pretty much any role.

I'm Here!

We've spent a fun weekend celebrating Mr. G's birthday, playing a bunch, and eating a TON of food. I think we've eaten at most of the chicken and BBQ places in this county and the one next to us. I've been recovering all day and dosing myself with Mucinex and Halls cough drops too. Not quite so fun.

And at some point this weekend, the little man blossomed into a little conversationalist. He is definitely his mother's son. Oh I hope I can get some video footage up on this blog for posterity's sake.

Big Texas Hair

Several months ago, I had my hair done at a place called The Dry Bar in Highland Park. It's this fabulous concept of a blow out with the convenience of a manicure or pedicure. It's a chain, so there might be one near you. You can make appointments online (recommended) or just walk in. It's truly fabulous with adorable decor, and it's especially great if you have a fun event for which you're primping. Or even if you don't.

(FW Ladies, we don't have one, but we do have an other-branded blow dry spot opening soon near J. Rae's if it hasn't already. Cupcakes and a blow out. Way to be, Fort Worth!)

Anyway, they used some of the products from the Living Proof Full Thickening line on my hair, and I loved it. So, of course the next day I ran out to try some for myself.


I bought my can of Living Proof Full Thickening Mousse at Sephora. It's amazing. And I say that with all due respect to the word amazing, which is completely overused. It goes on while your hair is still wet from root to tip. I use quite a bit--maybe two egg sized dollops. You will feel it giving your hair texture in a kind of "oh my gosh my hair feels disgusting I'm gonna have to wash it again what was I thinking listening to that dumb blog" way, but when you blow it dry, it doesn't look like you have greasy product in your hair. I promise. And then it backcombs to high heaven.

This + hot rollers = Texas hair for fine-haired ladies

Happy Teasing! See more Things I Recommend to My Friends here.

{And randomly, when I went to their website, I discovered that a girl I went to high school with is the site model for their Restore line. Crazy/awesome.}

Weekending: Nothing and everything to do.

Note: I completely forgot to add on my Mother's Day weekend post that the picture of my sweet boy and me was taken by the lovely Jenni. Please forgive me!

I know I'm getting older since I'm beginning to understand why my parents didn't always want to "go somewhere" on the weekends when I was younger and wanted to be anywhere but home. It's finally become enough for me to just be and enjoy the home that my husband and I have made and to enjoy being with my little family. I don't need the mall; I don't need an exotic locale. I just need time to spend with the people I hold dearest.

That being said, this past weekend was filled with exactly that: time to spend with my boys. No planned activities except for church on Sunday. We filled the weekend with snowcones, ice cream, eating at home, date night, and fluffing our happy little domicile. And I finally got that quiche I missed out on Mother's Day. Bonus.

First up, date night. It has been a joke of ours that each parents' night out, we end up spending the last 45 minutes in Target, usually shopping for our child. Friday night, we broke with tradition and ended up in Dillard's of all places, doing a little shopping for Mr. G's birthday. While he browsed, I tried on hats. I love hats and have quite a few at home, and I wear them exactly never.

For once, date night didn't end up at Target.Instead, trying on hats at Dillard's.@ashleydeancook @naturallyestes twitter.com/em_gentry/stat…

— Emily Gentry (@em_gentry) May 19, 2012

Next came Saturday, where we filled up the baby pool and let the little man splash around. He loved it, of course. We slept until 8:30 that morning. Glory hallelujah, Amen.

I do believe summer days are officially here.

A First Time for Everything: Mrs. Gentry hits the links

Yesterday my ball, glove, and yes, even shorts matched my golf bag.

I have no shame in my pink golf game.
I think I've chronicled on here enough that my husband loves to golf enough that you get it. But yesterday I carried my own clubs out for the very first time to participate in a golf scramble with the folks at my office out at Bear Creek. All for charity, of course.

The funny thing about it is that I've had my very own set of golf clubs since Mr. G and I married. As a good wife who wanted to spend quality time with her husband, I had decided I wanted to become proficient in the game back in 2005. We hit the driving range several times. I even got a super fancy hot pink Titleist bag for my birthday that year to carry my $50 "Classic Lady" garage sale clubs.

Those clubs served me very well. Them, and also this fancy one called a "hybrid" Mr. G let me borrow that in all honestly was probably worth more than the rest of my equipment combined. As I left, he instructed me to NOT lose that club. We even played my ball a few times. (In a scramble, everyone hits, and whoever has the best shot--you use that ball.) But to be most fair, the 3 gentlemen on my Team were very nice throughout the 5 hour round. And we've worked together for 10 years (ten years!!!), so it's almost like family.

It was fun enough that I admit I would repeat it sometime, that is, if I can ever lift my arms again. Oh, and a girl will need shoes, of course.

I think Mr. Gentry might even be a little impressed.

True Confessions

I recently bought Jack this great booster seat for our dining table. We have one of those higher dining room tables (somehow it works really well for a tall husband/short wife combo), and Jack's high chair wasn't quite high enough to pull up evenly. Now that he's doing really well with table manners, it was time to join us at the table.

This is the Prince Lionheart boosterPod from Amazon in charcoal grey. The only reason I chose it was because it's charcoal grey. If the $15 one at Wal-mart had been a great neutral color instead of bright red Disney's Cars, then I probably would have that instead. It was super easy to install, and it blends well pushed under the table.

He loves it.
So this reminds me of a time that I was totally mommy-judged for seeking out ways to camouflage baby items. I said something about not wanting my house to look like a toy store which was not well received. Yep, a child lives here, but he doesn't pay the mortgage. Therefore, toys are picked up and put away at meals, naps, and night, and they are stored in baskets that match my living room. I promise I don't stifle his creativity!