Photo Whirlwind!

So...

We've been busy. I'm not sure what exactly I've been doing, but I'm sure it's something, and probably most of it is somewhat productive, and only very little of it is The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Frankly, June was the craziest month of my life since September 2008 when I was on three-week countdown to wedding mode.  Instead of finalizing seating charts, flower arrangements, and scripture readings, I've been trying my best not to appear like a chicken with her head cut off.  Even if I've fooled some people, there's no foolin' that husband of mine.  He almost sent me to Shoal Creek for a psychiatric evaluation last week, bless his heart.

Here are the highlights:

After a combined 25 years with Sprint, we made the change to AT&T (iPhones, baby!)
To go into the details of our switch would elevate my blood pressure, and you don't care so... Serenity Now..

Had PJ's professional photos taken
This was so much fun! One of my classmates from high school, the uber-talented Rosa Liscano, and her awesome business partner Teresa Acosta of Bella Vi Photography came to our home to capture our little beauty queen in this precious stage of her life.  I am SO thankful for the sweet images we have from this lovely experience! Thank you, ladies!

Just too Adorable!

Started "swim lessons" (let's stop pretending, here folks...)
I don't really dream of the day that I may have the opportunity to do what my folks did and take my kid(s) to swim practice at 4:45 am and then again at 4:30 pm, but I do want our babes to be comfortable around water from a young age. G and I were so excited to take Piercy Joye to the pool this summer. She's been to Barton Springs (just to lay out, and no, I wouldn't let her go topless as is the usual practice at that particular swimming hole)....

Loves her Daddy...

...And Deep Eddy (a bit of a rookie parenting mistake, as the water is clearly too cold for infantile comfort)...

Pou. Ty. Lip. McGee.

DAD! Don't put me back in there! It's Freezin'!



 And now through the magic of Facebook, Piercy Joye and I have been taking a water comfort class called "Bath time Babies" at the Emler Swim School in Westlake. My long-lost friend Hailey from back in my age group swimming days has been taking her daughter Vivyana to Emler, and we started tagging along. We've been to three classes now and she still sort of hates it.  I think the biggest problem is that it's during her nap time. She lasted approximately 5 minutes the first week, 15 minutes the second week, and 25 minutes the last week. She always leaves screaming her bloody lungs out, which is clearly pleasant for all parties involved. I didn't take her last week because I was too tired to make it happen. Sigh.

The best news is that we've now begun frequenting a city pool very close to our home that we love, Reed Park Pool.  This pool is relatively quiet, shady, and has a baby pool that Piercy Joye can stand in with assistance (helps to keep her warm). Mostly I like that that everyone there is nice enough to pretend like they don't care that I wear my two-piece even though I've got another 20 pounds to lose.  Gracious souls!

Went to Greg's cousin's baby shower in Boerne
Babies, babies everywhere!  Greg's cousin Matt and his wife Vicki are expecting another Browne great-grand (actually any day now). My sweet mother-in-law (also known as "BeBe") and I loaded up Baby Girl for a trip to the Texas Hill Country to celebrate this new life! PJ avoided melting down until the last 30 miles or so, after which I white-knuckled the steering wheel while patient BeBe attempted to bottle feed la preciosa in her carseat (not happening). Aunt Jo Ann and Uncle Robert's casa and beautiful grounds were the perfect setting for my formal introduction to the time-honored tradition of the ol' "Pin the Sperm on the Egg" game, which I did not play, but contemplated all of the uncomfortable conversations that were surely "spawned" from this all-ages activity.

Went to Greg's dad's mother's family's reunion (Are you your own grandpa yet?) in Boerne the following weekend
Did you catch that? Greg's Dad's (Jim, also known as "Pops") mother is Bernice Zinser Browne (also known as Grandma B.). And the Zinsers like to party. And party they do! From all across this great nation, they came to Texas to sweat and drink delicious beer. Baybacita (which means sweetest little baby girl in "Tres," a Spanglish dialect spoken by myself and dos other amigas, Kathee Elofson and Whitney Myers) did phenomenally on her second car trip in as many weeks - not a peep until we drove up to Uncle Robert and Aunt Jo Ann's subdivision when she lost her paci. I don't think I got a chance to even meet everyone there, but it was great!

Shooo-wee! That's a big group!

Celebrated Greg's first Father's Day
Awwwww! GB is a really good Daddy. I really felt the pressure to make his first Daddy's day special.  I think we did a good job! Piercy Joye and I picked up two new rose bushes for her green-thumbed daddy from his favorite rose nursery in town, It's a Jungle.

"Sedona"

"Our Lady of Guadalupe"

I also made a gardening journal for Daddio numero Uno!



 And not to be outdone, Greg smoked a fine brisket for our Daddies who came over with our families for lunch.  Sweet BeBe brought a fun avocado mousse appe-teaser, the most delicious tater salad I've ever tasted, and a peach cobbler.  After our guests left and before Greg took off to Dallas for work, we had a quick meet-n-greet with Piercy's Auntie Mandy (who is currently living in NYC) and Auntie Ashley, two of my dearest friends.  She loved them, of course.

LBJ Senior Babes with our very first babe!

Celebrated Greg's mother's birthday two days later
I knew just the thing to get sweet BeBe for her birthday this year! A few hours with her most favorite girl in the whole wide world would just be perfect.  We brought her a fun hibiscus for her yard and spent time visiting at her house.  We finished up with a girls' lunch at the Onion Creek clubhouse and lots of smooches!


Celebrated Greg's birthday the day after
While he had to work the entire day of his birthday, G made it home in time to celebrate in style at my grandmother, "Angel's," house.  Angel has the entire Flanagan family over every Wednesday night for dinner (and yes, she is positively turning 84 years young this October).  She prepares a beautiful and tasty dinner every week for a crowd.  Greg met us over there after he landed in Austin where Angel was waiting with her most delectable catfish.  After eating, we celebrated with Peach Cake (a la Cooks Illustrated... it was heavenly), and presents. PJ won "Best Gift Award" when she showed up with an iPad, which is truthfully what Greg had wanted for Christmas last year, and was what I didn't get him. So, Piercy saved the day again!

So mine wasn't this pretty, but it was definitely just as delicious...

Joye "Angel" Flanagan and Piercy Joye

Celebrated Greg's birthday with friends the weekend after
I initially invited a few of Greg's friends over for dinner on Father's Day evening (woops!) to celebrate his birthday. Two strikes for the rookie mom who a) didn't realize it was Father's Day and b) didn't realize that Greg had to leave on Father's Day evening to go to work. So we rescheduled last minute and had a good time with some great friends.  He got to blow out candles again too!

Birthday Week Boy with His Girl!

Action Shot!

Celebrated the birthday of our nation and attended our first Bryker Woods neighborhood parade
There are no pictures of this event. PJ and I went solo as Greg was out flying. It was semi-stressful, very sweaty, and has the potential to be a much better experience next year. I'm going to try to sweet talk our neighborhood association into allowing "Captain Greg" (as the neighbor kids call him) drive his 1986 Jeep CJ-7 in the parade. I'm envisioning a neighborhood-wide invitation to a bike/Jeep/wagon/stroller-decorating and watermelon-eating party on July 3rd.

Joined a Church (the process is still ongoing, but it's happening)
I'm very excited! We are joining The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, just five minutes from our house. I can't tell you happy I am that the commute is limited. This makes mornings so much easier than I remember in my house growing up when we travelled half an hour to church. My mother was a saint.

Started Tweeting (welcome to 2006, y'all!)
http://twitter.com/#!/meghanpbrowne  And I still don't know what I'm doing or why people who have never tweeted a thing in their life and have made up names are following me.  Sounds like a recipe for spam... I blocked them. Is that what you're supposed to do?

Planned three trips out of state between now and the first week in October
-July 20-25: Austin to Wilderness Edge, Montana (just outside Bozeman) for my cousin Nick's wedding.  This will be PJ's first plane ride, and I think I will need to be medicated to make it through the packing process alone. Dear Lord.

-August 8-13: Austin to New Smyrna Beach, Florida for my BFF's wedding to her silly British fiance, both of whom I swam with at Arizona and who are still swimming professionally. This should be a fantastic time. I'm very excited for PJ's first beach trip!

Silly Simon and Whit

-October 7-10: Austin to Chicago, Illinois for the Chicago Marathon!!!

Are we crazy? Yes.

But you already knew that.