Kansas City

Back in March my mom extended an invite to go see two of her sisters up in Kansas City for a few days with her. I wasn't sure at first if it'd be easy enough to take the boys, but we did it and it all worked out! It was great to see my aunts, and got to see a few of my cousins and their kids as well.

We first met them at Fritz's, a train themed restaurant in one of their malls. I've heard about it, and since Caden's obsessed with trains thought it would be fun to take him. It was a fun little atmosphere for him, there is a little train up above that brings your food by and then lowers it down to your table...I had pictured something a bit more detailed in my mind than what it really was, BUT he still enjoyed the atmosphere. He got to do the little train machine and left with a fun wooden train whistle.

 

 

 The mall also had a fairy tale set up that was there at the time so we went around that too. Caden isn't aware of any of these, other than the giant and the beanstalk and that's all Mickey Mouse versions that he knows, but he still had fun running around the place and exploring!

And of course, if a Chocolate Factory is near, we must make a quick visit! Caden was wise and chose a chocolate covered marshmallow that was covered in mini m&ms. He.loved.it. We don't keep candy or junk around the house that much, but still give him stuff here and there and he eats it right up. Kids got a strong sweet tooth for sure! Poor little Reid is too small to enjoy the sweets in life, but his great-aunts made up for it with all the love and smiles they gave him and he still had a blast, chocolate or no chocolate.

We met a few of my cousins and a lot of the second cousins at Chuckey Cheese for dinner the first night. Caden has never been, and although there are a lot of games over his head still he still had a blast running around and playing. My second cousin, Gabby, just turned 10-while we were up there actually-and she was really good with Caden and entertained him a lot while we were there so I got to catch up with the others while handling Reid...whom, oddly slept some of the time there. Not the quietest of places but sometimes that never seems to phase little babes-they can have the noisiest surroundings and they can still snooze away.

 

THEN, to top of the eventful day we were able to see my cousin Jen, her husband Lee, and their three kiddos back at my Aunts house before the kids went to bed. I am so glad they stopped by-I love being able to see them and Caden had a blast being around her kids.

 

The next day we hit up the zoo with my mom and Aunt Chris. It ended up being a beautiful day for it and Caden is all about zoo's so of course had a blast!

 I am in love with their polar bear exhibit. Overall-selfishly I like our zoo more, hands down. The layout is friendlier...BUT the polar bears and the train ride stole the show for sure. I don't know how we missed the train last time Gary and I took Caden there-it wasn't a nice day when we went so maybe it wasn't running, but this time we caught it and he was in train heaven. It was priceless to see his reaction to it all. They go through two tunnels, over a bridge, by some animals...it was his dream come true. I'm sure he would have ridden it over and over again if I would have let him. Unfortunately for him, the train is a high commodity and sharing is caring so one awesome ride in the books for now.

He wanted to hold my hand on the train. Be still my heart. I will forever wish that moment back.

Little Reid all conked out. Not for long-but captured it while it happened. He looks so chill with his arms up behind his head. Both boys did fairly well considering the different atmosphere for sleeping, and irregular schedule. We aren't all military over here by any means-but changing a sleep location and nap situation at this age is sometimes a hit or miss and they landed somewhat in between, but powered through and had a good time. Always good to see family and glad we were able to join along with my mom on a quick little trip up to Kansas City!

Exploration Place

Explore. Rescue. Protect.

 

Wait. That's Octonauts, different story. (Did you know that male sea horses carry and deliver the babies? No? Neither did I until the trusted Octonauts taught me that. Consider yourself smarter.)

 

Back to the first part-Explore. Exploration Place to be exact. I scoped out the place once with Caden and Reid while Reid was still pretty little. Placed his snuggle bum in the moby-like wrap and hit the ground running taking Caden to 'the castle'. That's what he knows the place as know, 'the castle'. And he loved it. So, I returned shortly after on a weekend with the boys and Gary to show him the place and we purchased a membership at that time. There's multiple different areas to check out, activities you can do and it's inside so if it's rainy, cold, or too hot you can hit up Exploration Place.

 

 

 

Caden has loved it. We recently got to go with Caitlin and Caysen and the boys had a blast. They have a little secluded play room that I didn't take him to the first few times we went because I thought he wouldn't like it or would be too big for it, but not at all. So many toys and 'new' things for him to play with-he loves almost every area. The castle, miniature Kansas aka trains, and play room are a big hit right now at his age. The castle has a kitchen area that has fake food, so that's always a hit with our grocery lover...until another kid comes by and wants to play with that food as well, especially disastrous when the other kids come in behind him and start taking the food out of the cooking pot as he has been working on putting it all in there. We've had to come back down to earth after a few little break downs there, and I've noticed more if other kids are in the kitchen he doesn't even venture in. Ha, guess if you know you don't feel like playing nice or sharing then don't even put yourself in that position, huh?

 

  

 

Something I love about Caden is his ability to enjoy life. He truly enjoys the little things and if you can get on his level and play with him he is just so happy and content.

 

Every time we have gone, this goes for almost anywhere regarding EP/park/zoo, I have used the moby wrap or babybjorn for Reid and it's worked out really well. Reid usually always snoozes and I am more hands free and can follow Caden wherever he wants to venture to. It'll be interesting to see how long that last the bigger Reid gets, I swear I'll be eligible to enter a strong shoulder muscles contest after constantly wearing those carries, but for now it works out great and it's priceless to be able to have memberships to those places and somewhere to get out of the house and go to that is entertaining and 'free'. We can pack our lunches and stay however long our little hearts desire, or until our toddler gets tired and starts throwing fits, whichever comes first.

 

Cheers to cool places to go in Wichita for kids!

February 2015 2.2

 

Learning how to stop and play on Cadens level is something I have to work on sometimes. It's hard to stop thinking of all the things that I want to do, set those personal wants/needs aside and just play. Adults don't play very well, at least not without some careless influence of some liquids. Always having our responsibilities and chores to do-it's hard to disconnect sometimes and just.play. (hey. there's a good hashtag and motivation for moms. #justplay encourage yourself and other moms to set aside your to dos and get on your kids level physically and mentally and just play. Just play with them before they are all grown up, you aren't cool anymore, and don't want a darn thing to do with you. *if anyone steals this idea and gets famous for it, just know that you saw it here first folks* Luckily for me, I have a hidden contract for the boys that says mom will never be uncool and they will always, always love me.)

 

Watching the trash truck. Not much more elaborating I can do on this one, it is what it is. This boy is curious and loves him some trucks. No matter the size or agenda it may have, they are all cool to him.

 

Sometimes when Reid cries on car rides is stressful and you just want to cover yourself up with a coat and tune it out. Can't blame him. We've also caught him covering his eyes or ears during these moments. Again, can't blame him, there isn't much that can top the stress of a crying baby during car rides. Not really my cup of tea, or probably anyones for that matter.

 

Brotherly love. These two interacting, and Reid smiling at Caden or Caden showing concern when Reids upset makes my heart happy. Also, Reids got an amazing pouty lip. Makes me wonder how he'll use this to his advantage as he gets older...

 



 

So this one time, at bandcamp...nah, kidding, but really...after hearing an odd noise while playing in Cadens room one afternoon I went and looked where our water heater is, along with a drain, and saw some water at the base of our water heater and some of the carpet was wet. So-after taking a look with the help from my dad it looked as if it was the start of our water heater going out and leaking. So. Gary and my dad spent the rest of that afternoon removing the old one, buying a new one, and replacing it. It took the whole day. Caden was very intrigued with the whole process and loved having the big box to play in over the next few weeks. That was an expensive box for sure, but at least he made some good use out of it!

 

So, the downside to this was two days later I heard the noise yet again while I was starting laundry. And then saw the toilets bubbling up, and THAT was the initial noise I heard Sunday but didn't realize it. Then, went to look at the water heater and saw some water at the base again. Called my dad and called Gary, as I was on the phone with Gary the washer must have drained because up came a crap ton of water and here is where you can imagine me freaking out. Standing there, seeing all this water come up out of the drain and into your house without being able to stop it...ahhh! Not fun.

 

So, he came home and my dad came over and helped with damage control. It wasn't even until my dad was on his way over that I realized it was his birthday! This is totally my dad here. He had off of work, it was his birthday, but he didn't hesitate to call a plumbing service, head over to our house with my aunts carpet cleaner and get right to work helping us out.

 

I took the boys to see my grandma, as I had already planned, and then to my parents house to get out of their way. Even after they vacuumed up as much water as they could my dad left to go get my grandma groceries, ended up grabbing Gary and him food on the way back, hung out at our house before making a trip home, just to turn around and go back to our house once they finally got word the plumber was on their way. ALL on his birthday. I think selfless, caring, supportive are just a few good words to describe this awesome man.

 

So, clogged pipes fixed and story is done. We treated my parents and sisters kids to dinner that night at Applebees after everything was said and done. Even got her kids to sing happy birthday to him out loud in the restaurant...which he just loved.

 

 

My dad rocks, especially all this on his birthday, but also want to shout out to Gary here. He is just as selfless and such a trooper just doing what needs to be done and not hesitating. I felt such a relief once he got there and although it was still stressful and overwhelming, it was much easier to handle with him by my side!

 

Oh, the foot deal. Recently, he'll share a foot and if it's not after a lot of outside running around, stinky feet, I'll take him up on it because it amuses him so much. Then, one morning he did what he does to his little nose and wiggled his toes around on my nose. I was cracking up. It's an odd little thing he does and I just love him for it. It makes my boy that's growing up too fast be a baby again. That he sucks his thumb, puts his toes up to his nose and wiggles the little piggies--that all of that brings him comfort is just adorable to me. Now, if he's too old I'll have to tell him to knock it off and don't worry I have pictures I will cry over and miss him being little and doing that-but every good thing has to come to an end and surely this will phase out with age. Or his poor wife will be sleeping next to a grown man with his foot up to his nose. You never know.

When you are up feeding your baby at one am, you sometimes think hm...I wonder what bangs would look like. Then, sometimes, when you're feeling the need to try something new that same day at one pm you will cut your hair and bam. bangs are born. Fast forward almost two months later and I'm pinning these annoying suckers back and ready for them to be donzo. Typical. They are fun and cute but annoying and have too much of a mind of their own. Then add the Kansas wind on top of that. I haven't caught a glimpse of my bangs in the wind, but they feel really close to the token Something About Mary look.

This girl is just like her dad. She had some gum stuck on her lips so I gave her my phone so she could see herself and get it off. To make her father proud she did as he has done many of times, she snuck in some selfies. I love her and her fun personality so much. She's so creative, caring, thoughtful and positive. She rocks.

 

I'm going to end this Feb post with a tribute to my uncle. The day that our water heater deal happened my uncle passed away. We got a call around 8 am from my mom with the news that he had passed a few hours earlier. My Uncle Bill has been in and out of hospital and/or hospital like care for a long while. We've always lived in the same area as my aunt and uncle, and would always be over there growing up-for a while we were constantly doing Sunday lunches at their house even. It's Bobbie and Bill, ying and yang, just what I've always known.

 

Seeing the last few weeks of his life was hard. It's not how I will remember him. I will remember him in his garage, at his computer, in the living room watching Nascar, hollering with his kids about who knows what, possibly randomly falling asleep, enjoying watching the little ones run around...sounds silly, but this is how I will remember Uncle Bill.

 

It was really sad and at the same time really good to get in that extra time with family that we don't normally get amongst our busy days. My aunt and uncle always were hitting up the casinos, so, tomorrow we are venturing out to Kansas Star for night out at the casino with my aunt, mom and sister. GNO and I'm going to win big people...just you wait and see...

 

Happy February 2015, only written two months later, but let's look at the positive here that I was able to get it done at all!

 



February 2015 1.2

FebRUary 2015. Surly I'm not the only one who says it like that in my head to make sure I spell it correctly...this is one of two, because there's just too much to cram all into one.

 

 

I've decided I may just have to make a 'look at my adorable sleeping baby' post, because let's be honest, I have a an abundance of those. Baby snuggles are priceless, but even more so when it's not your first and you actually get the chance to step away from your other mom duties and just focus on cuddling your baby. Ah-the best.

 

I would almost categorize myself as a champion block and train track builder. Well, maybe not, but I can make a mean block castle...just to have it knocked down seconds later. Son of a gun. Kid, do you know how cool that block castle was? Obviously not. Oh well, maybe next year they'll last longer.

 

Reid is going to enter the strong man competition by the age of five. His strengths are legs and back.

 

Unfortunately sometimes these big kid cuddles come with whining which hurts my ears, but not always and I've been working on my skill of tuning out the whining for all our sakes (or regulating and making the rules for it to stop.asap.), either way-it's nice to get snuggles from Caden still. I look at him like he's such a big kid sometimes. Not sure why, I know he always wants to keep up with the big kids and maybe with Reid being here I see him even bigger--but it's not until random moments in my day, or even few amongst my week, that I'm taken back and reminded how little he still is. Then I get mom guilt for thinking maybe I'm too hard on him sometimes, having too high expectations for his age. Just depends on the moment, I guess.

 

February snow. And look, this time I put his coat on him to enjoy the snow fall-monthly improvements here in mom world.

 

I was trying to take a picture to send to Gary at work and finally, once I got Caden to look and smile, Reid did this. *I could really use the crying laughing emjoi right now* It was so funny to me that we're all smile and he's just eyeing the goods thinking about when his next feeding will be. *emoji, emoji, emoji*

 

(Something about expression emojis just make everything better in text.)

 

 

I have learned to let go MUCH more since I've been home. I first found myself expecting the boys to be able to go off and play and leave me to enjoy Reid. Yeah, because a 2 1/2 and 4 year old are mature enough for that. Then I found myself picking up behind them constantly, like I was trying to do damage control as they were playing. Unrealistic and stupid is what that was. THEN after seeing Jen, our neighbor, and how she interacted with them when I went to pick Caden up once it hit me-I have to involve myself with them at this age. Caden and friends can't entirely entertain themselves and do their own thing. Maybe for a little while, and with the known expectation that it will look like a tornado hit his room but not for long.

 

Since then it's been more enjoyable and easier all around. I've let my expectations of a clean and orderly house go, because dang it-we live here and I am here with a toddler and baby all day so that's just how it goes these days.

 

 

Facetime is the best. Being able to easily connect with Jacob and his family is so nice, especially with how quick my nephew Alex is growing. It's good to be able to feel connected with him, his wife and son despite the disconnect when it comes to distance and actually being able to meet up. It's been four years in January since I've seen my brother. I've never been able to meet my sister in law or my nephew. And I've never felt such a strong love for two people that I've yet to meet. I can't wait for the day to be reunited with them all.

 

We got to have a date night to celebrate a friends birthday and it was my first real time getting dressed up for anything since having Reid. So, I may have gone a little overboard but heck, at this stage in life you take every opportunity to do your hair, makeup and wear nice clothes without having to think about where spit up, food, boogers, any kid crud may land. This also means I will try to sneak in as many picture of my husband and I while we feel all cool and kid free.

 

 

We went to a fancy new steak house out east-very yummy and they had pineapple infused martinis which are dangerously good. I think I could have bought a mini wardrobe change for the cost of our dinner...but it was a fun experience and great time with awesome friends!

So, the mentioning about not seeing my brother for four years...it has been three years this July that my parents, sister and her husband went to visit Jacob. At that visit they were gifted many, many pieces of Thai fabric. Since then we have been working on making quilts out of said fabric. Three years to make a few quilts...yeah, because that's reasonable especially when you're not doing a set pattern. Whoops. Life gets busy, we make these quilt nights as girls nights and we have just lacked at getting together for those recently. BUT finally my sister initiated a girls night/quilt night, but my mom couldn't make it, so she and I chatted and knocked out three quilt fronts.

Love getting to spend one on one time with her, and let me be honest here, she is a sewing beast and did majority of the work. I'm not even sure how, I was working and talking but then next thing I know she had already finished so much.

 

Gary and I were able to sneak away to Panera before small group one night and I finally got the nerve to step away from my usual sierra turkey and try their 'power chicken hummus bowl'. My past supervisor used to always get it and it looked so good. It was pretty good, the hummus was a bit different than I expected and I think I had imagined it filling me up forever, yet later that night I was hungry again. (Duh. that was bound to happen, but I still had my expectations, ridiculous or not). Overall it was a good try though and I was happy I was finally able to have it. Doesn't top the Whole Foods salad though, not sure anything will top that masterpiece!

 

Valentines Day. We got Caden the movie Cars for the special day which he loved and we've watched plenty of it since. Our niece, Gracey, was born on Valentines Day, which this year fell on a Saturday-so we went over to their house to celebrate. Gary and I were able to sneak away Sunday to go purchase a new laptop (whew. stressful but awesome purchase) and enjoy dinner and some yummy beers at Old Chicago. We had the best time. We laughed and joked like we were dating again-it was so fun and much needed.

 

Some days you just have to hold your hand out and block your toddler from getting you. It was all fun and games, don't worry folks. But obviously it was already a 'wear your baby' kind of day, doesn't he see that and get the memo that I have one child strapped to me, I don't necessarily want the second one all over me, too? No, kids don't get that memo no matter how much you just want to stop and hollar 'puhleaze give me some personal space here.'

 

to be continued...