vaca

The kids are in Storm Lake with all their "grandmas and grandpas"...

...and Josh and I are on a mini-vaca in Chicago. :)

Got in last night around midnight...Jen and Joey will be joining us today...

...and tomorrow we are going to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game...box seats in a suite!!!!

Check out where we are staying - The Palmer House Hilton, Chicago. Wow!

Wonder what it costs to have a wedding reception here... :)

Happy Friday!

kids

In the last couple days, I read this...and then I felt inspired by this and this.

I LOVE my summers at home with Keatin and Will...I wouldn't trade them for the world.

But this is hard work sometimes...

And when I took a moment to think about the times I was feeling flustered, frustrated, or angry with my kids...I thought to myself - was I being the best mom I could be? I realized I shouldn't jump to be upset with them...instead, I need to take a look at myself and what I have been doing (or not doing)...and that is hard to "see" sometimes. I was thinking about all the times I have said to Keatin "hold on a minute" or "just wait" - I am sad to say it is a lot. And I know "life" has to happen and there are times she needs to wait, but I don't want her to always hear that as my initial response.

SO...on Friday afternoon, I decided, for lack of a better word, to be more "intentional" with my kids. Do something fun...and different...a new activity that they would enjoy together (this is a hard one folks)...something I did with their sole enjoyment in mind. And turns out...my heart enjoyed it too. :)

I was inspiried by some other moms who had made rainbow noodles...and decided to give it a whirl. In the end, I could have cooked up way more noodles...but Keatin and Will didn't seem to care and they happily played (together!!!). I had a great time watching...and snapping a few pictures. :)

They spent lots of time filling plates of noodles...

 

Will kept walking around the deck with noodles behind his back like this...and then he would drop them...like I wouldn't notice he was doing it???? :)

 

Keatin used the trucks to try to scoop noodles...

 

...and spent a lot of time squishing the noodles between her fingers.

 

Ah - he has a great smile. :)

 

I knew getting into the noodles would happen at some point...

 

...and then you have noodles on your bottom. :)

On another note...

My mom recently gave me this book...

...and this book.

I think they are both circa 1975 (ha ha ha)...but they are good...and I hope Josh and I can get some good ideas about how to help encourage Will to talk more.

He is cutting some teeth and I know that hurts...but man oh man, he was VERY grumpy this morning. I was trying everything to keep him engaged, doing activities he likes...giving him extra cuddle time....but he had pooped (thank you God and Miralax) and needed his diaper changed...and he was not having it. I was wrestling him while trying to change this dirty diaper...he he hit me hard across the face. I hate when he hits....I hate it, hate it, hate it. Urgh - and I just found myself so angry at him...and that is an awful feeling as a mom.

Anyways...my point is...I think his lack of expressive communication is frustrating to him...he is quick to get frustrated and hard to get turned around when he is.

But man oh man - I love him to pieces...and I just wanted to throw my "angries" away.

So I read this...and I felt rejuvenated. :)

  Whew...enjoy your Sunday! :)

Will - 18 month dr. appt.

Will had his 18 month well-baby check at the doctor's office on Tuesday morning.

His stats:
Weight - 26.4 pounds (50th -75th percentile)
Length - 34 inches (90th percentile...I knew he looked tall!)
Head Circumference - 19.5 inches (90th percentile...what can I say, I think he has some big brains in there) :)

In my effort to compare my 2 children at 18 months, I scrolled back on the blog to February of 2010...when Keatin would have been 18 months old. Below is what I found.

Josh took Keatin to her re-check with the ENT this morning...and her 18 month well-baby check. According to daddy, both appointments went well...and that is about all the details I got. :) :) Josh said she weighed in at 24 pounds even.

I laughed when I re-read this post...because I can remember Josh coming home from one appointment, me asking him for all the "vital" weight/height information, and he announced that "they don't give you that paper anymore." Uh-huh, right hon. I am positive you didn't just leave it there. :)

Oh well...not shocking at all to me that Will weighs more than Keatin at 18 months...over 2 pounds more! And when I was lugging him around this morning, I decided 26 pounds is way too much weight to be carrying around!!! No wonder my back hurts some days!

Dr. Paschen recommended Will start taking Miralax everyday to help with his pooping problems...and I hope it works...poor guy. :( Will also got 2 shots...which he HATED...and I hated. Poor babies - so unassuming when the nurses come at you with those needles. But I had to giggle to myself Tuesday afternoon when I got Will up from his nap...there were 2 bandaids laying on the floor next to his crib...apparently he did not want those on his legs anymore and chucked them over the side of the crib.

Will was a great little patient and was reported to be "perfect." I think this mama knew that already. :)

this morning...

...Jack came to hang out again. No Baby Reid this time.

And it was gorgeous.

And I heard the clouds and rain would be coming later today.

Too nice to stay in...we had to go play.

Off to Peterson Pit we went.

Look at the backseat of happiness I got to travel with. :)

Unloaded the van and with kids, bags, and toys in hand...we headed down to the beach.

I just couldn't resist snapping a picture of these 2 little blonde heads on our walk down.



Keatin and Jack saying "cheese."

Warning - this is the cleanest you will see these 2. :)



My kids have been to the pit...Jack has not.

Oh my - his mama better bring him back soon.

There was a couple of other sun-bathers there, watching us play.

I think they spent the whole time smiling and laughing at Jack's giggles and squeals. :)

He threw lots of sand...lots and lots.

He didn't even care when it landed on his head.

Jack. :)

I love this picture of these 2...best buds. :)

Umm...do you see his tongue hanging out? :)

Will was not as crazy as Jack was in the sand...but he still enjoyed it.

Keatin made him this hole of "chocolate milk."

He played in it for a long time.

All 3 headed straight into the bathtub when we got home.

There was sand in places I won't describe on this blog. :)

It was a great morning!

Thanks Jack for coming along...you make me laugh. :)

the day after :)

Whew! Josh's birthday was a big day at our house...and to end the night, I threw a little surprise party for him. Lots of friends, both young and old, came over to help us celebrate. It was great! I tried to get some good pictures throughout the day...here is what I ended up with. :)

These first two are random shots from our morning at home.

1. I told Keatin to go brush her teeth...here is what I found her doing.

2. I heard "talking" from my bathroom...this is seriously where I found Will. He had climbed in the trash can.

Once everyone truly had their teeth brushed and we were cleaned off from being in the trash can, we were off to meet daddy for a birthday lunch outing in downtown Ames. Keatin and Will were quite excited to eat lunch with Daddy!

(Need I say this was the birthday boy's idea???)

After lunch, we swung by the chocolate shop for a few pieces of awesome chocolate. Keatin and Will have come here before with Grandma Barber...and they sat right down at this little table like they knew right what to do!

Back at home...after naps...Keatin was DYING to decorate daddy's birthday cake with sprinkles. I honestly can't describe how excited she was to "sprinkle" her daddy's cake...so I just let her do her thing. She had a blast...and see the end product below...please contain your smiles and giggles. :)

And the surprise party! It was so fun...but so crazy and busy with kids and adults...that I only got 2 pictures taken...but Jack and Will are 2 handsome little men to take pictures of if you ask me. :)

Happy Friday - have a great Father's Day weekend!