Our first house guests--Part 2

On Sunday we woke up to absolutely gorgeous weather. Will and Sadie both did well in the nursery and we all considered that a win. Daniel didn't have to go to any meetings and Carly didn't have to take care of 2 kids by herself during Sacrament meeting, so that was a win too. After some nice Sunday naps, we went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. Carly got a great picture of the kids standing together.

We were also treated to a nice dance routine by our acroos-the-street neighbor. I actually caught him dancing in the yard again this week wearing football pads. Pepaw and Laura came over and had some taco soup with us. Carly added some BBQ sauce and it was delicious.

Monday was Labor Day, also known as the day of picnics. Our ward had a picnic at lunchtime and our neighborhood had a picnic for dinner. Both were fun, but I didn't take a single picture. On the way home from the neighborhood picnic we stopped at the park and Will did a little bit better sharing the swing this time. It helped that Sadie wasn't quite as interested in swinging. We thought about playing games that night, but instead got late night snacks and tried to think of all the random songs that were popular when we were in high school (this could have happened a different night though, my memory is getting hazy).

On Tuesday we went to the Deanna Rose Farmstead. The farmstead is a local petting zoo that has free admission M-Th, as well as a variety of activites you can pay to do. At this age, the free stuff is all we really need.

Here Will and Sadie are enjoying the cows together.

Sadie did a great job feeding the baby goats. Will was excited until we got up close and personal with the goats, then he decided he'd rather watch.

Water break.

Riding the tractors.

That night Laura watched Will & Sadie for us and the adults plus Elise hit the town. We went to downtown KC and ate dinner at Gordon Biersch. We had a great time! Anthony and I keep talking about how fun it was to go out with another couple and how much we miss living close to all of our siblings.

Wednesday was kind of sad because it was time to pack up and say goodbye. I'm sure Carly & Daniel were ready to get home to their own bed and to not have to share a room with Elise anymore. We got some Oklahoma Joe's for lunch before they left since we didn't want them to leave KC without at least trying some authentic Kansas City BBQ. Anthony took the travelers to the airport and I put Will down for a nap. When Will woke up he kept looking around for "DeDe" and insisted on eating dinner in the chair she had sat in for meals while she was here. He did the same thing when he woke up on Thursday.

Thanks for coming, Nielsons! We had a great time and hope we haven't scared you off from visiting us again sometime!

cousin dance off

Our first house guests--part 1

Carly, Daniel, Sadie and Elise came to Kansas City! And it has taken me a lo-o-o-ong time to blog about it. Mainly because there are a ton of pictures to sort through and also because we miss them. And also because I feel guilty that about 98% of the pictures I took while they were here are of Will, Sadie or the two of them. Poor Elise. Next time we get together our child#2 will be here and they can complain about being photo-neglected together.

The travelers arrived late Wednesday evening. After getting the kids in bed the adults stayed up and chatted for a bit. As such, we all slept in a bit the next morning. The weather Thursday was hot and gross, but Carly and I braved it to take Will and Sadie to the park by our house. Unfortunately they only have one "baby" swing and Will got his first taste of having to take turns. Turns out he doesn't really like sharing and taking turns. That would be a theme of the week for him.

That evening we headed out to Fritz's for dinner. The general consensus was the food is OK, but the atmosphere is great for toddlers. If you are ever comparing your restaurant food to the food that was served in your public school's cafeteria, OK is the best it can be. It was however, the first time we have taken Will to a restaurant in months where I didn't regret bringing him, which makes the food quality acceptable. There was a train that was constantly going around the restaurant that kept Will & Sadie's interest almost the entire time we were there. They also deliver your meal via train, so if your kid likes trains, check out Fritz's.

On the way out of the restaurant we thought it would be fun to let Will and Sadie sit in the miniature "choo-choo." They were okay with it at first. I noticed that you could put in $0.50 and the train would move, so we put in some quarters and let the kids rock out.

The consensus was--not worth the money.

It was still hot and muggy Friday. Since our local pools closed early this year we busted out the kiddie pool.

After "pool time" we caught the kids playing together with the bucket of cars and racetrack. Like I mentioned before, Will doesn't really like sharing his toys (he's fine with sharing other's toys though), so unfortunately, moments like this were rare.

They also enjoyed dancing to Farmer Tad (of the barn magnet on the fridge) in the kitchen.

Even Uncle Tony got in on the dancing fun.

That night we decided to go to a Royals' Game and take advantage of Buck Night. Even though it was hot, our seats were up high enough that it was nice and breezy.

On Saturday Anthony and I wanted to check out some yard sales to look for a lawnmower. Will and Sadie came along and we had a fun time.

We didn't find a good lawnmower, but while we were driving we heard an ad that a local grocery store was having a "Grand Re-Opening" and they were offering free stuff to all who stopped by. We were literally 2 blocks away when we heard the ad so we stopped in and got some sweet donuts, balloons, and other samples.

The kids wanted to work those calories off so we stopped at a park with two baby swings on the way home.

That afternoon we watched the BYU-Ole Miss game with our friends the Diggins. We had a fun time, and it looks like the size 12-month football jersey I forced Will to wear (because we didn't have anything BYU in his current size) might have been a good-luck charm.

Stay tuned for part 2.

growing

Growing Up

As of yesterday our very own Will is 21 months old. Here are Will and Dad celebrating the end of month 21 by watching the BYU-Utah game (during happier times, aka the second quarter).

It's freaking me out a bit because as soon as we found out I was pregnant, I did the math and figured out Will would be 22 months old when the baby is born (assuming my pregnancy is "normal" and baby is born on or after her due date). We are now approximately a month away. Eeks!

I've also been caught of guard several times lately at how much of a little "boy" Will is becoming. Sometimes I will look over at him sitting on the couch or at the table and he just looks so grown up. His mannerisms are more mature and I really enjoy the "conversations" we are able to have now. He is capable of doing so many things, if only we can get him to cooperate once the baby is born...


Which brings me to another point, he is very opinionated and very expressive. It drives me nuts because he is so much more aggressive with me than he is with TJ. Maybe it's because I am scared of him making any contact with my stomach when he throws a fit, so he knows I'm soft. I'm not sure, but he definitely has figured out my weaknesses.

On a more positive note, Will loves to learn. He recognizes most letters, several colors and about half of the digits between 0-9. He is getting a lot better at saying them too. He used to avoid all words that start with L, R, H, S, or Y and most vowels.

Will loves...
...Caillou
...swinging
...cottage cheese
...going on walks
...singing Wheels on the Bus
...dipping food
...his grandparents (he talks about Memaw, Pepaw, Papa, and Nana all the time and frequently calls out for them when I am making him do something he doesn't want to do)
...helping (seriously, I can't touch the dishwasher, mop/broom, or laundry when he is awake without having to do battle with him)


Will dislikes...
...long sleeves (or any clothes he considers too "ight")
...the word "no"
...leaving the park (he has been known to get violent on occasion)
...hugging
...sharing his toys (he is fine with other kids sharing their toys with him though)
...new people (at first, once he realizes we aren't going to leave him he warms up)

He's a pretty funny little guy. I think we'll keep him.

Growing Out

Here I am in all my 35-week glory. Weeks 29-34 went by pretty quickly due to the move, our trip to Boston, the Nielson's visit and our trip to Utah. I'm hoping weeks 35-40 will go by as quickly (a girl can dream) and I am able to accomplish as much (not likely).

I haven't done a very good job of documenting this pregnancy. Overall I feel about the same, but there are some differences. With Will I had a lot of pain in my pelvic joints and right knee due to the increased amount of the hormone relaxin in my system. This time there are just general aches and pains, with more pain in my hips than I remember with Will. This chica moves around quite a bit more than Will.

I'm finding myself getting tired more often than last time too. Not terribly surprising since I have a toddler to attend to this time around. I am having a harder time dealing with the heat, but it was late November when I was this far along with Will, and the weather has just recently gotten cooler. In the past few days I have gone places where the heat has actually been turned on. I almost passed out I was so hot. I love my little space heater, but am really looking forward to the day when I don't carry her around inside of me.

Our trip to Utah was harder on my body than I thought it would be. On the flight home I told Anthony that if I go into labor early (or even on my own!) that I will attribute it to the trip, but now that we've been home a few days and I'm feeling like my "normal" pregnant self I feel like that may have been a little over dramatic. I guess to sum it all up I will say things are coming along just fine, I can handle about 5 more weeks of this, but I reserve the right to change my mind about anything I have just written at any time if I feel so inclined. :)

Will at the duck pond