A Wizard of Oz Halloween

For Halloween, we wanted the kids to have outfits to wear during the day before wearing their costumes at night. Meghan found matching dresses for Clara and Hannah, and I picked out a cool skeleton shirt for Joshua.

After dinner, we changed them into their costumes (the same ones they wore for Night of the Living Farm). Joshua is old enough to go trick-or-treating this year, so the plan was for all of us to be at our house for awhile during the initial burst of trick-or-treaters, and then Joshua and I would head out later. While we waited, our little Dorothy liked to look out the door, watching for new arrivals. When the time came for Joshua and I to leave, we practiced with him so he would know what to expect.  Our cowardly lion (I'd prefer to think of him as a timid lion) seemed to grasp the concept quickly, which is understandable, since the incentive is strong: You go up to people, say a particular phrase, and they give you candy. What a deal.

When it was time to go, we decided I might as well take Clara too. She can walk, but it would be too far for her to walk all the way, so I brought her in the stroller.  Joshua held my hand and walked everywhere, although we only barely went beyond our street.  At each house, I would say "Say 'trick or treat'" and in his cute little voice, he would say it. After receiving the candy from adults who were all too happy to give the little lion a sugary treat, I told him to say thank you, and he did. Clara happily rode along, largely indifferent to the transactions that were occurring. The whole thing went really well. Here we are upon our return. Our tiny flying monkey stayed home this year, but next year she might get to join in the fun.

Fire Drill

Sometimes when I'm in Detroit I stay at the Westin at the airport, which I did last night.  Westins are sort of known for being a relaxing hotel where you can get a good night's sleep.  Last night was an exception.  Not much is more damaging to a peaceful sleep than a fire alarm.  In the middle of the night, the alarm went off in every room, with its obnoxious buzzer, flashing lights, and robot voice demanding everyone leave their room and head down the stairs and out of the building.  In cases like this, there is almost never a fire, so the temptation is there to ignore it and stay in your room.  But dying in a fire isn't high on my list of goals, so I played it safe and went downstairs.  This Westin actually has an indoor courtyard area in the center of the square of rooms, but for some reason it was really cold, so I grabbed my jacket.  Here I am milling about with a hundred or more other hotel guests waiting to get the okay to go back to our rooms, which we eventually received.

One Man Band

If there's one thing Joshua loves, it's throwing. But also at the top of the list is making noise. Today he decided to use our pot lids to make sounds. His first idea was to smash them against our kitchen cabinets, but I discouraged him from continuing that. His next plan, which I encouraged since it did not involve property destruction, was to use the lids as cymbals and clang them together. He had a lot of fun with this and Clara (who you can barely see a part of on the edge of the picture) also got in on the act and enjoyed herself too.

Bonefishing

Meghan's parents are in town and offered to watch the kids tonight so we could go out for a dinner by ourselves for the first time since Hannah was born.  We went to Bonefish Grill not too long ago (when Meghan was still pregnant) and had a good experience, so we decided to go back.  We again had the outstanding Bang Bang Shrimp and tried two new entrees, though Meghan didn't like hers as much as I liked mine.  It was a good night overall, though, and it was great for us to get out and have a nice dinner just by ourselves.

The Big 0-2

Today was a very big day. First, Jim stopped by briefly on his way back home from Texas to meet Hannah. He couldn't stay for Joshua's birthday party since he had another eight hours to drive, but we were glad he could meet her and see the kids. Christine also got to meet Hannah today.

Then, we moved on to the main event, which was Joshua's party. We didn't have a big party this year, but we wanted to do something special with family for him. We did a construction theme since he loves cars, vehicles, and most especially power tools. He apparently isn't as thrilled with construction hats, but we did get him to pose for a few photos before he donated the hat to Clara, who loved it.
Jason did a great job decorating Joshua's cake in a construction theme and Joshua really enjoyed both the cake and the entire party. We were glad everyone could make it and that Joshua had a fun day with all the people he loves most.

Fun Times with Grandpa and Grandma

Today was my parents' first full day in town and they were able to spend some time with the kids. All the kids definitely appreciated the attention and here they are together. It was a very busy day for both Jason and I since the day before a party is always incredibly busy and stressful so it was nice that my parents were here to spend some time with the kids and they also brought us dinner, which was much appreciated.

Meeting Grandpa Williams

My parents are in town this week to meet Hannah and also to attend Joshua's birthday party. Today they arrived and my dad was able to meet both Clara (who we met the day after his last visit ended) and Hannah. Here he is with Hannah for the first time.

11 Months

Today Clara turned 11 months old. It's hard to believe that she will be a year old next month. She is getting to be a very big girl. She is a confident walker and also likes to climb stairs a lot as well as the slide. She likes playing with cars like Joshua and makes the cutest "vroom" noises. She only has two teeth, but she has really gotten better at eating a variety of foods recently, though her favorite remains any type of fruit. She loves clapping and has recently started waving "bye bye" on a regular basis. Like most babies, she currently does this backwards. She repeats many sounds and will use the word "mama" to ask for help, since we have taught her to do that because it is much more pleasant than shrieking. I am not sure I consider her to have a true first word yet.

Plan B

Today my project with Joshua was bean bag color matching. The idea was to throw the bean bags into a basket with the matching color. Unfortunately Joshua had zero interest in that. I knew that could be the case since he hasn't shown a great deal of interest in matching or color identification. I was thinking he would really like the bean bags though, since throwing is definitely one of his favorite things to do. But he really didn't like them that much either. He thought they were okay, but he quickly lost interest and seemed to be somewhat humoring me. But luckily Clara really liked the bean bags, so we spent some time playing with them and Joshua moved on to walking around with his drum on his head (also one of his favorite things to do). So we we still had a fun morning, but not in the way I had originally planned.

Mama and Baby

As any parent knows, having a new baby is tiring.  We're getting by okay, but there are still times where we are tired.  After I put Joshua and Clara to bed tonight, I came downstairs to find Meghan and Hannah asleep.  It was really a picture of beauty to see my beautiful wife and our beautiful newborn baby asleep together.  Sorry to use "beauty" and "beautiful" so much in that sentence, but there are no better words to describe it.

Keeler Kuts

Joshua's hair is pretty long, and with his birthday party coming up, we knew we needed to get a haircut for him.  Christa gave him his last haircut and did a great job, so we wanted to go back to her.  The only time she had available was Sunday evening.  Meghan also likes to get her hair cut by Christa when possible, so we decided to make a family event out of it.  All five of us went over to their house, and Meghan and Clara both got their hair cut, and then we ordered pizza and hung out while the kids played.  Allie and Brody were there too, and they did a great job of being the "older kids" and helping Hunter, Joshua, and Clara all play together.  Hannah decided to spend the evening sleeping, as per her usual plan.

Annihilating Appalachians

K-State's had a great season so far, but today was considered to be one of the biggest games of the season and one of the toughest challenges, as we played at West Virginia.  Morgantown is known as one of the toughest places to play, especially at night.  WVU has an explosive offense and the leading Heisman contender in quarterback Geno Smith.  They did lose last week at Texas Tech, but if K-State (ranked #4) is going to have a chance at winning the league, we really needed to win today, but WVU was a top 5 team before their game at Tech, so it wasn't going to be easy.  Except it was.  Really easy.  Really, really easy.  K-State dominated the game from beginning to end, hammering West Virginia 55-14.  It was never close.  West Virginia didn't even score an offensive touchdown until garbage time in the fourth quarter.  Geno Smith hadn't thrown an interception all season but threw two in this game.  Collin Klein accounted for 7 touchdowns and only had two incomplete passes, and vaulted himself to the front of the Heisman race.  I watched the game with the Keeler brothers at Tony's house, along with the newly-nicknamed Hunter Boo Boo.  Next week: a showdown with Texas Tech in Manhattan.

Night of the Living Farm

Tonight we went to the Night of the Living Farm Halloween event at Deanna Rose. Peg, Ron, and Joanna also came with us. We had a lot of fun and, besides seeing the animals, we went on a non-scary hayride and enjoyed the decorations and trick or treating. The kids wore their costumes. Clara is Dorothy, Joshua is a lion, and Hannah is a flying monkey. Hannah actually had to be a regular monkey after we left the house since her carseat doesn't really support the wearing of wings.

Some Great Pumpkins

I don't do projects with Joshua every day, but I try to do one we haven't done before about once a week and then, if he asks for a repeat in addition to that, I try to do it if it works out with what else is going on. If Joshua were older, I would carve a pumpkin with him at this time of year. But I don't think that would go well at his age. He also isn't quite old enough to draw a face on a pumpkin, though I think next year he will be able to do that. So this year we did a team effort on mini-pumpkin decorating. He painted the pumpkins and then I drew on faces when they were dry. A lot of times he doesn't love art, but he really enjoyed the painting. He especially liked painting the stems, which he decided were quite "yucko", at least without paint. I was surprised how much he liked the pumpkins after we put faces on them. It has been kind of a struggle to tell him they aren't for playing with, at least not yet. He wants to send them down the slide and that was causing some damage to the pumpkins and also wearing away the faces (I thought sharpie would be permanent, but I guess not). This project was definitely a success.

Meeting Vincent

Today I went to see my friend Callie. She has had a difficult few weeks because she has had to go on bed rest at this point in her pregnancy, which is very difficult as she and her husband have a son as well as four foster children. Since Peg and Ron have the kids on Wednesdays, I decided to go visit and catch up. We had fun chatting and Callie and Vincent were able to meet Hannah. Here is Vincent with Hannah. He really loves babies, which is a great quality to have, especially since he will be having a baby brother in the very near future.

A Chair of His Own

My original plan for Joshua's room was to cover an old arm chair we had and put that in his room. But I haven't had a lot of time to work on sewing projects over the past several months and we didn't really miss the chair in his room too much. So I decided to get rid of the chair, since it was quite old and damaged, and just get Joshua a chair for himself. It came today. So far he really seems to like having a chair just his size. Clara likes it too, so once she is out of the crib, I may get her one too.

Disappointing Daddy/Daughter Divider

Because I'm not around the house as much as Meghan since I work during the day, Clara really likes to spend time with me when I'm home.  Unfortunately, sometimes this results in her crying at times where she can't be with me, which is sweet, but it's also tough because I can't spend every second with her when I'm home.  Tonight, for example, I was doing some laundry.  We have a gate in the doorway to our laundry room, and Clara saw me on the other side, and really wanted either for me to come out or for someone to let her in.  I was almost done with my laundry, and when I was, we spent some time together, and she was much happier.

A Little Firefighter

Mom and Ron recently asked us if they could take the Joshua to the Olathe Fire Department Open House.  They now have car seats in their car, so they are able to take the kids places by themselves.  This is exciting for us, because we value the close relationship that they are building with our children (and also because it really helps if they have the flexibility to pick up or drop off the kids from our house when needed).  They figured it would be something Joshua would love, and they were right.  Afterward they reported to us that he got to do lots of things that two-year-old boys love to do.  His favorite activity was using a real fire hose to put out a fake fire.  He also got to see Sparky the robotic talking fire dog, or at least that's how he was advertised, but he turned out to be mute.  Poor Sparky.  Joshua also got to wear some cool firefighter gear, which was actually the second time he's dressed up as a firefighter, but I'm guessing this time it was just slightly a bit more authentic.  He also got to see a real firetruck and sit in a real police car, which Ron correctly pointed out that unless it's at another open house, it better be the last time he sits in a police car.  He had a super fun day, and we are looking forward to more of these types of grandparents/grandchildren activities in the future.      

Forever Feeding

One thing that has been hard is that Hannah just does not want to eat. We have recently been able to get her to gain some weight, which is good since that is imperative at her age, but we are really fighting for every ounce. She has recently shown a bit more interest in it, so we are hoping that lasts and her finishing a feeding in thirty minutes or so is a new trend, but in the meantime this is how we are spending a very large percentage of our time.

Joshua Turns Two

Today Joshua turned two years old. We are planning to have a small party for him later with our family, but since today was his actual birthday, we wanted it to be special. I am off work this week because of my paternity leave and vacation, so it worked out well. This morning we started with a piñata. It was shaped like a dinosaur, and because Joshua likes balls, and because we didn't feel the need to give him a million pieces of candy, we filled it with a few different kinds of squishy balls and bouncy balls. I had to explain the concept behind a piñata to him, but once he understood, he happily took the bat and attempted to knock the dinosaur back to the Jurassic Era. The piñata proved to be a little tougher than expected, so I pinch hit for Joshua and beat the dinosaur into extinction, and Joshua was pretty excited to see his bouncy ball guts spill out.

After his nap, we took the obligatory age sticker picture and then unveiled his main gift: a bounce house. Joshua loves jumping, so we figured he'd like his own bounce house, and he did. He bounced in it for quite awhile and seemed very happy. It's super easy to set up and take down, so it's something we can easily break out on any random day.

He played in the bounce house until dinner time, which consisted (not coincidentally) of two of his favorite things, mandarin oranges and macaroni and cheese. After dinner we did cards, the remaining presents, and cake. Meghan came up with the brilliant idea of a rice krispie cake, which was very easy to make, and Joshua loved it.

By the end of the day he was super tired, but he seemed to love the entire day beginning to end, which is what we wanted for him. In a way we're sad he's two, as it means he's growing up, but we're also excited for what the coming years will bring. Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Pack 'n Nap

Alex has always enjoyed the Pack 'n Plays, so he was excited for us to bring home a new baby which resulted in two Pack 'n Plays being set up in our house, one downstairs and one in our bedroom.  Sometimes he likes to explore, but other times he just wants to take a nap in a cool, dark place.  Here is is lurking in the darkness, hoping no one disturbs his catnap. 

A Doula Visit

Today, our doula, Heidi, came to visit. I decided to hire a doula because I am not the type of person who wants family or friends in the delivery room except for my husband, yet I also knew we wouldn't have time to take a childbirth class so I wanted someone educated who could provide support. I also wasn't sure if Jason would be there if I ended up going into labor early and unexpectedly since Jason does travel a fair amount, so I wanted someone that I knew would be there. Plus, because I have two other small children, I wanted to do everything possible to make sure I had as natural of a birth as possible since I didn't want to do anything that wasn't medically necessary that would up the risk of intervention. I felt like there was a lot of value in having someone who had coached many women through natural childbirths before, and because a doula is a support-person and not a medical professional, her whole job is to support me in my choices. Of course, I did end up with a very natural birth, but Heidi wasn't there for the labor (since I told her I didn't think I was in labor yet and she didn't need to come).

Even so, I still feel like it was very worth it to have a doula because she gave me a way to ask any questions I had in pregnancy and was there for post-birth medical treatment, and I thought her postpartum visit gave us some good education too. And when we were still in the house and the EMTs were all there, she asked them if I could hold my baby, which I really wanted to do, but I wasn't in the right condition to think to ask. Since there was no medical reason that the firefighter was holding Hannah instead of me, I got to hold her from then on until we got to the hospital and they had to examine her. Heidi specifically was a great fit for me because she was very knowledgeable and experienced, but wasn't a hippie, which a lot of doulas are super natural and I am not that into stuff like that.  I would definitely recommend a doula to anyone, but especially if you want to try a natural birth and you haven't done it before or if your husband is the type that wants some guidance on what to do when you are in labor and you don't want anyone else in your family in the delivery room.

Stepping Up To Fun

Lately it seems like half the lightbulbs in our house have burned out. Today Jason made some headway on replacing some of the bulbs, which involved a step-stool. The kids love step-stools! They think they are so fun and exciting. Here they are "helping" Jason with his task and having tons of fun climbing,

Sorting Poms

Today I tried a new activity with Joshua. He really likes transferring things between containers in general, so I decided to make it a fine-motor activity and have him transfer poms with tongs, He enjoyed this more than I thought he would. I was also worried he wouldn't be able to use the tongs, but he did well. Terrence wanted to make sure the poms weren't edible.

Newborn Pics

Because of course we couldn't know when Hannah would be born, we couldn't schedule newborn pictures.  After she was born, we needed someone who could be available on short notice, and fortunately our friend Amy (who we know through Christine) was available to do them today.  She did Clara's newborn pics, which turned out great.  She took come great pictures of Hannah, and we're excited to get them once they're ready.  Here is one I took of little Hannah during the photo shoot.

Gameday Errands

Clara is due for the second part of her flu shot (kids get a two-part one their first year and then single shots in subsequent years).  This was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but something came up, and we had to reschedule.  Hannah was also due for her first pediatrician appointment, so I took them both in this morning, ensuring I would be home in time to watch our game against KU.  I did need to grab a couple things at the grocery store, so the girls and I took a quick trip into the nearby Hen House.  Hannah slept through the trip (she's mostly sleeping through life at this point), but Clara liked being in the big girl seat in the cart.

Hannah Meets Kirk and Aunt Josie

Joanna and Kirk are headed to Manhattan tonight for what we hope will be a demolition of KU at Bill Snyder Family Stadium tomorrow.  So tonight they had an opportunity to come by and see baby Hannah.  They had to overcome some car troubles, but they made it to our house.  Here they are in a perfect pose that looks like it was done for a professional portrait.

Home From the Hospital

While we were in the hospital, Mom and Ron played the age-old role of Grandparents Who Watch the Grandkids While the Parents Are At the Hospital Giving Birth to a New Kid, for which we were very appreciative.  One of the perks of that job is getting the first look at the baby upon the return from the hospital.  We were cleared today to leave the hospital, and when we got home Mom and Ron were there to welcome us, and they got their first chance to hang out with their new grandbaby.  Later Joshua woke up from his nap and came downstairs and noticed Hannah across the room.  This was the look on his face as he saw her, trying to figure out who she was (and maybe what she was) and what was going on.