Nursery Update

Liam's nursery was painted this week. We are very happy with the way it turned out. We also got a few pictures on the wall.

I ordered these surf boards from a lady off of Etsy ( I am addicted to that website!). The surf boards look great!

Liam's crib, along with the stenciled phrase I put on his wall. Kale has "For this child, I have prayed" on his wall, and I hope to add a different phrase to each of my children's rooms.

We have one more big wall that has nothing on it. Apparently we chose a "theme" that is hard to find pictures, etc., that match. I am going to keep looking, but if I don't find a another picture somewhere, I am going to ask the lady we bought the surf boards from to paint another picture for us.

We just about have everything put together for Liam's arrival--even though he still has about 3 1/2 months to make an appearance! Our chair should be here in a month or so. We still have to find a lamp and a few odds and ends, but it is very nice to have two boys. Liam will get lots of hand-me-downs!

Cabana Boy

I have not been the best about taking pictures lately as things have been hectic since I have been back to work. Kale did get dressed up in his cabana shirt for daycare the other day. He looked so cute and so grown up, toddling around the house.

Our Life These Days...

Well, I am back to work which dramatically changes our day-to-day life. All summer I told everyone how great I felt and how different this pregnancy was than my pregnancy with Kale. I think I thought this time around was different because I wasn't working all summer. I got to nap when Kale did, so I was able to keep the exhaustion at bay. Now that I am back at work, well, let's just say I am not nearly as energetic. I was in bed every night this week by 9 p.m., one night I even crashed around 8 p.m. Pretty ridiculous! Our meals have changed pretty drastically as well. I just don't have the energy to prepare elaborate meals each night. We have had lots of pizza and frozen food. Healthy, I know.

One factor that has complicated this pregnancy is that I have kidney stones. Yuck! This is my fourth time with stones, but of course, since I am pregnant, everything is much more complicated. I can't do much to help with the pain. I lay on a heating pain and can take some low dose pain pills--they are about as effective as eating a tic-tac. I had a sonogram today to find out exactly where the stone is, so hopefully, prayerfully, it is making its way out of my system.

Kale's life is much different as well. He now goes to daycare full-time. Our nanny wasn't able to make her college schedule fit this semester. Kale does not like daycare and neither do Kris and I. The daycare we chose for him is supposedly the "best in Amarillo" (it's also the most expensive). However, if this daycare is the best, we have problems. The girls that keep Kale seem grouchy. They never play with the kids (I watch the mommy cam alot). Kale constantly has dried snot on his face when I pick him up. He won't eat their food and they won't let me bring my own, which means Kale does not eat all day. And finally, whenever we pick him up from daycare, he cries nonstop for a few hours. This tells me his needs are not being met. These are just a few of my grievances. I could go on and on, but won't bore you. We have been looking for other options. I have tried to find home sitters and have interviewed a few. The selection is not good...one of the sitters that I interviewed had a backyard out of Hoarders on TLC. We have a good option for next semester...Mother's Day Out at the church M-Th morning and then a nanny in the afternoon and on Fridays. Hopefully we can make this arrangement work for Liam as well. Why is good childcare so hard to find? This has got to be the hardest part about being a parent.

Overall, Kris has weathered the back to school slump the best. However last weekend he did get sick. He wasn't able to go to work on Monday and ended up in urgent care with a sinus infection. Luckily for all of us, Kris has not traveled in about 3 weeks. His next trip is planned for mid-September. We will get 6 uninterrupted weeks with our dad and husband. Yippee!

In other news, Liam's room was painted this weekend. We have ordered a few things for the walls, so I hope to work on it this weekend. I will post pics when I get the chance. Kale has learned to blow kisses and it is just so sweet! He does it quite obsessively when he starts, but that's okay. We love getting kisses! Overall, that's a run down of our life. I haven't taken many pictures lately, as things are always crazy during "back to work" month.

Liam's Room

Liam's bedding has arrived! I had to order online because the choices in good 'ole Amarillo are limited!

We are going with a tropical theme. Kind of bizarre considering we live in a desert, of sorts.

Can you guess which color we chose?

If you think about Kale's room, you can probably guess. We tend to go for the brighter colors, so we chose the blue on the far right.

Horrible Eater

You have all heard me complain about what a horrible eater Kale is...but let me say it again, he is awful! He eats practically nothing. Some days I am surprised he is living considering how little he eats. His daily menu looks like this: oatmeal cereal with applesauce (best meal of the day) for breakfast, maybe a mid-morning snack of goldfish (or maybe not), a few bits of cheese, 2 ritz crackers, 3 small bits of fruit, cheetos for lunch (this is only at home. If he is at daycare, he refuses to eat anything!). Dinner is typically a repeat of lunch with some yogurt added in on a good day. He also enjoys fruit snacks and is currently obsessed with vanilla wafers. When I say obsessed I mean he will likely eat 3 in a sitting. He will not eat any meat, veggies, pasta, potatoes, etc. So...my little man is just that, LITTLE! We have had a hard time maintaining weight this summer, even with me being home feeding him his food. Now that he is in daycare and expected to eat what is served, I fear he will lose weight. I would happily send food, but the daycare won't allow it due to other children's food allergies. (Stupid!) So-in a nutshell, we don't know what to do with our picky eater!

In these pictures you can see that Kale has 3 remote controls. That is one of the tricks we have learned in order to get him to eat. We let him play with old remotes from TV/VCRs we don't have anymore. This occupies him and he will usually eat. He loves to take the back off and try to put it back on. He sits in his high chair and aims the remote at the TV to try to change the channels.

Our Weekend

Kale loves to "eat" breakfast with his daddy. He thinks it is so cool to sit in the barstools. He sits on my lap each morning and picks at my bagel while I eat. He is happy as long as he sits in the barstools!

We decided to go to the park this weekend. There is a nice park about 15 minutes from our house. This park is huge and has multiple ponds, playsets, and even a dog park. We decided to take our dogs along. They are both obsessed with water and we could not keep them out the pond.

On the way to the park, Kale kept turning around in his carseat saying, "Hi!" to both of the dogs. He did it at least 25 times. We could tell he was surprised they were along for the ride.

Kale had a great time sitting in the stroller watching the dogs play. He giggled like crazy each time they would jump into the water.

Since we live on a cul-de-sac road and all of the garages in Amarillo are in the back of the house (you go in through an alley to park in your garage), Kale is able to play safely in our street--with parental supervision, of course! He really enjoys riding his 4-wheeler in the road. We enjoy it also because he is a horrible driver and he has a much bigger area to drive on. We don't have to worry with him running into stuff like we do in the house or on the patio. Can you tell we live on a street currently under construction based on the background? All construction should be done by December.

Kale also likes to help dad water the flowers. Doesn't he look like such a big boy?

Weekend Getaway

Kris and I went to Santa Fe for a weekend getaway for our anniversary present to each other. It was great to spend some time with each other and enjoy sleeping in and eating at "adult" restaurants. We honestly didn't do much...just relaxed, ate alot, got massages, and walked around the Plaza area of Santa Fe. We also took a tour of Santa Fe, which was pretty interesting. Santa Fe is a beautiful area.

We stayed at Buffalo Thunder Resort, which is also a casino. The rooms were great and the spa was even better. We did spend a few minutes in the casino, but didn't manage to win any money!

This weekend was the first time Kale has been away from both Kris and I. It was really hard for me to away from him, but I managed it. He stayed with our great babysitter, Bethany, and her husband, Dane. I think it was like a mini vacation for him too, as Bethany bought him McDonald's for dinner each night and he enjoyed swimming in the pool every day. I don't know if he missed us at all!

New Trick

Both Kale and the dogs have discovered how to climb the ladder to the top of the clubhouse above his swing set. I really thought it would be awhile before Kale learned to do this, but one day when I had my back turned, he climbed right up! I wondered how earth he got up there. He was willing to repeat his trick for me numerous times.

They are both so proud of themselves!

Molly is not Kale's biggest fan. She normally runs away anytime he comes near her, but she is more than content to be in the clubhouse with him.

We took a video of our "kids" doing their new tricks. Pardon the horrible videographing...I am not very good at this task. Jonah can climb the ladder too, but wasn't in the mood to perform for the camera.

Baby Liam's Room

We finally have all of the furniture for Liam's room. I won't bore you with details, but it has been a process! Kale's crib converts into a toddler bed, then a full size bed, so we decided it would be best to purchase a new set for Liam. I have been searching everywhere for bedding and haven't had any luck yet.

Sweet Summertime

Kale's new Iowa shirt that Kris bought for him.

He looks like he is up to something...

He loves to go in the spare room and look at the pictures on the bay window seat. He points and talks about each of them in his "baby language." I have no idea what he is saying, but it is interesting to listen to him talk.

Summertime is quickly coming to an end and it has passed way too fast! Of course, being in education, I count summertime as time off work. I go back to work next Thursday and Kale will begin daycare full-time. I have loved spending the summer with him and watching how much he has changed and grown. A part of me hates to go back to work and miss my time with him, but I do love my job, so it's back to the grindstone I go!