Kansas City

Chad and I were in need of a get-a-away which is way more difficult with a newborn especially with a toddler in tow. I have breastfed 2 babies but I am far from an expert and will not feed in public, my boobs are too floppy and my babies have always gotten way too distracted with what’s going on around them to eat. With that being said Chad and I looked at locations in about a 4 hour radius. We landed on Dallas or Kansas City and decided to give Kansas City a go.

 We’ve heard really good things about Kansas City and wanted to try out the Legoland there so that was our main activity. We are in dire need of a bigger car so we rented a Tahoe to test it out and headed out the Wednesday before Easter. After finally getting all packed, let me tell you packing for 2 kids including a toddler and baby is exhausting, sending Karl to get boarded we were off! We stopped just outside of Kansas City and stayed with Chad’s cousin Wednesday night. We left right around nap time with the idea that both kids would sleep in the car. Well Grady slept about 30 minutes and I bought Audrey a portable sound machine and slept almost the whole time. Chad’s cousin has a little boy who loves cars as well so Grady was in hog heaven. After the kiddos went to bed we caught up for a little bit and went straight to bed.

Thursday was our big Legoland day. Grady woke up just in time to send the big kids off to school and was fascinated by the big bus they got on. We loaded all of our belongings up and we were off once again. Legoland was only about a 25-minute drive so we stopped to get breakfast on our way. Grady fell asleep on our way to Legoland but woke up just as we were entering the parking garage. Our reservations were at 10-10:30 we parked our vehicle around 10:25 but little did we know that the free parking garage we parked in only had entrances to elevators on 2 floors so by time we figured that out and made our way into Legoland it was about 10:45. Luckily they didn’t care. I didn’t know what to expect but once we got inside it was a lot smaller than I imagined. It was super cool to see everything they can create with Legos however there was a very small area for Grady’s age so we were a little disappointed with that. We ended up staying about an hour and a half and pretty much just paid for him to go down a slide but hey he had fun and that’s all that matters.

Our next stop was supposed to be a restaurant called fritz’s in crown center, it’s a restaurant that has toy trains that run above you and drop your food down from the train. I talked to a few people that have been and they said that the food really wasn’t that good so since the line was out the door we decided to go to another restaurant called “Spin” and it was decisions. I also heard great things about Sheridan’s frozen custard so we grabbed some ice cream on our way to the car. Our plan was to check into the hotel and both kids take a nap well Grady was not having it plus it was a new place and he was too excited. I was able to find a hotel that had 2 separate rooms so Grady could sleep in the living room and we could have a separate room and he wouldn’t interrupt Audrey. Audrey ended up taking about a 3 hour nap so Chad and I switched off so we could also get a nap in.

After Audrey woke up we went shopping for a little bit before dinner. There was a shopping center downtown KC and right down the road from our hotel so it was perfect. Of course wouldn’t you know that Grady would fall asleep in the stroller while shopping! For dinner we tried out some famous Kansas City BBQ and I have to admit I am not a Kansas City BBQ fan. I think I’ll stick to my good ole Oklahoma BBQ. The sweet lady’s that worked in the restaurant thought our kiddos where the cutest however Grady was not on his best behavior and we ended up having to pack it all up and eat back at our hotel.

The next day we woke up and started to head home but of course we had to stop by an Ikea on the way out. I ended up getting Audrey’s 1^st birthday present (I know super early, but I don’t know when I’ll be at an Ikea again before that). I had a shopping list of items I wanted to pick up but we ended up walking the store and picking up WAY more items than what was on our list. On the way home the kids did fantastic up until about an hour from the house, which I don’t blame them.

Overall it was a great little get away but if I learned anything that it was to stay in 1 place inside of having to pack, unpack, pack, unpack and pack again. It was fine when it was just Chad and I but boy do kiddos have a lot of stuff and my back is still killing me from carrying everything.

March Recap

2018 is starting to look up for me and my family! March is always a busy month for us and it’s more towards the end of March with all the birthdays, our Anniversary, spring break, etc. Whose idea was it to get married the week of spring break anyways, oh that’s right me! We were really focused on Audrey’s weight this past month and I’m so happy that she has tripled in her weight percentile!!

Ever since I went back to work I have really struggled with just wanting to spend some more time with my babies. I talked to my supervisor about going part time in the future and using up the rest of my FMLA days that I had but didn’t use for maternity leave. I have 4 unused days that I have been using sparingly. I was also addressed about a new position that will eventually lead me to a part time gig! I don’t start until May 1^st but I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity.

Chad had a business trip in the middle of March which left me by myself with both babies. I managed 1 night by myself just fine but then I recruited my mom to help out for another night. I’ve always had a huge respect for single parents but boy with that experience did it just double.

Chad has always been a HUGE movie person but I’ve never been much of one, it’s hard for me to sit still for that long. Anyways while I was at dollar tree one day I got the idea to put together a “movie night” box for Chad and Grady. We had our first one in March and boy did Chad love it. I mentioned to him that we could try and do that once a month and he corrected me saying that we can do it more often lol.

On March 19^th we celebrated the arrival of our new niece, Kamrie! She is absolutely perfect and both Chad and I cannot wait to spoil her. Our anniversary is on March 22^nd which fell in the middle of the week so we got to celebrate it the following Friday. We tried out a steak restaurant Downtown Tulsa called Prhyme. It was delicious and I actually got to indulge in an alcoholic drink this year so that was an added plus.  We normally order a replica of the top tier of our wedding cake but in the midst of trying to work on our portion control we decided to get a cupcake at a cupcakery downtown instead. Earlier in the month our friends got us some cupcakes from this place downtown and the turtle cupcake was out of this world. So much that my mouth was watering for weeks, we ended up getting the turtle and a peanut butter chocolate cupcake. Just as expected it was divine.

The weather here in Oklahoma is unpredictable sometimes we are able to have dance parties with ice cream on the back porch and other days it’s freezing. Now that Audrey is a little more mobile Grady is starting to get a little rough with her. She’ll be rolling around on the floor and Grady will like to jump over her, scares me to death. However, he still adores her and when she is awake from a nap he will run into her room to wake her up telling me no momma along the way just so he can be the first one in there melts my heart.

Grady is at the stage where everything is his and if I give a toy to sister he immediately wants it. We are working on his sharing but more times than not he will steal the toy right from Audrey, poor girl. We introduced chocolate milk I waited a love time to introduce since I did not want him to get hooked. We call his chocolate milk his coffee and when I took them to the donut shop he say chocolate milk asked for some “coffee” I got the weirdest looks and no I do not give my child real coffee!

We ended the month with our first big family road trip to Kansas City as well as Easter. I’ll have to document those in a different post since this is getting a little long!

Audrey - 7 months

This month was filled with milestones and highs for our sweet baby girl. Let me tell you that we sure did need it after a few trying months. Can I just say that I am super proud of myself for staying on top on her monthly pictures! They are becoming a chore but I’m really trying to document everything for myself and for when she gets older.

Sleep:

We were given the ok to start sleep training again from our doctor. We decided to take the binky away from her at night, it was rough for about 3 nights but after that she’s done amazing! She’ll normally wake up 1-2 times in the night which I’ll feed her once around 12:30/1, the first time she wakes up. I know people say babies can sleep 11-12 hours straight around 6 months of age but I just know that she’s not getting much from me at the end of the day so since I have to get up to feed or pump anyways I normally just go ahead and feed her. She’s always been really good when she does wake up in the middle of the night where I’ll feed her and she’ll go right back to sleep (unlike her brother who would be up for a hour). She’ll also wake up around 3 and this is when we give her the binky. Not because she probably couldn’t figure it but because we are tired and it’s 3AM, do you blame me! We are also doing a lot better with our naps. She will normally take a cat nap around 7:30, a morning nap around 9:30, and an afternoon nap around 1. Her naps range but normally I can get about an hour out of her. The worst part of sleep training is not having those baby snuggles all night long anymore although there are sometimes I will nap with her just for some snuggles and of course my arm will be dead asleep an hour in! We are still in the Merlin suit and plan on transitions out of it soon but I’m getting spoiled with my sleep and am sure not ready but we have to do it.

Eat:

We started solids after getting the ok from our Doctor and boy is Audrey sure a hoot. We started with green vegetables first and she did not like Peas, I have the cutest little video of her that I have probably watched 500 times. Green beans are ok but she loves Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peaches, avocados and pears so far. Peas have really been the only food that she has refused but Green beans and bananas are a close second. She is already showing signs of being miss independent anytime I find her she must hold the spoon as well. We are still going strong with breastfeeding and I am so happy! I started stocking up on my breastmilk early on so we are coming to an end with our breastfeeding relationship and although somedays I’m ready more days than not I’m sad that this is coming to an end.

Development:

We can sit up!! We can officially sit up but not for long and we are on the go again. She is just like her brother and would rather be going, going, going rather than be sitting still for too long. She also learned how to blow bubbles and loves to do so when she wakes up at 3 in the morning. We are also officially in the highchair and she loves being part of family dinner.