Thanksgiving

I had big plans for our Thanksgiving holiday this year, but unfortunately a nasty stomach bug had different plans for us... all 3 of us.  Wednesday morning Kaleb and I went to his "just 2's" tumbling class at the Y.  I had to run by the grocery store for a few things on our way home and it took every ounce of my energy I had to push that buggy around the store.  Luckily, Kirk came home shortly after we did and I was able to take a quick nap while Kirk fed Kaleb lunch.  Because shortly after lunch Kirk became the first stomach bug victim.  I quarantined him to the basement in hopes that Kaleb and I wouldn't get sick, but as the day progressed I realized that the reason I was so exhausted at the store was because I too was sick.  I was achy, feverish, and had no appetite.  Kirk's lasted about 8 hours, and just as he was starting to feel better, I started having lots of contractions.  At 1:00 am I called my OB nurse, and she advised us to head to the hospital so they could get a monitor on me.  Kirk went into Kaleb's room to get him up for us to head to the hospital and discovered that the stomach bug had claimed victim number 2.  Kaleb had thrown up in his sleep and was sleeping in it.  We had to bathe him and clean up his bed.  By that point, my contractions had slowed down, and we decided to wait a bit before heading to the hospital.  I became victim number 3 around 5:00 am, and Kirk had to call and wake up my poor OB nurse again.  Because I was not contracting as often anymore, she advised that we stay home and just concentrate on getting fluids in me.  So our Thanksgiving Day was spent eating jello, dry toast, and chicken noodle soup; and recovering.  By that evening we were all clearly on the mend, but that's when we realized that something was wrong with Bruno.  He was coughing very bad, not eating, and just not acting himself.  So Bruno spent Friday at the vet while I worked on disinfecting our house from all of the yucky germs.  Bruno was diagnosed with pneumonia and is still in pretty bad shape.  This evening, I feel like I'm starting to see a little bit of improvement in his condition.  Hopefully, the meds are starting to kick in, and he will start to feel a lot better.  We cooked our Thanksgiving dinner Friday night and decorated our house for Christmas all day Saturday.  Kaleb really enjoyed exploring all of the Christmas decorations.  He is at a really fun age for Christmas this year.  I'm looking forward to a fun month celebrating Christmas with him! 

Sunday morning we had our first "North Pole Breakfast."  Of course, I got the idea from Pinterest, and it turned out really fun for Kaleb.  Our Elf on the Shelf "Timmy" brought us breakfast from the North Pole.  He also brought Kaleb a few little gifts.  I think this will turn into a tradition the kids will really look forward to every year.

Discovering our Little People Nativity Set

Enjoying our late Thanksgiving dinner.

Kaleb has gotten to really love hats... so much that he can't wear just one.  And they're usually on backwards.

Quick happy shot before the Egg Bowl was played... Ouch!

North Pole Breakfast 2012

Kaleb's ball and Christmas socks from Timmy

Peppermint Milk was a hit!

We had bacon and eggs too, but of course Kaleb mostly ate the sweets.

Timmy had 3 presents wrapped up for Kaleb... a nativity puzzle, a vintage Mickey Mouse ornament for the tree, and the "Elf on the Shelf" DVD.

Timmy took his first trip back to the North Pole last night with a great report on Kaleb.  This is where he landed upon his return to our house.

Out of the bathtub and back into our hat (backwards) for milk with Mommy before bed.

Although, we had a pretty sickly Thanksgiving, we are so very thankful that we had the time spent together.  We ended up having a pretty enjoyable weekend together!

Melissa

Trick or Treasure: A Pirate Halloween

Kirk had to work late on Halloween and wasn't able to be home for Trick or Treating with us.  Kaleb and I decided to visit Daddy at work and trick or treat around my office and Kirk's office while we were there.  After a long nap, Kaleb was ready for more pirate adventures and we went to a few houses in our neighborhood to collect a bit more candy.  Kaleb was very polite saying "Thank you" and "Happy Halloween" at each home.  He also made sure to tell everyone that "Daddy gone in his truck."  I'm glad I only went to houses of people I know well.  I'm not sure I needed strangers knowing we were home alone for the evening!  When Kaleb woke up the next morning the first things he asked for were his "Pirate hat, shirt, and pants."  I was worried that we were going to be dressed as a pirate for a week or so, but we haven't had to dress up any more.

A pirate's life is rough!

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!

Melissa

Kaleb Turns Two!

My baby is no longer a baby... he's 2!  We had such a great birthday week celebrating with our parents and friends here in Wichita.  I will let the pictures tell the story of our week.

A new family tradition in our home, the birthday wreath, will go up on the wall for each person's birthday week!

Kaleb's present from us... ready to rip into it!!

A new kitchen!!

It came in a million pieces... it took so long to put together I forgot to take a pic of the end product!

The pumpkin patch...

We spent an afternoon at the pumpkin patch.

Mawmaw, Pops, Kaleb, Pawpaw, and Mawmaw

My two sweet "punkins!"

Kaleb and Pops on the slide... he loved this slide so much he rode it several times with Pops, Pawpaw, and Daddy!

He wanted so bad to jump, but the big kids were a little rambunctious for him.

Hay fort fun with Daddy!

His first corn maze experience.

I was so proud of him for riding this train alone... I couldn't believe it when he told me he wanted to do it.  That boy loves trains!

The whole crew!  Kaleb was so cold and tired by this point, and his allergies were acting up... we didn't even make it into the actual pumpkin patch.

The wagon ride back to the car.  He didn't make it out of the parking lot and he was asleep.  He had so much fun!

The Birthday Party...

 

Yo ho!!

Is that not the sweetest little face?!

I gave all of the kids cups to collect the candy from the pinata.  Kaleb went behind me with his wheelbarrow to collect all of "His" Jake cups.  He did the same thing collecting everyone's candy when we were done.  I think we should work on sharing a bit more.

Helping Pawpaw put his gifts together.

Puzzle time with Mawmaw.

Wrapping up our week...

Vampire Mickey pumpkin time!

We had such a great week with him.  There are quite a few things I missed... He had swim lessons on his birthday and his class sang happy birthday to him; We had a birthday dinner at Red Robin that day too just the 3 of us, complete with singing and a free ice cream sundae; Pawpaw and Pops taught him to howl at the moon, and they did it together A LOT; and much more!  I know I did not capture near enough of the fun in photos, but sometimes you just have to put down the camera and enjoy the moment right?  

We had a rough day the day everyone left.  Kaleb is finally old enough to realize when a visit is over, and he was one sad cookie when he realized that it was just us again!  We are back in our routine now, but the first day was tough.  

I can't wait to see what this next year with Kaleb brings.  He has been such a blessing to all of us these past 2 years, and it only seems to get better!

Melissa