The Rest of Break

A few more pictures from our holiday break:

Lewis Modeling his New Super Cool Corduroy Vest from Mamaw and Papaw

With this warm weather, we have taken some walks with the dogs and another trip to the playground (a different one from last week). This one wasn't as Lewis-friendly as the one down on the waterfront, but it was still fun. Kevin and I took turns taking him down the big kid slides on our laps. And we couldn't let him down to crawl around because the surface consisted of wood chips that he would surely try to eat. :) 

Taking the Big Boy slide with Papa

Loves to swing!!

Checking out what Papa was doing

(Kevin got on the bigger swings next to the baby swings)

Atop the really high curly slide with Mama

Back to the basement...

Playing with his cool activity table from Uncle Scott

Shutting the trap doors on his new toy from us

He can't yet figure out how to turn the knob, push the button, lift the lever, etc. to make the doors open, but he loves to go along and close them!

Our big handsome buddy

He has gotten much steadier on his feet!
(From chasing Juniper, Mathilda, Peter, and Hattie, no doubt) 

That problem I had mentioned with the cutout wall... 

Working his new CHEESE! face

It has been really nice having Kevin home--I've gotten a lot of little projects done around the house that have been lingering on my to do list. Childproofing is finally as done as it can be--the magnetic locks work great on the cabinet doors, but they do not fit the drawers (the exact spot where I need to drill into the drawer face to house the magnet is the same spot where two pieces of wood meet in a corner, and I absolutely cannot get a hole drilled there). So we'll settle for a partial victory on that.

We'll hopefully be able to work in a trim of Lewis' wild hair sometime tomorrow. Other than that, I guess we'll just relax and enjoy our last day of break together.


OH! And we found Tooth #7 this morning--the one to the right of his bottom two. So he now has 4 up top and 3 on the bottom.

A New Year - Happy 2012!

Happy 2012, all!


A few goals for the new year:

• Implement more structured activities into Lewis' day. Plan ahead. Utilize the activity books we have.
• Eat more whole foods and less 'convenience' foods. Make more from scratch. Expand our weeknight dinner repertoire. Try menu planning. Buy/eat more fruits and vegetables.
• Take time every day for myself. Maybe walk the dogs after Kevin gets home. Maybe yoga. Something where I can step away from Lewis, away from the TV/computer, and clear my head.

Things could soon get turned upside down at our house! I have applied for a full-time Naturalist position out at the forest where I worked for three seasons. I wasn't really looking for something full-time, but this job has been on my closest-to-a-dream-job radar for a few (7 or so) years, so I feel like I owe it to myself to at least apply. 


While trying to live in the moment, I can't help but try to lay down plans now that will put me in the best scenario 5+ years from now (once we are finished having children). I'm concerned that having no degree-related year-round, full-time job experience on my resume will set me back some. My thinking is that if I can get a few years of entry level experience now with this forest position, I can take off from work again for a while with the next child. When I am ready to return to work again, I will be able to enter the workforce in more of an established role instead of something entry level. 


Plus, now that Lewis is older and more interactive, I want him to have the benefits of being around other children. I feel like we could do that through a mom group/play group (or storytime and swim lessons and other planned activities on my part), or we could send him to daycare.


I was starting to think about looking for a part-time job (until the forest job came up), and I'm very much torn on what the 'right' thing to do is. My considerations are Lewis' needs vs. my career vs. stress level vs. financial security vs. time to myself vs. family balance.


I love Lewis so much, and I just want to do what is right for him and for me, whatever that is. I'm very fortunate to be in a situation of having a choice, I realize.


So I guess that's another resolution:

• To achieve better balance.

We'll see what happens!

Oopsy--Forgot the Christmas Videos! :)

I almost forgot that we took a few videos, too! Just two. 

The first is Lewis playing with his drum that Mamaw and Papaw Carter got him. The boy loves to bang on things.

And then this little bit of action happened later on Christmas Day at Grandma and Grandpa Thompson's house! We've never let him try the stairs before, but apparently he has figured them out!

THAT is all, I promise.

Christmas Break, The Final Part, Part 6 - Em, Joe, and Juniper Visit Louisville

And finally, the last post from today regarding the past week, I promise! 

Emily, Joe, and Juniper came down and stayed with us from Tuesday until today! We had a nice, relaxing time with Lewis and Juniper getting along pretty splendidly, I believe. I'm so glad that they were able to come down and that we could all, especially Lew and Juni, spend some quality time together. It was fun to see them interact and also to watch Juni play with some of the toys that we've gotten Lewis that he is still a bit too young for. She is such a smart and sweet girl and so patient with Lewis (as he took things from her and pulled her hair a lot). :)

 She loooved the wind from the ball popper blowing on her face.

AND of course the ball hit her face just a split second after this picture was snapped, but she didn't seem to mind. :)

 Lewis checking out his new digs.

 A perfect fit for our adventureland of a basement.

Yesterday it was a bit chilly, but we decided to go ahead and bundle the babes up and take them down to the playground at Waterfront Park before heading to lunch. I'm so glad we went--I had taken Waycross campers there once way back in the day and remembered the playground was a good one, but I'd forgotten that they have separate little kid, medium kid, and big kid play areas. There was a whole Lewis and Juni-sized structure with not-too-high-off-the-ground steps and slides and tunnels. It was great! We will definitely go back.

 Juni seemed a little unsure of the Kentucky swings at first.

 Lewis smiling at his cousin

 Whee!!!

 Some of the pint-sized playground area

 A neat (and very cold metal) tunnel

 Brrrrr.

 Lew and Papa, down by the river

In this next picture, I'm not sure if you'll be able to 'get' what is going on, but Juni's elbow is resting on a larger cutout area similar to the one next to her to the right of the photo. She and Lewis (over just the past few days) both tried to climb through the cutout and into the dining room. It falls RIGHT at their waist height and Lewis is thisclose to hiking his leg up far enough to boost himself through (headfirst, onto hardwood, bad news). I'm pretty sure Juni could have done it if she wanted to, but she listened when we told her 'No' and Lewis doesn't quite get that yet. Sooo, I think we'll be doing some rearranging of the furniture to block him from accessing that area.

And then this morning before they hit the road, we gave Lewis and Juniper their first bath together. They both had fun splashing and playing with the squirt toys.

Lewis looooves his cousin. :)

So that was Lewis' First Christmas/Christmas 2011 for us! Kevin is still off until the 3rd, so I look forward to enjoying some family downtime after our busy (but great) week we've had. I'm not sure what Kevin has planned (we'll definitely be watching some basketball on NYE with IU vs. Ohio State and UL vs. UK playing). Tomorrow his parents are coming over to watch Lew for us while we go to late morning showing of The Descendants and then out to lunch, so I look forward to having a little day date with Kevin!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Christmas Break, Part 5 - Stockings and Visiting with Friends

The day AFTER Christmas, we spent the morning trying to put things away, start laundry, clean up the house a bit. Then Kevin had to leave to go meet his family for lunch, so Lewis took a nap while I got ready to head out with Lew to pick up Kevin en route to meeting up with friends and their kiddos in Corydon. Does that make sense? 

But first, we went ahead and opened our Christmas stockings because we had gotten back to the house right at bedtime the night before and didn't have time. Kevin picked out a Cookie Monster stuffed animal for Lew, and I got him a compact travel bib, some 'fancy' baby food (the organic stuff in the pouch...they had cranberry, which is a food he needs to still try), and some Gerber cookies. And some Reese's Pieces JUST in case Kevin forgot to get some for me...of course, he bought some for me, I bought some for him, and I bought some for Lewis. Sooo, we ended up with 3 candy canes of them. 

It's a Cookie Monster!!

 Cool bib, dude. :)

These next few are from Reed and Maria's house in Corydon where we met up with them and the Littles (Joe, Polly, and Joey) and had a great time! Lewis continued to walk further bit by bit, chasing after the 'big kids' (Joey is ~14 months and Clara is ~18 months).

 Enjoying his gifts (puffs and a cool frog toy) from the McKinleys

Hanging with Joey

So that was the day after Christmas! Once Lewis went to bed, I went into housecleaning overdrive mode because Emily, Joe, and Juniper were coming down the next day through today! We had a great visit, and I took a ton of pictures which I will post later today. For now, it is beautiful outside, so we are heading to the park! 

Christmas Break, Part 4 - Afternoon/Evening with The Thompsons

After outfit change four of the day, I believe, we finally arrived at the Thompson house for a great meal and more gifts.

Activity Table from Uncle Scott

Dump Truck from Grandma and Grandpa

A cool tricycle from his Grandma and Grandpa

Lewis, his WILD bangs, and Grandma

Checking out the Christmas tree!

On our way home from a wonderful 1st Christmas!

Psychedelic Ball from his Aunt Kate

It worked very well in trying to keep him happy on the way home after a long day. Thanks, Kate.

And I didn't get a picture of Kevin's gift to Lewis, but it is a sweet little t-ball set for him to practice his batting skills! It will be perfect for the summer when the weather warms up again! 

Christmas Break, Part 3 - Lewis' 1st Christmas Morning!

We have gotten into the routine of going to my parents' for Christmas Eve/Christmas morning, and then driving down to Kevin's parents' house for Christmas afternoon/evening. It has worked well in the past, but now that we have Lewis, it might be a little too much time in the car (for Lewis and us). We might revisit the plan sometime between now and next Christmas and see if there is a better way.

Back to this year, we spent Christmas morning at my parents' house.

 Cousins on Christmas Morning

Lewis' new favorite pastime--pulling Juni's hair (And she is so patient with him!)

 

 Me in Lewis' awesome new teepee made for him by Auntie Schwee (Em)

I think Juniper was in there with me, too. It is big enough for one adult and one child.

 Princess Juniper in the tutu I made for her!

 Lewis checking out one of many great toys from Mamaw and Papaw

He loves the lights and sounds of this one!

 Lewis opening the gift from me (that I picked out without Kevin)

It is a magnetic farm animal matching toy for him to play with while we are in the kitchen (theoretically, instead of the cabinets, dog bowls, trash can, etc.)

 Some rad high or low top Chucks from Mamaw and Papaw

And a cell phone of his very own so that he might not (again, theoretically) try to eat ours as often. :)

Then it was breakfast, followed by our road trip back to KY. We unloaded dogs and presents, and then headed to Kevin's parents' house for a late lunch/early dinner and more gifts!