Our First Month Back

We have officially lived in Indiana for one month now. Well…the kids and I have, Ryan has only been back about a week! It has been very different than I originally expected pre-pandemic. We are obviously still living in quarantine as much as possible and haven’t been able to visit as many friends and family as we’d like, but it has still been nice being close to our immediate family, especially with Ryan away. We are definitely still reeling from the crazy roller coaster that our lives have been the last few months, but it helped to have our family close to help me and entertain these busy kids!

Here is a recap of our month of June…

Swimming at Yaya’s

The kids and I stayed at my parents during the month of June while Ryan finished his residency. We spent lots of time swimming! One of Kinsie’s summer goals was to learn to swim completely on her own with no floaties. Well, she accomplished that goal in about 5 minutes! My mom worked with her in stages and had her swimming and jumping off the diving board independently in no time!

Play Dates at Aunt Renata’s

We’ve always been close to Ryan’s Aunt Renata, and she used to help watch my kids when I was working. We really missed her during our time in Arkansas, so we’ve been making it up with lots of play dates at her house! The kids are always busy when visiting her house, whether it’s throwing rocks in the creek, painting rocks and birdhouses, making cookies, or just lounging in the hammock!

Lake Days

Oh, how we’ve missed our days at Heritage Lake! It is one of our absolute favorite places to be. We spent several days on the lake with Grandma Bev and Papa Tim this month.

Fishing

I spent as much time fishing as I could since I haven’t done it in far too long. The kids like to fish too…but they don’t have the attention span to do it for long. Usually what ended up happening was they would do other things while I fished, then when I caught one, they wanted to touch and hold it.

Boat Rides

Boat ride are always a favorite activity at the lake…and now we have Brody to enjoy them with! Brody was extra calm on boat rides, and they always rocked him right to sleep!

Other Lake Adventures

The kids loved taking cubby rides around Heritage Drive, and especially to the marina. They enjoyed ice cream lakeside, and then loved playing on the playground.

Cousin Play Dates

The kids have LOVED being back home closer to their cousins! We’ve tried to squeeze in as much cousin fun as possible this month. Their cousin Griffin was born in the middle of residency, so we’ve only gotten to spend time with him in small chunks during our short and busy visits home, so now the kids are loving spending lots of time with him now that we’re back!

And of course the kids love their time with their cousins on my side of the family too. They call themselves the “Super 6” and are so excited to add Brody to the cousin crew!

Our 8th Anniversary

Unfortunately, Ryan and I didn’t get to spend our anniversary together this year, but with residency life, this is somewhat the norm. Our entire marriage so far has been simultaneous with Ryan’s medical journey, so we’ve never really had “normal lives” since we got married in 2012. However, we’ve made the best of it! Our marriage has already been tested with the craziness of med school and residency life, even several periods of time where we didn’t even get to live together, and we’ve only come out stronger because of it. We are hopeful that from now on, we’ll actually get to spend our anniversaries together and maybe even get to have a date night here and there…something that has been few and far between for us!

Father’s Day

We also didn’t get to spend Father’s Day with Ryan this year since we were in Indiana and he was still in Arkansas. However, we tried to still make it special for him. We took a picture (below, right) and put it on a canvas and mailed it to one of Ryan’s co-residents’ houses. The kids also drew pictures for him, and we sent those as well. Ryan’s co-resident then wrapped them for me and gave the gift to him while he was on shift on Father’s Day! He was surprised and loved his gift. We also got to FaceTime with him before he went to work, so we gave him as much love as possible from a distance.

Other Fun Activities

My older two have been through a lot the last few months…with the pandemic and not getting to finish school, moving, and getting a new sibling. With all that, they have definitely had their moments of feeling overwhelmed, but overall they have handled all the change SO well. However, they are busy kids, and they behave much better when they stay busy. We played outside as much as we could, spent days at the homes of different family members, and even visited our rental home in Bloomington a few times. They enjoyed driving cars and tractors at both grandparents’ houses, picking strawberries in Grandma Bev’s garden, and having reading time together.

Tours of IU Campus

IU Campus has my heart. It is so beautiful and I’ve always loved visiting whenever I had the chance. Since this is now the location of our new home, I’ve loved showing the kids the campus that I love so much!

Ryan’s Homecoming

It was a long month without Ryan, so we were counting down the days until he came home. Ryan finishing residency was very different than it was supposed to be. He was supposed to get a special graduation ceremony, but they had to do it via Zoom instead. Luckily, they livestreamed the ceremony on YouTube so we could watch. I was an emotional mess watching the whole thing because a) I was sad that it had to be this way and b) I was so proud of Ryan. He even won the Resident of the Year award!

We wanted to make it a big deal when he came home. We invited both of our families, ordered a big yard sign, made food, ordered a cake, and decorated the house with streamers and signs. We were all so excited when he finally made it home and we had a great night together with our favorite doctor finally home for good.  If you haven’t seen it already, be sure to watch the video below of his homecoming.

Brody turned 1 Month Old!

Our sweet Brody turned 1 month old in June! We have adored every second of our time with him. He is the absolute sweetest baby, and I am convinced that with all the craziness going on this year, God knew we needed a sweet baby like him. He has made a very difficult time in the world a whole lot better for us.

Here are some stats about Brody at 1 month old…

• At his 1 month checkup, he was 10 pounds and 2.5 oz (55th percentile), and 22.5 inches long (80th percentile).
• Like I said before, he is SO sweet.
• He is very laid back, something I did not expect based on the energy level of my other two, and how he acted in utero.
• He rarely cries, something else we weren’t expecting based on our last colicky child.
• He may not cry often, but he sure makes a lot of noises. He squeaks and grunts a lot. His little squeaks are the sweetest sound, and the kids call him “Squeaks” because of it. Whenever he’s hungry or gassy, rather than crying, he just grunts. I’ll take grunts any day over excessive crying!
• He is most comfortable when being held. He is such a snuggly baby.
• When he is awake and happy, he wiggles and kicks his legs a lot.
• He had his first social smile right around 4 weeks old, and it was when FaceTiming with his daddy.
• He loves watching ceiling fans.
• He enjoys watching his big sister and big brother while they play.
• He is very tolerant of the love (more like smothering) that he gets from Kinsie and Brax.
• He loves his pacifiers. He has a monkey and a frog pacifier, and he hugs them while he sleeps.
• He is starting to be awake for longer periods of time, which we all love!

The many precious faces of Brody…

We love his adorable smile!

I’m always capturing his big siblings loving on him. They love playing with him when he’s on the floor, and they literally argue over holding him. I often have to set timers while they take turns holding him.

And that’s a wrap for our June. We survived with the help of our family, and now we are so happy to have Ryan home and to officially start our new chapter of life post-residency. Ryan has the entire month of July off, so we are looking forward to lots of Daddy time and trying to explore our new town (as much as we can during a pandemic).

Here is our June 1 Second Everyday video. Enjoy!

June Travels

June was a whirlwind! We were gone more than we were home. During the month of June, we traveled to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, and then the kids and I took a 2 week trip to visit family in Indiana. Ryan had to stay home to work, and we definitely missed him a lot while we were gone! However, we stayed super busy and did lots of fun activities back in our home town. I’m excited to share our June adventures!

Trip to Lake of the Ozarks

Since Ryan was named Chief Resident, one of his first responsibilities was to make the first few schedules. We knew that the kids and I were going to be gone the last 2 weeks of the month, so Ryan scheduled himself to work pretty much the whole time we were gone. With that being said, he was able to get multiple days off in a row during the first half of the month, so we decided to take advantage of that and take a little trip to the Ozarks! My parents met us there and brought along Kerigan. Unfortunately, Kinsie was not feeling well during the trip, and we later discovered she had pneumonia. She was just extra tired and not her perky self, but she was a trooper and still had fun.

On the first full day, we took a hike at the state park. It was a fun and easy hike, and we saw tons of deer! 

After our hike, we went to the beach area near our condo. The kids loved splashing around at the beach, playing on the playground, and taking a ride on the inflatable kayak that Ryan brought with us.

The next day, we rented a pontoon boat and spent the entire day on the lake. We had a great day exploring the lake, trying out different restaurants on the water, fishing, and more. The kids were all exhausted by the end of the day, and Brax even fell asleep on Yaya’s lap, which I know she didn’t mind at all!

I felt so bad that we took Kinsie on this trip when she didn’t feel good, but she was such a trooper. After the trip, we got her on some antibiotics and she was feeling better within days. It was still such a fun little trip with some people we love!

 

Small Adventures

Taking small trips, even if it’s to a store or to get ice cream, are crucial for my sanity. Since Kinsie wasn’t feeling well, we were home a lot. As soon as she was feeling a little better, we took short trips out of the house just to get some fresh air. We needed to get some school uniforms for Kinsie, so we went to the outdoor mall and had ice cream. Another day, we went to Target and got cake pops at the Starbucks inside the store. It’s the little things!

One day, Ryan didn’t have to work until the afternoon, so we took a family walk around the lake. The kids enjoyed stopping along the way to see turtles and ducks and we enjoyed some quality family time.

Dragon Boat Races

The lake by our house does this event every year, and the first year it took place on the day we moved. We obviously didn’t go then since we just moved in, but we did see the fireworks from our house! This is the first year we were able to check it out, and it was very cool! Different companies get together and make teams and they race dragon boats across the lake to raise money for charity. Each company also sets up a tent and gives away free items. The kids got some free dragon cups, a beach ball, and lollipops, so they were in heaven! There were also fun games and activities set up around the park, so we all enjoyed a fun family morning at the event!

Father’s Day and Our Anniversary

Our 7th anniversary and Father’s Day landed on the same day this year, so I made sure Ryan took the day off! We didn’t do anything spectacular…just went to church, and spent the day playing outside with the kids. Then I made Ryan’s favorite dinner. It was simple…but that’s all we needed. All we wanted for both our anniversary and Father’s Day was to spend the day all together, so that’s exactly what we did!

A Tough Goodbye

As soon as we moved here 2 years ago, I made some incredible friends within the residency program. Several other wives within the program took me in right away and became my very good friends. We did playdates often, went to church together (usually without husbands, but with ALL our kids), we constantly had a group text going, and we supported each other through the tough journey of residency. The thing I loved most is that all of our husbands were in emergency medicine together, so we all shared the same struggles and helped each other through them. Their husbands were in the residency class above Ryan, so they just completed their third year and all moved away for new jobs. It was really hard saying goodbye to the friends I got so close with, but I was SO grateful just to have them for the 2 years that I did. Now I just have an excuse to travel around the U.S. to visit!

Back Home Again in Indiana

The kids and I went to Indiana to visit family for 2 weeks, so that was half of our month right there. We are so grateful for our family for always helping us find ways to get there and back when Ryan can’t drive with us. This time, Bev flew to Little Rock and helped us drive to Indiana, and my mom helped us drive to Little Rock and then flew back to Indiana. We were SO busy during our 2 week visit, and we loved every minute of it! Here is a recap of our adventures in Indiana…

Indianapolis Children’s Museum

We used to take Kinsie to the museum when she was little, then of course we moved when Brax was still a baby, so we hadn’t been there in a few years. The kids were so excited when their cousins invited us to spend the day there with them. Brax LOVED the dinosaur peeking in the building as you first walk in!

Some of the highlights of the inside of the museum included the carousel, the fossil digging area, and the Paw Patrol exhibit.

Although we loved everything we saw inside, we spent the most time outside in the sports area. This is somewhat new, so we had never been. It was amazing! They had tons of exercising activities, every sport you can imagine, and a huge treehouse, similar to the “Tree of Life” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We spent hours exploring and playing! It was an awesome day!

Indianapolis Zoo

We tagged along with Megan, Griffin, Grandma Bev and Ryan’s cousin Jess and her daughter Bexlee to the zoo. The bad news is that it rained almost the entire time we were there. The good news is that we still got to see most of the animals. A few of the savanna animals, and the tiger (my favorite) weren’t feeling the rain, but other than that, we saw a lot and had a great day. Kinsie hitched a ride in Griffin’s covered wagon, and Brax used Kinsie’s unicorn umbrella, so we were all good! The Indy Zoo has a great indoor aquarium area, so we spent a lot of time there. The kids loved all the sea creatures, and Kinsie got to see the dolphin show that she’s been talking about literally since we moved. Brax loved the orangutans and talked about them for days after!

Another neat temporary exhibit was the MISTery Park. It was just a short little loop full of mist sprayers. Simple, but neat! Despite the rain, we enjoyed the day with family and animals.

Splash Pad

We met Bev, Megan, and a few of Ryan’s aunts and cousins for lunch and then went to the park splash pad for the kids to play. It took some time for the kids to get comfortable enough to play, but once they did, they had a blast!

Toy Story 4

The kids were dying to see Toy Story 4, (ok so was I!) so I wanted to take them to see it in theater during our visit. We invited some other cousins along, and we all took up an entire row! We all loved the movie, but my favorite part was hearing Brax belly laughing with every scene that had their new favorite “Forky!”

The next day, all the cousins made their own version of Forky. Then Kinsie wanted to take it a step further and make more characters. This project continued for days and expanded more and more until she had drawn every single character from the movie! Her final project was quite impressive, and now she wants to display it in the play room at home!

Cousin Sleepovers

The kids favorite part of visiting is always cousin time. They had several sleepovers, including Kinsie sleeping over at their house one night. Their time together is always fun and eventful!

Pool Days

We always love spending time at Yaya’s pool while we’re in town. On our pool days, Kinsie transformed into a mermaid and did not get out of the pool unless forced to eat or go to the bathroom. There were a few days where she swam from 10am to 7pm! Brax made tons of progress from wanting someone to always hold him, to swimming around independently.

The kids’ happiest of happy places…ALL their cousins in the pool with them!

Even when we weren’t IN the pool, we still loved spending time out by the pool. When Brax needed breaks from swimming, he brought puzzles out and did them poolside. We also enjoyed several meals on the terrace.

The kids had SO much fun together in the pool. They played for hours and hours, and they all get along so well. And we just love watching them have fun together.

Other Outside Fun

The second week of our visit had beautiful weather. We spent as much time as we could outside. When we weren’t by the pool or lake, we enjoyed swinging and water table fun at Megan’s, or riding on the lawn mower with Papa!

Lake Days

We spent a good chunk of time at the lake during our visit…which is one of my favorite places to be. We went for a few random trips during the week, and then spent the weekends there as well. During the week was the best time to relax and go fishing since there weren’t many people there. The kids enjoyed fishing for about 3 minutes, then moved on to other things. In that short time though, they did catch a fish or two! While the kids played, I fished longer with Ryan’s dad. Between the two of us, we caught lots of blue gill. I hadn’t fished in far too long so it was great to get to do it again!

We spent our entire weekends at the lake as well. Lots of Ryan’s relatives came during that time, so we enjoyed visiting with family. All the kids LOVED swimming in the lake. Brax particular loved swimming with Uncle Nate, and Kinsie and the older cousins loved jumping off the dock and playing on the giant mat.

More lake fun included boat rides, water balloon fights with cousins, and water table fun for the littles. And of course we had to snap this photo of Papa Tim with his 3 faves in his Heritage Lake shirt!

Fireworks at the Lake

This is one of our favorite days of the year, and somehow we have managed to make it the last 2 years. Lots of family and friends came for the day so of course there was lots of people, fun and food. The kids spent most of the day swimming in the lake, and then the night consisted of the official fireworks put on by the lake. The kids got all decked out in glow necklaces and bracelets and stayed up late for the fireworks. We loved the fireworks, but my little guy fell asleep in the middle of them! It is very rare for either of my kids to accidentally fall asleep. He clearly was so exhausted from a long week of playing and swimming!

Home Again Home Again, Jiggity Jig

After a very busy and fun 2 weeks, we were sad to leave family, but very ready to head home and see Ryan. The kids were SO happy to see him and spent the next 24 hours playing games with him, telling him all about our trip, and of course, climbing all over him! It was so good to be together as a family again!

And that wraps up our month! We are looking forward to just being home in the month of July and enjoying summer before the kids start school. I still can’t believe that Kinsie starts KINDERGARTEN at the beginning of August! In the mean time, pray that we survive the intense Arkansas summer heat!

Here is our June 1 Second Every video. Enjoy!

 

The Merry Month of May

We had so much fun this month! We spent about 90% of our time outside, which the kids loved. We celebrated my sweet boy turning 2, explored new parks, camped out with family, and much more.

Brax’s Birthday

Brax had a great 2nd birthday! We started the day with birthday donuts, then once we took Kinsie to school, we had a Mommy and Brax day. We played in our backyard for a while, then I took him to the park (his favorite) and he had the best time! Once Ryan was home from work, we opened presents and made Brax’s favorite meal – pancakes and scrambled eggs. After dinner, we made birthday ice cream sundaes. We had one happy little birthday boy…and one happy big sister too!

Family Fishing

Whenever Ryan has a day off, we always try to take advantage and plan something fun as a family. Fishing is one of our favorite things to do, and we just have to walk the 5 minutes to the park to do it! Brax hasn’t mustered up the courage to hold a fish yet, but he still gets real excited to see Kinsie do it!

Mother’s Day

It was hard being away from family on Mother’s Day. Especially because Ryan was working a lot of mid-shifts (3pm-1am) which are my least favorite. We got to spend some family time at a park and had a Mother’s Day dinner a few days before, but on the actual day, he had to work that evening. We at least got to go to church together, and I still got to spend the day with my babies. Kinsie was really into Mother’s Day this year…she made me something special at school, and drew pictures for me all week long. She even taught Brax how to say “Happy Mama Day!” Heart melted!

Downtown Fun

The Farmer’s Market is officially back open for the season! I LOVE the Little Rock Farmer’s Market. There are so many vendors selling fruits, veggies, jams, granola, wine (my personal favorite), and much more. One of the vendors had painting for kids, so they loved painting pictures and little figurines. After exploring the Farmer’s Market, we let the kids play at the Rock Park for a little while. This is one of our new favorite Saturday morning traditions!

Family Park Days

Whenever Ryan had a day off this month, we tried out some different parks. Right when we finished with his MICU rotation, we spent the morning at the park by our house. We took roller skates, bubbles, soccer balls, frisbees, scooters…you name it. The kids had a blast just running around in the open fields. This day was a breath of fresh air after Ryan’s long month.

Another day, we went to another park that the kids and I had played before with some friends. The kids love the playground, but they loved the creek even more. They sat down by the creek for probably an hour just throwing rocks and looking for critters. Family park days are our favorite!

GreekFest

Little Rock had a Greek food festival one weekend. Ryan loves Greek food, and we heard good things about the festival, so we went with some friends. We had a great time! They had bouncy houses, tons of food, crafts, shopping, and more. The food was awesome and the kids had a great time playing with the other kids.

Kinsie’s Last Day of School

Kinsie had her last day of Pre-K3, and she was excited, but also sad. She loved her class and her teacher this year. This school was such a blessing for us, and we are so grateful that they loved on our girl and helped her feel at home here. She is excited to start in the Pre-K4 class in the fall…and Brax will start in the two year old class!

Ok…can we talk about how much my children have grown this year? I couldn’t believe the difference in both of them from September to May. Kinsie is turning into such a beautiful young lady, and I feel like she grew a foot taller this year. Brax was a BABY at the beginning of the year, and now he is a little boy. I can’t even handle it!

Other Outside Fun

Like I said, we have spent a lot of time outside. For a while, we were even eating our dinners outside every night before it started getting too hot. We had a routine…the kids would play in the backyard while Ryan and I prepared dinner. Then we would eat outside, then the kids would sit in the swinging chair with Ryan for a little while, then they would play a little longer until we couldn’t handle the mosquitos any longer. We also broke out the sprinkler and water table, and the kids have been in heaven! Their favorite part is spraying each other with the hose.

Kinsie drew this picture of our entire family. Notice that she even drew our dogs, and labeled everyone in the picture!

Residency Crawfish Boil

One of my favorite things about the UAMS Residency program is how many family events we have. We recently had a crawfish boil, and we had a blast. The kids loved playing with the crawfish (before they were cooked), playing in the bounce house, playing with balls, chalk, and bubbles, and enjoying their friends. Kinsie wasn’t as crazy about eating the crawfish, but Brax loved it!

Memorial Weekend

Ryan’s family came to visit us over Memorial Weekend. Megan and Tim camped out at Petit Jean State Park, and Ryan’s mom and brother Nate stayed with us. The state park is about an hour away, so we took turns spending time at our house, and at the park. On Ryan’s day off, we spent the morning hiking. Every trail we’ve been on at that park has been amazing. The kids loved throwing rocks in the water, looking at the small waterfalls and splashing in puddles.

The next night, we had a cookout at Meg and Tim’s camper. We roasted hot dogs and s’mores, and the kids had a blast running around playing hide and seek and drinking from the water tank. It was a busy, fun and much-needed weekend with family!

Road Trip to Indiana

Since Ryan’s family visited for Memorial Weekend, and Ryan was in a wedding the next weekend, we thought that would be a great opportunity for the kids to spend the week in Indiana. They rode back with Ryan’s mom and then we brought them back home the next weekend. The kids had such a great time at the lake, playing with cousins, swimming, and more. I sure missed my babies, but goodness it was nice to have a break.

Exciting News!

We recently found out some very exciting news…Ryan’s sweet sister Megan, and her husband Tim are expecting a baby in November! This is a HUGE blessing and such an answered prayer. They technically told us in April, but we were sworn to secrecy until just a couple of weeks ago. I was honored to take their announcement pictures when they came to visit us last month. The kids are SO excited to get a new baby cousin soon!

And as always, I end my post with our 1 Second Everyday video for the month of May. Enjoy!

April Activities

Our spring is going by faster than I expected. I felt like time dragged on from when we moved here until the end of the year, but it has flown by since January. Probably because we are more established here now and are busy with activities. Between my job, church activities, Kinsie’s school, soccer, and playdates….we stay pretty busy which I love! Ryan is on his MICU rotation (Medical Intensive Care Unit) at the VA, and saying it has been rough would be an understatement. Most of his shifts are from 6am-7pm. He worked a week of 12 hour night shifts, and the rest of his shifts are from 6am-4pm. However…the time he is supposed to get off rarely actually happens. Most of the time he gets home right before the kids go to bed. I usually let them stay up a little later so they can spend time with him. So needless to say, I’ve been solo parenting for a large majority of this month. It has been pretty hard, but I’m honestly glad that we’re going through it near the end of our first year rather than at the beginning. I have gotten used to caring for the kids alone, so I can handle not having help better than I used to. Now when he works a lot, I honestly just miss his company more than anything. Even with this crazy month, we still managed to have some good family moments!

Here is our recap…

Easter Day

As I mentioned in my previous post, my family came to visit for Easter weekend, which we loved! We had a great time and the kids had a blast with their cousins. They had to leave on Easter Day after church and brunch, but we still had a great Easter and the kids loved church and their surprises from the Easter bunny.

 

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten

Ever since we moved here, the library has been one of our favorite spots. They have a program called 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten…which is pretty self explanatory. I thought Kinsie could for SURE do that…she loves to read! The library was closed from November through March for renovations, so we couldn’t go there for a while to turn in her sheets and get her stickers. However, she reached 1,000 right in time when the library reopened. She loved getting her 1,000 sticker and her free book. Brax was a proud brother too!

Playdate (for both kids AND the moms!)

This month, the second year residents had a weekend retreat, and I mainly hang out with the wives of the second years (none of the first years have kids). Since all of their husbands would be gone, they planned a dinner/playdate, and since Ryan was working late that night, the kids and I came too. We had a great time talking, eating tacos, and chasing our kids. We did manage to get a group picture of most of the kids. Between 4 of us, we have 11 kids, and one of the way (don’t get excited…its not me!) I am SO grateful for these families…they have been crucial to my sanity since moving here!

Loving the outdoors

We’ve had a lot of rainy April days, but we’ve also had a lot of beautiful sunny days too. When Kinsie is at school, Brax and I often walk to the park and spend the morning there. I try to bring Kinsie too on her days off. Lately both kids love picking flowers on the walk home. We also love just hanging out in our own front or backyard. They could do sidewalk chalk and bubbles for hours! We’ve also tried to grill out and eat dinner outside whenever we can too. We’re trying to enjoy it as much as we can before the unbearable heat arrives.

Disney on Ice

I’ve always loved Disney on Ice. But then again, I love anything Disney. My kids do too. That’s why when I saw that Disney on Ice was coming to Little Rock, I REALLY wanted to make it happen. When I found out that it fell on the same month as Ryan’s busiest rotation, I was bummed…but I still wanted to find a way to make it work. Since it fell on the same week as his night shifts, we basically had just one option…the Saturday at 3pm show. That way Ryan could still sleep during the day, then wake up in time for the show, then head to work afterwards. I knew Brax would miss his nap that day, but we really wanted Ryan to get to come with us, so we knew it’d be worth it. It was such a fun afternoon. The kids LOVED it. Brax was super squirmy and slap happy since he skipped his nap, but he was happy and still had a lot of fun. He mainly liked the parts with Mickey Mouse, and Kinsie says she loved it all! I am so glad Ryan was able to come with us and we had a fun family date.

Family Fishing

We’ve been aching to go fishing, but haven’t found many opportunities with Ryan’s busy schedule. He gets very few days off, so on those days we try to find something fun to do. On one of his days off, we were determined to fish. Even though it lightly rained on us most of the time, we didn’t let that stop us. Kinsie recently got a new princess fishing pole, and Brax inherited Kinsie’s old Ninja Turtles pole, so the kids were excited too. Brax practiced with a pretend fish, and had fun with just that. Between the four of us, we only caught one fish, but that one fish brought quite a bit excitement!

A Family Visit

Since I’ve known for a while that this would be a tough month and Ryan would barely be around, I’ve been recruiting family to come visit us. Megan and Tim were up to the task! I always tell them they are “winning” at visits here. They are best at knowing when I’m aching for family the most, so they work their schedules to make it happen. We had a wonderful weekend with him with perfect weather. Unfortunately Ryan wasn’t around much to spend time with them, but I was very grateful for the company, and so were the kids. We absolutely love it when they visit!

It’s been a tough, but busy month. We’ve still managed to have quality family time despite the limited time we have all together. We just use the short moments we do have together wisely…even if that’s just the kids climbing on and wrestling with their daddy. We are definitely all ready for him to be on a normal rotation again. The next few months have a lot going on…my baby boy turns 2, we have a few trips planned, and of course there’s always fun things to do during the summer!

Last but not least, here is our 1 Second Everyday video for April. Enjoy!

“Lake-ation” All I Ever Wanted

As you know, I am on summer vacation and Ryan started his 4th year of med school at the beginning of June. Since Ryan didn’t really get time off for vacation, we still wanted to find a way for a “get away” with the kids, so we spent almost a week at the lake in between his June and July rotations. We had an amazing time! It was like we were on vacation, but we also felt very at home. Here are some of the highlights of the trip…

Fishing

Surprised? Probably not! We love to fish and Kinsie has recently hopped on the bandwagon too. We fished off the dock. We fished on the pontoon. We fished near the marina. We fished as often as we could. Ryan had the best luck of all of us. We caught mostly bluegill and pumpkinseed fish, but also caught a catfish, a bass, and even a turtle!

Swimming in the Lake

We swam in the lake on several occasions. We took Kinsie to the “beach” of the lake, and she was not a fan of the sand on the beach (after feeling the sand at Siesta Key, who can blame her?) but she loved swimming! I’m sure that in another year or two, Brax will be right there with her!

Splash Pad

We took Kinsie to the splash pad at the clubhouse last year and she loved it, and of course she did again this year. Ryan had to go downtown for lecture on this day, so Grandma Bev, Uncle Nate and I took Kinsie to the pool area. She had a blast and Brax snoozed away!

Tubing

We took Kinsie tubing once last year during Memorial weekend (one of the busiest weekends at the lake…not sure what we were thinking) and the water was way too rough for even me, let alone our not even 2-year-old at the time. She wasn’t too crazy about it then. We tried it again during the week and she loved it! She wouldn’t let go of the handles for her life, but she definitely enjoyed herself. Brax enjoyed watching us tube from the boat. Again…in another year or two, I’m sure both kids will be little dare devils on the tube like their daddy and Uncle Nate were when they were young!

Riding on the Boat

This is always one of our favorite things to do. It is so relaxing and beautiful. We spent almost the entire day on the boat one day, and Brax took one of the best naps he’s ever had while on the boat. I joked that he and I would spend the night on the boat so I could get some sleep for once! We loved fishing off of the pontoon and watching the sun set into the lake. One night, my parents and niece and nephew came to visit, so the kids loved their boat ride together.

S’mores

How could this not be one of the best parts of the trip? Cooking s’mores over the fire on a beautiful evening is always a good idea!

4th of July Fun

Every year we spend the Saturday of 4th of July weekend at the lake and watch the fireworks from the boat. A lot of Ryan’s family always comes and spends the day as well, and Kinsie had a blast with her cousins running around, fishing, and doing sparklers. We even got to meet the newest member of the family, Ryan’s cousin’s daughter, born 6 weeks after Brax. We all had a great day!

We had an awesome week. I was honestly really sad when it was time to go home. I didn’t get that feeling at the end of a vacation where you are excited to be home…I could have spent another month there! I am so grateful that we have this beautiful place available to us and that Ryan’s family always welcomes us there. It is one of our favorite places in the world and it  was the perfect little vacation for our family this summer.

Waiting for Baby

Ok, I’m finally to the point where I am ready. I mean, really ready. I’ve never been more ready to, of course meet my first son, but also to simply get this baby out of me!! My body is done. I hate to sound negative, but, like I said…I am physically, mentally, and emotionally ready! Luckily, I’m close…approximately 4 weeks left!

How I’m feeling:

I feel about how you would expect a 36 week pregnant lady to feel. Tired, uncomfortable, anxious…you name it! I’ve mentioned before that this pregnancy has been much harder on me physically than when I was pregnant with Kinsie, and that is true now more than ever. It hurts to walk, stand, bend, and even sit sometimes! My feet are swollen and I am out of breath after I do anything or nothing at all. I am SO lucky to have such helpful coworkers, students, family and husband to help me do the physical things that I just can’t do right now. This part is so hard for me, because I hate asking for help. I am terrible at delegating because I would rather just do things myself, but for the safety of myself and my baby, I have to ask for help more right now, and the people in my life are wonderful about it. Something else that started up this month is carpel-tunnel syndrome. I have had this problem before, but very sporadically and not at all when I was pregnant with Kinsie. It is SO bad right now. I sleep with a wrist brace on both wrists, and that gives minimal relief, but doing anything with my hands throughout the day is insanely painful and difficult. I am praying that this subsides soon after delivery, because as a teacher, mom, and human…it is difficult to not use my hands much throughout the day!

Baby updates:

Size: This (not so) little guy should be about 6 pounds and 20 inches long. I am super anxious to find out big he’ll be at birth because Kinsie was only 6 lbs. 10 oz. and I feel that this baby boy is much bigger, but I don’t know how big a baby can really get when I have such a short torso and don’t have much room for growth!

Movement: My boy is still as wild as ever. The baby apps say that the baby has less room to move at this point, so their movements are usually not as intense as before…but not this kid. He makes room for big movements. He stretches my uterus beyond its natural abilities and he kicks me so hard I feel like my hips will snap. He pretty much moves all day long, but he has two times in the day when he is extra wild…usually around 4 or 5 pm, then again around 10pm. Ryan gets a kick (haha, get it?) out of feeling him move, and he likes to guess where each body part is as he’s moving…typical med student!

Name: We have finally settled on a name! But you won’t find out until the big day 🙂 The only clue you get now is that it starts with a B (as you’ll see in the nursery pictures below).

Nursery: The nursery is pretty much complete! I know that a baby doesn’t spend a whole lot of time in their nursery for the first months anyway, but any nesting pregnant woman, let alone one with OCD personality can understand that I wanted to get it done more for me than for the baby. The last thing we need to do is stain the rocking chair and add it to the room. Ryan’s great grandpa built a rocking chair when Ryan’s Aunt Renata was pregnant with her first, and she was kind enough to pass it along to us, so we thought it would be a great addition to the nursery. Here are a few pictures of our nursery/office. As you can see, the name is blocked out 🙂

Sprinkles: A few weeks ago, my life group had a baby “sprinkle” for me at one of my favorite restaurants, Charbonos. They bought diapers and gifts for our boy, and dessert for me and Ryan! Our life group has been together for almost 3 years now, and together in that time we have had 6 babies, and this baby will be the 7th! I love spending time with such wonderful people and it is awesome to see our little life group family grow.

My staff also had a sprinkle for me at work last week. They hooked me up with tons of diapers and wipes, and made breakfast and treats. They have taken such good care of me throughout this pregnancy, and are always going out of their way to help me with anything I need and being accommodating to doctor appointments, etc. I absolutely LOVE the people I work with!

What else we’ve been up to this month:

I had a nice 2 week spring break and got to spend so much quality time with Kinsie. She and I both needed that, and I really soaked up my time with her because that was our last break of school with just the two of us. We had to just hang out at home more than I wanted because I didn’t have the physical capabilities to go out and do much, but Kinsie didn’t seem to mind. Every once in a while we would venture out a bit by going to the park or the library, but that was pretty much the extent. Either way, she was happy to have her mama home and I was happy to be home with her.

Ryan finished his internal medicine rotation and started his Pysch rotation with much better hours and weekends off. We have definitely taken advantage of having him around more. A few weekends ago, we took a family trip to the zoo, and even though it was windy and cold, the crowds were minimal and the animals were active, so we had a lot of fun! I really wanted the chance to take Kinsie to the zoo one more time before the baby came, but I knew I would have a hard time taking her myself, so with Ryan there, I was able to take more breaks and not have to handle my wild toddler alone!

Kinsie started soccer class a couple weeks ago. She has been excited about starting soccer for several months now, and she loves running around the house practicing with her daddy. So far, she’s done pretty well when she’s in the mood to participate! Sometimes she’s not as into the other drills and games, but she could just run around and kick a soccer ball all day long!

We’ve had some odd April weather, but last weekend was finally beautiful! We took the opportunity to spend the weekend at one of our favorite places, the lake! A few weeks ago, we let Kinsie pick out her own fishing pole, and she picked a Ninja Turtles one. Ryan’s been teaching her how to cast and reel, and practicing with her at home. She was pumped to try it out on her own once we got to the lake. She did awesome! She cast her pole out on her own, waited as patiently as a 2 year old can wait, then once she was getting a bite, she reeled it in by herself about 90% of the way, then once she saw the fish getting closer, she kind of freaked out and needed daddy’s help reeling it in the rest of the way. She was SO proud of her first catch, and of course we were too! We had an awesome weekend of fishing and relaxing with Ryan’s family!

So now here we are. Just getting through each day, waiting for the day that our little boy will officially join our family. I’m still a little anxious on how Kinsie will handle the transition, but I know she will be an awesome big sister. Keep us in your prayers over the next few weeks as we await our sweet little boy!

 

O-FISH-ally Two!

We had Kinsie’s birthday party at her favorite place…the lake! Based on the fact that we were having her party there, we decided to go with a “fishing” theme. She was all about it from the moment we told her. She talked about her fishy party for weeks leading up to the party. We knew we were going to have one happy little girl when her party came! I honestly wish it was my full-time job to plan birthday parties for toddlers. It is too much fun. Thanks especially to Pinterest and Etsy, I found lots of cute ideas to make the party unique and fun.

Thanks to the help of my mother-in-law Bev, my mom, Ryan’s aunts – Rita and Renata, and my aunt Mary Lou…there was plenty of food to go around. And of course we had to add some “fishy” fun with the food as well! The main course included hot dogs, hamburgers, and Bev’s famous chilli. Dessert included cake (Brenda’s Cakes), dirt and worms (Aunt Mary Lou), fish cookies (Renata), and fishy chow (rather than “puppy chow” – made by my mama). The food certainly did not disappoint!

Ryan and I both worked hard to have plenty of fun activities for the kids. There was a coloring and craft station, fish cornhole, a magnetic fishing game, and of course, boat rides!

I was really curious to know how opening gifts would be with Kinsie this year. I had a feeling that she would want to open and play with each gift as she opened it, and would be overwhelmed with all her new toys. Well, I was kind of right. She did want to open and play with each gift as she opened them, but after she opened about the 5th gift, she was done. She obsessed about the toys she had already opened, and didn’t want to open anymore! She just sat and played with those toys while I opened the rest of her gifts. Once we got home and got all her new toys out though, she was a happy camper and played with everything!

Kinsie has been really into the “Happy Birthday” song lately, so when everyone sang to her, she was on Cloud 9. She certainly enjoyed being in the spotlight and eating cake and ice cream!

The only down side to her party, was that her cousin (and best friend), Briggs had to leave a bit early. He woke up that morning with hives, and a swollen face. He still tried to have fun and enjoy the party, but you could tell the poor guy just didn’t feel well. He started getting more swollen as the evening went on, so they left early to take him to the hospital. He got worse before he got better, but after a couple days, he was pretty much back to himself.

Other that the issue with Briggs, the party was a huge success!! Kinsie had a blast, and of course, if Kinsie was happy, mommy and daddy were happy too. All of the guests seemed to have a good time as well, and we were lucky to have a beautiful day on the lake!

Spring Break Shenanigans

From the name of this post, you probably thought you were going to see pictures of a tropical Spring Break vacation. Unfortunately, you won’t be seeing pictures like that until the end of May. However, Kinsie is lucky enough to have a med student dad and a teacher mom with a common denominator…a spring break! Ryan had one week off from classes, and I had two weeks off from work (the beauty of the balanced calendar). For Kinsie, this meant that she got extra special mommy and daddy time. While many med students probably spend their spring break traveling and blowing off steam, my husband chose to spend his at home as a full-time dad. Since Kinsie is used to only seeing her daddy on weekends, she was thrilled to have him home for a whole week. And yes, she really was thrilled…our sweet girl ADORES her dad! She shows off her award-winning smile for a lot of people, but she has a distinct smile that she reserves only for daddy. Not only was Kinsie excited to have Ryan home, but I was too! It was so nice to be able to come home from work to my two favorites every single day and spend quality family time together. There is nothing that I love and appreciate more!

Kinsie and Daddy enjoying some quality time together

Right after Ryan’s break ended, mine started. We took my time off work as an opportunity to spend even more time with Ryan and went with him to Muncie. It is always nice for us to have a change of scenery every once in a while, because both Kinsie and I get a little stir crazy sometimes in our own house. While Ryan was in class, Kinsie and I enjoyed sleeping in a little, going to the mall, and just relaxing in his apartment. We also ate lunch at Ryan’s school a few times and got to visit with all of his friends from class. When Ryan was out of class, we would try to venture out a little more and take Kinsie on some “adventures.” We strolled around Rural King and looked at the fishing equipment and baby chicks, we walked to the nearby frozen yogurt place, and we took a walk at the park and let Kinsie look at the creek. It is very obvious that this girl is just as amazed by nature as her dad! Once she saw the creek, it was nearly impossible to get her to look away. Ryan and I always talk about how we want to raise her to appreciate the simple things in God’s creation, and not need to be constantly entertained with technology. So far, success! I know it will get a little tougher as she gets older though!

Enjoying sleeping in a little during our time off!

Hanging out at Rural King

Strolling through the park on one of the rare nice days!

Finally, to wrap up our break, we went fishing at Heritage Lake. It still wasn’t very warm so Kinsie stayed inside most of the day, but she is always excited to be in a new environment with different people to entertain her! I can’t wait to take her to the lake throughout the summer. She will love riding the boat and watching the fish flop around as we reel them in. For now, we are still getting very rare nice days so she hasn’t gotten to fully enjoy the beauty of warm weather just yet. I know that everyone around here is anxiously waiting for that to happen! For now, back to work. I am in the home stretch….about 9 weeks left until summer vacation!

Quarter-Century Mark

On November 16, I turned 25! It is crazy to think that I am now in my mid-20s. When people ask how old I am, immediately I think to respond with 21 or 22 (and my dad actually does respond that way!) In no way am I bothered by the fact that I am 25, because I already feel like I have accomplished so much. I have a wonderful teaching job, I have been married to the love of my life for 1.5 years, and I have a beautiful baby girl! I am often bothered by the negativity on social media from other people my age claiming that “all anyone talks about anymore is getting married or having babies.” Well, those people need to realize that that is what many people our age do now, so they should join in on the fun! Our generation is growing up. We are adults now, and not that I didn’t have any fun in my high school or college days, but I have so much more joy in my life now that my world revolves around my faith, my marriage, and my child.

When Ryan asked me this year what I wanted for my birthday, I had no idea what to say. I already have everything that I need. Then I thought more about it and what is most important to me, and that is just to be with my family. If you have ever read the book, “The 5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman, you would know what I mean when I say that my love language is quality time. With my husband in Muncie most of the time, nothing makes me happier than simply spending time with him and Kinsie. Then I thought about something fun and not expensive we could all do together. Over the summer, I developed a love for fishing. Since I was pregnant the entire summer and couldn’t exactly go skiing or tubing at Heritage Lake, and fishing became one of me and Ryan’s favorite things to do together. So for my birthday, we decided to take a trip to the lake! Ryan’s family tagged along and watched Kinsie while Ryan and I went fishing. It was a little chilly and windy, but overall a perfect day for fishing. I caught a small bass, which I was very excited about, considering we had very few bites the entire day. I think Kinsie enjoyed her first of many trips to Heritage Lake!

After the lake, we went to dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant, Tegry Bistro with the rest of my family and Ryan’s. I wanted to stay close to the Brownsburg area for my sister, who was due to go into labor at any moment. We had ice cream cake at Krista and Ryan’s house afterwards. My birthday wish originally was to share my birthday with a new niece or nephew, but by later that evening, I came to terms with that not happening. However, I still hoped that it would happen the next day…which it did. Stay tuned for that story! Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday weekend!

 View from the deck. The lake is beautiful in the fall!

Fishing by the marina

 

 My little family