Speed Bump

Apartment living has its pros and cons. These days I'm noticing the cons much more than the pros. I'm ready to be in our new house. When we first moved in, we had a little run in with our neighbors in Apartment 1B. (Remember  this ?) I felt so defeated, and we'd only been in our loft for 1 week. I knew noise would be an issue for us in our current digs. With two small kids that cry, yell and scream on a regular basis, I knew we might not have it easy with our neighbors. I know from experience that you can hear us when you are walking through the building lobby. I only hope our noise is somewhat contained - there is no one below us and I hope, given how high our ceilings are, that those above us don't hear much. That leaves our neighbors on either side - the ones in Apartment 1D still smile at us in the hallway when we see them...a good sign, right? Our apartment door is visible just behind the wall of mailboxes... As for the hipsters in Apartment 1B, the...

Look what can happen in just a few days...

The last few weeks have been a blur. I knew the travel, presentations and deadlines would take their toll, but I couldn't predict the unpredictable (pink eye and a broken wrist) and know how hard things were going to get. I had an emotional couple days in Chicago worrying about Charlie and feeling inadequate at work and home all at once. But it's over and things will calm down - at least back to the frenetic pace we've become accustomed to of late. Kids are amazingly resilient and Charlie's arm hasn't slowed him down a bit. I think he had one day of some pain and low energy, and now he is totally fine. He has trouble doing some things for himself with only one arm and gets frustrated, as anyone would. We get a new cast tomorrow and word is, he wants pink! We took advantage of the beautiful fall day today and took some photos around the neighborhood. We got some really good ones, I'm saving my favorites for later, but here are a few... Char...

You just never know what you are going to find outside your door when you live downtown... elephants , parades, the fun never ends! We set out for a run with the jogger Saturday morning, planning to make a stop at our new nearby park (love it, though it is straight up hill). Instead, we bumped into some horses gathering outside Union Station and realized it was the American Royal parade - how cool! The parade hadn't started yet so we decided to make a loop around Liberty Memorial first, and we got to see the behind the scenes action of the parade. Everyone was lining up in the road around the Memorial, bands tuning up, motorcycles revving their engines...it was a sight to see. Just like Charlie will never tire of watching the trains go by, I will never tire of this view. The best view of downtown KC is from base of the Liberty Memorial. I always have to stop and take a glance on my running route - this time I had my phone to snap a picture.   Once the p...

  Our baby turned 18 months old this week. I still can't believe it. I still think of her as a baby - with her super soft baby skin and hair, her chubby legs and round belly. And yet those legs move fast, she has a mouth full of teeth, and she uses more and more words every day. She wants to do everything by herself. Like feed herself yogurt, with an extra large spoon... She is really not a baby anymore. But I want to continue to think of her as one, so I will. Now and forever. These urban monkeys were craving a good old-fashioned park this week. I picked them up early from school on Tuesday and we went to one of our old favorites in Brookside. It was like seeing a long lost friend for Charlie. "I love this park, Mom! It's my favorite!" It had been too long. There aren't any parks within walking/running distance from us. Ok, there is one. I have pretty low standards for KCMO parks for the most part, but even I draw the line at this one. It is next t...

I picked the kids up early from school today so they could catch an unusual sight. The circus is in town and the elephants arrive by train! We heard the elephants once or twice before we saw them. There were 6 of them all together. They quickly formed a single file line, with trunks holding tails, and off they went.They moved fast and before we knew it, they were down the street out of sight. Charlie was telling this man in pink that he was going to hug that big elephant. Having a train station in your backyard has its perks!

Appliance shopping, that is. Wow, talk about overwhelming. Ryan did his best to explain our kitchen layout and what we were looking for to the salesman . He never got it and he drove us absolutely crazy. We will be trying a different showroom this weekend. We spent several hours in the showroom looking at ovens, ranges, hoods, refrigerators, and dishwashers. Having owned one house where we didn't do much to the kitchen, and rentals before that, this was an all new experience for both Ryan and I. While overwhelming, it was also really fun. Imagine - an oven that doesn't burn one of my cookie sheets, a dishwasher that actually cleans things on the top rack, and a clean, untouched frig just waiting to be neatly organized (I do like a clean frig, simple joys!). I can't wait.   Red nobs? We're thinking about it - but they come with a hefty price tag. Plus, then you are committed to red for like, ever and ever. Not sure we want to pledge our undying love t...

When we get home after school/work each night, the first thing we have to do in our new place is take Roxie outside. Ryan usually isn't home yet, so the kids have to go with me. We make quite a sight (and sound) heading outside, with or without a balloon. Izzy knows where the doggy bags are and she picks one up as we head out the door and down the stairs. It's amazing how fast they take to new routines.  Izzy and Roxie know just where to go. Izzy has her drink with her in case this takes awhile. She also knows what to do with the bag. As tempting as it is to let someone do this for me, I don't let the kids help. Charlie is carrying a sippy cup with milk, a doggy bag, and a balloon. They know to walk carefully and watch their steps in the gravel lot. I'm so proud of my city kids. How will they ever adjust to the burbs now? I cut Roxie out of the picture so as not to embarrass her, but Izzy is pointing for a reason... Could this empty l...

  These first pictures are actually from two weekends ago, at the balloon fest. Charlie loved the balloon that looked an awful lot like Nemo, though wasn't officially called Nemo due to some copyright issues. She didn't get in a brawl, but clearly there was some negligent parenting going on here. With all the moves, multiple homes and chaos of the last month, we consider ourselves lucky that things didn't get worse than this. Happy to report that her her sweet, flawless face is back, good as new! We attended a pre-season KU pep rally on Friday night. There was a huge turn out and Charlie really enjoyed his glimpse of the Jayhawks. Next year we can bike over to the rally from our new house. Wearing crimson and blue and with a sunflower in her hair. Kids need to be told good from bad. Otherwise their Missouri grad daycare instructors might steer them wrong. Can't have that. Watching the band and the Jayhawks. Why so serious C? We wen...