A Perfect Day

 

Today was such a wonderful day with the kids. It started with a trip to Brookfield Zoo with our friend Tabitha and her little ones. The zoo was great, although I think the kids enjoyed the park at the zoo more than the animals. After the zoo, Kian and I headed off to a mommy and baby yoga class (which was suprisingly intense) and Kerala headed home with our summer nanny, Molly. After yoga, we had a playdate/dinner with Chrissy and Sean. The kids had a fabulous time at a local park followed by a dinner of hot dogs and shrimp on our deck. All in all, it was an absolutely perfect day. The only tears from my little ones were from a couple of skinned knees at the zoo. Other than that Kian and Kerala were in the best of spirits the whole day. Finally, we have had some beautiful weather and we are definitely taking advantage of it. Tomorrow we have music class with Kerala's buddy Ella which we will follow up with lunch out with the kids at a local cafe. I am loving this maternity leave.

We had a great father's day and birthday for Troy this past weekend. We hosted a little picnic at a local park to celebrate Troy's b-day. Kerala had a ton of fun playing with her friends, Kian was pretty chill the entire time and loved being held by Chrissy.

The kids are doing really well. Kerala has been pretty funny lately before she goes to bed. She will ask that you lay in her bed with her and she just talks away. Every night she asks what do whales say and I will usually respond by saying "I don't know, what do you think whales say?" and she will say "I think they say hello." It's pretty funny. It's hard to believe that we are having little conversations with her since it seems like just yesterday we were in awe with the fact that she was putting two words together. Kian is still as mellow as ever. Today, he kept cracking up which was super cute. He definitley laughs a lot more than Kerala did at this age. With Kerala she would laugh at something but than it was hard to get her to laugh at the same thing twice while Kian will just sit there and laugh for no apparent reason.

Kian's 1st Trip to the Country...Kerala's 2nd Trip to ER...

 

The family headed down for Kian's first trip to visit Grandma Smith. We had a great time although sleeping was a bit of a challenge. We tried to put a pallet of blankets on the floor for Kerala, but she was all over the place (see photos). At about 2:00 am she wanted in bed with us - it was a bit crowded so we didn't get a ton of sleep at night. In fact, I kept getting kicked in the head by Kerala. Fortunately, Troy's mom watched both of the kids in the am so Troy and I got to sleep in until 10:00am. That's the latest we have slept in since Kerala was born and it was bliss. We were pretty tired when we got back home and were looking forward to a nice relaxing evening. Troy and I had just put both kids to sleep and were sitting down on the sofa when we heard a huge crash from Kerala's room. We ran in and she was standing in her closet crying. When we turned on the light she couldn't open her eyes, so needless to say we were freaking out. We asked her what happened and apparently she was swinging on a hanger in her closet and fell. While she did calm down in about 10 minutes she still wouldn't open her eyes so we rushed her to the ER. They found two scratches on her pupil and gave us some antibotics to apply at home. Kerala seemed almost back to normal at the hospital and was enjoying her 9:30pm popsicle treat at the ER. While Children's Memorail did give us fabulous service, they prescribed an ointment that we were suppose to rub over Kerala's injured pupil. We tried to apply it once and it was horrible, so we headed to Kerala's pediatrician the next day and got some drops to use instead. Kerala seems to have made a full recovery. It was pretty scary and I was balling on the way to the hospital worried about my baby's eyes. Very sad.

On a happier note, we had a fabulous past weekend. We enjoyed having Grandma Perry, Uncle Ralph and Aunt Julie over Friday afternoon, friends over Friday night and two birthday parties. Kerala was pscyhed about all of the opportunities to eat cake. Kerala seemed to have a good time at the parties although she did get a little freaked out about the live music at her friend Jonah's party. It was sad because our friend had learned to play Kerala's favorite song on the guitar but Kerala wanted none of it. When Sean started to play the guitar for her she asked to go home. Thanks anyway Sean! Kian was great at all of the events. He did get a bit fussy when we went out for Indian food on Saturday night. Unforutnately, it seemed like everytime he would calm down the servers would clear plates next to our table and make a huge noise.

Kian is doing great. He now consistently rolls from back to belly - in fact, he really won't stay on his back anymore. He is really enjoying his mommy and baby class. He gets a huge kick out of it and it completely wears him out. It's really cute to see him just light up when we do the various songs and dances. I just can't say it enough - he is just the sweetest little guy.

A Fabulous Vacation

 

Our first trip together was a great success. The plane ride going to Arizona was a bit rough. Kian slept (as usual) and Troy and I felt like we were playing defense the entire time with Kerala. She generally did okay, but there were a few points where she got pretty fussy and we did get a couple of not so nice stares from the couple in front of us. While we were in AZ we decided to invest in a portable dvd player and that seemed to help on the way back. The biggest snafu on the way back was that we missed our flight coming home. Unfortunately, I got the flight information screwed up and thought our flight left at 9:20 when it actually left at 7:00am. Fortunately, US Airways was very accommodating and we got on a 8:49am flight. I did feel like a scene from Home Alone with us running through the airport to get to the gate in time.

We started our trip in AZ with a visit to "Pump It Up." It's this crazy play place with huge inflatable slides and jumping places. Kerala really loved it - especially when Troy felt well enough to participate (he threw his back out the night before we left). When we got to Kim's house we had a quick lunch and then Kerala was off to nap. After lunch, Kim had a very fun activity of finger and feet painting. It was a ton of fun and Kerala really enjoyed herself. We even had Kian do a couple of foot prints.

 

On Friday, we headed over to Uncle Kyle's mom's house for a fun day in her pool. Kerala loved playing with her cousin Macline and has actually been asking about him since we have returned home. Again, Kian basically slept.

On our last day, we enjoyed a great day at the AZ Science Center, which included a visit to the planetarium. Kian actually really enjoyed the planetarium. He was awake the entire time and loved looking up at the stars. The only funny thing was that it was a toddler story hour and the presenter did not know his audience. He kept telling jokes that were a bit over the kids' heads and his stand up routine went on way too long. It was just funny because you could see all of these kids squirming in their seats.

While we were visiting Kim and Kyle's we were treated with gourmet meals every night. Kyle is a chef and Kim and Kyle let us pick the menu about a week before. Kerala had her first experience with scallops and loooovvvveed them. She ate about 1 1/2 scallops which is just amazing. Overall, it was a fabulous trip and we can't wait to go back.

Since we have been back we have had a break through with potty training. Tonight, Kerala asked to go potty three times and went all three times (although she was straining pretty hard the last time). It's crazy how fast the kids are growing up - I can't believe we are on the verge of potty training Kerala. Kian has rolled a few times from back to belly, which we are very excited about. He also will laugh a ton if you pretend like you are eating his belly.