Another year coming to a close. An amazing December made up for a sickly and ridiculous November. Woohoo! Here’s what’s happening with the boys, a monthly recap, a random rambling about things I’m thankful for in 2016, and a preview to 2017. Buckle up for a lot of words. For I have a lot of words. Good words. From my very good brain. Fun! (Look at how presidential this blog is sounding! Oh buddy……hooray for 2017?)

Speaking of good words, Fred is starting to talk! I try not to compare children, but this is way earlier than Ben. So it caught me off guard when I realized that the babbles were words! So far, he has:
Mama/Dada
Go go go! (gah gah gah!)
Banana (nana)
up
ball
Brob-Brob (Ben/Brother)
and a few other things where he can repeat the cadence of our phrases. He also uses sign language for “drink”, “more”, and “please” on a regular basis. It’s hilarious to watch him communicate more and more. Look at this stud:

Ben continues to be pretty introverted unless he is really comfortable with the people around him. Then all of the sudden, he can say the funniest things or bust out the best dance moves. But if you call attention to it, he’s done. One day, instead of saying that he heard something, he told me, “My ears are collecting noises!” The kid cracks me up.

The boys actually have the ability to play together now and it is rocking my world. Sometimes, however, they have their conflicts. Ben learned a while ago that he will get in trouble if he pushes Fred, so he started kissing him whenever he invaded his space. One day, I walked in to see a crying Fred.
“Ben, did you push your brother?”
“No….”
“Oh, so why is he crying?”
“Because I kissed him so hard!”

The first snow was perfect snowman snow. It was awesome. And then I decided it was time to go to Florida.

We had a FABULOUS trip to Florida to kick off December. I flew in with the boys on Sunday and Jesse joined us on Thursday. We all flew back together on Tuesday. We loved time with Holly, Kyle, and the cousins. There was a lot of down time with new toys and sunshine, a day at Sea World, and some fun local activities. It was hard to come home.

Remember when this blog was full of home improvement projects?? We have once again picked up momentum on some projects. Our “Door to Nowhere” was replaced with a window and I gave our guest room a makeover. We replaced the giant queen bed with a twin trundle and we have more space! I’m thrilled with the results. I even got Pinterest-y and put Fred’s footprints and Ben’s hand print on the wall. I was pretty pumped about being crafty for a few minutes.

We also learned that the bathroom remodel from 5 years ago involved nails being shoved into our water lines. OOPS. And we learned that nails can plug a hole for five years before allowing water to drip into the basement. Science!

The rest of December was filled with play dates, Christmas cheer, realizing Fred is big enough for play places, a zoo attendance challenge for the winter months, and celebrating with family. The boys got additions to their Trackmaster system for Christmas. We have been playing with it nonstop for a week. Choo CHOO!

And now to the mushy, reflective, end of the year part of the blog. Ha!

In No Particular Order…..Things I am Thankful For:

Self-Imposed Deadlines.
I didn’t make a resolution for last year, but I did manage to do a blog for every month of 2016. Sometimes I didn’t feel like writing, but I’m glad I have those memories stored somewhere – because I really struggle to remember these blurry times. So WIN.

Flexibility.
I’m working on not being too hard on myself. That’s why I’m not caring (too much) that this entry is already 8 days late of my self-imposed deadline.

Ben.

Oh my Ben. I’ve never met anyone like him. He loves people but is totally fine being on his own. He appears like he’s totally tuned out, but then you can catch his lips slowly creep into a smile when he overhears something funny. He tells super weird and abstract jokes, and I rejoice and fear that he’s just mimicking his parents’ sense of humor.
“How do you make a pancake laugh? Tell it an elephant joke! HA. HA!”
He loves puzzles, mazes, look & find books. He loves his family deeply. He does not like changing activities or getting out of his pajamas. He gets concerned when characters on shows are sad or worried. He loves Lightning McQueen & Thomas the Train. He rarely sings, but then he suddenly writes his own song with the chorus: “You Don’t Need a Seat Belt for a Donkey!” He is ridiculously innocent and sweet. He waits to go to the bathroom until the very last second possible. You can get him to do almost anything if it’s a “race”. He is an excellent buddy and brother – most of the time.

Fred.

Oh my Fred. My social butterfly. He has the best flirty smile and uses it all the time. He skipped over baby toys in a quest to keep up with his brother. He has the best happy face and the saddest sad face. He is adventurous and brave and goes with the flow. He’s entering the crazy hard toddler part of not being able to communicate as much as he wants to. He loves bubble baths. He hates getting his diaper changed. He loves balls and anything with wheels. He dances by stomping his feet and pumping his hands in the air. He is an excellent buddy and brother – most of the time.

Husband.
YOU GUYS. HE’S THE BEST. (The guy does not love PDA via the Internet. But I could write a novel. Just trust me…the best person for me on the planet.)

The Fam.
Seeing my favorite people be the best grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins, to my boys is one of the biggest joys in my life.

Politics.
Okay, I just threw up a little in my mouth, but hear me out. Once upon a time, I was an excited social studies student. I thought it would be cool to be a speech writer. I loved teaching fifth graders about the branches of government. 2016 kind of ruined my fascination with the whole political process. But I feel fortunate that I have enough of a diverse social circle that I am challenged in the way that I think on most issues. So I know that there are people on each side that are good and wonderful and smart and caring people that love their families and love their friends and want to create a better future. Each side has good people, and I refuse to let the noise of the world convince me otherwise. I choose to be optimistic.

Hormones.
Having babies is hard on a body, and I feel like I’m just finally recovering. I’ve been fortunate that I bonded well with my infants and had good recoveries after birthing those boys. But it turns out that when I stop nursing, everything goes to crap and I go on a roller coaster of a special kind of crazy. So the second half of 2016 was a challenge to feel normal and I still have some flare ups of hormonal explosions. But I’m staying positive and thankful that things are getting back under control for an enjoyable 2017. Whew!

Moms.
Not only did I luck out with the most excellent moms, I have been blessed with a sister and friends that are amazing moms. Watching the women around me in my life be strong and smart and awesome is a ridiculous joy.

Obviously, there are many more things I am thankful for and hopeful for and praying for, but I’m going to try to wrap this thing up. If you are still reading, I’m thankful for YOU too. Thanks for being part of my life and caring enough to check in on the blog.

In No Particular Order…..Goals/Things I’m looking forward to in 2017:

Continuing supporting my Jesse in his job so that I can keep doing my dream job.

Seeing the growth and development of the boys, especially when the “terrific twos” and kindergarten are in our future!

Sweet summer vacations, including watching my sister get hitched. Bonus brother time!

Monday nights in Bachelor Nation with some fabulous friends (don’t judge us).

Church and trying to read things that get my brain geared toward faith.

Keeping my blog and pictures organized and updated. I CAN DO IT.

Win at The Feast of Odin. Bring it, Brother.

Play dates, catching up with old friends, keeping up with new friends.

Okay, obviously there is more than that. But there are some trains to play with in this house, and I need to get to it. And I’m getting hungry. So I’m going to post this. Happy New Year to you!!

I was always thankful when my husband sent me back-to-school flowers, but I was beyond grateful when he brought me you’re-not-going-back-to-school flowers. WIN.

Let this new chapter in our life begin!

It’s my first official week as a “stay at home mom”. So far, so good! Actually, so awesome. I love making my own schedule and going with the flow of a 21 month old. I’m really trying to step back and slow down. It’s hard going from a nonstop pace of teaching to the pace of a meandering and curious toddler. It’s easy to look at my to-do list and want to conquer everything. But I’m trying to focus on one or two items per day and then consider everything else bonus. My husband asked me to try that perspective after I would get so down on myself and feel like a failure for not getting all billion items crossed off the list in one day. It has definitely changed my thinking and now I feel like a champ for getting three things done, haha.

This week, I helped out a couple of friends by watching their toddlers for a few hours. It’s so funny to watch Ben play and see how the other kids have grown. We’ve also checked off 2 new parks on the official summer list! Kathleen and Elliot showed us Murphy Park in Urbandale, a small area that was pretty Ben-friendly. I also made my first solo bike trip to Greenwood Park! This is a little less Ben-friendly, as there is no real barrier between the toddler and big kid parts of the play set. He just wants to keep climbing and going, and I can’t squeeze through the tunnels fast enough to keep up with him. Still, it’s good to have a park within biking distance. When I get tired of chasing him, he loves to run in tennis courts – best playpen ever. We also went to our first wading pool of the summer at Union Park (the one with the carousel). The water was cold, but Ben still wanted to charge in the water. I left his change of clothes in the car, so he ran around in a fresh diaper for a while after the swim. Good times.

So this is our new normal life. A little cleaning, a little TV, lots of outside play, snacks, friends, errands, meltdowns at grocery stores, books, blocks, and getting dirty in the sandbox. I love it.

A large portion of this summer will be dedicated to exploring Des Moines and taking in the local parks & rec scene. Because that’s how this mom parties. Woooooooo!

Our first park of the summer season was Wilson Park. I know, this is technically West Des Moines, but sometimes I have to embrace the fact that fancy-pants WDM has some pretty sweet stuff. This little park is pretty close to the much bigger Holiday Park facility, and it’s adorable. There is a big kid and little kid play set, basketball courts, picnic area and tennis courts. Ben spent a little time on the slide, but he seriously thought that the gate to the tennis court was the best thing there and decided to open and shut it for a good 10 minutes. This age is awesome.

On the way home from Wilson Park, we caught a glimpse of American Legion Park. Woah – how awesome. We made that the next stop on our parks list and went last weekend. We will be returning soon! It has really cool equipment of different sizes and an awesome splash pad area. We didn’t even try out the equipment part, as Ben was ready to splash. It took a few minutes to get into the activity – the water was cold! – but then Ben loved it.

Park #3 of the summer was another gem in Des Moines. I had this on the list of to-dos for the summer, but thanks to a birthday party invitation, we crossed it off last week. Union Park is on the east-ish side of Des Moines. They have a variety of play sets, a wading pool, and a carousel! The Heritage Carousel is adorable. Ben loved watching the horses go around and around while marching to the classic music. He also loved the ride!

Can’t wait to explore more of the local parks & attractions this summer!

I am comfortable enough with my husband to say, “Hey, Honey! For my birthday I want you to get this Groupon for a painting class and ask your parents to babysit.” Done and done. No guessing required.

So that’s what we did! A cute little date night just down the road at a new shop that popped up a couple of months ago. They provide paints, brushes, canvas, cheesy pop music, and instruction. We provide our own snacks, beverages, and pay $20 each. Deal. Happy birthday to me!

When we walked in, they had a seating chart all set up. The atmosphere was lovely in a small setting. Even though they advertised “date nights”, the vast majority of the crowd included tipsy middle aged women. I was rather relieved to see 2 other dudes come in with their dates. Jesse was not the only testosterone!

My husband. You would never know from this picture that the soundtrack of the room was Cyndi Lauper and cackling women. What a guy.

And then the class began. I just about burst out laughing when the instructor turned down the music and put on her aerobics instructor microphone. This was awesome. The “goal” was hanging on the wall, and she showed us how to divide the canvas, sketch it in chalk, and outline it in yellow.

I take a blue background very seriously…

One of the most interesting parts of the night was walking around the room and seeing how each of the 30 painters interpreted the same painting. As a girl, I found the waistlines the most interesting part. Some were hour glasses, some were twigs, and some – as the guy across from me said about his painting – had a little “girth”. 

So that was our night. It was really fun to have a night out to be creative together. Definitely different than our usual outings. I absolutely loved it…and now we just have to figure out what to do with them!   🙂

Last summer, my sister and I decided to take on our second Run Disney race: the Disney Princess Half Marathon. We had many excuses for our lack of training this time around, but when it comes down to it – we just weren’t prepared. It was going to take a little luck and a lot of prayer to get through this endeavor. But we did it. And it was awesome. Here’s our experience of a magical race:

The first step of our adventure was picking up the race numbers and some treats at the race expo. On Saturday morning, we drove to the Wide World of Sports to soak in the atmosphere and pick up our information.

With 25,000 runners, this place is always busy with people picking up their numbers, taking photos, eating free Greek yogurt, browsing exhibitors, shopping, etc. It was nice to walk around and not be freezing. The humidity was really thick, but it was above 20 degrees, so I was a happy Iowan. Here are some more pictures of Holly and I preparing for the race and our guys preparing to be extraordinary spectators. (Look, Kyle! You made the blog!!!!)

I managed to fall asleep at 9:00 on Saturday night – a great thing, since I ended up waking at 2:10 AM. We needed to leave the house by 3:30, but we were just so excited that we got up even earlier than we needed to. Armed with bagels, water, and tutus, we started the drive to Epcot. The traffic wasn’t as bad as expected, so we made it in plenty of time.

Like all Run Disney events, the organization and set up is absolutely amazing. Imagine 25,000 people trying to figure out where to go in a parking lot at 4 AM. Yep!

In the midst of the organized chaos, we managed to find Jenny – one of my favorite people from the good ole YCamp days! It was so good to see her, even if only for a few minutes.

Then it was time to head to the corrals. The morning was super foggy, but I was so excited to exclaim, “See, Sister!! It’s not that early….the sun is already coming up over the trees!” My much wiser sister got to reply, “Ummm….Heidi…..that light is from the starting line.” Oops. What a production! In fact, unlike the marathon, they did a special countdown with fireworks for each corral – letters A through P. Lucky for us, that gave the people in the middle corrals (like us in K), a little bit of a head start. Disney gives you 3 1/2 hours from the time the last person starts the race. Holly and I knew we needed a buffer zone, so we were happy to have the advantage.

We were off! In the middle and back of the pack (where we started), you really couldn’t get too far at first. The race is rather narrow when you have that many women in tutus walking and jogging together. Holly and I actually jogged more than I thought we would, but the crowd forced us to stay at a sane pace.

The atmosphere of Disney races are awesome. All ages & sizes, athletes & beginners – everyone just wanting to do their best. And all along the race were spectators and Disney entertainment. Here was a section that blared out “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” to lighten the mood:

We were also excited to see the first characters along the route. Disney princes and pirates! Unfortunately, the lines were much longer than the marathon lines, and we knew we didn’t have time to spare. So we did run-by pictures for the first character stops.

The weather was absolutely perfect. It was probably in the mid-60s/70s most of the time with light misting fog. It was like we were sneaking up on everything, because all of the sudden signs and Space Mountain just appeared out of the fog.

There’s nothing like a bunch of villains rocking out to Michael Jackson’s “Bad” along the route. And a random dancing cast member with lasers and blasting music? Seriously, this is why I don’t think I could race anywhere but Disney, hahaha.

Our amazing spectators made it to see us 4 times around the race. Yes, we were that slow. The first spotting was around the Ticket and Transportation Center. The second and third were in the Magic Kingdom. And the last spot along the route was by the Polynesian Resort. They got to the finish line on time too – and managed to stop for ice cream. What an awesome group of cheerleaders.

Going through the Magic Kingdom was awesome as always. The energy is fantastic. If anything, you want to go slower just to enjoy it!! We made our first character stop of Louis – from The Princess and the Frog. Apparently Tiana was there part of the race, but having the croc by himself made for a short line. The line for Minnie and Mickey would have taken at least 30-40 minutes – time we could not afford to waste! So we did some more run-by photography…

I know it sounds ridiculous, but we were so happy to have done the marathon first! Knowing that we accomplished that made this a much easier mental game. Sure, we were getting sore at the Magic Kingdom (mile 5), but knowing that there were only 8 miles left instead of 21 was AMAZING. 1/2 marathons are so much better!!

The trip back to Epcot continued to be fun. The half way point was marked by rows of speakers blasting “Let it Go” from Frozen. We learned that the characters from the beginning of the race went to the other side of the road for the return runners – so we got to hang out with Captain Jack for a minute. And at this point, the runners were spread out and you couldn’t see the end of them in either direction.

Around mile 8, we grabbed BioFreeze – the magical ointment that made the pain go away. Sure, our hands were tingling from applying it, but it helped us get through. A huge shout out to the hundreds of volunteers and cast members along the route. This race was so organized and everyone was just so excited.

The last mile was in and around Epcot. We were spent, but we made it to the finish – our main goal. YAY! GO TEAM SISTERS!

Oops, I think the pictures of Kyle and Dad were on the other cameras. But they were at the finish too and fantastic supporters. I was very proud of us of getting through injuries and time constraints to get this done. It’s hard to believe it’s over!

I am so lucky to have a sister to go along with ridiculous ideas like this. It was also hard to believe that it had been 5 years since the last race, but here’s proof through Olivia!

So…..what’s next? I’m thinking…..every five years – a shorter race.

2019: The Tower of Terror 10 Miler
2024: The Enchanted Slipper 10K
2029: The Expedition Everest Challenge (5K Obstacle Course)
2034: The Disney Family Fun Run (5K)

By then we’ll be in our 50s and ready for a nice lounge chair on the beach. What do you say, sister?

In a world…..where adults and children are confined in a box in the sky…businessmen, teenagers, infants, elderly, and couples…all sharing one space….who will survive? Who will keep calm? How will we get through…..traveling with a toddler!!??!

We had taken Ben on a plane last June, and things went really well. Sure, we were the stereotype of a screaming baby with haggard parents for about 20 minutes, but that was a much shorter time span than expected, so victory was ours! But we still had some hesitation with this next trip. Ben was still free as a lap child, so we were going to work that system. But this time he was 17 months. This time…..he could MOVE. Walk. Fidget. Arch his back in a brilliant tantrum of awesome. This time we had reason to worry.

So I searched the blogs and asked for advice. I looked at Pinterest and over-packed a bag with all the things I HAD to have in order to survive this trip. However, I learned that for traveling success you just need two things:

1.) A naturally laid-back child
2.) Lots of luck

Yeah, there’s only so much you can really do. But here are the items we brought based on my research and planning:
-All the usual diaper bag supplies
-A couple new toys:

-A couple favorite toys
-Blankie
-Playdough
-Treats! Snacks! More Snacks!
-Coloring pad w/writing utensils
-Books

I’m sure there was even more than that in my tiny little personal item, but to my great surprise – we barely used any of it. You see, we had a 10:30 flight and got there at 8:30. Jesse and I took turns watching our belongings while the other followed Ben as he walked and climbed steps for two full hours. By the time we got on the plane, he was actually ready to be chill. So that would be my number one tip – run the child! After we boarded, he discovered the best toy ever: a story book called Sometimes Passengers Need Oxygen Masks and Boat Rides. The informational safety brochure kept this kid happy for a long time. We were also blessed by an angel in front of us that was a daycare provider, who thought it was fun to play peekaboo and pass the brochure with our kid. We were also surrounded by understanding grandparents and dudes that didn’t care about anything because they were going to the Daytona 500 racing weekend. Things were off to a great start!

But then, after 30 minutes of Ben sitting and playing nicely, they told us to get off the plane. Seriously. It wasn’t a blizzard in Iowa stopping us – but it was a thunderstorm in Florida. 2 hour delay. Huge sigh…

However, instead of torture, it was another chance to RUN THE KID. He just kept going! Then we ate lunch and it was time to get back on the plane. I decided to capture us all being happy in case something went horribly wrong. Hooray for take 2!

And, much to Ben’s delight….the best toy ever was still there!

Then Ben crashed. Hard. After running for 4 hours in the airport, he passed out during safety instructions! Seriously….this was us before take off.

And then he slept for 2 1/2 hours! Through take off. Through beverage carts. Through everything. It was amazing. (I was also selfishly in heaven, as the kid hadn’t snuggled and slept on me in months!) It also helped that we were in the very back of the plane and had the crazy loud white noise of the engine for the entire time. And then when he woke up, he had snack and we used the natural distractions around us….the light button, the window shade, the barf bag. We made it all the way to Florida without 90% of my magical bag of tricks.

You would think that my anxiety for the trip home would have been less, but it’s easy to give in to stress when you are the parent surrounded by 200 strangers in a small, enclosed space. This trip was a little different, as we had to wake the boy up at 5 AM, drive 45 minutes, and then get him on a 3+ hour flight. Luckily, we had a couple things on our side: a little running time before the flight and my parents were coming home on our same plane. Always nice to have an extra lap or two for our lap child.

Ben did decide to stay awake for this flight, but we were still amazed with his travel skills. There were a few moments of “I’M GONNA FREAK OUT!”, but there wasn’t a major melt down. We’ll take it! We did bust out the travel Magna Doodle, which Ben thought was amazing. Jesse had put some episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba on his phone and Ben watched a bit on mute. This is where the whole “laid-back kid” comes into play. He was happy without sound. Thanks, Yo Gabba Gabba for your bright colors and people dancing. As much as I don’t like toddlers stuck on screens, I enjoyed Ben’s dopey smile while he was confined to a 4′ x 2′ area. And with about 40 minutes left on the plane, our little buddy passed out. We couldn’t have asked for a better traveler at 17 months, and I can’t believe that he will probably need his own seat the next time we fly!