Weekend in KC

Our family spent the weekend in Kansas City after my Dr.'s appt. at KU med on Thursday. One of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing Cooper and Miles meet their cousin Blake for the first time. I wasn't sure how the meeting would go - Cooper has said since Blake was born that he does not like Baby Blake. I think it is because he LOVES Aunt Jenn, and Blake gets in the way of that. The meeting went VERY well. Cooper wanted to hold him and Miles could not stop kissing him. At one point, Miles was sucking on Blake's forehead - kisses just weren't expressing his love.

Here are a few pictures:





We also celebrated the March birthdays with our extended family. March is a big month for us! Amanda, Dad, Beth, Eli, and Nate all have birthdays in March!





After we sang Happy Birthday, Nate said, "Who wants cake?" and Miles was the only one who answered. He shouted, "I do!!"

What a fun weekend!!

A Case of the Mondays...

Just kidding! It was a great day! I wouldn't say there wasn't any drama, but I'm not sure it was any different than any other day with a three- and one-year-old!

Carey and I started off the day fairly early like most, both working out. Carey continues to run nearly every morning and I try to get in time on the trainer (while not nearly as disciplined as Carey though...). I don't know if I've ever written about Cooper's germ-a-phobe tendencies in the past, but let me tell you, he has them! This morning was a classic example. I came in from the garage, pretty sweaty, and Cooper runs over. I get down on the floor and say something like "Hey Buddy! Good morning! I need some big Cooper snuggles!!". And he promptly says "Dad, you need to take a shower first. You are really sweaty. Then I'll give you snuggles!"

Carey had book club this evening so it was a guys night out. We usually head out to El Rodeo or some other place for dinner, but tonight we stayed in for 'manly stuff' - grilling burgers and playing in the back yard. And after, we walked up to DQ for mini-sized ice cream cones. It was lots of fun. All in all, a good night but very busy. Here are a few pics of the boys.

Catching Up

It's been several days since our last entry so I will try to attempt a quick catch up.

• The boys have been sick, sick, sick. I sure hope all the extra pooping and puking at our house has us caught up for a while...like for the rest of our lives.
• With my Grandmother's (in Laguna Beach) failing health, I flew out for a short visit on Tuesday/Wednesday. It was great to see them, but sad to see them away from their home, less mobile and in poor health. She has a tremendous attitude about what's to come and I'm sure is a huge encouragement to those around her.
• Carey had a neurology appointment in KC with a doc from KU med. It was a good meeting and was encouraging to Carey. We plan to go back in about six months (and will do so for the foreseeable future).
  
• We stayed in KC through Saturday afternoon with Carey's dad and also were able to enjoy the company of Carey's sister and family, as well as some additional extended family on her dad's side. Among those at the house, there were five birthdays, that's right - five, in March so we took the opportunity to celebrate.
• With tired kids, we came back on Saturday and did some catch up at home. It's always nice to come home.
  
• Today (Sunday), Sunday school as usual but then we had 'extended care' - basically nursery. We had lots of lively kiddos today for about 1.5 hours... a few notable quotes from the bunch of three year olds: 1) while lifting up his shirt, one young man said 'I've got a big belly.' Then he looked at me and said 'Wow, you have a really big belly.' Sheesh...thanks kid. 2) To protect the innocent (okay, not innocent, I'm just being nice), we'll leave this child nameless. Said child was not so friendly, screamed a lot, and in general, was causing lots of trouble. Just before duck-taping him to the chair, he came up to me and 'Mr. Nate - I love you.' It's not fair! How did he know that would work on me?!
  

So here's to another week - may the next be free of puking, screaming, and crying.

Time with Miles

After a very long day, Cooper retired early to bed. He has been sick and requested an early bed time to get some rest. We are hoping he recovers quickly - we miss his happy little self running around. It was interesting though. After Cooper went to bed, it was just Miles. We haven't had much time with just Miles. I enjoyed it so much. He was making up for a morning of screaming and was as sweet as can be. Some pictures of our evening.

Winter...Summer! No, wait, Winter again...

I've always been one for a change in seasons. I love them all! It seems that just about the time I'm ready for a change, the change comes! And this time of year, I'm just itching to experience the warming weather of Spring. It's wonderful to bring the bike off the trainer and out onto the road, play outside with the family, etc. And this week has not been a disappointment! We've had very nice weather, with most days into the 60s. Yesterday I was able to get in a few hours on the bike with John, Dale and Michael (recent college grad working with the SBU cross country team) - we were all in short sleeves and shorts - it was great. And it turns out, those wonderful temperatures were all just a big tease!! As I type, I'm watching snow fall. We're supposed to receive six inches!!! I don't know how it can be 70 degrees one day and snowing the next - I'm convinced God is a funny guy.

Speaking of Springfield, we went to Springfield this morning to run a few errands and were able to have lunch with Jeff Case (great friend and college roommate). While both kids turned out to not be feeling well and Miles crying, kicking, punching, screaming, yelling (and whatever other words you can think of that mean loud noises coming from a one-year-old), we had a good time. Sort of. Okay, not really. =) Both are sleeping now and what a sweet sound, or lack of sound, that is.

Carey did have a funny conversation with Miles. It went like this:
(Big yellow truck driving by...)
Miles - 'Bus!'
Carey - 'That does look like a bus, but it's actually a big yellow truck!'
Miles - 'No guck (truck)! Bus!'

I love his determined little spirit.

Happy Birthday, Nate!

On Monday, we celebrated Nate's 29th birthday! Here is the card the boys picked out for Nate:

Cooper wrote "Happy" and "Cooper" inside the card - can you see it?

Here is the envelope. I helped Cooper write "d-a-d", but he wanted to add an extra "a" to write "dada."

To Many Chips

I love Saturdays. Especially when we don't have any plans, don't have any objectives for the day and just hang out. It was day two for me with my parents in town and I'm reminded of how much I love spending time with them. While I have appreciated my parents all my life, it's only been recently that I've noticed how great they really are.

Tonight we celebrated my birthday (while not officially until Monday). I've always loved to cook so I requested that I get to make my own birthday dinner. Carey was kind enough to let me. So, it was burgers, veggies and baked beans tonight. It wasn't warm out, but the evening was calm and it was great to be outside. We feasted on grilled food and then finished it up with homemade ice cream cake!



Lately, Cooper has been very conscious of healthy eating, exercise, etc. It could be because we are constantly telling him he needs to put healthy foods in his body and avoid 'junk food'. Cooper could eat nothing but chocolate and never get sick of it. Just like his mother. =) (Miles on the other hand, more like me - would much rather have chips!) Speaking of chips, during dinner, Grandpa got up for seconds and added a handful of potato chips to his plate. Cooper says 'Grandpa! That's a lot of chips! You are going to get fat! Fat! Fat! Fat!'

While we reprimanded him for being rude to Grandpa, we're all laughing on the inside...

Returning Home

Earlier today, I wrote about how the boys say things that make me smile, laugh and wonder what's actually going on in their little heads. My mom and dad are in town, visiting from Enid, and mom had a classic story to tell about Cooper when I returned home this afternoon (he's not going to appreciate me writing about this when he grows up...). While mom had two boys, I think she may have been out of practice and not quite ready for what happened next. Cooper was sitting on the 'big boy potty seat' on the toilet. He then started flipping his penis up and down. And then, laughing, he says 'Grandma, did you used to flick your penis?!'

You've just got to love boys!!

Blogging from 34,000 feet

My scenery while I write this blog is a bit different than in the past. When I look to my right, I see a stranger sleeping, his arm invading his chair-mate's space (and said chair-mate is not real excited about it). To my left, I see the wing of my jet, a clear blue sky and a beautiful sunrise. The pilot just announced that we're cruising at around 34,000 feet, and approximately half-way from Richmond, VA to Dallas, TX.

Technology seems to be an added pain in many instances, but Wi-Fi on a jet takes a little bit of the sting away! I've had many flights now where American has outfitted their planes with Internet access and it's such a nice addition. It's a great time to get caught up on work, email with friends, and blog!

I don't have any new and exciting stories from this trip as it was pretty short. I've been gone just over 24 hours, with the entire purpose of my trip being dinner with a client in Richmond. I met two of our venture capital partners (one from NYC, one from Columbia, SC) and those two always add an interesting twist to dinner. This was my second trip to Richmond, but first time to stay downtown. It's neat to see the history of Richmond - lots of great architecture has been preserved. I stayed at The Jefferson hotel, which is a treat if you ever get the chance.

Wednesday night, before I left, I was putting Cooper to bed with a book about a mama bear looking for her cub. The mama bear looks in many different places and on the final page, finds her cub and takes her home. The last image of the book has the mama bear carrying the cub in her mouth (picture mama biting the neck of the cub) and Cooper burst out laughing. He then says 'Daddy, isn't that the funniest thing you've ever seen? Shouldn't we just laugh all day? Yes, I think we should laugh through the night time, through breakfast, lunch and dinner!' Being on the road makes me appreciate many things about being home - at the top of that list, I miss the crazy things our kids do and say that get me laughing. I miss you boys and I'll be home soon!

Lunch with Cooper (or lack thereof)

As some of you know, Cooper is not a big fan of eating. There isn't much he likes and would generally prefer to do anything to get out of lunch or dinner. Just for fun, I wrote down some of his delay tactics from lunch.

Can I have whole cheese crackers?
Will you help me eat?
I have a hang nail – can you cut it?
I don’t have any room in my tummy.
I’m full.
Looking at his plate - I don’t like this food!
I want some bread.
I think I need some more dip.
I have to go pee.
I have to go poop!
I think I need to take some pills.
It’s dangerous for me to not take any pills.
I’m not feeling very well.
I think this is junk food for me.

Meanwhile, across the table, Miles has eaten two entire plates of food and is still going…

Yes! (or Yesh)

Over the weekend, something happened. Something big. Prior to the weekend, if you asked Miles a question where the answer should be 'yes', he would answer 'no'. Not because he didn't want or like something, but because his 'yes' was 'no'. For example:
Me (Nate) - "Miles, do you like candy?"
Miles - "No!" (often while dancing and shaking his head up and down - so cute)

But after this weekend, that cute little 'no' dance has changed. He now says "Yesh" in this most adorable little way. He was hanging out with me tonight and I caught a few of them on video.