Answered Prayers

 When I was pregnant with Annie leading up to delivery, it was no walk in the park but overall went pretty normal.   This pregnancy I expected no different but I was dead wrong.  This pregnancy has been a stressful, emotional roller coaster and far more difficult than the 1^st time around…

1^st trimester I had very intense headaches, headaches that were so bad, my equilibrium was thrown off.  I haven’t been nauseous but my gagging reflexes are out of control to the point where I’ve been throwing up, even to this day far into my 2^nd trimester.  I’ve been tired but more so just have that worn down feeling all the time.  I just don’t feel like myself whatsoever.  And you know what?  That doesn’t even come close to scratching the surface of what we’ve been dealing with lately.  

Several weeks ago, I went from an incredible high to a crashing low.  We had just found out on a Saturday that our little baby’s gender was a girl, I was so full of energy that day and was on cloud 9 about finding out we were having another girl.  I seriously smiled all day long.   Later in that week, I kept having a missed call and really didn’t think much of it or even put any effort to look up the number.  Thursday afternoon, I was working from home (thank GOD) and the number called again and this time I answered.  It was my Ob-Gyn office and within the first 30 seconds I could tell it wasn’t a good call… it was a doctor on the other line, not a nurse.  She had some test results from my latest lab draw that she wanted to review with me.  She started by telling me that the down-syndrome test came back fine and normal BUT that my alpha fetoproteins (AFP) levels came back elevated which is an indicator for a neural tube defect (brain or spine)/spina bifida or an opening in the baby’s abdominal wall.  Normal results would not trigger a phone call if they were 1 in 145 chances or greater.  My elevations equated to a 1 in 4 chance.  I couldn’t even process what she was telling me.  My first question was how did this happen?  What did I do?  What should I be doing?  The answer was nothing.  I didn’t do a thing nor was there anything I can start doing but would need to be seen be a perinatal specialist as the results were just an indicator, not a diagnosis.  I would have an in-depth ultrasound to determine if there are any defects in our precious baby’s developing body.  

It felt like a ton of bricks came crashing down on me, my mind was racing and I couldn’t imagine anything less than the perfect image of health in the toddler we have now, I was completely overwhelmed.   We started Googling to learn more and I read enough to make the situation worst that I decided from that point on that I would not Google it any further until we know the results; that we had to plug 100% into our faith in God and put our trust in Him alone.   And as hard as it was, I didn’t Google it once for those next few weeks leading up our appointment nor have I Googled anything since.

My perinatal appointment was a long 2 week wait.  I was desperate in prayer, my tank of joy was already on low prior to this and this just zapped what little was left.  My headaches were out of control and I mostly just did a lot of moping around.  I tried to find joy in playing with Annie but looking into her precious eyes just made it hurt more because I just couldn’t imagine anything other than her perfection of health.  Of course I would love our baby just as much no matter what health she may enter this world in but it just overwhelmed me that I was now in a situation where it could be a reality.

I think I told Aaron daily that I was terribly anxious of our appointment and I just want to get it over with.  During this wait, I got a really bad head cold, Annie had 2 severe ear infections back to back that landed us in Urgent Care and the doctor’s office thereafter twice.  I woke up most nights not able to fall back to sleep for hours on end.   And not to leave Aaron out of the ‘fun’, Annie decided to push the exact combination of buttons to erase Aaron’s entire phone that houses all his client’s data.  I was on the brink of losing my mind.    

During this time, we had our Christmas weekend with our family.  I got thru the weekend but my headaches were intense and I feel like I missed out on a lot because I needed to step away and lay down in a quiet room often as all the stimulation of everyone was making my anxiety run high.  I was in tears that I barely made it thru helping Annie open her gifts as my mind was elsewhere in that moment.

But in light of the storm we were (are) in, I had (and have) a lot of hope though that everything would be okay.  The biggest piece of hope I had is that the week we got this call, we just had a thorough ultra sound to find out our baby’s gender.  And the ultra sound tech showed us her brain, her spine, her little baby belly and kept saying we have a healthy baby girl.  I also looked back at every situation in my life where I felt hopeless and how God pulled us thru every single circumstance we’ve been thru so far and we ended up on the other side better than we could ever imagine, never once in my life can I say God has failed us.  Underneath all my layers of stress, anxiety and worry, I truly and honestly felt everything is going to be okay, regardless of results.

My close support system during this time was the most amazing they’ve ever been.  I had a good friend who dropped what she was doing to take a call to talk thru things with me.  I had a friend who shared some powerful scripture with me, in particular 2 Corinthians 1 8-9 “For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.  But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”  Wow did that resonate with me; I spent a lot of time thinking on that verse.  I had friends’ texting me thru the week, letting me know they were praying.  One the day of, I had several friend’s reach out to me first thing in the morning saying hey I know today is the day, I’m thinking of you and praying hard for you.  I had confided in one coworker who said you know what, I had a similar experience with one of my babies and the results were wrong and she is perfectly healthy today.   Hope.Love.Support…surrounded us.

I also went for the first time to a prayer service at my church.  I met a lady who felt like my Godsend.  She prayed a prayer over me that brought tears streaming down my face.  She prayed for things I didn’t even tell her I was dealing with that moved me.  I left there feeling very touched by her prayer and it brought me a lot of peace that evening.   Aaron holding my hand and praying aloud for our baby brought me peace.  My support system really humbled me that so many of our close friends and family cared so very much and were deeply concerned.

The morning of our appointment, we walked into the Perinatal Center for the first time ever.  The first thing I saw was a couple sitting in the waiting room, she had her head on her husband’s chest and they had a somber look in their eyes.  On the wall was a listing of perinatal services, not one thing listed was something a mother would ever want to be seen for.  I knew at that moment, everyone in this waiting room have been dealt some sort of terrible news about their precious baby.  When our name was called, we first met with a Genetics Counselor, she was really comforting and reassuring in our consultation.  I felt my hope grow stronger.  She mentioned that if the ultrasound seems to be going extra-long or they are spending extra time looking at the brain or spine, don’t be alarmed, that usually means they are just making absolute sure there is nothing there they are missing.  She also mentioned that these things they are looking for usually are very noticeable and are seen right away in an ultrasound so she mentioned that if I just had a normal ultrasound right before my phone call that was really hopeful going into this.  And she also mentioned what I reminded myself often of leading up to this, my chances were 1 in 4, which meant 3 in 4 likelihood nothing is wrong whatsoever with my baby.   Lots to remain hopeful for.

We were then moved into our ultrasound; I couldn’t sit back and just enjoy watching my baby bounce around on the screen because I was looking for any little thing that looked wrong.   My eyes couldn’t tell if I was seeing any holes in my little baby’s brain or spine.  I kept taking really deep breaths in and out and my ultrasound tech kept asking me if I’m okay, I replied yes just nervous.  When it was over, all I could think was that went way to fast, I didn’t feel like she spent an extra-long time on the spine or brain, that makes me worried she saw something right away.

When we left the ultrasound room, we were greeted by a nurse who then made me frustrated.  She said that we had over an hour before the doctor would get to our results and we should probably just leave and grab lunch and come back.  Really?  More waiting?  So we left and I immediately told Aaron I didn’t feel good about how the ultrasound went and I was not hungry whatsoever.  We ended up still grabbing lunch and on the way back I started to really panic saying I don’t want to go back, I don’t want to hear one way or another, I just can’t do this right now… I literally wanted to go home, crawl in my bed, pull the covers over my head and pretend none of this was happening.  We pulled into one of our Church’s parking lots and said a prayer in the car together and walked back into the Perinatal Center to get our results.

The doctor walked in and immediately said before she even sat down – everything looks good, we don’t see any neural tube defects present, the baby is healthy with 97% confidence.   I completely bursted into tears, relieved and clasped my hands saying to myself “Thank you GOD! Thank you GOD!”  The doctor explained that my AFP levels are high, higher than a usual high reading so she can’t shake it as a false-positive result, that there is an issue.  She said that when they can rule out the baby, they look at the placenta.  My placenta had no tumors present or any red flags but she said that basically she feels pretty certain that my placenta will eventually stop giving the baby the nutrients she needs and my baby’s growth will become restricted to the point where she likely will be a smaller baby and will result in an earlier delivery.  Again, this was just her perception of where my pregnancy was heading without any real results that proves 100% this will be my case.

I asked a lot of questions, one being if I should be checked out for why my levels are high that could be non-pregnancy related, maybe something is wrong with me and could solve my headache issue.  She got very direct with me and verbatim told me not to look past the ‘elephant in the room’ and said it’s your placenta, I’m telling you I’ve seen this enough to know that’s where this is heading.   She then harped on me for a good 40 minutes about eating healthy.  That is the only thing I can do at this time is to eat as healthy as I possibly can so that the baby is being delivered the best nutrients possible while my placenta is getting her what she needs.  My baby’s growth is on track today and she is getting her nutrients so make it count while I can, especially on making sure I get my protein intake in my diet.  She said that she has seen in a few instances this situation where pregnancies making it full term just by eating healthy.  Now eating healthy alone likely will not change my path but it will make a difference.   But she also did mention that I shouldn’t get so completely consumed by this that I don’t allow myself a treat every now and then but let’s make at least a 70% change in my diet.  Totally do-able!  That’s a 4.5 month sacrifice I can make and honestly I was aware I needed to eat healthier, I just needed a wake-up call to get my butt in gear, wish it could have been under other circumstances though…

We left with a plan, I would be seen bi-weekly, once by the Perinatal center, then by my normal ob-gyn, then at 32 weeks, I’ll be seen weekly and if the baby’s starts falling behind in growth, I’ll be then seen twice a week to monitor if early delivery is necessary.

When we left, I felt relieved and frequently thanked God for our answered prayer.  But I wasn’t leaving complete reassured, I felt like the doctor is expecting growth issues and the unknowns still rests heavy in my mind but my hope isn’t shattered.  God answered our prayers big time and He has never left our side. Ever. I went home that night and slept completely sound for the first time in weeks. 

Fast forward later that week, by Wednesday I started to feel like things felt more manageable.  Then on Friday I went in for my normal ob-gyn appointment and my doctor walks in and first said thank goodness for my results and we talked thru them.  But then she told me that my AFP isn’t just high, it’s off the charts high, like over 2x the level it should be and she was shocked by my results and really thought this was a neural tube defect.  We also talked about what’s to come and she said… ‘preparing for complications’ and ‘we have to watch for preclampsia.’  Ugh, the words I fear most!   I really like my doctor, I don’t think she was trying to scare the living daylights out of me but as my doctor, she wants to make sure we are on the same page and I know she is watching this pregnancy closely now.

Leaving that appointment, I was once again completely overwhelmed.  I told Aaron I was scared.  Like really, really scared and not ready for what may come.  I also told him I knew my levels were high but she just said that are ridiculously high and I just get the sense from my perinatal doctor and my ob doctor that they really foresee bumps starting in week 32.  Luckily Aaron is really good at handling this type of stuff and knows how to level me out when I start worrying like crazy.  Shortly after we left, I got this email from him:

Isaiah 41:10  fear not, for I am with you;  be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Love you very much!

What better husband and father could I ask for?!  Thank God I married a man of faith. 

That day, it really sunk in for me that we didn’t just have an answered prayer, we got a miracle.  What an emotional roller coaster, I had tears of joy/humbled by our miracle but yet tears of being terrified for the unknowns.  My levels are high and we don’t know why today that is.  I don’t want to worry, stress or fear what’s ahead but I have to be honest that I am scared.  But God’s plan prevails.  I put my full trust that God will carry us thru this.  I’m still prayerful and hopeful all will be okay.  I keep seeing this vision in my mind where next summer, I’m sitting on the couch and Annie is playing and Baby C (1^st initial!) is crawling on the floor and I’m healthy, Baby C is healthy, Annie is certainly more than healthy and being her ornery self and our family is complete and happy beyond anything we can ever imagine.  I can’t wait for that day  when this comes full circle and will never take those moments for granted, ever.

So forgive me for the long, mostly depressing blog post!  And forgive me if I’m not myself lately.  Forgive me if I forget to ask you how YOU are because I’m so focused in another thought.  Forgive me if I need to step away and lay down because I’m dealing with a headache.  Right now, I’m focusing on praying for Baby C throughout my day but then resuming back to my day.  I’m done and sick and tired of sitting between prayers consumed by worry.  This is Christmas week, the sin of worrying isn’t going to rob me from my family and friends and take my joy.  And how fitting that we are celebrating the BIRTH of our Savior?  A sweet baby born into this world to save us all.  Let us put our joy in the good news.  

If you are reading this though, can do you do us a favor?  Pray for us.  Pray for Baby C’s health, pray for my health.  Pray that I stay hopeful and faithful.  Pray that I have a completely normal full-term pregnancy and the doctors are dead wrong.   We’ve gotten a miracle and answered prayer in this journey so far, with God nothing is impossible.  Praise God for answered prayers!

“And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for” 1 John 5:14-15.  

We Are Having A Baby! We Are Having A Baby!

Big news in our house!  Our family is growing by 1 next year.  My official due date is May 6^th but our baby GIRL will be delivered in my 39^th week so really the birth date will be the last week of April.  And YES it’s a GIRL!  I’m in my 17^th week right now, darn near half done with this pregnancy.

This little squirt is sticking her tongue out when I wasn't looking, showing her true colors about not being an only child anymore.

So a little backstory, before we got married, Aaron told me he wanted 4 or 5 kids.  I laughed at him and told him he is with the wrong girl, I liked kids but never really had a motherly instinct that craved to really have any of my own.  My thought was, let my friends have kids and I can just love on them but I don’t have to be responsible for them.  At the time, I told him 2 would be my max.  Then years later, we got married.  We decided to hold off on kids and enjoy the married life.  Well married life got really comfortable, almost too comfortable to the point that I even questioned if I wanted kids at all still.  Once I turned 30, I just started to get set in my ways.  Aaron and I had (and still do!) a really close, strong marriage but we were also at that time very independent of each other.  He worked late or went to work functions in the evening, I worked out, met up with friends at my leisure, and every Wednesday evening I would go to Banana Republic and buy myself a new outfit.  Every.Single.Week!  Aaron and I had nice long meals at nicer restaurants every weekend, date nights were often and plentiful.  Yep, my life was pretty easy peasy, I did what I wanted, when I wanted and had tons of free time on my hands.  Why in the world would I ever trade that in for kids, I thought.  I’m happy and didn’t know the wiser.   Also during this time, Aaron’s opinion on kids changed as well, it all happened when we started vacationing; he loved vacations so much that he was fine with putting off having kids.  I know we sounded totally selfish, didn’t we?!  So we were.

Love how Annie is checking out her little sister here

Fast forward a few years and I realized I wasn’t getting younger and I would never be mentally ready for kids.  I mean, if we loved to vacation, how could we vacation in our retirement years if we still had kids in the house?  We probably needed to have kids soon so it wouldn’t interfere with our retirement {selfish talk again}.  I talked to Aaron and we decided we both felt that same way, we will never mentally be ready for kids so let’s just have one and see what happens.  And that’s just what we did.  And it happened so quickly that we kinda just looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders and thought well no turning back now.  Pregnancy was not as fun as I thought it would be but overall I was pretty healthy and so was Annie so no real complaints.   Then Annie arrived, the first 6 months were a blur and life changed substantially.  The biggest change was never realizing how independent Aaron and I lived our lives, if I needed to leave the house, someone needed to watch Annie.  Coming and going didn’t happen as freely as it did before baby.  Nice dinners out got traded for ordering to go and new outfits every Wednesday was more like buying baby clothes online, shopping for me was a distant thought.  Working out got pushed to the back burner and hanging out with friends just was a little further and fewer between.   And vacations?  Well we were still determined to vacation once in a while.

Once we got into our groove, Annie’s personality bubbled and this girl really stole our hearts.  Badly.  Our Annie is the light of our lives and without her, life was not nearly as full as I thought it was.  Yes I probably would have lived on a happy life, not knowing any different but I’m really, really glad we decided to take the plunge into parenthood.  I would never trade in my life today for my life in the past.  

Tell your Father how you really feel about Baby #2 Annie... 

Since our little Annie is a firecracker, Aaron is now easily convinced that 2 is enough for him.  I’m actually the one that has pressed the topic of 3 over the past year.  The tables have turned.   But 2 is our max.  I don’t know if Aaron and I are truly ready this soon for a second one but our desire is mainly for Annie to have a sibling and preferably one close in age.  So this year I told Aaron, let’s have another and he said okay let’s do this and sure enough, just as quickly as I got pregnant with Annie, so did I with baby #2. 

Not that it was any surprise then to find out I was pregnant with baby #2 but our reaction was far different.  With Annie, I took a test and we were happy but we were also like well no turning back now.  When I told Aaron he in a little awe shock too and then about an hour after I told him I was pregnant with Annie he kinda had a crisis and freaked out on me on finding a new job because I working for a bank that was getting sold and at that time, I didn’t care if I lost my job or not and now with baby on the way, my job situation changed dramatically.  With Baby #2, we walked thru our new house in the framing stage, I took him to Baby #2’s room and told him there and he actually teared up with joy.  I feel like baby #1 was kinda surreal all the time and baby #2 we are really appreciating the news more and it just feels like we are more genuinely joyous.  Don’t get me wrong, we were joyous with Annie but the whole unknowns and questioning if we were ready for parenthood had us a little on edge.  Well good news is, we are ready.  We’ve kept one alive, fed, breathing, beyond loved on, and spoiled for almost 2 years, pretty sure we can add another one to the mix successfully. 

The only thing I can’t fathom is how in the world am I going to share my love that I have for Annie with another one?!  I love her so incredibly much and can’t even imagine loving 2 kids as much as I love her.  Good news is… I do know our hearts will find space to love 2 kids equally as much as we love our one now.  Parenthood is truly amazing and I can’t believe we are blessed enough to be parents to 2 little girls.  My heart is SO incredibly full!  We are having another baby!  We are having another baby!  I can’t stop saying it!  

By the way, when we first saw this commercial, we died laughing, this is Aaron and I to a 'T'!  Never say Never!  Life's NEVER been sooo good with where we are today... 

18 Months Old

My little Annie Ashton (aka Bo-nanie, aka Sweets) is 18 MONTHS OLD, a whole 1.5 yrs!  As long as she is in diapers, she’s still my baby but let’s face it… she’s pretty much a full blown toddler and hardly a baby anymore.  I love each day and month she gets older, the older she gets, the quicker the time goes by too.  As strange as it sounds, I’m still looking forward to her getting older, although I love this age, I can’t wait until she can talk more and I can get inside her little mind and for all those funny little conversations we will have when driving home from daycare each day.  I think 2 will be a fun age with her.

As usual, nothing has change with our little fire cracker, she still feisty and a true handful!  I try not to compare her to others her age but its hard not to at times to notice how much more of a handful she is than others her age.  I love that demanding personality though; she’s really a force to be reckoned with but also a ball of happiness.  She’s the perfect combo of dynamite and joy all wrapped up in her 2 foot little self.

I hate to admit it, but we’ve kinda gone against the grain on one parenting aspect.  And it’s TV.  Aaron and I encourage her daily to watch TV, she is incredibly clingy and wants us right next to her at all times.  But when Clifford the Big Red Dog is on or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, it’s like nothing around her exists.  Honestly, Mickey and Clifford are our in home babysitters, it’s fantastic to turn that on and be able to make dinner without her leached onto my leg.  So maybe TV is frowned upon by other parents but we are all about it.  Lately though, we realize that we may push it too much on her, she now runs up to me with the remote, pointing at the TV not be satisfied until I turn on a cartoon for her.  I’m honestly not too worried about it, her TV time is really minimal when looking at her day as a whole; she spends all day at daycare burning energy and exploring and we still do plenty of playtime at home too.

So funny story on that subject, one day I come out to the living room to find Aaron with the remote and as seriously as he could be he goes, “I’m so mad right now.  I can’t find that episode where Donald builds a clubhouse, it’s my absolute favorite.”  I looked at him blankly and was like “Are you serious right now?!”  My word, we need some more adult interaction in our lives if we as parents are obsessing over our favorite Mickey Mouse episodes! 

Annie is really into puzzles right now.  Not jigsaw puzzles but the 10 piece ones to fit into the shapes.  She can whip a puzzle together in no time.  Even taking 5 puzzles and mixing all the pieces up and she can slap all 5 puzzles together simultaneously.  I love watching her little mind work as she holds onto a puzzle piece, searching all 5 puzzles for the right spot.  It’s really incredible to me. 

She still loves books and we spend about 30 min every night reading in her room.  It used to drive me nuts when she would flip a page on me when reading to her and I would fight her on it, insisting that we have to finish each page before we could move on.  And if she got up and left me, I would have to sit and finish the kid book by myself because my OCD couldn’t handle leaving a book unfinished.   I’m totally over that now and can rehearse books from memory while Annie flips thru the pages.  I love that she can sit and read with me for a half hour every night, completely enthralled in it. 

Annie still isn’t into toys much.  She likes legos and her play kitchen but the only things she likes about her play kitchen is opening all the doors and finding play food inside and rearranging it.  She’s really into organizing and actually does a really good job of picking up her toys and books for me.  I feel like she’s my little mini-me when it comes to that type of stuff. 

Annie still isn’t talking much, she knows and understands a lot of what we are saying.  There is still the Mamas, Dadas, water, hi, ya for yes, uh-oh, up, and lots of animal noises but not saying the names of the animals, head shaking no or yes, and using baby sign language still to tell us please, thank you and more.  When I ask her where Charley is, she points to the dog, when I ask her where is Annie, she points to herself, she definitely knows who everyone is and probably comprehends even more than we realize.  She certainly babbles a lot and even reads books to herself out loud, I’m not worried about her lack of vocabulary yet, she’ll get there soon enough. 

She is still an incredibly finicky eater.  There have been weeks where life has been so chaotic with all the house stuff that my bad parenting has allowed her to live on hot dogs for a week because they are her favorite food and it’s the one thing I don’t have to fight her on to get her to eat.  I’ve even worried about how I may be potentially setting her up for a career in the 4^th of July televised hot dog eating contest, good gravy please Annie don’t ever be one of those people that shove 64 hot dogs in their mouth in 10 minutes, that would not be a proud moment for me!   

What I love about this age is that even though she fights us on stuff and gets upset when she doesn’t get her way, she still runs to us for a hug during those tears.  I’ve told Aaron that this won’t last for long and we need to cherish those little comforting tear-filled hugs because soon enough she will be kicking/hitting us, rebelling and running from us, saying who knows what when we don’t let her get her way.  Aaron is way better at not giving in to her than I am.  I may be more of the spoiler and give-in to her every request where Aaron is better at standing firm saying no you cannot have a 6^th hog dog, eat your veggies while she wails because she can’t finish the entire package of Oscar Myer hot dogs in one sitting.  #Thestruggleisreal.

She also seems to have an opinion awful early on what she wears.  If it has a dog on it, she won’t fight me.  (It’s the only clothes I let her wear with animals is the ones with dogs on them, outside of her PJs).  If I try to put her in plaid or stripes, she screams and yells.  It’s like how is she so opinionated in her clothing already?!  This isn’t good…  I find her a lot of times in her room and she is going thru her clothes, putting on several pairs of PJs on over each other.  She’s especially obsessed with shoes, kinda like her Father is.  She seems to already be a little fashionista and voices when she doesn’t like my outfit selection for her. 

Dog on shirt approval

2 shirts/2 pants, this girl loves to make her own style

Our little Annie is really something.  I just love her to pieces!  That little demanding personality is really something but it’s what makes her Annie and her smile melts my heart every single time.  Happy 18 months Bo-naners!   Mama and Dada are over the moon for you, every single night we tell each other how lucky we are and how special you are to us! 

Good-Bye To Our First House

And just like that, we are no longer owners of our home and are now renters.  Let me tell you how we got to this point…

The Deciding Point

In January, Aaron and I were contemplating if it was the right time to upgrade to more space.  We love our cozy first house but it was obvious we were running out of space and I’m not even someone who collects clutter.

We went to quite a few open houses to get a feel for what we liked/didn’t like as we really didn’t have an exact idea of what we were even looking for.  Quickly, it was realized our budget needed to be up’d to get what we wanted; it’s amazing how many homes are outdated so we up’d our budget and narrowed our search to new builts.  After walking thru many 2-stories and ranches, we really loved the feel of a ranch.  We currently live in a split-level but it’s basically just a ‘raised’ ranch and I do like having everything on one level.  We also loved how much space the ranch basements have over the 2 stories.  We then started narrowing our search to ranches specifically.  This dragged on for months. 

Meanwhile, Back At the Ranch…

During this time, I started to notice how unsafe our current house was becoming for a toddler.  We have large windows in our living room that start at about 6 inches off the floor and span the height of the wall, which I’ve always loved because they bring in some amazing natural light but they are so low, Annie has a tendency to run full speed right into them and it scares me to death at the thought of her flying thru a window and falling a ½ a story down.  Not only that, but we can’t open those windows like we use to because having just the screen is even more dangerous. 

Another danger I just can’t really baby proof is the ledge over our stairs that overlook our entry way.  Annie likes to climb on the couch and then tries to climb up on that ledge at times.  Terrifying to think of her falling over the top of those and again, basically down a ½ story flight of stairs.  Our living room isn’t big enough to really better shuffle our furniture around to prevent this, regardless, some piece of furniture will be on that wall in which she can climb up there.  Totally unsafe.

Our deck is a very nice 400 square feet 2 level deck.  The 2 steps down to the lower part of the deck is just a nuisance!  The 2 steps span 20 feet across the entire deck so I can’t really baby proof it.  Annie has actually gotten better about not flying off those 2 stairs but she still does on occasion.  One of our requirements when looking for a new house is to have a flat lot so we don’t even have to have a deck, a patio is a must have!   Our deck looks terrible constantly; the work needed to maintain our cherry red deck has been a nightmare.

Another downfall to our current house is all the bedrooms are clustered in the back of the house.  Charley is notorious for making a bunch of racket in the middle of the night, which wakes up Annie.  Or just us even getting ready for bed sometimes wakes her up, we need more separation between the bedrooms in the house.  In the house we will be moving to, the kid’s rooms are on the opposite side of the house as the Master will be on.  There are downfalls to having them spaced that far apart but in my opinion there are more pros than cons.

The Unfindable Perfect House

In late April, we were tired of searching for our house over the last 4 months, it just wasn’t out there.  Everything we walked thru that was almost perfect there would have one thing about it that would make it a deal breaker for us.  The house for us that was nearly perfect we got to talking to the home builder and thought what the heck, let’s build!  We aren’t in any hurry to move, we have the time to do it and we will get all those design aspects that we want.  So we signed the papers, picked a lot out in Waukee (which is about 10 minutes west from where we are now) and started the process!

Showings, Showings, and More Showings!

Once the framing started to go up, we decided it’s time to sell our current house.  Lots of decluttering and moving stuff to a storage unit was necessary.  We made a few home improvements but mostly just did a lot of staging with our current furniture.  We put it on the market and had a full week of showings.  What a pain to try to keep a house spick and span, put Charley in daycare every day and a lot of eating out in the evenings since we couldn’t be home during the showings.  We even got kicked off of a restaurant patio for having our dog with us.  Finally on the following Sunday, we got 2 offers in!  One of the offers was more enticing as they would let us stay in our house until ours would be ready, so essentially letting us stay the extra month that we needed.  I liked the idea of not having to move twice but we countered both and luckily the renter option was the accepted offer. 

After a bit of a stressful inspection with some additional negotiating, we finally closed on our house this Friday.  I couldn’t be happier about being homeless right now (well… renters)!   And now for all the packing; trying to pack with a clingy toddler is practically impossible.  Aaron and I have been trading off weekends taking her back to the Grandparent’s so that one of us can stay behind and pack.  It has been an efficient solution and actually kinda nice to wake up to a quiet house and eat my breakfast without little hands all over my plate. 

Bittersweet Ending

I do love my current house and it’s filled of great memories.  It was our first house, we moved into it just a week prior to our wedding.  We’ve had lots of dinner parties and good times here.  We did a bathroom and laundry room renovation that made us realize we never ever want a fixer upper.  We brought our fur baby home here.   We crafted a beautiful nursery here to bring our baby girl home to.  We watched Annie take her first steps here and giggle thru the halls.  As happy as we are to be moving on, it’s still a bittersweet moment.  

I’ll fill you in on the new house, for right now we are just focusing on one step at a time.  It’s been a process, starting this in January and 10 months later we should finally be in our new home!   Wish us luck in the moving process!  

Our First House...

My Skin Care Regimen Review

I thought I would take a moment and share my skin care regimen with you (hyper-linked for your convenience).  I don’t know about you, but I am always very interested in what other people use and like.  I’ve always been a gal that is really into her products for as long as I can remember!

 

I’ve always been a firm believer in washing my face in the morning and at night and using a good face cream, I rarely have skipped that daily routine in my past 20 years.  On the other hand, I’ve not always been good about anti-aging care and using sunscreen but this year I started slathering on the sunscreen more than ever before.   If you noticed, in my last post about Lush products, I didn’t review a lot of face care products because I’m very picky as to what I use on my face.

 

In my teens and 20s, I was kind of all over the place and not very committed to one face wash or cream.  I would use one for a year or so then switch.  I’ve always loved Neutrogena products and still use Neutrogena face wash several times a week.   6ish years ago, we got an Ulta here in Des Moines, for a product-lover like myself; this sure is a dreamy store!  I have spent countless hours browsing and it’s where I really started upping my game in my skin care regimen.  I actually was on a search for a neck cream.  I was starting to get the infamous leathered chest look from tanning too much that Aaron absolutely despises.  He was the one that named it the ‘leathery chest’ look, not me.   I was just starting to barely get one and was a little paranoid so I explained to an Ulta employee that I need the BEST chest cream they have because this was my first signs of aging I’ve ever had.   She took me over to the Exuviance products, which was a total life changing moment.

   

The Exuviance toning neck cream did the trick!  I was really impressed how the fine lines just went away and my skin brighter and healthier as well as how quickly it worked.  I immediately went back to Ulta to buy more Exuviance products.

 

Wanting to keep it simple, the next product I checked out was their basic daily face cream, which was the Sheer Refining Day Fluid.  Again, I really liked it.  It seemed to really hydrate my skin and yet was lightweight and matched well with my make-up.   It was never greasy nor made my skin breakout, although it wasn’t designed specifically for anti-aging, did it have everything I was looking for in a basic face cream.  I don’t use it daily anymore but do use it on occasion, more so after or before a workout.

The reason I don’t use the Sheer Refining Day Fluid anymore is because I started to try their Anti-Aging products and really loved them better.   I’ve been using the Anti-Reverse Day Repair in the morning and the Anti-Reverse Night Lift in the evening.   Highly recommend them!

The most impressive product of all that I have tried is their eye cream.   I was definitely starting to get a lot of fine lines in the corner of my eyes and decided to try the eye cream.  I kept very close tabs on the progress and was astonished by how this eye cream cleared up those lines!   Great, great product! 

I have tried other Exuviance products, I’ve liked all of them I’ve tried and there are many more I haven’t even tried yet.   The Dermatologists that created these products really did a phenomenal job.

Now, switching gears…. A few months ago I was invited to a Rodan+Fields party.  My friend who invited me had been raving about how much she loves their products on Facebook and I’ve always thought she has awesome skin and is a few years older than me.  When she invited me to the party (and enticed me with wine) I was definitely a sucker for it. I knew little about the products other than they were created by the same dermatologists that created Pro-Active.

All their products were a little overwhelming for me as I wanted to try all of them and was very curious.  I started out with the Redefine kit.  What I really liked about Exuviance is that it didn’t ever seem expensive to me because I just bought each product individually when I needed it.   You can do that too with Rodan+Fields but they emphasized, like all products do, that you really need to use the kits to see the full benefits and so given that I wanted to give this a good shot, I bought the $200 kit.   I’ve been using it for a few months and here’s what I think…

The products smell amazing, very spa like!  I love how the cleaner does a great job of cleaning my face and has gentle exfoliating beads and acts as a daily mask.  The toner helps my skin feel extra clean and I don’t generally use a toner but now definitely will be part of my daily routine no matter what skin care products I’m using.  The morning and night cream, well they are just okay.  They pair well with my make-up and seem to be just as good as Exuviance.   Overall I think it is a really good product and if I wasn’t already using a very comparable product, I would probably be blown away by it.  I have heard a lot of raves about the eye cream, it was sold out during the party (and still is) so I do plan on trying that product.  What I love most about the product over Exuivance is the smell.  And I’ll probably still continue to use the face wash, it really is a favorite of mine; but as for buying another full kit when I run out… I probably will not.  I have nothing bad to say about it and I’m seeing the popularity of this brand grow more and more so I know people really love it. 

One thing I’m still stumped on is that at the Rodan+Fields party, they stressed that the kit should last 60 days and if it is lasting longer than 60 days, then I’m likely not using enough of the product to see the right results.  My Exuivance lasts normally 5-6 months, replenishing more frequently sounded expensive to me.  I’m at 90 days on my R+F kit and I still have plenty to use and I’m not being ‘chinsey’ in my applications, in fact I’ve been more subconscious now to use a generous amount each time.  I think replenishing every 120 days is probably a more accurate statement in my opinion.  This girl at the party (who seemed a little coo-coo or maybe had too much wine) tried to tell me she has a huge face and likely would go thru it that often.  Um… her face looked normal-sized to me.  #Weird.

Being a Financial Consultant for a living, I need to talk how much because good skin care gets expensive!  Given that I can get my Exuiviance products for 20% off when I stock up during coupon time that brings the total to $239 for the wash/toner/creams(face, night, eye).  Rodan+Fields Redefine Kit + Night Cream totals $253.  Comparable products, comparable prices, really!

If you aren’t invested in a really good skincare product, you really need to be!  I’m a total product freak so it’s easy for me to say.  Whenever I travel anywhere, I always have a separate bag of just product that is like the size of a small carry-on (and this is excluding my make-up).  Imagine me in the TSA line trying to use a small zip lock baggie to cram as many of my products in as I can, it’s ludicrous! 

Lush Product Review

Earlier this year, Des Moines got a Lush Cosmetics store here in Des Moines.  I was somewhat familiar with this store, as I would walk right past one in Chicago every year and it was a store front that would catch my eye.  I was intrigued but from the outside looking in, it just appeared to be a soap store and given soap shopping wasn’t high on my list of dos while in the big city, I always kept walking right on by.  To my surprise, it’s totally not just a soap store!  They actually have really cool cosmetics that are unique and different and I’ve been enjoying trying out their products, here are some of my latest (unbiased) reviews on what I’ve tried so far, I’ve hyperlinked the names for your convenience.

No Drought Dry Shampoo                                                                                                                      I know I’ve talked about this product before on my blog, but this is my favorite Lush product by far! This dry shampoo is unlike any I’ve ever tried as it’s a powder formula, not an aerosol and I think that in itself is what makes this dry shampoo better than others.  It really absorbs the oils and leaves my hair feeling very clean and fresh.  It even adds a bit of volume without too much of that grimy, gritty feeling some dry shampoos can leave behind.  The only downfall is the application isn’t well thought out.  The only thing I can think of that may make the application of the powder better would be to transfer it to a salt or pepper shaker.  I haven’t tried that yet but am planning to give it a whirl.  It’s a bit challenging to evenly distribute it in my hair.  I usually start around my roots by shaking it in.  Then I take my hair brush and literally scrub it in back and forth.  Then I apply some directly onto my hair brush and pull it root to end.  I use a lot in one application but would suggest only buying the smallest size of this product.  It really goes a long, long way, even given how much I use per day.  Lately, I’ve been going 3 days between washes, and this stuff is the reason why I can get away with that.  Love it!  Best. Stuff. Ever!

BIG Shampoo

This was the second product I ever tried from Lush and again, love it!  It’s a shampoo made from sea salt and lime juice and it smells ah-mazing!  It really lathers well too, you’ll feel like you are in a shampoo commercial.  This product boasts about giving hair lots of volume and I must say, it really does!  I was very impressed as I’ve tried many of volumizing shampoos just to feel dissatisfied.  It also cleans my hair amazingly, like squeaky clean.  If you are looking to extend between shampoos, this one will accomplish that for sure.  I’m skeptical of the ingredients though… it specifically says on the bottle that the sea salt will not dry out your hair and it specifically says it does not strip away natural oils but with the way it makes my hair so clean and what I’ve read about sea salt, I’m just not so sure I believe it.  I actually get a professional smoothing treatment done every 6 months and I’m not supposed to be using anything with sea salt as it ruins the treatment I get.  I use this product more so for special occasions, I really love it and want to use it all the time but I’m just not so sure about the ingredients and the long term effects it could have on my hair. 

Blousey Shampoo

One thing you should know about Lush is that they will give you a free sample of any product that you can take home for FREE and try.  Score!  The samples I find generally get you 2 applications, which is nice to give you an idea if you like it or not.  I sampled Blousey as it was recommended to me by a Lush employee.  This shampoo is very interesting.  It has zero lather.  In fact, it kinda feels as if I’m putting lotion in my hair and not shampoo.  I really thought I wouldn’t like it but when I blow dried my hair I was impressed with the fact that I had more volume than I was expecting and it left my hair feeling very clean but not that over the top squeaky clean feeling.  This product is mostly made up of mashed up bananas, strange stuff but somehow it’s a winner!  I’d recommend it. 

Daddy-O Shampoo

I’m a dark blonde.  Not really loving my color lately but I don’t want to go back to being too blonde and have all the extra maintenance but feel like I still need highlights to keep me from looking dull.  The problem is being the dark blonde color I have, as the highlights wear, I start to look brassy.  And I really don’t like that either.  Daddy-O is a purple shampoo meant to reverse the effects of brassy color for bottle blondes.  This product may be my least favorite Lush product.  I was really hoping for a home run and I think it’s a dud.  It’s a mediocre shampoo that I don’t think did anything helpful for my highlights.  Unfortunately I do not recommend buying this one.  It does no harm but personally did not find that it really worked.

Veganese Conditioner

 I don’t know what to think about this stuff.  At first I matched it with the Daddy-O and was not impressed with either.  Then I matched it with the Blousey and thought it paired well with it.  Then I decided to try it completely on its own so I wouldn’t have the bias of the other Lush shampoos and at that point in time, I just still couldn’t make up my mind.  Given that, I would just say it’s okay.  I’m really not a fan of the smell of it.  I can’t quite pinpoint why I don’t care for the smell but I just don’t.   My hunch is telling me I wouldn’t recommend this conditioner given its likely mediocrity.  The reason I bought it is because of its light weight conditioning description, it is very light weight so I would say that is a true statement for the product.

Roots, Hair Treatment

This stuff is interesting.  It’s a 15 minute treatment you use before shampooing to help add shine and volume.  At first I paired it with Blousey and loved it.  Then I did the unbiased approach and used it on its own, again I liked it but not as much as when I used it with Blousey.  I liked the smell and the way it did coat my hair but the verdict is out on this one.  The potential pro about this product is I feel like you can maybe skip the conditioner when using this first, although I tried this as a sample so I haven’t used it enough to know for sure. 

Ocean Salt, Body Salt Scrub

I bought this intending to use on my face and it’s composed of sea salt and vodka.  At first use, I thought it was way to abrasive for my face, the salts felt rougher than a normal exfoliating product.  The second time I used it (on my face again), I liked it more.  I don’t use it daily, more like for a weekly or bi-weekly exfoliation.  And it taste good too, just like a margarita, ha!  I do like this product but it did have to grow on me as at first I was little turned off by the rough texture but it does give me a little glow and a very clean feeling.  Again, I’m careful about this one and the usage, using sea salt on my face may not be a good idea in the long run for stripping natural oils your skin needs.

Ayesha, Fresh Food Face Mask (not sure if still an available product)

This stuff is interesting.  It requires refrigeration as it’s made from fresh kiwi and asparagus.  The first time I used it, it was really refreshing as it’s obviously a cool mask.  It felt a little weird on as I’m use to using masks that tighten the skin where this one I didn’t get that tightening effect.  But when I washed it off, my face was super soft!   I like the cooling component for the summer but think this one is more ideal for the winter when my skin gets super dry. I think this mask is best to use when you don’t plan on putting make-up on, since it is so moisturizing.  I wore make-up and it didn’t necessarily feel slimey or greasy but my face definitely felt different and I liked it better when I used it on my lighter make-up days.  The only downside is, the product is only good for I think it was 2 weeks, given the fresh ingredients, it does have a very short shelf life.  But it’s pretty cheap, I think it was $6.  I would recommend this product and I do hope to try it again in the winter months.

Curious But Haven’t Tried…

Anyone ever tried Lush’s shampoo bars?  It’s a very interesting concept to me.  I shampoo bar that looks just like a soap bar but it’s really shampoo.  I’m going to try one but haven’t decided which one yet!

They also have a men’s skincare line.  I am married to a man that does put on my grocery list from time to time “night face cream” or “face cream for fine lines.”  Aaron can be a total ‘girl’ when it comes to face creams.  I love him for it though.  I haven’t yet tapped into the Men’s Lush line but would like to get Aaron to try some and see what he thinks.   

SLS’s.. Why do you have to go and ruin a good thing, Lush… WHY?!

One thing that I really dislike is just about every product has sodium laureth sulfate (SLS) in them, which long story short its basically a detergent.  It s what make their products feel super clean but SLS’s do have a bad rap.  When I started to look at Lush products I noticed sulfate in their list of ingredients right away and it’s made me leery to even try them.  Although most shampoos do have sulfates in them, I had been making a conscious effort the last several years to buy sulfate-free shampoos.  I would be a 100% user of Lush if they would take that ingredient out of their products but not sure how soon that will be, in fact when I Googled ‘sodium laureth sulfate Lush’ it took me right back to their website and found it interesting that they actually address it here in this link, the last sentence remarks how they are working to replace that ingredient… but they just not there yet:

https://www.lush.co.uk/article/dont-stress-about-sls

You can decide for yourself on your stance on SLS’s but my overall opinion is Lush I pretty awesome and I have been loving some of the products enough to make it worth sharing my reviews with you!    

A Weekend of Life Lessons {Learning the Hard Way}

Last weekend, we decided to put our house on the market (which is blog post on its own soon).  Given there was a lot to do around the house, we decided it may be best for Annie and I to visit my family back in my hometown and leave Aaron to get some things done, because frankly, trying to get anything done on the weekend and keep a tidy house with Annie there is nearly impossible.

  

This would be the first time Annie and I would be traveling without Aaron and so I needed to learn to put up the Pack N Play for Annie to sleep in.  Thursday night, I spent about an hour trying to put it up and take it down.  Who knew that darn thing could be so difficult?!  Aaron kept showing me how to do it and each time I couldn’t get it to pop into place or I could get it all broke down but one side.  I was a little concerned how it would go over the weekend trying to put it up and down myself but come to find out, that little life lesson was the least of my troubles.

  

We left Friday night near Annie’s bedtime so that she could just fall asleep in the car as it’s still disastrous traveling in the car with her, she hates car rides and usually cries all the way thru them but when we plan it around her sleep schedule, she usually falls asleep fine in the car.  As I was hoping, she fell asleep on the way there.  When we were about 30 minutes outside of town, my gas light came on.  Darn it!  Life lesson #2, pay more attention before leaving at how much gas I have left.  Aaron always fills up my tank on Sundays and given it was a Friday, I was almost empty.  I’ve become way too reliant on him filling my car up that I rarely put gas in myself so it’s something I just don’t pay much attention to.

 

I debated if I’ll make it to Fairfield or not but decided that being as late as it was and traveling with Annie, it would be really bad if I ran out of gas.  So I pulled over at the next gas station and I was hurrying as fast as I could, I didn’t want to wake Annie so I grabbed the pump, slide my credit card and stopped at $20 thinking that would do for now.   I kept peaking in on her as I was antsy for my receipt that never printed.  Annoyed now that I have no idea if I actually paid for my gas or not, I had to go into the station so I ran in quickly, found out that I choose a pump that the card reader wasn’t working (of course I did) and hurried back out back to my car.  Nothing like leaving your sleeping baby in the car all by herself, terrified a cop would pull up and arrest me for bad parenting!

Back on the road, we were set, we were only 20ish minutes outside of town and Annie was still fast asleep.  About 5 minutes of being back on the road, my car started to make this catching/pull that I could feel ever so slightly.  I thought, hmmm that’s strange.  And then as we get closer, it kept happening more frequently and I knew something wasn’t right.  As we are only miles outside of town, my car completely lost power and I am barely moving on the highway.  I pull off to the shoulder, with my foot all the way on the gas, going about 10 miles per hour.  I barely make it to my Grandparent’s place and my Grandpa is standing outside waiting for me.  I get out of the car and tell him something is seriously wrong with my car and that I think I put bad gas in it.

 

I hurry, grab the Pack N Play, get it set up with little issues, get Annie transferred then grab my gas receipt and called the gas station to ask what kind of gas is the $2.59/gal.  Clerk’s response: DIESEL.   My response: OH S@$T!  Yes folks, I put $20 worth of diesel in my VW Tiguan.  It’s getting late, there is nothing I can do about it at this point.  I call my Dad and call Aaron, there responses were practically identical “You did WHAT?!”  Yep, I sure did.

Saturday morning rolls around, I call every mechanic in Fairfield and it’s just my luck that there is not one open shop in town on the weekends.  Are you kidding me?!  Not a one.  So Grandpa and I run out to try to problem solve this situation ourselves.  We purchase a small gas can and fill it up with premium gas in hopes of diluting the diesel.  Came back and ended up with half the gas on the garage floor, half in my car’s tank.  What freaking mess trying to get it to pour right, cheap Wal-Mart gas can!  My car won’t even start.  After a good hour of problem solving in 90 degree heat with a garage that has a strong smell of gas fumes, we give up. 

After grabbing a quick lunch, I told my Grandpa that we have to figure out how to get the car seat out of my car and into theirs.  Next life lesson: installing a car seat.  Well more like life lesson on how to uninstall first.  We watched numerous YouTube videos, we called Aaron and he tried to talk us thru it on speaker phone, 30+ minutes later we got it out.  Then to install took FOREVER!  We thought we had it in right then I gave it a tug and it literally pushed completely over on its side, obviously not strapped down correctly.   Then when we decided to go with the seat belt method and during all this we messed with Annie’s straps and then had the seat’s harness straps too tight and couldn’t figure out how to loosen them.  90 degree day, no breeze, gas fumes are strong, working in a hot car.  Both my Grandpa and I were a mess!  2 hours later, we had a car seat installed.  By this point my Mom was super impatient and dying to see Annie so I wiped my face off with a cold wash cloth, hurried to get Annie ready to go, loaded up and headed out to my parents. 

Exhausted, we arrived and I was making phone calls to get my car towed.  90 minutes later, I finally had my car towed.   Too many life lessons were learned that weekend but I am beyond thankful that we made it to my hometown safely and Annie and were not stranded in the middle of the country.  As well as the fact that my car was totally fixable and actually didn’t cost me that much and we were able to drive back down Monday to get it.  Life lessons can be learned the hard way, and the hard way I certainly did learn!  In a weekend’s time, I can now set up/take down a Pack N Play (don’t laugh, that’s a big feat for me!), install a car seat and know to pay attention at the gas pump.   Good grief! 

4th of July in Kansas City

Hope everyone had a great 4^th of July!  We went to Kansas City for the weekend, as we have the past few years for the 4^th and hung out at the Country Club Plaza.  We had a pretty low key 4^th overall on the Plaza so rather than go into great detail, I’ll just hit on a few fun things we did and share some great pics I got of Annie. 

One of the highlights was doing a picnic in the park, there are a lot of great restaurants on the Plaza but we were kinda boring and ordered room service and ate at the hotel quite a bit of this trip but we did do a picnic, taking out food from Chuy’s, which was a really yummy Mexican restaurant.  The food was really good, fresh and not greasy at all.  Annie loved her cheese quesadilla and gobbled it down in-between pointing at all the dogs in the park.  She’s become quite the pointer when something catches her eye.  She also really enjoyed the big fountain in the park and in true toddler fashion, threw her sippy cup into the fountain for me to fish out.  I should have seen that coming…

Lunch in the park

Loved this fountain!

Blowing bubbles with Dad

Another highlight was just walking around the toy store Zoom on the Plaza.  What a fun toy store!  Tons of toys and has a great wide variety.  We wanted to hit the toy store upon arrival so that we could pick out a toy to keep Annie occupied at the hotel.  When it comes to toys, I’ve become particular because she doesn’t play with a lot of her toys she has now and we have limited room to be adding more to the pile at home and I prefer toys that are more developmental and will provide interest because she does seem to get bored with basic toys.  We spent literally an hour trying to see what she liked/didn’t like.  We finally decided on a toy called Stack N’ Sort because our little Annie is quite the sorter.  It was a toy that has a bunch of cups that could nest together, or turn upside down and stack over 2 feet high and it came with a bucket, perfect for her obsession with collecting items in buckets.  And it was perfect for the pool too.  It was a win/win and a hit at the hotel, probably the best decision we made during the entire trip!

Another highlight was the time spent at the pool.  We stayed on the InterContinental.  This hotel has an awesome pool scene.  Live music, a pool bar, it’s always packed and lively and the best part is it has 2 separate pools, one that is only a little over a foot deep, the perfect wading pool for Annie’s size.  And my word, she loved it!  Giggles and smiles galore, I got tons of great pictures of her at the pool.  I didn’t get any pictures at the 2^nd day at the pool but she had a blast both days. 

See what I mean?  Perfect Annie size pool!  This entire pool is this deep, never gets deeper. 

Ready for the pool Mom! 

We debated on whether we would watch fireworks or not.  We decided it wasn’t worth the fight of keeping Annie up and since there are no fireworks on the Plaza, we would have to load up and drive to go see them, we do have the perfect spot in KC to watch fireworks, it’s at the Liberty Memorial, there are no fireworks at this location but it’s a high point in the city and you can literally watch 10+ displays going on at the same time, we stumbled upon it a few years ago and it’s basically the only reason we go to KC specifically on the 4^th now.  I really missed that we couldn’t get to do that this year.  We ended up just watching the New York ones on TV and falling asleep at the hotel before KC fireworks would have even kicked off. 

Wish I wasn't waving at the camera, darn could have been a great picture! 

Pointing at something interesting I'm sure

Checking things out 

We did a little shopping but not a ton, I got my Potbelly’s milkshake on both days (mmmm!) and hung out at the hotel quite a bit; it was a low key trip overall, next year hopefully we can see some fireworks but I’m sure of one thing, Annie really enjoyed her little vacation!