Jack is 4

What a wonderful birthday weekend Jack had.  His Aunt Maggie and Uncle Tim came to visit Friday for a visit to KC zoo.  We packed a picnic lunch, saw our favorite animals, and got to see our the new polar bear!  It was a nice outing and so much fun for Jack to spend some time with his aunt and uncle that he doesn't get to see very often. 

Jack and his aunt and uncle:

Saturday we had a busy day.  We woke up bright and early to freeze sit at the Snake Saturday parade in North KC.  It was fun and family friendly.  Jack wore a green mustache and we ate way too many of grandma's shamrock cookies and fried foods.  Oh well, you only live once, right?! 

We love green:

That afternoon we got to attend Jack's friend Anthony's 3rd birthday party. Jack and Anthony are the same age for 1 day every year.  It was a lot of fun and Spiderman even came for a visit.

Jack and Spidey:

Sunday, St. Patrick's day, we had our traditional green pancakes for breakfast and we went to church together as a family, enjoyed lunch at Smokehouse, per tradition, with Reid's family.  My brother Ben and his girlfriend Angela came along with us.  Jack was spoiled with gifts, but had so much fun.  And that was jus the start of it. 

Green pancakes:

Our family:

We headed over to Fun Run for his birthday party complete with Star Wars cupcakes and light sabers made out of pool noodles.  I think he had a blast.  This was the first year we invited all the boys from his class at school and it was fun to see them interact outside of the classroom.  Man, who knew 3-4 year olds had that much energy stored up!  I do NOT remember running around like that...EVER!

 Cupcakes:

Jack and his buddies:

The awesome light sabers:

I think Jack had a pretty fantastic weekend and is a little overwhelmed at the generosity of everyone.  His favorite thing he opened was a simple (but not so simple) birthday card.  Aunt Sarah gave him a Yoda card that actually has a light saber that lights up and plays music.   I think he wanted to take it to bed with him to cuddle with.  :)  It's the simple things in life...
We can't believe we have a 4 year old.  Time seriously flies and it isn't slowing down!  I keep thinking that "oh next month will be quieter" but that is not the case.  Every day Jack does something or says something that makes us say..."who is this young boy and where did he come from?"  He is such a bright, happy, and fun kid.  We're excited for 4 and all the fun things that come along with it.  We feel so very blessed.

 Our happy little 4 year old:

Until next time...

Bubbles?

Another funny for the books...
Reid took Jack to the bathroom at a restaurant the other day and Jack looked up and said, "What are the bubbles by my penis?"  Reid said, "Those are your testicles."  Jack said calmly, "Oh I like testicles!" 
Bahahaha....I was rolling.  This is yet another reason why I'll let my hubs handle bathroom duty until we have a girl. 
Until next time...

Consistency

Today we had Jack's 4 year check up (holy cow he's gonna be 4!).  He got a clean bill of health and is right on track compared to the last two year. 
4 years old stats:
Height: 43.75 inches = 98th percentile.  The doctor told him that in a room of 100, 4 year old boys, only 5 would be taller than him.  He said, "Whoa...I'm tall!".  Haha!
Weight: 44.4 pounds = 95 percentile. 
From age 2-3 he had gained 6 pounds and grew 4 inches.  From age 3-4, whaddya know, he gained 6 pounds and grew 4 inches!  I'd say that's a pretty consistent kid. 

We've got lots of fun things planned for the weekend...fun birthday updates to follow. 
Until next time...

Thoughts for Thursday

Well, looky here...It's been a crazy long time since I blogged.  I say this every time- It's just proof that life is busy!  I think working nights has been a main reason that things like my blog getting forgotten or pushed aside.  I don't want to do anything on my days off.  For example, it's Thursday today...I work last Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, had a church thing Saturday, worked Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights.  Not to mention the fact that it snowed so much during that timespan that I shacked up at hotel Truman (my hospital) Tuesday day to sleep, which might have been equivalent to not sleeping at all.  Then yesterday (Wed-- are you following me here??) I had to be mom all day, ergo not sleeping much, since Jack was out of school and Reid obviously worked.  So today, I don't want to do a darn thing.  Thankfully I don't have to go back until possibly Sunday (I'm on call).  I'm going to enjoy every minute of this 4 day break.  It really helps recharge my batteries when I get a nice break.  Despite the long hours, life is really good.  It's a wonderful thing to step back, look at things and just be able to smile and truly be happy. 
Let's try to recap the last couple of months...
November-  We got to take a quick family trip to STL in November.  Our friends the Beasley's and Carpenter's went too.  We planned to convene in STL because our girlfriend Christina had a new little girl, KayBella and we needed to meet her.  Sam came down from Minnesota and it was a blast to hang out with our families/friends.  We went to STL zoo, ate some good food, and spent a day at the Magic House.  The kids had a blast and it was awesome to spend some quality time with some of my girlfriends. 

December-  Christmas time is my favorite time of year.  This year did not disappoint.  Typically we spend time in KC with Reid's side of the family and then we make a trip to Hastings with my family.  Since my brother Ben is in medical school rotations, his flexibility is slim.  He was in the middle of a surgery rotation and had to be on call basically the whole month.  So, instead of travelling to Hastings, the crew came to KC the weekend before Christmas.  We hosted at our place and spent time playing games, eating good treats, and just having some good quality time together.  We tried to replicate our normal Christmas Eve/Christmas Day routine.  We went to church Saturday night, out to dinner (it was no Chinese like we usually do on Christmas Eve, but Buffalo Wild Wings did not disappoint), and then presents on "Christmas" morning.  As we get older and we all hit "adulthood" it's becoming increasingly fun for us to all hang out together.  We're all on an "even playing field" and honestly I love seeing the young adults my siblings are becoming.  I can't help but think how proud my parents probably are...they have some great kids. 

Grandma Ginny and Ye-ye with Jack:

Our time with the Kirby/Calvert/Phillips family was not easy to manage this year either.  Reid's brother, sister-in-law, and myself all work as night RN's, and of course this year, our schedules were all different.  Thankfully it worked out for us to spend the Saturday after Christmas, the whole day, together.  It wasn't the "normal Christmas celebration" but at this point, we're happy when we can all be together.  Our families are growing and it's pretty awesome to be part of not only one, but 2 amazing families.  I'm feel blessed. 

Jack got mustaches for Christmas from the Calvert's:

January- Honestly, January flew...I don't even remember it.  I do remember that we rang in the new year (while it dumped snow on KC) with some good friends.  We had some serious champange (everyone brought at least one bottle...lol), danced on the kinect, played some games, and enjoyed being out of the house.  Now looking back, I do remember that I got a call the next morning REALLY early from my mother-in-law.  Jack had been up crying, screaming basically, for hours.  The poor kid had an earache, headache, and sore throat.  We jumped out of bed and went to get him.  When we got home, he just kept crying.  Thankfully, I got him to take forced him to take tylenol and cough syrup.  30 minutes later he had passed out on daddy in the chair.  We all slept about 2 more hours.  When he got up, he was a completely different kid.  By 4pm we were out in the snow for our first sledding adventure of the year.  Once again ibuprofen comes to the rescue! 

New Years mustaches with friends:

Our first snow run for the year:

February- Well, here we are...the last day in February.  This past month has been another quick one.  At this moment I feel like Jack has been out of school more than in school this month.  He has had a lot of "teacher work days" and then in the past week there were 4 snow days!  We went sledding with Aunt Sarah yesterday.  It was beautiful out and lots of fun.  Jack is quite the daredevil, sledding down on his belly, flipping off, diving into the snow face first, and jumping off a huge snowball into waist high snow.  He loved it! 

Daddy showed up after work and got in on the action:



March is sure to be great as we will be celebrating Jack's 4th birthday!  I cannot even believe my little baby is going to be 4.  I have been reflecting a LOT lately about the past 4 years.  Sometimes I look at Jack and just really don't know how we got so lucky.  God created this amazing, beautiful, smart, hilarious, and loving little man...and I get to be his mom.  It feels surreal at times.  And I wish I could capture all his funny little moments.  He is getting to be such a little man that is so much like his daddy.  He loves Star Wars, Angry Birds, and yes, still Cars.  He plays video games with his daddy and probably uses an Xbox controller better than I do.  (His dexterity really does amaze me)  He has a memory of an elephant and I don't even know where he hears some of the things he says.  I need a video camera on constantly.  

Thanks for checking in on us.  Until next time... 

 





10 randoms...GO!

I don't have time to rehash the last 2 months...I'm a bad blog updater...here's a snapshot of where we are today!

1.  Jack is going Trick or Treating as YODA!  He asked to be Yoda this past summer...I found the costume for $5 on a garage sale....SCORE for MOM! 

2.  Reid got a promotion at work and while he spends a lot of time working, he likes it for the most part.  He actually just recently said, "It is such a blessing that I got hired at Cerner."  Thank you Lord, yet again for this blessing.

3.  My job on nights is going well!  I love nights....I've always been a night owl.  I am liking what I do.  I work the postpartum unit currently.  I love educating new moms, young moms, first time moms.  It is wonderful to bond with them since I can relate to the high percentage of moms who get a c-section at my hospital.  I get to train to antepartum (mom's admitted for observation during their pregnancy...not necessarily going to go into labor) during the next cycle schedule.  I'm excited to add to my knowledge of this field of women's health.

4.  Jack started preschool at St. Andrew's Catholic school.  He goes full time Mon-Fri 0700-315.  He likes his friends and for the most part his teacher.  It is much more structured than his daycare, so we're working on learning boundaries...at school and home.  Let's just say I don't think he likes authority much these days no matter who it is.

5.  Funny story about Jack and school.  I met the father of Lucy, Jack's classmate.  He told me that Lucy plays school a lot at their home.  He said, "every time she plays school, Jack Kirby is always on timeout."  Go figure...my child is always on timeout. :)  I shouldn't smile.  But, it's really funny....you laughed. 

6.  My sisters Maggie, Lucy and I got to go to the Justin Bieber concert in KC this past weekend.  We had so much fun.  I felt so old, but they definitely had fun.  JB was cute as a 15 year old, but this 18 year old "man" who sags his pants to his knees, already has 8 'tats', wears sunglasses in the dark, grabs his crotch, and grinds to his music while on stage is a little much for me.  Does that make me old?

Here's a picture of us before the concert:

7.  I'm so excited for Christmas.  It's quickly becoming an obsession in my shopping.  I buy something every time I'm out for a Christmas gift.  Ok, not every time, but I'm probably 2/3 of the way done with my shopping.  I have wrapping paper and ribbon for bows, all ready to make some pretty packages.  I can't wait to put my Christmas decor up, our tree, drink some hot cocoa, and spend some good quality time together.

8. We took Kirby family pictures last weekend at English Landing park in Parkville. It was chilly, but beautiful out and made for some great pictures. It is a task to get us all looking and smiling at the same time. But our photographer got some great shots. So wonderful to have those memories in print and to see us all in one pictures. Jack's great-grandma Peggy even came from Osage Beach, MO to get in on the action. Here's a few for your viewing pleasure...

 The whole group (click for a larger view)

 Our little family of 3:

 All the kiddos:

 Justyn, Jack, and McKenna:

 Happy Holidays from the family:

9.  My TV show that I was watching on DVR just ended and "Jack's Big Music Show" on NickJr came on once it flipped back to regular TV.  Do kids really like that show?  I never had an affinity to puppets....

10.  I have to work Christmas Eve night and I'm pretty bummed.  I'm the only nights person that has a young child and I'm going to miss being Santa and seeing Jack once he comes down stairs to see all the presents.  But, Reid has been so understanding and encouraging.  He told me that he'd keep Jack upstairs till I get home and then bring him down so we can both be there.  He assured me that we'd make Christmas happen with the families whenever we can and it will all work out.  He's so good for me...such a voice of reason in my clouded brain of doubt and pessimism, at times. 

That's all folks.  Until next time...

Can't forget this one...

I cannot forget this comment that Jack made tonight, so I'm making it permanent. 

It is a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church (Assumption of Mary) tomorrow and we went to Mass tonight.  Jack usually walks up to communion with us, with his little hands folded in front of him very reverently.  The priest is very good about giving the children blessings, since they can't receive communion yet.  But tonight we ended up getting in the other line with a communion minister (who do not give out blessings).  On the way back to our seats Jack started to whine saying "I didn't get a blessing!"  I picked him up and quietly whispered "Shh...we will get one after church."  Then so cutely he looked at me and said, "When do I get a magic chip?"  Referring to the communion wafer.  I had to laugh out loud and squeeze him so tight.  His innocence and inquiring mind makes my heart smile. 

Until next time...

Erased

I started a blog yesterday and then erased the whole thing...I have nothing exciting to write about!  And my regular life seemed really boring in paragraph form.  So...we're alive, things are going well!  I'm in my last weeks of orientation to the mother/baby unit at Truman Medical Center.  I'll work one 6 weeks schedule on that unit and then move on to Antepartum/Labor & Delivery.  I had a full patient load by myself for the last two nights and I'm so thankful I survived.  The boys are doing great.  Reid is so busy at work...maybe one of the reasons that I have nothing exciting to say!  Jack is keeping us laughing and happy.  Despite his sometimes difficult 3 year old ways, we're loving life with him. 

I suppose 1 cool thing is that we got a new car.  We upgraded our Equinox to a newer Equinox with MUCH less miles.  It has a built in DVD for my little man to enjoy movies on our long trips, an automatic starter (will really love this in the winter) and a reverse camera in the mirror.  Jack saw it come on when I put the car in reverse and then when you switch to "drive" it goes away.  Jack squealed, "It's a magic mirror!"  :)  Too cute. 


Last weekend we went back home to Hastings for my 10 year high school reunion.  It's amazing that it's been 10 years.  I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with the group of people that attended.  High school was such a care free time in life and it was fun to remember and make new memories together. 

Class of 2002 (the members that showed up):

 Me and the love of my life:

 Me and the girls:

That's about all I've got...STAY COOL...until next time...