with my calendar at my side...

It seems like it's been a month since I posted because life has been so full that each day has felt like three. We are so abundantly blessed! And tired! haha! ;)

I am literally going to have to break this post down into important dates with my calendar next to me and my twitter up to remind me of all that has happened.

Saturday, March 14th after I posted my last update, we went outside to play in the beautiful sunshine and learned from a neighbor that there was going to be a St. Patrick's Day parade on the square that day! We got our shoes on and walked down to see - following a dog that Aidan kept barking at, haha. I'm not a big parade person, and Aidan evidently takes after me. It might be that I've only gone to smaller parades (except for the one I saw in Japan - totally awesome with ninjas and taiko and geisha - not kidding!) but nonetheless... he was more interested in the grass and stairs up to the courthouse.

He did get beaned in the head with a piece of gum that he got pretty excited about. :D


The old firetrucks were the only things that caught his eye (and mine... they were pretty cool!)


Tuesday, March 17th St. Patrick's Day! Woke up early to try out the applique supplies I bought for craft group on this fun shirt I made for Aidan.


Then we were off to a birthday part for two of the little ones in our breastfeeding support group/ play group. Kaydon and Addie threw a great party and Aidan enjoyed the guacamole and green jello. Got some adorable photos of the little ones.






No one showed up to craft group. haha! Oh well! We're going to do applique again next month for those who missed (so... everyone) since lots of people expressed interest but couldn't make it.

Friday, March 20th BEST DAY EVER! Started our morning off with an awesome meeting for a group that has just started up called the Kansas City Christian Childbearing Network (KCCCN). I'm sure I will have to dedicate a whole post to the awesomeness of this group sometime, but a brief overview is that it's a group of Christian women in the area, some childbirth professionals, some moms, and others who are passionate about these issues for other various reasons, who want to see women and birth respected and want to provide support for women in the area who are looking for information about getting pregnant, being pregnant, delivering their babies, nursing, and raising little ones. You can go to the website that I linked to up there to read the mission statement. The rest of the page in still under construction, but that's good stuff!

And then my fave local store, Luticia Clementine's, had an all-day spinning and weaving demonstration by Ann Mickow using mostly her alpaca fibers. *sigh* I want to be her someday!

We spent the evening with friends celebrating a birthday. They are always a ton of fun.

Saturday, March 21st was spent painting the new apartment. Aidan also got his 8th tooth!!

Sunday, March 22nd we made fun new friends, Randy and April, at church and spent the afternoon with them and other church friends. Another perfect day. :)

Wednesday, March 25th was Toddler town day with Aidan and friends Jack, Colton, and Kennison. Aidan was a bit hesitant to get out there and play this time. I think there were just too many little ones running around. Still, we'll miss having something like that to go to each week.

Silly Jack. ;)

Friday, March 27th we ate dinner with April and Randy just in time for me to start my liver support diet. Glad April made lots of guacamole!

***Slow week with nasty weather***

Thursday, April 2nd was the day I saw the dentist. I was more than a little anxious going into it, but I was feeling well due to the diet (I think I lost at least 5 lbs and still had lots of energy and felt great!) and Rob was there. And then everything ended up going splendidly!!! They had toys and juice and water in the waiting room and they let Aidan wander their halls during the procedure. The dentist and his assistant were both very kind and professional. They listened to my concerns and the assistant said, "suction is my job - you don't get to eat any mercury today." LOL! :) They ended up using local anesthesia (Thank you God! That helped with the stress of it all tremendously even though I would have been fine without it) and removing the four fillings from the top of my mouth. I have four more on bottom, but they aren't showing signs of wear yet. I did have some pretty bad decay underneath the fillings, so it's good that I got them done now. It took all of 2 seconds per tooth to remove them and I felt like they were very careful. I wore goggles and they did the best job I've ever had done of keeping everything in my mouth (don't you hate leaving the dentist's office with that powdery stuff all over your face?). They refilled them with composite and checked out the rest of my mouth. Everything else looks fine, my teeth are strong and healthy, yay! The bill was $910 and guess what? They wrote it off completely b/c we work for Hillcrest! Crazy generous! If anyone is looking for a dentist in the south kc area - go to Steve Irwin in Lee's Summit! I've also heard that he's awesome with kids.

When all of that was said and done, and the numbness in my cheeks was wearing off, it was time to get busy and stay busy so that Aidan wouldn't notice that he wasn't able to nurse for 24 hours. God is so gracious! For 1, my friend Kim - whom Aidan ADORES - was able to come over and help me pack things for the move and occupy Aidan by coming with us to lunch and over to her house to see her new puppy. and 2, Aidan didn't even ASK to nurse all day! Or all night! He went almost exactly 26 hours without signing to nurse or pulling on my shirt! The whole process was so painless! He's back to nursing like normal now, but still isn't nursing often, if at all, at night. :) He just cuddles with me back to sleep.



Saturday, April 4th - While Rob was at a men's retreat, I frantically packed all of our belongings. We learned a few days before that if we could be out on Saturday, there were people who could replace the carpet for the new resident manager for free on Saturday night. So that's how things work in the non-profit world. You wait, wait, wait, for volunteers and small staff to get things finished and then BAM! It's time to go - now or never. Praise God for good friends who came over to help me pack and then the men who came straight from the retreat on Saturday afternoon to fill up their trucks and get us to our new place!

So Saturday was our first night in the new apartment! We slept on flat sheets on two twin mattresses on the floor, surrounded by stuff. :D Most of our things were (and are) in the back bedroom that will belong to Rob's dad so that the living room and our bedroom can be clear. The plan is to gradually (but hopefully quickly) pull things from there and put them in their places. We LOVE everything about the new apartment! Aidan is having a ball roaming around between rooms and I'm enjoying not having to worry about him constantly running into things! The kitchen is fully unpacked and I got to use the dishwasher for the first time yesterday!! YAY DISHWASHER!!

We are "borrowing" an internet signal from a neighbor until Friday when we get our own set up. Until then our phone number is unreliable at best because it is an internet phone and the signal is weak. We do have our (emergency) cell phone if you need to reach us, or you can of course email us.

Aidan is napping right now on HIS bed, in a ROOM, with a DOOR, down the HALLWAY. It's so awesome. :D

Here are a few more fun pictures:

Aidan helping daddy with his after-church duties. Push! :)

Classic.

He found a used tea bag. so fun! Look at his poor face though! "Am I in trouble??"