Manic Month

This last month has been a whirlwind of activity! Our social calendar filled up when Marc, or "Unc," came home for a visit from Korea on the 25th. Our family hosted many gatherings in his honor, since we only see him once a year. We also spent time with our family in Independence, though never as much as we would like. Kate, Lilly and I do more outside our home by ourselves, too, because Lilly is more mobile and Kate becoming so independent! We went to Loose Park last week and walked from the playground to the duck pond and back.

Marc and Kaitlyn bonded in his ten days home, which was fun to watch. They even spent the night in the same room at Nana's house! He said it was fun. Kate stayed in her bed until after ten in the morning just watching Marc and looking out the window, he said. Nana heard them talking on the monitor. Too cute! "Unc" took the three of us to the zoo one day, a gorgeous Autumn day. We discovered the play area at the zoo and cannot wait to go back to explore it. Marc and Kaitlyn swam together in Nana's pool, too. We saw cousin Juna twice with Jonathan and Sarah - such a cutie. She is a sweet, good-natured baby with lots of grins for everyone.

The library still provides fun and entertainment once a week. The last time we went, Kaitlyn stayed in the room to play after storytime for the first time in a long time. That gave Lilly a chance to play with the other babies, which was fun to watch. She, like her sister used to do, bravely left her mama to crawl into the middle of the fray where she played with toys and other babies for a while. The sisters also check in with one another frequently when out and about. We missed the library this week because Kaitlyn had a little intestinal flu, and we didn't want to spread that around. She's all better today, though. Normal poop, yay! Maybe it's all the rice and apples we fed her the last couple days!

Today we met some other moms and their babies at Antioch Park. I forgot how beautiful that park is, with it's walking paths, bridges, two ponds, and enormous playground area. Recently, I joined an online group of mothers in Kansas City. We live all over the city, but four of us met today at the park. Kate explores and consistently tests the limits of her physical boundaries, so I did not get to talk to the other moms much. But Kaitlyn totally impressed me with her abilities today - she climbed up this curved ladder a couple times, and went up the stairs and down the slide by herself a couple times. That's the first time she did the slide by herself! She is growing up so very fast. She gently patted this little 6-month old baby on the head today when she went to check on Lilly. It showed a maturity that seems beyond her young 19 months. Quite often, I see a much older soul that belies her age. Lilly enjoyed playing on the ground with the 6-month old. He doesn't quite sit up yet, so he laid on his tummy, so Lilly got down on her tummy to be face to face with him! She was checking out his mouth and his eyes and patting him, even tried to crawl over him. He liked her a lot too, reaching for her and really interacting quite a bit with her. They were darling to watch.

We still have to visit a pumpkin patch, even if it's just for the photo op. We do have a calendar to produce this year! And Friday Jeremy and I plan to take the girls out to Loose Park or the zoo, then lunch at Jalepeno's, the most kid-friendly restaurant we've found. Then Saturday we both work, and Sunday hopefully see Jeremy's brother's girls.

We are keeping busy! I have a feeling it's just beginning...