July 2013

Mornings spent outside

Bled into July sunsets

Enjoying the warmth 

We started off the month with a visit from the grandparents!  My mom and Rick came up from Texas for a few days, and they picked the perfect week to come - we had really pleasant weather and had a lot of fun together!

There were a few planned activities, like showing off our library and Story Time, going to the Natural History Museum for Free First Monday, and our traditional pilgrimage to the local airport to eat breakfast at Ozzie's Diner.  We had a great time with all the little things too though, like Sonic ice cream treats, shopping for Baby Abby, and splashing around in the kiddie pool.

craning to see the planes out the window

first cup of coffee at Ozzie's!

watching planes take off

Bruce loved his time with Papa and Grandma, but all good things must come to an end and they headed home on Thursday morning.  We said goodbye and then headed back to Kansas for another weekend at the wheat farm.

Charlie drove combines, I helped Yvonne with food for the fellas, and Bruce inspected, worked on and test drove every. single. truck. on. the. whole. entire. farm.  And with our powers combined, we helped to wrap up this season's wheat harvest!  

helping with maintenance work

playing in the wheat truck

"hugging" the wheat...

Charlie didn't have to travel the first three weeks of this month, which was awesome!  He did go to Colorado last week and is in Kansas City this week, but we'll be thankful that that was all!  He was able to finish the bathroom, and it looks amazing!  And now, after spending last weekend doing a major cleaning overhaul in the garage - transitioning from bathroom remodeling work stations back to his normal wood shop - he's started working on some new furniture for Bruce's "Big Boy" room.  Currently he's working on a full-wall storage shelf system to help us manage Bruce's ever-growing collection of toys and books and odds and ends, and next on the list is clothes wardrobe.  On top of all that, he still managed to squeeze in lots of guy time with the little man!  The highlight of the month was probably the trip to the motorcycle store though, with the bonus surprise of an antique car show in the parking lot.  Once again, Bruce's adorable face and irresistible personality granted him special privileges and full access to "drive" two super-classy cars worth half a million dollars.  Bruce was in heaven!



Bruce driving the Packard

 

I've been busying myself with a lot of random little projects while Bruce sleeps, like trying to go through closets and whatnot to reorganize our stuff to make room for more stuff, and get rid of the stuff that just can't get crammed anywhere else.  I've also been trying to keep up with the garden as best I can!  I've given up on weeding, and have just been focusing on collecting all the veggies every day and trying to use them or preserve them before they go bad.  We have tomatoes galore, along with quite a few peppers, zucchini, eggplants and okras.  I've been fairly successful, but have still had to toss some to the compost...

"hiding" in the okra

Bruce, at one month shy of two years old, continues to amaze us daily.  He is talking up a storm lately, even with some complete sentences now - and his vocabulary blows me away!  It's a lot of fun talking with him throughout the day to see what goes on in that mind of his - and sometimes it can be so surprising what he's thinking about!  A lot of his curious mind trails come out when he asks us to sing songs about things.  That's one of his favorite things to do right now - usually in the car or before bedtime.  He'll ask us to sing songs about vacuum cleaners or trees or oil pumps, and I've even sang a multi-versed song about the AT&T repair technician per his request.  I have a couple of go-to tunes that just about any lyrics can be sung to, and we've composed a slew of ridiculous songs this month - I wish I had recorded them all!

We weren't planning on delving into the world of potty training until after Christmas, but Bruce has been really interested in all things toilet related.  Just out of curiosity, recently I asked him if he wanted to try to sit on the toilet, and he was all for it.  So we're letting him do what he's enthusiastic about, with no pressure, time lines or goals in mind - and so far it's been great!

Bruce is incredibly excited about his new "Big Boy" room too, which makes us hopeful that the switch will go smoothly when it's time.  The original plan was to move him after his birthday next month, but I caught him trying to climb out of the crib last week, so now I think we'll move him as soon as the room is ready (hopefully by next week).  We bought a little toddler bed off of Craig's List and he insists we do all of our pre-bedtime reading sitting on it.  I'm terrified of "unleashing the beast" at night, and have no idea how hard it will be to keep him in his bed, but it's a milestone we have to reach one day or another, and I think we're at that point.

We're trying to create some fun and engaging play space in Bruce's new room to help alleviate the congestion of toys that end up accumulating in the living room.  We're hoping the tiny bed and the floor-to-ceiling shelves will help give him some actual space of his own - and I think he already loves what we've started preparing for him.

this will be the bottom cabinet/play table under the shelves

Once we get Bruce moved into the new room, we'll start making the nursery a little more girly.  We have no plans of doing anything drastic, just exchanging some of the melons, aquas, and blues for some pinks, fuschias, and purples.  I think there's a balance we need to find between making enough changes for Bruce to know it's going to be Abigail's room now, without making it feel like he's losing his place.

Overall, I think Bruce is excited about Abigail's impending arrival.  He's crazy about babies, points out the hospital when we drive by reminding me that that's where "Abby be born," and enjoys picking out things at the store for Abigail.  Despite the fact that Bruce asks for "Abby come out" on a daily basis, I feel pretty content in letting her incubate for another two months!  Health-wise we're both doing great still, and although my energy level is starting to decline, life is still really manageable.  I don't feel like I have an enormous baby bump yet, but I leave people shocked when I tell them my end-of-September due date, and Bruce tells me all the time to "close Abby" whenever my belly starts to come uncovered a bit...  Needless to say, I'm curious as to what the next two months will bring as Abigail continues to grow and we continue to get ready to bring our sweet baby girl home from the hospital.

Another highlight of the month was a trip to the OKC zoo!  Bruce had been begging to see a peacock (we heard them squealing when we were at the wheat farm, but never could see them) so we planned a trip on "free day" and Granny K was even available to join us there.  We weren't able to stay a really long time, but we were able to see a few peacocks, the giant Galapagos tortoises (another favorite lately), a dancing elephant, a few chimps, and several other animals.  We all had a great time, and Bruce still refers to himself as "monkey" when he's narrating his day...

And man, we love this monkey.