Fun at the Zoo Part II

So in continuing with our zoo theme... We discovered the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita was having a freebie day sponsored by ATT. You bring in your old phonebooks for recycling and get into the zoo free. I'm already on top of the recycling old phonebooks so we took some current ones. I figure that's what the Internet is for. Apparently a lot of people knew about this- the place was- well a zoo! There were plenty of good specimens on display and I'm not just talking about the animals.

People~ Wear more clothing, don't stand in the middle of the bridge when there are a gazillion people behind you, and smoking while you're holding your baby with the other hand isn't cool. The preggos were also out in full force. It was weird. Kate repeatedly informed us she was bored and recovered quite nicely after we took a break and got her an ice cream bar. After that she seemed to enjoy herself more. Aidan was a perfect little trooper and after narrowly escaping a poop explosion with minimal damage we headed home. Enjoy a ridiculous amount of pictures below. Let's just say I got my camera privileges back and had some fun taking pictures and learning about the artistic capabilities of my camera. If you haven't seen enough pictures and want to see some more of our 2 zoo days, click here.

Some sort of tropical bird in the Rainforest section (which is very cool btw)

Kate posing- all on her own (no one put her up to this)

Swan in one of the many ponds

Hanging out in the Asian section of the zoo

It's Swiper the Fox! OR a very fast red panda But Swiper if you're one of my fellow zoo visitors

Daniel wearing the same shirt as yesterday

Kate posing yet again

Aidan very happy during our break

Daniel using the Macro feature on the camera

Giraffe- duh

Some kind of bird in the Australian section

Posing with my baby

Daniel and Kate

My cutie pie

I call it "Chimp on the edge: venturing into the darkness and light of nature's great animals" OR it's a chimpanzee sitting up by the sun

`

Big furry bear

Fun at the Zoo Part I

So this weekend we decided since the weather was PERFECT- we would try and find some fun things to do outside. So Saturday we headed to the zoo here in town. It's a little zoo and is run by the city and is free. They're working to make improvements and although it takes maybe an hour or less to mosey around it, it's not a bad way to spend some time outside. The bugs also were enjoying the nice weather and I lost my camera privileges for the day after almost slamming the camera into the ground after a bug landed on my wrist. So most of these pics are courtesy of Daniel. We wrapped up the evening renting a couple movies and enjoying some Freschetta pizza.

Me and Kate posing at the zoo

Artistic shot of a turkey vulture

Miss Kate

Aidan deep in contemplation

Right before I almost threw the camera and right after Daniel got bit by a fire ant

Loving on my big girl

Mildly amused while we waited on Kate to finish playing in the Dino dig

Milking a cow- her favorite part of the zoo

My monkey monkeying around

What is that? I call it "Lizard sunning"

Happy strolling around the zoo

Rollin' video

So as promised here's a thrilling video of Aidan rolling over. I'm on a roll now (*get it*) with the video thing. ;-) It was taken on August 18 right before he turned 4 months. It's only a little under a minute but probably won't amuse you if you're not one of his grandparents. Voila!

3 days-3 Dr.'s appointments

I may have mentioned before how much more often I go to the doctor since we moved here. I currently have no fewer than 4 doctors who are responsible for my health and well being. This week I got to go see my pulmonologist and urologist and Aidan got to go see his pediatrician for his 4 month check-up. That is far too many trips in 1 week.

The pulmonologist appointment revealed that I am in fact allergic to lots of grass, mountain cedar, dogs, and cats. Cats being the highest allergy. Hmmm. In the words of my doctor "Get rid of your cats! Or don't get new ones when those die!" :-( But I get to stop one of my medications after we get a good freeze and don't have to come back anymore unless I need to. Yay! The infamous Dr. D was gone as she has been for months and I have a sneaking suspicion something is going on with her and she's not coming back. So I got to see one of the other doctors and he's probably trying to cut down on his new patient load as much as he can.

Then today I got to go check on the progress of my kidney stones. The doctor actually laughed when he saw the size of the OMG stone and said everything looked good. I still have some left in there and get to come back in 4 weeks for yet another x-ray to see if it goes away. But it appears the worst is far behind me for now. I may try harder to drink more. I don't EVER want to go through that ordeal again.

In Aidan news- he got to have his 4 month check-up yesterday. He only weighs 17 pounds 4 ounces which kind of shocked me. I thought he would be over 18. He's at 26 3/4 inches. His misshapen head from sleeping on his back is nothing to worry about and will correct itself. As he said, "No one has perfectly shaped heads." He looked good, didn't cry or get too fussy from his shots and is a pretty happy baby. We were told we could try and start him on a little rice cereal. So last night we filmed the experience.

Kate is enjoying school and it feels like she's gone forever. She's exhausted by the time she comes home though and it's a battle to keep her from going to sleep at 4:00. I'm always tired too and feel like when just 10:00 a.m. gets here I've been up for days. Surprisingly I haven't gotten more accomplished. Must have had something to do with all the trips to the medical clinic.

Here are some pictures of the first food experience. If you're so inclined below that you can watch a very long video (or watch part of it) that features Aidan's food fun. Please ignore my laughing and subsequent snort.

The big sister "helping."

Excited at how big he is

Umm... what is THAT?

The cereal shivers

Gag me!

I can't take it anymore.

Starting to get the hang of it

Our big Kindergarten girl

So today was the day we've been waiting for all summer. That exciting, sad, moment when your baby goes off to school: all day. I can't believe how fast time has flown. Everyone says it goes by fast and it truly does. But in true Kate fashion she seemed totally unaffected by the significance of the moment and eased right in as if it was nothing. I however surprised myself.

I've always had an ability to never cry at the normal moments when people cry. Maybe it's not really an ability, rather it's just that I don't cry in the moment. I cry later after the gravity or importance of the situation sinks in. So there I was looking into a sea of faces in the cafeteria/gym/whatever it's supposed to be thinking of how many germs were floating around landing on Aidan, when it hit me. She's growing up and heading to Kindergarten. She's going to be gone all day. She's embarking on this huge journey.

The bell rang and I fought back the tears as we wove through the kids on our way down to her room. They threatened to take over as I helped her find her desk and watched the other parents: my comrades for the moment. Some of us were sending our first child to school for the first time and others were leaving a middle or last child. But it never matters. I think it's a little bit hard for all of us. For that moment we were all parents watching our one time newborn baby, now a big 5 year-old getting ready to start Kindergarten. Her teacher finally hinted it was time to leave and with a last glance we walked out to leave her in the capable hands of someone else.

So now we're home and the first day is a thing of the past. She survived and I survived. Even though I had a doctors appointment to take up some time and gave in to a little cat nap, it seemed like she was gone much longer then 7 hours. In true fashion for this town, pick-up was a nightmare. There's no real line to pick-up kids and I didn't get there early enough to score a spot in front of the school. So I had to park in the nearby church lot and haul it over to get her. It's hot and I was carrying my gigantic baby (we'll see how gigantic at the big 4 month check-up). I wrangled some details out of her about her day and it clearly has taken a toll on her since she's napping now. I think it's going to be an adjustment. But it seemed like it was a success. Of course we documented the event below.

Enjoying cinnamon rolls for breakfast- and no that probably won't be a regular occurrence.

The requisite in front of the door pose.

Hurrying to take a porch pic.

Getting ready to head over to the school.

Sitting at her desk.

Telling the little boy at her table something very important.

More pics

It's the 1st day- Yay!

Her teacher probably wishing the parents would get lost.

Someone else had a little trouble adjusting to our new early rising.

Making up for being a slacker

So I haven't posted in a few days and now it's time to play catch-up. Here are some things we've been up to in no particular order of time or importance and mainly in order of what popped into my mind first.

Kate is officially enrolled in her 2nd year of dance. It's very exciting. We get to go from a 30 minute class to a 45 minute class! Yippee! We enjoyed enrollment night at the studio where enrollment, tuition, and costume deposits cost more then it should. I can't say exactly how much because Daniel and I have a pact not to discuss how much anything involving tutus and tap shoes actually costs. Look at that picture though. You can't put a price on that!

Kate met her Kindergarten teacher who has been teaching 23 years and seems pretty nice. She was pleased to discover that one of her former Pre-K friends will be in her class. Of course it's one of the boys she slightly obsessed over and I have a sneaking suspicion those 2 are going to have to be separated more than once. We went to the open house and I'm now a member of PTO- whatever that really means and signed up to do something involving her class. I'm assuming I'll be helping with parties. I was bummed that the head homeroom Mom was already taken up. Oh well. She got a school spirit shirt and immediately put it on and ended up sleeping in it that night. I think she's excited. I still can't figure out exactly where you're allowed to stop your car for pick-up and drop-off. I'm not surprised though. It's perfectly normal with how things in this town are in general. They do a lot of assuming around here.

I discovered another baby product that has made my life easier while simultaneously causing me and said baby to be the object of many stares. We weighed Aidan in his carseat and together they're currently at 30 pounds. That's a lot of weight to dangle from one little arm. The solution when carts or a stroller won't work: The Sleepy Wrap. I only wish I'd had this from the beginning. People do kind of look at you like you're a weird hippy. I prefer to think they're in awe of what a good idea it is. It's probably some of both. We went grocery shopping and it lived up to its name. Here we are in Walmart.

We also made a decision on what we're doing for our big 10 year Anniversary. As you know I'd prefer to be sitting on a beach somewhere watching the sun gleam off my big fat new diamond ring (Don't we all) but am willing to compromise. :-) Soooo... We're headed to Tulsa. Daniel's parents are going to babysit and we're going to spend the night here. We're thinking about having dinner at this restaurant at the new Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. We decided not to stay there because they were booked and only had rooms left in the older non Hard Rock part.

It's not my dream way to spend my Anniversary but who says you can't have a really fabulous 12th Anniversary at the beach?

So school starts Wednesday and I have a feeling when it comes time to be getting up I'm going to wish I could be this guy.