Fest Weekend

One of many this fall, I presume. Dayton is a fantastic place in the fall. The weather is beautiful, the fests are many, and the colors are amazing. This is what I’ve observed anyway, from my one year experience.

I would like to include a disclaimer here. While I love all the fests here in Dayton, fall in Colorado simply cannot be beaten. Dayton, you just can’t compete with the traditional, colorful October drive deep into the mountains - sorry.

Back to Dayton.

Two weeks ago (sorry with the late post- such is working life with a baby!) we attended Sweet Corn Fest on Saturday and Bacon Fest on Sunday. That’s right, bacon. These were two incredibly different experiences.

Corn Fest: Amazing. Plenty of open space to wander and check out great booths full of crafts and delicious food. The list of what we ate is embarrassing. The list includes, but is not limited to:

·         Corn on the cob (duh)

·         Watermelon

·         Smothered potato crisps

·          Cheesesteak tacos

·         Corn on the cob (again… because it’s corn fest)

·         Fudge

I think I gained 10 pounds just writing that. Still recovering.

Tyler loves corn. You may or may not know this about him. He finds it at every festival or carnival, and even has some growing in our backyard. This fest was the jackpot for him. We had a great time and Jackson happily strolled along and picnicked with us along the way.

 

Happy camper

 

 

What IS that face?

 

Dream on, buddy.

 

"Ok, really guys?"

 

Fast forward to Sunday. Dayton’s inaugural Bacon Fest. Sounds amazing, right? WRONG.

A good friend Dan, and his ridiculously adorable 1 year old, Kennedy (mamma was out of town), met us for the ‘fun’. They were by far the best part of the day. Upon rolling up, we realized there was a line to get in. What? Ok, fine.

Once we were finally through the gate, we quickly realize this was the definition of poor planning. I’ll try to spare you all the annoying details but here are some important contributing factors:

·         WAY too many people like bacon. They did not prepare for this many people.

·         The space was way, way too small.

·         ‘Bacon bucks’ had to be purchased to buy food from any of the vendors.

·         ‘Bacon bucks’ could not be exchanged for your cash back in the event you did not use them.

The result was at least 45 minute-long lines at every vendor, shoulder-to-shoulder traffic, and hot, miserable, annoyed people. In order to just get our ‘bacon bucks’ spent, we split up, got in lines, spent everything we had, ate, and got the heck out of there. Never again. (Thanks Dan, for sticking it out with us!) It was all so annoying we took exactly ONE picture:

 

That's right, folks. 1 bacon buck and a piece of bacon.

It wasn’t a complete waste though, as we ended the afternoon with chocolate covered bacon. Oh yea.

Disclaimer no. 2: I’ve been diligent about getting my runs in ever since in an effort to NOT have a heart attack.

XOXO

The Emergency Poop Kit

As you know, Tyler watches Jackson 3 days a week. He’s really fantastic in his role as “stay at home daddy” on those days. They have their routine down, and Tyler packs J man and his bottle up when needed, and they head out to run errands, or whatever activity the day holds for them.

Notice I said Tyler packs up Jackson and “a bottle”? When I say Jackson and a bottle, I mean he puts Jackson in his carseat, prepares a bottle, and throws it in there with him. Then off they go. If you’re a mom, right about now you’re freaking out. WHERE IS THE DIAPER BAG?! Or at least that was my reaction when they met me for lunch last week.

No diaper bag. No extra outfit. No diapers or wipes. This is every mom’s worst nightmare.

“Tyler, what if he poops?! What if he has a blow-out, what is your plan?”

“He won’t, he’s fine. We always do this”.

“You WHAT?!”

I let my annoyance pass in order to have a happy lunch with my baby and my baby daddy. I fully intended on marching straight home after work and putting together a “manly diaper bag” (or backpack).

Guess who pooped? Right in the middle of lunch, red-faced and grunty, my poor baby was going to be stuck sitting in his own mess for the duration of our date.

Thank goodness, there was no blow out. I am the tiniest bit grateful this happened. It was God’s way of allowing me the ultimate “I told you so moment”. We finished up our lunch and I sent Tyler straight home to change our smelly baby.

Guess where he went? Home Depot. Seriously. Stinky baby and (by default) stinky daddy out for a stinky stroll around Home Depot. I feel bad for both the innocent bystanders and for Jackson. (Although, Tyler swears Jackson didn’t care). He probably didn’t, but it still makes me cringe.

Needless to say, Tyler now has an emergency poop kit permanently in his car. Diapers? Check. Wipes? Check. Extra outfit and burp cloth? Check.

Hopefully we don’t have to have another stinky baby/stinky daddy incident any time soon.

Just Be Happy

As parents in this digital age, we face a whole new and different set of challenges than our parents faced. Today, in every avenue, it is hard to not compare your life to others’.

Pinterest means I have ridiculous ‘to-do’ lists with projects I’ll never finish and meals I’ll never make. How’s that for feeling inadequate? On Facebook and Instagram we are blasted with everyone’s updates, life happenings, adorable babies, travels, and accomplishments. Overall, it’s fantastic. I get to see what all of my friends and family around the world are up to, and feel close even when we are far.

In all of these great updates, I sometimes forget that people tend to post the best parts of their life. Very rarely do we see the downs or the rough days that inevitably we all go through, those projects we just never got to, or the cleaning that never got done. No one wants to share that stuff (including myself). So we must take a step back and remember it’s not always rainbows and butterflies for everyone.

During an evening run last night, I couldn’t stop thinking about why I compare myself to others.  Constantly I am asking myself if I am doing enough. The beautiful evening, the sunset, and the fresh air helped clear my mind. It comes down to happiness. Is Jackson happy? Tyler? Kahla? Am I happy? Yes. We are doing the right thing for our family and making the best decisions we can each day for OUR family. We are doing the best we can. Aren’t we all?

It’s time for me to put the Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest down more often, and spend more quiet hours soaking up every minute of my family. Tomorrow when I get home, I’ll be leaving my phone by the door. Enough trying to keep up with it all. Jackson, Tyler and Kahla deserve 100% of me in those few precious hours we have together each night.  

One Year Later

It’s been one year to the day since we shuttled 5 suitcases, 2 backpacks, 1 carry-on, and a dog to the Ramstein airport, saying goodbye to the country we’d called home for the last 3.5 years.

Tears streamed as we said goodbye to friends and coworkers who had become family, and a bittersweet calm settled over me as we took off and the base slowly disappeared behind us. So much to look forward to. So much we’ll miss.

Thinking back on that day, it feels both like it was only just yesterday, and like it was a lifetime ago. So much has changed in one year. Leaving, we had no idea just how much our lives were about to change.

Since then, we’ve taken leaps of faith, we’ve met new friends, we’ve grown as a family, we’ve started new careers and dived into school. We’ve learned that new adventures wait around every corner, whether we are a young, newly married couple travelling Europe, or settling into family life with a brand new baby. We thrive on these adventures.

Every now and then I find myself daydreaming about being back in Germany. Reliving our long walks through open fields and villages. Having one (or two) too many drinks at fests, and spending late nights and holidays with incredible friends. Bundled up at Christmas markets with a brand new german shepherd puppy in one arm, hot spiced wine in the other hand. These are the moments that consumed us, these are the adventures we will forever hold in our hearts.

As we continue this journey, we don’t know where we’ll be next year at this time, and I love that. We’ll follow this road wherever it takes us, through the ups and the downs, and we’ll hold on to each other tight as we navigate this life.

Each year seems to go more quickly than the last. This year as the leaves begin to change and the air becomes more crisp, we’ll be grateful for where we’ve been, and look forward to where we’re headed.

5 Months

OK, just stop it. 5 months, really?!

New this month:

·         When you sneeze, you smile, every time, without fail. You love to sneeze!

·         You are finally diggin’ your jumper. Those chunky little legs of yours finally got the memo- you can jump up and down!

·         Speaking of getting the memo- your hand-eye coordination is beginning to come together. You seem relieved that finally, you can grab those toys you’ve been eyeing, and move them directly to your mouth. Woohoo!

·         You are scooting. Every morning I wake up and find you in a different corner of the crib.

·         You’re eyeing our food. You know something good is going on, and you want in.

·         You love bedtime. You get cranky around 8 every night without fail. We take you upstairs, and as soon as you know it’s bath time, you’re all smiles. You get a bottle, we snuggle, and then you put yourself right to sleep in your crib.

·         You struggle to sleep during the day. You fight it, and when you do fall asleep it’s for short amounts of time, then you wake up cranky.  (If I could, I would take your naps for you… but I can’t.  For everyone’s sanity, take your naps bud!)

·         You’re making new faces and sounds every day, and it’s so.much.fun.

You're a pretty cool kid, and we’re so lucky you’re ours. You continue to amaze us day in, day out. We wouldn’t have it any other way!

 

(this is the standard 'fighting sleep' look)

 

 

This Dog

This dog. I love her. She has adjusted ridiculously well to mister J. I was worried- and if you know Kahla, you know why. She barks - a lot, she is needy, she is easily excited, she has tons of energy, and, did I mention, she barks. A LOT.

We have made it a point to give her plenty of attention. And by that, I mean Tyler has made it his personal conviction that she will not go unnoticed in our home – and I fully agree. Too many dogs get the cold shoulder once baby arrives, and we don’t want that to happen to Miss K. Tyler takes her for an hour long walk every single day, rain, snow, or shine. They have both come home soaking wet on more than one occasion (thanks Ohio). Beyond that, our spoiled animal gets treats and tons of loving attention. She even gets the (very) occasional spot on our bed. She has a special blanket that protects our comforter, and boy, when that thing comes out, you’d think it was Christmas!

You can imagine then why I was concerned to how she might react to a little, screaming, vomiting, smelly creature that takes our attention away from her. She’s been nothing short of amazing. At first she was very curious, and I was very nervous. It wasn’t long before I could see that A) the smelly tiny human doesn’t upset her and B) she might even like him.

This animal known to have no boundaries or manners, is surprisingly gentle with Jackson. She sneaks kisses whenever she can- and knows that feet and hands are fair game, however face kisses are OFF limits. She knows this, and yet she goes for it every time we turn away.

Recently, Jackson has become very aware of Kahla's presence. He is so intrigued by her, and her obnoxious wet kisses make him grin.

Oh Miss Kahla Just wait- it won’t be long before Jackson is chasing you around, you poor thing. Someday though, you’ll be best friends, I just know it. In the mean time, thanks for being a trooper.