Happy Birthday to You

It's finally here. Declan's 2nd birthday. I know all parents across all time and space say this, but where has the time gone? (and yes I know, it will only go faster, and I don't want to hear it). How in the world do I have a 2 year old? I think sometimes, my confusion about time isn't about how Declan came to be 2, as much as it's about how I became the mother of a 2 year old... (insert emoticon that looks confused and is scratching her head). Either way, it has been a wild and unimaginable ride :)

D trying to show you how old he is :)

LIKES: playing outside at the park/pool/with toys/balls/sand/squirt guns/bubbles (a lot of outdoor fun in the summer time!), climbing, jumping and hopping over lines, painting/coloring, bike rides with Mom and Dad, riding his own tricycle, talking about anything and everything which includes just saying words over and over in funny voices or trying to rhyme them, being a helper, doing things independently (putting on clothes/shoes, walking up/down stairs, getting snacks, pretty much everything... "My do it" is a frequently used phrase), visiting the library, shooting baskets/kicking goals/batting with the T-ball

Learning how to blow dandelion seeds at
Nana & Papa's house

DISLIKES: being helped when he's trying to do something even if he's really frustrated ("help please?" is a last resort), washing his hair, having his "tippy toes" touched (this results in a brief meltdown usually, so clipping his toenails is only for the brave and deaf)

FOOD: typical toddler for the most part, wants everything unhealthy and nothing to do with veggies, we offer a mostly balanced meal/snack and he chooses what and how much to eat (even if that means nothing for that meal), still doing milk with meals and water the rest of the day (no juice here)

NAP/SLEEP: not much has changed here, still sleeps 11-12 hours at night and has 1 nap during the day (usually around 2 hours), the sleep sack is gone for good but we gained Potamus instead (his stuffed hippo).

ACTIVITIES: we usually stick to doing the things he likes (see above) and we also try to have a play date once a week with a friend (and frequently make an entire day out of it!)

Playdate with the Hill twins

GROWING: he's about the 70th percentile for both height (36.5") and weight (29.5 lbs), and he's finally falling into the typical clothing ranges so 2T for now, shoe size 7 (he grows out of a new pair of shoes so quickly though!)

Ok, so what have the Nunnallys been up to the past 6 months? Let's see...

FEBRUARY: Matt and I took a 4 day trip to the Grand Cayman Islands while D stayed here with the grandparents. It was a great time, but we both agreed that 4 days wasn't nearly enough time :) The island beaches were gorgeous!

Yes please!

The 13' catamaran that we sailed solo

The view from our room

The view from my lounge chair everyday :P 

MARCH: D got his first t-ball set and it was a "hit" :) Also, Matt's brother and sister-in-law (Dan & Kelsie) moved to KC!!!! Our first family members to live in KC with us! Super thankful to have them so close.

His first attempts

APRIL: Matt bought a bike and D got a bike seat so we could all go bike riding as a family. It was really fun at first, but as it got hotter 30-45 minute rides were less and less fun. Easter was spent here in KC. We dyed Easter eggs, had an egg hunt here, and also went to the church's kid festivities.

Eating the sugar cookie he got to decorate at
church Easter activities.

We put blueberries, goldfish, parts of Nutrigrain
bars, and grapes in his eggs. He LOVED it!

MAY: We went to Joplin to celebrate Mother's Day with our moms. It was getting warm enough to break out the water table, sprinkler/hose, and plenty of puddle splashing. We also started putting more effort into having a family date day, where we can set aside time to do something fun with just the 3 of us. This month was the KC Zoo, dinner at Fritz's Railroad Cafe, and ice cream at Sheridan's (D's first ice cream cone... so messy, delicious, and cute!)

JUNE: The last weekend of May/beginning of June we went to Grand Island, NE for a mini Nunnally family reunion. D got to meet his great-grandma Nunnally for the 2nd time which was pretty special for her (he was her first great-grandbaby). At the end of June, I met up with Matt in Chicago for a quick 3 day getaway while D stayed here with Dan and Kelsie. We ate amazing food (always my favorite part of any trip), went on the architectural boat tour (you should go sometime, most definitely), watched a World Cup match at the official Chicago watch party (US vs Germany), enjoyed some sketch comedy at The Second City Improv (ha-ha-ha-hilarious), and spent time just strolling around town.

Donuts from 'Glazed and Infused"- yes, that is indeed a strip
of bacon on my maple bar :)

I ordered a flank steak salad to be "good"... it
came on a pile of fries :) My lucky day.

JULY: I worked on the 4th, so Matt's parents came up to stay with us and celebrate here. I thought D would be more excited about the big fireworks display than he was. After about 5 minutes he said, "All done, turn it off?" On his actual birthday we visited the Prairie Fire Museum of Natural History, picked out a present and explored at Fat Brain Toys, and had dinner at T-Rex Cafe including a lively version of Happy Birthday by the servers and blowing out his birthday candles by himself for the first time! His Curious George themed birthday party was celebrated with family and a few friends the following weekend :) He had a blast and I think his favorite part was playing with all the new toys with his friends after he opened them.

Say cheese! :)

Adoption Update: Unfortunately, there has been no movement in Ethiopia with referrals. There are a lot of issues surrounding international adoption that are being worked on, but in the mean time we are getting no closer to growing our family. We are currently #37 on the wait list due to families dropping out of the wait. It can be so discouraging at times. We continue to ask for your prayers for patience and wisdom :)

One and a half years!

Wow, so we've made it to 18 months! D continues to change a lot from month to month. For some reason I expected the changes to slow down after his 1st birthday but they just keep coming. Sure he doesn't look much different (other than his ever growing and out of control hair) but what he can accomplish on his own makes me so proud of him. So let's do a brief review of the last 3 months...

NOVEMBER
Matt and I were lucky enough to get to go to several end of season Sporting KC games including the Eastern Conference Cup (super cold and a win!)and the MLS Cup (even COLDER and more EXCITING, and a win!!!). Other than that, I worked Thanksgiving this year so no big holiday event like last year when we hosted everyone.

SKC FANatics!

Brrrr!

Conference champs!

Polar Vortex Cold!

Longest game EVER with overtime and penalty kicks...
MLS Cup Champions!! Woot woot!!

DECEMBER
Pretty jam packed. Matt and I got all gussied up and went to his company's swanky Christmas party, which was so great since we hardly ever get THAT dressed up (ever heard of Rent The Runway? I discovered it when looking for my party dress... my designer dress was pretty awesome!). I really wanted to help get D into the Christmas spirit this year and start teaching him about it. So some friends and I got crafty and made felt nativity scenes for the kiddos to play with and to use as a teaching tool (thanks again for the craft party Rach!). Another friend made us a felt Christmas tree for D to decorate to his heart's content (thanks to you too Ash!). I cooked my yearly "fleur de del caramels" but only made one batch, and I treasured each and every piece that I kept to eat :) But I got even more happiness out of sharing that yummy goodness with others. It makes my heart swell when someone really loves something I've cooked/baked for them, because I made it with lots of love (I'm sure this is a trait I get from my mom, who does the exact same thing which is why I gain 20lbs every time we go visit Joplin!). And of course Christmas! We went to Joplin this year and spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Matt's family. D was definitely more into opening gifts than he was at his birthday. Something I didn't foresee happening was the fact that when we opened one gift, it was nearly impossible to move on and open another since all he wanted was what he had just opened. Maybe next year I'll package them all in the same big box and save myself some paper, tape, and time :) Between Christmas and New Year's D stayed with the grandparents while Matt and I explored the slopes of Aspen! Great time, lots of skiing/snowboarding, fun shopping, good food, better friends, and of course a ski-in/ski-out Starbucks for morning time/afternoon/evening walks/anytime/every time/all-the-time... What I found so refreshing was actually some time to be alone with myself and do something I really enjoyed (i.e.- strolling through the shops in the evening before dinner with Starbucks in hand -duh!- and twinkle lights filling the trees). This rare moment of total freedom was something that I didn't realize I missed. Being responsible for no one but myself and having some money to blow was a nice treat ;)

What parents do when they have a long
overdue night out!

All D got out of our Advent Candles (that I crafted myself!)
was 'candle', 'light candle', and 'candle hot' ;)

A sheep in the sky, why not?

EVERYONE in the sky, why not?

After D went to bed I had to rearrange!

Fluer de Sel Caramels in the making

Christmas at Nana and Papa's 

Using a microphone as a cell phone of course! Haalooo???

Playing with the dog

Opening his first Christmas gift this year
(psst... it's a green potty chair!

Which he liked so much, he opened most of the
remaining gifts while he sat on it :)

Of course, Aunt E would get us the toy that
lights up and makes noise!

"A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively
flock the the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place call Aspen."
YEAH!

Matt and his buddy Scott
(a classic bro side-hug to commemorate all their
snowboarding trips together; bromance to the max)

Why can't every tree light up like this at night year round?

See ya later Snowmass!

JANUARY
Oh boy, what to say about January. Well D had 2 ER visits for problems with an inguinal hernia which turned into surgery, and we've had at least 1 sick household member all month (if not multiples). I kept thinking that 2014 was off to a bad start but I keep reigning in those thoughts, which somehow seem to tarnish a whole year (which I refuse to let happen and choose to believe that 2014 in fact will be a stellar and remarkable year for us!). So January was rough (for reals!), but looking forward to a healthy and happy rest of the year.

Visiting the ER, this was after sedation and
pain meds :)

Getting those sweet orange gripper socks on in prep for
surgery

Ridin' along in my automobile....

Coloring his "surgery buddy"

Snacking on Goldfish and water post-op

Look at those sad sad little eyes :(

So sweet to get this 

Being a snuggly bug at home after surgery

Ok, so on to the details of D's life right now!

LIKES: building towers out of anything (including spice containers, water bottles, and all sorts of blocks), being held (this is a BIG one folks), talking to Papa/Nana/Meme on the iPad (mostly Papa, who D brings up on a daily basis "papa work?" "papa's dog?" "papa iPad?" "papa hold you?" you get the idea), smelling my coffee and pretending to drink it, watching/dancing to music videos (not sure when or where this started but it was specifically and only Katy Perry's 'Roar', now it includes more Katy Perry, all One Direction, some Ellie Goulding, and a little One Republic), reading books is still a favorite pastime (I think this one has been a 'like' for his whole little life)

Can he stack it? Yes he can!

DISLIKES: baths (specifically washing hair, really?!? I didn't know he'd resist getting clean this early), being dropped off at daycare or the church nursery (there are tears every time),

FOOD: all fruits are in :) all veggies are out :( yes to nearly all starches/carbs except potatoes (weirdo!), and no to nearly all animal protein minus the turkey hotdogs and filet mignon (what is that about???) and dairy products are all in :) Man, does D love himself some milk! We do milk with meals and water with snacks. His routine day is breakfast, snack, lunch, nap, snack, dinner, bath, bedtime.

NAP/SLEEP: one nap a day that's 1.5-2 hrs long usually in the 12:30-2:30pm range, at night he sleeps from 7:30pm- 7:30am, occasionally fusses before going to sleep because he doesn't want us to leave hime, nearly ALWAYS cries upon awakening (this bothers me, I would love for him to wake up happy and refreshed instead of a sad mess), NOT a morning person (again with the crying, needs about 10 mins to wake up, stop fussing, and start being his normal self), thanks to Nana watching him during our vacation he now has to have his stuffed Broccoli to sleep with (in addition to Blankie and the sleep sack)

ACTIVITIES: playdates with friends, going to the library, rolling/throwing/kicking balls, blowing bubbles, basketball (which he has referred to as "Boom Scott!" until recently; thanks a lot Scott!), coloring or drawing with crayons/markers/colored pencils, playing with Matt's old remote control car, TALKING (man does this kiddo know how to talk, and with legit words in 2-4 word sentences; this is one area that makes our lives so easy since he can generally tell me what he wants or what is wrong), his imagination is starting to develop and it's fun to watch him pretend with inanimate objects

Concentration

Feeding Broccoli Cheerios

HaHaHaHa! I'm so funny! Broccoli can't really eat Cheerios!

Wait a minute, where are my Cheerios?

"Mom, check out this mulch!"

Cooking with Reece

GROWING: he weighs 25 pounds (45%) and is 34 inches tall (90%), wears size 4 diapers (when he's not wearing cloth diapers), and wears 18-24 month clothing

Adoption Update:
There was some disconcerting information shared with us at the beginning of January about the possible closure of international adoption in Ethiopia, however that does not look like it will come to fruition anytime in the foreseeable future. It is more likely that there will be some modifications to the Ethiopian legal system to help make inter-country adoptions more ethical/transparent/safe (but this also means more paperwork and a longer wait for a referral). In the end, we absolutely want an ethical adoption. No. Questions. Asked. But I'm also getting weary of the wait and are ready for some referral news for us! We are currently #43 on the wait list. With the number of families ahead of us that are waiting specifically for a girl or siblings/multiple children (we're requesting 1 child of either gender, which means we are nearly guaranteed a boy), we would really only need to be in the #15-20  range for a referral to be a possibility! Keep praying for our patience, wisdom for the Ethiopian government, and our child's health and those who will be loving/caring for him :)