Public Service Announcement

Fair warning- during my 2 am feeding the word "HalloWEEK" popped in my head.
So... That's going to happen.
#sorrynotsorry
He already had enough costumes hanging in his closet to do it.
I have a problem.
I invite you to join me in dressing your child (or dog) up every day of the week leading up to Halloween.
Because it's America- and we can.

Visiting Daddy at Work

Daddies are amazing people.

They do things like read you "Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?" WHILE you are wearing your Polar Bear Polar Bear Pj's.

(yes, yes those are his first pair of big-boy pj's instead of sleepers- freaking adorable)

Even after a long day of working (at work AND on the house).

Today we decided it was time to have our weekly family lunch date AND visit Rico's office.

Apparently they had been asking.

A lot.

In fact, they didn't know if I really existed.

(he has 2 photos on his desk- I am in neither)

So, we picked out an outfit.

Ok, ok, we picked out 4 outfits and made Rico choose

He chose the least dressed up/ accessorized one.

I should have known.

We went to lunch at maybe one of my favorite new finds- a "gastropub" called Public.

thanks again, google image search

Eli was a grump, so we'll have to have a do-over at some point.

Then, we went over to Rico's office.

Everyone was very sweet, and Eli put on a good show (aka: lots of dimples were shown)

Then, we saw WILLIE in the back office!

 Eli REALLY liked Willie

As he should.

We went down to the lobby afterwards where there is an actual bank. It is old and cool, and I wanted to see it, so we pretended to have very serious business.

Yes, very serious business indeed. 

"Hmm, let me just grab this brochure here…"

Pumpkin Patch'n

1 week ago, at Sunday brunch, Aunt Joni off handedly said, "Oh, I know, we should go to the pumpkin patch next Sunday!"

And then this happened.

Rico's family is amazing.

They got a pavilion and all the aunts and grandparents brought 

food 

and drinks 

and more food

and caramel apples 

and more food

and s'mores fixings

and cupcakes and Texas Sheet cake

and cider

Eli was asleep at first- so we explored some games while he slept in his Tula. 

We swang on a potato sack swing

 …while he slept

 We climbed up a ladder through  a tiny hole in a clubhouse and then slid down...

 …while he snored

 We went down an even larger enclosed TUBE slide

 …while he napped

 We bounced on rubber horses while he caught some zzzz's….

 We balanced on a hanging tube and swung back and forth with daddy while he was in dreamland...

and we ate.

This, THIS is what woke him up.

Babies REALLY hate letting their parents eat.

Moving on from the "Why baby wearing makes life more fun" portion of the blog and onto some actual pumpkins!

If you think you saw this picture at the beginning of the blog already- you are wrong. It is ever so slightly different, and therefor warrants being posted too (in my version of life)

 We went with his cousin Grace to the closest pumpkin field (no hay-rack rides for us this year) and checked out the pumpkins.

 We pointed to pumpkins

 Sat on pumpkins

 banged on pumpkins

 and even tried to stand on a few pumpkins

 but we didn't pick any.

 You see, mommy and daddy are cheap- and those pumpkins are large.

and our baby is small.

So we agreed that we would grab one of the little baby sized pumpkins on the way out

and so we did. Eli did what any 6 month old would do. He put it in his mouth.

Hey, at least it is a vegetable

 (don't even try to argue with me that it is a fruit or I will have to give you my lecture)

We did some other fun things while we were there. 

One was sans Eli. 

Last year at Halloween I was pregnant, so I couldn't do it- but this year- THIS year my womb is empty

SO I GOT TO JUMP ON THE BLOB

Oh, I look super confident, huh?

Let's zoom up a bit

Yes, a bit more "oh crap, I can't change a diaper if I break my wrist" than carefree.

We also tried our hand at a corn maze. Please note Ashleigh's face. 

Yep, that about sums it up.

Eli actually slept in the tula through this too…thank goodness because the way Rico was off roading with the stroller, rolling over downed corn stalks like speed bumps at 45 miles per hour…

poor little Eli would have popped right on out of the stroller if we had left him in.

And, my favorite event of the trip- the corn silo.

It was like a giant deep sandbox of CORN

I think that counts as our sensory play for the day.

Eli got tired…so it was time to leave

One last photo op on the way out

 I got jealous so I got in it

We got to the car for a feeding and diaper change before the long drive back home.

That's when it happened.

I opened his diaper

and found the biggest surprise in all these 6 months

ESPECIALLY since he is still exclusively breastfed

So I documented it

For you, really.

The poor boy had been hanging out with corn stuck in/on his butt for the last hour. 

I think you can imagine all the nooks and crannies they managed to stick to.

These are the sacrifices you must make for fun my son. 

A corn tushy.

Worth it.

Run Ladies, RUN!

Eli turned 6 months old.

He spent the morning downtown cheering on his aunt Emaleigh and basically aunt Maggie as they ran a half marathon

Actually, he did that twice. 

I…ummm…well, I got us all up early Saturday morning to be sure to get to the race. We were sleep deprived from watching the Royals go into extra innings, none of us had showered, and we were cold. 

But I insisted.

We got downtown and didn't see ANY runners.

Ok, one old guy, but he was a fluke.

I texted Maggie- 

"Al, it's tomorrow"

Rico. was. pissed.

You see- I have a history of doing things like this.

AND he sacrificed going to the dump to go- and he reallly needed to do that.

oops.

Well, we might as well make the best of it,

the first stop was breakfast. Rico needed caffeine and comfort food to make him less hangry

We went to a dive called "The Beacon".

They had Reece's Waffles.

Obviously I ordered them. 

My friend Jess took a picture and told me to get down there so my face could be in it. Normally, a photo this awful of me would immediately get deleted,  but 

#1- look at that waffle 

#2- maybe that is my penance for making everyone go downtown for a non-existent race

 We went down to the farmer's market after breakfast…let's just say, it is not even close to KC's.

 It isn't even as good as our little Lee's Summit one! 

But we went, and now we know.

 Sunday we ACTUALLY went to the race.

It was still chilly, and we were all still sleepy...

But we bundled up and had a great time

Here's the hipster version of that same photo…where Eli is too cool for the situation

 We even ran into friends who were also watching Maggie!

We capped it off by going to Jess's hotel to say goodbye (the same hotel we had our reception in)…and we got 2 Starbucks frappacinos for $2.80. 

What?! 

How does that even happen?!

We needed that caffeine, because up next we had the pumpkin patch!

Very Important People

Our son is blessed to have a LOT of favorite people. 

He sees his grandparents pretty much daily (both sets), and has formed a secure attachment with all of them.

No stranger danger here.

There's Grandma Jaye and Grandpa…

they love to have fun

 Here's one of Eli's favorite new things…he loves to lean in at you and rest his head on your head…like how the cone heads kiss. 

Minus the creepy noise.

Then there's Nana

 and Papa

 Here's a picture from that same day that was too cute not to share. His cousin Lizzie is going to be a big sister to a little GIRL soon, and she is learning to help with baby things.

Then, there's his friend Jess

Jess visits from KC

 Here they are watching the Royals win some sort of important game…

waaaay past his bedtime

because she knows I can't say no

 She was my friend first, but I don't think that matters, because they have a bond ALL their own.

There are lots more, but these were all pictures from just the last week that made me think- 

WOW, Eli has a lot of love from a lot of people.

…and I have a really deep babysitting bench (oooh look, a sports reference!)