Juggling Our Way Through Life

Food trucks are all the rave right now! Today we went to Crestwood Court (the old Crestwood Mall which is now closed) and they had an event called Art Feast where they showcased some work from local artists and had about 10 food trucks. The kids and I went with our friends Susie, Tyler and Ella and had a blast. Great food and the kids had so much fun playing together. Cale figured out for the first time how fun it is to roll down a hill. He just started by running up a hill and then just started rolling. I didn't say anything to him about it, he just started doing it and man the smile on his face was priceless. It amazes me how he just figures stuff out or just ventures out and tries new things on his own! So cool to watch. Cale-you amaze me everyday kiddo. Momma loves you lots!


Cale showing us his hotdog from the hotdog truck

Cale is just in that stage right now where he is testing the limits all the time! He is just figuring out boundaries and I get that kids do that, but sometimes it's exhausting. And boy do you have to be on your guard and consistent. Kids totally need consistency. You can't be telling them no on something one day that is important to you and then the next day let it slide. They remember. Right now Cale is into to asking both parents. If I tell him he can do something, then he goes and asks Jeff what he thinks of the same thing. Jeff and I have figured him out on this so we just say what did daddy or mommy say and go with the other person. I also feel sometimes like he is opposite man-we'll ask him if he wants to do something and he will say yes, then immediately say no even if it's something he loves to do like go to the train station. It makes no sense to us. There are still lots of tantrums over the most minute, silly things, but in the thick of it Jeff and I just try to remember he is testing his boundaries. It's so not easy! The good far outweighs the bad though. Cale constantly has us laughing, loves to talk, loves to imagine, is a sweet, kind boy, and has the best smile in the world!

Seriously Aiden,
Could you get any cuter? You are just such a mellow baby and so happy most of the time. Even when you aren't feeling good, you still smile. I think you might be getting your first teeth this week-lots of drooling, runny nose, and a little fussier than normal, but still such a happy baby. This momma loves you more everyday! And you are such a little chunk. I love it! At your check-up with the surgeon last Friday you were 15lbs 5 oz and 25 inches long!.

The 2nd weekend in September was jam packed with family fun. We went to the Forest Park Balloon Glow. We had a great time with family!


Family shot at the balloon glow

Mommy and Cale. Cale was a little scared of the balloons this night because the wind was blowing and blew a few of them almost completely over so he held tight to me or Jeff most of the night!

Daddy and Cale

Mommy and Aiden. He loved looking at the balloons when they were glowing!

Balloon glow

Grandma and Grandpa Koziatek joined us at the Balloon Glow


Aiden loves to sleep like this

Father and son



Hanging with Mallori

The Energizer bunny

Cale at the Greentree parade


Mallori, Kaia, and Daphne

Balloon

Hanging at the parade

This was Cale's first parade and he was so amazed by it! He would point at stuff and say "look, look" and get this huge grin on his face! It was so cool to watch. He really liked getting candy too.

This is how we sometimes roll at potty time. Cale likes to sometimes line his animals up on the bathtub to watch him go potty. On this particular day he lined all the animals up on the tub before going potty.

We went to the lake house for labor day. We had started noticing some blood in Aiden's stool before this weekend, but it had gone away. Then we noticed it again on Sunday so called the doctor's after hours line and they said we should bring him to an emergency room. We took him to Children's Hospital emergency room where they did a physical exam and felt a bump next to his kidney. They did an ultrasound because they thought the kidney was infected and found a mass next to his kidney, but not involving any organs. Luckily it wasn't a tumor, but they were thinking some kind of cyst. It was the size of a golf ball and we met with a surgeon, Dr. Saito, who was amazing who explained what it was to us and that it would need to come out. It was a blessing in disguise that there was blood in the stool or else we might not have found this cyst. The blood in the stool was totally unrelated and just a sore that was bleeding, it actually was gone by the following day. We went ahead and scheduled the surgery for September 8th since I was still on maternity leave until the 12th. Dr. Saito wasn't sure if she would be able to get it laparoscopically or if she would have to make an incision to get it out since it was pretty big for his body size. Jeff and I were pretty nervous since he would have to have anesthesia and we didn't know if he would have to have a big incision cut into him. Thanks be to God, she did not have to cut into him, but was able to get almost everything with the scope. She removed 95% of the cyst, the last 5% she didn't get out because it was in the back muscle and she didn't want to hurt that. So the cyst was sent to pathology and it came back as just a vascular invasion. Since it was a vascular invasion, Dr. Saito does not think it will come back. We will follow up with her in 6 months and with an ultrasound and then at a year and then only follow-up again if Aiden is having abnormal symptoms.

Well, I just can't keep up with the house, blogging, life in general especially now that I have gone back to work! I can't believe I haven't posted since August. I took some pictures at the beginning of September documenting our house as it normally is on a day to day basis. It's even messier now that I am back to work! Keeping up is even harder! We just do the best we can and I have learned that if it doesn't get done then it doesn't get done. I think the hardest thing now that I am back to work is getting the meals made. I am starting to use my crockpot more and Jeff has started doing daddy pancake nights where he cooks pancakes and eggs one night a week which is lots of fun for Cale because he loves to help him make the pancakes. Here is a day in our life through pictures.


Train videos

Lots of swaddling!

Unmade beds

Lots of nursing and use of the boppy pillow

Dishes in the sink and on the counter!

Cloth diapering-we started at 2 months and so far it's going well

Pack n play in the living room for the 1st few months of Aiden's life, it's in our room and we hope to transition Aiden to his crib in the next month or so in Cale's room


Train table-Cale plays with this everyday and loves it

Our crazy, barking dogs, Bailey and Addie

Jeff working from home on his computer