I LOVE Richmond! I love our house, our neighborhood, the weather, but mostly I love that we have all the amenities of a big city without the big city feel. One of the best things is the Children's Museum that is about three minutes from our house. It has this awesome train that rides every hour and Kenna loves it - hence why she calls the place the choo-choo-zeeum. She knows the route we take to get there and anytime were near it she draws a big, excited breath and screams, "the choo-choo-zeeum!!!" It is pretty funny. The other day Nate was home with us so we decided to try the bigger museum downtown. Apparently we picked a day booked solid with field trips or community outreach programs or something because it was packed and the big kids paid no attention to Kenna. Fortunately we found a haven for 3 and unders and had a great time.
Funny side story - the other day Kenna and I were eating frosted mini wheats out of the box before I left for work. When Lix got here I gather my stuff, kissed my baby and headed for the door. Kenna followed me screaming. At first I thought she didn't want me to leave so I started to pick her up to give her a hug. The child dodged my hug and grabbed my water bottle. Her mouth was packed full of dry mini wheats and she was dying for some water. After she got her drink I was okay to go.
This has been a source of irritation for Nate over the past year or so. We have this very nice ottoman at the end of our bed that Nate likes to sit on to put his socks on in the morning. The only problem is that is is generally covered with my clothes to the extent that he has a difficult time finding a place to sit. I kept telling him I would do better at putting my clothes away, but I didn't. After racking my brain I finally figured out what was preventing me from putting away my clothes.
Until recently, my closet has literally been bulging with clothes, to the point of near explosion. Ironically, however, I found that my wardrobe consisted of the same four tops and three bottoms mixed to create the same seven outfits that I wore over and over again. Rather than have to find space for them in the closet and then have to dig them out again I just left them on the ottoman for easy access.
Anyway, this weekend I decided to clean out my closet. It took an hour an a half, but it is done. I got rid of clothes I have had for six years that I never wear (about 10% of what I got rid of) and clothes that I have sadly come to realize will never ever fit me again (the remaining 90%). It was rather depressing to say good by to so many nice clothes that I love, but it has been two years since I've worn them and I think that is long enough to hang onto them. I did let my self keep 1 drawer of clothes that are still too small, so this time next year I can clean that drawer out and get rid of them too. I ended up with 2 over-stuffed trash bags full for Goodwill, 1 trash bag for my sister and one overflowing laundry basket to try to consign. I am down to less than a quarter of what i used to have, but it all fits me. I now also have approximately 5000 empty hangers if anyone needs some. And the best news of all is that I can now put things away in the closet with confidence that I will be able to find them again. That being said, I am open to taking donations so that I may once again over stuff my closet.
That was a lot of talk just to say this - ever since my clothes have vacated the ottoman, Nate's have taken their spot. I just can't get him to put anything away.
Now for the stuff everyone actually cares about, Kenna -
--She has recently learned to ask question, "uhpooh bear is?"
--Marshmallow = "mee-suh-so"
--She has learned that she can get down from her highchair by telling us she has to poop. This is bad because now whenever she doesn't want to eat she says, "uhpoop! uhpoop" and we are not always sure if she has to go or if she just wants down.
--My favorite thing she says is when she wants you to come with her, "uhmommy come on."
--When Kenna wants something she just puts "I" in front of it, "I gasses" or "I bye bye"
--She now knows nearly every single word to the Temptations version of "My Girl" and will belt along to it when inspired to do so and she is getting pretty good at the words to "diddybum" (Do Wah Diddy Diddy)
Kenna's latest obsession - "gasses"
"bowsey dumpy" (bouncy jumpy)
"I riding. Uhskoo bus"
We bought a "berlie" feeder for Kenna this weekend. We had our first visitor to it this morning. Kenna was ecstatic. "uhpockorn
We've been trying to teach Kenna to skip. She thinks its fun.
I thought I would share this. Before Kenna goes to bed, we always read her a story. It started with If you Give a Mouse a Cookie but quickly evolved into the tons of others. Her favorite is If you Give a Cat a Cupcake. I had no idea that she paid attention when we read, but apparently she has picked up on some of it.
For those faithful fans of my career, I have spent a couple weeks up in Madison Wisconsin getting trained and certified in two more applications for work. I am getting certified (after classes, projects, and tests) in the Labor and Delivery application of the electronic medical record and in the physician orders piece as well. It is a great opportunity and I am very lucky that my bosses allowed me to do it.
The bad part of it is that I have to leave my family so much to go to classes. I decided that I can never travel full time for work no matter how much money I would make because I miss seeing my baby and hanging with Kenzie. I feel bad too because Kenzie has to be a single parent while I am gone, which is never all that much fun.
But - here is a gem from my travels. I was eating at Chilis in the Detroit airport and sitting alone at my table reading my Kindle. I am reading Neptune's Inferno which recounts the history surrounding the naval battles around Guadalcanal. The waitress comes up to me and says "What are you reading?".
I realized I was in an airport speaking to a waitress so I replied "I am reading a book about the naval engagements during World War II in the Pacific."
She stood for a moment and I could see that she was thinking of something to say next. She looked at me and asked "Is it a true story?"
Wow. How many historical fictions are there about World War II?
My trips have also been fun because of the hippies in Madison protesting against the governator. I have been lucky enough to go eat downtown and have mingled with the protesters. I generally try to fit in by yelling strike and random stuff while I am down there. It is pretty crazy. Only in Wisconsin. Some college-aged kids asked me if I wanted to fill out a note and tape it to the door. I asked them what I was supposed to write about and they told me "whatever makes you upset right now about the situation." I wrote "I still love you Brandon Davies" and put it on the door. They looked at me with a weird stare but I didn't care, I wrote what was in my heart. Sniffle sniffle.
