J the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, V Bad Day

Happy spring!  Isn't it amazing what coming out of "hibernation" can do for the body and soul?  And relationships?  It felt like we hadn't seen our neighbors in months, and now, we see them nearly every day!

Coming to you today to expand on what I originally intended to be a short Instagram post.  Not the first time I've had more words to share than I thought we appropriate for a caption.  

If you're familiar with the book the title of this post references, I'll tell you that Jacob's day on Monday may not have went down exactly like Alexander's, but I'm fairly certain he'd use the same adjectives to describe it.  It was truly the worst day of his life...in my memory, at least.  To be fair, there may have been worse days very early on that I've either forgotten due to the he-can-do-no-wrong newborn phase or due to mom-brain.  

Either way, Monday was a day like no other, for him (and therefore, me).  For at least 50% of his awake, non-eating time, he was whining/crying/lamenting and inconsolable.  Usually, if I ask him what's wrong (Are you hurt?  Are you sad we left the park?  Did you want that toy instead of this one?), he'll stop crying at least long enough to say "Yes," if not longer, to hear me out and make a plan to make it better.  On this terrible day, though, everything was wrong and nothing was fixable.  We even ran and errand and went to the park, and while these outings provided a bit of reprieve, it was short-lived.  (For example, while we were are the park, he simultaneously wanted to stay there and go home...)

This unexplained behavior/emotional roller coaster of a day left me feeling baffled and exhausted.  I didn't say as much to anyone while it was happening (mostly because I was trying to appease the unappeasable kiddo and/or trying to get anything else done), but I'd filled Bryant in a bit.  When he came home and saw things hadn't gotten better after naptime, he promptly sent me out of the house.  I had planned to run some errands after he got home that evening, but he told me to be sure to get supper while I was out doing those, and generally, take some time to myself.

I enjoyed a lovely meal - outside!
SPIN Pizza had sent a triple-points promotion I didn't think I'd be able to take advantage of, but I did!  You know how I love to take advantage of a deal. 
It was delicious and wonderful.

While I didn't think my time away was necessarily necessary, Bryant (once again) knew me better than I knew myself.  I needed quiet and peace and stillness.  I needed be able to relax and know someone else was in charge of J for a bit.  I needed to receive their videos where both said they loved me (J's was unprompted and included a blown kiss).  I needed to come home to find a tiny garbage truck, which I knew was requested (because they're currently J's favorite vehicle), drawn complete with details I would've never thought to include.

Driving down the road to pick up those two trash bags, of course.

As usual, I do not intend to brag, though my amazing hubby deserves to be bragged about. Rather, I just want to be transparent share this "low" among so many "highs" that come across our feeds.  Jacob really has been a pretty easy kiddo thus far, and people often comment on how happy and easy-going he is, and he IS.  He has his not-so-happy moments, though, and apparently, days, as well.

(While we're on the subject of transparency: Jacob has also developed a grabbing/pinching habit...both at home and at library storytime.  At home, I can react and correct, as needed, but it's so hard to know how to break him of this habit in public.  He doesn't do it hard enough to hurt anyone at the library, so those kiddos just look at him like, "Hey, man - what are you doing?!"  By the time I notice and get to him to tell him "No," the moment has passed, and he doesn't necessarily have any visible remorse.  We practice gentle touches both in and out of context (immediately after an incident, as well as unrelated to one), and we talk through how we should treat people (even by name) SO often.  I'm having a hard time not being self-conscious about it, and I struggle to remember this behavior is not a reflection on me or our parenting.  Of course, we're not telling him to grab people and/or pull hair - quite the opposite, in fact.  It's just his way of acting out/testing boundaries, at the moment, and I feel bad it is sometimes at the expense/discomfort of others.)

Anyway, the next day, he was almost completely back to his normal, mostly-agreeable, happy self (which I quickly realized I often take for granted).  We went to CFA for some free breakfast, and even saw a (green!) garbage truck in action while we were there.  The day was not without some tears and whines, but it was definitely more normal for us both, and for that, I was very grateful.

My CFA date. ♥
He was up for taking a picture, but apparently, was going for the "16-yr.-old after mom's already taken 473 pictures" look.
I showed him the picture and asked where his smile was... 

...and he voluntarily went back and tried again.
☺

I just couldn't pass up this jacket for $3 at a consignment sale last season.
Also, he chose to wear his church shoes, rather than his every-day tennies. ♥

Thanks for letting me safely share all of this.  I realize this kind of day may be the norm for some kiddos (with or without behavioral diagnoses) and probably seems trivial for those who are dealing with children's health issues, etc.  Some of you may be thinking "He's almost two - this is just the beginning of the "Terrible Two's," of course."  For us, though, this was an uncharacteristically bad day, and again, I wanted to share about it out of appreciation for my husband AND in an effort to keep it real up in here.  😉

With greater distance from the end of my rope than two days ago,
Kensy
😉

Favorites of the day:

open windows

new friends

...especially ones who bring you little tiny cinnamon rolls...

...and sweet primrose plants...because she knows you love little things.

This face.
(Brought to you by a fun egg decorating contraption Bryant's family brought on their recent (super fun) visit).

My younger man ♥

This is one of those posts I started several months ago. I've added a few things since, but it's mostly as I wrote it then. Glad to be able to share it now, though, because today is the subject(my husband)'s birthday! Please enjoy this post about how wonderful he is and join me in celebrating him! (Yes - he's younger than me, but not by much.)


I just need to brag on my husband for a bit. Not in a "my husband is better than yours" way, or anything like that. Just in a "he's amazing and I want to publicly thank him" way.

Here's the thing:

We often say, "We sure got a good baby!" Not only is he so precious and adorable, but he's also just been an easy baby. He's spoiling us, for sure.

That being said, there have been hard days. Some of those hard days may be the norm for other parents; some of them may be on par with what others experience; some may be worse. Regardless, they get to me, sometimes. I've been labeled a "high achiever," "goody-two-shoes," and a "perfectionist" at various points in my life. I can't help but get down on myself and feel as though I've failed when even the smallest thing doesn't go as it should. (And I can't function well if something is unresolved/out of place/lost/etc.) So, needless to say, when I don't know exactly what to do for my baby and/or nothing I try seems to work, I feel like I'm failing him. Because of my woman's "spaghetti" brain, this permeates into every other aspect of life, and I end up feeling like I'm not succeeding at anything - esp. at being a wife.

Those hard days when I'm feeling like a failure and can't seem to figure out how to function normally are the days when my husband shines especially bright. He never fails to greet me with a hug and a kiss, regardless of how I look or feel. He asks how he can help and/or observes a need and meets it without being asked. He gives me what I need without me knowing I needed it. (Examples of this include: sending me to Target with instructions to get a Starbucks drink and look around a while, even though we only need one thing; clipping a mani/pedi coupon and making sure I go redeem it; finding a Groupon for a massage and sending me to redeem it only after I go get something I want for lunch; taking the load of laundry I just pulled from the dryer and telling me to stay downstairs to watch figure skating while he folds it upstairs.) My personality type does not do a good job of self-care. Self-initiated self-care makes me feel selfish/guilty/unproductive. I'm getting a little better at it, but only because my husband strongly encourages me in this department. I've fought him on it at times, but he stands his ground, and I always come out better for following his instruction. And though he totally deserves to do so, he doesn't even say, "Told ya."

I may have said it before, but he's just such a great dad...and a great husband to me as a mom. He works hard for our family and comes home excited to spend time with us and ready to help however he can. We've continued to do lots of work on our house (more on that later), and I'm continually amazed at all he knows how and learns to do!

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary in October, and in addition to taking me out for dinner (sans baby for the first time, thanks to some dear friends), he also got me these very thoughtful gifts:

Red roses, because that's what my bridal bouquet was comprised of.
The traditional gift for a third year anniversary is leather, so he arranged to have this special sentiment printed on a piece of leather! ♥ 

Though I wrote most of this post months ago, it still all rings true today - perhaps even more so! I simply can't imagine life without this amazing man by my side, and I'm so very thankful for him and the life we've built together.

Happy birthday, Bryant!☺ Love you so much! ♥

With-all-the-heart-eyes,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

consignment sales

podcasts (let me know if you'd like recommendations!)

This tiny cake, because #moderation, but also #birthdaycake. ☺ 

The "pregnancy card"

Happy Valentine's Day, dear friends!

Hope this finds you happy and healthy (a pretty fantastic feat this time of year...the healthy part, I mean)!

I realize my posts as of late seem to have a theme (...it starts with a "p"), but that's because this is all new for me, and new life experiences are some of the things this blog was originally created to share.  ☺  

I've been trying hard not to play the "pregnancy card" too frequently, and never unnecessarily, the past few months.  Others encourage me to do so more than I care to, as it is!  haha.  My sweet husband is on the receiving end of this excuse more than anyone...he's often the one who takes the figurative card from me before I can even pull it out...and he's been so wonderful about it!  

Anyway, the other day, we started our baby registries (no, we don't know what we're having, yet)!  While this was really exciting and fun, it was a little overwhelming and tiring for this child-carrying girl.  It wasn't a problem - just giving you a little back story here.  We were in a part of town we don't often frequent...and a part of town that is home to The Cheesecake Factory.  You know my love of cheesecake, of course, but due to my lack of sweet tooth, lately (I know...I don't even know who I am), I was more excited about taking advantage of being so close and getting some actual food there (rather than just dessert)!  Upon approaching the hostess counter, however, we discovered it would be over a 30-minute wait.  Normally, this would be fine, but we were both quickly getting more and more hungry, and hungry and pregnant don't mix well.  So, we decided to try again another time and pick up something a little faster this time.  As we started to pull out of the parking lot, though, I started to cry...just tears, at first, but the snot and sobs came rapidly once my hubby started asking what was wrong.  There were a lot of contributing factors to this meltdown, but at the time, the only explanation I could muster was, "I just wanted some Cheesecake Factory bread."  (I've always loved their bread - that wasn't new.  But the apparent urgent "need" for it?  That was new.)  Next thing I knew, we were back in a parking spot and that man I married was headed back into the restaurant.  I kept crying, but this time, because he was being so nice.  And I KEPT crying when he came back with warm bread and butter a few minutes later, because he told me they gave it to him for free!  He'd played the "pregnancy card," and they took pity on me...or maybe him?  Who knows, but either way, they gave us free bread!

Speaking of having babies...I'm going to be an aunt so soon!  My brother and sis-in-law are ready and waiting for the arrival of their baby boy.  Thought I'd take a moment to share a little bit about the shower I got to help throw for them.  It was so much fun!  ☺  

Can't take credit for the book theme idea, but sure enjoyed helping execute it!

I'd made these (with the help of that awesome Cricut owner I know) almost immediately after finding out they were expecting, and was so excited to finally be able to give them to them!

Would love to hear any pregnancy stories you'd like to share!  And we're always open to suggestions about baby things we shouldn't try to live without.  ☺

As usual, thanks so much for reading, and enjoy your day!

More cool-calm-and-collectly than the other day,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

Girl Scout cookies!

flexible work schedules/students

annual Valentine's Day roses ☺

Reason(s) to celebrate in February

Can't believe we're already halfway through month #2 of 2016 - wow.  As my husband says, "Time's fun when you're having flies."  ; )

You may have guesses about what the subject of this post might be - we'll see if you guessed correctly.  Here's what your train of logic might have looked like:

This post is about February.

February is host month to Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is about love.

Therefore, this post is about love.

If so, you'd be partially correct.

What you may not have known, however, is that February is also Bryant's birth month (which means even more chocolate and goodies and celebration at our house).

So, with your blessing, I'd like to tell you about the wonderful man I married and some of the reasons why I love him so much.

(If you've blessed this post, read on; if not, this is where you can stop reading.)

As we draw closer to the halfway mark in our second year of marriage, we'll be the first to tell you that marriage is an adventure, a learning process, a growing process, and a beautiful mess.  Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it is unbelievable, sometimes it heals, and sometimes it is so, so joyful.  It isn't always easy, but gosh, it sure can be fun and amazing and wonderful.

It's really difficult to explain how marriage can be all those things at once, so I'm not going to try.  What I would like to try to explain, however, is how my husband makes our marriage and life together better with each passing moment.  

(Which means I'm going to write a list, because that's how I get through life: lists.  haha.  But seriously - can I get an "Amen!" for Post-its?)

In no particular order (except for the first one):

• He is a God-fearing man who regularly shows me a picture of Christ's love for His church.  He encourages me to seek the Lord first and dig deep into His Word.  He prays with me and for me and leads our family to follow Jesus in all we do.
• He loves me unconditionally and makes sure I know it.
• He is so smart!
• He isn't afraid to kiss me in public.
• He is funny.
• He asks about and is genuinely interested in the happenings of my days - no matter how big or small.
• He is kind and thoughtful.
• He plays with Charlie (the cat).
• He leave me notes.
• He remembers things I don't and doesn't blame me for forgetting.
• He makes me surprise breakfasts (and other meals).
• He can fix anything!
• He is always willing and wanting to help, not only me, but also those around us - strangers included.
• He encourages and supports me in all I do.

I could go on and on.  I am so thankful for the man I married and get to spend my life with.  Praise the Lord for bringing us together!

Please join me in celebrating him today/this week/this month - he deserves it so much!

Continuously falling for Bryant,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

my husband!

birthday coupons/deals/etc.

quality time

28

Hey all, and Happy Fall!!!

As you may know, I turned 28 at the beginning of this week.  (Fun fact: this also meant, as my mom reminded me, my birthday fell on the same day of the week that I was actually born.)

I don't think I've admitted this super-publicly, but recently, I've been forgetting how old I am.  For real.  I felt so silly when I had to do the math a couple times over one night when I was explaining to Bryant about forgetting my age earlier in the day.  I don't know what the deal is...and while trying to figure it out, it has occurred to me that the ages between 25 and 30 (or maybe 29) seem to get smushed together.  They're just kind-of there...as placeholders after the 25 milestone...while you wait to turn 29 so you can prepare to enter into your 30's.  Can anyone relate?  Maybe this is just a way for me to justify the fact that I legitimately thought I was 28 for a time during my 27th year.  Ha.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a bit about how I rang in Year 28:

As you also may know, I've signed up for approx. 52,873 birthday/rewards clubs...which means I receive approx. 52,873 e-mails with special birthday offers in the weeks surrounding my birthday.  You'd better believe I capitalize on as many of those as possible...esp. the "no purchase required" ones!  (And you should, too!)  So, birthday festivities began well in advance of the actual day with this gem:

The night before my birthday, my sweet husband organized a surprise birthday dinner!  I was under the impression just he and I would be enjoying supper "out," but when we got to the restaurant, I was greeted by these sweet people!

There was even a complimentary birthday dessert!
They used cocoa for the stencil...we were wondering, too.  ;-)

My hubby got to spend nearly the whole day with me the next day!

We got an early start on the birthday festivities with Scooter's and a new donut shop.

The donuts were enjoyed at a new-to-us park and were followed by some exploring.

Those are locks on the bridge!

We didn't come prepared to leave our own...but maybe someday.  ☺

Also found some railroad tracks...

...and there was a train coming!
(Don't worry...it wasn't actually coming right then.)

Our next stop was the beautiful Overland Park Arboretum.

I think idyllic is the word.  ☺

(Not pictured: a bench by a babbling brook where we stopped to read for a bit, as well as a bird-watching cottage.)

These were little tiny wooden houses placed in an old tree's trunk!

Lunch: self-explanatory. ☺

There just happened to be a cupcake shop next to Chick-fil-a, so we decided we'd better try it.
As luck would have it, they give free birthday cupcakes!
Pumpkin Spice Latte and Choc. Chip Cookie Dough were our flavors of choice.

Bryant had a dentist appt. in the afternoon, then came home with flowers and made me a delicious steak dinner...

...and cake!
This is an aerial view of it with candles (2 and 8 for 28) - it's called Earthquake Cake...and it was so yummy!

I felt so celebrated by so many people!  Calls, cards, gifts, and wishes came rolling in all day!  I'll admit that a good percentage of the cards I received had cats on them...

Pretty sure if there was a literal key to my heart, it would be a cat-shaped Target gift card...or a tiny red vase...or a childhood-favorite snack mix with mini Doritos in it...

Received this pretty package in the mail...complete with a baby whisk!

This is what was inside!  Can't wait to put it to good use!  ☺

Not pictured: the gift of in-tune music in the form of piano tuning!  Hooray!!

Also not pictured: a sweet, thoughtful, precious gift from my husband.  Maybe I'll tell you more about it, someday.  ☺

I really can't put into words how thankful I am for yesterday and all it brought.  I never expect much (if anything) for my birthday, but I always receive beyond my wildest dreams...and not just in the form of tangible gifts.  The friendship, thoughtfulness, and love shown to me are more than I could ever ask for...and it all means so very much.

A great big "THANK YOU!" to all who helped make the day so special.  And an even bigger thank you to my husband.  He made me feel so celebrated and cherished all day.  I'm so very thankful for him and all he does!  I won't gush anymore, right now, but gosh, I love him!

Thanks for letting me share with you all!  I hope you are well and enjoying the last few days of September - can you believe it's almost over?!

28-ly,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

surprises

Post-it notes

the opportunity to attend a great piano teachers' workshop and win this door prize:

Pretty fitting, huh?

Life is grand!

Hi.  ☺

We're going to skip the small talk today, if you don't mind.

Based on this post's title, any guesses about what the news I'm soooo excited to share with you might be?

The short story:

WE GOT A GRAND PIANO!!!

The long(er) story, which happened in about 3 days' time:

My sweet husband had been wanting to get a piano for our home since I moved in.  We had the keyboard I'd had growing up, but I hadn't had regular access to a real piano (the one I teach on at the community center is electric) for quite some time.  So, he'd been looking for one on Craigslist for months.  We'd been to look at quite a few in person, but they were mostly duds or over-priced.  We originally planned to find a cheap, smaller "starter" piano for the sake of our budget and our little starter home.   Buuut, then he found one that we both felt really good about - an antique walnut 6-1/2' grand that had recently been re-keyed...and they were only asking $500 for it.  I was trying not to get my hopes up about it, but we both felt better about it than any of the previous "potentials."  

Ultimately, we went to look at it, it was in really great shape, and we said, "Yes!"  AND, after sharing our story and asking what their lowest price might be, we got a hefty "newlywed/piano player & teacher" discount!  They were very nice people.  The piano was a family heirloom, but no one had room for it, anymore.   I think they were just glad to see it going to a good home and to know that it will be played often and loved lots!

Bryant and a coworker did a ton of research about how to go about moving a grand piano, and in an evening's time, we were able to gather the necessary materials to prepare for the process.  I have such an intelligent, handy, helpful husband!  (It's worth mentioning that among all this piano hoopla, he also spent hours and hours working on his car, yet maintained his excitement about our piano!)

Come moving day, we rented a U-Haul, and my awesome husband and ever-helpful dad made the trip to pick up our grand piano!  I stayed back to make final preparations (and keep my slight anxiety about the whole process at home...haha).  We called up some great friends who provided much-needed muscles and help with the truck-to-home transition.

It all went so well - we managed to catch the window between afternoon rain showers, nothing got dropped, everything fit, and it just went so smoothly!  I attribute that to my thoughtful husband's preparedness, my dad's advice and prior experience, and our amazing helpers!

Here are a few moments from the day:

And they're off!
(Unfortunately, we didn't miss the rain in the morning, so we were all soaked after picking up and loading stuff into the truck!)

They gave us a bigger truck than we paid for, so there was plenty of room!

A perfect fit!

I had the privilege of unloading the first piece!
(Just to be clear, it's the lid prop, not a gun!  haha)

Yes, I was the photographer.  The muscly men did a great job!

Debut performance!

So, just to give you a couple before/after glimpses:

Isn't it so beautiful?!?!?!

It's really in amazing shape for being almost 80 years old.  As far as we know, it just needs a good tuning.  Of course, there are probably lots of other things we could do to restore it to it's 1936 glory, but for now, we're going to love it just as it is!

I can't begin to express how thankful I am about this.  I'd say it's a dream come true, but I never dared to dream I'd have my very own grand piano to play whenever I want to - especially at this time in our life!  A huge thank you to my husband for making it happen!

Wanna know the kicker?  I've always loved playing pieces by Jim Brickman (a famous piano composer/performer).  The first piano piece I played for Bryant was "Rocket to the Moon" by Jim Brickman - a piece I've had memorized since the 5th grade.  (This was the piece I played for our piano's debut performance, too - even though it was terribly out-of-tune.)  Anyway, the family we bought the piano from left a couple books in the bench for us.  One was a really interesting Japanese (or perhaps Chinese) version of a beginning John Thompson book they'd gotten for a foreign exchange student once-upon-a-time.  The other?  A Jim Brickman book...that has "Rocket to the Moon" in it.  Just further confirmation that it was meant to be.  ☺

Thanks for reading and for sharing our excitement!  You're welcome to come over to play and/or hear it anytime (after we get it tuned...unless you just can't wait, like us!).  ☺

Grand Piano-ownerly,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

my sweet, loving, hard-working husband

our new piano...of course

garden-fresh pesto