A day with Deana

I've told you before how much we love Deana Rose. She's plain awesome. 

And always brings the biggest smiles.

These two cuties (of course I'm talking about me and Amy, not the kiddos) enjoyed her recently on one of most beautiful weekends in Kansas City. 

Can you believe it's October and we're still getting almost 90 degree days?

Warmer weather means the hat is still around. Seriously, how can a kid be so obsessed with the same hat? 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm sort of looking forward to the end of warm days. Just so that tattered, no-longer-a-fedora, worn-out hat can go buh-bye.

But I will miss the hat.

Seeing his face light up at its shear existence. And how he says "hat" and begs to put it on.

The way his little ears fold over while wearing it.

Yeah, I'll miss that.

While feeding the goats, my innocent boy expected them to have the same independence as himself.

He walked right up, placed the bottle down in front of him and just waited.

I could hear him saying, "Here's your ba ba goat, drink up."

 He was under amused with the feeding part, but what can you expect from an independent toddler who has a five second concentration span.

But he did like petting the animals. 

And pulling their ears.

 

This little miss just looked cute on the sidelines while her cousin ran rampant everywhere.

She even practiced posing for Innocent & Precious Babies Magazine.

Soon enough, they'll be causing trouble together.

Then, Brian and I won't be the only parents climbing claustrophobic barn shafts filled with gobs of kids to get to the top of the slide.

But, these smiles are worth it a thousand times over.

These two. The Angel and the Monster.

 Just kidding. Carson's isn't a monster, but Maddie is definitely an angel.

They make a pretty cute pair.

Welp, it's been a while.

It's been more than a month since I posted last. A month and a half to be exact. Embarrassing.

However, I have managed to post 42 pictures to Instagram since my last blog post. But I can't seem to find any time for my little ole blog. Sigh.

I'm pretty busy at work. We're still doing projects to get settled into the new house. Weekends are never long enough because they are always jam packed. And Carson of course, keeps us on our toes.

There's been other things that we've been up to. Like dealing with a dog I've threatened to get rid of.

Yep, I said it.

He's not taking this whole new house thing very well. I keep telling him that this change is awesome, but he's just not getting it.

Maybe if I find some time here soon, I tell you guys more about that reject hunting dog of ours...that's about to become a reject family dog.

I kid. Sort of.

Speaking of changing, my baby is so BIG. I can 't believe he will be 2 in two short months.

He's just as ornery as he was two months ago, but a bit more adventurous. Phone calls from his school about him falling and cutting his lip or bumping his head barely phase me anymore.

I never thought I would be so relaxed about blood, but this kid is too accident prone.

Every day, he says a new word or phrase that just shocks me. He's literally repeats everything we say, so we really have to watch it.

My favorite is when he repeats expressions, Oh no, Alright, Yeah Right, Oh Yeah. It's so funny how he uses the same tone as we do, and holds out specific parts of phrases. Ohhhhh yeah.

Yesterday, he dropped his vitamin in his lap while eating breakfast in his highchair. He had to fish for it under the tray to find it, but once he did, he held it up and said "I got it!" I thought it was the cutest, of course.

He still loves adult shoes, but it has expanded into socks too. If you are wearing socks, he will ask you to take them off or reach down and do it himself.  Kid goes after what he wants.

One of his newest obsessions is playing in the car when we get home (while it's off and in park of course). He climbs from the front seat to the middle seats, to the very back, and then repeats. He then puts the key in and tries out the windows, the wipers and the lights. Next is the middle console and glove box. He also loves to open and close the car doors. It seriously keeps him entertained for 30 minutes straight.

While we're talking about doors, he can open every unlocked door in the house. Yikes.

I've got plenty more to tell you about this stinker, but I'll spare you and just post the 42 photos I've already posted to Instagram in the past two months.

I'm telling ya, I lead a really exciting life with this toddler.

Seriously, I do.

Makes me smile every single day.

Friends, you can follow me at kutterchaos.

 Greek Yogurt. Never seen anyone eat so much yogurt.

 That's my kid in the dryer. No judging. He crawled in there himself.

The only way he'd wear the plastic bibs. Sheesh.

His favorite. Wagon rides.

 I'm already looking forward to next year's pool trips. C is looking forward to spraying people with the hose.

Child labor.

 This is what I get in return for child labor.

 Cousins. They are exactly one year apart.

Carson's very rad rocking zebra.

More proof of his shoe obsession.

 The Bill.

 Time at Grandpa's on that fall day in August.

Begged to ride again, but we let him play on the germ-infested park equipment instead.

 Yep, still hates haircuts.

Future tattoo artist? Or catholic priest?

A face of a future wildcat headed to Manhattan for a game.

 I admit it, comb overs are handsome.

 Mowing with Uncle E.

 Bridesmaids Reenactment.

His first science experiment.

 Sucking on peanuts. Oops.

Wagon ride while holding mommy's hand:).

   Fall is here.

"The Day I Stopped Saying 'Hurry Up'"

My cousin posted an article on Facebook last night.
The Day I Stopped Saying 'Hurry Up'

It could not have hit me in the forehead any more head on.

The first paragraph sucked me right in.

When you're living a distracted life, every minute must be accounted for. You feel like you must be checking something off the list, staring at a screen, or rushing off to the next destination. And no matter how many ways you divide your time and attention, no matter how many duties you try and multi-task, there's never enough time in a day to ever catch up.

Dead on.
After my post yesterday, I could have sworn this article was written for me.

The story about the little girl, the message, the lesson. I loved it from top to bottom.
It really inspired me. And made me think.
And confirmed I need to make an effort to change some things.

While my problems are more associated with the organization of my life and less with rushing my child, the part about lists, multitasking, rushing through life and never catching up couldn't be more true.

The last line really got me.

I will not say, "We don't have time for this." Because that is basically saying, "We don't have time to live."

Ya know, it's funny how certain things happen at just the right time. This article, popping up in my news feed on a day I was feeling so frenzied and exhausted with my lengthy list of to dos.

Just last week, Brian and I argued (yes, we argue) about balancing time at work and time with family.
Do we do a decent job of balancing? Well, yes. 
But could we do better? Of course.

We really struggle during the week and simply can't find something that works for us. And our baby is almost two years old. I swore we would have it figured out by now, but we don't.

Getting home close to 6:00 makes for a hungry toddler and those two hours every night for five days straight are really, really tough.

Monday through Friday, and that two hour nightly routine brings out the worst in all three of us.

I hate it.

And I realized it last Friday when something spoke to me.
Something in my head told me to be spontaneous.
Leave work right now, go run an errand for myself, pick up Carson early and go to the pool.
Make time to relax. Time to be spontaneous. Enjoy time with your family.

It's pretty uncharacteristic of Brian and I to leave work early on a whim.
And that's the part we argued about. He needed to work, I wanted him to leave to join us.

I prayed that night for guidance. Help with finding ways to slow down, finding ways to make more quality time, and help with controlling my feelings of getting things done.

This life of chaos is our new normal, at least for now. And although it's messy a lot of the time, it's extremely beautiful. To put it simply, I just need to learn to let go every now and then. BOOM. Just let go.

While some of my personal characteristics and imperfections will never change, I can find ways to be more spontaneous, carefree and stop being so critical of perfecting every single thing in my life.

I want my family to enjoy the best parts about me. Not the frenzied, over-analyzing part that makes me want to hide sometimes.

...things taste sweeter and love comes easier when you stop rushing through life.

Find time this weekend to be spontaneous my friends. Happy Friday.

 TOP | beer during bath + stinker face | Good Company antique store | enjoying the new play set

MIDDLE | peek-a-boo | floatin' and relaxin' | so proud. meanwhile, mom is hyperventilating

BOTTOM | the fish light switch covers win | pool time | toddler in adult shoes + the best dog ever

Problems

If I said we were settled in the new home, I'd be lying.
We've been scrambling every single night,
and staying up WAY too late in an attempt to get our home in order.

Unpacking, organizing, contemplating, rearranging, arguing.
You know...all the joys that come with moving into a new house. 

Sure, we have all the necessities put away.
But we're talking about an over-analyzing, nag-the-husband, perfection-seeking, want-everything-done-right-now human being.
I have no clue who would act like that.

I can't stand having my life out of whack.
The same reason why I can't handle one thing in my house being out of place.

Let me give you a little insight.

I can't go to bed with dishes in the sink.
Clothes are never lingering outside of my closet/dresser.
I pick up my house every night so that the little things don't pile up.
If Carson's clothes aren't laid out for the next day, I consider myself behind.
I can't sleep if things aren't "in order."

Y'all. I'm anal. A fast-paced, organized freak. A perfectionist. A worry wart about the details.

So, when I tell you that I still have unpacked boxes in the basement,
and things not hung on the walls,
TV remotes not programmed correctly,
and garage tools still laying on my kitchen island,
dust bunnies, and cabinets, and bathrooms, and blinds that have yet to cleaned,
and Carson's toys everywhere,
just know that I.am.going.absolutely.bonkers.

However, we do have one amazing kitchen (more to come on that). Finally.

But, we still don't have a kitchen table. I just cringed.

Oh! In other exciting news (not), Carson is now climbing out of his crib. How fun.

20 Months

My sweet boy.
My germ-infested, dirt loving, rambunctious, destructive all-boy of a child.
How are you 20 months old?

You are so ornery.
And you are most definiltey spoiled.
Which I said would never happen.

You scream or whine if we don't do it your way.
And you can be really, really gross.
But I love you more every single day.

Even when you head butt me.
Or smack me in the face.
Or throw a toy at me.
You even think it's funny to kick sometimes.

We are doing our best as parents.
To discipline you. And tell you no.
You despise going in timeout.
We want you to be a good boy.
And you are, mostly. 

You have a sweet side that melts my heart.
Especially when you say "Ahh luh ooo"
And you still give open-mouth kisses. 
You go in phases of preferring mama over daddy, or vice versa.
But, let's be real, we all know you're a mama's boy.

Your favorite things are shoes, hats, cars, bikes and lawnmowers.
More like obsessions.

You wear your hat 24/7 when at home. Seriously.
We can't pass the riding mowers at Lowe's without you yelping "mowwwww!"

You are talking so much now.
Our favorite game is saying all our friends names at school.
Lainey, Mallory, Alex, Grady, Logan, Jack and Miller.
And Ms. Patty and Ms. Heather, of course.
I love it when you point all of them out to me when walking in the room.
It's just the cutest. You talking.

You're still obsessed with the book Go Dog, Go!
We took a 2-week hiatus, but you're back to requesting it. "Go Go!"
Another bedtime fave is looking at photo albums.
You can point out Nana, Gammy and cousin Maddie.

Kid, you finally ate ice cream and requested more!
We've only been trying for eight months.
I was beginning to question if you were my child.

Speaking of food, you're still a good eater.
Still love you some fruits.
You've tried a lot more junk food in the past few months.
So if you see a bag of chips laying out, or any snack for that matter,
We better be ready to give in or fight back.

It's not abnormal for you to have bruises.
In fact, your legs are constantly covered in them.
You have no fear, kid.
And are constantly falling down, being too adventurous, and testing the limits.
Only now, you like for mama and daddy to kiss your boo-boos.
"Do you want me to kiss it?"
"Yeeeah" (in the most pathetic voice ever)
I swoon every time.

Working full-time makes things really busy around our house.
And most times, I struggle to even get dinner on the table.
Our entire house is never clean all at the same time.
And nights with you are never long enough.

Baby, you take every single ounce of my energy.
And sometimes I lose my patience.
But, that smile, and sweet little laugh makes it all worth.
So very worth it.

You are everything to us, sweet Carson.
Big Boy. C. Stinker. Stinky. Stinks.
I promise we don't really think you stink.