The Big Move to Kansas City, Missouri

We're getting close to the end of our first week here in Kansas City. We spent last week wrapping things up in Minnesota. Our last night in Minnesota we enjoyed a BBQ with Ted's immediate family and loaded the truck. The truck is a was a lot bigger than it looks here, the largest truck possible at Budget.



Below are my trusty truck load crew: Ted's Dad Dave, brother in law Bobby, and brother Brad... and also dinner with the whole fam. Lucas had a good time playing with Jaden and Emmy before we left.












We left early Saturday morning from Minnesota and stopped at noon in Des Moines, IA to visit with my Grandma and Grandpa Black and get Lucas out of the car and into the pool!



We arrived safely in Kansas City on Saturday night and enjoyed a good dinner with Uncle Evan.

Evan and his girlfriend Megan were gracious enough to help us unload ALL of our stuff... and it was a lot of stuff. We went to the Plaza in Kansas City with Dave and Nancy on Sunday night before they departed for their Denver vacation on Monday.



Ted spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and today training at the hospital and testing out of some state licensing techniques. I spent the last three days being a Mom :-)

Lucas loves his new room and his pool. There will be many more photos of all of those things once we get more settled.

Ted was able to finish a test in the early afternoon and we were able to go Oasis Water Park that is just 2 miles from our house. We're big fans :-) It's a small park and is not that expensive. Lucas will be free until he is 3 years old so we will be buying a season pass for me next year and we plan to spend a lot of time there. Here are some photos from our day :-)





Lucas gets pretty tired when he's swimming... so he was very happy to snuggle up with Mommy for some time on the lazy river. His thumb took up permanent residence in his mouth for the rest of the afternoon at that point.





Even though he was very sleepy at the end of the day.. he was still smiley







We will leave you with a video of Lucas who is waiting "patiently" for Mommy to finish her breakfast and come play!!

Where Did my Little Baby Go??

So we haven't written much about Lucas' development here lately with all of this traveling! So this is a Lucas only post about all the stuff that he's up to!



Words: Ball, Hi, Buh-Bye, Dada, and Mama... usually spoken roughly in that order of priority.

Movement: Stands up all of the time... and yes! We've seen all of the first steps! He's still pretty shaky and very much prefers to hold on to a finger. We don't really blame him since he falls down so much. So.. to compromise.. he does a lot of standing up and lowering himself back down to speed crawl to things if a finger or furniture are not present.




Foods: He's open season on all foods now that are within reason for a person with only 8 little teeth. We're just finishing the last of our Similac stash and he'll be on regular people milk in another few weeks. He REALLY likes fruit so we always have to eat our fruit last. He's also off the bottle fully and enjoys sippy cups with a silicone nipple on them.



Toys: all things spherical make him pretty happy. He is also pretty excited about cars and things he can "drive". I have learned that anything involving water is a sure bet to tire him out and keep him happy.



On the emotional side, Lucas definitely claims us as Mommy and Daddy. We've had a few interactions when he let us know that he really doesn't like us holding other babies! Although he is still friendly and likes to flirt quite a bit, he really prefers to be held by Mom or Dad... if one of us aren't present Grandpa's and Grandma's will do.



Before we close... we present you with a little video of Lucas' "driving" abilities in Grandma & Grandpa's driveway in his "sweet ride" he found at a garage sale.

Enjoy! It's short so feel free to re-play for added cuteness.

Last Few Days in MN

Following our last post we have been doing much of the same! We have enjoyed another full month of our family (and some friends) and not much else! We are thankful to have this opportunity... given the change of circumstances our family will experience as of next Tuesday when Dad (Ted) starts his residency position at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, MO. We don't know much of the schedule.. but that it will be hard. Sometimes a little hard... and sometimes horribly hard? We just don't know yet. Anyway, on to happier thoughts!

We left on May 24th for Tucson, Arizona to visit Auntie Laurel. We have tons of pictures.. but we will show some of the highlights :-)





Lucas enjoyed lots of time hiking with Auntie Laurel and splashing. We also spent some time near lots of big cactuses.





Lucas spent a lot of time in his "backpack" that we bought at a garage sale a week before we left. It's a little hard on the shoulders, but he seems very happy in it and can even nap if he needs to.





Lucas also enjoyed a few days at one of the many Tucson city pools.





Along with our theme of staying cool in Tucson, Lucas enjoyed the wet kiddies area at the Tucson Zoo.







We also enjoyed a Tuscon Toros Baseball game..



Other than a few more hikes in the desert... we really just enjoyed some time with Auntie Laurel and we can't wait to be able to spend time with her again!