Our little helper

Everett has been fascinated by the dishwasher for awhile now.  I have been hurriedly closing it any time he approached since one would expect a toddler to terrorize it.  Recently we discovered that those fears were largely unfounded.  Everett hasn't been wanting to terrorize, he's been wanting to help.  Here's a series of photos Bonnie took the other day capturing our little man in action.  Sorry for the grainy iPhone pics.

Wonder who he gets the dishwasher fascination from?

STL

This past weekend we took a mini road trip to St. Louis to meet up with some friends.  We primarily stayed with our friends Matt and Carly and their two awesome twin girls.  We were then joined throughout the weekend by other dear friends Adam and Mary Kate from Chicago, Colby from Madison, and Polly/Austin/Adelyn and their newborn son Tyler.  It was a house full of kids, laughter, joy, naps, and great conversation.  We were sad to leave when the long weekend was over. 

The twins rocking their new Barbie mobile.  How cute are they?!

There was a lot of park action! 

We even braved Target!

This is how we roll. 

Aunt Mary Kate getting some cuddles with E and Tyler. 

Everett and the twins living life together.  I loved watching the three of them eat meals together, especially because the girls inspired Everett to try some new foods. 

Mary Kate holding baby Tyler, Polly and Adelyn, Carly with Reese and Peyton, and E and I. 

Just the kiddos! This is one of the best pics we've ever had with them together.  It may have helped that I was bribing my child with brownie if he sat on the step...

Then Matt and Carly busted out a Slip N Slide!!!! E had SO MUCH FUN!

Before we knew it, it was time to head home.  Everett decided to give "baby" some milk on the ride home (after he twisted baby's head backwards).

The only thing missing from this great weekend were our other great friends, the Jaegers! We will be heading off to visit the Jaeger family next weekend in Minnesota for our first big summer adventure.  We have 2.5 days left of school and then we're off for the summer! Wahoooooo!

big boy

Everett has been so much fun lately and is getting to be such a big boy.  Last weekend we had two major milestones in the Meyer house; we bought a potty and a toddler bed for E!  

Everett has become more vocal about "poo poo" and has been super interested in the toilet lately.  We, however, are not mentally and emotionally ready to jump right into potty training but we thought it couldn't hurt to have a little potty around just in case "the moment" struck E.  Additionally, E may or may not have almost fallen all the way into the big toilet one time while we were letting him "try it out" so we thought it was time for this kind of purchase.  

This one makes noise and he is obsessed with it.  What were we thinking?

Some of you also know that Tom and I love bargains and especially garage sales!  Garage sales are ridiculously great for getting little baby/kid stuff for a slamming good deal.  Last weekend we hit the jackpot.  

We found a Sit N' Spin (a fav toy of Everett's at Miss Patti's) for $2 bucks! 

We also scored a handful of other baby items for Mini Meyer, like a baby bath tub (we left E's in Korea) for a few bucks and a Diaper Genie for three bucks (do those even work though? I'm having doubts...).  Everett also scored a Royals T-shirt, a sophisticated cardigan, and some new shoes for $3 total. I normally don't flaunt how much we spend on things but I just can't believe what great deals you can find at garage sales! 

The score of the weekend, however, was E's new bed!  We never dreamed of buying one of these bad boys but we saw it while driving through a neighborhood garage sale and it captured our hearts.  It was in excellent condition and came with a quality mattress for fifty bucks!  We of course were on our iPhones before we purchased this and saw that brand new these run from $250-300 dollars! What?!  So after some discussion we decided to go for it.  

We made sure to wash it off and clean the mattress. Above you can see that E got inside while Tom was putting the car back together after we washed it.  Then E had to try it out (sorry for the blurry pic below). 

We decided that E's current room will become Mini Meyer's room so we moved the bed into the playroom (aka E's Big Boy Room) for now.  We're going to paint the walls this summer and move Everett officially into his new bed after the room is completely ready.

 Lastly, see that drool?  Poor little guy has his 2 year molars popping through.  This is tough stuff folks! But he is mostly handling it like a pro.  It's just another reminder that our little guy is becoming a big boy! 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2013 was awesome!  Going into the weekend Everett brought this hand print home for me from Miss Patti.  Miss Patti (E's babysitter) does such a good job of making every holiday special with cute, thoughtful gifts and/or crafts.  

On Mother's Day morning Tom and Everett hooked me up with some great gifts.   I got a new cell phone cover with E and I's picture on it.  Mini received his or her first ever clothing item, an "I love my big brother" onesie.  While I was pregnant with Everett my mom got me a pregnancy calendar to keep track of fun milestones (or not fun ones--like canceling our trip to Puerto Rico this year because of morning sickness).  I was meaning to order one for Mini Meyer's pregnancy but kept forgetting. Good thing Tom totally hooked me up and got me one for Mother's Day! He also thought ahead and got another milestone calendar for Mini Meyer's first year of life.  These calendars are great for me because I'm terrible at keeping track of a baby book but I'm decent at jotting down thoughts on a calendar. 

We then had a great breakfast with Granny and Gramps and my brother and sister-in-law. 

E looks a bit goofy in the picture below.  We have a heck of a time getting him to take pictures. 

 I'm so dang thankful to be a mom to Everett and Mini Meyer.  It's such a joy.  And I would be remiss if I didn't give a big shout out to Tom for making Mother's Day so special and for being such an awesome partner in the crazy, awesome journey of parenthood. 

Mini Meyer Update--Almost 18 Weeks

I think I have officially turned the corner in this pregnancy! I haven't been on my anti-nausea meds for about a week, I haven't thrown up in about 2+ weeks, and I'm feeling much better overall.  I still feel pretty tired throughout the day but that could be just because I'm working and chasing a toddler around.  

I wore these Sea Bands on both wrists throughout the first 17 weeks. They are supposed to help fight nausea.  I'm not sure if they really worked or just helped my sanity, but I literally only took them off to shower.  Although I appreciated their presence, I'm glad to be free of them. 

Tom got Mini Meyer this onesie for Mother's Day.  It's Mini's first clothing item; so cute!

And here I am at almost 18 weeks!  The bump is definitely growing.  If you want to see a fun comparison, click here to see when I was at this same stage while pregnant with Everett.   It seems like Mini is progressing similarly to Everett. 

Oklahoma

At the end of April we had a randomly scheduled three day weekend (which we were pumped about) so we decided to take a short trip to Lawton, Oklahoma, to visit Tom's parents.

Everett loved spending time with Grandma Jean and Grandpa Meyer! 

Grandma Jean and Grandpa Meyer wanted to get E some "Oklahoma clothes" so we did a bit of jean and boot shopping.  E walked away with some really cute stuff (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!). 

We also tried out a Korean restaurant in Lawton.  E loved it.  We do not have a good Korean restaurant near our house so it was fun to eat some Korean goodness.  We had bulgogi that reminded us a lot of the bulgogi served at GSIS! 

As these next few pictures show, the thing we probably enjoyed the most (aside from the great company) was just being able to play outside!!!  It was sunny and warm...perfect for a little boy to play around and get dirty. 

Hands down E's favorite thing was to play with the rocks in their water feature out back.  We ended up with a pretty good rhythm of Everett moving/throwing rocks and Tom going back to put the rocks back where they came from. I don't think Daddy enjoyed it as much as Everett. :)

Above you can see the lake that is practically in Tom's parents backyard.  We took E on a short hike to the lake where he got to do his favorite thing, play with rocks.  He was a tad grumpy for the walk back so he ended up cuddling with Grandma for the walk home.  Good thing it's a short hike--bubs is heavy!

After a full two days in Lawton we headed back home for the 7.5 hour drive.  For the most part E did a really good job on the drive, which is comforting since we are planning quite a few road trips this summer.  It was so fun to see Tom's folks, be in Oklahoma, and get away from KC for a while.  Since I have been struggling with morning sickness we had been feeling really cooped up at home and it was great to get out in the sunshine with people we love! 

Almost A Decade

I received a great surprise at school on May 1st! 

Tom sent me a bouquet of flowers with a sweet note.

The flowers bring a sense of spring time cheer to my classroom, especially since the weather has been gross (SNOW IN MAY....WHAT?!).  

Nine years ago on May 1st Tom and I started dating.  That's almost a decade of Team Meyer's existence! Dang.  I am one blessed lady!