June 2013
The very first weekend of June was spent up in Philadelphia for Paul, Kat, Dan, Maureen, and The Adorables. To make things a little “easier,” we divided and conquered; Reagan rode up with Grandma and Grandpa and John and Larkin rode up with Kat and Paul. According to her grandparents, Reagan was beyond amazing for the entire car ride, even with the famously horrible DC traffic. John and Larkin were amazing in the car as well. Although, no matter how good they behave, managing two toddlers, especially two toddlers who are potty training for a 7 (or turned out 9) hour car ride gets quite exhausting. The kids talked about the big tunnel (through Baltimore) constantly, read books with Ki, colored in their coloring books, ate lunch/snacks, and when Ki and Paul needed a short break, they watched a kids music DVD, which turned out to be a life saver (although I think we had those songs stuck in our heads for weeks after the trip).
The kids and adults had a very nice time in PA. We stayed at Doug and Vanessa’s house. Reagan enjoyed getting into anything and everything she could at the house, including Doug’s electronics, illustrating just how much baby-proofing they still have to get done before their Baby O’Brien arrives. John and Larkin loved going to the local playground, going to a swimming pool with friends Sara and Bennett, and playing soccer and baseball in the back yard with Uncle Doug and Aunt Nessa. Vanessa’s baby shower was a beautiful occasion, filled with lots of love. We think Doug and Nessa should have most everything they need to help them prepare for Baby O’Brien’s arrival. At the end the shower, Doug, Grandpa, Paul, and the kiddos showed up to say hello. John, Larkin, and Reagan had a blast running around and playing with the other kids/babies. Many close friends and family were in town for the shower and it was wonderful to spend time with them.
After a tiring trip home from PA, Paul and the kids (2 weeks later) drove up to DC to visit Tom, Stacey, Ben, Alex, and baby Brooklyn for Brooklyn’s christening. They were joined by the rest of the Kindem clan, Nan, Hap, Papa, Pete, Sase, and Lindsey and AK, so it was quite an exciting weekend for the kids, as they love seeing their cousins. Everyone went to the Air & Space museum and loved looking at all the airplanes, sitting in real airplanes and seeing the space shuttle. The grandchildren played kick ball in the front yard, read books together, and ran around the house naked (at least the young one’s). The only mistake Paul made was sleeping with all three kids in the same room the first night. John woke up around 3:30 am from a bad dream, which woke-up Reagan, which woke up John, which kept Reagan awake, etc. etc. etc. Paul tried to calm her for the next couple of hours, but Reagan wasn’t having it, so Reags and Paul had an early start to the day. Larkin somehow managed to sleep through the entire thing; she is quite the sleeper! You live and learn, so the next night Paul put Reagan’s bed in the bathroom and she slept all night. For Father’s Day, John and Larkin made their Daddy World’s Best Dad trophies, which the whole family finds quite fitting.
John, Larkin, and Reagan started swimming lessons this month with their Nana and Bapa and Daddy. They love being in the water and Baby Reags is so brave that it doesn’t even phase her when she gets dunked. John and Larkin are great little kickers and swimmers and we have no doubt they’ll be swimming on their own in no time. After all, they have to get ready for a trip to Watauga Lake!
We also had a visitor this month, Kat’s friend Rachel (Ray) who turned out to be even bigger of a hit than she has been in past visits. Larkin took to her within the first 30 seconds that she walked in the door. It was amazing to see. Then Larkin kept repeating, anytime Ki and Ray would leave for a while, “I don’t want Rachel to leave, I don’t want Rachel to leave.” Oh Lu, our little broken record player. Rachel brought them some cute, colorful Adirondack chairs and they had a blast moving them around, sitting in them, forming a “train” all weekend long. Reags was placed in her green chair and just sat and enjoyed all the excitement around her and loved being involved in John and Larkin’s games. It really is sweet to see how much J&L want to include Reagan in what they are doing. The love they have for her is truly beautiful.
It is amazing how fast Reagan seems to be growing up. She is now constantly walking with the assistance of someone holding her hand, or while she holds the side of a table, bench, etc. She is able to stand on her own without assistance for about 20 seconds before falling on her behind, and she keeps trying to take those steps, so we have no doubt it will happen any day now. Reagan had her Early Development check-up towards the end of the month and seems to be doing very well and her abilities and responses are on par or exceeding other babies of her age. We are quite proud and always impressed by our little Reagan Roo.
Larkin decided to give us all quite a scare at the end of the month. While playing outside with John, she fell on the driveway, hitting her elbow first and then the side of her head. As Nan picked her up from the ground she was not crying and immediately fell back from Nan’s arms and her body became rigged, her eyes glazed over, and she stopped breathing. Maureen immediately ran to the house and directed Kat to call 911. After a very long minute (one in which Nan was thinking she was going to need to administer CPR) Larkin started to breath normally and came back to consciousness. By the time the fireman and paramedics were at the house she was feeling and acting fairly normal. The paramedics checked her out, but with a head trauma of that magnitude we immediately took her to the ER. Larkin was evaluated at the ER and had a CT scan to make sure there was no internal bleeding. There was none, thank goodness. Larkin was amazing during our 3-hour trip to the ER. She was very brave during her evaluations and CT scan, and seemed to enjoy staying up late and having lots of individual attention. Larkin appears to be fully healed (except for her bruised elbow), but we’ll keep an extra close eye on her for a few days, just to be sure. John was a little out of sorts last night, as it was the first time he’s ever gone to sleep without Larkin in the room with him, but he woke up in the morning in good spirits and they both immediately started discussing the fire truck and ambulance that came to visit and when they would come back. With three young and active kids running around, this will undoubtedly be one of our many trips to the ER, but I’m hopeful that the next ones will not be as terrifying.