Back and better than ever - my girls are home!!!!

Age of Lady Kaitlyn:  21 months and 8 days

Family,

And a good Friday afternoon to you from the Queen City, where the Bull and Striker are frantically

K LOVES this hat - she wants to wear it to bed.

trying to cross off all the "to-do's" before Christmas break starts.  For my part, I've just wrapped the last "must do" for work, and I can already feel the stress slipping away and sliding off me.  But hey, plenty to cover for this blog, so let's get amongst it, shall we?

First and foremost, let me happily affirm that the Bull is in MUCH  better spirits for this post than the previous one.  In fact, I think writing the last post truly helped me make piece with the event - dare I say the loss - and between that cathartic experience, a good run to clear my head, and - most importantly - having my girls back home, I am in a much, much better place.  If anything, I feel that my spirit is once again renewed, and I feel much more focused on making every second count with Jenny and Kaitlyn and ensuring a) they know how much I love them and b) that I can make as many memories as possible.


Most of last week was something akin to an out of body experience, as Jenny was in Florida with Kaitlyn while I was living the life of a bachelor back here.  Add in the fact that it was race week (which means no booze and an odd sleeping schedule due to nerves), and you have a guy who slept worse than normal, only to wake up to a silent house and on some days go to bed without having spoken to another human in person.  I was so desperate for normalcy that I slept with Kaitlyn's monitor on so I could at least have the familiar light pattern in the bed room (even if it focused on an empty crib).

As is the case with my work trips, I spent last week watching my daughter grow up in pictures.  And as is also always the case, Jenny was terrific to send me photos of K throughout the day.  I just cannot say enough how much these pictures always pick me up - especially when work is grinding me down.  Seeing the smile on her face and reading Jenny's captions is without question the highlight of my day when they aren't around, and given how tough the last couple of weeks have been, they were absolute lifesavers.

Jenny said that K was an angel in both directions on the flight.  The flight down wasn't full, and so K even had her own seat.  JT did say that the rental car was a bit of a hassle (particularly the car seat), but on the whole the trip was smooth and sounded terrific.  K ate like a champ - she started the trip with Italian sausage with lemon yogurt dessert! - the entire time, and I'm pleased to report that she added many new dishes to her taste bud repertoire.  She got a chance to go to the Tampa Zoo as well, and the photos were GREAT!  I think she really loved it, and I wish we had a zoo in Charlotte.  That being said, we've got lots of nice things here as well, so I'm not complaining - let's just say I'm looking forward to taking her up to Asheboro for a visit to the North Carolina Zoological park. :-)  Some of the highlights from Tampa:

"In reviewing the map, I think we should kick off our campaign of world dominance here..."

"Um, those goldfish sure look yummy..."

"This depiction of an apple is FASCINATING."

"BECAUSE YOU SHOULD ALWAYS EAT TOPLESS!!!!"

K loves her some Kona...even after the lickfest that occurred 4 seconds after this was taken.

Too cute...

Our little AD PI in training meeting Alphie.

The first half of the trip was down in Tampa with Sarah, Steve, and the twins, and I think they all got on like peas in a pod.  I think K and Mac are a little more of the same temperament, so needless to say we'll all have to make sure Malin isn't the "instigator" when they get older.  That being said, the photos of the three of them were PRICELESS.  K can even say "Mac Mac" and "Mae Mae" now, and she can point to both of them when asked who is who - too cute!  For me, it's thrilling to see them starting to get to know each other, and I know we're committed to ensuring they all grow up together.  Of course, if the end result is K saying she wants to go to Gainesville for college, then we could have some family drama.  However, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. :-)  Oh, and did I mention that Steve taught K how to headbutt?  No comment...except to say that K LOVES IT NOW.  Awesome...

The second half of the week was spent up in Orlando, dividing time between Jenny's college friends Katie and Julie.  JT said it was great to see K in action in a different environment here, as K loved the older kids toys.  We've learned a lot about "the science of play" and the importance of the right types of toys lately, and I'm very keen to see what we get at Christmas.  I'm thinking we'll have to augment some of the gifts with other toys that we've seen K play with (and enjoy), but I also want to be

JT, Katie, and Julie look at little different than
 the photo I've seen on JT's 21st birthday...

cognizant that we don't want a million new toys in the house come January 1.  Largely it takes the form of cars, trucks, or "compound activities," whereby you do something and then watch the cause and effect of further motion/transaction.  And yes, I realize that all of this might sound crazy, but as I think about 2015 and all the big milestones coming up - potty training, changing rooms, moving to a big girl bed, starting daycare, etc - I can't help but start to think about what I have to do in order to set each of these activities up for success (and can't help wondering if I coasted too much in 2014 and sat on my laurels :-)).

#Chargeon!

K and JT got home Tuesday afternoon, and words CANNOT EXPRESS how happy I was to see them.  K has been all about daddy lately, and I have LOVED THAT.  I will say it was tough on my Wednesday and Thursday since I was uptown and barely saw her either day, but we've managed to play a bit today and will for the next 9, so I take a lot of solace in that.  I've had so many hugs lately, and the smile I get from her right now is just beyond anything any man deserves. :-)  I will say that, as per standard, it's INSANE the changes that have already taken place with her in the week we were apart.  "Bath" is definitely a new word in the vocabulary, and you can tell that her syllables are definitely getting closer to describing what she's looking at.  She's taking stairs without my help now (just keeping a hand on the wall), and she's even gotten much better at using the i-Pad!  We spent about 10 minutes using it, and she gets the concepts of swiping, the home button, pushing buttons to see things move, and is even working on the "hand contraction" whereby the app closes and it goes to the home screen - CRAZY!  I was especially floored when she picked up her toothbrush Tuesday night and said "Elmo" out of the blue - WHAT!?!?!?!!?  Apparently she's a huge Elmo fan now - Grand Pooh will be quite excited to hear that based on a recent acquisition...:-)


The rest of this week has flown, and JT's been a ROCK STAR getting things crossed off the list.  She even made it to Mindy's house yesterday (yep - she's back in CLT!) to see their new munchkin Seth.  Hayden was thrilled to see Kaitlyn and tried to hug her about 5,011 times.  K, however, was NOT as impressed and never responded with an embrace.  In fact, she actually just usually ended up running away and calling for "mama." :-)

Okay, I know that was a lot, but I wanted to get this done and dusted ahead of leaving for the Tacy's tomorrow.  The next post will be December 29th or thereabouts, as we'll be away for Christmas all new week, splitting time between South Carolina and Tennessee.  Hard to believe there's only 1 more post left in 2014!

That's all the news that's fit to print - Merry Christmas!

Love,

Sam and Jenny