.goodbye naps.

Kathryn seems to be officially done with naps this month. Sometimes that reality makes me want to cry. Gone are the days of 3 hour stretches of uninterrupted time in the afternoons. ( I know, welcome to the real world). BUT this new change has not been without perks-

-Kids REALLY in bed by 7:45! (HUGE improvement from the bedtime battle til 9:30 or 10)
-Kathryn started sleeping in again til close to 8am, a nice change from the 6:30 morning routine she was pulling there for a while.
-Several nights of uninterrupted sleep for us (improvement from a nightly visitor knocking on our door at 2-4am)
-More productivity for me in the afternoon, oddly enough. I guess since I don't really feel "off duty" anymore, it makes me keep working.
-Less computer time for me, which is probably good. Is it really all that fruitful anyway?

I'm definitely needing the Lord's strength every day, as some of these days are looooooong. Still in the process of training Kathryn to have "rest time" even if she doesn't nap. Some days more successful than others, most days not at all restful for me. But I think she'll get the hang of it. Any tips on this from you experienced moms?

.life around here.

Summer has officially begun, and I think I'm actually starting to like it! Coming from someone who has complained about the humidity and stayed inside in summers past, I think summer is coming to the top of my favorites. A few things I love about summer- pool, slip n slide, bubbles, flowers, container gardening, fresh veggies, blueberries 99 cents a pint, grilling, air conditioning, long naps (at least for one of my children- guess who).

Beach Pics

Okay, so we've been back from Holden Beach for more than a month now. And I haven't posted since April. Well, for those of you who are still reading the blog, here are a few pictures from our trip. We spent the week with the Lechners and Seavers ON the beach, which was fantastic. Going "off season" made it super affordable, and we had a great time. I will say, this is perhaps the first vacation where I really felt like a grown-up, realizing that if we (the parents) didn't clean up and make meals, no one would. It was one of those weird reality moments of feeling like real adults (I know, it's about time!)

.the kids. 7 under 7. not bad.
(and Daniel is only slightly outnumbered!)

.love my blue-eyed boys.

.us.

.daniel.

.miss k.

Kathryn

Sorry I've been so absent from the blog. Just trying to get caught up on life after being sick with sick kids for a week. I thought I'd give a little update on each of the kids, since I haven't done that in a while. So we'll start with miss K.



Kathryn is full of life, personality, opinions, and sweetness. And she is ALL girl! Her favorite things to do are dress up (the picture above is how she's dressed most days) and play with her princesses. She seems to have an eye for beautiful things, something we have not had to teach her. The other day we were in Hobby Lobby, and as we passed by the silk flower section, Kathryn danced down the aisle, spinning in circles, saying in a dramatic flourish, "Oh Mommy, it's like a dream! The flowers are as beautiful as I've ever seen! It's like a dream come true!" I started laughing right there in the store. She loves wearing dresses (it's like punishment for her when I make her wear jeans or pants) and loves when I dress up too. She'll look at my dresses and say, "Oh, Mommy! We're both princesses now!" She also has started 'singing' around the house, usually to her own little tune with her own made-up words. Her songs will go something like this:

"The Glory of God!
Jesus died on the cross for our sins
I have a bunny and blanket
The window is shut
I have princesses
I have a nightgown hanging in my room..."

It's pretty funny some of the stuff she incorporates into her little tunes.


Nick and I have both noticed a lot of growth in Kathryn, as she's learning to respond to our directions and obey. There are definitely still challenging days, but on the whole, I feel like Kathryn is much easier to parent. Probably the hardest situations for me are when she has emotional meltdowns about the smallest things. Although these days are hard, I'm thankful that God has given me a window into my own weaknesses, as I see so much of myself in her.

Along with growing in obedience, Kathryn is getting a lot better at sitting still as well as entertaining herself, which makes my life a lot easier. Our recent thing has been reading the kids version of the "Pilgrim's Progress." I'm amazed that she'll actually sit and listen for 20 or so minutes while I read. Granted, her favorite chapter is one titled "The Fight." Along those lines, we had to banish Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe from her movie repertoire for a while since her favorite part is "the part where the lion is killed." Hmmm, still some work to do... :)

About 3 or 4 months ago, Kathryn started expressing how much she loved Nick and me, which is so sweet. She'll just be walking around the house and randomly say, "Mommy, I love you!" Those moments in motherhood are so precious. I try to savor these sweet times. I think I'm realizing more and more how sweet and precious this time is while the kids are little, and everyone keeps telling me how fast it goes by, so I'm trying to soak it all in. And while I don't think I would have said 2 was my favorite age, 3 is so much fun!

Daniel

Hard to believe Daniel is one already! He is, as we call him, a "boogie." He definitely getting more personality, which is fun to see. For the most part, he continues to be a very easy-going little boy, with a few exceptions to this. His sweet countenance can turn on a dime if he either wants food or has something taken from him. Then his face turns red and he screams. Oh dear.

I finally got all the locks on the kitchen cabinet, which has frustrated the Young Explorer's plans on several occasions, much to the delight of his mama. And we had to start officially training the said Young Explorer to not touch the dishwasher when the same mama found him holding a Cutco knife! Thankfully he's not climbing stairs (yet), so I can pretty easily keep track of him.


Now that Daniel's one, he's officially weaned and off his bottle. The latter was because I ran out of formula and didn't feel like buying any more! The only downside to this is that it's hard to get a good snuggle out of the boy since he has never been one to sit still unless he's eating. But by the end, he would only be still enough to drink an ounce or two from the bottle, so it wasn't much anyway.


Daniel is totally a Daddy's Boy. He really seems to prefer Nick over me, which I think is really cute. He gets so excited whenever Nick comes home and is happy to sit with Nick on the couch, something he would rarely do with me. Sometimes he'll get too excited and end up head-butting Nick and attacking his face, which is pretty funny to watch.


I'm so thankful that Daniel continues to be a good sleeper. He usually goes to bed at 7 and I don't hear a peep from him til 7:30 or so the next morning. Don't know how I got blessed with two good sleepers, but I'm thankful. For a while I was giving him one nap so I could get out more easily, but I've gone back to giving him two naps since it's nice to have the morning break. I seem to be doing less outside the house these days anyway, so it makes the morning run a little more smoothly with a morning nap for D. Speaking of sleep, since Daniel slept in the pack n play from the time he was born, he really hates his crib. I usually lay him down in our closet for naps since he'll sleep so long, and every night when I put him in his crib he screams. When Kathryn did that, I was so much tougher, saying "she just needs to learn to sleep. She can cry." I don't know why it's so much harder to hear Daniel cry. But he'll get the hang of his crib soon, I hope.
It's amazing how tightly my heart strings are wrapped around this little guy in just over a year. We love him so much and are greatly blessed.

Buddies

Love this series of pictures... caught the two making each other laugh. Kathryn loves her "Daniel Boy"

More weekend pictures

My childhood friend Linnea came and visited us this week with her two boys. Linnea married one of my cousins, so we're family now, and it was wonderful to spend the weekend together. We had a great time catching up with each other, now that we're both moms with little ones. The kids did great together as well.

Big One-Year-Old

Daniel turned one this last week! Hard to believe! He still seems like such a little baby to me, even though I remember Kathryn feeling "so old" at that age. It's funny how perspective changes. There aren't too many new updates for Daniel boy...still very fast with his army crawl. He has discovered the joys of the kitchen cabinets and the dishwasher, which means I have to move him out of the way several times whenever I'm cooking or doing something at the sink. I keep meaning to put our cabinet locks on, knowing that it will make my life much easier, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. He has started to snuggle a little more at night after his bottle, which is a lot of fun. Since he was really tiny, he has NOT been a snuggler. So this is a nice change. Still no real words yet, although he can kind of say "kat kat" for Kathryn and "ba ba" for bottle. And occassionally "dada." I love that his personality is really coming out. We love you, buddy! Happy birthday!

Kathryn insisted that Daniel would like a "car cake," so here was the final product
(thanks to Jessica M. for the inspiration)

And the happy little man after devouring his piece of cake in about 10 seconds.

Sweet Girl

Kathryn has been such a sweetie the last few weeks. Of course, there are days that are still hard, but overall I think being 3 agrees with her (and me) quite well. She just seems to be more aware of common sense things and is growing in independence with things like feeding herself, getting dressed (kind of), and brushing her teeth, to name a few. And I think we can finally say she's potty trained during the day....HURRAY! Glad that we're over that hill.

Yes, that little mischievous grin is thinking about how fun it would be to throw this snowball at Mommy.

On a general update note, I'm thankful that life seems to be settling into a nice routine with the two kids. I no longer feel like I have quite a juggling act with a baby and toddler schedule, now that Daniel is kind of on the same schedule as Kathryn. Life feels full, but very enjoyable right now...it's a nice place to be. :)

Little Buddies

I love seeing kathryn stepping up to her role as big sister these days. The other day as I was feeding Daniel, she came and sat next to me, and said "Oh, I love you, Daniel Boy. We're friends, aren't we?" All while patting his head. It was very sweet.

Hopefully you don't mind a bath pic...I just thought it was so sweet!

Finally....house pictures!

Here are a few...more painting this week with my parents in town!

And taking a poll, would you paint this china cabinet a distressed black or leave it? You can see it does go well with our floors (look above) so we're undecided.

Kids bath (shower curtain was a goodwill find!) :)

My peaceful laundry room

Kathryn's pink room (curtains have been put up since this picture was taken. And notice the spackle on the wall...we had a little "worker" banging on the walls with a bolt during naptime)

11 months...

...with this sweet little boy.

It's hard to remember what life was like before Daniel came into our family. These pictures say it all. He has been such a pleasant baby, a good eater, and a good sleeper. I feel very blessed!

Daniel is FAST now, even with his 'gimpy' army crawl. He only uses his left arm to propel himself everywhere, while his right arm drags under him. It looks very funny, but I guess he doesn't feel the need to really crawl since he can get himself anywhere he wants as it is. He has also started pulling up (this morning he pulled up on Kathryn's bed- all the way to standing for the first time). Lots of teeth which give him his adorable grin- 8 teeth total.

Hard to believe we're only one month away from having a one year old again! Amazing.

We're still alive...

Yes, we really are still alive. I promise some pictures will come soon. But moving date is quickly approaching (23rd!), so they might have to wait until life settles down a bit. But I have not forgotten my little blog. Soon...

.life around here.

A few recent pictures of the kids...

Daniel kept sticking his tongue out because it was so cold.
I think he liked the way the cold felt on his face.

One of the rare times Daniel Boy is crying...
only because he's mad at dropping a toy.

He really loves watching her!

Kathryn very proudly displaying her gingerbread house. It was all I could do to construct it fast enough before she could eat all the candy in the bowls. A few pieces did make their way actually onto the house.

And some recent house pictures:
Toilets and bathroom cabinets are in!

Kitchen cabinets are in

Kitchen floor and countertops are in...you can kind of see the flooring in this picture. The rest of it is covered by cardboard at the moment

View into the kitchen and eating area. Railing is also in, still in need of stain.

And how I spent my Saturday morning...almost dying during a half marathon. I'm glad I ran it, although I was exhausted afterward. I'm not as young as I once was!