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"