I am not sure why my children have attached themselves to this song. I am not sure why this is the one they chose to learn all the words to, especially since they are probably a bit young to be patriotic, and I am sure they don't understand all of the words. Never the less, this song it shall be. And, because they are all so cute, I have videos. Kaitlyn was kinda the ring leader on this one, since she was the one that started going around singing it. I am kind of sad, because mere hours before this video was taken, Kari took it upon herself to correct her sister, in the few places where Kaitlyn made up her own words :( Oh well.
Then, because little sister got to take a video, big sister and little brother wanted to too... I love how he keeps looking at her, and how he muddles through the words. I also love how she keeps her arm around him.
...while Kaitlyn and Kelsey cuddled on the couch.
And finally, I wasn't going to worry about a video with just Dylan, but it seems he has learned all the words, so I couldn't deny him his own. He also has a bit of a cold and is kinda stuffy. Cuteness all around.
I love it when she can "control" a bit more of what she does. Like when it seems like she actually does things on purpose.
Yes, we do sit her at the table for dinner. We like to think of her as a pet that will one day be allowed to be adopted into the rest of the family ;)
And this one... this one is my favorite I think. If you listen closely, you can her her doing this little sniff thing. And see her squinching up her nose. Also, the occasional snort. Love. It.
All part of growing up. I feel obliged to tell you that she also seems to have found her eyebrows. She uses them in expressions that just don't quite make sense, but are awesome to behold... Kinda love this stage. Will definitely miss it when it is gone :(
Once upon a time, a long time ago, a crazy pregnant woman and her husband embarked on a truly remarkable transformation. Crazy. Stupid even. It got started, and not much more than that. Well, I am here to tell you, my friends, that we are back to the progressing point. We are back to the point where every evening after putting the children to bed, we do something productive and make things work more and look pretty. Blah. I mean, Yay! So, as a refresher, here is the floor plan. The top being the before, and the bottom being the after. Notice we took out the existing closet and constructed 2 separate closets on the opposite side of the room.
And here we are. Here is one side of the room. Carpet cut and padding pulled up. Cute baby laying on the floor. You know. The usual.
This is a better shot. We will be building around the window. And, ironically, the two separate closets will almost double the amount of closet space previously in the room. During the process of getting ready for framing, the children were very concerned about the cutting of the carpet. If I am being honest, I was a bit nervous myself. But I have learned that most things can be fixed. And if they can't, I can blame hubby. :) Also, we cut the base mould to make the framing go all the way against the wall. As hubby pried the base moulding out, Dylan said, and I quote "Mooooom! Daddy broke da wall!"
Framed. Kari immediately picked this closet. Don't know why, but hers it shall be.
Skip forward a picture or two (oops) and here we have both closets framed and drywalled. Ready for mudders.
Since we were hiring someone to come in and do the mudding and sanding, we wanted to finish everything that would need to be mudded. This included the laundry room, and the second bathroom... Stay tuned! Same Bat Time. Same Bat Channel! :p
Work on the house is finally progressing again. So we took a 6 month break because we were burned out and because we had a baby. So we lived with 2 mostly finished but functional bathrooms, and one that was mostly just a "space". So what? We are finally at that stage where we aren't exhausted all the time (most of the time anyway) (thats a lotta "times"... sorry) and where we are frustrated enough to get things moving again. So, expect more remodel posts to come. I'll just put them between the cute baby posts, the grown up toddler posts, and the school girl posts, shall I?
I took this waaaay back in December, before we had moved downstairs. I was so excited for all the storage space that I had, I took a video, and walked you through it. I had fully intended to take another video (or, at the very least, a picture) once everything had been installed and properly organized. I am not sure that is ever going to happen. And, I won't take one now because the closet is (literally, it seems) bursting with life. So, watch the video, and imagine all the fabulous ways you would re-arrange your own closet, and organize all the things you "will do" one day.
And, since I am playing catch up, here is another one. Remember a waaaaaay long time ago when we were building this bad boy? And I promised I would keep you up to date? Yeah, well... It's not over yet! I took this picture forever ago after I had unloaded several of our boxes of books and knick knacks. Since this picture it has received more installments of said mementos as well as door and drawer hardware. It has also received installments of crap and clutter. Hence the lack of the most current, up to date photo.
Progress continues. Stay tuned for more hard work, which I hate, but completed projects, which are joyous to behold!
1- That she is pretty much growling.
2- That she starts out yelling/fussing and that it turns into a growl.
3- That half the time she is "fussing" it looks to me like she is just yelling. She has a point to get across, dangit!
Fine Print: I must firstly say that I am not particularly political. I vaguely know the state of the union, but I am not naive enough to think that the country is going in the right direction (all the time). It doesn't interest me. Because it doesn't interest me, I don't understand everything from the small nuances to the big 4,000 page laws. However, I saw this posted the other day. I probably agree with most of it, but don't hold me to it. Mostly just something kinda cute. Enjoy :)
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, whose hand was caught in the squeeze gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.
Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his role as our president.
The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle''. Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him, what a 'post turtle' was. The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'.
The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just Wonder what kind of dumb @$$ put him up there to begin with."
My cute little boy is doing an excellent job in the potty training arena. We did pull ups for about 3 weeks I think (maybe four because he went on a vacation with Nana and Pop) and when he came home, we tried a day with underwear. He did mah-velously!!! In fact, since those first few days of going to the potty every hour or two, he has had 2 accidents. And both times were on the floor right in front of the toilet. He tried.
So, to commemorate this momentous occasion, I did what every good mother does and took a picture. I took two in fact! This one speaks to me. His shy body language, his smug smile, his cute little chest, canckles and curly feet. I love him as a mother does.
And his genuine smile. So sweet!
In our house, I have put a Sams club size bottle of hand sanitizer in the kids bathroom. I trained my children to wash their hands after each trip to the bathroom, and was quite proud of myself because they (usually) kept it up. However, one day I observed my child "wash her hands" which consisted of getting a hand full of soap and then immediately rinsing it off in the sink... Which meant that not only were their hands not getting clean, but I was literally dropping money down the sink. So, while I know there have been some arguments to the con side of too much antibacterial stuff, I figure it is kinda worth it for now. Cute, potty related story: When Dylan washes his hands, he gets a hand full of sanitizer, then rubs his hands together for a minute. Whatever is then left, he rubs on his knees.
I guess it is good to know that not only are his hands clean, but so are his knees :p
Going along with the previous Kelsey post, she is starting to be able to entertain herself a little bit. Not that she has the need to do this very often. She regularly has siblings in her face that are, if not entertaining, at least preclude her from the need to do it herself.
I love when they start playing with their toes. So cute!
Also, she is a loud little sucker. I also love the big sigh in the middle, and the feet that pop up at the end :)
Hallo!
Just a cute baby post. I needed one after my children aged 37 years (it seemed) in one day yesterday!
Well. It's that time of the year again. When mothers all over the world rejoice as they entrust the care and education of their children to someone else for a while, only to come spiralling down a few hours later as they realize they will miss the noise and confusion as well as feeling older. Does this sound familiar to anyone else. Turning 30 didn't make me feel all that bad. Sending my second born child to kindergarten? That's a different story.... Blame it on hormones my friends. Blame it on the hormones!
So, today is the day. Today Kari went to start 2nd grade. She took her back pack and her lunch box and her poster board of homework, as well as her first new school outfit (what can I say, I am a little bit behind the curve on that one) and new school shoes. Girl was on a roll!!
Kaitlyn was also super excited. With her brand new backpack and lunch box, outfit and flip flops, she was all set. Kaitlyn has the same teacher than Kari did for Kindergarten, whom I loved. While I was a bit apprehensive about it initially (Kaitlyn is quite the different little person then Kari is/was) now I feel a little bit better. Daddy (as has been the tradition in our house) dropped her off in her classroom and stayed for a minute. She got a bit teary eyed, poor thing, but still said that he could leave. So now I am glad that she at least sort of knows her teacher. I am sure she will do fine, but she was the one I was a bit concerned about.
Kari, on the other hand, walked to her classroom, dropped her backpack and said "Bye Dad."
To which hubby responded by getting a bit teary eyed (according to him). He said he has now "lost two." Don't think of it as loosing children, my love. Think about it as gaining all the kids in their classes, as we will now learn about every thing little Bobby did today, including dropping his pencil and picking his nose.... These are the things I look forward to :)
We are in that fabulous stage where getting things up to your mouth is not always the easiest thing to do. But my children are intellectuals. My children are smart. My children figured out a way to solve this dilemma.... They bring their mouth down to the object instead. I had heard that Bumbo's were good for all kinds of things. I am not sure the inventors intended this to be one of the uses, but it seems to suffice for now :)
As we have mostly finished the basement downstairs, it was time to start finishing some of the details so we could use it. I figured my father's logic was sound: He wanted to have THE house. That way, when his teenage children wanted somewhere to hang out, it would be somewhere he felt comfortable with them being. But the only way for that to be true was to have things people wanted to do... Hence the pool table. I guess not having teenagers anymore, and having to downsize meant he didn't mind giving it to us. Score! Hubby and I had been using the same felt they took off the pool table, re-stretching it and securing it with adhesive. When we bought this house, we bought new felt because the old felt was loosing some of its umph, and because we had hoped that it would be up for a significant amount of time... 2 years later..... Oh well. We finally finished covering it about a month ago, and have since enjoyed several games with each other and with friends.
This is the best I could do as a before, since when we moved it, it was in pieces, and I wasn't about to put it together just to take it apart again.
Here you can see the actual color of the tan (and the Easter eggs they are searching for :)
And here is the AFTER... Isn't it pretty!!?!?! We wanted a somewhat brighter, less neutral color (we put that on the wall). Hubby, who is much braver and more ingenious than I am, decided we could recover the pool table ourselves after watching a youtube video. And, may I just say, I think he did a great job!
Of course, the next logical step is to teach the children how to play!
Each child getting individualized attention to perfect their shot.
We actually got Kari her own stick for her birthday (I think) a few years ago. Now she can actually use it!
We also installed the ball return that has been floating around with the pool table for years now. I am kind of excited that all the balls go to the same place. Makes for easier racking.
Now, if only I was a decent shot, things would be all right :)
It amazes me sometimes, how curly little babies are. Their arms. Their legs. Their feet. Their bodies. This picture is from when Kelsey was about 3 months old. She is now almost double that... They grow up so fast. *Sniff* I just thought it was so interesting how she was all curled. It looked like the letter C to me. And, in my mind, I thought about getting more letters of her curly self, and then doing a cheer leading blog. Yes I realize it is sad that when I take picture of my children, I imagine how I can blog them. Whats your point? Unfortunately, I never got my U, or T, or E.... So, while I know she is a cutie patootie, I can't spell it out for you... Oh well.
Because I am sure you marked my absence these past few days with a question in your mind about where I could possibly have gotten off to, especially since I recently returned from my mostly child-less vacation in TN, I am here to put your mind at ease. Rest, if you will.
We decided to tag along with hubby on a business trip. Hubby was, once again, going to be working the entire time, while the children and I relaxed in the hotel room and swam in the pool. Sounds like a decent arrangement to me :) I did a good job packing (if I do say so myself), bringing along games (their current favorite being Trouble in the Bubble {thanks Christmas Elf :p}) and toys to keep them entertained. And hubby hardly even knew we were there! The first day in the hotel we all took naps as we had gotten in much later than anticipated the night before (ain't it always the way it is) and headed down to the pool late in the afternoon, only to have to leave about 15 minutes later as it started to lightening and thunder. Truthfully, had I had all my wits about me, we should have gone that morning... I seemed to have lost track of my days and thought I had one more, so I wasn't completely opposed to loosing one to naps. Oh well. Too bad.
The second day, we headed down after breakfast (and before checkout) to spend a solid hour in the pool. Can I just say that swimming as a parent is much less fun than swimming as a child was? I was a bit stressed out the first time we headed to the pool. I was concerned, with one infant who I was not putting in the pool and three budding little fishy swimmers who would be in the pool, that I would not have enough hands or be fast enough should something happen. It turned out to be great! Kelsey and I sat on the side of the pool, while my little fishies with floatation devices had tons of fun. We also lucked out that in SC, no one else came into the pool with us, so it was easy for me to keep an eye on them.
I decided to try to teach Kari some new tricks. I need to probably focus a bit more on some actual skills, involving some sort of actual strokes.... Eh. Those were never very fun in my book, and I am not very good at them either. Hubby, Mr. Summer Lifeguard, however... yeah, that would be more his territory. So, I just tried to get Kari to do a few somersault things. She eventually mastered the actual somersault in the pool, but she also seemed to like this one, once I told her how to do it :)
As we left hubby's job site, I made him stop by the house that my parents built (ok, they didn't actually build it so much as had it built for them) in Clemson, SC, where I spent the other largest bulk of my growing up years. So, this is mostly for my parents and siblings who might remember this place. Looks like in recent years, however, they have done some remodeling, and removed all the Tudor looking details. I remember playing on the "mountain" right there in the front of the house for hours!
Then, we kept right on driving past our house and all the way to Pa's. It was family reunion time, and a good time was had by all. I made hubby sit down and explain exactly how certain people were related before we left. We even googled a chart/diagram to help me (I am a very visual person). It did actually help :) Then, second cousin (I think) C invited us to swim at her pool, which we jumped at the chance to not only swim again, but to hang out with fun people. The pictures above are actually from our time at her hotel, since I forgot the camera in the van, which hubby had at work before. So, the kids got to know some relatives, and a fun time was had by all!
Sunday we just hung out at the house. Kelsey and Pa bonded a little bit. And we eventually headed home. We decided to leave at 4 am on Monday morning to come home, instead of late Sunday night. I am not clear as to what we were thinking, but thankfully, we are safely ensconced in our home and getting ready to start school next week. Eek!
Please ignore my obnoxiously high voice, as it seemed to get her attention. Also, notice the little jerk thing she does at the very end. It is very "in yo' face" to me :) The End.
My mother used to teach piano lessons. A Long. Long. Long time ago :) (Love ya mom ;) Because of this, she had the very basic piano books. As I grew into teen/preteen years, I showed interest in those piano books. Interestingly, mom didn't teach me piano. I kinda taught myself by going through the books. Please don't misunderstand me. I can read music decently, and sometimes I can get the rhythm and fingering correct. But you will more than likely never hear it because I get horrible stage fright when playing in front of/with someone and mess up constantly. Story of my life... I am good when it doesn't matter and no one can see me ;)
Because of my experience though, I bought some slightly more up to date books from amazon several years ago, and thought about teaching the kids. Kaitlyn has no interest really, and Kari's interest comes and goes. But, she is doing fairly well. She can read music and tell me the notes probably better than I can.
We did have a little bit of an issue when it got a bit harder. She was whizzing through the easy songs, and was even mastering the pressure of playing with the metronome. But we did eventually get to a place where it wasn't easy. And we had a bit to work through. As her mother, who has gone through the same thing before, I can completely understand how you only want to do what is fun and easy and comfortable. But, I feel like I might have missed out on somethings growing up. Things I didn't do because they weren't easy, or I was embarrassed that I wasn't perfect. So, I pushed her a bit, and she persevered. She is doing an excellent job! Now, if we are really serious, I probably should make her practice for so many minutes every day.... Haven't done that yet. We'll see if we get to that point.
This isn't the song she was struggling with, but it was one of the first songs where both hands were played, and the first song where both hands played together at the same time (note the end).
Yes. We are smart people. We decided to clean out a really dirty space that is outside. With no air conditioning. In July. I have no idea why.... But, in the midst of finding some pretty interesting memories, throwing out probably 2 boxes worth, and giving away at least 6 boxes worth, we found some real treasures for the kids. Hubby's parents have been cleaning out their attic, and bringing home a box of hubby's things every visit. Super excited about that! :) And that is what the kids thought was pretty awesome. New Toys!
After replacing some batteries, we found out which toys worked, and which ones were going to be given away. Some of them worked, but were given away anyway (sans batteries) because they worked so well (if you know what I mean.... sometimes the noises were just too much for me).
It was Christmas in July! And best of all, it was free.... minus the cost of labor and a few spiderwebs :p
I shall cease to apologize for being so late in posting things like this. But I do have an excuse. My photography place changed the way they do things, and now instead of being able to embed the pictures from their site, I have to wait until I physically pick them up. And, while I feel like I am pretty decent at going on time to take the pictures, I am not so good at picking them up, since there isn't so much of a deadline. Anybody else do that? Perform for deadlines, but where there isn't any, there is also a lack of motivation....
So, here are Kelsey's 4 month stats :)
13 lbs 15 oz (around the 50%)
23 7/8" (75%)
~At 4 months she is "sleeping through the night" as in, going for 8 hours. Then, nursing around 4am, and sleeping again until 8 ish.
~She has obviously lost most of her hair, but she is a pretty cute baldy.
~She moves quite a bit, and rolls over. Although I have not seen her go from back to front, I have to think she can based on how I leave her in her cradle, and how I find her when she wakes up.
~I love how happy she wakes up. Most of the time she just talks to herself until I get out of bed.
~I also love her gummy smiles! Brighten my whole life :)
~She continue to be tolerant of her siblings love. They do love her so much.
Following is information about breast feeding. For those of you who do not care about that sort of thing, this post is now dead to you :) See you later.
I was concerned for a while that I wasn't producing enough breast milk. While the pediatrician wasn't concerned (babies "frequently" fluctuate a percentile range, either up or down), I just had noticed from what I pumped that I wasn't getting as much as I had in the past. Ironically, over our week long vacation, I invested in some herbs, and religiously partook of them, even though one of them made me smell like maple syrup (says hubby). I latched Kelsey on more often (every 3 hours instead of every 4) and did my best to leave her on for as long as she would stay. I have found that I would take her off/switch sides when she was "mostly done". Probably because I don't like to sit still very much unless it is my own idea. So, thankfully, while I wasn't starving her like I did with my firstborn child (sorry Kari), I still wasn't 100% sure she was receiving all the nourishment she should. I haven't pumped since we have been home, but I feel like I am producing more. Kelsey nurses for longer, and lets go of her own accord (instead of continuing to suckle). I feel the let down much stronger than I did 2 weeks ago also. I will pump soon, to compare apples to apples, but I think the experiment was a success!
This is from before our trip, but I didn't get around to posting it. And in my haste to share my fun times, I disregarded my need to post things chronologically. I don't know what came over me....
On this particular day, my children decided to play nicely together. What a novel idea! I am not so thrilled at their choice of playground, or their particular choice of game. But, I do so enjoy when they all play nicely together :)
Mommy and Daddy married in '02. Kari is in 10th grade (how do I have a high schooler?!?), Kaitlyn is in 8th, Dylan is in 6th (what?!?). And my baby, Kelsey, is in 3rd grade. Where does the time go? Mommy went back to school when she finally had some time to herself. And she is *this* close to finishing her bachelors! One. More. Semester!!! Welcome to our "normal"!
