So, I've been a slacker

Wow, it's been over 3 months since my last post?! Crazy talk! I could make excuses and blame the holidays, but I won't. I just plain old slacked.

There have been so many changes with the kids in the last few months. Kaelin is really looking like a big girl! Mike convinced her to go get her first hair cut and I think it jump started her hair growing! I can put it into a real ponytail now, or piggies even! She continues to surprise me every day with the things she knows. She's a little sponge and soaks up every single thing around her. I am starting to have a little bit of a problem with her being jealous of Sean. She can't stand it when I'm on the couch feeding him and she can't be in my lap also. I have been looking into preschool for her in the fall. I mostly want to get her (and me!) used to being on a set schedule and used to her being away from me in a classroom setting. I think I'm going to send her to the same school her BFF went to. It seems like a good school, I went to school with the current director and they are extremely flexible with the schedule. So I could start with sending her one morning a week and increase it as we get used to it. She may surprise me though and love school so much that she doesn't mind being away from me. But I do want to wait until the fall, no point in starting too early and her not liking it. She got a Leapster Explorer and some games for it for Christmas and she's already playing the 4-7 year old games. She doesn't quite know her numbers or letters yet, but she's starting to get it. And for the most part, she is finally sleeping all night! I just ordered her some ladybugs for her ladybug habitat and she is so excited about getting them and seeing them grow!

Now for Sean. My little guy is a chunk! At his 9 month checkup he was already weighing 20 pounds! That's more then Kaelin weighed at a year old! He got a new big boy carseat for Christmas and loves riding in it, rear facing still of course. He crawls all over the place and is even cruising the furniture and using a walker. He will be walking by his birthday I'm sure. He's just such a happy little guy, I love it! He is a total water baby like his sister was. If I carry him in the bathroom to start the tub then get him undressed in his room, the second I set him down he hauls naked butt for the bathroom and shrieks when he sees the water! He's a fairly decent sleep. We've all been dealing with a cold the last few weeks and he has popped 3 teeth so none of us have been getting too much sleep.

I'm finding myself still trying to find a balance between being me, being a mommy and being a wife. Somewhere in there I have to juggle household duties and some days go better then others. But if my kids are happy, Mike and I are happy, and we're all clothed and fed then nothing else really matters. Mike and I don't get too terribly much alone time but every once in a while one of the grandmas will babysit and we'll catch dinner and a movie. We're working on some things around the house. Mike is building some cubby shelves for the kids toys and working really hard on our vegetable garden. He's studying really hard so he can work on programming some Apple apps. He's pretty excited about it and I hope he's having fun with it too.

They just keep growing!

These kids are in big trouble! They just keep ignoring my demands to stay little! 

Case in point: we had to move the Jumperoo to the second setting for Sean already! Oh and I just bought him a box of size 3 diapers. Yes, he's only 4 months old, someone get me a drink!

But then, just when I get upset for him growing, he does something as cute as this:

Or this!

And this little princess

Has done this recently:

They're in trouble, I tell you!

This kid lives in Princess dresses!

Case in point, this is Kaelin dressed up at McDonald's. That's right, folks, I let her go out in public like this.  I think it's important to pick your battles so as long as she's dressed, I don't care. I will, however, make sure I tell people she dressed herself! The dress she wore for her 3rd pictures is the one she normally wears, so this one was a nice change of scenery! And you can't go anywhere without lady shoes to complete the outfit!

The joys of having a potty trained kid

Kaelin just came and got me and told me she had to poop. Yippee! So I take her in the bathroom and get her all situated on the potty and she tells me "turn on the fan, Mommy, it's gonna stink!" Then she tells me to leave and shut the door along with "I'll call you when I'm done so you can wipe my booty!" Niiiice! But I'll take it over changing 3 year old diapers any day!

See and Spell Review

About a week or so I got a lovely little box on my front porch! I love that! Inside the box was a See & Spell by Melissa & Doug from http://www.ebeanstalk.com/. So exciting, I love getting new, educational toys for Kaelin. Plus, anything Melissa & Doug is awesome! We were on our way out to run an errand but Kaelin and I were so excited that we had to put off leaving so we could check out the package!

If you missed my last post about ebeanstalk, lemme catch you up! They are an awesome website for great educational toys for 1 year olds, 2 year olds, and they even have super awesome baby toys! Win, win, win! All the items have descriptions that tell you what skill your kiddo will be working along with detailed safety information. Super awesome prices too, which means alot in this economy.

The See & Spell is a wooden puzzle set that teaches basic three and  four letter words with bright colored, solid-wood letters in the self correcting cut-outs on two-sided wooden boards. Kaelin was so excited when I opened the box and pulled it out. We have a few other Melissa & Doug toys that she plays with frequently, so she recognized the style right away. I love the wooden sets because they are well made and last a really long time, so I know Sean will be playing with this same set in a few years too. The eight word boards not only have the letters cut out, they also have a picture of the word on them. You also get a bunch of letters with this set! We hate toys that don't have enough letters to spell more then one word at a time. I like that the words are easily recognized and Kaelin knew what they were instantly. The possibilities are really endless with this set. Not only is it a puzzle, but your kiddo will learn their letters, the sounds of the letters, plus as your kiddo becomes more adept at language it will help them on the road to reading! It comes packaged with a card that has a bunch of different ideas for games to play with the See & Spell.

The only thing that frustrated Kaelin a little bit was that there are letters in the set that don't get used on the word boards, such as l, j, z, v and x. But I'm not too concerned about it since we can still use the letters to spell words on our own. I'm excited though that she figured that out on her own while I was reading the card that came with it. She said "Momma, these letters don't have anywhere to go!" before I even got a chance to play with it. So smart already! I think my favorite thing about the See & Spell is that it's so pretty in it's wooden box, that I don't mind it sitting out on the table in the living room! Bonus points! :)

3 months old and Kae's new hobby

Yesterday was Sean's 3 month birthday! Aww, it has gone by soo fast! Hard to believe that 3 years ago, when we were at this stage with Kaelin, it was the longest 3 months of our lives. Thank God Sean isn't colicky like Kae was. And sorry for the blurry pic, but Kaelin took it with my phone. That's her new obsession! And of course, all the pics she takes have to be sent to Daddy too. Yesterday he got a random picture of her strawberry milk and today it was a pic of Sean's ducky towel. A lot of times he gets really close pics of my eye or nose. Eh, whatever makes her happy! 

Sean is working really hard on some bottom teeth. He normally has his little hand crammed in his mouth chewing the heck out of his chubby fingers. And the amount of drool that comes out of him is insane! Kae wasn't really a drooler so I'm having to learn to keep a bib on the boy all the time. He's getting pretty good with his head and almost a hip baby. That'll make Momma's life so much easier. It's hard to get things done holding him like a newborn. He's trying to pull himself up from laying down like he's doing a sit-up. A lot of times I'll look at him in the carseat and he's holding his head up as far out of the seat as he can. Such a big man!

Kae had her last dance class of the first summer session. She did well this month but is not a fan of tap. So when it gets to that time of class she loses interest. We ended up leaving a little early because Miss Elise thought Kae may not be feeling well. But I learned in the car she just doesn't like to tap. Such a little drama queen! Can't expect any less from a kid that lives in princess dress though!

New family pictures

We went to Target today to get our pics taken. I'm a little late in having Sean's newborn pics taken, but I didn't want the alien baby pics. So we just waited until he filled out and looks like a chubby little baby first.     I had the kids wear there big sister and little brother shirts and Mike and I just wore plain white shirts and khakis. I'm pleased with the group shots, you can even read their shirts! Then Kaelin didn't want to take pics with Sean anymore because he pooped and apparently it's contagious or something. So we only got 1 pic of them together but it was an ok one.

Kaelin did her third birthday pics in a princess dress and lady shoes this year. That's what she's always wearing anyways so I'm just sharing the love! :) She kept running around or giving her cheesy grin and it was a little maddening trying to get her to sit still for her pictures.

I changed Sean into one of the outfits I won from Bei Bambini before he was born. Let me tell you, I was a little hesitant to rip the tag off of an outfit he'll only wear once knowing it's got a $50 value. But I sucked it up and ripped that baby off. I can still sell the other $450 worth of stuff he got. Which is crazy for the amount of stuff that actually is, but that's another post! Anyways, we are now the proud owners of some cute baby sailor pics, how cliche!

They should be emailing the proofs to me soon, so I'll post them when I get them. Then I have to finally tackle redoing our picture wall. Ugh, it's such a mess right now and I hate it. I think I need to take the snapshots down and only frame the good professional pics. That way it's not so hectic and I can actually have a cohesive wall of pics. Maybe :)

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Okay, here's the link to the pics!

Portraits!!!

My baby is 3 today!

I can't believe it's already been 3 years since my Kaelin was born! It seems like it has gone by so fast. We had a small party at Chuck E Cheese this morning then came home and had a big party with all the family and friends. It was crazy hectic, but it always is! She had a blast, ate alot of sugar, got some great presents and is now passed out in her big girl bed! I am so proud of all the things she's done in 3 short years. She talks so well (always has!), uses her computer by herself, can dress and feed herself, and is 100% potty trained! I could go on and on about my super bug girl, but my brain is mush from this incredibly long day! Happy Birthday my princess Kaelin Marie!

2 month checkup and potty training

Sean had his checkup today. He did really good. I felt bad waking him up to undress him. He weighs 13.1lbs (80%), is 23.25in long (60ish%) and his head is 15in (20ish%). He got his shots and took them pretty well. I brought up his reflux and she said that's pretty normal but since he's gaining well we'll just watch it for now. He still has his umbilical hernia but it is getting better. He was so cute and babbled to her the whole time she was doing his exam!
He's doing really good these days. I keep finding him asleep in his swing or on his playmat or wherever. Kaelin never did that! I'm working on getting him in his crib too. He normally goes down between 9:30 and 10. I'll hear him babble a little bit but pretty much just leave him alone unless he's fussing. Then I'll go give him his binky or whatever. He's been sleeping until atleast 1:30 or 2am the past few nights then I just bring him to bed with me. By then I'm exhausted from anticipating him waking up and ready to really fall asleep. I'm sure as I get more comfy with him being in there I'll put him back to bed in there more often.

Anywho, that's what he's up to these days!
 

Kaelin is doing really good too! She had her first sleepover at Grammy's over the weekend! I'm so excited that she did really well and had fun. She woke up a little upset and was ready to come home, but overall it was a huge success! With Aunt Moogie moving back into Grammy's I think Kae will be sleeping over there more often. She is such a smart little girl and has a great imagination. I could just eat her up! Every Tuesday we go over to Grammy's and she swims all day while I hang out with Sean in the house. She has a blast getting Grammy time and I get a bit of a break, so win/win! And I know my mom eats it up too!
 
She is doing fabulous with her potty training! The only time she pees in her diaper is if I don't get her in panties right away in the morning. Otherwise, no accidents in panties at all! She still asks for a diaper to poop in and has had 1 poop accident. But she knows when she has to go and only had the accident because Daddy took too long to get her in a diaper. I told her I'm not buying more diapers, so when these are gone she has to poop in the potty. Mom let her sleep in her panties when she stayed overnight and she didn't have any accidents but I'm not feeling that brave yet! Especially since she sleeps in my bed!
 
We rearranged her room over the weekend. Her changing table is in the closet with dress up clothes and her doll house and baby dolls are in her room. We even hung a mirror and a bar in the corner so she has a dress up area complete with some of her favorite dresses hanging right there! She loves it and has been living in the same dress for almost a week now!
 
She starts dance class next week! I need to get her a leotard still, I can't find one small enough for her. She has a skirt and tap and ballet shoes. I need to get some new pink tights too but that's no big deal. I'm so excited to see her in her little dance clothes! It's all she's been talking baout for awhile now so I hope she loves it!

Christmas and stuff

I'm actually sorta relieved that the holidays are over. I love them and spending time with family, but it's so much stress and chaos. I don't like stress and chaos. The night before Christmas Eve I got another one of my freaky migraines. Mike and Kaelin took such good care of me, it was so cute! Kaelin helped rub lotion on my feet and belly and laid with me to make sure I was allright. Mike finished up some last minute shopping on Christmas Eve while I stayed home and took a nap. We had super yummy chili dinner at my Mom's and got to open all our presents. Kaelin got princess dresses, crowns, some stickers and coloring stuff, and a swing set! Mike and I got another set of our dishes and a carpet shampooer. Christmas day was hectic as always. We got Kae up to open her presents but she acted like she oculdn't have cared less about them. It was like pulling teeth getting her to open them all! She got more dresses, lady shoes, dolls, a car toy, princess pajamas, etc. We rushed over to Mike's mom's house for brunch and opened more presents then went home for a quick break. Dinner at my mom's was good as usual. Nice and relaxing but we did end up having to leave earlier then planned because Mike was getting calls from work. Last night Kaelin spent the night throwing up every hour for a few hours. 3 sheet changes and a sleepless night later she seems to be feeling better but has a bit of a fever still today. Mike is feeling a little yucky today as well so hopefully I won't get the same stomach bug. Mike didn't get his car fixed this weekend so I guess I'll be without a car all week again. I guess we'll just take it easy and get some more projects done around the house.

Ahhh, peace and quiet

The last week has been crazy! we have been getting ready for Christmas and I have been nesting something crazy! I have bagged clothes, linens, toys, garbage, etc until I was up to my eyeballs! But it feels so good to have the clutter GONE! Now Sean's room is still a wreck because my sewing stuff is still in there plus all the stuff he's inhereting from Kaelin is in their for now. But the majority of the house is great! Mike has to finish the garage, organize the game room and the laundry room. I have to reorganize the kitchen cabinets still and get our files in order. But for the most part I am good!

Last Wednesday I took Kaelin to the doctor for a UTI. That was traumatic! She wouldn't pee in the potty so they had to cath her, but they took so long to do it that they didn't get much because she peed in her diaper int he meantime. So she screamed and broke blood vessels all around her eyes for a tiny bit of pee. They said she did have a UTI and gave me a script ut wanted a bigger sample. I tried to get her to pee in the potty and tried putting the sterile collection bag on her. No go. She was sore from the cath and cried everytime she peed for the next few hours and was not going to voluntarily pee for us. So I waited a day and then started the meds. Now she's 5 days into the meds and starting to tell me to change her diaper when it's dry again. I don't know if she's getting a yeast infection too or if the meds aren't helping. So I'm waiting for a call back on what to do. I know they'll want more urine but it just isn't going to happen and there's no way they'll be able to cath her again without sedation. So if they want to see her again Mike is going to have to take a sick day tomorrow and go with me.

Carissa is here today and she's reading Kae a book in the living room. It's so nice to have a few minutes of relative silence. I guess I should get things ready to make brownies. I promised we would do that after lunch and it's only a matter of time before they remember. :)

What a week!

I will be so happy to see this week over and done with! Kaelin has had hand, foot and mouth disease all week. So I've been afraid to take her anywhere even though it's not that bad. I would feel awful if someone caught it from her and got it really bad- sores in the mouth, fever, diarrhea, etc. So we've pretty much been hanging out in the house watching movies and stuff. Mike left yesterday for a work trip and won't be home until tomorrow night. So after I got him all packed up Tuesday night I was laying on the couch with Kaelin. I picked up my left arm to do something with Kaelin and realised my arm felt funny. Sure enough, within a few minutes my left arm, leg and half of my face was numb. Then my head started throbbing. Ugh, so not the time for a migraine to kick in. So my head has been throbbing for 2 days now, but luckily Kae has been pretty good. I guess I should get moving.

Halloween Pics!

Kaelinhad so much fun trickor treating last night! Thisis the first year she really got what the concept was and was super excited about going to get candy. I had a hard time getting her dressed though. She wanted to wear her princess lady shoes and I told her it was way too cold for them. Then I tried getting her black tights on bu she nixed that idea too. Luckily I was able to sneak her ears in her piggies without her noticing! Our neighborhood is the perfect size for her age, so by the time we ran out of houses, she was done. And so was Mommy since I ended up carrying her most of the way! We walked with our neighbors so Kae had her friend Taylor with her. They were so cute! She kept holding his hand and walking with him. She was pretty sugared up by the time we got home so her 9:00 bedtime was out the window. She ended up coming into bed with me and fell asleep watching Aladdin on the iPod after about 15 minutes. Here's some pics of my Minnie Mouse!

What do you mean this candy is for other kids?

But the Nerds are my favorite!

Just scored!

How we did most of our T or T'ing.

All it takes is a little chocolate ice cream

I discovered a few days ago that I am no longer producing milk. Yay, right? Well, it would be except Kaelin doesn't care if she gets milk or not. She's all about the comfort latch. I have been weaning her lately and I consider this a big step, I was afraid she'd nurse until I delivered and then push the baby out of the way to nurse. But now I know that won't happen. I don't feel so mean telling her no since I know she's not getting anything. Bedtime has been going well. She has some milk and cuddle time before bed. Then we all go to bed and she falls asleep watching a movie on the ipod. Soon I'll get rid of the ipod, but for now it works. Not much luck getting her to sleep in her own bed still but most nights she's in bed with us she sleeps all night! Yay! All I want is sleep right now, I don't care how I get it. She still has a huge interest in my boobs, wants to hug and kiss them and tells me they are her babies and she loves them. So today I decided we would do naptime with out nursing. Now this is a huge deal because other then a car ride, nursing is the only way I can get her down for a nap. So I let her pick out one of her old binkies thinking she would like something to suck on while we snuggled. She played with it but wasn't satisfied. So we went and layed in bed like we do for bed. I gave her some milk and the ipod. 2 hours later I was cranky and she was still wide awake. So I gave up and got out some ice cream. She has ice cream sensors and came running right away. I shared thinking she would stay awake through the evening and we could all go to bed early. Mike got home a few minutes later and sat on the couch with her while he played a video game. Next thing I know he's telling me she crashed. Maybe tomorrow I'll just start with ice cream.

Trunk or Treat

Yesterday we took Kaelin to Trunk or Treat at a local church. They had free food, a moonwalk, a pumpking patch, people in costume, face painting, and a fire demo from the fire dept. When it got dark they had people's cars lined up in the parking lot with their trunks decorated handing out candy. She seemed to have fun. But she refused to wear her mouse ears so I don't think anyone knew she was supposed to be Minnie Mouse. Oh well. I forgot to take our camera so my sister's friend took a few pics for us. If they're any good I'll post them when I get them.

Kaelin has been having temper tantrums like crazy lately. I just don't know what to do about them, nothing seems to help. We took her to Target yesterday to get a few things. She wanted to run around and hide in the clothes racks and do whatever she wanted. I told her she either needed to sit in the basket or let my sister carry her. She said she wanted to hold my hand and walk. I let her, then she kept pulling away from me and running off. People were looking at me like I was a horrible mother and I think I scared the ladies in the maternity dept. Finally my sister took my wallet to check out my stuff so I could take Kaelin to the car. She threw such a fit and was trying to get out of my arms. I swear people thought I was kidnapping her the way she was screaming. I finally forced her into her carseat and got her calmed down. I told her that she was not going to be able to use the iPod the rest of the weekend but I'm not sure she gets it. It's getting to were I don't want to take her tot hte store by myself anymore.

Cupcakes

Kaelin and I made cupcakes this last weekend. This is the first cooking project I have really let her help with. Normally she plays with the pots and pans and pretends to cook. I was smart though, and stripped her down to her diaper and put an "apron" on her. She had so much fun being a big girl and mixing all the ingrediants together. And especially, licking the beater!

Having a sick kid sucks

Kaelin woke up Thursday morning at 3:30 puking all over me. We got her settled back in and she slept ok. We got up at around nine and hung out on the couch. I let her nurse a little bit and then she got up and started screaming her tummy hurt. I managed to get her to the bathroom in time for her to puke all over the sink. I took her to the ped and she said it's most likely a virus and to push clear liquids and take her to the ER if she continued to throw up. She seemed better and played all day with Carissa. Then she woke up shortly after I put her down for the night last night and puked again and was running a fever. I couldn't get her to take Tylenol for anything so we just watched it through the night. She seems to be feeling better and only urped up a little bit this morning. I've been feeding her easy foods like soup and toast and tonight we took her to get a popsicle from DQ. She's in the shower now and hopefully she won't puke at all tonight.

In other news, we leave for MN in a week! I'm excited but the OCD side of me is already packing in my mind. Actually, I started a packing list about a month ago so I wouldn't forget anything. I'm trying to figure out the best way to pack our luggage so we only have to check 1 bag now that they charge for luggage. What a rip off. I think I have it figured out so hopefully everything will fit like I'm planning. I'll have to pack a few more baby type supplies for Kae this time around since we'll be staying with my dad part of the time and he has no baby stuff what so ever. But it shouldn't be too bad, just stuff like her soap and lotion, etc. I would like to get out our new Toddler Patapum carrier and get her used to riding on Daddy's back because I think that's the only way we'll make it through the airport. Especially since we have to lug her carseat with us. Ugh, I'm dreading the actual traveling part of the trip, but I think it'll be worth it! I feel bad that Mike won't have any vacation time left to take for his birthday at the end of the month. Plus we'll be broke after the trip so I think he's bummed about not being able to get a big birthday present. We'll see though, I have some savings bonds I can cash in to use if I need to. It's so much harder for me to try and do gifts for him now that I'm not working. My paychecks used to be extra so I could get him whatever I wanted. Can't do that anymore.

Traveling stresses me out!

We're flying to MN next month for my brother's wedding. I'm trying to buy our tickets and rent a car today online. What a huge PITA! Priceline gave me a good price but when I try to buy it- it tells me it can't find my flights and to select other (more expensive) flights. I think I'm going to just get the flight through priceline and get the rental car directly from the rental company and use a 20% off coupon. We won't be able to pick up our car until Monday though, but that should be ok. We'll fit in Dad's car ok, we just want our own car because everyone else is heading to the wedding 2 days early and we're not. Dad sent us the money for the trip but now that it's all jacked up we're going to end up paying for some of it ourselves. Which is fine really. I'm just thankful Dad was willing to help us out with our flight.

Kae's not the baby of the family anymore

First Kaelin lost her title of baby of the family on my side when my nephew Jacob was born. She lost the title again today to our new nephew on Mike's side of the family. Baby Edward was born at 12:45 this morning after less then 2 hours of labor! We went and visited them this afternoon at the hospital. Kaelin was very upset that Mommy was holding another baby and was clinging to my leg the whole time. He's a cutie pie and such a quiet baby. They'll be discharged sometime Monday and I can't wait to get to see him again!

Fire Ants are the spawn of Satan

We went out to my sister's boyfriend's house for the fourth of July. They have a huge 6 acre private pond and a pool. They rented a huge inflatable slip and slide also. While we were there we were all eaten alive by stupid fire ants. My feet are still itching like crazy and all puffy from the little bites those damn evil creatures inflicted on me. But we had a great time and Kaelin played hard! She did not want to get off of the slip and slide. She even swam in the pond with Aunt Moogie and Daddy. They have a high diving board set up for the pond and Margret convinced me to jump with her. I haven't been off a diving board in years, let alone a high one. And I hate swimming in water that I can see has seaweed growing to the top and little fish swimming around. But I did and I guess it was fun, I swam to the dock and got out as quickly as I could though!

Mike finally got my shelves hung up in my craft room yesterday! So I spent a little bit of time in there last night organizing stuff into boxes and putting them on the shelves. I can almost get in there to make stuff again! Yay!