Christmas Ornaments...

These are the Christmas Ornaments that I made this year with my Mom and sister.

Halloween.

Just a few pics from the day....

Smores

"Please Mama, clean my hands"
"These are so yummy, and sticky"

"Mmmmm"

My baby eating smores. She wasn't a huge fan. She kept getting stuck to everything and crying because her fingers were sticking together. I think we were outside for 10 minutes before the full meltdown began and we had to go in to bed.

The last resort

So today has been one of those days... you know the one where you want to lock your kid in his room. Well today I did just that.

Everyday I put him down for a nap and I have one of those "childproof" knobs on his door so he doesn't get out 5000 times. Well guess what, he figured out how to get out. So all day today while he was supposed to be napping he just kept coming out of his room. Then came bedtime and I just couldn't take it anymore. I need that boy to stay in his room because I need him to sleep... BECAUSE I need to be sane.


Soooooo.... I came up with this great idea!

Guess what... he stayed in there and was sleeping in 5 minutes! So if anyone needs me to come over to do this to their house, I'm there!

Just a pic

This Little Piggy...

Here are Hannah's toes painted for the first time ever! She sat still on the floor long enough for me to do both of her feet and now walks around looking at them say "Ohhh, pitty (pretty)". I'm so glad she is such a girly girl!

My girly's poor belly

So it's about that time where I have to try and give yogurt to Hannah before her doctor's appt. next month. I really don't want to but it has to be done so we can know if milk is still affecting her like it was before. If it is they will do allergy testing to see if that is what it is or if it might be a lactose issue. I just don't want to put my poor baby through all of that again. Worst case is she will be throwing up all day from the yogurt and best case is that she isn't affected by it at all. I've been giving her quite a few things that have milk cooked in to it and she hasn't had any problems. The last time we tried something was a few months ago and we gave her 3 bites of icecream. She was up all night screaming because she had really bad stomach cramps. Atleast there was no throwing up so that was a good sign. So my plan is to buy a yogurt and maybe on Matt's next day off give it too her so that if she does get sick from it I'll be able to comfort her all day and not have to worry about Carsen.

Now I just need to figure out how much to give her... enough that I know if her stomach can handle it but not too much that it makes her sick all day long.

Pray that her little tummy will accept the yogurt with no problems.

Tubby Time and Crayons in his BED.

Don't leave your 3 year old in the tub to go change your other child! I usually do this and it works out great because Carsen always wants to play longer than Hannah does in the tub. Welllllll..... this time while I was changing Hannah into her pj's I could hear Carsen laughing hysterically and I didn't really think much of it at the time. I finished up and went to check on him and he had basically dumped all the water that was in the tub on the floor. Oh yes.. an inch of water or so working it's way to the door. It took two towels and the pile of clothes that were laying on the floor to soak it all up. I should have taken a picture but was a little too mad at the time. Carsen was so proud of all his water on the floor though. Ugh!

I can't forget about today. Carsen has only taken 1 nap in the last 21 days. Yes! Long days and even longer nights for me with this cranky boy. Today I was determined to get him to take a nap. I put him in his room and only gave him one train to play with. He played and played and got out a few times and cried and cried because I put him back in his room. Finally I went in because it was quiet so I thought I had won. I thought he must be sleeping but noooooo... he was coloring all over his bed with a crayon. I'm pretty sure I've covered the "only color on paper" thing with him so why is he coloring on his brand new bedding with a pretty orange crayon. I'm very happy that only a few days ago I threw out any crayons and markers that didn't say "WASHABLE" on them.

Oh and did you notice that I'm post happy today!!!!

She's got the moves

Ever since she was really little she's had some pretty good dance moves!!!! I can't wait to see what we get in another 6 months!

Just cute.

Just a cute little video I found of Carsen and Hannah.....

Carsen's Room & Birthday Party

Here are a few pics of Carsen's new room and of him at his birthday party. He got lots of great gifts and loves playing with his new Thomas tracks. Matt likes playing with Carsen's new drums, Hannah likes the marbles and I like the light up bath tub frogs!!

New House

So here are a few pics of our new living room... it's really the only room that we have completely set up right now besides Carsen's room but he's in bed right now so I will do pics later.

The Big Miss

So this morning I showed Carsen that he could get up on the potty all by himself. He usually waits for me and sits there till I take him down. So I got out the stool and he got all undressed and then got up and down about 50 times. I was thinking this was great because now he could just go by himself and I wouldn't have to run down the hallway to help him out. I was WRONG. He decided later this afternoon that he would try to go by himself so he went in did his thing and came back out to me. The he ran in again and back out and said "Mama, come see the water". Not the words that I wanted to hear. So I went in and apparently he either missed big time or just stood in the stool and peed all over the floor. Either way it was gross, the floor was completely soaked and there were little dirty footprints in it. FUN! So now I think I'll stick to running down the hallway so I don't have to clean up the mess.

Hey at least he's going on the potty again.

Update on the kids

Well my Hannah Banana is soon to be 18 months and just now has 10 teeth. She's growing like a weed though. She is also quite the little princess. As soon as you take the camera out she gets a big grin on her face and she knows how to make these cute little faces to get what she wants. She is talking so much now. She tries to say everything. Most of it most people wouldn't understand but I know what she means. Her favorite word is of course "no" with a close runner up being "Mama". She loves it when she sees Matt come into a room. She gets so happy saying "Hi, Daddy" although she says it "da-ing". It's so cute. She also LOVES to cause trouble and climb on anything and she screams at the top of her lungs if Carsen goes near a toy she is playing with. She loves to do everything Carsen is doing too.. she follows him around all day. She'll even lay on the floor and play trains with him.

Carsen is going to be 3 in just a few weeks. It's so sad to see him getting so much older. I just want to keep him little forever. He is sooo funny at this age and he has me laughing so hard sometimes. He has the best facial expressions I've ever seen and also some pretty great dance moves. Anyone who has seen it knows what I'm talking about. He is also my lovable little one who loves to give great hugs and Eskimo kisses. The other day we were in the car and he said something funny and I said " I love you buddy" and he said back " I love you Mama". That just about made my heart melt!

My kids drive me crazy and make me want to pull all my hair out and scream at the top of my lungs but I would never take away a single second of my time with them. They are crazy and funny and full of energy and I love that.

Mother & Daughter

A pic of me on the left and Hannah on the right

We're Moving!!!

Good Bye old Apartment!!

**This was the first picture we took of Carsen once we moved into the apartment we are in now.**

We will soon be moving out of this wonderful apartment on August 2nd. I will miss it here mostly because I have all the memories of the kids here. Carsen was 3 months old when we moved here so this is all he has known. We definitely need this move though. I was desperate for 3 bedrooms so the kids didn't have to share a room anymore. Hannah still isn't the best sleeper at night so it will be nice that she can't wake Carsen up! We will be moving into the downstairs apartment of Matt's parents. It's right in town and plenty of places to walk and plenty of parks for the kids to play at. I'm very excited about not having thousands of bugs swarming me when I go outside now. I think it's going to be a great move for us! Now I need to start packing. Ugh!!! That is the part of it I hate the most. I love unpacking but packing is just annoying! Even more now that I have 4 little hands that like to take something out of a box as soon as I put it in.

Seriously... GROSS!

So today started out like any other normal day. The usual stuff like laundry, cleaning Carsen's room and today I was changing sheets on the beds. I was in the bedroom putting the new sheets on our bed when Hannah came in and I noticed she needed a new diaper. Well I brought her to the living room to change her and Carsen said "oh Mama, big poopy" so I said yes Hannah had a yucky diaper. Then he said "no Mama, big poopy" and pointed.

Where did he point.... AT THE TV!

Yes, he too had a lovely poopy diaper and decided that since I was in the other room he would smear it all over the tv. Oh and since he was wearing a diaper that means he is still refusing the go on the potty. Ahhh.. such a wonderful day! I think I need a vacation away from the kids and all that is poopy and gross!

Hannah my little daredevil can climb on anything. The only problem is once she climbs up on something she sits there and whines "Mama, doowwwnnnn" until I come over and take her down. She's too afraid to get down once she's up. She definitely knows how to work her cuteness already!

Did I mention that I need a vacation (without kids)?

Potty Training...take 2

Yeah so you know how I said that the potty training was going great and he seemed to be catching on. Well all of that just went down the drain today... actually NO, it went all over my living room floor! He was doing so well then today he just decided that not only was he going to pee all over the floor but he wouldn't even give me the slightest hint that he was about to do it. Usually it would be a "Mama, gotta pee on the potty" and he would have had an accident. Today... noooooo.... he decided that he would just stand there and let it flow. Ugh! I'm not sure if he was just rebelling against me because I wouldn't let him watch the Polar Express (again) or if it was because I yelled at him for killing a frog.




So just wondering if someone wants to borrow Carsen for a while and potty train him for me??!!

Potty Training...

So this seems to be all I talk about lately but I guess it's because it takes up all of my time. Carsen seems to be doing pretty well with the whole potty training thing. He's been wearing undies most of the time except for nap time and bed time and of course there's the whole pooping issue (we don't need to get into that). Most days he does good and tells me when he has to go and then there are some days that he pees all over the floor and I have no idea why. That just frustrates me! I'm looking forward to being able to go somewhere and keeping him in undies with no accidents and for him to tell me EVERY TIME he has to go.

Vacation

So this is a little late... but better late than never, right? Our vacation was great. It was so nice to get out of the house for a week and do whatever we wanted to do. We went to Pennsylvania and mostly did stuff in Philadelphia. We went to Adventure Aquarium, Sesame Place, The Philadelphia Zoo and The Please Touch Museum. The kids loved all of them, especially the Zoo. They are both into animals so they loved to see all the different ones they've never seen before. I of course loved Sesame Place. I love all amusement parks!!!

Our days were filled with things to do and our nights were very long. Since we were in one room we had to try and get to kids to bed. We tried letting them cry, rocking them, letting them stay up till they passed out, car rides, EVERYTHING. They just didn't want to go to bed. I think it was a combo of all the things listed above that got them to sleep and by that point Matt and I were exhausted too. We didn't want vacation to end but we were happy to get home too. The 7 hour car ride home was very long since Hannah screamed for the last 2 hours of the ride. Fun, huh?? We finished our vacation off with a trip to The Flume. Carsen walked the whole way and loved seeing all the water and we let Hannah walk part of the way which she loves so she can try and run away from us!

Tissues anyone?

Oh Carsen, my dear, sweet little Carsen!

I thought it was just one of those bad days. The ones where Carsen screams at Hannah because she is screaming, the ones where he takes all her toys and moves them across the room and when she gets close to them he moves them again, the ones where he pushes Hannah and yells at her. Yes, all very normal around here. One of THOSE days! Things got a little more interesting today. I was doing my laundry and went to get Hannah out of the bedroom. When I came out Carsen was standing next to the washer and I asked him what he was doing. He didn't say much and just walked into the living room. I didn't really think anything of it since he didn't start freaking out when I came into the room like he had done something wrong. WELL when the load was done I went to take the clothes out and realized that my oh so innocent little boy had thrown a little pack of tissues in with the wash. YIKES! Can I just say disaster. It looked like it snowed in here after I got done shaking out all of the clothes. ONE OF THOSE DAY!!! The ones where I put my kids to bed at 6pm to try and get my sanity back!!

Cankles??

So this is just to make every other pregnant woman out there feel great about themselves that they didn't look like THIS! Every part of my body was swollen, especially my legs and feet. I could push on my leg and the indent would stay there for 1/2 an hour. This was me, pregnant with Carsen on the day that I went into the hospital. I don't think I could have lasted another day. Oh and look how skinny Matt looks standing next to me AND look at how much hair he had before we had kids!

Just thought I'd share this lovely moment with everyone else!

Yummy Popsicle

Hannah had her first taste of a popsicle (at Stacy's house) the other day and she certainly loved it. Since she still can't have anything with dairy in it she misses out on lots on yummy snacks and foods, including ice cream. Just imagine not being able to eat ice cream in the summer. TERRIBLE! We'll be stocking up on popsicles this summer just for Hannah.


I'm still not sure what the whole problem is with the dairy thing either. I don't know if it's a milk allergy or a lactose problem. The doctor's don't do testing till they are older so for now we just try and be safe and keep her away from it all. She still sneaks some of Carsen's crackers and those don't seem to bother her but if she has anything with straight milk or cheese in it she either gets very bad stomach cramps and screams all night or throws up. Fun, huh? For now it's not a problem because I control what she eats and she eats healthier than Carsen ever ate and even healthier than Matt & I.

a day of fun in the sun

Oh The Word

So Carsen really does pay attention to the things I say!

Whenever I get mad at something he does or something surprises me I usually say " Oh my word". Well lately whenever Carsen drops a toy or something happens with one of his toys that's not supposed to he now says " Oh the word". It's so cute to hear a 2 1/2 year old yelling "oh the word" to his toys.

Randomness

I still can't get a good pic with both of them looking at the camera. I'm guessing that maybe in a year or so I might be able to get one. Carsen hates to have his picture taken now and as soon as Hannah sees the camera she starts walking towards me.

She is walking all over the place now. The only time she crawls is when she falls while walking then she just gets to where she was going by crawling there. I love seeing her walk. I'm not a huge fan of her learning how to get on furniture though. As soon as I turn my back she has climbed up into a chair and starts jumping up and down. She's already fallen off a handful of times (well some of those were pushes from Carsen).

Oh and I need to just say that I hate laundry! I always have!!! I don't mind the washing and we don't have a dryer so I don't even mind hanging all the clothes on racks. I just can't stand to fold it all and put it away. I'll sometimes just leave it on the rack for a week or I'll take it down and put it in the basket and leave it there for a week or I'll fold it, put it in the basket and leave it there until the basket is empty! Occasionally the clothes will make their way into drawers. I'm guessing maybe once a month.

Sleepless Nights

Ok... I love my kids but they really need to start sleeping again. It's been a week and neither of them has slept through the night. Carsen has a bit of a cold and his nose hurts because he keeps rubbing it and Hannah is getting more teeth. YAY! She's been a terrible sleeper from the beginning. I think since she's been born we've had maybe a total of 20 nights that she has slept through the night. Not only are they not sleeping through the night but they won't take naps either. Carsen just sits in his room and screams and Hannah takes her first nap but cries for the second one. This makes for a VERY long day. With Matt working 9am-7:30pm most days I don't get him for dinner and bedtime and that is the worst time of the day for me and them. So the last few nights I've had them in bed by 6:30 in hopes that they would finally fall asleep by 8pm. I think I need a day of shopping or something before I lose my mind... and grocery shopping doesn't count!

Someone give my husband a hint that for Mother's Day I need a little pampering!!! :)

Motivate Me

You would think that after having two kids, gaining 60, losing some, getting pregnant, gaining 30, losing a little, that I would want to get to the gym and get my butt moving. Well I do... but I don't want to get off of the couch to do it. This is a problem. I need some motivation. Let me know where I can find that because I don't think it will be next to the box of Ring Dings that I have become addicted to. I'm going to attempt to make it to the gym twice a week. That may be a stretch though. Ugh... stretching. I can't even touch my toes. This is going to be a long journey!! Anyone have a membership to Planet Fitness and want to join me at the gym????

Update on Life

So I'm still trying to figure out how my kids have so much energy. They run around and play all day, skip naps and are still going strong at bedtime. Cranky but still going strong! By 6pm I've had it and want to curl up on the couch and pass out. I've even had to start drinking a cup of coffee at night to keep up with them! It's hard to not have Matt home for dinner and the kids' bedtime every night.

I'm still working with Carsen on the whole potty training thing. I just need to get him in there more during the day. He's done really good with pooping on the potty (for those of you who wanted to know). He's gone on the potty almost every time in the last two weeks!

Hannah has FINALLY been sleeping better at night. Thank goodness and it's about time since she's one already! I'm sure in a weeks time that will change because she'll start to get more teeth or get a cold or who knows what. She now knows how to make a cute, sweet face to get what she wants and it's pretty hard to resist. She also loves the camera and loves people. I think she'll go to just about anyone who will look at her and talk to her. Whenever I tell her "you're so pretty" she gets a great big grin on her face like she knows it.

Carsen seems to like Hannah much more now that she can walk. He tries to give her eskimo kisses and give her hugs but then two minutes later he'll be pushing her down because she touched one of his trains.

Oh and ever since Aly had her baby I've been trying to talk Matt into having another one BUT I don't think it's going to work. We'll see who wins to battle! Or maybe we'll just get a dog then we don't have to pay for a 3rd to go to school!

The kids

So here they are. Carsen is still obsessed with his guitar, trains and basketballs. Hannah has started walking and she takes between 5-10 steps on her own. She's also saying a few more words too. She says mama, dada, banana, hotdog, night night, bye, hi. As you can see from the pic she's quite the little ham. She loves the camera and she loves people.