Friday, September 30, 2011

Picture Post: September
























Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Christina says

"Who bought this for me?"

"I want to eat that!"

"Where is my present?"

"I gave you a hug, give me a cookie."

"It smells like poopy in here."

"I'm gonna smoke you."

"Watch me do my fire dance guys."

"Why you say Hey buddy?"

"I'm gonna turn your ticket!"
"I'm sick cause I'm jumpin' on Mommy Megan's car."

"Hi stinky kids."

"I have gas in my butt."

"I wanna watch you take a shower."

"I'm gonna get a boyfriend, and I'm gonna get dates!" ( I have NO idea where she got that one from)

"I put myself in timeout."

"I'm gonna put everyone in timeout!"

- Megan K

Monday, September 26, 2011

Growing like a weed

Gwendolyn Eve . . . .

ONE month old


TWO months old

THREEE months old

FOUR months old

FIVE months old

SIX months old

SEVEN months old

EIGHT months old

NINE months old

TEN months old

ELEVEN months old

Twelve months old

THIRTEEN months old


FOURTEEN months old

FIFTEEN months old

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Funny, but also SO NOT funny

One night recently, Nik was home alone with the girls while I went to go help out at my sorority recruitment.  He likes to take photo and video when he is home with them and he captured this little gem below.  Apparently, he did not tell her to say this, she just said it on her own. 



And then she insisted on him recording her again . . .



Well, I guess the video of my perfect angels (with Daddy and not Mommy) makes a little more sense to me now, lol.

And for those of you (ahem, Mom) who are a little upset by these videos. Please remember, she does actually like me (pretty much every day!) and has said "I don't like Daddy" right to him on way more occassions that not. She has this thing where she can only like one parent at a time. Go figure.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Daddy is the magic charm

I always knew that the kids were completely different children when I wasn't around.  Nik always tells me that when I walk in the room, they turn into little monsters.  I guess it is just something about me that makes them want to whine, cry, disobey, and hold onto me for dear life.  Ok, so maybe they aren't that bad all the time and in general they are still very good for little kids, but seriously, what is up with the way they behave when they are alone with Nik?  Check it out:



Unfortunatley I don't have a comparison video, because let's face it, I don't really want to capture those memories.  But, I can tell you, it is NOTHING like what you have seen in the video above.  They do not sit still when I am around.  They do not stay quiet when I am around.  They do not sit still AND stay quiet while I am around.

I guess Nik has the gift.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

2 kids + 1 bedroom = disaster

If you ever have to make the decision whether to put your two young children in a bedroom together, or give them their own room, always take the latter. If you happen to have the luxury of the extra space, do it, I'm telling you, I'm an expert. You know, since I actually have two young children, and I actually made the decision (i.e. WRONG, very very WRONG decision), to put them in the same room together. In fact, I even had an extra room, a couple of extra rooms in fact, and yet, still when we moved into this big ol' house, I thought, "hey, why don't we just put them in the same room together?". Nope, wrong answer, guess again Mommy.

Actually, if I am being completely honest, it was Nik's decision. I was iffy on the idea, but went with his opinion. See, that is what I get! And of course now it is too late to back track because both of those "extra" bedrooms have been long since dedicated to another purpose (office and guest bedroom).
So now you want to know why this is such a bad idea right? Not just bad, read it - disaster. Well, I don't know, maybe if you don't mind letting your kids stay up all night, or maybe if it doesn't bother you that in the middle of the night ultimately one will wake up screaming and frighten the other and then you'll end up with both of them in your bed. Maybe you like to be all squished together in one bed. If so, go for it. In fact, don't even bother putting them to sleep in their room, just throw them right in your bed. This way they can at least get a full night of sleep, even if you can't, what with all of the arms and legs protruding into your back all night long. And of course let’s not forget those frequent smacks in the face when they change positions. AWESOME.

So because of our great big mistake, we spent weeks and weeks playing musical beds. Christina always slept somewhere other than her own bed. One night it was the bed in the office, one night it was the guest bed, one night it was in our bed – rinse and repeat. She was afraid that Gwen would cry and scare her. Then, when we would convince her to actually sleep in her own bed, either she would purposely wake up Gwen after I had just put her to sleep, or Gwen would wake up crying and that would wake up Christina. This house was very restless at night for many months.

Now I am happy to report that I think we have gotten over the hump. It seems that for the most part, both girls can sleep through the other one waking at night. Gwen sometimes wakes up and whines or even cries, but CC seems to sleep right through it, or at least it doesn't bother her enough to even open her eyes. But, I am telling you, it took a lot of sleepless nights before we could get to this point. If I could do it all again, I would definitely have separated them. I'm actually still worried about what is going to happen when I have to actually put them to sleep at the same time.

Right now, the routine is that we all get ready for bed together, CC gets into bed, we give kisses and say goodnight, then I take Gwen to my room where I nurse her and then I bring her back and put her into her crib. CC is never actually asleep when I bring Gwen back in, but Gwen doesn't know that she is laying in her bed, in the dark, awake. It took weeks and weeks of telling CC not to make a peep when I bring Gwen in, so as not to wake her up and she finally is doing it. Gwen is starting to nurse less and less and it seems that she doesn't even need or want to nurse before bed anymore. So now I have to figure out how to put both kids to sleep at the same time, without them thinking it’s a slumber party where they get to stay up all night and giggle. Hmmm. Well, I am going to put it off as long as possible I guess.

I don't want to jinx it, but not only have they been able to sleep in the same room together lately (FINALLY), but they have both been sleeping all night in there. At least they have for a couple of nights recently. This is really awesome for Gwen since I have had a really hard time getting her to sleep all the way through the night.

Ok, now will someone remind me of this timeless advice when we have a third kid?  And again when we have a fourth?  I just can't keep track. :-)

Sisters Vol 3

Click here to view this photo book larger

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Monday, September 12, 2011

I should mention that I wrote this while waiting to have a suspicious mole checked out

I suspect that my husband has sleep apnea. He has always said that the men in his family don't live long and now that I know that sleep apnea can lead to heart disease and heart disease can kill you, yeah, I'm concerned. Of course Nik is being a typical guy and has not been to the doctor about this. Maybe it will turn out to be nothing, but it is worth looking into.

I am trying to pressure him into going to the doctor by filling him with the guilt of ever leaving his wonderful family behind. You know, like "Our poor daughters would have no Daddy!" and "I would have to move back in with my parents just to pay the bills!". Lay it on real thick, because I am a firm believer in living my life with no regrets. Unfortunately this is also the reason I am a shopaholic. What if that shirt/painting/piece of furniture/anything in the world that could possibly have my attention, is sold out by the time I come back?

Nik and I met in high school and I would have absolutely no business being single in today's day and age. I don't even know anything about that life, nor do I ever want to learn. Considering my awful social skills, I can only imagine what that would be like.

My daughters are social butterflies though. Just last night I witnessed the dating techniques of my youngest daughter. Oh yes, she has a few tricks up her sleeves. We were out in our neighborhood park listening to some live music. Many of our neighbors were there, some we knew and some we did not. Gwen took this opportunity to scope out some hot toddlers. Her signature move is walking right over to a young boy, and standing there, just staring at him. I think she was pressuring him with her eyes . . . Waiting for him to make the first move. She held up her sippy cup, no doubt in an effort to offer him a drink. She tried to get her hands on some beer and wine earlier, but was stifled by her darn parents. Unfortunately, the water in her cup must not have been enticing enough, because he never made a move. She moved on.

After having been rejected, she did what most girls would do . . . She headed for the food. In fact, it didn't matter where the food came from. She helped herself to everyone's picnic basket. She walked on through the crowds, checking out what they had. When she found a bag of chips and a pb&j sandwich, she grabbed it and tried to make a run for it. Too bad those darn parents stepped in again. I guess we are already ruining her little life.

Now if only Nik will go to the doctor, he can secure his position at our front door while he will spend endless weekend nights waiting for his daughters to come home from their dates where he can make sure that they keep their hands to themselves and keep our innocent daughters safe.

Either that or he can hide the key to the room they will be locked in from age 13 to 18. Lol.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Sponges - yes, it is true

While picking up CC at school today, her teacher tells me that she needs to talk to me. I'm thinking, this can't be good. She then proceeds to tell me about story time and how in the middle of the story, Christina yelled out "What the hell?"

That's right. My three year old yelled out what the hell. What the hell!

Unfortunately, as Nik has pointed out, she must have gotten it from me. I admit, I may have said that phrase a time or two.

Oops!

And to make it worse, right after she said it, two other kids in her class repeated it. So yeah, that is my kid, the kid that your kid learns bad words from.

The fact that Christina diligently brushes her teeth every morning and every night, that she knows her colors and numbers, and that she sings "God our Father" before every meal, doesn't seem quite as impressive when you consider the fact that she shouts out curses in rooms full of three year olds.

So yeah, kids are sponges. And I better get my act together before I get my mouth washed out with soap!

- Megan K