Spooky

We've had more transitions around here, I don't know if I've mentioned it here. Gwen is not napping any more. Nate is down to one nap, Gwen is down to none...fun times! I think they both probably miss the naps they are skipping, but with Nate, I am tired of being stuck in the house all the time. We have short bursts of times where we can get out, but it is a real pain trying to meet people and do stuff. So, I have been trying to figure out a new schedule for us. We used to have a nice schedule in the sense that I had some quiet time with Gwen and some with Nate. Gwen and I would do some preschool and watch Sesame Street together. I also enjoyed some time to myself, no kids no screaming, but I had time to do my own thing and do some work around the house. Now we just have some cranky kids and I have nothing! I am still trying to institute QT for Gwen, I definitely need the break from her, or I get frustrated quickly. And she has been so whiny, and cries at the drop of a hat (about things that don't usually make her so cranky). But we will work it out. In the mean time, I have been working on things for us to do. I want to start doing more crafty things than we already do, the stuff we do is not so crafty, but I think she would like the crafts. So, I found this in one of my magazines and thought I would try it with her...all the crafts I have come up with involve food...is that crazy? I didn't any pictures of the beginning steps, but this is about halfway through...
This craft involves pretzels, marshmallow creme, powdered sugar and 8 mini chocolate chips! I figured what's not to love? (Eric thought it was too sweet!) I had mixed and kneaded the marshmallow creme and powdered sugar and then we were rolling it into balls and rolling out the discs. Then we put the balls on the pretzels, to help them stand up and stabilize.

Then we made the discs super thin and gently laid them over the pretzels and gently pressed in the eyes...

Spooky? I thought they were cute, but they were a lot of work, and were sweet...the kids and I didn't have any problems eating them though. I don't think I will be doing it again. Nate, unsure.

Gwen, no questions, just dug in (she did take out the eyes to eat first, though)

Nate trying it out.

I mean, the kid just dug in!

Nate pulled the thing apart ate the pretzel and just stared at it the rest of it, we thought he was done, and then he took another handful and keep eating. Not sure if he really was convinced he liked it, or was just watching his sister and copying.

What do you think, do these kids have the same parents?

I am going to go ahead and say we had a fun Saturday. We are finding things to do on the cheap and found that B&N had a coupon for a free hot chocolate and kids cookie, so we printed up 4 copies and went to B&N and arrived just in time for story time! We did some shopping and everyone took a nap, well not me, of course. But everyone else. I have been diligently working on completing Gwen's 1 year scrapbook, I know, a little embarrassing, since she's 3, but I am in the final stretch. I have 1 page I need pictures for, I have been vacillating on that last page, it is the "companion" page to the family tree page and I think I have decided to put in pictures of the people featured in the family tree, even if they are deceased. I have decided that the living "ancestors" are featured heavily in the book already, it might be nice to have some pictures of the ones that are deceased in there so Gwen can have them right in her book (I will do the same for Nate, maybe even the same layout!). This means I am going to have to track down grandparent and great grandparent pictures (you are warned, Mom!) and all the rest of the pages are laid out. I finished up the drafts of the journaling, so now I just have to write it all in the book and I will be done and on to Nate's 1st year! Exciting! Thank goodness I have this blog to let me know what the heck was going on in the 1st year, or I would be lost!!!!!

In the know

Sometimes as a Mother you receive stuff in the mail from people you know. Sometimes, there is no doubt who the packages come from like this dress here. Those that know us IRL, might recognize this dress, not specifically, but this dress, should remind you of someone!
I tried to get Gwen to pose, but apparently this is her "gown" and she must dance in it, by the by, she is also wearing her crown (headband).

My Mother says I should get her into dancing lessons, but I am not sure I am a dance lessons kind of Mom. I mean sure she is always dancing when she hears music, and she might love it, but, am I supposed to let her do what she wants to do?

Of course, she doesn't know about dance lessons yet, so that should buy me some time to get used to the idea of it...

I finally got her to stop briefly

so I could take these pictures.

I missed the picture right before this one, Nate was sitting on the couch and Gwen set up all her babies next to him, but he moved before I got the picture. It was pretty cute, Nate and the babies and Gwen. Gwen obliged, briefly though.

This is a new pass time for Gwen, arranging babies put them in a row.

She is now also sleeping with a bunch of things on her bed, I say things, because they are not just babies, a corn popper one day, a rocking horse. I don't know why, I don't know if this is a phase. Who knows. She is a crazy one! But, we'll keep her!

Have you guessed who the dress is from? Yes, it is Grandma! And Gwen adores it, I tried to hide it in the back of the closet for the rest of the winter, but Gwen found it.

Trouble with a capital T...

I have mentioned that Nate is getting to be more and more trouble. He is in that stage where really he is just testing his limits. Not just the limits we are setting for him, but the limits of what he is capable of doing. To this end, I may have mentioned before he has learned to climb down he has learned to climb up. GRR! So the last couple weeks have involved NO! And, really Eric has come home several times to Nate standing on something and crying (because frankly by the time he gets home I am tired of the up down and whatever else that happens, plus I gotta make dinner!) So, here is Nate climbing on the box to play the piano, seriously, we have a bench and he can reach the keys from standing in front of the piano, but I guess he likes a challenge? Sadly, later the day, or maybe why this was so close to the piano was because the box was too close to the door and he was opening the door, because he wants to ALWAYS be outside.
Also, he has figured out how to climb onto tables, so he can fix the blinds for me!

Ok, but this is like a terrible safety hazard. (Hi Jamie!)

So you know I have started closing doors and am trying to get him to STOP going into the bathroom scaling the toilet and turn on the (HOT) water so he can play in it...and now he can open the doors. And time outs aren't really very effective, but I am still trying for all of our sanity's to get him to listen and not do things that are bad for his health, now if I could just get him to stop eating dirt, chalk, crayons and eat what I make for dinner!

But, he is so cute...

I put up this bowl and he stood at it and waved at it for 5 minutes...

it looked like a compulsive thing, like he couldn't help it, because the thing was waving at him, he HAD to wave at it, just bad manners not too! (notice Gwen dancing in the background) Hopefully we will make it through the rest of the toddler years without incident, or without a trip to the ER. But lets face it, I think with Nate it is more than when I visit the ER with Nate not if!

These are the days...

I haven't made much of an effort here lately. It isn't that I don't have much to say, I have a lot to say. I have been letting things slide and I need to pick the ball back up and tell you how things are. The family is still plugging along. Everyday we get more and more used to our surroundings. I recently went to a preschool fair trying to determine what to do about next year. I am afraid that for Gwen, going from staying with us all day to a full day of school would be a little much. I think there would be a bad adjustment, so I am looking into preschools. I had some people there state that I should immediately get Gwen into preschool now, because at 3, she definitely needed to be in preschool. Whatever. I guess I am supposed to start touring and sitting in classrooms, getting her on a waiting list, and whatnot.
Gwen is getting to be more and more like a little girl and less and less like a toddler. Sometimes I think she thinks faster than she can get the words out. I think mostly she is getting less on my nerves. Now, if I could only get her to pee more regularly, but that is a topic for another day.
Nate, on the other hand, is getting worse. Well, not really worse, but more and more difficult. Nate has some new skills, all of them are bringing havoc to my life. He has learned to climb up, but now down. He loves climbing up and every time you turn around he is standing on something, pulling on something or shaking something (like a chair) enough that you think that he will fall off the chair. He seems to have no fear. He has been known to just walk off the bed, slide down a slide head first. No regard for his safety, which means I need to keep an eye on him CONSTANTLY, which is impossible and not really my style of mothering. So, I have been fervently trying to teach Nate how to get down, which really is a futile at this point, because he doesn't really care.
Eric seems to be doing well in school, well I don't know how well he is doing, because there is no grading system apparently, either you pass or you don't. I suspect he will do well and he seems to be adjusting to the college lifestyle. And we are getting ready to start another busy week!

15 (16) month checkup

Here are the vital stats:
Weight: 24lb 5oz (35%)
Height: 31in (35%)
They don't give me any take home info, so I am doing this post immediately, so I don't forget! How does this compare to 12mons...1lb 2oz, 3 1/4in, I am not sure if the percentages are correct, I think that is what she said. Everything else looks good, and sorry if my Math skills are off I must chase after Nate now, and make sure all the chairs area plugged in oh and as I write this I see Gwen with 1 of our (unplugged) extension cords trailing behind her, no doubt Nate has been playing with things he shouldn't again. GOTTA GO!

More backyard fun! (revised)

Here are some more pictures from Friday. Nate likes to push around the mower, it is one of his favorite pass times outside.

The kids enjoying my rock "wall". Here is Nate, he actually likes to eat look at stuff on the other side of the wall. Gwen realizing Nate was getting photo time, decided to join him.

Look, they are both looking at the camera!

Gwen wanted Nate to push her. On some things he can actually push her, but he can't on the mower...yet.

So then, he had to try, not so successful.

If you happened to see the other post, I realized that I had 2 posts saved that I could edit and the one I picked didn't have all the pictures, so I deleted the first post and now there is just this one.

DIRT!

More pictures from Friday. Here is Nate enjoying our dirt pile. We have a lot of dirt from our tree/patio project. Have I mentioned the Nate-man loves to play in the dirt. Dirt, can you believe it, DIRT!

What's that over there?

Hey, what's going on over in your dirt pile?

See, look at my dirt, do you want to eat it?

Look, its pretty in my hair.

Stones, in with our dirt? Interesting...

Mommy this is so much fun!

Wonder what's in here, this has blocked by the table; and I haven't been able to get in here.

Since Nate ate some portion of the dirt on Friday, then had a fever on Saturday, related? We have no idea, but he didn't really have any other symptoms and he hasn't shown any more illness or anything, so who knows. I am going to just not let him outside anymore if he is going to eat the dirt!

Progress?

As I have mentioned before we are working on the outside of the house, the backyard namely. We have moved some stuff, planted some stuff and are generally getting things together. I took Gwen out this morning to put some stuff on the plants and thought you would enjoy some pictures, of a Gwen-centric post following the Nate-centric post yesterday.

This first picture shows our backyard, so far, we now have those 2 little blueberry bushes on the left of the screen, the moved holly tree, the 2 moved crepe myrtle, the moved house now put on 12x12 squares, the trellis with the blackberry bush and of course Gwen singing and dancing around her house.

Seriously, Gwen has made up her own song, I can't remember exactly how it goes, but she repeats the same thing over and over...I tried to remember it, but I can't!

These rocks were pulled out of some of the places where the trees were, I decided to put them in the back so I could say things like don't go behind the rocks, kind of like a boundary. Gwen (and Nate) use them as a seat...bonus!

What I didn't notice is that Gwen was moving the rocks also, Eric carved this out so they could use the secret passageway, apparently Gwen felt differently!

We are planting around their little house. I hope to have pretty pictures this spring!

Gwen spent some time "fishing", this morning. She caught a blue fish, in case you were wondering.

Wa-ter

When I thought about posting today, I had a lot to say, but then I was making dinner and this scene I noticed, well actually this wasn't the scene I noticed, as I have mentioned previously, this is a small house so I can usually keep a pretty good eye on the kids, but there are some places I can't see when I am standing by the oven. The end of the dining room table. I checked on Nate and he was sitting at the table with Gwen's water glass, pouring the water onto the chair and splashing in it...I thought I was being smart and moved the cup further up the table, this is what I found when I checked on him again.

He looks guilty in that above picture, but I assure you he felt no guilt, he was enjoying himself, I just missed his big happy smile!

Yep, that's my boy...mischievous, quick thinking and well, loves to splash water! My MIL called him the "tornado", my Mother, just sighed and said things like "does he ever stop moving?", not even the type of moving kids do when they get tired, you know keeping themselves awake. I think I would have been better equipped to be Nate's Mother, 6 years ago, and 40lbs lighter...but maybe chasing after him will keep me young and help take off my extra baby weight. Needless to say, Gwen got a new, fresh glass of water with dinner, I don't want her drinking dry erase board water.
He has really started talking, repeating what we say, most recently I trained him to say "Bubba" and poop (not as helpful as I was hoping for, he now says poop while I am changing him, I was hoping he would let me know after he pooped, so I could change him immediately!) Now he also says, "downtown" and really whatever Gwen teaches him. He doesn't really walk any more, he just runs. He runs head first. He's my cuddler though, he pats us on the back and gives us hugs and kisses and is starting to get mad if anyone leaves the room. He certainly has a temper.

Gwen is well, Gwen. I am still trying to get a read on her, things I have determined, I will not be able to home school her. I get entirely too frustrated. She hasn't decided if she is going to be a lefty or a righty uses them both interchangeably and sometimes at the same time. This makes it difficult to teach her to write and work on the fine motor skills. I don't want to push her into one hand or the other and since I have no early education background I don't know what to do. I think she should be deciding the hand thing, I read somewhere between 2 & 3 years old. I could also be over reacting, as I am likely to do, but I am a fish out of water here and don't really know what to do. I think she might be a lefty, I found some experiments activities that I found to help determine what hand she is supposed to be. I found when I was sitting on her left side she was 100% lefty, but now that I changed sides and have put everything on her right (because we live in a right handed world!) she now uses both. I am sure it is no big deal, but when you stay at home and don't have friends locally you OBSESS about the little things! Seriously need to find some friends!

In Church news, I had just decided to join the 5 min away or less Church, they seemed to have some good things I could get Gwen involved in right away, but I just wasn't motivated. The weekend I had decided to join we had a LONG night and I slept in and went to the other Church, which is slightly farther away (are you following?) and the Pastor talked about FOOTBALL, quoted Vince Lombardi, no less! (Hi Grandpa!!!) If you have been a long time reader or know my family, you might know my people are from WI, and my Grandpa loves the Pack (sorry about the game Monday, Grandpa!). Anyhoo, I am undecided what to do. I like the new Church, the time, not so bad, but the service tends to be a little long winded which is hard on the 3 year old. She does well, but the music is better, the fact that the Church feels brighter and therefore a little more welcoming helps. (until they decided in this diocese to FREAK out about the swine flu and not let us greet each other or do the sign of peace, seriously, we're a CHURCH) I don't really have to make an immediate decision, but I feel like some of the activities of the new Church are ones that we would enjoy as a family especially as the kids grow. Sadly, since I have already committed to the Mon Music class, I can't attend the Mon playgroup and meet some other Church going Moms. Oh yeah and Nate sleeps through the playgroup, would likely be another problem!

Anyhoo, off to bed, I started this post many hours ago, as the post time notes, but I have had other things to do that have gotten me distracted and unable to finish. Sorry if it is a little rambly, I haven't posted in quite some time!