The many faces of Nate...

and a one of Gwen.

I was trying to get a picture of some of Nate's new teeth, it didn't work out at all. He now has the 4 first year molars and has 3 of his canines poking through, we are still waiting for the top left one to make its appearance, I couldn't decide what pictures to post, so I am going to post them all. All of these pictures were taken in less than 2 minutes! My little ham after lunch!

Showing me his eye, he is really good at "eye", and mouth, and head, but we need to work on the rest of them, he keeps pointing to his mouth when I ask him where his nose is! :(

If you believe, you can see his tooth, that little white spot in the bottom left...

I don't know what this look is, but dude he does it often, a kind of excited happy look.

He likes to try and get the camera.

Gwen showing off her mad I know my body part skills!

I don't think he was showing me a body part here, he's just contemplating his next move!

I get this look also, not cleat on what it is for.

Ear!

Still his ear!

I have to say, Nate is the sweetest, happiest baby. Ok, so he doesn't wake up super happy and likes to be carried around, but seriously, loves to cuddle and pat you on the back, so sweet! I think he also might have some issues with his belly. He seems to be having some diarrhea, but no other symptoms and doesn't really seem to be affected, doesn't seem to care as usual. I think this may have been going on for the last couple days, but can't say for sure because it has taken this long for me to realize that hey, there might be something wrong...when he doesn't fuss or act any different, it is hard to realize he is not feeling well. So I guess we will probably stay close to the house well, at least I will keep Nate close to the house. It is not like we really do anything with others, so I don't know if he's actually caught something or if this is just another side effect of the teeth coming in. He is still eating and drinking normally, so I guess I won't be too concerned. I just finished another batch of yogurt, which I have read is good for the diarrhea and I think it has already helped some. Another fun and exciting post from me! ;)

GL

I can't decide what pictures to post (I finally found my camera), so I have decided to do them in backwards order...it is the only thing I could think of, there are so many good ones! Here are some pictures of Gwen "helping" me.

I told her we were going outside and to put her shoes on, she decided to help Nate first, but she didn't actually get very far!

Gwen has this skirt that she thinks should be worn as a dress. I really wish that I could have gotten the picture of the first time she did this...she put the skirt on like she has it now and she had the shirt down around her waist. Now I give her some leeway with clothes, she does sometimes go out with dresses on backwards and non matching clothes. But the skirt/shirt combo I could not hang with. Usually when she picks out this skirt she has to wear it around like this while she carries her babies. She is a nut!

Eric thinks this picture is a glimpse into our future of what she will look like.

I guess I should take the time to give you a little info into what Gwen is like these days. Can I tell you how sneaky she is! Oh my! She is having a little trouble adjusting to life since Grandmom has left and so she is not napping and a little whiny and crazy! Yesterday she decided she would not take a nap, so this is what my sneaky little child did...we don't have her in a diaper during nap time, she knows that if she has to go bathroom she is allowed to get out and go, so what she was doing was leaving the room, going in the bathroom turning on the light, shutting the door and then finding her elsewhere in the house...have I mentioned I am going to have to take up the drinking when she gets older, or maybe now. (ok I am kidding, but I will have to find some kind of outlet for the stress she is going to cause me!)

The latest

I have a couple things to say, no pictures included, because well, I don't currently know where the camera is. I got a wild hair today and decided that all the stuff that is currently sitting in piles in our bedroom will no longer be sitting in piles on dressers and really any flat space in the bedroom. It is time to find things homes or toss, or something! I think the camera may or may not be involved in that cleaning process, (since as I type this we haven't finished this project yet). I don't recall picking it up and tossing gingerly placing it on the bed with the rest of our crap stuff. I did a lot of the stuff, but some stuff needs the husband's attention and he is currently studying, oop done studying, now sitting next to me, I am sure we will find the camera soon and I will post the promised pictures, you know soon.
I hope that the people that used to live in this house have hired cleaning people, because I am still convinced that the people never really cleaned, I have been diligently cleaning and think that some of the areas that I have to clean (like the door jams, seriously, how long do you not have to clean to get lint and stuff in there, or to have matted fur in the vents.)
Also, the kids are still working on this sleep thing and it could make us crazy! I know they will get it eventually, but it seems to take forever and if they are exhausted and truly it is not fun to listen to them whine. Ok, well not fun to listen to Gwen whine, Nate hasn't mastered that art yet. They aren't going to sleep until 9-10:30ish even though we are putting them down way before that, also they are sleeping only until 7, so if I could get them to sleep later, but you really can't get them to do that, they don't really listen to reason and one wakes the other up. Also, Gwen has this new fun habit of every time I turn the lights out screaming either "I'm still awake" or "I've got to pee". FUN!
We don't have cable, but we have an antenna and it is actually better than cable, well not better than cable, but we are getting free local HD channels and making up the rest of the shows with free internet sites. Which actually has been fun, because those internet sites have some shows that Eric and I remember from our childhood, so we have been re-watching them, which is fun! They don't make them like they used to!

How've you been?

We have been kind of busy here, so busy I haven't been able to stop by and say hello. I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. My MIL was here and so I didn't really have a chance to get online much. She left super early this morning, so I have a chance to get on here and say hi! We had a good visit with "Grandmom" and I think everyone had a good time. I know the kids enjoyed some Grandmom time. Hopefully I will have a chance to update you on the things around here, with pictures, you know, like Nate, now having 14 teeth and saying new words all the time like "Mango" (our neighbor's cat). Quite fun. I will leave you with some pictures of Nate, he often picks up Gwen's dolls and hugs them, I don't know why!

He also loves putting things on his head, and taking it off and putting it on, a fun game that entertains him!

Where did your hair go?

Once there was a little boy, who had some hair. He was a sweet blondie with bright blue eyes. His hair seemed a little long so the boy's father decided to hack it off...

and make him look like this! :(

I am trying to get a shot of him, but you know he is elusive little bugger

Here is the scene of the crime, where you can see some of the remains.

Still trying to get a good picture...

What do you think?

If you ask him where his hair is, he still pats his head, sometimes, I guess because he realizes he hardly has any left.

My Mother sternly told Gwen not to let him near her with the clippers...although I guess since it is straight, it is much better job than I did on Gwen's hair! Eric also threatens to cut my hair, but I will also not allow that. Mommy still misses Nate's hair... :(

Routine or not routine

As usual around here, nothing around here is routine or normal. Eric finished his first rotation, but hasn't set up his next one. Classes officially start today, but his doesn't start until tomorrow. What does this mean to us? Eric has been home a lot. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is just that when we are trying to get the NC routine down it isn't very helpful. But, it is good for the kids and helpful for me to see him for a while, before he gets bogged down with work and studying. Although, in one of his orientation classes he was told, you work as hard as you need to, to get your work done. We'll see how it goes.
In other news, we have Nate and Gwen are currently sleeping in their new room. It has been a couple days, but during naptime I have them separated. Which is kind of funny, because during naptime, Gwen wants to sleep with Nate and during bedtime she doesn't. She thinks that I don't know what's up, but I do, she doesn't want to nap so she wants to hang with Nate, but I think he keeps her up too late with Nate so she doesn't want to sleep with him at night. I think it is just another late night don't want to go to sleep antic. Just like the new I have to pee stalling bedtime strategy!
In other news Nate is on some sort of eating strike. He isn't really eating dinner at all. But as soon as he gets down from his high chair he eats the food he dropped off his high chair or he wants to eat off our plates. We have 1 theory that since he has been sequestered in the kitchen, he is none too pleased about not eating with the rest of the family. I think we will try to move him back into the dining room and see what happens. If this doesn't work, then I think I am going to have to start weaning him since we know he is using that as a supplement and that isn't what we don't want! I have been holding off on weaning him, with the teeth coming in, moving, putting him and Gwen together, I just didn't want everything to be happening at once and he shows no interest in weaning. I didn't wean Gwen until a couple months from now and she didn't really care. I think Nate at this point might care, but we don't know until we try. He has been throwing temper tantrums these days, which are kind of funny, at this point. We'll see if they turn into full blown temper tantrums, or stay these little "anger spikes".
The new house is starting to come together. The MIL comes in about a week, so we have a little more rearranging and organizing to do, so she can at least be slightly comfortable. The guest bedroom is in pretty good shape, but we need to make sure she has enough room for her stuff. The problem is we have more stuff to sell in a garage sale in Oct, so we are running out of space, as usual. But we keep making progress on the house and getting more and stuff together and unpacked and organized and every step to organization is a step in the right direction!
There are some things about this house that I must get off my chest, first the light switches...HATE them, not the actual switches, but my instinct for which switch turns on which light is ALWAYS wrong! And while I am speaking of turning on and off light switches, I should mention that Gwen is now old enough to turn on and off light switches! Also, the spider web situation is pretty terrible, and not just the spider webs the lint/dust. I am just not used to all this dirtiness. I loved the hardwood floors, and feel like I could vacuum this house everyday, not just the floors but the vents and the ceilings and then I would be able to control the spider webs/dust. Even though this house is much smaller than the old house, with 2 kids it is not feasible at all! So I guess I will continue this loosing battle.
I also think I am allergic to NC, this could pose quite a problem for my future. Ok, so I might not be allergic to the whole state, but there is definitely something here bothering me! I have heard that eating local honey can help people, especially children with allergies, so I might try eating some local honey and see if that will help with my issues. Because frankly I don't want to sound like this and be hacking up a lung for because of so much congestion from allergies. Plus, I need to get back into exercising, which is difficult with congestion!
Last week we went and got our tags for NC, can I just say how irritating is that! It was twice as much money to get our tags for 1 year in NC than it was to get our tags for 2 years in MD. These are things you don't think about when you are moving, well we didn't think about, and in reading the website had no idea it was going to be that much. It is called the fees they hide on a different screen so we had no idea until we got there and with 2 kids and terrible acoustics we couldn't really get a good picture of what the heck was going on!
I guess that is all for now, not much else going on, oh wait, unless you consider Eric has pulled out his t-shirts and purchased some fabric, that's right we are going to be working on another tshirt quilt here! So stay tuned, one day we might start working on it!

The bedroom

I was speaking to my Mother the other day and since she is having a hard time visualizing the new kids bedroom. I thought I would post some pictures so you all can see the room. So, here you go, pictures of their room, from the front door, Gwen's bed and the toy box. Nate's bed, as you can see I am utilizing under crib storage for both the beds.

This is a picture from Gwen's bed to the closet.

From Nate's bed to the door.

Here is another view from almost inside the door. What you can't tell is where we have Gwen's bed, I guess I didn't take a picture from Nate's bed to Gwen's bed. We don't have her bed right up against the window, we have a doll size bassinet there. I think if you print out all the pictures you can tape them together in sort of a panoramic view of the room, good luck, and don't forget to fold for the corners!

This is the closet; it is a huge closet, I don't think you can really tell by that picture, so I took 2 more pictures.

This is the left side, we have 2 of those gaming chairs sitting on top of each other in there.

This is the right side, I still don't think you can see the depth, but you might have some idea of how much space. Maybe one day we can do a closet organization system in there.

Also, in the quest to become NC residents we had to get our cars inspected. While we were waiting we went to Target and picked up this:

YAY! Now we can put Eric's book collection in there and it is cheap and less than $30! I don't care, functional and cheap and it even comes with a thing so Eric can attach it to the wall so no children can pull it down on their heads!!! YAY!!!! I guess, truly that is the most important thing, that and cleaning out the guest closet for the impending Grandma visits! Now if we could just get a 1 year old to sleep through the night we might actually be ready for the Grandmas to visit...I am hoping these teeth coming in soon, because Nate was not happy to not see me last night, hopefully we can get him to start eating dinner again soon!

Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle!

I want to ride my bicycle! That is all we hear these days, Gwen wants to ride her bike, morning, midday and evening, its all she wants to do. Now that Eric made the seat higher she is much better at riding it. She loves to ride up and down the block and around in circles. I guess we did spend a lot of time pushing Gwen when she got stuck, because that is what Nate has taken over for us...
although sadly, she is not actually stopped when Nate tries to push her and she yells "Nate no push, I'm not stuck!" So funny!

Nate loves playing with leaves, well not really playing with them, he just picks them up and shows them to us and then walks around with them. Whatever, at least he is not running into someone elses yard!

There's our girl!

These pictures are from last night at bedtime. They are trying to sleep in the bed together again tonight. Gwen is super tired, and I think Nate is having a really hard time with teething. He has woken up at midnight and seems to have stopped eating most foods, besides dairy and bread. I have also caught him chewing on teethers, which I don't know that he has ever done, in the recent past. I think he is getting in a molar and a couple canines.

Things are fun and crazy around here. Eric has pretty much finished orientation, signed up for classes and now we have to gear up for graduate school, the fun begins!

TROUBLE!

I think I have trouble on my hands. In the form of this little man, doesn't he look sweet!
That was just before he threw it on the floor, he didn't break it, but he probably would have if it was less sturdy. I mean isn't he a sweet looking kid...

how can you resist that face?

Look at this man, he is standing on the sit and spin and trying to reach the letter. Does that seem dangerous to anyone else, or a bad idea.

I mean he wasn't hurt, but it certainly doesn't make it an easier to parent him.

What do you think about this idea?

Riding on his horse while reaching over to play with this toy. Seriously, his sister never thought of these things! But he definitely keeps me on my toes!

Because, as you can see this didn't work out so well! But that didn't stop him from doing that over and over again! (until we changed out the layout of his room!)

Sometimes he can be helpful, like look at him here, priming the lawn mower.

Although, sadly I couldn't get him to stop priming the lawn mower, so we've moved that also. I mean who can blame him there is a red button, who wouldn't want to press that!? I mean I love the kid, but seriously, does he have to get into everything? I mean I knew it would be different, but he is getting to have a temper when he doesn't get his own way.

What are you doing?

How's it been going with you? Well, we are surviving, I think a little better this week than last week. Everyone seems to be getting over the colds. I don't think the colds were all that terrible, and the kids have runny noses, but everyone appears to be on the mend. YAY! I haven't heard from the U.Haul people, I need to call and find out if I still owe them a trailer. GRRR! I don't have your trailer!
Eric finished his first rotation and has started orientation for his graduate studies. He starts classes and his second rotation next week.
This weekend we had a garage sale, our neighbors actually had a garage sale and we just jumped on the bandwagon. We sold some stuff, got more stuff out of the garage and hey, guess what, we can now walk out into the garage and get stuff out. WOHOO! No opening the garage and then walking out the front door to get the stuff that we need.
As you know we put the kids together, but then we stopped because of the colds. Today we decided to put them back together. They both cried, but fell asleep after maybe 30 minutes! I guess it helps that we tired them out. I think apart of the problem is Nate, I think it usually takes him a long time to get to sleep, sometimes over an hour. I think Gwen goes to sleep almost immediately. This I think causes problems, but I guess they will work it out.
Gwen has started taking naps without wearing a diaper. Wohoo! One night she decided not to wear a diaper, but we didn't get to her fast enough in the morning. :( I am still working on getting her to go to the bathroom, but I forget. Fortunately, when she has to poop, she doesn't try to hold that! We'll get there, but we are throwing a lot of change at the poor girl and she is doing remarkably well, as long as I can keep her getting enough sleep I think things will continue to go well. Gwen wants to spend all her time outside riding her bike. This weekend the kids were very cute Gwen was riding her bike and Nate was standing behind her pushing her...when he thought she was stuck. Unfortunately when I pulled out the camera Nate changed his mind and wouldn't do it again. Gwen is getting very good at riding her bike, Eric moved up the seat for her and I think that made all the difference. She loves it though, in no time I envision family bike rides!
Nate, what can I say about that little guy, besides trouble! I feel like that is a reoccurring theme around here. He still is as cute as ever and if he hears anyone say anything remotely close to "outside" he runs to the door and says "side, side, side" and tries to open the door. This is only a problem if we have forgotten to lock the door and he falls out (oops!). He is into everything and is always moving. He is saying more words and understands everything. Did I mention he was watching Gwen pee in the bathroom and tried to put his hand in the stream...ewww. And seriously he has watched her pee a lot, why wait until this week!? Why!? probably because we were totally unprepared for it and I think for some reason all 4 of us where right there! That boy is going to be something else.
I think that is all I can remember for now. Life is moving on, we are settling in. I have decided to try and find a different Mom's group, the one I am currently in is online and does forums and such, I am not really into checking that to see and comment on what is going on in the area. I just don't have the time/energy/inclination for that. I hope that now that school is starting around here I will be able to find something for the kids. Maybe one day when Nate is on a 1 nap schedule we will be able to do things, but this 10am nap really doesn't make it easy for me to do things with others! GRRR!
Oh, I almost forgot I made another batch of this yogurt, this batch, with 1% milk...much better, I think. I am just not used to whole milk yogurt! Although with this batch I used gelatin to thicken the yogurt, but I used entirely too much and now it is like jello yogurt. Which actually isn't a bad thing, because if you blend it with some fruit then it has the right consistency as long as you eat it right away, it will thicken up anytime it is in the fridge. The kids don't seem to care and I think it tastes a little like those whips yogurts. I guess I know their secret!

Haircuts

In an effort to save money and because Eric thinks he can do it, we bought one of those at home haircut/shaver kits from Target. Nate really needed a haircut, and now, by the time I have gotten to this post he needs another one! This is only his second haircut, I think. Here is Nate, before the deed! Doesn't even know what he is getting into, poor little guy!

Eric tried to hold him down to do it, Nate not so fond of that technique.

I don't think Eric took any off the very top, just trimmed off the back, so he didn't look so shaggy.

He finished the rest of the haircut outside. I think you can actually see most of the cut in the next photo.

Not bad, looks cute, now if we could just get him to stay still!

Since we got the kit and it had scissors, I thought I would try Gwen's hair. Man she was difficult, it is so not straight, but fortunately, she doesn't have any bangs or anything, so no one can tell! YAY!

Also, she wouldn't stay still, but I did get this shot!

Dr. appt

Today was Gwen's 3 year Dr's appointment. Yay Gwen!
Here are her stats:
Weight: 32lb ?oz (50%)
Height: 36.5 in (50%)
As a reminder, I mean it has been a year and 1 month, so I don't know if you can be expected to remember she was 25lb, 11.5oz, 33.75in I guess in a year she has gained almost 7lbs and grew 3 in. I think she grew the three inches not that long ago, because she seemed to be 33 on everything for a long time and then boom 36! I guess those stats are good, also because she was lower percentages 30-40% weight and 45% height. Not bad kid, I guess you are getting enough to eat.
This was a very LONG visit. Seriously, long, they did blood pressure, height, weight, eye check, ear check and I had to fill out a questionnaire about her development. Based on that questionnaire, I would say Gwen is a rock star. Seriously, can she use 4 word sentences, yes! I do wonder, do run-on sentences count? She used a 5 word sentence when we got to that one, because they wanted us to give an example, thanks kid! We do have to work on her circle drawings and I some of the stuff I just couldn't test, maybe they should have sent me the questionnaire in advance because then I could have tested everything, or given me blocks and balls.
I did talk to her about what I thought was Gwen's terrible eating habits and she said we are doing the right thing by not serving her whatever she wants, she'll eat when she's hungry. (did I mention she has started to eat corn! CORN! a vegetable! and sometimes she eats carrots). We also have to work on her saying yes to every question answered, because she told the Dr she eats broccoli! HA! I am totally serving that tonight to make her eat it. We also discussed Gwen holding her pee, until I make her pee. She said I need to try and get her on a routine and make her sit on the potty, which I do, I just have to try and remember earlier in the day. Also we discussed night time training, I think Gwen is getting ready for that, she will sometimes be dry when she wakes up from naps. It is happening more and more frequently, the thing is, we have to remember to get her to pee before bedtime and right when she gets up, which means we have to get up with her.
Anyhoo, all and all a great visit. As usual Gwen made me proud and Nate got bored and made me crazy...ok not crazy, but does he have to touch EVERYTHING and wander. I sincerely hope they were able to find the keyboard that I put on top of the computer, oops!