Little Things

So, I tend to mostly write about the big events in our life because, well, they're sort of easy to write about and of course I want to record the big things like trips, holidays and milestones.  But lately I've been feeling like the day to day little things are even more important to record.  One, they are easier to forget.  It seems like time passes so quickly and the daily life memories just flit away.  Sometimes I think back to when Kaelyn was a baby and it can be hard to remember what our days were like.  Yes, it probably has something to do with my "Mommy brain."  But I also think if we don't focus on the little things they go unnoticed or can be easily forgotten.  And two, I truly cherish my day-to-day life with the kids right now.  I want to remember how it feels sitting in our little living room on a sunny afternoon (or a rainy one) watching the kids play together, cooking in the kitchen, Kaelyn making "strawberry cafe" and Brennan putting Rudy's squeaky toy in the oven over and over again (much to Rudy's dismay), hearing their giggles and Kaelyn's motherly instructions to Brennan and then shrieks and screams as they get frustrated with each other for not sharing. So, here's a quick list of some of the little things I want to remember right now.

• Brennan never sitting still, especially in his high chair, which makes meal times quite an adventure.

Yes, folks, I did buckle him in.  And, yes, he did make it all the way on to the table at one point

• Kaelyn sleeping on the floor with about 87 blankets surrounded by her books rather than in her big comfy bed.  Why?  Let's just say it has to do with a very bad dream and a night I don't care to relive.
• She also comes out of her room an average of 4 times after bedtime.  First, "to go potty and poopy and I lost my special tuck." Second, she wants to know what time she's going to get up. Third, she wants us "to make sure there are no scary things out there." And fourth, either for no reason at all or she needs to give us some tiny piece of trash she found in her room.
• Brennan playing with Rudy's bowls (just like his sister did) and he loves ice (just like his sister).  I wonder if he'll call it "issshhe" when he starts talking too.
• Watching Brennan slowly and stiffly trying to walk and then smoothly and swiftly crawl away after he falls down.
• Brennan has been doing a lot of mimicking lately.  When he finds a brush he crawls over to either me or Kaelyn (and sometimes Matt) and "brushes" our hair.  He was also trying to feed Dada at dinner the other night.  He sometimes "washes" Kaelyn in the bath when finds the washcloth.  He also likes to pretend to stir things.
• Kaelyn asking after almost every meal if she "ate much of her dinner" and can she have treat.
• Brennan getting excited and crawling straight to Dada every day when he gets home.  He also likes to give kisses.
• Last week Brennan learned how to high-five and thinks it's the funniest game in the world.
• Kaelyn riding on Dada's back around the couch, usually with Brennan close behind, who then tries to climb on as soon as they stop.
• Brennan playing with the cars and even making an almost "vroom-vroom" sound when he pushes them around.
• Brennan trying to crawl into Kaelyn's room to get her up from nap.  When I finally let him in he crawls on top of her and gives her a hug and kiss.  She wakes up with a smile every time. 

• Brennan starting to love books and reading.  He especially likes touchy-feely books, "Dinosaur's Binkit" and "Goodnight Moon."
• Kaelyn helping me cook and wearing her apron.
• Brennan being obsessed with opening and closing the CD player in his room. I used to run to "rescue" the cd from him and put it somewhere out of reach (usually the crib). Now he takes it out and either puts it in the crib himself or looks for me to come and get it.
• Snuggling in bed in the morning with the whole family. Ok, it's a little more snuggly before B wakes up (see first item) but we some fun memories with everyone piled in.
• Brennan tackling Kaelyn.

• Kaelyn, ever the princess, in her dress up clothes or fancy dresses, gobs of jewelry, tiara and high heals. 
• Brennan being mesmerized Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Seriously, the other night he wouldn't stop fussing for anything - paci, being held, music - and then Jeopardy came on and he quietly sat in the middle of the room watching, not making a sound. 
• Brennan really trying to figure out how things work. He loves trying to put tops back on things, especially his baby food jars.  I've actually saved a couple just to distract him during meals while I try to shove his food in his mouth before he tries climbing on the table.
• Watching the kids play together happily in Kaelyn's princess tent. And five minutes later having to put it away because Kaelyn couldn't handle that Brennan kept tipping it over.

• And just realizing how much the kids actually love each other and how truly blessed we are.

Why... ?

Oh, the wonderful age of "why?"  Lately, Kaelyn has been asking why questions an average of about 10 times a minute.  Which I love!  No, seriously.  I love that she is so curious about the world and is trying to figure out how things work and just learn about things.  Ok, it does drive me a little bonkers sometimes too.  Because it is incessant.  And I don't always know the answer, which I am more than happy to admit to her but then she asks why I don't know.  And sometimes I just don't know how to explain it to her in terms she can understand.  And sometimes her questions just plain don't make any sense.  I really do try to answer all her 'why' questions but sometimes I have to draw a line.  I've also started teaching her that we need to look things up sometimes to find the answers.  Here are a few examples of the questions she's been asking lately.

Why do our feet have toes?  We looked this one up and found this answer. I think I'll have to bookmark this website.
Why are our tongues red?  Looked this one up too, just to make sure I wasn't giving her bad info. I was a little bit wrong.
Why does our poop smell?  Yes, she really asked me this the other day.  Somehow I avoided giving her an answer.
Why do you not like spit all over the house? Because it's gross Kaelyn and it spreads germs.
Why did I fall and hit my neck like that? Because you weren't paying attention to what you were doing.

And most of the time my answer is followed up by another "why" question. And another. And another. For example:

K: Why am I wearing my purple leggings?
Me: Because you wanted to.
K: Why did I want to?
Me: I don't know. I guess cause you like them.
K: Why do I like them?
Me: I don't know. Because you think they're pretty.
K: Why do I think they're pretty?
Me: Maybe because you like the color purple.
K: But why do I like purple?
And on, and on, and on, and...

Ah, the mind of a three-year old.  She really does know how to wear me out sometimes.

First Steps

Life as we know it is over. Brennan took his first steps two nights ago.  Don't get me wrong I was very proud of him and shrieking with excitement when he did it.  But at the same time it makes me sad (my baby boy is getting so big) and terrified (as if he didn't get into enough trouble just crawling).

Trying to put on Kaelyn's shoes.  Guess he thought sparkly princess shoes would help him walk better.

So here's how it went down.  After dinner I took him into the living room so Matt could do the dishes without a little helper (have I ever mentioned how lucky I am to have such a great husband?).  I stood him in the middle of the room.  He actually stayed standing for a bit instead of immediately sitting down.  So I grabbed a maraca, which he loves, and stood in a couple feet in front of him shaking it.

One step.
"Ah! Go Brennan!"
Two steps.
"Keep going baby!"
Three steps.
"He's walking!"
And down.

Ok, so I don't remember if those were my exact words. But you get the picture.

So big!

He took two more steps again last night.  He's not exactly off and running yet, but it won't be long.

God help us all.

Party Rocking

Party rocking. A.k.a. dance party. A.k.a B bouncing up and down and/or swaying his hips and K spinning and twirling.  A.k.a. mom and dad making fools of themselves.  Ok, maybe just mom.  Dad actually looks pretty good dancing.  I, on the other hand, seem to have lost my rhythm. Or maybe I never had any.  Either way, I dance like a white girl and before long Matt will be embarrassed to dance with me in public because I’ll be “mom-dancing.”  But that’s beside the point.  Dance parties have become popular in our house lately.  B seems to love any sort of music and will start bouncing or swaying immediately, even if it’s just Dada pounding a beat on the table.  It's especially funny when he's sitting in his highchair and the whole thing sways with him.  And Kaelyn loves to spin like a little girly-girl.  Especially in her twirly dresses or princess dress-up clothes.  And especially in her princess high heels.  So, every once in a while we turn on some music and have a little dance party.

Last week our dance parties got a new name.  Party Rocking.  Dubbed by Kaelyn.  “Party Rock” by LMFAO is one of our favorite dance party songs ever since Kaelyn learned (most) of the words last fall, thanks to her hip and cool father and aunt.  I probably wouldn’t know who LMFAO is if it weren’t for my three-year old daughter. In my defense, I usually only listen to music in the cars these days.  And if I don’t have a request for the Tangled soundtrack or Princess CD I usually keep it on WTTS, which does include some current music but not as much as the hit pop stations.  I can’t stand listening to the same 3 songs over and over on the other stations. So she definitely didn’t learn it from me.  So, anyway, one day last week the kids seemed a little bored.  I turned on the "Today's Hits"  music channel on the tv in an attempt to get up to date on what the kids are listening to these days.  (My kids are going to think I’m such a dork when they are teenagers.)  And we had a dance party.  After we had been dancing for awhile Kaelyn announced that she was “done party rocking.”  A few minutes later she decided she wanted to “party rock again.”  So, henceforth, dance parties in our house will be known as “Party Rocking.”

I put together these party rocking clips really quick so you could get an idea if you haven't seen them dancing in person.  This video could have gone on much longer but I tried to keep it brief.  And a few of you should be thanking me for deleting some incriminating scenes.

Mamarazzi

Since I got my new camera for Christmas my kids have been victimized by the "mamarazzi."  I can't help it they're so darn cute they make the perfect subjects for practicing my photography skills.  I think I've got a few things figured out, but a lot of pictures have been taken on Auto setting.  Most of the auto pictures have turned out great though.  They're just the kind of pictures I was hoping for.  So, so far I'm quite pleased with the new camera.  For your viewing pleasure, here's a sampling of the 500+ pictures I've taken already.  Just insert some scandalous captions and pretend you're reading "People."

Watching trains together

Ice fishing together

Holding hands

Could this be a budding romance between long-time pals, Kaelyn and Hudson?

Meanwhile, Brennan enjoyed crawling around the Children's Museum and being able to climb stairs safely.

Kaelyn and Brennan run off some energy at the mall play area during recent weekend errands.

Notice the tutu falling into the car in the background

Taking advantage of 50 degree weather in January.

The next super power for U.S. Women's Soccer.

As a 10-month old, Brennan has a lot of serious thoughts.

Standing on his own!

Rumor has it, he's been asked to be the next cover model for Baby GQ but is holding out for more Cheerios.

Christmas Recap

Well... it's only a week and half later and I'm just getting to writing about Christmas.  But the timing isn't what's important.  What is important is that I'm writing it down, whether it's a day after, a week after or a month after.  I'm pretty sure that if I actually waited a month I'd forget everything that happened.  So here it is.  My Christmas blog.  Oh yeah, and a little Wisconsin trip thrown in too.  Cause I need to get caught up on my blogging.

Nana and Pop came to town to celebrate with us.  I think it made Christmas more fun having someone else here.  But since we have no other family in the area it was a pretty low-key Christmas.  Which was good.  Though there were times I missed the chaos of family gatherings.  And I definitely missed seeing all of my family.

We went to Christmas Eve mass and the kids were angels.  Kaelyn even got to go up to the alter with all the other kids and talk with the priest about angels during the homily.  Mr. B was a tad bit squirmy, but all things considered he did pretty good.  Thankfully we had extra hands to pass him around.  They were both even "squirmier" when we got home so I had a hard time getting a picture of both of them in their dress clothes by the tree.  This was the best I could do.

Santa was very good to everyone.  Especially a little princess.  We weren't thrilled about doing it, but since she had only been asking for a Rapunzel doll and the Disney Princess castle for two months straight, we gave Santa the go-ahead to bring her the castle.  (And the doll, but I don't mind that so much.)

 I do want her to learn that she can't always get everything she wants, but I wasn't ready for that lesson this year.  I don't think she was either.  Next year I think we'll have to talk about putting some more serious limits on Christmas gifts.  But for this year it was really fun to watch her come out Christmas morning and just stare at the castle.  It was like she couldn't quite believe it was actually there.  And for her.  I don't think she put the Rapunzel doll down for more than five seconds for the next five days.  And she was constantly brushing her hair.  Which was good.  Cause it truly does get tangled.  Thankfully not as bad as her wig though.  She also got some princess dress up clothes which she immediately put on and wore all day.  I had to make sure to tell her they were just for dress up in the house.  Or I'm sure she'd be wanting to wear them to school too. And the library. And the store. And everywhere.

And lest our youngest think he was neglected this year, here he is playing with his new dump truck loaded with some of his new blocks.  Yes, we like to gender stereotype in our house. (No, not really.  It just sort of worked out that way somehow.)

 
They both got plenty more than this, but I don't think anyone wants me to sit here and list it all.  Even if I could.  I actually had a hard time keeping track of everything as it was being opened.  And I'm not entirely sure where all the gifts came from.  So, if we happen to forget to thank anyone for something they gave please forgive me.

Here's one more of B chewing on some new play food the kids got.  I was playing with my new toy.  Throw it up for a new camera (ok, I know I'm a dork. you don't have to tell me).  I love how the lighting looks and how sharp it is.  Now I must figure out how to get this quality every time I take a picture. Oh, and I should probably work on my composition skills too.  But at least I can't blame the camera for bad pictures any more.  (Now I'll just blame the lighting.)

And to cap off Christmas, after dinner we gave the kids a quick bath, put them in comfy pj's and drove around looking at the lights.  We even saw a house with a light display set to music on a local radio station. I think this is a tradition I'd really like to try to continue.

Since we missed the usual chaos of Christmas, we decided to head up to Wisconsin for a visit a few days later.  But that was actually pretty low-key too.  Which, again, was very nice.  It really felt like a good visit.  Probably because we weren't crazy busy and trying to pack 18 Christmas get-togethers into one day.

Ok, so Matt made fun of me when I took my camera out at the grocery store.  But the kids were looking extra cute and I really think the lighting in the store made for some of the better pictures of I've ever taken.

A lot of the visit revolved around eating.  (Hence the trip to the grocery store.)  It was just like camping.  Once we finished one meal we started talking about the next.

 As much as he didn't like whatever I was trying to feed him, someone should still tell the boy he doesn't need to eat the dog's toys. Especially right out of the dog's mouth.

Actually he did a lot of crying and chewing during the past two weeks. And he now has two new teeth to show for it.

We also played a lot of games while we were there.  Candy Land. Chutes and Ladders.  Hi-Ho Cherry-O.  Memory.  The classics. Somehow Kaelyn managed to get the Princess Lolly and Queen Frostie cards every time she played. And she usually won too. Hmm...

Here's an intense game of Candy Land between Kaelyn and Matt.

I was playing with the "art" features on my new camera.  I kinda like this grainy look.

And of course we had a dance party.  Unfortunately even with the new camera I wasn't good enough yet to get a good picture of all the dancing.

And what would December in Wisconsin be without a little snow.

Brrr! Why didn't that poor child's mother put a coat on him?!

I should have opened the blog with this sentiment, but at least I'll close with it.  We are truly blessed.  Not just by all the material things we have but by the love in our lives.  We are not rich by American standards and we often complain about what we don't have or wish we did have, but we have all that we need and more. In fact, there wasn't an empty spot under the tree this year. Our friends and most of all our family, make our lives rich and fill our lives with happiness.  To be able to wake up on Christmas morning with each other and our two a-mazing kids I wouldn't trade for all the toys in the world.  Unfortunately my brain has run out of the right words to adequately express my heart and how lucky I think we are.  Maybe I'll tackle the topic in a future post.

Ok. Longest post ever.  Peace out.  And Happy New Year!