Christmas...

What if an all knowing powerful God knew what our world would look like in 2011 when He sent his Son to earth so long ago? What if He knew how crazy we would make our lives? What if he knew how much we would shop, spend on gifts, and stress about our busy holiday schedules? What if He knew how much we would lose the meaning of Christmas?

I am thinking that He knew. And it makes me feel sad.

This year Steve and I decided to scale back on the amount of gifts we bought for other people. I had fun making some jewelry for some people so that I could say, "I am thinking about you this holiday season." And instead of spending a ton of money on toys for our kids Steve and a couple of our best guy friends built our girls bunk beds and a doll house. We played down Santa this year, we didn't make it to every Christmas party we were invited to...all in all we had a pretty relaxed holiday season.

We definitely didn't do everything right, nor am I saying that this is "the way" to do Christmas. The difference is that this year when I was at church on Christmas Eve I wasn't thinking about all the things I still needed to do, thinking about all the presents I still needed to wrap, wishing I hadn't spent so much money, or thinking that I got too wrapped up in holiday festivities.

Instead I looked around and was able to observe Christmas Eve differently. For the majority of the people that I was surrounded by during that church service were happy, joyful, giving and caught up in the meaning of loving one another. I had the thought that maybe this is a small little sliver of a glimpse of what the atmosphere in heaven will be like someday...people caught up in loving one another and celebrating Jesus. In a room charged with happy and joyful energy - all because God loved us enough to give us the great gift of his Son - it was a really, really good feeling.

Life everlasting with people living out every potential of their goodness and then some - what a beautiful gift.

Thank you Jesus.

Favorite Things

One of my favorite things...

The view of the back of Kye's head. How his little ears stick out, how soft his neck is...oh, I better go find him and kiss it right now.

Some House Pics - Finally

I didn't remember to take many "before" pictures. Before we put a bunch of stuff into rooms, before we took down wallpaper, before we started our temporary-living-until-we-can-paint-and/or-organize this.

So this is a before picture of the bathroom, but after my sister and I actually removed all the wallpaper that was in the bathroom - so not a true before picture.

And this is the "for now" after. We plan to redo or paint some of the tile, maybe update the flooring, and put in a new sink and stuff...but it's not top on the priority list. So it will look just like this, maybe slightly dirtier, if you come to visit anytime soon.

And I totally forgot to take before pics of our room. But this is an after picture. We still need to find some things to hang on some of the walls, but I love how it turned out.

This is Kye's little corner in our room. He will be transitioning to the crib after Christmas - finally!! - but you'll have to stay tuned to find out why he's still been in this little cradle so long! :) But I think the mobile that my friend Gennae helped me make looks perfect in this corner...

What?!

How is it that my sweet little baby who was just born a few days ago is already 6 months old??!! These last 6 months have just flown by and I realized the other day that I haven't even written Kye's birth story down yet. I'm bummed about that because I am sure I have forgotten a lot of the smaller details and thoughts that I had about things by now. I need to do that soon.


(Kyeson at midnight last night, hanging out with mom and dad in the living room, trying to work through some digestive issues.)

Kyeson, at 6 months and a few days, is working on sitting up. He can sit up unassisted, but not for long. He has a tendency to lean to the right...or way to far forward so that he is just folded in half with his face almost on the floor. I have not been super good at helping him along with sitting up though. I kind of wanted his "baby-ness" to last just a little bit longer. And now when he sits up for too long without falling over I get this strange urge to push him over - like helping him not sit up will keep him being a baby longer. Too bad it doesn't work that way.

I also held back a little bit on giving him solids. I probably would have been starting him just now if it wasn't for Steve. Daddy was super excited for his son to eat some real food, so he did. Like I posted a few weeks ago, Kye is a great eater so far! I am attempting to make my own baby food this time around - mostly because I want to see if it helps the transition to table food better (keeping my fingers crossed) - and so far the man-child has had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, bananas, avocados, and applesauce. I also tried green beans, but they didn't get smooth enough for a first foods try, so they are in the freezer waiting for a few more weeks.

Right now Kye is working on his first two bottom teeth. They have been making their way up for the past few weeks and if they don't show up soon...oh my goodness. Kye is handling teething better than both of his sisters, but cranky babies always make for harder days. On top of getting teeth, Kye seems to have a slight cold AND is gassier than normal (i.e. him and I have not been sleeping much this past week. When he's not like this he usually just gets up once a night). *Update!! Just as I was about to post this I checked Kye's teeth and the first one is here!!! First tooth, December 21!*


"Look at me! Weeeeeeee! I'm up so high!"


Kye's new trick, which somehow makes our Christmas tree look really small.


This is what Steve likes to call "Our expressions upon finding that Trynie has her first boyfriend" picture.


"What? I can stand? Look at me! I can staaannndd!!!"

And that is how the most loved boy ever is doing.

It's Already Happening

I can't believe this. Keep in mind, my girls are 5 1/2 and almost 4...they have their first "star" obsession.

They can't seem to get enough of Taylor Swift.

I think that Tryn has always liked Taylor Swift songs. She listened to some when she was younger, but I thought she had forgotten about the songs. Well, Taylor has a Christmas song on the radio right now and the other day, just before the song started, they announced who was singing the song. A few minutes in Tryn said, "Mom, I really like Taylor Swift."

So Steve, being the great dad that he is, put the song on a compilation cd of Christmas songs for the girls to play in their room. Since yesterday evening the only song I have heard, played on repeat obsessively, in this house is Last Christmas, Taylor Swift version.

This was our conversation at lunch today.

Tryn: Mom, I really love Taylor Swift's songs.

Berlin: Me too.

Me: Why?

Tryn: She just has the most fun songs.

...a little bit of silence...

Tryn: Mom, is Taylor Swift in this world? (Her way of asking if something is real or not, like a cartoon or someone who actually lives in this world.)

Me: Yes, she is.

Berlin: Can we see her sometime?

Me: I don't know...

Tryn: Where does she live?

Me: Down in Nashville I think, down where Rollie and Cait live.

Tryn: Well, someday I am going to go down to Nashville and I am going to tell Taylor Swift that she has the best songs ever.

Oh, geez.

Update...

I can't believe it's December.

I can't believe it's 23 days left until Christmas.

I have a lot of things to do.

I always have a lot of things to do these days. Who knew owning a house was so much work? ;) Haha! I know the answer: Everyone who owns one!! I am actually not minding the work at all. 1, it keeps me busy. 2, I love doing creative things like transforming a whole room. I recently discovered Pinterest and have a whole new world of DIY (do it yourself) projects to tempt me. There is something so satisfying in making something, when the other option is buying something that I don't like quite as much or I just plain can't afford. I'm having a ton of fun owning our first home. I will post some pictures soon. I promise. I keep meaning to all the time...but I have a lot of things to do.

Kye is growing like crazy and is going to be popping his first tooth any day. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was here by the end of the weekend. He is handling teething much better than both of his sisters did, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to be held pretty much all the time right now. If we are holding him he is pretty happy and snugly though, which is nice.

Kye also had his first taste of rice cereal today and he LOVED it. He ate it like a champ. No gagging or choking, just ate it like he as been eating food all along. I only made about 1 tbls of the cereal and he got just mad when it was all gone, so I had to make him more. Why is he growing so fast?! He is 6 months next weekend - a whole half year old. Crazy.

Tryn loves school as much as ever. I'm so glad, after all her excitement for school to start that she didn't end up hating it. She really, really, really loves it and even wishes that she could go on the weekend days too. She's always bummed that she has to have two whole days off from school every week. :) She has some friends at school that she talks about all the time - it's so cute! One of her best friends is Lauren, who she sits by on the bus everyday but doesn't get to sit by in class. One day I asked her what Lauren looked like and she said, "Well...she has really pretty curly hair...she has lips that are bigger than mine...she has brown eyes...she has a pretty coat...hm. Oh, and her skin is darker than mine." I'm so proud of her for so many reasons.

Berlin. I would say that Berlin is as bright and bouncy as ever and is still a party waiting for people :) We finally finished painting the girls room and setting it up and now one of Berlin's favorite things to do is go in her room, shut the door, turn on a cd of Disney songs, and sing at the top of her lungs. She has a great ear for a 3 year old too! She has recently transitioned to Pull-Up-less nights and is doing great. She probably could have done it quite some time ago, but I was too nervous to try and do it while we were packing up and moving over the summer and before that didn't want to deal with it in our lack of laundry room area in our other house in case it didn't go well. So far so good - I think we can be done buying Pull-Ups for the next couple of years!

Oh, and I am allergic to my Christmas tree. Really allergic. Like I decorated the tree and made a wreath on Sunday and have had large red extremely itchy bumps and welts all over my forearms and one of my eyelids is bright pink. I look diseased. I promise I'm not.

That's all for now :)

Making Beds and Chickens

This just happened:

*Stomping sounds from upstairs*

Me: Please stop stomping!

*More stomping down the stairs*

Me: Please stop stomping! There is no need to do that.

Flustered and very frustrated Trynica flops into a living room chair: I'm trying to make my bed... *big sigh followed by fighting back tears* I am trying to make my bed, but the chickens keep showing! *Completes with a rolling of the eyes and another big sigh*

At this point I have to turn my face away "to attend to Kye" and hide my smile: What? There are chickens on your bed?!

Trynica: Yes! And every time I pull the blanket up the chickens are there! And my feet will be cold!

Me, really turning away to laugh: Um, just a minute.

I turn back to Tryn with my fingers pressed over my mouth: What are you talking about?

Tryn: When I move my blanket this way *motions with both of her hands to the left*, when I move it to the left, it won't cover my feet and I will be cold!

Me, finally understanding: You mean the birds on your sheet?

Tryn: Um...yeah.

Me: Did you try turning the blanket the other way?

Tryn: No.

Me: Well, why don't you try that?

:)

Before I Forget, Halloween

Every year Halloween gets more and more exciting for the girls. We don't make a big deal out of Halloween at all, I'm not really fond of the holiday. I don't like ghosts and goblins, I don't like what Halloween stands for, and I don't like mountains of candy in my house. This year the girls were princesses - dressed up in their own princess dress up clothes. But, seriously, every year gets so much more exciting.

The girls just seem genuinely surprised that every house they walk up to gives them candy. Like they can't believe that it works at every door. And they get SO excited about each piece. I think that after every door Berlin ran up to us, "Look!!! Look what I got!" Every single piece.

The girls thought this year was especially fun because their cousins came to go trick or treating with us and got to have a sleepover! The girls think sleepovers are the new best thing.


Haha! This is hardly costume for my girls. You could come over any day of the week and the chance that you would see them just like this is pretty high. Regardless, they do look pretty darn cute.

Taylors Falls

for Crista :)

Longest Day Ever

I tried shortening this enough to make it a Facebook post, but I just couldn't make it fit. So here goes my day thus far:

Wake up at 6:30am with a baby who does not want to go back to sleep. Decide to take advantage of the situation and get ready for the day so I can leave at Kye's first nap time. Have breakfast with my girls and walk Tryn to the bus. Leave at 9am with Berlin to finally run some errands that I have needed to do for weeks. Seriously, one was to return something that I bought in August. Stop at the first store Target, near the Knollwood Mall, because it's the only errand I have that I can do before 10am. Buy coffee asap since our new coffee maker is still en route to Zenith Ave. Shop, leave Target, load the car, try to start the car...it doesn't start. At all. Call Steve. Open hood of car. Close hood of car. Walk to Old Navy, which later realized is 0.4 miles, carrying Berlin to make a return while Steve calls car dealership. Walk back to Target, making Berlin walk, to buy a wrench to disconnect car battery in hopes that it will reset the chip in the key - which the dealership thinks might be the problem. Also buy a bottle of nail polish incase Berlin needs a significant distraction at some point. Nice man who parks next to me offers to disconnect the battery for me. Car still doesn't start. Thank the nice man. Go back into Target to buy lunch. Eat lunch standing in the Target parking lot waiting for a tow from AAA. Watch as AAA strange man has to push my van out of it's parking spot in order to tow it. Drive with a strange man up to Brooklyn Center while Berlin plays games on my phone in the backseat of the truck. Get dropped off at Honda dealership. Guy says it's probably not a key issue. I say, "Sweet." Gather my groceries and carseat, get a ride from strange Honda man to car rental place. Get a rental car which Steve set up for me. Get home approximately 1:30pm.

4 Target purchases + 1 Old Navy return = nowhere near finishing all the errands that I needed to do. Not a successful outing.

4 1/2 hours away from the house = longest 4 1/2 hours ever.

Conclusion: Might never return the thing I bought in August.

And we still don't know what is wrong with the car.

Thank goodness for a wonderful husband who got us home.

Good Intentions

Can you believe that I am typing a blog post on my phone while sitting on a bench at the park, watching the girls, and rocking Kye in his carseat so that he will stay sleeping? This is all written by one thumb, so please excuse any typos. :)

I had the very best intentions to blog weekly updates about the house, rooms we've painted, and things we have decorated. However, between painting all the rooms, taking care of three kids, not sleeping through the night, and worrying over a dog who is still not house trained, I just don't have time. Or energy. I have a list of things that seems to grow longer by the day instead of shorter.

Not to mention, I completely forgot about Kye's three and four month blog checkins. He's doing great. Still gassy, still not sleeping through the night, but I have never enjoyed a baby as much as this one. Note: I didn't say love, I said enjoyed. Of course I loved my girls as babies, but different life, different circumstances, and a different baby have made this last one so precious and enjoyable. Everyday with him is a good day. He is laughing all the time now, and not just little giggles but full blown belly laughs - which might be the best sound in the whole world. His first real laugh was also at me, with Steve's help I will admit, but at me nonetheless. Kyeson and I have a lot of fun together. :) A few other things I know about Kye is that he is overdue for his four month checkup, he has outgrown his 0-3 month clothes, he doesn't like loud noises or too much noise, and he still has a few of his original baby hairs on top of his head that are about 4 inches long.

That's all for now! Here's to hoping for more time to blog over the next few months - at least more than I've done the last few! :)

Best Banana Bread Ever

I have to post this recipe to my blog because every time I want to make it I have to search for a few different recipes to get all the "restructions" as Berlin calls them. So, I am just writing this down because it's faster than writing out all the restructions by hand. PLUS, you should try this recipe. I am not kidding - best banana bread ever.

I took some ingredients from a few different recipes and made this up myself, so really this could be called Heidi's Best Banana Bread Ever, although I didn't totally make it up myself - I never would have thought to add the secretly weird secret ingredient. :)

Here goes:

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (secretly weird secret ingredient!)
4-5 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4-1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg, depending on how much you like the taste :)
1 cup 60% cacao Ghirardelli chocolate chips (the only kind you should ever use, ever.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in the mayonnaise, bananas, and vanilla. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture; stir just enough to evenly combine. Fold in the chocolate chips
.
Bake at 350 degrees F until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 50 to 75 minutes.

Try it. Seriously.

Best Boys

These are my best boys, my favorite men in the whole wide world.


Head scratch anyone?

I don't know which one is cuter.

I love them both so much.

It's Fall

It's Fall. Obviously. But with the new house and everything that has happened in our lives since June, it will be amazing if I will even be able to remember this time of life a few years from now. With the lack of sleep combined with the amount of things there are and have been to do, I feel a little bit like my brain has been on auto pilot for the past four months. It was suddenly August and I was thinking, "We had summer? What? When did that happen?" and I feel like I was thinking that yesterday and now it's mid-fall. And someone was talking about November yesterday like it's coming up soon. And some darn company sent me an email last week saying there are only 8 weeks left before the real holiday shopping begins. Meanwhile, I think my brain turned off the day Kyeson was born, so all this time passing is blurry to me.

So, it's Fall. Not obvious to all of us I guess :) During the past 4 months the times that feel real to me, that stand out, are the days where we did something besides pack or unpack boxes or go from project to kids to project to kids all day long. Such as the day my lovely friend Becky suggested that we visit an apple orchard.

It was a perfect fall day. Between the three of us (Steve, Becky, and me) we took about 200 pictures on my camera. I've only downloaded 150 so far because - yet again - I have run out of room on my computer and need to delete more stuff before I can download more pictures. I have already deleted everything in iTunes so I could add more pics...and have now completely filled up that space. New computer? Yes, please.

Anyway. Here are some of my favorites from what I have so far.



A family picture? These NEVER happen for us, so I am super excited that we have one! Even if we didn't plan our outfits and Kyeson is in a sleeper (lazy bum). At least we have a picture of all 5 of us together that isn't the one of us sitting on my hospital bed! :)



These are two of my most favorite pictures of the day for sure.




This is funny. Steve told Berlin to put her arm around Tryn...who said it had to go around her back? Also, Trynie's cheek has a wad of caramel in it, so it's just all together funny cuteness to me.



Me and Becky, laughing at Steve :)



It was a great, great afternoon.

Differences...

I love it when I see very clear differences between my kids. It just makes them seem more and more like their own person and I like figuring out what their personalities are like.

Tryn continues to be fairly timid. For example, we wait at the bus stop every morning with two other mom's who have sons who are in second grade. When the bus pulls up, even if she is standing closest to the bus, Tryn will move out of the way and let the boys get on the bus first. She will not get on before they do. She's like that on the playground too. If a bunch of kids come past her while she is standing near a slide she will just move out of the way and let them all go ahead of her. She'll just stand there and watch them.

Berlin, on the other hand, was playing out in our front yard with Tryn yesterday and a neighbor boy rode by on his bike. Seeing an opportunity Berlin yelled out, "Hey! HEY! Do you want to be our friend?"

She also didn't seem to mind much as he just looked at her and rode on by.

A short time later he rode by again, "Hey! Hey boy! Can we be your friend?" I don't think he was very interested.

Later that night we went to a friends house and a boy the girls had never met walked up to them and said, "Hi! My name is Owen. What's your name?"

Tryn just stared at him and didn't say a thing, so Berlin jumped in, "I'm Berlin...and this is Tryn."

I can already see who is going to be looking out for who in the future. :)

And the chaos that followed...

We moved.

Moving is unnerving. It shakes the core of the rhythm of life - not to mention is completely exhausting. We only moved 5 miles from where we had been living for 4 years, but moving 5 miles in a city is like moving to another town that you've visited a few times. It's not like everything is foreign, but at the same time nothing is the same. Top that with the fact that Kyeson and I are still not sleeping through the night and it makes for some crazy days. For instance, shortly after we moved in here I ran with the girls to Target and got lost. I didn't get lost on the way to Target, I got lost in Target. The new closest Target that I run to is different in layout from all the other Targets that I usually frequent and I was so tired that I literally could not remember where the different areas of the store were. At one point I was standing in the cleaning supplies, and I didn't even know which direction to go to get to the front door. It was a crazy feeling.

We lived like this for about a month.



That whole month we didn't know for sure if we were going to be moving into our house, we didn't close until the day we moved. We just kept planning, hoping, and praying. August 30th the last paperwork finally went through, 2:00pm on August 31st we closed and at 4:00pm we got home and started loading the moving truck.

Chaos.

This is the new place :)



And then 5 days after we moved in Steve started a new job and Tryn started school.



So we had to adjust to new schedules, figuring out how to do the whole bus thing. The first few days found us running down the block to catch the bus - it was a great way to make a first impression with the other moms in the neighborhood.

Even though moving was a very positive experience for us - buying our first house!!! - there were days when all I wanted is to know where my socks were, to not keep opening the wrong kitchen cupboards, and to not feel like I was searching for a new proverbial needle every hour. We went from living in a one level 900 sq foot condo with no yard to a two story house with a basement on a double lot, which was grand, exciting, and more than I had hoped for. It's amazing. What is even more amazing however, is that every morning I know where my favorite coffee mug is and whether or not there is coffee in the cupboard. I can cook a meal with my dishes, which is more therapeutic than a massage and more necessary than the food itself. Normal is good, normal is comfortable. Things are starting to feel normal here. It is so good to feel normal in a bigger house with a great yard in a quiet and safe neighborhood.

Really good.

Today, A New Normal?

This is the first day since moving that we have had a semi normal family day. We actually hung out and did something together that was fun and not work - pictures to come later. However, this is what "normal" means right now...

Wake up. Feed Kyeson. Realize Tryn has 24 minutes left until she has to get on the bus and she is still in pj's. Get Tryn dressed and ready to go. Steve takes Tryn out the door as the bus is pulling up a few minutes early at the end of the block. Watch Steve pick up Tryn and run half a block with her down to the bus. Open up the fridge and coffee gushes out. Proceed to clean up 4 1/2 quarts of cold press coffee that leaked out of the container all over the inside of the fridge. Finally eat breakfast while holding fussy baby. Put Kye down for a nap. Drink a cup of coffee. Start laundry. Kye wakes up screaming after 20 minutes. Feed Kye. Go on a run with Piper. Shower. Make the family lunch. Eat lunch while, again, holding a fussy baby. Drive to an apple orchard with friend Becky. Have a really fabulous time picking apples and playing outside. Drive home. Start apple pie with Berlin. Stop making apple pie because Kye is freaking out. Put Kye down for nap. Make apple pie with Berlin. Start dinner with Tryn. Realize planned chicken dinner also needs to bake. Work out a plan to bake apple pie and chicken at the same time. Finish apple pie. Husband comes in and asks if I made two pies as he needs to bring a dessert to work tomorrow. No. We negotiate. I agree to make another pie. Eat dinner. Run to store with Berlin for more apple pie ingredients. Berlin spills a bag of almonds all over the floor at the store. We pick them up. Come home. Hold Kyeson who is having a rough and gassy day. Put the girls to bed. Start second apple pie. Stop making second pie to hold Kyeson who is not happy. Steve makes some pie. I make some pie while holding Kye in one arm. Finish pie. Remember I started laundry. Do laundry. Put Kye to sleep while Steve irons shirts. Eat a piece of pie. Sit down on the couch. Collapse.

And I told Steve just after dinner, "Today has been a really good day!" He agreed.

Moving Eve

You might be wondering how I am finding myself blogging on the eve of a very big day when I have a countless amount of things to do...the truth is, I don't know. I am eating Sebastian Joe's Nicollet Pothole ice cream (which, lets be honest, if they don't stop making it I am going to have to renew my gym membership! It is the best ice cream I have ever had in my entire life. Not kidding.) and trying to take a small break from the chaos of my life and my house.

Steve and I have lived here on Bryant Ave in North Minneapolis for 3 years and 11 months - moving out one month short of our 4 year anniversary. We have welcomed 2 babies into our family at this house, had countless late night hangs with our besties, Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas breakfasts...this is the home that our girls know. This is the longest I have lived anywhere since I moved out of my parents house when I was barely 17 years old (I think I moved out exactly this week 13 years ago).

Steve and I are bringing our family into our very first house tomorrow. Steve and I own a house, this is brand new for us. It's is exciting beyond words. Something that we have dreamed about for a long time. It's real, it's happening, it's tomorrow. I can't wait to start decorating!

So many thoughts tonight. So much mess. So many boxes. So many feelings. So much chaos.

Freaking Out

Today I am trying not to freak out about several things. One of them is this:



Remember this little baby that I had practically yesterday? She starts school a week from tomorrow. If I think about it too long I might start crying and never stop.

See these two?



They are almost exactly 5 years apart. Five years ago Tryn looked like Kye does in this picture, and now she is big enough to hold him.

Two weeks ago, for the first time ever, I felt excited for Tryn to go to school. She is going to have so much fun learning things that I don't know how to teach her, having all of her questions answered, and making new friends. Her mind is at a place where it needs to be stretched, used, and grown - all with information and projects that I don't have time to do with her. And so I am glad that she will get to learn, because so far she loves to learn.

But I am going to miss her being around.

Also, I am a little nervous about the fact that we are embarking on this journey of "school"...for the next 20 or so years. That seems like a really big thing. Every year around this time we are going to be getting ready for school, the kids will be gone most of the day, and that feels crazy. I was homeschooled and childhood was a totally different experience for me, I don't really know how to do this "going to school" thing. And that seems weird.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I don't have a ton of time to think about it because I also have a newborn to take care of, a three year old to run after, a five year old to occupy, and a puppy who needs attention. Not to mention we are moving into our first house this week and my husband is starting a new job today.

Call me in a few weeks to see if I am still sane.

:)

Two Months!!

Little baby Kyeson is TWO months old!! Not today, but on the 12th and now it's the 24th or something crazy like that...and obviously I am way behind. I can't even tell you how crazy life is right now. Well, I could try, but it might turn into a small book.

Anyway, I can't believe we have had Kye two whole months already! Sometimes if feels like he was just born yesterday and other times it feels like he has been around forever and I barely remember life without him. Sometimes it feels like all his days just run together and he is basically the same every day and has been since he was born. But then I realized last night that I was remembering when we first brought him home and how different he was then and I guess he really has changed.

Kyeson, seriously, is the best baby. Well, he has one flaw, but just one. Kyeson is a perfect baby for about 3/4 of the day. He lays right down for his naps, goes to sleep without a pacifier, doesn't fuss about anything really, plays by himself, puts up with whatever the girls to do him or however they interact with him (which usually involves screaming or yelling as close to his face as possible). Then the evening comes. And he is gassy almost every evening, no matter what I do or don't eat. And then he likes to be awake as soon as we put the girls to bed and we usually have to convince him to go to bed when we are finally ready to crash. Needless to say, Steve and I don't get much adult only time in this house these days - hopefully that changes soon. Bedtime used to be my favorite time of day - because I would get a break - but not so much anymore.

So far Kye is amazingly interactive, similar to Tryn who started talking when she was 6 months old because she just loved to converse so much. Kye loves to be talked to, he will "talk" back forever. He just loves the interaction. However, unlike Tryn who laughed for the first time when she was a mere 6 weeks old, he still hasn't laughed. I think we are getting close, he gets really excited sometimes, but he just does not seem easily amused...yet he's so happy all the time. Confusing. I can't wait, it's one of my favorite things, the first baby laugh.

Oh, at his 2 month appointment he weighed 12 lbs 1 oz and was 23 inches long. Growing like a champ!

I even took some super cute two month pictures of him in this adorable little hat that I found, but as my house is in a total state of moving disrepair I don't even know where to find a camera cord. Seriously. It's horrible. So, you will just have to feast your eyes on this bit of cuteness instead :)

Again...

I keep trying to get to my post about Kyeson turning two months old - but it takes time and my girls keep saying the cutest things. So, whenever I get a chance to sit down and write something quick, I want to make sure to write what the girls said so I don't forget...

Steve was going out to take the dog to the open area across the street (where there used to be two houses and now there is just grass) and Berlin asked, "Daddy!! Can I come wif you?"

Steve, "Sure!"

Berlin, to me while running inside to get her shoes on, "He is such a nice Daddy, isn't he?"

Me, "He sure is." :)

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Berlin took Piper out of her kennel and Piper ran into the neighbors yard to go explore. After running into tell Steve that Piper took off Berlin had to, again, put her shoes on and said, "I am going to go get Piper. I am going to save the world!"


Haha!! She is SO great!!

I will get to Kye's two month post soon...hopefully :)

Addition to Kids Say the Darndest Things

This morning I was braiding Tryn's hair, getting her ready to leave for the day. She asked me, "Mom, when am I coming back?"

I told her, "Oh, sometime later today."

After a second of silence she said, "Is later longer or shorter than "awhile"? I know how long awhile is, but I don't know if later is longer or shorter than that."

She makes me smile :)

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Last week I had a rough day. Well, let's be honest. With all that's going on right now, I had a few rough days. However, one day Steve came home from work to find me close to putting Piper on Craigslist, free to the first person who would come and pick her up.

The following day I was sitting at the table with Tryn and she asked me, "Mom, why were you sad yesterday?"

I didn't want her to start disliking Piper, so all I said was, "Well Babe, some days are just hard days."

Thoughtful silence.

Tryn: "Well, when I am a grownup I will probably have sad days...I am only going to have one pet, a cat."

She's so intuitive. I asked her, "Why are you only going to have one pet?"

"Well, because if I have more I am going to have take care of them all and that would be a lot of work. I think only one pet would be good."

She is also wise. :)

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Today Berlin was hanging out in the living room while Steve was watching the news. A Mormon commercial came on, you know the ones that end in "...my names Deborah, and I'm a Mormon."

After hearing that Berlin looks at Steve incredulously and says, "She's a MERMAID???!!"

Haha!!

The Newest Member

We have yet another new member of our family. Sort of. I do not consider dogs to have equal standing as a member of a family, but she's new, she's living, and she will most likely be around for quite some time. I think. Haha! Depends on if she drives me crazy or not.

Also, I have officially found something harder to take a picture of than a little kid. This is Piper. This would have been a cute picture if I could have gotten her to hold still for at least one second. She can move really fast.



Or she's just more interested in attacking leaves.



Or sniffing the plethora of trash that line the streets of North Minneapolis. Each single piece of who knows what.



Even if the dog will hold still for more than a second, getting it to actually look at me for more than a millisecond is close to impossible. I am sure she will slow down in the upcoming months and I will be able to actually get some cute pictures of her. Because, regardless of whether or not I wanted a dog, which I didn't, I do think Piper is a very pretty dog.

Steve has been trying to convince me that we should get a dog for years and I have never wanted one. My really good and reasonable excuse is that we haven't had enough room or a yard - essentially we didn't have a house. (Not to mention my other reasons: they chew things, they smell, they are a lot of work, and in the city you have to pick up their poop with your hand anytime they poop somewhere besides your yard. And your yard is so small you will pick up the poop anyway so your kids don't have to play in it.) Well, now that we are in the process of getting a house (more on that later!!) I couldn't think of any good excuses anymore. Darn it.

But, certain requirements for a dog were as follows: Heidi, NO SHEDDING. Steve, big dog. Heidi, not being responsible for said animal. Steve, big dog.

So this is Piper, a German Short Hair Poodle Pointer. We considered getting a Goldendoodle or a Labradoodle, but neither of us thought they were especially cute dogs. Their hair gets so long and curly! But because Piper is half German Short Hair Pointer (GSHP), her hair will stay much shorter, and it might get a slight wave or it might stay fairly short and straight. Some of the mixes actually looked really similar to the GSHP, which I have always thought to be really pretty dogs. So we just happened to find a litter of these puppies about 20 miles away from Willmar and took a little road trip with Kyeson and our friend Gennae to get Piper.



Berlin finally gets her dog that she has been wanting her whole life - all of three years, but still :) One thing that Berlin didn't even realize is that she would finally get someone that she could boss around. Let's just say she is taking full advantage of her standing as Piper's boss. I am surprised Piper even likes her.



Speaking of, regardless of whether or not I wanted a dog, which I didn't, Piper is a pretty great dog. She is fairly smart, part Poodle remember, and is already responding to her training. She let's the girls do whatever they want and doesn't get mad. She's funny and runs around the yard in figure 8's barking and growling at nothing. And besides the fact that we will have to throw away our living room rug because it smells like dog pee, which if I hadn't already spilled a wine cooler on it the week Kye was born and it if hadn't left a big pink stain I would be really upset because I really liked the rug, Piper is alright.

It Won't Be Like This For Long

Steve had to learn this song by Dairus Rucker for church this weekend - for a child dedication part of the service. Whenever he has to learn a song he plays it on repeat around the house for awhile and it gets stuck in my head. It has made me think a lot about our kids and our stage of life.

True to his musical expertise, Steve isn't extremely fond of this song. I guess the lyrics feel a little awkward while singing them, which makes the song feel awkward. But, it's not always the music and the feel that matters, sometimes it's just about the concept :)

It Won't Be Like This For Long

He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Layin’ there in bed listenin’
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK



It won’t be like this for long
One day we'll look back laughin’
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
‘Cause it won't be like this for long



Four years later ‘bout 4:30
She's crawling in their bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can I do
She says now don't you worry
This’ll only last a week or two

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon you'll drop her off
And she won’t even know you're gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It won’t be like this for long



Some day soon she'll be a teenager
And at times he'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the aisle
And he'll raise her veil
But right now she's up and cryin’
And the truth is that he don't mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers

He lays down there beside her
‘Til her eyes are finally closed
And just watchin’ her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he's tryin’ to hold on

‘Cause it won’t be like this for long

It won’t be like this for long

It won’t be like this for long

Cousins

I am spending a couple of days up at my sister's house in Brainerd. My sister-in-law is also here with her four boys. It is basically like having 4 sets of twins around. Let me show you...

The newborns: Wyatt and Kyeson


The one and a half year olds: Vienna and Liam


The three year olds: Berlin and Tyvan


The five year olds: Trynica and Brendyn


At times it feels like a little bit of chaos, but the kids have SO much fun together! On the way here Tryn said, "Mom, Brendyn and Tyvie are my best friends." Very true. She also said, "I have know Brendyn since I was a baby and he was a baby." Also true.

(Missing cousins are my other sister's two boys: Gabe, three in September, and Eli, who just turned one.)