Life With Little People

Watching the Snow Fall

2012-01-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

My Besties

2012-01-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

I like these people. They are my favs, all dressed up for Becky's birthday in which, due to icy roads, we hung out in downtown Robbinsdale (Whoop, whoop!) and had the best time. Seriously, El Toro in Robbinsdale has some great waitstaff.

Yay for birthdays!

The end of the Holiday Beard

2012-01-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

I was looking through some pictures and realized I forgot about this one...and really, how could I?? I like to call this: Steve's Holiday Beard Gone Wrong. He actually walked around like this for one whole day. Kye seems to think it's pretty great!

2011

2012-01-24T14:09:00.000-08:00

I have started a blog about 2011 approximately 7 different times and each time I just give up. Why? I don't even know where to start, what to say, or what to cover.

In the beginning of 2011 I was about halfway through my third pregnancy and life was at a weird place for us, a kind of standstill or waiting. More waiting I think. Steve and I had a conversation around this time last year in which we both agreed that 2011 seemed like it was going to be a year of change. But first we were going to spend the first half of the year waiting for the change.

On June 12 our third baby was born and it felt like that day we hit the ground sprinting and didn't stop until the year was over.

Between June and August we packed up all our household and tried to adjust to having a third child and not sleeping through the night.

Sometime in there, honestly can't remember when, we got a puppy.

August 31 we signed the papers that made us first time homeowners. We also moved out of North Minneapolis and into our new house that day.

Sometime in the summer Steve started an interview process with a different church and started a new job the day after we moved.

I also started a new "job". I went from working almost full time to being a full time stay at home mom, a transition I almost vowed I would never make. I'm please to say that it has been a total joy and probably saved my sanity over the past few months.

Five days after we moved our first babe started Kindergarten.

September 1 through Thanksgiving was a whirlwind of unpacking, projects, and painting almost every room in our new house. Yes, it literally took that long - working on projects almost every day. And we are still not done, just on break for now.

In the beginning of November some friends came to live with us.

The Holidays happened...what? They did?

And the last week of 2011 we took a trip out to WY to visit Steve's family who we hadn't seen in a long time. A trip in which our transmission blew up in our van and we had to spend a few days in Omaha, NE. And two of our tires went flat.

I think it is safe to say that my life currently looks nothing at all like it did a year ago. 2011 Year of Change? Heck yes.

2011 was also a year of very little sleep for me. Since I started not being able to sleep through the night several months before Kye was born, I am pretty sure that I have spent almost an entire year not sleeping through the night.

What is my 2012 new year resolution? To find some normalcy and sleep.

New Trick

2012-01-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

Kye has a new trick, screaming. He just started doing it yesterday as a defense against Berlin as she was all up in his face and annoying him. So he screamed at her. Then he thought that was a pretty cool trick and spent the rest of the day screaming about nothing in particular...just testing it out.

After on particularly loud scream Tryn commented, "He screams just like a little girl!"

I wonder if she realizes that she is still a little girl?

Oh, and this morning Tryn and I were having breakfast and Tryn said to me, "Mom, there are 3 choices. First, the zoo. Next, is a hotel with a big swimming pool. Or the next choice would be Disney World. Berlin should choose which one she wants to do for her birthday and then I can choose which one I want for my birthday."

Hm. What does one say to that?

2011 Statuses

2012-01-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

This app on FB is not as user friendly as it was last year, but I was able to accomplish what I needed. Now I won't forget my funny kid stories from this past year :)

Christmas...

2011-12-30T13:21:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

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?!

2011-12-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-12-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-18T20:32:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

for Crista :)

Longest Day Ever

2011-11-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-16T10:13:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-10-02T10:11:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-09-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-09-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-29T10:16:00.001-07:00

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!!

2011-08-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-08-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

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." :)

______________________________________________________________________________

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

2011-08-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

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. :)

_______________________________________________________________________________

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

2011-08-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

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.)

Kyeson Speaks

2011-07-18T14:37:00.001-07:00

Kyeson: So, my mom laid me on the floor because she wants to take some pictures of me. Lame.

Do I look amused? I am not amused. How would you like it if someone laid you on the floor and you didn't want to be there and couldn't do anything about it? Yeah, not fun.

Shoot. I should have smiled at the darn camera. Now I'm on my stomach? Seriously mom, this is not fun. Turn me back over and I promise I will smile at the camera for you.

No? Well, I'll show you! Look at this! Yeah, yeah, I can lift my head. But you think I am just going to sit here and let you take pictures of me? Oh no, I don't think so.

Watch this. I just do this instead.

Snap.

Haha! I can roll over! I guess you can't just make me to whatever you want. So.There.

:)

Update: Kyeson can roll over from his front to his back! He has done it a couple of times now, crazy kid. He is also smiling a ton these days - which I LOVE! He has been smiling for a few weeks now, I think he was around 3 weeks when he first smiled, but now he is really doing it in response to me or Steve talking to him. It's the cutest thing ever. He also had a 1 month appointment this last week and is now 9lbs 9ozs and has grown a whole inch to be 21 1/2 inches long. He wore his last newborn diaper today :( and is officially in size 1 diapers now. Growing like a weed and as cute as ever.

Best Outfit Ever

2011-07-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

I don't buy clothes for newborns. If they fit into newborn sized outfits, they wear them for a couple of weeks and then the clothes get packed away. Kyeson has mostly been living in clothes that were gifted to us, handed down to us, or that I found at garage sales before he was born.

HOWEVER. There is one exception. I do get them a new outfit for coming home from the hospital. I actually picked up two outfits for Kye because I didn't know what the weather would be like mid-June, one had shorts and a short sleeved shirt and this was the other one:

This is actually the one he wore home because it was not a sweltering summery day when we came home from the hospital, we haven't had many of those yet this year.

It's so great. It has little guitars all over it and it is the perfect combination of colors. Really, these, and different shades of these colors, are my favorite colors ever. Kye is quickly outgrowing this outfit. This is one of the final weeks he will wear it - and that makes me totally bummed. I love this sleeper so much that I am considering going and getting it in the next size up so that he can still wear it. Silly, I know, but I am not ready to pack this one away forever.

I equally love the other outfit that I got, the short sleeved one with shorts. It has been his best going out outfit, but I don't have a picture of him in it yet (which is crazy). I might have to pick them both up. That's silly, I know, but I am allowed to do silly things with my last baby. Right?

4 Weeks Already!

2011-07-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

Kyeson is 4 weeks old today already, (though technically not a month old until Tuesday)!!! Wow, that went by really fast. It kind of feels like he just got here, but at the same time I am definitely feeling like I have not slept through the night in the last month or so :) Babies grow so fast. So bittersweet.

This is what I know about Kye already. He is a really great baby. And I'm not just saying that because he's my baby. I have never really liked having newborns/infants because my first two were so difficult. They were little people that cried a lot, had to be held all the time, and had to be bounced to sleep every nap and bedtime. It was so much work.

Kyeson is so much easier! I knew it was going to be much easier with him when one of the first few days we were at home I was able to lay him down while he was still awake and he went to sleep all on his own. I was so excited. He also takes a pacifier, something other certain people never did. He will also just hang out on the floor and play all by himself! Well, not really play yet, but hang out and look at the world.

I try to have him be awake for an hour or so after he eats, but he does not like to be awake during the afternoon. He wakes up every 3-4 hours around the clock to eat (which means that he gets up usually twice a night). Besides getting up twice a night, he sleeps great the rest of the night, but he also sleeps great during the afternoon. :) He is like this lazy bum who refuses to be awake in the afternoon. If I try to keep him awake he is not happy - at all. Since he is so good at going to sleep without much work, it's also really hard to keep him awake if he doesn't want to be.

Lazy bum examples.

Steve trying to make fun of Kyeson...except he couldn't really keep a straight face.

And this is one of the times I've tried laying him on the floor to wake him up and change his diaper, and this is what he does instead. Rolls onto his side and goes back to sleep. P.S. and look how wrinkled his knee is, it's the cutest thing ever!

Like I said, lazy bum.

This first month with Kye has been so great. Our family feels so complete to me now.

She's 3 and it's so great!

2011-07-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

Berlin: I don't know when Christmas and that other day are.

Me: What other day?

Berlin: The other day.

Me: Easter?

Berlin: Yeah!...No.

Me: The 4th of July?

Berlin: Yeah...um, no...Let me 'fink.

Silence.

Berlin: I don't know when costume day is!

Me: You mean Halloween?

Berlin: Yeah, Halloween!!

Cutest Thing Ever

2011-07-06T18:58:00.001-07:00

Berlin has finally started coloring. She was always interested in coloring before, but it would last all of 5 minutes or so. She would climb up to the table, scribble on a piece of paper or a picture, and then climb down. It just wasn't something she was interested in, not enough going on to keep her involved. Overnight, a few months ago, Berlin started really coloring.

It's the cutest thing ever. Once she started really coloring she could color within the lines right away. The funny thing is that she will pick one color to color the entire picture. So she will sit there and color each little part of the picture, not going outside any of the lines, but the entire picture will be blue or whatever color she picks. She has recently started branching out a little bit and the other day colored a picture that had three colors on it.

The best thing about it is that she concentrates so hard that she really doesn't know what else is going on. Example, yesterday she was coloring and I put a cookie on the table next to her and she didn't even notice. Once I pointed out that there was a cookie there she didn't even eat it - not until she was done coloring. Talk about concentration. One time my friend Becky and I decided to see if we could distract her so we talked about all sorts of things that Berlin might be interested in, but I literally think she didn't even hear us. And she will color like this for a long time, even up to an hour.

She has even started drawing a little bit. Her people look like potatoes with legs and arms poking out of every direction, even the top of the head. It's funny and so cute.

And she chews on the side of her mouth, just like I do, except she is way cuter when she does it :)

Trynica Update

2011-06-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

Of course I meant to write an update about Trynica because her birthday was this month, however, I was not expecting the little man-child to come a full two weeks early. I've been a little busy.

Here goes:

Apparently 5 is the new 13, or so it seems. Ever since Trynica's birthday she has been acting so much older in SO many ways! She keeps making comments on how much smarter she is, how much bigger she is, and how much more capable she is now that she is five years old.

I would say that the thing that Tryn loves more than anything else is to color or draw pictures. She will spend hours, literally, everyday coloring pictures. Steve and I don't even bother putting the markers away until after the girls go to bed because as soon as we put them away they come right back out. She has some really creative ideas, such as today she drew the ocean with sharks and jellyfish in it. While she was drawing this picture she was telling Berlin a story about how she went to the ocean once. Apparently, she went with our friends Rollie and Cait when Steve and I were busy doing something else. This is not true, but leads me to another thing.

Tryn loves to talk. A few weeks ago I drove to Roseville, ran some errands, and came home. This took us about two hours and Trynica talked almost the entire time. She told Berlin princess stories, made up stories about stuff, and just chatted away in general. She comes up with some pretty crazy stuff.

One of the things that Tryn really likes is being the big sister and it is a job that she takes very seriously. Sometimes this causes fights between the girls, but often it makes Tryn a great helper. She is always willing to help out with anything if it involves helping her younger siblings. She is so sweet and kind.

Oh, and Tryn is pumped to go to school in the fall. It's all she talks about. Though she will be one of the younger kids in the class, she is totally ready for school. She already knows how to write all her letter and can even read some words. She would be much better at reading if I knew how to teach her, but I don't how to teach someone the all the crazy reasoning of the English language. She can even do basic math, like adding and subtracting, with smaller numbers, and she tries counting up to 100 all the time. And she loves to do projects. During her birthday our friend Gennae told Tryn that she could pick going out for ice cream, going to a movie, or doing a special project together. She picked the project. She is totally ready for school. I'm not though :)

Tryn still loves pb&j every day for lunch, loves scrambled eggs, and still loves all kinds of fruit. She has even started eating some veggies, her favorites are tomatoes and carrots (both are not green, I think she has an aversion to green veggies).

I think that's all for now.

Siblings

2011-06-22T14:18:00.001-07:00

So many people have been asking how the girls are getting along with Kyeson. I am so very pleased to say, they are all getting along famously. The girls basically think that Kyeson is the greatest thing since the invention of ice cream.

When they came to visit us in the hospital (after not having seen us for a day and half) they didn't even care to say hi to me. They ran into the room, passed us by, and asked, "Where's the baby? Where's the baby?!" They were so excited.

They ask constantly if they can hold him, and they are fabulous big sisters, always willing to help out. They get diapers, want to change him, keep him company while he's awake, and in general are totally in love with him. Tryn gives him kisses all the time and comments, "Kye just loves love, doesn't he?" As I type this Berlin is laying next to Kye on the floor, just hanging out with him and talking to him while he has some awake time. She is showing him some of his toys - which he doesn't care about in the slightest - but she is being so sweet :)

So far, so good. Who couldn't love this cuteness anyway?

He's Here, He's Here!!!

2011-06-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

Kyeson Birgen was born on June 12 at 2:09am, weighing in at 7 lbs 1oz, 20 1/2 inches long, almost exactly two weeks early. All along I had a feeling he was going to come early, but he took me a little bit by surprise. I will probably write up the whole birth story later on sometime (when I have time, haha!!), but here's short version. I have been telling people, when I think of Trynica's birth I think LONG. 38 hours from the beginning of contractions until she entered this world - that's a long time, especially to be awake for all except an hour of it. When I think of Berlin's birth I think FAST...and pretty easy. Kye's one word to describe his birth? PAINFUL. Maybe frustrating, but definitely painful.

As with Berlin, I didn't really know if I was in labor for quite awhile. I started having contractions in the middle of the night on Friday night - which happen one other time two or three weeks ago and that time it ended up not being real labor. So, same middle of the night contractions. 24 hours later he was born. I was expecting for this labor to at least be shorter than Berlin's as is the case with most babies. The more you have the shorter the labor is, but it wasn't.

We went to the hospital around noon on Saturday and the midwife wasn't sure if I was in labor either. I think the only reason she didn't send me home right then and there is because I explained Berlin's labor story to her and she didn't want me to have another baby in a car.

So, long story really short, I didn't dilate past 4cm all day, even after a three mile walk around Lake Calhoun (in which my contractions got to be 2 mins apart), several shorter walks after that, and having the midwife break my water. I think she broke my water around 9:30pm...though I'm not totally sure of the time details. Essentially, at 12:30ishpm the midwife wanted to put me on Pitocin so I didn't have to be up all night, and I started crying because I was way too tired and frustrated at this point. So, I said sure, but the Pitocin never had time to kick in. I went from being at 4cm at 1:00am to Kyeson being born at 2:09pm. This was the most painful hour of my life. It was horrible. Honestly. I mean, he spent so little time in the birth canal that his head was still perfectly round when he came out.

However. I think, after all that, I ended up with one of the greatest babies in the whole wide world. Contrary to his labor, he's so easy! He only cries if he's hungry or sometimes when he has to poop, he will hang out on the floor all by himself and just be as happy as a clam, he will go to sleep on his own after being swaddled and given a pacifier which he spits out promptly after he has fallen asleep. If you know our girls you know this was not the case with either of them. He is a totally dream baby in comparison.

Feast your eyes upon his cuteness :) He really might be one of the cutest babies I've ever seen.

Pregnant...and Italy

2011-06-08T15:51:00.000-07:00

I was just reminded, by someone else talking about summer vacations, that I was supposed to go on an awesome vacation this summer. Basically for as long as I can remember I have wanted to go to Italy. Maybe not when I was 5, but at least since my teen years. So 3 or 4 years ago I asked Steve if he would take me to Italy for my 30th birthday, which is this summer. He said yes. Now, however, I am doing this:

Honestly, I am loosing track, I think I am 37 weeks in this picture, but I don't know. Let's just say that I am. Pretty sure I am. This is what I am doing instead of going to Italy this summer.

We actually talked about this whole Italy thing when we decided to try and have another baby, Steve said let's wait to have a baby and I said no. I didn't want to go to Italy pregnant, can't not drink wine and be uncomfortable on the best vacation ever - and that would have meant waiting until this summer to get pregnant. I also didn't want our last baby to be so far apart in age from the girls. So we decided to have a baby and NOT go to Italy for my 30th birthday.

Sigh.

Right now, when it was 102 miserable degrees yesterday, when I am having a hard time walking because of my lower back, when I am not sleeping at night, and when I feel HUGE...I'm kind of still wishing I was going to Italy this summer.

Still totally excited about this man-child, but seriously, the last couple weeks of pregnancy are not what I would call fun. And it's the last couple of weeks. Two weeks from tomorrow to be exact. People keep asking me how I am feeling and I am feeling like a 38 weeks pregnant woman. And it's not a great feeling.

That's all. :)

Happy Fifth Birthday Trynica!

2011-06-06T19:09:00.001-07:00

Birth Day

First Birthday

Second Birthday

Third Birthday

Fourth Birthday

Fifth Birthday

Happy Birthday Trynica!!

This birthday feels like it has been a long time coming, especially since you have been talking about it since Christmas...maybe even before that. Honestly, this is a birthday that I wasn't especially looking forward to because things change this year. You have been talking about turning 5 and the fact that you get to go to school when you are 5 almost every day - but I don't know if I am ready for that! I can't believe it's already here! How did you turn 5 so quickly? Weren't you just born a few months ago?! I can't believe you are going to school in a few short months. Daddy and I realized about a week and a half ago that you thought you were going to start school the day after your birthday, thank goodness that didn't actually happen. I don't think my heart could handle it.

You are so excited to be 5 though, it's really cute. I think that this is the first year that you really understood what having a birthday and turning a year older really means, and you are so grow up now that you are five. :) Yesterday you asked me if it was time to get you a phone now because you are five. The answer is no. Absolutely not. :)

What I have especially loved about this past year is how creative you have gotten! You love to create things, work on projects, and color for hours every day. You are a sweet and helpful big sister who likes to be in charge. I love that you are so tender hearted and always wanting to be good. I love that you still like to sit on my lap. I love that you are so excited about school, even though I don't really want you to go. I love how you draw pictures for people all the time, to show them how much you love them, and how you are so giving. You are so special.

Daddy and I love you with all our hearts and then some. We love you all the way to Africa and back :)

Love,
Mom

Sweet Pepper Pasta with Kale

2011-06-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

I feel a little lame posting a recipe after a whole month of posting almost nothing. However, and this is an important however, you have to try this. As I have mentioned two of my recent cooking quests (besides trying to stop making so many yummy desserts) is to find some vegetarian meals and to incorporate more super foods.

Hence, Sweet Pepper Pasta with Kale.

As always, I have no idea where I got this recipe. I copy and pasted it into an email and emailed it to myself...don't remember where I found it. Just so we are clear I am not claiming this recipe as my own - someone else made it up, and they did a really good job.

It's super easy, super summery, super tasty, and if you really don't like to do the vegetarian thing it would taste really awesome with a big juicy steak :) We ate it as a meal by itself. And finished the whole thing. This would also make a great pasta/veggie dish to bring to a potluck/picnic if you are invited to such things.

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package uncooked farfalle (bow tie) pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 cup roughly chopped kale (super food, yummy!!!!!)
4 cloves garlic, chopped (meh, just threw a big spoonful in there)
1 pinch dried basil (used way more than a pinch)
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (also, used slightly more than a pinch)
salt and ground black pepper to taste
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (didn't end up using this much as we added the feta on top after we put it on our plates. Used less than a 4 oz container, maybe half of one).

Directions

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in red pepper, yellow pepper, kale and garlic. Season with basil, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Cook until vegetables are tender.
In a large bowl, toss cooked pasta with skillet mixture. Sprinkle with feta cheese to serve.

Enjoy!

Destruction and Chaos

2011-05-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

So, yes, a tornado hit North Minneapolis a week ago today. I am sure most everyone knows about it by now...and yes, I am WAY behind on blogging. I think this might be my second one for the month - which...yeah. Whatever.

Tornado. I didn't even know there was a tornado warning, much less for one in my own neighborhood. I had been taking a nap and woke up when it sounded like a huge gust of wind suddenly hit the side of our house. I looked out the window, but it was pouring rain and the sky wasn't greenish so I didn't feel too concerned. Two seconds later I got a text saying that if I was home I should go to the basement immediately. Two seconds after that Steve called me from work.

Steve loves storms so he was all, "Babe, there's a tornado somewhere! You should turn on the tv and find out what's going on!"

And I was all, "Um, I don't think so. I just got a text from Kathy telling me to go to the basement ASAP."

Then he was all, "Well, are the sirens going off?"

And I said no. Two seconds later they went off.

So I grabbed the girls and grabbed them some shoes and we rushed off down to the basement.

When we came up from the basement and looked out the window it was like nothing had happened. Our neighborhood didn't even have a tree down. No big deal. However, if you look at this picture you can see that the tornado basically hit all of North except our neighborhood. We live in the southeast corner, next to the larger green park that says Fairview Park - if that's readable.

By Sunday night they called a 9:00pm curfew for all of the Northside so that people weren't walking into downed power lines in the middle of the night, and by Monday morning most roads in and out of North were closed down. I had to drive the girls to Robbinsdale on Monday morning - which is kiddy corner to us on the map, northwest corner - and it usually takes 5 minutes. It took about 40 mins. I got "lost" driving around North on Monday. Lost as in the sense that I knew where I was, knew where I wanted to go, but had NO IDEA how to get there.

After dropping the kids off I unknowingly drove into one of the very worst areas, into Zone 3. I can't even tell you how many times I had to turn around or turn down a different street because of trees just laying across the roads. That's where I saw this car, which I had seen on the news the night before.

Notice how all the trees fell into the road? Well, I drove down some other roads that had the opposite problem and every tree had fallen onto the front of house instead. There were a few blocks were it looked like every house had a tree leaning on it.

Steve and I joined thousands of volunteers to help with clean up on Monday. Yes, I am 4 weeks out from having a baby, I still helped anyway. At first we were told to pick up twigs and small branches outside the main zones. Steve said, "Heck no, I want to carry heavy things!" It just so happened that a guy in our group had a chainsaw so he brought it out and we crossed the zone barriers.

I think Steve or someone counted, our team, consisting of Chainsaw guy, our friends Christian and Fink Josh, two girls whose names I don't know, two or three other guys, Steve and pregnant me, cleared 12 trees on Monday. I didn't bring my camera out at the beginning of the day because it continuously looked like it was going to rain any minute, but it finally got sunnyish after lunchtime.

One street that we cleared was in front of an assisted living facility. We helped clear a big tree that had fallen over their fence. It was funny though because I was mostly just hauling smaller branches that I didn't have to bend way over to pick up - not a big deal. They weren't heavy. Eventually though, this guy who was not part of our team, I think he might have worked at the facility, came to help us. Then, every single time I picked something up he came over to me, without saying a word, and took it out of my hands. He never did talk to me, just kept taking things away. Finally I just had to sit down on a chair for awhile because there was nothing that I could do.

Now, a week later there are still tons of people volunteering to help with the clean up, and there is still lots of clean up to do. I see big trucks driving by all the time just loaded up with parts of trees. Also, Fairview Park, two blocks away from us, has become the relief center for all the tornado victims. There are hundreds of people at the park everyday getting all kinds of help.

My friend and neighbor Gennae was helping out people this last week who lost their glasses in the tornado. I had never thought of that as a need before, but some people whose houses are condemned literally only have the clothes that they were wearing last Sunday. Gennae helped a few hundred people get new eyewear so that they could see. Can you imagine loosing your glasses? It would be hard for me to function without mine.

Picture This...

2011-05-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

I know, it’s been a really long time since I’ve blogged. Well, of course it would happen that while I am in the final month and half of my pregnancy that I get the worst cold ever. I have it almost exactly two weeks so far and it has progressively gotten worse instead of better. Although after this weekend, just when I decided I should probably go to the doctor, I am finally starting to feel like I might be on the upswing of this whole thing. But, this mostly hacking cough has brought “not sleeping well in the third trimester” to a whole new level. It’s lovely. Too bad it couldn’t have been a more regular head cold instead of this chest congestion that has literally made all the muscles of my upper body sore from coughing so much. Too bad I couldn’t have gotten a cold during the winter when colds were actually going around. No, I had to wait until Spring and being so large that one of my ribs feels bruised and broken, which has nothing to do with my cold.

Blah. So I haven’t blogged. And I don’t care.

I have to now though because I have a funny story.

Some of our besties, Becky and Christian, invited us over to their house last night for dinner. It was a perfect spring day so Steve brought a whole bag of outdoor goodness which included things like sidewalk chalk, bubbles, a football, and a Frisbee to entertain the girls while we were there. We spent the whole even outside, eating on the deck and playing games in the backyard, it was lovely.

Well, Christian, another friend who our girls call Fink Josh (even though his name is Josh Fink), and Steve decided to try and teach the girls how to play football. It was special. They kept switching teams and having the girls try to get run with the ball between the orange cones that Steve set up. The girls were really excited about it and tried throwing the ball to each other, which was funny – they just really didn’t get it.

It all culminated when Tryn and Berlin where put on a team with Josh and set up again Steve and Christian. Someone threw the ball to Tryn who started just running around in circles while jumping up and down yelling because she was extremely excited but did not know where to go. In the meantime Berlin was running around shouting, “Guys! Guys! GUYS!! Watch this! Watch this guys!!”Until finally the guys, who had been trying to get Tryn running in the right direction, stopped and asked Berlin what was up and she said, “Look how I can spin my dress!” She proceeded to twirl around the yard, forgetting completely that she was supposed to be playing football, all the while Tryn was still holding the football jumping up and down and nobody went anywhere.

It was hilarious. One of those moments that would win Funniest Home Videos if I would have had a video camera with me.

Later on when we were saying goodbye to Fink Josh, who recently decided to sport a mustache, Berlin looked up at him and with the deepest belly laugh and like it was the best joke ever pointed at Josh and said, “Haha!! You have a mustache!”

She kills me.

Cravings

2011-04-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so sometimes I think the whole pregnancy craving thing is overrated. Except then I get a craving for something and really cannot get it off my mind until I eat it.

For example, last week I was making my grocery list and suddenly had this craving for my mom’s homemade mac ‘n cheese dish that’s sort of like a really cheesy casserole, except my mom never made casseroles, so it’s mac ‘n cheese. I haven’t had it in a really long time, and I have wanted to eat it every day since I thought about it. Also, last night I had a dream about bbq chicken and I can’t stop thinking about it. So we are having homemade mac ‘n cheese and bbq chicken for dinner. In my dream I actually made my own bbq sauce from scratch – which I have never done before and will probably never do – and it was amazing.

People ask me all the time if I have cravings for things. The answer? Sometimes. With all three of my pregnancies I could eat pizza every day of the first trimester. Literally, I never got sick of pizza and would want to eat it all the time. I still like pizza, but could care less about it right now. In the beginning of this pregnancy I ate lots of dry cereal, bagels with cream cheese, and really cheese in any form it would come in. Which is maybe why pizza was so awesome, lots of bread and cheese. There was a week that I was so sick that I think those are the only things I ate. And I really like chocolate and ice cream, but I am pretty sure I liked those even when I was not pregnant ;)

One thing, however, that happened to me this pregnancy that I simply don’t understand is that I have started to L-O-V-E grapefruit. The reason why this is so weird is because I once learned that I am a “super taster”, which means that I started out not liking the three most naturally bitter foods: coffee, grapefruit, and beer. I can remember specific instances where I gagged over the taste of coffee and grapefruit when I was younger, and I have never been able to handle more than a sip of beer. Then Starbuck’s arrived on the scene, added loads of sugar to coffee, and I became a coffee drinker. For the first year I could never drink anything but a caramel Frapuccino, which I think is one of the more sugary drinks on the menu, but I slowly acquired a taste for coffee. Still hated grapefruit, still hate beer.

Lo and behold, I ate a grapefruit a few months ago and it was good. It was better than good. It was delicious. It was so good that I immediately went out and bought several more. I can’t seem to get enough of them right now. I could eat one every day. I kind of want to eat one right now. Mmmm. Maybe pregnancy can change your tastebuds? I don’t know. I still can’t even stand the smell of beer, so it didn’t work on that, but grapefruit is a new passion of mine…at least until this pregnancy is over, then we’ll see if I am still obsessed :)

Easter

2011-04-26T20:25:00.001-07:00

I have this really great handsome husband. I never post nice pictures of him, I don't know why. Most of the time when I take a picture of him he's doing something really funny or silly...maybe because he's just like that a lot? :) I don't know. Anyway, he looked so darn handsome on Easter morning that I made him hold still long enough for me to snap a picture of him in his "Sunday best".

Yup. So handsome. I picked out his shirt and tie combo, teal and purple? Sure! Why not? It's the first time, and maybe last, I have ever gotten him to wear purple. Pink was completely out of the question. I think he looks fabulous.

The girls and I spent most of Holy Week hanging out, just the three of us, and we still managed to not find time to color eggs until Easter morning.

Which was fine, because in the half hour that Steve was able to be at home with us on Sunday morning we decided to have a conversation with the girls about how the Easter Bunny is not real. I wrote a little bit about this during Christmas, about wether or not we were going to help the belief in Santa or not, but with Easter I decided what's the point? A bunny whose big enough to hop around delivering baskets of candy and hiding eggs? First of all, if I actually saw a bunny that big it would scare the crap out of me. Second, what does a bunny have to do with eggs? Third, and most importantly, Easter is way too important to me to make it into something fictional and all about eggs and rabbits.

Easter, more than Christmas, is the foundation of what I believe. The fact that Jesus died for me is the basis of what the rest of my life means. It effects a lot of the decisions that Steve and I make because it has shaped our lives. So we decided we want our girls to really know what Easter is about, and that we would celebrate by coloring eggs and having baskets with candy - along with many other things, like going to church, talking about what Jesus did for us, etc.

So we still colored eggs and had a little Easter egg hunt outside.

While we were waiting for the eggs to change color Tryn decided to make up songs about Easter, a task which she took very seriously.

And which Berlin seemed to think was pretty funny.

Our beautiful eggs :)

I also got the girls new Easter dresses. I found this adorable dresses on the clearance rack at GAP and they were perfect. Unfortunately, because Minnesota is so awesome and it was only 60-something degrees they had to wear leggings and long sleeved shirts under their dresses. So I didn't take "Easter dress pictures" because they wouldn't have been awesome.

I will take some soon and post them. The best thing about the dresses is they spin in a real serious way - which made Berlin extremely happy. I will have to try and catch them in action...

For now, this cute picture. Of course, I couldn't even get one of both of them looking at me, but it's pretty cute anyway :)

Heartbreaker

2011-04-21T07:25:00.001-07:00

Have you heard the country song where the dad tells the boyfriend that he will be up still cleaning his gun when the boyfriend brings the daughter home?

This little girl is going to cause Steve lots of problems in about 10 years:

Steve will be writing country songs about cleaning his gun and dumb teenage boys. Heck, he might even buy a gun, just to scare the crap out of some poor high school boy. I feel sorry for whoever decides he wants to take Tryn on her first date.

I mean, she does have a little ways to go:

But look at those eyes!!!

My Little Peanuts

2011-04-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

Berlin has had a growth spurt over the past couple of months, if you can believe it. When I had her measured and weighed at the doctor's office last week I found out she was only 29 lbs and 37 inches tall. That's not a large 3 year old for sure. However, I can tell that she has definitely gotten taller over the past few months because she has finally outgrown all of her 2T pants.

I just had her step on our home scale to see how accurate it was, it said she was 29 lbs. Although, it says something different for me when I step on our home scale compared to the scale at the doctor's office - like it's at least 5 lbs off, and let's just say that I favor my scale reading compared to the doctors :) Anyway, I am not totally sure it's accurate, but if it is...Tryn only weighs 5 lbs more than Berlin does. It says she weighs 34 lbs. Now THAT is small for an almost 5 year old.

The fact that Berlin has had a huge growth spurt combined with the fact that Tryn is still wearing the same size shoes as she was last summer, still fits quite comfortably into 4T clothing, and is only 5ish lbs more than her just under two years younger little sister means that these girls are closer to being the same size than they ever have been.

In fact, several times in the past few weeks, I would say almost every time I bring them to a store, someone asks me if they are twins. Yesterday when I was walking out of Cub Foods a guy said to me, "Awesome! You have twins!" and just kept walking. I always explain that I don't have twins, but I am starting to think that I should maybe play it up while I can. I mean, don't you think that people who have twins are like, so cool because they are still sane when their kids reach toddler age? And that must mean that they are super heros or something? If people want to think that of me, I might as well let them ;)

In this picture Tryn definitely looks much bigger than Berlin, but her bike is also much bigger...maybe this means that Berlin is ready for a two-wheeler? Considering how accident prone Berlin is, I don't think I can handle that stress right now. I think we'll wait :)

30 Weeks

2011-04-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

So, for the 30 week picture it was a little bright outside.

And I couldn't really look at Steve while he was taking a picture of me.

But, we remembered to take a picture, and that's all that matters :)

I am starting to feel very pregnant. It's hard to move around, I can't walk very fast, and it's especially hard to get up if I decide I want to sit on the ground. But I only have 10 weeks left. And when I say I only have 10 weeks left, then I start to freak out that I only have 10 weeks left. Ten weeks does not sound like very many to me. So, although I am getting more uncomfortable every day and it's hard to sit at all because it feels like something is being shoved into my diaphragm and ribs - which makes it hard to breathe - I am not so uncomfortable yet that I am ready for him to come any day. He can wait...a few more weeks. That would be just fine by me.

Belly Laughs

2011-04-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

I get a weekly update email letting me know how my baby is growing and what is happening in baby and pregnancy world. And sometimes they have this little section called "Belly Laughs". Here was the one that I read today:

If only you'd known you were going to trade...
• Monthly PMS for nine months of weeping
• Lacy thongs for cotton tents
• Sex for gas
• Zinfandel for Ovaltine
• Birth control for laxatives
• Going to the gym for getting up to pee
• Your waist for a hot-air balloon
• Kickboxing for kick counts
• Your innie for an outie – a way-outie
• Sleeping for groaning
• Freedom for the most intense love you've ever known

2:00am

2011-04-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

I am not good at 2:00am. All my good friends know this. I am the lame one who has to go to bed early, I always get tired first, I have never been an allnighterstayupreallylate type of person - even in college. 2:00am especially doesn't look great to me if I have already been asleep for a few hours.

Also, sidenote, last week when Steve was sick I started sleeping with earplugs (for no certain reason, ahem) and discovered that I sleep very soundly when I have the earplugs in all night.

Since I was super tired yesterday I decided to put the earplugs in - the only reason I don't wear them every night now is because they're just not all that comfortable. Anyway, I was sleeping super soundly at 2:00am.

Berlin, apparently, came into our room, she had a low grade fever yesterday. The problem/wonder of the ear plugs is that I did not hear her come into our room. I had no idea she was there until Steve plopped her between us and she put her hand on my face. I was aware enough to realize why she was there, that she was probably not feeling well, so I reached out to the figure sitting next to me in the dark and put my hand on her face. After I found her face I closed my eyes, they did not want to be open at 2:00am, and felt her forehead. It didn't feel that warm. Hm. So I moved my expert mother fever gauge down to her cheek. It didn't feel that warm either. In fact, it felt like there were lots of goosebumps all over her little cheek...which was weird.

Then Steve said to me, "Babe, what are you doing?"

And I opened my eyes and realized my hand was on his stubbly cheek, not Berlin's. Her little face was quite warm, 102.7 warm. I couldn't go back to sleep because I just kept giggling to myself in the dark.

2:00am and I do not get along very well.

Style, It's a Process

2011-03-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

I think I need to teach Berlin a little bit about hair brushing. Like maybe don't start at the back of the head and comb forward.

Maybe don't comb from one side to the other...

...and maybe it's a good idea to take current hair accessories out before brushing.

And definitely don't leave the house with a comb-over. Nobody should. Not when you're 3, and not when you are 85. It's not a good style. Although, a 3 year old with a comb over is pretty darn cute. But I think she would still look cute with a gum wad in her hair, so I guess she can do whatever she wants. :)

Wait, There Was a Birthday?!

2011-03-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness. It has been almost a month since Berlin's birthday and I just realized that I have not posted any pictures of her cute little birthday party. Bad mom.

I kept meaning to edit them. Now I realize that if I wait until I have time/energy to edit them they will never make it on to this blog. So, here they are in all their unedited glory.

Birthday girl in all her cuteness.

In her birthday outfit, complete with new sparkly shoes surveying the lay of the land. I don't actually know if she liked her new shoes better or the new princess castle with princesses. And someday we will move past this princess stage...but not today.

Waiting to eat cake is hard!

Especially when your cake is a Rapunzel cake, complete with Rapunzel's hair ALL over it.

But first all the guys took all the kids sledding. It was SO cold out, I think the high for the day was 14 degrees or something dumb like that. But they still had fun. And thank goodness it actually snowed a few days before the party because the weekend before almost all the snow melted.

Finally! Time for cake...

...and presents!

What's left at the end of the day? Princess massacre.

When I Grow Up...

2011-03-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

The girls had a short conversation in the car yesterday that went something like this...

Berlin: When I grow up I want to be a mom!

Tryn: When I grow up I want to be a mountain climber! (Reference back to this story. She still hasn't changed her mind, which I think is really interesting considering the fact that I don't know if she actually knows what a mountain climber does exactly.)

Berlin: I want to be a mom and a horsey rider! (This is not the first time she has mentioned being a horse rider either. Which is also weird to me because I can't actually remember a time that she has ridden a horse, which means that she probably doesn't remember either. This is also funny to me because I swear this exact sentence came out of my own mouth at some point in my life. Although, I probably wasn't 3 years old and I probably used a word like "jockey" or "horse trainer" instead of "horsey rider".)

Tryn: I want to be a mountain climber and...guess what else?

Berlin: I don't know.

Tryn: Guess! Guess, guess, guess!

Berlin: I don't know Trynie. I can't guess.

Tryn: I want to be a mountain climber and...a SINGER! Just like daddy!

I can't wait to see what these girls accomplish in life.

Trynica's New Thing

2011-03-21T17:09:00.000-07:00

Does every 4 1/2 year old spend hours a day coloring? It seems like there are several who do, but maybe not all of them? I don't know, but Trynica definitely does. We gave her 3 coloring books for Christmas and they are all colored through. Steve also found an empty artist sketch book laying around the house and every page of it has been drawn on, I think he found it about two weeks ago. In the last week she has also gone through almost an entire package of construction paper.

Her coloring techniques are so interesting to me. There was a stage for awhile where she had to have all of the markers lined up on the table and she would only use whatever color was at the top of the line. She would color one little thing, and then put that color at the end of the line and not use it until that color came up to the top of the line again. We have moved past that to just having all the markers in a container now.

She colors really well within the lines, but pays absolutely no attention to what color goes where. This means that people have purple skin, green hair, blue hands, and yellow feet. One of her new things is coloring one thing, like a ball, several different colors. She totally knows she is doing it too. If I color with her she will ask me to color the princesses hair purple, like she has a whole plan for the picture - only her plan doesn't make sense to anybody else but her. It's very creative, but very confusing.

She also loves to just draw and will draw very detailed pictures with very specific explanations of what is what, even if I can't tell what the picture means at all. She also likes to write her name on every picture she draws because she has recently learned to write her entire name. She can also spell and read other words by sounding them out.

Smart kid.

Progress

2011-03-20T09:27:00.001-07:00

So annoyed right now. I have never taken progress pregnancy pictures. I don't know why. We didn't have a nice camera until Berlin was several months old, so we just didn't take as many pictures in general back then. But I actually have very few pictures of me pregnant at all, so this time, since this is the last time, I figured I would take some progression pregnancy pics.

Well, I took a picture at 15 weeks, right around the time I started showing. I just went to upload the picture to my blog and it won't work. It says the picture is "offline or missing" - only I can see it RIGHT THERE and it seems completely fine to me. Except it's not. I have had this problem with Lightroom several times recently, even regarding photos for other people, and it's starting to stress me out. The last thing I need is to start loosing pictures.

My plan was to take a picture every 5 weeks or so, but somehow I totally missed the whole 20 week period and suddenly I was 25 weeks pregnant. So, there is my one picture of me pregnant so far, at 25 weeks. So far this whole picture thing is not going very well.

Blah.

People keep asking me how I am feeling. Fine. Fairly fine. Things could be a lot worse. My only real problem right now is extremely sore lower abdominal muscles which cause me to move around like an old lady and waddle significantly even though I am not really large enough to waddle. My midwife actually prescribed me a lumbar support belt to help with the pain, but the whole belt is a rather big pain to wear as it turns into a 15 minute process just to use the bathroom. So, mainly I wear it if I know I am going to be on my feet a lot or if I want to go for walk. If I don't wear it and go for a walk - bad news. Then I can barely move at night.

The only other concern is that we don't even have an inch of space in this house for this child. As I was putting away the girls mountains of clothes last night after several loads of laundry, I was realizing how every inch of space in their room is overflowing. No room for anything extra, not even a little shelf space for little boy clothes. He is not going to fit here.

Time to move!

On the Flip Side

2011-03-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the flip side to my post from Wednesday:

This morning Berlin came into our room rather early. She climbed up into bed and snuggled down right between Steve and I. She grabbed my hand and pulled it until it was resting underneath her cheek. Then she promptly fell back to sleep with her little hand wrapped around a few of my fingers.

Of course, this forced me to wake up more fully because my daughter's sweet face was only inches from mine, and every mother knows that when you have the opportunity to gaze at your sweet babies sleeping face you take it - no matter what time it is. Besides, it's hard not to. Looking away from a sleeping angel face is like trying to look away from the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen and we all know that's almost impossible.

I am in love with my three sweet angels, one of whom I have yet to meet. As Steve spends the afternoon preparing a funeral for a two year old little boy from Edina, I am especially so thankful for them today. Thankful that I get them for one more day. And I hope with all my might that I get them for one more, and one more, and for thousands more after that.

March Madness

2011-03-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

Both of my kids are mad at me this morning. Why, you might ask? Well, let me tell you what life is like with two spirited and emotional young ladies in our house.

Tryn is mad at me for two reason. Reason number one is that there were no clean tights or leggings in her size this morning. So instead of letting her wear a pair of Berlin's, I made her wear pants. Sometimes if she has to wear pants I will put a skirt or a dress on over the pants. I didn't today. She is mad.

Reason number two that Trynica is mad at me is because while we were getting into the car she realized that she was missing this little quarter sized makeup brush that she thought she had with her. Since we were supposed to be at our 20 minute away destination in 5 minutes I wasn't really in the mood to look for it. I did retrace our steps back up to the front door. I couldn't find it. She is mad.

Berlin is mad at me too. Her reason? Well, since she has been staying awake until 10pm the last 4 nights because of time change and stubbornness, she was one of the reasons that we were still 20 minutes away from our destination 5 minutes before we should have been there. We had to wake her up to get her ready to go. She was mad when she found out that Tryn got to eat cereal at home and she didn't. I gave her a banana and a granola bar in the car. She still had some banana left 20 minutes later so I asked her if she was done with it and she said she was. So I took it and chucked it into a tree. She started bawling, and she is mad.

Save me.

My Trip and the State of our Household

2011-03-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

I went on a trip, a little vacay. I have never gone on a trip without some member of my little family. Whenever I have gone somewhere, wether it was out to IN to visit my brother and sister, or on a weekend trip out to MI with some friends a few summers ago, there has always been a child with me. I have been away from my kids for other trips, but then I am always with Steve. Which, don't get me wrong, vacations with Steve are one of the best things in the world. However, until this last weekend I had never been away from anyone in my family to do something fun, I think since I got married almost 8 years ago.

So I went to Nashville to visit my bff, Cait.

Since I am starting my third trimester in a couple of weeks and can't fly until June, and since I won't be able to go anywhere alone without it being a massive production (pumping, etc.) after the man-child is born, Steve and I decided now would be as good of a time as any.

It was so fun. And relaxing. We just hung out a lot, slept in lot, and went shopping a lot. Good trip :)

I also realized a few things. First is that I really like traveling with Steve, he's such a great guy. It's especially nice to have someone to lift my suitcase into the overhead compartment when I pack my carryon to the brim. :)

Second, people kept asking me how I thought Steve would do at home with the girls all by himself and that felt like a really weird question to me. I just kept saying, "Oh, he'll do fine," and I knew that he would. The state of my kids well-being upon my arrival at home was not something that I worried about one time. Last night one of our friend who hung out with Steve over the weekend told me that when he was here the state of our house was the same as when I am here - only I wasn't. I wasn't surprised, I didn't expect things to be different. Then I realized that is probably not the case in all households. It also made me start thinking this morning about comments I have heard from other mom's, things like how their husbands never put their kids to bed and might not even know how. Things like their husbands don't know what the kids like to eat for lunch, where the toothbrushes are, and what the kids like to play with. My realization? I have a really, really, really great husband who is a really, really, really great father.

My girls had a great time with their dad over 5 full days, not because he spoiled them, gave them lots of sugar, and let them watch tv all day long. They had a great time because they like to be with their dad, and it's normal and fun for them. They might not have even really missed me all that much - and I am totally okay with that.

The other thing is, Minnesota sucks and I didn't really want to come back here. Why? Well, in Tennessee there are trees that already look like this:

And there is no snow to be seen. One day when I was there it was 71 glorious degrees. Then I came home to freshly fallen snow, and then more snow last night. I don't want snow, I want trees with blossoms and 71 degrees of sunshine.

Happy Third Birthday Berlin!

2011-02-28T19:32:00.000-08:00

Birth Day

First Birthday

Second Birthday

Third Birthday

Dear Berlin,

Happy, happy birthday sweet girl! I can’t believe you are three!!

I just wrote an update about all the wonderful things about you, but I didn’t really say how much I love you. I feel so blessed that you are a part of our lives and a part of our family.

What do I love about you? I love that you are silly and happy a lot of the time, that you are always ready to laugh. I love that you are stubborn and strong willed. I love that you have so much determination, enough that you can accomplish whatever you want in life – and I know you will. I love that you sing all the time, that you have as much of a natural ear as your dad. I love that you get so excited every single time you see a dog. I love how creative you are, how imaginative you are, and how smart you are. I love that you love to snuggle and that you let me rub your back all the time. I love that you still like to sit on my lap. I love that you still like to sleep with your face pressed up to the rail on your bed, just like when you were in your crib. I love that you are so full of life!

Seriously. I had a hard time with your birthday this year because I didn't want to let go of my two year old. I didn’t really want you to turn three, but you didn’t listen to me. ☺ On the other hand, I can’t wait to see what kind of fun we are going to have this next year!

Daddy and I are obsessed with you. We think you are the most perfect newly turned three year old we know. You make us smile – a lot.

Love,
Mom

Berli Update

2011-02-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

I was realizing a few weeks ago that it has been a long time since I have updated my kids’ general growth status on my blog. Kind of a bummer since that concept is one of the reasons I started my blog in the first place. Then I realized Berlin’s birthday was just a few short weeks away and gave myself a good reason to procrastinate by planning her update the week of her birthday, which I would normally do anyway.

So here goes. The long procrastinate and almost forgotten about update. Since it has been awhile, this might get kind of long.

One of the main things that I have been thinking about Berlin lately is, “She is only turning 3 at the end of February! This whole time she has still only been 2 years old!” She acts so much older! I think it has something to do with the fact that Berlin has to do and try everything that Tryn does, but I honestly forgot for awhile that she was still only 2 years old. She plays like a 4 year old, acts like a 4 year old, and talks like a 4 year old. At church when I would drop Berlin off at her Sunday School class the ladies would ask me, “She’s really only 2 years old? She talks so well! She sounds much older than that!” So we actually moved her up to the 3 year old class a few months early, and she has been doing just fine there.

There are some things that reminded me that she really was still only 2 though. Mostly phrases like, “What you said?” which she still says all the time instead of, “What did you say?” And she always calls everything in the future “to-morning”. Referring to the past is always hard too and the most common reference is “last morning”. She also sometimes gets mealtimes confused and will call breakfast dinner and dinner lunch. She also can’t sit still as long as a 4 year old either. Tryn can sit at the table and color for an hour, while Berlin will last all of 10 minutes. Although, to be honest, I don’t know if Berlin will even be able to sit and color for an hour even when she is 4.

We had some friends over the other day who observed the fact that Berlin doesn’t walk anywhere, she runs. Berlin has so much energy that sometimes it seems like it is literally impossible for her to hold still. If she gets wired before bedtime she will bounce around the room – not kidding. She will run at the bed and bounce off of it, she will run at me and Steve and try to bounce off of us, she will be unable to sit in our laps long enough to sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I think my update from her birthday last year was something like “Berlin is a party waiting for people” and not much has changed! She is a busy girl.

Berlin has started loving a few select veggies! Yay! I used to be able to not get her to eat any except corn, and now she loves fresh green beans, snow peas, bell peppers, and carrot sticks – loves them.

Berlin still loves animals. Every few weeks she will say, “Mom, I wish we could have a dog,” and that’s the only time I ever want to get one. She also loves to play in the water. I can fill up the sink in the bathroom and give her a few spoons and cup and she will play in there for an hour. Maybe because it feels like cooking, which Berlin also loves. Every single time I am in the kitchen for more than 5 minutes Berlin will come in and ask, “Mom, can I watch you?” and will be content to sit on the counter and just watch me cook. She especially loves it if there is some way she can help with the cooking. I can’t believe how much she likes it and it never gets old to her.

Our little three year old also has a new love, Diego. She likes Dora too, but Diego is a favorite for some reason. She runs around the house singing Diego songs and saying words in Spanish. So cute. She also still loves princesses, of course. And dresses that spin. We have “discussions” every morning, first about getting to wear a skirt or a dress – even when it’s -20 degrees and there are no clean tights or leggings – and then she gets really bummed if her skirt/dress doesn’t flare out when she spins. Winter skirts and dresses are not very spinny. I can’t wait for summer.

Okay, at the risk of this going on forever, that’s all for now. I need to get better at writing these updates more than once every six months, then they wouldn’t get so long!

Bottom line, I love this kid. And I have especially enjoyed her being a two year old, so much so that I feel like I am really going to miss it - which makes this a fairly bittersweet week for me. She's pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself.

Cheese Farm

2011-02-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

I don't know if many people have seen my "About Me" section on Facebook. I wrote it way back in the day when I first signed up, when everyone still read their friends likes/dislikes, favorite quotes, favorite books and movies, and the About Me sections on Facebook. Maybe everyone else still does read them? I don't.

Anyway, if you haven't read it, mine goes like this:

I grew up on a farm in Brainerd, MN. When I was little I used to take a slice of cheese and break it into exactly 16 little squares (using a folding technique), I got into the habbit of doing this almost everyday for lunch. Then I would put my elbow on the table and put my hand to my mouth and pretend that each square of cheese was a bale of hay that had to be moved up the conveyor (my arm) into the barn (my mouth). I also put these little squares on my strawberry jam or honey toast. I still like the taste of cheap processed cheese on my toast...

I bring this up because today I decided to make a piece of toast with some of my mom's homemade strawberry jam and put some cheese on top. Don't make that face until you try it. Really. It's not bad, reminds me of childhood at least. I literally have not made this snack in years. I have definitely never told my kids this story, they would be too young to understand.

Anyway, as I was making my snack my kids asked for a piece of cheese. I gave them each one and went back to toast making. As I sat down at the table with my snack I realized that both of my kids had ripped their cheese into several little pieces and were pretending to be sheep, eating it off the table without using their hands. I guess eating cheese and pretending your are on a farm go hand in hand. Or maybe it runs in the family. :)

Baby Still

2011-02-22T11:42:00.000-08:00

One part that I did not expect of having another child was in letting go of the "baby" part of my other baby. I always knew that Tryn would not be my only child, so she has never been the "baby of the family" except when she really was the only baby we had. But it wasn't a process of letting go of The Baby when Berlin came along. For awhile we started thinking that Berlin might be our last kid, so she really became The Baby - despite her darn hardest attempts to grow up. Now that I am having another child I feel a little sad that Berlin will no longer be The Baby. It helps a little that she will still be our youngest girl, that feels different than if we were having another girl. A boy just makes things different.

Regardless, my Baby is turning 3 this Saturday!! How did that happen? She is not really a baby at all anymore anyway. So part of me is so glad to be having another kid, I am not ready to move past having a baby in my life.

But this helps...

And this.

Sigh. See? She really IS still a baby. I guess it's irreversible. She will always be my baby, even when she's 30.

Our Son

2011-02-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

I think mostly everyone knows already because I put the info on Facebook, and everyone knows that if you are on FB you are in the "know", but we are having a boy! You were all right - well, almost everyone who guess in my last post about this pregnancy guessed that it was going to be a boy. Your prize? You can hold him when he is born!! Haha!

I was going to blog that information last week, but then we got a call from the doctor the day after the ultrasound. The message went something like this, "...in your unltrasound yesterday we saw a small bright spot on the baby's heart. In the past this bright spot has sometimes been a marker for down syndrome, but it's probably not a big deal because everything else in your ultrasound looked just fine. We just need to have you come in for a level 2 ultrasound to do some more measurements..."

I can't even tell you what was going through my mind when I got that message.

I did a bunch of online research and found out that besides being a marker for down syndrome it could also be something as simple as a calcium deposit that would go away in the 3rd trimester and would be nothing to worry about. It was generally only if the bright spot was accompanied by one or more other signs such as a brain cyst, a large space between the first two toes, a missing nasal bone, bones that weren't measuring in correct proportionate size to other bones, etc.

So we didn't say anything about it. No sense it worrying everyone about something that was potentially nothing, especially since they hadn't found anything else to worry about.

But that doesn't mean that we weren't a little worried.

Turns out, after an almost two hour ultrasound with the most informative ultrasound technician in the world this last Wednesday, the doctor pronounced our son "another variation of normal". Normal except a small calcium deposit on his heart that will go away in the 3rd trimester. Apparently these are becoming so common in ultrasounds that it is not really a marker for down syndrome anymore, but it's hard to convince the entire medical world not to believe something that has been true for 15 years.

Our consolation for our week long of worry was our fabulous technician who decided to practice her 3D and 4D ultrasound skills on our baby. So, for the first time, and probably only time, we got to see one of our babies in 3D. It was awesome.

The pictures aren't super clear, but our technician was literally practicing on us because she doesn't normally do 3D ultrasounds. I told her to go ahead and practice away :) She explained the whole 3D/4D thing to us, it was amazing.

And then of course she printed us about 10 new regular ultrasound photos. She was so nice.

Things we know about our baby:

* He is, as far as ultrasounds are able to determine, perfectly healthy :) Praise God.

* He has some of the longest fingers our technician had ever seen on a 20 week old baby. Like his dad? Yup.

* His second toe is longer than his first big toe, just like his dad.

* He is not as forcefully active (in the womb) as both of his sisters were. He moves around a lot, but he is, so far, a much calmer mover. He doesn't use me as his punching bag...yet. :)

We are so excited to meet him!!

High Mountains

2011-02-09T15:29:00.001-08:00

Conversation I just had with Tryn...

Tryn: When I have a baby I am going to be in charge. Like a mom. I want to be in charge, like you are in charge.

Me: Hm.

Tryn: Yup. When I have a baby I am going to climb a mountain too.

Me: Why do you want to climb a mountain?

Tryn: Because. I am going to be a mountain climber when I grow up. I think that mountain climbing and flying are good, but I think mountain climbing would be more fun.

Me: Why do you think that?

Tryn: Because. I could climb way up and then put on some pixie dust and then jump off the mountain and fly!...Do you know where there are any tall mountains?

Me: No. Well, I know where there are some, but they are very far away.

Tryn: Like in St. Paul? Do you think there is a tall mountain in St. Paul?

Me: No babe, there are no high mountains in St. Paul.

Quinoa? Yes, Please!

2011-02-08T18:30:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: If you are coming back to this recipe, I don't know, to maybe make it or something, check out the update I made. 1 Tablespoon of salt in the water is WAY too much. The first time I made this I actually forgot to add the salt and so we just added some salt and pepper when all was said and mixed. The second time I added it and it's just WAY too much. It was too salty for me. Add less. Amen.

I found a new amazing recipe. I'm bummed because I simply cannot remember where I found it...online somewhere, on a day when I was looking on several sites for new recipes, just can't remember which one.

Anyway, my goal in looking for this recipe was two things:

1) I have been looking for more vegetarian meals to make for dinner. Not because we are becoming vegetarians - not at all. I love steak. A lot. Partially I recently realized that I really don't know how to cook dinner without involving meat somehow, partially some meals without meat can be super healthy (which I love), and meat can be just plain expensive sometimes. But I really love a good steak. Did I already say that? ;)

2) In my last issue of Real Simple magazine there was a section on the Top 30 Healthiest Foods to eat. It included things like blueberries and spinach, two things that we eat a lot, but then also had things like quinoa and kale. I tried cooking with quinoa once before, but it was not impressive. It was plain and bland and Steve told me he would prefer if we didn't have to eat it again. However, on my ever present quest for healthy meals and good food to feed my family, I couldn't ignore the fact that quinoa is one of the healthiest proteins available. That's right, it's a grain that is loaded with fiber, but is also a protein. Awesome.

So I found this recipe. It is so yummy, you just have to try it.

Quinoa Salad

FOR THE DRESSING:
5 Tablespoons Lime Juice
1 teaspoon Salt
1 whole Garlic Clove, Finely Minced
¼ cups Finely Chopped Fresh Cilantro
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin, Or To Taste
⅓ cups Olive Oil (I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
½ teaspoons Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste

FOR THE SALAD:
1-½ cup Red Quinoa NOTE: I did not use red, but the plain brownish one that is more readily available.
~~1 Tablespoon Table Salt~~, Um, don't add a tablespoon. Maybe 1 or 2 teaspoons? Add When Boiling Quinoa
1 can (14 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained, Rinsed
1-½ cup Corn Kernels, Fresh (I used frozen that I cooked for a few minutes)
1 cup Finely Chopped Colored Sweet Bell Peppers
1 whole Jalapeño Chilies, Seeded And Minced (wear rubber gloves - to be honest, this part totally scared me. I had never cooked with a jalapeno chili before. I didn't really want to put something in my mouth that I couldn't even touch while cutting up. I survived. It tasted awesome.)
¼ cups Finely Chopped Fresh Cilantro
¼ cups Finely Chopped Green Onions

Preparation Instructions

For the dressing:
In a small bowl whisk together lime juice, salt, minced garlic, chopped cilantro, and cumin and add oil in a stream, whisking. Add pepper to taste. Set aside.

For the salad:
NOTE: I also changed the cooking instructions for the quinoa. The original recipe had like three paragraphs of this special way to cook the grain which involved cheese cloth and first cooking and then steaming. Too much work. Just rinse the quinoa and cook according to the package instructions. Fluff quinoa with a fork and cool.

Combine in a large mixing bowl the beans, corn, remaining vegetables, herbs, and cooled quinoa (cooled to me was just not steaming, but it was still pretty warm). Toss gently with the dressing. Can be prepared a day ahead for flavors to combine. Serve at room temperature (when we had it as leftovers the next day we warmed it up a little bit).

Steve loved it. For real. :)

New Trick

2011-02-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

My girls figured out a new trick this last week. Remember doing this when you were little? I do.

Naturally Berlin was the one to figure this out, and then she showed Tryn. Berlin loves to be upside down and will spend up to 5 minutes at a time like this.

They somehow make it into a game where they will decide to be upside down in the chairs and so they will both do it together and then race back and forth between the chairs, trading off. They love it.

This is what happens when you live in Minnesota and are forced to be inside for a good third of the year.

Unbaked Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-01-30T10:30:00.000-08:00

I have a favorite cookie right now, although it's not really that much like a cookie - more like puppy chow. It's so yum though. And easy. And since I haven't posted a recipe in awhile, and since I think you should try these, and since I have made these 5 or 6 times since the beginning of December...here ya' go!

You need (and this is all approximate, not necessary to have exact amounts of anything):

* About half a box or 9ish cups of Corn Flakes

* 1/2 cup to 1 cup of Coconut. Depends on how much you like Coconut. I like it a lot so when I made these yesterday I added a whole cup, but I think the original recipe says 1/2. Also, do yourself a favor and don't look at the nutritional facts on the Coconut. I figured it wasn't that bad because it's fruit...just do yourself a favor and don't look. You won't regret not knowing.

* Mix these two ingredients together in a big bowl.

* Dump approximately 1 bag or three cups of chocolate chips (3 cups is a little more than 1 bag, so I usually just do one bag) in a smaller bowl. Dark or semi-sweet are the best. Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup peanut butter, depends on how much you like peanut butter. I add a whole cup :)

* Melt this in the microwave.

* Pour the chocolate mixture over the cereal mixture. Mix together and take a taste. I mean, probably take at least 3 or 4 tastes, just to make sure it's good.

* Drop by large, and I mean large, spoonfuls onto wax paper. If I use smaller spoons I usually do two globs per cookie. Then stick in the fridge.

* Once they get firm enough, put them into a large Ziploc bag and stick them in the freezer. They are best stored in the freezer, otherwise the chocolate/pb mixture never really gets hard enough.

* I affectionately call these Freezer Cookies, which sounds very unromantic and not very delicious, but I promise you that you will not regret making these cookies. Unless you eat the whole batch in one day...then you might regret it.

Darn School

2011-01-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

Tryn talks about going to school ALL the time. Not kidding. It's rare for a day to go by where she doesn't mention starting school in some fashion or form. I don't know where she got the idea into her head that school was going to be some fabulous thing, but she is convinced that it's going to be awesome.

I, on the other hand, am not wishing for September to come anytime soon. I am partially not excited about it because once Tryn starts going to school this fall to the time this baby, who is kicking my stomach as I write this, finishes school it's going to be a good 20 years of "school life" in our household. That makes me feel tired. I like the simplicity of life right now. The girls play together all day. There is no homework. No after school sports, practice, plays, and the like to fit into our schedule. There is no school yard drama to deal with, or the latest fashions to keep up with.

The other part of me that is not excited is the part that doesn't want Tryn to be old enough to go to school. I am going to be a wreck on her first day of kindergarten. She is too small to go to school! She just is. She will always be too small to go to school, even when she's 15. The end.

However...there is always a however. Yesterday we were driving in the car and Tryn, who had been staring out the window, asked me, "Mom, where is the corner of the world?"

I told her that the world was round that there weren't really any corners. It was like a big ball, which doesn't have corners.

Then she asked, "Mom, how is the world strong enough?"

"Strong enough for what babe?"

"Strong enough to hold all of us. All of us people. There are a lot of people."

It's those moments when I can't wait for school. I mean, I know how to answer that question if I am answering it for an adult, but I have no idea how to explain the idea of the world and gravity, etc., etc., to a 4 year old! I don't even remember thinking about stuff like that until I was 8 or 9 years old!

She also puts letter magnets together on the fridge all the time and asks me what word she spelled. Most of the times it's letters like X, K, Z, M, and P all in a row and they don't spell anything. But this morning I told her to spell the word "bed" and she did! I helped her sound it out, but she figured it out all by herself. I am super excited for her to learn how to read and understand the concept of letters and words because I think she is going to love to read. And she will love to to just "get it" and understand. She is getting really close, but I don't know how to help her any farther than I have. I am just not a teacher.

Today I lovehate school.

Pregnancy

2011-01-26T14:21:00.000-08:00

I don't think it's a secret that I am not one of those women who love to be pregnant. I don't exude pregnancy happiness and think I am the cutest thing in the world while carrying around an extra 30 lbs of weight - regardless of where the majority of that weight resides. It doesn't matter that I have a 30 lb stomach that is holding a baby. I still have a 30 lb stomach.

I don't hate being pregnant either. It's just...kinda painful (not including the actual labor part). Hard to sleep. Hard to recover from. It changes physical features forever. Pregnancy also vacillates between being super cool and amazing and incredible and just plain weird. I mean, what the heck? A child is actually hanging out in my body right now? Don't get me wrong, it's an incredible miracle. The whole process of life creation is...too amazing for words. But when the babies get bigger and start actually shaking bellies with their movement it's almost like those movies where there is an alien or huge bugs under the characters skin that are trying to break through. And it's weird to look at my 4 1/2 year old and think that she used to live in my body.

There are two really, really super duper bestest things that result from pregnancy though. This is one:

This is the other:

*Sigh* I can't wait to see what the next one looks like.

We find out the gender on Tuesday and I can barely wait. It's super funny because some peoples reaction when we tell them we are finding out are along the lines of, "Really? You are going to ruin the surprise? Don't you want to be surprised?" Or, if they are pregnant, they say, "We are waiting to be surprised." Well, let me tell you, on Tuesday I am pretty sure I will feel as equally as surprised to find out if it's a boy or girl as if I waited until June. :)

I don't have any guesses right now. The only certain thing I know is that this pregnancy feels different from my other two, whereas they felt kind of the same. Which makes me super curious to know if it is another girl, because at this point it would make sense if it was a boy.

Anyone want to take a guess before we find out? :)

Since this is my last pregnancy I am trying really hard to enjoy it and focus more on the positive things. One of which is the fact that I actually feel pretty good right now! I think that since I ran so much before I got pregnant and was in pretty good shape that my body is carrying this baby more like it carried Tryn, in some ways better. When I was pregnant with Tryn I had heart racing and skipping beats issues, maybe from not being super fit? I don't know, the Dr.'s couldn't figure it out. When I was pregnant with Berlin my stomach muscles hurt so bad at this point already, it was hard to take my shoes off (I did not work out at all between T and B). Besides the fact that it is getting harder to bend over and I can't sleep on my stomach, I am pretty comfortable right now. Awesomeness.

Seriously, any guesses? :)

The Other Half

2011-01-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

I used to run. Well, I ran a lot for a year. And then I stopped, quite abruptly. Instead, I started growing a child. :) I didn't actually stop running immediately. In fact, the day I found out I was pregnant I ran 9 miles. During the 9 miles I tried to figure out a really creative way to tell Steve that our third child was on the way. Nine whole miles and I didn't come up with a thing. I guess I am not super creative. I came home and said, "Well, that was the first 9 miles I ran as pregnant person." Shocked him a little I think. :)

Two weeks after I found out I was pregnant I ran 13.1 miles. I wrote about the first half marathon that I ran in August, but I didn't write about this one because we weren't ready to tell everyone we were pregnant...partially because of the race. So, a little update about the Monster Dash Half Marathon that I ran on October 30th.

Running 13.1 miles 6 weeks pregnant was...hard. Nothing but hard. I honestly would not have made it, at least not have run the entire race without walking, if not for these two:

Even though Steve could have finished the race must faster than my sister Kristy and me, as evidenced by the fact that he passed us up and ran ahead of us for several miles, he decided to fall back and stick with me through the end of the race. I really don't think I could have done it without them. Kristy kept me going through the middle of the race, and Steve dragged me through the end.

If you read the story about my first run you might remember that I said that the end of the race wasn't very euphoric for me. Neither was this one, but it was a lot more emotional. It was so hard that I really couldn't believe I made it. Anyone who has been pregnant before can probably remember how tired they were during the first trimester. It sort of felt like I hadn't slept for a couple of days and then went and tried to run 13.1 miles. I actually cried at the end I was so happy that I made it.

And here we are, 11 weeks later, almost halfway through, two weeks from finding out if this baby is a boy or a girl, and I have only run one time since October 30th. I was too tired and felt too sick for a good 6 weeks or so, and so now I just haven't.

Trynica and Berlin really want it to be a girl. As I mentioned on Facebook, Tryn said, "I don't want a boy who shows his boogers and does yucky boy stuff. If it's a boy, me and Berlin will have to teach him how to do princess things." And she totally will. Poor kid wouldn't stand a chance. Steve and I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, we would be totally happy with either. We have reasons for wanting both and I don't think any reason outweighs another. We are just excited to welcome our last baby into this world. I am also a little excited to get back to running after the baby comes, I kind of miss it. When New Year's rolled around this year I laughed to myself because I was thinking about how I could make a goal to gain weight instead of lose it, seeing as how I will only be gaining for the next 5 months or so. I wonder how many people have ever done that for New Year's :)

Can't wait for June to come!!

On Being a Parent

2011-01-11T12:28:00.000-08:00

Last night I got home from work after picking up the girls. After running an errand and being in traffic, we arrived home definitely into the "dinner time". Berlin gets super crabby when she doesn't eat, like someone else in our house who is not me or Tryn. And Tryn was super tired, hence also crabby.

The girls kept asking for snacks, but since dinner time is already a huge struggle these days I kept saying no. I decided that before I started cooking I wanted to change into the household staples, sweatpants and my electric blue hoodie that is at least 20 years old and the softest item of clothing in the world.

It took me all of 90 seconds to change.

When I came out of my room it was strangely quiet in the house. I wondered what in the world the girls could be occupying themselves with in their room that was keeping them so quiet and not causing any fights. On the way to the stove I stopped by the kitchen table to pick up some forgotten dishes from breakfast, not worried about the girls but just glad they weren't fighting.

Only, when I turned to the kitchen I found my children. They were on their knees in front of the stove with their heads down low to the ground. They were hiding. It took me a second to realize that the reason that they were hiding was because they each had a handful of chocolates that they had stolen from the counter and were unwrapping with fury.

Berlin had fully unwrapped a chocolate and eaten almost the entire thing, which probably means it was her idea. Tryn was still in unwrap process, so she never actually ate any. And you know what? Here's the kicker: I felt guilty! I figured that if she was going to go through all the trouble to be naughty that it was a bummer that she didn't even get to enjoy the spoils - especially because Berlin did. What kind of parent feels bad that their kid didn't get to be naughty?! I need to have my brain checked.

Anyway, I told them that was very naughty and they weren't allowed to do that. "You always need to ask Mommy if you want a piece of candy or chocolate," and then I turned around a laughed. I tried to laugh silently, but I was laughing so hard little squeaks kept escaping. I hope they didn't think I was crying. Except I was laughing so hard I almost cried.

Ah, parenthood. I love it.

Thinking About Having Kids?

2011-01-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

Maybe you have already seen this floating around Facebook. Someone named Amy Lawrence posted it, not sure if she wrote it or not. It's so darn funny. If you haven't already, please enjoy the "11 Step Program for those thinking about having kids".

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.
Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

This is all very tongue in cheek; anyone who is parent will say 'it's all worth it!' Share it with your friends, both those who do and don't have kids. I guarantee they'll get a chuckle out of it. Remember, a sense of humor is one of the most important things you'll need when you become a parent!

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

2011-01-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

Berlin loves Christmas music, especially Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Have a Holly Jolly Christmas. Her version of Holly Jolly is the funniest though. She sings the words wrong, but gets them wrong EVERY time. And she sings this on repeat forever. She has sung this in the car without stopping for more than a half hour...several times. It makes me laugh. It might be one of the cutest things ever.

Traditions

2011-01-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

I am a sucker for traditions. I don't know why, but I love the comforting familiarity of traditions. Now that Steve and I have been married for 7 1/2 years and have celebrated 8 holidays together, we have collected a good handful of our own traditions.

One of the traditions that we originally developed out of necessity is the way we celebrate Thanksgiving, I wrote a blog post about our Thanksgiving Day last year. It developed because one of the first years Steve and I were married I had to work the day before and the day after Thanksgiving. Instead of driving 4+ hours on Thanksgiving Day we decided to stay home. That year we cooked ham because we were scared of making turkey and we went ice skating and had a really, really great time. In fact, we had so much fun that we started staying home for Thanksgiving every year. Most of these Thanksgivings we have spent just as our little family. However, the past few years it has developed into a slightly larger gathering with lots of friends celebrating with us. Since two other significant holidays, Christmas and Easter, Steve spends lots of extra hours at work, including working every Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving has become "our" holiday. We don't have to work extra hours, we don't have to be anywhere, we don't have any obligations...so we stay home, cook a huge meal (for just us or for friends too), and then we go shopping and get a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday.

Besides the other countless traditions like making certain Christmas cookies, celebrating St. Nick's Day, listening to certain Christmas music, watching Christmas specials on TV, going to a Christmas Eve service, etc., one of my other most favorite traditions is Christmas morning brunch. Since Steve always has to work all day on Christmas Eve, usually until midnight or later, we are always still at home on Christmas Day morning. And since we have lots of good friends who are musicians who also work all day on Christmas Eve, or friends who just have to work on Christmas Eve, or friends who are just around, we started having friends over for breakfast on Christmas morning. It's so fun.

We also are usually rushing around trying to make sure we have everything to bring up to my mom and dad's. Tryn gathered all her toys and put them in her new backpack and then made a sort of baby sling for her baby Cuddly and stood around like this for about half and hour waiting for me and Steve to get our act together. She's such a great kid.

I love The Holidays.

Our Little Christmas Family

2010-12-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't blogged in awhile, Christmas is a busy time. I stayed up way too late way too many nights wrapping presents, making cookies, and "preparing" for Christmas. Funny how those 48 hours of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day always pass by so fast after all the prep that goes into them.

Anyway, one thing that I have been meaning to post...our little Christmas family.

Someone gave us a bunch of cookies and this little family made of large stick pretzels, white chocolate, tiny chocolate chips for our eyes and buttons on our clothes, frosting (I think) for our noses, strips of fruit rollups for our scarves, and two different jelly candies combined to make up our hats. Are these cute or what?

Honestly, I don't know how anyone has the patience to make things like this...I definitely don't. But, they were definitely fun, appreciated, and the kids LOVED eating them.

We ate our family this Christmas ;)

Talking in Traffic

2010-12-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

Last night and this morning the girls and I sat in the car for an hour (each time), stuck in traffic. It was super special. The girls are actually really great, vacillating between being super chatty and really quiet, they can't really fight much in the car and they don't scream in terror or anything.

I had some interesting conversations with Tryn that I have to write down before I forget. Last night we were listening to the Christmas music station and the song "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" came on. After listening to it for a few minutes Tryn says to me, "Mom, is there a good and a naughty list?"

As someone who is not discouraging the belief in Santa, but also not wanting to jump into the full on beliefs of everything that Santa is or isn't, I said, "Well, I think so babe, but I don't know exactly how Santa does everything."

She pressed further, "So, everyone is going to be on a good or naughty list?"

At this point, so that I didn't get myself into further explanations that I didn't want to follow through with, I just asked her why she was asking.

"Well, I think I am going to be on the naughty list."

WHAT? "What? Why babe? Why do you think you will be on the naughty list?"

"I don't know," she was very sad, "I just think I am going to be on the naughty list." This coming from my good, good girl who is so sweet and helpful and loving.

We had to have an extensive conversation about all the nice things she does and how she is helpful to Mommy, Daddy, and Berlin and that she is not naughty very often. Geez. What kid thinks they are actually going to be on the naughty list? Even the naughty ones don't think they are going to be.

This morning Tryn told me, "Mom, I love you. I will love you always."

"Thanks sweetie, I love you too."

"Mom, where will you be when I am a grownup?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll be around."

"But...I won't live with you? Will I live all by myself?" She was starting to get teary at this point. So was I. Especially since she decided to ask this question while the song "Christmas Shoes" was playing in the background.

I wanted to say, "Babe, there will come a day when you won't want to live with me at all, where you can't wait to move out." But I didn't. Instead I said, "You probably won't live by yourself, but maybe with some of your best girl friends. Or maybe you will get married and live with your husband."

Silence. Then, "Mom, are there alligators in Edina?"

Sugar Cookies

2010-12-12T12:57:00.001-08:00

Two blog posts in one day, I am on a roll!

I just made cookies with the girls this morning, sugar cookies. I don't really like sugar cookies. I used to think that I really liked cookies as a food group, but I am finding out that I am not really into cookies unless they have some kind of chocolate involved. Those are the only kind worth eating.

However, sugar cookies are an important and basically necessary part of childhood Christmas. They are the most fun cookies for kids to make, from the mixing, to the cutting out shapes, to the decorating. These are kids cookies. So I make them every year. And most years I end up throwing most of them away because nobody wants to eat them - except the kids, and at least my kids don't eat that many cookies.

Anyway, after cheating last year and just buying the Pillsbury rollout dough - which was not impressive or tasty at all - I tried a new recipe this year. Even though it does not have chocolate in it, and I still don't love sugar cookies, it is pretty good. The best I have found so far.

So, cause I am such a nice person, I will share :)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

I halved the recipe, incase it wasn't good, and it made about 30 cookies.

I also tried some new icing because, let's be honest, adding milk to powdered sugar is almost like topping cookies with something that tastes like sweet dirt. This is much better. It's pretty tasty, Berlin couldn't stop eating it. Which might be why she is not napping right now.

Butter Icing
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

Directions:
Combine confectioners' sugar butter, vanilla and milk, beating until creamy. Thin with a few more drops of milk (if necessary) to reach desired spreading consistency. Stir in optional food coloring. Spread frosting over cooled cookies and decorate with colored sugar, if desired.

The best part of making cookies was my disobedient child. The girls kept taking little bites of the dough and I kept telling them not to, with the raw eggs and all. So while I was transitioning some cookies to the oven I saw Berlin take a little piece of dough from the counter. She looked at it, looked at me, brought it up to her mouth, and took it back down. Then, so I "couldn't see her" eat the dough, she crouched down on her chair where she had been standing at the counter, put her face down by her knees, and slipped the little piece of dough into her mouth. I pretended I didn't see. It was too darn cute, and I was expending my energy trying not to laugh noticeably so that she wouldn't know that I saw. Oh, kids :)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

2010-12-12T08:02:00.000-08:00

Snow. 16.5 inches a lot of snow, especially when it comes in a 24 hour period of time. And especially when it comes before Christmas. I can't remember the last time we had so much snow before Christmas - it's been years.

I tried taking some pictures of the fam out in the snow yesterday morning, but it was like the equivalent of bringing my camera out into the rain. The snow was falling so heavy and thick and my camera was so warm from being inside that when the snow landed on my camera it just melted. So I couldn't leave the shelter of the front porch. Which wasn't really a shelter yesterday. I had to stand against the wall of the house to not get any snow on my camera because of how much the snow was blowing around.

The snow was almost up to adult knees. Steve and I helped the mailman get unstuck, he had stopped right at the corner by our house to deliver mail. After pushing him for several minutes and having him get stuck two feet later, we were finally able to help him get going when a 4 wheel drive Jeep stopped and offered to let Steve push the mailvan with the Jeep. When I tried to step back up onto the curb my foot went into a snow bank that was over knee high. I was still in sweatpants - dumb.

Steve shoveled a lot of snow yesterday. I watched Steve shovel a lot of snow yesterday.

Here are the girls sitting on a snow drift. That spot in the snow right next to them is the top of the fire hydrant. Which Steve eventually cleared for the safety of the neighborhood - cause he's such a nice guy like that.

Berlin really, really, really likes to eat snow. Like her poor little cheeks were so red and cold when we finally came inside because all she did was eat snow while we were outside.

Supposedly this puts us on the 8th largest snow storm ever recorded to hit the Twin Cities area. The best part? The evening service at church was canceled and so Steve got to be home all day with us. It was so fun :)

Statuses

2010-12-09T08:50:00.000-08:00

I more often find myself frustrated with Facebook rather than pleased, but for once they did something right. A couple of months ago I had started looking over my statuses for this year looking for some specific information that I knew I had written as a status. However, I couldn't remember when I wrote it - which was what I was trying to figure out for something I was working on. While I was looking for this information I kept laughing at all these status updates that I kept finding about funny things my kids had said. Then I got super bummed because I was thinking that I was going to have to go back, find them all, and copy and paste them into a word document if I wanted to keep track of those funny things. Which I did, cause that's the kind of person I am. But FB came up with this "Year in Statuses" thing instead. Which I love, cause it was so much easier. So here are most of the funny things my kids said this last year :) (You have to click on it to make it bigger if you are actually interested in reading it. Which, you should. Cause I have funny kids.)

Heartbreaking

2010-12-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

Tryn and I had an a heartbreaking conversation the other day. Well, rough for her at least. We were driving home after I picked the girls up from childcare and Tryn was telling me how part of her green mankie had fallen off that day. If anyone remembers my post from back in March you might remember how I wrote about one of Tryn's blankets falling apart. These poor blankets are becoming so thin and worn.

Anyway, I said to Tryn, "Those mankies are getting kind of old. Pretty soon we will have to put them away."

I didn't realize that she was in such a sensitive mood at the time, because she started sobbing like her heart was breaking, "Mom, wh-wh-WHY?! Why are they getting too old? I want to sleep with my mankies!"

I tried a little bit of logic, "Well, Babe, when people get bigger they don't sleep with mankies or animals anymore. Mommy doesn't sleep with any mankies, just pillows and my bed blankets to keep me warm."

"Not with animals?!!" Like it was the only part she heard. "Is Sophie going to get too old too?" Mind you, all this is said while she is still sobbing. "I need Sophie. And Sophie needs me. She needs to sleep with me!"

I tried explaining a little more, "Sweetie, don't cry. We won't throw them away ever, okay? Someday we will just start leaving them just on your bed and then maybe someday we will put them in a special box that you can keep for as long as you want."

"Nooooo! No! I need my mankies and my Sophie!"

"Okay, Babe, it won't be for awhile, okay? Maybe when you are like 6 or 7, okay?"

Just crying.

Ugh.

This is one of the times when I realized I messed up as a parent. I did either one of two things wrong here. I either let her get way too attached to some pieces of material and a stuffed dog (I mean, these things literally go everywhere with her. I can't even tell you the number of times Sophie has been to Target. The other day green mankie went to Target tied around Tryn's shoulders like a cape.) OR I brought this up way too soon and should have waiting until she was 6 or 7 to approach the subject. I don't actually know which one is the right, or was the wrong, decision here. Probably should have started phasing them out when she was younger.

Either way, this part of Tryn's future is going to be heartbreaking.

This is a picture of Tryn laying on her green mankie in Poland when she was 5 weeks old. Like I said, these manks have been everywhere.

Sugar and Spice and Creepy Crawlies

2010-11-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

Sugar and spice do not mix with creepy crawlies. At least, not in our household. There was one time over the summer when I was driving the car and the girls screamed like someone was chasing them through a graveyard in the middle of the night because there was a bug on Berlin's seat. Complete panic. All the way to Roseville.

Well, Friday morning Berlin was being a little stinker. She wasn't listening and just being all around ornery, so I placed her in her room and told her she had to play in there by herself for 5 minutes before she could come out, and I shut the door. Tryn and I needed a break from her. She, of course, reacted like she always does, she cried.

As I was busy trying to get ready to leave the house for the weekend, I didn't realize for about two minutes that she hadn't stopped crying yet. Behavior typical for Tryn, but not Berlin. At first I thought, "Man, she must have really needed that time by herself if it is taking her this long to get over it." But she still didn't stop. Just about the time I was thinking I better go check on her I heard her bedroom door fly open and little feet came running as fast as they could to my room.

"Mom! There is a bug in my room!" Big tears on her face.

"Well, sweetie, bugs can't hurt you." Me, thinking it's amazing that a fly is still alive this time of year.

"No, mom, there is a bug in my room. Come see!"

"Berli, I really don't need to see the bug. Why don't you show Tryn?"

Tryn and Berlin go running off to their room. Seconds later they are back, this time Tryn says, "Mom, come see the bug, it's really big!"

Okay, fine.

I go to their room. No bug. Anywhere. I asked Tryn where she saw it and she said on a blanket that was on the floor. I picked up the blanket. Nothing. I asked her what the bug looked like and she said, "It had 8 legs! And it was really long!" Oh no. I was starting to think big huge spider or something, one of my two completely irrational fears.

I look around some more. Nothing. I started cleaning toys off the floor and packing the girls suitcase. I told them that the bug had probably left because he thought their room was too messy.

Suddenly, blood curdling, hair raising scream from Berlin who was standing by the door. Right next to her foot in the middle of the floor was a 3 inch long centipede.

Tryn, standing right behind Berlin, screamed too and they both went running to my room screaming and crying to jump up onto the bed. The sobbing sounded like something out of a horror film. Pure terror.

I, of course, heroically killed the darn thing. But seriously, blech. *Still shuddering*

Sugar + spice + everything nice = not a good day for bugs to be in our house. Or in our lives for that matter.

Potty Training

2010-11-14T06:49:00.000-08:00

Although I have brought two kids from diapers to big kid underwear, I am no potty training expert. Thankfully my first child was so easy to potty train it literally took her a day to start going on the potty and she only had maybe two or three accidents after that. She had just turned two and her main problem was that she was scared to poop on the potty, afraid it was going to hurt. So the second part of potty training, the #2, took a little longer. However, even that was easy because she also wouldn't do it in her underwear. She would wait until we put a diaper on her a night and so it was a fairly easy problem and it only lasted until I bribed her with a new Disney movie. Easy peasy.

My second child, I am so very proud to announce, is potty trained. This has been a several month process in which we would try for several days, I would lose my patience, take a break for several days, and repeat the process all over again - we are finally there! At least at the point where I can bring her out in public in underwear without much fear that there will be a problem. I did have to clean up pee off the floor by myself the other day at Victoria's Secret, as the employee looked at me in disbelief and disgust and said, "I'll get you something," when I told her my daughter peed on the floor. That accident was more my fault than Berlin's though, as I had realized that it had been a long time since her last potty trip, but totally spaced taking her to the bathroom. We have had many more accidents with Berlin.

My new dilemma? Berlin is just under two year younger that Tryn and much, much, much closer to being potty trained through the night than Tryn. Several mothers have told me that night potty training can take a really long time, some kids just aren't ready for it until there are 4 or 5 years old. Tryn has never really seemed close to being able to make it through the night in underwear so we have never really tried. A few months ago I got Tryn pull-ups and explained that she could get up anytime during the night if she felt like she needed to go. I even got her up when we went to bed every night to see if that could get her to morning with a dry pull-up, but that was not very successful. The problem is that I now have a child, a two year old, who can start sleeping through the night in underwear at basically any time, and her older sister who can't and I am not sure what to do about that.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions? Should I just put Tryn in underwear at night and let her wet her bed several nights in a row - which is going to be very annoying and not fun for any of us? Should I wait longer? Not really sure what to do...Like I said, I am no potty training expert. :)

Fav

2010-11-13T20:11:00.001-08:00

Of all the thousands of pictures I have taken in the past year of my little girlies, I am pretty sure this one is my favorite.

Yup. Love it.

Toy Story

2010-11-03T11:00:00.001-07:00

One of my girls new favorite movies is Toy Story 3. It might be because it is one of the only movies they have seen in the theater, but, let's be honest, it's just a good movie. I might have ~~been trying to hold back a flood of tears as so not to terrify my kids~~ teared up at the movie theater myself.

Anyway, it came out on DVD yesterday so I went to Target and picked up a Christmas present for the girls :) However, on the way home I had to stop at a Redbox to return a DVD and from the backseat Tryn screamed, "MOM!!! TOY STORY 3!!!! AH! MOM! AH! AH! AH! They have Toy Story 3!!" So, of course I had to rent it for them. Especially since they had a copy, which is pretty rare when new popular movies make their Redbox debuts.

I turned the movie on for the girls last night after dinner and went about my household business. After awhile, from the next room, I hear sobbing. Immediately I think, "Oh great, Berlin is bugging Tryn. It's going to be seconds before I hear little footsteps heading this way. Time to break up a fight."

But nothing.

I figured they must have worked it out and moved on.

A minute later, more sobbing. But this time it didn't stop.

I decided I had better check on the girls, to make sure they weren't killing each other. However, they were both sitting there, with tears in their eyes, mesmerized by the fact that Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and other various friends are about meet their fiery end. Tryn had been sobbing.

Apparently, they didn't actually remember what happened in the movie when we saw it in the theater. I had to hold their hands until that part was over.

Ah, my sensitive girls. :)

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

My kids LOVED Halloween. I think they loved it as much as I don't love it. Well, maybe they like it a little more than I dislike it. We did have ourselves a great time though.

For weeks Berlin has been planning to be an angel and she got this costume that she loved. After I put her in it on Halloween she looked at it and said with disgust, "I don't want to wear this." Like it was a piece of trash (and she looked so darn cute!). Tryn, lo and behold, did not want to be a princess. Instead, she was Jessie, the lovely cowgirl from Toy Story. Only her costume didn't really look like Jessie at all, just a regular old cowgirl. But we won't tell her until she is older. She even had a toy gun and handcuffs, which I am sure Jessie doesn't have.

Then our lovely friend Becky invited us over to trick or treat in her much safer neighborhood. She also made us chili and apple crisp, perfect fall meal. The girls were amazed that all that had to do was knock on a door and they would get a piece of candy or three. It was so funny how excited they were. :)

These pictures were so cute I couldn't decide on just one so I thought I would show them all:

Grow-up Conversations

2010-10-31T13:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have the most interesting conversations with Trynica.

On the way to the store today Tryn said to me: Mom, I want to be the most beautiful girl at Target. I have on beautiful clothes and I am going to be so beautiful.

Me, totally taken by surprise: What? What are you talking about babe?

Tryn: My clothes make me beautiful, and I want to be the most beautiful one at Target. Don't you think my clothes are beautiful?

Me: Your outfit is very cute, Tryn. But everyone is beautiful, no matter what they are wearing.

Tryn: Mom, boys aren't beautiful.

Me: Well, boys are handsome. But it's not your clothes that make you beautiful. Your smile is beautiful, your eyes are beautiful, when you are really nice to other people that makes you really beautiful. It doesn't matter what you are wearing or if other people are wearing clothes that you think are more beautiful...

Tryn: I want to be beautiful.

Me: You are so beautiful sweetie.

Later in the store...

Tryn, very sadly: Mom, I just saw a girl and she looked so beautiful. She was more beautiful than me.

Me: Tryn, it really doesn't matter what she is wearing. She looks very pretty, but you are very pretty too. And you will always be one of the most beautiful girls in the world to me and to daddy.

I thought I would have a few more year at least before I had to start having conversations like this. I am totally unprepared.

This was after she asked me this morning where babies come from - not kidding.

From the mouth of the babe...

2010-10-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sidenote: Bff's Rollie and Cait are in town, YAY!!!

Yesterday we (Steve, Rollie, Cait, Tryn, Berlin, and I) were sitting at the table eating dinner. I don't remember exactly what the grown ups were talking about, but it probably sounded something like:

Cait: Taylor Swift's new album is gonna be awesome. I am so excited!!

Steve: What?! She can't sing. Tryn, take a bite.

Cait: Yes, she can! Have you heard her new single?

Rollie: This steak is so good.

Steve: I can't believe you are into Taylor Swift.

Cait: Whatever. She's awesome.

Rollie: Man, this steak is so good!

Steve: Babe, these potatoes are awesome.

Me: Thanks :) Tryn, please take a bite of your food.

And suddenly, in the smallest sweetest voice, in the middle of the most random conversation...

Berlin: We must always listen to God.

Things I Want to Remember

2010-10-15T19:38:00.001-07:00

Part of the reason I have this blog is because I want to write things down so that I don't forget. Things like...

* Yesterday afternoon I got home from work and I was really tired. I went and laid down on my bed, just to shut my eyes for a few minutes. Tryn came and crawled up in bed with me. I told her, "Mommy, just needs to lay here for 5 minutes okay?" and I took my glasses off and held them in my hand. Without saying a word Tryn took my glasses out of my hand, folded them neatly, and placed them on my nightstand. Then she walked out of the room, colored for a few minutes, and came back about 5 minutes later. She's such a sweet and good girl.

* Berlin has been very loving lately, like she likes to hug and kiss us all the time and tell us that she loves us - very sweet. She has also been expressing her love to Tryn. Like the other day when I was going to drop Tryn off at her friend Sophie's house to play Berlin said, "Tryn, I don't want you to go to Sophie's. I love you." Or a couple of weeks ago Tryn was talking to Steve about going to school and Berlin piped up and said, "Trynie, I don't want you to go to school. I love you!" My girls showing love to each other melts my heart like nothing else. Like when Tryn will sacrifice her swing (at the risk of other kids taking it) at the playground to give Berlin a push on the swing. Or when Tryn calls Berlin Sweetie or Honey and tells me that she will take care of Berli.

* Tryn was telling me a story the other day while we were in the waiting room at the chiropractor. She was telling me the story of Pocahontas (which I am not actually sure that she has ever even watched the movie) and said, "And then Pocahontas had to text her Prince..." Oh, the modern Princess. :)

Steve and I

2010-10-08T17:38:00.001-07:00

I don't normally mention Steve and I, as in our marriage, on my blog. Well, I don't think I ever have. But we, as in both of us not as in we as the group we are, had an epiphany today - the exact same one. Actually...two.

See, Steve and I made dinner together, something we do 3 or 4 days out of the week. Tonight we made tomato and basil bruschetta, steak marinaded in oregano, basil, and rosemary, and grilled rosemary potatoes. With a Malbec. It was divine. Yummy in every way.

The first thing we realized is that we love cooking together. In a lot of couples it's usually one or the other that cooks. Steve and I cook meals separately, but we more often cook together and neither of of us really has much fun cooking without the other. It's a chore when we cook separately, but it's fun when we do it together.

Second, we make a great team. I would have never made the meal that we made tonight if I would have had to make it all by myself. Neither would Steve. It's too much work to cut up all those herbs alone, try a new recipe (bruschetta), and make sure everything gets cooked perfectly. Everything was perfect. And because we cooked it together it didn't feel like that much work.

One of the things that I have always loved about Steve is that he is a better cook than me. I can hold my own in the kitchen, and I have come up with some pretty fun meals on my own. But Steve is better. I actually didn't know how to use herbs or spices until after several years of cooking with him. He can make a better burger than any that I have had in a restaurant and he is very skilled at the grill.

We have become foodies because of each other. Not in the sense that we have to try every kind of food and every new restaurant ever, but we really like to make good tasting food. A lot. And we make some pretty darn good food.

If I had to do it all myself, I just wouldn't. Or it would be bland boring stuff. But with Steve, who can sometimes pass my skill in the kitchen, it's perfect.

Today

2010-10-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

First, Steve and I ran 6 miles. The first time I ever tried running 6 miles I didn't make it. Granted it was really hot and humid, but I tried running two times around Lake Calhoun (which is 3.1 miles around) and I ended up walking the last mile or so. Today Steve and I ran two full times around the lake...while pushing a double jogger with 60 lbs of kid in it, and we made it.

I wish I was a mathematician, because then I could figure out how much more I "weigh" while I am pushing a stroller. It is so much harder to run with a stroller and if I was really good at math I could figure out how much the resistance adds to the weight I am already carrying. But I am not, so just trust me, it sucks.

But we made it, the whole 6 miles. The best part was when I was pushing the stroller and Steve was passing Berlin a juice box, because we fed the kids in the stroller while we were running around the lake, and a mom passed us with one kid in a stroller. She looked at us amazement and said, "Wow!" Yes, I agree with her. :)

Then we decided to go on a bike ride along the river near St. Paul. We didn't realize how hilly it was going to be. We tried this one riverside path that had warning signs that it was closed for water. When we got to a big puddle I tried riding through it and it got so deep that my shoes got soaked. We had to turn around and find a different route, that was 10 minutes into our ride.

We ended up biking for 12 miles, which took us 1 1/2 hours. I am glad I wasn't hauling the kids - Steve is amazing. I decided that if you ever really want to give yourself a pedicure go for a 12 mile bike ride in wet shoes. Just make sure to bring a pumice stone with you, what a waste that I didn't have one with me. It was such a beautiful evening, it was such a perfect time to go for a long bike ride. Makes me sad that it could snow next week.

It was an amazingly awesome day.

I might not be able to walk tomorrow. :)

Bainbridge

2010-10-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

While out in Seattle Steve and I said on Bainbridge Island two of the nights we were there. It was so cute and quaint. There is a full on town there bigger than Aitkin (where Steve spent a chunk of his childhood). I think Steve said there were 2,200 people living on Bainbridge and 1,200 living in Aitkin - so decent sized town. There was a super quaint downtown area with really fun shops and restaurants.

This was our view during lunch one day:

We had to take a ferry out there, a process which added a good 40-45 minutes of travel time because of the 30 minute actual ferry ride and the waiting to get on and off the ferry. Because I don't live on an island and have to wait around for ferries all the time, I thought it was super fun. Although, I could see how I wouldn't really love it if I actually lived on the island. You could tell who actually lived on Bainbridge. Those people would stay sitting in their cars and would read books or take naps. Steve and I got out every time, even when it was raining. Sometimes it was SO cold and windy. One time we walked around the back of the ferry and the wind literally almost knocked me over. I started laughing so hard. Like so windy I couldn't even keep my eyes open.

Seattle from the ferry:

The ferry from our beach at night:

The super cute place we stayed, Abode on the Sea:

The first morning we were there we had to rush out, but thought we saw a rocky beach. Later that afternoon, there was only about 2 feet of beach, none in spots. [Beach: a surface near the water made up of rocks, and only rocks.] Once we figured out the tide patterns we were able to go on a beach walk that night, using our iPhones as flashlights. The next morning there was actually a significant shoreline, as we had thought from the previous morning, so we went on another walk. There are so many things that get left behind when the tide goes out! Tons of shells:

A big dead jellyfish:

Pieces of a crab, when we were out at night we actually saw little crabs scuttling around:

When the tide was out this very thin strip of rocky land appeared, of course we walked out as far as we possibly could:

We found this interesting little guy. He was not alive and actually was missing his innards, but he was so bright orange and awesome looking:

And I found the biggest shell. Which I brought home:

Places in Seattle

2010-10-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

One of the ways that Steve and I like to explore while we are on trips is to not eat at any place we know. If we see a restaurant with a name we recognize we move on and find something else, something unique to where ever we are. We tried so many different places, these were my favs:

The first night we were in Seattle we had no idea what to do. We were so hungry I wanted to start gnawing on my own hand and so, with the handy dandy iPhone, we googled something like "fun places to eat in Seattle" and through a little bit of searching found The Pink Door. It's hard to find, tucked into an alley. The entrance we found I think ended up being the back door that went right past the kitchen, but it was so fun! Seriously, some of the best Italian food I have ever had in my entire life. We sat outside and we were just a few blocks up from the bay so the view was awesome. Right when we were leaving they were starting to play live music. Definitely a recommendation.

Our Bruschetta. So good.

We stayed at the Ramada Inn downtown for two nights and it was definitely nothing special. The only redeeming qualities are that it is within walking distance of Pikes Place and the Space Needle - basically right in between, but a little closer to the Needle - AND it is across the street from Top Pot Donuts. As I am not generally fond of donuts in any shape or form, so we accidentally discovered this place as we were exiting our hotel to go climb Mt. Rainier. It was convenient and they had coffee, which was top priority for me that morning. If all donuts were freshly baked on the spot and tasted like these donuts I would change my opinion about these globs of dough and frosting. They were SO good. So good. Really, what a donut was meant to taste like.

Down along Pikes Place we, of course, stopped at the world's first Starbucks and bought our only souvenir of the trip - new travel mugs that keep coffee extra hot. We also went to some place that makes cheese and had "the world's best mac and cheese" which was incredible. But my other most favorite place was Beth's Cafe. It is the perfect version of a hole in the wall, but it is also the perfect version of the great all American diner. We went there for breakfast on Sunday morning and had to wait for 40 minutes to get a seat. They give you these massive plates of food with an unlimited supply of hash browns and it's a perfect diner experience. They also have really fabulous chocolate cake, which we got to go since we were so full we could barely move. This diner was actually feature on Man Vs. Food once because they are especially famous for their omelets which they make with either 6 or 12 eggs. We didn't get one of those.

Of course, if you get a chance (meaning, if they have a reservation open, we got one of the last two for lunch and dinner was completely booked all weekend), eat a meal on top of the Space Needle. The view is spectacular and the food is really, really good. Really good.

I really liked Seattle. Except for the rain. :)

Play by Play

2010-09-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is what is happening in my house right now:

The girls disappear into their room for 5 minutes.

Tryn comes out and asks me: "Mom, can you help me put this on?" A Tinkerbell dress and some fairy wings.

Tryn disappears back into her room for another 5 minutes. The girls emerge, Tryn in her dress, wings, with princess slippers, and wearing a crown and necklace. Berlin runs into the living room ahead of her and moves some toys out of the way.

"Here is the ball," Berlin announces to Tryn and sweeps her arm towards the floor.

"Oh, what a lovely ball!" Tryn tells Berlin. "Can you dance with me?"

"No, I have to drive to the ball," and Berlin gets on her bike and pedals away.

Mumbling, Tryn acts out the scene where Cinderella walks into the ballroom. (Apparently, Tinkerbell can also fill in as Cinderella.) Berlin drives back up.

"Okay, we need to dance," Berlin tells Tryn.

"Okay, Prince," they hold hands and start swaying around the living room. Berlin is humming a song.

Suddenly, Tryn gets dramatic and starts running in circles around the living room.

"Oh, oh, oh, I am changing, I am changing!" and she falls to the ground.

Berlin approaches.

"I am sorry I took so long," Trynica tells Berlin, "I was having such a wonderful time."

Tryn turns to me, "Mom? Can you help me get this dress off?" This is the first time I have interacted in this scene.

After I help take the dress off the girls run to their room...

...and disappear for another 5 minutes. Can't wait to find out what happens when they come back out. :)

Hiking Mt. Rainier

2010-09-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

Steve and I went hiking on Mt. Rainier when we were out in Washington. It was the most beautiful hike I have ever been on in my entire life.

It was cold, it rained on us part of the time, and the entire time we were on the mountain the top of it was covered in clouds. The best view we had of the mountain the entire time we were in WA was while we were driving out to the hike. We passed a few spots in the road where we had a perfect view of the whole mountain, but we didn't take a picture because we thought we would just take some when we actually got there. Unfortunately, by the time we got up to Paradise lodge the whole top of the mountain was covered in clouds and it pretty much stayed that way for the remainder of our time in Seattle. There were two other times that we saw partial views of the mountain, once from the Space Needle and once when we were on the Bainbridge Ferry at 6:50am, but both of those times weren't super clear views.

Regardless, it was the most beautiful mountain hike - ever.

I am a total sucker for wildflowers. They are so romantic. I think one of the most beautiful things in the world are fields of wildflowers, and this mountain had wildflowers everywhere. It was perfect. And there were waterfalls everywhere, one of my other most favorite things. And it was SO green, even though there was snow on top of green grass in spots.

It was amazing.

Berli Love

2010-09-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

While Steve and I were gone in Seattle the girls spent the weekend with their Aunt Kristy and their Grandma up in Brainerd. I know the girls had a fabulous time, they told me so themselves. Berlin, however, apparently doesn't like to be away from me.

Grandma told me that Berlin kept wetting her pull-up, even though she was being very purposeful about asking Berlin if she needed to go potty. When she asked Berlin why she kept going potty in her pull-up Berlin said, "Because I want my mommy to come home."

Even though the kid have been home for a couple of days now, Berlin is still pretty emotional about the fact that we were gone. Last night she kept asking me, "Up! Up! Up!" I was trying to get dinner ready and then bake a pie, so I finally said to Berlin, "Berli, why do you keep wanting mommy to pick you up?" and she told me, "Because I like you." Well...okay then :)

This morning she came and snuggled in bed with me and put her face right next to mine and put her little arm around my neck. Then when I was kissing her goodbye she wrapped her arms around my neck as tight as she could and told me, "I don't want you to go to work," in a sad little voice.

Break my heart.

I feel very loved this week.

A Sight from Seattle

2010-09-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

Steve and I just got back from a quick weekend trip to Seattle. I think Seattle and the upper-Northwest-corner-of-Washington area is one of the most beautiful places I have been to in the United States. I have so many pictures...

However, as I am trying to weed through the 685 pictures we took over our four day weekend, I came across these and I just can't wait to show you. Steve and I like to explore, and we found something that I still can't believe that I saw. This:

Yes, if you are thinking that this looks like a wall of gum, you are completely right.

In a little alley way right next to the entrance to Pike's Place Market there is this wall of gum. Actually, two walls. It's all over the walls on both sides of the alley/little street. Since I don't really chew gum all that much and definitely didn't have any with me, I pretended that I was sticking a piece of gum on the wall.

Then I freaked out because I almost touched it. EW!!

I guess it started back in the 1990's, people would stick their gum to the wall while waiting in line for ticket sales or to get into a nearby theater. And it just grew and grew. So random. People have even written their names, in gum, on the wall. I though it was kind of stinky - and not in a fresh minty sort of way.

Modern Family

2010-09-13T11:31:00.001-07:00

One of the Reasons

2010-09-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

Like I've said, there are many reason I have not blogged much this summer, but there is one bigger reason that I haven't mentioned yet. I became a runner. What's funny is that a lot of what I think about when I run is writing, but since running - specifically training myself for a half marathon - takes so much time I really didn't have time to write. But I did write about running.

Here's the story.

____________________________________________________________________

The swish, swish, swishing scuff of my feet hitting the pavement is still a foreign sound to me. The strength of mind that it takes to drive my body forward, farther than it wants to go, is something that I have never known before. I am 29 years old and ran the first mile of my life this past year. It seems silly, even to me, but it’s true.

Growing up homeschooled on a hobby farm had its benefits for sure. I learned a lot about responsibility, had a lot of free time to read and explore art, and had a lot of one on one time with my teacher, my mom, as the only person in my grade. One of the downfalls, however, is that I was never in any organized sports. I was never interested and, since there wasn’t anyone to follow into doing the popular things, I never cared. I was never on the dance team, never played basketball, and my extent of volleyball was playing with a co-ed youth group of equally inexperienced peers. The only reason we played volleyball was to have something to do on Wednesday nights in the dead of winter in Minnesota – not because we were any good or actually liked the game. I, for one, have terrible hand-eye coordination and could barely hit the ball. The most competitive I ever got was during the foot races my brothers and I would have down to the end of the driveway.

It never even crossed my mind to go on a run until I was in college and I lived relatively near the best friend of the boy that I had a crush on. I figured that if I went running by the best friend’s road once in awhile that there was a chance that the boy would be at the house someday and I would casually see him while out on my run.

That didn’t last long. My attempts at running were as follows: Run about a quarter mile downhill toward the best friends’ house, start wheezing, be concerned of chest pains and tightness in my throat, and turn around and walk uphill back home. I did have the sense of mind to try and give it some time. I tried for 5 weeks, but running never got easier. I never did see the boy.

After wheezing from walking across campus a couple of times, I went to a doctor who told me I had “Exercised Induced Asthma” and he prescribed me an inhaler. I didn’t even believe it was a real diagnosis; I was convinced the doctor was making something up to make me feel better about myself. Although, it did make sense that I would have something like that. Me, the girl who can’t throw or hit a ball and broke her foot while trying to learn a simple dance with friends, apparently has no athletic bone in her body. Not one. She can’t even run. I started joking around that, “I can’t even run a mile to save my life. In fact, running a mile might end my life!” A joke that I believed was 100% true. I simply could not run.

The problem was, I started to want to run. I have always been a healthy eater, conscious of what I ingested and how it affects my body. However, I always felt that I was missing that physical component of health. Sure, I knew how eating an apple was beneficial to me, but I also knew how physical exercise would benefit me as well and I wanted more.

Then, one summer, after marrying that boy that I hoped to see on my previous exercising escapades and after having two children, that boy turned man started running. I definitely didn’t want to be left behind, so one day I decided to go with him. It was rough, every step was self inflicted physical torture, but I survived. I did more than survive. I ran an entire mile – the first ever in my life.

Since I didn’t die that day, nor did I start wheezing or feel like my throat was going to close in on me, I figured I had somehow outgrown my asthma and so I joined a gym. Learning how to run was one of the hardest things I have ever done for myself. For the first three months I hated every single step, and all I could think about was each terrible step. Getting to the point where I could run for 30 minutes without stopping took months. The biggest motivator that kept me going during that time was that the Winter Olympics were on all the TV’s at the gym every time I went for a run. I would watch those sleek conditioned athletes conquer the world and think, “If they can do that, I can run for another 5 minutes,” and so I would.

Then one day I went for a run with my best friend and she, very enthusiastically, mentioned that we should run a half marathon together in the summer. I outright just laughed at her. Me? Run a half marathon? Absolutely not.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

A couple of weeks later my church started talking about a half marathon in August, a race where the runners would raise money to help provide clean drinking water for people in Africa. I knew that if there ever was a half marathon that I would run, this would be the one. However, deciding to actually do it was a pretty significant risk for me. At that point I could still hardly run for 30 steady minutes, and I was painfully slow. I was worried that if I signed up for this race that all the training could make me hate running for the rest of my life if it didn’t go well. This was also around the time that I had just had my first ever I-don’t-hate-every-second-of-this-and-it-was-almost-fun run. Not only could I end up hating running permanently, I could just downright fail. I could try and train for weeks, get to race day, and not be able to do it. How did I know? I had never taken part in any kind of sports event before.

It took me until the last day of race registration to decide, but I signed myself up. Immediately following I had several terrible runs and I almost gave up before I really started. I started to think that it would be best if I quit right away, that way it would be a little less disappointing, but I hate to fail. So I pushed myself harder than I had ever pushed myself before. I followed the training plan, lost toenails, and put around 200 miles on my first pair of real running shoes.

August 22 was race day, three days after my 29th birthday. I didn’t sleep for the two days leading up to the race. I could think of nothing else. What if I failed? I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter, I had raise over $1,000 to help kids in Africa and I was more in shape than I had ever been in my whole life, but it did matter. This wasn’t about kids in Africa or getting in shape anymore, this was about me. It was about doing something that I never though possible, it was about proving myself to nobody but me. At this point, I was the only one who would lose or benefit anything from my performance during this race.

Except for walking through the water stops, which my training suggested I do, my main goal was to run 13.1 miles without walking. I didn’t think there was any sense in walking a race that I had signed up to run. My other goal was that I would not be the last runner to cross the finish line.

I accomplished both my goals.

Actually, I finished the race 15 minutes faster than I had planned that I would, and was far from being the last person to cross the finish line. I am proud of that. I am proud of myself.

Crossing the finish line was not as euphoric as I had imagined it would be during training. Honestly, when I finally saw the finish line all I could think was, “As soon as I cross that line I can just stop. I can just stop running,” which propelled me to actually sprint as fast as my body could go, which, let’s be honest, wasn’t that fast at that point, across the finish line. But thinking about it now makes me a little emotional. I ran 13.1 miles. Me, the girl who couldn’t run a mile to save my life and might die trying.

The year before, for my 28th birthday, I would have never thought that I would have been running a half marathon just a year later. I would have laughed at myself for even considering such an idea. Right now I think that I will never run a full marathon or be able to really dance like I want to, but who knows what I will be saying a year from now…right now it feels like anything is possible.