Projectland

I love to do projects. Mainly I just love to be creative and make things and so when I say I like to do projects it's kind of like saying I like arts and craft time. But a little bit more then that. I posted this picture on Instagram of a project that Steve and I decided to do when he had some time off a few weeks back.

Piano stairs. Heck yes. 

A year ago when we moved into this house I undertook the project of "fireplace art". I thought why buy something for above the fireplace when I could make something? It took me awhile to make it. To be fair, Steve told me it was going to take me awhile to make it and I said, "Pssh. No way!" It DID take me awhile to make it though, haha!! The four pieces of art represent us and our story, but you'd have to see them in person to really get it and see the detail. Anyway, I am happy with the way it turned out.

 And most recently was this project. Let me tell you, Pinterest is full of awesome ideas but they are not all what they seem. This seemingly super easy Pinterest project idea took me days to finish when I thought it would take a few hours. I am happy with result and the super large piece of art for our upstairs hallway that only cost about $20 to make...but I was almost in tears a few times during the making of said project due to the amount of hours put in vs. some really annoying results and redos that took place. I won't tell you the whole story, but I did actually write a comment on the blog where I found this idea to warn others about what they were getting into. :)

Anyway, I like projectland, even when it doesn't go exactly the way that I think it will. My next project is probably going to involve a really old window that I found at a garage sale that I have sitting out in the garage. Just waiting for the right inspiration about what exactly to do with the window...I'm open to suggestions. Even Pinterest ideas. :) 

Man Child

Alright. I haven't written an update on Kye's progress as a human being in a long time. He has changed so much and has developed so much more of his personality in the past few months!

First of all, I am pretty sure he gets away with sooooo much more than the girls ever did. I guess that's what comes from being the baby of the family. Even tonight I was noticing that he doesn't listen as well as they did at that age, but I think that's because we don't enforce it as much. I told him to "come here" and he ran away and hid in the corner and would not come out. I remember the girls doing the same thing when they were younger, but I never let them get away with it. Tonight I decided I better not let him get away with it anymore either.

Kye is getting more and more verbal, but I've noticed that if I ask him to say a new word in a normal voice he won't always try. However, sometimes I can get him to say new things in a whisper. He will say "up" all the time if I whisper it to him, but he has only said it out loud one time ever. A few nights ago we were all sitting at the table, Steve and the girls were working on a puzzle and Kye was sitting on my lap. He was quietly playing with some plastic toy playdough scissors and so I whispered in his ear, "Can you say scissors?" And he whispered back, "Scissis." I was totally surprised. All in whispers he said mama, dada, Piper, scissors, ball, baby, oh boy! (which sounds like oh biya!) outside, all done, up, thank you (which also totally surprised me because Tryn, our earliest verbal child, couldn't say thank you until she was almost two years old) and he tries really hard to say Berlin. He still won't try saying Tryn yet. Oh, and the way that he communicates that he wants Mr. Monkey, his bff, is making a little sound that is similar to the sound that Piper makes when she is whimpering. So when he is looking for his monkey he walks around making little whimpering sounds with his soft chubby hands turned palms up with a quizzical look on his face and it just melts my heart every time.

Oh, haha!! Also, Kye loooooves his dad. As soon as Steve gets home from work Kye wants to be where ever his dad is or do whatever he is doing. If Steve is in a different part of the house, say going upstairs to change clothes, Kye will either have a fit because he didn't get to tag along OR he will stand at the bottom of the stairs and yell, "DADA! DA! Dada!" until Steve answers him. The yelling parts, not the fits, are hilarious.

One of my most favorite things right now is the fact that he has realized that he can communicate that he wants to be picked up, even though he won't say "up" out loud. What he does instead is he comes up to me and lifts up his arms and then with all of his little might and energy he lifts his body as much as he can. He gets all the way up onto his toes, as if stretching and reaching for me with all his might is going to lift him right off the ground into my arms. It's too darn cute.

He also loves to be outside (what boy doesn't?!), loves to play upstairs in his big sister's room, loves music, has started dancing or clapping when he hears his favorite songs, loves to be at home (as in gets stressed when we spend the night elsewhere and is never more happy than when we come home after being away for a few days), loves trucks and getting into anything (especially markers) that his sister's leave laying around, and he loves food. Well, he loves food that he likes. He still won't eat many veggies, but gosh this little boy can sure eat a lot when he likes what he is eating!

He is changing all the time, but one thing still remains the same. He is still The Most Loved Boy in the World.

The Last Month

Yikes. Blog neglect at it's finest.

My very, very, very good reason is that I have been spending a LOT of time working. Yes, actually working. For a long time I was saying that I was trying to start a business, now I think I can officially say that I have started a business.

Heidi Haines Photography.

You can check out the site that has been getting a lot more of my attention that this blog: Heidi Haines Photography. It has been a lot of work to pull together and I didn't even do it all myself. Thankfully I had some wonderful help from someone who doesn't feel like HTML code is a second language. Anyway, I have also been pretty busy with photo sessions and editing. I love it because I get to be creative and get out of the house a little bit!

If you're interested in a session, contact me!

Also, Steve managed to have almost two weeks off from work and so we were also staycationing, relaxing, and getting other projects done too. One of my favorite things that we did was this:

Piano stairs!! I am also really excited about two different projects that are still in the works and so I don't have pictures of them yet. Stay tuned.

But, I do need to write an update blog about Kye because he has changed a ton and it just one of the cutest little things ever right now, so...back to blogging!!

Beach Time?

On our nature walk through state parkland we found this beach which I officially vote Most Real Sand Sandy Beach in all of Minnesota, right there on the river. The kids loved it. It was like a huge awesome sandbox...or like being at the beach except way too cold to actually be at the beach. 

First of all, I love this picture!! It makes me laugh! What a cute family I have. 

And Kyeson, who spends most of our walking/hiking time strapped to Steve's back in a backpack, got to get out. Which he LOVED. "Look Mom! I got sand on my feet!"

Instead of footprints in the sand, this is what it looks like when you can't walk down a sandy hill but scooch a gimpy crawl down the hill.

And, haha!! This picture also makes me laugh! I wish you could tell what this hill was like from the picture, but Kye was trying to stand up to make another walk attempt through the sand and got off balance because of the incline. At first I thought he was just doing his "look through the legs" thing, but then realized he wasn't when he started getting mad because he couldn't lift up his head because it was too heavy at that angle. Haha!!

My Hearts

First there was one. 

Then there were two. 

And now, now there are three. 

Oh, my sweet babies. 

Colors

Anybody else watch The Cat in the Hat?

Red...

 Orange...

Yellow...

(And Red, Orange, Yellow all in one!)

Then Green followed by...

 Blue...

(Indigo, which, what the heck? It's not even considered part of the primary rainbow colors anymore.) And Violet! That's a rainbow song for you!!

Obviously, we went on a beautiful hike through a state park. It was glorious. I brought my camera and took way too many pictures, but I don't regret taking way too many pictures. :) 

Stay tuned for the important pictures, the pictures with kiddos in them!! ;)

On Having A Man Child

People ask me all the time if having a boy is different than having girls. It's funny because how could it not be different? I wondering if they are asking secretly hoping that I am having the trials and tribulations of a young man child and they want to be sure their boys aren't the only ones. Haha!!

Even though I have what is considered a tom boy, my sweet little Berlin who I frequently find has been laying in the neighbor kid's sand box and will come home with a scalp full of sand, a little man child is still very different.

It's not just the fact that his favorite things are trucks and balls while the girls liked dresses and dolls. Perfect example? We have had the same garbage can, a tall silver contraption with a pedal and a flip lid, since Tryn was Kye's age almost exactly. Well, I recently realized why they sell locks for said garbage cans. Neither of the girls cared one bit about the darn thing, but not a day goes by without Kye and I having a "discussion" about whether or not he should open the lid. Worse than that, he likes to put things into the garbage...and pull them out. I'm starting to consider that lock.

Another way I noticed that Kye is completely different from the girls is when he ate a mouthful of sand. All kids do it at some point, sitting at the beach or in a sandbox they take a huge fistful of sand and pop it in their mouths. Well, when both of the girls did this as babies world ending cries and lots of spitting and drooling ensued. The man child? Well, he popped the sand in his mouth, paused, and then looked up at Steve and I with a big sandy grin and started laughing. Steve had to dig it out of his mouth so he didn't try to swallow it all.

Don't even get me started on taking this kid to the store. Wow. He is a pain in the you know what. Let's just say that most of the time involves him screaming because he is trying to turn around in the cart seat and gets stuck or falls over. Or he spends his time trying to wriggle out of the strap so that he can stand up. I basically have to walk around with my hand on him to keep him in the cart and he treats it like torture. How dare he be confined! I used to think the girls treating the store like a playground was a lot to deal with...at least they were laughing and having fun and not screaming like their fingernails are being removed.

And then there is the whole diaper changing situation. I recently read this thing that a mom wrote to her son, 25 Things I Want to Tell My Son (who was three). I can't find it now, but number 18 was something like, "You do not always have to touch your penis. It will be there for the rest of your life. You will have lots of opportunity to use it, you don't need to grab it all the time. It is not a toy." I just want to second that. Every single diaper change...every single time.

There are, of course, the things that are easier too. I finally have a kid that loves to eat. The girls treated food like it was a chore or something and would always eat the smallest amounts possible. Kye can already out eat them most of the time. That will probably never change. 
 
Don't get me wrong, I love this kid. I think he is the cutest little baby boy on the face of the earth right now and I am enjoying him immensely. But the answer to the question is YES. Yes, having a baby boy is much different than having a girl, in some ways at this age it is much more difficult. I have heard this is true, that boys get easier as they get older and girls get harder. That remains to be seen.  

Oh my, this could not have happened at a more ironic time. As I finished up this post Kye walked past me into the kitchen and this is what I found two minutes later:

Yes, next to his t-ball bat on the floor are banana peels and coffee grounds that he pulled from the garbage. And yes, of course I just swept and mopped the floor less than 30 minutes ago. Yes, I forgot to put the tray back on his chair to block him from climbing up. And what you can't see in this picture, and what alerted me to the trouble, is the fact that he also had a beaded necklace around his neck that he pulled and broke. I heard the beads landing on and rolling all over the floor. Thank goodness it's nap time.