Back again!

I know it has been a long time. I'm not even going to try to catch up on all that has happened but I'm hoping to keep documenting some things about my girls because pretty soon I'm going to start forgetting things again. Both girls are doing great. School is going well this year but thanks to the boy/girl/boy/girl seating pattern at lunch K is getting a little bit of a potty mouth. Hopefully addition of the poo poo to everything she says will lose its novelty soon. She is a very bright girl and is still very interested in nature, bugs, leaves, and things that are creepy and crawly. I love this trait more and more all the time. I'm glad that she's interesting and I'm glad she isn't afraid of trying things. She has also come out of her shell a lot. She does have shy situations but not always the one in the corner.
Kylie is not in school this year, she is permanently attached to my leg! She is going through a little bit of a clingy phase right now. BUT! She did potty train herself. She is almost completely toilet trained but one thing I learned last time is she'll get it eventually so I'm not stressing it. She is totally hilarious in really annoying ways. Like, she only wears clothes that she can see her panties. ie no pants. She is very picky about shoes. So much so, that I have just stopped buying them because there is no way to tell if she'll wear them. She went through a phase this fall that she would only wear bathing suits- and this was after the pool closed! From day to day there is no telling what she'll be wearing and honestly, most of the time its not worth fighting with her because if you knew her temper, you'll know that even if I win, I still didn't win. I have also recently translated that she has one friend, Tinkerbell. I was lecturing K in the car about how if her friends did something bad she didnt need to do it also. After a couple seconds I realized that Kylie was in the back seat saying, "If Tinkerbell takes off her shoes and socks, I won't take off my shoes and socks." Okay Kylie!
The latest development in our family is that baby #3 is on the way. Both kids get it but neither really have feelings either way about it. We have decided to let this time be the surprise. John is really the one pushing this and I'm fine either way. This time has been harder but other than being a little neurotic, I'm feeling much better now. We went for our ultrasound today and baby was not very cooperative! It was moving everywhere!! But it was also really cool because we really got to "see" the baby in action and not just for a few seconds at a time. I heard that third children are pretty chill. I knew better than to think I would actually have a chill child. Also today during the ultrasound, they moved my due date up a little bit. March 26, 2012. For the record, my due date with Kaitlyn was March 26, 2007. I'm not sure I could do that again if I tried!
Our life is very full and blessed right now. I don't know that I deserve all of this happieness but I thank God everyday for giving it to me. I also pray for those we know who (for various reasons) aren't as fortunate.

Swim Team

We decided to put Kaitlyn on the swim team this year. Actually, we didn't decide. Last year when K was taking swim lessons we asked her if she wanted to be on the swim team and she said when she was four. Then she turned four and I asked her if she wanted to be on the swim team and she said when I'm... then she realized she was four. She is doing okay. She loves it, don't get me wrong... she started in lane one and then they moved her to lane two. Its been interesting. She liked the coach in lane one. I think because he looked a little like a younger Zac Effron. (She's my daughter what can I say.) But she has ended up being the best in lane one and the worst in lane two. I find it really hard to decide the balance between pushing your child to do what you know they can do and pushing them to do something that they really don't want to do. No... thats not really what the problem was... I knew that she could swim but she doesn't have the confidence to make it across by herself. When the girl coach leaves her she flips out and has been left stranded in the middle of the pool with no one to help her but I don't think she should have someone to hold on to all the time either. Anyway, last weekend I was finally able to get in the pool with her and work on her confidence a little. She totally has the ability to swim across the pool by herself- and she doesn't look like she might drown either- but she still needs to work on her confidence. I think Coach Chad is going to give her a little bit of time on Monday and hopefully he will get her to believe in herself. He may not be great at running an organization but I think he is great at teaching kids to swim. The first meet is this Thursday so hopefully she can make it across the pool! I'm going to be a nervous wreck for her though!

Tell me that's not the cutest body-ody ever!

3 year old preschool

Best teachers ever!

Yesterday was the last day of preschool. I have to admit, I was pretty emotional. I hope that I always remember Ms. Lisa and Ms. Elizabeth. I know that they are doing exactly what God put them on Earth to do- teach young children. I couldn't have asked for better, more loving, more encouraging, more nurturing teachers. They were so good with Kaitlyn and I really think they helped her start to come out of her shell. She will still play by herself a good bit but I also see her really participating in activities that I wouldn't have expected her to. She sings songs, she is beginning to talk to strangers, and she is building some confidence in herself. Honestly, what I really wanted was for her to be more confident- not more outgoing. Her teacher's have also nurtured her artistic ability. She is a pretty good at drawing and really likes to paint. She can write her name very well. I guess all of those cheesy art projects are paying off! She had lots of friends this year- boys and girls- and lots of things she liked to do in school. She came home every day and told me that she played Fire Dogs with Brady and Brady wouldn't let her be the fireman. Thats okay, she really likes acting like a dog. Not amused.

I forgot that she also had her dance recital. She did great!!! She was a little confused on where to stand and she was in the wrong place but for this dance she starts out on the back right and then ends up in back second from the left. You can watch it here.

Hair

Here are some pictures of Kylie's crazy hair. The only reason I posted these was to show you her hair!!!

Ode to Kylie

Kylie turned two! Her birthday came and went and I didn't get around to really giving her a proper birthday post. I think I've said before, she is the child that I never knew I would want. If I was to describe her personality in one word, I would say, her hair. It's wild and unruly, I can never get it to cooperate. If I need it to look good it's a total mess but when it doesn't matter it's perfect. Many people would love to have those perfect highlights and ringlets.
Here are some things that Kylie loves: saying bye, riding in Kaitlyn's carseat, messing with Kaitlyn's stuff, monkeys, funny expressions with her eyes, calling animals by the sound they make, sparkly shoes and flip flops, nigh-nigh, singing, Belle, her family.
It's funny because people always say, "she's going to be your tom-boy." But that really couldn't be further from the truth. She is very spirited and much more outgoing than Kaitlyn but she doesn't like to be dirty or wet. She is afraid of bugs, animals, and mud. She does have an arm on her but I think that is a self-defense mechanism- like she needs to throw K's toy as far as possible. My step-dad always says he can't wait to take her fishing but if he's going to take someone fishing, it ought to be the kid that's over digging up the worms.
I find it amazing that I have two equally incredible children but they are both so different. Kaitlyn is just like me. She talks, walks, and dresses like me. She has lots of friends, a couple close ones but not really a best friend. She wants to like many different things but she isn't totally focused on anything. She has John's laser focus (when she wants too - like John), and his artistic ability. Kylie, on the other hand is the mailman's kid, she is spirited and outgoing where John and I are pretty chill and reserved. She is short, where we are above average/tall. And girlfriend has a TEMPER!
So all this begs the question, what about number 3? Honestly, I can't imagine never being pregnant again, never nursing another baby, never holding a sleeping angel in my arms but I also don't know where this baby would fit in. Would it be a boy? That would be odd. Would it be a girl? Oh geez. Would Ky try to throw it like she does with her dolls? It's pretty hard to go away on vacation and expect our parents to watch THREE kids. All I can say is that, there were two fleeting moments in time where I thought I may want a baby and I had both of those babies approximately 40 weeks later. Since then there may have been a passing thought to having number 3 but so far (so good) it's not happening. I guess we'll just put it in His hands.

Easter

We had a beautiful Easter this year. It was also our 7 year anniversary but it was mostly Easter. The girls woke up and were so excited to see that the Easter bunny ate her carrots. They got a little bit of goodies in their baskets and had an Easter egg hunt. We then went to church and spent the afternoon with my mom, grandma, and the rest of the family. It was a very fun and relaxing day. While we were at church, I had to, of course, leave with Kylie, and I heard some of the church ladies gossiping. Among their gossip I found out that overnight, someone had vandalized, our new statue of Jesus! They put this statue in in March. I remember because the preschoolers, including Kaitlyn got to watch the installation. It was a pretty cool event for the kids to watch and even Kylie will wave to the statue every day getting into carpool. I wasn't quite sure what to expect so I told John that I wanted to walk around and see what happened. It really couldn't have been much worse. The seven foot marble statue was covered in hot pink spray paint. They painted a pentagram on his heard and testicles. They also painted his eyes and hands. I have no idea what these people were trying to prove my desecrating a statue of Jesus on Christmas morning but our church was truly blessed that they failed. It rained shortly after they painted it which kept the paint from sinking in the marble so a local company volunteered their time to fix it. We had nine masses filled to the rim, celebrating the resurrection of our savior. The church has had an out pouring of support of those Catholic and not. When I dropped Kaitlyn off this morning, I noticed that the statue was glimmering, ready to welcome all those who come to worship in his name. I don't know how anyone could see that statue and not cry at the hatefulness. I know that I couldn't. Even a four year old couldn't understand what had happened!
Here is a segment from our local news that shows the statue but they had to white out most of the graffiti because it was too graphic for tv.

Pictures

Four!!

Four years and a few weeks ago, my little girl was born. She came into the world curious and full of life, and as sweet anyone you'll ever meet. She is still that way today. She loves EVERYTHING, but especially girly things, playdates, the icing from a cupcake, bugs, frogs, movies, collecting and gathering, and art projects. She is a good problem solver, artist, and friend. If you touch her heart, she'll never forget.

She had a huge birthday party at our neighborhood playground. Lots of friends from the neighborhood and school came and the family came over after for pizza. I made 50 unnaturally hot pink and purple cupcakes. I did a decent job, and saved lots of $$$ so that was good. It was a Rapunzel theme and she got lots of fun presents, Tangled the movie, a Rapunzel dress, Rapunzel hair, Rapunzel doll, Rapunzel vanity, and lots of other fun things. And she is already talking about her 5th birthday. Nnnnoooooooooooo!!!!

Sleepy-song

Even as a tiny baby, Kylie would sing herself to sleep. In the car, your arms, her bed, you could always tell when she was about to fall asleep. Its always the same song, I couldn't hum it but I know it immedietly. But as she's gotten older the sleepy songs are fewer and fewer. Yesterday I took her up for her nap and she started singing to me so I sat in the chair and just rocked her for a few minutes. I think she knew she was singing to me. I wish I could take that moment in time and capture it forever. I hope that isn't the last sleepy song I'll ever here.

She has always been such a sweet sleeper. Since she was so tiny when she was born (6 lbs, full term) she was swaddled in a bassinet next to our bed. When she was old enough, we have a blue knit blanket that a friend of my grandma's made for her (Kaitlyn has one too) that she calls "nigh-nigh" If anything ever happened to nigh-nigh I'm sure it would be the end of the world as we know it. Partly because its irreplaceable and also because so many of the sweet things she does involve nigh-nigh.

Kaitlyn-isms

I was just giving the girls a bath and K pooted in the tub. She told me, "That's okay, poots in the bath don't stink,they just make bubbles." John swears he didn't teach her that. I feel confident that she figured that out on her own which makes her smart and GROSS.

Things to remember

As the kids approach their birthday's I'm going to try really hard to keep up with things I want to remember. None of this is probably important to my five readers :) but remember, this blog is my memory book! And we still haven't taken any pictures.
There was a little boy in Kaitlyn's class named James. I'm not quite sure what was wrong with him but he was severely delayed in speech. I'm sure there were other things but I don't know what. Kaitlyn was always very protective over him, sitting by him at lunch, holding his hand in the hallway, etc. She told me about him frequently but it took me a long time to catch on to his "special needs". Anyway, he got moved to a different school in January. Last week in the car, K started talking about him again. I guess she just noticed he wasn't in her class! The whole ride home she pouted that she missed James so much and wanted to have him for a play date. She has asked about him since and insisted that he come to her birthday party. I just write this as a testament to her compassion.
Which leads me to the next thing, out of the blue a few days ago, Kaitlyn told me that she wanted to be a teacher when she grows up. She usually says a mommy. I think both are wonderful! It will be interesting to see how that happens.

Kylie is still so strong willed and she knows how to get what she wants. It is usually a source of frustration for me. She adores shoes and is impossible to take to Target or a shoe store because she will literally climb out of the cart and pull every SPARKLY shoe box off the shelf and try them on. She says hi and bye to everyone from no matter how scary they are. She mimics everything k does. She counts stairs as we go up and down. She is obsessed with papa and her cousin Leah. She pretends to talk to them almost every day. I am pretty sure she has a greater understanding of the world than I do.
I think that should have been a list rather than a paragraph!

Growing Pains

Kaitlyn has been having a rough couple of weeks. She had some mysterious illness that made her feel really bad for several days but she supposedly tested negative for strep. After three days I gave her a dose of antibiotics that I had in the fridge and she was better. Then I got sick with a razor sore throat and took a few doses of antibiotics and I feel better too. We know several people that we encountered that have tested positive for strep so I'm not convinced that it wasn't. Anyway, she has taken naps almost every day for a week which is really rare. She is always asking for food and is cranky as can be. I have officially diagnosed her with a growth spurt! I really need some help with my patience though. I ask her to do things and she either doesn't listen or has a huge meltdown. Today we were coloring and the page she wanted to color was ripped. She said something about tape so I went and taped part of the page but she didn't want it taped and out come the waterworks. I couldn't take the tape off without ripping it and I tried to tell her. I carried her to her room and she screamed, sorry to say, like a BABY for 10 minutes and she has been asleep for two hours (and I have been on the computer). I am calm with her for about 60 seconds and then I lose it so I really need help dealing with her appropriately.
You may notice no pictures in a while. That is because I'm not totally in love with how difficult John is making our new computer. One day soon I'll just do a picture post.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a fan of antibiotics and rarely take them or give them to my kids. I am well aware that you must take a full dose. However, I went to the doctor to try and get some and the "doctor" (nurse practitioner) didn't give us any so I did what I thought was right.

Things I love Thursday

I know I really need to post so I just ran across so someone who posted with the above title. I thought of a list and then realized that it's Friday. Well anyway...

1. Cuddling with a sick baby. Been doing lots of this lately.

2. Having healthy children.

3. Running around in the backyard with no shoes on and a glass of Chardonnay. <----Spring fever

4. The sound of kids laughing at each other.

5. Conversation hearts.

6. Surprises. I'm pretty hard to surprise because I always ruin them. My husband always waits until the last possible moment for a surprise so I get impatient. ie. engagement.

7. Playing video games with Johnny and eating popcorn.

8. Christmas Eve.

9. Driving with the sunroof open.

10. Reading novels in one day.

Funny, I should do this every two months or so because I know that my answers would always change. If you want to know what I've been up to, just read the list and you can guess!!!

Shyness

I just read this article about shyness (here). Lately I have been concerned about Kaitlyn's shyness, not because I want a loud extroverted child, but I don't want her to miss opportunities to have fun and make friends. We were at this birthday party Saturday and birthday's are a normal place for her to get embarrassingly shy. Large crowds of unfamiliar people have always been tough for her. I don't blame her on that but I need to teach her to assimilate rather than crawl under my skirt (which has happened!). We arrived and the first thing she did was want me to hold her. The first activity was freeze dance and she wanted hide in the corner. As a formerly shy child, I feel that she wants to join in and have fun but doesn't quite know how and of course I don't know how to encourage her. I can remember going to school and playing by myself or with one other person in the corner. I remember not wanting to put on the fireman's pants because that would make me the center of attention. I remember at my first middle school dance feeling uncomfortable at everybody dancing in a circle. All of these things I wanted to do but I didn't want to break out of my shell to do it.

Kaitlyn has many sweet personality traits and I don't want to change her. I truly embrace her innocence and loving heart. I mean she's a mini-me! The article I linked to says, "other children compete for attention and shy girls bestow it." That couldn't be more true in Kaitlyn's case. If you touch her heart one time, she will never forget you. She knows books are for mommy, Bojangles is for daddy, Saturday's are for Grandma, Aunt Sharon and Leslie can do braids, Lucy gives kisses. I just hope that I can instill confidence in her and help her to not miss out on making memories just because she doesn't know how to act. I knew that freeze dance was not up her alley and I didn't try to push her into it. I stood there with her and we silly danced in the corner. I did make her ask Woody for a balloon and watch the magic show. In situations with adults, I tell her to please speak to people when spoken too and hold my hand if she's nervous. Really, this hasn't helped. At parties, I try to pick one person she knows and just do what they are doing. After freeze dance was over she was better at staying with the group of kids but she definitely stayed quiet and to herself. I am pretty concerned about this right now because, like I said, I don't want her to spend the next 20 years missing out on all the fun. In case you are wondering, I came out of my shell sometime around 25! Do you have any suggestions? I'm searching for a couple books to read right now so we'll see how all this turns out!

Handwritting

I am not a big proponent of pushing little kids to write but over the last month or so, Kaitlyn has begun to show interest. She wants to write her name on everything. And she always writes in the air to show me what something looks like. I have watched her coloring and since I know she can hold her pencil correctly and I have resolved to spend more one on one time with the girls, I have decided to start having writing lessons. We do two letters a day, capital and lower case, and she writes her name. She can't spell her name, but she'll write it with my help :) She is doing well. And she is surprisingly confident and willing. I guess my reward of TV helps!

The last four days Kylie hasn't made me quite so crazy. I don't know if she is calming down or since my house is clean, I can give her undivided attention every waking minute!

Snow Day #2

We borrowed some snow pants, a snow jacket and a sled and today's adventure in the snow was wickedly fun!!! Both kids were screaming fun going down the hills. How did Ky even know to scream? Pictures to come.

Snow Day

Today we woke up to six inches of snow topped with 1/4 inch of ice. Of course we couldn't wait to get outside. Here's how it went down:

Amount of time it took to get all four of us dressed: 37 minutes
Amount of time it took for someone to complain they were cold: 3.2 minutes
Amount of times mommy tried to push Kaitlyn down the hill in a laundry basket resulting in snow up my shirt: 1
Amount of times Kaitlyn sled down "The Parkway": 1
Total amount of time that mommy and daddy tortured the K's outside: 64 minutes
Amount of time it took for 2 toddlers to thaw out and stop crying: 24 minutes


And after our kids were thoroughly frozen, neighbors said they have snow suits for both of them. Yay! We can do it all again!!!

Pictures

Christmas 2010

I know its been a while since I've updated but December was a whirlwind. We had lots of fun plans all month long starting with Lucy's birthday party, a live nativity, a trip to Disney, Leslie's graduation, daddy's (too) long vacation, Christmas, a visit from Nana and Sir, my big 3-0, UCF beat Georgia... And finally John went back to work. We had a very blessed Christmas. I tried to make sure and talk about Jesus all month long because I knew Christmas morning would be all about the presents. We read the Christmas story in several books and the bible, went to two birthday parties for Jesus and visited a live nativity which will become a new tradition for us. Except for being late for church on Christmas Eve, I was proud of how our family watched and waited for Jesus throughout the month of December. Christmas morning was magical. The kids were so excited. Both girls got bikes and lots of other things. We couldn't keep Kylie off of her bike to open presents. When she did open them she put them in her basket. I guess it has become a new Kramer tradition to have breakfast at my house Christmas morning so all of the local Kramer's came over and after they left it began to snow. We got several inches. The first white Christmas I can remember! We definitely saw God at work. It was beautiful SNOW. No ice or sleet to make the roads dangerous but beautiful powdery snow! We did have some family drama on Christmas and I regret the entire situation but I also saw God at work. John really took a stand for me and our family in a way I never expected. I was proud of how he comforted me, protected me, and stood up for our family. It was a really bad situation but I have never loved my husband more and the way he reacted was a gift and blessing.

After Christmas, I turned 30. Yay. And UCF beat UGA in the Liberty Bowl. John has never been prouder!!! And the girls are hilarious. Kylie can recognize the letters and the mascot anywhere. Ni-Nights she says (go Knights). And Kaitlyn really tries to be a part of it too but she's like me, she'd rather be playing Barbies!

I'd like to post some pictures but blogger isn't letting me... we'll see if I can do it on another post.