Kaitlynn's Room

How sad is it that it took me until after Kaitlynn turned 1 to finally fix up and decorate her bedroom? Maybe it was all my dear friends (you know who you are!) who have been remodeling, redecorating, and creating baby rooms that finally inspired me to finish (ok, start) Kaitlynn's nursery/bedroom. Whatever it was, I wanted to make sure I shared the end result.

I'm embarrassed to even show these pictures, but here are shots of Kaitlynn's room before with the yellow paint and crooked wall letters. Oh, and I should probably mention that the gun in the picture is a TOY gun that we keep stashed under her crib to reach lost pacifiers, ha!







The first thing to go in the room was the pale yellow paint color. It worked fine for Connor's room but I was really getting tired of it. Plus, I just thought Kaitlynn needed something more girly. I decided on a pale pink color (called Barely Pink). Collin owed Jeff some work hours so he agreed to paint with lots of help from Jeff and Connor. And yes, Collin is in his boxer shorts. Being a summer lifeguard, he rarely wears a shirt these days.







We bought a few blank canvases and used some of the leftover wall paint to let the boys create some wall art for Kaitlynn's room. Her bedding has a circle pattern so I asked them to somehow incorporate circles in their artwork. Here they are creating their masterpieces with Kaitlynn looking on.









It was a fun little family project and the pictures turned out neat. We also stenciled some white circles on the main wall and that's probably my favorite thing about the whole room. Here are the "after" pictures.

Walking in, you see Collin's picture on the far wall. The chair and ottoman in the room will probably go soon since we never use it.



Here are Kevin and Connor's more abstract pieces of art, ha! And the little bulletin board was decorated with polka dots by my cousin Robin, and it has Kaitlynn's shower and birth announcement on it.



Probably my favorite "find" of all -- a pink polka dot wooden cross with the Bible verse that was on Kaitlynn's birth announcement.



Here you can see the main wall of the room with the stenciled circles. Her wall letters were just about impossible to hang, so this is what we came up with.



Phew! 1 room down and about 10 to go, ha ha!

Pigtails

Last week I was at the mall with my friend Julie letting our kids play together at the mall play area. We noticed a little girl around Kaitlynn's age with the cutest little pigtails and bows in her hair. This little girl barely had any hair at all and yet she still had a few strands up in pigtails. So that did it for me, I decided I needed to bite the bullet and try pigtails on Kaitlynn. And let me just say, putting pigtails in my daughter's hair was probably one of the first things I got excited about when I found out I was having a little girl so this was a much anticipated event!

So here you go, Kaitlynn's very first pigtails:



Here she is chewing on the box of hair bands. I was confused why these are sold in a box of 200, until I realized that you can only use them once and then they are too stretched out to reuse again.



Those little rubber bands are so tiny and it is hard to use them on Kaitlynn's baby fine hair, but surprisingly she actually sits very still while I'm fixing her hair so that makes it a little easier.



I love how the little bows look so cute on her pigtails, but now I'm going to have to find some new matching ones for all her outfits, ha ha!



I've mentioned several times about how Kaitlynn can't seem to stand hairbows or anything else in her hair for that matter. The pigtails seem to work a little better since they are on there pretty tight and it's harder for her to yank them out.



Every once in a while, she succeeds in pulling them out and then you have THIS to deal with:



But I have a feeling I'll be keeping the pigtails around as long as I can. They are just too cute!

Dinner Pictures

Going out to dinner is always an interesting experience when you have 2 little ones in tow. On this particular occasion, Connor decided he was in the mood for a mealtime photo shoot with Dad.

The "I'm gonna get you" pose.



The "scary" pose.



The "sweet" pose.



And then Kaitlynn wanted in on the action.



Her "sweet" pose was to lean on the table next to Jeff's head while saying "Ahhhhh."



On another dining occasion, Kaitlynn was refusing to eat what I offered her until I let her take over with her own spoon.



She seemed to get the hang of it, though not without a big mess!

Catch Me If You Can

Yesterday I probably had one of my most favorite "Mommy moments" to date. The TV was off for a change and Connor and Kaitlynn were playing together while I checked my email. It took me a while but I finally noticed that they were playing tag. They were both giggling and laughing uncontrollably as they took turns chasing after each other around the house. I just sat back and watched (loving every second of it) while they played this game and I laughed and laughed right along with them. So, so cute! I suddenly realized I should get out the video camera so here are a few snippets of their game of tag. Oh, and be sure to watch the entire video so you can catch Connor's unexpected announcement at the very end. I tell ya, these kids just crack me up!

Lately

Just a few recent pics and updates.

Now that Kaitlynn is walking, I've been on a mission to get her into some shoes. The problem is, she HATES shoes. I've tried several different kinds and she manages to pull them off within seconds, just like her hairbows. (I've actually given up - for now - on putting bows in her hair. It's just not worth the fight. Sigh.) But I refuse to let her win the shoe battle, so she's just gonna have to get used to them!



I wanted to get her some white sandals but just couldn't find them in her size in white. Apparently, most Moms of girls have already figured out that if you want white shoes, you need to get them in the spring or early summer, otherwise you just won't find them. Clearly I still have a lot to learn about having a little girl. So we settled for the pink sandals and she's just going to have to deal with having shoes that don't match the majority of her outfits.



On another note, Jeff's Uncle Doug from Michigan was in Houston last week and was able to stop over and have dinner with our family one night. It was great to meet him finally!



And Doug managed to keep Kaitlynn entertained for a while. He thought she might look cute wearing one of Connor's t-shirts.



This is one of Kaitlynn's new faces. She uses it all the time, as if to say, "Oh, look what I found!"



We have yet another new Apple device in our family. An Iphone, 3 Ipods, and now 3 Ipod Touches. It appears to be a sick obsession in our family. Here Connor is playing one of his many apps, and it looks like Kaitlynn may not be far behind.



Finally, this last picture represents a major milestone...the last "Mommy's Milk" in the freezer. The rented breast pump (a.k.a. the ball and chain) was returned this week and I'm officially done with that chapter in my life. Woo hoo!

Some Why's of Parenting

Why does my toddler seem perfectly happy and content until she sees me, upon which she breaks into hysterics?

Why is it that I act like a 1st-time Mom with my 2nd child? With Kaitlynn, I call or visit the doctor anytime her temperature is higher than 97.5 or if she wakes up even once during the night. With Connor, I practically had to be court-martialed to take him to the doctor so he wouldn't infect the other kids in daycare.

Why does my 4-year-old refuse to eat anything besides chicken nuggets or pizza?

Why is it that when I see a pregnant woman or a newborn, I look back on those times with longing and nostalgia instead of remembering the awful morning sickness, anxiety-ridden doctor appointments, and sleepless nights?

Why do some of the things I say seem perfectly acceptable until I hear them come out of my kid's mouth and realize they are actually mean and spiteful?

Why do the days sometimes feel endless but the weeks go by in a flash?

Why did I never truly appreciate and understand my parents until after I had my own kids?

Cabinet-Surfing

You



just



never



know



what



you



might



find



in



cabinets!

Rainbows

The other day Jeff joined Connor, Kaitlynn, and I to make a quick trip to the grocery store. A nasty storm was about to blow in, so we were in a hurry to grab our groceries and get home. On our way out of the store, it had started sprinkling and the skies overhead were getting dark. To my surprise and delight, I looked up to see a rainbow in the distance. I love rainbows! Jeff and I pointed it out to Connor and as we were looking at it, we noticed that we could see the entire rainbow arch over the Kroger store. It was beautiful and was probably the most vividly colored rainbow I'd ever seen. We just stood there staring at it as the rain picked up and began to drench us. These pictures don't do it justice since they were from my phone.





On the way home, Jeff and I talked to Connor about the meaning of rainbows. We explained all about Noah and the Great Flood and how God shows us rainbows as a promise that he will never again flood the earth. Connor was truly fascinated with the story and asked to hear it over and over again. Soon he started asking to hear more stories from the Bible. We read from his Bible and also looked up some kid-friendly Bible stories on the Internet. He now asks us several times a day to read him some Bible stories, and he loves to talk about the stories he has learned and ask lots of questions.

It has been so rewarding to see Connor's eagerness and excitement about learning these stories that I have long taken for granted. I grew up hearing them as a kid so I guess I feel like I know them and don't have much to learn. But as we learned in Vacation Bible School last week, God's word is surprising and you just never know what you might find, even in the same old stories I grew up with. So I guess I owe Connor a big "thank you" for reminding me that a rainbow isn't just a rainbow. Funny how sometimes kids become the teachers to us parents!

Because Kids Live Here

Because kids live here, you might find a piece of artwork in the printer.



Or other masterpieces on the fridge...at knee level.



Or maybe some stacks of folded clean laundry, just waiting (and waiting and waiting) to be put away.



Because kids live here, you might also find a bottle drying station next to the kitchen sink.



Or a Buzz Lightyear on your nightstand.



It's because kids live here that you may come across some random markers sitting on a piece of chair molding.



Or a sleepy bear all tucked in for a nap on the stairs.



Yep, you just never know what you might find, because kids live here!