Randomness...

So, this is me attempting to get more stuff up here. :)

Let's see...what have we been up to?

School-wise, I'm almost finished with the Spring semester. I'm going to try to finish up one of my classes this week, with the exception of the final exam which won't open until next week. Hopefully that will allow me the time I need to try to get my grade up in my other class, which I'm kind of on the verge of not passing. I'm registered for 2 classes this summer...I just hope it's not going to be too much! We have a lot of things we want to do this summer.

Adam is working on getting his Certified Personal Trainer certification and has been accepted to UW LaCrosse for his BS in Health & Wellness Management. He'll be starting that this fall and it's online.

Work-wise, there hasn't been any further information on how long I'll have a job. I've been looking around for something else, but the pickings are rather slim. And with mine being the only paycheck right now, I can't afford to take an enormous pay-cut. I'm hoping we'll get more information next month and that we won't have to wait until the end of June to find anything new out.

Fitness-wise, I've been back at the Y now for a couple weeks. I've been taking a Pilates class and a Yoga class once a week. I ended up liking Pilates so much that I bought a DVD so I can do it at home. The great thing about the DVD I got is that it is 5 different 10-minute workouts. You can make a playlist and do as many or as few as you like in whatever order you choose. I've been just doing 2 sections every night for the last 2 nights and I hope I'll start seeing results faster. I'm gaining weight again, but some of that is probably muscle. We've been trying to walk after supper every night, but the weather has been less than cooperative. It doesn't seem to want to decide if it is winter or spring...60 one day and snowing the next.

At home, we've been working on remodeling our basement with the goal of moving our "office" down there and making the rest of the room into a playroom for the kids. The living room has gotten too small for all of the kids' toys and it would be nice to have more space for them to play. We're then going to turn our former office into Sam's bedroom. It's beyond time for him to be in his own room. I'm tired of tip-toeing around after he goes to bed or not being able to go in there while he's napping. Plus, with the office downstairs, Adam can play computer games at night without being afraid to wake the kids up. So, on the list of things to do: replace the floor in the hallway, bathroom, possiblty the kitchen, and office, paint the office, finish doing whatever we're doing to the bathroom, insulate and drywall the basement, paint the basement, put down the foam mat flooring in the play area, and I'm also looking into possibly doing the roof. Good thing I'm getting a bunch of money in June! We're also looking at possibly replacing the kitchen cabinets and countertops, but we'll have to see how much we can get done this summer.

Our plans for this summer as far as fun things go, we have a few things planned already. In May, Adam and I are going to Madison to see the Dalai Lama. He's also going fishing the last weekend in May, also down in Madison, so I thought the kids and I would also go down and maybe we'd visit the zoo. In June I have off for a week and on the Friday before Father's Day, we're going to the National Railroad Museum to see Thoms the Tank Engine. In July we plan to go to the Dells for 3 days. There are lot of things to check out there. In the past I've always gone as an adult (mostly, anyway) so it'll be neat to do things for the littles. :) Other than those things, we're going to try to squeeze in some camping (a first), more trips to different zoos (the NEW Zoo and the Milwaukee Zoo), and some trips to the Green Bay Children's Museum.

So anyway, I know it's a lot. We've been really busy with work and school, the kids, and other things that are going on in our extended families. I really want to try to get better with this! Also, I'm part of another blog, too...I added a link to the side. It's called Between Naps. Go check it out. :)

Sam's First Birthday Party!

Well, here's the birthday boy! He had so much fun at his party. :) And miraculously, everything worked out just like we needed it to...which never happens!

His party was scheduled from 3-5pm on March 23rd, but our photographer, Katie, was coming down a little early to take some pics of Sam for his 1-year "photo shoot". I also had to stop at Subway and pick up the sandwiches, and run around and get the balloons filled and pick up last minute items.

Luckily, my mom was able to watch him in the morning which allowed me to run all the errands I needed to, as well as get the car mostly packed up so we didn't have so much to worry about after lunch.

When Clara and Adam came home from tumbling class, we all had an early lunch and then the kids went down for early naps, too. Amazingly, they actually both took naps, and I even had to wake Sam up in order to get him dressed and ready for his party.

We might have been only a few minutes late, which was pretty awesome. All the grandparents showed up around the same time and helped us set up while I tried to corral Sam into getting pictures taken...which was ridiculously hard now that he's walking! 

See me chasing him?? lol

He had a blast. He was running all over the place. 

Clara helped him unwrap his presents (ok, well she mostly did it for him).

And, of course, he had some cake. He wasn't real sure about it at first, but ended up liking it. I couldn't believe how neatly he ate it, though! He barely had a crumb on his shirt until the very end!

It was a lot of fun and we were glad that everyone could make it. Now, I just have to get the dang Thank Yous sent out!! 

Don't worry people, it's on my to-do list (which is growing exponentially!).

Clara in March

March was a busy month for our family! We had Sam's birthday party (which I'm still working on getting a pots done about that!) and Easter! 

Clara and Mimi had lots of fun coloring eggs. Clara really loved her bunny ears, too. :) I only managed to get one picture of her in her Easter dress this year. It got wet before I could get any more pictures.

Just for fun I made a collage of Easter pics from her first 3 Easters.

She sure has changed a lot!

Anyway, things are pretty good around here. We're still working on potty training. Some days are definitely better than others.

She is having fun in Tumbling class, though last week was a total disaster and I'm not even sure why. She just started crying and wouldn't participate so we left early. No sense in disrupting the rest of the class.

We've been working on some discipline issues here at home. We're mostly trying to deal with her not listening and following directions (and talking back, though I know where she gets that from and I'm terrified!!).

I'm hoping that the weather finally clears up and we can get out of the house more often. She does better when we're out. We try to go for walks whenever it's nice enough. There were a couple nights where it was probably just a tad too cold, but we needed to get out. But now it has been raining for what feels like forever and we just want it to stop and get warm already!

We don't have much coming in the rest of April. Brayden has his first birthday party at the end of the month and we're all looking forward to that. Otherwise we have Mother's Day in May and then in June we'll be going to see Thomas the Tank Engine!

Sam's 12-month Survey!

Monthly Survey

1.       How old is baby? 1 year old!

2.       Doctor’s appointments?: April 25, 2013

3.       Stats:

a.       Weight:

b.      Height:

c.       Clothes size: 12-18m in pretty much everything. He needs 18m pants for the length.

d.      Diaper size: 4's.

e.      Hair color: Still very blonde.

f.        Anything else?

4.       Milestones:

a.       Verbal skills: My goodness! He's talking! He can say "mama," "dada," "hi," "Elmo," and "no."

b.      Teething: He has 8 so far and the molars are almost breaking through.

c.       Walking: He's all over the place. I know it was only 2months ago that he started walking, but it seems like longer!

d.      Running: Sometimes he'll take a few running steps, especially if you chase him.

e.      Anything else? He likes to wave, clap, dance, pretend to jump, tackle, chase, and laugh. He can do "so big" and he still plays "peek-a-boo." He's just a really fun and laid back little guy.

5.       Things he likes: He likes to play with his trucks and cars, pull books off the shelf, take baths (mostly splash in the tub), play with Scooter and Clara, go for walks outside, and play under the kitchen table.

6.       Things he dislikes: Teething. :( Poor guy's teeth have just been terrible lately.

7.       Sleeping: He has been back to waking once per night. It's hard to tell why. I don't know if he's hungry or if it's his teeth, but it doesn't usually take long to get him back down. And then sometimes he'll sleep late...until after 7. Naps are usually 1-2 per day. He isn't really on a strict nap schedule because if we go somewhere he tends to sleep in the car. But he naps anywhere from 1-3 hours and sleeps around 12 hours at night.

8.       Eating: He has been getting lots of food off the table. He does ok with most of it. We have been giving him 1-2 jars of food at lunch and supper, though, because it seems like it bothers him to chew.

9.       Nicknames: Little Man and the Captain.
10.   Things we’re looking forward to next month: Cousin Brayden's birthday party and Mother's Day.

I solemnly swear...

...to get back to regular blogging!

I've been so bad at it lately, but I've also been really really busy! I know we all say that, but whatever. I work full time, go to school part time, and have 2 very active kids at home. By the time I put the kids to bed at night I'm exhausted!

So anyway, back to my purpose for writing.

Back when I found out I was pregnant with Clara, I got on the interwebz to try to find all the information I could to learn about what I'd be going through during my pregnancy. That led me to theBump. The Bump is a message board that is designed for women who are trying to get pregnant, have lost babies, and who have babies. My due date was in November so I found the message board specifically for moms who were pregnant and due in November 2010 (meaning we found out we were pregnant around Feb/March 2010).

Fast forward 3 years later, and there is a rather large group of us who are still friends. We've mostly moved over to Facebook now, but we're still going strong. We've been through a lot: divorces, new houses, new babies, dating...yet it is still amazing to have this group of friends (whom I've never met in person) to vent to, ask for advice, whatever.

Five of us have now set up a blog together about our trials and tribulations with "2u2". Our blog is called "Between Naps" and there's a link to it in the sidebar of my blog. I encourage you to go check it out sometime. It's really neat to see the difference in personalities of us five ladies....and we all have some wicked cute kiddos, too!

Clara in February

Well, what kinds of things has Miss Clara been up to in February?

She participated in her first Valentine's Day exchange. The November moms have one every year and this year she AND Sam got involved. She got quite a few Valentines from her friends, too! I addressed them but she helped me decorate them. It was fun.

She  has been going to Story Time at the Library on Mondays. She always has a good time there. Sam has even gone along a time or two.

Everyone in our house is finally starting to stay healthy so we've been trying to get out more often.

Developmentally, things have been a bit up and down. We thought we pretty much had her potty trained. She would stay dry most of the day and almost always told us when she had to go. Now she could care less if she pees through her underwear. She'd rather wear a Pull-Up. And if you notice her doing the "pee pee dance" and ask her if she has to go, she says no. It's really frustrating.

The fits have also seemed to really ramp up, too. She throws them over the smallest things! And we're not talking just a little fit. Oh, no. She usually ends up crying like someone pushed her down. And poor Sam...if he touches something she doesn't want him to she either yells at him or pushes him down (or takes it away from him all together).
Eating has been interesting. Some days she'll barely eat anything and then the next day she's putting away 10 chicken nuggets for lunch.

She has been sleeping really well at night. She sleeps through most nights...probably 9 out of 10. Naps, on the otherhand....She will go lay in her bed, but she usually doesn't sleep. She will play in there for as long as we let her. I think most days she doesn't nap anymore. I think she may be trying to drop the nap all together, but I don't think she's quite ready for it. On the days she doesn't nap she often falls asleep before 8pm.

In March we have my birthday, Mimi's birthday and Sam's birthday. I think we'll be having lots of fun! I also hope the weather starts improving. I know we all have a bit of cabin fever and I look forward to having both kids be able to go outside and play. Last year I always had to have Sam in the stroller or in the carrier and it wasn't much fun. Now he can come out and toddle with us, too! I know we'll be going for lots of walks and trips to the playground. And even to the beach, hopefully, too!

She really is the sweetest thing, though. She loves to give hugs, snuggles, kisses and nosies. She's always excited to see us when we've been gone. She still loves to read books with us and she really likes her new LeapPad that she got for Christmas. She is really going to town with learning how to write her letters and learning how to make words. Her manual dexterity is really getting impressive.

I can't wait until we can get out of the house and enjoy Spring...when it finally gets here!

Sam-11 month survey!

Monthly Survey

1.       How old is baby? 11 months (ok, well more like 11.5 lol)

2.       Doctor’s appointments?: April 25, 2013

3.       Stats:

a.       Weight: Probably around 25lbs

b.      Height: Around 32 inches

c.       Clothes size: 12-18 months for everything.

d.      Diaper size: Using up the last of the 3's and have 4's standing by.

e.      Hair color: Blonde.

f.        Anything else? This kid is just solid. And adorable. :)

4.       Milestones:

a.       Verbal skills: He still jabbers constantly. He says "dada", "mama", "ot", "up", and I don't know that they're all words exactly, but those are the main sounds.

b.      Rolling: Oh no, he's got way more important things to do!

c.       Crawling: Very rarely anymore.

d.      Walking: YES!! He started walking on February 10, 2013! It's actually 2 weeks sooner than Clara did! Now he's all over the place. He even started walking with his hands down by his side!

e.      Anything else? He likes to point at stuff. He loves walking around the house and likes to carry things while doing so. He likes to eat, a lot! And he enjoys putting things into and taking things out of other things. Sometimes it drives Clara nuts. He claps, waves, and even dances a little, too.

5.       Things he likes: He loves to play, pull things off of shelves and tables, walk everywhere, do anything with his sister. He likes to clap along when he hears someone else clapping, even on TV. He ADORES SuperWhy. He likes to read his Highlights Hello magazine with us.

6.       Things he dislikes: Trying new foods and getting his diaper changed. :)

7.       Sleeping: At night he has been sleeping really well. He's usually in bed by 8pm and sleeps pretty consistently until around 6am. He will usually take one nap anywhere from 1-3 hours and either in the morning or afternoon. Most times he'll sleep in the car if we're out and about, too.

8.       Eating: He's still eating a lot of jarred baby food, but we're starting to feed him more from the table. He loves yogurt!

9.       Nicknames: Captain and Stormageddon.

10.   Things we’re looking forward to next month: His 1st Birthday (which is actually at the end of this month)!!! We're also having 1-year pictures taken and having pictures taken at his party. It's also my birthday. He and Clara are going to Mimi & Papa's for the evening so Daddy & I can go out for dinner.

11.   How I like motherhood: I still love it (most days, anyway)!! I think there will always be days when I wish I had more time for myself to do things besides homework and housework, but I love spending time with the kids. And honestly, when I've put in a hard day at work nothing warms my heart more than when both kids come running over to me after I walk in the door.

a.       Likes: Watching them play together and even breaking up their fights and arguments.

b.      Dislikes: Not having quite as much time to myself as I would like.

Pictures!!