Dusting off the old blog

Once upon an time (6ish months ago) I was going to write a fabulous blog. Like an online diary that I could look back on and think, "Oh, remember when the kids were small..." When in real life it turns out that I can barely return a phone call, let alone write a daily blog about my life. So this is me dusting off the ole blog and pledging to do better this time. Only time will tell, but I warn you against expecting too much.

Since my last post I actually did paint my bedroom. I did it the weekend I posted that picture of what I wanted it to look like. Of course it's nothing close to that. Ryan said that buying the little testers was a waste of money. I should just pick a color and paint the entire room. If I hated it I could just repaint. Just repaint, my ass. It's been almost 6 months and my room is still the same no where near grey colors that I picked back in May, or when ever it was. One day I will repaint it, but for now I've given up. It will never be the clean put together room with grown up furniture I want it to be. There will always be a pile of laundry in the corner, an unmade bed, and Ryan's dirty clothes 3 feet from the hamper. One day I'll clean it up...or on second thought I'll get a maid. Maybe when I go pick up my amid I should get a handyman to paint the room as well...

I have also started a business since the last post. All Wound Up is what it's called and I now get to include myself in the uber crafty world of WAHMs. (or work at home moms) My little wool balls are to be used in place of dryer sheets. Some find this ridiculous. Wool balls in the dryer? Why not? Yes, Oregon must be rubbing off, next thing you know I'll be driving my hybrid to pick up granola in my Birkenstocks. Anyway, it gives me something to do during nap time and I feel like I'm contributing.
Here is the link to the store:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Wound-Up/230586796982594

Reece started preschool yesterday. It was interesting to say the least. I had to attend the first day with her, and I'm not sure that I have ever fully realized how spoiled she is. Until yesterday when I'm standing in the middle of her preschool, while she's sprawled out on the floor face down screaming that she doesn't want to do something or other. Don't get me wrong, she's done the face down-screaming-on -the-floor in public before. This was the first time that she had done it in a room full of her peers though. I wanted to die a little. Or a lot. By the end of the day she managed to pull herself together, and the other mother's assured me that this was normal for her first day of preschool. Ugh, I hope so. She did manage to go the whole time without asking for Scout, Violet or Other Violet, so that was a HUGE plus. We shall see how she does Thursday when I drop her off and leave. Not going to lie, I'm expecting a phone call asking me to come get her.

Max is still refusing to walk, although I've seen him do it and know he can. What are you going to do? The kid loves to be carried. Plus I cannot imagine having to chase both of them down. Who's idea was it to have two kids 18 months apart? That person should be punished...except I think it was me. Oops. Back to Max, he's cute as hell and although he doesn't walk, he has managed to teach himself to climb. Last night he climbed up onto the chair in the living room, over the back or it, and down the side. Ryan caught him just in time. Max thought it was hilarious, I wanted to pass out. Babies hanging upside down over wood floors is never good.

And that sums it up for now. Max is up and Reece is having a cow. More later...;)

Home Improvement

In addition to posting updates about the kids I think that I am going to post one project a month that I want to do around the house. I would love to be the crafty person that has a blog devoted to re purposing furniture and stuff into things that we need. But that's just not me. So in an effort to have one less conversation about baby poop, diapers, potty training, and preschool I will post a picture of something that I hope to accomplish and then hopefully a picture of the final project in my house. Because let's face it, if I have to have one more conversation about how so and so's kid did this, and so and so's kid did that, my brain might shrivel up and die. So for the fist month I am giving myself until the end of May to paint my bedroom. I would love to have a room that looks like someone planned it to look stylish, instead of the room where everyone dumps their crap.

This is the color I'm going for on the walls. Of course my room will look totally different than the rest of this room, with our grey and aqua bedding. And as a spur of the moment decision (as in, I decided while typing this) I am going to get rid of our bed frame. I think out room would look much more open and quite larger without it. I can swap it out for a simple metal one and make a headboard later if I feel the need. Hopefully by the end of May I have a picture of our new paint job to post. :) Wish me luck!

April...

So far this month we have been super busy. The kids and I took a trip to Seattle, where we went to the Seattle Aquarium with "Nanie, Auntie and Ing." Since my mom bought a membership, we can now go anytime we like! Reece loved seeing the Nemo fish, but was not so keen on the shark that was hanging from the ceiling, or any exhibit that simulated being under water. Sorry Auntie, but your dreams of her being a swimmer are not going to happen. Max loved everything and was on his best behavior, as always.

This month has also brought new challenges with keeping Reece busy. She has learned how to open doors, turn of the sinks, flush the toilets, turn on the tub, and also turn on the dishwasher and washer/dryer. We turned the locks on all the bathrooms around so that we can lock them from the outside to keep her from getting into the bathroom without supervision. Which worked great for about an hour...then she learned how to lock/unlock them. And although I will one day kick myself for not encouraging her to help with the dishes and laundry right now, it's more of a pain that she keeps turning them on that a help. On the bright side we bought the kids a swing set, and as soon as Ryan can take a few days off work, we will set it up. That's it for now, I need to get some cleaning done before the kids wake up!

Max's Pictures

Today my photographer friend, Erin, came over to take Max's pictures. I watched her daughter a while ago and in exchange she did a mini session for Max. All I can say is WOW. I cannot stop staring at her blog. He is so damn cute, and she did a great job with the pictures. I will be ordering every single picture, I couldn't pick just a few. He did such a great job posing for the camera, I am so happy that I have these. I feel like we went overboard having Reece's picture taken (if that's even possible) but our wall's lack pictures of Max. Of course I have some that I have taken but they never seem to make it out of the computer and onto the wall. And these are a thousand times better than anything I could take.
Here is her blog, you can see all the pictures there and I have one that she posted on FB:

http://erintolephotography.com/blog/?p=270

Max @ 9 months

Today Max had his 9 month check up. I thought he would be getting shots and was silently cursing Ryan for being in the middle of tax season the entire way to the doctors. I already knew that the second that needle came into the room Reece would lose it, followed shortly by Max. I envisioned the nurses standing in the hall while my kids screamed commenting on what a train wreak we were. After spending a good hour worrying about how I was going to get to the car with two screaming kids and the looks people were going to give us because I would be "that mom" with the annoying, screaming kids, I come to find out that there are no shots at a 9 month appointment. It was almost disappointing, I had been bracing myself for this for days...Anyway, Max is if course perfect and small, just like always.
Here are his stats:
Weight: 18lbs11oz (~20%)
Height: 27.5in (~20%)
Head Circumference: 17.5inches (~25%)

The Nester

Reese has recently become obsessed with creating little "nests." She mostly does it when she's trying her hardest not to fall asleep, and it's so damn cute. She grabs all the pillows off the couch (she even tried to get the cushions) and all the blankets she can find. And EVERYTHING counts as a blanket, that dishtowel from the kitchen, it goes into the nest, the dog blanket goes too (to many a protest from me) she lays everything out and then cuddles up in the middle. Once her nest is all done she demands "Elmo" or "The Hat" (Cat in the Hat) and completely zones out. It's really cute, but I think she needs a tent so she can make a proper nest/fort. So, who wants to buy her a tent? Just kidding...sort of. Here are some pictures from her nest she made today :) (This particular nest was created on the couch because I was informed the floor was "stinky," I guess that's another reason why someone needs to buy the kid a tent! She had so much crap on the couch she kept falling off.

 And yes, Reece has one eye that is two different colors. ;)

Long Time, No See...

It seems we were a little busier than I thought we would be over the holidays and the months that followed. I'm going with busy since it sounds so much better than too lazy to update the blog! Lots has happened in the past few months.

 Max has grown so much, he is now 9 months old and the happiest baby I have ever seen. He is sitting up, crawling backwards and standing. When Reece was this age all I wanted was for her to be mobile. With Max it's the opposite. I have a mobile kid, and life got so much more complicated when she started moving! I would much prefer if Max stayed small and stationary forever. But it's clear he has other things in mind and in no time he'll be chasing his sister around the house. (getting her back for all the times she was mean to him, no doubt!)

Reece is as busy as ever. She never sits still, unless The Cat In The Hat is on TV. (although when she asks to watch it it comes out more like, "Hat! I want Hat on the TB!") She is still refusing to wear clothes in the house and spends almost all day naked. She will only put on a diaper if she has to go potty. For those of you thinking that that sounds like a good time to start potty training her, YOU WOULD BE WRONG! She thinks her potty is an awesome place to sit and watch "TB" and she drags it into the living room, but at the moment, that's all she's ready to use it for. Although in the last few days she has started to show interest in sitting on the normal potty. 

So that's what's up with the kids, they are so cute together and driving with them is always a riot. Reece coos at Max, who then coos back, followed by both kids cracking up. It is so cute and makes car trips so much fun. In other Kramer family news we are making an effort to go green. We switched the kids to cloth diapers a while ago (mostly because they both seem to be allergic to most brands of disposables) and in addition to that we have stopped using paper products in the house. No paper towels, napkins or plates for us. We also have a compost pile (sort of) and have been recycling so much that we actually looked into canceling our trash pick up because we never seem to have any! Maybe it's living so close to Oregon, but this going green thing is really growing on me. We've also been trying to shop from local sustainable sources, during the warmer months there is an awesome farm right down the street from us that we can get all of our fruits and veggies. Now that we have kids I feel like we need to make the extra effort to preserve what is left of the environment and teach the kids to do the same. Any way, that's what's going on in our house! I am going to go find a tree to hug and you all can enjoy some pictures that I took of the kids during our trip to The Children's Museum today! ;)