Sweet kiddos

One of these days I've a feeling he is going to be bigger than she is. At his 2month check he was 12 lbs (50th %ile) and 24 inches (90th %ile). He's been wearing 3-6 month clothes for quite some time now, and even some of those are starting to get a bit small on him. HEAVENS!!

Ant update

Not a whole lot of progress in the ant department, but then, we haven't tried a whole ton yet either. Never-the-less, thought I owed an update after the ramble-fest of a post I put you through a couple weeks ago. Thanks for all the comments!! What we've tried so far is:

1.) The little Raid traps you sit around that advertise that they kill the whole colony by sending the little anties back to the queenie and thus poisoning her. Mildly successful at best. Don't think we've outed the queen yet. But then, maybe I'm just not patient enough. It said on the box that they are good for three months, so we'll just wait and see. If I don't ruin them all before then. I accidentally ran one through the dishwasher. Don't ask.

2.) Vinegar. Oh vinegar, how I love thee. I tell you, if I were left with only one "all purpose" item for cleaning, laundry and other various needs, I think I would pick vinegar. It's cool stuff. I stuck some in a spray bottle and have just left it on the kitchen counter and have been randomly spraying surfaces and areas that the little buggers seem to frequent (as per several suggestions), and you know what? I think it may be working. Only been doing this for a couple days, so we'll see, but this is the first glint of a promise when it comes to seeing an end to this, uh, situation.

Anyways, so if you were wondering, there you are. I will continue to keep you posted.

Baby chicks 2010

We took Gemma (and Kolbe) to see the baby chicks and duckies at TSC again this year. What a difference a year makes! She could hardly see over the bins last year. I think this will become a fun tradition for our family!

New shoes

Gemma desperately needed some new tennies. Let me tell you, that girl's feet have done some serious growing in the past two months. In January she was wearing a size 5, and when they measured her at Payless yesterday she measured a 6 1/2. WOW!!! Anyways, here are the new tennies we picked out together. I thought they were super-duper sweet, so wanted to share!! She's pretty fond of them, too. Hopefully they will fit longer than a few weeks, ;-D
And here's Mr. Kolbe the other day, chillin' after some time outdoors.

Reading

Gemma wanted to read Kolbe a story this morning. Probably one of the sweetest moments I've witnessed between the two of them.

Soap

Background info tidbit #1
Like most people, I keep little bottles of soap at each of the sinks in our house. I am not committed to any one kind (brand, scent, antibacterial, whatever), I usually just buy what appears to be a good deal at whatever store I happen to be shopping. So there is always an array in our linen closet. Recently the hall bathroom ran out of soap, so I replaced it with this unsuspecting little bottle.
Background info tidbit #2
Since Kolbe's birth, Gemma has taken upon herself the responsibility of washing her hands after outings and before meals. I help her make sure her step-stool is all set, put the soap on her hands, and get the water adjusted to a comfortable temperature, but she takes care of the rest. Usually with a bit of prompting to finish, otherwise she would happily wash her hands for 2 1/2 hours if left to her own devices.

So consider yourself clued in.

Well, recently, as stated above, I replaced the soap in the hall bathroom, which is typically Gemma's bathroom of choice when it comes to hand-washing. Well, she's in there washing away the other night before dinner. Aaron and I (and Kolbe) were out in the kitchen finishing up getting the meal ready, etc., and all of a sudden we hear, "uh-oh, soap; uh-soap; oh no, oh no, I need help, it's YUCCHY!!!" Yup. You guessed it. Apparently that pretty purple potion in the new bottle just looked and smelled tooooooooooooo tasty, and curiosity killed the proverbial cat. She was sooooo concerned, apparently it tasted NOTHING like it looked or smelled. I haven't tested that theory, but I'm willing to bank on that after seeing her reaction. Througout our meal she tried to "eat" the taste away, rather unsuccessfully bless her heart. In fact, she was still talking about it at bedtime, and now whenever we go in the bathroom she says in a very serious voice, "oh, we don't eat soap." Guess it left an impression. Whatever the case, I found the whole ordeal rather amusing. My silly, silly girl.

Downward dog

Gemma and I took a mom-and-tot yoga class at the gym last fall. It was a really neat thing, and I hope to do it again sometime with either her or even both kids. It was such a great activity: very loosely structured, calming, songs to sing, movement activities...the instructor was really great working with so many young kids. I had reservations before going about how Gemma would do, but after our first class I just new it would be fabulous. And it was...just a really neat activity all around. And it was free with our membership!! We went once a week for six weeks. She still remembers some of the poses and activities we did. Here is downward dog, this is probably her favorite!

Problem-solver

Gemma was "helping" me in the kitchen the other day. She was repeatedly getting into the ink pens/pencils, and I had to remind her several times that they were not for her to touch. All of a sudden she hopped down from her stepstool, ran into the living room (or looooooving room as she calls it) grabbed her magna-doodle and came back in the kitchen and put it up on the counter and happily colored away. I thought that was pretty good thinking for a two-year-old!

St. Patty's Day 2010

St. Patty's Day was really fun this year. I mean, usually it's just another day, but this year we just had lots of fun things, good people with whom to spend it, and tasty food and drink...and it just ended up being a really good day. We started out with breakfast at my mom's which is always relaxing.
Taking time to grab a photo of me and the kiddos in our green!
We then headed to a pizza play-date at my friend Elizabeth's, and really had a fantastic time. There were around a dozen kids plus mommies, and it was a fun time for moms and kiddos alike. Here are the kids playing. The older ones belong to my friend Debi, and let me tell you she should be one proud mama! The way these older boys played with the little ones was just remarkable. All the kids played so nicely together and we really had a nice time.
After the play-date we headed back to my mom's for naptime, and spent the rest of the day there. The kids got to make shamrock jello-jigglers, which was very exciting for them!
We had a dinner of corned beef and cabbage with all the fixin's (thanks to my mom), and my brother provided some Killian's Irish Red, which was super tasty to top off the meal! It was a great day. Even little Kolbe got in on the festivities.

Kolbe - 2 months

Well, Mr. Kolbe is already two months old (as of 3/16). Hard to believe. He is doing great and growing like you wouldn't believe!! He is already in 3-6 month clothes, and some of those the sleeves are already getting short. He is one long boy, and has a decent amount of "chunk", too! I'll be glad when the weather warms and he can wear some of the rompers I've bought/acquired. I'm ready for something other than sleepers!! He's doing great with the cloth dipes. I didn't cloth diaper Gemma as an infant, so wasn't really sure what to expect, but I really like it and can't imagine going back to disposable. Definitely more laundry though. Of the diaper variety and just of the kid variety in general. But I like laundry in a nerdy sort of way so I can't complain. Kolbe seems to have a very sweet fairly mellow little personality. He's starting to smile and "converse" lots, which is fun.
Gemma loves him, indeed. It is fun watching their sibling relationship blossom!
So the transition to two continues to go well. Honestly, I think this second month has been tougher than the first, but it's still all good. It really is fun having two to keep me on my toes, and I'll say it again, it has been SO. GOOD. for me. I've decided I can let my state in life make me into a better person or a worse person - there's really not much staying put - and I'm rooting for better, although some moments you wouldn't know by watching me. I really am trying to work on it though, and do feel at least marginally successful most of the time. Gemma is doing well, and still loves Kolbe to bits (as evidenced by the above picture). She is a sweet girl with a strong will (comes with the "TWO" territory so I hear). She makes me a better parent each day (again, that better/worse thing) and let me tell you, sometimes it is just all I can do to keep my head from exploding. But I'm learning. And she's learning. And that's what it's all about. And here all these years I thought it was the Hokey Pokey. Blast! I am continuing to "find my way" in this whole parenting thing. WHAT an ADVENTURE!! Figure I'll just about have it figured out by the time my kids are grown. But it's fun. And entertaining. Or at least I try to make it that way. Even so... I think the main thing I have learned in my two-years-and-change of being a parent is: I am a work in progress. God bless my children for helping me see that more clearly, and for giving me the opportunity to become a better person while learning to be a parent. May I, likewise, always lead them down the path towards Christ and ultimately our Heavenly reward.

And just for fun, I'll end with a little teaser for my St. Patty's day post coming up...

It all started when a goose pooped on our house

Hey there, figured that title may pique your curiosity. But I'm really here to ask for your help, so now that I've suckered you in you may as well sit back and have a little read. HAHA.

But it did really all start when a goose pooped on our house, so I wasn't being completely misleading...

It was a warmish late fall day. I went out to water our deck plants and much to my dismay there was icky goose poop. Everywhere. Chairs, table, deck, siding, you name it. It was gross and it just looked bad. And since at the time I had (and still do) a curious little helper shadow, I knew I needed to do something about it. That, and it just looked bad. Did I mention that? Well, so I did what I figured would be the most effective thing, and got out the hose to spray everything down. That worked okay, but that goose poop is nasty stuff and would you believe I had to get out rags and paper towels and scrub that putrid substance off of everything with my bare hands. Yucchy! (That's how Oscar spells it when he's talking to his pet skunk, Daisy, in "The Sesame Street Pet Show" book that Gemma is currently obsessed with, and I like that spelling better than the traditional). Anyways, I digress. Where was I even? Hmmmm, well, point being, not long after this little, episode, THEY showed up. Nasty tiny little ants. All over my kitchen. In my sink, in the dishwasher, the cabinets, crawling on the walls. All over. Now you talk about yucchy. Well, maybe not so much yucchy (see, doesn't it look cool that way? and you can kind of make a raspy sound in the back of your throat when you say it, like, "cccchhhhhh") GAH, sidetracked again! My bad. Anyways, ants are just pesky, with a capital P. I guess that would make them Pesky, then. But my husband assured me they would be gone with the first freeze, and sure enough, they were. Silly me believed that that was the end of our issues. Okay, it was more like grasping at straws than down-home believing, but HECK no. It hadn't been warm for half-an-hour this March and those nasty little boogers were back at it. Same story, second verse. Happy freakin' Spring. So now the whole "they'll die with the first freeze" trick isn't cutting it anymore and I'm beginning to get irate. Just ask my husband. He has been told in no uncertain terms that he is to no longer joke about this situation ANYmore. I'm sure you can imagine. It has me stressed and bothered and annoyed and a million other little things, and I am just plain tired of squashing those little creatures only to open my dishwasher (even when it's just run) and see 50 more. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! And I keep a clean kitchen, to boot!

So now, you're probably wondering B things (I say B, and not 2, since I intend to letter your wonderings, not number them.)
A.) What does this have to do with the goosy-poopy?
and
B.) How exactly can I help?

Well, I shall explain. A.) I am convinced that spraying the house with the hose somehow stirred things up and caused this, this, abhoration. and B.) You can give me some tips on ridding our domicile of these nasty little creatures. I'm just not a huge fan of chemicals, and if someone comes to the house to take care of them I want to know that they will be TAKEN. CARE. OF. and abolished from my presence forever and ever and ever. Period. So there you have it. Sound off, my friends. PLEASE!!

Now yes, I realize, I could have just got on here and typed up a little note asking if anyone had any recommendations for appropriate pest control, but really, where's the fun in that?!

CHEERS!

Snuggly Kolbe

Kolbe is a snuggler. Night and day he likes to snuggle. Often in the mornings when I am getting ready he will snuggle down in my bathrobe. I remember Gemma doing that too, and thinking it was pretty super-sweet. Here is Mr. Kolbe all snuggled up one morning.
Crashed out!
And some recent sewing, a baby blanket and matching burp-cloth for my sis's brand-new baby, Ruby.

I didn't know what to title this post, so I just didn't title it. Guess I'm not feeling very creative, but thought I'd check in none-the-less. I am SO LOVING the mei tai. Kolbe just spends hours, I mean HOURS in it a day.
Sometimes (a lot of times) he sleeps, but other times he's awake and just so quiet and alert, taking everything in. It's awesome! I love it when I look down at him and his big eyes are just gazing up at me. It's so sweet. And it is so infinitely much more comfortable than my previous carrier, it really is remarkable. Between the convenience of being able to have two free hands and then the added benefits of baby-wearing, I'm...smitten (for lack of a better term...remember, not feeling very creative today). Thanks again to my friend Michelle for helping me find the right carrier! Oh all right, enough. Moving on...

I finally (after way too much analysis, I know) decided how to handle the monthly couch pictures now that we have multiple kiddos. Kolbe and Gemma (and any future kiddos) will sit on the couch together for a picture on the 11th of each month, and then I will take Kolbe's (or any future kiddos) picture by himself on the couch on the day of the month he was born for the first year of his life, and then just go with strictly the 11th after that point. Yes, I am a total nerd for being so analytical about this, but alas, well, I am. So, whew, that all being said, here's the pic from March 11. Gemma: 2yrs 2 months, and Kolbe almost: 2 months.
Sorry for being so rambly. And dorky. But hey, you're the ones who choose to keep coming back, hehe!! :-D Thanks for checking in, and a happy weekend to ALL!

Our babies

This is a picture of Gemma and I nursing our babies. I was really excited that Aaron was around to capture this in a photo, because she has been doing this a lot lately, especially when I'm feeding Kolbe, and I think it's really sweet. Here are some I was able to snap the other day.
And here is a pic of both my babies in their coordinating Bummis Super-Brite diaper covers.
I am really excited...pathetically excited even, about Gemma's diaper situation. She had been wearing these contours, which I liked for the most part, but they were just getting too small for her. I recently had to purchase bigger covers (which I hated to do so close to potty-training) because of the leak issues we were having, but then realized it wasn't only the covers that were too small, but the diapers too. Well, I was debating my options, when I remembered the stash of red-edge prefolds I had ordered for the purpose of burp-cloths and for Kolbe's future use. And, lo and behold, they fit her!!! Definitely on the small side, but they work sooooooo much better than the contours. And I'm really happy that I hopefully won't need to buy a bigger size, as she is getting very close to being potty-trained. She has been pooping in the potty for months now (how she figured that one out at such a young age is still beyond me!), but the whole potty thing has just been lost on her. Completely. Here recently though she's been using the potty in the evenings before our shower, and even sometimes in the mornings (especially the days that she wakes up DRY, which blows my mind). I'm not going to push her, but I will continue to encourage, as I really do think we're getting close!!! I recently purchased this book for her, and she seems to think it's pretty cool. I think if I left her naked from the waist down she'd have it in a snap, just not entirely positive about that approach. It's just that she seems to know she has to go and runs to sit on the potty when she's not wearing any diaper/pants/whatever, but when she's in a dipe or even training pants, she tells me that she goes as she's going or after she goes. We're definitely making progress though, diapers and all, and I'm good with that. She needs to do it on her time, and not be forced. And while I'm on the subject...does anyone know of any training pants out there that are thicker (more like the thickness of a diaper) but can be pulled up and down rather than fastened on as a diaper. I just really hate to try pull-ups, because I think that might set us back. But it would be oh so much easier to just be able to pull pants up and down, especially when she wants to try to go 5 times in 30 minutes. Let me know!!! Wow, I really am a mom. I just blogged a very long paragraph about potty. Wow. I think I'll quit now. TTFN!

Kolbe's new ride

I have recently been in the market for a new carrier for Kolbe. The Baby Bjorn I had with Gemma is nice, but it is really starting to hurt my back because of the way the straps are (they cross in the back but they are only 2" wide and don't have any support around the waist). I know I wear Kolbe a lot more than I did her, and it's been taking its toll. The sling that I got was nice when he was tiny, but it is kind of awkward now. I'm looking forward to using it again when I can carry him on my hip. Anyways, a friend of mine has a mei tai carrier, and she let me try hers out. I really like it. Same idea as the bjorn carrier, just distributes the weight a little differently, which was exactly what I needed, and I am guessing it's more comfortable for Kolbe, too. The other nice thing about the mei tai is when he gets bigger I can also put him on my back...which I think will be really handy for things like walks, the zoo, cooking and the grocery store. Anyways here's a pic, and in the foreground you can see the pretty orchids Aaron brought me last night for no reason. What a guy!!!

Pretend play

Gemma has recently really started to understand and enjoy the whole "pretending" thing. She often likes to pretend she is a dog or a kitty, and will crawl around the house and ask me to pet her or feed her. Here is the little kitty, eating out of her food bowl the other morning.

WAFFLES

For those of you who have been holding your breath, I am finally getting around to my nerdy waffle post!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, it all began with the dawning of life with two young children and the fact that breakfast is, errrr, not as leisurely as it used to be. So I mentioned that waffles sounded good. You know, just pull them out of the freezer, pop 'em in the toaster, and you're good to go. But I really do refuse to eat much of anything that isn't whole grain anymore. Pasta, tortillas, bread...I just feel so much better when I (and my daughter) are eating these items in their whole-grain less-processed state. So anyways, I digress, my hubby checked the nature's market section of the grocery store for whole-grain waffles, and sure enough they had them. For $.50 a piece. Well, forget that. But then later in the week he was shopping at Aldi and stumbled upon a belgian waffle maker for $13. Figured, why not?! If we like it and like the waffles, it will pay for itself in very little time. Well, let me tell you, we our kind of on a waffle kick at our house now. We have been tweaking and playing around with the recipe, and I think we've come up with something that we REALLY like. AND it is super-healthy. So I shall share. I'm sure all waffle-makers are different, but you get the general idea.

Whole Grain Waffles
Mix together (well) the following dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup ground oats (you can buy oat flour, but we found it cheaper just to grind up whole oats in our food processor. We get our oats from Whole Foods, and they are very tasty.)
1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
1 tablespoon sugar (white or brown)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of cloves

Add the following wet ingredients (in this order):
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (it is solid in its room temperature state)...you could also use veggie or canola oil or melted butter)
1 3/4 cups milk (okay, if you use the melted coconut oil, you'll want to heat the milk a bit so the oil doesn't clump when you add the cold milk, if this makes sense)
2 eggs beaten (if you really wanted to put forth the effort you could separate the eggs, add the yolks, whip the whites and fold them in...but take my word the waffles taste fine if you just add the eggs as one beaten mass)
2 teaspoons vanilla (I digress again...if anyone is going to Mexico, could you please pick us up another bottle of vanilla?? Pretty, pretty please?!!! We got some when we were there on our honeymoon, and we are almost out and are not foreseeing another trip down there in the near future!!)

Mix this stuff all up in a bowl and then proceed according to your specific waffle maker's waffling instructions. We like to take ours out before they are incredibly crispy and cool them on a cooling rack and then freeze them. We then toast them at our leisure and that takes care of crisping them up.

Sorry I don't have a pic. If I had been thinking, I'd have taken one of today's batch, but alas, you really don't want to see the inside of my freezer - which is where they are now - so you can just imagine them in their crispy, golden goodness.

ENJOY!
PS - If anyone else has a waffle recipe to share, I am certainly open for suggestions!

Smiley Kolbe

Kolbe really is a pretty stoic little guy. Not unhappy, just not incredibly expressive, either. But every once in awhile (when he's actually awake!) he cuts loose...
He's started making more noises too...yesterday and today it ALMOST sounded like he was laughing when we were talking to and playing with him. He's a pretty sweet little guy, for sure.

Love these kiddos

Yep, I love 'em. SOOOOOO much. God is good and we are blest.

In other news, as you read a few posts ago, we moved Gemma's books to her closet. And it has been nice, she has actually started playing with her toys again. It seems since from the end of the pregnancy and Kolbe's newborn days all we've done is read books. And don't get me wrong...I love reading and I love that my daughter seems to be growing into quite the bookworm, but her toys had been severely neglected lately, and I DO like to see her playing creatively, too. At any rate, I think we've struck a good balance now with the way things are. Here she is with her latest favorite toy, her Build-N-Fun farm. She really likes the blocks and has been very creative with her building of late.
Back to the books though...the books are on the shelf in the closet, and then there is a basket in her room that I'm going to rotate "favorites" in and out of on a regular basis. It seems to be working well, as we've still had plenty of quality reading time. And speaking of books (boy, I just keep going off on tangents, don't I) I recently ordered a book called "You Can go to the Potty" for Gemma, and it came today. I am anxious to read it to her, I am hoping it might start making more of an impression on her, and encourage her to want to potty on the potty. She's getting sooooooo close. But okay, enough. I could ramble more, but later. That's all for now.