Lazy Day

Sometimes lazy days are the best days around here. I feel like if I don't waste time getting myself ready for the day and just hang out in my PJ's all day, I have more time to just play with the kids and do some things around the house. At the end of the day, I actually feel like I accomplished more and don't put the kids to bed thinking how little time I sat down and just spent one-on-one with them that day. I love running around, and we do it almost everyday because it's just my nature (and Katelynn's now too since she has been running around since she was little. Some days she will "request" to go somewhere), but today I didn't get dressed until 5 p.m. and we never stepped foot outside at all, and yet I feel like we had such a great day! We played and I even got both kids to nap for a little bit at the same time and got one of my bathrooms scrubbed and a load of laundry done... I know, small progress but this still progress. My kids are growing up sooo fast... too fast, and some days it's nice just to lounge around and enjoy them all day long!

Clean Teeth for Katelynn

Today was Katelynn's very first dentist appointment ever. I have been putting off taking her in for almost a year now as I have dreaded the day thinking she was going to have a hard time with it. Some days I have to chase her around our own house to brush her teeth so I thought a stranger asking her to open her mouth and put loud tools inside would be a nightmare (remember this is the child who was always afraid of the vacuum and just now isn't afraid of a lawnmower). However, as always, Katelynn managed to shock me and do a really great job at her first appointment!

We have been prepping her for this for months now. We started reading the Little Critter's Trip to the Dentist book at bedtime and talked about going to the dentist. I have found this works best for preparing Katelynn for something- talking to her a lot about it and reading stories about it. When today came, she was actually pretty excited to go, but I still thought she would be really shy and/or get upset once we arrived.

The nurse called her back and Katelynn jumped up to go. I followed them. The nurse/dental hygienist started asking Katelynn questions, and I was shocked at how well she was doing answering all of them. She wasn't a bit shy, and she was saying all the right answers. They probably think we prepped her on how to answer the questions, especially when they asked her, "Do you brush your teeth?" And Katelynn responded, "I brush my teeth EVERYDAY." Although it's very true that she does in fact brush everyday, I thought it was hysterical that she said it that way. I am sure they think I prompted her on that one! Katelynn layed back and let the hygientist work on her teeth without any hesitation. I was so proud!

When the dentist walked in, it was a different story though. For some reason she got very shy when he arrived and she wouldn't talk to him at all. It took him finishing his evaluation before she must have realized he wasn't going to do anything to hurt her and then she opened back up. She got a thumbs up for how well we are taking care of her teeth and she goes back in six months!

This is a little video I took when we got home of her account of the visit. She was telling her daddy all about it all on her own on the phone, but once we got home she didn't just go on and on about it to the camera so I had to ask her some questions.

Disclosure: I tried retaking this video because she picks her nose in this video. I was hoping to not have to share that part with you all, but she didn't want to sit and talk to the camera after this video so you get to see the embarrassing new habit my two-year old has picked up that I'm trying to get her to stop doing :)

Silly, Silly Girl!

The challenges of taking a child's picture never end. It used to be that I couldn't get her to stand still long enough to take a picture, then I couldn't get her to look at the camera and now although I can get her to look and stand still (sometimes), I tend to get this goofy "cheesy" smiles... or she shouts "CHEESE!" and her face shows it! :)
And of course when you get the good smile and the eye contact, then Katelynn makes sure to add in a curve ball on you by trying to "pose" for the camera! Gotta love 2-year olds!

Jumping Justin

When Katelynn was about three months old, we went to Georgia to visit my parents and my mom and I found this jumperoo on clearance at Target. We got it and kept it at their house for Katelynn. At the time I drove a car and it was hard to bring stuff when we came to visit. Well, Justin is such a bad traveler that it doesn't look likely we'll be visiting GA until he gets better at riding in the car so my mom brought the jumperoo here for him to play with. He got his first go at it yesterday. He doesn't have the jumping down just yet, but I am sure it will be no time before he's jumping like crazy!

He is a fan of anything that lights up right now so the toy on the front was a hit!

A Special Visitor

For those of you regularly following our blog, I apologize for not posting in almost a week. We have had a busy end of the week as my mom brought my 80-year old grandma (my dad's mom) for a visit. It's probably been over a year since she has seen Katelynn, and this was her first time meeting Justin! She lives in Tennessee, and we don't really ever get to make it up there so luckily she came down to visit us.

Justin and his Great-Grandma Carney

My kids are lucky enough to have three Great-Grandmas still living, but all of them live out of state and rarely get to see the kids. This was the first "great" grandparent that has gotten to meet Justin!

I probably took 40 pictures of both kids with my grandma, and this is the best picture I got. I couldn't get all three of them to cooperative at the same time. We really should have tried taking these before Grandma's last day here as both kids were crabby by picture time but at least we got one!I know my mom is going to cringe when she sees that I have posted pictures of her on here, but she hardly ever gets pictures with my kids. Katelynn adores my mom. She wants nothing to do with me or Jonathan while my mom is here. It's a nice break for me as I am not even allowed to do anything for Katelynn without her crying about her Grandma being the one helping, but I do admit sometimes it breaks my heart. Today is a great example- Grandma was gone as of this morning and I asked Katelynn if she wanted to play with me, and she said, "I want to play with my Grandma." I told her Grandma had to go home because Grandpa and Uncle Jeremy missed her so she said, "I want to play by myself outside." Nice.. she would rather play by herself since her grandma isn't here than with her mommy!

And here's a rare moment where my mom got to hold and play with Justin. Katelynn likes to take up all of Grandma's time while she's here, but my mom snuck in some Justin time while Katelynn was sleeping yesterday.

So, don't you all think it would be better if my parents just packed up and moved to Charlotte so that they don't have to live so far away? :)

Two Little Braids

They might be out of style.. I have no idea, but today Katelynn sported her first set of braids. She thought it was the coolest thing ever to have her hair braided. She couldn't remember the name of it though and kept saying "these things" instead.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! We really didn't do anything special today, but how could I have not enjoyed my Mother's Day when I have these two cuties to spend it with?

My Mother's Day started at 1 am when Justin woke up screaming. It was quite the reminder that I was in face a mommy and all that being a mommy entailed. We were up most of the night :( so Jonathan got up with Katelynn and let me sleep an extra hour. I woke up to Katelynn screaming "Happy Mother's Day!!!!" She was excited to show me her present she had made. Jonathan had taken her to Michael's last weekend for one of their free craft workshops and she made me a little hanging plate. Then this morning Jonathan let her paint and color a Happy Mother's Day card. It was the perfect gift.

You know, I have been wishing my own mom a happy mother's day for 26 years now, and until two years ago, I don't think I really realized how MUCH I needed to thank her. Motherhood has always been my dream, and I love that I'm living it. I wouldn't want to change it for anything. Being a mom is so much more than I ever thought it was. It's more than just making sure my kids have a roof over their head, food on the table, and clothes on their back; more than just making sure they have a fun each and every day. Being a mom is a whirlwind of challenges and emotions- trying to make all the right choices to lead them down the right path; enough discipline without going overboard and drowning out the fun; and making sure that each one of them is able to be their own individual. I never dreamed I would spend so much time trying to make sure I made the right choices for my kids. It can be so exhausting! Thankfully, the fun and rewards of being a mommy greatly outweigh the challenges and make it the best job I have ever had! Watching my children grow and evolve is so rewarding, and I never would have become the mommy I am if it weren't for my own mom. So, I guess this is my way of saying Happy Mother's Day, Mom... and thank you so much for everything you have done for me over the years. I understand now more than ever how much it really takes to be a mom, and I can't thank you enough for being my mom!

And now for more pictures of my day!

The front of the card and the gift Katelynn made

The little ones that make me smile each day!