One day of school down, only 2.5 more years to go

Craig had a great first day of school. I was also at the school of nursing for my gero clinical orientation. The stars aligned and we were even able to have lunch together. It was wonderful to have just a couple minutes together to visit and eat, I hope we have more opportunities to spend some time together, just us. I think it will be an important factor in how well we do during this program.

The kids hung out with my mom today. They are in full construction mode at her house and the kids loved it. There were 3 trucks parked outside, Cooper was in heaven. Ama even let him sit in the bed of one truck and was could hardly contain his excitement. Kylie did a good job keeping Coop safe, at one point he wandered close to a hold that opened to the basement, Kylie held his arm and kept him from adventuring in until Ama could get there. She is such a responsible older sister. We had a great afternoon playing with Stephanie, Penny and Pierce. And the best part of the day...wait for it....Craig was home at 6:20 and we ate dinner together!!! This is something that will actually happen almost every night of the week now! I am so excited! Yes there will be challenges over the next 2.5 years, but having dinner together every night and being able to create a predictable routine for the kids is going to be awesome! And one more small joy, Craig got to walk in the front door and give us all a hug and kiss right away. When he comes home from the hospital, he comes in the back door, gets out of his yucky work clothes, showers and then comes to say "hi," by this point both kids are often upset or going crazy and they pretty much tackle him when he turns off the shower. It was so much nicer to have him be able to just walk in the front door and give us hugs.

Still having issues with my photos, hope to add some tomorrow.
-Natalie

Craig got a new computer today and school starts tomorrow!!

Our family grew today, Craig bought a new computer for school, it will, no doubt, be a big part of the family for the next three years :o)  I took the kids to BigAir for toddler time this morning, we jumped and stayed for lunch. The kids hung out with Craig while I had a dentist apt in the afternoon then we tackled a little more of the house and tried to tidy our office space. Craig had a little more time to get his ducks in a row this evening when I took the kids to the Mommy Meet Up at Dr. Philips house. Overall it was a wonderful day. I think I counted 16 teeth in Cooper's mouth this morning and his language, and ability to communicate, is just exploding. It is so fun watching him grow and change.

The photos are taking forever to load...I will add them tomorrow.
Good night,
Natalie

So it begins...

I took the kids to church this morning while Craig had his first official day of orientation for the CRNA program. He was there for most of the day then we all headed to a welcome dinner at one of the professors house. It was a really fun evening, the group his classmates seem wonderful. I was also able to connect with another women whos husband is starting the program, she has two boys almost 2 and 4. We hit is off right away and I hope we can be a support for each other during the next couple years. Cooper and Kylie did really well today, we have been busy the past couple days but our kids just truck along and see to have a great time. One of the fun activities at the dinner tonight was a photo shoot scavenger hunt. The students were divided into teams and they had to recreate different scenes and take a photo. Kylie's doll, Carly, ended up being a big part of the photos and contributed to Craig's group wining the competition. It was so fun to help them think of fun photos and for Kylie and Coop to be involved. Tomorrow will be a prep day for Craig, he still needs to get a computer and his books, there is also a little studying that has to happen before class on Tuesday. I am so happy for him, I know he will thrive in this program (like he does in everything). I love him so much and I am eager to be a strong, supportive wife while he is on this journey.
So it begins...

SeaWorld Photos...

My good friend Sheridan had her beautiful baby boy today! I spend the majority of my day at her house photographing the birth. Craig was a rock star dad who ventured to the water park with both kids in the afternoon, grocery shopped and then prepared some yummy food for the neighborhood get together. This morning before we got the call from Sheridan, Craig and I were working on the house, Craig got our bathroom sink to drain again!! And he went through his clothes getting rid of about 100 items in an attempt to "tidy" some. I had asked Craig to do this before he started school, I have been so happy with my and the kids tidy clothes, that I have been eager for Craig to do the same. At least the clothing in our house feels under control, now it's matter of getting the rest organized.

Photos form SeaWorld...

Kylie loved touching and rays, daddy even bought some fish to feed them.

 Family selfie when we arrived to the park.

 Cooper first time on Abby's spinning saucers. He rode it twice then gave us the "all done" sign. 

 Kylie and I rode it about 4 times, she likes to spin it somewhat fast so we rode without daddy and Cooper and we made it spin.

 Next we rode on Elmo's flying fish, Cooper loved this one and kept signing "more" so we went on it a couple times.

 Kylie was not so sure about this one, she enjoyed it but we made sure we did not make our fish go up at all.

 The beluga whales

 The sea turtles

 The sharks

 Cooper fell asleep before we headed to the sharks, he will get to enjoy them next time.

 The girls and their cotton candy.

 We took this same photo two years ago...Kylie has grown so much!

 We got to meet OP Otter before we left the park, both Kylie and Coop really liked him.

 It was a fun family day.

SeaWorld!

We had a wonderfully fun day at SeaWorld today. Our plan was to get up early and head down to San Diego so we could be there close to 10am, when the park opens. Of course this was one morning when everyone was sleeping well, I was able to get up and completely dressed and ready (even packing our bags for the day) before the kids were stirring. Once the kids woke up, we got on our way (still getting out of the house by 8am, pretty impressive). We stopped at a delicious place for breakfast in the middle of our drive and ended up getting to SeaWorld around 11.

It was such a fun day, although our park map was not up to date with the show times and details so we ended up missing a couple shows we thought the kids would like. Kylie led the way for the majority of the day (sorry Cooper), she wanted to see the rays and ride on Abby's spinning cups. It has been a very long time since Kylie has gone to SeaWorld but she seemed to remember quite a bit.

Cooper had a good time, but he was not in to it the way Kylie had been at his age. The animals could keep his attention for a couple minutes then he was on to the next thing. Overall I think he had a good time, he enjoyed seeing the turtles (of course) and the beluga whales were also a big hit. He did end up taking a nap in the late afternoon and missing the shark exhibit, but that just means we will have to take him back another time.

Kylie picked out a SeaWorld Barbie doll as her souvenir. She was so excited when she saw this Barbie set up with penguins that she decided she just had to bring it home. The Barbie was out of the box and completely naked before we were out of the parking lot.

We then headed to a delicious Mexican restaurant very close to Kyle's new job. Auntie Shena and Uncle Mike have been in SD this week, so they were able to meet up with us for dinner too. We had another yummy meal (toward the end of which both kids started to shows their tired signs) and then headed back to Shena and Mikes hotel to drop Shena off and change the kids into pj's. Once we were back in the car, it was just after 9pm and both kids fell asleep in less then 7 minutes. Craig and I enjoyed some good conversation on the drive home and now we are just getting ready to join little Cooper in bed.

I will add the photos tomorrow :o)
Good night,
Natalie
 

A first for Kylie...

I just finished posting for today and Kylie walked into the office. She had been sleeping for a couple hours and didn't seems to be upset, just walking in. So I offered to go back to bed with her and nurse her. We climbed in bed and she said "I need a cold glass of water, with ice in it." Ok, so I got her a sippy cut with ice water (she has NEVER asked for water at bedtime before, it's always warm milk). I was laying with her and she was enjoying her water, I told her that I was going to go get my jammies on and wash my face, she said ok (also not something that happens often, usually she wants me to stay with her). I took my time getting ready for bed and just walked back in to her room, she is fast asleep, holding her sippy cup up on her tummy. She drank most of the water and just went back to sleep. Wow! I think this is the first time she has fallen asleep in her bed without nursing! I guess this is what its like to have a big kid :o/ anyway just wanted to document it, who knows when it will happen again :o)

Just another day in the neighborhood...

Craig worked his last shift in the ED today, he has been picking up overtime to help make ends meet. He had a busy day and said he was glad to be done with the ED nursing. He will still work once day a week for a little while as he transitions to school, but his full time nursing days are behind him, its kinda crazy to think of.

The kids and I had another good day, we went to story time this morning, Kylie has been enjoying taking her library card and borrowing books. Cooper of course loves the singing and going to see the goldfish.

Stephanie, Pierce and Penny came over for lunch and some play time, Cooper and Penny are so cute, they just follow each other around and imitate each other. Little Pierce is only 5.5 months old but he is crawling everywhere and Kylie just loves "taking care" of him. At one point today we had all the kids on our big bed and we were reading 5 Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed. It was so fun to watch them jump and dance, fall and laugh.

We also did a lot of reading today. Kylie was always very gentle with her books, she didnt ever rip pages, Cooper not so much. I spent about 20 minutes today fixing book pages that Cooper had destroyed, silly boy. Craig was reading with Cooper tonight, he was reading Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes. At one point in the book the author asks "did Pete cry?" the answer is "goodness no!" when Craig read "did Pete cry?" Cooper said "no" and shook his head. Craig and I looked at each other and smiled, it was so cute. He has never responded to that book before, but obviously he was taking it all in. He insisted on reading it and our other Pete the Cat books, I 'm so glad both he and Kylie enjoy books so much. Just a couple days ago, Kylie decided she would read to me while we were laying down for rest time, it was great.

I came in to the living room to find this, love it. 

Oh and Kylie birthed a baby this morning... she asked if I could be her birth photographer, I was honored to do the job :o)

Cooper learns a new word..."no."

Cooper and I went to breastfeeding group today (there were 25 moms! so fun), Kylie spent time with Ama and Papa while they had the contractors working on their house.  Just the past two days Cooper has learned a new word, "no." He says it with a sweet little shake of his head, it is oh so cute. He has not learned how to use "no" in an agressive or defiant way, just a sweet way right now. For example, tonight I was pushing the kids in the stroller trying to get them to sleep, Cooper wanted to be held, he would reach for me "mama, nana, back" (back is what he says when he wants to go in the farrier, often he doesn't actually mean he wants to ride on my back, but sometimes he does). I would go to pick him up and he would turn his head to the said and softly, sweetly, with a smile say "no." then I would go back to pushing the stroller and he would do it again. We must have done this about 10 times before I just picked him up anyway.  Nothing else to exciting, just trying to soak in every minute with these two amazing kids.
-Natalie

Home-made cookies

Today the kids bounced back and fourth from home to my parents. I had a couple work meetings to attend but other then that it was a pretty relaxed day.

We had corn on the cob for dinner, Cooper loved it!

After dinner we decided to make cookies from scratch. We all got our aprons on and started to gather the ingredients. We were short one stick of butter so we headed to Rachel and Tyler's house. It is so fun to be able to borrow ingredients from the neighbors, it reminds me of the neighborhood I grew up in. The kids enjoyed making the cookie dough, Cooper was a little wild though. At one point I thought it might be easier to give him his only little bowl with a tiny bit of flower so he could stop trying to get his hands in the big bowl. It worked but he immediately started frantically swinging his arms and the flower was flying... everywhere.  But that is the fun of it, right?

The cookies tasted SO yummy!
Good night,
Natalie

Family dinner tonight!

Both kids were up before the sun this morning, they were up when daddy woke up and often they go back to sleep, but not today. Se we were up, eating breakfast and planning out our day. We decided to go to Big Air (used to be Sky Town) for the toddler time. We got there a little later then we usually do, especially considering we were all up so early this morning. But I did get a shower in, Cooper had a big poop and tried to take a nap, and Kylie decided that today was one of those days when pink hair is a must. So after cleaning everyone up and applying the pink hair chalk to Kylie's spiral piggy tails, we were off. I had planned a quick trip to Target before Big Air, but as we pulled into the parking lot Cooper fell asleep. Thinking that I was better off trying to keep him alseep in the carrier at Big Air and not risk the quick trip to Target, we continued on. Arrived at Big Air and our tickets to jump, Cooper woke, but in a good mood. This kids just love spending time there, it is so fun and nice and cool. We are still having some VERY hot days like 106. And being inside, with the chance to run around it so great!

Just got a text that I need to go take birth photos, I will finish this blog later!
I forgot to push "publish" last night, so I guess I will just continue on...

Our friends Stephanie, Ken, Penny and Pierce came to join us in the jumping and and free lunch. Then I was sure we would be able to make the Target stop before heading home for naps. But since we were all up so early Kylie was done. We pulled into the parking lot and Kylie started to cry "i'm so tired, I don't want to go to Target." So we drove home. Both kids were asleep by the time we pulled in the driveway, needless to say they both had a good nap.

Cooper has been back and fourth, one day he takes 2 naps the next day only one. I know if I was able to accommodate just him and I was not trying to having a 3 year old too, he would take two, maybe even three naps. But the kids gets dragged around to all different activities and if there is something fun going on, then he is awake and enjoying himself. Although I assume he is sometimes tired, he is always in such a good mood and eager to be part of the action.

By the time they both woke up it was 4:30 and finally time to go to Target lol. Anyway we made it there and back home as fast as we could because we were hosting at Taco Night Big Family Dinner. Sheridan, Mark, Sheridan's Grandma, Emery, Stephanie, Ken, Penny and Pierce were all coming over to have dinner with us. It was a wonderful dinner, we ate outside and the kids ran around on the grass. Kylie "took care" of Pierce and the other three took turns stealing toys from one another. After dinner we gave the kids a bath and took them on a walk. Cooper was the only one to fall asleep during the walk, but it was still wonderful to be able to visit with Steph and Sheridan while we cruised the neighborhood.

I was called to take photos for my friend Breann last night. Things moved so fast that I got there about 1 minute after the baby was already out :o( I was so sad to miss it. But I got a whole bunch of wonderful photos anyway.

Over all it was a busy and fun day!
-Natalie

Sunday, Sunday.

I taught childbirth class today and the kids were home with daddy. Kylie spent time with her buddy Portia this morning, it has been a while since we have see our wonderful neighbors and Kylie is not always super eager to play with Portia. But this morning when Kylie saw them out walking, she was so eager to join them and even ended up playing over at their house for a couple hours. Cooper got to spend time with his Papa while Daddy worked at church and Ama, Marta and Tim worked on moving stuff from Ama and Papas house (they are in the middle of a big remodel).

I got to meet up with the kids, Craig, Marta and Tim for lunch, it is always wonderful to see my family in the middle of a busy work day. They had a fun time swimming at Oma and Bubba's house in the afternoon and then we all enjoyed a great family dinner at their house. The kids ate a great dinner and had fun playing afterward until it was time to head home. Cooper was so sleepy, he was out before we even got home. I tranfered Cooper to our bed and Kylie came in to read us stories while I nursed Coop. Kylie has been "reading" a lot the past 2 days. She gets out her books and described what is happening on the pages (and sometimes not) while she flits through the book. It is so sweet and some of the things she "reads" are so cute. I will have to try and get a video of her sometime.

We are heading into our last week before Craig starts his CRNA program. We are excited and a little nervous. Good night for now,
Natalie

Just a simple Saturday.

Cooper and Kylie had a great day today. They got to spend time with their Ama, Papa, Marta and Tim. I was able to spend time with my good friend Sheridan and experience my first "birth story listening" with Kathy and Sheridan, it was awesome. This evening I taught at the BI and my other good friend Stephanie was able to sneak away from her kids and come dance with me for a bit. It was another hot day but the kids made use of the backyard once the sun started to go down. Kylie helped Ama in the back yard, pretending to be Mary from little house in the big woods, Cooper is baby Carrie, Ama is Ma and I get to be Aunt Elisa. She also spent time as a mermaid (she put the top half if her costume on Cooper, it was so cute) and as Elsa.

The mermaid and mer-man

 Kylie now knows how to use the camera on my phone, so she took a selfie...and a few more...