the kids room

so we live in an apartment but our landlord says it's ok if we paint as long as we repaint over it. before we moved in we painted their room because the walls looked really bad... but i decided since i painted their room already, i would dress up the room more. so recently i did a bit more, and have been meaning to post it!

i painted kathryn's name above her bed, and gave her some flowers. my plan was to do it in pink, because her "colors" i picked when she was born was pink and green, well, as i was mixing the paint and she saw pink, she said...NO purple purple...so, i changed it to purple. 

i made their curtain a while back but just getting around to posting that too. it turned out really good.

kathryn has way to many beanie babies, so to consolidate to one huge 72 gallon container, i decided to put them on the ceiling. it took longer than i thought, so i never really finished, but what's the difference. they like it. 

maybe i'll get around to painting daniel's name on his wall. 

we'll be here probably another 2 years, so might as well make ourself at home.

daydreaming

so i had an incredibly vivid dream last night, i'll spare the details, it's not necessarily interesting, but when i awoke to daniel crying at 6:30 it was like i was on auto pilot, i grabbed him and brought him in bed with me to feed him, and my dream continued where it had left off. now most of the time i'm abruptly woken up from a dream, i forget what i was dreaming about...but this dream just kept going! even when i kathryn woke up at 7:30 and i got up to get breakfast, the dream was still continuing to play out. but every time i tried to think about what i needed to do today, my thought process would freeze and the dream would continue! it started to get annoying, and i couldn't figure out why i couldn't just block it out. when i laid down with kathryn to get her to take a nap, i fell asleep and had a dream about something else, and have since stopped "daydreaming". i wonder what that was all about! i know dreams are supposed to describe what your unconsious mind is thinking, and your true feelings about things, but i couldn't get out of my own head!

anyhow, i opened the door today cuz it was feeling rather nice outside, and daniel went for his escape. he is really getting around, although i'm not sure it's considered crawling yet.

he's going for the plants...

he knows where it's at

so i've been (for the most part) strickly breastfeeding Daniel, and just recently he has become very aware of where his milk comes from. to the point where when i catch his attention he will look me in the eyes smile, his eyes drift to my chest, then back up to my face and smile big...i think it's kinda funny, but i was trying to give him a bath, and i was resting my chest (fully clothed and all) on the side of the tub so i could reach him better, and he was sitting up and he kept reaching for my chest to pull my shirt open... and he'll do that when i have him on my lap and i know he's not hungry, he tries to pull open my shirt (if i'm wearing a button up shirt)...

my mother in law Corine said that this was the age that she would stop breastfeeding when they started to know where and how to get their food. i'd like to keep going with it, but i'm begining to wonder...if i go til he's a year, how in the world do you wean the off the breast?? it seems like at that age, they'll have it engrained in their head that that's where they go when they're thirsty. hmmm.... am i wrong? i haven't gotten to talk to a whole lot of mama's that have been this far or past this point BF. 

so on a quick side note...i volunteered to make my nephew's baby bedding and i had never done this before...a quilt sort of, but bumper pads no...and i must say...IT IS NOT EASY...making bumper pads that is. ok, so it isn't that hard, but when it comes to me, i tend to "teach" myself how to do things the hardest way possible. but i have one bumper pad out of 4 done and i must say...it is GORGEOUS! well, she couldn't make up her mind with what she wanted,so i chose for her! i chose green and brown (like a sea foam green) and an animal print, and i LOVE it. i'm almost jealous i'm giving it away! haha. when i finish all 4 parts, i'll take a picture and post them. 

feeling a bit down

well, with all four of us being sick, daniel probably being the sickest, and only wanting to be cuddled, not sleeping well, and always spitting up from the yucky stuff lingering in the back of his throat...yeah, that alone bums me. i thought that by breastfeeding him, he would avoid the colds that plagued kathryn, not so. 

john and i are trying to get completely out of debt, and clean up our "credit score" so we can be sitting pretty come time to buy a house...we had some dental credit cards that we needed to pay off asap, or else they will add retroactive interest of the tune of 700 dollars, so we decided to do a loan at our credit union. we figured since we have never had collections of any form, never been delinquent on any bill, and just knocked alot of debt out and closed out some credit cards within the last year that we'd get a super good rate, since a little less than a year ago i checked our credit score and it was 717, and 704 (john)...so i was pretty confident that we'd get approved hands down. the loan officer calls me back asking if i wanted to put up collateral to get the loan...what for?? well, you don't have good credit. SAY WHAT? HOW!? well, that's what i'm trying to figure out. there isn't any mark against you...i guess it's just that you don't have a mortgage and you only have 3 credit cards 2 of which is over 50% of the limit charged...those are the only things i see that might bring it down...down to what??? 609. WHAT?!? 

so let me get this right...because we aren't more in debt, we have a lower score???? because we paid off and canceled about 5 credit cards and didn't leave them open we are penalized for that in our score??? because we don't owe money on a house we have a lower score????? WHAT KINDA CRAP IS THIS!!! yah know, i am totally there with DAVE on this one. i refuse to worship at the alter of the great FICO.  i can't believe that this is how the credit score works...so disappointing. all the hard work we've done in paying off over 20,000 in debt in the last 20 months...never being late on bills...all to have such a crappy credit score. there is something wrong with this picture.

and i don't even want to get started with OBAMA...

and that is why i am feeling a bit down. what is this world coming to?

A happy baby makes a happy mommy

oh last night was much better. i somehow managed to bathe both kids and had kathryn in bed by 8:30, and daniel asleep and in bed by 9. i made a pork roast for dinner last night, and corn on the cob, and kathryn tried out the corn for the first time. she didn't eat much but it was fun watching her try something new. she ate a good bit of dinner, so john asked if he could make her a "kiddie" cone (the kiddie cones are small) so i agreed as long as she was in her highchair. in about 20 mins, i noticed this:

poor kathryn. she hadn't had a nap (those are becoming harder and harder to get out of her, and more of a hassle, besides, she goes to sleep on time without one! and goes without a struggle. lol.) and at 7:30, she pooped out, but she was covered in ice cream so i woke her up threw her in the tub and tossed her in bed. she was so good for me when daniel wasn't. it's nice when it works out that way. 

i got to have about 2 hours of play time after the kiddos went to sleep and then i pooped out myself, and no crying was heard until kathryn started beating on her door at 7am. i'll take that over last night! it's always a plus to start out good. 

i have 4 major chores to do today, and i told john to pick two...i gave him his choice! how nice is that. lol. so we'll see just what gets done. 

I jinxed myself

call it what you'd like...before i went to bed i said it didn't seem like Daniel was cranky from teething...and then it started. apparently daniel woke up about 1am, john got up with him tried calming him down till 2:30 then woke me up to see what i could do. i tried feeding him, but his nose was so stuffy from crying, he couldn't breathe but out his mouth which frustrated him more, and he just kept crying and trying to nurse for about 30 mins or so, then he gave up and just started trying to suck his thumb to sleep, but with the same problem, i think he may have slept for about an hour and a half, but at 5:30 it was more screaming for him. poor guy...but when i don't get sleep i don't have a whole lot of patience. so i tried feeding him again, and i attempted to try falling back asleep, but he couldn't breathe still, and went back and forth from crying to nursing for about an hour. finally at 6:45,  (i forgot to set back my clock so it said 7:45) i woke john up and asked him why he wasn't heading for work...he reminded me of the switch, then proceeded to get dressed. daniel started semi smiling at john who was trying to cheer him up while i feel dead and just want the crying to stop. well, i try feeding him again, and after 5 mins he gave up, and about 7am kathryn is banging on the door. nice. now it's hopeless, i'm certainly not getting any more sleep. i tell john to put daniel in his bed so he can cry there, i can't hardly hear myself think from the ears ringing. 

so kathryn gets in bed with me and i still desperately fight both kids being up to try to sleep even for 10 more mins. well, i almost fall asleep when john comes to tell me bye, he was leaving for work. about 7:30 daniel is still crying, so i take him out of his bed, change his diaper, try to give him tylenol which he just lets drool out of his mouth, then, since i was nursing him all night i knew i had nothing left, i made him a bottle, and let him drink it in bed hoping it might put him to sleep...i meanwhile crawl back in bed, kathryn following, and close my eyes, even though kathryn is jabbering away at me, my eyes just burn. i sing some songs until i hear daniel wail again, i get him out of bed and put him on the blanket in the living room to crawl around so i can get breakfast for me and kathryn and possibly start getting read for church. it's like 8:30 now, i'll probably be late but what can i do...so i get breakfast (cereal) try to eat it fast as daniel is staring at me wanting some...i notice spit up on his mouth, i go to wipe it off and find where on the floor it was when i pick him up i realize he tracked all through it and now he was covered from neck to waist in it. gross. i get the water ready for a bath, strip him down, bathe him, start drying him off when he starts again...WAILING. ahhhh make him stop make him stop! i try to dress him but he's stiff and uncoopertive and try holding him and comforting him, he only turns to scream directly into my ear. so i decide i am going to jump through the window if i don't let him calm down away from me....i stick him in his bed half dressed in his bed and quickly leave the room. i hear kathryn say "sta cying dan-do" as she closes the door. that made me laugh. 

after about 5 or so mins he was only hooting, so i go back in there, as soon as he sees me he starts screaming again, but i figure, maybe he wants solid foods, he hasn't had those all morning, so i stick him in the swing, and try to feed him he's so worked up but wants to eat that he takes the bite, but blows it right back out as he tries to breathe, then realizes he didn't take the bite and screams again. finally i decide to search for the medicine..orajel, i lost it, and so it took me all of 5 mins to find it, i got the swab, tried to swab his gums, the screaming only got worse...come on please...i fight with him to get more on his gums for a bit longer, and he sticks his thumb in his mouth and within minutes he is sleeping. oh finally!!!! 

 

on a funny note, kathryn kept tripping over her shoe that was laying on the floor and i kept telling her you need to pick it up so you won't trip on it, then finally she tripped again, and i told her if you would pick it up and put it away you wouldn't trip on it, so she proceeds to grab her shoe run over to the diaper bag and pusehed the shoe in then proceeded to push it down with both hands over and over while saying angrily "sta in deh" (stay in there!) it was just funny because that's exactly how i am when i get mad!

Ahhh a tooth

so daniel cut his first tooth...i dunno if it happened today, but it had to be within the last 2 days, it's pretty new. i would take a picture, but there is nothing to see yet...the tooth just barely broke the gums, so we gotta wait for it to sprout up. no more toothless grins =(  i sure hope this doesn't mean he's gonna get them all at once though! i'd like to keep breastfeeding him, but not if he's going to bite! it just doesn't seem like he's been cranky from cutting a tooth...although i have noticed an increased desire to chew on everything...hehe. he's getting energentic already and it's so cute.