Moving Karsyn

So we are about 80% done "changing it up". When you walk into the office it looks like the office, when you walk into Karsyn's room it looks like Karsyn's room....until you open the closets.  Karsyn's clothes are in the office closet and the office supplies are in Karsyn's closet.  It was a bigger job that we had anticipated moving the rooms and decided to skip the closets for today.  So....I plan to do a little here and there as I get time, as the items in the closets I should be able to move without help.  I plan on painting Karsyn's room at some point, as soon as I figure out how I want to decorate it.  I asked her what color paint she wanted in her room and she said "back" which means black....um no sweet girl I'm not painting your room black.  Then she said "pink", you'll have to talk to Daddy about that one, he has been "pinked out" for a while now.  Very doubtful he'll let that fly.  So that will be a project another day not anytime soon. 

Tonight is the first night Karsyn is sleeping downstairs in her new room.  Karsyn really didn't have a reaction when I put her in her crib in her new room.  Just the same as usual.  With Sydney I had to do some explaining how this was going to work.  For tonight I moved Sydney's monitor in the hallway (Patrick is making me try and "see how it works") for a trial run.  Patrick isn't convinced we need another monitor.  I explained to Sydney that not much is changing, I'll still put Karsyn to bed first and then I'll put her to bed and do our usual routine:  the quick preview of the next days events, hug, kiss, and I love yous.  I also explained that if she needs me she'll have to come and get me cause if she yells for me she'll wake up Karsyn.  The the part that made her smile was when I told her that her and Karsyn were "neighbors" now.   I thought that might be a deal breaker, turned out to be the best part for her. =)

So as I sit here and type my first blog in our office upstairs I wonder what the night will bring.  Will I hear the girls if they wake up?  Will I toss and turn "waiting" for them to wake up?  I'm sure I'll blog about it! ;) 

Changing it up

Last week Patrick and I were talking about moving his office, currently its downstairs in the room next to Sydney's.  The plan (from way back when we built the shop) eventually was to have the office moved out to the shop, (he has a special area designated for it, just would have to make the walls for it).  Then when the office was moved out to the shop we'd move Karsyn downstairs in that room.  Then we'd have a spare room for visitors and what not, instead of using air mattresses.  Knowing that its just not in the budget right now to make the office in the shop Patrick had another idea....maybe we could move the office upstairs and move Karsyn downstairs.  That way I'd have the computer upstairs, where I've been wanting it for a while and Patrick thinks that might help him get paperwork done (not sure about that but I'll go along with it). With both the girls downstairs maybe that would cut down on the toy clutter upstairs and keep the toys (for the most part) downstairs.... :)  Since I mentioned a few times that I'm kind of LOVING that idea, and he does too, he says since we have some company coming this weekend we would have some help moving the heavy stuff upstairs.   So....that means, according to Patrick, I'll have to paint that room before the weekend (since he doesn't want a green office).  Plus, I can maneuver the furniture in that room around by myself, if the office furniture was in there I wouldn't be able to maneuver it to paint. I have the girls in daycare Thursday so I guess I'll do it then!!  Patrick is leaving it up to me what color to paint.  YIKES!! I'm no good at making decisions like that!!  So I've spent sometime today looking online at colors and getting ideas.  Wish me luck!! 

On another note.  With both the girls being downstairs there is a dilemma I'm facing.  I have a monitor in Sydney's room now so I can hear her if she wakes up in the night.  I know she could find me if she REALLY needed me but, I like the peace of mind with having the monitor in there. So, do I put the monitor in the hallway between the rooms and see how it works??  Or, do I go buy another monitor to put in Karsyn's room??  I'm thinking it will be worth it to buy a new one for my peace of mind, for that's priceless.  :)

This and That...

As we start another summer, i wanted to jot down a few things the girls are saying/doing before the summer gets too busy and I forget. 

 SYDNEY:

She can load her toothbrush with toothpaste (I have to check the amount of toothpaste on it before it goes in her mouth) and brush her teeth (followed by "mommies turn" and inspection of course).  She actually does a very good job brushing too.

She can get her own water from the fridge dispenser when she's thirsty.

On a good day, she can get dressed by herself (depends on her mood), sometimes when she sees me dressing Karsyn she gets too tired or can't do it.  =) 
She can go potty by herself and do so without me knowing...until I hear "mommy I'm done" which means she went poo. 

Put her hair in a pony tail.

Can reach things in the fridge I didn't think she could.  Helpful when setting the table.  Otherwise not so much! =)

Is all of a sudden not wanting to sleep downstairs by herself.  I then explain to her that we are going to move Karsyn downstairs someday, (hoping that would cheer her up) she then is predicting that Karsyn will wake her up!!!  OK....  All she ends up needing is a stuffed animal usually "Goldie" her unicorn and she's fine.  =)

Randomly dances and sings around the house.  Just need to get that video camera out. =) 

Is obsessed with chewing gum, asks for it every chance she gets! 

NEEDS to stop bossing her little sister around before she decides to stop playing with her all together. 


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KARSYN

Tries to be as big as her big sister.....

Says she's 4 when asked how old she is.  =) 

Wants to go potty all by herself "I self mommy!" 

Doesn't want help with ANYTHING...especially help from her big sister!! 

Insists on buckling herself in her car seat (which she can't do) and then unbuckles her chest buckle when I'm driving....yeah....not cool!! 

Tries to ride her sister's bike....

Asks for fruit snacks and treats about 1,000 times a day.

Says "mommy watch me" about another 1,000 times a day.

Attempts to dress herself, most of the time she gets too frustrated and asks for me to help.  She is a pro at taking off her clothes though.  =)

Her vocabulary is improving more and more each day, I still have to ask Syd sometimes what she is saying.  If I don't answer her right away she gets mad and just keeps repeating herself VERY loudly and gets mad.  Its just because I'm trying to figure out what she's saying, I'm not ignoring the poor girl!!

WI bound again!!

This past weekend we made the road trip, again, to my dad's.  Thankfully no puking! =)  We made the trip the past two weekends to see my brother Kris who was home on leave from the Navy.  This past weekend the guys planned a fishing outing for Saturday.  We hauled our boat down for the event.  So after lunch on Saturday Patrick, Kris, my Dad, and Steve (my sister Robyn's boyfriend) headed out to Lake Eau Claire.  Knowing they'd be gone the rest of the day til dark, us girls (Robyn, Sara, Sami, Ady, Sydney, Karsyn, and myself) hung out at my Dad's and did a project for Grandpa for Father's Day.  We planned on making stepping stones.  The original idea was to make the girl's hand prints in them and have them paint them how they wanted.  Well....we didn't anticipate the fast setting plaster (which the box said 10 minutes, which ended up being 2 minutes) and quickly carved the girls names in their stones instead.  We let them sit over night and the girls painted them in the morning.  The girls loved painting them and it was fun seeing how they turned out.  After getting that mess cleaned up we made breakfast and said goodbye to my brother, as his leave had ended.  It amazing with my brother gone so much serving in the Navy and all, I thought my girls wouldn't "know him"  and warm up to him very easy, but that's not the case.  They always run to him and are always very excited to see him!!  Very sweet!

Worst road trip EVER!

Over the past 4 years its been interesting traveling with kids to say the least.  As my family lives in WI we are on the road quite a bit. I've made the trip alone with Syd when she was little.  I've also made the trip alone with both girls.  It goes without saying that going alone with the girls isn't my first choice.  But I'll do it if that's my only option.  Mainly because its a lot of reaching in the back handing out snacks and drinks.  Picking up dropped blankies and toys.  Not to mention hearing "mommy" 10,000 times and "are we there yet" gets asked a couple time before we leave town.  Just alot for one person to handle when battling traffic.  I did make the trip alone a few weeks ago and it went OK. The last hour is the worst as the girls can't wait to get our of their seats, they get a little loud (whiny) and antsy (Karsyn has learned to unbuckle the buckle that goes across her chest....awesome).  

This past weekend we went to my Dad's and thankfully Patrick was able to go with us.  We have a routine, Patrick ALWAYS drives for a couple reasons:  1) he gets motion sickness and can't even look in the back without getting dizzy, 2) he handles the cities traffic better than I do.  We headed out of town about 5 on Friday.  We grabbed some McDonald's and we were off.  The trip was going OK, Karsyn was a little whiny but didn't think much of it and just dealt with it.  Tried giving her toys, snacks, I even let her hold my had for a few minutes here and there.  Then about an hour before my Dad's I heard "the sound" that put our road trip into chaos.  The sound of puking!  Are you kidding me!  Look in the back and Karsyn is covered in puke.  Now what??  I look over at Patrick, who is gagging, obviously he isn't going to be ANY help.  Wishing I had some gloves from work, I got Karsyn out of her seat and peeled her clothes off and wiped her down with wet wipes and handed her off to Patrick who got her dressed.  I got stuck cleaning the car seat....oh joy.  After it was cleaned the best we I could get it (with wet wipes), put the seat back in and tried to have Karsyn sit on a sweatshirt so she wasn't sitting in a wet seat but she insisted on sitting on her "seat".  OK, then fine and we resumed our trip.  She fell asleep right away and the rest of the trip was quiet.  Pulling into my Dad's driveway I hear "the sound" again.  Ugh!!   I wasn't sure what to think of all that.  She continued to puke until 12:30am.  Was it the flu?  Was it motion sickness?   I wasn't sure until today.  Found out my niece Ady is sick today, so the flu it is....  Sorry Ady!!  To sum it up it was the worst road trip EVER!!!