I shall call her...MINI ME

I've been digging through some old boxes lately and come across a whole bunch of baby pictures from circa 1982. It's uncanny how much Caroline looks like me. Here are side-by-side comparisons...

 

 

And here are a lot more I pulled out as I went through them, and her reflection in me. If I couldn't tell by the super awesome outfits / furniture / picture quality, I'd think the one in the middle (especially) was Caroline!

 

I also just loved the one on the top right - the day Colin came home from the hospital. (The back of the photo says, "Kelly and Newborn Colin, 7/7/85" in Nanny's handwriting.)

I have had these pictures forever. They've sat in a box untouched. I always thought they were just a little cheesy, and never really saw a need to keep them around. But now...now that we have kids, and I see so much of our lives now reflected in them...it's just absolutely amazing to me.

See? Even toddler Kelly threw temper tantrums!

Dear, sweet Pop-Pop (v1.0) ... we miss you.

And just because I love this so much...here's Mom and Dad,
no idea when, but it must have been soon after we moved to GA?
Aren't they adorable???

 

So, today....

Jack has been potty trained for ages now. We haven't had an accident in forever - in so long, in fact, that I rarely carry a second set of clothes or shoes for him.

You know where this is going, right? Yeah you do.

This morning things are hectic like usual. I somehow manage to get both kids fed, dressed, napped (Caroline), and out the door for our standing reservation at the daycare at the gym. I forgot my workout bag, but I keep a bathing suit, cap, and goggles in my locker, so it wasn't a complete loss ... I'd just swim.

We were a little early so I took the kids to the playground by the pool. Jack's favorite daycare girl saw us, so she grabbed some of the other kids and came out to play with us for awhile. I was chatting with her, watching Caroline try to stand up (!!!) ...


And Jack was running around with the other kids. Or so I thought.

I hear him yelling at me, from under the big slide, pointing at something. He's always showing me bugs, or leaves, or absolutely nothing at all, so I can't say I was super enthusiastic in my response. Finally he was persistent enough that I got up and walked over and found...

That he had peed his pants. And then, if that wasn't enough, he had pulled his soaking wet pants down and taken the world's largest dump under the slide. And was gleefully pointing at it.

What are we, animals?!?! Ugh!!! I was mortified. I didn't have spare clothes for him, so after I cleaned up his - ahem - mess, he had to spend the rest of their hour in daycare in a diaper that was two sizes too small. Not that that hampered his spirit in any way - when I came in to pick him up, he was standing in the middle of about 5 kids, on top of a plastic horse, screaming Fall Out Boy's new song "Know What You Did In The Dark" at the top of his lungs.

After that, I figured we should probably stay home for the rest of the day. Do you blame me???


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pool day in February!

We had a rare two-day stretch of temperatures in the upper 70's..so we took advantage to practice our swimming skills (Jack) and model some of the million swimsuits I've bought because I have a problem (Caroline.) We had a great afternoon and everyone was all smiles!

Pre-swim snack. Gotta fuel up those legs! 

She LOVES the float!

Another snack.

Sooo her head's grown since last summer! I had to buy a bunch of new hats,
especially because I learned that her little blonde head gets sunburned very easily!
She will not be my little brown kid like Jack this summer, that's for sure. SPF 70+ for this girl!

"Helping."

Guess who was WORN OUT after that??? THIS KID.

It turned a little colder later that day, so we went to the park after naptime. The kids love running (crawling) around, especially since the new playground was installed a few weeks ago.

Stick = sword. Duh.

More snacks. I swear!

Her BLONDE hair...it's growing fast now. Like rabbit fur!

Dangerous.

We got home, and you guessed it! MORE SNACK!

Jack showing off his eyelashes. OMG.

"Hey Momma, you got any more food? This belly ain't gonna grow itself."

happy crazy valentine's day!

Yesterday (as you probably know) was Valentine's Day. Holidays are so much more fun with kids to share. We had a great day! Jack was super busy...you'll see why in a minute. 

The presents for my 3 Valentines. Jack asked if "Valentine Santa" brought them.
Nope, just Mommy. I think he was really disappointed!

Pink was the theme of the day. Pink pancakes for breakfast!

And I used SuSu's recipe to make Pink Pineapple Muffins
for Jack's class. (Had to list the ingredients because jeez...
kids these days are allergic to everything!)

Jack after school. Notice the chocolate smudged on his mouth.
Approximately 20 minutes later, he woke up, ran into our room,
and threw up all over our bed. Poor kid!!!

Caroline loved her V-Day basket...especially anything that she
could chew on. This girl and her teeth!!!!

Jack inspecting his loot.

I tried to take a picture of the kids all dressed up before Daddy came home. It
didn't work at all. They were both being crazy rascally little kids!!!

Still trying... and don't you worry. Caroline can hold her own.

I imagine she's saying, "Look at me!! I'm cuter than him!!!"

Her nap mid-day. She was exhausted from all the fun :)

Her new red Elmo binky :)

This morning I moved her crib to vacuum. Look what I found! She's a hoarder...

Training hurts.

Finally...Justin came home for dinner last night, with these in hand. I didn't need or
expect them, but I did hope that he remembered...and he did. It made me feel very special :)

follow up

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, here's this. Like a rapper would say, "true, true."

oh my goodness.

Their little personalities are coming out by the day. Jack's isn't always pleasant. He's really struggling right now with temper tantrums, sharing, yelling, hitting, and just generally being a PITA. I love the kid, but man. He makes it rough sometimes. 

When I'm not calming him down, or sending him for his 1,000 time out of the day, I get to see Caroline's character shine through. She is a funny, giggly, smiley, lovable little girl. (I know, I know, the girl drama and her temper tantrums are coming too! But for now - this second - she's my easy one.) She thinks simple things like coughs and expressions are absolutely hilarious. She takes off her right sock all. the. time. (She doesn't seem to mind her left one though. Hmm.) It took me a solid week, but she's fully weaned, and she's embraced the bottle and formula with gusto. She is a great eater and now, a great sleeper. Since she's not biting my nipple every 2 hours now, I'm very happy with her ;) 

She has SIX teeth!! Four bottom and two top. She uses them to eat everything in sight and then some. Justin laughed the other day because she found a black bean on the floor and popped it in her mouth. He goes, "um, when was the last time we had black beans?" and I said, "I only hope that actually was a black bean!" But it was gone before we could do much about it. 

She loves the puzzles that make noise (the cow mooing when you put the cow piece in, for example.) She could play with those all day...when she's not busy chewing on power cords, that is. She's a binky fanatic and usually has one in each hand and one in her mouth. I'm glad to know she takes after me somehow :)

The keep me so busy. They keep me on my toes. My life is a constant revolving door of laundry, dishes, wiping up messes, wiping little faces, explaining everything under the sun (Jack) and teaching new words (both kids.) Caroline definitely says "Mama" and "Dada" now, in conjunction with the ever-popular "Baba." I know her language explosion is coming any day now!

Justin....oh, Justin. He's got a new job (sort of)! He got a huge, giant, amazing promotion at work. We are so proud of him!  But it means we haven't seen much of him, he's working constantly, and he's headed to dear ole' China again soon. We are trying to be understanding and forgiving. Depending on how many tantrums Jack had that day, some days I am more understanding than others.

Me? I'm still spinning, running, working out with weights, occasionally swimming, and not losing any weight at all. Hoping it starts to fall off soon...it's getting depressing! But I feel a million times better - I have energy and I feel human most days. My migraines are non-existent (miracle!!!) and I feel my body working. I'm sore a lot, in a good way. So I will just keep plugging away. My next race is here. Today, I took our new double jogging stroller and walked to pick Jack up from school. Everyone was feeling good, so we walked to Whole Foods for lunch, and then back home. It was a 3.9-mile loop overall. I feel great!! 

Here are some recent pics. Jack is getting super excited for Valentine's Day on Thursday. Don't tell anyone, but he is going to ask Chloe at school to be his Valentine. (She's super adorable. So it's okay.) 

I mean really. This face! Those cheeks! I can't resist smooshing
her with kisses 1,000,000x a day!

Jack's "astronaut costume." Not airtight. Fail.

Still grumpy after 12 hours of sleep.

Look at those poor chapped lips!! Little man!!! He's a mess.

We have to order 2 kids meals now every time we go out. Not only is it
expensive, but most of the time, she eats more than him.

At a sweet boy's 2nd birthday party this weekend, Jack got to ride a 4-wheeler.

He was in heaven!!

He had SO much fun.

Caroline practicing her ballet.

Daddy supervising the dismount.

Hiking boy - wow, he's fast and great on those hills!

Sweet girl on the swings.  

Guess who loves laundry baskets just as much as her brother??

SuSu and Sissy ... I couldn't resist this shirt :)

He tests my patience daily. He is a crazy kid who has more energy than
anyone I've ever known. And then...he does things like this. He picked me
this bouquet in the backyard, and found the vase in the cabinet all by himself,
and put it at my place at the table. Xoxo, little buddy.
We'll get through these terrible 3's together!!!