Halloween, race, and kids!

I completed my first race on Saturday with my friends, Laurel, and Marilou. I've only running been for about a month now so I'm pretty excited that my first race was 4.75 miles! It was harder than our training runs because I'm not use to running when the sun is up and being able to see how far I still need to run! So glad to have such great running partners though! Thanks for motivating me!

Ben and the kids came to support me so this is a picture before the race... don't mind Kharisma's nose, she just has a little carpet burn from running down the hall while smearing her face along the carpet.
We had another successful Halloween this year with our Dr. Suess theme. The Cat in the Hat with his Thing 1 and Thing 2 and I'm the mom. This is at the vet school party.



And last but not least... my happy little boy is 7 months old now. He weighs around 21 pounds. He crawls, sits, and eats (when I decide to feed him solid food) and has two teeth on the bottom and four teeth on the top all coming in at once. He seems to not even notice though so that's good! I feel so blessed to have Willum. He's such a joy. He is sleeping so well... around 12 hours at night and only wakes up once. Although last night he didn't wake up at all. And now, the question you want to ask... when are we going to cut his hair? Never ;)
Kharisma is sporting her new-old dress I just made for her. The fabric came from the stash of treasures from my grandma's house along with the sweet detailing around the middle. Willum has a matching tie. I love this fabric. Hopefully I have enough to make myself a skirt...

6 months

Oh, my little Willum.

6 months

It feels like he's been with us forever though. I'd give his 6 month stats but when I went for his check up I was just five minutes late and they told me I was too late for the appointment. Plus, she said, even if I was on time they couldn't give his shots because he wasn't quite six months yet. He would be, the next day. Instead she scheduled another appointment in two weeks... if I were the complaining type I would've complained to someone. After all, they're the ones that made the appointment in the first place. Instead I just vented to my good friend that understands my pain :) Five minutes late is good for getting both kids ready in the morning. Anyway, enough. Willum is probably 21 or 22 lbs now and I just started giving him some baby cereal... as much as I dread the messy time-consuming task of feeding babies I thought it was about time. Although I'm quite proud that he reached his great stature on breast milk exclusively for six months. Liquid gold. That's what I produce.

I refer to Willum as a little old man because he is so set in his ways. 7 pm sharp he starts getting cranky and wants to go to bed. I love it. His sister hates sleep... until she's actually asleep then she doesn't wake up. He takes two naps a day, morning and afternoon and then sleeps all night except for a quick snack around 3am.

We took him camping over the weekend. He was a champ.

Willum seriously melts my heart. I think it's so exciting to watch babies grow and become little people. He's already crawling. Well, a crawling scooting type thing, but he sure gets around. I discovered today that I can no longer let him nap on my bed.

(Warning: bad mom confession)

Yeah... he fell off.

Good thing my bed is only about a foot off the ground. Usually he makes noise when he wakes up but today I just heard what I guess was him rolling against the closet doors. As soon as I picked him up he smiled at me so don't go calling CPS on me :)

The two kids thing is getting easier. Still haven't mastered grocery shopping with them yet, probably never will. I love watching the two interact. I hope they become best friends. I keep telling them they are!

the end

Pictures--Enjoy

Just some random pictures from the last few weeks...

At Raya's bubble birthday party...

Dressing herself.

She thinks she has to be completely naked to go potty.

&

this little cutie.

That's all for now.

Love This Boy

I just had to share how much a love this little guy.

He is such a good baby,

so sweet

chunky

happy

content.

Also, he looks pretty adorable dressed as an old man.

He loves his sleep. He takes a morning and afternoon nap, and sometimes a short one in the evening. He loves to go to bed on time, 7 is best, he starts to get fussy after 8. He has slept through the night quite a few times but lately wakes up once or twice but I feed him and he's back to sleep in about 10 or 15 minutes.

My mom and Willum.

Just look at those rolls.

Love them.

Like his doctor said, I could just "chew on those [thighs] all day!"

Kharisma wanted to play with him she said and then insisted that he have one of her headbands on. Willum loves his sister. Sometimes when I think she's snuggling on him too much I look at him and he has a huge smile. Kharisma makes him laugh and his face lights up when he sees her.

When Ben is in the room Willum keeps his eyes glued on him, turning his head to see him where ever he goes. Willum is also very ticklish and giggles and squeals with delight.

*sigh*

I just can't get enough of my little guy.

Kitchen Re-Do

One of my favorite things to do when I go to my parent's house is re-design! (and throw things away) Since I can't really do anything to my apartment, I have to get my fix somewhere. I had almost an entire month this summer so I thought I would tackle the kitchen. It wasn't bad to start off, just outdated, and it took the whole three weeks to do it since my sister and I could really only work on it during nap time and night time when the kids were sleeping. Besides the painting, everything I did I had never done before but I love learning new things. My mom is such a good sport to let me experiment on her house. Even when we were kids she basically let us decorate/paint our rooms however we wanted, never wanting to stifle our creativity.

So, the kitchen started off with the dated oak cabinets, wall paper with green ivy, no backsplash.

This is a small wall near the entrance of the house.

Before I got my hands on it that is ;)

So my grandma has been cleaning out her basement so I thought I'd go rummage around and found this amazing old wallpaper.

(when I showed my sister we jumped up and down squealing for joy)

Yes, that is 3D fuzzy green stuff on there!

There wasn't quite enough to cover the whole wall so I had to get

a little creative and add some gold stripes.

So here is the "after"...

I don't know about you, but I love it.

We got a little gold-happy with the spray paint and started sneaking around the house finding things to spray gold. For some reason my dad wouldn't let me and my sister spray the rims on his truck gold (weird right?) so instead we sprayed the doorbell and waited until someone noticed.

This is the cabinets now. We painted and then did an antique glaze... it took forever because you put the glaze on and then wipe it off with a cloth until you get the look you want. In the back ground you can see the wall a little, which went from a wallpaper mess to a refreshing

"pale apple" for a very refreshing feel.

We also installed this tile back splash.

(sorry the picture is a little blurry)

I've tiled a floor before but not a wall but it was pretty much the same.

Don't look too closely though.

Anyway, that was my fun project for the summer.

It always makes my parents nervous when I come to town.

They never really "see" the whole idea until I'm done and then they really like it.

At least, that's what they tell me.

Just Some Thoughts...

I know I have a lot of updates to make but I just have a few things on my mind.
I was talking with a good friend last night and
we started talking about the pressures that women/moms
have these days.
For instance, when she had her baby she wasn't
able to produce enough milk to breast feed and she felt
so guilty and then other people made her feel like she was
a horrible mother for feeding formula. Anyway, I was just
thinking, why do we do this to ourselves and others?
The judging and the guilt. It doesn't make anyone a better person.
Don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of this as I'm sure everyone is.
We have enough on our minds to make ourselves feel inadequate,
we shouldn't turn around and do it to others.
It's hard not to look at someone else that seems to have it all together
and not put yourself down.
We never really know what is going on with someone else.
Sure I try to look like I'm calm, cool, and collected when my child
is running crazy.
But really I'm about to explode inside.
But I don't want people to know that ;)

Anyway, basically I think we (myself included) need to do more pulling others up than
pushing down.
I don't know why this subject is weighing so heavy on my mind.
My parenting philosophy is
you just have to do what makes you a better mother.
There is a lot of "expert" advise out there
but nobody knows you or your children better than you.
I'm grateful that I have so many amazing friends that are such great
examples to me. They make me want to be a better person.
A better mother.
A better wife.
Isn't that really what we all want?

It's been a great adventure-filled summer but I'm excited to be back in Pullman.

Birthday, Visitors, & Carousels

First, I love love love this picture.

Look at the chins on that boy.

So cute.

A little late, but this was for Kharisma's birthday.

Just another day at the beach.

My brothers and some friends came to stay for the weekend, Kharisma

loved getting the attention from her uncles.

We finally found the carousel we read about... too bad Kharisma hated it.

We're having a great time here, Ben is enjoying his time at the vet clinic. It's not all fun and games though. When you're staying somewhere for an entire month you still have to do some laundry and cleaning. Plus, with Ben being gone a lot now that his externship has started I'm stuck with limited things to do. We usually go to the playground down the street but with no one there to talk to or for Kharisma to play with (although she tries to play with any kids she can) it's getting a little old. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful here and I'm thankful for this opportunity, but it will be nice to be back home in Pullman.

Which brings me to a question I have for all my mom friends with two or more kids.

So, Kharisma and Willum have been sharing a room since we've been gone and it has gone surprisingly well. Willum wakes up usually only once in the night and doesn't even wake up Kharisma. With Kharisma's growing collection of toys I've been thinking, when we get home maybe I'll move Willum into Kharisma's room and have them share so that the other room can be a play room and all the toys can be in there instead of spread throughout the apartment.

So, opinions please.

Is it easier to have kids in one room that is just for sleeping/clothes and toys in another?

OR

Is it worth toys spread everywhere so that each child can sleep in their own room?