Deep Thoughts by Kendra Nicolaysen...

This post is totally random things. I think about posts often and these are on my mental to-do-list, so here you go. This is our hall that I love now. For those of you who have come over in the last couple months, I know this is old news, but I am still excited about it. We used to have this icky green leafy wall paper, now we have a stylish brown with wainscoting on the bottom, love it.

I worked at the Humanitarian center a couple of weeks ago and took home some pillow cases to sew, it inspired me to finish some other projects. I cut bite marks out of the middle apple on the shirt, I think I am pretty clever. Sewing with a toddler and a baby, good times. Doesn't happen often.

I bought this cute little sign and we hung it up on our front patio (Stephen actually hung this one with his mom, tee hee hee) it will not stay straight. But I decided I like it crooked, because that's my life. It's wonderful, and it's a little crooked. :) Deep, I know.

I gave Preston his first hair cut with Stephen's face razor that has this neat blade to cut side burns. He kept trying to grab it, so I was pretty proud of myself that I didn't mess up.

And my last thought, (there are no pictures on this one, you'll thank me later). After being bit 4 times in 36 hours, we gave up on nursing. Preston loves bottles and formula. It's weird to me, but good. I was sad for a little while but realized I don't need nursing to bond with him.

And the Mother of the Year award goes to....

Da da da da...Kendra Nicolaysen!! Way to go on making sure that the tray and floor were clean instead of insuring that the tray was securely on. I pretty much hate myself right now.

Dodd Reunion

Long Drive, Beautiful mountains, nice sleeping quarters, great food, great company, Rook, Rook and More Rook. Soft Ball, Sliding down the mountain slide and screaming because you can't hold on. Intimate moments caught in the making, (not going to mention any names), laughing so hard. Katelyn peeing her pants and then running around without them for all to see. Attempting to be cool and go "Running" with Stephen. Elevation is 6,000 feet, allergies are bad, I am not as cool as I think I am.

On the way home Katelyn trying to get out of her car seat.

Mom, "Katelyn you can't get out because if Dad crashes you'll get hurt."
Katelyn, "Crash the car Dad."
Repeated several times and getting louder each time, by the 10th chant, Mom joins in.

Get home, 4 loads of laudry to do and surprise it's done!!! Relief in knowing that the next reunion is not for another 2 years. Ha.

Ahh Kenny...

I was lucky enough to go to the Kenny Chesney concert with my super awesome new friend, thanks to my AWESOME IN-LAWS!!! We had so much fun!!! I suck and didn't bring my camera so I stole these off of Kami's Facebook. So, thanks Kami. It was so good to get away for a bit...we didn't have too many drinks last night but we danced like we did!! You'll get that last joke if you check out Kami's blog post...

http://steveandkami.blogspot.com/2009/07/we-went-out-last-night.html

Mad

My Mother-in-law has always been an expert picture hanger. Whenever we need to hang something, Stephen calls his mom. And she comes over with a ruler and a level. It's always driven me crazy. Why can't I just eye ball it? I learned a very important lesson today.

Argh! Preston's mad because he is teething, he doesn't really cry, he yells, very loudly. Mom is mad because she can't hang some stupid pictures and because Preston keeps yelling. Katelyn is mad because Preston is yelling and she is trying to watch her show, and because Mom is yelling at Preston. "Don't lell at my buddy!!" Katelyn yells. Good times at the Nicolaysen household. And Stephen will be mad tonight when he sees how many holes his sweet wife with good intentions put into his freshly painted wall. There is solace (for me anyways) knowing that tonight I get to go shake my groove thing like a little school girl while Kenny Chesney prances around in his tight jeans. Ahhh.

More Milestones with Preston

It's been just over a week since Preston started talking in full sentences and we were starting to wonder when that kid was going to man up and crawl. He's always responded well to beef sticks being waved under his nose, so we withheld food for three days (try 30 minutes) and then busted it out. We didn't get the backflip on tape, but did catch him crawling/rolling/shimmying a good 5 feet across the living room floor while the rest of us patted the floor repeatedly, desperately cheering him on. Just remember, it's SLOW and steady that wins the race. With the full sentences, this confirms that the kid's got brains and braun, so for anyone who might have any lingering doubts, he's definitely a Nicolaysen. We will update as soon as we have more info on which episode of Oprah we are appearing. On an unrelated note, we were able to capture Kendra doing her best impression of a rabid chipmunk about 1 minute into the video.

Got a riddle for ya...

What do you get when you take a little girl who is painting and her mom who thinks it's okay to do a quick load of laundry?

Answer: A bloody mess! Man, I love this girl!

Milestones with Preston

Today we FINALLY caught on video another milestone for Preston. Katelyn's sure that he's been talking to her in full sentences all along (and he's been babbling "da-da" nonsensically for months), though the video below is the definitive proof we were waiting for to make it official: not only can Preston say "da-da", he's speaking in full sentences at 8 months. At several points throughout the video, while Katelyn tries to convince him to say "Katelyn" instead of "dad", you can clearly hear him speaking at different times in English, French and Castilian Spanish. While the word "da-da" is obvious, I won't bother transcribing the rest of his sentence since it's laced with profanity. (While shooting the video I was actually blocking his view of Baby Einstein to get the lighting right. He's clearly not happy.) We're still waiting anxiously for him to crawl, though we've decided we'll settle for immobile child prodigy over moronic jock. Oprah has yet to return our calls.

You can't handle the truth...

This is crazy because yesterday in the shower I was thinking how I wanted to write a real post. Not one about cute kids or something fantastic but something real. And then I got a challenge from my friend Kami to do just that. So here it goes. Sometimes I wonder what's the point of going to church when you have young children. I have 2 kids under the age of 3 and I am in the hall the most of the time. If I am able to sit in the class, you can guarantee I am not actually paying attention because I am feeding Preston snacks to keep him happy. I realized that I thoroughly enjoy the social aspect of church, but what good does that do me? And when my "friends" don't say hi, I get really sad. I know I need to make more of an effort to get some spirital time in for me.

I have been yearning for a best friend. I have lost some recently due to different reasons, and it makes me really sad. Along time ago I didn't really make an effort for friends but I realized that I should be reaching out because others probably feel the same way I do, well I am tired. I don't want to be the one who always initiates a friendship. I want a friend to laugh with, cry with, call when we need something and even when we don't. I want someone to hang out with frequently and be able to trust them with my secrets. I give a lot in a friendship and I expect a lot also.

Yesterday I was busy all day long and I was wishing I had some time to be alone. Well I got 10 minutes alone in the shower and realized I don't like to be alone.

So those are some bad thoughts, and now here are some blessings.

1. We recently got a new car for Stephen that I love and when I get to drive it I feel super hot because it's clean and there are no car seats.

2. Preston's 2 front teeth have come in and he is just funny lookin' but still cute. He is a very happy yet very intense baby. We love having him in our home.

3. Katelyn told me a couple of days ago that she had to go potty, I have been just taking her every 2 hours. Her accidents are rare.

4. I absolutely love being a stay at home mom, especially in the summer because there are so many fun activities to do and I think I have figured out how to handle 2 kids in public. Today we went swimming together and we had a great time.

5. My car needs new tires, which sucks but my life has been really good that I am always waiting for something bad to happen, so when this happened I thought, "Sweet, we can handle that, and now that's out of the way." It was sort of a relief in a weird way.