2009 was divine!!

2009 was a great year for us! Here is a short re-cap of some of our favorites!!


We knew that Carsen's title of "only child" would be ending this year, so we had lots of fun playing and doing some special things!


Carsen experienced his first real Easter Egg Hunt. It was a HUGE hit for him! We still have "egg hunts" in our livingroom!!


My parents both turned 60 this year, and also celebrated their 40th wedding anniverary. Us kids (there are 4 of us) planned a party for them. They enjoyed seeing family and friends at the event!


With Carsen turning 2 soon, I wanted to take advantage of one more free plane ticket for him, so the 2 of us went to Michigan for the week-end to visit Brien, Dawn and their kids. Here is a picture of Dawn and I, both pregnant. We were about 3 weeks apart. I guess this is technically Madelyn's & Cara's first picture taken together!!



Speaking of being pregnant, I spent 1/2 of the year pregnant. Eventhough I don't know how to make this picture so it's not sideways, you get the idea pretty easilly at how huge I got... and this was when I still had a month left!! ;) As huge and as misarable as I was, I already miss being pregnant! :)


Our "little guy" Carsen turned 2 on March 1st!! Here he is with the ladybug birthday cake that I made for him. He loved it!!


Madelyn Lou was born on June 4th at 7:37 am. I was schedule for an induction at 6:30 am (about a week early, due to my doctor going on vacation) but my water broke on it's own at 2:30 am. 5 hours later, we met our daughter. This labor was much easier and FASTER than Carsen, which I was super thankful for!!


My childhood best friend, Erica (along with her husband and daughter, Ashlyn) came to MN to meet Madelyn! We had a great week-end together!


We took our first family vacation to our traditional Labor Day spot, LUTSEN!! Carsen really had a blast swimming and going down the Alpine Slide. He still talks about it!


We are really enjoying having 2 kids. We feel so blessed! They are really forming a bond between eachother which is super fun to watch.


Tonight we spent New Year's Eve at my sister's house. "Auntie" watches Carsen and Madelyn on the days I work (part-time). We enjoyed playing Wii tonight and drinking "bubbly" as Carsen calls it.

2009 was so much fun! I'm confident that 2010 will be great, and I trust it is for you as well.

As far as New Year's Resolutions... I haven't even thought about it. I'm just going to keep on living life, and enjoying it to the fullest. We have so much to be thankful for.

Speaking of 2010... 5 minutes until the New Year... time to go kiss my awesome hubby!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Things happen in "3's", right?!

Well, in this case, it's 3 anti-biotics.

Our sweet Madelyn has been fighting a cold for a week now. Yesterday I noticed her eye was pink. This morning it was quite buggery, so I took her in. She has pink eye. She also has a minor ear infection, which I guess is quite common with pink eye. And rememeber that lump on her face that they thought was mumps? Well, they now think it's a bacterial infection in one of her lymph nodes. Not serious, but a big enough deal where she needs medicine to wipe it out. So here's what we got...

Augmenton: this will take care of the lymph node and slight ear infection (which by the way, wasn't bothering her... but given all her other issues, we'll take it) and will wipe out any other bacterial thing bogging her down right now.

Eye drops: this will prevent Madelyn from sharing her pink eye with her family...(the wonderful doctor prescribed Madelyn extra drops so there's enough for our whole entire family!! Yippee!! Drugs for the whole family with only Madelyn's Co-Pay?? BONUS!!)

Anti-biotic cream: This makes me laugh, but makes me feel like a bad mom... Madelyn has a crack on the underneath of her nose. And all you other moms out there probably know why... I do NOT like the look of a buggery kid. Eeewwww. Gross-ness. So when my kids have crusties on their nose, I either wipe it with a warm washcloth, or pick them off with my fingers. Apparantly I have been doing a bit too much picking, b/c she has a crack that the dr thought needed a prescription to heal. And this was the conservative doctor... the one who only gives medicine if it is absolutely necessary.

*sigh* I'm sorry, Maddie. I'll try to see the beauty of your face behind all the buggers, and not pick at them any more.

My name is Amy Kramer, and I'm a pick-a-holic.

We had a merry time!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. We spent the day at my parent's house all day (all week, actually) and enjoyed our time spent with my family. Brien, Dawn and their 4 kids were here from MI. Madelyn and Cara are about 2 1/2 weeks apart, and they matched one day! :) It was so fun to have 10 out of the 12 cousins all together. We missed Ellie & Hannah (along with Brad & Jeanie) who live in Israel, though. Hopefully they can join us next year!! Carsen's big gift this year was a new bike! It's going to be a huge hit this summer, but in the meantime he's having a blast learning how to ride it in our partially unfinished basement. Madelyn loved all the gifts she got! She especially loved the wrapping paper!! This gift though, she thought was good enough to eat!


Brien is a great guitar player, so I dusted my guitar off as well and we enjoyed singing some Christmas songs together. He's a little clip of one of Carsen's favorites... "Away In A Manger".

I hope your Christmas was merry and happy!!!

I'm leaving CHRIST in Christmas, thank you very much!

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa!!

This year, I am finding that more and more people are writing "Xmas". It drives me bonkers. I googled it, and here's what I found...

The abbreviation 'Xmas' for Christmas is of Greek origin. The word for Christ in Greek is Xristos. During the 16th century, Europeans began using the first initial of Christ's name, "X" in place of the word Christ in Christmas as a shorthand form of the word. Although the early Christians understood that X stood for Christ's name, later Christians who did not understand the Greek language mistook "Xmas" as a sign of disrespect.

Yes, I do take it as a sign of disrespect, actually.

CHRISTmas... Christ did so much for us, I firmly believe that He deserves HIS name to be left in there.

CHRISTmas... we're celebrating Jesus' birth... God's Son who DIED for us on the cross. Yes... HIS name deserves to be left in CHRISTMAS.

I respect the fact that there are many religions in the world, and also respect that there are others that choose to not embrace a religion. But I am a Christian. I celebrate Christmas. And whether it's politically correct or not, I'm going to say Merry Christmas. Because that's what I'm celebrating. CHRISTMAS.

Check out this awesome song by Go Fish.

Whatever you are celebrating this time of year, I hope it's happy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Christmas Program!

I know, I know... "be proud of nothing"... but I can't help it...

Carsen had his first Christmas program at church on Sunday. His Sunday School class sang "Away In A Manger" and "Christmas Bells". I wasn't sure how he'd do, but he did great! He sang loudly and did the motions! It made me super proud!! :)

I loved waking up and dressing Carsen & Madelyn in their Christmas outfits.








Here's Carsen with his Sunday School class. He has the best teacher ever... Auntie!!



Here's a short video clip of the class in action! (I think Madelyn was upset that her "class" (aka, the nursery) wasn't up there singing. If you listen carefully, you can hear her in the background!) ;)

POOP happens

Yes, poop happens. And some times are more than others. MUCH more. Like yesterday, for example.

After I took Maddie's picture in the "Ho Ho Ho" onesie, I thought I would take another picture in a new pair of jeans that weren't too short for her.

Uh, no...

She had a major blowout.

M.A.J.O.R.

This could have very well been the worst one I have changed... ever. Yikes. I am all about trying to soak and save onesies... this one has been soaking for over 24 hours, and I'm not sure it's salvagable. Which makes me sad. I guess Kramer #3 (no, we're still not pregnant... and actively not trying, thank you very much!) may not have the opportunity to wear the "Ho Ho Ho" onesie.

Isn't it funny how us moms talk about poop? I knew that being a mom would change me in certain ways, but I was not prepared for the poop talk. (I apologize to the women without kids or any man in general reading this...) I remember when Carsen was little and he had a babysitter. When we got home, the babysitter told me he had a messy diaper.

And then the questions began...

Was it hard or soft?

Runny or hard?

What color was it?

Sounds a bit redicilous and quite gross... but as moms, we want to know these things. Actually, we NEED to know these things! :)

If you're not a mom, you just wait... I guarantee you'll be the SAME way when you have kids! ;)

Seeing double?!

No, you're not seeing double. This morning I put Maddie into Carsen's old onesie just for fun. Carsen was 9 months in the photo and Madelyn is 6 months. What do you think?? Do they look alike??

We're MUMP FREE!!!

Yes, that's right... we confirmed today that Madelyn does NOT have mumps. Let me back up a few days...

On Sunday evening, I noticed the side of Maddie's face was swollen... about 2 inches in diameter. She had 5 vaccines on Friday, so I thought it was probably a reaction. I called her pediatrician on Monday, and she said to bring her on in.

When the doctor saw her, she thought there was a chance that Madelyn had Mumps. Our clinic doesn't vaccinate against them until 12 months, so there was a chance that maybe she did pick them up from somewhere- eventhough we had no idea where. The only way to catch mumps is from someone else who is infected.

Mumps in itself isn't usually all that dangerous, but like everything else, there are always exceptions. One of the main reasons they vaccinate against the disease is because it can cause infertility in boys who catch it. The doctor immediately reminded me though that Carsen was vaccinated at 12 months, so he was safe.

They had to draw blood to determine if she had mumps or not. This was terrible! Because of the amount of blood they needed from her, a finger prick wouldn't do the trick. They had to draw it out of her arm. This was pure torture for both of us. It took them 3 seperate pokes to finally find her vain. Madelyn was screaming and crying. I was crying. Carsen was just standing there petrified, hearing his sister scream and seeing his mommy cry... poor kid. Had I known what we were going to go through that day, Keith would have definatly escorted us to the doctor.

We played the waiting game yesterday.... most people who we're around have been vaccinated, but I didn't want to go out in public, b/c if she did have mumps, she could have infected others who hadn't had the shot. But this morning we got the call that her bloodwork came back, and she is mump free. What a relief!!

As I already mentioned, mumps isn't usually too serious in itself, but once someone is diagnosed with mumps, the Department of Health is contacted and an investigation is started. We would have had to tell them everyone who we have had any contact with the past month. They would have investigated to find out where the disease came from. I'm so thankful that we didn't have to go through that.

And if you're one of my friends who I talk to on a regular basis and think "Hmmm... why didn't Amy mention this a few days ago??". Well, here's why... mumps is a virus, so there is nothing that you can do to help run it's course. I didn't want to scare everyone into making them think that maybe we infected their child... instead I decided to wait for the outcome, rather than causing false alarm.. And now I am glad I did.

I know that vaccinating kids is such a contriversal subject. I have chosen, however to follow the doctor's recommendations on the shots I give my kids. MMR (measels, mumps, rubella) is very contriversal, b/c some say there is a link between the MMR shot and autism. It was just proven in court though that there is no link between the 2. I totally respect others that don't get shots though... I know everyone has their own opinion on why they do or don't... but going through this situation made me even more confident in our decision to vaccinate our kids.

Santa who??

A few evenings ago we were driving in our "ultra cool minivan", and we passed a house with a huge (and a bit tacky) blow-up santa in their front yard. I asked Carsen "who is that?!". Carsen said "it's just a red guy".

Apparantly he has no idea who Santa is! I don't have a huge opinion on Santa either way... I have friends who totally have their kids believe in him, and others who tell them he's fake from the very beginning. But I could go either way.

This year, Carsen is very excited about Christmas, but he's excited about the real meaning of CHRISTmas. We told him that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birth. He's very excited about making Jesus a birthday cake on Christmas! :)

I love Christmas. I love the extra time with family. I love the extra feeling of love in the air. I love the music. I love the cards. I even love the gift-giving. The only thing I don't love is how easy it is to forget the real reason why we're celebrating, so it's nice to have a little reminder with my 2 1/2 year old every now and then... "Mommy, Christmas is Jesus' birthday??".

At first I felt bad that he didn't know who Santa was. I'm over it, though. We'll tell him... either this year or next...

Plus, if he has any memory of Santa last year, I don't think he'll be too sad about not having santa be a part of our Christmas this year! :)

Baby, it's cold outside

Brrrrr.... Right now it is a whopping Z.E.R.O. with a -19 windchill. Welcome to MN winters. I think our indian summer is officially over! It's cold outside... not to mention snowy. I don't know how much snow we got the past 36 hours, but I know it was a LOT. We had 3 foot drifts in our driveway this morning. I'm especially thankful for a nice, big snowblower... and a nice, big (well ok... maybe not so big... he's only 5' 8") husband willing to do our snowblowing... and help out all our neighbors. I am a Minnesota native (and I've been told my accent reflects it, thank you very much) so I say bring on the snow. Don' cha' know?! If it's going to be frigidly cold out, it might as well be snowy and pretty!!

Bring on the snow.

Bring it.

Up up and away!

Keith's parents sent Carsen and Madelyn 2 bouquets of balloons today. They both love them, especially Carsen. He wanted to sleep with ALL his balloons, but he ended up with 2. (he is sound asleep in this picture)




Is it safe to let your kid sleep with ballons?? Probably not... I'll be going in there in a few minutes to pry his little hands off the strings.

He loves those balloons. I'll bet he's having some happy dreams tonight! :)

1/2 a year old

I know I say this every single month, so I probably sound like a broken record.

I actually mean it more this month, though.

I can NOT believe that Madelyn is 6 months old.

A whole, half of a year old.

I have no idea where the past 6 months have gone. They say that time flies when you're having fun, and it's so cliche, but it's so true. We're having so much fun with Carsen and Madelyn.

Here is a picture of Madelyn yesterday on her 1/2 birthday...



I remember the events of June 4th as if they were yesterday. I remember going to the hospital, being in labor (which was much shorter this time around, thank goodness!) and holding my daughter for the first time. We had been told in 2 ultrasounds that we were having a girl, but I didn't believe it. When she was born, I remember saying "I can't believe 'it's a girl'! I can't believe I have a daughter!". Madelyn has been a fairly easy baby since she was born. No colic, no 'crying all night' episodes... the girl hasn't even had Tylenol or Motrin yet for a sickness. She's THAT good! :)

This past week we did something pretty difficult, though... we did 'sleep training' with Madelyn. She had been getting up 2 times a night, and I was flat out exhausted. Beginning on Sunday night, we let her cry it out in the night. It was S.O. H.A.R.D. The first night she cried for a bit over an hour on and off... the 2nd night was 30 minutes of talking/crying, the 3rd night was about 5 minutes of talking, and the 4th night she slept all the way through. I am so thankful... this mama is ready to get some good stretches of sleep at night!

Madelyn is rolling all over the place, and is starting to sit up on her own. She is starting to babble "da-da". I say "babble" b/c I know she doesn't actually KNOW what she's saying. Clearly, if she did know what she was saying, she would say MAMA. :)

I love this stage... I love that Madelyn loves to laugh and giggle with us, but still loves to snuggle. Because she isn't mobile yet, she still enjoys sitting on our laps. I know once she starts crawling that it will be a different story. But for now, I'm lovin' it.

I'm lovin' life.

My van just got even cooler!!

I already know what's going through your mind right now...
"Minivans are so cool, how could Amy's van become any more cool than it already is?!"

But it's true. I know that my van was cool before... Carsen reminds me all the time. But as of last week, my van is even cooler than it ever has been.

Why?

Look for yourself...



Our family has been tatooed unto my minivan! I love it!! I have been looking at these decals on the internet for a while, but couldn't justify paying what they charge on-line. I recently went into Sellner Manufacturing (they make the famous Tilt-A-Whirl ride.... right here in Faribault!!) and saw that they sell them. I was so excited!

While we were putting them on, we discussed the disappointment we'd go through in a couple years when this little family tatoo is not correct anymore... hence the space after "Madelyn"!

Yippee!!!

Nothin' like riding in style... in my ultra-super-cool minivan!