Proof

I really do have the cutest kids in the world!

And some "after" shots

This is the front bathroom. I don't know why I so loved this fish shower curtain. Well, I do. Because it's colorful and I like the patterns and the movement as well as the organized way the fish are swimming ;) I'm not really a big fan of fish.

This is Rayne's room. Her great grandma gave her a twin bed when we moved. I thought she was a bit young for that and that it would take ages for her to sleep alone (she was used to sleeping in the bed with me most nights!) but she has done amazingly well. She still wakes up often at night, but she just as often sleeps all night in her own room in her own bed!

This is Caius' room. I love sitting in here and rocking my baby. Even when I'm sleep deprived, I try to enjoy that. It makes me wonder how better off Rayne would have been if our living conditions would have been different in her little life. Oh well..

My room with the familiar gamer husband :)

I am really enjoying being domestic and I really do try to keep things neat and cleaned up and organized. But I am also enjoying our space- being able to let the kids play and leave stuff on the floor etc. It's home and it feels SO good!

More pics of home

This was taken from the top of the stairs. This is the same view we have out our living room and kitchen windows. I quite like it!

Another pic of my bathroom (can you tell it's my favorite room in the house?). And yes, that's our closet!
We were very excited to get the playground. It wasn't here when we moved in. The top left window is Rayne's room and the right one is Caius'. Can you imagine our anticipation the week they were putting the playground together??? We just kept waiting to go play!!!!!!!!
Our front door!

Welcome to MY home

Well, it sure has been a while. We have been living without internet for a month because.... (drum roll please...) we finally got our own apartment!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am and how great it's been. AND, it's a beautiful, BIG place! I tried to take pictures as we came in. Haha, we signed the lease, put down our deposit etc before seeing the inside! So, here's the story...
The bottom picture is the picture of our building. This top picture is the stairs going up to our door. We are on the right.
As you walk in the front door, this is our living room and HUGE kitchen! All our counter tops (kitchen and bathroom) are black. I'm surprised how much I like this.
This is the first bathroom. Yes I said first. When I saw it, I was amazed at how big it is. Then we went to the master bedroom and found out we have a second bathroom!
... a second bathroom with two sinks! The first few nights I showered, I felt like I was staying at a fancy hotel :)
I will post this and then try for more pictures. I'm kind of lucky to have a minute to even be on here. So, I better not chance it by trying to do too much at once.

West Valley Family Fitness Center

One weekend, Jeff's mom and grandma were taking his nephew swimming. Jeff invited us to go along. What a wonderful place we discovered!
Cautious at first, Rayne is now an expert at the duck slide and will go down over and over and over all by herself!
Rayne loves swimming with her Daddy and wouldn't leave his side!
I don't think this is a really great picture of either of us (I took it myself) but I wanted evidence that Caius and I were there too :) I had left my swimming suit at my mom's and didn't think I'd want to take the baby in the water anyway, so we just hung out. Turns out the water is warm and Jeff eventually pulled us in and Caius loved it!
We have since been back by ourselves and with Ben and Mel and their boys!

Lake Point Park

We found a wonderful little park near our house. We've only been a couple times because there is no shade and it gets hot and because I need Jeff to go with us to help Rayne while I carry Caius around. I'm thinking that when the weather cools off, we will try to go more often. Caius is pretty good about sitting in a stroller now when we play outside and Rayne is a bit more willing to do things on her own, so I think I can handle it on my own.She said the swings were awesome!

Of course my brave little girl didn't want to try the toddler slides but instead went first straight to the highest one of all!

Regarding my last post

Today I remembered reading that babies don't separate themselves from their environment. I'm not sure when this changes. I know they say the terrible twos are caused in part because the child is learning that they are their own person and they are asserting their boundaries. What I read gave the example that a baby will quickly learn that kicking the side of his crib results in the mobile shaking or making noise. He will then repeat this over and over. However, if the wind happens to blow the curtain at the same time and he notices, he thinks it is the result of what he did and he will try in vain and even get frustrated trying to cause the same result.
My thought of the day is that perhaps Caius' cries aren't so emotional as they are seeking a desired result. I'm hungry, I'm tired, I need mommy, I want to be held. This means that if my desired result is different than his, maybe it's not so hard or so mean for me to insist on it and teach him that this crying results in A and not B. I don't know if I can outlast him or remember that his little feelings aren't being hurt and I'm not doing him emotional/psychological damage, but I found this to be a helpful and interesting thought. What do you think?