Trying to Survive with a Couple of 2-Year Olds!

Life has been interesting lately. My little angelic babies now have horns sprouting from their heads. The main issue I'm having with Ethan and Mia is that they don't listen to me very well. They listen to Mike better than me and it's so frustrating. Ethan is the worst. We butt heads every single day and it's exhausting. But, I'm very stubborn and don't give in if it's something that really matters. Mike thinks that I'm a huge pushover, which might have some truth to it. I think I've been better and more consistent about putting them in time-out and it's helping. I usually give them a couple of warnings and then put them in time-out if they still aren't listening.

Ethan no longer wants to have clothes on. He'll put them on if we're going outside or going somewhere, but otherwise, he wants to be completely naked. I've had to duct tape his diaper on because he rips it off. He starts screaming when he sees me coming with the duct tape! Twice in one week, he took his clothes and poopy diaper off and wiped poop all over their room. We had to steam-clean their carpet both times. Mia (and now Riley too) also likes to rip her diaper off. One day, during nap, they both took their clothes and diapers off and peed all over the floor. I've been cracking down and immediately put Ethan in time-out if he takes his diaper off, and he's been getting better about it.

I took Mia to her eye appointment a couple of weeks ago. Her left eye still tracks outward when she's tired, daydreaming, or stressed out. The eye doctor I took her to does all of the babies' eyes in the NICU and is really good. He told me that as long as it's straight most of the time (which it is) then there's nothing to worry about. We have to keep watching it, but she won't need to go back for another six months. I really trust his opinion and am thankful that we don't have to put an eye patch on her--what a nightmare that would be. She'd never keep it on!

Mia is talking up a storm. She copies everything we say, good and bad. Our dog, Elsa, pooped in the house in multiple areas and I was SO mad. I kept on saying, "you stupid dog." Before long, Mia started saying, "stupid Elsa." Oops! Time to watch what I say. I don't swear a lot, but Mike has a potty mouth so I keep telling him to quit swearing. He is getting better about it. Ethan is talking a little more but nothing like Mia. He does attempt to say things and sometime it sounds like the word and sometimes it doesn't. I know he'll get the hang of it sometime. He's just a little bit slower at it. Someone asked me if he talks more if Mia isn't around. I was trying to think, but they are always together. They follow each other around everywhere. They've shown a lot of interest in books lately, so we've been reading a lot. I know this will help their language.

We've been spending a lot of time outside. The kids love their new swing set. They all fight over the baby seat on the swing set. They all like to go down the slide too. Mia was trying to get up the courage to go down the slide by herself, and Riley was impatiently waiting her turn to go down the slide. I guess Riley thought she had waited long enough and gave Mia a giant push and pushed her down the slide. Riley then went head first down the slide. Thankfully, Mia thought this was funny and laughed about the entire thing.

Mia has been obsessed with her shoes lately. She'll spend a good hour taking them off and putting them back on. She usually gets them on the wrong feet and then will take them off and put them on the right feet. She also likes to unzip her pajamas when it's time to change her diaper. It takes forever, but I sit and wait and let her do it. If I don't, she screams. She's becoming so independent!

Helping mix up grout for the bathroom floor.

We put them to work at a young age here.

Mia HATES having her hair fixed. She usually takes the hair clippies out immediately. She couldn't get the tiny rubber bands out so she threw a HUGE fit.

Riley's First Steps

Riley took her first steps today! Mike and I were having her practice walk in between us on the floor. She stood by herself for awhile and then took a couple steps toward me. There's no turning back now!

Jude's Baptism & Janai's First Communion

We celebrated Jude's baptism and Janai's First Communion on Sunday. My sister, Sarah, arranged them for the same day which was nice for all the people that came from out of town. Janai looked so pretty in her white dress and veil. You could tell she felt like a princess. Jude also looked cute in her white baptismal dress. Both events went well. My three kids probably misbehaved the most. I had to sit on the side of the church with them during the baptism. They had had enough of sitting still. Amber and Kelly left their purses on the pew, so the twins had fun going through them. They ate all of Amber's gum and mints, got her cell phone, and ate all of Kelly's gum.

We went to Sarah and Steve's house afterwards for some lunch. We had some sloppy joe's, chips, cole slaw, potato salad, chips & dip, cake, and bars. The kids always have a blast at Sarah's. Her house isn't toddler-proof, so they get into everything. I don't hear a peep from Ethan and Mia the entire time we're over there.

This weekend was a lot of fun. My sister's and I went shopping on Saturday. We went to the mall and got pedicures. It was awesome! The last time I got a pedicure was when I was pregnant with Ethan & Mia. We grilled out at our house on Saturday. It was such a nice day! It felt really good to spend some time with my sisters. I wish we could do it more often! I have some more pictures from this weekend that I'll post later.

Grandma and Jude

The Godparents--Mike and Steph (Steve's sister.) Mike reminded me at least weekly that he was a Godparent and I wasn't. What a nice husband I have! :)

Eating Amber's mints. Mia has Amber's cell phone.

The cousins except for Jude. Half of them are looking in different directions!

The entire Krause family. It's pretty rare when we're all able to get together. There are seven kids in our family.

Jude with Grandpa's hat on.

Brother/Sister love. I love this picture. Noah is a little goofball.

Aunt Jenna with Janai

Uncle Nathan and Janai. My mom was 41 when she had Nathan. Nathan and Janai are a couple years apart. A lot of people ask if they are cousins or brother/sister. Janai gets really perturbed when people ask her. She always says, "No, he's my uncle" in a really sarcastic voice.

Riley's 13 Month Update

Riley's 13 months old. This last month flew by. We've been spending a lot of time outside. Riley loves it just as much as Ethan and Mia. She even throws a fit when I bring her in. She loves to crawl around after her brother and sister. I hope she starts walking soon because her pants are getting stained and worn out! Speaking of walking, we're still waiting for her first steps. She loves to hold onto our hand and walk across the room. You can tell she's very proud of herself.


She's got kind of a goofy personality and is also strong-willed. Oh joy. Another strong-willed child. She's becoming more and more like Ethan every day. She has to copy everything he does and it's not always such a good idea. If she sees him standing on a chair, she has to do it. I don't really want him teaching her things! :) She loves to play with Ethan and Mia. She tries to roll over on top of them and just giggles. Riley tries to steal their toys all the time. In fact, she wants whatever they have. It doesn't really matter what it is. She wants it. The three of them fight all day, and I'm the referee. (I can't begin to tell you how exhausting that is!) Riley gets right in there when they're fighting. She hits and pulls hair. She pulled Mia's hair so hard the other day that it knocked Mia over! Riley's also a lover though. She wants to kiss and hug everyone, the dog and cat included. The twins still push her away when she goes in for a smooch and I think it hurts her feelings. Poor thing!


She's got 5 teeth with one on the way. This tooth has been trying to come in for a month. She basically hasn't slept through the night in over a month. I really want this tooth to come in and then I want a break from teething! She still likes to take one afternoon nap. She usually sleeps for an hour or so. She's in bed by 10pm and up for good by 8:30am. She wakes up at least once during the night. She likes to snuggle with me and I put her back in her crib when she falls asleep.


Riley's been saying more and more words. She says, "mama", "dada", "baba", "bye-bye", "yes", "eh" (for Elsa.) What's funny is when we're outside and Elsa runs off, I start yelling her name. Ethan, Mia, and Riley will now yell Elsa along with me. The poor dog has 4 people yelling at her. Too bad she still doesn't listen!

She's still a pretty good eater. She likes all the traditional little kid foods. Her favorites are bananas, watermelon, Lil Crunchies, Yogurt melts, and anything sweet. We've started weaning her from the bottle. I cut out the afternoon bottle, so now she gets one in the morning, one before nap time, and one before bed. She doesn't seem to miss the afternoon bottle. After we're done weaning the bottle, I'm going to wean her from nursing. Now that's going to be difficult!

Uncles Billy and Nathan, Aunts Kelly and Jenna

Aunt Kelly and Riley

Trying to use a spoon for the first time. She did pretty well but got frustrated with it.

Riley had to copy Ethan and crawl on the table. Notice the nice action shot of Ethan jumping off the table?

Yum...girl scout cookies. She's got quite the sweet-tooth.

Riley saw Ethan do this and had to copy him. She couldn't figure out how to get down!

All Time Favorite

This is one of my all-time favorite videos. It was right after Ethan and Mia were born. The nurse practitioner posed them like this and I absolutely loved it! Mia is on the left and Ethan is on the right. Mike snapped some pictures of them in this pose and those pictures are also one of my top favorites.

Difficult Kids

The kids have really been a challenge this week. All three have a nasty cold, so they don't feel well. They're crabby beyond belief and to top it off, Riley is still waking up during the night. I think I'm just as crabby as they are, so that definitely doesn't help things! They've been in destruction mode today. They're tearing books off the book shelf, knocking stuff off of the counters, throwing clothes from their dressers. It's taking every single ounce of patience I have.

On the up side, my nieces, Janai and Jude, are celebrating their First Communion and Baptism. My sister decided to do it all on the same day, so it'll be one huge party. All of my family is coming. It's always fun when we get together. I have 6 brothers and sisters, so it's always chaotic. My sisters and I are going to get pedicures and do some shopping on Saturday. I could definitely use some sister time after this week!

Random Pictures of the Kiddos

It's been a little bit of a rough week here. The kids have been really naughty and I feel like all I've been doing is getting after them. They all fight like crazy and come to me to tattle. I feel like a referee. They've been fighting over Mia's doll she received from the Easter bunny. They all want to feed the baby a bottle. They push, hit, and scratch over this doll!

Earlier in the week, Ethan and Mia took their clothes and diapers off when they were supposed to be napping. There was poop on their carpet and Ethan peed on his bed right after I changed the sheets. Arg! We put closet locks on their door, so they can no longer get into that stuff. Instead, they now empty out their dressers and the changing table daily. Their room is a complete disaster!

The next day, Ethan was looking mighty suspicious as he was crouching down on the floor. We made eye contact and I knew he was up to no good. On further inspection, he had pulled his pee pee out of his diaper and was watching himself pee. Pee was running down his leg onto my carpet.

Riley has been waking up 2-3 times per night. I have no idea what's wrong with her. She is getting a tooth but it won't be poking through for several days. I'm not sure if this is it or not. She's only been taking one 30-45 minute nap per day. This makes for a very long day as she clings to me like crazy.

I have to work the next three nights so Mike is taking over. I wish him good luck!

Riley copies everything Ethan does. She saw Ethan sitting on Uncle Mark's lego box, so she had to try it out!

Coloring with Uncle Mark.

Up to no good!

Mia and her Uncle Mark.

Mark broke out his colored pencils. The kids love to color! They threw them everywhere.

Lots of bubbles.

Playing in the big tub downstairs.