Verbally Challenged

Thanks to EVERYONE for all of the prayers, positive thoughts and well wishes regarding Finnian’s arrival. And thanks to Nate for updating everyone with a little introduction.

Finn and I were released from the hospital today and it has been wonderful being together again – this time as a family of five. The kids have been nothing short of amazing. Finn is one very lucky little boy because he has one older brother and sister ready and willing to help out and teach him everything! If Finn starts whimpering or crying, Liam will run over and try soothing him with his voice – it’s beyond cute. Addy is starting to do the same thing since her hero (aka Liam) does it.

Addy truly is fulfilling the role as the “little mama.” She wants to do everything that I do, but with her dolly in hand. Well, dolly or her new baby brother. She’s dying to hold him, and not just on a pillow as we’ve been doing. She walks around with her arms stretched out, desperately hoping to hold him like the dolly. I’ll need to keep an eye on her as she’s a little too eager to help. She even pushed my hands away earlier while I was changing a diaper because she wanted to do it.

I guess that the important thing here is that they appear to like each other so far…but it hasn’t been all that long.

I have a lot to catch up on and need to go through a lot of holiday AND baby photos. Perhaps on another night when I’m not falling asleep after typing three words (literally…it’s ridiculous).

For now I’ll leave you with this…another awesome video that Nate made about Finn. I’m not sure if you remember the one that he did for Addy but I love them and they always make me cry.

Finnian’s Arrival from nathan kress on Vimeo.

More later!

Hi everyone. My name is Finnian Pol Kress. But people call me Finn. Or Finner.

I was born on the afternoon of December 27th and I weighed in at a whopping seven pounds, ten ounces – which I am told is a family record.

My mommy did awesomely during the procedure – and came out feeling much better than she did after my sister Addy was born.

I got to meet my Mommy, Daddy, Noni, Poppy, Grammy, Pappy and Aunt Libby yesterday. Today I get to meet even more family members- and I am especially excited to meet my brother and sister!!

I’m sure you’ll be reading and seeing lots more of me when Mommy gets home from the hospital on Monday or Tuesday.

See you soon!

xoxoxo,
Finner

Have the happiest of holidays and stay safe!!!

Last weekend I did a maternity shoot for myself. I did the set-up and Nate snapped off the photos. I tried this before with the remote and failed miserably! With two kiddos and a HUGE belly is was way too hard AND frustrating! So here is one of me with the kiddos. My shirt blended into the background so you can’t see how far my belly torpedos out but I assure you, Addy is sitting ON the belly and it clears her body! Scary huh?

I’ll spare you the rest as they involve a big WHITE belly! Hahahahaha! It’s winter white and not very slimming!

Two years ago today I was in a total panic when my water broke first thing in the morning – three weeks early. I was a scheduled c-section at the time and doctors didn’t want me to labor so we had to move fast. My mind was spinning with things that I still needed to do since Christmas was only two days away. I had a four year old boy who needed a mom AND Christmas…how was that going to work? And I still needed to make my cookie boxes, pack up the car with gifts…I wasn’t READY for a baby!

But then I met this little one:

And Christmas could wait. Everything would work out and guess what…it did.

It seems like ever since I had her (Liam too), time started going faster. And my newborn girl turned into a sweet little one year old:

And it was a year of growth. She became her own person, very independent and very opinionated.

And now:

At two she amazes me every day. She’s like a four year old trapped in a two year old body (folks have actually said that to me too). I can carry on conversations with her and she understands everything. She picks things up so easily!

Today, while trying to take it easy and not have another baby on the 23rd, we celebrated Addy’s birthday at home. I had planned some fun activities that would keep the kids engaged while I sat around on the floor with them…my best attempt at resting with two kiddos. And of course I took photos to document our day.

We started by making some beaded garlands for the trees:

And had a picnic lunch by the Christmas tree:

Yes Liam is still in his pajamas, he declared it jammy day for himself.

And we did ornament crafts in the afternoon. Addy’s involving some clear contact paper, bits of Christmas paper and a photo (we make placemats like this):

It ended up looking like this (bad photo):

And Liam’s involved some felt and the whip stitch:

And turned out like this (another bad photo alert):

After nap time, we did gifts (more bad photos):

And cake:

It was a fantastic day!!!

Today we celebrated Adeline’s second birthday, ten days early.

The early part is probably why I’m not sobbing and in denial. It seems like she’s growing up way too fast – kind of like Liam. Sigh. This part of parenting is tough.

But the party was fantastic. I feel a little bit guilty because it went so much better than Liam’s. That was a rough day – resulting from NO sleep the night before due to a fussy gal who had an ear infection that was diagnosed about two hours BEFORE Liam’s party – an early trip to a clinic open on Saturday’s (talk about a hectic morning/day). Add pregnancy to the mix AND the fact that this gal NEEDS her sleep (oh the evilness if not) and it was just not a very good day. But I really don’t think that Liam noticed…the guests maybe…but not the birthday boy. But I digress.

The little Miss was “2″ going on 20. It was as if she knew exactly what was going on at every moment and took her job as hostess very seriously. She charmed the crowd and had a grand time! Every gift was a hit – every. single. gift. And she tore into each one like an old pro. She also delivered each gift (per my request) to a different family member to remove from the box. Nothing like sharing the annoying overly twist tied packaging love with the family (I highly recommend this for your next party).

And the gifts? Me thinks the families were ready for girl. She got the most adorable clothing, a tea set, Elmo things, dollies (times 3) and two purses filled with all kinds of girlie things. By girlie things I mean gloves, hairbrush, lipstick (play of course), mirror, earrings, sunglasses, phone, diaper, keys, compact, credit card…see what I mean. And oddly enough, I carry a very simple bag with keys, money, phone, wipes and a diaper. That’s it. I’m simple. She’s already more girlie than me!

It was a great day. And now for the photos.

After opening a dolly:

The cake:

The wacky gal sporting the sunglasses from her purse:

And then feeding one of her new dollies a bottle…with a diaper on over her pajamas…while wearing sunglasses:

Good times.

So it’s not Friday but I have a ton of photos to share. The K house has been busy…really busy. So busy that I didn’t dump my camera for four straight days with four days of photos on it! That’s unheard of for me because I’m impatient.

What have we been up to?

Resting in between doctors appointments…which means playing on the floor with Addy.

I love this photo – it captures a piece of our morning perfectly. Addy is half dressed and focused on something (here the music box) only after getting dolly situated and happy. I still call her my “little mama” as she treats her dolls wonderfully! Notice in the photo that dolly has her cup of tea to her left, the rest of Addy’s breakfast (a fruit bar) in the middle and a coin off to the right should she get bored. It’s adorable.

I was also scrambling to get our advent calendar done for this year. It has become a tradition for me to make a new one every year. It has to include a years worth of photos and then some fun things to do every day. Liam LOVES it and begs every morning to see what’s in store for the day. This is a small peek into the calendar. I can’t share the entire thing right now…but stay tuned to the American Crafts blog later on this month to see more!

And then the weekend. Let’s just say that it focused on the holidays!

Friday night we drove to see the lights – no photos.

On Saturday we went to get our tree. It’s a K-family tradition to go on the first Saturday of the month. It was COLD!

So we bundled up and had a good time anyway:

And found a really good tree:

That was really heavy…thanks goodness for L-man’s help!

Because we had to act fast as it was getting really cold!

So off we went with our tree tied to the roof of the car. And when we got home we carefully drove down the driveway (as it had been snowing quite a bit) and pulled into the carport.

Well…almost. The crash of the tree hitting the top of the carport prevented us from pulling all the way in. It also took two chunks out of the sides of our tree since those branches broke. OOPS!

Saturday night found us at a Christmas party.

Sunday morning we had brunch with Santa. And thanks to a bribe (santa giving away a gift) the kids actually approached santa. I have a photo but it’s in the car…and it’s cold out…and I don’t like the cold. So the santa photo will just have to wait.

I do have other photos though…like daddy and Liam:

Mommy and sweet girl:

Crazy happy girl…probably happy about all of the food available:

And my nephew who was really enjoying his hot cocoa:

And later in the day we decorated the Christmas tree…as a family. And Addy is getting the hang of the one finger ornament touch.

Which brings me to today and a lot of baking. But it wouldn’t be the holidays if I didn’t bake. I love it.

More later.

thanks to hubby once again.

smartypants from nathan kress on Vimeo.

So for the past couple of months I’ve been using Nate’s video camera and capturing Addy during the day – wanting to get her little voice on tape before it changes too much. And one day I flipped the viewfinder around showed her who was in the camera and she loved it. Now my voice gets kind of annoying but Adeline makes up for it in sweetness…I think! Enjoy!

Inside the Addy Studio from nathan kress on Vimeo.

And kudos to my rockin’ hubby who made my video come to life…music and all.

Even though he:
Talks 800 levels too high (aka he’s LOUD)
Talks a lot…and then some…and then some more
Has insane amounts of energy
Can’t sit still
Has difficulty entertaining himself
Eats only four main foods (fruit excluded)
Has selective hearing
Is a crazy kiddo

He really is a sweet sweet boy who really aims to please. He’s a cuddle-bum (as I call him) and doesn’t like to disappoint anyone. And best of all, he loves his baby sister. I mean, minimal jealousy, loves to teach, kiss and hug his baby sister.

The other day he made this:

And it makes me smile.