Natalie King, Author at The King-Whited Family Blog

Big News For Our Family

We’re expecting!!! In March, we will welcome another boy into our family!!

One week old

Lol, you didn’t think I meant a human baby, did you?! I think this is what you call “click bait”- am I a real blogger yet?!

That uterus ship has sailed, which is perfectly fine because our plan all along was two special snowflakes and that’s what we have. But 2 little boys hasn’t been quite messy/chaotic/exhausting enough and so are adding a sweet baby english bulldog into the mix.

two weeks old

3 weeks old

4 weeks old

Hudson King-Whited will join us in St. Paul in March and we are very excited. We lost Olivia in May 2019 and that was so awful that I vowed I would never have another dog again. But of course, within a few months, Nate and I started talking about how much we missed having a dog.

We attempted to rescue a dog this past May, but that ended after a month with a bite to the face and a crazy woman yelling at me. Since then, Xander keeps saying, “I want a puppy- a new puppy, not a used puppy” so apparently we’re not the rescuing type (maybe we will try again when our boys aren’t so much smaller than 50 pound english bulldogs).

Anyway, we found a breeder and she’s been sending us photos each week and we’re super excited for him to get bigger and come home with us! Yay!!

The End of 2020!

The week since Christmas has flown by in the blink of an eye. We played some family laser tag (a very fun gift from Santa), practiced putting (Santa was good to Nate as well), and played with lots of new toys. The boys went to school on Monday and Tuesday and Grandma Debbie’s house on Wednesday. I took this week off and spent time packing up Christmas stuff, re-organizing the boys’ playroom, baking nonstop, etc.

A good news update- Xander’s arm is NOT broken and he did NOT need a cast! We had an ortho appointment on Tuesday and the specialist said based on what he was seeing on the x-ray that it was just a bad bruise. He didn’t even x-ray it again. I am so so relieved. The splint was super itchy and really bothering him and a cast would have been SUCH a pain! On our way home, he suggested that we make Oreo Fluff to celebrate him. A great suggestion! We swung into the grocery store and came home to make celebration dessert!

I thought I was done baking after Christmas, but New Years was calling, so I made a few more batches and was happy to sell some boxes.

A friend of mine recently asked me if we had settled into the new house and I said yes, except that every time I turn around, I find a new place I want to put a shelf. The biggest reason I wanted to buy a new house was that we ran out of space in our old house and had a toy shelf in the dining room, and random things in every corner. Moving was a good opportunity to purge- we took SEVERAL trips to the goodwill, sold things on facebook and filled 2 bagsters. But moving was also our chance to have a place for everything and if something doesn’t have a place, we don’t need it. I’ve bought approximately 100 bins of all sizes since we moved in. I have sorted, labeled, and organized since we moved in. I am proud to say that this house is VERY organized. And this week, MORE organization!

I am most excited about a set of small shelves that I added for my vast collection of food coloring and flavoring.

Nate doesn’t consider himself to be very handy, but he’s actually really capable of home improvement projects. He added shelves all the way to the ceiling and I am so excited about how much more organizational area it gave us.

Before

After

About a month ago, I went to a used furniture store “just to look” to see if I could find a cool cabinet. In the front of the store, I found the perfect cabinet! I was literally in and out of the store (including loading said cabinet into my van) in 10 minutes! It’s been crammed in a corner for a month waiting for the Christmas tree to go away, and I was very excited to get it in place and fill it with precious items.

Tonight my mom came over and cooked us a decadent lobster and shrimp dinner. She also brought very loud noise-makers for the boys. It was a fun evening. I am doubtful that Nate and I will even make it to midnight, but it was a good NYE!
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As 2020 comes to a close, I know it was a tough year for a lot of people, but our family was super lucky to have a pretty great year. I discovered the library app and have read 43 books since August. I have baked nonstop. Nate golfed a lot this summer and fall. We bought a new house and have done 1 million small projects to make it home. The boys have done so many sweet, funny and fabulous things which I have tried to document in photos and weekly blog posts so that someday, they can look back and have record of how beloved they are. I hope 2021 is better for everyone and that our family continues to grow and learn and do our best.

I’ll end this year snuggled into bed well before the ball drops. But here’s a recap if you aren’t on my Christmas card list-

2020

January brought a new year- we were excited for 2020!

Changes, surprises and making memories were sure to be aplenty.

Xander was saying “what?!” A lot, we were worried about his ears.

Surgery to remove his adenoids fixed his hearing and calmed our fears.

February we sat in the front row at Monster Jam,

Sundays the boys went to Grandma Debbie’s- they laughed and played and swam.

Natalie was baking nonstop- batch after batch of French macs,

Nate was battling a dropping market- no time to relax!

In March Natalie had surgery, she said goodbye to her uterus,

6 weeks of recovery- to be at home that long seemed ludicrous.

But then a global pandemic broke out and closed down everything,

A historic time for the world and a scary start to Spring.

The State locked down in April, everyone was forced to quarantine,

We watched the news every day waiting for updates on Covid-19.

20 years of summer camp helped Natalie keep the boys busy with weekly themes,

Working from home, 2 active kids and never leaving the house brought new routines.

In May the pandemic continued, wearing masks had become the norm,

Luckily we spent a lot of time outside, the weather was sunny and warm.

Natalie cancelled camp, the first time that happened in 73 years,

A difficult decision that came after lots of stress and tears.

By June being stuck at home, was getting really old.

Unfortunately for everyone, Covid-19 was still uncontrolled.

We played outside a lot, in the yard and neighborhood,

Xander learned to pedal a bike, he was getting really quite good!

Natalie and the boys spent all of July at C.Y.C.

Xander and Augustus swam every day, life in the woods was wild and free!

Camp was not the same without kids, but volunteers really spruced up the place,

Covid-19 was challenging, adjusting to change- we tried to embrace.

August we were back at home and Gussie had his third birthday,

A party at a playground and even Spiderman came to play!

We were thinking about a new house, though we weren’t sure if we’d go or we’d stay,

But we went out with a realtor, and surprise- found the perfect house right away!

September the boys went back to school after being at home for such a long time,

Being back with their friends and teachers felt absolutely sublime.

Natalie and Nate worked hard to keep everything neat, clean, and ready to go,

Because every weekend and many evenings, the house was open to show.

We had to sell our house by October, in order for the contingency to go through,

We got an offer the day of the deadline and our moving dreams had come true!

Nate hit a major Edward Jones milestone, and made it to level one!

We were so proud of his accomplishment, but his success has only just begun!

November it was time to move, we packed up all our stuff,

After 13 years on Randolph, saying goodbye was exciting, but also tough.

Unpacking all the boxes, was quite a major feat,

But after 2 long weeks of working hard, our home was comfy and complete!

December meant gingerbread houses, elf on the shelf and seeing Santa (this year online),

This time of the year is so magical! It was fun; it was divine!

Cocoa, Christmas cookies, sledding, and looking at lights,

Each morning we opened our advent calendar, then cuddled up with Christmas books each night.

2020! What a year! But overall, it was great!

Merry Christmas from Augustus, Xander, Natalie and Nate!

So Much Christmas Magic!

We’ve spent the whole month of December counting down to Christmas and our last week was wonderful! Our elf was busy on a zipline, making us into elves, bringing elf fruit snacks, and, in what’s become a tradition, brought Christmas ornaments in their stockings on Christmas eve- a preview of presents to come. I will miss our elf, but I am ready to have a little less excitement propelling them out of bed early each morning.

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When I started making french macarons 2 years ago, I swore I wasn’t going to sell them. I just liked baking and it’s a great hobby to be creative and do something just for me- a little mom break in the kitchen. But somewhere along the line, it’s turned into a tiny business- enough to pay for my supplies and the rest goes into a “future puppy” fund, but nothing serious. Over the Christmas season, I made 26 DOZEN cookies- nearly all of them for paid orders. I completed some mixed boxes this week and I’m ready for a baking break! Several people who bought cookies have emailed me afterwards with compliments, which has been so gratifying. I love having a creative outlet and I’m happy people are enjoying them.

Monday- Wednesday were our normal school/work and grandma days.

On Wednesday, Nate and I both took the day off to finish Christmas prep. Augustus asked for the Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage, which seemed like kind of an excessive gift, but he mentioned it at least 100 times over the course of December. He would have been SO bummed out if Santa had let him down. I wanted Christmas morning to be as magical as I remember it from my childhood, so I was willing to be a little extravagant with such a giant toy. Plus, I know he will play with it a lot, so it won’t be something that just sits in a corner after a week. It came in approximately 100 pieces, so assembly ahead of time was a necessity.

Wednesday afternoon brought freezing temperature, crazy wind, and snow for a white Christmas (there wasn’t any before that).

On Thursday morning, we were surprised by freshly snow blowed sidewalks (with single digit temps, that was truly a merry Christmas eve surprise!). I went next door to drop cookies off for our neighbors to say thank you. We haven’t met them yet (it’s covid, plus it’s been chilly out, so we haven’t had a chance to meet anyone in the neighborhood yet), but we were so grateful for their kind act. We chatted for a few minutes and they seem so lovely! And then, as I was leaving, she handed me a Christmas card. But it wasn’t just a Christmas card, but also included a “welcome to the neighborhood” card AND gift certificates for a liquor store and ice cream shop! How incredibly nice, thoughtful and genuinely welcoming! I think we have the nicest neighbors of all time!

Christmas eve was a wonderful day! It was SUPER cold outside but we were busy all day. I baked a cake, the boys painted ornaments. We hung some more pictures on the walls, did a little cleaning, and obviously played played played. We watched the Santa tracker online for a while. Our plan was the open presents on zoom with Grandma and Grandpa Whited at 3pm. That was a very long time to wait for 2 very excited boys, and I think Xander asked what time it was at least 87 times. After zoom, Grandma Debbie was going to arrive for dinner and a Christmas eve slumber party, so there was a LOT to look forward to.

With 20 minutes to go before zoom and presents, Xander was twirling around, being silly and his slippery socks (what we call socks without the grippers on the bottom), combined with our hardwood floors knocked him off his feet, directly onto his arm. Kids fall a lot. And kids cry regularly. But there is a different tone to a kid’s cry when he is truly hurt, and this was that kind of scream. Nate and I were at his side in seconds.

We iced it and I used all of my (limited) first aid skills to assess his injury. We hoped that some zoom time with Grandma and Grandpa and finally opening presents would help.

Unfortunately he was miserable and wanted nothing to do with presents (a bad sign). It was 3pm. I was running through every scenario- take him to the ER or wait, ER, wait…. Would he bounce back with a little more ice? Would he be miserable all though dinner? I called Children’s Hospital and they told me there wasn’t much of a wait at the moment. I hoped we could get in, x-rayed, and be home by dinner (with peace of mind and *hopefully* not a broken kiddo).

Xander was NOT happy to have to make a trip to the hospital. He was very sad. Luckily we got right in without delay and shortly after a dose of advil, he was feeling much better. We got an x-ray and then had to wait a bit, but the xray tech gave him pokemon cards and a water-wow coloring book, so he was feeling happy. As the waiting got longer and longer, I started to think maybe we could just leave. He seemed fine. We were both getting hungry and we were both sick of sitting at the hospital.

However, the doctor came back and said that while she didn’t see any breaks, there was a lot of fluid around his elbow, which could mean some hairline fractures they can’t see, or maybe just a painful hit. She told me they wanted to splint it for a week to see if the rest would help it heal (hard cast material on the bottom, wrapped in soft bandages to hold it together). After a week, we’ll follow up with ortho to determine if he healed or if he needs a full cast. Xander was SO upset with big tears and such sad concern about an inability to unwrap presents. Luckily the nurse and doctor were WONDERFUL and took time to talk with him, listen to his fears, reassure him, and tell him maybe they could find some surprises to help him be brave. I really appreciated their kindness and gentle way with him. I was having some intense mom-guilt, ready to burst into tears. It’s so hard to see your baby in pain and sad, and not be able to fix it. And it was heightened because it was Christmas eve and I’d envisioned a perfect, snuggly, happy, magical day.

I was also feeling really concerned, composing an email to his doctor as I sat there. Xander broke his leg 2 years ago at the trampoline park. He just happened to land funny and then there was a scream. It’s a common injury, so we weren’t overly concerned. But as we were sitting in the hospital with a *potential* second break I was feeling like a terrible mother?! Is something wrong with my baby? Does he have some kind of vitamin deficiency?! I’ll be calling his doctor on Monday, despite the doctor assuring me that “these things happen”. In the meantime, I feel like I somehow did something wrong and I feel awful!

Once they calmed both of us down and as the doctor got ready to put on his splint, the nurse returned with a popsicle and a remote control car and some legos. Xander’s eyes LIT UP and he was in MUCH better spirits. I said, “I wonder what moms get if they break their arm?” and he said, “probably phones and mom stuff” which I wish was true, but, joking aside, while we DO NOT need another toy in our house, I was SO grateful for whoever the donors were who made that possible. Being at the hospital on Christmas eve went from HORRIBLE to not so bad. I have never been so happy to see him receive a gift as I was in that moment.

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He got his splint and we walked out with a pile of presents.

We got home in time for dinner (later than my usual 5:30, which everyone knows I’m pretty rigid about, but an hour later wasn’t so bad). My mom’s favorite food is crab and I surprised her with some gorgeous king crab- it was AMAZING and such a decadent meal.

We feasted, finished with pineapple upside down cake, and then we changed into our Christmas jammies (including Grandma). We set out cookies for Santa and then then boys headed off to bed, excited for Santa to come!

I got stockings filled and presents set out. Both boys were soundly asleep. My mom, Nate and I hung out for a while and then went to bed! What a day!

Xander woke up at 2am and wanted to know what time it was (NOT yet time to get up!) and needed some more advil, but he actually slept until 6:30 (which is pretty reasonable for him) and Augustus slept until 7:30!

They were SO excited. It was a magical morning and worth every bit of work over the last month. These boys already have SO MANY TOYS and I’m not sure we even have room for more, but it was SO fun to hear them squeal and be so excited. They won’t be little forever, so bring on the piles of presents.

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After presents and stockings, they played and played. I made egg cups and cherry puff pastry (the boys ate toast).

Danny and Heather arrived at 11 and we had mimosas and a full bloody mary bar.
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Then it was time for MORE presents. More playing. Appetizers (Danny smoked a salmon that was literal heaven in your mouth).

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We ate late lunch/early dinner of beef tenderloin, potatoes, brussel sprouts, salad and tuxedo cake. It was so scrumptious- my perfect meal.

After we ate, we hung out, played 90s trivia, Danny and Xander traded some pokemon, and the boys played with their new toys. It was a fabulous, wonderful, amazing day.

Christmas is so so magical and wonderful. Also SO much work. We went from the craziness of moving to the insanity of Christmas and I think all of us are a little exhausted. Evening meltdowns led to an early bedtime tonight. I am looking forward to a little less excitement in January!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Christmas Melt Down

Another week of Christmas cheer. I love the Christmas season. I love the Elf, Christmas cards, baking cookies, the daily advent calendar, gingerbread houses. I love buying presents and the excitement leading up to Christmas morning. I love all of it. Creating magic is the reason I am so passionate about camp, and being able to do that every day for my children is the best.

But I had a Christmas meltdown this weekend (shoutout to my fellow moms who all know what I’m talking about). Weeks ago, I bought fun wrapping paper in red Toy Story (for Xander) and green Paw Patrol (for Gussie). I thought I had it hidden, but they saw it and Xander said, “what’s that wrapping paper for?” NOT Santa anymore… So I went back to the store and found new red Star Wars paper for Xander and blue Frozen paper for Gussie. Last weekend I got all of the wrapping done. Yay for me being so ahead of schedule.

And then I walked by the spare room (where I have wrapping paper, etc) and saw the Star Wars paper out. Did I do that?! No way… And then Xander said, “did you see the cool wrapping paper Daddy used for your present?” and I saw wrapped gifts under the tree in the designated Xander wrapping paper I had already wrapped all of his Santa presents in.

I won’t go into the details of the tantrum I threw. I’d like you to imagine our family holding hands and singing Christmas carols and being picture perfect…. lol. It was not like that. Weeks of early elf mornings, long to do lists of millions of Christmas details to take care of, and a never-ending mess of sprinkles on my floor bubbled up and spilled all over my poor husband, who had no idea that his beautifully wrapped gifts had sabotaged my way ahead-of-the-game wrapping job.

Round 3 of red paper from the store, full blown tantrum unwrapping, and then I re-wrapped all of Xander’s presents. ‘Tis the F-ing season…. It was an early bedtime for me that night.

On Saturday night, the boys had a slumber party at Grandma Debbie’s house. They were so excited and they had a blast as always. Xander was pretty determined that they were going to go to Target (on the Saturday before Christmas) but that didn’t happen, despite him getting himself bundled and ready to go. Even without a shopping trip, they had a great time.

Our elf has been busy this week. He had a pinata, left mustaches on the boys’s picture, had surprises to unravel, surprises to find under cups, bubble gum, a candy cane scavenger hunt, and ended the week with some golf. We’re definitely going to miss him when he is gone.

We had a regular week with school and work and hanging out at home.

On Thursday, we headed to Wisconsin to see some Christmas lights. We picked the boys up a little early from school and they were excited, and Xander was in disbelief when he found out we were going all the way to WISCONSIN! He was so funny saying, “NO?! REALLY!?” It was only a 30 minute drive, but he was quite tickled that we were in another state! Sam’s Christmas Village was cool- you walk around outside and there are big lighted structures (some that you can walk through). We got lucky and the weather was lovely. It wasn’t very busy on a Thursday night and we had a fabulous time.

I’ve been baking nonstop and I’ve officially hit the, “I don’t ever want to make another cookie again” stage. I have a few more batches to go and then I’ll be done… Christmas is just such a fun theme- every time I think I’m done, I find another design I want to make.

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One week to go! We’re counting down to Christmas!!

An Elf-y Week of Fun

Our elf has been on a roll this week and Xander is so excited he’s been waking up earlier and earlier each day. I tried to tone down the elf so it wasn’t too exciting, hoping he would sleep a little later, but that didn’t work. So now I’ve just accepted that we’re not going to sleep until Christmas is over.

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(chocolate chips for authenticity)

In last week’s update, we started potty training. The weekend was a disaster. I hoped his teachers could help, but Monday, he ONLY peed at naptime when they put him in a diaper to sleep. Tuesday, he had several accidents and when I picked him up at the end of the day, his teachers told me he wasn’t showing any signs of readiness. He hadn’t gotten pee in the potty even once, so this wasn’t surprising. And earlier in the day, a friend of mine told me she hadn’t even started potty training her son until he was 4 and so I felt a little better. Other than the potty training book freaking me out, he really didn’t seem ready, so we decided to pause potty training for a bit longer. I am eager to be done with diapers, but I think waiting is the right thing for him.

On Wednesday, our bunk beds finally arrived. We’ve been waiting for weeks and we were all very excited! When Xander got home, he jumped right into his bed and yelled, “room for me to grow!” Sometimes that kid says things that sound like dialogue from a wholesome family sitcom.

When we’d discussed bunk beds, both boys agreed right away- Xander on top, Augustus on the bottom. I thought we got lucky that they were that agreeable. On the first day, both were a little nervous about the top bunk- climbing up and down was kind of scary. But they both quickly mastered it, and less than 24 hours later, Augustus said, “I don’t like my new bed!” and when I asked him why, he said, “it’s too boring! Xander has the top bunk!” But other than that, they both like their new beds.

On Saturday, we had a playdate with Skylar and Phoebe. Last year, they made Christmas candy houses with us, so we were eager to do it again this year. Both Kate and I are over-thinkers, so we weren’t sure if we should get together and we talked it through at length. But the kids see each other every day at school, both of us wore masks and stayed 6 feet apart, and I think we were pretty safe. I can’t wait for life to go back to normal and we can just have friends over, eat lunch, hang out, and not worry about anyone getting sick. Even though it was a modified visit, we still had a lot of fun and Christmas traditions are definitely more fun when there are friends to share with.

Saturday morning, our elf must have overheard that we were having a movie night, because he delivered a basket of snacks and treats and matching family Christmas jammies! After a morning of candy and frosting and playing with friends, the boys were WIRED. They were so excited for movie night. We turned it into movie afternoon and started at 4pm. I made charcuterie/appetizer dinner including chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, spring rolls, bruschetta, cheese, crackers and olives. I thought we were going to watch a Christmas movie, but the boys had seen a preview for Shazam and really wanted to watch that. It was actually a pretty cute movie. We ate tons of snacks and snuggled and it was wonderful!

I have wanted our Christmas card to be us in matching Christmas jammies since Xander was born. But Nate feels deep, passionate hatred for matching Christmas pjs. He agreed to wear them as long as I didn’t post any photos of him. He looks cute in this adorable family photo, but it will only ever be in our family scrapbook, not online.

I’ve been baking nonstop this week- I have a lot of Christmas orders coming up! It wasn’t my plan to turn macs into a business, but I really enjoy making them and it’s nice to make them for a purpose.

This morning started at 4:45am with Xander asking if it was time to wake up yet. I said no, but then spent the next 2 hours with him coming back every few minutes to ask again. He has an “ok to wake” clock that lights up at 6:45. But if the light isn’t on yet, it doesn’t matter if it’s midnight or 6:44.

Xander is a great sleeper- he goes to bed without argument, falls asleep within minutes of laying down and sleeps though the night. So I think when he wakes up, it’s just because he is well rested. However, I’ve tried teaching him about consideration. I’ve tried yelling at him. But I haven’t attempted to solve his problem until today. Now he has this clock as well. So when he wakes up, if the star isn’t in the green, he can’t get up. I am HOPING this helps. I’m a terrible sleeper and when I get woken up, I’m rarely able to fall back to sleep. These 5am mornings have to end!

We’ve still got 10 more nights of the elf, so there’s more fun to come this week!

Holiday Cheer and Potty Training Hell

The holidays have arrived at our house. We put up the Christmas tree on Friday. I always imagine Christmas carols playing gently while we lovingly decorate/sing along, smiling at each other and maybe holding hands at some point. In reality, ornaments kept slipping through little hands, smashing into shards. We somehow couldn’t find the end of the lights that actually plugs into the wall. The music was too overwhelming and I was sweating about halfway through all of the cheer. But it was good. I love Christmas and I was excited to get our new house decorated.

This year, I bought chocolate advent calendars so each day the boys get to open a little cardboard door for a tiny piece of chocolate, but I also got a BIG advent calendar (which I have wanted since, FOREVER). I bought this wooden box and added sparkly numbers. And then I went on a QUEST for 24 surprises that fit inside the drawers (which are way smaller than you’d think). I found tiny playdough, tiny transformers, chapstick, candy, cars, etc. I had major second thoughts when I’d figured out 15 surprises and still had 9 left. But it has been MAGICAL. The boys are SO excited to open it each day and I LOVE this sort of thing.

We started a tradition when Xander was 1 that included hot chocolate after putting up the tree. This year, Trader Joes had a lot of fun things, so we had peppermint marshmallows, hot chocolate bombs (the snowman melted in the hot milk) and chocolate stir sticks. It was VERY yummy and I highly recommend you get some TJ snowmen for a treat!

When we finished decorating, we wrote letters/drew pictures for Santa Claus. Xander is doing so well with his writing and I am so impressed!

My FAVORITE Christmas tradition begins once our tree goes up- ELF ON THE SHELF IS HERE! I know some parents find it to be a chore, but I LOVE it. I pin ideas all year and then plan out the whole season, buying supplies and accessories. On the first night, our elf was on the Christmas tree and hung streamers all over the living room and tree. Xander was VERY excited for the arrival of the elf and was up at 6am on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, we had a zoom call with Santa. I’d emailed ahead of time and Santa congratulated Augustus on starting potty training (more on that saga later). The boys told him some things they are hoping to get and it was very cute.

On Friday, we started potty training with Augustus. He has resisted (ie- screamed bloody murder) every single time we’ve tried for a year. He does not want to give up diapers. The potty training book basically says if you wait until after 3, you’re completely screwed and DO IT NOW. So we decided we needed to just do it. Friday morning when it was time to take off the overnight diaper and get dressed for the day, we managed to get him into pants without noticing he was without a diaper, but once he noticed, it was the start of a 2 hour SCREAM TANTRUM. I was nearly in tears. I started questioning whether we were traumatizing him. In between screaming, he peed in his pants about 15 times (and once on the new couch).

When Xander was 2, we potty trained him in 2 days. We said, “you put pee in the potty” and I am not kidding, he shrugged his shoulders and that was that. My very type A child, even as a 2 year old was like, “pee goes in the potty” the end. And then I made the cardinal sin of parenting and I got sanctimonious. I thought, “all those moms in facebook moms group complain and make this seem so hard. I don’t see what the big deal is” and the universe registered that and filed it away and I am PAYING for that sin now. If you are reading this and you have a child and you are even TEMPTED to judge another parent, I warn you, DON’T DO IT. Don’t do it. Just don’t don’t don’t do it. Send sweet, kind, loving thoughts to other parents and recognize that you GOT LUCKY. You are not somehow winning the parenting game.

Saturday was a tiny improvement in that he didn’t scream the whole day. He never managed to get pee in the potty, but he didn’t scream. We started a sticker chart (the first sticker was just for SITTING on the potty). I offered bribes, money, treats, literally anything. It didn’t work.

Piggybacking on Santa’s encouragement from Saturday afternoon, on Sunday night, the elf went potty training themed. Undies on the ceiling fan, holiday toilet paper tp-ing our living and dining rooms and a special surprise gift from Santa! New undies for Augustus and an “encouraging brother” gift for Xander.

The boys were SO excited there was a surprise this morning. Xander was up at 5:45 bouncing around. And then Gussie found out it was underwear, not toys and he was very sad, so that was an elf fail.

Today has been a mixture of hysterical tantrums and some good moments. We created a reward system just for TRYING (see the small bag of treats we now keep in the bathroom?!). Augustus gets an m&m or mini marshmallow every time he TRIES. So far he has tried about 14 times and peed on the floor 3 times. I am definitely going to be the next one to cry.

We got a few more photos hung up in our living room and our house definitely feels more “home-like” every day!

The boys have figured out how to play video games and it’s cute to hear Xander explaining how to play and see them try.

It’s been a bit of an exhausting weekend, and I am VERY nervous to send Augustus to school tomorrow (how many pants do I need to send? EVERY single pair he owns?!) But I am hoping that professional teachers and some 3 year old peer pressure MIGHT help us in this journey. Otherwise, this kid is going to high school in diapers. May the spirit of the holiday season be with us….

Another Busy Week of Unpacking

Unpacking continues as we finish out our second week in our new house. We were very excited to order a new couch and loveseat as our old couch was terrible. Last week, the loveseat arrived first and Nate and his friend Ryan worked hard to get it into the living room. As soon as it was in place, I was horrified- it was too bulky, too tall, not the right color- basically I hated everything about it. I was prepared to adjust if Nate loved it, but I could see on his face that he didn’t like it either. And so we called and opted into the 7 day return policy and last weekend, went back to the furniture store for 2.5 hours. We sat on every single couch, sectional, loveseat and chair at least twice. We wanted a reclining sofa, we wanted a sofa/loveseat combo that would fit in our living room. Apparently we were looking for a unicorn. I was hot, tired and sweaty by the time we found a set (couch, loveseat and chair we didn’t need) that was a much higher price than we’d set out to spend, but seemed ok. We weren’t sure about the color- in the store it seemed to have a bit of a yellowish tint, but we were cautiously optimistic.

The furniture was delivered and we were pleasantly shocked that the color was much different than we’d remembered. The 2 delivery guys were skeptical that they could actually get the couch inside (small doors in St. Paul) and I even called the store to ask about a second return, but with Nate’s assistance, they managed to get it inside. The chair would not fit down or up our stairs, which ended up working out in our favor, because the store refunded it, despite it being sold as a set. Win win!

On Tuesday Augustus woke up sick. He didn’t have a temperature, but he felt hot. He was whinny and not acting like himself. He seemed achy and miserable. In-conclusive what was wrong, but we kept him home from school on Tuesday and home from Grandma’s on Wednesday as a precaution.

On Wednesday, Xander went to Grandma’s like usual, but this week they took a trip to Kohl’s (Xander keeps saying, “we went to Clothes, to buy clothes”) and bought a bunch of new outfits and Spiderman long underwear.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and we were planning to go to Danny’s house, but ultimately decided that with Augustus being sick and Covid, that it wasn’t a good idea. We watched the parade, relaxed, hung out.

We decorated a Thanksgiving centerpiece.

We ate a big meal and mini pies. It ended up being a super nice day, even though it was also just a regular day at home.

We’ve been working hard on our house, trying to get unpacked. Xander and Augustus’s playroom couch arrived this week and they were very excited!

Xander added a “no grown ups allowed” sign outside the door of the playroom. This does not include Grandma Debbie, she is allowed, but not Nate or I.

We’re adding little touches like a shoe shelf in the corner and starting to add pictures on the walls.
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As I’ve been unpacking, I’ve been getting out all of our priceless artwork and finding honored places around the house to display such beautiful pieces (pictured here is a wooden bulldog wind-chime that I absolutely would run back into a burning house to rescue).

Last night, we had “Friendsgiving” via zoom. It was definitely not the same, but we were on the call for over 3 hours and I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. It was wonderful to “get together” with everyone, even if it was from our couch. This group of friends started out as Nate and his college drinking buddies, and has grown over the years as we’ve all gotten married around the same time and then had babies around the same time, and it’s very special to be able to grow together.

Today I officially finished un-packing. It took a little over 2 weeks. There are still piles of stuff to sort through and pictures to hang. I need a cabinet for here and there. I’d like to organize some rooms a little differently. And the porch is still a catch all for empty boxes, “get rid of stuff” and a few other things. BUT, overall, we’re unpacked. The last room I was working on was our spare room, which was FILLED with all of the “sentimental” boxes of framed photos, childhood mementos, boxes of stuff from my dad, etc. At one point, I had unpacked every box and had stuff spread from one end of the room to the other, piled, overflowing- it looked like a scene from Hoarders. I gradually re-organized some things into bins, got rid of some things, and managed to find places for some other things. I am a sentimental person, so I have keepsakes from childhood through today. I have scrapbooks. I tried to thin out some of the keepsakes and I made some progress. I still had the binder of all my dad’s health information from when he was sick. I had a hard time throwing that away, even though it is clearly unnecessary. My dad was a treasure hunter and I still have boxes of rocks, coins, and a box of empty boxes (my love of “good boxes” definitely came from him). I had several long moments of reasoning with myself as I looked at these small cardboard boxes and decided that while they are 100% unnecessary, I wasn’t ready to get rid of them yet.

There’s still more to do, but the major unpacking is complete! We are settling in and getting comfortable and very happy in our new house- not bad for a 2 week turnaround!

Home Sweet Home

We’ve been here for a little over a week (1 week Thursday!) and we’ve been unpacking and moving stuff around nonstop. I’m exhausted and feeling impatient for our house to be completely unpacked, but the new house is nice!

Yesterday I got the NICEST postcard in the mail! Mary is an amazing artist and a professional quilter. She made the gorgeous quilt that is on our bed and I couldn’t believe it when I saw all the same fabrics making a tiny quilt postcard. We’ve had so many kind and wonderful things from all the people in our lives during this whole move!

So far, we’ve unpacked the boys’ room, the playroom, our room, the bathrooms, the kitchen, the basement and the garage. Tomorrow our new couch arrives and so our living room will be transformed. That leaves the porch (which is a “catch all” for all of the boxes and random things that we don’t have space for), and the 2 spare bedrooms- which are FULL of boxes and random stuff. I started working on them today and it’s a very overwhelming job. I still have a few LONG days of organizing and unpacking ahead.

We got a new refrigerator delivered on Thursday. The old fridge was SO small, and the opening was much larger, so we upgraded right away. We measured the refrigerator opening, but we didn’t measure the front door. Luckily we made it by a hair (literally, it was SO tight) and learned a good lesson about measuring the entire pathway…

At our old house, my oven didn’t close all the way, so to get a tight seal, I would use a piece of packing tape to force the door shut. Our new oven is very nice and new and fancy and for a few days this week, I was hating it and wishing we still had our janky old oven. It took me about 5 batches of macarons, but I figured out the perfect settings. All of my baking supplies are unpacked and I squeezed in time to measure some ingredients- it made me feel back to normal! And once I got the hang of it, I was able to make some Thanksgiving themed batches.

One of my favorite rooms in our house is the playroom for the boys. When we first thought about moving, we thought we’d put the boys in their own rooms. But one of our favorite things is, after they go to bed, listening to them talk to each other. Also, the two bedrooms upstairs are such different sizes, we decided to keep them together and have a playroom for toys.

The playroom has some interesting nooks and crannies and there was already a tiny little loft area that we are calling the cozy corner. I put some pillows and blankets in there and Xander climbs up there in the morning to read books or play on his ipad.

There are built in bookshelves in the playroom and Xander and I painted them bright red (his favorite color). We painted the ladder to the cozy corner blue (Augustus’s request).

I labeled all of the toy bins (about 12 total) with photos of the toys that go in them (cars, power rangers, pokemon, etc).

There is a giant walk-in closet in the playroom that I made into a Paw Patrol area on the floor, hung their costumes and stored some other random toys.

In the basement, we put up several shelves and bought SO MANY bins. Our old basement was damp and basement-y and over the years we had a mouse more than once. And even though this basement is very different than that, I feel passionately about anything that gets stored is in labeled plastic bins.

More unpacking, organizing and labeling are still on the to do list for the week ahead. I also have some big projects going on at work, and it’s Thanksgiving week, so we’re going to cram a lot into the days ahead!

Moving Day!

Yesterday we moved! We made an offer on our new house at the end of August and now, on a sleeting/snowy day in November, we finally moved!

The movers arrived at 9am and started loading boxes and furniture. Christine and my mom were there to clean and offer moral support.

It’s pretty well known, that Kings don’t know how to estimate, and proven once again, the movers were concerned there wasn’t going to be enough room in the truck, so Nate and I started loading up boxes into the van and making trips over to drop stuff on the porch (the previous owners moved out last week, so it wasn’t an issue). That wasn’t exactly the plan, and I wasn’t thrilled to be moving heavy boxes, but it was fine and not shocking (I assumed something would go wrong at some point in the day).

I sent the boys to school with books I’d made for them about our move. They shared them with their classes and felt very special.

We closed on our old house at 1pm, although we didn’t get everything out until 2:15 when we had to leave to close on the new house. Our garage was still VERY full, so there was a lot left for us to do. As I walked through the empty house, I started to get choked up, and I might have started crying, but I was very focused on just how much was left to do, so there was no time for nostalgia.

We closed on the new house and rushed over to meet the movers to begin the unload process. I THOUGHT I was organized. But the number of boxes that somehow didn’t get labeled or were labeled “random stuff” made me shake my head over and over. I am NEVER moving again, but if I do, I will be the most organized, uptight packer that you’ve ever seen. I’ve learned my lesson!

We directed the movers to the basement, spare rooms, bedrooms, etc. Luckily, our new house has 5 bedrooms, which means we have 2 spare rooms to fill with boxes for sorting and unpacking later.

Christine was in PEAK bestie mode yesterday, returning to the new house with a move in kit (dishsoap, dish towels, soap, toilet paper, and towels for bathrooms, snacks, etc- all of which we desperately needed since they had been absorbed into the sea of boxes). And then she organized my entire kitchen. It was AMAZING and I am forever grateful. My mom picked the boys up from school, headed to Target (because every Grandma overnight involves a trip to Target), and back to her house for a sleepover. They were VERY excited for a special night.

When we got to the new house, one of the first jobs was to unload the coolers of food I’d brought from the old house. I was SO surprised to open our refrigerator and find a card, champagne and juice boxes! The former owners could not be sweeter! I nearly cried.

Around 6, the truck was empty and the house was a disaster and we headed back to the old house to help load all the stuff from the garage. It was COLD, snowy, wet, and we were all exhausted. The movers were so kind, in such good spirits and seemed to have endless energy. They were such a good investment- it would have taken us a week to do that on our own.

The second truck was unloaded by 8, and Nate and I went our for a quick dinner and then fell into bed. I have not been that exhausted in a long time!

We woke up this morning and immediately worked on organizing the boxes. We sorted boxes in the spare rooms (everything left in those rooms needs to be unpacked, but is not necessary to daily life, so there’s no urgency). Groceries were delivered, the internet was installed, and half of our new couch arrived (other half is on backorder, but coming….). Christine returned with more snacks and finished unpacking the kitchen. She guided me through an overwhelming trip to Target where we stocked up on shower curtains, bath mats, organizational bins, and more. I hate shopping, have ZERO style and was very grateful for her guidance and choices (everything looks great!)

My mom came over in the afternoon and helped unpack until the boys got home from school and then we had our first family dinner in our new house (Tacos- obviously). We toasted our new house and Xander said, “it was so nice of them to leave us drinks!”

In August, when we packed half of our house in order to de-clutter and stage it for moving, we packed about half of the toys. So tonight, when the boys got home, it was like Christmas as they saw toys they forgot they had and ran around playing with everything.

We still have a LONG way to go before the house is unpacked and organized, but after 24 hours, it is functional- we have dishes and towels and clothes and the basics we need to eat, sleep and live. I am trying to remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and that it’s ok for the house to be messy while we are adjusting. I am SO excited to have the opportunity to organize every belonging we have and make sure everything has a place (and a label to remind us of that place!). And our new house is SO wonderful- it’s perfect for us and I am SO excited to settle in! We are a very lucky family!

Moving Week!

It’s moving week for our family! Tonight is the last night in our house- I can’t believe it! I’ve lived here for 13 years and I love this house. I am sad to say goodbye, but also so so excited to move to our new house.

Yesterday, we did our final walk-through. The sellers are building a new house and will be living with family until the house is complete, so they had some flexibility on their move-out day. They moved out last weekend and so we got to do our walk through early and the whole house was empty, clean and ready for us! Today we had a cleaning crew out (even though they left it SO clean!). The sellers were SO nice and were so kind to return to the house to let the cleaning crew in. I was so grateful and I popped by to drop off some moving cookies and to say thank you.

In the midst of LONG days of packing, my cookie orders were still coming in and I was still filling them. I could have said no, but it was a nice break- pack some boxes, bake some cookies, pack some boxes, bake some cookies… not bad.

Checking out a corner of their playroom.

Tonight, our house is 99% packed. We have random things here and there that need to get packed in the morning, but the garage, the porch and the dining room are filled with boxes. The movers will arrive first thing in the morning and the adventure will begin. Grandma Debbie is picking the boys up from school and they are spending the night at her house- they are VERY excited! Nate and I have several long days of unpacking ahead, but I am so excited to get everything organized and do even more de-cluttering (we did a lot as we packed, but I think we can get rid of even more stuff as we unpack).

It’s been an exhausting week of packing and we’ve got some busy days ahead, but so far, we’ve been pretty organized, followed our day by day plan, and it’s been smooth. I hope tomorrow is the same!