The Twins are 2!!!

Summer Lovin!

Our family portrait by my colleague and friend Valerie

I want to start out this post by saying, I am sorry for leaving you all hanging for nearly 5 months with NO updates on our lives. We have been quite absorbed with tending to wild, carefree toddlers and a pre-schooler who has finally found his voice. In the past six months they have all really upped the ante on annoying the crap out of us and wreaking havoc in all possible ways, hahaha! They are full force, whining, rambunctious, non-stop eating machines who only calm down when restrained in a stroller or crib and when subdued by their favorite cartoons! Logan is currently climbing all over me at my desk while I type. *Picture* Don't mind the giant hole in our ceiling, our guest toilet was leaking, another story for another day!

Living proof!

The twins turned 2 at the beginning of this month and we celebrated with a very small family dinner and dessert at our house. I honestly, can't handle much more than that these days. These kids are so time consuming, I can't offer much in hosting large parties anymore, I just don't have the means to pull it all off! We also celebrated with a water playdate with many of my "More Than Moms" group friends in our backyard with a cupcake treat. Developmentally, they are mostly on track. Kelsey is a mockingbird and repeats just about any word you throw at her. Logan is lacking slightly in the speech department. He is not as behind as Austin was but he is not keeping up with Kelsey so we have been referred to Help Me Grow so that he can have a speech evaluation and we can nip this in the butt!

Twins Birthday water playdate

Two year old photo

They both are eating at the table with us for meals, sitting in their booster seats, using utensils and open cups. Kelsey has mastered her open cup and only spills occasionally. Logan on the other hand, prefers to swim in his meal beverage, so he only gets to have one sometimes for practice. Their favorite foods are: Salmon/Trout, steak, avocado, cheese, lunch meat, black beans, rice and any fruit. They currently aren't super big fans of vegetables but they do love broccoli. The two foods they pretty much won't touch are pasta and potatoes, apparently not starch fans. On the growth chart, Logan has really started to pull away from Kelsey. He is now 26 pounds and 33 inches, Kelsey is on the small side at 21 pounds and 31 inches. Yep, you read that correctly, Logan is 5 pounds heavier and 2 inches taller, such a boy! Both kids have lots of curly hair and have had numerous haircuts.

Eating dinner together, we try to every night!

Back in June, I gave potty training a go-round. After 4 full days, the concept just didn't sink in, so to end my frustration over a million piles and puddles on our floor, I decided to hold off a couple months until the fall when it's still warm-ish and try it again. It really should be a fairly easy concept. Austin mastered it in 3 days and was completely trained in a matter of weeks. The twins, I don't think have control yet so hopefully a couple months of maturing mentally and physically will do the trick, fingers crossed! So since we didn't progress with the potty training, I opted to do away with their pacifiers. Really, Kelsey was the one who decided it for the two of them, she took a nice bite of her nuk and left a nice hole in it. That prompted me to just cut the ends off so they could still hold them but not actually suck them. It has been a fairly effective way to handle the transition, they still ask for their nuks but realize they can't actually use them. It has taken them longer to fall asleep but that will change as time passes.

When Drake and Ellee came to visit and stayed the night in June

 Logan continues to be our little "speedy." He is a pro at running to and fro. Luckily at this age, he has no chance of out running his ex-sprinter momma but there is no doubt that in time, this boy will be a star runner and I will have to sick his uncle Dylan on him instead! He is a handsome little dude and makes funny faces especially when he knows you are looking at him. He tends to fight his naps and often goes down well after Kelsey has fallen asleep. The twins seem to be getting more and more different from each other every day. For as much as Logan moves, Kelsey seems to stay put. She doesn't usually venture too far from us but shes is our daredevil. This child dives off of things, climbs, slides and always has bloody scraped knees! She is very dramatic, in true female fashion, she constantly whines and lets you know when she is not pleased! They both love to cuddle and would prefer to sleep with us if they could. Kelsey continues to wake up every night. We are weaning her off the Hemangioma medication and she's down to one dose a day for the month of August and then she will be done. Hopefully that will bring a better night's sleep. In the meantime we bought a folding cot for our room. The last handful of months when she wakes up, we bring her in and lay her on the cot for the remainder of the night, which has worked out really well! Kelsey continues to be our hoarder. She is quite obsessed with all of her blankies and must have an arm full of them when heading up to bed or lounging on the couch.

Our little SPEEDY

Swimming at Grammy's

Noodles, hours of endless fun!

Logan's favorite toys, cars!

Kelsey hoarding her new clothes from Uncle Jason and Aunt Mira

Austin is a changed child. He continues to surprise us each day. He mimics the majority of words we ask him to say and he has added ending sounds to his repertoire. The most exciting advancements have been the words, water and yes, which until very recently were wawa and uh huh. We have opted out of getting him tested for Autism. His special education teacher has indicated that she has no reason to believe that he is on the spectrum and that his deficiency is only speech and language delay. We are going to see if his new teacher agrees with her opinion now that he will be attending an integrated classroom. One of the co-teachers in his class this year is an intervention specialist. This school year, Austin will be attending the afternoon session while the twins nap, that way I can have a true child break. We are excited to see if he can catch up to his peers this year in time for kindergarten next fall. His tantrums have lessened and usually only occur now when he is overly tired which are more in line with the average response for his age group. He prefers to wear his pajamas all day so he has spent most of the summer doing so as you can see from the photos! I am not looking forward to getting him dressed for school this year but at least we wont be rushing out the door! His flavor of the month are his new collection of beanie baby animals that was received from a friend. He loves telling us what every animal is and his favorites are Panda and Otter.

Austin making cookies with mom!

Austin the photographer, he grabbed his play camera while I was setting up a session

The boy can fall asleep anywhere

On top of the daunting task of tending to our children, I have been professionally working my butt off. I started advertising for my photography business and it has been paying off. I joined a Cleveland women's marketing group and have learned many valuable tips on how to get more exposure. Some of those being the proper use of keywords in my SEO settings, blogging my business on my website and using instagram and hashtags to reach a wider audience. My biggest customer draw continues to be word of mouth and facebook photo shares but hey, whatever it takes!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE working. My biggest news is that a certain news anchor (without naming any names) from Fox 8 has asked ME to take her newborn photographs! I am so very excited about this opportunity which will be occuring next week. This being my very first high profile client, I am unsure right now if I will be able to share those photos BUT I wonder, just wonder if my photos will make the morning newscast?!?! Wouldn't that be something if I get a shout out?? So keep your eyes peeled the next couple weeks and we will see! With the business is full bloom, I have cut back with childcare. I had been working 5 days a week with children and photographs on the weekend. That is just TOO MUCH. I am now down to 3 days a week with kiddos and the weekends doing photographs. That gives me at least 2 days off a week to be lazy, HA! And when I say lazy, I mean catching up on the 8 or so loads of laundry a week, actually sitting down once and awhile and stuffing my face with as much food as possible! Today is my "lazy" day, typing away at the computer and watching the Olympics while the kids run amok, dumping out every possible bin we have!

Off to work I go!

In family news, my cousin Kate and husband Chris welcomed their baby girl Penelope Ellen nicknamed Penny into the world in July. We are beyond excited for them. Penny is about the cutest little peanut I have ever seen. We have not officially met yet but we will get the opportunity in a few short weeks when most of the Keller family will be together to celebrate my Grandma's 85th birthday. Her actual birthday was in April but we will be celebrating when the majority of us can make it home to Ohio to be together.

Some other fun random facts, I learned how to make sourdough bread from scratch this summer. Paul's cousin Kathy taught me earlier this spring how the process all works and I have kept it up each week, baking 3 loaves which is the recipe. I have added different flavors(garlic,rosemary and dill) and changed the shapes(free-form and loaf pan). I have taught 6 friends how to make the bread as well and I give away one loaf a week to a rotating list of friends who also enjoy sourdough. Let me tell you, there is no better way to take out your frustrations than by kneading a ball of dough for 15 minutes. It sets my mind right for the week to come, true natural stress relief, hahahah! I recently sold my weekly loaves in a fundraiser to end child hunger and would willingly do it again! The fundraiser was held by More Than Moms, which I have joined the board of directors again. I stepped back into the role I had before the twins as Director of Member Recruitment and I handle all aspects or attracting new members to our organization. I am excited to be back helping run such a great support group and "village" as we call it!

My donations loaves

Learning how to make sourdough while Aunt Cindy and Uncle Rick visited in June

Paul got crafty this summer and created some neat water sprinklers for the kids out of PVC pipes. Since it's very tricky for us to venture out with all the kids we have opted to spend lots of weekends playing in the backyard with the hose. The kids have a ball splashing in their pool and making a wet mess! Paul also had the most amazing Father's Day he could have asked for. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the National Championship. He was home for the game and most of you saw the video of his jumping for joy when they won. He then went downtown to celebrate with friends and didn't arrive home until nearly 5a.m.

Paul watching the CAVS win the National Championship!!!

Daddy and his babes

More photos from our family photo session

Brandich ladies luncheon this July

On the way to a rare dinner out sans children

These two couldn't look more alike and in almost matching clothes too!

And evening walk at the Lakewood Solstice Steps

That's it for now, I promise to post sooner next time, maybe after the family is all in town at the end of the month!

Easter season

Down with the sickness!!

All dressed up for the Bunny Brunch

We will start off this post with the yucky stuff and move onto the more pleasant happy topics!
We closed out February and the majority of March with Adenovirus which invaded our house and still has not "officially" left! Strangely, I was the first person to come down with symptoms in February similar to the flu(respiratory) AND norovirus (intestinal). This virus takes either form and it just depends on how your body reacts and in children will likely end with an ear infection. All 5 of us got it (Paul and Austin being the most mild) and all 3 of Leo's family seems to have gotten it too. When it's all said and done we will have had 4 trips to our pediatrician, 4 boxes of infants ibuprofen, 1 ear infection (on second round of meds currently) lots of 103 fevers, multiple negative (thank goodness) strep tests, some steroids, diarrhea and vomiting (I did say yucky)......hummph! We had two separate weeks in the mix of 6 weeks of sickness, where no one had any symptoms, ironically falling on two weekends we traveled, the last weekend of February and St. Patrick's Day weekend. I am ready for cold and flu season to be over, to say the least!!!

When you are sick you will sleep any which way

More sicko sleeping

Extra cuddles when you don't feel well

Now, onto the finer things in life.....I can finally share the most exciting news ever!! My cousin Kate and husband Chris will be welcoming a baby girl this July!!!! They announced to the family at Christmas and I was literally sobbing with happiness (there's a nice video to prove it)! I'm ecstatic, any new baby makes me giddy but girls are a rare commodity in the Keller family and warrants even more hysteria!! I am collectively planning the baby shower in May with other family members to spoil both Kate and the new baby rotten! I find new pleasure in the outfits that Kelsey wears knowing that they are going to be passed down to her baby cousin! This baby girl also made purging our house of all baby related paraphernalia not only possible but exciting as well.

The exodus (of a full car load) of baby gear from our 3rd floor, prompted me to move my photography studio. Things were getting a little cramped in the side room now that I am collecting more props and drops for my business. So once the baby stuff left for it's new home, I moved my studio space into the large room on our 3rd floor and the guest bed was moved into Paul's office. We have an overnight guest about once a month so we figured for once a month, the side room will suffice! I used my new studio space for the Easter mini portraits this month and found that it works much better especially when other people (like grandma's or dad's) attend the shoot! Lots of things photo related happened in March. I shot my first "behind the scenes" shoot. My colleague Valerie, that I do weddings with, had a maternity session and asked me to take her photos while she photographed the mom-to-be. That was both fun and educational. I plan to have maternity sessions starting this spring and I was able to see how the process works. Paul and I also created a promotional video for the company for my newborn to age 1 pictures. The final product made me cry when I watched it play.(I find myself crying a lot these days) I have signed on for another wedding season being a second shooter for Valerie and we have many weddings on the calendar for this year. In addition, I also assisted Valerie with an engagement session a couple weeks ago, also a good learning experience as I will be taking my brother's engagement photos this spring! My Easter mini sessions were a huge success and I am looking forward to my next promo session in April called "mommy and me" to promote Mother's Day gift cards! I have to say that whenever I am taking pictures, I feel ALIVE! I have never felt this driven about a profession and it fills my cup to the brim with excitement and enthusiasm. I have for a very long time struggled with what my niche in this world was supposed to be. Yes, I have been a loving caregiver for many children over the years because it just comes naturally to me but the photo business is an adrenaline rush I have not felt since high school track, sprinting down the straight away!!! I am able to finally use my degree and my creative mind. When the topic of my business comes up, I get very excited and passionate about what the future holds!

Hanging out wit daddy while mommy goes to work!

Behind the scenes photo I captured

The new guestroom

My new studio space, lots of room and storage for props!

Last we spoke, my mom's group, "Mother's & More" had disbanded on the National level and we were figuring out what direction our chapter was headed. Since then, we have created a new non-profit organization called "More than Mom's" which has been accepted by the state of Ohio and our paperwork is all set up to become official. Other members of the group have donated their skills to make a new website, create a new logo and get the ball rolling to accept new members into the brand new group! I am so thrilled that I am a founding member and we are able to continue to give other women a chance to gain support from our Village. These women breathed life into me and I was able to give back by donating photo sessions to raise the funds needed to pay for insurance and other expenses to get the new group established. This past week we had a fun, "Mom's Night In" decorating wreaths for our front doors!

Decorating wreaths

One of my two wreaths!

 Okay, so back to the kiddos! (Because really that's all you want to hear about right)??? I am getting more and more eager to potty train the twins. I am hoping that I have bought the last of the daytime diapers, crossing my fingers! We have a supply that should last until around June and hopefully it's nice and warm so we can let them run pantless! I don't think I will even bother with bedtime training for awhile but if the twins are like Austin, he night trained himself so we will just have to wait and see! The twins are holding steady at the same weights, Logan 24 pounds and Kelsey 20 pounds. They are still only 1/2 inch apart in height. Kelsey has finally caught up to Logan with teeth, each having 12. The eye-teeth and 2 year old molars will be the next to come but no real signs of those just yet. Personalities are still blooming. Kelsey is very verbal and has double the words than Logan, some of her favorites being "more" "no" and "all done." She has taken up hoarding! She collects and carries a million things at once all around the house and especially at nap time! She wants her tag blankets, wubbanub and other random toys she can grab before I take her up AND she has to bring them back down too! Logan is the opposite he doesn't care about any bedtime comfort items except wanting a nuk in his mouth and one in each hand! He is a "cleaner" he often puts toys away where they belong and pushes his toy Dyson vacuum around the house. (He seems to be more like me all the time). Kelsey's eyes are still mostly blue and her hair is growing like crazy with curls in the back. She resembles cousin Clara more and more. Logan has officially become the first child to have definite brown eyes and his hair is curly and lighter than Kelsey's. He is a very BIG eater and prefers vegetables and meats. Kelsey prefers fruits and carbs. If one kid doesn't like something we are having they just trade their food items (quite literally, Kelsey removes the food from her tray and puts it on Logan's) that makes their diets often differing. When it comes to sleep, Logan is the king of night time sleeping, barely ever waking but Kelsey is the big napper, always out sleeping Logan during the day, she is also known to take 2 naps on some days. We are nearing the end of her Hemangeol and with that I am anticipating more full night's sleep from her.

Waiting for Austin on the van and watching the "rare for this winter" snow fall

Her nap time collection

Kelsey and her real twin, cousin Clara

Austin has had a very big exciting month. The switch has officially been flipped! He copies everything we say to him, it's not articulated properly yet but it's a very good start. He goes around naming objects and people and has had multiple new words in a day. We went from one new word a month to many new words each week! I am so ridiculously happy with his progress that we have decided to move him to the integrated (average preschoolers and special needs mixed) classroom for next year. He will also likely attend the afternoon program versus the morning. I want him to get a feel of being at school longer in the day because the following year will be all day kindergarten. He doesn't nap very often so that was the only reason I sent him to mornings this year (I anticipated he would nap after) but he doesn't! Having him in the afternoon class 12:30-3:00 will allow me a real break because that is also the time frame that the twins nap! The only downside to this scenario is that he will have to ride the school van each way. Right now, Paul drops him off and the van brings him home. The integrated classroom though, is at our home school building which is in walking distance from our house whereas the school he is at now for special needs is just a little too far for me to walk and get him! All and all, good things are coming this fall!

Friday mornings and no school are the BEST

Aussie burrito

Playdoh, his favorite twins nap time activity!

To close this post we spent the last two weekends with Easter festivities. First we had the "More than Mom's" bunny brunch at friend Michelle's home. We brought potluck items to share, had an egg hunt and a visit from the Easter Bunny(although no one was a fan) and great fellowship! The next day we went home to spend it celebrating cousin Tyler's 4th birthday. This past weekend we were home again to spend two days with my family for Easter. We had planned to spend some of the time with Paul's side but Grammy unfortunately was sick and needed to rest and with the germs we have had it was probably a good idea (as bummed as were were) to stay clear of each other! Austin got out of school last Thursday so he got to spend a couple nights alone with Grandma and Grandpa before we came to town. My mom has come to get him a handful of times this winter so he can get some TLC and more freedom with no baby gates and godzilla babies destroying all the fun trains and towers he builds!

Quality time with Grandpa in the shop!

Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's with REAL EGGS!!!

Brotherly love

Chopstick hoarding at dinner

"baby" Kelsey, she always climbs in so I had to lower it for safety reasons

Boys in a daddy couch fort!

I never liked the Easter bunny or Santa either!!

So, that's it for now! I don't know when I will write again next, I guess that will just have to be another surprise :)