Brandich, Party of Five!: March 2016

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!