The Kleins: 23 months old!

Wow, the kids are one month shy of turning 2! It's amazing how fast time has flown by. Everything has been busy as usual, but going good overall. Seth recently got a promotion at work which is exciting news. He will still be working in San Francisco most days of the week but may be able to spend more time in Reno on weekdays depending on if he needs to travel. As it currently stands, he works from home every other Monday and every Friday, and then is home on the weekends of course. Sometimes it amazes me how much he is on the go and he never seems to complain. He definitely makes the most of his time with the kids when he is home. I'm still working 1-2 days a week at the hospital. Work is going great for me and it gives me a chance to see my friends at work and also take care of patients, as well. It's a perfect balance with being a stay at home mom on most days.

The kiddos are very active and becoming more and more independent by the day. They are each into their "own" stuff and do not like to share. Most of their individuals items are color coded (pink for Mischa, purple for Madeline, and blue or green for Caleb). This ranges from their blankets, to their jackets and even their water cups. If one of them happens to grab the wrong color, the other one will definitely let them know! Seth and I recently purchased big wheel bikes for them and since they only came in 2 colors, we ordered a red one for Caleb and 2 pink ones for the girls. Well, for some reason, Madeline has become attached to the red one which is the one Caleb usually rides, so there have been lots of squabbles and crying over who gets to ride the red one. We have really considered just buying another red one and keeping one of the spare pink ones as back up. It's kind of funny, although sometimes by the end of the day, we're pretty exhausted from the little fights over who took what from who. Somehow, we know this is only the beginning! Seth still talks about how his three sister would fight over clothes while growing up together. I can definitely see that happening with Madeline and Mischa!

With the cooler weather lately, the kids often go a little stir crazy in the house, so I've been experimenting more with taking them out and about by myself. So far I've taken them shopping at Target, to the grocery store, to the drive-thru car wash, to the mall, and even to meet up with friends and their kids. Now that they are a little older, it's not so challenging getting them in and out of the car and they don't require as much "stuff" to get out of the house. For the past few weekends, I've been taking the kids out on Saturday mornings so Seth can get a few hours of extra sleep in the morning. As soon as they know we are going "side" (meaning outside), they get so excited and run to get their jackets and shoes. We keep a diaper bag and snacks at all times in the car so that's helpful, especially when I'm by myself. One of my favorite places to take them is to the indoor mall here in Reno which opens at 7 am for mall walkers. I like to walk them around the mall a few times in the wagon, grab a Starbucks, and then let them run wild in the little play area for kids at the mall. Since the mall doesn't officially open until 10 am, the kids get the play area to themselves for the most part and I don't have to worry about the bigger kids knocking them over.

I recently went through all their old toys and took out the ones they have outgrown so I can give them away. I also took some of the toys they have gotten bored with and put them in laundry baskets in the garage. Every two weeks or so, I swap out toys and put more in the garage but bring in other toys that were in the garage and it's like magic. The kids think they are new toys and are fascinated by them all over again. A friend told me she used this technique when here kids were young, and it sure does work (not to mention save us a little money from constantly buying new toys for them). Why didn't I start doing this sooner? :)

Here are a few pictures from Halloween last week and some from this week to document them at 23 months old! Only one month away from turning two...AMAZING!