Rambling

I've been in a bit of a blogging rut lately. Though, this seems to happen around this time every year.  Probably has something to do with busy season.  And exhaustion from having a 4 month old night owl probably doesn't help either.  I'm slightly exaggerating.  But only slightly.  Karsten still wakes 1-2 times per night to eat. Luckily, she's really NOT a night owl.  By that I mean that she typically eats and goes right back to sleep, instead of waking and wanting to play. BUT, that doesn't make the waking up part any easier on us!  I am pretty sure we're gonna throw a party when we get a full week of normal sleep.

In true second-child fashion, I honestly haven't pulled out my camera quite as often.  We've spent a lot of time inside (hello, 10-degree temperatures last week!) and have had a pretty low key winter.  That's not to say that we haven't been BUSY. Two kids will do that to you.  Somehow, just normal days are c-r-a-z-y.  But for the most part, low key.  So the real camera hasn't seen much action.  I did pull it out a few days ago when Kate asked to hold Karsten after her bath.  I think this was just a bedtime delaying tactic... but it worked. This is what Karsten apparently thought of the camera (or of Kate holding her).

Talk about giving Mom the evil eye!  This picture cracks me up, but it does give the wrong impression of her overall personality and demeanor.  Unlike this picture, she is the most smiley, happy baby. Especially when she first wakes up from her naps.  She grins, coos and laughs and is SO much fun.  She is really only fussy when she is getting tired and ready for a nap. Other than that- happy baby!

Picture taking is HARD. Kate is no longer "into" all the picture taking like she used to. Gone are the easy smiles for the camera and in place are the fake, cheesy, totally non-real smiles. And she thinks that smiling means that she squints. But I digress...

I do love watching these two sweet sisters together, and watching their friendship form. Karsten is so enthralled with Kate, we can no longer feed her a bottle when they are in the same room.  Instead of eating, she will watch Kate (who of course, does not stay still), so Karsten's little head goes back and forth across the room watching her sister zoom from one toy to another.  We've resorted to feeding Karsten nearly all of her bottles in her room and then bringing her out to play with Kate after she's finished. 

But seeing them together is special.  Kate is starting to understand her strength, but we're still working on that some. And Karsten's getting bigger so it's becoming less and less of an issue. Karsten will probably be an early walker... just because she wants to be like her big sister and keep up with her.  Ha!  Who knows if the early walking part is true or not. Secretly, I hope not!  

And this girl is still challenging us every day. She's still pushing our buttons and testing every single rule.  She is strong willed and independent.  While they're both great qualities to have, they definitely make our job of guiding, directing and teaching her a little more difficult!  She doesn't enjoy taking instructions.  She has the biggest imagination and we find ourselves daily wondering where in the world she comes up with things.  She still makes us smile and laugh ALL the time.  And we still thank God for her (and for Karsten), every single day.