November Summary

Huge month for us!

Jason was accepted to the PA program at Emory and will begin in the fall of 2010.  We are so incredibly proud of him and can't wait to begin a new chapter in our lives.  We're also thankful that he made it this year, since the timing will work well with the new baby.

Jason and I also have been really involved in the proposed new charter school for our community and organized the silent auctions as the fundraising co-chairs.  Our first silent auction was a HUGE SUCCESS with over $24,000 raised for the school.  After the expenses of less than $2K, the net was unbelievable!  We find out December 14th if the charter is approved.

I had a wonderful 34th birthday, and the best present I could ask for:  a healthy 20 week ultrasound which showed a perfect little baby.  Still confident that it's a girl!  Now I'm trying to convince Jason that if it IS a girl, we need to have another!  Sisters are important after all!

Summary of October

Mickey's boat was awesome... mostly.  Thornton had an attitude quite a bit, and didn't want to see Nannie as much as she wanted to see him.  Holden couldn't be cuter, but still was a big sleeper, so that caused someone to have to be in a cabin, and mommy got some sort of bug and slept for an entire day without moving.  Otherwise, we saw lots of characters who were loved from afar, but not as much up close), had a ball swimming with the dolphins (highlight of the trip), and ate great food.  Mommy and Daddy even got a little personal time in there!

Holden gave up the paci this month.  I thought it would be a bigger deal, but he was fine.  I was more concerned than he was, frankly.

Halloween was VERY WET... thank God 5 houses are enough for a 3 and 1 year old.  It was just the mom's this year at Rene's house as all the dads were working our out of town.  We fell to the power of the pre-made costume and let the boys go as Spiderman and Mr. Incredible.  Next year, we'll go back to family made matching costumes for as long as I can get away with it.

Holden is my big lover, and Thornton is still a trial.  I can't imagine my Ho-Ho hitting the terrible twos as wonderful and loving as he is now.  Then again, I'm not sure if Thornton will live to see 4.  I do know this:  This too shall pass.  Both the good and the bad, so I'm prepared.

Kron Baby 3 on the way!

We always planned to have 3, and now we're there!  Kron baby #3 is due on April 6th, 2010.  We did everything we could to "stack the deck," so if this is a boy, it was meant to be.  I'm feeling girl, though, and we've nicknamed this pregnancy "project think pink"! 

We did get to tell a lot of close friends at Cooper's funeral, and it was nice to have a ray of sunshine during that time. 

My big boy Holden

Just converted Holden from the crib to toddler bed...1.5 hrs later the boys are asleep in Thornton's bed. Should make for an interesting night!

The Power of the Stickerchart

I had to take a moment to share an INCREDIBLE success that I’ve had this weekend with Thornton. For mothers of three-year-olds that have 1-800-GYPSIES on speed dial, I have a potential tool for you to use. Thursday I met a mom who was also ready to sell her child, and then had great success with this method. Who would have thought that a simple sticker chart would hold the power of peace!?!

Here’s what we did.
We created a chart on a piece of paper with the top 6 things that are causing the most problems/meltdowns in our house. I used clip art and let him pick out the picture that he said described the following things. Then we went over each of them a couple of times.
1. Get dressed in the morning without melting down (including crying over wearing our spiderman costume or buzz lightyear jammies to school)
2. Turn off the TV in the morning with a good attitude
3. Have a good car ride (this really means that when it’s time to come home, we don’t meltdown about going inside)
4. Take a nap or have quiet time
5. Clean up
6. Use a fork during dinner

See the awesome sticker chart below:

Then we went to Target and picked out prizes for the treasure box. I got some spiderman magnets and stickers from the dollar bin, a small pack of matchbox cars and some candy. I also purchased a bag of small toys from orientialtrading.com that is on the way. We decorated a shoe box with treasure stickers, jewels, and other pirate stuff, and wrote “Treasure Box” on the top. Then, we loaded the treasure box up with all these items and put the box on the counter in a very visible place.

Over the course of the day, we did a small sticker on the chart every time we completed an activity with a good attitude. Conversely, every time we started melting down (for any reason really), I’d say “remember the treasure box…. We want to have a good day to earn our treasure today”. OH MY GOD…. IT WORKED!!! I kid you not, my devil child actually was a fun human being all day, and if things got challenging, “remember the treasure box” somehow shut it down.

The Awesome Treasure Box

At the end of the day, we made a big deal about the last sticker… and the treasure box that was the last item on the list. We counted all the stickers, and he got all excited about going to the treasure box. He jumped the whole way to it, hopped up the stool, and spent almost 10 minutes going through all his options before he decided on his one treasure. It came down to a matchbox “boat car” vs. a starburst candy… and the candy won. Soooo, basically, I had an awesome day with my child for the cost of a starburst.

I’m totally stoked.

Day at the Lake

What could be better than a day on the lake with beautiful weather and family? Nothin' I tell ya!

My future's so bright.... I gotta wear NONNA's Shades!

Even better, we had two absolutely exhausted little men who swam their heats out, drove the boat and played so well with their new cousins Macy (9) and Madison (7).

Playing with Pappa, Madison, Macy, Ashley and Jacob on the boat!

Neither dirty nor filthy can fully describe this child in this moment!

Holden's Hot Date and the Schoolyard Rumble

Holden's first day of school behind him, mommy gave him the hook up second day out. With paci, blankie and "Milp" in the packpack, he was ready to go. While he did cry at drop off, his teachers said he did great!

Mommy picked him up a bit early and we went to the library for some books on choochoos and then lunched together at nearby JavaMonkey. On the way to lunch from the library, we had to pass the school. Holden stops dead in his tracks, runs back to me, clings to my leg and says "no mommy- up". He was absolutely certain he didn't want to go back to school that day. I carried monkey boy clinging to me to lunch.

Holden "lunching" with mommy on brie and apples - very shishi!

After lunch, we head back to school to pick up Thornton. Walking up to the playground, we see his old teacher, Ms. Chastain, and wave. I notice that she has Thornton by the hand and says to one of the teachers "Oh, his mom is here. I'll just talk to her".... Uh oh.

She's all smiles on approach, but I walk up to her with a heavy heart.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Well, two of the older boys started getting rough, and Thornton got caught in the middle of a fight."

"Did he start it?" I ask.

"No, but when the fists started flying, let me tell you - he held his own!"

I look down at Thornton and his little left eye and cheek are bright red. I ask him what happened and he says "the big boys were kicking and hitting, then I was kicking and hitting, then we were fighting". I reminded him that we should not play with those boys again, and he said "yeah- they're MEAN"!

Way to go Thornton! Great not to start the fight; even better to stick up for yourself when they started in on you. I'm a proud mama!

Thornton's Varied Sleeping Options

Every night, Jason and I check on the boys, and every night, we wait for the funniness that may be Thornton in sleep. My favorite thus far, is the night we went into his room to find him fast asleep partly in bed and partly in the shelving unit behind his bed.





Tonight was also a good one. Evidently, Thornton needed a costume change. I put him to bed in his Batman jammies, but when I went to check on him, he's wearing full on spidermand costume complete with stuffed muscles. No idea when that even occured or where he even found it. Frankly, I thought we hid the darn thing.

Spiderman in the Daytime

All's too quiet...

20 minutes of three too quiet children = graffiti on 12ft of wall, one hallway carpet, bedroom carpet, all down the hallway banister, and the bathroom tile floor. But, hey, at least they shared.

First Day of School Drama

I have these grand plans to take Thornton on his first day of school. Of course, that's only to drop him off in carpool, but whatever. This morning, I realize that I have a 9am meeting I'm leading and need to have Ms. Pat take him. No big deal.

So, I call Ms. Pat about 9:30 ready to hear how great he did getting into school. Instead, I hear the drama! Evidently, Ms. Pat tells Thornton that he has to go potty before they leave. Thornton states that he already did. Jason confirms. Ms. Pat leaves for school. When they hit traffic and are still a bit from the carpool lane, Thornton announces that he has to go potty. Uh oh.

Ms. Pat tells Thornton that they'll be there soon, but it's a long wait on day 1 of carpool drop off. The teachers go to pull Thornton out of the car, and Ms. Pat tells them that he has to go potty really badly... at which point, the teacher says "I think he already did". Thornton starts crying that he doesn't want to go to school with pee-pee pants and that he's wet. I feel so bad for the poor guy!

Thankfully, I sent an extra change of clothes including undies, so he can change when he gets to class. Hopefully, he'll remember the good, fun parts of school and will forget about the drama of that first moment walking in the door.

But, LORD! First day drama!

Happy Birthday Thornton

Can't believe that three years ago today, Thornton Matthew Kron arrived into the world - and this morning he wants chocolate for breakfast. Sigh. Time flies... HAPPY BIRTHDAY THORNTON!!

Here's what I know about 3 year old birthday parties:  no nap + birthday cupcake sugar high = 3 year old meltdown + complete passout. Now why don't they teach that in algebra?

Loss of a Friend

Death is a hard thing, but it is even worse when it happens to someone in the prime of their life.  We lost my college roommate and one of my best friends after a battle with cancer, but feel blessed to have spent a great weekend of "girl time" with her.

I am reminded that laughter is the best medicine, and my sisters crack me up.... and sometimes there is nothing like talking to your daddy when you need a good cry... No matter how old you are.

I give thanks to the random number generator that gave me my roommate, Coop, and one of my best friends, 15 years ago. Words cannot express how much I'll miss her.

Here were my thoughts spoken at her memorial service:
With apologies to the Cooper family, we, her friends, know Kristen only as Cooper. So, I’m going to call her Coop, because that’s her name in our world.


Fifteen years ago this month a random number generator spit out a combination that gave me Kristen Alice Cooper as a roommate. I remember the first conversation like it was yesterday: I asked what she thought of matching comforters (she didn’t think much of them), and she asked me what I thought of blow-up flamingos (at that point, honestly, I wasn’t sure what to think). That freshman year started a journey for a group of women who were known as “the wall”, and became much, much more. We have laughed, played, danced, cried, mourned, grown and then laughed some more, and 15 years later after boyfriends, weddings, dogs, and children her best friends are at a loss mourning one of us in the prime of our lives.

Cooper lived her life with spirit, and there isn’t a boundary she wouldn’t cross. She would give me complete crap for making some sort of gooey speech that would be too somber and long winded. So, in the spirit of David Letterman’s Top 10 List (of which Cooper was a great fan), here are the Top 10 things you need to know about our very bestest friend:

Number 10: She read the paper every morning front to back. She was the only freshmen I knew that had a paper delivered to the dorm. Calvin and Hobbes was her favorite cartoon.

Number 9: What she lacked in singing ability she made up in enthusiasm. Cooper couldn’t carry a tune, but she sang with gusto and made up the words as she went along. Those words never matched the actual lyrics.

Number 8: She was a lover of cha-tski … the quirkier the better. A hand-made patriotic jumper, maracas painted to look like “Bahama mamas”, a little whizzer, hats for every occasion, and more flamingos than one person should own. These were her treasures; she kept them forever; and she loved to pull them out for random occasions.

Number 7: She loved her degree and her work. She spoke of it with passion and laughed at our nickname of double-oh-coop. Frankly, I think she mostly loved that she could rewire a blender to work off a car lighter so she could have margaritas for buffet concerts.

Number 6: She was known to wear pants that would be perfect should we have a sudden flood.

Number 5: She had a passion for the beach, and the ocean called to her. Cooper was never happier than on a beach or boat, beer in hand and buffet in the background.

Number 4: A video camera was known to be in Cooper’s hands at the most appropriate, or inappropriate times. A punch in the eye, an excellent rendition of “God Bless the USA”, and competitive Christmas present exchanges have become classic moments forever captured because of her filming.

Number 3: She wore panty hose with open toe shoes and couldn’t figure out why we gave her such a hard time for it.

Number 2: She loved her husband from the very first moment they met in the fall of our freshman year. Their love affair was private, but no less passionate, and they define the concept of soul-mates.

Number 1: She lived life out loud, without judgment for herself or others, without regrets and like the Gerber daisy, she enjoyed the simple things in life.
This is our list. Yours may be different, and that’s ok, or it may be the same, and that’s good too. Cooper is and always will be herself. She was quietly confident in her spirituality and her relationship with God. She now knows the secret that we all want to know of the life that awaits us after this one. We mourn not for her, who lived life to the fullest, but for ourselves who wished we had more time with her. I think that she would tell you this: pick yourself up, pull yourself a beer, and toast with her. So, Cooper, in the spirit of a toast that was one of our favorite, we say this: Here’s to you, and here’s to me, the best of friends we’ll ever be. Though you are not here for us to see, we’re ok, and here’s to thee.

The Big Move to the Big Boy Room

We are taking the plunge. Since our guest room is about twice the size of other rooms and has it's own bathroom, we've decided to move Thornton and Holden to the same room. Thornton has moved to a "big boy" bed (aka twin sized) and Holden is moving to the toddler bed.

The day of painting was good - Jason and I had LOTS of help. We ruined only one shirt. So, overall, success. Much excitement in the day - jumping on beds, and general boy-ish glee. Thornton took to the new room really well; Holden, not so much. We hit him with too much, moving rooms and taking the crib to the toddler bed. After the 3rd time we put him back in the toddler bed, we decided to put him back in his own crib. We'll convert the toddler back to the crib and give him some time to adjust to the room before taking off the crib rails.

Pictures to follow.

Remind me... It's Just a Phase!?!

Thornton has reached the “terrible threes”, I’ve decided. Frankly, I think they had the “terrible twos” incorrectly named. Two wasn’t that bad, but 6 weeks short of our 3rd birthday, I have a sassy, button-pushing, limit stretching child on my hands. Of course, this is between moments of gentleness and giving and “mama, I love you”, so don’t think I’m complaining. I can mostly deal with the sassy, what I am having a challenge with is the aggression. My question is mostly to mammas of boys (I think). How are you reacting to aggressive behavior and at what point are you calming them down? I think it’s mostly just boy stuff: kicking and punching the air for no apparent reason, jumping off pretty much anything he can climb up, and making “roar” sounds….sometimes roars also have teeth bared with aggressive “pretend biting” (not actually biting though). While it sounds sorta benign on paper, it can get pretty intense (and annoying). I “time-out” when we act out on our brother, or mamma or anyone else, but what about the other stuff? I’m just trying to balance letting him “be a boy” (clueless here) with stuff I do need to correct. We’re doing tons of outside play, and opportunity to burn energy, but his seems limitless! Phase? Let it go? Geez… BOYS!!!

Discipline and Consequences

I don’t want to start a huge thing around this, but I have to tell you that we finally instituted “the spank”(….play horror music here). I struggled with the idea at first, but I have to say that it is a remarkable tool when used effectively. Here’s how we do it (mostly).

I say (calmly), Thornton, this is not acceptable behavior. If you cannot change X behavior, I’m going to pop your bottom. You get one more warning.
Then, the second time, I say, Thornton I said you cannot X, but you can Y. Do you want to Y, or do you want me to pop your bottom? This is your last warning. Next time I’m going to pop your bottom.
Then, if he does it again (which at this point is typically just doing it to get a reaction), then I pop one time on the bottom and said “I said no”.

Now, I say this: when we started this process, he was still wearing a diaper. It was shock value more than anything. Now that he’s older, the one pop may actually feel like something, but again, it hurts mostly his feelings. I found that I hardly ever have to pop him now that he understand the routine. I also use the countdown “1…..2……”then 3 with the spanking if I can’t get him to do something: come here in a store, do what he’s supposed to do, etc. Now I find I just have to count to 1 and I can (usually) get what I need.

I say this on discipline: go with what is right for you and your family. I know that one thing doesn’t always work for every family (or even every child in a family), but I can say that as a mom, you are most equipped to figure out what WILL work. It’s a tough and constantly changing challenge.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Jason and Thornton are in the shower this past weekend and I hear Thornton exclaim to his father: "Daddy, you're penis is BIG"! I hear absolute silence, then this response from my husband "Why yes... yes it is son". I'm about to bust out laughing when the next line gets me more. "My penis is little"... at which point Jason responds: "that's because you are little, Thornton. When you get big, your're penis will also get big". Thornton simply nods his head at this sage advise. I almost laugh out loud, but realize this is a VERY serious matter, so I only snicker silently.

Holden - the new walker

Here are the stats on the big boy:

At 15 months, he's now a full walker. He crawled a lot more than Thornton did. That made Holden much stronger when he actually started walking. Thornton was more shakey, but he took his first steps right before his first year's birthday. Holden took his first steps at about 14 months, but he is now practically running at 15 months. Just two weeks ago, he went from walking between furniture, to walking around the entire house unassisted. Amazing!

Holden is my super happy boy. He has such a naturally happy disposition. He always has a smile on his face and is almost always laughing or smiling. He can say "mama", "dada", "up" (which is really just "puh") and "dat"... we say "dat" while pointing at things quite a lot. He's curious about EVERYTHING and wants to see lots of stuff. While he is a generally very happy child, Holden is starting to develop quite the little temper! If you say "no", and he really wanted something, he'll throw his little body down on the ground (knees first), then drop down on his tummy with head to the floor and start crying. It's the most hysterical sight. You almost can hear the drama cry "WHYYYYY?????"

Holden has 5 teeth to his name now: 2 on top and 3 on bottom. The 5th just came in about 2-3 weeks ago. My happy boy went away for a bit thru that sad part.... so did my good sleeper. On average during a tooth cutting, we spend about 2-3 weeks with broken sleep, a snotty nose and a poor appetite. He makes up for it later in the eating department, though.

Holden is not a picky eater (neither is Thornton), but the boys do have different tastes. Holden is a huge egg lover, which his Grandaddy loves (Thornton has never liked them much), and one of Holden's favorites is smoked salmon. He'll eat an entire slice of smoked salmon before I can finish cutting it up. He loves most fruits, but isn't really into blueberries right now... not sure why. I think it may be the skin. For the most part, Holden doesn't like skin on his fruit. He also doesn't really like oranges or pineapple. I think that's the texture of those as well. He'll eat all veggies including kale, loves garbanzo beans (both boys eat them for snacks) and will down an entire piece of steak a la wonderful in less than a minute! He comes from good stock on that one!

My littlest boy is a sweet one. He's starting to love books - reading "Little Duck the Finger Puppet Book" is one that really makes him laugh. He loves turning the pages (best page turner around), and especially loves the last line "...little duck can play with YOU!" when little duck tickles him under his chin. His giggle is the best thing going!

Holden is also my dancer. He reacts so much more to music than his big brother did at the same age. Dance parties occur in the kitchen most nights, and Holden can really shake a tailfeather. His dance is mostly bouncing and clapping for onesself. Good to know he has great self esteem at this point!

How work can rule your life

See, here's what happens... you have these great intensions of keeping up a family blog filled with the awesome things going on in your life, then ZAP! Work comes along, and all you do is work, sleep, and spend about 10 minutes with the children if you're lucky enough to catch them awake.

That's been our lives since about... December. Now, I'm fortunate to have a WONDERFUL husband who has been completely supportive and has not complained about the following: 1) taking total and complete care of children day and night while their mother is gone or 2) not seeing the aforementioned mother except a brief kiss goodnight, good morning or good-bye. Now, THAT makes for a very lucky mommy!

Happily, though, the work schedule has died down, and life is back to normal. Blogging is possible again, and there are some super funny things to report. Holden is huge! He marked the big 1 year milestone and is now a big-time walker. I'll do a full report on him soon. Thornton is talking about everything on his mind, which makes for some pretty funny stories. More to come on that as well!

Confessions of a Mother

We mama's tend to feel too much guilt, and a lot of times, we work so hard to be perfect. After my conversations this weekend with fellow Decatur moms, I want to remind mamas that others out there are doing the following things:

1. I spank. I have a 2 year-old who is willful and timeout doesn'talways work. Not to mention, I don't have time with a 1 year old to constantly do timeout. A quick pop to the diapered bottom does the trick. His feelings hurt more than his butt.

2. My children eat off the floor. I feel better about this afterthe NYT article, but I swear, I should put the plate on the floor and just get it over with. My floors are not clean, and even if they were, they'd still find the dirty cheerio.

3. Sometimes, I want to walk away from it all. One is holding yourleg screaming, the other is repeating "I need a snacky" over and over, and you're just trying to get dinner on the table. You know you've had the thought, and it's ok. Paraphrased from a goodfriend "sometimes it just isn't that fun to be home", and it's true sometimes. Those are tempered with times of absolute happiness, and you wouldn't trade your life for the world. That is the balance that exists.

4. I need me time. I am a full time working mom, and I feel guilty every time I do it, but by God, I sometimes just need a pedicure or a cup of coffee with friends. Exercise, does not count in this category, because I hate doing it.

5. We use TV - and it works. If I need 30 extra minutes at 6am before Holden gets up, or I need to make dinner, or I just need toget him out of my hair, I turn on the TV. I watched TV, and I'm fine.

6. Quickies aren't cutting it anymore. Let's set the recordstraight, a quickie at this stage in the game is for him, not you. Remember those days of an afternoon delight, or a lazy morning kissing? Where did THOSE go? At night, I'm exhausted, in the morning we have chaos around us. I do miss those lazy days.

7. I have lost my temper with my child and have said or done things I instantly felt bad about... more than once. 'nuf said.

8. I do what works. I don't have time to sort thru the data, or be wishy-washy in my decisions. I've found what works, and I run with it. So far, no one has been seriously injured, so I guess we're doing ok.

So, that's me. It may not be you, but it is some of you. I wanted you guys to know that if you're doing these things, you're not alone, and you absolutely shouldn't feel guilty.