Oaks

John and I get the extreme pleasure of going to Oaks this year. We could not be more excited!!! To make it more exciting our seats are in Millionaire’s row. Which means we are on the 6th floor right on the finish line. If there are stars there, we will see them! The area we will be in has tables inside and bleacher like seats outside. So no matter the weather we will have fun. The area also has it’s own betting windows, bar, buffet and bathrooms. The Oaks is the second biggest day at Churchill downs and having our own bathrooms will be very nice. We are going with Mitch and Alison, Marci, Terry and Heather, and Matt is flying in for the occasion. So the 8 of us will all be seated at table #9 in Millionaire’s row. Hopefully it brings us some luck. Avery will be in school and Cami will be home with John’s brother Alex. G&PP will get into town about 3:00 and will pick Av up from school. I got a new dress and hat. The dress is strapless and a-line. It is cream, taupe and yellowish/goldish. I decided to buy a plain cream hat and dress it up myself. I glued a taupe ribbon around it and then glued a goldish color flower and feathers on it. On the tacky scale it is only about a 5. Tacky hats are huge at the Derby but I could only go so far. On Friday everyone is meeting at our house around 10:00am and we are going to kick off the party with bloody marys and mimosas. I am sooooooooooooooooo excited.

36 years

Yesterday was Grandma and Pap-pap’s 36th year wedding anniversary. I feel very fortunate that my girls have such a great legacy in their lives. 36th year wedding anniversaries are rare in this day and age. G&PP have a rare and amazing bond and I love that Av and Cami have such a strong example. I pray that my girls will have a 36th year wedding anniversary someday.

"otay mamma"

That is Av's new saying. It is pretty cute. She says it to everything. I guess it is better then "no mamma."

belly

About 7:15 this morning Camille started screaming. Usually when she wakes up she plays in her crib for a bit and you can hear her having her morning conversation with her giraffe. So when the screaming started I thought something was really wrong. I ran in there and found her on her belly. She was fine but mad to be on her belly. She can roll and does often, not sure why she screamed instead of rolling but I rescued her from that terrible situation she got herself in.

She also really started babbling this weekend. Dadadada and bababababa no mamamam yet. Hopefully soon. It is too cute. I tried to get a video of it with the camera but she is just like her sister. Shy’s up when the camera is around.

Band-Aids

Putting characters on band-aids was a million dollar idea as I am sure band-aids already know. Av has taken a liking to band-aids recently. She has some Hello Kitty ones that she loves. This morning while I was putting Camille back to bed Av came upstairs and headed into her room. She got a chair out so she could stand up and get something out of her dresser. I had no idea what she was doing until I went in there. She had a bunch of band-aids on her legs. I laughed. She said she needed one more and I asked her what for. She said her finger. So I told her this was the last one and got it out for her. When I asked her where I should put it she had to think about it for a minute and decide what finger. Guess it just hurt that bad.

nap-time

On Saturday while I was putting Camille down for a nap Av was putting her babies to bed as well. She gets a blanket out for them and spreads it on the floor. Then she places them all next to each other face down. Then she covers them with a blanket. This weekend she had put her monkey, hello kitty, ducky, care bear, cinderella, her baby camille and baby snow white to bed. It was about the cutest thing I had ever seen.

lovie

It is funny what a different mom I was to baby Avery compared to baby Camille. With Av I did everything by the book and obsessed and worried about everything. With Cami I am much more laid back and enjoying it a lot more. Wish I had relaxed with Av. Avery slept with nothing in her crib for the first year of her life. She didn’t even have a bumper on her crib because of the chance that could cause SIDS. Cami has about 4 toys in her crib. No bumper but she does have toys and a lovie (a very small blanket with a stuffed animal head, hers is a giraffe). The worst part about this is that she sleeps with the lovie over her face. She puts it over her head herself. The first time I saw it over her head I started to freak out (I thought she was sleeping) but then I saw her feet move. It scared me to death. Every time I catch her sleeping the lovie is over her head. For weeks I worried about it but now I know that is just how she likes it. She puts herself to sleep by turning her head as far to one side as possible and then putting the lovie over her face. So funny. At night after I put her in her crib I stand out of sight and watch her do it. One of these days I will get a pic of it and post.

Fussy

Well I spoke too soon. Camille had a pretty fussy day yesterday. In the world of fussiness it was probably only a 6 but fussy for her. I think the teeth are getting her. She was gumming everything and you could tell that she was pretty uncomfortable. No matter what I did with her she would try to enjoy it but then would fuss. Very out of the ordinary for her. Even daddy coming home only temporarily put a smile on her face.

mischievous day

Yesterday was a mischievous day for Av. First she ate a mostly full tube of KIDS training toothpaste. She is obsessed with toothpaste and floss. She 'flosses' her teeth many times a day. Every time I am in my bathroom getting ready or something she comes in and grabs the floss. There is nothing else to play with in the bathroom so the floss has become the toy. She just likes the taste of it. At first she used to just pull a big long piece of floss out but I have since switched to more expensive floss so I tell her when she goes to grab it, “little piece, it is expensive." So now as soon as she grabs it she always says, "little piece, expensive.” She grabs a real small piece, way to small to floss with, and waits for me to cut it off for her. I have tired to teach her many times to cut it herself but she does not look down at what her hands are doing so she can't do it. She looks at me and tries but she is nowhere near the loop to cut it. UGH! I thought at first it was a good thing, you know, good example. Now it just drives me crazy. Back to the toothpaste though I was putting the dishes away and she was upstairs playing like she does a lot. I went to check on her and she had her toothpaste tube hanging out of her mouth (which she got by standing in her bottom bathroom drawer to reach it). I took it away and tried to explain AGAIN we don't eat toothpaste. It was the kid’s training kind and after reading the back I was not worried. I got her interested in a toy and then headed back downstairs to finish up the dishes. A few minutes later I heard a very muffled crying. I headed back upstairs and into her room. I initially did not see her but still heard the crying. She had gotten herself stuck inside her closet. I opened the door and immediately started laughing. She was sitting in a laundry basket in only her underwear with the toy she had been playing with. She was kind of stuck in the laundry basket. The basket’s edges are pretty rough because jack chewed on it when he was a puppy. Every time she tried to get out she got scratched since she was pretty much naked. It was a funny sight and yes she laughed with me when I did.

oops

Sisters

201 days of interrupted sleep (and still counting)

Camille is still up twice a night 50% of the time. Food has not made a difference in her sleeping. I don’t think it is teething either because otherwise she is so good and happy. Plus as soon as I send a few minutes feeding her she is back out. My perspective is so skewed. Avery was sleeping through the night at this point and the few times she was up, it was a nightmare. With Camille I find myself saying “If I could just get her down to once a night.” When really at Camille’s age she should be sleeping through. One of these days I am going to get up the energy to cut her off cold turkey.

2 teeth!

Over the weekend Camille’s second bottom tooth made it’s appearance. She has been so good and happy though. I would never really have thought she was “teething.” Thinking back, I don’t think Av really had a hard time with teeth either. Hopefully over the next year or so the rest of her teeth can come in the same way.

Mr. Mom

The dynamic in our house (mom’s role vs. dad’s role) is pretty typical I think. We do complete each other. John works out of the house full time plus. I work part time at work and the rest of my time is spent running the house and taking care of the kids. My days and nights totally hinge on multitasking. Like while cooking dinner I sing (boy am I a good singer too…heheheh) to the girls. I know this is a good strategy for learning but during cooking I do it out of necessity for entertaining. After working all day John comes running in and just gets to be mister funny guy. Which is good because not only is it a good stress reliever for him but also I lack in the silly dept. So yesterday I took Av to a b-day party while John and Cami stayed home. They had a great time together and he had her eating dinner when I got home which was nice. He had this long story to tell me about this diaper he had to change and how she peed in the middle of changing it. Poor John. Later after dinner I noticed a funny odor in the air. Rotten egg Cami was back so we headed upstairs to change her. I laid her down on the changing table and then noticed it was soaking wet. PEE! So yes he did take care of changing a pee soaked Cami but got distracted before cleaning up the pee on the changing table. Nothing in a million years would have distracted me from cleaning that up right then and there. He is the fun one I must admit. After I changed Cami we went outside to join Av and John. Av was dressed in snowman one piece footed PJ’s, purple croc on one foot and a rubber boot on the other but her hair was still in perfect pigtails with Gymboree bows from the party. Boy did both John and Av think it was hilarious.

Thunder

This weekend was Thunder. It is a very big deal in Louisville. It is one of the largest fireworks displays in the world. It is always two weeks before Derby and kicks off the Derby festival. It is an all day event. If the weather is nice people start arriving on the waterfront in the morning to set up their spot. All day they have an air show and then the fireworks at night. We went with friends to their company party. They had a nice spot fenced off for us on the lawn and some indoor room for us too. For the kids they had a bouncy, games and face painting. Avery was so excited. As we were getting there Cami was in the stroller and we were trying to find a ramp to get the stroller to the lawn. Av was up ahead of us with her friend Caroline. As we got to our spot on the lawn I looked around and Av was nowhere in sight but Caroline was standing right there. My heart just dropped. John took off in one direction, I went the other way and our friend Melissa (Caroline’s mother) took off in another direction leaving Sam (Caroline’s dad) with the babies and Caroline. Some very nice people stopped me and told me they had seen her head to the bouncy. At the same time Caroline was telling her dad that was where Av was. Needless to say that is exactly where she was. It scared me of course but shocked me too. Avery is pretty shy and not one to just wander away from me or especially her friends. She was not missing for more then a minute but a lot goes through your head in a minute. I was pretty sure she was safe (at a safe event with a lot of security) but I was most worried she didn’t know where we were and she was scared. She was fine and I think I scared her more then anything with how scared I was. In a weird way I was proud of her, she is coming out of her shell and gaining confidence in herself. It is incredible to watch.

Growing up

Camille seems to be changing over night. It kind of makes me sad, okay so that is a lie, it makes me really sad. She is growing up. I know that’s life but she is growing so fast. She is now eating like a champ. As long as it is veggies mixed with a little bit of bananas. She loves it. She eats peas, green beans, carrots and sweet potatoes. We have also tried pears and peaches but from tasting them myself I have found them to be tart. We will continue to try though. I forgot how much the poop changes when they start eating. It surprised me so much the first one I got. It went from being very runny and smelling like spoiled milk to a lot more solid and smelling like really awful garbage. The other day I was trying to get the kids out of the house and was in the out of the fridge getting snacks and such. I smelled rotten eggs but thought it was the fridge because the dyed Easter eggs were in there (you know how those smell pretty bad). As I put Camille in her car seat I realized the terrible smell was coming from her. My sweet baby smelled like a rotten egg. She is nursing a lot less too. I think this is the part that makes me the saddest. I have enjoyed nursing her so much. Getting an excuse to cuddle 6-8 times a day is just amazing. Also knowing that I can comfort away any troubles she has is the best feeling. She is growing up and boy do I hate it.

Avery amazes me every day. She is just talking so much and the things that come out of her mouth make me stop and think, “where did that come from?” The Easter bunny brought her a T-ball set. She was so excited and proud. We drew chalk bases on the drive way and off she went. She loved hitting the ball and running (she is running so well now too) the bases over and over again. Every time before she hits the balls though she says, “watch out!” So cute. Yesterday it rained and as she was watching the rain from inside she said, “need new bases.” The Easter bunny also brought her a new puzzle. She needed some new harder puzzles. This puzzle has 24 pieces, her first puzzle like this. So I sat down with her and explained the strategy of separating the outside pieces from the inside pieces and then putting the outside together first. We have since put the puzzle together several times and each time she needs less and less of my help. She can almost put it together “all by myself!” She is perspective too; I tried to give her half non-frosted mini wheats with her frosted ones. It was a no-go. I found all the non-frosted ones on the floor. On the flip side though, boy do we battle. My biggest complaint is when I am trying to do something for her she fights me on it. Like getting dressed to go and meet friends at the park. She thinks it is very funny to do the exact opposite of what I ask her to do. The more I ask the more she smirks at me. This happens at least once a day.

Weekend

We had a great weekend with the girls. On Friday we dyed Easter eggs. Av loved it. The kit I bought came with princess stickers. As soon as all the Snow White stickers were gone Av was done with the process. Her Snow White eggs looked great. After dying eggs, we walked to dinner with our neighbors. On Sat we celebrated Passover with some friends that live down the street. Av spent the whole night playing with a friend named Sophie and we put Cami to bed pretty much as soon as we got there so John and I were able to hang out with our friends kind of like old times. When it was time to go home we loaded both girls back into the stroller and walked home. Cami went back to sleep like a champ and of course Av did well. On Easter we had brunch and an Easter egg hunt with our neighbors. It was beautiful outside but a little windy so we made a fire and hung out by it most of the day. Avery was very excited about her Easter basket. The Easter bunny did not bring her much candy but she was very happy with the sporty water bottle, Snow White puzzle, Curious George book, Mini mouse underpants and a T-ball set. Cami got a much smaller basket with a bib, sippy cups and Pat the Bunny (Av destroyed her copy). We all missed Grandma and Pap-pap very much and can’t wait to see them soon!

full belly

Camille asks "what do you call a mixture of bananas, carrots, and rice cereal? --- you call it MMMMMMM gggooooooddddd!!!" Look how happy I am after two bowls of it! Yummaaayyy!

ridiculously big pink flower

Yesterday when John got home I had this big ridiculous flower headband on Camille. He was not to amused. Av and I had a great time laughing at Cami in the headband. We found it funny and cute, John did not see any cuteness in it. I will post the pictures and you can decide.

thunder thighs

We finally got Camille to eat. She has been eating oatmeal with bananas in the morning. The first morning she ate it, I seriously considered that someone had switched Cami with an imposter. She ate like she had been eating for years. I could not shovel it in fast enough. She would grab the spoon and shove it in herself. Sometimes shaking her head back and forth franticly trying to get the food faster. For dinner I tried rice cereal with carrots. She would have no part of it. I tried oatmeal with carrots. Nope. Today for lunch Miss Linda fed her oatmeal, bananas and carrots (sounds yummy right...heheheh). Apparently she just ate it right up, lip smacking and all. So the girl must love bananas. Either that or she is worried if she eats after 2pm it will go straight to her thunder thighs. John says she has bigger problems though. "baby got back" hhehehehehe

eyes

Camille has the coolest eyes. Not only does she look at you with the biggest, cutest eyes in the world, but they have character. For awhile, we thought they may change because her left eye has some brown in it. The upper inside corner is brown. Her right iris isn't quite a full circle, but something about them just light up her whole face as well as the folks that look at her. Lately, her smiles are infectious and she is the happiest little child you've ever seen.... except at dinner (solid food) time. Then we get cranky and spit out everything. So smart she won't even open her mouth to cry. Just purses those lips as tight as could be like they're glued shut. It's battle after battle -- but don't you fret, mom and dad will win the war.

growing up

Av is growing up so fast. This past weekend during our WI trip she slept in a big girl bed the whole weekend, used real cups and sat in real chairs. It made me realize that I need the crutches of sippy cups and booster seats, not her. I knew she could drink out of a real cup, I guess it is a habit I have to break myself of. No, I am not totally giving up sippy cups, they are perfect for portable water but it made me realize I need to let her grow up. It is a hard thing for a parent to do. I know I will struggle with it her whole life.

road trip to WI

We went to WI this past weekend to visit John’s mom and his grandparents. We also got to see his Uncle Mike, Aunt Carrie and cousin Kallan. We had a great time. The girls were so good in the car. We dove both ways mostly at night so the girls slept. We left on Wednesday evening and got just past Chicago before we stopped. Stayed at a nice Hyatt place there. It was really fun to stay in a hotel room with the girls. John started out sleeping in a bed with Av but she kicked him out. By morning she was sideways and she had been snoring in his ear. Cami slept in a pack and play. Her first time and she did great with it. On Thursday, before heading to Grandma’s we stopped in Madison and walked around campus and had lunch there. It is a really nice campus by the lakes. The rest of the weekend we had a great time with all the family. Av especially liked following around big cousin Kallan. She was pretty smitten. On Saturday after the big win (Go State!) we hit the road. Again the girls were good and slept most of it. We stopped around 12:30 at night. It of course woke them both up. When we got to our room I put them both in bed together while I got us situated. When I was done I noticed them lying facing towards each other and just talking. Av had given Cami her toy and Av was talking, Cami was cooing, squealing and smiling. It was so sweet. I hope they are good friends.

One funny thing that happened- on the way there Av was in the back seat watching her movies. All the sudden she said, “I got it momma!” I looked back to see what she was talking about and she had part of her fingernail in her hand. She was very proud.

bye, bye my little gummy bear

Cami is growing sooooooo fast. Too fast. She is 6 months today. Yesterday a friend asked if Cami had any teeth. I said, “no” right away. After sitting there and talking to her, which always results in the biggest smile ever the friend said, “I think I just saw a tooth!” She was right. Bottom front, popping through the pink was a touch of white. You can see it and feel it. So far there is only one but I am sure the other is not far behind it. It really surprised me. Av didn’t get any teeth until she was just over 7 months. I just can’t believe it, I don’t want to believe it; my little baby is 6 months old. The time just goes by too fast.

She is getting so good with her hands too. I thought they grabbed everything before but now they really are. Paper, sisters hair, toys sister is playing with, faces, my hair, whatever I am eating with her on my lap- everything within reach is fair game to her. She is starting to really use her hands too; she reaches for toys, grabs them and then is able to manipulate the toys. We need to lower her crib mattress too because she is able to bat at her mobile. She is getting stronger sitting but still not sitting without the help of props. I think that week of sickness set her back too. She talks a lot always letting us know her likes and her dislikes. She still loves watching big sis and has taken a new interest in Jack the dog too. Her smiles are so big they take up her whole face. She has eaten cereal, peas and carrots. So far she does not love any of it. I think she would just have milk forever if she could. She loves to nurse. Daddy can make her laugh like no one else can. It is the sweetest sound in the world. She does not do the tongue thing as much anymore. She loves getting her diaper changed at least she loves being on her changing table. She can be so tired and cranky and ready for bed but you put her on that table and she starts smiling and talking up a storm. Always has, it is kind of weird.