Thanksgiving

Was wonderful! It started on Wednesday night as we hosted the “2nd annual so you are too old to go out on the biggest bar night of the year” party. It was an appetizer party and about 6 families came to it. It was a big success and everyone seemed to have a good time. Before the party Avery said she was too tired and wanted to go to bed. I told her to take a little rest because we were having a party that night. She laid on the couch for a bit and then got up and said, “I’m ready to party!” It was pretty cute. On Thursday for most of the day it was just the 4 of us while G&PP drove in. We got the dinner ready, played and walked to starbucks. It was a nice family day with G&PP joining in right after naptime. (Av napped that day after partying till 10pm the night before…hehehehe) Both girls liked the turkey but didn’t really think much of any of the sides. More stuffing for me! Friday morning John and I got up to shop a bit for black Friday. Anyone who knows us knows that John HATES shopping and I never think the deals on black Friday are really worth it so we never go. This year though we are getting the girls the anywhere chairs from pottery barn and I heard they were going to be $20 off that day. Those chairs never go on sale so it was worth it. We got them. Purple dot for Av and green for Camille. I will have their names put on them in hot pink. After that John and I went to the track with Matt’s family. We had a blast although no one was very lucky that day. By the time we got home Aunt Ann and Uncle Matt had arrived! After a dinner of leftovers we went out for a little bit. I had not been out in a while and we had a blast! We finished the night off with cheese bread and a walk (Suzanne said I ran it in my skirt and cowgirl boots) home. AA and UM brought Av her bday gifts. I think we have started the “what is the most obnoxious thing I can bring them?” game. She better be prepared because paybacks are a bitch. She brought a big blow up princess crown that has a bunch of balls to play in with it. Boy did both girls love it! In the middle is a blow up tower that you can put a ball in and it spirals down in. Av was playing and no one was really paying attention until we heard “go monkey go!” She had put her monkey in it and was waiting/hoping it would spiral down. It didn’t so it had to be fished out. The weekend as always went by too fast and this morning it was time to see G&PP off. I think this weekend was the first time of many that mom and dad are chop liver to G&PP in Camille’s eyes. Av learned that long ago and Camille is following in her footsteps. Thank you so much AA and UM and my wonderful parents for coming and staying with us. We love their company and all that help with the kids gives us such a nice break! We miss you already!

Avery's birth story

Since her birthday was just about a week ago and since it’s not written on here anywhere I thought I would take the time to change that. All day on Nov. 19th this year I kept looking at the clock and thinking back to what I was doing at that time 4 years ago. First let’s start with the big important fact that I will never forget. She was a WEEK late. Her due date was Nov. 13th 2005 but that came and went. My doctor’s policy was they would not induce until she was a week late so we had an appointment set up for Nov. 20th. All week though I kept waiting for her to make her grand entrance as I had since after we hit the 38th week. I guess she was just nice and cozy where she was. That year the 19th was on a Saturday and I woke up with some contractions. They were not too bad and not too regular. John went and got me a starbucks and some breakfast as we waited. Around noon we decided it was time. It was just about that time that G&PP arrived too! We left for the hospital but looking back on it all I still don’t think I was in labor or if I was it was very early labor. They emitted me though (I think they were just being kind since I was almost a week late and being induced the next day they figured they might as well start that day). They gave me pitocin and the wait began. We watched football all day. It was actually a very nice day with my family. By about 10:30 that night we were ready to go. I pushed for a little over a half an hour and was rewarded with the most precious baby girl imaginable. We did not find out the sex with her and John called “it’s a girl!” before the doctor even did! Thank goodness because we still didn’t have a boy’s name.

Bruiser

I spent most of my day yesterday comforting Camille from fall after fall. She is all over the place and into every thing. She has more bumps and bruises. She is learning to get up and stand on Av’s stools we have all over the house. The last thing I need is to have Camille be able to reach the stuff on the counter that was purposely put out of her reach. Our TV cabinet has scotch tape holding the glass doors of it closed. How ghetto is that???? There is nothing dangerous in there, just stuff we don’t want her playing with. Avery never got in there. She is giving us a run for our money, that’s for sure!

Mickey

Avery thinks that he is “her” horse. It’s really cute now how excited she is to go and ride him. Yesterday we got there and Miss Becky was sick so someone else was going to work with Av. At first Av was not happy but Nikki said to her, “come on let’s go ride Mickey.” With that Av got a big smile on her face and went running off. After she rode and was working in the clinic I kept hearing Nikki telling Av what a great job she was doing. Music to my ears. She even learned to pedal a bike. Went about 4 feet and even got it going herself. Just in time for the bday give G&PP are bringing her!

"why must you always take pictures of me sleeping?"

I was taking pictures of Camille sleeping again. The first one is a side view so you can see her bum bum up in the air. The second one is a top view. Notice her eyes are open. The flash from the first picture must have woke her. What she must have been thinking in that moment. "Mom not again!"

New Moon

So I love the Twilight series. The books were so good. I was sad when I was finished with them. So of course I was very excited for this past weekend as the second movie in the series was released. We waited until Sunday to see it in hopes that the theater would not be full of a bunch of crazed teenagers. I went with 2 of my closest friends. Marci and Melissa. We were able to fit in a little shopping before heading to the movie and dinner afterwards. It was a nice break from being a mom. The movie was good, better than the first one but still nowhere near as good as the books. Made me want to re-read them all…again!

PJ Party!

We all know what Avery’s favorite clothes are. PJs! So we decided for her bday we would throw her a PJ party. It was a huge success. Her closest friends all come over in their favorite jammies for a day of fun. Caroline, Jackson, Sayree and Ella came over along with their siblings and parents. We had elephant slippers as the favors, mimosas for the parents and donuts instead of cake. By the end of the day our house was trashed but we all had a great time!

4 already?!?!

How is it possible that Avery is 4? It feels like just yesterday she was a baby. She has grown so much. It’s just amazing the little person she has turned into. She is so special to us. We had a little family bday party for her on her birthday. John and Rachelle and the kids came over. It is always so fun to have them around. The girls just love it. I slaved all day in the kitchen on the complicated meal Avery loves. Hehehehe NOT She wanted pizza and strawberry cupcakes. As we were getting home from our fun day of activities she knew it was about time to open her presents. I was pulling into the garage and I hear from the back seat, “do I get to open my stroller now?” Her gifts were in my trunk for a little over a week and she had caught a glimpse of a box last week before John could cover it up. We had no idea though that she actually knew what one was. I said, “what stroller?” She pointed behind her to the trunk and said, “the one in the trunk.” By that point I it was wrapped and in the house so I told her there was no stroller in the trunk. She is too smart! Avery's favorite color is purple so for her bday we all wore purple.

Camille's new trick

hehehehe she is going to strongly dislike me one day!

banks

Monday night John was out of town and so it was just my girls and I. Both were tired from a day at school and kind of grumpy. At 6:30 I looked at the clock and thought, “oh goodness this is going to be a long hour.” Someone must have been looking out for me. John on one of his trips had brought the girls back these wooden little banks. Av’s is a pig and Camille’s is a frog. They are too cute and they sit on Av’s dresser. We throw change in the every once in a while. Avery for some reason decided she wanted to get hers out and play with it. Of course Camille had to have hers too. They sat on Av’s bed for 45 minutes playing with those banks. Spilling out all of the change and then putting it all back in over and over again. Camille was in love. (I sat right there to make sure Camille didn’t eat any of her money) At one point I wanted to get Camille in her PJ’s but she threw the biggest fit when I took her bank away from her for a minute. Then all the sudden Camille started dropping the change over her shoulder behind her. She thought it was the funniest thing ever. Avery counted the number of coins she had over and over again. Neither wanted anything to do with the dollar bills that were in the banks. If they only knew.

kisses

Camille gives kisses now! Mostly Avery is the recipient of them. When I ask her for one she will make the noise but will not come and actually touch her lips to me, too busy for that. At night when I put the girls to bed by myself we sit in Av’s room and read books then brush teeth and then we put Av in bed first. Once Av is in bed Camille will climb right in bed with her and climb right up on top of Av to give her kisses. The other morning Av was lying on the couch and Camille climbed up her to give her kisses. It is about the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Just the 4 of us!

This past weekend we spent entirely as a family. We didn’t have a single plan going into the weekend and we spent the whole weekend together just the 4 of us. We have not had a weekend like that in sooooooooooo long. It was very nice. We did lots of playing, raking, reading and some errands. We went to the zoo on Saturday. It was nice having daddy there, usually it is just us girls. At one point Av got out her bubble machine. Camille was amazed. I am so lucky to have such a great family!

oh crap, crap

(this is John)

So tonight, I was trying to eat dinner after getting home late and Mommy was doing something else when all the sudden the "what the heck is Camille doing?" feeling came over both of us.... and yup... up on the 5th stair she is. Before we even knew, we knew. So I go running to the stairs going "oh crap, oh crap" to get her........  and right behind me is Avery yelling "crap crap crap". Ooops.

"I can't believe you just told me no!"

Here is what Camille does when the world gets to be too much for her.  This is her disappointed/heart broken pose.   It's pretty funny. When something doesn't go her way she is pretty dramatic about assuming this position.  

exploring

I have a picture that is exactly the same only it's Av instead of Camille.  I will have to dig that out and post it.  Here is Camille exploring her world.  

Veteran’s Day

I got a very nice surprise on Veteran's Day. After dropping the girls off at school I headed to work like I always do. First thing I noticed when I pulled in was that there were NO cars in the lot!! Took me about one second to realize it must have been a holiday for us! I was so excited. Almost giddy. A day to myself!!! When was the last time I had one of those??? The first thing I did was call a girlfriend and told her to wait for me!!! A few mothers from Avery’s class were getting together for breakfast and all the sudden I could join them! So there I sat on a Wednesday morning with 4 friends drinking my coffee and having a yummy breakfast burrito. It was so unexpected and relaxing. We sat there for 2 hours talking and laughing. Then we went off to do some shopping together. It was nice getting to know some new friends better and a great day to re-charge my mommy battery.

hbr/speech update

Tuesdays attempt was more of the same. Av pretty much cried and tried to wait Miss Becky out. They didn’t accomplish much. I kept my cool and just loved on her when it was over but also told her how silly I thought she was being. I told Av that we were going to continue coming and she might as well start to have fun at it. On Thursday Av woke up in a really good mood and was excited for Speech and hbr. She kept saying she wanted to go to speech first then to ride Mickey. (I had been telling her Mickey has been missing her and wanted her to come and ride him and give him a treat). So after hanging out at the house all morning and then dropping Camille off at school to speech we headed. Speech ended up going great. Miss Angela told me that, “Avery talked a lot and worked on/repeated all words that were asked of her. (They were working on the K sound and Av was doing well.) Avery was also silly and having fun with it at the appropriate times. Avery is now just one of the group!” It was music to my ears!! After running home to have lunch off to hbr we went. Miss Becky decided to try having Av ride first to see if that worked so off Av went to ride Mickey. I snuck in to take a peak and she looked happy. I heard when they were done and came inside. I heard Av crying and asking for me. It went on for only a few minutes and then I didn’t hear her crying anymore. I didn't know whether they were just sitting there staring at each other or if Av was actually doing as Miss Becky asked. Turns out she was kind of doing things. Not great, but better. Another little boy worked with them so I think that helped. Av didn't have all the attention on her and it was more like she was playing with a new friend. When she got done she was super exited to tell me she rode Mickey and gave him a treat. I think it was a step in the right direction!

Great PP

Girls, your great grandfather was one of 17 kids (right mom?). He was such a wonderful man. I wish you could have known him. I have many fond memories of him. Mostly at his cabin in PA. He was so fun. Always ready to take us out on the boat, set off fireworks for us, set up this water fountain he had for us or sleep on the screened in porch on a cot with us. Here is a great picture of him with his brothers and sisters and parents (I think). He is the handsome man on the bottom row second from the right.

Grandma from WI

Came for a visit this weekend. It was so nice to see her as always. The girls had a lot of fun with her. If Grandma was not at the house during parts of this weekend Av was always asking where she was or when she would be back. Grandma remembered a toy that Av had played with and liked a lot the last time she was in WI so Grandma got Av that toy for her b-day. It is a set of play hair things. Battery operated hair dryer, a pretend curling iron and straightener. She took it to school today for sharing time and even slept with it Friday night. Camille woke up at 6:30 on Saturday and as John was heading in to tell her to go back to sleep he noticed Av’s light was on. She was up playing with her hair stuff. Who knows how long she had been up? 6:30 is very early for Av. I do love having a live in hair stylist.

sisters

Camille is starting to take after big sister Avery. She discovered how fun it was to push around a doll stroller. Luckily we already had two of them. It was a beautiful fall weekend. 70 and sunny and the girls spent hours outside pushing around their dolls, playing at the park and Camille went on her first bike ride while Av was at a bday party.  It was a great weekend.  

no Mickey today

Well HBR didn't happen yesterday.  She refused to do any PT in the clinic so Miss Becky refused to let her ride.  I was soooooooooooo disappointed but I was hoping she would learn she didn't get the reward if she didn't act right but no such luck.  On the way home she told me she didn't want to ride the horses anymore.  I guess riding is not enough to motivate her to do the PT.  Ugh.  I was very sad yesterday after all this and she knew it.  I just don't know what to do.  We are going to continue to go.  Maybe she will learn she is not getting out of it so she might as well have fun.  We will see.  John is able to go next Thursday so maybe he can help.  If not at least he will understand what I have been going through.  

HBR

Horseback riding/hippotherapy/PT is going ok. Kind of. From now on I am just going to refer to it as horse back riding or HBR. We try not to call it therapy or anything like that to Av. Play up the fun of it and down play the therapy part. Anyway she LOVES the horses. So excited to go yesterday and ride one. Her therapist Becky told us that Av was going to ride first and then play in the center. That got Av even more excited. She got on Mickey again and was stone faced most of it but I did catch at least 2 huge smiles. They walked around the arena again and then walked outside for a bit. The ground outside is just more uneven so it works different muscles. Plus they went up and down this hill that Av either has to lean back or lean forward depending on the way they are going. Then they had her sit on the horse backwards. You could tell that was harder and after a few minutes Becky asked if Av’s arms were tired. They were so she was turned around forward. Then they stopped at a basketball goal and played a little ball. They would make Av reach in all different directions (switching up arms) to get the ball and then shoot the goal. I was worried she would throw a fit and not do it (she does not like throwing activities) but she did great and made most of the baskets. When they took her off the horse she just stood there for a minute and you could see her little legs quivering. I don’t think Av had ever felt her muscle so tired like that. She was not convinced she could walk. Becky encouraged her to walk and get treats for Mickey. She walked right inside, got 2 treats for Mickey, put them in the bucket and came outside all by herself. Cute stuff!!!! Inside though was a different story. Becky had set up a small obstacle course for Av. There was this plastic tubing that Becky wanted Av to walk through but not step on, then a step like thing (up 2 small steps, down 2 small steps), then walk on a balance beam like thing on the floor, then walk up a ramp and jump off of it. I know Av can do all of it (maybe not the whole balance beam) by herself but she refused. She cried and cried. Then Becky wanted Av to climb this ladder type thing and slide down. Av cried and cried again. Right then the phone rang and Becky left to get it. While Becky was gone I got Av to climb the ladder. Becky saw it luckily and said “Avery I knew you could do it.” It is so so so so so hard when she is looking at you crying and saying she wants to leave. Makes me sad but then it also is hard because you feel like no matter how you handle it with your child the therapist is judging your parenting style. Like, she’s too soft on her, too hard on her, trying to bribe your child (heaven forbid), why wouldn’t your child listen to you, why wouldn’t she just do it. The whole time that’s all that’s going through my mind. I think Becky was pretty frustrated with us yesterday. The HBR I know is so good for her so we will continue to go. Av will get used to it and it will go better soon. I just know it!

I knew something was up

the house was too quiet

Look at Camille caught in the act.  At least Av knew to stop when I came around. hehhehe

cute girls

candy

If she only realized what she was holding.....

Camille trick or treating

school day halloween party

nursing monster

Well there was one down side to my birthday and sleeping in. John got up with Camille so I didn’t nurse her first thing like I normally do. I heard her fussing and so I got up because I knew what she wanted. When John saw the nursing monster I had turned her into he put his foot down right then and there. No more. The longer I do it the harder it will be to stop. I know, I know but I don’t want to stop. We are though. She threw a fit for 45 minutes yesterday, which I knew she would because I have kind of, sort of, tried (not really all that hard though) to avoid it sometimes and I have seen the way she acts. It was breaking my heart yesterday. Knowing I was taking something away from her that she loved so much. Ugh I hate it. I’m not really ready to be done either but…..I know it must be done. Plus I have gotten mastitis again. My body just does not work half way when it comes to making milk. My supply is just too big. She didn’t throw much of a fit today. She is already onto bigger and better things. It's only my heart that is still breaking, I guess.

My 29th b-day......

........so what if it is the 4th year we have celebrated it.

My birthday was a great one. My family made sure I was a princess for the day. I am so lucky to have them. I got to sleep in and eat a yummy breakfast and then we got ready to shop for a camera that I got to pick out. John was even going to let me get a pink one. Boy is he nice. The girls made me the cutest b-day cards. I will cherish them always. After Avery brought them to me while I was still looking at them she disappeared and came back with a hand full of magnets to hang them on the fridge with. Guess she wanted to make sure they didn’t end up in the garbage (hehehe makes me feel horrible, I made sure she knew I would NEVER throw my b-day cards out). We had dinner with John’s side of the family which is always fun. There are 7 birthdays we celebrate with a big dinner every year with them. It just happened to fall right on my b-day this year.

Trick or Treating!!

Saturday was the big event. Trick or Treating! Avery was so excited. She was Charlie Brown again and Camille was Snoopy. PP had mailed them new trick or treat buckets and they were so cute. Camille loved hers although she didn’t want candy in it. She wanted to carry the candy around with her. She got mad when she could not carry it all. They got a lot of loot. I had to empty Av’s bucket a couple of times for her because it kept getting too heavy. We were out for almost 2 hours. Avery is so cute. We do not give her much candy/cookies/cake/sugar at all. She does not even like most of it (at least she does not think she does). During trick or treating or after it she never had any candy. Didn’t ask at all, although she inhaled the animal crackers our neighbors got especially for them. By 1:00 on Sunday she still had not asked for any of it. I wanted a piece so I made a big deal out of taking her candy. At that point she wanted to see it. She spent 45 minutes looking at it all, sorting it, doing who knows what with to finally decide what one piece she wanted. Finally decided on Skittles that she promptly decided she didn’t like. She thought they were M&M’s so we got those out for her. Still that is all the Halloween candy she has eaten. The b-day cake and ice cream she had last night makes up for it.

Halloween Party!!

Friday night was the Shuman’s annual Halloween party. We had a BLAST. This was the first year it was adults only and it was fun. We had a babysitter come watch the kids at our house while we partied the night away next door. Marci and I put the babies down while Jackson and Avery hung out with Heidi. They were so excited. Before Heidi or Jackson got to our house, Avery was looking out the front door. I asked her if she was waiting for Jackson. She said, “no Heidi!” She loves her. So Heidi watched the kids for us while we got in our costumes. As we were leaving for the party Jackson, Heidi and Avery were hanging out on our front porch getting ready to watch people arrive in their costumes. It was lightly raining outside and the kids were running around with their PJ’s rolled up so they didn’t get wet. John and I went over early before the party officially started. Soon after we arrived the doorbell rang. We went to open it and no one was there but we heard this little giggling. The kids had rang the door bell and run. The smiles on their faces were so big. Seeing a smile like that on your kid’s face is the best feeling in the world. The party was a big success. John and I were a cowboy and cowgirl. We stayed up too late and had too many jello shots. It was worth it though. The Shumans ended up staying the night at our house because they didn’t want to wake their kids so we had a sleepover. Saturday morning Marci and I were up with the babies. We came prepared though with bagels and a breakfast casserole. It was nice having company while up early with Camille. We all ended up hanging out for a while in our PJ’s. I have a feeling many more sleepovers will be in our future especially since the Shumans are moving.