silly girls

The girls new favorite thing to say is, "what?" after EVERYTHING. It is driving us crazy.

Camille says, "What's that noise?" all the time. Whether there was a noise or not.

Camille has started repeating everything you say. It's pretty funny. I know it is how they learn to talk. She really has started talking well. Pretty neat to see them learn.

The girls got these things that fizz in the bathtub and turn the water a color. We put one in the tub tonight for bath time and Camille got scared after it started turning the water pink. She jumped out of the bathtub so quick and no amount of talking could get her back in. She is crazy.

pro belly boy

look how strong he is!!!

games

I got home from running errands today and this is what I found in my living room. Avery, Everett and John playing a game. (Camille was at school)

everett figuring things out

Everett has learned how to move all around his crib. He started at my parents house. One night I got up to feed him and found his head at the total other end of the crib from where I put him down at. Crazy boy. He is also starting to reach for things. If you hold a toy he moves his arm to try to reach for it. He's not totally there yet. Has not fully figured it out but he is testing the waters. He has already started grabbing at everything. He has a tight grip. He gets a hold of your shirt and does not let go!!

Pittsburgh

On the 26th we drove into Pittsburgh to see my Aunt Jenny, Uncle Ron, Aunt Sally, Uncle Chris, Aunt Susie, and cousins Michael, Danny, Nevin, Katie and Liz. It was a blast and so nice to see everyone. The girls just loved all the attention.

Christmas

WV

We went to WV to my parents house for Christmas. I didn't grow up or even ever live in WV but I still could not imagine not being at my parents house on Christmas morning. To me that is Christmas. I am so lucky that John lets me!! Anyway we took off Thursday afternoon with 3 kids and all of our stuff for the 6 hour drive. We never guessed it would go as great as it did. It was perfect!!! We only stopped once!! We put both girls in the way back and Everett and I sat in the middle in the captains chairs. It worked out perfectly. I could reach the girls better, talk to Everett and see his smiling face and I even had more room. There is only one Starbucks between our house and my parents (if you can believe that) and as luck would have it just as we were about to pass it Av piped up from the back seat and said, "I have to go potty." It was like music to my ears. I could not have timed it better if I'd tried. So that was our one stop. I fed Everett and back on the road we got. The girls were in heaven on Friday. They painted, baked cookies, played in the snow, had many dance parties and watched Frosty several times. After putting out cookies, milk, carrots and sugar for the reindeer off to bed we tired to put them. They of course were too excited to go right to sleep. We heard them laughing and playing and heard Camille say, "Avery get me out." Finally they fell asleep and Santa came. Camille was the first one up Christmas morning at 7. Not too bad. They were spoiled beyond belief and loved every minute of it. Camille wanted to open and play with each and every present she opened. Their big gift this year were suitcases. It was such a nice week with my parents. So sad it's over.

sleep

Everett has been sleeping 8 hours the last 3 nights. He just keeps getting better and better. I put him down around 10 and he sleeps till 6!!! It is wonderful. Then he eats and goes right back to bed. He is still sleeping now. I just checked on him and he has busted out of the swaddle and is sleeping with his arms up by his ears. So cute. I think it's probably about time to work on ditching the swaddle.

holiday CDs

I have never been one to love Christmas music. I mean it was fine but have never owned a Christmas CD or wanted to listen to Christmas music. Crazy how kids change you. Avery was singing jingle bells a few weeks ago and I instantly wanted a CD so we could listen to it all the time. That weekend her and I ran to Target to get a Christmas CD. We looked and looked and only found one with jingle bells. The rest had jingle bell rock. Not what I wanted. So we got the CD. It is a good CD with lots of classic holiday songs on it but not very fun for the kids. I was kind of disappointed. Then the other day I was at Toy r Us finishing my holiday shopping and I saw kids Christmas CDs (which Target did have one too but still didn't have jingle bells on it). They were only $1.99 so I bought 2 bc of course one could not have all the good songs on it. Anyway for only $2 bucks it was a no brainer. The girls LOVE them. Av loves jingle bells and since then Camille has fallen in love with frosty the snowman. She loves watching it and loves the song. So the CDs are a big hit and even momma loves them!!!!

holiday music

I took the kids to a Holiday music class today. It was so cute!!! We sang jingle bells with real bells, sang rudolph, had frosty the snow man read to us, pretended to make a snowman, turned ourselves into ice skating snowman with scarves around our necks and paper plates under our feet as the skates and then we crafted a snowman. The girls loved it. I am just so lucky I can do this type of fun stuff with my girls. It was a great time. Man last week and all the snow day have made us lazy. I used to be able to get us out of the house at 8:45 4 days a week wo a hitch. Today I BARELY got us to music on time at 11:45. Going back after the holidays is going to be very hard.

bowling with the hoekstras

Bowling for our family holiday night with the Hoekstras. It was so fun. Look at the CUTE small bowling shoes Camille is wearing.

proud of myself

I took all 3 kids today to the grocery and to get the girl's hair cut today!!! Not sure why I feel so accomplished bc of this but I do. I have taken them all to bday parties, the science center, the zoo, dinner, parks, hbr lots of times. I have been avoiding the grocery though. Just seemed like too much. Partly just the logistics of it. Where do I put the groceries w 3 kids in the cart???? I did it though. I'm sure peeps thought I was crazy in the haircut place. Even I thought I was but it worked. Each girl sat in their chairs getting their hair cut while I rocked Everett back and forth to keep him from fussing. Av was a big girl and was across the room from us but she could see me in the mirror the whole time.

Camille's first haircut

She was very unsure and stone faced just like Av always was. She didn't make a peep the whole time. Not that she needed it cut, she still does not have much hair. I'm just hoping it helps it grow more. The only bad part was after each stylist finished someone they would sweep the cut hair into a vacuum and Camille is afraid of the vacuum so she cried each time she heard it. I had to laugh each time.

ACE took the night off

John got so busted. He got up with the girls on Saturday morning and we had forgotten to move ACE. The day before he had been in Dad's stocking. Av saw him and was surprised. She said, "dadda look at ACE!" John tried to distract Av and went and put ACE in Everett's stocking right next to John's hoping that moving him one over Av would have thought she saw him wrong in John's stocking. He thought he had done it very slyly and he even said to Av, "look ACE is in Everett's stocking." Av agreed and that was the end of it. John really thought he had gotten away with it until I got up. The first thing out of Av's mouth was, "dadda moved ACE!!" hehehehh

Avery did it!

Today is the 3rd snow day of the week. We needed out of the house so we went to All About Kids so the girls could get some energy out. There is one huge bouncy there you have to climb up one side and slide down the other. Av's friend Caroline was doing it and Av so wanted to but she would get to the top, look over and get scared saying it was too high. She kept going up and then coming back down. Then she finally decided she did want to go but at that point could not climb the last little bit to get to the top. She kept trying and trying and I so badly wanted her to succeed. I was trying to talk her through it at the bottom and it took her a bit to figure out what I meant but she got it!!!! After that it was a breeze for her and she did it many more times. I was so proud of her!!!

tv

Nothing like a little ice to make you stop and slow down. The city is under a sheet of ice. The main roads are fine I'm told but parking lots, driveways and sidewalks are very bad with no hope of it melting until Tues next week. So that means probably no school tomorrow either. Being from the north I just can't wrap my head around how this could be. We are not getting more bad weather. In the north this would have all been cleaned up and everything would have been back to normal before it really ever got this bad, but not in the south (if you call KY the south) I guess. Anyway our lives have been so busy this has really made us stop and slow down which is sooooooo nice. The kids do not get to watch much tv but today we have all sat cuddled on the couch under a blanket all morning watching Christmas movies. It has been the best morning in the world. Normally I would never let us do this but I didn't sleep last night (up worrying about the storm) so today I just can't make myself be productive which has been so nice. Just sitting and cuddling with my 3 kids has been so great. No need for guilt over the tv. Sometimes it's okay, even good.

sad face

Everett is just the best baby. He is always very happy and smily and content but when something does strike him as not right he really gets sad. He does not cry so much or scream it's more like this very sad but very cute look he gets on his face. It's like he lost his best friend in the whole world. Makes me just want to run to him and hug him. It happens a lot when he is nursing and Camille is mad she is not getting attention so she starts crying/screaming. It scares him I guess and the look on his face is just pitiful. It comes on slowly but I can tell by the look in his eyes it is coming. He just looks up at me like, "what could be that wrong?" I really want to get a pic of it bc it's just so cute.

sleeping baby

Everett is such a good sleeper. I know once he starts teething and moving around we will probably go backwards but right now I will take what I can get. He usually sleeps 7 hours and then follows that up with 3 hours. Very nice. Then the other night he started a 5 and 5 stretch which was actually nicer bc he was up his one time in the middle of the night instead of early morning and it's much easier for me to go back to sleep then. 2 nights ago he went to bed at 10 and slept till 5 and last night he went to bed at 10 and slept till 630. So nice. He's a very sweet baby. I just can't get enough cuddle time with him. I want him to stay this age forever.

weather update

We survived!!! We never lost power so thank goodness for that!!! The public school is off again today so that means no school again for Av. Camille's school is open after a delay which is nice bc Av does have horse today so I will not have to take Camille with us. Texting has become such a part of life. I got texts from both schools letting me know if they were open or closed or what was going on. The text I got about Av was just from the channel Fox. Her school follows the public school so the news channel does it. Camille's is a communication system the school subscribes to. So nice. I didn't have to figure anything out or even turn on the TV. It was all there right in front of me right when the decisions had been made.

life

Life has been crazy busy lately. So different than my maternity leave with Camille. One kid and a baby is so different than 2 kids and a baby. Plus add on all our activities, music for both girls, horse and speech and I am running in a million different directions. Av is in school short days on Monday and Friday so by the time we get home we have to turn around and pick her back up. Then add in trying to get ready for Christmas and we are running constantly. John is back in full fledge travel mode. This is the 3rd week in a row he is gone 2 nights. Last week I took the kids to the science center for a family night with Av's school while he was gone. This week we had a bday party for one of Av's friends. We are always off to something or other. The weather is not helping all my fun. It has been sooooooo cold. Way too cold for early Dec in KY. I hate it. School was already off Monday this week for a silly 3 inches of snow. On top of the cold and John being gone we are getting a big storm tonight. I am totally freaked. We are getting ice. It was in 2009 when I was home alone with Avery and baby Camille when we lost power due to ice. I can't do that again. The thought makes me cry. I am totally prepared though. I bought 2 bundles of fire wood, got out the fire starter, had John talk me though making a fire in the fireplace, made sure the flashlights have batteries in them and turned the heat up just in case. In 09 I was so prepared in a different way. Left the garage door open and packed our bags so we could leave if needed. This time we are staying put and making a fire. Please pray it does not come to that.

Avery and Everett

The relationship between Everett and Avery is amazing. Avery was great with baby Camille as well but now to see her as a 5 year old with a sibling is just so cool. She just loves him to pieces. She spends more time a day talking to him than she does playing. She will just sit with him and talk and talk to him and he just smiles back. He lights up when he sees her. Camille loves him too but the relationship between a baby and a 2 year old is so different than a baby and a 5 year old. I think they have a special bond that will last them a lifetime.

hands

Everett had really discovered his hands. He has been bringing them together at mid-line and to his mouth before but now he is obsessed!!! They are constantly in his mouth and he just can't get enough. Further and further he shoves a hand in his mouth to the point that he is gaging himself. It's pretty funny. The little stuff you forget about babies until you see another one do it.

snow day

it's 11 am and we are still in our PJ's!!! Loving it. So glad I didn't have to drag these kids out in the cold this morning. Camille slept in and woke up talking happy talk instead of in her grumpster mood. It has been so nice having happy Camille back today. Avery didn't wake up until 930 and Everett ate and went back to bed until 10 so Camille got some great one on one time. We both needed it for sure!!! The girls are painting now and Everett is doing belly time. We have gotten extra cuddle time and we have got a lot done. Great morning!!

red sleeper

I have a picture of all 3 of my kids in this sleeper in this swing. So cool!!

Sunday

We made a gingerbread house. The girls loved it. I think about 3/4's of the candy made it onto the house even if it had been tried first. heheheh Notice the 2 peppermints on the side. That was Camille's side.

Saturday

We had our great friends the Shumans over. It was a blast. We have a holiday dinner with them every year and we usually exchange gifts. This year we decided that our kids had everything and didn't need anything and not to buy stuff just to buy stuff. We decided to do a craft instead. We were going to paint and make picture frames to put our pics of the beach in them but the kids got along so well and played so well that we didn't even get to it. Usually Camille and Stella fight pretty badly but there was none of that. We had so much fun hanging around. Everett was as usually a great baby and let us all sit down and eat at the same time!! We all can't wait until him and their little girl are running around with the other 4. It sure will be a big party!!!

Friday

John got off a plane (after his second business trip of the week) at 5 on Friday. As soon as he got home I had plans for us. It was the last thing he wanted to do (leave again) but he did for us!!! We got a quick dinner and then headed downtown for a horse and carriage ride. It was so fun. Av and Camille selected an all white horse named Joe. In Camille's music class there is a song about called, "Old Joe" so that was sung a lot. Around the city we went and got to see all the lights. It was a very nice night out (pretty warm) so it was perfect. The ride was short and sweet and the girls LOVED it. (at least Av did, Camille tried very hard to continue the gumpster mood she was in)

our weekend

We were either all laughing together or all crying together. It was either all or nothing this weekend. Camille is challenging to say the least. She is a 2 year old MONSTER. It's a very trying time for us. She can be so so so bad and boy is it stressful. So the weekend was challenging for sure. I hope it gets better very soon. We did manage to have fun though.

ACE

John and I are having a really hard time remembering to move ACE every day. One of these days it's all going to come tumbling down and we will forget. Many mornings I come running down to do it and thankfully John has already. He is in the Christmas tree right now. Yesterday he was in Jack's stocking. The day before in the pen jar. The girls are loving him though. They really enjoy looking for him. Camille came all the way downstairs by herself the other day to find him. She came back upstairs two minutes later saying, "I not know where he is." It's been cute, I am glad we got him! Neat to have a new tradition.

decorating the tree

The first one is the one we used for our Christmas card.

pics

Candy Canes

The girls have discovered candy canes. Av got one from St. Nick at school and ever since then she has been asking for more. She didn't know you put them on the Christmas tree. I bought some today and made them wait until after nap to have one. It was the first thing Camille said when I woke her up. So they each had one (that only lasted minutes, crunch, crunch, crunch) before any even made it to the tree.

2 month check up

His 2 month check up went great! Could not have gone better. He's doing great. We talked a little about his crooked neck and the MD thought it was looking better. He saw no reason for us to see at PT at this point. He said they would have us do the same stuff we are already doing. He said the crooked part is not the problem it is the flat head it causes and he saw no signs of flat head anywhere on his head. He sat him up and Everett sat pretty straight when upright. He rolled him over to see his belly time and said he could tell he was a baby that got enough belly time. MD thought he looked very strong. He is 12.2 lbs which put him in the 50-70% and he was 24 and 3/4 inches long and that puts him between 75-90%. He is a big boy!!

Camille

Camille is so funny. Not sure where she gets this stuff. She obsessed with dental floss. Av went through this too. She runs into our bathroom, grabs it out of the drawer and either pulls off a huge piece or comes running to you to ask for a piece. "Piece of dental floss, piece of dental floss!!!!!" John does a great impression of her saying it. Anyway now everything is a "piece." Her latest yesterday was, "can I have a piece of water?"

On Tuesday Camille woke up puny. I kept her home but around 10:30 she was running around this place like normal. When I asked her if she wanted to go to school she looked at me and said, "I'm sick."

We ran into Walgreens the other day. She saw the Christmas blow ups and said, "mommy look Halloween!!" I guess she thinks all blow ups are for Halloween.

Avery

I just can't get over how amazing these pictures are of Avery. I know I'm biased but she is truly beautiful.

fall pictures

These are the pics we had taken right before Everett was supposed to be born.