"I do it!"

Camille has started the “I do it” phase. Or really it’s, “Idoit” as she says. Kind of cute, kind of frustrating. Takes her much longer to do things than I can just do them. The biggest one is getting into her car seat and snapping the straps. She wants to do it all herself. Any help you try to give her you hear, “NO! Idoit.”

school

Well today Av didn’t want to take her pillow to school?!?!?! Not sure why. She said something about her bag being too heavy but that didn’t make sense to me since I was the one carrying it. I even tried to just put it in there thinking she would change her mind but as she was putting her sharing item in the bag she saw it and pulled it out saying, “I no want this.” Kids, they keep you guessing.

Av told me this morning that she didn’t want to go to school. That was the first time she has EVER said that. She always wants to go. She said she wanted to stay home with me. I told her I would not be home and if she stayed home she would be by herself. So she changed the way she said it and said, “I want to stay home with Momma.” Ugh, it’s so hard. I just stayed very matter of fact with her and told her she always has fun once she gets there. No tears today though. I walked her in, put her bag down and asked if she wanted to sit with Miss Morgan right away. She did so that was where I left her. She looked sad but was not crying. Camille was fine; her favorite sub was there so she was happy. Miss Sarah.

New school

Avery does fine and seems to have good days but she cries, I mean really cries when I drop her off. Camille is crying too at drop off. It just breaks my heart. When I pick them up though they seem happy and their teachers say they have good days. So I think they have decided to gang up on mom and make me feel as bad for them as possible. Avery has a few new friends she talks about. Isabelle, Chaney, Maddie and McKenna. She comes home with art work she is very proud to show off and seems to look forward to going until the minute we walk in the door. Av told me this weekend that, "Isabelle has a pillow for nap time." Oops. Felt kind of bad about that. No wonder she is not sleeping. So on Tues we packed a little pillow for her. She was excited. At dinner last night John and I were asking her questions about school and she was telling us about her day. Finally she said, "let me eat my dinner." heheheheh guess that was her nice way of telling us to shut up.

Father's day

My girls and I are lucky. Probably the luckiest 3 girls in the whole wide world! We have the best husband and father. On top of that I am doublely as lucky bc I have the best father in the world as well. We missed seeing my dad/pap-pap this Father’s day but we thought of him non-stop. The girls and I let John sleep in. We were going to bring him his coffee in bed but he beat us to it and got up before we could. We made him his favorite breakfast, French toast. The girls had cards for him that they had made. It was still very hot out so we decided to head to the pool again. After the pool and naps we had dinner with John’s family. They are always so good with the girls it is a nice treat for them and me. I get a much-needed break when Shelly, Opa, Alex, Molly and Maddie are around. They take over entertaining and spoil them for a few hours. They are very loved girls!!

Father's day weekend

We had a father’s day weekend at our house this weekend. Since J was gone all week the girls were so excited to see him Friday morning. Camille took off by herself to head downstairs to see him when she first woke up and John surprised Avery by being there when she came out of her room. The both squealed when they saw him. I partly wanted to go away for a few days so I could get a welcome like that when I returned. No glory for mom. John’s work was having a family event at the ballpark on Friday. I thought it sounded fun so I asked him to get tickets. Boy was I wrong. It was still a billion degrees out even once the sun went down. Camille has ants in her pants and does not sit still for even a second so it made sitting in seats with his co-workers impossible. The only drink that was served at a corporate sponsored family event was pink lemonade. Neither of my girls had ever had it and didn’t like it. With as hot as it was all you wanted was water. The $3 bottle of water we bought lasted about a second. We left early. Av and I sat in the grass while John got the car for us. She sat on my lap (bc the grass was pokey) legs crossed like a 15 year old asking why it was taking daddy so long. Heheheh it was pretty funny. We called her princess for the rest of the night. We were so happy to be a family again though none of it spoiled our moods. We went home and played and then put them to bed. It was so nice having help at bedtime again. Saturday we got up and went to the school’s pancake breakfast. I never make pancakes like those at home so it was a new treat. Camille said between each bite with food still in her mouth, “it’s good.” Heheheh After that we went to the pool to show daddy how well the girls were swimming. We had a great time and were there for hours. While there we found out a local ice cream place was having $.25 cones so we got a special afternoon treat as well. All the girls laid down for a late afternoon nap while daddy got a bike ride in. Afterwards we blew up the girl’s pool and all spent the evening in it. Pretty redneck but it was super fun. Dinner, bath, books and bedtime ended the perfect day.

Av sick and J in London-I survived!!!!!

On Thursday on vacation we were standing in line waiting to go into the pool and it was about a million degrees out and all the sudden Av threw up. It was very weird. It was just a banana I had made her eat (she gets very cranky when she does not eat. We have this problem a lot. We make her eat and things are fine. She was getting cranky so I made her eat.) She was fine afterwards. No fever and she didn’t want to skip the pool. So we went in. She acted pretty normal. Little lower on the energy but it was hot and she had not eaten much and we had a big week so we just thought she was tired. We went home and napped that day. She had been coughing kind of a lot all week so I also thought it was just from mucus. The rest of the week went on good but it just seemed she had less and less energy. We sat in the car all day Sat so I thought that would be good rest for her and she would be better Sunday. Sunday was much the same. Very low energy, coughing but in and out seemed fine. She threw up again on Sunday afternoon so we stayed home from a bday party we had. Monday I had my ultrasound and a babysitter came to watch the girls (John left for London on Sunday). Av woke up pretty good and was fine for the sitter. We went to the pool after that but she was going down hill energy wise. She had taken another 2+ hour nap on Sunday and then took one on Monday. At that point I decided something had to be up. She never naps that many days in a row anymore. Took her to the doctor Monday afternoon and she had a sinus infection. Finally a reason why and a solution and she would be better soon!!! Tuesday she went to school and did pretty okay. Cried when I left but hung in there for the day. I knew they had naptime and I kept thinking after all this sleep any minute she would be better. Wednesday she was still horrible. So low energy and soooooo whiney. I had my worst parenting day ever. Both of them were horrible. Av fought all day with me about what she was eating. She would not drink the water I knew she needed. Or eat anything good for her without a huge fight. Camille was just in a mood and bit Av 3 times. Mostly for no reason. At one point I had had it and pretended to call a babysitter over. Then all the sudden like a light switch at the 48-hour mark of being on the meds she turned herself around. She became my sweet little Avery again! It’s so nice to have her back. We had many very loud discussions yesterday and I was so happy today when she got up and instead of like yesterday demanding her bagel from me and then screaming at me when I could not get it right away she said, “may I please have my bagel now?” Then after Camille took something of hers she used her words and said, “sissy can I have that back?” instead of just taking it which always leads to her getting bit. I had to help Camille a little giving it back to her but she is actually pretty good at giving people stuff when they ask. Some of our talks set in yesterday. Guess it was not all for nothing.

a little more about vaca

We got ice cream a few nights while there. C has not really had ice cream and has never had a cone. We got the girls each a cone with a kiddie scope on it. John always helps Av “clean” hers as she is eating it. Licks it so it’s not drippy (ick but he does not mind). This time she did not need any help “cleaning” it though. She ate the whole cone totally by herself! C on the other hand, when J would try to take it to “clean” it she would say, “NOOOOOOOO!!!” She wanted no part of giving up her cone but she would not eat the cone. She would lick the ice cream down to the cone, tongue out what she could and then give J to the cone to eat it down for her so she could get to the ice cream again. If she did happen to get a piece of the cone she would hand us the chunk (un-chewed) of cone. We told her several times she could eat the cone but she was not interested.

One day we took a day trip to a separate island. It was un-inhabited. Very pretty. No gas stations, or groceries or chain restaurants. It did have a few restaurants and hotels but otherwise very natural. Spent the early part of the day in the historical district and went to a sea turtle hospital. It was very cool. The girls loved it. Got to watch a turtle get operated on, got to see recovering turtles in their pools and got to learn a lot about turtles. We spent the afternoon on the beach. That night we went to a pizza restaurant that had a playground attached to it. It was perfect for both the adults and kids!

The girls loved loved loved the ocean. They spent countless hours in it mostly with their father. I spent a lot of time with them too of course. The water was the perfect temp. Not cold at all but still refreshing. Camille loved being in about neck deep water and wanted all the time to be out there playing with the daddies and the big kids. The tide really makes a huge difference on the beach there. The first few days high tide was around 1 pm so by then the beach would be totally gone and the water would be crashing into huge rocks. It was beautiful but sad we were “kicked” off the beach. By the end of the trip high tide was more like 6 pm and we found some bigger beaches we had more time on. One night we planned to walk on the beach after dinner. Well the kids loved the ocean so much they could not resist going for a swim. So first it was up to their knees. The next thing I knew both of their dresses were soaking wet. So then Av swam in her undies and C in her diaper. The diaper was not a swim diaper though so by the very end her and Stella were romping in the ocean in their birthday suits. Boy did they love that, the dads not so much.

The week was perfect. No major issues with any of the kids. Jackson and Av got along sooooo well. They had slumber parties at night complete with pillow fights and flashlights. C did better than expected with Stella. She still had her moments but all in all we were able to keep them going so too much boredom didn’t set it. We just went and went and went. Only came back to the house 2 days out of seven for naps. Sometimes going straight from the beach for dinner. Each day we packed our lunch for the beach and then ate out at night. The girls were sooooooo good at each restaurant for dinner. It was pretty amazing.

The drive was not so bad. On the way there we left our house at about 12:45 pm. The first part of the trip was slow for us. On and off it kept raining pretty hard and then we had some police drama. First we had to follow a police escort for a while and then we followed a big huge oversized thing for a while too. Once we were about half way there though things got better. The girls were good. We got there around midnight. On the way home we left at about 8:20 am. We were all packed and ready to go and the girls got up early so we figured why not. Again they were great. We were doing great until we got stuck in an hour-long traffic jam. As soon as we were able to we got off the highway and easily went around but it took us forever to get to an exit. We only stopped twice getting home around 8pm. The girls were good as could be.

Captions to the St. Simons, GA pics (first part of the trip)

1) First day on the beach
2) Fam pic
3) C getting used to it all and loving it
4) Av getting used to it all and loving it too
5) Cute girl in a cute suit
6) Av playing
7) C getting used to the waves. She was laughing out loud as each wave hit us. Notice the half eaten apple in her hand
8) Cute kids after dinner the first night
9) A rainy afternoon shopping trip. J (who was not happy with shopping) was in charge of keeping track of C. She was being WILD and finally found these bracelets. She spent a good 10 minutes standing there putting on as many as she could dig out of those baskets.
10) Showing mommy all her bracelets. Then John walked away just in time for mean mommy to take them off of her. Boy you should have seen the fit. The entire store heard it that’s for sure. She was on the floor kicking and screaming as I wrestled her trying to get these little, tiny, tangled bracelets off her wrist. It was not easy.
11) Av boogie boarding
12) Girls enjoying the sand
13) Av and daddy in the waves. They spent hours in the ocean playing together
14) Getting ready to build a sand castle
15 and 16 enjoying the water
17) Another fam pic (finally getting some pics with ncb in them)
18) C pulling Av on the boogy board

Captions to the “vacation pics” post (these pics are from the end of the trip)

1) C napping on John at the beach and John loving every minute of it. Notice she is sucking on her thumb
2) Everyone in the tunnel on the playground at the pizza place
3) Everyone building a sand castle
4) C napping on John for a second day in a row. He was a little more sunburned that day so we were trying to cover him up. She is cute, she will lay right down and cuddle and ask you to sing. She wants you to sing, “you are my sunshine” over and over again to her. If you stop she gets mad. If you try another song she gets mad. Love those moments though.
5) Fam pic at the pool. We were having a ball all coming down the water slides together
6) J and C enjoying the slide
7) Kids at the park
8) a lucky mother with her girls
9) Flying a kite
10) Showing mom where the kite is (heheheh)
11) C and Stella enjoying the mulch
12) Marci and I flying the kite (this was right before Marci accidentally let go of Av’s kite and they had to chase it down. Thankfully John was able to rescue it from a tree. Av was very upset until it was safely back. John and Rachelle got the girls 2 kites. It was the bee kite that got lost and Av said from the beginning that was the kite she wanted. The other was a ladybug and that was C’s kite according to Av.)
13) Cute girls in the ocean
14) a family of 5
15) Big boat that passed kind of close to us
16) St. Simons Island, GA 2010
17) Camille finishing the spinach dip with her hands
18) Camille (that is a smile on her face) throwing a ball with herself. She threw the biggest fit after this pic bc it was time to come inside
19) Sleepy girl on the way home with stickers stuck to her face (they were on her arms when she was awake) She has a very dirty face in this pic as well Av on the way home

Week 24

Things are still going great! I am so lucky for that. We had our last ultrasound with the high-risk doctor and we were released!!!!! In the doctor’s words, “he is perfect.” So we are very excited about that. What I was told that I was not expecting to hear is that at the time of the ultrasound he was breech. I know at 24 weeks that is no biggie and very common and he has plenty of time to turn and most likely will but still!! I do not want to have a c-section. I have had 2 v births and had very much planned on this one being the same. So little ncb your orders are to shape up and turn around. Don’t start acting like your silly sisters already.

st. simons island pics

vacation pics

vacation

St. Simons Island, GA here we come!!!!!! We leave tomorrow for the beach for a week. I can’t wait. We are driving straight through (hopefully) so wish us luck. It’s about an 11-hour drive. The girls are usually pretty good in the car. We will be bringing Elmo along with us for Camille. The plan is to leave at naptime so we get naps in the car and then they will sleep a little at bedtime too. Saturday morning we will be on the beach. We are going with our old neighbors. As long as Camille does not terrorize Stella all week it will be a good week.

av at cornerstone update

Av did great at Cornerstone. I am so so so proud of her. She is just such a strong, brave little girl. They said she was shy and quiet but participated and fit right in. No tears! She even took a little nap which John and I was thrilled about (not!). When I got there to pick her up she was standing at a table with 2 other kids. She had her back to me. I knelt down and when she saw me she said, “hi mamma!” but didn’t stop playing. She was happy. She talked about it happily and was excited to go today. She is very excited for it until we step inside her classroom. Today when I dropped her off a sub was in there who she spent a lot of time with last summer. The teacher always says hi to Av when she sees us dropping off or picking up Camille. The teacher said, “Avery, it’s been so long. I’ve missed you, come here and give me a hug.” She picked her up and held her for a minute. It was sweet. Camille’s teachers both checked in with Av and said hi to her during the day as well. She is a lucky girl to have some many caring people in her life.

Strawberry picking

Av's first day at Cornerstone

Ugh being a parent is sooooooooo hard. I know dropping her off there was harder on me than it was on her but it just sucked! There were no tears on her part and I was able to hold mine back until I was alone in the car. It just breaks my heart. She was okay though. Looked very unsure of things but did go off with a little girl to play before I left. One of her teachers was one of the teachers Camille had so Av kind of knew her so that helped and one of the little girls in the class was in class with Av last summer so she was going to show her around today. With this as hard as it was I just know I am going to be a mess her first day of kindergarten. How did that get to only be a year away???

long weekend

We had the very best weekend ever!!!! My parents and sister and brother in law came for the long weekend. My parents got in late Friday night and sis got in Saturday afternoon. Saturday morning the girls woke up to G&PP being there. They knew they would be but forgot and were very happy to see them. We played for a while and then my mom, Av and I went on a few errands. Got the girls a bigger pool for the backyard and G bought Av a new bag that she didn’t put down all weekend. I think PP pushed Camille on the swing the entire time we were gone. That afternoon/evening we played with the girls a lot, played corn hole and had a cook out. It was a great night. Sunday we got up and all left the house early for strawberry picking! It was a blast. Road a tractor to the strawberry fields and we all picked for a while. Camille mostly hoarded while the rest of us picked. When I say hoarded I mean she clutched them to her chest and squeezed the life out of them the entire time until G hander her an ice cream cone. She gave them up at that point. Poor G was covered in strawberry juice from holding Camille while Camille held those strawberries. After that we came home, napped, showered and got ready for a big cookout at a friend's house. The girls again had the best time playing and getting soaked with their friends. On Monday we played until everyone had to leave. So sad. We did head to a festival with friends for the evening to end the long weekend right.

week 21 and 22

I had an OB checkup this week. The baby weight is making up for lost time. I knew I had been getting bigger but I had not really thought too much of it until my OB said at the end of my check up, “and don’t worry about gaining 10 lbs this month. That’s about all you’ve gained so it’s okay but don’t do it again!” It stopped me right in my tracks. “Wait, did you say 10lbs?!?!?!?!” Crazy. He likes to do whole body flops in my belly. So funny. The other day I was sitting on the couch with my dad and we could see my belly moving. I know I saw that with both girls but it seems like it was way later in the pregnancy than now. He’s pretty active when I am still. Still no name yet. Still feeling great. I have started having some mild Braxton Hicks. Only weird craving is for pie. Not usually a pie fan but I finally broke down and made a pie. Heheheh Strawberry. It is very yummy.

last day of preschool blended 3/4s class

Friday was Av’s last day of her school for the summer. It was so bittersweet. She loves that school so much. I hate when it ends each year. She had such a good last day though. They had a little singing performance. It was so cute and I could actually hear her sing parts of it. Then they got to have a carnival outside. Lots of games and fun things to do. At they end they all got to take aim and squirt their teacher with a big squirt gun. They all thought that was so funny. Her teacher had made each parent a CD full of all the pictures of the fun things they did all year. It was so cute and so sweet. A tear jerker for sure. Av will for sure miss Miss Blaine and Miss Denise. This fall she will start the 4 day 4s.