spring break

Spring break is next week. We are not really going anywhere but we have a lot of fun lined up!!! I can't wait. We are embracing the fact that it's perfect family time and have scheduled some really fun and neat stuff to do!! First up is the circus on Sat at 11am. Camille does not even know what a circus is but every day she asks if today is the day we are going to the circus. She is so excited to see "the animals." I can't wait to take her. We will go an hour early like they suggest so you can go down on the floor and see the animals closer. Then on Sunday we will get up early and head to the Indy zoo with Opa, Shellie and family. They have a special feeding the giraffe show that day so it will be perfect. That night we are spending the night in a hotel that has their rooms designed as train cars. We will see how that is. Then on Monday it's off to the children's museum. After that we will head home and have a normal week. J will actually be gone on Tues and Wed (boo hoo) but at least the weekend will have been long and fun (hopefully). My week will be easier though since it is spring break we take a much needed break from all the busy activities we do. Camille will actually still have school but the jury is out on whether that will help or be harder though. As much as the girls fight they do entertain each other. I think Av will miss her sister. We have schedule a playdate for Av on tues with her bff so that will help and they will not have little sister underfoot. I hope the weather is nice on Wed and we can head to our zoo. Nothing schedule for Thur (Av still does have horse though) and Fri yet. The following Sat we will be headed to Sesame Street Live which should be awesome too. I can't wait!!!!

swim lessons

Camille has started swim lessons. Which is great for the obvious reasons but it's also wonderful bc I was able to schedule them at the same time and same pool as Av is in for her speech therapy. So now when we are at the pool I only have Everett to tend to. Which is so much better than chasing a 2 year old around a pool she can't get in and keeping her away from toys she can't play with. I was just a nervous wreck the whole time chasing her and making sure she didn't fall in. Her first lesson went great and she loved it. So excited to put her "swimsuit" on. She liked her swim teacher Miss Hailey who is a very cute high school senior. I think it will work out well. Camille is pretty well potty trained but I did put a swim diaper on her just in case. As I was putting it on she said, "yay a pull up!!!" My kids get so excited about pull ups. I think they think they are deprived bc they don't get to ever wear them. I had to think real fast. I said, "it's not a pull up, it's swim underwear." hehehhe it worked. She never asked why Av didn't have to wear them.

I feel a tooth!!!!

class clown

Camille is the class clown. She LOVES making people laugh. Making her big sis laugh is her favorite and she finds it pretty easy to get a laugh out of Av. When she does something that gets people laughing it must be done over and over again for more laughs. She loves to be laughed at when she knows she is being funny.

crazy boy

Everett is crazy. He very strongly wants anything else you have in your hands while you carry him. To the point he is diving out of your arms to get to it. He is very interested in stuff. Top 2 coveted items, just as you would expect the remote and my cell phone. Anything in the world that is new to him he wants and he fights like mad to get to it. He notices everything and watches how things work. I for sure think he will be a nerdy (hehehe) engineer like his father.

Family walks

We take a walk every night we can. We all enjoy it and it's great way to have family time. Even Jack enjoys it bc we walk down to the clearing that is a block away and let him RUN!!! The girls call it "Jack's Park." Our walks went from a single stroller, to a double stroller to two strollers. Now they look very different again. The last couple of nights Camille has ridden her bike, Av pushes a baby stroller with a baby in it and about 8 bags hanging off of it, I push Everett and John walks Jack. heheheh we look like a 3 ringed circus. It's very fun though. I love my crazy family.

E sleeping

still taking sleeping pictures. Here is the new way Everett has found to sleep.

new pictures

We cleaned the garage on Sunday. John made a small puddle off water rinsing something off and Camille was at it in a flash. So I got out the pool so they could splash a little. They loved it. Everett just watched them like they were crazy.

Camille fell and bumped her forehead. It was not a big deal at all but she decided she needed a band-aid on it and we all laughed at her. So of course after getting such a laugh she had to go through with it. To John's dismay she insisted on a band-aid and promptly placed it on her forehead. She wore it there for hours. It was kind of cute.

new bike

We got Camille a big "girl" bike. It's a big girl bike to her and it will be a big boy bike to Everett when he is ready. Poor C will start to get everything gender neutral. She didn't seem to mind at all. She was so excited when John was putting it together she kept kissing the seat over and over again. She was also saying "thank you daddy! thank you daddy!!" heheheh The last pic is of her jumping in excitement. She is a little hesitant on it. Unsure of herself. Sure she will be a pro in no time.

help!!!!!

I'm struggling a little bit. John has basically been gone the last 2 weeks and Everett is not eating or sleeping. He is nursing but so far I can't get him to really take in any substantial amount of baby food. Add on potty training a 2 year old and therapy for a kid with needs and I have hit my limit. I have no idea what's going on with his sleeping. He was such a GREAT sleeper until last week. Now on a bad night he is up every other hour and a good night every 4 hours. We are having WAY more bad nights than good nights and I have pretty much been on my own. I love Louisville but so wish we had family here. We do have John's dad and step mom and they help when they can but they have 3 teenagers and are very busy with them. Plus it's not the same as your own mom and dad when you need someone to turn to. A lot of time it's just me and the kids. Love them tons and I'm very thankful for them but it gets lonely. I know John does not want to be traveling either and it's hard on him to be away from us and he works such long hours. I feel bad for him too. It's just a hard time for me right now. I know how lucky I am though. Every time I need a reminder I turn on the TV to the Japan crisis. So sad. My heart goes out to them.

bikes

The girls have been riding their bikes a lot lately. Av is finally not scared and riding her big girl bike. She is doing amazing on it. Pedaling and the core balance needed to ride her bike is a huge accomplishment for someone with low muscle tone. She is truly amazing. We are sooooo proud of her.

baby camille

Camille wants to do everything baby. She wants his paci, to be held like a baby, eat in the high chair, eat baby food and pretends to be a baby every chance she gets. A little bit of regressing I guess. At least we are good on the potty business.

Proud big sisters

WV

John was out of town last week so we took the week off of our busy schedule and spent the week in WV with pp and g. I can't thank pp, g or Aunt Anne enough for all their help and for the time they spent entertaining the kids for me. We are so lucky to have such an amazing family. I loved every minute we got to spend with them. I love weeks at their house!! Here are a few pics. My memory card was full so I was not able to take enough but here is what I did take.

-The first pic is a hoarder sound asleep with a full deck of cards in her hands.

-Second one is the special treat pp brought the girls

-Third is C playing in the snow we woke up too

-The one of the girls in bed was their nightly routine of movies and popcorn in pp and g's bed before bedtime. They are sure nicer than I am, no eating in mom and dad's bed!!!!!

Pap w his grandkids

on the move

Everett is ALL over the place. He rolls to get stuff now. The other day he got himself over to a grocery bag I had on the floor and was going through it. Today he got Av's bagel. Life is changing and we all better watch out bc he is on the move!!!

cold eyes

I was wearing my glasses the other morning. Camille looked at me and said, "those you (her grammar is still pretty bad) glasses? They keep your eyes warm." Heheheheheh The thoughts of a 2 year old. Guess it makes sense though. You do put things on to keep you warm.

potty

Camille is doing amazing with her potty training. I am soooo proud of her. She is completely pee potty trained. Still having poo issues but luckily I know her schedule so so far I can catch her and it's not been a problem at all. One of these days that will come too. So nice only having one in diapers!!

5 months

Everett has started rolling from back to belly now and starting to figure out he can roll to get to things. He was doing it today. I don't think he quite realizes that its a form of transportation yet but since he can do it now it will not be long. He is all over the place. He can scout himself forward and backward and roll all around and gets in the crawling position. We are in trouble soon. I was stilling on the floor tonight with him between my legs. I was not touching him at all and he was sitting on his own for 15 seconds or so at a time. He also loves to talk. He will hold his paci and look at it and just talk and talk to it. He really has a lot to tell it. He also has this stuffed dog that has tags on it that he got for Christmas that he probably spends 2 hours a day playing with. Every time he wakes up he plays and plays with it until he calls out for someone to come get him. He eats his cereal really well for daddy but anyone else not so much. He is still up twice a night pretty much every night. Really wish we could get him down to once. He's like his big sister Camille. He does eat and go right back to sleep (I'm up 15 minutes total) so it's not so bad. He's also a big boy. It's about time to put away his 3-6 month clothing. He is ALWAYS happy! He's a pretty neat little boy!!!!!

bike

The other night the girls and John went out to get the garbage cans and bring them back up to the house. I was in doing something with Everett. They were outside for awhile and I loved they were just having a good time together. Come to find out John got Av to finally ride her bike that G&PP got her for her bday last year. It is a bike with training wheels but we didn't get the smallest one. We decided to go with the 16" instead of the 14" thinking it would last her longer. Well she was not quite tall enough for it so it scared her to even sit on it. Knowing (hoping) this spring she would be taller and then it would work we just put it away. That night Av was riding her bike down the sidewalk and Camille was riding the tricycle. So cute and I missed it. I was so mad he didn't come get me. Brat!!!

strong boy

When Everett is doing belly time he can get his belly fully off the ground. He pushes up with his arms and gets his knees up under his butt. He is going to be on the move way sooner than I will be ready. As soon as he figures it all out he is going to be off. He is too strong!!!

Cereal update

Everett has started to LOVE his cereal. Wednesday night was the first night he ate it down and of course it was daddy who got him to eat it (mom was chop liver that night). Last night he ate his first bowl down and had seconds! This week he has been sleeping GREAT too. He started the sleeping great streak before he started actually eating his cereal so who knows but I am sure the cereal is helping the sleep!! He has only been up once all week at around 3 or 4. I hope it continues.

potty update

Camille went to school in underwear again on Thursday and didn't have a single accident!!!! Today she is doing well too. We are still not pooping on the potty and still having a hard time stopping to go potty when playing so we have some work to do yet but she is doing great and we are sooooo proud of her.

eye doctor hell

Just shoot me if I ever again think it's a good idea to take 3 kids to the eye doctor. The doctor's office is bad enough but to a specialist!!! Specialists are known for taking forever. We hung in there and did well until the end. We waited 45 minutes to be seen. The kids were great for that. We went back and Av went first. This was her first eye exam where they covered one eye and asked her to tell them what was on the chart with the pictures getting smaller each row. She did great. Then Camille went. He just looked in her eyes but she did great as well. Then back to the waiting room to get drops to dilate the eyes and wait for them to dilate. We got our drops as another kid went back to our room. That was fine. Then he came out and another kid was called back to our room. Oh my, that pushed us to our limits. By that time our eyes had been dilated 20 minutes and we had been there for 1.5 hours. We were all done. Then Av had to go to the bathroom (prob was a blessing in disguise that C was in a diaper). I opened the door to the back to see if we could use the bathroom. Of course they didn't have one so out of the office we had to go. So I had to drag 3 kids back through a crowded office running over toes trying to push my horrible snap and go. I was DONE at this point. The nurse had promised she would wait for us and not take any other kids back to see the Dr. After the bathroom we did get seen right away. Both of the girls have perfect vision as of now so that was great news!! We left the office at 3:20. Our appointment had been at 1:30. All and all I guess it was not that bad. E was perfect and fell asleep in his car seat half way through it all.

potty training "yea right" Camille says

Camille did well at school on Tuesday. No accidents but we woke up on Wednesday and she refused. Just would not pee on the potty for anything. I was soooooo disappointed. So I pulled a diaper back out and off to Av's speech we went. I was NOT happy. While Av was at speech I took Camille to Target so she could pick out her own big girl underwear. I even asked at Target if she wanted to go potty knowing kids love checking out new bathrooms. It was a no-go. We bought her a few dollar bin potty treats for a potty bag like Av had. Once we got home I was all ready to put her new underwear on and ready for her to practice and pick a potty treat. Still a no-go. She would have no part of it. Then I got the M&Ms out. Still nothing. Oh my I was ready to lose it. I stayed as calm as I could and just decided to forget about it for the day. I was SO sad though. I was texting John all day telling him and he just kept telling me to be patient. As soon as he got home from work he asked her if she had to go. She said yes and off they went. She peed!!! Of course she would do it for him. grrrrrr

cereal

"WHAT is that you are trying to put in my mouth??" He's fine with books, toys, blankets, his hands and feet in his mouth but I try to give him a little cereal and he acts like I am poisoning him. Then he can't help but give me a big "I love you" grin.

sad face

Picture 1-"look how strong I am" one of the new

things he is doing.

Picture 2- "who are you?"

Picture 3- "you better watch out, i'm bringing out my super duper sad face"

Picture 4- "is it working? Do you see how sad I am?"

Finally a pic of that face!! It's really hard to describe how pitiful it is. It is so cute though and just makes me want to run to him and make his world okay again. He does not make it all that often but when he does it comes on usually out of no-where and then is gone pretty quick.

Austin

John took Everett and I to Austin this weekend. We had a blast. We all missed the girls so much but missing them is a good thing. Helps me re-charge my mom batteries. Having a non-mobil baby with me is so much easier than 2 walking-talking-mind of their own girls. Being responsible for just Everett all weekend was a walk in the park and a very nice get away. I have 3 very good friends still in Austin. 2 of them have had babies in the last five months and the 3rd had twin girls almost 2 years ago. I have only seen them once so it was so nice spending time with them all. One of our other good friends (J's friend from college) also had a baby with in the last 5 months so Everett got to meet him too. We got there on Friday night in time to have dinner with Matt, Andrea, Jeff and Polly. We had so much fun hanging with them and were out a little late but E hung in there and was a very good boy. On Saturday we went for breakfast tacos and on a tour of the ever changing city. Boy has it changed. Then we headed up to see all my friends. We got to meet Lauren, Stella and Weston and play with Kinsley and Trinidy. We stayed that night with Trena and Keith and had a very nice cook out and relaxed by a fire once the kids were in bed. On Sunday we went for breakfast tacos again and then E and I flew home. He was a very good boy on all the flights. Slept each and every one of them. I had the best weekend and can't wait to go back!!!

potty training

I left for 2.5 measly days. I went out of town and I left my girls in what I thought would be excellent care and what did I come back to??? How dare they? I came back to a potty trained 2 year old!!!!!!! (not fully of course, it is a process but the biggest hump is over) It is the greatest gift they could have ever given me. It started the night we left. Shelly and Opa were staying with girls and before bed Av and C were told to go potty. Off to the bathroom they both went and they both went pee!!!! Shelly and Opa assumed C had been using the potty and didn't realize what a big deal it was until Av went crazy. She became C's biggest potty cheerleader. It was the very first time C was able to pee on the potty ever!!! She has been trying for some time with no luck but that night she did it. My parents took over the middle of the day on Saturday and continued putting C on the potty. My mom spent a lot of time in the bathroom with C practicing her new trick. On Monday I was back and we decided to take the diapers away and get out some underwear. C went pee in the potty all day and didn't have one pee accident. Poop on the other hand is another story but we are working on that. I sent her to school today in underwear. Hope it's going ok. I am just not a fan at all of pull ups. I don't think they send the right message. I know bc of that I will have a few more messes to clean up but in the long run I think the transition will be much quicker. We never put Av in pull ups either. We went cold turkey and lived through it, we will again.