Month: July 2009

The bow is all her mama’s doing.  The necklace is her own touch.

In a moment of genius, I set the boys up in the bathroom with with a container of vinegar, baking soda, and a cup.  They are fully entertained, and I figure the worst that will happen will be a good vinegar cleaning in the bathroom.

In a moment of un-genius, I tore up some ham for Camryn after slicing a can of pickled jalapenos.  Judging by the frantic toungue scraping, I’m guessing some of that flavor and spice must have been on my hands, despite the fact that I washed them.

Uh oh…crying from the bathroom…this can’t be good…

On Monday, the morning of her birthday party, I took Camryn to the ENT to have her ears looked at.  She’s had 7 ear infections since she was 3 months old, and enough is enough!  The doctor suggested getting tubes, which I was really thankful for.  I’m tired of the monthly doctor visits and antibiotics!  The only days available for the surgery were that Thursday (the day Derek and I would still be out of town with the boys) or August 20th.  I really did not want to wait another month to get it done, so I talked to the doctor and my mom and we decided that Mamaw could take her on Thursday morning to get it done.  I should probably start saving now for the therapy bill once she finds out that she, the poor third child, had surgery while her mom, dad, and brothers were on vacation.  Things like that never happen with a first child!

They had to be at the hospital bright and early on Thursday morning.  Camryn wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything…look at her poor, pitiful little face!

She spent some time before the surgery reading books…

And even took a little nap!

My mom tells me that she screamed and screamed when any of the (female) nurses did anything, but she sat, happy as a clam, with the (male) anesthesiologist, and when he took her back for the surgery, she never even looked back.  That just tells you what a daddy’s girl she is.  She definitely prefers men over women.

The surgery took no time at all, and when the doctor found another horrible ear infection (where there had been no infection on Monday), I was definitely glad that we did the surgery asap instead of waiting until August.

Shortly after the surgery, she happily crawled around on the bed…

chowed down on cheerios…

enjoyed a nice, tall glass of milk,

And practiced climbing in and out of the hospital closet.

By the time Derek, the boys, and I got home on Thursday afternoon, you never would have guessed that anything out of the ordinary went on in her little world.  And when we flew to Dallas that night (and got delayed at the airport for several hours), she was just happy, happy, happy.  Hopefully, she won’t hold anything against me. 🙂

(And thanks again, mom, for taking care of her!  You really went above and beyond!)

All summer long, I’d been looking forward to our little getaway with just Connor and Logan.  Of course we love Camryn dearly, but let’s just be honest…at a waterpark, she would be a bit of a fun killer.  She got to stay home and be spoiled rotten by her Mamaw while Derek, the boys, and I loaded up the party van for a few days at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels.  We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and the first thing we had to do was explore the hotel.  Connor proclaimed it the best hotel in the entire world, and I have to agree with him that it was pretty awesome!  We stayed at the Courtyard Marriot in New Braunfels.  It was brand spankin’ new, right on the river, and really perfect for us!  You could walk right down to the river, which was so pretty.

This next picture is so typical of them together.  They act like it’s pure torture to have their picture taken and I really think they scheme in advance to make sure that neither one is ever looking the same direction.

After our exploring time, we headed to Gruene, TX to walk around and eat dinner.  I had never beent there, and it was the cutest little town!  We stopped at a little shop and the boys each picked out a new Webkinz.  Connor picked out a tiger he named Tai, and Logan picked out a clown fish that he named Fishy.  We ate a really yummy dinner at a restaurant by the river, and we all had a great time.  I had forgotten how easy it is to go out to eat without the high chair, sippy cup, and our little food thrower in tow!

I didn’t take any pictures, but once we got back to the hotel we enjoyed a little night swimming.  The boys thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Wednesday was our big day at Schlitterbahn!  We had the best time.  I have decided that this will be a yearly tradition.  We stayed from open to close, and we all had such a blast riding all the rides.  The boys went on just about everything.  Logan is totally fearless, and while not quite as fearless, Connor is getting old enough that he will try the rides before deciding if he likes them or not.  We were all exhausted after 10 hours at a waterpark, but it was well worth it.  (I didn’t take my camera into the park and I forgot to buy one of the pictures they took of us.  No photos this time.  Oops!)

On Thursday morning, per Connor’s request, we ate a fancy expensive breakfast in the hotel.  It was the one thing Connor really wanted to do, and since it was vacation and all, we obliged.  I should have taken a picture of him with the most expensive breakfast burrito known to mankind.

After breakfast, we headed to Landa Park.  They have a train ride, which is always guaranteed fun for the boys.  I love the look on Logan’s face as the ride started!

Connor let me take a picture with him…

Which was a huge improvement from this little gem.  He was doing the “talk to the hand” thing at me, and I love how you can just see his grumpy little face.   Little booger!

We let the boys play on the playground until they were good and hot and tired.  Then we loaded up and headed home.  It was a really great vacation.  (And hopefully Camryn won’t be too bitter about not going…and us leaving her while she had minor surgery…but that’s another story.)

We have seriously had the craziest 10 days!  We had family come to visit, a doctor’s appointment, a birthday party, a family vacation, a minor surgery, a first plane ride, and a girl’s weekend.  I really don’t even know where to start!  Instead of doing one monster post, I think I’ll do a bunch of smaller ones.  And I guess I’ll start with Camryn’s birthday party.  Last Monday (a week after her real birthday), we had a party at our neighborhood pool with a bunch of our friends and family.  It was such a fun party!  I think I will do her party there every year, at least until she asks for something different.

First, the wardrobe.  Cami wore what Logan calls her “princess bathing suit” and sported some mighty cute pigtails.  I’m so bummed that I didn’t think about the background of this picture, but I love the girl in it, so I can look past my poor subject placement.

I did a luau theme party, and didn’t take a single picture of any of the decorations or the cakes.  I kept it pretty simple…baked a cake (tried to decorate it…let’s just say I won’t be pursuing a career in cake decorating any time soon!), baked cupcakes, had some cute plates and a festive table cloth and called it a day.  No one noticed any of it anyway because everyone was too busy having fun in the pool!

This little cutie is Lexi,my friend Laura’s baby girl.  She and I both had two boys then a girl.  We’ll be leaning on each other for support as we get into the girl drama thing, just like we’ve leaned on each other for support during the crazy boy thing!  I just love this picture of Lexi, so it’s making it onto the blog.  She and Camryn are going to be bff’s someday, I just know it.

Me and my birthday girl in the pool.  She loves the water!  (Her bows and pigtails came out shortly after this picture.  They didn’t last long in the pool.)

Of course, my real reason for having a pool party for a 1 year old wasn’t really Camryn.  It was all these turkeys (plus some others not pictured).  Most of our friends have older kids, and I knew I needed to do something they would enjoy.   They definitely enjoyed themselves!

We had a belly flop contest, complete with a $5 Sonic giftcard prize.  Connor was so serious about the contest.  He didn’t win, but he definitely got some bonus points for style.

I even took spent some time on the diving board with the kids practicing my front and back flips.  Uh huh, I still got it!  It will be a sad, sad day when I can no longer flip on the diving board.

We took a short break from swimming to eat pizza and sing happy birthday to the birthday girl.

And now I get a break from birthday parties until December.  They sure are fun, but there is definitely a reason why they only happen once a year!

Tonight I cuddled with the boys in our oversized arm chair. It was a much needed cuddle. You know that time in the summer where kids start to say “I’m bored” every 15 seconds and moms start to lose their patience and look longingly at the calendar for the first day of school to arrive? Yeah, we have officially reached that point this week. I’m hoping it’s just a fluke or something because there are still 39 days until school starts. (Not that I’m counting…)

Anyway, my point is, it was a much needed cuddle. Logan, Connor, and I were all smushed together on a chair really made for one. Logan invited Derek to join us, but said that he needed to have a really small bottom if he was going to fit. We laughed. And then Connor….dear, honest, Connor says to me,
“Mom, your bottom is really big.”
“You think my bottom is big?” I asked in a shocked tone of voice.
“Yeah, well, it’s not big compared to the whole earth, but it’s still pretty big.”

Thanks, bud. Good to know my butt isn’t as large as a planet. I guess I should take that as a compliment.

I don’t know when I turned into such a frequent blogger, but I wanted to share these movies of Camryn.  The first was taken yesterday, and the second was taken today.  Camryn got a push toy from her Mamaw and Pawpaw for her birthday, so this movie is really for them…she really loves it, but I have to admit that she doesn’t always get as much time with it because the boys love it, too!

And this one today…just as Derek walked in the house from work, she decided to take her first steps! We were all so excited.

It’s so funny how “by the book” Camryn has been with her milestones like rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and now walking. I figured she would walk right around her first birthday, and sure enough she did. I’ve now had a 14 month walker, a 10 month walker, and a 12 month walker. I love when they first start to toddle with their little Frankenstein arms. It’s too cute!

Okay, last birthday post about Cami, I promise.  Actually, let me just take that back because we aren’t having her party until next week, so I’m sure there will be another post at that point.  What can I say…my girl has been spoiled on her first birthday!

We celebrated with just us last night, and that celebration included cupcakes.  She got chocolate cake because it’s what we had in the pantry.  I’m a huge fan of funfetti cake and I try and impose it on my family any chance I get, but Derek was quite pleased that Camryn’s first cake was a chocolate one.

She went right in for it…

Until she realized that the icing was goopy and sticky.  She’s a little hesitant about new textures.

So she flashed us that little grin, which I took to mean “please cut this up, mom.”

So I did.  And then she went for it.

And she was happy.

And messy, of course.  That’s half the fun of a first cupcake.

After a bath, she played and played and played some more.  And looked at me sweetly with those big blue eyes.  My heart melted all over again.

Happy Birthday to my girl!  I can still remember how excited we were when we found out that we were expecting number 3, and then the elation when we found out that it would be a girl.  Adding a girl to the mix has been amazing.  I’ve seen a softer side to the boys that I didn’t know either one possessed.  I have gotten to see first hand the magic of a daddy’s girl.  And I’ll just go ahead and admit it, the pink and the bows and dresses have been fun!

Not a day goes by that I don’t thank God for blessing our family with you, sweet Camryn!  It’s been a joy watching you grow this year, and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for your future.

I wasn’t organized enough to do official month by month photos, but I do have pictures from each month to share.  I love seeing how she has grown and changed over the year!

July 2008…oh, the scrunchy newborn phase!  I love it.

August-1 month.  Such big smiles already!

September-2 months

October-3 months. Probably one of my favorite pictures ever.

November-4 months

December-5 months

January-6 months

February-7 months

March-8 months

April-9 months

May-10 months

June-11 months

July 2009 (photo by Cindi)