Camryn's 9 month Appt.

Yesterday I took Cami to her 9 month appointment and let me just tell you, she is anything but underweight :) 24.6 lbs! AND 30.5 inches...my kids are going to tower over me. I can just see it...we'll all be lining up for family pics and everyone will be like "where's mom? Oh, she's waaay down there, we may want to move out of the way or get her a really big stool to sit on!"

Oh well, there are worse things than to have kids who loooove to eat, right?

Let's see, at 9 months she is:

1. Crawling

2. Teething - 4 teeth on top, 2 on bottom with 1 coming in now

3. Pulling up - only to her knees

4. Standing with support

5. Picking up cheerios with her "pinchers"

6. AND driving her big brother crazy by wanting to play with all his toys!

It's time to go Trick-or-Treating...Zzzzzz!

Next year for Halloween, I am totally taking 1/2 of the day off. There is just too much work to do, getting our kids ready, getting ready for everyone else's kids...so on and so forth. So this year the kids were at my mom's house, which is typical for them since it was Friday and she watches them on Fridays. I foresaw this to maybe causing problems, since Tyler NEVER takes a nap when he is there. I don't blame them (my parents) however, he is just too excited and wants to play outside and get in to everything. He just doesn't stay still long enough to take a nap. If he stopped for 2 seconds, he would probably just fall over from exhaustion...but, like I said...he just doesn't stop. So, I get there and funnily enough, no nap. But he was very alert so I thought "hmmm, he will probably be okay", since he was excited about getting all the candy. We changed them into their costumes so we could get a few pictures and take them straight to Reggie's parents house and then home to pass out candy to the gazillions of trick-or-treaters.

My lil' pumpkin

We found and elephant costume...imagine that!

He loved it!

The only pic I could get of the 2 of them...she was like "what're you doing back there?" He was ready to run away. I had to tell him "mommy's going to count to 3...1...2...snap....3!" He was gone like a rocket :)

Well, we gave him a sucker to have on the way home to pick up daddy. He was out 1/2 way down the road! I tried to wake him up, daddy tried, tutu n papa tried...no luck. oh well, he doesn't really know what he missed anyways! All he cared about was the candy, and we had plenty of that left over...damn diet...

It's been awhile...

Wow...it has been a seriously looong time since I have posted anything so this one will be long...enjoy the reading, if you don't give up halfway, LOL! WARNING!! Lots of pictures:)

A lot has happened in the past month or so. We went to the zoo in early October. It was both kids' first time, and although Camryn was pretty oblivious to it all, she seemed to enjoy being outside. It was the perfect time for Tyler though, since if you read my previous post, he was obsessed with elephants at the time (he has since moved on from that in some ways...but we will get to that later!) and the weather was wonderful! Plus, gas prices must've kept a lot of people at home so it was not crowded at all...my kind of outing :)

Ready to go!

Tyler looooved watching the seals!

Papa...carry me!

Finally, looking at the elephants...any green ones Tyler?

Nope, just a baby... Ty and daddy being silly...

Everyone is tired...Camryn got ousted by Ty in the stroller, so I had to carry her in the baby Bjorn...note to self: 20 lb baby in a front carrier for 2 hours = hoooorrible back ache for a week!

At last, we're going home :)

Can you believe noone fell asleep until we were 5 minutes from the house?

The next week was the Dixie Classic Fair! I love the fair...mostly for the food, but I enjoy the atmosphere too. This year was great...it finally felt like fall. Last year was sooo hot, we were all so miserable...not to mention I was pretty pregnant at this point! Tyler had no interest in riding any of the rides, I don't think he ever even got out of his stroller! I had already started preparing myself for a day of whining...but that was not the case at all! Jamie and Kevin went too, which I think helped Ty's attitude a lot (thanks you guys!) he was a little more adventurous this time. Next year we will have to get a ticket book, spent way too much buying them one by one :(

My boys...

Ty enjoyed giving the goats carrots...where's that hand sanitizer??

On the carousel, his first ride...he was sooo excited, then at the last minute decided he didn't like it and tried to get off, but I grabbed him and sat us in the carriage thing (I know, bad mom for forcing him to do something...but he ended up liking it!!)

THEN...he saw the dump trucks. Have I ever told you all how much he luuuuvs trucks? He rode it 3 times and probably would've rode it all day if we let him :)

With daddy in the back...doesn't he look silly??

Poor Cami stayed home this time...there's always next year baby girl!

Finally this past Sunday, Reggie and I went to the Panthers game...they played New Orleans and whooped A$$! Go Panthers!!

We were HIGH up there! The very last row (34) in the upper level, let me tell you....my legs were on fire by the time we got up there! Needless to say, I only got up to pee once! The view was good though :)

Sportin' my Steve Smith!

So, I guess that's it for now...no promises on when the next post will be, but I'm pretty sure it won't be as long as this time! It's a lot of writing!

Introducing the newest member of our family...

A BIG, GREEN ELEPHANT coincidentally named Tyler! For some reason, Ty has decided that he wants to be called big, green elephant...where he got this from, we have no idea! I can only assume it is from The Jungle Book but can't be certain since he won't really say, he just likes it.

We found this out one day while he was at his nana's (my mom) house. She said, "what are you doing over there Tyler?" He firmly (albeit, somewhat politely) responds, "Nana...you don't call me Tyler, you call me big, green elephant." So she tells us this when we go pick him up, and of course we have to ask why? He answers, "...because the green one is the best one!" well, okay...that makes sense. So now, we call him (when we remember, and believe me...he does remind us!) big, green elephant.

Now, he he wants to be an elephant for Halloween. Where in the world am I going to find a cute elephant costume?! This is one that I have found so far that we all like, but it is super expensive! Not really what I want to spend on a Halloween costume that he will only wear once...he doesn't even really like trick-or-treating! Any other suggestions would be welcome :)

I know it has been a long time since I have updated my blog (okay guys, you can quit reminding me now, I get the hint!) but I promise to do better... I will post again with stats and pics!!

Until next time...

A Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

Reggie sent me this email yesterday, and I really appreciated the story so I decided to share it with all of you...enjoy!!

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee...

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full and they agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes". The professor then produced 2 cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - your God, your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else - the small stuff."

"If you put the sand in the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18 holes. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first - the things that reall matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Off the charts...

On Wednesday, I took Cami to the pediatrician for her 4 month appointment (which included shots - yuck!), and I am happy to report that all is well. She is off the charts for height and weight...17.6 lbs and 27 1/2 inches long. WOW!

She did great too...just a quick holler when the needles went in, but then immediate silence. What a trooper. We are now going to start her on some fruits and veggies and see how that goes. Ty loved his and I have a feeling she will too. She seems to be a pretty healthy eater ;)

So, night came and you would never even have known she got shots earlier that day...she was all smiles. My lil' angel.

Feeling thankful...

I found out this morning that an old friend of mine lost his 6-year-old niece on Friday. Coincidentally, she had the same name as my own dear baby girl. It was a random occurence that very much happened in the blink of an eye. It saddened me greatly to think of anyone losing a loved one, least of all a child. But as much as I felt his loss, I also felt thankful and blessed. I have a wonderful family at home with 2 very healthy and rambunctious children and a wonderful husband/father. And it reminded me not to take anything for granted, because you never know what may happen. So, from now on... 1. I will make time for the people I love. I will no longer look at my phone when someone (family, friend, even co-worker) calls, and think "I am too busy right now, I will call them back later" because what if there isn't a later? 2. I will let my loved ones know just how much they ARE loved and appreciated. 3. And to quote John Mayer :) , I will always "say what I need to say." WHEW!! And on to the happy thoughts...sheesh.

4 months and droolin'

So, this is from this morning...right after I changed her clothes. Isn't she sweet? I guess she is teething, she is drooling so much and cannot keep her hands out of her mouth. She almost looks like she is whistling for me :) "Come and change my diaper now!"

Tyler was so cute the other day. He said "I wanna give baby sister a kiss" so his tutu (Reggie's mama) held her down over his head as he was laying down and had Camryn give Tyler a kiss. He jumped up completely disgusted and said, "tutu, quick! Clean my mouth! Baby sister drooooled on me...." Poor Ty. He just doesn't know, does he?

I am online!

Okay, so everyone wanted me to start a blog (it's the new thing apparently!) and I tried to tell them that I am not very good at it but what the hey :) here I am! I figured it was a great way for everyone to keep up with how much the kids are growing and doing, especially those of you we don't see on a regular basis. We miss all of you, by the way! It's still in construction mode so bear with me...hopefully it won't take too much longer and I will have some good stories and pics up. Wish me luck on keeping it updated!