tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59308713151093686392024-03-05T21:53:19.762-08:00Another day another diaper...The good, the bad and the stinky stories of this (mostly)-stay-at-home-mom and her two little sweethearts.Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-68116255375691341402014-06-25T18:08:00.002-07:002014-06-25T18:09:23.197-07:00My big kidsWow, it's been a while since I've blogged. Time to update on my kids!<br />
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Paul is now 4 1/2 years old. In November, he tested in to Airline Park Academy for Advanced Studies where he will begin attending in August in PreK-4. I think he's looking forward to big-boy school..at least I hope he is. He finishes up at Kinder Haus this summer and I'll be sad that he isn't there anymore when I am working. But, his new school is practically right down the street. Maybe I can spy on him at my lunch time. (ha-ha) His speech is improving each day. He understands everything and knows how to say mostly everything, especially if he really thinks about it. But, he's used to mispronouncing some sounds so now he does it mostly out of habit I think. But, if we repeat the word and have him say it slowly, he usually gets it right. His best friend is Conner, who started at Kinder Haus last fall, but he isn't attending anymore, as he'll be in Kindergarten in the fall. We hope to have playdates with him this summer.<br />
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Camille just started in the Pre-K class at Kinder Haus, so she and Paul will be in class together for the summer. She has two best friends, Mila and Charley, and talks about them all the time. For that matter, she's always talking about something. Her speech is nearly perfect and she usually never misses a chance to repeat something we've said - which isn't always a good thing! Gotta watch what we say now! Camille is also now sleeping in a big-girl twin bed, complete with princess sheets, as of about 2 weeks ago and as of a few nights ago, she is now diaper or pull-up free at nights! She has slept a few nights with no accident and a couple of nights with accidents, so we aren't 100% yet, but she is doing great! She can even go to the potty and turn on and off the water by herself now!<br />
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This past weekend we went to the Inn by the Sea for the annual Spear family beach trip and boy are Paul and Camille little water babies! They LOVED the ocean and the pool. It was great fun and everyone got a great tan but me - ha-ha!<br />
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Well, back to my Montessori studies - I will be finished in the beginning of August and will be Montessori Age 3-6 Certified through North American Montessori Center. Not sure where that will bring me next in my career path, but for now I'm happy working 3 days a week still at Kinder Haus.Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-20146372349058496092014-04-01T11:21:00.002-07:002014-04-01T11:21:44.584-07:005 years ago...Five years ago today I found out that I was going to be a mother. Today I am sitting at home with my 4 (almost 4 1/2) year old who's got a stomach bug and had to miss school. Camille had the bug a few days ago, and seeing as how they share everything now, that of course means germs.<br />
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It seems almost a lifetime ago that I took that pregnancy test on April Fool's Day 2009. It was no joke, though. The eight following months of pregnancy went by relatively quickly, and here we are 5 years later with not just one, but two amazing healthy children. Though they are 18 months apart in age, it seemed at times, when they were very young, that we had twins. Two in diapers, two needing mashed up/cut up food, two who couldn't talk, two who couldn't quite play together at such young ages, so had to be entertained independently.<br />
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Those first two years with both of them were very challenging at times, and I really don't know how we did it on some days. When Paul was two years and three months old, we found a wonderful school, Kinder Haus Montessori, and he began attending two days a week. That gave me a break with "only one" baby to entertain for those days, or rather, only one baby to have to tote around as I did grocery shopping or other errands. Camille, however, did not love to be in a car seat in the grocery cart, so I never did get a lot done. She has been very mobile, ever since she was growing in the womb (some of those kicks were PAINFUL!), so I guess I can't really blame her.<br />
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But, the older Paul and Camille got, the more they were able to socialize and really start to play "together." I think, or at least hope, that they are best friends, and will remain that way as they grow older together. As most siblings do, they have their challenging days of working and playing together, but as they are growing and maturing, they are going for longer and longer periods of time without altercations. Camille loves to follow in Paul's footsteps, whether that means playing with blocks, or playing Superheroes - though, she is always the "princess" for those charades. Paul enjoys being a leader and showing and teaching Camille all about the world around them. Camille is no pushover though, she's not one to hold back her opinion.<br />
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The one area where Camille is stronger is verbal language. She started talking the same time Paul did, but she was 12 months and he was 2 1/2, so she's had much more of her life to be practicing correct pronunciations of words, and Paul still struggles with it a bit. But, each day, he gets better and better, and each day he uses more words to tell us stories about his day, or about his make-believe scenarios with his superhero action figures.<br />
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The speech delay has not in any way hindered his capability to learn and to grow intellectually. In fact, this past November, Paul tested and was accepted in to Airline Park Academy for Advanced Studies with a score of 96 on a nationally ranked entrance exam. He'll start at his new "big-boy" school in Pre-K 4 in the fall, and Camille will move up to the Kinder Haus Pre-K/K 3-6 class in June.<br />
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Both of my children amaze me each day with all they have learned and all the growing that they have done in such a short time since that pregnancy test 5 years ago today. I can only imagine what the next 5 years will bring.Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-81918571560300610972013-07-16T19:20:00.000-07:002013-07-16T19:20:05.973-07:00A summer for preschoolersWell, here we are in the middle of the summer with a 2 year old and a 3 1/2 year old. The name of the game these days is, how do we keep these ever-growing, ever-changing kiddos entertained and happy? <br />
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One of our favorite activities lately has been going to the library every 2nd or 3rd Tuesday for story/craft time. Each week is a new theme and they get to listen to the librarians read 4-5 books about the theme alternated with fun children's songs in between and at the end, they get to make a related craft. It lasts about an hour and keeps them occupied right up until we need to go home for lunch. We also use this library trip to check out a new bunch of books to read. The kids love choosing their own books, which is a pretty haphazard method of just randomly grabbing the first 5 or 6 that they each come across on the shelves. They will occasionally look at the cover first, but usually, it's literally a luck of the draw what mix of books we'll end up with - they're all from the children's section, of course, but sometimes some of them are a bit strange, or too wordy, for a 2 or 3 year old to sit through. But we give each one a fair shot, and if there are any really good ones, we'll usually re-check them out the next time, too. We've actually bought them books that they first discovered at the library that they almost refused to turn in. I guess we're making little readers out of them - yeah!<br />
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Another of our favorite activities is going to Palm Tree Playground, and we usually attend on Mommy and Me Tuesdays, because it's cheaper and they open earlier! It's an indoor playground featuring a large climbing structure for older children and a fenced in baby play area for tots aged 3 and under. Paul is big enough to crawl through the large climbing structure and Camille just enjoys running all around the place. We usually alternate this with the library on most Tuesdays.<br />
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Occasionally, we'll do another activity from our Metairie Moms group, like play at the indoor Chick-Fil-A play area and eat breakfast or lunch there or go to a park, when it's not so hot outside, or go to one of the Audubon attractons - zoo, aquarium, insectarium.<br />
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It's so nice that the kids are at an age where they can both enjoy all of these activities and understand what's going on, as well as communicate what activities they like best, or don't like so much.<br />
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One of the things they really like to do is to go to Target and walk up and down the toy aisles checking out all of the toys. They know we usually don't buy anything, and they are OK with that, and are usually very polite during this activity "Put this toy back please" "Get that toy please" "Go to another aisle?" It's really fun if I know we have time to spare, which we usually do. So, I just enjoy browsing and taking pictures of them having fun.<br />
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The big news of the summer is that Camille is POTTY TRAINED! We began potty training the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, and spent the entire weekend locked up at home to initiate the potty training and since then she's only been in a diaper at bed time and underwear for the rest of the day. Usually at naps, she's in underwear with no accident. She's been doing absolutely amazing, especially considering she was potty trained before even turning two! It took several weeks for her not to be afraid to go #2 on the potty, but she would reluctantly do it. Now, it's no problem at all! She now takes herself to the potty, for the most part, when she has to go and we don't have to escort her all the time, though she does need help wiping and washing her hands still. But, overall, we've been extremely pleased and impressed with her quick progress. It's already made our lives so much simpler, not having to take diapers everywhere, and knowing that she will likely not have an accident as long as we potty right before leaving the house. <br />
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Paul is our little superhero these days. His favorites right now are Spiderman and Thor. He will "shoot webs" from his wrist like Spiderman and he likes to pretend he has a hammer like Thor. He's (and Camille) also been talking a lot more lately. He can hold regular conversations, but we still aren't always clear on his pronunciation of certain words and it takes us a while sometimes to figure out what he's saying. But, the difference in this time last year, when he was barely talking at all, and one year later, is remarkable. <br />
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Paul, Camille and I are still all going to school together on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It's been fun to be there and get to see them during the day. They have both been doing extremely well at school and seem to really enjoy their time there. The cutest thing is that when both of their classes are on the playground together, Paul and Camille can usually be found swinging next to each other on the swings, or maybe even playing "Ring Around the Rosy" together. It's really sweet how they stick by each other.<br />
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That leads me to mention that whenever we are anywhere in public and Camille starts to stray too far, Paul has an absolute fit yelling to Camille and telling her to come back. He absolutely hates when he isn't close enough to hold her hand. It's so sweet that he's already so protective of her. I think it'll really serve her well when she's old enough to have to start fending off the boys. Paul will be right there for her.<br />
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About 3 months ago, we started doing little chore charts with the kids. Each week, there's a new chart that they can earn stickers on, and at the end of the week, we count up the stickers and that's how much allowance they get (30 stickers = 30 cents). The chores/activities range from brushing teeth to helping with laundry or unloading dishes to feeding Mandy to cleaning up their room or putting their dirty clothes in the hamper. They seem to really have taken to this and are more willing to help around the house when they know it equals a star sticker that they get to add to the chart, which will translate to money on Saturdays. They love being able to put a pile of coins in their piggy bank at the end of the week. There's also a separate chart for "Gentle Hands". There are 25 total spaces and each day that they have gentle hands ALL DAY, they get a sticker for the chart. This one usually takes them about a month or a little longer to fill up and at the end of that time, they get a special prize - a new toy that Mommy or Daddy has picked out (usually a great Target clearance deal). They are totally in to this, and it seems to have helped some with being gentle with one another.<br />
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Well, I'll try and update again soon, since it's been too long in between since the last blog. But, for now, good night and happy summer!Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-83669430930089186822013-02-23T10:44:00.000-08:002013-02-26T11:19:55.145-08:00"Kid" talkIn the last week or so, Camille has learned to open bedroom doors! Good & bad comes with that, of course. We had hoped that since we transitioned her crib to a "big girl bed", combined with the new door-opening talent, we wouldn't be waking up anymore to a shrill "Mommy!! Mommy!! Mommy!! Daddy!! Daddy!! Daddy!!". We envisioned her helping herself out of bed, opening the door and coming down the hall to our room to peacefully wake us - that's how it went with her brother, at least. Well, she still prefers the old method - so for now, we go in her room upon our alarming awakening, and tell her that she can get out of her own bed, which she does, once we arrive. <br />
In addition to her new door-opening skill, she and Paul are both starting to talk pretty well. Camille talks in 3-5 word sentences at times and Paul can pretty much hold a conversation, though we still don't quite understand all of their word pronunciations. But, we're getting quite good at translating. For example, Camille's word for "milk" sounds like "noch" - not sure why, since she makes mostly all of her letter sounds pretty well, especially the beginning "M" sound as found in "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!". <br />
One of our favorite "Paul words" is his version of "goof ball" in which he says a perfectly enunciated "douche ball". We laugh every time. I have a feeling that's going to get us in trouble one day if he decides to call an unsuspecting and unaware victim, "goof ball". Also, he calls, Superman, his favorite of the super heroes, "Du-ka-doo". That's the sound he started making when he heard the Superman theme song..as in "Du-ka-dooo-doo, du-ka-dooo-doo, du-ka-doo-doo-doo-doo". He's finally starting to say "Soo-ah-man", but for the most part, the nearly-invincible super hero now has the ever-intimidating name of "Du-ka-doo".Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-6496720909025780282013-02-17T21:30:00.000-08:002013-02-26T11:20:10.806-08:00An almost-pleasant morning awakeningThis morning, while we were in bed, we heard the kids get up on their own, and all was well for a few minutes. "Wow, how nice this is", we thought. The kids can get up and entertain each other now while we spend a few minutes more lounging and getting up the energy to roll on our of bed...well, we hardly had time to complete that thought before the yelling began. So, that got us up and snapped us right on out of that daydream. When we went to find them, they were sitting on the floor in Camille's room and had appeared to have previously been playing - it was really cute - other than the fact that they were arguing with each other, of course. However, it was the first time Camille woke up without crying or whining for us to come in and get her, even though her bed is converted to a "big-girl bed" and her door is cracked so she can get out. So, I think there is hope of that daydream of ours coming true one day; we just have to work on getting them to play nicely unsupervised for more than 3 minutes at a time.Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-12790543479599186362013-02-06T22:00:00.000-08:002013-02-26T11:20:25.136-08:00Night #2 in Camille's Big-Girl Bed!This is night number two for Camille in her big-girl bed, and she is sleeping WITHOUT her pacifier! She hasn't used her pacifier since Monday night; today is Wednesday - so that makes 2 naps and 2 bedtimes without it! She's only asked for it one time, at nap at school today, but the teachers just ignored the request, and she didn't press it, so they didn't give it to her. This is huge! Paul had his for pretty much exactly 2 1/2 years, so according to that schedule, she's almost a year ahead of time - so, going by that time table, maybe potty-training will be next month! I guess I should start thinking of a new name for this blog, since "another day another DIAPER" will be out-dated once that happens - woo-hoo!<br />
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Paul is having his own milestones, too! He is getting smarter by the minute. I've been making them some Montessori printable "work" from online websites and today I printed some pictures of different constellations. They're basically a black sky with the tracing of the stars that form the different shapes. Without being told anything about it, Paul said it was pictures of stars. It doesn't look like OUR night sky - since we see a lot fewer stars for one thing. Not to mention, Paul is never up late enough to see it that dark in the sky anyways. He's also conquered most of the preschool level work I've made so far, including a coloring by number, where 5 batman logos all had a number in them, and at the bottom of the page, a color was spelled out in it's own color. So, he had to look to see what color each number corresponded with, and color accordingly. Pretty smart for a just-turned 3 year old if you ask me.<br />
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In addition to being incredibly advanced and smart (hey it's a blog about my kids - I can brag all I want), these days, when the kids are in a sweet mood, they really do love to take care of each other. Camille will always go and get Paul's shoes if it's time to go somewhere, and Paul will go and get toys or other things for Camille, because he pretty much always remembers where everything is if we can't find something.<br />
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Oh, and a funny story from last night - I went to check on Camille a few hours after I put her down - since it was her first night in the big-girl bed. And, I found her in the middle of her floor sound asleep! I picked her up and put her back in the bed, and she just kept on sleeping. Hopefully she'll stay in there tonight.Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-8596933902580158872013-02-05T22:00:00.000-08:002013-02-26T11:30:22.181-08:00A big night!Today I converted Camille's crib to a toddler bed, or "big-girl bed" as we proudly call it. So, now she can crawl in and out of it on her own. Tonight will, of course, be the first night she gets to try it out. It's been about two hours since I put her in there, and so far so good - though, just in case, we have the pillows lined up at the opening, for the likely chance she finds the floor in the middle of the night. She never was one to be patient about getting out of the crib upon waking, so hopefully now, instead of screaming or whining for us, she'll let herself out and come find us in our room in the morning - we'll have to get Paul to teach her this. We'll see how it goes! <br />
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(This picture was right after I converted the bed; big brother is looking a little more excited than the owner of the bed...or maybe he's just more of a ham in front of the camera!)Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-77943107609858758932012-12-06T20:01:00.001-08:002012-12-06T20:01:18.521-08:00It's almost Christmas and I don't think I've written since the summer!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, it's been a while...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let's start with Camille - She is one smart little cookie! She will repeat nearly every word that we say if we ask her to. She also "reads" a lot of her board books to us. That is, she points out the pictures and says what the objects or people are. For example, she will say "mermaid" for Ariel in the Little Mermaid book, she'll say "Nemo" for Nemo or any other sea animal for that matter, she even says "Eugie" for Snow White - Eugie is one of her aunts and she is absolutely tickled pink that Camille has (on her own) associated her with the Disney princess. Camille also will go through her ABC animal book and name animals in there by herself - even ones like Moose and Newt. She is also doing well learning to drink out of an open-top cup (and glass) and sometimes eats with utensils - but usually just her hands - which is OK too - at least she pretty much feeds herself now. Also, she will answer questions, too - even if she doesn't know the answer - in which case she'll put her hands up in the "I don't know" manner. It's so cute. She is really becoming a "real" person, so to speak. She will get things that we ask her to go get - like her shoes, for example. She also enjoys brushing her teeth. One of the biggest changes lately is that on October 16, her 16 month birthday, we stopped nursing! She's strictly on "real" food now! She eats well if she's in the mood, but we do give her her daily Poly-Vi-Sol vitamin drop just like we did for Paul at that age. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Speaking of Paul - it's time for an update on him. He's becoming quite the big boy these days. He is talking up a storm - he'll say 3-4 words at at time or even more sometimes. He's not always perfect on pronunciation, but we can usually tell what he is trying to say - which is a long way from where he was just a few months ago, when he didn't want to talk. He is in a "Superman" phase currently and even calls himself "Paul du-ka-doo"...as in the theme song for Superman goes "du - ka - dooo - dooo - du - ka - dooo - doo - du - ka - doo - doo - doo - doo" at least in his interpretation - so that's why he calls Superman "du-ka-doo". He hasn't mastered the actual word "superman" yet - but he's getting there. He is also in to trucks of all kinds and Bob the Builder. He loves seeing construction sites and trucks on the road and learning about what each of them does. He is also FULLY potty trained! The only help he needs is turning on and off the bathroom light and wiping for #2. The rest, he can do himself. We started training right before the school year this year in Mid-August and he's really picked up on it fast. He even goes at school without any problem.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And on the topic of school - the biggest change around here is that Camille and I are now joining Paul at school! We all go to Kinder Haus now on Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Camille is in the Toddler class, Paul is in the Preschool class, and I work at the front desk from 8:30-11:30 on MF and from 8:30-3:00 on W. I don't make quite enough to cover Camille's tuition, but that's okay. It's fun for us all to be there together and for Camille and me to get out of the house. This just started right before Thanksgiving and is going well so far. Paul cried the first time I came in his room while I was working because I think he wasn't quite used to it even though I had explained it to him. But, now he's fine and I think (or hope) he likes that I am there when he is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While I am not working, I attempt to get crafting done and have started some new projects I will soon post about in my crafting blog at junebuggydesigns.blogspot.com once they are complete - and once I give them to their owners at Christmas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, that's a quick summary for now - hopefully I write again before the new year - I know I've been slacking lately! </span>Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-42702251586658809572012-08-15T12:00:00.001-07:002012-08-15T12:06:00.950-07:00My kids talk & tee-tee on the potty..they're turning into real people!Over the last couple of months, Paul has finally decided to start talking! The last few weeks, he's significantly increased the number of words he says and he even puts 2-3 words together, like "Daddy Go" or his favorite "No! Mine!"..used mostly on Camille. But, hey I guess we have to be glad he's talking. Camille has also been repeating a lot of words and even communicating with words herself. I can't even count how many words the kids use, things like Mommy, Daddy, Nanna, Papa, Meenee(for Mandy - that's Camille's word). Paul says a lot of colors (purple, yellow, green, blue) and nouns like plane, car, cheese and Camille says puppy, apple, juice, cheese. She also will say "more" and bring us her empty plate or cup. She also will repeat what we say, like just now I said "That's Mommy's paper" and she said "paper" over and over. There's a lot more words they use that I just can't think of right now.<br />
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On Sunday, we started to potty train Paul. We have taken away his regular diapers and he wears either underwear or pull-ups. For Sunday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday, we pretty much sat him on the potty every 15-20 minutes and most times he would tee-tee. He still hasn't poo-pooed on the potty, just in his pull-up, but I hear that takes longer anyways. Once, he started to tee tee in his underwear and then went quickly to the bathroom with me trailing and another time, he took himself. Today he's at school for the first time since starting to potty train so we'll see how he does. I am taking him today so he can pick out some big boy underwear for himself. When I take Paul to the bathroom, I usually take Camille, too and set her on the little child potty while Paul sits on the regular potty. She actually did tee-tee on it once each day and today, too. I think she's starting to automatically go to the bathroom first before getting her diaper changed even if she doesn't quite grasp why. </div>
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Those are the big milestones taking place right now, but I'll end this with a little story about Paul and one about Camille. </div>
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Last night Paul was trying to be funny during story time at bed time and we were going through a picture book and naming all the objects and once we got to the page with the cheese on it, everything there after was cheese, too - the plane, the car, the kite, etc. It was pretty funny and he was just laughing away. </div>
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Camille has a favorite board book that has a different baby on each page and she'll bring it to us and flip through saying "baby" for each page which she's been doing for a while now. Then yesterday, we were looking at a little 101 Dalmatians board book and she was flipping through it and saying "puppy" for each page. It was super cute - she wasn't even guided to say it. </div>
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Our kids are just too smart! :-)</div>
Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-16625275829060222192012-07-18T14:07:00.001-07:002012-07-18T14:07:41.985-07:00Kids Update June/July<br />
As fast as my kids are growing and changing, I really need to be better at updating my blog about them. I feel like they are almost new people since the last blog last month. <br />
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Camille is a lot more interactive and understands so much more now. She even shakes her head no when we ask if she wants something (like more juice or snacks, etc). Or she'll go to wherever it is that the thing is that she wants. If she does want more juice, she walks right to the refrigerator. She also says a variety of words - Mama, Dada, (Sometimes Mommy, Daddy), bubba, Meenee (That means Mandy), Pops, cracker (sort of), juh (for juice), and some others I am sure I'm leaving out. She is still quite the little monkey and wants to climb on anything she can reach. We are fearing some injury related ER trips in her future. But, as strong as she is, I think she'll be some sort of really great athlete, too. My guess is either soccer or gymnastics - time will tell I suppose. While she is quite whiny at times, she is also very affectionate and will come to sit in our laps just to cuddle. It's very sweet. <br />
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Paul is finally really starting to come out with some new words. He says the names of several colors (yellow, pink, blue) and says ball, bat, Tia, Mama, Dada (sometimes Mommy and Daddy), cheese, there's quite a few more, I just can't think of them all now that I am trying to list them. He will also answer yeah and no to questions we ask - in words and sign language - his favorite response is, of course, NO. LOL He also makes a lot of sound effect noises for his actions - his favorite is "pa-kow"..that's right..not KA POW like most people would say..but his own take on the phrase. He also says noises like psssheeww, for actions he tries to demonstrate or when he is make believing like with his airplanes and such. He has also grown quite a bit these last couple months. He's fitting in to 3T shirts and some 2T some 3T shorts. He also still loves to take apart and figure out how everything works. He also is getting really good at building with his mega blocks. He makes a pretty good airplane all on his own. His other hobby lately is working puzzles. We have some old board puzzles from when I was his age and he figures them out in no time - even though the age on them is 3-6. <br />
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It's been a challenge this past year to have two kids under the age of two for a while, but now that Camille is a year old and can play by herself, it's getting a lot easier and more fun. We have been on a few outings lately and they can both run around and have a good time. They even play together at times. <br />
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Well, I'm getting distracted by the ones I am speaking of, so I must run - more updates in a month!<br />Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-7347437746975006942012-06-27T20:44:00.001-07:002012-06-27T20:44:02.476-07:00Big milestones for the kids latelyA week ago yesterday, Paul gave up his pacifier! It was unexpected for all of us and we used the "cold turkey" method, but it worked..woo hoo! He never uses it at nap time at school and wants it at home, usually just to chew on, or when he's sleeping. He doesn't really need it, so we knew it was getting close to time for him to give it up. We were going to put the nail biting stuff on it and tell him when he's old enough it's gonna taste bad and then he'd have a signal to know it was time to get rid of it. However, it didn't quite work that way. What actually happened was that I was out running an errand with Camille and husband Paul couldn't find the pacifier so he convinced Paul to try and sleep without it, which he's had to do in the past once or twice. He agreed, but then I got home and told Paul I knew where it was, but since it was all chewed up and Paul had already agreed to try and sleep without it, I didn't get it for him. So, with a bit of reluctance, he went to sleep without it. The only thing he wanted instead was for one of us to stay in his room until he went to sleep. Usually, we read 3 books, sing a song and leave, but without his security pacifier, he needed security from us, I guess. The next few times he went to sleep pretty much went the same way, but lately, we haven't had to stay in the room 'til he falls asleep and he hasn't asked for it since the 2nd day without it. We are so proud! Next step - potty training! Which leads me to Camille's big milestone...<br />
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Yesterday, we put them both on the potty before bath time, which is what we've been trying to get in the habit of doing the past few days, and Camille went tee-tee on the little potty! It was her first time going - usually she wants to get off right away and doesn't seem to understand what the potty is for, but this time she actually used it! It was pretty cool. Today she didn't, but that's OK. I think she'll still be easier to train than Paul. At least I hope so! :-)Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-22314148795352076062012-06-22T13:07:00.000-07:002012-06-22T13:07:15.837-07:00Kids Update - May-ishI never wrote a May blog about the kids - so why not in late June? Oh well...anyways, these kids sure are growing up and changing so fast! I should really write a weekly blog about them, but seeing as I can't even manage a monthly one, I guess I'll just have to do my best with remembering everything that's been going on. <br />
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Let's start with Camille. She just turned one year old this past Saturday and we had a Hawaiian Luau theme party at our house. It was a lot of fun and she was just a running all around the place. One of her gifts, to share with Paul, was a "Lookout Treehouse" for the backyard. It's a sturdy plastic climbing toy that has steps on one side, a slide on the other and a "tree" top that they sit under as well as a lookout periscope. She can manage it quite well already. She doesn't always sit before sliding, so she's surprised herself and fallen a little fast down the slide, but no major injuries. I figure the more she uses it, the better she'll get. <br />
At her 12 month well baby check up this week, she weighed in at 18.2 lbs and she's 28 inches tall. She's average for everything, except low on weight, but the doctor said no worries. She's very active so I know she burns calories like crazy, which is why despite the incredible amounts of food she eats - sometimes more than big brother - she's still little. <br />
She's been talking and babbling more and more. She says "hi" and "baby" and "mama/dada/bubba" and "mee-nee" meaning "Mandy" (our dog). She also says "juh" meaning "juice". <br />
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Paul is coming around on the talking as well. He now says "Tia" (as of yesterday in fact). That is husband Paul's mother and she's thrilled to finally have a grandchild say her name! She has always gone by "Tia" for her nieces and nephews, so just kept it for her grandmother name, just fyi. He also says ball & ba (bat) and makes animal sounds, though doesn't say their actual names just yet. He also says a lot of the first sounds of words like "ch" means cheese. He is finally saying two word sentences every now and then, too, like "daddy go" or something. <br />
His new favorite activity is jumping off of things. He particularly likes the little stool in his room and it's only 6-8 inches or so off the floor and he has those big rubber puzzle piece mats so I feel a little safer when he jumps in there. I try to encourage him jumping off of that versus the couch or something. <br />
He is also quite the artist these days. He just built his first model airplane this week and glued it together (with help from Mommy of course), but he actually did a lot of the painting and gluing himself so I was really proud of him, especially since it was a time-consuming project and one that took a few days so he had to be patient to get the plane together.<br />
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Paul and Camille are getting better at entertaining themselves and each other so I can actually do a chore or two while they run around and I know they won't get in to too much trouble - not usually anyways - haha <br />
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And one last story about the kids, I just love how they make me feel like an American Idol - it'll be the only time in my life when someone appreciates my singing. I sing to them before I put them to sleep and in the car and they love it. When both of them were babies and would get fussy in the car, and even now for Camille, I just start singing to them and it calms them right down. And believe me, I am no American Idol - LOL - but since I am one of the only people they have ever heard sing, they don't know any better and I eat it up because I know it'll be my only chance to be someone's American Idol. hahaAngelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-79206532704967330162012-05-14T21:23:00.001-07:002012-05-14T21:23:04.792-07:00The best dayToday was one of the best days that I can remember with just me and the kids probably since Camille has been born. Paul woke up at around 7:30ish, played a few minutes on the ipad in my room, them I got up and made us breakfast and Camille woke up and I fed her. Paul had a couple bites of an egg and a whole wheat waffle. I had an egg and a bowl of oatmeal squares and Camille had oatmeal mixed with unsweetened applesauce and a little cinnamon. After breakfast, we got dressed and went to the library with Tia. Then, we came home and both kids had a two hour nap! I got to do some crafting and eat my own lunch in peace. Then the kids woke up and I made them a cheese quesadilla and some sweet peas which they both gobbled up. After lunch, they pretty much entertained themselves all afternoon and I played with them, too. We played with their little wooden blocks and I would make a stack as quick as I could, then "Cam-zilla" would knock it down, sometimes with help from her big brother. Thy thought it was pretty entertaining. Paul came home from work at around 5pm and went to mow the lawn and I took the kids out to play in the backyard. Ey love to play with water so I filled a bucket and they had fun dumping or scooping out the water. While we were in the back, I watered our plants - we have 2 tomatoes growing on the tomato plant, quite a few apples growing in both apple trees, and even a satsuma starting to grow, not to mention all the rose buds on both rose bushes. We have been fixing up our garden this year and are having fun with our new (or newly healthy - apple trees got sick last year so no apples) plants. Then, I brought the kids in, dried them off, made a quick dinner of baked tilapia with taco seasoning and spinach with cheese. All of us were able to eat the same exact meal! Woo hoo! Oh and this was Camille's first fish! After dinner, we gave the kids a bath and I took Camille in Paul's room with me to read to him and put him to bed. She fell asleep after I nursed her, while reading, and they were both out by 8:15! This is extremely rare. Camille usually goes to bed around 9-9:30, sometimes a little later. So, for the next couple of hours, Paul and I enjoyed some time doing our own things, just "fartin' around" as we say. I worked on crafts - I made 2 cardboard boxes covered with fabric today. Paul played on his computer, surfed the web, and did some photography stuff - developing pictures and stuff. And now we are off to bed after a womderful day filled with happiness all around!Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-57832338704747702982012-05-13T20:57:00.000-07:002012-05-13T20:57:33.111-07:00Way late April New Year resolution/kids updateOk so this is over a week late, but sometimes that just happens, what can ya say.
I will start with my New Year Resolutions update.
1. Salad 2x/wk - still going strong..usually eat salad daily
2. Coupons ($100/month goal) - I am already over $640, so that one is going good
3. Read 50 books - I have completed 14 and am currently reading 3, so I a not sure if that means I am behind or still on track.
4. Read the Bible - well, this one has been a bit tough because I've just been a bit lazy this month, so I won't say just how far behind I am, but I hope to catch up this month on this and my book reading.
Kids update
Camille - my beautiful little girl, who gets more beautiful everyday, can be described as of late with one word - fearless! This girl is such a little monkey & dare devil! She climbs on and off of everything, like the dishwasher when its opened, or up a staircase if no one is watching. I am surprised there haven't been some major injuries. Yes, we watch her constantly, but she is fast and can get places before we even realize. She is really something else, and quite strong for not even being 11 months old yet. She is also talking more. She learned how to say hi two days ago and she will try to repeat other words or at least babble the same amount of syllables of whatever the word is.
Paul - he is doing quite well in school and even went to play when I dropped him off last Thursday without getting sad when I left. He is a sweet big brother, usually - haha, and helps a lot with Camille. He gives her snacks or her drink if she gets fussy and they have started to play together a little bit, too. He now says his own name, it sounds more like "pouwl", but at least he is attempting to talk more. He also says "bat" and "back". Where he lacks in speaking, he makes up for with sign language. He learns signs at school and has been responding to us with yes and no in sign language so thats pretty cool. I am pretty sure he has tried to say other things to me with signs, I'm just not sure what they mean...maybe I should go to school with him and learn the signs, too!
Short update, but hey at least I finally wrote something! More from here in a couple weeks!Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-84436727421067094922012-04-01T11:39:00.000-07:002012-04-01T11:39:02.547-07:00New Year's Resolution Update MarchMarch was a pretty good month for my resolutions.<br />
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1. Bible - still 10 pages behind...ugh, gotta catch up with this one! Actually, I guess that means I read enough for this month, but didn't make up last months pages that I was behind on. <br />
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2. Salad - definitely have been meeting my 2x a week goal - a lot of times I have 2 a day!<br />
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3. Books - I've read 13 books so far (out of my goal of 50), so just over 1/4 done - right on track<br />
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4. Coupons - March - $167.78 Total 2012 - $442.85 - totally killing this one! (My goal is $100/month) :-) I will say, a large chunk of coupons, like $75 or so, this month were on a big toy sale at Target - I got several board games and toys for really cheap that I will use over the next few birthdays/Christmases for the kids. But, I got such great steals I had to stock up. For example, I got the full size board games of Chutes and Ladders, Candyland and Memory all for $1.79 EACH! Crazy! I got Battleship for $5 along with some other great deals.<br />
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See you next month!Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-52466672942270168522012-04-01T11:29:00.000-07:002012-04-01T11:29:31.588-07:00Paul and Camille March 2012The past few weeks have been huge in the lives of our children. They are growing up so fast and changing so much!<br />
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Paul started Montessori school four weeks ago and he attends Tuesday and Thursday. They have a phase-in process, so at first, I went with him and we stayed an hour or two the first two days. Then, the next couple days, I stayed for a little bit, and he stayed through lunch by himself. This past Thursday was the first time he stayed all day, which means he even took a nap there! He will now continue to go regularly T/TH from 8:30-3:00. It'll be nice to have some "free" time with only one child to tote around. He also has been tee-teeing on the potty occasionally. He's probably gone 3 or 4 times over the last few weeks. He's not too interested yet, but when he does go, he gets pretty excited about his accomplishment. He's also saying more "words" including Mum-Mum (the delicious cardboard flavored baby rice cake snack that Camille eats) and "ro-ro" which is our abbreviated word for Cheerios. He's still slow on the talking but he makes up his own signs for everything and figures out how to get what he wants, and can even get things himself now. I forget if I put this in the last blog, but he figured out how to pull his little wooden chair around and use it as a step-stool. So, now he will watch us cook or wash his hands or reach places he otherwise couldn't get to - usually places we didn't want him to reach! He's outsmarting us now! <br />
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Camille is also hitting some big milestones. About 3-4 weeks ago, she got her first tooth and she's working on a couple more now. She also started walking at about that time, too. She can now pretty much walk across a room without falling, and she's getting better at balancing herself if she starts to fall. She can also crawl on all fours when she's not walking, or if she needs to get to something to pull herself up on so she can continue walking. She has also been babbling a lot more these days. Some favorite words she says are "dada" and "bubba"...usually it sounds like "dadadada" or "bububububu"...but I am pretty sure she's starting to associate those sounds with who they represent, rather than just a noise. <br />
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I can't believe how fast these kids are growing!Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-57176521077364132452012-03-06T21:21:00.000-08:002012-03-06T21:21:12.861-08:00A monumental day for my son!Paul went tee-tee on his potty....twice!! This evening after I got him out of his bath and dried him off, I asked him if he wanted to sit on his potty (which he has done before, just hasn't gone potty on it...except for the first time we ever sat him on it when he pooped...but that's another story...and he hasn't done it since). He agreed to sit and I talked about going tee-tee, and after a few minutes I noticed a tiny droplet of tee-tee coming out. I asked if he could make more and a few minutes later, he went! Then, we poured the tee-tee in the big potty, flushed, washed our hands, then he promptly sat back down and made more tee-tee - I think it was so he could flush the big potty again- lol. I am so excited for my growing boy, and this on the eve of his first day at montessori school...such a big week for him!Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-9331671798643358332012-02-29T20:20:00.001-08:002012-02-29T21:07:21.050-08:00New Year's Resolution update/ kids updatePart 1: New Year's Resolution Update<br />
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1. Read the bible - I'm about 7 pages behind schedule, but that's better than last month at least.<br />
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2. Read 50 books - I have read 9 so far, so I am a little ahead of schedule.<br />
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3. Eat salad twice a day - I am doong great with this one seeing as I buy a box of salad weekly, so I eat from it almost every day.<br />
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4. Save $100/month ($1,200/year) in coupons - This month was only $75.30, but for the year, I am at $275.07, so quite a bit ahead still.<br />
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Part 2: kids update<br />
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Paul: terrible two's full swing, now we even get full on laying-on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming tantrums, for no good reason. But other than that, he's such a great kid. He's a really sweet big brother, too. He will bring Camille toys to play with or her pacifier if she's upset. He still doesn't talk much, but he has made up more sounds and signs for words so he gets his point across. His new trick this month is being able to open the refrigerator and freezer doors by himself, so now he can help himself to whatever he can reach in either of those. So that's been a new interesting challenge. We picked a montessori school for him, so he will hopefully start going next week, all day, two times a week. Next month's "kids update" will be all about his new school! I can't believe he is already old enough for school. <br />
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Camille: she changes so much every day, it seems! She crawls really fast now and can finally go from laying down to sitting without having to pull up on something. She can also walk by holding only one of our hands and she's getting pretty fast at that, too. She might be walking on her own by the next update! She babbles more and more each day and is also becoming more and more playful. She has been trying all kinds of new foods - her favorite new snack is graham crackers. She has also tried lentils, baked potato, white kidney beans (those make her too gassy and upset), a couple bites of our foods here and there, I can't remember it all. It seems she is trying a couple new foods each week, most of which she enjoys. She doesn't have teeth yet, but it sure hasn't slowed her eating down. There's rarely a time when she's not eating it seems!<br />
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Well, that's pretty much it for this month. See you in March!Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-7151619334921691062012-01-31T22:30:00.000-08:002012-02-01T20:53:11.200-08:002012 resolutions update - month 11. Read 50 books - I've read 5 so far.. slightly ahead of schedule.<br />
2. Read the bible- I am about 5 days (15 pages) behind ...guess that's why I am ahead on my book reading.<br />
3. Eat salad 2x a week - definitely meeting this so far - I buy a box of pre-made salad at least once a week so it's enough for several salads.<br />
4. $100 in coupons/month - this month's total was $199 - double my goal! It would be awesome to keep that up! I must give credit where credit is due on this one. If it weren't for the fact that Paul's mom (Tia) and grandmother (Grammy) give me their Sunday coupons each week, I wouldn't be nearly as successful. :-)<br />
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I think I am doing pretty well overall. I will update again in a month! :-)Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-57603322553580484522012-01-25T21:17:00.000-08:002012-01-25T21:17:11.651-08:00All About CamilleMy little second-born sweetheart rarely gets a moment in the spotlight all to herself, so this blog is just for her. She's been changing and maturing so much lately, within the last month or so, that I wanted to write it all down before I forget. <br />
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1. Started "crawling" - it's more like a trench crawl - she still doesn't pick her belly up off the floor, but boy can she move fast these days.<br />
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2. Babbles a lot - she says things resembling "bubba" (for brother) and dada among other random and super-cute baby noises.<br />
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3. Eats 4 food groups now - she eats rice & oatmeal, a growing selection of fruits & veggies, and as of last week, meat! She's tried turkey & chicken so far. And, today for the first time, she got to try plain whole milk yogurt - her first dairy food! Also, of all these foods, the only "baby" food is the rice & oatmeal - I make everything else for her. Sometimes we just hold out some of our meal and make it separate for her without seasonings. She has also never had to have formula as I have been very fortunate to be able to continue nursing her. <br />
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4. Feeds herself snacks - we introduced her to "puffs", "mum mums" and "yogurt melts", which all pretty much just melt in her mouth. We can now put some on her walker tray and let her cruise around feeding herself. She is also beginning to use a sippy cup. We give her water in it and she is getting pretty good at using it all by herself.<br />
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5. Physically stronger - she sits up on her own for long periods of time and she can go from sitting to laying down, and then can roll & trench crawl all around. She can also pull up to standing if she is holding on to something really sturdy. She will also reach out for our hands so she can pull herself up and then walk, or almost run, us all over the house. Now it's only a matter of time before she lets go!<br />
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Can't you tell I'm so proud of her? :-)Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-23461411785118844462012-01-20T15:20:00.000-08:002012-01-20T15:20:42.522-08:00Just when you think things are getting good...So I recently bragged that my kids' nap schedules were aligning and I got 2 breaks during the day because of it. (Read - opportunity to finally take a shower!) This hasn't been the case since Camille was born (not the lack of showering - the break time, I mean). Now that she's getting in to a more predictable eating and sleeping schedule, she is syncing up with Paul's nap schedule, too. It was going great the past few days. But, then today happened. Actually it started last night. For some reason, both of the kids woke up twice during the night at different times. So, that meant no sleep for anyone! Paul (husband) was already having problems sleeping because he can't shake this cough he has and I am having my turn with it now. So, we got two hours here and there of sleep which threw off today's schedule completely. Camille is currently on her third nap, she had two short ones earlier for less than an hour each. Paul only had one nap that he fought for over an hour to take, but finally gave in. So as you can imagine, it's been a pretty rough day. It's days like these that I appreciate when I do get my two "nap breaks" and remember not to take them for granted! :-)Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-4683009289696733922012-01-19T13:47:00.000-08:002012-01-19T13:47:36.776-08:0020 Bites To GoIn order to get Paul to eat, I usually follow him around with bites of food while he occupies himself with his toys. Ironically, it is often his & Camille's kitchen set and FAKE food that has him more interested than the real stuff. Now, you may wonder why I am not making him learn to sit at the table and properly eat. Well, he does know how to do this, and will for very short periods of time before losing interest in the mundane task of chewing & swallowing bites. But, to make it more peaceful for everyone, and to pretty much guarantee he will eat as much as I want him to, I let him play while eating. Ever watched A Christmas Story? Remember how the mother got her younger son to eat by letting him eat like a pig and snort and not use his hands? This is what us mothers do to make sure our babies stay well-fed. As long as he eats a good portion of his meals, I am happy. <br />
This is where my personal game, "20 Bites To Go", comes in to play. At the beginning of the meal, I set a goal of how many bites I need to feed Paul, most often 20, and I count as I go. If I get all 20 bites down it means that I won my game and Paul has most likely eaten about 90% of his food, if not all of it. If he eats more, then great, if not, thats ok too. I know the game sounds silly and maybe like a lot of work for me, but it keeps us all happy, and that's really all that matters, right?Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-11051042107340852232012-01-18T14:55:00.000-08:002012-01-18T14:55:41.168-08:00A peaceful momentThe kids have been napping at the same time twice a day as of late. I should say, Camille is finally syncing up her schedule with Paul's. It's nice I finally get a "break". Sometimes I use the break to be somewhat productive, like spending the last two days compiling a scrapbook on shutterfly, which I got free with my pampers rewards (hey! Free coupon...that helps with one of my resolutions this year). Other times, I do less than productive things, like facebook surfing. I should do some dishes or laundry, but when I get a quiet minute, that's usually the last thing I want to do. I usually just want to read or nap, too! Now that the kids' schedules are allowing me these breaks, it would be good to work on a balance of fun & chores. It will be nice to have a more organized house and schedule again. Camille sleeps through the night, usually, but still goes to bed really late (11-12:00). Once we can get her to bed early, then it will really be nice. Well I guess I should use some of this free time to help get this house back in shape. Off to my chores!Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-46349344612065166382012-01-12T15:22:00.000-08:002012-01-12T15:22:23.183-08:00New Year's ResolutionsI handwrote my resolutions out on New Year's Day and have been meaning to blog them. Here they are and how they're going so far...almost two weeks in to the year. <br />
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1. Read the Bible - yes sad but true, I have never read the Bible cover to cover. I hope this will help my spiritual growth and help me set a good example for my kids. I have been doing well with this one so far. I know I need to read about 3-3 1/2 pages per day to finish within the year and so far I am about 16 pages ahead on that. <br />
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2. Save $1,200 in coupons - this figures to $100 per month. So far this month I am at $33.25. I guess that's about right. I started couponing almost a year ago, but it's hard to keep up with when the kids have other plans for me during the day, besides clipping coupons. I hope now that they are a little older and can entertain themselves and each other, I can spend more time on this. <br />
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3. Read 50 books - reading was always important to me growing up and I want it to be important to my kids, so what better way to set the example? I am on my 3rd book of the year and will read roughly one per week. The Kindle app with free book downloads from amazon and the library make reading so much easier. <br />
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4. Eat salad twice a week - my veggie intake hasn't been the best, so I figured one of my resolutions should be for my overall health. So far, I have pretty much been eating salad twice a DAY! Hopefully I can keep it up. <br />
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Well there you have it, my 2012 resolutions. I made a spiritual one, a wealth one, a mind one and a health one! I will update later on to let you know how I'm doing.Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930871315109368639.post-1343152474707856272011-12-28T21:46:00.000-08:002011-12-28T21:46:47.122-08:00Wrapping up 2011Wow it's been a while since my last blog. I guess I should do a quick update on the kids.<br />
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Paul turned 2 on December 10 and we had a fun airplane themed party at home for him. It was mostly family and a couple close friends. We had little wooden airplanes for the guests to decorate with special wood markers and Tia made an airplane themed cake. <br />
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Camille turned 6 months old on December 16 and is now eating three "meals" a day and still nursing 7 times a day. Her meals are either baby oatmeal or rice cereal usually mixed with a mashed up fruit or vegetable. So far we haven't had to feed her any store-bought baby food or formula..been making our own food...and milk..lol. She typically wakes up around 8AM and goes to sleep by midnight...11PM when we are lucky.<br />
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Christmas has been a blast this year. We had my mom's family in town for NOLA Christmas 2011 the weekend before Christmas and the ladies even went to Windsor Court for high tea. We also did some Canal Place and Riverwalk shopping. We took a big family portrait at Lafreniere Park and Paolo was the photographer. We all contributed to a wonderful home-cooked Christmas feast with new twists on the classic holiday menu. <br />
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For Christmas Eve, we went to St. Michael special school with Paul's mom's family. Christmas morning, Paul and Camille got to see what Santa left for them. Paul got a workbench and Camille got a Leapfrog musical activity table. They also got a play kitchen set from Nanna and Papa. After prying Paul away from his gifts, by promising more gifts, we went to Tia and Pops' house for the Spear family Christmas (Paul's mom's family). Then after a nice afternoon rest, we went to Mama and Papa's house for the Perret family Christmas. <br />
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Unfortunately, all of these celebrations were followed by Baby Paul getting a fever & cold symptoms the night after Christmas and then an ear infection the next day. He is slowly getting better but as of today, still had a low fever, cough and runny nose. For the most part, this hasn't stopped him from being his usual self, so that's good. The nights have been the hardest though. This also marks the first time ever that Paul has had a fever and a major illness, and therefore the first trip to the doctor as a sick child. We are definitely blessed for that.<br />
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In happier news, today Camille and I attended our 2nd holiday ladies' tea of the year with the Spear women at Longue Vue Gardens in Old Metairie. It was a beautiful location and a lovely tea. There were 15 of us this year. Our group gets bigger every year. So fun!<br />
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In early January, will be having our final Christmas celebration with my Dad's family, when my sister Stephaie will be available from her pharmacist job. I will write about that one in my next blog. I am also working on my 2012 New Year's Resolutions/Goals and will post them soon, too.<br />
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Well, I guess that's a sufficient update for now. Good night, all.Angelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320414049257788963noreply@blogger.com0