Time to relax

This morning Cam & I headed to the airport to pick Grammy & Auntie Erika up for their two week visit from Chicago.

I flew around the house this morning, cleaning, getting laundry done & trying to do as much as possible so we could have a relaxing day & weekend.  It doesn't help that I'm a psycho who has to make things perfect for guests.  And now the house is clean, the laundry is done, Cam is resting & watching TV in our room as Reese takes an evening nap.  We're getting take-out Chinese for dinner so I don't even have to cook.  And speaking of me being a psycho, despite all of this, I still have this nagging feeling that I should be up doing something.  I seriously need to learn how to relax!!  I know I drive Mike crazy too because he's told me that he always feels like he needs to be doing something so that he looks busy so I don't get annoyed.  Yikes...  not good.  So, my goal this summer is to take it down a notch.  I'll never be able to sit around when the house is in disarray, but when things are in order as they are now, I'll let myself do nothing and not feel bad about it!

Recent happenings

We've had a lot going on in the past week or so which I'll recap using pictures taken from my cell.  We finally heard back from the bank regarding the house we have an offer on & they've accepted our bid!  We're still not getting ourselves too worked up because we still have to hear back about the loan & then the appraisal.  If all goes well, we could potentially be moving in mid-September so we're saying lots of prayers & hoping it all works out!  

My Wednesday date with Cameron started with a very, very rainy morning!  We braved the elements & headed out to the theater for their free summer movies & watched the Chipmunks, Chipwrecked.  I love me a free outing!

And I love me some Cameron.  And pizza too, of course!

I finally got some long overdue kicks since I'm on my feet a lot of the day & my back is always killing me.  

 Also, since I'm in between gym memberships, I make a point of taking the stairs as much as I can.  Now I'll really be decked out in purple with my purple scrubs, shoes & watch!  I'm like a female Barney.  While we were shopping at the mall, Cam looks at me & says, Mommy, I have to go poo-poo!  After trying to explain that the store doesn't have a restroom but we could leave the store & hit the one across the way, he shouts, But I have to go poo-poo!  And at that point all the customers turned to look at us.  When you have a little one, you have to put shame aside!

When we got home, I set up a little Cam Cave behind the couch in our family room since we got this cool hand-me-down Lightning McQueen TV.  I have to smile every time I see him sitting there like a little old man in his easy chair.

As Cam lounged, I whipped up more batches of food for Reese.  

This girl is an eating machine these days & having three solid meals a day which means I'm needing to make a lot more food.  The recipe I made last week is one of my favorites where I blend cooked oatmeal, cooked egg yolks, cooked fresh spinach, cooked prunes, kidney beans & plain yogurt.  I call them poo-poo pops because of the beans & prunes.  I made these for Cam when he was a baby which you'll see in this post.

Friday Lauren & Tay came for a sleepover & we just hung out & enjoyed some sushi & wine.  Mike was a fine addition to the girl's night since he's always down for some girly talk!

Despite the unbearable heat & humidity, Lauren managed to talk me into Busch Gardens!  Luckily the kids were able to cool off at the splash pad which Reese enjoyed for the very first time!  

And the kids cruised around Publix in their cool hot rod as we did some grocery shopping yesterday.  It managed to be a very low-key yet very full weekend all at the same time.  Hope you all had a great weekend too!

8 months!

Reese, you're 8 months old today!  Can you believe it?  I know I hardly can!

So what is my 8 month old gal up to?  Well, you're an eating champ, pounding down 4,  7oz bottles of breast milk per day.   You eat at 7am, 11am, 3pm & 7pm.  You eat solids twice a day & we're planning on upping you to three times per day.

Crazily enough, you've only been sleeping in your crib for the past month.  We had been putting you to sleep in your bassinet for so long since it kept you elevated with your constant congestion.  Finally we decided that you'd be sleeping in that thing at two years old at this rate, so we bit the bullet & put you in your crib.  

So, you went from being swaddled in a bassinet to unswaddled in a crib in one night & you did absolutely great.  You LOVE being in your crib & are likely cursing us for not transitioning you sooner.  You are a complete stomach sleeper & stay this way most of the night.

You sleep from around 7:30pm until around 7:15am.  What a good girl!!  Speaking of good girls, you actually slept till 8:30 this morning!  That tells me that if we didn't have to get you out of bed at 7am for school, you'd probably fall back to sleep most mornings since when you wake up, you just lay in bed & jabber.  You take 2-3 naps per day.

You're not crawling yet but you are surely mobile, rolling & scooting all over the floor.  You're not as content to hop around in your jumper as you had been & have become a bit more high maintenance.  Little, Princess.  But, I guess that's just you being much more aware of your surroundings & knowing you love the company of others more than hopping by yourself.

You're still lazy about holding your bottle, even though you can, so we hold you & feed you your milk.  Since you're in daycare & it feels like we barely get to see you, we're completely fine with it.

You still have no chompers yet, but we're always feeling like you're teething & teeth are coming any day.  We've been thinking that for about two or so months now.  Your brother got teeth quickly so we're not used to seeing a gummy 8 month old smile!

You still adore our pets & love to pet them pull their hair out & laugh hysterically whenever you can.  We're working on teaching you to be more gentle.  Speaking of adore, your brother cracks you up!  I swear, Cam could just look at you & you're in hysterics. 

What else, what else?  Oh, you unexpectedly got a case of hives this week.  We still have no idea why but the doctor said it could be anything, including your body reacting to a virus.  Poor girl.

You're still our bald little baby, but you are getting more & more hair which is very blond.  You wore a shirt to school yesterday that said, I'm having a no hair day and it was very true. 

You wear size 6-9 month clothes but can fit into 12 month sizes.  You're in a size 3 diaper & size 1 shoes (but rarely ever wear shoes).

Reese, you're such a happy, smiley little girl & you bring so much joy into our lives!  We're all enjoying the heck out of you & adore watching you grow & change right before our eyes.  Happy 8 months, my little joy baby!

A good guy

This kid pictured above is truly a good guy. I've been spending a lot of one on one time with my little Cam with having Wednesdays off.  It's our weekly date & most times are spent hitting the movies.  I seriously look forward to our day together.  I know I'm his mom & all, but when I say Cam is a good guy, I mean it!  I'm so proud of the person he's becoming & amazed at how caring & forthcoming he is with his love & affection.  I think Cameron is going to end up being a lot like his daddy; someone who relates well with women.  He's going to be a great husband some day.  It doesn't hurt that Cam is swarmed with females with Reese, Samantha, Taylor, Leah, Avery..  He's bound to get used to all of that estrogen!  

Sometimes we'll just be sitting quietly doing our own thing when out of the blue, he looks over at me & says, Mommy, I love you.  Or when I'm helping him get dressed & he gives me a huge hug & kiss just because.  I'm a very emotional person & love to show lots of affection with my kids & getting it back from him warms my heart beyond belief.  Watching him interact with the pets is adorable in itself.  This morning as we were getting ready to head out the door, he gave Demps a big hug & said, Bye, girl!  You be a good girl & take a nap.  We'll see you soon, Dempsey Girl!  And last week Reese was crying as I was getting her in her jammies when he rushed over to rub her head & tell her, It's okay, Reesey, you're safe, we're here..  And it isn't only what he says, it's how he says it in this sing-songy, sweet voice.

Don't get me wrong, Cam has many moments that make me want to beat my head on a wall, but the core of him is a precious, sweet, caring soul.  I'm one proud Mama!

Funky, funky

With these two faces in your life each day, you might wonder how you could possibly be in a funk.  Well, despite their cuteness, I am in a funk!  The past two weeks have been really rough for me.  I've been feeling like I'm running & running & the finish line is nowhere in sight.  The motto in my head most of the time is, Who has time for that?

It's amazing how being a parent brings so many emotions.  In a matter of a few hours I could feel five different emotions ranging from overwhelmed to thankful to tired to annoyed, etc, etc, etc.  All in all, I feel like I've been balancing work & being a mom pretty well.  Not so much recently.  It can be overwhelming since with parenthood there is no end in sight.  There's always dishes, always laundry, always bottles to fill & mouths to feed.  And yes, this is what I no doubt signed up for when I decided I wanted to be a parent & God blessed me with my two beautifully healthy children.  But, that doesn't mean it's always a cake walk.  I sometimes think back to times before we had Cam & Reese & think to myself, What did we do all day?  The answer, a whole lot of relaxing!

Do I want that previous life?  Hell no, I wouldn't trade this life for anything in the entire world.  I just need to accept the fact that it's not always going to be easy.  I have to stop striving for what I think my life should look like & just be content with what my life actually looks like.  It's not always neat, tidy or easy, but it's a great life.  Sometimes I just can't get my priorities in line when I have so many things to do so I just end up doing nothing really well.  There's so many things I want to do or know in both my personal & professional life but I just can't seem to carve the time out.  And I don't know when I'll ever be able to find the time in the near future.  So, what it really comes down to is me letting go & realizing that when my two kiddos are grown & I do have all the time in the world, I'll be wishing to have this time back.

Recent happenings

Today I'll be updating on recent going-ons by using pictures from Instagram.  

Of course I've eaten Fig Newtons before as well as used fig jam & even had dried figs, but never have I tried fresh figs before two weeks ago.  One of my co-workers has a neighbor with a fig tree so she brought some in to share & they were delightful!  I read that fig season is in August so I will definitely be picking some up!

On my day off last week I made some barley cereal for Reese along with peaches & mangoes.

The main reason I make my own baby food is to save money.  I made twenty portions of peaches & mangoes for a few dollars since I just bought frozen, cubed fruit.  I boiled it for a few minutes to soften it up, popped it in the food processor & in minutes I was done!  Baby food is nearly a dollar a jar, so I love knowing I'm saving some cash.  I'm not at all someone who buys things with coupons or hunts for sales so I'm happy to do my part in some way.  Obviously nothing tops the nutrition of breast milk, but I'm surprised more moms don't breastfeed longer for the simple fact that it costs about $1400 for a year of infant formula. 

Cameron decided on his Toy Story themed third birthday last year by looking through the cake book in the Publix bakery.  His birthday is about two & a half months from now, but he's already on the hunt for a new theme & I think he's found it!  His new obsession is "Red Birds" aka Angry Birds.

After our jaunt to the grocery store, Cam cuddled on the couch with Dempsey.  So sweet!

Speaking of sweet, Reese enjoyed her first experience on the swings last weekend!  She loved it!

She also experienced her first trip down the slide.  I'm sure there will be many, many, many more to come!

So that's what's been going on over here!  Today we'll be heading to Lauren's parent's "Farm" for an evening of food, friends & relaxing.  Can't wait!

Fourth of July 2012

This year felt strange with the Fourth falling on a Wednesday..  When I woke up on Wednesday I felt like it was Saturday & when I was getting ready for work today, I felt like it was Monday.  The good news?  It wasn't & tomorrow is Friday!  Yay!  We decided to have a little get together on Tuesday to celebrate since we were all off of work the next day.

We whipped up some burgers & did a topping bar with caramelized onions, Gorgonzola cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onions & bacon.  They were delish!  

Last year Lauren & Jill had just had Taylor & Brooks & both myself & Kelly were 20 weeks pregnant around the Fourth.  We talked about how crazy this year would be with all the babies running around & boy were we right.  

 Taylor was not at all into this picture thing!

There were 7 kids total: Three 3 year olds, two 1 year olds & two 7 month olds!  Since we only have a three bedroom house at the moment, putting all the kids to bed was interesting!  In our room we had four kids alone; one sleeping in our walk-in closet!  I said it before & I'll say it again, I cannot wait to have house with more space!

And she was fully ready to take out babies if she needed to!

Cameron looks so sweet with Reese in this picture!  That's because he is!

But anyway!  After the kids went to bed the adults just hung out, talked, played stupid games & acted silly.

Someone had an idea to do a pyramid!

We all came tumbling down...

We always come up with the goofiest ideas when we're all together!

On the Fourth we really had no plans so we just headed to the mall to let the kids play around & get out of the house.

Reese thought she was big stuff in her jelly shoes!

And Cam had a blast running around like a nut!  I wish I had half of the energy of that kid.

Hope you all had a wonderful Fourth too!