The grass is always greener....

I have to admit. There are days that I am sooooo jealous of my child-less friends. I mean, what do they do with all of their time and money? And I would be lying out of my ass if I said I didn't want to slap them (most of the time - I'm not a bad person) if they complain about how tired and/or busy they are. I mean, really, you get to leave work at the end of the day and if you wanted to lay on the couch all night. If you wanted to go out to dinner (without paying for a babysitter), you could. Heck, if you wanted to spend the entire night at the mall (to buy clothes for your non-child bearing body) you could. But then it got me to thinking about all of the things they don't get to do.

* We don't get to sleep in on the weekends.....
......but they don't get to wake up to a little voice yelling Mommmmyyyyy

* We don't get to take long beach vacations......
......but they don't get to see how cool a zoo really is after all these years.

* We don't get to go to all of the get togethers that we are invited to......
.....but they don't have the excuse of all excuses to stay home when we DON'T want to go. (No one wants to be around a baby with runny diapers or or who is cranky and teething, right)? ;)

* We don't get to watch what we want to watch on tv most of the time....
.......but they don't know how much fun it is to dance around the living room to the Bubble Guppies theme song.

* We don't get to spend long summer days laying in the sun......
......but they don't get to see how exciting it is to see the holidays through the eyes of your babies.

* We don't get to live in spotless houses.....
......but they don't get to have cute sticky hands waving in the air to pick them up.

* We don't get peace and quiet....well....ever.....
......but they don't get to hear some of the most random, hilarious things that come out of the mouth of a preschooler.

Note to self....I need to bookmark this post so the next time I want to pull my hair out, cry, and/or shut myself in a closet for a few minutes, I need to read this. What do you know, it's Friday night....I'm sure I will have at least 30-40 of those moments between now and Monday morning. :-)

An update on my crazy kids!

When I wrote the last post I said I would make a point to get on here more....and then of course our internet was down for about three weeks. I have some material saved up so here we go!

First up....

Parker Quotes!
I wanted to start out with a few Parker quotes. This little boy seriously cracks me up!

Quote #1
(Pulling a tampon out of the center counsel in my car).
Parker: What is this?
Me: (Walking away) I don't know.
Parker: Do you put it up your butt?

Quote #2
Parker: What kind of bed is this?
Me: What do you mean?
Parker: Is it s sleep number bed?

Quote #3
Parker: Meika is my friend. She is in my class
Me: Is she your girlfriend?
Parker: No, YOU'RE my girlfriend!

A Diaper Free Home?!
And now onto Miss Camdyn. Or should we say drama queen. Good Lord we are screwed when this girl becomes a teenager. Are 19 month olds supposed to scowl? I don't think so...but this one does. I mean, she actually GLARES! But I digress. :)

We are starting to dabble in potty training. Not full force by any means but she is very interested. She will sit on the little potty with the biggest smile and swing her legs. It's so cute! She is very good about telling me when she needs a new diaper. In fact, her first sentance was "I pooped!" So we'll see. Maybe it will be a couple of years yet..but maybe it will be a few months! Wow, a diaper and wipe free home. I can't even remember. I may have to celebrate the occasion with a trip to the Coach Outlet. I mean, I WILL have plenty of money to spare.

Mother Goose Update!
This week is the third full week of Mother Goose and we marked a great milestone this week! Camdyn doesn't cry in the morning! Well, she does once she is handed over to Miss Courtney but she doesn't cry when she walks in the room any more. So we are making progress! I can tell a big difference since she has been going there. She seems to be able to verbalize her wants and needs so much more in just a matter of a couple of weeks! Parker still LOVES it! He has made some friends - Mitchell, Griffin and Will. It makes me so happy that he has has chosen actual friends! They have been very busy with field trips and their first service trip yesterday. I love that he gets to go out do fun stuff! So far his field trips have included story time at Barnes and Nobel, a trip to Texas Roadhouse, weekly free movies at Collins Road Theater and weekly splash days at Jacolyn Park. Yesterday they went to Heritage Nursing Home and visited some of the residents. I'm not sure exactly what they did but Parker said the people there were really really old. :)

Well, I think that is enough of an update for now. I'm really going to try to update this more....it's much easier than updating a couple of baby books. :)

I'm back!!

Holy cow, it has been a long time since I have been on here! I guess it's not worth it to finish 2010 year in review part two at this point. :)

We have had a recent change within our family, so I thought it would be a good time to jump back on the blogging train. Hopefully I will log in here at least once a week moving forward. Stretch? Maybe. We'll see. :)

Last Friday was the day that I have had mixed feelings about for weeks. After nearly 3 years, we had our last day at our in-home daycare provider's home. Parker is four now, so obviously it made sense to transition him into a learning environment. After much back and forth, we decided it would be a good idea for Camdyn to also be in a learning environment. After many tears last week (100% all me), we had our last day at Angie's house.

My stomach was in knots all weekend. Did I make the right choice? Why change something that isn't broken? Would I regret it? Would they be happy?

Yesterday we had our half-day/practice day at their new preschool. I'm pretty sure I cried a little bit more than Camdyn. I picked them up at noon and we spent the rest of the day playing outside. Today they were there from 7:15-4:45 (their normal hours) and I can already tell they will adjust just fine. I am sure it will take a few weeks for them to transition 100%. And I know we will miss our previous in-home. It's just part of them growing up. I can't keep them in a bubble!

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday. I just cannot believe how much they have grown!

2011 Year in Review - PART ONE!

Well, it is officially 2012! Before we begin posting our adventures of 2012, I wanted to take a quick look back at 2011.

It sure was a busy year. A year of new balancing acts, and all of the joys and struggles that come along with being a working family of 4!

When I started the year, there was no other place I would have rather been! I had 26 days left of staying home with our beautiful new baby! I was lucky enough to take nearly 14 weeks off Camdyn was born so I didn't go back until January 27th. Although going back to work is one of the hardest things you can do, I think the extra time (almost double what I had with Parker) allowed me to be more prepared and just ready to go back to work.



This seems like such a long time ago!

 The highlight of the spring was Parker's 3rd birthday. Wow, three years sure came and went very quickly! To celebrate, we had a fire truck themed party at the Play Station here in Cedar Rapids. He had a great time and I think everyone else did, too!

A couple of weeks later, Brian and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary by spending the night away for the first time since Parker was born! (We really needed to do that sooner....in fact, we left them again later in the year). We went to dinner at Rube's in Montour and then rented the same suite we stayed in on our honeymoon. The next day we went to Ames just to hang out and do some shopping and then ended the trip with lunch at my favorite place - Hickory Park! :)

This summer we took a vacation as a family of four. It actually went pretty well! Camdyn was around 8 months at the time which was perfect. She wasn't eating every 2 hours but she wasn't old enough to crawl all over the hotel and get antsy in the car. We went to Omaha and visited the zoo. I thought it was kind of neat that the first time I left the state was to visit the Omaha Zoo and Camdyn can say the same!

Later in the summer, we took a trip to Adventureland!

Well, that covers the first half of the year....I have squealing kids right now so we will get to part 2 soon! :)

The Elf on the Shelf

While there are many things about living with a 3 year old that drive me bonkers, Parker is SOOOOOO much fun right now! This is the first year that he is really getting into Christmas and it is so neat to see the holidays through his eyes.

Ryan, our Elf on the Shelf made his appearance into our home Friday night. I called him into the bathroom and pointed out that there was an elf in the bath tub and that he brought a book with him. We sat on the floor and we read the story, which explains all abou the Elf on the Shelf. He was sent by Santa and observes him during the day. Then at night he returns to the North Pole to report on how Parker was during the day. In the morning before Parker wakes, he returns to our house but in a different spot. No one can touch him because if we do he may lose his magic. And while he is under strict orders from Santa not to talk to Parker, Parker is encouraged to talk to him, as he will let Santa know what Parker wants. It is such a silly idea but for a 3 year old it is the coolest thing!!! Parker loves waking up to see where his elf is sitting.

Tonight we watched a video clip that Santa sent to Parker, complete with a picture from his birthday and our Omaha vacation. The first time Santa said his name the look on his face was priceless. I swear his little heart stopped in it's tracks. :)

Me and my little elf. :)

Parker LOVES Christmas!!!

Well, the holidays are here and I'm pretty sure I have never seen Parker soooo excited about anything in his whole entire life! We put the tree up yesterday and he was such a little spaz! He was starting to get annoying and I had to keep reminding myself about how exciting this kind of stuff is for a little kid haha. He doesn't easily take naps on the weekend anymore so I bribed him by telling him that if he took a nap, when he woke up there would be a present under the tree. Big mistake. He misunderstood....he thought if he took a nap, he could OPEN a present when he woke up. So the last 24 hours, he has asked if he can open a present about once every 15 minutes. :)

We went and saw Santa today, too! He was also very excited about that and stood patiently in line. When he sat on his lap he became shy and told Santa he wants a truck. When Santa asked if he wanted anything else, he said he wanted a car, too. (Little does Santa know that he was more than likely talking about a real truck, not a toy one). haha

Below are a couple of pictures of our family kicking off the holiday season. I'm sure we will have lots of fun stories to tell about Parker over the next month. :)
Merry Christmas!! :-)

13 months old - and Thanksgiving!!

Dear Camdyn,
In just a couple of days, you will be 13 months old. You are now a toddler! You have been a toddler for a month now, according to babycenter.com! :)

A lot has happened since I posted on your 11 month birthday. For one, you have taken your first steps!!! You took your first steps on Friday, October 14th and you are progressively getting better! You still prefer to crawl because it is faster but the last few days you are starting to become more confident. I LOVE watching you toddle around because I can tell how proud you are of yourself. You remind me of Bambi. Your stiff little body and your little arms sticking straight up in the air. It is the cutest thing ever! 

We had a great princess birthday party for you at our house. I was actually very sad about the whole thing. I just can't believe how fast your first year went. I feel like one day I was in the hospital with you and the next day you were sitting in your highchair eating your chocolate baby cake! :)

Yesterday was your second Thanksgiving. It was your first Thanksgiving that you actually enjoyed, though. Last year you slept through the entire holiday, snug in your carseat. You just got out for a couple of pictures, but you cried through them. Yesterday everyone was so happy to see you (and Parker, too, of course). You ate as much as I did, I swear! And you got to eat your very first piece of pumpkin pie, which Aunt Cassie made. :)

Now for your stats... :) You are still in size three diapers. You are wearing size 12 months but when I buy you clothes now, I have been buying 18 months because as much as you eat, I'm sure those 12 months clothes are going to be getting snug soon. :)

Below are a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving yesterday. I love you very very much Beanie!! Happy 13 month birthday!