Ten Fingers and Ten Toes...Which Should I Eat First?

Cami is completely obsessed with her fingers and toes. It's almost a bit ridiculous. She is constantly chewing and sucking on them. Her clothes are filled with slobber and saliva from constantly eating her hands and feet. I have never seen a baby with such an obsession.



This morning I heard Cami over the monitor playing so I look (we have a video monitor...worth it's weight in gold!) and she is stuffing her hands in her mouth so I get up go to the bathroom and when I come out I hear coughing. I look in the monitor and there is a pile of throw up next to her head. I think, CRAP!!! She has the freakin' stomach bug...but no, she made herself vomit because she stuck her hands too far down her throat! So now I have to start my morning off with cleaning up vomit and Cami of course needs a bath because it is in the little hair she has. Great.

Enter Brayden. Pick Cami up out of the vomit and go to get Brayden so we can go bath Cami downstairs in the sink (She is still little enough for the sink...which is so much better on the back than the tub). We go into Brayden's room and I put Cami on her tummy so as not to get vomit on Brayden's carpet. Brayden says to me, "Mommy, Brayden went poopy." Fantastic...first vomit, now poop...what a wonderful way to start the morning. I just had to laugh. Monday morning...7:00 am...so far I have cleaned up vomit sheets, vomit baby and changed a toddler poop (not pretty). The funny thing is...I wouldn't trade this life for the world. Love the kiddos and all their craziness. They make my life interesting. In fact, without the kiddos...this blog would be rather dull or may not even exist.

Here's some pics from today so you can see why I love being their mommy so much, even if it means cleaning up bodily fluids way too early in the morning.

Lightening Crashes...

It is unofficially fire prevention week in our household.

Yesterday evening we had a very bad thunderstorm. Ben and Brayden were out picking up dinner and I was on the computer while Cami was napping. All of a sudden, there was a huge boom and the fire alarms started going off. Cami freaked and I went a grabbed her to calm her down. The fire alarms stopped finally and I saw Ben pull up the street. It was pouring rain so I went outside to help Ben bring Brayden in.

My neighbor was outside with her little boy and she called over to me that their house was on FIRE! I grabbed Brayden and sent Ben to grab her little man so he could come over to safety. Apparently the lightening struck the ground near their house and went into the basement through the gas line and ignited in the hot water heater. Her basement was on fire and her husband was able to put it out with a fire extinguisher before the firemen arrived. They were lucky to be home when this happened and thank god my neighbor listened to the voice in her head that told her to look in the basement after the big boom. It was and is a really scary situation.

Ben went out this morning and bought another fire extinguisher for our house and a fire alarm for the basement. Apparently this isn't the first time that this type of fire has occurred in our neighborhood. Another house caught on fire from a lightening strike that went into the house through the gas hook up. So now I am freaked. Fire is a scary thing and I want to feel safe in our house. We are looking into having our house monitored for fire through our security system. We really do need to invest in some fire escape ladders and start taking fire more seriously.

On a lighter note, the boys just thought that all the fire trucks that came to the scene were the coolest thing. They were awe struck looking out the window. Wish I had pics but didn't really think to grab the camera.

So moral of the story...go out a buy a fire extinguisher for every floor and some fire alarms for floors that don't have them usually, like the basement.

Recovery

We have been hit hard with the stomach flu. The only one who has been spared has been Cami, thank goodness! Of course, Brayden started it and it quickly made the rounds to Ben and then myself. We are all now in recovery but it has been a long, long week.

Thursday Thirteen

My thirteen favorite things about summer are:

1. Wearing flip flops and sandals


2. Eating watermelon


3. Sitting on the deck


4. Sitting outside with the neighbors after the kiddos have gone to bed


5. Playing outside with Brayden


6. Going for ice cream


7. Going on vacation to the beach


8. Watching Brayden play in his kiddie pool


9. Playing outside after dinner


10. Fireworks


11. Pedicures


12. Grilling out with friends


13. Staying light out longer

Wordless Wednesday

The boy loves shoes...clearly his mommy's child!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Today is Ben's birthday so the kiddos and I met Ben for lunch at Max and Erma's. Before lunch, I stopped at Best Buy to pick up Ben's birthday gift, a speaker system for his ipod. I told Ben I was going to stop there to buy another lighthouse for our roomba and I told Ben to meet me at the restaurant...well as I am walking out the car with present in hand, who walks up but Ben! Surprise ruined! Oh well. We had a nice lunch even though Brayden spent most of it underneath the table and Cami got a little cranky near the end.

Happy birthday Ben! You are the best husband and daddy anyone could wish for. I hope you enjoy your day and sorry for the spoiled surprise. Maybe next year...

Ouch...

Cami had her 4 month visit today. She now weighs 13 lbs. 8 oz. and is 24.25 inches long. She has met all her milestones and is just perfect. She had to get three shots today so now she is sleeping them off.

Cami has been trying so hard to roll over from her back to her belly. She is almost there but she can't quite figure out how to move the last shoulder.

Here she is trying to roll.

I can't believe how fast she is growing up. The doctor wants us to start giving Cami cereal to see if it will help with her reflux. I don't know when we are going to find the time! Between bottles, diapers, nap times, snacks, playgroups and errands...we seem to be constantly on the move and now we have to squeeze in solids for Cami. Our life is so full but I wouldn't want it any other way.

What a mess!

I don't even know where to begin...

Ben was making breakfast this morning (Blueberry pancakes with the fresh blueberries from our trip to the orchard...YUMMY). Brayden was playing and Cami was in her exersaucer. All is well in the universe. I was cleaning off the high chair and thinking to myself, Brayden is the world's messiest child! Brayden has a poopy diaper so Ben goes to the family room to change him and I hear him say, "Kelly...you have to see this". I am thinking what could possibly be in Brayden's diaper that I must see...curiosity peaked. I walk into the family room and I don't see anything fantastic, freaky, gross...what is going on? Ben then points to Cami and here is what I see.

WARNING: THE CONTENTS OF THE FOLLOWING PICTURES CONTAIN EXPLICIT POOPY MATERIALS. THEY ARE NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.

YOU HAVE BEEN FORWARNED.

Notice: How happy she is and what is lurking on the floor!

And now for the close up:


YIKES!!!!!! What did my perfect little lady do. Ben and I went into CODE POOP. We moved her into the kitchen...very carefully I might add and chose to divide and conquer. I was in charge of kid clean up and Ben was in charge of exersaucer clean up. All the while Brayden is narrating the scene..."Cami poopy all over"..."Mommy clean poopy"..."Daddy clean Cami toy". For his investigative bowel movement journalism today, he may be up for a job reporting for Sprout or Noggin on other babies horribly explosive accidents and the reactions of the horrified parents. Cami was a perfect sport and didn't even bat an eye. I am so glad this happened on a Sunday...it was definitely a two person job!

Ahhh...the joys of being a parent. You get to clean up poop, spit up, throw up and any other gross bodily fluids that exited your child but you don't care because when all is said and done, you get a huge smile like this!

A Great (Expensive) Day at the Orchard

Today we took Brayden and Cami and met some friends at a local orchard for the raspberry festival. Although there were not many raspberries, we had a great time.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse made an appearance. Brayden loves Mickey Mouse but he was a bit confused when they came walking out on to the stage. His face was priceless. I think the costumes may have been from the year Mickey Mouse was created! They did not look anything like the Mickey and Minnie that Brayden loves so much but he still had fun dancing with them and getting his picture taken.

They also had pony rides and face painting. Brayden actually sat to get his face painted...still in shock about that one! The woman asked Brayden what he wanted and I quickly replied, anything that is quick and easy. She gave Brayden the choice of either a pirate or superhero. I guess you can see what he chose! He kept asking to go back and look at him self in the mirror...being a pirate made him quite vain. He looked so cute. Well worth the steep price of six dollars...they must have been painting with solid gold brushes!

The pony ride was also a hit! Brayden went on a pony ride on his birthday and since then he loves them. He was so excited and he got to go around twice. Two times around the loop for another whopping six dollars. I knew having a kid would be expensive with clothes, school, food...but I forgot to budget for pony rides and face painting! Man, when Cami is old enough for this stuff we are going to have to rent out our guest bedroom!

All in all, it was a good time and Cami was of course, very well behaved...I mean why wouldn't she be, look at who her mother is!

Both kids are now asleep and Ben is trying to read his new self help book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Thanks Aldous) through the back of his eye lids. I think he has forgotten who he is married to and will have to come to the realization that he will never be a rich dad, especially with all the pony rides and face painting that I see in our future!

Bye Bye Pee Pee

So we are in the process of trying to get Brayden excited about the potty. He really shows very little interest but we have been trying to make a big deal about it to peak his interest a bit. Lately whenever I use the bathroom, we say bye to mommy's pee pee and bye to the toilet paper, which Brayden calls the napkin. It's really cute...never thought I would be bidding farwell to my own urine but motherhood takes you into a whole world you never dreamt of!

Anyways, fast forward to today...Our cleaning lady was over this morning and we were playing in the family room. She is cleaning the powder room and she flushes the toilet. Brayden runs out of the living room to tell her "Say bye bye to your pee pee." It was too funny.

I swear he says the funniest things. I hope at the very least this blog provides a place to record all his funny words and sentences.

Here a some current pics of the kiddos:

Under Construction

This is my very first post...Yay, me! Please excuse the appearance of this page as I slowly learn how to do this whole blog thing. Well, this has been very short lived. I hear a baby crying so I am off to either feed, change or comfort one of the two kiddos.