VOTE for my Kaylin-Bug!!

So it's been waaaaaay too long since I've blogged but the 2 shortest people in my house keep me busier than ever. I know, no excuse. And those of you with 3+ kids are totally rolling your eyes at me right now. Okay, so don't write me off yet. The part of my brain that files potential blog posts has been over-crowded by sippy decisions, teething issues, PlayDoh creations, ballet dancing, and potty-training (the one year old.)

Another little thing that has been taking up brain capacity is this little contest on Facebook.

We entered Kaylin's picture in Talenti's Cutest Gelato Moment photo contest and she is one of the 6 semi-finalists!!

So this is my shameless plug to GO VOTE FOR KAYLIN here so we can win some of the best gelato on the planet!!

The contest runs all week (thru September 11th) and you can vote once a day (per Facebook account.)

We are currently in second place, but the one in first place is a professionally taken/tweaked photo (which is against the rules!) so it's a little unfair. All the more reason to cast votes for Kaylin!! She's under my name, Jill Putty (week 4) and all you have to do is click "VOTE."

Then if you click "SHARE" you can ask all your Facebook friends to "please vote for #4!"

Thanks to all my thousands of faithful readers out there who love me and support our gelato habit. ;)

"Thanks everybody! I promise to share my winnings with Harley again!" - Kaylin

the native tongue of a 2-year-old

Today Cami said batteries. Not "babbies", BATTERIES! I was quick to correct her.

"Um, honey... you mean 'babbies'?"

"No Mommy... ba-ter-eeees. BATTERIES."

"NOOOOO!! Not that one too! Can't we please just keep that one?! I'm not ready for it to go! Please can we keep babbies!?"

[staring at me]

"Hee hee... batteries Mommy."

It's a sad day.

One by one they're fading away and being replaced. Her words. Her sweet little words. She doesn't understand how we love them. She is such a little perfectionist (not sure where that trait came from...ahem) and every time she perfects yet another one of her cute little words it means she's getting older.

"Diddy" is now Kitty.

"Nonny" is banana.

"ahTAHoh" is avocado.

"appauce" has become applesauce (thanks to Cousin Felicity for correcting her)

and speaking of...

"Wissy" has been Felicity for a while now :(

We lost "lellow" around Thanksgiving.

And her "bobberm" is now her bottom.

As with "babbies", I have tried my best to save each of these words in hopes of preserving the original 2-year-old Cami verbiage. She is not much help since she finds a rare joy in correcting her mommy.

There do, in fact, remain a few words still in transition:

"thlank you" still includes the mystery "L" and gets sweeter every day.

"stoomie" has evolved into the more commonly used 'scuse me.

Though she does know how to say it right, she still prefers to wear "meanies" rather than panties.

And our old friend the "Snut" (Noah's skunk) has acquired the new and improved title of "Snuk." Getting closer but not there yet!

One word I'm pretty confident we'll be hanging on to for a while is "dere" (girl). Sometimes she attempts it but isn't completely satisfied with the outcome and honestly neither am I.

She's growing up and it's bittersweet but I'm dealing with it and it helps to be able to blog about it.

In the meantime we praise her for her improvements but still give her lellow nonnies for breakfast and tell her to kiss Diddy goodnight. She corrects us of course, but we just smile and playfully argue about it.

It's only a matter of time before she masters the English language and disappoints us all!

Today she was watching me from her Learning Tower as I prepared a chicken to bake in the oven.

"What's that Mommy? Can I touch it?"

"Yeah Sweetie. This is called aluminum foil. Can you say ah-lu-mi-num?"

"Ah...lumum-mim... hee hee."

That's right. I just bought us some more time.

This is why I live in Florida:

10-Day Forecast for Ocala, FL (34471) Printable Forecast Daily Details | Text Forecast | Averages & Records Video Forecast Forecast Conditions High °F Low °F Precip. Chance High Temperatures Low Temperatures Precipitation Wind Speed Tonight Dec 5 Clear N/A 34° 0% High not valid after 2pm Mon Dec 6 Sunny 59° 27° 0% 59°F Tue Dec 7 Sunny 57° 26° 0% 57°F Wed Dec 8 Partly Cloudy 60° 27° 0% 60°F Thu Dec 9 Sunny 65° 32° 0% 65°F Fri Dec 10 Sunny 71° 40° 0% 71°F

Cookie Monday

It's Monday but that's okay because we just made a ton of cookies.

We're outside again and it's easy breezy beautiful. But not like Maybeline 'cause I have zero make-up on and would probably break a camera were it aimed at me right now.

This might be a good reason I don't have a lot of friends in town 'cause unannounced visits would be embarrassing. In more ways than one.

Cami's playing with sand again and trying not to spill it everywhere.

She was just pushing Baby Sister in the walker and Harley was in the way...

"Harley, SCOOTCH!"

...but it was more like "Harley STOOTS!" because she's still selective of when she uses the "ck" sound.

I had to wake The Perfect Baby up a little bit ago from her 3 1/2 hour nap. It worked out great for me and Cami to bake cookies. We made the "kitchen sink" ones that Grandma Kay makes. They have chocolate chips, raisins, oatmeal, nuts and coconut. But I misplaced my coconut so we did without it. They are yummy and I'm trying not to think about them.

I have my Michael Buble Pandora station playing. It's such "feel good" music.

This is THE best weather ever created. I remember thinking that every year at this time. Where can I live where it's like this year round??

Cami is throwing all the balls out of the bouncy house ball pit. They are everywhere. I'm gonna make her clean them up. She's been bringing them to me one at a time asking, "Where is the ball's home, Mommy?"

It is now that precious time of the day called "nap time."

I want to nap too but I don't want to waste a minute of this amazing weather!

Maybe I'll clean house. ugh.

Those cookies are haunting my thoughts!!

Bittersweet Ordinary

(Since no one reads my blog anymore - and for good reason since I don't update it - this one's just for me ;)

Today is one of those normal kind of days.

The ones that happen over and over all in a row. They all begin to run together unless something out of the ordinary happens. And by "out of the ordinary" I mean like a birthday party or going to Gram's or something.

Yeah, these are the days that I stay in my PJ's half the day 'til nap time when I take a shower and throw on whatever T-shirt and shorts I most likely wore yesterday. Cami wears play clothes that usually don't match and Kaylin sports a baby sleeper. We sometimes have a Blue's Clues marathon or watch a few Mister Rogers 'sodes while building a play ground with blocks for Noah's animals.

Today the weather is unarguably perfect and we are out back on the porch enjoying every bit of it. Kaylin just finished nursing (which took all of 10 minutes) and she's chillin' in her walker, kicking her chubby feet.

Cami is wearing a stained shirt and "mom jeans", playing very well by herself. She goes back and forth between her water/sand table and her bowl of bird seed (the new favorite toy around here.) There are also water guns, shells, sidewalk chalk, and from what I just heard, a bug participating in her activities. Her little $3.00 yard sale tricycle is parked on the patio waiting for her to remember it. The bouncy house is resting deflated in the grass. Harley is lapping up stale bird seed as he finds it scattered about. It's 73 degrees in the shade (THIS is why I live in Florida!)

I don't want to forget this day. There's nothing special about it except that it's part of my life right now that will one day soon be gone and I will miss it and wish I could have just 5 minutes of it so I could feel this feeling again. I take the feeling for such granted! The feeling I feel every single ordinary day in this season of my life. It's not even a conscious or noticeable feeling. Maybe that's what is so bittersweet about it. I could've sat down and recorded details of yesterday and have had an almost identical post.

But today is the one.

Nothing special about it, yet special now.

I just chose one of those ordinary days, in the middle of so many. I captured it before it escaped into history and became a blurry link in the chain of days spent this way for a season.

November 12, 2010... you lucky Friday, you!

**********************************************************

Cami is now experimenting with water and bird seed. She has various sized containers and keeps dumping her watery seed mixture back and forth, each time spilling some on the concrete. Soon she will wonder why there isn't anymore to dump and she will ask me where it went and beg me for more ingredients.

She is making a huge mess.

She is learning.

She is being two.

The past me would be getting my panties in a wad over something like this. I wonder what the future me would do. . .probably be finding her more ingredients. I'm somewhere in between right now.

Today's funny phrase for Cami is "monkey poopy." She occasionally and randomly blurts it out and laughs hysterically as though proud of herself for discovering the hilarious combination of words.

Okay, my panties almost wadded just now when she attempted to pour a bucket of her mixture on her head.

The baby is letting me know it's nap time. Cami's play clothes are soaked. I'm sure her Crocs are filled with mushy bird seed.

I just announced that it's almost nap time and she countered with, "Know what!? Now we can do different stuff! We can go play inside!" Nice try.

One day, sooner than I want it to, my ordinary will change and never be this again.

In 36 hours from now...

...Cami will no longer be an only child. Her life will change and she has no idea what's coming. All our lives will change because of this one other little life entering the world.

In 36 hours from now...

I won't be sleeping through the night. Not that I am now with having to get up and pee 5 times a night! But it will be for different reasons. I will be feeding my new baby. And rocking her and changing her and snuggling her and praying over her. All perfectly good reasons to lose sleep.

Maybe I won't drool on my pillow as much as I have when I'm pregnant.
Though I'm sure her drool will make up for mine.

Hopefully I won't wake up the whole house with my pregnant snoring anymore (embarrassing.)
But I'm guessing her cries will replace my frequent snores.

My dress size will go down (slightly.)
And my bra size will go up (ridiculously.)

In 36 hours from now...

I won't be carrying around this huge belly!!
I'll be carrying around my huggable baby!!

I will be allowed to eat lunch meat! and feta cheese! and sushi!
But not chocolate (sigh)... and salsa ... and ice cream...

Naptime will take on a new definition. Instead of it being my one chance to get some stuff done around the house it will simply mean: "Aaaahhhh... NAPTIME!! Yesssssss!!!"

In 36 hours from now...

Laundry will somehow double in quantity.
My clothes will all smell like breast milk.
Tiny diapers will pile high.
Hand sanitizer will be in constant use.
And I will once again become addicted to watching Wheel of Fortune.
(it's the one show I can watch with the volume muted)

In 36 hours from now...

Our little family of 3 will become a family of 4.
I will be the mommy of 2 beautiful daughters.
And I will most likely still cry over every little thing since my hormones will still be on strike.

My life is so wonderful and I am blessed in too many ways to count. I couldn't imagine it being better but somehow I know it will be...
in only 36 hours from now.

Vote for #3 !!

Here is my Sweetie Pie on a warm sunny day in the back yard enjoying hammock time.

This delightful picture is currently one of the top 5 finalists in a Cloth Diapered Baby picture contest on one of my favorite blogs I follow. The other 4 photos in the contest are extremely adorable too. But I would like to strongly encourage ALL of my MANY readers to please vote for my little Sweetie Pie. Even if her picture doesn't win this contest, we're excited for so many people to witness her super cuteness. But your vote is still very much appreciated.

So go here and vote now!!

And "thank you" from Cami ;-)

a small price to pay

One pediatrician appointment: $15

Prescription eye drops for goopy eyes: $15

Anti-biotic (in case an infection develops): $11

Homeopathic sniffles tablets for kids: $6

Doctor appointment for me: $15

Anti-biotic for sinus/ear infection: $13.50

Pro-biotic: $38

Robitussin: $6.50

Neti Pot: $15

Saline nasal spray: $3

All natural cough drops: $3


Having peace in knowing we're all in the healing hands of my God: priceless

The Name

We don't have a name picked out yet.
It was so much easier with Cami because the name "Camille" is THE most perfect name for our little girl. We both knew right away.
This time it's different.
It's not like we disagree on names. We like the same ones. But that's the problem. We LIKE a few names but don't LOVE any.
Yet.

There are a few we really like but they are a bit too popular and I'm having a hard time with that. I don't want her to have to share her name with other kids. I know that sounds silly, but I just want her to always feel like she has a special and unique name. This is something she will live with for her entire life!

But you know, my brother's name is Josh, and growing up there were always at least 3 other Josh's in our circle of friends. In fact, I married one! So I guess it wasn't so bad for them.

I have an "M" name in mind which I like a LOT, but it's up there on the "most popular baby names" list. Josh has another "M" name that he really likes but it's even higher on the list.

We have a "K" name that we're actually leaning toward but haven't fallen in deep love with it enough to decide for sure.

Then you have to think about what it will be shortened to. Names are always shortened whether you want them to be or not. Like when my sister decided on the beautifully elegant name "Felicity" for her daughter, she was determined for no one to shorten it. And now my neice is definitely called "Fliss." My sis is cool with it now though. It's cute and fits her.

I don't want my daughter to have a common last name for her first name, which has been a recent trend in baby naming.
I don't want her to have a boy name or even a gender neutral name.
I don't want her name to be a common word you might see on signs or book titles.
I don't want her name to sound like something I made up because I was trying to be that different.
I don't want it to rhyme with something gross or weird.
I don't want it to be shortened to something with a different initial.
I want it to be elegant and feminine, cute but not cutesy, and fitting for a baby and also a grown woman.

See, this is why the name "Camille" is so perfect.

At least we have the middle name picked out. It's a special one dear to my heart especially and we're keeping it a surprise.

So she will just be called "little one" for the time being and have to wait on Mom and Dad to finalize this very important decision.

Florida SNOW!!

A few weeks ago, we the people of Florida experienced snow...IN Florida!



Cami loved it!
We had to keep putting her mittens back on because she would take them off so she could touch the snow. She didn't care that it was cold.

This is my car COVERED in snow!

We scooped as much snow as we could off of our cars for her to play with in the yard. (Notice the grass is still green!)

She called it "No."

It was a fun day. I hope snow visits us again someday.

Baby food basics: almond bites

This is for my friend Jamie.

I started making these little "almond bites" for Cami once she began eating finger food around 12 or 13 months. I tried giving her cooked garbanzo beans (chick peas) at first but she turned her nose up at them so I had to get creative and disguise them.
These are full of protein, super healthy, and great for on-the-go.

**What you will need:

~ garbanzo beans - dried or canned (if you get them dried you must soak and cook them first: soak overnight in frig, rinse in cold water, cover with fresh water and cook covered on low for an hour to hour and a half)

~ almond butter

~ coconut oil (optional)

~ blender or food processor

~ bowl, plate, knife, large fork, nail clippers

* I started out using about half beans and half almond butter but have progressed to about 1 part almond butter, 2 parts beans. I don't measure, just kind of eye it.

* First, puree the garbanzo beans in the blender or food processor. You may need to add a bit of water if they are too chunky and not blending well. Not too much water tho...you don't want them too mushy.

This is a jar of beans being thawed from the freezer. I made a huge batch of beans and ran out of almond butter so I froze a bunch.

* Dump the bean mush into a bowl and add in the almond butter. The bowl needs to be large enough to accomodate a lot of mixing and mushing.

* I drizzle some coconut oil over the mixture to help it blend. Just start out with a little, then add more if needed. You don't want it to be too oily.
(I haven't tried this yet but you could probably use honey instead of coconut oil. It would definitely make them sweeter!)

* Mash and mash and mash with a large fork until it's all well blended. If you don't mind getting dirty just dive in with your hands and pretend it's Playdoh! I'm sure that will blend it quite well.

***The next 3 steps take quite a while if you're making a large batch so get comfy.

*Once it's all blended, take a good chunk of it and squish it in a nice straight line across a plate. (You can see in this picture why you need nail clippers before doing this.)

*Use a knife (butter knife works fine) to slice along in bite size pieces.


*Then take each piece, form into a ball, and toss in a jar or storage container (glass is best.)

*Store them in the frig. I usually make a big batch and freeze extra portions in jars.

Let me know if you have any questions!

catching up...

I said I wanted to catch up a bit from the past few months of blog-boycotting. So maybe I'll just post some pictures of what we've been doing.

We took Cami to Islands of Adventure and Universal back in November and she had a blast! Josh's parents came too and we all had a blast just watching Cami discover her first theme park!
Here is a sampling of some of her favorite moments.

She loved any of the water activities for kids. And she was fearless! She was soaked by the end of the day. I was proud of myself for thinking to bring a change of clothes...something you learn early on as a new mom.


She took time out to lay an egg.


She got a little frustrated in the Curious George land when she couldn't turn the pages in the giant books. She would go from one side to the other trying to turn them.


Good family pic that only took about half a dozen takes.

This is how we ended the day. We were all exhausted and ready to leave but had to make time for this final fun little kids water area.

something to blog about

I know I've been the worst blogger ever for the past few months. Okay, I haven't even blogged at ALL since our big announcement in November. I have reasons but I won't bore you with those. Most of them are stupid things like "I've been mad at the internet" which makes no sense I know, but first trimester is a crazy animal and you don't wanna mess with it. You just give it what it wants and back away slowly.

Second trimester has been great so far. I'm now 20 weeks along and today was the long-awaited event of our first ultrasound where we see the important baby parts.
I've been so excited for this day but kinda different than before (exactly 2 years ago.) I was nervous last time 'cause I wanted a girl so bad that it pained me to think of seeing a tiny you-know-what boy part on that screen.
This time I was fine either way which is so weird for me 'cause I always know what I want. Seriously though, I was 50/50 with this one. I knew Josh wanted another girl...or at least he really acted like it. He swore up and down, as did my mom, that it's a girl since the beginning! They based a lot of it on that Chinese gender chart which makes no sense at all but is somehow mostly accurate. I had no "feeling" either way...just wanted a healthy baby.

So first I should do some catching up since November...

just kidding!! I'll get on with the big news!
(But I will be better at blogging and will do some "catch-up" posts with Christmas pictures, etc.)

Do you see anything between those little legs???
NOPE!


Here she is! All 13 ounces of her!


Complete with little toes!

Everything is healthy and normal so our prayers are already being answered. Official due date is June 12th... 4 days before Cami's birthday.

So that's it for now.
I'll post some Cami pics and other stories soon.


"Bye bye!"