5 months old

Today Carlyle turned 5 months old. We normally would have been at school today, but since Camden has strep throat we were home. I took advantage of trying to spend a little more time with Carlyle, since it was her 5 month birthday. However, that proved to be a little more challenging with a sick kid. But, I did take a few more pictures than I normally take and was actually able to capture her roll over from her tummy to her back. YEAH CARLYLE! This is her second time to perform this trick and I never witnessed the first. And, it's been almost two months since the first. So, I was happy when I put her on her tummy today and she immediately rolled over. I think she was in shock of what she had just done. So, I grabbed the video camera and repeated the process. Then, I grabbed the camera and repeated. I'm so proud that I captured it with both cameras!! She really wants to roll from her back to her tummy, but just hasn't figured out how to manage that.







She's learning how to hold small toys and rattles and they instantly make it to her mouth. She's figured out that she has a tongue and loves sticking it out. I think I literally took about 30 pictures of her and in almost all of them she either has her tongue out or her mouth open with her tongue almost out.

Popsicles for Breakfast??

Now why on earth would I let my kids have popsicles for breakfast? Well, because Camden has strep throat and Claire doesn't understand why Camden gets popsicles and she doesn't. Therefore, I don't feel like dealing with tantrums or tears so both get popsicles for breakfast.



Camden has had cold-like symptoms since the end of last week and started complaining of her tummy hurting on Monday. I blew it off since she said she didn't need to throw up. She even said on Tuesday that she didn't feel good so when she got to school she was just going to rest. A few of the other teachers and I were kind of giving her a hard time because she seemed to be so dramatic. Now I feel HORRIBLE. She woke up Tuesday night around 1:00am and seemed to be really hot, but had no fever. She said her tummy hurt again and she even started crying. I really believed her but had nothing to give her for that. Wednesday morning she seemed about the same, with the exception that she wouldn't eat breakfast and hardly touched her lunch. After her nap that day she had 102.2, which is SO rare for her because she never runs fever. I called our doctor's office, only for them to inform me that none of the doctors in the office had any available appointments. I know there's at least 10 doctors in the practice, if not more. That's insane. I left a message with the nurse and she called me back. After giving her a description of all Camden's symptoms she told me she didn't think it was strep and since the fever was responding to medicine that she could just make me an appt for the next morning. My gut told me to go ahead and take her in to Urgent Care, which I did. The doctor there also said that he didn't think it was strep because of her symptoms. He actually thought it was Fifth's Disease, which is just a virus. But, since the strep test was easy he would go ahead and do it. Thank goodness he did. POSITIVE! After stopping by Walgreen's to get her prescription, along with some Gatorade, Tylenol and Motrin, we headed home. She slept great last night. Camden woke up with a bit of a fever this morning, but after some Motrin it's gone and has stayed gone all day. She now seems to be back to normal, which includes not listening to her mother and disobeying. But, I'll take that any day over the yucky symptoms of strep! Just praying that the rest of us stay well!

A Monday afternoon

This post is not about anything in particular, just some cute pictures of the girls. I got my camera out this afternoon and here's what I got.

Camden enjoyed her time outside this afternoon with her Daddy. He was practicing with her on her t-ball skills. She did great with hitting off the tee. And, I'm so glad she was having fun! I hope her attitude doesn't change once uniforms go on and she's with the team. I just want her to have fun and enjoy herself!


And, here's my sweet baby girl. Isn't she just adorable with those chubby little cheeks?? I know I'm biased, but she is pretty cute!



And, you may wonder where my Claire Bear is during all these photos. She's doing the one thing that she could do ALL DAY LONG! Watching cartoons. She was outside for a few minutes with Camden, but decided to come in and resume her position on the couch. In her defense, it was pretty chilly!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sunday morning the girls woke up and were so excited about their Valentine goodies. I wanted to make a special Valentine's breakfast with heart shaped pancakes, but since Valentine's was on Sunday and since we attend early church at 8:30, I figured that was out this year. So, the girls settled for frozen waffles...I know, real healthy. On to the fun part...the girls LOVED all their goodies. Camden and Claire each got a new movie, some Tinkerbell socks (thanks to the Dollar aisle in Target), a new watch and a few other trinkets. Camden was excited about her watch until we took it out of the package and she started crying. She said she didn't want a watch and didn't want to wear it. WHAT?? Claire, on the other hand, was thrilled with her watch and would have worn it to chuch if it had worked. We had to stop by Target after church to exchange it. They didn't have another Tinkerbell watch so I settled for a Hello Kitty watch, which is the same one I got Camden. When Camden found out that Claire got the same one she had at home, she said that now she was happy and she could wear her watch. She was delighted that they matched. Ugh!!! Sometimes my sweet Camden is so DIFFICULT!! Back to Valentine's morning...Carlyle got some goodies, too. It's a little more difficult to buy Valentine's goodies for a 4 month old when everything out there for this holiday is CANDY! But, she did get a couple of rattles, a new bib, a teething toy and a hardback copy of "Guess How Much I Love You". After helping Carlyle open her gift bag, Camden and Claire headed to help their Daddy. Jeremy loved his new golf balls and Titleist hat.

We had a very relaxing afternoon when we got home from church. Then, thanks to our wonderful babysitter, Mallorie, we got to go out on a Valentine's dinner date. We had reservations at Jake's so I insisted we dress up a bit, which made it even more fun! The food was incredible!! I have to say thanks to my hubby for treating me to such a wonderful evening! I love you!!

Snow Day!!

After only a few short hours of sleep for everyone except Carlyle, we awoke to the most beautiful blanket of snow on the ground. Back to why we only slept a few hours...our power continued to go off and on ALL night long. Camden and Claire got scared because no electricity means no night light in their room. They came to sleep with us, however, 2 kids in the bed is not an ideal sleeping arrangement. I left Camden with Jeremy and Claire and I headed to the couch. After about 45 minutes of her flopping around, I made a pallet for her on the floor. I worried about Carlyle getting too cold, especially since her room is the coldest room in the house. She slept right through the electricity going off and on. I think we finally fell asleep around 5am and then the girls were up at 7am, ready to get dressed and play in the snow.

Jeremy had to go into work at 10 this morning, much to his dismay. He was really hoping for a snow day. But, he tried to make the most of it and decided to take the girls out this morning before he had to leave. They had a great time making snow angels, throwing snow balls and tasting the snow. Carlyle woke up shortly after they went outside so we bundled her up so she could experience her first snow. She wasn't too impressed, but we were able to get a couple of pictures. At least she'll have some memories of the fun day!



















The girls were FREEZING when they came in so I ran a warm bath for them. They warmed up pretty quickly after that. We played inside for awhile and then I decided that I would take them out to the backyard to play while Carlyle took a nap. They had already demolished the front yard, but the backyard was a clean slate. They made the trek through the snow to the swingset where they slid down the slide. They landed right in the snow. They laughed and laughed. They attempted to build a snowman, but didn't have much luck. They also discovered that they could pack the snow real tight and it would stick to the tree trunk and also to the fence. Anyway, Claire's favorite thing to do with the snow was to eat it. She tasted some snow in the front yard and then had to taste some in the back to see if it tasted the same.








After about 45 minutes of playing outside, the girls decided to come in and warm up. So, we changed clothes again. Nana and Papa had called and wanted to stop by for a few minutes. Papa took the girls out again and they made a snowman. Camden and Claire wanted carrots for the nose, but, I wasn't prepared. They had to settle for Hershey kisses for the nose and mouth and Reese's hearts for the eyes. We did get one of Jeremy's hats and put a scarf on our snowman. They were so proud of it! We even took a picture and sent it to their Daddy! What a fun day we had at home and what fun memories we made!

Valentine's Parties

Today at school Camden and Claire's class had their Valentine's parties. They must have had quite a bit of sugar because they were hyped up all afternooon. I'm sure that's just the beginning. I'm betting that they will be eating tons of candy and chocolate all weekend, especially considering that their grandparents will be bringing over Valentine's goodies for all 3. Camden and Claire have been so excited about Valentine's Day so I'm sure we will get to celebrate all weekend. They have been equally as excited about the snow that is falling outside. Since it was snowing this morning on the way to school, I promised that we could play in it when we got home. Much to their dismay, the snow was melted and they were very disappointed. However, before they went to bed they went outside and saw the accumulation on the grass. I'm hoping that it sticks until tomorrow so we can go out and enjoy the snow for at least an hour or so. I'll leave you with some pics of their Valentine's parties. If the snow holds out til tomororow for a snow day, then expect another post tomorrow with lots of snow pics!!