December

I thought I better sit down and do this before December is too far gone. We had an awesome busy December. Among a myriad of other things we had my birthday. Zach spoiled me all day and threw me a surprise party with our family. What a sweetheart.

We also celebrated our 5th anniversary. I remember when we were married for like 3 months and 5 years seemed so far away- it has hardly been any time at all! We celebrated by leaving the girls with my mom and dad and spending the night at the Grand America. We had breakfast at The Little America- so yummy. Zach met Santa there. It was a nice little get away.

We also went to the Winter Princess Festival at the Provo Towne Centre. May acted terrified the entire time but afterwards talked about it like it was the best thing ever. She was most excited to see the princesses she had seen in the summer so that was cute that she remembered them and wanted to say hi.

We haven't had a ton of snow. The first snow we had we shoveled it all into a pile and built a snowman and a snow dog. Maylie was SO concerned about them it was so cute. She made him a scarf out of leaves so he wouldn't get cold and she had to make him snow food so he wouldn't get hungry. Every morning she would run and peak out the window and see if he was still there. I was a little worried about what would happen when it melted but she just said, "Oh the snowman melted." And started singing "Once there was a snowman" and that was it. She did have a melt down (ha melt down) when a snow storm hit after Christmas and she thought we could put our Christmas stuff back up. She was absolutely devastated when we told her snow didn't necessarily mean Christmas.

We had a wonderfully relaxing Christmas. We told all of our family that we weren't going anywhere this Christmas so we could just enjoy it. We definitely did. We opened presents, went to a nice sacrament meeting then we came home and chilled and the best present ever- Mama got a nap. Then my family came over to our house and we had a nice Christmas dinner.

Maylie had to change into her soccer shirt before she would open presents because Zach was wearing his. Too funny.

This is Camille surrounded by presents and she is playing with a little shred of wrapping paper instead. She did eventually move onto the bows.

My mom got the girls these matching outfits and I just had to share...aren't they adorable?

Probably the best part of the month was Camille got her helmet off on the 29th! Hurray! Any mom on top of things would have tons of pictures of her without it but for some reason all I have is one of her with a hat on. Anyway we are loving having it off. I'm not really sure what to do with it now though, we'll have to get a glass case or something to display it in.

Camille also hit her 9 month mark in December. She is our feel good girl. She has a smile that can just melt any problem away. She gives lots of snuggles and hugs. She loves music. She already has this little rocking dance move. It's too funny. If she is being fussy about going to sleep she will calm right down if you start singing to her. She LOVES her food. She out eats Maylie at just about every meal. And I'm not talking like a pound to ounce ratio she seriously will eat more than Maylie.

Halloween

So, I started Halloween costumes back in July. The girls were going to be the good fairies from Sleeping Beauty and their cousin was going to be Aurora. Well I picked terrible material for Maylie's. It looked terrible it was a little small and after hearing me curse at it for 2 months May didn't want to wear it. So we came up with plan B 2 days before Halloween. I had some Strawberry Shortcake material with no real plan for it so we made a costume. The awesome hat is courtesy of my mom finding one for her. Maylie was super excited to be Strawberry so it all worked out. Then came the problem with Camilles. She would be in the stroller so she couldn't wear her wings and she had her helmet so she couldn't wear her hat which left her in a blue dress that would be covered with a blanket. So on Halloween I put this together. She's a Berrykin which you won't know unless you've seen the new version of Strawberry Shortcake. It worked out pretty perfect with her helmet and put her in nice warm Jammies.

Maylie had a blast trick or treating. The best was when we ran into another Strawberry and Maylie says, "Hey, you're like me! You better get some candy too. You look sooo wonderful." Camille was a trooper put up with riding in the stroller for a while but was done by the time Zach picked her up and took her back to her cousins.

Maylie is 3!

My baby is suddenly a little girl! Ahh! I just hate it and love it all at the same time. We had a fun birthday. She pretty much eat and sleeps My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake so she had a pony birthday. We decided instead of throwing a huge party like last year we would put the funds to use for balloons and streamers. We took pictures but seriously did not do it justice. So you will just have to take my word that the house was awesomely decorated and May loved it.

In the morning she opened her presents most of it My Little Pony stuff. In this picture she is sporting a new dress that Zach's mom sent her. She had a hard time blowing out her candles in the morning but the practice did her good because she got them later that night.

In the afternoon we picked Zach up at work and went to lunch and Nicklemannia. Her and Zach just love that place. I seriously just don't get it.
Anyway we had a little party Including Pin the cutie mark on the pony (it came with our decor).
I attempted to make a pull string pinata. It was a bust. The kids still had fun though and I think I figured out what I did wrong so next time I can make it work. The hands in the picture are Uncle Nates. He stepped in when the wire that was supposed to hold it up broke...I guess he was just lucky it was a pull string and not a hit with a bat pinata.After games we did presents. May was SO tired I felt kind of bad she didn't show much enthusiasm for what she was opening. Funny story though. Her Aunt Katherine (it was from the whole family but come on now we all knew who was the brains behind the operation) gave her a Strawberry Shortcake movie. I was trying to explain to Maylie who it was from and I think she thought I was saying she needed to give it to her. She was so worried. She started inching behind our TV stand and she hid it and just kept pushing it back farther and farther so it was hidden. And then after cake was over my mom said she had gotten out and kept saying, "Is this mine?" "Can I keep this?" So funny. She also got an easel from my mom and dad which she loves. I think trees everywhere are legging out a sigh of relief since we don't go through a ton of paper everyday for all her drawings. Now she has a white board she can draw then erase.

My favorite part was the cake. Which if it weren't for the super talented Caytee Wankier's help would have been a muddled up mess with a pony on top. It was such a good learning experience. I loved it and Maylie was so excited.
She LOVES singing happy birthday. She has some play cakes that she will always set up for a party and then sing happy birthday to whoever she decides to sing to. So I think when everyone was singing it to her she was ecstatic. She was even singing along. Overall I think she had a fun birthday but hated the party. She is definitely a kiddo that likes the calm and small groups. Next year we may have to find some other fun way to celebrate.
She had her check up she has jumped from the 10th percentile in weight to the 40th. She is getting cut off from her whole milk though both in quantity and in fat so it'll be interesting to see if she stays in the 40th. She screamed the entire time at the doctor's it was so sad.

Anyway I'm so lucky to have her and I am thankful for everyday I get to spend with her. She is such a sweetheart (with a side of stubbornness and she wouldn't be her father's daughter if it weren't so). She is so smart and hilarious I get such a kick out of her. Love you May May!

7 Months

Camille is 7 months! She can roll over from her stomach to her back going one way. Apparently in all things she is not an ambiturner. She is doing awesome on sitting up by herself. She does great as long as she is focused straight ahead of her but when she starts turning she gets wobbly. Her primary goal in life seems to be to get everything possible in her mouth. She especially loves paper and wrappers.

She loved baby food at first but in the past week or so seems to have developed an aversion to everything except cereal. I've been making my own baby food so perhaps my terrible cooking is carrying over into simple things like steaming veggies and blending them.

She loves to be held but not necessarily cuddled. She has to see what's going on around her. She seems to be a little shy when people start talking to her she will bury her head in your shoulder and then turn to look at them again and then repeat. It's too cute.

She has given up the binky. She basically just likes to have it so she can chew on it. She rarely sucks on it anymore. I'm kind of glad but it did make bedtime so much easier.
She has had her helmet on for a few weeks. She has to wear it 23 hours a day and she gets an hour off so we can wash it and it can dry (seriously washing it does not good it's stinky no matter what). She has already had 2 sore spots so far so she has had a few days out of it so they could heal. She has a hard time sleeping it. However there is already a noticeable difference in her head and she is turning it both ways with no problem so it's doing what it is supposed to. I just hope this is the last big thing the poor girl has to deal with.

Her favorite person in the whole world is Maylie. Maylie can make her laugh when no one else can. She especially loves watching Maylie jump up and down in cracks her up every time. They are just too cute together. It's been so fun seeing them interact. Maylie will sing her songs when she is sad. When Camille wakes up from her naps Maylie makes sure I go and get her right away. No lingering there is too much to do.

She is just adorable. She seems to have just come alive within the past few months. I think she has just been so miserable but she is getting past it and smiling, laughing, and interested with the world around her. It just makes me feel all fuzzy and warm (you know the feeling closely followed by mommy happy tears).

Summer

Can you believe it's almost September? Goodness summer sure went by fast! We've had tons of fun this summer here is what we've been up to in no particular order... We've been swimming lots and jumping on the tramp in the evenings when it's cool. We've spent lots of time with friends and at the park too.

We went to the Zoo with my mom. Maylie was terrified of the dinosaurs and didn't really want much to do with anything. She loved the carousal, elephants and the pizza. Okay seriously the dinosaurs were lame. Why even spend the money on them?

I have very few pictures with my girls because I'm always behind the camera and there even fewer that I like but this one turned out really cute.
Camille is now 5 months I just want to remind you all what she looked like when we brought her home around 1 month
And this is our cute chunky little girl now. Can you believe it?

She had her 4 month check up 2 weeks early but even without the extra 2 weeks she was in the 85th percentile for her weight of babies born at 31 weeks. For a normal 4 month old she was not even on the chart though.

She has started to smile although you really have to work for it. She has started to take a little bit of an interest in toys which has made her less fussy in general I think. I think a lot of her fussiness comes from the fact that she is a cat napper. She rarely takes a nap longer than 15 mins. She's a great sleeper at night though. She is still in a little bed by our bed. She doesn't sleep well in her crib and I'll be honest I might cry when I actually move her out. She loves to stare at the fan and can usually cure her of anything that might be bothering her. She cut her first tooth about a week ago but it was her bottom canine which is weird. She loves to talk. If you talk to her she will just coo and grunt back it's the cutest thing.

She has been going to physical therapy. She won't turn her head to the left. The resulting effect is she has a really misshapen head. She will be getting a helmet towards the end of September. Poor girl just can't get a break!

We had her blessing and it turned out really nice. Thanks to everyone who made their way out to our house to come. I love this picture. We are constantly trying to get May to look at the camera and when she is we are all looking somewhere else.

Back to the 4th of July (like I said no particular order). Zach went in late to go the the parade with us and then got off early so we could play a little. He played soccer and catch with May she loved it. I'm so grateful Zach has a job but I wish he had more time at home to do stuff like this.
Zach had is 25th birthday. Wow we are getting to be so old. However old he is this picture will attest that he is still just a kid at heart. We've had lots of fun having Nerf wars. He took his birthday off and we went and did some family sealings at the temple. It was really special. Then that afternoon we went to Nickelmannia. It's Zach's and Maylies favorite place. Maylie loves DDR.
In June we went to a Princess Festival down at thanksgiving point. May loved it. I thought it was adorable too. It has like the fairy tale princesses but not the commercialism of disney princesses and the festival has their own princesses who do cool stuff and not wait for princes to come save them. I love this picture she May looks like she is just a little southern belle or something. It's cute.
May is so darn beautiful and just as smart. We are still working on potty training, she went all day yesterday with no accidents woot! This afternoon however she has decided she wants her diaper back on. Oh well it'll happen one day. I switched her to cloth diapers and she hates them. I'm hoping it will encourage her to wear her undies.

It seems like she has been picking up on church things a lot more and I love it. When she sees a picture of the temple she'll say "Look mama, a temple, I'm going there someday." and when she sees a picture of the prophet she says, "It's the prophet he knows the way!" So funny. She still won't go to nursery and Zach teaches the sunbeams so it's made the last 2 hours a bit difficult- if I only I had 4 hands! She will go sit in Zach's class sometimes and she does a little bit better so I wonder if once she is in sunbeams she won't have such a hard time.

She has been obsessed with My Little Pony these days which I think is good. Anything to give us a break from princesses ;)! She also really wants to play soccer and go to school.

Potty Training

Maylie had the funniest moment this morning. I'm sure reading it will not be as funny because you can not watch my daughter prancing up and down the hallway but I just had to record it. We are still working on potty training but in the last week May has made leaps and bounds. She wears her underwear for about half the day.

So this morning she had her underwear on and she had an accident on the couch. She told me that she still needed to go potty though. So I took her upstairs sat her on her potty with a book and told her I would be right back. A couple minutes later she comes squealing with excitement out of the bathroom. "Mommy I peed in the potty! It's a BIG one. Mommy come upstairs and see. It's BIG!" I can not even explain how excited she was and she just kept telling me. "Mommy it's a BIG pee!"

I walked upstairs not expecting there to be anything in there because I had just cleaned up a huge accident there was no way she had anything left in her. I was right there was no pee but she had an enormous poo in her little potty. This is the first time she has gone number 2 in the potty so I was just as excited as she was. I told her at this point she didn't pee she pooed and we took care of it washed our hands and I gave her a surprise.

Then I let her call Zach. "Dada I went a big poo in the potty. It was so BIG I got a big surprise." And all morning she's been talking about her BIG poo. Too funny.

2 & 3 months

Camille is 3 months can you believe it? The long NICU days are long behind us and she's sure proving she can grow up just as fast as her big sister has. Her adjusted age is 1 month though and she acts more like a 1 month old than she does a 3 month old. She is starting to interact with things around her like you can tell she is interested at things she is looking at and she is startled by noises. When Maylie talks to her her eyes get really big. It's so funny. She is also awake for maybe an hour or so during the day (apart from the time that she is eating and pooping). She likes to be held and I wish I could hold her all day but unfortunately she spends most of her time in her bed. She's a really good baby though. Even when she is fussy it's like she is fussy but she does it quietly because she feels bad being fussy. Anyway she's a doll.

Here is her and her great-great grandmother. She came to our house to see her and I forgot to take a picture and couldn't believe it. So we went braved the kids and went to great-great grandma's birthday party so we could snap one. I don't think a lot of people have a great-great alive so I think it's pretty special.This is her- "'I'm about to spit up all over you" face. Here is cute Maylie. She looks kind of like a robot in this picture but for some reason I decided to take pictures of her while she was eating and this was the only one where she wasn't sucking the food out of the bowl. I tell ya I have the best kids. Maylie is such a help. When Camille was born we were having to put her in time out a lot but nowadays she is such a good listener and does what we ask usually the first time and if not then before we count to 3 :). The only exception is when it's time to leave her cousin Kamrie. She gets so sad and throws a fit. Her hair is long enough for back pig tails which honestly I'm in love with. Her imagination is so much fun. It cracks me up the things she thinks of and the little adventures we go on.

So 2 kids has not been as bad as I was expecting- which is good because I think I was expecting the worse. I'm still terrified to take both of them to get groceries. Our first experience "out" was at the aviary. And everything was going fine and I was thinking, "taking two kids out isn't as bad as I thought." ...until it was time to feed Camille. I went and found a bench away from everyone and I sat Maylie next to me with a handi-snack. Camille still can't eat well under a blanket so I'm not as covered as I probably should be when I feed her-I'm over it- but I'm sure the people around me aren't. Anyway so I'm a bit indecent and this peacock comes up and see's that Maylie has food and he keeps inching closer and closer. Maylie starts crying and trying to climb over me to the other side of the bench. I'm asking her what's wrong but between her crying and her full mouth I can't figure out what she's saying. I finally figure it out probably exposing myself like 10 times because I'm trying not to drop either of my children. I get May set up in the stroller hoping it would close her off from the problem causing bird but he just came over to the other side and kept inching closer and closer and would not be shooed. May is terrified and has a total melt down- Camille is crying because she's trying to eat and her food source keeps getting ripped from her mouth. And I'm sure the 8 year old boy who walked by at this point is scared for life because he saw my boob. So I close up the milk shop buckle Camille in and we basically sprint to the exit. I turned on the dvd player in the car and finished feeding Camille in there and then we went home all very frazzled.

None of our following trips to various places have been bad at all but I'm still scared. You can't just leave the store when you have a cart full of groceries so what do you do if a peacock is wandering wal-mart and decides he wants your kids lunch?

Some Thoughts

1. How did anyone learn how to do anything before google? Seriously I never ever would've known that there were so many ways to kill ants, make meatloaf, and use fabric scraps.

2. Speaking of google- yuck. I was putting together an FHE for tonight and needed a picture of a chick. Apparently that's a bad thing to google image. I did find a chick but also saw the nastiest picture of a fat lady (I mean whale fat and probably can't move) naked blah. Why does that even come up and who thinks of that coming up when they want a picture of a cute fluffy yellow chick?

3.I hate Wal-Marts 1 hour photo. The pictures are like looking at someone with too much make-up on only it's the whole photo.

4. I really really want to paint May's room and the playroom. The neutral brown color does not do the bright home decor any favors.

5. I weighed myself today. I'm 13 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight- no wonder I'm busting out of my pants. It's crazy that I was pregnant longer and had a bigger baby the first time around but weighed less than I did before I was pregnant and this time around gained more. Although I'm not so sure that most of that was not from eating peanut butter eggs during Easter. I need to find an exercise I like to do. I would love to try Zumba but that would require a baby sitter which makes things too complicated for right now. I'm thinking maybe jump roping!

6. I've had 2 facebook friends in the past 2 months put up labor updates in their status updates. LABOR updates? As in, "I'm now dilated to an 8." How are they doing this? Shouldn't they be busy with...I dunno...birthing a baby!?!

7. Parks and Rec has surpassed the office for my favorite show. And I was so excited for the Will Ferrel guest star and it was definitely not all it was cracked up to be. Too bad. I'm voting for Jim Carrey as the next boss but Zach says he heard it was Will Arnett which could be pretty funny too. If it's Raymond I quit I'm not watching he drives me too crazy.

8. My wonderful husband has been working so hard on our lawn and it still looks terrible. Zach says I have to be patient-I hate being patient.

9. How do you wash a newborns front portion of neck? It is the stinkiest part of them and the hardest to get at. Probably that's why it's the stinkiest part.

10. I am loving this nice weather. Seriously why does winter ever have to come?

The Girls

What a perfect smile in this picture. This my friends only comes along once in a thousand pictures. Love this picture. I didn't realize I didn't put shoes on her until I was looking at them in photo shop but I actually really like her barefoot-she's always barefoot anyway!

Sweet Camille.

If you don't think these are the cutest little feet in the world (aside from your own children's of course) I will fight you.

I know this looks suspiciously like they are pretending to be Nazi's but I promise they aren't. May was copying everything Camille did with her hands. It was so cute.

Camille was laying down so May had to lay down with her too. Shortly after this picture she ran and got her pillow and blanket so they could match.

This is the first time May got to hold Camille. She was so excited. We took May with us to the hospital to pick Camille up when I walked out the NICU door she was sitting right there and she got the hugest smile on her face "Baby Sister!"

May adores her. She loves to hold her and is always asking Camille if she wants something. We've had to go to a lot of doctors appointments and May is just so protective and so concerned it just makes me smile. It is funny though when I'm holding Camille or feeding her and May wants me to come play she tells me it's time for baby to take a nap. So funny.

Camille is just a little sweetheart. She hardly cries at all-even when she's hungry! I've put her right by our bed at night and the only reason I know she's awake is she starts snorting trying to suck on her hands.

I'm so grateful for both my little girls and their wonderful Daddy!

Easter Dresses

Matching outfits are pretty fun, even when they aren't seen together. Neither daughter was terribly coopertive with these pictures. Maylie would not look at the camera and Camille kept putting her hands in front of her face, they must be sisters!

3 weeks

I'm sure you will get tired of these updates but this is as close to journaling as I get so it must be done. Camille made some huge strides this week. She had her first bottle. She is taking 4 feedings orally every 24 hours. She is out of her isolette and in a regular crib. She reached 4 lbs woot! She had her first bath. They give them swaddle baths- I wish I had known what this was when May was a newborn it was great! She seems like such a sweet natured baby but I'm not there all the time so maybe she's super fussy when I'm gone. Either way she's adorable. We've had our primary nurses for most of the week which I gotta say makes all the difference in the world. I hate getting an obnoxious nurse. Story time. I thought that I would make a video for May showing where we go to see Camille how we wash our hands at the sink. Camille's room at the hospital, the milk that I pump at home and take there and then show her Camille in her crib and one of us holding her. I thought it was such a good idea and you know thought, "Wow, good job mom." Our nurse sent home a coloring book with us after we told her what we were doing. Well I showed May the video and she loved it-but then I showed her the coloring book. In the coloring book it shows a little girl washing her hands at the sink-just like dada did. Going to the babies room at the hospital-just like mama did and holding the baby just like we both did. After that she started saying how she wanted to go to the doctors and wash her hands and see baby Camille. So I told her, no I'm sorry you can't go. So then she started saying how we needed to go to the doctor and wake baby Camille up and bring her home. So I had to tell her again no, I'm sorry you can't go. She was SO heartbroken. It was the saddest thing ever. So then I felt like the worst mom in the world for ruining her sweet ignorance. Poor girl. It's just a testament though about how excited I think she'll be when Camille actually gets to come home.

2 weeks

I love love love my two little girls. They are such sweethearts and I feel so blessed to have them in our family. I can't believe my baby is already 2 weeks old-at the same time I feel like it's been a life time of being at the NICU all the time. It's been so hard for me to have someone tell me when I can hold my baby and how long I can hold her. And knowing that it's the time I can hold her and having to wait until a nurse gets a second to come get her out for me. It's frustrating. I'm glad I get to at least hold her though because I know some babies can't be touched at all for a while.

Her isolate. Stretching out. She is usually all snuggled and tucked into that little bed thing at the bottom. The orange tube in her nose is the feeding tube and then everything else on her is just measuring her heart rate and oxygen. Her cute little feet. I was looking at some newborn size shoes someone gave us when May was born and I laughed because Camille would be able to fit 4 of her size feet in one shoe.I adore this picture. I was trying to wake her up so she could try to eat. We've been doing non-nutritive breast feeding for about a week (I pump before she tries to eat so she doesn't actually get anything). But Saturday they let me try nursing her for real. She did ok the first time but was just really sleepy. Yesterday though she ate like a champ and even burped. Go Camille! The nurses say that around 36 weeks (the measure in gestational age at not her actual age) most babies kind of stop eating because they go through a huge growth spurt and just want to sleep. Hopefully she keeps up the good eating.

Zach, the proud Dad. He is so sweet with her I just love it. This is only the second time he has gotten to hold her. She looks big to me in these pictures but when you are holding her you feel like you're going to lose her or break her because she's so small.

We are doing well. Our whole family is exhausted in every form of the word but we have lots of good people taking care of us. My mom and sister-in-law have been watching May. I don't think she's minded too much she loves going to play with her cousins and to see grandma and grandpa. I am so impressed with our ward and how great they have been when most of the people don't even know us. It's been really nice. Also, I have been so thankful for all the positive little messages our friends have sent our way. I must shout out to Caytee (and Preston but I'm sure it was mostly Caytee). She made the cutest little things for Camille and she brought us a dinner, and cookies, and drove it all the way up from Provo. Thanks Caytee! One day I will be super awesome like her. This whole experience has made me want to be more Christlike and more concerned about others. Thank you to everyone who has been such a good example to me and how I should strive to be these past two weeks. I love you so much for it!