The Elwood Family

So Long Helmet! - Almost!

2012-02-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

Today Addison had her helmet check up and they did measurements of her head to see what kind of progress she has made.

We got awesome news that she is probably going to be getting the helmet off a month early! I know the numbers will just confuse you guys, but to put things into a bit of perspective.

She started off at 96.4%

She is currently at 90.6%

She needs to be at or under 86%

Don't ask... just smile and nod. LOL!

I am really happy it is doing exactly what it needs to, and so quickly. Her specialist was extremely impressed with her progress, even though we lost some wear time in the past month with her two bouts with fevers.

Overall I am so happy for my baby girl and honestly I will not be sad to see it go. Because I know she secretly hates it.

Happy 9 Months Addie!

2012-01-30T18:28:00.000-08:00

I know I have been slacking big time lately, but life is crazy in the Elwood Household.

Today Addie turned 9 months old. It made me wonder where all the time has gone... but I took some great pictures of her. With, and without clothes since she isn't a huge fan of getting dressed these days.

She also thought the owl sticker for her shirt was something to eat.

It seems like whenever I sit down to do photos with her, she always starts out with a picture looking up, and I know when she does this she is saying I love you to her Auntie Dawn.

I love baby feet!

Example of Addie trying to eat her owl sticker.

Celebrating Christmas

2011-12-31T08:58:00.000-08:00

I know I posted a hand full of pictures that I took with my cell phone on Christmas day, but I wanted to share all the pictures I took of our family, while celebrating with our extended family on Christmas Day.

It was a quiet day overall, which was nice. The weeks leading up to Christmas were just way too crazy for us!

This was the best picture I could get of the kids first thing in the morning. Camden wasn't too happy to be awake, even though Santa came. It also didn't help that Will and I were like little kids and woke them all up. Well... Ben and Camden at least.

Ben was showing Grandpa Mo Mo his InnoTab and new Dora the Explorer book. I think my Dad was completely fascinated by it. Maybe he will get an InnoTab next Christmas? LOL!

We were all extremely thankful Will didn't have to work on Christmas day. He was originally put into a "lottery" and was 9th on the list to work that day. Oh the joys of being a Supervisor now right?

I love these pictures... it really shows what a character Camden is. Can you tell where he gets it from?

Daddy and Addie... I wish you could see her big glittery bow on the front of her dress!

I love this picture too... My mom looks so happy, and so do the kids. Well, this is Camden's "shy" face that he has when you put him on the spot.

On Mom's Christmas tree... The Angel with Dawn's name on it I found for her, and my baby ornament. Sisters together... forever.

It was extremely hard to get through Christmas without Dawn. The day included a lot of tears all the way around, mainly my mother and I.

Ben loves Grandma, but hates taking pictures... I think this is the best picture we got of him all day besides the one with Grandpa when he wasn't paying attention! They all go through that stage right?

Addie and "Auntie" Courtney, she is really my cousin making her their second cousin, but we call her Auntie... and she loves it!

I tried to get the boys to take a picture with me... lost cause. So I got Addison since she is the only one who can't say no...yet!

For once I got in front of the camera for the holidays.

Here is to a beautiful, successful, and happy 2012 from our family to yours!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T07:33:00.000-08:00

2011 has been a really hard year for everyone in our family, and if it wasn't for the birth of our daughter, I could probably say not much good has come from the year. BUT! She is here, and we are heading into 2012 and hoping for a great year!

We celebrated Christmas with my parents, aunt, cousin, and friends of our family like we do every year. I got some really great pictures of the kids I wanted to share. I still have to upload my full stash from my camera though!

Addie and Grandma

Ben and Grandpa reading Dora on his InnoTab.

I think Grandpa was most interested in the book!

Finally a holiday I got a good picture with my husband!

I will update with more pictures once the craziness settles down a little bit and I am able to actually sit down with my camera and upload some of the pictures I took.

I am also going to really try and go out of my way to keep our family blog current for 2012. I really fell off the family blog bandwagon when Dawn got sick, and I still want to be able to share with our family who isn't local to us.

Grandma and the Playground

2011-11-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

I have been going to visit my mother a lot since we lost my sister. I know it is hard for her, and I know the kids are a nice momentary distraction, of course until they start trying to kill each other. LOL!

We went to visit grandma today and head to the playground they just put in by her house. It is actually the playground I used to play on as a child, but they put up a whole new playground. New equipment that is. It is amazing, and the boys can do almost everything on it all by

themselves.

It was beautiful out, and probably one of the last park days we are going to have before the weather starts to get harsh. Another reason I hate New England... Long winters INSIDE!

Anyway! We had a blast, and so did Grandma! I am sure she is going to kill me for sharing these pictures, but it was great to see her let down her hair a bit and have fun with the kids!

I got stuck on top of one of the playscapes you can climb to the top of... LOL

Halloween

2011-11-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween! It is my second favorite holiday of the year, so of course I got all into it with the kids this year. We made a Mr. Frankenstein Head Pumpkin, decorated the front, and of course come Halloween morning, I made Halloween Baskets... no joke!

Despite a giant snow storm where we ended up with 8... yes EIGHT inches of snow in our yard, Halloween went on without a delay on Monday night. Camden decided to be a clown this year, after he first decided to be a cow, then a fireman, and changed his mind in the Halloween store itself.

Ben was a little bit different, he was undecided all along. He wanted to be Buzz Lightyear, then Scooby Doo, then he wanted to be a Piggy when Camden decided to be a cow. Well in the end, Elmo it was. He wanted to be Elmo somewhere along the line, and I just picked it and went with it. It was a warm costume too!

Addie was an Owl, and I am sure no one was surprised by that. LOL!

I got a couple pictures of the boys first. They were anxious to get going, and Addie was snoozing in her swing. She fell asleep right after I got her into her costume. My luck right?

See! How cute is she there?

Thankfully I finally got him to let go of his collar and convinced him the sweat shirt under his costume was not going to wipe his face paint off. I was actually intimidated by the whole face paint thing. I have never done it before and I was planning on pawning the task off on Will, but he got stuck at work.

Yes, I was solo with these three...

But I survived... I was stressed but we survived, and went to our local Trick-Or-Trunk instead of going door to door. It worked out well, and both of the boys were content with it.

Pumpkin Picking

2011-10-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

Every year we take a day and go up to Pumpkin Seed Hill for pumpkin picking right here in our town. Well this year Daddy couldn't come with us because of his new work schedule, so I enlisted my best friend Hilary, who also has an ass ton of kids. Four boys to be exact... and off we went.

Lets do the math on this one... 6 boys, and one girl, which all 6 boys doted on the whole trip. It was adorable!

I got a couple really great pictures, although I wasn't able to get many on the hayride since Addie decided on the bumpy hayride she needed to breastfeed right at that moment!

The theme of the pumpkin patch this year is Nautical Connecticut, which I absolutely love since I grew up on an Oyster boat, and went to the Aquaculture school for High School! I also love that my nephew is following in my foot steps and going to the same high school!

I love how most of the boys want nothing to do with the picture. Can you tell they were forced to pose together? This was one of the only pictures we got them ALL in. HA!

This is the picture where I realize Camden's cowlick is completely out of control and I am glad we brought him and Ben for haircuts a couple days after this!

These are our pumpkins we took home. A total of 5!

One for each member of the family!

The one picture I was able to get of Camden on the hayride before Addie demanded to eat.

We had an awesome time. I am still kind of bummed out we didn't make it to the Apple Orchard this year. Typically we always take a Sunday and go to Lyman Orchards, but the Sunday we would have used for that this year was occupied with a trip to the Clinton Fire Department for their open house. We were going to head to an orchard local to them, but they unfortunately closed because of the crop damage done by Hurricane Irene.

Maybe next year right?

Now to just convince Will to get a real Christmas tree this year so we can go and cut it down. Not likely but I am going to try!

They Are Growing!

2011-10-14T13:41:00.001-07:00

I got some great pictures of the kids out in the yard about two weeks ago. It is incredibly hard to get them all in one place, or in one picture, but isn't that life?

I wanted to share since I have been horrible keeping up with our blog in the past two months!

He loves her, and she tolerates him. I think once she is a little older she will like him a tad bit

more. For now most of her expressions are "Get out of my face kid"

Ben had no interest in taking any posed pictures at all. He just wanted to hang out with Nana

and play with his new Thomas the Train and Friends set.

I caught this one, and it was priceless. It is moments like this I am so glad I invested in a DSLR

camera when I did. This is a moment of Addison tolerating Camden.

PROOF! Finally I have proof that my three year old has a tongue like Gene Simmons! His

newest trick is touching his tongue to his nose. I think he learned it at school.

Look at these two. Don't they just look like they are ready to get into trouble? Ha! Oh, and see the number the kids pool did to my grass this summer? I hate that thing!

I am hoping to get our photos from the Farm up in the next couple days as well. In the next couple weeks we are going to the Apple Orchard, Pumpkin Picking, and our annual trip to the circus.

Camden has been waiting since we went last year to go again, and then he saw the commercial on TV! I almost wish he wasn't old enough to realize what commercials mean sometimes! LOL

And She Is At Peace

2011-10-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

My sister lost her battle with on again, off again illness last week. Friday to be exact. The 7th of October. I think she was waiting for the 7th because she would always tells us that 7 was God's number.

She left this world the way she lived, quiet, peaceful, and without a lot of pomp. (In the words of my aunt) She was simply sick of being sick.

The last two months have probably been the hardest of my life. Through it all I have been trying desperately to keep it together for my kids. I love my sister, I miss her more than anything, but I have to maintain a level of acceptable grief for the kids, because they can tell something is not right.

Her last months filled me with so many what ifs'. Wishing some things had been done differently. What if the last four years had been played out

differently. Choices in both of our lives had drifted us to an unacceptable distance from what we always had been. But I mainly place the blame on a person, not her, and not myself.

Something I will carry with me forever.

Growing up we were two peas in a pod even though we had such a big age difference. When I was sick she was the only person I wanted, and as I got older, especially in my teen years, she was my rock. She still is my rock. She will always be my rock.

I don't think that I really have come to terms that she is gone. I almost think that in the back of my head it is all just a dream, and she is going to walk through my front door, or show up at Christmas dinner.

I don't think it really is going to hit me for a while.

In her last months I became her big sister, her protector. She only wanted me. She wanted me

calling the hospital, and talking to the doctors. She wanted me at her side feeding her mashed potatoes from KFC (one of the only things she would eat) she wanted me going to her house

and getting her favorite t-shirt or glasses...

I don't think I will ever accept the diagnosis of an incurable brain infection. It was like something out of a scifi movie, or the lifetime tv special of the week. I am kind of pissed at the medical community as well... nothing they could do for her? That is some bullshit right there...

I was given the task of writing her obituary, and eulogy. How can you sum up your big sister in front of a room of friends and family? You really can't but I did the best I could. I am sure I left a lot out... I know I left a lot out. I couldn't put all of my favorite memories into it or we would have been there all night.

But I wanted to share with those who couldn't be there with us last night.

Where can I even start?
There are truly no simple words in the to sum up the world win life my big sister lead. And it is no secret to all of those who knew her.

Her name came from my mothers thumbaleena doll, and truly fit her as she grew over the years. Her petite little frame which became a joke in her later years because her little sister was giving her hand me down clothes. A little backwards right?
But the true meaning of the name Dawn means sunrise. When we all think about the light she brought into our lives, and how she lived her own, sunrise...sunshine... anything to do with the fresh slate of a new day fits her perfectly.

Every person who came in contact with Dawn could tell she was special but no one could ever place their finger on why.
I can tell you today...
The truth is Dawn is an angel, always has been. She was placed here on earth to watch over all of us, and touch us all in one way or another and I can certainly say she accomplished that!

George Elliot Said:
"The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand. The angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone."
Now you all know Dawn was your angel.
And remember every time you hear a bell ring, an angel gets their wings.

She always pushed limits in life, she never settled for simple. She was too extraordinary to settle for anything less than everything she wanted. And she went for it.

Her greatest accomplishment in life was her boys. Dylan and Jacob were the light of her life. She would do anything, and did anything for her sons. And in these hard days there are no words we can all say to comfort them, but keeping her memory and love alive for them is most important.

Motherhood is the one thing in all the world which most truly exemplifies the God-given virtues of creating and sacrificing.
And that is what Dawn did.

Dawn could talk… and any of you that ever got one of her phone calls middle of dinner, or after bed time phone calls from her knew it. She always had something to go on and on about.

It wasn't until late Friday night my mother and I looked at each other and our disbelief of her passing became real. Solidified by no more two hour long chat sessions in which we sat on the other end saying "Uh huh" "Yup" "Oh" and "Ok I gotta go, I will call you back"
If I could take back all those times I hung up… I would, just to have her back.

I don't think Dawn ever advanced past 1989. She loved everything 80's. From her bright blue mascara, to her collection of hair band ballads. True story… one time Dawn actually dragged me to see Journey, Styx, and REO Speedwagon. She laid down in the back seat of the car, and demanded Frank drive till we got to Hartford, and we had a blast.
Those are the memories I will cherish.

Dawn wouldn't want us all to sit around crying about her death. She would probably kick all of our asses for crying. She may have been tiny, but I wouldn't mess with her! She would want us all to celebrate her life, and all the good memories.

Because this is not goodbye… it is just a see ya later!

Goodbyes are not forever.
Goodbyes are not the end.
They simply mean I'll miss you
Until we meet again!

Our Grandmother who couldn't be with us today wanted me to express how much she truly loves Dawn and misses her. She said "Till we meet again"

I leave you today with Footprints. One of Dawn's favorite poems she always had in her home.
Remember right now, we are all being carried.

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

Happy Five Months Addie!

2011-10-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

Addison turned five months old this week, and she also had her check up with our pediatrician.

She is doing awesome, making all her milestones, sitting up, and of course trying incrediblyhard to bring a little tooth to the surface of her gums. Teething isn't even the word forwhat she is doing.

She is now in all of her 3-6 month clothes, even though she can still fit into a hand full of 0-3 month things. But all of her baby shoes, excluding her Robeez, are still too big. I guess she is

going to have small feet like I do!

She is starting to pay attention to things, surroundings, and people more. When I took this picture Ben was over to the side distracting her. "Baby goo gooo!" That is what he calls her.

She loves playing in her crib, which is the most attention the crib gets, although I am considering putting her in there at night because she is sleeping for longer stretches at night. She loves sitting in there playing with her owl pillow, baby doll, or whatever toy of the day she has.

She is a cuddlier, and a Daddy's girl. When Will comes home for the day she lights up like a Christmas tree... No lie!

She is still breastfeeding great. Since she turned 4 months old we have done brown rice cereal one day a week, and she is finally starting to get the hang of it, but not overly interested. One day at a time right?

Her stats? She is 13 pounds 2 ounces, and 24 inches tall! She is growing great, and her pediatrician is completely happy with her growth and development, as am I. I am not overly worried about weight or anything else this time around, I am just enjoying our little girl and

soaking up the amazing job of being a mom!

Oh and I captured this picture today, and it totally melts my heart... The boys love her so much!

I think this is a framed mantel kind of picture!

I just wish I could get Ben into pictures these days!

First Day of School

2011-09-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

Today Camden headed to school for the first time... on his own of course. I took a ton of pictures.

Before leaving the house, he was checking out the kids at the corner bus stop

Getting into the van

All strapped in

Walking to the doors

Getting ready to go inside

Outside of his classroom...

I am still in shock that my first born is in the 4 year old pre-school room at school. Wow! Time flies right?

In the upcoming weeks I will remain pretty quiet as we are cherishing the last months and weeks of my beautiful sisters life. It comes to us all as a shock.

Blues on the Beach

2011-08-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we met up with my parents at Short Beach in Stratford for Blues on the Beach. I have to say, I didn't think it was going to be as fun as it was! Even Will had a great time! I especially enjoyed not only dancing with the kids on the beach as the sunset, but dancing with my wonderful husband.

I took a ton of pictures, so I can't share them all, but these probably have to be my favorites!

Ben decided he wanted to take over Grandma's beach chair!

Will caught this one... I LOVE this picture!

This picture couldn't describe life any better, especially for the boys with Will... This is how all 3 of them spend most of the day/night.

But they realize there are times they need to be calm and gentle. Mainly around Addie!

Another great picture, descriptive of life!

Daddy's little girl!

I love this one too!

Feeding Addie

Peace!

Dirty Little Boys

2011-07-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

Only a few short hours after the boys were clean, slept, and then woke up, my father came by so Will could help him load on our spare dryer since theirs kicked the bucket last week.

Little did Dad know he was going to end up helping Will shovel a ton of dirt we need to lay around our yard. Earlier in the spring we had our front walk finished finally. Will had started it 2+ years ago when he was laid off, and virtually the week after it was all ripped up, he got a call back about a job he had interviewed for, and had no time to finish.

Well now we are leveling out portions of the yard, including the front where the new walk went in... and the dogs pen in the back yard because so much dirt has washed away in the couple years we have been here.

So needless to say the boys have been eying the giant pile of 13 yards of dirt since it was delivered at the start of the week. It had been WAY too hot to go out and play in it though... so with the cool down yesterday, Mommy dealing with the baby, and Daddy and Grandpa watching the boys they took full advantage of it...

This is what I came outside to after feeding Addison...

Thanks to Grandpa MoMo for the fun, although now my bath tub needs a nice cleaning too! Maybe I can get him to come over and clean it for me since this was his bright idea!

There are no words

2011-07-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

Ever hear a song, or have a moment that no words can describe to you? Well this afternoon after returning home from a ton of fun including pediatrician appointments, and lunch, a song came on the radio and it solidified how extremely lucky I am to have three amazing, beautiful, smart, and loving kids.

I cannot imagine my life without them, or my amazing husband.

I took some great pictures of the kids on Sunday when we went to visit Grandma, so I thought I would share. :)

Fail at trying to get all the kids in one picture...

World's best picture of Camden!

I love this dress!
($4.00 on clearance at Carters!)

It is so hard to get a picture of Ben these days.
He refuses to stop and pose!

The hose is one of our favorite toys when it is this hot out!

Addie staring at Grandma

Ben and his ice cream... Of course he made a mess! LOL
What else is new?

Camden really isn't a fan of pictures these days either...

Addie truly has my exotic bird hair although it is so cute on here huh?

Camden looks really amused huh? Brotherly love!

Busy Times!

2011-07-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

Well, one sick child, crafting, and just life in general has kept me from updating the past almost two weeks. Things have been insane with different activities, negotiating for a new writing gig (I promise I will give you the details once I can!) and changed with the fire house.

I also decided to re-open my Etsy store with encouragement from friends and family who love the hair accessories I have been making for Addison. So I took the plunge, ordered a ton of wholesale supplies and started the crafting process.

So, some pictures from the past couple weeks...

Some of the hair clips I made... (Tons more styles, just haven't photographed them all yet)

The boys wanted to join Addie on her play mat

Great picture of the boys... Addie was less than amused...

And this picture came next...
I love this onsie though... My cousin Courtney, or as the kids know her "Auntie Courtney" made it for Addison!

The next couple days, and weeks is going to bring a lot of busy work, travel with the kids, and day trips. I will be sure to include updates from that... I have been seriously slacking! Sorry!

4th of July

2011-07-05T06:48:00.000-07:00

We did a ton this weekend, but two out of the three days I forgot my camera at home. While I am super bummed out about that... it also enabled me to have a good time without sticking behind a camera the whole time.

I still had my iPhone camera too, so it wasn't all that bad if I wanted to grab a picture.

Yesterday we went to a picnic at a friends house... on a farm! The kids were super excited about it, and they had a blast. Ben was completely fearless around the horses... He would have walked right into their pen to play if we let him, yet the Bunny Rabbit flipped him out... Oh well!

A couple of the horses... and yes those are mini horses too... OMG they were so cute! And they actually were "rescue" horses. I have never heard of it, but I guess all kinds of animals became rescue at some point unfortunately.

One of the sheep...Dad and his best friend's motorcycles with the horses "Jake and Elwood" haha!

And lastly... the video of the horses playing in the water Camden gave them in their big tub. I have never seen horses play in water like that! One put his whole face all the way up to his eyes into the tub!

Happy Two Months Addie!

2011-06-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

Today Addison is two months old. It is hard to believe it, but she certainly is growing like a weed every day! She has almost doubled her weight since she was born too... its amazing!

She is now 9 pounds 8 ounces per our home scale.
Some of her favorite activities include:

Chewing on her hands or as we call them her handburgers.
Smiling! All kinds of smiles! Awake, asleep... and they are getting bigger by the day!
Tummy Time, although shes not a huge fan of it after a while, she enjoys it more than she was, especially for a short period of time!

Her dislikes include:

Bath time
Her brothers waking her up
And I can no longer eat anything buffalo, or hot dogs... We found that out the hard way, and it made for a ROUGH night!

And now for our two month photo shoot:

Birthday and Beach Pictures

2011-06-28T08:38:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we went to my parents house with the kids for cake, and to "celebrate" my birthday with my family. Since my Dad is working on Saturdays now, we jused used our typical Sunday Dinner for the celebration which included my favorite... ice cream cake!

We also took the kids to the beach so we could collect rocks for a craft project I am working on for my website in the upcoming weeks.

Addie hanging out in the stroller before we left for our walk

Daddy climbing the rocks

Cuddling his little girl

For once I am in front of the camera... LOL!

Enjoying the beach

Putting her feet in the water for the first time!

The boys playing

Ben with the shoes that we magically didn't make it back to the house with... He threw them out of the wagon somewhere along the way, and we haven't seen them since.

Addie going back to sleep... with her sea view...

The only thing I asked for... My ice cream cake!

Blowing out my candle... Haha!
Apparently I am 1.

Me and Camden, and Addie... I got way red at the beach!
Happy 26!
My Mom, Ben, Camden, Me, and Addie...

Happy Birthday!

2011-06-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

This week I celebrated my 26th birthday by spending the day with my family at the zoo! I can't think of a better way either! We had a blast!

We are members at the local zoo (Beardsley Zoo) so we can go unlimited times during our calendar year membership, it never gets old. It just so happened that this weekend was "animal enrichment day" when we went, and we got to see all the different things they do to help the animals basically have fun. It was really neat!

Backyard Play

2011-06-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

One of the things I was so excited about three years ago when we moved into this house was having a real yard. And this year we added a ton of fun stuff to our already exciting bikes, sandbox and swings...

A swing set, a play house, a picnic table (for downstairs we already have another on the upstairs deck) there is also a basketball hoop I didn't get in the picture. Our days have become more and more exciting because of not having to leave the yard for a slide, or "cool" swings.

I took a couple pictures of the kids playing with Will over the weekend out in the yard.

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Ben!
Camden peeking out of the play house with his ice cream

Camden hiding Daddy inside the play house... LOL
Daddy trying to get out of the play house...

Addie even got to swing!

Project Pre-School

2011-06-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

Now that Camden is officially potty trained, and over the whole "accident" thing... well of course I know they can still happen, but we are going on two weeks without any... I am starting to look into part time pre-school programs for the fall.

For the past year Camden has visited frequently with a friend of mine who runs an in home day care, and also does a lot of pre-school type stuff with the children in her care, but I wanted to get him into a program that would officially be "pre-school" in hopes of having him to go Kindergarten in the fall of 2012.

I am not sure what the laws are now, but I know he would be fully prepared for a half day Kindergarten come that time, heck I think he is ready now, but he is too young.

So we have it narrowed down to three places...

One is $195 a month for 3 days a week...
One is $225 a month for 3 days a week...
and the last one will lose my business if they don't return my call by 5pm today since I have left two messages since Monday.
The only reason I haven't black listed them yet is because they are the closest school to our house. UGH!

It is so hard for me to believe my little boy is getting ready for school. I totally dropped the ball on getting him enrolled early though. Some of the places I called were already full because I waited so long, but I waited because I didnt know if he would be fully potty trained by the fall, and didn't want to lose out on the enrollment fee's if he wasn't ready in time.

I am so proud of him!

Father's Day

2011-06-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing Father's Day yesterday! I took a ton of pictures... even though the boys really wanted nothing to do with their pictures getting taken for once. I think they are starting to get to that age now. Which makes me sad because I love doing pictures of them!

We spent the day with my parents at their house, and the boys had a blast! Camden is already asking when he can go back of course because he has his fleet of fire trucks at Grandma's house.

Ben in one of the many fire trucks. He parked it "back at the fire house"
Addie going to town on her handburgers which is one of her new favorite things to do!
Another handburger shot
Camden overcoming the fact that he hates water on his head/face. Thank god because bath time has been getting quite dramatic because of this!I love this picture because Addie is looking right back at Grandma. Priceless!

And then here she is deep in thought... More with Camden and the water. The only time I could really get pictures of him was when he truly wasn't paying attention to what I was doing with the camera!
Just another one of Addie I love!That pink thing in his hands is a Minnie Mouse alarm clock that hasn't worked in probably a decade. It was mine when I was in elementary school and the boys love the thing! I guess my parents REALLY got their money worth on that one!

I got him to look for this one because I told him he needs to show the "Fellas" at the fire house HIS fire trucks!

I love this one, although she had the sun in her eyes and was squinting a little bit!
Grandma and Addie again... I love her hair in this one. She certainly got my exotic bird hair as we call it in our house.And this is how Camden lined everything up in the backyard before we left for the day.
Ben was more interested in eating the toy camera than pretending he was taking pictures of me as I was taking pictures of him. LOL
Addie wasn't really amused about being on the grass even though she was on a blanket!

Grandpa and Addie
Daddy and Addie... Because Will hid from my camera ALL day too!

Addie & Ben's Check Ups!

2011-06-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

First I will start off with Ben! He had his 2 year check up last Friday and it went great! He is 25 pounds and has grown 3 inches since he last check up in December. A huge gain, which I am not surprised about... pretty soon he will be passing Camden right by!

It was a little bit of a traumatic appointment though, so I am really glad Will was able to come with us. He had to have his finger pricked to check his iron levels, which I guess is pretty typical. On top of that he got his DTaP vaccine, one of the ones we have decided to have the kids get. And last, but probably the most traumatic, he had to get blood drawn to test for led. Apparently we did the same thing for Camden at his 2 year visit, but I didn't remember. I think it was more traumatic for me than him.

He also got about 6 stickers out of the deal. We really love our pediatrician, and I am so glad we found her right after Ben was born. We were happy with our old Pedi... although the office staff sucked! We were sad to go, but not sad to say goodbye to the office itself!

Then there was Addie's 6 week check up on Friday as well. She is growing like a weed! She was up to 7 pounds 14 ounces at that visit, and at 21 inches... Meaning she has grown an inch and a half, and gained over 2 pounds since birth, and she is gaining daily!

I am certainly again, excited that breastfeeding is going so well this time around. Even though she is a snacker I know she is getting everything she needs! She is also making huge hurdles with milestones like the length of time she is holding her head up, how she is following things and people with her eyes, and stuff like that. The pediatrician was surprised how long she could hold her head up on her own. (Dr. D also has a baby exactly one week older than Addie)

In the past week Addie has been staying up longer and becoming more aware of things going on around her for sure. She likes the baby carriers better than she did. I have been able to wear her in the Ergo as well as the Mei Tai this week for different things.

She is also starting to finally out grow her newborn clothes. Only a couple more wears out of a couple outfits, and then they are going to get packed away. I am going to be so sad to see some of them go since they are incredibly cute!

The Butterfly Project

2011-06-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the second annual Butterfly memorial release for The Shelton Butterfly project, a local charity near and dear to me that I have been involved with for two years. We had a lot of fun, and were incredibly happy that the sun came out!

I took a couple pictures with my phone, which I am going to use in this post because I haven't downloaded the ones from my camera yet. I will put those up later in the week.

Another side note I just want to mention... Camden was out in big boy underwear ALL DAY with not ONE accident! I am so proud!

Camden getting his face painted

He wanted to be a tiger!

Then Daddy had to get his done too!

Camden and Daddy with their cool face paint!

There was an animal rescue group there, and of course Will had to hang out with the Parrot!

We took the last couple butterfly's we had and brought them home to release in our backyard. After we released this one, it landed on Addie, and stayed long enough for me to actually get a picture of it. I guess we really did have angels among us yesterday!

Proud Mom!

2011-06-12T06:13:00.001-07:00

This week has brought a ton of accomplishments for our boys becoming "big boys" and I couldn't be more happy!

First... The boys have been sleeping in their beds, all night long. No coming into my bed... no getting up 2-3 times a night, no issue staying in their bed... nothing!

This is a huge accomplishment for both boys. Ben because he has been used to sleeping in an enclosed area whether it is a crib, or playpen. Camden because he had no interest in leaving my bed at all, and it was becoming a nightmarish situation!

Second, we have officially finally rid Camden of diapers 100%! He had been using cloth diapers, and underwear for a couple weeks, but after an overnight trip to Grandma's house, we haven't had one single accident. I am beyond ecstatic because it has been a really long process with him. Most of the tricks that people suggested simply did not work.

I am planning on writing a long post about the process because it was so unique, but I am sure there are other mothers out there who had a child in the same exact position, and went through the same process the way we did. And when I say I tried everything... I tried everything short of duct taping him to the toilet all day.

It is weeks like this that the stress of motherhood truly meets the blessings mothers are given.

Lets hope this coming week will be as good!