Overprotective....

Cade's not overprotective or anything....

He only piled every pillow in our living room behind Camryn.  He hates to hear her cry.  Discipline should be interesting in a few years.

Power Point

I don’t know if it is a state wide thing or a local thing but Computers are a big part of the 4th grade curriculum in Miller. The kids sit 2 to a desk and there is a computer on each one. Cade has made all sorts of things on the computer. They’ve learned how to make brochures and power points and he even has had some typing classes. I’ve also seen pages that he has typed, had to use different fonts and then had to correct them. I’m pretty amazed at how much he knows about computers and everything he can do with them. I don’t know how to use the publishing part of office and I’m not that great with power point. Cade though is becoming an expert.


Friday night he asked if he could use my laptop to make a Power Point. He worked all Friday evening on a presentation entitled “Why I should have Legos”. I can only assume the title was a direct reference to my decree that he did not need Legos for Christmas because of Camryn (and before you feel too badly for him he has two drawers that are full of the little choking hazards). I have to admit I was pretty impressed with his work on the Power Point. Each slide made sense and I learned more about the Ninja Legos than I ever cared to know. He also knows how to Google relevant pictures and place them into the slides. He did inform me that he’s tried Clip Art before but apparently their Lego pictures were not up to his high standards.

After watching the first presentation Jay and I gave him the proper encouragement that all parents do. We told him good job and that it was really great. That fueled the fire and he went on to create 3 more over the course of the weekend….The Razorbacks, The Chiefs and The SEC. By Sunday morning, as I was viewing the SEC show, I realized that I was feeling like I was at an FCS meeting….so many slides that quite frankly don’t interest me a whole lot but I have to look like they are the most interesting things I’ve seen since the last set they showed me. Forget professional football player or Ag Teacher….Cade is going to be a CEO!

Sickies and the Spelling Bee

Camryn had her first true sick day Wednesday. It started Tuesday night with a low grade fever which quickly turned into 102.2. By the next morning she was erupting hot snot every time she sneezed...much like molten lava from a volcano. I swear the snot temp was as high as her temperature. As soon as I wiped her nose the first time it all came back to me. I remember discussing the science of hot snot with Sandra 10 years ago when our boys were little.

I always figured Camryn would be a pill when it came to medicine. The only thing she's ever had, up to this point, were gas drops, gripe water and a handful of Tylenol doses.  Those were such an ugly fight I've dreaded the day when we had to do more. Thankfully we escaped an antibiotic. Don't even want to think about that stuff. We never had any issues with Cade and medicine, except when he was having the chronic strep.  But that was understandable - almost 6 months of non stop nasty medicine is reason to throw a fit.  Not really sure what Camryn's excuse is because she's been a brat about it since the beginning.  I've had little mental bells going off lately that make me think she's going to be our hard child.  After this week I'm pretty confident she is the one who will make my hair turn gray. I've had a long few days with her.  Quite honestly I was a teeny tiny bit giddy when I handed her over to Stacy this morning and drove the rest of the way to work completely alone.   

The day Camryn was sick was Cade's big Spelling Bee day at the elementary.  There were 3 kids from each of the 2 classes 4th-6th grades - so a total of 18 kids.  They went in order of grades and Cade was the 2nd one.  The kid in front of him got airplane, the kid behind him got aware.  Cade got appliance.  Yeah....it didn't go so well.  But because I'm a terrible person, I was also secretly happy when another 4th grader got out on his first word.  Half of the 4th graders were out on round one and the other half were out on round 2.  At least Cade was right on target with his age group. 

So you know my ugly secrets for the week...I'm giddy because someone else has my baby right now and I was happy when another child messed up so mine wouldn't feel as bad. 

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Things said, overheard or read/posted on Facebook during the State of the Union address

Read on FB  - Biden blinks like a frog in a hail storm

But we are bi-partisan in our home...we make fun of both sides equally...

Jay posted on Facebook - John Boehner stop tanning.  A friend ( same one who made the frog comment) responded with "Mother thinks he looks like a dried apple doll"

Another friend asked Jay was he was torturing himself when he realized Jay was listening to the speech

And the best comment of the night, drumroll please....

In a very inquisitive voice Cade asked Jay "Do you think he's lying or something"?  Jay disgustedly responded with "I don't know"

I must try to see the humor in it, otherwise I will loose my mind from the annoying droning quality of his voice...blah, blah, blah....

A spelling bee and a movie

Friday Cade called me after school to tell me his big news. His class had a spelling bee that day and he was one of 3 that has advanced to the Miller Spelling Bee. I’ll admit I was excited and I also laughed a little because we didn’t practice for this at all. The night he brought the word list home I was by myself and Camryn cried most of the evening (it was also the same day when Cade cut the back of his shirt). I looked at the list and wanted to cry myself. The instructions were to practice one column a night. It seemed like there were about a 100 columns with a billion words in each one. My nerves were frazzled and we’d already struggled through his regular spelling words and math. I couldn’t take any more. I put the list down and forgot about it for a week. Then last Wednesday night Jay saw on Cade’s weekly info paper from his teacher that the bee was Friday. I gave Jay the list(this again was after struggling through our regular homework). Jay looked it over for a few minutes…then being the great educator he is says “Cade, do you want to study these words”?. Cade said “not really”. So Jay told him he could go play. We forgot about it, until Cade came home and told us he’d won and that the other 2 boys who advanced from his class didn’t study either. Jay and I had a good laugh about all of that.


So Friday evening, after a really crappy week at work for me, we decided to celebrate by taking Cade to the movies. Since we are cheap people we went to the cheap movies. I would’ve splurged to see Beauty and the Best in 3D, but Cade thought it was too girly and we don’t like to pay for Jay to see a 3D movie. Since he doesn’t have depth perception he can’t see 3D movies. Everyone else in the theatre is ducking and Jay will whisper “is that supposed to look like it’s coming at us”. Yeah, it’s a waste of money. He’s even said so himself. We ended up settling on Puss N Boots.

It was a cute movie and the evening went well because Camryn slept through the whole thing. In fact at the end of it I slung her around a little looking for her lost sock and she didn’t wake up at all. The movie also gave Cade some great lines to use the rest of the night. Can’t remember where he put his shoes, but he memorized a movie after 1 viewing. Listening to him imitate Antonio Banderas at least gave us a break from all the Dorrell Green talk he had done earlier. If you don’t know that name you haven’t been listening to college football talk– at least not Razorback and MU talk…or you haven’t been around Cade for longer than 3 minutes.

His favorite lines from the movie – “fear me if you dare” spoken with an accent. Camryn loves this one the most….which is probably why I’ve heard it a million times since Friday night.

While Jay and I were discussing if we were going to take Camryn in her car seat into Mexican Villa or leave it in the car “Of course we are going to take her – she poops golden eggs” (they were looking for the Golden Goose in the movie). I made sure to clear up that it was the car seat we were talking about leaving, not the baby.

Yes, we are cheap, but we do get popcorn at the movies. Instead of asking if we were getting popcorn (since that seems to be a given in his world) he asked if we were going to get butter on it. Of course! After the movie we asked him what he wanted for dinner. He said “I’ll eat anything that doesn’t have butter on it”. Yeah, a tub of butter tends to do that to a person.

While eating his last chip at Mexican Villa and in the Antonio Banderas accent “Goodbye sweet sauce, we will meet again”

I wish I could record all of these conversations when he’s in the right mood. He is so funny. 

My worries....

There is so much going on on the world right now. Every night the news gets worse and worse...$5 gas, rising food costs, blah blah blah. Here is what has consumed my thinking this week...

Bangs...no bangs...
I'm getting my haircut next week. Part of the time I think I'm going to have her cut long bangs but then I'll see someone without bangs and I change my mind again. I'm also thinking about a totally new style but can't make up my mind on that either. Normally I'm a decisive person but this is throwing me off a little. I've had my bangs all one length for over 3 years. It's hard to part with something that's been with you for so long. But on the other hand they will grow back....oh what to do...

Some would think my concerns are shallow. My theory is God will take care of the big stuff. He also takes care of the small stuff. He tells us not to worry about what we will wear or eat or drink. So I don't worry about that stuff...but I feel like a bad hair decision is kind of on me.

Back to square one...bangs or no bangs....


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Big Decision

Tuesday night was one of those wild nights.  I had to go to Sheldon to stay the night with my mom.  I had a crop insurance training to go to today (yuck, yuck, yuck) so mom kept Camryn.  That worked out pretty well since Jay had to be at school at 7:15 this morning.  What a mess that would've been if mom hadn't been able to keep Camryn....Anyway, Tuesday night Camryn and I were gone, Cade had a 4-H meeting and Jay had a fair board meeting.  We ended up sending Cade to 4-H with another family so Jay could go to the fair board meeting.  Every month at 4-H they take roll by asking a question.  Last night's question was "what do you want to be when you grow up"?  Cade told Jay about it.  He said "I had to make a big decision tonight...I had to choose between an Ag Teacher and a Professional Football player....I ended up saying Ag Teacher".

Actually, I'm not sure which one is the better choice....

7 Months

Camryn turned 7 months January 3.  I didn't realize how ticked off she looked until I loaded this picture on blogger.  And this was the best one from what we took that day.  She didn't have any interest in smiling for any of us.  Camryn was probably thinking "she put me in one of those ridiculously large bows again and my head is tipping to one side and she expects me to smile"????
Thank goodness she does smile most of the time.  The baby in this picture scares me a little....

This was another pretty big month for her.  It started with her two top front teeth coming through.  By the end of the month they were very visible when she would smile.  I think there is something about the top teeth that make babies look very ornery when they come through.  Her front teeth have an enormous split between them.  I think it looks big enough that I wonder when she closes her mouth if her two bottom teeth rest between the split? We were out in the wind the other day and Jay said he thought Camryn liked it...it was whistling between her teeth.  He said he keeps picturing the large orthodontist bill we will have some day.  What is weird is that my mom, my sister and Lawson have the same split.  It definitely is something that runs in our family.

Through the month she kept getting better and better at sitting.  She still isn't showing much interest in doing anything else, but she can sit with the best of them.  I wonder if she will be the type of person who  does things slowly but when she does them she does them right?  She has had very few tip over accidents.  I remember Cade falling over frequently.  I'd find him like a turtle - stuck over on his side with an arm penned and not able to do anything about it.  Camryn's never had that problem. 

She also started blowing raspberries.  Or at least I think that's what you call what she is doing.  There isn't a lot of spit involved, she hums more while doing it.  She also uses her fingers to move her lips and make noise.  I wish I could catch it on video because it is so funny, but I haven't been fast enough yet.

She seems to be growing very well.  I'm guessing her to weigh about 18 1/2 pounds.  Not sure about her length.  She is wearing 6-9 and 9 month clothes.  We've also got a few 12 months onesies that fit pretty well.  She's still in size 3 diapers.

She does have one new trick that really annoys me - over New Years Weekend she started gritting her 4 little teeth.  It sends chills down my spine when she does it.  I try to pop the paci in when it starts, but that doesn't work all the time.  She is going to wear her teeth off before they even come in all the way.  When I dropped her off after New Years I was getting ready to tell Stacy about the teeth gritting.  I said "she's got a new habit..."  and Stacy jumped in and said "is she biting you to"?  Great,  not only is she a teeth grinder she appears to be a biter.  Lawson was a biter and every time Charity would tell me about it all I could think was "I am so glad Cade didn't do that because I don't know how to stop that".  I hope it was just a fluke deal and we won't have to deal with biting.  Yuck! 

She has also started hair pulling and being very rough with my face when she gets frustrated - a lot of pinching and grabbing.  I will grab her hands and tell her no, that hurts mommy.  She just laughs at me.  That concerns me a little.  I hope that isn't a sign of what is to come some day. But she also has a sweet side - she gives the best hugs!  Hopefully it will all balance out someday.

This morning

Camryn was not pleased with her first experience of cold weather bundling. At least when I put the blanket over the car seat it muffled the screaming....


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Just another Tuesday morning...

Camryn has been going through quite a phase for a while now.  Our perfect little sleeper has turned into a not so good sleeper.  But now that she can hold her own bottle, and since I’m the model of a perfect parent – I put her beside me in bed and make her hold her own bottle.  That keeps me from having to get out of bed and I can lightly doze while she sucks down the bottle.  Then she will usually fall asleep and I normally leave her in bed with us from that point on in the night.  Yes, I know that is completely against what all good child rearing books would tell you, but oh well.  The phrase that best sums up our parenting style that we’ve tweaked during the last 10 (gasp!) years is “Sometimes it’s just about survival”. 

Monday night was the worst night that we’ve had in Camryn’s 7 months at home.  Now I can’t really complain because a lot of parents would consider last night the best night ever, but for us it was bad.  I don’t know what’s going on.  She wasn’t herself last night, she was so cranky, and then she would not go back to sleep after she ate.  She did a lot of random crying and rolling around.  I think I was up for almost 2 hours with her. 

Jay sub drove this morning on a route that leaves the bus barn at 6:20 am and he has a late meeting tonight.  That means I was outnumbered this morning.  After Camryn’s cranky behavior the night before and her middle of the night session, I knew switching to survival mode was the only way I’d probably get out the door even close to on time.  I also knew that I wouldn’t have time to fix Cade breakfast and I’d also more than likely get him to school too late to eat there (made that mistake earlier in the year, but his socializing in the halls on the way to his room had nothing to do with being too late for breakfast).  I promised him a Bud’s Donut if he would get around easily and quickly.

The donut did the trick and the morning seemed to be going smoothly, almost too smoothly.  Camryn slept later than normal so I was able to get completely ready before she woke up.  I fed her and had her changed and I was ready to load the car about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.  Cade was pretty much ready – just lacked teeth brushing and shoe tying.  I told him to watch her while I loaded the car.  When I came back he informed me she had been tooting a lot.  Great….

I started to change her and it was an awful up the back diaper. Not to go into too many details, but it was the kind where it just keeps getting everywhere and before you know it, nothing anywhere near the baby is clean.  I yelled at Cade to bring me a big towel from the bathroom so I could put her on the floor.  He comes in, holding the tag in the back of his shirt with one hand, and a washcloth in the other.  I had to send him back for the big towel.  He comes back with the correct size, but still holding the tag in his shirt. I told him to let go of the tag and get the towel spread out.  He melted a little and said “but the tag is irritating me, I need to cut it out”.  I told him that once I got Camryn cleaned up I would take care of the tag. 

I got Camryn fixed up and went in the family room to tell Cade I’d take care of the tag.  He said “I’ve already cut it out”.  I look at the back of his shirt…and yes, the tag is gone, but so is a large circle on the back of the shirt.  He cut a hole in a new shirt he got for Christmas.  Luckily he had a t-shirt on over the long sleeved shirt so you couldn’t see the hole.   I went through the whole Camryn is 7 months old and pooped up her back I had to take care of her first then I was going to take care of your shirt lecture.  When we left the house Cade was mad and sullen and I had steam coming from my ears.  On the way to drop of Camryn I also went through the other lecturing series…the one where you tell the kid you are getting on to them because they did something wrong and the only way they will learn is if you tell them and it’s my job as a good parent to do that, if I didn’t care about them I would never had said anything about the hole, blah blah. 

We got Camryn dropped off and I tell Cade that if the gas station is out of Bud’s Donuts he will have to pick something else because he won’t have time to eat at school.  That’s when Cade put the first nail in the coffin of my morning…. “Mom, I don’t mean to be mean…but why does it seem like we are always late when you take me to school”.  I tried explaining that it’s hard to get everyone around and out the door in the morning when I’m by myself.  Then Cade put the second nail in “Well, I guess you are a girl and after all and they are slower”.  That’s when my voice raised several octaves (first time all morning) and I said “Cade, Camryn pooped her pants and you cut a hole in your shirt….what do you expect from me”?  He said “oh, I see”. 

Yeah right, he doesn’t understand it at all.  I’m writing this story for Cade and someday, when he has had a morning like mine, I will mail it to him.  Someday he will appreciate the fact that I didn’t do or say what I really wanted to when I saw the gaping hole in the back of his new red shirt. 

Yes, 99% of the time it’s just about surviving.  Not even to the next day or the next hour…sometimes it’s second by second.

Alabama vs LSU

If you are one of the millions waiting in anticipation for tonight’s game here is Cade’s take on it. I’m not sure if you are betting on the game I’d necessarily go with Cade’s prediction…but then again, he does have a 50/50 shot at being correct.

Cade predicts that Alabama will beat LSU

When I asked him why he thinks they will win this was his response…

I know that LSU beat Alabama before and they are the #1 team in the nation, but I think Alabama will win. LSU does have a good defense but their offense isn’t very good. Their quarterback sits on the ball for too long. Alabama has a good offense and defense.

This is the same boy that when asked about his day all I get is “fine”, but ask a question about football and you’ll get more than you really ever cared to know. Friday night Jay took Cade to a Cotton Bowl party. I think he drove a college age kid a little crazy, but Jay thought it was funny (and good for the college kid…or maybe it was good for Jay? He got a break). This whole Big 12 shakeup is blowing Cade’s mind right now. I think he asked a lot of questions about it.

But he comes by this obsession naturally. If I’ve heard once, I’ve heard a million times about how unfair this whole BCS stuff is. Wonder where Cade is getting all of his information???

If only Cade would attack his weekly spelling word list with such zeal.

And yes, our TV will be tuned to the game....not necessarily by choice.... I'm just outnumbered. 

Ransacked

Tonight we had to make a quick trip to Springfield.  After taking care of our business we ran to the mall to eat and then go to Sears so Jay could spend some Christmas money.  Since it was a quick trip we took our umbrella stroller, which was our first mistake.  Camryn didn't even ride in it and it isn't big enough to hold all of our stuff.  When we sat down I hooked my purse on the back of the chair.  That was mistake #2.  I had one of those fleeting feelings of "this isn't going to end well" when I did it but I ignored it.  I really need to stop ignoring that feeling because I felt the same way about the chili the other night.

After we ate we went to Sears and everything was fine.  Jay found what he wanted and I bought a dress for Camryn.  It's never too early to add to her 2012 Holiday Collection, especially when they are 70% off.  We had congregated in the hallway between the photo place and the bathrooms to get situated.  That's when I realized I didn't have my purse.  I threw Camryn to Jay and told them to stay put.  I speed walked back to the food court and found a mall worker.  As soon as I said I left a purse she said "the silver one"?  I felt instant relief.  At least someone had my purse.  She said it was at mall security.  I headed there and the door was locked.  I knocked a couple of times.  I was working up a vision of me chasing down Paul Blart on their segways when one of the officers opened the door.

I said hello and told her I thought she had my purse.  She asked if I was Crystal.  When I told her yes she said "well I've got your purse but it looks like it's been ransacked...did you have a camera"?  "And it looks like someone has gone through your wallet...It's a mess....zippers open and stuff all messed up.

I can not tell you how embarrassing it was to say...Oh, yes I had an empty camera case in my purse(why, I don't know), so they didn't steal that....yeah, my wallet looks just like I left it....(as I sifted through the various receipts taking inventory of my debit card and credit card that are never in their proper slots) yeah, it looks like I've got everything. The officer said "really...that's a relief I was sure someone had gone through it".  Trying to make myself sound a little better I said "well, we have a baby and by the time we got everything together I just forgot my purse.  She just looked at me and said "yeah, I've got 5".  And I know in her mind she was thinking - and my wallet never looks like that.

About that time my phone rang.  It was Jay nervously waiting by the Sears bathroom.  Since I had drove he was hatching alternate plans on how we would get home in case we didn't recover the car keys.  He was very relieved when I answered.  I couldn't wait to tell him about my purse being "ransacked".  He thinks my purse looks like a traveling trash can and my wallet is embarrassing.  But I'm sure he and Cade have nothing to do with that...gum wrappers, toys, etc.  I told him that having it messy is probably a good tactic.  If it takes me awhile to find my debit card what about a thief?  If someone had opened my wallet they probably thought someone else had beat them to it and left it alone.  There are benefits to not being completely organized all the time...

And just FYI - I have tried to carry my wallet in the diaper bag but then I've left it there and got to work without my wallet.  That method is too risky....I may need to go to a fanny pack.

Welcome 2012

Happy New Year!!!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful year.  I also hope everyone gets to start their year out better than I do.  I will be cleaning the chili out of my back floorboard, that dumped over in my car, on the way to our church party.  I hope this is not an indicator of how the rest of my year will go.