Today = Christmas Card Photo Day

And today = FAIL.

Of the 60ish I took, only 38 made it to Picasa..

Of the 38 I uploaded, only 3 are in focus.

Sort of. 

None are photo card worthy, though. 

See?

Um... what does it smell like, Cam?

Let's talk about letting toddlers play with Christmas lights, mkay?

Its a totally different ballpark than setting a 4 month old amidst lights.

This kid wanted to eat them.

And put them to her ear.

And up her nose.

And find the plug.

And (try to) unscrew the bulbs.

Basically, she had a death wish.

Which makes taking cute photos hard impossible.

4 month old Cam just sat and stared in awe.

So then we brought out the giant plastic ornaments...

She was checking herself out in the reflection.

We could not get her to come out from behind the giant plastic bulb.

Perhaps buying silver was a bad idea.

What with the cute baby staring back at her and all.

Next up: giant plastic candy....

This was her expression when we said "Give hugs, awwww."

Pretty sure she was thinking "Why the heck do you want me to hug giant plastic candy?"

This thing held her attention all of 4.5 seconds. 

::sigh::

Oh well. 

Perhaps its better that the cheesy props were all massive fails?

We're going to try again tomorrow.

Fully clothed.

Outdoors.

Sans props.

Wish me luck.

Flashback Friday

This was taken exactly one year ago.
Look at those cheeks.
Those eyes.
Oh, that little smirk.



We have this on a canvas in Camy's room.
I adore this photo.
I adore my sweetsweet girl.

I can't believe how much she has changed between then and now.
I couldn't be more blessed.

Quick10

1. I am pleased to report that I have returned to the 21st century. We finally caved and reactivated my old iPhone for Andy and bought a new one for me! YAY! I had an old first gen phone that we stopped using in the depression of 09 (read: when the husband lost his job just a month after I quit mine) (read: we were broker than broke and cutting expenses left, right, and middle) (read: the iphone+data pkg was the last thing to go, I held out as long as I could). But I'm back, baby! Woooot.

2. So far I only have one photo on the phone:

Yup. My 14 month old was eating at Taco Bell. Cut me some slack though, we had to stay close to the ATT store while they were messing with our phones, and its better than fried stuff at other places, no? Plus, the girls loooves her some tacos. 

3. And this video. I loove having a video camera at the ready! Pardon the nudity - this was post-bath, pre-jams.

And I have to say, there have been times I've wanted to spit at the computer, too. I laughed at the perfect timing of her shaking her head "no" in response to my workoholic question. Silly girl.
My abundance of "I love you"s was an attempt to get her to say "awww" and blow a kiss like she usually does. Oh well.

4. Camy's latest "trick" {Hmm.. sounds kind of puppy-ish.. latest word? skill? obsession?} is throwing away trash. If she finds a crumb on the floor she'll first point and say "eeeeew" {yeah, she's definitely my kid. everything is "eew" to me!}. She then grunts like an 80 year old man as she bends down to pick it up. {yes she grunts, loud! every. single. time.} And finally, she marches it over to the trash can proudly proclaiming "tash! tash! tash!" with every step. It took her a few days to fully grasp the concept though - once you throw it away, you leave it there. Thankfully she no longer digs the trash back out of the can!

5. If you see Camy throw something in the "tash!" be prepared to applaud. She will not move on to something else without applause. She will stand in front of you saying "tash!" and clapping her hands until you cheer for her. For serious.

6. Saturday afternoon Cam and I met up with a dear friend of ours who we don't get to see nearly enough. Its still amazing to me that we entered into the TTC phase so close to the same time, found out we were pregnant within a week of each other, and have 2 beautiful, sweet, fun girls just over 2 weeks apart. Its been such a blessing to walk this path with her, and we had such fun catching up with them Saturday. Her sweet Ali stole my heart by reaching out to me for help and for cuddles, and I hope we can see more of them from here on out!
(Will post pictures after K sees them herself... K, I'll be uploading them soon!)

7. We capped off our weekend with 2 firetrucks barreling into our cul-de-sac, sirens a'blazing, headed for our house. We called 911 to have the house checked for a gas leak after we realized that smell we smelled 4 hours ago was still rather strong. I thought it had gone away with the open windows and blowing fans, but after walking outside and back in again, I realized it was still there. We must have just gotten used to it {which can't be a good thing}. They checked everything out. Waited. Checked again. Closed windows. Checked again. Then talked to me for a while and assured me that everything was fine. The fumes were lingering, yes, but the actual gas had gone away. They were even kind enough to walk me through the house showing me their little detector-gadget as we went along. I felt a bit dope-ish when all was said and done, but I could not have put my daughter to bed feeling safe and confident without knowing that she was okay to sleep there. I was so worried that we'd fall asleep with an undiscovered gas leak, and who knows what could have happened. Calling was certainly worth my peace of mind.

8. Monday morning Cam and I headed down to the Children's Museum again to meet some friends at Baby Bloomers. She had a great time, as usual, and this time we had front row seats for music time! Cam happily danced around in the open space in front of us, dug through the bucket-o-instruments before it was time to play along, and made several mad dashes for the museum store that was off to the side. She hung upside-down like a bat. She experimented with rolling things downhill (in the "notion of motion" exhibit"). She went potty on the teeny-tiny-toddler-sized toilet in the family restroom. And she ran around like a crazy girl, leaving me wondering what her Daddy fed her breakfast! After BB, we enjoyed a lovely lunch with the ladies/babies at Galaxy Cafe.. Mama's favorite lunch spot! Yummm. Best part: She passed out in the car on the way home, didn't wake up when I moved her to the house, and took a 2 1/2 hour nap!!! Dude. Awesome!

9. Bragging on my hubby real quick... his latest side job was to build a deck around an above-ground pool. I think he (and his friend, J, who he hired to help get it done quicker) totally rocked it.

Umm.. how would you like that yard? That view? That's the one thing I miss about living in the boondocks. We had no neighbors to the back (at least not anywhere near us) so we could sit on our back porch and just see trees and hills and sky. :sigh: 

10. So close.. but can't think of one. more. thing. Hmpf. 

Have a happy week, all!

Its that time already?

Time to start nailing down plans for Christmas.. gifts, travel plans, decor (now that there's a curious toddler in the house, some changes will certainly need to be made), and dun.dun.dun... Christmas cards!

Wardrobes for the family photos.
Getting the perfect shot out of a 14 month old that stays still for all of negative 0.4 seconds.
Selecting the Christmas card layout.
Ordering.
Addressing.
And actually mailing them (that's the hard part! ha!).

This year though, tasks number 3-5? Easy, peasy (lemon squeezy).
Why?
Shutterfly.
Dear, sweet Shutterfly.

Have you looked at their card designs this year?
:swoon:
I was able to pare down my list of faves to the five top contenders (uhh.. and that's down from like 16. For real!).
But I still can't decide.
I love the wording on this one.
The simplicity (and photo focus) of this one.
I love that you can blend the Christmas Letter concept into a short & sweet card like this.
Ahhh.. simple elegance. Huge photo, cuz I mean, who doesn't want to see Cam huge, center stage?
And this one.. Peace. Love. Joy.

How is one to decide? Really?!
I may number them 1-5 and let Cam draw out of a hat. :)
Once I can make up my mind, though, designing the card will be a breeze.
And the best part!?
I can have Shutterfly address, stamp and mail them directly to our loved ones!!!
Dude!
Do you even know how momumentally AWESOME that is for me?
Let me just tell you...
In November 07 I went through the whole Christmas card routine, right down to the addressing and stamping.
In December 07 we listed our house, which sold in 2 weeks (eep!). So we packed up and moved out.
In Feb 08 we moved into our current digs.
In March 08 I finally tackled the boxes in the office.. where I found a bag full of all our Christmas cards. Never sent. Signed. Addressed. Sealed. Stamped. Packed. Forgotten about!
Not okay.
This year, however, I am aware of the fact that I would be doing our loved ones a huge disservice by not giving them their yearly dose of Camy Christmas Card Cute.
Fo' Real.
Behold, last year's cute:

We're upping the ante this year, folks.

Just you wait.

{Thank you, Shutterfly!}

And, need grandparent gifts? Have you seen these desk calendars? 

There are 4 gifts checked off our shopping list! :)

Disclaimer: If this sounds a bit promotional, that's because it is. Dude, 50 free cards! How could I not?

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Diddle Diddle Dumpling....

My Daughter Cam.

5QF: Birth, duh.

Hello, Friends. :)
I have a little free time on this Friday, so I'm taking a few minutes to link up with Mama M for Five Question Friday. Play along, won't ya?

1. What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you?

Hands down, no question, don't even need to think about it - giving birth to my beautiful daughter. 

Pitocin induction, 2 failed epidurals, 3 1/2 hours of pushing. Oy. Never want to go through that again. 

And I don't mean the med-free labor/delivery, I mean the lack of preparation for the med-free L&D. 

I am no longer afraid of going without the pain medication, because I know my body can do it. I know I can do it. But, I need to be prepared next time. I need techniques to cope with the pain. I need my brain wrapped around the idea. It was a shock that both epidurals failed, a possibility I had never even considered. So not only was it the most physically painful experience I have been through, it was also very discouraging and mentally-draining as well. I had a lot of fear and anxiety and frustration and confusion. 

It was not a good experience for me. 

But look at my precious girl - thank goodness there was such an awesome prize at the end!

2. How much sleep do you get at night?

Not enough. And its not because of Cam. Cam is an awesome sleeper - I should learn a thing or two from her. She is usually in bed around 8pm, at which time I head back out into the living room to catch up on my DVRed shows, check my blog reader, waste time on Facebook, etc. Andy is usually at work until close to midnight, so I have nobody home to say "Hey, you should get some sleep" and I rarely make it to bed before 11. My alarm goes off at 445, I get out of bed around 5. 

So, 6 hours. Ick. 

I really need to get better about going to bed at a decent hour.

3. How long did you believe in Santa Claus? How did you find out that he does not exist?

Is it horrible that I don't even remember? I have no idea how long I believed. I have no recollection of how I found out. How sad. I think I will call my mother this evening to see if she has an answer to this question... 

4. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?

Holy Moly, I hope I am remembering this wrong. The first thing that came to mind was "Marley and Me", which I saw on Christmas Day 2008, just before finding out we were pregnant. But that can't be right, can it? Surely Andy and I saw something in theaters while I was pregnant?! I know I haven't seen a movie in theaters since Cam was born... hmm. Maybe it was "Marley and Me". Geez. We need to get out more. 

5. What do you wear to bed?

Underwear. That's it. I can't sleep with a shirt on because I hate when they get bunched up and twisted around. I can't sleep with a tank on because it drives me crazy to wake up and have to shift it back or cover myself up again. I hate sleeping in pants because I don't like the way they catch when I roll over. I get too hot in socks. Soo.. simply underwear. 

While I was nursing, I slept in a nursing tank to control the girls a bit. But now that I'm done with all that, its back to the good ol' days, the comfy way. 

Note: When I am staying somewhere else, not at home, I can and do wear clothing to bed. I just don't enjoy it.

Thanks, as always, for hosting, Mama M!

Just A-Swingin'...

Cam's daddy starts singing that song every time Cam's on the swing, so I can't see her in the swing or look at the photos without getting it stuck in my head.

We had some glooorious weather yesterday so Cam and I spent a good chunk of the afternoon out in the yard.

The girl loves her some swangin'. {and I love to see those little chubs in babylegs again! hooray fall!}

The tree this swing is hanging from attracts butterflies like crazy. We always see at least a few flying around this tree. Yesterday was the first time I saw Cam really take notice, and she was absolutely fascinated! It was awesome to watch her eyes dart back and forth and see the wonder on her face. I love that girl.

Ten on Tuesday: Yeah, Right.

1. This has been such an uneventful-blah week that I seeeeriously doubt I have 10 things to share. Which is why number one is an explanation of how I will not reach number ten. Cheating? Meh.

2. Last week was cold and dreary and chock-full of sick kiddos. Not mine, thankfully, but a lot of her buddies were in quarantine with fevers or tummy bugs or yucky noses. We stayed home most of the week before finally venturing back out into the world on Friday.

3. Friday morning we met our BFFs at the mall for some baby winter shopping and lunch. The girls were cutre than cute and cooperated really well with the mamas carting them from store to store. This mama behaved and only bought what Cam was lacking - tights.. but I can't say so much about the other Mama. SBG is going to be one well-dressed little lady this season! ;)
Tabs snapped this cell phone pic of Cam modeling a Baby Gap scarf. :love:

4. We headed home after lunch to sneak in a good nap before our park playdate with K and her sweet boy, Braxton. I was sure to grab my camera as we dashed out the door, and was so mad at myself when we got to the park and I realized the camera battery was still on the charger! UGH! I got in some good cuddles with Mr. B and managed to get a few laughs out of him even though he'd been having a less-than-awesome week (poor dude) while Cam kept K on her toes as they chased our giant ball around the soccer field. Cam loves to see and play with K! I wish I had my camera to document that. :(

5. I never did talk about our Trick or Treating adventure, did I? For shame.

This was Cam's first year trick or treating given that she was just over 2 months old last Halloween. After feeding her an early dinner, we got her all dressed up in her ladybug garb and hit the road. We only went to about half a dozen houses on the next street up, but Cam seemed to really enjoy herself.

She caught on to the process very quickly, and totally rocked at the knocking part. However, as soon as the door began to open, she would bolt in the opposite direction. Stranger danger, much? We were able to coax her back up to the door where she would be showered with "oooh"s and "how cute!"s and "wow! she is the most precious ladybug ever!"s. (Which, let's admit.. was all totally true!) The folks at the door would hold their bowl of goodies out to her, and she would ponder her choices a minute before digging in.. usually reaching for a lollipop.. occasionally a candy ear. :gag:

The very last house we went to really took Halloween seriously. In addition to offering grilled hotdogs and lemonade to all the neighbors, they had their house totally done up from top to bottom.. including a scene staged on their roof and a robotic life-size witch stirring a cauldron full of dry ice. We wanted to get a pic of Cam up by the cauldron display, but she was not digging the smoky fog, so I had to walk up there with her. (Minnie Mouse there didn't realize we were trying to take a photo.. but whatev).

I think my favorite part of the evening, however, was watching Cam walk back home with her bucket tossed over her shoulder like a purse. I love the way she carries bags these days, holding her arm up. So darn cute.

She'd stop every few feet to make sure her loot was still right where she left it, then hoist her bucket back up onto her shoulder and carry on. 

6. Oh! And another "I can't believe I never shared these photos!" moment: A dear friend of ours managed to catch a couple of SUPERcute pics of my beautiful girl a couple weeks ago. I mean, really, can she be any cuter? The baby blues. The tongue. The dimple. The cuddles. I melt. {best. pic. ever.}

And these.. I love them all!

7. Cam's vocab continues to expand at a staggering pace. She is now saying words the "y" sound, and the "c"/"k" sound. For example, her Aunt Amy is "yay-yay", our dog Maya is "Eye-Yuh", turkey is "cock-uh" (uhh.. yeah.. hard not to chuckle at that one), and "fork" is "foock" (another one that borders on inappropriate). And my super-fave. "Cupcake", or in Cam-speak: "Cuh-cate". love. [disclaimer: she learned "cuh-cate" from her very favorite Corduroy book, not her mama's chocolate addiction. promise.]

8. Girl loves to read these days. She is finally more interested in what is actually on the pages, as opposed to just turning the pages, or eating them. Her favorite books are the lift-the-flap books and she always giggles when she sees the picture hiding beneath the flap, no matter what that picture may be. She has 2 books in particular that she almost always reaches for... 

9. Today I'm recovering from a whirlwind virus that totally knocked me on my butt for a day and a half. It hit me out of nowhere Sunday morning with what I thought was some sort of stomach bug, but that quickly passed and I felt fine for several hours. Then Sunday afternoon I woke up from my nap with Cam with a fever, all-over body aches and a headache like you would not believe. I got a little worried thinking I may have caught the flu, but fortunately that wasn't the case. My fever lasted almost 24 hrs exactly, my headache has lessened significantly but not totally gone away, the body aches are gone but were replaced with a sore throat.. and my doctor was stumped. No flu. No strep. Normal blood count. We chalked it up to just some crazy, fast-moving virus. So far both Cam and Andy have dodged the bullet, and I hope it stays that way. I can't imagine my sweet girl feeling as miserable as I did Sunday afternoon! 

10. No way! I made it 10? I guess this would be a good time to tell you that I am going to start over with my Couch to 5K training. I missed a good portion of last week with the rainy weather and no rain-shield for our jogger, and then didn't run over the weekend with my yucky virus - so I'm going to just repeat week one and go from there. Starting tomorrow. And oddly enough, I'm actually looking forward to it.

Cam loves pumpkin guts.

True story.

I do not like pumpkin guts.

Cam loves 'em.

Scoopin' 'em.

Stirrin' 'em.

Even trying to eat 'em.

She LOVED carving pumpkins!!

Mommy and Cam, both hard at work.

Cam was in charge of the seed-scooping.

She took her job very seriously.

"Did I get 'em all?"

Daddy warned Cam to stay back when Mama was carvin'.

We think she was humming to her "Stir the Soup" song.

Camy was proud of this year's creations.

The small pumpkin was the one Cam painted last weekend.

We had such a wonderful Halloween!