Brrrr! Staying Warm!



BLIZZARD 2011

 Well, it's been 3 months since I've written.  I told myself I'd be better this time and update my blog more often but it hasn't happened.  A lot has gone on since mid Novemeber so I'll try to hit the high points of the last 3 months. 
Recently, like the rest of you, we've been hit with some COLD weather.  I know it might not be as cold as Dallas or Lubbock but for Austin, it's COLD!!  In Austin, we're used to it freezing a total of about 5 days all winter but the past month has been crazy!  17 degrees, 20 degrees, miserable!  My school had a late start one day and then it was canceled the next day becasue it snowed.  That was kind of fun.  Kamryn and I bundled up and as we were walking out of the house Ava hauled but to the door and raised her arms up for me to hold her as if to say, "You are NOT leaving me out of the fun."  So we bundled her up also and we all had fun walking through the snow.  Ava loved it.  She just walked and would fall down every once in a while and she'd get back up and keep walking.  That was the first time Kamryn or Ava had seen snow.  It was melted by noon.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were fun as usual.  We got to spend time with family.  One thing we learned this year is that Kamryn will not be getting very many toys next year.  It's not like we got her a lot but she was so not interested in the presents.  We got up Christmas morning and Kyle and I were more excited than they were.  She got up and the first thing she went for was the stocking full of candy.  After eating several pieces of candy and trying to decide what she'd have next, I asked, "Why don't you open some of your presents from Santa?" and she said, "Maybe later."  There is something wrong when you have to coerse your child to open gifts. 

More recently we have learned that Ava might be allergic to nuts of some kind.  She's had several episodes where she's eaten something and breaks out into hives and is itchy and blotchy all over her face.  We've determined that every time, she's eaten something with nuts in it.  We made an appointment with an allergist, got an epi-pen for any serious reaction, and are going to get Ava's blood drawn on Monday to determine exactly what it is.  Poor Baby!

Some things the girls are up to:

Kamryn

• She is getting sassier by the day.  Kyle asked her if she was 8 the other day.  She is saying things like, "Your not my friend" and "I don't love you"
• She scratched one of her little friends yesterday at pre-school!!!  What happed to my sweet little girl?  How do you handle that?  I got home and calmly grilled her.  I explained that we were going to sit in time out until she told me what happed.  She finally told me and I made her feel super guilty about hurting her friend.  I have to remember she's 3 but it kind of scares me!  I'm a teacher!  Trust me when I say I do NOT want my child to turn out like some of the kids I teach!
• Kamryn and Ava are starting to fight over toys.  It's exhausting playing referee!

Ava

• Ava is starting to say a few words.  She's really good at dada.  She can say cat, shoe, and she tries to say Kamryn but it comes out sounding a lot like dada.
• She gives BIG juicy kisses and sweet hugs.  I'll say give me a hug and she'll wrap her little arms around me and pat me on the back.  Awww!
• She will not eat anything I make.  She won't even try it.  It's so frustrating.  She loves raisins and fruit so I guess that's not so bad.

So that sums up the last 3 months.  It will probably be another 3 months before I write again.  Hopefully not but don't hold your breath.  Here's some extra pictures of my babies!

Halloween and a Birthday

Well, it's been forever since I've written.  Work and life have been crazy.  There is always something to do and not enough time to do it.  So last week was Halloween, all childrens' second favorite holiday to Christmas.  Kamryn picked out her own costume at Target.  She wanted to be Minnie Mouse.  Kyle tried to talk her out of it but she insisted.  It looked cuter on her than it did on the hanger.  Poor little Ava got Kamryn's left over Halloween costume.  She was a little Giraffe and apparently she looked like a little boy because everyone kept saying,"Oh, he looks so cute!"  I didn't even correct them!  Our Halloween night of Trick-Or-Treating started at 6:30 and by 7:30 Ava was DONE and Kamryn had a bag full of candy so we wrapped it up.  We got home and put Ava to bed and let Kamryn eat candy until 8:30.  I kept telling her, "Okay, one more piece" and she would eat one more piece and then try to negotiate some more.  I just let her eat her little heart out until bed time. 

We had another holiday yesterday at our house.  It was Ava's first birthday.  We were going to have her a party with family and a few friends but I had minor surgery about 3 weeks ago and at the time I wasn't sure how I was going to be feeling so we decided to cancel it.  We are going to have her a little party next weekend at Kyle's parents house.  Kamryn and I ended up making her a little birthday cake anyway and we sang happy birthday.  That didn't end well though.  She reached out and grabbed the candle and burned her little finger.  After she calmed down she got to eat some birthday cake and she was all better.  She got some presents that Kamryn has overtaken.  It's amazing how interesting a baby's toy can be for a toddler!!  So overall, I think Ava had a good birthday.  I guess she'll never remember it if she didn't.

Doing Time

Where did my summer go????  I'm officially back to work and missing my time off so bad.  I've been super busy and have been working every free minute I have.  I feel like I'm neglecting my babies.  For the most part I try not to work when they're awake so that leaves nap time and bed time which means NO time for me.  I'm hoping things will slowly calm down and I'll get a little reprieve but I have a feeling it's going to be a long year.  Oh well, that's why I get paid the BIG bucks!  Ha!  On a happier note, everyone here is doing great.  Ava has learned to pull up on everything which just makes it easier for her to terrorize Kamryn.  Kamryn has a little table that she likes to eat on every once in a while and it's just the right size for Ava to climb up and grab things off.  Yesterday the plate of pancakes that Kamryn had left came flying off onto the ground so we have to be careful.  Both Kamryn and Ava are doing better at school and daycare.  There are no more tears in the mornings.  (Almost none)  Kamryn has made some friends and Ava just tolerates being left.    And other that that life just continues here at the Bodine House!

Baby Godzilla

We have a monster in our house, terrorizing cats and Kamryn, destroying buildings (Lego Towers), and making messes (There are Cheerios EVERYWHERE). I like to call her baby Godzilla, aka Ava. It has been a long time waiting but Ava has finally started to crawl. Kamryn crawled at 7 months so when Ava was that age I just assumed it would be any day but she took her little time. Finally she was crawling a little before 9 months and since then has learned to haul butt, knocking down anything in her path and leaving a trail of toys behind her. It is so much fun to watch Kamryn and Ava interact. We can't do anything on the floor without Ava tearing it apart. Puzzles, blocks, games, coloring, no activity is safe!

Other things that have been going on:

1. I've gone back to work. I'm sad I have to leave my babies but in a way I need a break. Kamryn can drive a person Mad.

2. Along with me going back to work means Kamryn has started Pre-School and Ava has started daycare. Kamryn is NOT doing well in pre-school. So far every morning has been screaming and tears.

3. I bought a sewing machine and have been sewing like mad. I’m making organizers for my students’ desks at school. I think I bit off more than I can chew but I’m at the point of no return. I WILL finish before Monday. My seams might not be straight, I might have skipped stitches and who knows, they might even fall apart but by gosh I WILL finish all 30!  And for all you sewers out their, don't look at the flaws.  Looking at this picture, it does look crooked but it's just the lighting!?

4. The Paci Fairy came. Yes, I am one of those bad parents that let Kamryn have a pacifier until the age of 3 (only at night). She didn’t even suck on it anymore. It just sat in her mouth. So a couple of weeks ago the paci fairy came and took the paci’s to give to babies that need them and left candy and a letter in their place. It was painless and we’ve been paci free ever since.

Here are the links to a few videos of Ava terrorizing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F8a1UBByKg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50LfiSW8hds

Sparkly Birthday Cake

Our little girl turned 3 last week and as I sit here typing I'm amazed at how fast time flies by.  It seems like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital so small and sweet.  Now she is this little fireball with nonstop energy.  Seriously, if they could bottle the energy that she has there would be no overweight people.  She WEARS ME OUT!! 
We opted this year for something very low key.  Birthday party costs can add up fast and all Kamryn cared about was having a sparkly birthday cake, a bicycle, and her friend Haley at her party.  I went with it.  We went to the Inflatable Wonderland in the mall.  For all of you without kids, that is a place with a bunch of bouncy houses and you can let your kids go crazy.  There are not sharp corners or hard things for them to injure themselves.  After about an hour of that we went back to our house for pizza, cake, and ice cream.  All the girls cared about was the birthday cake of course.  We all had a very nice, low stress birthday experience.  Now of course I have to start thinking of Ava's first birthday.  Once again, time flies.  She is already 8 months.  She is such a sweet little girl.  She hasn't started crawling yet.  I have a feeling she's not going to crawl.  She hates being on her stomach or the crawling position.  She is starting to try to pull up on things but is still not quit there yet.  I guess you really don't need to crawl when you have a big sister who will drag you places.

Some of the things that Kamryn can do now that she is 3:

1)Say the word "Shit" and know when to use it.  She said it today and I told her "that's not a very nice word" and she replied "But mommy you always say it!"  Lesson:  Children listen to the things they're not supposed to.
2)Ride a bike (She got it for her birthday).  We have ridden it daily since she got it last week.  The only problem is that I end up pushing it on the way back, along with the stroller.  It's not easy.  We have had 2 crashes already that haven't phased her.  (Thanks for the helmet Nana.)

3)Procrastinate!  I feel like I have a teenager already because I'll ask her to do something and she will totally ignore me.  After I repeat myself, she raises her voice and with the sassiest attitude ever replies, "I'm fixing to!"
4)She sings "I threw it on the ground" in reference to a Saturday Night Live Skit thanks to her daddy.http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/3268

I Want to Feed Shamu!!!

So we loaded up our car with everything you could possibly imagine, because you never know what you will need, and headed to San Antonio.  Our vacation wasn't an exotic island in the Caribbean or a quaint cottage in the mountains, it was much better.  It was $4.99 soft drinks, $8 kids meal chicken strips, long lines, and HOT!  It was Sea World.  The highlight of our trip was getting to feed the dolphins.  We paid $15 for 12 little fish that were gone in less than 5 minutes.  Kamryn didn't understand the concept of hold the fish up and the dolphin will come out of the water and grab it.  She would just chunk the fish in the water and the dolphin was thinking to himself, "I don't even have to work to get these fish."  After all the fish were gone we started heading back to the stroller to go see the next attraction and Kamryn started yelling and crying, "I want to feed Shamu" over and over again.  After trying to explain why we couldn't feed Shamu I just had to put my foot down and say, "Shamu would eat your arm off if you tried to feed him!"  She looked at me and said, "Oh" and after that she was fine.  We really did have fun though.  It's always exciting getting to experience something through your child's eyes.  I don't think Ava had that much fun.  She was so hot and tired.  Kamryn tortured her by spraying her with water every second she could.  I felt sorry for her but by gosh, we were going to get our money's worth and stay until 7:00.  We ended our day with a trip to the water park in Sea World. Here are some videos of our Sea World Adventure!!

Inspired

So those of you who know me well, know that I am not the most tech savvy person. By choice or by consequence is up for debate but nonetheless I'm not on facebook, I don't tweet, and I don't have an i-phone to check other peoples' status every five minutes. Heck, I do good to to check my e-mail once a week. So in the past I tried doing a blog but it didn't last. Recently I have been reinspired by all of you bloggers out there. My mantra this time is, keep it simple. So I might not blog every week and it might not be anything fancy but by gosh I'm going to do it this time!!! As for the name of my blog, Kamyrn, my three year old was my inspiration. She is persistance, attitude, and sassyness all rolled into this cute little package. Every morning she wakes up and when we get down stairs my question is always the same, "What do you want for breakfast?" And her response is always the same, "I want a snack!" She goes to the pantry and points to the candy bowl in the pantry. In the bowl we have fruit snacks, m&m's, suckers, smarties... And when I say fruit snacks, I'm talking about high fructose corn syrup, not actual fruit! My response is always the same, "NO, you're not getting candy for breakfast!" And she throws a fit and life goes on. And as she's sitting there screaming because she didn't get candy for the millionth time in a row, I think to myself, "You know, maybe we all need fruitsnacks for breakfast every once in a while!" Enjoy my blog.