I'm Bracing Myself

Today we are going to the store and Steven gets to pick out a new toy. He says he wants Bullseye for his Jesse and Woody toys. The deal is that he has to pay for it with his binkies. Uggghhh! I think I have been dreading this day more than he has. I am expecting weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. It is sure to be a long day followed by a longer night. But then, he is THREE now, so I guess it's time. Next week we will be starting with potty training 101. Wish me luck. Sometimes I think it would be easier if they just stayed babies forever.

Ballet Holiday Program

Elise's ballet class put on a holiday dance program which was really fun to watch. They were all so cute in their little leotards and tutus. Here are a few fun pictures. Chris took a video on his phone... if I can figure out how I may try to post it later.

Uggghhhh!

December looked something like this:
Mono, cough, cough, really high temperature and chills, flu, common cold, sore throat, stomach flu, sore throat, flu, high temperature, cough again, common cold, stomach flu, stomach flu again, cough, cough, cough. All of those were spread out over our whole family, but it was still miserable.

So far January has looked like this:
Mono still (and how does a 3 year old get mono, by the way?), cough, cough, cough, cough, throw ups all over the classroom, icky cold and cough for a baby, and lots of headaches and sore throats. January isn't over yet, but I am hoping not to add to this list. We need to have some healthy days around here!

All of these goings on in part account for my lack of posting (and sleeping) through December. I guess I have some catch up to do if and when I can ever get a decent nights sleep around here.

A Package for Nana?

This year I did pretty much all of my Christmas shopping online because hitting stores with my three kiddos is not exactly my idea of a good time. I saved a few boxes to wrap stuff up in, and Steven kept climbing inside of them and trying to seal them up. It looked to me as if he was asking to be mailed. And he better be careful because after the month we've had of nonstop sickness and sleepless nights I am tempted to do just that. I'm thinking maybe I'll mail him to his Nana... she'd probably be nicer than I am at 3am anyway so he might not mind it so much.

Gingerbread Party

Every year my kids get to have a very fun party to make Gingerbread Houses with their Miller cousins. They absolutely love it! What could be more fun than cousins, candy, and decorating? As you can see, the houses turned out really cute too.

Santa Bwing Buzz Wightyear

Steven and Elise were so excited to go see Santa this year, and Steven kept saying "Santa bwing you Buzz Wightyear." He was so excited about it that I didn't worry too much about him being scared of Santa, but I was a little worried about Cameron. When it came down to it though, Steven was not too sure if he and Santa could be friends. He refused to look him in the eye. When I walked over and set him down next to him he didn't cry, but he looked the complete opposite direction of Santa and refused to smile. He just kept a very serious look on his face. It was as if in his mind if he didn't look at him he wasn't really there. Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and without looking at him or smiling he said, "Santa bwing you Buzz Wightyear." Luckily one of the elves was able to catch his attention and make him laugh at something for one picture, but notice he is still looking away from Santa a bit. Elise told Santa she wanted a rocking horse, but his elves must have been busy because he couldn't quite get that one done. She was happy that he brought her a new butterfly desk and princess art set instead though. Cameron was a champ and smiled away at Santa. He thought he was pretty funny.

An Eventful Month for a Little One

It has been an eventful month for Cameron. There was the obvious excitement of his first Christmas, his first visit with Santa, his first Rose Parade, and all the other fun holiday festivities. However, on top of that he got his first tooth, he started sitting on his own, he started saying da da and ba ba, he began holding his own bottle, and he has become fairly mobile. And on top of that I'm pretty sure that he is the cutest little 7 month old around. Just so you don't think that I am too biased I might also mention that he has started thinking that the best place to sleep at night is right on top of his mom. I am definitely NOT a fan of that first, but sometimes when you need sleep you just gotta do what you gotta do. Here are some pictures of the cute little guy that I took a few weeks ago.

Chub

I can't get enough of this happy little guy's chubby legs. I just love them!

"Elise" Navidad

Elise's school had their Christmas program earlier this week, and she was definitely the star of the Kindergarten program. The entire Kindergarten sang a song all about her, "Elise" Navidad. If you don't believe me then just ask Elise and she will tell you all about it. I have actually since convinced her that they were not singing Elise Navidad, but that"Feliz Navidad" is Spanish for Merry Christmas. Maybe I should have let her go on thinking it was a song all about her though. I thought it was kind of cute that way.

Dear Santa...

Last week the kids wrote their annual letters to Santa. They throw them in the fire where the pieces fly away to the North Pole and Santa puts them back together. So, we of course had to take pictures of the letters for memories sake.
Elise's letter (notice she is very chatty even in letters. Chris kept saying, "Alright Elise, enough chit chat, lets cut to the chase. What do you want?":

Steven's letter:

Cameron's letter (for some reason I couldn't get these pictures to face the right direction. Oh well!)

Sleepy Boy!

Cameron has this little jumper chair that hangs in the doorway and he just loves it. The other day I put him in it while I was making dinner and when I turned around he had fallen asleep in it. What's a tired boy to do?

Thanksgiving Day Zoo Trip

For Thanksgiving this year Chris' side of the family was all in Utah and my side of the family decided to do Thanksgiving on Friday instead of Thursday. So, for the first time since we have been married we found ourselves with no scheduled place to be on actual Thanksgiving Day. We decided to take the kids to the zoo and come home and do dinner afterwards, and it turned out to be a fun day. The zoo wasn't too crowded and the kids loved it. I don't have one picture of Steven looking at the camera because he wouldn't look away from the animals. He was seriously fascinated! Cameron rode around in the stroller for hours happy as a clam. He was so quiet I kept thinking he must for sure be asleep,but everytime I looked at him he was awake and just hanging out. It was really a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving Program

The Kindergarteners at Elise's school put on a fun Thanksgiving program. Doesn't Elise make a cute pilgrim?

Pure Joy

I love this picture of Steven. He has a look of such joy on his face, and the cute gap between his teeth makes me laugh. This might be one to frame so I can look at it when he is being a stinker!

6 Months

Where has the time gone? I can't believe this little guy is 6 months already! He is such a sweet and happy baby. He has a very mellow personality. He definitley likes attention and likes to be held, and will talk and coo away to anyone in sight. Here are some facts about Cameron at six months:

1. He has been rolling over for several weeks now.

2. He likes to suck on his toes. It cracks me up!

3. He weighs over 20 pounds. His six month check up is still a week away so I don't have the exact stats, but at 5 1/2 months when I took him to the doctor he was just about 20 lbs exactly.

4. He is a very smiley little guy.

5. He can balance while sitting for very short periods of time so he can't be too far from sitting well by himself.

6. He is not a fan of naps. He often only naps twice a day for about 1/2 an hour each time. It's a good thing he is happy or this might really do me in!

7. He loves to sit in his exersaucer, and will sit in it for an hour or more (once again, this is a very good thing due to his lack of napping).

8. He has the best laugh ever. You just have to hear it, I can't describe it, but I love it!

9. He is VERY ticklish.

10. He is fascinated with his older siblings and loves to watch them.