tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76728271385292410752024-03-13T16:56:54.292-07:00Viva England!Welcome to the Fabulous life of The ChristensensErinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-71980747442283444792015-02-01T10:17:00.000-08:002015-02-01T10:17:11.313-08:00Boys v Girls- potty training edition! Since I have twins I feel like I have a front row seat to see exactly how different boys are from girls. For example potty training. When I last wrote I was talking about my twin daughter being potty trained. At the time by son was still struggling with being fully potty trained. Not because he couldn't do it... but because he wasn't interested in doing it yet. He had more importantly things to do with him time than standing around the toilet seat with mommy telling him he can do it. I think he only wanted to do it when HE wanted to do it. Not when I dragged him into the toilet and told him to do it. Turns out he had been doing it... he just didn't make a fuss about it. <br />
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So I was sitting in the kitchen with my girls when I heard the sound of someone going to the bathroom. The girls were with me and my husband was in the basement so that left one person. Suuuurely it wasn't him. I ventured into the bathroom and there he was with his underwear already up and a tell tell sign... pee on the seat. I was shocked. If I hadn't heard him in the bathroom I would have never known he was secretly already peeing in the potty. With my girls every time they needed to go to the bathroom it was a big event. Of course mommy had to go too. With Cambree she expected me to lift her up on the seat. With Ashy she just wanted me to sit with her. With my son if I hadn't heard it ... I would have never known. Who knows how long he had been going on his own?! When all was said and done he was probably the easiest one. When he decided he was finally ready to be potty trained... he was. No drama! No audience!!<br />
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A few weeks in and he stealth about it. He will be doing something and quickly sprints out of the room to go potty. I just laugh when I hear him slam down the seat when he is done and flush. Hey, he is a step above his dad with putting the seat down!! He doesn't make a fuss about going, he just goes. I am 100% a firm believer in not pushing your kid into potty training. Every since the day I heard my son in the bathroom peeing I have had him sleeping in underwear at night. He has had zero accidents. I cannot tell you how nice it is to have all my kids potty trained and to not every have to worry about it again. Buddy can be a handful but with this ... I'm telling you when he decided it was time... it was time and was definitely the easiest thing we've ever done.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-6774701106020458922015-01-09T08:03:00.000-08:002015-01-09T08:03:33.964-08:00Potty Training Twins..My oldest daughter who is the ripe old age of 5 was not the easiest person to potty train. When I say not the easiest I mean she literally clung to her diapers and told me NO about potty training. She was 3 at the time and I felt the pressure getting her potty trained whether she liked it or not! I decided we were through with diapers were one day and that was that. I took her to the potty and miracles of miracles it took. I mean... she was 3... but still... it took. It was easy and that was that. Okay so there were accidents and of course some bed wetting but basically it took a day and she had it down. That whole process leading up to that day though was not fun and I wasn't going to go through that with my next child especially considering my next child was actually a set of twins.<br />
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Sooo I didn't push potty training on my twins at all They turned 3 and I still didn't push. I wasn't going to completely stress myself out over this. Well a few months passed.... they are now 3 1/2 and then I start to panic a little. I had long taken the diapers away but they were living in pull ups. For Buddy that was a baby step cause he hated the pull ups at first. Well I decided they might not ever do this on their own so I started taking them in every 20 minutes and started the potty training. Now let me tell you two things .... Ashy has the determination of a 20 year old and Buddy just doesn't let much faze him so this really didn't work. I would give them both juice and set a timer figuring they would eventually need to use the potty and they never did. Ashy would hold her pee allllllll day. I've never encountered a bladder like this. I swear she did this to show me she was going to potty train on her terms and her terms weren't now. I started putting her in underwear (super hero underwear to sweeten the deal because superhero's are infact her favorite) and she wasn't peeing her underwear. She would sleep in it overnight even and never once have an accident. Then one day maybe a week later she came to me on her own and said "pee on potty"... I was shocked!! Here I was setting timers, giving her juice with no results and a week later when <i>she</i> decided it was time... it was time. Since that day she has been potty trained. Now to the point about potty training.... you can pull your hair out trying to get them to go on the potty or you can give them the tools or in my case the super hero underwear and when they want to do it... they will. She has no accidents and no bed wetting. With my oldest when we would go out shopping I would still put her in a pull up "just in case".... with Ashy I don't have to do that. She isn't going to accidentally pee. It is soooo nice. <br />
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Now for the Buddy story! Buddy and Cambree and two pea's in a pod. Two birds of a feather. How they didn't come down as the twins I will never know because they are in fact the real twins. So I started putting him in underwear and decided his reign in pull ups was over. The problem was he would stand at the toilet but not pee. He put on a nice theatrical piece of trying to pee... but alas nothing would come. So I told him.... if you pee on the potty I will buy you a robot/ (Robot = a transformers toy!) So I had to go order Cambree's birthday cake anyway and after I did that I dropped by the store and grabbed 2 robots. (Yes folks I was determined we were peeing in that darn potty!!) I get home.... I simply show Buddy that I had a sack that had 2 robots in it. Would you believe he marched right into the bathroom.... pulled down his underwear and peed? I had been trying to get him to pee allllll day without success! Apparently Buddy will pee for robots!!Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-69565658265270412112014-10-27T08:14:00.002-07:002014-10-27T08:14:58.870-07:00Gorgeous new house!!So there we were living in my moms house with my three kids five and under... We had been living with her a month. Keri had just found out he had gotten the job he really wanted so the next step was to find us a house. That part seemed really hard. First how in the world were Keri and I going to agree on a house?! We rarely agree on movies! Our first disagreement was on location. I wanted to live in the Kaysville/Layton area... he was open to pretty much anything and it didn't matter how far away from Kaysville/Layton it was. We grew up in Kaysville after my dad retired from the miltary and I just loved the area. It is pretty much next to everything you need to include my favorite part.. the freeway. The most important thing about living in the Kaysville/Layton area however was that I wanted my kids to be in the Davis School District and more importantly I wanted my kids to go to Davis High. This was my driving force behind everything. Keri thought I was limited our options really wanted us to look at a few houses down in Syracuse. Mostly what I have against Syracuse is that you have to drive down Gentile for what seems like years to get down to the houses and I just didn't want to do that. In North Carolina you had to drive forever to get anywhere and I was over that. I live in Utah now. I want to be live close to things. Not be driving down a long road every day to get places... but to avoid fight I hopped in the car and drove down the looooong road to look at some houses. I'll be honest I feel in LOVE with a house down there! I really wanted this house. It was perfect. Right across the street was this gorgeous park with a lake. It was amazing. The only draw back.. the only thing saving me from taking this house was that it was on the worlds busiest road and there was no way I could buy this house that had a gotgeous park across the street with a lake and take the chance the twins would open our front door and run across the worlds busiest street and get hit by a car going 60mph.<br />
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Well I was starting to get nervous. We were pretty crammed into my moms house. She already had a full house before we moved in as Kelly and Shaun live there. While it was fun to all be under one roof after six years of living so far away it was time to be in our own home again. Well just around the corner from my mom is this super gorgeous new subdivision. It use to be farmland that had horses on it. It is set against the mountains and it is just this luscious green and super pretty to look at. Well last year it got sold and homes started popping up. When I saw that I will admit I was mad!! They sold the pretty farmland for HOMES?! Is there no end to that in Utah? Where are all the poor horses going to run now? There use to be so much farmland in Kaysville and virtually all of it is gone now.<br />
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Getting past my soap box my mom dragged me into the car one Saturday and told me we were going to drive into that new subdivision around the corner. She told me I WAS going to find a house there. I had previously driven through it and I had hated it!! I don't know how to describe it. It was not your normal subdivision. They would have normal houses and then they would have these very modern, very odd looking houses. My friend said if you saw these homes in Park City you wouldn't think they looked weird.. but we weren't in Park City. We were in Layton. They also had this bright orange and white home right as you turned onto the street. I wasn't sure what was going on with this neighborhood but I was SURE it wasn't for me.<br />
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Well we drove around and we actually found this cute green house. It was probably only half finished so the door was wide open. Mom, Shaun, and I were in the car so we decided it was a good idea to go in the house and check it out. I noticed a sign out front from the builder so I asked mom if I should call them. She said it was a good idea. I called the number and a guy named Dallin answered. I told him I was outside his house and would love to go inside. He said that would be fine and asked if I wanted him to meet us. I told him sure. I told him we had been pre-approved for a certain amount already and he said he had a few houses in the area he could show us too. Perfect I thought!! So we went in the house while we waited for him and we HATED it. Oh my gosh we did not like this house. So then we are outside in the car regretting that we called this guy. Naturally mom tells me as much... you shouldn't have called him she says. Well a few minutes later he shows up and drives us around the corner to a blueish/gray house. The outside is cute. We walk in and I immediately fall in LOVE with this house. I immediately know more than I have ever know anything in my life that I am standing in my house. Everything was perfect. It had granite counter tops. It had a balcony off of the master bedroom. It had a huge bonus room. It has 4 bedrooms upstairs. It has a 3 car garage. It has a huge laundry room. It has a walk in pantry. It is perfect. My walk in closet is huge. My bathroom is huge. It has a built in school area with shelves. There is nothing I don't love about this house. I called Keri over and he loved it as well. I couldn't believe this was happening. I can't remembering being this excited about anything. We signed the contract right then. Dallin was the son of the Contractor we decided on a price that was a littler lower than the asking price of the house so we had to wait a few days to see if the dad would accept the price and luckily he did. After that day which was Sept 20, 2014 everything pretty much went off without a hitch. <br />
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October 23, 2014 we closed on our house and the very next day we moved into our new house!!! It was so excited to get the keys to our first house!! I feel so blessed that this all happened the way it did. Blessed that Keri worked so hard to get his degree to get this job to afford this house. Blessed that our heavenly father had a hand in all of this. Keri's job had to line up perfectly for us to get into this house when we did. I feel like in life we focus so much on the negative and we don't stop to give thanks for the good. We survived the weekend in this house with just the basics as we are waiting on our household goods to come out of storage and be delivered on Tuesday! Let me tell you .. you think you have everything until you are trying to take dinner out of the stove without oven mitts... or you take your shirt out for church on sunday and you don't have an iron.... or you've made baked potato's and you don't have a cheese grater. I think all of these little things make for good memories and one day when we are older and all settled into our life here in our cute little house we will look back and laugh at the time I thought taking turkey steaks out of the oven with pull ups was a good idea!!!Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-24326931942442124322014-10-19T14:55:00.000-07:002014-10-19T14:55:03.005-07:00Big changes to a brand new start!!Our family went through a lot of new changes since I lost wrote! For starters due to a heart condition Keri retired from the military after 10 years. We knew it was coming but when the retirement orders finally came down it was really sad. I decided to make our last summer in North Carolina memorable so we made it a busy one. Cambree and her best friend Bella enrolled in swim classes in June, in July they did dance, and in August they did a tumbling camp and another swim session. Is there anything better than spending the summer with your best friend? I just love Tabitha so it was nice to spend the summer with her as well.... tiring but nice. One day the girls rushed from one thing to the next to the next. They went from tumbling, to swim, and finished off the afternoon with dance. I told you we were ending summer with a bang! Cambree originally was mad at me for putting her in the second session of swim lessons by ended up loving them. By the last day of swim class my baby girl actually jumped off the diving board. I have never been more proud of her. I never in a million years thought she would jump!!! She progressed so good over the course of the summer. Dad drove Shannon out to Utah for a month so he was able to stay with us a few days at our house. We took him on base to the Movie/Pool night. They were showing Goonies and you were able watch the movie while you swam. Cam and I went to all three this summer. They were so fun! Cam has turned into quite the swimmer! We threw in as many playdates as we could knowing our days were numbered. <br />
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As for me I spent as much time with my friends as I could. I was really going to miss Tania, Kimmi, and Tabitha. I can't say enough about those girls. Tabitha was my partner in crime during my last year in N.C. It was so nice to have our girls do everything together. They had Pre K together, they had dance together, and they just liked to be together. They were truly two peas in a pod. The swim teachers asked me if they were sisters because they were always talking about each other. I think the first session they did more singing and dancing in the pool than they did actual swimming and that is okay They had this song they always song that goes "Me and my girls are best friends forever..." I'm going to miss seeing them dancing and singing around the house. <br />
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Well we got the house packed up, the movers came, and we headed up to Shannon's house to spend the night before our big trip across the country to Utah. It was sad to see our house in the rearview mirror. The twins were just 10 months when we moved to NC. They learned to walk in that house. We watched them grow up. We have so many memories in that house. I hated saying goodbye to North Carolina. It was the most content I remember ever feeling in my life. I truly had the best friends. Cambree had the most incredible friends ever as well. I hated making her say goodbye.<br />
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The long trek across the country wasn't bad at all actually. We decided we didn't want to see West Virginia again so we went down through Tenessee. Let me tell you it was gorgeous! I would live there in a heart beat!! Since the Air Force was paying for this trip we decided to travel in style and stayed in a Hyatt closed to the Grand Ole Opry. We got to our hotel and I took Cambree to the pool. The next day Cam put on her pink cowboy hat and pulled out her guitar and we stopped by the grand ole opry for pictures. She fit right in. My girl is going to be a star one day and we can pull out that picture one day and be like yep, we knew it back then! We took our time and 4 days later we rolled into Utah. I had forgotten how gorgeous the West truly was. When we got to Wyoming I was finally getting excited to be out West!!<br />
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Cambree only had a few days to get adjusted to the time zone because it was right to Kindergarten for her!!! I can't believe my baby girl is in Kindergarten. If we had stayed in NC she would have gone all day... well turns out half day out here means barely 3 hours. The school day out here is just as long as she was going for Pre K. I was surprised!! Mrs. Cooper did an amazing job getting Cambree ready for Kindergarten as she is already a few months into school and knows everything they are going over. I think school is going to be a breeze for her this year. Cam has been a real trooper. I put her in dance out here and she will start tumbling soon. She has two friends at school she really likes and one of them is actually a cute little boy. That is something new. I think we have transitioned pretty good but there are days we still long for our NC life.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-54525400938405466022014-06-14T13:32:00.001-07:002014-06-14T13:32:48.175-07:00Goodbye Pre k, hello summer!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I cannot believe it! School is out for the summer!! Cambree has officially completed Pre K! I cannot believe how much she has grown since she started in September 2013. There are two elementary schools inside the military housing area we live in and Pre K is a part of the regular elementary school. Cambree went to school like everyone else each day from 8:20-10:50am. She had the absolute best Pre K teacher anyone could ask for. Mrs. Cooper was amazing. I've never seen a teacher do so many cute projects with their kids. I think we all teared up in our last pick up line at school. Before school started Cambree couldn't even spell her name all the way. Within a few weeks of school she could not only spell it but write it perfectly. She has learned to recognized all her abc's, and the sounds they make. This girl is well on way to reading! I'm so proud of her!! </div>
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Cambree also just finished up her second year dancing at Southern Dance Explosion! I put together a picture of her and her best friend Allegra picking out their tutu's at 3, how they looked at the end of their first year, and how they looked at the end of their second year. Cam has come a long way since she first started dance. She use to hate to put her ballet shows on! I use to have to put them on before we left so she wouldn't cry in class when I put them on her. It has been so fun to watch her progress over the years! It has also been so nice that she has been able to dance for two years with her best friend. </div>
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This is a picture at her last recital with her best friends Bella & Allegra! These three girls are the cutest friends ever. Bella was in Cambree's pre k class as well as dance class so those two got super close. These girls danced to "I'm not ready to be a princess" and they were spectacular!<br />
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Cambree & Bella also tried out tumbling this year and LOVED it! I definitely have a tumbler on my hands.<br />
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School's over, tumbling is over, dance is over for another month.... it's time to kick back and have some fun! I'm so proud of my baby girl!! </div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-92158499569196189142014-03-24T12:44:00.000-07:002014-03-24T12:44:17.388-07:00Cambree turns 5 in style!! <span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>I'm so bad about keeping this blog updated but I thought I would give it a try. Every January just when it starts to get dreary with the weather we get to make it festive by celebrating birthdays. Cambree's comes first and this year it was her 5th birthday!!! I cannot believe my baby girl is 5!! For her actual birthday we went up to Shannon's house because Grandpa Lindy & Kelly were visiting! It was so fun to celebrate with family! </b></span><br />
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The birthday girl!</div>
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Cambree with Papa Lindy</div>
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Shannon bought the cutest pinata that we did</div>
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Buddy was determined to crack that thing open</div>
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Cam & Jax</div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Of course we had to keep the party going. The week after her actual birthday we had her birthday party with friends. Cam has THE CUTEST friends ever so she was so excited for her party! Her party list included her best friend Allegra, Bella, Charlotte, and Maddy. There was no question what the theme would be... PRINCESS!! I have to admit even I was excited for her birthday party!! The party went off without a hitch!!</b></span><br />
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Decorating the table is my favorite part!!</div>
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I thought this carriage holder was the cutest thing ever!</div>
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No party is complete without cute water bottles!!</div>
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Cam & Ashy!</div>
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Cam & her friend Bella! </div>
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The whole gang!</div>
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Cambree has had this same cake for three years in a row. It is her favorite!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Getting a picture of the whole gang! </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Cam enjoyed every minute of her 5th birthday! I'm so glad she has so many people in her life that love her! Happy birthday baby girl! </b></span></div>
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Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-42958857148888694012013-12-10T13:39:00.002-08:002013-12-10T13:39:31.938-08:00Lots to catch up on!I can't believe it has been so long since I've blogged!! So much has happened since I last wrote. I think we better start with summer! Summer summer summertime!! We had one of the best summers I've had in a long time. It all started when my dad told me he was having a work conference in Orlando at the end of July. Whenever I hear the words trip, conference, or tournament I can't help but immediately start to hatch a plan. I called my dad and within seconds we figured out a rough plan. I was going to have to talk Keri into driving to Florida and meeting up with my dad. We would stay with him at his fancy hotel and then meet up with his family later on in the week. Usually when I'm hatching a plan it takes a lot of work to convince Keri but this one didn't take much at all. Before we knew it it was the end of July and we were off to see my dad. When he travels for work he usually travels in style. I've gone to many conferences with him and we usually stay at Hiltons so when I saw the place we were staying I was a bit disappointed. Granted it had a whole kitchen area with a microwave and dishwasher and it had two rooms but Dad had set my standards high with past places. Well we settled in and spent the next day relaxing. Tuesday we hit Sea World. The military gets in free once a year so it is always on our itinerary of things to do. Cam has already been to Sea World once but she was little. This time she was super excited. The problem with being in Florida in July is that it is insanely hot. Like imagine the hottest you have ever been and double no.. triple it. I thought I was literally going to melt to a puddle. That didn't get our spirits down though. The kids love loved it!! Well later that night we took a walk quite a few blocks down to check out the hotel my dads conference was actually being held out. Holy luxurious!! When I saw all the crystal chandeliers hanging everywhere I knew we HAD to switch hotels!!! Then I saw the pool. It was amazing. It had a separate part for little kids with sand even. Immediately I was off to hatch a plan to get us to switch hotels!! Luckily it didn't take too much convincing to switch. Now this hotel was more my style... it fit the version of me that I imagine being really rich lol. <br />
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Well Keri and I worked out a plan where he would actually take the twins and go visit his family down in Satellite Beach while Cam and I stayed with my dad. The next thing on our itinerary was ... Disney World!!! We took everyone a few years ago but again Cam was too young to really enjoy it. She was SO excited that we were going!! Again... Disney World in July is incredibly hot!!! These won't be vacation pictures we will be showing as we are all plastered in sweat lol. Disney was amazing! We hit all the rides we wanted except one.. Splash Mountain. So when we first entered the park I told my dad we needed to go to splash mountain and get a fast pass. We did just that and after a fun day at the park we headed over to Splash Mountain for our last ride of the day. We were in line talking about what an amazing day it was when... what is that? RAIN!! We were literally one person away from getting on Splash Mountain when it rained and they closed down the ride!!!!! Nooooooooooooooo. We decided to wait it out in line but after 45 minutes we threw in the towel. We were one person away from a perfect day!! We left with great memories though!<br />
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The rest of the week went by fast. Cam & I spent the days hanging out at the awesome pool. On Saturday we headed down to Satallite Beach where Keri's mom lives. The next day we spent the day at the beach. Keri's grandparents live RIGHT on Cocoa Beach so we went and chatted with them and then walked out their back door to the ocean. Like ten years ago I visited Florida with my friends and we found Cocoa Beach. It ended up being my favorite beach back then and it is my favorite beach still today. The next day we were leaving but before we left Dana planned a big bbq with Keri's grandparents and his Aunt Michele. We LOVE Aunt Michele. She is one of the most amazing, sweet, generous, loving people I have ever met! Oh and she is gorgeous too! I think my girls look like her. We had a great time eating and chatting away. <br />
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Well we got back from Florida and had one day to recoop before Dad and I hopped in the car with the kids to drive back to Utah. We had planned to go home to Utah for 3 weeks and Dad offered to drive us back after that. Yep, my dad is pretty awesome. Well it took us 3 days in the car to get home to Utah. All in all it wasn't that bad. The kids travel great. I don't know how people did long road trips before dvd players were installed in cars, The dvd player saves us!! This trip my girls were crazy about Britney Spear's "Oh la la" song.. driving at 11pm at night listening to my girls sing it is a pretty great memory. Well we got to Utah and instead of staying 3 weeks we made it a month. It is always chaotic living out of a suitcase for longer than a few days but we still had a lot of fun. It was great to see all my old friends again too. Dad and I even managed to see Utah States opening football game against the Utes. There is nothing like walking up 79 stairs at Rice Eccles to remind you how old you are getting!! I swear the oxygen was thin up there!!<br />
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Well after a month of fun Dad and I headed back in the car with the kids. This time around my back was bad though. I have never had back problems in my life. I am not even sure what happened to cause it but my back was basically out. I had no idea how I drove in the car for three days with that back. It was pretty awful. When we finally did get back to North Carolina my dad took pity on me and stayed almost a whole week to help me. I could not have gotten through that week without him. Our favorite thing to do was to talk our long walks at night. After a month and a half together it was REALLY sad to see my dad go!<br />
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Well that about sums up our summer 2013. Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-85716222815181684052013-06-22T07:15:00.001-07:002013-06-22T07:15:09.367-07:00Horribly swollen knees...<span style="color: #0b5394;">There are a few things I will whine about but usually I keep the whining about my knee's to a minimum. Most people who haven't known me forever don't even know I have horrible knees. Horrible knees doesn't quite describe however. The cartilage in both of my knee's have been deteriorating since I was a teenager. My orthopedic doctor found this out around my 6th knee surgery. I woke up in recovery and he told me my cartilage is sloughing off and I would be looking at knee replacements for both of my knee's by 40. I was told this about 13 years ago. I was still groggy from the anesthesia but I remember looking at my mom and crying. In total I have had 9 surgeries on my knees and finally my doctor told me there was nothing else he could do. I had to wait for my knee replacements. I suffered through a pregnancy with my twins on bad knees. I suffer through chasing after my 4 year old and my 2 year old twins on bad knees. Most days I can barely get up the stairs but I just have to keep plugging along. I saw the orthopedic doctor here at Fort Bragg last year who told me I was too young for a knee replacement (let alone two knee replacements) and his direct quote was for me to "suck it up." Encouraging words right? I don't think this man realizes what it takes to get through a day with three little kids. I don't have the luxury of laying on the couch icing my knee's. I am up and going all day. Not to mention all the up and down that comes with constantly changing the twins diapers... and the up and down of the stairs chasing them around the house. Carrying Buddy up the stairs when he has fallen asleep. Just lots of little things that most people can just do pain free.</span><div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Well in February we all went to Washington D.C. for Keri to have a procedure done and then we went sightseeing. I remember we were walking to the White House and I had to use the bathroom. Instead of making everyone wait I told them to go ahead and I would catch up. Well they must have been speed walking because when I got done they were quite a ways away. I made a stupid decision. I decided to run to them. Running isn't something I can do with these knee's but I did it. Now four months later I am still regretting that decision to run. The next day following my run to catch up (which was quite a distance) I could barely walk. Then it was insane swelling. I got home and trying to up and down the stairs was ridiculous. I would get this intensely sharp pain shooting up and down my leg every time I bent it. Whhhhhy didn't I just tell them to wait for me in that bathroom?! Well I went to my pain management doctor and luckily she ordered some new MRI's on my knees. I just got the results and took them to my doctor. Now on top of my catilage being gone and arthritis I have joint effusion which is fluid in my knee. The report says Medial femoral condyle articular cartilage thinning with subchondral edema and fissuring involving the patellar articular cartilage with suchondral edema and joint effusion., </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">So basically that is the reason my knee's have been extra worse. I have all this fluid in my joint causing the incredible pain. Well I was able to get a referral back to orthopedic's and I am in the process of getting another appointment. Basically what they would do is taking a huge needle and draw the fluid out. To be honest it sounds painful. I don't know if anyone has had a cortisone shot in their knee or a synvic shot but those things are sooooooooo painful. Honestly I try to avoid cortisone shots because it hurts so bad. However it is nice to know this might be able to ease some pain. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Anyway, I'm trying to be positive. My brother is struggling to even walk right now so I am extremely grateful I can still walk. I am grateful that eventually my problem can be resolved. There are a lot worse things I could have. I just hope I can get into orthopedic's fast and they can be more helpful than last time! I have my fingers crossed!!</span></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-28590555975298350292013-06-07T15:17:00.005-07:002013-06-07T15:17:20.599-07:00Devious girl!!<b><span style="color: #674ea7;">So many funny things have happened with the kids and I regret I never write them down to remember. One thing happened a few days ago and I thought I had to write about it. So the other day Cambree's best friend came over to pick her up for a play date. I opened the door to go out and put the car seat in Allegra's car and of course who would follow me outside but Ashy. Now the problem with that is that she won't just stay by me and watch. She likes to hit the dusty trail and run down the street. This is only made worse when Buddy joins her for the jog. I didn't want to have to deal with chasing Ashy so I put her back in the house while I helped put Cam's car seat in the car. The whole ordeal took maybe 2 minutes. So the girls are about to leave and I go to open the door and <i>oh no</i>... Ashy has locked the front door. Mind you I didn't even know she could reach the dead bolt on the door let alone actually know to twist it. So there I am outside on the porch without a way in the house ... and I don't even have my phone. Luckily Kimmi hadn't left yet so I knocked on her window and asked for her phone. I quickly called Keri and told him what happened. He was less than thrilled with the situation as he was just arriving at work. I was on the phone with him and I keep knocking at the door telling Ashy to let me in. She simply knocks right back to me and doesn't attempt to unlock the door. What is worse is I see Buddy looking at me through the window. Help me Buddy!! Luckily Keri got ahold of someone at the housing office and they quickly came and let me in the house. By the time I got in the house would you believe the twins were in the family room watching tv? They abandoned me. They didn't seem too concerned that I had been stranded outside. Luckily the whole ordeal didn't take that long but I'm still dying that stinker locked me out! What a devious little 2 year old!!</span></b>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-81429345489057952562013-03-18T14:40:00.000-07:002013-03-18T14:40:07.386-07:00Best Buddy around..Buddy got his second hair cut last week! It devastates me to cut his amazing curls but he looks so cute with a boy hair cut. I took a few pictures after his hair cut as we were playing with the iPad. You can tell at the end he was getting into the picture taking! :)<div>
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Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-13279307875838435022013-03-18T06:37:00.002-07:002013-03-18T06:37:27.200-07:00Crazy, Crazy, Craaaaaazy...<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>It has to be said. Sunday's are the most stressful day of the week. Our church is at 1pm but we have to leave around 12:15pm because it is a drive to get there and we try to get a good seat. We've recently discovered if we try to coral the kids in an actually bench it goes a lot better but it seems like everyone in the ward is jockeying for the bench seats so you have to leave extra early if you want one. It's like that perfect shirt you've had your eye on at your favorite store that has just gone on sale and you have to beat everyone else to that shirt if you want it. Being in a military ward is unlike normal wards. There are always families moving in and PCSing out. Some months you have a million families crammed into your small chapel and other times it is virtually empty. Most of the time our ward has been consistently full so getting a good seat is pretty hard. </b></span><div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b> Needless to say leaving early for church to get the good seats creates a few problems. One of them being the twins nap. They have napped at 11am every morning since they were about 4 months old. This nap is vital to how the rest of the day is going to go. I don't know if people really appreciate how hard it is to raise two two year olds. You have heard of the terrible two's... mine is basically double the trouble with that. Every sunday we get the twins out of bed in the morning and try to put them back down by 10:30am so they have enough time to whine about being back in their bed and actually are able to fall asleep by the time we wake them back up close to noon. Then it is a mad... and I mean mad dash to get them dressed, fed, and out the door. I'm rounding up three sets of little shoes, trying to brush three sets of little teeth, getting my church bag, making sure the diaper bag is fully stocked and trying to get out the door on time. Needless to say a few weeks ago I was having an "off day" and found myself sitting at church with two completely different shoes. One was black and one was brown. I had no idea until I was sitting in one of the coveted benches. The shoes don't even have the same feel to them so this goes to show you how intense getting out the door can be if I couldn't even feel that I had two different shoes on. </b></span><div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Once at church if we get the coveted bench towards the front door (yes we have a preference as to which bench exactly) I feel a little better but if it happens to be completely full and we are reduced to the chairs set up in the back then I know it is going to be a loooooooooooong day. This is what happened yesterday. Keri sat down with the girls in the chairs but of course Buddy has zero interest in sitting in a chair. In a bench he can basically stand the whole time if he wants but getting him to sit in a chair is mission impossible. He just likes to run and run and um run. Getting him to sit for any length of time requires a good sippy cup and a tasty treat. He started to run away so I pulled out the big guns (aka m&m's) and that stopped him dead in his tracks for a few minutes. After those were done he had no interest in staying put. He went to run and I grabbed him and of course screaming ensued. I had to rush him to the hall and of course he was happy as a clam to run down the hall. The problem with Buddy is for whatever reason he doesn't like Keri. I mean obviously he doesn't not like Keri... but he prefers mom. In fact if we are at a store and Keri goes to push the cart he is in.. he will scream and push Keri's hand away. If I try to hand Buddy off to Keri in a hallway Buddy will scream. I have no idea what this is about but it just means especially on Sunday's I get put on Buddy detail. </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Well I feel like things were going okay. He was running up and down. Climbing the stairs to the water fountain for the fifth time and then Keri comes out with the girls. Super. There is nothing like three crazy kids running down the hallway to make you feel super embarrassed and like you are failing as a mom. Cambree has actually gotten pretty good but when the twins are acting up she feels free to join them. We decided to trap the twins into a classroom and Keri stayed while I took Cambree back into sacrament meeting for a few minutes of silence. After sacrament it is time for primary/ nursery for the twins. I teach a primary class in junior primary so I get to witness Cambree sitting with her Sunbeams class. She has two of her best friends in that class with her so getting them to sit and be good isn't exactly easy. Yesterday of course she decided to be "on one" so she wasn't happy to be sitting in Sharing Time. She finally had to come sit with my class. Then she realized she was missing this silly draw string back she likes to carry everywhere with her and of course drama ensued. Then she insists she has to use the bathroom which is really just code for I don't want to sit in here anymore. It just seems to be never ending during church. The twins have been doing a lot better adjusting to nursery but by the time church is over and I'm grabbing all three by myself because I have no idea where my husband I am exhausted. Not to mention stressed out and just frustrated. </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>I think what I need to remember is that I have three kids that are around the same age. When I say around the same age I mean I have two the <i>exact</i> same age with my only two years older. I find it easy to beat myself up about my kids. I don't know if I am flat out failing as a mother to teach them how to behave better or if it is just that they are all super young still. With Buddy I truly have no idea how to get him to stop running away from me. He refuses to hold my hand to walk anywhere. Is this a boy thing? Both of my girls have always held my hand to walk places. Buddy is my easiest kid unless we step outside the door and then he hits the pavement at a good speed and if you try to stop him he will scream and throw himself on the floor. I have no idea how to deal with this or get him to stop it. Before I had kids I don't recall one person telling me how hard it was going to be to parent them. To teach them. To get them to listen. I thought the hard part about having kids was the sleepless nights. The early mornings. I had no idea the hard part was the every day raising of them. Teaching them. Trying to get through to them. Trying to be patient with them. Now I am just searching for a way to make Sunday's more enjoyable and less of a nightmare. Here is the every mother out there right now sipping a diet coke and trying to come up with her own game plan. I think mine is more of a battle strategy. Good luck mothers out there. I wish us all luck! </b></span></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-46885315175271241262013-03-06T18:37:00.001-08:002013-03-06T18:37:26.223-08:00Best friends!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>I have had my share of amazing best friends growing up. Life is not the same without that one person in your life that knows you the best and loves you unconditionally. I feel so blessed that Cambree has found her own best friend. Cambree met Allegra not long after we first moved here when they were both 3 years old. We are in the same ward as Allegra's family but as luck would have it the girls ended up in the same dance class too. From that dance class they blossomed into the bestest of friends. Cambree calls Allegra her sister and they get along as if they were truly sisters. I have never seen Cambree be nicer, sweeter, and yes even share her toys with anyone the way she does Allegra. It truly makes me sad to think about our pending move and of Cambree having to say goodbye to her amazing friend. I decided to put together some pictures in tribute of this cute friendship. </b></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQVsKcKDiakGKzt5qW13x86fUdgQfS3F4vDT5paazTTY2espmLO_x65rXUkP_nHsXnf-vJzRNg3qiMZ0EJBHTCRcGd8imms5kgJIE9yc-JTBUTEf5wKkSEldmjIgZYxUAxVuDc-dfIbE/s1600/201786_10151157180430837_11014534_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQVsKcKDiakGKzt5qW13x86fUdgQfS3F4vDT5paazTTY2espmLO_x65rXUkP_nHsXnf-vJzRNg3qiMZ0EJBHTCRcGd8imms5kgJIE9yc-JTBUTEf5wKkSEldmjIgZYxUAxVuDc-dfIbE/s320/201786_10151157180430837_11014534_o.jpg" width="182" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">This was taken after dance class one day.. best friends in leotards are priceless! </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">At Cambree's 4th birthday party</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-YBi9PJPcHkZNq2z9zeG77muhn5e60Sof7X2jwsFXkCPRj7qiMbgEcql-EOI6c3I_SbYT1QO6cLpAZe4aLlLvPopgmDuT3UEePLpCgTKeiqQr1kjDHBNH1ENJGrIR2nSuk8-8yNRB9Q/s1600/487260_10151475756940837_898462991_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-YBi9PJPcHkZNq2z9zeG77muhn5e60Sof7X2jwsFXkCPRj7qiMbgEcql-EOI6c3I_SbYT1QO6cLpAZe4aLlLvPopgmDuT3UEePLpCgTKeiqQr1kjDHBNH1ENJGrIR2nSuk8-8yNRB9Q/s320/487260_10151475756940837_898462991_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">Being fashionable at Allegra's house.. what best friends don't have matching sunglasses </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">Just being goofy girls</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">Does it get more precious than this??</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">My FAVORITE picture of the girls... they were on their way to dance</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT0TWmf8byJkMf4LkUTRrWo9A4AcjaXmhqc7CDFiZSysICtO_-NjyDb5Sm4E65lZPGC12-8-V9infO4Y1tuRxSzgWQT8a49spk2AB6E4d2zL0YVfd69vZmnZYlG3hKufzhj37VWtal1PM/s1600/66549_10151249374660837_629054212_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT0TWmf8byJkMf4LkUTRrWo9A4AcjaXmhqc7CDFiZSysICtO_-NjyDb5Sm4E65lZPGC12-8-V9infO4Y1tuRxSzgWQT8a49spk2AB6E4d2zL0YVfd69vZmnZYlG3hKufzhj37VWtal1PM/s320/66549_10151249374660837_629054212_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">Princesses in the castle</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">Two girls.. one horse..</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">This picture captures how truly perfect they are for each other. I found them wearing these hats..</span></td></tr>
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<br />Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-33008036544025330932013-03-05T07:02:00.000-08:002013-03-05T07:02:54.935-08:00The sweetest girl..<span style="color: purple;"><b>Cambree has only been four for a few months but already she seems like a big girl. Sure, there is the whining and the constant crying. The fighting with Ashley over<i> everything. </i>But there are also sweet moments. Telling her daddy to "be reverent" when he is getting upset with her. Soothing Ashley when she cries with a song. Then there was the other night. Keri was in Cambree's room upset about something. Often I like to tune Keri out because he seems to get upset over <i>everything</i>. Something small can be made out to be something big. Well I heard him getting upset so I decided to go into her room. He was sitting down with one of the drawers that goes on Cambree's bed. He told me it hadn't been pushed in and someone had stepped in it and it broke. Immediately that sounded like something one of the twins would do. Would you believe Cambree didn't waste any time telling us<i> she</i> broke it? I was so proud of her. I know kids go into a "lying stage" where they will lie instead of confessing and getting in trouble. Luckily for me Cambree hasn't hit that stage and I was so proud of her for stepping up and telling the truth even though Keri was clearly upset. Well Keri & I got into a small fight and Cambree was right there and she told us "mommy.. daddy...both of you be nice." That diffused the situation right away. My favorite part of this story happened an hour later at bedtime. Cam was tucked in bed and I asked her to say the prayer. She said the sweetest prayer ever. She said she was sorry for breaking the drawer and to help mommy and daddy to listen to each other. It truly touched me that my little four year old could be so sweet and so wise. She truly is a special girl and I am so lucky she is mine. </b></span>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-39573608751068469272013-02-16T20:49:00.001-08:002013-02-16T20:49:32.424-08:00And we were off to D.C...<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I have a lot of pictures I need to upload but for now I will simply tell you the story of our adventures in Washington D.C. As we all know by now Keri has a heart condition and in order to figure out how severe the heart valve is Keri needed to have a cardiac MRI. It seemed like something simple however as it turns out nothing is simple with our family. Apparently none of the major hospitals in North Carolina (like Duke, Wake, UNC) could do this cardiac MRI so we were told we were off to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC to get this done! Walter Reed is one of the major military hospitals. When soldiers get wounded while deployed they get sent there to help in their recovery. I was pretty excited to see it. It has some pretty great history but that is for another blog by someone with a lot more knowledge than me on the subject. </b></span><div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>As it turned out Keri and I had been wanting to take a trip to D.C. and now that he had to be sent to Walter Reed we thought it was perfect. We could mix a little business with pleasure. The MRI was going to take two hours and Shannon said she would go with us so I could go to the hospital with Keri during the test. We left early on Monday Feb 11th and arrived around dinner time in Bethesda, Maryland. The military was putting us up in a Mariott the first night and Keri found one a few miles away from the hospital. We had some chinese take out and called it a night. The next day we were up bright and early for the MRI. Let me just tell you Walter Reed is HUGE! We walked for days to find the right part of the hospital where they do the MRI'S. Luckily they had some candy out at the desk because I had worked up an appetite with all that walking! Keri was taken back after about an hour and I nestled into a comfortable seat to wait and of course to gawk at all the men in uniform walking by. Keri got done with his test and we headed back to the hotel. Since we were staying a few days we decided it would be cheaper to stay on Andrews AFB instead of staying in the Mariott. We arrived and man was I impressed with Andrews AFB. Andrew's claim to fame (in my mind) is that it houses Air Force One in one of their hangars. Pretty cool! We checked into TLF and headed back into D.C. Now for someone reason when I told Cambree we were going to Washington D.C. she kept talking about seeing a train. I had NO IDEA what she was talking about until she said Chuggington. Chuggington is a show on Disney JR about a train. Now the train part made sense by I wasn't sure why she thought she would see Chuggington in D.C. She informed me Chuggington lived there. (Duh!) On the drive in she was so excited to see this train. Obviously I was feeling bad because I knew she wasn't going to see this train so as we came close to the city I happen to see a train go by. Thinking quick I told her "Cambree, it is Chuggington." She was SOOOOO excited. She was like it really IS Chuggington. I was feeling very proud of myself when she asked "Where is Koko??" (Another train from that blasted show!) </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Well we parked the car and headed towards the Washington Monument. I had been to D.C. once when I was a kid. I only have a few memories of it so I was glad to be back. We walked around and saw everything in the National Mall. Buddy was soooo happy to run all the way from the monument to the Lincoln Memorial. Coincidentally we were at the Lincoln Memorial on Abraham Lincoln's birthday. After our looooooong afternoon of walking we retired to our TLF room. The next day we decided the white house and the capitol were top on our list of things to see. We parked our car and walked foooooooooooorevvvvvvvvvver to the White House. On the way we passed a huge group of Asian tourists. They were all smiling at the twins and one stopped and actually took their picture. Once we got to the white house it happened again. I turned around and an Asian couple TOOK TURNS taking pictures with Cambree. I smile when I think about them going home to their families and my kids being a part of their vacation to America. We didn't stay long at the white house (Keri turned cranky for whatever reason) and we decided to hop back in the car for the capitol. Keri dropped Shan and I off and we wandered around the capitol without the kids. After that we were all freezing and tired so we went back to Andrew's. That night Shan and I drove in the SNOW to meet up with an old friend Michael Priem. Our families were stationed together in West Point a thousand years ago. We had a good dinner and had fun chatting! The next morning we got up, Shan and I went shopping at the BX (I think Cambree owns the entire Osh Kosh B'gosh line this year! It is SO cute!) and we headed home. All in all it was a fun trip! I was glad to check one more thing off our list of places to go visit. Next up, New York!!! In the meantime we will wait for the results of the cardiac MRI! </b></span></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-22778037048650907432013-01-02T07:33:00.001-08:002013-01-02T07:33:47.809-08:00More sickness than holiday cheer!<span style="color: purple;">While the holiday's are officially over now the memories I have of them this year are sick kids! I find it completely crazy to think we were never sick in England. Like ever! Now all of a sudden my kids are sick all the time. I cannot keep them healthy! I don't know if it has something to do with the three of them being so little and so close in age. I truly can't figure out how to keep them healthy. </span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">We decided to have Thanksgiving with my sister at her house this year and on the drive up Ashley (who rarely gets sick) looked awful. I was pretty sure she had her first ever pink eye. Her nose wouldn't stop running. She kept whimpering softly in her seat on the drive up. I told Keri once we got to Shannon's house we needed to drop Cam and Buddy off and go right to an Insta Care with Ashley so that is exactly what we did. Turns out Ashley had pink eye and strep. Fabulous. The doctor said Ashy's tonsils looked awful! Well OF COURSE it didn't take long for Buddy to start to look awful... then of course Cam. This was all within a night. Cambree had the WORST cough. She is prone to bronchitis so I knew that is what she had. Buddy started to get the pink gross eyes and looked awful. I made the mistake of sleeping with Buddy and Cambree that night to keep an eye on them so of course I got sick. That weekend of Thanksgiving Cambree had trouble breathing. We were minutes away from rushing her to the ER in the middle of the night because she couldn't get breaths in. She kept gasping for air. I tried to calm her down and finally got her to take some deep breaths. I was so scared to go to bed after that. Our anniversary was the day after Thanksgiving and my amazing sister babysat the sicklings so Keri and I could go out and celebrate our five loooooooooong years of marriage. Well by the time we got home from Thanksgiving Buddy looked like death. We actually had to take Cambree to the ER because she was had trouble breathing again. The ER docs said she had *surprise* bronchitis. It was Buddy I was worried about however. I have never EVER seen him <i>that</i> sick. Under his eyes were black and blue and his eyes were all pink. We got the kids into the doctor and the doctor took one look at Buddy and said this is one <b>very</b> sick kid. She immediately gave him a shot of penecillian and an oral prescription for an antibotic. She said the infection is what was causing Buddy's eyes to buldge out and turn black and blue. It also turns out the ER doctors failed to mention Cambree's ear infection. She went home with a prescription for Prednisone to try and get rid of that pesky bronchitis and an antibotic. It took a good week for the kids to start to feel better. </span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">Next came Christmas. This year we were able to fly home to Utah for Christmas! We were all so excited! (Well most of us lol.) Cambree kept counting down the days til we got on the plane. At first she was scared and kept insisting she was driving in mommy's van to Grandma's house but as it got closer she decided she could fly. Well a few days before we were due to fly Cambree started throwing up. OF COURSE. She had no other symptoms of the flu however.... she was just running high fever's and throwing up. Well I had no idea how we were suppose to take her on the plane throwing up. Luckily one of my friends had some children's phenegren she gave us! *Shew* We made the plane ride okay. Taking three kids that are 3 and under isn't fun! The twins weren't 2 yet so we were able to fly with them for free... the catch of course being they had to sit on our laps! Cambree had a small melt down on the plane but the twins were pretty great! Well we got to Grandma's house and Cambree started throwing up again so we had to take her to our favorite place..the ER. Turns out she had her first ever Urinary Tract Infection. Well a few days after that grandma got sick... then I got sick.... then *surprise* Ashley got sick. She kept throwing up all day long. She refused to eat or drink and didn't have any wet diapers.... can you guess where we ended up? The ER. We actually had the same nurse as with Cambree. (I swear I saw more of this nurse than I did my actual friends!) Ashy ended up having to be hooked up to an IV to get some fluids. Wouldn't you know once we got the IV in and the board under her arm to keep her arm still... she threw up all over. It was a quick wardrobe change and the IV had to be redone. We were probably there for 4 hours... we had this amazing guy that kept checking on us and even brought us drinks. KK was the one who was with me so we kicked back and watched tv while Ashy got her fluids. It was actually pretty relaxing which is sad. The day after the ER trip Ashy started to do much better so I'm super glad we got her in! Well the rest of the trip went pretty well. We had a great time. We took the kids to see Santa. KK and I took Cam Cam to see "The Rise of the Guardians" which I LOVED. KK and I went into gateway to do some shopping and went to see "The Forgotten Carols"... when we got home around 11pm Mom had the idea to go to Macy's for some late night shopping. We didn't get out of Macy's til around 1am. That was a fun memory of Christmas. I got to see so many of my amazing friends that I miss my dearly as well as a few relatives! Shaun, Keri, and I got to go see Les Mes. Well by the time we were due to leave Kelly was sick as well as my day so the night before we were leaving guess who was sick again? Cambree!!! (I swear they have no immune system!) The plane ride was downright awful. The worst trip home anyone could <b>ever</b> have. The kids starting crying from the second we got the airport. I don't think Ashley stopped screaming til we got home. She stayed up the entire time screaming her little baby lungs off. I have never been more frazzled in my whole life. A few days after we got home Cambree ended back up in the ER. We had been alternating tylonel with motrin all night and around 5am she was as hot as I have ever felt anyone. We gave her motrin and Keri took her to the ER and when she got there her temperature was still 102. They had a hard time getting her fever down. Ashley got sick next with the horribly high fever. The only one who didn't get sick... the one person who USUALLY gets sick..... didn't. That is a small blessing. Through all of this Buddy was the only one who didn't get sick. I'm holding my breath however.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">Well by New Years Eve everyone was FINALLY feeling better!!!!!!!!! *Hallelujia* My only New Years resolution this year is to try to find a way to keep my kids healthy!!!!! I have no idea how to do it but I'm going to try. This mommy can't keep having sick kids. Buddy actually goes back to the ENT in a few weeks and he already told us we had to take the "next steps" with Buddy which is getting his tonsils out. I will do anything to keep Buddy healthy. He was sick the entire year of 2012. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that 2013 is a fun HEALTHY year!!!!! (Cross your fingers with me!)</span>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-4074256585200033292012-11-19T20:28:00.004-08:002012-11-19T20:28:46.753-08:00The other shoe dropped..<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Since I'm fairly certain no one actually reads this I am keeping this more as a journal to remember events, celebrations, and of course bad news that can change your life. We seem to be getting a lot of bad news lately and then we got some more. About three weeks ago Keri was told my his cardiologist that upon review of his CT scan that the radiologist found something. His lymph nodes down in his chest by his ribs was abnormal. Typically when something like this shows up it is either just a benign mass or it is cancer. This is definitely not the kind additional news you want to hear after you've already found out you have a heart condition. Well the next struggle for him has been trying to get an appointment with the Pulmonologist so we can confirm if this is nothing to worry about or if this is cancerous. Now I'm not the type to think doom and gloom. When I hear news I automatically assume it will be fine. My dad actually had a scare a few years ago. They thought he had lymphoma. They did a biopsy right away and it was fine. Not cancer. Now the problem we were running into was the doctors office wasn't being too helpful in scheduling this appointment so Keri could see the Pulmonologist. They were telling him they needed HIM to send over the CT scan and the reports. He emailed them over and they said they couldn't open the format he sent it in. It has just been super frustrating to deal with. Now two weeks after trying to make an appointment he FINALLY got one but not until Dec 4th. I don't know how you tell someone you have possible cancer but then make them wait so long to find out. The medical world can definitely be very frustrating to deal with. In this case it seems negligent as we could be potentially dealing with something deadly. It's not the sort of thing you take two weeks on to just make an appointment. </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Now we just have to wait to find out. The waiting is the worst. Luckily we have Thanksgiving at my sisters in a few days to look forward to and of course the trip to Utah for Christmas! Although thinking of taking Buddy on a plane for six hours strikes fear into my heart. He lives to run and being coped up in a seat in a plnne thousands of feet in the air is going to be torture for him and the rest of us. In other news, due to Keri's medical problems we will definitely be getting medically retired from the military. I have such mixed feelings about this. I truly thought we would be in the military the full 20 years. Keri already has 8 years in. I thought we'd be back overseas in a few years hating life. (Okay not hating per say..) I truly have found an amazing place in North Carolina. It isn't so much the actual location but the people. I have found and developed some amazing friendships. Cambree has some amazing friends to include a best friend who is more like a sister. This will be very sad to walk away from. The humidity on the other hand will not. It is crazy how quick the course you thought you were walking can change. The only thing that is comforting is that no matter where we go in life I have three of the most incredible children and a fabulous husband. In the end I guess that is all that truly matters. </b></span>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-59678694286268431832012-10-25T15:16:00.002-07:002012-10-25T15:17:56.886-07:00The WORST decision I've ever made...<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The best thing about Buddy was definitely his killer hair. He had<i> the</i> most fabulous locks. Whenever we would go out he was always attracting attention. Ladies were always stopping us to comment on his hair. It was to die for. These perfectly curled locks. I would just have to bath him and let it dry and it would spring into these perfect curls. The last I bathed him his wet hair came way past his shoulders. I knew I it was time for his first hair cut but I REALLY didn't want to do it. Like really didn't want to. Well today after the twins doctor appointment we bravely stepped into the barber shop on Base. The lady who took us to the chair was pretty hideous. Buddy had initially been crying prior to sitting in the chair so she seemed worried about cutting his hair but once we sat down he was fine. This lady did a HORRIBLE job. It was uneven. It was a sad mess. I was almost in tears. It was awful. I knew immediately I had made a bad decision. His delicious curls were gone possibly forever. In my grief (yes grief) I took a picture of his curls on the floor. He had so much hair and now it was gone into a bad hack job! I was hoping once I got him home and tried to style it it would be better. It wasn't. I frantically texted my friend Heidi and told her I needed her help. Luckily she told me to come right over and she fixed it. It looked so much better but I just felt sad. I know this is silly to be this upset about it but I am. He had the best hair of anyone in the family. It was so sad after we got home he was doing his signature high step where his curls bounce and there were no curls to bounce. I have been doing double takes all day at him because he doesn't look like my Buddy anymore. My sister joked that we will have to call him Austin now cause Buddy is gone. Here is to hoping his hair grows back fast and curly again someday SOON!!!</span> </span></b><br />
<span style="color: red;"><b> Before</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>and after</b></span></div>
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<br />Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-40974341713320958362012-10-25T14:40:00.000-07:002012-10-25T14:40:09.971-07:00And I thought he was faking!!!<span style="color: magenta;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well life is certainly never dull. I'm happy to report Buddy is doing really good since his surgery but of course another issue has popped up. We just found out Keri has a pretty serious heart problem. Let's start from the beginning when he started complaining of chest pains. Now granted I didn't know what to think but I wasn't thinking it was anything serious. If we are being honest Keri can be a bit dramatic at times. Well he took a few trips to the ER over the course of a month for these chest pains and finally and Keri was telling me all these things the doctors said it could be. Of COURSE I was thinking it was probably nothing and wasn't paying too much attention to it. (I know, pretty awful.) Well they ran some tests including a "tee" which is a scope that looks at your heart and they informed him he had bicuspid aortic valve. Boy were we ALL shocked. Here is a quick summary of what bicuspid aortic valve is according to the internet:</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>The aortic valve is a one-way valve between the heart and the aorta, the main artery from the heart that distributes oxygen-rich blood to the body. Normally, the aortic valve has three small flaps or leaflets that open widely and close securely to regulate blood flow, allowing blood to flow from the heart to the aorta and preventing blood from flowing backwards into the heart.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: lime;"><b>. The bicuspid aortic valve may not be completely effective at stopping blood from leaking back into the heart. This is called aortic regurgitation. The aortic valve may also become stiff and not open up as well, causing the heart to have to pump harder than usual to get blood past the valve.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">The heart then must pump that same blood out again, causing strain on the heart’s lower left chamber, the left ventricle. Over time, the ventricle will dilate, or over-expand. The main symptom of aortic valve regurgitation is shortness of breath during exertion, like walking up stairs.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><span style="color: magenta;"><b>Okay, so there are 2 scary things about him having this condition. #1- He could be fine one minute and literally have a problem and die. An athlete that has this condition could drop dead on the court. Keri says one of his favorite wrestlers that had this was driving a car and died. So the doctor told us if Keri has any chest pains small or big.. get into the ER as soon as possible. #2- The condition is hereditary so now we have to have all of our kids checked. The doctor had heard a heart murmur in Ashley when she was little so we are mostly concerned about her. Keri's sister has to get checked as well. Luckily today we had to take the twins in for their check ups so the pediatrician put in for referrals for all the kids to get checked. How they check is they do an ultrasound basically so now I'm thinking ahead to a technician trying to do an ultrasound on Buddy. Yeah that is so NOT going to go over well. </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="line-height: 16px;">So the next steps for Keri now is to go to UNC to get an cardiac MRI and a cardiac cauterization to determine how severe his bicuspid aortic valve is. If it is severe he is looking at open heart surgery immediately to replace the valve. If it is moderate he can put off the surgery for about 5 years. This also means Keri will be getting medically retired from the military. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><b>So that is the big news right now in our family. The silver lining in all of this is that if one of the kids does have this as well.. it will be discovered and fixed early on. And that is truly a blessing.</b></span></span></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-34241755980990405442012-10-06T16:29:00.000-07:002012-10-06T16:29:04.582-07:00Trials of having a Buddy! Let me start by saying I have a million pictures I need to post but that will come. I was just sitting here amongst the chaos... you know Cambree demanding <i>another</i> cup AND a blanket because she is soooo cold.. Ashley standing on top of the kids picnic table talking a mile a minute in her Ashley babble... and sweet little Buddy.. who is quietly watching tv while sucking on a pacifier and clutching another one in his hands... and I thought now is the perfect time to update my blog,<br />
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My focus on this blog will mostly be Buddy. Curly, browned eyed, <i>everybody-</i>stops-and-comment- on-how -cute-he-is Buddy. Since the second week in July Buddy has been sick. One double ear infection after another. He has been in and out of the doctor and has had at least five double ear infections and scarlet fever (which is strep throat with a horrible "scarlet" rash) twice all since July. The worst part is we had been dealing with a pediatric doctor at Pope Health Clinic that twice told us his ear infection had cleared up and twice we had to take him into an Insta Care and ER to find out it was indeed not cleared up. This lady kept telling us she was going to put in a referal to ENT and then never did. It was just a mess. At Buddy's worse he was completely lethargic. He would literally lay on the bed all day not moving. For a toddler that is the most abnormal and saddest thing to watch in the world. The last ear infection he had happened to be when we were vacationing in Florida for Labor Day. Buddy was back to acting sick. Laying down with his ear to the floor to play. Not eating. Not sleeping. No energy. It was hard to watch. We took him into the Insta Care and surprise... double ear infection and strep throat. That was our final straw. We had just seen this pediatric doctor<i> the day we left</i> for Florida and she had said everything was cleared up. Keri got on the phone and the best they could do for a referral was Oct 9th which was over a month away. The whole process was just so frustrating. We took Buddy in to a different clinic on Base and we got the doctor to help us be able to take Buddy off base somewhere since they clearly were too busy on base to worry about a 20 month old with chronic ear infections.<br />
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Yesterday we took the 50 minute drive to the city of Cary and finally saw the ENT. It was decided in a hurry that not only did Buddy need tubes in his ears but he needed to have his adenoids out in order to help him finally start to feel better. I was so relieved we were finally on the path to help Buddy feel like a normal person again. We were able to schedule the surgery for Friday so we had to come up with a plan really quick. The hospital is 50 minutes away from our house and we have to be there with Buddy at 5:45 am. Naturally the issue would be what to do with Cams and Ashley during the surgery. The thought of having to take Buddy by myself was sad. My sister lives an hour and 40 minutes away but she had her sons birthday party that day. She offered to have us drop the kids off at her house but with all the driving it really wasn't the best solution. Luckily things came together fast and Keri's mother Dana booked her plane ticket to come out and help us. What an amazing mother in law I have! We are so lucky she was able and more than willing to help us out!! This took so much stress off of all of us! The next few days are going to be jammed packed as we get ready for the surgery. I have to take Buddy back up for a pre op on Wednesday and Dana will be flying in on Thursday. Keri and I thought it would be easiest if we get a hotel close to the hospital Thursday night so we aren't having to head out at like 3:30am to get there Friday morning. Really I feel so blessed things have worked out and Buddy doesn't have to wait long to get the tubes in. His tonsils were already red and swollen again at the visit so I'm sure getting his tonsils out will be coming in the next few years. It kills me that you always have that one person in your family with the medical problems. Lucky for me Cams & Ashley may be my little diva's but they are typically pretty healthy. As I write this Cambree has been battling bronchitis however. How we get things like scarlet fever and bronchitis while we are home 95% of the time is beyond me however!<br />
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I will update everyone after the surgery on Buddy's progress. I look forward to the day I don't have to watch Buddy lay on the floor to play with his cars anymore!!Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-13652314209209367142012-08-25T17:40:00.000-07:002012-08-25T17:40:26.018-07:00Beauty is pain!! So there I was....blow drying Cambree's long hair... plugging in the pink straightener and straightening Cambree's long hair.... putting her on the counter and pulling out the pink nail polish. Painting her toes and then adding glitter. Sometimes I think I spend more time making my 3 year old pretty than I do making myself look pretty. I put her in her new cute halloween pajama's and she slips on her cute pink butterfly wings. I have got to say she might just be the cutest 3 year old on the block but boy is it work!! One day she better look back at her cute pictures and appreciate everything :)Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-84287539549531449182012-08-07T11:00:00.000-07:002012-08-07T11:00:30.461-07:00Hands full indeed!I hear that saying A LOT when I go out. "Oh you look like you have your hands full..." I usually nod and smile and pretend like it's not a big deal. I can handle a 3 year old and twin 1 1/2 year olds without breaking a sweat. The reality is most of the time I can. It has become something I had no choice but to adapt to and make work. I don't think anybody expects to get twins but when it happens it is amazing and a blessing. Most of the time it isn't a big deal but then there are days when I think WHY?! To be entirely fair the twins really aren't the problem. The majority of my struggle is with my 3 year old. I will be the first to admit I spoiled her. When she was born I held her all day long. You couldn't rip her from my hands. I rarely put her in her crib in fact. Even if she was crying none stop all day long (and trust me she was a cryer!) I wouldn't have the heart to put her in her crib and walk away for a bit. Okay obviously I learned from that with the twins. I learned A LOT from raising Cambree and I do the complete opposite with the twins. The twins have a schedule. They nap at 11 and go to bed at 7. I think the thing about your first child is that it is a learning experience. You go in having no idea what to do and not to mention the fact I was clear across the ocean in England raising my first child. I definitely babied Cambree too much and I am definitely living with the consequences now. Now I need to find a way to give Cambree structure. To enforce her being a big girl. She hates to be alone. HATES it! I will put her upstairs playing with the twins and go downstairs for a minute to myself and she will follow me downstairs in less than 4 minutes flat. She has a lot of weird quirky things she does too. She hates drinking plain water. If I give her a sippy cup with plain water she says it is dirty and won't drink it! "Dirty mommy!" She inspects her food before she eats it. For example if I give her a graham cracker and if one of the corners is broken at all... she won't eat it. "Broken mommy!" She recently stopped eating chocolate chip cookies because she turns them over to inspect them and if she sees chocolate chips on the bottom of the cookie (and obviously there ISN'T a cookie that doesn't have a chocolate chip on the bottom) she straight up refuses to eat it. I mean crazy stuff like that she drives me insane with. Her newest thing is she has to have her food cut up into the smallest of slivers or she won't eat it. "Too big mommy!" I'm talking tinsy little pieces. All these things add up to daily frustrations and someday's I just don't think I can do it. Somedays it hits me that I am in over my head. It makes me feel like I am a completely failure. I try to take some deep breaths. Walk away if I need to and try to come back and be patient. So yeah when people say "you have your hands full"... they are totally right. I do have my hands full! Here is to hoping that when Cambree turns 4 things go a little smoother. A little easier and hopefully she will start to eat chocolate chip cookies again!Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-45779777254202015102012-07-17T10:04:00.000-07:002012-07-17T10:04:18.433-07:00Scarlet Fever!<span style="color: red;">A week ago Buddy started acting weird. His behavior was just a little off. As a mother you know your child and something was definitely wrong with mine. He also had this bright red rash on his face. At first I thought it was eczema but it was such a bring color and the look of it wasn't like when Cambree gets it. Here is what also started happening. He started laying down for EVERYTHING. We were outside drawing with chalk and he was laying completely down on the pavement to draw. While I thought it was cute I thought it was always strange. Next we were shopping at the BX and he laid down in the cart! I have never seen him do that. The last straw for me was when I gave him a bowl of mandarin oranges and he laid down on the floor to EAT THEM! Okay I knew something was wrong. I called the advice nurse because it was about 4pm on a Friday and clinic would be closing soon on base. I told her what was going on and she didn't concerned but she told me she would give me a referel to be seen off base to have some "piece of mind" going into the weekend. A few minutes I had Buddy packed in the car and on our way to the urgent care. Luckily the wait wasn't long and we got back to see the doc quick. As I was telling the doctor about Buddy's weird behavior and the rash he sort of gave me a weird look like you brought him in for this? Well turns out Buddy not only had a double ear infection (which I had no idea he had) he also had strep throat and accompanied with his rash he had scarlet fever!!! I felt SO bad for little Buddy and SO thankful I brought him in. Over the next few days the other two kids started acting a little weird (not like Buddy though) so I took them in and they got on antibotics for strep! Well then came on other bombshell. Shannon called to tell me Rylie has mono! Well THAT could explain Buddy laying down all the time. Four days later on Antibiotics he is still lethargic so now I have to take him back in. His rash was going away but now has spread and is worse. I don't know if this is normal or not but regardless we are going back to the doc. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"> Poor Buddy! Laying down to draw with chalk</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">Cambree after the doctor! </span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"> Ashley with some oranges trying to feel better!</span>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-51992035130147515462012-07-17T09:49:00.005-07:002012-07-17T09:49:45.006-07:004th of July!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: purple;">We had a fabulous 4th of July weekend! My sister's family came down and we had an amazing time! The morning of the 4th we went to our neighborhood pool to swim and then headed up to Fort Bragg for the day! <span style="background-color: white;">Wouldn't you know it the second we get there and set out stuff down we were told that everyone had to go to their cars because severe thunder and lightening were coming. Sure enough by the time we grabbed our stuff the rain started! Well of course Morgan and I had straightened our hair (apparently we need to check the weather forecast before doing such a silly thing next time) so picture the two of us trying to fit under a small umbrella while trying to save our straight hair. It only partial worked. Morgs, Cambree, and I waited out the storm in my car and let me tell you it might have been the best part of the day for me. Morgs and I were singing to songs and Cambree decided to keep honking the horn which made all the cars around us start honking back. It was so hot and so humid after the rain but we had a great time! Gloriana performed and we all loved them (except Morgs lol) The fireworks were pretty cool and we all had a great time except for Buddy... who just wanted to run around cry! Here are a few of the pictures :)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">Could Ash be America's Next Top Model or what? Cambree is standing next to our neighbor Serena who she LOVES! </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Morgs attempting to entertain Buddy. ALL he wanted to do was run and be free!</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">This is poor Cambree hot & miserable but a great trooper. Naturally the cheetos helped!</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Could Ashley BE any cuter? I'm here to say no!</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Of course I got this drink for me and of course Ashley took it over. Cambree & Buddy fell asleep before the fireworks started but my lil Ash stayed up and LOVED them!</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">This was Morgs and me trapped in the car! </span></div>
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</div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-58343928162930088982012-07-02T13:48:00.001-07:002012-07-02T13:48:18.403-07:00It is a miracle!!!<span style="color: magenta;"><b>Soooo anyone who knows Cambree knows one thing about her... she tends to be a bit lazy! For example she refused to hold her own bottle. EVER. I'm not talking like a six month old baby refusing .. I'm talking like girlfriend was 11 months old and refusing to hold her own bottle. If I didn't hold it... she would just go without rather than hold it herself. DIVA! Another prime example was crawling. She straight up would not crawl. We tried everything to coax her into crawling. I KNEW she could crawl but would she? NO! Infact she didn't crawl until her first birthday! True story! She was walking 2 weeks later. This brings me to the present day issue of potty training. When you have a baby you just assume (or at least I did) that the hardest part of having a child would HAVE to be the endless crying and lack of sleep. I thought that once you got to the stage of them sleeping through the night that you had conquered the hardest part of having a child. Of course then came teething and again once Cambree got all her teeth in and was sleeping all night again I thought.. yep, the hardest part is done. Hello, the hardest part hadn't even begun!!!!!!</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta;"><b>So when Cambree turned 2 years old I had the twins. Life sort of revolved around these two little babies and I was not about to add potty training Cambree on top of the stress. I wasn't too worried because she was only 2 .. but when she turned 3 I started to panick thinking I had to get her trained. I tried to talk to her about it and I would always ask her.. do you want to sit on the potty? Her answer was always NEVER! Not even no, or nope, but NEVER! Followed by DIAPER! I swear she was having a love affair with diapers. Well Cambree is almost 3 1/2 and I decided it was TIME! No more procrastinating! I kept asking her.. do you want to be a big girl and use the potty and of course I got the NEVER answer. Infact she had such little interest in potty training that I seriously had the thought what if she NEVER potty trains? I had visions of Cambree not being allowed to go to school because she wasn't potty trained. I'm not exaggerating. These were actual concerns I was starting to have. Cambree is one determined and stubborn little girl but I figured I wrote the book so I could do this. It was potty training time. </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta;"><b>June 28th, I decided to take the plunge. I took away the diapers and put her in underwear. What resulted was her simply peeing in her underwear and me eventually putting her back in a diaper discouraged. She didn't even attempt to try and use the potty.... and let me tell you we have a killer potty. My mother in law bought us a singing potty! Yes that is what... if you pee it will sing. How cool is that? Well I was determined that Cambree would make this toilet sing. June 30th I put her in underwear and every 20 minutes we decided to make her sit on the potty. Keri started working with her that morning and would you believe by lunch time not only was she peeing in the potty.. she was telling us when she had to go!!!! IT WAS A MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously thought this day would never happen! By the end of the day we had zero accidents! She had successfully peed in the potty all day!!!!!! I have never been prouder in my whole life. I'm serious. Turns out my little girl is smart!!! We are now three days into potty training and she has had a total of 1 accident!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *cue the hallelujah chorus* Now as excited as I am now..... I just have to remember that I have twins to potty train next. GREAT.</b></span>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7672827138529241075.post-6030159928410343032012-06-25T06:00:00.001-07:002012-06-25T06:00:40.413-07:00The small notes<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">I'm not sure if anyone really reads this or if this is more just a place like a diary where I can write down things and come back later and remember them. Either way I wanted to write down a few things. Things have been crazy around here. I wrote a long blog about a week ago and just as I went to hit publish... Ashley hit the button on the CPU to shut down the computer. Isn't that just my luck? Right now we are in the twin teething phase. You know the phase where the kids are just about 1 year & 1/2 and they are sleeping SO good and then their molars start to come in. Yep, we are in molar city around here. Here is what typical nights are like... We put the twins to bed at 7pm. A half hour or hour into their sleep one wakes up screaming...and I mean screeeeeeeeeaming... a few seconds later the other one wakes up screaming.... we orajel them up, depending on the situation we give a little motrin and the cycle continues ALL night long. Waking up....orajel... trying to get them back to bed. It's almost like you are back in the newborn stage where they only sleep a few hours at a time. I know this is all normal but when it is double the screaming it makes for some long nights. Last night Ashley was the culprit. Usually when I put them down Ashley will put her pointer finger in her mouth and she is out but last night she was the one who started the scream fest. I quickly grabbed her and decided to bring her in my bed and she went back to sleep. An hour later Buddy woke up screaming so we put Ashy back in the crib.. grabbed Buddy and put him in bed with me. I guess it is kinda funny if you think about all the moving around and bed hopping but at the time I am definitely not laughing in the moment.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">The next thing we have going on is Cambree's dance class. Now let me begin by saying I am the second most paranoid/anxious person in the world. The first being my mother. I am SO my mother when it comes to this. I am talking knots in my stomach anxious. I wish I knew the secret to relaxed mothers however I just have to point out having the 3 kids who are 3 and under probably put me over the top in my anxious category. One thing I know for sure is Cambree LOVES to dance.... another thing I know for sure is she doesn't love ballet. Today she has her second class of ballet/ tap/ tumbling and I'm praying it goes smoothly. I have put Cam in her ballet shoes all week in preparation for class. She dances all around the house and believe me she would tap all day if I let her. I wish I could just relax and realize it is just dance class and it will be fine. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">Luckily my sister and her family are coming down for the 4th of July. Fort Bragg is having a huge extravaganza! Then after that it is the countdown until I get to go home for christmas! Yes I know it is a long way off but hey it is the small things that keep me going everyday! Now back to that dance class... just kidding. </span></b>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03524540755180798411noreply@blogger.com1