and then there were 4

Today I had 3 children to watch beside Cameron. Mondays I typically watch the RS presidents two youngest girls in the morning until mid afternoon. Today was also my first day watching baby Lexi. I will be watching her full time Mon. - Fri. Cameron had a difficult time adjusting, but I think that it was partly because there were now 3 others demanding my attention. I am hoping that tomorrow won't be so chaotic & that soon we will fall into a nice routine of sorts where having Lexi here will just be second nature to Cameron. I am hoping that all this time with me watching others will help him make a smoother transition into being a big brother, whenever that time comes (not an announcement), and that he will have learned to be gentle by the time that comes too.

Photo's of planting the garden

Just some pictures of us planting our garden. Cameron used the dustpan from his broom & dust pan set (he loves sweeping, dusting, and using a wash cloth to wipe things clean) as a shovel.

Our crazy week and our new garden

This week was crazy on Monday around 10:30-11 am our water stopped working in the neighborhood & we didn't get it back (just us though) until Wednesday around 5. It was a very frustrating situation. First the water went out for the neighborhood so I called and filed a report and then when we finally had to pay to have it fixed we found out that the people from the city who had inspected it had turned the faucet for the water that leads to our house off and then told us we had a private line problem. Now I know it wasn't either of us because we didn't even know where the water line faucet was. Anyway, we were blessed to have Brian's parents, who live close by, offer us a place to stay until we got the problem resolved, but it required a lot of extra driving. On the bright side though, the guy who came to fix the water saw our Utah plates on the car that we keep meaning to change and because he grew up in Kearns, Utah he started chatting and ended up fixing our sprinklers too, which was definitely not in his job description, with out charging me.
This was a huge blessing because since the weather become warmer (almost in the 90's most days) I have had a hard time manually water everything so our plants were starting to look a little shabby. We were afraid we were going to loose all of the veggies and herbs that we planted last week for FHE. The watering by sprinklers has really done the trick, the roses are blooming again & basically all of our plants, vegetables included, have just perked up a lot.
While I am on the subject, we finally got our vegetable garden in! I am so excited. This year we are sticking to just a small amount of things to see what we will and won't use and give us an idea of how manageable things are. We have 3 kinds of tomatoes: Juliet - they are like Romas but a little bigger, Champion - a good slicing tomato & Sweet 100s - a type of cherry tomatoes. We also have several types of peppers: yellow, green/red, Serranos, and Macho Nacho jalapenos. The last two will be great for spicing up our food a little more, which brings me to the herbs. We planted our own private Little Italy with thyme, oregano, basil & Rosemary. We also have a bay tree and chamomile & mint.
Cameron has been beating himself up. as most toddler boys do this week. Wednesday he tipped a chair over while standing on it and landed on tile. Luckily, it was a child size overstuffed chair which helped brake the fall, he also put his arms out. Resulting in only a small bruise over his eyebrow, it was scary than it turned out being. The next morning he came running around the corner of the bathroom trying to find me (how dare I take a break when nature calls) and tripped on a toy he had left on the floor. He landed teeth first on the tile floor and gave himself a big fat lip and the gums, the scab is off already and it didn't effect his teeth at all, which I was worried about. Friday was a double whammy, he fell backward in the kitchen while trying to climb up the back of his highchair and forward in the entry and hit his forehead on the door when his dad came home. I feel really bad every time he hurts himself I feel really bad, but he bounces back really quick. I never cease to be amazed at how resilient children are. I worry about concussion or loose teeth and after a hug he is ready to be up and playing again.

Catching up

Last week we went to the park for the toddler play group. Cameron had a good time except that the older kids don't play with him as much :'( He got hit and pushed around and then on top of all that he fell down the stairs (there were only 2 or 3 thank goodness) from the pavilion where they had picnic tables to the concrete slab and hit his face. The funny thing is that he got a mosquitoe bit later that day that swelled up bigger than the goose egg. Anyway, we went to the baby playgroup later that day and Cameron too his newly learned skills from toddler play grou p (hitting and pushing) and employed them on the younger kids there. Needless to say, we left early. I feel like Cameron is too young for the toddler play group but too old for the baby play group. I don't really know what to do because I really like the socializing I get from going. Maybe we will just have to go to the toddler one and Cameron will learn to toughen up a little. I am just afraid that he will turn into a bully and hit and push kids out of frustration and anger from being pushed or having things taken away from him by the older kids. Cameron is bigger in stature than most of them so I worry a little.

Pictures from the last few weeks

Here are some photo's from the last few weeks. We were out of babteries and then I couldn't find the camera so there are not a lot but you can enjoy them anyway.

Camera enjoying rocking with the girls I babysit on Mondays

Cameron & the girls reading some of his favorites from our collection

Should I draw with these or eat them?

I guess I will try drawing

Eating them was way more fun Mom

Cameron in his new wool diaper cover. Mommy is in love with these!

P.S.

I can't find my camera right now. As soon as I do I will post some pictures.

Great deals, Cloth diapers, Mud Puddles, Peter Pan & More firsts

Brian has been going to a "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" real estate investing seminar this weekend. He has really been enjoying learning all sorts of good information. The Seminar starts at 9 am & I figured that since I was going to be taking Brian in by 8:30 that I should take advantage of the great garage sales that always accompany Spring. Although, here in Houston there isn't really ever a huge lull in garage sales because the weather never really gets that cold. Anyway, I got an email last night about a La Leche League Maternity & Children's things garage sale with all the proceeds going to benefit the local LLL chapter. I went a got quite a few really cute things. All of the 12 month and up clothes were 2 dollars a piece and they actually had a really good selection of boys clothes. I got a pair of See Kai Run's for a dollar after I just spent $20 on a pair from eBay earlier this week. These shoes usually retail for around $45 new & $25-30 used. Anyway, after we went there we headed up to a children's consignment store that I have been meaning to go and explore for months called The Young & the Restless, it sells consigned and new clothes, shoes, toys, baby carriers, and just about anything else baby/maternity that you might need including cloth diapers.
This store is the only brick and mortar store in the whole city that sells cloth diapers. I have been toying with trying prefold diapers with a cover because they are so much cheaper and everyone has said that they are easier to use with little babies (no I am not making any announcements here). I figured that I wanted to try and get the hang of these or figure out what else works and start accumulating a stash now while I am not expecting so that by the time a new baby does decide to arrive I am set to go. Since I didn't start cloth diapering Cameron until he was just over 6 months and we have used pocket diapers the whole time, I was really clueless about any other cloth diapering method besides what I read. I wanted to see the mechanics of each option in person and these people were SO helpful. The owner talked to me and personally helped me figure the diapers out for about 15 minutes or more. The store was also super kid friendly, it even had a large child proofed room full of toys of all sorts with a HUGE train table in the middle. Cameron actually enjoyed shopping with me, being as he could just play the whole time and I could see him basically anywhere in the store. The store was owned and operated almost solely by mom's & I just really liked it, if you couldn't tell.
After coming home and eating and then taking a nap, Cameron & I headed out to a Grill-Out party to say good-bye to a few of the families in the Ward that are moving. Cameron was clingy at first, but in no time at all he was having fun & mooching off any one's plate who would let him. Cameron also had fun playing in one of those Little Tyke's car things where you get in and move the car with your feet. Next thing I know I look over and see that Cameron has found a rather large mud puddle and was very happily splashing around and sitting in it with his sippy cup sitting in the middle of the water and Cameron reaching to take a drink, all this in his new clothes. Cameron was covered in mud and from his excursion into the mud lead several other children's mud explorations, sorry. We left the party after cleaning Cameron up to go pick up Brian from his seminar.
After picking Brian up we decided to go watch the free performance of Peter Pan at Miller Outdoor Theatre. The place was packed so we headed to the top of the hill & found a decent spot. We had just settled in when three of the people sitting next to us lit up their cigarettes despite the "No Smoking in Public Places" law & several loud speaker announcements saying so. We picked up and moved to another spot which actually ended up being better than the first & then the show began. The speakers then decided they didn't want to be loud enough & Brian was having to struggle to hear what they were saying, not me though, I have super-sonic Mom hearing. So, not even two minutes into the show and we had already had to move and now Brian couldn't hear. Then, about half way into the first act, when Peter is describing Neverland to Wendy, a small group of people decided that the spot directly behind us would be a fantastic place to go to smoke. Well, considering that Brian couldn't hear and that Cameron was starting to get cranky and then the spot behind us became the smoking spot, we decided to cut our losses and go home. We were really sad, because it looked like it would have been a really good stage show and the set was really neat. They will be showing it again next weekend though, maybe we will get there early and get a decent spot toward the front where the no smoking law is actually enforced better and where we can both hear the performance.
Other things of note: Cameron got his first skinned knee on Friday, one of many more to come I am sure. Cameron started signing milk today, not until he was already nursing, but it is something. I am way excited to have him start signing, as signing leads to speaking.

Cameron's Yucky Day

Cameron had another yucky day today. Right before we were going to leave my in-laws this evening, after spending the day watching conference, Cameron threw-up 4 times all over me. Luckily, for the carpet at least, I literally cought it either in my hand or all over my shirt. After we stripped Cameron down and cleaned him up and taking off my gross shirt, luckily Brian had an extra shirt in the van, I went to nurse Cameron (he had settled down by then). Well, Cameron stomach had not settled as we all thought. Within 1 minute, while he was nursing, he started throwing up again all over his hair, face & my shoulder and new aqcuired clean shirt. Poor Cameron he was so miserable. We thought that he was better, he had been fine all day. His temperature started going up again too. I am so glad to have the Husband & Father-in-law that I do. Cameron was blessed to receive a Priesthood blessing and within 5 minutes of the blessing Cameron was feeling better again. We gave him a bath and then headed home with Cameron in only a diaper and me in a dirty shirt.
I will blog about Conference tomorrow. I will say right now though that I feel blessed to have been able to watch every session today and hear all the talks. Maybe it is because I actually got to watch and pay attention to them today, but today's talks were some of my favorite. I know that I heard the counsel of God by listening to the words of the Prophet & Apostles & the other General Authorities. I know that they were called of God & I know that they love me.

Cameron & Conference

Cameron has been cutting molars this weekend on the top and has had a fever, as high 102.6, most of the weekend. As a result I didn't get a lot out of the talks in conference today. Cameron was super cute though during the sustaining of the First Presidency & General Authories. He was so excited to sustain that any time anybody got up to speak the whole time he would raise his hand up high and giggle with glee. He also would wave anytime he could see the conductor of the choir, something he does at church too, he thinks that they are waving to him. In between the afternoon conference session and the Priesthood session, Brian and I went to a really great garden nursery and bought the ragoon creeper, 6 different herbs, 3 kinds of tomatoe plants & 3 kinds of pepper plants. We still would like to get some onions and a few other vegetables, but this will be a great start. Anyway, some other things of note: Cameron can say cat, although for him it is "DAT!" screamed high pitch while pointing at a window (we have strays that come in our yard); also, when asked where his nose is he points to my nose, I know it isn't his nose, but I think that it is cute and he technically knows what a nose is.

Boycot McDonalds!

I just received an email with this information from American Family Association and plan on boycotting McDonald's (not that we eat there frequently anyway). I thought you should all know that McDonald's plans on supporting and even encouraging & advocating such an abomination to the Lord, homosexuality.

McDonald's CEO: Company will put full resources behind gay agenda

Send an e-mail to McDonald's.

McDonald's has signed on to a nationwide effort to promote "gay" and "lesbian" business ventures.According to McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner, McDonald's will aggressively promote the homosexual agenda. In remarks on McDonald's Web site concerning the company becoming a member of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), Skinner wrote: "Being a socially responsible organization is a fundamental part of who we are. We have an obligation to use our size and resources to make a difference in the world...and we do."The company gave an undisclosed amount of money to the NGLCC in return for being recognized as a major promoter of the homosexual agenda. In return, NGLCC placed Richard Ellis, vice president of communications of McDonalds USA, on the NGLCC Board of Directors.Ellis was quoted as saying: "I'm thrilled to join the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce team and ready to get to work. I share the NGLCC's passion for business growth and development within the LGBT community, and I look forward to playing a role in moving these important initiatives forward."McDonald's refused to comment to World Net Daily on the placement of its executive on the board of the "gay" advocacy organization but did send an e-mail confirming the corporation's support for the agenda of the homosexual business lobby."McDonald's is indeed a Corporate Partner and Organizational Ally of NGLCC. Our vice president of U.S. communications, Richard Ellis, was recently elected to its board of directors," said Heidi M. Barker, senior director of media relations for McDonald’s. NGLCC describes itself as promoting the LGBT community first and always, including same sex marriage.NGLCC gives credit to sponsors such as McDonald's for its financial and other support that helps in its work. "Through the commitment of our corporate partners, the NGLCC has been able to advance the ideas and causes of the LGBT business community," the Chamber said.
Take Action Very important!
Call your local McDonald's and ask why McDonald's is using its size and resources to promote the homosexual agenda.
Send an e-mail to McDonald's.
Forward this e-mail to family and friends.

Crazy Day

So, today I was very excited about making a Texas flag pillow case dress for a little girl who's 1st birthday party we attended tonight. I used bandannas for fabric because I thought that they epitomize the Texas stereotype. I went to Brian's parents' home to use my Mother-in-law's sewing machine, mine is having issues. The dress turned out way cute and it went together really fast once Cameron went on a walk with Grandma.
Apparently at some point in time the driver's side passenger door was slightly opened and not closed, you couldn't even tell it was open at all. When Cameron & I went to leave around 12:30-1:00 the battery was dead it wouldn't even turn over it just made clicking noises. We tried to jump it, but after 20 minutes, and still nothing, decided that the battery had bit the dust. Cameron was way over due for a nap by the time all of the attempts of jumping the battery were done and while I went inside to change his diaper and nurse him to sleep I was blessed to have Brian's Aunt take the battery out so we could take it in and have Autozone take care of getting rid of it. Cameron slept for about an hour and then around 3:40 we went in to pick up my sister-in-law from work, go to the bank, get a new battery (which came to around $90, $10 of which were TX taxes and a TX battery fee), then stop and get milk for my Mother-in-law. By the time we got back her house it was 5:10 and my goal of getting Brian by 5:30 were shot. Brian's Aunt helped put the battery in and when we went to check that it worked couldn't find my keys.
I had given my keys to my sister-in-law (who was on a walk at the time we were looking for the keys) at the super market because I had no pockets and Cameron was throwing them. After another half hour of searching, my mother-in-law even hopped on a bike and went in pursuit of her, we finally found them underneath her seat and a whole bunch of other junk she had shoved under there. The car started, Hurray! I am so grateful for all the help I received. I picked up Brian around 6:30, the time the birthday party we were going to was started (I hate being late). I was very grumpy with Brian, and he was super patient and kind with me. I have such a great husband.
We went straight to the party despite both my & Cameron's griminess from the day and despite the fact that Cameron was very grumpy and despite the fact that I hadn't even taken a picture of the dress I made ( if the recipient's mother happens to read this would she mind sending me a couple of pictures of the dress please?) or wrapped it. We stayed a grand total of 10, maybe 15, minutes before Cameron started melting down. We got home and Brian popped in a frozen pizza and we watched old Pluto the dog cartoons & then an old Cary Grant & Catherine Hepburn movie called Holiday while eating ice cream for dessert.
Yes, that is right you read correctly, I vegged and let Cameron watch at least 2 hours of TV before he passed out. He obviously didn't spend the whole 2 hours watching TV, but I still feel terribly guilty for letting him watch TV despite our staunch no TV before 2 rule. However, I guess everyone has their moments where they just don't have the physical or emotion energy to deal and tonight was one of those moments for me. I still feel bad about it though, I feel like I am a grown up and should be able to control my emotions better than being super grumpy toward my family for something they didn't even do or have control over. I feel like I took the lazy way out by just popping in a movie even though I have taken drastic measures, even left parties or events to avoid having Cameron watch TV on many occasions.
Anyway, I just want to let you know how grateful I am to my family. Cameron still loves me. Brian went out of his way to make sure I was happy and degrumpified. I had the help of Brian's Mom & Aunt which made a the situation manageable. I really am blessed.

I love FLYing

I recently joined FlyLady.net to help me get organized and feel good about myself and my house. I just wanted to say how much I love this system. I have been able to keep the house clean, laundry & dishes kept on top of & still spend plenty of time playing with Cameron and even taking naps when I want to. I feel so good about myself and my house. I admit that after two weeks of great I fell of the horse for a why, but I stopped procrastinating getting back on and within less than an hour (15 minute intervals spaced through out the day) my mess that I thought was untackleable turned into a beautiful clean home with fresh cut flowers on the table and dinner ready when Brian came home. I have been able to keep up with it & I am feeling so good & Brian is feeling good, even Cameron enjoys the cleanliness (it gives him something to mess up) or at least the fact that Mama is happier. So for any of you who are living in C.H.A.O.S. -can't have anyone over syndrome, I highly recommend this. Seriously the only thing that is a downside is that they send you a lot of emails (but like she says cyber clutter is easy to clean up with the click of the delete button) I delete most of the testimonials and most of the other emails have the pertinent info in the subject so that you can just delete those too , which leaves you with only 1 or 2 that you actually have to read and those are usually short. She even has tips for FLYing With the Kids!
FLYing while Pregnant
FLYing with Baby
FLYing With Preschoolers
FLYing With School Age Children
FLYing With Teenagers
FLYing With Homeschoolers
FLYing With Big Families
FLYing as a Single Parent
Anyway, FlyLady has really helped me a lot and it has helped relieve the stress in our home caused by the clutter and CHAOS. So, if you have ever heard of it and were wondering if it was worth a try, I give FlyLady two thumbs way up. She has taught me the importance of baby steps and not procrastinating and that you can do anything for 15 minutes at a time (you would be surprised what you can get done in that short amount of time when you have a timer set).