Counting my blessings

Today we had to take Cameron to the doctor. I thought that he had pneumonia again (he had it 2 weeks ago) and I didn't want to wait until Monday to see if it was the case. I am sure glad I followed my gut, it turns out that he was having an asthma attack and had we waited much longer we would have had to go to the hospital. Cameron is doing much better now after 3 breathing treatments in a row and an oral steroid. He will be on the steroid for 5 more days to get his breathing under control; and fingers crossed that it won't have to be added as a daily medication. I am just so glad that the Spirit didn't let me blow off the feeling of needing to go in as a paranoid Mommy feeling. Please keep him in your prayers that he will recover quickly.

P.S. On a happier note I embellished some onesies for a baby shower for twin boys & they turned out really cute. They are drying now, so I will post photos tomorrow.

Fiddling

Thanks to Amanda & http://www.leeloublogs.blogspot.com/ . I plan on fiddling with things 'till I like them so there will be changes. Yay! for cute blogs
Sophia

Look what I did today

Today was very productive. Cameron has been in need of a hair cut, so I took him to SportsClips because I had a coupon for a free boys hair cut. I guess you get what you pay for because I could have done a better job (and have been doing so) in my sleep than the girl did. My poor boy has a hack job of a hair cut and just a week before his birthday.

I went to Jo-Ann's & Micheals (sorry my dear Hobby Lobby, there was a sale) and picked out these fun fabrics for a skirt for myself.


I will be using this tutorial from Freshly Picked I am way excited to see how they turn out. At Micheal's I picked up some wooden letters to jazz up our hall wall after being inspired by this tutorial on Samster Mommy. Can you tell that I love craft blogs. Those are just two of some of my new favorites.
I came home and Cameron & I painted the letters to spell out "I am a child of God". I weeded, raked and trimmed the trees & shrubbery along our driveway today & picked some fresh oregano, rosemary & thyme from our garden to give as a thank you to someone who wrote a letter of recommendation for Brian (the guy likes to cook). After dinner, FHE & putting the kids to bed I painted the circles on the wall & with left over paint painted a star wall hanger that I have been meaning to for awhile for Cameron to hang up his painting smock.
After the wall dried I hung up the letters.

Now, all that is left to complete the wall will be to paint two picture frames ivory & put photos of my two beautiful children & hang it up. I can't wait to get it done. We have lived here 2 and a quarter years and still most of my wall are bare it drives me nuts. So, in the last few months I have been putting things up & slowly my house is feeeling more and more like a home.

Happy Valentine's Day

We had Fondue for dessert on Valentine's Day and it was a big hit with Cameron. I think I will make this a V-day tradition. I was so much fun. I went back to the video a few times and now have decided to share. I know it is a week past Valentine's, but if you don't want to watch you can choose not to.

Thou Shalt Not Covet Your Neighbors Blog

Ok, so I will admit that part of my lack of blogging is feeling that my blog looks blah. I go to all of mt friends' blogs and covet their cuteness & curse myself for not being able to have nearly as cute a blog. I mean, I am pretty sure that I am the only person around that still has a blogger issued background template.
So, what does one do when in such a dilemma? I have tried to figure out how to change things up. But, alas, I have had no fortune in this endeavor. It is frustrating to me because I am usually capable of figuring things out when I set my mind to it. Anyway, that is my confession. I go onto other peoples blogs and covet the cutesy backgrounds & fancy headers & them got back to mine and feel lame, lame, lame.

First Steps

Lilliana took her first step Friday Feb 19 & two more today. She is so funny. When you try to help her she refuses and just plops down. She wants to do it on her own. On her own she figured out crawling, climbing, cruising, standing ( she is still working on this) & on her own she will figure out walking. She is so independent, which is completely opposite of her brother. I love them both so much.
We went to the park today as a family. If was so fun to see Lilliana actually enjoying herself and exploring. Cameron got bored with the infant/toddler area and went off with Brian to the little big kids area. This park has three play areas, toddler, preschool & big kid. I really like it because I don't have to worry so much about my kids being knocked over by bigger kids or them getting stuck or falling off equipment that it too big.



Here is Lilliana exploring a tunnel just her size



And here is my hansom husband and my cute boy refusing to get his photo taken

Time Travel Tuesday

I have decided to show old pictures every Tuesday. I will pick five and post them. This way you can see some of what was missed in these last 7 months. When those have been gone through maybe I will dig out some really old ones & really take a trip back in time. Since I know that you are just dieing to see photos of my uber cute kids, here are some of my favorites.


My Handsom guys riding off into the sunset, or, atleast, the living room


The first of two times he found my lipstick. The first time cute, the second, not so much


Probably my favorite picture of Lilliana, she was 5 1/2 months


A cute mother/daughter shot sometime around Mother's Day


Taken last Tuesday after a day in and out of Doctor's offices. The chocolate I gave him to keep him awake didn't work.

"I blogged" is what it will say

I received this message yesterday from a friend:
"Yesterday in church we were discussion what things we can do today, right now, to become better individuals. Lots of hands went up with suggestions, and you can imagine them all. One was to set goals and work to reach them. Our discussion leader agreed and added that you shouldn't set ten goals every day or you'll never meet them. I laughed of course, because i have those 10 goals I am working to meet every day. Then I made a suggestion. We talk a lot in our church about the importance of journaling as a record for future generations. Well, I have journaled nearly every day this year so far, and what I've found is that writing about your day really puts things in perspective. Do you want to get to the end of the day and think "what the heck did I do today", or "Spent 15 hours playing World of Warcraft - forgot to eat"? Or would you rather have a list of activities, adventures, and improvements.

How will today's journal entry read?

PTF"

I felt thoroughly chastized. However, in my case, instead of it reading "Spent 15 hours playing World of Warcraft - forgot to eat" it would say "Spent 2 hours looking at craft blogs and neglecting your own blog and craft projects". So, here I am feeling like I don't know where to start, since it has been ages (sound familiar?). I decided that rather than bore you with all that bad thing that have happened that I have used as excuses for my non-blogging - funny they didn't stop me from looking at other blogs - that I would just start with the happy things that have transpired.

I turned a quarter century at the begining of the year and Brian surpsrised me with a date. He got a babysitter for the kids and we went to a bakery that I have been eyeing for a while. We then came home and cooked dinner together and sang and danced like we used too pre-kids; it was great!

That same month Brian started school back up. He is now in his last exclusively classes semester and he is so happy about it. As of next semester he will pretty much have clinicals (internships) with some assignments attached. Brian is really excited about the hands-on learning and that he pretty much only has a year left until he becomes Dr Brian Crane DPT. Now if only I can get him to make-up his mind about what happens next: fellowship & residency in Orthopedics (which he would really benefit from and is my vote) or work for a few years first then maybe get around to doing the fellowship & residency (my fear is they will never happen, can you tell that I don't like that plan?).

Also, last month I found out that my brother Jonathan is getting married at the end of May. I am so happy for him and even more happy that it will coincide with the trip we were planning on taking to Utah for Brians clinical this Summer. This trip is pulling together nicely. We will be in Utah for 2 months visiting family we haven't seen in 2 years, seeing my brother get married & being able to be at the blessing of a niece who will have been born a few weeks prior to our arrival. Oh, we were also able to find some friends that needed a place for the time frame that we are going to be gone; meaning I don't have to worry about our house sitting empty for 2 months.

As far as the kids go Lilliana finally cut a tooth a few days before her nine month mark (she started teething at 3 1/2 months) and now has a second one also. It is funny to me that at this age Cameron has 16 teeth, weighed 29 lbs & was about 30 inches tall. Everyone is always telling me how big and chubby she is (20 lbs & 27") but she seems so small to me. She is supper mobile - not yet walking, but give her a few weeks and I wouldn't be surpsrised if she takes her first steps. She also is too smart for my good and hers - shes is always figuring out how to get into things that she definately shouldn't being getting into yet. She has a crazy good memory, which as I have learned with Cameron can be a good thing or a very bad thing. Lilliana also is very particular about everything (strong willed does not begin to describe her). Cameron and Mommy are her favorite people (usually in that order). It melts my heart to hear her laughing while Cameron plays with her.
We found out a few weeks ago that Lilliana is allergic to eggwhites. I am super nervous about this. She is a picky enough eater as it is, and has so many food sensitivities. Mainly, I am worried about what it means when going places with her publicly; i.e. playgroups, potlucks, birthday parties, etc. I have a vegan friend who reccomended Egg Replacer so I am going to try it out. Luckily, she should outgrow her allergy around 3-5 year.

Cameron is such a bright little boy. Lately, he has become obsessed with Pirates (thanks to "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything") and can frequently be heard saying "arrr me matey" & "scurvy dog" in his best pirate voice. His other obsession is firefighters. He likes to put on his coat and rain boots and carries a large cardboard tube as his hose. The couches on any given day wil be pirate ships, firetrucks & then pirate ships again.
Speaking of firetrucks, Cameron's 3 birthday is fast approaching and he has chosen Firetrucks as his theme. So, being the loving Mama that I am, I agreed & will be going all out. I plan on recreating this firetruck birthday cake,



and this cardboard firetruck,



I think that I can do it. Thus far, I have been having a heck of a time tracking down boxes though.

Besides becoming obsessed with a few craft blogs, I haven't really been up to much. I made a dress for Lilliana out of one of Brian's many free t-shirts that he has received from school. After spending many an hour looking at craft blogs I decided that I could do something as simple as an a-line dress from a t-shirt, so I did. I also used the sleaves to make shorts for Hank, Cameron's stuffed monkey buddy (originally they were going to be to matching the dress but I didn't cut a high enough rise for Lilliana's cloth diapered bum). My pictures didn't turn out well, so I will have to post some later. So, there you have it, a blog post from me.