we love our Pip

It’s hard to believe Pip has been a part of my life for 12 years now. I can tell he has aged along with me, since he often prefers sleeping at home all day over going to work (I know this because he doesn’t follow me around all morning like he used to). But that doesn’t mean he has lost his love of play.

The bigger Cam gets, the stronger he gets and the tug-of-war competitions get longer. As does the giggling.

week 34

Sixish weeks left!

I started going through all the baby stuff in storage, cleaning it off and preparing for Firecracker’s arrival. Now I need to find a place for it all in our home. Cam has been helping me out, mainly by asking what everything is and then playing with it. We also took Cam to sibling class. He wasn’t interested in the baby doll at all, but really wanted to see the babies in the nursery. Then he looks at my belly button and says the baby is almost ready to come out since it’s opening up.

baby guessing time

Who likes to gamble? Certainly no one that I know, but we’re going to play a game anyway.

Pick the sex, date and weight of Firecracker.

Some things that might help:

• Cam was 4 days early but that was only because he was a planned c-section. 

• I had zero contractions beforehand. 

• Cam was 6lb 14oz. 

• This pregnancy is WAY different than the first time, but I think that has to do with chasing an active toddler around more than anything else.

To vote, leave a comment and I’ll write you down on the printout I have. If someone gets to the spot first, I’ll tell you to try again. This is for bragging rights only, because I don’t want to be responsible for handling any money. Unless you just want to hand me money and expect nothing in return – I am completely comfortable with that level of responsibility.

Good luck!

meet the machines

What is heaven for little boys? How about an event where you can climb all over construction machines and move them around?

Well, that’s what we thought. But the heat and loud noises made for a timid little boy in the beginning. So we started with the smallest, non-moving machine we could.

That helped warm him up to the idea. So we moved on and went bowling.

And with bowling being his favorite thing to do, this was a hit. Who knew machines could bowl?

We saw a lot of our friends there and we hope to enjoy it again next year!

my husband – the renaissance man

Once, while playing with Cam, Chris had an idea for a children’s book. He wrote it out with the idea of enlisting a friend to help illustrate it so he could print it out as a gift for Cam. We’re lucky to have many talented friends, but his friend Andrea Jacoboski-Taylor was kind enough to spend her free time (which is hard to come by in the design world) dreaming up images to go with each verse.

A short while later, My Jungle Room was born.

After all that hard work, why not try self-publishing to Amazon? For a mere $3, you can download this book to your kindle or kindle app. Find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/My-Jungle-Room-ebook/dp/B0084H2ZK4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337404819&sr=1-1

I’m incredibly proud of my husband, and thankful to Andrea, for creating this sweet little gift for Cam (and Firecracker). I look forward to sharing the book and the story behind it for years to come.

week 33

Whew! Another week down. I need to start the process of laundering everything in storage and bring out the infant items.

And this is my view from above. Very lopsided. Can anyone tell which side baby has taken up residence?

fun to be a zoo friend

Who is a happy zoo friend?

This boy is. He was all smiles while waiting for the train to arrive, and enjoyed giving the conductor his ticket.

I was sadly at another event, but Chris and Cam had a great time. They even shared the fun with the Weber family. And Cameron talks about his buddy Jackson all the time.

Cam was very interested in the snakes, but this wasn’t close enough for him.

This was better.

 And my favorite shot of the day, when Cam met the meerkats. CHEESE!

Boys in a bubble.

Wish I could have been there, but I’m glad the boys had fun!

splish splash

It’s still a little too cool to take out a pool in St. Louis, but perfect weather for a water table. We brought it out Mother’s Day weekend and Cam was occupied for awhile.

Even Pip enjoyed some time outside. But he made sure to stay out of the splash zone.

We’re looking forward to more days in the sun!

week 32

Does Cam know what’s coming?

This time we were only able to fit it into our morning routine, so enjoy my lovely wet hair!

mother’s day celebration

We celebrated Mother’s Day at school last Friday with a tea party. Cam’s teachers put on a nice event, and Cam gave me a cute tote bag he decorated along with a photo of him. There was also this cute place mat.

And for my favorite item, Cameron answered a couple of questions the way he thought I would answer them. You can see that he knows me very well. And that I like short skirts.

A big thank you to his teachers for putting on such a special event.

show of hands

Last year I got several pieces of art from Cameron that involved using his hands to make photos. They were all so cute and creative that I wanted to share them here.

I love getting artwork from school, and love seeing how creative the teachers are with the kids.

31 weeks

What? I’m managing to post on time? Preposterous. 

Yup, Cameron is shocked we’re already into single digit weeks!

Firecracker is still breech. I have felt it try to turn around but it only makes it halfway and then returns to being upright. And that’s okay. I spent time and effort last time trying to get Pumpkin/Cameron to turn around only to find out his cord was wrapped around his neck leaving me feeling very selfish for trying to make the pregnancy go my way. This time, what happens will happen and I’m just along for the ride.