Rocky Mountain High

And the summer of let's-get-outta-here-and-cram-in-as-much-"family-of-three"-time-before-we're-four continues! We spent a wonderful week in Colorado seeing my parents, sister and sister's family (we missed you Aurora and Cristal!) as well as Aunt Cindy, Uncle Matt and cousin Austin (and apparently Uncle Steve -- Austin's friend who Camille thought was another Uncle). Colorado provided a much-needed reprieve from this blistering heat. Our first stop was Vail then on to Denver (where we also saw my cousin Katie and her son Zander!). What a wonderful vacation...now we're home for a looooong time, ready to prep for baby (who at the moment is making himself known as he appears to be creating a mild but painful case of sciatica -- not pleasant) and prepping to put our house on the market. Let the good times begin!

By the stream in Vail...

Cousin Eva posing with her pal Al

Camille, with her beloved backpack

At the sandbox with Gran (who was so kind to pack a ton of fun sand toys -- thanks, Mom!)

Camille & Eva, just chatting...

Wonderful Gran and Granddad

Two family portraits in one summer! Apparently Camille wasn't too thrilled....

An attempt at a larger family shot...

In Denver...Camille mooning over new pal Zander

So fun!

At the Aquarium in Denver!

Coloring with Aunt Cindy's fabulous art supplies -- thanks Cindy!

Ahhh...just chillin' in the Colorado sun...

Hope to go back very soon! And yes, we did not get any pictures of Camille with Aunt Cindy, Uncle Matt or Austin...what were we thinking?! We'll just have to go back.

"Vacay" part 2

We're home now, back to reality. It is really nice to be sleeping in our own beds and feeling like the house is a mansion but we miss the ocean waves and lazy days of vacation. Speaking of beds, while in Nags Head, the only bed option for Camille was on the floor (on a comfy mattress-like mat with lots of pillows surrounding her) so we just decided to take the plunge and transition her from her crib lifestyle. There were many rough nights and early mornings but overall, it went pretty well. We weren't able to change her crib to a toddler bed last night due to exhaustion and lack of screws needed (go figure!) and lo and behold, she finally accomplished actually getting out of the crib. [At 13 months, she learned to do this but never quite succeeded due to a handy thing called a crib tent (bless the person who invented this). Then, about 2 months ago, the tent broke (thanks to some fancy gymnastics move by Camille). So, we just really enforced staying in her crib. It worked for as long as we needed it. And, with baby boy on his way, we knew this move had to happen soon.]

So, today, with a trip to Lowe's (for screws) and a trip to Target (for new bed gear), we have a toddler bed! Nap time was difficult (90 minutes work for a 60 minute nap) but bedtime tonight seems to be a success! An hour's work and we've heard the sweet sound of silence for 30 minutes now. It's only night two but we'll take it. I do have sympathy for our sweet pea as the number of transitions that have occurred in her life lately would probably put an adult through the wringer of stress -- a lot of her friends are transitioning to preschool so new friends at school (same wonderful teacher thankfully), potty training, baby on the way, vacation and all smack dab in the middle of toddlerville where independence rules but Mom and Dad rule too. Ugh. It's a lot. She's a trooper. Here is how we wrapped up our delightful "vacay!"

"Vacay"

Ahhh...the beach. Nothing quite says vacation than ocean waves, sun, sand and naps. We are in Nags Head on the Outer Banks, staying in a bungalow called Henry's Hut with Eric's college roommate, Mark, and his family. Mark and Joan have two daughters, Jennifer (12) and Jacquelyn (10) and they have provided welcome entertainment for the youngest of the group! Aside from being with her cousins, Camille has never been "fought" over for playtime as much as she has this week. Some pics thus far...

Footprints on the beach

A visit to the aquarium


Jacquelyn feeding Camille a goldfish (cracker)

A morning walk on the beach, making "Cs"


Eric and Mark on their dive to the wreck, the Zane Gray

Not letting go of her fingers...


A beach vacation wouldn't be complete without a round of mini golf! Even if we do use our hands to put the ball in the hole.

Back to relaxing (and ice cream...and...walks...and...)

It's A...

!!

It was a chaotic day full of anticipation and now we can sit back and relax and take in this wonderful news. Camille got a stomach bug this morning, which meant it would be a day of multitasking. An attempt to have a babysitter come stay with her while Eric and I went to the appointment failed twice (do I have our 80 year-old neighbor come watch her? No...Gini probably couldn't lift Camille out of the crib...bad plan. Sandie, our trusted babysitter who also happens to be our dog sitter? Nope. She's busy walking half a dozen dogs - not all at once). So, can we reschedule? Nope - the anatomy scan has to be completed in a certain window...nice. All right, plan C. Can I take Camille? She's in a good nap, fever down, was pretty active and happy before nap...yes, that's the plan. Appointment at noon. Try to rouse Camille around 11:30, hmmm...feels a little hotter...103 temp. Eeek. Not looking so good. She wakes up (now I'm feeling guilty for awaking her from a good nap) and the dreaded vomit hits. Poor baby.

Plan C is definitely nixed. Quickly call appointment line and try (beg) to move the appointment to later. Good, got it at 1:30. Quickly text Eric..."will not meet you behind work, please come home now." Clean what I can, get cold washcloth and head back into Camille's room to just rock her...in front of fan. Eric home - yey! Camille is sacked out on my lap (good, sleeping is good). Drive to appointment...a welcome phone call from a best friend soothes my nerves. Arrive at appointment with video camera in hand. Not much waiting, thankfully. Me: "Can I video tape this so my husband can view it when I get home?" Ultrasound Tech: "No but we can give you a CD." OK...that will do. "Also, we do want to know the sex of the baby but please don't tell me, write it on a piece of paper so my husband and I can find out at the same time." Request granted (so I think). Scan...scan...scan...everything looks great! (Ahhh...good news welcomed on this hectic day). ... Drive home...

Camille is up and around, good. "Let's see the baby!" We all huddle around my laptop, insert the CD and "ooo, ahhh, oh...look at that cute arm and leg!" The anticipation is killing me...wasn't he going to write what it was? OK he said he would indicate on the ultrasound pictures but also put it in the envelope. Let's look in the envelope. OK, there are two pictures in it...yeah, that kind of looks like it but...where does it say, BOY?! It's only 4:30, I'm sure there are still people in the office. So we call the office...finally get the nice Dr. Boyd on the phone..."are you ready?" Ha! Ready? "It's a boy!" comes through loud and clear on speaker. Yey!

Now, Camille is sound asleep, fever reducer on board and we're off to dream of blue.

My diet of late

Never have I craved these and if I have had a hankering, one or two bites is typically enough. In the last few weeks, one or two bites just haven't cut it.


When these make up the majority of your meals, the majority of the days, you splurge on organic.


And yes, "candy" that I swear works wonders.

Ta-Da!

Due to arrive October 26th! I am 13 weeks (these scans were a couple of weeks ago) and we'll find out within a month or so if Camille will have a baby sister or a baby brother! When we broached the subject with Camille, she handed me a book and said, "read this one." I'm sure that will change.

For our Facebook friends, we probably won't announce this for a few weeks so we'll keep it hush-hush for now. =) Thanks!

It's not over, 'til it's over

Apparently, I remembered the important things about living through tornadoes in Kansas like: grab a flashlight (or two in case your toddler wants to play with one), crack the windows open a bit (confirmed by Eric's text from Asheville where he was visiting his Dad and Jan after another Hollywood stint...more on that later), stay away from said windows, and remember that things are just things. As Camille was soundly sleeping (and I got a few winks), my ever-vigilant mom texted me letting me know the severe thunderstorm warning had now turned into a tornado warning. I had known this as I was glued to the television trying to find the most legitimate weather forecast. All of them concurred: take shelter now. First task: wake Camille. Check (she did great through the whole ordeal). Second: crank volume of TV up loud so I can hear any new announcements while in the bathroom (mind you, this bathroom is tiny). Third: Coax dog to go into the bathroom (no problem there, she came very willingly). Fourth: Hunker down! Log on to YouTube on the trusty Droid and search "Elmo." Hallelujah! Lots of choices - Elmo and Adam Sandler even - perfect for Camille AND me. So, in this position we sat - dog on floor curled as tightly as a golden retriever can curl literally on my feet and Camille sitting on my lap laughing to Elmo and Adam Sandler. (In the background I can hear the piercing blare of the warning sound on the TV and rain on the windows while the lights flickered on and off). In the midst of the Elmo videos, texts from my mom: "I'm reading about a large tornado on the ground in north raleigh. Do you hear anything?" ... "la la la la, la la la la, Elmo's song!" "Ok? Tornado in ground north Raleigh." (We live in Northwest Raleigh). What a wonderful mother I have...I can only imagine how awful it must have been on the other end. We both agreed that we would have gone crazy without texting.

Anyway... shortly after this stint in the bathroom (at which point, Camille started feeding Mabel piece by piece of her food - so cute!), we all needed to escape. Wanting to see what it was like outside (the sun was peaking out, clouds breaking and blue sky emerging), we geared up in the stroller and got Mabes leashed up. It was sprinkly but clearing. Ha! Apparently the thing I forgot was to wait until it really is over. We got halfway up the street and it started raining a bit more. Then a huge clap of thunder and the rain came. And then, the pea sized hail came. And then I started looking for cover but I was SO close to home I thought just running faster would be better. (I can now see how this fallacy gets people in trouble). Finally, we made it into our garage and all was well. We ALL (I think even Mabel) took a deep breath and said, "whoa!" We were absolutely drenched. We changed clothes and Camille enjoyed just being in a diaper and bloomies. I made a unilateral decision to have a "nibble tray" for dinner -- not exactly in the mood for cooking anything -- we munched on cherry tomatoes, hummus & crackers, pickles, cheese, black beans and yogurt. Delicious. Rehashing the entire afternoon in part for my own sanity and not wanting Camille to have traumatic memories associated with rain, we talked about how wet we got and admittedly a bit scared. "Mommy got wet! Tameel got wet! It not rainin' any moah." Thankfully, Camille, it is not raining anymore. Here is the link of one of our local news stations that shows the path of (all) the storms.

Birthday Girl

Pictures from the celebration!