My little headbanger

I finally got a good video of Luke ramming his head into things.

Cameryn was going potty in the bathroom and since Luke is obsessed with that room I have to keep the door shut. Well, needless to say he got a little upset that he couldn't go in there and this was the result.

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Maybe this is how he knocks on doors?

This is a very common occurence with him, although it isn't always because he is throwing a fit. Sometimes he does it for fun... weird I know but really funny to watch. Once I swear he did it for a full 2 or 3 mintues and then when he got tired just moved on to playing with something else. He also does this to my leg to get my attention and likes to bonk heads with people that he likes (at least people he likes for the moment).

I was at a friend's house today and Luke kept bonking his head into her baby boy. Thank goodness her boy didn't care and they seemed to have fun together. It was so cute and I only wish that I had brought my camera with me.

BOYS!!!

Ahhh... those funny naked stories

The other day Mike and I were bringing a grill that his parents were giving us into the house. Cameryn decided to be helpful and was holding the front door open for us while standing on the front porch which was wonderful... that is until we realized that all she had on was a shirt. Whatever... not a big deal. After all she is only 2 years old. What does it matter if she doesn't have any pants on?

Well, it didn't matter until Mike pointed out to Cameryn that she should come inside because she was half naked. She decided that this was really funny (which of course it was to us too) and promptly shut the screen door and took off down the front steps.

I really would have loved to just get my camera and tape her running as fast as she could holding her Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, smiling her cute little smile and giggling. But unfortunately I had to run after her.

Thankfully she knows that she is not allowed to go any further then the edges of our very small front yard so it wasn't a long chase. But it was HILARIOUS!!! As soon as she saw me coming after her she started laughing even more and squealing with delight that I was chasing her. I quickly grabbed her as she was running back up the yard and brought her in the house where she quickly burst into tears (girls are very dramatic). She was crying she wanted to go back outside in the front yard. I told her she could play in the back but that wasn't good enough until I told her that I was going to chase her. The tears quickly vanished and she took off again running through the kitchen to the back door and onto the deck.

Oh how I love these funny moments that seem to always end so quickly. She is developing such an imagination and she does the silliest things. I have to wonder how she comes up with some of them. But I'm glad that she does. I want her to be able to be a child as long as she wants. Society seems to think that our children need to grow up faster then they do already and it makes me sad. I want her to be able to be a little girl for as long as possible because I will miss her when she isn't. Then she'll be a teenager and most likely not like me as much as she does now. I won't get the spontaneous hugs and kisses and the "I love you so much" followed by the hardest squeeze she can manage.

I will just enjoy all these moments as much as possible and will love my little girl a little bit more every day and not dwell on what is to come.

Here are two recent pictures of something silly she was doing in the car the other day that I had to get a picture of.

Funny happenings

I have been so busy these past few weeks and have not gotten to blogging in a long time. I'm sure I could have found a few minutes here or there but oh well.

The kids have been having a nice month so far. We've been getting in the pool a lot and going outside just to sit in our (small) front yard and play or going on walks and meeting up with friends and going to the park. You get the picture.Luke is really getting the hang of crawling and is a lot faster. He is such a busy body and I love it. I don't have a baby constantly wanting me to pick him up because he can crawl now.. it is WONDERFUL!! Of course when he is getting tired or just wants to be held for a few minutes he will crawl to me and sob and I of course pick him up.

He loves to carry things around in his mouth too. He's like a little puppy sometimes.

He has become quite the headbanger. I've never seen a baby do this. Cameryn would sometimes bonk heads with people for fun but Luke is a totally different story. He crawls up to walls or doors (or my leg) and just bangs his head into it over and over and over. At first I was worried but my mom read me something from a book about babies that do that and it pretty much said not to make a big deal about it or later on they might realize that they can get things they want by banging their head into things and throwing fits. So I'm not going to stop him unless of course he hurts himself on accident. I've been trying to get a good video of him doing it but I never have my camera ready and by the time I get it he's done. It is pretty funny looking though.

Cameryn has found even more ways to play with him since he started crawling. We keep our cat box in our basement so Mike installed a little kitty door in the door going into the basement. Well Luke loves to go down into the basement and of course will crawl over there the second he hears the door open. Cameryn discovered that this was a really fun way to play peek-a-boo.

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I didn't get the whole thing on camera like the initial peek-a-boo and giggling and laughing but you get the idea.

It's finally happened

I have been waiting and waiting and growing so impatient for Luke to figure out the crawling thing and he FINALLY did!! I was playing with him on the floor on Tuesday night and he was laughing and having fun and suddenly figured out that if he moved his hands AND his knees that he could move forward. He only did it just barely but I knew he had finally got it and was so happy.

Since he was about 6 1/2 months old he has been up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth and seeming that he was seconds from crawling. However, he never made any attempts to crawl. Slowly he figured out how to move his arms forward but those back legs stayed still. Then he figured out how to go from his stomach to his hands and knees, then into a sitting position, which kids usually don't figure out until they are already crawling. I swear he has done everything possible in the crawling stance EXCEPT crawl. But that's my silly backwards baby. When he was learning to roll over, he rolled from his back to his stomach first instead of the other way around which is just weird.

On Wednesday, he kept trying more and barely moving his little knees a half an inch forward, but he was trying. Finally on Thursday I actually had my camera handy and captured this:

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I thought the song was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, if I don't say so myself.

He still isn't crawling too much and whines a great deal when I move things out of his reach so he will have to crawl to them. There is a big difference in my kids there. Once Cameryn figured it out, she was gone and crawling here and there and I was always on the go watching her and following her around. Luke seems (for lack of a better word) lazy about the whole thing. Like it's just easier to cry and scream and whine to mom so she will pick me up or give me what I want. I know it has only been about 3 days since he started crawling but it is just so silly. He'll figure it out in his own time I'm sure.

I'm just happy that he got it cause I was starting to worry that he was going to skip crawling like so many kids do now a days. I didn't really think he would because I've always put him on his stomach like I did with Cameryn but I worried anyways. I just have to remember that my children are different people and that boys and girls do things differently and at different times also.

As I'm writing this he is crawling/scooting slowly around my room getting into everything. He especially likes doors so he can open and close them (as you see a little bit of in my video). For some reason though he always rams his head into the doors as well and then cries about it but still keeps doing it. I think he just wants attention when he does that.

He also had another first yesterday. His hair was already growing so long that I had to ask a friend of my moms to cut it for me. It looks very good for all the wiggling, head turning and crying he did. If you compare the pictures in the video to the pictures of Luke in other posts you'll see the difference. I think he looks so handsome. She also cut Cameryn's for me, not that she needed it. I just don't do that great of job when I do her bangs so I asked Nancy to trim her bangs for me and she also took like a half an inch from the back. I'm hoping that it will thicken up her hair a little bit. I forgot my camera but I took some with my mom's. When I get those picture I'll post them cause they are so cute.

Kids in the pool

We have finally started having nice weather here so I decided to get out our little kiddie pool. I didn't feel like looking for Cameryn's swim suit so I only put in about 2-3 inches of water for her to splash her feet in. It quickly turned into much more.

I was so glad that I remembered to bring my camera out to our backyard. Unfortunately, my memory card was almost full and my battery was also going dead. I had wanted to take pictures and a little movie of the kids but I didn't have room. Oh well, what I did get is still priceless. I have very silly children... especially my little girl.

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The song is a little silly and doesn't really fit the scene but Cameryn liked it so I used it. She loved watching herself being silly over and over again.

Just some cute pics

I forgot to take pictures of my kids in their new Easter Sunday clothes (horrible right) but I did take pictures of Luke in his Easter outfit this past Sunday. He looks like he should be giving a talk or passing the sacrament or teaching a class in his cute little suit. Isn't he adorable. Everyone at church thought he was so cute and they of course were right. Just look at him.... I can hardly stand how adorable he is sometimes. Ahh the price of having cute kids.

I didn't get a picture of Cameryn in her dress but boy did she love it. We were calling it her Cinderella dress and she put it on and was twirling around and singing any song that popped into her head. She was so beautiful. Wi I'll get a picture of her in it up here eventually. I did get a picture of her dressing up with her Dollar Store Princess jewelry that Mike bought her though. She was in heaven when he brought it home.

Here is Cameryn just being silly with a bucket on her head that usually holds blocks and with Daddy's shoes on. This girl loves her shoes. I have so many pictures of her in my shoes or Mike's shoes.

Two more pictures of my favorite boy. This is right after a bath with his hair just everywhere. It's getting so long now that it only sticks up in a mohawk in the very back now. Right after his bath though it will stand up everywhere then slowly lay down in the front. I'm going to have to get it cut soon though. His hair grows so fast.

His eyes are a little crossed in the one picture but that will hopefully be fixed soon. He has a eye doctor appointment this coming Monday to schedule surgery (hopefully). Still cute though.

Anniversary

Mike and I had our 6th Anniversary this past Saturday (April 14th). We all had breakfast together and then Mike went out to run errands with Cameryn. Then we all went to my parent's house for Cameryn to play, Mike to go shopping with Luke and me to mow lawns. Sounds like a dumb thing to do on an anniversary but I had promised my dad.

There is this old lady, Barbara, that lives next door to my parents and we have always tried to help her out with different things. My dad tries to take her once a week to go grocery shopping and they always invite her over for Christmas dinner. She doesn't have any family near here and never had any children so she enjoys the company. When I was younger I would always help her clean her house and I mowed her lawn up until I graduated from high school. I was paid (not very much of course) and after me my younger siblings kept it up. Last summer my dad and my brother Andrew took turns mowing and raking but they are so busy now. Her lawn is very big and VERY thick so I told my dad that I would once again take over the job. It's not much money, but I'm saving it for our trip to Utah this summer. Plus, I just don't think that my dad should have to do it.

Anyways, it took me a long time to mow it but I finally finished and Mike and I went home to shower and go out to eat. We took Luke with us but left Cameryn at my mom's so we could have a little bit of time to ourselves. She was having more fun there anyways. We went to T.G.I. Fridays and it was so good. I love that restaurant. Luke of course was the cutest thing in the whole restaurant and our server couldn't get enough of him. We had a nice dinner and went to pick up Cameryn from my mom's. She didn't want to leave of course even though she had been there since about 1:30 that afternoon. We finally all got in the car and went home.

Mike got me a beautiful necklace with diamonds in it on this really pretty, really thin silver chain. I can't wear it too much though because Luke is drawn to anything dangly, like hair and necklaces. I'm never one to really make big deals about days, birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines Day (which I really don't like) so in my opinion it turned out to be a very wonderful, nice anniversary. I don't even mind when we have to bring kids along with us either.

This is just a cute picture of Luke that I took yesterday (and really when is he not cute). I always thought this outfit that someone bought him was kinda ugly but as I am running out of winter clothes that fit his hunky chunky little body I put it on him. Lo and behold it was so adorable on him that I am kicking myself for not putting it on him earlier.

Springtime busy

I have been having such a busy few weeks that I haven't had any time for blogging, let alone even getting on the Internet. I have been having lots of play dates for Cameryn which have been fun for her and me. It's nice to talk to other adults during the day when usually my conversations are limited to quick ones on the phone, trying to reason with a 2 year old, talking to an 8 month old and talking to myself (which unfortunately happens a lot).

Cameryn went to a birthday party last weekend for a friend that we met at the library reading time for little kids. Cameryn is really shy in big groups until she gets warmed up so she ended up having a lot of fun. They had a little Easter egg hunt in the back yard since it was so close to Easter and she loved it. Every time she picked up an egg she would shake it to hear if it had anything in it. She very quickly filled up her little basket with eggs and came back over to me to start eating the candy that was in them all.

Here is Cameryn doing an impersonation of Cinderella. She was singing the song from Cinderella in these pictures (A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes).

Luke is still not crawling and I'm getting impatient. I know I shouldn't but I can't help it sometimes. He is so close but at the same time he's not. I thought that he was close 2 months ago and by the things he was doing was positive that he would be crawling by the end of the month. He didn't and doesn't seem any closer to figuring out the whole crawling thing. I know sometimes boys are slower at the developmental things like crawling but he'll be 9 months old on April 25th and I'm starting to worry that he won't ever crawl.

I LOVE when they start to crawl. It is so cute and it makes them so happy to be able to move around on their own. I have no problem with him getting into things because all the stuff on his level already is child safe. All I'll have to do is block off the steps which isn't a problem either. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do to help him along either.

I wonder if his legs are too chubby still to crawl or something. Is that possible? He can't stay up on his knees when I put him like that, he just falls back onto his belly. He has no problem with staying up by his arms because I've always put him on his belly. But he doesn't do the rocking back and forth or anything. The closest he gets is when he is sitting up and he leans as far as he can over until he's on one knee and then he falls on his face and cries. It's quite annoying.

Oh well, I'm just going to keep hoping (and praying) that he'll get it eventually. Here's hoping...

Stickers

I caught Cameryn hiding in the corner of my living room with a page full of her Princess stickers that she was putting all over her shirt.

I have been trying to find a way to avoid arguments with her over the same things every day, for example: getting dressed, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, etc.- pretty much everything except playing with toys. So I made up two little charts for her on which I drew little pictures of her doing different things. I have one chart for the day time and one for bed time. Everytime she does something on her chart, she gets to put a sticker on it. We even bought her some special Princess stickers to get her to want to do all the things on her chart even more.

Cameryn is quite the procrastinator, especially at bedtime, so I made a chart of all the things she asks me to do for her when Mike or I are trying to get her into bed. She asks for water, to go potty, and sometimes even to brush her teeth. So I figured that if she could mark all these things off on a chart with some fun stickers that she wouldn't ask me over and over again about them all.

It has been working pretty well I must say and I am so happy about it. She loves to fill up another day of stickers and is getting better about sticking with her routine, especially at night.

Though, she still gives me a hard time in the mornings most days. Sometimes I can't get her to eat breakfast until 10:00am. I don't know how she can wait that long when I feel hungry sometimes in the middle of the night. Oh well, it's always a work in progress with kids.

Messy baby food

Today while Mike was feeding Luke at dinner, he made a grab for the whole jar of food. He actually got a hold of it but it was quickly snatched back by Mike. Luke got so upset and was crying and crying because it had been taken away from him. Mike kept feeding him and he seemed okay but in between each bite he would stick out his bottom lip and start crying again until the next bite came. He did that for at least 2 or 3 minutes until he finally forgot why he had been crying. It was so cute I had to run to get the camera and get his sweet, sad little face on film.

He loves eating anything I will give him as far as crackers and pieces of what I am eating, but it has been slow going with the actual baby food. Everything seemed to give him gas when I tried to start earlier so I took like a six week break and am now starting up again. It seems to be going much better this time, so hopefully it will stick.

I actually don't really like feeding babies food (until they get older and feed themselves, then I don't mind them eating food). It is so messy and then their diapers start to stink cause it's not just breast milk anymore. Plus I never get to eat my dinner with everyone else. I can usually get a quick bite here or there but most of the time I have to wait until Mike is done and then we switch places so I can eat and he feeds Luke the rest of the baby food.

On Thursday it was such a nice day so I took the kids to lunch at the Chick-fil-A where my mom works part time and we had lunch. Then when my mom got off work we all went at the park and played. It was Luke's first time in a swing and he just loved it. Of course I forgot my camera but got a picture with my cell phone. He was laughing and kicking his cute little feet. He liked watching Cameryn come down the twisty slide too. He would laugh to see her at the top and laugh even more when she suddenly popped up at the bottom.

Cameryn did not want to leave. She was running around with Kathryn and Devon (my younger sister and brother) and laughing and chasing ducks and playing on all the equipment. She kept getting mad though because there was a little boy that would occasionally follow her around. She's already got the boys lining up and she's only 2 and 1/2!! Just kidding!!

It's supposed to rain for the next week practically but it's that time of year so I'm going to try not to complain. I've been trying to line up some play dates just to be able to get out of the house and get Cameryn to play with other kids. People are so busy now a days that it is so hard to set up something that is a good day for everyone. I'm trying though, so hopefully with all the people I've been calling a few play dates will be had.