since it's been warmer, i've really tried to limit the use of my dryer. i'm not lucky enough to have a clothesline, but i do have two drying racks - one from my days in undergrad. when the clothes are ready to take out of the washing machine, i simply throw them back in the basket and head upstairs. using clothes pins, i can pin them to the drying racks and put the racks out on the deck so that they can dry with help from mother nature. i read recently that each time you use your dryer, it costs 85 cents. the savings really add up. and really, by taking the time to hang things to dry instead of throwing them in the dryer, i'm finding laundry to me a more enjoyable task. did i really just say that?
the only downside is that i have to plan laundry out a bit more in advance. because things take longer to dry, i try to do one load of laundry each day and then hang to dry in the afternoon. although it's kind of a positive as well - no more laundry marathons when doing load after load.
i swear i don't terrorize her when i take these monthly shots. apparently it's just not the cool thing to do to smile at me each month anymore. there are far more interesting things to do. but she still loves bear. he's a good partner in crime. actually, the cast of characters sleeping with her in her crib each night continues to grow. no wonder she doesn't mind waking up and playing for awhile in her crib each morning?
at 16 months, camryn :
weighs 26 pounds. i know this as she loves to pick up the scale in our bathroom and carry it around weighing herself every few steps.
current nicknames : peeps + peepers. although we're calling her by her actual name more these days. go us.
is constantly on the go. she doesn't stay in one place too long. she's a very busy girl.
loves books. she'll bring one to you and plop in your lap for you to read to her. at bedtime, we're in a rotation of three different books : "buzz, buzz, busy bees", "brown bear, brown bear" and "dear zoo". usually she chooses "brown bear, brown bear". she is obsessed with that book as she knows all the signs and animal sounds for each page.
continues to love all things bubbles. her plethora of bubble wands, bubble containers and her bubble machines. always a good time.
loves to be in the water. whether at swimming lessons or in her inflatable pool on the deck.
goes to bed by 8p each night and is up between 7-7:30a each morning.
is still taking a morning nap - although most days it's fairly short. her afternoon nap is usually longer and is usually around 1.5 hours.
loves going to story time each week. she's now in the toddler section which really amazed her at first since there are a lot of bigger kids there. she's interacting more and more with the songs and fingerplays and loves the stories.
isn't fond of bland food. i can feed her part of a chicken breast and she isn't interested. but i can give her a piece of barbecue chicken with sauce that also has a rub on it and she can eat almost an entire thigh piece. she is her mother's daughter.
when the phone rings, she instantly says "dada". however she won't talk to her daddy until the end of the conversation when he's about to hang up. then he can't get her off the phone.
adores her furry older brother thomas. at times she thinks she can pick him up and actually attempts it. why she thinks she can do this, i have no clue.
has become quite the french fry thief. she loves them. not so sure that's a good thing.
loves watching "play with me sesame" each morning and will sing the "la la la" part as soon as she sees that it's starting.
this is the only photo i managed to snap over the weekend - well, rather one of the four i attempted yesterday after we got home right before the girl's bathtime. which meant her standing in the driveway and trying to get her to stand still. easier said than done.
not an overly exciting weekend, but a productive one which i truly appreciate. friday, the girl and i headed to a play group picnic in the morning before her am nap. played a bit, chatted a bit and then strolled back home. nice in that it was at a resident's house that lives close to us - .8 miles away according to mapquest, so i got in a good workout as well. we also went to the store to get all the things needed for food i wanted to make the next day.
saturday andy got home after noon as he was on call friday. the girl and i had already made bbq sauce and while she took her morning nap, i whipped up some potato salad - so yummy! while they both napped in the afternoon, i finally caught myself up on editing photos. i can't tell you what a weight that is off my shoulders! i was averaging three months behind. not good at all. we ended up at a bbq for a couple of hours and then after the girl's bath and she was in bed, andy and i had our own bbq as well. we have perfected the bbq chicken. it was fantastic.
and then today andy, andy was on call again. after church, the girl and i hit costco. after her nap, we went and visited daddy at the hospital and brought cookies for him and the nurses. then it was home, dinner, play outside and bath. i'm worn out.
and did i mention i made a dent on her baby book this weekend as well? go me! and in even bigger news, our church will soon have a pastor! it's been a long road, but the seventh one we called accepted. you could hear the big sigh of relief today when it was announced.
a big thank you to all the men and women who serve our country and help us have the many freedoms that we do.
late friday afternoon, i heard that mtv was playing michael jackson's videos continuously. granted, i can't remember the last time i intentionally watched mtv, but it seemed like the thing to do. and it trumped the usual rotation of pbs' preschool channel. although usually, the tv isn't on that often in the afternoon. regardless, the girl performed her own tribute of sorts to the king of pop in our living room - i believe it's "don't stop 'til you get enough". she seemed riveted by his dancing. notice thomas is not riveted by either one of them. and yes, our living room looks like that each and every day. well, until 8p when everything is put away until it's strewn about the next morning.
also going on in our world...
friday, we attended the annual cheifs' dinner for andy's department. these are the guys he works with way too many hours during the day. a great bunch of guys though - sad that two of them completed the program and are moving. but just something you get used to. crazy to believe that andy is starting his fourth year of residency. at christmas, he'll be halfway done. super proud of him as he won a "creativity and research" award to help him push for a motorcycle law in the state. so ridiculous that we don't have one.
and she's still loving swimming. here she is taking a dip with her teacher who i absolutely adore. she's quite the little fish and loves heading to the pool each week.
after having so much fun at grammy's in her pool, we went to target to get the exact same one on monday with hopes that it would fit nicely on our deck. score! the perfect place to splash and kick after taking a walk to pick up our csa box this week in 90 degree weather. mother nature must've forgot that it's not supposed to be that warm here yet. shame on her.
thomas begged to be out on the deck with us, but when he saw that water was flying he quickly fled back inside leaving just us girls.
and speaking of swimming, the girl had her first class as a "little snapper" last night and rocked it. she's the youngest of the three in her class. the other two boys are two and a half, basically twice her age. she was more willing to do things than they were. her daddy was quite proud to tell her and i how well he thought she did after the lesson. there was no need for me to get in the water. the only thing she needs to work on is to stay sitting on the step when it isn't her turn. easy enough!
so nice to get away for a week and head home to see friends and family. 500+ photos taken. way too much heat and humidity. a whole lot of doing nothing and hardly anytime spent online. here's a bit of what we did :
saturday : the first photo of our road trip. the girls in the backseat with bear. granted we were possibly a mile into the trip and stopping at mcdonald's for andy and i to get breakfast.
sunday : a trip to one of our favorite places when visiting my mom, my aunt and uncle's farm. we love it out there. we had just gotten back from a short trip on the four wheeler to see some cows up close. the girl loves them and i thought she was going to push andy off so that he'd get out of the way and she could get a closer look.
the girl with her new friend, sammy. we weren't sure how she'd react to the two dogs since they're larger, but she loved them. and love is an understatement.
monday : my sister and her family came to visit. a sneak peek for my sister at some of the photos i took of them. our niece is just shy of being three months younger than the girl.
tuesday : i blow a mean bubble with a bubble pipe. and i love days where this is the most exciting thing i did.
wednesday : a mini road trip to tiger town to see my former co-workers and friends. so good to catch up with them. not sure why i didn't think to get photos with my former designers? the girl came home with fabric swatches from the design library and played with them all the way back to my mom's. this is tracy and bhr after lunch at one of my favorite restaurants.
thursday : the two crazies "swimming" in the backyard. the girl adores the water if you couldn't tell. in fact, she ended up taking a bath in the pool that night and enjoyed every moment of it.
friday : the girl and her grammy playing pictionary. she can tell you what animal you're drawing no matter how well you can draw.
saturday: trying to take a photo of these two in their matching dresses. yeah, right. this is one of the better ones. the outtakes are hysterical.
sunday : eating breakfast before hitting the road. the girl stole grammy's napkin and proceeded to rip it to shreds. how nice.
and now it's back to our routine. getting caught up on work + e-mails. andy starting a new rotation. loving on the furry one who feels that he was neglected for a week when i know that he was indeed well taken care of.
a few days late. and she wasn't so thrilled with the photo op this month. 6 photos total and this is the best one of the bunch. the girl is moving at the speed of light these days. and nothing can stop her. she runs. she screams. she has a great time doing about anything.
at 15 months, camryn :
weighs 25 pounds. she loves to weigh herself, these days. go figure.
current nicknames : peeps, peepers. we're trying to call her by her actual name more so that she knows what it is.
runs, runs, runs. she's not interested in getting anywhere slowly.
continues to love books. especially anything animal related. favorites are "buzz, buzz busy bees" and "brown bear, brown bear". i think i've memorized them both at this point.
loves bubbles and her many bubble wands. in fact, i had to get a container to hold all of her bubble paraphenalia. she loves blowing on them, even inside when there's no bubble solution on it.
adores her five stuffed bunnies. she hauls them around and they can be found all over the first floor each day.
continues to love birds. and her newfound love of our neighbor's dog, buddy. she absolutely loves him and wants to see him up close when we're outside.
goes to bed by 8p each night and is up between 7-8a each morning.
still hanging on to her morning nap, although it's rarely longer than 20 minutes these days.
the banana fad may finally be waning. she really is enjoying grapes these days.
just completed her last session of parent/tot swimming lessons and is moving into little snappers.
is so social and loves to be around people and seeing whatever they are up to.
runs after thomas shrieking - which he loves. also enjoys giving him kisses.
i've been meaning to get this on video for awhile now and finally did today. when you ask her anything, mama is usually the answer you get.
as for the last question : "who's got the hot stuff?"... two weeks ago when we were getting ready for church, andy was upstairs showering and i was getting the girl ready. she kept calling for dada so we went to the bottom of the stairs and he peered down and asked her that question. as we'll call her big stuff or hot stuff or whatever on occasion. she answered mama and we both about died laughing. it's become an inside joke of sorts now.
that was what was going on in our house today. andy's parents came to visit for the weekend and so we spent the day adjusting to just being the girl and i. and thomas as well of course. there were good parts and bad parts. i can't complain too much. it would've been nicer had the weather been not so cloudy and wet as the girl and i discovered a new park today on our evening walk. the baby swings are at the right height for this tall mama and i promised we'd be back! especially since someone was a little less than thrilled that the threatening sky was chasing us back home.
this was after her afternoon nap. i wanted to snap a photo of her hair when she wakes up but of course, with camera in hand it was quite tame. i don't know what she does in her sleep but her hair is usually quite the sight. i'll take being rewarded with a post-nap smile. and that's the only pacifier that she has these days - and has for the last month or so. and it too will soon be history. sianara binks.
well, almost anyway. today the girl tested out of parent/tot and will officially be in the next level of swim lessons when the new session starts in two weeks. very cool, but a bit bittersweet as well as i think we all look forward to swim lessons as they are now. the good part? me not donning a swimsuit each week.
i know she'll do great. she loves the water and we also are lucky enough to have the same teacher for the next session who the girl adores. the teacher even signs with her. love that she enjoys this so much and is learning a life skill at the same time. a definite win/win.
