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our christmas.

what a stressful and chaotic past week it has been.  it looked like for a bit that c and i were going to be celebrating christmas with only thomas.  believe me, he was thrilled at that prospect.  andy had traveled home for his grandfather's memorial service and was supposed to arrive home late tuesday night but because of plane issues courtesy of our friends at northwest - who we will never fly with again - he was stranded in missouri.  luckily, american was fabulous and got him on the first flight out and he was home around noon on christmas eve.  exhausted, but so happy to see his little girl.  me too.  or at least that's how i'm telling the story.  my family then arrived a little after 3p and then christmas was officially on.

 

i suprised andy by finishing his hat that i was knitting for him while he was gone.  i had it complete except for the ear flaps and strings and was so excited to have it wrapped and under the tree waiting for him.  giving him this handmade gift was my favorite thing to give i think.

 

someone else enjoyed wearing it too...

   

one of c's favorite gifts - a phone from one of her great grandmothers.  i have a video of her opening her first gift.  i quit taping at the 6 minute mark.  only the most die hard of fans would enjoy it.  she did well opening at the beginning and then andy and i opened and she enjoyed playing.  my favorite gifts that she received were from grammy that included a wooden puzzle, a castle/knight/princess play set and a wooden block set.  no plastic involved. 

 

and then there's the furry boy with his stocking.  he'd been naughty earlier in the week after i had gone shopping and snooped out the items in the shopping bag on the dining room table.  i had to hide the sack on a hook in the basement stairwell to keep him out of it.  guess santa picked out some fabulous things for him this year, huh?

 

and my hands down favorite gift ever.  i own a robot.  who vacuums my floors for me whenever i fancy.  i seriously have vacuumed four times since saturday.  i love that andy surprised me with it.  even if when he told the nurses at work he was getting me this they told him he better have a back up present at the ready.  seriously so cool.

 

the girls online shopping the day after christmas.  the gap website was down for a while which was getting really annoying but it finally came back up.  doesn't the girl look most intrigued at the items i'm purchasing?  likely because she was getting a few items as well.  thanks to a sale, a couple of coupons and a gift card i spent only $70 for $170 worth of clothes.  go me.

 

i love when grammy visits as i always get a lot accomplished.  here she and c were reading in her room while i was packing away clothes that no longer fit and categorizing the bigger clothes in her cloet.  i think it drives andy insane that i'm always messing around in there but it helps to know what i do or do not need to buy when there are sales and such.  i'll freely admit i likely enjoy organizing a bit too much though.  not that that ever hurt anyone.

 

another one of c's gifts - a great reindeer hooded towel.  she's looking at whatever thomas happened to be doing at that moment.  likely getting into trouble.

 

and someone can climb all the stairs from the first to the second floor now.  and she's quite speedy in doing so.  her reward was waiting for her at the top - her friends, the fish.  she's waving at them in the first photo.  she.  waves.  at.  everything.  seriously.  just ask grammy.

 

and this is today.  as we recovered from the overstimulation of the holiday.  someone in the laundry basket as i folded towels.  she's so helpful, that girl.

for my friends, the scrapbookers.

the two peas days of christmas sale started today.  lots and lots of holiday items for you to work on capturing memories from this year - or if you're like me and haven't finished recording holiday memories for 2007, they're good for that too.  you can see all sale items here.

AND all orders over $50 receive free shipping.  happy holiday shopping, my friends.

1+1=2.

i thought it was so yesterday, but was able to catch a glimpse enough today to confirm.  houston, miss c now has two teeth.  that lone bottom tooth is lonely no longer.

truly all she did want for christmas is her two front teeth.  santa, if the foot of snow we're supposed to get between now and wednesday delays you, have no fear.  the girl has received the her wish.  at least according to the song.

and alas, there is no photo to go with this decree so you'll have to take my word for it.  along with hating her face washed these days, checking for teeth ranks right up there as the other item that irritates the girl.

same snow, different day.

i feel that between all the snow that we've been getting and me trying to make sure everything is done that needs to be completed before christmas, my days are a bit like a broken record.  nevertheless...

 

this is what naptime looks like at our house.  i put a baby girl down for a nap and when i check on her later, a strange forcefield of sorts has thrown her socks out of her crib on the floor.  crazy, i tell you.

 

at the same time the girl is napping, the boy naps under the tree.  actually you can find him there all the live long day except for when he comes to beg for a treat.  i'm going to have one not so happy kitty when the tree comes down.

 

camryn says thank you to nana for sending her "snowball" the snowman.  this is the best photo i got as she was throwing him around so wildly that at least she's in focus in this one.  snowball has joined the stuffed animal posse of trixie the halloween cat and bunny - he's obviously so cool he needs no other name.  they all take turns being tossed about by the girl.  and i do mean tossed.  lucky them.

 

after our 12" of snow on friday, we got another 3" on saturday.  i took c out with me to get the mail - which i believe the mailman is holding hostage as i haven't gotten any for two days, but i digress - and she thought it was great.  here she is all bundled up and not paying attention to the camera because, of course, thomas was standing near andy and he is way more interesting.

 

and today was another day that we didn't leave the house as the wind chill was -40 degrees.  our actual high temperature was -2.  downright balmy.  c can pull herself up on the window to look outside and i suppose she was curious why there were 4 foot snow drifts outside.

this week?  more snow.  shocking, i say.  we're set to beat the record snowfall for december in wisconsin and we're already ahead of our record setting winter last year where we received over 100" of snow. 

catching up.

it's been a long week.  a mixed up week.  a mixed up schedule.  thanks for all of your well wishes and kind words about andy's grandfather.  he was truly touched.  i've been meaning to write something else since then but there seemed to be too many things going on.  and then my compact flash card became corrupt.  so instead, i'll share some blurry photos of our last couple of days.

 

when you live in wisconsin, everyone's hobby should be who can take off their socks the fastest, right?  she's a smug little girl as she knows i'm going to go right over there and put them back on again.  and that shirt?  that's called deceptive advertising.  although daddy said it should say daddy's little angel.  that girl has him completely snowed.

we put up our tree on saturday.  that's what this photo looks like, right?  you can see the pole that is to become the tree anyway.  someone likes to be in the middle of the action and her daddy was fending her off.  we didn't put up as many decorations because of someone who is constantly pulling up and standing to get to things.  so it's mostly the tree and stockings.  did i mention when i went to retrieve the girl from her bed this morning she was standing up?  woe is this mama.

and then she discovered the nativity i was unpacking.  and she had to play with the ox and the goat.  today she was trying to snag the mule off of the end table.  andy's parents gave me pieces for the nativity for the past few christmases and i now have everything except for the stable type thing which i can't decide if i want or not.  perfect timing for a little girl to investigate it all.

then there's this happy boy.  he loves when the tree goes up as that means he's lounging on the tree skirt all the live long day.  he doesn't realize the tree went up way later than usual, but he's content for the time being.  i don't think presents will go under it until christmas eve after the girl has gone to sleep as he likes to lounge there and someone else likes to open packages now that she knows she can.

she discovered she could pull herself up on the coffee table today.  doesn't she look proud?  she's been doing this nose scrunch thing for the past couple of days and breathing really heavy when she's excited.  it's hot, let me tell you.  but with a dimple like that, she can totally pull it off.  and she's sporting quite the head of hair.  the small clips aunt lindsey got for her in october are perfect for keeping it swept to the side most days.

she also discovered daddy's pager today when he got home from being on call yesterday.  she discovers lots of things belonging to daddy as daddy has yet to comprehend the several times a day i tell him he can't leave things lying on the floor, or table, or sitting by the door to the basement, etc.  

remembering grandpa bauer.

 

yesterday, andy's grandfather passed away.  it was his 90th birthday.  and he had just celebrated his 67th wedding anniversary the week before.  amazing to think that he reached these two milestones as not many people will achieve one, let alone both.

he was such a great grandpa.  and he treated me just like his own grandaughter.  he always told me he loved me whenever we were leaving from visiting and told me that he really felt i was his grandaughter, not simply married to his grandson.  he and andy's grandmother would often call us and usually end up talking to me because of andy's schedule.  he was my type of phone talker.  see how were were doing, i'd ask how they were doing and that was that.  and i remember when we were still living in missouri and we'd drive down to visit, he'd always put money in andy's hand when we were getting ready to leave to pay for gas.

andy was his only grandson so to say he held a special place in his heart is quite the understatement.  the photo is from june when camryn was able to meet her great grandfather.  definitely a photo we'll always cherish.

he's definitely in a better place now.  and as i told andy last night, he's probably already telling everyone about his grandson, the doctor.  he was so proud of him.

9 months.

how is my baby 9 months old?  the days fly by and she's becoming more and more fun.  i was telling someone yesterday that she's like my little sidekick and she knows that she's absolutely hysterical.  this month was by far the hardest month to get her photo with the bear.  trying to keep her in focus as she pummeled the poor guy.  but she had a good time and i'm sure these photos will be so much fun to look at in the future.

at nine months, camryn :

• weighs : 20 pounds, 3 ounces (74th percentile)
• length : 29.8" (98th percentile)
• current nicknames : peepers, peeps, pea pod, baby girl, destructor  
• has become quite the speed crawler and is starting to pull herself up on things such as the coffee table and my legs.  today she managed to get herself into a standing position at the bottom of the stairs.  i fear i'll be in big trouble by the end of the week.  i've already had to take everything off of the hearth on the fireplace. 
• eats 6 times a day including cereal + fruit an hour or so after her morning feeding and a protein and veggie for dinner.  new foods this past month include : bananas, mango, black beans, chicken, red kidney beans, green beans, zucchini, pears, peaches, sweet potato puffs and apple cinnamon puffs.  she loves it all although definitely wasn't a fan of the chicken, i think it was the texture, until i mixed it with apple earlier this week.  now she doesn't have any issue with it whatsoever.  her favorite is the black beans.  definitely a hit.  she hasn't had any formula or jarred food.  i love making her food for her - you should see the drawer in our freezer.
• wakes up between 6:30-7:30a and is in bed by 8p.  her napping schedule seems to have gotten a bit better in the last week in that she's taking two 45 minute or so naps a day.
• no longer using a bottle as of a couple of weeks ago.  she's great at using her sippy cup and needs no assistance in drinking from it. 
• weekly activities : story time at the library and swimming.  she absolutely loves swimming and is quite the fish.  whenever she does something she's proud of, she looks to the side to find andy to insure he was watching her. 
• she loves paper and napkins and destroying them - thus her nickname destructor.  the holidays and all the catalogs in the mail are a surefire hit with her.
• is starting to wave 
• says ma ma ma ma all the time with other consonants thrown in for good measure. 
• LOVES books and turning the pages. 
• is really starting to be quite the splasher in the tub. 
• loves when i sing "way up high in the apple tree" to her - a rhyme we learned at story time. 
• loves to play with the springy door stop things.  all the time. 

and yesterday, she got to meet the man in red.

you gotta love the horrible coloring/lighting.  but obviously she loved it - all smiles.  santa warned that at this age she likely would be scared.  hardly.  she was more entranced by his beard than anything.  andy said she told him he wanted a puppy.  riiiight.

definitely a good weekend around here.  lots of things done, but lots of fun to be had.  holiday card photo and cards ordered.  car dropped off for new tires.  fish tank cleaned and new fish added.  still no tree up but i'm truly not that concerned as the fewer days that it's up, the less time i'll spend wrangling the two crazy ones out of it.

now we wait for the 12.6" of snow that's supposed to begin tomorrow...

a wednesday in wisconsin.

what better to do on a wednesday in wisconsin when we've just received a fresh 3" or snow of snow then get bundled up to go swimming?  we were lucky to receive this great ll bean hand me down suit from someone at church for c.  although it's sized for an 18 month old, it's great in length.  and it has built in mittens and a cute hood with a pompon on top as well.  what's not to love?  the girl was a swimming fool today.  splashing and kicking and talking it up.  so glad we signed her up for the next session as well.  she loves it.  although i find it odd to be putting on a bathing suit to only get bundled up to drive and go swimming.  but whatever.

and lest you think that the furry boy no longer exists, here's proof.  after c goes to bed, he loves to jump on my lap for some quality time.  tonight was no different.  i was finishing up some work stuff and decided to grab my latest knitting project when he joined me.  i'm working on a hat for andy to match the scarf i made him last winter.  because he says i never make him anything.  poor guy.  so i was messing with thomas and had put the beginning of andy's hat on him as a neck warmer earlier and when i did it again, he jumped from the sofa and went across the room.  with the hat still around his neck and my ball of yarn trailing after him.  lucky for me that when he took it off he didn't drop any stitches.  that's what he's doing in the photo, shaking his head to help get it off.  crazy boy.

a nice long break.

 

i definely needed turkey day.  i just didn't know it.  i hadn't taken a day off since june but took wednesday off to start cooking and finally get my hair cut.  i hardly took any photos, but andy's sister did snap this one of the three of us in our horizontal striped attire.  a bit hard on the eyes and c is making a crazy face, but that's definitely us.

 

c unwrapped her first gift on thanksgiving - thanks again nana and papi.  she's developed quite the affinity for destroying anything paper so this was a great activity for her.  granted she didn't think it was so great when i kept taking all the little bits of paper from her, but we did get a preview of what christmas morning will be like.  love this photo of the bare foot.  the girl won't keep socks on at all lately.  thanksgiving was warm enough inside that i didn't even fight that battle.

 

one of the only other thanksgiving photos i took.  she looks like she appreciated the placecard right?  i even made one for thomas, but i don't think he was too thrilled.

 

thursday i finished this knitting project for the girl.  i've made it a couple of other times for friends but after seeing the one erica made for izzy i knew that c had to have one as well.  she's got quite the collection of hats going on.  [you can see pattern and yarn details here.]

 

although it's out of focus, this shows the personality of said girl shining through.  andy put her new car seat in on friday and he had her test it out in the living room before doing so to make sure everythign was at the right height for her.  nows she's all comfy and cozy again in the backseat.

 

and then someone found her nana's credit card...  i had been doing a bit of black friday shopping online and had helped andy's mom buy a few things and left it on the coffee table.  she looks like she could be dangerous with it, no?

we had such a great time just hanging out over the long holiday weekend.  watching a movie, playing balderdash - i lost but we still had a good time - and visiting andy's grandma on saturday.  luckily we came home saturday night before the snow hit yesterday.  looks like we're in for a snowy week here.

 

and then today, someone discovered the steps to the second floor.  i'm in trouble my friends...