Happy 5th Birthday Teya!

Big girl Teya turned 5 last week. Her party will be this Friday but here's what we did to celebrate on her birthday.

During the day I dropped off Cam and Brinley with a friend and Teya and I went out for some Mommy/daughter pedicures. She was sooooo cute in that big chair giggling her head off while they rubbed her ticklish feet.

The ladies who were doing our nails got such a kick out of her long hair and chatty personality. They kept saying, "Oh, she not shy, no, not shy at all. She talk this much at home?" I just laughed and thought, "you have no idea!"

After our feet were all fancied up Teya said, "Mom! Can we come back here next year on my birthday and do this again?" I said , "You don't have to ask me twice!" I'm always down with an excuse to get a pedicure : )

After our pedi's we went to McDonald's for lunch and then grabbed a Barbie movie from the Redbox to watch later on. When Taber got home we finally let her open her present.

The night before her birthday we scored this Barbie Jeep for a great deal from our neighbors who are moving back to India.The expression on her face when she pulled the tarp off this baby was priceless! She didn't waste any time jumping in and taking Brinley for a joyride.

Pink coats on a pink Barbie Jeep. Cute cute cute.

For dinner I told Teya I'd make anything she wanted, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, hot dogs, you name it. She picked Salmon. The girl has refined taste for a 5 year old ; )

After dinner we had cake and ice-cream

And then she opened her presents from Grandma and Brinley.

We finished the night watching Despicable Me together as a family. It was a full and fun day for our precocious, chatty, vivacious little 5 year old.

Friday Video: healthy imagination

I had to put up a little Friday video today because this is just too stinking cute. Brinley is a little chatterbox and loves to come up with her own creative stories (which are pretty descriptive and clever for a 2 year old) They go on and on and on but here is about a minute and a half of one of her imaginative sagas. I tried to put subtitles in too for those who don't speak 2 year old : ) Enjoy!

Friday Foto: Little Peanut, BIG Peanut

I always think it's fun to flash back in time and compare our past to our present. The first pic was taken 5 years ago when Teya was 12 weeks old and weighed 12 lbs. The second one was taken a few days ago with Cam at 6 weeks old and weighing almost 13 lbs! Squishy little chub has passed up his sister's weight at half her age.

I also think it's funny to see Taber in these pics. 5 years and the guy hasn't aged a day. If anything he's aging in reverse! Lucky.

Real Estate Update

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who left such encouraging comments on my last post. I decided to take a lot of your advice and just stay in the house during the showings and not stress out that much about cleaning. It hasn't really been as awkward as I thought sticking around. In fact, a couple of the families that came through had little kids and they wasted no time becoming fast friends with my girls and playing together while their parent's toured the house.

We also re-read our lease agreement and it turns out the landlord isn't supposed to put up a for sale sign or show the house until 45 days before our contract is up. We pointed this out to him and he's agreed to lower our rent for the duration of our stay because of the inconvenience.

Taber also talked to his director at work and it sounds like they will help us move if we get kicked out in June. That is a huge relief since normally they only move you if you're going to a new assignment.

So yeah, I'm feeling a lot better about everything and just have a good feeling that it's all going to work out how it needs to. : ) And because I love pictures, I'll leave you with one I took from my phone of Teya and the chubster (isn't he getting big?) Cam is the apple of Teya's eye and every time she see's him it's like seeing him for the first time, she gets so excited. Sure love all my little chickies. :)

Stressed

4 days after Cam was born we got the depressing news that our landlord wants to sell the house we're living in. Pretty crummy thing to hear when you're just 4 days postpartum. It was really unexpected because when we originally signed the lease he told us that he wanted to rent it out long term and that the longer the lease the better. He was hoping we'd sign on for 2 years but we only committed to a year and a half because we weren't sure when we'd move again for Taber's job. He told us we could just extend the lease once we found out how long we'd be here.

Well I guess he changed his mind because a realtor showed up at our house to take pictures and they put it on the market on Monday. I guess he wants to buy a house now and he can't until he sells this one. I understand that but it's been really stressful for a couple reasons:

1) I feel like I'm in limbo. I know we're guaranteed to stay in the house until our contract is up in June but I have no idea what we're going to do after that. If he doesn't sell it by then we can go month to month but who knows when it will sell and when I should start looking for other housing.

2) It's very likely we'll be relocated sometime next year so I hate the thought of moving everything out once just to have to move again 6 months later.

3) The house has only been on the market for 3 days and they've already scheduled three showings. I can't tell you how stressful it is to know that every day I have to leave my house with 2 kids, a NEWBORN and our dog so strangers can come look at it. They've been at the worst possible times, 5:30 and 6pm, right when we're having dinner. It's so interruptive to our life and schedule. We're locked in here for 4 more months, I don't want to spend all that time feeling like I live in a fishbowl and having to vacate my small children all the time.

4) Just to see what other options are out their for rentals I did some research and the pickings are slim. We really love our house, our ward, and our neighborhood and the thought of leaving before we have to move just makes me sick.

So yeah, I'm a little stressed about this right now. There's a showing in an hour and I don't know how I'm going to feed the girls, nurse Cam, and get out of here in time. I know I can stay in the house but that feels weird too. I know everything will work out the way it's supposed to but in the mean time having realtors and house buyers constantly in our home is causing me stress that I wish I didn't have to deal with right now.

Spontaneous Get-Away

Last Wednesday we packed up the family on a whim and headed down to Cape Cod for a little overnight get away. We figured we might as well do it since the kids aren't in full time school yet and Taber was still on paternity leave. Gotta take advantage while you can! We found the perfect place to stay with an indoor wave pool and waterslides. Just what we needed to break up the doldrums of February.

As soon as we got there the girls were begging to put on their swimsuits. I threw some shorts on Cam too just because I thought he'd look cute.

And I was right. Absolutely adorable : )

The pool was a HUGE hit with the girls. I was happy to see that Teya hasn't forgotten what she learned from swim school last year. She was swimming all over like a little fish.

Brinley loved it too because there was a shallow area that she could crawl around in like a puppy.

Even though they hadn't eaten dinner yet they played in the pool until almost 7pm. They were just having so much fun they didn't want to leave. Finally we coaxed them out of the water so we could go eat.

After dinner there was bonfire going on in the courtyard. They were selling marshmallows and sticks so Taber took the girls out for some Marshmallow roasting.

They definitely reached their sugar quota for the day with all those marshmallows but at least they had fun.

After a long day the girls were wasted. We got them in their jammies and within a few minutes they were out. Teya is a wild sleeper but even with all her movement both girls slept through the night without a peep.

Cam did great for his first night at a hotel. We brought his bassinet and he slept like an angel.

In the morning the girls woke up and were right back in their swimsuits. Taber took them to the pool again and let them go crazy until it was time to check out.

We couldn't leave the Cape without visiting the beach. It was a little chilly but the sun was shining and it was nice to walk on the sand and listen to the ocean.

The girls had a blast chasing seagulls and collecting shells. By the time we left we had a huge bag full of them.

We weren't there for long, but it's amazing what a short trip away can do to brighten up your winter. I definitely came back feeling rejuvenated and grateful for some bonding time together as a family of 5.

Valentines Day 2011

With 3 girls in our house Valentines day is kind of a big deal. Taber is aware of this and goes out of his way to make sure all of his girls feel special on V-day. When the girls woke up that morning we had decorated the kitchen with pink and red streamers and hearts. On the table were some heart shaped boxes of chocolates with red teddy bears for Teya and Brinley from their dad. They were so excited.

He also got them each their own Valentine card which made them feel pretty special.

After they opened their goodies Mommy attempted to make heart shaped pancakes for them to eat on heart shaped pink sparkly plates.

You can see the pancakes in this pic, they weren't perfect but the girls liked them.

That afternoon we dropped the girls off with a friend and went on a Valentines lunch date. With Cam being just a month old we didn't want to do a fancy dinner and fight the crowds that evening so our little cafe luncheon was perfect.

We ordered pina coladas which always make me feel romantic since they remind me of when we started dating back in Mexico.

I loved being out with my two boys on Valentines day.

Half way through our lunch a guy walked into the restaurant carrying a dozen long stem roses. I I saw him and thought, "Oh how sweet. Some lucky girl is getting flowers!" But then he started walking toward our table and when he got close he looked at me and said, "Becca?" I looked over at Taber and he had a big silly grin on his face. That's when I realized the flowers were for me and I was so excited!

Like I said, Taber knows how to make his girls feel special and getting flowers is something that always makes me feel like a millions bucks. To top it off he got me some lovely jewelry and the sweetest card. We ended our night with a movie from Red Box and some chocolate dipped strawberries that our friend Laura brought over. Couldn't ask for a better Valentine's Day.

Paternity Leave

One of the best things about Taber's job is that he gets 2 weeks of paternity leave with each baby. Last week was his first week off and it was awesome. It just makes me smile how he throws himself into the job as a stay at home parent.

He discovered the Moby wrap and now it's his favorite way to carry Camden. I think it makes him feel like he understands the burden of carrying a child while pregnant. I told him it wasn't quite the same since the baby wasn't smashing his bladder or punching him from the inside out. But he was convinced that it WAS pretty much the same and then started busting out pregnant poses and bragging about how his figure has hardly changed.

Besides helping with Camden, Taber has spent a ton of time playing with the girls.

He has taken them outside every single day. One day it was actually raining ice and he still took them to a nearby park to go sledding. I have a million pictures of them playing in the snow but these two are my favorites.

Brinley working on a snow cave.

The finished product. These kids are such little snow bunnies.

Taber is very ambitious as a stay at home parent. Besides taking them out in the snow everyday he also took them down to the Boston children's museum all by himself. I don't know if I'm brave enough to attempt an outing that big alone but he was all about it and it turned out to be a huge success. The girls played all day long and they didn't get home till after 6pm.

They painted

dug in the sand

Did science projects

sent golf balls rolling through motion obstacle courses, and much more. I couldn't believe how long they were gone. They're very lucky to have such a hands on Daddy who loves to spend his free time hanging out with his girls.

There have been a few other fun highlights besides being on kid duty. Taber went with a friend to a Celtics game last week and they were there when Ray Allen set the record for most 3 pointers in NBA history. He said that the crowd gave Allen a standing ovation for 5 full minutes. Pretty amazing.

We also had a night out without the kids to go to an Ugly Sweater Valentine's party thrown by our friends the McFadden's. We didn't win any of the prizes but it was great seeing everyone's sweaters and just having a night out with grown ups.

Wish I took more pics of ugly sweaters but my camera died at the party. Here are a few I took before it died. Funny stuff : )

Those are the highlights of week one. We are loving having Taber at home and I'm glad we have one more week before he has to go back.

Cam at 1 month old

Cam is one month old and a total charmer. Just look at those big brown eyes, he can do no wrong. : )

He still eats like a champ and is growing like a weed. None of his newborn clothes fit him and he's grown out of some of his 0-3 month stuff. I weighed him the other day and he's pushing 12 lbs. My girls didn't hit that weight till they were 3 months! Look how long he is in this picture, a little weed I tell ya!

He's a good little baby and spends most of his day sleeping and eating. When he's awake though he loves to chill in his bouncy chair.

He's a total ladies man and has already been on a few dates. Here is hanging out with Pearl who was born exactly a month before him on Dec. 13th.

And here is at on a date with Abby, born a week before him and also happens to be 1/4 Japanese like the Cam dog. (I think he's trying to look cool in this picture but he totally digs her)

We took him to church for the first time on Sunday. Here he is all handsomed up with his daddy.

His sisters are still crazy about him and are constantly petting, kissing and smothering him. Can't blame them though. That much cuteness is hard to resist.