Sleepless Nights Explained

"Yeah, I can sit up, no big deal!"

Trigger Happy

It's been a weird weekend. My camera memory card busted last week and I was trying to make due, but when I realized I couldn't even use my internal camera memory (because I couldn't find my USB cord) I had to take action. What's a blog without pictures? How was I going to take a picture of my little man in his flashy church suit? (Thank-you internal memory) I was kind of bummed about the whole situation.

This afternoon as I snuggled Hyrum, pressing his cheek against mine and looking out the window at rush hour traffic, I felt peaceful and wonderful. I think a weekend "off" was just what I needed. Instead of photographing my kids this weekend, I committed their tiny faces to memory. Instead of blogging, I had more play time (not that I think blogging is bad, it was a good/better/best scenario).  I enjoyed watching Camilla giggle as we sipped "microwaved" tea in the living room on the floor. I enjoyed watching Hyrum steam roll around the living room exploring new toys and places. I was full to the brim with joy. A weekend off from technology was just what I needed. 

Today I caved though and bought a new XD card for my camera. Apparently they're really hard to find, and going out fast. Who knew? Another blessing in disguise I guess. But I am back recording my families memories and mile stones just perhaps slightly less trigger happy. We're making pictures count now!

Count Your Many Blessings

When Mr. Stannix and I were first married, we bought my parent's Honda CRV for $1.00 and today we watched as all of the nines rolled into zeros. It pretty much rocked. I love that car.

Mickey Stannix Goes Shopping

Camilla's Mickey came shopping with us the other day. She carried him out to the car and he sat with her in her seat all the way to Wal-Mart. After only two minutes in the cart, Mickey had already fallen out twice. I faked my best stern face and told Camilla to keep Mickey safe or I'd have to take him away. I then put Mickey in her coat pocket so he wouldn't get lost. We did our shopping and wandered around for a little while. It wasn't until dinner time at McD's that we noticed his absence. We wandered up and down a few aisles, retracing our steps while Camilla called, "Mickey! Where are you Mickey?".

We made our way to the check out, and then into the parking lot. As we approached the car, our girl burst out into uncontrollable tears. "Mickey, Mickey, Mickey! He's looooost!" Mr. Stannix looked at me, then back at his little girl, alligator tears streaming down her face, then back at me and tenderly said, "Oh, Addie, I have to go get him". What a loving Daddy. My heart melted and I fell in love with that man all over again. I buckled in the kids, and reassured Camilla that Daddy would find Mickey. After a long wait, Mr. Stannix emerged through the automatic doors, wrinkled up his forehead and shrugged. No Mickey...

On the way home we held a short funeral for dear Mickey. He was a very patient toy, letting Hyrum goo him to death with slobber all afternoon. He was such a sport with all the trips to the park and rides down the slide. Mr. Stannix and I couldn't help but laugh as we thought whoever had him got one soaked Mickey because Hyrum chewed on him all afternoon, even Camilla noticed when she picked him up to go to the car earlier. We finally arrived home, unlocked the door, and turned on the lights. As I was getting Hyrum out of his seat, I couldn't help but smile, and giggle a little, as I lifted Hyrum's arm. Camilla was pretty excited too. Hyrum, well, he was pretty oblivious to the whole thing.

 

Toe Tapping

 Both of the children were snuggled into bed in their streetlight lit room early in the evening. Mr. Stannix and I cozied up on the couch and watched The Fringe. We went to bed way too late and just as I was falling asleep I was hearing baby cries in the distance. I finally came to and realized it was my own baby. My feet hit the cold floor and I went and nursed my baby boy. He was still wide awake. I changed his bum. He was still wide awake. After a few long, cold minutes of bouncing, I gave up and tucked him back into his crib. I crawled back into bed next to Mr. Stannix to warm up. Five minutes later, I was up again, gave up, put him into his crib, and went back to bed. Repeat. Finally around midnight I was able to get him to sleep. I looked down at his little face and he grinned in his sleep. Just as I crawled back into my cozy bed, he awoke once more. I continued to try everything to get him back to sleep. As he cried I could hear Mr. Stannix in the next room tossing and turning. Finally, Camilla woke up and started angrily whispering, "BE TOW-IT High-am! BE TOW-IT!" as she tossed and turned and grunted in her bed. I snuggled with Hyrum in the big green chair until he finally fell asleep in my arms.

Just as I was falling asleep, I heard grunts and movement coming from the crib. My body was exhausted and didn't move until he actually started crying. I had been doing this for an hour and a half. I started to cry in frustration as I walked across the cold floor and scooped up my sad boy. There was only one thing left to do, so we went downstairs and hit the couch for the rest of the night. He snuggled in close and fell right to sleep. I have to admit, I was missing those night time snuggles a little bit. Around 4:00 am the couch and I weren't getting along very well, so I scooped up Hyrum and brought him up the creaky stairs. Sadly, he woke up and I had to nurse before I could return to my cozy bed.

Our day started early, a little too early for me. Camilla jumped out of bed shortly after 7:00 am and the creaky floor woke up Hyrum. She snuggled into our bed while I went to feed my boy, but he refused to go back to sleep. Mr. Stannix hopped into the shower shortly after and my crazy haired little girl found me in her bed with Hyrum and scratched my back. I forced my aching eyes open and smiled at her lopsided pig tails that were left in from last night. We went downstairs and turned on Franklin while I prepared her a bowl of dried mangoes and a granola bar. I was so thankful to wake up to a sparkly clean kitchen. Mr. Stannix worked hard after dinner scrubbing my dishes and wiping everything down (including the outside of the garbage can). I popped in some toast and got it ready for Mr. Stannix. With a kiss good-bye I was left to care for the children for the day.

I sat at the computer, read a few blogs, and found this darling song. As soon as I started playing it, Camilla ran into the office and started tapping her little toes to the music. She can't help but move her little body when there's music playing. I grinned from ear to ear as I watched my little girl toe tapping in her striped footy jammies with her messy, lopsided pigtails. Soon her shoulders got into it and alternated bouncing up and down to the beat. Then her arms and eventually her whole body were moving. One of life's sweet little moments. 

I finally got Hyrum down for a nap around 10:00am, but that didn't last long at all. I am missing the little boy who used to sleep long hours. When I changed Camilla's night time diaper  this morning she said to me, "I do not have poops, hey?" It was cute. Then I went to upload a picture for this post, and my camera card stopped working, and had to be formatted and now has an unexplainable error. Fabulous.

And now I feel as if my morning has escaped me. We've just finished breakfast and it's time to start thinking about lunch already. I told Mr. Stannix when he left that I wasn't making any promises regarding what the state of our house would be like when he returned. He just smiled. I'm thinking afternoon naps are in order for all!

Let the Good Times Roll

Guess who started rolling this weekend?

Our little boy is finally on the move and there's no stopping him now!

Scenes From Thanksgiving

This weekend was a blast! We spent lots of time with family and it was nice to escape the city and get some good time to relax (even though we stayed up way too late)!

 We had fun with Nana and celebrated Thanksgiving and Faith's 13th birthday on Sunday night!

We spent Monday with my family for Thanksgiving. 

 Grampa, Mr. Stannix and little Camilla spent part of the afternoon up in the garden digging the last few rows of potatoes. Camilla enjoyed sitting in the potato holes and getting wheelbarrow rides. It was a chilly fall day, but oh so beautiful. Mr. Stannix tended a giant fire for the rest of the afternoon as we burned the old raspberry canes. Camilla trucked around outside, played ball with Daddy for a while and played with Grampa. I got to snuggle Mr. Stannix by the fire as we talked about our hopes and dreams for the future. We both agreed that we wanted something like this someday, an acreage where we can relax and putter around outside, it's good for the soul. 

My Gramma came home from the hospital this week. She's had a tough year full of surgeries and illnesses. Now that she is feeling better I brought the kids over to see her. She got to hold Hyrum for the first time since he was born. With the illness that she had she wasn't allowed to hold or play with the children for the longest time. Finally, we were able to get a four generation shot.

 Tears filled her eyes, and emotion overtook her as she hung onto her great-grand baby for the first time since he was born. Camilla snuggled up to her as well. It was a very tender moment. My sister and I snuggled up with her on the couch after and she let the tears flow. She held our hands, and pulled us in close and there we sat, the three of us together. It was also sweet to see a special moment shared by Gramma and Grampa as they snuggled on the couch. That is fifty five years of love and life right there.

My Mum and Sis baked pies for dinner. It was the first pie my sister has made and it was de-lish! My mamma makes the best apple pies, so she's learning from the master.

Dad carved the turkey for dinner, and we all crowded around stealing pieces of meat here and there, or as we passed through the kitchen.

Camilla climbed up in the chair as soon as I put the dressing on the table and while we were all busy in the kitchen prepping food, she stole chunks of dressing right from the bowl. When I noticed I moved it to the other side of the table and she said, "Hey, bring that back here! It's good for Camilla!". She then had a meltdown at dinner because she missed her nap. She didn't want dressing or potatoes, and then when I took them away she DID want them. She ate so much, I don't know where she put it all. Then I bathed the kiddos and Mr. Stannix packed up the car. The babes were asleep before we even hit town and snoozed the whole way home.

Corn Maze

It has been a busy, fun filled weekend so far! We came home for Thanksgiving and have been spending time with family. We started off at Nana's house and enjoyed our time there, opening presents, playing with the dog, watching movies, and hanging out. It's been fun to play there and special for the kids to have Nana put them into their jammies. Today we all went to the corn maze for the afternoon. Camilla had a blast!

We started by checking out the slide and games before we went to the mazes. They had a pretty sweet set up! The last time Mr. Stannix and I went to this corn maze we were just married a few months and went with friends. They have made so many improvements since we were there last! They had a bunch of slides for the kids, pony rides, go cart races, face painting, rubber duck races, pits for roasting, picnic tables, and a pumpkin gun (which they shot at an old bus).

 You could also buy pumpkins, fresh from the field! My sister snapped some pictures of the kiddos on her fancy camera. I love this time of the year!

We roasted hot dogs and smokies over a fire for lunch, and then Camilla ran around and Grampa walked around with Hyrum. With the kiddos all being occupied, I had some time to snuggle up to Mr. Stannix on the hay bails.

 They had these goats that you could feed on the sky walk. It was pretty neat to watch!

 Soon after we made our way into the mazes. Camilla loved it and was constantly telling Auntie Emma to hurry up (because she was taking pictures) so she wouldn't get lost.

 Then Camilla started hiding and jumping out to scare people as they went by her. She made some guys laugh pretty hard with her cute little ROAR. Mr. Stannix found a stalk of corn on the ground and started practising his ninja skills, and almost took out a random person who he didn't realize was behind him.

 I had fun carrying my little man around for the day. He's so easy going and ejoyed being outside.

 Finally we made it to one of the three lookout towers and climbed the steep steps to check out where the end of the maze was. What a beautiful sight! I was so impressed with the blue sky, sunlight and corn. It was amazing!

 After we made it down from the towers, Camilla had a mid-maze-meltdown which started on the ground, getting dirty hands and smudging her tears all over her face. Who needs a $12.00 butterfly painted on your face when wet mud will give you the same effect?

 Thank-you Auntie Emma for being the unofficial photographer for the day! We love your pictures as always!

 It didn't feel like we were lost for too long before we found our way out!

 It was fun for me to spend time with my sister for the afternoon. She is one talented photographer! Most of these pictures are hers (shh don't tell).

Mr. Stannix also got to spend some valuable time with his little sister who spent the day with us.

Until Next Year...

For My Daughter...

There are many things a mother should teach her daughter and one of the important lessons that I want my daughter to know is that beauty springs from femininity.
 
"Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. It is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty."

~James E. Faust

Two Year Old Shenanigans

Last night I was up with a teething baby, coughing toddler, and puking Daddy. I spent the morning on the couch snuggling Hyrum who wouldn't sleep unless held. The morning was filled with clouds and grey, but Camilla totally changed my mood the second she woke up. She ran downstairs and gave me a big kiss and hug good morning. Then she ate cookies for breakfast! It got me thinking about all of the hilarious things she's done lately to brighten my day. Camilla is at such a fun age right now. Difficult some days, but always hilarious.

This little diddy was taken when she dug down deep into the diaper bag and discovered my lipstick. It now has chunks taken out of it, but I guess it'll still do the job! 

Yesterday she was playing with an empty paper towel roll in the kitchen. She slid her alphabet magnets through it one by one and would exclaim, "Yee-haw!" after each made it successfully out the other end. 

Her newest movie kick is "101 Dalmations". She calls it her "lamation movie". Her favorite is "Pon-oh" the dog and she refers to Cruella as a "Pay-zee Damma". She likes to run around the house all day quoting a line from the end of the movie, "One hundred and ONE!? Where-all come from?" over and over. At the dinner table I caught her saying, "My toes are froze, and my nose is froze". What a kid!

She loves gingersnap cookies, but calls them chocolate cookies because of their color. She can't get enough of them and will do anything to get her mitts on a second...third...and maybe even fourth. She always comes up to me and asks nicely for another and then says, "This be the laaaast one mommy. Last one."

She loves having "Choo-choo's" for breakfast with milk and sugar of course.

The other morning I was showering and she wanted in. She knocked on the door and then shouted, "Get me outta this place!" even though she really meant in.

Every time she wraps herself or baby doll in a blanket she goes, "Look, all wrapped up in an eiderdown!" It's what they call a blanket in her "Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes" book.

When Daddy left for work this morning she repeatedly said, "Bye Mr. Gator! Bye Mr. Gator!" over and over again until she was heard.  She really meant see ya later alligator, and after I said it, she repeated that.

When we ate lunch today she looked at her bowl of sour cream and chive side kicks, pointed at the bowl and said, "Is that spinach in there?" Thank-you little bear for teaching my girl what spinach is.