Monday, August 29, 2011

Cameron: a photographer in training!

The other day Cameron would not stop asking me to use my camera. My big camera, so that wasn't happening. But I gave him my old point and shoot and gave him a mini lesson (for a 2.5 year old!) on how to use it. "Put things you like in the middle of the screen and press the button". Ha! I told him to walk around and take pictures of his favorite things.

But before you look, a disclaimer: it was very early, so jammies it was! And don't forget, he is only 2 and it is only a p&s, which was never good anyway! Don't expect to much! :) This is what he got:
Mommy and Avery, apparently he loves us!
Dino, his singing, rocking dinosaur, bought through Zulilly, an awesome site!!
His PB chair, Tickle me Elmo and Scout (we have since bought a new couch in the play room)
Avery, pretending to stand
Some toys, but I bet he was trying to get a pic of the TV
Mimi came over
Abstract of a wonderfully colored Simba pic from my old Lion King coloring book! (I found it in a memory box the other day! I wrote "started in 1993!!)
What do you think? A photographer in the future? Keep practicing little guy!! You'll get it!!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Hurricane Irene

It was supposed to be huge for us New Englanders! The weather people were talking about it for days! "Go shopping", "Buy everything on the emergency list", "Evacuate if your near the water". They said anything and everything to make us nervous that Irene was going to cause a New Orleans disaster in our disaster-less area. We get blizzards, and that's it.

So my little family did what they told us to do. We went shopping and got food that could last us a few days and only needed to be cooked on our gas stove. We took out all of our flash lights, brought home the generator and tucked away all of Cameron's plastic toys that lived in our yard so they wouldn't fly away. We bought him some new toys, to keep him busy and unaware of what was going on outside, and even packed a bag, just in case we were going to have a tree or something land on our house and force us out. We were very prepared Saturday night! Sunday we woke up to some wind and rain. We watched the news and it was going to be bad! So we waited. And waited. The wind picked up, and the rain increased, but this did not feel like a hurricane! Some leaves fell, as did a few branches, and we even lost power for a few hours, but nothing got scary. We got hyped up by the news people and for what? A storm? Not that I wanted anything bad to happen, but come on!! We were even able to go out for a drive, kids in tow (to get them to nap!!). We saw some trees down here and there, but lots of cars were out. I understand that many, MANY, areas were hit hard, and I pray and hope that they are able to get things fixed quickly, but in my area, it always seems like the weather people always seem overkill!! They get us all worried and nervous for something that normally doesn't reach the height of what they predict! Right now, the biggest reproduction is many towns surrounding us are out of power, and will be for some time. But the weather is back to perfect and the kids never even blinked at what was happening. I'm definitely blessed and thankful that it didn't get any stronger and cause much damage in our area. We would have been mortified if it did end up what they thought it was going to be, but for us, Hurricane Irene just allowed us to have a slumber party. Mom, Dad, and kids included! Pajama's and all!! It was a fun day in our cozy little house, even if things out side were a bit more chaotic then normal. Sometimes things need to force us to have "normal" days, and that's just fine with me!

Oh, and before you see the pics, let me just tell you, I change Avery's outfit and bibs about 10 times a day due to drooling while this "teething" period is going on! Even though her Pedi says her teeth are no where to be seen! Someday!!

Trying to crawl?

Watching "Free Willy", I got up to take the picture, but laid right back down!!

Cam was showing Avery her little dolly. You push her belly and she says "I love you!" He did it about 20 times and I thought I would die of the cuteness!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Newest Health Update

Ok, so here's a bunch of boring stuff, but it is what it is and some people like to know what's going on!

In the past two weeks, I have had four doctors appointments. The first was last Monday and with the neurosurgeon, Dr. Madsen, who will be doing my surgery. He is amazing, by the way! We love him!! This was a somewhat nerve wracking appointment. We knew most of what was going to go on during the surgery, but hearing it from him, "The Guy", made it much more real. So, the whole process consists of two actually surgeries. During the first one, the team will open my skull on the left side, just above my ear and back, and remove it. Then they will place a grid of electrodes on my brain and temporarily put me back together, wake me up and monitor me in the hospital for about a week. They will induce some seizures and have me do some things to decipher exactly where the affected area is. Once they have done that, they will do the second surgery where they will remove the effected brain area. They do the grid so that they don't remove more then necessary. After the last surgery, I will recover in the hospital for about another week. There is much more to it, but that is the gist of it. Sounds like fun, huh?

The other appointments were with my hematologist and a vascular specialist at the Brigham who both agreed with each other that I can be taken of the blood thinners. Yeaaaah! Finally, after 6 months!! ! The vascular specialist is now going to talk with the neurosurgeon to make a plan as to what we should do before, during and after the surgery regarding blood thinners to make sure no more blood clots show up. After that is figured out, there should be a date! They are thinking October, so hopefully that is when it will be. I feel like once there is a date, I will be able to start planning things a bit and keep my mind off of the bad, and think more about the outcome, hopefully positive! It's sort of like a due date, I feel like I am nesting! Weird, I know! But I need to get a plan for the kids and for help around the house while I am recouping and healing up, which could take up to 3 months. Yuck. But that's that.

Enough serious stuff!! Here are some pics of my Little's! Aren't they cute?? They keep me happy, regardless of anything else!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!!

Trying to be a big boy on Papa's phone in Daddy's glasses. I think he was asking Auntie Tina when she was coming down to the Cape house, which was adorable!
Silly girl!! But those eyes! So pretty!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Solids? Not so much!!

With Cameron we waited until he was 6 months to start him on solids, so we decided to do the same with Avery. A few days after her 6 month birthday, we tried her on rice cereal. Hmmm..I'll let the pictures tell the story!!

She was so excited to be in the big high chair!!
She was even curious about what was in the bowl!
First bite, we thought she was going to love it...
...Not so much...
...And she spit it all out. Every time.
"Please don't ever make me try that again!!"
We are giving it a few days and then will try again. If she doesn't take to just the cereal, I'll add a puree of something to make it more tasty. I made all of Cam's baby food so I can't wait to start that again, but if she's not going to like it, I'm not going to make her eat it. For now!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

6 Months!!

I know what you are expecting to read, "I can't believe where the time has gone", blah blah blah...So I will just think those things in my head and give you her stats and new things!

Avery Cate is now 13lbs 12oz which puts her in the 12% and 26 inches which is around 50% (forget!). Her pediatrician thinks she is going to have green eyes and her hair color is still up in the air. Sometimes it looks dark like dad's and sometimes it looks like it could lighten up a bit. She has been "teething" for a looong time now, not miserable at all, just chewing on everything and drooling gallons a day, although her pedi says the teeth are no where to be seen! Great! She's a ton more alert and like her brother was, is happy as long as there is something interesting going on around her. She loves being in her exersaucer and not loving the swing as much anymore. She's still eating the same, sleeping well and is just overall happy almost all of the time. Her big milestone of the month was: She can sit on her own now!!!! We loves this and gets her in the action more. Next step: solids!!

I took a make shift photo shoot of her a few days after her "birthday", and although she wasn't smiling (or even looking!) in all of them, she still looks adorable, to me at least! She melts my heart every time I look at her!!





Isn't the back of her outfit sooo cute?? And daddy, too?

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Zoo!!!!

So, the weather was beauteous!! Mimi brought up the idea of bringing the kids to the zoo! (If you haven't caught on, or I haven't mentioned it earlier, I have been told by my doctors that I can't drive until the seizure issues are all fixed. So because of this, I'm pretty much constantly with someone, mostly my mom, Jeanne or Mimi.) We packed up the two Little's and headed over. I came here alot as a kid, but this was my first time to bring either of my kids here, Capron Park, which was only a 20 minute drive from our house. When we got here, Avery was ecstatic!!

They had always had this little pond, but had recently put in a boardwalk across the whole thing with an island on each side that housed the lemur's. I think Cam was more obsessed with the ducks since they should more attention to him! We even saw a duck attack a little turtle. Ouch!
Getting big!!
For a small zoo, they had some pretty cool animals! This big daddy lion had three mommy lions in there with him. Cameron loved them and wasn't the least bit scared. Now, I want to the Lion King. That was one of my favorites when I was a kid!

They had a little petting area. You buy the food from these machines and feed them to some lama's and goats. Cam loved these, too, although it freaked me out that he would get bit by them! After Mimi did it, they proved how gentle they actually were! So he fed them ALOT!!

We got some lunch, while Avery napped. He loves his Mimi. :)Oh, and then they recently put in this Splash Pad!! So we changed him into his swim suit and he ran around and played with the other kids in the water! He had so much fun, it was adorable! The big kids would aim the water at him and he'd run away, but stand there laughing hysterically and jump.

So that was our day! So much fun! They had so much fun and Cam used up so much energy, he fell asleep on the ride home and slept great all night!! Next year Avery will be able to run around, or at least not sleep through the whole thing, with Cameron and who knows, maybe I'll be waddling along with another sibling in the belly. You can always wish right?

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Annual Lightbody-Kenney Vacation!

Ok, let me give our history first! Steph (the Mommy Kenney) and I met in first grade and have been best friends ever since. We both started dating our husbands in high school. Although they went to different high schools then us, they went to the same high school as each other. They knew each other, but did not really consider each other friends until the double dating started. Ever since then they have been best friends. Since we were allowed to go on vacations alone, lol, we tried to go on some sort of vacation each summer together. Since being young, we would always go North and go camping to make it cheap, but always fun! Once the kids came along (our firsts, Cameron and Ashlyn, are a month apart and the seconds, Avery and Bryce, are 2 weeks apart) we decided we needed actual housing! Since then, we have used my parents Cape House on a weekend when no one else is around, to give us free range of the house so the kids could be there loud, obnoxious selves without annoying anyone but us!

So this weekend was our annual vacation (we need to think up a funky name for this!) Our family got down first on Friday. The Little's got a little bit of bonding while doing tummy time before we went shopping for some staples. Cam just loves to entertain his Sissy!


Once the Kenney's got down, we had a cookout, with some healthy food!! Chicken kabobs, rice and squash! This is not the norm for us! Soooo, after that we all went out for ice cream at the creamery nearby. I don't think the babies were to jealous of there big siblings. They were so enthralled with their friends moms! We were standing in front of our own baby's stroller and Avery was staring at Steph and Bryce at me. It was soo cute!

And of course, Cam and Ashlyn made messes of themselves while gobbling up their strawberry ice cream.
The next day we packed up (alot of stuff!) and went to the beach. The kids had a blast!! They loved "swimming" on their own, but were obsessed with these blow up floaties!! Cam called it his Jet Ski and made motor noises the whole time. Bryce is a little bigger then Avery and has the sitting up on her own concept down pat, so she sat on the shore line and played in the mud and water for awhile. Of course, once Avery got the sound of the waves and the feeling of the wind, she was out cold for alot of the time. Fine for me, but I didn't get much playing with Cameron time in!

Once she did wake up, we put her in her Bumbo and they played together for a bit. Bryce will grab at anything now, and in another picture she's grabbing the hat off of Avery's head! To cute! We are starting the friendship early!

After the house we drove into Falmouth and went into some of the little shops that line the main road. Back at the house for dinner, I just tried to get a cutesy pic of each of the Little's.

She was dying laughing at something
Bryce looks just like her Daddy
Ashlyn and Cam were having story time
They love each other.
The next day, we weren't sure how the weather was going to play out so we stayed around the house for a bit then decided to drive to Woods Hole in Falmouth and go to this little aquarium and out to lunch.
Mom's with our babies
Already starting to play with each other.
Walking to the aquarium.
No Strollers allowed inside!
In there new Cape Cod sweat shirts
Comfy in her Baby Bijorn.
Ash and Justin on the pier.
The Lightbody Fam. The best one I could get. All the others, Cameron is being his hyper self and playing drums on Marks head!
Lunch time!! Sea food!!!
So that was our weekend! May not seem like a ton of stuff to everyone, but everything went great (except for the traffic on the way home from Woods Hole. There was this HUGE road race going on that we had no idea of and of course, we got stuck in the traffic for a looooong time!!) The kids were great, it was a relaxing, bonding time that we haven't had a while and reminded me how much I love the Kenney family. Steph, Justin and both of their kids are our family with a different last name. I would do anything for them and would melt without them. Even though we see them alot at home, I hope this annual vacation continues through the years with the kids. Fun, far away vacations at some point and then again, once the kids are big enough to be left alone, vacations without the kids with us. Maybe we will feel like teenagers again, sitting around a campfire, drinking alcohol (although we will be very legal to drink then!) and laughing hysterically at nothing. Hopefully only one thing will be different: we will be missing our kids. They say everything changes once the children come. But it doesn't have to. In our lives, our best friends have, and always will stay the same.