What it feels like for a girl

Upon coming home from church after an hour and a half with Piper the two of us discovered Charly feeling much better than when she woke up. (Piper just pointed to the screen and shouted "Piper! That's Piper's name", she is really starting to show interest in letters and her name.)It probably had a little something to do with spending quality time with Nate, just the two of them.

The rose within Charly's vomit this morning was that her other front tooth finally came out. In the midst of barfing in a pot she reaches in her mouth and pulled out the thing, it was nice to have a little laugh with her in the middle of holding her hair back.  

As you can see a couple of hours later she was back to herself and very charming for the camera.

Times like these I wish I could freeze forever. She is growing up so quickly before our eyes. I can't believe next year she will be baptized. She is almost seven for crying out loud! Seven!

Piper continues to show loads of interest in her baby sister...a little too much if you know what I mean.  She is very, very, very loving with Winnie from the moment she wakes up to the moment she falls asleep. 

It will be an exciting journey as we watch this love grow as time goes on.

With Winnie almost two months old she sure is smiling a lot more...well, when a big black camera isn't covering my face of course. Look at those chubby cheeks she is sporting, she is working on some thunder thighs in her spare time too, you know when she isn't sleeping or eating.

Peace out sista

At last!

Remember that tooth I was talking about, well, it FINALLY came out! Seriously is there anything cuter than a little girl with a toothless smile? 

All of these little changes Charly is going through is a constant reminder at just how fast she is growing up. Nothing says I'm a growing kid like a gap smack dab in the middle of their mouth....that and cute pig tails created by a six year old, she is so proud to fix her hair.

Did I mention I was the one who had the honors of pulling it out? All day yesterday Charly was fiddling with it. By the time dinner rolled around the darn thing was hanging by almost nothing. Of course it took some convincing on Nate's part to volunteer me, yeah ME, to do the pulling out even though I insisted I didn't want to. 

Nate was on his way to the bathroom to get  "tape faced" when I put a napkin over her tooth and gently tugged. Wham, out it came, all the while Charly was telling me to not pull it, she didn't realize it had already come out. Needless to say it was all of our roses that day...well, all but Piper's, she had a few moments of tears saying she didn't want her teeth to come out. In time my dear, in time.

Piper and her "Love" ......The pictures say it all

Snow Couture, Country Style

Oh yay, look girls it's snow! Make sure you get on your warm snow suit so you and Charly can go outside and play. Wait a minute, we don't have snow boots or suits.

Hmmmm......That's OK just get your cowgirl boots on and put some sweats over your Pj's and you will be all set!

Notice Piper has thin gloves on that aren't waterproof, I was half tempted to wrap some plastic bags around her hands to keep them dry. Yeah, don't judge me. It's not everyday we get snow storms like this so when we do improvising is a given.

 

Since mom isn't much fun in the snow, the girls practically waited by the back door ALL day for Nate to get home, because what do you do when you don't have a sled in the snow?

Drum roll.............. drrdrrdrrdrrdrdrrdrr  

Have a strong man, who just happens to be the hippest dad in town, run around the yard with you on a shovel of course! (Click photo to enlarge)

I wouldn't expect anything less.

On the farm with the "kids"

Recently a lovely family moved not only into our ward but in the next town over and with them they brought all their baby bearing farm animals.  We had the opportunity to take the girls and my citified self to their awesome farm to see some baby goats that were born only days before and just about every other hay animal you could think of.  

It was overwhelming to look at all the different animals and imagine what kind of work goes into taking care of them. Nate and I both think of having a farm one day but I know for a fact that I'm not ready (besides the fact we simply couldn't due to lack of property). So for now we will settle for illegally smuggling chickens in our backyard for some good ole' insect control and eggs. Yeah that's right, hopefully by the end of the summer yours truly will be an illegal owner of some chickens....providing we get a fence up by then.

For the first time ever I milked a goat. This wasn't just some ordinary goat either, she was engorged. For some reason I felt as if I were violating the poor thing and all she could think was, get your hand off my teat! Piper was completely fascinated with all the goings-on.  Charly was running around the open space with their kids, who happen to also be home schooled. How lucky are we?

Shortly after I felt up a goat the girls tasted the frothy milk with some warm cookies and they actually liked it. I couldn't get past the goat taking a poo while milking it and all the hair that was filtered out to actually try it. I knew there was a good reason I'm not a milk 'drinker'. I'll be fine with using it to bake...and the always tempting hot chocolate but the buck stops their for me.

Of course all the animals flock to Nate as soon as he comes around, with him being the animal whisperer and all. I was really surprised to hear him talking about tractors too. I had no idea he was so full of farm knowledge. I guess all this country forestry has made him a learned farm man. LOL...that or he picked it up from the hillbillies he hangs out with on the weekends, you know, when I'm out on the town.

After we came home we took the Christmas lights off the house, as we did not want to be "those" people who keep them up all year. The girls enjoyed the fallen leaves at our across neighbors house and enjoyed short walks around the street. Charly thinks it is the coolest thing that I let her go on bike rides and walks by herself or with Piper, providing wherever she goes she can still see the house.

Charly still has yet to lose her two front teeth, which have been loose for months now. The other day while I was helping her floss I accidentally caught one of them and just about gagged when the floss got stuck and started fraying on the ridged tooth root. It's funny as a mom I'm discovering what I can stomach and what I can't.

I guess we can't all be tooth pullers.

These pictures were taken on Saturday, the next day (yesterday) we received about 6 inches of "no" as Piper calls it.

Farm day was also Winnie's one month birthday and because it was such a big day we took her to our room for a well baby check. Made sure all her fingers were still in place, smelled like baby still and of course we weighed her in the ever accurate fish scale by putting her in a sling and hanging the sling. Would you believe this girl is already almost 11 pounds? Yeah, after examining Charly's records we discovered she wasn't this big until two months. I wonder if Winnie will be my squishy baby after all.

So as far as me worrying about laundry not getting done or things in general being done, I can rest assured that it is I that put those hefty three pounds on Winnie's skinny booty. Me, and the delicious boob juice I've got going on.

Pancakes and Cuddles

I'm starting to wonder if we will ever see a day where we get sick of hearing the wheat grinder going in the morning and the smell of a griddle warming up. We have been making pancakes from scratch EVERY day and they are pretty amazing but at some point I should hear a sigh from the girls at the mention of the same breakfast routine, shouldn't I?

For now I get excited squeals and joyful grins at the very mention of these babies.  Just as I type this my mouth is watering with even the thought of warm wheat pancakes with Nutella, jelly, PB or just plain ole' butter smeared all over em. I guess I don't blame the girls for their excitement. Sure beats cereal in the morning.

Look, they even help babysit these monsters while I run around in the morning trying to get things cleaned up.

 

In other news....As you can see we are getting in loads and loads of cuddle time with our sweet little one month old. 

Can you believe it has been a whole month since Winnie joined our family? Yeah, me neither. Things haven't changed that much...only the fact that the girls have a real baby to cuddle and hold onto, and as you can see they really enjoy doing just that.

Piper is so proud.

Charly's new thing is holding Winnie over her shoulder and her face just lights up every chance she gets to calm her in this position. Now if only I would let her walk around with Winnie like this she would be on cloud nine, I think we have a few more years until that happens, perhaps the next baby.

Remember how I said I always forget what cool things I should blog about by the time I actually get to blog, well today was no different. Sooooo for the time being you may just have to make stories up to the pictures I upload. 

Think of it as a book with little words.....or no words.

Quiet Home

As I type this in my very quiet house I wonder, as it being after noon, when little Piper is going to come out of her slumber.  The past week she seems to be hit the hardest with the cold going around our here. 

Charly sits quietly coloring on the couch and every so often will pick Winnie up as she stirs in her sleep. 

Charly and I certainly have taken advantage of this quiet, alone time together....reading, cuddling and being together.

What a weird feeling to have Piper in bed so long, she rarely sleeps in past 7.  I keep checking on her to make sure she isn't feverish. I offered her food and she rolled over some more to go back to sleep. Poor little girl, growing and sick.  I hope all this sleep helps her body get better. I miss her cheerful, bouncing off the wall attitude.

A blog in blocks

Because Nate and I are so cool we let the girls stay up last night for the New Years festivities. These fabulous festivities included a cozy night snuggled on the couch with a couple of books and then at 10 a date with New York and the big ole' ball drop.  Charly was super excited when I said she could stay up but I knew none of us would even make it to midnight...the past nine years Nate and I have been together I do believe we have had maybe 2 years we actually rang it in at 12 o'clock. 

....so Happy New Year, from the family who is way to awesome to stay up late. We fell asleep at about a quarter to midnight.... *sigh* maybe next year. 

Usually throughout the day exciting things things will happen and I will say, oh this will be perfect for our blog.....but lately those thoughts come and go before I get a chance to sit at the computer to blog. Between keeping Piper out of Winnie's face while she is sleeping and keeping Piper from holding Winnie it is rather difficult to be at the computer for longer spurts of time. My blogging lately has been in sections. First, edit pictures. Next, post pictures in a blank post. Last, find ten minutes to remember all the great things that happened the past few days and try as hard as I can to write them quickly while Winnie is sleeping on the couch and Piper hasn't noticed the fact that she hasn't touched Winnie in five minutes and is playing in a different room (biggest run-on sentence ever!)

So here I am, at that place(above), only for the time being Winnie is attached to me and Piper is occupied by her new Ken doll.  Nate is running errands, Charly is playing quietly as well, only she gets it. Charly understands that we need to let little W sleep so her body can grow and she gives her space. I do believe Piper is blocking out my voice every time I ask her mostly gently and sometimes strongly to let Winnie sleep.

Obviously Piper's love and attachment to Winnie is adorable and tender it can be a bit annoying (eek, can't believe I just used that word) at times when I want to get things done. Although third time around I'm not so worried about the little things around the house getting done because I totally get how fast this time goes by and Nate and I both want to embrace it while we can. It won't be long before those wrinkly legs and tiny baby butt are filled with fat and crawling around.

Meanwhile in other Campbell news.....Below is Charly minus about a foot of hair. This was right after her cut. 

I wanted to get some cute shots of both the girls and Winnie with their cute new dos but we have been milking colds, earaches and all that comes with those lovely things the past few days since getting home.  Just when we thought things were getting better for Charly she woke up early morning on Thursday with a bad earache which we took care of with garlic/mullein oil. Seriously anyone with kids should always have this in their pantry, so many times we have used this and it is crazy how fast it works! Obviously it is a wonderful alternative to antibiotics for ear problems.

 

So for now(written five hours later...see above for why, LOL) we will take care of these stinkin' colds the girls have, enjoy lots of baths and try to be nicer in the new year.

This day has not been the best, I think it has been a combination of bad attitudes from not feeling good and tired bodies from staying up last night. None the less it was not our best. We wrapped up the night at the dinner table after saying our rose and thorn (thank you Mr. Obama), then Charly starts trying to tell me something....this is what she said....and then bursts into tears before finishing....

"Mom...I know you say you love me......................but sometimes it doesn't feel like it"

Ouch! Broken heart, hugs and some much needed cuddling later I have to say this has been my least favorite mommy moment EVER! If ever I have felt like a failure as a mom it was today. While one part of me is glad Charly felt like she could tell me such truth, the other part of me is heart broken for her even considering me not loving her. What a terrible feeling for a little girl to have. I'm not sure why I am even sharing this with you, my readers, perhaps I need a virtual hug or maybe even someone to tell me that at one point in life a daughter will say that to her mother? Anyone? 

*sigh* 

Tomorrow will be better and I hope to never have that sentence felt by any of our girls....ever again.

BTW Piper's rose was Winnie, she makes her happy. Piper telling us this was mine and Nate's rose.