Almost Christmas

As always, I can't believe so much time has passed. Christmas is next week. We are all absolutely jazzed and it is so fun. I love this time of year, much like my mother did when I was a child. I thank her for sharing her love for the season with me and I hope to pass the same on to my children. The kids are always asking me to turn Christmas music on in the car and that totally excites me. Yesterday on the way to school was no different. Then I told them that pretty soon Chase will start asking for Christmas music too and then it will be 4 against 1 when daddy says no Christmas songs and we will win hands down. They just giggled. It was awesome!

Chase still isn't walking, but he is standing up in the middle of the floor sometimes. He is talking very little. He says thank you, daddy, GG, Chase and cracker. If I remember correctly, he has four teeth each on top and bottom. We have a wooden train that spells out Herbolsheimer under the kids' Christmas trees. As soon as that train is placed he loves to go up to it and throw each letter as hard as he can. Needless to say, Herbolsheimer hasn't been spelled out very often because the letters just end up somewhere else anyway! That's about all the destruction he does with the decorations which is quite surprising to all of us, considering he's such a monkey and in to everything else. I can't remember if I had it in the last post or not, but he climbs on everything. We've found him on the kitchen counter, dining room table, game table, edges of the couch, Haley's dresser drawer....EVERYWHERE. It's a good thing he is so cute!

Haley is doing great in kindergarten. She sometimes loses a penny for talking to her friend, Chloe, in class. I reminded her one day not to talk to her and she said "But we're friends!" So cute. Haley's mastered 90 sight words already and she is loving to read now that she knows so many words.

Cameron has fallen in love with reading too and his teacher says he is reading at the benchmark level for end of 1st grade right now. We are proud of him. He also just got straight A's on his first report card. He went to his first birthday party alone a few weeks back. It was for a girl friend of his, Delaney. They went to Bounce U and then out to lunch at Rainforest Cafe. He had a BLAST! He and his friends play some sort of Scooby Doo game everyday at lunch. They've all created this fun game and it is so cool to hear him talk about it.

Enough for now...

Where did it go?

So I seriously can't believe next week is Thanksgiving. I mean, like 4 days from now. Is that possible? Holy smokes - where has the time gone? I am absolutely excited for the holidays to be here though. Both Cameron and Haley can't wait for the Friday after Thanksgiving so they can decorate their Christmas tree again. I allowed them to choose one ornament at the store yesterday. Cameron chose R2D2 from Star Wars and Haley chose a really sweet tiara. For Chase we chose Mr. Potato Head from Toy Story.

Speaking of Chase, he is quite the monkey. He loves to climb on everything he can find. He pulled himself up on the piano bench one night and just started playing the piano. He was sitting with perfect form and everything. Eek! He has also climbed into Haley's dresser drawer and thrown out all her clothes to make room for himself. Cameron and Haley never climbed on anything so this is a whole new world for us. We may actually have to invest in safety equipment for Chase! We are pretty sure we will need to tie our Christmas Tree to the wall this year so he can't pull it down. Chase is 15 months old now and still not walking. Again, this is totally fine by me. He only says Daddy and sometimes Thank You. And if we say "One" he will say "Doo." It's quite cute. He has four teeth on top and two on the bottom. He's wearing mostly 24 month tops and about 18 month bottoms. He hates to have socks on his feet. As soon as we put them on he usually pulls them right off. He loves the Gerber Graduates lil munchy things in the Garden Tomato flavor. He is on Silk right now because he had major diarrhea about a month ago and it appears he may be lactose intolerant. The same thing happened to Cameron around this age and now he can drink cows milk so we aren't too worried about Chase.

Haley is as spunky as ever. She is really starting to learn to read and she loves to read to me before bedtime. If there's a word I know she doesn't know I just read it and she keeps reading the words she does know. It's quite cute. She knows about 60 sight words. This morning she told me she was reading to her Barbies while she was waiting for me to wake up. So cute! The hamper in her bedroom was overflowing with clothes this week and she told me "Mom, I sure do have a big loaf of laundry!"

Cameron is doing great as well. We all love his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Lombardo. He is also loving to read and he has to read a homework book each night and then he also likes to read me some portions out of Star Wars books before bed. I am so excited about this because about six months ago the only thing he liked to do was watch TV and play the Wii. He just finished his first season of flag football. They didn't win any games but he always had so much fun. He is already looking forward to next year.

Here's hoping for a great holiday season filled with all sorts of memory makers. Enjoy your time with your families - I know I will!

2010 Fall Family Portraits

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Cameron's 5th Birthday

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School Has Started!

Yesterday was the first day of school for the kids. Cameron in 1st grade and Haley in kindergarten. I still cannot believe it. I took the morning off so I could take them (and their pictures, of course) and also so I could pick Haley up to hear all about her first day. She loved it (as we expected) and said she met friends but she didn't know their names yet. As we were walking to the car she asked where she would go tomorrow. I told her back to kindergarten. She got a huge smile on her face and said "Oh, I forgot." She is so funny. Her teacher, Mrs. DelGiorno, commented to me that she is a smartie pants. She asked the kids to write their name on their paper if they 'could' and she said Haley looked up at her and asked, "My last name too?" Yup, that's right, our little girl knows how to write and spell Herbolsheimer!

Cameron's first day went well also, with his only complaint being that he didn't have enough time to eat much lunch. We asked if it was because it was just a hectic day or if he spent too much time talking or what, but he just plain said he didn't have enough time. Guess he's going to have to learn to eat fast! I'm suspecting at day care they were given much more time for lunch so he's just not used to it. We'll see! Today he is trying hot lunch for the first time. It's two mini-hot dogs. I'm anxious to see how he liked it. It is hard to believe lunch is only $1.75. He's also trying Safe Key for the first time. He said he liked that as well. We are really hoping he'll try to get his homework done at Safe Key so he can have more time at night for himself.

Chase, of course, is still at the babysitter while we work. He is almost 13 months now and so much fun. He finally learned to do a real crawl just a couple days before his 1st birthday. Now he is quite fast when he wants to be. He loves to be in the fridge and freezer so we have to look around before we open them because if he hears them open he is at our feet and crawling inside before we even have time to grab the butter! He is starting to realize he has legs and that they are useful for standing. He pulls himself up on lots of things but he's still quite unsteady. As far as I'm concerned, this is ok. I am sure once he learns he can walk he will be all over the place in no time! He loves loves loves to be in Cameron's room playing with his Legos. We have to be really careful to keep his door closed at all times. He likes Haley's room too and he is allowed to go there. Most of the time he heads straight for the bright blue princess heels and a baby doll. He loves to give dolls kisses (or maybe he's biting them, who knows!) He loves any and all music. Whenever he hears music he twists his torso and swings his arms. Sometimes he rocks side to side too. He is quite the dancer.

As far as food goes, he prefers pureed baby food over chunks of people food. BJ gave him some baked potatoes the other night and he really liked those. We've been using sign language with him for quite some time and he definitely understands things. He is getting better about signing what *HE* wants, but I suspect some day soon he will just start signing and we'll be able to communicate much better. He is wearing 18mo - 2T clothes and size 4 diapers. He has three teeth (two on bottom, one on top) and the 2nd one on top is about to come through. He loves to wave bye-bye when anyone says the word. He's very social and has the warmest smile.

Well, I know it was a brief update but it's an update!

Cameron goes shopping

Generally speaking Cameron is a typical boy and hates to go shopping or run errands. I convinced him to go to the mall with me on the premise that we'd shop for new "1st grade shoes" and he was sold! He liked every pair we saw. I'm not sure if he really liked them or if he was just saying he liked them so he could be done. Some were too big, some had broken laces...it didn't matter. "They feel good mom, I like them!" So finally we found a pair that passed my inspection too. I know I'm a little strict but I decided they had to FIT and they had to not look a year old already! So we got the shoes and then headed to the boys section to look for clothes too. I went for the clearance rack and he very quickly chose about 4 shirts he liked. I was impressed! Then we headed out into the mall to go to a different store. As we were walking he said "Mom, I kinda like shopping. You get new stuff!" What a cute kid!

Then when we got home he asked if he could try his clothes on. I about fell off the couch. Usually when I buy clothes and ask him to try them on I am met with a HUGE "oooooohhhhh, ughhhhhhhhhh, mom, do I have to?" Of course I said yes and I figured he would get caught up in TV and forget he wanted to try them on. After he brushed his teeth about 30 minutes later he asked me where his clothes were and he carried them out front and TRIED THEM ON! Did you read that, people? He tried them on ALL BY HIMSELF! No asking on my part. I wasn't even out there - I was tucking Haley into bed. I'm still in shock. So as he tried them on, if they fit he would take the tag off, throw it away and then set the shirt on the couch. He had two stacks going; one for the good ones and an empty place on the couch in case something didn't fit. WOW! So after all the shirts fit and were all stacked neatly on the couch he moved on to his most favorite purchase - his STAR WARS underpants. He put on the first of three pairs from the pack and said "Man, I look good in these!" This kid is a hoot! Then he started to try on the other two. I explained to him they are all the same and trying on one is enough. He said he knew, but he wanted to try them all anyway. **Smiles!**

Maybe I have a new shopping buddy!

It's Mother's Day!

Oh how I love this day. The kids have been looking forward to this day all week and so have I. Cameron & Haley made stuff for me at Creative Kids and have been hiding it all week. Cameron asked me where he should hide his stuff and I suggested under his bed because I wont look there. Then during the week I would kid him and tell him I was thinking about cleaning his room and we'd make sure under his bed got cleaned too. It was cute how protective he was of my surprise.

So this morning Haley woke up at 5:30am and came into my room and said Happy Mother's Day. Then when Cameron got up about 6:30am he did the exact same thing. I am so lucky to have such awesome kids. Cameron's been plotting with daddy for what we'll do today and the biggest thing on his agenda is to give me hugs and kisses all day. Love it!

Last night they took me out for dinner at Olive Garden. It was delicious!

Chase is 9 months old now and I just can't believe it. He started sitting up on his own on April 12, 2010 but now he has it essentially mastered. If he's tired he will grab his binky and just fold himself in half and rest his head on the ground. It is so cute. He's starting all different types of moves to try and move around. Sometimes he will grab the carpet and pull and sometimes if he's lying on his back he'll kick his feet and just sort of bounce his butt around on the floor. He had a major ear infection about a month ago and I'm not sure it ever healed 100%. Last night he had a 102.6 fever so I am thinking today we'll take him to the doctor to make sure he doesn't need more antibiotics. I am so thankful our pediatricians work on the weekends. He has had a major runny nose and he hates to have his nose suctioned out. We still have to give him breathing treatments with pulmicort daily to keep his lungs in shape. But regardless of how sick he feels he is hands down the happiest baby I have ever met.

Happy Mother's Day to all the fabulous mothers out there!

Been too long

Wow - it's been way too long since I've blogged. No real reason, just plain busy I suppose. Here's a few updates.

Chase is already 7 months old. How the heck did that happen? He is rolling around all over the place. Our friend Lauren bought him a Bumbo seat and he really likes to sit in it. We're hoping it wont be long before he sits up on his own. He stays on his butt now, but he leans over and totally just slumps over himself. It's quite cute. He's been eating solids for a month or so. His favorite thing is peas HANDS DOWN. When we first gave him mangos he hated them - then my mom tried mixing them with peas and he liked the combo. Weird kid, huh? So far he's eaten peas, carrots, squash, sweet potato, applesauce, pear, mango, peaches, blueberries and bananas. At church we have to sit in the nursery room now because he no longer just sleeps through church; he prefers to sing and read along! I took him to the Dr. today because he was congested again and we wanted to make sure he isn't getting RSV again. Dr. Kulic said his lungs are perfect but he has an ear infection. How the heck does a kid get an ear infection and stay super happy? I guess the same way he gets RSV and stays happy. What an amazing kid!

Haley just turned 5 and we had her party at the house. She chose the same bounce house as last year with the slide. This year we got a cotton candy machine too. It was SO fun to make our own cotton candy. She didn't want cake and ice cream and to be honest she didn't really want to serve anything at her party; she just wanted the bounce house. I was finally able to convince her that it's somewhat customary to serve a little food at a party so she decided on pizza and jello! :) At the last minute she also allowed me to make some cupcakes for her friends. Whew! Just tonight I noticed she has a loose tooth. Oh my - she is growing up too fast!

Cameron is 6 and loving kindergarten. He and one of his classmates are in a little competition to read their sight words the fastest. Cameron is on 120 right now and I think John is on 110. It's awesome to see the excitement for learning. He can now read books to us! So fun. He hardly has any teeth left in his mouth. I think there's 4 missing on the top and 3 missing on the bottom. The middle two on the bottom are already growing in and they seem to be almost done 'growing.' He's hoping he gets some back in time for corn on the cob season. He recently had his kindergarten play where he was a horsefly and he had a speaking and dancing part. It was so fun to watch him perform. The kids all did a great job.

Both Cameron and Haley are GREAT big siblings to Chase. The love they show him is truly unbelievable. They each help me two days a week in the morning to feed him while I finish getting all our stuff ready for the day. Cameron takes Mon & Tues and Haley takes Wed & Thurs. I would be lost without them. They are always so excited to see him in the morning and as soon as they get home from school they ask where he is and run up and kiss him and talk to him. It truly is unbelievable.

Haley-isms

Haley says the darndest things and they make us all smile from ear to ear. Here are a couple I don't want to forget anytime soon!

Chase had his little fingers wrapped around Haley's finger the other night and pulled it close to his mouth as any other 5 month old baby would do. Haley looked at me and said, "Oh no, I hate this part!"

When something is inside out she bring it to us and asks us to either "inside it" or to "inside out this."