Toddler Photos & Water Parks

Saturday afternoon, we met up with Danielle to try to capture a few family pictures. She took some great pictures of Henry back in May. However, to try & keep Henry still enough to capture a picture these days is comparable to baptizing a cat...or something like that.

So we got a lot of pictures of Elliot. I'm okay with that. Poor second child needs to have his life captured, too!


For Adam's 28th birthday (this past Friday), Katie came to babysit and I whisked him away to Erie's premiere indoor water park, Splash Lagoon. Oh yeah.

We rode slides with all the preteens and had a blast. Seriously, if you live in Erie & haven't been, you need to check it out. Muy fun. Warning, though: if you check it out on a Friday night, it's pretty crowded and the DJ plays lots of Justin Bieber.

Everything About Sleep

My Elliot is not a very good sleeper. By that, I mean that he wakes up a lot. With Henry, I stressed, worried & tried everything under the sun to get him to sleep better and in a consecutive way. I had read a book with a very specific sleep strategy and, while I've known people that loved that strategy & their kids did well with it, I did not and he did not. Every baby is so different. Don't even go there with the baby-mama comparison/envy game. It's ugly. I am thankful that God has seriously given me such a new perspective with Elliot. As in, the perspective that He'll get there!

Basically, he is 4 months old as of Friday. If you're trying to get your kid to sleep better, I think you have two main options: You can let them cry or you can go in and tend to them (i.e. put a paci in their mouth, nurse them, etc.) I am not ready to let Elliot cry so I am in camp #2, tending to him when he cries.

With Henry, we transitioned him out of the swaddle between 3 and 4 months old. I was getting ready to do that with Elliot (he was getting his arms out and getting frustrated). So, with Henry, it was the easiest transition ever- that first night that I didn't swaddle him, I told myself, okay...he'll probably wake up a lot. I will give him 5 minutes every time he wakes up and, if he's still awake, I'll go tend to him. So, he did end up waking up around every 45 minutes but he was able to just fall back asleep within the 5 minute time period almost every time. The next night, he didn't wake up every 45 minutes. It was easy-peasy.

With my Elliot, we tried this same philosophy the other night. The 5 minutes ended & he still cried and cried and cried. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. He was so upset. So, I swaddled him, wrapped his swaddle with the wing from a halo sleep sack and put him back down. In my mind, I'm thinking:

A. he's clearly not ready to be unswaddled
B. I am definitely not ready for him to cry like that.

So, onward we go. Here's the thing: he's not a great sleeper but he's healthy and so happy and God has helped me so much in the energy department and the not-stressing-about-it department.

And also, there is this awesome product that helps me every morning called coffee and I love my daily cup with assorted coffeemate creamers.

I look back at Henry & sleep issues and I was so worried and trying new things all the time- I was so inconsistent. But you know what? He got there and now he's a great sleeper. So, in my mind, you pray, ask for wisdom & then you follow your heart & your Mama-gut. Everyone's babies are different & everyone's convictions and breaking points are different. But now, when new moms ask me for advice on sleep training, my first tip is...just breathe.

2-8

Happy birthday to the best man that I have ever known. I love you, Adam Jennings.

the prodigal god

My girls' group Bible study is currently reading the Prodigal God & it's been really good. I mean, it's following up Crazy Love & Forgotten God (both by Francis Chan) so it had a tough act to follow. But it is a very in-depth look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son and takes a much harder looks at the elder brother i.e. the pharisee/super-striving religious feels entitled heart and the younger brother- both want the things of the Father but not the Father.

Anyways, I can't do an adequate job describing this book but I am enjoying reading it & talking about it with my girls' group and I sadly see more elder brother in my heart than I'd care to admit...

But I love that the word prodigal actually means recklessly extravagant and so that's why the book is called Prodigal God. His love and grace are extravagant and completely unmerited.

Lost

Dear Past Camille,

In the future, please hide the spare key to your car in a more obvious place. You left your real key in Adam's car last night after girls' night and now he is at work, you can't find the spare key, it's 6 degrees outside & you are stuck in the house for the day.

You are silly, Past Camille. I'm sure you were like, hey....this is such an obvious place to put the spare key but you know what? It wasn't.

It wasn't.

Love,
Present Camille

Doc's Birthday Week

Well, Adam will be the big 2-8 on Friday. Twenty-eight. One marriage, two boys, graduating medical school in May, adored by many, super hunky...

I love this guy.

We are going out on Friday night (Adam's birthday) while our babysitter, who turns 19 on Friday, watches the kids. Yes, I realize it's her birthday...I tried to encourage her to go do something fun but she insisted that this would be fun...So, boys! You better behave and show Katie a good time!

At least she can rely on the fact that we are old fuddy-duddies and will want to be in bed by 8:00, probably.

Also, I will be making Adam's #1 favorite dessert, PEANUT BUTTER PIE! Num, num, num. I'll be sure to repost that recipe soon. It's super easy and super tasty and super type-2 diabetes-y!

Meals for Men

Every so often, I cook a new meal that I think, Hey... I should catalog that for when my boys are older and they come home from practice with 3 sweaty friends and they are all hungry and this is something that will fill them up for cheap and also sneaks in a few veggies.

Here is one of those meals...
This is from Taste of Home but I made a few modifications...

you're gonna need a large skillet.

• 1 package (7 ounces) small pasta shells
• 1-1/2 pounds ground beef we use 1 pound of ground buffalo
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups cubed cooked red potatoes I cooked the red potatoes while I chopped the other veggies
  
• 1 can (15-1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
• 2 cans (8 ounces each) Hunt’s® Tomato Sauce
  
• I also added 1/2 cup of ketchup & 1/4 cup worcestershire
  
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper I also added 1 T chili powder
  
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the carrots, celery and garlic; cook and stir for 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
• Stir in the potatoes, corn, tomato sauce, salt and pepper; heat through. Drain pasta and add to skillet; toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and cook until cheese is melted. Yield: 6 servings.

Total Man Meal. Adam loved it.