Silly Faces, pt II

I've had a request for more pics of the baby, so here goes:
Every morning we watch a movie as I wake up and prepare myself for the day (D is awake at 6:30, so the movie usually buys me an extra hour or so of rest). Lately, he's been requesting to cuddle with Camille:



(D really likes me to take pictures of his feet. No idea why)
He also loves to make her smile by poking her nose:


Here are the two of them just before church this morning:


Chubby legs:



We don't have a lot of good winter gear so when he had a few freezing weeks this was our one option:


And many silly faces from both children:

















Lastly, fun with daddy's Nerd Bazooka and gun:

Bayou Wildlife Park

We had an absolute blast today at the Bayou Wildlife Park about 90 minutes drive south from here. We went with a group of friends from church and I think I can say it's my favorite such activity we've done in Houston- and it was cheaper than the zoo.
They had petting zoos and pony rides then we all hopped and a tram to hand out feed to the animals of the park- ostriches, emus, camels, buffaloes, exotic cows and deer... it was incredible. This video sums it up wonderfully:

Oh look, a gigantic exotic long-horned cow! Watch out, an ostrich behind you! But don't let that distract you from the bison you can feed and touch!

We were greeted by two emus at the front gates, tapping on our windows.

Kenny has decided if he's ever going to be a supervillian or dark lord, he's going to have emus and ostriches as his minions. They're creepy.

This was the "cookie monster" emu. (correction, this is an ostrich, not emu)

We got to feed a LOT of exotic cool animals:



Daniel got a ride a pony:

Camille got to "ride" a deer.

And meet her goat counterpart:


I quite enjoyed the peacock display:


And we ended up with one tired boy:


Honestly, we had so many great pics and videos but I don't want to post them all here. Check out our online album for a lot more plus other pictures from this month.

Happy Noises

Camille is now smiling and has these cute little gurgly giggles:

And yes, Daniel is always that whiney. It's.... wonderful.

Exciting big plans

We might be looking at some really big changes in our life soon. It started with Kenny having some time home over the holidays and us realizing not only how much we love having him around but also how much HE loves being somewhere where he is appreciated. His job satisfaction is a bit low right now (don't get me started on his district's passing rate on the most recent finals). So anyways, that got us thinking- maybe now would be a good time for him to take time off to get his masters. In Texas, having a masters would up his salary a whopping 500 bucks a year (*eyeroll*) but if we ever want to move to the NW (which we very much do) then he practically can't teach without one. So we thought maybe he'd take two years off, get his masters online, and I'd work full time (remotely) for a short while while Kenny was home to help with the kids. And since we won't be geographically tied anywhere, it would also be a great time to move.
So I put a few feelers out into my industry (For those who don't know, I'm a web analytics consultant- kind of a cross between javascript programmer and online marketer) and was very pleasantly surprised that not only is there a good job market for me, but I've got a lot more earning potential than we ever thought. So for now it may just be kenny is a stay-at-home dad (though still getting his masters- you never know what will happen in today's market) and I may be the breadwinner for a long while.
So it's pretty much official, Kenny won't be returning to his school next year (hallelujah) nor does he need to apply at other local schools. We'll probably put our house on the market in June and as soon as it sells, we'll most likely move to somewhere in the northwest... no idea where, yet, though one of the jobs I would love to have is located in redmond (I swear I don't MEAN to follow my sister Lori around, it just happens).

And since every post needs a pic, here's Daniel the helper- we went to the store just for strawberries we were supposed to bring to a playgroup activity, and we got one of the mini-karts that Daniel loves to push. I figured I'd just carry Camille the whole time, but Daniel was adamant about her belonging in the cart, just like when we go real shopping, even if her carrier is about the same size as the mini-kart. Daniel was thrilled to be so grown-up and did a good job of driving gently.

So different the second time around

Mothering two, thankfully, has been easier than I thought it would. Still difficult, but not like I anticipated. The first month was rough mostly because nighttimes with Camille made me too tired to have patience for Daytimes with Daniel. But she's a great sleeper now (8 pm-6 am with only one short wakeup around 3 to eat) and I'm not feeling overwhelmed anymore.
Part of it is Daniel has hit a spurt of independence. I LOVE it. He can take himself potty (which reminds me, I need to go clean the bathrooms. Again). He can open his car door and climb into his seat by himself (which is fabulous since I'm usually putting Camille in on the other side- if only he could buckle himself in, too). The other day I gave him some toys and I *gasp* went to the next room over and sorted laundry by myself (well, by myself with baby Camille. She doesn't require much supervision though). It was amazing! That said he still has a ton of energy and is as exhausting to keep up with as ever.

I can't believe how different this baby is than Daniel was.

First, I don't remember ever being in awe of Daniel's looks. Oh, he was certainly adorable, but also a bit doofy. Even from the very beginning, he just made you smile. See exhibit A (from the same age as Camille is now):

Well, that's not entirely fair. He was actually very cute:

Still is pretty cute and doofy:


But this baby girl is just so freakin pretty. I can't get over it. (Mommies are allowed to be braggy and completely biased, right?)


She looks so like Baby Daniel, but like a prettier, female version of him.

Kenny was kind of... well, indifferent to baby Daniel. Oh, he wasn't a bad dad. Very dutiful. He just didn't get very excited. Newborn baby Daniel was mommy's thing, Daddy took care of everything else. Once Daniel got older and more interactive Kenny got more excited about fatherhood and is of course an AWESOME daddy now.
Whereas this time around, Kenny is completely smitten from the start.

It's adorable. Maybe it's because he knows now what good times lie ahead. Maybe it's because she's such a sweet little girl. Maybe they've got some magic connection like me and my dad. Whatever it is, it's so sweet.



Daniel has light, evenly colored blue eyes, just like Daddy. I think they're beautiful.

Camille has dark eyes with a ring of light in the middle, more like Mommy:


Daniel was very easy going and low maintenance. I had an overabundance of milk and nursing was really easy. Camille, on the other hand, takes a bit more upkeep. She tends to be very gassy, and for the first time ever I've had to put some serious effort into keeping up my milk supply (it randomly died this week but I think I've resurrected it). Last week she was outright colicky. I'm not complaining; she's not a harder-than-average baby, I don't think, but she's not as easy as Daniel.

Last time, within a month of giving birth I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight (but definitely squishier all the same). The weight just fell off without any effort on my part. This time, I lost down to about 5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy, then gained 5 pounds BACK. I may have to actually, like, diet or exercise or something.

Some things never change...

June 20th, 2008

 December 27th, 2010


May 2nd, 2008:

December 24th, 2010

Tell me a story

Camille likes to always be sitting up. I think I need to talk to the pedi about reflux. I woudlnt' say she's a hard baby, but she's not a super-easy baby like Daniel was either. Definitely a bit higher-maintenance.

Anyways, I was holding her up this morning, probably something similar to this:

But I needed to use the restroom, so I propped her up on the couch and told Daniel to keep an eye on her. I come back to see this:






(I swear, Daniel DOES wear clothes... just seems he only does interesting picture-worthy things when in his undies. To be fair, he's in his undies right now because he took himself potty all by himself today and couldn't get the pants back on. And yes, he is convinced one cannot potty with a shirt on. The happy news is he has decided to be potty-trained again. We only had about one week where he thought making a mess of himself was a great way to steal attention back from the baby. Glad we're over that. Anyways.)

In other news, Baby Camille LOVES grandma: