Bye Bye Binki

It was time to say goodbye to Camden's binkis. I was much better with Maddie, getting rid of them before she even went into nursery at church. I've been a little lax with him, still letting him use it at night. But he was starting to sneak it throughout the day, so I figured I needed to nip it in the bud. I asked him if he wanted to throw them away (which is what worked for Maddie)...but he said "no!" So, I decided to buy some balloons and attach the binkis to them and let them fly away. Maybe this is a way to cope with losing a loved one?...hmm. Anyways, he was super excited. Here he is having one last go at them.

Preparing for the "let go"

He was pretty willing to let the balloons go.

Here's a little video of the event.

He's doing pretty well without them. He cries when he goes to sleep (which he didn't use to do), but he should get over it. I asked him the next day if he was OK with them being gone in the sky and he replied by saying, "happy" in a very excited voice.

More details.

YES...I am pregnant AND happy about it. I think some may have thought that I didn't say anything in my last post b/c I wasn't happy or that I had just taken the test that day or something. Not true, I just thought it would be a fun way to share the news. Plus since I've been so sick, I haven't felt much like blogging and therefore I wasn't getting any comments on my blog (poor me, right?) So, that turned out to be a good way to make you all make comments, ha ha my plan worked. Just kidding, but it was a nice surprise.

We are both excited and nervous to bring another little baby into this world. I'm about 11 weeks along, so that would put my due date in mid-January. Hopefully that will give us a some time to get situated in New York before we are hit with a whopping 3 kids. I know that sounds so silly to some of you that have more, but I'll be honest--I'm quite nervous, especially with Ben going back to school and owning our 1st home. Big things to come for us I guess you could say. We're excited about our upcoming adventures though. Wish us luck!

Here are the sweet faces of those who will be getting a brother or sister. Maddie of course wants a girl and Camden says boy, but I'm sure he doesn't know what he's saying.

(Notice the concealer Maddie decided to put on her and Camden's faces the other day)

(You can see the stripes better on his forehead)

Crazy Maddie

Maddie was so excited about the new sprinkler that the next morning at 8am she wanted to run through it. Ben said she could, so she was out there within minutes running through it as well as the morning sprinklers for the yard that were on too. Keep in mind it's about 65 degrees outside. Right as she was about to do it, she said "That's crazy"....very true.

Summer Fun Continued...

On Ben's day off we took the kids to the Scera Pool. Here they are with cousins Sydney and Cami.

I think he felt a little out of place with all the girls.
They loved it.

Summer lovin'

I've been pretty sick lately with a cold, and as a result the kids have been trapped inside and finally we're getting some summer weather. So, yesterday I wanted to make it up to them, so we went to Target and got a fun sprinkler. Maddie turned it on full blast and they had fun running through it, getting some energy out.

Then when Ben got home from work we went for a family bike ride and came across a field of wildflowers. Here are the fruits of our trip.
It was a good day.

And the winner is...

Well, I made it back from my quick trip to NY, which actually did not include Camden. Thank goodness (good thing he can't read)!! It was a great trip, but included some pretty annoying traveling delays and mishaps--one of which was me getting locked in the airplane bathroom. Tell me that's happened to someone out there, so I don't feel like such a loser! Anyways, thanks to a great realtor (thanks Josepha, if you ever see this) who had great taste and knowledge on her side, I believe we found a home. I don't want to officially say that we bought one yet b/c there is still paperwork and inspections to come. But, here is the one we think we'll be living in. Keep in mind that most houses out there (at least in our price range) are very old. This one happens to be about 75 years old, but had been completely redone. It's a 4 bedroom house with a brand new kitchen and baths with hard wood floors throughout.

I'm getting excited just talking about it.

(Ben has informed me that most all my pictures are too close, but I just wanted to get the details.) Here are a few of some of my favorite parts:

the cute lights that hang outside the front door.

the bathroom with a brand new tub/shower and appliances i rather fancy. and i love the kitchen-which i couldn't find a picture to do it justice--more later.

the older door knobs that they left alone, which kinda grew on me--they add some character, i think.

i realized i had no pics of me from my trip, just houses. so, here i am in my hotel room, half squinting.

Maybe after all is said and done I will post a pic of the front. Albany, here we come!