long lost locks

So I did locks of love--as you can see--and she cut a LOT off the back. i donated 10 1/2 inches but probably she could have done 12 inches because she KEPT CUTTING! At any rate it's short. Another nice part of the story--aside from some child getting a wig is that a lady who was getting her hair done at the same time who had two sisters who had lost their hair to cancer offered to pay for my haircut. Thanks Ms. Jacks!!

halloween fun

Today we tried to have some fun with Cameron (poor helpless baby) and keep him warm with some costumes. He didn't like it too much. We also carved a few pumpkins which Heather liked scooping--charlie not so much and Cameron will not be modeling the latest pumpkin styles. In his defense it may have been a little chilly inside the pumpkin which had been outside. My sister came today for a few days and Heather apparently charged off the bus into her arms with a big hug. Much better reactino than I usually get off the bus...

Charlie is so smart...

Today he said, "mom, you're the best mom in the whole wide world!" I simply had to agree.

Saturday as we shopped for some Azores stuff Jeff commented that we would be in OH in 4 weeks. I was so overwhelemed I told him he was wrong and tried to count the weekends to show him but he was NOT wrong. I started thinking about how hard it is for me to make good friends and how much I count on my friends to help out in a pinch with the kids or if I need something--as well as how much I like having friends that I know count on me as well. Although I'l already far from so many friends and all of our family already it's still sad to be leaving the friends we have here. I think I haven't really had time to think about leaving friends because there is so much stuff to cull through and do before we leave. So I think I'll blog some more...


Cameron has been extra fussy the last two days. Well yesterday he slept almost all day and today he fussed a lot and barely nursed. He spit up buckets the first two feedings and then barely ate the rest of the day. I'm hoping he'll wake up better tomorrow. It's been chilly here so we've bundled up for soccer practice and games the last two days and made good use of small halloween costumes that Cameron will not be wearing this year...tis the season.

louisiana guest and mississippi accent

Jeff and our friend Josh (who co-officiated our wedding) drove back from New Orleans yesterday and Josh visited for about 20 hours before heading back. We got some time while the kids were sleeping/in school to play a few games and just talk. It made me miss our close friends who we are far away from sooo much!! Then this evening we got a calendar from one of my college friends that was BEAUTIFUL with pictures of the 5 of us who were best buddies and our families. It was a total Wooster day today!!

An example of Heather's accent which many will not get to experience...riding home in the car today she told me that Mr. "Heel" had come to the pick up line because kids were being loud. I laughed because a friend of mine had told me the day before that her son talked about Mr. "Heel" the principal--who is actually Mr. Hill. I did get Heather to say it correctly...she then went on to tell me that she saaay-ed (said) something about her fray-end (friend)...I think mostly she makes one syllable words into two which gives her words the drawl effect. We really have to get it on video...

soccer and smiles

Heather had her first soccer game of the season and it seemed to go really well. Heather had a good time running after the ball and kicked it a few times. Most of the kids got the idea and aside from a few kicking the ball the wrong way it was a pretty good "game". Charlie enjoyed running around the baseball field with his friend during the game and Cameron is not much of a soccer fan as he slept through it!

I thought Cameron gave me a smile yesterday amidst his crying. Unfortunately I'm not the kind of mom that knows exactly what is going on with the kids so I don't automatically assign their first word to a random sound at 9 months or proclaim them potty trained too early! I will say when he gets his smile in gear (if it isn't already) it is very cute and his dimples just make me laugh.

Tonight is my "single mom" night. Jeff took the car to get shipped off to the Azores and will be gone overnight. After soccer cameron continued to sleep which allowed me to get the other two showers, a snack, and a movie--treat to all of us!!--while I put away dishes and one load of laundry. Cameron slept right up until storytime where he nursed and fell back asleep. For the moment it's almost 9 pm and 3 kids are sleeping--what am I doing?!

five weeks and crying

Cameron discovered his lungs in the last week or so. He's been a lot crankier in the evenings and when he's not falling asleep easily. We started a pacifier and he's not sure about it--especially for me. He seems to have some stomach issues as he is puking a LOT once every other day but not anything at other times...i guess we'll figure it out. On a brighter note Jeff's mom was here for 5 days and the kids had a lot of fun with her. We didn't do anything really special but she got to go to soccer practices, the pumkin patch, and school among other things.

Charlie liked his first soccer on Thursday. He initially freaked out but once I helped him with the stations he was into it and did really well. He practiced dribbling, throw ins, kicking and stopping the ball. he was willing to share and take turns well. Heather and Jeff had practice as well but I missed out on most of it due to Charlie's practice.

We had a conference with Heather's teacher on Friday and of course she said wonderful things about Heather and showed us paper after paper of 100% except for the "spelling" which was a 66% (she takes after her mom) OK it's not that bad there were only 3 words and the one she missed she probably mis-heard the end of the word because the first two letters were right and the third was wrong but did make a word. She also said that Heather was often one of the first to get the treasure box every week (meaning she was one of the best behaved...) which I commented to Jeff--how many parents are one of the two she calls first every week? Jeff asked Heather later who was first to pick treasure box last week and she said that it was her...They are doing more than I realized in school and I'm not as unhappy as I was previously about what she was getting out of school.

I enjoyed a baby shower on Saturday--haven't seen a "diaper cake" in a long time so I decided to go that route--of course the hostess had made one that looked like a diaper castle (really a cake but a REALLY good one) and made mine look like a diaper shack. Oh well--they still take care of the same XXXX. Sunday we met up with some friends to carve pumpkins and make scarecrows which was really fun on a beautiful afternoon.

One good reason to get out of MS is the accent my daughter has picked up. It is just getting more and more southern every day and it's really driving me crazy! I try to show her how she sounds but she doesn't get it. Not ony is she "fixin" to do things she's fixin to do them in a southern slangy way. You have to hear it to understand...

one month old

i still have a few hours to make the one month blog. Since I gave a thorough update yesterday I'll post my "one month" pictures to tell the story. Of course Cameron didn't cooperate with pictures most of the day--he was alert and happy toward the evening to pose for some photo ops--the last doing the "sprinkler dance" similar to that of some college friends...

four weeks old--and a day

All day I was so excited to write a blog about Cameron being four weeks old...and then I realized it was Tuesday and I had already MISSED his four week "birthday" blog by a day-ugh! So maybe I can hit a "month" old birthday blog. The first four weeks and a day have been really good! Cameron is usually a happy baby--as long as he is being held or happily laying in his bassinet or the floor with his brother or sister "loving" him. He prefers to be held while he sleeps or sleeps in his carseat but at times will sleep in his pack-n-play (we don't have a crib since we're moving so soon) like a "normal" baby. It seems like we've had him for longer than 4 weeks because everyone is fairly settled into having a baby around. I don't get the hands on time with the kids playing outside but fortunately they seem happy playing games, reading books, or hanging out with Cameron as part of the picture.

Heather has started soccer with Jeff coaching. Tonight he asked if the practice looked as crazy as he thought but I think the kids are doing great and having fun. with 8 5-7 year olds it's hard to make things go smoothly but they all seem to have a good time and look like they're learning something as well. Heather also started reading lists and enjoys showing how easily she can read the words. We've been working at it periodically for a while but it finally clicked and she can sound out several different vowels between consonants pretty well and is patient with 3 letter words. Last night reading her books she was willing to try some words that I wasn't sure she knew and did really well. She is very pleased with herself. She also brings home books and gets quizzed on them at school and does very well on her "tests".

Charlie is mr. love with Cameron. He wants to be loving him all the time whether he's sleeping, eating, in his car seat, or even awake and looking at him. I'm pretty sure they will be best buddies once cameron can recognize people and smile and laugh. Charlie is loving his pre-school class and talks about his friends and what he did in class happily. He was saying the pledge the other day and ended with "liberty and joy for all". Of course when I went to get it on videotape he spouted justice very proudly--to my dismay!!

oh yeah--the pictures are from our trip to a second pumpkin patch with a "corn" sandbox, cotten gin that the kids could play in and hay maze.

it's the great pumpkin charlie hughes!!

Today we went out to a pumpkin patch to find the great pumpkin and take some seasonal pics! As you can see the kids picked out their halloween outfits and we dressed cameron for the occasion. It's not a huge field of pumpkins but is perfect for the kids to run through and look for the best ones. They enjoyed climbing on them, sitting on them, rolling them around and calling "dad I found a good one". We settled on two big ones and three smaller ones to bring home with us along with a hay bale and two tiny "ornamental" ones. Jeff and hte kids set up a nice little display in the yard and used the gourds that volunteered in our yard as well.

A few funny notes on the week that I missed out on sharing...heather had her first soccer practice with her dad as coach. Both did well and had a good time. Heather's team has 9 kids, 5 girls and 4 boys and if they actually kept score in the games I don't think it would be pretty after seeing that the team that practiced after them looks about a head taller on average! The kids all were very excited and eager to do what the coaches told them. I think they'll all have fun. Charlie starts on Thursday with his "soccer" program.

Heather had a few good comments that I will share...she asked me last week if I would get skinnier--I asked her if I needed to be skinnier and she said, "no but I remember before you had Cameron your belly wasn't so big." Today she pulled out, hey mom why is your bottom so big? I bit my tongue before telling her that someday hers would be big too and just said I didn't know--did it look big? Between those and a friends daughter asking me when I was pregnant why my legs were so fat (boy was her mom embarrassed!) I should have some good motivation to get back in shape--instead I think I'll go get some ice cream while Jeff reads the kids books and Cameron snoozes for a few minutes...Heather and Charlie were playing a game tonight and Heather said that she wasn't "fixin" to play that card. I'm sure that I have NEVER said "fixin" and none of my friends to either so I'm guessing this is a result of MS schools...

Finally a few Azores comments that were kind of sad. Charlie has asked if a few of his friends would be at his birthday party...when we would be coming back to MS to see Ariana and Mirabelle and Tyler and Delanie...and that we wouldn't be able to walk back to Ohio because we would have to swim and that he and cameron couldn't swim that far yet...

smiles and laughs

I was watching a full, well rested Cameron this morning just lay in my lap and be happy. He was smiling (not at anything yet) and then making funny faces. I laughed and a few seconds later he laughed (again not correlated) which was really funny. I don't remember seeing babies laugh out loud very much before and it was so sweet. Ironically I just read that babies smiling when they're little is not necessarily gas related as many people say..

haircuts

and I mean CUT! Look at Heather's hair--SHORT. I said just below the shoulders which apparently meant above. No more cute pigtails and braids like I'd grown to love but we won't have to argue as much about brushing and tangles either...It will grow back--but it will take a while ;-). Charlie's is a little longer than i would like bt I was afraid to tell her how short I really wanted it after how short heather's is now. This morning we went to a nearby park and played, picnicked, and went for a little nature walk. It was a beautiful day and while we did haircuts for the kids Jeff went golfing with some friends. Grandma comes back for about 30 hours tonight and the kids are very excited to show their new haircuts. Opinions?!

surviving saturday

We actually had a nice end of the week, I got the kids to school a few times on my own and Jeff took part of Wednesday and Thursday off to help out (really we more veged out) at home. The days go by fast and I'm not sure where the time goes but we're doing well and having fun with Cameron. Yesterday was a busy day. It's fire prevention week on base and the firestation opeened up with all their fire enguines that the kids could climb on, a few games for them to play--dress up in teh fire fighter gear, roll the hose at bowling pins, virtual fire put out...we stayed all morning with various friends, had lunch, then went to the site where the firemen practice putting out plane fires on a huge plane that the light up and put out. The heat was tremendous even though it seemed we were far away and the kids loved the fire trucks coming in with sirens blazing and the water shooting out. After that we had some friends come over to play until the fire parade. They played really well together and at 3 we headed out to watch the "parade". After 6 kids had popsicles we were joined by another and the kids ran around the yard until they heard the sirens. It was quite an impressive number of trucks as the columbus fire dept joined in also. The kids racked in candy and one of the firefighters that Jeff knows called out hello to Heather and Charlie by name from one of the fire trucks.

After that our friends played a little more then we headed off to Jumpin G's for a b-day party for someone in Heather's class. I thought it would be a good chance to meet some of teh parents but none were really social with anyone that they didn't know so I didn't really meet anyone (not that I need to since we're moving anyway) and Jeff and I just watched the kids run and run. Needless to say both kids fell asleep on the way home and by 8:30 I was also dozing in the chair...

on our own...kind of

well we were kind of on our own for a while and it went pretty well. Mom left yesterday so I had the boys while Heather was in school, then Jeff had a meeting in the evening so he was just home for a little longer than dinner. It went pretty well. Cameron slept a lot which helped me focus on the older two. They painted a project with Jeff while he was home,then finished and played baseball for a while. We managed to do baths, snack and stories and get in bed by 8:15 which was a good accomplishment ;-). Cameron slept well last night and I managed morning bus and school pretty well. I even got to get hot chocolate with a friend this morning and put away all my maternity clothes--oh the excitement of a stay-at-home mom ;-). Jeff's home for the afternoon and tomorrow and is taking the boys to his office to "visit" for an hour or so.