1000000000000000000000000000000

Okay, maybe not quite that many zeroes!!! But I am pleased to announce that this is my 1000th post!! And there's even a new blog header to mark the occasion!!!

You might remember when we made it half this far, back on July 31st, 2009.

To celebrate that milestone, I gave away a book. (Congrats, T-Dawg!!) I think, however, that 1000 deserves even more excitement, don't you??!!

Soooo......I would like to give one lucky friend-of-the-Kentobeans a $25 Amazon gift card!! I don't care how much money you have-- it's always fun to buy treats on someone else's dime. And this time, that dime is mine!!

Here's how it'll work: all you have to do is leave a comment on this post to have a chance to be the lucky winner! I really hope that even if you've never before commented--and even if you consider yourself someone who doesn't comment on blogs--you'll join in the fun today!

I'll use a random number generator to pick the winning comment, so it's not based at all on the content...although if you want me to like you, you should probably say something nice. (Ha!) Feel free to leave a thought/comment about the blog itself, a memory of one of us in real life, or just talk about how good lookin' the BG is. ;-)

(If you've never commented before, please know you don't have to have any kind of account or registration. Click on "Thoughts" at the bottom of this post, and then choose the "Name/URL" option and type in your name to go along with your comment.)

Now, just to make sure you know it's not false advertising, let me take this opportunity to follow up on the last contest. Remember the birth poll for Camille? Well, the winner was a certain red-headed lass who recently departed for a more southern clime, and her prize was a $10 gift card to Starbucks. Behold:


In her words: "Yummy! Unfortunately, I devoured my turkey bacon breakfast sandwich before remembering to capture photographic evidence. But here's me enjoying my trenta iced green tea. Thank you so much for my delightful, during pre-school treat!"

See? Totally legit!! Oh, and in order for there to be an announcement Monday morning, the winner will be selected Sunday night so don't dally!

Thanks for celebrating this momentous event with us!!

Picture Parade

Wherein I post a bunch of random pics that were taken over the last week.

What can I say....I'm feeling wild today!

Funny Name. Serious Sandwich.

(At least, that used to be their slogan!)

Turns out that Anne & Adam have in their new neighborhood quite a few of the fast-food eateries that we miss from our Texas days. On our way to get bevvies at Sonic, we passed a Fazolis and then discovered the BG's fave sandwich joint waiting for us right next to the Sonic! I started to text him a picture of Schlotzsky's so he could cry, but then I decided it would be a bit kinder to stop there on our way out of town Sunday and get his beloved Original to go.

As many of you know, there is a Schlotzsky's just off the Baylor campus so eating there makes me smile, although I can't say I'd start a fan club like I would for some other establishments (Jason's Deli, anyone?!) I'm pretty sure that the reason I can't express my undying love for it is because they decorate their restaurant with THESE:

Ugh.

Because of the way the timing of our departure worked out, however, I decided go ahead and have me a little BUNZ (their stock ticker symbol), too!

(Would've made my life a little easier had this location had a diaper-changing table, but I guess we can't have everything. At least the BG got to enjoy an olive-encrusted sandwich for dinner!!)

Baby's First....Road Trip!

Yes, indeed! Since the BG's parade-of-Saturday-track-meets started this weekend, I decided I'd much rather pack up the tykes and go on an adventure than sit at home bummed that he was working all day. So we took off on a 200-mile (each way) trek to check out the new homestead for Anne and Adam!

Someone was pretty excited to see her A(u)nn(t)ie Kate:

The larger kid seemed to be okay with her, too!

Modeling our matching zip-ups, compliments of Nicki. (And we missed our triplet-in-brown, Chisty!) I'm pretty sure the little miss is bummed that she doesn't have one, too:

Bigger grin for the big(ger) guy!

Holding the skinny kid upside-down is always good for a laugh!

I'm thrilled to report that the trip went incredibly smoothly. Camille snoozed the entire way each direction (and slept 8 hours in the pack & play overnight!) and her big brother was his usual easy-going passenger self. I sure hope they both stay this way-- gotta love a good road trip!!

Two Months Old!

(I kinda feel like the top and bottom pics look like 2 different babies!! Ah, the wonders of camera angles and model poses!)

Her 2-month appointment isn't until Thursday but we had to capture the official pics on the correct day!!

And GUESS WHAT? It's not the only big milestone taking place this week!! I think you're gonna like what will be happening here....and that's no April Fooling! Hope you'll stay tuned!!

Why Stand When You Can Sit?

You know the joke about someone (usually "yo' mama") being so fat that when she sits around the house, she really sits AROUND the house?

Yeah, our kid is way too skinny for that joke. But he sure does like to sit around the house- preferably in any available baby gear!


(We're working on self-dressing/undressing. Might have been a slight wardrobe malfunction here, although it didn't stop him from hanging out!):

The Neighbors were over for dinner Sunday night and, as they were packing up to leave, we suddenly realized the boys were missing. Sure enough, they'd each swiped a cookie bar (B was a little quicker swallowing the evidence, as you can see) and were taking a breather on the kitchen floor!

Happy Friday!

Buzz...and Shake!

I know I've sung the praises of our local library system loud and clear in these electronic pages, so I'll just say, once again: AWESOME.

FN Jen (that's Fabulous Neighbor Jen) invited us to go to a storytime program Monday morning that was part of a series called Science in the Garden. This week's topic was the insects that interact with plants and the 45-minute program included thematically appropriate songs, dances, and books acted out with assorted props. The main focus, however, seemed to be on bees and even included a boisterous activity involving pipe cleaner "bee legs," construction paper flowers covered in glitter (aka pollen), and a "hive" on the opposite side of the room, to which the kids ran with their newly glitter-coated bee legs in order to deposit the "pollen"-- all to the tune of Flight of the Bumblebee playing on the CD player. Seriously.

I didn't have a camera with me, but I did make B pose yesterday with the fruits of the other activity: making a "bee crown!"

Ha! As uncertain as that face looks, he did NOT want me to throw away his crown!

Now, the REAL excitement came the next day when Jen and Sean invited us over to make the honey milkshakes from the recipe on the handout we were given at the end of the program. As you can see, the wee chefs took some time to enjoy the main ingredient:

A little while later--after serving each boy his own milkshake--we saw this:


Neighbors don't let neighbors drink milkshakes alone!

Gluteus Ruffleus

(Wow!! My first--unintentional--Wordless Wednesday....well, except for these words. Darn it!)

Oh, the Cuteness

So yeah, as it turns out, clothes for baby girls are pretty cute!!! Who knew?! ;-)

(Although, side note: I don't necessarily think this for newborn/infant stuff. I mean, as long as they're still in the blob stage, they don't really need particularly special clothes, right?! I might even give the edge to infant boy clothes-- in my mind, nothing beats a baby boy sporting some dad-like threads!)

But oh, the cuteness of the little girl outfits! Miss C's closet is growing full with so many (warning! warning! Texan words ahead!) sweet and precious clothes sent/given with amazing generosity by friends and family who love this wee one. There have been countless occasions where I've thought to myself, "I MUST post a pic of this on the blog so the peeps can enjoy the adorableness along with me!" Then I realized the effect might even be better if there's, you know, a kid actually wearing them!

(If that's not a plug to stay tuned this summer, I don't know what is! HA!)

It is impossible for me to keep this one a secret, however:


Yes, friends, that is a personalized Olivia the Pig outfit, purchased by two dear local aunties who are now on my list for their embarrassment of riches.

Are you KIDDING me with the cuteness???!!

(Jill, any chance Emory sported an ensemble like this for her Olivia-themed 3rd birthday party last weekend??!! I can totally see it!!)

Tootsies

Petite:

And slightly less petite:

This and That

I treated myself to a new camera lens (thanks for the suggestion, Ian!) and it arrived yesterday. I had tons of fun experimenting with it on a certain 3-year old leprechaun but I just didn't have the energy to download them. Viewing and editing pics really is one of my favorite things to do so clearly we're feeling the chaos over here!

(But everything is totally fine. Just tired.)

ANYWAY. Thought I'd end the week not with pics but rather with some random thoughts. I do love sharing random thoughts! ;-) Here goes:

• Don't forget this weekend is the annual Gap Give and Get 30% off sale extravaganza. If you didn't get the coupon in your email, you can totally find one online to print and take into the stores. It's good for multiple uses through Sunday at all 3 of the Gap family stores as well as Gap and BR outlets. You better believe I was standing outside our Gap outlet when they rolled up the gate at 10 AM yesterday. I don't mess around when it comes to bargains!!
  

• Speaking of bargains, if you're in the diaper-buying business, I hope you've discovered the wonder that is Amazon Mom! By joining (free) and selecting the "Subscribe and Save" option (also free), you can get 30% off the standard Amazon prices. Oh, and it comes with free 2-day shipping. Unbelievably awesome.

• And that reminds me-- does anyone else automatically say "no, thank you" when checking out at a store and the cashier asks about opening a store credit card? Yeah, I thought so. But DID YOU KNOW that if you get the Target Red Card, you get 5% off each purchase at the point of sale? I'm not trying to encourage anyone to rack up credit card debt, but if you are one to pay off bills anyway, then why wouldn't you want to save 5% each time? Since we all know it's near impossible to leave Target without spending $100, I can't believe I didn't get the card years ago! I could've bought more loot at Target with the money I saved!!
  

• I'm currently in my 3rd week of Weight Watchers. They've gone and completely redone the points system since I did it just one year ago, but it seems to be working this time around, too! It's interesting to be doing it this close to pregnancy since I'm still rocking a belly and some serious love handles that popped up during that 40-week gestating adventure! Hope it doesn't take too long to shrink those down a bit!
  

• I'm pretty sure your jaws would drop if you could see the current state of our abode. You know how there's that point where something is already so messy that you feel like there just isn't a point in picking up? So you just step over one pile to go create another one right next to it? And then you feel like the clutter might eat you alive while you're sleeping? Yeah, we're there.

• Wednesday, I watched American Idol for the first time this season. I generally don't start watching until they have the core group of contestants; all the audition episodes make me really uncomfortable, and I prefer just to wait until the live action. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the new judges but I was pleased with Jennifer Lopez. (Steven Tyler is kind of a kook!) But MAN is that a show that was made for the DVR-- I just watch the performances and the critiques and that's it. Oh, and I can't do the results show. Too much manufactured drama for me!

Eh, I got nothing else. BOOOOORING. Hope your weekends are far more exciting! Happy Friday!

Don't You Worry, Buddy

With your (maternal) genes, you'll be sure to have your own "plastic teeth" before too long:

(don't worry, ye who are easily grossed out-- he didn't ACTUALLY put it in his mouth!)

Okay, Here We Go

Bonus post here because I just came across these pics and realized the comparison is WAY better, even though the photos aren't especially good and they don't "match"! But I do think these two kiddos might be related!!

Blathery Update

I know ye olde blog has been quite picture-heavy (and text-lite) of late and that's probably just as well for 90% of you. For the rest of you who enjoy the blather, this post is for you!

We've now lived 7 weeks with an infant and a 3-year old. It's really quite bizarre not only how quickly things change, but also how quickly one can forget about the most recent status. When I asked new mama-of-two Kathy about her first night home from the hospital and she reported getting maybe 20 minutes of sleep total, I realized that I couldn't even remember what our first night was like. Of course, I guess that could just be straight craziness on my part. Who knows.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that Miss C is going to be a champion sleeper like her brother. He started consistently sleeping 12 hours straight at 13 weeks and never looked back. Not surprisingly, I have no memory of what the weeks were like leading up to that point, so I can't really compare to our current status. One thing's for sure, though-- the girl can snooze the mornings away! It's really quite convenient for running errands and having some quiet time, but I'm kinda hoping she adjusts that a bit here pretty soon so that maybe she'll go to bed earlier at night.

Indeed, she's quite the minx when it comes to bedtime. She has an amazing talent for faking us out about when it's actual overnight sleep. We'll do the feeding, the bouncing, the rocking, etc; her eyes will close and we'll lay her swaddled self in the crib eagerly hoping that it's for real. And.....then she'll wake up crying 20 minutes later. This routine generally happens a couple times after 10 PM. Then sometime around midnight, a switch flips and I guess she decides she can actually go to sleep. Neither of her parents would choose to stay up that late, however, so it's tough. In fact, I think I'd rather get up more during the night if I could go to bed at 10 PM knowing I'd get at least a few hours of sleep before the first wake-up call. Hopefully that's just around the corner.

(Once she really does go to sleep, she does a pretty good job! We've had several 7-hour stretches and even a 9-hour (!!!) one, although 4-5 hours is still the norm.)

Big brother has never shown even a second of jealousy or meanness towards her--thank goodness! He loves to run into the nursery and "get her up" in the mornings, and is always asking where she is and what she's doing. He still calls her "Camilley" most of the time but has also taken to calling her "Preshy" as in "Precious." ;-)

The only time he gets flustered is when she decides to exercise her lungs in the car. (Thankfully, this is not a common occurrence-- usually she's snoozing away.) Those gun-department ear protectors we got for the Monster Truck Rally have come in quite handy:

All in all, we're doing pretty well. The BG has taken on the Head Coach role for spring track and is really enjoying the opportunity to be in charge of a program and run it the BG (read: awesome!) way. In addition to coaching and his full teaching load, he's also currently designing the daily lesson plans for several teachers to teach a new pre-biology class for which there was no curriculum. Needless to say, he is very very very busy and that's a challenge for us all. But you know what? This phase, too, shall quickly pass and 6 weeks from now, I won't even remember what it was like!

(Not to say at all that I'm wishing away these days!! We are loving life, challenges and all!)

Hmmm

Okay, so maybe they don't look all that much alike after all....?

The pics above were each taken at around 6 weeks. I think their noses are the same, maybe? I'm bummed I didn't get the same angle in these shots. I guess we've just been fabricating the resemblance in our addled minds, or do you see something I'm missing?

In looking back through pics from the last month, I realized I'd taken another one in a similar get-up about 2 weeks before the one posted above. I'm including this one to show that she has NOT been doing a good job of keeping the hairs on her head!! I'm just praying she ends up with some girl-proclaiming hair sooner rather than later!

Camera Genius

No, not me!! (Obvs!!) That's the name of an iphone app on which I seriously enjoy wasting time. It's so fun to try to make poorly-lit phone snaps look kinda cool by applying different filters! (What do you mean, is my house clean?? Um, no! I have pics to edit!!)

The gang's all here:




I mean, come on!! Anything that can make 7 AM cartoon-watching look "artsy" is a winner in my book:


PS: Happy birthday, Lindsay!! If only we could relive your birthday extravaganza at La Fiesta...! :-) (We can't relive the one the year before b/c that restaurant burned down. But I do have some FUN video footage of the house party....even Annie Kate was there. Remember, AKHG?!)

Weekend Wish

May your weekend be full of sweet smiles, moments of wonder...

...and LOTS of giggles!

The Story Behind the Photos

Yesterday's photo came from an afternoon where I suddenly realized I wanted to send a pic to Carrie K in Austin to show her the cuteness of the blanket she had sent. I grabbed my phone so I could snap a shot and text it to her, which I did. Then I had some fun taking a few more since I liked the staging, before eventually remembering that the pics would really be better with a legit camera-- hence, yesterday's posted photo.

When I looked at the iphone shots, however, I knew there was a tale left to tale...

"Wait, what? Those letters up there? That's my name?"

"Really? My name is Camille?! I am dumbfounded!"

"Hooray for having such an awesome name!!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. You wanted me to lie here so you could take a close-up picture? Fine."

"Ooooo-weeee, this posing stuff is hard work! Naptime!"

Named. {And Loved.}

Breaking News Update: Kellen James was born to Kathy and Joel at 6:40 this morning!! Congrats to them and to big brother Brady!!!

B at 3

The B-man may not be a lot of things (a food aficionado, a body-builder, Picasso), but he sure is one funny dude. Here are some of the Brooks-isms that have been cracking us up of late:

• He says "last day" instead of "yesterday." As in, "Remember when we played with those trains last day?"


• He speaks in very formal complete sentences when most of us (children OR adults) would simply answer with a word or two. Recent example: I asked him the other day, "Have you seen Camille's pacifier?" His response? "I do not know where her pacifier is."
  


• He busts out with the funniest phrases for which we are clueless about their origin. A few weeks ago, I told him that, even though it was sunny, we were going to get snow the next day. He looked at me and said, "Are you kidding me?" I died laughing-- it was such a shockingly appropriate new exclamation!


• Speaking of crazy phrases, he likes to use the expression "also known as..." Again, we have no idea where this came from but the day that he said, "Wegmans, also known as...WEGGIES!" I seriously almost couldn't take it.
  


• He is obsessed with going to the bathroom alone and without lights. He shouts "Leave!" and "In the dark!" pretty much every time. We think it's hysterical that he not only wants privacy from others, he apparently wants it from himself, too.


• Upon hearing it's time for a meal, he'll inevitably ask, "What did you cook for me, Mom?" (And he's been saying Mom/Dad for quite awhile now. It's kinda unnerving.) Too bad he doesn't actually like cooked food.
  


• When offered a choice of several items, he will choose the final one mentioned at least 90% of the time. We had some giggles one day when we kept asking him which was his favorite munchkin (donut) flavor and switched the order of the 3 flavors each time....and each time, he had a different answer!

What hasn't changed at all, however, is his love of and skill in memorizing! He asked for me to read the "Big Book of Trucks" last week and then proceeded to take over and "read" almost the entire book (which consists of 8 or so different paragraphs) aloud. Verbatim. I think he has a future in acting-- he will have no problem memorizing his lines!

To help you follow along with the video, here's what he's saying:

Travel Epicenter

Still catching up from our eventful weekend-before-this-last-one:

Brooks's best buddy from the north stopped by a week ago Friday for some fun playtime! Seems our families have grown by 2 since the last time we got together...

Baby Ben was born more than a week before his Christmas Day due date, giving him a 6-week jump on Miss C. And he's no puny baby himself, so they already have much in common!! ;-) Mama Marie and Daddy Dave totally win the prize for organization-- amidst packing for their weekend road trip to visit grandparents two states away, they managed to make us a delicious pan of homemade enchiladas! Thanks, guys!!

Then, last Monday, we enjoyed a visit from my middle school swim coach. Once I found out it was going to work for her to stop by on her way home from a southerly vacation (see how we're right in the middle of all the traveling action?!), I contacted Carrie to see if she wanted to come surprise "The Adwoman" as we refer to her. Even though Carrie had just trekked up here two days earlier for the sip & see, she totally made my day by coming back for a wonderful evening visit!

(Oh, and the wee one is yawning, not screaming. I promise!)

I love visitors! (hint, hint!)

One Month {and one week} Old

Since, in order to make life easier, I prefer to accomplish most tasks while B is at school, C's one-month appointment wasn't until yesterday. (Although this photo was taken on the correct day!) All was well and she's regained the "Camille the Crusher" moniker that her Fake Auntie Chisty gave her at birth by weighing in at a hearty 10 lbs 8 oz.

Strangely enough, she was measured at the exact same length that Brooks was at his one-month appt: 22.75 inches--which is the 98th percentile for girls! But he only weighed 8 lbs 14 oz so she pretty much, well, crushes him!

I find it interesting that they each lost about a pound after birth, had a lot of trouble gaining it back, and then ended up almost exactly a pound heavier than their birth weight at their one-month appointments. Will they stay on the same trajectory? Stay tuned!