Our berry sweet girl turned 2!

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is 2. There's something really monumental about turning 2. Up until this point, I had no problem calling her baby. Don't get me wrong, I will still continue to call her my baby and she always will be BUT don't judge me when I'm still calling her that at 8, 12, or even 20.

This baby girl, the one who I didn't think I would ever make it through with my pregnancy, is now full of life, so stinking adorable and everything I prayed for in a daughter. She's changed so much in two years. I'll never forget the HORRIBLE record-breaking summer that I was pregnant with her. I still have to whisper about it because just talking about it makes my ankles puffier and my toes turn into little Vienna sausages. Stretch marks, muffin top, cankles and all, she was 100% worth it.

I found this little outfit for Landry before she even turned one on mega clearance for $10 at Gymboree . It was a 2T and so it was decided before she even turned 1, that her 2nd birthday would be a strawberry party. That is the most I have EVER been ahead of the game and it was by accident. And then, as luck would have it, I found loads of strawberry stuff on clearance at the end of the summer last year in the Target dollar spot. The strawberry tablecloth was $2. I found strawberry notepads, coasters, sticky notes all for 30 cents! SCORE!

I made the little strawberry banner for her using my Cricut. That thing has paid for itself tenfold. And I made the birthday hat out of paper and a ton of ribbon. I've gotten pretty handy at making those after making them for several photo shoots.

Hello adorable $10 outfit.

All the fun tags for the goodie bags and the sandwich headers cards were made by Justin, of course. I tell him it's time to open up an Etsy shop with all the artwork we've done for our kids parties over the years.

 

And most importantly, another amazing creation by Amanda with the strawberry cake. 

Not only was beautiful but tasted amazing too. This is Landry's yummy face.

I found these cute strawberry glasses for the girls' goodie bags at Party City. 

After eating cake, we opened up presents and this little girl got a lot of babies and has been playing with them ever since.

She wanted to open all her gifts immediately.

My baby girl loves hard and it was so precious seeing her hug everyone because she was so excited to see all her friends and family. She was missing them over the summer.

 

I'm so grateful for the help that everyone gave to get this party ready and especially that they came out in this horrible heat to celebrate our sweet girl. 

 

  

And we've made a video of each of our kids' first year. We watch it on their birthday as a tradition for our family and just reminisce about how little they were. They absolutely love it. Poor third child...it took almost to her second birthday to get her first year done but it's done, that's all that counts, right?

Happy Birthday Landry Kate.You have completed our family and I'm so so grateful to all the joy and love you've brought to our family. We love you so much.

Blackmail

This actually was months ago and I just keep forgetting to post it but it's a classic. This so perfectly portrays my house. One kid in a cape, another bouncing around, and my husband being a rock star. He obviously had no idea I was recording this. I was hiding in Landry's closet. This is one of my favorite videos ever!

We keep ourselves entertained

I think I might have the funniest children ever. There are numerous times that they get me laughing so hard every day. Here are some really short clips that I was lucky enough to catch on the camera.

If there's one thing our family LOVES to do, it's dance. We break into dance at the dinner table (I know it's not the best example we're setting), in the grocery store, just about anywhere we feel the need to bust a move. So I'm happy to see my 6 week old daughter at the time can fit in perfectly with our family. Who cares if she's bobble head beat boxin', sister has some rhythm!

Both boys are extremely protective of Landry and seeing them into her just melts my heart. All those boyfriends better watch out for two older brothers and one tall daddy!

And here's my Campbelloni just loving on his sister. I just love his eyes. They help him get away with A LOT!My favorite part are those platypus lips of his puckering up for his sister.

Boy or Girl?

Think PINK!!!! WOW, can't believe it myself. I was so convinced it was a boy. And all I've ever known is how to raise boys so this one threw me for a loop. But I couldn't be happier and more excited. Because let's face it, girl stuff is way more fun and cuter than boy stuff. And I can't wait to learn how to make bows for this little girl. I promise not to make them bigger than her head can hold up (well, on most days but don't hold me to it 100%). So I haven't wasted one second slapping a bow on this girl. I'm sure she'll grow up to be a tomboy with two older brothers so I better enjoy it while I can.

Recently, I spoke with the boys about what they wanted...a boy or a girl. Nolan from the beginning has wanted a girl and has voiced it over and over again. At first when I asked Campbell he said he wanted a boy but then I think he thought that meant we were trading in Nolan for another boy and he kept saying, "No, I want Nolan." Once I told him Nolan was safe and we weren't baby traders, he was on the team girl side.

When we had Campbell, I got a lot of comments from people along the lines of, "Are you sad it's not a girl?" or "Are you going to keep trying for that girl?" It made me perturbed, to say the least, that they didn't just see the blessing in having a healthy baby boy. So when the boys and my parents made their voices pretty clear that they wanted a girl, there was a lot of pressure (even though it was completely out of my control). So mostly importantly I'm glad that things look good with the baby and I'm so grateful!

I took this video about a month ago before we knew what we were having. Guess it's going to be a tough conversation that Uniqua Tasha McDonald may not exactly be what we're looking for. Can you tell my kids are big fans of Backyardigans?

The sonographer (who's never been wrong, by the way, but watch us be his first) said he's 95% sure because I was so early at my sonogram (I was one day shy of 15 weeks). My first question of course is, "Can I go shopping?"  He said that he'd still go to Vegas and bet on it so I may hold off on painting the room, but a little shopping won't do any harm...

Hoola Hoopers

Oh what a week. Tonya, my sister, broke out in a severe rash a little over a week ago. When I say severe, I'm talking about something out of a medical journal. Oh and it was head.to.toe.

Exhibit A:

 

Everyone with me....Bless her heart! At first we thought it might be a food allergy. One of her neighbors made her something that had a very exotic Mexican spice in it. We were all thinking that is one CRAZY spice!

After tests and tests, it turns out it was strep! With her immune system really suppressed after chemo, her body really did a number on her. She's still in the hospital and the rash is getting better, thank goodness! Now they have found some bacteria in her blood by her port for her chemo. So they are having to take out the port and she'll be there until her blood is clear of bacteria. Poor thing wants to come home so badly. I don't blame her but glad that they found this!

I decided to do what little I could and bring my youngest two nieces over for a slumber party to give my brother-in-law a much needed break and to give the girls a break from the hospital.

We watched movies, played outside and played plenty of the Wii. My favorite was the Wii Fit game of hoola hooping. As you can see, Nolan is hoola hoop challenged to say the least. But that's ok, he's a boy. I love this video. Don't know what's the funniest...the girls about to knock someone out with their booties, Nolan's doing his rendition of a robot hoola hooping, or Campbell trying to ride Bandit like a horse because he's got his cowboy hat on.

Campbell thinks that hoola hooping uses a lot more elbows than your hips. Man, does he look cute doing it though.

Academy award winner part 2

We knew from an early age that Campbell was made for acting. Don't remember? Check this or this to jog your memory. This only confirms our suspicions. My personal favorite is his sad face. I see this quite a bit when he doesn't get his way. And yes, it's just as hard not to laugh at it when I'm frustrated with him. Guess that's why he does it. He knows what makes his mama laugh!

"Rockin" around the Christmas tree

This seriously had us belly laughing. Seeing Campbell playing the drums is my absolutely favorite.

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Portable North Pole

If you have a child that really is into Santa or even if they're not, then you really need to check out the Portable North Pole. It proves that Santa knows everything about each boy and girl. He has a book to prove it with some very important information including pictures of them and milestones that they experienced over the year.

Our boys were completely mesmerized when they were able to watch their videos and they want to watch it everyday, multiple times a day! Here's Nolan's message from Santa.

Santa must know that my toddler can't pay attention as long so he's personalized message is shorter and was just the right length. Here's the video for Campbell.

And here's the boys' reactions when they watched for the first time.

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The boys make Christmas that much more special seeing it through their eyes. I love living vicariously through them.

Phone call to Santa

Behavior this time of year seems to be its best. With our Elf on the Shelf, Pickles, and knowing that I have Santa on speed dial. I can pretty much get what I want with a quick conversation to Pickles and just acting like I'm going to call Santa. That usually does the trick.

Over Thanksgiving break, I decided that we were going to do potty training boot camp or as Campbell calls it, "Boop camp." I can't believe that I got him trained in three days. Never in a million years would I have believed it after every hair pulling moment I went through to potty train Nolan.

There were accidents... A LOT the first day and I even wondered if it was too soon but by day four we were accident free. We've had random accidents here and there but overall, it's been a very quick and easy transition.

So in an effort to not always use Santa as a threat, I called Santa so Campbell could brag for once. Granddad, um I mean "Santa," was great and for once I actually caught it on film. Gosh, I love this kid.

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Bilingual Boy

We were headed home from my parents' church after trunk-or-treat and Campbell busted out counting in Spanish. I had no idea he could do that in English much less Spanish. We don't watch Diego at home, so I guess my money is working at school.

My mom is bilingual and I so wish that she would have taught me Spanish, but I'm convinced it was her language that she used to communicate with my grandmother and great-grandmother for "grown-up talk." Nevertheless, I was so amazed that he knew how to do this.

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Sneak Peek

Here's two clues about the boys' costumes:

Nolan's costume involves all of the following materials and it's being created by Daddy:

Here's a preview of Campbell's costume. Once again, grandma the seamstress does NOT disappoint.

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Belated Happy Birthday

I know that Nolan's birthday already passed but I took this the morning of his birthday and just got behind posting it but it's crazy cute.

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LMNOP

There is not a better sound created on Earth better than a child's laugh or hearing them sing. You can't help but smile. And there's definitely nothing as cute as hearing a toddler choke on the letters L-M-N-O-P in the alphabet song. 

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Superhero to the rescue!

In a house full of boys you can only imagine the amount of bruises, bumps and boo boos that happen in our household. I had to get really creative really fast on how to distract them from their melodramatic ways after every little bump. First it was the boo boo train, a handy little ice pack we put in our freezer for those boo boos that are bigger than just mommy's kisses can cure.

But I resorted to spanking...hear me out. Spanking whatever it was that hurt them. Walls, chairs, floors, and especially those pesky toys have all be spanked in our house plenty of times. Works like a charm every time. Oh, and having a brother with superhero strength spanking skills always helps too.

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I can't get Nolan to take this costume off. Justin even let him wear it to Chick-fil-a one night on one of their boys' nights. You can't help but smile.

Happy Birthday Campbell!

This is how we started celebrating this morning.






I'm sitting here is disbelief wondering how another year passed by. I read a quote recently that so perfectly portrays my life.

"For a mom, years fly by and days last years."

Especially this summer when I'm home all day, every day, I couldn't have said it better. Even though some days I would do anything for it to be night time and have a break, I'm glad those days last long and let me soak up every second of my boys during these years.

It's amazing how I can be so frustrated and wanting to pull my hair out and Campbell will just come up to me with those ridiculously big Disney eyes and say something…anything, and I immediately feel this overwhelming love for him. And in that moment, I'll just beg him to stop growing and stay the same. How is it that cuteness can make you have amnesia?

I can't believe that my baby boy is two. I made a little video to catalog his second year. Happy Birthday Campbell! You'll always be my Macaroni Campbelloni.

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Campbell's birth story

I'm feeling rather nostalgic right now with Campbell's 2nd birthday coming up and wanted to share the upcoming events leading up to his birth.

Don't worry there will be NO talk of mucus plugs, placentas, or any other things that might make you want to second-guess eating before you read this post. {Whew!}

There was a lot of pressure building up to Campbell's arrival. My parents canceled their trip to a family reunion and my in-laws were on their way down from Kentucky "just in case" he came. I wasn't due until July 8th, so it was highly unlikely that he was coming this soon. What is the saying, "A watched pot never boils"?

I had contractions off and on for days, only for them to stop after 30-45 minutes. So when I started having contractions at 11:15 p.m. on June 27th, I didn't really think much of them. They were about 10 minutes apart. An hour later they were 8 minutes apart, and two hours later they were 5 minutes apart.

I think it's always so funny seeing men in the movies running around like crazy, driving to the hospital and leaving the wife behind at home. What was my husband doing, you ask? Let me re-enact it for you. It sounded something like this...."zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz huh? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" And that was after I told him that my contractions were 5 minutes apart and going strong for 3 hours. 

I wasn't too sure if I was in labor or not because I never experienced contractions with Nolan because I was induced. I called my mom and the doctor and they both said it sounded like I was in labor. So we headed to the hospital at 4 a.m. Up to this point, I was only dilated to a 2 at my doctor's office. But when they checked me at 5:00 a.m, I was a 3 but my contractions were really starting to space out. So we started planning where we would eat breakfast on our way home.

At 7 a.m., the doctor said I was dilated to a 4 and said, "Looks like we're having a baby!". After all this wishing that he would come, and then panic started to set in. I was admitted and they broke my water by 9:00 a.m. They gave me my epidural at 10:00 and checked me again. I was a 5.  Things slowed down a little bit for the next hour so they gave me more Pitocin to get my contractions closer together. Well that seemed to work because I went from a 5 to a 9.5 in 30 minutes.

He was still up pretty high so they let gravity do its work, and sure enough within two minutes of sitting up, it was time to push. Five contractions and twenty minutes later, Campbell Allen McDonald made his appearance into this world at 3:15 p.m. weighing 8 lbs. 1 oz and 19 1/4 inches. It felt like I was looking at Nolan all over again. Both were exactly a week and half early, the exact same height and only 3 oz. difference on their weight.

And no, I don't have a steel trap memory to remember every detail like this, although my husband would argue that I do. Thank goodness for my pregnancy journal because I had all of this written there. I'm so thankful that I wrote it down because there's no way I would have remembered those details and it makes me realize that all those hours of blogging, journaling, scrapbooking will be loved by my boys someday.

Here is a video of the pictures that Justin took of me while I was pregnant with Campbell. It almost makes me want to have another one...almost.

Not your ordinary jar salsa

I won't brag about much when it comes to cooking but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve and I'll give myself credit that I'm like fine wine...I get better with time. But my salsa is crazy good. I bring it to parties and make it for just about every get-together and I have to bring a big bag of chips because it's a hit.

It's such a hit that my 23-month-old even loves it. When he sees it in the fridge, he screams, "SALSA!" and eats it up. So consider yourself privileged that you know such an amazing recipe. I got this recipe a few years ago from a friend and it reminds me a lot of Central Market's 4th anniversary salsa.

Homemade Fresh Salsa serves 10-15 people

2-3 jalapenos
2-3 cloves of garlic
3-4 green onions
1 bunch fresh cilantro
10-12 medium ripe roma tomatoes
lime juice
salt to taste
dash of Tony Cachere's

Directions:

1. I cut up the jalapenos and take out almost all the seeds. I put them in my food chopper with the garlic, green onions, cilantro. I just remember to put all the green/garlic stuff together. Put it in a large bowl.

2. Put all the tomatoes in the food chopper.

3. Mix all the green and red together. Add the salt, Tony's and lime juice to taste.

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Take me out to the ballgame sing along

One night in the midst of rocking to Campbell to sleep one night, I decided to spice things up from our normal run-of-the-mill songs and I sang "Take me out to the ballgame." And, that's when the obsession started and Campbell ever since requests "SOCCER BALL!!!!" every night a million times before bedtime.

He then started to sing with me and it's just about the cutest thing hearing a toddler sing. My favorite part is that he's making key changes. He's like his mama, it might not be the right key but at least he's trying! I

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Our lunch bandit

Embarrassingly enough, Nolan's teacher told me a couple of weeks ago that Nolan has been eating other kids' lunches. I asked him about it and sure enough he admitted it and said, "I'm just really hungry, mommy." So now I'm the mom starving her kid. Oh great. You better believe that I packed the biggest lunch ever the next day.

Here is a video of me talking to him about it. Check out how expressive he is and how he talks with his hands. I can't imagine where he got that.

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Tattletale

Oh how I'm going to miss stories about the boys' school that they come home and tell me. Nolan tells me all about who got in trouble even when it's himself. He's incredibly honest in that aspect.

Campbell has a little girl in his class named Maricela that has got to be the cutest thing I've ever seen. She's always so well behaved and mild mannered and her mom dresses her in the cutest outfits. Apparently, she had a bad day a couple of weeks ago and Campbell came home and told me all about it.

There is something about the way that he says "trouble" that just cracks me up.

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