Cutie Patootie

I feel like some days just kind of get away from me and this one really did. I'm not really sure what happened. Pudge was sulky all day because Joe left this morning with his overnight bag in case he got OT which he didn't. I managed to get a few Christmas decorations cleaned up but other than that the day was spent amusing Cammie and the dogs. Oh and keeping a fire going... It's not as cold but it is really damp out. We only got some sleet but it was enough to make the yard disgusting again. I am so completely over mud. Well not much on our schedule for NYE excitement. We are just going to hang out at home and relax. Hopefully I can get Cammie to sleep at some point. Happy New Year!!!!!

Wild Hair

I have nothing but the utmost respect for all the working moms out there. I can barely get myself and Cammie organized and occupy her all day. Last night Kristen came over and played with her for a little while and she left when Cammie got mean and tired. Cammie fell asleep quickly and awoke just as quickly when I laid her in her crib. Then she stayed up until about 10. I was so stressed after that I couldn't fall asleep so I ended up staying awake reading a boring book which I thought would make me tired. No luck!! So today I feel like crap and I'm tired and I have no idea what she is going to do tonight. She took a short nap during which I opted to take a shower. I laid down on the bed after that and I heard her door open, her light switch on and a loud HI!! It was funny. I can't believe tomorrow is New Year's Eve already! I've been poring over all the saving money websites like moneysavingmom and coupongeek trying to get more ideas for saving $$. I signed Cammie up for two classes through Parks and Rec starting the middle of January, one is the Tot Time and the other is called Wiggles and Giggles. Hopefully there will be enough kids for them to hold both. My new friend Amy who I met in Tot Time is taking her boys again so there will be at least 3 for that! She has the little boy Brendan who Cammie was smooching on. I've got my fingers crossed that this winter weather "event" that is coming tomorrow will pass us by. I think I will sob uncontrollably if we get any more rain right now. The yard has been frozen for the past few days and that is fine but I just can't take any more mud!!!

You want me to do what???

Windy and cold again today. Another not so great day too. The vet called early this morning and said that it was a good thing that we made an appointment for Pudge because he has a pretty bad bladder infection. She called in amoxicillin for him to the CVS. When I went to pick it up the pharmacist didn't think it was funny when I told him that Pudge was my nickname and he should have run it through our insurance. Sigh.... some people have no sense of humor. Cammie has been a wild woman all day today. She stayed up til about ten last night and has been going strong most of the day. She did thoughtfully bring me a beer and an orange from the fridge. Tonight after she had her bath and was watching Santa Buddies in her crib (I thought), I went in to check on her and she was naked from the waist down. She has discovered how to take her diaper off. I'm sure that will come around and bite ME in the @$$ at some point. Stay warm!!!!

Starting to get into the Christmas spirit!

It's really cold again! and windy so hopefully the yard will dry out some. Last night Cammie did not want to go to sleep and I was sure that she would, she took an early short nap and then started showing signs of being tired around 6. We entertained her until about 745 and when I laid down with her she fell right to sleep. By 9 she was awake again and stayed that way until somewhere around 2 I guess. Then was awake at 7. We were supposed to have a play date at Kim Nonato's house in Germantown with Jenny Robbins. I haven't seen either one of them since High School and we were really looking forward to it but after my Hell night and then my back hurting so bad there was no way I could make the hour and a half drive to Kim's house. Pudge also wasn't acting right and we made a vet appointment for him this afternoon. He checked out OK but they are doing a urinalysis on him to make sure he doesn't have a UTI (maybe I should give him a cranberry jello shot....). I also made an appointment today to take Cammie to the doctor. When we got up I noticed that she had a rash around her eye. She has had one off and on around her mouth but it's usually most noticeable after she has her binky in so I just figured it was irritated because she is drooling from cutting teeth. Anyway, Dr. K said it is folliculitis and just to put neosporin on it. Whew.... Of course she didn't think much of the neosporin application but it looks better already. Going to work on getting organized this week, lots to do!!!

Christmas Morning

We have had a busy past few days, as I am sure everyone else has too. Christmas Eve we went to look at Christmas lights and then to a party at the Browns. That was a lot of fun and very well attended with people that Cammie socialized with, most of the time without us. She can party with the best of them!! We were up til about 1 that night after Joe put together her desk and chairs and her wagon and I finished decorating the tree. Cammie woke us up about 715 and then my Mom and Dad came over about 8. We opened presents and had breakfast. After that Joe and I packed up the wild woman and we headed for the Beadenkopfs. Cammie got lots more presents there and we had lots to eat and lots of fun. Cammie stayed up til about 1 herself Christmas night. I finally gave up and put her in bed with us and I fell asleep. Saturday morning we went to Rams Head for breakfast so we could see the Cellini and Bock families. Today Uncle Michael stopped by, he said it was to see all of us but I really think it was just to see Cammie and Clyde. (hee hee) We had lots of fun hanging out with him for a while. Now I'm just counting the minutes until I can try to get the party girl to go to bed. She has already had her bath, watched her dvd and now she is playing downstairs with Daddy. Going to go hang out with them for a bit. Joe has to go back to work tomorrow so that is going to be a bit weird. Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Had to bring back the Elf pic from last Christmas!!

Our little Christmas Elf is such a big girl this year! We can't wait until she sees her presents under the tree tomorrow! It will be so much fun to hear her say WOW and open them! Today we got a ton of stuff done around the house and are getting ready to go look at Christmas lights and then go to the Brown's for a little while. Should be lots of fun!! Merry Christmas Eve Everybody!!!!

Christmas Cutie

A lot of the snow has melted and parts of the yard are back to their disgusting wet self. Ugh, actually I think it's a combo of melting snow and the dogs running through it. There are some pretty high drifts in the back though. Bailey enjoys jumping in them but she pays for it later. I got a really good picture of Clyde laying in the snow today. We took Cammie out for a little while this afternoon. I think she isn't feeling well, she seems to be cutting some more teeth as she has been chewing on everything. She screamed when it was time to come in!! She did better walking around in the snow and she liked it when we threw snowballs at her. We were going to try to build a snowman but lacked the motivation. Other than that it's been a pretty quiet day. Joe ran to the grocery store to get a ham for dinner and a few things that I forgot the other day and he said it was crazy there. It was worth it though (in my opinion) because we had a yummy ham, potato and string bean dinner! Going to hang out this evening!!

Cammie, Kristen, Ashley and Cassidy

This pic was from playing in the snow yesterday. We didn't do any today. We did however foolishly think we could go to Red Robin for lunch and then maybe walk around the mall a bit. Rookie mistake. We couldn't even get near Annapolis. One illegal U-Turn later we were back out on 50. We did decide to go to Bill Bateman's for lunch and we went to Ollie's just to check it out. We really didn't find anything in there but we had a nice lunch and it was also nice to get out of the house. Tonight we are just hanging out, I'm hoping Cammie goes to sleep earlier then she has been, last night she stayed up til about 1030. I guess she wanted to watch all of Survivor and the Finale special. Ugh.... She doesn't sleep any later when she stays up late either. I did put her in her crib and at some point I got her when she started crying and brought her in bed with us and she was a wild woman in her sleep. She must have been dreaming because she said OW and NO very clearly, not in a baby voice at all. It was mildly unsettling. Then she must have kicked me in the face at least six times. I'm hoping for a better night tonight. Don't slip on the ice!!!

Fun in the snow!!!

Well it finally stopped snowing sometime last night. We (well Joe) made out pretty well, Chris and his dad took care of plowing our driveway so Joe just had to shovel the walkway and steps and a place for the dogs to do their business in the backyard. However he said they are using the cleared spot as a staging area when they go outside. They run right over to it and look around the yard. Silly.... We took Cammie down to play in the snow with Ashley, Kristen and Cassidy and hung out with them and Julie for a little while. Joe also went and pulled Patrick's car out of a ditch. So lots more activity today than yesterday!! Joe is off all this week which will be fun. I can't believe it's almost Christmas!! Hope everyone is getting dug out and staying warm!!

Snowy Saturday

The only thing missing is the blow up Santa that is buried under the snow!! I can't believe how much snow is out there. We took Cammie out earlier and it took forever to get her dressed in her "snow attire". She wasn't really impressed with the whole thing. She did like throwing snow for Pudge and she seemed OK until she did a face plant and couldn't get up. The dogs were loving the snow this morning, now that it is continuing, I think they are over it. Poor Bailey likes running around and jumping but she is paying for it now! She is also shorter than the others so she has a harder time. Chris Brown came and plowed our driveway out which was awesome!! We've just been hanging out all day, had a yummy meatloaf and mashed potato dinner. Going to chill out by the fire and watch TV!

I'm not thrilled with this hat.....

This is another pic from the Brown's. Well it looks like it's going to snow a little bit this weekend. It was funny this morning, I went to the grocery store and it wasn't really bad at all. I went to get gas, go to the deli and then get dog food. The people that were out were in like a controlled panic. At least I got all my errands done. It is getting colder and colder! Ugh! Got a fire cranking but it's not heating up like it did last night. We couldn't even sit downstairs last night it was so warm in the basement! Still waiting for Joe to get home, he was busy at work today preparing for the winter weather. Any bets on how much snow we'll get????

Just a couple weeks ago we were warm in Disney!!

Another cold one today and the weathermen are calling for some serious snow this weekend. Whether we get it or not remains to be seen! My back says we will get some kind of precipitation. Cammie and I headed for Centreville this afternoon, the health department was doing the H1N1 clinic again. We walked right in and it took longer to fill out the paperwork than it did to get the shot. This girl wasn't as good as the last one but Cammie didn't really cry just fussed. I knew she was going to when I watched the technique. She wasn't very good. But it's over and Cammie has her vaccines. After that we went around the corner to the consignment shop that Sharon's friend owns to look for a pair of snow boots. I found a really cute pair of Buster Brown ones in Cammie's size for 8 bucks!! They don't appear to have been worn and the original price tag on the box says 32.99 so I think I got a pretty good deal. We headed for home after that and Joe got home not long after us. The past couple of days I have done really well with keeping the fire going, it's really too hot to even sit downstairs so we hung out upstairs for a bit. Cammie kept us entertained and then we watched Survivor. Now everyone is asleep and I'm going to try to do the same! Good night!

This is why the tree is only half decorated....

Yesterday was our last day at Tot Time and Cammie had a good time playing with the boys there. She actually sat and listened to the story which was surprising. She wasn't too into the craft which she usually isn't, they are a little beyond her scope right now. She did go down the big slide into the plastic pool of balls and it was so funny. The static made her hair stick out and her feet went up over her head and she almost bounced out of the pool. She laughed so hard! She's very silly. After that we went to lunch with Alice, Emily and Meaghan. Today we hung out at home and cleaned and played. I had the wood stove going all day and at one point it got really hot really fast, and Pudge was in my face and I couldn't figure what his deal was. Then I realized that if he could sweat he would be sweating. We went outside to cool off and he laid down right away on the concrete (he may have passed out, not sure.....) and rolled over to cool himself off. It was funny, although I'm sure he didn't think so. Tomorrow I am going to try to take Cammie to get her H1N1 booster. There are a couple more dates in January so if it's crowded we'll just leave. I doubt it will be though, since the fervor around it has kind of died down. We'll see. It's going to get COLD!! I'm so glad we have the wood stove!! Oh and the Giant Snowman on Route 8 is out!! It's so huge!!! Cammie saw it and said WOW! I think we are going to take her around to look at lights one evening, maybe this weekend. She really likes them. I'd love to go to one of the walk through streets since she liked the one in Disney so much. Maybe we'll just have to go back there..... hmmmmm We were trying to figure out how many dvc points it would take to live in the Wilderness Lodge. That would be so nice! Stay warm everyone!! Going to watch the SYTYCD finale!! Not sure who I want to win. Then I'm not sure what I'm going to watch next week!!!!!

Being cute at the Browns

...and probably robbing them too, just looking at the purse she is carrying!! This pic is from Kristen. I finished Christmas shopping today and so did Joe. Now my New Year's resolutions are starting early! So I'll start boring everyone with my saving progress! I made a friend at Tot Time who is more into couponing than me and she gave me a bunch of great blogs to check out and she is one of the super shoppers who can actually get freebies! I can every once in a while but not like her! We made out OK last night while Joe was at work except that Cammie woke up around 230 and expected to be entertained. She also didn't nap much today and is now asleep for about the third time this evening. Going to watch The Big Bang and then crash myself. I ate a bunch of candy a little bit ago, that was dumb on so many levels!!! Good night!!!

Daddy is so much fun!!!!

Cammie fell asleep at a semi reasonable time last night. That was nice. Joe got overtime at Elkridge today so he'll be gone until morning. UGH!! I got a few things done but Cammie has been a wild woman today. Last night she figured out that she could walk backwards and now that is her new thing. It's very cute and it thrills her to pieces that she can do it. It rained again today and the yard is a complete and utter disgusting mess. There is water laying on top of the grass. It is terrible. I almost would rather that it snow.

I'm working on making my New Years Resolutions since I haven't done that in forever. If I can pull at least a few of them off, I'll really be doing something!!! Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and whatever you did you managed to stay warm and dry. Although whoever went to the game today I doubt either of those things happened!!

Such a cutie!!!!

It was cold again today but not nearly as windy! Joe was able to get lights on the roof without recreating that email picture that is going around of the guy hanging off the gutter and the ladder in the yard. We actually look somewhat festive this year! We have lights on the house, on the bushes, a lighted wreath over the door (thank you Alice!!) and an inflatable snowman in the front yard! And I'm looking for more!!! Cammie and I went out to Donna's today to make sugar cookies, I don't think we helped very much, Donna was cutting them out, Melissa and Emily were decorating and Alice was manning the oven! Cammie did decorate a couple. She fell asleep on the way to and from Donna's which worries me a little since she did stay awake until after ten last night. She has been yawning so maybe she is tired. I know I am!!! I guess we'll find out soon if she is sleepy or not!

I know there is something back here for me!!!!!

WOW, it's very cold and windy!! It went from fall to Arctic cold in the blink of an eye!!! Joe was off today so we went to Easton so he could go to Lowes and I went to Target. It was really crowded but I got a bunch of stuff that we needed and some that we probably didn't. No bargains though. Only have to Christmas shop for Joe now! Well finish shopping for him. He cooked a yummy roast beef dinner for tonight. I love when he is off!!! Just hanging out now, still trying to recover from the Cammie party last night where she stayed awake until 130. It was terrible. She took a nap when we got home from shopping and I had to wake her up which goes against everything I believe in!!! She took her marathon nap today in our bed and I'm noticing a trend, she can sleep really well in our bed but not in hers..... Hmmmmm I may start sleeping her crib. Hope everyone is staying warm!!!

Making a little music mix and dancing!

Yesterday was pretty low key during the day. We just hung out at home until Joe got home from his meeting, then we dropped Cammie off at the Brown's with Ashley, Kristen and Julie. Cammie really didn't seem to care that we were leaving since there were cats there! We then went to the Union Executive Board dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse at the Inner Harbor. It was nice and the food was really good! As was the company! It doesn't seem like a year has passed since the last dinner, yikes!! We didn't get home til about 1130 which as everyone who knows us knows, that's really late. Especially on a school night for Joe!! I felt bad for him and for Ashley! Cammie was still awake when we picked her up but you could tell she was fighting it. Ashley said she would start crying and then one of the cats would walk by and she would laugh. It took her about five minutes if that to fall asleep when we got home. I was going to shopping with Meaghan today and finish my Christmas shopping but I didn't feel well all last night and this morning and I still don't. I had my pain management appointment today and that went OK, there really isn't much they can do anymore for my back. It sucks. It's really cold out tonight, we've got a rocking fire going and I am just about ready to call it a night. Going to watch Survivor or let it watch me.... Night all, stay warm!!!!

Trying to figure out how to get in the water......

Another wintery cold day today. Alice came this morning and picked up Cammie and they went with Meaghan and Emily to get a Christmas tree and go to lunch. Cammie apparently had a good time! Alice said she had to step on and off every tree stump that was out there. I got some errands run while they were gone and got back in time for the fed ex guy to drop off the new carpet. When Joe came home we rolled it out and realized there is a hole in it. Grrr. I called the company we ordered it from and left a message but I'm sure we are screwed because they said to inspect the merchandise upon its arrival. But how the heck are you going to do that if you aren't home when they drop it off?? Tomorrow we are just going to hang out at home during the day since Joe and I are going to a dinner in the evening and then Thursday I'm going with Cammie and Meaghan to finish Christmas shopping. I think we may just watch movies and play downstairs. The weather report is calling for rain and I'm inclined to agree since my back, hips and legs are killing me!!!! Going to head for bed and watch So You Think You Can Dance!

Our Christmas Tree at home. (just kidding....)

Our tree is only decorated halfway up or should I say down. The treat of the day today was that I went looking for Cammie and found her in our room. The bad part was that she was drawing on the wall with a sharpie. UGH. At least it was a green sharpie and our walls are green. I didn't notice until Joe came home that she had also drawn on the dresser. Most of that came off with alcohol. (Rubbing alcohol not the drinking kind, although if I drank some I may not care that she drew on the walls. ha ha). Anyway, after that I took over to the Browns so I could go to a doctor appointment. She had lots of fun hanging out with Mr. Chris. When I got back they were out on the patio laughing. He said she was very good, except for a code brown. (oops). Not much else got done today since the appointment kind of cut up the whole day. I'm hopeful for tomorrow. I have a ton of crap to do, most importantly finding an outfit for a dinner on Wednesday evening. Alice is picking Cammie up tomorrow morning at 9 so I'm going to leave to try the outlets. I have to be back by 11 to wait for the fed ex guy who is supposed to come between 11 and 4. Is it bed time yet???

There are bears in here!!!!

Vacation is officially over and Joe goes back to work tomorrow. UGH! It didn't rain today but we still didn't do a whole lot. The house is slowly coming together! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

My hair is blowing in the breeze!!

Everyone is talking about how pretty the snow is, well all we have gotten is miserable rain. UGH!! Hoping for some sun tomorrow. Got some Christmas decorating done today. The house is starting to come together. Our carpet is coming on Tuesday so that will be really nice!!! Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!!!!

Being Cute with Mickey

Woke up this morning to a nasty rainy cold day in Orlando. Last night we had changed our flight time from 1940 to 1415 so we were being picked up at 1215. We slept in a little and took our time getting ready to go. Hung out in the lodge lobby enjoying the Christmas ambiance. Our driver got us to the airport in good time and we made it through security quickly, although I did get a rather intense pat down because I had a sweat shirt on. Our flight left a little late because it was so full but the pilot said we would make up the time in the air. I guess in doing so he hit every single speed bump up there. It was worse than the flight down. UGH!! Also had issues with our ears and Cammie screamed for a while which was quite lovely. She finally slept about an hour but then woke up and screamed some more. Very stressful. The landing was also very hard. Then when we got off the plane our stroller wasn't there. It seems that another family had the same stroller as us but they packed theirs in the carry bag and checked it at the gate, well when they brought the strollers up they took ours and left the one in the bag. We took it down to baggage claim but couldn't find them so we just took the stroller home. Stupid people. So after all that and then a long ride home in Friday night traffic we are finally home and Cammie is asleep and I am near it. The dogs were glad to see us and they are behaving nicely. Looking forward to a weekend of decorating for Christmas and continuing to get the house in order!!!

Swimming with the ducks!!

A little chilly to go swimming, I didn't think the pool was heated nearly enough but Cammie had a great time. We got up early this morning and headed right out for Animal Kingdom. Uncle Gary had to leave this morning but he called from the airport and said he got on a flight so he made out OK. We were sad to see him go but we had lots of fun while he was here. When we got to Animal Kingdom we headed right back to the safari ride to get a fastpass since it seemed everyone had the same idea that we did. After that we walked through the Exploration Trail and saw a bunch of ducks and fish and meerkats and the gorillas were really active. By the time we finished that it was time for our fastpass so we got on the safari. Saw lots of animals on that as well. Cammie's finger was pointing everywhere! We decided to leave after the safari since someone didn't sleep well last night. We came back to the WL and got in the pool, well Daddy and Cammie got in the pool and then we had lunch in our room with Mom and Dad. A short nap (entirely too short) followed lunch. When we got ourselves together after that we started out for EPCOT with the plan of cutting through there and going to the boardwalk to eat at the ESPN Zone. That was thwarted when we had to wait too long for a boat since one of them broke down. Oh when we walked into EPCOT we managed to walk right on the Spaceship Earth ride and Cammie loved it, again the finger was pointing at everything and she was ooohing and ahhhing over it all. With our dinner plan at ESPN in the dirt we chose to go to the Land Pavilion and eat there. When we got to the bottom of the escalator there was no wait for the Living With the Land ride and that is one of our favorites so we got on that. Cammie also enjoyed that very much!! We finally grabbed our dinner after all of that. We decided to head out following dinner, we had wanted to stay and watch Illuminations but with someone not napping very well we didn't think it was a good idea. We got a snack at the Lodge and got Cammie to sleep and then we watched Survivor in the big jacuzzi tub with lots of bubbles. It was awesome!!!!! We don't want to leave! But I guess if we don't check out in the morning they'll have to call security or something and it will just get ugly.

Breakfast was AWESOME!!!!

We got up this morning and went to Crystal Palace for breakfast with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore. The food was so good and so was the company!!! The characters came around to each table so Cammie got to hang out with all her furry friends. After breakfast we cruised around the Magic Kingdom and got on the Buzz Lightyear ride, and the Tomorrowland Speedway. Then we headed for Toon Town and played a bit on the playground while we waited for the train to come. Rode the train around to the park entrance and then back to the room for a much needed nap. Woke up mostly refreshed and went back to MK, we passed Gary in front of the castle while we were headed for a bite to eat in Tomorrowland. Gary was watching them film some of the Christmas special and then he staked out a seat for Spectromagic. We ate at the Cosmic Cafe and then rode It's a Small World (Cammie really likes that but the dolls do freak me out a bit!!), The Flying Carpets and then after a group huddle we decided to try the Pirates ride. It turned out to be a good gamble because Cammie liked that too! She was unsure about a couple of spots but no screaming or anything like that. We decided to head for the front of the park when we heard that the parade started at the firehouse and then magically we got a spot right on the rope right at the front!!! Cammie loved it!!!! Unfortunately our camera battery died and I had to get one of those stupid disposable ones so I do have pics but I have no idea how they will turn out. Awesome day today!! Going to get up early and head for the animals tomorrow morning!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Started out the day with a hearty breakfast at Trails End!! We all headed over to Hollywood Studios after that. The day turned out to be gorgeous, sunny but not too hot. We strolled around a bit and got on the Backstage Tour Ride, which Cammie liked, also played a little in the Honey I shrunk the kids playground. Did some sightseeing and then headed back to the room for a nap. After we all took a nap we went back to HW and got on Toy Story Mania which was really cool. Grabbed a bite to eat and then walked through the light spectacle. It was amazing. It was also soap bubble snowing which was a nice touch. Cammie had fun doing some dancing in the streets. She really liked seeing the lights and listening to the music! She is having a blast!! and so are we!! Going to Crystal Palace in the morning for a character breakfast. Looking forward to it!! Good night!!!!