Christmas 2008

We stayed in Utah for Christmas. It was so nice to not travel in the winter weather! My parents came down and all of my siblings were here in Utah except for my oldest sister, Jennifer.

The weekend before Christmas we got together with our friends, Curt & Shawna and Jordan & Jenny. Curt and Jordan were two of Aaron's best friends in highschool and Shawna and I grew up together and Jenny was my closest friend in Moscow. So, needless to say, it was great to see them and their families. We went to the Brick Oven in Provo for dinner and then went to Temple Square to see the lights.

The gang at the Brick Oven

They had a picture taken in this same spot at Temple Square before their missions (more than 10 years ago). We also took a picture of them with all of their kids - pretty chaotic - and none of my pictures turned out.

Reading Calvin and Hobbes with Grandpa Johnson

Christmas Eve Party at my Sister Angela's

In our Ugly Sweater Glory!

Mom, Steph, Me, Angela, Gina

The Johnson family (minus the little kids and Jen's family)

Christmas Morning!

Carly would have been content with just a couple of books and her $1 jump rope for Chrismas.

(You can see on the couch that Santa didn't forget the pink rubber ducky)

This is the awesome tent and teepee that Aunt Steph got Carly and Ellie for Christmas!

Speaking of Stephanie... Carly told me the other day that she wanted me to go somewhere so that Stephanie could come over and babysit her.

And, a few days ago the girls and I went over to Steph's house just to hang out and then we picked up Aaron from work.

Aaron asked the girls "What did you do at Aunt Steph's house?"

Carly answered, "Ate candy, jumped on beds, and watched kid movies"

(No wonder she's the favorite!)

Family Christmas Pictures

Our Big Sisters with Baby Sister

We had about 30 minutes of this:

It really does just get to the point where all you can do is laugh about it! We took soooo many pictures and none of them really turned out that great (partly because we were doing it ourselves....and partly because we have a 4-year-old and an amost-3-year-old)

p.s. Ellie cut her bangs last week

p.p.s. Our internet is kind of weird right now, so I don't know if it's just on our computer, but I'm not due in 32 days like the baby ticker says - it totally freaked me out one day when I saw it! ha ha!! I'm really due in 8 weeks.

Catching up

I put Ellie's hair in braids the night before - she has such beautiful hair!

Sad, but true...this is one of the only Thanksgiving pictures that I took over the whole break. Uncle Josh let the kids ride in the back of their Hummer! We were in Rexburg this year for Thanksgiving and had a lot of fun...and fighting (lots of little cousins who think they're in charge).

Franci and Holly (Aaron's sisters) and I went to the movie Fireproof. We had no idea what the movie would be about, but we really enjoyed it.

These are the gingerbread houses that Carly and Ellie made (they were originally decorated with candy - but Carly and Ellie thought the candy would be better to eat)

A Bow Holder
I got this idea from my friend Brandy - (she does all sorts of fun homemade projects)! I made this one for my sis-in-law and I still need to make one for myself. (The picture to the right is what I have been using as a bow holder for the last year or so - I like Brandy's idea much better!)

So, one of the reasons I haven't been blogging lately is because I've been sick for the last week and a half - not fun (head cold and the stomach flu). I think I'm pretty much better now though! So, this is a picture of Aaron and the girls hanging out (watching Robin Hood) while Mommy rests.



Aaron also took the girls to a work Christmas Party for kids while I was sick. They got to sit on Santa's lap. One nice thing about not having TV commercials...

Santa: What would you girls like for Christmas this year?
Carly: A rubber ducky...a pink one!
Ellie: A pink rubber ducky!
(That should make Christmas shopping pretty easy on Santa's wallet!)

Aside from taking care of the girls and me while I've been sick, Aaron has been studying for his licensing exams - pretty intense. He's such a hard worker, I sure hope he does well. One of these days I'm going to post some pictures of what Aaron has been doing at work - he's kind of their in-house landscape artist. I just need his help downloading and stuff.

What Mom's can't live without

(This post was inspired by you, Courtney)

I need some suggestions on carseats. I hated the carseat I had with Carly and Ellie, so I dumped it as soon as Ellie went to a forward-facing carseat. Are Gracos pretty good? They seem to have good reviews and are decently priced too.

Also, what would you suggest as far as baby slings and carriers?

A couple things that I think are a must:

-Lansinoh lanolin cream - I even used it for a couple weeks before I had Ellie which saved me a lot of pain afterwards.

-A nursing cover (Bebe au lait, Hooter Hiders, etc). I didn't have one of these with Carly and Ellie, but I'm definitely going to have one (or a few) for this time.

You would think I already know about everything that I would need or want after doing this twice already, but I seem to find out about a lot of things after they would have done me some good. So, is there anything else that you just can't live without or have heard that a Mommy shouldn't live without?

Five Years!

(...a little early, but I don't know if I'll get a chance to post this next week)

2008

In the past five years...

We have had 2 sweet girls with another one on the way.
Lots of diaper changing -- we figure it's somewhere around 7,500...at LEAST!!!
(Out of our five years of marriage, almost two of those have been spent pregnant!)

14 church callings - (currently Aaron is our ward's "Piano Man" - ward organist, primary pianist, choir pianist - obviously they have a hard time finding people to do this in our ward. And I just got the calling to be the R.S. Enrichment Leader.)

lived in 4 different apartments (in Idaho and Utah)

3 bachelors and a masters degree (Aaron has two bachelors degrees)

I've only had 1 job (for the first nine months - until Carly came) Aaron has had about 9 different jobs.

(warning: this next one could be it's own separate post) In five years we have purchased only 1 item of furniture - our bed - and this we didn't purchase until we moved to Moscow. The first couple weeks we had a blow-up mattress and after that Aaron's parents let us borrow two twin beds that we pushed together (one was even a little shorter than the other - ha ha!) All of the other furniture we own has been given to us - some new, but mostly rejects/hand-me-downs. Our kitchen table, couches, rocker/glider, bookshelf, TV and TV stand, crib, pack-n-play, girls' twin beds, all four of our dressers, and most of our home decor... Yeah, you're probably thinking we're way cheap - but we like to call it frugal :)! We are planning on buying our second item of furniture soon - another dresser so we can fit all of the girls clothes when the new little one comes. But wait a second... I just remembered that my parents have a couple dressers that they haven't been using for a few years now... :)

In the past five years we have owned only 1 car (which we did buy). Luckily, this car hasn't given up on us, and luckily, Aaron's work pays for him to use public transportation. We obviously love the saying:
Use it up
Wear it out
Make it do
Or do without
A great saying to live by,

In the past five years we have driven back and forth between Rexburg (Aaron's parents) and Idaho Falls (my parents) way too many times!

In the past five years I have felt so lucky to have met Aaron and married him - and as my Dad has said: "There aren't any better than this, Camile." I agree.

All about Carly and Ellie

Ellie with a "real" smile! She has just learned how to zip up her coat all by herself (Carly just learned too). Ellie will be three in just two months.



Carly found this snail a while back (I am so amazed at how unafraid she is of bugs and slimy things!) Carly turned 4 in August.

Although it was hard, at times, to have Carly and Ellie so close together (17 months), I am so grateful now because they are such good friends and entertain each other so well!



We are doing a preschool/joyschool for Carly right now and the past few weeks have been at my home (Ellie joins the other three kids when it's at my house) - Let me just say, I hope I am never in a position where I feel like I need to homeschool my children!
Today for preschool we talked about children all around the world. Here they are with their homemade, paper bag, pinatas.




One thing that Carly and Ellie love to do together is make-believe. Some of their favorites:
-One of them is the Mommy and the other is the baby or puppy. Today Carly was Mary and Ellie was Baby Jesus.
-Sharks or aligators are on the family room floor and they have to get away from them.
-Imaginary puppies and kittens need to be rescued and taken care of.
-One of them is the librarian (they will sit and read books for a really long time).
I love listening to them make up different situations and playing so well with each other.

They still fight a lot though. Some of the biggest issues:
-Carly won't let Ellie brush her hair
-Who gets the favorite color cup, spoon, fork, or whatever (I've tried to explain that the water/food tastes the same either way - they don't care!)
-Who gets to ride on Daddy's shoulders
-"She hit (or kicked or pinched or touched) me!"
-They both want to be in charge at the same time (This is usually what it always boils down to)


If I would have known 20 years ago how irritating it was to listen to your kids fight, I would have been much kinder to Stephanie. It does give me great hope to think of what great friends Steph and I are now though!



This is Carly with a couple of her friends - the one on the left is a year older than her and the one on the right is only 4 months older than her! (Carly is so tiny!!!)

6 months down...3 more to go!

6 months!!!

Carly and Ellie have been very helpful in coming up with names for their baby sister.

Some of Carly's most creative ideas:
Luckiah
Rispoona
Niclair
Cackleen (her version of Kathleen)



Some of Ellie's:
Laleela
Camile
Olivia
Ike (my favorite)

Aaron and Camile's:
still not sure!

Everything is going well as far as the pregnancy is concerned. I've been experiencing Braxton-Hicks for about a month and a half now and have already been feeling some pressure and a little uncomfortable. I'm not worried about the baby coming too early, I'm just nervous about how uncomfortable the last month might be!

Even thought this is the third time around, I am still just amazed when I feel the baby move and kick... and to think that this is one of my own babies, just like Carly and Ellie. It is so amazing and I'm so grateful to be pregnant! I am so excited to meet this little girl and see how her personality will fit into our family. I wonder who she will look like. And I wonder if we'll have another little "boss" or get to experience a laid back child. For those of you have had three (or more) children - especially those with 3 girls in a row (and I know quite a few) - what is the third child's personality like in your family?

This baby is going to get so much love - Carly and Ellie already love to hug and kiss my belly and sing and talk to their sister. The second time around (when I was pregnant with Ellie) I always wondered how I would be able to love another little baby like I loved Carly. I just thought I loved Carly more than I would be able to love anything else! But, it's amazing how you can just find more and more love inside of you - did any of you feel this way with your second pregnancy? So, with this pregnancy I haven't really had to think about that - I already love this little one, and I'm sure that this love will continue to grow.