Life as a Lewis

A few things about the week: This might be my favorite Olympics ever. So many wonderful performances, great rivalries, and lots of heartwarming stories. It was only made better by having Becky with me for part of it and we laughed, cried, and cheered together - totally made the Olympic experience even more enjoyable. Whatever will I do with myself next week without having 4 hours of Olympic viewing to look forward to every night? "It's going to be boring around here, I can tell you that much." from Camden as the boys were leaving. And then the tears started rolling down his cheeks. So sweet. "When Rory's a big girl, will she have a real voice?" from William/Xavier (can't really remember which). If you could hear their voices, you'd know this is like the pot calling the kettle black. :) Camden slept during naptime every single day at school. Slept completely through snack time twice. If you knew how little he actually sleeps during naptime, then you&#

Guess what we (definitely click this one) were (video!!) doing this time last year . (another video)

I do not seem to have the energy this morning to recap our fun-filled week with Becky and the boys, but wanted to say how proud I was to watch Kim Yu-Na skate last night for Korea. She was stunningly beautiful and nearly perfect, and I loved watching her win the first figure skating medal for South Korea (and it was gold!).

Becky, William, Xavier, Rory and I surprised Camden at school and brought him lunch today. The three boys were very sweet and maybe slightly more rowdy than allowed at a school table. :) I should have left the camera on auto instead of continuing with my still-under-construction-manual skills, but it will have to do. We stopped at the coffee shop for some coffee then came home, put the kids in bed and scrapped! Leora Sanford/Paislee Press: Sweet & Tart

The Olympics are wearing me out. Ten straight days and nights of competition and I think I'm as tired as if I were actually competing. Somehow I'm glued to the TV even during events I don't care that much about. Even bobsledding becomes interesting in the context of the Olympics. Last night's ice dancing was really fun, even though it's usually my least favorite of the figure skating. Now that Becky is here, I have a partner who is just as obsessed as I am. Brian feels relieved he can just go to bed without pretending to be interested in who's skating what or skiing when or how high Shaun White jumped or how fast Apolo Anton Ohno skated. When I'm not watching the Olympics, I feel like I've spent the last week working on my slow, dying computer. First the EHD went out and my new one arrived. Yesterday, the old EHD miraculously booted up and I was able to copy everything over and I feel immense relief knowing I haven't lost out on any pictures, pages,

Becky and the boys are here for a visit. We're looking forward to lots of camera talk and scrapping. Rory's just happy to have another adult to con into reading "just one more book." Poor Camden had to go to school and the boys are anxiously awaiting his return home.

In honor of President's Day, they've been studying presidents in Camden's class. This was George Washington Day - totally cracks me up in the pick-up line to see all the kindergarten kiddos coming out with their hats on.

You have no idea how much this pose made me smile. And just because I thought this was a fun edit.

Ran across this picture from last July on my computer and immediately thought three things: 1. Look at how brown they both are - clearly during the summer. 2. Love that they're actually sitting together. 3. Does Rory's hair look cute that short or what!

Lauren Reid: Project 365 Remembered v. 2; Love Day kit

My late Olympic nights and 5:30 mornings combined with a 3 year old who has started waking up crying multiple times in the middle of the night equals a very tired mama. Our day was quite busy yesterday. Rory went with me for a short work morning, made a quick Target trip, came home for lunch, nap, woke her up to go get Camden, came home for a quick bath (for her) then headed out to grocery shop and have her hair cut, picked up a pizza for supper, and ended the evening with pizza and the family in front of the Olympics. Camden's baseball meeting was last night and the coach assured us this year was going to be much more difficult than last year since they've all played a year; the league has given us 2 hour practices; moved us up from 2 practices a week to 3 practices a week; and that he will not treat everyone equally at this point - good players take precedence. Yep, this would be sports southern style. Did I mention Camden is 6.5 not a MLB professional? If he didn't love

The only toy Rory has played with consistently since she came home is her baby (and actually not this baby), but since Christmas she's deserted Baby. Yesterday, she renewed her love for playing mommy and it melts my heart.

This is how boring relaxed our snow day was yesterday. The high point was receiving an email confirming Camden gets to be on the same baseball team with the same coach as last season - we're very excited about this. The low point was Rory waking up from her nap with a 101+ fever yet again (she's been fairly perky today so I'm hopeful it was a fluke). Today has been another quiet day. Camden and Brian are back in school so it's just been the girls around here and we've been catching up on reading lots of books as well as some cleaning. Actually, we haven't read lots of books, we've read Fancy Nancy (or Fancy Antsy as Rory calls it) over and over and over. I've been staying up much too late watching Olympic coverage every night which means I'm running slow (as evidenced by the fact that it's 1:45 and I'm just now blogging). Even though my EHD is completely out of commission, I had my photos backed up (thank heavens!) and with new CT kits avai

Since we're all at home with another snow day, I decided to actually cook breakfast this morning. We're generally a cereal or pop-tart kind of household, although Brian always cooks a hot breakfast on Saturday mornings. I made French Breakfast Puffs from the PW cookbook, and they were quite tasty (and very bad for you - think rolled in butter, then cinnamon and sugar). Everyone loved them except Rory. She licked the cinnamon and sugar off and proclaimed herself ready for another. Since straight cinnamon and sugar aren't acceptable as a meal, I made her eat the rest of the muffin (they were mini muffins). She shuddered through it then asked for another, licked off the topping and proclaimed herself finished yet again. I guess she decided the sugar was worth the actual muffin.

Our weekend flew by in a flurry of meetings, discussions, and while it went well, we're both mentally and physically exhausted. The kids had a fabulous time staying with family, although I'm pretty sure they're happy to have us home. We (I should probably rephrase that to say "I") spent every spare moment glued to the Olympics over the last few days. We even had a couple of hours free Saturday night and chose to have a quiet evening in the hotel with pizza and Apolo Anton Ohno instead of taking advantage of a kid-free Saturday night. I love the Olympics. I have almost no memory of my childhood (I've clearly inherited my mother's horrible memory), but I can remember specific Olympic events from my childhood (like crying when Debi Thomas did not win the gold medal - I even remember her crazy banana clip hair and the outfit she was wearing). I love the intense competition; I love the sappy commercials (superbowl ads have nothing on Olympic ads); I love watchi

New papers and templates by Gina Miller

I had about 4 hours of complete panic yesterday as my EHD refused to work. Four years worth of pictures, layouts, and scrapping supplies are on there (almost 500GB worth). Thankfully, it seems that it's just a bad USB port and everything is safe. I plan to spend next week backing everything up! I had big plans for a cute Valentine's Day craft and cards for Rory (Camden is completely covered in the craft department at school), but honestly I spent all day yesterday trying to get caught up on everything that I've let go for the last 10 days (and obsessing over the EHD). I guess it's a good thing she's 3 and doesn't have a clue Sunday is Valentine's Day. And why can't I just craft on Friday or Saturday you ask? I have a VERY full day tomorrow including helping with breakfast for Camden's class, errands, hair cut, and then we're heading out of town for a couple of days. I wish I could say it was for a romantic get-away, but it's actually work-rel

Oh, I am so ready for a schedule again! In the last month we've had too many lots of snow days, stomach flu, RSV, colds, MLK day, teacher orientation, etc. and I just want my schedule back. I'm a little OCD about schedules (as my dear hubby can tell you) and I'm starting to feel very much out of sync. I like to divide up all my household chores and do them on a specific day every week. I like to run errands the same day every week. I like to . . . well, you get the picture. When I'm not in sync, I find myself relying on the TV too much to entertain the kids; I find it harder to get my devotions done while I'm in the right frame of mind; I find myself not sticking to the menu which wreaks havoc on our grocery budget; I find myself with too many excuses to not use the treadmill. All of this to say, I want my schedule back. Or maybe I should just loosen up. Shabby Miss Jenn: Feeling Lucky Lauren Reid: Bean Juice

We woke up to snow yesterday morning which means an automatic snow day if you live in the south. Camden spent the day at Gram and Gramp's house while Brian was our chauffeur and took Rory and I back to see Dr. H for Rory's checkup. Her lungs are clear, she's finally sleeping better, but now has an ear infection (which doesn't seem to be affecting her thank goodness!). She has lost 2.5 lbs in 8 days and is still not eating, but is feeling so much better! She's also managed to share her germs with both mommy and daddy. In typical Brian fashion, he took a swig of Nyquil and woke up feeling better. In typical Melissa fashion, I'm not quite that lucky. Brian and Camden are off again today for Snow Day #9 (in the last 4 weeks) so Brian's in charge of the house yet again (poor guy) while I try to get rid of this crazy cold. I think he might even tackle our taxes this afternoon.

Rory is still sick, but her fever comes and goes so I know she's improving. Her cough, however, is still horrific and she is not eating or sleeping. Well, her sleep has improved slightly - she's now only waking up every hour instead of every 20 minutes. Not enough improvement! We're practically living in the bathroom running hot water so the steam will help her breathing. Camden is off school today. I may have to send him outside running laps around the house in the cold weather to help him burn off energy. Yes, we really do this sometimes. I'm officially no longer a football fan. First Kurt Warner lost; then Brett Favre; now Peyton Manning. Apparently, I'm incapable of picking a winner, and I'm not a big fan of losing. I'm exhausted from being up with Rory all night 6 nights straight. And I've managed to pick up a sore throat and cold. Brian has been such a big help this week. He's cleaned house, cooked, and taken very good care of all of us. Here a

Rory and I took another trip to the doctor Friday morning because she was much worse overnight, and after flu tests and breathing treatments, Dr. H decided she has RSV. So he sent us home with breathing treatments and we settled in for a horrible afternoon and night. This has really been one of the worst weeks of my life. She has been SO sick and miserable! It reminds me a bit of when she came home - clinging to me for dear life, no rest, my entire focus on her and just trying to make it day by day (I haven't cooked a meal since Monday or even looked at the house and laundry). We're finally seeing some improvement. She slept from 4-7:30 this morning (the longest stretch in 4 days!), ate half a piece of toast this morning (the most in 4 days!) and even was fever free for about 30 minutes (it was Motrin-induced, but for the past 4 days we've been alternating Tylenol/Motrin and her fever has still stayed close to 102). Hopefully things are looking up!

So the official diagnosis is pneumonia, but because Dr. H thinks it's viral, we're holding off on an antibiotic. When he asked me if I was okay with waiting for a day or two to see if she starts to feel better on her own, I wanted to ask him if he were okay with coming to spend a couple of days at my house so that I could get some sleep, but decided that wasn't appropriate. So, we're waiting. And she is most definitely not better yet. I'd like to say that I'm the epitome of motherly compassion, but since I pulled out the camera when she plopped down right in front of the door and started sobbing (yet again) because of her finger prick, I'm clearly not. And, by the way, she's had a popsicle, 1/2 granola bar and an orange in the last 48 hours. Good thing she's got all that extra weight on her to lose (insert eye roll here).

Rory and I spent yesterday being couch potatoes. Actually, I had no choice - she wouldn't move out of my lap and was burning up with fever which leads to lots of crying (and the couch + TV + books is the only way to stay sane). Last night was pretty much a repeat of Tuesday night, which means VERY little sleep. We're headed to see Dr. H today. I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but I couldn't tell you how many times the kids have acted as if they're deathly ill, fevers, hacking up a lung, etc. and the moment we step into the doctor's office, they're all smiles and fevers magically disappear. We LOVE our pediatrician, but every time we have to make a trip, I wish his office weren't nearly an hour away. He's worth it, but it's very inconvenient. Camden had a good first day back to school. Brian was actually home again yesterday and volunteered to hit up the grocery store for me. I think when he got there and realized it was senior citizen

I remembered yesterday as I was getting my teeth cleaned that I'm not a big fan of the dentist's office. I've got healthy teeth, but it's just not fun to have someone stick both hands in your mouth, squirt water, use metal instruments to scrape, etc. It was probably a good thing for me to have the experience fresh in my memory since Camden and Rory go next week - I might be a tad more compassionate. :) After my 1.5 hours in the dentist's torture chamber, I spent the rest of the day working on Rory's consignment/blog sale stuff. I need to get a serious handle on her closet and stop buying so much stuff! I'm determined to do better this year. I skipped out on Gymbucks redemption last week as well as didn't use 3 (out of 4) 40% coupons I had for Gap in January. Baby steps, people. My kids are not sick often. In fact, Camden had his first fever in over 3 years on Friday, and he's almost completely better now. He is the best sick kid - never complains, is

I already sent this out to a few of you and boy are you fast! Here's the info in case you're interested in anything. Send request via my email at camdensmommy at gmail dot com. Click here. Password is closet.

Living in the south pays off again - one final snow day for Brian and Camden! While it seems a little nuts and I know my family in the north thinks we're crazy, it's probably a good call. The non-major roads (including the one we use to get anywhere) are still about 75% snow/ice covered and it is seriously packed down. We've also got a bit of rain/sleet this morning which should makes things fun. Considering we have lots of tiny little curvy roads in our county, I'm assuming they don't want the buses out and about. The kids bounced off the walls all day yesterday and we all made the trek into town for Rory's gymnastic class. She loves it so much and seriously cracks up the teacher and other moms, but let me just say - this girl is no natural athlete. :) I've got a dentist's appointment this morning and Brian has a church meeting late morning so we're tag teaming with the kids. I'm planning to take advantage of having Brian home and drag out the r

There is one big perk to being a teacher in the south: snow days! Brian and Camden are off school again today which puts us at four straight days of relaxing and family time. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last several days, but am starting to go a bit stir crazy. :) This morning we ventured out to the grocery store and Brian is at the local coffee shop attempting to get some work done while I'm helping Camden out on a homework project - the first major project in his academic career (Brian's bringing me an iced mocha home to make up for it). I did a little scrapping over the weekend, although not nearly as much as I would have liked. Designs by Lili: Secrets and Dreams Gina Miller: Smitten