We're moving

Update your bookmarks and come visit us at our new blog

http://villacampafamily.wordpress.com/

What we did today

Our day got started pretty early this morning because we had a lot to do today. I've been wanting to lay sod in several places in the front and back yards for a while and our awesome neighbor was able to get a pallet of sod for me. I got started around 7:15 with an area in the front yard. It would have been a lot quicker, but I had to dig out some of the dirt so that the new grass would be level with the grass that was already there.

Before:

During:

After:

We also laid sod in a couple places in the back yard and filled in a big spot in the front yard that had been nothing but dirt and weeds. I finished up around 4:00 or so. Robyn helped out a bunch but we made sure that she didn't overdo it. Taylor was content to just watch from her swingset.

Maybe some day we'll have a lawn and not just a yard. And then I'll fulfill my dream of getting Yard of the Month!

2 years ago

One of my favorite hobbies to is to occasionally look back through our pictures to see what Taylor looked like a year or two ago. Here's a picture from exactly two years ago. She's grown so much but still loves to laugh and smile.

One more month until...

we find out what we're having!!! Technically it's one month and 1 day, but who's counting? We are!!! Taylor goes back and forth on whether or not it's going to be a girl or a boy. For the longest time she would only say it was going to be a girl and was adament on having a sister. But lately she talks about it being a boy and today at MDO she told her movement teacher that there's a baby brother in Mommy's tummy. Part of me wants to try some of those silly old wives tales that supposedly predict the gender, but I'll probably refrain myself since I know they're not accurate. I guess we'll just have to wait another month (and 1 day) to know! Nick's parents will fly in to be at the ultrasound and spend the weekend with us and we're so excited! They came to the ultrasound when we found out that Taylor was a girl, and we're happy to have them share this one with us, too.
I had another OB appt this morning and everything looks to be fine. I heard the heartbeat again on the doppler - that's a great sound. Oh, how did I forget to mention this?! I'm feeling much better. I still have nausea spells every now and then, and still gag occasionally (lovely, I know) but overall I feel good. And for that I am very thankful!
Since I don't have a picture of baby #2, I'll leave you with a picture of my precious little Taylor taken my friend Lindsay who is a talented photographer.

Recent news

I (Nick) have wanted a lemon tree for a while, so I got one last summer. The tree is only 3-4 feet high, but we just picked the first lemons off it. There were only 4 lemons and they aren't very big but they didn't seem to be getting any bigger so I picked them hoping that that would spur on growth of new lemons.

























In other news, Taylor wasn't feeling well last week so Robyn took her to the doctor on Friday. The doctor listened to her lungs and said that she has bronchitis. They prescribed her an antibiotic, which she has been taking now for 3 days. Her cough seems to have gotten worse today, so please pray that the Lord heals her soon. The picture of her below may not seem like a big deal, but she was so tired yesterday that she fell asleep on the couch for almost an hour. She's never done that before, so we knew that she really wasn't feeling well.

















Thanks to Taylor's help, I was able to wheel the bags of leaves out to the street.


















Oh, and Tay Tay stole some provalone cheese from Walmart today...put it right in her backpack.

Thank you, Publix! I'll see you again soon!

So my trip to Publix was a success! I managed to spend $39.85 and save $59.98! This was possible because of their sales, my coupons (I didn't have coupons for everything), a $10 off $50 Winn-Dixie coupon that my generous and dear friend Morgan shared with me! Thanks again, Morgan! And thanks, Martha, for driving and coaching me through my first trip to Publix! They break it down at the bottom of your receipt and give you a Savings Summary. Mine showed that I saved $10 with the Winn-Dixie store coupon, $6.75 with coupons, and $43.23 with their sales. There were a few sale items that I wanted that they were sold out of, and I got rain checks for those things. As long as I redeem the rain checks within 30 days I get the items at the sale price!
I didn't take a picture of my purchases, so you'll just have to use your imagination, but just know that I got about $100 worth of groceries, etc. for about $40. I will say I bought a couple of things that I normally wouldn't buy, but they're definitely not things we won't use or eat. So all in all, I'm pleased and I will be shopping there again!

Finally!

So I'm finally going to go to Publix tomorrow. I know (hope) it will be worth it. For my first time (and maybe second and third) I'll go with a friend who knows what she's doing and knows the layout of the store. Tomorrow I'll go with Martha. There have been a few weeks lately that I really wanted to go, I just couldn't coordinate my schedule with any of the other Publix shoppers. I have lots of friends who've been making the 45 minute drive to Fairhope (1.5 hours round-trip) for quite some time now and they continue to do so. I've heard from their mouths and read on their blogs their amazing savings from week to week and how they've drastically cut down on their grocery bills. I've been wanting to try it for months, but just haven't felt up to it physically...or mentally for that matter. It takes A LOT of preparation to look through the sales for the week and get your coupons together, but according to everyone I know who does it, it's well worth it. I mean, after all, I work outside of the home very little and therefore, make very little money, so I'm hoping this will be another way I can contribute financially (in a round-a-bout way). I'm really excited and a bit nervous. I haven't built up a huge collection of coupons yet, so I printed several off the internet tonight. I'm hoping that once I get the hang of it and have more coupons filed away from Sunday papers that it won't take quite as long. But we'll see. I'll let you know how it goes. Here's to hoping!

P.S. And who knows, maybe I'll even take a picture of my loot and tell you how much I spent and how much I saved...if you're lucky! ;)

Here's a funny picture of the tot. The only thing it has to do with this post is that she will be at MDO. Thank goodness for trips to the grocery store without my little "helper" - especially when it will be a long trip.

Happy Easter

Easter Party

Taylor had a little Easter party today at MDO and I actually remembered my camera this time. The last few parties I've forgotten it. They had cute little finger sandwiches cut into the shape of bunnies and eggs made my one of the moms, cheese, fruit, cupcakes and juice boxes. Then after they ate they went out into the church courtyard and had a little Easter egg hunt. So cute! In one picture you can see two of the kiddos holding up 4 fingers...they were answering Ms. Tracy's question "how many eggs can you find?"

All Tuckered Out

This is how I found Taylor when I went in to check on her last night. Apparently her belly was a little hot.

Renovation update

Our renovation is about 99% d-o-n-e! Hopefully we can put some after pictures on the blog today or tomorrow.

Well, it looks like...

we're going to need to change the name of our blog...because we're having another baby! Most of you probably already know since we made it public on facebook already. But in case you didn't, now you do. I'm 11 weeks and a few days, and I go back to the Dr. one week from today. My estimated due date is October 9th, which is my friend Ashley's birthday and I think it was Streed's due date, or at least close to it.
"Quick" recap: I had my first appt. at 8 weeks and had to go back the next day for an ultrasound. My appt. was on a Monday when the u/s tech isn't there and apparently in this practice it's not standard procedure to have an ultrasound at your first appt. Well, I'll spare you the details but the Dr. said I have a tiny uterus and she wanted me to have an ultrasound which meant I had to come back on Tuesday. So of course I went home and googled "tiny uterus" to find out what all the scary possibilities are. :) Then, Tuesday morning on my way to take Taylor to MDO my car was acting up, so after I dropped her off I started to head to my friend Morgan's house to borrow her car for my appt. But I couldn't even make it there. Soooo, Nick had to leave work to come get me, making me late for the appt. While I waited for him I started thinking that maybe the car trouble was God-ordained because I was going to find out some bad news at the u/s and needed Nick to be with me, so I started crying. To make an already long story not so long, we got to see the baby and it's heartbeat (which made me cry again!) and it appears to be fine. The u/s tech didn't say that my uterus looked tiny on the u/s so hopefully it's ok.
I'll leave you with a picture of our little lima bean...not that it looks like much.

Little Miss Manipulator

How do children learn to manipulate at such an early age? I guess it's just part of the sin nature that we're born with. In case you're wondering today is NOT the first time Taylor has manipulated me or attempted to, but today was so far the funniest. The scenario goes a little something like this...
- I put Taylor in her crib for a nap at 2 (first mistake, I waited too long, but we were out and about, then my dear friend Heather who I haven't seen in forever came over for lunch and I let Tay stay up a little late.)
- She proceeded to play and squeal and laugh with the occasional, "Mommy, come get me..." cry.
- Then at about 3:00 I heard her say something about her sleepy sack, which she snuggles with, so I went in there to put it back in her crib because I was 100% sure she'd thrown it out
- I was correct.
- So when I gave it back to her, she requested a different CD to listen to.
- I obliged because I was hoping that would help get her to sleep.
- I then told her that if I had to come back in there I would have to give her spanking, but that I really didn't want to.
- There was a pause and then she said, "I love you sooooo much!" I busted out laughing, as did Heather. She must have been thinking that if she said that I wouldn't keep my word.
- Then she went to sleep, hence the ability to blog. :)

Mini Vacation

We had a mini vacation this past weekend in Santa Rosa Beach, FL with Nick's family. Sunday was the Annual Seaside 5K and Half-Marathon, so that was the reason for the trip. It was wonderful to see Nick's family! They all live in various cities in FL so we don't get to see them nearly enough. The only ones that were missing were Chat, Mia, and Nathan (Jonathan's wife and kids) and we missed seeing them. It was absolutely beautiful and a nice little getaway from renovation land that we are currently living in. Nick took a ton of pictures and he'll probably want to post a slide show later, but for now I'll just whet your appetite with a few pictures.

Beautiful Words

These are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs (currently). Not only are the lyrics fabulous, but the vocals are great, too. I heard it in the radio a couple of times and called the radio station to ask about the artist and song title, but never got through. I woke up to it this morning on the radio, too. Sooo, in true Robyn fasion, I googled it, which took a few tries since I knew neither the artist or song title. But, alas, I found it. It's called "Yahweh" and it's by two sisters named Tal & Acacia. I hope it touches your heart and makes you want to praise the Lord.

Gaze
I want to Gaze at you
Soak
Soak in all you do
Sit
so simply at your feet
Listen
To your voice so sweet
And Let time Pass Away

(Chorus)
As I simply Praise
Yahweh
My Lord I cry
Jehovah Elohim
The Lord Most High
and When my hands are raised
My Knees they fall
As I simply Praise
Jehovah

Cry
As I see your blood stains
Overwhelmed
As I see your pain
And I'll dance, dance, dance
Because I am set free
You are my conqueror
Jehovah Nissi
And Let time Pass Away

(Chorus)

Do I believe that you're my God
That You're all I need That you're all I need
Do I believe that you'll sit down
and be crowned my king for eternity
Do I believe that you're my God
That You're all I need That you're all I need
Do I believe that you'll sit down
and be crowned my king for eternity
Do I believe that you're my God
That You're all I need That you're all I need
Do I believe that you'll sit down
and be crowned my king for eternity
So Let time Pass Away

(Chorus)

My Daddy, My Abba, My Best Friend
YAHWEH

Just a picture

I took this picture of Tay Tay eating an orange and I thought I'd share it.

Snow Day

We didn't get as much snow today as we hoped to get but it snowed on and off for a few hours. Taylor knows what snow is from seeing it on tv so she was excited to actually see it for the first time.

We're at the start of week 3 of the renovation and everything is pretty much going according to plan. All the walls have been framed in and today (after I took these pics) they hung the plywood so that now the area is pretty much completely enclosed. Drywall will hopefully go up soon and then we'll be on the home stretch. We've had a few minor glitches but things have been very smooth for the most part. More pics later...

Robyn's Thoughts on the Renovation...

It's Day 5 of the reno and the guys have gotten lots done. I'll have Nick post some more pictures later. Joe, our contractor, estimates about 3 more weeks until completion, which seems so soon. I won't hold my breath, though. I've watched enough shows on HGTV and DIY to know that there may be a few unexpected issues come up...but I hope not too many. :)

Ok, on to my thoughts. Let me first say that we are thankful to the Lord for enabling us to do this renovation! It is something we've been thinking about and talking about for about 2 years. Actually, probably over 2 years, even before we moved into this house. In case you're new to this blog or just forgot, we bought this house from my step-grandmother, and thanks to my step-mom and her siblings, were given a great deal! We knew that there was work to do on the house and some things we wanted to change sooner or later. Some things we changed right away and now we are thrilled to be renovating the master bathroom, closet and laundry room. The bathroom was tiny and had some pretty serious plumbing issues, the closet was tiny and could only hold Nick's clothes, and the laundry room was unfinished (as in you could see into the ceiling rafters and some parts of the wall...creepy) and couldn't be accessed from inside the house. Though we were thankful to even have these rooms in the first place, we knew they could be improved. Sooo, that's how we got where we are today! This project makes me feel like a grown up. Most of the time I don't really feel like a grown-up, eventhough I'll be 30 this June, but doing this project makes me feel like one.

I'm sure we'll learn lots of lessons during this whole process. And in case you don't know me that well, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and a regretter. This isn't a good combination, especially when doing a renovation. In the end there might be a thing or two that I wish I'd done differently, but I pray I'll have a thankful heart and see how wonderful it is even if it's not perfect. We'll keep you posted on the progress. :)

Renovation, Day 3

Here are some pictures from day 3 of the renovation. I'm very impressed with the amount of work that they've completed. In a nutshell they've gutted the old bathroom, closet and laundry room and have jackhammered the concrete in order to lay new pipes to accommodate the new layout. There are many other things that have gotten done, but it's late so that's all the details you get.

Buddies

Nick and Taylor are buddies, big buddies. He's a great Daddy and they're really cute to watch. Here are a few shots of the fun they have together playing, snuggling, reading, "painting" with water, and putting marker tops on their finger tips. (Disclaimer: Taylor does not drink coke, that's water in the coke bottle. But Nick does and that is indeed coke in the can.)

Teddy Bear Picnic

Taylor's class had a Teddy Bear Picnic last Tuesday at MDO. Each child was supposed to bring their favorite teddy bear, which for Taylor seems to fluctuate. This particular day this one was the lucky guy. I'm not really sure what all they did, but I do know each of the bears got an award. Taylor's bear, who is so cleverly named "Teddy Bear" got the award for Softest Bear. You can't tell very well from the picture but her dress has 3 teddy bears on it. It was a hand-me-down from my step-siter, Melanie, and the timing was perfect! Thanks again, Mel!
On an unrelated note, one of her teachers said Taylor was having a "Little Day", meaning that she looked super young that day. I agreed, she did look a little babyish that day.

Renovation starts with demolition

The talk of our house for the last few weeks has been the renovation that we've hoped to start soon. We've met with architects and contractors over the last couple of months and now that the new year is here we finally decided that it's time to get started. Right now our master bathroom and closet are very small so we're going to expand both of those rooms. And right now the laundry room is attached to the house but is unfinished (no sheetrock and you can see into the attic) so we'll move things around so that you'll now be able to access the laundry room through the house. I think this is the part of the renovation that Robyn is most excited about. And I actually drew up the plans for the remodel so I'm excited to see how my plans turn out.

We've spoken with our contractor and he's going to start working tomorrow so we decided to get started with the demolition yesterday. You can see in the pics that we made some good progress yesterday. We removed the toilet and vanity and got all the tile off the walls in the bathroom. Robyn also worked hard and made a lot of progress on the laundry room. I think we're both sore today so we decided to have a Sabbath and leave the rest of the work to the contractor, although we'll do more work later on.

Mommy and Me Ballet Class

Taylor and I had the privilege of going to a Mommy and Me Ballet Class this morning! You just don't know how excited I was! I would LOVE for her to be a dancer, but don't worry I won't be one of those pushy moms who tries to live vicariously through her children.:) I couldn't find the little camera so I don't have any pictures, but we plan to go again next week, so I'll be sure to take some then. I think she had a good time. There actually wasn't a lot of ballet today, but it's a 12 week class, so I'm sure we'll progress into more dance. It really was more of just a "movement class" where we warmed up, stretched, sang songs and did hand motions/body movements with them. The teacher briefly told the story of Swan Lake and showed them pictures of swans and a ballerinas, then we did some toe-walking, skipping, and pirouette turns across the floor and back...and by "we" I mean the teacher and the mommies.And by "mommies" I mean one other lady besides myself. The teacher said there were more people there last week and that Kindermusik started back up today, so that might be a conflict for some.
After class Taylor said she had to go potty again (we went right before class started, too) and then when we came back into the class she excitedly screamed that she went tee-tee on the potty and was wearing big girl panties! Thanks for that!
She's on her third week of wearing big girl panties and going potty and I must say that she is doing excellent! Yippee!
Ok, I'll keep you posted on the subject of ballet and will try to get some pictures next week.

Prima Ballerina

Taylor is truly a girl after my own heart today. She found my Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Ballet CD and said she wanted to listen to it. Then she got her tutu out, which for some reason she called a scarf, and said she wanted to wear it. So of course I put her hair in a bun and took pictures. I mean, who wouldn't?

Oh no she dit'in

This is the conversation I just had with Taylor.

T: you got a boo boo? (pointing to a spot on my face)
R: no, that's a blemish.
T: you got another blemish? (while pointing to another spot on my face)
R: yep. thanks.

She's an observant little thing. And oh so complimentary. ;)

Lots to say, so little time...

Once again, I apologize for my lack of consistent blogging lately. I have lots of reasons (excuses), some very valid, but I'll spare you. I need to come up with some type of plan on when to blog...actually my whole life is in need of some structure :) So I make no promises but I hope to post more often. I do, however, promise to make a Christmas post soon.

As the title says, there is lots to say! Happy New Year, first of all! Also, I gather from people's comments/questions, that the previous picture of Taylor on Christmas morning needs some explaining. Nick made that post and he liked that picture, so he put it on there. It captures her excitement. The present is actually a chunky little toy mail truck. We got it because she enjoys playing with other kids cars/trucks sometimes and we chose the mail truck because for a while now she has been interested in the mail truck and gets excited when she sees or hears him. So that's the story behind that.

The most note-worthy thing around here is that TAYLOR IS POTTY TRAINING!!! Yep, she's been going on the potty since last Tuesday! She spends most of the day in big girl panties (or "underwear" if you're Nick and don't like the other word). Of course she still naps and sleeps in a diaper and for now she'll continue to wear a diaper for errand running. I must say a huge thank you to Nick's Mom, Carole, and sisters, Lisa and Val, for their contribution! The whole week of Christmas we were in St. Pete visiting Nick's family, which you would already know if I had blogged about it. ;) Anywho, I jokingly told Carole that I wanted her to go ahead and get Tay potty trained while we were there. Well, I was only partly joking. So, she got the little potty out and some potty training books and patiently took her to the potty numerous times everyday. Lisa and Val also took her potty and read books over and over again. Two of Tay's girl cousins who are potty trained were there, so Tay got to go with them and I think that really helped her get it. She never actually did anything on the potty while we were in St. Pete, but something definitely clicked. We didn't have anywhere to go the Tuesday after we got back home, so I figured I'd put her in underwear and take her potty all day long. I was so thrilled when she actually went! She's never been scared of the potty and has been sitting on it for months but now there is some action! Whoop whoop! Ok, I'll leave you with a visual of the little potty-training-punkin!