Free Crappy Portrait, indeed

Thanks to a friend's blog, I came across a little known website that offers a hilarious service: http://www.freecrappyportraits.com/  To get your very own free crappy portrait, you only have to submit a small description of yourself and your family members, along with a few pictures and voila!  Pretty soon, you will receive (via email) your free crappy portrait.  Just like that, you have an instant portrait ready to be framed and hung.  Or not.

Here was my description of our family:  My name is Kristin - I love cats more than humans should.  I also love bubble gum.  My husband is John - he is an accountant and loves spreadsheets.  We have a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet detailing every aspect of our lives.  He also loves beer and is way cooler than I'm making him sound.  We have lived happily together for the past 8 years with our two pets, a surly old cat named Buddy Love and a very nervous, 3-legged dog named Beansie.  Recently, we have been lucky enough to add a biological child to the mix...Millie.  I hope she loves cats too because I dress her up in clothes with cats on them (even her pacifier has a cat on it). 

Okay, before showing my portrait, let me just acknowledge that I should have toned down the cat bits in my description.  Since you all know me, you know that cats do not rule my life (& spreadsheets do not rule JKK's life).  Unfortunately, the artists at freecrappyportraits.com do not know this.  Live and learn, I guess...next time I won't describe us in such extremes.

I find the title to be quite clever with the incorporation of the Microsoft Excel symbol.  Apparently, the picture I submitted of John was taken on one of our vacations where he hadn't shaved in a few days; thus, the artist thought he was a goatee fan.  And poor Millie has been turned into a cat-baby!  I really should've toned down those cat-loving bits!  As a whole, I'm pleased with the portrait; makes for some good entertainment, no?!

And since I found this whole process to be such good, wholesome fun...I wanted to keep it going.  I asked the nieces and nephews to submit their own version of a free crappy portrait.  I love how they turned out :)

Kendyl, age 7:  love how she adds in our excitement for being new parents; really captures the spirit!

Jack, age 9:  awesome how he placed us in the backyard in front of our fence

Nick, age 9:  look at all the gum i have in my pockets!

Lucas, age 10:  notice that buddy is in his beloved coca-cola toy box

a closer view

Daniel, age 12:  i love how he drew buddy from a front view

They put so much detail into their drawings; I think they turned out fantastic!  We definitely have some artistic talent in the family.  Also, notice that every one of the drawings of Greenlee is anatomically correct portraying her with only three legs. :)  Thank you, kiddos, for humoring me and participating! 

Stranger Danger

Well, we've hit the point where Millie has figured out that she definitely knows who mom and dad are...but everyone else is scary.  Last week, I had her facing out in the baby bjorn carrier and when I walked into Bed, Bath & Beyond there was a group of people clustered around the front doors.  Millie went bananas, crying and freaking out.  It kind of scared me because I didn't know what was wrong.  I took her over into a quiet corner and calmed her down and turned her around in the carrier, and then she was fine for the rest of the trip.  She's also made it known with friends and family lately that she doesn't want anyone besides John or I to hold her.  It makes me sad because these people have always been able to hold her and she's loved it; now all of a sudden, she doesn't want any part of it.  Based on my google searches regarding the subject, it is normal at this age for her to start becoming afraid of strangers and those that she doesn't spend a great deal of time around.  Hopefully this phase doesn't last very long.

She does really love dad though...

Big news: Camilla has started solids (sort of).  Saturday, we fed her cereal for the first time.  I expected the worst and was pleasantly surprised.  She really liked it!  She did really well opening her mouth for the spoon and even though a lot of it ended up on her bib, I do feel like a good amount went her in her tummy as well. 

Here is a link to some video of her eating (probably a video only a mother could love and quite boring for the rest of you): http://youtu.be/GqT0PwFhmDU

And finally...Millie got her first pair of shoes today (actually two pair)!  I have had it with this sock business.  Why can't anyone make a quality pair of socks that a) fit correctly, b) stay on, c) don't get little ugly balled up fuzz stuff, d) don't come in unusable colors, and e) don't cut off her circulation by digging into her meaty calves?!  Therefore, even though I know she doesn't need shoes right now, I'm only putting them on her to cover up her horrible socks.  Whatever, the shoes look super cute. ;)

These are the socks from just one trip to Target where I bought everything I could find, and still...none of them were winners.  Ugh...

sweet little Converse chucks

So much to be thankful for...

Happy Thanksgiving!  We had a pretty laid back holiday this year; we stayed home and enjoyed some turkey and pie with Colleen, Tony, Daniel & Lucas.  It  was lovely, if I do say so myself.  Thanks to those guys for making that four-hour round-trip...ugh.  We appreciate it and were so glad to spend the holiday with some family.

The week before I found Millie a turkey bib at a boutique show...same place I got her cute little leg warmers.  She made such a perfect little turkey.

 gobble, gobble

Colleen found this most perfect turkey hat.  You had to wear the hat if you said the word "turkey". ;)

 a regular scrooge

Earlier in the day, John took Millie out for a walk around the neighborhood while I cooked some pie.  The weather has been unseasonably warm; it was almost 70 yesterday!  He went early though, so they had to bundle up a bit.  She much prefers this style of walking in the carrier vs. walking in the stroller (read: still hates the car seat!).

And Beansie had her Thanksgiving dinner a few days early...last weekend, after buying our Thanksgiving groceries, we came home to find that Greenlee had eaten all 24 of the rolls.  Yeesh.

Speaking of Beansie, Milla has been paying more attention to our furry friends lately...

Confession time: it's only 2:30 in the afternoon and i've already had 2 pieces of apple pie and 1 pecan pie square today.  Maybe it's time to bring back the elastic maternity pants?!  Eeek.  Pace yourself, KK...

Sign of the times...

My high school memory book had a section dedicated to recording how much things cost & who/what was popular the year of my graduation (1997).  Looking back on it now is fun and sometimes shocking ($1.21 for a gallon of gas!), so I thought one day Camilla might enjoy knowing some statistics and facts from the Summer of 2011.

- average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in the state of Arkansas $3.43
- box of diapers (Pampers swaddlers, 76ct) $19.77
- biggest movie stars of the year: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds
- woman's haircut ~$50
- Bands/Artists with popular songs during Summer of 2011:  Beyonce, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Katy Perry, Death Cab for Cutie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mumford & Sons, Adele, Lady Gaga, Rihanna
- iPhone 4S $199 (16GB) or $299 (32GB) - RIP Steve Jobs Oct. 2011
- Gateway brand laptop similar to the one I'm typing on now $599.99
- ten years after the awful 9/11 terrorist attack, our troops found and disposed of the monster Osama Bin Laden in May 2011
- population of the entire world ~7 billion people
- population of the United States of America ~311 million people
- population of Rogers, Arkansas ~56,000 people
- half-gallon of 2% organic milk $3.36
- Record-setting weather:  the summer of 2011 was the hottest on record for Northwest Arkansas and the lack of rainfall made this the 3rd driest summer in history.

For the rest of the world, 2011 might not be all that noteable, but for our household, 2011 has been a most unforgettable year!

Roly Poly Millie

Millie just rolled over for the first time today! I got some video of her rolling over...only her second time to do so (see link to youtube below).  Also, note that she is wearing her super cute outfit from Aunt TJ, Megan and the rest of the Etherington/Barbee clan. :)

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/5060H5e1RBI

weirdo clothes for kids

Have you ever noticed some of the strange stuff on kids' clothes?!  I often find myself cracking up (or scratching my head in confusion) at the stuff on Millie's clothes...

These jammies have a strange clown suit collar and pictures of little weiner dogs with parachutes; although you can't see it in the picture, there are also random squirrels thrown in as well.  What's the correlation?

papa sheep riding a bicycle with a baby lamb in its basket...it sort of bothers me that his feet can't touch the pedals

psychedelic zebra with heart-shaped sunglasses; this pic doesn't do the amount of glitter justice

tower of animals: donkey, sheep, doggie, & chicken...the best part is that they all are accessorized with heels, necklaces, tiaras, flowers, and more

Parisian kitty enjoying his meal al fresco at a lovely cafe

chauffeur dog with passenger kitty in...what is that?! a wagoneer??  and the tailpipe is emitting hearts

this romper shows her astrological sign, which is Cancer

and on the back, it shows some typical Cancer characteristics ;)

11.11.11

Many of you may already know this, but these triple dates are cause for celebration in this household.  It all started in our KPMG days when 05/05/05 came around...at 5pm that day we were out celebrating heartily.  We've kept up with the tradition through the years and had some grand plans for 11/11/11.  This one seemed extra cool, since it was all 1's.  However, with our new addition to the family, those grand plans turned into a really fun night out locally. :)  Colleen drove over from Tulsa to babysit; Midge flew in from Milwaukee; friends gathered at Mellow Mushroom for pizza and drinks...it was really nice to get out!  Thank you Colleen & Jamie for making the trip to NWA!

milla <3's midge

Sunday morning, Midge and I got crafty with Milla for our Christmas cards.  I think the art projects turned out great; can't wait for you all to see them!

Saturday night, John went to Tulsa for Peabody's birthday party; this was our first night without him here.  Sunday morning Millie snuggled up to him pretty good; he was definitely missed...

We purchased yet another new carrier, but oh my, it is worth it.  Millie really loves to face front and be carried around the house this way.  As you can imagine, our arms get pretty tired.  Unfortunately, the Ergo carrier that we already have doesn't allow the baby to be turned around to face front.  Technically, we have the Moby Wrap that could be used to face baby front, but John isn't about to use that thing.  Enter the Baby Bjorn Air carrier...it is really easy to put on and comfy to wear.  Millie loves it...and so does daddy.  How funny are these pics of them watching the game together?!

4 Months Old

Woo-hoo, four months old!  Camilla has doubled in size already...

one-week old:

one-month old:

two-months old:

three-months old:

four-months old:

She's talking here...and look at all the new hair!

big girl in the bumbo chair

Someone recently commented on how small Millie is in person but how all these close-up pics on the blog make her look bigger than she actually is.  I'm sure that's true, but I don't know how to fix it.  Maybe this pic of Buddy in her chair will give some perspective - he pretty much fills up the whole chair.

Today we had Millie's 4-month checkup, which meant more shots (see pic of band-aid below).  I may never recover from that kind of crying.  It just kills me.  Sigh...
Here's her stats: 16" head circumference (50th percentile), 25.25" long (90th percentile), weight of 14lbs 6 oz (70th percentile).  Dr. Averitt says we can introduce cereal into her diet sometime in these next two months.  Apparently, we are supposed to wait until Millie looks interested in watching us eat.  Thus, a new dinnertime routine will be introduced into our household where we plop Milla in the bumbo and the three of us sit down to a dinner at an actual table together. (gasp!)  This hasn't happened since she's been born; we usually have to take turns eating.  Anyhoo, we'll see if she becomes curious about the whole food business.  Stay tuned...

Millie thinks this rattle that Aunt Leann gave her is hysterical.  So far, it is the only toy that makes her laugh.  You can't see the front, but it has a very girly smiley face on it.

Here's Millie showing some Wisconsin pride.  Thanks Carol & Tom!

Dear Camilla,

You are still such a happy baby; many people have commented on how smiley you are!  As long as you get sleep, you are one happy girl.  It can even be a ten minute catnap, and you'll still wake up and smile at us.  It takes a lot more to get you to laugh though....the flower rattle is the clear winner.  Also, there is a very specific sound you make that we call "the pterodactyl"; it is a squeal of sorts that we think means you are happy...or at least very excited about what you are seeing.  I often hear it when you are on the play mat or looking at your beloved ceiling fans.  And although you were sort of mute for about two weeks this month, your talking has come back full force as of this weekend.  We love to hear you chatting up a storm!  Early this morning, I put you in bed with us and it was so dark, I don't think you could see anything, but you were talking about something.  It makes daddy and I crack up.  I gave up on thinking you would go back to sleep. :)

I like to take you up to your room every day for playtime.  You still really love to look at the rainforest mobile in your crib.  And here's the big news of the month:  you no longer hate tummy time!  Finally...these past two weeks I've been able to put you on your tummy and not have you cry.  Since we are a little behind on building up that upper body strength, it will be awhile longer before you can roll over.  You're working on it though.  When you are on your back, you love to roll from side to side and move all around.  I had quite a surprise this morning when I put you in your crib to watch the mobile and when I came to look at you a few minutes later, you had turned 180 degrees where your feet were under the mobile and your head was at the complete opposite end of where you began.  My mouth fell open!  I didn't realize you could move yourself around so well, but I was so proud.  I've also been doing some exercises with you; moving your arms and legs around and lifting you up for airplane time.  Sometimes it makes you giggle.

Unfortunately, you still hate the car seat.  I've started taking you out of it at restaurants and at the store, which makes you much more content.  I don't know if you hate the position you are in or just being restrained; whatever it is, long car rides are still painful for all of us.

You love to stand!  Those little legs are so strong.  You love it when I stand you up on my lap in the rocking chair to look around.  It's probably your most favorite thing to do right now.

You've had a strange, inconsistent month for nighttime sleep.  I think it has to do with the change in the weather and getting cold.  I stocked up on fleece pajamas, which has helped some, but not with your poor little hands and face.  You usually go down around 8pm and sleep for 5-6 hours, but after that first time you get up, you don't like to go back down for very long.  So...you usually end up in bed with us by 4 or 5am to warm up and snuggle.

It's been another great month!  We had a ton of company and got to show you off plenty...and you never disappoint.  Looking forward to your first holidays with us!

Oh, Millie Bear, we love you and we're so glad you're ours...