Recap.

Been busy around here lately! I have worked a few weekends really close together. I don't mind this at all because it's almost like having a four day work week. It does, however, throw a wrench in Chris' plans to work on the house. Oops!

Time is flying by. Camden is getting bigger and faster by the minute and I keep asking where my baby has gone. Lately he's been in a bit of a destructive mode. Turning all of his toys over as if he is a baby Godzilla. I'll turn them right side up and he'll come blazing through flipping things over.

Pearl is starting to really show her age. I have noticed lately her eyesight isn't what it once was. She stares into our backyard on alert so sure that there is a bunny out there, but it's really dirt. She can't see the Cheerios that Camden drops on the carpet unless I put my finger next to it. It makes me sad that my first baby is past middle aged and is quickly approaching geriatric status. :(

It is crazy hot here. This is not a complaint, just merely stating a fact. I refuse to complain. This year I am not pregnant and I absolute despised this past winter. Therefore, I'm just going to state that it's hot. Really hot.

Planning our trip to Australia is going swimmingly. SO excited.

Wigging out that I'll be leaving my baby for ALMOST. TWO. WEEKS. And then when we return? His party will be in 8 days. INSANE.

Cutting teeth sucks. I miss my sleep. And I miss my happy-go-lucky babe.

At the Movies at church starts next weekend. A favorite!!!

And that's all. Little C is sleeping so I should be too!!

Ten Months:A Letter

Dear Camden,

This month you are officially in the double digits in months!! Your Daddy and I have looked at each other in amazement at all of the new things you are accomplishing. Many times we stare dumbfounded at the new things you have learned, and we often catch ourselves pointing out to the other things like "he looks like SUCH a big boy today", or "He's looking like toddler and less like a baby".

This month you have by far kept us on our toes. We have been side tracked with a nasty double ear infection that just seems to want to hang on and make us miserable. There were lots of middle of the night snuggles as you would wake up in tears and just couldn't settle yourself back to sleep. Sleeping has been touch and go. An average night of sleep is nine hours, and lately you've been taking a two hour nap and a one hour nap. However, on nights were your sleep has been poor you have napped for three and four hours at a time.

You have come become increasingly dependent on Mommy. I think a lot of this can be attributed to your sickness. You have had a little bit of separation anxiety, when I leave you at daycare or in the church nursery. You are usually easily distracted by toys, but you don't like to be put down and OH BOY have you learned to throw fits. You are a master. You clench your fits and holler and yell all while shaking. You do this when you don't get your way, or don't get food fast enough, or get put down when you don't want to be. You can even try to work up a tear or two, but you mostly just holler. It is impressive how demanding you are!

You are getting much better at cruising and of course you have speed crawling figured out. On top of that you are able to open drawers and open and close doors, as well as unrolling all of the toilet paper. This has lead to opening cabinets and pulling everything out, opening the pantry and pulling everything off the shelves that you can reach, and just making one big, happy mess. Well, happy in your eyes anyway. :)

Your love for Pearl continues to grow by the day. First thing you do when in your high chair is reach over the sides to look for her. You are quick to throw your hand over the side and she is quick to lick your hand which brings sweet giggles. You spent one evening chasing her around the living room. She had her favorite toy and you would attempt to steal it from her, thus a cute little game of cat and mouse, errr...dog and baby, ensued. You love to take things out of her mouth, and she loves to snatch it right back. This leads to an eruption of giggles that are just adorable. You are quick to grab onto her as well, grabbing her wagging tail or her ear. She is so patient with you and it is so much fun to watch your relationship grow. Your eyes just light up when you see her, and that is when you speed crawl to her. Precious!

You are still eating three square meals and are doing well with soft table foods. At daycare they like to make sure you are still full so they feed you your homemade food as well. You are also getting an afternoon snack of puffs/goldfish/cheetoes/cheerios with a sippy of water. You are taking about four bottles a day, and drinking a little milk or water from a sippy with dinner. Your favorite foods seem to be cheerios/puffs/yogurt melts/carrots. You haven't been a huge fan of soft foods lately, and have been wanting purees. If I put a mix of solid things on your tray to eat, you will usually pick out the cherrios from the green beans/broccoli/squash and leave the rest, wanting a puree later. Silly boy!

You had a period this month where we could NOT settle you down for bed. You would be on the go, across the room and chasing the dog and making things open and shut that we couldn't get you to relax. You would be rubbing your eyes, or even laying your entire body on the ground with your head down momentarily, but then you would be off and running. You would then refuse your bottle because Duh, bedtime is for sissies. To make you realize we were serious, we had to put you in your crib, tell you 'night night' and let you cry for about ten minutes. Then you realized, wait, they ARE serious! And you would happily down your bottle and go to bed.

I was about to write no new teeth this month, but then two days before your tenth month birthday, we felt something. After one night of waking up at three am and refusing to return to bed, and then the next day of waking up shortly after going down and screaming bloody murder; we decided to check your gums. We had all along been assuming another ear infection. Your nose had been running and you had been playing with your ears like they hurt. I just assumed the drainage was going back to your ears and we were having the same story as before. Turns out you were also sticking your tongue out all weekend and eating your bib. Apparently you weren't just being ornery, you were trying to grow some teeth! We feel some tiny little pokes on your lower gums, but so far you don't seem to be chewing or trying to help push them through. You'll get them in your own time!

You can still fit into six month onesies, you are that short. Most of your onesies range in the 12 month area and you are wearing 12 month shorts. You are wearing size 2 sandals and you have a pair of size 3 shoes that never seem to stay on your feet. You are wearing size 3 diaper but that is just because the package we found at Target was on clearance. They are starting to look a little small on you! You still wear size 4 comfortably at night and aren't making a mess. You are growing so fast boy!

Another favorite thing of yours is to drink from cups. In the tub, when Mommy and Daddy are drinking, and even when you are playing with something that resembles a cup, you are quick to put it to your lips and tilt your head back in hopes that some juicy goodness will meet your lips. When we let you drink water from our glasses you are so quick to drive in for a sip. Once you have your fill and pull back, you always flash us your huge toothless (for now) grin, proving that you just love to be a big boy!

You are loving summertime and swimming season. You splash and carry on while in the water with Daddy and you are loving our evening walks. It is becoming a nice little habit for you, and it seems to help you to relax. Pearl knows the route well, it is the time of the evening we all look forward to.

We thoroughly enjoy our time with you and continue to be flabbergasted at how fast you are growing and moving. We love that when we call you now you crawl to us, and will meet us at the door when we come in the house, or your little palms will go slap-slap on the floor as you come to find us in the other room. We love you so much baby, and are looking forward for what is to come!

Love you all the way to the moon and back,
Mommy

Babygate 101

Camden has a slight obsession with Pearl's water bowl. He will shoot off towards the kitchen without warning and have the water dumped out all over the ground and himself before we can even blink. To combat this we made a makeshift gate out of chairs, ottomans and even his Lowe's push car. It worked well for two weeks or so, then Camden realized if he REALLY wanted to get through, he could. The other day I heard this grunting coming from the living room. I assumed it was him trying to poop. I looked over and come to find out he was high centered over the middle of the chair he was crawling through. So I grabbed the camera and these pictures tell the tale of makeshift babygate 101.

The silver lining? It slows him down a little. :)

My Lil Cowboy Fan...

Isn't he cute? This is shortly before he had a blowout diaper at daycare. Thank you, antibiotics. The girls at daycare are Sooner fans (of course) and joked that they thought it was because of what he was wearing. Ha!

He officially has only three doses left, yet he was still pulling at his ears today. He's acting fine though, that's for sure. Little monster is tearing things up right and left! We are still recovering in our household but are doing much better. We are praying that we can get well and remain well, there is too much to do!

In other random news:
-I have found a new love for Ginger Ale. Thanks Mom!
-I have bug bites on my neck that itch like crazy...oye!
-Pearl is REALLY showing her age. She went on a walk tonight and then chased some bubbles in the front yard and walked away limping. Poor girl isn't as young as she once was!
-Things to look forward to include Big Brother and our VACATION!

I'm going to leave you with that for now.

The Sickies.

Bleh.

So I mentioned that Camden was feeling under the weather for his 9 month check up, right? Well he was. Allergies and whatnot but everything checked out okay. By that Saturday he was fussier and running a slight fever. We weren't sure if the slight fever was in relation to it being hot out because HELLO 100 DEGREE HEAT, ISN'T IT A LITTLE EARLY FOR YOU TO BE AROUND? So we continued on to church and a few family gatherings. He was okay, albeit a little fussy and of course, he had minimal nap that day. That evening his fever spiked and stuck around for ALL of Sunday and Monday, and lucky for us poor sleeping also joined in on the fun. Yaaaaay. He just wanted to be held.

I debated on what to do. Because it seems like everrrry other time it's been a visit to say "Hello Dr. B, fix him - he's fussy" to the doctor then I get a nonchalant "He's just fine!" and leave my copay. Those copays add up!

This time he listened to him and used words like "Ew, his nose looks bad" and "Definitely infection in both ears". Listened for rattling and he said he didn't really hear bronchitis. But he said with his fever he was concerned about pneumonia as it was "going around". Ick. Not what you want to hear.

So we got a prescription for an hardcore attacking antibiotic that will supposedly work on pneumonia too.

Fast Forward to Tuesday:

I wake up and have NO voice. I mean, nothing. It's whispery and squeaky. Crap. If I can't talk at work then there really is almost no point in working! So, I went to work, and made an appointment and went to the doctor. Long story short - he said he wasn't sure what it was and gave me an antibiotic and told me to keep taking Mucinex to get junk out. And lucky for me, he went ahead and prescribed Hubby one too, that way he didn't have to suffer through the man-plague anymore. Those of you with significant others know that when they get sick, time stops. And you couldn't POSSIBLY have it as bad as they do. You know what I'm talking about, right? No bueno.

{This is our sick face}

Now we are attempting to recover and can't wait to be feeling and sounding better. And Mom and Dad CANNOT WAIT for good sleeping to return again!! Three cheers for antibiotics!!

Summer List #1 - Check! Er...Half Check!

Camden has officially had his first day and then some in the pool! He has been several times since this picture, but each time has been swimming he has not been feeling tip-top. In this picture here he had already been crying as Pearl had tried to climb on his floaty and she scratched him a little, and then she jumped in the water right in front of him and scared him. But he still enjoyed it!

{Case in point}

And the reason why I only considered it a "half check" is because I haven't been IN the pool with little C for more than 2 minutes. Either he gets fussy or needs a bottle or it is time to get out. There is plenty of summer left so I can pretty much count this as done! We love swimming!!

Sunday Funday

Whhhhhhhat? We are out of milk?