Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011: In Review

January: We were busy this month with a little baby and trying to get over the nasty colds we were having. Camden had his first haircut and was just getting the hang of rice cereal. We also dealt with a nasty "non specific rash".


February: We had the biggest snowstorm in years, with over 2 feet of snow. Somehow Chris and I managed to battle through and with a five month old we still didn't miss a single day of work. We battled sickness and fevers (lots of it!) but continued to push through. This is also the month I took a photography class and grew an interest in photography as a hobby, and really learned how to work my camera. It has changed my pictures for the better! Camden had his first foray into the solid food world and I proceeded to make all of his baby food for him, using fresh and organic foods.


March: It finally started to warm up. There were signs that we were going to make it through the terrible winter that we had! Camden started to sit up like a champ. We continued to have sickies but no where near as bad as previously. The last weekend in February my friends and I went to visit a sorority sister who was moving to Australia for a year. IT was SO. MUCH. FUN! We also took a nice visit to see Great Granddaddy.



April: My birthday month. Camden started crawling. We went to Texas to a Nascar race, and had a good time. Spring arrived and trees bloomed. Camden got his first documented ear infection. My uncle passed after fighting a hard fought battle with Alzheimer's.


May: I had my first Mother's Day. While uneventful, it reminds me that I have this blessed opportunity to be someone's MOTHER, and that I cherish. We spent our first Easter as a family with grandparents and great grandparents. We had an impromptu photo shoot on a truck that went slightly awry. But the pictures are ADORABLE! Camden continued to grow and worked on perfecting crawling.


June: We had another round of the sickies. We had another ear infection and fever, but still managed to heal and get some swimming in at Chris' parents pool. We built a baby gate to keep speed crawling Camden out of the kitchen and out of the dog's water bowl. We planned for our trip to visit Missy in Australia. woo! Camden grew his first tooth and we enjoyed the warmer weather. Camden also worked on perfecting standing and pulling up.


July: We had our first July 4th as a family of three! This month also brought about Camden's second tooth. Lots of fussing came with that territory! There was also lots of swimming and enjoying the great outdoors. We planned for Camden's first birthday party as well as our big trip to Australia. We were elated that he chose to walk for us before we left for our trip, so we didn't miss it while we were gone! The day we left on our vacation, we woke up to find Camden covered in vomit in your crib. That made getting to the airport extra fun! I was worried about my little babe, and it turned out he had another ear infection!


August: We spent the first two weeks of this month vacationing and enjoying Australia. (I linked to one of the last Oz posts I did. If you want to read any of the others, click the tagged word 'Oz'.) It was definitely a trip of a lifetime! Once home, we set up appointments for meeting with an ENT - we had just been too sick for summer time to let the sickies continue. Camden got Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. We planned and enjoyed Camden's first birthday, as well as Chris' birthday and my two nieces. (you can revisit the birthday here and here.) My Mom, her friend, Camden and co-workers and I walked in the Alzheimer's walk. Mom and I walked in honor of her brother, and my uncle. It was hot, but it was a really neat thing to do. I raised over 200 for the Alzheimer's Association!


September: Camden moved up rooms in daycare. He was officially no longer a baby! He weaned off breastmilk and switched to cow's milk. He got tubes to help with his nasty ear infections. One of the ears had to be difficult and a blood clot was blocking the tube. In turn we had to do lots of work to get the clot out, and once the clot was out we discovered yet another ear infection complete with green oozing pus. (After we got rid of all of that, it was pretty easy to put drops in his ear and since then there have been no problems. The tubes were DEFINITELY the way to go for us.)


October: We continued to deal with the same nasty ear infection and on top of that an infected/ingrown toenail. To put the icing on the cake to a doctor's visit, Camden managed to rip off one of the doors on the cabinet. I was mortified! This was Camden's second Halloween and he went as a lion. He was so adorable it was ridiculous! He returned home early from trick or treating as he was fighting a fever.


This month was also the month I took what is one of my favorite pictures...

November: The beginning of November, Husband and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss. :) Unfortunately any fun plans we had were put on hold as a horrible stomach bug gripped our house and our little one. We spent most of that weekend throwing up, trying to decide if the earth quaking was a result of our upset tummies or if the earth in Oklahoma was indeed quaking. (which it was. Crazy!) Once we got over Pukevember, we prepped the house for Christmas by putting up Christmas lights and enjoyed a Thanksgiving with ALL of our family, my Dad included.


December: Husband set up our lights to music and an FM tuner so you could hear it in your car, while watching a light show. He's pretty awesome like that. He put in his notice at Target and quit working there so he would be able to spend more time with us at home. We LOVE it! We celebrated Christmas multiple times (if you count all the different places/shindigs we went to it adds up to 7!) We had a blast celebrating with families.



It was good to look back on the year and see just how far we have come! Camden has gotten SO big in SO many ways, I can't believe it! Despite our sickness it has made us stronger and we are grateful for each day we have been given together. What an exciting 2011 and we can't wait to see what 2012 will bring us!

Happy New Year!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Christmas!

Santa Came!!

Santa's spread. Santa does leave his gifts unwrapped at our house!

And Camden is going to get dressed before presents, that's what Chris said he had to do and he wanted to go ahead and get little C ready, so we did! Aren't they cute enjoying their new trike?? :)

And what could possibly be in that stocking? Santa did good, and brought him markers, coloring sheets, crayons, bubbles, goldfish crackers, toothpaste AND animal crackers!

opening a present from Mom and Dad. What could it be? A remote control V Tech car, and a V Tech kitty, as well as building blocks!

Auntie Marcie helping little C opening a gift from her. Her gifts rank right up there as most favorite, that's for sure!

And my Mom's priceless face as her and my Dad open their gift from my brother and sister and I. I must say, we did well!!

My parents and sister were so generous with their gifts. Aunt Marcie got Camden a V tech train and he LOVES it. He is always pushing it around, riding it or playing with the letters that came with it. My parents also spoiled the little man, getting him a duplicate blankie (one can never have too many blankie's), the cutest pair of cowboy boots you have ever seen (Swoon!!! ~ They are adorable but he'll have to grow into them) Veggie Tales movies and CDs as well as a Radio Flyer Scoot and Zoom and Mickey Mouse on DVD!

I had a camera fail and forgot to bring my camera to the last stop of the day, Chris' parents. They were overly generous as well, giving Camden clothes, toys, a mini workbench and one of his favorites to cuddle with is a stuffed animal panda bear. He loves that thing and asks to hold it all the time, and will lay his little head down on the panda's head and cuddle. Oftentimes I'll go in to get him in the morning and he will be holding it and his blanket. Silly boy is running out of hands to hold all of his lovies!

It was an amazing Christmas. We had four stops and got to spend time with family at all four stops. We had all kinds of food and snacks, and family. It was a blast!

We have already hid about half of Camden's toys and will continue to ration them out as time goes on. He was so overwhelmed with all of his toys out after Christmas the other day he couldn't stop and focus on one toy to play with. So we narrowed it down for him and we will continue to enjoy 'new' toys all winter until we can finally get back outside and play!

Also not pictured was one of our favorite gifts, and that was a hand sewn quilt from his Great Grandma Allen. She worked her tail off ALL YEAR long, piecing and sewing quilts for her 10 (yes! TEN!) Great Grandchildren. That is a TON of work, and I love that she even signed the back with her name and to Camden. How special!

It was an amazing Christmas and my heart was so full. We have been blessed in more ways than one this year, and for that we are incredibly thankful.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas Eve

This year I worked Christmas Eve. After I got off work, I ran home and we all got ready and headed over to Chris' grandmother's house for their Christmas, which we always do the night before. A meal is usually involved, as well as present opening and socializing with family.

We had a nice dinner and then we all opened presents! The pictures below are of Chris and Camden opening presents. They are so cute!


{Grandma helping out a thirsty C}

{opening a present, so careful!}

{Trying to figure out what it is..}

{Whoa. That does what?!?}


Afterwards we scurried home to get our little one to bed so he would have stamina to make it through the next day, and so Santa could visit, of course!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas Eve Eve in pictures.

I got my day off for the holiday weekend on Christmas Eve Eve. Little C and I did chores and played and just enjoyed our time together. I took a few pictures of him opening a present that we had wrapped that ironically I needed to take back. He was so cute this Christmas, slowly and methodically opening presents. Eventually, Chris and I had to help him open them to prevent it from taking all day! He'd open a present and then be so excited that he'd just want to sit there and play with that one gift. It was adorable!



Christmas Eve Eve Evening (that has a nice ring, eh?) we went to Chris' Brother and sister-in-laws house for an early Christmas for my niece H since she wasn't going to be with us for Christmas. Camden had a blast at their 'toy store' and kept himself busy. He didn't care to sit still long to eat, there was just too much to do.

{Getting a ride from H in the baby stroller}

{carrying his murse H's chapstick}

{decorating sugar cookies}

{K eating sprinkles- who me??}

{shoving em in..}

{Hmmm..Maybe I can use this spatula}

{yes, this is working out rather nicely..}

{or not. I think this was when we got volunteered to host next year... ;)}

What a mess the kiddos made! It was fun though, we had a great time with family and enjoyed watching how excited cousin H was opening her presents. I figure in a years time Camden may be ripping through his presents too!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Weary World Rejoices

Merry Christmas!!


Open Our Hearts Religious Christmas Card
Find unique and Personalized Christmas cards at Shutterfly.com.
View the entire collection of cards.

This is our awesome shutterfly Erin Condren greeting card. I LOVE IT! I am a big fan of the Erin Condren stuff, and it just so happened that with discounts and promotions I was able to afford these this year! So cute, right??

Besides the cuteness of the greeting card (it really is the little things), the message on the card is the most important part. God, and his many blessings.

This year in church Pastor Craig took Christmas Carols and dissected a line from them and made it a message. One of my favorite songs this year was O Holy Night, and the phrase he chose to focus on as "the weary world rejoices". When you really look at the lyrics to this song, you realize how similar this song is to current happenings in the world. The world in sin and error, lost and sad, but we have the thrilling promise that he will return again, and we can only imagine how divine it will truly be! What a spectacular time Jesus' birth was - for a hurting world!

We are so truly blessed that God sent his son, such a perfect and giving son.

Merry Christmas to all, I hope you spend this time happy and close with friends and family.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Friday, December 23, 2011

This made my day.

I got this text from my Sister In Law the other day, and it definitely made my day. Okay, made my week. :)



hee hee!!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Sixteen Months!

Little Mister, you are 16 months old today!

Boy how the times flies. You are growing by leaps and bounds! Here's what you are up to this month.




-You are waking up randomly during the night and fussing if you have lost your paci. Apparently you can't seem to find them and I have to give you one, then you'll promply go back to sleep. Breaking that habit is going to be a booger.

- You have pretty much given up eating any sort of people food your Daddy and I have for dinner. You run to your shelf in the cabinet and you pick out your baby food pouch. I can still get you to eat beans, avocado, bananas, yogurt or applesauce but anything else and you throw a fit. I'm not into the fussy thing at night, so if you want a pouch of pureed baby food I don't fight it. You're at least getting your veggies that way.


- You are wearing a size five diaper, and still have to wear sleep diapers because you are a peeing machine at night. When am I supposed to cut out that bedtime milk again?

- You are getting SO much better at communicating. You can say more, dog, mom, dad, pearl, go, row and a jumbled 'good girl'. You can sign, milk, more, please, blow kisses, wave bye bye and we are working on signing thank you and water. You are good at following our directions to complete simple tasks, you know to put your shoes up at night but occasionally you like to test us and run around hollering instead of actually putting your shoes up.


- The current favorite song of yours is Row, Row, Row your Boat. Oh my word, you are absolutely precious. It ends up sounding like "whoa whoa" instead of row. It's adorable. And you clasp your little hands together and do a rowing motion and it's precious. It melts my heart when you ask to sing it!


- You still only have 4 teeth. Two on top, two on bottom. You have been a drooling, chewing on your hand mess and I can only assume that means you might be working on some more teeth.

- Currently, you are taking one nap a day, 1130 until whenever. Sometimes it's an hour, sometimes it's two and a half. It depends on how the previous days/evenings have gone for you. You go to bed at seven, and lately you have been wide awake waiting on us at 545. Gone are the days of sleeping in, I fear!


- You continue to have seperation anxiety from Mommy. The last few weeks the mornings have been a little bit harder for you when I leave. You used to run off and see your teachers and friends but lately you have been chasing me out the door crying. It makes it awfully hard to leave you, baby boy!

- Currently, You are wearing size 4 shoes, and your clothes are mostly 18 months, with some pants being as big as 24 months. You have the biggest belly! I think you weigh somewhere around 23 lbs.

- Showering and baths are some of your favorite. You laugh and roll around in the bathwater, laying on your back until only your face is out of the water. I can't wait until it's time to open the pool again, you're going to be a little fish!


- We have been warding off the sickness so far this winter, thanks to your CiCi's alkaline water. Hopefully this trend will continue! Shots and weights come up in January. We will see how big you are soon!!

Your Mommy and Daddy love you so much, and can't put into words how much we are enjoying this journey with you!!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Church at Christmas...

It's decorated up all warm and cozy at Christmas time. These are just cell phone pics, so they aren't great, but the atmosphere inside is awesome. I am loving singing the Christmas hymns and the messages that relate to a Christmas Carol has been exceptional. We are going to Christmas Service this Thursday, should be big time!! ;)


Monday, December 19, 2011

Tis the season to be BUSY!

Whew! So much going on in these parts, that it's hard to keep up!

This past weekend we had my Mom's side of the family's Christmas in OKC. It was a blast! I got to see my cousins and their kids that I only get to see once a year. I got to see my granddad, and we all got to eat and catch up. It was so much fun! The driving round trip was hard on little C but we are getting back into the swing of things. He was up this morning at 4 am, I think he's a little off.

{Helping push Great Granddaddy}

{the girls playing dressup with their little victim model :) }


Sunday we ran errands and picked up a few more things for Husband and little C. That afternoon I took a few pictures for my Sister and Brother in laws family, then edited them and sent them out.

{this is one of my favorites}

{my pretty niece}


Sometimes I think I should take this little hobby a little further and market myself and charge a few bucks so I CAN save up for the new camera/lenses!! Hmmm...

On the agenda for the rest of the week? Baking, addressing and sending out Christmas cards, a co-workers baby 'sprinkle', and family, family family. I am off Friday and work Christmas Eve. I hope Friday little C will allow me to sleep until 6! ;)

If I'm not back in time for it - Merry Christmas!