Our Life's a Tripp!

Little Photographer

2009-11-30T09:46:00.000-08:00

Camden has become quite the little photographer these days. He has really been into taking pictures of his toys. I am not against anything giving me a five minute break to try to get something done. I give him the camera and he has at it. Here are a few of his best shots (out of 100). I really like the first one. It looks like he set up his toys for the picture and they are smiling for the camera. It's just too cute!

Action shot, must be some monster truck rally.

This must be a candid shot, cars not looking .

October

2009-11-11T20:22:00.001-08:00

October was a better month. We really started getting use to the idea of having two kids. Nolan started sleeping longer stretches, and I didn't feel so tired. All of our meals ended at the end of September (we were so blessed with so many good meals) so I had to find a routine with two kids that included cooking dinner. Steven took a trip to Houston in October, just for the weekend. He got to witness a good friend of his get married and I was glad he got to go. I was also very glad that my mom (Nana) and her soon to be husband (Grandpa Steve) came to stay with me and help. I was not ready to be alone with my two babies. I was so grateful they came because I ended up getting mastitis and couldn't get out of bed. They really took care of things for me, and Nolan was still sleeping most of the time so that really helped. The month got off to a rocky start but ended much better.

Here is Nana and Grandpa Steve with Camden. They took him to a wedding down at Point Defiance Park. They were gone for the day, so I got to spend that time catching up on my sleep.

They all look so good!

Next on the list was our first big family outing to the pumpkin patch. It was so fun. We visited a farm that had so many fun for Camden to do. He picked a great pumpkin and we got some great pictures. Here are just a few.

He takes the job of holding his brother very seriously.

Meet the two newest members in our family. Nolan, and my mom's fiance Grandpa Steve. He will officially become part of our family on February 13th. He has been a really good Grandpa already.

My Grandpa took the opportunity to visit us from California. He really came to meet his newest great grandson Nolan. Camden couldn't get enough of him. It was really cute. On this night we had dinner at my mom's, Camden got out of his chair that was between Steven and myself. He got a different chair and pulled it up to his Grandpa Bob and insisted on eating his dinner next to him.

We had to get a picture of Grandpa Bob with all of his great grand kids.

It was really good to see him.

Can you find the sleeping baby among the mess?

We enjoyed many Halloween festivities this year. The first was to go to my mom's work and let the kids trick or treat. This was Camden's very first year that he got to pick his own costume. He chose to be a doctor, so before we went trick or treating he had to give his Nana a physical.

Nolan got very hot in his pumpkin outfit.

On Halloween night we headed up to my sister's house for dinner and some more fun. She served a great dinner. Then we were able to take the kids (in the pouring down rain) for some trick or treating. They didn't seem to mind it was raining at all.

Here they are before they went out together.

Camden and his cousin Ava.

October was a better month, and it ended with Nolan smiling more and more. I think there are going to be some fun days ahead.

September

2009-11-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

After weeks of having trouble with blogger, and then realizing the problem was with me, I am finally able to update my blog. Now that it's November I plan to give you a general overview of our life of a family of four so far. So we will begin with the month of September.

September was pretty much a blurr. We were in full survival mode. We were fortunate to have help for three weeks after Nolan was born. We have a great family and everyone really pulled together for us. Our birth and recovery was not what we had planned on but we got through it. With all of the help gone we were happy to see what life was like as a family of four.

One of the big events of the month was celebrating Steven's 3- birthday. He happened to be traveling for work on his actual birthday, but we made sure we celebrated him when he was home.

Here he is watching football with two of his three favorite people.

Getting started on tummy time is so important.

Snuggling with mommy is always good.

We just love his chubby cheeks.

Hanging out with big brother.

He really does love his brother.

All in all it was a good month but we are glad it's over.

Extended Hospital Stay

2009-09-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

At 34 hours of life we learned that Nolan's jaundice levels were high and we needed to start photo therapy as soon as possible. He started out on a bili bed in our room and spent the night on the lights. The next morning another blood test was taken and his level was even higher...

...so we moved up to the big lights. I was discharged on Tuesday and Nolan was admitted to the Infant Special Care Unit (ISCU) at Swedish the same day. He was put in an incubator and put under intense photo therapy lights. We moved in with him and waited. His levels moved back down, but very slowly.

The high light of our day was Camden coming to visit his brother. He really does love him.

We spent the week resting and taking care of Nolan while waiting and waiting for his levels to move down to a safer level. Caring for him was difficult at times. We could only have him out of the lights for twenty minutes every three hours. We spent that time feeding him. Diaper changes were mostly done while he was in his incubator.

The only time I got to hold him was during his feedings.

His level finally went down low enough for us to take him off the lights. We did have to wait six hours before taking him home to make sure he didn't rebound. Here he is sleeping so soundly without his sunglasses.

A week after we checked in (almost to the minute) we got to check out and take Nolan home.

It was good to be back home.

Nolan Elliot

2009-08-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a wonderful and busy summer that I am not even going to attempt to catch everyone up on. So I Will start with the birth of our second precious son. Nolan Elliott came to us a little earlier than expected. I was 37 weeks and three days when my water broke. It was a slow trickle just as we were heading out the door to go to run errands. Our Sunday plans quickly changed. My mom headed straight over and we took the opportunity to get a couple of family pictures before heading off to the hospital. My contractions were slow to start so I wasn't in much pain.

Getting evaluated in triage before getting admitted. Still not in a lot of pain.

Just had a jacuzzi bath while my contractions picked up. Still managing a smile.

OK, now I am in pain and my epidural is not taking effect. I only feel numb in my legs and that isn't going to help much in labor. I had what you call a window. I was numb every where except my left side. It was a painful but fast labor. Nolan was born at 9:06 pm on Sunday August 16th. He weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. We were so happy to meet him.

We think he looks a lot like his brother.

The first family photo taken of the four of us!

Dog Park

2009-06-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

We recently visited a dog park in our neighborhood. It is just a temporary one. They are trying to see what kind of interest it will get before building a more permanent one. We decided to take the family on opening day. We rarely do anything for our dog Pepper anymore. It's usually all about Camden, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to make it about Pepper.

As it turns out Pepper couldn't hate that park anymore, and Camden couldn't love it anymore. It was of course crowded with dogs, and there were a lot of over anxious big dogs at this park. Pepper I am not sure really thinks of himself as a dog, so being surrounded by them was not his idea of fun. Then there is all of the sniffing of each other and chasing. I ended up holding him most of the time.

Camden however must think of himself as a dog. This was by far his favorite park he had ever been to. He had a great time running all over the park, in an out of dogs. He chased dogs, and he was chased by dogs. He climbed on all of the rocks. The only thing that separated him from the dogs was that he peed in his diaper, oh and he wasn't into sniffing bottoms. We had such a hard time dragging him out of there. Oh well, next time we will just have to take Camden there to get his exercise.

I think this is the only picture of Pepper on the ground.

Cousin Bath

2009-06-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

Oh I love bath time. It's so fun when you can have a friend to play with. We visited my sister a little while ago and decided to bathe the kids before we headed home.

Camden had no problem washing his cousins hair and dumping water on her head.

And of course you have to do silly hair styles before getting them out.

Bubble Bath

2009-05-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

Camden taking his first ever bubble bath. I think it was a hit.

Why didn't we add bubbles sooner?

Easter

2009-05-26T10:48:00.001-07:00

Easter weekend started with a chocolate bunny sent to us in the mail. Could Camden look any more excited about this chocolate bunny?

It seems the chocolate bunny was a hit, and we are still eating it today.

Saturday morning we headed over to a local park for the annual Easter egg hunt in our neighborhood. This was our first year to participate, because Easter was so early last year Camden wasn't even walking. We were not to miss this year rain or shine!

Unfortunately the forecast called for rain. We headed out a half an hour early to get our spot. We were told that the hunt starts at 10AM sharp and the eggs go fast. The weather seemed to hold off until three minutes to 10am. Then is started pouring. The hunt started 5-10 minutes late so Camden was not impressed with this family outing. It was so cold and rainy that Camden's little hands were too cold to pick up eggs. He ended up pointing to eggs and we picked them up for him. That's Easter in the Northwest for you!

All of the eggs for the 1-3 year olds.

Sunday wasn't any better. Luckily all of our activities were indoors. In the morning we headed to Church as a family. We came home for brunch and gave Camden his Easter basket. He seemed really excited about this.

The Easter bunny seemed to be a big fan of bath time. Camden got special Elmo bubble bath, along with bath fizzes that change the water colors and crayons for the bath. They have all been a big hit at our house. He also got some books and chalk. The Easter bunny even brought Camden some candy.

Then it was time for a quick nap and off to my Sister's for Easter dinner with the rest of the family. We even arranged to have an indoor Easter egg hunt for Camden and his cousin. Camden had a fun time searching the house for the eggs and putting them in his basket. His cousin Peanut searched in his basket for all of her eggs. In the end everyone got plenty of sweet treats.

The best part of the weekend was getting to tell our families that we are expecting our second little boy at the end of the summer. It was a nice way to end the weekend. We are excited to welcome this little boy into our family.

Chores

2009-05-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

It seems lately I have a helper with whatever task I am doing. My little Camden is one step behind me with his miniature cleaning supplies helping me. I can't seem to vacuum, mop, sweep, dust or iron without some help. It really is cute. Cleaning does seem to take twice as long with my helper, but I am happy to have him by my side. At least for now he likes to clean, let's see what happens in a few years.

Camden takes a turn ironing after I am finished. He has a miniature iron that looks exactly like mine. A birthday gift from his Granna and Pop.

Renewing Vows

2009-05-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

At the end of March we were honored to be invited to my Great Aunt and Uncles 60th Wedding anniversary and renewal of their vows. We were very excited to be there for this special day in their lives. I have many memories with my Aunt and Uncle spending time at their lake house in Maple Valley. It was special to see all the family that had gathered to witness this special moment. It was held at a camp in Cle Elum that my great grandfather helped to build. My Great Aunt and Uncle also spent many summers working with kids at this camp. It was truly a special place for them to renew their commitment to each other.

The ceremony

The Kiss

The Cake

Cutting the cake

The toast

Watching the snow fall

A family picture with the happy couple.

My Grandpa who drove up for the event.

My Aunt and Uncle who flew in for the event.

A Head

2009-04-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

A picture is truly worth a thousand words. I have been trying to think of a way to blog about this picture, and I just can't seem to get the right words out. So I will say very little. We were at Old Navy for a recent shopping trip. Camden saw these headless manikins, and instead of being scared (what two year old wouldn't). He solved the the problem by lending his head to the poor headless manikin. He even did it without us seeing. We just happened to stop talking to look for him and could see him resting his head on this manikin.

We were happy we brought our camera. It was just too cute to pass up.

Granna & Pop visit

2009-04-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

In March Camden's very brave Granna & Pop visited us from Texas. They truly are very brave because it snowed the first four days of their seven day visit. I think we all agreed that we should visit them in the Winter and they will come and see us in the Summer. Despite all of the snow it was a fun visit with them. Steven was able to take the week off of work and we really packed our week full of fun activities. They also got to celebrate Camden's belated birthday with him.

The highlight of the trip had to be Steven (and Camden wearing his t-shirt) getting to tell his parents that we are expecting our second baby at the end of the summer. Since they live so far away we usually get to tell them all the good news over the phone. It was so hard to keep this a secret for so long (I was nearly 15 weeks pregnant) but it was totally worth telling them the news in person. It was very special for us.

Pop got to take Camden on a Carousel ride. I can't tell who had more fun.

Granna & Pop got to give Camden his presents while they were out here and watch him open them.

They even found him a blue stroller. He loves to push strollers around and we found one that our boy could play with. He was so excited!

Camden's Birthday Kitchen

2009-04-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

For Camden's birthday we got him a Kitchen. I don't think Camden really knows what we are calling it. He calls it his "chicken". Either way he has a lot of fun cooking and playing.

Happy Birthday Camden!

2009-04-01T12:17:00.001-07:00

In February we celebrated my baby's 2nd birthday. I don't know where the time went. I now have a two year old that thinks he knows everything. I guess it's time to have another. That was our big announcement at the party. Camden got to wear his "Big Brother" T-shirt announcing that we are having another baby in September. It was a day to celebrate.

Our birthday tradition, dinner at Red Robin. He ate more of his Sunday this year then he did last year.

Birthday Costco cupcakes. They were delicious.

Digging in!

Finger lickin' good!

It was a big day.

Trip to Texas

2009-04-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

In February I had a chance to fly to Texas and visit my in laws. We were happy to have an excuse to get away from the cold and rainy weather of the Northwest. Camden and Brynna were so happy to be together. They had such a good time playing together. We also had fun getting to know Camden's other cousin Lane. We had lots of sunshine, good food, good chats and the best iced-tea. I hope I could make it an annual visit. It was so good for the cousins.

Camden, Brynna and Lane watching the garbage man.

Wearing their moms shoes.

Camden's favorite thing-wrestling. Brynna was a good sport.

Camden helping Pop at work. I don't think he really got anything done.

Camden helping Granna bake a birthday cake for his great Grandaddy Miles.

Camden loving on Lane.

My cutest nephew Lane.

December in Review

2009-02-01T08:54:00.001-08:00

My how time flies. I am not even going to try to post a bunch of things about December. I am just going to review in one long post. Next I will try to tackle January.

December was a fun month for our family. I don't think we could have packed one more activity in the month. We had a great time doing different activities as a family. One of the first things we did (and still love to do) is take Camden to a local children's museum. We have had a membership since August and have been many times. However on this visit Camden found the face painting station. I guess it was bound to happen sometime. Camden had a great time learning how to color all over his face. As you can tell he was happy with the end result.

This is our cute boy on Christmas (I am a little out of order). My mom has started this tradition that she buys her grandkids a pair of Christmas jammies to open on Christmas eve. They wear them to bed and wake up all festive on Christmas day.

Camden's jammies this year said "What Santa doesn't bring me Grandma will"

We will see if this holds true when Camden is 16!

Before Christmas we got the opportunity to take Camden on his first tour of the local ER.

We put Camden to bed one evening and Camden would have none of it. He figured out a way to crawl out of his crib and fall to the floor. We heard a large thump and scream. We could tell right away that it wasn't good. Camden would not stop crying and holding his arm. We knew something was really wrong when we turned on cartoons and put him in our bed, and he was still crying. So we got ready and headed to the ER. After a couple of hours, Motrin and some X-rays, we found out he had fractured his wrist. He was very close to breaking his arm. We were very lucky. They put his arm in a splint and sent us home.

I think Camden's face says it all.

But he's really ok!

Next was the big storm that hit the Northwest. We were told that the town we lived in was going to be one of the hardest hit places. We were ready for it. Once the wind came, we were not prepared for Camden to be so scared. When we put him to bed he hugged the farthest corner of his crib from the window and cried. We knew we couldn't sleep him in his room that night, so we prepared to sleep him with us. Sometime after 11PM Camden finally gave into the exhaustion and fell asleep. It was touch and go for the rest of the night. Luckily we never lost power, but many houses around us did.

This is a picture I took very early in the morning of my two favorite boys sleeping.

So sweet!

The storm however brought us lots of snow over the Christmas holiday. We had fun taking Camden to play in the snow. This was the first year Camden could walk in the snow. He did a great job. We even took him sledding at the local elementary school. I think he preferred to walk over sledding.

We had a great Christmas this year. Camden was a year older and we had fun watching him delight in opening presents. The highlight was my brother being home for Christmas. It had been at least three years since I spent a holiday with him. Having my brother and his wife home certainly made this Christmas special.

One of our favorite gifts we got this year was a Nintendo Wii. We really enjoy playing it together. We also had fun with all of the family that enjoyed it. This is a picture of my sister-in-law Laura playing guitar hero, not to be outdone by me playing Camden's toy guitar.

We really have a lot of fun together!

Facebook

2008-12-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

I am mostly blogging about this for Steven. We both recently joined facebook. I love it. It is so much fun. I have the best time catching up with old and new friends. If I get a free minute I am checking my profile. I guess I seem to be on my facebook page a lot when Camden is asleep because Steven took a picture of it. This was supposed to be our time. Oh well, I guess that's what boundaries are for.

Ladies Christmas Dinner

2008-12-20T12:53:00.000-08:00

Another way that we got to celebrate this Christmas season was through our Ladies Christmas dinner at Church. Last year was my first year attending, and this year I decided to try my hand at co-hosting a table. Most of the the ladies from my MOPS table were interested in attending, so I, along with my mentor mom Amy decided to co-host the table together. I am so glad I did it this way. It was great fun to decorate and put our table together, each sharing half of the work. I supplied all of my wedding china for eight ladies. Amy did the tablecloth and centerpiece. She also did the beautiful and yummy favors for our table. It ended up being a family event as my mom joined me as my guest, and Steven spent the evening serving our table dinner. It was really a fun night to enjoy a nice dinner and a show and get us ready for the season.

Our table

Steven did such a good job serving our table dinner.

Some of the lovely ladies from my MOPS table.

Snowflake Lane

2008-12-19T10:44:00.000-08:00

When we returned home from Texas our Christmas season was in full gear. After flying all day we raced home to take naps and get ready for our first Christmas event of the season. We headed off to Snowflake Lane. It is one of our favorite Christmas traditions. It's where drummers who are in high school, line the streets in front of a mall close to our home. The drummers play while they blast snow and music through the streets. It is a really fun way to get into the spirit of the holiday. This year we went with some of my family. Camden really enjoyed the music, the sights and especially the suckers that were passed out to the crowds.

A group picture in front of the mall's Christmas tree.

Paying my sister back from last year.

Camden loved all the characters of Snowflake Lane.

Camden at one point during the night wanted to clap. How can you clap when you are holding a sucker? Where else do you put it? In your Daddy's mouth of course.

Then you take it back immediately after clapping.

It was a big night for a tuckered boy!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-08T21:53:00.000-08:00

We spent a week in Texas for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed getting away from the cold weather of the Northwest to spend some time in the warmer weather of Texas. It was fun for Camden to visit his Granna and Pop, and most importantly his new cousin Lane who was born in August. Lane is 3 1/2 months and the cutest boy cousin Camden has. Camden also enjoyed his big girl cousin Brynna. He took to her very quickly, and all her toys. She was very good to play so well with him. We enjoyed our time so much with them that it was hard to leave. We hope to get these cute cousins back together soon. Our week was of course jammed pack full of fun activities.

They love each other!

Brynna took over the leash, but didn't like it when Camden led her away from the group

The two families.

The grandparents with the grandkids.

Little Lane loved his sling.

What a happy baby.

Jumping into the foam pit.

Camden's first "choo choo" ride.

All ready for the Aggie game.

It was a great week!

Praying in Church

2008-12-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

I wish I had a picture to post for this, but I just don't have one. This melted my heart more than anything Camden has done to date. We were in Texas over Thanksgiving and had a chance to go to Church with Camden's Granna and Pop. They go to a very large Church so we had no problem taking Camden into the service and sitting in the very back with him. For a while Camden had fun playing with the backs of the pews. He would pull all the papers out and little pencils and hand them to us. Luckily no one was sitting behind us. While Camden was in the middle of playing, the pastor began his sermon. Their pastor is very loud and speaks with authority. Camden sensing the change in the sermon let out an "oh" and turned around as quick as could be. He sat down in the pew between Granna and me (mama). He folded his little hands as tight as he could, bowed his head and closed his eyes. He sat there for roughly five seconds before letting out a very heartfelt (and loud) "a-men". After that he went back to playing. It was such a sweet and heartfelt prayer that he did on his own prompting. We aren't quite sure what he could be praying for but we know we must be doing something right.

I've been tagged!

2008-12-02T13:19:00.001-08:00

So my sister in law Diana tagged me, so now it's my turn to tag others. Here's what you do.

Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog*Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself*tag 7 other people and link to them at the end of your blog*let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment.

Here goes:

I broke my arm when I was three
I was born in Utah
I have to have a fan running to sleep at night
I still have my wisdom teeth
I can't stand the way chalk feels in my hand
I played the trombone for two years
Sir mix- a -lot lived on my street when I was growing up

I tagged Brett-because Diana tagged my sister-It's only fair!

I tagged Cheryl, Kate, Jennifer, Katie, Melanie & Meg because you can't learn too much about your friends!
Have fun!

Halloween

2008-11-17T09:52:00.000-08:00

It's almost Thanksgiving and we are about to fly off to Texas to celebrate. We thought it was about time I posted something about Halloween. Camden was our little Lion boy and he looked so cute. Halloween turned out to be a fun filled day of firsts for us.

The day started with trick or treating at my mom's office. Camden had never been trick or treating before. Camden took to taking candy from other people and putting it in his bucket so quickly. He was a good sport keeping his costume on the entire time.

I can't tell who had more fun.

Later that evening my sister and her husband brought over our niece "peanut" to have dinner. My mom came later with her friend Steve. Before dinner we took Camden trick or treating in a neighborhood close by. This was our first time taking him out. His costume was so warm and cozy that he didn't need to wear a coat. The rain even stopped long enough for us to trick or treat. Camden learned to say the word "candy" on Halloween and hasn't stopped saying it.

I am embarrassed to say he did very well for his first time out. Looks like Mom and Dad have to help him eat all his candy. For the health of his teeth of course!

Pepper even got into the fun by wearing his pumpkin shirt and going trick or treating with us.

I Have...

2008-11-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

This was so fun. I saw this on a blog and took the challenge to try it myself. It' s really a lot of fun. Just cut and paste the list to your own blog and put in bold all of the things you have done. You really learn a lot about a person. The things I have done are in dark blue.

I HAVE….
1. Started my own Blog
2. Slept under the stars-unfortunately
3. Played in a band-Don't ask
4. Visited Hawaii - Honeymoon
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain - Does hiking count?
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo-my first and last
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris-age 15
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child-Maybe someday
16. Had food poisoning-I'll never eat sushi again!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France-It was tiny
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Took a sick day when I wasn't ill-Who hasn't?
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice-Hopefully someday with Steven
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person-Not me, but Steven has
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing -Not me, but Steven has
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris-Been underneath it, waiting to go up it with Steven.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain-Are you kidding, we live in the Northwest!
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia-Not me, but Steven has several times
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check-Oops
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar-You have to try it once
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone-Just ask my sister
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle -Unfortunately
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person-Pretty sure Steven has
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible-No but I need to
86. Visited the White House-Stood outside it
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life-gave the Heimlich to a friend in a restaurant
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous-Sir mixalot lived at the end of my street.
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

Kissing cousins in matching shirts

2008-11-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

I was very dissatisfied this fall with all of the pumpkin shirts that were for sale (especially since we had such a cute shirt from last year). After looking high and low and giving up on finding anything cute (in our budget), I decided to attempt to make one myself. It was pretty easy with fabric paper, a computer and a printer. I think they came out pretty cute for my first time.

Camden's "ti ta" (aunty) and "dic a dy" (Uncle Ty) were nice enough to take Camden to another pumpkin farm this October. I also got the chance to make a matching shirt for Camden's cousin "little peanut". We were lucky enough to get a date night, and "ti ta" and "dic a dy" got to try their hand at two kids. We really appreciate them taking our wild child out in public so we could get a chance to spend some time together.

Kissing Cousins

They really do love each other.

Munkin Patch

2008-11-06T20:23:00.001-08:00

Camden's language has exploded in the last month and it has been so much fun. He is not perfect at every word but he is having fun being our little parrot. We have been doing a lot of talking about pumpkins this month, thus came the word "munkin".

We took advantage of a nice Saturday in October and drove to a local farm and munkin patch.

We had a great time exploring this farm with Camden. He enjoyed the animals and the abundance of land to run on.

In the end we came home with four munkins (one for Pepper) to sit on our front porch to welcome visitors.

The great munkin search begins.

He was mostly just looking for a munkin he could pick up.

Not quite Camden, try again.

Now you have the idea Camden.

Good pick Camden.

Dada found the good munkins we had to pick off the vine.

Camden's first time rolling around in the hay barn.

This area was filled with tons of little dried corn kernels.

Camden could barely walk in it, but we had a hard time pulling him away.

Election Day

2008-11-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

In honor of election day I thought I would have a little fun. Camden has been interested in coloring lately so we have been doing a lot of it at our house. I thought it would be fun tonight to give him a blue marker and a red marker and let him predict who is going to win the White House.

This is what he predicts.

This in no way reflects our views of either political party.

Just having a little fun!

Happy Birthday Granna!

2008-11-03T19:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Granna!

We hope you have a special day.

Looking back with you and Camden,

Meeting Granna for the first time.

Having dinner at the Oasis

Sharing your favorite ice cream with the ice cream monster.

We love you!

Kids Table

2008-11-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

Some friends of ours threw a little reunion party for our old Sunday school class of young marrieds. Most of us are still at our Church spread out through different ministries and others have moved to other Churches. It was so fun to get back together and catch up and look at how our families have grown.

The kids table has come a long way since I was a kid. They sat in the nice dining room with the linen table cloth and a candle. These kids don't know how good they have it.

Thanks Melanie and Ryan for hosting such a fun party. Can't wait for the next one!

All about Camden

2008-11-03T13:34:00.000-08:00

This made me laugh. We were all out to dinner celebrating Steven's birthday. Steven was holding our niece Ava so I thought I would take a quick picture. Camden was sitting next to Steven and thought that I was taking his picture (honestly, why wouldn't it be about him?). It turned out cute enough with everyone smiling. Camden doesn't have to know it wasn't about him.

Bye Bye Binky

2008-11-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Shortly after we got home from our Olympic Peninsula weekend we talked about getting rid of Camden's binky. It was something he seemed less and less interested in anyway. We debated about it for a couple of days before deciding to just get rid of it cold turkey. The first nap he cried about five minutes. The first night he cried twenty minutes (the longest 20min). Each day over a week it gradually became less and less. It took about two weeks for him to totally forget about it. He has done so well and we are so proud of him. We are so happy we took advantage of this opportunity.

Thanks to all of our friends who offered support, advice and encouragement. We appreciate all of your kind words.

I sometimes still miss that binky face. It's so cute.

Much better!

Who has time for a binky when you have a popsicle and a sippy cup.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-10-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

OK, so I am posting about Labor Day weekend in October. My excuses are that I have been working as a Nanny part time starting right after Labor Day while also taking care of my family. I have to admit I wasn't excited to post about our Labor Day weekend. It was something we had been looking forward to all summer and it didn't go as planned.

Over Labor Day weekend we visited the Olympic Peninsula with my family. We stayed in a KOA campground in a two room cabin. It was pretty much the same as camping without a tent. We had heat and beds so I was satisfied. However Camden was miserable all weekend. We cut the weekend short to take him to the doctor. We found out that over the weekend he cut three teeth and got hand, foot and mouth disease. It was a rough weekend but we were able to have some fun. Get ready for family picture overload.

All of us at Hurricane Ridge.

I actually broke out in song "The Hills are Alive...". All I got was a few laughs.

It was really beautiful.

The Cabin was nice but small. I only cared that it had heat. They had a great swing on the front porch that we spent a lot of time on.

The first night we were really miserable. It took an hour and a half to get Camden to sleep. He ended up sleeping with us all night because he was so miserable. We were pushing Motrin and Tylenol every four hours and it didn't seem to make a dent. He even got a hold of our cell phone in the night and called his pop at 4:00am (oops).

My Mom offered to help us for a bit so we could go shower and get ready for bed. While we were gone Camden crawled on top of her and fell asleep. My mom was so afraid to move that she stayed that way until we got back (her poor neck).

We had to take a few pictures before we could help her out.

This was Camden's first real camping experience. He had fun with all of the dirt that was around. He handed piles of dirt to anyone that would take it.

Such a sweet boy.

You can tell in this picture he has a sore on his tongue and he is drooling from teething.

They even had a tether ball set at the campground. We all had fun playing.

This brought back memories from elementary school.

Liz can still play a mean game of tether ball. She can still beat anyone she plays.

My sweet boy and his Daddy. This is one of the last pictures taken with Camden and his Binky. We took it from him cold turkey shortly after returning home (once he was better of course). I will post more about that later.

We also went to The Olympic Game Farm while over on the peninsula. It was one of our highlights. You drive around this farm feeding bread to all kinds of different animals. We had a great time. Camden even got into it and had fun feeding this gentle llama. We definitely recommend you making a stop there if you make it over to the Olympic Peninsula. It is well worth the drive.

It was a bittersweet weekend. The end of our fun summer. Camden was miserable but he is still our sweet boy. If you haven't had enough of our weekend yet, we have pictures of our full weekend posted on our website.

Todd & Lisa Visit.

2008-09-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

Steven's friend from college Todd and his wife Lisa came for a visit this summer. They also brought along their son Zachary, who is two weeks younger than Camden. We had a lot of fun with them watching our boys meet for the first time. We even got a chance to go hiking with them. It was so fun spending the weekend with them and we hope to see them more often.

Two former Texas A&M roommates...

...and two future Texas A&M roommates.

Places to go, People to see

2008-09-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

Lately Camden has enjoyed sitting in his Dada's car and pretending to drive it. Whenever he hears the garage door go up, he scrambles for the stairs and makes a mad dash to the garage before Steven gets out of his car. He mostly likes to turn the wheel and push the button to turn on the emergency flashers (good idea, Camden). For those of you who are worried, the car is in park the whole time with the engine off.

Hey Camden, It's illegal to talk and drive at the same time.

My Little Helper

2008-09-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

This was so sweet. One day I was doing some extra cleaning around the house. This included washing our glass back door. Camden was playing contently before he noticed what I was doing. After a few minutes he came by to check it all out. I started complaining to him about all my low windows and doors getting dirty about 2 1/2 feet up. It didn't take him long to walk away from me. I thought that he had heard enough. He hadn't, so he walked over to the drawer where I keep my towels. He opened the drawer and pulled one out. He came over and helped me scrub the window.

This was the sweetest thing he has ever done in his life.

What a sweetie.

Who does this kid belong to?

2008-08-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

I am not quite finished blogging about our summer (don't worry Todd you will get your blog post soon!). I just had to blog about this before I could finish the summer posts.
There are many things that Camden does that leave both Steven and myself just baffled. We are sometimes left wondering "Where did this kid come from?". Most of the time we are eager to blame the behavior on each other. However, this latest incident leaves us wondering "Who does this kid belong to?".
We were sitting down to dinner the other night as a family. Steven and I were at the table and Camden was in the middle of us in his booster. He had finished his dinner earlier than we had and he was enjoying some ice cream treats. We are still doing everything we can to fatten him up, and he is eating much better now. Steven and I were enjoying our pizza and spinach salad when Camden kept asking for something on the table. We couldn't figure out what he wanted. We kept offering him things and he would turn them down. As a joke I offered him a piece of spinach thinking he would spit it out or throw it on the ground. Of course the opposite happened. He ate the spinach right up. I gave him several more pieces thinking he would think one was enough. He of course ate them right up. Camden wanted more asking please over and over. Steven still wanting to fatten Camden up finally said "Camden if you finish your ice cream first, then we will give you some more spinach". I couldn't help but laugh. Whoever heard of a father reasoning with his son to eat his ice cream so he could have spinach for dessert. We truly do not know where Camden gets his food cravings. They surely do not come from either of us. We would much rather eat ice cream over spinach.

Catch me if you can

2008-08-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know Pop (Steven's dad) he is extremely nervous around any kid that moves. This makes for interesting times whenever we are with him, especially with our thrill seeking boy. On this day we took Camden to a park near a lake. This was his first visit so he had a blast. He loves to go down the slide, and now he is even brave enough to try going down on his back. He is still a little wobbly but he has a ball.

In this picture you can see the pure enjoyment on Camden's face and the pure fear on Pop's face. Everything turned out fine in the end.

No harm done.

To see more pictures from their visit, you can go to our website.

Our First Nephew!

2008-08-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

We are proud to announce the birth of our first Nephew Lane Aaron to Steven's brother Daryl and his wife Diana! Lane was born August 8, 2008 at 5:04 PM central time. Lane weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces and he is a cutie. Lane joins his big sister Brynna to make this now a family of four. We are so excited for all of them as they make this new transition. Camden is excited for another cousin to play with. We can't wait to meet him in November. Until then, pictures are going to have to be good enough. To view pictures of their precious boy you can go to their website at http://www.dtripp.com/

We see the future

2008-08-04T20:06:00.001-07:00

This was kind of funny. When Chap and Kathy were here we had fun walking around town being tourists. At one point I noticed that the couple in front of us were wearing the older version of what we happened to be wearing that day. Though you can't see it in the picture, Steven and I are both wearing khaki shorts.

Get a good look at me and Steven in about 40 years.

At least we will still be arm in arm.

4th of July

2008-08-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

Today is actually the 4th of August (Happy Birthday Pop!) so I thought it was about time to catch up on my blogging. We have had such a crazy busy summer, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Part of the business was a visit from Steven's good friend from college Chap and his girlfriend Kathy. They made a quick trip to the Northwest and dropped by our area for a couple of days. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them and catching up. It was also Camden's first time meeting Chap. They have become fast friends. We really enjoyed their visit and hope to see them more often.

Look at the difference a year makes. Camden could barely sit up a year ago holding onto the flags. Now we can barely get him to sit still with the flags. He is our little patriotic boy. I hope he doesn't mind this when he is 18!

Look at the cute couple!

What a cute little family. Camden didn't much care for getting his picture taken in this last one. Anytime we try to get him to sit still for a couple of seconds he thinks it is the worst torture in the world. As goes life with a busy one year old!

First Family Hike

2008-07-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year we took our first family hike. We recently got a back pack for Camden and we were excited to try it out. It was about a two mile hike round trip. Camden did great. Steven carried him all the way to the top of the water fall and I carried him back down. This was just about the only time we were thankful he is a little guy. We enjoyed it so much we hope to go on more hikes this summer.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday!

Birthday Palooza!

2008-07-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken to begin the official start to what we lovingly refer to as "Birthday Palooza". It starts in June and ends in September. My Sister, brother and I all have birthdays in the summer in consecutive months June, July and August. We have the tradition of meeting at a restaurant and having dinner to celebrate each of our birthdays. Then we added our spouses Ty and Steven's. Birthday Palooza starts with mine in June. Ty and Liz's birthday's are a week apart in July. Next is my brother Chris's in August and it all ends with Steven's in September. This is not including our out of town family which would add three more birthdays to our summer Calendar (you must be present to be celebrated).

We all really have a good time and I look forward to it every year!

Father's Day

2008-07-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

I know that this is a late post for Father's day. We actually flew home from Texas on Father's day. I didn't feel like that was a good time to celebrate so we postponed the holiday for another week.

This is the last picture we took in Texas right before leaving for the airport. Notice the boys are in matching shirts. On the way to the airport Camden gave his Daddy a card and the book on CD Bringing Up Boys, by James Dobson. He has a long commute to work and plenty of time to listen to it.

What a perfect gift!

This was a really sweet moment between father and son on the plane home.

Don't let us mislead you, he was not like this the entire flight!

We did finally get to celebrate Father's day a week later.

We met Steven after work at one of his favorite spots the Edmond's pier.

Camden enjoyed the beach more than the pier.

He threw rocks in the water for the first time in his life.

He is such a boy!

Steven/Daddy, We hope you enjoyed your belated Father's Day. We appreciate you getting up so early and working so hard to provide so much for us. You are the best Husband/Daddy in the world.

We love you!

Texas

2008-06-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

So, It's been a long time since I last posted anything on my blog. Our summer seems to be in full swing and what can I say I have a 16 month old. Anyway, we got back from our week long visit to Texas a couple of weekends ago. We had fun visiting grandparents, Aunties, Uncles and a cousin and 1/2 (due in August). The weather was nearly 100 degrees and we enjoyed every bit of it knowing it was still cold here. We had so much fun eating at all the restaurants we don't have. We did a lot of swimming and just relaxing. One day Steven and I got the chance to escape from parenthood and enjoyed a day at a huge water park in Texas. We had a great time away and Camden enjoyed his Granna and Pop all to himself. We had a packed week full of fun. We have posted pictures on our website so you can see our full week of activities.

This picture we took of Camden looking out into his Granna & Pop's backyard.

We called this his Texas uniform.

911!

2008-05-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

I unfortunately don't have a picture for this post but I will just have to explain it the best I can. Today Camden and I ended up doing our big chore of going to Costco. Now, I usually don't mind going to Costco except for the fact that you always end up spending a ton of money. Our Costco coupons came so I was going to take advantage of them. I usually try to plan my trips around the weather. I try not to go when it's raining ( I realize that is a little challenging in this state). We have had some great weather lately so I thought we should go today. It wasn't raining when I left my house. When I got to Issaquah it was raining buckets. I couldn't believe it. The parking lot was filling with water. I even stayed in the car for a while waiting for it to die down. Our plan was already off to a challenging start. None the less we ventured out in the rain. I got in line to get a churro and coke. The churro was to keep Camden happy the coke was for me. Camden ended up loving the churro (who knew the kid likes something that is fattening). I let him eat it slowly so it would last the entire time. I spent some of the time texting Steven asking him about certain products that I needed to buy. At some point Camden had my phone in between texts. He had it for around two minutes before I put it in my pocket. I had just sent a text to Steven when I heard my phone ringing in my pocket. Great, Steven was calling to help me figure out what to buy. The number came up "withheld" so I answered it anyway. I said "Hello" then I heard "this is 911 emergency, we just had a hang up from this phone, is there an emergency?" Oh my gosh, I can't believe in the two minutes Camden had my phone he dialed 911 then pushed send and then hung up. The kid refuses to walk but can dial 911. I quickly fessed up there was no emergency and that my son had my phone for only a couple of minutes. I got a very polite but firm lecture about how my phone is not a toy. I thanked them and told them I wouldn't let it happen again. We quickly finished our shopping trip and headed home.
I know every parent expects 911 to be called at some point I just never thought that would happen at Costco. Camden is certainly already keeping us on our toes.

Family Day at the Pool!

2008-05-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday was so warm and beautiful we decided it was a perfect day to go swimming. It was our first time in a pool this year. We were a little unsure of how Camden would like cold water (well colder than his bath). We had no expectations for the day. We would leave whenever he had enough. We ended up staying in the water for about two hours. Camden loved swimming. We brought along his floaty that he could sit in. He seemed so relaxed in it just sitting back and kicking his feet around. He even tried jumping off of the side of the pool (or falling off of the side of the pool) into his Nana's arms. He really enjoyed the water.

Here is Camden relaxing and floating on my back. I just love this picture!

He had a lot of fun playing in the water with Dada.

After we went swimming we relaxed on the side of the pool. Nana had a box of animal crackers and Camden ended up eating the whole box (thanks for sharing Nana)! Camden was so tuckered he just put his head down on his Dada for a rest.

We hope to have the rest of the pictures posted on our website soon!

A Bear Sighting!!

2008-05-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

Last night we took a little family outing to Snoqualmie Falls that is located two miles from our home. Steven likes to tell people it's in our back yard. We try to go there often because it is so beautiful and close. With all of the recent "warmer" weather we have been having, tons of snow has started to melt in the mountains. It has made Snoqualmie Falls bursting with water. It is a pretty incredible sight to see. It has the most water flowing through it that I have ever seen, so you must take the opportunity to come and see it for yourself. We took a video and more pictures that we will post on our website soon.

On our way home, we were driving on the parkway close to our house when I noticed a bear walking up the hillside. I quickly pulled over and Steven and my mom began taking pictures. It walked up the hill next to us and then turned around and stared at us before walking off into the woods. It was a young looking black bear. We enjoyed the bear as long as we could before calling 911 to report it. I don't think Steven will be jogging with Camden on the trails anytime soon!

The bear blends in so well with the background.

This last picture you can really only see the bear's head.

Update!

2008-05-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

OK, so it's been a while since my last post. It has been a crazy past couple of weeks for our family. First Steven went to Moscow, and while he was gone I of course had a week long migraine. He got back into town just in time for all of us to take a quick trip down to California. It seems as though our busy summer has already started.

Camden is doing much better with food. Since we found out that his test results were normal we all got back to normal. That really means I calmed down about the "food issue" and mealtime became a much more pleasant experience. Camden isn't so picky and I am finding what he likes and making it for him over and over again. I even switched him to a different booster seat so he could sit at the table (thinking that would motivate him to eat more). All it did was teach him he could stand and eat and squish his face into our glass table.

He seems to be our little ham always trying to get us to laugh at what he's doing (much like his mommy did when she was a little girl).

Below are some pictures I took of him "hamming" it up at the table before I switched him back to the booster where he can't stand up.

He is quite the little Ham!

Blood Test Results

2008-04-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

We had Camden's blood tested yesterday at a local hospital. It wasn't a pleasant experience. It took a while for them to find a vein on his little arm. Once they found one they were able to get the blood out fairly quickly. I think the worst part of it for Camden was being held down. He recovered quickly probably because of the push pop I had waiting for him. They gave him a stuffed frog for being such a good trooper (they also tried to use it to entertain him while getting his blood drawn). He doesn't really like it much. I think it reminds him of the whole experience. He now has three stuffed animals from three different trips to the hospital in the last year (not all the trips were for him) but we won't get into all of that now.
The test results came back today and everything looks completely normal. Praise God!! They tested for many different things and everything came back with good results. Camden's doctor believes he is just a picky eater. This completely baffles Steven and me as we were never picky eaters. This must come from other members in our family. We won't name names but you know who you are...(living in Georgia). We will still monitor him closely with weight checks about every six weeks. We will do all we can to fatten him up. I am also looking into meeting with a nutritionist to get some more helpful ideas. I am still convinced that being a mom is the hardest job in the world. It just doesn't ever get easier, but it's totally worth it.

Update on Camden

2008-04-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

So we have one big praise about Camden's eye. We took him to the eye doctor and they did a thorough eye exam and everything looks good. The goop is gone. He has two beautiful eyes that are hazel (just like his dad's). He is a little bit far sided but that is perfectly normal at this age. We will have his eyes re-checked in a year. We can now kiss Camden on the right cheek and not worry about goop running down his face. Praise God for healing his eye without needing surgery or anesthesia!

The weight issue is still the same. I took him to the doctor this week for a weight check. He still weighs about the same. He may have gone up in weight some but then got sick and dropped back down. His doctor is not too worried. He has not dropped in percentiles and the doctor just wants to still monitor Camden closely. He could tell that I am a little more worried than I should be. We have opted to get some blood work done on Camden just to rule things out. We are hopefully confident that things will come back normal but ready to deal with whatefver God hands us. We will also be looking into meeting with a nuitritionist to help us deal with our little "picky pants". We could really use all of your prayers. I am trying not to stress about it and make his eating situations worse. Camden also has a bug that is causing him not to eat much this week and that doesn't help. We will hopefully get results back next week and let you know what we hear. Thank you for your friendship and support.

Snow (again)!

2008-04-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend it snowed in our neighborhood several inches. We decided to take what we hoped to be our final family walk in the snow until next winter. Everything was covered in white and so beautiful. We bundled up Camden in his snow suit that is almost too small for him. We got Pepper on his leash and we were off to our favorite walking spot, the bog. We took several pictures of all of us enjoying the snow. Camden even tried eating some snow while Steven was holding him. He reached out on his own grabbed some and put it in his mouth. I think he thought it was pretty good (if only there were calories in snow). Camden decided he had enough so we headed home (the poor boy was frozen). He was fine once we got home and thawed him out. It snowed again Sunday and Monday night before winter finally gave in to spring. Now it is sunny and into the 5o's. We are all excited for warmer weather.

This first picture a man stopped to take our picture for us. His dog made it into the picture and ours didn't.

Easter

2008-03-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday was at our house this year. Sunday's seem to be so hard on Camden anyway with Church and skipping a nap. It was just easier to have him home napping in his own bed in the afternoon. His Nana, Aunt, Uncle and dear friends of ours (We missed you Lisa & family!) came over for dinner. It was fun and very low key. Camden got to finally love on Ava as he was finally over his cold. As you can see he does really love his cousin despite what the pictures say. We should have the rest of our pictures up on our website soon.

Cute boy in his Easter outfit.

Easter basket fun.

Is there such thing as a love bite?

He does really love his cousin!

Eye Update

2008-03-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

So, some of you have been asking about Camden's eye. We are happy to report that the goop is gone. We haven't updated the blog because we didn't want to speak too soon. We were told that it could take a couple of weeks to be sure that it worked. We are happy that the probing did work. Camden will go in next week for a thorough eye exam just to make sure everything is healthy. We will give the final report then (he also has a weigh in the same day so be looking for the full update on Camden). I added a couple of pictures of his eye before and after (I hope this doesn't gross anyone out). We are so happy to have the goop be gone!

Before...

...After

First Grass

2008-03-31T13:07:00.000-07:00

We took these pictures at my sister's house. We were visting Ava and it was a beautiful day. Camden was getting fussy so Steven took him outside (a good Dad trick). The first picture is just really cute of Steven and his boy. Camden enjoyed crawling between Steven's legs. We then put him in the yard to let him discover grass for the first time. He didn't like it so much. When he went to crawl he would only put one hand down so the other hand wouldn't have to touch the prickly grass. It took him a while but he finally crawled to the safety of his Dad's legs.

We told him if he doesn't like our grass then he will hate Texas. The grass there is thick, prickly and mean.

Inspiration and Credit

2008-03-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

I was first inspired to change my blog when my sister-in-law Diana changed hers a few months ago. You can check hers out by clicking the link to the right. We've just added a picture of the Seattle skyline to our blog title. That inspiration came from the mountain view on Melanie's blog (again the link is on the right). I've been thinking of ways to make my blog better and over time I have been able to make little adjustments here and there. I felt that if I was going to steal ideas from your blog, I had better give credit where credit's due. Thank you ladies for the inspiration as you can see I enjoy your blogs.

Goopy Eye

2008-03-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

Many of you may have noticed that Camden's right eye has been really goopy since birth. He was born with a blocked tear duct. We were told that he would probably outgrow it by age one. That never happened. We were told when he turned one that he would be old enough to see an opthamologist and we could discuss our choices. This past Friday Camden and I got to see his eye doctor. They looked him over and went over our choices. Basically we were told that they could do a thorough eye exam and make sure his eye was healthy, send us home and hope it would clear up in a month. Our second choice was to get his eye probed. They basically take a probe looking thing with a camera attached to the end of it and go through his tear duct and clear it out. Because he was under 25 pounds, they wouldn't need to do it in the hospital or put him under anesthesia. The only down side to this was that it might not work the first time causing them to have to do it again two weeks later. If the procedure didn't work after two times then we would have to have tubes put in his tear duct. The doctor said that he didn't feel that we needed to get probed unless the goop really bothered Camden, Steven or myself. I told them that it really bothered us. I think in the last year I have wiped Camden's eye more times than I have ever wiped his nose. We are ready to be done with that. We were already in the office so we opted to get Camden probed. They took him back to a room (I was told to wait in the waiting room) and they bundled Camden up so he couldn't move. They held his head and went in with the probe. I waited around two minutes. It was really fast and they told me it hurt about as bad as an immunization shot. I talked to the doctor afterward and he told me it went really well. When he went in, he found a big membrane and popped it. He found a few more smaller ones and cleared them out as well. He told me the first one was so big that he didn't think it would have cleared up on it's own. We felt good that we made the right choice to probe him that day. Please pray that Camden's eye would heal so that he would not need another probing in two weeks or tubes in a month.

Santa Suprise

2008-03-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

For Christmas our sister-in-law Laura gave Steven this really cute santa tin filled with goodies for Christmas. Once we made our way through all of the sweets (thanks Laura they were yummy) we gave Camden the tin to play with. He has fun with it. One morning we opened the tin and found some of Camden's little toys inside. That was a fun surprise. After a couple of days of this I made a comment to Steven that we enjoyed his little surprises for us every morning. Steven told me that it wasn't intentional but he was just trying to save space in Camden's toy basket. After hearing about this Steven turned this into a tradition. Steven now fills the tin with different toys every night. Every Morning Camden and I open the tin to see the suprises (and sometimes even a little love note for mommy). It isn't a huge deal but it sure keeps Camden entertained for a while.

Buddies

2008-03-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

This was really cute. We have a whole night time routine when we are putting Camden to bed. We both give Camden a bath. We both get him ready for bed. One of us holds him and the other reads him a book. For some reason this night Camden was extra difficult so I was cleaning up the aftermath of his bath and Steven was taking care of Camden. I came into the room when I was done and Steven was balancing Camden and reading him a Bible story (so sweet). It seems to be whenever Steven holds Camden he will put his little arm around Steven's neck. It is so cute they are buddies already. So when I walked in the room Camden had his arm around Steven's neck and was listening intently to the story. Then he turned his head and smiled at me. He really loves his daddy. It was a very precious moment.

Ava Lee

2008-03-01T21:52:00.000-08:00

What a busy weekend with a brithday party and a new baby. I am finally getting around to posting pictures of our niece. We hope to have first brithday party pictures posted soon.

It's a Girl!!

2008-02-28T14:54:00.000-08:00

We are proud to announce the birth of our niece Ava Lee Meyers. My sister had a baby today. I need to give you some background before I go into her details. My sister's due date was my very same due date for Camden a year ago. Today is Camden's first birthday. So my sister and I were due on the same day and had babies on the same day one year apart. We must have a strong sister connection. Anyway back to Ava Lee. She was born around 10:20 am today. She weighs 8 pounds and 7oz. She is twenty inches long and has black curly hair just like her mom did. She gets her middle from me and I am so honored. I want to cry every time I think about it. I am going to meet her tonight after we have a little birthday celebration for Camden with both of his Grandma's at Red Robin. I will post pictures soon. We give God the glory for this new little blessing in our family.

Can't Decide

2008-02-27T15:54:00.000-08:00

This was really cute. After a nap Camden couldn't decide between his binky and his milk. He would go back and forth between his milk and his binky over and over.

Sleepy

2008-02-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

Camden was given this stuffed Sleepy dwarf from a friend. One day I got Camden up from his nap and he was still a little sleepy. I brought him downstairs and went to make his milk. I turned around and Camden had crawled over to Sleepy and laid his head down on him for a rest. It was soo cute I went to get my camera to take a picture. When I came back he of course lifted his head to see what I was up to. I couldn't get him to put his head back down but it was still a cute picture so I had to take one.

Too Cute

2008-02-27T13:38:00.000-08:00

Steven always has lots of kisses for Camden when he gets home from work. Whenever Steven goes to kiss Camden he will turn and open his mouth and kiss him back. It's really wet and sloppy but too cute.

Calories for Camden

2008-02-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took Camden to his doctor for his one year check up. Mostly everything was good (I will talk more about that later) but we had some areas to work on. The biggest thing was that Camden needs to weigh more. I will admit that feeding him has been my biggest challenge (everything was so easy when I supplied him everything he needed). When he began to eat solid food I tried to keep everything really healthy. I believe you create what kind of eating habits they will have for the rest of their lives in the first two years. With the rise of obesity and the direction our health crazed country has taken I'll admit I jumped on board the "health train". What it comes down to is Camden needs more calories in his diet. I take him back for a weight check in six weeks. We are asking for your prayer that we could feed Camden more calories without becoming obsessed and creating any negative eating habits. Camden seems to also be on the picky side. That doesn't help the situation (the kid doesn't like pudding). We would appreciate your prayers and if any of you have any tips on maximizing the calories at meal time we would also appreciate those. I will keep you posted at his next weight check-up.

Play Group

2008-02-24T20:45:00.001-08:00

These are pictures from our play group this past week. There was a small group of us there. It has been hit or miss for us with the play group this year. We seem to have a lot going on during the week between play group, Bible study and MOPS (and that's when we are healthy). Camden and I took the opportunity to go to Kristin's house for some mommy and play time. The pictures are mostly of Camden and his friend Hannah. She is just a few months older than him but they were really cute trying to play together (they really just took turns taking toys from each other).

Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T13:36:00.000-08:00

I love Valentine's Day. I love the pink and the red and the romance. Well until I had a one year old... now it's just different. It's still fun, just not as spontaneous as it used to be. I am enjoying my little valentine today and the rule is lots of kisses. I was thinking about our Valentine's day last year. It was our last big holiday together alone. It's a pretty humerous story so I thought I would share it. We had a doctor's appointment that afternoon. Everything was quite routine. I had made it to 37 weeks and was considered full term. They checked me and I had even diolated 1-2 centemeters and was 50% efaced (for those of you who don't know what that means ask your wife). We were excited there was some progress. Then my doctor measured my belly. I was measuring a couple of centimeters smaller than the previous check-up. This somewhat alarmed my doctor. It meant either the baby had dropped or I was loosing fluid. To be on the safe side she wanted me to have an ultrasound in the next day or two. If I was losing fluid she told us we could have this baby as early as the weekend. This really freaked us out. I wasn't packed. The baby wasn't packed. We didn't have diapers or a pack-n-play and other important things we needed to bring our baby home to. We rushed out of the doctor's office. Our nice romantic dinner for the evening was cancelled. We got a quick bite and rushed to Target and headed home. Upon arriving at home I smelled a strong natural gas smell. Steven couldn't smell it as strong as me (pregnant nose). He was convinced our neighbors were cooking on their gas stove next door and that I could smell it through the walls. None the less I called the gas company. They told us they would be out to our house within two hours. We were not to turn on any lights and we were told to open our doors and windows. There we were in our cold, dark house on Valentine's day waiting for the gas guy to show up. After a few minutes we realized that Pepper (our dog) was not right there with us annoying Steven. This was odd. Our door was open and the dog gate was pushed out just a little. Great. I'm about to have a baby, our house smells of natural gas, and our dog is gone on Valentine's day. Steven and I both ran outside (or I waddled) and called for Pepper. We walked up and down the sidewalk calling for him and shaking treat bags. That seems to always get him in the door quickly. Steven remembered going into the garage after we got home, so he asked me to go and check for Pepper in there. I checked and found Pepper alone in the dark garage. What a relief. Shortly after that, the gas guy showed up and checked our home and our neighbors home. He found that our neighbors had left their gas BBQ on very low in their garage for several hours. We were grateful to be safe. The next day I went in for my ultrasound and everything was fine. Camden had just dropped really low. A week and a half later we had him and he forever changed our lives. We love him so much. He is the best little Valentine!

No More Binky!

2008-02-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

It was my goal by Camden's first birthday that he would only use the binky for bedtime and rides in the car. He was too quiet when the binky was in his mouth and he was playing. I love to hear him chatter away and I didn't want the binky to get in the way of speech development (or talking through his binky). So at around 10 months we started this process. It was fairly easy. When he would get up from his nap we would drop the binky in his bed and wave bye-bye to it. He was fairly easy going about this and never put up a fight. Now he is almost one and he rarely has his binky when he is up and playing (unless I am just having one of those days). Then I started to notice that Camden always had something else in his mouth. One day he liked the stoppers to his sippy cups (which we quickly put away because they are a choking hazard). Since then it has been big plastic toy screws, a plastic cup, and mushy balls and blocks. So my grand plan didn't work so well. Oh well. I am happy at least it isn't the binky, and hopefully he will move past this oral stage quickly. I'm sure when we post on our website: http://www.stevenandjessie.com/ in the next couple of weeks you will see lots of pictures of Camden with something in his mouth.

Door Stop

2008-02-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

I was prepared for the stage when everything goes in Camden's mouth. We are well into this stage at our house. I was not prepared however, for Camden to put random things that are attached to our house in his mouth. I understand most kids fascination with door stops. I have only ever known of them exploring them with their hands. Leave it to my Camden to feel the need to taste them. I have not caught him putting them in his mouth since. I guess they didn't really taste that great. I will never know.

I can only wonder what will be in his mouth next.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

2008-02-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

We have had so much snow this year. It has been really beautiful but also really challenging. One snow storm caused us to total our car. We were fortunate to not have any injuries (except the car). God provided us with another car quickly. I have really enjoyed the snow partly becasue I don't have to venture out of the house if I don't need to. Steven has been less excited about all of the travelilng in the snow, espically with his long commute. God has protected him and for that we are grateful. Camden doesn't care either way. We have taken him outside for a few quick pictures but he stays as still and as silent as possible. When we bring him in and thaw him out he is much louder and on the move. We try not to freeze him too often for the sake of a picture.

Here are a few pictures I took from our house.

Camden's New Car

2008-02-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

Camden got this car for Christmas from his Granna and Pop. We thought he would be a little young for it but it would be something he would grow into. That is simply not the case. It has all the bells and whistles so It will grow with him over time. It starts off with a rocker so he can't go anywhere but he can still move in it. That lasted about an hour. We took the rocker feature off and we were pushing him around the house (Steven always pushing a little faster than me). He loves to move in it and we try to put him in it everyday. Although, Camden will never wants to get out of his car so we have to set limits. Now Steven will push him around for a while when he gets home from work (Camden and I both look forward to this everyday). I make dinner and Steven and Camden release some energy. Now Camden can make it go on his own in a straight line. He will usually bump into the couch or the wall and turn around and look at Steven. Camden doesn't have any words but we know exactly what he is telling us.

Christmas (finally)

2008-02-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, it is February and Camden is almost one. I still haven't updated my blog about Christmas. I am going to try to have it all updated soon. I am also working on making my blog as spiffy as my sister-in-law Diana's. She made hers really cool and I am trying to be as cool as her.

Christmas was not at all how I envisioned it. I have been putting off blogging it. For those of you who don't know I was really sick over Christmas and in the hospital. It was hard to come up with a diagnosis but the doctors finally landed on severe food poisoning (I don't think I will ever have sushi again). After three days in the hospital I was released in the evening of Christmas day. I was still very weak for a week and a half after that. My mom and my sister helped out for a few days and Steven's mom flew out to help us for a little over a week. We were grateful for all of the help. I had to stop breastfeeding and switch Camden to a sippy cup with formula. He was a champ and did well throughout the entire ordeal. He has been an easy going happy baby (just like his mommy was as a baby).

We celebrated Christmas late. We are grateful that Camden didn't know the difference. We are also thankful that I do not have a chronic illness. God took care of us and he continues to watch over us.

We look forward to a wonderful 2008!

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-12-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

Camden's First Turkey

The Centerpiece

The Table

Daryl, Diana and Brynna come to visit.

2007-12-21T21:58:00.000-08:00

Cousins have so much fun together.

Holding hands in their booster seats,

Having fun in baskets,

Having fun in Camden's crib,

Having fun in the big bed,

Having fun in the tub,

Kissing Cousins,

Cute family photo at the lake,

Sledding in the snow.

First Coffee

2007-12-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

Camden wants to drink coffee just like his Daddy.

He didn't know it was empty.

Auntie Liz up to no good...

2007-12-21T21:42:00.000-08:00

His first taste of candy cane...

First lolli pop at Cannon Beach...

We need to keep an eye on her!!

Father's Day

2007-12-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

For Father's day we bought tickets to a Miami Dolphins game while in Florida (this is Steven's NFL team). We bought our tickets in July. We didn't get great seats, but we were excited none the less. When the game day came, the weather was looking crazy with rain, thunder, and lightening expected. We had come a long way, so we were not going to miss this game. In the lobby of our hotel a very nice couple asked us if we were going to the game (they noticed us in our Dolphin garb). They had tickets but decided not to go due to the weather. They gave us their tickets and we ended up sitting very close to the action. The weather was still crazy. The game was delayed for about a half an hour because of lightening. It finally cleared up and was good enough to watch the game. The Dolphins lost the game, but it was still a great experience.

Daddy and Camden and watching the game.

Camden thought that this was a good place to take a nap at the game.

Halloween

2007-12-02T20:06:00.000-08:00

Camden was a shark for his first Halloween. We think he was the cutest shark we have ever seen.

We actually found this costume last year when I was pregnant with Camden. We both really liked the costume and wanted to buy it. We weren't sure if we were having a boy or a girl (though we had a gut feeling) so we held off and didn't buy it. We were happy to find it for sale again this year.

He is our vegetarian shark.

Florida Vacation

2007-12-02T16:50:00.000-08:00

Our Florida Vacation. Too many pictures to blog. You can look at our website to see our full vacation. This trip was a great opportunity to see family who can't make it out to Seattle. It was also a chance to leave the autumn rain in Seattle to go somewhere sunny and warm, so we can't complain. We began our trip in Ft. Lauderdale visiting Steven's Granddaddy. We had fun visiting him and visiting the beaches. Now Camden has dipped his feet in the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.

Next we went to Clearwater on the Gulf coast. We had a chance to see Steven's Grandma, Aunt and Uncle, and cousins. We also visited the beach and swam in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a great trip and it went by way too quickly.

My favorite picture of our family in Florida.

Baby Dedication

2007-12-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

We had Camden dedicated at our Church on September 16th, 2007. For those of you who don't know what that is we are called up to the front of the church with Camden and are committing to raise Camden in a home committed to following Jesus. The pastor prays for us and the congregation is committing to holding us accountable to that. We had a good group of friends and family sitting in the congregation.

This was a special day for our family.

The quilting committee at our church made Camden a quilt in honor of this special day. They stitched his verse on the quilt. You can see Camden sitting on his quilt in the last picture.

Playtime with Daddy

2007-12-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

Steven is excited Camden is finally old enough to be roughed up. They have a great time playing together. Camden looks forward to his Daddy coming home every day. Mommy is happy to have Daddy home too.

Oregon Coast

2007-12-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

For our fifth anniversary Steven and I decided to do something as a family. Liz and Ty decided to come along and get away for a fun weekend. We drove down to the Oregon coast and rented a house just a couple of blocks from the beach. It was a great weekend. We had great weather and had a great time at the beach. We even had time to tour the Tillamook Cheese factory which we highly recommend.

It was a great Anniversary.

Update

2007-12-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, So I have been not so great at blogging. I am way behind on our life. I am going to quickly catch you up and start fresh from here. Life with a baby is so busy and I will do my best to keep up with it blogging. Stay tuned...

Play date

2007-10-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

Ethan thought of a better way to use the bumbo.

Pepper did not approve. He kept barking at Ethan.

Play date

2007-10-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Emma and Ethan come to play.

They all fit in my car. Now we know we can have three kids!

Sleeping with Mommy

2007-10-09T12:29:00.000-07:00

Holding on so tight, making sure mommy isn't going anywhere!

I will miss this!

First Rice Cereal

2007-09-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

At five months we were told we could start feeding Camden his first rice cereal. We were all so excited including Camden (see first picture). Our Doctor told us he would love rice cereal, that all kids do.

Not Camden!

Here is the excitement and anticipation of his first rice cereal.

First bite, open wide.

"Daddy, what did you just put in my mouth!"

" I am not impressed!"

Snuggle

2007-09-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

Snuggling in with Nana!

"Nana I missed you"

Bog

2007-09-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

A walk to the bog with Granna and Pop.

Books

2007-09-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Special time with Granna reading books.

"Stories are nice Granna, but they are also good for chewing"

Yellow Balloon

2007-09-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

While Granna and Pop were visiting we had our traditional meal at Red Robin. Before we left Pop gave Camden his first balloon. It was a big hit with Camden.

Thanks Pop!

Snakes

2007-09-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

Daddy shows Camden his first snake!

I have a feeling there will be many more pictures like this in the future.

Our First Boat Ride

2007-08-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa gave my mom his boat at the beginning of the summer. I spent many summers learning how to fish on this exact boat with my Grandparents. This boat is special to me so I was excited to take Camden out on the same boat. It was a beautiful day to cruise Lake Washington. Camden looked so cute in his new life jacket. We cruised around Mercer Island and Camden slept the entire time. Oh well, someday he will appreciate this boat and maybe even learn to fish from it.

First Hat

2007-08-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

This is the first hat we bought for Camden. He looks so cute in it. We put it on him and he didn't seem to mind at all. It has a picture of a safari on it. He will probably love to be outside with all of the animals just like his Daddy.

Rolling Over

2007-08-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

On July 19th Camden rolled over for the first time. I didn't know I could be so excited about something so small. We had been waiting for him to do it for a while. He finally did it all by himself and we think he is amazing. I took this picture right after he rolled himself over and then we called to tell daddy at work!

Fourth of July

2007-08-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

Family Photo on the fourth

Fourth of July

2007-08-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

This was Camden's first Fourth of July. He looked so cute all decked out in red, white and blue. We got these little flags to put into his hands. He holds anything in his hands without realizing it. We got some cute pictures. We celebrated by having a BBQ with several of our friends. Most of our friends have babies now so everyone was gone by 8pm. Steven and I put Camden to bed and then watched the fireworks from our guest bedroom.

Bumbo

2007-08-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Looking so cute sitting in his bumbo. At first we thought it was dumb and a waste of money. We sat him in it and we couldn't resist. We had to buy it. We reccomend this to anyone with a young baby learning to sit up. Camden loves his bumbo.

Four Generations

2007-08-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

Picture of Four Generations

First Father's Day

2007-08-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

OK, so it has been a while since my last post. I thought that as Camden would get older that I would have more time to blog. I am a first time mom, so I am realizing that you have less and less time. I will try to catch everyone up. Steven's first father's day was great. We had a BBQ at our house. Liz and Ty and my mom came to celebrate. My Grandpa was in town and that made it even more special. Camden and I gave Steven tickets to any football game he wanted this season. He gets to take Camden to his first football game. Steven picked a game, so we are going to the Miami Dolphins home game in Miami in late September. This will be a very special family event.