Our little man is 4 months old!

Well now the time is really passing much too quickly!  I am really not sure where the last month went... it seems like I was just posting his 3 month update.  Ahhhh... how do I slow it down?  

This past month we had several changes for our little guy.  His helmet came in and we had it fitted on August 3rd.  From the start Cameron was completely easy going about it.  He didn't cry or get mad that he was wearing the helmet, and we are so glad that was the case!  We had a few days to adjust to the helmet where we increased the amount of time he wore it each day and after a few days he was wearing it "full time".  I was really concerned about him sleeping ok with it as well and it only took a couple of nights for him to adjust.  This was another relief since he had just started sleeping until around 7.  We have been very thankful that he adjusted so easily.   I really think it has been harder on us than him interestingly.  We wash his hair every night and we clean his helmet so it can dry as his hair dries.  It is so important that we clean it daily so his scalp doesn't get funky and so his helmet stays clean and doesn't smell terrible.  If we didn't clean his helmet it would smell like gym socks really bad.  All in all it has gone really well.  He is wearing the helmet for over 23 hours a day.  I feel like the shape is so much better than it was already and am really hopeful that it won't be too much longer.  :) 

Since he did so well with adjusting to the helmet we went ahead and moved him into his nursery.  We had him in our dining room, which was going pretty well, but we were having a harder time with naps because Emerson was so loud!  I also was excited about having him in his nursery and getting our dining room back to normal.  I figured he would adjust really quickly and that he maybe wouldn't even know the difference, but that was not quite the case!  He started waking up much earlier again so we were getting up with him around 5:30am... much earlier than what we had gotten used to.  With it being so early I would bring him in bed with me and he always fell back to sleep... I really enjoyed those moments.  :)  It is actually a little humorous to me because I am fairly anti co-sleeping...it doesn't seem safe to me.  But those early morning cuddles were really nice... being able to hear him breathing, smell his sweet scent, and give him kisses was special.  I guess we did this for many days it seems... but then he started sleeping longer again so that put an end to the morning snuggles.  It is a good thing, but I did enjoy that time.  :)  

I always try to document his routine and other stuff, so here are other fun facts about Cam at 4 months:

• Cameron drinks 5 bottles a day that are just over 7 ounces each (they include 1 TBSP of rice cereal).  Sometimes he has just had 4 if his naps were longer.  
• He is waking up around 6:30 in the morning now, though this is just recent.  As I described above we have been all over the place.
• We lay him down around 9:15 pm.  This is after we get Emerson in bed... we are most likely going to switch to get him in bed and then get Emerson in bed... or maybe get them to bed at the same time sort of.  
• He doesn't really seem to be dependent on a pacifier... we will give him one when we lay him down, but many times he spits it out and sleeps without it. 
• Naps are somewhat on a schedule, but I am wanting to move some things around because I think he will sleep longer at night maybe...  I hope anyway.  :)  Right now he naps around 9 am and will sleep for an hour or so, then takes another around 12:30-1 and may sleep for an hour or maybe 2 hours... from then on it can vary.  We try to get a nap in around 5:30 that lasts an hour so he can be up until we give him another bottle before bed.
• Cam is wearing 6 month onesies and clothes and they generally fit well, though some are snug.  He has a big belly.  :)  
• He has become a little more coordinated with grabbing things and has a favorite toy it seems, which is this ball made of lots of rubber rings.  He can hold it easily and will chew on the rings.
• At night he is not as cranky, which has been really nice!  
• It seems like he is so close to rolling over from his back because he got on to his side, but his helmet stopped him.  He really kicks those legs around so who knows.  I do think the helmet will make that difficult to do!
• This month we started putting him in the activity seat that is pictured below.  He likes the lights and the music and I think he likes stretching his legs.  We also started using the bumbo, which is handy when you are by yourself to remove his helmet and put it back on.  
• Cameron continues to drool a lot.  I doubt a tooth will come through too soon, so we will probably have lots of drool for a while.  We are getting used to putting a bib on him.  :)
• We decided to start giving him baths upstairs in the big tub since he has gotten too big for the mini-tub.  Water is splashed everywhere all over our bathroom countertop... so it is time to move to a real bathtub.  :)
• Cameron is really a super happy baby and is really easy going.  I think he has more of Frank's personality since he seems fairly mellow.  
• He is still wearing size 2 diapers very comfortably.  He has tons of wet diapers, but just one poopy diaper per day that is a real doozy.  It has been so big that it squirts out the side a lot of the time... I think pretty much everyone has had to change their outfit after the explosion.  :)
• This month his hair has really started turning blonde... I would say it is definitely more blonde than brown now.  He looks like such a cutie patootie as a blonde... I don't get to see it as much with him wearing the helmet, but hopefully soon we will get to see it all the time.  

His weigh in at the doctor:

Weight: 17 lbs 3 oz (90%)

Height: 26 1/2 inches (75-90%)

HC: 44 cm (75-90%)

It has been a wonderful month with our sweet little guy.  I love holding him and feeling him hug into me and bury his face into my shoulder over and over again... We love his laugh... his sweet smile...and here lately he sort of does this squealing type sound sometimes that is so cute.  

Here are some pictures I enjoy from the last month.  :)

Class of 2034 catching a nap.

He is such an angel.

I just love him so much!

 Look at that grin!  This is when we were playing with bubbles!

 MomMom and Cam

It's fun getting pictures of him sitting  :)

GrandPaul and Cam

He likes getting smooches from his sissy!

Chilling before bedtime waiting on his helmet to dry 

Silly baby during bath time

Our adorable 4 month old  :)

 More smooches from Emerson.  I love that she gives him kisses!

The End of Summer- Almost Anyway!

I have to say I am relieved that the summer is coming to an end.  For parents with kids in school summer ended last weekend, but I am waiting for Labor Day.  After that mother nature hopefully will cooperate and we will have temperatures in the lower 90s.  I am OVER the high temperatures!!  :)  

We have really had fun this past month spending more time with family.  It is really great that both of our families live so close... we are so blessed to be able to easily see them.  I know they all enjoy spending time with our kids, and our kids love them too!

This last weekend I went to a Journey concert with my sister and that was so much fun... and expensive!  I just HAD to buy a $40 shirt (in hindsight I see that was rather unnecessary) and had a beer (Miller Light of course), hotdog, and pizza!  Talk about letting loose!  We had great seats and I loved singing along to my favorite songs.  While many friends will think that my favorite song is "Don't Stop Believing", I would say that "Open Arms" and "Faithfully" are also my favorites... it would be hard to pick just one.  While at the concert my sister commented that it would have been really cool to see Guns N' Roses... specifically Sweet Child O' Mine.  And it makes me think about how music is "not like it used to be".  I must be getting old to be using that phrase.  ;)  Musicians now are just so different though... they can't really sing... they are all 15... and the songs don't have the awesome electric guitar solos.  The only current musician that is truly from "my time" that I really like is Rob Thomas/Matchbox 20, which is completely different music!  They have great songs... Why haven't I been to one of his concerts???  I will make this happen soon.  :)

Also noteworthy this month is Frank's golf tournament, the Club Championship.  Frank started out in the Championship flight, the creme de la creme of the course players, but he unfortunately lost on Friday.  :(  That put him in First Flight the next day, which most people would be extremely happy with anyway.  While he was disappointed about the loss Friday, he played exceptionally well Saturday and continued to win both matches Sunday.  This meant he won First Flight and we were invited to the fancy schmancy dinner Sunday evening to celebrate.  I was busy with the kids so I wasn't able to workout Sunday during the day, but I would argue that the effort I had to make to get my spanx on so I looked somewhat attractive in my black dress was quite the workout itself.  There were a few moments where I thought it would't happen, and I almost fell over a few times, but I did it.  And Frank of course looked handsome in his suit.  I wish we had taken a picture together, but we didn't think about it gosh darn it!  It was certainly nice food, and I was able to enjoy talking with some of the other wives.  I was one of the few who hadn't had "work" done of some kind, and likely one of the few with a job! Ha ha...  But, we had fun and I am proud of my hubby for winning.  He loves the game of golf like nobody I know, except maybe one person who I won't call out on my blog, but you know who you are.  :)

Here are a few pics from this month.  Tomorrow night I will post Cam's 4 month update.  :)

I made it rain for Emerson  :)

She was having fun painting/coloring

Yay, they loved seeing Uncle Glenn

I really like this picture  :)

Cuddling with Grandad

Bubbles!  She can't get enough and he likes them too!

He was talking to CC... and giving her his sweet smile

Cameron's 3 month update!

Three months have somehow already passed and out little guy is growing fast.  It's crazy to me how time keeps going faster and faster, but I can't stop it!  This month was really hard at first for our poor baby with him getting RSV at the beginning, but we are so glad he has rebounded from being sick and is doing really great.  But his being sick did seem to mess with his sleeping schedule a bit.  All in all he is still a very happy and content baby during the day, but at night tends to be grumpy pants around 7:30 on.  We can't quite figure out what to do so he will be happy, but we will keep trying different things.  I also returned to work a couple of weeks ago and things have gone really smoothly.  I miss being able to spend time with both Cameron and Emerson, but they are both in great hands.  So no more cuddling with Cam while watching The View as Emerson plays with some toys.  And no more occasional mid afternoon snoozes.  As a result, I'm feeling pretty tired so I am just going to write some highlights about our little man and where he is this month.  :)

• We didn't have an appointment this month so we weighed on our scale and he weighs around 15 lbs 6 ounces.
• He graduated to size 2 diapers.  They fit much better!
• He is wearing mostly 6 month onesie's now and pajamas, but still wears some 3 month clothes.  
• We can definitely see his eyes are more blue and his hair keeps getting lighter!  Except in the back where it is really dark so it looks a little unusual to me.  :)
• He is drinking around 6-7 ounces and having 6 bottles.
• Naps are still haywire... he sleeps 30-45 minutes most of the time, but still wants to sleep longer usually in the afternoon.  A new sleep strategy is we are not letting him sleep longer than 2 hours at a time if he does take a longer one.  I think it helps at night.
• He has his last bottle around 8:45-9 and is in bed by 10.  We actually started adding in a little rice cereal to see if that helped him feel fuller through the night.  He wakes up anywhere between 5:30-7.  Here lately he has been sleeping until 6 or so for the most part.
• Lots and lots of smiles this month!  He is very social and likes having conversations with us.
• We are still swaddling him for naps and bedtime.  It is likely we will do this for a while!!
• He is getting stronger and stronger with tummy time.  
• He started laughing last week and that was so much fun to hear!  I already sent this video to a few of you, but here it is on YouTube: http://youtu.be/1H6pdFy1U2w

Last week we also met with the cranial people and they confirmed he needs a helmet.  :(  But it is not the end of the world and we realize this.  It will be temporary and is very necessary because we would't want him to have a wompass (this is a word we use in my family- ha ha) head when he grows up.  He has his appointment for the helmet fitting this Friday.  Hopefully we all adjust quickly so keep us in your happy thoughts!  When we met last week we were given the option of a design or solid colors and just didn't like the selection so we are going to contact this other company to see if we can get a design put on it or will figure something out.  Maybe we could get it painted like an Aggie helmet.  :)  Whoop right?!!  While we were looking at the options we thought these sayings were funny that other parents have used:

Here are some other pictures from over the month and then some that we just took for his 3 month pictures. Thanks to my sister for taking the family pictures for us!!

Comfortable getting his bottle! 

Hanging out with MomMom and GG

We love his smile!

 Such a sweetie!

His 3 month chair picture!

 Hanging out with Dad!

The rest are my other favorite pics from our own photo session.  :)

Man, it is hot out there!

It's definitely the middle of the summer!  The temperatures finally reached 100+ degrees and we are all feeling it!  The pleasant and much cooler May and June months spoiled me and this past month has really been sweltering.  But the heat doesn't stop us from having fun!!  What is the best thing to do to beat the heat?  SWIM!  We have done lots of that and plan to continue enjoying the summer spending time at the pool.  Other than swimming we are not up to too much.  Since we had a rough start to July we have enjoyed the lack of crazy activity.  We did start potty training Emerson this month though... but we decided to give it a rest since she was not catching on.  We think we will try again in a couple of months so we will see then how it goes.  It's interesting how varied the opinions are with the whole subject... one end of the spectrum is telling me she should be ready and there are some who say I tried way too early.  I'm not worried or stressed about it... she isn't going to be wearing them when she goes to kindergarten and we have plenty of time to figure it out.  :)  Frank and I also celebrated our 7th Anniversary.  My parents came and watched the kiddos so we could go to dinner at Maggiano's and we really enjoyed ourselves!  It's been a wonderful seven years... some of the time we have had challenges, but through the happy and the sad we have been there for each other.  I love Frank with all my heart even though I give him hell on a regular basis.  :)  God sent me a very patient and kind hearted man... I am very blessed.

Here are a few pictures of some fun stuff our family has done this month.  :)

We love weekend mornings and fixing breakfast.  :)

Cameron was hanging out while we fixed breakfast.

She loves splashing water! 

Having fun!

Gotta try first thing in the morning!

Emily (KK's daughter) painted Emerson's toes- her first time!  :)

My sweetie and her pretty smile.

Just hanging out at the pool with Paul-Paul (as she says it)

 Happy Birthday Auntie!

4th of July- Not so fun!

Our 4th of July this year was not as much fun since poor Cameron got RSV.  :(  We spent the weekend before the 4th in Austin and had a great time with Frank's family.   Sunday we went to Frank's Aunt and Uncle's ranch where we enjoyed BBQ with their close friends for Marnie's birthday.  Emerson swam and enjoyed that, but had a rough time since she missed her nap.  (It is NOT good to miss a nap!)  It was a really fun weekend, except poor Cameron was not feeling too good. The Friday we drive down Cam had a cough, but it was not too bad.  We took him to a doctor in Austin on Sunday morning and at the time he checked out ok... we were just supposed to watch his breathing and cough to see if it became anything serious.  By the time Tuesday morning came around he was having a much harder time breathing and drinking his bottle.  So we called our doctor and they were able to get us in that afternoon, thank goodness!  We hurried and packed up and drove straight to the hospital to see the doctor.  It didn't take her long to come to the conclusion he had RSV and recommended he be admitted until they could be sure he was over the worst part.  And with the next day being the 4th of July holiday we didn't want to be in a bad position having to go to the ER. We agreed that was best and wanted to do what we could to get him well.  So Tuesday afternoon he was admitted.  My parents came and got Emerson for us so Frank and I could focus on Cameron.  Fortunately he didn't need an IV because he was getting enough to eat on his own.  And for the first night he just needed a little oxygen to keep his levels up.  He received breathing treatments every 3 hours and with some time and TLC he got better.  We were so relieved to go home Thursday.  So while we didn't have the fun 4th of July we planned, we are thankful our little man is doing well now and is healing!  Here are some pics from the weekend and the hospital stay.

Cameron and GG

Emerson swimming at the ranch.

Poor Cameron in the hospital

With Daddy on his 1st 4th of July

Poor guy!

Feeling so much better now!

Emerson is 2!!

It's unbelievable how quickly the time has passed, but our little angel is already 2 years old!  We have had a very busy year and have had so much fun over the last year.  When Emerson turned 1 she was not walking yet, and now she practically sprints through the house.  I still want to call her a baby, but she has been a toddler for quite some time now!  Because I know I won't remember these details in the future, I am going to describe a normal day and some of the fun things we do with Emerson.

A typical day for our little sweetheart begins around 7:30 now (sometimes earlier) and from the moment she wakes up she is happy.  Usually her first greeting isn't "Hi Mommy", it is something like "Open!" to tell you to open the blinds, or she may ask "Where did Daddy go?" if I am getting her up.  If daddy gets her she will say "Where did Mommy go?".  We are still using diapers and she will get mad when you put her on the changing table, so sometimes we change her diaper on the floor.  Then we head downstairs for breakfast.  Emerson loves eggs, pancakes, sausage, cereal, raisins, blueberries, strawberries, oranges and oatmeal as her breakfast foods with milk to drink.  We buy organic, which runs around $7/gallon!  Yowsers...  Then she plays with her ridiculous assortment of toys (yes, we spoil her... I know...) or we run an errand or go to an activity.  Lunch is usually around 12 and this is where food becomes more challenging.  Her favorite lunch/dinner foods are salmon sticks (these tasty organic fish sticks), corn dogs, hot dogs, sausage, oranges, raisins, french fries,  chicken tenders, mac and cheese, chips of any kind, spaghetti, peanut butter on graham crackers, crackers in general, cheese cubes, and that seems to really cover our options!  Sometimes she isn't too hungry for lunch if her breakfast was really big.  Then it is nap time and she sleeps from around 1- 4... 3 wonderful hours.  :)  When she wakes up she has a snack such as goldfish, ritz crackers, etc and either juice or milk.  Then she plays some more before dinner, which is around 6:30.  She loves, loves, loves the Sprout channel which has shows like The Wiggles, Caillou, and other toddler friendly shows.  We have tons of books so she likes to flip through them... she especially loves the books with liftable flaps and textures.   We try to read them with her, but she isn't still for very long. We spend time singing our ABCs and counting and find times to show her how to count.  Emerson loves to entertain and dance and run in circles in our kitchen.    Her way of showing affection to her stuffed animals is to bite their noses instead of kissing them.  We have tried to get her to just kiss and hug, but it hasn't worked.  Thankfully she doesn't bite us.  :)  Sometimes Emerson gets a bath at night (sometimes in the morning) and she has such a fun time splashing around.  Lately her biggest interest is pouring water in and out of glasses.  This can be messy!  :)  While my parents were watching her my mom and sister were giving her a bath.  She had filled a cup with bath water and was holding it and asked my mom "Move your arm" in a tone like a question and my mom told her "No Emerson, you just want to pour the water on the floor" and Emerson grinned.  That is exactly what she was up to.  We enjoy going on walks around the neighborhood and pull Emerson in the wagon, but the weather has gotten too hot for that.  Normally we get Emerson in bed around 8:30, but it has been even later it seems like lately.  We have our hands full understandably.  :)  When we tell Emerson it is time to go "Night-night" she usually drops what she is doing gladly...says her goodbyes to the toys she was playing with..."Goodnight car... goodnight puppy" and since I am taking her up again now she says "Goodnight dada... goodnight baby (she isn't calling him Cameron yet).  Then she heads up the stairs.  We brush her teeth... she insists on playing with the light switches so we do... and we change for bed.  She helps me get her undressed and changed... she will pick out some socks to wear.  We spend some time cuddling and I tell her how special she is and how much we love her.  We talk about how her day was and who she saw and what she will be doing the next day if it exciting (like when we go to see her grandparents).  She now says "I love you Momma" and "I love you Dadda".  We always lay her down with her pink zebra lovies and she practically crawls out of my arms to get to lay down so she can sleep.  She loves her crib and has always been so happy to get in there to nap or go to bed at night.  

We have really noticed her speech take off in the last 6 months.  She was already saying lots of words then, but now she practically learns new words every day.  We have gotten more careful with what we say since she will repeat everything.  :)  Here are some of her phrases:

"What's the matter baby?" (when Cameron is crying)

"What's wrong?"

"See you later" (which has been happening since 18 months and is more like a slurred CULayer at times)

"Have a Nice Day!" (also since 18 months or so)

"Where did it go?" as she raises her arms and hands out in the question  (also "Where did Posh go", Where did Poshi go", etc)

"I love you Momma/Dadda"

"Excuse me!" (after she pretends to burp... not sure where she picked that one up!)

"I'm sorry"

Otherwise she will say single words, and to list those would take forever, but here are some that I can think of quickly:  milk, baby,bear, mom, dad (also some of our family names like GG, CC, etc), bubbles, rain, lovey, pants, diapers, wipes, juice, apple, rice, happy, cheese, phone, cereal, car, tree, bird, elephant (her favorite word it seems), dog (where she also says "ruff ruff"), cat (and she will say "Meow" too), color, crayons, cheek, chin, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, teeth, feet, toes (all of which she will point to the body part to show you), belly button, shoes, brush, phone, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow (she is able to identify the colors... not always accurately though!), flower, open, close, help, thank you, please, gummy, spoon, fork, book, wash, sit, outside, grass, swing.  She says more than this of course, but I could spend a while trying to think of everything!  :)

Emerson is really used to her schedule and if you try to change things up it doesn't go well sometimes!  She has gotten to where she pushes her high chair over to get you to work on her breakfast/lunch/dinner when she thinks it is time for that.  She is a little bossy and will say "Sit" and point to the couch or floor to get you to sit and play with her.  Sometimes our little sweetie isn't so sweet and gets mad.  She will throw her drink cup when it is empty... When we tell her not to do something she sometimes will burst into tears as if it was awful.  If you are holding her and she gets mad she will hit you sometimes.  We are working on these things... Now it is time to start to really work on the discipline.  It will be a challenge, but she will learn to not have these outbursts.  :)

Adjusting to having a baby brother has gone so well for Emerson.  She is gentle with him and tries to pat his head.  She will pick up the bottle and hand it to you.  She asks if he is ok, etc.  She definitely loves and cares for him and hasn't been rough.  We can't wait for her to have fun entertaining him.  :)

Very soon we are going to start potty training.  In a way we are not excited about this because it is a little sad to think she is getting so big, but the more logical side of me is really glad and looking forward to her being so independent.  Luckily our new nanny is great with potty training too.  I have already purchased a ton of training undies, but may go buy more!  Wish us luck with this adventure.  :)

This past weekend we celebrated Emerson's 2nd birthday.  Unfortunately we cancelled the big party since baby brother was trying to get well, but we still had a great day.  Some of the time Emerson's attitude was one of "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to", but she still had a fun day.  We had a delicious Italian lunch (Emerson had a corn dog!) and opened gifts, ate cake before her nap.  After her nap she had a quick snack and a short dip in the pool before the rain came in.  Then she played and for dinner we had pizza.  Sounds good right?  :)

Emerson had her 2 year appt today and we were so glad she didn't get a shot this time.   She weighed in at 28 lbs 6 ounces (75%) and 35 1/2 inches tall (75%).  We don't go again until she turns 3!!!  

Here are some more recent pics!

Here is her fun cake with an elephant.  :)

She was NOT happy when she got icing on her fingers!

She was ready for her nap!

Having fun in the pool.

Woah... lots of balloons!

The birthday girl on her birthday!

I love her so much!

She loves her castle from Aunt Alyssa and Uncle Justin