Cameron is 5 months old!

It has been a big month for our big guy!!  We had been trying to get him on a schedule with his naps that was more consistent and would work with having an older sibling... So early this month Cam just started to be more consistent and we have a general schedule now.  Yay!  I think anyone who knows me well knows I am a planner and knowing what is coming and trying to be in control of what is coming is important to me!  Yes, I am a "control freak"... Little man reminded me though that I can't control everything!  It helped, I think, that we also dropped a bottle during the day because we added more in to each bottle.  Things are MUCH easier now that he eats every 4 hours during the day because we can actually get things done between the time he eats!  Cameron continues to be extremely easy going and rarely gets upset.  He is content to watch everything going on around him and smiles and laughs when you play with him.  I posted another update on his helmet where I talked a little about the party and how much we love his new helmet design.  I do think it is pretty cute.  :)

Our sweet little guy is still battling eczema so I took him to the pediatrician.  He gave us a stronger steroid cream (we were using Cortisone) and we have been using it for a few days... it seems to be helping a little more.  The doctor seemed to think he will always battle eczema, but I have talked to several people who said their kids grew out of it or that they grew out of it.  It doesn't seem to bother him even though it looks like it would itch or hurt.  So as long as it isn't causing him pain I will not fret too much.  We will continue to try to get his skin completely clear.  

There are lots of little exciting things to share, so here they are:

• Cam drinks 4 bottles with 8 ounces each (plus 1 TBSP rice cereal).  When we increased it to the 8 bounces that is when he was happy to go 4 hours between bottles.  Big hooray!
• Nap times are around 9 or 9:30 where he sleeps 60 to 90 minutes or so, then around 1 or 1:30 where he sleeps 60-120 minutes (he sleeps longer for KK!), and then again around 5:30 for 45-60 minutes.
• Cameron was waking up EVERY DAY at 5:30 for most of the month.  We got in the habit of letting him lay there and talk for a little bit, and then we would bring him down to sleep some more next to me.  It has been fun getting to talk to him and give him hugs and kisses, but I am very glad that the past few days he has started to sleep longer until 7 am or later.  Keep your fingers crossed this continues!!!  :)
• We lay him in bed around 9pm, and that is really as early as we can reasonably do it with our nighttime regimen.  In general I give him some kisses and tell him it is time for bed and he plays a little in his crib before falling asleep.  No crying usually... just some gibber-jabber, squeals, and kicking around of his legs.  :)
• Cameron rolled over from his back to his stomach!  This was 9/27... he got his left arm pinned beneath him, but the rest of him was completely on his tummy.  I was definitely happy for this achievement with his development, but also worried.  I remember the many, many, many times where I'd see Emerson's face almost completely down in her crib and I'd run upstairs in a panic fearing she couldn't breathe.  Now I am entering that time with Cameron!  But so far so good... He figured out how to get his arm out from under him and turned his head.  So I know he knows to do that, but it is still scary.  It seems he actually likes to roll to his side more now, which is probably because he hasn't mastered rolling over.  Until he does he may favor sleeping on his side.  
• We tried to see if he wanted to eat rice cereal by itself earlier this month.  This was right when we dropped a bottle and I wanted to see if this would be helpful with that, but he wasn't ready for it yet.  He was interested and wanted to see what it was, but definitely didn't know what to do with the weird stuff on the spoon.  :)  Since he is so happy with the 4 bottles I don't think I will worry with trying again until right at 6 months.  I still can't believe that is just around the corner!
• He is still wearing 6 month clothes and they generally fit well.  I think he could wear some 9 month stuff, but those clothes are too warm because they have long sleeves. As soon as the weather cools down, which I hope it will, we can have some more fun clothes to wear.  
• We moved Cam to size 3 diapers this month too since we were out of the size 2 and he was at the very top of the weight limit.  They were pretty tight around his waist too.  So the bigger diapers are much roomier, a little too roomy because if you don't secure the diaper well around his legs he will pee on himself and you!  
• Cameron weighs around 18 pounds 10 ounces.  We go to the doctor next month and will get more stats.

We took some fun videos this month too that I shared with some already:

Cameron rolling from stomach to back-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOdgjE2JXOw&feature=g-upl

Cameron was really moving his legs trying to get somewhere-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um0pxXh0tJ8&feature=context-gau

Cameron squealing and talking-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXNHKUmD1H0&feature=g-upl

Cameron laughing when daddy was blowing bubbles on his tummy-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nugdPetsxE

And here are some pictures:

Little man sort of trying some rice cereal.

The kids just hanging out  :)

More hanging out... love how happy he is here!

Our sweet Aggies

His middle name is Chandler, but we will take Handsome  :)

Enjoying bath time in the big tub!  See Emerson's hand on the left?  She was helping, sort of.  :)

My sweet little guy cuddling

Uncle JP and Cam

Uncle Glenn and Cam

Hanging out watching some football

Cameron and KK- they both love her!

Getting so big!

Cam sleeping on his tummy after rolling over.

Our 5 month old cutie pie!

Sweet siblings... they look so alike here!  

The Pumpkins Are Here!

Today we visited the Arboretum and got to see all the pumpkins!  It was the first day for the pumpkin village to be open (according to the website anyway) and we thought it would be fun to all go see.  Also, I had not been able to see the Chihuly exhibit so that was neat to see.  I am sure it is really beautiful at night all lit up.  It is a gorgeous day and it was a really fun way to spend the morning.  Emerson wasn't too interested in the pumpkins... she was more interested in being able to walk around. The older she gets the more difficult it becomes to get her to hang out in the stroller.  And I can understand that... I'd be annoyed to be strapped in to a seat too!  Cameron was of course the easiest going baby ever this morning.  He is such a great baby... he really goes with the flow. We got him in and out of the carseat several times and he was so chill.  With even cooler temperatures on the horizon I think we will plan some picnics this fall.  I am sure we will be headed back for even more pumpkin pictures!  I asked one of the volunteers how many pumpkins there were and she said 50,000.  Can you imagine???  I would like to see a time lapse video of the transformation. She said the garden was transformed within a matter of a few days.  A crew comes in with a ton of guys and they form long lines and toss the pumpkins down the line to place them all along the paths and in the village area.  It is extremely impressive to see the volume of pumpkins and the variety of pumpkins.  There was one color we didn't see though... and I wonder if someone is working on this in College Station, that is an Aggie maroon pumpkin!  :)

Here is a view of some of the village

Lots of shapes and sizes

Look how creative they are... they made a little pond (gray pumpkins) with ducks (gourds).  That's pretty clever and creative!

Our carriage!

Our little princess!  :)

An Emerson sized pumpkin house

Little man in the pumpkins!

So pretty how they wrapped the tree!

That is a big pumpkin!

Dorthy and Virginia

Emerson loves playing in the water!

We did let her walk around a little!

Some of the exhibit... that must have taken a reallllllllllyyyyyy long time.

My loves... 

Sweet girl with MomMom

Those globes are really beautiful in the sunlight.

Frank's parents

The gals

GG

The Dallas Zoo!

Frank and I took Emerson to the Dallas Zoo for the first time Friday.  Since we both had the day off we left little man at home with Kristen for some extra time with just Emerson.  We actually bought a membership so we can plan to go every now and then since she enjoys it so much.  :)  I took some pictures of some of the exciting things we saw!

Before heading out we got a family picture.  

We didn't buy giraffe food for her this time... we will let her feed them the next time!  This picture makes the giraffe look much shorter than reality!

I asked the zoo keeper attendant if the lions were friendly.  She said "they like us because we feed them"!  Ha....

We looked for a long time before finally finding a gorilla!  Did you know gorilla feet have thumbs?  

Emerson: "You okay?"  (she just started a conversation with her... such a sweetie pie)

Emerson:  "Nice to meet you"- This we prompted because the gorilla hand was out like you could shake it.  

Emerson really enjoyed the carousel ride!

Wound up...

It has occurred to me lately that I am wound up way too much...  I need to just chill and just be, but I have such a hard time with that.  I am a "go, go, go" person.  Why would I sit down and just enjoy things when I could be up accomplishing something?  I wish I could relax more, but I want everything to be just the way I think it should be in my mind.  I want Emerson and Cameron to always feel happy.  I want them to both know how special they are to me... I hate it when either one of them is upset, unless Emerson is upset because she got in trouble.  In those instances I just want her to know I am mad at her or got on to her because I love her.  When Cameron is upset I hate it because I love him so much... thankfully this is such a rare thing these days.  He is such a happy baby.  Side note- How is it we were blessed with two amazing kids?  So with having two wonderful kids how is it I am so wound up?  I'm just not letting myself handle my emotions at the right time I guess... I try to keep my cool and remain ok with everything, even when I am not.  It has been more of a challenge than I realized it would be having two kids.  Everything is great, but it can be hard.  Everything with Emerson was so smooth, and this go round we have had a few more bumps... just minor bumps in the grand scheme of things, but it doesn't mean it is easy for me to adjust to it all.  I joke about our house being in a state of chaos sometimes and it really does seem that way occasionally.  There is so much to do sometimes it seems so I get in the "execute" mode where I try to get everything done.  There have been times when both kids have been screaming about something and Frank and I just go... at this point we realize "this to shall pass" and we calm both kids down. We have worked out a routine at night and we enjoy our evenings with the kids... but we have had some rough nights.  Thankfully we have gotten past the hardest time and in general everything is really much calmer now.  After Cameron was born I had a hard time with my emotions when it came to being a good mom to Emerson.  Which, how do you be a good mom?  I felt like a bad mom because I couldn't get her in bed every night for many, many weeks.  In writing it I know it sounds like it was not a big deal to miss night time, but that is a special time.  It's my favorite time with Emerson... always has been.  She is such an active little girl that those few precious minutes before she lays down are the few moments she lets you hug and squeeze her and shower her with kisses.  I hated not being able to feel her hugs me back and squeeze me before laying down.  To me I wasn't able to be a good mom and that sucked.  I was so glad when the time came where I was able to get her ready for bed again.  I felt like a much better mom again.   In the beginning of July when Cameron got RSV I again felt a lot of things... and I didn't really talk about it.  I was sad for him because it wasn't easy to see him hooked up to things with all the tubes and laying in a hospital bed.  I was scared.  I was thinking I surely should have been more careful since Emerson had been sick.  So again, worst mom ever... While that isn't true,  I wasn't feeling too great about things.  But I didn't get emotional... I just focused on him getting well.  When he did get better and we went home I hated that we had to cancel Emerson's birthday party with friends and family.  It was supposed to be her special day and I had looked forward to decorating and celebrating at our house.  But to be the best mom to Cameron it was what needed to happen.  My parents were so helpful while Cameron was in the hospital and had been watching Emerson so she was still at my parents house the night before her birthday because we thought it made the most sense so we could focus on Cameron.  This was hard for me because I felt like such a bad mom that Emerson would wake up on her birthday and I wouldn't be the first person she would see.  The night before her birthday I was torn with what to do... it had been an exhausting couple of days in the hospital... poor Cameron was still wheezy and needed breathing treatments... and our sweet little girl was about to turn 2 and I wouldn't even be there.  I had several mental conversations with myself... the emotional side of me was beating me up and the logical side was affirming it made the most sense for Emerson to stay one more night at my parent's house and that we would see her just a couple of hours after she woke up.  But I still sat on the bottom of our stairs and cried thinking I was such a bad mom for not being there for Emerson.  Only Frank knew how much that whole situation upset me... and obviously I am still beating myself up for something Emerson doesn't even remember.  We ended up having a great birthday celebration at my parent's for Emerson... and everything is fine, but I may always feel like a bad mom for being away from her on her birthday.  When we found out Cameron had to get a helmet I again felt a lot of things... sad, frustrated, worried... I knew it wasn't logical to get upset about it... it is just a helmet for goodness sakes, but I was so sad for him.  When you feel powerless about something that is a crummy feeling.  But I didn't get upset... I just kept telling myself it is temporary and everything will be fine.  This strategy worked for a while...  it worked until I got it in my head that he wouldn't have to wear his helmet too much longer.  We have been very fortunate that he hasn't been bothered by his helmet... he doesn't get mad or cry about it at all.  But still, as "easy" as it has been I every day look forward to the day when we are done and he graduates from his band.  I look forward to just being able to kiss his sweet little face everywhere and rub his head everywhere.  When I can hold him against my face and hug him without feeling the chunky plastic helmet instead of his fuzzy blonde hair.  We look forward to that very much and unfortunately I was extremely disappointed last week.  It didn't help that I was late to his appointment since traffic was heavier than I expected.  When I arrived 10 minutes late they had already let the next appointment in since they had arrived early.  I'm still trying to figure out why the 9am appt showed up at 8:30.  Those ridiculous over achievers...But they were there first... so Cam and I were in the waiting room for a while.  In my mind I was already stressed about having to miss work and sadly with each passing minute I grew more and more frustrated.  As I write this and think back about how I acted and felt Friday I am disappointed in myself.  It wasn't that at any point I was inconvenienced by needing to take care of something important for Cameron... it was that I got so consumed with my anxiety about being late to work, that they took forever to call me back to see the orthotist, that instead and getting the kind of news I wanted it was that Cameron would be in the helmet for sure 2 more months and maybe longer.  I hate that I was as frustrated as I was... it makes me feel terrible.  I love Cameron so so so much and we will and are doing everything we can to do what is best for him, but I was just so mad Friday.  And it gets worse... I was so worried about missing time and realized later that morning that we needed to take Cameron to the 360 Wraps place to have his helmet measured and pick a design.  I had delayed doing that until we were sure he would be in his helmet more than one more month.  So as stressed as I was about missing work I knew I needed to take him to the 360 place.  Thankfully my boss was very understanding... (I'm not just saying that... for real...) so I was able to leave and quickly got home to take Cameron over to 360 wraps.  He was all ready to go... Kristen had him fed and changed and he was a happy boy.  Traffic was great getting there and they were really nice people at 360.  The owner was walking through and he talked with me for a minute and commented that he thought Cameron was a good looking baby. :)  At that point I wasn't frustrated... I was just glad that we were going to be able to be in on the next wrap party.  It was a quick stop there and I was able to get back on the road.  It was around 4:45 when I left...  I didn't get home until a little after 6:15...  Whatever good attitude I managed to find between leaving work and getting to 360 wraps in just 25 minutes completely evaporated as I sat in traffic for over an hour.  I was never mad at Cameron obviously, I was just mad... I hated that he was stuck in the car seat getting sweaty forever... traffic wasn't moving... When I finally got home I know I was cranky to Frank, but he was so understanding... I think he felt bad that we were in such bad traffic too.  But it just wasn't the greatest day for me... not a good example of how to keep your cool when things don't go your way.  I shouldn't have been so frustrated Friday in general.

So, what is the point of my rambling and long post?  In short it is that I just want to be a good mom... I am letting all these things build up when I shouldn't.  I have had some tough things to adjust to that while they are not terrible things, they are outside of "normal".  I have a lot on my mind... I am feeling guilt about things I probably shouldn't, but I do.  And sometimes I feel I am really failing at being the person I know I should be.  I shouldn't be so wound up.  Yes,  it's hard to be everything I think I should be all the time... but here lately I think I should be doing better about not "sweating the small stuff"... that is something I really, really need to work on.

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