Picture with Santa

We finally made it to see Santa Claus today. This has been on my to do list since Dec. 1st. Of course, we have been so busy we didn't make it see Santa until two days before Christmas. We had intended to go to the Santa at Parkway Place but ended up at Madison Square Mall. Needless to say, the mall was a zoo. Brad stood in line by himself while I went in Dillard's to change Camden into his Christmas outfit. We wanted to wait til the last minute to change him to minimize the chance of him spitting up on his outfit. When I finally made my way past the hordes of shoppers to the restroom, I discovered they had moved their baby changing station to their children's department. So I had to trek back over there and then change him in this tiny room with a diaper changer about a foot off the floor. I think a dressing room would have been better, but I was alreay worried about getting back in time. I was trying to move as fast as possible because I was afraid our turn would come up before I got back with Camden. No need to worry; we had to wait in line for over an hour. The whole time I was in Dillard's and most of the time we were waiting in line, Camden was just laughing and smiling. We really did try to time this around his feeding schedule, but his schedule seemed to be off an hour today and we had to wait in line for over an hour. By the time it was Camden's turn to visit Santa, he was starving and sleepy. We were scared to feed him in line because then he definitely would have spit up on his clothes. In the end, we were just grateful that Camden was not crying or screaming in the picture. Santa loved him, and didn't want to give him back! While the picture is not what I had hoped for, it did turn out very sweet. Oh well, there's always next year!

Carsyn's Birthday

For the anniversary of Carsyn's death, I decided to start a new tradition of releasing balloons. Camden helped with releasing the balloons. As you can see, he really got a kick out of them. His expression is priceless.

Last Saturday, Dec. 13th, was Carsyn’s birthday. She would have been two. We decorated her grave with a Christmas wreath and a solar angel. Carsyn will always hold a special place in our hearts. We are so blessed and grateful to have Camden, but he will never replace Carsyn. We will always feel her absence. We try to remind ourselves that Carsyn is in a better place, and that it was meant to be this way. In heaven she is free from her earthly disabilities and serves as Camden’s guardian angel. That doesn’t make it hurt any less, though, when all we want is for her to be here with us. The pain of our loss never completely goes away, but as time passes, it does get easier. Big occasions like her birthday and the anniversary of her death will always be difficult, though. And I have found that with each new thing Camden does, I can’t help but think about all the milestones we have missed with Carsyn.
Thank you to everyone who remembered Carsyn’s birthday and let us know you were thinking about her and us. We never want Carsyn’s short life to be forgotten.
Carsyn, we love you so much and miss you every day. Please continue to watch over your little brother and keep him safe and healthy. Happy 2nd Birthday. Love, Mommy, Daddy and Camden

Rice Cereal

We started Camden on Rice Cereal this week. He's not quite sure what to think about it. He didn't hate it, but he didn't seem to love it, either. Hopefully he will grow to like it, and get better at eating it. The whole experience was very entertaining for us!

4 Months Old

It's hard to believe that Camden is already 4 months old. He is so interactive now, always smiling and laughing at us. He acts very silly, and loves it when we act silly, too. He loves it when I sing to him (he must be tone deaf like me) and he loves it when Daddy dances him around in his rocker or bouncy seat. He just laughs and laughs. Another funny thing is he loves to watch me blowdry my hair. For some odd reason he finds that fascinating. Here are some pictures we took of him the last few days.

Camden's hand are always ice cold, so we try to keep mittens on him. Since these are too big, he is really good at pulling them off. We find them everywhere, including on his head! Silly Monkey!

The Great Escape

Camden woke up extra early this morning (7am), so after I gave him his breakfast bottle, I put him in his swing in hopes that he would take a nap. I then went into the next room for half an hour or so. At first he cried & cried, but then he settled down, and only cried sporadically. He occasionally cries in his sleep so I was not alarmed. Imagine my surprise when I was walking through the den to the kitchen and looked down to see this! I had not strapped Camden in, and he had someone managed to slide down his swing and got stuck, half in the swing, and half on the floor. I'm not sure how long he had been like that, but he really didn't seem to mind! Needless to say, Camden is so heavy now that the swing was not moving with him in that position.Now we know to always strap him in the swing! I'm sure this will be the first of many escape attempts!

MILESTONES

The first week of December held several milestones for Camden. That was right at 16 weeks. By the beginning of December he was tracking objects really well. He turns his head and follows objects all around the room. Camden loves to watch Brad walk around if I am holding him, and vice versa, if Brad is holding Camden, he loves to watch me walk around. It’s nice to know we are the most fascinating people in his world right now. I’m sure that will change over time.
Camden has also finally started grabbing objects. He loves to grab his burp cloth and mommy’s hair. He’s still not very interested in holding toys, just batting at them.

in the bumbo seat
We ate lunch at Rosie’s on Friday, Dec. 5th, with my Dad. I noticed that as Brad was holding Camden up on the bar, he was holding his head up without support and no wobbling! By Saturday, he was a pro at holding his head up. So, of course, I had to break out the highchair and the exersaucer! He loves the highchair because it puts him at our level and he can really see what’s going on. We aren’t feeding him in the highchair, yet, but it offers another sitting option for Camden.

First time in the highchair!

So far, he’s not too sure about the exersaucer. We have one that a friend gave us, and it is just too big for him right now.

The too big exersaucer - he had his arms pinned and wouldn't or couldn't pull them out.

Our new Elmo excersaucer fits Camden better. But since it is “baby activated” he’s not really into it yet. He likes to watch Elmo and Cookie Monster play patty cake, but he hasn’t learned to push the button yet so one of us has to continually start it up.

The Elmo Exersaucer! Watching Patty Cake.

All in all, it has been an exciting couple of weeks!

First Cold

Camden had his first cold over Thanksgiving. He had been a little stuffy, but then he got really fussy, too. On Thanksgiving Day he screamed his head off for almost two hours straight. We took him in to the doctor the next morning. Dr. Patz was out of town so we saw Dr. Ellis. He told us all the usual stuff: Use saline nasal spray, suction with a bulb syringe, use a humidifier in his room, prop him up at incline in the crib... all stuff we were already doing (thanks to baby books and the internet). You can’t give a baby less than 6 months old any medication. But it was a mild cold, mainly just a stuffy nose, and Camden is all better now. So we survived the first illness! The most exciting thing was getting a weight check at the doctor’s office. I was guessing that he weighed around 15 pounds at that point. He had just recently moved up to a size 3 diaper, which is for 16-28 pounds. Camden was 15 weeks and 3 days at that appointment and he weighed 15 pounds and 11.5 ounces! Brad and I were both shocked. He certainly likes his bottle! He has gone back to four bottles a day, 8-12 ounces per feeding. He is wearing 6- 9 month clothing and has already outgrown a ton of outfits! Camden is right on track to be a big solid linebacker!

Here are some random pictures since I didn't have any from Thanksgiving:

Camden is so tall! He loves to stand up.

Camden always flips his bib or burp cloth over his face, then gets mad because he can't see! Hopefully soon he wil figure out how to pull it back down.

Jasper found another use for the boopy pillow we use to feed Camden.

This is a video of Camden grunting. I was trying to catch him laughing. He laughs all the time, but as soon as we pull the camera out, he stops laughing and just stares at the camera. He was laughing a lot more just before this video. When I asked him if he wanted to meet Santa Claus, he said 'Yeah." So now he can say Yeah, and Hi!

Iron Bowl

Hi! I apologize for not posting in a while; I am so behind! We have been super busy with Thanksgiving, tailgating, decorating for Christmas, Christmas shopping, and cleaning out our closets! Here is a quick post.

Dad, Brad, Camden and I all went down to Tuscaloosa to tailgate for the Iron Bowl. We left Friday morning and came back Sunday. We had a great parking spot on Paul Bryant Drive, 3 blocks from the stadium. We went down in Dad's RV! After packing everything under in sun (lots of food and baby gear), we still forgot the most important thing (to Brad anyway). Brad absolutely loves to grill. He could grill all day and night and be happy as a clam. We had purchased a new charcoal grill just for RV'ing on our last trip down. Well, halfway to T-town, Brad was telling Dad all the wonderful things he was going to grill and I realized I had left the bag of meat at home! Although we had plenty of other food to eat, we had to make an emergency grocery stop to pick up more grilling meat. Good thing we did, too, because Brad was glued to that fire all weekend! And it was some mighty tasty food, too!

Just getting the fire going, as soon as we arrived, Friday afternoon.

All decked out in his custom Alabama onesie, complete with name on the back, and track suit! Super cute little Bama fan!

This was Camden's first time tailgating. He did really well. Roll Tide!

Still grilling, late Saturday night!

Just like daddy, Camden is fascinated with fire!

3 Months Old!

Here are a few comparison shots to show how much Camden has grown:

3 Months, 1 Month, 1 Week

What a sweet face! So serious, yet questioning.

Camden has so many cute facial expressions now.

He always looks like he's up to something or has a secret.

Tummy Time

We have been working harder on our tummy time. Naturally, Camden doesn't like it very much. At first he would just scream and suck on his hand. Yesterday, he finally put forth a good effort at lifting his head and did not cry. He actually lifted his head up more than this, but I didn't get a picture.


Starting out, just laying there...
Thinking about lifting up...
Look Mom, I'm doing it!

Getting tired, sucking on his arm...
Worn out, sucking on his hand.

Day at the Beach

Beach hat & sunglasses

Footprints in the sand

On the boardwalk

Santa Rosa Public Beach

Today we went to the beach. It was a lot of work getting Camden down to the beach by myself. That's what Daddys are for! But we made it and got some cute pictures, so it was worth it. Of course, the first thing I did was lay Camden down right in the sand. Not very smart on part. It's even harder to get sand off a baby than it is to get it off yourself! I think Camden was a little too young to understand what was going on, but he didn't seem to mind the sand or the sun. We followed up with a trip to the infamous Red Bar in Grayton.

At Red Bar in Grayton Beach