Cotton Picking Fun!

We went to Tate Farms on Wednesday. That's our local Pumpkin Farm. Camden was pretty overwhelmed & clingy so we saved the cotton truck for last. Oddly, that was his favorite activity!

I'm sure many of you are wondering about a cotton truck. Well, I can't really explain except to say I live in Alabama, and Cotton is our number 1 crop.

Daddy dumped lots of cotton on Camden's head. He thought that was hilarious!

This was around 5pm & the sun was shining right in his eyes, thus all the squintiness.

Piles & piles of cotton! Yup, this is the closest thing we get to snow in Alabama.

I know it looks like he is licking the truck in this picture, but he really isn't. Cam is doing this new awesome (ha!) thing where he sticks his tongue out all the time. Not like he's sticking his tongue out at you, but like it's just hanging out of his mouth like a dog. Nice, huh? Anyway, I promise he is not licking the rusty wire. 'Cause that would be gross & completely unsanitary, and I would total be able to stop him from licking rusty wire if he decided he wanted to! Aren't all 14 month olds perfectly obedient and immediately stop when you tell them no?

Pumpkins!

Brad & I carved pumpkins last night After Camden went to bed. I spent a long time surfing the web looking for the perfect pattern. I finally found it when I stumbled on a picture of one of the monsters from Where the Wild Things Are. So I printed it out and sat down to trace & carve. It took me half an hour just to transfer the pattern. Then it took me almost 2 hours to carve my pumpkin. It was a lot of hard work, but I think it turned out fantastic! I got the pattern from Pumpkin Glow.

Brad picked out a pattern from a book, but instead of copying it, he decided to free-hand it. Brad is a very good artist, but I think something got lost in the translation. This is after he did some extra carving because at first his pumpkin looked like it had 3 eyes. If you squint really hard, you might can see a face. Or not.

Lunch with Leslie & Josh

We ate lunch at Ding How II last week with my good friend Leslie & her fiance Josh. I had just woken Camden up from a nap so he was a little shy at first, but he warmed up to them quickly.

Fortune cookies - Yum!

When we first started eating, Cam was still sleepy.

Chinese again?

Wordless Wednesday

Baby's 1st BooBoo

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Baby's first booboo.

Yesterday Camden was crawling and all of the sudden started screaming. I was standing in the kitchen and couldn't see him. So I asked Brad, who was sitting in the den with him, why he was crying. Just as Brad said he didn't know why, Camden stopped crying. A few minutes later Brad got closer to him and discovered blood all over his bib. Apparently he had stumbled while he was crawling and split his lip open when he hit the tile. By the time we figured it out, Cam was totally over it. You can just barely see his split lip. He was more interested in sticking his tongue out & grabbing the camera than showing off his booboo. Thank Goodness it was a minor injury. I'm sure we are in for lots more bumps, scrapes & bruises as Camden transitions from crawling & cruising to walking.

The Littlest Lobo is 1!

Where does the time go? I just realized that this past Friday, Oct. 23rd, was the one year anniversary of my very first post on The Littlest Lobo! WOW! 1 year and 150 posts later, here we are! How neat that this ended up being my 150th post. To go back and see what Mr. Cam Cam was doing 1 year ago, click here. My, how he has changed! You won't believe what he's doing 1 year later! You will have to watch the video to see for yourself!

That's right, he's walking! Those are his very first steps! So far, he just takes about 3 steps to us. He can stand by himself forever, but he hasn't tried to walk on his on, yet.

Cam loves to pull up on the island, and open the doors and look inside. Yesterday he took off with my strainers.

Camden is helping Daddy cook pancakes.

This is the view I see most often of Cam - him pulling up on me.

This seems to be his new "I'm tired" pose. He just crumples to the ground. It's hard work learning to walk! So that's what Camden is up to 1 year later. My how time flies! It has been a wonderful year. Thank you for joining us on our journey!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Wednesday we went up to my Dad's house & I let Cam Cam play in the driveway.

He had a great time riding on his car & playing songs on the keyboard.

This is the first time he actually like he was having fun, and not like we were torturing him by making him sit on the car.

He had as much fun backing up as he did going forward.

Hey, be careful not to tailgate! And stay out of the blind spot!

Even this orange extension cord did not deter him. He rolled right over it, and then backed up over it.

He also spend some time crawling on the ground. He craweled underneath the RV & underneath the trailer. He got upset when he couldn't stand up under the trailer, and we had to coax him to crawl out.

He played hard, he tasted a few acorns, he got REALLY dirty, and then he gave out. Doesn't everybody take a nap in the driveway?

Pass the Tissues, Please

I'm back from Vegas, baby! We had the most amazing vacation, but I missed my baby dearly! I cried tears of joy when I finally saw The Cuteness.

He was happy to show off his newest trick - pulling Kleenex out of the box! Lots and lots of Kleenex! Thanks, baby, I needed that!

Sorry for the long time with no posts, but I will be remedying that in the next few days. I have lots of pictures from our vacation, and lots of pictures of what my baby's been up to! Stay Tuned!

How Much Crazy Can You Fit in 24 Hours?

UPDATE: Kristen at We Are That Family is hosting a 2nd Blogoversary Carnival today asking her readers to share a "THAT family moment." I think this post about the random craziness in just one day of our life fits right in, so I'm linking up. Be sure to hop on over to her blog to read about some everyday hilarity & embarrassment.

My friend Hillary is a hosting a Crazy Blog Carnival today. She challenged me to talk about the craziness in my life. So here goes:

Our life with a 14 month old energetic little boy is crazy, but in a good way. I find myself doing things I never would have imagined, on a regular basis!

So what’s crazy about our life? Here’s a few examples from our lunch out with Grand Daddy yesterday.

Crazy Exhibit #1: Using your child as an accessory - fashion accessory! Not accessory to a crime!

I confess, I often dress to match my son’s clothing, or vice versa. I do this with my husband, too, but usually only when we are going somewhere special. Yesterday I dressed Camden in a new little Elmo outfit. Then when I was looking through my closet for something to wear, I came across my Cookie Monster t-shirt (bought on an impulse in Spencer’s one day - Brad got one, too!) & immediately realized that was the perfect opportunity for Camden & I to match! I realize most people would be embarrassed to wear a Cookie Monster t-shirt in public, but not me! I’m crazy like that!

Crazy Exhibit #2: Allowing your child to climb on the table in a restaurant, and letting him sit on it for the duration of lunch!

In retrospect, this was probably a bad idea, because Camden now thinks it’s okay to climb on every table, but there was not room for a high chair at our table, and the booster seat they gave me did not have a strap in option. Yes, other diners did stare at us all during lunch, but only because Camden is so adorable & cute, not because he was climbing on the table like a monkey! That’s what I choose to believe, anyway.

Crazy Exhibit #3: Putting a Ladies Man tuxedo bib on my child in public!

Does this really need an explanation? My only excuse is it came in a pack of 10 bibs, and it was on top of the pile when I grabbed a bib. And it had a touch of red in it, so it would go with his Elmo outfit. Yes, I am also guilty of matching bibs to outfits. What can I say? I am a slave to fashion!

Crazy Exhibit #4: Letting my child dip various items in & out of my tea, and continue to drink from it!

Spoons, straws (with & without the paper wrapper), ice cubes, rolls(fresh & previously chewed) - all these things went into my tea. The tea was really weak, so these actually helped with the flavor. The highlight was Camden taking ice cubes out of the tea, putting them in his mouth, spitting them out when he realized how cold they were, and then putting them back in the tea. Also, when the straw wrapper finally dissolved into the tea, that was pretty special. Why did I continue to drink this tea? Because I was thirsty? Or because I was CRAZY! I have to add, I was actually proud of Camden for figuring out the ice cubes went back in the drink!

Crazy Exhibit #5: Trying to pose my child on a giant fake steer!

Can you say Photo Opp!?! Yes, I was more concerned with getting a good picture than the fact that Camden clearly didn’t want to have any part of posing on that steer. After about half a dozen wonky pics, we finally got this one where he was at least looking at the camera. And how did I not notice the giant black truck in the background? How hard would it have been to have my trusty camera man (Dad) rotate around so that truck was not hulking in the background? Oh well, at least we captured that moment in time FOREVER!

Crazy Disclosure: My Dad was present for all of this craziness, and not only did he NOT blink an eye, he also aided & abetted! Thanks Dad! You’re crazy, too!

Crazy Exhibit #6: My child is crazy - and we laugh at his antics! Come on, what parent hasn't laughed hysterically when their kid did something unexpected & crazy?

To say Camden has a flair for the dramatic would be an understatement. I can’t imagine where he got this from. Certainly not me!

So that's a day in our crazy life. I wouldn't trade it for the world! Oh wait, did I mention that I left the house yesterday without a single extra diaper, and later improvised by putting an adult diaper on Camden? Just call me McGyver! Sadly, I did not capture this awesome crazy moment on film. I did seriously consider recreating it for a photo opp. Is that Crazy? Nah, I don't think so either.

Thanks Hillary, for challenging me to write about my everyday crazy! Be sure to hop on over to her blog to read about everyone else's craziness!

Roll Tide!

Welcome Baby Tessa Grace!

My friends Tamitha & John welcomed their sweet baby girl, Tessa Grace, on Sunday, Oct.4.

She is so tiny! She weighs 5 pounds, 10 ounces. For reference, Camden weighed 9 pounds, 1 ounce and had a huge head! I cannot get over how small Tessa's head is! She is so precious!

Camden, on the other hand, was less than thrilled. When I held her up next to him for a photo op, he pushed her away! Hmm, could this be a touch of jealousy? See his little hand pushing her? Thank goodness she's light as a feather and I had a good grip on her!

It was naptime for Camden so he was pretty tired. He did really love playing with her big Baby Girl balloon. I guess the balloon was a lot more exciting to him than a tiny sleeping baby who was getting all the attention!

Tessa Grace, welcome to the world! You are going to love your parents! And don't worry, I'm sure Camden is going to want you to be his girlfriend before long!

Camden the Explorer

Camden has been finding his way into EVERYTHING! His new thing is exploring the upstairs and climbing the stairs everytime my back is turned. Yesterday he climbed the stairs twice while I wasn't looking. Don't worry, we finally got a gate installed at the bottom of the stairs last night. Camden wasn't too happy about that this morning. I am still trying to find a gate that will work at the top of our stairs. Our particular staircase presents several challenges. That is on my to-do list today. I am very proud of Brad for installing the gate last night. He displayed some mad power tool skills, even if he did install it backwards.

Yesterday, Camden discovered Mommy's makeup. My makeup bag was sitting on top of a magazine on the bathroom counter that he pulled down.
Hmm, eyeshadow. Interesting.

Who me? I'm not doing anything!

Okay, I'll put it all back in the bag.

And take it out again. In, out, in, out. I better leave it all here so Mommy can make herself pretty!