He Was A Skater Boy

Check out how studly he looks in this get up my sister in laws bought him.
I made him put his hand like this to show the bling around his pocket.
He is one hot skater!

We Need A Break

Tonight we(by we I mean mostly me) put up ALL our Christmas decorations! After we got the tree up Dan suggested we take a break(Dan loves to take breaks right after we get started) and eat some peppermint icecream.
Good idea Dan! YUMMY!!!

Please note the festive ice cream cups! We made them last year on a date. Aren't we cute?!?!

You've Got Mail!

One of my most favorite things in this world is getting mail! I look forward to walking up to get the mail everyday in hopes that I receive something other than a bill. Today when I opened up the mailbox I immediately spotted a package! Unfortunately it wasn't addressed to me, but to Camden instead. This is almost as good, seeing how he cannot really open it, I needed to help.

So here he is "opening" his mail before I ripped into it like a 4 year old on Christmas morning.
Shot down! Inside the package was another wrapped package with instructions to open December 1.

So I called my mom to tell her I got the package and to thank her for the surprise, whatever it may be. But she quickly reminded me that the package was for Camden and not me. I told her how I tried to let him open it earlier and he just sucked on it. She gave me instructions to let him start sucking on it now and hopefully he will have it open by December 1. I really hope he mysteriously learns how to unwrap and I get a sneak peak before the 1st.

Finger Lickin' Good

Camden has been chomping on anything and everything lately. I assume this is because he is teething. I have tried giving him a million different things to appease him during this stage and have been frustrated at finding the perfect item. I bought this "fresh food feeder" awhile back and thought I'd give it a try today.
If you can't tell he LOVED it! I stuck a banana in it and he went to town for a good twenty minutes. I love that I didn't have to mash it up or spoon feed him. I just popped it in and BAM, he was totally content!
After he had successfully eaten the banana he licked his fingers clean(or began chewing on them, either one)!

Gobble Gobble

This Thanksgiving we celebrated with just the three of us. Dan wasn't supposed to have work off, but at the last minute he was able to thanks to his boss. It was a simple dinner with a ton of leftovers.
I insisted we take a picture of how beautiful our turkey turned out.We ate soooo much and still had way too many leftovers. I think I cooked for 10 instead of 2.

After taking a nice long nap we headed across the street to the school yard. The weather was perfect and it was nice to just hang out.

This past year I have been able to sit back and really be grateful for the simple things in life. It is amazing how your perspective changes once you welcome an infant into your home. I have so much to be grateful for and I'm glad I took the time to ponder my blessings today.

Birthday Part 2

Because Dan was gone taking a test all day on his birthday, we decided to carry the festivities on over to the next day as well.
We brought a cake to his work and made everyone(including the golfers eating lunch) sing to him! He was very embarrassed but deep down I'm sure he loved it! He managed to blow all 32 candles out the first time.

I wonder who enjoyed the birthday balloons more...Dan or Camden? It was fun to spend some time with him even if it was at work. Hope you had a happy day Dan!

How Sweet

I forgot to write about this the other day when it happened and I don't wanna forget about it so here it goes...

Dan called me from work the other day and I put the phone up to Camden's ear to see what he would do. Dan started talking to him and Camden got the biggest grin on his face. He kept trying to turn towards the phone to look at it because he recognized his dad's voice. I thought it was pretty sweet. He loves his dad!

Happy Birthday Dan

Today is Dan's birthday! So this post is all about him. Since he turns 32 years OLD today, I think it will be fun to write 32 tidbits about him.

1. He is pretty darn old

2. He is still the hottest OLD MAN I've ever met

3. He is very compassionate and attentive towards others needs

4. He is very fun loving

5. He is such a good "handy man" when it comes to just about anything(other than cooking)

6. He thinks he is funny

7. He is a mommas boy(I think it's kinda cute)

8. He could eat rice with soy sauce for every meal

9. He is the hardest worker there ever was, he works his tail off and hardly ever has a day off

10. He rarely complains(but when he does, man...you better watch out)

11. He is the best dad. He is always hands on and loves to play with Camden

12. He loves to hug everyone

13. He babies his dog like she is a princess

14. He is motivated

15. He is eight years OLDer than me

16. He rocked a perm in high school

17. He is the 7th out of 10 kids in his family

18. Did I mention he is pretty OLD

19. He was a seminary nerd in high school

20. He loves BMW cars, it is his dream to have an M3 BMW(I think that is the one)

21. He loves his nieces and nephews and has a lot

22. He is the best husband ever

23. He has owned his own company

24. He is a huge BYU fan

25. He is a Golf Professional

26. He loves working with the YM in his church calling

27. He hates having his picture taken and will rarely make a normal smile during one

28. He has been to Hawaii and didn't take me

29. His two favorite meals are Shepard's Pie and Stroganoff with rice(don't ask me why)

30. He is taking a BIG golf test today and I know he will do great

31. He had Guillain Barre Syndrome and was hospitalized right after we got married

32. He is one HOT 32 year old man

There you have it people, everything you ever wanted to know about my husband. I love him to pieces and hope he has a Happy Birthday.

Perfect Night

We have finally been able to enjoy cooler weather around here, it has been sooooooo nice! It sprinkled just enough to clear the air for a beautiful sunset.

The sunsets here are amazing!

Tonight I have all my windows open and have been enjoying the slight breeze. We didn't even need to turn the AC on ALL day today. Yay, I love this weather!

Spit Swappin'

Today we were so excited Tessa came to play!

I stuck these two love birds next to each other on the Love Sac and they had a blast. Camden was mesmerized by Tessa's bright pink bow and kept trying to grab it and put it in his mouth. Tessa fell in love with Camden's blue eyes and kept wanting to grab them. I decided I had better give them something other than one another to play with before one of them accidentally got hurt. I gave them this green frog to play with while I went to get another toy. When I came back I noticed all they needed was one to share. Tessa would play with it for a minute and put it in her mouth before sharing it with Camden.
She did not want him to feel left out by any means, so she would promptly give him a taste of the toy as well. They were having so much fun I decided one toy was good enough. Why not let them swap spit? It will eventually be happening during their dating years, so why not get them used to one another's germs now?!

Thanks a bunch Tiffani for letting her come over, we had a ball!

Going Topless

Today Camden has been drinking his regular full strength formula and is acting so much better. Even though the amount of food he eats is only half of what it used to be; I am so glad he is finally eating food again. I was hopeful he would be able to drink 6oz at a time by tomorrow. But I should've known this wouldn't last. Just when I thought he was on the mend and feeling better...I take him out in public and he thinks he needs to start throwing up again. This first happened at Costco and it was everywhere. Luckily I had an extra onesie in his diaper bag to change him into. A few hours later we left for Mutual and he decided to barf again, only this time I didn't have a spare onesie in the diaper bag, just the dirty one from Costco. Hence the topless photo below!

I know he will hate me someday for making him wear this hat. But until he can refuse, I am going to put him in whatever I think is cute.

I give up on what to do with this barfing child of mine. He has got it coming out of both ends now, it is starting to get old.

48 Hours Without Food

I am glad to see today coming to a close. What a draining day we had!

First of all neither Camden or I had the best night's sleep, seeing how he would wake up moaning off and on. And second of all, the crying started at 6 in the am! You hear mothers talk about their children that would cry for hours at a time, day in and day out, for months. My heart goes out to you mothers. I am not fit to be one of those saints. Camden cried for 5 hours straight and nothing I did or said would console him. Talk about emotionally exhausting for both of us. I seriously didn't think it would ever stop, or that I would be sane once it did.

Today was the start of the second day that he has had nothing but pedialyte to drink. I felt abusive. I knew he was fine and he wouldn't starve to death. But at the same time I didn't think it was fine for me to deprive him of food and nutrition. But being the obedient person I am, I listened to the doctors advice and gave him 1 teaspoon of pedialyte every ten minutes for over three hours! Talk about clock watching! Talk about torture!! Talk about teasing the poor kid!!! Ten minutes is a LONG time when you can hear your child's tummy rumbling. This was very hard for me. We finally made it past three hours and I felt good about giving him 2 teaspoons...then 3... you get the point. Every time I got to increase the amount I felt like having a party. I was seriously so proud of him for making it this long and not throwing up anything!!! If they made a bumper sticker that read, "Proud Parent of a Non-Thrower-Upper", you bet your booty it I'd slap that baby on the back of my car.

So to end the night he received..........drum roll please..........two ounces to hold him over until morning. Do you think he will last the whole night???
When he finally started drooling again tonight I wanted to cry. It was so monumental I had to take a picture to document. Up until I took this picture, his lips were dry and mouth getting the same. I am so glad to see life filtering back into him!

Now that this day is over and Camden is fast asleep and resting comfortable; I can't help but think how silly this whole thing was. As I finish typing this post I want to erase it so nobody can read and see what a mess I was! But at the same time, he is bound to get sick again some other time in his life. And seeing your child sick, and feeling totally helpless is heartbreaking, but not the end of the world.

So here's to hoping tomorrow is even better than today!

Hard Day

Last weekend Camden had the flu and hasn't been the same since. I thought he was over the flu and just fussy because he was teething. But the projectile vomiting that has been going on since Wednesday surely gave it away.

Normally he will take a 6-8oz bottle every three hours. Yesterday he had 3 bottles total, and threw up every last ounce. He wasn't acting overly hungry, but instead he would just play with the bottle in his mouth. I wasn't too worried until he woke up this morning and hardly had any urine in his diaper. Trying not to overreact I feed him his usual bowl of rice cereal followed by a 6oz bottle. Not even 5 minutes after that, everything he just ate was down the front of me, him, and the couch. So to make this long story shorter...he was allowed a 1/2oz of pedialyte every twenty minutes so long as he kept it down for an hour and a half. Well...the poor kid couldn't even keep that much down. How in the world do you console your starving 5 month old and try to explain why you aren't feeding him? It is draining!

Trying to come up with ways to distract him, or stop the crying. I thought I'd let him soak in the tub. Evidently he was so hungry he thought he could eat his bathtub.
He sat like this sucking on the tub for at least ten minutes. I had to peel the poor kid off, he was starving!!! I know he will be fine, hopefully sooner than later. But I never realized having a sick kid could be this hard. He is normally a pretty happy guy, but he just hasn't been himself lately.

He is now tucked away and fast asleep! Here's to hoping tomorrow is a better day!

What's For Dinner?

Today I was reunited with my good pal "pesto". I haven't had pesto in quite a while and had forgotten how much I love that stuff.

Anyway, tonight for dinner I made Sausage Zucchini Lasagna(it has pesto in it). This picture doesn't do it justice. I found the recipe here, and thought I'd give it a try. It was actually pretty darn good. It is very cheesy, and by that I mean rich, but melt in your mouth good! So if you are feeling in the mood for some goodness, try it out.
It does take a little longer to make than regular lasagna, but don't let that change your mind. It makes a ton and I cannot wait to eat it for leftovers tomorrow. Yum!!!

THE NERVE

I like to think that for the most part, people as a whole are good! But today I am not quite sure about that! While in Wal-Mart for maybe five minutes(long enough to get pedialyte and pay for it) this happened... Some bloody little punk wrote with permanent marker on my car. There were a thousand other cars(it's Wal-Mart, on a Saturday...everyone and their dog is there), why mine? I wasn't parked in the first stall. I wasn't parked around the back of the building. It was broad daylight. I didn't cut anyone off to get my parking space. It must just be my lucky day!

This is very frustrating to me. Since living in Arizona the past two years, nothing but unlucky, deliberate things have happened to our cars(ie..tires slashed, door getting keyed...). I just don't understand how someone can really do something like this to someone else's property. Oh the nerve!

I guess I should be grateful they didn't write a nasty word, just a squiggle.

It Must Be A Guy Thing

Today I set Camden in the corner of the couch while I sat down to make a menu and grocery list. He immediately put his arms into this position.
I thought it was so cute, a typical guy position when lounging on the couch. Not thinking it would last, I snapped a photo. No joke twenty minutes later I looked over and he was still sitting there, not moving a muscle, just chillin.
Doesn't he looked relaxed. I wondered how long this could possibly go on!
It was probably a total of 45 minutes until I got my menu and grocery list complete and this is what I saw!

He is such a good baby. Even when he isn't feeling the best he is totally content on his own and me not entertaining. I just hope this lasts forever:)

It's The Thought That Counts

Two new neighbors just moved in so I thought I would try to be crafty and make them a welcome treat. Try is the key word here. My good pal Martha Stewart made it, why can't I? First off I couldn't find the perfect Daisy cookie cutter so I settled for another. And second of all, I was to impatient and didn't wait for the Rice Krispie treats to sit out long enough(it was getting late and I wanted to be done). And last, I didn't see the need to make them as thick as Martha said.


Needless to say they didn't turn out!


As you can tell by this photo I didn't finish the grass. Why you ask...if you look close you will see that my flowers were starting to fall over, so I stopped to take this picture. Shortly after this photo all but one flower fell over. Oh well, it was an honest attempt at being a good neighbor, maybe next time I'll have success.

Anyone have any other cute ideas to take to my neighbors?

Uncle Cracker

For those of us lucky enough to know my brother, aka Uncle Cracker, you know what this shirt is about. For those that don't, let me explain. My brother's real name is Chad, ya know like the country in Central Africa. One year for Christmas he decided to have this shirt made and give it as gifts. Well the next year he needed to one up his gift from the year before. So he made a shirt of him wearing last years shirt.
So today Dan was wearing this shirt and Camden was staring at it and batting at Chad's face. It was pretty funny. So this post is for you Uncle Cracker...holla!

New and Crazy Things

Camden has started doing a bunch of new and crazy things lately. Most recently he finds it rather humorous to scream just for the heck of it. I was at the scrapbook store yesterday using some of their equipment and he decided to bust out the girly scream. He was in no way, shape, or form distressed; it was simply for attention and to frustrate mom. I would look over at him, get in his face and say, "You stop it right now"(as if he understands that). This only made him laugh and then proceed with louder, longer screaming. Normally I would try to ignore such behavior but a class was going on in the room next to me(there was no door to separate us), and a woman on the phone using the same equipment. The only thing that would silence the scream was for me to sing this one silly song to him. Please note this scream is no ordinary scream. It is high pitched and loud!

So there you have it people! You know your a mom when...you would rather have people hear you singing the same silly song over and over so your kid doesn't continue screaming, and you can finish whatever you started. It was really a pathetic site.

The next new thing he has discovered is his feet. He cannot get enough of them. He is constantly grabbing them and playing with them. It is rather nice, I don't need to find a toy for him because these two are always attached.
This was what he was found doing during his diaper change tonight. If he keeps this up we won't need a pacifier anymore either, his foot will do.

Lately I have been waking up to him "blowing raspberries" or spitting bubbles with his lips in his crib. He does this instead of crying to let me know he is awake. Today during his nap I noticed he had been sleeping for a really long time. When I went in his room to check on him I found him doing this very thing, wide awake. Who knows how long he had been up there doing it, maybe I should bust out the monitor...Nah, more quite time for me:)

I Looked Out The Window And What Did I See?

My neighbors already have their stinkin' Christmas lights up! Are you kidding me, I think it is a little soon. Have we forgotten about the holiday that falls in between Halloween and Christmas?????

This problem is not only with my neighbor. I went to Wal-Mart and what did I hear playing over the loud speaker...Christmas Music! This gives me serious anxiety! This year has FLOWN by, I cannot believe I am expected to be thinking about Christmas already.

I know, I know. This picture is a little blurry, but you get the point. The have their icicle Christmas lights hanging people. I really need to have a talk with them.

WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN...

What do you get when you cross a Camden who was up all night sick and...

has a booger nose in the morning?
NO SLEEP!

Camden was up quite a few times last night not feeling very well. So this morning when I went to get him from his crib, this is what I found! He had so many nasty boogers crusted to his face, but he was gladly smiling. How could I not take a picture?

It was pretty sad not seeing our typically happy boy today. He has been throwing up and crying most of the day! I have felt totally helpless and mega tired. But nonetheless more in love with this kid.

P.S. Happy not so 29th birthday Mom(shh..don't tell, she turned 50 today)!

What Happened To Your Spikes?

The other night while Dan was bathing Camden, he decided it would be fun to give him a Mohawk.

Because he went to bed with his hair this way, when he woke up it was sort of a half way Mohawk. I didn't think much of it and went to the gym. When I dropped him off at the day care, the cute old lady that always takes him was in love with his new do! She kept on commenting on how cute his "spikes" were. So the next morning when I dropped him off and he didn't have the same hair do, the sweet lady wanted to know what happened to his "spikes".

I tell ya...Dan is pretty serious about this whole hair thing now. When I went to work on Tuesday I came home and Dan had used his own hair paste to make Camden's Mohawk stay. It was pretty funny! I wonder what he would come up with if we had a girl?!?!?