Five Months and Fabulous

Sweet Cameron,
Happy five month birthday! You have grown so much and are learning new things every day. Just this past week, you realized that your can actually stretch enough to suck on your toes. Daddy called you Yoga Baby. Check it out:
You are doing so great with rolling over and are starting to show signs of enjoying sitting up. Daddy makes you give both of your hands to him and he slowing pulls you up, and you just beam over the improved view. You like your bumbo chair, but I am sure it won't be long before we have to bust out your real high chair (which we thankfully received at a baby shower!) Daddy and I are trying to make your evening cereal a part of your normal routine, so tonight we decided to make it a little thicker and see if you could keep more of it in your mouth. You did great! We only gave you a tiny bit but you really seemed to like it. Look how adorable you are when you are chomping on that spoon!

We also had to get you the 6-12 month size jammies from Old Navy, and just for the record, no way are these fitting you in seven more months. But you are certainly Daddy's Princess! He and I both love you to the moon and back, and can't believe we have been blessed to have you in our lives for these past five months.

We don't want to take any day for granted, and want to thank God for every smile, every giggle, every touch. You have stretched my heart to a size I could never have imagined, where your future and your dreams are suddenly so much more important than the silly ones I have held onto for myself. I want your every wish to come true, for every door to open to only good for you. You are my fountain of joy, my sunshine. Every day is better simply because you are in it. Mommy loves you more than I can even say.

PLEASE NO Buyer's Remorse (Part 2)

Quick Update: Bo just found a steal of a deal on Ebay for two car seats! I had looked around and really like the Eddie Bauer ones that work for all three weight categories and will last us much longer. They even turn into a booster seat for a kid up to 100 lbs! I think buying them online will save us about $140, so kudos to Bo for his bargain hunting skills! (He is the hunter, I am the gatherer - of mostly just shoes.)

I really hope that these arrive and are wonderful. Bo had to cave in to buy two of them because I told him that I would die having to take it in and out of my car every time I dropped Cameron off and picked her up. Please, please let this just WORK!

Buyer's Remorse

For some reason, our two big purchases are just not working out. The furniture arrived in the store last Tuesday, but since it was late, they offered to deliver it for free on Saturday. We had to stay home during their "four hour window," so of course they showed up three hours into it. And then the best part...

The dresser looks great. The nightstand got sent back because of a huge white spot on the front that didn't take the stain. It is an espresso finish, practically black, and it stuck out horribly. No way I was going to be happy with it, so they said they could exchange it. (I was curious, who looked at it and thought any customer would want it?) Then they are about to assemble the bed and the guy opens the box and realizes that the rails they have go to a completely different bed. Totally different color and style. GREAT! So now those are going back too. They offered to come deliver it again on Tuesday but neither Bo or I can stay home for another four hours and wait around on them. Bo gets to go pick everything up from the store since he works close by. Why can't they just get it right when they had five days to get it ready for delivery?

Then we got another call from Lowe's that our new front door arrived damaged and was sent back. They said it will take another three weeks to get the replacement! Seriously, three weeks? Is it handcarved by pygmies in the jungle or something? Geez! Of course, we have already paid for the whole thing and just have to wait. Bo was going to try and call to see if they will knock off some of the delivery and installation charges, but it is the manufacturer's fault, not theirs. We will most likely just have to wait.

I felt like the theme of the weekend was buyer's remorse. I bought a few things for the room and ended up returning them because they totally clashed. I have a cool glass picture frame that I was so excited about, then I removed the price tag and tried cleaning it. I ended up smearing the glue all over the middle of the frame! It looks terrible and I am not sure what concoction of cleaners or vinegar or bleach or what will get it off.

I am hoping this doesn't continue... We are about to have to buy two (one for us and one for Cara) car seats for Cameron. She is totally growing out of the other one! Her feet hang out the end and she is all scrunched up when we actually put her in the base in the car. Maybe we will get lucky on Craig's List again. Bo wasn't thrilled when I told him that two car seats will be almost $400! Yikes! But he definitely agrees that she is just getting too big.

At least we are 100% satisfied with her! No return policy anyway...

For All the Busy Mommies

I came across this on a blog that my sister loves, My Charming Kids. It was written in 1958 and was first published in Ladies Home Journal, and is called "Song for a Fifth Child."

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Seconds, perhaps?

Cameron,
You are growing up too fast for Mommy and Daddy to keep up with! You are now quite good at rolling over from your back to your tummy, but we have to be careful that you don't do it anytime after eating.... Then you just show us how good you are at barfing! But you never seem to roll back over. Maybe I need to just let you have time to figure it out, but I seem to give you an assist before you start to throw a temper tantrum.

You love playing with your toes and just this week realized that they can reach your mouth! Daddy says that you will love yoga with Mommy because you are so flexible! You also have really started to chew on things and drool a ton, which makes me worry that you are teething. I felt around on your gums this weekend and didn't feel any suspicious places, but you did really enjoy chomping on my finger!

We are still working on your sitting up because you tend to be a sloucher. We are trying to give you more time in your Bumbo chair so you can enjoy the view of all the things going on around you. You are so much more aware, turning your head when you hear noises and familiar voices. Your big eyes follow us around the kitchen and seem to just take it all in.

And just when we thought you were still our tiny baby girl, you decided you were much more grown up... Tonight, you ate your first bit of cereal!

At first, we weren't sure if you cared for it. Most of it was squishing back out of your mouth and all over your bib.


But then you started to seem interested, reaching for the spoon every time Daddy would take it back!


Then we realized, YOU LOVE IT! You couldn't get enough cereal!


You decided to be Daddy's Helper and make sure the spoon was getting to the right place. Unfortunately, it didn't work for some reason to put the spoon and all your fingers in at the same time.


You were so messy! You had sticky hands and feet, a majorly sticky face and you had managed to drip onto your bumbo, your tummy, and your legs. You enjoyed a bath and went right down for your evening nap. We are going to have to make it a part of our every day routine now, but I think you are going to do great with it. Your mommy certainly loves cereal (the grown up kind) so I shouldn't be so surprised that you do too!

The Cutest Leprechaun

I stole this picture off of Mrs. Cara's blog... She must have some wondrous trick to getting such fabulous pictures of little Cameron. I just want to kiss all over those chubby toes!

All About the "U"

Miss C,
Last night we went to the annual NCAA draft party hosted by a dear coaching friend from your daddy's old school. Basically, people pay $25 for one choice out of the bracket of 64 teams. You get to draw a number out of hat, and that determines the order of choosing teams. We paid for 4 draws, and got a wide range of picks. 5, 23, 37, and unfortunately, 64!

So here are the teams that we are rooting for in the tournament: UConn, UCLA, USC, and Morehead (they were the last team left, so we got stuck with them!) Your daddy is so excited to get to watch all the games since we just got HDTV. You and he really seemed to appreciate it the other day when he flipped over to a golf tournament. "Kate, come check out the grass!"

I have to say how good you were last night. You got a little fussy when it was time for you to go to sleep, but you eventually crashed in their guest bedroom and let us hang out for a while longer. Mrs. Wendy carried you around for almost an hour and you seemed quite taken with her! We were just excited to be able to show you off to everyone. Thanks for letting us have such a fun night!

Aunt Rachael's Pics

You had so much fun getting to see your cousins!

Emerson wanted to do everything the big kids were doing....

Ryan and Miriam had so much fun at the Witte Museum! They were so sad when it was time to leave.

Good luck getting four kids to all look at the camera! We will have to wait a few years before everyone smiles together, but it is super cute to see how you and all your cousins are growing up.

P.S. We have to send a big congrats to my dear old friend Aubrey, who just had her baby girl yesterday on my birthday! Ava Kate is a little angel, I am sure!

Cameron's March Madness

Cameron's Future Favorite Toy Alert- definitely Baby Stella. Emerson kindly let you play with it for about two minutes before she quietly came and reclaimed her. Baby Stella almost got left with us by accident... Something tells me you would have taken good care of her!

You are getting to be so much more interested in your toys. Most of the time you will be happy and smack all the things hanging from your activity mat.

Aunt Rachael and Emerson came and brought us a whole other round of clothes for us to sort through. Cute dresses from Gymboree are my favorite finds so far. We just want the weather to make up its mind because we don't want to have winter and summer outfits in the same size!

Grammy was so excited to get to see you while she was on her Spring Break. She stayed with you all day on Thursday. Mommy took Friday off so we could relax and do some quick shopping at Macy's. Highlight of the weekend was making Sweet Potato Chili! (and buying new shoes - Thanks for the birthday gifts, Rachael and Cindy!)

Chad's and my birthdays are only three days apart... I will be nice and not say how many years! But he graciously offered to get all our families together for a huge potluck dinner to celebrate the blessing of another year of Chad!

Mommy could not have asked for a more fun pre-birthday bash. You loved getting to see so many friends and family members and partied until way past your bedtime!

What? My Blogs!

For those of you that use Blogger, you know that your homepage has a place where you can link all the blogs that you read so that it notifies you when they post new things. I read a lot of other blogs, so I was horrified to log in this morning and the box was blank. It said I wasn't "following" any blogs!

So now the hunt begins. I have to go through all my friends's blogs (and the links to other blogs) and add them all back in. So annoying!

Now I don't even have the energy to post about our big fun weekend and all my early birthday celebrations. (New Shoes!) Pictures to come later.

P.S. As soon as I posted my complaining blog, it took me back to the homepage and there they all were. Apparently, Blogger doesn't like me talking smack.