Oopsie Daisy!

So much for getting back on track with the blogging!  I just realized it's been a LONG time since I've posted.  Yeah, I've been a little busy, but why bother typing about it when I can show you some of our recent adventures? 

Grandma's 60th Birthday, and the first birthday party Cameron was invited to!  It was October 30, so we previewed the Halloween costume here.

I attempted the impossible, and staged a Halloween/fall photo shoot with Cameron and Bella.  This is about as good as it gets, sadly.

More Halloween fun!

We voted!

Making silly faces.

More exercises.

We've gotten creative with Tummy Time, since Cameron can only stand so much of it. 

A few naps.  We're still a little bit on the napping strike, but we may be reaching an agreement, as there has been some improvement on that front.  We still have a ways to go though.

Just about the cutest sad face ever.  I know he wants me to scoop him up and get him whatever he wants at the first hint of the "fuss face" but I just find it so darn cute!

We hosted our 2nd Annual Fakesgiving Celebration.  It was about 2 weeks before the real Thanksgiving, and it was just a bunch of friends getting together for a Thanksgiving feast.  It's the best non-holiday EVER.  You have all the fun and food of a holiday, but with none of the pressure! 

(Note that Bonnie, the blonde on the left in the red shirt, gave birth less than a week after this!)

This is the "tough guy" face.  He's been making this one more and more lately, but I'm not quite sure what it means.

He will still fall asleep in our arms, or on one of our chests.  It is the sweetest thing in the whole world.

Hey if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

At Thanksgiving, the extended family on my mom's side got together to also celebrate Mimi's 85th birthday.  This was also the first time Cameron got to meet his great-grandmothers.

The whole crew at Thanksgiving.  You can't tell in this picture, because she's so darn cute, but Carrie (Andrew's wife) is pregnant with Cameron's baby cousin!  It's a little girl due in February.  In just a few short years I'm sure they will be running around causing all sorts of mayhem, and I can't WAIT for that fun.

We've been propping C up more and more because he likes to see what's going on in the room.  Unfortunately, the best way to do it is to break the cardinal rule:  "nobody puts baby in the corner." 

We met Vince Dooley!  I heard he was going to be at Kroger (random, I know) doing a book signing, and hey- we've got nothing better to do.  So we went!  The best part of the whole thing was when I handed Cameron to Coach Dooley.  He looked at me like I was nuts (and let's face it, I am) and said "Oh you want ME to hold him??"  And sometimes things just fall out of my mouth before I really think about them.  Today was one of those days because my immediate response was "Sure!  Why not?  I mean, I'd trust you with my football team, why wouldn't I trust you with my child?"  We had to book it out of there before security could call for a psychiatric evaluation. 

Cameron is discovering his toys!  For the longest time, he was only interested in people and completely ignored all of the wonderful toys we had for him.  But suddenly, one day it was like they started to glow in the dark or something because the things that we had been showing him for months now magically seemed interesting to him. 

Dad is having fun letting C be a "blimp" like in a parade.  I'm not sure what calling him a "blimp" will do for his self-esteem in future years, but he seems to enjoy the ride right now.

Looky who we found!  We went to get our Christmas tree and miraculously, there was no line for Santa!  We had not planned on doing Santa pictures that day, but figured this would allow us the chance to test the waters before standing in line for hours just to have our baby scream when handed off to a stranger.  And guess what- he did great!!  We also got to take as many pictures as we want (taboo with Mall Santa) so we have about 30 pictures of this experience.

Cameron went on his first date!  Less than a week after Fakesgiving, baby Cora was born!  We had joked that she would be born at Fakesgiving, but she wasn't due for several more weeks, so we though it was one of those ridiculous things you just say... joke's on us though, I guess!

Cameron is not quite sure about the presents.  So far he's tried to eat them.  Which I guess is all you can really expect at this point.

Cameron also loves the "baby in the mirror".  He laughs and smiles at his "friend" all day long. 

Clear the roads!  Look who is driving!  He's not quite sturdy enough to sit completely upright, but it's nothing a strategically placed rolled-up blanket can't fix.  I'm SO excited about this stage for him.  He's just fascinated by everything he sees.  We got this walker from some friends who have a little boy turning 2 soon.  So far, it's a hit!

So here's what I've learned:  it takes MUCH longer to do a "catch-up" post than to just do a quick update.  I know I've said this 1,000 times before, but I'm going to try to do one a week.  With the holidays coming up I know it will be tough sometimes, but I'm going to TRY. 

As for me, you can see that my days pretty much revolve around Cameron.  In late October I decided not to return to work after my maternity leave was up, so I'm a full-time stay-at-home mom now.  Some days it's awesome, and some days it's the hardest thing I've ever done.  I'm still getting the hang of things though.  On my best of days, I can do laundry, clean something (bathroom, kitchen, etc.), keep Cameron fairly close to his schedules, watch the Martha Stewart show, get out and run some errands, and have dinner ready when hubs gets home.  But then other days, like yesterday, I survey my surroundings at the end of the day, only to be met with the fact that the only reason I took time to shower was because the baby managed to poop MY pants (true story- through his diaper, and his pants, and completely ruined mine.  Luckily I'm still in those yoga pants we talked about so long ago), the garbage disposal is broken, and now has a bent wire hanger sticking out of it, my laundry is 1/2 done, half in the hallway,  and we had "appetizer night" for dinner because I didn't have time to throw together a full nutritious meal. 
Most days, thankfully, I fall somewhere in between.  I'd pull my hair out if all of my days were like the last example, and I'd probably drop dead of exhaustion if I kept up the pace of the first example.  So as long as my average is somewhere in the middle, I'm happy.

Top 10 at 10

Today Cameron is 10 weeks old, and in honor of this milestone, I give you the Top 10 at 10 (weeks).

10. Number of weeks old baby Cameron is today: 10

9. Number of fingers that baby Cameron can choose to suck on: 10 (but he only actually will suck on 2- his thumbs!)

8. Average number of diapers baby Cameron goes through in one day: 10

7. The number of minutes baby Cameron will stay down for a nap before crying out: 10

6. Number of outfits baby Cameron has referencing Mommy: 10 (Mommy’s Hero, Mommy’s Snugglesaurous, I love my Mummy, Mommy loves me, etc.)

5. Number of t-shirts mommy goes through in a 3 day period (due to spit up, spilled drinks as the result of doing everything one-handed, etc.): 10

4. Number of times baby Cameron passes gas of some form after a feeding: 10 (I know you think I included this one to be cute, but I promise I counted.)

3. Number of burp cloths floating around this house somewhere: 10. They came in a 10 pack, so I know this number is accurate, but I can’t prove it because I never seem to be able to locate them when I need them.

2. Average number of times a day baby Cameron ends up in his bouncer (because that will actually stop the crying): 10

1. Number of hours baby Cameron went between feedings last night: 9. Oooh I almost had you! OK well here you go: the number of times mommy got up to check on baby Cameron between 3 and 6 am to make sure he was still alive: 10.

That’s right folks: last night was a MAJOR milestone in the sleep department. Let’s just hope it wasn’t a once in a lifetime occurrence and will become more of a regular thing.   Mommy is MUCH happier when she gets her sleep.  Trust me.

                                 

The Great Trade-Off

I always knew that motherhood would change me. That was no surprise. In fact, when I was pregnant, people would often say “Oh your life is about to change FOREVER” with this ominous tone, like I had no idea what I had signed up for. And I would think “I sure hope so!” Can you imagine living your pre-baby life post-baby? I sure can’t. But for me, that was a good thing. I always knew I wanted children, and at the ripe (almost rotten) age of 33, I had done enough of the childless things to know that I wanted to do more of the child-full things. And so it began. Here are just a few of the many ways my life has changed. As a disclaimer, this is not a complaint list at all. I intend to print these blog posts out and include them in my scrapbook so I can forever remember my thoughts about this time. So with that… I have traded the following:

1) Cute little handbags, for black bags under my eyes. On the upside, black goes with everything.

Check out those bags!

2) The little black dress, for the giant black yoga pants. I seriously thank God every single day for the stretchability of spandex. And no, I haven’t actually had time to do any yoga since he was born.

3) Bottles of wine for bottles, and whine. No explanation necessary.

4) Pumping Iron (yes, even the 5 pound weights count) for pumping milk. One day I really will do a blog post entitled “The many similarities between me and a cow”. Seriously. I’ll do it.



5) Abs of steel for abs of flab. (For the record, the abs in my head match those on the cover of any ab video you see advertised. The mirror tells a very different story, but we all know mirrors lie. Rolling your eyes at me? OK fine. Go try on bathing suits in department store lighting in the dead of winter. See? Now you think mirrors lie too.)

Uh-huh... totally my body.  I promise.

6) The occasional indulgence of a blow-out by my hair-stylist, for the daily blow-out of my child’s diaper. Don’t worry- I won’t post pictures of that one. Most of you have enough mental images of your own diaper days that will suffice.

Oh the good old hair days... back when I had time to do more than just wash it.

7) Rocking my skinny jeans for rocking my baby to sleep. In another 20 years skinny jeans will be cool again. I’ll just pick up the trend then… when I’m 53. Yikes! As a side note, I really do wish I had a picture of me in my pre-baby skinny jeans. Then again, it just might make me cry.

8) My own urge to party all night, for my son’s urge to potty all night. In truth, I haven’t “partied” in a long, long time. Longer than I care to admit, actually. But should I feel the urge to again, I’m already conditioned for surviving without any sleep. So feel free to invite me to your next all-nighter. I can totally hang with the 8 week-olds.

This was actually the first day he switched from Newborn size diapers to Size 1's.  It's obviously not night, but you get the idea.

9) My favorite fragrance (Dolce & Gabanna Light Blue) for the scent of spit-up. I have a reflux baby. Enough said. Along with this, I’ve traded the scarf as the accessory of the season for the burp cloth. If you ever see me without a burp cloth, just know, it’s laundry day.

This is the new uniform.  Note the yoga pants, the burp cloth, and the hair clip that are now all staples in my very sad little wardrobe.

10) Singing along at a concert, for singing lullabyes. Actually, I’m pretty lucky in that regard. My child does not like the traditional “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and you can FORGET “Row Row Row Your Boat.” He does, however, quiet instantly when I sing Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, or for some strange reason, the Love Boat theme song. (Please don’t ask how we discovered that last one. I’m begging you. Just don’t.)

I’m sure you’ve noticed that a lot of those “changes” have to do with my appearance. So I’ll just put it out there- I’m vain. So there. I like to feel good about myself, and a lot of that is evident in my appearance. No, I don’t wear fancy designer clothes, but I do like to take care of myself, and that is something I haven’t had time for lately. I know I’ll never have time to care for myself like I did pre-baby, and that’s OK. But I definitely miss some of those things- like the exercise.  There are, however some things that I can manage right now. So today begins Operation Motivation. I don’t have the energy to work out like I used to, but I can manage what I eat better. And that’s where we’re starting. God Bless my sweet husband- I adore him, and I can’t tell you how very much I appreciate all of the things he’s picked up while I focused on caring for our child. But the sweet man actually thinks mac-n-cheese is a vegetable. So I think it’s time for me to take over meal planning again. At least some of the time.

Now keep your eyes peeled for that cow post, because some of the topics will likely be the same.

  

Just a typical day...

 Just in case you're wondering what Cameron does all day, here's a sneak peak into the life of a sweet baby.

I stare at Mommy

I nap.

I flirt.

I do my exercises (and practice posing for pictures- that's multitasking!)

I play with Bella.

I practice laughing at how ridiculous my mommy is.

I help mommy bake (now THAT'S what I call a cookie sheet!)

I try not to get caught sucking my thumb... 

Yeah that's the latest news in Cameron's world- thumb sucking.  I thought it was a fluke at first, but I have repeatedly caught him sucking away on this little thumbkin.  I was never a thumb-sucker, but Ryan was, so I know who gets credit for this little bad habit.  Other than that we're just hanging in there.  We've had a rough couple of weeks- I guess this is the peak in crying that "they" talked about.  Hopefully we're on the home stretch of that though.  And any time Mr. Buddy wants to start sleeping longer stretches, Mommy would welcome the break.  (Hint hint).

Miscellaneous update that lacks a creative title...

Well last week my mom came to offer a bit of relief to the sleep-deprived new parents.  We were SO glad to have the help (and an extra set of hands!)  She was dying to get her hands on her new grandson, so it worked out quite nicely.  She even "babysat" (can you still call it that when it's grandma time?) so we could go to dinner... twice!  So we did have our first post baby date night.  I kept joking with Ryan that for our  first night out, I just wanted to check into a hotel for a few hours and sleep.  But he talked me into actually going out to dinner.  In the meantime, here's what C was up to with his Lee-Lee...

I'm not sure what they were talking about, but he seemed to enjoy it.  (Coupon girls, take note of my GIANT pink binder on the table behind them... that is my final couponing system, and I LOVE it!)

I'm pretty sure she was trying to tell him that he should be an Auburn fan.  Now he was only 5 weeks old, but you can tell by his face that he already knows that is NOT the way to get on mom's good side.  (Although Georgia is not giving us a lot to cheer about this season so far.)

Once Lee-Lee left us, it was back to our old routine, which includes mommy and me push-ups.  Frankly, we both hate them, but Cameron manages to look much cuter than I do while doing them. And yes, this means I cheated- I had to stop my push-ups to take this sweet picture.   

Look how strong I am!

I also ordered a book from my bookclub (it's not a real book club, but I call it that because I don't know what else to call it.  It's http://www.paperbackswap.com/.  You should check it out!  It's a great way to trade the books you are finished with.  Best of all, it's free!  But I digress...)  My book was on baby sign language...

This was NOT exactly the first sign I was hoping he would learn.  But I guess it would make him a baby genius, considering we just got the book that very same day he "learned" this little hand gesture.

And lastly, I could not let this go without being documented.  I'm pretty sure this is the last game C will be able to wear this onesie.  He's outgrown all of his other newborn sizes, and really, I had to force this one because I love the onesie so much.  It hasn't exactly brought the Dawgs good luck, so maybe it's a good thing that we're retiring this one.  No worries though- I have 3 other Georgia onesies on deck in the 0-3 month sizes.  Hopefully they will bring about better luck than this one.



Where to begin?

I was pretty sure having a baby would put me behind in the blogging world.  I mean, my track record hasn't exactly been the best anyway.  Throw in a baby who cries often, and will only sleep when being held and I was destined to fail.  But alas, here I am with another quick update. 
Cameron does not have colic!  He has reflux!  I think I said that in the last post, but if there was any doubt let's just kick that out the door right now.  We've been on zantac for a couple of weeks now and he is MUCH better.  We are starting a probiotic though to offset other intestinal distress (sorry, but that's about as delicately as I could put that) so I'm hoping between those two things our baby will really be the happiest baby on the block soon enough.  For now though, he's doing pretty darn good. 
Long stretches of sleep during the night still evade us.  But last night we did get 5 hours in a row, so for that I am eternally thankful.  No, seriously.  So.  Very.  Thankful.  The cumulative effects of sleep deprivation are starting to get to me.  I read somewhere (though I can't remember where- you'll soon realize how very ironic that is) that "mommy brain" or massive memory loss are the biggest effects of sleep deprivation.  I'm pretty sure I can back that claim up.  I often start doing something, walk out of the room because of some distraction, and come back DAYS later to find that I never finished that little task.  My poor husband has even fallen victim to this phenomenon.  He actually put sorbet in the refrigerator instead of the freezer the other day.  I discovered the melted mess the next morning when it was too late to salvage it.  And we do NOT waste desserts in this house, so it was long-gone at that point. 

I feel like I had a point to this post when I started it, but alas, it escapes me (insert mommy brain comment here).  So I'll quit rambling and give you what you really came here for anyway...
PICTURES!!

He really really REALLY hated that hat.  But he faked it for a few pictures for my benefit.

Our first family photo!

I spent a lot of time making faces at him in an attempt to get him to smile...  so far, no luck.

I just love this one.  I don't know if it's his super blue eyes, or how he's just cuddled up to his monkey, but I really like it.  Really Really like it.

This smile came only when we told him it was over and we wouldn't take any more pictures.  Luckily, Amber was ready to capture the ONLY smiling moment we had.

Those were from the session we did with Amber Price.  If you haven't checked out her site, well, you're crazy.  Do it.  http://www.amberpricephotography.blogspot.com/

One of my best friends in the universe came to visit us and meet Cameron, and I attempted to do the impossible:  group picture!  Her kids are the cute blonde ones.  Mine is the beet-red kid that is screaming as if he's being attacked by fiery hot pokers.  I swear we were not torturing him in the least.

Later, all that crying wore him out, so he took a nap in the Moses basket by the back door.  Fresh air works wonders on this kid.  After the morning we'd had, Bella had to come see what actually managed to quiet down the noisemaker.

You know how people always tell you to "sleep when the baby sleeps"?  Well, easier said than done my friends.  This is one of those rare moments when I actually got to do just that.

My mom is coming to stay with us for a few days, so perhaps I'll have a moment to do a more insightful post while she's here.  Or perhaps I'll just sleep.  We'll just have to see.