Two Month Check-up

It appears as though Camden is chubbing right along. At his two month check-up today, he was an even 14 pounds! That almost doubles his take home weight of 7 pounds 6 ounces. He is in the 90-95% for height and weight and 75% for head circumference. He is catching up to his big brother quite nicely!

Oh The Cute Things They Do & Say

Okay, this list is more for me and our records than it is for public information. But, I have to put it down somewhere where it won't disappear.

Carter:

1. counts "1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1,2, 5, 8, 1, 2...etc.
2. sees letters and says "A, B, A, B...etc."
3. loves to point out and say colors- especially orange and yellow
   
4. sees water and screams "Nemo"!
5. painted our hallway walls with Desitin the other day
   
6. LOVES to ride his bike around the house chasing Oreo- it cracks him up.
7. hears a truck outside and calls out "Fireman Sam"!
8. loves to turn the lights on and off.
9. greets us with a happy "Good Morning" when we go into his room.
10. said out loud "No more kids" when we were discussing a third.
11. likes to do things by himself...he proudly proclaims, "Carter do".
12. is so super cute when he asks "what was that noise?"
13. amazes me with his intuition (climbs out of my chair, without me asking, and into his own when I am about to sit down)
14. asks "where's baby Camden?" if we aren't holding him
15. he says "Fire Sam" all the time...he wants to watch him on YouTube
16. tells us when he needs a diaper change
17. climbs into his own chair and gets a napkin in preparation to eat
18. uses a fork and spoon well
19. wants apple juice all of the time...he only gets it once in a while
    
20. says "goodbye, have fun, love you" when anyone leaves
21. says "Momus" instead of Thomas
    
22. likes to tickle us
    
23. tries to calm Camden down for us when he is upset
24. goes down the stairs by himself all the time now and closes the gates behind him
25. says "moog" for anything yucky or messy- he couldn't say boog
26. loves to put on his mittens
27. lays on the floor with his head down while playing with trucks and trains, so he is at eye level, making the experience more realistic
28. listens surprisingly well- likes to clean up and put things back, he is also an excellent helper when you need something
29. walks around stores and follows us now
30. stops to hold our hands to cross the street
31. loves to find out how things work- such a boy
32. asks about his Nana, Papa, Grammie and Jaja without being prompted to think about them
33. recognizes where we are going in the car- he knows if we are on our way to Daddy's office or Nah's (Savannah's) house- he always amazes me here
34. says "BD" instead of TV
35. falls to the floor when he is scolded, embarrassed or just plain doesn't get his way!
36. loves to jump off of things
37. tickles us while we change his diaper
    
38. more to come...
    

Camden:

1. giggles and smiles
2. "pops off" to look at me and smile and coo
3. loves to look at ceiling fans
4. is seriously impatient
   
5. sticks out his lower lip when he is about to cry (too cute!)
6. turns to find me when I walk into the room
7. only wants to sleep when lying right next to me- if he reaches for me and I have crawled out of the bed, he will wake up immediately and fuss for me
   
8. makes the cutest face when you pick him up after he has started crying (sticks his tongue out and smiles)
9. laughs in his sleep...absolutely adorable

Rash of Robberies

Well, as it turns out, Durham is NOT the only city being attacked by thieves. Dan's office was broken into last Monday night. They shattered the side door, but only after several failed attempts to pry the door off of the hinges. There was glass everywhere, it was a complete mess. It looked like they blew up the door with a bomb spreading glass all over the plants, chairs and floor. Poor Dan, he had to clean up the mess himself. His friend Brian, who thank the Lord was available to help, boarded up our door for us. What a blessing he is! Thanks for all your help Brian.
Dan had to wait for the local police and the CCBI to come and do fingerprinting-we were 8th on their list for that day- scary. We are not really sure of what the investigators found. But, the person who broke in got away with money.
After speaking with several people about the break-in, we discovered that our favorite Japanese restaurant and Goodberry's on Kildaire were both broken into the same night! We are left wondering who else fell victim.
We couldn't help but feel totally creeped out . It just feels yucky when your personal belongings have been violated. Not a good feeling. It would be nice to think that whoever was so desperate was forced to steal to feed his family. We can only hope.
http://www.carynews.com/news/public_safety/story/8084.html

Thanks Grammie!

Dan's Mom was gracious enough to watch Squishy (Camden's nickname, and yes it came from Finding Nemo) last night. We were able to take Carter out for a night on the town alone with just Mommy and Daddy. Carter was very well behaved which made our dinner a great success. We took our time, but still only managed to be gone an hour and fifteen minutes. And amazingly enough, that was just enough time to be away from Squish.

Mommy Time

Dan and I were most lucky while my Mom was here last. She watched both of the kids while we went out for dinner (Thanks Mom, you ROCK!). It was awesome to have some alone and quiet time. It's been a little while, so my idea is to find some Mommy time for JUST me. I am greatly looking forward to it, kind of like a small child on Christmas day. I plan on stealing two hours sometime this weekend. I can't stop talking about it- I am absolutely giddy. It better happen. You hear me Dan? :)
(Thanks also Mom for folding, per your estimate, our 800+ articles of clothing for us!)

Orange Pants!

Every morning, after I change Carter's diaper, I obviously try to put his pajama bottoms back on. Well, lately he has been throwing a FIT insisting that I put his orange pants on. He whines out "No Mommy, orange pants, orange pants...etc" while he kicks his feet. Is he two now or what? Unfortunately, he only has two pairs of orange pants...and guess what!? They are both in need of washing right now. Sorry buddy, I love you, but you are out of luck!

Growing Fast

We can't believe it, but Camden is already 7 weeks old today! Yikes, time goes by too fast. He has fun holding and playing with toys now...amazing. Camden delights us with daily smiles and he loves to talk to us and tell us all about it. He is also starting to cry less...thank you Lord.



Here is Daddy getting a taste of what life is like for Mommy all day long. The only difference is that Carter isn't throwing a temper tantrum and lying on the floor while I am trying to get us all out of the house.


Here is what having a fussy baby produces...lots and lots of laundry to be done. These beds were full, the washer and dryer were full and our King size bed was covered. UGH! Where did all these clothes come from anyways!?

Bob?

Carter loves Bob the Builder, so my Mom (Nana, pronounced Nah-Nah) got him some Bob gear. Here is my brother testing it all out for safety. What a dork! It was too funny. I think it passed.

More Birthday

For Carter's second birthday, we took him to Chuck E. Cheese's house for some fun and play. (I can't believe how scary those figurines still are!) Here are some pictures of his big day.



Our friends Christine and Justin, and their two little ones, came to help us celebrate Carter's big day. Christine surprised us all by showing up with a Thomas the Train cake. I had been feeling badly all day for not having a train cake for Carter, but Christine saved the day!!! It was too awesome for words...so here's a picture. BONUS: It was chocolate cake! ;)


Here is Justin helping Carter eat all the wheels off the train. He was covered in black frosting.


Justin and Ava


Christine and Amanda


Christine, I had to put you guys on here, your girls are too cute!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY CARTER!!!

Today is Carter's second birthday. We celebrated the big 2 with Nana, Daddy and Grammie.

The day started off with a little rest and relaxation for the birthday boy.

Then it was time to get down to business. Bath, dress and then OPEN PRESENTS!!!


With the important business completed, it was time to get to work on the "other" important birthday business... CAKE!

There was serious fun had by all, even with the fluorescent colored cupcakes :) !

While I Have a Minute...

We were treated to a wonderful display of smiles to cherish the other morning. He was in such a good mood that morning. I can't wait until everyday is that way.


Look everybody, I do take care of Carter :)


Dan found that holding Camden by a light calms him down and distracts him from crying for a while.

Praise the Lord!

Camden is sleeping in his own bed...and has been since 2:45 this afternoon, it is now 5:06. YES! We are hoping that tonight will go differently since he has gotten some good rest. (Tara...I am going to try to call you tonight so we can talk!)
On another note, we had a little bit of a health scare with Carter. I had to take him to the doctor's today. The doctor said he should be fine, but he had the most unpleasant (without getting too personal) procedure preformed. It was really hard to watch. Poor little guy, he was a real trooper. I promised him cookies, ice cream and any Thomas the Train items he wanted! I would have promised him the world if I thought I could come through. Talk about stomping on a Mother's heart!
OH! Camden's up, but I'm not complaining.

UPDATE:
Camden woke up, nursed and went back to sleep! For the first time in his short little life, he actually nursed and fell asleep on me. Yippee! I put him in his co-sleeper at 5:45 and he is still sleeping at 7:30. The three of us ate dinner...together...and in peace.

Last Night- The Saga Continues

We were able to take the kids out last night and meet our friend Christine with her daughters up at Southpointe mall. We also saw an old bible study friend, Lauren and her children. They have a wonderful padded playground for the kids to play on. We all ate dinner and played for a few hours. We had a hard time getting Carter to leave, but then a balloon popped, he jumped into Daddy's arms, and out the door we went. Too funny. The bonus for all of us was that Camden behaved quite nicely the WHOLE time we were there. It was a nice break for both Dan and me. However, on the ride home he started in again and wouldn't stop. I think the noise at the mall distracted him from his pain.
We ended up calling the triage nurse at Wake Med shortly before midnight because we were both freaking out. The cries and screams were SO loud that they finally made me cry- I fell apart. This is all so new to us, we feel like first time parents.
About the reflux, the nurse told me that my milk may not be of good enough quality to make him feel full. So, there is a vicious cycle here; he eats too much trying to get his calories, then he throws up the excess milk leading to painful reflux, then he wants to nurse more because it makes his esophagus feel better, then he throws up because he is too full...etc... UGH! The nurse advised that I put him on a feeding schedule- every three hours- to prevent him from overeating.
My instructions? Eat a high calorie diet (I dreampt about chocolate cake last night! Anyone have any to spare?), get plenty of rest (she told me to hire a babysitter), drink more water, and make Camden take a pacifier when he wants to eat for comfort. Our night went well considering I could only feed him every three hours. If we only knew what was causing so much pain...is it the reflux? or the "colic" causing him to cry?

Holy Moly It Works!!! (or not...)

We took Camden to the doctor yesterday to make sure that he is okay because of all his crying. We were afraid that maybe he had a hernia or something wrong with his digestive tract. He projectile vomits quite a bit, and there are gastric juices (yummy, I know) in some of his spit up. The doctor said that we will have to do a barium swallow test if it continues. She also noticed from his crying and screams that he has colic. COLIC! Yikes that dreaded "C" word that is doctor code for "your baby hurts and we don't know why".
Dan and I have heard from several of his patients that placing a baby on top of the running dryer helps with colic. When I started this entry, he was fast asleep riding it out on top of our dryer. But lo' and behold, he is now back in my arms, doing nothing else but screaming.
We are beside ourselves with sadness (for Camden's pain) and frustration (because we can't fix it!). And, as you can imagine, Camden's constant crying is starting to reek havoc on Carter and his emotions. Please keep us in your prayers. Colic usually lasts three months, so we have a way to go. Until then, we are giving him Gripe Water from Wholefoods that is a holistic remedy for colic...we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Carter's Two Year Old Photo Session

Here are a few of Carter's two year photos. We had them done at Portrait Innovations in Crossroads. They do a great job, but they always suck me into picking too many pictures!

High Needs Baby Alert : Advice Needed!

It seems as though our sweet little Camden is suffering from severe attachment issues. It first became apparent to us that out little guy loved being with us when we noticed that he refused to sleep anywhere but in bed with us or in our arms. This little predicament leads to one tired and fussy little baby when he can't get his naps in, which leads into our next issue; Camden cries a lot, and by a lot I mean all the time.
If he is not being held he is not happy. We cannot put him in his swing, on the couch or in his papasan chair for more than one minute. After one minute he realizes that he isn't all warm and cozy with us and screams. So, this is quite challenging. If I wear him in our carrier all the time, I put him at risk for bodily injury- ie. cooking at the stove and the last time I tried to do laundry he fell right out of the carrier and into the laundry pile (thank GOD!) when I bent over.
I am at my wits end. I remember with Carter he would fall fast asleep after nursing and I could grab a few minutes to not only preform a task, but to BREATHE, which to my understanding is very important! Dan and I have to take turns all day long. If one of us has to shower or eat, the other one has to hold Camden. Forget going to the bathroom, there is just no time for that. Dan goes back to work tomorrow after being home for the holidays, so I will no longer have my extra set of hands around to help. Poor Carter probably wants his new baby brother to go away.
Okay, I'm done venting. But, if there is anyone out there that has a suggestion as to how we might gain access to both our hands for a few minutes, we would greatly appreciate any advice.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year everybody! Hopefully you were all able to do something fun last night. We were lucky enough to have our friends Chris and Ava share their evening with us. Since they are also proud new parents, we stayed until about 9:30. What is it about having young children that turns us into old fogies immediately? :) We hope this year is full of health, happiness and abundance for everybody.
Here are a few odds and ends:

This was my attempt to do laundry while wearing Camden...it didn't work.

Sweet baby Camden

All the way up to the sky Daddy?

How do you spell r e g r e s s i o n?