Lou Lately

Isn't it funny when you become a mom and then people sort of stop asking how you are doing and ask how your baby/kiddo is doing instead?

I really don't mind, because I love (love, love, love) that my identity has shifted from my pre-mama self to my full fledged mama self.  But every once in awhile, it is nice to be asked how I'm doing, or at least talk about how I'm doing - even if no one really asked.

- I've talked about it before and I'll continue to beat it to death - I really struggle sometimes with being a working mom.  My struggle isn't really with balancing work and family (although it's not easy), it's more with accepting the fact that someone else is spending so much time with Camden.  I'm paying this person to snuggle and comfort him - all the things I want to be doing.  It's funny because I cry over the amount of time I'm away from him, but I know that if I were a stay-at-home mama, I'd probably cry over wanting adult interaction.  It's all about perspective.  And some days my perspective needs a swift kick in the pants.

- For whatever reason, I feel like my brain has been "off" lately.  Case in point: on Tuesday I went to a meeting that wasn't scheduled until Wednesday.  Thankfully that meeting was only with my mentor and she just laughed at me, so I avoided a greater embarrassment. I also cannot stop writing the year 2013 instead of 2014.  I also used the word fruit-ition instead of  saying fruition.

- I swear I am always changing a bomb of a poopy diaper when I hit the last of the wipes in a package.  I'm going to recommend that the last of the wipes are like receipt paper and have a pink or purple warning line.

-  After reading this, Ryan and I are making an effort to divorce ourselves from our phones.  Some days are better than others, but we're trying to be more intentional with the time we spend together.  I like it.

- It's funny (or maybe not) how you don't appreciate things until after the fact.  You don't truly appreciate your parents until you're a parent yourself.  You don't truly appreciate living down the road from your best friend until you live 2,300 miles away from each other.  

- Compliments have changed.  A compliment that would've made my day several years ago would be appreciated, but it wouldn't have the same effect now.  Case in point: today a random woman told me that she could tell how well Camden is loved by how happy and outgoing he is.  Proud, beaming mama!

- I'm excited for the Seahawks (and the city of Seattle) to be playing in the Super Bowl.  We'll proudly be wearing our green and blue Sunday.  It has been so much fun seeing everyone (bandwagon hoppers and all!) supporting this team.

- And by the way.  I cannot believe it's almost February.  Maybe I'll stop writing 2013 soon.

Take Luck & Go Hawks,

LP

Camden Lately

I'm afraid of being one of those mothers that I swore I'd never be.  You know, the ones that when you ask how old their little one is and they reply with "36 months" instead of just saying they are "3"?  

Since Camden passed the 12 month/one year milestone and I don't have any more of those monthly stickers to slap on his little Buddah belly, his little monthly "birthday" posts have stopped, and I've missed reflecting on his growth and change.  I'm sure you've missed it too.  {Insert crickets chirping}

Here are some things that my little man cub has been up to lately.

- He has turned into quite the little Porky Pig, as evidenced by his gigantic baby belly.  Seriously, it's amazing to me that I was ever seriously worried about him adjusting and adapting to finger foods.  For awhile I swore he would be going off to Kindergarten with a baby food pouch in his Bubble Guppies backpack.  Now, it seems that this kid hasn't met a food he doesn't like.

- Speaking of food.  His favorites are waffles (seriously, I have nightmares that he turns into an actual waffle), veggie/garden burgers (gross), peaches and pears, yogurt (say the word "yogi" and it's game over), bananas (would pry a banana from my dead and lifeless hand), oatmeal (that he does not like to share with mommy), and sweet potatoes.

- He continues to have quite the personality.  The scrunchy face is my favorite.

- Has advanced from walking to running (which I've yet to get a decent video of).  He always falls eventually, and may or may not always catch himself.  This gets dangerous when we're close to bedtime and his coordination starts to fail him... As does his catching abilities

- We are slowly (repeat, slowly) introducing the sippy cup.  At first, he would be totally content and chug water from the sippy.  Then anytime I would try to sneak milk into the cup, he'd turn into a fire breathing monster baby.  How dare I, right?  He's slowly warming up to it (or maybe just playing mommy like a fiddle?), but he still has a morning and pre-bedtime milk in his bottle.

- His four first molars are coming in right now.  Enough said.

- His "vocabulary" includes mama, dada, gaga (Grandma), papa (Grandpa), gog (dog), a-ga (all gone), a-da (all done), baby and ball.  Of course, he only uses "mama" when he's sad, and "a-ga" seems to have a universal meaning for whatever he has or wants at the moment.  We're working on signing "more" and "please."

- I was washing his baby rocker/bouncer to give to our neighbors who are expecting a baby and Cam took it upon himself to give it one last go 'round.  I'm so glad that I'm not the only one having issues with letting go of Camden the Baby.

- Not that I thought it was possible, but his love of bath time has reached another level.  I'll compare it to the dogs and the word, "walk."  We can't say the word, "bath" until it's actually time because then nothing else in the world will matter.  Not even food.

Plus we stole this adorable Flash towel from Cara over Christmas and it's pretty much the cutest thing ever.  Sorry, Cara.

- The love he has for his daddy is just the sweetest thing.  We almost always beat Ryan home from work so almost every day I get to see Camden's face light up when he hears Daddy's voice or hears him coming inside.

- I don't know what it as about Target, but he refuses to sit down and forward in the red cart.  He wants to stand or turn around the. entire. time.  Any other cart he does this weird little gangster lean where he turns his body and rests his elbow on the seat, but not at Target.  Maybe he recognizes it as mommy's happy place and is showing his mutual admiration?  I'll go with that.

- Any time I say "come on..." he will stick his little chubby hand in the air so I can grab it and lead him to wherever we need to go. 

- If I ask him for a kiss he will simply look at me and smack his lips, making the kiss/smooch sound. It's adorable. But I'm desperate for him to lean forward and plant a wet one on me. 

And that's all my mommy brain can think of during this nap time blogging sesh.

Until next time.

Take Luck,

LP

Christmas Recap

Along with my domestic goddess duties, I've been neglecting this here blog.  My apologies to you readers (Hi, Mom and Tiff!).

Over Christmas and New Year's Day, we spent 10 days with Ryan's family in the Midwest.  Our initial agreement (that sounds awful, but it isn't) was that we would spend every-other-Christmas there, but we hadn't been for Christmas since 2011.  Oops.  We'll blame that one on The Hamster's due date of 12/16 and the fact that there was no way in hell's fiery depths that I was going to fly last year with a spanking new baby.

Brace yourself for the most boring Christmas recap ever because the details are now a little foggy.  I do recall that it was a great trip, filled with lots of family time, visiting with friends, food, wine, laughter, and relaxation.

Thankfully, this child just goes with the flow and was cooperative with whatever we had on the agenda for the day - which always seemed to be something! Even though this was technically Camden's second Christmas - it felt like his first real Christmas.  

And then, he was ready for Christmas to be over.

We got to meet up with Alex & Patrick, who we first met in June.  It was so fun to get the boys together and see how they've grown.  I hope to make this a mandatory thing each time we visit.

Camden lived up to his Hammy Cammy nickname on many occasions.

Camden and his cousin, Liam, got to spend lots of quality time together.  Some of which was adorable and totally heart melting to watch.

Believe it or not this was one of the sweeter moments.  Liam just really wanted a hug and kiss from his cousin and laid the smack down to get some.  In matching jammies, on the dog bed, no less.

Camden got to spend lots of time with his Aunt Becky, who even made my dreamy dreams come true when the three of us took a quick road trip to Carbondale and had lunch at Quatros.  My softball teammates and I practically bled Quatros pizza from 2004-2008.  While at lunch we met up with my former head coach, Kerri, without whom, Camden wouldn't exist.

By the time New Year's Day came, I think we were ready to get back home and back to our own routine.  This guy, especially.

We had a great trip, filled with many wonderful memories.  As always, I leave wishing that we weren't so far away from Ryan's family, but I know we all do what we can and make the most of each visit.  C'est la vie.

Take Luck,

LP 

10 on 10: January 2014

10 on 10: 10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!

Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!

[1] Good morning, sunshine.

[2] Up and 'attem

[3] Stripes for days. 

[4] Enjoy that bottle, boy.  Soon it will be gone, baby, gone.

[5]  Teleworking = heaven.  Well, not totally.  But you know what I mean.

[6] Sonny Jo enjoyed us being home today, too.

[7]  Some of "our" favorite books.

[8] Fun with doctor's office paper.

[9] Sophie fell in the ball pit.

[10] Who wears flat in January?  Oh, me.

Take Luck,

LP

Goodbye, Rat Tail Baby Mullet (First Haircut)

Have you seen Joe Dirt?  The David Spade movie where his character has facial hair that "just grows in all white trashy like that"?  

Well, Camden, who has worked a long and hard year for what hair he does have, was experiencing some sproutage that was "just growing in all white trashy" and starting to resemble a rat tail baby mullet.

Exhibit A:

It's disturbing how good I became at hiding the rat tail baby mullet with the "rest of his hair."  The "rest of his hair" could have stood a bit of cleaning up, too.

So, onto his first haircut we went.

Before:

During:

After:

My sweet little man cub - looking like a wee toddler from behind.  Now you can see just how cute his little noggin' is. 

Take Luck,

LP