no more baby

This weekend we celebrated Cam's birthday. Chris's parents came down Friday and on Saturday morning we took them up to Oak Glen. We had a wonderful breakfast outside while Cam kept himself busy running up and down the ramps and around the deck. Afterward we wandered around the vendor's booths and rode the train. The weather was perfect and Cam was again in heaven with being outdoors and able to explore all of the uneven terrain.




That afternoon we had his party. We decided to make it a family party this year because last year was incredibly stressful for both us and Cam. He was sooo overwhelmed with everyone and we spent the majority of the time upstairs rotating calming him down. This year was definitely better, however he still had somewhat of a hard time. I think the main difference was that we knew how to read him and swooped him upstairs as soon as he started to get upset (rather than last year when we just tried to keep him around everyone).




Anyway, Chris bbq'd some great burgers and afterward I gave Cam his cake. Knowing he wouldn't even touch it (not a fan of the icing on his hands), I tried to decorate it with his two favorites, raisins and bananas. Still not much luck in him touching it, but it still looked cute. :)



Overall it went well and Cam did relatively well with everyone here. I'm so excited for my little 2 year old and what is even better is that the newness of having our own child has not worn off. I still wake up each day excited to see him, find myself missing him when I'm away only a few hours, and just love every day with him!!

having a bad day???

Watch this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwCbZ3Ugg18

not of general interest

I was emailing a friend about this a few days back and thought it blog-worthy. When I was young, my family did something that we adopted from the book, "Cheaper by the Dozen". In the book, when one of the family members talked and talked about the same thing (annoying those around), another member would raise their hand and say, "Not of general interest". At that point, the rest of the family would vote and if indeed the majority deemed it as such, the initial person had to immediately stop talking about it.

Now, before you think, "That is so rude!", keep in mind that we really only did it to one another in a kidding manner, however it was followed through with! Think about it though, wouldn't it be grand if you could actually do this in everyday conversation with people? How many times have people gone on and on and you just wanted the conversation to end already??!! :)

p.s. Please don't think I'm endorsing the movie version of "Cheaper by the Dozen". It is so much worse than the book as it is full of snippy little snotty kids. The kids in the book were super respectful and the parents weren't portrayed as bafoons.

the weekend

Saturday morning Chris had a meeting with someone for work that lasted most of the morning. After I took Cam to his gym class and brought him home for a nap, we packed up the car so we could head out to the beach as soon as he woke up. He loved the ocean when we were on vacation in Morro Bay so we were excited to take him again. Sure enough he planted himself in the sand and let the waves come and go, saying "more, more!" as they would leave.





After the beach, we headed over to Fashion Island to walk around and let Cam ride the carousel before coming home.

Today after church, we drove to Victoria Gardens. We have always driven by the big Bass fish shop, but never ventured inside because, well, we aren't fishermen. But after hearing from several people how neat it was we decided to give it a try. Holy cow this place is like Disneyland! They even have the shooting game like Disneylands has (in Frontier Land). It was fun to let Cam explore and to also be inside with the air conditioning.

Here we are inside the elevator that looks out to an aquarium. Cam was more interested, however, in the opening and closing of the elevator door.


Afterward we went over to my parents' house for dinner. On the menu was salmon, chicken, and steak...quite the meatfest! We have learned that to have a meal with others where we can actually talk at length, the best thing to do is to flip on Cam's new favorite show (this super cheesy DVD with kids from the 80's singing Bible Songs). Yes, I know at some point he'll need to learn to sit politely the whole time while the adults chat, but for now, I don't care and just want a peaceful dinner!

really??? I mean....really??

A while back as I was walking, I saw ahead two nice looking women walking their strollers. I thought, "How nice. Probably two grandmas getting together to walk the grandkids." As I approached, I realized I was quite wrong. The strollers weren't occupied by cute little cooing babies, but dogs. Yes, dogs. Do I need to say anymore?? Feel free to argue how you think this is actually somehow cute, because for the life of me I don't see it!

Anyway, here are some interesting facts about animals I found.

*Some frogs sing when the weather is going to change.
*A cats tongue is rough because the tiny barbs act as little scoops to help it drink.
*Lizards smell things with their tongues.
*Turtles have no teeth
*Bees have two stomachs, a honey stomach and a regular stomach.
*A dragon fly's life span is 24 hours.
*A lobster's life span is 50 years.

dashing through the snow...

Today we were at my parent's house and were looking through my mom's box of children's books. I pulled out one to read to Cam and realized it was a Christmas book. The book was basically pictures put to the words of "Jingle Bells". Just reading those words got me all excited. I love Christmas (I know, most people do so it's not like I think I'm unique!). There has been much debate with my friends over the years as to the appropriate time to start listening to Christmas music. For me, I say the day after Halloween I'm game. Jen thinks that is far too early. But let's be honest, we only get a short amount of time per year to listen, so why not stretch it out much as possible? I recently saw Christmas decor at Costco and it is only August. I'm not advocating listening this soon, but my point is that there are probably people who are worse than I. When is too early for Christmas music in your opinion???

fun outing

Yesterday we went to Yucaipa Regional Park for the first time. I had no idea it had a big swimming area. They have two fun looking water slides that unfortunately Cam is too short for, but he enjoyed splashing around the "beach".



As is typical, we spent as much time wandering around and exploring as we did in the water...