So long, 2011.

How to sum up an entire year in a single post? I'll give it my best effort: playdates at the mall, storytime at the library, countless days spent with cousins, boat rides at Nan & Pop's lake house, summer afternoons in the cul-de-sac, 7 year wedding anniversary, road trips to VA, bridesmaid fun, visits from old friends, attending birthday parties, beginning speech therapy, getting rid of our first SLP, many afternoons at the neighborhood pool, visits from Nonnie & Grandpa, Camden becoming a sign language guru, finding the right SLP, watching Camden's verbal abilities explode, the loss of Matt's grandmother, a road trip to New Jersey, the loss of my grandfather, gathering with family in Richmond to celebrate the life of a man we all loved, Camden's second birthday party, hearing my little boy put short sentences together, Camden's first experience with the stomach flu, celebrating Christmas with family, watching Camden discover his gifts from Santa, and now saying goodbye to 2011 holed up in our house with my little family.

I hope the new year brings you all much happiness and love. Cheers to 2012!

Our 2011 in pictures...

January in Daddy's arms.

February at the airport playground.

Eating (wearing?) pudding in March.

Wild man in April.

Greeting Daddy after work in May.

Being silly in June.

4th of July on Nan & Pop's boat.

Kissing Cousins in August.

Camden doubles as Mr. Potato Head in September.

Hiding out in October.

Celebrating the big 2 in November.

Being handsome in December.

Christmas Craziness

It has been a whirlwind week! All I can say is thank goodness I'm not a procrastinator and all of my Christmas shopping was done early.

Early last week, our cat, Snickers, fell from the top of our stairs and shattered her leg. I've mentioned before how steep our staircase is-- well, Snickers has always climbed up the outside of the stairs, on the other side of the railing. She lost her balance that afternoon, fell down into our foyer and was obviously in severe pain. After taking her to the vet, we were told that our options were very expensive surgery that still wouldn't result in a fully functional leg or amputation. It was very upsetting news.We're currently getting a second opinion and haven't made any decisions yet.

Then, after a couple of sleepless nights due to coughing, I went to the doctor and found out I had bronchitis. The very next night, Camden started throwing up. It was the first time he'd ever thrown up and it was quite traumatic for him. He threw up 6 times in a 2 hour period-- it was awful. Finally, he fell into a restless sleep, and my coughing fit began. Needless to say, very little sleep was had by anyone that night.

Camden seemed to make an amazing recovery the next morning-- Christmas Eve. He woke up in good spirits and was able to keep two pieces of toast down without any problem. So, we followed through with our plan to head to my parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner and to spend the night. Christmas Eve was a blast. Camden was in high gear all day. We ate a nice dinner and Camden was thrilled to make Christmas cookies for Santa (read: he was thrilled to add excessive amounts of sprinkles to the cookies for Santa). After he was in bed, we put out all of his presents from Santa (unwrapped-- family tradition) and called it a night.

We were up bright and early the next morning and Camden was so excited about his presents from Santa. His immediate favorite: his train table, or as he calls it, his "choo choos". Coming in at a close second were his basketball hoop and his kitchen. He was so overwhelmed by all of the new toys that he didn't even really notice some of the smaller gifts (like puzzles) until we got home.

Every Christmas morning, my dad makes omelets for everyone. He also scrambled up some eggs with cheese for Camden. I figured since he hadn't thrown up in over 24 hours, we were in the clear. I was wrong. Camden shoveled the eggs in his mouth quickly and approximately 3 minutes later, they all came back up.

His mood rapidly deteriorated from there. Poor guy felt miserable again. He tried so hard to be in good spirits though, especially when his cousin/BFF arrived. We even caught them playing in the toilet at one point-- never too sick to stir up trouble!

We packed up our gifts and headed home in the afternoon only to do it all over again with the in-laws that evening. Camden powered through the evening and fell into bed exhausted that night. Thankfully, he's much better rested today and the vomit seems to be gone for good (knock on wood a thousand times). It was an eventful Christmas, to be sure, but somehow managed to be a really good one in spite of it all. There's nothing quite like experiencing Christmas as a parent.

"Nan!" was shouted repeatedly on Christmas Eve.

Baking cookies-- please note the sprinkles in hand.

Christmas Eve PJs-- Camden enjoyed the characters on Daddy and Uncle Chris's shirts.

Pop played us some Christmas music.

Santa was very good to Camden this year.

It took him about 1.3 seconds to locate his "choo choos".

Never too sick to dunk...

...or cook.

Cooking with Will. Check out their shoes.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Merry Christmas to all.

Bronchitis for me, the throw ups for Camden, and a shattered leg that will either require surgery or amputation for our cat equals very little time for blogging before the holidays. And yet, even with everything going on during our less than stellar week, I am still feeling so blessed and grateful this Christmas season. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am to see Camden's face on Christmas morning when he sees his "choo choos". Even in the chaos, I haven't lost sight of how very much we have to be thankful for.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. Hopefully I'll be back with more stories and less coughing & vomit in the days to come. Fingers crossed.

Conversations with Camden

He's not talking in long sentences by any means, but you guys-- he has found his voice and he loves it. Like a lot. So much so that last night at bedtime it took him over an hour to fall asleep because of his running monologue about fish, water, ducks-- he's very into all things aquatic right now. And it was mildly frustrating that he was still up at nearly 10 o'clock since we have a doctor's appointment to go to today. But I have to admit: I smiled, a lot, while listening to his sweet voice. We've waited such a long time to hear it, and I am enjoying every moment of it-- even when he's staying up past bedtime to talk to himself or arguing with me about what should be playing on the TV.

My Favorite Recent "Conversations" with Camdens:

"Dada, ball", Camden says to me while my husband watches a football game on TV.
"Yes, Daddy likes to watch ball. What do you like to watch?" I ask him.
He thinks for a minute and says, "Oat" with a smile. Oat= Oso, as in the Disney Channel Special Agent.

We're at the dinner table & Camden has reached that point where he's done eating and is mainly playing with his food. I unbuckle him to take him out of his seat but Camden has other plans. He quickly stands up in his seat, pulls his jeans down around his ankles and yells, "UH OH!" Nothing like a little dinner time nudity.

I was changing the (brown flannel) sheets on our bed yesterday afternoon with my little helper faithfully at my side. When the bed was stripped, there was nothing but a small piece of brown lint laying on Matt's side of the bed. Camden climbed up onto the bed and examined it closely before declaring, "Dada, POO-POO!"

We have this conversation every day. Repeatedly:
"Duhs?"- Camden
"We fed the ducks earlier, honey." - Me
"Duh? Wawa?"- Camden
"Yes, the ducks live in the water." - Me
"Ish, wawa?"- Camden
"Yes, the fish live in the water too."- Me
"Bu!"- Camden
"Yes, the water is blue."- Me
"Duhs? ME ME!"- Camden

And this convo goes on...and on....and ON.

Something else I find ridiculously adorable? He has started to "count", completely unprompted by me. The other day, I found him gathering all of his Matchbox cars and pointing to each one while saying, "Two...two...two..."

I know this probably doesn't sound like much to those of you with toddlers who have been verbal for many months, but I am so incredibly proud of my son and his progress. He continues to amaze me with new words on a near daily basis now and I am so thankful to be able to hear his little voice.

My Best Friend's Wedding

As luck would have it, when my family moved from Richmond, Virginia to Northern Virginia when I was 8 years old, we moved in to a house right across the street from another little 8 year old girl. Over the years, Kristin and I became inseparable. We did gymnastics together, danced (terribly) together, joined swim team together, played soccer together, and then in high school, we both joined the lacrosse team. There were countless summer nights spent playing flashlight tag, long days at the pool, many sleepover parties, and days that we'd make the short trek across the street to each other's homes simply because we had nothing better to do. If it happened in the first 18 years of our lives, you can bet that Kristin and I experienced it together. We had many nicknames over the years, including Double Trouble (courtesy of Kristin's dad), the Package Deal, and Frick and Frack (courtesy of our lacrosse coach). I think everyone was in mild shock when we chose to part ways for college.

Life went on, and time and distance separated us over the next decade. When I got the letter in the mail from Kristin requesting that I be one of her bridesmaids, she said something like this: the measure of a true friend is when you can pick back up right where you left off, no matter how much time has gone by. I agree with that wholeheartedly. I am so lucky to have many friends from childhood that this applies to, and Kristin is no exception. I was honored to be part of her wedding a few weeks back.

My date for the evening. And most evenings, for that matter.

My parents came too, since they were second parents to Kristin growing up.

The bridesmaids with the beautiful bride. I absolutely adore this group of girls.

Every bride needs a bedazzled pimp cup. Right?

Outside of Kristin's childhood home, waiting on the bus to pick us up and take us to the church.

I must admit that I was a tad disappointed that no little ones were invited to the wedding since I was daydreaming about how Camden would look in a suit the moment I heard Kristin was engaged. But, Camden got to spend the weekend with my parents, which worked out well for everyone. Apparently he was the perfect gentlemen and no trouble at all (or they were sugar coating things for me, but I choose to believe the former). When my parents left the hotel for a few hours to attend the wedding, my awesome little brother (who had tagged along on the road trip solely to babysit while my parents were at the ceremony) took over Camden duty. Camden adores my brother, so I wasn't worried about how it would go. However, in all of his 23 years, my brother had never changed a diaper prior to that night. When I asked him how he felt about that, he said something along the lines of, "Kerri, I'm 23 years old- I'll figure it out." I probably don't even need to tell you that Camden had an epic poop blowout that night, because that's just how those things go.

Despite that little mishap, it was a fabulous weekend full of family and good friends. And I couldn't be happier for the other half of Double Trouble.

You at Two.

Dear Camden,

Just a quick glimpse into who you are at two years old:

• You love to "mouskersize" with Mickey during commerical breaks. I look over to see you touching your toes, reaching your arms up high, waving bye bye, and touching your nose-- all at Mickey's request. He is your absolute favorite.

• You love to wear shoes and you don't discriminate. You'll have Daddy's work shoes on one minute and Mommy's high heels on the next.
• You love to play ball. You frequently find balls to throw with Daddy while yelling, "Ball!"
• You are obsessed with Matchbox cars. You take your cars to bed with you and they're the first thing you look for when you wake up in the morning. You call them "ah"s. You have an "ah" that you call Dada, Mom, and Nan because they look like our cars.
• You love to eat pizza, hot dogs, and cookies. Really healthy, right? No worries-- Mommy makes sure you still get your daily doses of fruits & veggies.
• You copy everything! While I dry my hair in the morning, you get out an old hair dryer and "dry" your hair too. You pretend to put in your contacts with Daddy, and you take (capped) deodorant and rub it on your belly (we'll have to make sure we teach you better aim when you're older). Whenever I vacuum, you say, "Me, me!" and run and get your mini vacuum and follow two steps behind me the entire time.

• You use many words now, but your favorites are "me", "no", and the newest addition, "Pee-pee, Poo-poo!" (And no- we are not potty training you right now. That's not even on my radar at the moment.)

I tell you this nearly every day, but your Daddy and I are completely crazy about you. You are sweet, kind, and funny, and we're so glad you're ours.

Love,
Mommy

(Photography credit goes to my talented sister, Lauren.)

The Mes and the Nos.

"Just wait until you get into the 'mes' and the 'nos' phase," I remember Camden's pediatrician saying at his 18 month appointment. Of course, he was referring to the todder-asserting-independence-phase when everything is "Me!" or "Mine!" and the answer to every request or question is "No!" At Camden's 18 month check-up, he was mostly non-verbal, and so this phase seemed very far away back then. Rather than dreading it the way many parents of toddlers might, I hoped and prayed for it, knowing that its arrival would mean my child was talking.

And you know what? It's here.

So much has happened over the past month in the speech department. At around 23 months, Camden started adding some new words and sounds, and as he got closer to 2 years old, he added a few more. I hesitate to say he's had the textbook language explosion, because I don't think we're there quite yet. Describing it as a small blast would be more appropriate. It's exciting and encouraging, all the same. And I credit his progress to his SLP who is, without a doubt, the right fit for him and is excellent at what she does. I'll hand a tiny bit of credit to Matt and myself because we work hard with him at home too, in the form of flash cards, daily fill-in-the-blank dialogue, and play. But I'll give most of the credit where it's due-- to my generous parents who have funded Camden's speech therapy and to the power of prayer.

Camden surprises me every day with his emerging verbal abilities. His favorite words right now include: Mom, Dada, Nan, Pop (pah), car (ah), duck (duh), dog (dah), cat (at), goat (oat), me, no, up, out, in, ball, baby, bubble, bye, blue (bu), green (een), yeah, go, pee pee, and more. Most of these he uses on a daily basis without any prompting from me. He also has countless words that he can say or approximate from his therapy flash cards or during therapy itself. You know what else? I've even heard him combine 2 words a few times-- today it was "moh duh" (more ducks). This is coming from a child who was pretty much non-verbal 4 months ago.

My favorite words? Without a doubt, the mes and the nos. I had to hide my smile during speech therapy today when his SLP asked him if he wanted to play with a certain toy and he responded with a very firm, "No!" And we both laughed when she was pushing a car around and Camden excitedly yelled, "Me!" before taking the car from her. You can bet I won't be taking this assertion of indepenence phase for granted.

And, finally, I have to share this story from therapy today. I've always believed that people are brought into our lives for a reason, and I've felt this way about Camden's SLP from day one. I just knew she was the person we were supposed to find to help Camden, though I couldn't explain it beyond an intuitive feeling. At the end of today's session, his SLP asked if she could talk to me. Immediately I got a nervous feeling in my stomach-- is she quitting? Is she ready to diagnose him with apraxia? Instead, she surprised me by saying that she and her husband had been trying to get pregnant for a year and a half, and she is getting ready to start an IVF cycle. She was telling me in case she has to cancel some upcoming sessions. Of course, I filled her in on what we went through to conceive Camden and I could see the relief on her face right away. Then I asked her where she was going for her treatments-- same practice we went to. And her doctor in the practice? Yep-- Dr. P, my beloved RE. And since she's been such a tremendous help to us with Camden's speech, I'm hoping I can somehow return the favor as she goes through the grueling infertility process.

Funny how life works, isn't it?

Party Time

I knew for a while that I wanted to do a farm theme for Camden's second birthday party but I wasn't sure how it was all going to come together. I'm not much of a cook, so I didn't even attempt to make the cake myself. Instead, we ordered a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse from BJ's (like Costco). It was delicious. I had them leave the cake blank except for the writing and I decorated the rest myself with tiny farm animals. See that pig's head on upper right corner? It was the lid to the tube the farm animals came in and Camden demanded that it be put on his cake. Oh well- it was his birthday, right?

Since we had mostly family at Camden's party this year, I felt like doing party favor bags was a bit too much. I'll probably start that next year. But, I still wanted to give the kids who came a small favor. So, I decided to have them adopt a farm animal. After picking up some small farm animals (at the dollar store! For $6 total!), I mentioned the idea to my artistic mom. She created the cute little barn below.

Just because I like it-- the fall/farm centerpiece on the adult's table.

Before everyone arrived, we took Camden outside to see his big birthday gift from Nan & Pop and Nonnie & Grandpa (both sets of grandparents)-- a playground for our back yard. It was a big hit that day, and has been every day since then.

When I decided to do a farm theme, I had this country menu in mind for dinner. Think fried chicken, corn on the cob, biscuits, etc. And then Matt suggested pizza because a) it's Camden's favorite b) it's cheaper and c) it's easier and I decided to roll with it.

Camden literally jumped with excitement when his BFF, Will, arrived at his party. These two are double trouble.

Time to open gifts. Camden had a lot of help this year. Thankfully, he didn't mind at all.

I don't know why this game is endlessly fascinating with children of all ages in my house, but Spin the Chair was played several times.

Time for cake! Camden worked hard to blow out his candles and succeeded in blowing-- but in the wrong direction (he blew upwards). Camden watched shyly as we sang Happy Birthday to him and then clapped with us and demanded that we serenade him again.

 Ever since his party, Camden will come up randomly to us and hold up one finger on each hand to indicate that he's 2. When we acknowledge, "Yes, you're 2!", he starts clapping his hands and then pretends to blow out his candles again. I'm thinking this kid really enjoyed his party and wishes they happened more than once a year.

Happy Second Birthday

Dear Camden,


Two years ago, I sat on the couch with Maggie while your Daddy timed my contractions. Two years ago, we packed up the car and headed to the hospital at 3am, hearts racing with nervousness and excitement. Two years ago, your Daddy updated his Facebook status to read “Breathless with anticipation” as I was officially admitted into the hospital. Two years ago, family came pouring into my hospital room, attempting to distract me with conversation and letting me use their hands as stress balls during contractions. Two years ago, just as I was beginning to feel like the pain was too much, the nurse said, “Are you ready to push?!” and, just like that, my pain was forgotten. Two years ago, your Daddy held one of my legs and your Nan held the other while I pushed with all my might. Two years ago, you decided you were going to do things your own way and you came sliding right out when I wasn’t even pushing. Two years ago, you turned immediately to look at your Daddy as the doctor caught you in his arms. Two years ago, the doctor placed you in my arms and I saw your sweet face for the first time. Two years ago, I fell completely and irrevocably in love with you. Two years ago, you made me a mom.

Two years.

Over the past two years, we’ve hurt watching you hurt—at birthmark removal appointments, when receiving vaccinations, and when you’ve fallen and skinned your knee in typical toddler fashion. Fortunately, we’ve felt terror only on the rare occasion—the night you fell down the stairs shortly after your first birthday and those few seconds (that felt like hours) when you stepped out of my sight at the store. We’ve been frustrated over sleepless nights, failed sleep training, and the occasional tantrum.

But mostly? There’s been joy.

Over the past two years, we’ve laughed as you smiled for the first time. We’ve cheered when you first rolled over, when you first pushed up and began crawling, and when you started to pull up to stand. We practically threw a party the night you started walking clumsily back and forth between your Dad and me. We’ve celebrated your first word, the first time you threw a ball, the first time you waved goodbye, and the first time you jumped with both feet off the ground. We’ve watched proudly as you’ve blossomed in speech therapy, and as you’ve become increasingly more independent, making it clear that Mommy and Daddy don’t always have to be one step behind you (even though we usually are). We’ve laughed hysterically as you’ve paraded around in Mommy’s high- heel shoes, with arms covered in a sleeve of Mickey Mouse tattoos.

A few years ago, before you were even conceived, I wrote a letter to you. I told you that your Daddy and I wouldn’t always be perfect parents, but that we would always do our best for you. I told you that you would make us better people and that we would learn by loving you. I’ve held true to those promises. I have no illusions (or delusions) of perfection in parenting, but every choice I’ve made in the past two years, I’ve made out of love for you. It feels that most of what I was doing with my life prior to being your mom was inconsequential. I was always waiting for you, before I even realized it.

Happy second birthday, Camden Miller. You are so loved.

Love,

Mommy

 
PS- See this last picture? So.very.true.