Maternity Pictures

We took the opportunity to use the beach as a backdrop (and my sister as our photographer) and take some maternity pictures while on vacation. It wasn't an easy task having Camden on the beach for pictures but telling him that he wasn't allowed to get in the ocean! Alas, we somehow accomplished mission impossible. Here are some of my favorite pictures. It's a nice perk having a photographer in the family.

PS- Does the name shell picture look vaguely familiar to long-time readers? Here's why:

(A big thank you to my talented sister, whose blog I'd link to if she'd update it more than once every six months ;)

Thoughts on our beach trip.

-Camden loved the ocean. This wasn't his first experience with it, but he certainly doesn't remember our last trip to the beach (he was 9 months old). He could've stayed in the water all day. Every time a wave came, he'd repeat this line to me: "Another one, Mommy! A big one!" I must've heard that sentence a thousand times over the course of the week. He also added a very cute "Oh my doodness!" when a particularly big wave came.

-As much as he loved the water, Camden hates the feeling of a wet (and sandy) bathing suit. This resulted in a mostly nude toddler running around the beach.

-Speaking of being mostly nude, we continued potty training at the beach. I didn't want to push it, but I also didn't want to lose any ground we'd gained. So, we brought his potty and kept him mostly diaper free. He didn't have a single pee accident the entire week (he did have one poop accident). I'll start tackling the "only potty trained while nude" issue over the coming weeks, but I'm proud of where he is now-- certainly not something I expected!

-When you live in a house with two two-year-olds for a week, you will hear a lot of "Me!", "Mine!", "My turn!" and "NO!"

-Camden loves his cousins. I felt like he got to experience having siblings for a week and he enjoyed every minute of it. The first question he'd ask every morning when he woke up was, "Where's Jayboo, Alte, and Vava?" (Jacob, Alex, & Will).

-Matt and I (and every other couple in the house) got to have a date night. I had to laugh that, on our rare kid-free night, we were seated in between tables with toddlers. Not that I minded-- I just appreciated the irony & enjoyed my relaxing meal while watching the other moms whip out play-doh and crayons in desperate attempts to entertain their kids.

-Our beach house was...interesting. In a lot of ways, it was awesome-- ocean front, a good size, a great, big living room area for the kids. But the sleep situation was tricky. Matt, Camden, and I slept in a room in the basement, under the living room floor. Every single step anyone took in the living room produced a loud creak in the ceiling in our room. And my parents slept on the top floor in the master bedroom which was, oddly enough, lacking a door. I'm not sure who designs a house with a bedroom with no door, but it also made for some tricky sleep for my parents.

-Camden experienced his first aquarium trip. He loved it. He was most interested in the fish and turtles-- and the humans dressed in scuba outfits cleaning out the fish tanks. He kept asking us to reassure him that the various fish and reptiles wouldn't get him, though.

-We headed down to the boardwalk for fireworks one night. They were a big, big hit with Camden. He wasn't bothered at all by the loud noise. He kept jumping up and down and clapping each time a firework exploded. Good thing it's almost the 4th of July because he's already asked to "do dat again".

-Camden is not a fantastic car rider anymore. He used to be excellent in the car, but now he hates being restrained for any length of time. The trip wasn't even long--less than 3 hours. But Matt and I heard "Get me out of this seat", "Wanna sit in your lap, Mommy",  and Wanna go hoooome!" repeatedly.

-All in all, it was a fantastic trip. Vacations certainly aren't what they used to be (ahem, relaxing), but there's nothing quite like getting to experience new things through your child's eyes.

No way does this kid like the ocean.

Camden kept announcing, "Everybody diggin'!" 

Working with Nan...already a technology pro at 2-and-a-half.

Hanging out with Pop.

So excited he couldn't stop jumping up and down.

Mesmerized by the fireworks.

Gators at the aquarium: "Him not get me, Mommy?"

And our final evening..."Bye, beach!"

PS- We also did a few maternity shots at the beach. Pictures to come soon.

Memory Bank

I can't count the number of times lately that I've looked at Matt or my mom and said, "Camden just said the funniest thing..." There are so many lines that come out of his mouth that make me pause and think where on earth did he hear that?! before bursting into laughter. And I don't want to forget any of these little things about him at two-and-a-half. So, here's a deposit into my memory bank:

"Be nice!" Camden loves this line. He uses it if I pick up a Matchbox car that he had his eye on ("No, me play too Mommy, be nice!") or if he wants to do something like close the garage door on his own. He doesn't even give me a chance to say yes or no; he just adds the tagline "be nice" onto every request: "Me close door all by me self, BE NICE!"

"Love to!" Honestly, I suppose I say this myself, but that was news to me. That's the funny thing about kids: they're a mirror into who you are; they reflect things about yourself that you don't even notice. Most of the time when I ask Camden if he wants to do something ("Want to come sit on the couch with me?", "Want to help me clean up?", "Want to help make dinner?"), he'll respond with, "Love to!" and come running. And I love that kind of enthusiasm.

Speaking of love, Camden has begun making random declarations of love lately. He'll enthusiastically say, "Me looooove..." and I wait with anticipation for him to name the latest object of his affection. On his list lately? Ham. Potatoes. Lexy (my mom's dog). Grasshoppers. Zebras.

Whenever we're out on a walk through our neighborhood, Camden stops and picks "flowers" for me. He'll pause and say, "Get you some flowers, Mommy," and upon handing me a handful of weeds, he'll command, "Smell them!" He'll make a sweet boyfriend some day, I'm sure of it.

He's also beginning to master the art of manipulation with the ladies (namely: me). The other day, I was trying to coax him into taking some more bites of his turkey at lunch time. He was trying everything in the book to distract me or delay having to eat the disputed bite. My favorite? He got right in my face and told me, "Give you a smooch first". He's also been known to say, "Love you,  Mommy!" when he can tell I'm getting frustrated with him. And I fall for it every single time.

When manipulation doesn't work, he'll turn to negotiation. "Play cars one minute!" is a line I hear at least 75 times a day at our house.

"Where is you?" I have no idea why I find this line so ridiculously cute. But any time I've walked out of a room for more than a minute, it's guaranteed that I will hear a tiny voice asking, "Where is you, Mommy?" Or, if he's hiding, he'll immediately give himself away by asking, "Where is me?!"

He's already a bit of a backseat driver. Whenever we're on our way anywhere, I hear a voice commanding me from the back seat: "No turn this way, Mommy; go that way!" Once, I even heard, "Drive too fast, Mommy."

He's already working hard on his manners, saying "Excuse me" when he needs to get by someone and "thank you" whenever I help him with something. 99% of the time this is unprompted, which makes me happy.

A few of my other favorites? "That's neat!", "That was fun!", and "That right, Mommy?"

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this kid?