Cool Rides

I have been working summer school since last week and will luckily be finished this week. Since I have been at work, Shane and Camden have done a lot of running errands to pick up this or take that back. While at Kroger last week, Shane saw a cart with a car and thought it would make Camden's shopping experience a bit more exciting.

On Saturday, we went to multiple stores to find different things we needed for the house. At Lowe's, Camden got to drive the #48 Lowe's car, which appeared to have been in multiple wrecks.

Watch out Jimmy Johnson - we are training early

And at Target, he got to ride facing the front the whole time which he loved! It reminded me of a roller coaster ride.

I think he needs a companion to sit next to him!

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Since being in our new home, I have met three of our neighbors. On Saturday, I met our neighbor to the left, a single woman who is very nice. Then on Sunday I met the neighbors to our right who are a nice younger couple. Today, on my way to work I met our neighbors directly across the street. And yes, you read that right, it was on my way to work. During the night we had a lot of rain, which we have not seen in a very long time, and it continued into this morning. I was less than two miles from home headed to work when I was approaching a red light and applied my brakes, which they did not react very well due to the slick surface. I veered to the right to make sure and avoid the car in front of me. Well, the car behind me ran into my bumper. Luckily we were not driving fast and she did not hit me that hard. We went ahead and pulled into a nearby school parking lot to exchange information. After looking at the damage, I went ahead and called the police so that we could have an accident report. My bumper will need to be replaced, however the front of her car will require more repairs.The girl, Jessica, was very nice and she sat in my car and we exchanged information. She called her husband and after sitting there for 15 minutes or so, he pulled up. I immediately recognized his car because I have made comments to Shane that the across the street neighbors car is loud due to the mufflers he has installed on it. I called out to Jessica and asked her where she lived. She said "Blackfoot Trail." I said, "We are neighbors, we just moved in across the street this weekend." Her husband just looked at me and said, "Awkward!"

The bumper of my vehicle

The front of her car

I am glad we have been able to meet some of our neighbors, however this is not the way I wanted to meet our across the street neighbors!

Baby Steps

Today a therapist from Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) came out to do therapy with Camden to help encourage him to walk. Last week he finally started holding on to my finger with one hand versus two, so I knew he was finally headed in the right direction. Then, over the weekend, my mom worked with him a lot on walking. Today, the therapist gave Shane different exercises to do with Camden to help strengthen his core and encourage his walking. One of the things he mentioned was having Camden sit on the bottom stair and have him stand up from the sitting position. Well, after the therapist left Shane sat Camden on the bottom stair. Not only did he stand up, he took about 3 or 4 steps forward! When I got home from work, Shane and Camden showed me his new 'trick'. Camden is doing a really great job with walking and he thinks it is great. He laughs the whole entire time, which sometimes gets his balance all out of kilter and results in him falling to the ground. It won't be long before I have a toddler racing by foot around the whole house!

Getting up from the step . . .

Walking and laughing

He's Got Your Number

One thing I knew we needed to accomplish this summer was to get Camden to drink cold milk. Up until this point we have been warming his milk because that is the way he wanted it. I figured once we got into our routine at home, we would work on weening away the warm milk little by little until we got Camden drinking cold milk. Well, that problem has been solved, thank the Lord. All it took was my Mom to come into town and watch my child for a few days while we were moving. The first time she went to offer him milk, she didn't warm it at all. She gave him cold milk straight out of the refrigerator. She said he looked at his sippy cup, took a drink, looked at it again, then took another drink, hesitated again, and then drank his milk. No fussing, no refusing, just drinking. How awesome was that? I couldn't believe it because I know for a fact that would not have been the case had I tried, because I HAVE tried and he refused it. Well, as my Mom and Dad said, "He's got your number" (as he does with a lot of things, unfortunately).

Our New Home

On Friday at 10:00 am we became proud new home owners. As you recall, when we moved from Alabama back to Texas in August we moved in with my sister and her family 'for a few months'. Well, a few months turned into 10 months due to the amount of time it took us to sell our home in Tuscaloosa, but finally we vacated their residence. I must say, I am glad that we finally have our own home again, but I am going to miss my nephews so much, as is Camden. Camden loves both of those boys so much and spends a lot of timing laughing at their antics and playing with them. I think Braden will be some what relieved that Camden is gone, since Camden loved to play with Braden's toys while he was playing with them, but I think Braden will miss him too. Regardless, we are extremely grateful for Melissa and Shawn putting up with us as long as they did and allowing us to intrude in their lives for an extended period. I know it was not easy!

Camden coming down the stairs with Braden's cars

Camden's bed in Braden's room - now Braden will have his room back

Shane and I were very fortunate to have both of our parents in town this weekend to help us move. My mom watched Camden while we all worked on moving and unpacking. Shane's parents came Saturday morning with the intent to leave Saturday night, but we gave Shane's dad an extra job of installing a new kitchen sink and faucet which lasted a little longer than expected. After making a midnight run to Wal-Mart, they decided to stay the night at our house and finish up the job in the morning. Between the heat and just the actual moving of all our worldly goods, we are exhausted to say the least. I have more bruises on my body than I care to mention, and for some reason the balls of me feet hurt. We have gotten a lot accomplished in the past few days, however there is a TON more to do. My obsessive-compulsiveness is causing me some anxiety. I am currently working summer school, so only have the evenings to continue unpacking, which drives me crazy. I want it all put away in its place now. My parents kept reminding me that I have all summer, but all I can see is what is in front of me, which is a lot.

As soon as things are in their place, I will post some pictures of our new surroundings. We are fortunate to have found such a nice home and look forward to spending many years here and making many memories.

Happy Father's Day

I must admit with the whole move this weekend, I failed miserably to even remotely make this a fun Father's Day. Shane wanted a new phone for Father's Day, which we went and got on Friday. (It really wasn't much of a special gift since I too received a new phone - Happy Father's Day to me too!) The one good thing about the move being this weekend was that I also got to spend Father's Day with my own Dad since he was here to help!

I didn't get an actual picture of Shane and Camden on Father's Day
but this one was taken a few days earlier.

So, Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there, especially to my husband and my dad. You both are two of the most important men in my life and I am so blessed to have you!!!

Bye Bye Sleep Sack

Isn't it funny that some of the things we do with our children are more for our sake than theirs? As you have probably seen in different pictures of Camden sleeping, he sleeps in a sleep sack. It was the next step for him after I quit swaddling him with a blanket and I loved it! It was easy and stayed on him nice and snug so I didn't have to worry about it coming off and him suffocating throughout the night. Well, as time went on and he got a little older, I would buy bigger ones for him. Not necessarily that he needed them any longer, but it was more for me. I knew he couldn't have a blanket and to me this was the next best thing. In the past month or so, his sleep sack was getting a little on the small side and they don't sell a larger size. So I continued to put it on him, unable to bear the thought of him in bed without any type of cover. Well, last week Shane suggested that we get rid of the sleep sack as preparation for moving into our new house. It is two story and we will probably not keep the air upstairs as cool as Camden is used to at my sister's house. So, to ween him (or I guess really me) I quit using it for his naps for several days and then I quit using it all together. It did not phase my child one bit!!! Me, on the other hand, it hurt my feelings. To know that he really is no longer a baby and instead is growing up so fast just breaks my heart.

Sixteen Again . . . . Kind Of

I am not even certain as to where to begin with this entry, so I will just start. Obviously when we moved to Alabama we got driver's license there. They were good until May 25, 2011. When we moved back to Texas, we opted not to change any of our vehicle registrations or license plates until we got our own home so we would not have to pay to change the address. (Cheap, I know but I do what I can.) Anyway, one of the things the closing company was requesting before we close on our home is a copy of our driver's license, which we sent, but since they expired the day we sent them, they wanted current valid driver's license. Since it takes about a day to get all of that accomplished here in Harris County, we opted to wait till last Friday to take care of business, since that was our first day out of school. We first went and paid an arm and half a leg to get our vehicles registered back in Texas and then headed to get our license. Now we had been informed to head to Hempstead or Brenham to accomplish this task because the lines close to where we live are ridiculous. So, after registering the vehicles, we headed to Hempstead. After waiting in line outside in the blazing sun for over 45 minutes and hardly moving in line, we headed to Brenham. When we got there, we did not even have to wait. However, we got some horrible news! They ever so UNPLEASANT lady told us that since our license from Alabama were expired, we would have to take the written and driving test again. Seriously??? You think I can pass that written test again? Also, she wanted a copy of our birth certificates which we did not have. So we headed back home. When we got here, I got on the internet to see what we needed to do about scheduling an appointment and the website said we had to do it in person. Well that just ticked me off because we had just drove twp hours there and back and she did not even offer an appointment to us. So I tried calling them, with no answer. The alternative number was a number to Austin. I called and spoke with a very nice lady who told me the woman was wrong, we would not have to take the test over unless our Alabama license were over 2 years expired, which ours were barely over a week expired. She said that if we went back to the same place to ask to speak to the manager. So, on Monday we headed back to Brenham and got stuck with the same UNPLEASANT lady. She remembered us and assumed we were there to take our written test. I informed her of what Austin said, and she called her supervisor. Well, that turned out well for Shane, but not myself. Since his Texas driver's license expired less than 2 years ago, he didn't have to take his test, but since mine expired more than 2 years ago, I did. UGH!! So, I sat down and took the written test, which I am proud to say I passed the first time. You wouldn't believe some of those questions!!!! (That being said for someone who hasn't studied for the test in 22 years.) Anyway, she said I would have to schedule the driving test for later in the week - which I scheduled for today at 9:00 am. So this morning we got up bright and early and headed to Brenham. About 5 minutes from home for some reason I had a bad feeling about Camden and his bowel movements. He has a knack for pooping while we are driving in the car, and you never know if it will be diarrhea or hard as a rock. I informed Shane that I did not even have a spare change of clothes for Camden in case of an accident. Well about 15 minutes into our drive, he pooped. We pulled over, and luckily it was fine, he was cleaned up and we continued on our journey. Right as we pulled into Brenham, he pooped again, but this time the smell was overwhelming. I had a bad feeling about what I was going to find. We pulled over at a gas station across the street from the DPS office and his shorts were covered with poop. After half a tub of wipes and one fly buzzing around us, he was cleaned up with a new diaper. I headed inside to the bathroom to get his shorts cleaned up and was somewhat successful. We then headed to the DPS office. Can I tell you I was as nervous taking that test as I was when I was sixteen. Luckily, when we arrived the nice lady took me for the test. I was blessed not to receive the UNPLEASANT lady because as I was told during my test, they alternate weeks giving the driving test. Thank goodness!!!! Before we even entered the vehicle I informed her of our morning festivities so that if she smelled anything unpleasant in the vehicle, she would know why. She thought it was hysterical! Anyway, we had great fun and laughs while taking the test, and honestly I forgot I was being tested. We even had the fly in tow with us which was a constant reminder of Camden! When we arrived back at the test site, I was informed I passes and received my temporary license! Perhaps I am not sixteen again, as evident by having a pooping child and husband in tow, but for a brief moment I felt like I was.

Teeth Marks

I knew it was coming. Why should I have thought otherwise? I mean, right now Camden bites me at least five times a day. So why wouldn't he have bitten his bed when it was nap time? Honestly, I am surprised it took this long. If only I would have had the picture when Shane caught him in the act. . . .

Sick Again

After almost 6 months of being sick-free, Camden started with a cough several weeks ago and now over the past five days or so, it has worsened. We started back up his breathing treatments on Friday, but after a night filled with coughing as well as sounding croupy and having a low grade temperature, I called and made him an appointment for this afternoon. As we suspected, bilateral ear infections as well as what sounds like bronchitis. It seems every time he sounds croupy he also has an ear infection. He was started again on Augmentin and we were told to give him breathing treatments until his cough subsides. Luckily, no steroids since he was not wheezing when we took him. (Had his appointment been yesterday or Saturday, I have a feeling they would have prescribed steroids since he has been wheezing.) I pray that this resolves quickly so he can sleep better at night!

Last Day

Today was Camden's last day of school until August. I must say I am extremely excited to be able to spend the next two months with him, however I was very sad that he was leaving his wonderful teachers. Ms. Caroline, Ms. Debbie, Ms. Ellen, Ms. Lilly and Ms. Nataly have been nothing but the best. We have been so fortunate to have him at a place where they show genuine love and interest in our child. As I say all the time, they are his mom when I am not there. I know we are not supposed to have favorites, but Camden picked one and stuck by her through out the year - Ms. Caroline. All the teachers knew that she was his favorite and they were fine with it, thank goodness. If you recall on Camden's very first day of daycare I took a picture of him and Ms. Caroline. Who would have know that those two would have bonded so very much. She loves him and he loves her. When she was gone, he would cry for her. When we arrived and he would see her in the mornings, his face would light up. What a blessing to have someone love on your child so much on a daily basis when you yourself are not able to do so. Next year Ms. Nataly will be in Camden's room next year since she is having a baby and will be unable to be in the same room as her child. It will be nice to have a familiar face and someone that knows Camden. We will miss his teachers so very much. I hope those women never doubt how much they are appreciated and how they mean the world to us!

Camden and Ms. Caroline on his first day of school.

Camden, Ms. Caroline and Jack on his last day of school.
(My how he has grown - and he got some hair on his head!)

Tooth #11

Well, the tooth I have been watching and waiting on while teeth #8, #9, and #10 snuck in on me finally arrived! It is to the right of his right front tooth!

Can you see the little chiclet?