*blows dust off of blog site*

Hmm, I never claimed to be good in the blogging dept. But I thought I would oblige two of Chunker's biggest fans, Nicole & Brenda. Nicole demanded an update.

Cameron's new "thing" is going down the stairs by himself. He's been doing it for awhile, but once they're in sight the word "PEAZ!" comes out of his mouth, begging us to let him walk up/down them.

If we're lucky he'll usually mutters "oh shit, oh shit". Ok, maybe it's not actually "oh shit", but to us it's beyond hilarious. I would promise a video, but I can almost guarantee the audio would be Paul & I laughing.

And B Dawg, demanded a taping of Chunker saying "banana" & "cheese".

All while eating a bowl of fruit salad, true Chunker style. ;)

Chunker fall down, go boom.

Last Thursday was um, eventful. Paul was at work so I played “beat the clock” alone. Beat the clock is an oh, so fun game.

The object is to:

Walk the dogs: Tote around Cameron where he pleases. Then you may name off everything he points to. “Yes mama, that is a tree. You would never have seen the 23 trees we just passed without my eagle eyes. Oh and ROCKS! Pick those 2 up & hand them to me. No, NOT those 2. The other two that look just like those 2. Ay yi yi mama, you need to listen.” Up until he’s had enough & demands to be put down. “oh that’s right. I CAN walk mama. You may put me down. I’ll let you know by pointing to the floor squealing DAAAAA!! Then fling my body toward the ground.” Only to get extremely upset if you try to “help” guide him back home. You will know when this happens by the stiffness of his body while standing still, all while swinging his arms & shaking his head no.

Put together dinner: Tell Chunker not to throw food at least 30 times. Play “guess what I want” while offering every cracker, fruit & drink possible. Ask what’s “uh-oh”? only later to find Oscar with a half eaten corn on the cob. “Not sure how he got that mama.”

Bath time: Which will only begin when the tub is full of bubbles & his Muno & Gatorman are in plain sight. Then you may stand them up so he can knock them down. While applauding his remarkable BOOM!ing talents (knocking over Muno & Gatorman) you may then & only then put him inside the tub. “Did you just sit down to wash my hair mama? Because I see my toothbrush & I don’t understand why we’re not brushing my teeth. LOOK! LOOOOOOOOK do you see it?! Thank goodness you have me to point these things out mama. Wait, what? Bathtime is over? NOOOO!!! I’ve only been in here for 3 hrs, I’m not ready to leave yet!” *lays down to gather all of the drop of water left*

Bedtime stories: Now that Chunker walks he more or less escapes after bath time. In fear that Oscar or Sadie are trying to take over his toys he needs to rush & make sure that they’re all accounted for by playing with his legos, cars, blocks & push car. Luckily this is a form of cardio so not only do I get to sing, dance, poke myself with something dangerous to make him laugh, but I now get to chase him. “Do you have my water mama? I can’t read books with my water.” *GULP* *GULP* “Hmm, I’m not feeling the Big Book of Animals tonight mama. I know you don’t understand me so I’ll help you better understand by slapping it out of your hand.”

The moment Chunker rubs his eyes that’s my cue to ask if he’s tired. He then wraps his arms around my neck & lays his head on my shoulder.

Love.

Ok so this mama gig is pretty awesome.

Then we turn the lights off, mobile music & fan are turned on & we say our prayers with Tiger, Kitty Cat, Bear & blanket.

All before 7:15, 7:30 the latest. ;)

So when something doesn’t go quite as planned, it throws our “game” out of whack.

Which is just what happened last Thursday.

The thrown food was picked up & it was bath time. As I turned on the water & washed down the tub Cameron, who was walking right behind me & fell.

HARD.

Chin first onto the outside of the tub.

Cameron instantly cried, I scooped him up & saw it.

Blood.

Screaming child + Blood + First time mom = Instant Fear.

I grabbed his ducky towel & headed to the living room. I flipped on the tv & turned on Yo Gabba Gabba. As I held the towel to his chin, the crying stopped, Magic Mark appeared & Cameron wiggled away to join MM & color along. So I sat there fighting back the tears not really knowing what to do. I called Paul, the dr., my aunt, even had our next door neighbor’s husband Chris (who’s a dr.) look at his chin & tell me what to do.

I know common sense would be to take him into urgent care but I was afraid to. I didn’t want to admit he was hurt that bad & questioned whether I was over reacting or not. It stopped bleeding. He was happy, he was laughing & playing. The only fussy one was me. So after hearing a definite yes from Chris, I called Paul & told him to meet us there. As I packed his bag I realized I was shaking. I couldn’t help fear that they would give him stitches. My poor baby. :(

On our way to the children’s urgent care Cameron fell asleep. Great, not only may my child needs stitches but now I have to wake him up. Guilt was making itself nice & cozy.

I didn’t feel guilt from not preventing what happened. Honestly, there’s nothing I could have done to prevent his fall. Maybe stick him in a bubble? But the guilt of dragging him around & knowing how miserable this was for him, made me full of guilt.

Even with the staff being extra sweet & accommodating Cameron was not buying into it. He was tired, injured & just wanted his own bed. Guilt was wearing me down & I think the dr. knew it. He walked into the room & before even telling us his name looked right at me & said, “ this is the most common accident. Let me look at his chin.......Not bad at all. He won’t even need stitches, dermabond should do the trick.”

I could have danced a little jig right there & then. Weight lifted, thank Jebus!

DB added, stickers & puppy given as a peace offering, then we were out of there!

The DB application wasn’t fun, but at least Cameron wasn’t screaming from pain. Just pissed that people were touching him when he should have been in bed. There are two things you don't mess with in Cameron's world.

His sleep.

And of course, his food. ;)

Betcha can't watch just once. ;)

So I was having a pretty sad day today. I guess stress from every direction can do that to you.

Then I went to pick up Cameron.

*sigh*

How did I survive before him? He's my constant.

Constant reminder that I am loved far more than I will ever realize.

Blessed with many people in my life that are happy, healthy & cute as a button.
Who share my same fashion sense,
People who are willing to lend a hand (such as, putting away groceries),

Important people that fill my world with laughter, the same laughter that fills my heart with love.

If you give a chunker 20 bucks...

For Cameron’s birthday, Grandma J sent a box of goodies. Inside his birthday card was $20 “to spend on whatever you want.” Well, for awhile I kept thinking of certain toys or books that the $20 could be put toward. Usually when I found something Cameron just needed the $20 was safe at home & I ended up forking out my own cash. ;)

Well, a little over a month ago Safeway put out these huge teddy bears in celebration of Valentine’s day. It never failed, we would pass by them & Cameron would stretch his arms out watching to “touch it!” They were usually displayed on the aisle corners on the very top. I would pretend it was too, too high & daddy would have to come help one day.

As V-day approached I thought of buying the bear & giving it to Cameron as a surprise. But then, I came up w/a better idea. I thought why don’t we make a fun trip down to the market & have him finally “touch it!” & bring it home.

Since that V-day present was nixed we headed to Target to look for all things Yo Gabba Gabba! Unfortunately, we weren’t the only one looking. Cameron spotted 1 (of the 2) YGG books. Um yeah, don’t mess w/this boy & his books. On top of that his YGG books. So, while Paul read to him in the store I snuck book #2 in the cart.

Don't Bite Your Friends! YGG book: $7.99 + tax

Oh no, Muno bit Foofa? What happens next?!Then we headed to Safeway! Trust me when I say the following pictures do not do justice for the experience. It was the sweetest moment when he realized he could finally touch his new friend.

There were 3 colored bears, white, chocolate & tan.

We avoided white all together so we walked up to the display of just chocolate & tan.

Would the chocolate bear go home with us? Or the tan bear? Let me see that Chocolate one again mama.
Who do you think won? ;)


Tan Teddy Bear: $14.99 + tax

Letting Cameron shop with his own money? Priceless.

Thank you Grandma J! Cameron wrestles his bear daily. ;)

Snip, snip, Whaaaaa!

We've been talking about getting Cameron's haircut for awhile now. No matter how much we talked, it never got done & his hair kept growing.

I was pretty excited for the big day & it reminded me of (one of my very many) favorite shows growing up. I was, ok I still am a huge fan of Rugrats. Before they grew into teenagers, then it just got weird.

Other than the weird creepy teenage approach it was a great show. I mean how can you go wrong with a ice skating, singing dinosaur? You can't. I'm almost sure if it still ran I would convert Cameron to a fan as well.

There is one episode in particular I have always loved. Chuckie, who was the cautious (read: crybaby) of the bunch was about to have his first haircut. Angelica, the oldest of the group (read: little shit) pulled out one strand of hair demonstrating what a haircut entailed, while scaring the bejesus out of poor ol' Chuckie.

Well, well we had quite the Chuckie day.

The girl wasn't even cutting his hair yet, just the feeling of the smock was upsetting.
I guess the cheeks are a dead giveaway because she knew how to stop the tears.

Then she sprayed him with the water bottle...So, then I pulled out the big guns. His animal book, "how does the cow go? Mooooo."
But even that didn't last for long. I guess he didn't like what he saw in the mirror. We're keeping it long baby, keeping the curls for the ladies. ;)

I don't have the heart to tell Cameron we'll have to do this again. However, I will say for the record we will not go to the happy water squinter girl again. Boo to her! But all in all, we survived!
After his Chuckie moment we headed over to the prize "dispenser." Why? Because what parent wouldn't want to stand their child against a machine that shoots out 35mph a sticker of a no name horse & gold cold that I'm pretty sure he could eat if he wanted too. :/

Hair cut style, approved!

Today, I'm going to take over the world.

To say Cameron has a strong personality is an understatement.

For being so young, he already behaves so grown up at times.

Well, grown up in a baby kind of way. :)

“I don’t want to sit in the cart mama, I want to sit on the floor.” Ok, happy baby.

“Oh, a duckie washcloth. Let me reach over & pull it off the shelf. Here mama, you can buy it for me.” Ok, happy baby.

“You really don’t have to lay me down to take my medicine. I’ll willingly drink it sitting up. I’ll even cry for more, because I know it will help me get better.” Yay, happy baby.

“Oh, I think I’ll crawl today.” Yaaa – Wait, what?

Yup, just like that Cameron decided he was going to crawl.

I went to pick him up from daycare last night & Miss Becca was so excited to tell me the news. She said it was for a few seconds but he was definitely crawling. At first I was a little upset that I didn’t get to see for myself, but then I sat Cameron by the kitchen while I got his dinner ready. And he just crawled on over to the dogs dish bowls & started taking their food out. I couldn’t help but laugh, laugh because of course that would be the first thing he would crawl too but the fact that he was on the move.

When Paul came home I had plenty of video to share with him. We just kept laughing & replaying the footage.

I just can’t believe it. My son, Mr. Anti Crawl I can reach it if I just stretch enough, decided he would crawl. Not just semi crawl, but crawl as if he’s been doing it for ages too. I can’t help but laugh, he just does what he pleases & there’s really no guessing what he’s going to do next.

So, if/when he declares he’s going to be an astronaut, President or a cowboy that wrangles cats, I won’t be the least bit surprised. I’ll just think back to this day & say, “I think you’ll be the best *insert aspiration here* there ever was.”

Mama, look at what I can do.

Yes, now lay down & act like a baby.

*sigh* As ironic as it sounds, I cannot get over how big Cameron is getting.

I use to think it was so silly when people would say, "my baby is growing up so fast!"

Of course they are, they’re babies. Babies grow up, duh.

But now that I have my own, I can see exactly what they were talking about.

It's not about them growing bigger.

Or all of the milestones that they've met.

It's about the journey we’re made together.

Of course Paul’s always been there, but there’s a special bond I have with Cameron.

Feeling his hiccups, his kicks to holding him in my arms for the very first time to knowing what to do to make him calm down, not knowing what to do but being there just the same.

I remember I couldn't get over how this baby was at one time in my belly. Even when he was so very small I couldn't wrap my head around it.

Each passing day my love grows right along with him and I honestly don’t know what my future held without seeing him right there with us.

Now I see this little boy emerging from what was once that tiny baby.

Big boy! I can't wait to see how tall he is next Halloween. :)

Through out the day he insisted on standing up. Shakin' his groove thang with Miss Tessa.

I've never been a huge fan of baby shoes. I thought it was silly to buy shoes for a baby that has no use for them. But after the pumpkin patch we went out & purchased Cameron's first pair of shoes.

I think he likes them. :)
PHEW! This standing up is hard work mama.
One of Cameron's favorite things, is yelling the moment we leave the house. He loves hearing his voice echo through out the hallway.
I'm sure the neighbors appreciate it, especially when we leave before 7 during the weekday.

This last picture just melts my heart.

*sigh*

So know I understand, my baby is growing up too, too fast.

Baby Rule #3

Do not question the love a boy has for his ball.

It's become bit routine to "check out" a toy from daycare.

Cameron picks out one (whichever one he plays with the most that week) and we return it the following week.

We've had big toy truck, xylophone alligator, ball with toy hamster inside, tambourine, small toy truck, toy that had spinning ducks....you get the idea.

Well Thursday night I went to pick up the Cheese & what did I find?
He was playing with the room beach ball, hmm.

Miss Ruth said the first day she brought it in for beach day, Cameron was scared of it.

So scared, he would cry if it got too close to him. :(

But over time & I'm sure watching everyone else have fun with it, he's grown to love it too.

What a wonderful story right?

It's great, really it is.

Cameron put the ball back, we're not taking the huge beach ball home.

Note to self: Do not try to take beach ball away from Cameron.

So, as comical as we looked I placed Cameron in his carseat & he held onto the ball.

I was too busy saying, "are you kidding me? we're taking the beach ball?" to take a picture.

As soon as we came home he went straight for his new toy & well, had a ball. ;)
This is my ball Oscar, you can look at it but don't touch. Matter of fact, stop looking.
Mama, cross out Infant & put Cameron.
Ok mama, I'm going to throw it to you & you throw it back.

See, wasn't that fun?! Now let's do it 1,432 more times!
As usual, Friday was daddy & bebe day.

When I walked through the door Paul told me all about Cameron's love for the beach ball.

Yeah, I think he likes it just a tad.

Paul even surprised me with a video to show proof.

It has a Blair Witch vibe, but it was sweet that Paul thought to record & share with me.



Ahh, to be that content with a 99 cent ball. :)