Cameron's 1st Birthday!

How is it that our baby is 1 year old??  Where did that year go?  So crazy how fast the time flies.  But it's true--Cameron is officially 1 year old.  It was fun thinking about how it all went down on Sept. 3 last year--waking up with contractions, telling my parents when they came over to babysit that "I think it's time" and all of us rushing to the hospital.  Thank goodness they came over that day so I could get help going to the hospital!  And later that evening sweet little Cameron entered the world and our lives were changed forever.  What did we ever do without this funny, sweet, curious, snuggly little boy?  He has added so much to our family and we're so grateful for him.

To celebrate we had a small family party the Sunday before Cameron's official birthday.  The theme of the party was Elmo and Sesame Street because Cameron loves his little stuffed Elmo doll.  Nathan was an awesome helper and helped me decorate in the morning with balloons, streamers, and Sesame Street character signs.  I think he was more excited for the party than Cameron was!  We did a taco bar since Mexican food is Cam's favorite.  We opened presents and of course Cameron gourged himself on cake.  It was a great time!  I'm not sure he fully understood what all the hullabaloo was about.  He kept looking at us like "You guys are crazy.  Why are you all watching me and staring at me? Oooh....cake!"  It was a nice time marking such an important milestone.  Happy Birthday Cameron!!

The birthday boy!

A banner showing Cam's growth through the months

Typical 1 year old--more excited about the wrapping paper and ribbon than the actual gifts!

Wonderful cake made by Grampa.  Thanks, Grampa!

Post-cake bath

11 Months Old

Here we are at 11 months old!  (Well by now you're almost 12 months old.  I'm behind on blogging again as usual).  You turned 11 months old while we were on our vacation in Chelan.  What a fun time this is!  You are so cute and have such a funny personality.  You really are a ham and keep us laughing every day.

Here are the things going on this month I don't want to forget:

*Cameron has started playing games with us where he wants us to chase him and tickle him or he'll hide in the drapes and play peek-a-boo.  He just laughs and laughs.  It's fun to watch him initiate those games.
*He is officially walking all over the place and getting good at it and more stable every day.  He's even wearing shoes now too!  I can't believe he's walking this early.  He loves being able to keep up with big brother.
*He loves the stairs lately.  We might be in the kitchen and all the sudden it's mysteriously too quiet in the living room.   That's our que that he's probably half way up the stairs already!  The thing that makes us nervous is he's not that skilled in coming down the stairs yet so we finally just purchased a gate to keep at the bottom of the stairs.  I don't remember Nathan being that interested in the stairs so this is a new thing for us.
*Cameron cracks us up in that he tends to find 1 toy that he really likes and then carries it around with him everywhere he goes.  He does this at school too.  I think it's his way of "staking his claim" to something since he has an older brother who usually has more control over all the toys.  Some of his favorite toys to do this with at home are the mini whisk from the play kitchen, other play kitchen tools, and magnets.
*He is babbling more and more everyday.  And he's started doing more baby sign language.  He can do the signs for "all done" and "water."
*Cameron is our star eater.  That kid will eat anything we put in front of him!  I don't even really know what his favorite foods are because he eats anything.  Even vegetables!  It's awesome and hopefully this trend continues.  But probably not.  Especially when he observes his big brother avoiding vegetables at all cost.
*New skills include using a sippy cup, feeding himself mostly with finger foods and using a plate, dancing to music, and climbing up on things.
*Cameron has about 3 teeth now--2 on the bottom and 1 on the top.

What did our family ever do without Cameron?  He brings so much joy and humor to our household.  We love you buddy!

This is probably one of my most favorite all time photos of him

Summer Vacation: Lake Chelan

Our big summer vacation this year was Lake Chelan with the Warners.  We did this same trip 2 summers ago and had such a great time that we wanted to do it again.  We stayed at the same condo at Lake Chelan Shores because it was so nice and such a great location.   The trip was wonderful and disappointing all at the same time.

From a family time standpoint, this was probably one of the best trips we've ever taken all together.  Everyone was relaxed, we had a good mix of time all together and time doing our own thing, everyone was in good moods and we just enjoyed being together.  As family time for an extended period usually goes--it doesn't always work out that way.  But this year we just really enjoyed each other's company.  All of us went on the trip including my brother and his girlfriend, Carly.  They were good sports and stayed on the hide-a-bed.  Our boys loved spending so much time with their grandparents, uncle and Carly every day.

The bummer part of the trip was the weather.  Just a few days before we arrived, a wildfire in the region that had started end of June erupted and spread from lightening.  The fire was up north from the lake, but all the smoke filtered down the lake and just stayed in the valley.  We could barely see across to the other side of the lake.  We could constantly smell the smoke and ash was floating everywhere, covering our clothes and towels on the deck.  It was warm, but we rarely saw the sun as it was clouded over by the smoke.  We made the best of it and still went outside to enjoy the pool, water park, etc.  But not much laying out and getting a good dose of Vitamin D like we were hoping.  By the end of the time James was feeling claustrophic and we just wanted to be back in fresh air again.  Luckily by our last day, the wind picked up and cleared out much of the smoke so we finally had a nice view.  But it was short lived as the smoke began to filter down the lake again the next day. Sadly the fires over in the Chelan have gotten worst in the last couple of weeks and many people have been evacuated.  Multiple homes have burned too.  What a tough summer.

Like I said, despite the fires, we made the best of our time.  Here are some of our fun memories:

*pool time with the whole family and Cameron trying out his little float
*making dinner all together in the evenings
*a rowdy game of Mexican Train--Ryan had us rolling on the floor with laughter and treated us to his lovely "Dentist Office" playlist of songs from the 80's and 90's
*making big breakfasts and hanging out in our pj's most of the morning
*mom and I exploring downtown Chelan
*Slidewaters--Chelan's fun waterpark that we had never been to.  It was great--fun things for everyone in the family.  Dad even went down a major waterslide.  At 68 years old it was very impressive!
*Yummy dinner at Sorrento's
*Burgers, fries and ice cream at the Lakeside Drive-In overlooking the lake on our last night
*All working together to finally get mom on Facebook
*Getting time to actually go to the gym--that rarely happens at home
*James and I getting some couple time by the pool
*Reading magazines and books--heavenly!
*Nate sleeping on the top bunk bed every night--so brave!
*the beautiful sunset on the last night
*the boys playing frisbee on the grass at dusk
*Ryan doing a family photo shoot among the vines

And here are the great photos my brother captured for our photo shoot:

10 Months Old

Ok I'm just happy with myself for posting this before Cameron turns 11 months.  My where is the time going?  This is crazy!  Only a couple more of these posts and he'll be 1 year old!

It feels like the milestones and development are coming at us at warp speed now.  Cameron is doing so many new and wonderful things all the time.  And his sweet little personality is coming out more and more and I'm just loving it.  He really is such a happy, snuggly kid.  Who is ALWAYS on the move.  Here are the highlights at 10 months:

*Cameron is so close to walking (and actually as I write this he is fully walking now at 10.5 months--but I don't want to get ahead of myself.  More on the walking in the 11 month post).  At 10 months he's holding on to furniture and walking all around it and he's even taken 3-4 steps on his own.  Can't believe this is starting at 10 months!  Too early!  He's pretty ecstatic about his new skills and being able to keep up with big brother easier.
*Cameron is officially sleeping through the night.  Hooray!  The extra 30 min every night is heavenly for me.  Now if I could just get to bed earlier...
*2 teeth have come in!  The two bottom ones.  I love seeing them peek through when he smiles.
*Cameron is all about the real food.  We did baby food with him for a couple months.  But now that he has the hang of gumming finger foods, he's all about it.  He'll push away the spoon of baby food and reach for the real food.  And so far he likes just about anything!  Even vegetables!  His favorite finger foods are fruit, beans, puffs, mum mums, peas, green beans, deli turkey, ham or chicken, avocado, and yogurt.
*He is a fearless kid.  He's not very hesitant when exploring, trying new things, getting around, getting into things, etc.  Case in point the other day I was in the kitchen and I went into the living room to check on the kids.  I found Cameron up on the 6th step heading upstairs.  Oh oh--time to put a barrier or a gate up!
*Favorite toys and activities: whatever Nathan is playing with, kitchen play area, trucks/trains on the train table, plastic golf clubs, Elmo doll, shape blocks, magnets from the fridge, books, playing peek-a-boo, taking baths with brother, playing with tupperware, riding in the stroller, and getting into the pantry to wreak havoc.

Happy 10 Months Cameron.  You bring us so much joy!!

Nathan got in on the photography action

Alway so happy!

Ha Ha you're so funny Cameron!

Brothers!

Brotherly love..at least for a brief moment until they start arguing over a toy

Summertime Part I: May & June

This summer has been very busy so far....and hot!  Crazy weather--being in the 90's without any rain most all of June.  Weird!  What happened to June gloom?  I'm not complaining really because we've gotten to do so many fun activities outside.  I am hoping for a small break of cooler weather soon though.  Our house has been pretty toasty.

I thought I would capture our fun summer memories through photo recaps.  Below is some of the highlights of our May and June this year:

May

We took a fun family hike to Franklin Falls near Denny Creek over Memorial Day weekend.  Nathan loved it!  We helped him find a hiking stick that he used the whole time.  Reminded me of our family hikes when I was a kid.

One of the first nights the weather started to be really nice, we got Ezell's friend chicken and took it to Madison Park for a picnic.  The boys played on the swings and Nathan even got a popsicle from the ice cream man.  Summer officially has begun!

We attended the Touch a Truck event put on by the Seattle Junior League.  Talk about Nathan's version of heaven!  Dump truck, firetruck, garbage truck, ambulance, army trucks, semi, etc. all in one place!  Plus the kids could go inside them and honk the horn!

June

Our wonderful friends, the Lapours visited from Oregon for the long weekend.  Annie is my dear friend from Missouri who luckily ended up marrying an Oregon boy so they live only about 5 hours away.  It's our goal to get together every year.  Sadly we missed last year, but from here on out we are determined to make our family get togethers an annual tradition.  Her girls, Lucy and Molly are adorable.  And thankfully our husbands have a lot in common so they enjoy hanging out together talking about guy things.  We had so much fun watching our kids play, catching up and doing a day trip to Remlinger Farm!  Nathan was brave and rode his very first roller coaster at Remlinger!

Next up my cousin Chris and his wife Karen and two girls Mia and Alex came to visit Seattle!  I hadn't seen Chris since our wedding so it was such a treat to spend time with them.  We took them on the whirlwind tour of Seattle--Space Needle, Pike Place, Ballard, etc.  Nathan and Cam's first trip to the Space Needle!

Such a cute family!

Father's Day weekend was especially fun and busy this year.  On Friday the boys, my parents and I did our annual visit to the Edmonds Art Festival which is always a great time.  Then Saturday to celebrate my dad we rented an electric boat for the evening and sailed around Lake Union.  Ryan captured some great family shots.  Love the colors in these photos!

Love this shot of my dad

Sunday we celebrated James and his dad at the Mariners Game!  One of the highlights was visiting the Mariners Moose.  Nathan was very scared of him last year and was determined this year to be brave and not cry when he saw the moose.  He did great!  In fact he cried when we had to leave because he wanted to hang out with the moose longer!

I'm not sure if you noticed but the common denominator in all these photos is sunshine!! Unbelievable!  Definitely doesn't look like typical Seattle. But we'll take it.   Such a fun summer so far.  More to come!