Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so to celebrate, the three of us met my mom & dad at a Japanese steakhouse. Cam has not been feeling well or sleeping well, but we woke him up from his nap just before it was time to leave in hopes that he'd be in good spirits during dinner. And his spirits were wonderful. If he wasn't confined to his highchair!



Cam enjoyed watching the chef cook in front of us, but after a little while he got bored with that too.



Although he did love seeing the flames from the onion volcano!



Cupcake & singing time!



Cam loves his carbs!



Somehow we manged to get a good group shot, this was an absolute miracle!!



But, as you can see, the cupcake even got old!



And wearing the chef hat? Uh, don't think so!



This is where we ended up spending a fair amount of time during dinner! Cam loved looking at the little stream they had out front & playing with the rocks, so we took shifts & brought him out there.

Regardless of Cam not cooperating to our expectations, we had a really great time & I'm so glad we were able to celebrate with my mom for her special day. By the way, if you have a Kobe Japanese Steakhouse in your area, you get a free meal on the day of your birthday if you show an ID. Free is good!

Hellion

This child of mine is an absolute nut & loves bending the rules & getting a rise out of his parents, especially me! This morning, after giving Cam some cereal to eat, he decided it would be fun to chuck it around the room & manically laugh.





Stella was extremely happy with Cam's decision & had a blast snacking.



Next it was time to take his basket of toys & spill it all over the place. I guess when you have a toddler in the house, it's pretty much impossible to keep things in order until after nap time or bedtime. Silly me for even trying!





And do not let this sweet face or these blue eyes fool you! He's a maniac & he's not afraid to fly his freak flag!







That's my goofy guy & as much as he keeps us on our toes, I wouldn't change a thing about him! He's a loose canon, an absolute goofball & fits right in with our crazy household. Love you, Cam! Thanks for cracking me up everyday; you are truly one of a kind!

2nd (kind of) Mother's Day

This was my second Mother's Day with Cam out of the belly & my third if you count the year when I was four months pregnant. After all the nausea, vomiting & fatigue, I wanted to be considered a mom on Mother's Day of 2008 too!

This past Saturday morning we packed up the whole family (dogs included) & headed down to my parent's condo on the beach. Our afternoon was very relaxing since we were extremely wiped out from staying up way too late on Friday night. Later that evening my brother, sister-in-law & nieces joined us for the festivities where we ordered pizza & enjoyed spending time together since we don't often get to hang out.



Mike let me sleep in until 9am Sunday morning & as soon as I got up, I was handed a piping hot cup of coffee. It was so nice to be spoiled! The joke of the morning was to shout, You're ruining Mother's Day! whenever someone did or said something wrong. It was ironic when I said it to Cam since he was the reason I was being celebrated that day in the first place!

We enjoyed an absolutely delish egg scramble Mike made with bacon and onion. Seriously, it's freaking amazing! (Although how could it not be? It's eggs, bacon & onion!)



We were also celebrating my awesome Goddaughter, Madelyn's 7th & Golden Birthday!! We all chipped in & got her a white gold necklace & charm with an "M" & the number 7 (for her 7th birthday on May 7th).



Next we sipped mimosas & opened Mother's Day presents. I seriously apologize for how hideous I look in this picture but I was emotional/teary-eyed after reading my Mother's Day cards & I was still in my pajamas & wearing no make-up. But, getting past my ugliness, I GOT A KINDLE FOR MOTHER'S DAY!!! Mike has known how much I've wanted one since I love reading so much & I was thrilled & shocked when I unwrapped my present!



The cousins got to spend time together & play which is so fun to see now that Cam is more on their level.



Demps was eagerly awaiting a potato chip, just praying Cam would drop one.



The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging & catching up at the pool & beach. It was an absolutely beautiful day!









My poor mom must have drawn the short straw since she was the one elected to apply sunscreen to the hairy man's back!



We ended Mother's Day by enjoying birthday cake for all the April/May birthdays in our family.

I had such an amazing day & it was so wonderful to celebrate with my whole family. Though being a mom can be challenging in so many ways, I thank God every night for blessing my life with Cam.

And thank you, Melanie, for letting me steal, I mean, borrow your pictures! What kind of a dim whit forgets their camera on Mother's Day weekend?!

Sleep Woes

The first three or so months of Cam's life were a nightmare in terms of sleeping. He would go down for the night around 11pm, sleep until about 2 & then be up every 2 or 3 hours until he was finally up for the day at about 8am. I remember after his first week of life, he would sometimes refuse to nap until 4pm, rarely leaving me with a break in the day. But, soon his naps improved, as did his pattern of sleeping at night. It took about six months until Cam slept through the majority of the night.

By the time Cam was 8 months old, he was sleeping like a champ; 7-7:30pm to 7:30am. That basically continued until, mmm, about a week ago when he decided he would wake up at 5-6am, but not every morning & he would go back to sleep until his normal time. Then last night he wouldn't go to sleep until 8:30pm; a good hour after his bedtime. And this morning, bing! up again at 6am. But, then I come to find out as Mike & I sit, frustrated in bed, that he was also up at 1:45am!! What the heck gives?! Our only guess is that it may relate to the fact that Cam's second set of molars are coming through. The pediatrician said this was early for his age, but he has typically been ahead of the game with this teeth since the get-go.

I just cannot understand how after a year of sleeping wonderfully, Cam is suddenly waking up & having bad sleep habits. You may think, Oh, give me a break, you should be so lucky to have a child that sleeps as well as yours. Or, Give me a break, this has only been going on for a week or so, lighten up. But, we just want to nip this issue in the bud before it becomes an every day habit. I don't want to be sitting here a year from now at 6am, thinking, Gosh, I remember when Cam used to sleep until after 7:30... what happened?

Another problem? Once I wake up, it's extremely difficult for me to fall back to sleep. I could be in a dead stupor one second, hear Cam crying over the monitor the next & be absolutely wide awake. So imagine how terribly I was sleeping when Cam was up every 2-3 hours. And even though Mike & I shared nighttime duties, I slept like hell between his times of sleep.

I'm hoping that I'm jumping the gun & making a big deal out of nothing, but I couldn't resist venting my frustrations over a blog post. Anyway, guess I'll get back to watching some Baby Einstein & eating cereal with Cam! One good thing about this, I get to spend a bit more time with my love bug before he has to go to daycare. See, I am a glass half-full kind of gal. But, not really. But, I am at least trying. Hey, throw me a freaking bone here!

Anyway, happy Hump Day, hope everyone is having a great week!

Weekend Getaway

A couple of months ago when Lauren mentioned the idea of our group of friends hitting the beach for a weekend away to celebrate her 30th birthday, we were very excited about the possibility of getting away. After confirming that Cam's Grammy was willing to stay & watch him for the weekend, we were on board & so happy to go!!

We headed to New Smyrna Beach, FL which is basically straight across the state from us on the Atlantic side. Friday we all took half days at work, packed up & headed out for a weekend of fun. It was going to be the longest time I'd ever been away from Cameron, so I was nervous about that, but at the same time, extremely excited for a mini-vacay!



We kicked off Friday night by giving Lauren her birthday present; a green pair of Converse All Stars... kelly green color in honor of Lauren Green! We took a nice walk down the beach after that, stopped for drinks at a beach bar & had the entire area on the beach to ourselves. It was great!



Since we're all so used to getting up early, we were up before 7a.m. & enjoyed hanging out over coffee & a delicious breakfast prepared by Mike!



We were ready to head to the beach before 9am!



And I was ready with a fake smile plastered on my face. But inside I really was smiling. Of course I was, I had a day of fun ahead of me!







New Smyrna beach allows cars to drive and park along the shore. It was such a beautiful day & even though it was over 90 degrees, it was never hot with the wind & the sea air. We stayed at the beach the entire day, until it was time to freshen up for dinner.

And of course, with all that time in the sun, at least one of us was bound to get burned! I used the spray sunblock, but because of the wind, it didn't apply evenly & the side of my right leg was absolutely charred. The past 2 nights of sleep have been anything but restful because of it. When will I buy spray sunscreen again? NEVER!





We all got ready to head out to The Garlic for Lauren's birthday dinner.





Look at that handsome face!







The Garlic was such a cool place! We had the best table in the house & the atmosphere was so eclectic & tropical.





Our table was tucked away in the corner & we had a full view of the restaurant. Lauren was even serenaded for her birthday by an opera singer. After we left, we kept singing, "Bo, bo, bo, boboli!!" as if we were opera singers. Yes, we are most certainly lame & corny! But we were amused, none-the-less!



There was a lot of goofiness during our last night. Matt wore Lauren's dress and Lauren and Kelly wore Matt's clothes for an impromptu photo shoot.



And we ended Saturday night by having a dance party on the balconi while Josh played DJ. It was hilarious & we had an absolute blast! We can only imagine how happy the neighbors were to see us pack up & head out on Sunday morning!

Happy 30th Birthday, Lauren! We love you so!