Shopping Date

This little guy was my date for the night! And you know what they say... When the cat's away, the mouse will shop! In this case Mike happened to be the cat & I happened to be the mouse. But no, I wasn't shopping for myself, I was finally getting around to picking up some clothes with Cam's birthday money from his grandma & grandpa.



Since Mike's living it up in Miami for the Bears game & I'm busting my hump around here.. I mean, while Mike's having a splendid time in Miami as I happily tend to the house & work, I thought an evening outing with my little man would be a good idea.



Not to mention that I've been wanting to go to The Children's Place & just so happened to get a 30% off coupon from Lauren which ended today. It was definitely worth the trip since I ended up saving over $30.



So after work & school we headed to the mall, did some shopping, had some dinner at Chick-fil-A & then Cam ended the outing with a romp in the play area. I utterly adore Citrus Park Mall since it makes both of us happy.



And despite the disgruntled look on Cam's face in the picture above, he was an absolute angel & we had a great date night together.



See, told ya! Oh & look at the cool tattoo on his right arm... he got that after charming a girl while we shopped.



Oh & if you're wondering about the hat, we found it at The Children's Place & I wanted to buy it so I tried it on Cam's melon head to make sure it fit & he ended up loving it so much he did not want to take it off. When I handed it to the cashier for the split second it took her to scan it, I thought he was going to die of a broken heart. That's my dramatic boy for you.



But it's been a heck of a whirl-wind, insanely busy week so I'm very relieved that tomorrow is Friday & Mike will be home in the evening. I've had an annoyingly terrible tickle cough which rears its ugly head many times during the day, driving me out of patient's rooms & embarrassing the hell out of me. Luckily it didn't happen when I gave my heart healthy nutrition presentation to our division office yesterday. Now that would've sucked.



Anyway, this is what we ended up getting today; a Polo, two pairs of jeans, two t-shirts, a long-sleeved shirt, a long-sleeved button-down shirt, two winter sleepers, a really cool, thick hooded sweatshirt & the famous green hat you saw in every picture. The total with the 30% off was $75 which I think is an amazing deal. The jeans were only $10 a pair & they're super cool! We do not over-buy when it comes to Cam's clothes, but he was definitely in the need for some updated Fall clothes.

So, as they say at the end of each Little Einstein's, mission complete!

My Little Helper

My little Stella so enjoys snuggling up on fresh-from-the-dryer clothes! So she hung out with me as I folded clothes & visited with my brother-in-law who flew in from Chicago tonight.



Cam will be so excited tomorrow morning when he wakes up & sees his Uncle Nick is here!

Nutella Time!

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness is this child of mine a character! Tonight I gave Cam a peanut butter & Nutella sandwich which he loved. He had a long day at school so I let him watch Little Einsteins as he ate. So I did some stuff in the kitchen as he chowed down & this is the scene I saw as I popped over to check on him!



Um yeah, it was just a little messy!



A mess is totally expected when there's a toddler involved so I don't sweat small stuff like this, I just laugh! And that's exactly why we don't spend a lot of money on Cam's clothes; I want him to have fun playing, painting, whatever & not worry about staining his clothes.



He enjoyed trying to lick his fingers clean! I put Nutella & peanut butter on whole wheat flat bread & called it a dinner since that's usually the meal Cam eats the least amount. I'm trying my best to give him a well-balanced diet, but it is not at all easy since Cam is such a stubborn little bugger.



Tonight was what we call an FFO or fend for ourselves night where we ate leftovers or randoms for dinner so that's why I made Cam this sandwich. Most every night we all eat the same thing though since I'm not going to fall into the short order cook roll. By no means do I want Cam's diet to consist only of kid foods... aka chicken tenders, macaroni & cheese, & hot dogs so I'm trying my darndest to expose him to as many foods as possible. But it is extremely easy to throw your hands up in frustration when your toddler adamantly refuses to eat. Especially after a long, stressful day when I'm utterly exhausted & have the whatever attitude going!

You would think with me being a dietitian & a control freak that I'd be insanely rigid with Cam's diet but all in all, I'm really not. I focus on balance & try to get him to eat enough fruits, vegetables & fiber. Calcium is certainly not a concern since he loves his milk & hydration is the last thing we're worried about since he slams his sippy cups in mere minutes. When it comes to having a toddler, it's important to relax a little & just roll with the punches since you never know what you're going to get. Cam is anything but predictable!

Cool Breezes with a Side of Busch Gardens

We've been meaning to get an annual pass to Busch Gardens for a while so when I saw the weather report for last Saturday, I knew it'd be the perfect time to go!



If you want to see an extremely irritable me, then take me to a theme park in the middle of summer in Florida & that's what you shall get! So I avoid any outdoor activities during the summer like a plague, but during the cooler months, you can't get me inside.



So we headed out on the brisk morning with a cooler packed with lunch & snacks in order to cut costs. I was so excited for our family outing!



First stop was Elmo's tree house in Sesame Street Land!



And we even braved the soaring suspension bridges that hung miles above the ground! Okay, maybe not miles, but it did seem pretty high!





At first Cam liked this bounce house made of ropes, but quickly changed his mind & became totally freaked out. He seriously would not budge from this spot so I was able to go inside & rescue him! It was so funny when he initially didn't trust the ground beneath him when he first left this rope hut. He was walking along as if the ground was about to give out.. poor fella!



Next it was on to a few rides which Cam loved!





And speaking of something he loved, this "cloud jump" was too cool! I was kind of jealous & wanted to go in & run around too!

Cameron even befriended another little boy & had a bounce partner for a while!





We were able to crawl through a tunnel of fish & watch the bats hanging from the trees above. Bats give me the heeby-jeebies!



And lucky for us Cam napped in his stroller for about 45 minutes so we were able to relax at the pub & enjoy a brew!



As we walked around the park, we kept commenting to each other about how well the grounds of Busch Gardens are maintained. Everything is perfectly groomed & bursting with color.







Before we headed home, we took a break by this fire hydrant, enjoyed some laughs, ice cream & music from a cool, little band!



We had such a great day & plan on taking full advantage of our annual passes while the weather is nice & cool.



And even though it was a really chilly evening, we wanted to play outside before it was time to turn the clocks back, thereby getting dark at 5:30. Ugh!



And I was SO excited to wear my new Bears hat that Mike surprised me with! The poor guy had enough hints from me about how much I wanted this hat.

We had an absolutely awesome Saturday!

Potty Time!

While at daycare, Cam is put on the potty every hour or so & actually pee-pees on the potty about once per day. Yeah, I just said pee-pees! That's what happens when you have potty-training on the brain! Anyway, we put Cam on the potty every night before bath but he's yet to actually go. Each evening as I hang out with him by his potty, I kind of, sort of hold my breath in anticipation of seeing him pee in that darn potty!



But thus far he just plays with his cars, talks to us, pushes on his PP every now & then & occasionally smirks & giggles as he sits there. But, no pee-pee! But, we're not stressing about potty training at all since he's only 25 months old & we don't want it to be a negative thing for Cam. We'll just keep working at it & know that he'll get it one of these days.



In the meantime, I'll use it as a time to sit & hang with my favorite two-year old in the whole world!



Have you ever seen a cuter butt than this?



If anyone has any potty training tips, I'd love to hear them!

Play Date

Saturday we headed over to our friend's Jill & Josh's house to have a play date with their daughter Avery. Matt & Kelly were there with Leah as well & the guys hung out & watched college football as the kids were able to play & the gals chatted. It was a lot of fun & Jill even had a little photoshoot of the kids in their Halloween costumes.



Cam & I had a good time cruising around the patio on these bad boys! I think I may have had more fun than Cam as I caught sight of him shooting me a look that said, Get a hold of yourself, Mom! But maybe it was just my imagination? Probably not.



But I decided to play nice & let Leah borrow my cruiser!



This picture above just screams CAMERON! If you ever wanted to see a personality in a picture, this would be the one for Cam. What a goofball! We've been trying to work on reducing Cam's whining & encouraging him to "use his words" rather than resort to the fingers on the chalkboard whining we're currently dealing with.



He is such a sweet kid though & has a precious heart. Tonight I had him on his little potty before bath time & as he sat there, he looked at me with the sweetest expression & said, Maaamaa! in a voice that was full of love. Then he leaned forward & gave me the tightest hug & my heart literally melted. Well, not literally. I'd be dead if that happened.



It makes me feel warm & fuzzy when I see parts of his personality that resemble mine. The fact that he is extremely opinionated, very impatient & very passionate with his feelings be it good & bad. How can I get frustrated with him when it's my fault that he's the way he is?!



And here's sweet, little Avery! We had a great time at our play date & feel lucky that we have friends with kids around Cam's age.

Oh & just a side note, if you noticed that Cam's outfit is a little strange, it's because he had a football jersey on earlier in the day. Once the jersey came off, he looked like he was a student at Juilliard!