Mumff, Grumble, Snarff

Camden has been rather fussy at night, needing to be pat-pat-patted several times during the night.  Which has been a trifle annoying, but not nearly so much as last night's incident.  I don't suppose the whole night would have been a bust, if we had known what to do.  So Camden cried and Dan went to check on him.  Turns out he (Camden, not Dan) had saturated his diaper and then some and was uncomfortable.  Unfortunately, after rectifying the situation, Camden had no interest in sleeping.  Not in his crib.  Not in Dan's arms (which is my favorite way to fall asleep).  Not with me holding him.  Not on the couch snuggling with me.  He snoozed a bit with Dan, but it didn't last.  I think we both just kept thinking, surely he will fall asleep faster if we are holding him, than if he screams in his room for a while.  But we should have just let him cry it out at 2:30 instead of at 4 and again at 5:30.  Ah, well.

I just don't get it!  How could he not have wanted to sleep again?  Nope, he just wanted to explore and play and wiggle and kick and poke my face.  How could he have so much energy when I felt like a gritty-eyed zombie?

So, yeah, I have low expectations of today.  All three of us had a lousy night and Sundays are always harder cause church is during Camden's regular naptime.  Of course, he won't sleep at church because it is too interesting - not that he actually seems to listen at all.  Fortunately, I got him to take an early nap!!!  So there is hope for a non-psychotic resolution to the day.

Homeowner Joys

So, we've had four lovely years in our home.  And I do love our house!  But apparently, it is upset that we wanted to get rid of it and is having a bit of revenge.

This may well be called the tale of the oblivious.  Since I try not to notice frustrating things, it took a while for us to figure out there was something wrong with our house.  But it steadily got worse - cracks in the walls expanding and appearing by just about every door frame, doors sticking and not shutting, and then we noticed we have a floating wall - Dan can put his hand under it.  Well, we figured no one would want to buy our house with it looking like that.  We sucked it up and called a structural engineer to give us a valid opinion on the extent of the damage.  The engineer indicated there is a probability of a leak beneath our slab foundation and we would need (what we think is) significant piering to support our beleaguered foundation.  *sigh*

So we had a plumber come out and test our freshwater and drainage systems to see if we had a leak.  Which we do.  Er, did.  Then he had to come back to find the leak, which was pretty small and slow, so it took a while to locate the leak, but the plumber sure had some nifty tools!  As it turns out, our drainage runs uphill, so apparently the pipes were pretty nasty.  The plumber expressed surprise that our system has never backed up.  So it's nice to have that all cleaned up!

So Thursday we had another plumber come out and fix the leak.  Camden was pretty fascinated with the process and wanted to spend the whole time watching the man work.

Camden was exceedingly startled when the jackhammering began, which vibrated the floor all through the house and was quite loud.

The plumber jackhammered a bit and then used a hammer and chisel to bust up most of the concrete.  He sucked up the chunks with his super-hero shop vac.  It took about thirty minutes to look like this.

Then he dug out the dirt below.  It was tricky to find the pipe, so he actually had to expand his original hole to the left.  He used a long metal piece to poke through the dirt, trying to find the pipe.  

Yay!  He found it!  Took about two hours and a call or two to the original plumber.  The joint is cracked along the lip and you can see the joint slipped.

So he cut out the bad part.  (And no using any water right now!)

And he put in a spanking new part with a more flexible joint piece that should be able to accommodate some movement within the earth. 

Then refill the hole with the excavated dirt.

The re-cement the hole.  And we are all done!   

So now the leak is all fixed.  We got bids from a couple companies about doing the piering.  Apparently this is a super busy summer for them, so we won't be able to get that fixed until probably October.  *sigh*  I think Camden and I will go visit someone while the piers are put in.  Something about multiple holes in the floor, huge equipment everywhere, well...  I think it'd be better/safer to be away!  Then I can come home and have everything all better.  

Splash Pad Fun

The other day we went to this fabulous splash park with my friend Michelle and her little boy, who is one day older than Camden.

 Camden is starting to get a little braver and actually get wet.

It was a great morning!  It's always a successful time when Camden falls asleep quick and naps for a while! 

Reunions are the best!

So the second week in August, my family joined with our far-flung counterparts in one extremely large gathering in the foothills of Mount St Helen's in Washington state.  Ahhhhhh, it was amazing!!!   First off, the  weather was a marvelous contrast to our over 100 degree temperatures at home.  Plus, there was some unbelievable scenery.  You just can't go wrong with a volcano close by!

Here is the view from the Hilltop House, where we enjoyed several delicious meals and had some seriously great entertainment.

I love that I am part of a classy family (even though I would at all say that I am classy).  For our entertainment night, we had so many clever performers singing, dancing, playing piano, violin, and more.  It was really enjoyable. 

Camden was in awe of the alphorns played by Aunt Susie and Uncle Steve.  They vibrated the floor and  definitely made music never before heard by my boy.

 Here is my Grandma Marion and cousin Katherine.  Grandma is largely responsible for making our reunions possible.  I am so glad she was able to meet Camden, even if he was less than thrilled at the opportunity.  And I'm extra glad that we have such a remarkable person, someone I really admire, as our matriarch.  

There were oodles of fantastic and fun people everywhere!  It's really remarkable how everyone I'm related to is great and so enjoyable to be with.  And their kids are well-behaved and funny!

Here is the group that hiked Ape Caves Monday morning - a real LAVA TUBE!   Just about half of our total group.

The Minute-to-Win-It Games - little David stares in awe as Russ and Lisa face off!

 Did I also mention we got to hike up Lava Canyon?  Okay, basically, anything to do with lava is pretty darn cool.  So, to peruse a geologically fascinating, beautifully scenic walk with some of my favorite people ever?  Well, it was pure bliss!  

Don't worry, I made sure to point out to Camden all the remarkable geologically interesting stuff I saw. 

Parts of the river looked like a sweet water ride, but there were plenty of signs warning that hikers wouldn't enjoy falling in the water, unless they wanted to be dead. 

Isabelle, Rhed, Winfield, Silas, Sarah
Here are some fellow hikers.  I love Sarah's outfit (on the far right). 

This suspension bridge was a real adventure.  It was high and it rocked and, looking down between the slats, you could see very far below you.

Here is what the bridge crossed over.  I had Camden in the pack - I wanted to be sure to have both hands free.  Figured bad mom of year award would be mine if I dropped him over the edge on accident.  Of course, maybe I qualify for paranoid mom instead.  :)

Camden loved walking the paths around the lodge.  Certainly the greenery is quite different from our house.  The forest is so amazing there.  

 Camden learned how to climb up the ladder to the play structure there.  At first, he would wait for us to sit him on his bottom to slide down, but then he learned a better way.

The only trouble was when I got distracted for a minute and he climbed up and slid down without me noticing or being there to catch him.  Not so surprisingly, Camden didn't enjoy the face plant into wood mulch.  I felt terrible, too.

But it was a fantastic week.  The whole experience was great, but felt a little ADD.  I'd start talking with one of my cousins, trying to catch up, then Camden would need something and I'd go to him.  When I finished, I'd start chatting with someone else, but then again, Camden would need me.  So, I had lots of five and ten minute chats with lots of people, but few in depth discussions with family members.  But I love my family and it was so enjoyable to spend time with them, especially the ones I rarely get to see!