Baby Zachary and more

I spent 10 days with Jonathan and Kristy since they had a new baby and their kids were on Spring Break and then Jonathan had a work thing out of town for a day or two.  So Camden and I made the drive (and he was sooooo good!) and had a fantastic time with their young'uns.

There were a few challenges - Emily in potty training; unhappy tummies; moderate puking; sibling quarrels; and my own clingy child suffering fear of abandonment if I moved more than two steps away.

Poor David, his tummy was really hurting.  Isn't he so cute?
My favorite David story from this trip -- he said the prayer for breakfast, but he had to wait for Miriam to get done with whatever it was, and it was taking her forever.  In his prayer, he asked God to bless the food and also "please help Miri not to be a slowpoke."  Not so surprisingly, Miri took offense and said, "That was rude!"  David: "But I was asking God to help you not be a slowpoke."

It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, so one day, Camden, Isabelle, Miri, and I went to the park and had a great time.  There was an old train car there - quite fascinating!  This may have been the time with the least quibbling between these two siblings.  Both girls are great about helping with Zachary and holding him, when Kristy or I needed more hands.

Here's the cute new addition.  Zachary seemed like a good baby to me - he ate, slept, cried.  Now I know my experience with babies is relatively small, but I must say, this kid pollutes more diapers at a faster rate than I would have considered possible.  And he's a very grunty baby.  But it did seem like he demanded attention at the same times Camden really NEEDED something.  So I got some practice having a baby in both arms.  Though Camden wore my arm out much faster!

  Everybody loves baby Zachary!  You can't really tell here, but Emily had a dozen or so stitches under her chin.  We traumatized her by trying to pull them out at home, but she didn't really respect our authority, even with us three grown-ups trying to ease the way.  So the doctor got the privilege of dealing with that! Emily is a great girl!  So funny.  She loved for me to read the same two books over and over.  Towards the end of my stay, she would read them along with me, even to the sound-effects I made up.

I think it was a little hard for her not to be the baby anymore.  If she was already unhappy and Jonathan or Kristy was around, she was adamant that her parent help her, not I.  "I not talking to you!"  And if I persisted in trying to solve her trouble: "I don't like you!"  I do find the honesty of children refreshing.

Emily pretty well did potty-train herself.  With the significant assistance of Miri and Isabelle.  There was really only one day of accidents and then we were pretty much home free!  I can see that I will need to quell my obsessive-compulsive cleanliness tendencies when the time comes to do this for Camden.

Isabelle is introducing Camden to Louie, the great Pyrenees livestock guard dog.  Right now, he doesn't really guard anything, but soon there will be sheep and Louie will be much happier.  He is rather enormous, though you can't really tell in this picture.

Jonathan and Kristy are super amazing in their progress to have a farm.  They have chickens that produce lots of eggs (although I found cleaning them distasteful - I'm not sure I want to think about where eggs come from!) and their orchard and garden are well-planned and impressive.  I'm so impressed to be related to such clever people!

This is the remarkable view in the morning from the kitchen window or the deck.  So pretty and peaceful!

I know God really blessed me to increase my capacity while I was there, so I could actually be a little helpful to Kristy.  I cooked.  That, in and of itself, is remarkable!  I corralled children; I negotiated childish disputes (with very little finesse though); I snuggled and soothed a teeny-weeny featherweight baby; I washed dishes like I haven't done since my days at the BYU Cannon Center cafeteria.  I read books!  And I managed to do that with my wonderful Camden, who came down sick part of the time too.  See my enhanced skills?

Here I am, holding Camden, talking on the phone and chopping beans all at the same time.  There's fried rice on the stove behind me.  Yeah, this is definitely beyond my normal abilities!

So quick!

Camden is now eleven months old and he's growing up so fast!  

Three weeks ago, one night when Dan was working late, I was reading on the couch and ignoring my son.  Er, I mean, letting him play by himself.  In my peripheral vision, I caught a flash of motion.  And then again.  I looked up and realized Camden was speed walking back and forth in front of me.  This was pretty much the first time he initiated walking by himself.  I was pretty excited, so naturally, I broke out the camera and cheered him on.  Yeah, he knows how to get his momma's attention.

 He was so cute and so pleased with himself.  I love how completely un-self-conscious he is about all of his achievements.  He laughs out loud and grins and looks at me expectantly for more praise.

Camden, helping us get our garden ready this year.  I weeded, Dan turned over the dirt, and Camden kept us both entertained.

Our little boy LOVES to be outside.  And his favorite outdoor activity seems to be eating dirt.  Or rocks.  So he usually ends up with a muddy beard.

Camden got a yucky case of sickies.  He pretty much spent all day snuggled up.  Which I found more alarming than the puke he distributed in his pack'n'play.  He was so miserable.  However, I do think being sick taught him the value of snuggles, because now he'll actually cuddle for a minute or two, whereas before you were lucky to get a 2 second nestle.

Camden got his first swing ride and he LOVED it.  I love his little grin!

Some other things he does now---

• He can say da-da-da-da.  It's very cute.  But he doesn't growl as much anymore, which is sad.
• He can stand up from crawling - he just learned this about two weeks ago at Jonathan and Kristy's house.  So now he doesn't have to crawl over to a chair or couch to pull himself up and then take off walking.  But it must be tiring to do because by naptime or end of the day, it might take him a couple tries to actually stand up.
• He loves peek-a-boo and hiding games.  He thinks it is so funny.  And since his laugh is an ample reward, we play it a lot.
• He "shares".  He will hand me a toy.  Today, I was distracted and not paying attention, so he grabbed my hand and turned it palm up and then put the toy in my hand.  
• Camden is quite ticklish and loves his belly to be tickled.
• He likes to push things around - like chairs, boxes, laundry baskets, tubs, anything that might move.  At the store, he is so thrilled when I let him push the cart (until he gets distracted by what is on the shelves).
• Camden loves to eat.  He's not very particular, but he won't eat the same thing day after day.  Favorite foods right now seem to raisins and cheese and pancakes.  And just about anything new.  Scarfed down broccoli today like it was blueberries.  

I've noticed one of the perks of having a kid this age is being able to give him all the things I don't like to eat - under the guise of expanding his palate.  It is convenient - he even likes olives!  Where did that come from?!

Dan's Latest Project

After those two intense snow-storms we had back in February, the walkway to our front door looked pretty darn shabby.  

The geologist in me rejoiced at the power of freeze-thawing erosion, but the homeowner in me was a bit annoyed. One really shouldn't track SAND into the house because of the walkway.

Fortunately, Dan is quite amazing and he decided to fix it himself.  Our excellent friend Randy contributed some serious know-how and muscles, too.  Last Friday afternoon, they got to work.  Here's how it looked half an hour later:

Here's how it looked after 90 minutes of working:

Apparently, it's a lot easier to rip out cement when it's completely fragmented, even down five inches. Next day, came the pouring of concrete:

Originally Dan was going to hand-mix 30+ bags and pour it.  But brilliant Randy told him about a place that will mix it and rent you a little trailer to drag it home in.  And the extra benefit - it was WAY cheaper than hand-mixing.  I love it when that happens!

Unfortunately, the configuration of the sidewalk and driveway was such that he couldn't pour directly into the gaping hole.  And we'd had some good storms so the lawn was too mushy to drive on.  Hence, the added step of using the wheelbarrow.

My wonderful man smoothing the cement.  We wanted to imprint Camden's feet, but we waited too long and the cement was too hard.  Oh, well!  It looks pretty darn good!  I'm so glad to have such a capable husband, who is smart enough to do something he's never done before.  And be successful!  Hooray for Dan!

A little bit of personality

I love my little boy!!  Camden is beginning to make his feelings and preferences known.  He is learning what no means, but he is not at all reconciled to not being able to do as he likes all the time.  He's quite determined.  And not so easily distracted.  Especially when it comes to stopping him from exploring new territory, like Dan's nightstand, which has been blockaded. But half the time, Camden will listen and stop what he's doing (especially if it took long enough for me to notice that he was able to learn what he wanted to know).  He escaped the bathroom while I was showering this morning and by the time I got to him, the tissue box was empty and he was almost obscured by tissues.  But he didn't fight me or even wail in outrage when I confiscated contraband.

Anyway, here is a glimpse of what my boy is like! 

 

This is Camden's come-play-with-me face.

He doesn't take a break very often, but occasionally he will rest for just a second.....

before charging off, back to pulling all the toys out of the bin, or dragging the chair across the dining room, or trying to pilfer off-limits items.

The extra slobber strings remind me of vicious predators, and I just can't quite classify Camden as that.  Although he did bite my shoulder painfully hard today - a first that I hope I adequately discouraged.   I can't help smiling when I see his grin.  He doesn't share it with just anyone, you know.

I love JBF!

Yes, I realize JBF is not Dan's initials.  Have no fear - I'm not pronouncing my love for another individual.   It stands for Just Between Friends, an enormously huge consignment sale - which I love!!!  Dan watched Camden for me this afternoon so I could go to the pre-sale event, for which my exceedingly kind and thoughtful next-door-neighbor had procured a ticket for me.  I had so much fun!  

To shop for kid stuff without my kid!  Oh, joy, oh, rapture!

Anyway, I was quite restrained in my purchases.  But here is a picture of the items I couldn't resist. 

And I didn't spend all that much at all!  I got a walking/riding toy for Camden, a ball-popping toy, 3 nifty rattly trucks, 2 bags of 1/2 dozen socks each, a tub of large Duplo legos (or whatever they are called), a wooden puzzle and 4 tactile-interesting balls.  Oh, yeah, and a shape-sorting toy, too.  I'm a little sad I didn't get to see everything, but I'm not sure it was possible to view all the options.  I picked through about 20 of the walking/riding toys (this exact same model) to find the cheapest one in the best shape.  I made out like a bandit too.  The most expensive item was $6.

I'm going to bed now to dream about good deals on toddler toys.

Likes to eat

My boy really enjoys food.  Although he is proficient at grasping tiny items with thumb and forefinger, he is often so ravenous, or so gluttonous, he stuffs food in his mouth by the fistful.  

But here he is enjoying blueberry pancakes.

It's a little messy, I agree, and his face and fingers were blue for the rest of the day.  But he really enjoyed it!

One small step for man

Well, it's beginning!  Camden is starting to take a few steps all by himself.   I find it completely adorable.

You can judge for yourself, if you like to watch the following video.

Camden thinks this is the best game!  He does better at the beginning - after that he laughs too hard to get very far.

We started this game about two weeks ago, but only recently did he really start to get the hang of it.  Yesterday, he actually voluntarily let go of my fingers and walked off on his own, not to someone but something.  I was so proud!  Unfortunately, his brave solo ended after about 4 steps.  Just as he almost reached his destination, he lost his balance and face planted, bashing his head on the way down.  Somehow, I don't think he found his new independence all that rewarding.  He hasn't tried again, except to walk from me to Dan or someone else.

He is a pretty great boy!

Sickies, Snow and Stats

I got to start my day super early - about 4am - for an experience I didn't feel prepared for and can wait an awfully long time to have again.  I got to provide moral support for poor little Sarah as she retched out her guts.  

I kept hoping each time would be the last and that I could go back to bed.  I can tell I'm not that many rungs up on the ladder to perfection, because, yeah, I felt bad for her, but I also felt really bad for me!  Not sleeping!  Trying to think up some stories to take her mind off the writhing agony of her belly.

She did feel better as the day went by, but she pretty much spent the entire morning watching our stash of princess movies.  Fortunately, she did conk out for a while while the babies were napping.  Woo hoo!

We actually did get snow!  The prediction was so impressive, that I doubted the storm could really be that great.  But I was proven wrong!  The forecast actually said "Blizzard".  

   

  We did get A LOT of snow, but it's tricky to say actually how much because it drifted pretty high in some places.  It wasn't sticky snow, so it's all on the ground (but maybe that's because Lucy on Peanuts is correct - Snow comes up, Charlie Brown, snow comes up!).

Sarah and Steven both wanted to play outside, but the wind-chill made it feel like -7 degrees Fahrenheit.  I let Steven out just for a few minutes and he was quite happy to come back inside.    

Yesterday Camden had his 9-month check-up at the doctor.  He's still doing great.  The doctor was amused at the unusual way his teeth have grown in - like 2 fangs on top.  (The middle top ones just popped through today - yay!!! finally!)

Weight:  16 lbs 14 oz  4%
Height:   28.5 inches    50%
Head:    18 inches   61%

Poor kid was yucky sick and miserable and feverish over the weekend.  Doctor said he had fluid in his ears, so he probably was suffering (still suffering) from an ear infection.

Some fun things Camden is doing now:

• He's discovered that things open and close.  Stuff like drawers and cupboards.  And now he likes to pull everything out.  Which is good because he is entertained, and bad because I get frazzled having everything all over the place.  
• He likes to help when he gets dressed - stuffing his arms into the sleeves and putting his feet in the footie parts.   He'll also step out of his footie pajamas.  It's so much easier now!
• He loves peek-a-boo games.  This comes in very handy when I don't have anything for him to chew on, er, play with.
• He is noticing other babies more and likes to play with them - which typically involves a lot of head bonking and climbing on/over them.
• He gets angry when you take away something he is playing with/chewing on.  I'm glad he's more aware, but he's so undiscriminating that I feel like I'm often stepping in to remove an ineligible object.  *sigh*  mean mommy strikes again.
• He doesn't really talk, he still just growls or giggles or yells or screeches or belly laughs.  No real recognizable consonant-vowel sounds.
• Camden loves cruising.  If you hold his hands, he doesn't just walk; he practically runs!  He's getting pretty darn good.  His zombie shuffle has evolved beyond ape walk to more of an Egger walk (you know, from Men in Black).  He's almost good enough to do it on his own, but he's not willing to try yet.  Nice to know he inherited a bit of my caution.  :)
• He is the most marvelous boy!!  So fun and great.  I'm just so grateful for my boy!

Conversations from Today

Sarah says, "I'm six!"
"Really, because yesterday you were five." I say.
"Oh! ... um...."  short pause, "that's cause it was my birthday yesterday."
"We didn't celebrate it though," I say, which was stupid because she's not slow.
"Oh, I have an idea!  We could celebrate it today!"
I persuaded her we should wait until her mother was here.  This conversation will probably be revisited by her some time in the future.

I was making dinner and not making it fast enough for the absolutely starving, dying of hunger Sarah.
"Aunt Miranda, do you have a brain?"
"Who doesn't have a brain?" I ask.  Just so I know who I'm competing against.
"I don't know."
"Well, what are brains for?" I wonder.  And then I wonder why I'm wondering what  five-year-old thinks.
"Oh, you need your brain for thinking."  Hmmm, well, I guess that shows me.

I don't really have effective conversations with Steven (he's only two and a half).  All discussions pretty much all go like this.
Steven:  I want milk.
Me:  We don't have any more.
Steven:  I want milk.
Me:  How about some water?
Steven:  I want milk.
Me: Oh, well, those are your only choices.  Water or nothing.
Steven:  I want milk.
Steven:  I want milk.
Steven:  Aunt Miranda, I want milk.
Steven: Aunt Miranda, Aunt Miranda, Aunt Miranda, I want milk
Me, thinking:  I want earplugs.  Or a muzzle.

Steven is a quite possessive.  We have a box of blocks that he always wants to play with, but all he does is take all of the blocks out and then put them back in.  However, he is completely infuriated if anyone else takes  out a block or tries to play with one that is awaiting a turn in the box.  Doesn't matter if it's his drooly sister borrowing one to chew or Sarah wanting to build.  So eventually, everyone ends up upset and the blocks get put away until I think I have discovered a way to avert this inevitable double-bind.  But I'm always overly optimistic.  Or a sucker.

Steven is the same with his food.  He wants it, he just doesn't want to eat it.  And he will get very angry if you feed it to Samantha because it has been sitting on his plate, untouched, for 45 minutes.

I am beginning to understand why people say that infants are so much easier.

Bath time and more

I thought about calling this post "Nakee and more", but after a few minutes, it occurred to me that people might expect a different kind of post than this one.  Anyway.....

Camden experienced his first communal bath, with his cousin Samantha.  I think Samantha enjoyed it more than he did.  

At first he thought it was pretty fun. 

 Then the abuse started.  He withstood this attack with equanimity, and the subsequent splashing too.  But when she started smacking his forehead, that's when he decided it was over.

 I love these two very different expressions.  

 Why I've given up cleaning.  

At least until the current population at our house dwindles a little.  Good thing Sarah is so good at cleaning up.  Especially with a video as motivation.  I love bribery!

Just had to show off some new apparel that we have been wanting - BYU gear!  Thanks to Aunt Melinda!  Sorry for the lousy shot - Camden wasn't all that eager to pose and kept crawling or turning away.  

And so our great adventure begins!

Did I mention I'm temporarily the caretaker of 4 kids?  One is mine.  Three are my sister's while she has a fantastic holiday in Kenya!  She only barely left today, at an hour too early to mention.

Already we have four snotty coughing kids, three poopie diapers, two fighting children, and one fallen-out-tooth.  The morning has gone WAAAY better than I had hoped.

Here is a very zonked Steven.   He crashed on the floor shortly after this.

 Sarah discovered the box of blocks and they were a hit for everyone (except the sleeping Steven).

Sarah lost her first tooth!  

During breakfast Sarah said, "I lost my tooth."
"Great," I said, "Where is it?"
"Um, I don't know."  
Hooray, I thought, the lost tooth is lost.  Somewhere in my house is a person's body part.  Dan pointed out that Camden might eat it, which revolting idea encouraged me to double my efforts to locate it.  And we found it!  In the living room carpet.  I think it looks really icky.

Sarah just told me I'm not her aunt anymore if I won't let her play with the blocks.

Oh, yeah, and did I mention that Camden is teething....

I think it's going to be a very interesting 10 days.  Hopefully, Dan will still want to be married to me when it's over.

Meeting Samantha

Camden and Samantha got reacquainted today.  

 Camden was pretty fascinated to have a friend his size.

She doesn't really need her eyeballs, does she?   

And he doesn't understand why she doesn't want to play with him.  

I just hope he has this same effect on girls until at least his senior year of high school.

Baby, it's cold outside

We had a great snow storm this last week and several days with the high no greater than 25 degrees.  We let Camden play in the snow, but he didn't really like it.  Protested quite vigorously he did.  Here he is before the torture began.

I found this great hat for Camden, but he's not usually too found of head gear.  We had to sneak it on.

8 months, a little while ago

Camden turned 8 months old shortly after Christmas.  Not that he demonstrated this while we were on vacation, but he's generally a pretty happy boy.  So fun!  Here's just a general update on what he's doing now.

He has four teeth.  Two fangs on top and his two middle teeth on the bottom.  So cute!  He can even rip off tiny chunks of peel from a tangerine.

He's still in size 1 diapers.  Because he has no butt.  He is getting a nice pot belly though.  Sadly, we may need to upgrade pretty soon because even though his bum is insignificant, his output is not.

Just after Thanksgiving, Camden figured out how to grab things with his thumb and forefinger.  Of course, everything goes into his wide open trap.  He's now quite expert.  In fact, at Andy & Kera's house (which has A LOT more traffic than ours), he had to evaluate every item in their carpet with fingers and mouth - from lint balls to grass clippings to minuscule candy wrapper parts.  He was better than a vacuum cleaner.

He's a quick crawler now.  And he'll race down the hallway with a sock or toy or whatever in his hand.

Camden pulls himself up on everything and walks around holding on to furniture.  It grosses me out, but it seems like his favorite item to climb up is the toilet.  I keep hoping the novelty will wear off and he won't always be zippy-crawling to the bathroom and check out the porcelain goddess.  But now he's discovered the flush lever and he's more intrigued than ever.

He loves to toddle around holding on to your fingers.  Dan used to refer to Camden's walking as the "zombie shuffle".  Dan says Camden's locomotion is more of an ape walk now.  He actually does keep his balance pretty well, he just doesn't have a lot of confidence in going it alone.

Current favorite foods are sweet potatoes, avocados (love it when they are 29 cents at Aldis!), peas, and apricots.  He's a pretty good eater.  He used to think Cheerios were the best thing since pacifiers.  Until we started feeding him bagels and toast.

Camden is such a curious boy!  Everyday he sees something he never noticed before and he wants to learn all about it.  Which typically means seeing, touching, and tasting.  I'm trying not to be a Nazi parent and keep him away from everything, but I do wish he wouldn't try to put EVERYTHING in his mouth.

The Lloyd Shirt comes out of the closet

Way back when our families were smaller and we used to try to get together for Christmas, my brothers and sisters and parents had a Christmas service project of sorts where we all helped sort thrift store clothing rejects (think multi-colored plaid polyester pants size 40 waist, 25 leg; logo shirts of all types and styles; bold color wide-striped mu-mu; real leisure suits of bile-inducing print, etc) for shipment to needy people in Africa, I think.  We had a great time!  And we even got a couple of souvenirs.

Like Dan's Lloyd shirt.  Which reappeared, after a long absence, for the occasion of celebrating Dan's birthday.

We went bowling with some friends and Dan says this is the closest thing he has to a bowling shirt.  I have to say, it certainly made Dan a little less concerned about Camden puking on him.  We had a great time bowling.  During our second game, the boys (Dan, Randy and Skylar) got into a competition to see who could roll the ball the slowest (since their machine actually told you the speed of your ball in miles per hour).  Skylar won - he was able to throw his ball 3 mph.  And it still knocked over some pins.  It's a little humiliating to admit the boys still got more points that game than Maddie or I.

Camden really enjoyed himself and was just fascinated with everything.  I think we intercepted most stuff from making it to his mouth.  Dan and I both tried really hard not to be concerned about what he might have crawled through on the floor.  We didn't even sanitize him when we got home.  But we did change his clothes.