For Grammy

Time flies when you're...growing a baby and taking care of a toddler....and being a wife...and the list goes on and on!  :)  

Last time I blogged was March and since then I've neglected to post pictures from our visit to Pennsylvania in mid-April when we saw Dave's Grammy, Grampy, and Pop-Pop.

So, Grammy, I hope you ENJOY! This one's all for you!  We had a nice visit with you and look forward the bringing BOTH boys next time we can make it up.

This was the first big trip we took in the van and Dave is clearly excited about it.  Haha.  

Cameron loved playing with Daisy

Making some important calls 

Catching up with Cameron at 18 months

Since I last wrote, here's many of my favorite pictures that 

capture the little boy our year-and-a-half old is becoming:

Looking handsome like daddy on the way to church....

and silly like mommy practicing our fish faces

We love parks

Still a fan of bath time

The many faces of Cameron: Cool Dude, Cranky Pants, & Sweet Boy

"Helping" around the house with laundry and computer work ;)

Blueberries are clearly one of his favorite foods.  Yum Yum.

Whether pretend vacuuming, reading, or playing with mommy's 

childhood dollhouse (shh! Don't tell Daddy), we stay busy at home!

Snuggle time with Chewy and Daddy

Cameron loves when Grandpa plays "choo choo" with him.  
He also enjoyed trying out a friend's bicycle and a car at Toys R Us.  

Getting good at sliding and climbing

Lounging on "mamadada's" bed

New favorite activity: pushing all the buttons he can get his hands on in our new van.  He almost loves that thing as much as I do!  I'll often let him stay in the car for ten minutes or so just playing while I relax, listen to music, check emails, and get a massage from the built in seat massagers...okay, I'm kidding about the last part :)  That'd be pretty incredible though, huh?

Big boy insists upon walking and carrying his own books from the library to the car.  He has grown fond of our weekly trip to story time where we get to listen to some pretty great books, sing silly songs, practice learning how to count, and dance with his friends (P.S. You're really missing out if you've never had the opportunity to shake, shake, shake your sillies out or wiggle your waggles away!)

Looking more like his mama...?

LOVE LOVE LOVE this face.  Could kiss it all day!  It's an incredible 

blessing that even when I'm frustrated with him or tired of repeating 

myself, he can show that sweet smile of his and MELT. MY. HEART.   

The above picture was pre-haircut.  I didn't realize 

how long his bangs were until I chopped them! 

Below: Cameron loving on his many stuffed animal friends (with his fresh new 'do).  He is seriously happier to see them in the morning than he is to see me!  What's up with that?!

                                                                        

AND FINALLY....
Here's a special 4-D ultrasound picture we were able to see of our
 22-week-old boy on the way!  I think he looks like a mini-Cameron :) 

We are grateful beyond words for this growing baby boy, for Cameron's life, and for the journey that parenthood is.  God's provision of marriage and two boys to Dave and I has changed, challenged, stretched, and brought joy to us both in ways I could have never imagined.  

P.S. Pic Stitch app has quickly become my new favorite blogging tool.  The formatting on Blogger drives me NUTS and Pic Stitch keeps it simple and streamlined while allowing you to be a little creative.  No one is paying me to say this (I wish!) Just FYI for anyone else who doesn't have the patience to mess with the format that always changes between editing and previewing posts on here.  

Blessings: Another little Lewis & more!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above..."
James 1:17

The Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year are always a time to pause and remember how blessed we are.  Not because of material blessings, delicious food, and family time--although those are GOOD gifts--but mostly because I remember how undeserving I am of all these things and so much more.   

I am truly thankful and excited that Dave and I are expecting another little Lewis around August 1st this year!    

For the past 13 weeks God has graciously sustained a growing miracle within me.  Two days before Thanksgiving I saw that magical (+) sign on a pregnancy test.  Fast forward through the holidays that were accompanied by a moderate amount of nausea, tiredness, cravings, and mood swings--Big thanks to my patient family!--and here we are at the end of January 2013.  

It's been a couple months since I last blogged and in addition to being preoccupied with the holidays/pregnancy, I also think I've been a slacker since we're not counting the months of Cameron's life as much as we did the first 12.  There's a lot to catch up on!

First, here's what Christmas looked like at my parent's house:

Nana & Pop-E were surprised with our big news!

Despite Cameron's "deer in the headlights" look, 
he really liked this ginormous cuddly bear...
as you can see below, Chewy took a liking to it too :)

Lighted hats...???

Aunt Katy & Uncle Jeff are expecting too!  She's due ~6 weeks before us.

Tired of waiting for the food...

 Doggie love

Got to visit with some sweet friends and their adorable babies too!

In the past couple months Cameron's personality has been showing more than ever, which brings both excitement and challenges!  He lets us know when he wants something AND when he doesn't. 

Some of his favorite things:

• pacifier during the day (a habit I'll be eager to break in another 6 months or so!)  We hear a lot of "ci ci ci" when he can't find it or is wanting us to get it for him
• crackers, cheese, fruit, cereal (Breakfast is his best meal)
• music
• basketballs, footballs, tennis balls, etc. 
• animals & their noises
• Chewy
• playing at the park & just being outside
• Marbles museum with friends
• pointing to familiar things in a book
• trying to say words & jabbering a lot more in general (I love his sweet voice!)
• bath-time
• hiding in closets, corners, or small spaces.  He is learning the game of hide and seek and once we start playing he asks for more and more.  

Some things he tends to protest:

• being forced to come inside
• being carried if he's in the mood to walk
• green beans & some other foods depending on mood
• when Dave & I correct his fork/spoon usage at meals.  He insists on doing it himself, even if that means most or all of the food ends up falling off the utensil! 
• occasionally diaper changes & bedtime.  His favorite bedtime-stalling technique is running off to our room and quickly shutting the door (he even locked it once--whoa!) 

I'm anticipating more excitement AND challenges in the coming months as we face new adventures in parenting Cameron and preparing to become a family of 4 along with whatever life brings.  We are trusting and thanking the Lord for His faithfulness to guide us always and provide blessings each and every day above and beyond what we deserve.  

Psalm 107:8

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, 

for his wondrous works to the children of man.

Cameron's cupcake + an update

Time to post pictures from Cameron's party that was almost, ahem, 2 months ago.  Oh well.  It'll just make me relive that special day :)

There ya have it! We had a blast celebrating our big guy and since then he's been growing leaps and bounds: speedily crawling, adventurously climbing (up stairs only, for now!), and steadily walking.  He took his first independent steps two weeks ago (10/26) and has showed great improvement in balance and coordination with each passing day.  I'm very proud of my baby becoming a big boy, but it makes me sad to think of how quickly he's changing and growing!  

Aside from independent mobility, he's continually interested in exploring his surroundings, getting into cabinets, crevices, and behind curtains around the house.  Baby-proofing has now become an overdue necessity.  The living room ottoman is currently serving as a stair-blocker, and I am constantly multi-tasking between household tasks and keeping Cameron entertained and safe.  He's all over the place :)

What else?  He's a big fan of swinging at the park, is easily entertained by animal noises (cats are still his favorite), has started to be a bit pickier at the highchair, loves music--especially on his Praise Baby DVD,  learned how to play peek-a-boo by himself, says "da-da"on command much more than "ma-ma" or anything else, signs "please" for so(!)many(!)things(!) with varying intensity depending on how badly he wants whatever he wants, loves giving Chewy hugs and kisses, engages in dancing and clapping at story time at the library, continues to fill his little mouth with more teeth than I can keep track of, grunts loudly when he's frustrated with something not working the way he wants it to, responds with big smiles and waves at Nana, Pop-E, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Katy via Facetime, tries to wiggle away during diaper changes, splish-splashes all over during bath time, and 98% of the time he is just being really, really cute!   (2% of the time he's being a stinker....maybe more on some days :))

I'm continually thankful for our thriving little boy.  Or baby.  I think he'll always be my baby...