The best 12 months

I beam with pride on the inside just thinking about everything Cameron has brought to our lives this past year.  My heart swells with joy when I watch the little boy he is becoming right before my eyes each day.  It seems an impossible task to put into words how our lives have changed and it is utterly inconceivable to imagine what life would be like without our charming, silly, determined little man.  I am truly so thankful to the Lord for what he has given us in the undeserved gift of Cameron.

This year, I've learned more about myself, grown closer to Dave, and fallen in love with this little 18.9 pound happy boy.  My understanding of our Heavenly Father has deepened as the parallels between having a child and being a child of God have come alive.  I know more now about unconditional love and sacrifice, immeasurable joy, and strength found through weaknesses.  As I'm sure so many other women feel, I'm convinced that a huge part of my purpose in life has been fulfilled in becoming a mom.  I know it is not my ultimate purpose, but it's been the BEST job I could have ever been given, even on those days when I doubted myself, made mistakes, was easily frustrated, overwhelmed, and discouraged.  I'm just thankful!  Overflowing with it, if you can't tell!  

12-month-old Cameron has blossomed quite a bit this past month.  Though he hasn't quite taken his first steps alone, he no longer fits in the category of "Mr. Mobile Wannabe" like he did last month.  He has taken to crawling (finally!--so cute!) in addition to cruising along furniture, walls, or whatever/whoever he can get his hands on for balance.  He's pulling up regularly, stooping down to pick up toys, and just this morning I caught him standing on his Anywhere Chair AND climbing on the bottom step of our stairs!  Ready or not, our little boy is bound to take off any time now, and when he does I'm looking forward to taking him to nearby parks and Marbles Kids Museum to let him roam around and explore on his own.

In addition to his gross motor development, he's also been working hard growing three new teeth!  This poor child never gets one at a time, but I tell myself that maybe it's good to get a few out of the way at a time, right??  He now has a molar on top (remember when I thought that was coming through TWO months ago?!), a canine working it's way in next to that, and a molar coming on the bottom.  (That one caused quite a dramatic scene on vacation when we were all fixed up for family pictures and his gums let loose an unexpected pool of blood onto his nice white button-down!)  With 11 chompers filling his mouth, he's capable of eating a good assortment of whatever we offer him so that makes meal time a bit easier.  (If only I didn't have to worry so much about what junk is in our food, it'd really be a breeze!)   

Aside from all that, this past month has been busy with birthday celebrations and Cameron's first trip to the beach!  As pretty as the pictures below are, they're incapable of fully capturing the all great moments that made this time with family such fun.  Looking back at them, I'm reminded of what a tremendous blessing my family is.  These are the people who know me best and love me most, despite my flaws and quirks and sins and silliness and absurd anger-outburts when playing Taboo and everything in between!

Crucial sand castle made by Jeff and Katy

(I can only take partial credit for the towers that line the "road" in front :))

Stayed standing all night long and then I watched it wash away in the foam-tastic waves the next morning.  Pretty impressed at how well it held up!

Our "sand castle" for the week...aka the beach house we stayed at

Breathtaking

Cameron's new nap position ;)

How cute are they??

Party pictures (including messy cake face!) coming soon...

First birthday cake: To bake or to buy?

Look at me, blogging three times in the past five days!  Record.

I'm totally not procrastinating from cleaning our mildewy/moldy shower and toilets.   

Anyway, I'm in party planning mode and have been thinking about what to do for Cameron's birthday cake.  I have several ideas running through my mind but every one presents it's own problems.  So far, I'm having a lot of fun with the planning and my creative juices are flowing like they haven't in months.  So I don't want the issue of his cake to become a stressful thing or put TOO much thought and effort into it and then be somehow disappointed if A) it doesn't turn out as pretty as I hoped, B) it tastes bad because I tried to make it as healthy as cake can possibly be, C) Cameron doesn't give a rip about the cake I put so much thought into, or D) all of the above.  Ok, let's be honest, Cameron isn't going to care so I should probably just accept that now ;)  

But I'm wondering how to strike a balance between making a memorable/festive/delicious/not- overloaded-with-artificial-junk cake and would love any insight that y'all have!  We're doing an NC State theme for his par-tay.  Whether or not you have kiddos I'm sure most of you can relate to the feeling of wanting to please your guests with food for some occasion...so feel free to chime in!  And if nothing else, enjoy this funny post that tells of one mom's cake making/hating experiences (pardon the language in the first birthday account!)

Oh, and maybe I should share a couple of my ideas to get more specific feedback.

1) A football cake like this (minus the logo because I'm not brave enough).  This would be for our guests and I might make some smaller cake for Cam...or possibly just give him a slice to dig into...

2) Simple red-iced cupcakes arranged in a letter 'C' or number '1' with white iced cupcakes surrounding in a circle so that the whole thing would look like a round cake.  Make sense?  This would serve both our guests and Cameron.  

I'm obviously open to other ideas and have variations of these ideas in mind but basically I want to keep it simple, have  it be tasty, and not be totally sugar filled.  Is that asking too much?? 

What's been your experience with cake baking or did you take the pressure off yourself and just buy one?  (I took a cake decorating class earlier this year just for fun, but also to convince myself that I am perfectly capable of making something as simple as a first birthday cake.  After all, if I really messed it up, Cameron won't remember and surely our friends and family won't hold it against me, right?!) 

11 months and counting

With less than a month until we celebrate Cameron's first birthday, my thoughts have been dominated by reflections of this past year along with all we are anticipating in the year to come.  We've already witnessed a million little miracles as Cameron has grown and changed before our eyes.  As much as I cherish all his awesome achievements this year--from his first smiles, to responding to my voice, to rolling over and sitting up and bravely trying new foods--I'm so looking forward to all the ways he'll surprise, amaze, and fill us with joy in his second year of life!  I'll just leave it that for now.  I'm sure I'll have more to say in the 12 month post :)

This month Cameron has been Mr. Mobile Wannabe.  (No, not mobile phone, as in his favorite toy of mommy and daddy's that he's playing with in the picture above)  He is all about walking around holding our hands and exploring any place he can get to, with our help.  He especially enjoys "walking" to the laundry room to check out the washer and dryer.  He also likes holding onto dresser drawers that have been opened or standing at the windowsill to look out.  Who knew furniture and appliances could be so exciting, huh?  He hasn't showed an interest in crawling so I'm thinking he's going to skip that phase or possibly have a short crawling phase that quickly turns into taking off walking everywhere--we shall see!  It's still a little unreal to me that in a few months or less he could be tearing up the house, climbing and getting into things that I haven't had to give any thought to the past 11 months!  I'm trying not to rush the time until he learns how to walk on his own because I know once he starts he won't want to stop, but at the same time, I don't want Cameron to continue to show frustration when he can't get where he wants to.  For now, it's just a lot of mommy and daddy bending our backs to give him as much practice as possible! 

A few other fun things worth mentioning:

•  For the first time ever Cam responded to our asking "How big is Cameron??" by appropriately raising his hands above his head.  It was such a cute surprise and he was happy to repeat this new trick the whole week my mom visited.  

• He is all about waving "bye-bye" when we're going somewhere.  He's a little more shy about waving to strangers still which is probably a good thing, right?

• He seems to love cats whenever they appear in a book and he gets a big smile and makes a giddy noise when we get to that page.  I have no idea why he has a particular interest in them (maybe he thinks Chewy is a cat??) but whatever the reason, it's pretty funny to watch him light up with excitement!  

Last but not least, here are some of the pics I got at our recent trip to the park to show you what a big boy Cameron is getting to be...wearing shoes and everything!  

"Look, ma!  No hands!  I'm SOOO BIG"

I know I said he doesn't wave to strangers, 

but apparently he thought he made a friend at the park :)

Visit with Nana

My mom had the opportunity to visit last Thursday through this Tuesday and we had a great time doing simple mother-daughter things like shopping together (for her birthday!), swimming with Cameron, and just hanging out!

Here's a brief recap of her visit in pictures, beginning with some before and after pictures of Cameron's first haircut!

The little rascal BEFORE...

Cheese!

Oops...how'd this get here?

Whoa!  I seriously didn't have this much hair until I was three years old...

My little rugrat :)

...and AFTER! Ta-da! A clean-cut little man

Goofy

The comb was clearly used more for distraction than it was for hair trimming

Playtime on the floor next to"Cameron's cabinet" (which contains every child's dream of tupperware, pots and pans, and other miscellaneous kid-friendly kitchen "toys")

People watching is just as fun as swimming!

Yay!  Mommy gets to be in a picture for once!

"Hey Nana, think I could borrow your sunglasses?"

Thanks, Mama, for helping me clean out 125 of my clothes, shoes, and bags.  Less = more.  

Except if we're talking about funnel cakes at the fair.  

 After birthday dinner at P.F. Changs

Birthday breakfast at Bruegger's the day Nana left

We loved having you, Mom, and are SO looking forward to our vacay NEXT month!  I know Cameron is too :)  

Belated 9 & 10 months

Outdoor bath/playtime

hehe :)

Excited about being ten months...?

Sweetness

Growing up before my eyes!