Halloween 2015

We had the cutest little Minion on the block thanks to a talented friend and cooperation from Camden for a whole 5 minutes with wearing his cute hat.

One year old... and some change

I missed his one year birthday-- and a few other milestones. Poor Camden. He's got a mom that's a terrible documentarian (Is that a word? Spell check is telling me it's not). It's okay though, we are busy, busy, and Camden is growing lots. Some of the new fun things he does:

- Sings the "Rock, Rock" song. My mom made up this silly song when we were little to sing while we were in the rocking chair and now we sing it to him. He's picked up on it and sings "Ah, Ho, Ah ho" when he's ready to rock. It's super cute.

-  He officially signs "more" and "shoes". Not quite the vocabulary you'd expect from an ASL interpreter's son, but it's workable-- and so so adorable!

- He walks all over the place... and runs away when he doesn't want to do something. (i.e. get dressed. Naked baby on the loose!) We went to the park and the library today and he was all over. It was nice to let him explore on his own since I had Valko with us (which, by the way, I feel like Supermom when I venture out with the dog AND the baby by myself!) although... a little scary as he ran down the aisle grabbing random books, looking for a second then throwing them on the floor. Apparently he didn't think books on "Gluten-Free meals" and "Organic Gardening" were his thing.

- He will yell for "MA!" or "DAD!". I'm not totally convinced he knows what it means, but it's still cute!

- HE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! Hallelujah! I never thought I would sleep though the night ever again. Maybe I shouldn't say anything, I might jinx it....

- He loves his frog Wubbanub binkie and minky blankets. When he's ready for bed, he will grab both from his crib and curl up next to the closest dog and lay down. 

- He's a tough kid. With having two 65+ lb dogs around the house, he's bound to get knocked down every once in a while, but he's good at getting back up again. He doesn't have a problem with taking a bone away from them or moving them out of his way. He likes to feed the dogs-- and by that I mean he likes to bring a bowl in the laundry room so I can fill it and he will open the crate door with help. Sometimes he will try to sneak a kibble. He still thinks this is a good idea, even after getting a few in his mouth.

- He will give kisses when we ask nicely for one. Actually it's an open mouth on the cheek but it's a kiss and super adorable. 

- As of last night he started folding his arms for prayer... it took us like 5 minutes to start praying because we were dying over how cute it was and he was eating it up! (He totally knows he's cute!) 

Here are a few pictures from his one year pictures. He's even grown in the last month and a half, but this are still so cute! Thanks to Amanda Waddoups Photography, because these are the best! It had a hard time choosing which ones to post!

 

8-months-old!

Holy Smokes!

I can't believe this kid is already 8 months! As cliché as it is to say, we do love him more every day.

Some of the things he does:

Sits up pretty well- sometimes he will lose balance but it's getting less and less. We feel so bad when he bonks his head!

Because he's got the sitting thing down he thinks he needs to crawl and/or stand up.  He grabs anything he can to try to pull himself up. He's been scooting on his  bottom a little but tries to hard to crawl. He will push as far forward as he can then try to get his legs uncrossed and fall on his face. He will get there. We're okay with a non mobile baby for a few more weeks. ;)

His favorite foods are yogurt bites and graham crackers. He could eat graham crackers all day, everyday if we let him. And honestly, we haven't really had a food he doesn't like. For a while he didn't  like oatmeal or rice cereal. Then he didnt like peas or green beans but not he will eat 1 or 2 jars in a meal. He also loves the baby food pouches so he can feed himself.

He loves his puppies! King is the obvious favorite because he will sit there while Cam climbs all over him, but Valko (the newest Guide Dog in Training) doesn't  do too  bad.  Valko will take his toys though. Both dogs think sitting under the booster seat is the BEST! Manna from Heaven!

One of Camden's favorite things to do is be outside. He loves walks and just sitting outside on a blanket. He would live outside if we let him. Luckily it's been so nice!

We are so lucky to have this cute boy around! We sure love him!

Promised Pictures

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted. This semester really has been crazy. We really are hoping it gets easier... maybe?

Life goes on and we adjust.

Some of the fun things Camden does:
 -The last few mornings he has woken up to himself "Oooo"ing. It's ADORABLE (even if it is 5 a.m.) and he is so happy in the morning.
- He LOVES to smile. He has the biggest smile- and just when it can't get any bigger, he lets out a "AH!" and flails his arms.
- He is obsessed with his feet. He will hold them up and move them around to figure out what they do and how they work.
-Baths are a favorite. We know that if he's cranky and not hungry, dirty, and he can't go to bed yet, it's bath time. He probably could sit in there for hours if we let him.
-Fingers are a favorite. His, yours, it doesn't matter. He will do the whole fist if he has to!

Here's some fun pictures of cute Camden--

Oh... and cute Rick :)

Of course, we couldn't have Halloween without Clark Kent!

Camden learned how to roll over and I caught it on video! So fun!

One of his many faces... he loves making faces and imitating Mom and Dad.

These two boys...

Hello, ladies...Already a ladies man

We sure love this kid. He's pretty cute.

Rick is a SUPER awesome dad. I love hearing him talk to Cam while he gets him dressed or plays with him on his play mat. And already they are enjoying football together...

Excuse the quality, but really- how cute is this?

3 months later...

Yes. I know it's been 3 months...

It's been a crazy 3 months...

A fantastic 3 months...

and a super busy 3 months.

Both Rick and I don't feel like we see each other at all, it's mostly to pass Camden between us. It helps to know that the semester is half-way over and hopefully we will get to see each other again.
Basically our week looks like this:

Monday: Leave the house by 7:30, Camden is at Grandma M's until 3 then Mickelle leaves him with Rick an hour later to go teach until 8:30
Tuesday: Leave the house by 8:30, Camden is at Grandma S's until 2 and Rick bring him up to WSU to swap in the parking lot and goes home while Rick goes to class until 8:30
Wednesday: Repeat of Monday except Mickelle is at the school from 8:30-8:30 and Rick brings Cam up for an hour of "Mom time" while he works out then takes him home.
Thursday: Repeat of Tuesday- but no class-- Mickelle works usually
Friday: Again- leaving the house by 7:30 then...Oh hey- nice to meet you again- sometime around 3-ish after work and school sometimes we get to hang out on the couch together.
Saturday: We really WANT this day to spend as a family- but usually something comes up. Work, Calling, Family wanting us to come there or them coming here... it never works out that we get to spend time together.
Sunday: Rick is EQP so Sunday's are usually pretty full of meetings/Home Teaching/Visiting Teaching.

Thus is our life...We hope people don't judge us too much if we just go home to sleep instead of joining them at the movies or if we stay home from an invite to join them for dinner. We are still adjusting to this life and adding work and school on top of wanting to see each other and spend time as a family... (and we apologize in advance for being flaky and/or looking like zombies. Just be patient with us.) This is the crazy, busy part.

The fantastic part is this------>

                 The cutest baby ever.

                                      But really. This kid:

 

I can't believe he's already almost 3 months old.  We love watching him learn and grow. We love seeing his cute smile in the morning (makes getting up with him at night totally worth it!), we love him falling asleep on our chest, we love hearing his "almost laughs" when he's so excited his smile isn't enough... 

We sure love cute Camden!

This weekend I will post more pictures and you can see how he's grown. 

Even though life is crazy busy, we are still alive (somewhat) and sure love our life with each other.

Meet the Baby

Camden Richard Smith 

July 15th, 2014 (Right on time!)
5:06 p.m.

6 lb 13 oz
20" long

First Family picture
(Don't mind our tired, fake smiles.)

Well, we made it! I know it's been almost 2 weeks since he was born, but it's been a busy 2 weeks! 

Monday the 14th we had an appointment with Dr. Fillerup (yes, that's her name.) to just check on how things were going. While we were there, we did a Non-Stress Test and his heart rate was going down after I could feel him move instead of up like it was supposed to, so she decided to do an ultrasound just to check on him. While watching him on the ultrasound he was being extra quiet and not really showing signs of "practice breathing"- which at 40 weeks he should be doing. She gave us the choice: Go home and come back tomorrow, Go to the hospital and be monitored for a few hours then come back tomorrow, or Go ahead and get induced that day (very slowly so as to not stress baby out). 

After a lot of discussion and thinking about the options we decided to go ahead and have a baby! She gave us about an hour to run home and get situated- don't worry that bags were not packed and we still had to make sure dogs were taken care of. We really were running around the house like chickens! The clothing choices that went in my bag? A skirt, a robe, the clothes I had worn to church the day before, and an undershirt tank top... I'm not exactly sure what kind of an outfit I was thinking I was going to wear. That's what happens when you don't pack your bag early.

We got to the hospital about 12:30 and they told us to go eat some lunch then come back in about an hour.  By 2 we were hooked up and going.

Around 7 pm, Dr. Fillerup came in and told us to plan for the long haul. She wasn't kidding because July 15th at 5:06 p.m.- 28 hours later, Camden made his appearance. 

It took us a few days to finally decide on a name (Rick got the name Richard as his middle name...) and we decided that he looked like a Camden (one of our two name choices). We put off doing the Birth Certificate paperwork until very last thing before we left the hospital.

We kind of like the cute little guy. No, we didn't get everything on our To-Do list done, but he came anyway. He's been a pretty good kid so far- wakes up once in the middle of the night then once at 5:30 or 6 a.m. We've only had 2 nights with little sleep. (Tummy aches are the worst!) 

He is definitely already spoiled by grandparents and aunts and uncles. Aunt Ali told me the other day while pushing Cam's stroller "Mickelle, I'm a great aunt!" Yes, yes you are Ali. Cheese calls himself "Unc' Cheese" and Uncle Jared holds him any chance he gets. 

Judith and King aren't 100% sure of their new brother- but they will learn to love him. One more person to play with them- and scratch their belly when he's older.

He's already Rick's son- Football pacifier and Superman blanket

We love him already and, although we want him to stay little for forever, we can't wait to watch him grow up as part of our forever family.

Final Count Down...

Less than one week left, guys...

ONE WEEK!

Not sure if that's an excited "!" or a "I'm-going-to-die-of-terror" "!"

                                                                    --- Either way, he's coming! Ready or not.

Mostly, I have come to terms with the fact that we can't do it all before he gets here so we just have to be okay with doing one thing each day and if we don't get it done, we don't get it done and it will eventually get done.

Some of the things we still have on our list:

- Touching up the paint on the ceiling in the Living Room
- Painting the Living Room Walls
- Buying baskets for baby clothes
- Washing and folding all the hand-me-down baby clothes
- Buying a Humidifier and a few other small things
- Packing our hospital bag... okay so this should probably be at the top of our list, it's fine.
- Having a place for baby to sleep when he comes home- We have a pack and play if worse comes to worse-- my dad is in the middle of making a bassinet, but had to go out of town this week so we will see if it's ready!
- Cleaning the carpets
- Go Food shopping so we have SOMETHING in our fridge to eat
- Get our Swamp Cooler running more efficiently- no more perpetual rivers of water on our patio
- Just clean the house once before it's in a constant state of chaos for the next... who knows how long!
- Make our guest room look like a room again instead of a baby stuff storage room

This isn't too much to do right?

One at a time...