Some days I just need a little inspiration....a little positivity in my life...a little 'everything is going to be OK.' On those days, I'll usually turn to my husband - he always looks on the positive side of things and usually always knows what to say. But I also love browsing my Quotes Pinterest board and my funny board. I've pinned silly quotes...uplifting quotes...funny ones...and maybe even some that some people may think are 'inappropriate.' But in any case, just going through these boards when I'm having 'one of those days' can often put things in perspective for me - or at least give me a little chuckle. Lately I've been on this board more often than not - life is pretty hectic, crazy, and stressful these days. So I wanted to share a few of my favorites for you all on this Thursday. Enjoy!!
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Phew! What a weekend. That's all I can say. Kids should not be allowed to get sick. Thursday I left work at noon to go pick Camden up. I took him to the doctors later that afternoon and he was diagnosed with croup. My poor little baby :/ So our weekend didn't turn out exactly as we had hoped but it was still a good weekend!! Friday my mom watched him in the morning and Matt left work early to stay with him in the afternoon. So needless to say, we hung low Friday and most of the weekend. Friday night after Camden was in bed I went to Wegmans to get some of the food for his 1st birthday party (I can't believe it's in 2 weeks!!!!) Saturday morning I went for a 9 mile run while Camden took his morning nap. After that, we all got ready as we had booked a mini photo session at a local park. I can't wait to show you all the pictures once we get them!! I saw some preview pics and they're SO cute. Once we got home, Camden ate some lunch and went down for his afternoon nap. I then headed to this little princess' 3rd birthday party! Once I got home, we all just hung out and played and Camden was asleep for the night around 6:15!! Matt and I spent the rest of the night getting things together for his party and working on a bunch of random stuff around the house - nothing too crazy. Sunday we got up and around & headed down to visit my Grandpa who was in the hospital (no worries - he's OK!) We dropped Camden off at Matt's sister's since we didn't want to bring him to the hospital. While there we got to meet their brand new boxer puppy, Oliver!! <3 Sooo flippin' adorable and I'm soooo glad Camden got to spend some time with his Aunt Googie, Uncle Pauly, and cousins!! Once we got home we just hung out, played, and did some food prep. I was also able to squeeze in a quick 3 mile run while Matt attempted to get Camden down for a quick catnap. Camden has learned how to do 'cheers' and it's one of his favorite things to do right now. It's just the cutest thing ever (oh and you should ask him what sound a monkey or elephant makes - talk about a whole lotta cutest right there ha-ha) We finished up our weekend with getting things ready for the week and laundry. I'm looking forward to Camden feeling better this week and celebrating his first Halloween this weekend!! On Friday we're all going to a Halloween party at his daycare - trick or treating, then to the library, then back to daycare for a little party. Then on Saturday we're off to a Halloween party at the fire station where my brother in law is chief at!! Should be pretty fun!
Whoever said dressing little boys isn't fun clearly hasn't been shopping for boys clothes recently. Sure we don't get to shop for cute headbands or bows. Or those adorable little leggings or ruffled shirts. But we do get to shop for cool hats. And adorable sweater vests. And preppy button down shirts. Did I mention baby-sized bow ties and suspenders?! <3 So yeah - us boy moms have just as much fun as little girl moms. And now that the temps are cooler I've been on the look out for some fun, cool, fall inspired outfits for my little man. Here's what I've got my eyes on (all from my Pinterest board...of course!) I mean seriously - does it get any cuter?!........I think not!!!
And, of course, a couple pictures of my little guy all decked out in some uber adorable, preppy fall clothes! Better lock up your daughters - he's single and ready to mingle ha-ha Well - well - well. Look here - another post from yours truly. Am I actually getting my act together with this blog and going to post regularly!? I sure hope so - I do enjoy all of this but unfortunately it's always pushed to the back burner since it's not high on my priority list. But at least I'm here now and my intentions are good...let's hope I can keep this up! In any case, here we are - Monday again. I haven't done a weekend recap in quite some time so I'm here today doing just that. We had such a fantastic weekend and I loved every second of it (except for the migraine I had Saturday, of course!) It was exactly what I needed - and yet it makes the Monday blues that much worse! After C went to bed on Friday, I headed out to find him a winter jacket. I was lucky and ended up finding him two jackets. I went to a local kids' clothing resale shop and got great deals. I love living so close to these sorts of shops. It's all brand name, like new or new clothing at a fraction of the cost of new stuff. I got two jackets (one still had the tags on it!) for about $25! You can't beat that!! After that I hit up the gym real quick before heading home. On Saturday I woke up with a nasty migraine - ugh! After I fed Camden and we played for a bit I sucked it up and headed out for a 6 mile run. Even though I didn't want to go, I knew I always feel the best when working out (same holds true when I'm sick.) This time of year is my absolute most favorite time to be outside running. Last year I wasn't running and was VERY, VERY pregnant. So this year, I'm soaking it all up and trying to get outside to run as much as possible. I felt good while running but once I got home the migraine was still there and I was not feeling good at all. Camden was already up from his morning nap and Matt left to go to Cross Fit so C and I just hung out and played. Once Matt got home, I was able to close my eyes for about half an hour before I had to nurse Camden and get lunch ready. After his afternoon nap, we headed out to meet up with Matt's sister and her family and Matt's mom to go on a train ride! Once we got home from that we ate dinner and Camden went to bed. Once he was safely tucked in for the night Matt and I worked on some Christmas projects and binge watched Quantico. Anyone else watch that show?! If not, I HIGHLY recommend it!!! Sunday Camden was up bright 'n' early. We were supposed to attend the annual Breast Cancer walk but it was just too dang cold out. So instead C and I played while Matt grocery shopped. I put Camden down for his morning nap and then was able to head to Pilates class. Once I got home we did some arts 'n' crafts projects, we carved our pumpkin (Camden LOVED playing in the pumpkin guts as you can see from the pictures ha-ha), roasted up the seeds, did a bunch of baking and cooking, and played lots and lots!! I was able to scoot out and run errands & get a haircut during his afternoon nap which was so nice! After his nap, we headed to the library. Camden was in his glory with so many books just EVERYWHERE!! We played cars with a mom and her 16 month old daughter (then a couple older kids joined us as well) and just had so much fun! It was our first time at our town's new library and we'll most definitely be visiting there as much as possible!! After dinner and bedtime, Matt and I wrapped up the weekend with laundry, cutting Matt's hair, coloring mine (bye-bye gray hairs!), and getting ready for the week. Weekends with my little family rock my world <3
I must confess ~ I must confess ~ that I wish Camden would sleep in later in the mornings. However, I am grateful he goes to bed early and sleeps through the night so I guess I can handle an earlier-than-I'd-like wake up time.
I must confess ~ s'more Oreos are my JAM! I'm so bummed they were only a limited edition flavor. And even more so, I'm bummed I didn't stock up on them when they were available!! I must confess ~ I ALWAYS have something in my Amazon cart. I love, love, love Amazon Prime! I must confess ~ I wish I could buy ALL of Target. I must confess ~ I'm in dire need of a hair style. What I've got going on right now just ain't workin'. I must confess ~ my son's forehead is huge. I just hope he grows into it someday :-p I must confess ~ I'm a total salt addict. I must confess ~ my son is a total mama's boy and I hope he never stops being one. I must confess ~ there are certain parts of my pre-baby life that I miss but that doesn't change the fact that being a mom is amazing and I wouldn't change anything for the world! I must confess ~ money WOULD solve all my problems. I must confess ~ that all my gray hairs are out of control. I need to get better at dyeing it regularly. I must confess ~ I start my Christmas shopping in like July/August (sooner if I can...since I'm being honest here!) I must confess ~ I didn't want to throw my son a 1st birthday party (I am NOT a party planner and it all stresses me out!) But, of course, we are having one for him. I must confess ~ everyone was right. I'm loving the iPhone now that I'm used to it. I must confess ~ that I love that Camden eats super healthy and that he actually loves (for now) all the healthy foods we feed him. I just hope he continues on this path. I must confess ~ a blog post of mine wouldn't be complete without a cute picture of my uber adorable son. I mean c'mon - look at that face and that combover The end. Dear Camden, Here we are again. Today you are 11 months old...just one month shy of being a 1 year old. My, oh my, how the days are flying by!! I feel like I repeat myself every month but I only speak the truth. You are truly the light of our lives. Every day is so much fun with you. You're smart. You're sweet. You're funny. You're high energy. And a total mama's boy! You're absolutely perfect in our eyes. You're growing up to be such a little boy - it's amazing to us how much you grow every single day. Though you are still tiny, you are clearly more of a little man now than a baby. Though I miss the newborn days you really are so much fun right now. You have a sense of humor. You're ticklish. You 'get' things now. You communicate with us and understand so much more than I thought you would at this age. You are smart - so incredibly smart. And you're sweet - you are a total love bug and loving being with mommy and daddy. You amaze us every single day and every day we're so incredibly grateful for you. We are so lucky to be your parents. I ask daddy every day how we got so lucky to be your parents. Keep growing - keep learning - keep being YOU!! Camden - I can't tell you how much I love you. I love being your mama and I KNOW daddy loves being your dada. I love watching you grow. I pretty much just love everything about you. Keep doin' what you're doin'. You make so many people so very happy!! We love you so much, buddy! Love always, Mommy & Daddy WEIGHT - We don't go to the pediatrician's until November so I have no idea. If I had to guess I'd guess he's around 17.5lbs.
LENGTH - no clue - we'll just wait to find out at appointment. CLOTHES - For the most part he's in 6 months or 3-6 these days. But he has some 0-3 pants that still fit. SLEEP - He's still my little sleeper and he's still on the same schedule as he has been on. Naps are usually an hour but sometimes we'll get a REALLY good nap out of him. He is asleep by 6:45-7:00pm and wakes up around 6:30am usually. He's typically asleep between 8:30 and 8:45 for his morning nap and goes down at 1pm for his afternoon nap. DISLIKES - getting his diaper changed, having something taken away from him, being overtired, getting water in his eyes during bath time. LIKES - books, stuffed animals, his wood animals, balls, eating, being outside, getting chased, playing peek-a-boo, walking using his walk-behind toys, hanging out with mommy and daddy, and putting items in a bucket and then dumping it all out and repeating the process!! EATING - He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus 2 snacks. We stopped the purees and so he eats all finger foods now. We're still nursing/supplementing. His favorite foods are eggs, watermelon, tomatoes, black olives, homemade applesauce, and the baby pancakes and muffins I make for him. The kid can seriously EAT!! MILESTONES - As I mentioned we stopped purees. I loved making his food but it is nice to have one less thing to worry about. He has also dropped the bottle. He uses a sippy cup at daycare when he drinks his milk and he also gets a cup of milk with dinner. He says dada, mama, and nay-nay (not sure what that means - maybe 'night, night'), and yeah. He signs 'more', 'up', 'milk' and 'finished.' He chats all day long - it's so dang cute!! He knows some of his body parts - like his belly and nose and we are working on ears and feet. And I can't even begin to say how much he gets now - it's amazing, it really truly is. This section would be SO long if I listed everything. Knowing he's growing and developing just makes my heart swell <3 OTHER - We play a game with Camden using these wood animals he has. He likes us to line up 3 or 4 animals and ask him to find a specific animal. He gets most of them correct - it's amazing and makes us so proud. We are now working on colors using this same game. We also went apple picking for the first time as a family and also to a couple different pumpkin patches. You LOVE pumpkins - you wanted to take them all home with you!! It was so stinkin' cute. I'm not a confident person. Never have been. Never will be. By nature I am independent, humble, and your classic perfectionist. I've never been proud of myself, even when I've accomplished some pretty cool things in my life. Even though to most people these things are pretty significant, I always view it as someone did it faster, better, or sooner than me - there's always room to do better so whatever I did just isn't good enough in my eyes. (I know, I know - being like this causes a lot of anxiety in my life and I feel like I'm always carrying a heavy weight on my shoulders...big issue I deal with.) But anyways, when I found out I was pregnant my number one fear was being a good mom. I was so worried I wouldn't know what to do. I was so anxious my motherly instincts wouldn't kick in...that I wouldn't be 'a natural.' I was constantly afraid of being judged.
These last almost 11 months have been trying to say the least. Being a parent is no joke. Being a working parent is even more challenging. But lately I can confidently say that I can take a step back and actually say I'm proud of the parents Matt and I are. I'm proud of my son. I'm proud of the way we've done things. I'm proud of our parenting style. I'm proud at how happy, sweet, healthy, independent and well-adjusted our son is. I'm proud of how we're doing things. I'm proud of what we've accomplished. I'm proud of the decisions we've made in raising a child. I could brag quite a bit here (because isn't that what mommies do?!) but I'll spare you all :) In all honesty though, Matt and I talked a lot about how we wanted to parent and how we wanted to do things. And some of those decisions aren't agreed upon by a lot of people. But that's OK. Matt and I are confident in our decisions and we stand up for them and our thought processes. I'm more than happy to explain to people why we do what we do so they can understand our point of view and can see why we chose to do certain things. I don't always agree with what others are doing and I may think my way is better (for lack of a better word) - but so long as the child is happy and healthy - I don't care what decisions the parents make. There's so much judging going on when it comes to being a parent - let's all just be supportive of one another and the decisions parents make. You know the saying - it takes a village to raise a child - and it's the truth! But no matter what....our kid is clearly thriving - he's super smart, he's happy, he's healthy....he's absolutely perfect. And that's all that matters <3 |
AuthorHey ~ I'm Renée...just your ordinary, 30-something Accountant, new mommy, wife, runner, foodie, & Pinterest addict! Welcome to my newest adventure...stay awhile...look around...and keep comin' back! Archives
January 2018
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