I'm such a horrible mom.

I smashed Cam's thumb in the car tonight. It wasn't in the normal part of the door that closes. It was near the hinges. She was all clear (at least her head was). I turned around to grab some bags out of the trunk and closed the door. It was a delayed response, but a scream that I can still hear. I felt so horrible. She wailed for a good 10 minutes, and then despite the swelling, it was like nothing happened. I dread seeing the bruise in the morning. She wouldn't let me keep an ice pack on it. I'm sorry Cam! :(

Take me out to the ball game! (pictures)

I know why I love digital so much. In this day and age, consumers expect everything now. Technology is an enabler and when you're without, you wonder how you'll make it through. I'm only talking about having to use a disposable camera vs. my digital camera, but my point extends to much more than that.

Anyway, here are some pics from Cardinals' game from this past weekend.

These are pictures that Camryn took. She figured out how to wind to the next picture and take it. Only she hasn't quite figured out how to aim.

Here's a great picture of mom getting ready to sneak a sip of Camryn's icee. (Maybe Cam's got a future as a private detective.)



Here are some real pics. :)

Go Cards!

I realized I haven't posted any pics from Memorial Day weekend, so here are a few. We had three BBQs, a road trip to Columbia, saw loads of family, and squeezed in a trip to the zoo. It was fun, and Camryn handled it pretty well for as little of sleep she got during the days. We had a fun BBQ on Saturday to wish my cousin Kai good luck in California. How exciting would that be?

Gigi and Cam blowing bubbles.

Dad figured out a new way for us to gamble. Even Charlie's getting into the action!

Then a quick family trip to the Zoo with Jon, Liz & Charlie. Too bad it rained on us and we got caught in the reptile house. Well, it was way better than being caught in the monkey house next door. Stinky!

On Monday, Camryn went swimming in Columbia at Craig's cousin's pool. We haven't seen that family in 2 years! Luckily the rain stayed away.

From this last weekend, I don't have any pictures yet, but we had another crazy weekend.

Bailey took Camryn's 2 year old pics at the Botanical Gardens this past weekend, so I don't have any to show right now. Cam didn't do much smiling. She's so shy! Maybe there will be some cute serious pics come out of the morning. I found myself getting frustrated, but have since thought that was silly. Camryn is Camryn. Shy or not. So any pictures we get will represent sweet little Cam just as she is.

On Sunday we went to the Cardinal's game. We got there in the 2nd inning. I figured it would be easier to get her to our seats when the crowd of people weren't coming in, plus we were running late because I forgot my camera. We were both saying "bummer" in the car. It was her first Cardinal's game. I had her in a cute little red & white outfit and her Cardinal's hat. We stopped off at one of the 52 Walgreens we pass on the way downtown to get a disposable. So, I need to drop those off somewhere to be developed. Haven't done that in a while. Anyway, the cheering kind of freaked her out, so we left after 2.5 innings. Then we built a bear on the way out. When we stepped outside of the ballpark she said "watch ball game?". Oh well. Maybe she'll be old enough next year. It was a bit hot anyway.

Why not?

When Camryn hit about 25 months (probably also not a coincidence that her tonsils were out and she is getting much better sleep) her learning curve really spiked. She could identify a square, triangle, rectangle, circle, heart and star. Additionally she could accurately point out her colors (pink, purple, orange, blue, red, green, yellow "lello", white & black). And never did I think 2 year olds could count past 2 or 3. In the last two weeks she can count up to 10! Yep, I'm bragging. I think it's so much fun to watch & help her learn.

But this morning, we were trying to get going to make it to school in time to have breakfast. She was piddling and wanted something out of her reach and I told her she couldn't have it. I was in the other room and heard a little "why not?" Oh boy! I guess this is the beginning of the "why" & "why not" stage. Sure, she's just trying to expand her knowledge, but this could be a really annoying time for us or we could get creative with the truth. Hee, hee. For example:

No, Camryn, you can't have another cookie.
Why not?
Because one more cookie today will be just be so much sugar, your teeth will fall out. You have to wait until tomorrow.

Time Out!

Cam seems to be obsessed with timeouts lately. So, you've likely seen Camryn's confession of hitting a boy in school and sitting in the corner for timeout. She switches out the kid's name. It's either Brandon or Jaxon. I approached her teacher the other day asking if she was causing problems and the teacher looked at me like I was crazy. "She's never been in time out." OK, so I don't think she's old enough to know what a lie is, so where is she getting this story?

Last night we were wrestling with her on the floor. Craig's hand accidentally brushed her shoulder. I saw it. It wasn't anything at all. She didn't cry but looked at him and said "TIME OUT! Sit corner." We both sat there and tried to explain (to a two year old) the difference between an accident and on purpose. She then hit me (on purpose). I said "Cam the next time you do that, I will put YOU in time out." She started crying, saying "time out" and ran into the other room. I guess she was putting herself in timeout, thinking I told her she had to. It was time for bed anyway, so rather than prolong the ordeal we went upstairs for our bath. But what is up with this girl and time outs?

I think she's going to be my little rule follower. Typical first born trait! She is definitely watching what happens when others break rules.

Perfect Day

What a day! Finally, we have a incredible, sunny, not-to-hot day on the weekend. We maxed it out, that's for sure.

Camryn and I took Mom/MaMa Karen to the Botanical Gardens today. We wanted to treat her to a day looking at pretty flowers for her birthday. Plus, since we've decided to have Cam's 2 year old pictures taken there in a couple of weeks, so wanted to check out the different scenery there. They have this great Niki sculpture display going on right now, plus it turned out to be a Chinese culture day. So therefore, very crowded, but still had a great time. There were many Chinese folks there, and a few even took Camryn's picture. The blond hair/blue eyes seems to be very pretty to them. Mom and I were talking about how pretty their hair is and I think the Chinese children are so cute. It's interesting though. I wasn't bothered by them taking a picture of her, but it would have never occured to me to photograph their children.

We started at this fountain. We let her touch the water and then she wanted to touch every pond of water she saw. Some didn't look quite as clean.

Took a few shots of Cam playing. I'm really looking forward to having her pictures taken by Bailey. There's so many pretty views to see there.

She was very careful with the flowers

but wanted to touch most of them.

Silly Camryn. Wearing Mommy's sunglasses.

It was a really enjoyable afternoon. She slept on the way home. We played for a bit and got a few chores out of the way but then we went up the street to a neighbors house for a big BBQ. It was a graduation celebration actually. They rented a blow up bouncer that the kids played in for hours. The little next door neighbor girls escorted Cam around to all of the things to do. She had a blast. At 9:00, she was still not ready to go. She went to bed late, so hoping we don't pay the price tomorrow.

Better step up your game Pinky!

So, here's a pic of the dynamic duo that Cam sweetly calls "PinkyBells". One is Pinky of course, and the other is Bells. Anyway the Windex ("ninex") bottle was bragging that he got a diaper from Cam and they didn't. They are NOT happy.

For those that are not familiar with the battle for Camryn's true affection, please refer to an earlier posting "Ode to Pinky".

Happy Mother's Day WEEKEND pt 2

Hope all of you mother's enjoyed a great weekend. I could have gone for better weather, but I enjoyed the weekend anyway. I did get my pedicure. Yippee! And then we dropped Cam off at mom and dad's so we could go on a date. We went to see Baby Mama! It was cute. We were more in the mood for stupid funny, and it was more of a chick flick. But still cute. While on the topic of movies, I did watch Enchanted this weekend. So cute. I will buy a copy for sure. Anyway, onto the rest of the weekend...

Mom picked up this kid-sized guitar for Camryn

to strum on while Jeff plays his songs.

Look at her in her cute little green shirt and matching barretts.

And yesterday morning I woke up to Cam climbing up on the bed saying "Mommy. Present for you." She gave me earrings and it sounds like she played an instrumental role in working the crowd at the store yesterday to get them. Craig said he pointed the store employee out to Cam and gave her the paper sending her through small spaces to work her way up to the gal. She showed up and held the paper up to the lady to seek help getting a pair of earrings that were on my wish list at Brighton. Craig said she's either very good at keeping a secret or she just forgot about the experience.

Then we were off to the annual brunch. Craig's 96 year old grandmother hosts brunch at a restaurant each year. Always feel weird sending the bill down her way, but she loves to do that each year. It's yummy food and we always eat WAY too much.

Here I'm trying to get a nice picture of Carl and his mom. Carl insisted Camryn be in the picture. Great picture of the two of them, but silly Camryn with her belly hanging out and that goofy smile. I think she gets her picture smiling technique from her Mama Collins (sorry Linda, but you know it's true). I'm sure Carl will think it's perfect when I send a copy his way.

Cam got a little restless toward the end. I tried to get a halfway decent pic of the two of us. Took three attempts.

Attempt #1 - Nope. Not quite ready yet.

Attempt #2 - Me smiling. Cam squirming.

Attempt #3 - Silly smile, but this one will work.

Happy Mother's Day 2008!

Happy Mother's Day WEEKEND!

First things first. I know you read this, so wanted to say "I love you Mom."

I love Mother's Day weekend. Yep, I said weekend. I've always liked it even before I was a mom. It's kind of like a mental passage into springtime for me (even though it's almost summer).
It officially began for me this morning at a mom's day breakfast at Camryn's daycare. They had little tables and chairs set up with cute table cloths. The breakfast was muffins. Not the huge kind. The ones you and I can make in the oven at home. Normal size. I didn't know how many we could have. I took one, but Camryn ate three so I figured we had our share. I was starving by all the way to work. I loved it. Although she didn't realize what it was for or why I was eating with her, it was something for me and her.

I've got a day of chores ahead of me tomorrow, but maybe I can find time to escape and get a pedicure or something.

I will post some overdue pics this weekend. Stay tuned...

Confessions of a 2 year old

I've shared this with some already, but have to document this because I've giggled about it since I heard it.

Yesterday I'm reading the stack of books that have become part of our bedtime routine. One in particular "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" has a page on it where a big fish is hitting a smaller fish. Camryn always wants to stop on this page and tell me "no hit" and "hurt fishy". I tell her he's a bad fishy and we don't hit, we hug. (At least at this point in her life, that rule works.) Anyway, last night we had gone past the page and she wanted to back up. She said "fishy time out".

***Let's pause there. This was a new one to me. Craig and I haven't started time outs with Camryn. She's never been a bad kid. Tantrums here and there, but that's just being a toddler. (But, now that I know she knows what they are, I'll have to keep that in mind. Hee, hee!)***

Here's how the rest of the conversation went:
"Camryn, why is the fishy getting a timeout?"
She said "bad fishy."
Then she busts out "Cam time out".
"Camryn had a time out?
"Yeah."
"How come?"
"Hit Jaxon." (a little boy in her classroom)
"You hit Jaxon?"
"Sit corner."
"You sat in the corner because you hit Jaxon?"
"Yeah."
"Are you going to hit him again."
"No."
"It's not good to hit anyone."
"Yeah."

That was it. We carried on with the rest of the book. Not a word more. Bless her stinkin' heart. She confessed something bad she did that I would have not known otherwise. I don't know why the thought was triggered in her mind at that moment. We read that book every night. Anyway, thought it was cute.

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On another note, I thought I'd share some recent "Cam-isms".
(NOTE: This is where I capture stuff for my scrapbook, so indulge me in just these quick notes to myself.)

When we were in the hospital last week, this really shined through, but noticed one of her comfort methods is one binky in her mouth while she touches another binky to her nose. She's never had to have a single thing with her at bed time except her binkies. Now I know why. Wonder when we'll be able to break her of that habit.

I wish I could capture this one in writing, but not sure how. Lately she's been gasping and looking at me with a smile on her face when she sees something she likes, or finds something. It's like this pure expression of surprise and excitement. It's so darn cute.

We were in the toy aisle at Target the other day shopping for a birthday gift. We'd walk down any aisle and she'd grab something off the shelf saying "need that." Mmmm, no I don't think you "need that" Camryn.