My Aunt Allie

My, oh my am I ever behind on blogging! So, here I go attempting to catch up. Last Friday, Camden and I traveled to Evansville with Nana (my mom) to spend the day and evening with Aunt Allie (my sister). Austin, Camden, and I had planned on traveling to Aunt Allie's first XC meet of the season at USI on Saturday. Uncle Miles' team from SEMO was going to be racing too at the same meet. So we thought it would be a good opportunity to see Uncle Miles and Aunt Allie all in one trip. Since I didn't have to work on Friday, I asked Austin what he thought about Camden and I traveling with mom to stay the night at Allie's. He wasn't too sure about it as it would mean that Camden would have to spend the night away from him. But, he decided it would be okay only for one night.

We began our trip with a visit to "Piece of Cake", a bakery in downtown Evansville, for a wedding cake tasting. After Camden gave his two cents worth, Aunt Allie chose a yummy cake - white, chocolate, and strawberry (Camden's favorite was the icing). Afterwards we ran some errands on the East side and went back Allie's apartment on the West side to relax and spend time with Aunt Allie.

On Saturday, we slept in and anxiously awaited Daddy and Pappy (my dad) to arrive. We went to visit the church Aunt Allie and Uncle Miles will be married in and then headed to the XC meet at USI. It was such a beautiful day outside and Camden was so ready to be outdoors. I must admit, a one bedroom apartment doesn't provide enough entertainment for a 6 month old.

We had a great time and wondered why we don't go visit more often - even if it is only a day trip. We then spent the remainder of the weekend catching up on house chores and spending time together as a family.

Here are a few recent photos. I apologize Aunt Allie and Aunt Miles - I took a really great photo of the two of you with Camden, but I'm blogging on the go and the photo is at home. I'll try to get it posted this week!

Camden in Pappy's chair

My first table food - yummy, yummy, yummy. Camden has gotten to the point that when we eat, he wants bites too. If doesn't get bites, his presence is known!

Mommy and Camden at the XC meet at the sideline cheering on our Aunt Allie! Go Aunt Allie - Run Fast!

Camden's Cousins

Yesterday morning after Austin returned from work, we headed to Bloomfield. Austin and Camden had planned on visiting Camden's cousins, Aubrey and Landon, and of course Uncle Braden. Austin's older brother Braden and his wife, Rhonda, live in Ft. Wayne with their two little ones (Aubrey, almost 3 and Landon, 1). When we lived in Noblesville, we saw Braden, Rhonda, and Aubrey quite often as there was only about 1.5-2 hours between us. Now there is about 4.5-5 hours between our homes and between the two families there are 3 kids under the age of 3. So, it is quite obvious to why we don't see them often. We also go to see Austin's younger brother Kenley and his wife Vanessa and our niece Madalyn. They live in Bloomfield but we don't see them that often. Aubrey and Madalyn are very close in age and play well together. We hope in the next year or so that Camden and Landon will enjoy each other's company too. We had a nice day - thank you Grammy and Pappy Yake for having us over for lunch and dinner yesterday!

Riding Bikes

Aubrey wanted to wear her "moment" - her pronunciation of helmet.

Let's see - set on the seat or reach the handlebars - he went with the handlebars.

All tuckered out and almost ready for nighty nite!

Cousin Landon and Camden

Cousin Aubrey and Camden

The Yake Boys With Their Boys - Some Definitive Similarities

Pappy and his Grandsons

Grammy Getting Smiles from Cam Cam


P.S. Aunt Rhonda, we missed you this weekend and we hope you had a wonderful 29th Birthday! We are excited to you soon!

Picnic In The Park

Today at lunchtime Camden and I joined "the playgroup" at the Eastside Park in Washington for a picnic and playtime. Mommy's lunch consisted of McDonald's chicken ranch BLT, fries, and a diet coke (not so healthy - I know - but McDonalds takes debit cards and I didn't have to get Camden out of his seat to get food) and Camden had yummy squash and juice (at least it looked like juice but honestly it is mostly water). And of course, Camden had Mommy's milk too!

It is so great to be able to share some time with Christian mommies. Thank you playgroup friends for including us in your fun time. Although Camden was ready for a nap after lunch, I still had a few free moments to snap some photos to share with the other mommies. I didn't get any shots of the older kids as they were too at the playground. I'll try that next week!

Ayla and her mommy Courtney

Aspen found Meredith's drink unattended.

Meredith all of a sudden became very thirsty.

Aspen was not happy!

Baby Riley

Riley and Aspen - Cute Cousins

The Knepp Family and Michelle

Mommy's Camden

Gabe and His Chicken Leg

Aspen with her happy face

Mommy and Camden (thanks to Steph for taking photos for us)

Steph and Riley

Brittany and Ayla

Back To School...........

Going back to school brings many changes (for those of you who don't know my family - my husband is an instuctor at VU)! Last Monday evening as Austin and I preparing for the remainder of the week (Austin started back to work last week), I received my confirmation that it was time for me to give up my career. As I cleaned up the dinner dishes and began packing Camden's belongings to take along to the sitter's I couldn't fight back the overwhelming fear of both Austin and I working each day. Austin and I had discussed me staying home with Camden, but we both thought that I needed to go back to work full-time and give it fair shot. So, that Monday evening, I said to Austin "I really want to stay home, can I?" Being the supportive husband that he is he replied "if that is what you want to do I will support you 100%." My parents came out that evening to visit Camden and during their visit I rehearsed over and over again how I would go to work the next day and tell my manager. While I was prepared to give up my job - all of it, my mom thought I should take a different approach. My mom's approach was to ask if I could do a different job (change positions) part-time. I honestly didn't think it would be an option, but to appease my mom, I thought I'd give it a try. On Tuesday afternoon, my nerves settled a bit and I was able to talk to my manager. I asked if there was any way I could cut back to part-time and if they could hire a replacement for me. My manager was more than willing to work with me so that I am able to be home with Camden 2-3 days a week. I am so blessed to have a husband who alwasy supports my decisions 100%, to have parents to help guide me to make decisions, and an employers who values my decision to spend more time with my family.

Last week, Camden went to "Grandma" Sandy's while Austin and I worked. He did very well. "Grandma" Sandy has been successful in getting Camden to sleep on his own without being help. We are so thankful for her! Camden is always smiling from ear to ear when I pick him up so I know he is being taken care of and getting lots of attention!

Sorry, no pictures for this post. But, we have a playdate tomorrow at the park, so watch for new pictures after tomorrow.

Bye for now - my eyelids are getting heavy!

This Is What I Found..........

Last evening, our small little family spent several hours outdoors enjoying the wonderful weather. Austin moved the lawn while Camden and I sat on the swing, watered and fertized the plants, and edged and swept the sidewalks. Camden and I also played a little frisbee with the neighbor dog, Max, and we showed a bit of attention to all the neighborhood cats. When dusk settled, Camden and I came in for a quick bath. Austin was still outside cleaning up the lawn mower. I was pretty grimey and Camden was getting very tired. I didn't want to give him a bath and then waller him to get him ready for bed as we would end up dirty again. And, I didn't want to leave him while I showered as I knew he would get fussy since he was so tired. So, I decided to put him in the bathtub with me. I filled the tub with water and climbed in on my own. Camden layed outside of the tub on the towel waiting for me to finsih washing up. After I was clean, I picked Camden up and put him in the tub. After he was all clean, I wrapped him in his towel and put him back on the bathroom floor. I then dried myself off and went to the bedroom to get my PJs. When I returned to pick up Camden (only about 2 seconds later) here is what I found. He wanted so badly to flip back over, but he was too close to the base board, so I scooped him up off the floor before he had a chance. We've already bumped his knoggen once (see earlier post).
Today was a relaxing day. We stayed home all day and I was able to catch up on laundry and journaling in Camden's baby book. Austin did some chores outdoors and was able to clean up the car (it needed washed so badly). This evening we went into town for the annual "Back To School Bash". The town of Plainville puts on a small carnival for kids to celebrate the start of a new school year. The whole town and surrounding communities are invited. We had free marinated turkey sandwichers, our all time favorite grilling food. Camden enjoyed watching all the kids. But, his favorite was the "Pick Up a Duck Pond". I'm not sure if I've mentioned before that Camden loves ducks of all kinds. I think he likes the color yellow. Squeaking a rubber ducky in his face alwasy brings a smiley grin to his face. His second favorite was getting his picture take with the Colts cheerleaders. He will thank us for allowing him to get his picture taken with them someday!

The green stuff feels good!

See my big belly - it is naked.

I did it again and you weren't watching!

Mommy's pretty flowers.

Long, But Short..............

This weekend was a long weekend as I had Friday off. But, the weekend seemed to be too short. Austin had planned to work on Friday to finish up a survey at the O'Neil Airport in Lawrenceville, IL and my mom was not available to keep Camden as she was going to the Women of Faith conference in Indy. So, after a long week at work, I decided it would be a great opportunity to take off and spend the day with Camden. Camden and I spent most of the day just hanging out together. We didn't have anything on our agenda other than picking up the house and taking a nap. Friday evening Clint, Steph, and Riley came to visit and have dinner with us. We had a great time chatting and catching up. We don't have friends over often but should because each time we do we have such a nice time. Camden is half of Riley's age and it is amazing to know that in 5 short months, Camden will doing all the things she is doing - talking to herself, crawling around, pulling herself up, eating rice crispies, and drinking from a cup. We attempted to take a picture of Riley and Camden, and this is the best we could do!

Saturday was another Camden and Mommy day as Daddy helped our Uncle Bob roof his new pole building. We began our day with a trip to Wal-mart and needless to say it wasn't so great. While we love our Chicco travel system, the big drawback is that the infant car seat does not fit or latch on to the shopping cart. So, we are have two options. One being to carry Camden in our arms, push him in a stroller, or set his infant car seat in the basket. Since it was just Camden and I (we usually have Daddy with us) I sat Camden's seat in the basket and began shopping. After about 20 minutes Camden decided that he didn't want to ride (maybe because there were groceries stacked all around him) so I took him out of his seat and carried him while pulling (instead of pushing) the car around while trying to scan my list. Once we completed shopping from our list, I headed to the check out. I began unloading groceries from my car with only one head. While it was difficult, it was manageable. I had a few large items that I could not unload one handed. So, I took Camden's infant seat and placed it on the floor. Camden was starting to get fussy and tired, so I put him in his infant seat on the floor and started to buckle him in. But that I thought to myself "he's okay for now until I get checked out". I finsihed unloading the larger items from my cart and then started scooting the infant seat forward. I felt the seat get lighter and looked down at the seat and saw Camden face down on the Wal-mart floor. I dropped everything in my hands, scooped him up in the arms before he even let out a cry. When I cuddled him close be began to scream. I eyes filled with tears as I stood there attempting to comfort my son as everyone around stared at me. I'm quite sure everyone was thinking "what a terrible mother". Camden didn't cry long and started to fall asleep I wasn't sure if he was just so tired or if he was hurt. By this time, the lady had finished scanning my items so I quickly paid for my items buckled Camden into is seat and carried his seat while attempting to pull my cart behind me to the car. I have never felt so bad about anything in my life! I put Camden in the car, loaded my belongings, and headed for home. During all the commotion in Wal-mart I had dropped Camden's pacifier. Once we got in the car and moving Camden started screaming. With no pacifier, a screaming and possibly hurt baby I headed for my
Grandma's. When we got to Grandma's, I got Camden out of his seat and began to nurse him (mostly for comfort). While nursing I was able to get a good look at him and there was no bumps, bruises, or spots. After his snack he was happy, smiley, and excited to see Grandma and that is when I knew that he was okay. While this was just an accident, the sight of seeing him face down on the concrete floor haunted me the entire day. I have learned not to ever put Camden in anything (seat, swing, etc.) with out buckling him in even it we aren't moving. And, to slow down - trying to hurry doesn't save that much time. I've also learned not to try and do Wal-mart on my own until Camden is old enough to safely sit in the shopping cart. Thank goodness my baby isn't old enough to realize what happened and that is was all Mommy's fault. I know that this is probably the first of many accidents but as a new mommy I don't want to see my baby hurt.

After the Wal-mart trip, Camden and I went swimming. He loved the water, but got worn out after about 30 minutes. Thank you Smith's for sharing your pool!




Today we went to church and had lunch at Great Uncle Jerry and Great Aunt Deb's. Daddy and mommy enjoyed the ribs, corn, salad, and potatoes. Camden, of course, enjoyed the great outdoors.