Milestones..

Looks like Floyd and I will need to lower Camden's crib a notch. He has discovered how to sit up when laying down. So far he has done it twice and it has only been while IN his crib.

He is growing up. My soul rejoices and my heart breaks.

Best Buds

Camden has a little friend and his little friend is SUPER cute! His friends name is Colin Weston. He is two weeks older than Camden and just adorable. It is so nice when I can meet up with Colin's mom and we can compare "notes" on the boys. We met up on Sunday and after church headed to the Olive Garden for lunch. Here are some pics of the boys together...

Our Day!

Enjoying the sun was top on my list today! I did NOT want to see my kids sitting on the computer or watching TV all day and I certainly did not want to be stuck inside doing laundry and cleaning something I do daily! I could not decide when Floyd left for work what we were going to do, but I wanted to do something, anything really.

The kids and I decided to head to the Pt. Defiance Zoo...apparently so did several other people!! We drove around for about 30min TRYING to get a darn parking spot. We gave up and headed to Fort Nisqually. I had not been there in several years and Nathan was more than happy to go. Breonna was unsure of what it was so we drove past the zoo and made our way there and there was TONS of parking,we parked right smack in the front (guess it is because everyone and there mom was at the Zoo)! Got Camden in his stroller, got the diaper bag, paid and actually we had a good time in there. They have added more things to do. There were people (actors) there re-creating a lot of the things that happened back then. Nate and Bree got to play with the toys from "way back then", as Bree calls it and we got some cute pictures to share too! Camden had a great time too. He was carried through 90% of it due to us walking in and out of the little houses! Carrying 16lbs is not so fun!!











After we left Ft. Nisqually Nate and Bree wanted to see if we could find parking for the Zoo again so we drove past it and nope, a million other people were there. In fact people were parking on the sides of the roads making it near impossible for two cars going the opposite way to get past one another. I drive a Ford Expedition so my hurking beast was not easily maneuvered around there. We gave up and headed for the Go Karts. Nate and Bree loved it and rode them twice. Camden enjoyed watching them zip past us too!!

Frogs

SO when Camden was born he was given a stuffed frog (that croaks!) by a friend of mine. It actually means a lot to me....I collect frogs, my dad who recently passed away collected frogs and from what I remember Camden's birthmom collects them too...sadly, the giver of the frog is terrified of frogs though!

Anyhow, this frog has always sat in Camden's crib. Since Camden just recently started using his crib for both naps and night time sleeping the frog has been noticed by Camden more. It started out that the frog just sat at the top of his crib trapped between the wall and crib so he could see it. Then, Camden would start to reach for it so it began our tradition that before every nap and before I laid him down for bedtime he and I would pet it so it would "croak" at us. He would smile and bat at it to get it to go it again, I would lay him in his crib and I would kiss Camden good night and pat the frog to make it croak, Camden would watch it and I would leave..when he would wake up we would always say "hello" to the frog and go on about our day.

The day Camden had surgery for tubes we brought "froggie" with us and he would giggle at him, cuddle him and just love on him. It was then I realized Camden really did love this frog.

Anyways to make a long story short...Camden sleeps with this frog now. Before he goes to sleep I had him the frog and he pats it, well he BEATS it to make it croak and he smiles proudly at me and hugs the frog and eats it feet (are they feet or sticky pads?!?!) and he drifts off to sleep patting the frog..when the croaking stops I know Camden and Froggie are sounds asleep.

Here is the picture of Camden and Froggie from last night!

***WINNER***

Tabby is the winner! It was Bananas and Sweet Potatos.

Tabby can ya email me your address so I can send you your little gift. My email address is NPowell1980@comcast.net

WOOHOO TABBY!!

My Promise...

As 7 months have come and are starting to go I have thought so much about Camden and his birthparents. I worry about them, I pray for them. I pray their hearts are healing and they are doing well too.

I keep going back to the night we left the hospital with Camden in my arms. I was crying. I was crying for several reasons. I was exhasted from no sleep, stress and worry. I was feeling guilty and sad, I wanted to see his birthmom before we left and hug her and tell her how much she and he meant to not only me but whole entire family, but I just couldnt bring myself to go up there, I was overwhelemed and so in love with this little bundle, I was scared to be a new mom, I was sad for the birthparents and birth brother, I wanted *my* mom with me, our lives were about to be changed, sleep was no longer going to be in my vocabulary and overall I was just feeling heartache for Camden's birthparents.

I have made myself several promises over the last few weeks. I started making these promises and I was putting together another album for his birthfamily. These are not only promises I am making to myself but for Camden and his birthfamily. Here they are and I promise to do my very very best at upholding them:

~ I promise we will ALWAYS, no matter what, no strings attached, unconditionally LOVE Camden.

~ I promise to tell Camden how much you, his first parents, love him.

~ I promise when I tell Camden how much we love him to remind him that he was loved before we loved him.

~ I promise when he does any new firsts to kiss him twice, once from you and once from us.

~ I promise that when he hurts or makes a mistake to hold him and hug him a just a little longer and remind him he is never alone.

~ I promise to remind him he came from God's arms, to your arms and then to our arms.

~ I promise to do my best at giving him BOTH of his mother's love.

This is what I can promise and do my best to uphold.

Camden is a joy beyond words. His little face just melts my heart. Looking at him I wonder how I ever walked this life before without him. He fits in our family so perfectly. He is loved so much by not only me, his daddy, and his brother and sister but by my mom and my sisters and our friends and extended family.

I feel I have given myself a little closure in not feeling so guilty anymore, I can only do what I can do from where I am standing and that is to uphold my promises and continue to be a loving mommy to Camden, Bree and Nate...and I hope you are healing and doing well and I am here for you whenever you need.

Can you guess what was for dinner?

Little contest..Can you guess what Camden had for dinner the other night? It was a fruit and a veggie. :) Looks yummy huh? I will mail out a small prize to the winner!!

This will end on Friday...this Friday.

OH and I believe you can click and enlarge the pictures if you need too.


~Nicole

April 29th brings more firsts for Camden

April 29th was a big day in Camden's little life. It is the I gave Camden a Ritz cracker and he loved it! As you can see from the pictures below, he was in love with the cracker. We didn't let him "eat" the big pieces he broke off. Just let him suck and naw on it until it was soft. At first he was just licking it and tasting it here and there unsure of what it was we offered him...and then we got smart and put the bib on him!

After the cracker I cleaned him up and I needed to work on some daycare billing. Camden had been trying several times to sit up with assistance and just had not gotten the hang of it. Well, for some reason that day (April 29, 2009) Camden decided he could just "do it".....and he did! I sat him up and figured, if he fell while I grabbed my water he would live. Well I didnt hear a crash, no tears NOTHING. I peeked around the corner and low and behold he was STIL SITTING THERE! And he continued to sit there and play. He sat up for close to 20min without toppling over and since then all he wants to do is sit up and play with his toys!

And then it happened! Camden rolled from his back to his tummy! Before this video was actually recorded he had done this 2 other times and each time I swore I was recording it, but of course I was not. I never hit the record button! He had also rolled over from his tummy to back in his crib and since that day he has slept on his tummy in his crib every night!!

Untitled from Nicole Powell on Vimeo.

,,

..

Saturday, May 9, 2009

6th Grade Camp

Breonna and Floyd just got back from 6th Grade Camp at Camp Arnold. Every 6th grader gets to go to Camp Arnold and it is a blast, from what I hear. Floyd has gone with both kids and each time stayed overnight as a chaperone. It was supposed to be my year to go with Breonna, but I couldn't take Camden, we didnt have anyone to keep him if Floyd went (which he had agreed to go too), and I just could not close the daycare for 3 days and I could not afford to pay 17 plus dollars to have two people run the daycare for 3 days, 12 hours a day..anyhow, I missed joining her at camp BUT she has continued to tell me about it since she arrived home. I will say Bree is so lucky to have a dad who wants to hang out with her and do these great things.

Anyhow, Breonna had a wonderful time. They keep the kids super busy there. From 8am until 9pm they are busy, busy, busy...they get to go in a canoe, rock climb, shoot a bow an arrow, go swimming, hiking, group time, go on a huge zip line, ride a huge swing and overall just hang out with their friends have a great time and make tons of memories! Here are some pictures below.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)