Kristin's Scuba Dive

Back in October, I went on a cruise with my girlfriends. We had a great time. We stopped in Cozumel for a day, and spent the day at an Eco Park. I got to go scuba diving there, and it was great. The water was very warm and not too deep (about 25 feet max), so I stayed under for nearly an hour. We swam all around the coral heads, checking out lots of really neat fish and other creatures. Here are some pictures that the dive master took of me on the dive.

Here I am with a big fish. Right after this picture was taken, the fish took a giant poop. It was gross.
Look under the rock - it is a big lobster.
This statue of Jesus was underwater. There were lots of fish and little creatures living on and around it.
A close up of me and a little cleaner shrimp on the statue.
Swimming above a leopard stingray.
Holding a spider shrimp - he was cute!

Cam's Other Halloween Costume

I have been meaning to post these pictures - they are of Cam in his other Halloween costume. The weekend before Halloween, our neighborhood had its annual kid's parade and we were going to take Cameron. Unfortunately, it rained and we didn't go. So we just dressed Cameron up in the costume and took his picture. We got the costume from Cam's cousin Michael, who wore this costume 14 years ago when he was almost one year old.

Take a look - we think Cam made a pretty cute clown!

Cam's Surgery

This morning Cam had his very first surgery. After tons of ear infections and a lot of ear pain, we decided that it was time for Cameron to get tubes in his ears. We were hesitant at first, but when the doctor said that the pressure in Cam's ears was so great that he was probably always in a bit of pain, that changed our mind quickly. So this morning Cameron went in for outpatient surgery to get tubes in his ears.

We got to the office around 6:45 and were brought into the "staging" room. Cam got weighed and measured and they asked us lots of questions. We met the nurse that would be in the operating room with him, and also the anesthesiologist. The doctor came in to go over the surgery with us. It would take about 15 minutes, and he would make a small cut in Cam's ear drum and then drain all the fluid behind the eardrum. Then he would put the small tube into the ear, which helps to keep air flow in the ear and to relieve pressure. The tubes will fall out on their own in about a year.
Because he was having the surgery, he had to wear a hospital gown. They have them in baby sizes, and it was really cute. Cam explored his surgical crib and was in good spirits. When it was time for the surgery to start, the anesthesiologist held out his arms to Cameron and asked "Will you come with me?" Cam jumped right into his arms and away they went!
Tim and I waited in the waiting room for a long 15 minutes. They called us into the recovery area, where Cameron had just woken up and was freaking out. Poor little guy didn't know where he was, and he was just crying and crying. We finally got him calmed down, after quite a few crying spells. The nurse gave him Tylenol, and then a popsicle, and he was good to go. We went home, Cam took a long nap and woke up in GREAT spirits. He has been his usual self all afternoon other than a few crying spells.
Already, Cam seems to be hearing better and seems like he might be pronouncing more sounds. So hopefully it will help out quite a bit. Cam was a really good boy and we are very proud of him!!

Cam's one year checkup

Cam had his one year checkup last week. He did really well, no issues and he is on track developmentally. Here are his latest stats:
- Weight: 21 lbs, 4 ozs - 25th percentile
- Length: 30 inches - 50th percentile
- Head: 47 3/4 cm - 80th percentile

He did have to get FIVE shots though! It was so tough, both for him and us. He got one in the back of each arm, and then two shots in one thigh and one in the other. Four band aids for my poor little munchkin!! Also for his one year checkup, he had to get blood drawn to test his blood levels and lead content. That was so hard too, he just didn't know what was going on and was wondering why the mean lady was pricking him! He did well though, he was a trooper throughout everything!

Tricky Cameron

Just a quick update today. Today I picked up a permanent gate for the top of our small set of stairs that go down to the front hall. While I was installing it, Cameron wanted to help so Mama tried to keep him in the kitchen. Cam wanted nothing to do with staying there so we used the temporary gate that we have to block off the kitchen doorway. Because of the molding in the doorway we can't put the gate all the way down to the floor. I think the video explains itself as to how tricky Cam is. Here it is:

Halloween Pics

Cameron's first Halloween was lots of fun! We had several choices in costumes. Here is one that we decided against - Cam as a mullet-wearing redneck baby!


On Halloween day, Cam had a parade and party at school during the day. For that, he dressed up as a pumpkin. In the parade, the kids rode around the gym in wagons and strollers (and the bigger kids walked). For the party, Cam got to have a sugar cookie and we spent time in his daycare room. Cam was a bit confused about wearing a costume, but didn't seem to mind too much. He was a very cute pumpkin!



On Halloween night, Cam dressed up as a frog. We went to a few neighbors' houses, then drove over to Mom and Dad's house. We walked around to a couple neighbors' houses there too. Tim and I had a favorite house - the one that gave out candy to Cameron and beer to the adults! Cam did a great job walking around, taking candy out of the bowls, and carrying his pumpkin basket. I think he really enjoyed it... and Tim and I are quite enjoying the candy he got!

Getting ready for Halloween

We got pumpkins a few weeks ago, but never had time to carve them until Halloween day. Luckily, it was a GORGEOUS day - the afternoon was sunny and the temperature was around 70 degrees. We decided to carve our pumpkins out on the front porch. Cam wanted to help, and then we turned it into a photo shoot.

Cam loved carrying around his little pumpkin.

Playing in the leaves.

Let me help dig out those pumpkin seeds.

Whoops, got a little bit of pumpkin on my nose!
The big pumpkin is perfect for a photo shoot!

Cameron is wondering what the heck we are doing to him!
Mama, Dada, I don't like this!

This is the best picture we got... pretty cute!
Tomorrow - pictures from trick or treating!

Happy 1st Birthday, Cameron!!

Believe it or not, Cameron turned one year old today!!! We had a really great day, all starting at 5am, thanks to Daylight Savings Time. Cam chose to wake up earlier than he usually does, then take into account that we turn the clocks back an hour, and we were up before the sun! I guess Cam was just excited about his big day. Here is a picture of Mama and Cam, exactly one year to the minute after Cameron's birth.


We had Cam's birthday party today. The party was held over at Nana and Papa's house, since our house is not big enough. We had lots of people come to the party - from Massachusetts was Mimi and Grandpa, and Auntie Cathy; from Rochester was Omi and Opa, Aunt Susi, Ed and Michael, Aunt Linda, Uncle Chris, Ben, Nicholas and Jason, Amanda, Jeff, Jaime, Bridgette and Abby; and from Syracuse was Nana and Papa, Uncle Matt, Tanith, Josh, Autumn and Owen, Bonnie and Braden, and Uncle Chris, Patrick and Joe.

Cam did a great job - he ate lunch like a champ and had a blast playing with all of the kids. He did really well opening his gifts too. He spent time opening each one, looked at the gift and quickly discarded it as he was given the next gift. And Cam's first taste of cake - he LOVED it! He started out slow, tasting the frosting and trying to figure out what it was, and then he just dug in. It was hilarious, he did quite a number on his little cake.

Here are a few pictures. I am going out of town this week to CA, but I am hoping to put up a couple more posts in the next week anyway.

Cam and his (borrowed) birthday hat
Getting ready to blow out his candle

A first taste of frosting
Hey, this is pretty good!!Dig in!!

No, I mean really dig into the cake!
I am going to be on a sugar high for days.
Right before telling us he was "All Done", Cam made sure that the remaining cake was good and smushed.

Happy Birthday to our big boy! We can't believe that you are one year old!!! We love you Cam. Love, Mama and Dada

More Photos

I added several new galleries with lots of cute pictures of Cameron - check out the links on the right for all of the new ones.

And I promise, a more substantial post is coming soon!!

California videos

Well it has been a long time since we put up a post! There should be a few coming soon, but to get you started here are two videos of Cam at the beach in California.

#1 - Cam Eating Sand

#2 - Cam's sand goatee

Cam's Boo Boo

I got a call from daycare today saying that Cam got a bit of a boo boo. He was playing with one of the push walker toys and it tipped over, taking him with it. He flipped right over the front of it and smashed his face on the floor! Poor little monkey - his lip bled for a while and got all swollen. He went right back to playing just fine, but has quite the fat lip. I took a picture using my cell phone camera of my baby boy with his big lip. Check it out:

It's been too long!

I know, I know... it has been a LONG time since we have posted anything. We have been getting back into the swing of things with Tim being home from Egypt - Cam has been very happy to have Dada home! We are hoping to do a post in the next day or two with lots more infomration and pictures, but for now, here are two really cute pictures of Cam that Aunt Susan took when she and Alex were visiting in July.

Cam is the coolest kid on the block

But even cool kids need a nap sometimes.

This morning...

In the mornings, while I take a shower, I let Cam play on the floor in the bathroom. I bring a basket of toys in there for him to play with, so he is usually pretty good. This morning though, he got into a bit of trouble... see for yourself below:

Two milestones

Two milestones i was thinking about today:
1) Tim is coming home tomorrow. When he gets home, he will have been gone for almost an entire month (from July 7th til August 5th). Crazy!! I can't wait to see what he thinks of Cam when he gets home, because in the last month, Cam has just learned so much! He is so much more mobile than when Tim left.

2) On Saturday, Cam turned 9 months old (post to follow) - that means that he has been outside of the womb for longer than he was in there cooking. Nine months have gone so quickly, I can't even believe it. He is growing up so fast!!!

Dear Daddy: Weekend Four

Hi Daddy,
This weekend Mama and I were on our own. On Friday night we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner. Barbara and Friedbert were there too. I got to meet them on Thursday night so on Friday I was a lot more used to them and played with both of them. I let Barbara hold me and I cuddled with Friedbert's knee. All four of them went to California very early on Saturday morning so I won't see them for a while.

On Saturday Mama and I were supposed to go to the farmer's market but it was raining so we didn't go. We both got a little stir crazy so we went to Target for something to do that day. It rained all day long so we couldn't go outside or anything.

On Sunday Uncle Matt came home from the Spanish Immersion class he was at all last week. He played with me for a while, then we went to BavarianFest. There was good music and good food too. I played on the grass and got to eat a little bit of strudel. Yummy!

Here are some pictures of me. I love you Dada and I hope you come home VERY soon!!
Love, Cam Cam


This is what I do while Mama is in the shower. I didn't unroll the toilet paper this time, but I was playing right around there!

Then I played in the sink.
Mama and me
Playing with Uncle Matt
This is right before I put the bucket on my head. Unfortunately, all of Mama's pictures of that were blurry, so you will just have to imagine it.
Peek-a-boo!!
I figured out the light switch. I like to turn it ON and OFF again and again.
Look at me, standing up on the stool!
After a long day of playing, I got tired out.
Since Uncle Matt was here, Mama could get a video of me walking with my push-toy. I have gotten really good at it - I used to need a lot of help so I wouldn't fall, but now I can push the toy all on my own. I am getting so big!!