December 26th, 2011

What a great Christmas! We were all very spoiled and loved every second of it!
I've got a lot of blogging to make up for!
I coughed the other day and Camden said "Bless You!". Such a polite young man.
Camden was calling Nick, Nick the other day. I found this to be absolutely hilarious. Nick did not.
I was reading what Camden's class was working on for the day and it says they learned how to say "Hi" in Japanese. Camden says Peas (please), Tank Tou (thank you), and Pee Ca (sippy cup), but can say "hi" properly in Japanese.
I swear this happened. A few weeks ago I asked Camden where he was going to go to college. He held up his hand like he was showing the state of Michigan and pointed to the middle. Central Michigan University, here we come! Watch out, Uncle Jarsh and Aunt Linds, he wants to go to your Alma Mater.
When we were waiting in line to see Santa there was a cute little boy and girl in front of us. The boy- about 4- asked Camden how old he was. I told the little boy that Camden was 2. His face got bright and he said "my sister is 2 too!" Then he looked a little confused and said "but she's a bigger 2." Sigh...
The other night we were all sound asleep when I awoke to a little whimper. Camden had got out of his bed and walked into our room. He just stood by the door in his feetie jammies with his sippy cup (of course) in his mouth. I thought this was adorable and ran to pick him up and put him in bed with us. I swear this kid must have shuffled his feet across the carpet the whole way to the room. I got the biggest shock the minute I touched him. Our entire room lit up like it was noon in July. Ow!
Here are the current stats:
The monkey weighs 17lbs 13oz and is 31 inches tall. (He lost two pounds having his tonsils out).
The cow weighs 15lbs 13oz and is 27 inches tall. I really think we need a re weigh on Kellan. You can't tell me he is 15 1/2 pounds when I'm trying to get him and his car seat into our semi truck!
Camden is finally back to normal after having his tonsils out. Thank God! He was Camden the grouch for 2 weeks straight. I can't say I blame him.
Camden is a fan of his uncle's  band. Nick played one of their music videos for him and he was so excited. We asked him "where's Uncle Neil?" and he would point to Nathan. Then "where's Uncle Nathan?" and he pointed to Neil.

December 16th, 2011

Well sometimes being the second born son has its advantages. Kellan was the hit of his class today. Daddy brought in apple juice and white grape juice for the class Christmas party. We have never brought one morsel of food or drink for any of the highly advertised parties for Camden's classes...

Camden's December Cirriculum

November 19th, 2011

The minute we pull into the neighborhood on our way home from school, Camden starts politely asking (screaming) for Daddy. The other day as I braced myself for the Daddy yelling, Camden quietly said "Daddy- working."
We'll do anything to get Camden to eat. I prepared a fantastic meal of crackers, vegetables, fruit- you name it. Camden wasn't eating so I put some honey on his tray for dipping sauce. When I came back to check on him, only the honey was gone. Does honey have any nutritional value or calories at all?
We've advanced to toothpaste now with teeth brushing. Camden is hilarious with brushing and spitting. Hopefully he'll get that concept one day.
It's the sweetest thing. We ask Camden where Grampa is and he points to the book Nick made with Grampa's ashes in it. Nick only opens the book so the picture shows on the 8th. Camden loves when he can see the picture of Grampa.
When I picked Kellan up the other day I could see him playing with another (fat) kid. Miss Susanna was cracking up. She said they played footsies all day. I laughed and thought that was so cute. Nick was concerned when I reported that to him though.
It was almost Camden's bedtime and Daddy was holding Camden while we were watching TV. Camden happened to have one of his books on his lap. I watched him (sippy cup in mouth) look at Dad with lazy eyes and tap his book. That was his way of saying- read to me Daddy- without much effort. We made the mistake of laughing, and Camden tapped the book about 87 times.
When I picked up Kellan yesterday, Miss Susanna looked a tad exhausted. She said Kellan only napped for about a half hour all day. He was way too busy playing to take a nap. I sympathized with Miss Susanna, but in my head I cheered. That means Kellan will sleep all night for us!
When I picked Camden up, I peeked in the door first so he couldn't see me. The teacher was sweeping the room. Camden was the last kid to be picked up but that's beside the point. Camden was watching the teacher sweep and then I saw his little arm and finger go up and point. At 2, he's pointing out the spots the teacher missed. Sigh! That's the Nick in him...
In the morning, Camden's teachers talk my ear off about him. I love it! They said that he is now on a new playground being in Room 5. For the first week, he methodically walked around the playground, casing the joint. On the 2nd week he climbed up and rode down the curvy slide. The Room 5 teachers cheered. This was all he needed. He went 'round and 'round and slid down that slide all morning. Teachers from other rooms were cheering him on as well. Needless to say, the teachers said it was hard to get Camden back into the classroom that morning.
I'm lucky enough to have company each time I go to the bathroom. When I'm done, Camden screams "WATER!" That's just the reminder I need to wash my hands after #1'ing (or2'ing :))

November 17th, 2011

I heard Kellan stirring this morning, but it took a few minutes to go in there to get him. He got impatient and decided to put his own pacifier in his own mouth. By the time I got in there he was looking at me sucking on his green little pacifier. So funny!
Good news is that Camden has finally hit 20 lbs, but he does have to have his tonsils out. I really think this will solve a lot of his breathing and growth issues. I hate to put that little guy through another surgery, but I really think it's for the best.
The first day that Kellan moved up to Room 2 he was back in Room 1 by the time we picked him up. I just grabbed him and ran. I didn't ask the teacher why he was held back. By the next day he was dropped off and picked up from Room 2 so no harm no foul.
Camden worried me the other day. He had a little hoarse voice. I called the pediatrician to see what she thought. She said to keep a close eye on him because it could turn into croup or something else. As I was talking to her I came to the realization that Camden sure had been screaming at the top of his lungs lately. Between screaming "BOAT!" when he wants his Mickey Mouse CD and basically being a two year old, I figured that that could also be a source of his hoarse voice. Dr. Schaffer laughed and agreed.
At the ear nose and throat doctor today, Camden was spinning the doctor's stool and pushing it across the room. Daddy pointed at Camden and said no. Camden stopped was his was doing, pointed his little finger right back at Dad and said no. Then grinned crookedly and showed his right cheek dimple. Here we go!

Boo!

November 6th, 2011

As we speak, Camden is riding his toy horsie (NEIGH!) and Kellan is absolutely cracking up at him. This in turn causes Camden to turn into a huge ham and is being one dramatic little cowboy.
I was home with Camden on Friday and he was being just fine. I got on the phone with Nana and that was the point at which Camden decided to crawl up and stand on our glass table. I turned around for one second and the next- there he was- with his "I know I'm doing something I'm not supposed to" smile.
Camden will only eat food if he has something to dip it in. His highness requires ketchup for his french fries and he is currently eating Cheerios dipped in peanut butter. Mind you, I'll feed him whatever he wants so he'll gain weight, but sheesh! He's pretty high maintenance.
Speaking of french fries, Camden was in his high chair eating some yesterday. I must not have had the right ketchup to fry dip ratio because Camden proceeded to throw all of his french fries on the floor. I was so mad at him! And what he did next did little to help this emotion. I was bending over to pick up the fries and happened to have my bottom area toward Camden. He yelled "BUTT!" at the very top of his lungs and laughed harder than I've ever heard him laugh. That's not exactly the reaction you want when bending over in front of anyone, let alone your 2 year old...
Camden loves music and is starting to sing along now. For instance, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is now called Up Above la la la la. When we sing the ABC's he's done a rift of LMNO and YANDZ, but my favorite is him yelling W! when you get anywhere near W in the song. That's his favorite letter :)
Kellan and I played patty cake while Camden was napping today. They must play that at school, because the minute we started he got the biggest dimply grin on his face!
Miss Marji said that Kellan is their PR guy. When new parents come to check out the day care they usually start at Room 1. They see Kellan and he just grins and is dimply and they want to send their kid there! Can we get a cut of this?

November 3rd, 2011

This morning I was feeding Kellan and he scratched my face. I yelled "Ow!" and he laughed and laughed. Stinker!
I picked up Camden from school last week and when I peeked into the room he had his back turned to me and was reading a book at the table. The teacher said, Camden, your Mom is here, he looked at me over his shoulder, went right back to the book, flipped through each page as fast as he could, and then came running to the door to say hi. He's an avid reader.
Speaking of reading, when Nick picked Camden up last week all the kids in Room 4 were sitting nicely in a circle listening to Miss Jackie read them a book. Where was Camden? Standing on top of the teacher to get the best view of the book and turning the pages for her. Sometimes turning them before she was done with the page!
I went through the drive up ATM the other day and Camden screamed "FRENCH FRIES!" the whole way home. I promise we eat food other than fast food.
Grammy and Granfy babysat the boys on Saturday, so Nick and I took his bike out to a local bar. When we got there, this hot blonde dressed in a bunny costume (not sure if it was because it was Halloween or not) came up to Nick, gave him a plastic egg, giggled and ran away. Right after that an old fat man came up to Nick to talk to him about his bike. Nick came up to me a few minutes later saying he wanted to buy someone a drink. I would think it would be the hot blonde, but no, he bought the old man that complimented his bike a beer. Nick has no game. :)
Once again I'd like to thank Grammy for the Mickey Mouse CD. Now Camden makes us repeat song #2. "Forever let us hold his banner High!" Camden yells-" High High High!" At the top of his little pneumonia lungs.
I took him to Phoenix Children's Hospital to see a lung doctor because his pneumonia isn't clearing up as quickly as the pediatrician would like it to. He weighs 19lbs 9 oz and is 30 1/2in tall.
While I was talking to the doctor, Camden became a pterodactyl. I don't know why he felt this was appropriate. As I'm relaying his medical history to the doctor Camden just kept bursting out with screeches about 19 seconds apart from each other. He of course, was on the other side of the room so I couldn't gently (right) grab him. I was getting so flustered and the doctor was cracking up. She said "he's only doing this because he's getting a rise out of you." She said she has a two year old as well and the best thing to do would be to ignore it. That didn't work on Camden. He just became a louder pterodactyl. At least the lung specialist didn't suggest a behavioral specialist to me.
I had Camden in his high chair eating toast when he informed me he was all done and wanted to get down. I told him no and that he had to eat more toast. I went back to rinsing out the bottles and I could hear him saying something but couldn't quite make it out. I turned off the water and he was calling for the "dog dogs!" He wanted them to come eat his toast. I'm sure Mitzie and Muffie's ears perked up all the way in Chandler, but that's a long way, even for them, to go for a piece of toast.
Camden Kellan and I were playing on the floor the other day. I sat Kellan up and he stayed sitting up for a long time. Camden was amazed that his brother can do this now. Kellan finally tipped over and Camden looked at me and yelled "PEAS?!" I said what Camden? And he went and tried to sit Kellan up again yelling "PEAS!" the whole time.
I was getting ready yesterday morning and Camden was in the bathroom with me. He was playing with his cars along the bathtub while I was trying to make myself even prettier. I know, right? I sneezed and went back to curling my hair when I heard a little voice say "Bless you!" That was pretty much the cutest unexpected thing I've ever heard!
On Monday, Camden moves to Room 5 at school and Kellan moves to Room 2. My big grown up boys!

October 27th, 2011

We now have both boys in their room, so we have the baby monitor on at night. Camden hasn't been sleeping that well because he's still getting used to his big boy bed. So I wasn't surprised when I heard him crying in the middle of the night. I got up and went to his room to check on him. It was the weirdest thing! He was sound asleep snoring with his mouth wide open, but I could still distinctly hear him crying. Loudly in fact. I'm blaming the fact that it was 2 in the morning that it took me a minute to realize it had been Kellan crying that whole time, not Camden. They sound exactly alike now!
Camden just loves his rock n roll Mickey Mouse from Aunt Courtney. Just last night we found out that Mickey sings a song and does the splits. We looked up and Camden was trying to do the splits just like Pickey!
Camden is talking up a storm now. It is REALLY hard to watch TV in the evenings. :)
Grammy bought Camden and Kellan monkey hats. Camden put one on his head and started looking around for the other hat. I had put the hat in the closet so I just watched him to see what he would do. After looking for a few seconds he turned his little hands up and said clear as a bell "I don't know where the other monkey is!" I was cracking up! He IS a real boy!
Camden found a SpongeBob Christmas ornament that was still in the package. He came and showed it to me and wanted me to take it out of the box. I wasn't sure if Nick would want him to play with it, so I told Camden- "Go ask Daddy to open it for you." He ran out of the bathroom with his little legs taking his monkey ears as fast as they could to Dad. A few minutes later he came back in the bathroom wanting me to open SpongeBob. I kept telling him to go ask Dad. He would leave and come back. This happened for several minutes. Finally, I realized, Nick had been telling Camden to ask me if he could open the box and I was telling Camden to ask Dad the same question. Poor guy was getting so confused.
Even though I say I'm not, I'm desperately trying to casually potty train Camden. The other night I had his little naked butt sitting on his potty for about 10 minutes. And...nothing... Finally I said ok Camden, stand up and we'll put a diaper on you. The minute he stood up he peed all over me. And I mean all over me.
When I dropped Camden off at school this morning he was debating on whether to cry or not. The teacher could see this so she tried to distract him with cars. Then she told me, he takes every single car they have in the room, gathers them up and plays with them in a corner so none of the other kids can play with them. This is good socializing, right?
How is Camden able to spot and name Mickey, Elmo and SpongeBob? (Pickey, Melmo, SungeBa) Does Disney take him to a commercialized training camp while we're sleeping?

October 20th, 2011

Happy Birthday Grammy Gall! Thanks for all you do for us!
Camden isn't feeling well so Granfy babysat him today. We are so grateful for this, but things went a little downhill when I called to check in on them around 10am. I asked Granfy if Camden felt warm. He said a little. We discussed the Tylenol and Motrin doses. We discussed fevers a little more. Then I asked Dad, do you know how to take pictures with your phone yet? To which he answered, no, I'll just feel him to see if he's warm. At that point I decided it was time to hang up, take a Xanax and get back to work.
I was playing with Camden on the floor this week. He picked up one of Kellan's toys and asked "THAT THAT?!" (what's that?) I said, it's a butterfly, Camden. Camden then laughed hysterically and said "butt" 174 times.
We were invited to a birthday party last Saturday. There were bouncy houses, petting zoos, and so much fun to be had. After we said our goodbyes and were getting ready to leave the party, Camden went to the little girl's huge pile of gifts, picked out (I don't know how he did it) the gift we specifically brought, and started dragging it to the car. He doesn't quite get the concept of bringing a present and leaving it there.
Along the same lines, he went to a bridal shower with Grammy and Granfy over the weekend. There was a little girl there his age. When it was time to leave Camden grabbed his own diaper bag and headed to the door. Grammy and Granfy ooh'd and aaah'd over how smart he was to get his own diaper bag. Come to find out, Camden had taken one of the little girls toys and stuffed it in the diaper bag. No wonder he and the bag were in a rush to get out of there!
Kellan grabbed my phone while I was texting yesterday. When I took it back I looked and he had typed "keg" into a text message. Ummm... college isn't for a few more years, Cowbell.
We went to a birthday party in Chandler on Sunday. It was just Nick, Kellan and I in the car. (Camden was with Grammy and Granfy) Mind you, the drive time is about 35 minutes. Nick came up with his own version of "The Devil went down to Georgia" called "Kellan went down to Chandler" and sang it the whole way down there.
We picked up Camden and went to the birthday party. Popular boys! There were bouncy houses, cotton candy machines, and cakes galore. What does Camden play with? The ice in the coolers. He transfered all the ice from one cooler to another then back again. Good thing these parents spent all that money on party favors. They could have just provided free ice and our kid would have been happy.
I was standing by the couch watching the boys play on the blanket. Kellan was rolling around happily on the floor. Camden walked over to Kellan, stopped, and then dramatically "tripped" over Kellan and "hurt" himself. Luckily Kellan thinks his older brother is just hilarious.
Yesterday we were getting Kellan ready for school. We put him in his "That's it I'm calling Grandma" outfit. Camden started pointing to his chest and yelling. I could not figure out for the life of me what he was doing. Of course I immediately thought it was a seizure and got the phone ready to call the doctor. But no, his shirt said "Grandma loves me." He was just trying to point out that they both had Grandma shirts on. My little genius. Not only is he going to be a model and athlete- he's also going to have the world's highest IQ.
I was ecstatic when I was at the doctor with Camden on Wednesday and he weighed 19 pounds. I am blocking out the fact that he had on jammies, shoes, and a plastic "Melmo" clutched in each hand. That's 19 for the books.
While we were waiting for the doctor Camden was playing with the fire trucks on the floor. He kept sweeping his hand across the floor and looking at it. I told him not to do that because they floor might be dirty. So he raised his eyebrows up to his hairline, stared me down, and rubbed his hand from one side of the waiting room floor to the other. Then watched to see what I would do. I'm laughing now that it's a day later, but I did disown him for about 30 seconds.
Kellan had his first school pictures taken. They are pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen. His little tongue is sticking out in each shot. I'm hoping it's teething and not a sign of being a trouble maker.
We'll never be able to listen to the radio again. Are the Bee Gee's still in the Top 40? Camden has a "Pickey" (Mickey Mouse) CD and the second you turn on the car he screams PICKEY! until you put the CD in.
Row row row your boat....

October 13th, 2011

Camden had his two year check up yesterday and weighs a whopping 18 lbs. Sigh! Maybe when he's 3 he'll be able to sit in a forward facing car seat.
I called school yesterday and the Director said she had gone into Kellan's room and right when she walked in, Kellan lifted his arm and waved at her. She said she laughed all day about that. He sure knows who to kiss up to. I haven't seen a child care discount yet, but I'm sure it's coming.
Daddy taught Camden a helpful tip the other day. When Camden wakes up it's still dark in the house. When we take him to the fridge to get his sippy cup the bright light from the fridge causes him to dramatically turn his head and bury his face in our shoulder. So Dad taught him how to cover his eyes! The funny part about this is that Camden starts covering his eyes as soon as we leave his bedroom. Even though there's still about 50 steps to the fridge. He's making sure he's well prepared.
When I went to pick up the kids yesterday there were some differences between them. I stopped by Kellan's room first so they could get him in his car seat while I went to get Camden. Kellan was in the middle of the floor playing with another little kid. They were kind of swatting (socializing) at each other. All was well with Cowbell, so I went to Camden's room. There were only 4 kids left, including Camden. 3 kids were sitting in a circle with the teacher playing some game and singing. 1 kid was running full speed at the cement wall, stopping right before he got there, and then throwing the flaming bright pink flamingo he was carrying at the wall...repeatedly! Guess which kid was mine? Sigh...
Camden is so ready to potty train, I swear! He yelled POO POO! I dropped everything and got the potty. He sat on it and pooped, but he did still have his diaper on. I still count this as a victory.
I then took his diaper off and while he was reading his book on the pot his face turned bright red and he grunted, but alas... no poo poo.

October 11th, 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday Camden James Tilley! Oh yea... and Happy Anniversary, Nick. :)
The other day, Camden was helping Nana do laundry. He helped load the clothes from the washer to the dryer. He then pushed the clean clothes basket to Nana's room to fold. He wouldn't let her carry the basket. Then they put another load in the wash and Camden shut the washer door on Nana's head.
While Camden was home last week with Nana, he was standing by the TV. He let out a huge toot and then backed up so Nana could smell to see if it was just a toot or something more. He couldn't walk toward Nana and then turn around, he had to back into her.
On the day of Camden's birthday party, Nana was giving him a bath. I was out in the living room eating the snacks before the guests arrived. As Camden was getting out of the tub he asked "Mom, work?" I have never felt so guilty in my life.
Sunday morning, we brought Camden in our room when he woke up. At about 6:30 he started to get antsy to get up and play. Nick and I were not ready to get up. So Nick put Camden on the floor and said go find Nana.Camden walked all the way across the house to Nana's room and started knocking on her door and saying Nana wake up. Nana was cracking up and lucky for us, got up to play with him!
I took the boys to Walgreens by myself after work yesterday to pick up a prescription. It was chaotic. Kellan was crying and would only stop if I made funny faces at him. Camden refused to put his shoes on, so I had to try to keep him sitting in the grocery cart. This was no small feat. As I was talking to the pharmacist trying to learn the proper instructions on how to medicate my child, Camden was screaming "AIRPLANE!" at the top of his lungs. He had pulled my Southwest credit card out of my purse and obviously he was thrilled with the fact there was an airplane on it. I looked at the pharmacist and said, is it just me or does it seem like I have 50 kids with me. She gave me a sympathetic smile as I looked down and saw that Camden had pulled my Xanax prescription out of my purse and was shaking it like a rattle.
I tried to hightail it out of there, but you can only go so fast pushing and steering a cart with one hand, making funny faces, and restraining a shoeless boy with the other hand. It was the slowest getaway ever...
Camden got a birthday card that had stickers in it yesterday. I handed him the stickers and he immediately began to peel them off the paper and stick them to his face. I have no idea where this came from. It was time to eat dinner so I tried to peel the (75) stickers off his face. He screamed! All throughout the night I would try to take the stickers off, but that would have been the beginning of World War 3. Finally, once he was snoring in his bed, I peeled the stickers off one by one. Lesson learned.

October 6th, 2011

This morning as I was getting ready I could only make out mumblings of Camden and Nana talking. Then all of the sudden I heard Camden scream "THANK TOU!" at the top of his lungs. My mother's heart was warm with pride. I had a little smile on my face as I continued to get ready. Then I heard the biggest crash ever! My first reaction was to run out there and make sure everyone was still alive. My 2nd and final reaction was to play 'possum. I quietly slipped into the closet to make sure I would not have to know about or clean up whatever had just happened out in the living room. Whatever I did worked. When I emerged from my dressing quarters looking professional and eager for a hard days work, all I found in the living room was my youngest son dressed and ready for school. All the bottles made and the diaper bag packed. My oldest son sitting sweetly in his high chair and breakfast waiting for me. This was all courtesy of Nana of course. I still don't know what the crash was, but everything and everybody seems to be in tact. So eh!
As I was leaving for work Camden came barreling to the back door. It was so hard to have to say bye and shut the door on him so I could go to work. My heart was aching and I felt so guilty. As I was loading 30 pounder, I mean Kellan, into the truck, I could hear the back door handle jiggling. I almost got in the car and continued on my way, then I thought I better go lock that back door and make sure Camden's ok. I braced myself for another tearful goodbye from my sweet eldest. child, but in the 15 seconds it had taken me to get Kellan in the truck and come back to the house, Camden had forgotten all about his mother. I opened the back door carefully and he was so engrossed in a game of Camden against the wall soccer that he didn't even notice me. Or if he did, he chose to act like I didn't exist. To make myself feel better, I looked in on Kellan before I got in the drivers seat. He did his usual, search my face and rack his brain on how he knew me again. "This girl looks familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on... Oh Yea! (BIG GRIN) Momma!" Kellan will not just smile at anyone. He is very particular.
We can't wait for Camden's birthday party on Saturday! Can't believe my monkey puppy is two!

October 3rd, 2011

So over the weekend, Camden went to the Tupperware cupboard, got out his orange Cheerio's bowl and went to the pantry. I, of course, jumped up and got him some Cheerio's. (If he'll eat, I want him to eat). He did his little saunter out of the kitchen to the back of the couch. He then shook his orange bowl so Cheerio's flew everywhere. I just looked at him with disbelief. I said, you pick all these up right now young man. So Camden got down on his hands and knees and ate every single Cheerio right off the ground. I can't even comprehend what went through his mind to make him do that. He did follow my instructions to pick up the mess though. Who needs a dog when you have a Camden?

October 1st, 2011

Yay! It's October!
Nana and I went and saw Harry Potter today. The movie was good and leaving Dad home with the boys was nice. :)
Camden was a little "needy" all day today. Right before I checked myself into the hospital to have a nervous breakdown, Nana took Camden to play outside. In the 95 degree heat. But, that's what Nana's are for.
Cowbell is going to be crawling any day. He is doing pushups like crazy, and slightly army crawling. He doesn't seem any closer to sitting by himself, but he sure can pose holding his cute (big) head up!
Camden thought it was hilarious to try to knock the wind out of me today. I was laying on the floor playing with him and that became a game. He sobbed when I made him stop. "Terrible Two's" Of course he's advanced in that area.
I am determined to potty train Camden without saying I'm trying to potty train him. Every time I ask him if he wants to sit on the potty he yells "No!" and shakes his head.
I saw him standing in the corner clearly pooping today, I ran over and said Camden do you want to poop in the potty. I took his diaper off and set (slammed) him on his little potty. The results? He stopped pooping stuck his finger on his butt cheek, rubbed poop all over himself and the potty, and got not a single speck of poop in the toilet.
I'd call that a win? Right?... Hello?..

September 30th, 2011

Good thing I happened to look down while feeding Kellan. I looked in his sticky left hand and found my earring! I didn't even feel him pull it out! I wonder what else he's taking while we're not looking...
So there may be one good thing about being the 2nd boy. Picture day came and went at school and we actually knew about it and were prepared! We dressed him nicely and combed his hair wisps. Now the only thing left to do is see how they turned out! Poor Camden was always wearing a girl colored onesie, no pants and a boogery face every picture day. Kellan - this is one of your few perks. Take advantage of it.
Daddy opened the blinds to the backyard and Camden started yelling OOO! OOO! Nick looked outside and there was a huge scorpion! I mean huge. So of course Nick puts it in a plastic bag and brings it in the house. I mean that's the logical thing to do.
Camden freaked me out the other night. He woke up a couple of times whimpering so I went and checked on him. He started shaking and I went hysterical. It wasn't like violent shaking or anything, but I've never seen Camden do that. I immediately called Dr. Schaffer while Nick googled Camden's symptoms. The Dr. (and google) said that it probably meant Camden was going to come down with something or spike a fever. We had just had Camden's follow up X-Ray's done from his pneumonia, and it turns out the pneumonia is not totally gone. It does look better, but it's not totally gone. :( So thank God Nana is here. She took him to the doctor today (and cleaned and did laundry) while we both worked. Dr. said Camden sounded good and his oxygen level is good so we'll keep an eye on him. As always we still appreciate the prayers. While at the doctor Nana called me and put Camden on the phone. He said "dada?" I said no Camden it's Momma. I could hear him drop the phone and clear as day say I want Dada!
Thursday morning as I was leaving for work, Camden waved bye from Nana's lap for about 5 minutes before I even left. I think someone was anxious to have the day with Nana.
I had to work pretty late all week, so Nick was so sweet and brought me dinner. I was eating a burrito and holding Camden on my lap. Camden was eating my burrito too. He took a big bite of guacamole. Just as Nick said- Camden I didn't know you liked guacamole, Camden spit it out right in the middle of the burrito. I got kind of grossed out, shrugged my shoulders, and ate the rest of the burrito.
This morning Camden pulled a used Q tip out of the trash. He put it right in his ear. I was so impressed that he knew what to do with a Q tip that I forgot that it was a used one. I grabbed it from him and threw it in the trash. Camden threw an absolute fit! I bent down to hug him and he turned his little shoulders and ran away from me. Aw! Our first fight!

September 24th, 2011

Happy birthday Great Grandpa Gall!
Kellan has been saying "da da" all day today. It's official. His first word. Sheesh! I do all the work and he only loves Daddy.
We put Kellan in Nick's old jumper. Kellan is bouncing around having a blast. Little Camden is being a stinker and spinning him while he's in the jumper. I asked and asked Camden to stop. Finally I grabbed him and said "Hey! Do you want to go to time out?" His response? A crooked smile and a burp right in my face. I understand why mother's eat their young now.

September 23rd, 2011

Today is Grampa Dick's 57th birthday!
Kellan had his 6 month check up. He weighs 13lbs 15oz and we think he's 25 1/2 inches long. (Nick didn't quite catch what the doctor said, and eh it's the second kid). So he's in the 5th percentile for weight (Yay we have a kid on the charts!) and the 50th percentile for his head. My big headed sweet sweet Cowbell!
This next paragraph is not for the squeamish. Kellan woke up this morning with a few boogers in his hair. He must have had a runny nose and rubbed his big head in it during the night. So instead of bathing him in the morning (what good parents would do) We took out the scissors and cut the boogies out of his hair. Aw, a milestone, baby's first haircut.
Ok squeamish people, you can begin reading again. When I picked Camden up from school yesterday, the teacher said Camden is talking more and more each day. He was saying "red" and "blue" and actually pointing to the right colors when he says them! She also said the clearest word he says is "more!" when having lunch. This kid should be huge! He had a runny nose yesterday and the teacher said he pointed to her, then the Kleenex box, and then his nose. My sweet sweet demanding CamJam.
I was holding Camden on my lap last night and just wanted to snuggle and watch TV for a while. He pointed to his room and said "night night!" Sigh... guess he didn't want to cuddle.
When I picked Camden up today about 5 teachers stopped to tell me how cute he is and what he did that day. He went and did a room check with Miss Nancy. He had to stop at each bulletin board and tell her all about it. She said she didn't understand a word he said but he sure had a lot to say.
One teacher said she just LOVES Camden. She says she works in the older kids room and Camden is the only kid under 3 that she likes! (she's a teacher? what?) She also said every teacher there knows Camden because he's so spoiled. It's the cute little ones that get all the attention. :)
When Camden's acting up (terrible 2's) we add the middle name when we discipline (yell). So now we're like of course he's acting up! His middle name is James after Granfy!
Nick made me dinner tonight. Nothing newsworthy about that, but when he brought me my dinner I wasn't paying attention and he put a bib on me. :(

September 20th, 2011

Well, little Kellan is finally baptized! Granfy Gall baptized Kellan on September 17th, 2011. Uncle Josh and Courtney are his Godparents are we were so lucky they were able to fly out from Michigan.
This morning I had my curling iron out. It was unplugged and Camden grabbed the end of the cord and put it in his mouth. I yelled "Camden No! Danger!" Then I grabbed the curling iron and put it in the drawer. Camden walked around me opened the drawer, looked in at the curling iron, shut the drawer and said "bye bye danger!"
When Nick picked Camden up from school yesterday he got a different response than usual. Camden usually drops/throws whatever he's playing with and runs to the door to greet us. This time there was food involved. That changes everything. Camden had just taken a seat at the head of the classroom table because the teacher was passing out Nilla wafers. Camden looked at the door, saw dad and hesitated. Do I go to dad or get a cookie? The answer was get a cookie. The teacher gave everyone a cookie except for Camden. She was not being cruel, she was going to put the cookie in a to go bag for him. Camden did not realize this and threw the year's biggest temper tantrum to date. All was fine once he got the cookie.
I saw Camden's teacher Miss Tricia at Target the other day. I have to admit I kind of reacted like a kid does when they see their teacher outside of school. I really didn't put two and two together that they actually have a life outside of school.
Last night Kellan did well. He got up around 4am. Now this I am fine with. What came next I am not totally on board with. Yes, I love him dearly. With all my heart. But sweet little Kellan wanted to have a conversation with Mom at 4:30am when he had finished his early (emphasis on early) morning snack. As he talked and talked I kept smiling which would cause him to break out in the world's biggest grin and keep right on talking and talking. This kid has a lot to say for being 6 months old. Needless to say I gave him a small scowl when I got up to get in the shower at 6:30 this morning and he was as sprawled out and as sound asleep as he could be.
It's kind of a rambly blog today, but I have a few days worth of stuff to cover. Bear (beah as Camden says) with me.
We were at Grammy and Granfy's after the baptism on Sunday. Courtney and Reese got Camden the cutest Mickey Mouse onesie. When he saw it, his eyes lit up and he went straight for the TV remote. He gave the remote to dad and asked for "Picky!" (Mickey) He wanted dad to turn it to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Dad was watching the ASU football game so he handed the remote back to Camden and said "not today, it's not your baptism." Luckily our spoiled child had plenty of other toys and people to occupy himself with.
We all went to Four Peaks to watch football on Sunday. Lions Superbowl champs 2012! Nana was running around following Camden. We were upstairs and Camden was looking over the balcony and flirting with the hostesses. Each one came up and had to say hi and give Camden a hug. Little ladies man...

September 16th, 2011

We're so excited. Courtney and Reese got into town yesterday for Kellan's baptism! Nana and Uncle Jarsh are coming in today!
When I dropped Camden off at school on Thursday the classroom lights were out and the whole class was out on the playground. I took Camden through the classroom to get to the playground. Camden wanted to sit at the desk instead. I said to the teacher, aw! he wants to learn instead of go out to the playground! She said no, he's sitting there because he wants to EAT instead of go out to the playground. Well played Miss Tricia... well played.
We sent Camden to school in really squeaky shoes. He about drove us nuts walking around the house in the morning before school. I'm sure he was the least annoying kid at school that day :)
I picked Camden up early again. When I looked in the door all the lights were off and the kids were playing with flashlights. Well, most of the kids. Camden was sitting at the table all by himself just observing. At first I thought that was sweet then I started worrying about what this meant in regard to his developmental stride. Before I had time to get a Xanax out, the teacher said- oh don't worry- the only reason he's sitting at the table by himself is that the therapist that was working with him just left. That made me feel so much better. I am not looking into this any further. We had a therapist from Arizona Early Intervention evaluate Camden because his speech seemed kind of delayed. They think he's just fine and this was just a follow up visit to close out the case.
Last night I asked Camden if he wanted pizza for dinner. He threw his hands up in the air, dropped the several cars he was carrying and ran to the front door. I think that means we order pizza too often. He was so mad that the pizza wasn't there instantaneously. I need to explain the pizza ordering process to this kid.
Camden amazes me every day with the new things he knows. They do so much with him at school. I was reading a book to him that had a car in it (of course) and instead of yelling CAR! he said "beep beep!" and put his arm out in a honking motion. This just cracked me up because I didn't expect it at all. I wonder what else he knows that he's not sharing?...

September 13th, 2011 Part II

Nick picked Camden up from school today after playing Mr. Mom home with Kellan all day. When he got to Room 4, Camden was sitting at the classroom table working on a puzzle. Camden looked up, saw Dad at the door, threw all the puzzle pieces all over the floor, and ran to Daddy. Nick said "Camden" in a stern warning voice "can you go back and pick up that puzzle you threw?" Now, there was a 50/50 chance that Camden was going to listen. (okay, who are we kidding, a 95/5 percent chance). But our precious boy stopped in his tracks, turned around and proceeded to pick up every single piece of the puzzle he had thrown. All the teachers clapped. We were so proud. (I'm putting this moment in my virtual pocket for all the moments we're probably going to want to die of embarrassment from that are coming).
Camden had made an art project today at school. It was a rainbow painted on a paper with cheerios pasted around the rainbow. Camden always has to hold on to his projects in the car on the way home. Yea, we come home with soggy edges sometimes, but it's a peaceful ride home.
Well, we've never had a project with "food" on it before. By the time Nick got home and got Camden out of the car seat he realized several cheerios were missing from the art project. Along with the missing cheerios (with what I hope were pasted on with non toxic glue) Camden had all the colors of the rainbow around his mouth from eating the after school snack straight off the construction paper.

Here is our art eater

Along with the "after" version of his art of the day

September 13th, 2011

I don't think that Camden is very fond of his classmates. I picked him up from school yesterday earlier than usual. I got to peek into the door and watch him without me seeing him. When I saw him he was crawling under the table. All the chairs were pushed in except for one. He pulled that one in toward him and hit himself in the face with it. After touching his face with an expression of Did that hurt? Do I cry? He went back to hiding under the table. That little bugger then spotted me through the door window and came running to the door. So much for being able to be a fly on the wall for very long.
Camden and I went for our walk this morning. He saw something he found just absolutely amazing. It was a dog dog pooping! He was screaming DOG DOG POO POO! At this point, I was 15 minutes into my walk, going uphill and it was 185 degrees out, so I couldn't just quickly speed by the dog and his owner. This made it very awkward for me, the owner, and I'm quite sure the pooping dog.
I think I sent Camden to school in bajammies today. I'm not sure. It's a cute monster onesie and monster print pants that could very well be pajamas. Oh well, he does have shoes on, which is the only Room 4 requirement, so I consider this a successful day.

September 12th, 2011

So Kellan has hand mouth and foot disease. He has to stay home from school all week. How do parents working full time do it? I'm very happy to keep Kellan home from school while his immune system builds back up, but it's so stressful worrying about work! I don't want anyone else to watch him either. When they're sick, they're mine.
Poor guy just looks terrible. The doctor said the rash isn't painful. I sure hope he feels better for his Baptism on Saturday.
Nick combed Camden's hair this morning. It was a combover exactly like Nick's. When I took him to school every teacher commented on how professional he looked. I said he was giving a presentation later in the day, so he wanted his hair to look business like. The "Wow all the Ladies Keep Checking me Out" shirt probably didn't help his professional credibility.
Dad's working late tonight and Mom has a ton of work to get done. I, ashamedly, played a little trick on Camden to get him to think it was bedtime sooner. We took a bath, read a book, brushed our teeth and got our chocolate milk sippy cup ready about 40 minutes earlier than usual. After stressing out about the work emails coming through on my phone while I was on the couch holding Camden I finally told him it was time for Night Night. Camden halfheartedly whined all the way to the fridge to put his sippy cup away. He slammed the refrigerator door shut and slumped down the hall to his bedroom. He said night night to Kellan, but not "Picky Mouse" who was on TV at the time. Then he turned for me to pick him up and put him in his crib, laid his head down, whimpered one more time and fell  fast asleep. This was less than 3 minutes ago and I can hear him snoring all the way from the kitchen table.
Kellan is fast asleep in his swing. He's not going to be too happy when I wake him up to give him his antibiotic dose for the night...

Setember 11th, 2011

Today I went to change Camden's diaper thinking the biggest surprise would be the big dump he left for me. But no. When I opened his diaper a Ritz cracker and an oyster cracker fell out. Not sure why he was storing food in a dirty diaper, but who am I to judge?
Poor Kellan just does not feel good. He has a bad rash all over his body as well. I called Dr. Schaffer and she thought it would be a good idea for him to be seen right away. Nick's up at the ER with him right now. We should have frequent flyer miles to Scottsdale Health Care. Sheesh!
Kellan is home resting now. They think he has a reaction to some sort of infection. They prescribed antibiotics and I'll take him to the pediatrician for a follow up visit this week. Prayers are appreciated as always!
Why does Camden say "trash" with a Brittish accent? As far as I know he's never been overseas...

September 10th, 2011

I dropped the boys off at school yesterday. When I got to Camden's classroom it was dark. There was a note on the door saying that the class was on the playground. So I took Camden out to the playground to see his friends and teachers. Camden took off to play as soon as we got out there. I had spiked his hair up and all the teachers were laughing and commenting on it. Miss Rachel said "don't worry we have hair gel here if it starts to fall." I said "oh good, because I want him looking his best at all times."
When I picked the boys up Miss Marji kind of tippy toed around telling me that Kellan had been a little uh uncomfortable. I had no idea what she meant. She finally said he was pretty gassy all day. I think that was the polite way of saying he tooted like a truck driver and stunk the entire room up. That's my boy!
Camden and Kellan came home to a big surprise. Daddy had stopped at Toys R Us on his way home from work. Kellan got new bajammies. They are football ones with a big football on the butt. (Whoever makes baby clothes must laugh constantly).
Camden got a Cars Aquadoodle. You fill the pen with water and it only writes on the special pad. (Ok, it was so sweet of Dad to get the boys gifts, but of course his OCD kicked in with Camden's gift. It can't make a mess!)
The Aquadoodle also came with a car that you fill with water and it leaves track marks on the special pad. Camden would not let this car out of his hand the entire night. When we put him to night night he still had a monster grip on the toy. Camden had been sound asleep for about two hours and I went to check on him. I tried to pry his sleeping hand open to take the car but he woke up, yelled at me, gripped the car tighter and went back to sleep.
He didn't win this battle, I decided to let him sleep with his new car.

Chomp!

Poor Camden! We got a note from school today that said the following. "Camden was sitting in a chair. One of his friends wanted to sit in that chair. Camden didn't move so the other kid bit him." Poor puppy has a bite on his hand and has showed it to me all night softly ( I didn't know he could be quiet) saying boo boo :(

September 8th, 2011

Kellan went to the doctor yesterday. He's had a little cough and with Camden just having pneumonia, we weren't taking any chances. He's fine. It's all in his nose which is a good sign. He weighs 13.7lbs and is 24.75 inches long. Watch out Camden!
Kellan had his dragonfly toy in the car on the way to school and Camden kept trying to take it. Kellan held his own though and wouldn't let go. It was a game of tug of war for a while. When they got to school, even Dad had a hard time getting the dragonfly away from Kellan. He must really like that toy!
Camden's new thing is pointing to everything he sees and saying "dat dat?!" It took me a while to figure this out, but he means what's that? Now keep in mind, he's asking dat dat about things that he very well knows what they are. He just wants me to answer him. After we've pointed to every object within a 30 mile visibility radius, we go through and point at everything and ask "DAT DAT?!" again. Mom's exhausted!

This was my daily calendar picture today. Should I take it as a hint?

Fail

Tonight I was looking for my phone and couldn't find it anywhere. Under my breath I said "where is my f-ing phone" really saying the f word of course. Camden looked at me with his big brown eyes and went to the couch, grabbed my f-ing phone and handed it to me. Parental fail. Sigh...

September 4th, 2011

We've had the TV on in the background all weekend (don't judge me). I've tried to keep it on some sort of educational cartoon, but every time the show goes to a commercial, Camden drops whatever he's doing, yells "UH OH!" and looks for the remote. I keep telling him that the show will come back on- that it's just a commercial, but he's too busy for commercials. This has gone on the entire weekend.
His vocabulary is getting so much better. He says what every object- in the house and on TV is- and waits for confirmation from me.
I swear Kellan is army crawling. Every time I try to get it on video though he stops. Of course.
I totally have a new found respect for single parents. I had to watch two boys the entire weekend with no help from Nick or my parents. I'm surprised we all made it out unscathed!

September 3rd, 2011

Well Camden can now say sippy cup. Although it sounds a lot like pee ca.
Last night the two boys and I were sitting on the couch. I had just fed Kellan and started patting him to burp him. Camden, who had insisted on sitting on the far end of the couch, made his way over to Kellan and I. He then started to pat Kellan to burp him as well. It was the sweetest thing!
When we got home from work/school yesterday I hadn't had a chance to get Kellan out of his car seat yet. Camden was right by Kellan. He would rock the car seat until Kellan smiled and then Camden would scream with laughter. Then it became a game to do anything to get Kellan to smile. Camden was swinging Kellan's froggie toy and Kellan was cracking up. Camden was so pleased with himself. I got some dishes and laundry done while Camden babysat Kellan. They are close friends!
Camden's eating peanut butter toast right now and I just caught a glimpse of him trying to lick the roof of his mouth like a dog when you give it peanut butter!
This morning Camden yelled POO POO and laid down on the floor like a board until I came and changed his diaper. Kellan is tooting up a storm. Looks like his diaper change is next...

September 2nd, 2011

Cowbell Chunky Soup (Kellan) did so good last night. He went to bed around 7pm and didn't stir until 4 this morning. Camden is at work with me right now- sleeping on the job. They can hear him snoring all the way in Finance!
Miss Marji said the most hilarious thing yesterday when I was picking Kellan up from school. Kellan had been rolling around in the baby pool they have in the room (no water of course). I was laughing at him and Miss Marji said he is just the most good natured boy. She said another mother had come in with her 1st child and was just nervous and was bringing too much or not enough formula, no extra clothes, etc. All rookie mistakes. Miss Marji decided to tell this mother all about us and how we do things. Between when we feed him before dropping him off to what types of bottles we use. Well, this mother showed up the next day with the exact type of bottles we use, the exact amount of formula we bring, and the same diaper bag to boot! We sure pulled the wool over someones eyes. Even our kids know we have no idea how to parent!

August 30th, 2011

What a couple of days. Whew!
Friday started off pretty normally. Nick and I noticed Thursday night that Kellan had a tooth come in. Poor second kid. He grew his first tooth (a milestone) and Mom and Dad finally noticed just the other day. Although, come to think of it, I looked this morning and I don't see the tooth anymore. So either we brought the wrong kid home from Day Care or the tooth went back in and decided to make a grand entrance once the parents would notice.
While I was getting ready Friday morning I thought I would have it easy since Camden had stayed the night at Grammy and Granfy's. Kellan was in his pack and play while I showered. He started yelling if his monkey mobile turned off. I wound that thing up about 186 times. That really doesn't give you much time to get ready for work.
I had of course been worried about Camden all day. He wasn't feeling well. The doctor said it was some kind of virus. Grammy called me around lunch time and said he had a really high fever and his feet had turned blue. They were going to take him to the emergency room.
I flew up to the hospital. Camden got in pretty quickly. He had a temperature of 106. When they told me that I broke out into a cold sweat and almost passed out. Good thing I was in the bed with Camden. I had to be a little dramatic. Can't let Camden have all the attention! After a chest X-ray, they said Camden had pneumonia and would have to be admitted to the hospital. Poor guy! It was so hard to watch him go through this! He was admitted Friday and finally was released on Monday. Three nights in the hospital. All I can say is thank God he's okay and thank God for all the prayers!
When Camden's Tylenol and Motrin kicked in and he felt better he would play with the millions of cars that Daddy and Granfy bought him. His left arm was all set up to be IV ready in case he needed it and to get the antibiotics in. This set up kind of had his arm like a paddle, which he proceeded to smack Mom in the face with every time the drugs kicked in and he felt better. How do I discipline that?! One time Granfy was holding him in the chair, and he had all his trucks laid out on the table. I asked Camden if he wanted his sippy cup and with barely a cursory glance at Mom, he tapped the table a few times to indicate where he would like his sippy cup set. Sir Camden. At this point he can do anything he wants.
I'm home with him today. I did put an end to him trying to climb up on our glass table though. No more hospitals for us! Granfy bought Camden a "Cars" book which we have read 78 times. I thought a book would be a quiet book, but Camden yells CARS! and TRUCK! at the top of his lungs every time you turn the page.
We see the pediatrician tomorrow for a follow up, and if all goes well I'll take him to school tomorrow.
Thanks for all the prayers and thank God for healing Camden!

August 25th, 2011

Camden is 22 1/2 months old today and weighs 18.1 lbs. Sigh! Oh well. Maybe he'll be the biggest kid in his freshman class one day.
Camden has a virus. Poor guy is so sick. Nick took him to Dr. Schaffer yesterday. We have to do his breathing treatment and hopefully he'll feel better soon. He seemed to be doing better this morning, but we made the mistake of giving him milk. He projectile vomited all over the living room! I know he's not feeling well because the vomit just missed Kellan. If he was in his right frame of mind he would have aimed for his brother. When I got Camden in the bath he was back to himself playing with his favorite bath toys. That's a good sign. Dad has to stay home with him again today. How are both parents supposed to keep a job when their kids have to stay home from school? Stressful! And Kellan was up all night coughing so he may be next :( Poor monkeys!

August 24th, 2011

Yesterday morning, I was a single mother. Nick had left early to go play golf with Granfy Gall, so I had to get myself and two puppies ready for school/ work myself. I had a brilliant idea to put Camden in a walker and Kellan in his car seat and keep them in the bathroom with me while I showered. Right before I got in the shower, Camden started whining to get out of the walker, so I let him out and closed all the doors. As soon as I had gotten completely wet, Camden started hitting Kellan with his toy dragonfly. (Which is huge by the way.) I yelled NO! and Camden laughed. I yelled NO! again and Camden hit Kellan harder. I rushed out of the shower naked and soaking wet. I know, I know not a pretty visual. I grabbed Camden and sloshed through the house (with the gardeners looking in the windows) and took Camden to his bedroom to put him in his crib. That oughta teach him a lesson I thought. I never heard a peep out of him while I made my way back to the shower. I never heard a peep while I finished showering. After I dried off and got dressed- sorry gardeners!- I went to check on him. He was lying in his crib drinking his sippy cup and smiling from ear to ear. Some punishment!
I feel even worse for trying to punish him now though. School called yesterday and Camden had a really high fever. It got up to 104.4! You could just tell he didn't feel good. Poor guy! He did perk up last night around 9:30pm when the Tylenol and Motrin (yes both... the doctor said I could) kicked in.
Camden came to work with me for about an hour while Dad did a sales pitch. He was the hit of the office, boogers and all. He goes to the doctor at 2pm today. Hopefully it's just a little bug.
Kellan is all smiles, so I hope he doesn't catch this!

August 20th, 2011

I'm going to take Camden to his first movie at a theater today. We are going to see The Smurfs at 10:50am at the Harkins on Bell Road. I'm sure there will be more to report on that later.
Camden, Kellan and I are up. We're letting Daddy sleep in. For once. I was washing bottles and Kellan started crying out in the living room. Before I could even get there, Camden was sticking the pacifier in Kellan's mouth and saying "shhhhhhh". It was so sweet. He then laid his head down by Kellan and tried to comfort him. I ran to get my camera. In the meantime I heard Kellan scream at the top of his lungs! As I ran back with my camera in tow to get a picture of this beautiful scene, I saw the scene had taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Now Camden has each finger of Kellan's right hand in his mouth and is biting them. Mind you, Camden is saying "bite." I can't yell at that, we do want him to use his words.
Camden did really well at the movies. We got there early, so we got to run around in the lobby for a while. Everyone commented on how cute we were. What do you mean they just meant Camden was cute? Anyway!
During the previews I let Camden have his run of the theater. He went up and down every row. Even the rows with people in them. People are very kid friendly, luckily, at a screening of The Smurfs. When the movie started Camden was such a good boy and climbed into my lap and drank his sippy cup. He would occasionally pop up to point out such things as cats, birds and cars on the screen. He was being a perfect gentleman. Then it happened. The usher came in as they usually do about halfway into the movie to check things out. It was a really quiet part of the movie and Camden yelled "HI!" and waved to the usher. The whole theater cracked up (comic relief). Now Camden was in rare form. He can't handle laughter compliments like I can. He started pulling the straw in and out of my pop. You know that sound that is like nails on a chalkboard. Yea, that's what it sounded like. I tried to hide the cup so he would stop, but he then proceeded to yell "PEAS!" (please) at the top of his lungs. I let him do this for a while, but when he started squirting pop on the kid next to us I decided it was time to go. We left the matchbox cars we brought somewhere in the theater. Someone appeared out of no where and helped us carry our trash to the garbage. Obviously this person was anticipating our departure. As we were walking out in the lobby, an employee grabbed us and gave us a free movie pass to try again. That was so nice, since I didn't ask for it and didn't even think Harkins would do that. Id like to think they gave us a free pass because Camden is so darn cute. Anyone want to argue with that? :)

August 19th, 2011 Part II

Camden was eating dinner in his high chair. He started yeling WOOOOO! at the top of his lungs and throwing one arm over his nose. I was distracted on the computer studying calculus so I would be able to help him when it comes time for 1st grade math. He just kept doing this so loudly so I went over there to try to figure out the point of this activity. Then I realized he was pointing at his diaper, which had an elephant on it, and was using his arm as a trunk. I guess elephants say WOOOOO! really really loudly...

August 19th, 2011

Both boys were in bed by the time I got home last night :(
I saw a random oyster cracker on the floor in the middle of the hallway. I asked Nick why that was there. He said that Camden was running around Kellan's (pink) swing and fell. He cut his little lip and then abandoned the cracker. Poor guy has another boo boo!
I was reading an article on 22 month olds that said at this age they are probably saying "me do it!" Camden, of course, is not saying this yet. So when I was getting him dressed this morning I kept saying "me do it!" He laughed and laughed like this was the funniest thing on earth. So he does get it, he's just doesn't feel like saying it.
Save the date for Kellan's baptism! It's going to be on September 17th. And I guess we're going to let Deacon Granfy Gall perform the sacrament. :)
Nick hates when I dress Camden and Kellan alike, so this morning I decided to dress Camden and I alike!
I would post the picture I took, but Camden looks fat in it :)

August 18th, 2011

Last night I got home from work and had to run right back out to the store. Poor Camden followed me to the back door and started crying when I left. It broke my heart! When I got back home, his bike and several cars were lined up right by the door. He must have sat there and waited for me to get home. What a sweet guy!!
I want to know which of us exactly does Kellan think he is having a conversation with between 2am and 5am? He goes on and on and on and on. It's definitely a one sided conversation because Mom and Dad can't muster up enough energy for a response. Maybe it's time to put Kellan in his own room...
I gave Kellan a bath this morning and he was as smiley as can be. Definitely not like his brother with baths at this age! Camden used to SCREAM!

August 17th, 2011

This really has nothing to do with the boys, but yesterday Nick got all the way to school with them and realized he forgot Kellan's bottles. He had to come all the way home for them. So he's NOT perfect! Aha!
Kellan's swing just stopped working the other day. I went to the consignment store to get another one and the only one they had was pink. Hope Kellan likes pink!
We also bought Kellan one of those Bumbo seats. Camden is so jealous. He can't stand when Kellan is in it and the minute we take Kellan out he's sitting in it. So funny. Same thing with the walkers. Good thing we have two of those!
When Nick dropped Camden off at school today his classroom (officially Room 4 as of Monday) was outside. Miss Veronica told Nick to go ahead and take Camden outside to his classmates. Camden wanted to fuss and go back to Dad but he just couldn't. He was so excited to be outside. His body and hands turned toward Nick but his head remained focused on the playground. Finally he gave up and ran over to the teeter totter... or as Nick called it this morning, the Saw Horse. Saw Horse?

August 15th, 2011

Happy 5 month birthday, Kellan!
Nick has reminded me on several occasions that our children will be the one's who will choose our nursing home. I was therefore advised not to do the following, but I did anyway :)

August 13th, 2011 (cont)

As I'm writing the previous blog, I am with Camden in the spare bedroom. We rarely go into this room, so when Camden came up to me with yellow goop on his fingers I was shocked. I started running around the room trying to see what he could have possibly gotten into. I couldn't see anything that would produce a yellow goop. Finally Camden yelled POO POO and I realized he had pooed and stuck his hand in his diaper. Now we're entering THIS phase. Fantastic...

August 13th, 2011

Okay. Nick is totally on my *bleep* list. He knows I am perfectly irrational and always have a sense of impending doom. But that did not stop him from the following shenanigans. I went to give Camden a bath. When I left the living room Kellan was snoozing peacefully in his swing. After Camden's bath (which is a blog segment in itself) I came back to the living room only to discover that my beautiful second born son was not in the aforementioned swing. I politely (and a little nervously) asked Nick where Kellan was. Nick looked at the swing then looked surprised and worried not to see him in there. He started lifting up the blankets and looking underneath them. I went hysterical. After 30 seconds (an eternity) of screaming at Nick and running in circles Nick said calm down I put Kellan in his pack and play. I was SO mad. Obviously I know Kellan can't get up, walk away from his swing and hitch hike a ride to Tucson, but that's exactly where my mind went at that moment. And Nick did not help. Anyone want a Nick? I'm giving him away at this point...

08.11.11 Part II

I just called to check on the boys at school. Camden is sound asleep. Miss Angela said that Kellan is now going to be the poster boy for the school. She did a room tour of Room 1 and Miss Marji was holding Kellan. He was smiling and giggling and babbling during the whole tour. The parents are going to send their kids to this school now because they saw how happy Kellan is there. Miss Angela didn't tell the parents this, but she only thinks Kellan was so smiley today because he's glad to finally be out of the car!

August 11th, 2011

Little Camden is 22 months old today!
Yesterday morning I took Camden out of his high chair. He was wearing just a diaper. He kept sticking his hand in the diaper and walking around like a drunken sailor. Every time I went to grab the camera he would take his hand out of his pants. I couldn't capture this but it was pretty funny.
This morning Camden was trying to feed Kellan Cheerios. He was being a very thoughtful older brother and getting them mushy in his mouth first and then trying to feed Kellan. Kellan had two wet soggy Cheerios stuck to his face by the time I got out there to intervene.
We got a note when we dropped Camden off at school today that he would be moving to Room 4 on Monday. He's really not ready but the teachers assumed Kellan would be moving to Room 3 soon so they should move Camden :)

August 8th/9th, 2011

Here is our recollection of our tip home to Arizona from Minnesota...
11:01am left Mankato, MN (cried because Nana went North and we went South... Carrie cried the hardest)
11:02am Kellan started crying.
11:12am Camden threw his sippy cup at Cowbell.
11:47am First stop for gas, Camden started crying.
12:06pm Kellan is snoozing peacefully. Camden is shoving Kix in his mouth screaming "More!"
1:13pm Mom gets to drive and of course both boys are snoozing peacefully while Dad's on monkey duty...
1:32pm Iowa- boys are sleeping
2:29pm Kellan is carrying on a conversation with himself with his tongue hanging out.
3:56pm Nebraska
5:06pm Pointed out a plane statue to Camden. He never saw it, but said "Whoa!" very convincingly.
6:16pm Kellan had a very heated discussion about politics and the economy to anyone that would listen.
6:51pm Kansas. Both boys are sleeping.
7:29m Nick and I had a fight comparable to WWIII over the fact that he unbuckled for 2 seconds.
7:32m Nick is eating his Swedish Fish very loudly and annoyingly, but I can't say anything because we aren't speaking.
10:43pm I saw a shooting star. Of course at first I thought it was a meteor on a path to crush us, but after I realized what it was it was pretty cool.
11:04pm MMMBop came on the radio. I couldn't turn it up though because Nick was sleeping... or was he...?
11:45pm (Nick's commentary) Carrie won't flash any drivers' with brights on for the fear they're in a gang and will turn around and kill us- she watches too much LifeTime TV
12:16am Two smily smily guys fed, changed, cheesed, milked and formula-ed.
12:35am Oklahoma- you know Nick's never seen that play, but he sang every score from the performance
1:14am Texas
2:32am New Mexico
5:43am Camden woke up- said cheese, truck and hi, looked around for Nana and peanut butter toast.
6:11am Realized Kellan has dirt in between every toe
6:26am Camden's eating just ketchup for breakfast at Burger King.
7:29am Kellan is looking longingly at Camden's pillow pet.
7:35am I asked Camden if he could say one and he said two. Does that make him a genius? Ok.
8:30am ARIZONA!
8:38am Listening to Camden's Mickey Mouse CD.
8:46am Was kissy biting Kellan and accidentally bit his nose off!
9:04am Camden's Mickey CD ended.
9:21am Taught Camden how to fake sneeze. Now he sounds like he has Pneumonia. I wonder if there's an ER in Holbrook?
10:14am Camden threw up eveywhere! I am hysterical. Convinced something major is wrong! He's throwing u from not walking for however many hours!!! Right? Had to stop to wipe the car and all occupants down with baby wipes.
11:18am I stopped rubbing Camden's eyebrows and he grabbed my hand and placed it on his forehead.
1:01pm Home! Miss Nana and the midwest. Had so much fun, but glad to be home. Exhausted!

August 6th, 2011

I laid out clothes for Camden and Kellan this morning. I went to try to get some work done and caught a glimpse of Camden running by. I went to look closer, and realized that Nick had dressed him in the outfit I had set out for Kellan. The sad part is that the outfit fit! Camden is almost 22 months old and he is currently adorning 0-3 month shorts. Sigh...
Camden had the best time at the Giants Days festivities. He got to go in the moonwalk and run around the kickball fields. He was so sweaty!

August 5th, 2011

Here are some of the events that have occurred during our time in Minnesota.
Camden was playing with a plastic ball and threw it with all his might smack into Kellan's face. I freaked out and Kellan just giggled and giggled. Good thing he has a sense of humor. You need it in this household.
I took both boys by myself to McDonald's (which by the way is 15 minutes away from Nana's house). I have never felt so incompetent in my life. I could not handle a toddler, 4 month old and the delicious smell of french fries all at once. The cashier had to carry our food to a table while I chased after Camden and left Kellan to fend for himself. Hey- they've got to leave the nest sometime, right?
Camden had a riot in the play place there. He is getting a little too brave for Mom though. He climbed up the tube all the way to the top. Then he stayed up there. I was terrified because I knew I wouldn't be able to get him down. Luckily a pretty little girl came by and he flirted with her and came down. As we were leaving we had made it out the door of the play place ( a feat in itself) and were walking though the lobby. Camden walked by an old man and took his cane. He started running though the lobby with the cane. I once again left Kellan to fend for himself and chased after the world's fastest 21 month old. Luckily the old man found this absolutely hilarious. Although I did worry that he was going to have a heart attack from laughing so hard.
We didn't play our cards right the other night. We've been milking Nana for all she's worth, but somehow we ended up having both boys sleep with us. Camden sprawled out on our bed snoring as loud as possible. And little Kellan getting up quite frequently during the night. We will "let" Nana babysit to make up for this. :)
This morning Nick and I were laying in bed and Kellan woke up. We told him to go upstairs and tell Nana to make us breakfast. He wouldn't do it so we grounded him. He's grounded from being cute for a week. He just won't stop being cute though!
Just Camden and I went to the Le Sueur diner this morning. I've learned my lesson on going anywhere with two kids by myself. Camden was the hit of the diner! He ran around and gave everyone fake smiles and high fives. He went behind the counter even though the sign clearly states no customers allowed behind the counter.
I didn't have any cash on me, and the diner doesn't take credit cards. The waitress happily said she'd take care of the bill. Then as we were leaving, the owner stuck a dollar bill in Camden's pocket. We actually made money off of that trip!
Of course everyone in the diner knew who we were. Must be a small town thing. If I would have known that going in I would have brushed my hair... and teeth... before leaving the house.

August 3rd, 2011

Still having a ball in Minnesota! Mom was doing work while Nana was giving Camden horsey rides. Camden wanted to stand by the window and watch Daddy staining the deck. The register was too hard on his feet, so he pulled the arm sleeve off the couch and covered the register. Then he could stand there comfortably and watch Daddy.
Camden is currently in his high chair eating bananas with no shirt on. I think Nana's sick of doing our laundry.
He was up until 10pm last night. He is having way too much fun to sleep.
We thought we were smart last night. We gave Kellan to Nana and we took Camden thinking we could get some sleep. Camden woke up at 4am and came into our bed. That kid kicked me about 500 times. He was sideways, upside down, any way but right.
Nana got up with Kellan around 5am. She looked down and he had sucked down his bottle. Then she realized she didn't have the bottle top on tight. He was soaked! After a quick change he finally had the bottle he was craving.

August 2nd, 2011

We are enjoying Minnesota. Nana tries to say she doesn't spoil the boys, but I came around the corner a few minutes ago and she had propped Camden up with his pillow pet, some cheerios and Ice Age the movie. He's spoiled.
We had a memorial for Great Grampa Tilley and Grampa Tilley on Sunday. It was really nice. Then Great Grandma Tilley took us all out for lunch. Kellan slept through the whole adventure. And he got to sit in an air conditioned car with his cousin Lucy while the rest of us were out in the Minnesota heat and humidity.
We love Nana's new house. It's absolutely gorgeous. Out in the woods surrounded by green green trees. There's lots of fancy antiques for Camden to play with... sigh!

July 30th, 2011

Here is an account of our trip across the country with two kids under two and a Nick and Carrie.

Thursday July 28th
12:20pm Left Phoenix
1:00pm Two sleeping boys
1:48pm Stopped at McDonald's in Payson, Arizona. Kellan awake playing with Minnesota duck. Kinda crabby. Camden still sleeping.
2:04pm Kellan will only sleep if I hold the pacifier in his mouth and rub between his eyes.
3:10pm Camden is eating Kix by the handful and scowling when I smile at Kellan.
3:30pm Kellan sucked down a bottle. Camden is yelling truck at the top of his lungs after every truck we pass. Keep in mind we're on the I-40.
3:48pm Listened to Camden's Mickey Mouse CD for the 1st time.
4:22pm Felt Kellan's soft spot pulsing. Almost passed out.
Crossed New Mexico border.
4:52pm Potty/ snack break in Gallup, New Mexico.
5:03pm Both boys are babbling. Babbly and chatty.
5:04pm Camden had had blood drawn and pointed at his boo boo until I said oh Poor Camden has a boo boo! This went on for several minutes.
5:29pm Kellan is reading the warning label on his car seat. It's a little too close. He is cross eyed now.
5:33pm Mom and Dad are taking a nap in the back. Kellan's pushing the pedals and Camden is steering.
6:03pm Camden realizes Mom's phone can play OSO and Mickey Mouse club video's.
6:40pm Stopped just outside Albuquerque. Got Camden fries and apple juice. Kellan got formula.
7:11pm Two sleeping boyfriends. Camden keeps waking up and whining when the sippy cup falls out of his mouth.
10:16pm Entered Texas. Realized that Kellan stinks to high Heaven. Not a stinky diaper, his whole head and body stinks.
11:34pm Nick explains to me that his Spidy sense is tingling.
11:38 Oklahoma
Friday July 29th
12:40am Kansas. Nick says he already knows what he's going to say when we leave this state. (I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.) Bwa a a a
4:18am Dad finally lets Mom drive
5:19am Dad takes a 6 minute nap.
5:53am Now in Nebraska
6:35am just passed a woman driving with a goat in her car. No joke!
6:49am Kellan is devising a plan to steal Minnesota duck back from Camden. He realizes laughing hysterically isn't helping.
7:43am Mom asked Camden if he wanted to watch OSO. Camden said please and thank you!
8:03am Kellan's ears are sticky.
8:16am Heard Don't Stop Believing on the 80's channel.
8:34am Nick passed a student driver and used his left blinker to get in the right lane.
8:47am Tried to hand Camden a fry by reaching over Kellan. Kellan grabbed the fry.
9:16am Entered Iowa. AC broke
10:03am Tornado siren went off. Nick's trying to tell me it's a test... we'll see.
10:10am I coughed. Now Camden's fake coughing.
11:43am Nick is flipping through the radio stations and actually leaves "Believe" by Cher playing and whistles along! Ugh!
12:04pm None of the things the boys are doing now seem as cute as they did at the beginning of the trip.
1:14pm Did I mention at this point Camden has on a sloppy t-shirt and diaper only?
1:19pm MINNESOTA!
1:46pm Camden is sticking Kix up his nose.
2:25pm Kellan let out a huge toot!
2:33pm Kellan lifted his leg to get a more powerful toot out.
2:34pm We all rolled down our windows.
2:55pm Arrived in Le Sueur, Minnesota safe and sound. Thank God!

Here are the states the Tilley family has been to together.

Arizona
New Mexico
Texas
Oklahoma
Kansas
Nebraska
Iowa
Minnesota

July 28th, 2011

Well, we're really doing it! We'll be driving to Minnesota with two kids under two. We leave here in a few hours. Please pray for us!

July 26th, 2011

What a day!
The day started off with Camden having more energy than I've ever seen. He was everywhere! And running (and tripping a few times) as fast as he could. He pointed to each of our butts this morning and said butt. We couldn't be more proud. He rolled from one end of the bedroom to the other. I think he definitely got a good night sleep the night before.
The other day Miss Veronica informed me that Camden likes to take off his shoes and chew on them. Didn't surprise me. I can hear him pulling his shoes off in the back seat while I'm driving him. When I go to get him out of the car he's usually shoeless. Turns out he likes other kids shoes as well. Miss Veronica couldn't find Josiah's shoes. She jokingly asked the entire class of 1 and 2 year olds to stop what they were doing and look for Josiah's shoes. She went about her business and around came Camden with Josiah's shoe and handed it to Miss Veronica. She cracked up and couldn't wait to tell me.
Today school called me to tell me that they weren't too concerned, but Camden looked a little blue around his mouth and fingertips. I immediately went hysterical. The teachers honestly just thought he was a little cold or had some bad circulation. I freaked out and called the pediatrician right away who proceeded to tell me to take Camden to the ER. I called school about 5 minutes later to check on Camden and they said all his color was back to normal and he was running around playing.
I rushed and got him and Grammy (thank God) came with me to the ER. It was a pretty good experience there. From start to finish we were only there about 2 hours. They checked all his vitals and his oxygen level was 100%. Can't get better than that. They then decided to do a chest X-Ray to see if there was anything abnormal with his heart. The X-Rays came back completely normal. So they did some blood work. All the tests came back normal, there are just a few more tests that will take 48 hours to get the results on. They sent Camden home saying he as perfectly healthy thank God. I hate putting him through this, but there was no way I was going to not take him to the ER today. What mother in the world wouldn't? Now I have a little more peace of mind, and maybe he was just a little chilly and thankfully the teachers at the school are keeping a close eye on our baby boys.
They are both sound asleep right now and hopefully mom can get some sleep tonight too. We head out on our road trip on Thursday. Driving across country with two kids under the age of two. Stay tuned for what I'm sure will be very entertaining stories to come!

July 25th, 2011

Thank God for Grandparents. Nick and I had a normal weekend as if we were just a married couple with no kids. It's so nice to be able to do that once in a while. I miss the kids like crazy of course, but we're lucky to have Grandparents that will put up with our kids. We plan on dropping them of with Nana when we get to Minnesota as well. :)
I don't know if Grammy and Granfy Gall are going to take the boys anymore though. They took Camden to get a haircut on Sunday and they were more traumatized by it than Camden. I guess he was a tad reluctant (to put it lightly) to get his hair cut that day. Then I called Granfy while he was on his way to take the boys to school this morning and heard Kellan screaming bloody murder in the back. Poor Granfy was so traumatized. When they got to school Kellan stopped crying and innocently cooed and smiled at Granfy. Little stinker!
We went swimming at Grammy and Granfy's on Sunday before the concert. Camden was floating around the pool in his turtle with a piece of pizza in each hand. This kid should weigh 50 lbs!

July 22nd, 2011

I was out in the kitchen this morning and Nick yells- Do you see this? I didn't have my contacts in so the answer was I can't see anything. Then this white streak raced past me. I looked closer and there was a butt naked Camden running around the living room. He had nothing on him but what God had given him. He had taken his diaper off himself and was running around the house at top speed. So... good to know... we're at this phase in our lives now.
Miss Veronica stopped me this morning to tell me that yesterday Camden was so hungry he had taken his shoe off and begun to nibble on that. Once again- yay! The little guy knows how to take articles of clothing off. I wonder if school will call me to take Camden home because he's a nudist?

July 21st, 2011 Part 2

I was so excited to take Kellan to his 4 month check up. I thought Dr. Schaffer was going to tell us he was in the 100th percentile for height and weight. But no... he weighs 11 pounds 9 ounces and he's not on the chart at all. We need to up the calories on his formula. He's not too far off which is good news, but I really thought we had a good sized kid here. His head is in the 25th percentile. Ok... that's pretty funny right there. Not height or weight, but his round head makes the chart! We weighed Camden as well and he is 18 pounds 2 ounces.
Dr. Schaffer also said she's pretty sure Kellan's going to have blue eyes. I can't believe I'll have a blue eyed kid! I guess the eyes don't fully take on their pigment until 6 months, but she said she'd be shocked if they don't stay blue. That's Kellan's gift from Grampa Dick right there. Beautiful I mean Handsome blue eyes.
When we got home tonight I was drawing Camden a bath. Ha! They say "drawing a bath" in books and I've always wanted to say that! Anywho he was standing outside the tub and reached for the cup I use to rinse him off with. He filled it with the running water while I was multi tasking. He then proceeded to dump the entire cup of water over his head. Remember, at this point he was still OUTSIDE of the bath tub. He, I , the bathroom floor, the bathroom rug, my iPhone, his dirty diaper, his clean diaper, etc. were all soaked by a 32 ounce cup of bathwater. My first thought was, do I still need to give him a bath? I smelled his stinky Nike shoe feet and realized the answer was yes. Anyone know of a good cheap cleaning service?
Then after both boys were in bed, Nick was brushing his teeth like a good boy. I came in the bathroom quietly and caught him flexing in the mirror. I've never laughed so hard nor have seen him turn so red. He tried to explain and deny it and finally admitted that yes he was watching himself flex in the mirror. Hey I would too if I looked like that!

July 21st, 2011

This morning I did something I never EVER do and I tooted out loud. Camden was standing right by me and pointed to my butt and said "poo poo!" I laughed so hard. I was going to say it was Nick that tooted since he doesn't follow the blog anyway, but better to be honest.:)
Later that morning, Camden had a blow out. It was everywhere! I had it all over me and was screaming, he had it all over his arms and was screaming. The blanket needed to be put in the wash immediately. It was a very scream-y diaper change.
When both boys were dressed, we put them on the couch next to each other to get a couple pictures. Camden was a little whiny since he had been pointing at the door saying "GO!" for the last 20 minutes. Kellan was sitting on the couch next to him and Camden reached over and shoved him as hard as he could and pushed Kellan right over on the couch. Little Cowbell was all smiles and laughs and of course, so was Camden after doing this. After 2 more times of this, we finally decided to nix the nice brother picture for the morning.
When I dropped Camden off at school he never even looked back. He went and checked out what each kid was playing with. Must not have been any of "his" toys because he seemed fine with it. He acknowledged both teachers then went and sat at the table and pointed to the Cheerio's. I told Miss Sue that we do honestly feed him at home, but I don't think she believes me.
This morning we were watching Baby Einstein's and they kept telling jokes. Camden kept cracking up and he was laughing at exactly the right moments. I have no idea if he understood what was going on or not, but it was pretty funny. Then they ask you to pat pat pat your knees to help the spaceship take off. He sat up and immediately began patting his knees. I think he understands a lot more than we give him credit for.

July 20th, 2011

So I've been really bonding with Kellan lately. When I hold him he'll look at me and then break out into the biggest grin I've ever seen. It just melts my heart... or it did. Then I was 3rd in line at the door to pick him up from school. While one teacher was handing out kids, the other one was holding Kellan up. He looked at every single teacher, parent and child in the vicinity and gave them to same goofy grin that I thought was especially reserved for his dear Mother. That boy! He goes to the doctor tomorrow. Can't wait to see what he weighs!

July 19th, 2011

Kellan screamed the whole way to school today. When we got to school, there was a new little boy, Lucas, who was joining the class. Miss Allison explained to Kellan that he had to be a big boy and show Lucas the ropes. Kellan was then all smiles and coos. Miss Allison said she was going to put Kellan and Lucas on the floor to play. Miss Allison told Lucas' dad that Kellan played on the floor and held hands with Colton the other day. Lucas' dad kind of looked at her funny. I said- don't worry- they're not holding hands, they're arm wrestling. Lucas' dad laughed and laughed. I didn't want him to get the wrong impression of Cowbell :)
Camden was in rare form this morning. He was throwing stuff at Mom and cracking up. When I was changing him he said "Butt" about 87 times and just thought he was hilarious. Should I count butt as one of the words he can speak clearly? Sigh...

July 18th, 2011

Camden is wearing size 12 months shorts today. Woo Hoo! Kellan has his 4 month check up on Thursday. I can't wait to see how much he weighs.
Right as we were getting in the car this morning Camden did a stinky. So it was everyone back in the house for a changing then pack up our 85 kids and get them in the car again. Camden holds his stuffed dog Lucy the whole way to school. He's going to be so confused when he meets his real cousin Lucy next weekend!

July 17th, 2011

Well, I really thought I wasn't going to have much material for the blog today. Turns out I was wrong.
First, I saw Camden give his little brother a dirty look for the 1st time. Camden was pushing his mail center around and got stuck on Kellan's swing. I just happened to catch him look at Kellan with a super dirty look. Aw! Their first fight! Sigh...
Next, I thought I smelled something stinky so I asked Camden if he had poo poo in his diaper. Camden shook his head no and once again I believed his answer. About 3 minutes later Camden screamed POO POO at the top of his lungs and ran into his bedroom. I could not figure out why he went to the bedroom but sure enough he emerged holding a diaper. And as an aside, this was not poo poo. It was a massive explosion.
Lastly for today, (fingers crossed) I took Camden into the bathroom while I took a shower. He sat at the shower door looking at the bubbles as usual. Right as I was getting ready to get out, I noticed he wasn't sitting by the door anymore. I was calling his name as I was drying off and didn't hear a peep. The bedroom door was closed so I knew he couldn't have got far. I looked all over our huge and glamorous Master Suite and no Camden. He wasn't making a sound either. I can usually at least hear his snotty nose going. I started panicking. I didn't have my contacts in, so it probably looked like a pretty funny sight. I was looking everywhere up close because I'm blind not to mention I'm butt naked. Finally I heard a little giggle. Camden was hiding in our drapes. And he was hiding too because that little stinker was being as quiet as a mouse and laughed and laughed when I found him. Oh and to make things even better- he had put my nightgown on over his onesie. I should have got a picture but I was busy popping Xanax because the kid scared the cap out of me...

July 15th, 2011

Little Cowbell is 4 months old today! I had a long talk with his teacher Miss Allison this morning. She said he is doing so well and really coming in to his own. She said she put him down for tummy time by his friend Colton. They talked and talked and ended up holding hands! Miss Allison said it was the cutest thing and she couldn't wait to put Kellan next to Colton this morning.
Funny thing about the name Colton. Last Valentine's Day Camden got Valentine's from a bunch of girls and one Colton. I guess Colton's just like the Tilley boys!
I picked Camden up from school around 11:45am for his AZeip appointment. The poor kid was bit by another kid at the bite mark is huge! Miss Jennifer said that a kid got bit by someone and was so frustrasted that he bit Camden. I just feel awful :(
Miss Tricia was holding Camden when I got there. She was trying to keep him awake because of course the appointment had to be during nap time. She had set Camden at the table and she said he fell asleep in his chair there.
The appointment went well. They do think Camden should do speech therapy. They said he's so intelligent, it's just not coming out in words.
I called school to let them know that Camden was going to stay home with Nick. I said I would be by to pick up Kellan and then I laughed and said obviously, but I don't think Miss Angela thought it was very funny. :)