Photo Dump | Life Lately

It's been a while since I have blogged an update on life with tons of pictures. I rarely have time to do individual weekend blogs because life is busy. So here is a random photo dump and things we have been up to lately.


I went to dinner with friends from college one night in July and it was so much fun catching up on life. It was also so fun seeing Camden interact wit Macsen and AB.

I am obsessed with this picture of these two best friends. Camden is getting to the point where he LOVES to be near Hank.

It is so much fun to see my baby boy with my best friends baby girl. Now Eva is a big sister and we will hopefully be getting a picture of the 3 of them soon.

Uncle Casey's hat will always be his favorite.

Diaper changes are no longer easy...

Probably my favorite picture ever taken of him. Funny story: I was at Bible Study one night and asked Craw to send me a pic of Camden before I went to bed. Little did I know that his daddy had gone to get ice-cream and was letting Camden hold his cup. I legit laughed out loud when I saw this picture and everyone at Bible Study thought it was funny.

Mom and I went shopping a few Saturdays ago and we took Camden with us. He was SUCH a trooper and even slept in the stroller while we were at the mall. Proud mama moment.

My two boys.

Camden is turning in to such a little ham. He loves to be funny and make funny faces. He also loved checking out Eva's PB chair.

(He is asking Santa for one for Christmas but he doesn't know it yet.)

This boy is constantly on the move. At one point he was sitting up straight with the boppy behind him and I turned my back for 30 seconds and this is what I found. He was laughing.

Camden wore this toboggan in the hospital and we thought it would be funny to put it on him. I guess we can say he has outgrown that one.

Camden loved celebrating Jase's 1st birthday. I can already tell him and Jase are going to be close friends growing up.

Somebody had to get their crib lowered because he now knows how to sit up from a laying position.

Date night for mama and dada.

Last but not least, I put this picture up on Facebook this past weekend and posted a page from one of his favorite books.

"I think she prayed like crazy that you would be safe, Little Fox. I think she prayed for me as much as I prayed for her." Mama's voice got all whispery.

"And God answered both of our prayers."

"I came then? To you?"

Mama nodded. Happy tears in her eyes.

"You came then. When God found us you, you made me the happiest mama in the world."

-from my very favorite book, God Found Us You.

Camden Ivey | Seven Months

TIME SLOW DOWN! Holy moly I have never seen 7 months go by so fast in all my life. On top of time flying by, it seems like Camden is learning something new every single day. In fact, Craw and I agreed this has been the biggest month of changes we have seen thus far.

Weight

He weighs a whopping 19 pounds 9 ounces. We just had him weighed last Friday so he has gained a pound in the last month.

Eat

Man oh man he is eating so much these days. We've successfully cut out a bottle (he gets 4 bottles now) and we have gone down to 6 ounce bottles during the day at daycare. He is eating 2 meals of purees and we are about to move up to 3 times a day. He is pretty much eating 2 packs of the stage 1 baby food or 1 pack of the stage 2 foods. He also loves to eat mum mums. We have started working with him on yogurt melts but he doesn't quite have the texture down yet.

Sleep

Sleep is going well for the most part. Bedtime is usually at 8 and he will sleep until 6-6:30. If he wakes up any earlier, we usually put him in our bed and he will sleep until 6:45-7 but if he wakes up on his own around 6 or 6:30, he is up and ready to go.  

Milestones

Cam has mastered sitting up. He was doing this last month but still a little bit slouched but now he sits up perfectly straight without falling. We had a few bumps and bruises this month of him trying to figure it out but he definitely has it now. He is "kind of" crawling. I say kind of because he has the movements down and appears like he is crawling but has yet to crawl all the way across the floor. I feel like I will officially consider him a crawler when I see him get from point A to point B. He gave us his first medical scare this past weekend. We took him to the doctor on Friday (the day he turned 7 months) and they said his low grade fever was from teething. By Sunday, his fever had hit 104.6 and it freaked me out. I called Craw and told him to get home from church now and we took him to the ER. About an hour later, we had an ear infection diagnosis and his first antibiotic. I jokingly told Craw that was the most expensive ear infection ever. Another major milestone was moving him to the big tub. After realizing he was soaking our counters, windows, and floors from the sink baths, it was time to move him on up. We also noticed that he is really starting to recognize his name. Some of our favorite nicknames are Cam, Cam Cam, Booger, Bubby, and Small Fry (I blame Craw).

Likes

Cam loves to give high fives. I think he loves us saying "yayyyyy" and clapping our hands afterwards more than giving the actual high five. He also loves to play peek-a-boo and will laugh every time. He loves baths in the big tub and is obsessed with his blanket and stuffed animals. He has started copying us when we blow bubbles with our mouth and he is so cute trying to do it. He loves to shake his head at Hank anytime Hank tries to lick him in the face. It is the funniest thing ever because its like he is saying "no no no". One of his absolute favorite things to do is chew on the brim of a hat. It is so funny to watch someone hold him that is wearing a hat because he goes straight to the brim with his mouth. His Uncle Caseys hat is his favorite.

Dislikes

He dislikes any real food. I think its a texture thing but he will quickly spit out anything we try to put in his mouth. He also hates being left in a room by himself, even if its just for 30 seconds.

Clothes

He is wearing 9 month pajamas and 9 month onesies. He can still wear a lot of 6 month shorts/pants but 9 month seems to fit him better.

Camden Ivey, you amaze me every single day. I love watching you learn new things and its very obvious that your daddy and I are going to have to watch you closely because you are already in to everything. You are still the smiliest baby I've ever seen and your big grin melts my heart. Your daddy loves to pick you up from daycare but it sure does make mama's day when I get to be the one to pick you up. We love you so much and I'm so excited for your first fall...I may have already bought your Halloween outfit and its only August.



First Time Mom and Crohns Disease

 

Two months before we got the call to get Camden, I was battling a Crohns flare in the hospital. It's not something I broadcasted as I didn't want to take a chance of ANYTHING messing up the adoption. Truth be told, I was terrified. I'm not even sure if that is something that could have messed up the process because we were very honest with our social worker about my health issues. Crohns is not something that could prevent someone from adopting but I wasn't sure how it would look to be in the middle of the process and in the hospital.

That flare terrified me as I knew I was getting closer to being a mom and wasn't sure how in the heck I would be able to care for a child and care for myself. I barely had the energy to finish out a work day, let alone do all of the mom things once I had worked a full 8 hour day.

To my surprise, being a mom with a chronic illness has not been as hard as I thought. My health has done a somewhat decent job of letting me be the best mom that I can be to Camden. Now don't get me wrong, there have been some very tough days. Back in April I went through a flare and was in the hospital for 3.5 days. That was brutal and was my toughest stay because I missed my baby so much. I remember laying there and sobbing because I kept thinking how unfair it was that my body was taking me away from being a mother. Then I quickly realized it could always be worse and while I may have been away for 3.5 days, I bounced back and Camden was well taken care of the whole time. The hospital even let him come see me for an hour and that gave me the boost I needed to get better and go home.

I think the biggest thing for me to succeed as a mom that battles a chronic illness is to listen to my body. When I'm tired, I rest. When I need a monitor free night, Craw takes the monitor or Camden goes and stays with his grandparents. Craw plays a HUGE part in my success as a mother. He is a wonderful dad and he can quickly take the reins as needed. Having an awesome support system has been key because my body is able to get the rest that it needs. Another huge part has been our parents. During my last hospital stay, my spirits were down and I mentally was in a very dark place. It was obvious that I needed Craw with me and both sets of grandparents stepped up to the plate and took care of Camden. In fact, Camden probably didn't even notice we were gone he had so much fun with them. It was nice knowing I could focus on my health and my baby was being well taken care of the whole time.

Another big adjustment that I have made is saying NO. I rarely said no before getting Camden and now the word NO is one of the most important words in my vocabulary. But seriously, I hate the feeling of letting people down but sometimes I must say no in order to listen to my body and be a good mom. My child and my health will always come first when it comes to events/activities with friends and family. Thankfully, my support system FULLY understands this and I'm never questioned if I need to leave an event early or stay home from hanging out one night.

I told Craw the other day that while I hate Crohns and wish so badly that I could get to a state of remission, we wouldn't have Camden if it weren't for Crohns. My health was one of the biggest reasons we pursued adoption when we did. All this to say, there is always a blessing in every circumstance and Camden is my blessing. I'm so thankful that God allows me to be his mama and that my health has not stopped me from being the best that I can be every single day.



A Day In the Life | 6 months

 These are my favorite posts to read so I definitely wanted to try and capture a day in our life with a 6 month old. I feel like our weeks are busy and we are usually all over the place but this is a pretty good idea of what our every day life is like.

6 AM: Rise and shine for Craw. He doesn't mind waking up early so he is usually the one that does things around the house including making Camden's bottles for daycare. He also takes Hank for a walk and will tend to Camden if he wakes up early.

6:40 AM: My alarm goes off and I debate hitting snooze for a 5th time. I'm not a morning person so I sleep until the last possible minute. Most mornings Camden starts waking up around this time and I get to snuggle with him for a little while.

7 AM: Camden gets a bottle and we usually let him play in his high chair afterwards so that he is sitting up and doesn't spit up as much.

7:20 AM: Craw leaves for work and I'm usually getting ready with Camden in the walker or laying on our bed. I know our days of him laying on our bed are numbered so I'm trying to soak it up before he's all over the place.

7:40 AM: I'm dressed and ready to go so now it's time to get Camden dressed. I always stick him in his crib afterwards so that I can go pack my lunch and load up the car. This includes my purse, lunchbox, and all of Camden's daycare things.

7:50 AM: We are usually in the car and on our way to daycare drop off. Camden usually talks nonstop as he is the happiest in the mornings.

8 AM: Drop off at daycare and head to work.

8:30 AM - 5 PM: Work and occasionally meet Craw for lunch. His daycare has an app that they update throughout the day so I enjoy looking at the pictures they post of him. Daycare feeds Camden 2 bottles at 11 and 3 and usually does one meal of baby food during the day.

5 PM: Craw is off work and heads to pick up Camden from daycare. This is his favorite part of the day.

5:30 PM: I'm off work and headed home to see my boys.

6 PM: Lately I have not been cooking a lot so I'm trying to get better about that. If we don't cook, we will usually head out to eat. I feed Camden some baby food and he's a happy camper. After dinner, we play with Camden until he starts getting sleepy around 7:30.

7:30 PM: Bath time and our boy loves the water. After bath we lotion him down and put on his pajamas to get him ready for bed.

7:50 PM: Camden gets his last bottle of the day.

8 PM: Lights out for Camden. Most nights he goes right to sleep when we put him in his crib.

8-10 PM: Craw and I will watch tv and catch up with each other about our days.

10 PM: Lights out but we usually end up talking and don't go to sleep until about 10:30.

Our evenings tend to be the most random. Last week alone we have had a deacons meeting, bible study, and meeting one night. We have really tried to slow down since getting Camden and I think we have done a good job but some weeks tend to be busier than others. Thankfully Camden is a good baby and can go with the flow but we try to keep the bedtime routine the same as much as we can. I really am trying to soak up every single minute with our sweet boy as every day is a gift.