Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 in review

I sat down this morning thinking about how much has changed in my life in 2009. I think I can honestly say that this year has brought more changes in my life than any year before, mostly because it brought the birth of our son. So, I put together this photo reflection of 2009. Enjoy.

January 2009...you can barely tell I'm pregnant.

February 2009...starting to get a pouch.



March 2009...Happy Birthday!




April 2009...Hello "Oscar" aka the Mommy mobile.



May 2009...30 weeks pregnant




June 2009...Sister, Moo and I at my baby shower.




July 2009...The Hardy family grows. Welcome Robert Cameron!




August 2009...Still has his stump.




September 2009...The whole family is exhausted!


October 2009...Happy Halloween!




November 2009...Beautiful smile.




December 2009...Merry 1st Christmas Cameron!



My plan is to start a 365 project for 2010. For those of you who don't know what it is, I will be taking one picture a day to document our year. I am going to set up a seperate photoblog for the project and I will post that link for you when I get it up. I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Friday, December 25, 2009

A letter to Cameron from Santa

Dear Cameron,
Ho, ho, ho and Merry Christmas to you, my boy! I am so glad that I got to add you to my list this year. I'm even happier that I got to add you on to my nice list.
It is my tradition to make a Christmas list of wishes to give to every child on their first Christmas since they are too young to have a Christmas list for me. So, Cameron, here are my wishes for you.
1. Always believe in the magic of Christmas. Wondorous and amazing things happen to those who believe. Please keep my spirit alive within your heart and your mind.
2. Share the Christmas spirit with others. There will always be someone who has less than you do at Christmas. Seek that person out and share your blessings with them.
And last, but not least,
3. Please leave a glass of cold milk and a plate of treats out for me each Christmas Eve. I get so hungry and thirsty riding in my sleigh, I wouldn't be able to make it to all of the good boys' and girls' houses without the goodies. The reindeer get tired too and love veggies to snack on!

I look forward to reading your Christmas list next year and I'm sure you'll be on my "nice" list for many years to come. Merry Christmas Cameron.
Love, Santa Claus

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Bouncy, bouncy

So, I figured that since I was up at 4 in the morning, waiting on Cameron to fall back asleep, that I might as well be productive and upload this video of him in his jumperoo. He's enjoyed sitting in it and playing with the toys for the past week or so, but last night he figured out how to jump in his "jump"eroo. I know I'm biased, but I think it's just the cutest thing!!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Hardy Christmas Tree 2009

We picked out our Christmas tree! I refuse to have an artificial tree and lucky for us, there is a small Christmas tree farm less than a mile from our house. So, we went to choose and chop down our Christmas tree for Cameron's first Christmas. It was freezing out, so it was a quick event....
Cameron and Zack getting ready to start the search

Luckily, the decision wasn't too hard!
Searching for the perfect tree...


This is it!


Zack doing the hard work.



Success!
Stay tuned for pictures from our "trimming the tannenbaum" evening!


Some recent photos and videos...




Supporting his favorite basketball team!






His first snow 12/5/09






Loving the snow!







Checking out the snowflakes.




Still not too big to snuggle with me!

And, below, for your viewing pleasure...Cameron rolling from his back to his belly. It takes him a little while, but he doesn't give up...I hope he keeps this quality as he gets bigger!


I'm awful...

I haven't updated the blog in forever and there is so much to update. I guess you can blame it on the season... the holidays seem so much busier when you have a little one! I originally thought I would make a bunch of seperate posts to update everyone on all of the exciting things going on, but it's been so long, that is a little overwhelming. Instead, I'm going to make one giant post in an attempt to summarize everything that has gone on. So...here it goes...
We spent Thanksgiving in Alabama. It was our first big trip with both Cameron and Lex. I didn't realize how much more stuff you need when you are travelling with a baby. Despite having an SUV which we got to haul all of our baby stuff around, we still needed to use "space bags" (the bags you vaccum the air out of) to pack all of our clothes. Cameron's clothes alone took up a space bag and a half! So, we loaded up the suitcase, pack n' play, travel swing, carseat, boppy pillow, sound machine, baby monitor, a small suitcase filled with toys and books, and Lex, and headed to Alabama Wednesday afternoon. It was a good trip, and Cameron travelled really well in the back seat. Lex also did a great job sharing the cargo area with all of Cameron's accessories! We had a wonderful time in Alabama. Cameron met lots of new relatives and was so pleasant, even though he got passed around a lot! We got lots of compliments on what a good baby he was. Cameron also rolled over from his back to his belly for the first time Thanksgiving morning. I was in the shower, so Zack got to witness this "first". He also was able to catch the roll on video which I'll post later (I'm planning on a picture and video post soon). All in all, we had a great trip and a wonderful holiday in Alabama.
When we got back from Alabama, we decided it was time to stop swaddling Cameron when he slept at night since he was now able to roll over. The problem with swaddling once a baby can roll is that if they roll in their sleep and end up on their stomachs, their arms are not free to hold their head off of the mattress. Deswaddling has been a real treat (please note the scarcasm)! Cameron had a very hard time adjusting to the new sleeping arrangements. Not only would he roll over in his sleep and then wake up, very angry that he was on his belly, he also would swing his arms and wake himself up with each movement. Needless to say, the week following Thanksgiving was a sleepless one for all of us. I am happy to say, though, that Cameron is adjusting to sleeping unswaddled and we are making progress back towards only waking up once or twice a night. I'm really glad we decided to deswaddle before I have to go back to work because I think the sleepless nights would be much worse if I had to be at work with 16 second graders during the day.
Cameron has also been to Miss Kim's (his sitter) twice for "practice runs". This is definitely more for my benefit than his. He has done two half days there, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Next week we will be doing his final trial run so I can go to school and plan with the other teachers for the week that I come back to school. He has done a great job at Miss Kim's and I feel more and more comfortable with him going there while I'm at work. She is so highly recommended and there are two other kids there his age who live in our neighborhood. I think it will be good for him to be around other kids and maybe he'll even make some buddies while he's there!
He is changing so much. His hair is getting thicker and lighter (it looks like he's going to be a "blondie") and he has learned that he has an "outside voice" a.k.a. a shriek that sounds like I am pulling his toenails off. He also interacts with his toys and turns the pages in books when I read to him. He is no longer content just to lay around on his back. Instead, he likes to grab on to your hands and pull himself from laying to sitting and then from sitting to standing. He is still pretty wobbly on his feet, but he loves to stand up (with us holding him of course) and check out the new perspective. He is also a very observant baby. He watches everything. So, I think that gets us pretty much caught up to the Christmas holiday. I will try to be better about posting as we get ready for Cameron's first Christmas.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

4 month checkup and pictures

Cameron is four months old! He went to the doctor for his four month check up and got a great report.
Here are his stats:
Weight 15lbs 12.5 ounces (75%)
Height 26 inches (95%)
Head 40 cm (25%)
The doctor said he was healthy and seemed to be reaching the appropriate developmental milestones. He also said it was time to start adding vitamin drops to Cameron's diet. Let me tell you, it is no easy task to give the little guy 1 mL of a yucky tasting, dark staining liquid every day. He has figured out how to push his tounge against the dropper so it is impossible to squirt any liquid into his mouth. If we do manage to get some in his mouth, he is very good at spitting it right back out. The most success we've had is getting him to pitch a major fit and then squirting the entire dropperful into his mouth during a scream. Cruel? Maybe, but it works.
Anyway, the doctor also said that we could start rice cereal if we really wanted to, but we have decided to wait until he is 6 months old since the American Acadamy of Pediatrics (and our pediatrician) recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed until 6 months. Cameron also got his second round of shots. He did almost as well as he did with the first round at two months. The nurse wasn't as quick as the nurse who did them the first time, so he had a little more time to cry, but we all survived. He had a slight fever the next day, but other than that, he was his normal self! We go back next month for his five month checkup.
I can't believe how fast he is growing and how much he has changed. See for yourself....