As I included in the last blog post, Nattie celebrated her first birthday and I had my 30th. We had such an amazing month of parties, phone calls, gifts and well wishes. I have never felt so spoiled in my life and I know Nattie was enjoying all the attention. I just wanted to take a second to thank everyone again for making our days so very special - especially Ryan. He went above and beyond this year for me. I kept saying, "I think you have lost your mind!" but he ensured me that this was deserving. I felt like a Queen and couldn't be any more appreciative. I love you Babe.
The kids have been on fire this month! Both Cameron and Natalie are growing leaps and bounds physically and developmentally. Like I said before, Cammie started soccer classes on Saturdays September through the beginning of November. The class is a parent/child class that has them working together with colors, numbers and physical soccer skills. This gives Ryan and Cammie a chance to have personal time together and Cammie a chance to learn how to play soccer and interact with other children his age. So far he is having a blast and can't wait until Saturday mornings. After his soccer, we usually take the kids over to the park and let them play for a while. Cam always requests to throw rocks into Lake Wilderness. He is such a boy through and through!
We are thinking of also putting him into swimming lessons soon because he is requiring a lot more physical activity. During the day, Cammie DOES NOT STOP MOVING! He loves playing with all of his vehicles and exploring. With the weather turning colder and most likely wetter, we thought the pool would be a great spot for him. Stay tuned. We have also made the tough decision to put MyGym on hold for a couple months. Natalie is very much active now and doesn't want to be held and watch brother play. I decided that we could enroll both kids in the Sibling Class at My Gym until the end of the month so Natalie could have a chance to play (plus it's double the price). She is at a hard age because all she wants to do is go in the ball pit (which requires my direct supervision) and Cammie is busy running around climbing everything (which requires my direct supervision). I'm hoping that when we start back up in January, Nattie will be more interested in doing other things and Cammie's activity level will be slowing down a bit (fingers crossed). We are super bummed especially because Cam's favorite coach is back - COACH MIKE! but I can't figure out how to make it work right now...
If I could choose one word to describe Cam's vocabulary lately, I would have to choose HILARIOUS! This kid cracks us up with the things that come out of his mouth! He is never coached or bribed to say the things he does and I have no clue where he gets half of them from. Here are a couple of his phrases that crack me up: "What the heck is going on here?!" "I'm just going to watch oonnnnnnneee more minute..." "Mommy, you're just kidding with me" "Oh, I'm just hanging out." He has definitely become quite a comedian and enjoys making people laugh.
Cameron has mastered colors, can count to 20 (on a good day), is starting to say what letter a word starts with, knows all of his shapes, opposites, animals (farm, jungle, zoo, wilderness) and more. Cammie knows every single vehicle on the road, I kid you not! Imagine a little 2 year old saying, "Look Mommy, a giant excavator!" in his little voice. He eats, sleeps and breathes vehicles!! He is now saying that he wants to be a Monster (Mon) that drives a garbage truck. He has such a fun imagination! Speaking of imagination, Cam has a little dog eraser top (I think that is what it is) and he named it "Pepper". He made it a little bed out of one of my old jewelry cases and makes up stories about things she does. He even refers to her as "Peps" sometimes! It is so adorable!!
Cammie is such a compassionate, sweet little boy who is hypersensitive to others' feelings, especially animals. He always wants to make sure everyone is happy and is having a good time. I hear several times a day, "Look, Mommy is happy!" and touches my face. If I'm not in a good mood or sad for any reason, he sings me the ABC's. I couldn't be more proud of the boy he has become. We love you Cammie!!
Cam wanted me to include his favorite things this month:
- fast baby cars (hotwheels)
- Firetruck Rainboots
- Nona and Papa
- Peanutbutter and Jelly
- Frog Raincoat
- Mommy
- Curious George
- Halloween Decorations
Natalie is officially walking and loves toddling around the house holding stuff. She is such a little monkey and LOVES climbing on everything! She is turning out to be quite the quintessential little sister and follows Cammie around everywhere. He is so good about it and usually just relocates what he is playing with or comes up with a funny statement: "Nattie wants to snuggle with Mommy..." which means please get Nattie out of my face! We have only had a instances of lashing out that weren't too major.
This little girl is so much fun to be around! She is smiling and laughing 99% of the time and is a total goofball. Nattie loves to dance and make funny movements to make everyone laugh. Her true personality is coming out and I could not be more happy that she has an amazing sense of humor already! She copies Cammie and wants to be just like him. It is unbelievably adorable to see her following him around trying to do the same things. Nattie is the perfect side kick ; )
Nat had her 12 month check up a couple days after her birthday. Everything came out perfect and she is still long and lean! Unfortunately, she had to get 5 shots! Yes people, I said 5 shots! It was traumatic for both of us - she screamed "ALLLLLL DOOONNNNEEEEE!" the entire time and had huge tears rolling down her face. It was sooooooo sad. The beginning of next month, she has to receive one more flu shot and hopefully she will be done for a while. I don't remember Cammie every crying like that during shots - poor thing.
Nattie cut her 5th tooth this month and seemed to handle it a lot better than the first 4. It is so adorable to see her big toothy grin during the day - it's almost like she knows she is cute! I don't see any more coming through currently, but in true Nattie fashion, I'm sure they are going to pop up quickly. For her first birthday, we gave her a little Pooh Bear toothbrush and she loves to chomp on that during the day. I think it is taking the edge off of teething (and of course teething tabs!).
This month also brought a BIG transition for both Natalie and me - She weaned herself from breastfeeding. She went from exclusively breastfeeding during the day to nursing in the morning and night to finally nursing only at night. Nattie was getting totally distracted during the day which caused her to bit me often (that sucked). She also wanted to have a tippy cup like brother and didn't want to take the time to lay down and nurse. She transitioned to a tippy cup and whole milk like a champ and the milk didn't seem to bother her system. Nattie is one happy clam and I couldn't be more proud of her. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time with the weaning process. I miss the mandatory snuggling and the closeness of nursing. Luckily, my baby girl loves to snuggle her Mama and we snuggle every night before she falls asleep. I almost feel like she is doing it to pacify her crazy Mom - hehe Thanks Nattie!!
I'm so proud of both of my lovies and can't imagine my life without them!! Some days are extremely challenging - having two toddlers, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm very lucky to be able to spend everyday with them and realize that even the bad days aren't that bad : ) They are very thoughtful and fairly easy kids and I can honestly say I have it easy.
To finish up this post, here are a lot of pictures!!
Much love!
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