My little artist.

It's always been a hobby of mine to paint, color and draw. For as long as I can remember, I've loved coloring in books and been obsessed with crayons and other mediums. (Heck, my favorite field trip when I was in elementary school was to The Crayola factory, which I still remember very well.) I took my passion to college and earned a degree in graphic design, but to this day I really enjoy getting off the computer and designing pretty things on paper.
Someone else seems to be sharing my passion- my little Cameron. As soon as Kylie goes down for her morning nap, Cameron is usually begging for the art box containing all of our art supply goodies. Most days we color. Some days our arms are completely covered with paint and cleanup involves a bath. I've really gotten past my "oh, lets not get messy!" attitude and let Cameron explore whatever he wants as long as he's sitting at our dining table.


Recently I was looking for ideas for art to hang in the hallway of the kids bedrooms, when I realized the best art source was my little artist that's been painting up a storm. Enter some cheap frames from Michael's, and up went Cameron's artwork on display.

I hung four frames so that when Kylie is old enough to join in, they can each have two. I love that Cameron has his own little gallery here (instead of taking up real estate all over the fridge doors) and I love that we can switch it whenever the mood strikes or a new masterpiece is made.
Who knows if he will grow up and have a passion for art as I do, but for now, I enjoy that I can share my hobby with him!

Closing thoughts on Cameron's 2nd year.

2 years ago today, my due date had already came and went. Little did I know that it would be 5 more days before we would meet our baby boy. Little did I know that I would spend 48 hours in active labor before we met our baby boy. And little did I know that I'd have to have a c-section in order to meet our baby boy.
These last 2 years have been so awesome. We have been blessed so much having him in our life! Oh how this boy entertains us; to say he is the light of our life would be an understatement. Jon and I spend so much time laughing at him, and with him. He's smart. And he's funny.
The other day Cameron and I were in the check out lane at Wal-Mart. He was being quiet and well behaved, but the cashier mentioned that he looked very ornery. I laughed, because he absolutely is and he gets that "look of ornery-ness" from his dad. He is so much like him and that's quite alright with me. =)
Since Cameron's switch from the crib to his toddler bed, he now gets himself out of bed in the morning, opens his door, then opens our bedroom door, yells "hi momma!!", climbs in our bed, gives me a big hug and kiss, climbs over to dad, says "hi dadda!!!" and gives him a big hug and kiss. I can't imagine a better start to the day. He is very generous with hugs and kisses, and loves to snuggle.
I can't wait for him to be a big brother. The other day we swaddled his monkey and pretended it was baby sister. He held "her", carried her, body slammed her, and even fed her milk.
Once he gets past the jealousy I think he'll have towards his new sister, I think he'll be so glad she's around. I love him so much, and it's hard to imagine loving another baby the way I love him.
Sunday, his actual day of birth, we'll be having a party for him. I can't wait!
He's about as obsessed as humanly possible with trains right now, so we're doing a train themed part. I designed these invitations, and the little logo on them will also be on a few other party items as well.
I'll definitely have (and share) a lot of pictures after the party!

A little on Cameron at 17 months.

Cameron has always watched us use the bathroom for as long as I can remember (anyone else bring their little kids into the bathroom while they go, or are we weird?). When I'm home with him during the day, I always announce loudly to him that "momma has to go potty!" He'll usually follow me in the bathroom and get into the cabinets, brush his teeth, or attempt to unroll a mega wad of toilet paper. Anyway, several weeks ago he indicated that he wanted to "go" potty too- so I stripped his diaper off and plopped his little bottom on the toilet, holding him so he wouldn't fall in. He didn't do anything but sit there and squeel in delight. He sure seemed proud of himself for sitting on the toilet! I took him off, and he shut the lid and flushed (just as I do).
I was a little taken back by the fact that a) he wanted to sit on the potty, and b) he knew what to do when he was "finished". Ever since then, he has wanted to go potty several times per day. He'll squeeze his diaper, and I ask "do you need to go potty?" to which he answers "yeah!" and then runs to the toilet and waits for me to take his diaper off. He has yet to, um... produce any results yet, but will just sit there and giggle the whole time.
I'm pretty sure he hasn't made the connection that sitting on the potty is actually meant to produce results, so to speak- but I'm going to keep rolling with his interest in wanting "go potty." It's more than likely just a phase, but some of the potty training info I've read suggests that some children show interest in potty training as early as 18 months, and that parents should follow their cues. Cool! =) I'll spare you the picture of him on the toilet (which I find so cute, of course) and share some other recent pictures taken in his 17th month!

He loves his picnic table!

We have a paddle boat that we use quite a bit, so we wanted to get Cam a life jacket so he could cruise around our lake with us.

Helping dad catch a few fish!

My goodness, I just think he's so handsome! It's hard to believe that we're nearly half way to 2 years. That's crazy to think about!