The Second Year of Cam

I honestly don’t think I ever blogged his first birthday. It’s cool. But I wanted, not to recap the whole Curious George party, but just to post a couple of the photos, to remember.

Big sister, and Cousin Layla

A smattering of guests

A birthday party? And so no one will yell at us or tell us to stop banging on the piano!?!

Family unwrapping station

He started to cry when they took the cake away to cut it. I really think he thought it was all for him!.

Oh, much happier now. And who needs cake AND pudding?

Last, but not least, my darling little nephew, all happy to be 2 and delighted by Curious George. Happy Birthday, Cam, Auntie Livi loves you bunches and bunches!

Counting with Camden

One…

 

 

Two…

 

Three…

 

In my family we like to teach them young….build up a tolerance.

Four and One

I have birthday posts coming up for them, but until then, here’s photos of Arionna turning four and Camden, turning one.

(I included that even though I don’t love the black and white here, the reason to use the conservatory is for the great light and amazing colors, which you lose in BW).

This is a beautiful photo, even though she looks stiff as a board. This other one is better…my favorite of her.

Yep, love that.

Little guy? Far less cooperative. He would not sit for a picture without Arionna, so there are none of him alone. All the solo shots she had to get by zooming or getting closer to cut out big sis, and he didn’t love that either.

Even though he is not smiling, I do love that pic, I used it in his frame.

This was one of my favorites of the two of them together.

But not my all time favorite, that honor went to this little gem.

Kierstie was trying to get him standing and her sitting, but right in the middle, he just bent over and put his head on her shoulder, snuggling in. It melts me. Such a perfect capture of their ages. He could care less and she’s still trying to sit and smile like she was supposed to. Four and one.

 

You Are One

Happy Happy Happy Birthday, Cam-Cam!

Today, on this very day, you are a year old. A more gorgeous little boy, I’ve never met. And with your laid-back, sunny personality, you’re just a delight to be around. Even when you’re tired and crying, you’re still the best little boy I know.

One year ago, today, I wrote this post, to celebrate your birth. It’s not super long on sentiment, but chock full of photos. It was hard for me to write, because I felt so very much when you were born. You were the first baby I’ve ever seen born. I was there, in the room, watching as you slipped into this world. It was very, very, different than what I felt on the day your sister was born, or on the day that Simon was born. It gives you and I an extra special bond that I don’t have with anyone else.

Here’s what I know. Despite my best intentions, I did not do the monthly photos of you and blog them, rigorously, as I did for your sister. I tried. Evidently the old adage that things taper off for the second is true, I slacked on pictures. Not shockingly so, believe me, dude, at over 600 photos, I’ve gotten plenty of documentation of your short life so far.

 I also know that it’s more precious to spend time with you because you have an older sister. I love your sister bunches and bunches, but she demands a lot of attention (almost four will do that….you will too, when you’re almost four). While she is a delight and a joy and I can’t get enough of her (as you likewise feel) sometimes it’s nice to just be with you. To watch your face. To wonder what you are thinking of when you stare at me with that befuddled expression. To be curious as to what you feel when you touch my face or stick your fingers in my mouth.

You are a wonder and a delight, Camden, and you bring me so much joy. It’s kind of absurd, really, how happy you can make me, being so small.

 Your birthday party is this weekend and I know you’ll be overwhelmed and hugged and kissed to death. Your tiny family party is tonight and I know that you’ll be overwhelmed and hugged and kissed to death. In the sea of all these hugs and kisses, I’ll be there, loving you and wishing you happy. But, between you and me, on your birthday, I just want you to know, I simply could not love you more.

 (that’s my favorite picture of us….so far!)

Happy Birthday, Cam!

Love forever,

Auntie Livi

First Thanksgiving

This will be a blog about the Pilgrims.

Okay, that’s not true. This is about Thanksgiving this year, which was the first for my darling nephew Camden.

Mostly just photos, this was a pretty uneventful Thanksgiving.

Here is the beautiful table my mother set (and the beautiful girl my sister made!)

Two of my favorite children:

 And we wanted one good picture of the little guy on his first Thanksgiving.

Very cute, and two seconds later he grabbed the camera. Then he’d crawl away. As a full-fledged crawler, it’s so hard to get him to sit for a photo. Never had this problem with Arionna.

So my sister suggested I hold him.

Again, cute, but not the photo we were looking for.

Well, that’s pretty darling, but a little blurry around the edges.

And after that…I almost stopped. I figured they don’t get much cuter than that. But he was suddenly being cooperative, so…

Oh my. Holding the orange pumpkin and sitting and smiling? Yep, that’s the money shot. Such a cutie.

He was a HUGE fan of Thanksgiving dinner. He ate everything we put in front of him, didn’t flinch. The boy loves to eat. He just loves food…so long as he can feed himself. He just kept shoveling it in, over and over.

Later, Arionna made a Christmas Countdown Chain with Grandma and Uncle Zack. She gets so excited each morning to wake up and tear off the ring, getting her one day closer to Christmas.

Finally, just before Simon arrived and chaos ensued, we wanted one nice picture of Cam with his GiGi. We have a couple pics, but nothing really nice.

I definitely think that qualifies. Even she is slightly smiling.

I hope your Thanksgiving was beautiful and that you were grateful for the things you have. I’m grateful, among other things, for you, my wonderful blog readers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy First Halloween

I figured Cam deserved his very own Halloween post, so I decided I’d just share what is probably my favorite (for REAL this time!) picture from the holiday.

Hope you enjoyed your first Halloween, pal, sure seems like you did!

First Halloweens

Back in 2010, my sweet Arionna was celebrating her first Halloween. She was seven months old.

That was her little “costume” and I took a bunch of photos with her, many of her holding that pumpkin. She was singularly uncoopertive. Rarely smiled at the camera. But, regardless, these are my memories of her first Halloween and how cute she was.

Here’s the blog post from that Halloween. I did post a bunch, because of the first, and also because I bought her that little outfit.

This year, in 2013, as Camden celebrated his first Halloween, Emily mentioned she still had the jammies, and since they are roughly the same size/age, I was so excited to replicate that moment.

Here is Cam, at 8.5 months, on his first Halloween. This was AFTER trick-or-treating, so by all accounts he should have been tired and cranky…

Instead, he was happy as could be, and totally willing to let me put that pumpkin on his lap. (His hair was that crazy because we made him wear a hat for trick-or-treating…)

Eventually, he did grow bored and toss the pumpkin, heading straight for the camera….

And still so cute!

I’m delighted that these two could BOTH wear that little Halloween outfit and that I got to see them both. About as cute as little bats (and I kind of wish we had saved the little bat that Simon made from Arionna’s pictures!)

I wonder if she still has the same Thanksgiving outfit….

Halloween 2013

That rhymes.

Anyway, I just wanted to get this up before, you know, Thanksgiving is here. I finally uploaded the photos. Mostly just pictures….

 Our whole crew. Obviously we had a theme going…based on what Arionna chose for her costume.

My sister’s cute family. For those wondering, Chad was the wizard. No, I don’t understand the creepy mask either.

The witch was really going after that dog….

Little man from the Lollipop guild. The lollipop was actually too heavy for him to hold….but he looked so cute.

Warm in his stroller, but still holding his GIANT bucket.

My favorite picture of my little witch.

Okay, maybe THAT is my favorite picture.

Though that one is pretty cute, too!

Okay, maybe THAT’s my favorite (even though the camera was foggy from coming in from outside!)

We didn’t take a ton of pictures, but the ones we did take were pretty cute. It was a fun Halloween and a good way to cap off October. November has so far kicked my a$$…so this feels nostalgic at this point.

Nine Months

Yesterday was Camden’s 9 month birthday. I stopped by to visit him and took just a few photos. It’s also a chance to show off his new haircut, minus all his delicious curls (Halloween photos coming…so you’ll see the curls).

 Of course, he was more than happy to mug for the camera with his favorite Auntie!

He was so sleepy, ready for bed when I took that. But still on the verge of smiling….

 But, just a moment later….I got a huge grin and a brief shot of his baby teeth.

 And we’ll end with what is my favorite photo of the entire fall, taken just two weeks ago. (When he still had his curls!)

Happy birthday adorable boy! I can’t believe it is only three months until you turn one!

Love you! Auntie Livi

Costume Preview

This year, after Arionna chose her costume “I want to be the Wicked Witch, green face and all” we decided to do a family Wizard of Oz theme. I have a Scarecrow costume from years past. My sister is going to be Dorothy.

I make the costumes for the kids, so I decided Cam was going to be from the Lollipop Guild.

This is what they look like:

He already has a plaid shirt and solid, matching pants. We tweaked the costume a bit, but he has striped socks and we added suspenders. His hair already has those crazy curls, so it is perfect. My mom is going to join him…making two from the Guild.

Here’s a sneak peek at my little Guildman.

Suspenders on a baby? Possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. And yeah, that lollipop is as big as his head. He can’t even really hold it, it is resting on the ground. Like a boy, his costume was fairly uncomplicated.

Unlike this little darling.

On Halloween she’ll be dressed in all black, and I bought her the hat and the broom (which is an actual replica in child’s size!) but I made the skirt and the cape. I also did the face makeup. We’ll do it more thoroughly on Halloween and we’re painting her hands and nails then, too, but for trying it on to make sure it all fit?

It is so cute. For someone who is not crafty, I am so proud of this costume. It is beyond darling.

I promise better pictures of the whole group on Halloween. But since my sister annoyingly already posted this on FB, I had to get these up there so you’d know what they were!