Cameron is sick.

It all started with a runny nose. We were out shopping on Monday morning, and I noticed that Cameron's nose had started running. I attributed it to allergies, seeing that my sinuses are going crazy at the moment as well. We finished our shopping and went to Josh's mom's house to visit. She wound asking to keep him for the night, so Hannah and I went home.

I called Josh's mom yesterday morning to see how my boy did. (He is not the best sleeper when he is at his grandma's house. He loves to play with her.) She said that he had a rough night. He woke up crying a couple of times and was very hard to comfort. He got himself so riled up that he had thrown up a couple of times. Poor guy. We made plans to meet for lunch and I hung up the phone.

Hannah and I walked into the restaurant and looked for everyone else. We rounded a corner, and there we saw the saddest looking little boy. You can tell he doesn't feel good just by looking at him. We ate lunch and ran a couple of quick errands, then came home for nap time. He slept for a good 3 hours and woke up to cuddle on the couch with mama.

This morning, he feels a little less warm than yesterday, but stupid me gave him milk and he threw it up all over the floor (twice). So it looks like today is a Gatorade, saltine cracker and pajama day. I think we can handle that. =)

Your Three Words

It is hard to believe, but Cameron is 23 months old today. Where has the time gone? If he is 23 months old right now, that means next month he will be turning 2. That seems unreal. It seems like just yesterday I was visiting my sweet baby boy in the NICU. I could swear he just started rolling over, crawling and walking. There is no way it has been a year since he started talking, expanding his vocabulary every day. No way. I will make a post with all of the sappy stuff (including pictures) when it gets a little closer to his birthday. I am sad. I can't believe my baby boy is growing up so fast. Slow down! Before I know it, he will be off to kindergarten.

Blog update & (dad's) wedding.

If you are one of my few blog readers, you have probably noticed that things are different. I have changed the url of the blog since we aren't just Josh, Alyssa and Cameron anymore. So if you want to add me to your blog list, please do! I promise I won't be changing the url any time soon. I am also working on a new button.

Alright, on to the weekend review.

My dad got remarried on Saturday. The day started off with thunderstorms. It was raining like crazy when Josh, the kids and I were out for breakfast. It cleared up for awhile, and started raining again as we loaded everything into the car and headed toward Holland. About half way there, the skies became clear and a tiny bit of sun peaked through the clouds. Phew.

When we arrived at the chapel, I was directed to a small building at the top of a hill. No problem, right? Wrong. The grass was soaking wet (& slippery!) and there was no walk way. Of course this was okay at first, seeing that I was wearing flip flops. Then I realized I was going to be in big trouble. I have been telling myself I needed to practice walking in the shoes I bought for this very occasion. Of course, I never did. After we got ready and started walking down the hill, Chelsea (new step-sister) and I aerated the grass for the owners. Maybe if enough people do that, they will add a sidewalk.

Everything from that point on went very well. The ceremony was great, besides the fact that the minister lady could not pronounce my dad & Diane's last names. Justin (step-brother), Chelsea and I poured colored sand into a glass bottle and I wished my brother was there with us (my dad poured his sand).

Cameron was adorable in his outfit (complete with robot tie!), as was Hannah. Everyone complimented them. Here are a few pictures from the wedding.

Dad and Diane

Cameron the explorer.

Pretty Girl.

Smiley girl =)

Mama and her babies.

Josh and the babes.

Your Three Words

Cameron's Second Birthday

(omg, did I really just type that?)

Well, the initial planning has begun for Cameron's 2nd birthday party. So far I have made invitations (still need to find envelopes so I can mail them) and bought a shirt for him to wear in his 2 year pictures. Slowly but surely, it is coming together. I really wanted to avoid a theme this year, knowing very well that once he is old enough to decide the theme, he probably won't shy away from Toy Story. Sigh. I made the invitation with a cute train running across the bottom - hoping to just incorporate colors from the invite in his party. Yeah right. Josh seems to think he really needs a Toy Story party, especially since he loves to watch "Budge (Buzz)." He asks to watch it more than once a day. We will see. I will probably be the one doing the shopping, so it will ultimately be up to me. =)

There's his invitation! Nothing too special, but I thought it was cute. 

If I could post a picture of the shirt, I would, but I can't seem to copy it from the Target website. If you would like to see it, here is the link.

Hannah is 2 months old!

Okay, time. It is seriously time to slow down. Somehow, our little girl turned 2 months old yesterday. It is unbelievable to me. It seems like just yesterday that I was counting down the days until she was born, and now I want the days to go by slower.

She had her 2 month well child exam this morning, where she had to have 6 immunizations (1 orally, and 3 shots. They mixed 3 of the doses into one shot, thank the lord). She did surprisingly well. She turned as red as a stop sign for about a minute, then let out a 30-second cry. She has been pretty sleepy since then. The poor girl, she probably hates her mama now.

Anyway, she is growing very well, according to the doctor. She is up to 12 pounds, 4 ounces now which is in the 90th percentile. She is 24 1/4 inches tall (95th percentile). Her head has also grown, but not too much. It measures in the 75th percentile at 15 1/2 inches.

She is definitely starting to grow!

In honor of her 2nd month of life, we had a photo shoot yesterday. Well actually, a couple of different ones. Here are my favorite shots of her. =)

Catching up.

Life has been pretty normal over here for the past couple of weeks. The weather has continued to show us what fall will bring, complete with wind that knocks a bunch of leaves out of our trees. Guess it will be time to rake them up into huge piles very soon.

Cameron is still as crazy as ever. I (Josh didn't think it was a great idea) decided to transition him from 2 naps a day to 1. He seemed to benefit from 2 naps for a long time, until he decided that he would only sleep for an hour each time, which defeated the whole purpose. We had started a bad habit with him that we have decided to stop cold turkey while we are doing the other transition. We had been giving him a bottle half full of water to help him calm down and fall asleep, and last night was pretty bad. He was put into his crib at 7:30 and screamed and cried until 8:30. Josh finally decided to take a sippy cup of water up and he refused it. He finally fell asleep a little while later, thank god. It was pretty rough. Lesson learned, no water bottles in Hannah's bed.

Hannah seems to have improved after we switched her from the Gentlease formula to the Soy. She was having some serious digestion/stomach issues and now seems to be doing a whole lot better. She is growing really fast, and it hurts my heart to say that she will be 2 months old tomorrow (so look out for that post, complete with new pictures!). Thursday morning she goes to the pediatrician for a checkup and her 2nd round of vaccinations. Poor baby. I hate taking the kids for their shots. I am excited to see how much bigger she has gotten.

We don't really have too much going on this week. Tomorrow, I am going to get my eyebrows waxed and my hair cut. I am having a tough time deciding what I want to do to my hair. I might get a few inches cut off and some new bangs cut. I love getting pampered every once in awhile (it has been 7 months since my last trim). Josh and Cameron will go on Thursday night for their haircuts.

We are all getting cleaned up for my dad's wedding this weekend. I have to pick up my dress tomorrow from the lady who altered it. We went shopping 9 days after Hannah was born, so of course it needed to be altered, big time. Especially since it was a tad too big when it was purchased. I have lost an additional 15 pounds since I took the dress to the lady initially, so I hope it isn't too big. Nothing I can do about it now.

Let's talk about the weight loss. Since Hannah was born on July 15th, I have shed almost 45 pounds. That is 35 pounds of Hannah baby weight and 10 pounds of the Cameron baby weight I never worked on getting rid of. At this point, I am still 40 pounds away from my goal weight, so I guess I am half way there. Of course, I realize that it's going to get harder and harder to get rid of the weight as I lose it, and I'm okay with that.

I leave you with an overabundance of pictures from the past week and a half.

Cameron tried to fix the doorkob.

Then he tried to put it back in its place.

Hannah relaxing in her swing.

Mr. Muscles

Watching the Michigan game with daddy.

Playing with his crayon box.

Tummy time with Hannah Boo.

She was tired of the camera.

Getting his own juice out of the fridge.

Modeling daddy's Tigers hat.

Labor Day weekend.

We have had such a nice weekend. Not only is it Labor Day weekend, but it was also U of M's opening game on Saturday. GO BLUE! We spent Saturday after lunch out shopping. Everywhere you looked, someone was wearing blue & maize. We, being new to liking football, were not decked out in our team's colors. At the mall, we went to the college team store and got ourselves some shirts to wear for the game. We went straight home and watched the Wolverines win their first game. Yes!

I finally caught a picture of Hannah smiling on Friday afternoon.

So cute.

The weather has been AWESOME for the past few days. We are getting a nice sneak peek at fall, and I am loving it. I even brought out the fall decor for the living room and hung up my branch wreath on the front door. I am really excited. Fall is my favorite season. With fall comes our (3rd) wedding anniversary, Cameron's 2nd birthday (cry), the leaves changing color, pumpkin patches and apple orchards. This truly is the best time of the year.

I have some happy news on the weight-loss front. I have lost 11.8 pounds in the past 5 weeks. I am very happy about this. I have 26 more weeks to lose 43.2 more pounds. If I can continue my weight loss of 2 pounds a week without too much of a plateau, I will hopefully reach this goal in 21.5 weeks. Bring it on!

Get to know a little about me!

My friend Jess posted this survey in her blog, and seeing that in high school I was obsessed with doing these, I thought it would be great fun to do one at age 24.

The FUN Questions:

- Jacob or Edward? Definitely Team Edward. Not based on his looks, but just about everything else about him is far better than Jacob.
- Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus? Taylor Swift. I love her voice.
- Flip Flops or Sneaks? Depends on the situation! I love flip-flops for day to day wear, but on rainy days or for the gym/walks, I like my tennies.
- Cook at home or go out? We have been a huge eating at home kick, and it shows in our bank account. I like it!
- How long can you stand your house being a mess before you clean it? Um, less than a day. I cannot stand to have a messy kitchen. I pick up toys in the living room 3 times a day and keep the rest of the house picked up. I don't vacuum or dust everyday, usually once a week, but the house stays pretty clean (even with Hurricane Cameron rolling through 3 times a day).
- Warm weather or cold weather? In between. My favorite seasons are fall & spring, between the excessive heat and freezing cold. I cannot wait for fall.
- Last minute or plan ahead? I am a planner, so definitely plan ahead.
- If you were given a million dollars what would you do with the money FIRST? (Be honest!) :) We would be building ourselves our dream home, followed by a bigger car for me (paid cash) and maybe a new car for Josh too. I would pay off our credit card balance and do some serious shopping to redecorate the dream home.
- Once your nail polish starts to come off, do you continue to pick at it until its all off or do you get out the nail polish remover and take it off ASAP? I leave it alone. I don't remember the last time I had nail polish on my fingernails, but I usually just let it grow out.
- What color do you wear the most? I used to wear pink almost every day, but now there really isn't a color I gravitate towards.
- Craziest spur-of-the-moment thing you've done? Hm, can't think of anything. I am not an adventurous person by any means.
- Would you shave your head for $50,000? No. How about $5,000? No. How about $500? No.
- You're starring in a new movie, what is your character name and tell us a little bit about her. I think her name would still be Alyssa. She would be in a 'Notebook' style romance with a tall, dark and handsome guy. She probably looks like me, minus 45 pounds and 10 times tanner, with GREAT fashion sense too, of course.

The "Favorite" Questions:

- Favorite Music? There isn't much I won't listen to, besides angry rap and super heavy metal. Besides that, everything is pretty much game. My absolute favorites are country and pop though.
- Favorite thing to wear? Gauchos, tank top and flip flops.
- Favorite thing to do by yourself? Work out.
- Favorite thing to do with Josh? Cuddle up in bed and watch a movie. Or go out for a night sans babies for dinner and a movie.
- Favorite thing to do with the girls? I haven't done anything with any girlfriends in awhile. It might be safe to say that I am lacking girlfriends at this point.
- Favorite Sister-in-law? I don't have any sisters-in-law. I have 1 brother-in-law, and he is great. 
- Favorite Holiday? Probably Christmas. It used to be 4th of July, but much of the hype is gone with that holiday (for me at least). I think I will love watching my kids tear into Christmas presents in the years to come.
- Favorite candy? Reese's pieces.
- Favorite Movie? Josh and I are obsessed with Step Brothers. We watch that movie all the time, and it never gets old. Another favorite is Father of the Bride.
- Favorite Book? I could never choose one. I love most of Nicholas Sparks' books, along with the Twilight series.
- Favorite Color? Pink and Green.

The Serious Questions:

- What easily frustrates you? Driving. It seems like everyone in this city has gotten progressively worse at driving in the past few years.
- What are your pet peeves? I cannot stand people that merge at the last minute in construction and mouth noises (lip smacking, loud crunching, etc).
- If you could redo one thing in your life what would it be? I would have gone to college straight out of high school and STAYED. I also probably would have skipped the moving to California all together. That being said, I don't regret one part of anything I have done in my life.
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Both of my kids will be in school, so I am hoping to be working in a part-time job while they are gone. I love being home with them and can't imagine myself working a full-time job. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
- What is/are your biggest fear/s? Besides heights and flying, I am terrified of dying young.
- If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Australia. Realistically, that flight is way too long and goes over far too much water for my liking, so I would probably go to Hawaii and call it good, although that flight goes over water too. Oh well.
- If you were stranded on a deserted island for 2 weeks and could only bring 3 personal items (no electronics) and 3 people, what 3 items and which 3 people would you bring? Items: a 2 week supply of gossip magazines, ingredients to make a strawberry/feta cheese salad for food, and pictures of my kids. People wise, I would bring Bradley Cooper, Jake Gyllenhaal and John Krasinski. That would be fabulous.
- If you could fix one thing that you know you will never be able to fix, what would it be? My middle toe on my left foot is screwed up after breaking it in the ocean. It functions just fine, but it looks hideous.
- Money aside, what would you do with your life? Where would you live? Would you work? If so, what would you want to do? If money was no option, and I could bring everyone I love with me, I would move back to Northern California in a heartbeat. I would definitely look into a part-time job once my kids are in school, not sure what I would do. I would love to be somewhere where there is something to do besides go to the park or the mall. Life gets rather boring in southwest Michigan. Especially in the winter.