Our 3rd Anniversary.

Well, it's technically tomorrow (the 13th), but I am feeling nostalgic right now. 3 years have passed - already. It seems like just yesterday that I was a ball of nerves, sick to my stomach in the dressing room, just waiting to get the ceremony part out of the way so we could celebrate being in love.

Our 1st anniversary was spent anticipating the arrival of our first born baby. I think we had dinner at the Olive Garden and called it a night. I was paranoid that the baby would come at any minute, so I know we didn't do much. (He came 11 days later).

Our 2nd anniversary is an even bigger blur. I can't remember what we did. I'm sure it was a dinner date somewhere, but I don't recall. I am awful. Around the time our anniversary came, I was hard at work planning a 1st birthday party for Cameron, and was pretty much focused on that for a couple of weeks.

I am not sure what this year's celebration will be. It kind of sucks that our anniversary falls on a Wednesday, so we are holding off our celebrating until Friday night. We will take the kids to their Grandma and Grandpa's house and go out to celebrate 3 wonderful years. I am excited!

Under Construction.

 

I am trying to decide how I want this blog to look. I can't be satisfied for more than a month with a layout, so I am in the progress of making it pretty once again. It isn't something that is high on my priority list at this time, unfortunately, so keep checking back. I am sure it will be pretty again in no time!

The first weekend of October.

Friday night kicked off the fall season for us. We headed to an apple orchard just outside of town. I had decided a few weeks ago that since we bought our fancy camera, I might as well try and take some shots of Cameron while we were there to use as his 2nd birthday pictures. First, we walked through the apple orchard. Cameron was not too fond of the apples at first. After about 5 minutes of walking around and looking at them, he started picking them up off the ground and holding them. He threw a couple, thinking they were balls.

After we got a few good pictures there, we headed to the corn maze. We did the maze last year, but that was before Cameron was walking, er running, so we decided not to do it this year. We watched a tractor ride by, pulling loads of people on a hay ride. Of course, Cameron loved every second of it. He loves tractors. We walked to the (tiny) pumpkin patch, and just as Cameron bent down to touch one, my camera battery died. Of course! Josh ran to the car to charge the battery for a couple of minutes, then came back to join us in the market. We bought some delicious apple-cinnamon donuts, a 1/2 gallon of cider, and a pumpkin shaped kids cup full of apple cider for Cameron. (To say he loved the cider is an understatement.)

As soon as we purchased our items, Josh went back to the car and retrieved the battery. We went back to the pumpkin patch, got a couple of photos, then went to the kids play area. They have a giant rocking chair, a bounce pad, a huge tube slide and a tiny corn maze, among other things. At this point, it was just about 7, and it was time for the orchard to close.

Saturday afternoon was spent in Mishawaka, Indiana. I had been wanting to do something different, so we decided to drive the hour to Mishawaka. They have a mall that is better than ours, a Chipotle (Josh is obsessed) and Chick-Fil-A. We went to Chick-Fil-A first (our first time!) and Josh went next door for his burrito. While Cameron and I were waiting, he had his first encounter with the C-F-A cow. He was terrified. His legs started shaking and he cried. The cow was pretty creepy. He followed kids around, even the ones that were scared of him. Thankfully, he didn't stay around us for too long. We did our (window) shopping, then came back home.

Sunday was lazy, for the most part. I did my grocery shopping, as always, and Josh stayed home with the kids. We had a late lunch with his mom and step-dad and went to Target to kill some time. The night was ended with a disappointing Bears game. At least I won this round in Fantasy Football! My record is now 3-1. Not too bad.

I am looking forward to more fun fall weekends! I have to enjoy them before it is winter and the snow is piled 4 feet high. Sigh.

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.