Birthday Celebrations!

As you know by my gushy previous post, Camden turned two on August 9th!  We've had a wonderful week of celebrations.  On his actual birthday we had a delicious homemade pancake breakfast with a candle for him to blow out (which he LOVED!), opened a couple presents and enjoyed a pizza dinner with cheesecake for dessert!  (Yes, cheesecake is my favorite, but I am a firm believer that mom's should be celebrated on their children's birthdays after all we went through to bring them into this world!).  Here are a couple pictures from his actual birthday...

We had a wonderful family birthday party for Camden on Wednesday night with both sets of his grandparents, his Auntie Caren and cousin Clara.  We missed Uncle Dave who had to work, and his other aunts and uncles who live too far away, but we had an awesome time having a cookout at Elkins Beach.  We swam, grilled burgers and hotdogs overlooking the lake, opened presents and ate some yummy cupcakes!  Thanks Ami and Bepa, Nan and Pop, Caren and Clara for making it a memorable night for all of us! 

Happy Birthday Camden!!!  We love you more than you will ever know! 

(And Happy 100th post to me!  Fun!)

On Your Second Birthday

Dear Camden,

Has it really already been two years since you entered our lives?  Two years since you were first placed in my arms and my world stopped turning.  Two years since your Daddy and I started to understand what unconditional love and commitment truly are?  You have brought us such incredible joy in such a short time, and we wake up every morning anxious to see what each new day will bring with you by our side.  You make us laugh, you blow us away with your intelligence and sense of humor, you amaze us with your growing sense of compassion.  When I stubbed my toe the other day, you patted my back and said "It's OK Mama" over and over again until I just wanted to take you in my arms and never let go.  When you lift my shirt up to rest your head on my growing belly and talk to your baby brother, I melt.  You are learning so much each day and it's already hard for me to remember when you were the little helpless newborn I held so close.  Bringing you into this world was the greatest challenge and greatest joy I have ever experienced.  The seemingly never-ending labor, the five hours of pushing, the back pain, the long and painful recovery process - all of it was worth it because now I have you!  Although I'm afraid of experiencing that same pain again with the upcoming birth of your little brother, I now know what an incredible reward I have at the end and it will help push me through.  You have taught me so much in these two short years - patience (something I am working on everyday, especially as you enter this third year of life), selflessness, unconditional love, teamwork for me and Daddy.  Sometimes there are difficult days.  You are not a good sleeper.  You have trouble falling asleep, you still often wake up in the night and you're up for good around 5:00am every morning.  You have a strong will and are very particular in how you want things done.  Despite these challenges, I know I was made to be your mother.  I have loved these moments, even when they are difficult.  Rocking you to sleep is something I will long for ten years down the road.  Nursing you in the night already seems like a distant memory, even though it was only a matter of months ago.  Watching you learn and grow and take in the world around you is incredible.  This upcoming year is going to bring many changes.  You are going to become more independent (which will make me both happy and sad!), you are going to become a big brother in just six short weeks, you are going to have to adjust to a new way of life, but I have no doubt in my mind that you will rise to every occasion.   You will be an incredible big brother - you already are!  Just know that your Mommy and Daddy love you with all that we are and that NOTHING will ever change that.  You are the best thing that has ever happened to us.
Love always,
Your Mama

And here you are tonight!!!  Celebrating your second birthday!  Happy Birthday Camden Benson Allenby!  We LOVE YOU!!!!

Hospital Days

We had a great time enjoying New London's Hospital Days on Friday evening as a family.  Hospital days was started in 1924 and the entire community comes out to have fun and support the hospital.  There are four days of activities, the town green is covered with fair rides, fried dough stands and potato sack races, and there is a big parade on Saturday.  I've grown up looking forward to Hospital Days and it's been fun to start to share these experiences with Camden.  Friday night was Family Night and we walked around the green with Nan and Pop.  We went on a Hay Ride, fished in a little pool for rubber ducks and Camden and I even went on the little choo-choo train ride (his first ever ride!). We had yummy ice cream at Arctic Dreams across the street and even splurged with some Fried Dough...yummy!

"Fishing" with Nan...

An attempt at a family photo...

It's kind of fun that my dad grew up going to Hospital days, I loved it as a kid, and now Camden gets to enjoy the fun!  YAY!

W3N Reunion

We had a wonderful time visiting with some of my college friends earlier this week.  We drove to upstate NY on Monday and had so much fun at our friends Courtney and Adam's house.  They have a beautiful little 2 1/2 year old daughter and a 9 week old son.  It was so great to be near a tiny little baby.  It made me so excited to meet my own little guy and it was fun watching Camden interact with him.  He was very curious, very gentile and didn't even throw a fit when I held the baby!  Hopefully these are all good signs for how he'll react to his own little brother!  On Tuesday Nina and Jen joined us with Nina's adorable son.  It was so fun to have the four of us girls together again.  We haven't all been together since our W3N reunion last summer here at our house!  There were eight of us girls who were practically inseparable at Gordon and we still exchange group emails on a daily basis.  We all were placed together on the same floor - Wilson 3 North (aka: W3N) - my freshman year and built amazing friendships starting our first night on campus.  I'm SO blessed to have these friendships and I know we will stay close for life.  We missed Tina, Kirsten, Amy and Mer and their little ones, but it was great to spend time with those of us who were able to come!  We had a blast just sitting around chatting, chasing our kiddos, going to the county fair and just being together.  Thank you Court and Adam for a wonderful time!!!

Scott and Adam catching up in the backyard...

These two had SO much fun on this little car!  It was hilarious to watch!

Here's a little video clip of the fun...

We found a huge pig named Bubba at the fair!  Couldn't resist this photo op!

Crazy to think that we've all been best friends for ten years!  We're getting old!!!

Checking out the Monster Truck...

My friend Jen is a super talented photographer.  She captured and edited some amazing pics over the weekend...here are a few of my favorites...

Think they'll all go to Gordon and be besties too??

We celebrated the two boys' birthdays!  Hard to believe they're both turning two this summer!  AGHH!

Here are a couple pictures from our house last summer!  We had 6/8 last year and only 4/8 friends together this year...hopefully this isn't a trend!
The girls (minus Kir and Mer)...

The babies last year...

And...for old times sake...us in college (we were such dorks!)...

Love you girls!!!!