Hilton Head Trip - Picture Post

This post is really for the family, especially Mimi who has been demanding more pictures. This past weekend was our annual visit to Hilton Head. 2010 recap can be found here.

Cameron did very well with only a few temper tantrums and time outs. I attribute it to her desire to be good for her Grammy and Bumpa. They commented that she has exactly two volumes: mute or very, very loud. We had to keep reminding her that we were in a hotel and there were people trying to sleep.

This picture was taken at a horse farm. We were trying to convince her it was time to go and as you can see she wasn't buying it.
We had apples (even though the signs said not to bring in outside food) so this deer kept following us around. Cameron is oblivious as she munches away on a slice of apple that the deer is just dying to get.

We continued our tradition of a family photo shoot while on the beach. The light wasn't great and I'm kicking myself because I knew if we waited 30 minutes longer the sun would have cleared the horizon but we had dinner reservations to make. Next year....
I have had DH recreate this photo each year we've gone to Hilton Head with Cameron. What a difference 2 years makes!

A little squinty but a nice family photo.

Cameron is in that stage of not really smiling for pictures unless you can get her to say "cheese". Nonetheless I'm fairly happy with this one and it may be a contender for a canvas picture I bought on Groupon.

Needless to say, relatives can be assured that Christmas presents will be coming out of this photo shoot and of course pictures throughout the year.

Vacation 2011: Part Two

I am back and work and woefully behind on my blogging. Mostly because I had a million emails to sort through and a child who has decided that every little thing must be a battle. I'm not sure if it's because of 2 weeks of family togetherness or that she is creeping up on the dreaded 2.5 age which I have heard is all about testing boundaries. But either way Cameron has realized that Mommy and Daddy are not omnipotent beings and she has free will to resist us.

Despite the constant "no, no, no" refrains during the second part of our vacation we had a wonderful time on Sebago Lake with my parents. Photo proof is below.

Cameron and I snuggle on the boat. Cameron liked the boat a lot but preferred it when Bumpa went slow. She also freaked out when we were going tubing off the back of the boat. When I got on she had a total meltdown.

Cameron gets to drive the boat with Bumpa.
Cameron models her bikini. Yes, I am that parent who put her in a bikini. In my defense they were the only swim suits available at Wal-Mart. What is our world turning into?
Cameron has a mid morning ice cream snack with her new friend Julia. Ice cream became it's own food group for her during vacation.
Julia, unlike Cameron, liked when the boat went fast. Cameron is easily influenced and agreed with Julia when she told my dad to go faster.
Cameron enjoys some homemade blueberry ice cream cake.
Why did we have ice cream cake? Because my darling husband turned 40 during our trip. Yes, I am officially married to a man in his middle age and I'm loving it. Happy birthday!
Cameron and I go swimming in the lake. It was about 80 degrees and wonderful.
If only Cameron would let me put her hair in a pony tail and keep her barrettes in...
There was a wild life part about 30 minutes from my parents that we went to twice. Cameron loved the bears but got a time out for throwing her barrette into their cage. Don't worry, it didn't actually make it into the cage but Mommy was not happy.
The Maine house doesn't have a tub so Cameron had all her baths in my parent's awesome sink. My mom designed it and it was perfect for giving baths.

Vacation 2011: Part One

I realize I have been MIA for the past two weeks but it has been for a very good reason. Vacation! First preparing for and then during it. In fact, vacation will continue for another week which is awesome. I have been having some internet challenges but my dad hooked me up. Every other year for the past 6 years or so DH and I have been taking 2 week vacations. Yes, it's a long time but it really gives us a chance to decompress. This time around we also had a chance to visit with family.

DH and Charlie drove from Charlotte to Springfield, MA last Friday. Being a smart mom, Cameron and I flew to Hartford to meet them. Could you imagine having a toddler on a 12 hour straight drive? No, me either which is why we flew.

Cameron has been having a great time and thankfully she has been napping and sleeping generally well. Eating? More like snacking but I am in vacation mode and am trying not to be too freaked out by the fact that the last time she ate a vegetable was a week ago.

I will write a more detailed synopsis of our vacation in later posts but for now...pictures!

Here Cameron and her daddy try out her new scooter which was donated by her cousins. As you can see, it was a hit.

It was really hot for about two days while we were in Springfield. Like Charlotte hot. The only difference? No air conditioning. Hence Cameron's wardrobe below.

Cameron enjoys her first experience at Friendly's. Needless to say, the ice cream was a big hit.

Cameron with her two cousins. They loved hanging out with her and gave me some nice downtime to relax and spend time talking to adults.

Here are all the cousins enjoying ice cream on the porch. I think Cameron has had ice cream more often on this vacation than her entire life combined previously!

Cameron attempts to play croquette. Very unsuccessfully, I might add.

Cameron helps her cousin practice her reading.

My mommy fix

My mom came to visit last weekend. The last time I saw her was a whirlwind trip home for the holidays so it was more than time for some quality 1:1 time. Plus it was a great excuse to take a day off of work and go shopping.


Having another adult in the house is so liberating. When DH was taking too long getting ready for dinner on Saturday I left Cameron with my mom to make myself look decent. Pure bliss to not have to corrall a toddler while putting on make up.


Besides shopping, my mom also came with us to Cameron's Little Gym class. We made cookies, played in the yard, watched Tangled and Cameron loved having her Grammy around. It got to the point that Cameron only wanted Grammy to push her in the shopping cart. Which also might be a sad commentary on how many stores we went to.


Quality family time like this makes me miss being around my extended family. I don't see us moving back to Boston but wish we can convince family to move closer. Below are some pictures from this weekend.

Cameron and Grammy playing with some puzzles, a new favorite toy.

Cameron watering the ground instead of the plant. Cameron as a bag lady. One of the girls in Cameron's class had a birthday. They gave all of the kids enormous pieces of cake. I took it away from Cameron after she ate half of it which resulted in an epic melt down. Fortunately Grammy was there to sing her songs and cheer her up.

A kick ass year

Today is my birthday. Happy 34th birthday to me! And A. and Mommy, Esq., of course. It has been a pleasure sharing a birthday with my sisters over the past 3 plus decades. Not that I felt that way when I was younger!

I am struggling to see how this upcoming year will top the previous one. Over the past year I lost more than 50 pounds, started exercising regularly, got a new job and celebrated many milestones with my loving husband and darling daughter.

What are my goals this year?

• I plan on running several 5Ks and continuing to make exercise a regular part of my routine.
• Along with several other real life and Internet friends, I will participate in the Charlotte Warrior Dash.
• I will use all of my vacation time.
• I will have a girls' weekend with my longtime friends.
• I will commit to carving out more "me" time and "we" time with DH.
• And if I'm really lucky and work hard I will top it all off with a job promotion.

Wish me luck!

Show me the mommy!

Really this should be show me the auntie (pronounced auhn-tee!) because I spent some time showing Ned how to use my iPhone. I figured since he is incapacitated there was no time like the present to start playing with Apple products.

Christmas Trip: Part 2

On Christmas morning we left Springfield for our pilgrimage to Andover to see my side of the family. I had hoped to be on the road by 7 AM (yeah, right) but we left at 8:15. Because of that we missed the opening of stocking presents (just for the little kids) and somehow I forgot my camera. So all of the pictures below are courtesy of my dad's kick ass SLR camera.

A couple of items of note. Cameron entered her pickiest eating phase EVER on this trip. I think she subsisted entirely on crackers and milk. Every time my mom put a new food in front of Cameron I would warn her, "Cameron won't eat that." But she would push it and Cameron would have the biggest melt downs. Sigh. I'm very glad we are back home so at least we have our fall back foods and a modicum of nutrition.

We also missed a white Christmas in Charlotte. Who would have thought that Charlotte would have a white Christmas? Fortunately the Boston area got 18 inches of snow on the 26th. I took Cameron out on the deck because she really wanted to go outside. As soon as we were out she insisted I carry her (of course) and she kept saying, "it's hot, it's hot." What she meant was that it was cold. So DH and I had fun teaching her the difference between hot and cold. Now everything is cold but we're getting there!

Cameron came over to her grandparent's house in her pjs. She got to open her stocking presents while all the cousins played around her. So that really meant DH and I opened her presents and she played with the toys strewn about the room.

Cameron got these cool sunglasses and actually wore them for a minute before abandoning them for another toy.

Here Cameron opens really cool spill proof (yeah, we'll see about that!) paint from Melissa and Doug that her Grammy and Bumpa gave her. We ended up shipping all of the presents back to Charlotte and they should arrive today which means Christmas all over again!

Here is a shot of the entire family opening presents. What do you don't see is the mound of presents under the tree. Grammy and Bumpa were very generous with their grandkids.

I was hoping that the group mentality would kick in for mealtimes. Unfortunately Cameron insisted on eating practically nothing. But she did eat her Happy Meal when we got McD's during the blizzard.

We had a family photo session on Sunday. Need I say that it was chaotic? There were many meltdowns, nose picking and I don't think the photographer got a single shot of the entire family smiling at the camera. Fortunately he said he can do some face switching so we should get at least one good picture out of the bunch. The best part was my sister Kristin attempting to put Ned into time out during the session and bribing her kids with Altoids to behave. Classic.

All in all, a good trip up to see family and friends. But I think we will be sticking to our plan of an every other year trip during the holidays. It was fun but exhausting!

Christmas Trip: Part 1

I know I have been remiss in posting. I deliberately did not bring my personal computer with us on our Christmaspalooza because I was hoping to enjoy a little down time with my Kindle. Despite a cold, about 50 family members and juggling a toddler, down time was in fact achieved. Amazing, no?

We arrived at DH's parents' house in Springfield, MA on Wednesday, December 22nd. The flight with Cameron was fine except I used my entire bag of tricks which included $10 worth of iPhone apps for her. The problem with the toddler apps I've come across is that they are repetitive (numbers, letters, animals, etc.). So if anyone can point me to better apps for the 2+ age range, I would appreciate it. Funny aside...on Christmas Eve we had 6 people in the same room on different devices (iTouch, iPad, iPhone) all playing Angry Bird. I thought my mother-in-law was going to keel over by none of us interacting in the same room. The wave of the future? Perhaps. We did play Trivial Pursuit all together later that night so all was not lost.

Cameron got some cool clothes, books and of course toys on Christmas Eve. Her favorite was the Santa present from us: an Elmo doll. Just the basic plush, cuddly one. She has it in her crib as I type this. Below are photos from our visit with my in-laws. Tomorrow I'll post pictures from the rest of the trip to my family's house.

Cameron hangs out with her daddy the morning after we arrive.

Memere lets Cameron adorn herself with ornaments.

If she isn't careful, Cameron's face will freeze that way!

Cameron hangs out with her cousins. She was a little overwhelmed at first but quickly grew to love them. She was particularly enamored of Ryan (or Ry-Ry as she called him).

They walked around the house holding hands...too cute!

The cousins pose for their picture on the stairs.

Memere Gabby with two of her great-granddaughters.

Cameron poses for a picture with Ryan. Isn't her dress adorable? Unfortunately it was also long and a 2T so she took a couple of headers into door frames until we finally put her in pjs.

Wordless Wednesday: more Hilton Head photos