23 Months

Next month we will officially have a 2 year old. Camden is 23 months old today, and it is so hard to believe that I am already planning his second birthday. We have learned so much in the past 23 months and we are so in love with the blessing that Camden is. 

In the last 23 months we have...had less sleep than ever before, learned to love like we never knew we could, changed our schedules weekly to accommodate what is best for him, snuggled, cut food into a million little pieces, moved furniture out and moved toys in, worried more, learned to trust God more than ever, sang silly songs {with the hand motions, of course}, changed 2 trillion diapers {approximately}, snuggled, kissed, cleaned, wiped, filled our computer with pictures, made TONS of memories, snuggled, prayed, enjoyed every second, and so much more. Oh yes, and did I say snuggled? Because that is what Camden is good at, and we love it!

In 23 months Camden has changed so much. As an adult I don’t feel like much changes year to year. I am sure I learn more, I might change my hair a little bit, and I might even buy some new clothes. Camden however has grown drastically in size; he went from 21 inches to about 3 feet tall, he has outgrown more clothes than I have ever owned, he has learned everything from learning to sit on his own to even learning a few letters of the alphabet.

Camden brings us so much joy each day. Yes, he is definitely in the midst of the “terrible 2’s” but he is handling them well. We have days where the tantrums seem to never end, but thankfully those days don’t last forever and we have plenty of fun days with this sweet boy. 

Camden loves his little bro and is always concerned for him. He wants to see him when he first wakes up in the morning, and gives him a kiss every night before bed. He calls him “bro”, “beebe”, or “fray gray” {Gray Gray}. He tells me “eat” when Grayson cries and points to my chest, he definitely knows how I feed him. He also lets me know when he is ready for me to put Grayson down; he will point to the boppy pillow and say “beebe”, as in, “please put the baby here, now”! While we were driving in the car the other day I saw Camden reach over into Grayson’s car seat. I instantly thought he was trying to steal his paci or just mess with him, so I quickly turned around and saw that he was holding his hand. He smiled at me and I made sure he knew how sweet he was being with his brother. It totally melted my heart.

Camden also loves to pray. Every meal Camden stops everyone and says “pray”. He reaches out his hands, and bows his head. I would LOVE to get this on video sometime. It is adorable. He is also getting better at closing his eyes; he squints them very tightly.

There are so many things that Camden loves right now. He loves hiking with Wesley, going on bike rides, playing out front, playing with cars of any shape and size, wrestling with Mama or Dada, playing in our cars while we are in the garage, going for walks, and just about anything that has to do with being outside. He loves blueberries and asks for “blooboos” at every meal. He is also obsessed with orange juice (watered down, of course) and he calls it “onge ju”. 

Just in the last few weeks his words have REALLY taken off. He likes to repeat everything he hears. I love to just sit and tell him words just to hear how he says them. Our favorites right now are: ah gahs (oh gosh), onge ju (orange juice), upa doh (play doh), oh gee (oj), cahs (cars), annie (uncle Andy), unk a baj (uncle Rog), pete zees (pizza), and so many more. He is so much fun to teach things to and I love to see him learn and absorb.

As we plan Camden's second birthday we are looking forward to what is in store for him. We are so thankful for him and for each day we have with him. He really brings so much fun to our family and his sweet, gentle nature just melts our hearts. We love this little boy and we are so proud to be his parents.