mommy the maid.

I seriously feel like I spend half my day cleaning. I am not a neat freak by any means but there are certain things I am a bit neurotic about: 1) dust. 2) insects! and 3) too much clutter.

Since having my son and moving to Hawaii, there has been an increase in all three categories. In Seattle, we had a bigger house but no toddler and cold weather which made it so that our windows were closed 9 months of the year. I pretty much only cleaned when we were having company over or when things started getting bad enough to where I started feeling icky. (A technical term, thank you)

But now, I swear I am cleaning every day and doing a good, deep cleaning once a week! Why? Well, the number one reason is Camden, of course. The toddler that he is, he has no control over crumb dropping, drink spilling, toy throwing, crayon marking and otherwise destroying all that is our house. (Thank goodness it's a rental!) So, I'm constantly cleaning up and picking up after him. That's my daily routine.

Then there's laundry. Kids go through clothes like no other and I'm doing laundry ALL THE TIME. And I only have one child! I can't imagine the moms who have multiple children. Makes me want a Jetson-style self-washing washing machine should I have another kid. Like, for real.

The other part of the equation is just this particular house in this part of the world. Our house is smaller than the one we had in Seattle, but most of our rooms have laminate floors so dust bunnies are a plenty. Good thing someone invented the swiffer sweeper cause I go through Costco size packs of the stuff like it's going out of style. And since we live in Hawaii, our windows are ALWAYS open, bringing in the dirt and added dust from outside. Lovely.

And because this is an older house, there are little cracks here and there that let the insects in if you're not careful. Leave some sugar on the counter or neglect some Camden crumbs for too long and you got an ant/roach problem you do not want. Also because this house is older, there's no dish washer. Let me repeat that...NO DISH WASHER. Let's just say I have a serious case of dishpan hands.

And so, I find myself washing, sweeping, dusting, cleaning and organizing my life away. I'm now looking into new toy and book organizers to buy cause the overflow of stuff is starting to get out of hand. Target is calling me!

All I can say is, it's a good thing I'm only working part-time cause my other part-time job is spelled M-A-I-D.

our own personal entertainment.

Who needs to watch a new sitcom when you have Camden in the house? His cuteness is pure comedy all on its own.



so THIS is what it feels like to be dizzy.



ewwww. stinky feet!



Turn the volume up! When Cam isn't quite ready to sleep, he talks to himself and jumps in his crib. SO CUTE.

word explosion?

everyone keeps telling me about the "word explosion" that hit toddlers around 18-20 mos. i excitedly waited for his 18-mo bday thinking that he'll suddenly start talking. nope. 19 months...his word count has definitely increased but i wouldn't call it an explosion. then a few days ago, on may 17 to be exact, it's like something clicked in cam's head overnight. all of a sudden he was repeating all kinds of words we've been trying to get him to say for months. just in the last few days he started saying the following:



love you
apple
circle
please
thank you
one, two, three
delicious (something close to it at least!)
train
down
bowl
baby
hi
bye

but is it the explosion i've been anxiously awaiting? only time will tell but it's a word burst for sure! you don't know how excited brian and i get when cam repeats something we say. his "please" and "thank you" is quite clear and my favorite is of course when he says, "love you." :)

cam on camera

camden's doing the funniest things these days. although it's tiring, i'm really going to miss this toddler stage. he's so much fun!

here's a couple of recent videos that crack us up.


this is what happens when i don't nap at grandma's house.



and this was just this morning. low, low, low!

the opihi phase

for those of you who don' t know, an opihi is a small, snail-like creature that sticks to ocean rocks. it's also a cute term for "little one" since opihis are so tiny. hence, camden's current stage of being incredibly clingy to mommy has been coined the "opihi phase."

and an opihi he is. the last couple of months, he's become very shy around people he doesn't see often. in fact, he's pretty much shy around everyone except mommy, daddy, grandparents, uncle dave and emi. everyone else, he takes a good half hour (at least!) to warm up to. if he sees you more often, the time period is less but if you're a stranger? forget about it. this kid won't give you the time of day. he'll see you, run to me and grab onto my leg, hanging on for dear life.

but this opihi thing doesn't seem to only apply to strangers. sometimes, it applies to daddy. recently, cam's being doing this thing where if daddy's around, he ain't having any of brian. he only wants mommy. sometimes, he even wants grammy, gramps and uncle over daddy. poor brian. i don't know if it's because brian's away at work all day and cam is mad at him for being gone? brian seems to think that's what it is. makes sense, i guess. i do know for fact that camden really loves having both of us together with him. he'll start chanting, "mama, dada. mama, dada" over and over again. so perhaps he does resent brian because he's not around as much. can kids be that smart this young and unconsciously be punishing daddy for working? scary.

people say it's a phase and it'll pass. i sure hope so! i try my best to bring him around a variety of people and have been trying to have him play with other kids more often. there's a bunch of great, free activities nearby on the weekdays. bunjie the clown at the town center on mondays and keiki club at pearlridge on tuesdays. there's also tiny tots tuesdays in mauka. hopefully he won't be an opihi much longer. i want him to be more social!