TMTM.

remember the days in intermediate school when we used to use acronyms like this? here's a refresher: it means "too much to mention." and that's how i feel right now. i've been away from this blog for SO long that there is just too much to share of what's been going on. plus, with my mommy brain still intact (i'm starting to think it's a permanent state of being), i'm not sure if i can even recall all the things i'd like to share. but here it goes...

• i have been sick since the beginning of march and after two rounds of antibiotics, am FINALLY better. i coughed so much that i bruised my rib or pulled a muscle or something and had to pop ibprofen pills for a week. it hurt to lift my arm which made carrying camden loads of fun. please, viral gods, let that be my last illness of 2011!!
• we had brian's oishi family reunion in mid-april. his cali family flew in for a few days and we had jam-packed schedule of outings, dinners and all around fun with his cousins and their kids. it's great seeing cam play with his 2nd cousins! especially since he won't have many. :(
  
• i started working part-time after months of searching for the perfect gig. this mommy/work balance ain't easy, let me tell ya. thankfully, i found a 20-hour a week contract gig so i can work from home, avoid the crazy hawaii traffic and still be around for camden. he goes to my mom's on MWF and then i'm with him TTh. so far, it's been working out well!
• camden, of course, is cuter every day!! the "word explosion" has yet to hit, but he's trying. his new ones include: store, egg (ga-ga) and emi (na-na, don't ask me why). but for some reason, he no longer says "up." he just says "uh" instead. it's like the word has fallen out of his head. i'm trying not to worry about it. :/
• his newest feat is that he's learned how to climb up onto the couch all by himself! luckily, he hasn't tried escaping his crib...YET.
• cam's very into giving kisses these days. it's adorable!! he says "muah" every time he does it and periodically throughout the day will come up to me and give me muahs on my cheek, my leg, my hand, my back. i. love. it.
  
• easter's coming up and we have a big family easter dinner on brian's side. somehow being a mom has inspired me to try and be crafty against my better judgment. i'm not really the crafty kind. drawing, art...i like that better because it doesn't have to be so precise. but crafts? if it looks messy, it sucks. i'm giving it a shot tho. so, B's family will get crafty-ish little easter gifts with glue running down the sides.

here's some recent pics!



chuckecheese


aikahi park


family reunion


cousins


i love sand!


discovery center


leila's 1st birthday

new words!

yes, i'm a blogging fiend today. trying to make up for my MONTHS of neglect on this thing. so, new words camden says:

WOW (yes, caps are necessary here)
uh-oh
ball
car
turtle
no (i've only heard it a couple times, which i think is a good thing!)
yes (sounds more like "yeah" but he's trying)

and ones you have to decipher:

doh-da = toy story
rhy-sh = raisin
coco = uncle

it'll be great when he starts saying crazy sentences like "mama, coco no doh-da. rhy-sh?"

veggie tales

i'm trying my best to get cam to eat more vegetables. he's not having it. i've been making him these cheese broccoli bites that tastes more like cheese than broccoli so that's the only thing he'll eat that's not a meat, starch or fruit.

one of my baby hui mommy friends suggested putting zucchini in muffins. genius! so, i found this zucchini orange muffin recipe that's awesome. cam loves it and yay! a new veggie. i also decided to finally try and make sweet potato fries since cam won't just eat potatoes on his own. found this recipe for it and he loves that too! two for two. i'm on a roll :)

emi and camden

took camden and his cousin, emi to the playground today. they both just loved it and cam was even mad when it was time to leave. it's so great to see them play together. now that camden's a little older, i think emi sees him more as a playmate than a nuisance. haha. she really takes care of him like a big sister and it's so cute. i can't wait til cam starts talking. that's when the fun between the two of them will really begin. i can just see it now..."no, that's MY toy!" ... "no, mine! i had it first!" ... "moooommy!!!" heart.

here's some pics from their time together today. no doubt, camden loves his cousin!

more of 'how cute is my son'

he's very into sitting in his toy bin at the moment.


my lunch date.


stickers!


can you guess where i am? :)

sick, sick, sick.

march has been a rough month. camden got sick at the beginning of the month, followed closely by me coming down with a nasty cold that is STILL lingering. camden's illness started with conjunctivitus. he had mucus coming out of his eyes but they never did get pink. but i took him to the doc to get eye drops and then disinfected practically everything he touched. putting eye drops in his eyes was a blast, btw. camden would shut his eyes as tight as possible, thrash around and turn his head from side to side so it's pretty much impossible to get a drop in. the first few times i held his arms and legs down with my legs and then tried to pry an eye open and quickly get a drop in. mind you, all the while camden is crying bloody murder. our neighbors probably thought i was abusing him. the doc said to give him the drops 4 times a day at a minimum. what??? you gotta be kidding me. i then opted for just putting a couple drops on his eyelids and just hoped some of the medicine would somehow get in his eyes. seemed to worked cause the mucus stopped. but then his congestion, fever and cough kicked in so that led to sleepless nights on all fronts. it seriously was like having a newborn back in the house! let's also not forget that i am now sick with crazy congestion and a killer cough. not sleeping then gave me the worst sore throat ever, prompting me to go to the doctor myself. he gave me antibiotics which were like a gift from the heavens. they made things better but 2 weeks later and my sore throat is returning! die, superbug, die!!

camden, thank goodness, is better. his fever broke after a few days of fighting him to take his tylenol drops (what else is new?) but then the hives set it. yes, that's right...hives. he'd break out in hives after his afternoon nap every day for 4 days straight. the doctor said some viruses just have hives attached to them and there's nothing you can do but ride it out. poor camden. :( here he is sick, wanting to do nothing but watch elmo all day long. he was a trooper though and is now back to his usual, happy self.

but mommy and baby sick at the same time? definitely not a fan.

camden's first crush

the cutest thing happened today. we were at kahala mall to meet the lady who makes these awesome it's mine baby blankets and after cam devoured some sweet potato fries at the counter, he was running around the mall having a blast.

that's when cupid struck. a cute little girl a little older than cam walked by with her mommy and twin brother. at first, i didn't realize that cam had fixated on her. we were walking in the direction of our car but when the little girl turned left, cam went after her. it wasn't until i called after him 10 times telling him he's going in the wrong direction did i figure out that he was walking with purpose. the little girl was a good distance away when the light finally went off in my head.

"cam, do you want to play with that little girl?" i asked.

he nodded vigorously.

"oh, well she's far away. wave bye to her," i said.

he immediately waved in her direction. now when i ask cam to wave at people, it's a crap shoot whether or not he complies. he usually does it for people he knows, but strangers? usually not. that's when i knew he really liked her!

the girl was outside of cpk with her mom and brother. they were looking at a menu and i felt bad for cam that he really wanted to go see her. plus, i was intrigued by this whole thing and wanted to see what he'd do. so i told him, "okay, well she's standing outside the restaurant so if you want to go see her, you can."

he practically RAN over to her. SO CUTE!!

i walked a little behind him as we approached the family just to see if cam would really go right up to the girl. he slowed as he reached them but definitely walked up to her and stopped about 2 feet away.

i told the mom that he really wanted to play with her and she and i chatted for a bit. her kids were twins, 23 months old. the little girl's name was sadie.

camden stood by her but not too close, suddenly shy as i told him to say hi to sadie. after a few minutes i said, "okay, well we gotta go. want to give her a high five?"

he went to do so but sadie wasn't interested. poor camden!

i took his hand and tried to pull him away back toward our car. he protested by whining. i told him we had to go and to wave bye to sadie. he protested again. finally, i had to pick him up and carry him away as he waved goodbye over my shoulder.

halfway down the hallway back to the car, he squirmed and wanted to be put down so i plopped him on his feet. and you'll never guess what he did! he laid himself on the carpet of kahala mall because he did not want to leave!! he literally lay there on his back looking up at me. i have NEVER seen him do this and i must say, it was so sweet because i knew it was for sadie.

i had to distract him with my camera and carry him all the way back to the car just so we could get out of the mall. my little man's first crush! cutest. thing. EVER.

who knows? maybe soulmates are real. and if he ends up marrying a girl named sadie, there will be no denying it.