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Wow – here we are 24 months in. In so many ways, I feel like we deserve congratulations as parents (lol). What a journey it is raising a child!

this Post!

In some ways, I feel like it was forever ago the day Camryn was born. There are parts I remember vividly – the start of laboring at home and the unbelievable pain. Ed making me a pb&j, telling me to eat before we went to the hospital, but I just couldn’t stomach a thing. Oddly enough, I found that pb&j in the car weeks later, haha. 

I remember the long walk we took the night before I went into labor. I remember the short drive to the hospital, though it seemed extremely long. It was a rainy Wednesday morning. 

I remember feeling annoyed that I had to “check in” at the hospital, show my license and fill out forms. I still think it’s ridiculous that women in labor have to do this. The pain was excruciating. I remember sitting in the wheelchair going to our room and I immediately decided I wanted the epidural. 

I’ll never forget holding her for the first time. The nurses were worried about how small she was, and since babies usually lose weight in the first few days, they came in the room every few hours to make sure I was waking her to feed her. 

I had no idea what I was doing with breastfeeding, each feeding was so stressful. But I tried the best I could. 

The first few weeks after bringing her home are still a blur. I’m so thankful I wrote this blog so I can look back. I already have questions about what the adjustment will entail with baby #2.

There’s so much I’ve already forgotten (or maybe, blocked off from memory), but I know (hope?) these things will come back quickly. 

Camryn’s Personality

Camryn is a whole lot of energy, to put it in a sentence!

She wakes up ready to seize the day and it’s a nightly fight about bedtime because she just wants to stay up and keep hanging out. 

She doesn’t sit still for long, which is getting a little more difficult for me because I need more breaks as I get further and further into pregnancy. 

She’ll venture upstairs or down to the basement if you take your eyes off her. Or, she’ll put tater’s dry food into her water bowl, color on herself, throw things all over the place…you know, the usual. 

We have a toddler bed to transition her to, although I’m kind of terrified with that adjustment. Would love to know how other parents have handled it. I just KNOW she won’t go to sleep once she has her own bed to get in and out of. Naps seem like they will be a mess.

Camryn has what seems to be a huge vocabulary. I’m just amazed at how quickly kids pick up on new words – she’ll ask about something and I’ll tell her, and before I know it, she’s telling me about it or asking about it.

I’ve heard upwards of 100 words come out of her mouth, and most of the time, Ed and I look at each other and wonder how she learned that new word. 

She can almost speak in full sentences now, which is fascinating. They don’t always make sense, grammatically, which is my favorite part.

Like, “My come too, mommy” or “Mommy, no like it” if there’s a food she doesn’t want to eat. Her favorite bedtime term is, “no na-night, not very tired, mommy,” which makes me laugh every time. 

We are planning to start potty training any day now. We were going to start a few weeks ago, then Camryn came down with a bizarre fever (24 hour bug) so we waited. She is interested and has been for quite some time, so that will be a journey, I’m sure. 

Likes and Dislikes

She absolutely loves and adores Tater the most, probably 🙂 She wakes up in the morning asking for her. When we go upstairs to play, she’ll always ask for Tater to come, saying “pome, Tater, pome, Tater” (pome = come).

Here are some other things she enjoys:

• painting
• walking tater (holding the leash by herself)
• bubbles
• referring to herself as “pamryn”
• her ball pit in the playroom
• Frozen and Moana
• Facetiming family and friends
• monkeys
• her kitchen helper (she loves to help me in the kitchen!)
• eating whatever we’re eating
• sucking the toothpaste off her toothbrush (we use this fluoride-free toothpaste)
• saying grace at dinner and holding hands
• reading books
• chalk and dry erase markers on this board
• looking at photos of herself
• climbing on things
• naming everyone she knows in photos
• talking, in general
• the library and library books
• playgrounds

I love how she will just look at books for a long time. They can really entertain us without us “reading” to her. Her new thing at night is that she’ll read her own book and we’ll read our own books, so we’re not reading “to” her right now. 

She doesn’t like:

• bananas
• nap time or bedtime (at least right now, she protests both)
• being told “no”
• sitting in her stroller (hoping this is a temporary one) 

I feel grateful that her “like” list is much longer. 

Food

Her favorite foods are frozen blueberries, waffles, bagels, peanut butter (on anything and everything), cereal, oranges, mango, apples, peas, pasta, any type of “fries,” pizza, broccoli (she’ll eat it frozen or cooked), turkey, chips and dip, applesauce. She likes a lot.

We do our best to offer fruits/veggies at snacks, but lately, it’s been a lot of pantry foods, like chips, popcorn and the occasional cookie. 

I really am doing my best to model a good relationship with food for her, and never labeling foods as “good” or “bad.” We provide some structure for her (less lately) and let her eat until she is done. 

Really, the only food she won’t eat or try is bananas. Not sure what she has against them but she is never interested in them. Otherwise, she’ll eat pretty much everything we eat, although she may get bored with leftovers more easily. 

We’ve had fun making our own popsicles recently and making birthday cake for her birthday.

Nursing

Camryn is officially weaned as of about a week ago. The last few months has been nursing maybe once a day, mainly for comfort. But, I was ready to be done. I knew I needed some time for myself before baby #2 comes.

The weaning process wasn’t very bad at all, especially since it was gradual. I had lecithin on hand in case I needed it from some bad clogs last year.

The last few times she asked for milk, I calmly told her mommy had a “boo boo.” There were some tears but they quickly subsided. Now she’s more cuddly which makes me happy that shes cuddling for just “me” and not “milk,” and she’s drinking so much more whole milk now. 

Thoughts On #2

I have a separate post coming on this topic but for now, here is where I’m at. I don’t think there’s any easy way to say I’m not at all looking forward to the night wakings again.

The newborn stage seems even more intimidating in a way now that I know what to expect. 

I’m also quite apprehensive of doing all of this with a functioning, energetic toddler at home, too. I just plan on taking it day by day, and hoping for the best.

I have a slew of easy meals we’ve been making on rotation now, so hopefully that won’t be a problem. I’ll try to make some easy freezer meals for pregnancy, too. 

Most of all, I am really excited about Camryn having a sibling and “play mate.”

Surprisingly, I’m more excited than I thought I would be about being surprised about the gender. The hard part will be decorating (or lack thereof), without knowing, but we’ll do the best we can. If we have another girl, we’re all set with plenty of clothes, and if we have a boy, well, he’ll wear lots of his older sister’s hammy downs. 

Mamma’s, if you were surprised with the gender, how did you “plan?” Would love any tips!

Hope you are staying safe and thanks for stopping by the blog today!