I haven’t been so great at staying caught up on my blog! For some reason having another child made me feel like I have less and less time to stay caught up on life things, such as our family blog… :)
Our summer has been off to a great start! My biggest fear is that Ryan would be working around the clock with lots of overnights and weekend work, but my fear hasn’t been confirmed yet! Not that it isn’t good for our bank account, but it’s amazing for our family and for my sanity! God certainly does know what He’s giving to you and know how much you can handle – I thought for sure I’d be pulling my hair out with not having Ryan around so much! We’ve had an incredibly wet start to the summer, so it’s not to say that things could change depending on the weather.
Cameron has been an amazing big brother to Abbie and their brother/sister relationship continues to grow. After Abbie was born, Cameron turned into a totally different child – the so called “terrible twos” really came out. I honestly had no clue who our child was for a while – he was hitting, kicking, biting, having major meltdowns, throwing things, telling people to shut-up, having screaming melt downs at Target, etc. Anything and everything you can name that a toddler would do, he was doing it and he was doing it all at once. Then one day, back in May, it was like a switch was turned and he became himself again. His same sweet, loveable, caring self – ok, he still has some tantrums mixed in here and there, but then again who doesn’t?!
Here are other Cameron-life highlights and cute sayings:
* When he wants his picture taken: “Picture me, mom!”. Oh, and he loves to take selfies, ha ha!
* Riding the train with me to work – he LOVED it! He kept asking for the “doctor” (conductor) and he finally got to meet the conductor :) He also got to ride the "alligator" (escalator) a few times when we got downtown which made him so excited!
* Continues to be a big helper with his sister – getting bottles, helping pick up toys, lying next to her on the floor, pushing her in her walker (and yes, running her into walls…), talking to her while she’s in her jump-a-roo, and singing songs to her
"Tucking in" Abbie and all her animals before bed
* He calls Abbie “his stister", it's so adorable!
* "Mom! Mom! The lions are getting me" Cameron squealed as he was riding his 4 wheeler one evening. "Oh, just kidding, it's only a dinosaur"
* Potty training is still an adventure... He'll do so good but then completely regresses again... Sigh. He did want to go buy big boy undies but as soon as we got them home and put one pair on, he wanted to take them right off... Big. Sigh.
* He's getting really good with counting (he can count to 20 pretty good, usually misses 16, 17 and skips to 20 :)) and is also getting better with his shapes (rectangle, circle, square). Colors are something we're still working on!
* C: Mommy, where's daddy?
Me: He's at work, Buddy
C: Do you have to go to work too, mommy?
Me: Yeah buddy I do
C as he pulls out his lip in the picture below: Mommy puh leez don't go to work today. I want to be with you
C: Is your name Jamie?
Me: Yes it is but you should call me mommy
C: I'm Manke Ryan.
Me: Oh you are?
C: Yup, Cameron Ryan Manke
Little miss Abbie is quite the strong growing girl! She's been sleeping through the night pretty consistently since 9 weeks and eats about 35 oz/day. We started solids this week - avocados, sweet potatoes and carrots. She absolutely LOVES to eat and is devouring her solids!!
Eating rice cereal for the first time!
*4 month well child stats: 13 lbs, 12 oz (60th percentile) and 25 3/4 inches long (95 percentile) with a head circumference in the 90th percentile.
*Started to roll at an early age - around 3 months she was rolling both ways!
* Started to army crawl this week!! Look out, if she wants to get something or go somewhere, she'll do it!!! She learned how to crawl before she can even sit by herself!
* She loves her Lambie that my parents got her for her baptism. She snuggles Lambie every night and when she gets sleepy. It's so cute :)
* Her latest thing when sitting in her high chair is to bang her left hand on the top of the high chair. Maybe we'll have a leftie?!
Even though I am flat out exhausted after working all day and the kids can test us to our limits, we wouldn't trade them for anything! We love those two munchkins so so much!!!
Golfing with Papa
First time riding in daddy's truck!
Playing in his "cool" (aka: pool)
We love to FaceTime auntie!!
Cameron + Willow = Buddies!
I'm so strong, mom!
Happy, happy, happy!! We were blessed with another happy and charming babe!!
Sleepover at cousin Elijah's!!
