Santa is coming!

Cameron had a little sit down with the big guy today. He didn't seem scared, but was very interested in his beard. I didn't hear any words exchanged, so I'm going to assume Cameron has already mailed his list to the north pole.

Goodbye Mullet......

Cameron's hair was starting to resemble the Vikings' resident white-trash redneck, Jared Allen, so Aunt Nancy was kind enough to give him a trim on our last trip to Cumberland. We preferred to call it by it's french name....pronounced Moo-lay, but alas, it was becoming too embarassing to be seen in public.

Seven Teeth

I think this picture is pretty much self-explanatory. Although there appears to be a new tooth on the horizon.

Birthday Party / Big Brother

Cameron traveled to Cumberland last weekend to celebrate his birthday again. He enjoyed the homemade birthday cake much better than the store bought cake he had for his other party. In the pictures, you can see he viciously attacked the piece of cake and then put up his index finger to symbolize his dominance. Or it might have been that he was simply indicating that he is still one year old despite having two birthday parties. In the last photo, Cameron seems to be indicating that he will be a big brother approximately June 22, 2009. We're hoping that he can wipe his own butt and carry on a conversation by then!

Sad Leopard

Cameron was sick on Halloween so he wasn't able to participate, although I don't think he cared. These pictures were taken when he tried on his costume. As you can see in the last picture, he wasn't too happy. Interestingly, this is a costume my mom made for me when I was approximately three years old. It has been worn by many children over the years and apparently has shrunk since it fits Cameron perfectly.

Cameron's First Birthday

Cameron celebrated his first birthday at Grandma & Grandpa Staloch's yesterday. Surprisingly, he wasn't very interested in eating cake. I would have thought that after being deprived of sugar for a whole year, he would have consumed the entire cake himself. However, he could have cared less. He was very excited to play with the boxes and paper from his presents and he also liked his new Winnie the Pooh trike. As you can see in the last picture, he didn't want to wear his birthday hat. He must have seen what I looked like wearing one.

Fall Fun

Grandma & Grandpa Rydberg came for a visit last weekend and Tracy, Cameron, and Grandma went for a walk to Aunt Dar & Uncle Paul's. Cameron enjoyed the nice weather and played in the leaves.

Kisses for everyone

Recently Riley Schmidt came over to check out Cameron's new wheels and judging by the pictures, they also played Doctor. It appears they had a good time, but unfortunately, it looks like Cameron is two-timing her with Tuttie.

A few random pictures

Here's a few random pictures from the past few days. They depict a typical week in the life around here. The first picture shows Cameron, Riley & Stella. They met for "coffee with mom" before story time at the Red Balloon. I'm not sure what was so interesting in the fountain, but they seemed to think it was pretty cool. In the next photo, Cam is testing out his first pair of Nike's that cousin Jay bought him when he was born. As you can see, tubby time is when we experiment with new hairstyles. Finally, rainy days are fun when you've got the right gear.

GO PACK GO!

I think this picture is pretty much self explanatory. Cameron was pretty excited his favorite team beat the Vikings.

Cameron's Vacation

It's been awhile since our last update, but it's been a busy couple of weeks. Tracy, Cameron, Linda, Kyle, Kent & Leslie went to Prairie du Chien the weekend of Aug. 22 to visit Tracy's grandparents. They enjoyed their visit and especially Dorothy's good cooking and Ken's incredible garden. Cameron enjoyed playing with Uncle Kent and as you can tell he really enjoyed "exploring" the fireplace as well as everything else. Shortly after they got back, Tracy and I went to San Franciso for a few days. Cameron had a vacation of his own and enjoyed staying at Grandma & Grandpa Rydbergs house. Unfortunately, he hasn't shared any pictures of his vacation with us, although we heard there was plenty of excitement due to Tuttie's encounter with a skunk.

Elvis or the Count?

Here are a few recent pictures of Cameron. In the first picture you can see the new face he has been showing. We think he looks a lot like Elvis. The second shows him standing next to the "play yard" on loan from the Olson's. (Thanks Rochelle) And finally, the third pic shows Cameron's dental progress. He still resembles "The Count", but his middle two top teeth are on the verge of making an appearance....hopefully.

Grandma's for the weekend

Tracy had to work last weekend, so Cameron and I traveled to Cumberland to spend some time at grandma and grandpa's house. We were able to do some swimming on saturday and on sunday we visited Great Grandma Irene and ate some pizza.

Cameron "The Count"

Recently, Cameron has started to resemble "The Count" from Sesame Street. If his first words turn out to be....One, ahh, ahh, ahh, Two, ahh, ahh, ahh......then we can confirm there was a mix-up at the hospital. Anyone know a good lawyer?

Owww, my eye..........

Cameron and Tuttie are pretty much inseparable these days. He is not very gentle with her though and fortunately, she is with him. I suppose it's the price you have to pay to the person that's responsible for all of the tasty treats she's gotten lately.

The McCracken Gang

The McCracken Gang got together for a meeting the other day. As you can tell from the picture, Braeden and Ty didn't care for the trash talking Cameron was dishing out with regard to the upcoming Vikings season. Apparently Cameron feels the Packers will fare just fine without #4. Cameron told the McCracken's that the only person that does more crying than them is Brett Favre.

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha.....

Cameron has gotten two new choppers, so we decided it was probably a good idea to brush them. He gets very mad when you try to take the tooth brush away from him though. With the amount of brushing he'd like to do, his little teeth would be nothing but little nubs.

Yo, Yo, Yo, Where My Peeps At?

Considering Tracy and I both hate rap music, we're hoping this isn't a sign of things to come.

Swimmingly.........

It has finally gotten warm enough to go swimming, so we went to Cumberland to enjoy our brief summer. It seems everyone wanted to go swimming including Tuttie. Cameron enjoyed his first time swimming at Great Grandma and Grandpa Cifaldi's house. Considering the water was still fairly cool, we think he did very well. As far as Tuttie, that is a whole different story. We used to take her to the lake to swim B.C. ( before Cameron ), but now it's too much of a hassle keeping tabs on her as well as watching a baby. So, to spite us, she decided to do a little goose hunting in the lake behind Grandma & Grandpa Rydberg's house. The picture doesn't do justice to how much filth was on her. I was attempting to light the grill when I heard a huge splash and frantic honking. I ran down to the lake, yelling for Tuttie, but didn't see any sign of her. The geese were casually swimming toward the middle of the lake by this time and I thought she may have gotten tangled in some weeds and drowned. After what seemed like 5 minutes, but was probably more like one minute, I heard some rustling in the cat tails. She seemed a little confused and was no worse for wear despite being filthy. Needless to say, the geese never came back. Thank God!

Clap...Clap...Clap your hands....

Happy Father's Day!

Cameron went to Cumberland to visit Grandpa Rich for Father's Day. While he was there, he learned to clap and discovered his first tooth.

Lions and Tigers and Bears......

Cameron took his first trip to Como Zoo today. He was fairly disinterested in the Lions and Tigers (the bears are on hiatus). However, he did seem to like the Giraffes, Zebras, and Lesser Kudu's. We're pretty sure he would have liked Sparky's show too, but it was his day off.

Batter Up!

Grand 'Ol Day

It was Grand 'Ol Day on Sunday and we experienced this annual festivity in a new fashion. We attended the "kiddie parade". I have to be honest, I didn't know this parade even existed since Grand 'Ol Day activities of years past usually consisted of the consumption of some ice cold beverages while lounging on the front lawn of my old apartment. This was usually combined with critiquing the attire, or lack thereof, of the many passersby. When taking into consideration the shenanigans of years past, maybe the kiddie parade isn't such a bad thing. The first photo is of Cameron riding his first hog (actually it was a hippo, but hog sounds cooler), the second is Cameron and his friend Reese Compton who was visiting from Nebraska, and finally the third is Cameron and Gabby Bauers "making out" after the parade.