Happy 3rd Birthday Alexander!

    Alexander,
         Happy Birthday to you, my wild, strong willed, sweet hearted, special little boy. You are not a toddler anymore, but a preschooler. In my heart you will always be my first baby. You came into our lives 3 years ago today and have taught us more about life than I ever thought imaginable. You made us parents and for that we are so thankful. Your pregnancy was super easy (unlike your brother) and you barely moved when you were inside of me. I thought for for sure you would come out with a halo over top of your head, but boy was I mistaken! ;) You came out with the "pouty lip" as we call it and still see that same look today 3 years later.
        You, Alexander, are witty. You come up with things everyday that knock your parents off their feet.  You know your colors, ABC's, can recognize all upper case letter although you still struggle with lower case ones, can count to 20, you can recognize most shapes, can read me books that you are very familiar with, can go to all our different vegetable plants and explain to me what each one is and how it is currently doing, you are fully daytime potty trained, and you still love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse just as you did as an infant.  You also still love books! You love outside and if given the chance, would stay out there, maybe even live out there. You can't get enough of fire trucks, air planes, and helicopters in books and from afar, but when given the chance to hop in to one of those you are not such a brave little boy anymore.
      One special thing about you is that you LOVE music. I am pretty sure you are musically talented. For the past year you could sing songs that you have heard a couple times and can drum beats of songs on the table while you wait for you meals to be made.You also still loved to be sung to. When we lay you down for your nap/bedtime you often say, "Sing that song to me like when I was a baby." And we will sing "Jesus Loves Me" to you, just like we have everyday for the past 3 years.
     You my love, are strong willed and tender hearted all at the same time. From day one you have had strong determination, and although hard on Mommy and Daddy, I know it will be an attribute down the road. You also have a sweet, loving, tender side. You hate to see people upset, in pain and have most of time been nothing but loving to your little brother who came in fast and stole your thunder. You will run up to me throughout the day, wrap your arms around my legs and exclaim how much you love me. Melts my heart every single time. You accepted Camden and all his special needs from the beginning and it was a blessing beyond measure. I am pretty sure you can't ever remember life without your best friend.
    One of the biggest qualities about you Alexander is your outgoing personality. You LOVE everyone. You have never, ever met a stranger. You will talk to anyone and everyone who will listen and want to befriend them. When we are out you will try to carry on a conversation with anyone, ask them to come to your house to play and even sometimes go as far as to try and hold their hands. Although I sometimes worry you would go off with a stranger if given the chance, I know that this quality too will be a huge attribute to you in life.
    Lastly, Alexander I want you to know how much we love you. The terrible two's with you were not so terrible at all. They were actually terrific. I think we might have it coming with 3's! Don't get me wrong it wasn't easy, but we loved every second of you being two. Camden was born less than a week after you turned two and you kept us going through all the hard times with him. Thank you for that my love!  God gave us you first for a reason. You made us laugh everyday and we simply couldn't imagine life without our surprise baby. You look exactly like your Daddy and Mommy wouldn't have it any other way. We love you more than you will ever know and we look forward to spending this next year with you. Happy 3rd Birthday Alexander. You are Mommy and Daddy's heart! <3

Alexander Joseph 3 days old

3 months

6 months

1 year

18 months

2 years

2.5

                                                                     3
                                                       

Happy 11 months Camden Thomas!

      

    Wow! It just can't be! 11 months...I was in complete denial until I started writing this post. It is so hard for me to believe that you, Camden Thomas, are going to be a toddler next month. That you will no longer be my baby anymore. Yet, I love watching you grow. You get sweeter by the day and give kisses like its your job in life. You look forward all day to Dadda walking through the front door and you put on a show when he does. You love your Momma, Dadda is your hero and you think the world revolves around your big bro. It shows in every hug, kiss and giggle you give every single day.

     Camden, you are a charmer for sure. You LOVE women, not so much men. I think those big blue eyes are gonna give the ladies are run for their money one day. And sorry son, but you look more like your mother all the time. Your crazy, funny personality has shown through even more this month and it has been so much fun!

    You, my sweet boy, have inspired me in so many ways. You have taught me that life is short and tomorrow is never guaranteed.  Through you the Lord has been convicting my heart about home schooling you and your bother. Something that I thought I would never do or ever desired to do, but am now earnestly praying about.

   I look forward to watching you grow into your own little person, only having one wish for you life...that you love the Lord with all your heart, body and mind.  That you will be a light in this oh so dark world for him. 

  Favorite things: Little People Noah's Ark set, Jumping Zebra, the plastic chicken leg and your Brother's tent.

Favorite food: Chex mix, waffles, crackers, rice cakes, any cereal, carbs, carbs, carbs

Least favorite Food: You hate all baby food right now...yet you refuse to eat any fruits or veggies cut up. You spit out all the purees in disgust and smile when we pull out your loved waffles. You are and apparently always will be my finicky eater.

 Favorite things to do: take big brother's toys, catching bubbles, being outside, going to feed the ducks..you smile when they waddle by, hide with big brother in the tent, play with grandparents, take a bath in the big boy bath tub... you scream when Dadda pulls you out and go on any type of errand.

New things/Milestones: you are still belly crawling, not pulling up yet, have began to sign "more" and wave bye-bye :)
                                    

        Happy 11 months Camden. Even though I will cry buckets when you turn 1, I will be thankful that it's just one more month we have been blessed to spend with you!
                                                    

Pickin' "Qawlberries"

    Ant decided to take this past Friday off so we could take the boys strawberry picking. A tradition that my family started when I was little and we went every year, sometimes multiple times, since I can remember. I have sweet memories of jumping on the tractor with my brothers, sugar cup in hand, ready to eat strawberries like it was no body's business.  I also remember my Nanny and Great Aunt June taking lawn chairs out, sitting in the middle of the field and just eating away. I wonder why the Berry Farm all of a sudden started charging to go pick!? ;) This is such a sweet tradition for me and one I wanted to start with my boys! 

    We went early that morning in hopes of beating the heat and the crowds. We were successful on beating the heat, but not so much the crowds. We decided we were going to make the best of it and when we went to hop on the tractor Alexander had a mini melt down. He was TERRIFIED of this  huge thing we called a "tractor" b/c in his all his stories tractors did not look like this one! We finally convinced him to get on and after waiting a few minutes we were riding the tractor down a bumpy road excited about what was in store.

  Alexander decided picking was for the birds and literally ate the entire time we were on the patch...when I say he ate....that meant stem, leaves and all. Finally I just started picking them for him b/c he was to busy eating to pull the stems off. Thankfully Dadda did all the picking for us while we sat and ate. And all Alexander could get out between bites was, "Mmmmm  these qawlberries are soooo good mommy. These are so good. MMMMM." And there it was. The innocence in his face that  I remember as a child, eating away, like it was the best thing I ever tasted in my life and not worried at all that if I didn't put any in my bucket, that I wouldn't have any to take home.  He enjoyed every.single.moment.....until we told him it was time to get back on the tractor so we could go home.

  All in all, it was a perfect family morning. I was totally SHOCKED at how much Camden enjoyed it too. He rode on my back in the ergo, smiled at all the strangers, kicked during the tractor ride with excitement and giggled at his brother while he watched him stuff his face. 

  I hope one day my boys can look back on this tradition and treasure it as much as I do. It is simply a blissful time of picking, eating and enjoying each others company. <3

                                    2010 Alexander 10.5 months old

2011

                Camden's first trip ;) He ate LOTS of strawberries!

                                  

oh that baby...

   I know I blog A LOT about Camden and I am sorry...I just can't help myself. 

I remember when we found out we were pregnant with Camden,
we were hoping for a girl. We have always wanted one of each gender and in our minds at the time, having a little girl would complete our family. Silly me, God had BIGGER plans. 

Not only did we have another boy, but we had a hard pregnancy and a sick baby. Our lives were flipped upside down and at the time I thought life was spiraling out of control. God was there. He knew exactly what we needed and he placed him right into our arms. I remember feeling like something was always missing after Alexander turned one and I didn't know why. Like someone was missing...we weren't complete. Camden Thomas was missing...my heart is complete, our family is complete.

 He brings more joy to our family than I EVER thought imaginable. Sometimes when he laughs I cry...and I am not sure why. I don't know if it is because I never thought we would be where he is now or if its just because I love him so much. 

By the grace of God I can barely remember the NICU stay, counting his every breath till he was 3 months old, watching the light on his apnea monitor blink at night while he slept so I  knew he was still breathing. No, I hardly remember those days and honestly I never want to. What I do remember is unplugging him sometimes at night and placing him on my chest skin to skin. Feeling his every breath on me and breathing a sigh of relief because I knew he was okay.

Life with Camden hasn't been easy. Every. single. step. has been a struggle, but it has been more than a blessing to me. God has used Camden to bring me to my knees over and over again. Camden has made me a better wife, mother and friend. My husband and I have a deeper relationship and love for one another because of this sweet boy.

Why I ever doubted the Lord about who he placed in my womb, I will never know. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.'" James 1:17. Camden is good, Camden is perfect in every way and Camden is a gift from above.

 That baby..oh that baby. He brings joy to my soul everyday. Anthony and I have a special  time with him in the mornings before we get his big brother up. We laugh, giggle and cuddle and we can't help but be overjoyed.  The Lord knew exactly what our hearts needed....and it was Camden Thomas. Thanks be to God for choosing us to be his parents. I cannot imagine life without this amazing little boy and Alexander would be lost without his best friend. <3

                                                       

Happy 10 months Poduh!

 


  I just can't BELIEVE my baby is in the double digits! 10 months old..2 months from the big 1! It just can't be! It has been a long 10 months for this Fahed fam, but I still am completely shocked that Camden is almost one. He somehow along the lines got dubbed the name "Poduh" and Alexander has become "Bubba." I have no idea why or where it came from. Which I am doing my best to stop calling Alexander "Bubba" since we all know that is my dad's name....but I'm finding it a hard habit to break.

    Anyways this post is about my sweet Camden. I remember praying over my pregnancy with Camden often and asking for God to bless us with a cuddly baby. If you know my Alexander, you know why! The Lord delivered and Camden is my cuddle bug still. If he isn't rolling around, he wants to be held, hugged, kissed or on Momma's back in the Ergo. He will give kisses on demand and I can't help but eat up every single open mouth slobbery kiss from this precious miracle from God. He has a thing for Grammy and kisses her over, over, and over again anytime she visits. He is still Alexander's biggest fan. Alexander claps...Camden belly laughs. Alexander sneezes...Camden belly laughs. Alexander simply looks Camden's way...and Camden, well, he belly laughs. :) Alexander is just the greatest in Camden's book. They can often be found bear hugging on the floor kissing when I return to the playroom. 

  Camden's little personalty has really been coming out lately and he is such a delight! He brings so much joy to our little family and I simply couldn't imagine life without him. Not only does Camden look like me, his personality is a lot like me too. He is shy, happy, finicky, quirky, funny and honestly a little OCD. He rolls over to the kitchen set and opens it and closes it a bazillion times until he sees you watching him and then he busts out in laughter like he was caught doing something wrong. He has this crazy head shake thing he does and he knows if he flashes his "scrunchy nose squinty eye" smile we all will immediately burst into laughter. He also is very funny about Alexander's play food. As soon as I lay him down in the play room he turbo rolls over to the play food box, knocks it over, spills the food everywhere and searches through it till he finds the ice cream cone..every.single.time!...Now tell me he isn't my twin? ;)

    When it comes to his laryngomalacia he is still doing well, although we are still being extra cautious with him. He still has stridor frequently, but it's not consistent by any means. Just when I forget there is anything wrong with him, he will wheeze and put me right back in my place. The place right under his neck and above his collar bones still sucks in when he breaths...I am hoping that will go away one day too. He has not been scoped by the ENT since 3 months and we agreed with our pediatrician to just give him time to heal. Camden is not doing well with table food b/c of his LM. Alexander was on all table food by time he was 9.5 months old, but with Camden we are going to have to take things very slowly as he chokes very easily with thicker textures. I keep reminding myself to milk spoon feeding him, bottle feeding and babying him as best as I can because he is probably our last. All in all Camden hasn't outgrown his LM as fast we were praying, but we were told b/w 12-24 months is when most outgrow it completely and we are trusting in God's perfect timing.

Favorite things: jumparoo, cups, empty bottles, anything his BROTHER has, cars, Alexander's little people race track and don't DARE take his sippy cup away from him

Favorite food: Chex mix!, mixed veggies, sweet potatoes, green beans, mango, carrots

Least favorite Food: still hates applesauce, spinach and SOUR PATCH POPSICLE

Favorite things to do: take big brother's toys, going for walks, hiding with brother under his tent and dumping all the water out of his sippy cup

New things/Milestones:Camden is still working on crawling and has picked up a bunch of new sounds lately. His first word was "Mommmmma" around 8 months and  now says, "Dadda," "Babba," "Gagaga" :)

            And this Ladies and Gentlemen is what happens when you give Camden a Sour Patch Popsicle.

Whatcha got there Dad? Care to share?

He was NOT a fan! Poor guy!

                                                       

Happy Easter Ya'll

          There In The Ground His Body Lay
Light Of The World By Darkness Slain
Then Bursting Forth In Glorious Day
Up From The Grave He Rose Again
And As He Stands In Victory
Sin's Curse Has Lost Its Grip On Me
For I Am His And He Is Mine
Bought With The Precious Blood Of Christ

    Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter! What a privilege it is to celebrate the fact that Jesus is RISEN! Praise the Lord the tomb was empty! I get a lump in my throat and teary eyed at the thought of the stone being rolled away and there being nothing but an empty tomb. I am so thankful he LIVES today. I  honestly wouldn't have a purpose in life if it wasn't for my Savior.  Thanks be to God for sending his one and only son to die on the cross for me. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again! Praise his holy name!