Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

While we were on vacation in St. Louis we were finally able to check out the new Busch Stadium. I almost didn't go because I was afraid to leave Cameron since he wasn't in the best of moods, but I'm so glad Grandma insisted I go! The stadium was awesome! I was a little upset when I heard they were building a new one because I hate change and I am sentimental with everything...even baseball fields. But this park really won me over! It has an old-time feel with all the modern conveniences, including escalators! I hated when we had high seats at the old stadium and had to walk up all those ramps!

Since Steve Glodo was running the show, we made it to the stadium pretty early and had plenty of time to check things out before the game started. We stopped for a few photos outside:

Owen and Stan the Man

Being that this was Owen's first MLB game, I wasn't sure how he would do so I thought I should bring plenty of ammunition to fight boredom. I thought a backpack would be easiest to carry around but forgot to bring one. Fortunately, Maddy came to my rescue:

That's right, I rocked the Hannah Montana!

Third Base Entrance

All around the stadium there are plaques like these:

They were designed by one of my friends from college, Gabe Drueke, who is also from Southern Illinois. I had heard all about them but I was so excited to be able to see them firsthand! I was so impressed with what a great job he did!

Maddy had a gift card to Build-A-Bear and they happened to have one inside the stadium. So she took advantage of the situation and made her own Fred Bird.

The funny thing about this is that if the real Fred Bird comes within 100 feet of her she is consumed with fear and will not go anywhere near him.

We had great seats along the third baseline and took a little time to hang out by the dugout before the game to watch batting practice and possibly score some autographs. Unfortunately, we had no luck with the autographs but Owen still enjoyed himself.



One of my favorite things about the new stadium is how open it feels. You can see right into it from the street and inside, you have an awesome view of the city:

We were even lucky enough to find ourselves on the jumbo-tron:

Yes, that's me taking a picture of myself on the jumbo-tron. I was actually trying to get a picture of Owen and Cody on there because the guy got a great close-up of them, but I was too late and got myself instead!

Alas, the Cards couldn't pull out a win for us but a great time was still certainly had by all! And Maddy and Owen were just happy they got to spend a little time with their Grandpa.

Vacay in the Lou

This year we decided to take our family vacation in St. Louis, where my brother lives. Grandma and Grandpa came up from Murphysboro and we all stayed at Uncle Josh and Aunt Angie's house from Friday to Wednesday. Everyone but Cameron thought this was a great idea. He did NOT enjoy the sleeping arrangments made for him and decided it might be best to give his brother a run for his money on that whole screaming-louder-than-a-howler-monkey thing. I'm pretty sure Cameron won, hands-down. And I'm pretty sure Uncle Josh would agree with me. So, I did something I have NEVER done, swore I would NEVER do, and swear I will NEVER do again...I slept in a bed with him. Never say never, right? While I did enjoy my baby boy cuddling up next to me and falling asleep, I only enjoyed it for about 10 minutes. This Mama needs her rest and she can't get it sleeping with a toddler!

Cameron's mood on this trip was unfavorable, to say the least. We thought it might be teeth, then we thought it might be his ears, but now we think we have come to the general conclusion that he just likes to be at home in his own space, in his own bed, where there are no crowds. I also think he is getting into that whole separation anxiety stage when we put him to bed at night, which would explain the incessant screaming. I'm happy to say that while it is not completely eradicated, it is way lessened and everyone is sleeping in their own quarters. We've had a few rough nights but it hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Of course, the downside to this is that I am now completely terrified to ever travel with him again. I worry about what this means for him as he grows and fear that he is going to be painfully shy around most people. Come on, did you really think I wouldn't try to turn this in to some sort of life-altering situation? You all must know me better than that! ;)

Anyway, enough of my babbling, if you've even made it this far. Let's get on with some pictures.

Our first stop was the zoo. Why are there no pictures of the zoo, you ask? That would be because we never got out of the car. We drove around numerous places in Forest Park looking for a parking place and after many "You-ees from St. Louie" on my dad's part, we never found one. It was crazy busy there so we decided to head to Grant's Farm instead. This was not before Owen cried because we told him we were going to the zoo, he saw the zoo, and then 10 minutes later we told him we were leaving said zoo.

We finally made it to Grant's Farm and checked out the World Famous Clydesdales before heading in:




It is taking everything I have to avoid any references to Owen having his picture taken with a horse's butt. ;) So I'll just digress...

As we were crossing the street to the entrance the crossing guard welcomed Cody and told him that "we have lots of great t-shirts available for purchase in our General Store." You guessed it, Cody wore a Cubs shirt in Cardinal territory and it only took about 10 minutes for someone to notice. There's not much we could do since 75% of his t-shirts have some reference to the Cubs on them.

Once we got in, we stopped to pose for a family photo. Well, a most-of-the-family photo. Danielle wasn't able to make it with us and Josh and I were taking the picture. You can see good evidence of Cameron's overall mood if you look at my brother's version of this picture on his blog.


We then headed over to the carousel, where Owen and Maddy rode with Grandma, all in their matching shirts that Grandma got them.

Cameron sat on the side-lines and watched with wide-eyed wonder as they went 'round and 'round. It was one of the few times during the day that he was actually content.

Then we checked out lots of animals, like cool birds:

And big 'ol turtles:

Of course, the highlight of the trip was the new Elephant show, featuring Bud the Elephant.

Be sure to read my brother's lovely recap of this show when you head over to his blog.

After a long, hot day, and a long, hot wait in the line to catch the tram back to the parking lot, we were finally on the tram headed home. No one was happier to hear that than our sweet, little Cameron, who was tired of being cooped up in his stroller all day:

Of course, this was not before someone decided it would be a great idea to purchase harmonicas for Owen and Maddy. By the end of the night, we were all regretting that idea. And we weren't the least bit upset when Owen's harmonica was lost at Uncle Josh's and still has not resurfaced.

Stay tuned for more pictures!

Big News for the Little Dude

There were times I thought it would never happen, but I am delighted to bring you the latest bit of Muhs news...Cameron is walking!!! He often has the gait of a drunken sailor and still crawls a lot of the time but HE IS WALKING! While he was letting go a bit during our vacation a few weeks ago at my brother's house, he didn't really take real steps until he went to Murphysboro with Grandma & Grandpa. Yes, that's right, the moment Cody and I have waited on pins and needles for happened while we were losing our life savings having a great time at Ameristar Casino in St. Louis. Here's the footage to prove it:

I've already signed him up for his first 5k.

Nature Boy

Owen and Daddy were playing outside one evening and got some great photos of our big boy enjoying nature!

One of this favorite things to do outside is to sit in his chair in the driveway, which is seated right next to his Daddy's chair. He likes to chill with Dad while listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers, his new favorite band (Metallica is a close second), on the cd player. Cody is happy to have his own Mini-me!

Messy Marvin

Like most 17-month-olds, Cameron is quite a messy eater. He often ends up with food all over his clothes and fruit juice caked in his hair. And, really, what makes for a cuter picture than that?

His shirt was so messy I had to take it off and his hair was so crazy because it was all sticky!!

He most definitely inherited his mother's eating habits!

Special Delivery!

I've always said that I don't know why we bother to spend money on toys when kids are so easily entertained by a box...



But who wouldn't love to get this package at their front door? With a face that cute, you could totally look past the fact that he asks you the same question 15 times in the span of 5 minutes, that he screams louder than most howler monkeys, or that he won't touch most vegetables with a 15-foot pole! Or is that something only a mother can do?

"Here, have some!"

Cameron's newest thing is feeding all of us. He gets the biggest kick out of taking his Cheerios and putting them in all of our mouths. After he gets one in, he mimmicks the chewing with his own mouth. A little annoying getting Cheerios from the grubby hands of a one-year-old, but cute, nonetheless. Owen thinks it's great!

Now if I could just teach him to cook our dinners...

Startin' 'Em Young

A few weeks ago I was out doing some shopping and came home to find this:


This is the wheel that we use for MarioKart on the Nintendo Wii. Daddy was playing because Owen likes to watch him play but he said Cameron wanted to get in on the fun, too. It's only a matter of time before this apparatus is no longer Mommy and Daddy's!

*Carmen, tell Mole that it won't be long before Cameron is ready to take his Monkey you-know-what on! ;)

PBS Rocks

The boys love to watch TV together in the basement. I think it's mostly because they can sit a foot away from our too-cheap-to-buy-a-TV-stand set-up that we have going on down there. I spend half of my day pulling them farther away from it but they always end up right in front of it again. It does make for some cute pictures though...even if they won't look at the camera because their faces are glued to the TV.

Owen loves to sit with Cameron like this. Cameron tolerates it for a few minutes and then he's done.

How many more years do I have before they're watching WWE and wrestling with each other in this very spot?

Gone Fishin'

Cody got the bright idea to take Owen fishing over Memorial Day Weekend. He found a lake fairly close by, bought a pole for himself (Owen had one from our trip to the Ozarks last year), and off they went. They spent a couple of hours both Saturday and Monday and never did catch anything. Being a rural girl and having a brother who used to live to fish, I have gotten such a kick out of watching this "city boy" try to learn how to fish. He was so frustrated after 2 days of not catching anything and has now made it his goal to catch one before Owen decides fishing isn't fun anymore. And, of course, like everything my Engineer husband does, he has been researching and asking different people what he can do to increase his chances of catching a fish. In the meantime, I'm trying to be encouraging and not laugh at him.

All that fishing can really wear a guy out, so Owen decided he should just take a little rest:


Hopefully I'll be posting a picture of them each holding up a fish before summer's end!

There's a reason it's free...

When we had our meeting to go over our plan for Cameron, his intervention teacher informed me that on her first visit with him, she would do some sort of timed-play thing with him involving a doll house and accessories for observation/evaluation purposes. When she showed up 2 weeks ago for the appointment, she had forgotten the house. I thought it was a little odd that you would forget something that was seemingly the purpose of the visit but I let it go.

Our second appointment was scheduled for yesterday at 8:30am. We did this so that Owen might still be sleeping and it would be easier to work with Cameron without also having to entertain Owen. I deliberately kept Owen up later the night before so that he would surely sleep in the following morning. At 8:35am my phone rang.

"Sarah? This is Cathryn. I'm running late."

I wasn't really sure how someone gets behind schedule so early in the day but I said, "Ok."

"I just didn't know if you were waiting for me so I just wanted to call and tell you that I'm leaving the office now and will be there soon."

She didn't know if I was waiting for her? Um, hello? Why wouldn't I be waiting on someone who was supposed to be at my house at a scheduled time? I mean, really, what the hell kind of question was that? Of course I was waiting on her! I had stayed up late the night before cleaning my house. I woke up extra early and actually put on something other than my normal knit pants and sloppy shirt. I even brushed my teeth and put on make-up. I prepared for her because SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!

She showed up 15 minutes later (I believe her office is about 2 miles away from our house so I'm not really sure why it took 15 minutes if she was leaving right then.) with her dollhouse and accessories in tow. She brought them in and plopped them all out on the coffee table. Cameron took one look at them and took off for his own toys. Shocking that a 17-month-old boy wanted absolutely nothing to do with a wooden doll house, isn't it? She then moved them to the floor where she and I started playing with them and Cameron came over with a look of slight interest in his eyes.

She then tells me that she wants me to play with him while she times him and records things. Cameron and I start playing and I tried to get him interested in the bathtub that looked nothing like his bathtub, the bed that looked nothing like his bed, and so on and so forth. My point there is that why would he want to put the girl in the bathtub when he doesn't even know that's a bathtub? He jibber-jabbered the whole time and Cathy mentioned that she couldn't even keep up with her tallies of all of his "talking" he was doing, which was a great thing. But he never really "played" with the dollhouse and I'm still not really sure that that was the point of the whole exercise. He didn't make it the whole 6 minutes either.

We chatted a bit afterward about things he's doing/saying and things I should be doing with him but I have to say that after 2 visits, I'm really not all that impressed. I don't feel that she vocalized well enough to me exactly what she was measuring with the timed test. If it's to see if he can play make-believe...well, what 17-month-old boy really knows how to play make-believe with a dollhouse? Hell, I don't even think Owen would like to do that. And how can you really evaluate him playing with something that he's never even seen before? I think for the most part she was just trying to see what kinds of words or sounds he would use while interacting with someone else but I still think there has to be a better way to do that.

I'm going to give her another shot in a couple of weeks but if she forgets something or she's late I think I'm going to have to call and request a new teacher. I know she is a good person and I like her but I just feel like if you can't make my son a priority (and forgetting things and showing up late makes it seem to me that he's not) then I'm going to find someone who does make him a priority.

In the meantime, Cameron is still plugging along and has added the following words to his repertoire:

splash
cookie
chugga, chugga
bye bye

Of course, like all of the things he does and says, he only says these when he wants to and rarely when you want him to. But the important thing is that he is using these words in the context in which they should be used. If only I could teach him the word "watch" so that he might suggest one for his teacher...

Couch Potato

Ah, the lovely one-year molars really make life unpleasant for everyone in the Muhs household these days, though I know poor little Cameron is really taking the brunt of it all. It is those days that you can really only do one thing:


Turn on a little Baby Einstein, hit the couch, and chew on your finger in hopes that it might bring you just a modicum of teething relief. (And yes, wearing jammie pants and a shirt that doesn't match them is also a must.)

I tried googling "dentures for 1-year-olds" but really didn't have much success. I guess we'll just have to ride it out.

I tried not to be offended...

Owen and I were playing outside last week while Cameron was taking a nap. We were in the driveway and he spotted an ant.


"Look, Mommy! It's an ant!!! It's a Mommy ant!!!!"


"How do you know it's a Mommy ant?"


"Because it's big."

Springtime Tenants

A few weeks ago Cody noticed this underneath our deck:


I realize it's a little difficult to see but a Mama bird taking care of her babies does not allow the paparazzi to get very close for a picture!

We have had more fun watching these birds. You can see them from both the window and the sliding glass door in the basement. Owen and I checked on them numerous times throughout the day, pretty much everyday for weeks. He was so excited when the eggs finally hatched! At first it was hard to tell how many babies were in the nest but as they grew a little we were able to see 3 little ones. We watched as their mama brought them food and they sat with their little beaks wide open. We watched their little wings flutter as they moved about in their nest. Their was even a Daddy in the picture! Although, he would just sit on a branch on a nearby tree standing guard while the Mama bird did most of the work. I'm not trying to make any points with that, I'm just saying. ;)

We waited patiently and were looking forward to the day that we might get to watch the Mama teach them how to fly. When we thought they were getting close we checked on them constantly, camera at the ready just in case I might catch a shot or two. Then ONE day we were busy running errands and weren't able to check on them. We went down that afternoon to see them and they were gone. :( It was almost as anti-climactic as waiting for the president.

We were upset but I thought we would wait a few days and then take the nest down so Owen could get a close-up look at it. Being the procrastinator that I am, I just hadn't done it yet. Tuesday morning I went to open the door to let Murphy out and what do I see?! That's right, another Mama! I couldn't believe it! I thought back to the day the babies were gone and I saw a bird fly in and stand there looking at the nest for a minute. Then she flew away. I couldn't figure out what was going on but now I know it was just another Mama checking out the real estate! We are so excited that we get to watch it all over again. It's like our own little science lesson right in our backyard! Who knew that birds were recyclers?

The Power of Suggestion

A few weeks ago I made a suggestion to my brother, a faithful Muhs News follower, that he should start a blog himself. I really didn't ever think he'd do it but I'm happy to say he accepted my challenge! Head on over to The Glodo Life in the STL to read all about the man behind the funny (and often a little weird) annonymous comments you see here on my blog. He's almost as good at this as his little sister. Almost. ;)

Geppetto's Workshop

If you know my husband well, you know that he is quite handy to have around. He can do almost any type of home project you want done and if he doesn't know how to do it, he will read and research it so that he can do it. He has saved us loads of money doing so much work on our house himself. He built our deck, put in new doors for us, put in a stone patio, built our garage with help, put in a new bathroom, and finished the basement all by himself. This is on top of all the other odd jobs he's done around the house that are far too numerous to mention. While he loves doing all of these things, what he would really like to spend his time on is woodworking. He hasn't had much time to really hone his skills between work, kids, and working on the house. Now that things are (sort of) dying down in house projects he decided he'd fire up the table saw and make something for his mom for Mother's Day. He found a set of plans online and made every inch of these beautiful planters all by himself:

They even have a moveable bottom in them. You can raise and lower it, depending on what size of plant you would like to put in it.

I think they turned out great and Lynn was so surprised when we gave them to her a few weekends ago! I'm not sure what's next on the agenda. Maybe a puppet? ;)

Ain't No Stoppin' Him Now!

That's right, Cameron is on the move! Well, sort of. He finally decided that the walker his Godparents bought him for his birthday is pretty darn fun. In fact, he loves the newfound freedom it offers him.





Mommy, not so much. Not for the fact that he is almost walking because, believe me, no one has ever been more ready for one child to walk than I am for this one. I think there are so many things that are easier once they can stand/walk on their own. Yes, you have to chase them when they run off but you can actually put them down in public places. And you can take them outside and watch them run in the yard. So I am more than ready. What I don't like about this whole walker thing is that he loves it so much he wants to do it all the time. Which wouldn't be so bad if this thing had even an ounce of steering capability for a 16-month-old. Wheels that turn would be a nice addition. Because really, what person just walks continually in a straight line forever? And who has a room in their home that allows a person to walk continually in a straight line forever? So our days of late have been spent with Cameron excitedly walking with the walker the moment he hits the basement. He walks for a bit, hits a wall, turns around and looks at me, then lets out a loud scream that says, "I've hit a wall. It is your purpose in life to redirect me, follow me, and then repeat this entire process when I hit another wall. Why is this so difficult for you to understand?" Or something like that. You can see a little evidence of this exchange here, although this video doesn't really do it justice:

I'm hoping we'll be out of this phase soon and quickly move into the "I'm going to run away from you in this public place so you will have to chase after me while people laugh at you" phase. Gotta run, I hear the screams now!

Cameron Update

Last week, Early ACCESS returned to our home in the form of two lovely ladies--Jill, who was here the first time and who is now Owen's new best friend (she was enamored with him and he is still talking about her to this day), and Kathryn, the woman who will be working with Cameron. We sat down and went over all of Cameron's scores on the evaluation that Jill did at the end of April. This was really no small feat as the packet of information could have qualified as a short novel, in my humble opinion. I'll spare you the numbers and details and just give you the Reader's Digest version--Cameron is delayed. This much, I knew, so no real surprise there. The big question we had was where and how much. While he is only very slightly delayed in some areas, and even on track in a few, his biggest delay is in speech and communication. His next biggest delay was motor, but that was really expected because of his low-tone. So, we have decided that for now, we will just concentrate on the speech and hope that he catches up in the other areas on his own (with lots of encouragement from Mommy and Daddy, of course). Kathryn will come twice a month for now and work with him for about 45 minutes to an hour each time. She will also be working with me teaching me things I can do with him on a daily basis. I may even have to record data for her from time to time to give her a better idea on how he is progressing. She will also keep an eye on the other areas as well, just to make sure that he is moving along as he should be.

Cody and I both feel really good about this and are excited to get the ball rolling. As I've mentioned before I was worried that it might be something more than just a delay, but after speaking with them and watching Cameron, I am not nearly as concerned as I once was. In fact, he even made progress in between the time of the evaluation and the meeting! Jill was impressed to see that he was doing things that he hadn't been doing just a couple of weeks earlier. This is one of those things:

You see, while he's always been pretty good at imitating sounds, he's never seemed all that interested in imitating faces. I was making this face at him 2 weekends ago and he decided he'd like to get in on the fun! I haven't gotten him to do it since then but, in true Cameron fashion, I'm sure he'll do it again when he feels like it!

So that's the plan for now. I will sit down with the ladies in another six months and go over his progress and figure out what we will do from there. However, if at any time in the next six months I feel things are not going as they should, we can adjust things to fit. They seem really great and we are all in agreement that we want to do what works best for Cameron. As long as we are doing all we can to help him and seeing lots of this:

I will be a satisfied customer.

Stay tuned for pictures of some of the other things Cameron has learned in the last few weeks!