Restaurant Dining- Week of Jan. 18th

Cameron's social calendar was quite full this week with two restaurant outings! Cam's tolerance and patience for eating out is actually better than most adults!

Monday was Anne's birthday, so everyone went to Outback restaurant to celebrate the fun occassion. Cam loves the Outback mac-n-cheese and drank a huge glass of milk too. A free birthday sundae completed the meal and Cameron was pretty happy Annie decided to share.

Saturday night was a mexican fiesta at Don Julios when Jane, Chris and Cam took Ronda out to dinner. Cameron loved the tortilla chips and tacos.

Another exciting event this week was the removal of Cam's "seat" on his walker. The big boy handled the challenge like a champ!

Chris also took the time to put Cameron's "license plate" up on the door to his room. Grandma gave him the license for Christmas and now his name is officially displayed.

Hot Tubbing! - Week of Jan. 11th

Some people may find Michigan winters a bit cold, but it's not so bad if you can relax and get warm in a hot tub! Chris and Cam had a fun time during the week taking a dip. Cameron loves to splash in the water and kick his legs. Since the hot tub is definitely much bigger than his bathtub, it's quite a treat. One of his favorite hot tub activities is having Chris whisk him up in the air and then quickly back into the toasty water.

Playtime with Jane and piggybacks with Chris were a big part of Cam's week.

Cameron's now working on choosing pictures that represent his toys so that he's deciding what to play with. Chris and Jane finally stopped taking pictures when they hit the fifty mark! They had no idea that Cameron had soooo many toys.

One of Cam's daily activities is practicing his walking with his cool leg braces on.

Chris is so creative when it comes to making this always interesting for Cam.

Shown here is a box tower that Cameron pushed from one end of the basement to the other. Amazingly enough, it didn't even fall!

The big boy is getting stronger every day!!

Sledding Fun - Week of Jan. 4th

There may be some people out there that think that holding an icicle may not be too much fun...however, Cameron definitely had a great time with one after Chris plucked it from the back deck.

The highlight of Cam's week took place on two occasions, at the same place. Our awesome neighbors across the street have created an immense ice rink in their backyard and have some perfect sledding hills to accompany the rink.

After sufficiently stuffing Cameron into his snowsuit, he was all ready to head next door. Our neighbor friends, the Raish's have a sled that fits Cam perfectly! He rode in the red sled by himself down a small hill and also accompanied Chris on a larger hill. He could definitley be heard laughing!

An unexpected treat was how fast we could pull Cam around the ice rink in the sled. So fast, that Jane couldn't keep even keep up with the boy racing around.

After all of that activity, it sure was fun to snuggle into some very comfy slippers that Cameron received from the Krauss family for Christmas.

Chris and Jane will have to find themselves some of this cozy footwear!

More Holiday Cheer & Happy New Year! - Week of Dec. 28th

Tuesday was a big event as the family headed north for the infamous Jellema Family Holiday party! It's a well-known fact that Santa makes an appearance at this gathering.

Cameron wasn't too sure about the big guy with the white beard, so he wasn't too keen on having a photo op take place.

However, there were still plenty of more pictures throughout the day.

Cam had fun seeing all of his cousins, especially Steff, who traveled from Kentucky! Santa gave all of the kids presents and Cameron gladly opened more boxes and had a great time with everyone.

New Year's Eve was spent with Annie as Cameron watched his parents and his nanny try to figure out all of their new Wii games. He certainly thought they all looked silly!

A big thanks to Grandma & Grandpa for staying with their grandson overnight on Saturday so that Chris and Jane could enjoy a post holiday evening at the JW Marriott.

Cameron was such a good boy for his grandparents and Chris & Jane were very grateful for that!

Welcome 2010- may this be a wonderful year for all of you...

Merry Christmas! - Week of Dec. 21st

It was a Christmas week at the Weatherford household! On Wednesday, Cam's godparents, Jo and Chris, came over with their son, Will, to celebrate the holiday. Cameron & Will had lots of fun playing with toys and then, had lots of fun opening presents that happened to be new toys!! The boys had a great time and so did all of the adults. Many thanks to the Alford family, including Jeanne, for the special Christmas gifts.

Christmas Eve included a church service with our friends and neighbors, the Raisch's. Cam was such a good boy during the service and even played on the floor with Emma for part of the time.

Christmas Day was filled with so much activity that Cameron decided to skip his nap completely...

Grandma & Grandpa along with Aunt Tracy helped to make Christmas extra special this year. The big boy certainly was all about opening gifts and playing with the contents- instead of the tissue paper and bags, which was the theme last year. In fact, Cam was so happy about opening everything, that he gladly helped Grandma and Grandpa open one of their big gifts!

At the end of the day, Cameron was already dreaming about next year's Christmas!

A very special thanks to our Ringler family for hosting a beautiful dinner and gathering on Sunday evening. Everything was so delicious and it was wonderful to be in the company of all of you!!

We hope that everyone had a very meaningful Christmas with family and friends.

Early Presents & Recovery- Week of Dec. 14th

Cam was certainly feel well enough to try a few activities. One of his new favorite "toys" is an old keyboard that Chris had in the basement. Apparently, Cam thinks he's sending lots of emails to his buddies as he bangs away at the keyboard. He also held an icicle for the first time which Chris brought in from outside- brrrrr....

Cameron has been adjusting to recovery from eye surgery and has definitely let Chris and Jane know that he does not prefer cold compresses or lubricant in his eyes! However, he received a thumbs up from the surgeon who saw him on Monday to monitor progress.

This week included 2 early Christmas presents for Cameron to open. The first was from his buddy, Julie, whom Cam is lucky enough to see almost every week! Julie gave the big boy some green bathtub foam and a cool cd. He was very intrigued with the whole bag process and kept looking in the bag for the next item.
Cam also opened a present from Great Grandma Mary who sent him the book "A Pirate's Night Before Christmas" which he and Chris had lots of fun reading. Chris has now begun teaching Cam pirate jargon.
The weekend included an outdoor excursion to see the next door neighbor's backyard ice rink. Cam had to wear a pair of Jane's mittens since his parents had to get some new ones for him.

He thought it was quite funny that the mittens were a little large on his hands...

Eye Surgery- Week of Dec. 7th

Thanks to everyone for the calls, emails and best wishes for Cameron's eye surgery. He was such a brave boy. On the day of surgery, while waiting in the hospital, we found out that his procedure would be delayed 2.5 hours due to an earlier surgery and he wouldn't go under anesthesia until about 1:30pm. Cam hadn't eaten or had anything to drink since 9pm the night before. But, he kept smiling and playing in the DeVos Children's hospital playroom. Surgery went fine and was successful. His recovery was a little rough since our big boy was in a strange place. Chris, Cam and Jane want to send a very special thanks to Annie & Amanda who stayed with us all day and into the night. The day after surgery, Cam actually felt like playing on Chris' keyboard.

Cameron was definitely up for seeing more visitors by the weekend. Grandma & Grandpa ventured in on Saturday to see their grandson and spend the night! We can't thank them enough for staying and spending quality time with Cam. The weekend included some "night soccer" with a very cool early Christmas present from Grandpa Jim!

On Sunday, the family received a special visit from Cam's godmother, Auntie Jo, and her son, Will. Will and Cam had a good time playing with blocks and the "Feel Better Soon" balloon that Cam's buddy, Will brought. As if the day couldn't get any better, Jo also provided a most delicious dinner for the family. Honestly, we can't thank you enough for making the trip and bringing us homemade sustenance!

We are reminded every day how wonderful are family and friends are!!

Trimming the Tree- Week of Nov. 30th

With the Thanksgiving holiday over, it was time to put up the Christmas tree! Cameron was happy to help Grandma put some of the ornaments on. When Chris came home from work that day, Grandma told him that she & Cam 'trimmed the tree.'

Chris asked where the scissors were!!

Cam's gotten quite attached to a few stuffed animals. He loves to snuggle before naptime and bedtime with his Curious George monkey and Gerber bear. He will hold them until he falls asleep.

This week included the first snowstorm of the season. Chris took Cameron outside just when the snow started Thursday evening. By morning, there was so much snow on the ground and especially on the back deck!

Chris and Jane ventured out Saturday evening for Chris' company holiday party at Van Andel Museum. Jane couldn't resist snapping a picture of her handsome boys!!

Please think of Cameron on Wed. Dec. 9th as he heads to DeVos Children's Hospital for outpatient eye surgery. Thanks everyone!