2008 - A year in review.

I have found that blogging is like painting the bathroom. You plan, tape paint cards for ideas on the walls, and have everything visualized in your head. Then a year later you look at your bathroom, and the walls are still bare. Just like my old bathroom, my blog walls are bare. Well painting here I go!

January - Welcome Home!

What a transition! Our little darling came home from the hospital and we stopped sleeping all together! Cameron on the other hand slept whenever she wanted. She was so cute and peaceful. As mentioned before, the biggest blessing entered our life, and we are forever thankful.

February - Off to school
As noted in previous blog entry, February brought my return to work. Cameron spent more and more time awake meeting people. At daycare she began getting to know her classmates. She started getting good and chunky, and spent LOTS of time smiling - and so did we!

March - In like a lion, sleeping like a lamb
The spring brought a little sleep. Cameron finally slept through the night! She smiled all the time. She loved to be read to. She did not care what the subject matter! I would stop reading to her, and she would cry! She also began to start getting where she wanted to go! She rolled over for the first time on March 19. We all squealed with delight!

April - A new view
Cameron was April showered with kisses like crazy. Her little chunky legs just begged to be pinched! She started holding her head up so that she could see the world around her. She had more vaccinations. Talk about hard!! The first time I saw her have a shot I cried! She was just as content as could be, and then WAAAAAAA! Those ear shattering screams of pain said "what the heck was that, and why did Momma let that happen!" She also started reaching out for things. On the 17th she grabbed her toy in her car seat. She had lots to say, and talked up a storm.

Cameron's dedication was on the 20th. This was also our church's homecoming, so there was a PACKED house. Standing room only kind of packed. There were about 25 people that were there for Cameron, and around 200 others who got to join us.

We also started our house hunt. We spent the 12th and the 26th in the car with Zeke for 8 hours at the time looking for a new home. Cameron was WONDERFUL. She was just as involved in the selection process as the grownups. We also listed our house in East Columbia.

May - Mother's day as a mother
The first weekend in May was RiverFest, and Cameron couldn't miss it. It was the perfect day filled with music, fun and friends. She was the smallest of the volunteers. Her job was cheer leader. With her tiny amazingly cute self with a wonderful little attitude, she made the rounds, and shared LOTS of hugs and kisses with her Epilepsy Foundation family.

On the thirteenth I find her sucking her toes! How I long for the days that I could get my feet close enough to my head that I could even smell my feet, much less suck my own toes!

Memorial day was very memorable! Cameron sat up for the first time. We had a pediatrician’s appointment. It is important to note that her doctor is VERY handsome. I undressed her down to a diaper, and when he walked in, he picked her up, and sat her down, and she sat right up! That little flirt! There she was in her underwear with no shirt on making the moves on a doctor! Unfortunately she also had the croup, but she didn't let her little cough keep her down.

On the 30th we closed on our new house in West Columbia. Becca was our closing attorney, so it was an exciting event for the whole family!

June - Moving up, out, and in
She attended the first of many music festivals on the 1st. What an amazing day! The sun was shining, and the temperature was perfect, and the music was so great! Granddaddy Luther, Becca, Leigh Ann, Cameron and I were there. We took folding chairs and a huge quilt to Utopia. We spread it out, and spent the afternoon relaxing. Cameron laughed, played and tried to sing. I foresee a little musician in the making!

The weekend of June 7th was Cameron's first road trip. The Epilepsy Foundation's summer camp, Camp RiverRun, was in the mountains of South Carolina, and I had to go up there. Last year during camp I had horrible morning sickness, so it was really exciting to let Cameron meet the kids that mother hened me nearly to death when she looked like a little sea monkey. Becca went up there with me and helped me train the YMCA staff about seizures and seizure first aid, and she

and Cameron got to enjoy the comforts of camp bunks and paper thin mattresses. Cameron had her own little comfy bed that we brought up for her.

We should have brought one for us too! On that weekend she got to meet her Granddaddy Joe and Grandma Jenny, and her Great Grandmother Dunn.

On June 21 we moved out of our house on Charles Towne Court, to our new home in West Columbia. I was sick as a dog which made it a really hard day. It was a very emotional time. Leaving the home that we had lived in so long, brought our baby home too, built so many memories in was heart wrenching. I was lucky to have LOTS of support. Moving was a family affair! Both the Stones and the Cunninghams were there to help. As I vacuumed the rooms in tears I had a change of thought. I tried to think that I was preparing the house for a new family to build memories in rather than leaving the memories that we had built there. After that, the tears began to dry, and my energy transferred to making our new house home.

On June 29th "Buddy's girls" attended the Moulds Family Reunion. Mr. Luther was so excited that all three of his girls could attend. It was a beautiful day with AWESOME food. Mr. Luther got to show Cameron off like the little gem that she is. We spent some time outside taking pictures of Cameron, and then we hit the road home. When we were in the car headed toward the interstate, I felt something crawling on my leg. It looked like a little spider, so I picked it off and squished it. A few moments later I saw two more. Then I saw one on Cameron, and told Becca and Leigh Ann that they needed to see if they had any on them. We were all covered in them! Becca squealed her new car into the parking lot of a KFC near the interstate. We didn't have changes of clothes, but Becca had three sarongs in her car in case we decided to go swimming. We fly in the bathroom! It was very gross. I mean hold it until you are about to bust, and if you have to pee, cover the seat with tissue and pray that you don't make any skin to seat contact gross. We apparently sat into a love nest of redbugs. We begin pealing out of our clothes and stripping Cameron down to her birthday suit. We looked like a quartet of albino monkeys picking each other for flees. If it had not been for Becca's sarongs, we would have had run nude out of KFC and pray no cops were around. There was also the option of dressing like toilet tissue mummys. By the grace of God, Cameron didn't get one bite, the grownups on the other hand where "eat up." I had over 100 bites! It was like I was sitting a gallon of napalm for over a week. I have scars to show for it!

July - Starting to eat real food
July rang in the "real" food. Cameron ate some rice cereal on Aunt Krista's birthday. On the 8th she ate some squash. I never thought I would see this in a Poston child, but getting her to eat was a REAL challenge. I did everything I knew to do, and then asked everyone for advice. I just had to ride out the storm. My worries of her not eating would soon be erased.

July was a real hard month for me. My dearest friend Krista and her husband Wes moved West. Wes is in the Army and was moved to Korea. I cried for days (I still cry). Every Wednesday we had girls night at Casa Linda's with fajitas, guacamole, and medium margaritas on the rocks with extra salt and limes. Our last girls night out was on the 17th. It was wonderful. I miss her so much, but we keep in touch.

August - On the move

On the first we sold the Charles Towne Court house. Which was VERY exciting. We met the family that was going to be building those memories that I had prepared the house for. They were a young married couple, and

the had a little girl as well.

Cameron started pulling everywhere. On the 5th she began pulling up when you held her hands. If we weren't trying to hold her little hands all the time anyway! On the 13th she started pulling up on the bouncy seats at school.

Then the huge milestone - crawling. On the 22nd, Cameron started "commando crawling" on her belly. Now if she wanted something she schooched over to it. The days of her being right where I left her were now over.

September - A day at the beach

The first weekend in September marked our first family vacation with Cameron. We packed up and headed to Edisto Island. When most people were leaving the island due to Hurricane Hanna, we were welcoming her to the Carolina coast. When we arrived on Friday the 5th the sky was gray, and the waves were enormous. I have never seen waves like that. It was raining a little, but we didn't care. We walk out on the beach with a few sparse spectators. The waves roared. Saturday morning we got up early and hit the beach. There were SO many shells on the beach. Not just the dinky broken shells the size of a nickle, oh no. We found a bag full of unbroken conch shells. As I walked up the beach with Cameron in a sling, we were swarmed by the killer biting flies. We could have probably found even more shells, but the flies would have taken it out of our hides.

Later that day we went out and hung out on the beach. I got a little tent, so we could relax sun or shade. Cameron splashed around in the water. She seemed to like it. After just a little bit, she took a nap in her tent. Once we got our swimming out of our system for the day, we headed back to the house. We spent the rest of the time there divided between the shore and the dock on the marsh. It was a much needed rest for the Stones.

On the 15th the dread of all breastfeeding mothers happened - the first tooth. I was feeding her a little cup of mandarin oranges and there it was!

On the 19th I had the most frighting mother experience. That day, she seemed to feel a little under the weather, but not "stay home from school" bad. A runny nose goes hand in hand with daycare. That night she developed a fever, and by about 10:00pm it hit 103. I was freaking out. I put her in a cool bath, gave her some baby Tylenol, and put a wash cloth on her head. Her fever kept going up. It topped out at 103.5. I was in tears, and Patrick and I considered taking her to the ER. I called Dr. Williard, and he said that if her fever went over 104 to call him, and bring her to his office. I sat up with her all night. I kept cool cloths on her forehead and back, and rocked her. By the morning her fever broke. We took her to the doctor, and the weekend doc said that there was a bug going around, and not to worry. On Monday, I got a call from the daycare that Cameron had a rash all over her body and that we needed to come pick her up. Come to find out she had roseola. The fever is the concern with roseola. I was so afraid of her having a seizure. A high fever is what seemed to cause my seizures, but she got over it like a champ!

October - Our little pumpkin

October opened up with a sleep over at Aunt Leigh Ann's house. Cameron had a ball playing with Chilly and Maggie. There is nothing like a slumber party. On the 4th Cameron attended her second (and COOLEST) music festival. Girls with Guitars was an amazing event! The Sugar Pigs preformed and the littlest Sugar Pig sang in the crowd with Grandma. She, in true rock and roller form, stayed ALL day, and took a nap in spite of the rocking around her. She shut down the party! I was so proud. She danced with the Girls with Guitars until after midnight!

On the 10th we found her second tooth!

The 19th brought Cameron's first trip to the zoo. Converse's Alumnae Day at the Zoo was a HIT! We invited everyone. Patrick, Mr. Bill, Momma, Mr. Larry, Rebecca, Leigh Ann, Ellis, Amie, Amie's niece, and I ate hot dogs and walked around the entire zoo. Cameron liked the fish and pink flamingos, but she LOVED the goats. I have never heard her laugh so hard. I bet we spent $20 in quarters getting goat food out of gumball machines. The goats nibbled on Cameron, and when they would take the food out of her hands she SQUEALED!! It was SO much fun.

On the 21st she balanced on her feet for the first time. I couldn't believe that my little tiny girl was standing!

Halloween

was awesome. Cameron couldn't limit herself to one costume. For school she was the cutest little lady bug EVER. Thanks to Daddy rushing home after work to get her costume, she got to get all dressed up for her school carnival. For trick-or-treating she

was Eeyore. She and Ben (the little Stone from next door) went out together. He was dressed as Pooh dressed as a

pumpkin.

She has also decided that playing the drums is in her future.

Give that little momma a pot, pot lid, or anything else that might make a cool sound

, and then a wooden spoon,

and

prepare for a display of a baby with a beat!

Her first words are up for debate. She has got both MaMa and DaDa down.

November - Step it up

Thanksgiving brought the biggest of milestones - Cameron's first steps. Amazingly we caught them on film! She walked over to Becca at Momma's house. She was in the kitchen making dressing, and while Momma was showing off in the kitchen, Cam was showing off in the living room.

*video soon to be posted*

December - Our greatest gift

Our year closed with a bang. Christmas 2008 was the best Christmas ever! As soon as I put the tree up Cameron was memorized! She just oooh-ed and ahhh-ed. She wanted to hold the ornaments and would pull them off the tree. I had to move the ornaments from the bottom up so she wouldn't pull down the tree.

Christmas Eve was at our house. Amie took me the day before Christmas Eve to buy supplies for the first big Christmas dinner at the Stone's house. I was on the phone with my mom the entire time. "What do I need to get?" "How much of _____ should I buy?" "How long will I need to cook this 19lb turkey?" We left Publix with a trunk full of food, and a butt load of work. Momma told me to put the turkey on at about 250 degrees right before I went to bed. I got everything put away, and started getting read for cooking. I then make a horrible revelation. I don't have a pan big enough to cook the 19lb turkey sitting on my counter in the plastic paper that says "ready to cook." It should have had a disclaimer that said "Ready to cook, and don't be a dummy and think you can fit this in your cookie sheet."

When trouble comes, Moms come in for the rescue. Momma came to my house early in the morning with a huge turkey roasting pan, and we put that old bird on. Momma and I cooked all day. We pulled out the whole spread - turkey, ham, dressing, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce.... I am still full!

We had awesome time exchanging gifts with the whole clan. We had a house full. Momma, Mr. Larry, Mr. Luther, Becca, Ellis, Leigh Ann, Chris, Patrick, Cameron and me. The biggest gift (at risk of sounding like a total dork) was us all getting together.

Christmas Eve opened to Cameron's first Christmas morning. A picture is worth a thousand words, and since I am tired of typing, here are several thousand words about Christmas.