Camden's First Christmas

Merry Christmas from Steve, Kimberly, Camden, and Oliver!

Achoooo!

Camden caught his first cold last week. Not sure where he contracted it from. Could have been daycare, could have been the flight. But the timing for his cold was a bit inconvenient. Not that there is a convenient time, but we probably would've chosen for it to happen while we had the comforts of home.

Nonetheless, last Friday morning, he woke up congested and had a runny nose. He also puked up a load of mucous. Nice image, huh. The sight of that just sent Mommy into tears. It's hard to see your child sick and uncomfortable. It's such a helpless feeling. We started a hot shower to steam up the bathroom so that we could give him a steam treatment. That seemed to help a little bit. He didn't appear to have a fever.

We called the nurse's line to get some advice. Good news is we had tried everything they suggested (steam shower, check for fever, make sure he's able to eat, etc), so that made us feel good. Unfortunately, there's no medication you can really give to a baby his age with a cold. He just has to ride it out. And so he has. He's still got a runny nose every once in awhile, but it's not too bad. Mommy and Daddy managed to catch cold while in Phoenix too. So the Nguyen's were a mess the whole trip. We're all feeling pretty good as we head into the Christmas holiday.

Up, Up, and Away!

We realize it's been awhile since we've blogged and our sincere apologies. As with everyone else this time of the year, it's become quite hectic. Our last few weeks have included the following:

• Camden's first two weeks in day care.
• Camden's first flight.
• Camden's first (and hopefully, ONLY) minivan experience.
• Camden's first cold.
  
• Camden's first Sindt Christmas.

We'll cover all or most of those topics in subsequent posts. Camden's been doing great in daycare. He's made so many new baby friends including Mason, Charlie, Henry, and fellow Buckeye baby Annabelle. Camden even has his first giiiiiiirlfriend. Her name is Paulina and they've been hanging out A LOT. They even slept next to each other! Don't worry, it's all innocent :) Recent daycare activities have included feet painting and generally being cute. His teacher, Tracy, says he's quite the charmer. He coos and smiles at everyone.

Camden also experienced his first flight last week. We packed up the family and went down to Phoenix for a little fun, sun, and to celebrate Dr. Auntie Paige's graduation from her PhD program at Arizona State. Oh, and we squeezed in an early Christmas celebration, too. Grandma and Grandpa Sindt flew out of Mpls with us and it was sooo nice to have them help us at the airport. Those days of traveling with only a carry on are long gone.

We felt like we were prepared. We had least one bottle for him during take off and landing. Camden did wonderful. You barely even knew he was there. He slept almost the entire time both ways. I remember having a lot of anxiety before boarding, not wanting to have that crying baby everyone dreads when they get on a plane.

We told ourselves, however, that if he did get fussy that we'd do what we could to calm him and not worry about what anyone else around us was thinking. It's not like we want him to cry. He's a baby and he's going to cry. Thankfully, we didn't have to worry about it. As we deplaned in Phoenix, the friendly NWA flight attendants (I know it sounds like an oxymoron) presented Camden with a "First Flight" certificate signed by the Captain. It was very nice.

When we arrived in Phoenix, Auntie Paige had been nice enough to arrange for us to use a minivan during our stay. Ok, ok, ok...I've been outspoken about not wanting a minivan and today my stance is still firm. But I have to admit that there were some nice conveniences. It had the automatic dual sliding doors, automatic rear hatch, and a lot of space. It was nice to be able to fit 5 people + Camden in his car seat comfortably. Oh, and our SUS (sport utility stroller) fit nicely in the rear.

Our version of the mom mobile was, however, severely lacking in some areas. There were no flip down screens for DVD viewing, or even satellite TV for that matter. There was no sun roof and no GPS unit either. The captain's chairs didn't swivel and there wasn't a place to fit a card table like in the new Dodge commercials. So from an amenity standpoint, this ride was a disaster. My "no" vote for the minivan still stands.

This post is getting a bit long and it's getting late. I did have to pause while writing this to feed Camden. He's sound asleep now. Let's hope he stays that way for another 7-8 hours. We'll cover Camden's first cold and his first Sindt Christmas in the coming days.

Day Care

Last Thursday, Camden started his first day of day care. It was a day of mixed emotions for his Mommy and Daddy. Kim has done such a wonderful job with him and it's hard to let go. Kim starts back to work tomorrow, so we wanted a few days to go through a little dry run.

Mommy was a wreck the day before day care started. Like I said, she's done such a good job with Camden and there's been so much mother-son bonding. She is so conflicted with letting someone else take care of him. Which is very understandable. We're trying to look at day care as a way for Camden to socialize a bit. The teachers at his day care are so good. They'll have him learning sign language, playing with other babies, and so much more than we might have time for or think of.

I've never spent any time in a day care, so I was amazed at how much the day care ladies can handle. They proficient at feeding one baby, comforting another with a song, and watching as another crawls around the nursery. It may seem like there's too much going on for them to keep track of, but it's an interesting display of controlled chaos.

How did Camden do? Well, by all accounts he did great. He seems to be adjusting to the change just fine.

So Kim starts back to work tomorrow. Conveniently for us, the day care is on site at Kim's work. I'm hoping that it will make it easier for Kim to go back to work because of it. She's free to stop in and check on Camden anytime she wants. Heck, it's even close enough for me to stop in during my lunch hour, too. Tomorrow starts a huge change to our daily life. It'll take some time to adjust to it, but Camden's such a good kid that I think he'll make it pretty easy for us.