Merry Christmas!

Waiting for Santa

Santa may be in trouble for leaving these under the tree... anyone planning to visit in the near future may want to watch out for Nerf darts!

It's Cars!

I just love his face in this picture! 2 years old is such a fun age at Christmas!

Great Aunt Susan - AKA "Baby Wisperer"

Aunt Jessica

Aunt Amanda

Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jeff... Can you say Ball of Energy?

Christmas was so much fun! Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jeff spent Christmas morning with us and then we spent the afternoon with Jon's family in Sunapee. Cameron was very particular about only opening one present at a time and played with every toy as it was opened. It took a little while to get through them all, but we had fun watching him. :)

The Power has Returned!

It took 9.5 days, but we did eventually get power back! We were so excited to be able to be back up and running by Christmas that in honor of electricity, we never unplug our tree! It helps us to remember not to take ANYTHING for granted this holiday season. We got a little behind in our blogging with all the excitement and thought we would try to catch up a little. While we were in New Jersey, we were able to visit with some family :

Here are Cameron and Dani with Lexi

Cameron Marie with Cameron and Lexi

... And Aunt Barb with Lexi

I'll try to get some more recent pictures up soon. I know it sounds pitiful, but there really has been A LOT going on lately. :)

Escaping the Ice Storm

This is the view of our driveway in the morning as the freezing rain was letting up... before the wind really got started. If you look closely, you will see our phone line dangling at the end of the driveway. (As if loosing power wasn't bad enough!) Jon cleaned up the trees as best he could and then we loaded up the kids and got the heck out of Dodge! (One night in a house without power and two tiny children was all the convincing we needed.) As you can imagine, that was quite an adventure! Our trusty minivan plowed through trees (with the aid of Jon's chainsaw) and over downed power-lines too bring us safely to New Jersey... the land of free-flowing electricity! That and hot water, high speed internet, and grandparents who love to spoil their grandchildren rotten! Cameron has been having an absolute blast.

As you can see, both kids are safe and warm with Nana!

On Monday, we went to the aquarium with Nana and Pop-Pop. Cameron was so excited - he just couldn't wait to see all the cool fish!

Here they are again checking out the Penguins. He made good friends with one in the underwater viewing area. It was such a beautiful day out that it almost made us feel guilty! (Seriously, going from an ice cave to sunny with temps in the mid-to-upper sixty's should be a crime!)

Here's Cameron with his new friend the Hippo. Cameron just loved watching him swim around! And that Hippo was quite the performer!

Lastly, Cameron as a ferocious shark! I don't know about you, but I'm scared! ;)

We are so lucky to have such great family who are willing to take us all in at a moment's notice! Even though the trees were literally falling down around our house back in New Hampshire, we were able to relax and have a great time. (Hopefully, when we go home we will find that the trees only fell AROUND the house and not on it!) THANKS FOR EVERYTHING NANA AND POP-POP!

Proof of Brotherly Love

We have really been lucky that Cameron has been nothing short of amazing with Lexi. He loves to hold her and is very gentle with her. Every time she cries he runs to give her a hug and likes to help rock and soothe her. I am trying to document all the kisses while they last!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Dada taught Cameron how to make snowballs - a very important skill

This is what absolute bliss looks like

Here is is saying cheese

With all the snow we've been getting you can guess where Cameron's been practically living. He absolutely loves the snow! Jon is just as bad... Yesterday when Cameron came inside because he was cold (which takes a lot by the way,) Jon stayed out and started building a snow fort for "Cameron" to play in. There's no question where Cameron gets his love for the snow. :)

Our "Pretty" Children

Cameron was being really quite in another room while I was feeding the baby the other day. I yelled out to ask him what he was doing and when there was no response I knew that whatever he was up to wasn't going to be particularly good. When I came around the corner this is what I found:                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Yes - that is our SON making himself "pretty" with a tube of my lip gloss. Apparently I have been neglectful as a mother because he didn't seem to know that it was designed for lips and not for cheeks. What a rascal!

This is a recent picture of our other pretty child - no lip gloss needed! :)

Our Christmas Tree Adventure

This past weekend, we continued our family tradition of going to a local tree farm to cut down our own Christmas tree. As you can see, we brought the entire family, including 12 day-old Lexi who slept through the entire ordeal. (Don't worry, we kept her all bundled up and I didn't let anyone so much as breathe on her.) Cameron thought we had taken him on his own personal adventure. He had such a great time running around that finding the "perfect" tree was a little bit of a challenge. In the end we settled on a nice 11+ foot tree with only a couple of bald spots (discovered after we got home.) Cameron LOVES having a tree inside our house... I wish you could have seen his face when Jon carried it through the door! He was such a good helper when it came to decorating the tree, although he seems to think that the ornaments look better scattered around the house than they do on the branches. ;) What are 2-year-olds for if not to decorate the entire house with what started on the tree? He's just teaching the tree to share. ;) 

Thanksgiving Day Fun

Cameron LOVES holding Lexi!

Josh, Shelby and Ada

Lexi Sleeping in Mammie's Arms 

All the Festivities Tired Lexi Right Out!

Cameron Sharing Tummy Time with Ada

A Group Photo

This year we were lucky enough to share Thanksgiving with my brother Josh, his wife Shelby and their daughter Ada who came all the way from Idaho! As you can see, Ada is absolutely adorable! Mammie and Grandpa McLaughlin were also there helping out - and by helping out I mean that Mammie did 99% of everything. She wouldn't let me lift a finger... she kept saying something about surgery. ;) Seriously, I don't know what would I have done without her! We had such a great time visiting with everyone - I'm so glad that they could all come!

Welcome Home Lexi!

Ready for Her Hospital Pictures!

Sleeping With Mom

Being Rocked by Aunt Amanda in the Hospital

The Proud Big Brother

Snuggle Time With Mammie and Aunt Amanda

Sleeping on Aunt Amanda

Our sweet angel, Alexia Brielle Tuthill, was born on Monday November 17th at 10:21 in the morning. She weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 ozs and was 20 inches long. We think she's just perfect! My mom and sister came to watch Cameron while we were at the hospital. He will be the first to tell you that they spoiled him rotten while we were away. :) We are home now and aside from being a little sleep deprived, doing great! (Actually, I think Mom and Amanda are just as tired as I am - Cameron has A LOT of energy and Mom and Amanda were fresh meat!) Thanks so much for taking such good care of our little munchkin and helping out while I was out of commission! :)

Our Sweet Boy

Cameron is such a little love. The other day he was picking me flowers, so of course I grabbed the camera. (These things need to be documented for future reference.) Okay, so they weren't exactly wild flowers and I probably shouldn't have encouraged him to pick flowers from my garden, but he did pre-smell them for me and only gave me the best. :)

Happy Halloween... A Few Days Late

Giraffes apparently LOVE lollipops...

just not green ones!

Ready to answer the door...

...Not so willing to share his lollipop!

Cameron was not exactly excited to wear his costume on Halloween. After several attempts at trying to rationalize with a 2 year old about how much fun it would be, we ended up resorting to shameless bribery to get him to wear his costume. Hey, what 2 year old doesn't need a lollipop right before bed, anyway? Even covered in a sticky lollipop mess, Cameron has got to be the cutest giraffe I've ever seen. Not that I'm at all biased... ;)