Har Will Pump You UP!!

After a few rough nights, and a cough that kept getting worse, we took Harbear to the Pediatrician to see if she had croup again.  She does!  The Dr said that she is more susceptible to get it and due to the size of her throat (it's on the smaller side) when it becomes inflamed by any cold, croup can follow.  This is something she should grow out of over the next year or so.  We went to the store and got a steroid prescription, so if  you notice more defined legs, abs, and arms on our little angel you'll know it's just the steroid! :)  Please pray for a speedy recovery!

White Christmas 2010

Christmas this year was extra special for us.  We woke up on Christmas morning around 6:45am (thanks, Harleigh), Zak read the Christmas story in the bible, and we went downstairs to open gifts.  Santa must have forgotten how little Harleigh has been sleeping through the night, because she was SPOILED with gifts! ;)  She didn't really understand the whole concept of ripping the wrapping paper, as she would use her little pointer finger and play with the tiniest piece of paper!  It was so cute and funny!  She loved her clothes, mittens, and socks!  She loves to give any clothing a hug!  She also loves her new remote and mom and dad can't wait for her to use her new paci's and sound machine at night!!  We were also surprised to see snow on Christmas night, first time this has happened in Charlotte in 47 years!  We look forward to celebrating many more Christmas' with our family!

Happy Birthday, Zachary P. Kamm!

Today is Zak's 30th 29th Birthday!  For the past 5 1/2 years God has blessed me with an amazing husband, who I love more today than the day we met.  We've been through so much together and I couldn't imagine doing it with a more patient and loving man.   I love him so much!  Be sure to wish him a happy birthday today!

5 Fun Facts about Zak:

1. He loves TWIZZLERS.  This is not a joke, Twizzlers are his favorite candy.  I prefer something more chocolaty, but Z loves this strawberry goodness.
2. He has an ultra-sensitive belly button.  I guess we have Pete and Jere to thank for this one.  You can't lightly brush up against Zak's belly button without him freaking out.  He's says it's because his brothers would torture him as a kid and tickle his belly, and he's had an issue with it ever since.
3. Zak was/is a Thespian. He minored in Theatre to pursue this dream of his in college. As most of you know, when we went on our first date, he told me he wanted to be an actor/model.  I'll keep you posted on when Hollywood calls.
4. P stands for Perfect! Zak went to the dentist 3 years ago and the receptionist asked if the P in Zachary P. Kamm stood for "Perfect"? He's stuck with it ever since.  (For those that are curious, it's really Philip).
5. Zak is a STEELERS fan.  Zak traded in his love for the Panthers when the picked up Jimmy Clausen, he still has yet to burn his clothes, but he's no longer a Panthers fan.  He now bleeds, Black and Gold.  Can you blame him?  Panthers are AWFUL!!

Happy Birthday, Zak!  I love you so much!

First Steps

On 12/22/10, Harleigh took her first step!  She was standing by herself and wanted to come to mom so she took a step and fell in mom's arms!!!  We are so excited for her, and sad that our little baby who couldn't hold her own head a few months ago is now on the road to walking.  I guess her plethora of shoes are now needed for walking use, rather then just an accessory! :)

Sleeping Baby...

Below are a few pictures of our sleeping baby. She likes to get real comfortable when she sleeps. We're a little nervous she may like to sleep in the nudy! :)

Christmas Traditions at the Kamm's

We are absolutely loving the Christmas season and have enjoyed spending it with our little Princess.  A few traditions we have started since founding Zak and Heidi Kamm Oct 2007 are:
1. Christmas Vacation- we watch this movie with Chevy Chase (sometimes more then once) before Christmas Day, typically on Christmas Eve.  It really is an activity we both enjoy, until Z starts to say all of the lines before the actors do.
2. Christmas Eve Service- we love to get dressed up and attend Christmas Eve service (even if it's a day or two before Christmas).  It reminds us what Christmas is truely about.
3. One gift before Christmas Day! This is my favorite! We open one gift the night before Christmas.  Since Santa hasn't come yet, it's typically a gift from family.
4. Hiding one gift- This is something the Bradbury's have always done, and is so much fun.  The "big" gift is hidden, and after all the gifts under the tree are opened there are clues for each family member.  There are usually 5 which lead to the "big" gift.  It's a great way to spend time together as a family...unless Papa Bradbury wrote the clues and you probably won't find your gift until later that evening!
5. Reading the Bible- we read the 'Christmas' the morning of Christmas before opening any gifts. 

Please share any traditions you or loved ones do over the holidays!

Sitting on Santa's lap

This past week we went to EathFare to meet Santa and take a picture on his lap.  Harster got a little sad when we first put her on his lap because she thought mommy and daddy were going to leave her.  We also got to see Margaret.  So how old is too old to sit on Santa's lap? 

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

For some reason this year, Christmas music couldn't come on soon enough.  A few things I'm excited about this holiday season:

- Holiday Cooking with my Food Network expert, Ginger
- Dressing Harleigh up in her many festive Christmas outfits, completed with accessories, of course!
- Pictures of our family of 3 in front of our Christmas tree
- Picture on Santa's lap (oh, and I guess one with Harleigh on Santa's lap too! haha)
- Visit from Mimi and Bibi
- Seeing the Christmas decorations timed with music in the area (I know of 2 homes that do that- and they're much closer than McAdenville)
- Christmas Exchange with the Book Club gals
- GIFTS- for those that know me, this is my love language! (hint, hint Zak! ;))
- Christmas Crawl with the Carlisle's, Locke's, Zoe, and Bradbury's
- Christmas Exchange with the Bradbury family

Hopefully this puts everyone in the Christmas spirit!

Yikes- we've got CROUP!

So after a wonderful trip to TN, to visit the Kamm's for Turkey Day!  On the way home Saturday (11/27), we noticed Harleigh started to have a little cough.  It progressively got worse on Sunday, and we took her to the Pediatric Urgent Care (which is great- very little wait and you get to see a pediatrician not a nurse practitioner or doctor like you would at the ER).  Come to find out, she has croup.  It's awful, her vocal box (larynx) is swollen causing a hoarse voice and a raspy cough.  At 9 months, she's a little too young for the steroid shot so she's having to fight this one.  She's been doing okay through the night, she has to sleep in our bedroom, in her magic swing (of course) in case it worsens and she has a difficult time breathing.  Please keep our little one in your prayers for a speedy recovery and send along any remedies- we've got the humidifiers going, warmed diluted apple juice, and steamy baths in our daily routine!

Looking back....Dillard House

In October, we headed to Dillard, GA for Kamm Family Fun Weekend.  We had an amazing time walking through Highlands, hiking the waterfalls, and catching up with family. This was the first time Harleigh met her uncle Pete and Aunt Alex.  This is also when Pete and Alex announced that they will be adding to the Kamm family in April!  Below are pictures of the trip:

Thanksgiving Trip

This week we head to Cleveland, TN to visit Mimi and Bibi Kamm.  This will be the longest car ride for Harleigh, which is why we've put it off.  We're hoping we'll be able to time it just right so she takes a nap for 75% of the trip.  We are looking forward to spending time with the Kamm's, hiking, shopping, and a very relaxing time while there.  We have gone to TN for Thanksgiving for the last 4 Thanksgivings.  We hope that everyone has a safe, restful, and wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Pumpkin Patch with Friends

We went to the pumpkin patch in early October with Landon and Julia, below are some pictures of the cuties!

Our Little Crawler

Happy Birthday Uncle Jobin (AKA Joel Bob)!

Happy 25th Birthday, Joel!  I thought since it is your birthday and I would rattle off a few of my "Joel stories".


For those of you who know Joel, knows he gets his incredible planning skills from my dad.  About 2 years ago, Joel was moving out of his apartment in NoDa and he gave Zak and I a call (the night before) to see if we could help him out with moving a few "big" pieces of furniture (i.e., TV, mattress, table, couch).  So Zak and I head up to NoDa (a 45 minute drive) to help Joel out.  Joel said it would only be for an hour, he only needed help with a "few" pieces.  As we walk in Joel's apartment, we notice NOTHING is packed up in the living room, dining room, and kitchen.  We think "well surely everything upstairs in his room will be packed"- nope, only 2-3 bags were packed.  Captain 'Planner' decided that he would be able to pack up his stuff and the car at the same time.  Joel also asked if Zak and I wanted to borrow his TV.  Come to find out he didn't want to put in in storage and there was no room at his new place!  So 6+ hours later, Zak and I return home with a new TV for our house. :)


Joel is a huge help with Harleigh.  He doesn't hesitated to come over (by himself) and help out if Zak and I need someone to watch her for a few hours.  When Harleigh was around 4 months old, Uncle "Jobin" came over to watch her while Zak and I did a service project for 2-3 hours.  We promised Joel that Harleigh was on a good routine and that she will pretty much sleep 90% of the time and when she wakes up he may have to change a wet diaper.  We told him not to worry, she won't have a poop, she only does those in the evenings.  Well, Harleigh could sense Joel laid back attitude and was completely relaxed with him and had a massive blowout 15 minutes before Zak and I returned home. :)  Joel said as he was changing her he was dry-heaving! haha....When we returned home, we found Joel and Harleigh laying on the couch, and she was so chill and relaxed we couldn't believe it, until he told us what happened minutes before! :)  Thanks, Joel!


Finally, a story from when we were kids.  As kids, we always had chores to do.  One day I was in charge of vacuuming certain rooms in our house in Maryland, Joel was in charge of vacuuming other rooms.  I vacuumed my room first and went downstairs to play.  When my mom returned home and asked us if we had done our chores we said "yes".  When she went to check out the work she noticed that the vacuum cord was completely cut in half.  I thought to myself "oh my gosh, I ran over the vacuum cord when I was vacuuming."  My mom demanded an answer on who cut the cord.  I told her that I had ran over the vacuum cord while vacuuming, but didn't notice that I had cut it.  She said that someone cut it with scissors and until we owned up to it we were grounded.  So I asked Joel, and he said "no, he didn't do it".  After a while my mom said someone had to admit to it.  So I said "I did it, I cut the vacuum cord with the scissors".  I received spankings for lying about it.  Flash forward 15 years, we were talking about stories in the past and the mystery behind who cut the vacuum cord, because I knew it wasn't me.  Joel finally admits to it!!  He sat there and let me get spankings for something he did!  To this day I hold my breath every time I run the vacuum over the vacuum cord.

But on a serious note, Joel you're an awesome brother, uncle, brother-in-law, friend.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and can't wait to see what God has in store for you.  We are looking forward to your wedding, and welcome Cassie into the family with open arms (you know that means a lot coming from me:)).  We hope you have a wonderful day!!  We love you, Happy Birthday Uncle Jobin/Joel Bob/Joel!

8 MONTHS- ON THE GO AND TOOTHBRUSHES!

Today, 11/14/10, Harleigh has started to crawl and she broke her first tooth!  There really haven't been too many signs that she was teething, other than she's been a little fussy and had a slight temperature a few nights before, but nothing that was too out of the ordinary.  As for crawling, she hasn't mastered it yet, but she's on all fours and moving....backwards. :)  She's having fun, and we can't believe our little peanut is on the move! 

Kissing Kamm's! ;)

Over the past few weeks, Zak and I have been talking with Harleigh more and more about our daily routine in hopes that she will start to understand and maybe even pick up a few words.  Well, last night, we were giving her kisses, and it clicked!  We would say "Kisses for (mommy or daddy)" and she would lean in and touch lips!  It is the cutest thing.  Of course after she completes a kiss, she gets a cheer from mommy and daddy which makes her light up and want to do it again.  This could be either a good thing- that she's understanding words, or a bad thing- that at 8 months the only activity she understands is kissing!  Hopefully, she'll only be kissing family for the next 35 years!! ;)

Sweet Ride, Harleigh and Landon

Cruisin' down the street in my 10 speed...(babies were ~6 months)

Eurotrip

Zak and I are planning on going to Greece Spring 2011.  We haven't finalized the plans yet, but are super excited about it.  It preparation for Greece, it got us thinking about the wonderful time we had May 2009 on our trip to Europe.  We went to Barcelona (SPAIN), Malta (BRITISH ISLAND), Naples (ITALY), Rome, Florence, and Cannes (FRANCE).  We had such an amazing time and were able to see everything we wanted to see.  Here are a few pic's from that trip:

Another baby on the way....

NO IT'S NOT ME!!!  Gotcha'!

A few weekends ago, we went to Dillard, GA with the Kamm side of the family.  Zak's middle brother, Pete and his wife Alexandra, organized the very relaxing weekend away.  We stayed at a cozy hotel (http://www.dillardhouse.com/) and had a great trip to the Highlands to walk around, grab a bite to eat, and visit the waterfalls.  While there, Pete and Alex made an exciting announcement that they were EXPECTING! :)  We are so excited Harleigh will have another cousin (her 5th) in April 2011.  Congratulations Pete and Alex, we can't wait to meet the new addition!

Emergency Room Visit Part Deux

Harleigh rang in her 8 month milestone with another trip to the ER.  At 7:30pm on 10/26/10, I put Harleigh down for bed.  She had a great dinner (pureed sweet potatoes, lots of milk, and some puffs).  At a little before 8pm I heard her crying and went to check in.  As soon as I went in her room, I could smell vomit.  I turned the light on and saw she was shivering and had puke all over herself and the swing.  I quickly grabbed her and held her and she started to calm down.  Everyone had always said "when it's your baby, you won't care about throw up" and it's true, my little baby started to throw up again all over me and it didn't bother me at all.  I was only concerned about getting fluids in her and getting her to hold something down.  I called Zak, because of course of all nights he was valeting and told him to get home immediately, I called the nurse triage at the Pediatricians office, and called my sister. (Landon, my nephew, had a bad bug the week before and Harleigh had a playdate with him on Monday.)  Since I didn't receive an immediate call back from the nurse, Ginger said to wait and see if Har stops vomiting, and if not take her to the hospital. So I waited another 10 min and she got sick again.  Zak got home and we packed up and headed to the hospital.  As soon as we got there, Harleigh started to smile and jump around.  For a sick baby, she was awfully happy!!  We went back and they gave Har some anti-nausea medicine and wanted to test for Keytones. (Keytones are in urine when someone is dehydrated.)  They found a few in Har's, so we had to wait around and get some Pedialyte in her system.  At 2:30am we were discharged.  At home, Har went to bed in the bouncer in our room, but at 4am I woke up with a bad stomache ache and Montozumo's revenge part 2 hit me!  I don't know how Harleigh was so happy, I wanted to die for 24 hours.  Everyone is now bug free and we hope to keep it that way!

Happy Halloween!

Harleigh went trick or treating for her first Halloween last night.  She enjoyed seeing all the costumes at Gigi and Papa's neighborhood Halloween party, then to visit Uncle Joel and Aunt Cassie, and finally to trick or treat at Aunt Ginger and Uncle Dean's.  Landon was a puppy, Harleigh a cow (which was actually a horse-I'm  still convinced it may be a cow), and Hollyn (Mauney and Jalynn's daughter) was a monkey.  It was a great night without a meltdown, so a win for all.  Pictures to come soon.

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we took Harleigh to the pumpkin patch, and met up with her BFF Julia, and cousin, Landon.  Obviously, we took some pictures, and here are some:

Cutest little pumpkin in the bunch, huh?

Harleigh's Room Before and After

We thought we would share a few pictures of Harleigh's room since we've hung the beautiful curtains Mimi made for her.  Thanks Mimi (Zak's mom)!!

Before.....

After...

Girls Weekend to Hot Springs

The first weekend in October, I went to Hot Springs with Bryn, Katie, and Natalie (who are all in book club). Below are a few pic's from our fun weekend of hot springs, massages, wine, s'mores, and great stories!