Santa and First Presents

We took Cam to the mall to see Santa. I knew it wouldn't go well as she is in the "all I want is mommy stage." They told us we were not allowed to take any pictures unless we bought the minimum package. The minimum package was $20!!!! Well good thing I snuck in some video footage. Like I am going to pay $20 to have 2 4x6's of my daughter crying. I don't think so!! The Santa was good though. (yes it was a real beard).

Camryn and Dad hanging her first ornament. (It was quite difficult to find my first Christmas ornaments this late in the game. Obviously if we wanted a cute one we should have shopped in September).

I'm not sure who was more excited to open presents, Dad or Camryn. I think Dad was eager to see Cam's reaction to the presents. We should have opened presents earlier in the day. Cam starts to tucker out around 6:30-7ish. She did enjoy ripping the paper off. However, she really did not want to open more than one present. Until, mom and dad started opening their presents. Then, Camryn was all about helping.

Brrr . . . 9 Months

Weight: 16.2 pounds

Height: We will find out at her next Dr's appt.

So it has officially been cold and snowy this past week. Dad was really excited to take Camryn sledding. We had to buy a flying saucer from Target. Unfortunately, the sled has only carried mom down the icy driveway once. It is just too cold for babycakes.

Over this past month, Camryn learned to say "dada." Which incidentally is now her favorite baby babble. Much to mom's chagrin she has little interest in producing the bilabial "mm" though she is quite apt at blowing raspberries especially with food in her mouth. Also, she mastered cross crawling (opposite hand opposite leg). Due to her mastery at cross-crawling she is now less interested in walking. (I really thought she would be walking soon).

Cam crawls all over the house and is fascinated with the "boing" of the door stops and opening and closing doors.

Mom and dad spent today and yesterday trying to stay on top of all of the blowing snow to little avail. Finally, a call to the city of Bettendorf sent a plow truck out 3 hours later so we could actually escape our cul de sac (2 others were stuck). The snow was 4 feet deep at certain parts. Fear crossed my mind several times as with most plowing we would end up with at least a 2 foot wide pile of snow at the end of our driveway. Well, this tow truck driver was superb and actually plowed the end of our driveway for us.

Too bad Cam isn't old enough to enjoy our great king of the hill at the end of our driveway.

Christmas

Camryn was so cooperative this morning and finally not sick I decided to try and take some pictures of her in her Christmas dress. Scott asked "why?" I informed him it is so I can send it out with our Christmas cards. I am not sure how much longer I can convince Scott that we should (I really enjoy) sending Christmas cards.

I really enjoy the bottom image. Which one is your favorite?

Oops

So I went to change Camryn's diaper this morning and decided since we had nowhere to go and she has teething diaper rash to let her keep her diaper off for awhile. Now she loves this. It seems her preference is to go bottomless because with each diaper change and/or clothing change she attempts to escape prior to being re-diaper/re-clothed. I thought nothing of it as she usually is good to go for another 2-3 hours without a diaper change.

Well I did get a little worried when I heard grunting. That is usually a clear indication of number 2; though, we have had plenty of false alarms. Also, I figured she is never done in one grunt so if she grunts again I will rush her to the toilet.

As it so happens it only took her one grunt to poop on the floor. Thank goodness it was solid and a cohesive bolus!! A quick clean up and we were as good as new.

(This is a picture she is going to kill me for when she is older!)

A Cold or Just Teething . . .

So Camryn was irritable most of the week, so not like her. In addition, she did not want to eat (though she always had room for her favorite puffs). Well on Saturday she decided to wake up with a temperature around 100. I gave her some Tylenol and it went away only to return 4 hours later but not as bad. The poor girl had a runny nose, watery eyes and when she first woke up a bark of a cough like a seal. For the first part of the morning she wanted to snuggle with mom. It was difficult to accomplish anything on Saturday due to her constant want to be held. We felt so bad for her because she would not/could not take a nap for very long and her little eyes would turn purple. She did not even enjoy her bath Saturday night. We made it through Saturday.


She slept through the night until 4:00 am Sunday. At least her fever was gone; but, she was still irritable. Her appetite had improved and she enjoyed eating a little breakfast, lunch and finally dinner. Still, she did not nap well and her little eyes were purple again. Her nose still ran and her eyes still watered but not as much.


I do have to say through it all she never gave up saying "da, da, da" or crawling, or pulling to stand (especially at Mom's legs so she could be picked up). I hope that she does not get all four of her teeth at once. I hope she has her teeth in by Christmas so that I can enjoy my break. (Also, I can't wait until her teeth pop through so she can finally start eating some more real food!)

This is Camryn by Sunday night. She is such a ham for the camera. She was crying just before I took this picture.

Road Trip

So like I said before, we left the Friday after Thanksgiving to venture up to Cadillac, Michigan with Scott's parents and brother. I felt very aprehensive due to the length of the trip and Camryn does Not enjoy riding in her car seat. Well, she surprised me. We made it there and back with little difficulty. However, the way there was shortened considering we started out at Uncle Brent's in Chicago. The way back home started at 9:3o am and lasted until 6:30 pm (there were a couple of breaks . . . lunch and picking up Toro from Aunt Amy's).

I am not sure if Camryn's idea of fun was going to all the wine tastings, but mom and dad sure did enjoy themselves.

(disclaimer - all the pictures taken in this post were done by dad)

Besides being able to play with Grandma and Grandpa Nicholson, Camryn learned a thing or two from cousin Devon as she started saying "da, da, da" on the trip.

At daycare, she now claps for anyone that says "Da, da, da." I don't know if we have to take her back to Devon to learn any other sounds, I can wait for "ma, ma." At least right now I can tell Scott she is calling him when she wakes in the middle of the night (unfortunately she just cries though it would be great if she said "da, da, da" so Scott would really have to get up).

Thanksgiving

Oh what a wonderful holiday. We spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family because we left for a mini vacation the next day with Scott's family.

My Grandpa raised turkeys from chicks all the way to the plucked bird that ended up being smoked. It was probably the best turkey I have ever had. As you can see Camryn enjoyed it as well (no she is not eating table food yet). I think Grandpa said it was a 40 pound turkey he cooked.

In addition, Camryn met Devon, my cousin Rachelle's baby boy who was born 3 weeks prior to C. Poor Devon was tired after a long day and Camryn decided to be a big bully. It is amazing to see what a difference 3 weeks makes in development. Devon babbled a ton compared to Camryn (she just says "aaaahhh" in varying pitches at this point).

8 Months

15.8 pounds

Height - ??? (I am already falling behind)

Well, C's 8 months flew by, really I think more the time between 6 and 8 months flew by.

The biggest event that happened in this time frame is Camryn learned to crawl and is learning what "NO" means. We never really had a need to tell her No previous to her becoming mobile. At least right now she listens to us, unless you tell her not to put something in her mouth. Then, she does not even let you remove the object from her mouth.

Also, Camryn went to the voting polls for the first time. I thought I remembered in the first election I voted in that they did not allow children in the polling booth. But then again that was in Illinois and awhile ago and I could be completely wrong.

I took my first "vacation" away from Camryn when I went to Chicago for a professional conference. Dad did great. I did not receive one phone call. Though Scott did ask me to write her schedule down because he did not know it. Cam was an angel for the 3 nights that I was gone. I enjoyed Chicago immensely and was able to catch up with some friends. I did miss Camryn; however, I enjoyed the limited responsibility that I had while away. I did not enjoy trying to pump at McCormick place (that is when I really wished I just had Camryn there).

I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff but I think I will leave you with a couple of videos of C crawling. These are her early attempts she is much faster now.