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.

Baptism

We had Camryn baptized at Augie Chapel on October 26. It was great to see our family drive the three hours out and our friends out here to celebrate the day with us. Not that I am biased or anything but it probably was my favorite baptism.

Pastor Priggie invited the whole congregation to gather around the baptismal font. I thought is was a great way for everyone to participate and share in the day and be connected instead of causal observers.

My sister, Amy, and Scott's brother, Brent, are her sponsors. It was a tough decision but I know they will help guide Camryn towards the right path. (By the way, I think the baptismal hats are ridiculous . . . just look at that picture . . . it makes her head look gigantic).

Everyone came back to our new house to celebrate (I know, I know, I will have to put up pictures of the house but that means it has to be clean enough to be picture worthy and I have a full-time job). It was nice having our first celebration in the new house, made it feel like a home.

In addition, Camryn met Grandpa Don for the first time. She did not show any fear, which may be unusual with my Dad or maybe it is because he is starting to look like Santa Claus with the greying beard and hair (sorry Dad if you are reading this).

7 Month Peanut

Height: 25 inches

Weight: 15 pounds

So it is official even though she seems big to Dad and I, Camryn is in only the 25th percentile for height and weight. The doctor said I should be giving her more baby food but you cannot give a baby more food if she does not want it. It isn't like I'm starving her. Besides I feel most of the baby food she takes in just comes out the other end. Really if you look her diaper it looks almost like it went in. I know she is getting enough to eat, besides during the first year it is milk that is important. I know when I start weaning her (I'm hoping she will self wean. Every time I hear/think of wean I think of piglets). Daycare even said the same thing. If she eats breakfast she does not each lunch and vice versa. Oh well, we have a peanut.

The one thing Camryn cannot get enough of in her 7th month are the Gerber puffs. I cannot put her in her high chair without her expecting to be rewarded with puffs. The other day she was in her chair at the corner of the table and the puffs container was on the table. I do not know how she attempted this feet but she reached her little hand past the tray on her chair and grabbed for the puff jar. Boy did she get mad when she could not actually obtain any puffs until I opened the container for her.

Another accomplishment for Camryn in this month is pulling to stand. The doctor said she did it a little early around 6 1/2 months but we aren't worried. I was a little disappointed for awhile that she did not pull to stand in her crib but I probably do not let her cry long enough to provoke her to stand. I will eventually and then I will snap a picture.

I do have to say as she is becoming more mobile the difficulty level is increasing in taking her picture. I guess that is why the digital camera has a shoot and select mode with children on it.

We did find a new daycare (I didn't mention that) that we love. It is a mom and daughter and they have about 10 children all together. Camryn made friends with a younger boy, Derrick. She becomes very jealous when Carrie picks him up but not Camryn . . . hmmm . . . what is Camryn going to do if she ever gets a sibiling.

We are still cloth diapering and we (I really should say I) have fallen into a routine that isn't too much of a hassle with washing and drying. I cannot even tell you how much money the diapers saved us. I really am used to her bubble butt. Though my friend Alice showed me a picture of her in cloth diapers and Camryn looks quite lithe compared to Alice's diapers.

Pumpkin Patch

Scott, Camryn and I visited a local pumpkin patch with our friends, Alice and Micah. We went the weekend before Halloween and it was pretty much picked over already. Also, we discovered buying pumpkins from any grocery store was less expensive than buying a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. That is just going to make it more difficult to convince Scott to go again next year. maybe not.

Thanks to the navigating expertise of our friend, Micah, we were able to find our way through a complicated maze pictured to be a barn and tractor. We were rewarded with pie pumpkins. Of which they still need to be made into pumpkin baby food for Camryn.

Camryn did enjoy the large pumpkins and the tractor ride out to the patch. She managed to sleep most of the time through the maze (I'm assuming from the off-roading that was occurring in her stroller). I'm not exactly sure how long it took us to navigate it but I'm thinking around and hour/hour and a half. However long we were there we managed to miss most of the Bears' Game.

Vegas Baby

Well we decided to take a leap and took our first family vacation. All three of us packed up and dealt with the hub-bub of 4 flights (round-trip) to make it out to Vegas with Grandma & Grandpa Hamil, Grandma Linda, Grandpa Bob and Aunt Lori and Uncle Mike.

Camryn did well on the airplane. The trip (2 plane rides) she was very restless and only wanted Mom. I think she probably slept a total of an hour . . . phew. The way back went a little better as she slept most of the time and let Dad hold her.

If we had a 5 spot for everytime someone sad what a cute baby we would have been a couple hundred dollars richer. Camryn loved the noises of the slot machines (though it was illegal for us to even stop in the vicinity of one). We couldn't complain about her behavior on the entire trip.

My favorite part was probably going out to Red Rock.

While there Camryn decided to take up scooting. Not that a package of peanut butter crackers wouldn't tempt anyone.

Goodbye Summer

With the appearance of 60 degree weather I think it is finally time to say goodbye to summer.

We moved into our new house and Camryn had a lot of firsts.
She played her first game of mini golf with Dad. I think Dad even came in second without a handicap.

She enjoyed her first dip into Grandma & Grandpa Hamil's lake.

And had her first bites of real food!

And decided she is not a fan of applesauce!