Water? Ick!

A few days ago, while scoping out high chairs and convertible car seats at BRU, Andy and I decided to pick up a couple sippy cups for Camy. The plan was to start offering her a little bit of water in a sippy at the same time we start solid foods (6 months). Well, yesterday morning, Camy kept diving for my water bottle and her daddy finally just handed it to her. It went straight into her mouth and she tipped it up like she was drinking from it (yes, we know that is just coincidence.. but it was cute!). I had just washed her sippy so we thought we'd put a bit of water in it and just see what she thinks....

Hmmm... doesn't look like milk?

Oh my! Doesn't taste like milk!!

But.. this isn't so terrible, I suppose.

I could get used to this.

After the initial shock of the taste, she seemed to love that cup! She wouldn't let us take it from her for quite some time, and was actually managing to swallow a bit here and there. She loved gnawing on the spout and swinging it around by one of the handles. We gave it to her again later in the day, and she seemed excited to see us pull it out of her diaper bag. Could she recognize it already, I wonder?

This little milestone makes us all the more excited about starting solids soon!

Our big girl. 

*tear*

Urban Party wore *this guy* out.

Where *this guy* = Camryn.

I went over to a friend's house this afternoon to watch her totally awesome boys for a few hours, and for the first time, Camy tagged along. She really seemed to enjoy having 2 big boys around to entertain her.. and entertained she most certainly was! This guy was letting out the biggest belly laughs I've heard. At practically everything they did.. even when they were doing nothing. Tommy just had to look at her and she'd giggle. [I have convinced myself that she was not flirting.. she was just being friendly. In a non-flirting kind of way.] And Jack, oh man, that little man moves fast (just ask him).. and Camy loved watching him run around. Her favorite game of all though, was when Jack figured out that if you shake Sophie fast enough, it just squeaks and squeaks and squeaks. So he would dance around, shaking the heck outta that poor giraffe, and Camy just ate it up. It was hysterical... one big boy moving and groving with a spotted dog toy teething toy.. one baby girl laughing her little head off.. and one super chill baby boy just staring at us all like we'd made a trip into Crazy Town. We had a great time, the three babes and I.

And this guy? That was my favorite part of the day... Jack referring to my sweet girl as "this guy".
It cracked me up.
First, we were singing silly songs to distract Jack from the fact that Mommy and Daddy weren't home. It wasn't "the itsy bitsy spider" anymore, it was "the itsy bitsy Jack" climbing up the water spout. Then Jack asked me to sing for Tommy, so T-Dog took his turn filling in for the spider. I asked Jack who else could climb the water spout... his answer, "Now you can sing for this guy" - pointing to Camy in the Bumbo.
LOL
I reminded him that her name was Camryn. And he repeated it back to me.. "Camryn?" Yes, Camryn.
And so we sang.

Later in the afternoon, when it was time to feed Tommy, we moved the jumperoo over into the dining room so Camy could join us. I got T-Dog into his high chair, the jumperoo moved to the next room, and then Jack asked "And this guy?".  haha
Yes, this guy is coming with us.

While we all hung out there in the dining room, it was hard not to notice that Camy was totally enthralled with this whole eating thing she observed.
I mean, she's seen us eat.. but I think seeing someone more her size getting to eat off a spoon got her wheels a'spinnin'. She was chilling in the jumper just next to me and T, and every time I lifted the spoon towards Tommy's sweet chubby self, Camy would lean forward and sometimes even stick her tongue out.
Much like so:

 (photo not from today, sadly I didn't have my camera!)

I think she's starting to get it. Starting to show interest in solids. Maybe the tongue thing is a clue that she's growing out of her tongue-thrust reflex? Exciting things on the horizon, folks!!!

::back to our Urban adventure::
Though I prepared myself for Camy to refuse a nap at casa de Urban, she surprised me by sticking to her usual 30 minute afternoon siesta. Even still, something about today just tuckered her out.
She fell asleep in the car at 640, and naps that late in the day are pretty much unheard of around here.
Woke up about 20 minutes later, but was still acting super tired so we went ahead and jumped straight to our bedtime routine.
She normally loves her lotion time after bath, but today I couldn't get her greased up and dressed quickly enough - she just wasn't havin' it.
Got her dressed and went to nurse her.. she was out in 10 minutes flat. And I mean out. On a normal night, she'll fall asleep after enjoying a leisurely 30-45 minute meal, but then wake at least a little when I go to lay her down. Today? 10 minutes of eating (plus a few extra minutes of cuddling for the Mama). Not a blink, not a stir when I walked over to her crib, laid her down.. she just kept snoozing. In bed, passed out at 815.
Why can't she do that on a work night?

Urbans, thank you for a fun afternoon! And thank you for our easy-peasy bedtime!! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Ten on Tuesday!

Photos, that is! :)

I see a bunch of other bloggers do "Ten on Tuesday" with random tidbits about their days, their weeks, their lives.. whatever they feel like listing.

I've always wanted to participate but I never seem to have 10 interesting things to talk about.

But today.. today is Camy's FIVE MONTH birthday.

How did that happen?

We did a little photo shoot this morning, so here are 10 of my faves.

Seriously Mama, the camera again?

Okay, I'll cooperate... as long as you keep singing!

[I love that she doesn't lean back anymore!]

This tutu looks pretty interesting...

I wonder what this thing does...?

She was determined to figure that thing out!

I love the chubby cheeks, the tiny nose, the eyelashes.

Oh, my beautiful girl!

See how she curls her toes when she's focused!

Ick! Doesn't taste as good as I expected...

I love when you sing me the ABC's!

She saves her big grins for her Daddy (behind the camera)!

She would stand like that all day if we'd let her!

This sitting up business is hard work!

Family Outing to the Park!

Our current Mommy-Daddy work arrangement allows us to have about 2 1/2 hours together,

 all 3 of us, in the middle of the day.

Today we took advantage of that time together and the beautiful weather

 by taking a walk to our neighborhood park.

We got Camy all strapped onto my back and headed on over.

[please disregard the neighbor's motorcycle and trashcan! oops]

She seems to really enjoy the back carry,

but apparently her favorite part is being untied,

as evidenced by the big grin seen here!

We were a little disappointed to discover that they didn't have any baby swings.

So her daddy decided to swing with her on the big one.

She wasn't all that impressed.

From there we moved over to the slide.

Andy held onto her and slowly slid her down.. again, not impressed.

But we did get some cute shots of her lounging on the slide!

...and some more cute shots chillin' in the grass.

Then it was time to head home..

we strapped her on front this time and hit the road.

(That's the mail key she was trying so hard to chew on!)

I am looking forward to making our family walks part of our daily routine!

Wearing My Babe.

This post describes the evolution of our BabyWearing Adventure!

When Camy was a teeny tiny little newborn snuggle bug,

I'd wear her in the Moby Wrap..

with her legs froggy-style and her sweet little head on my chest.

Yes, I look ridiculously ragged in this photo. 

I had an 8 day old baby, mkay?

Cut me some slack!

My sweet, sweet snuggler.

Look at that tiny little noggin!

As Camy got a little bigger,

I had to start pulling her feet through the bottom.

Gone were her froggy-leg days!

I had the fleece panel pulled over her feet in this photo though.

It was chilly out!

This is me with my sister and her sweet boy, Rylan.

Both babies were passed out in the Moby!!!

Now that Camy is even bigger still,

 I have had to start tying her on a bit differently.

She is really into what's going on around her these days..

Tying her on my hip allows her to really scope out her surroundings!

And its surprisingly comfortable for me as well.

"Hey Mama.. lemme see that camera!"

In addition to the Moby Wrap,

I have also developed a bit of a fascination with Mei Tai's.

Rather than spend nearly $100 on one online,

I asked my grandmother to make me one out of materials I selected.

She made this one for us when Camy was about 6 weeks old.

I couldn't really wear her in it until she was about 3 months old..

but we love it and carry it with us often when we're out and about.

As I learned more about Babywearing and Mei Tai Carriers,

I started noticing little adjustments I'd like to make to mine.

Rather than alter the one I already had,

I found an online tutorial for a Scandi Style MT and made my own today!

(with some cutting assistance from my Grandmother.. I suck at cutting!)

Here is Camy in a back carry with the new Scandi!

The differences:

One solid waist strap, padded.

Padded Shoulder Straps.

All straps are much longer, allowing for more carry options.

Hood (for when she dozes).

The decorator fabric makes up the whole body front, not just a column.

She looks totally thrilled to be taking this photo, huh?

She loves the carrier and being on my back.. 

she does not love the Mom-arazzi.

Our next adventure in BWing: Trying out Woven Wraps! :)

I'd like you to meet someone.

This is Hiram.

[pronounced High - Rum]

She was a gift from a family I have worked for the last 7 years (wow, it has been seven years!).
I nannied their first born daughter, M, from 9 months old until she was 2 years old and entered preschool.
M had this pink, stuffed bunny that she was attached to from very early on. Every where she went, her bunny tagged along. If she got a boo-boo, the bunny made it better. If she was sick, the bunny was an all-day companion, not just a naptime friend. She just adored this bunny.. carried it around by the ears, tucked it under her arm to play, it went in the car, to the doctor, everywhere.
When she was old enough to babble, she named her bunny Hiram. And it stuck.
Over time, Hiram started becoming a little tattered and torn. Her parents realized they needed a duplicate and ordered another one.. and at first, they kept one hidden and would rotate them out for cleaning or just for evening out the wear and tear. One day M discovered the spare and from then on wanted both with her at all times. But the duplicate didn't need its own name or identity, it was just Hiram.
Eventually 2 Hirams became three, then five, then 6 regular sized Hirams and one giant Hiram... and I think that's the current tally. 7 Hirams. All in her bed with her every night, still to this day.
Her first Hiram's ear is embroidered with her name. Her second Hiram's ear is embroidered Hiram, and from there it was Hiram III, Hiram IV, etc. Its pretty funny, and absolutely adorable.
When her twin sisters came along, they knew they needed Hirams for the new babies, too!
So M picked out a blue one for Baby G and a yellow one for Baby A. Their current tallies are 2 Hirams each, but they call their bunnies "Hummy". They have the same level of attachment and adoration to their Hummy's as M has to her Hirams. Its amazing.
When the twins were born, I returned to work for the family for another 2 years until I could no longer work through my own pregnancy. So I was a big part of their day-to-day lives for many years, meaning I had a very up-close and personal relationship with all the Hirams and Hummy's.
When my own sweet baby was born, they invited me over one day to visit and Camy and I went over to spend the day with the girls.
I was THRILLED when I opened a gift from them to discover Camy's very own Hiram.
I even got a little teary about it.
It is the sweetest gift they could possibly give us.
Hiram/Hummy has brought so much joy to their girls, so its no surprise to me that Camy is in love with hers, too!
Baby girl is big enough and strong enough now to roll and grab her Hiram in her crib, and I can always catch a few minutes of Camy-Hiram playtime on the video monitor before Camy falls asleep.
This was today's Hiram adventure... and I just had to run in and interrupt "nap time" to get some pictures of it!

She loves that bunny.

And it warms my heart.

Running on fumes.. and Hershey Kisses.

And why am I running on fumes, you may be wondering?

Because I am no longer a full time stay-at-home mommy. 

I am a most-of-the-time SAHMommy, and an early morning working mommy. 

The family I used to nanny for asked me to come back to help with their morning shuffle, and they made me an offer I just couldn't refuse. 

I just survived my first week back at "work" (I use the term very loosely)... and I am beyond exhausted.

I wasn't even this tired when we were dealing with the newborn sleep deprivation stage!

With me working early mornings, Andy rearranged his work schedule to work afternoons/evenings.. so I am home by myself every night til around 11pm -- which means the bedtime routine is all on me. 

Good Times!

I have tried pushing Camy's bedtime up an hour or so to have her down around 8, but the girl seems to be set in her 9-930 ways. And once she's finally down, I just can't seem to make myself go to sleep!

Case in point: this blog entry!! I should be sleeping! What is my deal?!

In order to be at their home by 630, I have to wake up at 430am to give myself enough time to get dressed and pump a bottle for Camy.

What a way to start the day, eh? 

Luckily my work day is done by 10am, and I am home in time for her second meal.. thank goodness I only have to pump once a day! 

(And does anyone find it as pathetic as I do that I am totally worn out by my 3 hour work days? Yeah.. sad!)

And how do Hershey Kisses fit in the picture?

Hershey Kisses are my current weakness.

I knew I was going to be an emotional wreck the night we moved Camy to her crib (tonight is night ten - woot!). 

So you know what I did while her daddy gave her a bath that evening?

I drove down to CVS for a bottle of wine and a bag of Hershey Kisses.

No kidding.

I did.

I am still nursing that back of Kisses, and I'm sure my certainly-expanding behind is thanking me.

Tonight's dinner of champions: Iced Tea and Hershey Kisses. Not kidding.

Before I go, my thoughts on part-time working motherhood:

I have loved being back with that sweet family every day. I missed those three girls dearly! 

I love feeling like I am contributing to the financial well-being of my family again and taking some of that burden off of my husband.

I love that Camy gets to spend quality time with her Daddy everyday after he has spent the last 5 months working nonstop to keep us fed with a roof over our heads (and cute clothes in Camy's closet).

I love how proud he seems to be each day when I get home and he tells me what they did that morning. 

So far, after 4 working days, he has taken her for 2 morning walks and staged one cute photo shoot! :)

I love that man and the father he has become. 

I love that we were able to find an arrangement that allows both of us to work while keeping Camy home.

What I don't love is having to leave my house in the mornings without seeing her sweet smile. 

I'm only a little bit jealous that Camy's happiest time of day (when she first wakes up) is spent with someone other than me.

I'm VERY jealous of the hubby getting to sleep in every day.

And I'm just green with envy over the Camy-Daddy snuggles between the time she starts stirring (when he brings her to bed with him) and the time she wakes up for the day.

I am so glad that I get to be the one to grab Camy tomorrow morning and bring her to bed for some extra snuggles. 

I am so glad that I will get to wake up to my daughter talking and giggling and not my obnoxious alarm chiming.

I am so glad that I get to feed her in the morning rather than pump.

And even with the exhaustion and the sacrifices I am making to take this job, I am so glad for the opportunity to be with that family once more... and of course, to bring home some bacon.

[Wordless Wednesday]

Dang Milestones.

Yeah, I said DANG milestones.

I was so excited when Camy found her toes last week. It's the cutest darn thing ever to see her so fascinated by her own feet. She spends a good portion of her floor time bonding with her 10 little piggies, and she has made changing/dressing her quite the adventure by folding herself in half, toes in mouth, the minute her back hits the changing pad. I've been meaning to catch it on film/video because I just eat it up, but for now.. I'm cursing the milestone.

Why?

She's exhausted.

Eye-rubbing, whiney crying, huge yawning, restless baby exhausted.

And rightfully so, its 1hr22mins past her bedtime.

But, those dang toes have too much appeal now.

She lazily reaches for her feet... gets a set of toes in her mouth.. then gets pissed that it isn't the nighttime boob and cries. I go in, soothe her back down to sleep, tiptoe out of her room and flip on the video monitor only to watch her do it all again. A little kick, a little stretch, a foot in the mouth, a sucking noise, then a cry.

Camy, darling, your toes will still be there in the morning.

Promise.

:::knock on wood::: I think she's finally out. :::knock on wood again:::

:::and once more for good measure:::

20 Weeks.

20 Weeks Then.

The first twenty weeks of our pregnancy was long. In the beginning it felt like the halfway mark was a lifetime away. Hearing "twenty weeks" sounded odd.. like we would never be there.

We got there eventually, after a lot of sickness and suffering.

We were overjoyed to be halfway through.

We were overjoyed to learn that we were having a baby girl.

And we now felt like "40 weeks" was yet another lifetime away.

That twenty weeks (19 weeks and 1 day, actually) went by much faster than the first.. but still at a snail's pace in comparison to how quickly our first twenty weeks as Mommy and Daddy flew by.

This past Wednesday marked Camy's 20 week birthday.

I couldn't believe it.

Where have the last 20 weeks (and 3 days) gone?

It really does feel like we just brought her home. In so many ways.

But in other ways, I don't remember what life was like before her. I feel like she's been my little angel forever. I feel like an old pro by now, when really, we're really just getting started at this whole parenthood thing!

20 weeks now.

Amazing!

Camy celebrated her 20 week birthday by sleeping in her own crib, in her own room, for the first time at night. The night before she woke us up (what felt like) every 15 minutes. Not crying. Not hungry. Just squirming. And by "squirming" what I mean is scooting herself down off her pillow (yes, her pillow) and rotating her sweet little body 90 freaking degrees, or until she was totally perpendicular to Andy and I. That meant one of us would have her head sweetly on our shoulder, and the other would have her feet in our ribs. She usually saved the kicking for me, Daddy got the cuddling. I would wake up to a swift kick in the side, carefully rotate her back up onto her pillow and go to sleep.. only to be roused awake the same way again. And again. And again. It was (sadly) time for a change.

She had long been sleeping through the night, but I worried that the drastic change in scenery and company would throw her off track. She proved me wrong! Night one in her crib took 27 minutes to get her to sleep (not bad!), and she only had one partial-waking/binkie call at 230am. I stumbled across the hall (from the guest room where we were sleeping to be close to her!) and replaced the binkie, and we all went back to sleep til about 7am!

Night two took almost an hour to get her to sleep, but that's okay. Again she had one binkie call in the 2 o'clock hour, this time taking a few minutes to settle back down. She woke up at 6am this time, and we brought her to bed with us where we slept an extra hour and a half all cuddled together in the guest bed (again).

Night three was difficult getting her down, took an hour and a half, but I was flying solo which may have had something to do with the struggle? But this time.. no night waking!!! She slept straight through from 930pm to 630am, then came to bed with us and slept another hour!!!!

Awesome!

:)

We can't wait to see what the next 20 weeks has in store for our family!

The last 3 twenty-wk spans have each been amazing in their own way, but each exponentially more joyful than the one before.

The next is sure to outdo them all. This I know.

Back on the old blog wagon!

Woot!

After 14 very long, very sad weeks, we finally replaced our laptop.

I am so excited to be able to catch up with the blog and get back to chronicling all the exciting things we encounter everyday as first-time parents. :)

I think having this gap in Camy's blog was one of the biggest things I dreaded while we were sans-home-computer. Sure, it sucked to not be able to check my email on my schedule. Yeah, my mom probably got sick of us dropping in to log a little laptop time at her house. And it did take some getting used to when we had to start keeping track of our finances and paying bills the old fashioned way. We couldn't google map directions, look up restaurant menus or movie times. I couldn't spend my downtime catching up on the mommy message boards or friends' blogs. But, truly, I hate that there are 14 weeks worth of stories and milestones and memories that I wasn't able to blog about. :( During that 14 weeks, I was never without a spiral and a pen.. writing down everything. Tracking meals and naps of course, but also jotting down quick notes about things she did or things I wanted to remember. One of these days I'll get around to blogging the important things from that couple months.. but for now, I want to just jump right in and start where we are today.

Camryn is 4 months and 3 weeks old today.

She is a beautiful, healthy, happy little girl.

She lights up when she sees her Daddy's face, and giggles when I tickle-kiss her tummy.

She is still breastfeeding like a champ, and she will proudly show you the chub to prove it.

She loves her "Hiram" lovey (Hiram will have his own post soon, full story to come), her sound machine at night, and bathtime.

She has a love-hate relationship with Sophie the Giraffe.. happily reaching for her, then angrily gnawing on her ankles. I need to get that on video. Its hilarious to see her eyes light up when we offer her Sophie, but it never takes long for her to start getting frustrated.. she will grunt and groan and squeal while she chomps on Sophie's ankles.. but then hold onto that squeaky little thing with all her might if we try to take it from her. Odd relationship they have.

She often withholds her giggles from Mommy and Daddy, but doesn't hold back at all when her cousin Sydnee dances around the room. Giggles galore!

She is sleeping through the night (9pm-6am) in her very own crib, in her very own room. Which breaks my heart a little each night because I so miss our bedsharing, cuddle-bug days.. but deep down, I'm so proud of how well she's done.

She loves to read with Mommy and will sit for quite some time in my lap just staring at all the colors on the page and looking up at me every once in a while, as if she's contemplating the story I'm telling.

She has us both wrapped around her little finger.

And she knows it.

Goodness I love that little girl.