Wordless Wednesday: Avocado

Ten on Tuesday!

1. Camy Bean hit the 8 month mark yesterday. I can hardly believe it. 2/3 of the way to her big Oh-One. Wow. What a sweet little joy she is, at 8 months old. She has blessed our life in so many ways. I have the official 8 month photo post coming just as soon as I actually get her 8 month photos taken. I have high hopes for this afternoon! Be on the look out. ;)

2. My sister came down for a visit over the weekend with her hubby and sweet little guy, Rylan. I have said this before but its worth repeating - sharing this journey of first-time motherhood with her is amazing. Seeing our kiddos grow up together, amazing. The older they get, the more they notice each other.. and I won't go so far as to say they "play" together yet.. but they're getting there. So far its more like stealing from each other...

smiling just before he snatched the toy!

and.. patting each other?

3. Saturday afternoon I made the kiddos some sweet potato fries. It was the first time Camy had SP in solid form. She loves SP puree, so I was surprised to see her resistant to the fries at first but it didn't take long for her to come around. I think the new texture caused her initial apprehension, but then she when got a mouthful, it was on. Those 2 gobbled up that whole SP in no time!

applauding Mommy for the yummy fries?

 4. Having a rough & tumble boy in the house was quite the change of pace. Camy is still basically immobile. Aside from her backwards scooting and rolling about, she hardly moves around. She manages to get where she wants to go, but at a snail's pace {which I like, this is NOT me complaining!}. Rylan, however, is very very mobile. And quick like a cat! And into everything. He crawls and climbs and never stops.

5. Camy has a thing for reading books these days. And by "reading" I mean, of course, eating. I've read many articles and parenting books about how important reading is in the first year. Crucial, even. So we read quite a bit. It usually feels like I am just reading to myself, but the experts insist that even if baby isn't locked in on you and the story, reading aloud is building her foundation for speech and comprehension. I want Camy to develop a lifelong love of reading and learning.. so I do as I'm told, I read to her. I give her books to look at and point out objects with her. Its rare that we make it to the third page of any given book before she grabs it away from me and finds a corner to gnaw on, but one day.. we'll get there. For now, I am letting her love on her books the best way she knows how. And I love that when she sees one of her books, she goes on a mission to get to it.. despite the piles and boxes of other fun toys. 

6. Camy also loves to read magazines. See....

7. Remember I told you we are trying a new eczema treatment? It is called Epi-Ceram and we have a love-hate relationship, me and that stuff. I hate it because it makes her cry for the first 20 seconds or so its on her face (and we were warned it stings/tingles a little at first). I don't like seeing my baby cry, especially when its in response to something I do. :( But, it is working really well! We don't have to count the days or applications because it isn't a steroid like the old stuff.. so we can use it "til the cows come home". {Only in TX will your medical professional give you instructions like that!} She has been using it (consistently) for 2 days and we've already seen great improvement. We used it on and off the first week because I was having a hard time committing to something that was making her cry. But seeing how wonderful her face looks already, I'm just about sold. I wish her daddy was home more evenings so he can be the bad guy!

two days ago:

today!

8. We have been giving Camy much more solid food lately, and she is doing so well! She has had broccoli florets, steamed carrot sticks, sweet potato fries, banana slices, mango chunks, avocado chunks, ravioli, green beans, shredded chicken, tortellini, toast, and crackers. I love being able to give her {some of} what we eat, and she has seemed to really enjoy feeding herself. {I have a video of her eating some tortellini but we have yet to find the software for our video camera that is Windows7 friendly. Stupid Windows7.}

9. Camy continues to nap like a champ these days. Some days she doubles up on the long naps (1.5-2 hrs), and sometimes she gives me just one long one and one or two short ones.. but we have come a long way from her anti-napping days. And she did it all on her own.  I am glad we held out hope for her having her own a-ha moment, and thankfully never needed to resort to the dreaded sleep training! Go, Camy!

10.  I am having trouble thinking of one more thing.. but since this is my blog, I am going to say that my volume of photos in this post earns me a pass on number 10.

Happy Tuesday!

Crooked smiles, and 5QF

Remember, just the other day, when I was telling you about something kickin' my sweet girl's little baby bum? Well, I'm pretty sure we found the culprit. I'm thinking it was that mean old top left lateral incisor {ha, I totally had to look that up, but shouldn't admit that so you could just go on thinking I'm all smarty pants and know things like the technical names of baby teeth!}. That little bugger broke through sometime yesterday.. didn't feel it in the morning and definitely felt it after bath time! That explains a lot. The fussiness. The fever {I'm now a believer in teething fevers!}.   The tears during solid food meals. It all makes sense now. I've heard that the top teeth are harder on the wee ones than bottom teeth, and so far, with only the sharp tippity top of one top tooth through, I believe it! One topper down, only nine more to go. Yikes. 

While I was looking up the technical names for these baby teeth, I came across many articles and charts that show when babies usually sprout which teeth. Turns out Camy inherited something from me after all - her desire to do things on her own time, "normal" be darned. The typical order of "eruption" (I hate that term) is: bottom central incisors, top central incisors, and then the top lateral incisors. Maybe Camy thinks she doesn't need those top middles? I mean, what are they even good for, right?! I'm looking forward to the photos of her crooked little smile.. 2 middles on bottom and one top tooth off to the side! Silly girl. 

While I have a still moment (feeding the silly girl), let me take this chance to play our fun 5QF game! As usual, be sure to stop by Mama M's blog to read all about it and play along! Thanks, Mama M! 

1. What was the first car you owned?

My first car was a black 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. I was all kinds of excited when my mama bought me that Jeep, but as nice as it looked from the outside (and inside), it turned out to be quite the junker. I had it for less than 2 years and by the time we traded it in, we had discovered many little quirks. For one, you couldn't run the windshield wipers unless the brights were on. I blinded a lot of folks over that 2 years, when I would have to drive with my brights on in the rain. Also, the only way to roll down the driver's window was to crack the door so that it was open more than a few inches, but less than halfway. Yep, if you didn't open it enough or if you opened it too much, no window rolling for you. And if you had to hit the brakes harder than you would just coming to a regular, calm stop - the alarm would go off. Yup. Awesome. But ya know what? I loved that Jeep. Lots of good memories with that thing - adventures with friends to/from school, road trips, all kinds of fun was had. :)

2. What song are you embarrassed to know the lyrics to?

Hmm.. as ridiculous as it may sound, if that Miley Cyrus Party in the USA song comes on (and Camy isn't in the car), I turn it up and jam out. Singing every word. You've got to admit, its a fun song to rock out to! 

There was also a time (preCamy) when I got in the car with my husband & sister and when I started the car and the radio came on, a children's CD was playing. They both laughed and pointed out that I hadn't had the kiddos in the car in a few days.. so they caught me. I was listening to it driving around by myself. Oops. 

3. Have you ever had stitches?

Nope. Never. Not even after delivering my sweet [big!] girl. Neener, neener. 

4. What was your first job?

A "sales associate" at a CD store in the mall. I hated every minute of it and only lasted 2 weeks. After I got my first paycheck and saw how ridiculously small it was, I decided I was wasting my time on a job that I was miserable in and paid me crap. I called in the day after my first paycheck and told them I wasn't coming back, ever. Even to shop. I hated that place. I have yet to set foot in there since. I decided then that I wanted to work with children and so for the last 10 years, that's what I've done. Love love love my job now! :)

5. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character?

Grover. He is lovable and courageous and confident. His "Super Grover" alter-ego swoops in trying to help everyone living on Sesame Street, even though his efforts almost always fail. He doesn't give up or let that stop him, he's always at the ready for his buds. 

There ya have it folks. Your turn! Here's the link to Mama M's blog today... join the party! 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Ten on Tuesday! {on tuesday!!} EDIT: PHOTOS

1. After a hellacious 3 days, I *think* I may have my sweet baby girl back. 

::knock knock knock on wood!::

We can't decide whether it was teething or allergies, but something had our baby all out of sorts. Something kept her temperature on a roller coaster from Friday night through Monday morning, steadily rising to nearly 101 then coming back down with the help of a little Motrin only to steadily rise again 6 hrs later. Back and forth. Saturday night, something woke her up no less than 4 times.. per hour. Sunday something had her in tears over every little thing. Couldn't reach the toy she wanted? Tears. Wanted to stand up to play? Tears. Mommy (gasp!) turned her attention to something else for 3.55 seconds? Tears. Something was keeping her from being her always happy, always smiling little self. Something made her cry in the highchair instead of inhale her yummy solids. Something can kiss it, cuz something is not welcome here again. Teething or allergies or whatever it may have been - we were not fans. And we are glad it seems to have packed itself up and taken off. 

2. Last week Camy and I made our first trip to Tiny Bird Organics for some laundry soap and a reusable swim diaper. While we were there, we came across an amber teething necklace. A little blurb about 'em:

{Amber is a natural analgesic and when worn on the skin, it releases healing oils that helps babies and young children to stay calm and more relaxed thoughout teething. Amber necklaces are a great natural remedy and can eliminate the need for over the counter drugs.}

They only had one necklace left in stock, so naturally I had to buy it. While battling the up-and-down fever and fussiness over the weekend, I remembered our purchase and decided to give it a shot. The jury is out on whether or not it did a lick of good because "calm and relaxed" certainly would not describe her demeanor over the weekend. I have not yet given up hope that the necklace has some magical natural healing power, but Andy (and my mom) pretty much think its a crock. We shall see.

Anyone have one for their babe? Any success stories to share?

3. Camy Bean had her fourth dermatology appointment yesterday. We were happy to report to the doc that her body has been doing beautifully, very few flare ups and very easily managed. Hooray! But, unfortunately, her sweet face is still flaring up as soon as we take a break from the steroids. Steroids cannot become a forever treatment, so we are trying something new. We are only using the steroids for one more day (to help put the current fire out) then we are moving on to a non-steroidal treatment called EpiCeram, which is a "skin barrier emulsion". Whatever that means. We are giving this treatment plan 3 weeks to get the eczema under control and if it doesn't help either, the lovely derm-PA we've been seeing will have to upgrade us to the big guns, the actual dermatologist. {dun dun dunnn} 

Hopefully her fifth appointment will be our last for a while. Or forever. That would be good too. 

4. Have I mentioned Camy's playroom on here yet? No? Well let me tell ya about it!

It used to be our office/scrap room. When we found out we were with-child, we converted it to a guest room. But not long after the Camy Bean arrived, I decided we either needed to buy a bigger house (ha!) or make that room serve double-duty: playroom by day, guest room by (the occasional) night. We toyed with the idea of a futon (but we're not college kids). We toyed with the idea of a daybed and trundle (but the room isn't all that big so a bed would cut out a lot of play space). We toyed with the idea of a sleeper sofa (but we already have one in the living room and again, it would take up a lot of room). Finally my brother-in-law had a stroke of genius and suggested a Murphy Bed. I was a bit skeptical at first, unsure of how it would turn out and whether it would look goofy. But I got on board, we ordered a kit, and my sister and brother-in-law came to town so the boys could build it. They did a great job and I was pleased with the way it turned out. A few weeks later, Andy built some shelves to go on either side to serve as toy storage and finished everything off with some edge-banding and trim work. We are now working on getting everything painted. We are painting a chalkboard on the front of the bed for Camy to use when she's old enough, and painting the rest white. I will come share "after" photos soon - stay tuned. :)

5. Camy finally figured out that napping is awesome! It wasn't just a fluke and it wasn't just sleeping off the cold.. she naps a good hour and a half (at least) in the mornings, and about 45minutes (at least) in the afternoon. Haaaaallelujah. 

6. Andy and are going round and round about whether or not to put Camy's in a swim/water safety class, and if we do, which one. Given that we will have frequent access to a pool, I want to enroll her in ISR classes to teach her the back-floating self-rescue technique should she ever fall or slip into the water. Andy is hung up on the cost (understandable because it is friggin' expensive!) and the idea of putting an almost 8 month old in "swim lessons". We are looking into other water safety programs in the area (look at me, willing to compromise... maybe) and I am trying to help him understand why I will not be comfortable with Camy's exposure to the water without such a class. Does that make me an over-protective, over-paranoid first time mom? Probably. Do I care? Not one bit. :)
Has anyone had any experience with ISR classes or some other infant water safety course? Any recommendations?  

7. Speaking of pools and swimming, Camy's first full summer is shaping up to be a great one! We have our annual lake trip with the in-laws in June. We have big plans to take advantage of Andy's parents' pool (provided we get Numero 6 worked out, and provided "worked out" = I win!). I am really looking forward to frequent playdates with friends at local sprinkler parks and city pools. And, AND, we booked a house on the beach in Port Aransas to celebrate Camy's first birthday. My family will all be staying in the house together and I seriously can. not. wait. It will be the first time at the beach for all the cousins (Syd who will be 2 1/2, Rylan who will be about 14 months, and Camy who will be a year {duh}).  It will be a 4-day weekend spent soakin' up the sunshine, playing in the sand, laughing with the family. It will be such a wonderful way to celebrate our first year with our first babe. 

8. I am starting to think that Camy may not ever crawl. She gets where she wants to go by either rolling across the floor, scooting backwards and then turning herself in a circle to face the right way, or lately by just scooting on her butt. Its hilarious to watch her inch herself across the floor on her hiney, but I have to wonder.. wouldn't it be easier to just crawl? I mean, its a long slow process to scoot that way.. surely it'd be more efficient to get on all 4's and get movin'. Silly girl.

9. Friday was this mama's first night out of the house without the husband and without the baby. Of course I love them both dearly, but I have to say - being ME again was wonderful. Not having to worry about Camy was wonderful. Getting an evening with the ladies and a {few} bottle{s} of wine was WONDERFUL. I had such a great time and cannot wait to do it again! I can't believe it took me 7 1/2 months to take a night for myself. It was long overdue. Thanks, Tabs, for hosting!  **smoooches**

10. Friday was this mama's first night out of the house without the husband and without the baby. Camy did not think it was awesome. In fact, I'm pretty sure Camy thought it was the exact opposite of awesome. :( Andy had to work most of the evening, so my mom came over to put her to bed. I stayed for dinner and bath and started her bedtime feeding by nursing her a little bit. Then my mom warmed up a bottle and took over. Camy did NOT approve, and as much as her tears made me want to scoop her up and stay home cuddling her, I knew I need that night out of the house. So like any good mother would do, I grabbed my bottle of wine and walked out the front door. Hardest. Thing. Ever. (But is it sad that I don't regret it? In fact, I'm glad I did it! Mother of the Year, right here folks.) Camy did eventually take her bottle, but she was certainly not going to sleep without a fight. She wanted her Nona to know that it was not Nona's face she wanted to be seeing. According to my mom she was just looking around the house, straining her neck to look around the room or towards the door.. just crying. Breaks my heart. She finally gave in and went to sleep a good hour and a half later than usual.. but surprisingly, slept through the night. When I heard the recap the next morning, my heart broke a little thinking that Camy cried herself to sleep wondering where her Mama was, so I gave her extra cuddles all morning. After that night, my mom's thought was that I need to get out more to get Camy used to other people caring for her. I had the opposite reaction, I'm so sorry my sweet sweet love. Mommy will never leave you ever again. Smoochie, smoochie, big squeeze hug. 
Just don't tell Camy that by "never leaver her again" I really mean not until the next ladies' night.

I'm terrible, huh?


Tabs -
Here is why there are no photos for this week... they would all look something like this:

Or like this (with Nona):

Or this with her sad eyes, but the closest we have to a smile (with her new amber teething necklace):

It was a rough week. But we have high hopes for some smiley photos tomorrow! 

TGIF. For Real. TG. {and 5QF}

I can't remember a week when TGIF meant so much to me.
This week has been exhausting. With a capital EX!
Monday thru Wednesday were the definition of chaos.
Andy was working out of town those 3 days which meant the Camy Bean got to come to work with me.
Which meant she had to wake up at 5am (as opposed to her usual 8am).
Which meant she was a Cranky Bean all day, every day.
Bringing her to work also meant I had 4 girls under the age of 7 to care for each morning.
Which meant I needed a lot of caffeine.

We were quite the sight, the 5 of us.
Getting the gang into the car was a circus!
The expedition had 3 convertible seats anchored in side-by-side in the middle row {the twins by the doors and Camy rear-facing in the middle}, and a booster seat in the third row.
In case you ever find yourself shuffling 4 children under 7 around town, let me give you the rundown on how best to go about it. If you aren't already, you may want to sit down. And take a deep breath.

First, you have to be sure the 3 year olds go potty before leaving the house, even if they say they don't need to. If you don't, you will get out of the driveway and almost to the end of the street before one of them exclaims that she neeeeeeds to go potty. While they are taking turns using the bathroom, you may want to make sure the 7 month old has a dry diaper. Be sure all 3 older girls have shoes and jackets and snacks in their backpacks. Double check the diaper bag for a binkie {and a backup, for good measure}, then get out the door before the 3 year olds decide there is some pressing issue in the playroom they MUST tend to right away. Once outside, toss all 3 backpacks and the diaper bag in the front seat and order the twin 3 year olds to stay out of the street while you buckle in the baby. I mean it, stay. out. of. the. street. Climb in the back passenger side to lift the baby over one of the convertible seats and buckle her in. Look over your shoulder no less than 43 times and order the twins to get out of the street! at least twice.
Climb back down and let one of the twins climb into her chair while you walk around to open the back driver side door and ask the other twin to climb in as well. Oh wait, other twin has walked around to the side of the house to find her hula hoop? Remind her it is not time to hula hoop, it is time to go to school. Help her climb in & buckle up then go open the trunk door for the 7 year old to climb into the 3rd row seat {yes, via the back of the truck}. Walk back around to the passenger side and buckle in the first twin who stayed out of the street, climbed in when you asked her to, and sat down to patiently wait for you to buckle her in {she's so good!}. Lastly, be sure the 7 year old has buckled herself. Which she is perfectly capable of doing, but won't do until you ask her to 269,736 times.
Whew. All 4 girls are loaded up. Nobody is crying {yet}, but don't be alarmed if you still find yourself contemplating how long it would take somebody to notice that you've runaway to Mexico.

I kid, I kid.
I love my job. But on days when I have all 4 girls, it is truly truly exhausting.
Birth control at its best, I tell ya. ;)
After the craziness that was M-W, I had to work both morning and evening yesterday.
Today, though, was business as usual. TG.
Camy got to sleep in, I got to drive to work with two hands {ie, not holding hers to help her stop crying!}. I only had the three older girls to care for and get off to school, and I was able to rock out on the way home to unwind.
TG.

I am so looking forward to a night for myself this evening (THE FIRST SINCE CAMY WAS BORN! YES THIS WARRANTS ALL CAPS!). I am so looking forward to sleeping in with Camy tomorrow. I am so looking forward to the weekend.

And I am so looking forward to Five Question Friday.

1. What words do you use on your blog/online that you don't use in real life?

Hmmm. Good question. I wish I could say I don't use all the acronyms in real life, but I sometimes catch myself wanting to say "DD" instead of "Camryn", or "DH" instead of "Andy". I do say "WTF?!" at least once a day. And I have to stop myself from saying "LOL" in normal conversation. 

Oh, but I can say that I have never said "Squee!" or "Woot!" in real life. 

:)

2. Do you still write checks?

Only to mail off what few bills we don't pay online. Or if I owe someone money. I never have cash on me, ever, so if I can't pay with my card I have no choice but to write a check.

3. Who was your favorite President and why?

I don't think I have a favorite President. 

I am hoping that by the end of his term, I can say Obama is my favorite.. but only time will tell on that one. He's got a long way to go before I can say that about him though. A long way, dude. 

{Is it bad that one of the biggest reasons I want to be able to say that is simply to laugh in the face of a few certain people? A few certain people who tried to talk me out of voting. A few certain people who crack obnoxious jokes in my presence about the president and my POV. UGH!}

4. Are you a yeller?

OMG XYZ, Y-E-S.

I should really work on that.

Don't worry though, I have all the patience in the world with kiddos under about 12 and I'm not one to yell at friends or strangers. Even if I wanted to, I just don't. 

I pretty much just yell at the dogs. Or inanimate objects. Or my husband {I know, I'm terrible}.

5. Have you ever dumpster dived?

No, no I have not. 

Ooookay, folks. You're turn. 

Head on over to Mama M's blog, check out her Q's & A's for the day, and play along!

Happy Friday!! 

Tryin' this on for size.

Notice the new layout?
What do ya think?

I'd like to point out that the header is giving me a headache.
The photo currently displayed is serving as a placeholder for the real header... to be replaced when I get the real header actually designed.
Which may be never.

I can't decide if I want a photo header. {I'm thinking, yeah...}
Or if I want to keep it simple with font only, maybe a small graphic. {perhaps}
Do I want to jump on the istock illustrations train to depict our goofy little familia? {neh, not really}


I have spent quite a bit of time this evening just tinkering around with different header ideas, and nothing is really striking my fancy.
Oh well.
Maybe its a good thing I need to head to bed.
I can sleep on it and start over tomorrow.

In the mean time, you likey the new layout?

Wordless Wednesday

Crunch-o-meter

My good friend K blogged about where she falls on the crunch-o-meter by addressing 6 different factors. In response to her post, I thought I'd address them for myself.. especially since the hubs and I have been joking lately about how motherhood has turned me into hippy. :)
The 6 factors are birth, vaccines, sleeping, diapering, feeding, and transporting.

Birth: Well, I was able to deliver vaginally as we'd hoped but the real crunchy mamas rock it med-free and I asked for the epidural. Twice. I don't know where I fall on the crunch-o-meter though because both epidruals failed. Sooo.. technically I delivered without the relief of pain medication BUT I really really wanted those epidurals to work.
Score: We'll go halfway on this one. Not a full point since I asked for the epi's, but half credit for the vaginal birth. {.5 crunchy to .5 not crunchy}

Vaccines: After much research, much thought and prayer, much discussion with our pediatrician, we decided to follow the AAP's recommended vaccination schedule. A lot of factors played into making that decision including my planned return to working in childcare (thus Camy's higher exposure to loads of germs), our financial situation at the time and whether or not we could afford monthly doctor visits (little did we know, we'd be there monthly anyway!!), and on and on the deliberations went.
Score: Not Crunchy {.5 crunchy to 1.5 not crunchy}

Sleeping: We started out with an Arm's Reach Cosleeper attached to our bed. Within the first week it had turned into a nightstand of sorts, housing my clipboard/feeding log, my huge mug of water, the boppy, and a night's stash of diapers/wipes/blankets/clothes. Camy ended up sleeping in our bed very early on for the convenience and the cuddles. I always said those 3 big words mothers-to-be should know not to say "I will never.... let my child sleep in my bed." Bwahahahaha. That "never" certainly came back and bit me in the rear. And ya know what? I LOVE having her in bed with us. Love love love it. When she was 20 weeks old, after about 12 weeks of dodging the issue, I was finally convinced to move Camy to her bed. After a night of very disrupted sleep thanks to one very wiggly baby, we made the move. We put Camy to bed in her crib for the very first time and she rocked it! She did well the first couple weeks and usually slept the whole night through in her crib, but somewhere between eczema and colds and teething, she began waking up more frequently. At first we would just try to soothe her in her bed but when that was keeping us more than we'd like (or more than we could function on the next day!), we started bringing her to our bed when she'd wake. So she'd start the night in her crib, and wake up in our bed. I'm not quite sure when the big switch took place, but sometime between then and now her and I have managed to win the battle and she's just been coming to bed with us from the get-go. (Hooray!) Sooo... we went from bed-sharing to crib sleeping and back again.
Score: I say we get the crunchy point on this one. ;) {1.5 crunchy to 1.5 not crunchy}

Diapering: We are part-time cloth diaperers, and part-time sposie diaperers. I'd say its about 80-20 cloth to sposie. She wears disposables to bed because I am too chicken to leave her in cloth for 12 hours at a time, remember the girl has some crazy-sensitive skin! Cloth doesn't pull all the moisture away from her skin the way a sposie does so I'd be afraid that by midnight (if not much sooner!), she'd be soaked and just sitting in that wetness. We also use sposies for more difficult outings like when I watch all 3 M girls in the mornings or when we are going to be in the car for long periods of time. If we are just running up to visit my family or friends, she's usually in cloth. And at home during the day, cloth. We recently put up a clothesline for drying her dipes, which totally makes up for the occasional sposie use! At least in my mind it does, and its my blog..  so there!
Score: Another for the crunchy side! {2.5 crunchy to 1.5 not crunchy}

Feeding: Aside from one week that Camy had to be on formula as a new-newborn (stupid jaundice and slow milk production!), Camy was exclusively breastfed her first 6 months. I cried every time I had to give her that formula (not because I thought it was bad for her, but because I so desperately wanted to be able to BF and worried that she wouldn't make the switch back once she was used to formula). As soon as her jaundice levels improved, that can went straight into the garbage! And lucky for us, my sweet girl switched straight back to breastmilk without missing a beat! We have been able to keep it up ever since and even when things got rough with mastitis and her eczema, we stuck it out. Around her 6 month-day we started introducing solid foods in addition to her nursing. We wanted to take the baby-led weaning approach but put that on hold due to how slowly and cautiously we were told to introduce solids. It would have taken the ease out of the BLW concept to do things the way we have so far, so we decided to go with purees until solids were better established and allergies were no longer a concern (Camy has what they keep calling "allergic disposition" so we have been on high alert). However, in the last week or so, we have been talking about transitioning to a more BLW style, so just yesterday we picked up some veggies for her and planned a menu for ourselves that is conducive to sharing with the babe. We'll see how that goes! ;) For the purees, we have been giving her a blend of store-bought organics: Sprout is our preference but has limited choices, so Earth's Best and Gerber Organics have filled in the gaps. Now that we are starting to make her foods for her, we have been shopping our local farmer's market and scouring the HEB Organics sections. :)
Score: One for the crunchies. {3.5 crunchy to 1.5 not crunchy}

Transporting: Remember I devoted one Saturday to making my own Mei-Tai carrier? I love love love baby-wearing!! In the beginning I wore her all. the. time. That Moby was my BFF for months one through four. About that time she started enjoying her playtime on the floor much more (and we wanted her to practice her rolling and sitting and scooting) so the BWing at home has taken a dip but we I still wear her out and about whenever I can. At the farmer's market or the grocery store? She's in the MT. For places like the mall I have been starting out with her in the MT but bringing the stroller in with me in case she falls asleep and I need a break to lay her down or in case we end up needing to change a diaper and don't have a clean changing station to do so. The last couple mall excursions, though, the stroller was just a cart to hold our bags and she stayed in the MT the whole time. I wear her when I bring her with me to work so that I can tend to the other 3 girls with both hands while keeping Camy happy, close to me. And wearing her at work is the only way she naps. I wear her at parties/gatherings so I can have 2 hands handy (and to keep her away from all the germy folk, but shhhh, Andy thinks that's rude so I don't tell him that's part of the reason!). Camy and I, we love the BWing!
Score: Last point goes to the crunchy.

Final tally: 4.5 points to the crunchy, 1.5 to the not.
:)

I feel good about that.
Can I get a bonus point for convincing the husband to start recycling? Even though it hasn't been a week yet so we haven't even set out our first recycling bin for pick-up? What about a bonus point for eco-friendly cleaning supplies/detergents? Using reusable bags at the grocery store? Getting ready to plant our own little vegetable garden?

What other ways are there to green one's parenting style? One's home? One's life?
Anything you do or that you can think of that maybe we should try?


[And thanks, K, for the blog inspiration today! It was fun to make my way through your 6 points and grade myself! ::smoochies::]

5QF

Here it is folks. Five Question Friday. A little on the late side today but I have sick baby, so I get a pass!
Its "just a cold" according to the doctor. "Just a" my butt. This "just a cold" is running my sweet girl into the ground. She is a sad sight with her red puffy eyes, runny nose (that's all red a la Rudolph), coughing and wheezing and gagging. She has been sleeping, coughing, or crying all day. Oh, and clapping. She learned how to clap yesterday and does it all. the. time. now. Even with a sad face on, she's a-clappin' away. Cough Cough ::clap::. Roll over to get comfy in bed ::clap::. Its uh-dorable. I just wish she had a happy face to go along with it!

And before I get to all the fun festivities that are 5QF, I have to gripe for just a moment. This afternoon as we were headed home from CamyBean's pedi appt, I was pulled over. The scene in my car at that very moment was a desperate one - Camy in tears. Not just in tears, I mean hysterical crying to the point that she was practically choking herself. I had my right arm reached over the monstrosity of a car seat she rides in these days, fumbling around for her binkie and trying to hold her hand to console her. I was damn near tears myself because I hate not being able to make my sweet love feel better and I just wanted to get home and cuddle her and feed her and do all the things that make her day a little bit easier. But, stoopid old cop had to make our day harder. I was turning right at a red light (which is totally legal!) from an approved turn lane (didn't even have to go onto the shoulder, which I learned was a no-no back when I was 16 at that very same intersection back before they widened the road to add a turn lane) with a blinker. Right after turning I saw the cop on the side of the road and had a little thank you Jesus I'm not speeding moment. Until his lights went on. WTF? Me? Surely he didn't turn his lights on for me? Oh wait, he's getting behind me. Mother of pearl, are you #)*$^(^& kidding me? FOR WHAT?! 
Soooo.. I pulled over. Got out my licenses and insurance. He waltzed on up taking his sweet ass time as my child continues to scream as though her life depended on it. At this point, I am in tears.
He tells me he stopped me for disregarding a red light.
You've got to be kidding me.
I asked him why - through my tears, mind you, and loud enough that he can hear me over my sick daughter's sobbing. He explained that I did not come to a complete stop before turning right on red. I explained that my daughter is sick and we are headed home for the doctor and I yielded long enough to notice that the traffic on {the street I was turning on to} had a protected left turn so it was safe for me to go.. I am just really flustered with my baby crying and want to get home to console her.
His response, "Alright, well this won't take long. Let me go write out your citation."
WHAT THE FUUUUUUUCK?!
...is what I wanted to say. Along with some other choice words. But I didn't. I just cried. And leaned over the backseat and tried to calm Camy down while this jackass took for-freaking-ever to write up the most ridiculous ticket in the history of tickets.
Then he comes back, I sign by the stupid x and lean back over the seat again as he is giving his speech about what to do next. I swear he must have been reading word for word everything printed in the tiny print on the back of the ticket. I turned back to him and said "Can I read this when I get her home and calmed down" to which he seemed surprised "Oh sure, here you go. Here's your license. Have a nice afternoon." Yeah, you too asshole.
UGH!!!!!!
Soooo.. Camy continued to cry the whole rest of the way home and I continued driving with my arm asleep perched over the top of her chair holding her hand, because if I let go of her hand she screamed louder and harder. Poor girl. Just wanted her mommy.
And I just wanted to kick that FattyMcFuck in the junk.

:::deep breath::::
Okay, onto happier things.
Fun, questiony things.

1. Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?

Hmmm. I love me some Julia Roberts. And Rachel McAdams. And Jenna Fischer.

But I think my answer will be Rachael Leigh Cook. Sure, you may know her from She's All That or Josie and the Pussycats... but to me, she is and always be Mary Anne from The Baby-Sitters Club. The summer that movie came out, I do believe I watched it every day. A couple times a day. I read every book in the series and wanted to be in the BSC. I may or may not have tried to create my own BSC. 

2. Did you ever go to summer camp?
Just once, a church camp at J Bar J Ranch with my friend, Alene, in middle school. It was a week long camp and I was so far out of my element it wasn't even funny. I was not raised in a religious household, yet here I was at a Catholic church camp. 
Other than that the only summer camps I attended were not camps at all.. just what the daycares called their summer programs. Same old teachers, same old facility, same old kids I saw every other week day of the year. Bah.

3. What sends you running and screaming in the other direction?

Spiders. Spiders. Snakes and spiders. Scorpions. Bugs or creepy crawlers of any form. Gross. Gross. OMG XYZ gross.
Spiders like to eat my arm. 
Once upon a time in middle school I forgot my athletics uniform. The punishment for forgetting a uniform was having to wear the loaner uniform. The bright purple [school colors: maroon and gold], marked with a large bold "L" on the chest, loaner uniform. Not what the cool kids wore! So I borrowed a uniform from a friend and apparently her mother had stitched a fold into the arm cuffs (because all the cool kids folded up the arms of their t-shirts!) and apparently this friend didn't make a habit out of taking her uniform home to be washed. Apparently, spiders had taken up residence in the fold of her arm cuffs and apparently little spiders decided they didn't like me wearing the uniform that day. Several spiders began crawling down my arm during warm-ups and I freaked my freak. Ran to the showers, stood under the water with my clothes on, and cried. I didn't feel any bites, so I thought all was well... until my next class period. Within an hour my arm was swelling like crazy and apparently I had cluster of about a dozen spider bites just below the inside of my elbow. It was cuh-razy, yall. 
And solidified my arachnophobia.
And taught me to never forget my [fresh and clean, spider-free] athletics uniform ever again.


Now I feel like I have spiders on me. 
:::shivers:::

4. What is something you do that drives your spouse nuts?

I just asked him - "ummm, you leave the coffee grounds on the counter top". 
Which I only do like once a week.
Or maybe twice.
I wake up before the birds {and before my husband and daughter} and I tiptoe around the house getting ready for work. When I go to make the coffee, the previous days' filter and grounds are always still in the pot {left there by my husband the day before, which drives me nuts}. So I take out the old filter and set it on the counter and make the fresh pot of coffee. MOST mornings I throw away the filter, but if I'm in a big, fat hurry sometimes I leave it. 
But I would like for the record to show that if the husband threw out the filter after drinking the last cup of coffee in the morning, I wouldn't have a filter to leave on the counter in the first place. 
So there.

5. What is currently your favorite song?
Lady Antebellum - American Honey
Or any other song on the LadyA cd.


Your turn!
Link up!


{BIG THANKS to Mama M for hosting! Go check out her own answers today!}

Ten on Tuesday!

I don't know if I've got 10 in me, but let's see what we can muster up here.

1. Oak pollen can kiss my butt. And Camy's. Poor girl has been a sniffly, sneezy, eye-itchy little mess the last couple days. The only thing we can guess is allergies and oak pollen because that is really the only thing that's changed. You'd never know by looking at her during the day that anything is wrong, but at night.. whoa baby. Nighttime is no fun. The girl loves her bink at bedtime. Needs her bink at bedtime. But what's a girl to do when she can't breathe through her nose? Well, wake up every 37.4 minutes of course. ::sigh:: Last night was a loooong night.

2. I had every intention of posting an Easter recap on Sunday evening or Monday but never did get around to it. So I'll just share a few photos here and sum it up by saying that Camy had a wonderful weekend full of fun and love and family and new experiences. Egg hunts. Church (where she made it through her first FULL service without me having to bow out the side door part-way through!). Bluebonnets. Wonderful memories were made.

3. We got our 6 month photos back from the phenomenal photog and are now faced with the great challenge of deciding what to print and what to blow up huge and what to display where. Is it bad that I want to just clear the walls of all current decor and essentially wallpaper the house with photos of my sweet, smiling, little love? Cuz I do. But the hubs won't let me. Meanie. So now I am brainstorming and visualizing and trying to create some sort of gallery concept in my mind that I can manifest onto my walls. Do I go mono-themed with photos.. all color, all b&w, a mix? Varied sizes? Arranged in a perfectly aligned grid-like format or hung with a bit of whimsy? Do you have a photo gallery wall in your home? Care to share any inspiration? 


4. Motherhood is turning me into a hippy.
We've been cloth-diapering since the beginning, but have recently added a clothesline to our routine.

::love::

(And we are in talks to plant a vegetable garden out back. Stay tuned for that!) 

5. Until the vegetable garden is planted and yielding yummy goodies, we plan on hitting up the new farmers' market that has come to our area! We loaded Camy up and checked it out on its debut weekend and had a great time. Got some yummy bread, some yummy strawberry+honey jam, some sausage, and some soup. We had just purchased our week's worth of produce a couple days prior, so we skipped the veggie booth, but I am eager to bring home some fresh, local produce this weekend! :)

6. We really wanted to use a baby-led weaning approach to solid foods with Camy, but had to take a more cautious approach due to her skin sensitivities. She has been doing really well lately, so a few days ago we decided to share some of our steamed broccoli with her, BLW style. We just putr a couple pieces that she'd be able to handle herself on her tray and let her go for it. She just played with them at first, but did manage to pick a handful up and take a taste. She seemed to like it at first, but quickly changed her mind. She must not have hated it too much though, because she kept going back for more. She would excitedly reach for a stalk to nibble, get it to her mouth, ponder this new taste and texture a moment, then grimace as if we'd just fed her motor oil or something equally as horrendous.

7. After hanging some dipes on the clothesline last week, we spent a little while in the backyard with the dogs. Andy put Camy up on his shoulder with his cap on her head and I about died from the cuteness! I ran inside to grab the camera and started snapping some photos of a girl with her daddy. 

These 2. The loves of my life.

When I zoomed in on the CamyGirl...

Andy got a little lens-envy and wanted to be in the shot.  Goober.

8. While we were out there, Camy was reintroduced to her doggies. The first couple times we introduced her to the beasts, the beasts couldn't care less about her. Sniff sniff, and off they went. This time they were all into her! The white one, Maya, was very gentle and calm with her.. softly nudging her leg, licking her hands. The brown one, Maddy, is wild. Or dumb. Or both. I don't think she realizes how big and bulky she is.. she got a little too excited and the play time with the pups had to come to an end before Maddy accidentally hurt Camy. But I got a few photos in the beginning..

[really stretching for 10 here....]

9. My sister is coming to town this weekend with her husband and Mr. Rylan! So excited! I so wish we lived closer together but I am grateful that (so far) we have been able to squeeze a visit in about once a month. I love that Camy has cousins close to her in age that she will get to grow up with. I always get so excited and anxious and giddy before a visit with the Stub's, and this week is no different! I'm like a little kid counting down to Christmas Eve.. 2 more days until the Stub's arrive!!! YAY!

10. I have no more. I almost made it.
I am cheating by making one of my points about that fact that I don't have another point.
But I can do that. Its my blog.

Good night.