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!