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!