10 Months

Fun Facts - 10 Months
- Camryn is still in size 3 diapers and wears 12-18 month clothes.  She is slimming down and losing the chubbiness but growing taller at the same time.
- She drinks 4 3-5 oz. bottles of breast milk a day and eats 3 “solid” meals a day.
- Camryn continues to nap 2-3 times a day and has been sleeping through the night (except for when she was battling a double ear infection a couple of weeks ago…poor baby.  Mama didn’t mind the extra cuddles in the middle of the nightJ)
- Camryn is a rolling machine now.  She rolls like crazy in her crib and always ends up facing the opposite direction of what I lay her down.  Still no crawling but she’s pushing up on her hands.  We just have to get the back end working! We continue to work on standing and walking just in case she skips the whole crawling thing and goes straight to walking.  I’ve heard some babies do that.
- Along with “mama” and “yaya”, Camryn can now say “dada”, “nana”, and “gaga”.  She also chuckles “ha ha ha”. 
- Camryn’s personality is really coming out.  She is such a little character.  She started growling the other day which just cracks us up.  I don’t know where she learns this stuff!  Camryn also has a little feistiness in her.  Her daddy would say she gets it from me!  I just say Camryn’s a girl who knows what she wants…and you better give it to her fast!

As I’ve started planning Camryn’s 1^st birthday party, I really can’t believe how quick time goes by.  My baby girl is going to be 1…what?  She is growing up way too fast.  But I have so enjoyed every minute with her.  I love watching her explore and learn new things.  She is such an easy going baby.  She wakes up smiling and goes to bed “singing” herself to sleep (most nights, anywaysJ)…such a wonderful blessing in our lives…a true testament of God’s faithfulness!

Here's another picture of Camryn...too cute to not post!

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mamas out there!  Hope y’all have a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

9 Months (Updated)

Stats - 9 Months

Weight: 22 lbs. 12 oz.

Height: 29 1/2 in.

Fun Facts - 9 Months
- Camryn is still in size 3 diapers and wears 12-18 month clothes
- She drinks 4 4-6 oz. bottles of breast milk a day and eats 3 “solid” meals a day.
- Camryn continues to nap 2-3 times a day.  As far as sleeping through the night…it just depends on the day.  She’ll have several great nights, then a few nights of waking up around 4am or 5am.  She goes back to sleep fairly easily after a quick diaper change so it’s not that bad. 
- Within the past week and a half, Camryn’s top teeth (yes, all 4) have come in.  She’s been great though, not much fussing or fever, just tons of chewing!
- Camryn is rolling over back-to-tummy now.  However, she really prefers sitting up and playing with her toys rather than being on her tummy or lying on her back. 
- Camryn said her first word on March 26^th…”mama”!  A little over a week later, she is saying it very well now.  She’s getting very close to saying “dada” but says “yaya” instead.  She loves talking!
- Camryn is doing fairly well using her sippy cup.  We actually changed to the kind with a straw and it works much better.  She doesn’t drink a lot from the sippy but at least she tries after every meal.
- Camryn isn’t showing any interest in crawling, but she likes to “stand up”.  Before when I would hold her under her arms and stand her up, she really didn’t like it and would bend her knees and bounce up and down.  I started holding her waist or upper thighs and Camryn stands up much better and for longer periods of time.  She smiles real big…guess she likes being able to see things from a different perspective.
- Camryn makes the cutest faces.  My favorite is when she scrunches up her nose when she smiles.  She does this a lot when you blow in her face.  She does the scrunched-nose smile and bats her eyelashes…too cute!



Happy 8 Months!!!

Stats - 8 Months

Weight: 21.5 lbs.

Fun Facts - 8 Months
- Camryn is still in size 3 diapers and wears 9-18 month clothes, depending on the brand!
- She drinks 4 5-7 oz. bottles of breast milk a day and eats 3 “solid” meals a day.
- Camryn’s sleep routine has been pretty steady lately…3 naps a day and sleeping through the night (most nights anywaysJ).
- Camryn has 4 teeth on the bottom.  She’s been chewing on everything lately really working on her top gum so maybe her top teeth are coming in soon.
- Little by little we’re making progress on the rolling front.  Camryn is rolling over tummy-to-back in both directions now.
- Camryn loves her new jumperoo entertainer.  Of course the toys, lights, and music are great, but Camryn really likes to work out those legs of hers and bounce like crazy.  She gets so excited and moves her feet so fast it looks like she’s tap dancing!
- Camryn continues to expand her vocabulary and loves mimicking sounds.  Now she’s working on the letter “A”.  She’ll say “ah” and wait for you to say it back to her.  She also has a special “dog call”.  When she sees Nika or Ringo, she’ll let out a high-pitched yell.  It’s really cute!  
- Camryn is having fun with her new discovery of the sippy cup.  About 2 weeks ago, I started giving her water in a sippy after each “solid” meal.  She grabs the handles and brings the cup to her mouth but hasn’t quite figured out that she has to tip the cup up to get the water.  She plays with it more than actually using it correctly but I figure she’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.
- I’m not sure where she learned this or why she does it, but when Camryn is sitting in your lap facing you if you lean your head toward her she’ll lean her head in too and touch heads with you.  It’s the craziest thing but she loves doing it!
- Camryn’s newest development is waving bye-bye.  She just started doing this a couple of days ago.  The first time she did it we thought it was just a fluke, but now she waves every time you say “bye-bye”.  She’s such a little smarty pants!

Blue Jean Shorts

During a recent shopping trip, I bought Camryn a couple of new outfits for church and some of the cutest blue jean shorts you've ever seen.  I bought a 12 month thinking she'd be able to wear them for a while.  Well, as you can see in the picture the 12 month shorts fit now and leave no room to spare.  My little girl is growing so fast!  You can also see her bottom goobers.  She's working on the fourth tooth on the bottom.  Still no top teeth yet.

7 Months

Stats - 7 Months

Weight: 21 lbs.

Fun Facts - 7 Months
- Camryn wears size 3 diapers and 6-12 month clothes.
- She drinks 5-7 oz. of breast milk every 4 hours. 
- Camryn eats brown rice cereal or oatmeal with fruit for breakfast and meat and veggies for dinner.  She is such a good eater – hasn’t refused anything I’ve offered yet.
- Camryn’s sleeping pattern has been ever changing the past few weeks.  I think her schedule was a little off due to cutting teeth and being sick, but the last few nights she seems to be back to normal and sleeping through the night…yay!!!  I’ve read a few articles about different sleep training methods.  We haven’t really followed one particular method.  I’ve just decided to try a few different things and see what works best for us.  Lately, I’ve been putting Camryn down for a nap 1.5-2 hours after she wakes up.  I can tell she’s getting sleeping when she starts rubbing her eyes.  So I swaddle her, lay her in her crib, give her a paci, turn on her mobile, and walk out of the room.  The last few days she has put herself to sleep and naps for about 2 hours in the morning and after lunch.  She also has a shorter nap later in the afternoon.  I was concerned about the late afternoon nap causing her to be awake at night but I honestly think she needs that time to sleep.  When I was keeping her up between her after-lunch nap and bedtime, she would fight going to sleep for the night.  Now that she gets the extra sleep in the afternoon, she’s been going to bed easily on her own, for the most part, between 9 and 10.
- Camryn has more teeth on the bottom.  The one on the right has completely broken through the skin while the one of the left is still just a little white bud at the gum line.  Her top gum is still swollen and sometimes I think I can see white coming through but I’m not real sure. 
- Camryn is sitting up by herself now and she is rolling over tummy-to-back on her own.  I guess she figured if she didn’t like being on her tummy she needed to learn to roll over.  She rolls over as soon as we put her on her tummy.  Now, we’re working on rolling the other direction (right now she only rolls to the left) and back-to-tummy.
- Camryn has been grabbing her toes for a while now but recently succeeded at putting them in her mouth.  Not sure what’s so tasty about toes but she sure loves them!
- Here lately I’ve noticed Camryn exploring with the sounds she makes and the new things she can do with her mouth.  She sticks out her tongue, blows bubbles, clicks her tongue on the roof of her mouth, and pops/smacks her lips.  I think she’s on the verge of blowing kisses!
- Camryn loves for mama to sing her songs.  We do “Patty Cake” (she giggles when we “throw it in the pan”, “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, and “The Turtle Song” to name a few.  We also have our bedtime songs… “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Rock-a-Bye Baby”, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, “Jesus Loves Me”, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands", and "You are My Sunshine."

I am so fortunate to be able to stay home with Camryn.  She’s changing so fast and learning so much these days.  Her smile, her beautiful blue eyes, her snuggles…I could go on and on...she brings so much joy to my life.  While there are times I am frustrated and exhausted, I love being a stay-at-home-mama.  I honestly believe this is what God is calling me to be during this season of my life.  And because of that belief, I know He will give me the determination, patience, and grace to get through the more difficult times.  He’s not going to call you to something and just leave you hanging.  He will be with you every step of the way.  And I’m not just talking about stay-at-home-mamas; this is for the working mamas too.  Mommyhood is hard no doubt, but the blessings and rewards are priceless!

6 Months

Stats - 6 Months

Weight:  19 lbs. 3 oz.

Height:  26 ¾ in.

Fun Facts - 6 Months

- Camryn wears size 3 diapers and 6-9 months clothes.

- Camryn had her first ear infection a month ago and battled bronchiolitis right after Christmas.  I thought I was paranoid about germs before dealing with this little incident…now I am the hand sanitizer police!  I know I can’t prevent Camryn from ever getting sick but it’s the worst feeling seeing her like that and not being able to really do anything about it. 

- Camryn still eats 5-7 oz. every 3-4 hours.

- Camryn is eating solid food now and loving every bit of it.  She has tried veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, green beans, and peas) and is now starting on fruits (pears and prunes so far).  Camryn is such a good eater.  There hasn’t been anything she doesn’t like.  When trying a new food, she’ll make a funny face like “Wait a minute…this taste different than yesterday’s meal…” but then she opens her mouth for more.  I’ve been making her baby food.  It’s something that I wanted to try and am so glad I did.  It is so easy and honestly doesn’t take much time.  I stole a few recipes from a blog I follow, and I got a cookbook for Christmas so I’m really looking forward to exploring the world of homemade baby food!  If any of y’all have recipes or have any tips you’d like to share please feel free to leave a comment.

- Camryn’s sleeping pattern has changed lately.  She now takes 2 1-2 hour naps during the day…one mid-morning and another in the afternoon.  She sometimes has a 20-30 minute power nap late afternoon/evening.  Her bedtime is anywhere between 10pm and 11pm these days.  I know it’s a little late but that’s what works with my pumping schedule right now.  I’m hoping when I drop down to 2 pumps a day, we can move our bedtime up a few hours.  Camryn usually sleeps through the night and wakes up between 8am and 9am but lately she’s been waking in the middle of the night.  Not sure what’s going on.  It could be (1) she’s in her crib now so maybe she’s just getting used to her new sleeping arrangement (since we brought her home from the hospital she’s been sleeping in an arm’s reach co-sleeper next to our bed), (2) she’s cutting teeth or (3) who knows…just when we think we have her figured out she throws us a curve ball!

- Speaking of teeth…her 2 bottom teeth finally came in!  I was so excited when they broke through her gums but now they are really growing and are noticeable when she smiles.  Her upper gum is swollen on the left side and she’s been chewing on more things lately so maybe she’ll have a few more teeth soon.

- Camryn is sitting up with little assistance.  When you let go of her she balances well for a while then usually leans forward and needs help sitting up again.    

- The pedi thought it was funny when I told him Camryn has only rolled over twice.  His comment was “Well, I guess she just likes to chill and take things easy.”  I told him that it was probably our fault for holding her too much and not giving her the opportunity to work on all these milestones.    He’s not concerned about it because she has great muscle tone and may take longer than some babies since she has a little more weight to move around:)

- Camryn is all about reaching out and grabbing whatever her little fingers can get ahold of…daddy’s glasses, mama’s hair (which is why I keep it up most of the time), her toes, blocks and other toys.  This is such a fun age.  You can tell she is observing everything that moves and makes noise, trying to figure it all out.

- Something else the pedi commented on was Camryn’s language skills.  At her check-up while I was trying to ask the pedi my usual list of questions, Camryn was just a jabbering and loud too.  I could barely hear myself talk.  He thought it was pretty cute.  Here’s this baby with junky lungs and crackly breathing but she is just a smiling and talking up a storm.  So while her physical milestones may be lagging, Camryn is definitely on target with her speaking milestones!

- Camryn is losing her hair.  It’s quite funny actually.  She has blonde fuzz on top where her new hair is growing, a big bald spot in the back where she rubs while sleeping, and long dark hair near her neck that has been there since birth.  It’s quite the site!  I keep telling myself I need to get a picture.  I’ll post it if I ever get around to it. 

 

Merry Christmas!!!

Happy 5 Months!

Our sweet baby girl is growing up too fast.  It's hard to believe Camryn is already 5 months old.  It's just crazy how time flies by so quickly.  Camryn is the best baby ever.  She is so happy all the time.  She wakes up smiling...it's wonderful!  Now, she does have her moments but they don't occur too often:)  Camryn is really starting to teethe.  The last couple of nights have been tough for her...poor baby.  I don't see or feel any teeth yet but she sure is chewing on everything and drooling like crazy.  Camryn is also pretty close to rolling over back to front.  She can twist her legs all the way but gets stuck by her arms. 

December is usually a very busy month for us so I'm not sure how often I will be posting.  May everyone have a blessed Christmas and safe New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving

This is what I'm thankful for this year!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving spending precious time with friends and family.  This year was very special for us.  We are blessed beyond measure!

Picture Post

Sitting up like a big girl

My little monkey

Game Day Outfit

Really mom...another picture

1st Pair of Wranglers

Trying out new hair assessories

Just chillin'

This is what I wake up to every morning...such a blessed mama

Happy girl

Feel asleep watching mama wash the dishes

Sleepy girl