12 Months

12 Month Stats

Weight: 23 lbs. 11 oz.

Height: 31 ¼ in.

Fun Facts - 12 Months
- Camryn still wears size 3 diapers.  We recently bumped up to a size 4 at night which seems to be working quite well.  She can still wear some 12 month clothes but mainly fits in 18 month clothes.
- Camryn has been bottle-free since the week after her birthday.  Weaning was such an easy process for her.  If anything, I was the one wanting her to have a bottle just to get her to drink something.  The week of her birthday she went through a little phase of refusing most liquids.  We tried water, milk, juice, even Sierra Mist and tea.  We tried bottle, sippy, regular cups, straws and yes, even spoon feeding her liquids.  I tell you, she sure gave us a run for our money that week.
- Speaking of liquids, Camryn started transitioning to whole milk the week of her birthday.  I started mixing 1/2 whole milk with 1/2 breast milk for a couple of days, and then gave her all whole milk.  The weeks prior to her birthday were so busy with planning, etc. that the weaning process for me just kind of happened.  I was down to pumping twice a day which meant we were going through the frozen supply pretty quickly.  Introducing whole milk the week of Camryn's birthday worked really well for us.  She's had some issues with constipation but the doctor recommended Miralax which has worked wonderfully. 
- Camryn is such a great eater.  She never refuses anything I give her.  She loves her fruits and veggies!  I'm finding that we as a family are eating healthier these days.  I usually plan her meals for the week (making sure she's getting the proper nutrition) and just make enough for the family.     
- Camryn’s nap schedule has been a little crazy.  For the last week and a half she stopped napping in the afternoons.  She seemed sleepy (whiny, rubbing her eyes) so I’d lay her down, and she would just toss and turn and never go to sleep.  I thought she was just down to one-2 hour nap in the mornings until a couple of days ago she started napping in the afternoon again.  If I’ve learned anything about parenting it’s that kids will always keep you on your toes.  Just when you think you have them figured out, they change something on you again! 
- Camryn is crawling everywhere now!  She loves exploring the house on her own.  She thinks it’s a game when mama or daddy chase after her when she’s getting into something she shouldn’t.  It’s so hard not to laugh because she gets real excited, starts laughing and crawls faster!  Camryn is also cruising along the furniture and behind her walker toys.  She’s starting to enjoy her new independence!
- Camryn still loves books.  Her thing now is to kiss the animals in her touch and feel books.  She also likes to hug her baby doll, and she loves music!  The girl has got some rhythm let me tell you.  She loves to dance and shake it!  It’s really cute to watch her personality unfold.

Camryn's Birthday in Pictures



Happy 3rd Birthday, Connor!

Our precious angel, Connor, would have been 3 years old on June 16th.  Corey, Camryn, and I started the day out by visiting the cemetery.  I made 2 sunflower arrangements to sit on each side of his stone. (I had planned to post a few pictures but unfortunately forgot my camera at home.)  Someone had already been by to visit Connor's grave before we got there.  Thanks so much for remembering our son!  Later that evening, some dear friends of ours stopped by briefly to check in on us and let us know they were thinking about us that day.  Here's a picture of the beautiful rose they gave us.

  

Happy Birthday sweet angel!  I imagine you enjoyed spending yet another birthday in Jesus' arms.  Mommy sure wishes you could've spent it in hers.  Oh what a joyous day it will be when that actually happens! Your little sister keeps me pretty busy but please know that I think about you all the time.  I know you would've been the best big brother Camryn could ask for and that you probably would be keeping me just as busy.  I wonder all the time what kind of little boy you would be, what your favorite toys would be, what your personality would be like, if you would have blonde hair and blue eyes like your daddy and sister or brown hair and green eyes like me.  When I see your daddy riding in the pasture checking on the cows, I imagine you would be right there beside him in the mule wearing matching cowboy hat and boots.  When the all cousins get together and take pictures for the holidays, mommy gets a little sad because those pictures just aren't complete.  You are missing along with the other babies in the family that didn't stay on Earth for very long.  Connor, we love you and miss you every single day.

Yes...We are still here:)

When I started this blog, I promise I had the best intentions of making weekly posts.  Yes, I really did plan on posting once a week but that goal quickly turned into a monthly goal which I managed pretty well during my pregnancy.  Once we had baby in tow, the monthly posts became a challenge.  As y'all know, I've always been a little behind on Camryn's monthly updates but have recently fell way behind on my posts!  I'm so sorry!  This summer has proven to be the busiest summer for us yet.  Between birthday celebrations and Vacation Bible School, our schedule has been jam-packed with all sorts of happenings.  I'm currently working on several posts to update y'all on what's been going on with our family so stayed tuned!

Hope y'all have been enjoying your summer!

11 Months

Fun Facts - 11 Months
- Camryn is still in size 3 diapers and wears 12-18 month clothes.
- Camryn is transitioning to the sippy cup for her lunch and afternoon milk feedings.  It’s been touch and go as we’ve just started the transition this week, but she’s really doing a great job trying the sippy first.  If she gets too frustrated, I’ll let her finish her milk in a bottle.
- Speaking of transitioning, the more table foods Camryn eats the less baby food she wants.  She still loves pureed fruit but would prefer to feed herself if at all possible.  For breakfast, along with her fruit, she usually has blueberry waffles, cheerios, or toast.  She tried yogurt mixed with pureed fruit the other day.  The yogurt was definitely a different taste for her but I think it’s something we’ll try again.  For lunch and dinner Camryn enjoys small pieces of chicken or beef, spaghetti, chicken noodle soup, pinto beans, pasta, carrots, mashed sweet potatoes, and slightly blended squash, zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower.  For snacks, Camryn likes sweet potato and veggie puffs, cheerios, banana chunks covered with graham crackers crumbs, arrowroot cookies and muffin bars.
- Camryn naps 2 times a day for about 1 ½ hours each.  Sometimes her afternoon nap lasts 2-3 hours but that doesn’t happen too often.
- She is still sleeping through the night but getting her to fall asleep has been a chore lately.  The only time she has this problem is when she’s sick or teething.  We think she’s getting her molars in.  Her bottom left gum in the back is so red and swollen…poor babyL Teething tabs and ice cold teethers here we come!
- Camryn likes being on her tummy these days.  I think it’s because she has discovered the backward scoot.  Yesterday I put her on a pallet in the living room while I was washing dishes, and when I peeked around the kitchen counter I didn’t see her in the living room.  My heart dropped.  She’s not crawling yet so she couldn’t have gone too far.  I walked to the hallway but she wasn’t there.  When I looked by the front door, there she was backed up in a corner between the wall and the couch just a smiling…little turkeyJ 
- Camryn hasn’t learned any new words but continues to chatter away using the ones she already knows.
- Camryn loves the water!  She went swimming for the first time at her cousin, Trevor’s, first birthday party a couple of weeks ago.  She kicked and splashed…loved every minute of it!
- We’ve been reading to Camryn for a while now, but the last month or so she has really started to get excited about books.  Her favorite book at the moment is a touch and feel farm book.  She’ll flip through the pages and laugh at the animals.  Each page has the animal name and sound it makes.  When we read it to her she loves to hear the animal sound and sometimes even tries to mimic the sound herself.
- With Camryn being more active and needing more stimulation, I’ve been relying on Baby Einstein DVDs for entertainment while I pump.  I put Camryn in her walker, pop in the DVD, and have 15-20 minutes to pump in peace.  It’s amazing how those DVDs keep a baby’s attention!  And I don’t feel too horrible about her watching the TV because it’s educational, right?  

Hope everyone remembers all the wonderful dads out there this weekend.  I know Camryn is one lucky girl.  Her daddy loves her so much and takes such great care of our family!  Happy Father’s Day!

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!