A Page From Cami's Diary

Hmmm.  It's 4:00am and I find myself awake.  Perhaps I'll just make a little noise.  I'm going to fall back to sleep, and I'm not super hungry yet, but it'll wake Mommy up.  Ha.
Ok, it's 5:00am and I'm awake AND I'm hungry.  HEY MOMMY COME GET ME!!!!!
Mmmmmmm....food.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Mmmmmmm....food.
I'll play with my bouncer toys while Mommy does this supposedly necessary thing she calls a "shower."  I don't see what the big deal is, it's not like she has a whale bathtub like I do.
Mmmmmmm...food.
Mommy just stuck me back in my crib for a nap??  Well, I guess I'll take a short one.  I am a little tirzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
HEY MOMMY COME GET ME!!!!!!
I'm still tired, but I'm going to try and play.  Or maybe just suck on my paci.  Mommy, STOP putting me on my tummy!!!  I do NOT like it.  It's not so bad on the Boppy, but on the ground I can't see a thing.  And, no, I do not want to learn to roll over, so stop showing me how.
Mmmmmmmm....food.
Oh, you think I need a nap?  I disagree.  A ten minute shut eye will do me nicely though.  It's rather endearing that you turned on the swing for me.  Ha, like that's going to do anything.
Where are we going?  Car ride?  That's funzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Hey, hey, hey, there's water falling on me from the sky.  Do you realize this?  Where are you taking me that's so important?  Wait, whoa...why are you taking my clothes off?  This doesn't seem like a normal diaper change.  Where is that lady sticking that...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What?  Normal temperature?? What does that mean, and was that really necessary????
Ok, this lady looks nice.  I'm a little hungry, and I've been trying to tell you that for ten minutes, but she looks nice so I'll hold off.  She's kind of poking and prodding me though.  Um, why are you pressing my tummy?  I don't like that!  HEY!  Oh, and now you're going to put me on my tummy too to see what I can do.  Well, I guess I'll show you.  I fuss for Mommy, but you're someone new so I'll show off a bit.  Haha, Mommy, look at me!
Ok, now seriously, I'm getting hungry, but I don't see a bottle anywhere in sight.  What's this lady doing with the tray?  Why are you setting me back down, Mommy?  What's going to happ...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!  THAT HURTS!!!!!  WHAT'S GOING ON???  THAT HURTS AGAIN!!!!!!  WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME??!!!!???  WHY ARE YOU STICKING NEEDLES IN MY LEGS???!!!!!
Mmmmmmmmmm....food.
Ok, I'm back in the car, this is good.  I like this.  I think I'll doze off for a bit.....CRASH!!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, WHAT WAS THAT??????  What was that huge jolt from behind????  It scared me!!!!  Mommy, tell that lady to pay attention while she's driving!
Ok, Daddy's taking me home.  I'll have my paci, I'll play on my Baby Einstein.  I'll eat again.  I'll have story time.  Sounds good.
Whoa, my tummy is rumbling.  Maybe I can push this out.....yeah, that feels better.  Wait, something doesn't feel right.  What's this stuff on my back?  Mommy, why are you trying to get my onesie over my head without it touching my face or my hands?  This is funny....you and Daddy look silly and you keep wiping your hands off.  Why?
WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!!!!!  Why am I going into my whale tub??????  I mean, usually I like it, but right NOW?????  Don't you realize I've had a tough day?  I mean, I hear you saying I'm a mess and there's something brown and sticky on my shoulder still (how did that get there?  huh.) but I don't want to go IN MY TUB!!!!!
Ok, yum, rice cereal bottle, I liked this last night, it tastes goozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!  I was with Mommy eating rice cereal only moments ago and now I'm alone in the dark.  Usually that's not a big deal and I'd just go back to sleep, but it's been a tough day.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  Did you hear me??  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Oh, there's Mommy.  And Daddy.  Good.  Hey you guys.  I was hoping you'd come up here.  Can I talk to you about how tough my day was?  Why do you keep shushing me?  Well, I want to talk about izzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.


THE END (we hope).

Eating is my FAVORITE thing!

Cami likes to eat.  I think all babies do, but Cami seems to have a special knack for packing away a SERIOUS amount of food.  She's been averaging 35 oz for the past week or so, so we decided (obsessed over it for a week?) it was time to give her a little something extra.  Cami had her first helping of rice cereal with her bottle this evening.

Now, I know the jury is out on whether rice cereal in the bottle is a good idea or not, but, to be fair, Cami is already sleeping through the night on her own, she can sit supported in her pod chair, has pretty darn good control over her head, and she took some from a spoon before I gave it to her in the bottle (kind of wish I had that on video, super cute).  So, all the "indicators" of being ready for solid food are there, even though she's a little young.  And, even though she's a little young, she put on a six month onesie today and it fit.  And she stares at us while we eat.  Could be a coincidence, but there it is.

She is currently asleep upstairs, and she only ate this cereal about 30 minutes ago, so I could be eating my words tomorrow if she suddenly starts throwing up as it digests, but she seemed to LOVE it.  She started chowing down as soon as I gave it to her and it seemed like she knew there was something a little different about this bottle. 

Here are some pics from today....she had a super smiley day, but those smiles are still hard to capture (especially since she loves to give them during a diaper change when my hands are otherwise occupied).

 Checking out the Today Show

 I'm sure I could do at least as good of a job as Ann Curry.  Would they let me give the news from my Boppy??

 Ha, you keep trying to take a picture of me smiling.  It's hilarious.

 Mommy, have your people check with my people about this trip to Target later.  I'm not sure it'll work with my schedule.  Oh, you don't have people?  How sad.

 There is a bottle coming my way and I am ready for it.  Once the bib is on, I know what's about to happen.

 Is there food up there?  I'm just checking, but if there's food up there, I'd like some.

No?  No food?  You're sure?  Positive?  I'd like some.  Maybe a piece of cake?

Cami also went to the car show yesterday and was a CHAMP at wandering around in the Baby Bjorn.  We were on the go from 9:45am - 5:15pm and she didn't cry until right when we got home because she was hungry.  Super Baby.

Getting Stronger

 Sitting in the pod chair requires extreme concentration (or the face could be from her wanting my hand off her head...)

"Look, Mommy!  I can do it on my own (sort of)!"

 Very close to smiling during tummy time.  I suspect this comes from the fact that she can actually see things and is not face-planting out of frustration.

"Okay, okay.  Enough with the pictures!!!  I'm working hard here!"

FYI:  Cami is napping in her swing right now.  She's still winning with naps.

Addendum

Cami is back on eat, sleep, play today and after letting her cry it out for 15 minutes when she woke up during her (only) attempt at a crib nap today she let us hear it for another 20 or so after we went and got her.....


Cami:  1
Parents:  0

Mommy Fail

I think some of the funniest things to read on people's blogs are when things DON'T go right.  I love how my friend, Lindsay, always refers to herself as "Mother of the Year" sarcastically when something has gone awry (when she is an AMAZING mother and deserves a MotY award) and willing shares her experiences.  Well, here is my first blog totally devoted to my Mommy Fail.

I bought the book Babywise.  I've heard lots of different things about the book, so I wanted to check it out for myself.  Well, I thought it was fabulous and it makes a lot of sense.  So, I decided to implement it for Cami.  All in one day.  With different bottles (Dr. Brown's leak, but she loves them).  Oh, and by the way, we're working on napping in the crib again.

I should add that until yesterday Cami had been on an eat, sleep, play routine.  The girl just conks out after a good bottle (haha, so does Mommy....).  Sometimes during the bottle (haha, so does...nevermind, we digress).  It seems to work well for her.  Well, Mr. Babywise says this is a mistake; babies should go eat, play, sleep.  On a time schedule (which Cami really does not have....I just won't feed her inside two hours unless it's right before bed).  I have a tendency to get a little overzealous about things so I tried to get Cami to eat, play, sleep.  She was confused.  She wanted to cuddle up and snooze after her bottle.  I kept moving her around.  It's playtime! 

After traumatizing her with playtime (her face actually does look slightly terrified after a good dose of tummy time), I took her upstairs for a crib nap.  "Um, excuse me, Mommy, I'm usually being fed in this chair?" was, I'm sure, what she was trying to tell me.  To stop her polite (?) protests, I gave her her paci.  She loves it, eyes shut, sleep.  Success.  Right?

Nope.  About 30 minutes later Cami woke up and realized her stomach is not in it's usual state of comfortable fullness while she's sleeping.  She does great at night with going back to sleep if she wiggles herself awake.  So I know she can put herself back to sleep.  But this is daytime, and her tummy isn't full.  "Um, excuse me, Mommy??!!!??" was once again her polite call from the crib (or yell, scream, shriek, whatever).  I got her, brought her downstairs, fed her, and took her for a ride in the car.  Zzzzzzzz (Mr. Babywise would be scandalized as this behavior).

Happy baby once again.  Sleeping in the car is just the trick.  So, a couple hours later, it's time for crib nap #2.  Once again, no feeding before, rocked her and into the crib she went.  This one lasted about 45 minutes, but by this point I was further along in the book.  Mr. Babywise said let a baby that wakes up in the middle of a nap cry for a little bit.  I listened to 15 minutes of absolutely pitiful noise from the crib and then went and got her.

Cami was a little fussy at this point, and, really, who can blame her?  She'd had two sub-par naps.  I probably gave up and let her have a good swing nap, right?  Nope.  Attempted crib nap #3 and there was absolutely no sleeping.  Crying from the start and never stopped.  After I brought her downstairs I set her in her bouncer while I went to make a bottle and suddenly it got very quiet.  Poor little thing was passed out. 

I was a little concerned that all this in and out of the crib would put a damper on her smooth nighttime routine, but in fact, she went right with her routine, went to sleep and didn't fuss til 5am! 7pm - 5am.  The best she's ever done and I was PUMPED.  We'll see if she does it again tonight without the total exhaustion of a Mommy Fail day.  :)

Cutie Patootie

Cami showing her cuteness in all sorts of ways lately.  She is doing pretty good on lifting her head up (especially when she's annoyed...she gets about 1000x stronger), and enjoys Wobbly Head Time with Daddy (she leans her hands on James' chest and keeps her head up).  She's also eating a lot more and therefore burping and farting a lot more.  Which may not fall into the category of cuteness for some, but it's hilarious when her eyes get really wide after she farts or poops like she's surprised it just came out of her.  We're quite surprised what can come out of her too.....

Cami's also been great at going out and about.  After our first mall trip last week, she's been to the mall again, to church and Cheesecake Factory (all the waiters that know us from our seven years of Sundays there think she's adorable, of course), Starbucks, Texaco Express Lube (that one didn't go quite as well...I blame the cashier for disappearing and making us wait an extra 10 minutes...they were an important 10 minutes in Cami's world of extreme hunger), and Quiznos to meet Daddy for lunch.  

She's also had her six week growth spurt.  Cami usually eats around 30 oz per 24 hour day.  She's gone from doing this in very small doses to the larger amounts she eats now.  A few days ago she drank 43 oz!  I don't know where she put it all, but needless to say that seemed to coincide with the growth spurt.

Here's a little picture of her sitting like a big girl on the couch.  She's getting a lot better at doing this, and today when we sat her up, she started to tilt to the side like she usually does, but this time she put her fist down on the couch to help prop herself up.  She still couldn't hold it for too long, but she's figuring out she can use her legs and arms for stuff.  Tummy time isn't nearly as bad for her now that she can "doodlebug up" (aka, pull her legs in to her tummy).  She still gets impatient with it and is working on throwing her leg to the side to flip herself over, but can't get past her arm being in the way.  

All and all, she's SUCH a good baby and we're so proud of her!!  This morning James got a big smile when we picked her up at 2:30am and I got my own when I got her at 6am.  Pretty sweet.

 I have yet to capture her full smile.  It's like she knows when I have the camera out.  This is about half of it.

 Modified wobbly head time.

 Napping at Starbucks while we waited on my car inspection.  Trendy baby.

 And the best picture of the week....

Shopping Excursion

Mark it down.  Today was Cami's first shopping trip.  I needed to go to the mall to get a little something for Aunt Julie.  My plan was to go when James got home from work, but after some consideration (and cabin fever) this morning I started thinking that Cami would be okay tagging along to the mall.  We were really only there for about twenty minutes, but she did great staying so nice and quiet and only spitting up just a tad on her cute onesie.  She saved her (very loud) grunting for the car after we were finished (with the mall, then we had to go through the Chick-Fil-A drive thru for lunch).  Apparently, the trip wore her out because she's been exhausted all afternoon (mental note).  

And, by the way, now I can go swim instead of run errands when James get home.  :)

Happy New Year!

Oh my goodness, it's 2012.  That means it's almost 8 years since I graduated from college.  12 years since I graduated from high school.  It's already been four years since the last Olympics, which seems like it was last summer.  What on earth??  

The last couple days have been big days in Cami's little world.  She had her first stomach bug (which was quite small, to be honest) and the incredibly patient nurse at our pediatrician's office (who must think I'm nuts for calling so much) assured me that it would run it's course (it did....a few outfits of washing poop off later).  Cami also got to go to Cheesecake Factory for the first time for our little Sunday routine.  I insisted on putting a blanket over her car seat so that the germy air would stay away from her and James thought it looked like we had fake baby ("There's a baby under this blanket, I promise.").  We have also ventured into the realm of napping in her crib during the day.  She's been an AMAZING night sleeper so far (thanks to my wonderful sis-in-law's sleeping advice!) for her age, but she's been just chilling with us in the living room when she's taking a nap.  So, using Megan's advice once again, I started putting her in her crib for a nap midday yesterday after two big hours of play time (we actually split our time now between playing and vaguely staring at the ceiling).  That lasted 30 minutes.  So then I thought, "She'll sleep in her bouncer; she's tired."  Nope, diaper blowouts don't lend themselves to dozing off.  Two MORE hours of play later, I had one sleepy/grumpy baby on my hands and I attempted a second crib nap.  This one lasted an hour.  Better, but not where we need to be.  Two MORE hours of play later I had one exhausted (that means pretty darn fussy) baby on my hands and she went down about 45 minutes before normal bedtime.  Luckily, Cami was so tired, she was able to sleep through the ridiculous amount of fireworks in our neighborhood and didn't wake up (we consider waking up truly fussing instead of just grunting and a couple cries) until 3am to eat.  We tried some crib napping again today, but we're not quite there yet.  I am determined to be victorious, though, in giving her a schedule of being a good sleeper/happy awake baby.  And while I imagine Cami will be fairly competitive given having two competitive parents, she gets it from us, so we'll win (hear that, Cami???).

I am currently listening to Cami make her sleep noises on the baby monitor (noises that I was sure meant she was wide awake and needing something about four and a half weeks ago) and they just fill my heart.  I also love seeing the smile on James's face when he hears them too.  Happy New Year for 2012....we're off to a happy start!

Does this photo have to be so close????

Not an empty carrier, folks.

My hand and Cami's little, itty bitty, baby hand.  So sweet.