Show Me Cuteness!

Cami had her first professional photography session today.  Gigi and Papa D gave us a membership to the Picture People for Christmas and (as I'm always proud to save some money) we made out like bandits today as we left with a ginormous framed photo of Cami and probably about 50 prints (including wallets, but still).  We had membership perks, coupons, and a lucky special deal the store was running today.  Awesome.
But let's rewind momentarily back to the actual shoot.  As I wrote last week, Cami has become a smiley, smiley baby.  She's happy and easy-going and we love that about her.  So, a trip to the photographer where we're going to smile should be a piece of cake right?  WRONG.
Cami napped on the way to the mall.  Perfect.  She'd just had 8 oz (yes, we're still apparently overfeeding her, she's 15.5 lbs now, girl loves to eat).  Full tummy.  Perfect.  She woke up in the store smiling.  Perfect.  We got called back relatively soon after she woke up.  Also perfect.  I set her down looking adorable on the fluffy white cushion.  Per.....whoa.  One flash and our little smiler FREAKED OUT.  Our brave little "loud sounds don't bother me one bit" baby is bothered by a lightbulb.   This also made her quite uphappy with the nice photographer.  It seemed to be a quick association of "this person goes along with the flash - dislike!"  I picked Cami up, rocked her in my arms, gave her a paci, gave her FOOD.  Nothing.  The photographer had to leave the room and I let Cami bury her face in my shoulder.  Then things started to calm down.  We tried a couple more individual shots and, somehow, we got one of Cami giving James a grin.  It was between two sobs, but we got it.  Then we abandoned more cute poses for her and went to family shots.  She was a better sport about these as she started to get used to the flash with us holding her.  
The one good thing about the trauma we put her through was that she zonked out with Grandma in the stroller about 15 minutes after her session and that gave us plenty of time to sit and look through pictures and make our selections.  We were super glad Grandma was there....it was like a boxing ring, but instead of mopping sweat and handing out water, she was trading out pacis and the burp cloth to mop drool.  
We'll do this again in another three months....hopefully Cami will give us more than one smile....

 Once again, I'll take this.

 Yo, yo, yo.  Chillin out max and relaxing all cool.

 My share of the national debt is WHAT????

 I didn't do it!!!  I promise!!  It was the Octopus!

 This still isn't fun, you know.  Put whatever toy you like down here, I'm not excited about it.

How Long Was That Nap?

Two hours, you say?  We're starting to get this nap thing down!

Little Miss Smiles

The biggest change in Cami this week are her smiles.  This little girl in one happy baby (unless she's hungry, as we've discussed several times before).  She smiles in the morning when we go get her, smiles after a nap (that's new, for sure), smiles while we're playing, smiles while we're changing her diaper, smiles when James put his hand on her tummy and shakes it, smiles when I say Da-Da, and smiles at new people (especially when they say she's cute).  She looks so proud of herself when she smiles and makes someone else smile in return.  We LOVE it!
Cami is also still trying SO hard to talk.  It looks sometimes like she is concentrating so much on what we're saying to her and loves it when we say her "words" back in return (more smiles).  So far she's accidentally said no, hi, okay, and mom.  It cracks us up when one of those random sounds ends up making sense with the conversation.  She can make an awesome "M" sound, so Mama may be coming up soon.
We've also started giving Cami an entire tablespoon of rice cereal.  She was eating so much the pediatrician's nurse told us it was too much and we should only be giving her 5 oz max every 4-5 hours. Hahahahahhaa.  That's hilarious.  Have you been around my child when she's hungry?  But, with increasing her rice cereal she's back in the "normal" range of formula.  We noticed this morning that she appears to have grown an inch and a half in a month so her little baby body needs some food!!!
Here are some of the cute pics of the week...

 Hey Mommy...isn't it a little early to be taking pictures?  I've only just had my 1st breakfast.

 Hey Mommy....isn't it funny that almost 12 hours later I'm making the EXACT same face???

 So, this cupcake situation is making me a little top heavy here.  As if this huge head isn't hard enough to move!

 Just to get the mail?  Really?

 I'm a big kid!  Just relaxing....watching a little tv.  Next maybe I'll go for a drive.  To the mall.  With my credit card.

 What does this onesie say?  We'll see about this in April.

 Breakfast at Black Walnut is SO much fun!!!!!!

 Grandma, cut it out!  I'm trying to watch tv (again).  But, if I were you, I'd want to take a picture with me too.

 Thanks for helping, Daddy, but I've got this. 

 Check out my hands!  I can play with thzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The No Longer One-Sided Conversation

Sometimes when we get Cami ready for bed, she's just ready to snuggle into her fleece PJs and go to bed.  But sometimes, she's wanting to have a few last minutes of play time before we snuggle, eat, and lay down.  She's been "talking" to us here and there for about a week, but tonight, she was having a full on baby coo "I'm going to respond during your pause" conversation.  And by baby coo, I mean squeaks and rather shrill sounds, but she'd do them over and over and looked SO proud of herself that she was contributing to the chatter.  It was pretty adorable and included some of the biggest smiles we've ever seen!!  Now, if only I could get these things on video while they're happening....

Cami's New Groove

I went back to work this week.  Cami did amazingly well with the new schedule of wake up, eat, hop in the car seat, and head to Grandma's house.  I've teared up every morning as I've left for work when I get that big, gummy smile I love so much, but I have enjoyed being back with my friends at work.  It's also been fun to see that my mom and Cami are having such a blast together during the day.  I get to call during lunch and my mom holds the phone up to Cami and Cami smiles at my voice, which is pretty sweet (unless my mom is just fibbing to make me feel better). 

Cami also had what I can only assume is a growth spurt at the end of the week.  She's been roughly eating about 33 oz. since we added a tsp of rice cereal to her evening bottle.  Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday she ate 38.5, 41.5, and 40 oz respectively with TWO tsps of rice cereal added to her evening bottle Thurs and Fri (and an extra one during the day Friday for a nap experiment....fail...not a surprise, the girl doesn't want to nap).  She also slept until 6:45 this morning (and hopefully will tomorrow morning as well!) and got almost TWELVE hours of sweet baby sleep (which is good, since, as I mentioned, the girl doesn't want to nap).

We've started a cute little pre-bedtime routine routine of reading stories before we take Cami upstairs.  She LOVES her stories.  It is so cute to see a little, itty-bitty baby responding to stories and pictures in books.  She looks at the pictures, and sometimes gives her Sesame Street story a big smile, and tonight started talking back as I read her Guess How Much I Love You for the first time (I think she wanted to say Nutbrown Hare!).

Here are some pictures from the week....I got on the scale today with Cami and she's 14 pounds!!  Such a big girl!  Which reminds me, I never posted her stats from her 2 month visit.....13 lbs, 2 oz and 23.5 inches long.  90% for both!

 Hmmm....why are you looking at me, Crab?  You look like you're up to something...I'll keep my eye on you.

 Uh, Mommy?  We're inside.  Unnecessary.

 Yeah, this photo op is great and all, but do you notice what's missing from this picture?  My bottle.  In your hand.  Allowing me to eat.

Naps?  Who needs them?  Oh, I guess I do......

Documentation

Cami slept until 6:30am this morning.  I go back to work on Wednesday and will continue getting up around 5:15.  I think she did that on purpose.  She is so my child.