A Shopper in Training

Cami has officially been upgraded to 'big girl' status and she no longer stays in her infant carseat when we go grocery shopping. She is MUCH happier to sit in the front of the shopping cart and be able to look around at all of the action going on. She especially enjoys when people talk to her and she will kick her feet and get this little grin on her face as if she's thinking, "I'm know I'm cute and that's why people are talking to me". Mommy has also realized that riding in the shopping cart tires Cami out WAY more than her laying in her infant seat as we shop, so this benefits all parties involved.

All in all, Cami is a little shopper in training. She intently watches every item that Mommy picks up off of the shelves (and she would inspect every item too way more closely if I would hand them each to her). She is always (okay, ALMOST always) content and happy when we're in the grocery store.

My favorite part of grocery shopping with Cami though is her love for the receipt. I know it sounds silly, but if you know me, you know I am big into checking my receipts and making sure I got all of the deals I was supposed to (I blame this on working as a cashier in a grocery store for years in high school and college). I absolutely LOVE that after the cashier hands me the receipt my daughter immediately reaches for it and looks at it so intensely as though she too is helping Mommy to check to make sure we weren't overcharged. It's almost as though she knows that Mommy and Daddy must save EVERY penny possible to give her all of the things she wants/needs in life.

Way to go Cami - keep helping Mommy and Daddy save those pennies so you can go to college someday and not to have pay for ANY of it yourself!

First Visit to Virginia Tech!!!

This post is a few weeks late but I could not possibly let this go by without blogging about it. Two weeks ago little Cambria had her very first visit to Virginia Tech for her Aunt Brittany's graduation. Jon and I were THRILLED to have her down in the 'burg where we spent 4 years together having the time of our lives. We had a GREAT weekend and here are some pictures to show how busy Cami's weekend in Blacksburg really was!

The weekend started off with lunch out for sushi!

We played LOTS of dress up! (Cami is definitely her Aunt B's real life baby doll.)


The graduate and her goddaughter getting ready on graduation morning.

Cami a little unsure about the itchy grass outside of Burruss Hall on campus.

She did it!! Congratulations to Aunt B! A fun weekend was definitely had by all!!

Maybe in another 21 years we will be back in good ole' Blacksburg for Cambria's graduation?!?!

7 Months

Dear Cambria,

You are officially 7 months old now. Each month that you turn older Daddy and I are shocked that you are getting so big and changing so much. It seems that we just started getting used to telling people you were 6 months old and now we have to tell everyone you are 7 months old.

Although I know I say this EVERY month, you really have changed so much this past month. You have learned to sit all by yourself and you love being independent and sitting on the floor playing with your toys by yourself. It's so crazy - when I look at you sitting all by yourself I no longer see my little baby. I see this beautiful little girl that you are turning into.

You now are a rolling machine and it's getting impossible to change your diaper. As soon as we lay you down on your back you immediately try to roll over onto your tummy. You are fascinated with being on your tummy lately because you REALLY want to crawl. You push your arms up and pull up onto your knees but you don't quite have all of the coordination together yet to start moving. In the meantime, it's adorable to watch you discover new ways to reach where you want to go (ie. rolling, scooching, etc.). Although I can't wait for you to crawl, at the same time I want you to wait a few more weeks because you are so mischievous already that I know Daddy and I are going to be SO busy chasing you when you can really move and explore.

Another really great thing you've caught onto in the last month is your voice. Yes you have been into squeaking and squealing in the previous months, but this month you have figured out how to talk like a big girl. You will sit on the floor and say "babababa" and "dadadada" and you always look so proud of yourself. You say it so sweetly and with such confidence and we love hearing your sweet little girl voice. You also love to laugh lately, however it's no longer a baby laugh. You now have this hearty little girl laugh and we will do just about anything to hear you do it. Many times you do it just because you like to hear it yourself. You sure are quite the vocal girl.

As for eating, you still love your bottles and you're eating about 32-35 ounces of formula a day. We also very quickly figured out this past month that you HATE baby food and you only want real food. I tried one morning to give you little bits of a real banana and you gobbled it right up. The next day I gave you some more banana and again you loved it. We slowly have started introducing table foods (the pediatrician told us it's fine because you are so good at 'chewing') and you LOVE table food. Some of your favorites are banana, avacado, puffs, yogurt melts, and strawberries. I think baby food is a thing of the past for you and we are just going to have to feed you small pieces of real food. You love to feed yourself and we are thrilled that we figured out how much you love real food. It makes for a much easier Mommy, Daddy and Cami when it comes to feeding time. We love watching you shake your arms in excitement as we come close to your highchair with food.

So, as you can see you have been VERY busy in the past month. We love watching you grow and change and each month brings so many new experiences and adventures. I can't wait to see just how far you will have come in another month. Keep growing my little love muffin!!!

Love,
Mommy

Ouch!

If you look closely at the picture above you will see that Cami is ever so delicately holding her left ear. Poor girl. Within the past week and a half Cami has had not one, but 2 ear infections.

I took her to the Doctor last week before leaving for Tech for the weekend because she was pulling at her right ear. Sure enough, she had an infection so we got the antibiotics and were on our merry way (or so we thought). Two days later I noticed Cami pulling at her left ear. I kept telling myself it was probably teething and that there was no possible way she could have another ear infection, as she was still on the medication for the first ear infection.

After watching her become more and more miserable as the weekend went on I made the executive Mommy decision that it HAD to be another ear infection in her opposite ear and that she needed to go back to the Doctor. The Doctor confirmed my diagnosis - ANOTHER ear infection in less than a week. Obviously the first medication was not strong enough for our little Miss Cambria so they gave her a new antibiotic this time in hopes to clear up any and all ear infections that she may have currently or that are in the works and on their way.

I am happy to report that after 2 days of the new antibiotic Cami appears to be feeling better. She is eating well again and sleeping MUCH better too. We hope these ear infections are a thing of the past real soon, as it is NOT fun to watch my daughter feel miserable. Until she finishes this medication and we can be certain things are all cleared up Mommy will continue to take good care of Cami and give lots and lots of snuggles. Snuggles help everyone feel better!!!

First Mother's Day

Yesterday was my very first Mother's Day with our precious Cambria and it could not have been more perfect.

I started out the day by (insert loud GASP here) sleeping in! Jon got up with Cami, gave Cami her heart medicine and her morning bottle and didn't wake me at all. It was so wonderful to not have to jump right out of bed to the sound of a fussy baby and hit the ground running for the day. Although all of the early mornings and giving up sleeping in are SO worth it, it was SO nice to sleep in for a change on my special day.

Once I finally got up about 9 it was about time for Cami to take her morning nap so I snuck in about a million kisses in 10 minutes and then put her down for her nap. Jon and I got to spend some time together planning out the rest of our day and it was so nice to just relax for a bit together.

We decided to go to lunch and do some shopping for ME in the afternoon and that's exactly what we did. It was a gorgeous day to be out and about and Cami was an excellent and patient little shopper while Mommy tried on lots of clothes in an attempt to find a few things for the summer that she feels good about wearing (sigh....why can't I lose the last of this baby weight??). Shopping was a success and I found some cute things for summer and our beach trip next month.

We ended the day by heading over to my parents house as my sister cooked my Mom and I a VERY delicious shrimp pasta dinner. It was nice to be able to see my own Mother on Mothers Day and let her know how appreciated and loved she is.

I couldn't have asked for a better day! I sure do LOVE being a Mother!!!

P.S. - All day yesterday I wore this gorgeous new ring below. This is my first Mother's Day gift from Cami and Jon. What a gorgeous ring with Cami's birthstone. It will forever be special to me and I look forward to passing it onto her someday too.

LOVE

The dictionary defines love as 1) a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person and 2) a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child or friend.

There is no denying it, Cambria is pure LOVE! The two definitions above define exactly what this little girl is to me. I could not be more passionate about her and my feelings of warm personal attachment to her could not be stronger. It baffles my mind how every day I feel as though I am more in love with her than I was the previous day. When I look at her I see love, when I listen to her I hear love, when I smell her sweet baby smell I smell love and when I kiss her and hug her I touch love. This sixteen pound little girl has taught me more about love in the last 6 months than I could have ever dreamed of. It's true - the love a parent has for their child is ENDLESS!!!!

Top 10

I have decided that periodically I will make a top 10 list. This list will be the most current top 10 things that Cambria does that I am obsessed with. I have been thinking about making this list for a long time because every time she starts doing something new that I love I say to Jon, "this is one of my favorite things" and he quickly reminds me that it seems as though I say that about everything. I am afraid if I don't start writing these 'favorite' things down I may forget them.

Here goes nothing....my current top 10 favorite things Cami does (in random order).

10. When we are holding her she very gently reaches for our faces as if she is exploring. It's priceless because she looks so intrigued and interested as she touches all of our facial features. My favorite part about this though is how gentle she is when she does it. She never grabs, pulls or hurts - it's almost as if she knows everything is attached to us and she doesn't want to hurt us. Gotta love an exploring baby!!

9. After her bottle when I am burping her over my shoulder she likes to snuggle. I LOVE THIS!!! She will lay her head on my shoulder and you can feel all of her muscles in her body relax and she lays quietly and gently against my chest. Some nights after she eats she will be so sleepy that she will actually fall asleep like this and it's those moments that I just wish I could freeze time.

8. When we lay Cami in her crib she does this little wiggle movement that we call the frog. It's so funny because it kinda reminds me of what I do when I get into bed each night where I just kinda kick my legs around in the sheets before settling down to sleep. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

7. I LOVE the way she smiles at Jon and I. She is such a happy baby and it doesn't take much to make her smile (although I like to think she saves the real big smiles for just her Mommy and Daddy). Not only do her smiles light up our faces but when she smiles her entire face lights up. When Cami smiles it starts in her lips, travels to her cheeks and ends with her eyes...it's truly an unbelievable feeling when she smiles at you.

6. She is so determined! Lately she has been really changing developmentally. She has been rolling over both ways for a while now but just recently ALL she wants to do is roll. When we are changing her she tries to roll away from us, when we are giving her medicine she tries to roll away, when we are tickling her she tries to roll away and just last night she decided she wanted to roll in her sleep onto her belly. She is also determined to learn to sit. She sits in her bouncy seat (she refuses to lay back in it now), she sits straight up in her high chair, she loves sitting on the couch with us, yet she still weebles and wobbles when she's on her own. Just yesterday though she sat on her own for probably a minute or two before toppling sideways!

5. Lately Cami is a napper and it's fabulous. She takes at least 2 good naps a day and sometimes a third. This is wonderful because previously she was only napping for 20-30 minutes at random times during the day and this was making it hard to get her on a set schedule. She is now happy when we put her down for her naps and it makes our lives so much easier too.

4. Cambria loves to be rocked lately. When she starts to get sleepy and I take her up to her room and start to rock her in the glider immediately her eyes start to roll back in her head and she starts breathing slower. I know she's really sleepy when she lets out that one last final sigh and turns her head towards me to snuggle up. Many times I sit with her fast asleep in my arms and just stare at her, listen to her breathe, smell that wonderful baby smell and just consume everything there is to consume about her. Good thing she likes to be rocked now!! :-)

3. Cambria is a talker lately. She is really learning how to express herself verbally and it's adorable. She babbles, coos, cries, squeals, giggles and screams. Many times when she's talking it almost sounds as though she's trying to really say something. We love listening to her talk, encouraging her to talk and talking with her.

2. This one isn't really something that Cami does, but it's more something that she has. Lately she has this one chunk of hair on her head that constantly sticks up. At first we thought it was a cowlick but now when you watch her sleep you can see that she tends to sleep on her left side and it pushes her hair up where she sleeps on it. Whatever the reason it's there, it's so stickin' cute!!

1. And now - the number one favorite thing that Cami is doing lately......she is THRIVING! I could not be happier that she's healthy, growing and happy. With all of the medical issues with Cami over the past 6 months of her life it's so wonderful to have a happy and healthy baby who doesn't have to go to the Doctor what seems like multiple times a week. We pray every night that she continues to thrive and continue to grow into that beautiful little girl that she's already quickly becoming.

Weekends are for Playing!

The weekends exhaust Cami because Daddy is home to play with her, we usually take her out to eat and do lots of things that she typically doesn't do during the week. The other night as Cami was playing in her jumperoo I looked over and caught her yawning. God love her, all of this weekend playing is tiring for such a little girl!