Random List Update

Here is a random update of what has been going on around here lately.

I finally started working out and it feels so good! For anyone who lives near Houston's First Baptist Church, the gym membership is a great deal. They offer some fun classes. I have been going to Zumba and Lift lately. I feel so weak and tired ever since having Cambry so I am hoping to get some more energy and build some muscle. Cambry has been doing good in the nursery while I work out.


Last week my parents offered to watch Cambry so Greg and I went on a date night. We tried out a new sushi restaurant and had fun just enjoying some alone time.

I am loving making baby food right now. I keep wanting to buy new things to make and freeze. So far I have made apples and pears in the crockpot, butternut squash, peas, plums and peaches. Yum yum!

Cambry is pretty mobile with her army crawl. It is so cute. She doesn't get up on all fours much but she can definitely get from one place to another. She can also go from laying down to sitting up by herself.

Cambry is getting skinny! Well, maybe not skinny, but definitely slimming down. The other day I was looking at her arm and all of a sudden it looked long and slender. Her rubber band wrists are almost gone!! It breaks my heart a little to see her baby fat disappearing as that means she is growing up. We go back to the doctor in mid September and I am curious to see where she falls in the weight percentile.

Greg's parents and sister and niece came to visit us this weekend. We had so much fun hanging out, shopping, and eating out with them. So nice of them to drive down to see us! Hollyn is so sweet to Cambry. She even fed her one of her meals - it was so cute.

So thankful for a nice, fun 3 day weekend!

Bath Time Smiles

Little one was happy during bath time for a change so I had to snap some pictures. I just love her.

But then when we take her out she gets a little grumpy.

I need my milk now!

Mommy & Baby Photos

Last week I had the privilege of having Leigh Ripps take photos of Cambry and me! 

She is a photographer in the Kingwood area - Fresh Light Photography, and was looking for a mommy and baby to do a photo shoot to get some pictures for her website. 

So of course I immediately volunteered because who wouldn't want free pictures??

Leigh was so sweet and fun to work with. She also has a little girl who is adorable. I didn't get to meet her but I Facebook stalked her and looked at lots of photos of her beautiful girl.

Leigh is an amazing photographer and captured some really sweet moments with Cambry.

I love that she captured these sweet little baby rolls.

I was a little nervous because white clothes + naked baby = dangerous! But thankfully, Cambry did great and there were no accidents :)

We had a lot of fun doing the shoot and I love how the pictures turned out.

Thanks Leigh for being so generous!

Fresh Light Photography is offering Fall Mini Sessions right now, and she also offers Mommy Photography 101 classes to teach you how to take better photographs of your little one. So neat!

Monthly Pictures: Month 8

 

Our little Cam Sandwich is 8 months old! I think each month she just gets more fun, more beautiful, and I love her even more! When she was first born I hated the thought of her growing up at all. I didn't want her to get any bigger or change one bit. And yet, every stage she seems to bring more joy into our lives. What a gift.

I feel like there is a lot to document this month.

Size: We just weighed her on our friend's scale and she is 19lbs 14oz. She can still fit into some 6 month clothes, but then she can also fit into some 12-18 months clothes. I guess mostly if it is around 12 month size it fits. She wears size 3 in disposable diapers. She still has the most scrumptious baby legs.

Likes: Dogs! We started taking her to the dog park down the street just to see her squeal and laugh. Not sure if baths are still on this list. Lately she cries during baths. Not sure if it is because she is just so ready to nurse since she knows she gets fed right after bath, or if she no longer likes baths. She still likes getting out and about, walks, being lifted in the air and also elevator shaft (with daddy). She likes drinking water from a cup (while I hold it), and food! (more on that below).

Dislikes: Baths? Bottles, pacis (won't take them any more)

Working on: Crawling - She is getting really good at inch-worming, and will sometimes get up on all fours. She can definitely get to where she wants to, but doesn't do an all out crawl yet.

Eating: She likes food!! I don't know how it happened, but suddenly she likes to eat food! She likes rice cereal, strawberries, mango, apple, banana, cheese, blueberries, and pear. I have bought a few of those Plum organic pouches and she seems to really like them (not gonna lie, I tried them and they are pretty delicious). She still nurses about 7 times a day.

Sleeping: Bedtime between 7 and 7:30pm, and wakes up around 6:30am. Usually wakes up once around 3 or 4 or 5 am to eat, and will occasionally sleep through the night. Normally takes 2 naps a day. The first one 45 min - 1 hour, and the second one 1 1/2 - 2 hours. If one of those is really short she may take an additional cat nap in the late afternoon.

Other things to note:

She now has a total of 4 teeth. Her top two front teeth came in several weeks ago.

She is "talking" more and more. No real words, but lots of cute babbling and sounds.

She is starting to get a bit of separation anxiety. Sometimes when I leave the room she cries (very dramatically). Also, she has gotten a little fussy and cried when I have dropped her off at church when I go to work out the past couple of times. Also, sometimes if she can't see me or she thinks she has been left she will cry until she sees me or I pick her up.

She is also starting to get scared at loud noises. She does not like the blender and sometimes even the ice dispenser startles her.

She has started "sympathy crying". Sometimes if another baby near her is crying she will start crying. She sticks out her lip and breaks out in tears - it is so pitiful.

She really doesn't let us rock her anymore. She either falls asleep nursing, or we lay her down awake and she goes to sleep on her own (sometimes naps result in lots of crying, other times it is fine), or she falls asleep in the car (running errands).

Well I think that about covers it. She is still a very happy baby and so much fun. We love her to pieces!

Favorite IPhone Pictures Lately

Date Night

My parents came over to stay with Cambry while Greg and I went on a date Friday. Since she doesn't take a bottle we just left after we put her down for bed. Well, she wasn't exactly asleep, but at least she had her last feeding.

It had been a while since our last date so we splurged and went to one of the restaurants participating in Houston restaurant week. We chose III Forks because neither of us had been there and we heard it was good. We enjoyed it and had some good food. We walked around the Houston Pavilion to see what was going on. We never go down town so I didn't even know about the pavilion. I guess it is new because most of the stores were still under construction. Seems like City Center kind of.

By 9:30 I was so exhausted I could have easily fallen asleep in the car. I cannot stay up late at all. We were so full and dinner included dessert already, so we just decided to go to Starbucks to extend the date a little. We sat outside drinking coffee and enjoying the evening.

Thanks mom and Dad for watching Cambry!

Some Days

Today is off to a rough start.

12:15AM Cambry is awake and fussing. I decide I am not going to feed her. She needs to learn to sleep. Greg and I take shifts going in there every so often to calm her down and try and get her back to sleep. She cries for over an hour. I am wide awake and cannot sleep so I eat cereal and read. At 2:15AM I am finally tired.

Cambry wakes up at 6:20AM. We have fun playing. I try to put her down a little after 8 because that is what worked yesterday. Hahaha, I am so silly. Of course that is not going to work today. Throwing a fit, in an out of crib, don't know what to do. Teething? Cuddling? Rocking? More playing? Lay down and nap together? Tried it all. 2 hours later and she is finally asleep. Whoa.

I need wisdom as a mother every day but I especially feel that deep need on days like today. I am thankful that God allows us to bring everything to Him in prayer. And I am thankful that He is all wise and I can seek Him and ask for wisdom.

Counsel and sound judgment are mine;
I have understanding and power. 
Proverbs 8:14

I am showered, dressed, have had coffee and we are going to get out of the house when she wakes up and go to the Galleria. Stroller + indoors + things to look at + baby play area = happy baby and happy mama.

Things are looking better.

Attitude

When do babies start showing attitude?

Cambry! Cambry! Look at mama! Hi sweetheart! Smile! Over here!

Completely ignored.

Honest Cambry

Does anyone else read Honest Toddler on twitter? I am not on twitter, nor do I read anyone else's, but I have recently started reading this and I think it is hilarious. Here are some of my favorite tweets.

Thirsty. But not for water. Something more cakey.

Almost accepted water from a cup with giraffes on it. Um.....no.

Found a bag of marshmallows in the pantry. Enjoying them behind the couch. I'm invisible.

Bedtime again. Didn't see this coming. Tears.

Infant at the grocery store has on boxing gloves made out of washcloth material.....LOOOOOOOL!!! OMG LOL!!

My yellow spoon is missing. Can't eat dinner without it.

PARK! Infant who can't crawl properly is trying to move. Looks like an amoeba.

Piece of lint chased me through he house. Terrifying. Threw a bowl of salsa at it.


I don't know why but I just love to read these and crack up. Greg and I like to talk about what Cambry would say if she could tweet...

Heard mama say she is about to change my diaper. Hafta poo but I'll just wait for the clean one.

Ha, just made mom feed me again because I wanted some cuddle time! Wasn't even hungry. Spit it all up.

Cried hysterically in my crib. They came in and I accidentally gave a huge smile. I think they are on to my tricks.

Just took a 5 minute power nap in the car. Now I don't need a long afternoon nap. YAY! Playtime woo hoo!!

Play Room

Before

After

The room is finally done! Well, mostly done. We still want to make a busy board and we need to get something to cover the cords coming from the TV, but other than that things are done.

Oh, and we need to get rid of that lamp back there. Any takers? $5?

After hours and hours of trying to prime, paint, and polish the old bookshelf, we finally gave up and went to Ikea. Let's just say me and furniture painting don't get along. Hopefully this will be a lesson to me to not attempt this again! There are plenty of crafty things I enjoy doing but furniture is not on my list. I will stick to paying someone in the future. I wish Chelsi lived in Houston :) She is great with the furniture makeovers. So all of you Dallas folks can get her to redo your furniture and make it beautiful. I did use this lady in Houston to paint the dresser in Cambry's nursery which I thought turned out great. Anyway, moving on.

It is hard to tell in the picture, but there is a brick wall on the left. That used to be the back of the house before this room was added on (not by us).

I didn't end up doing ledges for books. I bought some ledges...probably should return them. I didn't think about it but since we have paneling, I don't really want to leave a huge hole in the wall from screws. We actually hung the pictures on the couch wall using Command strips that are kind of like velcro - so cool!

Sometimes I leave the back door open (with the glass door still shut) so Cambry can look outside. 

We bought a tall baby gate so that when we need a safe area to contain Cambry we can use this room. She is really good at scooting/inch worming so I am glad we got it up.

Maybe I will put up some more stuff on some of the blank walls in the future, but for now we are just enjoying this as a great space for Cambry to play.

Gift Ideas

My friend Emily makes the cutest little stuffed animals. She is so talented. She made this adorable lamb for Cambry that she gave to me for my baby shower. I absolutely love it.

Somehow I didn't realize that she sold these on Etsy, but recently I just saw all her adorable creations and I had to share.

I just ordered a personalized lamb for a friend and I will definitely be ordering more because I just think these are so sweet. 

She has so many fun fabrics. You can get them personalized with a name, a bible verse, or whatever you want.

All the pictures (except for the one of my lamb) came from her facebook page - Silly Dilly Baby. Also, her Etsy store is here.

Swim Play Date

Today Audrey, Liz, and I got together for a play date and went swimming. These girls are so sweet and it is fun all having babies close in age. Matthew is 13 months, Madeleine is 8 months, and Cambry is 7 months. We were all in ASC together at A&M. We get together every few weeks for play dates and talk all things baby :) Babies change so fast and each time we are together they are doing something new which is so fun to see. Matthew is babbling and almost walking, and Madeleine is babbling too, clapping, and wanting to crawl.

Audrey had this fun pool float that the babies took turns using. They all loved it. Audrey got some great pictures on her camera. Thanks!

Cambry was so relaxed in the float that when I took her out and held her for a few minutes she fell asleep on me. She probably took a 20-30 minute nap like this. So sweet.