I'm taking over this show

Hi everyone-

I've noticed that my Daddy has been getting a little lazy with the blog, so I've decided to take over this show to keep you updated on how fast I'm growing! After all, I'm a big girl now so I should be able to handle it.

As most of you know, I turned 1 on April 28th and had a great party with my Parents, both Aunties, all of my Grandparents, and even some of my Great-Grandparents! It was kind of strange though, because everyone just sat around and looked at me as I played with my new toys and just generally tried to be as cute as possible. I did get a million kisses so I think I was doing something right. Great-Grandma Bert gave me a new doll that my Mom and Dad named "Baby" (they're pretty creative) and she goes everywhere with me! She sleeps with me, goes with me in the car, eats with me, and always seems to be following me throughout the house. I love her!


Here we are shopping with Mommy

My language skills are getting better and I can now say Momma and Dada and actually know who I'm talking about. I'm also getting really good with my sign language and can use 5 signs really well - more, all done, food, milk, and help. I'm also learning to point at what I want so I can sign "more" and point at the strawberries (0ne of my new favorites) on the counter. Mom and Dad are very happy that since we can communicate, I don't get frustrated and scream. "Help" works the same way - I'll usually try something myself first, but if I can't do it, I'll ask for help and they're right there to get my book down or grab my toy.

I'm getting better at walking too. I'm starting to get much more brave and worked my way up to a max of about nine steps. I'm sure I'll be running around soon enough!

Love, Cameron Elyse

Helping Aunt Katie and Uncle Mark blow up balloons


Look at my pretty Birthday dress!


Bring on the cake!


mmmmmmm

Look who is ticklish!

Like a lot of things, allergies have a tendency to run in the family. If one or both parents have allergies, a baby has a good shot of having them too. Luckily, Sara and I don't have any allergies and so far, it doesn't look like Cameron has any either. Being ticklish might not be something that's passed down genetically, but Sara and I are both ticklish and after watching the videos, you can decide if Cameron is too.

Cameron at 11 months!

I can't believe that Cameron is almost a year old already, and I also can't believe how fast she's changing these days. She can't walk on her own yet (although every now and again she gets daring enough to take a step or two by herself) but she motors like crazy around the house on her walker/cart and she's figured out exactly how far she can get hanging on to the coffee table, couch, and everything else within reach.

She's eating very well and is always willing to try new things. She likes pesto ravioli, meatloaf, sweet potatoes, cheese, prunes, pears, chicken, and turkey, just to name a few. She's still on formula, although we think that she's starting to ween herself off of the bottles all together. She used to drink 6oz pretty consistently, but now she usually pushes the bottle away after 4-5oz and fills up on solid foods. That makes for very interesting diapers!

Sara and I have been working pretty hard on teaching her the basics of sign language and she's starting to act like she's figuring things out. She's got the "more" sign down pretty well....especially when she's asking for more prunes. She's also started clapping whenever something happens that she really likes. Just last week she's started clapping whenever Sara walks in the door from work. It's pretty stinking cute and Sara is pretty sure that there's no better way to get welcomed home from work.

All in all, things are going very well. She's still on the small side as far as height and weight, but that's nothing new and she keeps trucking right along. She has four teeth now and #5 is just poking through - I'm sure #6 isn't far behind. She continues to amaze us with all of her new tricks and we look forward to year #2!

getting dressed for a ride in the bike trailer

pushing her cart around on the patio

Cameron loves the kitties

just being cute

Cameron's four-legged friend

As many of you know, Sara and I adopted a couple of children (cats named Soda and Seven) long before we brought Cameron home. We were a little unsure of how they would react to her, but they've both taken to her quite well...in their own unique ways, at least.

At first, it was pretty easy since she really didn't do much, but now that she can get from one side of the house to the other in as long as it takes us to turn around, it's a different story. She's taken to showing affection by laying her head down on things (as if she's laying it on our shoulder) and if she happens to sneak up on them, they'll usually put up with it for about 10 seconds before deciding that there's something more interesting in the next room. We'll see if that continues as she gets more and more mobile in the coming months. (I've got my money on the "no" side)

playing peek-a-boo with Soda

On the other hand, our neighbors have a beagle mix named Stubby (sidebar: both of our next-door neighbors have beagles and both are named Stubby...how crazy is that?) that absolutely loves Cameron! Everytime we come out of the house, he runs to the fence to get some good petting/sniffing in. I think he likes Sara and I just fine, but Cameron is his real buddy. It was semi-sunny the other day so we took Cameron outside so they could get some face to face time. Here's the pictures.

It starts with a look, then a sniff, then a kiss.

She's mobile!

So Cameron has been semi-crawling for a few months now, but she's really taken it to a new level lately. Plus, she's getting very good at walking around as long as she can hold onto something sturdy - usually our fingers or a piece of furniture. She's even figured out how to move from one piece to the next to get as far as she can before she has to sit down and crawl.

Auntie Kristen (Sara's sister) bought her a cool push-around cart that she's really getting into. As you can see, she's not too good at the steering, but she's got the going part down really well.

Cameron's new trick

So yesterday I heard Cameron talking and singing to herself after her nap (not too unusual) and when I opened the door, I saw her standing in her crib! This was the first time that she had done it so I was obviously suprised and she seemed to be very happy with herself.

Now, hopefully this doesn't look too much like those cheesy re-enactments that you'd see on Unsolved Mysteries or America's Most Wanted, but I did have her do it again for the camera and for Sara. She was more than happy to do it and as you can see, she's still just as proud. Needless to say, the bumpers aren't in her crib anymore...I'm not ready for her to crawl over the rail yet.

The Bottle Incident

This past weekend was a pretty big one for the Green Family, not only was it Valentines Day, but it was also the first time that Cameron was away from Sara and I for the night...two nights to be exact!

Since Cameron sleeps well through the night and now is exclusively on formula, Granny and Poppy (my parents) thought it would be fun if she spent the weekend in Longview with them. Sara and I were initially apprehensive, but since we really had no reason - other than just being afraid of missing our baby - to say no, we agreed. We decided to meet in Olympia for the hand-off and all seemed well until Cameron decided to scream as we put her in the car seat and drove away. My sister was with my parents and sent Sara a text about 2 minutes after we left that said, "Cameron has already stopped crying" to which Sara replied, "Good - me too!"

Everthing was going along great until the next day when we got a message that for some reason, Cameron would not drink her bottle. This is a little strange, but we didn't think much of it. Maybe she was tired, maybe she had to much solid food...no big deal. They would just give her a little more solids to make sure she wasn't going hungry.

As we went through the weekend we heard more stories about the things they were trying and how Cameron seemed to fight off every advance. My Mom went to the store and bough different nipples - didn't work. My Sister tried to feed her...her boyfriend Mark tried to feed her....my Dad tried to feed her. No luck. Cameron was bound and determined that she wasn't going to drink a bottle. As soon as they even got the bottle near her mouth she would thrash from side to side and knock the bottle away with her hands. She just wasn't having it.

We ended up meeting my Mom on Sunday to pick her up and just for shits and giggles, my Mom brought up a bottle ready to go. I think she was sure that Cameron would reject the bottle and we would see the same thing that she had been seeing all weekend. So Sara put Cameron on her lap and sure enough, as soon as she saw the bottle coming near her face, she opened up as wide as could be and drank it down. Granny couldn't believe her eyes, but it's true...that's our girl!

Baby proofing!

I knew this day would come, but I've resisting as long as possible. Finally, when I saw Cameron pulling herself up on the coffee table, I knew that it was finally time to child-proof the kitchen. I got my drill and to work I went on the drawers and cabinets within her reach. I even put those plastic caps on all the outlets, but I think they should call that eveyone-proof because I tried to take one off to plug something in today and it was nearly impossible. I actually had to get out the trusty old butter knife to pry it off....as if that's not hazard in itself!

So now Cameron is safe and sound from electricity and kitchen utensils, but it's taking some getting used to for us. Sara and I have muttered more than one tiny curse word as we try to open a drawer only to have it catch the safety latch. I wonder how long that will take to get used to.

These next pictures don't have much to do with baby-proofing, but they are damn cute. Last night as we were getting her dressed after her bath, we thought it would be fun to see if she'd wear her sunglasses and lei from Hawaii. She wasn't a big fan, but she kept them on long enough for a few snapshots.

9 months!

Cameron is nine months old today and we just got back from the doctor a few hours ago. Everything is looking great. She's still pretty small relative to other girls her age, but she's been pretty consistent and the Doctor seems to think that she's getting set for a big growth spurt....we'll see.

She's on track as far as all of her motor skills and the new things that she's starting to do. In fact, when we were in Hawaii, Sara went to get her up from her nap and found her sitting up. It's the first time that she's been able to go from lying down to sitting on her own - at least as far as we know - and as you can see from the pictures, she was pretty proud of herself.

To hat or not to hat?

One of the (many) things that we learned on our vacation with an 8 month old was that our particular 8 month old doesn't really like to wear hats. She would put up with it for a while at the pool, but it wouldn't take long for her to remember her utter distaste for all things headwear related and try her best to get it off. That was fine with us, but she quickly learned that taking her hat off meant that it was time to get sunscreen on...which she hated even worse. Here's a few pics of her in her hat and some where we had a little too much fun with sunscreen in her hair. She wasn't amused.

First trip to the pool

We took Cameron down for her first dip in the pool and after a brief moment of trepidation, she realized that she loved it!

It was actually pretty cute; Sara held her as she walked into the pool and her little fists started quivering and her bottom lip curled out, but as soon as she saw everyone else in the pool, it suddenly became fun. She started splashing and kicking and having a great time.

We found a little floating ring that she can sit in so that the water comes about up to her armpits and she really liked that. It really did look fun...I wished that they had one in my size!

Flight to Hawaii? Piece of cake!

Well, we made it to Hawaii in one piece and I have to admit that it was easier than both Sara and I anticipated. We did have a minor setback when we got to the airport and checked our luggage. It turns out that Hawaiian airlines won't allow you to check your 3-wheeled stroller at the gate...you have to do it at the main counter. They claimed that the 3-wheeled kind are bigger than the usual strollers (they are - that's why we brought that one!) and that it's too tough for the luggage guys to carry them up the ramp to the jetway. Apparently it's only the Hawaiian Airlines guys that are wusses because we saw plenty of other people pushing their very similar strollers through the airport. Slightly annoying, but we remembered that we were going to paradise so it was easy to forgive and forget.

The plane ride itself went really well. As we boarded the plane, I quickly spotted quite a few babies on the plane so I instantly felt better knowing the odds of Cameron being the most annoying one had just dropped significantly. Plus, she's really not annoying any other time, so why would she be now? We got really lucky in that there was an empty seat next to us so we were able to lay Cameron down to catch some zzzzzz's. In the end, it was a VERY long and exciting day for her (and Mom and Dad) but we all made it through no worse for the wear.

top pics: Granny entertaining Cameron...or is it the other way around?, catching some shut eye, and playing with Uncle Mark. bottom pics: enjoying the view from our room, and munching on the pineapple from Daddy's Mai Tai.