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.

Christmas toys

As you can imagine, Cameron got plenty of good stuff for Christmas, but one of her favorites is a little car/walk-behind. She's too small to push her self with her feet and although she can stand up and hang on to the handle, she hasn't quite figured out that she can push it around too. That pretty much means that she needs one of us to give her rides. Here's a cute video of Sara doing just that, and after watching her wear herself out after the tenth lap, I've decided that this should just be a Mommy and Cameron game. (sound effects provided by Mommy)