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.