Christmas 2010

Well, the holiday didn't start off as planned, but it was nice to be forced to relax & spend some extra quality time with our little family of three. Though Camille isn't feeling much better, she did get to see all her Santa gifts this morning. She was quite the grouch though when Mommy made her pose for a Christmas Day photo.

Camille was a little interested in her Santa gifts- Her favorite seemed to be her monkey towel :) She also enjoyed pulling all of her gifts out of her stocking. She loved her smoothie treats that were in there and actually begged to have two of them immediately- Mommy gave in... If you can't go all out on christmas, when can you? :)

We enjoyed a visit from Mimi this morning and a big Christmas breakfast, thanks to Daddy. Camille was diappointed she couldn't partake. She is still on a liquid only diet due to all the congestion :(

Though we wish we could have gone to the service at church and seen more of our family & friends, it was nice to just focus on the most important part of christmas... celebrating Jesus' birth and focusing on the blessings we continue to be given!

Merry Christmas from the Cox family!

RSV invasion :(

The dreaded holiday news- Camille is sick! :( Her school called us on Tuesday morning to say she wasn't herself and was acting quite pitiful. We brought her home for some TLC but took her to the doctor for safe measure later that afternoon- and good thing! After the poor, sick, baby was poked & proded for 2hrs- including sticking a huge swab up her nose, she tested positive for RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). It's actually pretty common for young children, but just very discomforting for them. The symptoms start out like a cold (runny nose, cough, etc) but then gradually worsen to wheezing and difficulty breathing. :( To me, it seems like a mix of bronchitis & asthma. It is also highly contagious for young children, which means a week of keeping her in confinement. Her oxygen levels were ok enough to not give us a need for a nubulizer, but she was refusing to drink- which caused concern of dehydration.... After Nick & I spent hours trying to get her to drink last night (including forcing juice down her throat with a medicine dropper), Camille took a good turn in the middle of the night and got thirsty enough to drink! Praise God! So we hope this continues so that she can rehydrate herself and not need any hospital visits!! She is quite the trooper despite being so sick. While she isn't her normal, spunky self, she still has found some moments for blowing kisses and giving sweet smiles :) Daddy is staying home with her today which is allowing him some rare cuddle time :) Please say prayers for our sweet lil one so that her breathing can make its way back to normal. It's no fun being this sick, especially during the Christmas holiday!!

Camille's school has already called twice today checking in on how she is doing- they are so sweet and ready to have their little cutie pie back in action!

Camille Meets Santa

After her school play on Thursday, Camille got to visit with Santa. She gave him her signature stare down, but didn't seem too bothered by being on his lap.

Camille's best buddy Madelyn was also a sheep in the play. They were worn out after their performance and decided they needed to sit down and take a break.

Camille's First Christmas Play

Who would have thought Camille would be debuting in her first play at the age of one! Her school put on a play this week about the birth of Jesus. Camille's class, along with the other younger ones were all sheep in the play. They didn't have any lines to memorize, but they were the hit of the play! Their teachers wheeled them through the audience and they were instant celebrities. Here are a few pics of the little sheep.

Our Little Cindy Lou Who

Hair, compliments of her afternoon teacher Miss Anna. Picture, compliments of Britton :)

The bday girl in action.....

Here is our sweet little angel in her bday outfit ready to play (and open gifts). :)

She isn't walking yet, but loves to stand on her own- as you can see, she is quite proud of herself!

She loved opening her gifts! Though the tissue & ribbons seemed to be her favorite part, she did check out the actual toys & outfits when we got home :)

The party.... before.....

Mimi & Aunt GJ did a great job making Camille's birthday banner!

The gift table was the perfect spot for Camille's 1yr old photos that Megan Lane Photography turned around quite quicky :)

We had quite a yummy spread of food thanks to all the helping hands!

And the cake was quite impressive, thanks to Martha & Graceson!

Here are all the yummy goodies we had.... Notice the little cupcake at the top... that was Camille's personal bday cake :) topped with sugar bananas!

Camille caught a cold this weekend- right in time for her party :( She was a trooper though.... She clung to Mommy most of the time, but enjoyed the company of her family & friends. She ate lots of good food & loved opening her gifts. She got a little distracted with the bows & ribbons, so Mommy had to help her finish opening each one. We took a video of Camille eating her cake- it was quite a site! She didn't leave any part of her face uncovered- and smelled like icing the rest of the day. Mommy ended up taking the rest of the cake away from Camille b/c she liked it so much and had started to shovel it in! We will email the video out this week :)

Camille was so tuckered out after the big celebration, so she slept the entire way back to Raleigh. When we got home she was recharged enough to open the rest of her gifts. She is a blessed little girl- our house looked like Santa had come early! We appreciate all the thoughtful gifts and Camille certainly enjoyed playing with all the new items before her bedtime. My guess is that she will sleep well tonight :)

Happy Birthday Camille!

Camille's MawMaw & PawPaw brought her an early birthday gift that we waited to give to her until the actual date :) We let Camille watch us open up the big box and she sat very patiently watching us pulling out the contents that were inside. She loved "helping" her daddy put her new house together.

Once her house was ready... she didn't hesitate to start exploring.... she loves the sounds her house makes and her favorite piece seems to be the mailbox. Camille finds it amusing for Mommy to put mail in the mailbox, her to open the mailbox, take out the mail, and then hand to mommy to start all over again :)

So, as you can see, Camille loves her new toy! Overall, it was a great birthday day, but more celebrating to come this weekend!

Here is one more picture of Camille getting ready for bed, but showing off her Suprise! face :)

Camille's 1yr old checkup

Camille had her big girl checkup today with Dr. Tanaka. She fell asleep on the way to the doctor and so she was a little mad that I had to wake her up from her nap. Once we got inside and she had an eye on the fish tank that she loves so much- she was back to her happy self :)

She weighed in at 18.5lbs (7th percentile) and was 27 1/4" long (7th percentile). More confirmation that she will be petite like mommy :) Her head circumference was 18" (65th percentile). So her brains are growing faster than the rest of her body :)

I had to answer a 1yr old questionaire once we got there..... questions around her communication, motor, problem solving, and socialization skills. Some of the questions made me worry b/c I was thinking to myself that I hadn't yet tried that with her.... For example, If you scribble back and forth on paper with a crayon, does your baby copy you? ... Haven't ever tried that.... If I had a crayon in my purse right then, I would have tested her on the spot. Luckily, Camille was showing average or above average in all areas even with the ones we hadn't tried yet :) Her highest marks were around her fine motor skills.

Dr. Tanaka did the normal heartbeat, ears, and eyes check... but the funny part was that Camille kept pulling his stethoscope out of his ears and laughing. He ended up giving her some tongue depressors to keep her occupied, even though she later started reaching into his shirt pockets.... I was so embarrased, but he seemed used to it.... She just wanted his name badge & pen :) He instead gave her a rubber ducky to squeek. He was happy with her progress & especially her love of milk & eating.... though he warned me that picky eating could still develop a little later.

Last came the dreaded part of the visit- shots! She had 3- the 2nd flu shot, the MMR shot, & the chickenpox vaccine. The nurse warned that 2 of the 3 would burn... lovely. I had a juice bottle ready as a treat for Camille, but she was mad as fire after those shots. She slapped away everything that was given to her and just wanted to be taken out of that room (and away from the nurse that had the needles). Once we got into the lobby she stopped crying and was looking around for her juice :) She then waved bye to all the nurses as we were on our way!

I will post some pictures tonight that we took yesterday on her birthday. Her teacher at school said Camille had reign over the room yesterday since it was her special day.... lord only knows what that means.. ha! She did say that Camille gots lots of happy bday songs sang to her throughout the day and that one of her fav school meals would be given to her today, after the shots- spaghetti! I made sure to dress her in red :)

So cute... had to post!

These pictures were taken back in August, right after Lucas, Camille's cousin was born. We had gone to Rocky Mount to visit and Camille was enjoying the extra attention from Emily & Jacob :) What a surprise to get an email of these from Christy today! I love love love these pictures and it melts my heart everytime I look at them.

I can't imagine Camille will be 1yr old this week- I am still in denial :) Maybe if I refer to her age in months, it will make me feel better about it.... 1 year just sounds so old for my little baby girl!

more halloween pics

Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween weekend! On Saturday, Mimi came to visit and brought Camille the witch hat that she had made. It is neat to think that for my first Halloween, I was a witch and mom had made my hat then too :) Camille also got a visit from Katie that day. Though Camille enjoyed seeing her, she quickly was ready for her afternoon nap since she had been playing so hard that morning.

We started our Halloween morning off with church.... the hugest blessing of all was when Camille decided to take a 1hr nap in the nursery- this was a first!!! She typically fights it so hard and ends up screaming for the poor volunteers. It usually takes me going to put her to sleep myself or getting paged out of church b/c Camille is a terror without her sleep :) So I knew we were in for a good day.....

We made our way to Rocky Mount after lunch to get some time with Sterling. Camille enjoyed pulling up on Sterling's furniture :) Camille also enjoyed swinging in the hammock- I think this was another first. Nick took this picture with his phone b/c we thought Camille looked like a spider in her web :)

We then made our way to the big Halloween party at Abe & Christy's. We had a great time and Camille LOVED all the kids running around. It didn't phase her to hear the constant shrieking. There were some very cute costumes too! Being the forgetful mom that I am, I didn't bring our camera :( Thankfully, Nick had his phone to take a picture and then we also got some good ones with Christy's camera. So more photos to come... Nick took this one with his phone. Emily & Jacob are so sweet with Camille. Everytime they would run by her with their friends, they would stop- give her some smiles and hugs and then continue on :) They even stopped for one pose with our little witch....

We have some better ones of Camille in her hat... but those are on Christy's camera. Baby Lucas was dressed as a monkey, so hopefully I can share some pictures of him later... He was adorable!

Camille was so worn out after her busy weekend that she slept the whole way home from Rocky Mount and then slept through the night and had to be woken up this morning :) Maybe we should party more often :)

Wilkesboro Visit

The three of us went up to Wilkesboro this past weekend to visit the family and celebrate my dad's birthday. We had a great time and had wonderful weather. On Saturday, we decided to take advantage of the warm October day, so we headed to the park to entertain Camille. This was her first time in a swing by herself. I know, I know, how can a child have gone 11 months without swinging? Well, this summer has just been too hot to get out and enjoy a day at the park. So luckily, Camille was deprived no longer :) She LOVED swinging! She was full of smiles as we pushed her.

I'm not sure why my pictures are still loading sideways. (anyone know?)

Anyways, after the swinging we decided to see if the ducks were still out and about. They weren't, but the turtles were. I don't think Camille could really get a good view of them, but she just loved being outdoors.

Camille discovered a new game at Gran's house..... pull out all the kleenex one by one and then roll around in the mess :)

11 Months Old

11 months sure did sneak right up on us! We did get to celebrate her 11mth bday and Nick's bday on Sunday with Nick's family. Camille enjoyed seeing her cousins Emily, Jacob, and Lucas. Lucas has grown so much since we last saw him and is only about 2lbs away from Camille!!

Camille is a pro at pulling herself up these days. She is always waiting at the end of her crib, by the door, each morning when she wakes up. She just stands and talks to the door until I go in and get her. It is quite precious. Camille is no longer interested in anything but standing... she pulls up any chance she gets, especially on mommy's legs. She hasn't tried to take any steps yet, but I'm sure she is close. When she is standing, she will occasionally let go, but as soon as she realizes she is on her own- down she goes!

She is still quite clingy to mommy, but enjoys when daddy flies her around the house like supergirl. The funniest thing at this stage is probably her appetite. That girl can eat!! Just when we think she can't eat anymore- she finds some way to set a record :) We just don't know where it all goes. 

She is still loving school and her teachers and is now eating some food out of their cafeteria/kitchen. What a big girl! :)

Fall is here!!

It is hard to get into the Fall spirit with all this 80+ degree weather we have been having. Despite the heat, we decided to take Camille to pick out some pumpkins last weekend. It is a tradition to go to Ken's Produce in Garner aka Home of Ken's Korny Korn Maze :) We got a big wheeled cart to load our pumpkins on (and to tote Camille in). She was very interested in everything- taking it all in- loving her little buggy ride. (Not sure why the picture is loading sideways.)

We decided to pick out 3 pumpkins- 1 for each of us. Camille was enjoying our selection and especially liked beating on the pumpkins as if they were her personal drum set.

We tried to pose Camille for mini pumpkin patch photo session, but she wasn't very into it. She especially disliked the straw on her feet. What a girly girl!

As we were checking out, the lady at the counter thought Camille needed a sticker since she had been so well behaved! She felt very proud :)

We did get one family shot in because Camille did not want to sit still for long :)

Luckily, the temperatures have started to drop a bit and feel a little more like fall weather! Camille did get her flu shot today :( It amused me b/c she was in such a good mood on the way to the doctor and even once we got there. She remembered the fish tank and wanted to watch them swim as we waited. She was doing her talking/babbling the whole time even once we got in with the nurse. She was oblivious to why we were there :) As soon as they gave her the shot, she wailed and I mean wailed... and she looked at me as if asking "Why did you bring me here!?" Well she wouldn't stop crying, so the nurse asked if she would like a sticker. She immediately stopped crying and even offered a giggle as she was holding the Dora sticker in her hand. Once I put it on her shirt, she acted as if nothing ever happened.... which was good for me! She continued to babble the whole way back to school. Too funny!

Our Lil Wolfpacker!

We have finally gotten to enjoy some great Wolfpack wins this football season. Even though Camille doesn't join us for the games, we still feel like its good luck to put her in some NCSU gear :)

10 Months Old

Camille turned 10 months old on Friday. This year has been flying by. She had a great week in her new class at school with Mrs. Kathy and Mrs. Anna. She even got extra good remarks on her activity sheet including some stickers :)

We had a busy weekend planned for our big 10 month old..... but she got an unwelcomed visitor- THE STOMACH BUG! Camille woke up in the middle of the night on Friday b/c she had gotten sick. Not a fun thing to clean up- I'm talking pj's, sheets, lovie, bumpers, carpet...... and this happened 3 more times! Needless to say the washing machine was kept occupied all weekend. And this unwelcomed visitor decided to visit mommy too :( So while Camille was slowly improving, I was getting worse. What a pitiful pair! Luckily, Mimi came on Sunday to help Nick out and let me get some rest. This was a violent bug, but passed rather quickly. Turns out, her friend Madelyn at school had it on Friday afternoon, so we knew where it came from. Sunday was a lazy day for us all and I think Mimi enjoyed Camille's extra cuddliness and napping.

We are almost back to normal, though I kept her home today just in case.... we aren't quite 100% yet.

I did manage to take a picture of her on Friday doing her favorite thing these days- pulling up on anything and everything.... especially the drawers.

Princess Camille

Well, we have always thought that Camille was our lil princess, but now she has a throne! :) On Sunday, Nick and his dad moved a old piece of furniture that was Nick's grandfather's to our house. It is a beautiful piece and it reminds us of royalty. We decided that Camille should have some pictures taken on her new throne :)

Camille has had a great week in her new class so far. She even showed Nick & I a new trick last night- getting herself from her crawling position to sitting up! That is big for us! She wouldn't do it a second time, but at least we know she knows how :)

If you can tell in the photos, she has this new "pose" for taking pictures. She tucks her chin in and asks like she has a double chin... very funny!

Labor Day Weekend in Charleston, SC

Camille made her 2nd trip to Charleston this past weekend. We were actually staying at the Wild Dunes Resort in Isle of Palms with our friends Stephen & Laura and their two precious girls Ashlyn and Hannah. We had a great time and were glad that Hurricane Earl decided to be friendly to the SC coast :) We arrived late on Wednesday night and got to enjoy several days of great weather!

Earl only messed up one of our adventures..... We had tickets for a boat tour to Fort Sumter and after we had sunscreened up and loaded on the boat, they announced that due to the rough current the trip would be cancelled. Bummer!! On Friday, the guys played golf while Laura & I took the girls to the pool. Camille had quite the time splashing in the water and quickly decided that attempting to drink it would be fun too. We also ventured out to the beach for a photo session :) Most of those pics are courtesy of Laura Price. By the end of our photo session, all 3 girls were covered from head to toe (literally) in sand! What a mess!

Since the water was so rough b/c of Earl, and because Camille was obsessed with eating sand, we stuck to the pool on Saturday. The pool had this giant beach chair that we all took pictures in. We then met up with the Allen's & Kohler's at Boone Farm Farmers Market for a delicious lunch and tour of Fort Moultrie. Fort Moultrie had some great views of the coastline = more family photos!! :)

Camille enjoyed playing with Ashlyn and Hannah- constant entertainment! Ashlyn did have a fall that took her to the ER, but thankfully no stitches needed- just glue! While we stayed back with Hannah, we took some pictures of the two of them playing so sweetly :)

Camille seemed a little disappointed coming home.... I think she was wondering where her lil friends were :) We finished out our holiday with a dinner visit from Jeannine & Mimi. I have a feeling the attention overload for Camille might make her a little cranky today at daycare :)

On a side note, Camille will move from her Wee Ones class to the Angels class at school starting next week. I know she will miss Mrs. Ruth, but Mrs. Kathy is already ready for her!