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!

9 Month Checkup

Camille had her 9 month old checkup today and to our surprise- no shots!!!! That made for a very happy baby (and mommy)!

Camille is slow going on the weight gain. She weighed in at 15lbs 9oz (6%). Dr. Willey said it is normal for the weight gain to begin to slow as they become more mobile- and we are there! Her height is right under 27" (24%) so that was about an inch longer than last visit which shows she is in line with the average growth trend. Her head was a whopping 17 3/8" (56%)! No wonder her development is still on track- she's got a huge brain :)

The funniest part of the doctor's visit was when we were in the waiting room. They have two huge fish aquariums. In the past, Camille hasn't taken too much notice to these, but she zoned in today. She was watching the fish swim back and forth for awhile, but then she decided to "catch" the fish. She was moving her hands frantically trying to get a  hold of one. I kept knocking on the glass trying to show her that she wouldn't be able to grab them. She didn't get it and continued to follow them with her hands, opening and closing her palms in hopes of getting one in her grip. After a few minutes, she banged hard on the glass in frustration. It probably didn't help that I was laughing this entire time as this was quite a site to see.

No more checkups until the 1yr mark!!

9 Months Old!

Camille turned 9 months old yesterday! She still seems to be growing and developing so quickly. It's amazing the things she has picked up between last month and this month, some new things as recently as this week!

She has discovered her tongue for one. She loves to stick it out and move it all about :) It is quite amusing. Her vocabulary has moved from only "da da", to now doing "ba ba" and "ma ma." She still doesn't seem to be using the words in the right context, but she sure is saying them repeatedly. She usually talks the most when she doesn't think anyone is looking- perhaps she has already developed an imaginary friend. :) One of the funniest things to me is her spitting with her tongue out... she now does that in reaction to things instead of just for fun. Whenever I try to clean her face, she loves to stick her tongue out and vibrate those lips together as if telling me "no thanks mom, I don't like that."

The biggest feat this month, came last week, when she pulled up by herself for the first time!!! She still needs a good grip to do so, but is using her crib, drawers, and activity table to stand up like a big girl. She has mastered the holding herself up while standing as long as she is gripping something, but the minute she lets go, down she goes. It is precious to see how excited she gets when she pulls up, she knows she is a big girl!

We continue to enjoy feeding time! Camille is now eating Stage 3 baby food and lots more table food. She loves cheerios and fruit.... and most of all- bread! She gets pride out of feeding herself and is getting better and better each day at doing so. I even gave her some banana bread this week and man oh man did she love that!

So needless to say, this month can be entitled Miss Independent.... the more freedom she tastes, the more she works for it.....

We go for her 9mth checkup next week, so I will update on her weight & measurments then... as well as the shots :(

Beach Baby, Beach Baby.....

We had a great time at Carolina Beach. It was a nice way to celebrate my birthday. Our accommodations were small, but nice. Nick and I didn't get to fully enjoy a good night's sleep since Camille was in the room with us and boy does she make some noise in the night! Nick said she sounded like one of the three stooges when she snored. :) We were in walking distance from most everything, so that was nice. There was also a lake/park nearby that we strolled to almost daily. Camille loved being strolled around so she could people watch, while feeling the breeze.

We managed to make it to the beach and the pool a couple of times, but it was quite an ordeal!! By the time we packed up all the gear and got situated, Camille was bored and ready for something new. She loved the water and most of all, the sand. She liked to sit at the ocean's edge and slap the wet sand. She quickly discovered the fun to slapping it all over mommy's legs. The words of her Yummy Yucky book didn't sync in because she made several attempts to eat the sand. She managed to get by us once and got a mouthful of sand. I was awaiting some choking and crying- nope- she chewed as fast as she could and wanted to go back for more- smiling the whole time. Good thing we had some juice handy to wash it all down!

Camille was quite the popular girl as usual. We took her out to eat a couple of times where she sat in her high chair happy as can be. She loved staring at the folks around us and then giving them some smiles when they noticed her. One place we went for icecream, Squiggles, was one of her favs because they gave her a sticker that said "I've been squiggled!" See the picture! Too cute! It even matched her outfit. Also, one of the pictures shows Camille's fascination with every table EXCEPT her own :) Guess she sees Mommy & Daddy were not entertaining enough!

I got a great birthday surprise from Nick and Camille- some time at the spa!! It was much needed! Another nice birthday treat was when my freshmen college roommate, Lizzie, came to visit. We spent some time catching up and then she watched Camille while Mommy & Daddy got to enjoy some drinks on the water. It was nice to get a little break :)

We were glad to come home and get back in our routine, though we had a great time and great weather! Camille kept us on our toes, but we still managed to get some relaxing in. Some new things with Camille this week- she tried avocados for the first time and LOVED them! She is also trying all sorts of breads and is getting even better at finger feeding herself. Her only challenge is if we are in a restaurant with other people because she becomes too distracted and doesn't put much effort into finding her mouth though its quite hilarious to watch. She is also trying very hard to pull up, so I'm sure that will be coming soon.

Our Mini Minnie Vacation

We just got back from a weekend at Minnesott Beach! What a great trip! Jeannine & Mitch have a wonderful condo that we were able to enjoy, along with a pool! Camille sure loved getting to take a daily swim each morning. Her favorite part of the pool was splashing the water with her hands hard enough to get some water on her face :) Our little daredevil! The weather was VERY hot, but we at least had some good wind to help make it more manageable. We went into Oriental on Saturday afternoon to take some Camille photos. She loved sitting in the grass by the waterfront. (Our little people watcher) After dinner, we went to another side of Oriental where they had some great sitting areas, including the castle chairs that you see in the pictures. Camille enjoyed having her hair blow in the wind! We ate out for most of our meals and Camille was the center of attention at all the restaurants. She stared down the couples eating beside us and even gave them a little grin when they noticed her :) Boy did folks eat that up! We couldn't have had a more well behaved baby!