Saturday, June 28, 2008

Cam's first haircut

Not sure why we decided to do this today, but after Cam woke up from his nap looking like Bozo the Clown yet again, we took Cam down to a kid's salon here in Paso for his first haircut.

We weren't sure what to expect from Cam (he's not liking anyone fooling around his ears lately, go figure) but he did GREAT with the haircut. It helped that there were murals and lots of Elmo toys to entertain him.

The first cut did choke me up - that woman cut off my baby's curls! But the hairdresser very nicely saved some of his hair for me with a cute commemorative card. And Cam looks like a little kid now - no more baby boy :( Kevin thinks he looks like a Marine w/the super short hair - next time we'll have to go w/longer clippers!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Swinger


Cam was never totally into swings until he got to try the outside, sitting upright version at the playground. But last night, when he was winding down for bed after his bath, he saw the swing cousin Chris, her husband Mike and son Tyler got for him last year, and let Kevin know he wanted to get into it. He swang in there for a good 10+ minutes, just chilling out w/George. A bit out of character, as usually at night he's chasing the dogs around the house. We figured he was off b/c of the new ear infection.

Well, tonight he wanted back into the swing! He loves the mirror, and will lay there and stare at himself; loves the toys, loves the music and loves to just hang out and swing. He took his first bottle (we're putting his meds into his first bottle of just a couple ounces) in there - amazing!

Cam is feeling better today, not quite himself totally but on his way. We've decided to spend an extra day at home and head up to house/dog sit on Sunday, to get a few things done around here and give Cam an extra day to recouperate. We might try to get him a haircut tomorrow too - that will depend on how the night goes and if mommy is up for it tomorrow (we'll go to a place here in Paso that specializes w/kids - no bowl haircuts for this kid!) - we'll let you know!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

This is the face of a double ear infection :)

Its not so bad, huh? He *just* woke up from a 2.75 hr nap, THAT never happens at daycare! A good side effect from spending the day at home. We're off to get his antibiotics - go DRUGS THAT KILL EAR INFECTIONS!!

Another double ear infection

Saw the doc and she confirmed it; we go back on antibiotics tonight. A different version to try to kill this strain of bacteria. Doc thinks that Cam is just getting exposed to more and more germs at daycare, so ends up with ear infections. She also said that if he wasn't getting sick now, by the time he was 4 or so, he'd be getting sick then. So we're trying to be in the mindset of we're building Cam's immune system - riiiiiiiiiight....

We also have an appointment in late July w/an ENT specialist in San Luis Obispo - we'll see if he talks about any options other than surgery to put in tubes.

We'll see how the next day or so goes, and decide about the trip up to SJ to house/dog-sit at that point. If Cam's not feeling better it would be pointless to go and completely discombobulate him.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Here we go again...

I got a call from daycare today; Cam spiked a 101.5° fever this afternoon. Which wasn't surprising to either Kevin or I.

This seems to be the pattern for us; Cam starts drooling like a fiend, starts to have bouts where he wakes up and tosses and turns for 1.5 - 2 hrs in the middle of the night, spikes a fever, gets a double ear infection and when we are done w/antibiotics, we have 2-4 new teeth.

Cam started drooling madly on Sunday.

Since Sunday night he's been waking up and staying up for 1.5 - 2 hrs/night.

Last night he did have a mild fever but one dose of Motrin it was gone. He slept until 9am this morning.

Today at daycare, he spiked a fever around 2:30pm. I picked him up, called the doc, and we'll see tomorrow AM if we've got another ear infection.

We're still on for our trip up to the Bay area right now, but we'll see how the next few days go. Please send Cam some healthy karma :)

Love,
M, K and C

Monday, June 23, 2008

The Walk-in-ator


Cam has been practicing getting down after pulling himself up, and last week discovered how much fun it was to "chase" a toy with wheels. This morning while we were getting his food/bottles together for daycare, he figured out how to walk with the walker/scooter toy my cousin Chris sent Cam. We're using the term "walking" in its loosest definition here!

Don't worry - K was right there w/Cam the whole time :)

Standing tall

Cam was watching daddy mow the lawn in the backyard when I snapped this quick pic. This was right before his meltdown b/c he wanted daddy RIGHT THEN.

It's only happening for a split second, but Cam has stood totally on his own several times now. When I went back to check on him during his lunchtime nap on Sunday, I walked into his room and saw him standing very sleepily in the corner of his crib. I was stunned! Cam went back to sleep, but when I told K he didn't believe me - until he saw Cam do it later on that afternoon :) As soon as he does it a bit longer, we'll get a photo of it.

We had a good (albeit extremely freaking insanely hot) weekend here in Paso. We stuck pretty close to home and AC as the temps on Friday/Saturday were 110°. Sunday was better, high 90s. Today so far its been in th lovely mid-70s but that will change soon - high today mid 90s. Cam got to play in his pool this weekend (after trying watermelon again - he wants to eat what we eat, but isn't too sure about it) and we did manage to get the dogs a bath. Pretty mellow weekend overall.

Starting to get excited about our trip up to the Bay area next week to house/dogsit for Mike and Sherry - looking forward to seeing our friends up there and for Cam to meet lots of new friends too :)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Watermelon!

Cam tried watermelon today for the first time. He loved it whole and spent a good five minutes smacking it like a bongo. Wasn't quite as thrilled once a piece was cut for him, although he did take a few tiny bites. We'll try again tomorrow!!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Da Da for Father's Day :)


Cam's "walking" is coming along quite well, as you can see in the video. So are his vocals; on Sunday he clearly said "Da da" for the first time :) K was thrilled! We also think he says "doggie" and "daddy" but its probably wishful thinking.

We had a busy weekend; Grandpa and Grandma Janice visited with us on Saturday and stayed the night, and on Sunday we got to go see Uncle Steve, Auntie MA and Loretta. Cam was invited to play in the pool, but the water was a bit too cold for him, so he declined - he had more fun getting passed around to everyone sitting outside enjoying margaritas and then had a blast playing down on the patio with Loretta and the dogs.

We did find out that the "Little Swimmer's" diapers don't really hold that much #1; mommy ended up drenched! Fingers crossed we don't find out about #2 the hard way :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day!

Love,
M + K = C

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Cam and George

His eyes are glowing red (Cam's, not George), but we finally got a shot of Cam carrying George in his mouth like the dogs carry their toys. We're pretty sure that's where Cam learned this. Hopefully having two dogs for brothers won't be a detriment :)


ps
the George's have been separated :)

Friday, June 13, 2008

Uh oh - we've been found out!

Cam has this funky little blanket/toy we call George (the Giraffe - yes, original, we know), that he looks for when he's tired to snuggle up with. We realized that we should have a second George in the diaper bag in case the first one got barfed on, or dirty or, God forbid, we were out and about and George was needed to calm a cranky Cam!

We've done a pretty good job of keeping the two separate, only letting Cam see one at a time. Sadly, the jig is up as of today. I did laundry last night and somehow both of the George's ended up out today. When Cam got up from his nap, he had one, and then spied the other one where he'd left it in the living room. Right now he's happily dragging them both through the living room but we'll try to separate them later on :)

ps
He's taken to carrying George in his mouth when he crawls (at least less dog hair ends up on George!), so we'll try to get a photo of that up here soon :)

How we keep Cam entertained...

When we're trying to get dinner together, or whenever we're in the kitchen, Cam likes to hang out there with us as long as he has access to our pantry. He'll pull out all the spices on the bottom shelves, chew on them, go back for more.

Invariably he takes the lemon extract bottle and crawls off with it in his hand. WHY the lemon extract, we have no idea, but he's got a clear preference for it :)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

A visit from Uncle Pat!

Kevin's best friend Pat is visiting with us for a couple of days (he's been working in Macau, China for the past year) and Cam is LOVING him :) He's usually a little shy around people he doesn't know, but he took right to Pat, grinning and laughing away with him.

We were a bit worried Cam might be cranky after not getting much sleep at daycare today, but he was thrilled to have Pat here to play with :) Wanted to share this photo of the two of them but also to show Cam's funky sox from Trumpette - they have the coolest baby socks!!)

Tooth update: two more on the bottom! While Cam was smiling at Pat today, K saw them. We totally missed those white bumps! They had been there a few weeks ago, but we've been all about the double ear infection....wondering if the two are related...

ps: Someone turned 9 months yesterday!!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Ga Ga Ga


Cam has been making some sounds for a while, like "b" and "m" and blowing raspberries, but today he started saying "Ga ga ga" over and over. K is convinced that its a prelude to "Da da" (snort - wishful thinking!) and I think Cam is trying to say "Dog(a)". Or he could be somehow trying to say "George" (his giraffe that is his comfort blankie). We have no idea but he loves saying it, over and over and over. Enjoy!

Not-so-drunken-sailor


Well, its just been 24 hours and Cam is already "walking" better :) See our not-so-drunken-sailor.

Trip to Bay Area - with (almost) no crying!!

Yesterday we finally did a trip up to the Bay area with the new carseat. Overall, it went GREAT!!

A key ingredient was to leave Paso right around Cam's typical naptime, so he slept almost the entire way up to Morgan Hill (about 2 hours) where our first stop was to visit Auntie Sherry who was playing in a soccer tournament there. Cam got an opportunity to say hello to Mr. Keogh (insider's joke) and he was FASCINATED with him; we're thinking its the beard :) See photo at left: mommy and Cam along with Mr. Keogh. Who, by the way, is Auntie Sherry's husband and is coaching her soccer team. The gals on the soccer team were super nice to Cam, although he was overwhelmed to be the center of attention for the entire team for a bit!

We got there in between games and it was super duper windy, so by the time her last game started, Cam was giving us his "I'm done" signals and we got him back in the car so he could take another short nap while we headed up north to San Jose to visit with Sarah, Charles and their boys, James and Grant, who is just about Cam's age.

Grant is such an easy-going, good natured, happy baby! I'm convinced the two of them will enjoy playing together as they get older. They were both very interested in each other and started to "baby wrestle" when we put them down on a blanket in the backyard - too funny! Each of the boy's bit the other's behind (on the diaper) to keep him from crawling away, which was freakin' hysterical.
It was really nice to visit with Sarah, Charles and their friend Johnny; we all hadn't seen each other since Sarah and I were both pregnant late last summer. We fed Cam some carrots and turkey with veggies, and almost stayed for dinner with everyone, but Cam hit his wall and it was time to get in the car to head south again (thanks again for the invite; next time we'll plan our visit better!!). We battled the setting sun for about an hour (it kept going right into his eyes and we don't have the shade on the Britax that we had on the Graco carseat) but he eventually fell asleep and slept the entire way home, until we had to slow down to turn left onto Rte 46, when he woke up very ticked off. It took a while to settle him down once we got home, but he ended sleeping okay overall last night - woke up around 6:30am, which is a nice change from the 5:15am he's been doing the last few days. We think his ears are still bugging him; we're halfway through the antibiotics, but he's still waking up a lot at night, we think due to the pain, but we're not sure. Hopefully this double ear infection will get cleared up this week.


We're just waking him up from an 1.5 hour nap right now: as you can see he's very happily snuggled up with his buddy George (the Giraffe) and oblivious to the open curtains and bright room. If he doesn't wake up in the next 5 mins, I'll just close the blinds and let him sleep until he does wake up. We're going to see Uncle Steve, Auntie MA and cousin Loretta to give them 3 rose trees from our yard, but that's about all that's planned for today. We'll let you know if we have any other adventures today! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Love,
M + K = C

Saturday, June 7, 2008

The new carseat ROCKS!

More details tomorrow but Cam did FANTASTIC today on our trip up to the Bay area to see Auntie Sherry play in a soccer tournament and visit with Sarah, Charles, James and Grant (who is 3 weeks younger than Cam) in Willow Glen.

This is a photo taken from the front seat into the mirror we have on the back headrest of Cam sleeping on our way up to the soccer tournie in Morgan Hill (yes, right next to where I used to live!). Britax is the BEST!!! :)

Our drunken sailor


Cam has discovered that he can "walk" with some help from mommy and daddy :) He's started scooting along furniture (if there's something he really wants to grab, like the remotes) and every once in a while is bold enough to stand next to the couch, armchair or coffee table and hold on with just one hand. I get a grey hair every time he does it.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Happy Monday :)

We had a great weekend down here in Paso; on Saturday we took Cam over to Barney Schwartz Park to play on the swings and also take a walk up to the pond. It was windy as all heck but we all had a good time, plus mommy and daddy got a bit of exercise!

Sunday we spent the afternoon with Uncle Steve, Auntie Mary Ann and cousin Loretta. Had a great time and FABULOUS dinner (thanks again!), plus Cam had fun hanging out with everyone; Uncle Steve had him giggling and Cam loved playing Super-Baby with Auntie MA. Cousin Loretta helped him with his dinner, which was great.

Somehow we managed to not take any photos this weekend - go figure! We'll catch up this week. Oh; Cam's ear infection hasn't cleared up and we were back at the Doc's office today. He's back on the antibiotics (different strength and dosage than before) and hopefully we'll get this cleared up. If he gets another ear infection within the next 4-6 weeks we'll go to see a specialist.

Quick 9 month stats: (a week early but since we were at the Doc's today)
Weight: 25lb 8oz / 96th percentile
Length: 30" / 95
th percentile
Head: 19.25" / 99th percentile

Still a big kid! He'll easily hit the one-year-goal of tripling his weight and adding 10" to his height if we keep going this way.