Nine Months, No Turning Back

Little Princess,
Today you turn nine months old! Holy cow! I can't get over how much you have changed in this past month. Maybe it's the teeth, that you don't look like a tiny baby anymore. Your temperment has changed too - you are starting to take less naps throughout the day and you aren't shy about telling us when you aren't happy about something. Last night, you were so tired when we got home at 6:30 that I really wanted to make you take a nap so that you would be in a better mood. My thinking was that you would be able to snooze for about 30 minutes and then eat dinner and enjoy the rest of the evening. But you decided that made you really mad, and so I fed you dinner as you fussed, immediately gave you a bath, and you were in bed before 8:00. We just seem to have so little time with you in the evenings!

We head to the doctor for your nine month checkup on Friday and we will have to discuss your clogged tear duct again. I think it is better, but you still have some wicked eye boogers every once in a while. We will most likely have to have an opthamologist probe the tear duct and get it working perfectly. Your doctor will probably be pleased that you are meeting all your milestones and growing so much. In fact, I need to ask her how much food vs. bottles we should be giving you. Mrs. Cara says that every day at lunch, you now eat two tubs of baby food! You are definitely not wasting away, so I don't want to overfeed you, but at the same time, if you are that hungry then I don't want to starve you either! I need a baby nutritionist, please!

It is funny how you have reached a stage where you are so aware of everything. You are starting to show signs of seperation anxiety, where Daddy is holding you and I walk out of the room and you cry. Fortunately, you never cry when I drop you off with Mrs. Cara (more like diving out of my arms to see her and have breakfast!) and you don't seem to mind the church nursery too much either. But you do really light up when you see someone you know, especially when Daddy comes home from work. He loves to make you laugh! We like to say all your little babbles back to you. The other morning you were wide awake at 6:15 and Daddy just brought you to our bed in hopes you would sleep longer. You were crawling all over us going, "da da da da da..." and Daddy finally rolled over and said "SHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" really loud. In the cutest little high-pitched voice, you kept right at it, going "da da da da" like if it was sweeter sounding then we wouldn't mind!

I was reminded of how blessed we are when I read Baby Stellan's nine month birthday blog. He is currently waiting to fly to Boston to have another heart procedure, which at this point looks like will lead to him getting a pacemaker put in. He would be dependent on it the rest of his life. To have you here as a healthy and (mostly) happy baby is something I will not take for granted. We love you more and more every day and are thankful for the time that God allows us to be your parents.

So here is the amazingly appropriate portrait of you at nine months, looking like you are up to some serious mischief! It's just too much to ask that you hold still for more than two seconds...


Love,
Mama

Happy Birthday, Papa

Sweet Pea,
Today is your Papa's birthday. I am sure he is looking down from heaven and is rejoicing that he has so many wonderful family members that love him and that you are carrying on his "Haley" name in your own special way!

I found a book that he had given to me called "onyourown.com: What every father wants his daughter to know" and I thought I would share a few of my favorite quotes and scriptures out of it.

The Lord hates people with twisted hearts, but he delights in those who have integrity. Proverbs 11:20

The first duty of love is to listen. -Paul Tillich

Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Hebrews 10:23

We must look on all things of this world as none of ours, and not desire them. - Clement of Rome

...which leads to this practical part...

Rule #1: Never charge anything on the credit card unless you have the cash in the bank to pay for it. Rule #2: Always pay off the credit card bill in full every month. Your daddy will teach you how to manage your money in a smart and godly way.

And this one I know he and I would both agree on!

I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children live in the truth. 3 John 4

Celebrating the Silly

We had a fun weekend with Bo's mom and brother Jordan, and on a yucky Monday, I want to choose to be thankful for the silly and sweet daughter that we are so blessed with. So here are some of her most glamourous pictures of late:

We got to go to the pool for the second time and bring Daddy with us! Our family is obviously very fond of sun protection. :)



This was some serious nap hair from Sunday. No morning nap at church meant that she was totally zonked out for 2 hours that afternoon.

This is exactly how Mommy felt when she had to get up and go to work today...

Isn't it nice to know that you always have Daddy to support you? You will always be able to count on him!

Finally Caught on Camera

Please ignore how ridiculous I sound in the background... Hard not to match her level of exhiliration!

Too Much (Food) Information

Cameroni,
Forgive Mommy's typos because SOMEONE decided to wake up and cry from 4:00 - 5:00 this morning until I decided to just take that person to bed with me. Your daddy and I both woke up and figured your teeth might be bothering you. You are really congested right now and were even snoring a bit, so maybe that was a factor too. He rocked you for a while and thought you would go back to sleep and just as we were about to doze off again... More crying. Sitting up in your crib screaming until I picked you up. You haven't done that in such a long time, so I knew you must really have been feeling yucky. But after just a few minutes of me holding you, you snuggled up and went back to sleep in my arms. I figured why fight the same battle all over again, so I just took you to bed with me. You are getting so much bigger now that I usually end up squished over on the edge. You slept with your arms up over your head and under my pillow and seemed quite content until 7:00 when we had no choice but get up. How are you so peppy in the morning after all that?

I did discover something new and yummy for you. We bought some organic teething biscuits at Target and you had one as your dessert last night at Pei Wei where we had dinner. After a quick exchange for Daddy at Kohl's, we all trotted over to enjoy some yummy asian food. I even have the leftovers to savor today for lunch! You just seem to eat your baby food so quickly now (although Mrs. Cara said you had quite a standoff over eating your Mixed Vegetables...) that we have to find ways to keep you busy so that we can actually eat too. The only downside is that I gave you the entire biscuit which is about 3 inches long, and you decided to nibble and slobber all over the entire thing without actually biting any off. So then you had mush all over your hands, your face, your legs.... It was fabulous. We decided not to let you keep it in the car on the way home, sadly.

And I had planned on posting a cute picture of you in your new outfit that my Aunt Cindy mailed you as a surprise... But then you barfed sweet potatoes all down the front of the cute shirt. Maybe after laundry day? But we do want to say a big thanks!

Cameron's Rundown

More big news, guys!

The new cool thing around our house is my Learning Table. It is perfect for me to pull up and stand by so that I can push all the buttons. It even talks to me (and in Spanish too) or plays tons of different songs. Mommy really needs to catch some video of my "dance move" where only my left leg bounces to the beat. It's very Elvis.

I am majorly drooling again because I have four teeth pushing their way through on the top. See? I am such a big girl.

And my friend Mack is going to be a big sister in hopefully just a few weeks, so I let her practice her big sisterly skills this weekend. When Baby Morgan gets here, she is gonna be awesome!

Check out my moves!

Smile!

This is the first picture Mommy has gotten where you can see those bottom two teeth. Daddy thinks that all four on the top will be coming in soon. As of now, only one is peeking through on the far left. You sort of have to be reclining or hanging upside down for us to see them...

I snapped this quick shot when we were shopping in Gruene with your Savta. She was so sweet to come stay at our house and keep you this week so Mommy and Daddy could go to work. You had a lot of fun playing with her and Uncle Jordan and took great naps every day at home. You certainly have to rest well since you are so busy during your waking hours!

Everything Just Clicked

Daddy was just saying tonight that within the past week, everything with you has just seemed to click. You figured out so many things - waving, pulling up to stand, sitting up from laying on your back, and now you are officially crawling on your hands and knees. You just made a break for Daddy not ten minutes ago and we were astounded.

Now you never want to sit anymore! You want us to hold you up so you can see all the action. Good thing Emerson loaned us her "Walking Wings" so we can practice with you without having to hunch over and try to hold your hands.

Who knows what else you will figure out next? At least we know you will look cute doing it!

A Crowded Weekend

Big Girl,
You had such an amazing weekend of firsts! We so enjoyed having our big "3rd of July" Party and crammed about 40 people into our house. It was so busy and fun that I didn't even take a single picture, which I am truly sorry about. We had so many friends from church and Mommy's work, an every time I looked up, you were busy doing something else or getting loved on by someone new. Daddy's briskets were so wonderful and delicious after seventeen hours of cooking, and we were excited to have the giant inflatable boxing ring in the backyard for kids to bounce in and the adults to have a go at each other. We even enjoyed some water balloons in the backyard. The last of our guests went home around 11:30 and we were pooped!

One of my favorite moments was when Felicia (from Mommy's work) was holding you so you could enjoy the circulating fan behind her. I was sitting next to you and I waved and said hi. You waved back to me for the very first time! We have been working on it for a few weeks now, and you were so cute when you smiled and waved. Now Daddy is obsessed with getting you to wave to him...

Then Saturday, we picked up the house and went shopping with your Grammy, Aunt Rachael and your cousins. Thankfully, Grammy has a Sam's membership and let me go and stock up on all things baby. We got diapers, formula and even baby food. Then came the fun stuff... Macy's at North Star. Mommy was so well-behaved. I found a purse and tons of shoes that I liked but didn't buy any of them. Although the purse is totally haunting my thoughts! Then we headed home to enjoy some leftover chopped brisket sandwiches. Yum!

It has been fun to have family visit, and we are thankful that Grammy could come while Mrs. Cara takes a fun trip to Vegas! Your Daddy's mom will be here later in the week too. She will be so amazed at the other big milestone you figured out this weekend - sitting up all by yourself. You are so fast at your little army crawl and can now sit up whenever you want. But the biggest surprise? Now you are pulling up on things to stand. You have seen the view from up top and don't want to be on the floor anymore. We are going to have to help you balance, but you love to lean on things and walk around with our help. Won't be long before you are chasing Emerson around.

We also got to talk to the Delgados yesterday on Skype. They are all settled in Costa Rica and seemed happy to say hi. Your Grammy is about to go visit them for two weeks and take Ryan with her. They are already planning lots of adventures in the jungle and a day trip to the beach. We need to figure out when we are going!

But now it is back to work. Your Daddy called to tell me how much we missed you already and wished he could spend more days off with you. You are getting so big and smart and we both are so proud of how much you have grown. Love you tons!