Young and younger

Meghan and almost-4-month-old Aiden stopped by to say hello today. I think the boys had a good time; they seemed content staring and grabbing at each other, at least. :)

Thanks for visiting, guys! We'll have to do it again soon.

He stands!

And boy is he proud of himself! :)

In just the past few days, Cameron has become much more interested in pulling himself to stand. He's not *quite* there when it comes to pulling himself up on objects (like the coffee table), but he will grip your hands and pull up all on his own.

And once he's up, he's quite content to stay up for a good while. He's even interested in taking steps as you hold his hands.

This is all going so fast!

9 month stats

Cameron's 9-month stats

Height: 28.5 inches (60th (or 65th? I can't remember) percentile)
Weight: 21 lb 10 oz (70th percentile)
Head circumference: 47 cm (92nd percentile)

Apparently, he is tracking his curves well. Yay for a growing boy!

Some of you may have heard about our uncertainty about giving Cameron dairy. The first (and second, and third) time we tried giving him yogurt, he got a contact rash on his face anywhere the yogurt had been. He got little hives, and while they disappeared within an hour and didn't seem to bother him much, it made us wonder. The next time we saw the hives was when we tried giving him oatmeal mixed with formula. Same hives, anywhere on his face that the formula had touched.

So, the bottle that I brought with us to the pedi appointment today contained both breast milk and some formula. We fed him some of it, and sure enough, out popped the hives again. I'm glad the pedi was able to see what we were talking about! So, she said that she is going to contact an allergist and will get back to us.

For now, to be on the safe side, she says we'll just proceed as if he has a dairy allergy. We'll switch to soy formula for supplementing and see if that helps. Hopefully he really doesn't have an allergy. But we'll get him allergy tested at 12 months to find out for sure.

Otherwise, he is in great health!

A day of firsts

We signed Cameron up for 4 weeks of Sunday swim lessons (he's a green guppy), and today was the first one. I wasn't quite sure what he'd think of it because he dislikes getting water on his face during bathtime, but it seemed like he had fun!

Getting sunscreened up:

In the pool with Daddy:

Having a good time!:

Then, after swimming, Cameron got his first driving lesson, which he also seemed to enjoy. He particularly liked leaning against the steering wheel and blaring the horn. :)

9 months!

I can't really believe that Cameron has been here for as long as I was pregnant. And even more unbelievable: in just 3 short months, I will have a 1 year old. Wowsers.

Lately, Cameron can be found playing with his ball, or his rattle (or both!). He has discovered that he is capable of banging cups together or shaking the rattle to make noise, and this provides for a lot of entertainment. He also loves to put his arms up above his head, as seen here:

He's not yet crawling around or pulling up to stand, but he is practicing standing when someone else is nearby.

We have his 9 month checkup on Monday, so stay tuned for an update on his stats.

Teeth are both good and bad

I have been anticipating the day that Cameron would discover that he could bite...and that day has arrived. :(

The first time, it caught me by surprise and I exclaimed, "Ow!" and then he started to laugh. Punk. His laughter made me want to start to laugh, but I tried very hard to keep a straight face while telling him "no".

Then today, when he did it again, I again got very stern and told him "no". But this time I guess I scared him, because he started to cry. I felt so bad! He was over it quickly, but I know the message still has not been communicated.

I've discovered that he really only tends to bite when he's finished eating and is just playing around, or when he's frustrated because there is not enough milk.

The not-enough-milk scenario is unfortunately more of a problem these days. We have started to supplement with formula on occasion because I'm just not producing like I used to. This has been a very frustrating and challenging time for me; part of me felt like I was failing, and using formula would be like admitting defeat. I hate the thought that my body is just not able to do what it is "supposed" to do. Now, logically, I know that none of this is true, and it's totally normal for milk supply to drop, but it was still a very difficult realization for me. I really expected that I would just be able to breastfeed for as long as I wanted to.

I do know that, no matter what, he's healthy and happy. And I'm thankful for that. I will just continue to do as much as I can, for as long as I can. But now if we could just do something about the biting, I'd be much happier! :oP

Get off my back!

We've known for awhile now that Cameron is capable of rolling not only from tummy to back, but also from back to tummy. But it seems like in the past week, he's become determined to refine his skill set.

He's definitely more adept at not just rolling, but rolling with the intent to move. He can sway back and forth and inch himself across the floor to get toys that are just out of reach. And often now when I go downstairs to feed him in the early mornings, I find him on the opposite end of his crib on his tummy.

In addition to the rolling, he can scoot a bit too. Definitely backward, and sometimes he can pull himself forward if he has something to grab onto. I really need to start thinking more seriously about baby proofing this place!

First hike

Some friends called us and invited us on a hike today. How perfect that we had Cameron's new backpack to try out!

We drove out to Point Reyes on this gorgeous (hot) morning and set off on what would be a 5ish mile hike. Since we were so close to the coast, the weather was actually quite lovely. We slathered on the sunscreen and donned our hats. And just like during our test run around the block, Cameron seemed to like it a lot! He was all smiles and giggles for most of the hike. I think he really likes riding up so high.

And it wasn't until we were on our way back to the car that he figured out that he was capable of taking his hat off. ;) I've got to make a chin strap for that hat before our next hike!

Happy Father's Day!

After we got home from the wedding, we enjoyed a late lunch with Chris's parents, and his brother and family. When we got home from lunch, we decided to test out the present that Cameron got for Chris: a backpack carrier so he can go hiking with us. Now he can ride in style!

We just took a little walk around the block, but Cameron was laughing and squealing like it was some big adventure. Hopefully we can try it out for real next weekend!

Happy Father's Day, Dude!

Wedding weekend

A good friend of ours got married this weekend, and Cameron seized the opportunity to get all dressed up. He couldn't let his dad show him up, right?

The bride found an adorable little tux, and after I hemmed the pant legs, it fit Cameron quite well! It was complete with a jacket with tails, bow tie and cummerbund...so cute!

The wedding was a lot of fun. Cameron joined us for the ceremony, and then went to hang out with Grandma while Chris and I enjoyed the reception. I hear he did really well, falling asleep in his Pack 'n Play back at the hotel with almost no hassle. We got back late, and then he was up early (but normal time for him), so we didn't get much sleep. But he impressed everyone (me included) with how well behaved he was, so I consider the weekend a big success. :)

Speaking in tongues

Maybe Cameron likes rubbing his tongue against the tops of his new teeth? I don't know. But we're seeing a lot of this lately:

Looks like he'll be blowing raspberries in no time...

8 months!

 

I can't believe how big my boy is getting. Not just in size; he's looking so grown up these days!

Signing?

For the past few months, each time Cameron has been given milk, we've been doing the sign for it. (It looks very similar to the motion you would make with your hand as you are milking a cow.)

Well, for the past week or so, Cameron has been doing this thing with his hand that looks very much like the milk sign. Only, I'm not sure if he's just playing around with his hand, or he's actually trying to communicate! Sometimes he does it with his hand vertically (like we do), and sometimes he does it with his hand horizontally.

I don't want to miss out on something he's trying to tell me, but surely, he's not hungry as often as he makes that motion. I'm mostly chalking it up to him playing around at this point. But it makes me think that communication really isn't that far away, and that's both exciting and scary!

First "real" haircut

Daddy and son bonding time. :)

Teeth, updated

I was able to snag a picture of Cameron with his mouth open, and when I zoomed in, there were the teeth! They're a little crooked, but I assume they'll straighten out eventually. Neither Chris nor I ever needed braces, so obviously, he won't either. ;)

He's in more pain these days (and nights), and I've resorted to giving him Motrin several nights to help him sleep. Poor guy. Nature can be so cruel!

Road trip!

I was about to hit the ceiling with my vacation time at work, so it was time to take some days off! Chris took a week off too, and we decided to take a road trip down to LA to visit Chris's sister Kelley.

I must admit, I was nervous. Though we had tried, Cameron had never successfully napped in his Pack 'n Play, nor had he slept there overnight (well, since he was swaddled and 3 months old, anyway), and we were going to expect him to do both these things while we were gone. Couple that with a baby who is teething and waking up at odd hours anyway, and I wasn't sure we'd get any rest at all!

The first hurdle was the drive. But, he proved to be very well behaved in the car. Sure, he got fussy at times and we had to stop and walk around at some rest stops, but overall, he did very well. Most of the time Chris and I rode up front together, and occasionally one of us would sit in the back and try to entertain him.

The second hurdle was sleep. Naps did suffer, but nighttime sleep was okay. It took a little longer than usual each night to get him settled down, and then there were periodic wake-ups due to teething pain. The last night we were there I gave him some Motrin before bedtime, and we all slept better that night!

Now, for some pictures!

Once we got down there and settled in at Kelley's house, we played around, and Cam got to meet LouLou. We just took it easy that afternoon.

The next day we took a ride on the little train in Griffith Park.

And then went to the zoo (we had to meet Sophie's relatives, after all!).

The next day we went to the aquarium in Long Beach, where Cameron enjoyed watching all the fishes swim around!

Thanks, Kelley, for hosting us. We had a great time!