Cody Talking in the Car

Over the last month or so, Cody has found his voice. While he is still laid back, he is also quite talkative. Of course, nothing makes sense to anyone else although you get the feeling that he knows exactly what he is talking about!

He says Mama, Dada, and Bubba - which is funny... but not sure we can really say that he uses those words all the time. He has picked up some of the sign language and knows milk and more. That's pretty much all you need to know when you're a year old though.

When we were on the way to his 12 month check up doctor appointment, he did not stop talking. I had to get a video of it because I know that soon enough he'll be using real words and the baby talk will be gone. I especially like the end of it when he sees the camera and smiles. Cute boy!

New Video...

A few weeks ago (maybe a few months ago, time flies by in our house!) Kevin showed me a video that he had made right after Cody was born. That night I had to watch it over and over again - it is so sweet. I finally have it in a format that I could upload on the blog... I wanted it to be chronological, so it is with October 2010, but I didn't want everyone to miss it, so please - check out how beautiful and sweet he was when he was only a few minutes old here!

Colored Eyes

Lately Camryn's been interested in details about everyone in our little circle of family and friends, including names, what they look like written down, and she's amused that her grandparents (and us) have other names too. She can tell you everyone's real names and she knows her full name and Cody's full name. However, she has opinions about a couple of them:

* She is convinced that Grandma's name is not Linda. It's Murray. Not sure why - she gives no explanation.

* Everytime we say "what's Granny's real name?", she replies: "Marilu. That's my name!" I guess that means it's her favorite name! :)

We also talk about eye color. A lot. Kevin and I talk about Cody's in paricular because it looks like his blue eyes are changing. To what, we're not sure - since I have green eyes and Kevin has hazel eyes. I guess we'll know soon enough. Camryn's opinion on that (which you can hear in this video) is that he will have colored eyes. Thank goodness. :)

ABC's

The last few weeks (maybe a month, time flies around here) Camryn has been singing her ABC's all the way through!

She actually did it for the camera - so here is a video (normally when we ask her to sing her ABC's for someone or the camera she whispers painfully slow and sometimes her lips move and there is no sound that comes out - but this time she did great!):

Happy Birthday Mama!

Cody's First Video

Cody is quite the talker. Sometimes, he can't even eat because he is too busy 'talking' - I just have to stop and let him talk for a few minutes and then he'll eat again. Yesterday I swear he was singing - is that even possible? (poor Kevin might be stuck in the house with three people who talk as soon as they wake up!)

I made this video a few weeks ago - it is a little long, but after the first little bit he really starts talking. This is what I hear over the monitor at night when he wakes up and is hungry - him talking to his mobile. He's so sweet.

It's hard to be frustrated about no sleep with such a happy little boy! (I shouldn't say no sleep - the last week or so he's been going about 7 hours in between feedings at night - which would be awesome if I was going to sleep at the same time!)

See the video of Camryn in this bouncer when she was almost the same age (a little younger).

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season -- I think we must have said at least 100 times, 'can you believe we have a baby this Christmas?!?' It's amazing to think of all the great things that 2008 brought us -- we are truly blessed and so thankful. We can't wait to make 2009 as much of a positive, awesome year.

This week we had a lot of family time, since Kevin was off work and we were able to all spend time together (as most of you know, he does work out of the house, so it's not like he's far away when he's working, CC and I just try to handle things on our own).

For New Year's Eve, we went to Brian and Kay's house. We had great food and company - Bill and Wendy joined us, along with my mom and Oneill. We thought we were going to be able to ring in the new year with them, but Camryn was a little stressed at this change of routine, so we headed home around 10. Bryleigh got to snuggle with Camryn for the first time, here she is holding her all by herself. It's so funny how she looks like such a big girl now next to Camryn and I still think of her as a little one! (they grow up so fast!)

And, a family picture from that night --

Camryn's Firsts for the Week (not a lot of firsts this week - but there are a few):

• First time to hang out in a bouncer. This bouncer is wonderful b/c it's small enough that I can carry it around the house and she seems to be entertained by it too, which is a bonus! Thanks to Grandma Linda for the bouncer!
• First time to reach out and bat objects. The bouncer has a bar on it and Camryn has reached for the little toys on it. She seems to not like snails very much - there is a snail on the bouncer that she sometimes gives it the evil eye. Pretty funny. She also does not like when I put a blanket over her legs and feet -- she waits about 2 seconds and then she gives three to four good kicks to knock the blanket off.

• First week to really start 'talking' and cooing. CC makes a lot of sounds and loves it when we mimic her. She will lay in her crib and 'talk' to her mobile and her stuffed animals. It's really sweet to watch. I'm going to try to get a good video of it this week to post later.
• First time to get really upset when we take her out of the bath. She loves being in the water and her baths, but then she is unhappy when it's over! When she is able to hold up her head and then eventually sit up, I'm sure her baths will be longer and we'll play more. But until then, it's hard to have her in there for very long - she's very slippery and squirmy!

Overall, we're doing great! Camryn is more alert during the day, has times where she definitely just wants some time to entertain herself ("quit snuggling me, Mom!!!") and will lay in her crib and 'talk' for a good bit of time. She does like to know that we're close by though... so maybe she does still need us! She is sleeping on average about 7 hours during the first stretch of the night, so we usually get until about 4 or 5 am to sleep - and then again until 8 am or so.

Starting this week, we are finally attempting to regain a little control (famous last words, right?)and put her on a schedule. Until now, the only routine we've ever had was at night/bedtime - which works wonderfully on most nights. During the day, I would feed her when she was hungry and let her hang out with me for most of the day downstairs. So, yesterday and today she took more than three naps in her crib (and did just fine) and I was able to do laundry, clean the kitchen, write thank you cards, update this blog, work out... it was amazing! So, hopefully by the time she has to go to daycare (mid/late February, don't get me started), then we'll be settled into this daytime routine too.

My mom asked for a video this week, so I have one from this week to post. This is of her in her bouncer one night. When we pull the frog to start the music, she kicks her legs like crazy. I tried to get it on video, probably could get a better one, so I'll try again. So, for Grandma Linda:

And now, the fun picture of the week: I always post here how much she loves her bath, etc... Last night, I tried to take one of those pictures - and this is the only one we got. Poor thing. Does not look happy - but I swear! - she is until we take her out!

More next week!