One Year Old!

Here it is. Cami is officially 1 year old, so we have reached our final blog post.

She is now weighing in at 21lbs, 14oz, (70^th percentile) and is 2’5” long (37^th percentile).  We’ve had all sorts of fun new behavioral developments from her in the last month. Carrie has taught her how to kiss. I have taught her how to “noggin” (Finding Nemo, anyone?).  Cami has recently developed a habit of reaching up our shirts and trying to tickle our bellies while she is on the changing table. At first she was very silly about it, and would giggle. Now, she just stares us down very seriously while administering the tickling. Cami did start walking a week before her birthday. She can push up to standing in the middle of the room, and has also learned to climb. We don’t have stairs at home, but whenever we happen upon them, up she goes! She does like to climb up Mady’s little step stool in the bathroom, and has also climbed up on to the toilet. We do make an effort to keep the bathroom door shut now. She has recently become very chatty, and likes to string syllables together. She has also finally developed an interest in books. She does have a select few favorites, and doesn’t have much interest in branching out just yet.  When she is hungry, she will stick her tongue in and out. She is still nursing strong and doesn’t really like cow’s milk. Strangely enough, she has a taste for coffee. Carrie offered her a sip because she was so insistent about it. We expected her to not like it, but she just kept asking for more. It even helps her to take her milk if we add a little coffee. Her grandpa is so proud. Broccoli is actually one of her favorite foods. Finally, Cami has become a very social baby. She likes to wave to every stranger that she passes. This tends to cause people (all of them, not just middle aged women) to gush and wave and strike up conversation with our one year old… and occasionally us.



Since we already had the party, we just had Grandma and Granpa over for dinner and made a giant cookie to commeorate Cami's birthday. We put a candle in the cookie and Mady helped blow it out.

It has been a really exciting year. We have had so much fun watching Cami grow, and watching Mady become a big sister. We are now looking forward to the excitement of living with a toddler and a preschooler.

Camping Day Trip

 On a Saturday in early September, we took the girls out on a day-trip to a camp site. Nana and Papa were out with their RV again. We weren't able to spend the night, this time, but we did come down for the day. Carrie and I brough our bikes, and got to go biking around the camp site a bit while Mady hung out with Nana. The bike ride turned out to be a great way to sooth Cami to sleep. Cami was just learning to walk while we were out on this trip, so she got to practice walking on grass. There was also a fun playground at the camp site that the girls enjoyed. All in all, a great way to spend a Saturday!

Happy (early) Birthday!

On September 8^th, we celebrated Cami’s one-year birthday party (9 days early). This was the closest weekend that Aunt Krista and Uncle Steve were available, so we went with it. My parents graciously offered to host the gathering at their house. We were very excited to have so many family members come out to celebrate with us. The Greanya family even drove down from Flint on Friday night. Andy spent the night we us, so we got to catch up with him. Aunt Charmaine, Uncle Del, and Nicole all stayed at a nearby hotel.

From my side of the family, Grandpa Richards and Grandma Beyer both made it out. My Aunt Mary, Aunt Marty, Uncle Pat, Aunt Andy, and Uncle Charlie also came out. My cousins Margaret (and her soon-to-be husband, Doug) and Matt and Emily, along with their daughter, Caroline also came. It was a very full house! Fortunately, the weather cooperated with us (despite some rainy forecasts) so we were able to set out some lawn games and spread outside to the yard. As an exciting side note, Aunt Mary’s seventh Grand-child was in the process of being born during the party, so she kept getting text updates (too few and far between for her liking). Little May Madden eventually made her way into the world later that evening.

We served “Javanese Dinner” for the meal. This is a Greanya family favorite. It is basically a built-it-yourself meal that consists of rice, chicken, gravy, tomatoes, green onions, pineapple, coconut, almonds, peppers, and cherries (I’m probably forgetting a few things as well). It might sound a little funny, but it is a crowd pleaser. Everyone really enjoyed it, which meant we didn’t have many leftovers.

Cami seemed to have a very good time. She was just starting to take her first cautious steps when we had the party. While she was pretty gentle with her smash cake, she really did enjoy eating it. She got a couple toys and some new outfits for the winter. Most of our guests just helped out with a large shared gift which is going to be a brand new stroller. Our old garage-sale find is definitely on its last legs after three years of steady use. Cami’s brand new “Baby Jogger City-Mini GT” has been ordered and should be here very soon. We are really appreciative of everyone’s generosity. To top it all off, Michigan got their first victory of the season. J All in all, a great way to celebrate one year of life! Congratulations Cameron Lee!

Memphis Kiddie Park

On Labor Day, we took the girls out to the Memphis Kiddie Park. This is a small amusement park in Cleveland designed specifically for people under 50" tall. It has ten rides and a mini-golf course. This turned out to be a great way to spend the day off. Mady was a little hesitant at first. She was still a little gun-shy around rides after her experience at the Fair in Iowa over the summer. The mini-roller coaster and the mini-Ferris Wheel were particularly intimidating to her when we walked in. She started with the Merry-Go-Round. She has ridden on a few of these before and has always enjoyed them. From there, she progressed to a boat ride, a pony and cart ride, a rocket ship, a race car, and an airplane. After mastering all of these rides, Mady decided that she was brave enough to take on the scary rides. I was very proud of her for working up the courage to ride the "Little Dipper" kiddie roller coaster. She actually had a really good time on it. I thought it was a little to jerky for someone who sits much higher than the backrest.

 
Carrie and Cami didn't go on any rides this time, but they had fun watching. We'll probably plan to visit it again in the spring and Mady will be able to take her little sister on the rides.

11 months!

We are now entering the homestretch of year one! There have been lots of fun developments this month.

• Cami has a new habit of telling us when she is done eating by spitting out the food in her mouth. Her other technique is to arch her back and stare at the ceiling until we take her out of her high chair. This might just be an aversion to her chair, because she will stop arching her back but continue eating if we put her somewhere else.
• She now prefers belly sleeping.
• Madelyn has taught our cute, precious little baby how to growl to express herself. Carrie finds this a little disturbing. I think it is hilarious. See the video below.
• She has been saying "ba!" for a while. While this is an all-purpose word for her, she does also use it specifically to refer to a ball.
• Cami can now pull up to standing on a piece of furniture, wall, or leg.
• She isn't officially walking yet, but she is well on her way to learning. She can walk with the aid of a walker toy and can "cruise" along furniture. She has also taken a few clumsy steps away from the couch or between parents. She only does this when someone is giving her encouragement and standing near enough to catch her when she tumbles. I'm pretty confident she'll be walking before her first birthday.
• She doesn't like wearing hats and has enough coordination to rectify the problem if we try putting one on her head.
• She has become more assertive this month. If Mady takes a toy from her or does something else she doesn't like, Cami will make her opinion known.
• Her most exciting moment of mischief this month was locating the can of bacon grease and painting the kitchen floor and herself with it.
• She continues to be a very good sleeper. Carrie still tends to nurse Cami to sleep for naps and bedtime and will nurse Cami once during the night if she wakes up. However, if Cami doesn't nurse to sleep or wakes up a second time during the night, Carrie often holds Cami for five minutes and then lays her back down to go back to sleep on her own.

On the big sister front, Mady has decided that her name is now Kate. She usually corrects us if we call her "Mady" and she tells other children on the playground that her name is Kate. Carrie discovered this when she noticed a group of older (5 year old) girls saying "Hey, Kate, come play with us over here!" Mady's most exciting moment of mischief this month was cutting her own hair. This usually happens at least once in every little kid's life. Fortunately, Carrie was able to catch her quickly so the damage was pretty minimal.



Here is our "growling children" video:

Matt and Sarah

Our good friends, Matt and Sarah Bethune, came up to visit us last weekend. I was able to get them a private apartment in my complex to stay in while they were here. On Saturday we visited the Shaker Heights farmers market, and toured Shaker Square, which has a fun toy store. Then we spent the afternoon at a very nice Lake Erie beach on the west side. The beach was at the base of a bluff. At the top, there was a nice park with grills and picnic tables, so we we were able to cookout for dinner. After dinner, Matt and I got on the Rapid and went to see an Indians game downtown. The game ended with a huge "Rock 'n Blast" fireworks show designed as a tribute to the Beatles. It was actually a really good show complete with lazer lights, elaborate sparklers, and fireworks lauched from within, on top of, and around the stadium, all set to a compilation of Beatles songs with a large animation playing on the massive scoreboard screen. On Sunday, we went to church in the morning. In the afternoon, we toured the campus. For dinner, my parents had us over at their place. Thet put together a great meal, which included three different types of sausage. On Monday morning, Matt and Sarah headed back to their home in West Lafayette, Indiana. It was great to see them again. The girls really liked spending with them as well.

10 months old!

Cami is now is double digits! She has hit some very big milestones this month. Most notably, our happy little baby is now longer stationary. She is crawling, and getting better at it on a daily basis. Once she started crawling, it didn't take her much longer to figure out how to pull up to standing. When we returned from our vacation, we decided that it was time to move Cami's crib into Mady's bedroom. Of course, we also had to lower it all the way so that she doesn't climb out. For the most part, both girls have handled the new sleeping arrangments really well. Unless one of them is in a really grouchy mood, they can get to sleep without disrupting each other. Cami also sprouted two new teeth this month, brining the total to six. She also now claps her hands when she is happy. Most exciting for me, she started saying "dada" this month. She uses it very sparingly. "Mama" and "baba" are still her go-to words.


Hard to believe we are two short months away from her first birthday!

Independance Day!

Happy Fourth of July! For Cami's first Independence Day, we just had a laidback cookout at our place. My folks came over and brought ribs and a giant American Flag cookie decorated with blueberries and raspberries. We also grilled brats and made a potato salad. It was a very nice day. We didn’t go out to see fireworks because that would have been well past the girls bedtime and they had already had a long day. However, Mady was excited about fireworks, so I agreed to wake her up when it got dark and take her up to the clock tower in our building so we could see some fireworks from there. Waking her up was much easier said than done. In fact, I couldn’t wake her. She was in a very deep state of sleep. I went ahead and carried her, sleeping, up five flights of stairs to the clock tower and gradually roused her. From where we were, we could actually see five different fireworks shows, but most of them were off in the distance. More impressive was the lightening show. God put on a much more exciting pyrotechnic show that evening. The combination of lightening and fireworks was pretty cool to witness. Mady was pretty annoyed about being woken up, so I eventually just took her back to bed and Carrie and my mom enjoyed the show. The next morning, Mady was actually pretty excited about the fireworks, so I guess it was worth it. We’ll see how she does next year!

Summer Vacation Part 2

Summer Vacation Part 2

The next leg of our summer vacation journey brought us to Cedar Falls, Iowa to visit my siblings, Monica and Allen. Monica and her husband, Wes, just bought a house so they hosted us while we were in town for three days. We visited the Sturgis Falls festival with Monica and Allen, which just happened to be going on while we were in town. They had a children’s tent where we got to see a magic show, a yo-yo show, and Mady got to express herself with sidewalk chalk (her favorite medium). I took her on some very over-priced carnival rides. Her general reaction ranged from boredom (the merry-go-round) to terror (the go-gator kiddie roller coaster). I probably should have known better because she still gets intimidated by some of the attractions at Chuck-E-Cheese. I did succeed in convincing her to go down the giant slide with me. It was the kind where they give to a burlap sack to sit on. By “convince” I mean I carried her up the stairs and had to wrestle her onto my lap when she started to panic at the top… Hopefully the experience didn’t scar her too much. We also had some carnival food. Allen ate a giant turkey leg like a caveman.

My folks were also in town to help Allen and Amber paint their house. The brought their trailer and stayed at a nearby State Park. We spent some time with everyone at the campground and went swimming in the lake. Amber created a burger recipe for a contest that she wanted to test on us. It was burger stuffed (yes, stuffed) with smoked gouda and bacon served with sweep red peppers and avocado. I forgot what bread she used for the bun, but that was good too. Probably the best burger I’ve ever had. Before leaving Cedar Falls, we visited Mr. and Mrs. Lundy. Sherman Lundy was Carrie’s high school chemistry teacher and he has kept in touch with us over the years. Their house is full of all sorts of fascinating stuff (rocks, dinosaur bones, dolls, and the largest train collection I’ve ever seen). It is always nice to visit with them and they love doting on the girls.

The final stop on our journey was to Dubuque, Iowa, to visit our friends Jen and Tim. Their daughter, Sam, is one week older than Mady, and their son, Austin, is just a couple months older than Cami. Mady really enjoyed having a playmate and lots of new toys and dress up clothes to enjoy. We went on a riverfront walk and visited a local Children’s Zoo. We also took the kids to Jumpin’ Janes Bouncehouse. It was a giant room with six large inflatable toys and a play place. The cool part is that adults get in for free, but we were having just as much fun as the kids. We basically had the whole place to ourselves. Mady was a little hesitant at first, but she eventually started having fun in the bounce houses and we even got her to go down one of the slides.  Sam was fearless. She was climbing on everything and even went down the giant slide a few times.

That was the end of our vacation. The last drive, from Dubuque to Cleveland, was the longest. We left early, made regular stops to eat and stretch, and got home pretty late. One exciting moment of the drive was when we spotted a semi swerving around ahead of us. He almost went off the road a couple times and almost swiped a few other cars off as well. I called the highway patrol and we got to watch as they pulled him over.

Now were safely home and back into our summer routine. It was a great vacation and probably something we’ll continue to do during the summer.

Summer Vacation Part 1

Summer Vacation Part 1

 On June 8^th, we started out on our 19-day journey of the heartland to visit friends and family. Our first destination was West Lafayette, Indiana, to visit our friends Matt and Sarah Bethune. Matt and Sarah are Madelyn’s Godparents, and we hadn’t seen them in over a year, so it was nice to catch up. The highlight of our trip was our visit to an IU Hospital sponsored Community Health Fair in a high school gym. Matt was performing in a puppet show about bullying. Aside from enjoying the excellent puppet show, we got to walk through a giant inflatable heart (where we learned about aneurysms), watch an up-close demonstration of the “Leonardo DaVinci Surgery Robot” peel the skin off of a grape, and see a life-flight helicopter land in the parking lot. For Mady, none of this was nearly as exciting as meeting Sparky the fire dog (man in a big suit). She told us that she loves Sparky and has dreams about him. ~sigh~

The next leg of our journey was to Topeka, Kansas, to spend some time with Carrie’s parents. We hadn’t seen them since October, so we planned to spend the bulk of our trip with them. Shortly after arriving in Kansas, I got on a plane and flew out to Georgia for the National Housing Training Institute at the University of George for a week. We planned our vacation to overlap with this trip because it gave Carrie and the girls an extra week in Topeka that did not count against my vacation time since the trip was work related.

Grandma and Grandpa Mittelstedter planned lots of fun activities for Carrie and the girls in Topeka. Before I left, we visited Gage Park, which features an awesome playground, a carousel, a train ride, a water park, and a zoo. The girls also got to visit a fun toy store, story time at the library, go shoe shopping, and explore the brand new Topeka Discovery Center, which has lots of cool activities for kids including a Strider bike track and a plexi-glass room that kids can paint. The girls also got to take a splash in a kiddy pool just about every day. Grandma and Grandpa were even brave enough to treat us to a few of their favorite restaurants in the area. The highlight for Mady was probably visiting Chuck-E-Cheese with her Grandma.

After I returned from Georgia, we had a couple more days in Kansas before we drove up to Cedar Falls, Iowa for the next leg of our journey… You can find pictures from our vacation at our Picasa Album here: https://picasaweb.google.com/carriebeyer/VacationJune2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKW2-7qKvs-o5wE&feat=directlink (to be continued)

9 months old!

Cami celebrated her 9 month birthday in Topeka Kansas with her Grandma and Grandpa . The full details of our road trip will be forthcoming in the next couple blog posts. For now, I’ll limit myself to some of the exciting developments of the last month. The big news is that Cami spoke her first word this month! Technically, her first word was “baba,” and she said it last month. This month she said “Mama” and she definitely has been using it in context (ie whenever Carrie enters or leaves the room).

She has also been sleeping very well this month. She has been going down pretty consistently between 7 and 8 pm and waking between 7 and 8 am. She also takes two naps a day pretty consistently this month. She has started eating table food and she can drink from her sippy cup all by herself now. She is still an nursing enthusiast, so Carrie is still naturally her favorite parent.  At her 9 month checkup, she weighed in at 20lbs 14oz, which is moving much closer towards the average weight for girls her age. Until now, she had always been on the bigger side.  

Baby's first camping trip

Last weekend we took the girls out on their first camping trip. We found a campground that sits right on the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania. My parents had planned to go out camping to test out their RV this season, and we thought it would be a nice weekend to get away as well. While Nana and Papa slept in their climate controlled RV, we did it the old fashion way in a tent. It was a nice warm weekend. The first night out was a little chilly, but otherwise, we were very comfortable. The girls slept surprisingly well. It was a pretty low-key outing, which was just right for us. We went on one short hike and spent an afternoon at a small beach on the lake. The water was chilly and grimy, but the girls had lots of fun. Mady got to practice riding her bike around the campground. Other than that, we enjoyed cooking out and staying up with a campfire.

8 months old

 It is always fun to reflect on how much babies change in the course of a month. We have a number of fun new developments to report at the 8-month mark. Cami has sprouted her two front teeth on the top. It looks like she might have daddy and Mady’s gap. She has started “waving” goodbye this month (opening and closing her fist). She also likes to “clap” her fists together. She is eating some more fruits and vegetables, as well as an abundance of Cheerios. She doesn’t like rice cereal very much, and clearly prefers feeding herself over being spoon-fed. She has had plenty of practice developing those fine motor skills. She is still a little uncoordinated, but she can pinch and grasp her food and usually succeeds in getting it to her mouth.

She isn’t yet crawling, and we aren’t expecting it to happen very soon. She can support herself briefly on her hands and knees, but only if we put her in that position. She isn’t pushing up by herself yet. She is getting pretty sturdy in a sitting position. We don’t worry about her tipping over anymore and she has become very adept at rotating in circles while on her tush.

She has also started using consonants this month. She has figured out how to say “baba” and she says it quite a bit. Carrie and I have been trying to encourage her to learn “mama” or “dada.” So far, she seems to be pretty content that “baba” captures everything she needs to say to us.

Wild Animals

Saturday, May 5^th was my 31^st birthday. Carrie and Cami spent the morning volunteering at a “Mom Swap,” so Mady and I had some quality time together. She took me out on a Daddy-Daughter Date to Starbucks where we got drinks and an apple fritter to share. We used to do this pretty regularly at EMU, so it was fun to revisit one of our old pastimes. We (I) also whipped up a peanut butter pie, which is my favorite dessert. When Carrie and Cami returned, we took the girls to Nana and Papa’s house for the afternoon and went to the mall to go shoe shopping for me since all of my shoes were falling apart. While this might seem like a funny way to spend a birthday, it was actually really nice to go out shopping without kids. Then we went back to my folks for dinner and pie. Steve and Krista came out to join us. All in all, it was a really nice birthday.  

On Mondays, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is free to all Cuyahoga county residents. We decided to cash in a vacation day and take the girls out to see some animals. Grandma even came along. It was her first time at that zoo in 40 years! For the rest of us, it was the first time in forever. Despite a brief torrential downpour and some lingering rain and gloominess in the morning, it shaped out to be a nice day. We saw elephants, a lion, bears, gorillas, monkeys, sharks, kangaroos, and various other critters. Mady enjoyed riding the tram around.

7 months

My goodness how quickly time passes. It is really amazing how quickly Cami seems to be growing up! At seven months she is now sturdier sitting, though she does tend to tip over if we aren't watching carefully. She is starting to become ticklish under her arms and on her neck, which is very exciting for me. A new way to torment my child! We did start her on solid foods this month. She has been getting rice cereal, banana, and applesauce. Her rash seemed to be coming back. We think it might have something to do with the applesauce because it cleared up really quickly once we stopped feeding it to her, but who knows. She still doesn't take a bottle well, but she is a very good nurser. We have experimented with giving her breast milk in a sippy cup, and that might actually work. She is starting to push up on her hands a bit, but can't quite get her belly off the floor. We're not expecting her to be an early crawler. She is still an awesome sleeper. Most nights she is down by 8:00 and gets up at 7am. If she does wake during the night, it is only once to nurse, then she usually goes back to sleep pretty quickly. All that, without a pacifier!

We looked back at our Mady blog to see what she was doing at 7 months. At this age, Madelyn relied heavily on the pacifier to sleep at night. She was pushign up onto her hands and feed. She was even standing unsupported for brief moments. She liked "walking" around the room, holding our hands. We even had trouble getting her to sit still for her 7 month picture because she kept squirming off of the couch.

Cami is way more mellow than her big sister was. Only time will tell how long those personality traits persist...

He is Risen Indeed!

April started with Cami's first Easter. Carrie and Mady dyed Easter Eggs to get ready. They even let me help a little bit.

We went to our church in the morning. For dinner we gathered at my parents house along with my brother Steven, and his wife, Krista. Before the meal, my Mom had arranged a fun Easter-egg scavenger hunt. We also planned a little Easter Egg hunt around the house. Mady had a lot of fun with it all. We did spend a lot of time during Lent teaching her about the importance and meanign of Easter. When we asked her why Easter was special, she went back and forth between Jesus and candy. We'll keep trying. :)

Dinner was awesome. Everyone contributed a dish, and everything had garlic. All it all, it was a very nice Easter.