Christmas 2012

Between our curious crawler...

And our smart, inquisitive little lady who was definitely into the holidays this year....

These two girls made Christmas quite fun!

We had a couple of celebrations in B.C., and then a big celebration with Ryan's family, then Christmas day fun, too!

Hanging out in B.C.

 Taylor is quite into imaginative play now...making beds for her stuffed animals on the stairs :o)

 
Taylor watching Nemo with Uncle Jeff

The "kids" watching a 3-D movie

Playing catch with Mem

Saturday, our first day being with my family, Taylor was battling a fever on and off - poor thing was just feeling a little run down. Can you tell by her flushed cheeks in this picture??

Each girl received some fun gifts
Tony the Tiger shirt (when she put this on today, she ran around saying "Tony the Tiger! Tony the Tiger!")

New farm

Camryn opening her first ever Christmas gift...

Mmm...tastes good, too ;o)

Blocks!

And much more!

Sunday, more of my mom's side of the family was in town, and we had a few more gift exchanges

 New taggie blanket

Uncle Jeff was excited about his gift - who doesn't like pictures of little furry guinea pigs ;o) (Guinea pigs were the only pets Jeff and I had growing up, so I get the calendar for him as a bit of a way to reminisce about our little creatures we had)

 
Someone was excited about her new baby doll!

And Mem gave her my old baby bed that my Grandpa Bob built for me when I was little

Uncle Jeff and Camryn, deep in conversation

I was feeling sick from the flu, but snuggling with this little one could make me feel better anytime :o)

After traveling back home on Monday morning (packing up very fast that morning to make a doctor's appointment for Camryn - who ended up being diagnosed with an eye and ear infection)... we had Ryan's family's Christmas celebration that afternoon/evening!

She loved this penguin!! As well as other stuffed animal friends she got - Clarice and the Abominable Snow Monster, to go along with her Rudolph toy :o)

 Lots of hugs for thank you's!

Hanging out in mama's new market basket - can you tell someone's eyes were a little red??

Then Christmas morning, we were at our own house, and ate some good food, opened a few more presents, and basically played with all the new toys while just enjoying spending time together.

(Trying to take a picture before breakfast - quite the group in our tiny little kitchen :o))

Taylor opening a fun gift from mem

 Little instrument ornaments! She always takes the instrument ones off my parent's tree and plays with them...

 the little "violin"

 Playing the horn

After all the busyness died down, both girls were ready to just snuggle and watch the Grinch

And Taylor's new little Rudolph toys decided to watch, too. :o) (Can you see them all standing up, facing the TV?)

Christmas was different this year (first time since my brother was born that I wasn't with him on Christmas day!), but we still were reminded of the reason for the season, and appreciated time and fellowship with family!  And to think that next year, Camryn will be running around with her big sister - what a fun thing that will be. :o)

Crawling!!!

She's on the move! Camryn has been working hard at being able to keep up better with her sister, and for the past week we have seen some signs that she is getting ready to crawl - rocking on her hands and knees, scooching, and finally she made those first few movements on all fours this afternoon!

Here are two little videos that show her starting to move a bit (we missed capturing her BEST effort - but I am sure there will be more videos to come :o))...

The first - Taylor was also vying for some attention ;o)

The second - it was a little after 7, and Camryn was obviously ready for BED! :o)

Taylor didn't crawl until she was 9 months old, but I was sort of hoping Cam would be on the move before Christmas...and now it will add another element of fun to our holiday celebration this year. :o)

8 months old

Little Miss Camryn, how is it possible that you are two-thirds of the way to being ONE already?

Each month that goes by, there is a little less snuggling, but a lot more playing!

8 month lil' chunk :o)

Love those rolls!!

8 month stats

** We are STILL getting up at night, but most often it is only once - around 3-4am. Our goal during Christmas break is to get Camryn moved into Taylor's room and finally into her crib! I am hoping that having her a little bit more removed from me - not being in our room anymore, will somehow help her to reach that wonderful milestone of staying down all night long! Bedtime is usually sometime between 7-7:30pm, and up around 7am!

** We have stayed out of the doctor's office for a solid two weeks - yay! :) I don't have an accurate "weight" for Cam this time around, but she is definitely growing!! She is filling out her 9 month clothes and moving toward 12 month sizes.

** She is SO CLOSE to CRAWLING! She gets on hands and knees, and will rock and rock, then the hands start moving forward, but the legs don't quite follow yet, and she ends up chilling on her belly. :o) I think it is going to happen soon, though, which is exciting!

** Food is going really well. Still two meals a day with fruit, veggies, oatmeal, and yogurt - lots of milk, too, of course :o)

** Camryn is a great napper when we are home - morning nap, goes down about 2 hours after she wakes up, afternoon nap around when Taylor goes down (2ish hours long), and sometimes another short early evening nap, too!

Pictures from our family photo shoot last month - so she is a little younger in these pics, but I love them!!

Sickness, snuggles, sweet moments, Santa, silly face, sprinkles, scooching, sleepy girl

Sickness
 After Camryn's struggle with fevers, it was Taylor's turn...she had two days home with dada until she felt better

Snuggles
 Taylor's new favorite friend, Rudolph

Sweet moments
 Facing everyone in to see baby Jesus in the manger :)

Santa
  A little visit to S.C. - Camryn just looked at us and smiled, Taylor required a little more coaxing this year :)

Silly faces
 No explanation needed :)

Sprinkles
 Mem came up and we made Christmas cookies - Taylor was in charge of the sprinkles (which required a little guidance, otherwise she would have emptied the whole container on one cookie ;))

"Scooching"
  Someone is working on crawling

  But it is still a lot of work and can be quite tiring  :)

Sleepy girl