File this under “new talents”. Little sis is sitting in her Bumbo. And I think she likes it too! So funny that Cam fit in the Bumbo for approximately 1 week and then his thunder thighs outgrew the leg holes.
Throwback to Cam in the bumbo!
Month / June 2017
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… Father’s Day that is
Father’s Day was mostly wonderful. We hung out at the house in the morning enjoying the new hammock chair Cam got for Joe as a Father’s Day gift (isn’t he thoughtful!?).
Then, we packed up picnic foods and drinks and headed down to Mission Bay to join the Stadlers on their boat. This was such a treat for all of us. The weather was perfect and any day on the Stadler’s boat is a special and memorable day.
The last time Cam rode on the Stadler’s boat, he fell asleep almost immediately. This time he was obsessed with the cabin and climbing in and out of it while munching on cheese and grapes. I have to say, this kid lives a really tough life.
Brett’s mom was a SAINT and kept an eye on the kids while the rest of us enjoyed the views.
Also notable, it was Demi’s first boat ride. I can’t say she loved it. But I can’t say she didn’t like it either. I think she was a little disoriented with all the wind and bobbing around. As always she was a good sport.
After docking, we took turns paddling around the bay in their kayaks. The fathers and their first-borns…
Then Shara and I took a jaunt around the bay. Apparently kayaks have cupholders, so I put mine to use.
After our boating adventures we met Poppy, Inny, Uncoco and Nicole at Modern Times Brewery…
… this is where things took a turn for the worse. Cam fell asleep in the car and after we woke him up, it was nearly impossible to get him out of his funk. He was an 11 on a 10-point grumpy scale. We pressed on and had a lightning round of BBQ with the folks before heading home and prepping for the work week.
All-in-all, it was a lovely day celebrating fathers.
Mindfulness While Holding a Baby
I read this NY Times article a few weeks ago which details how to be mindful while holding a baby and it keeps coming back to my consciousness while I hold Demi. She is my second and last baby and I know the moments of her being so little are fleeting.
I’m lucky that I only commute to work 2 days a week, but they are long tough days and they don’t leave a lot of time for mindfulness, or holding my baby for that matter. I was disappointed tonight when Demi fell asleep earlier than I’d expected. I wanted to wake her up and play with her, get at least a couple more smiles before she drifted off to dreamland.
Just another reminder to take advantage of the moments I get to spend with this little lady, so sweet and soft and squishy and oh her scent! When she is officially not an infant anymore, I might start stealing other peoples’ babies. Fair warning.
Kid Interviews for Father’s Day 2017
In lieu of a Father’s Day card, I thought it would be neat to interview Cam and Demi and mash it up together into a Father’s Day video. Cam was happy to participate and so was Demi. (Please excuse the apple-eating… I knew Cam would answer more questions if he had a distraction).
Your kids clearly love you very very much! Happy Father’s Day Joe, may it be a styrofoam-smashing good time!
Daddy-O Has a New Mowlawner
I can’t say our backyard is in the greatest shape. We (okay, Joe) dug a trench to get the electrical and whatnot out to the new office (I say “whatnot” because I’m not entirely sure what went in the trench, I just know that it took a lot of sweat and dirt and wires and messiness). Anyway, I think we’re finally at that point we can start patching the yard back together and enjoying it again. So it was the perfect time to upgrade our machinery.
Of course Cam loved opening the box for the new “mowlawner” and putting it together with dad. Then, once they got it assembled they each pushed their mowers around the yard.
Cam rarely mixes up his words, so it was pretty cute to hear him say mowlawner. I just had to ask him again and get it on video.
I’m going to pretend I didn’t freak out about their bare feet and focus on the fact that they handled our unruly yard.
Mowing. With bare feet. Oy.
A Mom Obsessed with her Babies
I didn’t know what else to title this because it’s just way too many photos from the last 2 days of my cutie patooties. We had a BORING weekend because I wasn’t feeling well and Joe was working, so I don’t have much to show for it, other than these little cherubs.
This is just about the happiest Demi has ever been on her tummy. Almost always she puts her head down and starts chewing on her hands or crying.
And then there is this! Oh my goodness I can’t even stand her cuteness.
Cam wasn’t cooperating with my “diapered baby photo shoot” so I carried on without him and then he crept up onto the chair because I think he was jealous of me oooh-ing and ahhh-ing over Demi. So, my master plan worked!!
And the last one is from this morning. While I find it very difficult to breastfeed in the middle of the night when there are 4 humans and 1 dog all on the same bed, I love love love being next to my sleeping babes. This morning, they slept in later than mom and dad who were seriously off to the races on this busy work week.
Handprints in the She-Shed
With Demi filling up the last room in our house, we had to find a solution for office space. Working from home 3 days a week is a really nice privilege and so I need to take it seriously, get work done, and minimize interruptions. It would be pretty embarrassing if I were on an important phone call and, well, something like this happened.
So, we’re building an office, or as I like to call it my “she-shed” in the backyard. Here are some progress pics. We’re currently sorting out some electrical issues, but soon we’ll be on to mud, paint and flooring inside, and paint and railing outside. We’re so close!
Yesterday while my brother was working on drywall, Cam saw him carry the piece of drywall he’d finger-painted a few weeks back. He started crying and asked what “Uncoco” was doing with his painting. So, we went in the backyard to check it out.
Here is some riveting footage of Cam checking out the office with his handprints forever inside.
You Have to Get Up Pretty Early in the Morning to Fool This One…
There comes a time when your kid is suddenly smarter than you. I didn’t realize it would happen when Cam was just 2 1/2 years old. Here are a few times his smarts were smarter than ours.
Inny was driving Cam in circles around the brewery to get him to nap so they could both join us inside. He asked her, “where are we going Inny?” She said, “to see your mom.” And he said, “This isn’t the way.” How did he know that!?
I recently threw away a cup we were using in the bath because it had been in there long enough and I didn’t want Cam drinking from it and putting his mouth on it anymore. He asked me where the cup went. I told him I had to throw it away because it had cracked in half. He then asked, “can you show me the two pieces?” First off, how does he know that when something is in half, there are 2 pieces? And secondly, did he know I wouldn’t be able to produce the alleged cracked cup? Somehow I think he did.
This morning Cam was watching Dora. Dora teaches some basic Spanish words throughout the episodes. Joe walked in and said, “abajo means up” and Cam replied, “no it doesn’t. It means down.” Get it right, dad!
Cam hates having the sun in his eyes, but refuses hats and sunglasses, so I recently put a shade on the car window. When I put it on, I thought I put it on the part of the window that would give the most shade. But apparently not. Cam told me I did it wrong and I needed to move it closer to him. A few days later I put the shade up again and he again told me I did it wrong. He was right. Both times.
We’ll Work on Manners Another Day
But today, we’ll call it cute.
Demi Grey is 3 Months Old
Our sweet baby girl is 3 months strong! And by strong I mean she has the craziest grip. Sometimes I can’t get her pajamas on because she’ll grab onto the sleeve as I’m trying to pull it onto her arm and she just won’t let go. She also loves gripping the monkey on her Wubba Nub, my clothing, and unfortunately for me, my hair (which at the moment needs no assistance in the thinning process because it’s already falling out in clumps–thank you postpartum hormone changes).
She is still so smiley and truly only cries when she wants to eat or sleep and we pretty much always know which due to timing. So, she’s taking it easy on us.
Some other fun things: she can now track things with her eyes, which has opened up new possibilities for play time. Her babbling is adorable–she sounds like a kitty. Most women can get her to smile and it’s about 50/50 for men, she’ll either smile or stick out her bottom lip in a pout. She’s starting to be more interested in Cam and watches him as he spins around the room. She mostly dislikes tummy time but is getting better at it. Her neck is now strong enough to where you can hold her upright and her head doesn’t bob around.
She snores and gasps all the time while sleeping and it drives us nuts even though we’ve been told (and we know) that it’s normal and she’ll grow out of it. She also has 1 single thick strand of blonde hair on top of her head amidst all that brown hair. Oh and her eyes are a lovely shade of cerulean blue. Yes, cerulean.
Everyone says she looks just like a darker version of Cam, not so much like Joe and not so much like me, but definitely like she’s Cam’s sister. We’re good with that. Cam’s a pretty cute kid 🙂
CamO+DemO 