baby words

Cam's been talking more and to date, here's the sounds I hear most often:

Oh
Ow
Ah
Ga
Hmmm
La
Woah (it really sounds like he's saying Woah)
Wa
Whooo (he sound like an owl!)
Ya (sometimes he does it appropriately like he's saying "yeah")

His favorites are Whoooo, Oh, Wa and Woah. Here was our conversation this morning as I was changing his diaper.

Me: Did you have a good sleep?

Camden: Oh, Oh, Oh. Whooo--oo-mmm.

Me: Oh really? (This is usually my response cause what else am I supposed to say? Sometimes I make up in my head what he could be saying and then keep the conversation going. But early in the morning, I'm not quick enough for that.)

Lately, when he seems bored or tired, he often makes the "Whooooo" sound, holding it out really long starting in a high pitch and taking it lower to the end of the sound. Kind of like he's exasperated and sighing. It's pretty funny.

Here he is just a few minutes ago after his nap:



I keep trying to get him to say "ma ma." So far, he's not having it.

rice cereal, take 1

5 months and 3 days old: Is Cam ready for solid food? I think so!

Got him up in the morning, about 8am (later than usual cause mommy was tired) and went about my usual routine. Got myself some breakfast and coffee while Cam sat in his chair. This time though, it was his high chair instead of his bouncer that I usually sit him in. New perspective for Cam being up so high. I put some toys in front of him to keep him occupied but he wasn't really into them. He just looked around, watched what I was doing and talked a bit.

Ate my breakfast, grabbed the camera, made his first cereal mixed with formula and it's time for our first solid food feeding adventure!

Here's Camden before, all ready to go:



Time to see how Cam takes his first bite of real food! He opened his mouth wide and even though most of it seemed to come back out, he kept opening his mouth. He even smiled at one point. That's gotta be a good sign, right? I think he liked it but just needs some time to figure out this new experience. Check him out! (I don't know why these videos come up with a blank screen shot, but it should work when you play it. Finicky google.)



After awhile, he seemed to get a better hang of it and definitely swallowed some of the cereal. Of course, half of it ended up on his bib but that's to be expected.



I call this feeding a success. Yay, Camden!

bottles, bottles, bottles

I seriously feel like half my life these days are spent washing bottles. Bottle after bottle after bottle. Granted, it's probably easier than having Cam on the boob 24/7 but this is my second least favorite thing to do. (My first least favorite was pumping!)

Thanks goodness Cam's starting solid foods, so I'm getting closer to being bottle free.

he's got teeth! solid food here cam comes....

Yesterday, I discovered that Camden has his 2 bottom front teeth coming in! You can see them sprouting out of his gums and when you touch them and he bites down, it hurts your finger. I cannot believe that he has teeth already. They say between 5-8 months is normal so I guess Cam is just on the earlier side of that. But really?? Teeth? Thank goodness I'm not breastfeeding.

Due to the his crazy growth, I think I'm gonna start Cam on solids tomorrow. He's been interested in food for awhile but I've been holding out. In light of the teeth situation though, I'm thinking he's probably ready. (Not that he's gonna chew his food right now or anything, but clearly he's physically ready for more than just milk!)

I went to BRU and bought him a high chair yesterday to prepare for the next phase of eating. Of course, the easiest-to-use high chair is also the most expensive. Stupid baby stuff. These companies brainwash you to think that you need all this STUFF. And like a sucker, I buy it. I even bought a plastic drop cloth thingy to go under the chair. Supposed to make clean up easier since babies will likely drop food on the floor frequently. Did I really need that? Of course not. People lived without such inventions for years. That didn't stop me from buying it though.

Here's the chair I got:



Solid food...starting tomorrow!

happy 5-month day!

it's manicure time.

Camden's nails seem to grow like weeds. I hate cutting baby fingernails -- it's so hard! Cam used to scratch his face up a lot so I became vigilant about keeping his nails short. I used to just peel them when he was napping in my arms but now that he sleeps in his crib, I needed to find another way to manicure him efficiently. He's moved up to nail clippers but hates having his nails clipped. It must be irritating and who knows, maybe sometimes it's a little painful? Regardless, it needs to get done!

So, my newest strategy has been to let Cam watch tv while I cut his nails. This is the ONLY time I let Cam watch television cause he's waaay too into the tv. He's always calm when his eyes are on the screen and almost seems hypnotized by the moving pictures. I figure that can't be good for his age. I mean, TV will eventually turn his brain to mush at some point but I definitely shouldn't help that process along.

So when it's time for a manicure, I let him watch whatever show is on PBS Kids. He's too young to know the difference I'm sure, but I've convinced myself that having him watch a "kiddie" show is somehow better than doing his nails during 24. To date, he's watched parts of Dinosaur Train and Sid the Science Kid. Interestingly, these shows aren't half bad. Much easier to take then Barney or something equally annoying.

Tv hypnosis. Great for nail cutting.

sleep is my long lost friend.

There are some people out there (like Brian, thank goodness) who don't need a lot of sleep. 4 hours and they're good to go. Not me. I love my sleep and miss it dearly.

I have Cam on a pretty good sleep schedule but how long he sleeps and when he wakes up varies daily. Some nights he goes down at 7 and doesn't get up until midnight. Other nights, like last night, he fussed until 730, woke up at 930 and then again at 1130 and 330. Ugh.

For me, I think the hardest part is the interrupted sleep. If I could get a good 5 hours straight, I'm a much happier mommy. It's the 3 hours here and 3 hours there that kills me.

The first 2 hours of the day, from when Cam wakes up at 7am to his first nap around 930am are the hardest for me. I'm groggy and feel guilty about not being excited to play with him. I try my best but some days I seriously feel like I'm just watching the clock, waiting for his nap time so I can take a nap too. Guilt, guilt, guilt.

In the last few days, his naps have started to vary in length as well. His morning nap used to be the longest. He'd nap 2-3 hours, which was awesome for me on the days when I needed to nap with him. This week though, he's switched it up and naps only about an hour or so in the morning and then 2 hours in the afternoon. But then today, he changed it on me again and is taking a 2 hour+ nap. Life with baby, never predictable.

Really though, can I complain about sleeping ANY more?? I tell myself I need to just suck it up. That many moms out there have full-time jobs and extracurricular activities and multiple children to juggle. I'm just being a wuss here. So, I'm trying.

Maybe if I just get myself a coffee IV drip, I'll be good to go. I should look into it.

IN and OUT

Almost 5 months and things Camden likes and dislikes change day-to-day. Here's a list of what's in and what's out.

Totally IN:

1. Nemo! And pretty much anything fishy. His 10 Friendly Fish book is one of his faves, he loves his nemo toy, can't get enough of his tummy time surfboard with fish floating in water, and adored the aquarium.

2. Books, books and more books. We seriously read him like 10+ books a day cause he really does heart books. He reaches for them as you read to him and likes to help turn the pages. Pop-up books are most interesting probably because they're so interactive. Hoping this love of books stays with him as he gets older so one say he can say he reads more than daddy. ;)

3. Patterns. Sometimes, I find him awake in his crib after a nap just touching his crib sheets that have animals on them. He's totally quiet and content, just looking at the patterns. I notice him touching the sides of his crib too, probably because you can see the crib bars through the breathable bumper. Must look like stripes with the light coming through it. He also loves it when people have shirts with red prints on them (or bold colored prints in general) and especially loves his burp cloths cause they all have some kind of design on them.

4. Bubbles! Makes him laugh every time.

5. Watching people eat. He is very interested in food. I'm holding off on solids until we see the pediatrician in March though. I see no reason to jump the gun on solids when he seems content on formula. But maybe soon...

6. Toys he can grab and ultimately put in his mouth. Soft toys, hard toys, rattles -- he loves things he can grab and suck. Smallish toys (but not too small cause they end up in his mouth!) are best since he can hold them as they aren't too heavy.

7. Watching the wind in the trees. It must be calming or something. Mid-playing and sometimes even mid-eating, Camden will stop and watch the wind blow the tree branches back and forth through the window. Whenever he does it, all I can think of is the movie Phenomenon.

8. His jumper. He still likes his jumper but I think he may be getting somewhat bored with it. He's mastered playing with most of the toys on his jumper so I think he's kinda like, "Been there, done that." He still likes the jumping a lot though.

Totally OUT:

1. Being cradled. Cam has disliked this for awhile but before he would still want to be cradled when he was tired. That's still somewhat true, but now he's so big and since we put him down for naps, he doesn't much like falling asleep in my arms. He does, however, sometimes fall asleep upright with his head on your shoulder, usually in the middle of the night after a feeding. Brian and I love that. It's so cute when he "cuddles."

2. Pat-a-cake. While he still sometimes smiles when you play pat-a-cake with him, he no longer laughs at the game. Nor does he like it when you make him play pat-a-cake anymore. Who knows why!

3. Toys that are too loud or move too much. I think this might become "in" as he gets older, but right now he doesn't like noisy toys. We have this hilarious monkey that rolls around and chuckles. When we put it in front of him, he watches it intently but then starts making noises like he's telling it to stop. He clearly doesn't like it. It's kind of funny, actually.

whoa. fish.

We took Cam to the aquarium on Valentine's Day. Yes, fish have nothing to do with cupid but I never really like vday anyway. A nice day out was all I wanted and Camden seemed to enjoy it. Brian and I had a good time and met up with Staci, Scott and Kaitlin as well.

Afterward, we went to get shave ice (I've been craving good shave ice since we moved back!) at Your Kitchen. Holy crap, that place is crazy good. Their shave ice is really fine and they make homemade mango, haupia and green tea flavors. The mango seriously tastes like you're biting into a real mango and even has bits of fruit in it! The haupia was oh-so-delicious too. Didn't try the green tea but we're definitely going back so I'll have to try it next time. So much for Matsumoto's, this place beats their shave ice by a mile. Too bad it's far away (Waialae) but it is so worth the drive.

Poor Cam was so tired after this outing since he skipped his afternoon nap. But he didn't cry once! He just chilled and was mellow. What a good boy.

Here he is just mesmerized:

i love bubbles!!

There's just something about bubbles. All kids love them and Camden is no exception!

first tooth?

I think Camden has a tooth coming in!!

Brian put him in his car seat this afternoon and for some reason he didn't want to be there and started wailing. While wailing, his mouth was wide open and Brian noticed that he has what looks like teeth coming in on the bottom. Sure looked like it to me too! Can it be? He's not even 5 months! But, I've heard of babies getting teeth early so maybe Cam is just one of those babies. He's a monster, this kid. A solid, strong little monster.

Later, I tried to better assess the tooth situation. Every time I try to feel his bottom gums though, he sticks his tongue out so I have to try and maneuver around his tongue and then he gets pissed off so my assessment is mediocre at best. I did get a couple of feels in though and it sure does feel like teeth!!!

Holy cow. He's growing so fast. :)

1st birthday party? yay or nay?

Hawaii peeps are crazy when it comes to baby 1st birthday parties. They go all out. It's like a wedding with 100+ guests, games, entertainment, food, the works. I told myself that I couldn't see spending all that money and putting so much work into a party that Camden won't even remember. But, I also know that this party is 1) somewhat a Hawaii tradition and 2) is more for the grandparents and family rather than the celebrant.

If I am to plan a huge-ish birthday bash, I need to start doing it ASAP. Booking a place is tough I hear, as venues for this kind of thing book up fast. Last night, I did some research online for party ideas and admittedly did get kinda excited for a themed birthday party. That could be really fun! Especially since I'm not working right now, I have the time to invest in a real bash and also hopefully find good deals without breaking the bank.

At the same time, I don't want to do the same 'ole, same 'ole party that everyone in Hawaii does. I also don't want it to get too out of hand in terms of cost, scale and the dreaded guest list.

So, I'm torn.

Should I throw a huge bday bash or keep is small and simple? Maybe there's a way to do something in between? (I kinda doubt it cause once I get started I bet it will be really hard to stop!) Hmm....

who needs mommy? i got two hands!

Speaking of midnight feedings, last night when I was feeding Cam, he totally held his bottle all by himself! Not quite like the acrobatic-footed kid in this pic, but he held it nonetheless.

Mind you, it was a small bottle since we only give him 4 oz per feeding at night, but he grabbed it with both hands, pulled it to his mouth and when I let go he was pretty much feeding himself. I couldn't help but smile as I watched him lay in my lap while he enjoyed his milk. Both my hands were free and he just sucked it down. Mid-way through though, I think he finally realized he was doing more work than usual and let go of the bottle. So, he held it for half his feeding.

Still, it was pretty darn cute. :)

mommy insomnia

No matter how tired I am these days, I can't seem to get to sleep until after midnight. Cam is now in a groove where he goes down at around 7, then wakes about around midnight and then 5am to feed, finally getting up for the day at 7-7:30am.

The last few nights, I've been so tired that I get to bed at 10pm (sometimes 9!) but toss and turn until Cam gets up for his midnight feeding. Then after he's fed, I can easily go to sleep. I'm starting to think this has more to do with mommy-ness than sleeping. Like, I'm trying to sleep but really I'm just thinking about Cam getting up so I can't settle down until he does?

Boy, I hope this isn't a trend for future years. If I'm one of those moms who can't sleep until her kid is nicely tucked in his bed, even when he's 17, I'm in BIG TROUBLE.

more camden cuteness

How can you not love this little face?

what gives, baby hui?

Weeks ago, I signed up for Baby Hui, a mom's group much like PEPS in Seattle. I really want to get Cam around other babies his age and also would love the weekly support of other moms. Baby Hui seemed perfect. It would get me out of the house and I could also meet some new people. But alas, it's been over a month and no baby group!

They need 10 moms in a particular neighborhood to start a group and as of when I registered, they only had 4. I tried to recruit a couple of mommies I know but they both work so it's harder for them. Sigh. I also think people in Hawaii have their families around so they don't really need a program like Baby Hui. Or maybe Baby Hui isn't so great? I've heard that as well.

Oh well. Guess I'll just have to talk with friends for mommy advice for now. And of course, there's always fb. ;)

genius shminus.

Today I am of the opinion that I am obsessing about Camden's sleeping WAY too much. And I also have concluded that that Healthy Sleep Habits author is, in fact, not a genius. Cam struggled to go down at 730 last night. I put him down, left the room and then he fussed. And instead of subsiding, it escalated! I let him cry for almost 10 minutes and then couldn't take it. Went in to soothe him and he was all the way at the end of his crib thrashing around. Poor guy. Gave him a pacifier and he fell asleep. But then he got up at 830, then 930 and finally stayed asleep til midnight. Fed him at midnight, put him down awake and he fell asleep on his own in a few minutes. He got up at 530am, fed him again and he fell asleep on his own quickly and got up for the day at 8am.

I don't know what to think. Clearly, Cam CAN put himself to sleep cause he does it at midnight and 530am. He did it yesterday for both naps but then today, couldn't put himself to sleep for his 10am nap. He cried and I had to go in and give him a pacifier.

I really don't think I can let him "cry it out" for more than 10 minutes. Even that seems long to me. I know he has to learn to soothe himself back to sleep but what if by not responding to him, it gets worse because he feels like we're not meeting his need for us to help him sleep? I don't want to create bad sleep habits (i.e. needing us to always be there to help him settle down) but what's the "limit" to letting him figure it out on his own vs. him losing trust in us?

Plus, this guy's method kinda makes you a slave to the nap schedule. I know babies need to nap pretty consistently, but mommies and daddies need to have lives too.

Then, part of me thinks that I have too much information at my disposal but at the same time not enough. I know just enough to make me crazy but since I'm a first-time mom and not an expert or doctor, it makes me doubt what I'm doing and then obsess about the possible consequences of my actions. Sigh.

Brian thinks I need to relax more. He's probably right. I need to figure out the balance between following my instincts and using the knowledge that I have on babies, sleeping, and all these "methods." Honestly, Cam isn't really a problem sleeper. Not compared to other babies his age. But I'm trying to prevent problems in the future by hopefully setting up good sleep habits now. But I also need to remember that he's still young and maybe he's just not ready to completely soothe himself or "cry it out."

For those mommies who have gone through this, when did your kids sleep through the night? How'd they get to that point? And at what age? Boy, mommyhood is a tough job.

This book may just be the bible on sleeping.

Sleep begets sleep. That's what Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child says. I have to say, I was skeptical of "sleep training" and all these methods out there. From the time Cam was a month old, we set up a routine on our own, putting him down by about 7 or 7:30pm and having him nap twice a day -- once a couple hours after waking (cause that's what everyone seems to agree on) and then once in the afternoon when I noticed him getting tired. That seemed to work well until Cam decided rolling over in the middle of the night was fun and we had to unswaddle him. Since the unswaddling, he's been getting up much more frequently during the night, making me doubt what we've been doing (patting him to sleep, giving him a pacifier if he wakes up and needs it, feeding him twice a night around midnight and then at 5am).

So, I caved and bought this book. After reading it, I honestly thought that there wasn't much in it to help me. Cam's pretty much on the same schedule the book recommends and a lot of the strategies seem to be for babies who are put to bed really late and/or don't nap at all. However, there are two things that the book recommends that we don't do:

1) We don't have Cam take an early afternoon nap. Usually it's late afternoon -- between 3-5pm. The book recommends a mid-morning (which we do), early afternoon (between 12pm and 2pm) and then the late nap is variable.

2) The book encourages "cry it out" methods. It says it doesn't, but really it does. We've been trying to figure out when to go to Cam when he cries and when to let him figure it out on his own. Everyone, even Dr. Brazelton, says not to rush in at the first sound. But the problem with the vagueness of this statement is: How are you suppose to know what's a sound of, "I'm cranky but can learn to soothe myself back to sleep" and what's a sound of "I need help, respond to my need?" Honestly, the only way to figure this out is to let your child "cry it out" for a bit. Only then can you see if he's able to soothe himself or if he really needs your help. Up until now, we've been going in pretty quickly to pat him back to sleep or give him a pacifier. I thought that if I just didn't take him out of his crib, that he'd eventually figure out how to soothe himself. Clearly, that hasn't been the case.

So, today I decided to apply the above two strategies and see what happens. Cam got up around 8am this morning. At 9:45am, I held him, sang him a lullaby and then put him down awake as I always do in his crib. But then instead of staying with him, patting him to sleep, I left the room and closed the door behind me. He talked a bit, then started fussing and once in awhile would "cry," but it wasn't a piercing cry like he really needed me. I stood outside his door and listened to see if this was going to escalate or subside. Miraculously, after 5 minutes Camden was quiet and asleep!! He slept for 2 1/2 hours! Wow.

He got up at about 12:30pm. We played, he ate, I changed his diaper -- all the same as other days. He was happy and smiley. Seemingly my normal little boy. At about 2:00pm I started to notice him complain a little. Hmm....I wonder if he's getting tired already? I let him go until 2:15 and decided to try and put him down for a nap. Same drill, lullaby then down awake in his crib shutting the door behind me. He fussed for 5 minutes and again, fell asleep on his own!

I am becoming a believer!! The book says that when babies have a consistent schedule and take good naps, that they sleep better at night -- sleep begets sleep. The true test will be tonight. Will Cam sleep better because he isn't overtired? (And I honestly don't think he's even THAT overtired to begin with) Is this Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child guy truly a genius? We'll see tonight! If it works, I will forever praise this book and recommend it to every mother I meet!

Stay tuned...

like a pro, i tell you. he spins it like a pro.

Is my kid coordinated, or what? One day, I showed him how to spin his toy (not with his thumb, he figured that out on his own) and a couple days later he was doing this!

my nemo.

I just love this picture. Nemo is his friend.

this isn't the tummy time i had in mind.

To put it mildly, it's been a rough couple of weeks.

Camden decided that he doesn't want to sleep on his back anymore. That's for 3 month olds. Apparently, 4 month olds ROLL OVER when they sleep and love to sleep on their tummies. Completely swaddled, nonetheless! Uh oh. All the crazed SIDS people beat into parents' heads these days that babies should never sleep on their tummies. They will re-breathe carbon dioxide and not wake up! Back to sleep, babies, BACK to sleep! Well, Camden didn't get the memo.

He rolls over swaddled, swaddled with one arm out, in a sleep sack, out of a sleep sack -- it doesn't matter. This kid just wants to sleep on his tummy.

When he was swaddled, he'd fuss and fuss cause he'd roll over onto his tummy but couldn't roll back because, uh, he's swaddled. Sometimes, he'd bust out of the swaddle and roll over. That was a little better but he'd still fuss after awhile. And then I was worried about him getting caught in the swaddle blanket somehow because of all that rolling. We tried unswaddling him and had him sleep on his back but he hated it. I'd have to hold his arms down until he fell asleep (he'd wake himself up with his arms) but he'd only sleep like that for a short period of time. The first night we tried to do that, he woke up EVERY HOUR. Ugh.

The next night, I found him with his foot caught between the crib bars cause he'd roll onto his tummy and his right foot would get between the bars. It wasn't stuck or anything as the bars are wide enough apart, but Cam isn't coordinated enough to realize that or figure out how to get his foot out. Sleepless night number 2 down.

Thanks to my trusty fb friends, I found these breathable crib bumpers to help with the "caught foot" problem.

Okay, now that I took care of that issue, maybe Cam will sleep better unswaddled?

Night number 3 -- no such luck! No foot caught, but he still got up every 2 hours on his tummy with his head up like he's doing tummy time. Sigh.

Okay, how about a sleep sack? I got one that was sleeveless and...success! That seemed to work better. That first sleep sack night he slept from 7pm - 2:30am! But then he got up every 2 hours after that. Hmmm...but that's progress, right?

Since then, we've been putting him down in the sleep sack and he sleeps from 7:30pm to about midnight. But then he's been getting up every 2 hours from midnight until 7am. We can't figure out what the deal is. Maybe he's hungry? Brian starts a feeding log and we think he needs more per feeding. We try it but he still gets up.

Usually, I can pat him back to sleep (still in his crib) or give him a pacifier and he's good. Other times, we do feed him. But Cam still hasn't quite figured out the unswaddling. I'm hoping it's just going to take some time and eventually he'll get it. I'm also hoping he'll learn soon how to soothe himself back to sleep before I have enough bags under my eyes for a trip around the world.

Sleeping through the entire 12 hours has gotta happen at some point...right?