Camilla's Habits

• cupping her right hand and waving it in the air


• being stingy with her hugs--I miss the cuddly days. She is just too busy for such things most times.


• saying ba-ha, ba-ha, over and over


• crawling excitedly to meet Daddy when he comes home from work. If she happens to be upstairs, we hear an excited squeal and slow progress to make her way downstairs.


• if she wants to talk with you and you turn your head away, she adjusts her position to put her face back in your line of vision.


• taking pacifiers away from other babies (she doesn't use one)


• likes being in swimming water, but can't stand the bathtub


• she cries when you put her to bed-night or nap, doesn't matter-but she's happy as a lark when she gets up and will stay in her crib talking for about 20 mins before she starts wondering why no one has gotten her out
• she won't sleep anywhere but in her crib. The only exception is sometimes during 3rd hour of church when Daddy is holding her, she'll collapse for 15 mins (it doesn't work when Mommy holds her 3rd hour, though--why is that?!!?)
• she goes right to the blanket in her crib when she's tired. she loves to snuggle with it at least. she has to lay down with them by her face. I've been somewhat freaked out about this but she always sleeps with her head to the side.

I'm sure I've missed some of the things I've noticed lately but at least it's a partial list

Happy Birthday Camilla!

I couldn't let the week pass without officially tracking our little girl/baby's progress. From month 11 to 12 we've seen lots of changes.
She can now officially:
climb down the stairs consistently on her own (backwards)
walk 5 steps without assistance before falling down
drink from any type of sippy cup
stand for whatever period of time she so desires without assistance
climb onto the kids' picnic table--not something we've encouraged!

stand from a sitting position without anything to lean on for support

Update: 10 days after her birthday she was cruisin' around the rooms and walking up a storm. Whew, it can happen fast!

11 months and counting

Three teeth, officially! She loves walking with assistance, getting much better at doing it with just one hand holding and sometimes requests you get up from what you're doing to walk with her.

Logic of Adoration

Abri has a Wish Bear, her "Care Bear Baby" that she sleeps with each night. We had the misfortune of leaving it at my parents' house a week ago. She was really brave about not having it, but she was so disappointed. I had thought she was over it since she hadn't mentioned it since the first night. Then tonight we each shared a wish, and Abri surprised me: "I wish for my care bear baby back." Later at bedtime she couldn't go to sleep because she was thinking about it so much. I offered her some suggestions of other animals and here are her responses:
Yellow kitty: no, it's too small
Flower teddy bear: the thing around its neck bothers me; (when I say we can take it off) and its tummy is too soft
Brown bear: no, its tummy doesn't feel like Care Bear baby
[few others I can't remember]

Finally:
sheep [with a half-smile]: it's soft like my Care Bear baby. ok. [then off to bed]

Moral of the story: kids have their reasons for their favorites. I didn't ever appreciate just how much thought must go into those preferences.

Train's a coming. . .

So, here is our not so exciting home video from Jan of this year with the girls acting out a train. . .I thought it was sweet. The grandparents will enjoy it I hope. We don't do videos often, but after posting the video of Emma's musical I thought, hey why not add another. They add a refreshing change of pace to the blog even if I find the video itself rather unspectacular.

Eight is Great

After cancelling her baptism originally scheduled for 3/6 due to a 24-hr stomach bug in our house, Emma was baptised on 4/17. When the first service was cancelled in March, she was disappointed; in true drama queen fashion, she felt like her baptism was going to be postponed indefinitely and we would never get around to it. We explained patiently that that was not at all the case and that she would get baptized and the time would go pretty quickly since it was only a six week delay.

On the day of her baptism, she spent some time on her "Baptism Quiz" as I called it--a packet of activities from the primary presidency with questions about preparing for baptism, a crossword puzzle, fill in the blanks, etc. She enjoyed the challenge of seeing what she had learned in primary, in our family home evenings talking about it, and mini lessons with Daddy using the missionary discussions.

After she was baptised, I asked Emma how she felt and her reply was "COLD!" She was shivering from the water that wasn't heated in the baptismal font. When she received the gift of the Holy Ghost, I asked her how that felt, and she said, "Happy All Over!" I thought that was a perfect description of what the spirit feels like in that special moment.

After the baptismal service, we enjoyed dinner back at our house for family and friends that had attended the service. I love attending baptisms and it was all the more special to see Emma getting baptised. There is such a sweet spirit that accompanies the performance of baptisms and I am so grateful for the witness of the spirit as it teachs and affirms truth.

Move over High School Musical still pics

Here are still pics of the 2nd grade musical on 4/20. First three are self-explanatory. Fourth is the girls with their Uncle Chad, Todd's brother who was visiting from out of state for Emma's baptism. I thought we had a family shot that night but I think it was only on my mother-in-law's camera.