I'm awful...

I haven't updated the blog in forever and there is so much to update. I guess you can blame it on the season... the holidays seem so much busier when you have a little one! I originally thought I would make a bunch of seperate posts to update everyone on all of the exciting things going on, but it's been so long, that is a little overwhelming. Instead, I'm going to make one giant post in an attempt to summarize everything that has gone on. So...here it goes...
We spent Thanksgiving in Alabama. It was our first big trip with both Cameron and Lex. I didn't realize how much more stuff you need when you are travelling with a baby. Despite having an SUV which we got to haul all of our baby stuff around, we still needed to use "space bags" (the bags you vaccum the air out of) to pack all of our clothes. Cameron's clothes alone took up a space bag and a half! So, we loaded up the suitcase, pack n' play, travel swing, carseat, boppy pillow, sound machine, baby monitor, a small suitcase filled with toys and books, and Lex, and headed to Alabama Wednesday afternoon. It was a good trip, and Cameron travelled really well in the back seat. Lex also did a great job sharing the cargo area with all of Cameron's accessories! We had a wonderful time in Alabama. Cameron met lots of new relatives and was so pleasant, even though he got passed around a lot! We got lots of compliments on what a good baby he was. Cameron also rolled over from his back to his belly for the first time Thanksgiving morning. I was in the shower, so Zack got to witness this "first". He also was able to catch the roll on video which I'll post later (I'm planning on a picture and video post soon). All in all, we had a great trip and a wonderful holiday in Alabama.
When we got back from Alabama, we decided it was time to stop swaddling Cameron when he slept at night since he was now able to roll over. The problem with swaddling once a baby can roll is that if they roll in their sleep and end up on their stomachs, their arms are not free to hold their head off of the mattress. Deswaddling has been a real treat (please note the scarcasm)! Cameron had a very hard time adjusting to the new sleeping arrangements. Not only would he roll over in his sleep and then wake up, very angry that he was on his belly, he also would swing his arms and wake himself up with each movement. Needless to say, the week following Thanksgiving was a sleepless one for all of us. I am happy to say, though, that Cameron is adjusting to sleeping unswaddled and we are making progress back towards only waking up once or twice a night. I'm really glad we decided to deswaddle before I have to go back to work because I think the sleepless nights would be much worse if I had to be at work with 16 second graders during the day.
Cameron has also been to Miss Kim's (his sitter) twice for "practice runs". This is definitely more for my benefit than his. He has done two half days there, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Next week we will be doing his final trial run so I can go to school and plan with the other teachers for the week that I come back to school. He has done a great job at Miss Kim's and I feel more and more comfortable with him going there while I'm at work. She is so highly recommended and there are two other kids there his age who live in our neighborhood. I think it will be good for him to be around other kids and maybe he'll even make some buddies while he's there!
He is changing so much. His hair is getting thicker and lighter (it looks like he's going to be a "blondie") and he has learned that he has an "outside voice" a.k.a. a shriek that sounds like I am pulling his toenails off. He also interacts with his toys and turns the pages in books when I read to him. He is no longer content just to lay around on his back. Instead, he likes to grab on to your hands and pull himself from laying to sitting and then from sitting to standing. He is still pretty wobbly on his feet, but he loves to stand up (with us holding him of course) and check out the new perspective. He is also a very observant baby. He watches everything. So, I think that gets us pretty much caught up to the Christmas holiday. I will try to be better about posting as we get ready for Cameron's first Christmas.