Family Pictures

We were so lucky to have the very talented, Ambyr, take our family pictures this year. She did such a great job and let us tell you, she did not have much to work with! Carson was a little stinker and did not want to cooperate with anything we asked him to do. She was so great with him and we couldn't be happier with the results. When it was over we were like if she can find one good picture out of this we will be happy. We were thrilled to receive as many as we did, she is a miracle worker...seriously!

5 Months

My sweet, sweet Camilla you are already 5 months old. I am loving this stage of your life, you are so much fun! You are such a little smiler. You want to smile all the time. Even when I go into to check on you at night and you wake up, you just roll over and smile at me. We are so in love with you. You continue to roll all over the place and you are loving your play mat and your exer-saucer. You are getting way more into your jumper in the bathroom but your favorite is to play with Mom or Dad on our bed. We love listening to your sweet noises and you just seem to be a very social baby. You are still only going 8 or 9 hours at night before you want to eat again but you usually eat and go right back to sleep but some mornings you and Mom are up and at 'em at 5 or 5:30. You are getting so much better in the car and stay in your seat at the store. You still don't have any hair but Mom keeps the bows on all the time. :) You are starting to be a little scared of your brother, for good reason but you still light up in the mornings and after your naps when he comes in to get you and plays in your crib with you. Carson also loves to "read" books to you at night before you go to sleep. We sure have a great life Camilla and you just love being along for whatever everyone wants to do!

Scrapbook

So I finally finished Carson's baby scrapbook! It has taken me so long to get done but, of course, I love it. I can't believe it has taken me this long but I wouldn't let myself put up Christmas until it was done and so I finished it in time to get all of our Christmas decorations up. Aaron loves it and asked when I was going to get started on Camilla's. Um, no thank you. I love you Camilla, just as much as I love Carson, but you will have to make due with a digital book, preferably one that I just drop the pictures into.

Thanksgiving

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year, both of them were fabulous. We celebrated with dinner and the Carroll family on Wednesday night at my Uncle's house and it was very nice. It is a fancy dinner filled with lots of food and the weather was great. I had so much fun seeing my cousins and meeting the newest member of our family on that side and showing off sweet Camilla.
Then on Thanksgiving day we got together with Aaron's two brothers and we had such a great time. We were spoiled rotten with kids playing, yummy food, and gorgeous weather. We also spent time playing the wii and chowing down caramel apples. I loved all of the leftovers, we ate them for four days straight and Carson couldn't have been happier with all of his cousins and having his Dad home.
We also went and saw the Twilight movie, took many trips to the park, and stayed up late talking. I was so sad to have our visitors go home.
We are so grateful this year for all our many blessings, the biggest one of course being our happy, healthy baby girl.

4 Months

My sweet Camilla had her 4 month check up last week. Four months, is time flying by for anyone else this fast?? This little babe is getting so big! We knew she was chunky but were pretty surprised to see just how big she has gotten.

Height: 25 3/4" (95th)

Weight: 14.6 lbs. (75th)

Head: 16" (50th) Although Mom and Doctor agree this must be a poor measurement as your head is quite large. :)

I feel like this fourth month is a big one for babies. You started doing just what Carson was doing at this age. Laughing all the time and being so ticklish. You are rolling over, whenever you roll yourself over while you are sleeping it wakes you up. Many evenings are spent walking into your room to roll you back over, even though you can roll yourself both ways. You are taking longer naps and giving Mom longer stretches between feedings. You just started playing in your jumper and love your activity mat. You love to reach out and grab the toys and stick them in your mouth. You would really like to suck your thumb but can't quite figure it out. The pacifier is O-U-T. You are taking the bottle like a champ and continue to be a great eater. No new developments on sleeping more at night, you seem to be stuck at waking up at 4 AM and daylight savings threw you for a loop. The question Mom gets asked all the time is, "is she always this good?" Yes its true, you really are; you have been the easiest, sweetest baby. You still love to see your big brother even after he uses your head as a fun place to bang his toys. :) You are finally sleeping all the time in your own room and I'm sorry my love but not much hair has grown in so Mom makes sure to keep a bow on your head at all times.

Nice dog...scared!

So I have mentioned before that Carson loves our dog, Josie. I mean he really loves her. I genuinely think she is his best friend. I would say Carson spends 30 mins. to 1 hour playing with her every day. He follows her around the back yard doing everything she does, then he chases her and throws a ball to her. He also likes just playing around her. He takes his toys next to her and talks to her while he plays. He also likes to lay with her, cuddle with her, and climb on her. Sometimes he takes his cars and run them all over her. One of his jobs is to feed her and he gets so excited and does it too well some days when he gives her his own food too. Its pretty adorable.

Well here is something you don't know, Carson is SO scared of dogs. SO scared. He won't go near them, none of them. Not the little ones, not the big ones, not the nice ones, not the mean ones. He screams like crazy if one comes near him. He says, "nice dog, nice dog...so scared." We don't know what to do. We try holding him and taking him to pet them and showing him how nice they are and he still just looses it. I have to pick him up and carry him if one comes close. It is the funniest thing and we are not sure what started it or how to fix it. I am hoping he will grow out of it!

How to take a walk

So let me just say we like to take walks around this house. I like them a lot, Camilla likes them okay, Carson would like to go on two walks a day, and Josie, well she would go on a walk any time we would take her. Well before Camilla was born I had the walk thing down. Carson likes to take long walks, unbelievably long, but it didn't really matter because it was just us and Josie and Carson just walked, didn't ever use a stroller. Well now we have Camilla and everything has changed!

First, I tried using my double stroller. I have a sit n stand stroller, which I love, but its not so great for walking really. I didn't really like pushing it so much.

Second, I tried just letting Carson walk and putting Camilla in the jogging stroller that is so much easier to push. Well Carson didn't like Camilla being in the stroller without him. All the sudden he wanted to be in a stroller and not walk. Sometimes he insisted upon pushing the stroller, without any help.

Third, I tried putting Camilla in the carrier and pushing the stroller for when Carson wanted to get in the stroller - that was a lot of work! Plus Camilla is getting big to carry around and she always falls asleep in the carrier, even when I don't want her to.

Fourth, I tried leaving Josie behind and went back to the double stroller. But I felt so guilty and when I came back one time she was waiting with her little nose poking out under the fence. Plus Carson loves walking with Josie and would ask for her the whole time.

Fifth, I tried pulling the wagon. That way Carson can get in when he wants and there is room for him and Camilla, plus room for water, snacks, etc. The wagon is also easy to pull.

So I think for now we have a winner, lucky number 5. I think I will like this better when Camilla can actually sit up. I'm so glad we got this all figured out just in time for the cold weather. :)

Halloween Time

We had a lot of fun this Halloween and by we, I mostly mean Aaron and me. Carson threw a F-I-T every time we tried to put him in his costume. We are not sure why but he did not want to put it on. Our friends had a Halloween party and we bribed him into it and he wore it the whole night. We dressed Camilla up like a lamb for the party so we would have our lion and our lamb.

They both looked cute and we had so much fun at the party. The weather was fabulous and Carson spent the whole party playing with his BFF, Britton. Then while we were at the BYU game Carson went to the trunk-n-treat at my parent's church. They went with my brother, Christopher and his little girl, Mia. Christopher says he had no problems getting Carson in his costume. They didn't stay too long as Carson is still not really into the trick or treating thing. Then on Halloween we went to Adam and Cassie's house to eat dinner and go trick or treating in their neighborhood. Well Aaron met us there after work and I could not get Carson in his costume. We tried again at their house and it was a no go.

So we passed out candy until the bowl was empty while everyone else went out. I think it is just as much fun to pass out candy too and see all the kids and how excited they get. Plus we don't get to see Aaron very much so it was fun to spend the evening with him and just hang out, especially with this little girl!

We are hoping next year Carson is a little more into it and gets excited about it.

The perfect life

Some days I have completely convinced myself that life is perfect and could not get any better, but particularly on Sunday afternoons when we all go outside in the backyard. Aaron and I lay on a blanket with Camilla, Aaron reads, I talk to Camilla and close my eyes, and Carson plays all over the yard. I am so in love with this weather and just can't believe that its the beginning of November and we are still playing outside like this.

I have to capture moments like this because, as Aaron would be the first to tell you, some days lately I feel like I am loosing my mind! But I do relish these moments when we get to be all together.

BYU vs. TCU

We were fortunate enough to go to the BYU vs. TCU football game last weekend at the Cowboys stadium. It was my first time to see the stadium and it is amazing. We had a lot of fun cheering for the Cougars and running into a lot of old friends. Even though BYU lost it was still fun and they didn't play that bad. :) Believe it or not, Camilla feel asleep and stayed asleep until we left the game. We didn't take any good pictures but Aaron did snatch a few with his phone. Aaron's parents came down for the game and Adam and Cassie came with us too. We got to spend time with Aaron's parents over the weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather and eat BBQ. It was a quick trip but always fun to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Camilla gave her grandma a few laughs that night. :)

PS- We ordered Camilla a BYU shirt and I wanted to get one that was unisex and after I tried it on her on Friday morning with her jeans, she looked too much like a boy. So I had to run out and find a navy flower so no one would question. :)

Hobbs

Carson and I made a trip up to Hobbs to visit my grandparents with My Mom and my niece, Mia. It was a quick trip but we had a good time visiting. Camilla did not have very much fun in the car but we made it there and we made it home. :) We mostly spent our time visiting my Grandpa and watching the kids play in the backyard. Mia is so good to Camilla, she talks to her, she plays with her, she sings to her and pretty much entertains her. It is always good to spend time with my Dad and to see my Grandma, who Carson warmed up to while we were there. :)

And, of course, I eat good southern food while I am visiting my Grandma. Here is a small sampling of lunch one day.

Chicken fried chicken, french fries, fried onions, all smothered in gravy, with sheet cake for dessert and lots of Blue Bell. I texted Aaron to make sure he was okay with me coming home a little bigger than when I left. :) We sure missed Daddy while we were gone and so happy to see him when we got back.