Jenna is 1!!!

As you can tell from the length of time between each post, life in the Cameron house is a bit busy. Sadly, things like the blog don't get updated as often as I'd like when you're a full-time working mom. :( Anyway... our baby girl turned 1 this week!!! I know I always say this, but I truly can't believe it and how quickly time goes by. It feels like she should maybe be 6 or 7 months old! Time flies by so much quicker with two children. I think it's because we were so busy with activities and programs for Colby in the beginning that the first few months went by so fast.

Jenna is a healthy and very happy little girl. She had her 1 year check up and weighs 19 1/2 lbs. and is 28" long. She gained quite a lot of weight this past month (over 1 lb. compared to her typical 5 or 6 oz. as usual)! This puts her at the 50th percentile for weight and still just below the 25th percentile for height. So she's still on the shorter side, but nothing that the doctors are worried about. :) Jenna is close to walking and is taking a few steps at a time. She's up to about 5 or 6 now. She will often just stand independently, but then plop down and crawl. I think she realizes how much quicker it is to crawl than to walk! I'm sure one day she'll just go!! Jenna is usually a very content baby except for when she's tired, hungry, or wanting something you take away. She has a bit of a stubborn side of her... wonder where she gets that from?!? :) She's a great eater and has been eating everything we are eating at the table for a few months now. Jenna still has 2 bottles a day usually (sometimes only 1), but is on Homo milk now. It's so nice not making formula anymore! :) We love watching her grow, develop, reach milestones, and learn new things everyday! She's a very active baby who doesn't really sit still and just play with one thing for a while... we're always on the move!! All in all, we are so blessed to have a healthy baby girl who loves to have fun!

We celebrated Jenna's 1st birthday last weekend with a big party at our house. We had a house full! There were 39 people altogether, including us and all adults and children. Thank you to everyone who came to help us celebrate. It was especially great to see Gerry's mom and the Francis family travel from Grande Prairie to be here with us. We didn't know that Grandma Cameron was coming, so it was a wonderful surprise!! Carmen and her family usually stay with us when they come into town, so we had them overnight too, which is always nice. It was great to visit and catch up with them after the busy party ended. Jenna and Colby had many friends here to play with and thankfully, it wasn't raining or too cold, so we bundled up the kids and headed outside for some play time before dinner. To go with the theme of her party, this included a game of "Pin the Bee on the Flower". It was cute! Jenna was spoiled with a lot of great gifts including toys and adorable clothing! Thanks again, everyone!! Next was cake time! Jenna sure knew what to do with her cake!! Literally, she took fistfulls of cake and enjoyed it thoroughly... as it was everywhere!!!! I guess that's exactly what your first birthday cake is supposed to be like, right?! What a wonderful afternoon and evening of celebrating. We are thankful for such wonderful friends and family in our life who care deeply about our children. Love you all!! xoxo

Colby is still adjusting to the routine of dayhome everyday. He absolutely loves being there... so much that he often doesn't want to come home! This breaks Mom's heart to hear. We are also struggling with his no-napping schedule. Usually, he is SO tired and very grouchy from about 5:00 on until an early bedtime at 7:00 or 7:30 pm. Today, he had a nap before we headed to a birthday party and was absolutely great!!! He wasn't tired, grouchy, and played amazingly with all of the kids! The negative side? It took quite a while for him to fall asleep again at bedtime. What to do?!? It's so hard knowing what's best...... Every sleep book says something different and I know it completely depends on every child's individual scenario. Any thoughts or suggestions?? He is loving his parented program at the TLC that we call "Sports School". It is every Saturday morning and is a great time for him to engage in some sports activities with other children. We often play in the playgym for a bit afterwards, too! Also on Saturday mornings, Jenna just began her first session of swimming lessons. Below is a photo of her on her first day!

I am excited for next weekend's family photo shoot!! I won a gift certificate at an event I attended for a free session with a great photographer out of Spruce Grove. We are going to try to do it outside if the weather cooperates (would have been SO nice this weekend!!!), so we're crossing our fingers! Looking forward to seeing what she can do with our two busy kids who don't do well with photos...... I'm sure they'll do great and I can't wait to see their 1 and 3 year photos!

Have a great rest of your weekend, everyone!

xoxo

Gerry, Lesley, Colby and Jenna

Exciting Day!

Yesterday (September 7th) was an exciting day in our world! Jenna finally stood by herself for a period of time, while clapping too! So cute to see! She has been pretty reluctant to try taking steps, but she surprised us! She took two steps toward me after standing for a while!!! They were very wobbly and quick little steps, but still her first steps nonetheless! :) I was SO happy to see them (as I missed Colby's first steps that he took at the dayhome). Daddy was lucky enough to see them when he got home when she did it again. Yay, Jenna!! You'll be walking in no time!

Jenna's new moves... standing and clapping!

September is always crazy in the life of a teacher, but oh my goodness, it has been pretty crazy around here for a couple of weeks now. I must admit, I had a rough start to the school year as my first day with my grade 3 class didn't go well, but things are definitely improving. I have a class of 23 students (16 boys and only 7 girls!) that are very busy and keep me on my toes. In that mix, I have 7 students who are new to the school... and 2 of which are showing some interesting behaviors. I have support now in the classroom with a half-time EA, so I'm very lucky!! She's great and I love every minute she's around to help!! It is very busy teaching full-time and getting out the door in the morning with two kids. I don't know how my mom did it with 3!! I feel bad when I have to wake the kids up (most mornings) to go to Becky's. Colby is tired in the mornings, which breaks my heart. They're getting much better with the routine, so that makes it easier. On a positive note, they are still doing great at the dayhome! We're so lucky they adjusted so quickly (really only had about 2-3 days of crying in the morning) and are doing well everyday! See, I knew kids were resilient and would adapt... ours anyway! :) It's definitely a juggling act fitting everything in through the day. I try to work every recess, lunch hour, and optimize minutes before and after school so I can pick them up relatively early and get home to make supper, play, bath, and bedtime. Whew!! It's busy, but we're doing well, so I can't complain!

Colby has had a cough at nighttime for about a week and a half now. In the past two days, he has been coughing more throughout the day. Gerry took him into the doctor this afternoon and she said it's just a cough. No ear infections, lungs are clear, etc., so not even a cold. Hopefully it clears up soon... he's not getting enough rest when he wakes up coughing throughout the night!! Fingers crossed!

We had a great September long weekend! I really do wish every weekend was three days! :) Oddly enough, I didn't miss camping one bit. I think that's because we went so often throughout the entire summer that it was really nice to be home on one long weekend. On Saturday, we met Gerry's sister, Carmen, and the kids at WEM and did some shopping and went for lunch. It was great to see them and Colby always loves hanging out with the kids (especially Dylan!) Sunday I worked for a chunk of the day to try to get ahead for this week. I'm finding that if I plan for a week at a time, I haven't been going back to school in the evenings as much. Monday, we had a great family day! We went back to WEM and went to the Sea Lion show and Sea Life Caverns. It's been a while since we saw the show (Jenna was still sleeping in the sling), so both of them loved it! Jenna couldn't stop smiling and clapping and Colby couldn't take his eyes off of the show! Such a great time altogether! On Monday afternoon after Jenna's nap, we headed out to Jody's house for a family dinner. It was nice to have everyone together. :)

This is a busy time as we get ready to celebrate Jenna's 1st birthday soon! Next weekend is her party, so we're looking forward to seeing everyone here. Lots to do, but all worth it! :)

Here are some recent photos of the kids! Enjoy!


Colby LOVES riding his new bike!

11 1/2 months old!




They really do have a lot of fun together!

Have a great rest of your week!
Love,
The Cameron's