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