Cameron is 23 Weeks Old!

Cameron Leigh is 23 Weeks Old!

Age:  23 Weeks

Weight:  16 lbs 0.8 oz

Clothing Size:  3-6 month

Diaper Size:  Pampers Swaddlers Size 2

Cami is loving this 'real food' thing!  We introduced apples in the form of applesauce this week and she now loves it.  I'm using a natural no sugar added applesauce.  The ingredients are just apples and water.  We also tried out second veggie - green beans.  She's also a fan of these too.  To make the green beans I steamed a bag of frozen green beans, pureed and then froze in 1 oz. cubes.  The process is SO quick and easy.  For dinner, I upped her portion to 2 oz. of veggies and ~1 oz. of oatmeal.  I added a second 'brunch' meal this week that consists of applesauce mixed with oatmeal.  When I'm preparing her food she gets antsy and upset until I feed her.  If I'm not quick enough - she definitely lets me know!  I plan to try some bananas this week.

Cami is waking up once a night for a bottle but the time varies.  I think since it's not consistently at the same time every night she's definitely waking out of hunger vs. habit.  Only time will tell though!  She's gotten pretty good about soothing herself to sleep.  I even got her to go back to sleep by herself after a mid night bottle.  Lately she'd been needing the swing to go back to sleep.  We've been swing free the past two nights so hopefully it will continue!  ::Knock on Wood::

This weekend Cami had her first bottle with formula.  I've decided to cut back on pumping and phase in formula.  I originally wanted to wait until 6 months to start formula but I've had enough getting up early on the weekends and staying up late every night to pump.  Within the last week I've gone from 5 pumps per day to 2.  Right now Cami gets 5 oz. of pumped milk in the morning and a mix of 2 oz. formula and 3 oz. pumped milk for all other bottles.  I think I'll move tomorrow to 4 oz. formula and 1 oz. pumped milk for her daycare bottles.  Then maybe on Thursday she can start just formula at daycare and a mixture of pumped milk and formula at home.  I'll keep giving her fresh milk for as long as I have it and then will clear out my freezer stash.  I believe I have over 150 oz. in my freezer.

This weekend Cami 'found her voice.'  She was very vocal and seemed to enjoy hearing the different sounds she could make.  Check out the video at the end of this post to see what she was up to on Saturday.

Enjoying the jumparoo

Practicing Sitting

Enjoying dinner out and the beautiful weather.

Cameron is 22 Weeks Old!

Cameron Leigh is 22 Weeks Old!

Age:  22 Weeks

Weight:  15 lbs 13.8 oz

Clothing Size:  3-6 month

Diaper Size:  Pampers Swaddlers Size 2

The adventures in solid food continue!  Cami now LOVES sweet potatoes.  We decided to try some avocado last week, but she's not a fan of that.  I used a fork to mash it vs. a food processor so it was still a little chunky.  Maybe when I try again in a few weeks I'll puree it more.  After avocado we moved on to oatmeal cereal.  She seems to really enjoy it so far.  I've been feeding her 1 oz. of oatmeal and 1 oz. of sweet potato at dinner time.  This week we also plan to introduce applesauce and green beans.  Hopefully they go over better than the avocado!

I think I left off last week with taking Cami to the pediatrician for her ear.  The good news was that her ear infection is cleared up, however I have no idea why she keeps pulling on her right ear.  I saw a different Dr. and he wasn't sure if she was teething or not.  He did say that although her ear infection is cleared up, she still has fluid in her ears causing pressure which could be what's bothering her.

Cami's sleeping has been a bit weird lately.  The majority of the time she will go to sleep just fine in her crib around 7:30 pm - but she's been waking up around 9:30 or so.  We end up giving her another bottle, but she's pretty awake so the only way to get back to sleep without crying and screaming is to use the swing.  Even this can take a little bit though.  I'm not sure what's going on there.  We're going to North Carolina in April for vacation and I'm a bit worried we'll be bringing the swing with us.

I've been taking Cami for walks in the stroller without the car seat.  She seems to really enjoy it.  She's wide awake the whole time just looking around.  She doesn't even play with her toys or suck her fingers - she just observes.  She even tolerated her sunglasses (which actually do help in the sun!).

Cami is still very congested.  It seems like she's been like this for at least a month.  I'm not sure what we should do?  Some days are worse than others - but the past week it seems to be at it's worst.  She coughs more often but not all the time.  This weekend during one of her naps she was coughing on and off for about 15 minutes after I put her down.  I'm doing everything the Dr.'s said to do - saline, nose aspirator, humidifier, sleeping at an elevate angle.  I'm not sure if it will clear up soon or if another trip to the Dr. is in out future.

All Smiles



Give me more food and I promise not to cry!




Mmmm....sweet potatoes!




Mommy, I do not like avocadoes!



Cameron is 5 Months Old!

Cameron Leigh is 5 Months Old!

Age: 5 Months
Weight: 15 lbs 11.8 oz, ~60%
Length: 26.5 in.,  ~90%
Head Circ: 16.25 in, ~50%
Clothing Size: Wearing all 3-6M clothes
Diaper Size: Pampers Swaddlers Size 2 are her favorite.

Cameron is 21 Weeks Old!

Cameron Leigh is 21 Weeks Old!

Age:  21 Weeks

Weight:  15 lbs 9.0 oz

Clothing Size:  3-6 month

Diaper Size:  Pampers Swaddlers Size 2

Another busy week at the Arkins house!  We went ahead and started Cami on solid food.  The first food we had her try was rice cereal.  She 'ate' that starting Tuesday for 4 days.  She didn't seem to be the biggest fan of it, but she still took it down.  She makes it difficult though by sticking her hand in her mouth after every single bite.  Cami definitely had it all over her face but I think she still got a decent amount down.

On Saturday I baked a sweet potato for her to try.  I was able to make 9 1 oz. portions from one sweet potato.  When I go to feed her, I mix 1 oz. of the sweet potato with 1 oz. of breast milk.  She definitely seemed to enjoy the sweet potato a lot more than the rice cereal.  For the past two day's I've been able to get her to eat her entire portion!  She still puts her fingers in her mouth but if I hold the spoon close she'll pull them out long enough to get a bite in.  It's funny because Bryan and I have noticed for about and hour or so after she eats the sweet potatoes, she's abnormally happy and not fussy at all.  I guess she was ready for some real food!  Next up are avocadoes, oatmeal and green beans!

Cami has become really into her feet this week.  She had grabbed them before, but now she likes to plays with them and tries to stick her big toe in her mouth.  She also likes to raise her legs and slam them down to the ground.  She finds this to be quite fun.

Cami also is FINALLY grabbing at the toys on her play mat.  She always seems to look at them but has never been too interested in touching/grabbing them...until this weekend.

As far as rolling over - she's only done it a few more times.  I think she's really still trying to figure it all out.  I know she can do it but sometimes it seems she just doesn't want to.

All week Cami would get up once a night.  The past few nights it's been around 9:45 pm (which I like better than 2:00 am!).  I've noticed that when she wakes up, she continually grabs her right ear - but her infection is in her left ear.  I'm not sure if it's another ear infection, teething or both.  She also still will rub her left ear.  I would have thought by now she wouldn't feeling much pain from the ear infection since she's been on antibiotics for the past week.  I called the nurse at her Dr.'s office and she said we should definitely bring her in ASAP if she's still grabbing her ears.  I have an appointment this afternoon.  I just want my happy, sleeping baby back!

If it's teething, I'm not sure what else I can we can do to help her with the pain. :(  I give her Tylenol and some teething tablets but nothing seems to help long term.  Oh well, hopefully this will pass quickly!

Hmmm....

I'm not so sure about this mom!

Look what I can do!

Happy Cami

Playing with my feet

Cameron is 20 Weeks Old!

Cameron Leigh is 20 Weeks Old!

Age:  20 Weeks

Weight:  15 lbs 4.5 oz

Clothing Size:  3-6 month

Diaper Size:  Pampers Swaddlers Size 2

It's been a busy week(end)!  Cami's been pretty congested all week so we broke out the humidifier on Tuesday.  Since she wasn't running a fever, the nurse at Cami's Dr.'s office said she didn't need to come in.  On Thursday I decided to try and lay Cami in her crib for bed time just to see what would happen.  I didn't want her to cry for an extended period of time since she was semi sick.  I was anticipating having to move her to the swing within 10 minutes but surprisingly she put herself to sleep!  I was amazed!  She wake up at 1am, had a bottle and then went back to sleep in her crib.  Friday night was the same story without the 1am wake up.  On Saturday I was even able to get her to take two naps in her crib - and I can NEVER get her to nap.  It seems like we've made a little breakthrough.


On Saturday I hosted a play date here at the house for my mommy friends at work.  There were 5 other pairs that joined Cami and me for a day of fun.  It was also a good excuse to thoroughly clean the house (thanks mom for the help!).


On Saturday Cami started shoving BOTH hands at one time into her mouth.  All my mommy friends insisted that she was teething.  On Sunday, Cami was super cranky almost all day and seemed like she was in pain.  I figured she probably was teething and gave her Tylenol as necessary.  I did however notice she started tugging on her ear a little bit - but this can be a symptom of teething.


Last night was HORRIBLE though.  Cami was exhausted and went to bed at 7pm.  She woke up around 10:30 seeming to be in pain and hungry so I gave her Tylenol and a bottle and back to sleep she went.  2:45am rolled around and she started whimpering.  She woke up, cried a little, put her hand in her mouth and fell asleep, then repeat 10 minutes later.  I finally figured she wasn't going to sleep on her own for an extended period and prepped her a bottle around 4:00am.  I gave her more Tylenol and a bottle and after a little bit of struggling, put her to bed in her swing.  She slept from 4:30am till I woke her up at 6:30am (momma's gotta work!).  I decided to make a Dr.'s appointment for today since she was still congested and seemed so irritable.  I'm glad I did!  The Dr. checked one ear - no problem.  When she went to check the other, Cami immediately got upset and started crying. Turns out she has her first ear infection.  We got a prescription for antibiotics and are hoping she feels a bit better tomorrow.  Fingers crossed for an uneventful night!


On a happier not, Cami rolled from tummy to back for the first time this weekend!  We got her to do it a few times on both Saturday and Sunday. :)

Hi Pretty Girl

So Fresh and So Clean

Hanging out with Kaylee

Play Date!

Hanging out with Brady

Caught Dancing

How many fingers can I fit in my mouth?

Enjoying Tummy Time

Kinda Liking the Jumparoo

Not a very happy Cami.