More pics

You can see in this first photo that Lily doesn't like tummy time. She is chewing on her hand in frustration.

Lily is in Camille's doll Priscilla's bassinet. Then you can see Camille squashing the same bassinet as she took her turn posing for the camera.


Lily is quite the smiley baby now.
This last picture shows Lily with her pacifier. She desperately wants to find her thumb when she has tummy trouble, but she can't do it consistently and can't hold on to it for any length of time. One morning she wouldn't let me put her down because every time I did she would lose her thumb (when her arm was no longer supported by my body). The pacifier is not her preference, but after multiple gagging episodes she will take it when she gets upset enough.--Stephanie

Visit to Carthage

After visiting Waco for Christmas we went to Carthage for a visit with Matt's Smith grandparents. Granny and Granddad got to see Lily for the first time. You can see Camille watching Cinderella while sitting on Granddad’s lap and later reading a book to herself while the adults were at the kitchen table. Camille is so friendly and loving with everyone, and people are surprised at how chatty she is. Granny got in lots of time holding the baby and didn't want to give her back even if she was fussy.—Stephanie

Christmas

We had a nice Christmas in Waco with Matt's extended family. Camille made out like a bandit in the toy department. You can see she was very focused when opening the presents, tearing gift wrap piece by piece. It's a good thing that many of the gifts were in bags rather than in wrapping paper in or we might still be there unwrapping today:)

Lily was the smallest star and showed off her newest trick, smiling at everyone. She is starting to vocalize as well. Lily liked all the attention as Nana and GG were very nice about sharing the time holding Lily:) In the last picture with "Boppy" you can see how involved Lily was in the gift-opening activities.--Stephanie

Camille's fun

Camille had fun going on a bicycle ride with Matt this weekend.

In the next picture you can see Camille joining Matt and Lily in the chair during Lily's bottle-feeding. I don't think anyone was truly comfortable with this arrangement.--Stephanie

School Christmas program and party

On Friday at school Camille's class had a Christmas party and a little program for the parents who could attend at 11am. Camille was confused because the party fell on the same day as my birthday. Despite my explanations to the contrary, she still thinks the party was in my honor. My mom and I went to the party and the kids were excited having all the parents around. They are wearing reindeer hats, incase you can't tell in the photos. The kids sang us two Christmas songs, and Camille B-Bopped along and played around with her hat, but she didn't sing much. Though the kids were active, I was impressed with how well the teachers had the kids under control. Then the kids listened to 2 books, read by 2 mothers. Camille listened intently to both books.--Stephanie

Lily's smile captured!

I finally captured Lily's smiles with the camera. She really hams it up when she's well rested and not hungry. She is much more observant of her environment these days.--Stephanie

Lily smiles!

Yesterday Lily smiled a big open-mouth grin at me several times in a row, and I caught a few on video. She smiled again with my mom today. Lily is taking the occasional bottle very easily, which is so nice. My mom stayed with Lily for several hours today while I went shopping unaccompanied.

We have to watch Camille if Lily is in her swing because Camille thinks she's doing Lily a favor by pushing her faster.--Stephanie

Lily's awake

I had Matt run to get the camera yesterday evening. Moments during the day are still few when Lily is wide awake but not fussing. You can tell, though, that this peaceful awake state was just temporary because she fell asleep after just a minute or so into the photo op.--Stephanie

Lily's getting bigger

Lily still loves to sleep, especially during the day and sometimes at night. She has quite a case of baby acne, but she's still one of the two cutest babies I've ever seen!--Stephanie

Camille loves art projects

This weekend Camille was happy to "finally" put up the outdoor Christmas lights with Matt. She wore her Baylor hat to keep warm. She's been begging since Thanksgiving to put the lights up. We have our Christmas tree up (a table top tree this year) and Camille asks me several times every day if today is Christmas. The advent calendar hasn't seemed to help. This calendar has velcro ornaments to put on the felt christmas tree, 1 for each day, but Camille just thinks it's a toy and will argue with me about it. This looks like it's going to be a long December of waiting.

Camille is full in to 3 year old questions--Why? Every answer to a question is followed by another question. For example, Why to we have to take a bath? To get clean. Why do we have to get clean? Because school doesn't like stinky girls. Why doesn't school like stinky girls?... She thinks it's a great game. To us--not so great.

The next 2 pictures are of Camille doing crafts at church on Saturday waiting for our turn to visit with Santa. Camille loves any art projects. She really liked putting beads on a wire to make an ornament.--Stephanie

Camille and Lily visit with Santa

Camille and Lily got to sit on Santa’s lap at church on Saturday morning. Last year Camille went with only Matt, and she wouldn’t sit on Santa’s lap. This year she was shy at the moment when her turn arrived. Lily went first and then Camille joined her, obviously having a fun time. Santa was very good with the kids. Camille asked for a “present” and she told us in the car on the way home that Santa promised her “candy…a LOT of candy.” Santa did not promise her candy, but he did say he would bring her nice presents. It sounds like wishful thinking on Camille’s part. Lily slept through the excitement.--Stephanie

Thanksgiving at home

Uncle Doug, his fiance Sara and Aunt Kristine were here for Thankgiving. Camille loved visiting with them after returning from Carthage. Kristine was here all summer, so she and Camille know each other well. This was the first time the Smiths met Sara. Sara is so sweet and fits right in with our bunch, though maybe more normal than the rest of us:) Camille especially loved hanging out with Uncle Doug this visit. She liked towering over the rest of us and being able to touch the top of the doorways when held by Doug.--Stephanie

A few more Thanksgiving photos

Camille watched several Disney videos at Nana and Papa's house Thanksgiving week. Here you can see Camille with her Sterling bear and Joli the dog all cuddled up together.

It's cute to see the kids lined up in their little chairs at Thanksgiving outside in Carthage. The weather was beautiful and warm.--Stephanie

Thanksgiving in Carthage

You can see Camille's new haircut in the first picture with Matt's aunt Carolyn. I took Camille to a children's salon, and she really got pampered. Camille loved it. She even got her hair washed there and a manicure as part of it. It was expensive, so we'll be doing that only as a special treat. Her hair turned out very cute, though.

Matt went to Carthage on Thanksgiving and spent the day with his family, and then he brought Camille home on Friday. Camille had a blast with Matt's cousins' children (I think that makes them Camille's 2nd cousins?). Camille couldn't stop talking about the swings at Granny and Granddaddy's house. --Stephanie

Lily and Mommy

This is a picture from last Wednesday the 22nd. I'll try to take more pics soon because Lily's cheeks have really filled out since then. --Stephanie

More Lily

Here are some photos from out little photo session tonight. --Stephanie

Lily and the music box

Lily likes brief tummy time with my childhood music box turning around. Her eye contact is improving and she's looking for Mommy when she hears my voice. She focuses in on things more often now.

Tonight Lily was fussy and seemed hungry though I was out of milk. I warmed up 1 ounce of breastmilk from the refrigerator, and she eagerly enjoyed every last drop from the bottle. It was a noisy feeding because she couldn't get her mouth sealed well around the bottle nipple. In fact, she really wanted more, but I decided that ought to be enough to tide her over until the next feeding.

Lily is a growing girl. She gained 10 ounces in the past 8 days! Today at her 2 weeks old doctor visit she weighed 7 lbs 8 1/2 ounces. I guess I am doing my job well. I accidentally left the doctor's office without waiting for the nurse to come in to do a PKU heel prick blood test. We had to go back later for that. Lily really only cried a little bit, seemingly more in annoyance for interrupting her nap than any pain.

Camille is in Kingwood this week until Thanksgiving with Carol and Jamey. It's quiet around here without her. It's a nice break, but I'll be glad to have her back.--Stephanie

Camille and Daddy outings

Over the weekend Matt took Camille to a small nearby museum about the InterUrban railroad that ran from Waco to Dallas years ago. His grandparents traveled on these trains. Camille had a short attention span for the museum but liked the park and playground outside. In the photo in front of the old train, Camille is jumping and has both feet off the ground.

Also on the weekend Matt tried to take Camille to the Bass Pro Shop, but it wasn't open yet. Matt and Camille ended up at Tuesday Morning (a store many men loathe) and bought umbrellas. Camille thought it was great.--Stephanie

Smith bassinet

Here are pictures of Lily in the Smith family bassinet on the day she came home from the hospital. I'm running several days behind posting photos.--Stephanie