Greetings from O'Hare! Camilla stretching her legs during a layover in Chicago on our way to Grandma and Grandad's house in Webster, NY.

I finally had the downstairs bedrooms repainted making it possible for me to make Camilla's room more her own.


I hope I tacked these letters on straight (enough)...

Next on the 'To Do' list: replace carpets

Camilla's top ten most frequently said phrases:
10. "Hi, blankie..."
9. "Up and down"
8. "Hey, Paul...?"
7. " Hey, Robbie...?"
6. "No, no, no" (with pointer finger wagging)
5. "Ok, ok!" (usually when she's caught doing something she's not supposed to be doing)
4. "Get down?"
3. "Hello?" (while holding anything resembling a phone - i.e., a remote, the meraki box)
2. "Izeeennn!" (Camilla's cousin, who apparently is in trouble often)
1. "All done! All done!" (with head shaking side to side)

I know what you're thinking, "This would be an awful lot cuter with accompanying sound clips," but alas, getting Camilla to say something on record is harder than it seems.

Here are other phrases that crack us up, but she doesn't say them as frequently:
"Say 'hi' to the baby! Hi, Camilla!"
"It's okay. It's okay. Shhhh...."
"Watch Tinky Winky, okay?" (come to think of it, she says this pretty often)
"Push the button" (we have these dimmer switches for the lights and she loves to watch the lights slowly go on and slowly dim off)

We spent a couple of days visiting with the Lesters in Cloverdale, CA. It was pretty warm up there so we went out to Lake Sonoma, hopped onto their boat, and had a great time swimming and wake boarding:


Camilla and Jason didn't appreciate the water as much as we had expected and Camilla even panicked whenever we put her in. So the two spent most of the time just sitting on the boat with their feet in the water.

Camilla did tolerate being transferred into the tube and actually enjoyed being in it.



Camilla the castaway

Cute toes.

Camilla earns her wings

Camilla as a Simpsons character:

I know it doesn't do her justice. I tried to make it as close to the real thing as possible. There just isn't a "cutieful" option available when creating Camilla's avatar on The Simpsons Movie website.

Camilla practicing her walking on a different kind of walker lent to us by Janet.



This has actually been the second time that Janet loaned us this special walker. The first time, which was around a couple of months ago, Camilla showed very little interest in it and it just sat in the corner most of the time. This time around, however, Camilla has shown a lot more interest and would actually use it without being prompted. I'd like to take this as a sign that Camilla is ready for upright mobility.

As it turns out, we may have just missed Camilla's first steps. :(

According to her sitter, Lucy, she had just taken 3 or 4 steps unassisted on the grass at a nearby park earlier this afternoon. This makes sense as lately Camilla's been standing on her own for a second before getting down onto her knees and scampering off on all fours, as well as shuffling a few paces here and there just on her knees. We'll do our best to capture this on camera and post the resulting video/pictures.

Update: In Lucy's professional opinion (formulated from working for many years with many children) some children don't like the attention they receive when they first start walking. She's observed many toddlers taking their first steps when they think no adult is looking. Being a first-time mom, I don't know this and my first instinct is to make a big deal...especially given that Camilla's 2 years old.

Getting ready for bedtime.

Babes behind bars

Happy Father's Day!!

Enjoy the slideshow!

Last weekend, Camilla's Aunt Teresa and cousin Jacqueline came out to visit from Colorado for a weekend-long playdate.



The two cousins got along famously.

Wild horses could not drag this girl away from her beloved Teletubbies:

Just for kicks, I put a dress on Camilla.

As pretty as she looks in it, she also looks funny crawling around in it:

In case anyone is wondering, that thing she picks up towards the end of the video is a Teletubbies DVD. The Teletubbies have become her obsession as of late.