Mauer Family Blog: She's One!

Sweet baby Cammie turned ONE on April 12. I cannot believe how quickly 12 months has gone by. She continues to be such a joy! She is so happy, almost all of the time. I tell people that she literally spreads joy wherever she goes because she loves to smile and “talk” to everyone she meets. At one she:

—Weighs 17 pounds, 14 ounces which is about the 10th percentile (Allie weighed 17 pounds 8 ounces at six months! At one Allie was 22 pounds 1 ounce).

—Is 29.75 inches long which is about the 75th percentile (Allie was 29 inches at one).

—Has two teeth on the bottom and about 4.5 teeth on the top. I love her smile with all of her teeth.

—LOVES to take a bath with her big sis, who is also her very best friend.

—Has gotten very, very good at screaming whenever she doesn’t want to play with Allie. She has learned that if she screams loudly, mommy will come running to her rescue. It used to work well for her, but now I’m on to her game and know that at least 50% of the time Allie has done nothing wrong. Fortunately Allie is awesome and usually will tell me the truth about what happened.

—Can say, in context, mama, dada, Ahhh (Allie), Baaa (Bella), ball, done, hi, hello and book.

—Loves to look out our picture windows at the squirrels, geese, birds, rabbits…any animal life. She screams with excitement and “talks” to them.

—Loves to point to anything that she is looking at. She usually points at something and looks at me with wonderment in her eyes. It’s like she can’t believe what she is seeing and wants me to enjoy it as well. It is so sweet.

—Loves to give kisses. If you ask her for a kiss she will give you a big open mouth smooch and occasionally will stick her tongue in your mouth. :)

—FINALLY eats! It was a long, frustrating haul with her, but she is now eating most table food and seems to be making up for lost time. Sometimes I think she spends most of the day eating.

—Is a super fast crawler and has mastered the art of crawling UP the stairs. She is not so good at going down the stairs.

—Walks while holding our hands or pushing a toy. Typically she laughs hysterically the entire time she is walking.

—She can recognize the songs from the Frozen soundtrack (a sign we listen to them often!) and will “sing” along to the songs with her sister. Often I’m driving the car, listening to my two girls singing in the back seat. I love it!

—Probably more than anything else, she loves to be with her big sister. Words really cannot express how blessed we feel to have these two, precious girls who mostly get along well and who enjoy being together so much!

Allie helped me think of things to mention for Cammie and she thought it was only fair we did the same thing for her. So, at 4 years, 3 months (in her exact words) Allie:

—LOVES to play princesses. Her favorite princesses are Elsa, Anna, Snow White, Ariel and Aurora.

—Loves to play outside and scream outside.

—Loves to eat.

—Loves school and her best friends are Anya, Leo, Abigal, Molly, and Marla and Briella and Vivinne and Priya and Lilah and Vivanne and Collette and Camille (I had to cut this list off. It would have kept going and going and going!) :)

—Loves going over to Poppy and Gagu’s and Nana and Boppa’s houses.

Now for the photos!

I was lucky to steal away for dinner with one of my best Canadian (Brazilian) friend’s, Marilena, when she had a layover in Minneapolis. It was so fun to catch up in person!

Allie has discovered the fun of selfies…which has made for some pretty entertaining surprises on my phone!

She also loves to pose and have me take pictures of her.

Happy (with a hint of crazy eyes thrown in)!

Excited!

Sleepy!

We had a play date with some neighborhood friends and all the girls dressed up. My angels with Super Girl!

The weather has finally turned. On one of the first nice days of spring, Nana and Boppa came over for lunch and we walked up to the park. It was so fun! Nana and Cammie and on the swing.

Here is Allie with her best boy friend, Leo. The night before he was coming over Allie said to me that I needed to braid her hair, paint her nails and that she would wear a fancy dress when Leo came over so she could look pretty for him. Oh boy…it is starting early! :) But, while we were having snack together Leo’s question to Allie was “Sooo, where do you guys go to Sunday School?” Allie can hang out with that guy as much as she wants! :)

We are so fortunate to live close to one of my college girlfriends. Our girls are on different school schedules, but had the same spring break this year, so we made it over to their house for a play date. Murphy is older than Allie and Allie thinks she is so cool! I love how Allie is looking at the words of wisdom Murphy must be sharing with her!

And this is how Cammie greets me most days when she gets up. How blessed am I?

Cammie is finally big enough to ride in the car part of the grocery cart with Allie. They both are SO excited with this new phase that I really can’t get a good photo because they are literally bouncing with excitement. It is so cute that they love being together so much.

Cammie doesn't look as thrilled in this picture, but I promise you she was.

Dan grilled for the first time this season a couple weeks ago. He had a lot of help! :)

Allie loves to dress herself. After she put together this outfit she asked if she looked like a teenager. Slow down sweet pea! We do not need to rush into the teenage years!

In addition to riding together at the grocery store, Cammie is now big enough for the double stroller. Last year she never met the weight requirement. It is a great workout for me to walk Bella with the girls in the stroller all around our hilly neighborhood. Everyone has a great time!

Sooooo big!

Bella enjoying a walk on a beautiful spring day!

One of Cammie’s favorite pastimes is to climb on, and into, the dishwasher.

Allie accessorized Cammie’s outfit!

Cammie loves to copy mommy and Allie by putting on necklaces. She always knows just what to do with them.

We gave Cammie a princess castle for her birthday. Her big sister likes it just as much, if not more, than her!

We took Cammie out for her favorite thing for her birthday…ice cream!!! She is her daddy’s daughter for sure!

This was her facial expression when she was demanding more ice cream!

This was taken after her bath the night of her first birthday. Doesn't she look so old?

A lazy Saturday morning for Dan usually looks something like this.

Dying Easter eggs!

Cammie’s watched the dying…maybe next year she can participate.

Allie and I made an Easter house one day. She loves stuff like this. You can tell she is concentrating hard because her tongue is out!

My friends and I organized an Easter egg hunt for all the kids who are part of the neighborhood association’s beach lot. It was FREEZING, but so fun! Here is a large section of the 3-4 year olds…we obviously have a lot of girls in the neighborhood! And obviously a lot of us shop at Costco for coats since 4 out of 5 have the same coat!

Each age group had a special sparkle egg with money in it. Allie found the egg for her age group!

It’s a good thing I love Bella because rather than chasing geese away from our yard, she likes to wait until I’ve run down to the water to get them off the grass and then she goes down to roll in their poop. Lovely.

The birthday girl on the day of her party!

We had 23 people at her party. It is so wonderful that we have a house that makes it so easy to entertain so many people!

Bunny favors.

Craig decorated the beautiful number 1 cake for everyone to eat. Since Allie LOVES to decorate cakes, I actually attempted to make Cammie’s smash cake. It isn’t bad considering my assistant, and lead designer, was 4.