FAMILY CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT!

Our first ever Family Christmas Portrait...not a bad lookin' family, eh?

Camryn's First Thanksgiving

Here is the picture that Dane's brother Bill sent of the annual group photo at Dane and Karen's (Grandma and Grandpa Burdick) house on Thanksgiving. It's such a good picture because, as Dane pointed out, everyone's smile is totally natural; due to the fact that Camryn started screaming about .03 seconds before the picture was taken, resulting in some good hearty laughter from everyone just as the flash went off.

It was great for Camryn to get to meet all her new family members, and get to go to her Grandma and Grandpa Burdick's house for the first time! Great family, great friends and GREAT food (as always) and the newest addition to the family made for another wonderful Thanksgiving!

BOTTOM ROW FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Dane and Buddy the Dog Dane's brother Bill (Unkie Bill to me)

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Dad, Mom, Deena (Dane's twin sister), Auntie Lynn (Unkie Bill's wife), Me, Karen (who you can just barely see behind my head), Kimmie and Camryn in her lovely Bear suit, Gary (standing behind Kim; Deena's husband), Sara and Mary (Gary and Deena's daughters) and standing behind them- Brad and Nicole (Brad is Bill and Lynn's son and Nicole is his wife). I shall draw up a carefully mapped family tree to further clarify...next year.

My Tragically Titled Blog

Kind of wishing I had come up with a different name for my blog...originally it was just meant to be a blog for the sake of blogging so I thought I'd come up with a nice funny and self-deprecating name. Now it just seems mean since it's pretty much entirely dedicated to Camryn. Well, Camryn, when you are old enough to read this some day, it goes without saying that despite the title, this really is the BEST blog on the net...because it's about you!

Love
Daddy

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=506817899406%3A1939359982&cm_mmc=site_email-_-new_site_share-_-core-_-View_photos_button

I'm hoping that this works, but its a link to the kodak gallery that Jess created after her visit in November. We had a mock-Thanksgiving and Camryn spent her first afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Hopkins' house. Some really nice pics in here!

The Neglected blog

These are very sloppily placed pictures, but again - due to my preoccupation with actual parenting I have not done nearly as much work on this thing as I would like. I've been working on a Christmas gift for the grandparents so that has consumed all my time in the last week. But Camryn is already 2 inches longer than when she was born, and probably about 3-4 lbs heavier...she loves that milk! She also gets prettier and prettier every day.

In addition, she is becoming more and more aware of her surroundings with each passing day. I'm fairly confident that she's recognizing familiar voices...she certainly knows her mom and dad's voice and looks right up at me when i come home at night, and responds VERY well to Kimmie when she is talking to Camryn.

Another very lovely thing about Camryn is that she appreciates a good night's sleep...even at only 6.5 weeks old! We typically put her down between 11:30 and 12 midnight and with literally a handfull of exceptions, she sleeps right up until 5:30-6:30am. Kim and I are averaging about 5-6 hours of sleep a night (and have gotten as much as 7 and even 8 hours one night!) which is fantastic for a child this age. I guess it is true what they say... 3 shots of whiskey IS just what the doctor ordered. And if child services somehow sees this blog, A.) welcome! and B.) just kidding about the whiskey

She is also just the right size to fit comfortably in her swing and her little vibrating chair thingy, and is able to hold her head up with ease. We also bought her a play mat so she can hang out on her stomach and work on lifting her head and using her arms more. She is VERY responsive to all the neat lights and sounds and colors and fun toys that are attached to the play mat...I'm going to remind myself tonight to put some pictures (and maybe a video or two) of Camryn in all these settings (i just have to pick the best of the 8million pictures we have) so you can see how fast she's growing.

Also of note, I think she is becoming a fan of football, wrestling and video games as she sits quietly and attentively whenever any one of these 3 things is on the TV...yep, she is definitely my daughter.

Well, enjoy these lovely pictures in the meantime of Mommy and daughter napping and of baby Camryn waiting for a diaper change...wow, I'm looking at that one now (she was only a few days old) and she already looks so different.