Peanut at 31 weeks

How your baby's growing: This week, your baby measures about 16 inches long. He weighs a little over 3 pounds and is headed for a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and he's beginning to accumulate a layer of fat underneath his skin in preparation for life as a newborn. As a result, his arms, legs, and body are filling out.

We're at a loss for words at the moment. We are in total disbelief at how quickly this time has come and gone. Only around 9 weeks left and we can't wait to meet our little peanut!

Peanut's first 2 week appointment

We had our first 2 week appointment this past Wednesday, so this post is a few days late. It's funny how the holidays can make you lag on things or "re-prioritize" but that's life!

Anyway, the doctor went through her routine checks of Enza's belly, and judging from her reactions, we're right on schedule. Whew! It's always good to know that things are going the way they should. We received our hospital registration packet and that in itself made this experience seem much more real. The doctor went on to verify that our little peanut was in the correct position. She was able to feel where her head was, and she pretty much figured out where the rest of her body was. Of course Enz agreed with the positioning because she gets kicked exactly where the doctor said the baby's legs were!

So our next appointment is in a couple of weeks, and we're both in disbelief as to how much time we have left. At the time of this post we've got something like 65 days left. Wow, it's true that time really does fly!

Thank You for your generosity

It's the day after Christmas and we're sitting at home, staring at a pile of gifts from our wonderful family and friends. While I would love to say that all these gifts are for us, I am not disappointed in the least when I say that none of the gifts were for us! That's because all of these presents were for our little baby Peanut!! We never thought we'd receive gifts for her so early, then again, she'll be with us in no time; and we literally mean NO TIME!!

We just wanted to take this time to express our gratitude to all of you, our dearest family and friends, for being so warm, thoughtful, and generous this Christmas season! You have all been an integral part in making this a very enjoyable experience for our family. We can't wait to share our bundle of joy with each and every one of you!

Thank you again!

Peanut at 30 weeks... WHOA!

How your baby's growing: Your baby's a bit more than 15 1/2 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds. A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and fills out your uterus. Her eyes open and close, she's able to distinguish between light and dark, and she can even follow a light source back and forth. Once she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have a visual acuity of only 20/400 — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. ("Normal" vision in adults is 20/20.)

Wow, talk about fast! We're getting into the home stretch now, and it doesn't seem like we have much time left before our little peanut is here with us. Not to belabor the point, but these are really exciting times for us at home! Merry Christmas to all!

Patty cake or Pat-a-cake... Whatever it's called...

So Peanut's got a new game she plays with me when she's up early in the morning, because that's when she wants to play. When Enz tells me she's kicking or punching, I'll put my hands on her belly and tap back. What she's doing now is answering whenever I tap, which is kinda trippin' me out a little. So now Enz asks her if she wants to play "patty-cake" with her Daddy. Pretty cool!

We also had a new experience this morning. Enz was awake and rolled from her side onto her back. All of a sudden she said "whoa, that was weird." Initially she thought I had placed my hand on her belly, so she was actually reaching for my hand but found that it wasn't there. What she felt was the baby's hand or foot moving across her belly, only this time she said it really felt like a hand or foot. She woke me up and had me watch her stomach, so I immediately started with the whole patty-cake thing, and sure enough, it got the little one going! What a trip!!!

Random pics from the Camero's 3rd Annual...

We were having too much fun to remember to take pictures! We only got to take a few, but the ones we took are priceless. Sorry if we didn't get a picture with everyone, but amidst all the chaos, it's always easy to forget to take pictures! Maybe next year?

Click on the link below to view the pics. Enjoy!!

Camero Holiday Party 2006

3rd Annual Camero Holiday Party

Just a short post to say Thank You to everyone for making it out to our 3rd Annual Christmas Party. We had a great time seeing and spending time with you, and hope to keep this yearly tradition going!

Since this was the last party before the arrival of our little peanut, we decided to host a "Toys for Tots" charity, in honor of our future daughter. A special thank you to everyone for helping to make this a great success. Although we didn't have a specific goal to meet, we did end up with a lot of toys that we will be donating to our church. Your generous contributions will put smiles on the faces of many children this Christmas!

Again, many many thanks to everyone for helping us to start this Christmas season on a good note! We look forward to seeing you again at the 4th annual event!

Peanut at 29 weeks

How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to accommodate his brain — which is busy developing billions of neurons. With this rapid growth, it's no surprise that your baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester. To keep yourself and him well nourished, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamin C, folic acid, iron, and calcium. (About 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in your baby's skeleton — which is now hardening — every day.)

Special thanks

As we move forward at a steady pace, we're noticing that a lot of people have already started in helping us to "spoil" our little peanut. Whether it be money in her little bank, a cool little "peanut" onesie, one of her stuffed toys, or even one of her little dresses, she's already getting that sense of belonging to such a warm and generous family. We can't even begin to thank everyone for these kind gestures, but hopefully you all know how truly grateful we are! And if our little peanut could talk, we're sure she'd be just as speechless as we are!

Enz is now in her third trimester, in fact, we have our final monthly appointment today. Peanut's movements are as consistent as ever, but now Enz is noticing a lot more of the full body movements as the little one continues to grow and stretch her limbs. The appointments will now move to every two weeks, and with that, we just inch closer and closer to the birth of our little one.

Still pushing forward...

Finally a divisional win! This one's worth mentioning, even though hopes for the post season are pretty much down the toilet. Oh well, nice effort!

Peanut at 28 weeks

How your baby's growing: By this week, your baby weighs a little over 2 pounds and measures about 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can open her eyes — which now sport lashes — and she'll turn her head toward a continuous, bright light from the outside. Her fat layers are beginning to form, too, as she gets ready for life outside the womb.

YIKES! We are now into the THIRD trimester!!!

Another hump day...

Happy Hump Day! UGH, just another day in paradise I guess. Anyway, it feels like the days are flying by faster than ever. I don't know if it's because of the holiday season or if we're just getting older. Nevertheless, there's only 25 days left in 2006.

What's harder to believe is that our little peanut is "scheduled" to arrive in less than 3 months! As much as Enz & I talk about it, we're still in a bit of a state of shock. We've pretty much got the baby's room completed, and the furniture is all set up. We're working with getting the pup to behave more calmly around us, preparing him for the presence of another person in the house. But no matter how much preparation we go through, the mental aspect is one that's out of our control. Everyone gives us advice on what to watch for or what to do when this or that happens. That's all well and good, and while we do understand that there are general things to look for, we also realize that every baby is different. So what worked great for Billy Bob and Anna Mae, might not work at all for our little peanut. It's more of a "learn by doing" kind of thing.

Peanut is becoming more and more attentive in Enza's belly. She's reacting and responding more to both of our voices. We like to think that she's answering us whenever we call on her. Whenever I put my hand on Enza's belly and talk to her, she responds with a little kick-although sometimes not so little according to Enz! It's almost as if she's giving me a little pound! Wut-wut!!

Fire's out...

Oh well, at least the Phins had a nice four-in-a-row streak going. It had to end sometime...

Peanut at 27 weeks

How your baby's growing: Your baby is really starting to fill up your uterus. This week he weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and isn't bothersome to him, so enjoy the tickle. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. Wonder what he's thinking?

Dancing Queen

Happy Friday! Even more so, Happy December! With only 24 days left until Christmas, times should be getting hectic from this point forward. Anyway, last night, our little "Dancing Queen" was at it again, only this time in a BIG way! Not only was she doing her hourly routine of kicks and punches, she had a lot of what Enz calls "stretching" going on. Nothing new, it's just that now she's doing it more consistently, and Enz is always trying to get me to feel every movement.

What's funny is that there's times where she'll immediately respond to me-whether it be my touch or my voice, she'll let me know she's there. Other times it's like we're playing hide and seek, and she'll take more coaxing for me to get a reaction. Already playing games at such a young age, what a trip!

The difference with last night was that she had some serious stretching or moving spurts. One time, Enz actually saw her belly expand and then go back down. I missed that one, but immediately after, we saw her moving again, this time a little slower. To me it was like watching the lava moving in a lava lamp. Makes me wonder what's really going on inside the confines of mama's belly? Hmmmm...