Stepping stones

We had another big milestone this week. Cael slept in his own room for the first time last night! He has been sleeping in his pack-n-play next to our bed until now. The past few nights he's been a very loud sleeper, and since he's sleeping through the night now and we're not waking up to feed him 10 times a night, we decided it was time for him to be in his own room. It was really hard for me to get to sleep knowing he was all the way down the hall. But, we set up the baby monitor and I eventually fell asleep. Then, about 2 in the morning he wakes up screaming bloody murder. I felt horrible - I guess we hadn't turned the monitor up enough, so we didn't hear when he woke up! I don't know how long he was crying for, I hope it wasn't very long. Once I picked him up he immediately stopped, so I'm sure he was just nervous about sleeping in a new bed away from us. I didn't think a baby this young would know the difference, but I guess he does! Usually the only time he wakes up at night is if he's hungry, and he definitely wasn't hungry. He just wanted me to hold him. It was hard to put him back down, but after I rocked him for a few minutes he calmed down and I put him back in his crib. He screamed it out for about 2 minutes and fell right back asleep. All in all, I think it went pretty well! A little traumatic for me, but Cael did wonderfully. I hope tonight goes just as well, and we'll definitely turn the monitor up higher tonight! :)

PS - Pictures from Cael's blessing are on their way!

My little man is growing up!

Cael has started smiling SO MUCH lately. Not the little smirks he used to do, but the real, wide-open smiles where his eyes sparkle and his cheeks dimple. I love watching him smile, it lights up my whole day just thinking about it. I caught a few on camera this morning, I was so excited! They don't really do it justice though, he's way cuter in person. :)

In other news, we just got back from our annual Davis Labor Day campout in Strawberry. It was so much fun! Cael did so wonderful, he was happy almost the whole time! Night time wasn't much fun, though. I don't know if it's because he was in a weird place, or if he was too cold or hot, but he was pretty fussy at night, and he didn't sleep well at all. It made it harder, too, because we were trying to keep him quiet so he didn't wake up everyone in the camp. That didn't quite work out. I think for the most part, though, everything went really well. I think I was mostly torturing myself, and that people didn't mind as much as I thought they did.

There were lots of little critters up there this year. I saved the life of a little baby horny toad that was getting trampled during one of the games. He was sitting right where people were running back and forth. I ran forward and grabbed him before he could get completely smooshed, and put him somewhere safe. Also, during our testimony meeting on Sunday, I was sitting in my chair and I felt something on my foot. I looked down and there was a huge lizard on my shoe! He had to have been at least 6 inches long. So, I shake my foot to get him off and he starts to climb higher up into my pant leg! I must've looked pretty ridiculous. I finally managed to get him off my leg. This lizard was not afraid of people AT ALL. I could've picked him up right then and he wouldn't have even tried to run away. It was pretty funny watching everyone else jump as he ran under their feet. Me and Cameron also caught a snake in the dry river bed and we got to pet some beautiful horses! They were very friendly, they came right up to the fence when they saw us coming.

I love Cameron's family so much. We look forward to this campout every year, Labor Day is our favorite holiday besides Christmas and Thanksgiving because of it. Since my first year there, I have felt like a part of this family, they're so warm and welcoming. I'm lucky to have married into such a wonderful group of people. We can't wait for next year, I know it'll be a lot more enjoyable when Cael is sleeping through the night and (hopefully) walking! It'll be nice to be able to set him down and not have to find someone to hold him when I'm busy. I know it'll bring more challenges, (after watching Natalie and Jason this year, I'm well aware of how frustrating it is when your child wanders off constantly) but we can't wait! :)