The times they are a changin' ...

I am panicking a little as I write this ... our baby girl will be 1 in 11 days.  I c-a-n NOT b-e-l-i-e-v-e it.  Honest to goodness, how can 1 year pass so quickly??  On the bright side it takes my mind of the fact that my birthday is in 6 days and I am OLD!!! 

Reese has taken a few steps the past 2 days!!  Her new favorite trick is to stand all by herself with a huge grin on her face :)  She loves to stand up, let go and then look at you with the proudest look you've ever seen!!!!  It's pretty stinkin' cute :)  We love to applaud her and she soaks it up!  My Dad tricked her into taking a step yesterday and since then she's taken a few.  Mostly unintentionally or thinking that she is close enough to hold something.  She loves to walk behind her princess ride-a-long car or use anything that will slide across the floor as a push toy! 

Not sure if I blogged about this last time or not, but that 8th tooth is FINALLY completely through.  I can not believe how hard she had to teeth for that sucker to break through.  UGH!  Hopefully the rest will be easy ... not likely, but we can always hope! 

Reese is eating pretty much everything we are and has an enormous appetite (surprise, surprise!)!  The only food we don't give her is the spicier foods we cook, i.e. the taco salad we had tonight.  But she loves pretty much everything, she had 2 lasagna cupcakes last night ... we are really going to have to increase the amount of supper we make!  I guess we should be thankful we have good eaters who are not picky. 

Last week I tried to transition Reese to 1 afternoon nap per day.  So far, so good.  She gets pretty tired around 11 am and I have had to put her down earlier a few days, but for the most part she's switched to 1 afternoon nap!  This is a lot earlier then Blake and Emerson, Blake dropped his morning nap at 18 months and Emerson was around 15 months.  I'm not sure if I've pushed this on Reese to early or not, but she seems to be doing fine??  All kids are different, right?! 

Reese has also began to imitate people.  Our favorite is when she does a "fake laugh" ... if we're laughing around her she'll start up, copying us with what is obviously a fake laugh.  SO funny!!  She also has started clearing her throat or doing a fake cough when she sees me bringing her, her water cup!  As if to say, "Oh thanks Mom, I'm parched!"  So, so funny!!! 

I like to say Reese is like a bulldog in  a china shop!  Not much stops her, she crawls right on over pretty much anything and anyone she thinks is in her way!  In our family room we prop a gate up across the stairs, it's not locked in place, and she likes to get a finger in the tiny little gap there is, pull the gate back, quickly crawl out of the way and zoom up the stairs!!!  She's so fast on the stairs, it is scary!  I can't wait until she can crawl safely down! 

Emerson is also changing up her sleep routine!  She's not napped more then napped in the past 7 days.  We think she's ready to completely drop her afternoon nap.  We're a bit hesitant to stop her naps all together, as it is nearly impossible to reintegrate the nap once it's gone!!  A few days she has been pretty tired in the afternoon, but we've noticed that when she doesn't have her nap she goes to sleep quicker and easier at night and she sleeps in a tiny bit longer!  Soooo ... we're thinking it's time to say, "Hasta la vista" to Em's afternoon nap ;) 

Em finished her session of Bubbler's swimming lessons last weekend.  We've decided to not put her in lessons again until she is 3.  The parented lessons are pretty boring for her at this point in time!  She's been doing parented lessons since she was 1 and they really don't change much!  I think she'll advance pretty quick from Bubblers to Floaters once she is 3, she has no fear and loves the water! 

She's still in gymnastics and will move to un-parented when she's 3.  Cal and I are wondering what Emerson's future holds for her, in relation to the sports she might pursue!!!  She is a total monkey and spends much of the day doing her gymnastics on the coffee table, couch, Cal's lazy-boy, her bed, etc.  She loves to climb, jump, swing, skip, dance and roll!!!  Sometimes I feel like I'm audience to a constant talent show with Blake and Em performing all day long ... "Watch this Mom!"  "Mom, look what I can do!"  "I can do that too Blake!"  "Look at us Mom!!"  It's fun, but sometimes I'm a bit concerned about the furniture ;) 

Emerson is miss chatty and has become quite the story teller.  It is hilarious actually!  She comes up with some pretty good tales!  The best part is her facial expressions!  If you've ever witnessed one of her stories, you know what I mean.  Unfortunately she won't let me capture one of these events on video, but maybe one day!  Some of her favorite sayings are, "Cool!" and "Holy smokes!!"  Holy smokes is one of my favorites, she can't quite pronounce smokes correctly and the way she says it is adorable!

Emerson is quite enthralled with Auntie Lindsay's baby ... the other day when I got off the phone with Lindsay, Em asked who I was talking to.  I said, "Auntie Lindsay" and she asked, "What's Auntie's baby doing?"  LOL!!!  I said, "He's in Auntie's tummy, growing and getting ready to be born!"  She said, "How's he eating?"  I thought, oh brother ... but tried to explain as best as I could!  Which lead to needing to see every one's belly buttons ;)

Blake started his new session of swimming lessons last Friday.  He is in Gliders now and spent 95% of the lesson in the deep end of the pool!!  He is doing awesome, we're so proud of his swimming skills and confidence in the water!  Now if only we could figure out his aversion to getting water in his eyes in the bath tub ... odd ... how can someone be a complete fish in the pool, do 10 bobs in a row but hate getting water in his eyes when his parents are washing his hair?!  Maybe his swim instructor should come over for bath time ;) 

Blake's Initiation hockey is going great, every week he seems to be moving faster!  And his learn to skate program on Monday's is really helping too!  He tends to revert to pushing with only one foot, but he's working on it.  Today we all went to his skating lesson and both Cal and I were surprised at how well he was skating backwards!  Crazy how much he has learned and improved since the beginning of last season. 

I've had the privilege of volunteering in Blake's preschool class a couple of times and I can't wait until the next time!  His teacher this year is extremely good and he has learned so much.  Not only printing and letter sounds, but every week they have a theme and he has come home talking about his community, personal hygiene, manners, the 4 seasons and the changes with each season, the months of the year, what a hero is to him, safety around home, etc, etc.  Really great planning and activities this year!  I thought last year was good, but it doesn't hold a candle to this year!  Hopefully this staff will continue for a few years and the girls will have the same teachers!

Blake is growing and growing and growing ... everywhere we go people think he's 5 or 6.  He's quite tall for his age!  He eats a lot and is sleeping 13 to 14 hours a night!  I guess that is why he's growing ... eat, sleep, grow!!!

Cal assembled the new bunk beds on Saturday.  The instructions sucked, but he got it done!  They look awesome and the kids are in love with them.  Every night Em has said, "And we get to sleep in our new bunk beds!!!"  The first night in the bunks, it took awhile to settle them down.  Mostly because Emerson kept crawling up to Blake's bunk!!!!  One time I went in there and she was right on top of him, apparently trying to wrestle.  What a turkey!  We really enjoy their conversations at night time and have a good chuckle when we hear Em ask Blake what he wants to talk about.  His answer is usually that he wants to talk about sleeping or he says, "Nothing.  I'm going to sleep Em."  But occasionally he'll be game for a pre-bedtime convo and they'll talk about Halloween costumes, Christmas, school, etc.  Although they have their share of arguments and fights, they're best of buds most of the time :)  Right now their plan is for Reese to move into their room when she's old enough!  We shall see.

Well, I better get some shut eye.  There is not enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done around the house, let alone the things I want to do!  But I enjoy documenting our day to day activities and funny stories so staying up a bit later to write the Blog is worth the heavy eye lids and the still untidy house :)  I know I'll be glad I kept this up one day and I'm sure the rest of the family will be too!  Night, night!  Enjoy the rest of your week!

xoxo
Tracy

A Spookin' Good Time!

We enjoyed all of the Halloween festivities this year!!  From Blake's Preschool party, our New Mom's Group party, carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, and the simple act of plugging in our Halloween blow up lawn decoration every day - we loved every minute!! 

Mom's Group Halloween Party!!

Blake suggested back in July that he and Emerson dress up at Halloween as Jake and Izzy from his favorite show Jake and the Neverland Pirates and it only made sense that Reese would be Scully (a parrot on the show!)!  Emerson and Blake have been so excited about these costumes! 

Izzy, Skully & Jake

After much Internet research, Cal finally found some guidelines on how to make costumes from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  My Mom and I took Blake and Em shopping a few weeks ago and bought all the necessary materials to make a Jake and Izzy costume (only had to visit 5 stores!) and I found a parrot costume at Toys R Us.  Thanks to my Mom's sewing skills, we had 2 AMAZING Jake and Izzy costumes!!!  They looked pretty much exactly like the real deal!  And let me tell you, Blake is one very specific little boy ... it took him a good chunk of time and much deliberation to decide on the right grey fabric for his belt!!!!  We would have known, had anything not been exactly like Jake or Izzy!!

The cutest parrot EVER!!!

This was Reese's 1st Halloween and she did so well!  She sat back and relaxed in her stroller, posed for photo's and smiled away :)  It was as though she was enjoying her parrot costume!

Blake has already decided he wants to be a Police Man next year (because at this moment in time that is what he wants to be when he grows up!) and Emerson says she wants to be a ballerina for Halloween next year!  We shall see ... I have a feeling they might change their minds a few hundred times before Halloween 2012!!!  My Mom, Cal and I are kind of hoping that whatever they do choose, will involve a little imagination and work on our parts, as we really enjoyed seeing the fruits of our labour this year :)

We hope you had all had wonderful Halloween too!!

xoxo
The Cameron's     

Happy Retirement Dad!!

After over 31 years of service, today is "officially" my Dad's last day of work with the Government of AB! 

We had a great time celebrating his retirement and his 55th birthday at a party my parents hosted on Saturday evening.  There were many of Dad's closest friends in attendance and I had a lot of fun visiting with people who I haven't seen in many years!!  I think Dad had a great time too ... and was maybe feeling it the next day?! 

He has started his consultant business, DWS Consulting and will hopefully enjoy this new chapter in his life.

Love ya Dad, wishing you all the best with your new business :)

xoxo

Kids Really Do Say the Darnest Things :)

Blake: One of my teachers wasn't there today.  She hasn't been there in a little while.
Mom: Maybe she got a new job.
Blake: Why?
Mom: Sometimes people change jobs.
Blake: Why?
Mom: Well maybe they found a job closer to their home or a job that pays more money.
Blake: I think Dad should stay at Telus.
Mom: I think he will Blake.
Blake: Yeah, cause he works with Brad and he likes working with Brad.
Mom: *laughs* Yes I think he does Blake!

Dad: We're having fish and chips for supper.
Emerson: Fish?  Like Uncle Jeremy has?
Blake: Yeah, I like that fish!
Mom: Well it's kind of the same ...

Emerson: I'm going to be a dancer!
Dad: As long as you aren't dancing on poles ...
Emerson: What?
Mom: CAL!

Reese:

Reese exploring!

Reese is walking along furniture, toys etc!  She's been doing this for a few weeks now.  She also loves to clap and dance :)  She loves music!!!  It's hard to believe she is almost 1 :S  We've started planning her 1st birthday party!  Unbelievable.  She's also starting to let go of things, stand for a second and then fall!!  I have a feeling she'll be walking within the next 2 months or so!  She seems a bit more daring then Blake and Em were?!  Reese still only has 7 teeth ... in July the 7 teeth broke through within approx. 5 weeks.  There was an 8th that I thought was through and wasn't and now lots near the surface, but nothing through.  She chews on her fingers, hands and forearms - poor girl!  I hope the rest of her teeth start breaking through soon.  Reese is talking a lot too!  Some of the words I recognize are, "Mom, Dad, Bye, Jazz, and Dora!"  Yes ... Dora.  I'm not sure I should be happy that my almost 1 yr old recognizes the infamous Dora already?!  I suppose it's inevitable, being as her older sister is a Dora nut ;)  Reese really listens to me now and intently watches me as if trying to absorb everything I'm saying to her ... I LOVE it!  She waves hi and bye all the time, all it takes is someones to say, "Bye!" and she starts waving!!  Reese is my little cuddle bug, she gives me the biggest hugs and kisses!  All I have to say is, "Hugs and kisses?"  Although her kisses are a bit sloppy ;)  She is very content to play by herself, walking and crawling around the family room.  Some days I think she could explore for hours!!   

Emerson:

Caught a good pic of Em :)

Emerson has just gone through a growth spurt!  Her size 2 pants are all capri's ;)  Good thing I love to shop!!!  We thought she was moving out of the "terrible two's", she had a few really mellow weeks, maybe even months!!  But they're back :S  Time outs work pretty good, although they are spent with her screaming and crying for the most part!  They do calm her down ... and allow me to calm down too!!!  Thankfully she's a gem most of the time, but the odd times can be tough, as I'm sure most parents can attest to!   Emerson and Blake have been into dress up for a long time now, but lately all Em wants to be is a princess or a ballerina!  She twirls all around in her dress up dresses and tutu's and loves wearing her princess high heel shoes!  I'm amazed at how well she can walk, dance and twirl in those shoes!!  She LOVES to dance!!  I'd love to take her to a class called Blossoming Ballerina's that my friend takes her daughter to, but the times don't work out for us this session.  Hopefully next session!!

Blake:

Blake's list for Fort Mac!!

Blake is moving on up from Floaters to Gliders in his swimming lessons!  We're so proud of him :)  On Thursday I volunteered in Blake's classroom.  I had a blast and really enjoyed myself!  Blake got to be the weather man, which consists of deciding what the weather is like outside and placing the appropriate felt piece on the calendar.  But the class has to agree with him!  It was so cute to see him pull out a cloud and show it to the classroom with a shy little grin on his face!!  Blake also asked a few questions during show and share!  I had a hard time not breaking out in laughter some of the time, as the kids were all so cute and often funny (even when they weren't listening to Miss Kara!!!)!  One little girl is especially "spirited" and after talking to the teachers, they said they even have a hard time not giggling at her antics!!!!  I'd love to volunteer every week in the classroom, but I'm going to volunteer again during the Halloween Party and Cal might take a turn in November :)  Blake's hockey season is in full swing!  He's loving it and today came home all excited because Cal was the head Coach today (vs. Assistant!)!  Which means they got to bring home all the pylons and some other equipment!

We had a great Thanksgiving long weekend in Fort McMurray!  Jeremy and Lindsay's new house is gorgeous and had more then enough room for the Cameron/Smith invasion ;)  The kids travelled well and slept good for the most part!  It was nice to see my cousin Melissa and her family for dinner on Sunday night.  The kids played awesome together, most especially Blake and Ryder!!  Next time we go up I think we'll have to have Ryder over for a longer play date!!  Thanks to Linds and Jer for hosting Thanksgiving this year and for the delicious dinner :)

I'm so excited to go to the Oiler's game with Cal tonight!!  We haven't been on a date since November 2010!  Thank you to Christa for babysitting, we hope the kids stay sleeping for you ;) 

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!!!

xoxo
The Cameron's

4 more Sneak Peak's!!

Karyn from IsaBelle's Photography posted a few more "sneak peak" photo's to her FB page today!!  I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised and quite impressed :)  She will be giving us approximately 50 pictures on our disc, so I'm really excited to see the rest!!!

We couldn't get these kids to sit still, but look at the JOY on their faces :)

1 word: a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e

They love each other :)

My heart, soul & life ...

Fabulous Fall!

Sneak peak of Fall photo's!

This is my favorite time of the year!!  I love the crispness in the air and the beautiful colors!  I've always wanted to have fall family photo's done, but we usually do photo's around the time of our kid's birthdays and we don't have any September babies!  Our favorite photographer Rose was in town doing photo sessions a few weeks ago but I passed on the opportunity because I thought we'd get photos done for Reese's 1st birthday in November ... then I regretted my decision :S  So this week I quickly found a photographer to take photo's of us this weekend and searched out outfits for the family.  Blake and Em were very excited to be outside running around and Reese was busy chewing on her hand ... BUT Karyn did take a lot of photo's and there were some cute moments, so hopefully she caught at least a few good shots :)   I'll be sure to post more when we get them back!!

We've had a great few weeks in our house!  Cal enjoyed his first Oiler's game of the season, taking in a preseason game.  We are sharing season tickets this year with 2 other people, so look forward to attending a few games!!  I actually can't wait for the first game we're going to together on October 20th, as we have not had a date night since before Reese was born!!!  

Blake had his 2nd dentist visit a few weeks ago and returned last week to have sealants put on 4 of his bottom molars.  He was a superstar at the dentist's :)  Dr. Bergt didn't have to freeze his mouth and we were in and out in 22 minutes, even though she'd scheduled Blake in for 1 hr!!  They were so impressed with how well he sat and cooperated!  No complaints, no crying, nothing ... such a good patient!  He has extremely deep grooves in his teeth (more so then normal according to the dentist) and so will be prone to cavities his entire life, unfortunately.  But he loves to brush and floss, so we'll keep on that and hopefully avoid fillings ;)  While at the dentist with Blake, I also scheduled Emerson's 1st visit for March 2012 on kid's day!!

Taking a break at the zoo :)

We had a super fun time at the Edmonton zoo on Sunday the 25th!  It was "free day" in Edmonton (free admission to numerous attractions and fitness facilities in the city) and the kids wanted to take Dad to the zoo!!  It was very busy, but with all the space the zoo has it wasn't overwhelming or hard to get around.  Blake and Em LOVE Lucy the elephant and were soaking up every bit of information during the "getting to know Lucy" session we attended :)  We're going to look into a family pass next summer, as I love taking the kids there to run and explore.  Blake really enjoys looking at the maps of where the animals are from and hearing about what they eat and I'm sure Emerson will be into those facts too next year!!

Cal was in Fort McMurray on Monday night for work, which was very strange for me!  I have been away from Cal overnight in the past few years, but not the reverse!!  Cal always puts Blake and Emerson to bed, so we had to call him to sing their songs they sing every night!  It was really sweet, hearing everyone singing over the phone :)  He will be doing a bit of travelling now with his new job and is also away this Monday and Tuesday night, so I'm sure we'll be calling him again to sing the bedtime songs!

We had a great time on Saturday at Emma's 2nd birthday party, which Jess and Robb hosted at Dynamyx Gymnastic's Club.  Blake and Em and even Reese enjoyed the floor activities and of course the dinner and cake afterwards!  It was really nice to visit with my Uncle Clifford and Auntie Cheryl, who we spent a lot of time with when we lived in St. Paul, but don't get to see very often now.  Emma enjoyed her party too and is so stinkin' cute, she has a great little personality :)  

I am SO excited for our upcoming visit to Lindsay and Jeremy's house in Fort McMurray this weekend!!  I can't wait to see their new house, but mostly can't wait to spend time with my family and see Linds' baby bump ;)  It will be really nice to go to them for once, as they are always coming to us!  

Our visit to Fort Mac will be followed by Cal's week off!!  Yippee!!!!  It will be a busy week though, we have a lot to accomplish around home!  But will be nice to have him home and I'm sure we'll squeeze in some fun ;)

Take care everyone, talk to you again soon!

xoxo The Cameron's

  

Happy 10 month Birthday Reese :)

Yes, Reese is 10 months old today!!  I know with every child I say I can't believe how fast time is going by but it continues to speed up.  SLOW DOWN ... please?!  I don't know how Reese is 10 months old already.  I mean, really ... where in the world does the time go???

Reese is growing and changing fast and is so much fun!!  She loves to move and is crawling all over the place and just started pulling herself up to standing on her play table and on Heidi's toy bin!!  The couch and coffee table seem to high for her to pull herself up on!  She seems to know where we don't want her to go and as soon as an opportunity presents itself, she heads for those areas (i.e. the bathroom/laundry room, the stairs to the basement!!).  As soon as I say, "Reeeese!!" she crawls faster!  lol!  She still has 7 teeth, with an 8th near breaking through (it's been near for a long time!!).  She loves food (surprise, surprise!) and really enjoys feeding herself.  She's eating a lot of what we eat now, just chopped up really small.  She loves drinking her water from a straw cup, but also loves spitting water out and making a mess!!!!  I find it really neat that she already recognizes Heidi, Jazz, Dad, Mom, Blake, Emerson, her teddy and her blankie.  When I ask her, "Where's Heidi?"  She scans the room and looks right at her!  Same with the other people/items!  It's so amazing how much a child learns in 10 short months.  And so rewarding to be a part of as a parent :)  Blake and Emerson love her to death and are still really good with her!  They are always watching out for her, making sure she isn't putting anything too small in her mouth.  We're definitely lucky she hasn't choked on anything yet ... to date she's been found with dice, small Lego, and a penny in her mouth :S  Reese is really enjoying our Come Play With Me program and loves music and books!! Just yesterday we moved her into a big kid carseat.  She could technically still be in the bucket seat, but it's way to heavy to carry around!!  She seemed smitten with her new car seat yesterday!  We love her big grins :)  And sometimes if we're lucky when we ask for hugs and kisses, she gives up a big mouth wide open kiss!!  

Blake and Emerson both started swimming and dove right back into lessons ;)  Blake's swimming really improved this summer!  Grandpa taught him how to doggie paddle at the cabin and he picked that right up again during his first lesson!!  Emerson's having fun too, but is ready to move on to unparented lessons.  But she'll have to wait until she's 3 for those!!  Em also started gymnastics on Wednesday.  She loves it and is most especially fond of the "stork stance" and choosing her outfit for her class ;)  Blake started hockey on Saturday and had a blast!  I woke Reese up from her morning nap so the girls and I could catch the last 1/2 hr of his practice!

We had fun on Sunday afternoon celebrating our niece Jenna's 2nd birthday at a polka-dot themed party :)  Grandma Bev was down for the party too, so it was nice to visit and catch up with her! 

Fall is definitely in the air!  Hoodie and sweater season is upon us - my 2 favorite pieces of clothing ;)

Have a great week everyone!!

Tracy