Extra, extra read all about it ...

We have a walker!!!  Miss Reese is now a pro ;)  Just a few days after her 1st birthday she started taking more then a few steps at a time and is now walking everywhere!!  Last week she decided to try running ... but her little legs didn't keep up with what she had in mind!  She's getting faster though and is so darn cute with her wide stance :)  She is our earliest walker and we're so very proud of her!  And by the look on her face, she is very proud of herself!  And Blake and Emerson are definitely proud of their little sister!  If we are not in the room they have to tell us right away if Reese is walking - "Mom, Reese is walking!  She just stood up, she's walking to the book shelf."  "Mom, Reese is walking to the coffee table!"  We get a play-by-play of every step Reese takes :)  I still can't believe she is 1 and walking.  Seems like yesterday, she was my tiny baby girl ... Love ya Reese!  We're happy you have joined the rest of the family, up on 2 feet and hope you enjoy your new view!!! 

xoxo

Oh sweet Emerson

I just have to tell/document this cute story:

Cal and Emerson picked Blake up from preschool this morning and then went to WEM Christmas shopping for the most important person in the house ... moi!!!  (snicker, snicker)

I was in Reese's room attempting to put her down for a nap (she's very congested, feverish, etc. today ... booo!!) and when I came downstairs Emerson looked at me and said in a cute whispery voice, "We bought your birthday present today Mom!!"  She also had a huge grin on her face and her gorgeous eyes were WIDE open!  I said, "Ohhhh, I can't wait to open it!!  But is it my birthday present or a Christmas present?"  Too which she said, "Oh yeah, Christmas.  It's a _____! (I won't tell you what it is, might as well let someone be surprised ;) )"  Cal said, "Emerson, what did I say?"  She then said, "Oh yeah, zip and throw away the key!"  (she then zipped her lips and pretended to throw away the key!)

Then later in the afternoon as we were decorating our Christmas tree, she is standing beside me and looks up at me with the most innocent look on her face and asks me, "When are you going to wear your ____ Mom?"  Oh my gosh, it was so adorable :)  She's so excited to give me my gift! 

xo
T

I'm 1!!

Hi everyone!

On Saturday I turned 1! My Mom and Dad say the time has gone by wayyyy too fast and my first year went even faster then Blake and Em's!! But I've had a great first year, learning something new every day :)

On Saturday morning I got to open my gifts from Mom, Dad, Blake and Emerson.  Then we went to watch Blake's hockey with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Lindsay.  In the afternoon Auntie came over for a visit and we played!  After supper that night I had my very first cupcake :)  It was so yummy!! 

Then on Sunday, I had a very fun birthday party at our house!  We had some of our family and a few friends over. I had a cute #1 birthday cake, that Mom and Auntie Lindsay made me!! I wasn't too sure about digging into the cake but enjoyed a few bites!

I had my one year pediatrician appointment on Wednesday (Nov 16th) and I weighed in at 23 lbs and measured 28 1/2" long!  I'm in the 75%tile for weight, 30th for height and 50th for head circumference!!  I have 8 teeth and Mom and Dad say I'm a pretty good eater :)

I love walking around the coffee table, walls, couches, play table, and pushing my car around!  The most steps I've taken is 4 and I'm a little monkey ;)  I like to climb things!!  It's so much fun!!!  I'm not too crazy about hanging onto other people's hands and walking, but Mom and Dad think I'll be walking before Christmas.  I'm not sure yet?!  I'm a very fast crawler, and that seems like the easiest way to get places right now!!  I love clapping my hands, waving hi and bye, blowing kisses and dancing to my favourite music. And I am quite the chatterbox!  Mom can decipher quite a few of my words: Dad, Mom, More, Ta-Ta, This, Jazz, Dora, Blankie and All Done.  Everyone seems to love it when I talk!!!  I chatter away a lot :)  I have a fun little personality, one of the things I do that makes everyone laugh is my "fake" laugh ... when I hear other people laughing I like to get a laugh in too!!!  Or anther thing that seems to make people chuckle is when I'm thirsty and I clear my throat!   

I've had lots of fun going to Come Play With Me with Mom and Emerson while Blake is at Preschool.  I love to sing and dance :)  I love the water and am going to start swimming lessons in the New Year!  Some of the other things I enjoy doing are reading books, especially touch and feel books and standing and playing at my play table, the coffee table, the couch or pretty much anywhere there is something for me to hang onto and play with! I also love dolls!!  But I probably spend the most time watching my sister and brother run around the house, they're just so entertaining!!!

In August I took my first airplane ride to Saskatoon for a wedding!  Just Mom and I went and we had a nice little trip!  I also had my first camping trip this summer and we can't wait to get out camping next summer!! 

But I should go I'm getting pretty hungry, it must be supper time ;)

Hugs and Kisses,

Reese


PS: Mom is going to proof read this for me. I hope she doesn't change too much!!

Happy 1st Birthday Reese!!

Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet baby Reese!!  We love you so, so much - beyond words. 

It amazes us how well Blake and Emerson accepted you into their lives and have loved you to pieces since the first minute they met you!!  They adore you and love playing with you and taking care of you.  They are always watching out for you and are certainly a lot of help most days!!  You seem to be mesmerized by them a lot of the time and enjoy watching their crazy games and jumping around and love to crawl as fast as you can after them as they run laps around the coffee table :)  We know you will all have your arguments now and then but we hope you can continue to grow up best of friends!
Reese, you have such a loving nature!!  We adore your hugs and kisses (even when they are mouth wide open, tongue sticking out!) and of course I feel like a million bucks when you reach for me, I pick you up and you nuzzle into me ... I love those moments so much!  Even better is when Blake and Emerson see you giving me a hug and rush over to join you :)  I love how excited you get when you see your Dad and hearing you say, "Da!  Da!!"  melts my hear!  As with your sister and brother on the eve of their 1st birthday, last night when I put you to bed, I shed a few tears.  Both happy and a little bit sad.
Your first year has gone by remarkably fast, fastest year of our lives thus far!  But it has also been an amazing journey, we have all grown and learned so much from each other and we can't wait to experience your second year with you :)

All our love,

Mom, Dad, Blake and Emerson

3 days ...

Until Reese's 1st birthday!! 

Today she had her 1 year pediatrician appointment.  She is healthy, happy and adorable ;)  Reese now weighs 23 lbs (75th %tile), is 28 1/2" long (30th %tile) and her head circumference is in the 50 %tile!

She was very happy for Dr. Radisic until the last 5 minutes!  We brought up a couple of concerns, her disinterest in milk and waking up at night.  She eats yogurt and cheese and enjoys it, but doesn't care for milk (yet).  So we will keep trying it and hopefully she'll start enjoying it more!  We've cut back on the kid's milk consumption quite a bit after talking to the naturopath (who is totally against cow's milk consumption!!) and realizing that according to the Canada Food Guide they really only need a small amount of milk and milk products in their day and they eat a lot of yogurt!  So I'm not too worried about Reese's milk consumption, but definitely would like her to enjoy a cup of milk now and then.  As for the night waking that has begun, as suspected I think it is a separation anxiety thing :S  Hopefully she'll get back to no night time wakings sooner then later!!  We're home for awhile now, with no over night trips planned, which will help!

We had Emerson's ears checked to make sure the amoxicillin worked and her ear infection is gone, which it is.  The nurse also weighed her and she weighs 30 lbs now!!  I guess all that intake is going somewhere ;) 

We're looking forward to spending the day together on Saturday and celebrating Reese's 1sth birthday with friends and family on Sunday!!

Talk again soon,

Tracy

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