Bye Bye & Rain Rain Go Away

Camdyn definitely understands what it means when we are going "Bye Bye". After I have gotten her dressed and ready to go I will ask her if she is ready to go bye bye and she will scurry to get her purse and runs straight to the garage door. She is just like me...loves to get out of the house for a while! When Camdyn was fully walking at 9 months she was already able to unlatch our gates at home...she is now figuring out that if she was a tad bit bigger, she could open the door to actually go bye bye! Here are some cute pictures of us about to leave.

Dustin called Camdyn a little golfer because of her plaid shorts and I think she heard the "golf" club part and went and got her golf club. She then scooted out the containers in the kitchen and made her a little seat. :)

Yesterday was a rainy day and I am not a huge fan of the rain. I am one of those people that cannot lay around the house for too long or I feel unproductive...soooo...I got my sewing machine out (Granny Taren) and made Camdyn an outfit while she was taking naps! I am now pretty good at whipping some pants up but the top took me a while. I couldn't wait for my model to wake up this morning so I could try it on her. She wore it with us to dinner and to do a little shopping and she looked so cute in it! She even got a couple of compliments on it!!!

Last but not least, Dustin came home with some pretty flowers for Camdyn and I today! Since Camdyn rules the house (Ha!) she got to choose which ones she liked the best so she chose the hydrangeas!

My happiness

This little girl has brought so much happiness to our world that we can hardly fathom. She has become such a little lady now.

I cannot believe that she has just turned 15 months. It amazes us of how much she can understand now! It is like having a little adult with me. Anything I ask her to do or help with, she always knows where to go and what to get. She is a great helper. She will help me clean up (mainly toys or magazines that she gets out) and also loves to organize things. She will sit forever in the kitchen organizing bowls over and over. She stacks them in different stacks and un-stacks them. When I ask her to please clean them up, she will always put them back nicely in the cabinets....weird I know! Complete replica of her daddy. I am hoping that this will transfer over to her teenage years!!!

Along with her helpfulness comes PERSONALITY! She is way better entertainment than T.V or movies. Camdyn loves to have fun and definitely loves to joke around. I have countless memories of her and her wittiness. She will purposely do things to get a laugh out of us!

Now comes her sweetness...she has so much empathy towards people and things. When she hears a baby cry we talk about how the baby is sad and she will get this sad face on her like she is trying to figure out what is wrong. Macey was upset one day and Camdyn walked over to her and leaned over and kissed her and comforted her. When she sees an animal, she will run over to it and give it love. Whenever she sees a stuffed animal, she will hug it really tight and make the most sweetest sound while her head in snuggled up to it's face. One of my most favorite things is when she walks over to me and puts her arm around my neck and puts her cheek to mine with her soft smell. Night night time is the all time best. After we brush her teeth and we get into her rocking chair, she will lay right down on my chest (like when she was a newborn) with those big legs wrapped around my waist and will sink into me. Sometimes while I'm rocking her she will look up at me and grin and then lay her head back down. That is a small piece of heaven right there that we will do until we do not fit into that rocking chair together anymore!

Can you tell that I have been away from my child?!!! We celebrated Taylor's 21st birthday a little early before she heads back to Tech this past weekend. My mom, my 2 sisters and Dustin's mom went to the Gaylord and had a girls night to dinner and the Glass Cactus. We had a SUPER time and definitely laughed until we cried!!! It was great to get away with the girls but I will not be staying overnight again for quiet some time unless a little green eyed baby girl with the initials CRT is with me!!!

Adina, Mel, Me, Taylor and mom!!



Here are a few clips of Camdyn just enjoying life. The first video shows her acrobat skills and how she screams "da" to get your attention. She was playing with me until we turned the camera on and then she was a little intrigued by the flip camera but she still showed her true side! The last video is her laughing hysterically at Bozley jumping up and down for food.

Zoo

This past Tuesday we headed to the zoo for the first time with Camdyn. We've waited until she knew what animals were and now that she can express her love towards animals, we had to take her! It was supposed to be a cooler day but it did not turn out that way. It did not seem to bother Cam one bit but it bothered me just a little :) I'm not sure what was wrong with most of the animals but they were ALL ASLEEP! The last time I took my students there the animals were so lively (especially the elephants) but this time they were not very sociable. Most of the time I was trying to point them out for baby girl to see and her little neck would stretch and try to get the best glimpse that she could get. She really enjoyed the monkeys. They were friendly and would hang in front of her so she could get a good look at them. She also got to pet a bunny and a guinea pig. We tried to point out the pot belly pig but he was also sleeping.

I think Dustin might have been the most excited to be there though! He really wanted to see the gorillas but they were never around...think they might have been sleeping too :)

We enjoyed our little trip to the zoo but I think the next trip we take might be during the spring when its a little more comfortable for us and well...maybe the animals might be a little more perkier too!

The Highlights of my first trip to the zoo-via Camdyn Reece:

*Camdyn loved the spider monkeys. I think she was amazed of how they could hang on that net.

*Loved petting the bunny

*Squealed in delight when she was able to see an animal.

*Really enjoyed looking at these animals with huge horns (I cannot think of their name!)

*Loved the penguins until they swam towards her (pictures to prove this below)

*Highly enjoyed sharing an icy with her mommy

*Got to ride on her first carousel ride with daddy!

*Is a bird lover...any bird she sees she gets a big grin and says "b"

*Met some new friends and loved looking at all of the kids around her

First animals to see...

First responses to them....so sweet

About to go and pet some critters!

My favorite animals :)

Okay, now these pictures make me laugh!

So here her and her friend are calm and watching the penguins

Here we see the penguin come towards Camdyn and her reaction

Fabulous!!

I must add this in here! Check out this face. Whenever I feed her with a spoon (to ensure she stays somewhat clean) she will make this face and she is completely joking around with me. She will move forward acting like she is dying to eat it and then set back at me and laugh (while I am usually laughing hysterically). Her little personality amazes me.

Carousel rides with daddy. I was not about to get on this thing with my weak stomach!

Remember the post about the hot pink bears? Well, I walked into the gift shop to look around and look what sister picked up one...or two of!

This is what she looked like after I told her that she already had a hot pink bear waiting for her at home and we didn't need an elephant.

Build-A-Bear

Something about a hot pink bear catches Camdyn's eyes allll the time! When she sees them in her books, she smiles and points. When we were in Austin she found one and ran with it in the store and when we were in Swoozies the other day, she found one and begged for two. We definitely would have gotten her this past one if it wasn't for the horrible Tye-died shirt with something written all over it. Swoozies is an adorable store but the bear was pretty bad looking. We decided that we would make a trip over to Build-A-Bear because we were certain that there MUST be a hot pink bear at the workshop! (I secretly have also always wanted a reason to take myself into that store...amazing!)
Camdyn was in heaven when we walked in there! Her little eyes lit up and she was squealing and pointing for about every one that we saw. Here are some pictures to prove that we have a little indecisive 1 year old! Hmmm...I'm sure most are at this age too though.

Taking a look at all of the animals! (She has her thinking face on in this one)

Okay, we found a pink one but wait look at this one mommy!

Or maybe both of these?

She leaned back in her stroller like I was okay with her getting the two of them!

No, I think I like this unicorn....

Finally we think we made a good decision and decided to go with the multicolored pink and orange bear and then it was time to stuff her!

We picked out a gingham heart to have stuffed inside of it.

Camdyn got to put the heart inside of her very own bear!

She then waited anxiously for it to get stuffed and I mean anxiously!

And here we are!!!

The queen of balance!

Both of my babies are sleeping (My big baby still is hurting pretty bad after the wisdom teeth surgery) so it's time for a Camdyn post! This little girl has been doing some funny things and I have been getting pictures of it and some of them have some similarities within them!

That word is balance!
Camdyn has always been quick on her feet and has had great balance and also is a limber little thing. Camdyn loves trying to balance on anything that will hold her. I call her my balance beam girl. At gymnastics she has been walking across beams and she has started barely even holding my hand! At home now, we do the same but on odd items such as....

The landscaping (OBSESSED WITH THIS!!) every time we head outside she holds out her hand and climbs up on it and will walk it forever!

strainers...(She plays in the "safe" cabinets and get it out to put on her head and stand on)

Yes, her leg is okay!

This is the best of all!! She will watch her dvd laying like this! Let me coach you through this picture! Her chest is on the pink chair, belly in mid air with nothing underneath it and knee is on the ottoman with the other leg up in the air!!! Seriously? Gymnast!!

This has nothing really to do with balance or being limber but I just thought it was cute. Camdyn is trying to put her bunny ears that daddy and I have to wear on Bozley. Poor guy just sits there and endures the attire. She will get it on him too and he just looks at us like "why me?".

Tomorrow is a blog lunch with Jennifer who designed a lot of our blogs! She is in town and all of the kids are going to be able to meet! Tuesday is also zoo day. Camdyn will not be able to contain herself...she is an animal lover like her parents!

Happy 5 years!

On July 17, Dustin and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. It has been such a great ride having him by my side this entire time. It makes me happy to say that we have pretty much watched one another grow up. We met when we were 14 and he was 16. He was learning to drive and I was about to head off to the world of high school! Though life (god) took us sometimes in different directions; we always found our way back to one another. It's amazing to think that these 2 kids in the future would be married with a wonderful daughter. We endured the life of high school, driving, college, new jobs, the birth of Camdyn with each another. He really is a wonderful guy and I love him dearly.

A post is not complete without some pictures now is it?! Some might be a bit amusing so don't hate! ha!

Here is a glimpse into our little life through pictures.

We have about a million pictures together but this pretty much brings us back to the first picture of us together. Yes, this is the amusing one!

I will now skip to my senior year while Dustin was at a Jr. college playing baseball. He looks like a surfer dude here!

This is one of our engagement pictures. Can you believe it had just snowed the day before and then it was sunny this day! Texas for you

This will always bring back memories. Our wedding was much like a garden theme. It was one of my dreams as a bride to walk barefoot through a real rose covered isle. My flower girls did too and it was precious. Before we walked down it, they undid the greenery for our entrance!! It was definitely a treat to de-pedal (is that a word?) all of the roses and transferring them all to the ceremony too! The reception was also beautiful.

At the end, all of our bridesmaids and groomsmen threw the pedals up in the air as we walked through...love this picture!

My precious friends and sisters.

Here is a snapshot of us at the reception doing the grand march to the A & M fight song!

One of my friends found a survey from another blogger for their anniversary and I thought it was perfect so you could get to know the man that I married!

Isn't he handsome?!

1. Where did you meet?

Well believe it or not, we met when I was 14 about to head on to high school! He was a lifeguard at a pool that we were at and I thought he was so cute! Our parents had known each other before we were born (mom and his mom worked together) so we knew of one another. He had attended a private school up until we met and when I spotted him, that was it!
2. How long did you date before you were married? Since we were 14...quite a bit long! We both went to college separate places and always made it back around one another. We got married when he first got a teaching/coaching job and I was finishing up my internship.

3. How long have you been married?

We have now been married 5 happy years!

4. What does he do that surprises you?

Dustin is always full of surprises! One of the many is how well he knows me and what I like. Here is one of the many examples of how fun he is! For many years he would do something that he called "love fest". He would make up an itinerary (this was maybe for Valentines, anniversary, my birthday, etc) yes an itinerary, that had sentences written for where we were going each couple of hours for me to guess! He would have the whole day planned with great things for us to do and it would only be the 2 of us. Well now that we have missy, we haven't done one since right before we had her. I'm looking forward to another "Love fest" when I can come to terms with leaving Camdyn overnight!

5. What is your favorite feature of his?

Well, I must say his body. :) He is my muscle man and has always been my muscle man!

6. What is your favorite quality of his?

Definitely the way he cares for his family and his job. He is an amazing father and husband. He would do anything for his family and that has been evident in each year that we have been together. He is so goal driven in his job and is wonderful at what he does. I have no doubt that he will be a principal in a few years and be just as great at it as he is at coaching/teaching. (He is currently working on his internship to become principal)
7. Does he have a nickname for you?
Don't laugh...but for many years I have been known as T-Baby to him. We actually heard a man call his girlfriend that in Footlocker when we were in college and ever since, that has been a joke between all of us. T-Baby it is!!

8. What is his favorite color?

Blue...definitely blue. He has tons of shirts with blue in it.

9. What is his favorite food?
He loves Mexican food...fajitas. He also loves my ravioli. I have definitely introduced him to new foods though. He never would eat soups and now he loves soup.
10. What is his favorite sport?

ugh...BASEBALL!!! He is also a great golfer too.

11. When and where was your first kiss?
Well HE was my first real kiss!! ha! It was after one of our dates but not the first one because I'm sure I was terrified.

12. What are your favorite things to do as a couple?

Well before we had our lovebug, we loved going on dates to eat and to a movie. We also would drive around FOREVER when we were younger and just talk and hang out. Now that we have Camdyn, our favorite things to do are to just be together as a family. You will not see us away from her for very long. (We have not made it to that point yet!) We love to cook out and go on Family nights.

13. Do you have children? We have Camdyn Reece and our our sweet little fuzzball, Bozley.

14. Does he have a hidden talent?

It's not hidden to some of us but it might be to you...he is so intelligent! He really is so smart. He graduated from Texas A & M, Magna Cum Laude!! From the direction Camdyn is going...I think she is going to be just like her daddy! He is like my little "google" website!

15. How old is he? 28
16. Who said, "I love you" first?

Awww...he did.

17. What is his favorite type of music?
Definitely country but he likes some rock when he's working out!
18. What do you admire most about him?

How much he loves Camdyn and I. He does anything and everything for us and he always puts us first in his life.

19. Do you think he will read this?
Possibly...if so...we love you!
20. What color are his eyes?Blue and they are perty!

As always, I cannot go without posting a picture of Cam. This is a picture from her most recent photo shoot!