No More Nuxy :(

     Cammie is officially a BIG girl!  This morning was no different than any other Sunday morning (other than this momma did NOT have the Sunday blues as we were officially starting spring break...FINALLY! :)  Chris made a wonderful breakfast and we were trying to get everyone moving and motivated to get dressed so Cammie could go for an Easter egg hunt with Tammy.  After clearing the table, washing the dishes, getting dressed and putting the dogs in their crates we were ready to go....so we thought.  Cam had been wandering around the house looking and yelling for Nuxy.  Chris and I joined the search and after 15-20 minutes of tearing the house apart we couldn't find it anywhere. :(  We continued looking for a few minutes longer, but were pressed for time and were already running late.  Reluctantly we left, not knowing what to expect. :/  My aunt assured us she would be okay and encouraged us to run some errands without Cam, while she played with her friends at the Easter lunch and egg hunt.  To our surprise Cam's friend Aubrey was there, which probably made Cam's day!  Chris and I stayed pretty close and picked her up somewhat early, not wanting to put Tammy through the agony we knew would come.  Chris and I continued to look for the missing Nuxy, moving furniture, cushions, rugs....you name it.  The first day was pretty much how we expected.....complete confusion and not knowing how to comfort herself when it was time to sleep.  (Bye-bye operation sleep in her bed ALL night during spring break plan :(
     As I write this post 5 days later...we are still struggling with going to sleep without Nuxy.  Surprisingly, she hasn't asked for it since the morning of day 3, but we can't seem to help her calm down or relax enough to sleep well without it.  It takes us an hour or more to get her to sleep without Nuxy.  For naps we are lucky if she sleeps an hour and bedtime is a nightmare.  The good side she is talking SO much more without it.  I love traveling in the car with her as she inquires, asks questions and thinks about EVERYTHING going on as we pass by.  The bad side...she talks SO much!  She never sleeps because she never stops talking. :)  Nevertheless we are thankful for car rides....the motion of the car puts her to sleep at nap time every time! (We just wish it would last once we moved her from her car seat into the house.) 
     Although I would have treasured the sleep from spring break, I never want to forget how much she grew during this week.  I think her vocabulary expanded by at least 100 words.  I watched her think, wonder and ask so many thoughts and questions.  I watched her talk with her friends and engage in conversations with adults that I have never seen before.  To reward her for being such a big girl we added a new member to our Toy Story family. :) We took Cam to The Disney Store where she immediately picked out Bullseye (or Bullsaisle as she calls him :).  Can't believe my baby is so big!!! Where has the time gone???

Fashion Statement

     Today Cammie and I were headed to the store after a make-up gymnastics class to spend some wonderful Kohl's cash (don't you just love how they sucker you in with that stuff....I always, ALWAYS spend more than the amount I have to spend "free").  As usual I was making decisions about what I wanted to spend the money on and whether or not I wanted to get the extra stuff I managed to accumulate in my cart. :)  I decided to look at the shoes in Cammie's size before leaving, as fall is around the corner and I wanted to see if they had anything new come in.  Little Miss C was starting to get tired and requested to get out of the cart and I let her to avoid a two-year old tantrum in the middle of the store (mistake #1 :). She immediately finds a pair of shoes that light up and requests to put them on.  In an effort to appease her I found her size and let her try them on.  She immediately falls in love, begins to parade through the shoe aisle and refuses to take them off.  Needless to say, she pulled one over on me, suckered me in and of course got a new pair of shoes.  Although she does love them, I never thought she would have such a strong opinion at such a little age!

She wouldn't even take them off to change out of her leotard or for her nap...we couldn't even get the stickers off the bottom lol :)

Two, two Camryn is TWO!?!?!?

     How in the world have two years flashed before my eyes so quickly?  As blessed as I am to have a healthy, happy and beautiful baby girl....I can't help but get a little emotional as I type this post.  I never thought two years old would get here so quickly.  It seems like we were just leaving the hospital and bringing our beautiful little girl home for the first time.  Camryn has most definitely changed our lives for the better and made every single day more complete.  I never thought I could ever love someone or something as much as I love that little girl! She puts the biggest smile on my face and completely fills my heart with joy and happiness.  Our world is so complete because of this amazing little girl and her giant personality!

At two Camryn:

• is an incredible 36 1/2 inches tall (not even on the growth chart....she's a monster!)
• weighs 31(ish) lbs.  (the big girl scale is so intriguing...we have a very hard time standing still :) (85-90th percentile)
• continues to have light blue eyes and white blonde hair
• wears 2t and 3t size clothes (most 2t stuff fits in the waist, but is too short in the length :/)
• wears a size 7 shoe
• is strong-minded, strong-willed and knows exactly what she wants (and usually gets exactly what she wants...within reason :)
• enjoys playing babies, Legos (or any type of blocks), bubbles, outside and coloring most
• is very into pushing anything...doll strollers, real strollers, her grocery cart, real carts in stores, the broom and even vacuum 
• will ask to go shopping (a girl after her momma's heart :) and usually requests to go to Target
• LOVES her dogs (Zoey and "Brobi")...her world revolves around these four-legged creatures
• is talking SO much...she repeats everything and often says 2-4 word phrases and almost complete sentences...some of her trademark phrases or "Camrynisms" as we call them are...
• "I want taco" (even though she doesn't even eat tacos, just the tortillas :)
• "Where __________ is? (Where Zoey is? Where daddy is? etc.)
• "Gooooo Reds!"
• "Mamryn (as she calls herself) do it"
• I want "my-meam" (ice cream)
• "Hi, Eh-yee" (Hi Ellie)
• "Dag Nabbit!"
• "Excuse me _________"
• loves to sing songs, including The Wheels on the Bus, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Special Agent Oso theme song, Itsy, Bitsy Spider, and Bieber of course :) (honestly she will sing along with anything!)
• knows all of her colors: orange, pink, purple, red, blue, green, yellow, white, black and brown
• can count 1, 2, 3
• watches Special Agent Oso, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins and has started showing an interest in Jake and the Neverland Pirates (I think she watches that with Aubrey at Miss Patty's)
• continues to love reading...her favorite books include Are You a Cow?, Hippos Go Berserk, Click, Clack Moo Cows That Type, Chicka Chicka ABC and The Wheels on the Bus
• is our absolute world!  Love that little girl more than words can say!!!

Sneaking a cupcake before the big party :) That's our girl!!!

Bieber Fever

     I never thought I would be writing a post that my almost two year old has developed a love for the one and only...Justin Bieber!?!?  I am not sure where this love came from, but feel confident it definitely may have started with her "Aunt" Giggi (Chrissie).  Chrissie does love J.B. and has passed on her excitement and enthusiasm to C.  She gets so excited when she hears the beginning of the "Boyfriend" song and immediately starts singing and dancing.  She also has become quite demanding in the car, requesting Bieber be played over and over (and over and over again...we sometimes listen to it 5 or 6 times in a row :).  I love watching her bounce up and down, tap her foot to the beat or listen to that cute little voice sing the words and even change her pitch during the song.  So stinkin' cute!  Maybe one day she will figure out Bieber is the singer of the song....not it's name :)    

"Wing, Wing"

Our little munchkin LOVES to swing!  She swings at the park with both grandma and Nana when she visits during the week and was lucky enough to have temporary swings in her backyard for most of the summer until the old owners of our house were ready to put their swing set up at the house they are building.  Fortunately, Cammie was not home the day the swing set left our house.  I knew I couldn't let her be home...she would have been devastated. When she finally ventured to the backyard a day or two later she looked at the empty grass and asked to "wing" over and over with such a sad face it broke my heart.  I knew Chris and I had to do something.  I couldn't bear to see that face each day. :(  We had been discussing what we were going to do once the swing set was gone for a large part of the summer.  We both decided we would wait for the swing set at Sam's Club to go on sale and buy it once did.  That plan didn't last long....we barely made it 2 weeks. :)   Chris and I priced swing sets online for about a week, but decided to go with the one at Sam's.  I knew many people who had bought swing sets at Sam's and had relatively positive things to say about them.  We called a few days in a row to check the price then decided to just bite the bullet and buy it.  Part of our decision to buy was that her birthday was quickly approaching and I knew I wanted to have a party as an excuse to invite people over to see our house (people had been asking me all summer :/).  Another reason we decided to buy that day was my dad volunteered to spend his only Saturday of the month off and help put it together over the upcoming weekend.  Finally, the weather was supposed to be absolutely gorgeous....in the 80's and you don't get any better than that in the middle of August.  Chris, Dad and Nick ("Dick" as Cammie calls him) worked all day Saturday and half of Sunday to get it together.  We are so fortunate to have such awesome people in our lives!  Right as they finished C woke up from a nap and headed outside to see the finished product.  Although she did not show her true excitement (it takes her a while to actually wake up most days) she is in love with her new toy!  The only down side: Brohdi can't climb up this one and sit with her in the house. :)  Thank you to 3 of my favorite guys! You are the best!

Directing Pop where to take the swing set...his truck of course :)

So excited for what's in those boxes :)

The finished product :)  Thank you Daddy, Pop and Dick!

   

Girl's Weeknd

      This weekend the boys headed to Cincinnati for a weekend filled with golf, while the girls stayed at home and had a packed, but very fun and interesting time together. :)  Friday night Cammie was invited to Kaidyn's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  This was Camryn's first time there and she had so much fun!  Little Miss K. is so sweet and so kind to all her friends, including the younger ones like Cammie. :) C loved riding the rides, playing Skee Ball and following her friends around.  She enjoyed pizza, a cupcake and even the birthday show with Chuck E. Cheese.  I was so impressed that he didn't scare her (he is kind of scary up close :) and she seemed to enjoy the giant version.  With Disney in our future I just don't want her to be scared of the big characters. :)  After the birthday party we picked up the dogs from mom's house before they headed out with friends and were on our way home.  Chrissie, Ellie and Penny met us at our house where we enjoyed pizza and some girl time as we played, snuggled, watched t.v. and slept downstairs. (With Friday being our first teacher day...the older girls were beat :)

My cutie pie :)

      Saturday we were up early and ready for a day of shopping!!!  Chrissie, Tammy (Chrissie's mom), Nana, Pop, Cammie and I had plans to head to the outlets.  Chrissie had 30% off at Gap and Banana Republic and we sure are not ones to let a coupon go to waste. :) Unfortunately, Nana had been battling some sinus yuckies and decided not to go at the last minute.  Pop stayed home to take care of Nana, so the girls went on their way (while Ellie split her time and stayed with Mamaw and Pop...2 kids at the outlet mall was a bit much the first time, so we tried our luck with just one :).  We had a great time at the outlets, found a few good deals and C even wormed her way into a few rides. :)  

Just another reason to love the outlets :)

Best way to shop.....she was OUT! :)
(Such a lady :)

     We rushed home to get Ellie and were ready to settle down for a relaxing evening when we discovered C locked us out of the house! :(  For the first time ever I followed my mom's advice...locking the front door, putting the garage door down, doing all the things to keep us girls safe while the boys were gone.  Chrissie, Ellie, Camryn, all 3 dogs and I had headed out to the backyard to enjoy a few minutes outdoors before it got dark.  Chrissie went to open the door so she could feed Ellie and discovered it was locked.  Immediately she asked me if I locked the door and then asked my little monster who smiled and replied with "mmm-hmmm".  We had no phones, no car or house keys...nothing.  I ran next door to our amazing neighbors, Robin and Billy to use their phone to call my dad.  Billy ran over and tried opening the locked door with his credit card but had no luck. :( Ellie is now SCREAMING...she is starving and we can't get in.  My mom and dad accidentally gave us our house key back the week before when returning car keys so they had no way to get in either.  Thank goodness my dad is handy.  He came to our house as fast as possible, tools in hand and was able to get the door opened pretty quick.  (Thank goodness for dads...what we would do without them??? I feel like my dad has saved me a handful of times...he is the best! :) After Ellie finally ate, we had a heart-to-heart with Camryn about not locking doors and were able to calm down we finally settled in and called it a night.
          Sunday we ran a few errands, planned for our first day of school and tried to start Cammie's yarn-wrapped letters craft (way more involved than what I anticipated) before Chrissie, Ellie and Penny packed up and headed home.  I can honestly say their golf weekend has turned into one of my favorite weekends of the year!  It just keeps getting better each year!  Many people think we are crazy to keep 2 kids and all 3 dogs under one roof, but we absolutely LOVE it! :)

Beach Bummin'

"Let's go to the beach, beach. Let's go get a wave."

We have been in Florida for the past week and have had a blast!  Cammie, Chris and I were invited to go to Florida with our next door neighbors and good friends, the Yanez crew.  We traveled 14 1/2 hours to Indian Shores Beach in Florida.  Surprisingly, Cammie did really well during the long drive.  She didn't sleep as much as I thought, but watched a little Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins to help ease the long drive.  She also munched on marshmallows and cheese crackers, while staring out the window and talking to mom and dad.  When we finally arrived we were so excited to see and show her the beach.  Danielle and I headed to the store for a few necessary items (milk, bread, ya know the necessities) while Chris and Joe took the girls to see the beach (Florida as the older girls called it :) for the first time.  Cammie absolutely HATED it! :/  She screamed, cried and demanded to be held the entire time.  The next consecutive days of our vacation didn't get much better.  She would tolerate it as long as she was being held or sitting on someone's lap.  If any part of her body touched the sand or got dirty she went crazy, starting to yell and cry. :(  So much for enjoying the beach this year. :/  By Thursday she started feeling a little better about the beach and would at least tolerate it in small doses as long as she didn't have to touch the sand. (Just as a mom memory...we had to lay a towel down for her to stand on and play with her sand toys on the beach.  She didn't play with sand of course..only the water :). Although the weather was a little iffy (more rain than usual) and Cammie's hatred of the sand we still had a great time!  We are so thankful our friends invited us to come along and share their vacation with them!  Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

1.  Dance Parties:  The girls loved taking a break and dancing at any given point during the vacation.  It was so, so, so cute to watch the three of them and their dancing abilities! :)

2.  Swimming in the Pool: Since Cammie wasn't a beach fan we spent ALOT of time at the pool.  Our little water bug loved "simming" with her float on and friends.  She learned to kick her feet, lay back and float like a starfish and started getting a little more comfortable jumping in the water.  The pool was definitely her spot (a little like her momma :)  Here are just a few of the MANY pictures we took of our little water bug.

Big Stuff :)

"Again, again"
(or in Cammie's words "gin, gin" with a hard g sound :) 

Starfish!

Playing her favorite game (cups) with her new friend Christopher

kick, kick, kick :)

3.  Playing in the Rain:  After dinner one night we headed to get ice cream about 1/2 a mile from our condo.  We knew rain chances were not in our favor, but we decided to chance it and tried to beat the rain.  We headed out with 3 strollers for some yummy dessert, where we unfortunately of course did not beat it. :(  The girls were having too much fun playing in the rain, while we were eating our ice cream so we decided to head back even though we were on foot and it was raining pretty good.  Cammie loved playing with the water coming out of the down spout and thought mommy running with the stroller back to our place was too funny. :) Silly girl!

4.  Baseball Game:  Tuesday night we headed to the baseball stadium to watch the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  Although none of us are big Devil Rays fans, there was no way Chris would allow us to be so close to a Major League Baseball stadium and not attend.  Gotta love that baseball heart :)  I was actually happily surprised at how well Cammie did at the baseball game.  Our seats were VERY high up, but she really seemed to like the game, songs, chants....everything that goes along with a baseball game.  It also helped our cause that they had her favorite snack...popcorn :)  Here are a few pictures of the girls at the game.

Taking a break from our seats to let some little legs run :)
Strike a pose!

Sharing C's favorite snack :)
(Love that her mouth is packed full of popcorn :)

5.  The Beach:  Even though Cammie hated the beach...we did manage to snap a few photos of our attempts to acclimate her to the sand and salt water.  Some days were better than others, but our strong-minded girl made up her mind early that she didn't like it and had no plans of spending time there....even if some of her bestest buddies tried to show her how wonderful it could be.  Maybe next year :(

A face still trying to figure out whether to smile or cry :)

Not moving off mom's lap....sat there for about 15 minutes

Playing with the girls, moving water from bucket to bucket...while standing on a towel

Feeling a little better....but quickly changed our mind and went inside for a nap :)

6.  And a few last random, but fun pictures of our trip! These girls had a great time!

Taking it all in :) First glimpse of the pool and beach

All greased up and ready for the sun! Love her hair :)

Matching ruffle butts :)

Snuggling together with a good book (Cam's favorite...Click Clack Moo :)

Cammie and Mommy

Riley....she was definitely our swimmer!

C getting kisses from Gram :)  It was so sweet the way she just warmed right up to her :)

Deep in thought....she loved those darn cups!

Stingrays!  They were so close!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE little Luci!

I think she's got enough sunscreen for the day lol :)
Gotta love that independence :)

Love this munchkin!

Best Buddies :)

Silly face :)

Cheese!!!

Summer Fun

Our little C has been loving every thing there is to love about summertime!  Moving in and getting the house organized is just not coming together as I planned because our little girl LOVES to be outside.  We spend SO much time outside playing with Riley and Luci, on our "borrowed" swing set, blowing bubbles, riding her Jeep (which means mommy has to walk along, steering the car and making sure her toes don't get ran over...we have learned why Power Wheels are meant for kids over 2 a few too many times this summer :).  She loves to play with our bigger next door neighbors, Molly and Brady when they are out practicing basketball, go to the zoo, take walks or push pink car up and down the sidewalks.  We usually don't make it inside until at least 9:30 and sometimes get treated to a bath with Riley and Luci before saying good night.  Although things are not exactly in order or as I pictured them inside our house, I wouldn't trade the fun times and memories our family is making for anything!  Here are just a few pictures of a few of our fun adventures this summer (I have to admit I have been terrible about taking pictures, because I am usually pushing a swing, sliding down a slide or driving a Power Wheel :).

Wow! What a neat pool my friends have!

Pushing pink car...one of her favorite things to do :)

Climbing the ladder up to the slide. (Yes, that is Brohdi you see up in the play set.  He loves to be in it just as much as Camryn!)
Sidenote: Camryn as you can see is playing in her pajamas....I literally couldn't get her to come back inside that morning to get her dressed. :)

"Wheee!"

And back up...until mom says no to climbing up the slide :)

Love that face!

More pool time!

Friends, s'mores dip and stroller time....life as a kid doesn't get much better :)

Climbing up to the slide....couldn't believe she was able to climb up with just those holes for her feet!

Snack break at the zoo!

Look at the gorillas!

Driving the truck by the bears....love that shy smile on her face :)

And after going, going, going....she sometimes completely passes out by herself for a nap :)

Mini Me

 I have to admit...it is so amazing to watch my Cammie-bear grow up and develop her own personality. She has a few shared characteristics of each Chris and I including being independent, stubborn :), head-strong, a very Type A personality (we both have it in some way or another) and obviously completely lovable. :) Sometimes however I watch her and feel like I'm looking in the mirror 26 years ago.  She can be so much like me at times it is scary.!.!  A few things we have in common include:

1.  Shopping: Although C is not always the best or most cooperative during a shopping trip she does enjoy a few things about shopping just like her momma.  She loves to take items off the rack or shelf and admire them before putting them back or throwing them on the floor.  :)  She enjoys being in the grocery cart and walking down the various isles looking at all the wonderful things the store has to offer.  Just like her momma, her favorite store is Target.  When we ride by it you hear this high-pitched tiny voice squealing "Target, Target!" (it sounds like Tahget when she says it) (I LOVE it, although I think that is a sign that we are there way too much! :)  When we arrive we usually have to get a bag of popcorn and then she is good to go to browse the majority if the store. :)   

Scanning the Target ad on a Sunday morning, most likely preparing for a trip later that day :)

2.  Curiosity:  Mom, dad and Chris would call it staring, but like her momma she is very curious and inquisitive of other people.  My dad used to kick me under the table during dinners out because of my curiousness and I envision us having to do the same thing with C. :)  She is just in awe or amazement of others and always interested in what they are doing. :)

3.  Cupcakes:  I admit it...I have a love for cupcakes and unfortunately passed it along to my daughter as well. :) She absolutely, positively inherited this from me.  Chris thinks nothing of skipping cake at a birthday party, wedding or other function, but honestly that is one of my favorite parts of a celebration.  During baseball season Camryn and I hung around after Senior Night as we always did to wait for daddy, where she very excitedly took part in celebrating with the boys.

Look what I got! :)

Delicious!

4.  Diet:  Chris would say Camryn primarily eats like me, but is definitely not as picky as I.  The two of us share a love for Chick-Fil-A, goldfish, fruit snacks, apples, grilled cheese, regular cheese, chips, cookies, Pops and Fruit Loops, bagels with cinnamon butter, basically most snack foods.  She eats quite a few things that I won't (like eggs and vegetables), but primarily is a mirror of her mother. :)

5.  The way she sleeps:  Neither her nor I can sleep still.  We toss, turn, flip and move during our sleep. Although I am not near as violent as she is, Chris will confirm that we neither of us are considerate of someone else when we sleep and it drives.him.crazy! :)

Opposite from her mom she definitely has a few qualities and interests she inherited from her daddy including:

1.  Her love for the outside world:  As stated in many blog posts this girl could be outside all day long!  She loves anything that has to do with outside and will cry, whine and demand to go.  Her dad endures extreme weather far better than I ever would (he and Nick will play golf anywhere to get a deal, regardless if the temperature is over 100 and under 50 degrees) and she is just like him.  Sweat nor cold can hold her back! :)

2.  Sense of humor: Chris always teases me and says I have no sense of humor. He is always making jokes, funny faces or acting goofy to get someone, anyone, but mostly C to laugh.  I have and always will be the serious one, while he will most likely always be the laid-back, funny one in our relationship.  Camryn loves when you laugh at her and think she is funny.  Whatever you laugh at she will repeat and try to make you laugh again and again.  She loves to be the center of anyone's attention when she is being silly and definitely gets that from her dad! :)