Family Vacation

We took our very first family vacation this past week. Neal, Cameron, and I all loaded up in the car and drove 8.5 hours down to South Padre Island. We met Neal's family there and had a mini family reunion. Cami had her first experience with sand, the ocean, and boats. For the most part she loved it all. It was great for the whole family to get away and we loved watching Cami learn and experience new things and environments. We took a lot of pictures but here are some of the best ones...

Checking out the boats from the deck behind the house we stayed at. First steps on the beach.

I was showing her sea shells. She LOVED all the birds on the beach. She pointed at each one!

So unhappy.

This was the first day on the beach. She got upset when the waves came

up and hit her in the tummy.This is one of those pic's we can't wait

to show her when she is older.

The next day at the beach was better.

Daddy and Cami playing in the sand...

where it is safe.

Cami's first boat ride.

The family on the boat.

Nini and Cami enjoying the ride.

Nini and Pepe walking on the beach with Cami.

This is my favorite picture!

Her favorite thing to do, play with

plastic spoons in the sand.

So happy in the dry and safe sand.

Grabbing a starfish at the touch tank

at the Port Isabel aquarium.

She had no idea that thing was alive!

I hadn't held a starfish before.

It was neat!

Checking out the huge lobster.

Bubbles!

Cami is talking more and more and we absolutely love it. So far she can say "ma ma", "da da", "ball", "no" (this one gets used a lot) and "dog". Tonight at bath time she said "bubble" for the first time. It is so cute to hear her talking...we find her very entertaining. I hope this video brings a smile to your face as it did ours!

Busy Girl

This Summer has been a busy one so far! I have not had much time to myself, therefore blogging gets put at the bottom of the list. Cameron is working on transitioning to one nap a day which is good and bad. Good because she takes one long stretch of nap in the afternoon and I can plan our days only around one nap instead of two. Bad because I only have one time a day to get everything done....cleaning, dishes, laundry, picking up dog and baby toys, cooking-ok not really cooking. Our little girl is growing and changing so quick I can barely keep up. She seems so old and grown up, no longer like a baby. She is into absolutely everything. I have said this before but I didn't know what "into everything" meant until now! I have included a picture of her tearing through the Tupperware cabinet (the only one she is allowed to get into.) Just reaching in and grabbing things was not enough, she had to actually crawl in the cabinet, all by herself, to reach the most important pieces in the very back!

The Other Dube Family Visit

Neal's brother, Travis, and his wife, Michelle, along with their two kids, Lindsay and Cooper came in town to hang out for the weekend. We all had so much fun just hanging out around the house and chillaxin'! With both family's very busy schedules it is hard to find the time to get together but when we do we always have a blast and wish we wouldn't let so much time go between the visits. Here are some pics from the weekend...

Lindsay and Cami playing through the door.

Cooper pushing Cami around downtown McKinney.

Yeah, we did get out of the house a little-

it wasn't all chillaxin'.

Cooper has Cami's bow in his mouth. Apparently, it

was a fun game for Cami to take it out of his mouth.

Playing in the wagon they got her for Christmas.

The cousins!

It was so neat to watch the cousins play. Lindsay and Coooper are 5 and 7 years older than Cami, but we have high hopes of them being close despite their age difference!

Memorial Day

Cami went swimming for the first time on Memorial Day! She seemed to enjoy herself very much. The water was freezing cold, as Grammy and Papaw's pool is shaded by a big tree that keeps the water icy cold. Cameron didn't mind a bit, I did though! She wasn't too fond of the floaty boat we got for her, but as long as she was being held (which made me even colder!) she was a-ok! She splashed, kicked, and squealed until we finally decided it was time for her to get out. I am so happy she likes the water so much!

The end!

Tasting and Walking

Cameron tried several new foods this past week. I introduced her to some of my favorites: Olive Garden bread sticks, Mi Cocina guacamole (and a lime-not my favorite, but still fun), and s'mores! The bread sticks were a win, the others she could take 'em or leave 'em. She also has decided she likes strawberries, watermelon, and cherries. The always kid pleasers hot dogs, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and pasta are still on her do not eat list, though. Trying a s'more... Trying a lime... On another note, Cami has also started walking with her push toys! It is so cute watching this little bitty girl walk around our house. Hopefully our walls won't get too banged up as she has yet to learn how to steer. The grocery cart!

The wagon!

The Park

On Saturday it was supposed to rain all afternoon so we decided to take Cami to the park in the morning before we would have to be stuck inside in the pm. We had so much fun! We ended up going to two different parks, Frisco Commons in Frisco and Arbor Hills in Plano. We heard good things about both parks so we decided it was time to check them out. Here are some pic's from our fun times. By the way, boo to the weather man for getting the forecast all wrong the whole weekend!

She LOVED the slides :-)

Play date!

Last week our friends Heather and Ben came over to have a play date. Cami loved having someone new to play with at our house, and I did too! Cami had fun checking out Ben's shoes and digging in his diaper bag and Ben enjoyed checking out all of Cami's toys. We tried to let them take a dip in the baby pool but it was little too chilly since it was early morning. Luckily, the cold water didn't bother Cami a bit. She seemed to be energized by the cold even while she had tiny goose bumps :) Once Ben realized how cold the water was he opted

for the warmer and dryer grass. Cami kept trying to grab

his hat and toys. ( such a bully!)

They are practicing the toy swap.

Such a water baby!

Count Your Blessings!!!

I just wanted to post this blog that I recently found. It is the story of a baby girl named Kayleigh. She was born 3 months prematurely last June. She weighed 1 pound 1 ounce!! Doctors never expected her to live as long as she did, but she made it 11 months! Sadly she just passed away last week. Her father writes the blog and he does a wonderful job - his words are beautiful! After hearing about her story on http://www.babycenter.com/ (a website I frequent quite often when I am needing "baby" advice) I decided to check out the blog. I came in to the blog the day after she passed away and was in tears for 2 hours as I read her life story! I couldn't wait for Cami to wake up from her nap so I could hug her and hold her and tell her how thankful I was to have her in my life! As heartbreaking as their story is it helped me (and Neal, as I quickly forwarded him the blog) to remember how precious life is and reminded me that each day is a blessing! Not that I wasn't thankful for my life and everything and everyone in it before, but sometimes we all need that harsh reminder that we are not guaranteed a tomorrow. Take a few minutes to read this blog, it will amaze you how strong this family is! http://www.kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/

10 Months

Each stage gets more and more fun with Cameron! She is such a funny little girl with a cute personality. Unfortunately, not many get to see what we see at home because she is a little shy and holds back when she is not at home or around anyone else but me and Neal. She is extremely curious and observant! She is also persistent and a little on the impatient side-where did she get that from ??? She hasn't reached a lot of milestones this month, but she is able to wave hi and bye and is making more intentional sounds as she points at things. She loves to point at the birds and trees outside as she makes somewhat of a sound that resembles their name. She is talking in her own language :-) And I swear I heard her say "ball" as she was pointing to her ball the other day! The only other biggie thing she is working on is standing alone. She is up to 10 seconds, but she plops down as soon as she realizes what she is doing.

If you click on this pic to enlarge it you can see

her only two teeth, they are on the bottom.

First time in the pool!

The dogs thought it was a giant water bowl all for them!

My 3 babies!

Mother's Day Weekend on Smile Box

We had my side of the family over to celebrate dad's birthday and Mother's Day over the weekend. I put together this digital photobook on Smile Box so everyone can check out some of the pictures from the celebration. It's really neat. Make sure you stop the music on my blog before you enter the Smile Box site or else you will be listening to two differnet songs at the same time. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox photobook

First Mother's Day!

What a wonderful first Mother's Day! I woke up to donuts and milk in bed along with the cutest most precious baby girl in the world smiling super big at me. Neal got up with Cami so I could sleep in -best present ever! Then they went and got donuts and donut holes (my very favorite) for me. We had a great day going out for lunch and just spending time together, oh and buying a new flat screen TV was included in our festivities. The ending to the day was a little more father's day-ish but after watching Dancing with the Stars on such a massive

screen I'm much more okay with the purchase!

Neal dressed Cami in this shirt that says "My Mom Thinks I'm Perfect" for when he brought her in to me with the donuts in the morning...he even remembered to put a bow in her hair :)

On my first Mother's Day I felt overjoyed and thankful for my role as a new mother. I have wanted to be a mommy for as long as I can remember and my dream has come true! Nothing makes me happier than to look at the daughter that I helped to create and know that I am contributing something good to this world! Cameron is my daughter, my love, my angel, and my dream come true! I am so happy to be her mommy!