Steve and Halie

Happy 2nd Birthday, Cambry girl!!

2011-05-21T22:21:00.000-05:00

How can it be that we have a two year old now?!! We celebrated 2 wonderful years with our little girl on May 5. On her actual birthday, she opened a couple of presents and our family went out for ice cream after dinner. Cambry was in heaven with her cookies and cream ice cream!

Then, on Saturday, we had a small family birthday party at our house for her, flower-style. Cambry has been into picking flowers for some time now, so it was very fitting for her! She really seemed to understand that she was having a birthday party once everyone got there. She enjoyed opening her presents, gave hugs and thank yous after each one she opened and LOVED eating her cupcake. She smiled the whole time we sang to her and she blew out both candles by herself. After the party was over and everyone was gone she looked at us and said "birthday party, again?!" Haha! Sweet girl! I think she had fun!

Oh, and funny thing about her clothes. The tutu skirt was what I had planned on her wearing. Wouldn't you know that she would not put that skirt on the day of the party without big tears?! So, I pulled out the pink dress from her closet instead. She had a diaper leak during the party and my mom went back there with me to change her and she gladly put on her tutu skirt for my mom. Silly girl. I guess she wanted two party dresses! :)

Some of our sweet family that came...

She really understood opening presents this year!

Excited about her cupcake! She sure did enjoy it! :)

Trying out some of her new toys! Thank you to our families for them!

Happy birthday, sweet girl!!! We love you so much and can't wait to see what this year holds our two year old!!!

Fabulous 4 months!!

2011-05-15T20:30:00.000-05:00

4 months has been a big month for our little guy! It seems like he has just grown up so much this month!

* Weight: 14 lbs, 14 oz (50%) Height: 26.5 in (93%) Tall boy!

* He has become a much more efficient eater! On average he nurses in about 20-25 min! Mommy is SOOO happy about this! (I think Cambry is, too!) He takes a bottle in about 10 minutes now, also.

* This month, Chase has become a much more sound sleeper. He sleeps from 8pm-7/7:30am and takes 4 naps, with the last one being about a 45 min cat-nap.

* We started the unswaddling process this month and to our surprise, he has done great! He is currently sleeping unswaddled completely at night and from the waist down/arms out for naps. He curls up on his side and we catch him with his thumb in his mouth often. Sweet boy.

* We started solids this month. He was not a fan of rice cereal, but takes about 2 TBSP of oatmeal for breakfast each morning.

* Chase started rolling over both ways! Big boy!

* He started really taking notice of Lucy dog this month and likes to reach out a pull her ears. So far, Lucy has been very patient with him. :)

* Chase chews on EVERYTHING! Everything goes straight to the mouth!

* Our boy loves to smile. He squeals, giggles, and smiles all.the.time! LOVE IT!!

* He is still such a quiet, calm, & laid back guy that just goes with the flow. He can miss a nap and you'd never know. Such a trooper.

Mommy, Daddy, & Cambry love you, Chase-man! We have so much fun watching you learn & grow!

Bluebonnets...

2011-05-15T20:00:00.000-05:00

We ventured out to take some pictures of the kids in the bluebonnets this year. I was so excited about doing this because we missed the window last year with Cambry. I just knew we were going to get an adorable one of both kids together. It proved to be a little more challenging than we thought with the wind, Cambry out to explore, and Chase not being able to sit up. Here's the best we got!

3 months is almost over...

2011-04-13T15:43:00.009-05:00

and I haven't even posted pics of our 3 month old little boy! Here are a few from this past month. Is he a minature Steve or what?! :)

2 Months!

2011-02-25T20:59:00.000-06:00

Chase turned 2 months old this past week. I can't believe he is already that old! He is SUCH a sweet, laid back little guy and is growing like a weed! Its still so amazing to me how quickly they grow and change. He had his 8 week check up about a week ago and he is a healthy baby boy! We are so thankful!

* Chase weighs 12 lbs 2 oz (65th) and is 23.5 in (75th)

* He is nursing a little quicker (30-40 min) and takes a bottle well at home, but does not take one very good in public. Too many distractions?

* He is consistently sleeping 7 1/2 hours at night and has made it all the way through the night 2 times now! YAY!!

* He could take/leave his pacifier. He finds his thumb if he is super hungry or during tummy time. I think we may have a thumb sucker on our hands!

* Chase naps for about 1 1/2 hours after each feeding in his room, either in his crib or swing.

* He gives out smiles pretty regularly now & we just LOVE his precious grin! It's still hard to catch on camera, though!

* He likes riding in the car but stopping gets him squirming.

* His favorite place to be is on his back kicking around, cooing at his toys, or smiling at the fan.

* When he is awake, Chase is so content and rarely gets worked up about anything--just being hungry!

We LOVE our little buddy!!

Wiggling out of the swaddle...time to graduate to the miracle blanket!

A little smile for Daddy!

Love from big sister!

Tummy time thumb sucking typically results in this:

Our Little Loves...

2011-02-17T16:43:00.002-06:00

Sweet Big Sister

2011-01-20T07:00:00.001-06:00

In the midst of Cambry's transition as a big sister, she has been very sweet to her baby brother. She calls him "Baby" and when we ask her what he says she says "wahhh". She gets very concerned when he cries and wants to give him his paci as quick as possible. :) She also likes to point out his eyes, mouth, etc. and wants to know where Chase is when he is not around. Sweet girl. I am excited for the day they become playmates! Here are some sweet moments we have captured of her loving on him!

1 Month Already?!

2011-01-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

Our little boy is one month old and I can hardly believe it! With his birth, the holidays and trying to figure out this mommy of two thing, it has just flown by! I am going to try my hardest to blog about Chase's milestones like I did Cambry's but I can already tell its going to be a little more challenging to find time for the computer. Here are a few things I don't want to forget...

* Chase nurses 7 times a day & takes a bottle at 10:00pm from Daddy. He is a slow & sleepy nurser, taking about 45 min per feeding. Hopefully this will speed up as he gets older!

* So far, he is a great sleeper. He sleeps in his crib all night (4 hour stretches right now) and naps in either his crib, swing or where ever else he can catch some sleep. Noise does not bother him at all--in fact, we thing he prefers it!

* He just went through a big growth spurt btwn weeks 3 & 4 that put him out of all his newborn clothes and into all 0-3 month clothing. He is so long that we are about to have to move him to 3-6 mo. sleepers for extra leg room!

* At 3 weeks he weighed 9 lbs 4 oz. We don't have another doctor visit until week 8, so I'm not sure how much he weighs right now.

* He likes his pacifier, but could take it or leave it.

* Chase doesn't mind tummy time. He pushes his head up and can move it from side to side.

* He loves bath time, especially getting his hair washed.

* He likes it when big sister shows him new toys. :)

* Chase is a laid back baby so far & just goes with the flow!

Some of Chase's favorite places to be...

We love, love our little guy and even though its only been 1 month, its hard to picture life without him! We are looking forward to seeing how he changes over this next month!

Snow Day!!

2011-01-16T07:08:00.004-06:00

We were so glad Daddy was home on the first snow day of the year! Cambry had so much fun playing outside and building her first "baby snowman" with him. Chase also got to experience his first snow, but just for a little bit!

Chase Tyler Hodgson

2011-01-03T15:07:00.005-06:00

Well, its been a couple of weeks, but we still want to introduce you to our newest member of the Hodgson family...Chase Tyler! Chase was born on December 16, 2010 via c-section. He weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20.7 inches long. He is a healthy little guy and we are so thankful for that! So far, Chase is an easy-going baby who loves to sleep and eat. He is the perfect addition to our family and we just love him to pieces! Here are a few pictures from our stay at the hospital...

Meeting him for the first time :)

Getting ready for Chase!

2010-12-12T13:50:00.000-06:00

We spent the majority of November getting ready for Chase! We got some projects done around the house, his room finished, Christmas shopping done and wrapped and now we are just waiting! Chase's original due date is December 14. I am going to try for a VBAC with him if my body will go into labor on its own. If not, we have a c-section scheduled for December 16th. We are looking forward to meeting our little guy in just a few days, however he decides to make his debut!! So exciting!! Below are a few snapshots Steve took of his nursery...

I decided to do a few crafty things for his room: The c's on above his crib, a license plate name I saw in Canton & letter canvases I tried to recreate from Pottery Barn. It was a little more work than I originally thought, but I had fun doing it!

My grandfather built this shelf for me when I was a little girl for my aquarium I got for my b-day one year. It has been repainted TONS, followed me to college, was in our guest bedroom and Steve repainted it red for Chase's room! And...my sweet friend Sarah made the adorable door hanger for the hospital that you see propped up on the shelf. Isn't she crafty?! I LOVE IT!!

My talented Mom made curtains for his room, just like she did for Cambry's. I LOVE the detail of the red buttons that she added to them! Thanks, Mom!!

You're room is ready and waiting for when you get here, Chase Tyler!

19 months!

2010-12-09T07:30:00.000-06:00

Our Cambry girl is 19 months old! I can't believe it!! She has some big changes in for her this month, but we think she is going to handle being a big sister fabulously! She has a sweet & gentle nature about her, loves to give hugs & kisses and loves to help out--all of which will be great qualities for a big sister! We took her out to a field one cold afternoon and let her run wild. She had a blast and Steve captured some precious pictures of our little girl! We love you, Cambry Brooke!!!

Build-a-Bear

2010-12-08T13:00:00.000-06:00

We took Cambry to Build-a-Bear on Saturday so we could make a special stuffed animal for Chase, just like we did for her before she was born. She LOVED carrying the little bear around and helping put his little heart and stuffing in. She even gave him a bath with Daddy at the end. She is so proud of Mr. Bear! What a sweet big sister Cambry is going to be!!

And what's a trip to the mall with Daddy without a ride on the carousel?!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

2010-12-08T09:35:00.001-06:00

Cambry went to visit Santa this year already, as we were hoping to beat the rush and make sure we got it in before baby brother arrives! She was all smiles last year for Santa & this year we were geared up for all tears. Instead of crying, she just froze when we put her on his lap. It was so funny. She had both hands up and her head turned sideways and just sat there...wouldn't move for anything!! The camera girl was real good with her and used a toy to turn her head and get her hands more relaxed. She didn't crack a smile but afterward had plenty to say about him! She calls him "Ho, ho!"

Trick or Treat!!

2010-11-04T14:26:00.006-05:00

Cambry got to experience her first year of trick or treating this past weekend! I knew from the beginning that Cambry is not a fan of things on her head or over the top outfits so I had to carefully pick out her costume this year. I thought this little ladybug outfit would work out well since she didn't HAVE to wear the wings or antenna if she didn't want to but would still be in costume. Well, little did I know she wouldn't be a fan of the dress either! We tried this dress on many times for prep & Steve & I talked it up big time on the day of. We managed to get her out the door in the dress and she never worried about it again. Whew! Silly girl!

She had a BLAST knocking on doors (and trying to open them)! She would say "knock, knock" and then try her hardest to say trick or treat which sounded more like "t-t"! It was adorable though! We only went to about 10 houses and almost everyone let her pick out her own candy. She would keep reaching for more despite our efforts in telling her just one, but no one seemed to mind. Thanks for the full candy basket for Mommy & Daddy, Cambry! Yesssss! ;) She did get to have her first candy--smarties--and LOVED them!

We had SUCH a fun experience & are looking forward to next year trick or treating with 2!

Not a fan of the outfit, although we thought she was pretty cute!

Elmo HAD to come along! :)

Checking out her goodies!

"Mmm, these are good! Can I really have them?!?"

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-06T11:07:00.008-05:00

Last weekend we went out to the Pumpkin Patch in Celina. It was our first time to take Cambry to one and it was so much fun! They had some cows, sheep, & goats the kids could feed and she absolutely LOVED feeding the animals out of her hand. She thought it was so funny--we were surprised! We also went on a hay ride & she got to pick out her own pumpkin to take home. The weather was perfect, too! What a fun fall afternoon!

Feeding the animals...

Looks like this cow almost took her hand with him! Cambry didn't seem too worried... :)

The roosters would let Cambry chase them and right before she got to them, they would jump in a hole in the gate!

Hay ride fun!

Cambry took it upon herself to wave to all the people on the hayride & loved getting waves back. What a sweet girl!

Looking for the perfect pumpkin...

Can I take this one?!?

My little country girl :)

LOVE her!!

Sprinkle Time!!

2010-10-03T22:25:00.000-05:00

My third trimester started off with a Baby Sprinkle! Last weekend some my dear friends and college roomies threw a little "Sprinkle" for Chase & I! We had a fabulous lunch with family & friends at Cristina's Mexican restaurant and then were sprinkled with love & gifts. We definitely have plenty of boy essentials now and are so thankful for the kindness and generosity of everyone. Reality is starting to set in now with all the boy things that we're really having a BOY and we are getting so excited about meeting our little guy, Chase, in just a couple of months!

The sweet hostesses & me
L to R: Traci, Cindy, Me, Sarah, Katie...we missed you, Laura!

The cute table set up. My crafty friend Sarah made the adorable hospital door hanger & the diaper cake! Love it!

Piggies!

2010-09-28T15:00:00.001-05:00

Cambry's hair is long enough for pig tails now! It's so fun to have another option for her hair, although she thinks its fun to pull them out. :) These are not the best pictures, but they captured our first piggies!

Begging for the camera, but isn't my hair cute?

Another piggie day...

Summer Swimming!

2010-09-27T20:25:00.000-05:00

I never got around to posting some of our summer swimming fun...better late than never, right?! Before summertime arrived, I had visions of Cambry & I floating around the pool during the hot summer days with our friends. Well, apparently Cambry had different plans. :) She wasn't quite the water bug that I thought she would be. She HATED her float. She would have rather been outside of the pool eating a snack. Ha! I am happy to say that by the end of the summer, she LOVED the splash parks & came to enjoy the pool & the lake--although the float was never a hit. We loved our family time at the Frisco rec pool on the weekends with Daddy, too! I am excited for her to be old enough for swimming lessons next summer!

A quick pic before the hat comes off!

Cambry's first boat ride. She tolerated the life jacket very well!

Checking out the lake...love those thighs!!

We spent a lot of time with Cambry's friends Reagan & Addyson at the neighborhood pool. Somehow I didn't catch any pics with Addy!

She loved the splash park!!

Of course its not complete without digging for a snack...

Love my girl!!

Gig 'Em Aggies!!

2010-09-04T21:34:00.002-05:00

We are ready for football season over here! Cambry has been practicing the "touchdown" and the "gig 'em" sign and had a blast sporting some of her Aggie gear today for the first game! WHOOP!

Our Little Explorer

2010-07-30T16:26:00.005-05:00

Cambry has become quite the climber these past few days! She is busy, busy...always looking for something new to explore! I guess she is preparing us for our little boy that is to come! :) Here are some of the places I have found her this week...

In "her" cabinet

I decided to grab the camera after I had told her to get off...sad baby!

Lucy was hiding from the thunder between the couches & apparently Cambry wanted to keep her company!

The highchair is WAY more fun on the ground!

"Helping" Mommy clean out baby brother's room

It's a Boy!!!

2010-07-18T20:20:00.007-05:00

We found out on Friday that Cambry will be having a little brother and we couldn't be more excited!! I've had this feeling for quite a while now that a little boy was in my tummy as this pregnancy has turned out to be different in a lot of ways. This is going to be uncharted territory for this mommy coming from a family of girls and having a little girl, but I'm excited about all the fun & energy a boy will bring to our family!! We are so thankful for our little boy blessing!!

Just finding out it's a boy!

Check out that profile...so cute!!

Looking down at his face. Looks like he already has some chubby cheeks like his sister! He has a hand on top of his head. :)

Another profile pic & he is limber! Look how his leg is up by his face!

We got our first dose of blue! Thanks, G & Pops!!

Ahh...we are so excited to meet our little guy in December!!

Pink or Blue?!?

2010-07-12T14:47:00.000-05:00

This coming Friday, July 16, we get to find out if Cambry will be having little brother or sister!! We are super excited and are hoping the baby won't be camera shy that day. :) All is well with the pregnancy so far. I'm feeling great, have been feeling those sweet little baby movements in my belly & my belly sure is growing! I love this stage of pregnancy! Cast your vote on the side of our blog and let us know what you think we are having!

4th of July Weekend

2010-07-08T15:41:00.006-05:00

We had a busy but fabulous July 4th weekend! It started off with one my good friends/college roommate, Laura & half of her family coming in town to stay with us for the weekend. We had a great time catching up and watching our girlies play together! One of our other roommates & dear friend, Katie, got married on Saturday. Katie was a stunning bride! I was honored to be a part of her big day & we are so thrilled for her & Wes. The rest of the weekend was spent grilling out & celebrating my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom!

Waiting patiently for Lily to come play!

Lily had fun running the track with Lucy!

The beautiful Bride, Katie!

Katie & the bridesmaids!

Most of this crew grew up together & went to college together!

My Hubby & Me

Steve was bribing Cambry with a slushie for a kiss!

It worked! So SWEET!!

My girl...

2010-06-13T21:25:00.005-05:00

We went to the lake this weekend to visit YaYa & Poppy (Steve's parents) and had a great time! One evening we took a golf cart ride to a little park in their neighborhood. Cambry had a fabulous time walking around and playing in the grass! Steve got some cute pics of her in action...

I snapped this one at the end and LOVE it!

Oh, how I love my sweet girl!!!

We have a walker!!!

2010-06-06T14:52:00.002-05:00

Cambry decided that she would start walking on Wednesday!! She has been taking strands of steps here and there since she was about 11 months, but I think she finally gained the confidence she needed and walks EVERYWHERE now! What a big girl!! We are so proud of you, Cambry!!!

I love how she seems proud of her new skill!

Here she is on her way to find Daddy!!

Cambry is...

2010-05-31T21:41:00.002-05:00

going to be a BIG SISTER!!

We are super excited to share that we are expecting our 2nd bundle of joy this year! We are due December 14, 2010 with a Christmas baby and I can't think of a more perfect gift! Cambry & baby 2 will be 19 months apart...whew! :)

I am 12 weeks along and all is well. I feel like the start of this pregnancy was a lot different than when I was pregnant with Cambry. I was really nauseous from week 6-9, which I didn't have the joy of experiencing with Cambry. :) Since then, it has been a breeze and more similar to my first pregnancy. I am looking forward to starting the 2nd trimester to have some more energy & to feel our sweet baby moving around!

Here are a couple of sonogram pictures from week 6 & 10. I am so amazed by the miracle of life in the womb and so thankful for this little one inside me!

6 weeks

10 weeks

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

2010-05-14T20:30:00.010-05:00

Our sweet Cambry girl turned one on May 5!! We have had so much fun watching her grow, learn and develop her sweet personality over this past year! My, it has flown by! Since her actual birthday was on a Wednesday, we celebrated by meeting Daddy for lunch at Chipotle--we had to have a little mexican food in honor of our Cinco De Mayo baby! She had a ball walking around & meeting the people at his office! It was a beautiful day, so we played hard at the park & in the backyard and finished off the evening with a couple of presents!

Typing on Daddy's computer at work

We had her little birthday party Saturday, May 8 with our families. Cambry had a pink & green polka dot party & I had so much fun getting ready for it! I decided to use some of my newly learned sewing skills to make her a bib and a birthday hat and I was excited about how they turned out. Cambry got her adorable dress from some sweet family friends at one of my baby showers and I was so excited that it fit a year later for her to wear at her party! Cambry was such a ham at her party--loving all the attention. She spent lots of time dancing and giving out kisses to everyone! We are so blessed by our Cambry girl!!

Silly girl!!

Cambry had a short attention span when it came to opening presents, but she sure does love playing with them all now! Thank you everyone!

Giving kisses to the stuffed animals. Sweet love!

She wasn't too sure about the hat...

Cambry LOVED her cake once she figured it out.
We weren't surprised one bit! :)

"I think I had too much cake..."

Playing in her new sandbox with Pops & Poppy! What fun!

Happy 1st Birthday to you, Cambry!! We love you to pieces and can't wait to see what this year holds for you!

And, thank you to our sweet families for spending your Saturday afternoon loving on our little girl! We are so blessed!

Easter 2010

2010-04-06T22:36:00.007-05:00

We had a wonderful first Easter with Cambry this year as we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord together! After the 8:00am church service (early!), we headed out to Ft. Worth to spend the afternoon with my family & grandmother. Cambry enjoyed lots of attention, Easter surprises, and had a ball emptying all the eggs out of her Easter baskets. :)

Concentrating so hard on walking! What a big girl!

Busy, busy emptying her basket!

Giving kisses to her new stuffed animal. She LOVES to give kisses right now! Sweet girl!

My mom brought my Easter basket from when I was little for Cambry. I love that she kept it all this time and now Cambry can use it!

D.C. trip

2010-03-24T20:39:00.022-05:00

I'm finally finding some time to post about our little trip! A couple of weeks ago Steve and I headed out to D.C. to be at the special ceremony for his grandmother, Oma, who was receiving a Congressional Gold Medal for her service as a WASP during WW2. It is the highest honor a civilian can receive from the government and what an honor it was to be there to support Oma! It was also great because it served as a big family reunion as well and I got to meet quite a few of Steve's extended family from Georgia that I had never met. Sweet family! Steve and I decided to go out to D.C. a couple of days early and stay a day late to do some touristy things. Cambry stayed here with my parents (G & Pops) and had a great time with them! We are so thankful they were able to take some time off work to love and care for her! What a blessing. We had a FABULOUS time but we missed Cambry greatly! It was a long time away from our baby girl! Below are some of the highlights of our trip in pictures:

On Tuesday, we started off with a trip to the Capitol Building & an audio tour of the inside. I found it very interesting!

We grabbed a quick lunch on the way to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's estate. This was probably my most favorite sightseeing part of the trip! I just love historical homes and learning about what went on in back in the day in those homes.

Wednesday was the big ceremony day for Oma! We headed back out to the Capitol Building for the ceremony and then enjoyed a big family lunch at famous Old Ebbit restaurant.

Here we are waiting in the HUGE line to get through security. Apparently the ceremony was the largest they have ever accommodated in the Capitol Building, so they were a little, umm, slow & unorganized with all the people. :) We made it through, though!

Oma's sweet airforce escort, Cheif Meckles, made these precious signs for all 22 of us family members at the ceremony. We were to use them to locate each other once we all got there. It was a VERY creative and great idea. It is a picture of when Cambry & Oma met for the first time. It was a surprise to me when we got there and brought tears to my eyes, as I was missing her so much!

Steve's Dad & cousin Sarah both were interviewed for the Houston & Dallas news!

Oma & her gold medal, along with her escort Chief Meckles & all the family. We are so proud of you, Oma!!

Thursday was our big sightseeing day. It was our last full day in D.C., so we crammed as much as we could into it. We were exhausted by the end of the day, but it was worth it! We decided to take a bus tour b/c it stopped at all the major sights we wanted to see. It worked out great! The first stop was Arlington National Cemetery.

They also had a special exhibit to honor the WASPS at the cemetery and had a life size picture of Oma on the wall! WOW!

Lincoln Memorial & Washington Monument

The White House
When we got to the white house, they had the typical visitors walkway blocked off where we couldn't get in front of the gate to take pictures. Apparently it was because the president was arriving & we had to wait for him to get inside and all the secret service to be cleared out before they would open it up. High security. I guess it a good thing. :)

The Supreme Court Building

We also visited the Holocaust museum & got passes in the Capitol Building to listen to the House & the Senate in session. Very interesting.

To top it off, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary, there as well! We had a wonderful dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak house on the 11th floor of a building overlooking the Reagan Airport. Magnificent view, delicious food, & perfect company!

Friday we headed home to see our little girl and despite our worries, she remembered who we were! :)

Spring!

2010-03-24T20:19:00.006-05:00

We are so excited it's spring time! We've already been on lots of walks around the neighborhood, to the park to swing almost every day lately, & have been feeding the ducks! Cambry LOVES to be outdoors so we are looking forward to this warmer time of the year!

On our latest trip to feed the ducks,
she probably had the most fun picking the grass. :)

Fun Weekend!

2010-02-28T10:04:00.003-06:00

While Daddy went out of town this weekend for a youth retreat with his guys from church, we tried to make the best of it, although we missed him so much!! Friday night we went out to dinner with Miss Katie (soon to be Mrs. Katie!) and got to see her new house! Always a great time! Then, Saturday we headed out to Ft. Worth with G to see Mammaw (Cambry's great grandma) for the day. Cambry got to show her all the things she can do now since we saw her last at Christmas...such a big girl! Then, we went back to G & Pops' and got to spend time with Pops, too! Cambry enjoys being loved on by her grandparents & great-grandma! What a fun weekend we had!

Miss Katie makes me smile!

Nothing better than kisses from Mammaw!

I love my Mammaw!!

Exhausted baby girl with G!

9 months!

2010-02-08T21:27:00.005-06:00

Our Cambry girl is now nine months old and what a fabulous nine months it has been! It seems as though she has always been a part of our family and God couldn't have blessed us with a more perfect addition. We just love her to pieces! These past couple of weeks, Cambry has had a cold that turned into a sinus infection so she is on an antibiotic right now. We were supposed to go to her 9 month well check up but apparently she can't have shots until she is done with her meds, so we had to postpone it for another week. I will have to update with stats later but for now here is what she's been up to:

* Cambry sleeps from 7:30/7:45pm-7:30am and takes 2 naps for 1 1/2 hours each.
* She takes 4 bottles of either breastmilk or formula a day and she eats solids 3 times a day.
* She loves her baby food--the only thing she doesn't care for is zucchini or yellow squash.
* She feeds herself puffs or cheerios & can drink out of a sippy cup by herself.
* She still isn't truly crawling--she does the army crawl & gets her knees under her here and there. She is content just sitting and wiggling here and there. We joke that she will probably be walking before she does her "true" crawling!
* She is pulling up to her knees on the coffee table, etc & can almost pull all the way up by herself.
* She says da-da, ma-ma, ya-ya, na-na and we hear an occasional ba-ba.
* Cambry loves to wave at herself in the mirror!
* She still LOVES to read. Her favorites are Babyfaces & Baby Animals.
* Her newest trick is to put her arms above her head when we say "touchdown!" Silly girl!
* Cambry has become pretty snuggly this past month. She loves to cuddle right before her naps or bedtime once she gets her pacifier in her mouth. We love it!
* She has also become quite the Daddy's girl lately, as well. She has always enjoyed being with her Daddy, but these days he better not come into the same room or walk by without planning to stick around or there are BIG tears. And, Daddy loves it! :)

We are so very thankful to the Lord for Cambry and while we love the stage she is at now, we are excited about how she is going to keep learning and growing! These are some of our favorite pics of this past month!

Cambry's New Trick

2010-01-23T22:32:00.005-06:00

One day this week, I walked in to get Cambry from her nap and she was sitting up in her crib--this was a first! She was giggling and so proud of herself. I was too! She's been able to sit up for a while, but this was the first time she had pushed herself up into a sitting position from laying down. Well, this new little trick has been so much fun for her that she "practices" it during her nap times instead of napping! UGH! It's the end of the week now and she has spent the majority of her nap times this week rolling around, then sitting back up or just sitting there. One nap time she literally just sat there for 1 1/2 hours playing with her pacifiers--not crying, just sitting. What in the world?! She knows how to get back on her tummy, she just chooses not to. Oh, the new things to explore in the crib from this position! I hope the newness of this skill passes quickly so we can get back to our normal napping. Silly girl!!

This is the first day I walked in to find her sitting up in her crib.

She was sound asleep! I guess she got tired of sitting. Poor baby!

Melt my heart...

2010-01-15T14:06:00.004-06:00

My sweet Cambry's little face is enough to melt my heart. But now that she says "mama" over and over it's a whole new ball game. My heart is overflowing!

Roomie Fondue 2010!

2010-01-08T14:54:00.002-06:00

This past weekend we continued our annual tradition of fondue with my college roomies! We were trying to count back to what year we started it and we are thinking December of 2000. WOW! Each year we get together and cook up a 4 course fondue meal. It includes a cheese fondue, salad course, 3 meat & veggie fondue & then we top it off with a chocolate fondue. It is simply delightful and even more so to spend the evening with my dear friends! This year we missed Cindy who had to stay at home in NM since she is due with baby Andrew anytime now and Laura in VA who is currently packing up her family to move back to Texas--YIPPEE! Thanks for hosting it this year, Sarah & Wade. We are already looking forward to next year!

Kicking off the evening!

Wade & all the meat he cut up--that is some serious meat!

Us, Sarah & Wade, Katie & Wes, Traci & CJ

The gals!

Cambry's First Christmas!!

2009-12-30T14:26:00.014-06:00

We had the most wonderful Christmas this year with our little girl! We started our festivities with our "family of 3" Christmas on Christmas Eve morning. We woke up & had a yummy cinnamon roll breakfast, opened presents & enjoyed the day together celebrating the birth of Christ! We told Cambry it was pretty special to have a white Christmas as her first Christmas! On Christmas Day, we woke up early & went to G & Pops' house for Christmas with my immediate family. That afternoon, we headed to Ft. Worth for another family Christmas with my mom's side of the family. The next day we got up early and drove to Conroe to see YaYa & Poppy for Christmas with Steve's side of the family. It was a busy few days but we enjoyed all the memories we made with Cambry & our family as we celebrated the birth of our Savior, together! And boy did Cambry get spoiled by our family!!! :)

Thanks for making our stockings, G!

Cambry LOVED pulling the tissue paper out of gifts the most! :)

She was also busy, busy with the paper from her gifts!

Some fun in the snow!!

Pops showing Cambry the tradition of him sneaking the dog into the nativity scene. Silly Pops!

Enjoying sitting with her Great Grandma (Mammaw)

Aunt Summer & Aunt Kendall liked putting the panda hood on Cambry's head. Cambry thought it was pretty funny!

Poppy with his grandkids

We can't forget Lucy...she had a great Christmas, too! :)

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

What could be more special than celebrating the birth of Jesus with our beautiful little blessing this year?!

Family Pictures

2009-12-20T18:02:00.007-06:00

Our friend Jenny said it so well that as photographers wives, we often find ourselves asking, "But when are we going to get our family pictures taken?" A while back, Jenny & I decided that since our husbands are both photographers we would have them take each others family pictures. What a deal! Josh was so kind to take a few family pictures of us back in November when Cambry was 6 months old. We were very pleased with them and are so thankful to have a few family pictures of our own! Thanks for capturing these sweet memories for us Josh!!

Play Date!

2009-12-18T15:01:00.007-06:00

Cambry had a play date with her friends Addyson & Reagan today! Jody, Courtney & I worked together and our baby girls are each about 3-4 weeks apart. Since we are staying home with our girls now we try to get together often. Today we were reminiscing of the first time we all got together & they were so tiny & just slept...now they are rolling & crawling all over the place! So fun! Thanks for coming over today--we are already looking forward to next time!

This picture makes me laugh. We were trying to get a pic of all 3 of them & Reagan kept touching Cambry & Cambry wasn't too happy about it. :)

Another try with a little rearranging :)

Cute friends

Check out our little crawler in the background!

Sweet girls learning how to share

Ho, Ho, Ho!

2009-12-06T13:48:00.006-06:00

We took Cambry to Stonebriar Mall for her first visit with Santa! We weren't really sure what to expect as far as her sitting in his lap. She hasn't had stranger anxiety yet, so we were hoping she wouldn't mind Santa. When it was her turn, we sat her down in his lap & she looked up at him, smiled, and grabbed his beard! haha She didn't seem to mind him a bit. Steve brought his camera and snapped a few pictures on the side, too.

Cambry says she's excited to go see Santa!

Here's the one they got:

These are a couple we took on the side:

Merry Christmas!!

Snow!!

2009-12-03T21:12:00.004-06:00

Steve woke me up as he was leaving for work on Tuesday to tell me it was snowing! FUN!! So I decided that Cambry needed to experience her first snow. After she had her breakfast, I bundled her up and we headed out for a few pictures. She started off happy but once she felt it on her hands she didn't want to have anything to do with it. She also kept falling backwards due to her puffy jacket. Poor baby! She didn't care for that much either. We might be a bit too young to enjoy it. Maybe next year...

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-30T20:46:00.008-06:00

Cambry had a busy, but wonderful first Thanksgiving! We spent a couple of days in Conroe with Steve's family and then we headed to East Texas to spend it with my family. Lots of driving but Cambry handled it all like a champ & we are thankful we have wonderful families to drive to visit! She didn't sleep as much as we thought she would in the car but she was a happy camper jabbering away and playing with her toys. She started saying "da-da" this weekend--I guess all that talking she did in the car paid off!

Sweet Cousins Clayton & Cambry

Cambry got an early Christmas present from YaYa & Poppy...a jumperoo! Clayton was sweet to show Cambry all the tricks on it.

A ticklish little girl!

Cousins with our baby girls!
Me & Cambry, Wendi & Avery, Annie & Sloane, Judith & Meredith

Great Grandma Vinson & her 4 grandbaby girls!

We are thankful for our precious Cambry!

6 Months!

2009-11-14T21:06:00.005-06:00

Where has the time gone?? Our tiny little baby isn't so teeny anymore and is growing up! It is so much fun to watch her learn and grow each day but man it goes fast! Cambry had her 6 month appointment last week and got an A+ in all areas. She is a healthy little girl and we are so thankful for that! Here are some things Cambry is up to these days...

* Weight: 18.5 lbs (90th percentile)
* Height: 26.5 in (90-95th percentile)
* Cambry loves her sleep! She takes 3 naps a day each 1 1/2 - 2 hours and sleeps from 8:00pm-7:30am.
* Up until now, Cambry has been eating oatmeal twice a day and 6 oz of breastmilk at each of her 5 feedings. We got the go ahead from the doctor to start veggies and fruits. So far we have had sweet potatos and butternut squash, both of which she is a fan!
* She gets so excited about her food. She kicks her legs and does a little breathy pant until she gets her first bite! So cute!
* We are in the process of transitioning to a 4 hour feeding schedule.
* She is sitting up on her own. Way to go baby girl!
* She has 2 little bottom teeth that are growing taller--I still can't believe it!
* She loves to talk--she jabbers away and we are noticing some little syllables in there.
* She plays peek-a-boo with us and it is just so cute!!
* She loves Lucy. She giggles when Lucy gives her kisses and always looks around to find her at the sound of her collar when she comes into the room.
* Cambry is reaching for and grabbing anything in sight!
* She has discovered her hands and feet & will study them & then try to eat them. :)
* Over the past month or so Cambry has started sleeping on her tummy. We lay her down on her back and she immediately rolls over to her tummy to sleep.
* Cambry loves to read! She gets so excited when we get a book to read and she stays interested in it the whole time. She loves to help us turn the pages, too!
* She still loves music. Singing to her lights her up and also is very calming for her. She likes any toys that light up or sing too!
* She likes to sit in her bouncy seat while we are eating dinner. She kicks, squeals, giggles & talks the whole time.
* She still LOVES her pacifier! We try to give it to her only for naps & bedtime & those times we are out and about if it is getting close to nap time and is needed.
* Cambry is still a very easy going baby and has such a happy disposition--as long as she has had her naps! :)

Some pictures of this last month...

Eating cereal for the first time!

She did pretty good and thought it was yummy!

Practicing sitting up all by herself!

Nothing better than reading with Daddy!

Being silly with Lucy

Happy girl!

Swinging at G & Pops' house

Pretty girl!

I would have to agree with my friend Sarah when she said that the 4-6 month age range is her favorite! So far it has been my favorite too as she has reached so many milestones, she is awake longer stretches during the day, is so tuned in to us & her surroundings & is just a happy go lucky little girl! We just love seeing so much more of her personality! I love, love this baby girl and can't wait to see what next month brings us!

Happy Day!

2009-11-11T21:11:00.006-06:00

Today was veteran's day and we got to spend it in a special way! Steve's grandmother, Oma, was a WASP (Woman Airforce Service Pilot) during World War II. She was getting recognized today at Love Field Airforce Base by Kay Bailey Hutchison and she was able to come in town for the special ceremony. She had not met Cambry yet due to distance and health & we were able to go up to Love Field today so they could meet! It was a sweet, sweet time and we are so very thankful that Cambry got to meet her great grandmother Oma today!

When Oma saw her for the first time...aww!!!

I love this picture. Cambry got tired and snuggled up with Oma. So sweet!

Halloween...a little late :)

2009-11-06T15:04:00.013-06:00

Cambry enjoyed her first Halloween, well as much as you can at 5 months old! She dressed up as a little princess--Daddy liked to call her his zebra princess. :) I found the top and tutu in Canton and added a few things to the outfit to make it complete! Our lifegroup got together for a little Halloween fun with all of our dressed up kiddos--most of which are still too young to eat candy or go trick or treating. We tried to take pictures as you will see below, all hung out together and munched on yummy snacks Anna made. Steve also took some pretty cute pictures of Cambry all dressed up. What a cute little princess we have!

Our pretty girls:
Lauren the Ladybug, Laney the Cat, & Cambry the Princess
This picture makes me laugh as they just weren't very interested in the camera

The handsome boys:
Parker in his festive orange, Ryan the Dinosaur, & Bryce the Firefighter

All the kids in costume!

I guess Cambry was scared of the dinosaur behind her...haha!

Baby Dedication

2009-11-01T21:41:00.005-06:00

Last Sunday we had Cambry's baby dedication at church. This was a sweet time for our family as we publicly committed before the church to raising Cambry in a godly home where she grows up learning about the love of Jesus Christ. During this time, our pastor introduced each baby and then he asked us, as parents, a few questions. He prayed over us & our children and Cambry recieved her own children's Bible. What a precious time it was and what a great responsibilty that we have as parents! We are looking forward to the day when Cambry chooses to accept Christ as her Savior and begins a daily walk with Him. What a joyous day that will be! It was a special day for our little family and it was an honor to have both of our families there to support us!

Happy girl getting ready to leave for church. We had to wear a bib to spit up proof our dress for a while!

Cambry is giving out a wave when they introduced her :)

Thank you Lord for our sweet blessing!

Arboretum fun!

2009-10-28T20:07:00.011-05:00

Last week Cambry & I headed out to the Arboretum again but this time with our playgroup friends! We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the sunshine and pumpkins with friends! We tried to take some pictures with all the kids but we found it a little difficult. :) Cambry even got to try out sitting like a "big girl" in her stroller for the first time! I think she really liked getting to look around & see all the action. Here are some of the best ones we got...

All bundled up...it started off pretty chilly!

Carson, Shane, Parker, Ryan, Cambry, Bryce & Laney
We missed you Hannah & Lauren!

Some attempts at pictures with the pumpkins...

Picnic Time!

Rita & Laney

Trichelle & Parker

Exhausted from our fun day!

Guess who's getting some teeth?!?

2009-10-27T09:36:00.003-05:00

I had no idea that Cambry was teething! She hasn't shown any signs of teething except that she puts everything in her mouth--but what baby doesn't?? On Sunday we were playing and she grabbed my finger and put it in her mouth. It's as if she was saying "look mom, I am getting some teeth!" :) Her little gum felt rough and I looked back in there and there was a teeny tiny white tooth just barely poking through! Her right one was there too, I just couldn't see it yet. Yesterday they both broke through. Cambry is teething like a champ! I can't believe our little girl is getting teeth! :)

Pumpkin Patch!

2009-10-14T09:15:00.007-05:00

On Saturday we went on a little family outing to the Arboretum to enjoy the fall weather and take some pictures of Cambry in the pumpkins. We had never been there before and had a great time! Cambry gave us some smiles for a little bit but then she was over it and would rather just people watch! :)

Aggie Football!

2009-10-05T20:54:00.004-05:00

We had the opportunity to go to the A&M vs Arkansas game at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday! We got Cambry dressed up in her Aggie gear in honor of the big game, although she cheered them on from home with G & Pops. It wasn't quite the game we were hoping for but we had a great time enjoying the college football atmosphere and of course the new stadium! You can't beat free tickets on the 2nd row!

Here's our little future Aggie!

Yes, tag is still on jeans...looks like they are a good fit! :)

Just a swingin'...

2009-09-29T19:50:00.003-05:00

We like to go on walks to the little park down the street. Today daddy brought his camera with us. Cambry didn't offer many smiles for the camera but she still had a great time. We enjoyed this beautiful day!

First Kiss :)

2009-09-28T09:33:00.002-05:00

We got together with some good friends for lunch on Saturday. Cambry got to meet her friend Jack, Andrea's little boy, for the first time. He thought she was pretty cute and went in for a kiss. Daddy said good defense with the hands in front of the mouth and no more kissing boys! :)

4 months

2009-09-13T16:48:00.007-05:00

Its been a wonderful past 4 months with our baby girl! It is so hard to believe it has already been that long. I am absolutely loving being home with her each day--we have so much fun together! Cambry had her 4 month checkup on Wednesday and got an A+ in all areas! We are so thankful she is a healthy and happy girl! Here are some up to date things about Cambry:

* Weight: 16 lbs (95th percentile)
* Height: 25 1/2 in (95th percentile)
* Eats 6 feedings of 5 1/2 oz of breastmilk. We started rice cereal yesterday and despite the mess she really liked it! Hopefully this will help some with her spitting up.
* Sleeping through the night 8:30pm-7:30am with a dreamfeed at 10:00pm.
* She takes 3 naps that are 1 1/2-2 hours long during the day and a 45 minute to hour nap in the evening.
* She is reaching & grabbing for objects--everything goes into the mouth!
* Smiling, smiling, smiling! She is such a happy baby.
* Cambry loves to "talk" and the louder the room is, the louder she gets!
* She is very ticklish--we love to hear her giggles when she gets tickled!
* She is rolling from tummy to back and she seems to almost have the back to tummy roll over.
* She still doesn't really enjoy tummy time and would much rather being kicking around on her back.
* She loves to stand up in our laps with her strong legs.
* We started weaning her from the swaddle. We had a few rough naps and one rough night, but she has adjusted well. She loves to sleep with her hands above her head now. :)
* Cambry really enjoys being outside and going for walks.
* Cambry loves music--she likes being sung to, listening to toys with music, or any background music we have on.

Cambry brings so much joy to our lives and we can't imagine our life without her! We love our sweet girl!! Here are a few 4 month old pictures Steve snapped of us the other day:

Feeding the ducks...

2009-09-04T12:18:00.006-05:00

The weather has been so beautiful this week, so we spent some time one evening feeding the ducks at a pond down the street from us! Cambry loves being outside!!

Look at that tongue! It's a new discovery for her...we like to call it her lizard tongue! :)

Our little blessings...

2009-08-25T16:06:00.009-05:00

Have you ever seen a cuter smile?!? :)

Have you ever seen a dog that loves getting sprayed with the
water hose so much?

Thank you Lord for the joy you bring to our family through Cambry and Lucy!

3 months!

2009-08-12T09:54:00.009-05:00

Steve took some 3 month pictures of Cambry this weekend. I was looking back at her newborn pictures from just three short months ago and it is amazing how much they grow and change! What fun! Here are a few of our favorites:

Guess who's rolling over?!?

2009-08-10T10:05:00.003-05:00

Cambry started rolling over on Saturday from her tummy to her back and I somehow managed to catch it on video! YAY! Sorry for all the crazy talk... :)

Tummy time

2009-08-07T08:57:00.004-05:00

Tummy time has become more enjoyable lately for Cambry. She getting a lot stronger at pushing up & liking it!

July

2009-08-02T19:09:00.018-05:00

I sure have gotten behind in our blog posts. We have had a busy, but fun July! Here are some things we have been up to...

We took another weekend trip to Conroe to visit YaYa & Poppy. Cambry also got to meet her Uncle Clay (Steve's brother) for the first time & see her cousin Clayton again. We had a great time swimming and eating yummy food!

Talking with YaYa

Happy girl after a swim!

A good swaddle with Poppy before bedtime

She really did like Uncle Clay, she was just hungry.
Look at that pouty face!

Cambry & I took a weekend trip down to College Station with my good friend & college roommate, Katie to see one of our college friends, Chris, get married. We decided to make it a girls trip because one of our other good friends & college roomie, Laura & her family came in town from Virginia with her 3 kiddos! Laura wanted to meet Cambry & I got to meet Ben, Laura's newest. I was a little worried about going on the trip without Daddy, but Cambry did absolutely wonderful and Katie was a huge help! We had a great time catching up, meeting each others newest additions & seeing our friend get married.

Cambry-11 weeks old & Ben--4 weeks old
The babies saved us in the 100 degree heat at the outside reception and we got to go indoors with them because it was so hot. (only family & wedding party were allowed in there!)

Cambry went to the church nursery for the first time today! Even though I worked in our church nursery regularly before I had Cambry & know what good hands she would be in, I was still a little nervous leaving her. They said she did great--snuggled, took a little nap, & played. We are thankful for the sweet servants that took care of our little girl while we got the chance to enjoy service together.

We have also been spending time meeting friends for lunch & play dates along with playing hard at home! G, Pops, Aunt Summer & Aunt Kendall love to come over to play and even offer to babysit so I can run some errands or so Steve & I are able to go out together. We are very blessed to have family so close and that love some Cambry time!

Playtime before Daddy heads to work!

Nothing better than rocking with Pops!

Finally, Cambry is about to turn 3 months--I like to call it 13 weeks though because it makes her sound younger. :) I just can't believe she is already that old. She is growing like a weed & gets more and more fun each day! It is so neat to watch her develop right before our eyes. What a miracle children are!

2 months!

2009-07-13T09:07:00.010-05:00

Our baby girl is 9 weeks old already--I can't believe it! We had her 2 month check up and her first big round of shots this past week. She weighed in at 12 lbs 8 oz and was 23.8 in long, both of which she is in the 95th percentile! I like to call her my chunky monkey. :) I was a little worried she was getting too chunky, but Dr. G said there is no such thing as an overweight baby on breast milk so that made me feel better! She got an A+ at her appointment--she is growing and developing well. What a blessing! I think the shots were the hardest thing to watch. Both Cambry and I shed a few tears. :)

Here are some things Cambry is doing right now:

* She is a great sleeper! She is still sleeping through the night (8-9 hrs) and takes four 2 hours naps each day--we credit this to the book: Babywise (and a good swaddle!)

* She loves to be swaddled. Lately during the night she has been finding a way to wiggle one of her arms out and then she wakes herself up with her hand in her face. My friend Sarah told me about the Miracle Blanket which is basically a super swaddle and that has seemed to do the trick!

* She is taking 5 oz each feeding.

* Cambry still loves her changing table. This is her favorite place to kick, talk, smile, coo, etc. It sure does make diaper changing more fun!

* She has become a lot more talkative lately. She has started to giggle and make this little gurgling sound in the back of her throat when she's talking to us. It is the cutest!!

* She is exploring her hands more now. She constantly has them up by her face and putting them in her mouth. I'm hoping thumb sucking isn't around the corner...

* We have noticed she has become a lot more active lately. She will lay on her back and will move her arms and legs like crazy while looking at her toys.

* Cambry loves to sing! A couple of her favorites right now are "This little piggy went to market", "Jesus loves me", and "The itsy bitsy spider." She also likes to do a special dance with Daddy to the song "L-O-V-E" by Nat King Cole. It is so funny & cute to watch!

We have been trying to get out more during the day. Cambry is quite the trooper & very easy to bring along places. Here are few pictures from our adventures!

2 months old!

Cambry's first trip to church!

Cambry's best buddy, Lucy
This is after our air conditioner broke and we crashed at my sisters' apartment for the night

Talking with Aunt Kendall & G

Strolling at the mall with her friend, Drew

Swimming with Daddy & her friend Layla

How cute are we in our matching carriers?
This is her friend, Alli, from Lifegroup

Mommy loves her baby girl!

Playgroup

2009-07-07T15:50:00.008-05:00

Cambry and I had our first playgroup experience yesterday! Our playgroup consists of mommies and kiddos from our Lifegroup and they get together every Monday. We were excited to go! It falls during one of Cambry's nap times, but she did well and managed to catch a few z's here and there. We are looking forward to many more fun times with our friends as Cambry gets older! Not everyone was able to make it, but here are a few pictures of some of our friends!

Trichelle, Parker & baby on the way!

Melanie playing with Cambry

Michelle & Ryan

Courtney, Hannah & Lauren on the way!

Miss Alli

Somehow I managed to not get her mommy in the picture--
Sorry Carrie!

A Weekend of Firsts!

2009-06-29T18:52:00.006-05:00

This past weekend, we went on our first road trip as a family of 3! We went to visit Steve's parents on lake Conroe and had a great time. Cambry did wonderful on her first long car ride. She slept the entire way with one stop for a feeding. I will say packing for a baby requires a lot of planning and baby gear, but we managed to bring everything we needed (and a little more).

While we were there Cambry got to meet her cousin Clayton. He is 5 years old and was so sweet and gentle towards her. He was hoping she would be able to jump in the water with him at the pool, but he soon realized she was a bit too small for that after they met. :)

Cambry got to experience her first swim, too! It's a little tricky going to the pool with a 7 week old as they can't wear sunscreen yet or be in the sun, but we managed! YaYa and Poppy had a big golf umbrella and a couple of floats we rigged to keep her comfortable in the water. She loved the water and took a nice little nap on her raft in the pool.

And the most exciting first for us was that she slept through the night for the first time on Saturday night! She slept from 10:30pm-7:30am. We couldn't believe it! Previously, she had been making in anywhere from 5-6 hours at night. We thought it must just have been a different atmosphere or something, but then she did it again last night! Way to go, Cambry! Hopefully that little trend will continue. :)

Clayton & YaYa playing with Cambry

Ready for the pool!

Cambry must be thinking: "This is the life!"

What a fun day at the pool!

More Pictures!!

2009-06-25T20:20:00.010-05:00

Here are some more pictures that Steve took of our little family when Cambry was 3 weeks old. She has changed so much since then, but I am excited they are edited and wanted to share some of my favorites!

Happy First Father's Day!

2009-06-21T08:00:00.008-05:00

Happy Father's Day to the greatest Daddy a girl could ask for! Steve is such a hands-on Dad that is gentle, loving & silly! Cambry is going to have so much fun growing up with her Daddy! Here are some pictures of things that Cambry & Daddy do together:

Bath Time!

I came in the room the other day & I saw this:

Steve said Cambry was cold so he put on her mittens and found some "Mary Jane" socks for her to wear. It made for a great laugh! Daddy is so silly!

Snuggles...

Tummy Time--it looks like tummy time got a little tiring for all! :)

This shirt says it all:

6 Weeks Already??

2009-06-19T14:40:00.017-05:00

I can't believe our little girl is 6 weeks old! Everyone tells you how fast they grow up but it doesn't really sink in until you are living it. It's true, though! Some things Cambry is doing...

*She is taking about 4-4 1/2 oz. each feeding

*She weighed 9 lbs 15 oz at her 4 week appt. I bet she is easily on her way to 11 lbs now. She loves her some food! :)

*She is sleeping 5 hours stretches at night--whoo, hoo! She sleeps in her big girl crib all night and for a couple of day naps. She sleeps in her swing for a couple of other naps.

*She takes 2 hour naps after each feeding & awake time.

*She has been smiling since she was about 3 weeks old, but now they are much more frequent and we don't have to work as hard to get them! LOVE IT!!

*She likes laying on her changing table during diaper changes kicking, cooing, and smiling at us.

*She is great at focusing on objects. Her favorite is her ladybug on her carrier. She will smile and look at it forever, it seems!

*She likes evening walks with Mommy, Daddy & Lucy.

*She loves bathtime with Daddy!

Here are some highlights over the past few weeks of our sweet Cambry Brooke:

Pops babysits!
My dad took off a day of work to babysit for Cambry while I spent the last day of school with my kids at the end of the year party. Other than trying to figure out which way the diaper went on, he managed to hold down the fort well! :) Thanks, Pops!

YaYa and Poppy come to visit
Last weekend Steve's parents came in for a visit. YaYa got to go to Cambry's 4-week appointment with Daddy & Cambry while I was packing up my room at school. Cambry got some sweet loving from the grandparents and we enjoyed some great food and a great visit!

Cambry Meets her Great-Grandmothers!
Cambry is very blessed to have four Great-Grandmothers that love her so much!

Mammaw (Halie's Grandmother)

Momo (Steve's Grandmother)

Grandma (Halie's Grandmother)

Oma--we can't wait for Cambry to meet you soon!

Cambry getting some loving from her Aunt Summer & Aunt Kendall

G stays with us!
G (my mom) stayed with us the past couple of days while Daddy was out of town on a business trip. The extra set of hands was so helpful. We sure did enjoy your spoiling and snuggles, G! Thanks for all your help!

Here are a few other pictures of things Cambry loves right now...

We love, love our baby girl! We still can't believe we have been so blessed to get to be her parents!

Pictures!!

2009-06-18T12:17:00.010-05:00

Here are a few of my favorite pictures that Steve took of Cambry when she was around 2 weeks old. I've been meaning to post these for a while (as she is already 6 weeks old), but with a newborn, time just gets away from me! There will be many more updates to come, so check back soon!

A Short Look Back

2009-06-03T08:38:00.007-05:00

Yesterday Cambry turned 4 weeks old (or 1 month old for any guys reading this). It doesn't seem like it's been that long, but I guess it has. It's a little sad for us because we have been enjoying her being so tiny. There are some good things that come with her getting bigger though - like starting to smile!

Here are some of her characteristics and things she's able to do now:

Takes 4oz. every 3 hours
Wakes up twice between 10:30pm and 7:30am
Pick her head up when she's on her tummy (something she's been able to do almost since she was born
She is able to focus on our eyes and track our movements
She is starting to smile a little - so fun!
She really likes to have her pacifier after she eats
She stretches a lot when she wakes up
She likes to have her arms up next to her head when she's napping
She likes being read to
She doesn't flinch when Lucy licks her
She is enjoying bath time with daddy much more than she used to (no crying)
She likes to swing forward and backwards, but not side to side

Here is a look back at some pictures of her as she's grown this past month.

Just born - fat and not happy!

1 week old

1 week old

2 weeks old

3 weeks old

4 weeks old

Daddy's Little Girl

2009-05-23T11:11:00.003-05:00

Last night we took a little family outing to a park. I captured this cute picture of two of my favorite people! Cambry loves her Daddy!

Bath tub!

2009-05-23T11:03:00.003-05:00

We got the all clear from the doctor to let Cambry use her bathtub that YaYa got her. She stayed a lot warmer and it was much easier to get a bath.

Two Week Report Card

2009-05-19T11:31:00.007-05:00

Cambry had her 2 week checkup this morning and passed with flying colors!

Weight - 75-90 percentile
Height - 90 percentile
Head - 75-90 percentile

She's growing like a weed! A couple pictures with mommy and daddy after she got back:

Everybody Loves Pictures

2009-05-19T11:13:00.007-05:00

Everyone is always asking us to post more Cambry pictures, so here's some random ones from the last couple days!

Charlotte and Pete drove all the way from Azle for a visit!

Bath time again, Daddy???

G bought me some sunglasses for the summertime! How do we look?

Tummy time in the morning! I kind of just lay there though while daddy pesters me to keep me awake.

Wiggly

2009-05-16T10:23:00.002-05:00

We use a sleep positioner in her cradle to help keep her out of trouble. It keeps her in the middle of the cradle and elevates her head slightly. In the early days she was still coughing up amniotic fluid and we had a couple scary moments where she was choking on it. This device along with her Babysense monitor has given us peace of mind. She's able to handle her spit ups better now and get them out of her mouth.

This morning she had wiggled all the way down the sleep positioner and was crammed at the end of the cradle. She didn't seem to mind it, but I thought it looked pretty funny!

Settling in

2009-05-16T09:52:00.003-05:00

We have been settling in this week. We've got her on a 3 hour feeding schedule. At night we'll let her sleep up to 4 hours between feedings, but she's only made it a couple of times. She is starting to wake up more. She usually has 1 fussy period during the night where she's unhappy despite her needs being met. Usually she just wants to be held for a little while.

Her clogged tear duct seems to be getting a little better, but we usually still have to clean her eye a couple times a day. We read that it can last up to a year. I hope not, but we will feel very blessed if that is the only trouble she has. She has really been a good baby so far. We hope that will continue as she outgrows her newborn sleepiness!

Last night G and Pops (Halie's parents) came over to watch her for a couple hours while Halie and I went out for a little while. We ate at Blue Mesa then went to the mall to do a little shopping. It was good to get out of the house for a bit and take a break.

Smells like updoc in here...

2009-05-11T15:52:00.005-05:00

This morning Cambry went to the pediatrician to get weighed and check for jaundice. Our doctor is just down the road from us at Centennial which makes it very convenient. I dropped Halie and Cambry off under the awning because the weather looked threatening. And wouldn't you know it as soon as I parked the car the floodgates of Heaven opened up on me. Fortunately, Halie always has a small baby blue polka-dotted umbrella in her car. It was a proud moment for me.

Anyway, you would probably rather hear about Cambry. Cambry was 8lbs 7oz when she was born, but as we later discovered she was not eating enough and had dropped down to 7lbs 8oz by the time we left the hospital. They only like to see a weight loss of 10% or less. We had exceeded that so we began supplementing until Halie was producing more. Within a day Halie's milk was starting to come in and we no longer had to supplement. We started feeding her every 2.5 hours to make sure she was eating enough. I'm happy to say that since then she's had many a dirty diaper and she has almost gained back all of her weight - 8lbs 3oz. I guess she's a big eater because the nurse practitioner said normally babies her age eat about 1-2oz per feeding, but she's eating 2.5-3.0 oz. The NP said she didn't have enough jaundice to worry about testing her, so that's good.

Halie and I are steadfast in our desire to do BabyWise. So this week we've been working on making sure she's getting full feedings at every meal. We are also feeding pretty closely to a schedule. I think it's working because Cambry eats a lot at every meal, then she usually dozes off and then starts getting restless about 2.5 hours later like clockwork.

Rub a dub dub...

2009-05-11T15:39:00.002-05:00

We gave Cambry her first bath at home yesterday. I was really excited because I got to get out my shark towel! Halie didn't want me to register for it because she thought it was going to scare her. But I did anyway and Halie's sisters bought it for me. :) She didn't really enjoy getting a sponge bath, but she liked having her hair washed under the faucet. Hopefully her umbilical cord will fall off soon so we can give her a real bath. I'm looking forward to that!

We're home now!

2009-05-11T08:15:00.005-05:00

Thanks to everyone who came and visited us at the hospital. Cambry had lots of visitors!

We had the option of coming home on Friday or Saturday. We decided to stay the extra day so that we could rest a little more and make sure we had everything under control. On Saturday morning, we got Cambry dressed up in her going home outfit, loaded up the car, and headed off to begin our new chapter of life.

Our Sweet Little Girl

2009-05-06T06:19:00.005-05:00

We're now awake. We both got a decent amount of sleep last night (me more than Halie) so we are feeling better. Thanks for all of your prayers for Halie, they really worked! We got her temperature stablized last night and then they moved us to a post-partum room. It's about the size of your freshman dorm room.

They gave Halie some medicine for her nausea which made her really sleepy. But late last night she was feeling more coherent. She was able to feed Cambry for the first time which made everyone very happy! Cambry was awesome at nursing she has a great sucking reflex. You could hear her making sucking sounds while she was waiting.

Halie is doing well now. We're trying to find a pain medication that doesn't make her sick. I am very proud of how she's handling everything. She has been through so much and never complains. Even through exhaustion yesterday she was able to take care of Cambry. Her know-how and intution about mothering makes it so much easier for me.

Here are a few pics from yesterday. These are just moments after she was delivered. Her initial swelling has gone down quite a bit. I already think she looks different. She definitely has her mommy's pouty lips! I'm in trouble!! :)

Hello World!

2009-05-05T20:03:00.003-05:00

I'm proud to announce Cambry Brooke was born 6:18pm and weighed 8 lbs 7 oz. She is 20.5 inches long. She is healthy and doing very well. Halie ended up having a c-section because she stalled at 6.5 cm dialated. Please pray for her as her temperature has dropped and she isn't feeling that great.

3:35 Update

2009-05-05T15:35:00.003-05:00

Halie is at 6.5 cm. We are hoping her progress continues but it's not going as fast as it was earlier. It's hard to watch her be uncomfortable or in pain and not be able to help her. Her nurse is taking very good care of her though. We're expecting Dr. Campbell to check in on us about 5pm.

1:40pm Update

2009-05-05T13:40:00.001-05:00

She is now 5 cm. Still progressing well. Not much more to report.

10:30am Update

2009-05-05T10:42:00.001-05:00

I'm putting updates in separate posts now in case it's not updating our RSS reader friends.

Contractions are 3 mins apart! They are getting much more consistent and regular. She's starting to be able to tell when she has them.

It's the day!!

2009-05-05T06:10:00.005-05:00

9:32am
---------
Halie was put on Pitocin at about 7:30 this morning. The doctor also came in and broke her water. I ran home for a couple minutes after she was all settled back in. I called her 15 minutes later to check on her and she was already having contraction pains! She decided to go ahead and order an epidural since the pain was getting bad fast. She's now feeling good and feeling tired. Contractions are about 5 minutes apart it seems and she's 3cm.

6:09am
---------
Good morning! This is Steve writing. I will hopefully be able to provide updates throughout the day. Last night we came to the hospital about 8pm. After a lengthy check-in process and a battery of questions they got Halie hooked up to an IV and blood pressure thing. They put 2 straps around her belly. One to monitor Cambry's heart rate and another to monitor any contractions. She also got a cervix dialater thing (which is why we came the night before). Needless to say we didn't get a whole lot of sleep. At 7:30 they will start the Pitocin to induce labor. Thanks for all of the prayers!

Monday update...

2009-05-04T14:19:00.002-05:00

I went to the doctor this morning for another quick check. My body hasn't really done anything since Friday so we are checking in tonight to the hospital at 8:00pm to begin the baby process! I will get a cervix ripener tonight and then tomorrow morning at 7:30am we will begin the induction process with pitocin and the doctor will also break my water then. We should have a baby in our arms by Tuesday evening, hopefully! We are super excited, but a little nervous too! We can't believe it's actually time!! Steve is planning to update the blog along the way tomorrow as the day allows him. So stay tuned...

No April Baby...

2009-05-01T18:23:00.003-05:00

Well, we officially missed our due date. I was originally due yesterday, April 30, but it looks like we will be having a May baby! I had my 40 week appt and sonogram today since I missed my due date. Dr. Campbell said that Cambry got an A+ on her sonogram! Praise the Lord!! She had a strong heartbeat, her little diaphragm was making the breathing motion so that she will be ready to take her first breath out of the womb, and she is measuring a whopping 8 lbs! I honestly thought she would have weighed more seeing as I am past my due date, but I do think 8 lbs is hefty enough! :) I am also dilated to 1 cm and 30% effaced. Even though my body hasn't done much, it was still encouraging to know something is going on...finally! We are still set to induce on Tuesday, May 5 at 7:30am unless she decides she wants to come before then. We are so excited to meet you, Cambry Brooke, and are thankful you look healthy and strong from the sonogram! Just a few more days...

It's Spring!

2009-04-28T14:03:00.002-05:00

Spring is probably my favorite season as it is starting to get warmer, it's flip-flop season, and it's flower season! LOVE IT! Every spring I get so excited about planting flowers in our flower beds out front. I knew if we didn't get them planted this weekend, it may not happen this year with a baby due anytime now. So, on Saturday morning Steve and I headed out to Calloways and picked out some flowers. The ones I wanted were sold out, so I settled for some petunias--Steve's favorite. We spent most of the day Saturday outside planting flowers, mulching, trimming hedges, etc. Yes, I did yard work and am 39 weeks pregnant, but I feel great! Our front yard is ready for the spring!

Build-A-Bear and 39 week update

2009-04-26T18:29:00.007-05:00

On Friday, Steve and I went to Build-A-Bear and made Cambry her first stuffed animal. We were wanting one to have to take a monthly growth picture of her with and thought it would be fun and special if we made one for her! We picked out a soft and cuddly rabbit and had a sweet lullaby song put it in one of its paws. We added it's little heart inside it and got it stuffed. We left it pretty basic and are going to let Cambry name it when she gets older. It was really sweet to see how excited Steve was...he is going to be a great Daddy of a little girl!

Before we stuffed it

Putting it's little heart in :)

Our finished rabbit waiting for Miss Cambry!

39 Week Update

On Friday, my doctor's visit was pretty uneventful. I'm still just hanging out as my body is not showing any progress. We went ahead and scheduled an induction date the evening of May 4 if I don't have her before then. I'm definitely ready to have her, but I am actually content right now in waiting as I know that in no more than 8 days we will get to meet her!

Cambry's Room & 38 Weeks!

2009-04-18T10:34:00.012-05:00

We finished Cambry's room a little while back but am just now getting around to posting some pictures/collages that Steve took of it. We are really happy with how it turned out and now we are just waiting on our sweet baby girl to decide when she wants to come see it!

This is a shelf that my Grandfather built for my room when I was a little girl. We painted it black and it fit perfectly over her dresser. Also, my dad gave us the "Little Princess" sign for Christmas just after we had found out we were having a girl. It's special to us because he had been calling our baby "Little Princess" ever since we found out we were pregnant because he just "knew" it was going to be a girl. :)

I decided to try and be crafty! I made the lamp shade and the bow holder--both of which I saw on other people's blogs.

I found the sweet wall hanging with that saying on it in Canton. I had seen it each month when my mom & I were there and everytime I would tear up when I read it. When we decided to go with a pink/black theme, I knew I had to get it!

My mom made the cute curtains and we added pink & green ribbon to the top of them. I know you can't see a full shot of them, but she did a wonderful job!

This is this "dollhouse" that my Grandfather built for my sisters and I when we were little. It got passed down from room to room growing up. It was painted like a dollhouse but its meant to be used as storage inside. Our sweet family friend, Jenna, repainted it to go in Cambry's room. We absolutely love it! Thanks, Jenna!

Finally, I had my 38 week appt. yesterday. Surprise, surprise--my body has not done anything, although Cambry did decide to wiggle back down in her "dropped" position. My doctor is still predicting I will make it to 40 weeks or later due to my family history of my mom being late with my sisters and I and how my body is doing nothing yet. We talked about a tenative induction date of May 4 if she hasn't arrived by my due date of April 30! It's wierd to think I could be having her in May when all this time I have had April in my head. We know that God has His perfect timing of her arrival and we are anxious to meet her whenever that may be!

38 week pic--Steve was testing out his new white background.

37 week update

2009-04-11T12:53:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I had my 37 week appt. Everything is still going smoothly. We are just waiting for my body to progress some. I am not showing any signs of labor any time soon. The last 2 appointments I had the doctor said Cambry had dropped. But, yesterday when I went, she said somehow she has moved up some. She is still head down, but not as low as she was. So, we apparently are still on the 40 week plan, which we are just fine with. We are so thankful Cambry is now full term and whenever she decides to come, we are ready!

On another note, I finished my last day of work yesterday for the rest of the year! YAY!! It was definitely a bitter sweet time as I really have loved my class this year, but I am super excited about having 2-3 weeks to be able to get some final things done around the house, wash Cambry's little clothes, and just rest and relax some. I sure am looking forward to starting my new job as a Mommy!!

Shower Time!

2009-04-01T21:16:00.007-05:00

I had 2 more baby showers last week which I am so thankful for! On Wednesday I had my school baby shower. There are actually 3 out of the 6 of us pregnant on my team, so the rest of our team threw a triple baby shower for us. We are all having girls so they went with the theme "1st grade is Wild about Baby Girls!" It was so cute! I didn't have my camera but hopefully I can get some pics soon from a friend.

On Saturday, I had my family & friends shower in Carrollton. Two of our good family friends and three of my close friends/college roommates hosted it. It was decorated just darling in Cambry's nursery colors and had cute little touches of baby girl all around! I was definitely showered with many wonderful gifts for Cambry and shed tears of joy multiple times--surprise, surprise. :) My friends and family are such a sweet blessing! Thank you for such a beautiful shower, ladies!
I forgot to take my camera out again until the end, but here are a few I have.

Shower Hostesses...sorry I was covering you up, Donna!

The delicious brunch set up

Cute diapers with candy corn in them

Long time friends!Katie, Sarah, Emily, Me, Cindy (holding Ashley's baby), Ashley

I love how everyone is in warm clothes b/c it was 35 degrees on March 28! Too bad I only had a spring dress to wear! :)

35 weeks

2009-04-01T20:57:00.001-05:00

I can't believe 35 weeks has almost already come and gone! We got to have a sonogram (FINALLY!) on Friday. Apparently, after the 20 week appt, they don't do anymore sonograms unless they are needed due to insurance coverage. But, my doctor said that near the end if there wasn't a need, she would "try to find a need" so that I could get one last peek! So, she said that I could have one and she would say it was to find out if the baby was head up/down, even though she could already tell. YAY! We got to see our precious Cambry and it was so amazing to see how much she had grown and developed since our 20 week appt! She was just beautiful and she had the chubbiest little cheeks that we are looking forward to kissing and squeezing in just a few weeks! They also confirmed for me that indeed she is a girl! WHEW! The sonogram showed that I am still measuring on track and she is estimated to weigh 6 lbs, 1 oz right now! That sounds big to me at this point, but they said she was in the 57th percentile, so I am hoping she won't have a huge growth spurt between now & delievery time. :) We are getting more and more excited each day, if that is even possible! We can't wait to meet our baby girl!!

5 years ago...

2009-03-23T19:47:00.003-05:00

I married the man of my dreams! Steve and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on Friday, March13. (yes, this blog is a little dated) We decided we wanted to go back to an all time favorite of ours, The Melting Pot. We went for some cheese and chocolate fondue. We are usually too full to enjoy the chocolate fondue at the end, so this time we opted out of the meat fondue. It was actually the perfect amount of food. Delicious! We can't believe it has already been 5 years, as we think the time has just flown by. I guess its true that time flies when you're having fun! The past 5 years have been the best 5 years of our lives and we are looking forward to starting this new journey together as parents in just a few weeks!

Our First Shower!

2009-03-09T18:19:00.007-05:00

Steve and I had our first baby shower last weekend with our lifegroup. It was absolutely beautiful I couldn't contain my tears...pregnancy hormones, I suppose! The decor was in our nursery colors (pink & black damask) and they had a sweet princess theme going on. We enjoyed baked potatos, fruit salad & ceasar salad for dinner and we had strawberry cheesecake for dessert (our favorite!). They showered us with many wonderful gifts for Cambry and I was so excited about them all that I stayed up late that night trying to organize some of it in her room! FUN, FUN! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends! Thank you for the wonderful shower, guys!

Isn't the "Cambry Brooke" sign so cute?!?!

This picture doesn't do it justice...the decor was so cute!!

One of our many wonderful gifts...

Maternity Pics

2009-03-04T20:21:00.013-06:00

Some of you know that lately Steve has taken up photography as one of his hobbies. He has been accumulating some very nice photography equipment for a little studio in our formal living room. His first photo shoot with the home studio set up was my maternity pictures! He took a ton of pictures and we were both exhausted by the end!He did a FABULOUS job and we were both pleased with how they turned out. I think we've finally narrowed them down and here are a few of our favorites. I can't believe I am about to put a bare belly pic on here!! :) To see more, you can go to his website at stevenhodgsonphotography.com and go to the gallery & then maternity.

31 weeks!

2009-03-03T20:01:00.001-06:00

This past Friday I had my 31 week appt. It was a short and sweet appointment. My doctor did a tummy check and I am still measuring right on track. Cambry's heartbeat is nice and strong. She predicted that our little girl is a little over 3 lbs. and she is estimating she will be about 7.5 lbs if I continue on this track. Considering I was over 9 lbs when I was born, 7.5 lbs sounds good to me! :) She did remind me that things could easily change and that is just a prediction! I am feeling great and just can't believe that the end is not too far away! Stay tuned for some more blog updates as soon as I get a hold of some pictures...

28 Weeks!

2009-02-05T21:03:00.009-06:00

I am 28 weeks today (I can't believe it!!) and I had my doctor's appointment this past Friday. It was the appt. where I did my glucose test for gestational diabetes. My appt. wasn't until 4:15pm and I wasn't able to eat any sugar or starches all day. It was actually really hard to think of breakfast, lunch & snacks that didn't have any of those ingredients! But, I managed and the results came back normal! Dr. Campbell says I'm measuring right on target and I will now be starting to go every 2 weeks instead of every 4 weeks. I can't believe it is already time to start going every 2 weeks...the end is in sight!! How exciting!!

A funny thing happened at my appt. on Friday. I had layed down for her to do a tummy check and listen to the heartbeat. She put her hand on my stomach and asked if I felt how tight my stomach was. "Of course" I thought to myself, it seems likes its always tight these days. Then she said, "you're having a contraction right now." WHAT?!? I was completely shocked! It was just a Braxton Hicks contraction but I truly didn't feel anything and I couldn't believe I was having one! She said it is very normal right now, especially when you lay down after sitting or have a full bladder (both of which I had). :) It makes me wonder how often I have those and have no idea its happening! Crazy!

A few other exciting things:
We got our baby furniture in (a month earlier than expected) and we love it! We also got our bedding in (a month earlier than expected) and we love it as well! Steve finished Cambry's room as far as the painting & baseboards go and he got the crib and dresser set up in there. I am so excited to start decorating in there!

The wood floors are finished and the furniture is all moved back into our formal living/dining room. We really like the floors a lot and are glad that project is over! Thank you to Andy & Toby for helping Steve move furniture!

28 weeks:

Crib/Bedding...we don't have sheets yet but are planning on them being pink!

We are planning on having the circle thing as our lamp shade

It's obviously still a work in progress, but thought I'd give you readers a sneak preview! :)

Projects!!

2009-01-28T11:03:00.002-06:00

We are knee-deep in projects at our house right now. Steve has been working on painting Cambry's room, which is so exciting!! We were wanting a light, soft pink color. We headed out to Lowes to get some swatches and there were a lot of great choices (so we thought). We decided between 2 to get samples of to try on the wall and woah, they were bright! So, we went with 2 others--got 2 more samples to try on the wall & they were way too bright also. We were a little frustrated b/c what was showing on the swatches was not coming out on the walls. How hard could it be to find a "soft pink"?? My mom suggested trying Sherwin Williams where they can custom blend paints. We finally found our paint after they blended a couple together. YAY!! So, Steve has been working hard on painting and he is also replacing the baseboards in there, too. It's coming together though!!

In the midst of all this, we are also having wood floors put in our formal living & dining room. This has always been something we wanted to do, but there has always been something ahead of it. We decided now is the time to do it before I quit working and before Cambry is here. So, it kind of just all came together and they came out on Monday to start working on it and they finished yetserday afternoon! We really like how it turned out!

I'm going a little crazy with all the projects & out-of-place things in our house, but I know that it will all start coming together soon! I guess you could say there is a little nesting going on at the Hodgson house! :)

Catching Up

2009-01-11T17:06:00.009-06:00

It's been a while since I posted last! I thought I would have all this time to post over my 2 week break from teaching, but apparently I was busier than I thought I would be! So, the next few posts will be catch up posts! Beware, its long!!

Pregnancy Update

As far as pregnancy is going, things are still going good. I have been having some lower back pain pretty regularly, which surprised me b/c I didn't think she was big enough yet to be causing that, but apparently she is! My doctor says everything looks great though, so it just must be good ol' pregnancy back pain. Cambry is a little over 1 pound now (according to books) and she is kicking away. Steve has been able to feel her and see her move, which has been so neat for us both! We decided on our bedding and furniture over the Christmas break and it should all be here around the end of February. We are anxious to start working on her room! So fun!
Below is a 23 week picture of me. One of my close friends and college roommates is pregnant too, so we took a preggo picture together when she came in town from VA!

Laura & Halie

Happy New Year!!

We have a yearly tradition that started in 2000 (we think) with my college roommates & our husbands/boyfriends to all get together and have a fondue dinner! We usually try to do it over the winter break since we all live in different places now. This year it worked out for it to be on New Year's Eve. Katie's parents started the tradition for us and have always hosted it at their house, but this year Sarah & Wade graciously hosted it at their new home in Keller and did a wonderful job! We enjoyed a cheese fondue, salad, a meat & veggie fondue, and then a chocolate
fondue for dessert! Delicious! It took us about 5 hours to get through all the courses, but it was a blast and we always treasure this sweet time together. They are some of my oldest and dearest friends and I am so glad that we have a time where we are all together again, even if we don't live near each other. Love you girls! We missed you Cindy & Matt!!

Steve & I just after midnight

The Girls! Katie, Laura, Traci, Me, Sarah

The Guys! Alex, Wes, C.J., Steve, Wade

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year with family! We spent Christmas Eve morning with my family at my parents house. Then, we headed to Conroe that afternoon for Christmas Eve evening and Christmas Day with Steve's family. Then, we went out to Henderson (East Texas) for another Christmas with some of my extended family. Here are a few pictures of our time together!

Vinson Family...excuse the roughness, it was early in the A.M.!

On top of the piano, my mom always has a nativity scene out. As you might notice, there is a random dog in it. Growing up, my crazy dad always would sneak this dog in the nativity scene and my mom would always freak out and she would move it. It somehow always made its way back. After 29 years, it is still there! Gotta love my dad.

Sisters sporting our new slippers!

Cambry got a present for her room from "Pops." My dad just knew we were having a baby girl from the beginning and always referred to her as "Little Princess" when he would ask how she was doing, etc. So, it was just fitting that he got this for her! Precious!! Yes, I cried.

Family Portrait with The Hodgson's

My nephew, Clayton & I wrote a letter to Santa & his reindeer with some cookies and milk! He was so excited about leaving his letters for Santa!!

Clayton was helping Uncle Steve open a gift! What fun!!

Gaylord Getaway

Steve took me on a little weekend getaway to the Gaylord the weekend before Christmas. We had a blast! We got dressed up and enjoyed a nice steak dinner at the Old Hickory Steakhouse in the hotel. We also went to the ICE exhibit they have there. Man, was it cold (9 degrees), but it was amazing to see all that people created with ice! We enjoyed getting away from the hustle & bustle of the holidays and enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere there together! Thanks for a fun weekend, hubby! (I'm not sure where these pics are...I'll have to add them later)

Lifegroup Christmas Party

In early December we had our Lifegroup Christmas party. We ate at this yummy pizza restaurant in the new Watters Creek shops in Allen, but I can't remember the name of it. Then, we headed over to Tom & Aubrey's for our annual ornament exchange for the girls and white elephant exchange for the guys. It was wonderful celebrating the Christmas season together, as always!

The Gals! There are 5 of us pregnant...can you figure out which ones?!?

The guys sporting all their white elephant gear!

20 weeks!

2008-12-13T18:23:00.006-06:00

I am at the half way mark!! I feel like it has been going by so fast. I am having so much fun looking at little girl stuff now and trying to figure out what we want to do for her baby room. Our latest news is that we have decided on a name--Cambry Brooke! It is neat to get to call Cambry by her name instead of just referring to her as our baby.

20 week baby bump

It's a GIRL!!!

2008-12-05T21:30:00.003-06:00

Well, we had the big appointment today that we have been anxiously awaiting for a while now! I had a coke just before we went to make sure our little one was moving around. Well, she was sound asleep curled up in a little ball. So, our sonographer took all the measurements necessary & then started pushing around on my stomach to wake her up. She finally did a big stretch and wiggled around enough for us to see the "money" shot! Our sonographer spotted it right away and said "It's a GIRL!" We were both in COMPLETE shock b/c most of you know that I was CONVINCED we were having a little boy and Steve was leaning towards that too! I had been so convinced that all I would look at was boy stuff, boy bedding, etc! Well, we were pleasantly surprised to find out we're having a little girl! I asked her about 5 times if she was sure and she showed me multiple times to reassure me it was indeed a little girl! :)

We are both just ecstatic and in awe of the tiny miracle growing inside me! (we are still in shock too!) :) I think the sweetest part was watching her move around, rub her eyes, yawn & then start sucking her thumb. Steve and I were both thumb suckers and it looks like we have passed that trait down! Here are a few pictures of our baby girl. They even did a quick 4D sonogram for free and gave us a couple of those pictures too! Thank you Lord for this amazing blessing!

Top Left: Spinal view, she is facing down
Top Right: It's a girl view
Bottom Left: 4D sono--she is facing us, sleeping, laying on the placenta
Bottom Right: 4D sono--she is facing us, sucking her thumb & you can see her arm (also laying on placenta)