A little of this and a little of that ...

The last few weeks have been a blur - with getting settled in our new residence/Clark's Final/Cami's Bday/ and getting oh so excited for Christmas... Life is good with us :) here are a few photos of what has been happeningthis girl is into all things GIRL :) she loves playing with makeup brushes and purses and baby dolls - i'm pretty sure we've got our hands full with this chica!abbie & aunt tara
Abbie decorated my birthday cupcakes - she pretty much ate the candy and frosting before it made it on the cupcakes :)
I had a great birthday considering Clark had his math final that night - so he studied most of the day and missed the cupcake party, but he took me out for Cold Stone when he got home that night and gave me a new ipod nano which i LOVE!
Abbie and I have been trying to get into the Christmas spirit with whatever her crazy mama can come up with (don't mock my hilarious santa puppet)

from "yah" to "yes" ... oh and we moved

Abbie has changed her answer "yah" to "yes" and it is my favorite. Clark and I are So grateful for our little piece of sunshine - she definitely keeps us on our toes, but we enjoy every minute of it!
oh and we have had a major change going on - we sold our house and moved in with the parentals. Clark has been taking a few night classes at Weber State the past couple semesters and is starting full-time come January. We are so grateful to my parents for letting us invade their home and their life ... Abbie is definitely loving seeing her "gama" and "gampa" everyday :)"mom, don't pack me!"

The Dreaded Thud (3 times)

Well last night after we had got Abbie in bed we were taking a breather from the day and we suddenly heard a big "THUD" come from upstairs followed by silence ... Clark and I headed up the stairs to check on Abbie only to find her on the floor beside her crib on top of her pillow and blanket. Yes, she escaped. We tried not to make a big deal out of it and got her back in bed followed by a few more rounds of "bah bah sheep" (bah bah black sleep is her most requested tune) and then left her to catch some zzzzz's ... No, we're not stupid - we thought she'd probably try and escape the crib again, but we thought we'd try and downplay it in hopes that she would just go to sleep ... Not 2 minutes after we had left her room we heard the familiar "THUD" followed by silence. Again we rushed up the stairs to check on Abbie and found her again on her pillow and blanket on the floor. Clearly we had to make a change for saftey sake (although she is a tough little girl to hit the ground like that and not cry). To make a VERY LONG story/night short - we ended up adding a different attachment to the front of her crib so she's able to get in and out and locked her in her room (you'd be impressed with our makeshift lock: two belts fastened together between her door and the laundry room door). Needless to say Abbie was not thrilled about the new situation. At this point Clark decided to turn her crib around (the back side of the crib is much higher than the front) to contain her for the night. We got her all settled in, did yet another round of "bah bah sheep" and about 5 minutes later we hear the much bigger "THUD" only this time it was followed by some pretty intense crying. I ran in to find her on the floor yet again, only this time without her landing gear and semi wedged in between the side of her crib and some storage bins. No worries, the little one is fine and now sleeping in her "Big Girl Bed" (aka crib with guardrail attachment)
Needless to say it was quite a dramatic evening in the Caldwell home ... I must admit i'm surprised it has taken Abbie this long to climb out of her crib because she was a major climber early on, but I am sad that she is getting so big. Why do these little people grow up?

Halloween 2009

We had a very Happy Halloween - hope you did too!

in love...

There are so many things that I love about my Abigail - she is at such a fun stage right now and I just can't get enough ...1. Abbie has said "pease" (please) for the longest time, and i've been working on thanks lately - she has finally caught on, but it's always "tanks mama" even when she's saying it to daddy. i think it's adorable.

2. Abbie adores her babies and animals. She has recently started talking to them and having them answer back in a cute little voice. She'll ask them questions like "having fun?" and then she'll say "ya" for their answer. it is one of my favorite things right now!

3. I love that it's getting cold outside because Abbie is wearing warm/fuzzy jammies and i think she looks so darling in them. I love right after bath when she's all clean with her warm jammies on. that's the best time for snuggles :)

4. In my opinion, Abbie has the greatest hair. She has just enough natural curl that the ends flip in or out and she seriously wakes up in the morning or from her nap with great hair!

5. I have always loved Abbie's dance moves - but she recently attached her self to "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus (sidenote: i really really really do NOT like Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana) this song has a really good beat and Abbie loves to "put her hands up" and "move her hips like yah" and she even sings the "USA" part, love it!

i just love my little silly Abigail - she's definitely a keeper

Yesterday I spent a few hours over at my Dad/Brothers' office to help with some work and when I came home this is what I found ....aren't dads the best!

music moments

Do you ever hear a song on the radio and immediately you're thrown back to a specific time in your life? Like today I was out running a few errands and I heard Avril Lavigne, "Complicated" and it took me back to a few days after graduating high school feeling all depressed from a lame breakup - haha!
When i got home from running errands Abbie was helping me make my bed (yay for flannel sheets) and we had the radio on ... when my Abbie hears music she has to bust a move so we had a dance party on my bed :) anyway, the song "Over My Head (Cable Car)" came on and I just watched her jump and shake and I was in heaven ... I LOVE MUSIC. and I love that when I hear this song again i'll be taken back to this small moment with my little dancing abbie

we had a great conference weekend! hope yours was fabulous too

We had a wonderful weekend up at the Caldwell's cabin in Scofield ... the fall leaves are GoRgEoUs! although, i'll admit - i took zero pictures of the leaves! Abbie had so much fun hanging out with "gamma and gampa" (she's stopped saying "mawgee" which i'm sort of sad about, but the way she says "gamma" is cute too)

5.2 miles

a couple weeks ago i (Cami) ran a race with 2 of my brothers and we had a lot more fun than i'd anticipated. we ran the Utah marathon relay - so we each (along with my brother's sister-in-law and brother-in-law) ran 5.2 miles and passed a baton off to eachother. i had never run more than about 3 miles before, so I was sure that they'd find me collapsed off the trail somewhere around the 4th mile marker, but I actually ran the whole time (which was impressive by my standards) anyway, i have zero pictures of the event, but i have a medal to prove that i did it :)

we're going to Clark's parent's cabin this weekend so i'm sure i'll have some photos and things to post when we get home ...

shiner

Sunday night after Abbie's bath she was jumping on our bed and ended up in a fight with our headboard and you can guess who won...i took this picture with my phone so it's not real great, but this was like 10 minutes after the fightthis is the next morning - looks a lot better. she's still got a pretty good black eye and every time we go out in public I feel like people are looking at me like "dude, do you beat your child?"

bubble bath

Abbie loves playing with bowls of bubbles (awesome i know) and the other day I found her dunking her baby in the bowl and saying "baby swimming" ... this child makes me smile!

We took a fun trip to the zoo a few weeks ago to see the new baby giraffe. The little guy is adorable! Abbie loves all the animals at the zoo - not sure if she loves them as much as she loves all of the open running space :)
waving to the peacocks

Some things you may not know about Cami ...

i love music. i'll admit i'm not the greatest singer, but i always have music on at my house... either the radio or my ipod or itunes is playing ... this might explain abbie's dancing fetish :)

i hate how i look in hats, but i LOVE hats on other girls. it bothers me that i don't look as great as they do.

i want to live in a house with a big front porch where i can sit and listen to the crickets (or the freeway, whatever). i want that house to be blue or green or yellow or red. get my drift? i want a colored house with a big front porch.

i need a new book to read.

i absolutely love magazines. i have to talk myself out of buying them in the checkout line! but my favorite is when they come in the mail :)

i really need to vacuum my stairs.

i want to take a hip hop class (or some dance class), but i'm afraid i'll get in the class and realize i no longer have the ability to move (i'd like to think i used to have that ability)

i love flowers. i also killed both of my flower pots. but i love flowers

i'm jealous of people who have major ambitions.

2 out of the last 3 times i've changed a light bulb i've shattered the light bulb. wow.

i wish i could be more like my abbie: carefree, determined, silly and sweet.

BEEN BUSY WITH:

* Family Reunion
* Abbie's sleep struggles
* "walkies" (walks)
* knee scrapes ("Owies") from the "walkies"

glad to say the reunion was a blast, the sleep struggles are no longer, the walkies never get old and the knee scrapes are healing (slowly) :)

i'll post pictures when i get the energy to get the photos off my camera...

a little Q & A

Question: Did i (cami of course) attend the midnight showing of the latest Harry Potter film? Did i thoroughly enjoy it? and although i've been a bit cranky the past few days due to sleep loss, was it worth it?
Answer: yes, yes, and heck yes! (although, i'm not sure clark would agree)this guy was the usher at the theater - not the real hpwow we're cool - tshirts we had made and scars drawn with tara's eyeliner. wow.

Question: Did Abbie recently turn 18 months old! and did she have a yummy cupcake to celebrate, of which did she scrape off the frosting and then ask for "mwore"?

Answer: yes - this chick loves frosting like her papa
Question: Has Abbie recently learned the art of "showing her teeth"?

Answer" yes (proof to follow)
Question: Have I been watching the smut that is the Bachelorette? and was i extremely upset with the recent disposal of Reed?

Answer: shamefully yes

Question: Did Abbie and i just finish a two week swim class where she learned some new fun songs and how to blow bubbles in the water? In this swimming class was her favorite part jumping in from the wall and the free time with the "noodies" (the swim noodles)?

Answer: Yes and YES!
Question: Last, but not least - Did Clark and i realize we do not want a dog? And that while watching my parent's dog while they're in New Orleans is teaching us that having a dog and an 18 month old is a struggle? (Abbie and Rudy are like little siblings... they fight constantly)

Answer: Yes. we love you Rudy, but we love you more when you live at home :)