Tyler Cameron and fiancée Tate Madden have a little one on the way, but this holiday season, their dogs are still their babies.
“I used to always be the Grinch about the holidays,” Cameron, 33, told Us exclusively on Wednesday, November 11, while promoting the pair’s partnership with Blue Buffalo’s Love Made Fresh. “I was just like, ‘Ugh,’ you know, [I would] get by. But [Tate] has really made me love the holidays. And November 1st comes, the tree’s up, all the lights are up. Like, she had a lot of the decorations up in early October, so we are thrilled for the holidays.”
The couple, who announced their engagement in August and are expecting their first baby, are looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving with loved ones this year. With Blue Buffalo’s Dinnerware Collection — a nine-piece set designed by artist Kenzie Elston — their dogs will feel even more like part of the family.
“They have matching dog bowls with our dinnerware,” Madden, 33, told Us. “So it’s perfect. It really helped me out because that is so like me to be rummaging around trying to find bowls that would match our aesthetic, but it all came in one [set].”
Along with prepping to host the holidays, Cameron and Madden are getting ready to welcome a new bundle of joy into their lives. The twosome announced Madden’s pregnancy last month as Cameron competed on Dancing With the Stars, learning on live TV they are having a girl.
Being pet parents to dogs Bill, Harley and Daisy has given them a small taste of what’s to come.
“He always calls me a helicopter parent with my dogs,” Madden teased. “So I’m actually a little terrified, because as much as I fight him on that, I kind of am. I am just overprotective, I notice any little thing that’s wrong with them.”
While Cameron noted they’ll “really appreciate” the attention to detail once their baby arrives, Madden wants to find “a good balance with not being too overbearing.”
The pair are also reading up on how to introduce their dogs to their newborn when the time comes.
“Harley will probably be the most protective. … She’s pretty chill, not really bothered by anything. But I know that if something was to mess with the baby, she would be the first one to, like, stand [her] ground and be protective,” Madden said. “So I think they’ll be great. The only one that I’m most worried about is Daisy, just ’cause she’s the youngest and she will want to, like, boop the baby on the head or something.”
Though he once had some Grinch-like tendencies, Cameron turned a corner on the holiday season — and he’s excited to “spoil” his daughter next winter.
“She’s going to have more presents than she could ever imagine,” he gushed.
Madden, meanwhile, said she’s already thought about “funny ideas” for an Elf on the Shelf and hopes to continue some of her own family traditions, including matching Christmas pajamas for everyone.
Hosting the holidays has put nursery plans on hold for now, but the couple — who each have an eye for design and home decor — have a “beautiful” vision in mind. They’re also going to “dabble” in wedding planning soon enough.
“I think we put it on the back burner just for a second … but I’m excited now that we’re getting things more organized back home, you know, starting to slowly but surely get everything prepared for the baby,” Madden told Us, noting that she “would love to do something overseas” with under 100 guests.
The pair have plenty on their plates — Cameron’s new HGTV dating show, Let’s Go Back to Your Place, is coming next year — but family still comes first, and that includes their pets.
“They’re with us all the time; they go where we go. So they eat with [the same] good quality that we eat,” Cameron told Us, highlighting the natural ingredients in Blue Buffalo’s Love Made Fresh. “They get to live the life that we get to live, and so we make sure they eat the way we get to eat.”
The Blue Buffalo Dinnerware Collection is available now while supplies last, and Love Made Fresh can be found in the same grocery stores as the rest of your family’s meals.
