Cody & Meridith Oram ~ Est. 8/30/08

My cousin Cody got hitched last night! It was a fantastic evening with lots of laughter and lots of good company. The red velvet cake was good....oh my...WAS IT EVER GOOD! The only sad part of the day was that it had to come to an end!

AFter looking at all the pictures we took last night, I'm laughing because I don't have a single one of Cody and Meridith looking at my camera. That's okay, candid shots tell a better story I think. Here are Cody and Meridith during the ceremony...I'll bet anyone a dollar that the happy couple has no recollection of the counsel the Bishop gave them. :)


Parker fell asleep on the way to the wedding and got a nice seat belt welt on his cheek.


Couple hours later it was still on his cheek! Crazy kid. I was just glad it was gone by this morning. Parker liked his red velvet cake too.


However, he did NOT like the chocolate covered cinnamon bear Sam gave him. I'm embarrassed to admit that he spit it into the bushes......


I'm not really sure why, but I let Carson drink a Mountain Dew before we went to the wedding. I'm happy to report that it didn't make him crazy like I told him it would....or did it?


Cameron was just mortified by the way his older brothers were acting.


Oh Cameron, don't be such a stick in the mud, have some fun!


Random candid-ness:













Did I mention the red velvet cake?


Unfortunately, the Red Dye #40 didn't really agree with me...let's just say that from 4am - 6am today I read the September Ensign cover to cover while sitting on my own personal throne...wait, is that too much information?

Congratulations Cody and Meridith! I am sooooooo happy for you guys!

Take A Mold!

This morning we went to Cameron's Orthotist and he got a mold taken of his head so they could make a helmet for him. I was pretty worried because the doctor told us that the babies usually cry because it freaks them out. Cameron handled it SO WELL, right up until the last minute... The process was so cute I could hardly handle it. I just wanted to SQUEEZE his chubby cheeks, good thing I was using my hands to hold him on my lap or I may have given in to the squeeze-urge!

Here he is when we got there:


Now he's a little unsure, I think he's getting a vibe..


Oh my, don't you just want to kiss those cheeks??



After this initial 'hat', the doctor put strips of plaster-soaked gauze all around his head.





The last strip of gauze went on the back of Cameron's head. The doctor had to hold it tight until it dried, which was a few minutes. This is when Cameron finally "voiced" his opinion of the craziness!


Then it was time to take off the casted helmet. Cameron's hair was pretty sweet when he pulled everything off his head.



The helmet will be ready on September 12th, two weeks from today. Here's where I need YOUR help. Please think of some funny sayings we can put on his helmet! Sam's friend suggested "I'm not handicapped, I'm handicapable" which I think rocks!

What are some other suggestions?

Also, I'm pretty sure he'll have this helmet through Halloween. What are some cool Halloween costumes we could do that would incorporate a helmet?

I am determined to make this fun AND funny!

Fern Strikes Again....Plus Pretty Pictures

A few weeks ago I was on the phone with Fern. She was at Lowe's checking out all the clearance items. All of a sudden she laughs and says she has a present for me. At once, I knew I would be the recipient of another d-a-m butterfly.

On Sunday Fern gave me a little wooden sign to put in my flower bed....So freaky!


Here are some pictures of my flower beds right now. My Rose of Sharon hedges were getting kind of top heavy so I had to do some trimming. I decided to bring a bunch inside and put them in a vase so they would bloom indoors. The blossoms are gorgeous!


This morning we all got ready freakishly early, way before it was time for school. So Parker and I went outside and took pictures. Here's my flower bed under my living room window. It's one of my favorite beds. Most of these flowers come back every summer.


This year I planted Dahlia's for the first time ever. I really like them a lot! Next year I think I'll plant lots more.



Every year I plant California Giant Zinnia seeds along my driveway. I think they are gorgeous and they bloom until way after the first frost. I only planted one large packet of seeds this year, I think it cost me $2, or something like that, from IFA. I usually plant them in rows, but this year I was lazy (remember, I had a newborn at the time!) and I just basically threw the seeds all over and called it good. I like the result better this way!




Here's the funny part...the seeds took longer than normal to germinate. After 3 weeks I was pretty sure the zinnia's were not going to grow. So, Carson and I planted pumpkin seeds in the same bed. As luck would have it, all the seeds started growing at the same time and they fight each other for space! So, at one end of the flower bed, I have a few pumpkins growing. They should be nice and ripe for Fall, which is pretty cool! Next year I think I'll plant lots of pumpkin seeds and then use the fruits of my labor to decorate the yard for Halloween!


Cameron update:
So today I've been doing Cameron's normal neck exercises with him as well as his rolling over exercises...well....Cameron is a punk. Instead of being engaged with the rolling over routine, he now just plants his forehead straight onto the floor while he's on his stomach. He should be propped on his elbows with his head high in the air! I try to correct his position and he just goes back to his forehead kissing the ground. If he could talk he would be saying "mom, I know what you are trying to do and it's not worth my time or yours! Just let me play!"
It's kind of frustrating and funny at the same time.

Hey, this is my 400th posting. Happy blog anniversary to me.

Cameron's PT...Grrrrrr

So.......as a parent, it's REALLY hard when somebody talks negatively about your child. In the almost 8 years since I've been a mom, the only time my "bear claws" come out is when my child is picked on or made to feel stupid.

I think I've handled all of Cameron's head/neck issues pretty well, until today. I've had a crappy day today. The crazy thing about it, is that nothing huge happened but I think it's a combination of the past 3 months finally hitting me.

Cameron had another Physical Therapy appointment today. He hasn't made much progress from the last appointment and the therapist was sure to tell me about it. She was doing her job, and she is a great therapist, I was just being sensitive and girly-hormonal about it (again, I am NOT pregnant!). She pretty much shook her head when I told her Cameron still isn't rolling over. That's when I got super frustrated. What does she expect of me? How am I supposed to MAKE him roll over? Last week Cameron rolled from his stomach to his back about 4 times, over his left shoulder, all in one day. I was all excited to tell her about it, but he hasn't really rolled for almost a week now, and so the therapist wasn't as excited as I was. I guess the problem with the muscles in his neck makes it really hard for him to roll...but in my defense....I AM DOING ALL THAT I CAN TO FIX THE PROBLEM. I'm faithful at the exercises, I am constantly placing Cameron so he HAS to look left to see anything interesting. I even make him turn left to eat. Bleh. I stayed positive while I was at his appointment, but when I walked out the door I felt pretty dejected.

I was talking to my nephew's wife last Sunday. Their little boy had a helmet and he is done with it now and his head looks great. I was asking her what it was like while he had the helmet. She said "get ready for lots of questions from strangers!" Hmmmm, not so sure I'm ready for that. She said a few people actually walked up to her in a store or wherever and exclamied "What Happened???!" Seriously, my bear claws may come out.... I know helmets are common now, but I think I'm sensitive because I don't want people thinking I'm a negligent mother who lets her child lay on his head all day and that's why it's flat. If anything, I've been more careful with Cameron's head than my other two children combined! I'm super freaky about it and that's why I get a bit defensive.

Okay, sorry about venting. I've had a day.

After I got home I decided I needed a walk to get rid of my steam. As luck would have it I ran into my neighbor up the street who has a great sense of humor and understanding about situations like this. She said she was really worried about her 7 year old son who still can't cut paper very well. She was complaining to her friend who said "Oh brother, he's not going to be 30 and still not cutting paper!" and that made her feel better because it put the situation into perspective. So, I'm grateful I took that walk because my friend helped me put the situation into perspective...Cameron isn't going to be 30 and still having problems with rolling over and flat spots on his head!

I'll try not to become mama bear when people ask questions about Cameron's head, but to all my blogger friends, just be supportive, okay?

Other news.

Cameron is eating baby food fast and furious now and he loves it. He gobbles up rice cereal and then I mix other veggies into it and so far he seems to be okay with that. Today I went crazy and mixed carrots and green beans into the rice cereal. He ate it, I gagged when I smelled it.


He cracks me up!




Nothing like a little formula to chase down a freaky blend of baby food...

Finally!

I have been trying to upload this video ever since I got back from camping earlier this month. This was my "anniversary cruise"! My camera takes great video, but the only way I could upload it was to have crappy quality so there you go. I did my best.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In other news, I'm pregnant.

JUST KIDDING! I wasn't feeling very good last week and about 20 people asked if I was pregnant. So I thought I'd set the record straight. I am NOT pregnant, guaranteed. Now that I got that out of the way...

We celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday last night. It was great fun! We got to hang out at James' house and let the kids run wild. There was even a water fight at the end which soaked Carson. Parker only fell on his face once, while running down a hill, and we're just glad he only got a scraped knee because the way he landed we thought we were going to head to the hospital for a broken arm. Phew.

This is the hill Parker fell on. The big kids were riding a tricycle down the hill. It was so funny. At one point Carson had two other kids hanging on the back and his handlebars hit a rock and everybody went flying....well YOU may not find this funny, but I certainly do. I find it a barrel of laughs actually.


Oh hey, I think Sam took this picture RIGHT before Parker fell! See how fast he was going? Yep, accident waiting to happen...flip flops+grassy hill+Parker=disaster.


This picture of Hunter is funny. He kind of looks like an Alien. I just noticed that he's looking through the binoculars backwards. Even better.


Parker and his cousin Emery. Actually, Emery's mom is Parker's cousin...welcome to the logistics of a large family. Anywho, see that Rubics Cube? How the heck do you spell "rubics"? Is it "rubix"? Nothing looks right! Anyway, like I was sayin', do you see it? See how it's all messed up? Well, Parker brings it to me during the BBQ and says "mom, can you fix it the way it was?" Everybody starts laughing at Parker because that's the whole point of a Rubics Cube. It's a really hard puzzle and I don't know how to fix it. So everybody is laughing and Parker gets his feelings hurt and runs into the house. I felt bad but didn't know how to resolve his concern. I went in the house and tried to explain it to him but he was pretty upset. Luckily my nephew Michael was able to get one side all the same color and that calmed Parker down. 4 year olds are fun.


This is never a good idea.


Yep, Parker fell into the ditch about 1.6 seconds after this picture was taken. **sigh**

Anyway, it was a great afternoon, we always have fun when we get to hang out with the Sweet family. Happy Birthday Fontella! We love you!

Here's just a random shot of the boys I took the other day. I sure do love these munchkins!


Parker quote
After watching Carson scare Parker...
Carrie: Carson sure is sneaky!
Parker: Yeah! Carson is stinky!!

Also, I've noticed that instead of the word "use" or "used", Parker says "lose" or "losed" It's very funny in certain situations.

Instead of "done", Parker says "dumb". Also quite funny.