Redo!

As far as Cameron's helmet goes, I'm going to pretend that the last 2 weeks did not happen. We are going to count yesterday as Cameron's first day of wearing his helmet. So, 2-3 months from September 29th Cameron should be done with it.

His scab finally fell off on Sunday night so yesterday morning I put the helmet on. After 3 hours I could tell he was hurting because the helmet rubbed against the sensitive skin of his former 'owie'. I took him back into the orthotist, again, and had them adjust the helmet...again. He's had the helmet for 2 weeks and I've been to the orthotist 4 times. By now I know all the employees and their life histories.

Anywho, the orthotist made quite a large bubble around Cameron's sore so the helmet doesn't even touch it now. Cameron is happy and I'm even happier. The helmet doesn't seem to bug him at all, he even slept from 7:30pm last night to 8:00am this morning! Yahooooooo!!!!!!



Thanks for everybody's advice on switching physical therapists/orthotists. I carefully digested everything you said in your comments and I even talked to some of you in person. I made a decision on what to do. I have successfully switched his orthotist and everybody was really cool about it, especially the receptionist. She told me the orthotist that I used to go to does everything from helmets to prosthetics. The orthotist I have now ONLY works with helmets and he's great.

As for the physical therapist...my next appt is a week from today and Sam graciously took the day off so he could come with me. We'll both evaluate the therapist at this next appointment. If we both feel like it's not a compatible relationship, then I'll switch therapists as soon as the appointment is over. I'm beyond weird feelings, I just want the therapy to work and be done with it.

Howeve, maybe Parker needed therapy on his neck when he was a baby and nobody knew it. Look how these two were sitting yesterday. Funny!


This picture shows the bubble in the helmet. Look on Cameron's right side, your left side, above his ear. See the outward bump? There is still quite a knot right there on Cameron's head. The orthotist said it will go away after time.


Guess what started today??

Carson's bowling classes! Not only does he get to learn how to bowl, he gets to learn with 2 of his buddies, Tanner and Lee!

They got to wear official bowling shoes and receive instruction from a bowling teacher. Then they have time to bowl, and then eat lunch there! How fun is that?

Here are Tanner, Carson, and Lee right before their lessons.


Showing off their shoes!


They even got a lane all to themselves!


Here's their instructor doing stretches with them and giving specific tips on how to bowl properly. Carson fouled on his first try when his foot went too far into the lane. So funny!





Parker was super BITTER that he didn't get to play. He sulked the whole time I was there. Poor buddy.


They'll have 4 more bowling classes over the next few weeks and then they will go back on track for school. I love these obscure activities. Maybe we can find a juggling class next time they go off-track....or maybe they could learn to be mimes! Then my ears could get a break! ha ha ha!!!

Visitors!

Guess who came to visit me today?!?


That's right, my friend Tatem came....along with Natalie and Ian, but she (one day) calls them mom and dad.

We had a nice dinner with the Service Family, my parents, and Nalani and Cash (Jed, you totally missed out. Who cares about Seattle anyways? I have to say that so I don't get jealous).

Anyway, remember these three?


We want to make sure they stay real close and remain good friends because one day Tatem needs to either marry Cash or Cameron. This is not negotiable, the mommies have already determined this to be true love.

Today's photo shoot:

Tatem: "C'mon Cameron...high five!"
Cameron: "Psyche!"


Cameron: "Okay Tatem, just kidding. Gimmie five!"


Cameron: "Heh Heh, PSYCHE again!"


Tatem: "Oh Cameron, quit being such a dork. Nobody says 'psych' anymore! You better watch out or I'm going to marry Cash. He's so dreamy, I mean, just look at him! He already has teeth AND he wears shoes!"


Cash: "Dang straight woman! Cameron you better sleep with both eyes open tonight because I might have a sudden desire to bite something!"
Cameron: "oh no!"
Tatem: "Wait a sec guys.....WHAT IS MY MOM DOING?????!!!!???"


The things we do to make our kids look at the camera and smile. ha ha ha ha!!! Natalie, you are the best!


It took some convincing (aka, natalie making all sorts of sounds and flapping her arms up and down) but the kids eventually smiled for us while laying in the grass.


Oh hey, Nat, Cash wants to know what brand of laundry detergent you use. He thinks it smells super spectacular!


Ready for triplets?


Let's play again real soon!!!!!!!

Cameron's Ears

Every time Cameron hears something loud, he covers his ears (or just behind his ears) and keeps his hands there until the noise subsides. So basically, he covers his ears at least 20 times per day.



It's been a week now since Cameron has worn his helmet. He still has a nasty scab/sore on the side of his head. I keep trying to get a picture of it, but he doesn't cooperate. You can kind of see it in this picture.


I'm getting ancy to get the helmet back on so we can put this all behind us one day. :) Truth be told, I'm tempted to start picking at the scab, but a stern voice keeps telling me not to. So, I'm trying to listen to Sam and leave it alone...

More Soccer

I've had a couple of crazy days. Instead of blogging about them and making you all frustrated by my negativity, let's just say that physical therapy isn't going so well. I hate it, Cameron hates it. How do I know Cameron hates it? Well, for starters he had a major blowout, right as I was handing him over to the therapist. We are talking up the back, almost to the neckline. Then, as if I didn't get the point then and there, he screamed the entire time the therapist was working with him. It frazzled me to the bone. You know how when you are frazzled and somebody asks you "what's wrong?" and it makes you break down and cry?

Yeah, me either. I don't understand why anybody would ever cry just because they are frazzled. Ummmmm......psst, Jene'! Thanks for letting me unload on you!

Ahem, back to soccer. Game 2.

Carson the diva!


Watching soccer is a spectator sport....so is spectator watching. Here's a little something I found about 6 feet away from me. How many captions can go with this picture?
Don't do crack!
Credit card.....swipe!

Personally, I like the artistic sun ray heading right where the sun don't shine!!


If I HAD to guess, I'd say Parker likes playing soccer!


Mental note: Make sure Parker wears tighty-whities to play sports in! He kept showing off his boxer briefs to his teammates! GASP


What a good friend. Jacob fell down and Parker, instead of copying him and falling down himself, chose to help Jacob up. Does a mother's heart good I tell ya!


Blurry, but funny. Parker running the wrong way, coach frantically pointing him in the right direction!


One girl tripped and fell, about 3 others ran right over her, which resulted in 2 injuries. The coach acted quickly, he scooped up the injured, ran them across the field to the parents, and was back on the field in about 7 seconds flat. Impressive! I would have probably laughed, then parents would have been mad at me.


This is Jene'. She is a great friend of mine, and she knows that if she sits on Carson I won't be mad, I'll just laugh. It worked! She sat on her own son, Josh, and Carson. They deserved it, pesky mischevious boys!


Helmet update:
I took Cameron to the helmet people on Monday morning. This time I worked with a different guy and I liked him much better. He took his time and listened to my concerns and put me at ease. The nice thing about these helmets is they are made of plastic that is very pliable when heated. This guy took the helmet from me, grabbed a blow torch out from a cupboard in the room we were in (DANG had I known that was there all along I would have had some fun. Just kidding! Maybe...) and heated up the spot where it was making the sore. Then he pushed out on the helmet on the hot spot and made a nice bubble so the helmet wouldn't push on Cameron's sore. So it's probably a lot more comfortable for him now. I don't really know that yet because we can't have him wear the helmet until the sore heals. Meanwhile I'm afraid all the work the helmet did for one week that he wore it, is now being undone by a week of not wearing it. Time for a redo of the past 2 weeks I think!

So this brings me to a topic that my friend Cathy and I were having. Do you just accept the cards that are dealt to you, or do you fight your way through life, trying to get the best hand possible?

For example: I think I need to switch physical therapists, but I don't want to cause any weird feelings because all the therapists work very closely together and it could get awkward. Same with the helmet dudes. I really liked this guy I met with on Monday much more than the original helmet guy.

Do I risk awkwardness and switch orthotists/therapists or do I suck it up and make due with what I was given and avoid hard feelings?

I know the answer probably seems clear to most of you (switch) but REALLY put yourself in my shoes, would you really go through the trouble of switching and dealing with the evil eyes that would await you at every future appointment? These are small offices and they all work with each other constantly.

I need advice because my brain is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired.

Soccer, It's Not Just For Kids

The kids may have had fun, but I had a blast. What's this?


It's how 3 and 4 year olds play soccer. One big cluster of kids chasing after the ball....poor ball, didn't stand a chance. Parker has obsessed about soccer since he could talk. I don't know why, we don't play soccer at home, we don't go to Real soccer games, and we don't watch it on TV. But this kid has made up his mind that it's what he wants to do for recreation. So, I signed him up. However, we failed to do any practicing or talking to him about the game before he had to show up for his first game. Oops.

Lucky for us, he is on the same team as his buddy, Jacob. Introducing Jacob.


Besides being my good friend, Jacob's mom is an exercise goddess. She does triathalons, she runs all over the neighborhood, she rides her bike better than I can walk, and I've even seen her ride a little non-powered scooter home after dropping her kids off at school. Oh yeah, she has played on adult soccer leagues before. Lucky for me, she taught Jacob a thing or two about soccer. So, right before the game, Sam said "Just follow Jacob and do what he does." Parker took the advice....literally.


There were plenty of bloopers which is always fun. My favorite one was when the ball went out of bounds, and the kids kept on running, kicking the ball even further.


Another time, all the kids were chasing the ball and Parker was just doing the "airplane" by himself, on the other end of the field.


He finally did get into the game, for a second or two...


Thanks for being such a great example Jacob!


Parker, you make soccer look good!


Tonight we had our monthly "cousins dinner" at my parents house. The theme was soups and sandwiches. Totally yummy and I'm still full.

It's always fun getting Cameron together with his little cousin who was born 10 days before him. I was playing with them both tonight thinking to myself "dang, if I had twins this is what it would be like." Pretty funny!

Cash was hamming it up for the camera, Cameron wasn't so sure about the whole situation, but he came around!





Cameron has a really disgusting sore on the side of his head due to his helmet rubbing him the wrong way. Sam called the emergency number on Saturday and they were like "oh, just leave the helmet off for the weekend and then call on Monday for an appointment to get it adjusted." I'm rather miffed by the whole ordeal because I was just at the office on Tuesday (which is almost a half hour away) getting it adjusted for the same sore spot and they said they fixed the problem. Then Saturday morning we woke up to puss coming out of the sore. Duh. I'm sure this company is great and lots of people I know have worked with them, but right now they are not high on my list. I have no idea how they are going to adjust the helmet so it's not going to really hurt for him to wear it tomorrow.

Alas, the saga of my life continues. Oh well, I'm happy because tomorrow is only supposed to be 71 degrees and kind of rainy in the morning. That's like my favorite weather!

Happy Birthday Fern!!

Today is Fern's 29th birthday. She rocks. I know I talk a lot about Fern, but for those of you who live under a rock and aren't sure who she is, let me tell you!

Here she is with her daughter Melissa, my niece Sydney, and 2 month old Cameron:


Fern is Sam's sister. She is one of the most amazing and unselfish people I know (along with my own parents of course!) When I had Carson she started babysitting him when he was 7 weeks old and she continued to do so until he was almost 4 years old. She taught me a lot about parenting and how to enjoy my children. She is eternally patient, kind, thoughtful, and let's not forget fun! She loves to laugh and she can easily find humor everywhere she goes. As the years have gone by and I've added 2 more kids to my family she treats each one of them with the same love that she gave Carson during those 4 years. All I have to do is mention 'Aunt Fern' to my boys and they start doing the happy dance (not to be confused with the pee pee dance, they are quite similar). As a parent I generally have a hard time believing that anybody could love my children as much as I do....but I never have those doubts when Fern is around. She truly enjoys being around the crazy Sweet's that we are.

Fern, thank you for welcoming me into your family and life. You are a wonderful sister and I can't wait to celebrate your 29th birthday with you next year!

To celebrate the big day, we went to Park City again tonight. We grubbed on pizza and hung out. Then we went and enjoyed some of the activites that the resort offered...The alpine slide and zip line were closed because it was kind of drizzly so we let Carson and Parker jump on the trampolines. They attached a harness to the boys and lifted them up with surgical tubing so they could jump super high. Parker didn't have enough weight to surge him into the air, but Carson totally did. It was way funny!



There's a new ride that I haven't seen before up there. It's kind of like a roller coaster. The little carts you sit on are like the ones for the alpine slide, but these are attached to the track so you can't fly off (remember when you flew off twice Curtis??). It was soooooo fun! I totally want to go again, right now. I was on a cart with Parker and Sam rode with Carson. Sam had the camera and got a few shots:





It takes you up as high as the chair lift and you go super slow. But it's fun because the track that takes you down the mountain curves and swirls all around the slow upward track so while you are creeping upwards, you get so excited because you can see everybody WHIZZING past you on their way down. I was so proud of Parker because on the way up he kept putting his hands in the air like he just didn't care. Then as we were flying down the mountain he was screaming...in a good way. He kept yelling "WHEEEE" and "WHEE-HAAAAWWWWW!" It was super super awesome.

I think I want to do it all over again tomorrow! :)

Oh, here's something to look forward to: Soccer bloopers. Yep, tomorrow is Parker's first soccer game. He has been obsessed with soccer for about 1 1/2 years now, but he's never played. So, his first time playing will be in a game. Good times ahead!

Photo Shoot

Last night Cameron was happy, see?


So I thought since his helmet sort of looks like a batting helmet, I'd dress him up like a baseball player and take some pictures. Oh yeah, I dragged Sam along too. Thanks Sam!

Here is me steadying Cameron on the little chair. I love his face. He's like "Don't embarrass me mom! Step away from the chair!"


All Star!


My parents just got back from Seattle a few days ago. They brought my boys some cool Band Aids from my favorite alternative toy store, Archie McPhees. Of course Parker has already skinned his knee so we used a nice pickle band aid. So cool! I just looked at the Archie McPhee website, they have bacon flavored floss. I think I might get some for my dentist!


Here is Cameron gazing into his future. Like the pads they added to the side of his helmet? It's supposed to relieve some pressure off the side of his head but so far I'm not convinced. He's got one spot that is pretty bruised. I feel so bad for him. Then I feel so bad for me when he's up several times a night. grrr.


Tired of Cameron pictures? Too bad, I'm just gettin' started! ha ha ha

Mmmm, this leaf is good.


Is it just me or is everything looking kind of crooked?


Oh yeah, it's just me, I'm still getting used to this whole 'sitting up' thing. This grass is nice.


The twins


Um, I think it's bedtime...