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.

Time For An Update

I'm tired of looking at Sam's drilled finger so here's an update:

On Tuesday we went to another Physical Therapy appt for Cameron and his torticollis. I must say, physical therapists are amazing. To Cameron it seems like play, but to the people in charge, they are trying to fix his range of motion in his neck muscles. Now they are having me do all sorts of other playtime exercises with him and it's kind of tricky...I hope I'm doing everything right. Yikes! At this appointment the PT said we needed to focus on Cameron rolling over his left shoulder because due to the muscle situation, that is going to be the hardest (Cameron hadn't rolled over at all at this point). Well, by that afternoon I had Cameron on his stomach and was playing with him and in the blink of an eye he rolled over his left shoulder! Wahoo! Finally!! He rolled over several times that same day. Not so much today, but at least I know he can do it. Here he is on the exercise ball at the PT office:


In other news, Cameron started acting interested in eating something besides milk. I fed him some sweet potatoes and I think he was tripping out. He kept shuddering and pulling faces. Give him time, he's sure to have a hearty appetite, just LOOK at him! I have a feeling he's going to love food.


Oh yeah, the physical therapist told us to go ahead and start the helmet process with Cameron because his muscles are showing great improvement. So, I was able to get into the orthotist on Wednesday morning. They measured Cameron's head and said on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being a really bad case of plagiocephaly (misshaped head) Cameron is about a 5 1/2 to a 6. Yikes! The good news, Insurance should cover it. Once we hear back from the insurance company we will go ahead with getting a mold of Cameron's head for the helmet. I think within 3 weeks we'll actually have the helmet so start watching for fun pictures of Cameron around the 2nd week of Sept. I'm really not looking forward to the helmet phase.... bleh.

Just random...As part of Carson's homework he has to research questions on the internet and write down the answers. This just trips me out! I don't think I actually used the internet until I was almost out of high school and here we have Second graders using it without any problem at all! I still can hardly use the laptop without a mouse and Carson was cruising around without any problem! I think I'm old.

The Weekend

Just to recap a few things....Remember Sam's drilled finger? He took pictures so here is one. So gross.


Remember Cameron's excercises? Even after doing them morning and night I don't think he appreciates them yet.



My brother Darren and his family came to Utah on Thursday so we played at the park on Thursday, made dinner at my parent's house on Friday, and went to Lagoon on Saturday. Cheesy Darren, just pure cheese.


Sorry Cameron, you can't come to Lagoon. Don't be hatin' okay? I promise you can go when you get older.


So, I learned a few things about going to Lagoon with kids. First and foremost, I am a little selfish at heart and hanging out on kiddie rides is hard for me (sorry kids). Second of all, if you are going to bring your 7, almost 8 year old to Lagoon for the first time...you MUST PREP THE CHILD! We literally walked into Lagoon and hopped on the big white roller coaster first thing. Poor Carson. He and his cousin were in the car behind me. I turned around at the first big hill to see Carson's reaction. I thought he would be screaming with joy, but that's not what I saw. I saw PURE TERROR like I've never seen on his face before (I guess it's good that I've not seen this face before, I must be doing something right!). His mouth was wide open, his face was red except around his eyes and that part was ghostly white, his eyes were squinty closed, and I could hear his terrified screams. Honestly, I didn't laugh. My heart ached for him. I am pretty sure he thought he was going to fall off the roller coaster because every hill that we went up and over really fast he freaked out. It wasn't until the ride ended that he calmed down. I tried to do damage control and explain to him that the ride was fast and crazy and that's what makes it fun. He wasn't convinced. He then proceeded to ride a bunch of kiddie rides after that. Such as the merry-go-round...Phew, pure adereneline.


Now Parker on the other hand, he was just happy to be doing whatever. This was another lesson I learned. I don't think 4 year olds have a built in fear factor yet. Some of the rides Parker went on surprised me because he had an almost bored face while on them and I was screaming and laughing out of fun at the same time. A good example was the roller coaster "The Bat". I was worried that Parker would be terrified but he liked it. So, 4 is a good age, 7 requires some prepping. There, now you are educated!

This is a ride I won't touch with a 10 foot pole, The Music Express. Dizzy dizzy dizzy. When Sam, Mel, and Parker first got on this ride, Parker was between Sam and Mel. I was dying because I knew Parker would get smooshed! Luckily, the ride operator made them switch spots. Parker ended up loving this ride.


Remember that terrified face of Carson's I was telling you about? Sam got a sweet series of shots on the Tidal Wave. Check it out for yourself. Look at Carson's face in each picture:






Then as soon as the ride ends, here is his face:


I love the tidal wave. I always have. Here is Mel and I.


Rattlesnake Rapids was a fun one with everybody. I always end up being pretty lucky on this ride and I rarely get wet. But now there is this waterfall towards the end of the ride and the boat goes right underneath it. It's pretty impossible NOT to get wet now.

Here are Sam and I as the ride just begins:


Here we are after that durn waterfall:


Sam got a sweet action shot of Mel after she got slammed with a wall of water on her back!


Fun pics:




I love this picture. What could the caption be? Something like "so close, yet so far away". OH YEAH, notice how the tint isn't blue even though I didn't use the flash? Sam and I thought our camera was dying, but then my brother Darren took it and pushed a few buttons and Wha-La, no more blue. Apparently there is a setting that makes things blue in case you are in yellow light. Whatever, at least it's fixed now. Thanks Darren!


As luck would have it, we ran into some friends while we were at Lagoon. Here they are on the Wild Mouse. Sam is brave to use the camera while on these rides, I totally would have dropped it! Sam doesn't usually have a double chin, I think he was extra scared or something! :)


It was a fun day at Lagoon but next time I go it will be on a weekday without children. Who wants to come with us?

Remember, 4 year olds don't seem to be as scared at 7 year olds.



It still makes my heart hurt for Carson.

Fern, thanks for keeping Cameron until late at night, you are wonderful!

The Lady of Shalot

Ingrid, my friend, puts poetry on her blog from time to time. It's not the type of poetry that I can easily understand. It's deep, meaningful, and takes time to digest. In other words, NOT my cup of tea. My life is too crazy to be able to ponder the meaning of poetry. I have to use my pondering time to figure out how to remove blood from Sam's pants (remember the hole in his finger?) or I need to know the best way to multi-task feeding Cameron, getting Parker to quit crying, and work from home 8 hours a day. Then there's that whole "no child left behind" task of reading with Carson every day for 20 minutes...I could go on and on....but I should stop because I'm starting to sound somewhat negative in my last few posts.

Anyway, back to poetry. I remember in one of my college English classes we had to read a poem called "The Lady of Shalot" and then discuss what we thought it meant in front of the class. I half-heartedly read it, not allowing my brain to digest anything. Suddenly my professor calls out my name FIRST and makes me stand up in front of the class. What could I do but improvise??!!??

I stood up, looked everybody square in the eye and said "The Lady of Shalot....I like her....a lot." and sat down. Everybody laughed, at me, not with me. I think I got a bad grade, and to this day I still have a hard time appreciating poetry.

Just Rambling

On my niece's blog, she says in her comments "Live, Laugh, Learn, and somewhere in there Love follows." I read that and I keep thinking about it. I had kind of a rough day today. So as I sit here eating some Guirardelli chocolate squares (Sam gave them to me as part of my anniversary 'tin' presents because the candy is foil wrapped) I thought I'd ponder that quote.

If you look at pretty much any picture of Parker since his birthday in June, you'll notice that he wears an "omnitrix" on his wrist, which is a toy from his favorite cartoon. He wears it day and night and only takes it off to wash his hands or take a bath. This morning I noticed that he has a crazy rash on the inside of his wrist. I told him he couldn't wear the omnitrix until his rash clears up. Well, somehow "I LIVED through this day of his bad moods and crying fits, I only LAUGH because if I cry my nose will swell, I LEARNED that he is d.a.m. persistent when he doesn't get his way (but I am more persistent so I won)....but at the end of the day I still LOVE him.

As always I had some good chuckle moments at his expense today (sorry Parker, I promise I do love you, but you are so accident prone!). This afternoon he was laying on the couch and for some reason he was holding the remote to the TV up in the air above his head. He lost his grip, the remote fell (because remember, gravity isn't just a good idea, it's the law) and landed right beneath his eye. Holy cow did he scream. This picture doesn't do the experience justice, but if you look under his right eye you'll see a little welt.


Then, later on today I asked him to pick something up off the floor, right next to his stool in the kitchen. He went to bend down and SMACKED his forehead on the kitchen counter, on the way down to the floor. He dissolved into hysterics....again....and I couldn't help but think 'Huh, maybe he doesn't realize there is something above his eyeballs...he can't see a forehead above his eyes, therefore there must be nothing there.' Parker lived, I hope he learned (yah right), he still isn't laughing, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't love both his owies on his face today. Well, at least he's halfway there.

I wish I had a picture to go with this story:

Tonight Sam was helping my parents with their deck. He was holding the brace for the deck stairs and drilling a hole in the wood. The drill bit went right through the wood into the tip of his finger. According to him, it was a 5/8" drill bit so now he has a 5/8" hole in his middle finger. I could tell he was in pain but he didn't swear or anything, which amazes me....nor did he shed a tear which is what I would have done! He walked in a circle for a minute, then got out the peroxide and bandaids. He bled all over my parents laundry room floor, their bathroom floor, and his pants, but somehow managed to keep their carpet clean. What a man! Like a dutiful wife I cleaned up the DNA that spilt all over the house...which reminds me...mom, I left the bloody rag in your laundry room sink, sorry!!! Gross.
I guess Sam Lived through the drill experience, I don't remember him Laughing about it, but the rest of us did so that must count for something. He Learned not to hold his hand on the other side of a board being drilled, and he still Loves us because he continued to help my dad. He must not hurt too bad because he's playing basketball as we speak. Gotta love Sam-I-Am.

Here's a story I keep forgetting to blog about. A few months ago I took all three boys into my work to visit co-workers and show off Cameron. Carson and Parker turned into crazy devil children. They were rolling around on my office floor, fighting, and being super annoying. I was so embarrassed because they aren't usually like this. After we left I gave them a pretty serious talking-to. As we were driving home (which is about a 25 minute drive) they kept complaining about being hot and I so I kept turning the fan higher to the back temperature controls of the van. Finally as we turned onto my street Parker started sobbing. I asked him what was wrong and he said "I'm just SO HOT". I couldn't figure out why they were hot until I turned around and noticed their air was on the hottest setting it would go, and when I kept turning the fan higher, I was just blowing more heat on them...in the middle of summer. When I asked Carson why he didn't tell me the air was on 'hot' he replied "I thought this was our punishment for being bad at your work!" For the LOVE.

Well, I need to go to bed and rebuild my stores of patience because somebody's name that rhymes with "darker" drained that account today... Calgon take me away.