Eight Months!

Cam - you are a hot mess already!  You are in to EVERYTHING and you are crawling all over the place.  We baby proofed the house for Caroline, but I think we are going to have to do a whole new round with you!

*He weighs somewhere around 20 pounds!
*He is in size 2 diapers, but will head on up to threes once we are finished with this pack.
*He is in 12 month clothes and sleepers and they fit him right now.  I'm sure his toes will be popping the seems in just a couple of weeks!
*He is real deal crawling.  He was army crawling for a couple of weeks, but he is up on all fours and is not afraid to go anywhere.  Caroline stayed in the living room for a long time and eventually ventured out into the other rooms, but Cam has no fear.  He will crawl any where we are.  He has also discovered the door stoppers and the rubber thing on the end that fits perfectly in his cheek!
*He is eating real food for three meals a day now.  We don't need his ranitidine anymore!  After he recovered from his surgery I was home with him for three weeks and worked to get him on a schedule.  He wasn't sleeping worth a darn (45 min to an hour naps - which may be fine for some people, but I know he needs a lot more than that), so I worked to get him on a 2 - 3 - 4 schedule.  I was feeding him every couple of hours hoping he would sleep, but since he was snacking he wasn't getting really full.  So I started feeding him when he woke up (a fruit and a 5 - 6 ounce bottle around 7 or 7:30) and then I let him be up for 2 solid hours.  At that point I put him down.  He started sleeping good 1 1/2 - 2 hour naps!  Once he gets up from that nap I feed him lunch around 11 (a veggie and a fruit and a 4 ounce bottle) and then I let him play and play and play.  The goal is to put him down after he has been awake for 3 hours.  If he wakes up at 11 I push him until it is 2.  He would be good for about 2 hours and then he would start getting fussy.  We started taking walks every day during that third hour to make sure he was good and tired.  I would then feed him 4 - 5 ounces and put him down.  Most days he does a good 2 - 3 hour nap in the afternoon.  Then he eats dinner around 5 - 5:30 (a meal and a fuit/veggie and a four ounce bottle).  By then it is time for some play, bath time, and a bottle around 7:30 for bed!  Of course, as soon as I have a day that works great he shows me the next day that he is in charge!  He will wake up 45 min into a nap and throw the whole day off, but for the most part he has gotten on this schedule pretty well!  He goes back to day care Monday, which will throw all of this off, but at least I know he is capable of getting on a schedule of some sort!
*We moved him up to the medium sized Zippy and he still loves it.  He can sit up in his crib now and he can do all of that with his Zippy on.  By this point, Caroline had a 'daci' and a bobo, but Cam doesn't want anything to do with any of that.  He took a paci for a month or two and we have tried to introduce him to a bobo, but with his hands covered in the Zippy, he just sucks on the corner over his hands if he needs something, but he does this very rarely.  He just isn't a kid that needs a lovey of any kind.
*He got his second tooth the week after surgery, so now he has two little toofers down there - Roofus and Reefus the Teefus!  He bulldog smiles some times like he is trying to show them off.
*He has started eating puffs like a mad man.  Occasionally he will get one stuck and he will throw up all over the place, but he was really good really quickly at getting them in his mouth.
*Since he can sit up completely on his own and the surgical tape came off, he now takes baths just sitting up in the water with is Big Sissy.  He LOVES to splash all over the place and feels like he is big stuff in there.  Sissy loves it, too!
*He talks all the time.  He says 'mamamamama' when he is particularly mad about something.  He says 'b' sounds a lot, but he isn't quiet often when he is awake.
*We have a whole toy section of the living room for him, but the kid wants two things - shoe strings and dog bones.  We have decided not to fight that battle.  Better to build up his immune system when he is little!
*The boy will throw some fits already.  You take something away from him - watch out.  He threw his first fit in Target last week.  I was not prepared for how quickly that happened!
*He has started to wave and is mouthing 'Bye bye'.  He doesn't know what he is doing yet, but it is cool to watch him figure it out.

I really don't know how time has moved so quickly.  He is it that my tiny little baby is now a mobile, fit slinging, talking, smiling happy boy?!  I am so in love with him and so glad I got to spend a few weeks at home with him at this age.  He learned something new every day I felt like and I was glad to be there to be a part of it.  Unless he is tired or hungry, he is the smiling-est, happiest, funniest little kid.  I am so glad I get to be his mama and get to watch him grow up!  I love you, Bubba!

Tethered Spinal Cord Surgery - March 20, 2015

When Cam was born, we saw that he had what looked like a belly button on his back.  When we asked the nurse about it, she very casually said that it could be related to Spina Bifida.  Then all of a sudden we were seeing our pediatrician, a pediatric neurologist, and moving our one day old baby to Brenner's Children's Hospital for an MRI and to be held in the NICU.  After the MRI, they determined that it was a tethered spinal cord.  He had a lipoma (a fatty deposit) that was connected from his spinal column to his back.  The lipoma was tethering his spinal cord to his spinal column and it was keeping it from being able to float and move as he grew.  From the MRI, they found that it was completely closed to the outside.  Once they knew it was closed, we were released from the NICU and the plan was made that he would have surgery to remove the lipoma when he was six months old.

Fast forward to last week and it was time to have surgery.  Thursday (March 19th) I was a complete maniac.  I was trying to make sure that I had everything at work taken care of because I was told Cam would need to be home from daycare for up to four weeks.  I was trying to cram in what I needed my kids to know before I left, get all of the paperwork straight, and try to enjoy lunch with my lunch crew.  It was all going great, except that I felt like I was going to vomit all day.  I am usually a pretty laid back person, but six months of waiting and dreading culminated into that one day of me being crazy.  I felt like I couldn't breath.  Things got better when I got home and had school wrapped up and I could concentrate on getting things ready for the next day.  Cam couldn't eat anything past midnight, so I waited up until 11:30 to give him one last bottle.  Jason's parents had come up and they were staying with us so that they could get Caroline to school Friday (March 20th) morning.  Ja and I got up and got everything in the car and then we woke came up and put him in his car seat.  We had to be at Brenner's at 6:00am and we left the house around 5:30.  I was very glad that our time was that early so that Cam wouldn't really have a chance to get hungry.

We arrived at Pediatric Surgery right at 6 and barely had a chance to check in before they called us back.  They took us back to the holding area where Cam got weighed and changed into his gown and socks.  When they put his bracelet around his ankle he looked like a dog spinning and spinning trying to get to his bracelet!  There were people in and out - nurses, anesthesiologists, doctors, etc.  Cam watched every single person.  He smiled at them all and they kept talking about how cute he was.  They asked us a bunch of questions and asked if we had any questions and before we knew it, they were taking him back.  A nurse carried him back so we didn't have to watch him go to sleep.  It was all so cheerful and happy and busy that we didn't even have a chance to get upset!  Brenner's does a GREAT job and everyone was wonderful.

Once they took him back, Ja and I went to the waiting room and set up shop.  We  both had school work we needed to get done and we also needed to pass the time!  I thought I would be really upset, but honestly I was ok.  I completely trusted who had him.  I was just so ready to get it over with.  Within about 30 minutes my mom, Leslie + Drew, and Jason's parents were in the waiting room with us.  As we watched what was going on around us, we felt very thankful.  There were parents in there with children having brain surgery and all types of stuff.  I was very thankful that what Cam had was curable.

Before Leslie had babies she worked in the PICU at Brenner's.  She was asking about who was taking care of Cam and when I told her that our anesthesiologist was Dr. Bauman she started crying immediately.  She had worked with Dr. Bauman and knew that he was great and she said she couldn't have hand picked a better team if she wanted to!  That made my momma heart feel so good!

We were told that the surgery would take up to 4 hours (on average).  We did a lot of talking and laughing and hanging out.  By 11, Cam was out of surgery and we were called to the conference room to meet with Dr. Couture.  He said that there were some things that went better than he expected and some things that were a little bit tougher.  He said that there was already more tension on his spinal cord than he thought.  He was glad we didn't wait any longer than we did.  He also said that the lipoma went up higher in his spinal column than he originally thought.  He had to make a longer incision than he wanted, but he feels like they got all of it that they could.  During the surgery there were a lot of people monitoring what was going on with Cam's body.  They were watching heart rate and blood pressure and all sorts of things.  As Dr. Couture was shaving off the lipoma, he went as far as he could until the heart rate and blood pressure let him know that he was getting close to the spinal cord.  If he went too far he could damage mobility and all sorts of things.  He said he went as far as he felt comfortable with.  There is still a thin layer of fat left, which means that later on down the line another surgery could be possible.  As Cam grows, the fat that he develops could attach right back on to that little piece of the lipoma that was left and retether itself.  This could happen in 3 years or 12 years or not at all.  We will just have to see. Overall, though, he felt very good about the surgery.  He used a plastic surgery stitch to minimize the scarring, but he did feel like he got all that he could safely.

Once we asked our questions, we headed back out to the waiting room and relayed the information to everyone and started sending out our mass texts.  We are so blessed and so thankful that we had a lot of people praying for our sweet boy and a lot of people were anxiously waiting to hear how everything went.  Within the next 10 minutes or so they were asking for everyone to grab their stuff so that we could follow Cam to his room.  When they wheeled him out I was surprised to see him on his back.  I could tell by his eyes that he was still pretty drunk from all of the anesthesia medication.  He did great and had no problems at all being put to sleep.

They took us to the room on Pediatric floor.  Dr. Couture said he had no indication of needing to go to the PICU, which I was happy about.  I know he would get great care in there, but it made me feel good to know he did so well that he could go straight to the floor.

Once we got in the room Cam started crying and I lost it.  Absolutely lost it.  The anxiety of the past 7 months came pouring out.  Seeing my baby crying with tubes and cords and IVs in his hand and so loopy from all the medication was really hard to see.  There were a ton of people in the room and I heard commotion and talking and people asking questions, but I didn't care and didn't pay attention to any of it.  I just rubbed his head and told him it was going to be ok.  Once I got myself together I started Mama Bear-ing and making sure my boy was not in pain.  The nurse was not the best at first (we warmed up to her, though), but I asked her when he got pain medication.  I didn't want him to be in any pain and wanted to stay on top of what ever time schedule he needed to be on.  She said that she wanted to wait until he showed signs of needing pain medication.  I told her that he was 7 months old and just had spinal surgery and I didn't want to wait until he showed signs.  I wanted him to get what ever he could as soon as he possibly could.  Luckily, Dr. Couture's partner came in and she went ahead and wrote up what he could have and said to give it to him as soon as the nurse could.  I was very thankful for that help.  The only thing I could do for him was manage his pain.  Once we got on top of the pain and he got cleared to eat, we made him a big bottle.  He was so hungry!

That afternoon, after school and a nap, Jason's parents brought Caroline up to see her Bubba.  The minute she walked in, it was like the medicine fog cleared.  His eyes lit up and there was a lot of mutual love going on.  She was so glad to see him and he was obviously very glad to see her.  She asked A LOT of questions, but once she got them all answered, all was right with the world!

After the surgery they wanted him to lay flat for 24 hours to help his spinal fluid level back out.  Dr. Couture said he would have quiet a headache until that happened.  I thought that would be pretty tough to do, but he was in no shape to move around.  The pain meds and his back hurting made him ok with laying down.  Once that 24 hours was up, I was so glad to be able to get my hands on my boy.  We were able to hold him to feed him and to help him get to sleep.  After that 24 hours, we did a lot of feeding, lot of making sure that he got his medicine, and a lot of no sleeping for us!  There was a recliner  and a fold out sofa and Jason and I took turns sleeping at night.  We both would get 3 - 4 hour chunks, but that would be about it.  There were nurses in every few hours to take vitals and to give him his pain medicine (when we would prompt them for it), so it was hard for any one to get good rest.  Good thing for Netflix and Sons of Anarchy!  Cam would get his medicine and eat and finally be able to go to sleep and someone would need to come in and get vitals or something.  Poor kid!  We finally did get the medicine and feeding and vitals kind of lined up so that he could get some pretty decent chunks of sleep.

Each night one of us went home with Caroline and got her bathed and put into bed so that she had somewhat of a normal routine.  Jason's parents stayed at our house with her while we were in the hospital so that she could sleep in her own bed.  They were so great and took her to the Greensboro SciQuarium and to the park so that she didn't have much time to think about where we were and what we were doing.  We also FaceTimed with her several times so that she could see us and Cam.  Thanks, Mike and Anita!!

We were told that we could be in the hospital for up to 4 or 5 days.  We were prepared for that, so we were so excited when they told us Sunday morning that we could start packing everything up.  I was asleep when the nurse came in and completed the discharge information, but when I woke up Jason told me it was time to get ready to go.  The only thing we had to wait on was for him to poop.  They weighed him that morning and he had gained an entire pound in the two days since the surgery.  He was eating and eating and eating and not pooping because of the anesthesia.  They gave him an enema and about 45 minutes later I have never been so happy to see poop in my life!  He finally gave us enough that we knew his bowels were working like they should be and we loaded up and headed out!  We were home by 10am Sunday morning.  We were so glad to get home and get him comfortable and be able to sleep in our own beds.

Sunday afternoon my mom headed over (she had been in Winston with Leslie and coming back and forth to the hospital) and she spent the week with us.  I knew that I would probably need someone home with me when Jason went back to work.  He stayed home Monday and Tuesday to make sure Caroline got back and forth to school and make sure Cam was ok.  I thought there would be a lot of wound care and that he would be in a lot of pain.  We came home with oxycodone with acetaminophen that he was to take every four hours.  By Tuesday, Cam was on the floor crawling for the first time.  It was incredible.  He had a big piece of tape on his back over gauze that we had to replace once or twice, but that was the only care that was necessary.  Mom stayed until Thursday and even though there wasn't a lot of care for her to do, it was so nice to be able to spend just a few days just hanging out.  Ja stayed home with Cam one afternoon and Mom and I were able to go get some coffee and lunch and just chat.  That doesn't happen often with so many youngins running around!  Nights were kind of rough with Cam waking up in pain and needing his medicine and to be fed, so I was pretty tired and it was nice to have her here to help get Caroline to school so that I could maybe close my eyes for a minute!  Thanks, Mom!

Cam was a rock star!  He was on the pain meds for only 2 days all day once we got home.  He still took it at night for a few more nights.  After a day of crawling around and using his back and his muscles he did get a little bit sore.  Other than that, he was smiling and laughing and back to his crazy self!  I was totally not expecting him to start crawling for the first time 4 days after spinal surgery!!

The next week he started teething and I think hit a growth spurt.  That week was almost rougher than the week after his surgery and just for normal baby growing stuff!!  He threw a much bigger fit for that tooth than he did after the surgery.

Thankfully, I was able to stay home with Cam for three weeks after his surgery.  I have some incredible friends at work that shared days and I was able to borrow some from Jason.  It was so awesome to be able to stay home with him at this age.  I thought the three weeks would be a lot of crying and hurting, but since he got well so quickly it was just a matter of making sure he was completely healed before putting him back into day care with other kid's germs.  We had the best time.  We bopped around and just hung out at the house.  It was so much fun to watch him learn new things and figure stuff out.  By the second week we were back on a little bit of a schedule and he was back sleeping at night.  I was able to really enjoy those days and get some stuff done around the house.  Jason took a week off and stayed home with him during the fourth week.  I am so glad he was good so quickly and we were just able to spend this time at home with him.  Come on, summer!!

Today, almost one month to the day after the surgery, things are right back to where they were!  I had spent so much time worrying about whether or not he would be able to crawl or use the bathroom and any of the other bad things that can happen from this surgery.  I tried not to Google it too much, but from the little bit that I did I knew that if the surgeon gets too close to the spinal cord, it can do a lot of damage.  I wondered every time he stood up while holding my hands if I needed to video it because he wouldn't be able to do it any more.  Every time he got up on all fours, I almost wanted to knock him back down so he wouldn't know what it was like to crawl if that ability went away.  I started videoing little things to help me remember because I didn't know what kind of baby I would have after the surgery.  I am VERY happy and proud to say that Dr. Couture did an amazing job.  Although there is a chance that he may have to have surgery later on, he is crawling ALL over the place, pooping and peeing like a champ, and he is absolutely perfect.  He does have a gnarly scar on his back (a good 4 -5 inches), but I think it makes him look pretty bad ass - which is hard to do at 8 months old!  His tape fell off about 3 weeks after the surgery and he is now taking baths in the bathtub with is Big Sissy and he is hot stuff!  He hasn't had a single set back.  I am so incredibly glad to be on this side of the whole ordeal and I cannot be happier with how things have turned out!

He was hilarious with this bracelet around his ankle.  He was like a dog chasing his tail!

He watched every single things that happened.  He smiled at everyone and listened to every word.

This was how he looked when they wheeled him to his room.  He was pitiful.  He was in that in between stage of still being under from the anesthesia and trying to wake up.  

Even when he started to wake up, he didn't do much moving.  The medicine kept him sleepy enough that he just laid there and looked and whatever he could.  He did play with Mimi's buttons, so we knew he was coming around!  

This also shows the diaper on his hand.  They do that to cover up the IV so that he can't pull it out.  Well, by Saturday afternoon he had pulled the entire diaper off and all of the IV out of his hand!  Crazy boy!  Luckily, they had started another line in his foot and they were able to push medicine through it until we went home.

This still makes me cry.  He completely woke up when she walked in the room.  She was so excited to see him and he reached out and grabbed her as soon as she was there.  First question she asked - 'Why is there a Pamper on his hand?'

When she wasn't there, we FaceTimed so they could see each other.  This did wonders for both of them!

After a good night sleep and getting on a bit of a routine with the medicine and feeding, we had some smiles coming back!

After 24 hours of being flat on his back, we were told we could finally get him up.  He was still pretty groggy from the pain meds and didn't feel great, but he was perfectly content taking some good naps on us.  I was one happy mama right here!

He was pretty pitiful and would just lay on us and look around.  I soaked up every second, because it isn't often that he'll let us do this any more.

That sweet face.

Some more smiles!

By Saturday afternoon he was starting to move around a bit.  He was fine until about the 3 1/2 hour mark between medicine doses (he could get it every four hours), but he would play in his crib and spin around.

Smiles!

Sunday morning it was time to go home!!!  Yay!!!

This is our boy Monday afternoon!  You can't even tell he had surgery just three days ago!!

Loving on Mimi!

I am so glad to be on this side of the whole thing.  Brenner's Children's Hospital at Baptist was incredible and Dr. Couture did a fantastic job.  We were so lucky to be in such good hands!!

Seven Months!

Seven months old is such a fun age!!  He is starting to really move around and talk and show his personality.

• He weighs 18 1/2 pounds.  He didn't go to the doctor this month, so I don't have an official height for him.
• He is wearing 9 month clothes and we just had to go get 12 month sleepers because he was busting out of the 9 month sleepers.  He is going to be so tall!
• He is in size 2 diapers, but sleeps in size 3.  He sleeps on his belly most of the time and peed right out of the front of them!  The 3s are containing him - for now!
• I am no longer pumping (stopped around the beginning of March) and Cam is on total formula.  I saved a few bags of milk to help get through his surgery recovery, but that will be it!
• He is still taking his ranitidine twice a day.
• He eats at 6ish (5 oz bottle), 10 (1 big container of food and a 8 oz bottle at school/4 oz bottle at home), 1 (8 oz bottle at school/4 oz bottle at home), 4 (8 oz bottle at school/4 oz bottle at home), 6 (1 big container of food and 1 small container of food, 2 oz bottle), and 7:30 or 8 (5 oz bottle) and then it is bed time and he is down for the night!
• He is flipping in both directions and has been for a while.  He sleeps on his stomach most of the time, but moves all over the crib throughout the night.
• He is still sleeping in his Zippy and will probably be for a while.
• There is no leaving him on the floor. He will flip and scoot all over the room.  He can also get up on all fours and lunge himself forward (Caroline calls is 'belly whopping').  
• We never did get a high chair for Caroline, but Jason got us one for Cam and it has been awesome.  As long as we give him something to play with he will sit right there and throw his toys on the floor!  He is also starting to grab puffs that we put on his table and he can get a few in his mouth all by himself.
• He got his first tooth!! His bottom left tooth came in and I had no idea.  I reached in there to give him a puff and there it was.  He wasn't fussy or anything.
• He had his tethered cord surgery a few days ago - another post about that.

You are a piece of work, buddy!  You smile pretty much all of the time and you are so funny.  I am so glad I get to watch you grow up every day!!  Love you, Bubba!

Caroline - 4 Years Old

Our 4 year old!!

She is a GREAT big sister and takes it very seriously!

C at her Frozen party with her friends Charlotte (in the background), Aydin (her best friend), Alea, Patrick, Dhruv, and her cousants Anna, + Jack!

Caroline is now a four year old!!  She is very proud of this and 'helps' us remember it all the time.  She will tell me several times a day that when she was three she couldn't do something, but now that she is four, she can do it all by herself.

I don't even know how to start explaining our sweet girl.  She is the funniest, most dramatic, most unique, most helpful, sassiest, sweetest, smartest, and most amazing little human.  There are times where she frustrates us to high heaven, but most of the time I think she is just awesome.  I have tried to save some of the funny stuff that she says by posting it on Facebook, but that is maybe 20% of the funny stuff she says.  I feel like I will always remember the funny stuff, but I don't unless I have it written down somewhere.

Here are some things that I want to remember about Sassy Pants, Whack Job Sandwich, Hot Mess, Scooter Pooter, Smush Pocket, Hot Mama herself:

• She weighs 40 pounds (89th percentile) and is 3' 6 1/8" (81st percentile).
• She is so smart.  We are so lucky that we found Generations and Mrs. Val and Ms. Nita do such a great job with those kids.  She has been doing a preschool curriculum since she could sit up.  She can now completely write her own name, recognize all letters and numbers, count to 100, and she is beginning to pick out the sounds of letters in words.  It is amazing to see what she can do.  She brings home her school work and I am just amazed.  We also bought her a preschool work book to have at home and she will ask us if she can do her school work.  I will start to show her how to do something (go through a maze by drawing the line through all things that start with a 't') and before I even have the chance she has it finished.  She is very smart and she is already very excited about going to Kindergarten like Anna!  She will start school during the 2016 - 2017 school year.  She will start at age 5 and turn 6 March of that year.  That is too crazy for me to even think about!
• She loves being a big sister and she is great at it.  She helps us do everything from feeding him to giving him a bath to putting him in the bed or getting him up.  She had a little bit of a delayed reaction after he got here and acted out for a couple of weeks, but after that she has been fine.  She loves to make him laugh and he watches EVERYTHING that she does.  We try to remind her of this because he will be copying what she does very soon.  She takes her job as 'Big Sissy' very seriously.  She even started crying last night at dinner because she was going to miss him (and us) so much when she goes away to college!  If only she knew how much he is going to irritate the mess out of her!
• Things she loves: princesses (of course) - her favorites are Elsa and Rapunzel (her all time very favorite), her collections (she has lots of Magic Clips, My Little Ponies, Itty Bitties), her Nabi (she plays Hay Day and the grocery bagging game, checks the weather on her own app, and she loves watching PBS Kids shows on the app), watching movies in her DVD player (that she can work all by herself), all things Frozen (especially listening to the music and dramatically recreating every scene), playing with all of her 'cousants' and her neighbor Charlotte, playing games (Go Fish, Matching, games our of her Highlights magazine), coloring/painting/cutting paper, reading books and having books read to her, riding her bike, going to the park, playing in the building footings at Bethabara Park, wearing her sassy brown knee high boots, her rain boots, and her 'fancies', eating chicken 'nunnets' at Dairio (her all time favorite place, with Buffalo Wingos being a close 2nd), getting the mail all by herself, feeding the dogs all by herself, anything she can do all by herself :), watching Pinky Dinky Doo, Daniel Tiger, and Sofia the First, listening to Taylor Swift (Shake It Off and Blank Spaces are her two faves), click her eye (winking with a little added mouth click), being in charge (of Cam or anything else), mac + cheese, asking 7,506 questions a day, knowing why things are the way they are, ...
• Things she does not like: having to be patient, having to go to the bathroom when someone asks her to, trying new foods, seeing boogers or her own poo (she gags every time), not being able to do something the first time she tries, ...
• She all of a sudden has gotten very sensitive.  If she says something funny and I start laughing she will ask me to stop and tell me that it is hurting her feelings.  She has also started really crying (I mean crocodile tears, lip quivering, break your heart kind of crying) over leaving us to go to college and going to Heaven and other people playing with her toys!
• She is tall and lean and I really hope she stays that way.  She wears 4T or 5T pants (only for the length) and 5T or kids XS shirts for the length.  She wears size 11 shoes - her feet are going to be huge (like mine).
• She wears leggings and shirts almost every day, but she does love a dress once it gets warm.
• Her hair is getting really long, but is still really curly on the bottom and then straight on the top.  She wears it in a ponytail or with the front up in a 'hair up' most days.
• She loves night gowns to sleep in, but she still likes wearing her footy jams on cold nights - especially when Bubba wears his.
• Her room is still awesome.  She has the bed that is raised up and she is starting to use her Secret Spot more and more.  Things in the house are starting to make their way into her room (pictures that we have in frames, books she loves, etc.).  She has even begun hanging things she colored up onto her wall.
• She can get herself completely dressed - from the pants and shirt to the socks and shoes and jackets.
• She brought home a piece of paper from school and it asked what she wanted to be when she grew up - my girl said a Girl Fire Fighter!  Get 'em!

Caroline Grace,

You are growing up to be such an amazing little lady.  You are so smart and so funny and so YOU.  I hope that never changes.  You are always going to be so loved by your Daddy and me and I hope this crazy world doesn't make you anything different than what and who you are.  You are so strong willed and stubborn - it drives your Daddy and me crazy some times, but I know that you are going to be able to take care of yourself.  You make us laugh every single day and I am so glad that God picked me to be your mama.  I am so proud of you and I can't wait to be there to help and watch you grow. 

P.S.  If you could slow down that growing up a little bit I'd appreciate it! :)

Six Months!

I cannot believe that my baby is six months old - he is now closer to a year old than he is to the day he was born.  WHAT?!?!

5 Months Old!

My six month old boy!

This kid is going to be a character.  I worried about him having a hard time getting a word in with Caroline as a big sister, but I think he will be just fine!

• He weighs 17 lbs 6 oz (46th percentile) and is 27.5 in long (83rd percentile).  Our boy is long and lean - even though he has some of the chunkiest thighs I have ever seen!
• He is currently in 9 month clothes, but is starting to stretch out the toes in a few of his sleepers.
• He is in size 2 diapers and will be for a good while.
• I started mixing my milk with formula about two weeks ago.  Cam started to eat a little bit more and with me just pumping I just wasn't keeping up.  I was using my stash quicker than I wanted to, so I started with just one ounce of formula, but have worked my way up to about half and half and will stay like that until the milk comes close to running out.  The goal is to get him through his surgery with at least a little bit of breast milk in the bottle.
• He is still taking his Ranitidine two times a day.  I forgot a couple of times and thought we might be finished with it, but he started spitting up like crazy again.  Not sure if the two are related, but if it doesn't hurt him to keep taking it and he doesn't spit up as much when he does, we are just going to keep it flowing!
• He started eating solid foods not long after his four month appointment.  With Caroline I'm sure I was up to three times a day by now, but Cam is still just getting dinner.  He eats a veggie and a fruit with a little bit of rice cereal in them both.  Then he gets a bottle to wash it down.
• He eats at 6:30, 10:00, 1:00, 3:30, 5:30, and 7:30.  We put him down around 8 and he gets up around 6 - 6:30.  Not bad, my boy!
• A couple of days before he turned six months old, he rolled from this back to his belly.  He had been doing belly to back for a good month or so, but he is now officially a roller.  We went in to get him up one morning and he had flipped over and was fast asleep on his stomach.  He is still a back sleeper, but when he is playing he flips from back to front and back again.  Watch out, world!
• He is sleeping in his Zippy still and I wrap the swaddle around his waste to keep the zipper from getting in his face and just to help him feel secure.  We put him in and zip him up and he starts flapping around like a little bird.
• When I go to put him down he will look at me with the biggest smile and start flapping and laughing.  That certainly beats any sorts of tears from having to go to sleep.
• We use the turtle with the stars, his mobile, and his music in his room.
• He has started to really play with toys.  He LOVES chewing on Elmo's hook and hands, the stegosaurus, the duck, the lion, and the pink chew ring that was Caroline's (she constantly reminds everyone of this).
• He will go to town in the exersaucer and will get those legs going and jump and jump and jump. 
• He loves laying on his activity mat and watching the butterflies, chewing on the parrot and rolling back and forth between the mirror and the giraffe.
• We still use the bouncy seat to feed him sometimes, but he pulls himself to sitting up and almost rolls himself out of the thing.
• He sits in the booster seat now when we feed him his food.  He is too busy for the Bumbo.
• He is doing great at school.  They put him down for two naps while he is there and he sleeps a little bit during the first nap (too much going on - fear of missing out), but sleeps well in the afternoon.  I pick him the kids up around 4:30 and he comes home and goes straight down for a nap.  It is usually about 45 min to an hour and then he is up until bed time.  He eats his dinner around 5:30 or 6 and then gets his last bottle around 7:30.  Then it is off to bed!
• He is very ticklish!  You can get him on the inside of his thighs, on his neck, and his belly.  I LOVE to hear him laugh!
• We got for Cam's MRI next week to figure out the plan of action for his tethered chord.  Stay tuned!

Four (and a half) Months Old!

Totally dropped the ball on the four month update, so here is a Cam update at four and a half months!

• He weighs 15 lbs 14 oz (48th) and is  26 1/2 in (84th) long!  Despite his chunk, our boy is long and lean!!
• He is wearing size 2 diapers and 6 month clothes and sleepers.
• He is drinking 4 to 5 ounces of milk 5 to 6 times a day.  I am still pumping three times a day.
• He is still taking medicine for reflux twice a day.
• We only burp him after he eats now and he still spits up a little bit, but that has gotten much better.
• He is on a pretty solid three hour schedule.  He gives us 10 - 12 hours at night!
• He is the happiest, most laid back baby!  He smiles and laughs all the time unless he is hungry or super tired.
• He rolled over from his belly to his back a couple of days before Christmas.  He does it pretty easily now.
• He is starting to drool a ton and wanting to put everything into his mouth.  I'm thinking he has a couple of teeth trying to make their way up!
• He still likes his bouncy seat, but he tries to sit up all the time.
• He loves his exersaucer and will bounce and play with the toys.  He gets overwhelmed when we turn on the sights and sounds.  So for now, he just rolls the balls and bats stuff.
• To go to sleep, we would wrap Cam up in a Miracle Blanket and a swaddle blanket since he could break out of the Miracle by itself.  So after Christmas (4 1/2 months) we started putting him to sleep in a Zipadee-Zip sleep sack with arms and he has made the transition like a champ.   It allows him to feel secure, but gives him freedom so that we can switch him to just a sleep sack after a few weeks.
• He is still doing great at school.  He is so observant and loves to just watch what is going on.  He is going to be gone once he starts moving!  He wants so badly to be able to walk and talk and run around!
• He had a great first Christmas!  He got a few outfits and some toys to chew on and hold on to.
• We have finally found some soap that Cam can use!  He can take a bath every day and he doesn't break out at all!  We got the Mustela at Babies 'R' Us just to try it out and it has been great!

We are so in love with our sweet boy and love every second of watching him grow!!

Three Months!

What a difference a month can make!! I just read my two month post and could feel myself get stressed out just remembering how tough those weeks were.  I am very thankful to say that three months in, we are all doing just fine.  I went back to work last week (Nov 5), the day after Cam turned 12 weeks old.  I am so very thankful and grateful for those 12 weeks.  They were by no means easy, but I am lucky that I got to spend my whole leave with my sweet little ones.

Other than a rough day here and there, we have gotten into a pretty sweet swing of things around our house.  Cam started going to school with Caroline the Monday before I went back to work.  Leslie was being induced with Baby Drew on that Monday (Nov 3), so I wanted to be free to do what I could for her.  I also wanted to be available to go get the kids if I needed to.  Things couldn't have worked out better.  Cam has done great at school and has been taking short naps throughout the day and eating all of the milk that I send.  He comes homes EXHAUSTED and immediately goes down for a nap.  I really look forward to the two feedings he has at night now that I am not with him all day.  Ms. Val and Ms. Nita tell us how alert he is all day.  I'm sure he will be up and running before we know it!

Caroline loves being at school with Cam and helps take care of him.  The first day they were both going Caroline said, 'Don't worry, Mom.  I've got Cam's back!'  She was so excited to show him off to her friends.  About a week after they both started going, Ms. Nita needed to take him into another room because he was crying and Ms. Val needed to take a phone call.  Caroline flipped out.  She thought they were taking him away and she was not having it!!  It is so good to know that they are both so well taken care of and that they can take care of each other.

Now that we have the reflux and feeding figured out, Cam is the happiest, laid back little guy!  Most time when he wakes up from a nap he will cry until he sees your head and then he will smile so hard his eyes almost close!  He is laughing and blowing raspberries and he is about the cutest baby I've ever seen (biased or not!).  I can't wait to see his personality keep coming out and see what kind of little man he is going to turn into!

Now on to some three month stats:

• He weighs (unofficially) 15.2 lbs!  Our big boy!
• He is in 3 month clothes and 3/6 month sleepers.
• He is still in size 1 diapers.
• He was put in his crib to sleep at about 10 weeks and has done just fine since then!
• We still swaddle him and found that there is a pretty big gap between a small SwaddleMe swaddler and a medium/large.  The small got to be too small, but he could easily get out of the medium/large.  I got him a Miracle Blanket and it has worked great.  He is a strong rascal and can still get out of it if it isn't just right, but for the most part he goes to sleep before he even really tries.
• I am just pumping and have it down to three times a day.  He eats between 2 and 4 ounces 6 times a day.
• After school I put him right down for a nap.  He usually gets up and eats around 7, goes down until we get him up about 10 for a 'dream feed', and then we don't hear a peep until 5 or 6.  Then he goes back down after he eats until we leave for school.  I will take that every day of the week!  He does a great job of sleeping now - or maybe I just appreciate every bit of it since those early weeks were so tough!
• He still has all of his crazy skin stuff going on, so we are still doing his bath routine every other day with the T/Gel, baby oil, Cetaphil, and a toothbrush for scrubbing.
• He has been able to sit up in a Bumbo for a while and has full head control.  He loves to be up and out and be able to see everything that is going on.
• We have pulled the mat out with the jungle gym for him to look at those butterflies that Caroline loved.  He still loves his bouncy seat and will GO TO TOWN kicking with his feet when he really gets going.  He LOVES to talk to the frog and all his other friends on his bouncy seat.
• Unless he is really hungry, he will smile and talk and laugh the whole time he is up.
• The Babywise eat-play-sleep routine doesn't work for our boy.  He doesn't want to eat right away, but instead will play for a good bit when he wakes up until he fusses and then we feed him.  We still put him in the bed while he is awake, but he has a full belly.
• He smiled at Caroline for the first time a couple of weeks ago and it made Caroline's life.  She thought it was the cutest thing.  She is so ready for him to be able to do something!
• We have been calling Caroline 'Big Sister', but she has decided she wants to be called Sissy like her 'cousants' Anna and Penelope!
• He does a great job riding in his car seat.  He will just lay back there and talk to the friends dangling from the mirror or fuss for just a minute before going to sleep.  

I love my sweet boy and I eat up every minute of him snuggling with me after he eats.  Being a boy, I am sure he is going to be GONE once he can move, so I'm trying to enjoy him being willing to let me snuggle with him.  So glad I got picked to be his mama and I get to watch him grow up!!