I Survived Cameron's First Hair Cut, oh and he did too.

I will be the first to admit that I can be a bit dramatic about silly things. I can even admit to myself that it is silly for me to care as much as I do, but I still do care. Today I took Cameron to receive his first hair cut, unless you count the 2 times I have trimmed his bangs before. I must have talked myself out of and back into going at least a dozen times since I made the appointment Monday afternoon. And again, while I know that it is just hair (at least I know it in my head) I have struggled with the idea of getting his hair cut since the first time Brian started asking me when I was going to get it done around his first birthday.

I don't know what it is about Cameron's curly tresses that evoke so much emotion in me, and I am slightly ashamed, but not totally, to admit that this appointment had me in tears several times in the days leading up to it and in the car ride there. I guess to me, and most people who have seen Cameron or pictures of him, Cameron's curls are part of what makes him him. In fact, I almost backed out yesterday after lunch with Brian at school when we had at least a dozen people comment on how cute his curls were. It is not like I planned on chopping them off, and I didn't if you looked ahead at the pictures, just trimming them. I suppose to me a first hair cut is one of the many first steps Cameron takes to becoming a big boy and not just my baby boy anymore, and I was in charge of when this particular step took place. I wasn't sure if I was, or am for that matter, ready for Cameron to be on his way to being a big boy yet. I made sure to take lots of pictures, way too many actually, in the days leading up to the appointment and right before we left to help ease my troubled heart.

Here are a few of the before shots, front & back

Well, I made it to the place, talking myself through the whole drive. Telling myself things like "It is just hair"; "Cameron's hair cut does not change who he is"; "His hair really is curly a trim won't change that (I was mortified of the possibility that a trim might make his curls go away)"; and various other things of that nature. All the while, Cameron was oblivious to his mother's inner turmoil over such trivial matters as what his hair looks like and was thoroughly enjoying the cracker he was eating on the way. When we got there the staff was extremely friendly, both to Cameron and his barely able to compose herself mother. We went to a salon that only cuts children's hair & they had two cool truck seats for Cameron to choose from, it took him three times of changing his mind before he settled on the yellow one he eventually sat in. I apologize in advance to anyone who like the show that I I am about to mention. They had a TV with a Dora video on and the staff was amazed that Cameron had never seen Dora before (we don't watch TV). They expressed a sentiment that I too feel, that Dora is one of the most inane children's shows out there & that it addresses children as if they are imbeciles repeating everything several times as if once or even twice weren't enough. I felt bad for them that they have to have it on all the time, but that is what most kids watch these days so that is what they are stuck watching. Cameron was sucked into the TV, as he usually is since he doesn't get to watch it at home, but was quickly distracted and involved in the conversation or the various toys to play with. Cameron did amazingly well. He sat still and enjoyed himself, except for the blow dryer which we decided to forego when he got very scared and started to cry- Mommy doesn't own one so he has never heard one before. They were very good about listening to what I wanted done and talking to me through out the whole thing too. The hair dresser, her name was Judy, said that I didn't have to worry about Cameron loosing his curls anytime soon because the curl goes all the way up to the roots; that knowledge did wonders to ease my troubled mind. When it was all over they had a special baggy and certificate for me to take home with some of the curls they cut from his first hair cut. All in all, it was a pretty good experience and I actually like his hair cut. Cameron still has curly hair, which I love; but I don't have to pull it out of his shirts or squirt it down with water to keep the frizz at bay, which I didn't like; and the curls are not tickling Cameron in the ears, which he hated. I took lots of pictures while we were there and of the after so here are a few.

During the cut

Cameron showing off his new haircut

See he still has plenty of curls

Hooray for craftiness

this is what my front door looks like thanks to Michaels' super awesome 50-70% off holiday stuff sale last week & about 10 minutes of my time. Brian made me smile when he asked how much the wreath on our front door cost, he thought I bought it. I already had the grapevine wreath form so minus that my wreath cost me just under $5. Cameron actually helped me put the leaves on, which was a pleasant surprise. I was afraid that I was going to have to stop and make it during nap time. Pretty much every season/holiday change I unwrap what I have on the wreath and add something else more seasonal, hooray for inexpensive decorations!

The big news

So, for those of you who don't know yet, we are expecting child number two sometime in April. We are due date is toward the end of the month, but I think Peanut (Brian's name for the baby while it is in utero) will come toward the beginning of the year. According to my due date I am 16 weeks along or four months. This pregnancy has been worse as far being sick goes. As soon as I got over morning sickness, which I got pretty bad this time, I came down with a really terrible stomach virus. I got another bug the week of Halloween that lead to our holiday festivities Friday night being spent in the ER with an IV. We were blessed to have Brian's parent's come and get Cameron and he got to go home and sleep in bed instead of trying to snuggle up to me on the small hospital bed between various tubes. I was really disappointed that he didn't get to show off his super cute farmer costume at our ward's trunk or treat. Anyway, between my terrible morning sickness and the two stomach bugs, I have ended up five pounds lighter than when I first got pregnant. So, that gives me a free ticket to eat as much as I want right ;)

We are planning another homebirth & I really like our midwife a lot. She has been delivering babies at home for nearly 20 years. We have seen her twice and get two see her again shortly before Thanksgiving. Unlike with Cameron we are not planning on finding out the gender of baby number two, or any of the rest for that matter. I think it makes the whole thing more exciting. I think that I have the beginnings of a bump, but Brian says that I am just sticking my belly out. Here is a picture (please forgive the crazy hair) and you can decide. Brian says the only reason it looks like I have a bump is because of the angle that he took the picture.

Slowly, but surely

Ok, I am back, that is if anyone is still checking to see if we are still around. Lets just say the last month and a half have been interesting. We, especially Cameron & I, have taken turns being sick pretty much the whole time. Add to that having a major hurricane come through. Luckily, we only had minor fence damage and some branches that needed to be cut. We were out of power for a week, we stayed at Brian's parents during that time; and out of A/C for another week beyond our power being out- the power surge when the power came back on killed something in the unit, unfortunately we were home that week. We consider ourselves lucky as we know people who were out of power as long as 17 days. Brian spent the entire month of October studying and taking midterms, which basically meant that despite that fact that he stayed home from work we still didn't see him much because he was on the computer studying. He finished midterms last week, but already has another major test next Monday & finals start two weeks after that. Anyway, he has been working super hard in school and still loves it, so I guess that is a good sign that he picked the right profession. Cameron never ceases to amaze me as he gets older and learns new things. Currently, his favorite song is "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" with some additional verses from a book we found at the library. Cameron has, in the past 2 months, discovered and fallen in love with the word "no", much to my & his father's dismay. The most recent thing going on for him right now is his battle with allergies, cutting his two year molars, an ear infection & pink eye all at the same time. He sure has been a trooper. The first few days he had high fevers and a terrible cough that kept waking him, luckily those are mostly gone now and he & we have all been sleeping a lot better now. Anyway, it is late and I really need to go to sleep I will update more later & look forward to finally getting a chance to go and update myself on the lives of our friends and family that has been flying by me as the past few months have gone. I won't try to give day by day run downs, but I will try to get some pictures & a few of the highlights up over the next few days.

Trying to Win a Essential Babywearing Collection

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)
The more places I post this info the more entries I get. Sorry for such a non-informative entry. Unless you are looking for babywearing info, than I guess this could be a very informative entry.

Time flies on wings of fun and frustrations

Well, Sophia and I have had quite the eventful month. We have been so busy as of late with one thing or the other that we haven't had the opportunity to get on the blog and mention any of the wondrous and less than marvelous things that have been occurring as of late. We have been busy with doing repairs on the house and trying to resolve other associated frustrations. Being a homeowner is great. We have had plumbing and air conditioning issues which led to a leak in the attic. Unfortunately, the leak in the attic was not discovered until we saw water dripping from the ceiling and water damage to the sheetrock on both the ceiling an the wall. Yeah, hurray. Fortunately we were able to poke a hole in the sheetrock before the water accumulated sufficiently to break through. We then had some help from my dad to get the insulation moved since I was still having a hard time crouching down very far due to my ankle injury, so it could dry and not become the bearer of mold and other such fun things. It's amazing how quickly it dried out in the cool and dank environment of an attic here in Houston during the summer. I was sure it would take at least a few weeks. Now we had a plumber come out to help us find the leak in our house that was causing our ridiculously high water bills. He found no leaks that were causing that but did discover and repair the backed up pipe that was causing the water to overflow from the drip pan. Then the A/C guy came and said that things looked okay, so at least we didn't have to replace the A/C unit. We still don't know what's causing the high water bills, so now we have to get a sprinler guy to come and check them for problems. Only time will tell. The leak in the attic prevented us from putting in more insulation like we had originally planned to do the weekend that it was discovered. While we were doing the repairs up there, we noticed that the air conditioning unit was leaking large amounts of air in the attic, so yesterday with the benevolent help of Quentin, I was able to tape them and hopefully stop trying to cool our attic. Now that I have talk about the fun stuff, oh wait. Anyways, around mid June we had the privilege and pleasure of going to Illinois for Bobbi and Paul's sealing in the Nauvoo temple. Bobbi is one of Sophia's best friends from high school and they're more like sisters. We had a really great time the week that we were there. Other than this one wonderfully glorious event, I'm going to let Sophia share all of the splendid wonders and marvels that have occurred in our lives this past month. Besides, it's late and estoy cansado.

Crazy month

So, I didn't blog like I said I would. The room with our computer was out of commision along with the computer for a few days. We have had lots going on and our house keeps finding something else that wants to be repaired. Brian got good news from the Orthopedic Surgeon. The surgeon doesn't think that Brian will need any surgery. Brian was prescribed physical therapy for 5 weeks then he goes back to the Orthopedic Surgeon and see where things are. If he has made progress then he will continue with physical therapy and be done with the orthopedic surgeon if not than there might have been muscular damage and surgery would be needed to repair it. Brian already seems to be making progress though so our hopes are high. I have been having a heck of a time trying to be a wife, mom, home maker and full time babysitter and a Relief Society secretary on top of all that (that is why I haven't hardly been blogging at all). This month I watched baby Lexi from 8 1/2 -11 hours Monday through Friday starting at 6:15am. Starting next week I will be watching her Monday, Wednesday & Thursday for 12 hours a day starting at 6:15am. Next week we are going to Illinois so that we can go through the Temple with on of my best friends in the entire world & visit with all of my "adopted" family that are out there. We get to go through with her & her husband on Friday and then be at their sealing the next morning bright and early. I am so excited to go out, she is like a sister to me and getting to go through the temple with her as her escort is such a blessing. Plus, we get to go to the Nauvoo temple which has a very special place in my heart. I am also excited to go and spend time with the families I lived with in High School & after my first year in college. I apologize for the completely neglected blogging. Hopefully the few of you who actually read my blog will forgive me.

Pictures

I have been a slacker face blogger. Here are some picture of Cameron that will hopefully help you forgive me. I will blog tomorrow night.

Moving leaps and bounds then slowing back down

Well, a great deal has happened in this past week. On Sat. morning, I went to the church and played pick-up games of basketball as usual. We played several good games, and then in the last game, I was on a hard break towards the basket. At this point I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but I was "floating" through the air until I landed very hard on my ankle. I felt immense pain and something give out in my ankle. I then slid to a stop and everybody came to see what happened. All the other guys were worried that I had landed on my face because I was biting my finger hard to help block out some of the pain (gate theory of pain). I was extremely grateful to be surrounded by worthy priesthood holders who kindly gave me a blessing at my request. Sophia was then called but her phone didn't ring, so I nonchalantly left a message saying that I thought that I had just broken my ankle and would call to let her know which emergency room I was going to. She pulled in to pick me up as Kevin was getting his van ready to transport me to the hospital, but I instead rode in ours. I was carried out to the van and we were off to the ER. Kevin and Ryan offered to come along to help me get inside, for which I was extremely grateful. I can't help but be grateful for theirs and everybody's concern and offers to help out with anything that we needed. Once inside the ER, Sophia, Kevin, and Ryan all assisted in filling out forms and signing in, yet again making things much easier for me. Surprisingly, I was able to get in very quickly. I was given a shot for pain and had X-rays taken. We found out that my ankle wasn't broken, but they thought that I had blown all the ligaments in my ankle instead. They referred me to see an orthopedic surgeon and sent me home with some pain meds. I was somewhat loopy as I left because I kept feeling dizzy, and I remember some girls laughing at me as I was wheelchaired out to the car. Jared and Caitlin met us at our house and Jared helped me get inside without falling on my face. They also watched Cameron, so Sophia could run and pick up my prescription while I was a wonderful host and promptly fell asleep mid conversation. I hope they got a good laugh over that. Then starting on Monday we started playing hot potato with insurance as to who I would go see first, specialist or primary care physician (PCP). We were finally told we could see the PCP the following day and post date the referral, so we went in to the appointment only to be told at the desk that I had to see the PCP first. It was quite the game of monkey in the middle and of course the insurance company won. On Wed., I saw the Ortho surgeon and he basically said that I had a sprain and had bruised the bone, but the swelling was too bad to give too much more information. I was then given a very stylish black boot and told to return in two weeks at which point I'll find out whether or not I will need surgery to reattach or rather replace torn ligaments (hopefully not necessary). For now, I'm back to business as usual, so hopefully this black boot and crutch won't slow me down too much this Saturday during basketball. I guess everybody else gets their wish that I'll slow things down a little;)

-Brian

Hmmm... Where to start?

This week has been a little crazy, to say the least, & chaotic and scary, to say the most. We started the week by having baby Lexi join us. I watch her Monday through Friday from 6:15-3:30 ish. Cameron is getting better and more used to the idea of having her around, but I still need to watch him carefully around her lest she get a finger in the eye. Cameron's hardest time that he has is when I am feeding her her bottle because I try to give her just as much attention as she would get if she were being breast fed, meaning Cameron is getting less attention than he likes. He likes to hit the bottle or her & try to push or pull her out of my lap or arms. Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to successfully go to playgroups and get both children in and out of the vehicle, I was very proud of myself. Thursday we babysat for a little boy who had lots of energy and Cameron had a hard time. The little boy was 2 1/2 or 3 and had a hard time sharing & since Cameron is nearly his size it made it worse because he thought that he was a peer instead of a baby. Anyway, a friend came and picked him up because he and Cameron were having a VERY hard time getting along and I was having a hard time managing the two and baby Lexi. Friday was another day of babysitting. Brian was home so that was nice to have the extra pair of arms. We babysat for the daughter of a friend of a friend who's nanny called late Thursday night to inform that she wouldn't be able to make it Friday. My friend gave her my number and we agreed. Her daughter (16 months) had never been watched by anyone except her nanny or her grandmother so when she was woken up early she didn't eat and when she was then dropped of at our house, complete strangers to her, she was less than happy. It took us 3 of the 6 hours we had her to calm her down. Brian held her in our new Ergo , which I LOVE, most of the that time and she slept for about an hour of that time. Once she calmed down she attached herself to Brian like a leach. The one time he got up, to go to the bathroom and change into something besides his pajamas, she bawled the whole time he was gone. Brian spent the next three hours reading every board book in the house 5 times and sneaking her food (she wouldn't eat before) through the story time.


Saturday we were very excited with plans to go to Galveston after Brian played his typical Saturday morning game of basketball at church. I had woken up, I am usually asleep until he comes home at 9:30, so I took him to church so I could shop for his anniversary gift with out him. I figured since our 2nd anniversary is Monday that I should probably get something, I know I am the slacker that waited 'til the last minute, not something I usually do. Well, It turns out it was a good thing that I took him and and that I bought him his gifts that morning. When I pulled into the parking lot around 9:35 to pick Brian up a friend was coming out of the church and said "there you are, did you get the voicemail?" I was very confused because my phone didn't even ring. I told him "no" and asked "why?" and he said " because Brian just broke his ankle and we need to get him to the ER". We called Brian's best friend, who happens to be a paramedic and firefighter, and asked him where the best and quickest place to go would be. We went to put Brian in the back with the seats down. Brian needed something to lean again something for underneath his leg, "happy anniversary dear", they used the gifts that I had just bought. So much for a surprise.


We got to the ER and our friends who had followed us there helped us get him in. The place we went was great. While he was filling out paper work they brought out ice for his ankle and as soon as he was done they got him into triage. Once he was in the room though we got a fairly incompetent nurse who kept forgetting things and fumbling through everything he did, he was super nice, but not very confident in what he was doing. Anyway, it turns out that it was not a brake but a third degree sprain (a brake would have been way nicer). The doctor said that it looked like all of the ligaments in his ankle were ruptured. We get to go an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to follow up. Luckily, Brian's dad's assistant's sister knows who is good and who is not. So, on Friday when we called Mom & Dad to tell them Dad called her and we had an appointment set up within a few hours of having called Dad. Brian's pain medication has had in in and out of lucidity so we have laid pretty low. Brian will be missing work Monday & Tuesday. Mom had us over for lunch and dinner today after we had stake conference.


We sat in the hall for conference so that Brian could have his foot up on the couch. We got to see quite the parade of toddlers and babies, accompanied by there parents for the most part. There was one person there that made me upset. Cameron went up to play with her daughter and she said "don't let him touch her, she has been sick with some disease I don't remember and is it contagious for 14 days after the fevers have broken, but it has only been 7 days." I said "I have never heard of that disease what is it?" she went on to explain that the mouth tongue, cheeks & tonsils get covered in ulcers and that her children (there were three under the age of three) had all had fevers over 105 *F, but then said that it wasn't airborne that it was caught by touch. I know that you can get stir crazy from being home with sick kids, but if your kids are contagious with a disease that will leave my kid hospitalized they should not be anywhere near other small children! Aside from being all of a sudden very aware of this lady's children and their whereabouts conference was very good.

A few of this weeks pictures

Cameron with one of his new wool diaper covers

Cameron feeding himself a dinner of spaghetti on Friday night

Baby Lexi sleeping on the couch (I will get a better picture)