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Today my mom took us to San Francisco to see the Nutcracker. It's a tradition we've had for many years and are enjoying including Chase in it and in the future, Cameron. We had fun dressing up, going to lunch and seeing the ballet.
On December 1st the boys were able to start their Advent Calendars. Chase has been very excited about this for a couple of weeks. Cameron, of course, had no idea what was going on while we were taking this picture...then came the chocolate. hallelujah! Cam was so excited about it and didn't understand why he couldn't have more. He cried, "Chocolate! Chocolate!" that that guy in Streetcar Named Desire called for Stella. Now that we're three days into the calendar he's getting the hang of it. He still persists, though, and asks for more every time.
On November 4th Chase turned four! Where did those last four years go? I vividly remember lying in the hospital bed with him when he was born, now my bouncing baby boy is a bouncing big boy! And bounce he did! We had his birthday party at a place called Pump It Up, basically an indoor warehouse filled with jump houses and jump slides. It's a four year old's dream! It was two hours of complete chaos, but totally fun. We also started the day with music class, Doug was able to join us for class and they sang him a special birthday song. Also, notice in the pictures below the awesome Buzz Lightyear cake that my mom made!
Chase is a wonderful little boy. Sweet and charming and very sensitive. He still loves music and has recently started taking gymnastics, which he has taken to amazingly well. You know how some things just click for some kids? Seems like gymnastics is one of those things for Chase. He's naturally flexible and just picks up on the activities like he's always done them. Chase loves school, too. He only goes two days a week, but now goes for longer periods of time since he's not really napping anymore (bummer for mommy!). Enjoy the photos from his special day.
October is a really fun month when you're a kid in Sonoma County! We're surrounded by beauty, including several beautiful pumpkin patches! We also have a wonderful annual Harvest Fair at our local fairgrounds with kid rides, giant pumpkins and good fair food. Yum! Of course, you can't mention October without including Halloween. Chase declared early on that he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a little Buzz and Woody running around my house! They looked so cute in their costumes. Other activities included "Trunk or Treat" at our church and Chase's school has a Halloween parade with all the kids and we had fun attending that as well. The night of Halloween Chase decided he had had enough of the Buzz costume and decided to wear a fireman costume for trick or treating, then after hitting only a few houses he declared that he wanted to go home. He was so focused on the candy that since he had some in his bag he wanted to go home and eat it instead of going to more houses and getting even more candy. Silly kid! Doug and I also were invited to a costume party and decided to dress up as Peter Pan and Wendy...after they left Neverland, it was pretty funny.
In September we drove down to Southern California for a family vacation. We spent four days in Disneyland. The first day we were there Doug's parents and brother David and his family were there celebrating our nephew, Jack's, fifth birthday. It was fun to be there with a lot of family! We had so much fun seeing the magic in our boys' eyes as they took in the wonders of Disneyland. They loved the Playhouse Disney show and some favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo, Small World and the carousel. The parades were fun, too. We had a special "Breakfast With Goofy" morning where we got to meet a lot of the characters and even dance with them! Chase especially liked meeting the princesses, he got all shy and blushed. It was really cute.
One night that we were there we escaped Disneyland and visited our friends Mark & Cherie and their daughter Cienna, who live in Long Beach. Cienna is only a couple months older than Cameron, so it was fun to watch them play together and Doug and I enjoyed visiting with our old friends that we don't get to see often enough.
After Disneyland we drove up to Idyllwild, where Doug's sister, Emily and her family live. They own the Idyllwild Inn and we stayed in one of their cozy cabins for a couple nights, then spent a night at their house. We got a couple babysitters for all our kids and were able to go out to a nice dinner with Emily and Josh (and complete a whole sentence without being interrupted!).
Overall it was a great vacation filled with lots of fun, family, friends and good memories! I took tons of pictures, but here are just a few.
Hi family and friends! I can't find the cord for my camera at the moment, but people have been asking me about Cameron, so I thought I would write a quick post. Cameron is FINE! Hooray! The lactose-free diet is working and he's putting on weight. He's a happy, healthy little boy that is quiet firey. I call him a brute because he will fall and get right back up. He has a high tolerance for pain and a low tolerance for coddling. He can also be quite the monster - when he gets mad he throws things, spits and bites. This is all new to me, Chase is such a sensitive child and never did such things. More proof of how diferent siblings are! He definitely has a sweet side, though, and loves to pick up his lamb or elephant and give him hugs and kisses. I'm so glad all these tests have turned out for the easiest posible sollution. Living with lactose intolerance is much easier than living with CF. I hate that the doctors scared us like that, but am glad we finally got it figured out. We go back for a GI follow up in August, but expect to hear all good things. Thanks for checking in on us, we appreciate it!
We went to San Francisco to visit the pediatric GI doctor today. You can tell he is a very smart man and probably excellent at his procedures, but his bedside manner wasn't the best we've ever seen. He was good with Cameron, which is the most important, but we left without many answers and a general goal to get him to gain weight. He told us that lactose intolerance was unlikely to be the only problem, yet didn't give us answers as to what other problems it might be. Since Cameron is a baby, the doctor said it is very rare to have lactose intolerance since all babies drink milk. He then went on to tell us to give him a very high-fat diet - including pediasure or carnation instant breakfasts in his milk. After thinking it over I told he doctor I was very uncomfortable going back to lactose foods since taking lactose out was the only thing that helped him. We agreed to keep him lactose free and to give him as much fat and calories in his diet as possible. I just prepared him a sippy cup of full-fat lactaid milk with a scoop of soy formula mixed in - so he's getting double the calories. It's rare to hear a doctor tell you to feed your son fried chicken, but that's what he said!
The doctor also suggested it could be celiac disease (wheat allergy). When we told him Cameron tested negative for celiac the doctor said the blood tests are often inconclusive. Great. There is a procedure that can be done where the intestine is biopsied to find out if he has it, but we're not going there yet.
The good news of the day: As we were on the elevator up to the GI doctor, the CF doctor called us and told us Cameron was negative for the genetic testing for CF. Hooray!
Our trip to Vegas was so relaxing! The flight was okay with both kids. Cameron got restless, but thankfully it was a short flight. Chase didn't make a peep, he was glued to a dvd! We spent most of our time by the pool. We went to a few parks while we were there, too. We discovered that Henderson is a very kid-friendly town with lots of parks and things to do with kids. They have several parks with the water that squirts out of the ground, that was a big hit with Chase. While we were there we squeezed in some places that we no longer have in Santa Rosa. We took Cameron to a kids salon to have his first hair cut and also took the boys to the mall to get their pictures done at The Picture People. We got some cute shots of the boys.
Doug's birthday was on the 16th and we celebrated by playing mini-golf and going out to lunch at a BJ's Pizza restaurant. My dad made some excellent paella for dinner that night and we ended with some delicious Snickers cake. Yum. Here's some pictures from our trip.
Hi everyone. We had a wonderful time in Vegas on our vacation. I'll post more and add pictures next time. Lots of people have been asking about how Cameron is doing so I thought I would put up a quick post. While we were on vacation we got the results of his last poop test, it came back negative. I guess that test is another CF indicator, so that's good news. We haven't heard back from the genetic testing yet, hopefully some time this week. On Friday we head to San Francisco to meet with the pediatric GI doctor, his appointment is at 10 am. I'm hoping by then we'll have the results of the genetic CF test back and the GI doctor can help us figure out what sugar that Cameron's body isn't processing instead of us just guessing that it's lactose. He's had a little cold this week and has been coughing up phlegm (I don't remember Chase ever coughing up phlegm when he was sick), so of course, it has me worried (what else is new!). I posted one picture from Cameron at a park in Henderson last week. More to come from our vacation soon...
Just heard from Oakland. Cam didn't sweat enough again. There are several four-letter words I'd like to say right now, but I'm sure you can all imagine how irritated I am. Now we have to do another poop test and the doctor in Oakland ordered a genetic screening test to see if Cam has the gene in his blood. I guess this takes a week and a half to get results. We'll find out when we get back from Vegas. We're just going about our lives as if the CF test is negative, but there's always going to be that nagging worry in the back of our minds until we find out for sure. I can't believe we have to scoop poop out of another diaper and my baby boy has to be poked one more time. He's a baby, not a science project!!! The good news is that he's one tough kid, didn't even cry the last time he got his blood drawn. I'm just mad and sad all in one. I want some answers, not knowing is the worst. :(
Yesterday we went for a weigh-in with Cameron's pediatrician, Dr. Sloan. He put on another two ounces (never thought I would be excited about two ounces!). We're all pretty sure it's a severe lactose allergy. He's been tested for the protein in milk, and he was negative for that, but the switch to a lactose free diet seems to be helping him. Dr. Sloan said this is the most extreme case he's ever seen, "no kid has ever last that much weight with a lactose intolerance," he said when this all began. Crazy (why us, why him?!). He also tested positive for one of the stool samples that said his body wasn't processing a certain sugar (Dr. Sloan said this was probably the lactose - lactose is the sugar that's in milk). After the sweat test results Dr. Sloan is going to review everything with a pediatric GI doctor, then refer us to a pediatric dietitian.
Today was Cameron's second sweat test. This time we came prepared with more layers. You can see the picture of him below, he's got a onesie, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and Chase's hoodie on. It didn't seem like they collected that much more sweat than last time, but hopefully it worked. He looked like E.T. walking around with that oversized hoodie on, it was pretty cute. He did much better this time, I think we all did, probably because we knew what to expect. I'm hoping we get the results tomorrow, but it will probably be Friday since we did the test so late in the day today. We leave for vacation on Saturday (my dad's house in Vegas!). We can't wait to get out of town and relax. Thanks for checking in on us, I'll update when I get the results from today's test.
I'm ready to scream. They didn't collect enough sweat from Cam yesterday to do the test. They only do the tests on Wednesday's so we have to wait until next Wednesday to go back. Our appointment is at 3:30. Grumble, grumble, grumble!
Thanks for checking in with us. Cam's appointment for the CF test was at 11 this morning. We found the Kaiser in Oakland without a problem, it's quite a large facility. To test for CF they make you sweat and collect the sweat and test it for sodium levels. Aparently if it's really high it means he has CF. First they put some electrodes on his arms that gave him a little electic pulse to stimulate the sweat glands, then they put different bands on him, bundled him up in his jacket and let him play for half an hour. They removed the bands and sent the sweat stuff to the lab. They gave us a time frame of when we'll know: tomorrow by 3 or Friday by 5. Now we wait. Doug and I are both exhausted from worrying. I feel like a walking zombie. Huge thanks to our friend Lisa for watching Chase for us today while we took Cam to Oakland. I'll post more when I know more. He's still eating like a pig, not sure if he's not absorbing, or if he's just catching up...
We went for a weigh-in this morning and Cameron has gained 6 ounces, hooray! I think my magic mom instincts have figured out what's wrong with Cameron - I think he's lactose intollerant. We've cut out dairy from his diet and have switched him to Lactaid milk and it seems to be helping with his poops. We still have one more stool sample to do and we're still going to go to Oakland and go through with the CF test just to be safe. A little piece of mind is worth the drive. Cam's doctor says it's very rare for a baby to lose that much weight with a lactose intollerance, but Cam could be a little different. Wouldn't it be great if that's all it was? He also ruled out celiac disease (wheat allergy), which is a relief. I'll give an update on Thursday as we hear more results. Thanks for checking in with us and for your prayers. We have another weigh-in on Friday, 6/12, the day before we leave for vacation. Hopefully by then all our fears will be abated.
I think of myself as a pretty easy going mom, but the past week has been a bit stressful. If you read my last post you know I've been calling Cameron "Piggy" because he eats constantly. I didn't think much of it until we went for his well check on 5/22. At his doctor's appointment we discovered that he's lost three pounds (12% of his body weight). His growth charts are supposed to increase, or level off, not dip, like Cameron's did. We've since done lots of tests and have another appointment with his doctor Monday morning for a weigh-in and a "where do we go from here" conversation. We are also heading down to the Oakland Kaiser on Wednesday for a Cystic Fibrosis test. We are hoping and praying that it is negative. Apparently having the poops and weight loss is a classic sign of CF. We've asked his doctor many questions like, isn't it okay for him to lose weight since he's crawling and walking now? His answers to these questions are that it's not normal for him to lose that much weight, especially since he's eating constantly. There's something going on with his body that is causing him to not absorb his food. Other than his constant eating he's a happy little guy. Please pray for him and his doctors that we can find a solution to this problem. Our chubby baby is thinning out and his mom and dad are stressing out!
Okay, I admit it, photography is a secret passion of mine. If I had all the time in the world and money in the world I would love to buy an awesome digital camera and take lots of classes in the art. Until then, I use my regular camera and try it out on some beautiful subjects - family! This is my darling niece, Abbey. So beautiful and sweet, she looks like she could be mine. Maybe one day I'll have a little girl who looks like her. For now, I'll just take pictures of her. She's 10 months old in these pictures. Her mommy, daddy and big brothers are so blessed to have Baby Abbey!
Mother's Day this year was so nice. After getting lots of hugs and kisses from my boys I opened my special gift from Chase that he picked out for me: a Little Mermaid watch, ice pack and raft. Yea! What a great gift. Apparently he wanted to get me all Spiderman stuff, but Doug steared him in the more feminine direction. I wore my new watch to church and showed it off. There's nothing like a cheap digital watch to make your wrist all sweaty and itchy. My number one man, Doug, got me a spa gift certificate, now I just need to carve out a few hours for myself, can't wait! After church we went to my aunt and uncle's house way out in the middle of nowhere. We love being there because it's so secluded and relaxing. They have a pond on their property and Chase brought the fishing pole that my Aunt Julie and Uncle John got him for his first birthday. Chase was very excited to take his tackle box and pole out to the pond. He truly takes after me, though, and refused to touch the worms, or the fish when he (and my cousin James) caught one. I was hanging out in the kitchen when the boys were out fishing and when my uncle came back in I asked him how Chase did. His response: he's not my son, that's for sure! Haha! It's true - Chase has a very gentle soul and absolutely hates to be dirty. He's probably the cleanes three year old boy you'll ever meet.
In other exciting news, Cameron took his first steps on May 1st and took seven consecutive steps on the 14th. We're hoping he will walk more consistently before we go on vacation to visit my dad and Emma in Vegas mid June. He is a super crawler, quite the fast little guy. He is talking and saying lots of animal noises. He loves to give kisses and hugs and pretending to talk on the phone. Cam, so far, is a naturally funny guy and has the ability to make people crack up. He's also quite the eater. I call him the hungriest baby in the world and have given him a (hopefully temporary) nickname of Piggy. As you all can see from the pictures, I still haven't cut his hair. His curls are just too cute and sweet. There's rarely a day that goes by when someone doesn't call him a girl, or say "she's so cute." I suppose the day will come when I eventually cut it, but I'm putting it off for now. Enjoy these pictures from Mother's Day.
We had an eventful month in April. On our way home from playing one day we were met with a huge tractor and dump truck working on the street right in front of our house. Cam fell asleep on the way home, so after putting him to bed I had a special moment with Chase enjoying the tractors. The workers were so nice to Chase and Tony, the dump truck driver, let him sit in the giant truck. An ice cream man happened to come by at the perfect time, so Chase and I had this perfect mommy/son moment watching tractors, eating ice cream and enjoying the sunshine.
Easter is always a fun time around here. On Saturday we went to the Easter Egg Hunt at our church. The boys loved hunting for eggs and Cameron loved playing in the balloons (he LOVES balloons!). Easter Sunday I got us all dressed up in coordinating outfits and we went to church, then to my grandma's house for a lovely family feast.
Enjoy the album:
We had a great Valentine's Day! It was rainy out, so I set up a Valentine Chair in our house so I could take cute pictures of my boys. Every year I get them new Valentine shirts. This year Chase's said, "Rock my Valentine" and Cameron's said, "I'm the man of your dreams." It was so nice to have it on a Saturday so Doug could be home and have fun with us. We relaxed and hung out around the house. At nap time my mom came over and watched the boys so we could go to a movie and out to dinner. We saw She's Just Not That Into You, a cute, light flick. It was a nice show except for the "show" we got next to us by the two teenagers, ew. After the movie we went to Stark's Steakhouse, a fairly new restaurant to Santa Rosa. The food was wonderful and thanks to a gift certificate from my Aunt Lainie the bill wasn't so bad, either! Doug and I really enjoyed our time out together, it was so nice to be able to finish not only a sentence, but a whole conversation!
Cameron has really exploded in the past month! He's moved from the army crawl into the full on crawl on his knees, though he reverts to the army crawl frequently. In the past week he's started pulling himself up on anything and everything and is getting braver with his actions with each passing day. I really want him to start walking because he's so heavy (about 23 pounds), but at the same time I know it will mean more chasing on my part.
Cam is already communicating with us and has been doing it for a couple of weeks now. In addition to Mama and Dada he can also roar like a lion, moo like a cow, open and close his lips when you ask him what a fish says, raise his hands when we say "hurray," wave, and clap. In the past few days his also learned "nay nay" for horse and we're working on baa for a sheep. He's also started putting his hands to the sides of his head when we say, "oh no!" That one is really cute. He's learning some baby signs, too. He knows the signs for "more, all done, and eat."
He loves his brother so much, it's really cute to see how excited he gets when he sees Chase. He loves to give Chase kisses (big sloppy open-mouthed baby kisses), especially when it's time for bed. He's really just developing into this sweet little person that we are so blessed to have in our lives.
I just had to share this picture. It election day and Cameron and I are watching Barak Obama get sworn into office. I don't usually let him watch tv while we eat breakfast, but this was a special exception! It's amazing to tell Chase about our president. He totally knows who Obama is and whenever he sees him on the news or in the newspaper he says, "That's Barak Obama!" Cute.
Doug and I had a wonderful time on our whirlwind trip to Vegas for my dad's wedding. We left our boys in the loving arms of my mom (thanks Mom!) and ran away for some serious adult time. The trip was fun - the wedding was beautiful, the weather was great, the company was wonderful and all the food, yummy food. My dad and Emma look so happy together, I'm thrilled for both of them. I don't think I've seen my dad "glow" like he does with Emma, it's really special.
Doug and I enjoyed our time - we stayed up late, drank as much as we wanted, shopped, ate at gourmet restaurants and slept in (gotta love those blackout curtains in the hotel!). I'm going to attempt to add a slideshow of the wedding...let's see if I can do it...
