Camden's 3rd Birthday

My little boy is now three years old and I just cannot believe it. He celebrated his birthday at our house with a truck/car/motorcycle/rocket/quad/boat/anything with a motor, party. It was just a simple party at our house with family and close friends. Of course it was crazy as always with 8 grandchildren running around. I think Camden had a blast and it was exciting to see everyone's reaction to the haircut. Both Nana's seemed to be the saddest to see the long hair go. I have to admit, part of me misses the little surfer boy look, but the new haircut certainly shows off those big blue eyes. As far as presents go, Camden got lots of rockets, motorcycles, 2 word world games, and a leapster. Now Cam and his sister can sit and play their leapsters together. Here are some pictures of the party.

Camden's BIG Haircut

We cut Camden's hair short on his third birthday. I actually handled it much better than I thought I would. He was so excited to have his hair, "just like Daddy's." At his party everyone was shocked. I am still in shock and it's hard for me to recognize my little boy. He looks so much older! While I am sad to lose his surfer boy look, I realize it was losing it's curl and needed to be done. His hair is now straight and looks great. More birthday pictures to follow...

Table Rock Lake

Here are some pictures of our trip to Table Rock that we take every year. My camera broke on Day 3, so there are not too may pictures at all. It was a great trip though! Makenna and Camden want to live in our "cavin" (cabin) because they thought it was so great. I don't think I want to live in a one bedroom with five people though! A week is about the longest I would want. What a great week to spend with family.

Funny Things the Kids Say

There are those words the kids say that you just can't figure out why, but they cannot seem to say them right. You would think they would be the same words across the board, for all children, for some reason, certain words pose problems for some kids and not others. Makenna and Camden have some, and many of them are the same because they talk like eachother. Here are some of the ones I can remember:

-aye sup down (upside down) - only a Makenna saying
-panpakes (pancakes) - both, I guess Camden looks to Makenna for pronunication, not me!
-puh cute er (computer) - This one cracks me up when Makenna wants to play games on the puhcuter
-pacipacer (pacifier) - Makenna can say this one correctly now but Christian and I have a hard time calling it by the correct name
-toilip (toilet paper) - not sure why Makenna still says this
-Make ed (Naked) - "Looke I'm Make ed"
-Alligator (elevator) - I seriously thought Camden thought we were going to ride an alligator or something one time, and he was getting so frustrated when I kept telling him there were not alligators at the mall.

-"bottom burps" Okay this one is funny and Christian and I have yet to correct this. When Makenna "passes gas," she one time told me, "That was just my bottom burping." I thought it was so funny and cute at the time that I didn't tell her any differently. Still at the age of four, and for Camden too, they say, "Excuse me, my bottom burped." It's so funny!

Camden can read

Okay I do not want to use this blog to brag, but I am so proud of Camden that I had to post a video of his reading at two years old. It's not bragging, it just a way for me to keep records that my kids can look back at years later and follow where they were at in life. Plus, I think everyone that would read this loved Camden anyway, so hopefully you are proud of him too! Back in March I was playing with the Magna Doodle with both Makenna and Camden. I was asking Camden what letters I was writing and then having Makenna read the words. They were just short, CVC words. I realized Camden was having trouble not saying the sound and just providing the letter name so I said okay Camden try to read this word. The word was TAB and Camden goes, "/t/ /a/ /b/ /tab/". I was blown away, I had no idea he knew how to read! I gave him more words and he could read most of them. Word World has to be the biggest helper, it has shown him how to blend the sounds. Anyway, I decided to add a video of him reading. I wish Christian had not included me, but oh well. I want Camden to be able to look back and know that he could read when he was two. Go Camden!

Look what I did!

I am so proud of myself because I double french braided Makenna's hair the other day. The reason I am so proud is because growing up I never could do a single french braid by myself. Megan and I used to both french braid my mom's hair together. It was great teamwork holding the pieces and trading them to complete the braid. Anyway, I put the TV on for Makenna and this was the final product. Needs work, but pretty good for my first time...at least I think so!

So Many Milestones

In the last week, Delaney has experienced a multitude of milestones. First, and most exciting...she got her cast off!!! The x-ray showed a healed femur and she is as good as new. It was a little scary though because she started screaming in pain about 5 minutes after they took it off and I could not calm her down. I thought maybe it wasn't healed, but they said it could just be hurting because it was stationary for so long. Poor thing, it hurt to have the cast off now! She is great now, moving both legs equally!

Milestone #2 Turning 6 months
I cannot believe my little baby is halfway to a year! Knowing it is most likely our last baby, it is going WAY too fast. I remember with Makenna and Camden I wanted them to hit the milestones so quickly because it was exciting. With Delaney, I want to freeze time.
She went to the doctor and is a big girl! She weighs almost 18 pounds and is 27 inches. This places her in the 85th percentile for weight and 89th for height! Wow! Camden started out the same way though and has fallen, so I don't think she will be an amazon child or anything!

Milestone #3 Eating Baby Food
I wanted to wait until she could sit up without the cast bothering her, so the next day we started rice cereal. She wasn't too sure about it, but managed to take a few spoonfuls. Now we've tried applesauce and squash. Not surprisingly she likes the applesauce best!


Milestone #4 Sitting up
She got her stomach muscles back in shape and is now sitting up (for the most part). She still gets a little tired after a while, but she loves the new perspective.


Overall we are so blessed to have such a wonderful baby. :)

Cherish your children

I had some sad news this week as someone I work with lost her baby to SIDS. What a tragedy to lose a baby so young and full of life with no warning, no signs, and no time to say goodbye. He was at daycare and just didn't wake up from his nap. My heart goes out to not only his mother, but also the person watching him. As I think about the mother, I cannot even begin to imagine what she is dealing with. Her little boy was a little older than Delaney, and it just reminds me that there is something so scary out there that we have no control over, or at least that is what I had originally thought.

Upon hearing this news, and in an attempt to make some sense out of a tragic and heartwrenching situation, I did a little research. I found that there is actually a cause that has been found, and if you use the method these researchers suggest, SIDS will not happen. It has been 100% effecive over the last 11 years. Unfortunately, this is not told to people in the U.S. The study was done in New Zealand and babies in New Zealand are not dying. At all. SIDS is caused by chemicals in mattresses mixing with a normal fungus/bacteria found in mattresses and creating a toxic gas that lies over the top surface of the mattress. If a high level of this toxic gas is breathed in, it kills the baby. To prevent it you wrap the mattress to eliminate the exposure. It's as simple as that. I am currently furious at our government for not recognizing this because they feel they would have to admit liabliity for requiring these chemicals be put in the mattresses in the first place. (The chemicals are what make mattresses fire retardent) Please read the link I attached if you are interested because it explains it so much better than I have.
Anyway, the point is, if you know anyone who has a young baby or is pregnant, please let them know about this solution to SIDS. I will be wrapping my crib at home and both the crib at my parents and Christian's parents. It's just not worth the risk!!
Here is just ONE of the many websites explaining the research.

http://www.healthychild.com/cribdeathcause.htm

I just hope if I can help spread the word maybe we can prevent a death without even realizing it. Unfortunately it took a horrible situation for me to even look up more information.

Makenna's First Day of Preschool/

Well, Makenna had her first day of her last year of preschool if you can follow that. She's really lucky because two of her cousins are in the class so I know she'll feel comfortable. The only concern is that she won't meet new friends, but hopefully the three of
them will branch out.
Here is a picture of her first day. Not my favorite picture, but the camera died and I only got to take one.



I didn't take a picture of Logan, Riley and Makenna, but here is an old one. This was at Christmas 2006. I need a new one!!!


Here are Camden and Morgan who will be in preschool together next year. They are troublemakers together and I love this picture!


This is a picture I took today of all three, I thought it was a sweet picture. :)

Things we like

Here are some things we are interested in right now!

Christian
*Wii Fit
*wrestling with the kids
*doing brainquest with the kids
*watching movies

Kerry
*playing games with the kids
*pictures
*decorating the house, specifically the kids rooms, so fun!
*Wii fit

Makenna
*cartwheels (everywhere, one-armed or two)
*Ariel (well all princesses really)
*TV shows Word World and Super Why
*clothes (I am in trouble because she loves new clothes-which I love but my wallet does not!)
*Dancing
*Her younger brother and sister
*playing with her cousins
*preschool

Camden
*all trucks, cars, airplanes, boats, anything that contains a motor
*turning everything into a rocket and sooming it around the house
*Pretending that lions are coming to get us (but he likes to remind they are just pretend when I get "scared")
*TV show Word World
*Reading or trying to read everything
*kicking, throwing, hitting, and carrying, basketballs, baseballs, etc.
*Dancing
*His sisters

Delaney
*scooting around on her tummy, cast and all
*having anyone talk to her, she just lights up
*pacifier
*music and lights
*her big brother and sister
*putting everything in her mouth

Makenna's 4th birthday

Makenna turned four earlier this week and we celebrated that and the upcoming Olympics at the same time. First, on her birthday, we took the kids to Chucky Cheese where Makenna finally got her courage to meet Chucky, she was so excited! For her party, my friend Angela graciously let me borrow her gym to host the Olympics. The kids had relay races, long jump, obstacle course, and made their own country flag. It was fun to have all Makenna's cousins and friends together and the kids had a blast. Some of her birthday presents included a leapster, a "diamond" necklace, My Little Ponies, fancy purses, hairbows, and her own Mickey digital camera. Lucky girl! I put some pictures in so you can see the fun. Makenna even got a new Olympic leotard. Who knows, maybe in 2020 she will be in the real Olympics!!

Delaney's broken leg

The most recent events sparked my interest in keeping up a running journal of our lives so I think I will be posting more often! Anyway, I wanted to start with Delaney's recent events. For those of you that don't know, Delaney (who was just short of 5 months) had a little accident last week. Christian was fixing dinner for the kids (I was coaching) and put Delaney in her carseat and put it on the table so he could talk to her while he fixed dinner. Well, she managed to wriggle her way out and fell from our counter height table onto our tile floor. We took her to the ER that night to see if there was any head injury. They kept an eye on her for a few hours, but because I was holding her the whole time, we had no idea she wasn't moving her leg. Poor thing, she just seemed a little fussier than normal! Amazingly enough, she slept through the night and the next morning we noticed she wasn't moving her right leg. We took her to a different ER where an x-ray confirmed a break in her femur. She was just smiling at the nurses and doctors the whole time! They put a splint on her and then a few days ago she was placed in a cast. Unfortunately, because of the break in the femur, they had to isolate her hip so they placed her in a hip spica which goes all the way up to her ribs. Changing diapers and keeping the cast from getting wet is a challege, but Delaney is being such a trooper. At least it's only 3 weeks! She still rolls on her stomach (which looks quite challenging) and moves around to play with her toys. It is so amazing how adaptable children are. Christian still feels terrible, but we both realize that a broken leg is much better than what could have happened if she had hit her head. We are so lucky to have such a sweet daughter that deals with it so well!