It's been a while...

Okay, so it has been a busy month and the blogging has fallen a bit behind. Here is the the latest from the past few weeks...

March 8th and 9th - Great Wolf Lodge
We had a chart entitled "Do 20 great things to go to Great Wolf Lodge" and Cameron completed it! Many of those great things included getting all of his work done at school, and being extra helpful at home and with Sofia.

Great Wolf Lodge is a kids dream come true - an indoor water park, which is a MUST in Washington. It snowed outside while we were swimming inside.
Cameron absolutely Loved the waterslides - and they were pretty fast.

As we were zipping through the tube he said " I Love this, I am flying like Superman" and that is about how it felt too.

Sofia loved the wave pool and hanging out by the slides in the kiddie area, she wanted to go down the slides just like Cameron, but was a little too small to do them by herself, which made her a bit frustrated. And when it was time to get out of the water she screamed and screamed, the whole way back to our room -oh boy! After a day of swimming we had dinner at one of the restaurants,

then we headed back to the room to change and send Daddy and Cameron back for more fun in the pools/slides. At 9pm they returned, Cameron got on his pajamas and they headed to the Arcade (they really do make it kid friendly and it is lots of fun for all the kids to be in their jammies running around doing the different activities). So, while they were at the arcade I was trying to get Sofia to sleep, then Paris calls and says "You will never believe it, Cameron just won the jackpot of tickets on this game... 1000 tickets!"

They brought the tickets back to the room, then with Sofia wide awake from all of the excitement we all headed back to the arcade to play until 10pm when they closed.

Cameron's favorite part of the hotel room was the "Den" which had a bunk bed and a remote for his own flat screen tv - a 5 year old's dream come true :) He sat in bed and ate snacks and watched the tv with remote in hand. Sofia even liked laying on the bottom bunk, but had to sleep in her pack-n-play for the night. We all stayed up until well after 11 and watched Harry Potter - Paris and I in bed and Cameron on his top bunk.

The next morning we had breakfast, checked out, then went back to swim and do more waterslides for a few more hours before heading home.

We knew this trip was all worth it when Cameron said while bouncing down the hallway at the hotel "Thank you for taking me here, I Love this!"

March 8th - Bobafet croaked

The morning we were getting ready to head to Great Wolf Lodge. Thank goodness it was on this day, because Cameron was so excited about our mini vacation that Bobafet's death didn't seem to phase him much.

March 24th - Callaway hurt his paw
Callaway jumped off the dining room table - after me snapping my fingers at him and telling him to get down from there....I didn't have the spray bottle to give him a squirt, which works wonderful for training him. Anyhow, when he jumped off he didn't land on all 4 feet likes cats are suppose to. Instead he landed more on his front right paw and side, as he landed he let out a meow of pain, then instantly raised his right paw and would not stand on it. I thought maybe he would shake it off, but no. He was in pain you could tell, so I called the vet and they said to come down to have it checked out. Cameron wanted to come so we sat in the exam room while they held Callaway down and thoroughly felt his paw/leg. He let out some loud angry meows and Cameron's face was so sad, he just looked at me and said "Mommy?" he held it together barely, which I was glad he did.The vet said there were no major breaks that she could feel, and if there was it was just a hairline fracture, so we should just watch him for the next few days. He had a shot of a pain med and then he limped on his paw for the next 2 weeks, he kept getting better, so we never had to bring him back in. And now (on April 14th) he is totally fine! He has grown so much and is such a funny kitty, we love having him as part of our family.

Here are some pictures of him watching the rain and trying to steal some milk from Sofia's dropped sippy cup (don't worry I quickly picked it up and washed it).

March 30th - April 3rd SPRING BREAK

We took it easy at home for spring break. Cameron had a cough and felt a little under the weather on Monday and part of Tuesday, then Sofia got a fever and little cold which lasted a few days. Paris took him to see Monsters vs. Aliens, they hit golf balls at the driving range, and spent lots of time playing Mario Kart and just relaxing, that's what you are supposed to do right- it's Spring Break, although it would have been nice to do that relaxing on a nice warm beach somewhere.....maybe next year.

The many faces of Mario Kart racing.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We had lots of fun today! Cameron awoke to find a trail of gold chocolate coins that started at his bedside and came down the stairs and through the living room, into the kitchen and to the family room. There awaited a little surprise from the Leprechaun: A couple little magic sets and some fuzzy bendy toys, one for Sofia shaped into an "S" and a "C" for Cameron. He didn't want me to make him green pancakes or green milk for his cereal (like my mom used to do) he thought that sounded too gross... maybe next year.

His Kindergarten class really goes all out for St. Patrick's Day and get into the prankster playing Leprechauns. They have been reading stories about them all week, and have had little tricks played on them. They were asked to make a leprechaun trap to try and capture one...he came up with the idea all by himself, and drew the pictures. They set them all up yesterday and today when they arrived at school there were little leprechaun footprints on each of the children's traps, and a little note was left and some chocolate gold coins - He was thrilled!

Cameron said the leprechauns were the naughtiest today. They re-arranged their alphabet, and while they were at inside recess the leprechauns tipped over their chairs, tables, crayons, markers, and library books, he just couldn't believe it - Thanks for making it such a fun day Miss Kaden - Cameron's wonderful kindergarten teacher.

When he came home from school, the leprechaun had left him another trail of gold coins that led him upstairs back to his bedroom and on his pillow was a Star Wars activity book with a lightsaber pen, Cameron thought our leprechaun was pretty great :)
Here are some pictures of Cameron and Sofia in their green (of course Cameron had to wear his Star Wars - Yoda shirt, is there anything else as cool that is green?)

Kiss Me - I'm not Irish, but still love those Sofia kisses!

Meet Callaway - Our new kitten

This is Callaway (yes as in golf), our new kitten. He is 8 weeks old - his birthday is Dec. 25th 2008. We found him on Cragislist and fell in love with the moment we met him. We have been preparing for a kitten to join our home and Cameron was really wanting a gray one - he reminds us of the late Bo, who was Paris' sister Corri's Russian blue. Callaway's Dad is a pure bred Himalayan and his mom is a Calico.

Callaway did fabulous on the drive home from Tigard - (a 30 minute drive), I wrapped him in a towel and thought we'd put him in a laundry basket and cover it up, but instead he lay on my lap and slept the whole way home, didn't even try once to break free.

As soon as we got home Cameron and Sofia were so happy to have him as their own and excitedly followed him around, Sofia was crawling after him and followed him right under the highchair, then got stuck. She stopped trying to keep up with him after that.

Sofia was very gentle as she checked him all out, she does love him. But he is still a little scared of her.

He loves to cuddle on your lap and sleep.


Here he is cuddling on Paris' lap.

Cameron sure does love his Callaway, and Callaway likes to cuddle with his Cameron as well.

I took him to the vet for his first check-up, which included all the fun stuff: temperature in the bum, blood draw, vaccinations, de-worming treatment, etc... he tested negative for the Feline Leukemia so that was good, and he was healthy in every other way- yippee! He weighed in at 2 lbs. on the dot. This photos was taken after all of the probing and poking, he was trying to clean himself up. He really was a good little kitty, he stayed calm and gave everyone kisses. He goes back in 2 weeks for more vaccinations, then when he is 4 months gets the BIG stuff done.

- He has already done his first "Yes I am a cat, and a stinker" thing. It was 8:00pm Monday we had just finished FHE and took Cameron and Sofia upstairs to brush teeth, use the bathroom and get ready for bed. As they were doing this with Paris and Callaway, I came downstairs to vacuum the family room and rugs quick. When I came back upstairs, Callaway was not to be found..... the last they saw him was when he was behind the rocking chair in Sofia's room. He couldn't go too far because he hadn't mastered the stairs just yet, and the bonus room door was closed, so we searched all of Sofia's room, Cameron's room, the bathrooms, our bedroom the whole time jingling his balls with bells and calling his name and "kitty, kitty" Nothing, no meowing, nothing. Paris checked downstairs just in case, but still nothing. He was starting to get very nervous - he has had bad luck with pets in the past, and was thinking the worst "oh no we just spent all of this money on his exam, supplies..... and he is gone, maybe Dead?" I on the other hand have grown up with cats, and kittens and many of them very naughty and mischevious. I thought he was just hiding and being a typical naughty cat. But the more he looked worried, I wondered could something be wrong? Well it was now 8:45 and we needed to get the kids to bed, so we went into Cameron's room for prayers and Cameron asked a special blessing to help us find Callaway as he prayed. Paris read Cameron stories and I took Sofia to her room to change her diaper and read her stories, as I lay her down to change her I glanced over to her tall bookshelf and noticed on the bottom shelf, back in the corner on a stack of fabric a curled up sleeping kitten.... Callaway!!! I called to Paris and he came in quickly to see that little stinker, sound asleep there on the soft fabric. We couldn't believe it, he kind of blended into the corner and we had overlooked him there the last 20 times we were in the room calling his name looking for him. Paris said, "Okay that is it, I am not worrying anymore." That is a cat for you I suppose right? Well we still love him, the little stinker!

FIRST TOOTH LOST

Yesterday (Feb. 18th) Cameron lost his first tooth! He has been wiggling it for a few weeks now and it was soooo loose the past couple days we knew it was going to fall out at any moment. He woke up in the morning after working on it while he was in bed and came down to tell Daddy that it was very loose and bent it way down to show him and POP out it came, barely a drop of blood which was a good thing. He was so excited!!!












The tooth.
















The Tooth Fairy pillow he received as a gift when he was a baby, it sure beats trying to wrap the tooth up in a tissue and hiding it under your pillow and hoping it doesn't fall out in the night - Makes it easier for the Tooth Fairy to deliver money as well. :)














We had to write a little note to the Tooth Fairy because Cameron set his tooth on the table after showing it to me, and it disappeared.... so he wrote "Tooth Fairy, I lost my tooth and now it's gone. Cameron"
The Tooth Fairy left him $5.00 which he can't wait to go buy something Star Wars with it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Poor Cameron

Last Wednesday Cameron had a mild fever of about 100, so he stayed home from school and rested, I figured his body must be fighting something. By the late afternoon he perked up and seemed fine, so he went to school Thursday. Well that night around 10:00 the terrible barky cough began and when he inhaled it sounded just awful. I had Paris listen to him over the phone so he could hear how bad it sounded, of course my Nurse was not here he had to work. Cameron and I sat in the bathroom for 30 minutes with the shower on full blast to steam it up nice a good, he just fell asleep, then I bundled him all up with a blanket and we sat on the porch for a few minutes. Back inside to bed, by this time his fever was rising and his breathing wasn't a whole lot better, so I filled the humidifier with water, gave him some Motrin, and got him all settled in bed - with me. I knew I wouldn't get much sleep with him kicking me and sleeping sideways and snoring, but I was too worried about his breathing to put him in his own room. He slept pretty good - I did not, but at least I knew he was okay and didn't have to get out of bed to check on him all night. So to speed up the story a bit, Friday he was just plain sick, with a cough and fever of 102, on and off all day. Saturday he was still so sick, poor thing had no energy and couldn't get off the couch - still had his fever of 102/103. Paris thought we should take him to Urgent Care so we got him ready and just as we were getting his shoes on by the front door, he started coughing, then throwing up - he did miss the rug at the front door which was a miracle and only got his pants and my arm, the rest made it on the wood floor which was no problem to clean. We lay him on the floor in the living room so we could change his pants, I said to him as he lay there in pain, coughing and just feeling awful, "It's okay Cameron, it's okay", He looked at me and said "It's not okay mommy, it's not. " Poor thing was so sick, it was just not okay, he wanted to feel better. Paris took him to Urgent Care and they were back within the hour with 2 prescriptions, one for Azithromycin, and then a cough medicine with codene. I opted to go get them filled but of course our regular pharmacy at Salmon Creek Hospital is closed on Saturday so I thought I'd head to Walmart since it was closer than Costco..... BAD decision on my part. After being in Walmart for 1 hour and 30 minutes with all of the crazy's, then getting the run around and wanting to charge me $75 for the medications (that's WITH Insurance) grrrrrr. I decided to get my prescriptions back and took them to Costco where I waited another 40 minutes, paid the reasonable amount and finally made it home. Cameron was still sick on Sunday and coughed all night, Paris checked his lungs several times but heard nothing, he still had his fever too, so first thing Monday I called Dr. Jones and we went in that afternoon to see her. She gave us a prescription for a single dose of a steroid medication to help with the strider in his cough (when he inhaled) and told us if he was not better by Wednesday to come back and she would order a chest X-ray, even though as of then his lungs sounded clear... Tuesday he was a TINY bit better, his fever was a little lower and his cough a bit better. Wednesday he had no fever just completely weak, but he was bouncing back, our Cameron was returning! Finally by Thursday he was doing a whole lot better he was really perking up and was able to go to school. He missed school so much while he was sick, he just loves Ms. Kaden and his Kindergarten class. We are so glad this terrible, terrible sickness is finally gone - now we can try to get caught up on some very needed sleep.

Poor Cameron sick on the couch.