Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween! Trick or Treat!!!!


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Bad Moods

Well lets just say this has Cameran written all over it! Her moods are all over the place and every week we get something new added to the drama. Lots of screaming squealing and fits. I really dont know what has gotten into her!!!!! If she is playing don't dare step in because she takes it as if you are gonna take something from her. Oh and to add to the problems if she doesn't get her way she automatically strips our of her clothes and diaper.


We went out Friday evening to our new Macaroni Grill for the 1st time. Well the setting was nice. Well Cami decided to bring out her bad side upon arrival. At first it was ok her norm trying to pull off the table cloths, fussing for food and drink. We got bread it kept her quite till she was done and then all fell apart when our food arrived. Obviously we couldn't get the food to her fast enough so she thought she would let the whole restaurant know with a very high pitched squeal. So I cover her mouth quickly only to my finding that made her mad. My mistake. Lets just say we had the waitress pack up our food to take home. We have never been so embarrassed and also it was a first she has never done this. Well her acting out didn't end there because we had another stop to make.

We headed to the book store looking for a RV book brave I know after what had just happened. Well we got in there Cami happy and calm from her last mood and she is in her favorite stroller. Well Caleb is wanting to look at the kids books and automatically come upon a weather book his favorite...He's our future Weather Man! Anywho I go to the computer there in the kids section looking for Jenny McCarthys book and I look down and Cameran has a really big book in hand and I lean down and say lightly "no, no Cami" to which she responds AHHHHHH and rips like 6 pages down through the book. I grab her hand and try to pry it from her little hands. While she manages to rip corner pieces off of it! Well I'm trying to calm her but its not working...Then comes my hubby across the store knowing it is our daughter pitching the fit. He picks her up out of the stroller to quite her well it didn't work. So I quickly find a soft book to which she throws in the floor and screams even louder so I'm scrounging to find one to her likings and come upon one with ribbons and such which makes her happy enough for us to pay for it and the other she has damaged plus our pickings and head for home! Ok so lesson learned never take a moody no napping child out to public EVER AGAIN!!!!!

So are these just terrible two moods she is showing or a possible peek of Autism? Any thoughts?

Camping World....

Here we come!


We are so excited about our new camper! We have been looking for a while now and decided on what brand we wanted then it was just a matter of finding one at the right price. We strolled upon this one and new it was a winner! We checked it over several times on Saturday and made our decision. So Monday at lucnh time we went down and picked it up and now here we sit Proud Camper owners.

It's a 2002 Starcraft Hybrid in perfect condition. The ends pop out making into double beds and the whole side slides out making it more roomy. It sleeps 8 it has a stove, oven, microwave, sink, fridge, freezer, heat, air, bathroom with tub/shower, grill, radio, outside shower hose and it has lots of storage!

We are anxiously awaiting our first outing in it which will be the first weekend in November. Caleb was ready to camp out in it Monday night and wanted me to cook our supper in it so we could eat out there in it. Then last night he made the comment Mommy are we gonna sleep in it tonight? I said no its a school night. His response was well why did we buy it if we aint gonna use it! I said because we have a house to stay in when we are at home and we only sleep in this thing when you go camping away from home......Ohhhhh he says! Guess we will just have to sleep in it one night this weekend to tide him over :)

Cami loves this thing she was the main reason we wanted something bigger than just a pop-up! She is quite the little handful, you cant just put her down outside and expect her to stay beside you or follow directions. Because as soon as her little feet hit the ground she is gone the girl has NO safety awarness. So with this camper it has a screen door so if she wants to run around while we set up or visit we can stick her in and let her go wild. I think we are gonna try to bring her circled gate so she can have outside time as well while we are just relaxing. RELAXING is the BIG keyword! Cant wait for the day when we can just let her go and not constantly stay on her heels!!!!

I think this is gonna be a great thing for us more one on one with the whole family and even friends! Check out the pictures in the slideshow or its faster if you click the button below it that says view all images!

6 months Seizure Free!

Wow...what a great milestone she has reached, we are thrilled! She is just the sweetest thing and has quite the little personality! We have successfully weaned her off all meds this summer, leaving just the Depakote. What a difference less meds makes, she just seems more alive than ever......HAPPY!

I e-mailed her Neuro today to see where we go from here. His response was that she will have to remain on the Depakote until she has been seizure free for 2 years! She has a scheduled appointment with her Neuro next month for a follow up. At this appointment we will be setting up her next MRI. It will be set within the next 1-2 months...She has to have these yearly to watch a lesion she has in her Cerebellum, making sure it doesn't grow!

Other news: She continues to impress us weekly with new skills and new noises. She is a little hoot and has us laughing all the time at her silliness! See what I'm talking about in the photo below....Such a goof! For Halloween she is our little Princess Pirate and looks absolutely adorable in her costume.



Oh and dont let me forget my spookey little guy! Caleb decided he wanted to be a skeleton for Halloween he looked soooooo adorable! His costume glows in the dark it has a smiley face masks that matches but it broke and we had nothing to pin it up for the Halloween party....but you look super cute Caleb...I mean SPOOOKY!



And one of the 2 kiddos together!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful fall!

How to.....

Potty Train a Special Needs Child?


Does anyone know what to do in this area? Cami is showing signs of being ready but has no idea what I'm doing when I put her on the pottty! She just laughs at me! But she will not keep her diaper on. We are going through diapers because she rips them off. So I put her in overalls so she couldnt pull her pants down well she found a way around that too and pulled her diaper through the bottom of her pants. So frusterating.....Do you think this is signs of being ready? When we come out of the bathroom she will dart in there and pat the potty so we put her on it but again no intrest. I really dont think she understands the Potty time! So what can I do to keep this girls diapers on.....Besides Pull-ups cause those dont stay on either they come straight down with the pants when she starts stripping out of her clothes! Uggghhhhh!

Congratulations to our Daddy!

He made "Fireman of the Year" right here in the good ol Boro' of TN!

Way to go Daddy! Heres some pics of our kiddos on the new truck the City just got in last month. Its 10 feet across can you imagine driving that thing....Well our Daddy does it like a pro! He's been with the Firedept for 10 years now, We are so proud of you!

October update

So glad its finally

Now if we could just please have the fall temps!
This is my favorite month of the year maybe its because its my Birthday month who knows. Not that I look forward to getting any older and believe me Caleb has not let me forget this coming up date at all. He has it circled on his calender with a sad face and says its a sad day because you are getting old.....Thanks alot Bubby!

But it's just so hard to believe how fast this year is going by. Seems like yesterday that Cameran had her first seizure free day and now here she is 1 week shy of being free of them for 6 months!!!!!!! She is doing fantastic! Learning new things everyday, its the cutest seeing her expressions when she discovers how a toy works! We've also been hearing lots of new sounds....Loliloliloli, Sssssssss, Wawawawa, Byabya, Doydoy(sounds like toy), high pitched squeals and lots of cute laughs!
Some other new things is bringing things to you when she needs help. Like turning a toy on. And the other day she brought me her sippy cup and shook it at me and said Aaaaaa loudly getting my attention! Sure enough it was empty and she was wanting more! I was almost in tears, I love seeing her work and concentrate on 1 particular thing. She doesn't seem so everywhere all the time.

Last week we took a trip to my mom and sisters in Louisiana and we where kinda of stressing a little.
-1 this was her 1st trip since being seizure free and not so heavily medicated so she is more aware of things.....Like a 10.5 hour drive! But she did great.
- 2 was that the last time that we where down there we didn't get to visit much because you could not take your eyes off of her for one second. She was everywhere, cabinets, breakables and such. This time around she played with the toys and her cousins.....It was a wonderful get away even though it only lasted 5 days. Miss you guys already and thank you Angie and Sol for getting the camper so we had our own little spot it was really nice and now we have to go by one....Thanks!


My adorable nieces Cheyenne(10yrs) and her sister Nati(10.5 months)

Pumpkin patch

Yesterday we headed out for our yearly Pumpkin patch day of fun. Well lets just say we think the harsh weather of no rain played a huge role of us not being able to find one this year. All the ones we usually go to where closed with no pumpkins :(.....


So we where just enjoying our Mountain rides and came upon another old favorite spot and they too had no patch but they did have a nice set up with their mums and pumpkins so Caleb grabbed a wagon and went pumpkin shopping/hunting! He loved it even though it wasn't the whole day deal we normally do. Guess the wagon made his day!!!! We put Cami down and the girl went nuts she just loves to be outdoors. So check out the below slide show of our Pumpkin Patch excursion!!!

Happy 6th Birthday Caleb!

Our Big boy is turning 6 tomorrow 9/14/01! Where in the world is time going? Tonight when I tucked him in he asked what I was doing when he was in my belly! So I told him that I was hanging curtains in his room the night before I had him and Daddy patted my belly and said you can come now that your room is finsihed and then daddy said plus I dont want to go to work tomorrow! Caleb thought that was so funny and then said do you think I could still fit in your belly? So I balled him up and held him up next to me and he started laughing he said I think I could fit. Guess I should just start calling him my little "Roo". He then continued to say so after I came out Cami just stayed in your belly till I was 3! Ok Caleb its time for you to go to bed, I didn't want to get to deep into that conversation....if you know what I mean! He's 6 enough said ;)



I hope you have a wonderful day little man! Mommy, Daddy and Cameran are wishing you a Happy Happy Birthday We love you very very much!





Jen this is For Austin....Sorry its a little late!


Oh and tell him we are so proud of him going to Kindergarten! Girl cant believe you where brave enough putting him on a bus I know that must be really hard for you! Sending our best too you! Oh tell Ben & Connor hello too weird how they share their b-day with Cami and Austins is in the same week as Caleb's!

Wonderful New Things!

OK again I apologize for taking so long on Camis update! Well let me 1st say that she has been Seizure Free for 5 months now! HOORAY! We are seeing improvements weekly, she is just so happy.



Well as I mentioned before we have been working on Pecs and let me just say that the girl is getting it. She just got mad one day a couple of weeks ago because she was so hungry, that she grabbed that picture card and pointed to it hard 3 times for I Want Bite! So she was rewarded with what she asked for! She has finally gotten use to the drink and eating pecs and uses them correctly for the most part(like when she is done she just wants to play and chew on them). So now we are introducing more pics for toys.
Signing- Is about the same, she does "more, done, play(sometimes). We are working on Thank you, Bath, My Turn, Choo Choo, Go and a few others. Sometimes it looks like she does it but its not consistent enough.
B-U-T she is doing Bye-Bye, occasionally she will wave, but her sign for it is blowing kisses....well she kisses her hand but doesn't know how to blow it away! Funny story the other day was that I had her at her new OT's and Cami was getting mad she didn't want to work and she kept putting her hand to her mouth and her OT asked me what she was doing and I said she is telling you Bye! It was the cutest because she kept going to the door blowing her little kisses and trying to open the door...OK Mom I'm done here.....LOL!



Talking- The days vary she is still saying Dada, Bubba/Bye(not sure which one it is), Lots of squealing, laughing and a new thing is she likes to act like she is choking you know the fake cough...Drives me batty!!! She clicks her tongue says Hi sometimes. A new cute thing is she walks around taking quick deep breaths real fast then smiles and releases its hilarious!

Playing- This is where she has most improved. Cameran can now stack rings on a stacker! She has also started putting objects back in buckets where she pulled them out of. Like the pop beads she will pull them out and we will tell her to put them back and she will!

Sharing- Now she just started this skill this week we aren't really sure what she is doing but this is what she does. She will be playing with a toy bring it over to you and put it beside your head always up next your face and then taps you with it like she is telling you here you go. You take it and she just grins and I say thank you Cami for sharing with me and she just grins. Then she signs for more wanting it back so we are trying to get her to sign for my turn! We are getting there. We try to get her to do this with Caleb but she will not she just gets mad when I give him the toy she shared with me. She yanks it from him(like he does with her so she gets that honestly) and then gives it back to me. Such a little stinker but she has her ways of doing things and who knows what she is telling us.



Although she doesn't share her toys with him she would follow that boy anywhere! She loves to play chase and ball with Caleb. And he gets a big kick out of her reactions to the games.

Feeding-
OK well her eating is off and on. One day she is a great eater and the next day she will not touch anything....So stubborn! Well 2 weeks ago we approached spoon feeding herself. This has gone relatively well she does refuse it sometimes but at least she is trying. Right now we are trying puddings, yogurts, potatoes and oatmeal they stick to the spoon better. She has gotten really good at dipping the spoon into the foods and taking good bites. But don't let me fool you here, there have been times where she absolutely refused to touch that spoon and would just dig her hands into the food. We have not figured out if she is left or right handed yet neither hand favors over the other. Caleb is left handed but me and Jason are both righteys! So we will see with time I guess.

Weaning- Well the time has finally come...HOORAY! We started weaning her Keppra today. She is currently on 500mg a day so 250mg in am and pm! So we are to reduce the pill down a 125mg a week until its gone. Just keep her in your thoughts that this will be another successful wean. This will eventually just leave her with the Depakote alone.

Well that about sums it all up! I hope I covered it all but I know I always leave something out!
Heres a few pics that I took over the last week!

What was I thinking?

Have you ever had one of those days where you wonder what in the world was I thinking?

Well lets just say I had mine on Sunday!

OK well to start off what we were doing to lead up to my ending is! We where out boating with some family. We packed it up at 7:30 and stopped for a bite to eat at Sonic on the way home. We all got out and ate while eating we started noticing the lighting off in the distance the same way we have to travel to, we where a town over. Well all of a sudden the wind picked up and I mean picked up! So we loaded up and headed home.

Now let me paint the picture for you!
Pouring rain:

And Lighting all around we saw it blow tranformers left and right of us:

Well not even 2 miles from Sonic its like the sky just fell out! The rain was so hard you could not see where you were going but we stayed behind his dad while he pulled this big Pontoon! Well we get in our town about half way through it(we live on the opposite end) and then the wind picks up and blows seats open and a life jacket flys out!
So Jason and I opted to turn around and go get it. While his parents and his cousins wait up ahead for us. So anyhow we spot it so he pulls up to it on the side of the road. Mid town mind you cars going by and its 8:45 still people out! We drive up and I say I'll get it, Jason says I'll get it, Me: No No its just right there! OK so I get out leave the car door open just thinking I would just grab it and we would be on our happy little way! Well of course that's not really how it happened.

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I get out and see it sitting on the edge of the ditch opposite from where I stand and the ditch is full of water and moving fast. So I continue towards it and take a step down and another and then straight down to the bottom I went! And folks I'm not talking about shallow here I'm talking I went all the way under and I'm 5'9! I come up gasping and grab the stinking life jacket! Then come to a stand in the water and turn my head to the right and see both my flip slops going down stream fast! Aww Man is what I'm thinking as I pull myself out of the water. That water was moving so fast those shoes where gone in a heart beat and I wasn't about to chase them after what had just happened. Well I wave for Jason to drive down to the nearest parking lot and I'm running in the pouring rain lighting striking a pole near us and I'm soaking wet!

Can you picture this? Well if so that's about the half of my look but with make-up dripping down my face and hair curled into tiny little curls!
Soon as I get close to the car my wonderful hunny is grinning ear to ear! He said I couldn't barely see you....DUH that's because I was under the freakin water! He then says where are your shoes I say floating in the next town somewhere probably! Well he then pulls out his phone and tells everyone what I just did! If I wasn't already humiliated enough....TERD! Caleb in the back seats says I'm not laughing mommy because its not fun to make fum of people! Thank you Caleb!!!! But I had to laugh, I'm sure the people driving by thought it was hilarious to....Its like something you see on the funny videos of people thinking its a small hole and step in it and go all the way through....Well yesterday that was me!

Well once back in the car my leg started hurting really bad and I looked down and my right knee was bleeding and it was swollen and had a knot on it where it was bleeding. It did not hurt while I was out, Jason said it was probably me adrenalin running. Man was I sore last night today not as bad but still painful! Today it looks like I might have hit something about the size of a nail and it left that hole in my knee!
So did I learn my lesson....You bet your butt I did! Now I see how easy it is for people to take what seems to be shallow water for granted and then end up stuck in the middle of a flooded river somewhere!!!!!


My, What COULD HAVE BEEN headline in the paper "Woman drowns in Ditch trying to save Life Jacket"......LOL guess I should have put one on before going after that one. Oh when I got in the car the first words out of Jasons mouth where "If you wanted to swim why didn't you do it in the Lake?" Not even going to say what my response to that was :0

Busy Bee

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Cameran is on a roll this week! Making Monday a good start for the rest of the week!
She had Physical Therapy on Monday and I think it was her best class yet! 1st off she had on her inserts and new shoes and was ready to go. She did great in all her strength training, balancing on balls, climbing up and down stairs with assistance of course but at least she wasn't doing noodle legs! Funny thing is that she can go down our back door steps all alone, why want she do this at PT????
Then it came to our ball time, rolling, catching and throwing it! Well let me just say she did it ALL!!!! Hooray baby girl! She has been slowly doing the rolling and throwing(well for her its a fling and it lands where it lands) but as far as the catching by her self she had NEVER done! We where both in shock when she was doing it that's a huge milestone for Cami and takes great coordination to do!

Come Tuesday Speech I was thinking this ought to be interesting with the PICS(pronounced pecks) since she hates it when I get them out. Well she did not mind them one bit and was actually picking them up, she isn't real consistent but her eye contact has GREATLY improved.

And today Wednesday for Speech and TIPS she surprised us with a new word! She said Hi Dada, I about fell over in my chair! Mind you this is all on her terms she NEVER does it when you want her to and she does not Mimic on hand, although she will sometimes. Lots of babbling going on Dadadblaaaammmmmm with raspberries mixed in with it, reminds me of the Tasmania devil.


She is still very much clingy and cries and screams if I walk past her unnoticed she demands for my attention! She is currently getting some new molars in so she is chewing on everything in sight!
Cameran will start back with OT next week cant wait to get that all started again. OT's are running short in this town right now. Actually the woman she will be seeing is just an Occupation Therapist "Assistant" until we can get squeezed in somewhere! Well that the latest for this week! Happy August and Happy Schooling to all the late starters! Caleb is going on his 3rd week and is doing much better be sure to check out the other blogger!


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Wilson

This is so funny! Cameran is in love with this soccer ball we got from Old Navy for a $1, she totes it everywhere once she gets her hands on it! SO it has a new name....Wilson! She rolls on it on her belly, sits on it, kisses it, cries with it and totes it around like it's an accesory to her outfits! She tried climbing up the slide with it and didnt get very far but she didnt care because she was not going to let go! So I wanted to share the pictures....Its super cute!