Great things....

Wow Cameran has really been a different kid lately. We actually don't know what to think of her new changes. Lets 1st start with an update from last weeks issues...the sleeping and belly problems. Let me just say they are no longer a problem. It was like a flip of the hat.
We were suppose to give her the Sparkling laxative to clean her out and instead she did it all on her own. In fact she has gone EVERYDAY with no needed med to make her go.
It really threw me off because she has NEVER done this EVER its always been once a week. So what made her start going?
Weird how we go to the GI Dr and then all of a sudden she just starts going....almost like she knew what they where going to do if she didn't start going.

Then there is the sleep.....Well its been perfect with NO med help! Can you believe that??? We still cant get over these changes almost like these two things were linked together.
Could the belly be linked to her bad sleeping habits...Possibly!

But whatever it be we will take it happily. Its been great with her sleeping in her own bed all night long and no more tossing and turning and crying out. She is actually getting lots of good sleep.
The Dr had called in Lunesta to try but we haven't had to use it yet. Hopefully things will stay going this smoothly!

Next topic will be about her speech. This is such a touchy subject for me because its one that always proves me wrong. Will she ever talk....I think so, I mean she does on some days say a few things, but the next day it is a thing of the past.

Caleb always asks "Mommy will Cameran talk at her 4th birthday?"
Me: I don't know but I pray everyday that she will.
Caleb showed much concern this weekend when he was talking to his cousin Allie who is the same age as Cami. He said mommy how old is Allie I said she will be 4 in November but he says shes so little how can she talk so much like I do and Cami cant and they are the same.
He then said is it because Cami is still a baby....I just wanted to cry, he still thinks of her as a baby because she doesn't talk. Its so hard for him to understand the whole situation. Because then he says why does Cami not talk I tell him its because she had seizures when she was a baby and it made her not be able to talk but reassure him that she will one day. But when Mommy? And then its mommy did I have seizures when I was a baby? Did Allie have seizures? .....So many questions and some times I don't feel like I have enough answers.
But he does see and hear her trying and when she does say a new word it makes him so happy and he'll say mommy did you just hear that she said "Hello" that was so cute....Good job Cami! He loves to praise her which is great encouragement coming from her big brother. I think that sometimes its great to hear it from someone else besides the mommy and daddy!

At school she seems to be more talkative for them I don't know why this is. But they have sent home some notes of things she says and I just think to myself that no way in this world they are talking about my child.
One day we got a note saying she SAID not signed "I want book" .....jaw drop! But then this weekend I heard her say it! I asked her Cami do you want your milk and she said "I want" this went on all day when I would ask her if she wanted something and she would repeat "I want" back to me.
Also a new sound this weekend still has us puzzled. But we think she is saying "A Car" she says it most when riding in her car. It sounds like a crow "A Ca A Ca" its really cute. I've thought it could also be "A Girl" because they always try to get her to sign Cameran is a girl. Whatever it be its new and she is trying to say something....one can only guess what it be ;) doesnt really matter to me its just cute and music to my ears.
She is also saying "DaDu" for thank you, its really cute but she doesn't say it all the time and never when you want her to. She'll usually just surprises you with it every once in a while. Who knows, her pattern of speech is everywhere but I love it all!
Some of her everyday sounds are mama, dada, hi, hiyo, wow and quit those are the main ones. Occasionally you hear her say Nana, Papa, No, and her new one for my mom is Mawmaw that one is really hard to get out of her. So she is speaking some...where she should be...I don't know but around here nothing is by the books!

She is following directions much much better but still has problems understanding. But if you ask her to shut the front door and lock it, she will do just that. Or tell her to rinse her tooth brush off, turn off the water, put her stool up and then turn the light off she will do it with no problem. Is that because its an everyday routine or is it that she actually understands it. The reason I ask is because if we go to the Dr.s office and they try to give her a direction of can you step up here on the scale so we can weigh you she just stands there...she doesn't understand.

Or if they tell her keep your hands down and don't hold onto to the scale she just keeps holding on so I know she doesn't understand. Or if you are outside and tell her not to run off or climb on something cause she can get hurt its like she doesnt even hear you. She still walks behind someone swinging on a swing still not realizing she can get hurt. She will walk out on our road here and just stand in the middle of the road when a car is coming...So I know she still shows no safety awareness still....WHY?
I'm guessing it will come like everything else. She has really slowed down alot and is actually paying close attention to things she has never noticed before. Like the other day a airplane flew over us and she actually looked up and watched it go by as if she had never saw one in her life before...it was amazing. Another new thing is her shoveling rocks into a bucket, then dump them out and do it again. This still amazes me! Or putting her own shoes might not be the right feet but she gets them on or pulling her own pants up. Cami has come along ways and I am so proud of her progress! So keep it going sweet girl, mommy, daddy and bubby are super proud of you!

Now my last bit of info is about Camerans Pediacraft bed. It is still up for sale and really needs to go so we can get her a big girl bed. We are lowering the price to $2500.00 even though we lose out big time! This will leave us having to pay $1300.00 for the bed which we didnt want to do but it just needs to be sold. SO anyone out there who is interested please e-mail me at cjbirdy2001@comcast.net or if you could just pass the info along if you might know anyone interested. That would be greatly appreciated.

This week we are off to another great camping adventure in Gatlinburg! Its my birthday this week and all I really wanted to do was getaway with the family in the most beautiful hills of Tn and enjoy the fall colors and cool breeze by a nice campfire....I can just picture it now! The kids are out of school for 2 weeks for their Fall break so we are looking forward to ever last day of it!

Vandi appts....

Well we had two of those appts in less than a week for Cameran. Anyone who lives far from a often visited childrens hospital knows what a pain it is to drive it twice in a week. But I cant really complain too much since I know some have to travel 2+ hours to get to their hospital and we only have to go 45 minutes but in Nashville traffic its always a nightmare no matter what time! We did try to get the appts on the same day but it just didn't work out. But we managed...ok enough complaining of the simple things :)

So Friday morning bright and early we where off to her follow up Sleep Study/Neuro appt. All went really well, he thought she looked great. We discussed her sleeping habits and meds. Her sleeping has gotten a little worse again even though still on Neurontin but I guess she just started to get use to it. They tried upping it and it made her sleeping get worse. So we all decided to just take her off of it and try something new. This new med would be a big step but we were willing to try it even though it isn't FDA approved in children. This is Ambien! It was between that and Lunesta, he thought Ambien would work a little better and most insurances he said seem to prefer it over Lunesta. So we were instructed to wean the Neurontin over a 3 day course and then start the Ambien...couldn't be on both at once.
Another thing discussed was her lack of speech. He said I noticed she hasn't said one word while being in here. He then asked does she speak....Well sometimes, its mostly babble, never consistent, and she doesn't put words together. A huge concern of ours, something I'm always asking and that's why is she not talking. Shes been seizure free for over a year so why is she not talking. And his response is that she should be. He says there is a seizure you can have only in your sleep that would cause speech delays but they have never noticed it on any of her tests so its not likely. But they would like to run another EEG to see if there has been any changes. Also Autism is still a possibility. She will be tested for it again in December. So for now we are changing sleeping meds and looking further into her Speech problems.

Ok so I'll go into her weekend camping and say that she did amazing. We bought her a big girl bike that she is so proud of. She doesn't know how to peddle but will sit on it and push herself around on it. She likes feeling big like all the other kids on their big bikes. Its the cutest! She loves loves loves being outside, she didn't run off from us she just hung out watching everyone. And of course enjoyed swinging on the hammocks and also playing at the park! It was another memorable weekend. And over the weekend we successfully weaned her off the neurontin.



We didn't start her on the Ambien until Wednesday and let me just say it was the 1st and only day she will ever touch that medicine. They say give her half a pill when she is ready for bed because it will knock her out. WRONG....it had the opposite effect she went from being exhausted gave her the pill and she zapped into a wild child, wide eyed and raring to go. We fought and fought for her to go to bed nothing worked. I tell you it was such a long night with me being very sick and her daddy being very tired from working all day. Have you know that she finally settled down at 2:00am!!! ACCCKKKKKK! On the worst night too we had to be up at 6:00 to get ready for her GI appt. Lets just say no one in our house wanted to get up and all where super moody! But once at the Drs office we where all in better spirits ready to take on another lengthy day. The GI appt went well and if you are squirmy about bowel talk you might want to skip... Basically we found out she had a large poop lodge in her belly and what was coming out is coming around it and making it mushy and very fowl because its passing around the stuck one. You could feel it in there. So they took an X-ray of her belly and took 6 blood tests. X-ray should be back soon, blood test will take a week. They are looking at her Thyroid and also testing her for Cilacs Disease specially since she has a cousin with it and it is hereditary! Fingers crossed it is not because I dont think my gal could go without her breads....gluetin! So instructions for now is to flush her out with a Sparkling laxative said it will give her the runs for 3 days so not to make any plans. Yack...fun fun! Anyhow girly must have known the frustration lay ahead and went poopies 3 times in a row and cleaned herself out. How I have no clue she has been backed up for 2 months now! She must of known....lol! Bad thing was it was very large and it had blood in it. My poor gal! Hopefully we will get this all figured out! Sorry for the lovely conversation but that's just part of it when you are a mommy, you just get use to the poop talk ;)

I'll keep you posted on the results.

Thursday Caleb scare...

Well this is where our bad week started and kept going down hill from there. It was a quiet day he was in school and I was volunteering at his school as my usual. His class comes from their Special area and on Thursday that is gym. When he came out he seemed fine and just complained of being thirsty. So I said ok hunny we are headed straight to lunch as they do everyday after their special areas. So in line he had gotten his milk and tray and he kept saying mama I'm really really thirsty I say ok well lets let her finish getting your tray done and you can go to the table and drink your milk. Well then what he does next puts me in pure shock and scare. He grabs his chest and says Mommy my chest hurts and falls to the floor not fainting just couldn't stand. I say Caleb whats wrong, Are you gonna be sick. He says I don't know and is crying hysterical. I run him to the bathroom where he again collapses to the floor. I bring him out and he then grabs his chest again and falls to the floor crying saying it hurts. I was becoming hysterical....whats wrong Caleb tell mommy...I don't know mama it hurts really bad. I walk him back into the hallway to get a drink of water and he collapsed yet again so I take him straight to the nurses station. Where he by now has turned very very pale, clammy and kept collapsing. They checked his blood pressure it was fine they checked his oxygen and temp all fine. But she couldn't figure why he was breathing so fast and couldn't stand. They listened to his chest and both nurses said they could hear a rubbing sound on his left side and thought he needed to go straight to the Dr. So off to the Er we went. They ran a chest X-ray it came back clear, EKG it came back fine, Blood work only showed a mild dehydration. The ER told us that he thought he has Costochondritis. Definition of Costochondritis is an inflammation of the cartilage that connects a rib to the breastbone (sternum). It causes sharp pain in the costosternal joint — where your ribs and breastbone are joined by rubbery cartilage. Pain caused by costochondritis may mimic that of a heart attack or other heart conditions. No meds given just a sprite and instructions to push fluids and follow up with his Ped the next day. So we held him out of school on Friday and took him to the Dr. after Camis morning appt at Vanderbilt(I give that appt info in the next blog). His appt went well he had a good check-up. His ped pushed on his chest and said if he did in fact have Costochondritis he would have screamed or kicked him from the pain from pushing. So he then went into thoughts of acid reflux. Caleb had this bad when he was a baby. He thought Caleb might have had an Esophagus Spasm Signs and symptoms of esophageal spasms include:

Pain in your chest, often intense, which you might mistake for heart pain (angina)
Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
The feeling that an object is stuck in your throat (globus)
Bringing food back up (regurgitation)
Heartburn, a burning sensation that may radiate from your upper abdomen to your neck, sometimes leaving a sour taste in your mouth

So he put him on Prevacid. This is just the start if the chest pains progress we will look further into it. He said it could be Pleurisy, What Is Pleurisy?
Pleurisy, also called pleuritis, is an inflammation of the pleura, which is the moist, double-layered membrane that surrounds the lungs and lines the rib cage. The condition can make breathing extremely painful. Sometimes it is associated with another condition called pleural effusion, where excess fluid fills the area between the membrane's layers.

He didn't think it was heart related because hes never had problems with his heart and he has a good sounding heart. But said it could be lung related so we are just to watch him closely. Said if he has more chest pain when be active to bring him back immediately.

After all this excitement we thought we should just get away for the weekend and went camping. It was such a wonderful trip my hubby's two sisters and their family's joined us along with his parents. It was such a great little getaway just to get out an enjoy the beautiful crisp fall breeze. The trees are starting to turn colors we had the fires going and the kids where running and playing and just enjoying the outdoors and of course their Nannie and Papas new camper. I don't think I hardly ever saw Caleb he was glued to them and in fact stayed the night with them in there camper. He did very well over the weekend just complained of being tired and he had some pretty intense stomach pains every once in a while but other than that he did great, no more chest pains.

So back to reality on Monday, kids back at school and me at home doing my normal cleaning....laundry, laundry and more laundry. I then get a phone call from Calebs school and my heart is racing a hundred miles an hour. The nurse says I have Caleb up here and he is complainig of headaches. She said he had no temp but just looked really sad. So I told her if she thought he looked ok for him to stick it out for a minute I would call the Dr and get back to her. I asked them if headaches and stomach pains where a side effect to the prevacid they said it shouldn't and to go ahead and bring him back in. So back to school I go when I got there I was shocked to see him so puny. He had a really bad headache I'm talking migraine he couldn't even hold his eyes open from the pain. So he had some time before his appt so I brought him home gave him some Motrin and put him down for a nap. He awoke feeling much better. At the Dr. he checked out fine of course but she said his throat looked red so she tested him for strep, it came back negative. So nothing they really could do since he was running no temp and his last week symptoms had them stumped. Is this all related to something more serious.....I don't know...its the unknowns all over again! I just pray that we never see anything like that again. He did run a temp of 101.3 Monday night and then complained of some throat pain but by Wednesday he was better. So I sent him back to school on Thursday and he has done great since then. Teachers are just keeping a close eye on him.
Of course I must have picked up my cooties from him, or just from being in out of all the Dr.s offices. I thought I had the flu at first, then bad headaches, stomach pains, sore throat kept getting worse and worse then got to wear I couldn't swallow so I knew I had strep and sure enough it was indeed. But 2 shots and an antibiotic I'm am feeling tons better. So maybe now we are all on the road to recovery. Stay tuned ;)

What a week!

Its been an extremely stressful week in our household this week. Theres been 1 ER trip for Caleb and a follow up Drs appt the next day, then another earlier this week. Then 2 Vaderbilt appointments for Cameran with lots of changes, new meds new appts coming soon. Then a Dr appt for me today with a verdict of strep.....SO I promise an update is coming later on this evening with all the updates. Uggghhhhh its gonna get better is all I keep telling myself.

Threes.....

I've been tagged by Jen for a game of Threes. So since I've been lagging in the blogging department I thought I would give this a whirl.

Three Joys:
1st one definitely be my kids and hubby. They are the lights of my life and I don't know what I would do without all the belly giggles, love, hugs and kisses and of course the chaos too, my life just wouldn't be the same.

2nd-My family and husbands family, I miss mine dearly and don't see them that often so I'm so thankful his family all surrounds us in the same city, they are all wonderful and I feel like they are my own!

3rd-Camping camping camping! Man its such a great bonding time with the family and we love getting out there and enjoying the nature....the best words yet that made the camping experiences that much more is hearing my son say "This is the Best day of my life".....tears :).... Seems he thinks each trip tops the other, we just cant get enough of it!




Three Fears: Oh boy I have lots of these but my biggest ones are:
1st-is the unknown. I have dealt with this for a long time with Cami! I hate not knowing how she feels and what if something hurts and she couldn't tell me and something bad happened do to that fact. Many parents with children that have Infantile Spasms know the big med decisions we all have to make and watch our children suffer from the side effects and yet not be able to tell us how they feel. I hated having to be the one making those decisions for my sweet girl it was such a hard time for me. And to this day we still live with the unknowns...Why did she have the seizures? Why is she still not talking? Why is she having belly issues?.....So many questions and not enough answers!

2nd-and this is a big one is SPIDERS I hate them!!! I am the one that screams and jumps up on the table no matter the size and then has the chills and remains jumpy for the rest of the day....LOL. Jason says I have damaged Caleb because he acts the same way...but Cami she has not one fear! If you say "Dont Move" the first thing I do is jump and run....lol!

3rd-is deep water, I shiver at the thought of whats swimming under my feet. I cant stand it!!!!!




3 Obsessions
1st is photography! I love it and I can never seem to have enough pics! I always have my camera in hand or near by not wanting to miss one photo opp! My kids are my best subject, sleeping, eating, brushing their teeth, playing or just being silly, I want to capture it all. I never want to miss a moment of their lives.

2nd is tidiness/clutter. I cant stand a dirty house or clutter I hate it! I always feel like my work is never done. I clean and clean and wash and wash everyday and have to remind myself to take a break once in a while. The toys get drug out and I'm right behind them picking them back up knowing good and well they are right behind me pulling them back out. And Clutter is the worst, I always feel so overwhelmed with objects! I don't like things on my kitchen counters unless its related to the kitchen. My hubby loves to drop the mail there, phones, coins etc....drives me up the wall. I'm right behind him moving it to his dresser. I don't like sitting at a restaurant with tons of plates, spices, menus...its all to much.

3rd- Lastly is Organizing. I do this with my groceries in the buggy then organize them for the check out so they are put in the bags correctly. Cold stuff with the cold,ect. When I clean the kids rooms I want it put back in its correct place not just where theres an empty space. I color organize our clothes in the closets. I organize mail and books from smallest to largest...its so exhausting that I do it but If I don't I cant stop thinking about it.




Three Surprising Facts:
1st: I went to 18 different schools growing up....we moved alot. In fact I went to 3 different high schools in 3 years and then moved back to the first one I started out at totaling 4 moves.

2nd: I was the only one out of my immediately family born in Texas everyone else was in Shreveport, Louisiana, Mom, dad and 2 sisters. I'm the odd ball out and in fact there where only 2 kids born at that hospital on October 9th...One boy and one girl(that was me)! It was a small small hick town...imagine that! Growing up we where back and forth from there and Louisiana. Texas just happened to be where they where when they had me, then I think when I was 2 months they moved back to Louisiana! So glad I have a foundation town for my kids!

3rd: This may seem weird but I do have food issues...probably where my kids get it! But I don't like eating the center of pop-tarts and when handed a plate of hamburger helper I don't eat the meat just the noodles! I don't eat hardly any red meat and I cant have milk it makes me sick!

So there you have it me in the three nutshells and I'm starting to scare myself with these actual facts....accckkk! Well now I'm tagging I'm gonna see if my S-IN-L Emily is up for the challenge! Then pass it on to Mrs Sophie's mama and then over to Mr. Dawson's parents I think they can handle the challenge and I would love to learn more!

Stopped up

Well thats Cami's delima this week well this is an every week deal since she was a baby. Finally I said enough is enough. We have been giving her Glycolax, Muralax and enemas out the wazoo and I'm tired of it. I shouldnt have to be giving her this stuff to make her go to the bathroom. Its been 8 days since shes been and her eating is getting worse and worse. Her norm is once a week this is the longest so far that she has gone. So I called and said whats the next step so they put in a referral and she will be seeing a G.I. Dr. in 2 weeks. Maybe then we can get some answers for my poor baby girl.

I already know the questions I'll get out of them.
-The What have you tried? Well the listed above and Fiber in her drinks none seem to work but the Fleet Supository.
-Whats her diet like?
*Well thats gonna be the biggy because she refuses juice all shapes, forms, pouches ect she hates it all.
We have also done the V8 juices all of them, none to be a success! She loves sweet tea(decaf), Vit D milk and the occasional sprite.
We've tried yogurts, puddings nothing has struck her intrest yet.
-Fruits and Veggies those are a joke. She loves bananas which she gets alot but it ends there she will not touch any other fruit. I offer things often all a failure.
Veggies- I have hidden broccoli succesfully in her mac and cheese and that is the only one I can get past her. I offer corn, green beans, carrots, peas flavored up flavored down and hidden and she spits it out then will refuse her other foods.
-Meats- the only meats we can get her to eat are chicken nuggets and cheese hots dogs thats it!!!!
She will not touch grilled chicken even with sauces, no pork, no steak, no roast tips etc. I have tried and tried hiding it in her food and she will spit the meat out and just eat her mac and cheese or her mashed potatoes. She will eat the occasional Chilli or something with hamburger meat in it but some days its a stretch. I am running out of ideas. I think it all also plays a huge role in her being so sensitve to textures. Not liking the way it feels in her mouth or to the touch.
Her intrests in foods:
Breakfast- She eats a plain blueberry or chocholate chip waffle, muffins, donuts, dry cereal, oatmeal bars, fiber fruit bars. Lots of bready things.
Lunch- is usually hot dog or grilled cheese, cup of pasta and her fav chips.
Supper-I have a few supper things she really enjoys but man does it get old quick cooking the same things over and over. Both my kids are very picky but Cami takes the cake but neither of them like red sauce.....meaning no PIZZA that hate it!

SO as you see she eats lots of breads and cheeses that probably play a big roll in her belly issues.


Any ideas anyone?

So for now we just wait and continue doing all that we know we can do and hope my girl gets some relief soon!

Busy week

Well last week tunred out to be a very busy week for us. I was so overwhelmed with the kids being sick and Dr. appointment after Dr. appointment and then trying to get ready for company and Calebs birthday party.
Camis rash ended up clearing out pretty quickly. Actually by Wednesday it was a thing of the past. But of course the germs got spread to caleb. his teacher called me Wednesday morning saying he just wasnt acting himself saying he was tired. So I asked her to send him to the Nurse to check his temp and sure enough it was 100.4 so Jason picked him up and brought him home. No other symptoms of course but the temp...I hate that type cause you dont know whats wrong. I of course figured he would get sick since it was his Birthday week and weekend approaching, thats the way it always works. SO to play it safe I took him to the Dr. on Thursday where he came out with just allergies a low grade temp and complaining of headaches. The Dr, took a look at what was left of Cami's bumps and seemed to think it was chickenpox. Said it is possible to get Chickenpox even though they had both been vaccinated. Said it comes in viral forms with temps, coughs, headaches and then the rash of course. Some being worse than others. Its possible he got it or maybe it was something else who knows. I was just thankful he sweated out his fever Thursday night and was good to go for his party on Saturday.

The kids had a blast. He had a Cyber bowling party and it was a 1st and last for me, there was too much going on at once! But it was nice to try something different, we had a great turn out. Caleb lost intrest in the bowling once I handed out the party favors of cups with coins for the machines....a big hit obviously but we lost almost all of our bowlers ;) So some of the adults decided to give it a whirl and it was good fun. Its hard to keep kids attention on one thing too long anyhow! And how did Cami do? Well she did great she entertained he self by spinning the cups and glow braclets on the floors and tables. She showed alot of intrest in the bowling balls and with some help from her daddy she got to bowl a little. She did run off once but was just curious with all the other parties there. At the end of the party I was pooped out we came home and crashed...well Cami her Daddy and my mom took a nap while Caleb and I played with his new toys. He got some of the neatest stuff. A few of his favs was a Fish aquarium light show its too neat and a perfect fit in his Ocean themed room, a weather machine and a tornado machine which is by far his absolute fav I got woke up by that thing it sounds like a blender. We took the weather machine out yesterday to get a reading on our high winds we where having from the Hurricane Ike leftovers it was reading between 10-15 so pretty accurate. SO thanks to everyone for the neat gifts this year, its sure to keep him entertained.

Sunday we took him out to eat for breakfast at Waffle House to have his Favorite Chocholate Chip Waffle. It was a good eat and a sad good bye to my mom, we had such a good visit but she had to head back home to Louisiana...its a looooong drive! We finished the day with his b-day money shopping. He ended up buying a pirate ship for his room and played with it all afternoon. Hope you had a great Birthday Caleb but try to slow it down this year you are growing up way to fast! I love you little man!!!!


Cami ended up being out of school all last week. She was good to go back on Thursday but her teacher said a virus was now going around so to play it safe we kept her home for the remainder of the week. Caleb missed 3 days of school so this morning was a rude awakening for both! 6:30 came early and neither wanted to get up. Caleb was worried he was going to have too much homework and Cami couldnt even remember her rountine at school. They told her to go put her backpack in her cubby and she handed it to me and just stood there lost! Good thind its only a 4 day week for them both.....LOL!

Does the weird ever stop?

I tell you I have had my fair share of sick kids! Cami has pretty much had a runny nose and cough since school started back in July. Actaully every week for atleast 2 days she would have a nasty cough and runny nose then it would clear up only for it to return the next week. So this Saturday she acted fine but had the chills all day with the chattering teeth. Wouldnt you know a temp started that evening. Come Sunday morning she is full blast of high temps of 103 so we took her to her Dr who happened to be on call on Sunday! SO he said she looked to have a Sinus Infection and gave her Amoxicillin to help clear it up. No other test could be done since the labs where closed. Well I gave her 1st does of med Sunday evening and alternating her Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours as instructed to keep the fever down. I dont think they seemed to work her temp wouldnt go below 100. So Monday I gave her the 2nd dose of Amoxicillin and all seemed fine. Then she started getting very pale very sluggish again like before and very clingy and temp started to rise again. This went off and on all day. Then later in the afternoon I noticed what looked like a heat rash on her legs, arms, belly and just brushed it off. Then around 8:00 it started to get worse. But we continued with our bedtime routine by this time her temp is back up to 102.6 and she has the chills again. We go ahead give her meds for the evening and these bumps continue to get worse so I called Vanderbilt. They said it sounded like a reaction to the med and if her breathing was ok to just take her in the morning to see her Dr. So this morning when I awoke her arms looked terrible. I took her to the Dr. they said it doesnt look like the typical allergic reaction and his 1st actaul response was has she been exposed to anyone with chickenpox......ackkkkkkk! My thoughts are gosh who could tell she goes to school and we shop so you never know! But he thought it looks like chickenpox but says the only thing that holds him back from that is she doesnt have the spots on her belly or back, its just on her arms, legs and feet. So he is a little puzzled saying it might even be viral. But they went ahead and tested her for pinicillin allergy which she did not favor at all...I'm gonna have some major bruising on my legs! They are also running a CBC checking her white blood cells and such. He said there isnt really any kind of test to figure out what it is besides the allergen test. Lord I hate the unknown. And poor Cami I felt so bad as people stopped and starred at her poor little arms I coverd her legs up with bluejeans but it was too hot for a long sleeve shirt so we got the stares and questions of what happened. The Dr. told us to throw out the Amoxicillin and prescribed her a new med. The Pharmacist said this is usually tolerated pretty well in kids and I said yeah well thats what they said about the last med we tried and this happened. She said well this does have a small trace of pinicillin in it so to watch her closely. And if it didnt get better in 48 hours to call the Dr.s back! Man I hope its out of here by Friday. My little mans Birthday party is Saturday, I would hate to miss it :(

Oh they also ran a strep test because her throat is very red but it came back negative so that was good. But she is still refusing all foods and drinks!

Oh the stress of it all, so much to do and I cant get out to do it! But right now all that matters is my baby girls health and keeping Caleb well too! We won't get the allergen test back for 2 days so I will update more then. Heres some pics of what it looked like last night then todays.
Last nights:



Todays:







Shes still smiling and being silly through all this! Mommy's Brave Little Pooh Bear!

The simple things,

One thing I enjoy most about my kids is the simple things! They are both so easy to love! This week I caught Cami in her room early in the a.m. rocking on her rocking horse while looking at her favorite book of colors and she was humming the theme song to Spongebob Squarepants....LOL!


I could have watched her forever just minding her own without a care in the world, it just really touched my heart of how much my girl is learning. She might not understand alot but hey she can multi task and hum Spongebob. Actaully all you have to do is mention the name Spongebob and she starts humming it, it is the cutest! Glad she can share the love for him like her brother does.


We will be celebrating Calebs 7th Birthday at the bowling alley next weekend and the theme he has choosen is Spongebob.....uggghhhhh....I can just hear that annoying "baaayayayayayaya" laugh in my head now. But its a fav so I dont mind.

Caleb is on an Ocean kick right now he loves sea animals...Seahorses especially. We re-painted his room last weekend and the color turned out just beautiful...Ocean Blue is what he chose of course and I'm glad he did, its just gorgeous! We havent hung anything on his walls yet, we are going for the whole beach theme.


Hes got the surfer dude sheets and surfer car lamp and 2 wood signs that say Surf this way its cute. We have ordered him a huge surfboard that hangs on the wall and we had it personalized, I just have my fingers crossed that it makes it here on time for his Birthday. He really wants a real seahorse so bad so I've been looking into it. Maybe a good gift for Christmas because I think he would just pass out from excitement! He has a pirate treasure box in his room and its loaded down with his seashells he found at the beach on our earlier trip this summer to Edisto Beach. So I cant wait to see how it all comes together.
Now for a Caleb simple thing story. Yesterday at school I was volunteeing like my usual. Well they go outside and come back in and his teacher says he is all sticky.

(Caleb and his teacher)
With what you might ask, well it was SAP! Well being the little boy he is, he loves to explore and find new things and on this day it happened to be pinecones and this strange substance on it that looked like syrup. His hands were covered in it and his shirt. HE goes to the sink and is scrubbing and scrubbing and with my help I'm just geting sticky as well. I give him a paper towel to dry his hands and then he is stuck to it. It wouldnt peel off so I walked him down the hall with him holding his hands out and paper towels hanging down....STUCK....lol! I took him to the nurses station where they got a good chuckle out of the sticky situation and wondering how in the world they where going to get it off. I unfortuanately couldnt stick around I had to go pick Cami up from school. But when I picked him up from school he was all cleaned up. He said it took them a long time to get it off, including hand sanitizer, a warm hand wash, peeling, scrub pads, another warm wash and a following up peel where it finally came off.


My poor guy, his papa asked him if he remembered where he got into it at and he said yes by the blue playground. He said well now you know what tree to leave alone....Calebs response "Yep, I never want to be that sticky again".

Calebs 1st project of 2nd grade was an All Bbout Me poster! he was so proud of his!

Bed for Sale!

We have decided to sale Camerans bed. She has been seizure free for over a year now and is sleeping better than ever at night times. So we have decided to let it go. If there is anyone out there in need please e-mail me at cjbirdy2001@comcast.net

The bed is a Pediacraft Canopy Bed heres the website where you can view more:
http://www.pedicraft.com/canopybed_homecarecbs.html

We've had the bed since February of 07 so a little over a year.

Canopy Bed for Homecare
Offers the safety of an enclosed crib
bed and a completely padded interior
- no exposed metal parts.

The Canopy enclosure is constructed of strong polyester mesh and Sure-Chek healthcare vinyl.
The vinyl is bacteria resistant and the cover can be removed for cleaning. The Canopy Bed mattress is constructed of high density, fire-retardant foam covered in Sure-Chek Comfort vinyl.

Canopy Bed Includes:
Padded Steel Bed frame
Mesh Enclosure
2-Layer Mattress
Padded Bed Rails
4 Fitted Sheets
Casters (2 locking, 2 non-locking)
Pink Heart bedskirt

It zips on all four sides and has padded sides that lift up and down on the 2 long sides. The bed is white and has a pink heart bedskirt that can be removed its attatched by velcro. So if someone has a boy just know it can be removed. It is a twin size I have regualr twin size sheets on the bed. It came with 6 fitted sheets, I'm including just 4 that where never used they are solid white. The bed is on wheels and is easy to move around where needed. Cameran had most of her seizures during her sleep and would get up and roam so this bed was a tremendous help.
We are willing to ship the bed but at buyers cost not sure how much it would be but if I had to guess it would be $200-$300.

If you dont know the story behind the bed then I will give a quick update. We had this bed ordered last year for Cameran when she was having her seizures the insurance approved it and we recieved the bed shortly after. Then in early January this year we got a phone call saying they had denied the bed. We have fought and fought with the insurance but they will not budge so we have been stuck with the cost. The company whom we purchased it through gave us a discount. The beds normal cost is $5,341.00 the company gave us a discount under the above circumstances so our cost is &3,741.00
We have it for sale for $3,000.00 OR best offer. The bed is in perfect condition, it still has the tag attatched on the front.

Different views of the bed:




Underneath: I have some bedding stored underneath it, it did not come with the storage basket. The bed just sits up high enough to store stuff underneath.


The wheels:



Here you can see where it zips:


The bedskirt:




In this picture you can see both paddings on each side of the bed. I've left the netting pulled up on both long ends with just the rails pulled up since shes been seizure free. When she had the seizures we kept all sides zipped and padded sides pulled up. We would lay her in the bed on the small ends then zip it up.






Bed Sheets still in packing:




Tag still attatched to the bed:





If you have anymore questions please ask away! Thank you!!!

Time is flying by!

My goodness how time flys before we know it, Christmas will be here. I cant believe its almost September and in just 20 short days I will have a 7 year old. Make me feel old that boy is growing up way to fast. Cami too shes 3.5 years old and has gotten so tall. I was trying to figure out what size she was going to be in and found it to be a 4 already, she has the longest legs! This girl is gonna pass her brother up at the speed she is going. She comes up to his chin and they are 3 years apart not to mention she is only 7 pounds behind him. So Caleb you better watch out and start eating some Wheaties ;)



These kids of mine are so wonderful and are such huge helps. Cami is soaking it all in. She is constantly watching her brother and then repeats what he does. She loves to help with laundry, putting the clothes in the washer, dryer and then in the basket. And the fact that she understands to put those things in the correct place says alot. They both are just so amazingly sweet! They are getting along alot better because she can understand more. Often you will see them in her room playing kitchen, chasing each other with cars, playing with chalk outside, riding scooters together, he likes to drive her around outside in the Jeep and she just eats up the attention.


She continues to do well with her speech making more sounds every week. This week its Kkkkkkkkk she says this for Caleb, Wow and UhOh. She has gotten very good at repeating the sounds we make to her. Her sounds are Hi, Hiyo(hello), Nana, Papa, Dada, Mama, Quit, Wow, UhOh(when she falls down), Bye, Bubba, Gaga, Lala, Ssssss ans she has started with a new noise that sounds like an elephant. It took me a while to figure out where she found that noise then one day her daddy blew his nose and yep you guessed it that's exactly what it sounds like.....an elephant....LOL!



And Caleb he is loving 2nd grade more and more everyday. His favorite subject is Writers Workshop. Everyday they get to write stories of things they have done. She is teaching them about what an Anchor sentence is. Correcting them on punctuating and correct capitalization how to put more details in their story and such. SO that is one of their main focuses write now. They are also being tested on their reading skills. A-Z is the scores A being the lowest Z being the highest. Caleb is an I most of the kids in his room are at a B-D so he is doing great. I is actually what level 2nd graders are suppose to be on so hes right on target. Guess all those chapter books this summer paid off, he loves to read! Another favorite of his is their Special Areas he loves the Tech Lab(Science) last week they learned all about Microscopes he thought that was the coolest. Its gonna be a great year for him!


Now to the last bit of news. I picked Cami up from school today where they told me that she signed "Cameran is a Girl" all by herself! I'm am so proud of my baby girl!!!! Some other signs they are working on with her are: color, red, one, chicken, horse, cow and duck. So far I've only gotten red out of her but its a great start. She does love her school and has gotten their routine down perfectly she just amazes me everyday.

Now she did however through a good fit for her teacher today because they couldn't go outside so they had to play in the gym due to rain. She said once in there she played great with the scooters(her favorite) but once they had to leave she didn't want to so she pitched a huge fit and she wouldn't walk. And of course this all took place right before lunch so it says she wouldn't eat and was in fact throwing her hot dog. Guess we all have those days....lol!




All the pics in this post are of Cami in her favorite day wear, her snow white dress. She wants to wear this thing all the time. The giraffe mask came from her Dentist office at her last appt a few weeks ago. She did not do well that visit. I told them she bites I don't think they believed me and then on top of that I explained to them that if she does bite and you tell her to open her mouth she will not understand.....did they listen....NO! She bit that woman so hard and would not let go....I warned them! Needless to say they did not even attempt an x-ray but said her teeth looked good from what they saw, no cavities from the peek they got when she screamed....LOL. Caleb said why does Cami scream at them the dentist is fun. Man if he could just have seen the size of that needle they stuck in his gums to pull his teeth he wouldn't be thinking that! Gotta love those Dentist, Dr.'s and Nurses, troopers they are!







And heres there Sweet when they wanna be sweet pics ;)


He loves kissing her hand just like one of their bedtime stories "The Kissing Hand" Sweet little guys arent they?

Pre-K

Well Cami has been back at school for 2 weeks now and she is doing great. She has a new teacher this year and I love her she is so open! So different from her last teacher. We actually get to walk into the room when we drop her off and have a short conversation everyday and she is open to me dropping by anytime to observe....Its fantastic! Where was she last year????


Cami seems to do great with her and the new helpers. I swear she comes home every week with new words. This week its Papa, Go, Doga(dog)and WOWA(wow). Yeah she puts an "A" on the end of everything but its the cutest. She knows who Doga is she runs to his cage every morning and every evening once out of school to tease him and of course he pays her back with a lil snip here and there. Its a special bond :)

They are really working hard with her this year, pushing her to her full potential and I think it is working. She comes home very tired and passes right out for a nap, so mama knows my girl is giving it her all. Her sign language is also getting much better and more consistent. I was so impressed with her today when I took her to school. She took her backpack to the back and put it in the cubby next to hers(close enough). Then she walked around the corner grabbed her activity sticker off her chart took it to that area stuck it on there and then grabbed her puzzle! Hooray Cami thats fantastic work baby girl!

She has a little bit of a cold this week so she has been a little more fussy with them so she is off to the Dr. Thursday since she has been super moody and clingy here. Could just be all the changes. But she is also going for a possible side effect to the Neurontin. Shes been overheating alot here lately and thats just 10-15 minutes into the outside time and the late afternoon time at that. Her whole body, arms, legs and face turn beat red. I check her temp and its 100 degrees. So we come in let her cool down for 30 minutes and her temp goes back to normal. Very strange! School reported the same behavior yesterday but instead they where in the gym playing she became red and fussy! So I called Vandi and they requested me to take her to her PCP! So we shall see whats going on, hopefully its nothing.

We got her Depakote levels back this week also and the score was 106 so not to bad but its over, its suppose to 50-100. Shes had a much higher reading before so things are ok, her liver looked really good! We did try upping her Neurontin like requested to 4ml a night but it didnt work out. She made it to 3ml fine but once we reached 4ml she oddly started waking and crying out during the middle of the night again like she use too! She is so sensitive to these meds and I have no idea why....ugghhhh!



Now on to Caleb! Man does this boy love school and his teacher. They are working hard in reader and writer workshops. They write storys everyday to share with the class and he has so much to tell. They just did their first project this week. They had to do a poster of "All About Me" using pics of their favorite things to do, eat, family members, animals ect....! His turned out super duper cute! I'm so proud of him and hey No tears this year....not a single one! Now mommy gets to cry...sniff..sniff, my boy is growing up!