Strange illness

Cam woke up this morning with a tummy ache. He walked into Jordan's room just as I was putting her back down to sleep around 6:50 this morning. We walked into the bathroom and he started puking. He kept puking until around noon. When he woke up from his nap, it was like he was never sick.

It was so warm outside today. So after I ran around with Jordan for most of the day, we got to enjoy the backyard with Cameron and Randy. It was really nice. Jordan just enjoyed the air in my arms. Cameron was running around, hittng the baseball and begging Randy to run him around the backyard in his wagon. It was a peaceful family time.

Cameron spent the rest of the night begging for food: "But I'm very really hungry." We tried our hardest to keep his diet bland and basic for the rest of the day. He just kept begging for non-safe foods. So he was upset a lot leading up to his bath time. But once he hit that water and pretended to swim, it was a peaceful bed time. He seriously relaxes when I sing his lullaby every night. It warms my heart every time I hear him sigh after a song.

Stop scratching

Cameron is a good kid... And remembers everything I tell him. My legs are covered with wierd bug bites since the trip to Florida. I can't stop scratching... But Cameron always reminds me: "Scratching makes it worse Mommy." I'm glad he's there to help me.

We had a big fall out tonight. He cried about everything when we got home from school. Add in a crying baby and my brain was starting to ooze out of my ears. So I told Cameron that if he didn't get his act together, he was going to bed. And when he didn't get his act together, I took him by the hand, stripped him down and put his pajamas on him... All under duress. He was out of control upset, to the point where I thought he could throw up. I'm not exactly sure what got him off the ceiling, but he came down and ate peaches for dinner. Yeah. He ate peaches for dinner. It was the only thing on his dinner plate that he wanted to eat. I wasn't going to argue about that. His dinner was also his dessert.

By the way. After he calmed down, Cam sat at the table and told me he was angry. He couldn't really explain why. Then he sat with his arms crossed and told me he was pouting. Then he told me he didn't want to have any friends because he was mad. I have no idea what that means.

Getting back to normal

Cameron is getting his life back to normal since we returned from Florida. He isn't fighting sleep as much... He went to school on Friday and had a ball. He went to swim lessons yesterday and Randy says he saw incredible progress in Cameron. That's exciting.

Cam is still a little clingy to me after this trip. He wants me putting him down for naps and bedtime at night. He wants me to be with him where ever he is in the house or when we are out of the house. I think he'll calm down. It's nice to know he still loves me so much. But it's tough to give him everything he wants when I have a baby who needs to cling to me as well.

Anyway... I have a ton of extra pictures of Cameron and Jordan... But right before we left Florida, Cam grabbed my camera and dropped it on the ground. It caused a failure on my picture card and I can't get it to transfer. I'm a little stressed since I just spent a bunch of money to buy that new card just before Christmas. Not to mention, there's a bunch of fantastic pictures on that card that can't seem to transfer. AHHHH! Hopefully I'll come up with a solution and I can post the great pictures soon.

Lion Country Safari Insanity

We survived the big trip to Lion Country Safari. We got out of the house a little later than we planned... Which probably sealed our doom at the end of the day. Anyway, we headed out and Cameron was ready. He wanted to see all the characters from the movie "Mdadagascar." He survived the 40 minute drive with many "are we there yet" type questions. He did NOT want to go potty before we went into the park. But after threatening to go home, he was more willing to comply.

So we got in and Cameron really wanted to find a hyena. They don't have any there but I didn't have the heart to tell him. But when we started getting close to animals he recognized, Cameron was pretty darn excited. The coolest part was the zebras, ostriches and the rhinos. The rhinos got really close to the car and made for some pretty cool pictures. Cameron kept telling me when to take a picture. (Take a picture now Mommy!!)

After the drive-through safari, we went into the "park" part of Lion Country Safari. We at lunch and Cameron tormented little birds. Then we got to ride on some very cool rides. And that's when Cameron got VERY brave. He wanted to ride a ferris wheel! He had no thoughts of danger, he just wanted to get up and ride on it. So he and his Grandpa had a very cool ferris wheel ride... The picture proves it.

But after that ride, it was obvious we needed to get the tired boy off to home. We bribed him with ice cream and that was fun to see. The only problem: He doesn't know how to eat an ice cream cone. He was digging the ice cream out of the cone with his fingers because he wouldn't actually eat the cone. It was very messy. My mom spent a good portion of the evening cleaning up the disaster on his shirt.

Going home, Cam kept saying how tired he was... But it was a struggle to get him down for a late nap. When he woke from it, he was a monster. He threw massive fits if he didn't get his way -- and many of his issues were totally irrational. It's understandable. He was "on" for most of the day. He never had down time and that late nap was just too late. I was beffuddled trying to keep him relatively calm. So eventually after a good bath and a story from his new Bob the Builder book, he went to bed under a cloud of fire. When he woke up this morning he told me: "I had a really good nap Mommy." I think he's ready to go home. He has his new Lion Country Safari t-shirt on and jaguar socks. He can't wait to show those off.

Beach boy

Cam loved his second trip to the beach. He didn't like the hot sand. So most of the time we stood near the water or under our tent digging for "treasures." Of course the best treasure he found was a top to some kind of food. He actually wanted to take it home.

Cam is such a trooper. This isn't the easiest of trips for him... He doesn't visit Florida that often and he's clearly not in his widest comfort zone. Every day he eases up a little more. But for some reason, he won't go on walks with his Grandma or Grandpa... He barely goes for walks with me. He adores the backyard pool, but deals with me telling him to slow down and keep his feet on the ground when he dunks a toy into the water. We like marching to the lake and looking at the new fountain that flows behind my parents' house. But when he gets really mad at me over something, he tells me: "I want to go home to Missouri."

We'll be there soon enough. We leave on Thursday and should get home in time for dinner. Daddy is going to pick us up and I can't wait to see him. I'm sure Cameron can't wait as well. Tomorrow's trip to Lion Country Safari should be very exciting. I think it's a great way to cap off our big Florida vacation.

Florida Fun!

Cameron is enjoying our time in Florida. It's so cool to hear him say: "It's a beautiful day, let's go outside!." I wish he'd say that more often at home.

Here's a couple of funny stories:
When we got into Florida, we were driving to my parent's house when he looked outside and saw palm trees: "Look! I see beach trees!"
When we got to the gate of my parent's development he says: "We're in Florida now!" (As if we weren't in Florida until we hit that gate)
This morning he told me his friend Camryn was coming to Florida tomorrow so he can have a Camryn day. I don't think he liked it when I told him that wasn't going to happen.

Cam got to go to the beach with his Grandpa over the weekend. My Mom, Jordan and I took him to the park yesterday. I'm hoping we can go to the beach today or tomorrow... But today is surprisingly foggy, so I'm not sure what kind of weather we're going to get today. We're planning a big trip to a cool natural safari-type zoo on Wednesday. Cameron enjoyed visiting it last year, and I think this year he'll love it even more. You get to go on "safari" and see animals in their own environment. It's called Lion Country Safari. My dad is even taking a day off from work to take Cam. I think we'll have fun. It will be interesting with Jordan... But hey, everything is more interesting with two kids.

We had a few troubles when we first got here in the sleep department, but we've finally got a system. Cam is back to taking naps and going to bed at a good time. (Thank goodness) It was a struggle, but we're back on track.

Cameron is being fantastic here. He hasn't had any problems with different bathrooms and he's been a little more open-minded about food. Because I'm stubborn. He's eaten peaches, apple sauce and a piece of an apple since we've been here. It's more than most days. I consider it all a success.

Slightly stressful Valentine's love

For the last 2 weeks, I've tried to get Cameron to work with me as we prepared our big Valentine's Day cards for all 19 of his classmates. I didn't want to push him, but I thought it would be a great opportunity to get him to practice writing his name... Or at least his nickname: Cam.
So today, we had to get serious... We had 10 left and they had to get done before tomorrow. He was pretty good until we had 2 left. He started handing out the cards he'd already signed (and it's so cool to see him finally starting to try and write his name)... He gave one to Jordan, three to me and I think he tried to keep one for himself. Anyway. I couldn't get him to sign two of them and he didn't want me to do it for him. Then he wanted to eat the candy... But he hadn't even had dinner yet. So tension was growing and I just wanted this project over. Once he finally signed the cards, it got easier. We put each card in the envelope bag and stuck various sugary yummies in each bag. Then I bribed him to eat dinner with 2 hershey's kisses. Remember a time in your life when you only needed 2 tiny pieces of chocolate to do something?

Hmmm. I don't either.

A generous guy

Cam had an interesting week... It started with him puking and miserable. He was diagnosed with walking pneumonia... Put on antibiotics and told he could go back to school whenever. I let him stay home for a day to catch up on sleep.

The next day he went to school and came back telling me he had been "generous" at school. Apparently they're learning about being police and respectful. It's amazing to see him being extra polite at home. The lessons are working. Then I found out after talking to his teacher that he's really doing great in school since the kids were broken down into small groups. He's listening and sharing better than ever.

We're proud of Mr. Generous. So after swim lessons and a nap, Cam got to see the new Curious George movie with Dad. He even got to sit next to a friend from school at the movie. According to Daddy, Cam ate about a pound of popcorn. Not surprising: He didn't eat dinner tonight.
Last night I had a special moment with Cam. Jordan was tired and Randy was still at work. So Cam and I took Jordan to her room. I started feeding her and Cam read books to Jordan. When she was close to asleep, we turned the lights low and I asked Cam to be quiet. He quietly paged through books and patiently waited. It was peaceful and comforting to have my two kids together in that room at that moment. Very cool. Cameron is a fantastic, doting big brother.

Oh no! An ear infection.

Cameron had a rough night last night... He woke up a couple of times complaining about stupid stuff. And I wasn't in the mood to deal with it. He went to swim lessons and had a great time. But when he came back, he wasn't even interested in lunch. He actually ASKED to take a nap. That wasn't right. So I took his temperature. He seemed okay. But a few hours later, he woke up with a raging 102.1 temperature. I took him to the nearby urgent care -- he has an ear infection. It isn't a big one. The doctor thinks the infection is pretty early and antibiotics will beat that down. As for Cam's cough, he thinks Cam should use an inhaler. We have some left over from his many health problems before his adenoids were taken out. So I'll drag that out to help Cam during his next coughing fit.

So after we drugged him up and convinced him to eat a little dinner, Cam was very open to going to bed tonight. Hopefully he'll feel more comfortable tonight. And I'm feeling good about deciding to get him to the doctor the moment that fever started. I'm learning some things from experience -- Don't delay when you have a gut feeling that there's an ear infection. Or you won't get any sleep at night.

I think one of the hardest things for Cam was explaining to him why I wouldn't let him near the baby until he feels better. But the wonderful thing about this kid, is he understood. He was just disappointed.

This new life

I was thinking about the new life we're living now that Cameron is a big brother. It's incredible how another human can change someone so much in so many little, almost unnoticed ways.

I had noticed the bathroom thing. He's getting up in the middle of the night when he needs to. He still is... It's been a month and he just does it. We never asked him, he just does it. When he wants to, he gets dressed all by himself. Sometimes he does it quick enough to not hear me pester him to hurry up. He doesn't complain when we get him to rush so he can leave for school with Daddy instead of Mommy. He can play by himself if he needs to... He makes up stories and pretends in fabulous ways.

Tonight, he was singing songs for me... It was so cool. When we were getting ready for bed, he broke into a song I had no idea he knew... And we ended singing: "I love you!" and pointed at each other through the mirror. It was cool.

When I hold Cameron's hand, it feels so wide and sturdy. I know it's because I hold Jordan's petite hand so often these days.

Cam still really enjoys my lullabies. I stroke his head when I sing to him, and he smiles this content smile... Like he really knows how much I love him... Even after all the arguments and fights. Tonight, we didn't fight about his dinner. He just didn't eat it. He understood he wouldn't get dessert and just dealt with it. That's another sign of his growth -- He's starting to accept the consequences of his decisions.

I miss my baby Cam. I'm so proud of my big boy.