Camdenman

Camden had another appointment with Early Intervention this morning. The physical therapist was supposed to come over at 9:00am. At 9:05am I got a call from the office that our lady would have to cancel because she couldn't find her keys. Gee, you think they would have let me know as soon as she called into work, not after she was already late! Geez! Anyway, we were able to get her to come later in the morning. Camden is right on track for his age physically, and above average in his verbal skills! I am so excited. He still keeps his hands in fists and tucked up close, but he is getting better at it, and it should eventually go away. He was really showing off all his skills this morning. He was also talking up a storm. It was so nice to hear that he is on track with things, such a relief.
As for Sophie, we got the official results from her speech evaluation. She is in the 6th percentile for her speech articulation. This means that she definitely qualifies for services through Early Intervention, and that she will also qualify for services through the school district once she turns three. There is a state funded preschool that she will be eligible for, we just have to be able to get her there for it. Unfortunately, she can't start the school program until she is three years old, so late January. I am excited that she will be getting help though. She will also be having a sensory evaluation done within the next month to see what is going on. Bathing her is a struggle, and she is getting more freaked out by loud noises.
All in all, things are going very well though.

Speech evaluation and reflux

I'll do this in two parts since there are updates for both kids.
Sophie: Well, Sophie had her speech evaluation on Tuesday and it went very well. It was right before nap time, but she was so well behaved and sweet. Sophie is such a smart girl! Because we are going through Early Intervention, she had to have a full evaluation done. Intellectually, she is a bit advanced, but unfortunately the speech therapist said that onyl about 30% of what she says can be understood(by people other than those around her all the time). Her brain seems to work faster than her mouth can. The beginning of her words are all jumbled up, but the ends of her words are much better. She also doesn't open her mouth as much as she should. The good thing about this is that there is nothing physically wrong with her mouth, and with some therapy, she should get things resolved with no lasting problems. One thing that the therapist noted was that Sophie seems to be very detail oriented. When shown a picture of a rabbit and asked what it was, Sophie woudl say that it was an orange carrot(there was a small orange carrot in the rabbit's mouth). Same thing with a picture of a house, Sophie picked out the red door to name, and then the window. So, the speech therapist sent her recommendation to EI, and we should hopefully get some speech therapy started soon!

Camden: Camden has not been sleeping well at all! He is up crying and fussing every 1/2 hour or so, arching his back, and just being very restless. He also hasn't been napping more than 1/2 hour during the day (this from a kid that has slept through the night since birth!) He has also been very whiney and been having more pooping issues than normal, and started eating constantly. He would nurse three to four times a night, and eat during the day sometimes until he pukes. Things have just been getting worse and worse. He finally had an appointment with his gastroenterologist, adn when I explained everything that had been gong on, she said he has reflux! Unfortunately, by the time things get this bad, there is a lot of damage in his esophogus, so it is going to take a while for him to start feeling better. She said that one of the first things we had to do was get him to not eat for a minumum of 10 hours a night, but to try for 12 hours if we could. Apparently there are some things that grow in your belly during the night to aid in digestion, but when you eat, they are flushed down. Since Cam is eating all the time, they don't have a chance to build up, and are making his digestion worse. So, even thoguh he was in pain and hungry, we had to just let him cry all night long. It was horrible! The only thing that made it bearable was knowing that this is what is medically best for him. He is also on the same dose of Prevacid that Sophie is, but that takes a while to start really working. Since Sophie responded so well to it, the doctor is hoping for similar results with Camden. Even though it's only been a few days on it, we already notice a difference, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. Also, since Sophie has reflux at her age, the doctor said that we can expect Camden to have reflux well into toddlerhood.

Another tooth!

Camden had his second tooth come in yesterday! Woo hoo little guy! He still isn't sleeping though. Glenn got up with him the last two nights because I have a weekend class this weekend. It's been so nice to get a break. I still wake up every time, but it's nice not to have to get out of bed.
Camden has also been army crawling all over the house. His poor little arms and legs have rough patches on them from all the use. He loves to follow Sophie to her bedroom and play in there. Sophie even gets toys for him to play with. She is such a good big sister!

Camden has a tooth!

Finally! It just came through last Thursday. He has been super crabby, and not feeling well. The second tooth should be here any day, so he is still super crabby and not feeling well! He has stopped sleeping through the night, and is now up anywhere between 4 and 6 times! I am exhausted! On top of that, I started my student teaching (1st graders, they're so cute) and Glenn has started his Master's program. Needless to say, we are all extremely busy and exhausted!

Sophie has tried out a couple preschools, and we decided on one this week. She will start there part time next week. She loves going to "school" and counts down the days until she can go back. She can sing her ABC's, knows her colors, is counting to ten pretty well, and has an incredible vocabulary! Camden's occuaptional therapist questioned us about her articulation on the last visit, so she is going to be evaluated by a speech therapist next week to see if we can't get services to work on her articulation. She has a lot to say, you just can't understand what it is she is trying to tell you!

Camden is doing well too. He still has about another month or so in his helmet though. He finally noticed it was there, and he rubs the top of his head when he is tired. It's so cute! He has started army crawling, and is all over the place now. I am pretty sure he is almost caught up to where he should be for his age, but he will have another evaluation at the end of the month by the ladies from Early Intervention.

Leaps and Bounds

Well, we got the rest of the bloodwork results back, and good news! Everything came back normal. So, that means that there is no enzyme problem. However, that also means that we have no idea what had been holding Camden back. We(and the doctors) are now just assuming that Camden has been on a very odd trajectory and will eventually even out and be just like every other kid! He will ocntinue to be closely monitored by his doctors and will also continue to recieve therapy from the Early Intervention program.

Camden has also been making huge strides developmentally. He is still a little bit behind, but is almost caught up to where he should be! He is sitting up, babbling, playing with toys and interacting with his big sister. He is still an extremely mellow boy and is one of the happiest babies that I(and others) have ever seen. He is doing well starting solids, and has started eating a bit of table food. It is wreacking havoc on his intestins, but we are still in close contact with the pediatric gastroenterologist to keep it all in balance.

Sophie is still an amazing little girl and is quite the little mommy. She loves to help out with Camden, feeding him, soothing him, and making him laugh. She has "Dolly" that she feeds, burps and puts to bed. She is just an incredible daughter and sister. Her vocabulary is growing each day and she is starting to "pretend". She is such a sweet girl and a little comedian to boot!

Early Intervention, Round 1

Well, Camden had his first real session with Early Intervention today. He did really well. He had a bit of a hard time because he was distracted by Sophie, but that was to be expected. He showed off all of his skills, and moved around all over the place. They said that he is doing really well. Still a little bit behind, but doing so much better than he was a few motnhs ago. They have their weekly meeting tomorrow, so they will call us and let us know what they decide to do from here on out. It could just be monthly visits out and mostly just monitoring him to make sure that he doesn't fall behind and keeps progressing. However, they did ask about Sophie's speech. She is very hard to understand and doesn't articulate words very well. They asked if we would be interested in getting her into EI with a speech therapist to work on her articulation. I said "Yes!". I know she gets frustrated when we are not able to figure out what she is saying. I think she would benefit greatly from someone working with her that really knows what they are doing. SO, if it's not one child with problems, it's the other!

She looks so guilty feeding him applesauce!

Enzyme Schmemzine!

Well, we got some preliminary bloodwork results back showing that Camden may have something called "Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorder". It means that he can't break down the food he eats in the way he is supposed to. He had more blood drawn, but it has to be sent to a lab in Portland, so it will be a while before we get the results back. At least we are making progress!

Air conditioning woes....

Holy hot batman! Our air conditioning decided to go out on the hottest day of the year! It was 105 outside, and 87 inside. I had been gone all day getting Camden's pictures taken, and then hanging out with my mom and neice at the mall. We came home, all of us exhausted, only to be greeted with warm air when we came inside. Camden still fell asleep, but Sophie couldn't go to sleep because it was too hot/she was too sweaty. So, we were lucky enough to find a friend to take us in! We played at Niky, Deagan, and Tobyn's house until Glenn got home, then went out to eat. Anything for air conditioning! Luckily, my dad and Lloyd were able to get out to the house that evening to get things working. It was still 80 in the house when we went to bed, but was cooling down. We are still in the middle of a heat wave, but at least it's staying down just under 100. You know it's going to be a hot day when your air conditioning comes on at 6AM!

Camden sits!

Woo hoo! Crazy little boy started sitting on his own the other day. We were outside playing in the little swimming pool, and I got him out and sat him up in the grass. Much to my surprise, he sat by himself! He now acts as if he has been sitting up for months. He is delighted to see the world from a new angle, and big sis thinks it's pretty funny too. We are much encouraged by his tremendous progress, and are feeling pretty good about things. He is catching up pretty quickly for how far behind he was. The ladies at Early Intervention are having their "Camden meeting" tomorrow to decide on a course of action for him, and we should have someone out to our house by next week to start working with him. So, things are moving right along.....

Early Intervention

We had Camden's Early Intervention appointemnt today and he qualifies for services. The team is meeting on Wednesday to discuss what specific services he will get, then they will start coming out to the house to do therapy with him in the next week or two. I also found out that if we had gotten in earlier, they would have been able to help out with the cost of his helmet! So bummed about that, but there's nothing I can do now. I am just glad that he will be able to get some help and that they come to us! That will make things so much easier than having to run all over town for appointments like we have been doing.

The Zoo

What a wonderful day! The weather was perfect, about 75 and slightly breezy. I decided to take the kids to the zoo since it would be cool enough for Camden to be outside without him overheating (the helemt makes him super sweaty). We called our friends and headed out. Deagan is just about Sophie's age, and Tobyn is a month younger than Camden. Sophie and Deagan are great pals, and love to run around together. We got to the zoo, and both kids took off running to see the monkeys. In fact, they ran everywhere we went! Sophie was a bit scared of the lions (last time they roared so loud the ground shook). Sophie got to go down the giraffe slide several times (by herself, woo hoo!), and also had to kiss every single penguin statue (there were about a dozen!). We had so much fun! It was a sad time when we had to go, but naptime was starting to call Sophie's name.....

Camden Update

Well, Camden had his appointment with the developmental specialist last week, and we recieved mixed news. The doctor agrees that there is something going on, however, he doesn't know what it is. Camden is definitely behind in his physical development, so we have been referred to the Idaho Toddler Program, in which a physical therapist will come out to our house and work with Camden to help him build his gross motor and fine motor skills. Camden also has to get some testing done. We went in for some bloodwork in which they will test his chromosomes, thyroid, and for some other metabolic disorders. Cam also has to go for an MRI on July 23rd to check for any bloodclots or any other brain damage, and will have to be sedated for the procedure. The doctor also said that it could just be some very strange developmental trajectory that he is on, and could outgrow all his problems. However, he says that Camden has tight but "squishy" muscles and that his newborn/early infant behavior was definitely not "normal". He was also pretty concerned about Camden's back arching, that it seems to almost be a muscle tightening or spasming. He has also retained a few newborn reflexes that are normally gone by this age. I don't know, there are just too many details to list. The doctor was very happy that Glenn and I are such proactive parents, and praised us for getting help early, and at least getting things checked out. So, from here, we just wait and see what the tests say. In the mean time, Camden continues to be a happy, sweet little boy!

4th of July!

We started our day off going to the We the People parade in downtown Boise. It was Sophie and Camden's first parade. Sophie had a blast (and Camden slept). Sophie got a cute little American flag that she waved around all morning, and she also learned to pick up the candy that was tossed onto the sidewalks.
At about 7pm, we decided to light off the family fireworks, which included more smoke bomb, snakes, sparklers, and a few tanks. Glenn had gotten some of the giant sparklers, and Sophie was enthralled! She loved all the fireworks.
We then decided to take the kids to the big city fireworks in the park. It was packed, but we managed to find a nice spot in the grass to hang out until they started. Sophie had a blast, that is until the fireworks started! They were so loud! I don't remember them being that loud when I was younger. Poor Sophie clung to Glenn the whole time and wouldn't look at them. She begged to go home. I felt horrible. Camden slept through the first half, then awakened to happily watch the last half. Sophie was so relieved when they were over!
After returning home at 11:11pm, we finished off the last of the sparklers to end the experience on a good note, then crawl exhausted into bed.

Glenn's Birthday

Sophie was so excited to sing "happy birthday" to her daddy! She shoved her way into the bathroom to be the first one to say it. What a sweet girl! The kids spent some time at Nana's so Glenn and I could enjoy a movie sans kids (Transformers, woo hoo!) It was a late night after eating a delicious dinner from Dahn Khan's then having family over for pie and icecream. Glenn picked up some fireworks earlier in the day and we lit some up. Sophie loved the smoke bombs and sparklers. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa left at 9, but Nana and Papa stayed until 10! Luckily, both kids fell instantly alseep(each in their own beds!).

Sweet Siblings

I turned on the cartoons this morning for Sophie to watch while I tried to get some homework done. All went well, Camden was sleeping on the big bed, Sophie was watching cartoons, and I was typing away on my research paper. I heard Camden start stirring, and next thing I know, Sophie is flying down the hallway towards "baby brother". It is so sweet to hear them interact with each other. Sophie is tickling Camden while he squeals with joy. The bond they share is something to behold. Never has Sophie shown anything but love to Camden. She was the first person to get him to laugh. I can't wait to see how their relationship grows!

Camden's Helmet

Camden got his helmet last night. It has cute little fish all over it, and Sophie is very intrigued by it too. He doesn't seem to mind it too much, but we will see how today goes. He is supposed to wear it for 3-4 months, 23 hours a day. So, eventually he should have a nice round noggin. He is a sweaty little boy to begin with, so having him wear it this summer will prove to be interesting. However, we were given a bunch of tips to keep him cool, and we now have a very good excuse to keep the house cool!

Camden's 6 Month Doctor's Appointment

We just got back from Camden's 6 month doctor's appointment, and all went pretty well. He weighs 21.4 pounds, and is 27 3/4 inches long, which puts him in the 95% for kids his age. He is a big boy! His physical development is improving greatly, but the doctor would still like us to continue with his appointment for Early Intervention as he is still further behind than she would like him to be. So, we have an appointment set up with Early Intervention for July 8th. Other than that, he is just a sweet, very mild mannered boy!

Sophie at the Doctor

So, Sophie has her appointemtn with her poop doctor, and it went very well! She has put on some weight (she's now 30lbs!), and her belly is not all bloated anymore. We had been giving her a lower dose of the Prevacid this last week to see if she could come off of it, but she will still need to be on it for a while longer. On the lower dose, her breath started to smell funky and her belly started getting tender again. So, we try again in four months!

Holy Crap!

Literally! Camden had the biggest poop that I have ever seen in my entire life last night! He was playing in the exersaucer, and when I really looked at him, I noticed that there was a huge puddle underneath him. At first I thought that maybe Sophie had put water underneath him (she was playing in the sink as I made dinner), but upon closer inspection, it was poop! I ended up just taking Camden into the shower, clothes, diaper, and all. It was so disgusting!

First post

Okay, let's see how this goes......I am sitting here pumping and creating this blog while I should be doing my homework, oh well, there's always later tonight! The kids are both sleeping, and it feels strangely exciting to be doing something by myself, even if it is just playing around on the computer.....