Thursday, October 29, 2009

Last year at this time..

Last year around this time I was just finishing up my second trimester. Up until this point it had been a pretty good pregnancy! I went through a low key summer with very little morning sickness. Sure, I had some food aversions, lost most of my appetite and had a bit of queasiness, but it was much better then I had expected! I had had my first, second and third ultrasounds and found out I was having a boy!! It had been almost, might I say, easy? Of course, nothing in my life can ever go THAT easily! :)

At 22 weeks I was sent to see a specialist because they noticed some funneling, which is pretty much my body preparing for delivery. Hmmm...not a good idea. At this point in the game, a normal woman measures at about 4 to 5 cms and I was down to less then one. They decided to send me directly to the hospital to perform an emergency cerclage, or in other words, sew me up to keep the baby where he is supposed to be. Inside! It went well, but they didn't want anything else to happen with my little guy so to bed rest I went.


After one looong week of bed rest, my family was over and I started complaining of my leg hurting. My dad lifted my leg up and started to move it back and forth and specifically said, "you've got to keep moving to prevent blood clots". So what was causing this pain? Of course, a blood clot! My left leg turned purple and swelled up twice the size of my right. Lots of things can make someone high risk for blood clots. I had three of them: pregnancy, surgery and bed rest. Figures! I stayed in the hospital during treatment and had to give myself shots of blood thinner twice a day for the rest of my pregnancy.

After all of this, I was sent to a high risk doctor every 2 weeks to make sure things were good with the baby. They were almost certain I would have him very pre-term and kept saying things like "lets just get to 28 weeks". It was nerve wracking, but he did so well! I can't believe that we were very close to loosing him a year ago and now here he is!! Living life the way a 9 month old is supposed to be: happy, healthy and full of life!! I'm so proud he's mine and that I protected him and kept him safe and healthy for almost 10 months! All it took was a few stitches, some blood thinner and 4 months of bed rest. And I'd do it all over again. No questions asked. :)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Oops!

I forgot about this on Thursday! Here's Cam (and I) at 9 months. Getting big, huh?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

9 Months Old!

So he is 9 Months old today! I can hardly believe it! It feels like he was born 2 days ago! I'm so proud to have him. I can't get over how great of a little boy he is! He really is perfect to Mark and I. He has exceeded our expectations and we can hardly remember our lives without him. Sigh :)

Ok, cheesiness aside, Cam had his 9 month well being appointment today. Now let me just tell you, lately everyone who meets Cameron has made comments such as "Look at those cheeks!", "Ooo, he's a big one", or "Rugged little guy!" Since birth he's been under average for his size, usually in the 30th percentile, so I've been thinking that maybe he has caught up and made it over the average size. He does seem heavy to me when I cart him in his car seat or spend hours with him stuck to my hip. And those cheeks! Oh those cheeks!! So pudgey!! So it was only normal for Mark and I both to think he was going to weigh in at an absurdly high weight. I guessed around 22 pounds, while Mark thought a little below that.

When we arrived at the doctors office, the nurse told me to "strip down the little chubber" and place him on the scale. I did and was shocked when I was told he weighed 18lbs, 4 oz! That is less then 2 lbs above what he weighed at 6 months! She measured his height and he is 28.5 inches tall. She later told me that put him in the 17th percentile for his weight and the 56th percentile for his height. I guess we have a pretty small guy, compared to others his age that is. We don't really have anyone to compare him to though!

Other then that, everything went great at his appointment. The doctor said he's development is right on track and she kept saying "perfect" to my responses to her questions. It made me feel good to know that Mark and I aren't the only ones who think it! :)

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Newest Toy

So here is Cameron's newest toy. It was on sale for super cheap at Kohl's so I had to by it! So far, he really likes it! It can be one of two things: either a walker to help him learn to walk or a little car so he can push himself around the house. We definitely like it better in the car mode. Since he isn't walking yet, it does not have the stability needed to keep him on his feet. He loves sitting on it and playing with all the little toys on the front. He's also getting the hang of making it move, although he make himself go backwards! Here is my big boy playing on his new toy for the first time!

He also loves when daddy pushes him around the house on it. And as you can see, daddy likes doing it, too!
Here he is standing behind it and taking a few steps. It makes me nervous, so we will be using it as a car for now!!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Then and Now

I can't believe how big he has gotten in just the 81/2 months he's been alive for! Here he is in one of his favorite toys. He liked it more when he was younger (I can't believe I just wrote that!).

Then: 5 Months
Now: 8 months

Monday, October 12, 2009

Fairs and Foliage!

Finally! We made it up to Mark's parents house in Bethel, ME! We hadn't been up yet with Cameron, and actually haven't been up at all in a few years! Can you imagine? I always thought that having an extra house a few states away that was FREE to go to anytime, we would surely where out our welcome. But it hasn't been that way, at least in the past few years! I blame it on the four hour car ride!

Anyway, we made it up for Columbus Day weekend. We spent the long weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Katie. We had a great time and Cameron did a close to perfect job in the car, both ways, even when dad missed the exit and added an extra hour to our ride. Grrr... The first day we were up, we went to the Fryeburg Fair, which was about a 45 minute drive from the house. The ride through Evan's Notch was beautiful and the fair was fun. There were a lot of animals for Cam to look at and lots of "fun" people for grandma and myself to look at. We used our new baby carrier for the occasion and it worked out wonderfully! Cameron loved it and even though it was hard for him to fall asleep in it, he always finds a way!!










After the fair, we spent most of the weekend hanging low and just enjoying being up there and of course the beautiful foliage! Here are a few pictures of just how pretty it was to be up there, with Cameron posing in them, of course!








Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Puffs!!

So at 8 months Mark and I decided Cam was old enough to try finger foods. We went with Puffs, which are just like a Cheerio, only made specifically for babies since they melt in toothless mouths. When we first gave him the Puff he acted like his normal self and took two minutes just to investigate the little treat. And although he didn't put it in his mouth himself, he was at least interested in it.

After a few minutes of playing with it, we put it in his mouth for him and he hated it! He had no idea what to do with it. In the past, anything hard that went into his mouth was either a toy, or not allowed. He just sat there with this awful look on his face and let it melt on his tongue.

We tried a few more and the same thing happened. He opens his mouth to take it, but hates it once its in there! He does like them, however, when they are just stuck to his pudgy cheeks!
After all those Puffs he took in, nothing could feel better then a nice sippy cup of cold water!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

New teeth. Ugh...

When Cam was around 6 months he got his first teeth. His bottom two middle teeth came in together and he could have cared less. I may have given him Tylenol once or twice for it, but more because they looked so painful, not because he was fussy. This time its been a little different! He hasn't been acting like the devil, but he hasn't been himself either (you know, our angel). We noticed one starting to pop through maybe two weeks ago. Since then, four have come, or started to come through. It looks so painful! He's been chewing on and drooling on everything he can get his hands on! And he's been quite needy! Mark calls it "wimpy". If your not playing with him, he fusses. If he can't see you, he fusses. If he's tired and your not holding him, he fusses. Ugh, he's been fussing a lot the past few days! Now don't get me wrong, we haven't been miserable with him! It only takes our attention to make him happy and when he's happy he's been pretty great, but in the past he hasn't needed 100% attention all of the time! I am blaming it on the teeth, so hopefully it will stop soon. Mark said it was perfect timing to get our little Jack-o-Lantern, but seems like the new teeth are going to come in together and be pretty symmetrical. We wanted to document these painful new teeth, so we forced Cam to show us for a picture. As you can see, he wasn't happy at first, but by the end he was fine. Probably because he was getting attention!!


Thursday, October 1, 2009

Cam and his best friend

We've had our beagle, Riley, for four years now. He's a very cuddly dog, yet an extremely hyper, stuborn and LOUD one! He only listens to us when it involves food as a reward and is constantly eating his dad's socks! He jumps on everyone to walk through our door and has even snipped once or twice. He loves his mom very much and hates when anyone other then himself has her attention. Because of this, we thought we would have trouble when bringing home the baby. Of course I was going to pay more attention to my new baby then him! But by some grace of God, we haven't had a problem yet! He doesn't go for Cameron's toys, or for Cameron for that matter, and has alot of fun just licking his feet and ears. He tolerates it when Cameron steals his toys and even enjoys it when those tiny fingers pull his fur. He likes to be near "his baby", just as much as Cam likes to be around "his puppy". I am happy to report at at this time, that our furry baby and our bald (for the most part) baby are actually getting along. I may even go out on a limb and say that Riley is actually my babies best friend.