Sharing the News

After keeping the news of our upcoming arrival a secret from my co-workers, I finally decided to share with them today since I am now 12 weeks. It was fun seeing some of their reactions. No one had any idea, although some did comment that they noticed I had not been myself off and on. Those are probably the times when my nausea is at its worst and I probably was not my spry self. The two ladies that work the closest with me commented that they knew I had been in my office more, but had not realized I was in there eating snacks. Oh goodness, if only they knew. I was eating at least every 2 hours to ward off the nausea. Glad that somewhat is coming to an end.

First Hair Cut

Before my parents left today, I had one final job for my mom and that was to give Camden his first hair cut. As I have mentioned before, I have such a hard time with his hair due to the crazy 8 cowlick he has on the front of his head. I do realize that the best option for that would be to cut it very short and just spike it up a little in the front, however I am not even remotely ready for my baby to turn into a little boy. So, I had mom just trim up his hair since it was hanging over his ears as well as his collar.

She cut off quite a bit, which was needed, and I think he looks very handsome!

Some of Camden's hair

 

A view of the back of his hair

Grandma Key and Camden

Thanksgiving

Today we had a houseful of family and it could not have been any nicer. Between Shane's family and my family we had a total of 20 people. I must say I was a bit nervous as to how we were going to fit everyone, if we would have enough food, and if all the food would be ready at the same time, but everything was great! My parents came in yesterday, and mom and I started cooking pretty much right after they got here. Mom made pies, while I worked on the cornbread dressing. We did as much preparation as we could so that today would not be as stressful.

We originally thought we would sit everyone indoors in various places, but after seeing what a beautiful day it was, Shane suggested we put all the tables together and sit in the garage. That turned out to be a fabulous idea. We had a long table with 16 places, and then a kids table with 4 places. The food was great, we had plenty and it was all ready at the appropriate time.

It was great seeing some of Shane's family that we had not seen in awhile. It was definitely a long trip for them and we were very glad to have them celebrate Thanksgiving here in Texas with us.

Shane playing with Gavin and Camden

Camden trying to act like Mason and Braden

Things I Love

I have to comment about how much I love my child!!! He has such a sweet soul, and it makes me so proud. He LOVES to give kisses to me, which melts my little heart. He can be eating in his high chair, and just grab my hand and kiss it. Sometimes we will be sitting and watching television and he will just lean over and kiss me. Other times he will just want to grab my hand and hold it. LOVE HIM!!!!!

He is talking really well right now, and even says complete sentences. It definitely makes communication with him much easier. Some of my favorite things he says are, 'Yes' - the reason I love it so is because he sound so proper when he says it because the emphasis is on the 's'. Another cute word he says is 'barbeque' - which sounds like 'bar-b-coo'. And then there is the alphabet song! I can't even begin to tell you all the cute ways he says different things as he sings that song, but it is precious. I definitely need to video tape it! I also love how instead of calling my parents Grandma and Grandpa, he calls them G-Ma and G-pa. Too cute!!!!

Another thing I love is when Camden shows you his muscles. If you ask him to show you his muscles, instead of putting his arms up, he looks like he has wings and says, "Muscle!" And for some reason, he skips the number 5 when counting to 10. I am not sure what his issue is with the number 5, but he totally leaves it out every time. He also loves to imitate different things Shane and I do, like crossing our arms or legs when we sit. He studies very closely just how we have our arms or legs and then makes sure his looks exactly like ours. It reminds us just how closely we are being watched!

What Goes Around . . . .

When Shane went to pick up Camden from school today, Ms. Caroline informed him that Camden had been bit by one of his friends. She was very sad that it happened to 'her boy'. When Shane texted me and told me, my first reaction was to be mad. But how could I after Camden has bit several of his friends. So instead I was sad for Camden, especially after I saw the little bruise with bite marks on his back. But, as I told Shane, what goes around comes around.

Hazel "Maw Maw" Barnett

On Friday night, we received some very sad news that Shane's grandmother had passed away. To be honest, we were a bit shocked because just the day prior we had received an e-mail from Shane's mom that said Maw Maw seemed to be improving. She had been ill and in the hospital for awhile, but as I said, seemed to be improving. However on Friday, her sweet heart decided it was tired and she decided it was time to go and meet her dear Lord and Savior. How comforting that she had three of her sons, two daughter-in-laws and two granddaughters there at her bedside to be with her as she entered the Promise Land. Due to circumstances, I was unable to go to Alabama with Shane for the funeral, which was very hard. You see, Shane's family in Alabama is like family to me. Even though we were so far away from our immediate family when we lived in Tuscaloosa, we always had his family in Birmingham - which included Maw Maw, Ira, Ronald and Manya, Harold and Carol and numerous of Shane's cousins. We were invited often to Maw Maw's where she always had a big spread of food waiting for us. She always had her famous, delicious, homemade biscuits (which you could never get enough of) as well as home- made macaroni and cheese, ham, black eyed peas, green beans and several other things. She always made sure you left full and satisfied.

On your birthday, you ALWAYS got a card with money in it. Even as she was in the hospital over the past few months, in and out of consciousness, when she was able to communicate that her biggest concern was if her family members who had or were about to have a birthday received their card from her (because she always had them filled out and ready to go in the mail). You see, that is the type of person she was - always thinking of her family and putting them first.

Maw Maw, you will be dearly missed by so many that knew you. I appreciate you taking me in as a granddaughter and being so thoughtful and caring.

What A Week

As I had mentioned in a previous post, Camden has been battling different ailments for the past few weeks. It first started with a stomach virus that caused him to only vomit once, but then it significantly decreased his appetite for 2 weeks. Just as we got over that, he started with a bad cough that had some wheezing involved. This time last year he also got e bad cough and was given medication for us to administer him breathing treatments. At that time they gave us several refills on the medication with instructions to use it as needed. So at the beginning of the last week, I started giving him nebulizer treatments of Pulmicort and Albuterol. On Sunday, we ran out of Pulmicort, so I called in the refill to the pharmacy and went to pick it up. I was told that with our new insurance it would cost $389. Yes, you read that right - $389! To say the least I was in shock since previously I paid less than $30 with our old generic and the fact that it is generic. I decided not to pick up the medication, and decided if he sounded bad on Monday I would make him a doctor's appointment. When I picked him up from school on Monday he was wheezing and I gave him a breathing treatment prior to going trick-or-treating. So Tuesday morning I called and made the appointment for that afternoon. She too was surprised at the price of the Pulmicort and said that instead we could use a Flovent inhaler for him. Well, it was $106, but at least it was a third of the price. And don't you know, when I picked him up from school to take him to his appointment, he sounded 100% better. Had I waited one more day, we would have avoided that appointment. But on the bright side, we needed to figure out an alternative to the expensive medication for any future cough/wheezing he may experience and that we accomplished.

Today I received a call around 10:00 that they though Camden had pink eye. Now, when I was feeding him breakfast, I noticed his left eye to be a little red/irritated looking, but he had no drainage, discharge or tearing. So, of course, off to school we went. I tell you, when I picked him up at 10:30, he had yellow discharge coming out of his eye. Amazing what 3 hours can do! So, off to the doctor we went again and sure enough he was diagnosed with conjunctivitis and was prescribed Vigamox eye drops.

Camden's first case of pink eye

I am thinking we have pretty much had enough illness the past several weeks to hold us over awhile! On a side note, at his appointment he weighed 27 pounds 5 ounces. My baby boy is getting heavy!!!

OB Appointment with Ultrasound

Today I headed to the OB doctor for my first appointment with ultrasound. I was so excited to hear the little heartbeat and see just how things were progressing in my tummy. The technician opted to do a vaginal ultrasound due to me only being 8 weeks along and said we would get better pictures. Well, the pictures did turn out well and the heartbeat was nice and strong at 179 beats per minute.

I then saw my new OBGYN, Dr. Stephanie Bruce. She is very nice and probably in her early 40's. She too had children around the same age as myself, so that is a bit comforting. She said the ultrasound pictures looked great and that according to the ultrasound my due date is June 9, 2012. That sounds so far away, but as I recall with Camden, it will be here before we know it. She discussed all the different testing we could do for Down's Syndrome as well as a few other problems, but as I did with Camden, I declined the extra testing. I know we would not do anything different with the pregnancy regardless, and I don't want to stress my whole pregnancy if something came back abnormal. She understood my point of view and said that we would do the next ultrasound at 20 weeks and we would make it an in-depth anatomy ultrasound which sounded good to me. After telling her my history of ocular neuritis with Camden, she agreed that I should go ahead and get established with a neurologist just in case something were to occur with this pregnancy. I did not mind that since it is time for follow up anyway, however I will have to wait until after the birth to do another MRI to compare with my old one and make sure that nothing has progressed by way of multiple sclerosis.

We also discussed weight gain with this pregnancy. She told me she only wanted me to gain 25 pounds since it is harder to lose the weight with the second child - UGH just what I wanted to hear. I preferred the option I had with Camden of gaining between 25 and 30 pounds because at least it was a range and with him I gained 27 pounds. Now, with not working out at all and this being the second pregnancy I am worried I will exceed her 25 pounds. Oh well, something else to keep a good eye on.

As for how I am feeling, the nausea started last week, which pretty much coincides with when I became nauseated with Camden. I am eating almost every 2 hours to help with the nausea. I still have only told family as well as a few close friends. It has been much easier keeping my pregnancy from my co-workers since I have my own office and they can't see me snacking on crackers and pretzels. I have pretty much decided I will wait until I am about 12 weeks along before sharing the news with them.