Happy Halloween

To celebrate Halloween at school, it was 'Orange Day'. All the kiddos dressed in Orange and had parties in their class.

Casen's Class

Camden's Class

It has been very rainy the past several days and today was no different. Honestly, if it did not quit raining by Trick or Treat time, I had no idea what we were going to do. But luckily, by mid afternoon, the sun started shining and the rain was gone. Woo Hoo - let the trick or treating begin. I will tell you we went back and forth as to what Camden wanted to be. He started out by saying he wanted to be something scary. Would looked through a magazine, but nothing really struck his fancy. He thought about possibly a vampire, but then he thought he wanted to be pirate - which that was good, I figured Casen could be a parrot to go along with that. Then he decided a football player. I looked and looked trying to figure out what Casen could be, however everything seemed to babyish or too old. So, I took a little girls referee outfit, (because they don't make a boys one for his age)and took off the skirt, took out the zipper, and reconfigured the collar. I figured every football player needed a referee to keep him in check.

 

My Alabama Football Player

 

My little referee

 

We took the boys around part of the neighborhood. Casen rode in his car, blowing his whistle and talking to all the people he passed by. Some people found it necessary to give him treats, so we would just put it in the hood of his car. Camden enjoyed going from house to house knocking on the door and collecting candy. It was a great evening and we all had a great time!

The boys while Trick or Treating

Casen figured out how to blow his whistle

Camden with his loot

Casen with his loot



 

 

Soccer Game #5 - The Blowout

I know we are not supposed to keep score, and normally I do not know the exact score, just who won, however today Camden had a scorekeeper (Braden) at his game and it was a blowout folks. 13 - 1 the Blue Crocs!! Woo Hoo!!!!!! And better yet, Camden scored 5 of the goals - a hat trick plus two! Perhaps he was showing off for his Aunt Melissa and Braden, however he says it was his super power bracelet - the bracelet Braden made him and gave to him prior to his game.

Showing off his bracelet

 

 Braden and Camden



Aunt Melissa and Camden



Honestly, part of the blow out was probably due to the fact that the other team only had 4 players, two of which who were crying the whole first half, bless their hearts. But regardless, we will take the win! Not to brag (well maybe just a little), but one of the parents commented that Camden was the most improved player on our team. To us he just finally showed everybody else what we already knew he could do but was to shy to do. Yea Camden - you made your momma proud today!!!!

 

 Scoring one of his goals

 

I just thought he 'looked' like a soccer player in this photo

 

 

Tears of Joy

Today when I arrived to the boy's school to pick them up, I was met by Casen's teacher, Ms. Karen, in the front office. She told me with a very solemn look on her face that Ms. Nataly, another of Casen's teachers, had something to show me. Uh oh, the first thing that crossed my mind was that he hit her or bit her and left a mark. Much to my surprise, when I got in the room, she pulled out her phone to show me a video of Casen that she had taken earlier that day. There he was pushing this square ottoman type thing around the room while walking. He walked the whole perimeter of the room, and if he fell, he stood right back up and kept walking. I watched the video in awe with tears streaming down my face. As much as I say that I am not worried about him walking because Camden did not walk until he was 17 months, it lingers in the back of my head that the reality of the situation is everyone in his class is walking and have just left him behind. But today, I saw progression and honestly could not have been prouder! I am so thankful for his teachers who work daily with him and take the time to take a video and share.

A Week of Fun and the Pumpkin Patch

We had the pleasure of having my Mom and Dad here all week. A month or so ago, I was looking at my sister's boys sports schedules as well as Camden's and told my mom that if they came this week they could see Mason play football and run cross country and then also they could see Braden and Casen play a soccer game. Since I was off of work Monday, they showed up on Sunday so that mom and I could go shopping on Monday. We pretty much spent all day shopping until we had to pick up the boys from school. On Tuesday, Mom and Dad went with me to take Camden to soccer, which thank goodness they did because Camden and Braden's game were cancelled on Saturday due to wet fields from the rain we had on Friday. On Wednesday we went and watched Mason play football. He got more playing time than he has all year, so that was the perfect game for them to go to. On Thursday, we had the boys over to eat supper with us before Mom and Dad took them to soccer practice and then on Friday, Mason's cross country meet got cancelled due to the rain. So out of the four games that Mom and Dad were supposed to go to, they were only able to go to one - dang rain!!!!

On Saturday, Mom and I went shopping yet again, and then after Casen's nap we headed to the pumpkin patch to take our annual pictures. Let me just say, some little boy was not thrilled to take pictures with or by the pumpkins, so needless to say, I have a ton of pictures with Casen crying. Luckily I did get one good one of he and Camden together!

My sweet little skeletons at the pumpkin patch

Hook 'Em Horns

 

Grandma Key and Camden

My sweet Camden

My crabby little Casen

We really enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa here. The boys of course had to show off different things they do and had no problems keeping their grandparents entertained. Hopefully, they will return soon to hang out with us again!



Camden sharing his yogurt with Casen

"Yea!!!!"



Camden had to show Grandma and Grandpa how
well he is riding his bike




Grandma Key and Casen chasing after Camden
on his bike

Soccer Game #4

Today was game #4 for Camden and as usual he was excited and ready to go. He started out a little slow today at the game - just kind of chasing his friends around instead of focusing on the ball. After not playing so well the first quarter, Shane and he had a talk and when he went back in, he did great. He scored 2 goals and of course after the first one had to run over to the side lines to get a hug and a high five from his proud momma. Needless to say, I do believe they lost due to a kid on the other team who had to have been at least a year older, literally getting the ball every time and taking it to his end and then scoring. Honestly, not only was it sad for our kids, but it was also sad for the kids on the other team because NO ONE got the ball except for him. The coach had him in the game the majority of the time. Finally, the other teams coaches' mom was there and went up to him and told him to take that kid out of the game. Thank goodness he did so that all the other kids could play and enjoy the game. A good bonus about today's game was I FINALLY got one of his goals on video and one on camera. Generally I am too excited to video tape his good playing!

Camden and Coach Brandy

Camden's second goal of the game

Camden trying to get the ball from the great player on the other team

Landon and Camden enjoying their post game snack

Revenge of the Reflux . . . . Take Two

As you recall, at Casen's 15 month appointment Dr. Worrall had me do two things - first, call ECI to set up an evaluation for Casen since he is not walking and second, to wean Casen off of his reflux medicine. So the day after his appointment I called ECI and was told that I would hear from them in 45 days. Now honestly, I thought she said 'four to five' days, however it has been several weeks and I also did a referral on line and have heard nothing so I guess it was forty five days. If that is the case, I pray I can tell them Casen is walking by then!

As for the weaning of the reflux medicine. I did as the doctor recommended by having Casen take it every other day for a week and then stop it all together. Well, just as it went with our attempt when he was 9 months old, he quit eating and then started decreasing his fluids this past weekend. Since this was not our first rodeo, I went ahead and restarted his Zantac and also started him on Maalox. On Monday I called the doctor to see what dosage of Zantac he needed to be on since Dr. Worrall had felt like the dose he was on probably was not helping him anyway. They almost doubled the dosage he was on (3.5cc twice daily), which was not surprising since he has been on the same dosage since he was an infant. Slowly but surely he has been increasing his food and fluid intake and today when I picked him up from school, Ms. Karen told me that he pretty much ate all of his lunch, which was a whole ham and cheese sandwich, Cheetos puffs and two fig newtons. Yes, he is a little piggy wiggy when his reflux is under control and it is food he likes!  So, I think we just might be back on track! I must admit, it bothers me that he has not outgrown the reflux by now, but for the time being I guess we will just stay on the medicine and pray that it will resolve on its own in the near future.

Soccer Game #3

First of all a big Happy Birthday to Shane! Today is the beginning of the last year in his 30's - bless his heart! His parents, sister's family and Connor and his girlfriend all came to celebrate as well as go to Camden's soccer game which was a reschedule from a rain out. I will say, the game started off well. Camden made a goal, which was so exciting. He was so excited he had to run straight over to the side line to give me a hug and a high five!! I was so excited for him that I hardly caught a picture of his goal!

Then he got the ball near the other teams goal and started running ahead of everybody kicking the ball towards our goal.

He was probably 5 feet from the goal and all of the sudden down he went and another team mate kicked it in. I would like to say that perhaps he realized he was heading towards the wrong goal so just abandoned the play, but I do not think that was the case at all.

He was so upset, probably a bit embarrassed. He had to come off the field due to the crying - bless his heart. Luckily dad was there to give him a pep talk and encourage him to go back out there and play some more soccer.

After the soccer game we headed back to the house for some pizza, cake and presents.

Casen and Malachi

Camden helping his Dad open presents

Camden crashing the Wakefield family photo

Casen blowing kisses goodbye to everyone

Weekend Advancements

This weekend Casen finally seemed to make some advancements with his mobility. Yesterday he climbed up the stairs on his own and had a great time playing on them.

 

 

 Today, he pulled up by the couch (which he has been doing off and on) and stood there and played with cars.

Perhaps if he keeps this up, he will be walking by the end of the year! ; )