The New Old Me

It's been an emotional day.  Good and bad.  I am simultaneously at the beginning and end of a long frustrating journey.  The end of believing in traditional medical practitioners who said "you're tests are normal", "get more exercise", "you're a little depressed, here's a prescription".  I knew they were wrong.  I always knew something just wasn't quite right.  The beginning of learning a new lifestyle that includes thyroid and adrenal supplements and a gluten-free/casein-free eating plan.

I dreaded turning 40.  It sounds old.  Today I'm just a tiny bit excited to turn 41.  Here's hoping that by then I'll feel like my old self again.

Happy 7th Birthday Cameron!

Well I noticed recently that my last post was Cam's birthday 2 years ago, so I thought today would be a nice day to try to start posting again.  It's been a long 2 years that maybe I'll get in to at some point but this is Cameron's day.

Cameron, Cameron, Cameron.  Boy, you wear me out.  You are a constant ball of non-stop energy.  Always ready for a new adventure but only if you know exactly what to expect.  You are a bit high-strung one might say.  A tad on the anxious side?  You have to be fully prepared for anything; where we are going, who will be there, what we are eating-"is it the kind I like?", how we are getting there, how long we will be there, when we will be home, will you have to go to bed when we get home????? You get the picture?

But I secretly love that your insecurities make you still want your mommy.

You're still terrified at the thought of trying new food.  You've had basically the same thing for lunch for the past 2 years; PB&J, applesauce, fiber one bar and cheese or yogurt.  I think I could pack it in my sleep.  And doing it at 6:30 in the morning, I pretty much am.

You create a soundtrack to your life.  There is a constant song in your head.  It might be from the radio or a favorite TV show or you might be making it up as you go along, but there is always some kind of noise music coming from your lips.

You are a very smart boy.  Some comes with the territory of being the youngest I suppose.  Abbie and Cooper have no problem showing you what you do wrong.  Abbie enjoys reading to you and Cooper helps you with spelling games on the computer.

Your favorite toys are still all kinds of LEGOs, Skylanders video games.  You have an obsession with the claw toy games at arcades.  You simply HAVE to do it at least once.  You love, love, love getting tickets from the games at the arcade but then don't like the prizes and instead will often get things for your brother and sister.

I'm sad that you are growing up so fast.  My baby.  7 years old already, whew.  Last weekend Ab and Coop spent the night with Grammy and Pappy but you wanted to stay with Mommy and Daddy.  Fine by me.  We all snuggled up in the big bed until you fell asleep.  You can fall asleep in our bed but no way are you staying there.  I'd have a black eye in the morning, you little spaz.  Won't be long before daddy can't carry you up the stairs anymore.



I love you my baby boy, my Cam-Cam.

Happy 5th Birthday Cameron!

 

Happy Birthday weekend to my crazy-faced monkey boy that Abbie has dubbed "Cam-a-lam-a-ding-dong".  You were so excited about the arrival of the big party day.  Yesterday on your birthday you got to go to the Mexican restaurant and choose your dinner...a big bowl of cheese dip!We had your birthday party today since Pappy and Uncle Jeff were going to be in town already for the UNC v. Maryland game.  You bowled and played in the arcade and had a super fun time with your buddies Christian and William.  You are such a big boy now.  Hardly a trace of "baby" left and that makes mommy so sad.  I got a special present last night when you got sleepy and came down to the couch and fell asleep in my arms.  It was a magical few minutes that I got to look down at my sleeping baby in my arms, when five years ago I was doing exactly the same thing.  I love how inquisitive you are, always asking questions, good questions, too.  Like you've already thought about it for quite some time and figured it out but just want to be sure.  I'm sure there are folks out there that think I give in to you too much or spoil you beyond reason, but to them I say, "Oh well, he's my baby...and you just try saying 'No' to that face!"  I love you Cam-Cam, Squirrel, Mini-Man, Cam-a-lam-a-ding-dong! 

R2-D2

My first scratch-made Halloween costume was this year's R2D2 for my 4 year old. Somehow over the last 9 Halloweens, I'd managed to get away with "assembling" costumes from stuff around the house. So here is proof that I did make at least one home-made costume!

Supplies: trash can, silver spray paint, 1 inch and 2 inch blue painter's tape, X-acto knife, silver, black and blue Sharpie pens, cardboard circles, glue gun, fabric strips, stick on door stop, duck tape, bubble wrap.

Starting with the white plastic swing-top trash can, I spray painted the top silver and the hubs cut out arm holes and cut of the bottom. I wrapped the armholes with shiny silver duck tape to smooth the rough edges.


Then the real work began, so I brought in some assistants...I wrapped the top edge of the can with the 1 inch blue painter's tape. Using the black Sharpie and a picture of R2D2, I free-handed shapes onto the can.

Next, for the "body", I used the 2 inch blue tape and taped on the 2 rectangles horizontally and used the X-acto knife to cut away the excess tape to reveal the "pointy shapes". Moving down, I used more blue painter's tape for the vertical rectangle and square. The cardboard circles were spray painted silver and hot glued on. The bottom "dial" was drawn free-hand with the silver and black Sharpies as were the additional designs on the silver top part. The inside of the swinging door was secured with duck tape and cushioned with small bubble wrap sheets.

Tim cut out another section for a "face hole" and again, I wrapped the sharp edge with the shiny duck tape. Next, for R2D2's "eye", I spray painted the white door knob stopper and hot glued it on. Then I hot glued fabric strips to the inside of the can to rest on his shoulders to support the weight of the can with out it sitting on his head. I used felt, but it stretched out after a while, so I would recommend using something different.

The Star Wars crew at Trunk or Treat...

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2010

First Halloween in the new neighborhood went very well. We started at 5:00 at a neighbor's house (the other Cooper) to have some munchies, then headed home around 6:15 to get all the lights on. Daddy headed out with the kiddos and I stayed to hand out candy. There were not as many kids as I thought there would be, which means a lot of left over candy. Not good!

This year was a first for me.

Over the last 10 years, I have purchased many costumes and "crafted" many from dress-ups we already had. This year was the first made from scratch costume. Cameron has had only one Halloween costume request this year, R2-D2. He never wanted anything else. The only ready-made R2-D2 costume I found was for toddlers, a t-shirt and toboggan cap that wasn't very impressive. So I Googled a little and found some homemade R2-D2 ideas. So I got a swing top bullet style trash can, some duck tape, spray paint, painter's tape, sharpie markers, and 8 hours or so later...voila: R2-d2!!! Cooper was Darth Vader and I was hoping for a Star Wars Trifecta, but Abbie wanted to be a Dragon Warrior Ninja.

Boy stuff

From the decibel level of Cooper's scream when he saw this big truck-a Dodge he tells me (above), I thought I had run over someone in the parking lot. Would you believe this was at Wal-Mart? Really, I swear!

Tim took Coop to the 24 hour sale at the Ford dealership. He found lots of contenders for his list of coolest trucks. On his list of "must-haves"...a crew cab, because "I want to have a family" he told me.

Party On Dude! Boys fishing weekend :)

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?????!!!!! Just being silly on a boys night out at Dick's Sporting Goods.

ouch

I didn't know The Biggest Loser premier was on tonight. I'm sitting here watching the agony on their faces knowing that's what I must've looked like last night in my first aerobics class in five, maybe 10, years. Buttz and Guttz. I about hurled my guttz. I can hardly walk after I sit for a few minutes. It's mainly my thighs. Right now, my thighs hate Tracey the aerobics insructor. The timing was bad on my part. Tim is out of town this week. The kids' bedrooms are upstairs. Bedtime is torture...I really don't know if they brushed their teeth or not. And I think God is laughing at me. Tonight and last, there have been huge crashes in the kids' rooms around 10:30, of course, requiring investigation. So I sprinted up the stairs as fast as my legs could possibly go. If someone had been stealing something, they'd have had the truck filled by the time I made it up the 16 steps.

Last night a large picture tumbled from Abbie's dresser knocking over her lava lamp and everything else on the dresser as well. Tonight, Cameron fell out of bed and was already tucking himself back in when I got in there. The cruelest part is that going down the stairs hurts even more than going up them.