Egg Hunting

Camryn felt great on Saturday, so we braved the cold & windy day to participate in our subdivision's first annual "Eggstravaganza". This was such a nice event. Two of my neighbors organized it. There was a craft table to make bunny ears. Then they had three rounds of egg hunting. 0-3 year olds, 4-7 year olds and then 8-10 year olds. That was smart so the little ones had a chance of getting eggs. Then they could go to a grab bag and pull out a toy. The builder donated $5 giftcards to Cold Stone Creamery for each kid that participated, there was a couple that donated their time to photgraph the event and will give us access to free pictures on their site, and McDonalds donated orange drink and animal cookies.

Here are a few shots of the hunt. She did have gloves on, but she took them off right before they released the little ones to get eggs. I guess she figured that would hold her back in the competition. Ha!





It took her until about egg #5 when she realized there was candy inside of them. We had a time limit, so I was trying to get her to go pick up more eggs. "Look Cam, there's a really shiny one." Didn't work. All she was listening to was the rattle of candy in those eggs and figuring out how to get to it. I think she wound up with about 6 or 7 eggs.


At last! I can eat the candy!

March Madness!

I love March Madness. I used to be so involved in every game each year, working 2 or 3 different brackets. Camryn was born the week of the beginning of the tournament two years ago, and with Mizzou's program turning south, I've not been as engaged in college basketball ever since.

As usual, someone at work sent me a link to sign up in the office bracket competition. I'm going to try to get psyched up for the games again. I've entered every year, and Kansas has always screwed my bracket up. Why? I absolutely CANNOT pick them to win. I'm realistic. I need the points to do well in the office pool, so I'll move them through the second weekend. I just CANNOT put them in the Final Four. Have to go with my heart over my head on that one every year.

So I've got Memphis winning it all. They're the Tigers as well (and they're good), so we'll see. Go Tigers!

Wait! She's writing on the walls again and throwing raisins all over the family room. Could we be turning a corner in recovery?...

Still waiting...

...for Cam to get back to her old self. Whereas the first two days went surprisingly well, each day since has had more than it's fair share of difficulties. I knew it would be hard on her and us. She needs our attention, but gets upset when we ask her if she wants to play with the puzzles or read books or play with whatever. She also gets angry if we ask her if she wants ice cream or applesauce or whatever. She's very indecisive and not talking all that much, leaving us guessing a lot.

I think she just so desperately wants everything back to normal. She's not seen the kids from school in a week or had any structure really. It's all dependent on her mood and how she feels. One more week and she'll go back to school. Hopefully.

We're ready to have our goofball back with that silly smile.

What a trooper!

I tell ya...this girl has done amazingly well throughout and during recovery. She has a much higher tolerance for pain than I do. That's certain. Anyway, yes, Cam came through just fine. Here's a little bit about the day.

We checked in and they took us to a hospital room that was our "home base" until we were moved to the pediatric ward post surgery. The doctor was running about an hour behind. He had something like 14 scheduled surgeries yesterday. So we had to kill some time. Camryn wasn't supposed to have anything to eat or drink and Craig and I were so hungry & so thirsty. We didn't want to eat in front of her. Bless her heart. She didn't even ask one time for breakfast and about 30 minutes before surgery she finally asked for water.




About 20 minutes before her surgery, the nurse came in with a "cocktail." It was supposed to make her a little drowsy, only Camryn got slap happy. It was really funny for us to watch her crack herself up at little things. Those docs know what they're doing though because the cocktail made them taking her away a lot easier. By the time they carried her off, she was clueless.

Seeing her in recovery was tough for me. The nurses didn't prep me for what to expect. I knew she wouldn't be her normal self immediately, but she was crying so hard because she was disoriented. I lost it. It was tough on Craig too, but since he held it together, I asked him to hold her first. By the time I had her, she was calming down and recognized me enough to acknowledge my request for an eskimo kiss. I got two. :)

When the gas wore off, they took us up to the pediatric ward since she was supposed to stay the night. As a hospital normally does, it all looked so sterile. The metal bars on her crib were not comforting (to me at least). A gal came in with a wagon of toys and let Camryn pick one out. Out of books, teddy bears & puzzles, she chose the least age appropriate item.
Might be because it was in a shiny box right on top of the pile. I had a feeling that would be her selection. Does she want anything to do with it since we got home? No. (Doesn't even want to put her to bed with the other dollies.) Maybe it reminds her of the hospital.

She was so cute in her little scrubs. She didn't really mess with her IV at all most of the time. She noticed it and whined a bit, but never touched it until the nurse was changing her bandage and almost ripped it right out.

Cam refused to take a nap; although she was eating jello faster than the nurse could bring in more. We were psyched when the doc came in and said she looked great and if we wanted to take her home, we could. Heck yes! I wasn't looking forward to the not so comfy chair becoming my bed; and I knew she would sleep better at home too. What a difference that made! She even ate a bowl of oatmeal ("oats") and another cup of jello before she went to bed.

Happy Birthday Camryn!

I can't believe Princess Camryn is two years old today! Yes, we had a princess theme, decked out with balloons with "Ella" and "O White" (Cinderella and Snow White).



Even though she was eyeing the cake for hours before we lit the candles, she started eating her cake this year like she did last year. Barely touching it, not really sure what to do with it. But once she realized it was something sweet and chocolate, she grabbed her fork and dug in. She gets that sweet tooth from me.



We had immediate family over to celebrate the occasion; and she didn't mind the attention at all. The cutest moment of the day, in my opinion, is her holding Charlotte's hand and helping her walk with Jon. How sweet. That Charlotte is going to be walking on her own in no time. Look out!




Ahh...Craig loves his Charlie time.

Here's the peanut gallery watching Camryn consuming the sugar.



Camryn loves being the center of attention. She demonstrated all of her quirks, including putting the windex bottle to sleep, face down with a towl over it. You know...because it needs a cover to sleep. She got a dolly from us that she loves to rock and pat on the back, while whispering "shhh", and then, of course, put to sleep. When she covers you up or her dollies (or the windex bottle), the blanket has to be just so. No tucked under corners. See, she's demonstrated with Uncle Jeff.



She's so big and can do so many things. Shes makes sure we know it too. I've lost count how many times we've heard "my do it" in the last week. We love you Cam! Happy 2nd Birthday!

Just thought I'd show what a difference a year makes. Here is last year, when she got her Elmo chair from mom and dad versus this year.

Reading time

Camryn has always loved books, but now she's getting quite good at reading books to me. She often knows what comes next. Heaven forbid I accidentally skip a page, because she calls me on it. Now she's wanting to turn the pages too. If I turn the page, she looks at me and says "me do it" and we have to go back so she can turn the page. She's becoming little miss independent.



By they way, I can't figure out how to get video to work on this thing yet. Ugh! Still trying. Cam turns two this weekend, so will try to get some good birthday pics up.

Already developing phone habits!

At least she keeps her conversations short and sweet! Ha, ha! She's not figured out how to call from my Blackberry, but has pranked many from Craig's speed dial list. Funny that I never touched a cell phone until I was 16. She's not even 2!

"E-mo" kisses

I taught Camryn last week how to give Eskimo kisses, and it's the way she wants to send me off to work each day. I drop her off at daycare and I ask for her a hug and she asks for an eskimo kiss. I look forward to it each day.

This week she's transitioning into the 2-year old room at school, since her birthday is this weekend. I'm so glad. The director and her teacher said she was getting so bored in the toddler room. They're sending them with a buddy for a couple of hours a day to get used to the new classroom, new teacher and new kids. I guess the buddy had a hard time with it, and only stayed in the room a short while, even though Camryn was her familiar face. Cam, on the other hand stayed in the room most of the day. They said she was so excited to meet more kids and had a blast playing with them. So much so that she didn't want to take her nap because there were some kids still playing. Just didn't want to miss any excitement I guess.

She's such a social bug. My dad comments on this all the time. Anytime there's a gathering, she makes sure she spends time with everyone in the room. They took her to dinner the other night and said they made a mistake sitting her down so she faced the window. She couldn't people watch and spent half the time turned around. Ha!

The other thing we're working with on her lately is commitment. We've started to give her choices and she'll make one. Once we say okay, she'll say the other item. When we try to confirm on the new chioce, she'll say the other item. Ugh! Maybe she's too young to get choices; but she seems to appreciate being involved in decisions. Through trial & error, we've learned that 9 times out of 10, she really wants her first choice. Goofy girl!