Garnet and Golden Weekend

It was big weekend for us. Friday night Kevin's family came into town and we hung out with them. Joani and I went to the Music for Hope, a benefit concert supporting Family Promise, where I'll be starting work in about a week. (I'll explain in another post). Lots of amazing music and talent.
Saturday, our friends Stacey and Dan came into town with their beautiful daughter Ava. Ava is 7 months old, and flirted with Camden all weekend. They even took a bath together. (Don't be upset, Olivia...hate the game, not the player!). Stacey and Dan and Chad and Michelle (old FSU art therapy buddies) were in town for the FSU/Alabama game and we tailgated like kings. Dan made his famous beer bisquits, 7 layer brownies, marinated zucchini skewers, burgers, dogs, and roasted seasoned mixed nuts and I boiled peanuts. Gramps, Aunt Joani, Uncle Sam and Uncle Jon stopped by, as well as a bunch of Stacey and Dan's friends. We even got a drop-in visit from Aunt Betsy who was out selling her spirit beads (and who is also busy working on a cousin for Camden--12 weeks pregnant!). We traded beads for food with her and she gave Camden some saurkraut from her hot dog to make Camden give a funny face. Not a fan of the saurkraut.
Stacey and I went back to the house to bathe the kids, sip wine and do some girl talk while watching the game. The others stayed at the game and the Noles won 21-14!! A major upset and much needed morale boost. Sunday morning we had quiche, then went down to the Landing later for lunch at Hooters. It was so great seeing our old friends and the gorgeous new addition to their family!

Tally weekend

This past weekend we went over to Tallahassee to be with Nana and Gramps and the Seminoles. They played their first home game of the year against UAB and BARELY won. But hey, we'll take a win, and Camden was too busy eating, getting stroller rides from Jake and compliments from all the ladies to care about football. He also got to see Great Grandma Jane, Aunt Karen and Uncle Richard and later in the day he met his Tallahassee Lassie, Olivia (and his future in-laws, Beth and David) at the 4th Quarter for the pro games. Camden was smooth--he got his first kiss!! It was so cute to see the little lovebirds together. Olivia got fussy when Beth pulled her away from Camden and we did not put him up to smiling that big when they were cheek-to-cheek! Love (and football) is in the air!

Therapy Update

Hey all, a lot of you have been asking about how Camden's therapy is going so let me fill you in. Lately Lisa, the PT has been working with his bench (Grandpa made him a really cool one to use at home): at first getting him to kneel at the bench, with his feet under his butt and play with the toys on the bench. Then she would have us hold a toy out in front of the bench and get him to reach up for the toy and come up on his knees. Today, she took everything he's been working on and did some cool stuff. Lisa had him on a kind of bench with wheels on it (his elbows) and Camden started off kneeling. She then manipulated his knees and legs to put them in a crawling pattern, while I dangled the toy in front and got him to move on his rolling bench forward to me.

Lisa then explained to me that Camden's next moves will be "bunny hops". When he steadies himself on his hands with his knees bent and feet under his butt, he'll just do little hops to get to where he needs to go. Lisa said it's going to be very cute, and very exciting! She's been right about everything else so far, so we're pretty stoked about it.

Basically, therapy is going well. We finally got him up to 2 PT sessions a week and we're waiting on Lisa to draw up the plan to ask for OT and Speech. Lisa reports that Camden has been right in line with accomplishing all the small tasks she wants him to and is very proud of his progress. She has also learned Camden's tricks: how he leans against you, looks up and gives an angelic smile (to get out of work). When he does this to Lisa, she just kisses his head, says "Hey. Yes, you're sweet. But that's not gonna work." And puts him right back on task--She's wonderful!

Our heads are still at the beach...sigh...

Hope everyone had a good labor day--we sure did! Gramps is still trying to train Camden and his cousins to follow in his footsteps and become professional beach bums. So he and Nana rented out a beach house in St. Augustine, where we played on the beach, in the pool, pigged out, watched football and enjoyed each other. We also celebrated 3 birthdays: Gramps (8/30), Aunt Joani (9/1) and Nana (9/6). Thanks, Nana and Gramps for once again giving us a relaxing break on the beach! Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure...