HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, CAM CAM!!

I can't believe our boy is 5 already! Mommy is in mourning--I miss my baby! For those of you that never got to see Camden as a baby, I put together a little slideshow of him at different stages. As you can tell, he's always been a beautiful boy (I'm not biased at all!) But the coolest thing is he's just as beautiful on the inside. Camden is the most determined, hard working and sweet spirited boy you will ever meet. He makes us proud on a daily basis. We are so blessed to have him in our lives! Happy Birthday to our amazing and wonderful son! :)

HE IS RISEN!

Between coloring eggs at Grandma's house with Great Grandpa Hoyt, the boys opening their baskets on Easter morning and hunting eggs on the lawn of Kingsway Church, we had a great Easter. Luke wasn't too much into the egghunt, but CamCam was. Camden especially seemed to like singing praises in the Church service and lifted his hands several times. (There's still a Baptist in this family!). He is risen--go tell everyone the good news! :)

White Christmas!

Camden and Luke were dreaming of a white Christmas...and they got it! Nana and Gramps' Christmas gift to their family was renting a comfy mountain home in Candler, NC. We got to take a ride on the Polar Express, put on a homeade Christmas Eve service, pigged out on yummy food, went snow tubing in Maggie Valley and prayed for snow on Christmas morning. Our prayers were answered big time! It ended up being 14 inches all together--enough to sled down (on garbage lids!) and play in to our hearts delight. We were a little afraid we might not be able to get back home! But we did and what a wonderful treat it was to be with family and enjoy God's gift to us!

May flowers!

Well, a pathetic excuse for a blogger I am! Much has happened for the Bailey family since you last checked. In March We moved out of Nana and Gramps into a small 2 BR/1 BA 0apartment. The idea is to save as much as we can for our next home. (That's the idea!) The weekend of the move, Mommy took Camden and Luke down to Tampa for cousin Melanie's first birthday (while Daddy stayed back to move). They had fun playing with their cousins and watching little Melanie dive into her cake. I had to ask Grandpa Dan to help me watch Luke, because he's not just walking--he's running! And always finding some mischief to get into. The nice thing is that Camden has a renewed interest in walking: It would seem as if Luke has inspired him! Now, whenever there is a free moment, Camden will start moving his legs in a walking pattern, which is his signal to us that he wants to walk. He's so motivated and works SO hard! We wondered how seeing Luke walk would affect Camden, so we're glad to see that he is challenged by it. It's renewed our hope that God is certainly not done with CamCam!
April was busy too, with the family continuing to settle in and Mommy helping to put on a 5K race for the Veterans she works for. Camden started with the Miracle League playing adaptive baseball. The baseball diamond is made of rubber and is very wheelchair and walker friendly. It's so cute to see him and his teammates out there being cheered on so enthusiastically by the volunteers and family members! He really seems to like his Thursday night games. We also went out to the Ochlocknee River for Sportsability and enjoyed a ton of adaptive activities. Camden and Luke rode horses (Camden's hippotherapy provider was out, as well as his usual horse Sham!), swam, ate some hamburgers and Cheetos and Camden went tube-skiing and tandem kayaking. It was a fun day with a live band out, at a beautiful park and Camden made lots of new friends that we've run into since then. Tallahassee has proved to be the right move for our family and lately have way too many blessings to count!

Luke's first birthday! part 1

We celebrated our "Pook"'s first birthday on a Tuesday, election day, by having some cake at home. Some of us ate a little more neater than Luke! Luke also had a second party at Great Grandpa Hoyt's house during Thanksgiving, with all his cousins. With the second party, he devoured a cake shaped like a drumstick, from Aunt Katie. "Drumstick" is a nickname he acquired while licking on a drumstick at Grandma's house a few months ago. If I can figure out how to get video from my phone to here, I'll post that too.

Halloween, Fall pictures, Thanksgiving, and house updates!

Look I know this is all out of order, but I'm playing catchup here! Here are some shots from Halloween, our pumpkin patch pictures, and Thanksgiving at Grandpa Hoyt's. It's been a crazy busy time for us. Since the last post, we've celebrated Luke's first birthday, created a John Deere tractor for Halloween (with Grandpa Dan's help!). I helped organize my work's parade float, using Dad's trailer for Veterans Day. The boys had a blast at the parade and we treated our Vet, Gramps to lunch afterwards. Hmmm...I hope I haven't forgotten anything.

Oh yeah! Our Jacksonville house is under contract! We go this weekend to get the rest of our stuff, as the new owners (a married couple--don't know if they have kids) want to be in by Christmas. So now, we're weighing our options...renting vs. owning, trying to find a rent-to-own as we're back to square one, financially. We'll see what God has in store for us. In the meantime, we're still having a blast with Nana and Gramps here and they've been such a blessing during this crazy time in our lives.

Luke playing with his balls!

Here's Luke's first time in big bro's ball pitt!

Tally-Ho!!

We've landed in Tallahassee and are living quite comfortably with Nana and Gramps--Heck, we may just move in permanently! Just kidding, the plan is to sell our house in Jacksonville, and for Mommy to find herself a job. When those two things happen, we can look into getting our own place. I've had a 2nd interview with one of the agencies I've applied with and will know by tomorrow if the job is mine. Kevin is into his 2nd week of work and has found a carpool group to save on gas to and from Thomasville. So far so good, but its only been training and orientation. The real work will start next week, and Kevin is happy with his staff. Camden has found an awesome school, DeSoto Trail Elementary (Pre-K). He has such wonderfully supportive and involved staff surrounding him. His teacher, Ms. Hill, has high expectations for Camden and is very patient and fun. He has not one, but two aides in the classroom and they are very patient and experienced as well. He gets PT, OT and Speech (he didn't even qualify for Speech in Jax!) almost every day. Camden is, for the first time, in an inclusive classroom and has been enjoying the school bus every afternoon. His brother Luke has been enjoying pulling up on Mommy's legs while she looks for jobs! Daycare won't start until I find work, but we've got the perfect one picked out already. So, we're doing very well and enjoying our new roomies. Nana and Gramps have made this crazy time in our lives so much more than bearable--they've made it fun! We're so grateful to them. :)

Beach Boys

Let me take a break from packing for a minute to share these pictures. A few weeks back Nana and Gramps rented the condo in St. Augustine in a belated celebration of Maddie, Camden and Jake's birthdays. It was worth the wait! Of course I didn't bring my camera but thank goodness Nana did. This was Luke's first time out on the beach and he loved it! Even when a wave almost knocked him over, he didn't cry. And Camden is really starting to like the waves too, going out deeper than he ever has before and laughing with every jump. Luke also got to hang with his BFF Samuel, who was also on the beach for the first time (Samuel didn't seem to be feeling the beach too much this day!) We also met up with Amie and Andrew and Ed and Edie, who brought their crazy (and sweet) kids along. I can't believe how big everyone has gotten!
P.S. I'm sorry, CamCam, didn't get any pics of you in the water, but we took tons when it was your first time in the water, remember? :)

Box 'em Up!!

It's official! We're headed home to Tallahassee! Kevin has accepted a job offer in the Tallahassee area and we've found a prospective buyer for the house. I had 2 successful interviews that past week and it's becomming very clear that this is where God wants us to be!
My last day of work is 8/20 and I think Kevin's is the week before that. Not sure when the actual move will take place, but we'll be calling any able-bodied volunteers that might be interested! Thank you all, for your prayers. :)

Pool party for Ramona's 1st!

We are back from G-pa Hoyt's house in Perry, where all of Camden and Luke's cousins on Mommy's side gathered to celebrate Ramona's 1st birthday with a pool party! Aunt Becky finally took some pictures (instead of stealing Aunt Betsy's!) to capture this rare occasion. Enjoy, there are only 38 of them!

Pool Party at the Ciak Pad!

We have been planning to get the kids together for 3 months and did so last weekend at Ris's parents' home in Tampa. The cousins played in the pool, the adults caught up and we all dined on Mr. and Mrs. Ciak's yummy cooking. They are such wonderful hosts...Mrs. C always puts fresh towels in the bedrooms, with a bottle of water on the nightstand. And they gave the kids Rays baseball toys and books to read (both of which helped to entertain the boys on the way home!). We had so much fun, we're already thinking about getting together in the fall too! Thanks Mr. and Mrs. C!! :)

Busy Bees

It's getting harder and harder to keep up with our blog lately with roadtrips, Tally job-hunting and the normal riggors of parenting little ones! But here are some pics of the last few weeks. Not a lot of writing, because let's face it: everyone wants to see pics, right?! (some of these are from Nana's camera and, for some odd reason, downloaded with a line through the picture)

Camden Says....

Camden had an appointment with an assistive device rep. last week, and looked at communication boards. After fiddling with 3 choices, we've decided to give the "Say It Sam" model a trial run (going to try to borrow one from Hope Haven) and put the request in with insurance for one for Camden. It could take up to 6 months...(groan). But the hope is that this nifty little device will help Camden to communicate with us, while he's learning to speak. We certainly aren't giving up on speach goals, but the Say It "Cam" (we've already renamed it) will hopefully alleviate a lot of frustration once he learns to use it.

HOME FOR SALE

It's happening, people! The sign went out yesterday. Check out the link at the right for the site we created to market the house.
Tell your friends!!!

The Leader of the Pack

Vrroom Vroom! Over the weekend we went to a party where our friend Kevin witnessed Luke doing his special move and dubbed it "the motorcycle". It's pretty cute, check it out! Also in this footage Luke shows off his newly acquired clapping skills.

Paging the Tooth Fairy...

Well, today was the big day for Camden. Going into surgery, we weren't sure whether or not one or both front top teeth would be extracted. But after Camden went under and another set of X-rays were taken, the dentist suggested removing both of them. The tooth next to the dead tooth looked to him as if it would most likely bring more problems in the future, even after a root canal. So both of them were taken out and the X-ray also revealed 3 other cavities in 3 back molars. Since he was already under, the dentist put fillings on them, coated the molars with a sealant, then cleaned and flourided his teeth (the last 2 things at no extra charge). Our job is to brush Camden's teeth at least twice a day, and floss (LOL!). And he says we can brush with the flouride kids' toothpaste, and leave it on his teeth afterwards--don't worry about trying to rinse it off w/ water.

Camden, naturally, was groggy coming out of recovery. And a little fussy, but didn't seem to be in intense pain. Tylenol seemed to help and the Frosty was what turned him around completely, back to our sweet smily boy! It wasn't until around 2:00 that we got home and I couldn't shovel that Frosty in quick enough. In between every bite Camden motioned for "more". Poor kid was starved! After a good 3 hour nap for Dad, he had a full portion of Beefaroni, followed by banana pudding and jello. And of course, we brushed afterwards! We put the 2 teeth under his pillow for the tooth fairy to pick up on her rounds tonight. Not quite sure what she will bring...

Thank you all for your prayers. They were answered and we think Camden's new smile is pretty cute. (The picture was taken by my cellphone and doesn't do him justice)

4 Years Ago Today...

We became a family! Happy Birthday to our sweet boy Camden!

Chief Roseola

So the ailment of the week this week is Roseola, a viral skin infection that gives you a rash all over your body. This popped up on Camden early Monday morning and seems to be getting worse by the hour. Since this picture was taken, the spots got darker, and the rash moved to almost every area--even his cute little hiny! The good thing is that it looks a lot worse than it is. Other than a fever and runny nose (contained by Motrin and Kleenex), it doesn't seem to be bothering CamCam too much. It is contagious, though, so tomorrow will be his 3rd day out of school. Once the rash is gone, the period of contagion is over. We're doing the best we can to keep little brother away.
Once all this is out of the way, Camden is going to have to have his 2 front teeth extracted. I know, I know...but he's got such a beautiful smile! Normally kids move up to flouride toothpaste around 3 years old. But since Camden can't swish and spit, we've been using the safe-to-swallow toothpaste, which didn't protect his teeth enough. Now we're brushing the flouride toothpaste, but are wiping it off afterwards w/ a wet paper towel.
So one tooth is dead and the other would have to have a root canal. His dentist recommended taking both of them out while he is under (going to the hospital for the procedure). It will most likely take place next week. Please continue to pray for our CamCam. That he'll be in minimum pain and that his next teeth don't take too long to come in (and we take care of them better!).

Luke's baptism

On Easter Sunday, we dedicated our sweet baby Luke to God by baptism. He was so good and still--his brother seemed a lot more squirmier! We were blessed to have Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Betsy's family in town for it. Aunt JoJo treated us to a party at her house in celebration, complete with napkins with "L"s on them and all the nice things you can expect from her. My mom brought the meal: Easter ham and a variety of yummy salads. We sure are blessed!