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!

HOPPY EASTER FROM CAMDEN AND LUKE!

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!"
--Luke 24:5,6

More updates on CamCam

There's a lot on my mind right now with Katie being in the hospital, Camden's impromptu trip to the ER (feeding tube fell out again) yesterday, and me starting part time at work next week! But I wanted to make sure everyone knew that Camden is at 25 lbs now! (Okay, so his baby brother Luke is only 7 lbs behind him at a chunky 18--whatever!!). And to follow up with my last post, the Neuro said she did not think Camden has had any seizures, which was good news.

Yesterday after the ER trip, Camden seemed to be acting as if nothing had happened so we kept his PT and Speech appts at Wolfsons. Lisa said he rocked on the walker and I got to meet CamCam's newest Speech therapist(this is his 6th!). I was pleased to see that she is a fellow Nole and starts and ends each session w/ some practical OT excersizes: tomahawk chopping and war chants! She also knows her stuff and I got to see what her and Daddy have been working on with Cam. She holds 2 pictures up, one of a banana and one of a monkey and asks him which one he wants. If he choses the monkey, she'll have him distinquish between 2 wooden cutouts, of a monkey and a banana (to see if he'll pick the one he just chose). He gets them right almost everytime, but yesterday missed a few because he was wiped out after the traumatic trip the ER (I won't lie, he screamed and turned tomato-red when they forced the new tube back into the canal) plus the workout Ms. Lisa gave him.

But it was another reminder of how much we've been blessed with: Dedicated therapists, caring teachers, supportive Church, friends and family and Camden's can-do attitude and determined efforts. All of these ingredients (plus the special ingredient--prayer) will produce some very sweet results.

Not so sleeping Beauty

Hope you are enjoying our new picture and blog name. The pictures were professionally done by a photographer friend of my good buddy Heather's. Shortly after the earthquake in Haiti, he offered free 15 minute sittings in the park in exchange for a donation to Unicef. It was a win-win! Here are some more pics from that session.
Also, Camden had a "sleep" EEG on Wednesday. The goal was to get him to fall asleep while studying his brain waves for signs of any possible seizures. Camden was a very good and still boy for most of it. It was a little scary at first because he had to be restrained which he didn't like one bit. His arms were down by his side and they wrapped him up tightly with a sheet like a newborn. Between that and the Ace bandage wrapped around the electrodes, he looked like a mummy! After he got used to it he stopped crying and settled down. The room was actually very calming...dark, with a nice sound machine playing cricket noises. The whole thing took 30 minutes. Aside from the strobe light test (she put a strobe light about 2 inches from his eyes--it made him giggle!) all Camden really did was lay there and grunt occasionally. I did my best to sing and soothe him but he never went down for a nap! Finally the nice lady giving the test asked me to hold his eyelids shut so she could monitor that change. We'll get the results next week from the Neuro.
P.S. Luke was weighed today...a whopping 17 lbs!