18 months and Rockin it out!

September has been full of appointments and birthdays and puke and recovery and shots and fevers, but perhaps most of all ROCKING!!! Check this snippit out that I captured on the first day I caught Cameran doing this on her own...



Go Cameran!  I have a feeling that little Miss Cameran Leah is going to be doing lotsa things all at once, making for some interesting days to come in the Gerber household....

Ryan's birthday was pretty mellow.  We went to Lancaster for the day, shopped, and ate at a restaurant on the outskirts of the city.  Having the evening to ourselves was definitely the highlight! 

That same weekend we also parted with our younger dog, Nala, who is now living at the home of one of Ryan's coworkers.  This family has a house full of kids, and has more time to devote to Nala's needs.  So, even though my head and my heart disagreed at first and I miss her, I know she is better off.  Jasmine has been loving life as an only doggie again too.  She gets the attention that Nala hogged for 4 1/2 years.  Not only that, but she is actually mellow enough to keep inside AND in the same room when Cameran's entourage is at the house doing various interventions!  Double plus.  So, all in all, it is a good change.

Shots were Friday.  By shots I mean Cameran's 15 month and some of her 18 month shots since she was unable to receive immunizations while on her seizure steroids.  She never tolerates them well, and this weekend was no exception.  Finally, four days later, she is beginning to feel better and her fever broke for the first time today.

We are busy gearing up for this year's Buddy Walk!  Cameran's Crew is growing still, and we have 6 fundraisers including myself.  So far we have exceeded $1,000 in support of the inclusion and acceptance of people with Down syndrome.  I never used to be much of a fundraiser-ish type of person, but I have shamelessly and probably to some, obnoxiously posted and reposted links to Cameran's page of Facebook, if for no other reason, to raise awareness (and share a cute picture too!)


Finally, here are a few pictures from the past few weeks...

Seizure-Free!!! A post from August 23rd...

Today was my first day back to work (just like every August in the life of a teacher). I needed a refresher in just how long it takes to get myself motivated to get up and ready after 4+ snooze button pushes plus getting Cameran ready for daycare aka Snot Haven. Needless to say we were pushing the envelope today. Tomorrow we have to do better. Wednesday is a must. In any case, it went. I didn't get to stay and get my room ready for a little longer because Cami had her EEG follow-up...

As the title gives away...she is seizure free!!! Her brain waves are completely normal, and now we are just beginning a slow decrease of the topamax. Three weeks from now Cami will be drug free!!! (Okay, I lied. There's still Zantac to be had...)

We are so thankful. Cameran is smiley and giggley again!

Random thoughts

It has been 4 days in a row that we have not had projectile emissions spewing from Cameran!  Who knew the doctor actually knew what he was talking about when he said the Prevacid takes about two weeks to get regulated in one's system?!  Awesome!

In other news, this is the weekend of house painting.  Ryan hates painting.  I am not sure why this is.  Given that we are akin to Felix and Oscar, I would like to think that it is because he is uber anal and doesn't feel he does a good enough job as opposed to just not wanting to get the job done.  He cleans like a trooper.  I am a piler and he is a pitcher--as in, he tries to throw away everything he gets his hands on.  In any case, it is a good thing that one of us is neat and orderly or I just might have a future on A&E's Hoarders.  Apparently being a pack-rat is the first step to old person hoarding.  What.ever.  You never know when you might need something.  Seriously... What does this mean?  It means that our dear friend is giving up her weekend to come paint.  I finished ripping out the nasty carpeting under the baseboards since the carpet is getting installed in two weeks.  It is just easier to paint them that way.  What isn't easier is my breathing.  I think I started up a dust bowl.  Filthy carpet.  I smite you.

If I write on this blog that I am dieting, will I actually stick to it (for more than a week)???  It's not like I don't have a good reason.  I am going to get tested to see if I am a match to be a kidney donor for my mom.  My mother-in-law has graciously stepped forward and is already undergoing testing, but she is at the "high end" of normal levels, meaning that she is still a candidate, but she needs to watch out for her own health because she is borderline in terms of safety to her own body.  I figure, why not?  I found out about a month ago that I somehow became one of two individuals on my mother's tiny family tree that has avoided Polycystic Kidney Disease.  That alone is such a blessing that I would feel weird sitting around with two perfectly good (potential) kidneys knowing that my mom is staving off dialysis in two month increments.  Plus, laproscopic surgery should be a breeze (okay, mildly sugar-coating here) because they can use Cami's C-section scar for one of the three openings!  (I wonder if a tummy tuck is possiblewhile they're in there???) With that said, I don't want to get rejected before I get started, hence the NEED to lose weight...

Amen.  Good night.

Crazyyyyyy

The past month has been enough to make even the calmest feel a little cuckoo. 

First, to follow up my last post from what seems forever ago, the verdict is in and we are NOT moving.  At least not yet.  It isn't any fun fixing up a house for other people, so we are going to finish getting it the way WE want it, and go from there.  Besides, there isn't an immediate rush.  Cameran and kindergarten are a long way off. 

Second, since we have been home from Illinois Cameran has been on a puking rampage.  Projectile.  Every. blessed. day.  No lie.  We switched from Zantac to Prevacid, which sounded great at the time, but is even more difficult to get into her being that it is a dissolvable tablet that she spits out even when dissolved in water for her.  Bleh.  In any case, her GI appointment is coming "soon", on November 15th that is.  Until then we are loading her up on PediaSURE to get extra calories.  She is also pretty much refusing lumps and bumps, which is disappointing because when she was on her steroid medication she was a trooper.  I gave her a bite of real sweet potatoes from Texas Roadhouse yesterday.  BAD CHOICE!!!! I don't even know that she tried swallowing, but she did successfully projectile it out (at least it was nice and mild weatherwise and we talked the hostess into letting us sit outside foreseeing the projectile situation as a likely possibility).  I almost think in instances like that it is becoming behavioral.  Who knows.  We shall see.... In November. 

Third, with school starting, I made it a whole eight work days before daycare called asking me to get her because of -what else-vomit.  And to their credit, Cameran is pretty much on a puke-once-for-free pass WITH baths because of her reflux, but understandably even they have their limits.  So, when I took her to the pediatrician that afternoon I walked in calmly, and left freaking out, holding Cameran and a specimin bag to take "immediately" to the hospital to test for pertussis.  Pertussis you say?  Yeah, pertussis.  As is we get vaccinated for it--whooping cough.  Sweet.  As we walked out the entire nursing, doctorial, and secretarial staff had their masks on so Cameran wouldn't infect them.  (BTW, they were NOT wearing them when we walked in).  Thankfully, two days and many vomits later the verdict came back: Pertussis Negative.

Fourth, let's see.  Oh wait.  I don't need anything else.  This has been enough!  My life revolves around eating, working, feeding Cameran, cleaning up Cameran, cleaning up Cameran's puke, repeat.  Somewhere in there is time for sleeping and grading papers for the other 90+ adopted 7th graders in my possession until June 8th.

In conclusion, sue me for being a bad blogger.  I blame this blog's namesake.  And I (despite all this) wouldn't change a thing.

Love,

Me

(Mommy, stop talking bad about me, I can't help it!)

PS.  I mildly (okay daily) stalk, as thousands of others do as well Kelle Hampton's blog.  As I was catching up on a few posts I had missed I learned that her youngest daughter's birth story is featured in the October issue of Parents magazine.  I was excited to go home and check the mail to see if my issue had arrived, and when it wasn't there it was a huge bummer.  So....I made a Target run, and $133 and some odd cents later, arrived home with the magazine that I have not yet gotten in the mail but now have anyway!  If you have a second, check out page 186...It is awesome, and in Kelle fashion, made my eyes are teary reading again the story of her daughter's unexpected birth...Enjoy!