Hi Ho, Hi Ho ...

It's off to work I go!!  I'm picking up some casual shifts at FSHC in the next few months.  My replacement has moved on already!  She accepted an awesome job with the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the U of A, an opportunity that she'd be crazy to let pass by ... I only wish this position would have popped up five or six years from now and I would have applied!!  So I'm going to work most Mondays until November or until they hire someone into the position.  Cal is home on Mondays, so it works out great childcare wise.  And I'll be happy to make some extra moola before the most expensive time of year - Christmas!!!

We had a great weekend!  Saturday morning Cal took Blake to his hockey practice and I took Emerson to her swimming lesson.  Both kids had fun!  Saturday afternoon we headed to Stony Plain to celebrate our niece Jenna's 1st birthday.  We had fun watching Jenna opening gifts and enjoying her cake :)  The kids also enjoyed playing with many of their cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa Cameron.  It was a great afternoon/evening!  Thanks Stony Plain Cameron's :)

Today we spent the day at home.  Emerson had a rough night last night.  Not sure if that was due to going to bed 3 1/2 hours later then usual or because of the cold she's getting.  Thankfully, both kids slept in and my amazing, wonderful, spectacular, fabulous, handsome, etc, etc, hubby let me sleep in even longer :)  I felt like crap this morning, but was feeling better within a few hours!  Unfortunately Blake is getting a cold too, although he seems to handle the sniffles and sneezing much better then our little drama queen :)  Poor Em was totally off today ... hopefully they'll both be feeling a bit better tomorrow for their day home with Dad!  They both went to bed great and have been sleeping good, lets hope that continues until morning.

I feel like we have a busy week coming up, but if the kids aren't feeling well we might have to cancel some of our daytime plans.  Tuesday/Thursday is the usual, Wednesday we were hoping to go to Sing, Sign, Laugh and Learn with Christa and Berlyn, Wednesday evening I have a Sweet Momma massage (YAY!) and Friday we were going to the Helm's for a play date!  Friday evening I am taking a van full of ladies to the Alberta Rehabilitation Coordinating Council Awards in Camrose - ROAD TRIP!!  lol!  I told them to bring a DVD for the van ride if they want ... lol!!  Saturday we have hockey and swimming, as well as a Cameron family function.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and is keeping warm and sane during this dreary weather ...  I for one am sick of the rain, although I do prefer the rain to snow at this time of year ;)

Take care,

Tracy

32 Weeks

I am 32 weeks today!!  Hard to believe (getting tired of hearing that?!)!!!  I had a Dr. appointment this afternoon and will start seeing the Dr. every 2 weeks now.  The Dr. was running VERY late today - 1.5 hours late ... Thank goodness for my Blackberry, which helped me pass the time.  I really need to remember to bring a book!  I got the results from my ultrasound and all is good on the placenta front ;)  It is no longer marginal!  Dr. Schafter said today that she has never seen a marginal placenta not move.  Baby was actually laying side ways today, which felt very odd.  Hopefully by my next appt. (34 weeks) baby will be head down, not feet down!  Babies heart beat was 137 bpm today, which is right around where Blake and Emerson's were at 32 weeks, so not giving away the sex with the heart rate!!  I ran out of dyclectin on Tuesday, so did not take one Tuesday night and boy did I pay for it on Wednesday.  ICK!  I couldn't eat a thing without losing it and felt nauseous all day.  So I called the Pharmacist and got 1 pill for Wednesday night.  And of course, I mentioned the prescription refill today at my appt., but left without the prescription :S  So tomorrow should be fun again.  Oh well, I'll call the Dr. office at 9 and they can call or fax in a prescription for me and I'll pick it up asap.  Considering I've been sick the entire pregnancy, it makes me think this baby is a boy.  I was sick the entire pregnancy with Blake, but was only sick for the first 5 months with Em (the 1st trimester rule certainly does not apply to me!).  But that is the only thing I am basing my guess on, so who knows?!  Of course, it really does not matter either way.  We only pray for a healthy baby!  I'm just glad we won't have 3 girls ;)  We think we've decided on a boys name, but still working on a girls 1st name.  I'm feeling kind of achey this week and my ankles are swelling a bit!  At this point, I am so glad that I wasn't at the end of my pregnancy in the heat of summer!!  I definitely don't think that would be very enjoyable!!  In preparation for baby's arrival, we've started planning Blake and Emerson's room.  Although there is not much room to plan!!  The bedroom will barely fit the 2 beds and a dresser, so there isn't much space to work with.  We will do some decorating, but I'm not going to go to overboard with that!  It will be a room to sleep in, that's it!!  Right now Blake wants trains and firetrucks on his wall, so we'll see what we can do about that.  I'll probably do flowers on Emerson's wall.  Or butterfly's or something girlish like that!  We're not painting the walls or anything.  And we'll add a few more shelves on the wall to balance out what's existing!  I'd love for them to have matching furniture, but they won't!  In the future when the 2 boys or the 2 girls share a room we'll hopefully be more matchy-matchy!!  lol!  We don't think Blake will have any troubles with sharing a room, he is a pretty deep sleeper and he seems excited!  Emerson on the other hand, may have a big adjustment!  She seems to be a light sleeper still.  Blake often moans and groans in his sleep, so we're expecting Emerson to wake up to that.  There will definitely be an adjustment period, we're just hoping it's short!!  I'm actually looking forward to the kids sharing a room.  I think it will be good for them :)  Keep in mind this is coming from someone who has never shared a room ... but I think it helps to foster a closer relationship between siblings.  I hope that in the years to come they will take comfort in having a loved one so near by when awoken by a bad dream, a loud noise, etc.  And I think it will be neat that they can whisper to each other and scheme against Mom and Dad ;)  LOL!!  Anywho, this short update on baby has turned into one long post ... sorry ;)  Have a great weekend everyone!!

xoxo The Cameron's 

Yay Blake!!

The Tuesday after August long weekend, Blake had a rough night.  He woke up numerous times through out the night scared and had trouble going back to sleep.  This went on, off and on, until last week ... We were very distraught!!  We also felt so bad for Blake, because he was truly very scared and it broke our hearts.  He's always been an excellent sleeper, even before we sleep trained him at 4 months.  So having to go into his room during the night, sometimes lay with him, sometimes bring him into our bed was driving us CRAZY!  The other odd thing was that he NEVER wanted us to lay with him nor did he ever want to climb into our bed.  At times when he's been sick we've tried to do one or both, just to give us a break and he wouldn't!  But after some problem solving and getting advice and information from various sources our boy is an AWESOME sleeper once again :)  Phew!  After talking to a few parents and friends, I was very surprised at how many people sleep with their children or have to stay in their kids rooms until their children are asleep, etc, etc.  I seriously don't know how those parents do it ... kudos to them, cause we could never handle it!!  We like to put our kids to bed awake, close the door and they go to sleep, sleep for at least 12 hours and stay in their beds!!!!  We also stopped putting Blake for a nap a few months ago.  He would take forever to fall asleep at night if he had an afternoon nap.  So now he's going to sleep quite early (between 6:30 and 7 pm) and gets up between 7 and 7:30 am.  Now we have one more notch on our belts ... closer to becoming sleep experts?!  LMAO!!!  NOT ... I'm sure there will be many more interesting bedtime/night time "encounters" in our lives ;)

Wishing you all a good night's rest too :)

Tracy

Busy Weekend!

Thursday night at hockey registration I found out that Blake had his first hockey practice this Saturday!!  We thought his first ice time might be next weekend (18th), not THIS weekend!  So Friday morning the kids and I ran out to our local sports store to pick up a practice jersey and hockey socks for the big guy.  Cal had an optometrist appointment Friday afternoon and was home early from work, which always makes us happy :) 

Emerson had a disruptive sleep on Thursday night.  We didn't have to go into her room, but she was crying out every now and then and then falling back asleep, etc, etc.  On Friday it seemed that she would cry every time she had to pee.  She'd be walking around and then all of a sudden bend at the waist and hold herself and say, "Pooooo." (she says poo regardless if she pee's or poos!) and cry a little bit :(  It kept happening over and over and I thought it was a bit odd, but she didn't have a fever so that night we put her to bed as usual.  She was not settling and kept crying and saying, "Poooo."  So I started thinking maybe she had a UTI or a bladder infection??  I wasn't sure, but I called Health Link and they suggested taking her in, which I did.  Three hours later, after putting a urine bag on her and getting a contaminated sample and attempting an in/out catheter the Dr. suggested coming back tomorrow if she became feverish or sick to her stomach.  Ugh ... sometimes I think I overreact when the kids are sick, but you just never know and I think you're better safe then sorry!  Although I would have rather spent my Friday night differently!!  Turns out, she does have a small diaper rash and maybe it was burning when she was going to the bathroom.  She hasn't had a fever or been sick to her stomach and seems much better :)

Saturday morning was a very busy few hours!!  We had to be out the door at 8:30 to take Blake to his 1st ever hockey practice!!  We were all very excited!  To the right is a picture of Blake getting all geared up :)  Cal volunteered as a Coach this year ... thank goodness!  Most of the kids on the ice had an adult with them, which was much needed!  It took Blake awhile to get his feet under him and much of the 1 hr on the ice was spent literally, on the ice!!  But he came off the ice happy and talking about next time, so it was a positive 1st experience :)  It was a full ice surface, with approx. 30 kids and 20 adults on the ice!!  The Initiation 1 and Initiation 2's shared the ice, but in the future just the Initiation 1's will have an ice slot.  After Blake got off the ice, we headed over to the YMCA for Emerson's 1st swimming lesson of this session.  As expected, she LOVED her swimming lesson!  She was smiling and giggling the whole time :)  Saturday evening I went to visit my friend Candace at her Mom's house in Beaumont.  It was great to see Candace, as usual!  I left there around 12:30 am to pick up Linds and Jer at the airport!  They were back from their two week vacation in Turkey and Greece.  It was great to see them and hear all about their fabulous vacation!!  They spent the night at our house Saturday.

Sunday morning we went for brunch with Lindsay and Jeremy and then they were off to Fort Mac.  Sunday afternoon the Parenteau's came for a visit.  We missed Berlyn's 1st birthday party last weekend, but kept her gifts and were able to see her open them today :) 

Tomorrow I have an ultrasound appointment at 11 am.  This ultrasound is to see if my placenta has moved at all.  I don't think I'll get any results tomorrow and I'm not sure when my next Dr. appointment is!  I'm going to call the office tomorrow to find out. 

This week we have the usual activities and I found out last week that a new session of Sing, Sign, Laugh and Learn started at Londonderry Library, so we might check that out on Wednesday morning.  Emerson has swimming on Saturday from 11 to 11:30, Blake has hockey from 11:45 to 12:45 and we have our niece Jenna's 1st birthday party at 3:30!!  I was hoping to go to my friend's wedding ceremony at 12:30, but I don't think I'll be able to fit it in.  I'm not taking Emerson with me and having her miss her nap!!  I'd rather she has a good nap before the birthday party, because I'm sure she won't be going to bed on time!  Sunday we no plans, which is good because we'll need a day of rest ;) 

Have a great week everyone :)

xoxo Tracy

Miss Em

I know I've said it before, but I can't believe how much Emerson has changed in the last 6-7 months!!  It's so amazing to witness all these changes and all she is learning!  She can be the sweetest little girl in the world at times and at other times not so much ... lol!!  She certainly has her own mind about her ;) 

I LOVE how she says hello to all of us and her teddy and blankie.  Numerous times during the day she'll walk up to me and say, "Hi Mom!" in this sweet, soft little sing-song voice.  Melts my heart :)  She also does the same to Cal when he comes home from work and she'll often pick up her teddy and blankie and say, "Hi teddy.  Hi blankie"  and give them a big hug!!  Adorable!!!  Emerson and I also have this "thing" we do, where I say, "Emerson?" in a soft, quiet, kind of questioning voice and she looks at me and says, "Uh huh?" with a big grin on her face, to which I either say, "I love you Emerson!" or "You're so cute!"  She knows what I'm going to say every time, it's so cute the look she gets on her face ;)

Emerson also has a great love for her brother, as well as her cat and dog.  Every morning when she gets up she says, "Blake?" and walks off to his room to see if he's there.  As soon as she finds him she greets him with, "Hi Blake!"  Every night Blake has to say goodnight to her in her room.  We tried changing it up and having him say goodnight to her downstairs, but that did not go over well!  Once we got to her room she cried his name over and over until he came up to her room!  I often find them "wrestling" during the day, which I used to try to stop, but I don't anymore!!  Reason being, they are both having fun!  I worry that Em will get hurt, but she usually doesn't, and they're both laughing the whole time, so I'm learning to let them be :)  As I said earlier, Em also loves Heidi and Jazz.  She often "talks" to them and gives them many, many hugs and kisses :)  I'd say her favorite animal right now is a puppy.  She points them out everywhere we go and in every book.  "Puppy, puppy!!  Woof, woof!!"  So it is fitting that she is a dalmatian puppy for Halloween :)  And her costume also goes well with Blake's fireman costume!

I know 18 months can be a frustrating age.  There's so much going on in their heads, but they can't always communicate what they want to get across!!  Emerson's favorite way to express her frustrations is to hit ... she'll hit anything and everything in her way.  To tell you the truth, it's hard not to laugh a lot of the time, as she's hitting the pantry, the table, the floor, the couch, etc!!!  But we try not to laugh, because of course we don't want to encourage her hitting.  This is something new for us, as Blake never hit a thing until his sister came along!!!  lol!!  Thankfully we can usually stop her from hitting people by threatening her with a time out.  But I think one day soon we'll have to follow through with a time out, or she'll start pushing her limits more!!

We've had a few people remark at how well Emerson talks.  I know that at 19 months, children can typically use 6 words.  I have no idea how many words Em can use, but it is significantly greater then 6!!!  She's a little chatterbox and uses a lot of 2 word phrases as well! 

Emerson has 14 teeth and #15 and #16 are almost through.  Most recently she cut her top two eye teeth.  The next two on their way are the bottom two eye teeth :S  These teeth have caused Emerson (and Cal and I!) a lot of grief!!!  She's had her hand in her mouth constantly for the past month and is drooling so much, which has given her a bit of a rash around her mouth.  I can't wait for the bottom two to be through!!!  Thank goodness for Advil and Tylenol, which seem to give her some relief.

Emerson is loving the Come Play With Me program at the YMCA!  She LOVES music and dancing and interacting with other kids.  It's so cute how she walks up to the other kids and looks up at them and tries to talk to them!!  And I find it funny how she seems to call most kids between 0 and 2 baby ;)  It's great for Emerson to have some 1 on 1 time with me, but she also has time to wander off by herself and play, which is something she doesn't often do with Blake around most of the time. 

We love you so much Em :)

xoxo

Blake's First Day of Preschool!

Today was the big day!!  And Blake did GREAT!!  When we first arrived, the preschool director was outside the classroom directing everyone.  She introduced herself to Cal and I and talked to Blake while we were putting his indoor shoes on, hanging up his coat and putting his lunch box (for snack time) in the big bin!  Then we went into the classroom to sign him in and do a few more paperworky things!  At the same time one of the teachers came and said hi to Blake and showed him that the color of animal he had on his name tag, was the color of square he was supposed to sit on, on the big area rug in front of the other teacher!  And that was it, he was off to join the other kids and didn't turn back.  We peaked in at him a few times and he did great the entire time.  I was very surprised, there was only 1 girl who cried a bit at the beginning and then again at the end when she saw her Mom!  We didn't count how many kids there were in his class, but I think there was around 18.  Quite a few newbies and some returning preschoolers!  Today Blake made a book mark with his name on it, colored a backpack coloring sheet and learned the letter "I".  They did a worksheet on the letter "I".  At the end of the class the teachers let the kids out one by one (you have to sign them out and in) and when it was Blake's turn he came charging out with his crafts to show us :)  And of course he had to tell us about a few of his favorite songs they sang!  We got a newsletter and calendars for the remainder of the year.  They have some fun days coming up!  Wear your pj's day, wear your favorite team jersey, swimming day (they swim 1 week or 2 classes, out of every month), a Halloween Party and breakfast with Santa!!  We had a great morning and were so proud of our little man :)

Emerson had fun at Come Play With Me.  She was the only kid for awhile, but towards the end others showed up!  We signed Em up for a YMCA membership today.  Just made sense with the cost of the program and swimming lessons!  Today Em sang and danced, played with a bin full of Mr. Potato Heads and blocks and did some coloring :)  At first I think she was a bit overwhelmed with all the attention ... Mom, Dad and the instructor's undivided attention!!  But it was really nice to spend time with just her and it was good for her as well!

Here are a few pictures from our exciting day:

xoxo Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby :)

September is here already?!

And I'm 30 weeks pregnant!!  Wowzers!!  I knew this pregnancy (and summer) would go by fast, but wow!  I'm still feeling really tired, but I don't expect that to change anytime soon!  Cal and I both really, really, REALLY need to work on getting to bed earlier, but we've been saying that for years now.  Other then that, I'm doing good!  Still taking 1 dycletin a day ... every time I try to go off of it, I'm sick the next day.  I remember with Blake's pregnancy I finally just went off the dyclectin, even though I was still puking, but this time I just can't feel like that with 2 toddlers to take care of!  And the heart burn has kicked in full force, but is cured by Tums, so it's all good :)  Baby is very active and kicking up a storm!  I have another ultrasound on September 13 to see where the placenta is.  Hopefully it has moved and is no longer low-laying!  Blake often gives the baby (my belly) hugs and kisses and Emerson just likes to pull my shirt up and say baby!!!!

We had a good weekend camping with my parents at Whistler's campground, outside of Jasper.  It is so beautiful there, surrounded by mother nature at its finest :)  The weather was actually quite good.  It rained a bit during the day, but not much.  Blake and Emerson loved running around and seeing Athabasca Falls!!  On Sunday my Mom, Cal, the kids and I went swimming at the indoor pool in Jasper, while my Dad stayed back so supper would be ready and Miss Em could get to bed at a decent time ;)  Blake had a blast on the water slide!!  Emerson had fun, but was way too daring for me!!  She didn't want to be held or even touched in the water and went under a few times (which did not upset her in the least!).  She just wanted to walk around and into water up to her neck and then try to float at random times?!  It was crazy!!  We tried putting a life jacket on her and she was not pleased with that ... although last time we were swimming she loved having the life jacket on!  I'm glad she starts swimming lessons on Saturday and thinking that she might be an early swimmer!!!  Both the kids rode home from Jasper with my parents, so Cal and I had a very quiet trip home :) But I think Heidi was a bit lost without the kids!!!  That was our last camping trip of the year.  We're debating putting our trailer up for sale this week.  We're not taking it out to the storage lot until October, so we're thinking it wouldn't hurt to advertise it for a few weeks?!  If it sells, we'll buy something new this Fall, if not we'll try again in Spring (unless we change our minds by then!!!)!

Blake helped Cal and I prepare everything for his first day of preschool tomorrow.  Earlier in the day he told us he didn't want to go to preschool, but I think we've changed his mind!!  We whispered to him that we better not talk about preschool in front of Em, because she really wants to go but is too young.  That seemed to cause a shift in his attitude!  He was excited to pack a snack in his new Woody and Buzz lunchbox, label his cups and bowls (with Mabels Labels!!!  I LOVE this company!), pack his backpack and pick out his clothes for tomorrow!  We reminded him at bed time that Emerson might be upset when we drop him off, but to tell her it's okay Em, you can go to preschool when you're 3 too!!!  He then suggested that we take Emerson to the play gym across the hall :)  Usually we can't "trick" him, but I think this angle may have worked ;)  We'll see how it goes tomorrow morning!!

And so our busier days begin!!  Preschool Tues and Thur morning, along with Come Play With Me for Em and I.  Thursday is hockey registration for Blake and Saturday Em's swimming lessons start!  We're also looking forward to a visit from Candace, Nicholas and Presley on Wednesday :)

Have a fabulous week everyone!!

xoxo
Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby