Wordless/Wordful Wednesday- The Doggie Repairman

Pluto didn't bark or wag his tail and walk around on his leash anymore. Pluto needed new batteries. I was going to put new batteries in it, but the Camster decided he needed to fix it himself.

This was some tough work! You can tell he's serious about it. He's all stretched out laying on the ground. It helps him to work better.

HMMM.......wonder if this other doggie over here needs some fixin' ?????? Since I have the screwdriver out and all.

Bingo's looking a little worried. He's hoping the Camster doesn't decide he needs some fixin' too!

The Death of a Fire Truck?

One day while waiting for pictures to be developed at the pharmacy (which these days is a lot more than a pharmacy) ,the Camster and I decided to take a run down the toy aisle. I spotted a really cool looking fire engine with a fireman sitting in the driver's seat and found out that it also made a really cool siren noise when a little button on the side was pushed. I showed the Camster how to make the siren work, and he thought it was pretty cool too. I'm not sure if the other people in the store thought it was cool or not, because he pushed the button as I pushed him in the buggy up and down every aisle. Yes-I was allowing him to be obnoxious. I thought it was funny. At least he was having fun and not screaming at the top of his lungs about something. Not that My Camster would do anything like that in public!

I decided that I would buy it for him, because at the time he had mostly what I considered baby toys. Not real boy toys. Now--this isn't the time or place to decide if I was politically correct calling the fire engine a boy toy. The little guy also has a vacuum and Elmo's restaurant featuring an oven and stove top. He loves both of those just as much as the firetruck. But I do think the truck it is a boy toy.

So, Cameron has had lots lots of fun playing with his firetruck. Pushing it and letting it roll across the room and crash into things. Sometimes the firetruck had a driver; the little fireman that came with the truck. Sometimes the driver was in the bottom of the toy box playing with Happy Meal toys, so the firetruck had to drive itself. Eventually, one of the wheels broke off, but the fire truck just kept on going. And the siren wailed every time Cameron pushed the button.

Then, last night, he decided he needed that battery-operated firetruck in the bathtub with him. It did fine, till he pushed the button for the siren to start. It started alright. But, instead of sounding like, "Hey watch out, I'm coming through to help put out a fire!!, it sounded more like, "Hey I think I'm a little waterlogged and I'm just not feeling so well". As sick as it sounded though, it was still just as loud as ever. And it kept going and going. I banged on it. I shook it. This thing was persistent.

So, I hurriedly bathed Cameron and got him out of the tub as quickly as possible. Let him think I was being extra cool by allowing him to run around without his diaper on. Why do babies like that anyway? I don't know--but I just prayed that he wouldn't do anything that would require him being covered with a diaper as I ran to the laundry room to get out my box of tools. The fire truck is still protesting the bathtub, all the while. Ok--the battery box on this firetruck requires a very small phillip's head screwdriver. Hmm- I have a large one. Nope--didn't work. Ok--I have a tiny flat head. Nope--didn't work. In fact, I think I stripped out the screw trying to get get it loose.Siren is still singing its sad song. Loud as ever. Now what to do? I banged on the firetruck some more. Surely the battery was gonna die at any moment. We'd had that fire truck for awhile.

The siren kept on shrieking and wailing, "eww I don't feel good, ewww I don't feel good." This wasn't good. I couldn't listen to this the rest of the night. I didn't want to traumatize cam by taking it out on the back porch and hitting it with a hammer. Plus--I kinda liked that fire truck. It wasn't the fire truck's fault. I was the one who let Cam take it into the tub.

So, I did the next best thing. I took it back to my room, to the the back of my walk-in closet. There I buried it under an overstuffed pillow, a pile of clothes , my laptop case, and another pile of clothes. And, there I left it to wail itself to death. I came back in my room an hour later to use the bathroom, and could still hear it in there. I felt kind of bad.

I ended up sleeping on the couch, and when I went into my room this morning. Silence. No more fire engine siren.

I'm thinking that maybe now that it is not making noise, I may try to see if I can help the poor thing out. Maybe since I am not now in panic mode over thinking I'm going to have to either listen to the siren all night or put it in the car, drive it far away, and dump it somewhere, I can figure out how to get the battery compartment open. Maybe its dried out and some new batteries will give it a new life. I hope so. Cause even though it is missing a wheel, I think I've grown kind of fond of that fire truck.

CHILD LABOR

Recently, after a little touch up on my toenails, I left my bottle of red polish sitting on the coffee table and rushed out the door. I was expecting to be home alone that weekend, and thought it would be OK to leave it there till later. Well-----I ended up not being alone later, and while I was putting groceries away in the kitchen, guess who discovered the bottle, after being home for less than 5 minutes???


Here he is, pointing out his handi-work.
He didn't have a clue he had it on his face and hands, and couldn't figure out why I kept wanting him to be still for this picture. "Hey, grandmama--cant a guy eat his apple in peace??" What you cant see is the red polish on the dog, the rug in the hall, the TV remote, a few specks on his shirt, and a nice glob on his shorts.

For punishment, I woke him up bright and early the next day and , while still in his jammies, made him wash windows......................

....................................and cut the grass.

JUST KIDDING------ He actually saw me wiping the window sill, thought it was fun, and wanted his own paper towel. The lawn mower was a birthday present and it blows bubbles. Too bad it doesn't really work, he was doing a great job!!!

Unfortunately, by the time he gets good at wiping down the windows & cabinets, wiping up his messes, throwing trash away , putting away toys, or operating a real lawn mower, he will realize its work and not just some fun thing to do. Yesterday I had to sweep off the porch, and he ran to get his toy broom and help. Did I mention he has a toy vacuum that he loves? Wonder how much he'll love it when its time to use a real vacuum? Oh well. At least I can enjoy watching him now. Oh--and it sure is nice to lay on the couch and say, "hey, can you go over there and get grandmama the remote?". That's not violating child labor laws is it? Isn't that what kids are for??? : )

OK--I'LL TRY A WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Does this count as words???

HOME SWEET HOME

The Camster masters 3 oz of bottle in one feeding and is rewarded with a trip home! ************************************************************************************
It is said that one just cant sleep well while in the hospital. So--there was some catch up time! He discovered he likes the couch. He must have got that from his Grandmama!

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He also loves his new bed!!

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And he loves being able to sprawl out on the floor and check out his toys!

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But--he discovers he is just not that into his first real bath!!

A Decent Night's Sleep---No More Tubes!!

It had to feel good to not have so many things sticking in his little body! He's sleeping so good he's drooling!

Hey-- I Like This Thing Called a Bottle!

Finally getting to drink from a bottle. A few tablespoons at a time!

Leaving NICU Behind--

With each improvement, comes a change to a new floor of the hospital.

Now Mommy gets to actually hold the Camster!!

Surgery Time

Waiting to go back to Surgery.

One week old.

Wrapped & Ready to Roll

) Heading out to Children's Hospital

The Camster seeing his mom for the first time

Hello Mommy!

May 5th, 2007

Cinco de Mayo--The Camster's 2nd Birthday!

Two years ago today, I was in the middle of preparing some
killer enchiladas to take to a Cinco de Mayo party with my
Sunday school class.

But, the Camster decided it was his day to enter this world a little
ahead of schedule. Not too big a deal—but the plan was that his
mother be induced on a certain day, to ensure she’d be in B’ham,
1-1/2 hours (100 miles) north of us, when she gave birth.

See, Cam was born with gastroschisis, meaning that, while
developing, there was a hole in his abdomen, and his intestines
were growing outside of his body. He would need immediate,
specialized attention in order to survive. So, being born in B’ham would
allow him to be whisked immediately over to Children’s Hospital for
care.

The local ER doctor felt safe in saying that we could make it to
B’ham before Cam’s mom was ready to deliver. We would
just have to head immediately to B’ham with no stops along the way.

Well—we fudged on that just a bit. We went home, threw some stuff in bags,
I gathered up my half finished enchiladas, dropped them off at my mom’s house (can’t
waste food!), and then headed on up the interstate.

We had some dramatic moments along the way, like when my
daughter was yelling that the baby was coming. “Ok---Is the
baby in fact literally coming out of you at this particular moment?!! Or are
you being a bit dramatic? We still have about 35 miles to go. I need to
know if I need to pull over and call 911 and prepare to deliver a baby!”

Turns out she was just kind of panicky. Yeah! The driver was too! But, thank the Lord that the traffic was light, there was no construction, and no accidents. We made it
to the hospital and were greeted by a whole team of doctors, who were
needed to assist in the delivery. Cam didn’t make things too difficult on his mom, and it wasn't too long, before he made his debut.

He was able to see his mommy for just a moment, and then, with tubes
and wires attached all over him, wrapped in a special bag up to
his chin, to protect
his intestines, he was wheeled out to a waiting ambulance and whisked
off to children’s hospital.

There were no major problems with the intestines, which is always
a concern with gastroschisis. That was a great blessing!
And, about a week after he was born, he was able to have surgery to
have the intestines put back in his abdomen.

While his intestines were healing and starting to function properly, he had to be
tube fed . At almost two months, he
was finally having little sips from a bottle, but still being tube
fed until he could work up to having 3 ounces at one time, and
keep it all down. Once he got a taste of the bottle, he didn’t like
It when he couldn’t have more. He literally started out with a couple of
teaspoons at a time! That was just enough to make him mad!

All this time, his mommy stayed at the Ronald McDonald
House, nearby, so that she could see him every day. I know it was a very tiring and
emotional time for her. She was very much anticipating the day she
would be able to take him home!

He got to come in time to celebrate the 4th of July. Despite having
to be hospitalized two more times after coming home, he has done
quite well. Looking at him now, you would never know he had any
complications when he was born. It is amazing to think that for almost the first two
months of his life, he didn’t even know what a bottle was. That all his nutrition was from
from a tube. Because if you saw him eating now-------with his seemingly bottomless
pit of a stomach, you would never know he ever had any kind of intestinal problems!

Thank you God for all your blessings! Thank you Children’s Hospital,
and Ronald McDonald House! And thank you to Cam’s mom.

Of course, I never made it to the Cinco de Mayo party. And I think
it would have been the first time I ever celebrated that holiday. But,
now every year, Cinco de Mayo will be special to me!

Happy Birthday Camster! (aka stink bug) Grandmama loves you!

THE JOYS OF BEING A GRANDMAMMA

When I was a young mom, I was particular about how I dressed my daughter. She wasn’t a real prissy girl, so I didn’t get carried away with lots of frills and bows & lace, except maybe at Easter and Christmas. But, I always liked her to look cute and coordinated. And of course, she had to look presentable when we went out in public.

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Maybe its just because Cam is a boy-----or maybe because I'm a grandmamma now. Or maybe both. But, I just got the biggest kick out of how I let him go out of the house the other day.

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It started like this. I had come home from work and we shared an ice cream sandwich snack.

Then, with ice cream on his face, and a wet diaper, we headed to his bedroom to remedy these things. In the middle of his diaper change, he decided he needed his Elmo slippers on, since they just happened to be at the end of his changing table.

*

Ok--why not? So, I put the big ole fuzzy red slippers on his feet with Elmo smiling up at me. But then I couldn’t get his shorts on over the slippers. That's ok--we weren’t going anywhere. He didn’t need his shorts on.

*

So--I put him down on the floor and he decides we need to take his diaper outside to the garbage can, instead of in his diaper pail. He really just likes any excuse to go outside. But, of course I'm thinking he just loves being a helper. So--off we go to the garbage can in the back yard, Elmo feet shuffling along, being grandmamma's big helper

.*

Well, once we got in the back yard, he could hear our neighbors, across the street, playing basketball. He immediately grabs up his Thomas the Tank Engine ball and heads to the gate. Pointing across the street and looking at me with those eyes just begging me to take him across the street to play with the big boys.

*

Ok--here he is -----at the gate. Chocolate face, no pants, big red house slippers that have eyes and a nose on them. I am not wearing shoes. But he's reaaallly wanting to go across the street and play ball. He is not going to understand having to go inside, wash his face, ditch the Elmo slippers, and then put on pants and shoes. He doesn’t even have a clue what he looks like. He just wants to play ball!

*

Well- we do live in a little cul-de-sac. Not much traffic. These are our neighbors.What was it going to hurt? Really? So-----off we went across the street to play ball. But, not before I dashed inside to grab my camera off the counter!

Playing with fonts & colors too.

He was playing a really cool game of "hit the helium-filled balloon all around the house with a hair brush". He was amusing himself with this game as his mom and I got ready for church. I decided to take a picture of him playing with the balloon, but as soon as he saw the camera, he quit playing and came up close----to help me get a picture of him. Thanks Cam!

Playing with posting pictures.

Cameron got a cute helium-filled balloon from the Easter Bunny. There are pictures that show off the balloon a little bit better, but they also show off the washer & dryer with dirty towels sitting on top.

I wont be sharing those pictures.