The HeShe, SheHe Story

I will do my best to do this story justice, but without pictures and being that the actual story happened days ago, I'm afraid that I probably won't do it justice.

The He-She story goes like this:

It's Tuesday, April 6th, and we bring the kiddos to the park as usual after school. This week we are in the company of my mom (Gramma) who is visiting us from "The North." The girls play, the mommas gab, and it's generally a great time. On this particular day, there were some new faces at the park and Camdyn began to take a liking to a little boy. He let her play with his dinosaur, and showed her his helicopter toy, and even let her watch his dinosaur for him when he went to the restroom. This is where I wish I could insert a picture of said child right here. The boy is older, probably 8 or 9 years old, and wearing jeans, a brightly colored shirt, small tinted oval glasses, and has blonde hair fashioned in either a mullet, or a 70's style feathered arrangement. I can't tell, and therefore the scrutiny, the boy is a boy, right? Kinda hard to tell.

So, we leave the park that day and Camdyn exclaims, "I just love that boy. I love that boy. I want that boy to come and play at my house!" Okay, awesome, that she doesn't think this boy is "gross" and that she was playing nicely with a much older child, but odd. This child is odd, or maybe it's the child's family is odd. His sister was there too, much older (say 12/14) a tad overweight is an understatement and playing with a peculiar looking giant stuffed Easter Bunny (even odder).

Now, it's the next day. We decide to have a picnic on the ball fields complete with a blanket and McD's happy meals for the chitlins (that's children, stay with me). We play for over an hour, and just when it is about time to leave, Camdyn runs up to us yelling, "MY BOY IS HERE! MY BOY IS HERE!" I look over at the fence running down the 1st base line and sure enough, there is the boy! Egads. Camdyn and the boy immediately begin playing in the dirt, and the mommas start to wonder again, is this a boy? Today, Boy is sporting boot cut jeans and is holding a stuffed unicorn, and a stuffed Lion with a bow in it's hair. Still wearing, the tiny tinted glasses and blonde mullet. Is this a he or a she? Do boys play with unicorns? So, I give Camdyn the 2 minute warning and as we are packing up to head to the car, I ask Camdyn, "Cam, what is your new friend's name?" [now, I wanted to be careful not to lead her in a direction of male or female because I wanted her to tell me herself." Her response: I dunno. Pause. Pause. Pause. HE said HIS name is Elizabeth!

I should mention that I drank a large sweet tea during our picnic, because it about ended up in my pants the moment that name flew out of her mouth. I mean, I was seriously holding on to myself, squeezing my knees together, and dancing around like a preschooler in the bathroom. Elizabeth! HIS name is ELIZABETH! I guess that sorta answers the question. Now, how do I convince a 4 year old that her new love is really a girl?

Ruffle Butt

I love me some Ruffle Butts! Seriously, if you have a baby girl, you have to checky checky these out. Chloe actually got this diaper cover from her Auntie Liz before she was born. I thought it was way cuter than the royal blue one that went with her Easter dress, so she wore this one under her dress instead. In order to enjoy it, the dress had to come off (it was warm in the house anyway) and we let Chloe scoot about in all of her Ruffle Butt cuteness!

Chloe is doing this super-dramatic baby roll where she flings herself down on the floor, then rolls on her back and then kicks her legs up and down and squeals with excitement. It's hella cute and completely dramatic!

This is the actual Ruffle Butts ensemble that Chloe received as a gift from her Auntie Liz on her 1st birthday. We just wanted to try on the top to see if it fits (size 6-12 months) and it does...totally! And will probably fit all summer long. Whoo hoo! The little ruffle butt diaper cover that goes with it is so cute I can't stand it. If you wanna see it or order one,CLICKY

Of course, Liz had this personalized for Chloe which makes it that much sweeter. We love it, Liz. THANK YOU!!

Knee Walkin'

Chloe Belle is rapidly approaching 13 months and she is getting so close to walking....but not quite....

Easter

He is risen! In some ways we celebrated this Easter as we normally do, and in some ways, we broke the mold. We went to church as usual, but this year, we had Gramma here to accompany us. We enjoyed the service, broke the bread, and then headed home to wait for the Easter Bunny. This is the first year that we didn't celebrate Easter in the company of friends. In years past, that has always made this town feel more like home, but it turns out that we didn't really need that in order to feel at home this year. Maybe it's the arrival of Chloe, or maybe it was the company of my mom, but we stayed at home this year and planned our own festivities and the day was picture perfect.

The Easter Bunny visited and hid baskets for the girls, and he also hid 50 eggs around our yard. Camdyn had a blast on her egg hunt, and even helped Chloe collect all of her eggs.



Chloe's eggs were in the shape of animals, so that we could tell them apart. Camdyn collected them all for her and then placed them in Chloe's basket. At the end of the hunt, Camdyn looked at her basket and then at Chloe's basket and said, "Mama the Easter Bunny didn't leave Chloe enough eggs. I have too many and she just has a little." I told her that is because Chloe is little. So, cute that she was upset that Chloe didn't have as many as she did. What a great big sister!

Adore the pottery barn kids personalized basket liners. We took some cutie pie pictures with these. Chloe's Easter dress should have been size 6-9 months....this thing is huge! Notice the arm holes are down to her waist! I guess she'll be able to wear it for awhile ::sigh:: The bows are courtesy of Lux Babies. They make the most adorable bows and she does custom bows too, like this one. If you want to get one click HERE
I originally purchased them to go with the girls' Chargers Football gear, but I thought they worked okay with the Easter ensemble too! Camdyn wore hers to church and then traded it for the pink flower after nap time - oye.

Okay, so I'm a busy mama, and I didn't have the time to crop out my foot. But, the picture is still adorable. If only Camdyn had chosen a different hair bow/flower. Freedom of expression, right? She did hold up matching/coordinating eggs, though.

This is my favorite picture. If you pay attention to detail, not only is Camdyn holding one of Chloe's yellow eggs, but Chloe is also holding a yellow egg in the background. CUTE!

We followed the egg hunt with a steak and potatoes meal (had to make Gramma feel at home, so she needed a good Midwestern meal) and then a bike ride around the block. All the while, remembering that this is the day that He Rose Up, or as Cam says, "Jesus woke up!"

Dancing Queen

This video was shot back in Feb, in the middle of the move, and as chaos was swirling around us, we took a second to enjoy Camdyn and all of her spunk.

Here she is in all of her 4 year old glory. As she dances on top of our bed she is looking in a full length mirror that is hanging on the wall. Wait for the 33 second mark. I have no idea where that came from, cause I certainly don't dance like that. Oh, and pardon her underroos....when a girl has to dance, she has to dance, at least she was wearing something!

Turn up the volume and enjoy Camdyn & Uncle Cracker...

Da Hubs

This is the hubs, in his true form. Besides mentioning him here or there, I really haven't blogged much about his awesomeness, and I totally should.

I tend to be a nit-picker and an eye roller and I probably don't give him the kudos he deserves. Like any good daddy, he puts his girls (yes, all 4 of us - dog included) ahead of himself. He puts in long hours, he's an awesome provider, and he invests his time in us. Sure, there are probably 100 things he would have rather done on Saturday morning than attend, yet another, birthday party. But, he was there, and he LOVED it (or did a really good job pretending he did). Yes, that is him there with a spider man mask atop his head, and a real smile on his face. He looks like he is having fun and so do Madie and Cam. I love, love, love, how both of their arms are hanging in the same way, and they both have huge smiles on their faces. Good job, Mr. Chris! Ohhh, and did I mention that he is strong?

Last night, after Easter dinner, Chris began to clear the table and my mom and I sat on the Lanai and enjoyed the weather and each other's company. After 10 minutes or so my mom saw Chris through the kitchen window and said, "Does he always clean up like this?" Um.....(crickets....crickets).....Yes. Usually, mostly, okay, well, sometimes I do it ::stamps foot:: But yes, the man does more than his share of household duties. I don't know if I am ashamed to admit that or proud that he does it. It's not like I never clean or do a load of laundry, but this man's mama taught him well. Instead of complaining that he has no boxers to wear tomorrow, he throws a load of laundry in by himself. Maybe I'm spoiled, but that's the way it works in my house. He helps with the grocery shopping and the errand running and has even purchased items on my behalf that no man would ever want to witness rolling down the belt at Target ::snicker::.

But, don't get me wrong, he's a mans man, and he's no push over. I do not wear the pants in our family and Chris is not a walking door mat (like I tend to be). He doesn't get pushed around by anybody and he'll tell you like it is. For example, It's Easter Sunday, and the parking lot at church is jammed with hundreds and hundreds of cars that usually aren't there. I actually think more people come out for Easter Service than Xmas Eve service.... Anyway, we were log jammed for 5 min, and Chloe was crying in the back seat, so I get out of my car to figure out why in the world we aren't moving. It turns out that SOMEONE parked in the lane of traffic. Smooooth. So, my hubby takes it upon himself (in his most Christian moment of the week) and leaves a note on the offending car. It said, "Are you stupid? Seriously. Nice Parking. Idiot." It was Easter ya'll! So, I didn't necessarily approve of that, but at the same time, I gotta hand it to a man that speaks his mind (that is so not my style). So, I guess like yin and yang, we kinda balance out and it makes the whole thing work. I'm thankful for that (and I was able to find humor in the note - I hope the poor schmuck who received it did too). I have a feeling that

Camdyn and Chloe are going to really despise this trait in him when they begin dating. I mean, this daddy is going to be hard to crack.

He's a complicated man, an awesome daddy, and I'm proud that I can refer to him as "da hubs."

Psshhh, he even does matchy matchy with baby Chloe. Lovies!

The Story about the Seizure

I was cleaning out my inbox and found an email I had written to a friend identifying with a medical event that occurred with her daughter. Because I am feeling a little bit lazy and less than creative today, I thought I would share that email/story with you....

Here's a trip down a not so pretty memory lane, but the ending is happy enough (swearsies)
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November 2007: Camdyn is almost 2 years old

We were in Baltimore for a wedding that our whole family was in, including Camdyn, she was supposed to be the flower girl. Well, she woke up the morning of the wedding with a low grade, 99 degree fever. I gave her some Tylenol and then left her for the day. I had a bunch of wedding party stuff to do and I wasn't going to see her again until they brought her to the wedding. We left her with a dear friend of mine that lived in the area. Well, about 3:00 that day, Chris called to tell me that Cam's fever was 103 and she was too sick to be in the wedding so she would be at the hotel with the sitter. I was disappointed because I really wanted to see her walk down that aisle in her beautiful dress. So, the wedding was fantastic, I gave a good speech, and we had a fantastic evening. At about midnight we returned to the hotel. The wedding party was hanging out in the lobby and I went up to the room to check on Cam. She heard my voice and tried to crawl to me and then had a seizure. She completely froze up, and had this awful "stuck" expression on her face. I laid her on the bed and was about to give her CPR because I didn't think she was breathing. Lacey (the sitter) called 911 and she didn't know what hotel we were at, or what the room number was, it was pretty stressful. Lacey was a God-send, though. She was really calm and that was exactly what I needed because I was freakin' out. Cam unfroze about 10 seconds later, but she was limp like a rag doll and wouldn't hold her head up and wouldn't open her eyes. A few minutes later Chris walks in and he's a mess about the whole situation, but had the presence of mind to tell me to get out of the floor length bridesmaid dress and throw some jeans on before the paramedics arrived.

The medics got there and they strapped Camdyn to a gurney after taking her temp (106!) and they gave her some oxygen. She looked so small strapped on that gurney and poor Liz (the Bride) was near tears when she saw her wheeled through the lobby headed toward the ambulance. When we got in the ambulance (Chris was driving the rental car behind it, completely panicked because he had no clue what was going on in the ambulance) she was having "aftershocks" and would jump and twitch uncontrollably. At one point she opened her eyes and said, "Mommy - Bus." Those were heavenly words and it was at that point that I knew she was going to be okay. She thought we were riding in a bus, and she just happened to be addicted to The DoodleBops and the "Get on the Bus" song at that time. At the hospital they did a chest x-ray, gave her an IV, and a Popsicle and broke her fever with Motrin and she was all better. We flew home the next day as planned.

I had all this guilt because I should have been with her that day. If I had been there I would have known how high her fever was and I would have alternated Tylenol and Motrin (the sitter said she refused the Tylenol so she didn't actually have any) and I could have prevented it. The ER docs said this is the way that children naturally break a high fever and the seizure did break the fever. Cam's ped. said that some seizures last 20 minutes. WHAT? That was the longest 10 seconds of my life and I couldn't possibly imagine enduring that for 20 minutes!

Camdyn has never had a febrile seizure again, and now I really monitor fevers. It's hard not to break every fever. I have to remind myself that fevers are there to fight infection, so if you break a low grade fever then you are destroying the mechanism to fight the infection. I am able to let Chloe have low grade fevers and not run to the medicine cabinet, but anything over 101.5 I break with Motrin (it works better on my girls). Camdyn's pediatrician said, "She is going to recover just fine. You, however, will probably never recover." He's right. That night haunts me. I can not think about Liz's wedding and have warm and fuzzy feelings. When I think about it, or look at pictures, it makes me feel anxious, sick to my stomach, and worse than that.....GUILTY. I am hoping that over time these feelings will change, but it will always be an unforgettable trip, and a memorable night.

PS: Watching Cam get the IV was almost as bad as watching the seizure.

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Liz, you had a beautiful wedding and I am so honored that I was a part of it. I don't regret being with you on your special day, so please don't read this post as regret. That day played out exactly the way that the Good Lord intended it to. This post is more about a mother's guilt. I hope that you never have to experience anything like this with baby Abby, although, at some point, I think all mom's end up feeling guilty about something. Love you!