Half Birthday!

6 months old! Can you even hardly believe it? There is so much to tell you about Miss Camren this month! She is the proud new owner of 2 (yes 2) bottom teeth! The right was the first to make an appearance with her left joining the gang in the past day or so. This gives her a comical snaggle-tooth smile (which I am trying to snap a picture of!) I am also pretty positive that her top 2 are not far behind their bottom counterparts. And this all amazes me! Jax didn't get his first little tooth until he was well into the 9th month and here Little's is spitting teeth out like it's her job. Luckily, she seems to be quiet the happy teether, with none of the issues her big bro had when getting his chompers. I guess when you consider the fact that she's had reflux and other painful issues for the majority of her life, a few teeth must be a walk in the park!

Last month I spoke of her obsession with movement. This not only has not changed in the past month but has so intensified! Cam wants to be on the ground and moving...all...the...time. Gone are the days of quiet snuggles, heck, she doesn't even want you to hold her, let alone hold her facing you! Camren's still working on mastering the sitting thing. She can sit unassisted for much longer than she will. It's just that as soon as her bum hits the carpet she bails to one side and starts making her way across the floor. She's figured out how to get up on all 4's and will rock back and forth before making a lunge toward what ever toy Jax has left out. Once she figures out to catch her self...yikes.

Camren Grace continues to crack us up with her big cheesy smiles, soul healing giggles and (just added to her repertoire) screeches and shrieks of joy. If you haven't had the opportunity to meet the "new and improved" Camren...I'd highly suggest making a appt (busy girl don'tcha know!) to do so. She will change your world!!

Little's laughing at Jax while he cried through her Red Chair shoot. "No sister...no chair" He wasn't a fan of Camren sitting in the chair he uses for his breathing treatments. :(

My New Favorite Pics...

Here are just a few (ok more than a few) of my newest favorite pictures from our recent photo shoot with Laycee Lemons. She did an amazing job--there are about 80 more great shots if you want to see more! And if you want any in print let me know!!

Video links. Let's hope these work!

I didn't want any of you to miss out on 2 of the cutest things I think we've caught on video in a long time...Jax dancing and playing guitar and Camren playing patty cake. Hopefully both will put humongous smiles on your faces!

To Breathe or Not to Breathe...

***warning***For documentation purposes...this is Long!***

That really doesn't seem like it should be a question, should it? But right now it is a part of our reality (well a less dramatic form of the question but still)

Early last Sunday morning (about 6am) I heard Jax coughing from his room and then heard him scream my name. I got him out of his room and figured we would cuddle in bed (since Daddy was at work) until a more decent hour of awakening. Instead what I found was a little boy who was struggling severely for breath. I immediately called Justin to listen to what we thought was a croup cough. Justin left work and came straight home. Luckily, we have rescue inhalers for Jax and I was able to get him some of that medicine. While Camren slept, we called our pediatrician as well as our best friends to come Camren-sit. We were headed out the door to Valley Children's Hospital (I thank God we are so close to such an amazing facility) when his breath pattern and activity level returned to normal!! Operating on the assumption that it was croup we decided to wait it out at home for a bit.

After consulting with our doctor and trying to piece together the details from my caffeine deprived memories of the morning, we have determined that Jax did not have croup but was instead having a full blown asthma attack (probably caused by a cold or allergies). We walked out of the office with a whole new bag of goodies!

Along with his "rescue" inhalers (there were 2) we now have a back up set of rescue inhalers, a nebulizer (a machine that uses room air to vaporize his medications) and two more medications to use with it. So that would make his total count; inhalers-4, nebulizer meds-2. Granted they are all the same 2 medications (Xopenex and Qvar) just in 2 forms of delivery...but it still looks like a whole lot! Each nebulizer treatment takes about 25-30min and these happen 3x daily for now(that's an hour and a half every day!).

At this point we don't know what exactly caused Jax' first asthma attack, nor do we know what could possibly cause another one. His inhalers now go where he goes. Justin and I check the air quality daily. (He can't play outside for long periods of time on Red days.) We will be meeting with a Respiratory Educator soon to discuss possible causes and allergy testing, as well as management and any lifestyle changes that we need to make. Over the next few months as we get more answers, Justin and I will be making decisions on our dogs (hypoallergenic yes--but they go outside and bring pollens/allergens In) and our location. Fresno and the Central Valley's (while I love them dearly) air quality is deteriorating yearly. IF we can positively say that his asthma and breathing issues are local environment and allergy related...we will trial living elsewhere (Perhaps the coast or bay area) to see just how much of a difference it makes. None of these are decisions that we had ever wanted to make...we love our dogs and really do love our life here in Fresno. That said--our children's health comes first. And since breathing is non-negotiable...we will do what ever is necessary to make breathing the easy activity it's supposed to be.

The Hulk

Jax loves bubbles. And he's actually getting pretty good at blowing them on his own (thankfully cause being on the brink of hyperventilation isn't my fav) So when I saw that Crayola had come out with "New, Improved, Colored" bubbles... I thought---aawwesome, Right? Uh...not so much. What the label misleadingly failed to include was "Colored with Paint and will stain not only your Kid and His Clothes But your Cement too!" Which is a little wordy for the front label, so I get their reasoning for leaving it out--but still. A little warning next time please! Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Hulk! ;-)