Springtime Tenants

A few weeks ago Cody noticed this underneath our deck:


I realize it's a little difficult to see but a Mama bird taking care of her babies does not allow the paparazzi to get very close for a picture!

We have had more fun watching these birds. You can see them from both the window and the sliding glass door in the basement. Owen and I checked on them numerous times throughout the day, pretty much everyday for weeks. He was so excited when the eggs finally hatched! At first it was hard to tell how many babies were in the nest but as they grew a little we were able to see 3 little ones. We watched as their mama brought them food and they sat with their little beaks wide open. We watched their little wings flutter as they moved about in their nest. Their was even a Daddy in the picture! Although, he would just sit on a branch on a nearby tree standing guard while the Mama bird did most of the work. I'm not trying to make any points with that, I'm just saying. ;)

We waited patiently and were looking forward to the day that we might get to watch the Mama teach them how to fly. When we thought they were getting close we checked on them constantly, camera at the ready just in case I might catch a shot or two. Then ONE day we were busy running errands and weren't able to check on them. We went down that afternoon to see them and they were gone. :( It was almost as anti-climactic as waiting for the president.

We were upset but I thought we would wait a few days and then take the nest down so Owen could get a close-up look at it. Being the procrastinator that I am, I just hadn't done it yet. Tuesday morning I went to open the door to let Murphy out and what do I see?! That's right, another Mama! I couldn't believe it! I thought back to the day the babies were gone and I saw a bird fly in and stand there looking at the nest for a minute. Then she flew away. I couldn't figure out what was going on but now I know it was just another Mama checking out the real estate! We are so excited that we get to watch it all over again. It's like our own little science lesson right in our backyard! Who knew that birds were recyclers?

The Power of Suggestion

A few weeks ago I made a suggestion to my brother, a faithful Muhs News follower, that he should start a blog himself. I really didn't ever think he'd do it but I'm happy to say he accepted my challenge! Head on over to The Glodo Life in the STL to read all about the man behind the funny (and often a little weird) annonymous comments you see here on my blog. He's almost as good at this as his little sister. Almost. ;)

Geppetto's Workshop

If you know my husband well, you know that he is quite handy to have around. He can do almost any type of home project you want done and if he doesn't know how to do it, he will read and research it so that he can do it. He has saved us loads of money doing so much work on our house himself. He built our deck, put in new doors for us, put in a stone patio, built our garage with help, put in a new bathroom, and finished the basement all by himself. This is on top of all the other odd jobs he's done around the house that are far too numerous to mention. While he loves doing all of these things, what he would really like to spend his time on is woodworking. He hasn't had much time to really hone his skills between work, kids, and working on the house. Now that things are (sort of) dying down in house projects he decided he'd fire up the table saw and make something for his mom for Mother's Day. He found a set of plans online and made every inch of these beautiful planters all by himself:

They even have a moveable bottom in them. You can raise and lower it, depending on what size of plant you would like to put in it.

I think they turned out great and Lynn was so surprised when we gave them to her a few weekends ago! I'm not sure what's next on the agenda. Maybe a puppet? ;)

Ain't No Stoppin' Him Now!

That's right, Cameron is on the move! Well, sort of. He finally decided that the walker his Godparents bought him for his birthday is pretty darn fun. In fact, he loves the newfound freedom it offers him.





Mommy, not so much. Not for the fact that he is almost walking because, believe me, no one has ever been more ready for one child to walk than I am for this one. I think there are so many things that are easier once they can stand/walk on their own. Yes, you have to chase them when they run off but you can actually put them down in public places. And you can take them outside and watch them run in the yard. So I am more than ready. What I don't like about this whole walker thing is that he loves it so much he wants to do it all the time. Which wouldn't be so bad if this thing had even an ounce of steering capability for a 16-month-old. Wheels that turn would be a nice addition. Because really, what person just walks continually in a straight line forever? And who has a room in their home that allows a person to walk continually in a straight line forever? So our days of late have been spent with Cameron excitedly walking with the walker the moment he hits the basement. He walks for a bit, hits a wall, turns around and looks at me, then lets out a loud scream that says, "I've hit a wall. It is your purpose in life to redirect me, follow me, and then repeat this entire process when I hit another wall. Why is this so difficult for you to understand?" Or something like that. You can see a little evidence of this exchange here, although this video doesn't really do it justice:

I'm hoping we'll be out of this phase soon and quickly move into the "I'm going to run away from you in this public place so you will have to chase after me while people laugh at you" phase. Gotta run, I hear the screams now!

Cameron Update

Last week, Early ACCESS returned to our home in the form of two lovely ladies--Jill, who was here the first time and who is now Owen's new best friend (she was enamored with him and he is still talking about her to this day), and Kathryn, the woman who will be working with Cameron. We sat down and went over all of Cameron's scores on the evaluation that Jill did at the end of April. This was really no small feat as the packet of information could have qualified as a short novel, in my humble opinion. I'll spare you the numbers and details and just give you the Reader's Digest version--Cameron is delayed. This much, I knew, so no real surprise there. The big question we had was where and how much. While he is only very slightly delayed in some areas, and even on track in a few, his biggest delay is in speech and communication. His next biggest delay was motor, but that was really expected because of his low-tone. So, we have decided that for now, we will just concentrate on the speech and hope that he catches up in the other areas on his own (with lots of encouragement from Mommy and Daddy, of course). Kathryn will come twice a month for now and work with him for about 45 minutes to an hour each time. She will also be working with me teaching me things I can do with him on a daily basis. I may even have to record data for her from time to time to give her a better idea on how he is progressing. She will also keep an eye on the other areas as well, just to make sure that he is moving along as he should be.

Cody and I both feel really good about this and are excited to get the ball rolling. As I've mentioned before I was worried that it might be something more than just a delay, but after speaking with them and watching Cameron, I am not nearly as concerned as I once was. In fact, he even made progress in between the time of the evaluation and the meeting! Jill was impressed to see that he was doing things that he hadn't been doing just a couple of weeks earlier. This is one of those things:

You see, while he's always been pretty good at imitating sounds, he's never seemed all that interested in imitating faces. I was making this face at him 2 weekends ago and he decided he'd like to get in on the fun! I haven't gotten him to do it since then but, in true Cameron fashion, I'm sure he'll do it again when he feels like it!

So that's the plan for now. I will sit down with the ladies in another six months and go over his progress and figure out what we will do from there. However, if at any time in the next six months I feel things are not going as they should, we can adjust things to fit. They seem really great and we are all in agreement that we want to do what works best for Cameron. As long as we are doing all we can to help him and seeing lots of this:

I will be a satisfied customer.

Stay tuned for pictures of some of the other things Cameron has learned in the last few weeks!

So Glad He's Reading

A few months ago, Owen started reading a few words here and there. Now, as I type this, he is sitting here next to me reading "Goodnight Moon" aloud. It is amazing how far he has come in just a few short months. However, we have discovered a few downsides to his ability at times. Like the other day in my bathroom as I was getting ready and he and Cameron were pulling stuff out of the drawers...

"Mommy, can you play with this?"

"Play with what?"

"With this [holding up a box of tampons]...you can play with it!"

"No, honey, you can't play with that."

"Sure you can! It says 'Playtex,' see? That means you can play with it!"

I'm trying to be proud of the fact that he can read and not focus so much on what he's reading.

Confessions of a Worrisome Mother

Cameron has been a little on the irritable side lately. Usually when he gets like this I try to narrow in on what could be causing it. I have gotten pretty good at it in the last 16 months but this time around I just can't figure it out. He just got over an ear infection and his tubes seem to be working, so I don't think it's that. He has all of the teeth he is supposed to have at this stage, so no luck there. After going over all the usual suspects and coming up with nothing Cody and I had this exchange:

"Maybe he has the swine flu."

"Sarah. He does not have the swine flu! How in the world would he get the swine flu? And why do you do that?"

"Why do I do what?"

"Why do you automatically go to the worst, most improbable thing possible?"

In my defense, the swine flu wasn't my first thought, but I do realize how ridiculous the idea was and I really wasn't serious. I have always been a worrier and it has only gotten worse since I've become a mother. I mean, come on, can you blame me? The whole idea that I am completely responsible for the life of not one, but TWO human beings can be a little overwhelming at times! There are so many decisions that I have to make on any given day that will affect their health and well-being. And what can I say? THAT MAKES ME WORRY.

I realized after the aforementioned conversation with Cody that the things that I worry about are much different since having Cameron. I worried throughout his entire pregnancy because I had lost our second child. When my water broke a month early, I worried. When he was diagnosed with MRSA, I worried even more. When he bled out in the hospital for 2 and a half hours and I thought he might die.....you get the idea. I could go on with all the things that have happened with Cameron and have caused me much anxiety but I'll spare you. The point is, all of these things that have happened with him are things that you really never think are going to happen to you....until they do. It is at the point that you realize that if your one-month-old child can get MRSA, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.

So anytime something seems a little off with Cameron, my mind goes to the worst possible senario. That's something I never really did before and now it has almost become an automatic response for me. Because now that I've realized anything can happen (even though I knew it before, realizing it is a whole new ball game) I am always afraid that something will happen. This kind of goes back to my post last week about waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's exhausting at times because it's difficult to separate worry from that gut instinct that Moms have.

I am working on it though. I didn't actually take him into the doctor and ask for him to be checked for the swine flu. That's progress, right?

Easter and Murphysboro Visit All Rolled into One!

Hold on to your hats, folks! This one is packed with pictures! Let's start off with a little egg coloring. Because, really, what is Easter without it? Truth be told, I was actually going to skip this part of Easter this year. But because of my wonderful niece and Mother, Owen got to experience the mess fun of egg dye.

How cute is this? Grandma just loves to spend time with her little ones!

And Cameron, you ask? What did he do during all this mess fun? He did all of the things he does best, of course. Snacking, watching a little Baby Einstien, and looking cute, as evidenced by this picture:

That brings us to Easter Sunday. Grandma got up early, went to early Mass, then came home and took care of Cameron while she made a wonderful lunch for us and showed the Easter Bunny where he should hide the eggs. How does she manage to conceal her Superwoman Cape underneath her clothes so well? While she did all the work, Grandpa and I took Owen to Mass and had a wonderful time! Right after communion Owen said, "Is it time to go home and hunt Easter eggs?!"

We were waiting on everyone to get outside to watch the show so we made the boys cover their eyes so they couldn't see all the eggs. I think Cade still needs a lesson in this trick.

Finally, the hunting commenced!

Apparently the Easter Bunny thought this would be funny.

Wondering what the little boys did while the big boys ran around like crazy scooping up eggs?

Cameron wasn't quite sure what to think of all of it. He inspected things very closely.

And all Cash cared about was what most 4-month-olds care about--food! Grammy Gaye sat in my van feeding him a bottle since it was a little chilly outside.

How do those people with 18 kids ever manage to get a good picture of all of them?

After the hunting madness, it was time to go in and check out the loot!

"That was fun but this is better!"

We ate the yummy lunch Grandma slaved over and had a great, relaxing day. It was such a wonderful, blessed Easter.

Now here are a few random pictures from our 2 week vacation in the 'boro:

This boy is almost as addicted to Thomas as his brother and his cousin, Cade. He loves to play with trains!

Do I have the cutest stinkin' Godson or what? I had so much fun playing and cuddling with this little guy. I even got him all to myself one afternoon which was complete HEAVEN for me!

Owen* loves our little Cashers!




These two boys love each other so much! They had such a good time playing together during this visit. Fights were minimal and hugs were given out freely.

I believe that wraps it up! Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as we enjoyed capturing them!

*You will notice Owen is wearing a Cardinals shirt in some of these pictures. His father would like to note that he is still a fervent Cubs fan and this shirt was merely a gift from his Uncle Josh, who is (unsuccessfully) trying to convert him.

Doing His Part

Upon hearing that he might be a little delayed in a couple of areas, Cameron decided to take matters into his own hands.

"How do you spell 'google'?"