Friday Night Fun

The weather here is just fabulous right now so I had the idea to hit our favorite park in Pella on Friday night. We invited Travis and the girls since Owen has such a ball playing with them. Jasmine was out of town on business, but we missed her greatly! We had a McDonald's picnic and then it was time for play!

Travis pushed the kids on the big tire swing. This was before Owen fell right through the middle of it onto the ground. There were tears but he shook it off pretty well.
Cammers just enjoyed the breeze while he chilled in his stroller.

I think this was Owen's first time on a real swing (not the bucket ones). He still hasn't learned to pump his legs but at least he didn't fall off!

He LOVES this slide. He kept saying, "I'll go down the big slide again!" Lizzie even managed to get him to go down tandem with her a couple of times, which he loved.

Daddy had Cameron waiting when Owen came down the slide and he thought that was pretty cool.

The Caged Bird

Lizzie stopped for a bit to hold Baby Cam

It started to get a little chilly so we had to put on a cute sweater, courtesy of Cousin Cade.

It was a great kick off to a great weekend. I'm hoping to get the rest of our weekend pictures up here soon but I've had trouble all day with the site. I'll keep trying though! Hope everyone else had an enjoyable weekend!

Cameron the Star and Some Random Pictures

First off, I want to update everyone on our little trooper. We went to PT on Tuesday and got lots of good news! It is so nice to hear something good for a change! Cameron is just doing great. He was propped up on his elbows, holding his head up, looking straight ahead without any help at all. While I know this doesn't seem like much, it is leaps and bounds for our little guy! I had never seen him do that yet so it was so exciting to see! The therapist also scored him in his motor skills. When he started going on 4/22 he only scored in the 5th-10th percentile for his age. On Tuesday, for his corrected age (almost 4 mos., age he would be if born at term) he scored in the 90th percentile!!!! And for his actual age (almost 5 mos.) he scored in the 50th percentile! That is just a HUGE improvement in just 3 weeks! The therapist seemed so pleased with all his improvements and is mostly just concerned now with the fact that he is still tilting his head slightly and his neck is tight. But she's hopeful that will get better with time and some stretching exercises. She thinks we can start going every 2 weeks now instead of every week! After that we went to the doctor and finally got some good news there. No ear infections! Well, for now, anyway. He still had some fluid in one ear but nothing infected. I'm hoping we don't get to that point! He weighed in at 13 lbs., 3 oz., gaining nearly a pound in 2 weeks. He is also doing better every day at eating his cereal. Yesterday he was really using his tongue to swallow it, which is an improvement for him as that's another difficult thing for hypotonic kids to do. Our little guy just continues to amaze us!

And because posts are always better with pictures, I included a few random ones we've taken in the last few weeks.

Me and my boys on my birthday.

Are they cute or what?! ;)

Owen helping Daddy pick up sticks in the backyard. His new favorite thing to do is to help Daddy with yard work. They have been out numerous times in the last few weeks mowing, feeding the birds, and spraying the "dangle lions."

Who couldn't love this cute face?

Stay tuned, folks! I'm on a roll!

Light on the Owen, Heavy on the Cam

It has been brought to my attention a couple of times that Cameron has been underrepresented in the last few posts and that I need to get some more recent pictures up here of him. So here they are, folks!

Daddy took this one on Saturday while I was out shopping. I'm not sure what Owen is so excited about but I thought it was cute!

And here comes Mr. Smiles! This boy loves to smile, especially when you tell him he his handsome.

This was Sunday, his first time eating cereal. He didn't care much for it but we still got him to smile!

So there you have it! I'm trying my best to take pictures of him a little more often than I have been so hopefully I can get some more up soon.

A Few More From Murphysboro

These are just some random pictures from our trip to Murphysboro in March that I thought were cute and wanted to share.

Owen wasn't feeling well for part of the week and spent a couple of afternoons lying on the couch like this watching the "Thomas" videos that Uncle Matt and Aunt Jess gave him for his birthday. For those of you that know Owen well, you know that he had to be pretty sick to just lay like this for any period of time. He NEVER does that!

Cam fell asleep during tummy time. Too cute!

This was at Auntie Gaye's house. He is on the couch in between Grandpa and Uncle Jay. He was talking to Grandpa and then just feel alseep!

This is a little routine that Cade started doing while we were there. He would pick something up,(in this picture that would be the basket) to use as his purse, or for his dad's sake I'll say bag, and then he would start waving to all of us and say, "Bye!" You have to have heard his bye to know how cute it is. He has a southern accent when he says it!
Then he would go to the door like he was leaving with his 'bag' on his arm, just like his mom carries her purse on her arm. It was too funny!

And this is our two big boys watching out the door at Grandma's house on the morning that we left. They stood there forever while we were loading up the van.

Frustration....and a little story to brighten your day

I am still having problems uploading pictures. I can get them uploaded but then when they are done it says to click "done" to add them to your blog and the "done" button is nowhere to be found. Is anyone else having this problem? So there's the frustration part of the title. I figured since I couldn't get any pictures up I'd give you an awesome story that I heard yesterday.

Cody was telling me about a man that he works with who has a son who was born a few years ago 6 weeks premature. He told Cody this story last week when they were working together. He had some problems and had to be in the hospital for months after he was born. Then when he was around a year old he had to have a risky surgery done. During the surgery, he almost died but they were able to save him. When the boy was 2 he had to go back to the same hospital (not sure why). When they got to the hospital his dad said to him, "This is where you had your surgery a while ago. Do you remember being here when you were younger? " The boy said, "Yeah, I remember. They wouldn't let me stay." The father said, "What do you mean they wouldn't let you stay?" He said, "I was here and all these people were dancing around me and they told me I couldn't stay and that I had to go back."

My jaw dropped when Cody told me. Apparently the little boy was remembering something that happened to him while he was on the operating table and nearly dying. I just can't imagine hearing your 2 year old child say that to you. If that doesn't make you believe in a higher power, I don't know what will. Anyway, I just felt so compelled to share that with everyone because I had never heard anything like that before. Hope you all have a wonderful Monday and remember to BELIEVE!

CORRECTION: For those of you who know my husband well you know that he doesn't really re-tell a story very well. He always manages to forget certain parts and then just makes them up as he goes along. Anyway, I just wanted to note that he has since found out that the boy was actually three years old when he had the surgery and then they went back to the hospital a few months after that. It's still an amazing story but I at least wanted to correct myself!

Easter and Baptism

So here are the long-overdue pictures of our Easter weekend in Murphysboro.

This is my cousin, Stephanie. We had to stop and pose for a quick picture with her after mass.

Cade can't ever seem to get enough of Baby Cam. He sat there for the longest time just looking at him and smiling. It reminds me of when I used to do that with his Uncle Matt when were little.
How cute are these boys?!?! ;)
Cameron and Grandpa get in a little chit-chat time. I LOVE this picture! No one can get our babies to talk and smile like Grandpa! They all just love him!
Cade and Owen had a great time hunting eggs. They were both so good at it!

Of course, once they both figured out there was actually goodies inside the eggs, there were done with the hunting!

Cam and Grandma get a little snuggle time

Our little drummer boy--he and Cade are crazy over this drum. It used to be Matt & Beth's when they were little!

"You did it, Mommy!"

That's what Owen just said to me when I finally got the pictures on here! :) So here are some pictures from my big boy's 3rd birthday party in Murphysboro.

Most of the kiddos at the party. I think it's funny that Molly is the only one smiling and looking at the camera!
My little cheeser!

The cake. Unfortunately, I didn't get to make the cake this year. Due to time and the fact that the Thomas Wilton pan is no good, I settled for a store-bought cake. I still thought it turned out pretty cute and Owen loved it!

Jack (or Jack-Jack, as Owen calls him), Logan, and Owen...oh, and that's little Mason there in the left corner. We tried to get all the Calvert, Elrick, and Muhs kids in there but it just wasn't happening.

Of course, we always have to get a picture of the birthday buddies, Owen and Uncle Jay. I think it's so weird that both my kids were born on another family member's birthday. Cam's birthday buddy is my aunt Barb so we'll have to get their picture in December!

Okay, stay tuned for Baptism pictures!

I Hate Computers!

Ok, most of the time I love them but when they don't work, I hate it! This would be the reason you have not seen a post from me in 3 weeks. First I was having trouble with blogger and couldn't get pictures to load to my page after trying numerous times, then I was having trouble with my computer. I think Cody has fixed our computer issue but now I have tried a couple of times again to load pictures and it's still not working. It doesn't seem that anyone else is having this problem as most of my friends have been putting up new stuff on their blogs, so I don't know what is going on! I will keep on trying and hopefully get lots of pictures up soon! I still have birthday and baptism pics to do!

For now I'll give you an update on all the goings-on in the Muhs household. Cameron still continues to jump hurdles, as he seems to have done since the day he was born. That little guy has a lot of fight in him! I took him last week for an ear re-check after our 2nd round of meds because I still thought he was a little crabby. Sure enough, Mom was right and his right ear was infected again. So we are on another round and will go back on Tuesday to check the status. Last night he slept from 9pm to 7:30am so I'm hoping that means he's starting to feel better! :) He is also doing better in the therapy dept. At his appt. on Tuesday the therapist couldn't believe how much he had changed. He was holding his head up a lot more while on his stomach and keeping it level with his body when she pulled him up from his back by his arms. That is the hardest thing to do and he was doing it!! She also said his neck muscles weren't as tight as they have been and that I can quit doing stretches and just work on his strengthening. She is hopeful that after next week we might be able to move to just every other week rather than once a week! Hooray! He still isn't doing all the things most 4-month-olds are doing but he is definitely making progress. He's kind of trying to roll over, he smiles at us ALL the time, and he LOVES to scream (happy ones)! He just lays on his play mat screaming away! It is so cute! He is pulling his legs up more and more (another thing that is hard for low-tone kids to do) and I'm hopeful that someday soon he is going to find those piggies! His favorite thing to do these days is chew on his hands, which the therapist was actually very happy to see him doing!

Owen is also changing every day. He talks more and more each day and always keeps us laughing. My favorite to date is something he said to me the other day as we were walking through the park.
"I hear thunder, Mommy!"
"Thunder? I don't hear thunder. Are you sure?"
"Oh, it's my tummy!"
Too funny! He had a great time at Tulip Time in Pella last weekend with Grandma Lynn and Daddy where he saw his first parade. Mommy and Cam stayed home as it was a little on the chilly side. I have pictures so hopefully I'll be able to get those up soon.

I celebrated the big 3-1 last week and Cody got me a couple of games for the Wii. One is American Idol because I am always so mad that he beats me at every game we play and he thought that was one that I was sure to beat him in! The other is the Wii Fit, which is the whole reason I wanted a Wii to begin with. It doesn't arrive until the 21st but I am so excited to check it out! Cody just got Guitar Hero III so he spends a lot of time at his "gigs" these days. LOL I swear he thinks he is a rock star when he plays that!

I guess that's it for now. Hopefully I'll be able to quit boring you with all my words and give you some cute pics to look at soon. Til then, take care and have a good weekend!

The Trials and Tribulations of Torticollis

Yesterday Cam and I left the house at 7:45am and headed over to Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines to get a second opinion on his torticollis from a pediatric physical therapist there. Our appt. was at 9am, we didn't get in there until 9:15am, and we didn't get out until 10:50am. I learned quite a bit in that time. The first thing is that she classified him as low-tone--meaning he has low muscle tone. It is something called hypotonia, though she said there is a wide range of it and he is in the normal range. It is something pretty common among preterm babies and basically it just means that he will eventually hit all of his developmental milestones but will probably be a little delayed because it will all be a little harder for him to do. The good thing is that by the time he's 2 years old he should be caught up and you will never know he had a problem. However, for the next few months we are going to have to do a lot of work with him.

We have been working with a physical therapist here in town but she is not a pediatric one. I really like her and think she's been doing a great job but the PPT thinks that she has been focusing more on stretching, whereas she feels we should focus more on strengthening. She said that if we continue to go to the PT in town he would eventually get better but it would probably just take a little longer. She feels that rather than twice-a-week stretching sessions we should do once-a-week strengthening sessions. She said that we could start seeing her or that she could work with the PT over here and kind of coach her through the correct exercises. Cody and I talked it over last night and though we really like our PT we just feel that we need to do the absolute best thing for Cameron and start going to the pediatric PT. After all, she sees cases like this all day long and we just feel that she is best qualified to help both Cameron and us. She showed us a lot of new exercises to do with him and set us up for our first appt. on Tuesday. It was all pretty overwhelming and a lot of stuff to learn all at once but I think we can get the hang of it and hopefully get a lot of exercises in throughout the day. I have also been concerned about the shape of his head but she reassured me and said that it really isn't that bad and that there is plenty of time for it to go back to a more natural shape.

After we were done there we waited for Cody to bring Owen over (so he could head back to work) and then myself and the boys headed to Cameron's dr. appt. I scheduled a follow-up last week to check the status of his ear infections. I am so glad I did because as it turns out, they are still infected and he had to be put on a stronger anti-biotic for another 10 days. Hopefully that will clear it up and we can finally get this child well! We go back for his 4 mo. well-check and Owen's 3 year well-check next week so she will check to see if it's cleared then. Like I said before, my life is just a series of doctor's appointments!

We finally made it home at 2pm and we were exhausted. Cam was so tired he slept from 8:30pm to 6:30am!! Woo-hoo! That's his longest time yet! Ah, I long for the days of a full-night's rest again. :)

I do think sitting in that waiting room yesterday was good for me. I have been so worried and stressed out over all that we've been through with Cameron. But after seeing all those children come in and out with problems much worse than ours, I am so thankful that at least what we are dealing with can be fixed. It is stressful but it's nothing like what those families are going through. Though the biggest lesson I learned was that even though they all had so many difficult things they were dealing with, every child still had a smile on his/her face and still made their parents smile. They helped me see that happiness is not defined by what you don't have but what you do have. And I have a wonderful husband, two great kids, and a pretty great life. So I will take what I learned from those sweet little children and smile my way through all of this.

Bowling Frenzy

The second night we were in Murphysboro a big group of us took the kids out to eat at our fave Mexican restaurant and then bowling. You have to know Molly, Michelle, and I to really understand what a serious thing it was for us to take kids and hubbies along on our sacred restaurant ritual. It is the one place we always go when we are home and we always manage to do it with just the 3 of us (and sometimes Beth). No husbands and especially no children!!! But this time the only way we could make it was if we took everyone with us so we decided to give it a whirl. It was absolutely crazy but a lot of fun! We sat at this big long table and Molly ended up at the end of it. At one point she leaned over and said, "I'm missing all the conversation! What am I missing?" Cody replied, "Don't worry. All you're missing is, 'Sit down! Don't do that! Be quiet! Eat your dinner!'" So while it wasn't our normal girls night out, it was still a good time. Here's some bowling pics:

I had to get a picture of the shoes. Aren't they just too cute?!

Owen still didn't quiet get the hang of really rolling it down there but he was better than last time. And he was defintely better at giving others turns, which was nice for me because I didn't have to chase him as much.

And good 'ol Caders got to get in on all the bowlin' action this time around. Last time we went he wasn't even walking yet so he spent the entire time watching from his stroller. But this time he was ALL over the place and he loved it! Though I think his parents were a little worn out by the end of the night! Thankfully Uncle Matt and Aunt Jess were there to lend a hand.

Lots more to come!

We're Back!

After a long hiatus, I have finally made my way back to the Muhs News. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures posted yet as my time is very limited these days. Right now I feel like my life is a series of doctor's appointments separated by maximum amounts of poop and minimal amounts of sleep. So goes the life of a Mom I guess.

Things have been crazy busy around here. We made it back from our week-long visit in Murphysboro. We had a great time celebrating Owen & Maddy's birthdays, Easter, and Cameron's Baptism. It was quite hectic but enjoyable. Once we got home, all THREE of my boys got sick and are still on the mend. Owen and Daddy are still fighting it but feeling much better than they were. Poor little Cam had a double ear infection and is horribly congested with a terrible cough. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be over by the end of the weekend. He still graces us with his adorable little smiles in between coughs. I've managed to stay fairly well for now, though I am exhausted. Cameron was going 7-8 hour stretches at night before he got sick and now he's getting up more often. He does better at night with me rather than Cody, something I'm sure Cody has trained him to do so he won't have to get up. ;)

We are still going to physical therapy twice a week and are going to the children's hospital in Des Moines next week to be evaluated by their PT. It's mostly to get a second opinion and make sure there's nothing our PT or the doctor is missing. He seems to be doing better but throws a curve ball in there every now and again, such as tilting to both sides rather than just the right like he first started doing. But our PT says that is normal. Weird, but normal. So we are just doing exercises for both sides and it seems to be helping. He's starting to show better head and neck control. He is, however, getting some flattening on his head that we are slightly concerned with. The doctor says we don't need to be too concerned yet and it can still correct itself. Of course, that means lots of work on our part. Meaning, do the exercises, tummy time, and try to keep him out of the swing as much as possible. All are difficult to do with a toddler around by I am trying my damnedest. The hardest is the swing because that is really the only place he'll sleep during the day. But I'm going to keep plugging away and try to get him to nap in the crib as best I can. Any suggestions are welcome and much appreciated!

So that's life in the Muhs household these days. I'm hoping to sort through the hundreds of pictures I have from the last few weeks and get those up soon but for now I'll leave you with my boys in their baptism outfits. I thought it would be fun to compare the two.

I think the outfit was a little small on Owen and maybe a little big on Cam but they both look adorable in my opinion!
Check back soon and hopefully I'll have something new!