A day at the water park!

The boys and I went to the water park with a friend and her 2 sons. It was so much fun! We managed to get all 5 boys in the van and it was just adorable. The drive was a pleasant hour and 15 minutes there. The boys played in the water, enjoyed lunch and ice cream. They played so hard and I knew on the way to the car someone was going to have a melt down. It was Collin this time. Even with the melt down, it was a blast. At one point I think I threatened to never take him back to the water park if he didn't shape up, but I really want to go back. The boys are really enjoying the summer and we hope you are too!!!!!

Note: The last (2) photo's were taken by Jamie.

A sneak peak at my latest session, these kids are natural born models!

These kiddos are the cutest and sweetest! They are natural born models!!!! It was fun, thank you for making the long trip.

Fur Babies

Ok, so here are the other babies in my life. My two girls Kitty and Polly. They are so sweet and great with the kids. We miss Azrielle so much and next month will be a year since she passed away. I really wanted to try out my new pink backdrop so I found the only girls in the house. Polly would not sit on the pink but managed to get her later on sitting by the blue & thought she looked so good in black and white.

All took in Manual / iso 200 / ss 125 / F 2.8

Collin & Cameron

Collin and Cameron together again! I have a posting a few months back (March 12th 2008 posting) that has a similar pose to this one. Just thought it was cute to show the developing relationship between the older brother and baby! So sweet!!!

Cameron woke up in time for a couple.

Cooies favorite color is green!

Cameron was napping for the "green" photo session so here's one from yesterday that I turned into my siggy.

Here are some new shots of Cooie and Collin. Cooie loves green so I bought a new backdrop for him. He was so happy to take pictures with me because he was on his favorite color. I FINALLY captured my Cooie. Not to mention he has a throat infection, pretty sweet poses for a little guy so sick. BTW, I did not tell him to put his hand under his chin.

My little Cameron Cruz is NINE months old today!!!!!

Cameron is getting so big! All of the sudden he can say (HI, Dada, Baba, waaaasss sssssat) and he also gets around the house. He has discovered if he keeps moving eventually he will find a new room. He enjoys "repeatedly" going to the computer. When you try and remove him he trows a tantrum. Every baby I have the tantrums start earlier and earlier. He is sooooo happy and sweet and is the ABSOLUTE light of my life....along with Tony, Collin and Cooie too! Cameron is getting his first tooth and in some of the photos you can see it on the bottom. He is no longer my favorite model as he just will not sit still anymore! Boo hoo!

A day at the park with my boys.

Today I enjoyed a beautiful day at the park with all my boys. I have never laughed so hard as a mommy. Cameron was telling Cooie off as you can see in the photo. LMBO

Collin saw a lady walking 2 dogs. As she was passing the play structure he waved and said "Hi". She politely replied. Are those your dogs? Yes, they are. I didn't know you had 2 dogs. As if he knew her or something.

Two ladies strolling down the path, both with blond hair and green shorts on. Collin looks at me and says: Hey mommy, they are the same! They must be cousins or something.

LMBO again! I don't know if it gets any better than age 4! Although, he has a tendency to embarrass me in public too with his curiosity.

Cameron saw the Genetic Counselor today.

Today was the Genetic Counselor visit.

Here it is simply put:

Cameron does not appear to have any other "syndromes" usually associated with having Hemihypertrophy. Good news, already suspected that.
The affected parts of his body is mainly his arm and mostly in circumference.
We will be refered for the 6-8 week AFP testing.
We will continue the ultrasounds every 6 months if not every 3 months. Still undecided about that. We may also have the prev. ultrasound re-done since it appears they may not have done it properly.
He will see a Genetic Physician in Seattle to conclude the findings of the diagnosing doctor and the findings of the Genetic Counselor.

The lump on his skull was the plates growing together and not a tumor. She said sometimes that happens and it's nothing to be alarmed about.

Thank you for keeping Cameron in your thoughts and prayers. He is now army crawling very well and learned how to wave and say HI in the cutest little voice I have heard.

I've got my eye on you!

Just kidding! Having a good weekend with my guys. I took Collin to speed racer today. It was a mommy and Collin day. He is such a wonderful date! It was a cute movie.

Cameron has his appointment with the genetic counselor Tuesday. It's all I can think about. I keep worrying he has a brain tumor because his left frontal skull has a larger lump as opposed to the right. I am HORRIFIED! I suppose it could just be nothing and all this pain in my tummy could be for nothing. I HOPE AND PRAY!!!! I just can't wait to have him be seen by someone who knows a little something about this condition.

My house is a mess and I just don't care, infact I don't care about anything until he's ok! I will post as soon as I can on Tuesday.

A cute idea I saw on my favorite site.

Here is a card I made inspired by my favorite photography/scrap site. We are going to give this card to Collin's teacher along with his favorite book. I am loving this digital card stuff. I am going to make some cards for purchase for my photography customers. Fun, fun, fun!!!!

It was HOT today in Yakima!

We enjoyed a day of fun by the pool today! Kiddie pool that is.

Another Collin story that I thought I would share.

He was passing by the television the other evening and America's funniest home videos was on. The clip was of a little girl yanking out her front tooth with a string. As she would tug, she would scream. He watched the clip and very concerned walked up to me and said "mommy, I don't want to loose a tooth......I really like my teeth". I know he knew about loosing teeth because I had talked to him before. It was almost like he realized for the first time that this was quite real. I asked him if he wanted the tooth fairy to visit and leave money under his pillow and his response was simply No!

This morning as I struggled to get out of bed...

I heard Collin say to Connor "hurry the dragon is coming to get us".
Connor said "oh no". Collin said "I am going to get him with my morning breath".

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mommy Day!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from mother's day weekend. Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.

Doctors, doctors and more doctors!

So, I am finding it hard to keep plug in along with all the health issues that still need answers. I finally set up an appointment with a Geneticist here in Yakima. I made a special appointment about a month ago with Cameron's PCP to discuss the further testing I feel absolutely necessary for Cameron's well being. To this day I have not heard back. Despite numerous attempts to get the "answer" as to if his PCP felt it necessary. I finally called and set the appointment up myself. Let's just cross our fingers and hope that when the PCP receives the "referral request" they just take care of it.

Is this neglect? You tell me what you think......you can comment on this section of my blog. I think that because Hemihypertrophy is a disorder of the body's normal controls of growth, people with this condition can have a higher rate of cancer. If these "cancers" are not detected in time it could be too late. My proposed care to the PCP was instead of ultrasounds every 6 months he should have them every 3 months (a normal time frame for a child with this disorder). Also, I questioned the 6-8 week blood tests and why no one feels it's important for him to have. The Dr. said because the diagnosing Dr. felt the ultrasound was sufficient. Now understand, this PCP has NEVER had a patient with Hemi. So, why am I still with him.......because with-in my health plan the options don't seem much better. But, believe me I am working on it.

On a side note, Cameron is doing well. He is sitting up all by himself and just as happy as can be. The geneticist we are seeing at the end of May will hopefully be able to answer all my questions. One I really want answered is if they think this is isolated hemi. 1 in 86,000 people have isolated hemi.

So far, what I have learned from all the issues with Collin and Cameron is to take action for them since the doctors will not. I am not just angry and wanting my kids to get special care, I just want answers. Is that too much to ask.

Collin:

Was covered head to toe with an uncomfortable rash and to top it off his joints were in so much pain he screamed when we moved him. Even after being admitted to the hospital they would not officially diagnose him. It's hives, no it's HSP no it's Hives. 3 Er visits, 1 admittance to the hospital, numerous visits to the PCP, 1 visit to Children's is Seattle and a completely different doctor in Yakima. Guess who finally figured out what Collin had..........Leslie his Grammy!!! They dropped the ball on all levels. They sent our info over the allergist with a 2+ month waiting list. No rush, just hung us out to dry. I had to make the appointment in Issaquah to see why Collin was getting sick every other day with anything and everything. Even now, it's not a closed case, because.....can he have his immunizations? Do I trust anything that comes out of the Doctor's mouths.

Collin is doing great and surprising me everyday! If I don't take some time to breath and let some of this heartache just sit on the sidelines, I may miss out on my kids. Already, I feel my tolerance has changed due to my inability to cope. I MUST get control of myself a fix this! Any suggestions on how to change my attitude?

Thanks for your prayers and good thoughts.

Love,

April

My gift from the boys......almost!

My gift from my boys was going to be pictures all together. I guess given Cameron's age , we did pretty good. I hope to some day get all of us together looking at the camera.