Graduation is in sight!

Along with all of that other random stuff, Devin and I are excited to be drawing our time to a close here in Provo!  I think it will be very bitter sweet, because I have grown to love Provo, but I will be excited for what life will bring to us in the future.  Devin will graduate August 13! We have a countdown chain made.  Each has the date we can rip off, as well as a little compliment to Devin to keep him going up until the end!  It is exciting!  So I am putting a countdown on our blog as well!  So feel free to cheer him on in his last 6 months of school!

 

 

I love my hubby!

A bunch of Random

I have SUCH a sweet boy!  Here are a bunch of pictures of him over the last couple of months. (P.S.  Bear with me....since my last post, blogger has changed dramatically or something, because it is definitely different from the last time I used it.  This will make for a not-so-good post because I don't have the time to put into it since I need to stop to figure this out).

Camden at about 3 1/2 months.  He's growing so quickly!  He has had some really bad cradle cap/eczema (I have heard different diagnoses), so those are the red spots you see on his forehead and cheek.  The spots are disappearing as long as I remember to put hydrocortizone cream on it everyday)  He's still a cutie, but he started becoming quite the drooler, so since I liked this particular outfit so much, I wanted to put a bib on to keep him from drooling all over it.  Unfortunately, I went to take a picture of him in the outfit and forgot to take off the bib!! ha ha. Oh well.  We'll get it some other time.

My dear Grandma Larson sent this outfit up with my cousin Shelise when her son pooped out of his outfit!  It was WAY too small for him, but just right for Camden.  It has a cute pair of pants with a dog on the bum, but he didn't have them on here.  He is about 4 months 1 week.

  

He loves his books!  Here he shows off his mad still-learning-to-sit skills.  Obviously, this is a while ago, cuz now he sits up by himself like a champ! (Without leaning so far forward)

Happy to have that book open and reading it!

Oh! My sweet boy!  Got a little tuckered out and just laid there staring and smiling at me.

About two months ago, Devin and I went bowling for one of our dates.  BYU is wonderful because they have pretty inexpensive bowling and we had a BOGO free pass.  Look at my husbands GREAT form.

 

It had been a while since we have gone bowling. But we made a little wager anyway.  Oh, it looks like hot mama won! (And so she was treated to a NEVER ON A SUNDAE at pizza factory.  If you haven't had it and you are in Provo, you  MUST)

Happy Birthday Grandpa Waters!!! 

We love You!

This is terrible because these pictures are so blurry.  But if the room is too dark, the flash on Devin's camera will still just not help it.  I really just wanted to show that last weekend (right at 5 months old), Camden's grandparents came.  We didn't get pictures, but we did get some video.  Unfortunately, our video doesn't connect to the computer, so this is all I have!

Surprised!  But he's still just too cute!

I still want to get our December pictures up on here, I just don't know that it will ever happen. In comparing them to the above pictures, I just can't believe how quickly Camden has grown!  Here is just one because I don't have time to put up the rest. This was just after we got home from our Christmas in Las Vegas. Camden's Uncle Dallin set up this gift for him. He loves it! (3 months)

P.S.  Can anyone tell me how to upload a video now? 

And so we continue...

Since I have mastitis, I have to take it easy; so, I decided it would be a great time to try to catch up on my blog!

I want to record a few of the things that Camden likes:

• Jingle bells.  I made a Christmas decoration that has bells on it.  It apparently wasn't that cute, so it has become a chew/shaker toy! (It used to have a cute bow on it)
• His mom. (I won't show a picture of that, but just take my word for it).  He KNOWS she's the one with the food!
• Jack-in-the-box: Though it kinda startles him
• His bear mobile that hangs from his swing. We wake up to him talking to these bears pretty much everyday
  

• Music!  YAY!  He LOVES when I sing songs to him (for falling asleep, it's that sleep song Mary Poppins sings).  He has recently enjoyed "playing" the piano.  And whenever he hears music he gets really excited.
• His bumbo.  He wants to be a part of things. Plus, it's where he gets his new food!
• His dad. He laughs and laughs and LAUGHS with his dad.  Devin will tickle him on his head and he will just giggle uncontrollably!  Video to come...

• Books!  Camden LOVES to read with me.  He will sit and pat at the book, talk back, and try to turn the pages.

Thing he HATES--and by HATES, I mean, screams uncontrollably until it is out of sight and he is safely feeding from mother instead:

I swear he thinks it's the Devil.

Even when I put my own milk in it, it just won't suffice. He wants THE REAL DEAL.

Fast Forward to AFTER Christmas (that will get it's own post)

Excited to start the Texas Championship Game!

"Oh no.  Colt McCoy is injured."

He's actually enjoying being on the ground (probably better than watching Texas get killed)

Cheesin' it up!

Our happy little guy some more

This game is so miserable.  Stop taking pictures. (I think this game was literally on Devin's mind

for 2-3 days after it.  It was just devastating to this Texas fan)

We sold this baby...

 I have many a memory in this car, but as is necessary, things must come to an end.  And it was for good reason.  Stay tuned...

Last Wednesday, Camden had his 4 month well check-up! I KNOW, I can't BELIEVE he is already that old!  My little boy is growing so quickly.  He is now 15 pounds, 7 ounces (dropped from 91st percentile--when born--to the 62nd).  He is not gaining as quickly as I thought he would for being so big at birth.  His length is 26 and 3/4 inches (now 95th percentile from the 62nd--when born).  And his head is 17.2 inches (84th percentile from the 72nd percentile)  He will be a watermelon head like his father. Definitely a Romney trait.


Because he is well, we decided to start him on rice cereal that evening!  Here is that experience (minus the video because we do not have a digital camera to hook up to the computer--but take my word for it.  It is A.DOR.A.BLE)

"Mommy, do I have to wear this?!"

And MESSY

But he did really well with it.  He looks really crazed when he's eating it. He grabs the bowl and tries to force it all in his mouth.  He wants it RIGHT NOW.  Guess that's another way he takes after his father.

And the next day, he had a fun time playing.  Here he is concentrating on attacking the toy.

And it was a success!

 Now, we're all caught up--if you don't count the whole month of December!  I will get those up eventually!

I have a problem...

It's been FOREVER since I've actually updated and there is so much to update on, that it almost overwhelms me.  My dilemma, I work all day when the computer isn't in use, and then when I possibly have some down time, Devin needs it for homework.  So, I think this will be the super quick version because I'm being told the computer is needed once again.

This is all going to start before Christmas.  Here is one of my fabulous ex-roomates--but super friend and named "godmother" to Camden (though, we are admittedly not Catholic)--Shelley!  We love her!  She got this cute outfit for Camden for Christmas.  He is well pleased.  And it is one of the few outfits he has decided not to 'poo' his way out of.  He must like it!

 Not unlike his father, Camden is a big football fan!  He loves this football that Grams gave him when he came home from the hospital.  Who knows, maybe he will be a football star one day?!?  I
bet his daddy would love it.  They do enjoy watching football games together already. (But I am not losing him yet!  He loves his music, books, and food, too!)

These make me laugh.  He looks like a greedy little gnome in this one, and the other, he is about to chomp down.

We didn't get any really GOOD shots with Santa.  At least he wasn't afraid of the old guy.  I bet he will be someday. We were just trying to make him smile in these pictures, but all he would do was suck on his hands and look up at daddy.  Not to mention, I'm not very pleased with Devin's camera.  I can only get blurry pictures it seems! I want MY camera back

And here are a few for Grandma Romney.  Daddy says you like baby bums?!?  Don't ask me why one cheek is red :O)  These are a little more censored than the others.  But the others were cuter.  I'll save Camden the embarrassment. 

Oops!  I ran out of time.  (To be cont...)

WEEEE WOOOOONNNN!!!

Thank you, thank you, and thank you again and again for all of your help in the win! Trevor appreciates everyone who was so willing and generous with their time. Thank you for watching the video and letting others know to do the same! We cannot thank you enough!

~Meg

P.S. Keep posted because I'll be putting up pictures soon!

Only TWO DAYS LEFT~

With only two days left, we have gained the lead...but are now only up by 200 views and the second place man is gaining on us a little each day. We want to secure the lead and win; so everyone who reads this, PLEASE post it to your blog so that it gets as many hits as possible. You can just delete it on Friday evening once the contest is over. If we can get it on several blogs, regular readers/blog surfers will be SURE to help secure our win! Thank you for EVERYONE who has helped! We really appreciate it and Trevor really appreciates it! If we secure this win, it will be the first thing he has won in his life! Let's help him make this dream come true! Thanks again! And here is the video


*just as a side note, I have a TON of things to update on, but I am waiting a few more days so that I can get as many views for Trevor as possible. Come back later for cute pics and our WONDERFUL Christmas!

We're gaining on 'em....but still need your help!!

Thanks to YOUR efforts, we have narrowed the gap from 400 to about 200 views!!! That's amazing and we REALLY appreciate everyone's help!!!

Keep up the good work and please keep spreading the word!


P.S. Once I am finished promoting my little brother, I will post all of our recent happenings. There are lots of cute pictures of our handsome guy!

PLEASE HELP!!!

Hello Everyone!

I don't often try to ask others for help, especially electronically because I know it can sometimes be found bothersome, however, I really love my brother and am trying to help him succeed in his goal! Please read below:


I am trying to help my brother get to the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. He has to have the most views on this you tube video, however, for some reason it is not showing in the search results on you tube, so his numbers are much lower than the results of his competitors whose videos ARE showing in the search results. We are trying to rally a lot of people to just "watch" the video to increase his numbers, but we have to spread the word by different means because of this unfortunate event. Please watch this video (you don't actually have to WATCH it, just play it through to the end) and then email it to at least 10 others (PLEASE!) in your address book to do the same. Also, if you wouldn't mind posting it to your own blogs, we could get more numbers and hopefully more people to post it to their own facebooks, blogs, emails, etc. It would mean so much to my technology-loving brother, and our family, for him to win.

Thank you a TON! Because of the mishap, he is already 400 views behind, even though he was ahead in the beginning of the competition. It would be the best Christmas present to him EVER if we can make it happen! Please help us! Thanks again!

~Meg Romney

P.S. Only one view per IP address will register, so watching it multiple times will not be necessary. Thank you!

Family Pictures

We took these over a month ago, but I haven't had a chance to put them up until now.

(And Shelise, they show my short hair...except for one that was taken around Halloween)

Click here to view these pictures larger

I never wrote my whole birth story....

...so I want to get it recorded now. As much as I can remember anyway.

Let me just start out with the fact that I was EXTREMELY terrified of labor and delivery! So much so that it took me a while to convince myself that I could actually do it--before I got pregnant--and then I had to constantly reassure myself, and be reassured, that it was possible. My mom told me "Meghan, millions of women have done it before you, and millions will do it after you, so it is possible for YOU." I believed her...and she was right! :O)

I was supposed to have a doctor appointment on Wednesday, September 16th--my second one of the week--because my Dr. Young wanted to speak with me about induction options. He had been dangling the option in front of my face for a few weeks, but never actually allowed it because he didn't feel my body was quite ready to be induced and therefore, it would be extremely difficult on me. I had dilated to a 2+ and was 75-80% effaced by the previous Friday, but hadn't changed much by my Monday appointment, so they made a second appointment Wednesday. However, Tuesday, they called and told me they had just WAY overbooked and so they were going to open specially on Saturday of that week and wondered if I could come in then instead. I was SEVERELY disappointed, but consented. I thought to myself--well, I am going to go into labor before then anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

So, I went about my normal routine. On Thursday, September 17th, I did my big grocery shopping. (Good thing, cuz we wouldn't have had food for a week otherwise :O) I thought that the more active I was, the better, so I went walking as quickly as I could--which wasn't very quick, I might add. I went to Costco, Walmart, and then Days Market; along with the bank, etc. I had been having quite a bit of contractions for the last several weeks, so I was quite used to just pushing myself through them. They weren't ever regular, so we didn't worry about it. I hurried home to make dinner and got the old folks fed and ready for bed. Then, I rushed off to watch the ward girls and my sister play soccer for our team. One of the husbands of the girls said, "You STILL haven't had him yet?! When is he due?" I told him I was due that Saturday, but that I would probably go into labor after the game and have him that night :O)

Sure enough, my contractions started to get a little more intense and were more regular, starting after the game. I went to sleep and was able to rest for several more hours until about 4AM when the contractions were too intense to be able to sleep through (I'm typically a pretty heavy sleeper). Once I was up, I started to get things together, plug in the camera, take a hot shower to relax my muscles, etc. It took a while because I had to pause between contractions and take sitting breaks. Finally, around 6:30AM, I called my mom and told her I thought I was in labor this time. She asked me if I was timing my contractions, but I hadn't been. I just knew they were intensifying and I could tell they were coming regularly.

So, I timed my contractions for the next hour and they were on the dot every five minutes. I then woke Devin up and told him I thought I was in labor and we should probably get ready to go because I didn't know if it would be a short or long labor and delivery. He got up and started to get things together. I called my mom again and told her how frequently my contractions were and that we may go to the hospital. Since this was not the first time I had called telling her about contractions, she told me to call her again later if we actually went to the hospital and they told me I was going to stay. I continued to do stuff at home to get ready and in the next hour, the contractions stayed very consistent, so we decided to head out.

Devin videotaped us leaving the house and during some of our stay at the hospital. When we arrived at the hospital (about 9AM), the nurse took a look at me and said she knew I would be staying, just by my countenance, but that she would follow the necessary procedures to be sure. I was dilated to a 4+ and was having regular contractions, so she said she would prep my room and call the anesthesiologist if I wanted him to come.

At that point, my contractions weren't too bad, so I thought about just going through the process naturally, but I decided to go with it anyway. The anesthesiologist did a really great job administering the epidural (about 10:30AM). It wasn't bad getting it AND I could actually move around decently well still. I heard so many horror stories about them and also how debilitating it was to different women, so I was happy that I could still turn myself from side to side and scoot around a tad.

At that point, we were moved to the room and just hung out for several hours. Both Devin and I took a short nap, looked around for movies, videotaped some more, tried to make the TV work, did some reading and waited for nurses to check on my progress.

I didn't dilate too quickly from there. And my water didn't break, so it was a decent wait. Around 3PM, they decided to break my water for me. When they went to do so, they saw that my water had broken, but that I had a second 'water' sac as well and they would need to break that. They did so around 3:30 and because I still hadn't dilated much (only a 5), they gave me a pit drip around 4:30. My parents arrived about 6:00 and the nurses came to check on me about the same time. I had dilated to a 10 but wasn't quite all the way effaced, so they would have me wait just a little longer before I started to push. One of my friends was giving birth at the time as well, so they asked me to wait to push for a bit longer so they could have some more staff on hand for her.

At 7:30, they had me start to push. Which I did for about 15 minutes before the doctor said I had two options. Camden was posterior, so I could 1) Push for another 3 hours and maybe Camden would come or 2) have him use forceps to turn Camden so he was turned the right way. I was TOTALLY against the idea of forceps right up until that moment, which I promptly responded, "okay, let's turn him." With a baby that big, it would have been REALLY difficult to push him out when he wasn't turned the correct way.  It took about a half hour to get the forceps, so they said I could push whenever a contraction came if I wanted, or I could just let them pass. I pushed a bit more and then the doctor started using the forceps. Can I just say those were the most painful part of my labor and delivery?! It seriously felt like he was scraping my insides out with those things...and they are MUCH bigger than I anticipated.  I was EXTREMELY grateful for the epidural at that point, because I can't even imagine what that would have been like without one.

Once Camden was turned, I started pushing again. As I was pushing, the doctor asked the nurses, based on my size, what they thought the weight of the baby would be. All of them guessed around 7 lbs or so. The doc then proceeded to tell them that at my 34 week ultrasound, he was weighing approximately 6 pounds--and that was almost 6 weeks ago. After about 10 minutes, he came. Everyone was SHOCKED! He was HUGE-9lbs 12 oz! They said I was not having a newborn at all. (He fit in newborn diapers for about 5 days)

Devin did pretty well during the whole ordeal. Better than I anticipated anyway.  My sister, JaNae, was in the doorway so as soon as Camden came, she could take pictures of him.  That way, Devin wouldn't have to remember to do so during the big moments!  Devin, however, got a little out of it a few times during the delivery.  He isn't into the whole medical stuff much--it makes him sick to his stomach.  So, there were a few times he wasn't helping very well because he was so engrossed in what was taking place.  JaNae had to come in just to make sure he was always stable, so she got some funny pictures of him wondering "what the heck is that?!" and "what is happening to my wife?" ha ha!  We all had quite the laugh about it!

Camden was WONDERFUL!  Even from the start, he just was SUCH a good and pure baby.  Everyone commented on how sweet his countenance was and what a handsome little man he is. He is a joy and we love him very much! 

I must say, if all of my pregnancies, labors, and deliveries go THIS well, I will definitely be having many more children with no problem; however, I do not plan or expect that.  I feel we were very blessed this time around because of the various circumstances we are living under--not to mention all of the infection and illness we had afterward.  Recovery was definitely the most difficult part for me.  I tore very badly and the doctor said it was like putting a jigsaw puzzle back together.  He sewed me up for a long time afterward.  I did really well with the recovery for the first week (my mom said I was living on adrenaline).  I went to the store and out to the restaurants to eat.  I even stopped taking meds the third day so I could nurse without it affecting Camden at all.  I think the meds were making him more sleepy and he had jaundice so he needed to wake up.  The second week, however, was a terrible experience because I had endometritis.  I realized that all of my recovery pain stemmed from that infection.  I didn't know it, because it was my first time, but when my fever finally spiked to 103 and wouldn't go down with ibuprofen, we went to the doctor.  She almost hospitalized me at that time, but decided to give me antibiotics--two shots to the hips and then two other prescriptions.

After the shots, I immediately began to feel a little better, which was a great sign.  The pharmacist said that I must have had something pretty bad because I was given some extremely strong antibiotics.  Usually they make people feel very sick.  I was mostly just very tired.  The baby couldn't really breastfeed because of it, but my breastfeeding stories will be saved for another time :O)

It was all worth it though for our little Camden.  We love him immensely and are so grateful he is here and life is slowly getting back to "normal."  Anyway, sorry this is so lengthy! It's mostly for my records, but for those who made it to the bottom, good job! :O)