The Phamily Blog

I apologize for my SERIOUS lack in blogging activity. We've been insanely busy and at the end of the day, I want nothing more than to shower and and go to bed. Hopefully I can get back on the bandwagon soon!

Many things have been going on. The most exciting news I have to report is that the crab feed and silent auction to help bring home sweet Sofia raised $19,889.19 !!! Can you believe it? It was such a fun and amazing night. Check out details and photos from the night over at Lisa's blog here! Sofia will be home VERY soon. I cannot wait to get my hands on her...she is already so loved. Our little Ds family here in Sacramento is unbelievable you guys. AMAZING!

The crab feed was last Friday night and my good friend Chrystal was staying with me (lucky for me!) and got to help me the next morning with preparing for Cameron's fifth birthday party. As always, I was a total anxious mess trying to get everything ready but I had plenty of help from Nguyen, Chrystal, my aunts, and my mom. I hope you're not too scarred, C! :)

The weather was perfect. We had a bounce house, crafts, a pinata, lots and lots of food, and FUN! It was another successful event!

Glue, sparkly/shiny things, markers, and feathers to stick on stuff. They loved it!

The bounce house was by far the biggest hit of the party. It arrived at our house at 9am and they didn't come to take it down until after 8pm so we (the adults) had plenty of time to bounce and be total and complete goofballs.

Meet "Swimmy" or if you ask Cameron, "Schwimmy." Our neighbor/friends brought this for Cameron and he was thrilled! It was hard to peel him away from the fish so that he could continue to entertain and play with his guests, but eventually I was successful and he returned to chat with Swimmy after everyone left.

My aunt was trying to get a picture with both Cameron and his new friend so she told him "stand closer to Swimmy...I want to get your face next to him in the picture."

You get what you ask for with this guy...

So the first three days with Swimmy were really exciting. By day four, Cameron seemed to have lost interest in his new friend which I am actually thankful for because...Swimmy died. I have no idea why. I have been taking EXCELLENT care of him but I guess it was just his time. I have been meaning to head over to the pet store in search of a Swimmy look-a-like but have been procrastinating and since Cameron hasn't even mentioned him in five days, I thought I was safe.

Unfortunately, I attempted to flush Swimmy by pouring the water into the toilet bowl. I thought I could be successful in dumping the fish and water without dumping all of the rocks as well but I proved myself wrong. All of the rocks started to fall out and I had no net to retrieve the dead fish so I stopped my plan all together. Later that day, Cameron was quick to notice Swimmy's bowl had a very small amount of water and that Swimmy seemed to be ~~dead~~ laying down on the rocks. Panic started to rise and Nguyen was quick to inform Cam that Swimmy was "just chillin" and the color returned to Cameron's face. I really need to get over to the pet store. Swimmy is still chillin.

What else...

We finally booked our Disney vacation and Nguyen and I are SO excited. I am 100% sure that we enjoy Disneyland more than the kids! We're going in May and my mom is coming with us this trip. I know it's going to be a blast and I can't wait!

Before our trip I have to finish up my Community First Aid and CPR course I started last week. I have been wanting to get CPR certified for FOREVER and I am finally doing it. Yesterday we got to practice on the dummies and it was pretty exciting. It feels like a huge weight off my shoulders to finally know that I can do something if, God forbid, anything every happened with Gabby or anyone else, for that matter! As many of you know, my main concern with her is choking (since she thinks chewing is a waste of time) and next week we will be addressing that exact issue. Hopefully I can stop calling 911 and feel more prepared if/when she ever decides to scare me again.

I think that's all for now. Gabby has her annual Audiology appointment tomorrow and then her IFSP on monday so hopefully I'll have some GOOD news to report!

We've gone PRIVATE!

10:58 AM Posted In hate 5 Comments »

Due to some really sad and unfortunate circumstances, I have decided to make The Phamily Blog private. There are several groups on facebook and in the blogging community that are targetting our children and creating websites for the sole purpose of ridiculing them. Several of my friends have been targetted and I cannot sit back and wait for Gabby's sweet face to show up on their hateful agendas.

This makes me extremely sad but I'll do whatever it takes to protect my sweet girl.
And so it begins...

Snips and Snails: 5

2:00 PM Posted In snips and snails 8 Comments »

A few days ago I was talking to Nguyen on the phone while he was at work. Cameron came over and decided he wanted to talk as well. They talked for a few moments and then Cameron handed the phone back over to me. He started to walk away but at the last moment, turned around and screamed into the phone speaker, "STAY FOCUSED!"

1/28/10 While Cameron was playing legos, he looked up at me for a moment and said, "Remember on Christmas Eve when I opened that one present and it was jammies and I was sad?" I acknowledged that I did, indeed, remember the incident. He continued with "I'm glad you still love me even though I was upset. I love my jammies now."

2/4/10 Cameron was having a fit about WHO KNOWS and finally I said to him, "Cameron, you really need to stop whining like a baby," to which he firmly replied "I am NOT whining like a baby...I am whining like a BIG BOY!"

2/7/10 Cameron and my mom were baking cookies and my mom was trying to show Cameron how to drop the dough onto the cookie sheet with a spoon and a little push of his finger. He quickly got the hang of it and told us he was using his "action fingers" to get the job done.

3/4 On the way home from T-Ball pictures, Cameron asked us "Is Gabby gonna have that Down syndrome?" I was confused as we really haven't had the conversation about what Ds is just yet (I didn't think he was ready or would understand.) So, I replied with, "Well, yeah...she has Down syndrome. Why do you ask?" to which he replied, "Well are we going to have a party for her?" Again, I was confused so I asked, "You mean like a party to celebrate her having Down syndrome?" to which he responded with "YEAH!" Nguyen and I chuckled as I told Cameron we could TOTALLY have a Ds party. He then asked, "So can we give her the Down syndrome at the party, then?"

:)

My little Beasties!

7:00 AM 9 Comments »

Thanks to our rad "in-the-know" friends, we heard about an awesome art studio downtown designed just for kids seven and under called ArtBeast. I have been anxious to take the kids but Gabby has been sick on and off so I have had to wait...until a couple of weeks ago!
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This place is beyond awesome. It's a three story home that has been converted into three different play areas. The lowest level is set up with puppets, costumes, a stage, instruments, and even a pretend spaceship. The kids got right to work down there.
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The main level of the house is an actual art studio where they have easels, craft stations, and a clay table for the kids to create whatever their little hearts desire. Gabby wasted no time tasting the paints.
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Yummy!

I learned my lesson after this first trip to ArtBeast...I simply cannot have a camera in my hand while Gabby is painting. She was blue from head to toe.

Creating a clay masterpiece!

The backyard of artbeast is set up with dirt, shovels, pails, dump trucks, bowls, spoons, etc. I think Cameron had the most fun outside.

They also have a baby washing station with baby dolls in sudsy tubs. We avoided that area this trip but it sure was cute...maybe when it's warmer out.
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Gabby took a liking to the dirt as well.

Maybe she liked it a little too much?

And apparently, rocks are delicious as well.
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Finally, we cleaned up a bit and headed upstairs for some tumbling/climbing for the princess.
My little climber loved it!

We left ArtBeast after two hours and Cameron cried and cried when we had to leave. I ended up buying a month long family pass since the kids had such a great time.

I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of our summer days here!

Party time!

7:01 AM Posted In birthday , cameron 6 Comments »

Just a few pics from our small celebration on Cameron's birthday. Next month he is actually going to have a party with friends from school. We opted to push the party to March because he really wants a bounce house. Sometimes having a birthday in winter sucks.
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Cameron made his wish for all to hear:

"I wish for all of the kids at school to play with me."

Presents!

A new "snakey" from G-ma!

A G.I. Joe!

Papa sent a super cool Lightening McQueen sleeping bag and flashlight for the birthday boy

but guess who loves it most?

I'd say Cameron was a happy boy and his birthday was an absolute success!

More of the birthday boy!

9:36 PM Posted In birthday , cameron 4 Comments »

Yeah yeah yeah...so I was supposed to upload these on his actual birthday but we were having way too much fun that day and then my camera battery died so I just now got around to it-oops!
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Cameron had school on his actual birthday so we showed up armed with goodies- "Vanilla cupcakes with m&m's on top," as requested by Cameron. Later that day, Gabby and I went to pick up our big five year old and found him captivated by "Pinkalicious" at story time.
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Once we got in the car I told him we had a surprise...we were going to pick up daddy for lunch at Cheesecake Factory! He thought that was pretty exciting but what he didn't know was that after lunch, we were taking him to Build-a-Bear.
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sidenote: Cameron loves any and all stuffed animals and carrys them around the house and anywhere we go, constantly. I knew he would love build-a-bear...and he did!
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He picked a bunny.