Happy 13th Birthday Cam!

I can't believe my baby boy is a teenager today. Don't get me started about how fast time flies. It's the saddest part of my life.

Cameron Thomas Jensen was born at 6:55 p.m. weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs 15 oz. Let's just say 10 pounds. Since he was born on his grandpa Tom's birthday, he was given Thomas as a middle name. He has enjoyed sharing this day with grandpa. Several weeks before I was due, Jessica came down with the chicken pox. The day before I had Cam, Kylee and Jake got them, so when we brought Cam home from the hospital, he had to be quarantined in our bedroom, and kept away from them for the first week he was home. But to no avail as he got a small case of chicken pox two weeks later. So his first few weeks of life were eventful! He was always a good, quiet baby, and that has carried over to his childhood, and young adulthood. He's a very sweet, kind, obedient boy, and a complete joy to have in our family. Here are some highlights of his life: I love this picture of my good friend Lorene rocking him to sleep because she was so very sad that we moved from Mesa when he was just two months old (his cheek looks like mine did last week with my tooth infection!)

He loved to ride Jake's "hee hee" often times riding it for so long that he'd fall asleep! We have an awesome video of him riding it while struggling to stay awake, and about falling off.

He went through a great love of power rangers stage, and would often spend the day dressed as one.

He's always been a very active boy. Always on the go wanting to be doing something. He doesn't usually sit and watch TV or play video games. He's very adventurous and isn't scared to do anything. When he was about 5, we were at 7 peaks in Provo and waiting in line to do this ride that looked a little frightening. The girls were freaking out to do it and very hesitant. Cam's famous quote has been used many times over the years: "If we die, oh well." He much prefers to be playing with friends, playing sports, or doing any number of the following activities:

He has always loved sports, and goes from one to the next throughout the year, usually overlapping by several weeks. One of my favorite things in life is (and has been) watching my kids play sports/music/dance/cheer.

Cam's a good saver of money, and a hard worker. He's had his own paper route for almost two years now, and had saved up to almost $700 before parting with some on something he really wanted. He 's bought himself three different ipods, although he sold the video nano recently, so he's down to two. . . He's very generous with his money for gifts.

He's a diligent and conscientious student. So far, through a year and 3/4 of middle school, he's a 4.0 student.

Possibly the only thing he would change about his life if asked would be to have a pet. I know all the kids have begged for a pet over the years, but Cam has possibly more than any other. What a mean mom he has to not let him have some little cuddly creature to love and take care of. Well, like the saying goes; "if you can't have a pet, oh well." haha

He loves little kids! He is so good to play with his little cousins whenever they are around.

He has some great friends. When we just had Kylee and Jessica, and I would be around 12-13 year old boys in our ward, I thought "yuck- I hope I don't ever have a boy." Now, I feel completely different! I love my boys, and I even love their friends- well, for the most part.

Cam loves to be around his family. He gets along with everyone great. He has never once had a fight with. . . Kylee! Haha.

Cam and Jake have always been best buds.

Cam has had a lot of injuries/illnesses. If I had to list illnesses/injuries for all the other kids combined, Cam would still have three times more than that. Poor little guy- if it's going to happen to someone, it's most likely going to be him. Many times he's asked "why does it always have to happen to me?" When I did a post about him several months ago, I put a few pictures of some injuries, so I won't redo those, but I did scan some new ones. This first one is a mystery infection he had when he was almost a year old. His pedetrician didn't really know what it was, or how to treat it, but after a few days, it went away. It sure looked sore until then, and he was quite miserable.

When he was 4 or 5, he fell off his bike and had to be rushed to the emergency room by Mike. I was away at girls camp, so Mike had to handle it all. He had two layers of stitches in his chin for a total of 25. He sure got a lot of sympathy (and presents) from neighbors, friends, and family. Just a few months ago, he had a mole removed from his neck that he didn't like the looks of.

Other accidents/illnesses: (I talked about most of these in my May 18, 2008 post) *When he was 5-6 he smashed his thumb in a tent trailer door. He had it X-rayed, but no broken bones. He just lost his thumbnail. *He got his finger shut in the van door and had to wear it in a splint for several weeks. *He had shingles on his back *He had two mouth surgeries to repair his bottom gums *Broke his wrist snowboarding and wore a cast for 5 weeks *He gets very dry knuckles in the winter, and if he doesn't keep aquaphor ointment on them, they'll bleed *He would get severe stomache aches as a little guy and oftentimes I would wonder if he needed his appendix out. They were that bad. Luckily they've lessened quite a bit the past several years.

He likes to do crazy/silly/dorky things. He's a funny kids who makes us laugh.

Freda had a fun birthday party Saturday for Cam, Tom, and Teresa. Stacie made this cute poster and put it on a fence leading into their neighborhood.


On the kids odd birthday years, instead of a birthday party (hurray for me!) with their friends, they get to go out to dinner with me and Mike. Cam chose to go out to Golden Corral. It was actually really good food. No kidding. We had a fun time together.

Cam is a terrific 13 year old. We are so blessed to have him in our family. We all love you Cam!