2010: A summary

This year was a busy and exciting year. So much has changed!

It started in January with me being sick. It never fails, I have been sick the past two years, so it seems as if that is a tradition that I like to carry on. We rang in the new year with friends (well we left early, that's how sick I was) and I barely had a speaking voice. At this point in time I was avoiding taking a pregnancy test just cause I knew if I did, it would be negative and my cycle would start. Later on in that first week I would give in and take one, then schedule my first doctors appointment where we got our first ultrasound! Towards the end of January we announced our pregnancy to our families, who were more than excited.

February was cold and bleak as usual, and I spent most of my time dealing with the fatigue that comes with the first trimester. Husband would yell at me for sitting under the electric blanket with it too warm stating I was going to "cook the baby". Pearl was my cuddle buddy though! This was also the month that my Granddaddy had a stroke and his and my Grandmother's health took a turn for the worse. It was the beginning of a looooong year for them, namely Granddaddy.

March was the usual March, coming in like a lion and out like a lamb. I was so grateful to see the beginnings of springtime. At the end of Feb and beginning of March, Chris and I took what will probably be a last flight to Vegas for a while where we caught the Nascar race. It was awesome, I distinctly remember being 14 weeks pregnant and enjoying the buffets! (Especially since this was before heartburn arrived!) At this time I just had a tiny little bump of a baby in there.

April brought about our gender ultrasound on Good Friday, and it couldn't arrive soon enough! So many people nowadays are doing the surprise thing. I commend them for that but I am a PLANNER and could not have tolerated waiting until August to find out. Ridic! On Good Friday we found out we were having a BOY! We couldn't stop smiling. This month also brought about my birthday and the beginning stages of planning for a BOY's nursery! We went to visit my Grandmother at one point, can't remember if it was March or April. We took her to lunch for some yummy potato soup at Charleston's and it was there that she promptly got out her checkbook and gave us (well, me, because husband was working) a 'gift' for the baby. So selfless and so sweet, that was her nature.

May was a fairly relaxed month. We continued baby planning and picking out names. Ordered nursery furniture. Our worlds were rocked severely at the end of May when my Grandmother went in for a simple heart procedure and came out okay, but then didn't make it after complications during recovery. I was 28 weeks at that time, and very saddened by the loss of a precious Grandmother and yet amazed at the same time. Amazed at how much my life has changed and grown since spending summers crafting, swimming and learning board games with her. She was a big part of what shaped me into who I am today and I probably wouldn't be doing the job I am doing today if it weren't for her.

With June came more preparing for baby, and having the first of many showers. This shower was thrown by my mother-in-law and was a joint shower for me and my sister-in-law who was due five days before me. (so cool, right?) I really enjoyed sharing our pregnancies together and it is fun having the same age baby as well! Towards the end of this month Husband and I took a quick little getaway trip to Branson for a weekend. I was right about 30 weeks pregnant. The trip was nice because we got to spend some time to ourselves and explore a new town. We did PLENTY of shopping for Baby C and finally found that waffle maker Husband was holding out on finding. (He's picky, it has to cook four waffles and the squares in the waffle have to be a certain size. What a nut!) Husband insisted on going to Silver Dollar City, and I agreed just to appease him. I surprised myself by throughly enjoying the time there despite the heat. I enjoyed watching the craftsmen and watching husband ride the rides. He's like a little kid sometimes! I remember getting horrible sleep there in the bed that wasn't my own.

July brought about more baby showers. At this point I had three more to go, I had a work shower, Husband's work shower and then a friends shower. I was more than blessed at each of the showers and got TONS of stuff for Little C. I am still amazed at how many clothes and items he got at these showers! Both work places were SUPER generous and then for the friends shower I had people driving up from Texas to see me. At this time it was starting to get unbearably hot, and it didn't help having a little heater attached to me!

The beginning of August was exciting because my brother was on leave so my brother and sister-in-law got to see me huge and swollen. It was getting excruciatingly hot and it was getting increasingly harder to get around. Work was tough as my patients always wanted to go outside yet the doctors kept advising me against going outside in the 100+ heat. (I did it anyways and drank lots of water!) Sleep was horrible as I had to wake every few hours to use the restroom or I had to wake up completely to roll. Everything was such an effort! (But soooo-o worth it) Finally, at the end of August Little C arrived to bless our lives. He came quietly and quickly, I still can't believe after 40 weeks of preparing how quickly he entered and just settled right in, as if he was always there!

September was spent getting acquainted to Camden and learning what life was like with a baby. In the first five days home from the hospital we ventured out, going to Target and the grocery store or picking things up at Babies R Us, and we really enjoyed the company of Husband who got to take that first week off with us. After that first week when Husband returned to work, Camden and I spent lots of time in the house together. It took a month or so before I was comfortable carting him around on my own to run multiple errands, without Husband to assist! Toward the end of September we took Camden to meet my Granddaddy. Camden was a fabulous baby and it was lots of fun to hang out with Granddaddy and see his place as well as go to his picnic they were having at the facility where he lives.

October was my last full month of maternity leave. Camden of course was busy growing like a weed! This month was baby's first Halloween and he was the cutest monkey on the block. The weather started cooling off so we had to cut back on our daily walks with Pearl. The time change definitely put a damper on that come early November. :(

November was Husband and I's 4th anniversary, I had to return to work on the 8th and then we celebrated Camden's first Thanksgiving. Such a busy month this was, attempting to get back into the swing of all things working and baby. I found this to be exceptionally hard when you are sleep deprived, somehow we made it through. The first day of leaving him at daycare was incredibly hard. I remember telling myself I wasn't gonna cry, as I was going to come back and visit him on my lunch. Ha! I was doing pretty good until one of the workers made a comment "oh, you are doing so well!" and then came the waterworks! This was also the same day my car rolled over to 100,000 miles, which I had been waiting for all.year.long. but completely missed it due to mommy meltdown. :) At Camden's first Thanksgiving we got to meet family for the first time, (my cousins and their children), and enjoy each others company in OKC. Granddaddy got to have some special conversations with Camden and it was great to have him there.

December brought about lots of sickness in our household. From head colds to stomach bugs (that were just horrendous), we spent the better part of the month all stopped up, Camden included. Our first Christmas was on the 18th and was with Granddaddy and my cousins that included a few new sets of cousins that Camden had yet to meet. It was pretty exciting to see them and catch up! It was amazing to celebrate our first Christmas with Camden. We went to three different Great Grandparent's houses, plus two Grandparent's houses and did Christmas with all of them! We were blessed with lots of presents, conversations and cuddles and it was truly a magical experience. I feel like December just flew by, and now we are already moving on to 2011. I find "twenty eleven" hard to say, as it takes more work to roll off the tongue. But, I guess I better get used to it, because here it comes!

Here's to a hard yet fantastic year. Despite the hardships my heart still manages to overflow with joy.

And to all my readers, may your 2011 be just as joyous!

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas 2010

*****EDIT*****
It was pointed out to me that I failed to mention that after leaving Grandma Allen's and then leaving the Allen's, before celebrating with my family and opening presents I first had some of the most delicious eggs benedict cooked by my amazing Dad. He only cooks these once in a blue moon, so it was a real treat. His eggs benedict are BY FAR my favorite, and it wouldn't have been Christmas without 'em! Yum!
*************

Christmas was amazing this year, and I didn't expect any less having a little one joining us this year.

We started on the 18th and had a family Christmas in OKC with my Granddaddy and that was just precious. We had a good time and got to see part of the family that we rarely get to catch up with anymore. It was fabulous!

Christmas Eve we had Christmas with Chris' Mom's side. We had a meal and then opened presents, Camden got some adorable clothes and I got a cute sweater jacket.

Then on actual Christmas day, Camden gave Mommy and Daddy the best gift of all, he slept all night! What made this even better was the fact that Mommy's alarm didn't go off at 530am like it was supposed to, so we slept all the way until we were supposed to be at Grandma Allen's house at 7 am! It was definitely a nice little surprise. (No worries, he hasn't done it since! It was a Christmas miracle I guess!!)

So we hurried out of the house late (for the record, it takes all three of us to get completely ready and the baby fed approx 50 mins) and arrived in time for some sausage biscuits and mush. Before we knew it, it was present opening time and it was complete madness with the amount of kids in that room this year! It was a blast. Camden got some ADORABLE clothes, can't wait to put him in them all! He has already broken in his OSU sleeper, gotta get fired up for the upcoming bowl game. After Christmas at Grandma Allen's (Great Grandma to Camden) we went to Christmas at Chris' parents (Grandma and Grandpa's) house. Camden got some AWESOME toys there, he got a Leapfrog dog named Scout, a ball that encourages crawling, some adorable clothes including a Jimmie Johnson onesie, a highchair, a Nemo of his own, and Mommy got her favorite gift - a mini camcorder so she can record exciting moments with baby. Wheee! Talk about spoiled!

After this we went to my parents house to hang out with my family and so Camden could FINALLY meet his Aunt and Uncle. He was so excited! :) There we surprised my sister by spending all of our Christmas money on spoiling her with a new laptop. I hope she was surprised but I think she might have had a sneaking suspicion. Oh well. It was fun to be able to bless her. Camden got the Little People Nativity Set which we are going to start a tradition of opening up and putting it in his room or out in the living room so he can play with it every year. It is SO cool, and we don't have a nativity set yet anyhow so I guess the Little People Set is a start!

Then we capped off our evening with dinner at my SIL and BIL's house. They cooked a ham and scalloped potatoes and salad and rolls and corn and it was fabulous! It was so sweet of them to have us over last minute for dinner. There we played with Haylie and her new toys, took tons of pictures and gave Camden his first taste of rice cereal. He actually did pretty well, it was pretty cute. Most of it ended up coming back out, but after repeatedly putting it back in he would eventually swallow. Don't worry, I have videos and pictures that I will try and post soon.

On our way home we drove through Rhema so Camden could look at the Christmas lights. They were beautiful! By the time we got home, all three of us were pretty exhausted. It had been a busy day of go, go, go! So we were definitely ready for showering and bed.

And what a memorable first Christmas Camden had! We are beyond blessed, and loved getting to spend time with family. We are looking forward to the many Christmases to come as a little family.

Four Months: A Letter

Dear Camden,


Whew! Where has this year gone? I can't believe you are four months and about to celebrate your first Christmas. I never realized how quickly time really does pass and I am reminded of the Bible verse, James 4:14 that says "You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes". I feel this about how quickly you are growing up. Blink and you may miss it! Time has a whole new meaning for this Mommy.

This month has been another busy month for you...

On top of getting your first cold, you had your first Thanksgiving where you got to meet a lot of family, first time in the church nursery, you went to a few Christmas parties and you rolled over for the first time!

above: With Cousin Katie
below: With Cousin Katie and Cousin Candace




with Great Granddaddy at Thanksgiving!!


You were a little angel at all of the Christmas parties, besides a little projectile spitting at one of them. Oops! Luckily it landed on tile floor and not on anyone holding you. You are perfectly content to be passed around to people, and you just sit there and play with your hands or look around at your surroundings. At one of the parties we were there for about four hours and you were perfect. The people there kept saying, "He is SO good, I can't believe he is that good!" Or, "How did you get such a good baby for your first one?". Needless to say, Mommy was so proud.

You are currently wearing 6 months clothes pretty comfortably, but you still wear 3-6 months too. We weighed you a week before Christmas and you were at least 15 pounds. You are such a cute little chunk!

You are still in a size two diaper pretty comfortably. You still have a "snacking" problem when it comes to eating. Some days at daycare you will eat bigger meals of four ounces, other times you only eat 2 ounces on and off all day. Mom is so excited to be able to start you on rice cereal here very soon!


Sleeping. Oh, sleeping. You vary so much on your sleep habits! I never can tell what you are gonna do. Some days you will have really awesome nights and sleep 8 straight hours, then the next night you will only sleep for 3 hour intervals. What's that about, little man?

Speaking of sleeping, you are definitely a thumb sucker. You find your left thumb to your mouth like a pro now, yet you still don't find the thumb on your right, instead you prefer to suck on your fist or your pointer/middle/ring fingers. But if you need to soothe yourself, in goes the thumb!


You are getting more and more mobile these days. You are getting more trunk control and your head stays in place rather nicely unless you are tired. :) You love to scoot around when on your belly and scoot those feet under you and put your butt high in the air. You don't hate being on your back as much as you did initially, sometimes we can even trick you into sleeping on your back. It never lasts for too long but you can do it!

You first rolled on 12-12 at exactly 16 weeks. It was while Mommy was at work, and you rolled from your belly to your back. Daddy was with you and said it took you a good 20 minutes and some frustration before you worked up the effort to roll. Later on in the same week Mommy noticed you grabbing your feet for the first time. You are really starting to notice different things and it is so cute to watch!

When we wake you up in the mornings one of my favorite things to see your cute gummy smiles. It never fails that you give them to us while getting you ready, even if you haven't slept well, and it is so precious. Your daddy is in charge of feeding you a morning bottle, changing you and dressing you before leaving while Mommy makes sure she is dressed and ready and has everything all packed up and loaded in the car. We are a good team and just about have our little system down.

This month you have been definitely been more aware of Big Sis. You like to watch her play, and you check her out as she begs for Mommy/Daddy's dinner or as we feed her a treat. Pearl has also taken more of an interest in you. She always has to smell you and the other day while we were giving you your bath, she insisted on hanging her head over the tub to watch. While we were getting ready to pull you out of the tub she insisted on licking your little belly. So cute!

Speaking of tub time, now you are a little kicker in there. You move those feet and splash around, maybe you will be a little swimming fish come summer time?

In the evenings your Daddy has been playing "airplane" with you. It is one of your favorites. He lays down on his back and lifts you in the air and you stiffen your body while he zooms you around making noises. You always look around in awe and when he brings you back down to his chest for a "landing" you burst into the biggest smile. How is it that you are so cute?


You recieved your early Christmas present (okay SUPER early) of your jumperoo and you are SO cute in it. You are still getting a hang of the jumping thing.


Apparently those jumperoos are hard work. :)



This month you have also been big on blowing bubbles and cooing at us. It is so cute, but so messy at the same time! You are awful proud of learning your new skill though and will proudly 'talk' to us as much as you can!

Mommy is so proud of all of your little accomplishments and you have been an absolute blessing to our lives this year. We have thoroughly enjoyed the last four months and are looking forward to this Christmas and many more to come!



I'll like you for always,
Mommy

Santa Claus is Coming...

This week marks the final few days before Christmas! The holidays are coming on quickly and strongly for us as we have already been super busy with family/work Christmas parties.

We have had multiple work Christmas parties (namely I have) and have had my Mom's side of the family Christmas in OKC this past weekend. It was great to see the family that we NEVER get to see and to catch up with them, and to spend time with my adorable Granddaddy.

Thankfully, we are done with our shopping and now just have to get through the madness that is the holidays. I usually dread Christmastime just because it is so chaotic with the multiple families and having to coordinate where to be and when to make sure everyone is happy. And on top of that having to work. every. single. day. (I think this is why the past two years I have been so sick that it takes me two weeks to recover!)

This year the madness is no different as we have added a 'tiny human' to the mix that seems to make everything slightly more challenging. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't be more excited about Christmas and sharing the first one with Camden. It's going to be great! My brother and sister-in-law will FINALLY get to meet Camden!!! I honestly couldn't be more excited!!

I just can't wait until the year when I have some PTO and can afford to take a day off around that time to actually enjoy it all.

So, I apologize if posting is few and far between. But, I will have Camden's four month post ready on Wednesday. Go me!

To wrap this up, I just want to state how thankful I am for this year, despite its trials and triumphs. Overall, I want to acknowledge how blessed we truly are. Such a special time of the year to remember who it is that blesses us so.

Merry Christmas!

Patients are SO odd..

So this isn't funny as much as just plain ODD.

During exercise group the other morning I was doing small talk with my patients, asking them how they slept and how the previous evening went for them. Somehow we got on the topic of Camden.

This one particular patient was asking me how my baby was doing and what he was seeing. I said he was really enjoying looking at reds and oranges on peoples' clothing or on the wall, and he is really noticing his hands.

She responded by saying "if your baby is putting together oranges and blues, he is working on fractals. Do you know what fractals are? They are very complex arithmetic equations. Those tiny humans are SO smart."

Riiiiight. What do you say to that??

cmas10

Retro Plaid Christmas 5x7 folded card

For hundreds of Christmas card designs, click here.

View the entire collection of cards.

Awesome Christmas card huh? I think we finally got it! Despite not having our DSLR to take pictures, or able to get the kid AND the dog to both look at the camera, I think we have something that we are going to be proud of!

It was super easy to make and user friendly, I loved that I could add MORE photos on the inside!! :)

Attempts at Christmas Cards..

So, most of you follow me on facebook and have seen these photos and know what I am talking about when I say it is EXTREMELY hard to take productive Christmas card photos!




And here are some examples of Camden's adorable pouty face. I hate when he does that with his lip, breaks my heart! I tell him not to do that because if he keeps it up he may just always get what he wants!

Stomach Bugs..

Well, Monday and Tuesday this week were the pits.

I called Chris on Monday afternoon as I was leaving work and told him he might get to be on baby duty as I hadn't been feeling well since a little after lunch. My stomach had been cramping but nothing too horrible.

So, he comes home, we take turns showering and getting ready for bed (at 5pm, we were ready for bed what can I say?) and then he told me I could go "nap".

I went to lay down and then Hubs comes in maybe 20 minutes later and I woke up, and somehow I just knew he had thrown up.

And he kept throwing up.

I got up to take care of the baby. Yeahhhh...that didn't go so well. I was dizzy and just felt, discombobulated and knew that my throw up time was coming, so what did I do?

That's right, folks. The only option I had was to call my Mommy.

And thank goodness for Moms.

She left a Christmas party EARLY and stopped and got Gatorade/Sprite for me and Hubs and immediately stepped in to care for Camden while Chris and I continued to fight over toilets and continued puking.

She stayed all night.

She stayed all day while Chris and I napped in bed still feverish, shivering and not eating.

Then, she stayed all the next night so we could get one more good nights sleep, waking up to take care of the baby any time he needed it.

**Still praying that Camden doesn't come down with this nasty bug, as it would be horrible for someone so tiny to deal with that!**


But honestly, I don't know what I would do without my Mommy. If she hadn't been there to take care of Camden I don't know what would have happened! I have the best Mom ever, and am so thankful for her!

Cheers to my Mom!

No fun

Colds are no fun.

I am happy to report that Camden is feeling better.

Mom, however, is not.

Hopefully this weekend I can catch up on some sleep! It has been a long week.