Campbell Family

Fatty

2011-03-10T11:47:00.000-08:00

So I'm back, not as soon as I had hoped, but back nonetheless. We still do not have internet at our house, and the thought of blogging from my phone sounds incredibly frustrating, so for now I have to remember to take my laptop to school on days when I have something to say.

Miss Kaelyn is going to be 3 on the 25th of this month, and party planning is in progress. I'm having slight anxiety over being mom to a 3-year old, especially one who isn't potty trained! She is being such a major stinker about using the potty. I have been reading a potty training book that matches training methods to your child's personality type. At the beginning of the book I filled out a quiz to determine which type of personality Kaelyn has. The results were "strong-willed child." I then flipped to the section about potty training my strong-willed child and so far the gist is that I cannot force my strong-willed child to do anything, I can only wait til she is ready. If I show any anger or frustration toward her during potty training, it is only saying to her, "here are my buttons, push them whenever you want." So basically, potty training has to be HER idea, not mine. Great. Ty and I joke all the time that Kaelyn is going to go off to college in diapers. Sadly, it's really not much of a joke! Even Brylee used the potty for the first time a few days ago, and she's only 19 months. I am open to suggestions, but am feeling pretty pessimistic at the moment.

And this is what's going on with me.

Lately I have finally been somewhat serious about getting back to my pre-Kaelyn weight, or preferably less. Last summer I began working out regularly and eating better, and I did lose weight but quickly hit a plateau and had no idea how to get over it. I stayed at the same weight for the last several months, and then I started the hCG diet. Now, I am NOT an advocate of fad diets or quick fixes, but I did a lot of research on this diet and it intrigued me to the point that I thought I might as well just try it. The point of the hCG (yes it's a hormone produced by the placenta, kind of creepy I know) is to "reset" your metabolism to the point where you can eat just about whatever (after the diet is over) and your weight will remain stable. The diet is very strict, only 500 calories a day with absolutely no sugars and no oils. It's probably true that anyone eating only 500 calories per day will lose some weight, but the hCG prevents your metabolism from slowing; it actually speeds it up to where you burn between 3500 and 4000 calories a day. Sweet! I have been on the diet for about 3.5 weeks now, and in the first two weeks I lost 15 pounds. There was even one day when I lost 6 pounds literally overnight. I was thrilled and amazed and stayed really motivated, but lately I have been cheating and am finding it hard to get back on track. I haven't really gained any of the weight back, but I am definitely not losing anything right now because of the cheating. The first few days of the diet were really hard. I was hungry and fatigued and depressed about the bland meat and gross dry veggies. Amazingly I got over it and was feeling great until the temptation to cheat became too strong, and after I cheated once, it was hard not to cheat again. I only have less than 3 weeks left on the diet and I have not reached my goal, although I am now at the same weight I was when I got pregnant with Kaelyn (down about 25 pounds from last January). Hooray! If only I could stomach that grotesque fish waiting for me in my refrigerator. Seriously just thinking about it makes me want to vomit. And I typically love fish.

Also, I have decided that I am going to become an avid runner. Actually, I decided this a long time ago but this time I'm going to do it. I know, you're probably all scoffing inside, but bigger and more sedentary people than myself have become marathon runners, so why not me? Runners seem to have it all, and I want it. I'm currently doing research on what shoes I should get. There are way too many to choose from. Don't know if I need stability, cushioning, flexibility, whatever. Now if we could just get rid of this darn snow so I can get outside!

I guess I owe everybody an explanation

2011-02-15T12:05:00.000-08:00

I can't decide if I should give up on blogging completely or if I should try reviving this thing. I won't be writing in my private blog anymore, I'm sure you all have figured that out by now, and honestly I'm not sure anyone will even be reading this since it has been like 6 months and I told everybody I wouldn't write on here anymore. But, here I am. Some stuff has happened over the last several months and while I don't feel the need to provide details, I will just say that Ty and I have decided to give it another go, mostly for the kids but also to see if we could get that spark back that was so strong so long ago. Things are not perfect by any measure, but we have both made some changes and some improvements and we continue to work on it.

I am still going to school and I applied for the nursing program last month. If I get in, I will start in August. If I don't get in, then I will have to rely on the grade I get in the microbiology class I am currently taking to get me in in January. I am ready to get this whole school thing over with. I feel like I have been doing it for SO LONG. Even when I'm done with the RN program, I still won't be done. I'm estimating that I will be well into my thirties before I can say that I am completely DONE. Suck.

Here are some cute pictures of the girlies. Can you believe how big they're getting?

So if any of you happen to check in and are reading this, cool! If not, I don't blame you!

Will update again soon. Maybe.

August

2010-08-31T00:14:00.000-07:00

WOW the end of the month came fast. We celebrated 2 major milestones.

First, Brylee turned 1!

August 3rd was her birthday, and we spent some time at Riverfront Park that day.

Both girls loved riding the carousel and cried each time it stopped.

These first three pictures were taken by my sister Meg. She's pretty much amazing and is now accepting clients for any kind of photo shoot your heart desires. She can photoshop some mean body jewelry on political figures and she can really work it with the tripod. She'll be arriving in the blogging world shortly.

The remaining pictures are my doing.

This was her cake. Dark chocolate Oreo cake with white chocolate frosting. Recipe found here.

A week and a half later, the girls went on their very first long road trip!

We went to Provo during my only week off from school.

Kaelyn and Brylee watched lots of movies and we took lots of breaks to run around and play.

A normally 12 hour drive took us around 16 hours.

Not bad, I say.

(My apologies about Kaelyn's buckle. I blame Julianne)

Some sights along the way:

No pictures were taken in Utah (regrettably).

No pictures were taken of Brylee blowing out her birthday candles (even more regrettably).

I have video footage though, and will be sharing it someday.

2010-07-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

Since today is the last day of July, I decided it was time to update the blog so I can average at least one post in each month (even though it's been almost two months since my last post). Waiting one more day would make me a failure! So here are some recent pictures of the girls:

Don't let that sweet smile fool you--Brylee is learning how to push my buttons and test my patience. She whines about just about everything. She wakes up 3-4 times each night (I swear she does it on purpose, not because she actually needs anything). I can't eat a meal in peace, because if there is food involved she will constantly tug at my clothes and try to climb all over me and whine and scream in my face until I give her a bite. And then it starts all over again until the next bite. I find myself sneaking food when she's not looking or only eating when she's napping. Even if it's right after she gets done eating and has a full tummy, she'll still whine and cry if someone else is eating and not sharing with her. It makes me crazy. I mean, look at the kid. CLEARLY she's not malnourished or underfed. So why must she bug me and hassle me to the point where I'd rather starve myself?

Other than that, she started walking earlier this month and has 5 teeth now, I think. She sure is cute when she decides to be in a good mood.

Kaelyn still has an impeccable sense of style and a hilarious little personality. She likes to "help" mommy by sweeping the whole house (carpet and walls included), rearranging the DVDs in the bookcase, pulling every last pillow off the couch and onto the floor, among many other things. She likes to ask questions, especially ones like these:

"What does hair say?"

"What does a tree say?"

"What does a cookie say?"

She loves to tell me about everything, like how she likes the bathroom door or she likes her hands, and she never hesitates to come running to tell me about how Brylee tooted. She's a silly girl.

As for me, I'm hopeful that the next couple of weeks won't be as bad as the last couple of months. I was going to school Monday through Thursday and working Thursday through Sunday, every week. I never had a day off and anytime I had a spare hour or two, I sure as heck didn't want to spend it cleaning my house or taking my kids to the park. I was beginning to hate myself and feel guilty about never being around, so I quit my job. I already miss the income and the people I worked with but I'm sure I made the right decision by leaving. My dad told me that my kids need me more than I need a few extra bucks, and he's right.

Finals week was this week, but I won't be done with my CNA class for another couple of weeks. We are currently doing clinicals at the hospital, and I really like it there. We already did 5 sessions at a nursing home, and things are much more exciting at the hospital. There's more of a variety of patients and more things to do there. I am still unsure if I want to work as a CNA (I'm only taking this class as a prerequisite), but it's comforting to know that I will be certified in a matter of weeks and there are lots of CNA jobs available if I need to start working again.

Ok, well I guess I'll post more in another month! Until then...

I Suck

2010-06-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

I'm getting really bad at this. I really do want to be better at keeping an updated blog, but whenever I have some down time, I find I'd rather be doing something else.

Kaelyn likes to dress herself these days. Ty says she looks like Mary Tyler Moore in these pictures. I think he's right, only Kaelyn is WAY more stylish.

On Memorial Day, Brylee accompanied us to the cemetery in Moses Lake to visit Grandma and Grandpa. I miss them.

We have spurts of nice weather here and there. We like to take advantage of days like these to go to the park with friends. Kaelyn is in love with the swing and would probably sit in it all day if I let her.

Our chubby princess.

Bloomsday was May 2nd. I only took a couple of pictures, below being one of them. Meg took all the good pictures. You should ask her to see them. They really are fantastic. She took some video footage too. I'm still waiting for my montage she promised me.
I start school again on Monday, so I have a feeling I will go missing from the blogging world again. But don't give up on me completely yet; I'm trying to be better at a lot of things right now.

Reno

2010-04-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Ty and I spent the weekend in Reno, where he was bowling in the national bowling tournament thing. We met up with his parents and several other men he bowls with and their wives. We got there Friday afternoon and left Monday morning. It was an action-packed weekend and we are already missing it! I didn't take as many pictures as I meant to, but here are a few of them:
We stayed at the Eldorado hotel right in the middle of downtown. There were always tons of crazies walking around outside. Drug dealers, prostitutes, bums asking for booze and cigarette money. One guy even stopped me and told me I'd better not have any cash on me because he had just gotten a knife pulled on him down the street a ways. Another time, a girl stopped me and asked me if I wanted to go home with her. I was like ew, no thanks. This is the National Bowling Stadium, where the boys were bowling. It has 80 lanes. The picture below kind of shows how big it is, but it is definitely bigger in real life. Ty didn't bowl all that great and he blames it on the way the lanes were oiled. He says it's different than the way they oil the lanes in Coeur d'Alene. I don't get it. To me, a ball is a ball and oil is oil. And I'm practically a pro, with a high score of 102, so I think I would know. ;-)

The Peppermill casino

Circus Circus. I think this place was my favorite. We played carnival games and won stuffed animals and watched circus shows. I felt like a kid again.

These gals were awesome on their huge unicycles. There were four of them, and they were all synchronized perfectly. They balanced metal bowls on their heads and then stacked them on one foot, kicked them into the air, and caught them on their heads again. Then they were kicking the bowls at each other and catching them, and one girl kicked bowls over her head and the girl behind her caught them on her head. It was really cool. In this picture, you can see the bowls in the air, and she caught them all perfectly on top of her head.

On Saturday, I went to the spa and got a massage. It was very relaxing and I even caught myself snoring a little bit towards the end. After it was over, I had access to all of their other spa facilities so I decided to go sit in the jacuzzi. The jacuzzi is only for women who pay for a massage, so it's in a pretty small room. I walked in in my robe, and there was a gal already in there and she was butt naked. I felt like I should turn around and leave, but thought that would make things even more awkward, so I climbed in and joined her. I tried not to look, even when she was making small talk with me, and it was especially hard not to look when she got out of the jacuzzi a few minutes later. I bet people sit in that jacuzzi naked all the time, but it was definitely a new experience for me!

And here are my girls wearing their new shirts from the National Bowling Stadium, although they fit them more like dresses.

I just want to give a HUGE thanks to Ty's parents for flying us down there and showing us a wonderful time! We had a blast and are looking forward to going back someday.

Also, I want to give a big thanks to my parents for watching the girls while we were away. I know it wasn't much fun for them since one had a double ear infection and the other was teething (I feel bad, but I'll admit that I am SO glad I didn't have to deal with them while they were like that)!

Multiple Events

2010-04-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

First things first. On Kaelyn's birthday, Brylee went to work with Daddy so Kaelyn and I could go on a date by ourselves. I took her to this really awesome place in Spokane called Jump and Bounce. It's an indoor facility full of bouncy castles, giant blow-up slides, inflatable obstacle courses, and all kinds of other bouncy stuff. Kaelyn had a blast and we'll be sure to go back.

I had a hard time getting her off of the giant slide. She wanted to go down it over and over again, even though the older kids were literally stampeding her up the stairs to it.

The next evening, we had the grandparents over for pizza and cake and ice cream. I told everyone no toys, but she got spoiled with all kinds of fun stuff regardless.

Here is Kaelyn's cool ladybug cake:

...And its babies:

She's so grown up! She had her 2-year checkup today and weighs 25 pounds (still) and is 36" tall, putting her in the 95th percentile for height (yikes!) and 25th for weight.

I was on spring break last week, so for the first part of the week, me and the girls went to Seattle with my mom and my sister. We packed a lot of fun activities into a few short days.

We went to the Point Defiance zoo and aquarium. Kaelyn loved all the animals, thought the walruses were downright hilarious, and she even got to ride a camel with Auntie Mayg.

It was so windy and cold! On our way out of the zoo, I was pushing the stroller up the giant zig-zag ramp to the parking lot, trying to hurry because it was raining. Kaelyn wasn't buckled in and she fell out and I ran over her. All the passersby thought I was a pretty awesome mom, and Kaelyn got a nice scrape on her forehead from it.

These two tiny pictures were taken by Meg on the pier at Redondo Beach. I don't really know why they're so small. I guess because I stole them from her.

And finally, Easter. It was Brylee's first and Kaelyn's second. Everyone, including Brylee, ate way too much junk food that day. Meg took some awesome photos of the girls in their Easter dresses but I don't have them on here. I can't wait to get my hands on them though.

Hooray for cute girls!

She's 2

2010-03-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

This little ray of sunshine is turning 2 today. She has such a funny little personality and we are so happy to have her as a part of our family. We have a fun day planned out for us today, with lots of playing and lots of junk food. Happy birthday, Kaelyn! We love you very much!

V-Day

2010-02-19T00:22:00.000-08:00

My Chubby Valentine.

Kaelyn ate this entire cookie all by herself. She was loving life.I love when she only laughs because someone else is laughing, and I love how she mimicks the different ways people laugh. Sometimes she hunches forward and slaps her knee, and sometimes she throws her head back like this. But whichever way she laughs, she always follows it with a "that's funny," or sometimes, "that's TOO funny."

Brylee loved her Valentine card.

Ty and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Tuesday, since Tuesdays are the only nights we are both home. We had an amazing seafood dinner at a restaurant right on Lake Coeur d'Alene and had plans to go see Dear John afterwards, but later decided to ditch the movie and go bowling instead. I bowled an 88. I'm pretty awesome.

It was a fun week and our girls got so spoiled by all of their grandparents! They need some cousins right quick and in a dirty hurry before they are spoiled beyond repair.

Feb.

2010-02-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

This is probably the longest I've ever gone without blogging, but there are good reasons for that. For one, I have turned my house inside out and cannot find my camera cord. I didn't know how to upload pictures directly from my camera's memory card without uploading all 3000 of them, but Ty finally got around to showing me how. The other reason is I've been so busy since school started back up that I can hardly see straight. I am taking fewer credits than I was last semester, but my anatomy & physiology class really is a full-time job. I'm constantly getting behind and then trying to catch up. There was even one point when I was so overwhelmed with everything that I called the registrar's office with the intention of withdrawing. But the tuition and financial aid penalties I would have faced are what made me decide to find another way of destressing. Plus, I probably wasn't thinking too rationally at that point with everything that was going on.

My Friday at school is my Monday at work, and my Friday at work is my Monday at school, so over the last month or so I've been seriously considering quitting my job. We got a killer tax return this year, and with Ty still working, I can probably stretch it out for up to a year. I will most likely take out a student loan though, just to be safe, which is not as big of a deal as I seem to be making it. The only debt we have right now is our mattress we bought last year, and I don't like the thought of being in more debt. And as much as I hate my job, I can't bring myself to leave it. But something has to be done, because we're drowning here.
Kaelyn is such a spirited little girl. She is overflowing with energy and personality. She learns new words every day and is also learning to piece words together to make a phrase or short sentence. And after seemingly thousands of tears and crying fits, we have finally incorporated the word "please" into her vocabulary. We're still working on "thank you" though. She points out random objects, the names of which I never taught her, and it amazes me at how well she listens and observes. Kids really are in tune to their surroundings! Her current favorite movie is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Amazingly, she has given our Barney dvd's a rest for the time being.

Brylee had her half-birthday on the third. She's growing up so fast it makes me sick. She's happy and smiley and squeely and loves her big sister. She can sit up by herself and rolls around the room when she feels like it. She now weighs 16 lbs. 15 oz. which puts her in the 75th percentile for weight and 80th for height. She's much bigger than Kaelyn was at this age but she is just perfect and I love pinching her chubba cheeks and her chunka thighs. Who knew chubby babies were so much fun?

I love taking pictures of them together. I still haven't gotten a really good one of them together yet though.

And I love baby butts!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-13T20:03:00.001-08:00

We spent Christmas this year with Ty's family here in Post Falls. We went over there for Christmas Eve and had dinner and stuff. I worked that night so I missed out on some things. We went home at bedtime and slept at our house so Santa could come. After we played with the neat stuff Santa brought, we went back to Ty's family's house and opened the rest of our presents and spent the rest of the day there.

Ty and his scary molestache. No wonder Kaelyn is terrified of him these days.

Santa brought Kaelyn an easel with a dry-erase board on one side and a chalk board on the other. She is quite the little artist.
Grandma and Grandpa gave her these cool paints that only paint on special paper. She was even dipping her fingers in it and applying it to her lips like lip gloss, but it was totally ok because this stuff is non-toxic and doesn't stain.

A few days after Christmas, we went to Moses Lake to have another Christmas with my family. I don't have pictures, but I'm sure that if my mom decided to update her blog once in a while that she would post them. Anyway, the girls got completely spoiled by both sides of the family as well as by their mommy so I'm seriously thinking that we need to move into a bigger house to accomodate all this stuff.

Yay

2010-01-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

Man, I was sure looking forward to Christmas break, only to find that it hasn't been much of a break at all. I have fallen SO far behind in trying to keep this thing updated since I have been working six days a week for the last month, not to mention the fact that Christmas took a ton of time, effort, and money. I have also been doing lots and lots of laundry over the last week because we've had a sick baby at home. So naturally, my blog has taken the back burner. And now on Monday I get to start another semester of non-stop craziness. Will it ever end? With that, all of these pictures were taken over Christmas break.

Kaelyn thought it was hilarious to have Brylee laying on top of her. She laughed so hard!

A few weeks ago, Kaelyn got into my makeup and unscrewed my waterproof, liquid eyeliner and drew all over her face with it. It was too funny not to take a picture. She even knew it was supposed to go on her eyes, only she needs a little more practice and maybe a mirror before she can perfect her look.

And while she was at it, she later found some dark purple nail polish, unscrewed the lid, and proceeded to paint her fingernails. And while I cannot deny that she did an impressive job painting her own nails, especially since she's never seen me doing it, she also managed to spill it all over her clothes and all over the carpet. This instance was not nearly as funny, as we cannot get the stain out, so it did not earn a spot on here or even a picture taken of it. Daddy was babysitting that night so I blame him.

P.S. Christmas pictures will be coming shortly.

Santa Babies

2009-12-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

I love my cute girls! Brylee is at such a fun age right now. Kaelyn loves to help me out with her by bringing me diapers, giving her her binky, holding her bottle for her, and lots of other things. Kaelyn was the first person Brylee ever smiled at, and she has always had a huge smile for her big sister ever since. The two of them are quickly becoming BFF's.

This first picture was taken earlier this week when Kaelyn tried to put the Santa hat on Brylee. She sat here like this for several minutes.
We went to a Christmas party in Kingston this afternoon and we dressed the girls up in their Santa clothes. The shirt Kaelyn is wearing was actually her Christmas dress from last year that we decided to use as a shirt this year since she can still fit into it! The dress Brylee is wearing was also one of Kaelyn's from last year. Hand-me-downs are the best!

We hope you are all surviving in this bitter cold weather! We've still made it this far without snow up here, but we've heard next week will be different.

Thanksgiving and Stuff

2009-11-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

There has been lots of fun stuff going on at our house lately. We've been playing outside, going shopping, travelling to Moses Lake for Thanksgiving, and watching lots of Barney on the side. We have been lucky enough to have a snow-free winter so far and we're really hoping the rest of the winter will be this mild.

Kaelyn found this funny hat that went with a dress she had when she was a baby and she put it on one day, danced around the house and refused to take it off.

Kyle got to come up from Provo for Thanksgiving and it was the first time he met Brylee. They seemed to hit it off pretty well.

And now I'm getting back to my homework!

This is Ridiculous

2009-11-21T15:23:00.000-08:00

I am struggling with keeping up right now. Not only with this, but with life in general.

I realize it's been almost a month since I last posted, but I have been so busy lately that I hardly have time to breathe. Finals are just around the corner, and I am looking forward to getting a break. And after a four and a half month maternity leave, I have finally returned to work. I'm not exactly thrilled about it, but it will be nice to get some cash flow again, even though school and kids alone were keeping me plenty busy.

Our lease is up at the end of next month and I really wanted to find a one-story house to move into, since having stairs with little kids is scary and sucks (Kaelyn took a tumble more than once when she was just crawling). But by some miracle we were able to negotiate our rent down by a hundred dollars a month, so we agreed to stay. Kaelyn has been walking up and down the stairs by herself for months now, but I worry about when Brylee learns to crawl.

The above pictures are by no means recent. I have a few cute ones still on my camera but I am far too tired and lazy to upload them right now. So, maybe later.

Kaelyn is learning to speak English a little better these days. She still speaks Goofernese, as we call it, but she can actually communicate with me minimally, using real words from the English language. Mostly she just demands Barney by name every morning, and if I don't turn it on for her she takes matters into her own hands by climbing onto the changing table next to the TV, and she knows exactly which buttons to press to make it turn on. But other than that, she likes to tell me "no" a lot, and she can tell me the names of a few animals and what sounds they make. It's so fun listening to her talk. Toddlers have the cutest little voices.

Brylee is gigantic. She is in mostly 3-6 month clothes but her onesies are 6-9 months. She can practically sit up by herself, and she only takes one nap a day now, as opposed to sleeping 20 hours a day like she used to. She is smiley and giggly and I love her to death.

Sorry my thoughts are a little jumbled right now. That's all.

Bumble Butt

2009-10-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn is going to be a bumble bee for Halloween this year, and she got to wear her costume over the weekend for her friend Caden's 2nd birthday party. All the kids were dressed up and they all looked really cute! The blue beads were Kaelyn's own addition to her costume that she insisted on wearing.

Birthday boy Caden, Joey and Kaelyn.

Brylee wore some Winnie the Pooh Halloween jammies that used to be Kaelyn's.

Kaelyn rocked the pinata. She whacked that thing like she's been doing it her whole life!

And here are a few other pictures of what has been going on at our house lately.

I love how kids can fall asleep anywhere, anytime, with any foreign object in their mouth.

It was a t-rex on this particular occasion.

Our beautiful Brylee Boo.

Kaelyn had to be cursed with the straightest, stringiest hair possible, and she actually let me put her hair in rollers a few days ago. It turned out pretty wild!

But at least the curls made her hair stay somewhat out of her face.

Auntie Mayg's Birthday Bash

2009-10-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Auntie Mayg turned 16 a couple of weeks ago, so we all went over to Moses Lake for her party. Kaelyn especially enjoyed herself, as can be seen in the video at the bottom. She was wandering around aimlessly squealing like a little piggy. What a nut.

Birthday Girl blowing out the candles

Brylee with Auntie Juie

Brylee Lately

2009-10-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

Brylee is now over 2 months old. She caught a cold when she was between 3 and 4 weeks old and has yet to fully get over it. She gets really congested still, especially at night and early in the morning. It's sad, but all we can do is give her saline drops and keep the humidifier in her room running around the clock. She has her 2-month checkup on thursday, but when I took her to the doctor a couple of weeks ago when she was sick she was already 10 lbs. 13 oz., which is 7 ounces bigger than Kaelyn was at 2 months.

She's so smiley now and I love it. She loves her big sister and always has plenty of smiles for her. In fact, Kaelyn was the first person she ever smiled at.

I love to pinch and kiss her chubby little cheeks. Kaelyn never had an ounce of chub her whole life, and I am thrilled to have a baby with rolls this time. So adorable.

Kaelyn Lately

2009-10-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn is such a busy little girl these days. She never seems to run out of energy and she finds something different to destroy every day. She is absolutely CRAZY about Barney. We have one Barney DVD and she watches it several times a day. She also likes to dance around the living room when there's music playing and loves to play outside.

Both girls love to go on walks in our new stroller that Ty's boss bought for us. We LOVE it and only wish the weather would stay pleasant a little longer.

Kaelyn loves her sister. She is constantly giving her kisses and loves to "help" me change her diaper and give her baths.

Here she is modeling her new jeans and new shoes for me.

And she loves to push her train around the house and use it as a stool to climb up on things. She is always climbing into the play pen downstairs and is content staying there for a while and reading books.

Overall she is such a sweet little girl. Ty and I have been so busy with school and work lately and I am definitely looking forward to things slowing down in a couple months so I can spend more quality time with her.

Splash Pad

2009-10-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken at the splash pad in Liberty Lake a couple of weekends ago. It was very warm that day and since then it has been cooling down here rapidly. We are definitely sad to see the summer go.

Kaelyn in her scandalous bikini.^
And here's Brylee May in her suit.

I got crapped on.
Now we get to look forward to six months of bitter winter. I can't wait to move down south.

Our Little Hunter

2009-09-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

Ty and Kaelyn went grouse hunting yesterday. It was Kaelyn's first time hunting and according to Ty she really enjoyed herself! He said she loved being in the woods and the sound of the rifle didn't even bother her at all. They shot two birds. Here's Kaelyn holding her kill.

Yeah I was a little grossed out that my daughter was carrying a dead bird around. She kept trying to hand it to me when they got home and didn't really get the hint when I kept running away from her.

One Month

2009-09-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the obligatory one-month post for baby Brylee. She has gotten so much bigger over the last couple of weeks and is now barely squeezing into her newborn clothes. I'm pretty sure that by this age, Kaelyn was still in her premie clothes. Brylee also eats way more than Kaelyn ever did and as a result I probably produce enough milk to feed the whole neighborhood. That's a good thing, though. I'd rather produce too much milk than not enough, which was the case with Kaelyn. My freezer is pretty much packed with the stuff.

What a sweet little girl! I love love love her. She has the biggest, most gorgeous eyes and one of these days I will get a good picture of them to put up. They are still blue as of now. I was kind of hoping she would have brown eyes like me, but they are looking pretty blue. I just wish there were more hours in the day I could spend with my two beautiful girls! It is not easy taking care of a baby and a toddler and going to school at the same time, and I can't imagine what my life will be like when I have to go back to work. I feel like a bad mom sometimes because I don't have a lot of spare time to do fun things with them. I feel especially guilty when it comes to Kaelyn because we don't play and hang out like we used to, and when I do have free time, I spend a lot of it feeding and taking care of the baby. Her little world has been turned upside down over the last month, and she's really been such a good girl about it. Poor thing. One of these days I will learn to manage my time better...then I'll have all the time in the world for her!

Oh, and Kaelyn added two new words to her vocabulary since yesterday: "doggy" and "cookie." She sure is getting smart.

More Stuff

2009-08-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

I don't like going a long time without posting anything, so even though I don't have much to say, here's a bunch of stuff that's bound to take some valuable time out of your busy schedule.

Brylee is our little piggy. She eats all the time. She's still nursing, but I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up with her at this rate.

I try and take pictures of my girls in every outfit they own, just for fun. I especially like to take pictures of Brylee in Kaelyn's old clothes and compare them to pictures of Kaelyn at that age. So far we haven't found any similarities.

And amongst all this picture-taking, Kaelyn and the cat that lives on her head are always vying for some camera time.

What am I supposed to do with this child's hair?

Well, Ty and I started school again this week. We are going to be soooooo busy for the next few months so don't be surprised if I fall way behind with this thing.

There ya go. I'm not feeling very motivated today if you couldn't tell.

The Last 9 Days

2009-08-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

Things have been going just swimmingly for us since we brought Brylee home from the hospital. She is such a good baby and has really made this an easy transition for me. She even lets me sleep at night! And we've been so lucky to have lots of people around to help us out. My mom was here for a few days last week, my sisters came for a day, and we've had lots of other friends and family come visit us and bring us dinner and all that fun stuff. Last week, just the thought of being alone with two babies all day was enough to cause me to burst into tears. But now I'm feeling a little more confident and I think I may be getting the hang of this life-with-two-kids thing. I'm still terrified of having to take them to the grocery store by myself, though. I know that day will have to come eventually but for now I'm planning my shopping schedule around Ty's work schedule. I know I'm not ready for that sort of excursion just yet.

Kaelyn has been trying so hard to get my attention lately. She will literally do anything, even if she knows it's naughty, to get me to notice her. It's really quite sad. I try and spend as much time with her as possible while the baby is sleeping, but I can definitely tell her feelings are hurt. She's also really clingy when Ty is gone and is constantly giving me kisses and wants to climb on me while I'm holding Brylee, but then she wants nothing to do with me if her daddy is here. She loves her sister though and I know the grudge she is holding is completely against me. I hope she can forgive me someday for having another child!

We are loving our new addition!

After Months Of Waiting...

2009-08-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Brylee May Campbell

Born August 3, 2009 at 12:07am

7 lbs. 13 oz.

19.5 inches long

What a crazy day it turned out to be. I started feeling "bloated" around 4pm on Sunday and the feeling didn't start getting worse til around 8. By that time I knew I was in labor but I figured I still had several hours before I would be able to head to the hospital. When I was in labor with Kaelyn, the hospital sent us home the first time because I wasn't dilating. I was terrified of that happening again this time so I wanted to stay home as long as possible. Ty and I decided to watch a movie so I could get my mind off the contractions, and my water broke at 10:30. Ty's parents came to get Kaelyn and then we were out the door. We got to the hospital at 11 and I was already dilated to a 4, and within a half hour I had progressed to a 9. And of course the anesthesiologist couldn't get to me in time--my biggest fear in the whole world coming true--and I delivered Brylee naturally at 12:07. It was incredibly unpleasant; I didn't even know pain like that was possible. But now that it's all over I know it was definitely worth it. It was over quick and I got a beautiful baby girl out of it. I'll never do it again though!

Here's Big Sister Kaelyn. I think she liked the baby when she came to visit in the hospital but she had no idea that thing was coming home with her. She seems to be adjusting though.

Giving kisses.

Grandma C.

Grandma J.

So now we have to learn how to take care of 2 small children at once! I wonder how long it will take me to get into the groove of things. Brylee has been a very good baby so far. She cried for 2 hours straight after she was born but hasn't made much more than a peep ever since. She is very alert for a newborn and is already a pro at nursing. We are completely smitten with her!

Nesting...Sort Of

2009-07-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I am now officially considered full-term and have reached the absolute worst part of the pregnancy: the waiting period. They say labor can start at any time and no one will try and stop it, but I know I'm not so lucky. I went to the doctor yesterday and found out that her head is down but she is facing the wrong way. And I'm still carrying very high but my doctor said that usually with a woman's second pregnancy the baby doesn't drop until labor begins. Weird. So I would love to believe that this baby can come any day but I'm definitely not getting my hopes up.

I've been trying to get my house ready for this baby, and it's about as close to ready as it will ever be. It's been hard because I've only been able to do a little bit each day while Kaelyn is sleeping, since she likes to follow me around the house and mess up everything I've just done. The baby's crib is set up and ready to be slept in, but it's the only thing in her room right now. The dresser and bookcase are gone because Ty is in the process of refinishing them to match the crib, so for now a lot of her clothes are stacked in the crib since I have nowhere else to put them.

Kaelyn has been quite the helper. Or at least she thinks so. Here she is testing out her old carseat while I was cleaning it and getting it ready for her sister:

We are really excited for this baby to come and we know Kaelyn will be such a good big sister!

I Gave Up

2009-07-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

If any of you remember a certain post I wrote a while back, you'll know that I've been forcing myself through the painful, agonizing, much-too-long-and-drawn-out last book of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. I will never know why I made myself do this. I never looked forward to reading it, I didn't learn anything from it, and I found the author's writing style terribly irritating. I think I just wanted to know what all the hype was about--and I still can't say that I know, even now. But I have given it up now, and I'm SO relieved. I made it to page 600 when I decided that I just couldn't take any more of the empty plot and the anguish that came along with it. So I made my mom tell me how the story ends, and wow, I'm glad I did. I'm pretty sure I would have been disappointed if I had really read the whole book, only to find it ends like that (even though I was close to the end anyway). But now I'm feeling like I wasted the last several months of my life with a book that I'll never remember or care to read ever again. I should have just put my mind to it and finished it over the course of a few days, but I just couldn't stomach it. I have a long list of other books I want to read, including a Stephen King novel I just started, Misery, that I bought a few weeks ago and has been gathering dust on my nightstand, since I can't read two books at once. This is my first Stephen King book--and it's much more my style, might I add.

Done ranting, just wanted to proclaim how proud I am to be a failure.

Here are some pictures from last week. I know I shouldn't dare post anything without talking about the babies.

Kaelyn mowing the lawn.

Fashion statement at breakfast.

Looking silly. She likes to get into her grandma's jewelry. She couldn't quite figure out how to put this necklace on and it got stuck on her ponytail.

My sister's cat had babies a few weeks ago. The orange one is mine! I haven't brought him home yet because Ty keeps threatening to shoot him. I can't seem to convince him that this kitty is nice. If you see him, tell him that Kaelyn really wants this cat!

Baby #2 is doing well. She has definitely run out of room in my tummy, and it takes an incredible amount of energy for me to waddle around the house with her. I have the AC blowing constantly and I can never seem to get comfortable. This summer heat is killing me! Everyone complains that my house is too cold, but I can hardly stand how warm it is, especially at night. Sometimes I have to sleep on the couch downstairs because it's always cooler down there. I am completely and utterly miserable and overall am feeling massive. Baby's room is coming along nicely, and my house is slowly but surely becoming able to accomodate another baby. We are getting anxious and can't wait to meet her!

Messy

2009-06-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn had to go to the doctor today to get her 15-month shots (she's now 21 lbs. 6 oz. - 20th percentile; and 31.5" long - 80th percentile). She was an absolute terror the whole time, solely because she hates being held down and forced to do something, not because of the shots themselves. But, she was as good as can really be expected for a kid her age, so I got her an ice cream cone on the way home and let her eat it in the backseat all by herself. Yep, I just let her have at it. She was doing her best for a few minutes, and then she must have gotten full because she started dipping her finger in it and was "painting" all over her leg with it. She was covered by the time we got home. My camera just happened to be in my purse so I was able to get some pictures while we were sitting at a traffic light.

She went straight into the bathtub when we got home. She was still sitting in the tub as the water was draining, and then what did she do? She pooped, of course. I pulled her out right away so she wouldn't play in it and set her on the bathroom floor while I ran and got some wipes. When I came back, she had peed all over my rug and was rubbing her hands in it! Thankfully, that was the last major mess of the day. It's not like I don't have enough to clean up around here already!

Stuff

2009-06-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn learned how to walk down the stairs by herself last week. I tried and tried to teach her to slide down them on her belly, but she never would do it. She wants to do everything just like the grown-ups do! Anyway, she was going pretty slow in this video because she kept getting distracted. Just like her daddy.

And here are a few pictures for kicks and giggles.

And the most recent belly shot--32 weeks. I'm getting so huge...

Five Years Well Wasted

2009-06-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

Holy crap...it's been FIVE YEARS since I graduated from high school. I haven't accomplished anything!! I.e. four years of college and nothing to show for it. WOW.

Time to get started on something productive....right after this baby is born.

My Grandpa

2009-06-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa Jackson passed away last Thursday, May 28th, at the age of 91. He had been living on his own since my grandma died in 2002--and had been doing pretty well for himself, I think--but had to spend the last couple months of his life in a nursing home. We all knew it was coming, but that didn't make the news any easier to take. I'm just glad he's not suffering anymore. I feel so blessed to have had a grandpa like him, and especially to have lived in the same town as he and my grandma throughout my teenage years. He was never ever too busy to spend time with his grandkids, and he was constantly teasing us and making us laugh. I will always be grateful to him for that.

One of my favorite memories of Grandpa is when he used to lock us kids inside the dog kennel behind the shop and bring us puppy chow that Grandma had made and feed it to us through the chain-link fence. He was always doing silly things like that.

I also loved when he would take us on mule rides to the Grand Canyon (gravel pit on Stratford Rd.) and the Mississippi River (Crab Creek in the field behind his property). I especially loved when I got to ride on Old Smokey with him. I'll admit that at the time, I really had no idea we were still in Moses Lake when he took us to those places. I was sure we were actually there.
I have had the privilege of being able to return to Moses Lake quite often over the last month or so, and have been able to visit my grandpa in the nursing home several times. The last time I saw him alive, he was pretty unresponsive. He would only keep his eyes open for a couple seconds at a time and was too weak to talk. But my dad stood next to his bed holding Kaelyn, and when Grandpa opened his eyes and saw her, he was able to give her a big smile and a soft chuckle. I'll never forget the look on his face when he saw her. That was two days before he passed. He always had such an amazing love for children; he treated them all as if they were his own.

I miss him a lot, but I know he's so much happier now, and I'm so grateful for the memories I have of him.

Since Our Last Post...

2009-05-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn and I have been very busy the last couple of weeks. See for yourself!
First, Kaelyn took odd-angled pictures of herself that she knew would be perfect for her myspace--if she had a myspace. She chose not to look at the camera in the one below because it makes her look more hardcore and deep at the same time and really brings out the Emo in her.

"I'm so misunderstood."

Then, we played hard at McCosh Park in Moses Lake.
She was quite pleased to find this friendly hippo with the same gap-toothed grin as hers.

Kaelyn made some new friends...

Enjoyed a cold beverage or two...

And when we had to come back home to Idaho, we made sure to spend some time with Skky, Kaelyn's boyfriend.

A couple days later, we were off to Moses again for Spring Fest weekend. We went to the pool the day it opened for the season.

Kaelyn made some more new friends...

...and reconnected with old ones.

And on Sunday we stared at ourselves in the funny mirrors while visiting Great-Grandpa Jackson at the nursing home.

And of course, she found plenty of time to run around like a crazy baboon.

And on Monday, we went to play at Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Holmes' house.

And we ate some Oreos when we got home.

And that is a very condensed summary of what we have been up to lately. I'm glad we were able to spend some time in Moses Lake this month, for my dad's birthday and for Memorial Day weekend. It's so nice being around people who actually WANT to chase my crazy daughter around the house and clean up her messes so I don't have to! I take advantage of it more than I probably should, but that girl is WILD. I can hardly find the energy to keep up with her these days, mostly because I have another baby living inside me. I really feel like an old decrepid woman. Little things that used to be so easy now take way too much effort. I just have to keep in mind that I only have 11 weeks left and my crazy Kaelyn only helps the time to pass more quickly!

Rearranging

2009-05-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn's room last year:

Kaelyn's room today:

I like it much better now, but she's already done a fine job of messing it up. I can't stand having a messy house anymore, but that little girl--like most toddlers--is impossible to keep up with. I guess I'll just have to lock her out of every other room to keep them all clean for when her baby sister gets here. But I've still got a long way to go to get my house ready for another baby. We're supposed to be turning the computer room/Ty's hunting room into the new baby's bedroom, but we honestly have nowhere else to put all this crap. We've got to hurry and figure something out though, because our time is running out and this pregnancy really has gone by SO fast.

Bloomsday 2009

2009-05-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Bloomsday this year turned out to be a lot of fun! My family came up on Saturday afternoon and stayed the night, and we all headed to Spokane early the next morning. It was SO cold and miserable for the first couple hours. We took the bus from the Valley Mall, along with a million other people, and about died from the wind.

Can't believe that belly still has 3 months to go!

She put up a good fight, but Kaelyn realized she was much happier and warmer once we forced her into the stroller. She slept for the first 3 miles of the race.

My brother Kyle was there too! He drove all the way up from Provo without telling anyone and got to Moses Lake just as my mom and sister were getting ready to leave for the weekend. So he decided to come along and walk it with us even though he wasn't registered.

Here's Kaelyn crossing the finish line.

And here we are after we all finished.

Kaelyn placed 39,240th out of 44,490 finishers. Way to go, Kaelyn! Good job on finishing your second Bloomsday. This shirt is the same size as the one she got last year, and although it looks much better on her now than it did a year ago, it's still just a touch too big!

Now I just need to find a good DOUBLE stroller for next year! Anyone have any good brand recommendations?

Not Interesting. Don't Read.

2009-05-01T00:08:00.000-07:00

My baby has grown quite a bit in the last few weeks. My uterus is still measuring right on schedule, but I don't remember feeling this big in the sixth month with the last pregnancy. I can already feel jabs to my ribs while I'm sitting down. I can already feel the blood pooling in my legs when I'm on my feet for too long. I already have bad heartburn. I already get winded climbing the stairs. When Kaelyn walks over to me and starts tugging on my pant legs, I can't see her. I feel like I should be going into labor any day now! It is going to be a terribly long summer, I'm sure. I feel like I am carrying very high and square. The baby is so far up by my ribs that it seems my whole stomach is completely underneath her, thus giving my belly a box-like shape when viewed from the side. Will post a picture when I get one. At work tonight some guy told me I should really stop drinking so many 40's. I just hate stupid comments like that. He thought he was pretty funny, though. I guess someone has to. And, switching gears, the weather here still BLOWS. It's supposed to be nice this weekend, which will be great, except for I've been hearing that Bloomsday might be cancelled altogether because of the dumb swine flu. If that happens, they still better give me my t-shirt. Well, it's bedtime. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. Hurricane Kaelyn hit my house HARD this week.

Cranky Miss

2009-04-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

I love this little girl.

Poor thing has had a fever the last 24 hours.

It has made for a very interesting and stressful day for the 2 of us.

We've been doing lots of playing outside this week.

Too bad the crappy weather is BACK.

Why, again, are we supposed to be concerned about global warming?

I haven't seen anything of the sort.

Easter 2009

2009-04-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

This was Kaelyn's first Easter! She's over a year old now, but she was born 2 days after Easter last year....crazy, huh? So of course I was extremely excited to pick out the perfect Easter dress and get her a whole bunch of Easter Bunny presents. She found a couple of eggs by herself, but I'm sure it was by accident and not because she knew she was supposed to be looking for them. It was fun though. We spent the holiday in Moses Lake this year.

I love her dress and can't wait to get some professional photos of her in it! I wanted to take some pictures outside, but it was rainy and windy ALL DAY. I was so upset. And guess what else, we woke up this morning to 2 inches of snow on the ground. I officially hate it here, and I won't change my mind until it warms up for good.

Hugs & Kisses For Spring

2009-04-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

It looks like spring has finally come to Post Falls, but I think we all knew it was too good to be true, because it's supposed to rain all weekend. It has been such a miserably long winter and I honestly don't care if I never see snow again. I hate hate hate it. This week's pleasant weather was very welcome at our house, and although it's almost gone, it was fun while it lasted and I can't wait for the day it actually comes back to stay. Here are some pictures of us playing outside this week. Kaelyn absolutely loved being outdoors and literally threw a fit everytime it was time to go inside. We had to keep it pretty close to home for the most part, though, since she's not very good at walking yet.

Eyeing the neighbor boy across the street and pointing at him.

I love her goofy two-front-teeth. I wonder if she'll ever get more teeth.

These two pictures, above and below, were from our walk this morning. Thirty seconds after I took these pictures it instantly became windy and cloudy, and has been that way ever since.

On Tuesday we went to a park that we'd never been to or even seen before. But I knew there was a park in that general direction, so we brought dinner with us and had ourselves a picnic. The park was not at all what I expected. It was in the middle of butt-freaking Egypt, surrounded by trees that blocked out the sun, was covered in pine needles and pine cones and dog poo, and there were about a trillion bugs. We won't be back anytime soon.

And does this child look like Macaulay Culkin or what? The only thing missing is the aftershave.

We Are

2009-04-06T14:15:00.001-07:00

I'm totally bored today so this is what I've resorted to to entertain myself. I went to Google, typed in "[name] is a" (quotations are very important here), and picked out my favorite result on the first page of listings for each of us. Kinda lame, sure, but a little bit funny.

"Ty is a married man and does not need to be parading around the dance floor with anyone." Yeah, Babe, give it up already. You were never good at being a fairy boy anyway.

"Brittany is a hearty, vigorous, medium-sized, closely knit, leggy dog." Oh, my husband will be pleased...he thought I was a beef cow this whole time.

"Kaelyn is a total DEMON!!!" THIS would have been helpful information a long time ago. She has certainly had us fooled.

"Fetus is a person and [is] covered by state child abuse laws." Well I sure hope so. What an obvious statement.

Halfway Done

2009-03-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe I'm over halfway done with my pregnancy now. It's gone by SO fast and I'm afraid we're running out of time to prepare. I haven't even begun to think of names for this baby, let alone do anything to get her room ready. But with Kaelyn's birthday over and my hours down to three days a week, I'm hoping things will calm down enough that I'll be able to get some stuff done. Life has definitely been busy the last few months.

Here are a few belly shots. This first one is me at 20 weeks. Yes, I wear black a lot, but only on the days that I work.

And here is the 18-week shot...not much different than above.
And here is me at 13 weeks...already showing quite nicely. It is definitely true that you show sooner after your first pregnancy. I was nowhere near showing at 13 weeks last time.

And just for fun, this is me at 19 weeks when I was pregnant with Kaelyn. I definitely feel bigger this time around!

Kaelyn's Party...Finally

2009-03-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

I meant to take a ton of pictures at Kaelyn's party, but I kept myself pretty busy doing other party things and put Ty in charge of the camera. He was outside barbequeing most of the time so he really only got a few pictures of Kaelyn eating cake, and that's about it. We did, however, get a ton of video footage. I wanted to post every video we took, but after working on this all day yesterday and all morning today, all I could get uploaded to YouTube were these three at the bottom. For some reason, each video takes an hour to upload from my PC to YouTube, and all the other videos would upload 75% and then quit due to an "unknown error." Either that, or my internet would disconnect, or Internet Explorer would malfunction. You know, anything STUPID that never happens unless I'm trying to do something important. I blame YouTube. They are uber slow. Maybe I'm using too high a resolution on my camcorder. Who knows.

Anyway, for Kaelyn's party this year we had a luau. We barbequed burgers and garlic ginger chicken, and Kaelyn looked so pretty in her pink grass skirt! These pictures of the decorations I actually took after the party because I forgot to before the guests arrived.

Kaelyn loved pressing her face up to the balloons and looking at people. It was so cute.
And this would be my first ever attempt at cake decorating. I colored my own fondant and free-handed everything. It took FOREVER and doesn't even look good! Oh well, not bad for a first try I guess.
This was Kaelyn's cake.

The first video is Kaelyn eating cake, the second is a clip of her opening presents (ignore my bum shot), and last is Julianne and Meg playing with toys.

It was a lot of work planning a party for a one-year-old, but definitely worth it! I'm just still in shock that my baby is 1. That still makes me sad to think about.

Happy Birthday

2009-03-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

It was exactly a year ago, to the minute, that I was in the worst pain of my life and anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first child. I will never forget the first time I laid eyes on her and the first time I held her. We've been best buds ever since. She has always been such a sweet and mellow baby, and I can't believe she's a year old now! I've been dreading this day for a long time. I don't know why it's so hard to see your kids grow up so fast, but it is. But the last year has been the best of my life and I've loved every second I've spent with my little girl. Happy birthday, Goofball. We love you!

Kaelyn's party is tonight, and I still have SO much to do to get ready for it. I'll be sure and overload you all with pictures once it's over.

Looks Like I Have Some Explaining To Do...

2009-03-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, scratch EVERYTHING I said before about this baby being a boy, because at the very moment we were looking at this view seen below, I knew I had seen this exact thing before with the last pregnancy and that it definitely is NOT A BOY. I now know that there is absolutely no truth to the heartrate theory or "mother's intuition," because apparently I have none! I think I just got this idea in my head that it was a boy and I refused to consider any other possibilities. Wow I feel like such a nerd! But I am SO excited for another girl. This picture below was the first view we saw at the ultrasound and after the initial shock of me being WRONG, I just couldn't wipe the grin off my face! I just love thinking about Kaelyn having a little sister, I think they'll be so cute together! I know there'll be a lot of fights, screaming and hormones, but having two girls is going to be fun.

She was in a weird position the whole time so we couldn't get a profile view, but we got the "E.T." view, as the ultrasound technician called it.
She had her hands by her face the whole time. We tried to get a 4D shot of her face but her hands were always in the way.

Well, looks like I have a lot of planning to do now. Ty and I haven't been thinking of any girl names or anything. But I am so relieved that we don't have to stuff our house with even more baby stuff, all for a boy! Having a girl is going to save us a ton of room and money since we already have one. Plus, Kaelyn has so many outfits that I about cried when she grew out of, so now I'll be able to use them again!

Tomorrow!

2009-03-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that tomorrow is finally almost here...it's time for my ultrasound! It is such a special experience to be able to see your unborn baby, I just love it. I can't wait to see how he's grown since the 12-week ultrasound. Plus, we'll get to find out if it's a boy or a girl. I've said before that I'm sure it's a boy, and I still feel that way. And yeah, I better be pretty sure since I'm announcing it publicly. It could be embarrassing if I'm wrong! Ty says he thinks it's a boy, but hopes it's a girl, which is funny because he wanted Kaelyn to be a boy SO badly. But I guess since we've had her he's realized how fun little girls are. Anyway, we can't wait to see our new baby.

Goodnight everybody, check back here tomorrow!

I Don't Wanna Read This Stupid Book

2009-03-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

I, like so many others, have been sucked into the Twilight rage. I never wanted to blog about it. I didn't want to be the person who gives the play-by-play on every chapter and then scribbles in their own little blurb of input. I didn't want to be the person who writes amateur-ish reviews about how wonderful it is, thinking I'm so insightful, and plasters it all over the Internet as if I think people care what I have to say--I know nobody does. But I, luckily, am not one of those people. I will never join a fan club or wear a shirt with Edward's face on it or quote from the book as if it were the Bible. But I will read. That's something I cannot make myself stop doing (as much as I wish I could). I have become decreasingly impressed with the series up til this point, and now I feel my fascination level has reached an all-time low. This is not a review. It is just me expressing my frustration and looking for a little support.

First things first, my reason for continuing to read: I love the story (minus Jacob Black). However, I think it could be done so much better--although I'd still take the book over the movie any day of the week. I think it's mostly the author's writing style that turns me off, not to mention the insane number of TYPOS. There are SO many punctuation errors, and so many sentences where entire words have either been added or omitted, causing the phrase to make absolutely no sense. It almost seems like she was in such a dirty hurry to get these books written and didn't take the time to proof-read. And, I get so tired of reading the same things over and over and over again (russett skin, marble skin, the word "incredulously," a person's "eyes" being used to describe EVERYTHING about them, just to name a few. I'm sure all of you who have read it know exactly what I'm talking about).

Anyway, I have struggled for the last several months to finish Eclipse, and I finally did it the other day. I could only stand to read so much at a time, and I found it very hard to stay focused and get it done. But I would not allow myself to read anything else in the meantime, because I am determined to finish the series and I have to know what happens. Setting all annoyances aside, I do like the story.

When I started reading Breaking Dawn the other day (I still have yet to finish the first chapter), I flipped ahead a ways and noticed that the book is separated into a few smaller books, all from other characters' perspectives. How gay is that. I've been reading from the main character's point of view for THREE BOOKS NOW, why would I care how anybody else tells the story? I don't know or care what Jacob is up to, and personally, I hope he never comes back. He ruins all the excitement for me. But of course he'll come back and destroy everything and make me angry and disappointed yet again. I don't know why I bother. I really should just give it up. But I can't not read. It's like a train wreck--you just have to look!

Somebody, anybody, PLEASE reassure me that this book is worth reading. I need to know, or at least believe, that my time isn't being completely wasted.

Much Needed Night Out

2009-03-07T23:33:00.001-08:00

On Thursday night, Ty and I went to see Bill Engvall at the Coeur d'Alene Casino with Mom C. and Trevor. Kaelyn stayed at home with Grandpa. It was SO nice to be able to get out and do something for once, not to mention see a funny comedian who doesn't have to be telling dirty jokes to gain popularity. Bill Engvall was always my favorite of the blue collar comedians, so I was super excited to see him live. We were in the fourth row, so I was able to snap some half-decent pictures.
Ty's mom got us a room for that night with a jacuzzi in it and everything. It was so nice to get away from it all, even if it was only a night. I really wish we could do stuff like that more often. And of course it was hard for us to leave our baby overnight, but it gets a little easier every time. It's just too hard not to miss that little girl!

MMIA

2009-03-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to go to the doctor on Friday, but I forgot. That adds to a long list of things that have happened recently that make me wonder where my mind has gone. I guess I, like my daughter, am MMIA (marbles missing in action), an oh-so-clever term that Ty coined to describe how goofy Kaelyn is. Well, I think he's the biggest nut of us all.

But that's aside from the point of this post. I had my appointment rescheduled for today, and everything still looks good so far. My blood pressure is extremely low, I've only gained two pounds total, and baby's heart rate is 142, which is SO much lower than Kaelyn's was at this age. She was always in the 170's. And while it's true that she was constantly bouncing off the walls of my uterus, some say that girls have a higher heart rate than boys do anyway. Now I know there's not actually any scientific corellation between heart rate and gender, but the vast difference between the two babies really makes me think it's a boy. In fact, I know it's a boy. I feel bigger this time around, I wasn't near as sick with this one, and this baby even looks different in the first ultrasound than Kaelyn did at that same age. My next ultrasound is scheduled for the 17th, and if they tell me I'm having a girl I probably won't believe it until she's born and I can see for myself. When I was pregnant with Kaelyn, I bought girl clothes before I even found out because I was just that sure that she was a girl. This time the feeling is just as strong, if not stronger, that it's a boy. But boy or girl, who cares as long as it's healthy, right?

All About Kaelyn

2009-02-26T11:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I met Ashley and her kids at Northtown for a fun day of shopping. Kaelyn got her ears pierced! I was SO scared and almost didn't want to go through with it. My legs were shaking, my hands were shaking, I was sweating, you get the idea. I was nervous. She was sitting on my lap when they did it and I felt so guilty because she had no idea what was coming! She let out a low whine at first, 10 seconds of silence while she caught her breath, and then one giant scream and it was over. I felt horrible but she forgot all about it soon after! She looks so much OLDER to me now. Thanks Ashley, for being my moral support!
What a cheeseball. She still loves posing for the camera but is coming up with some really corny faces lately.

And, she has 3 teeth now! She got her first tooth about a month ago, a bottom one, and has since gotten her two top front teeth. And she has recently discovered how to grind her teeth. It's the most sickening sound in the world but I don't know how to make her stop.

Yesterday was her 11-month birthday. I really can't believe how fast the last year has gone! She is growing up way too fast. She's pretty close to walking now. She can stand by herself but won't take a step unless she's holding onto my fingers, and once she has a hold of my fingers she takes off running.

I still can't believe I'm going to have another one of these soon!

Wo Ai Zhongguo

2009-02-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

I was looking through some old pictures today, and I found all these and started feeling nostalgic, and the overwhelming urge to share, so here goes. Not a day goes by that I don't think about the time I spent in China. I met some of the most amazing people, saw some of the most beautiful places on Earth, and ate some really interesting and questionable foods. It was such a learning and maturing experience for me. I was 19 and in my first year of college, and decided to spend my off-semester in Wuhan, China to teach English at one of their private boarding schools. I was scared at first, I'll admit, but I'm SO glad I did it. I'm dying to go back. I was there from mid-February 2005 to late-June 2005. Here are some of my favorite pictures I took. They're all really bad quality since they were originally taken with a film camera, but they'll do.

^Sitting on a giant Buddha. The Chinese all worship this guy, so of course he's just about everywhere you turn.

^The Great Wall of China. Climbing up this thing was quite the workout! Especially in the middle of June.

^This was taken at the airport the day we flew home. I tried really really hard to straighten my hair that day, but the humidity would not allow it (notice the poofy, frizzy hair in every other shot).

^This was my amazing class! I miss these kids like CRAZY. I shared this class with three other teachers. The kids were all around 7 at the time--and definitely a handful--but they kept us laughing.

^We taught our kids the "Happy Hands Club" scene from Napoleon Dynamite and they performed it in front of the whole school. We were dying laughing the whole time, and these kids are probably still wondering what was so funny.

^Guanghua Xuexiao. This was the school we taught at and lived at for four months.

^I shared an apartment with three other girls, and this was the view from our balcony. The air was always so hazy. I think we saw the sun a whole two times over the entire semester.

^And this was our bathroom. We didn't have real toilets, just squatters. I don't know why we had two, because we never had more than one person in there at once. The shower head was on the opposite wall, with no curtain or any kind of barrier separating it from the rest of the room. So naturally, the bathroom was always a mess after someone took a shower and we'd have to squeegee the floor after every time.

One time, me and a few others from my group went to Shanghai (about 8 hours east of Wuhan) for a week or so. ^We stayed in this hostel room full of people from all over the world. This was my favorite trip that we took. Shanghai is a really neat city.

^This is the Shanghai skyline; the view from our hostel.

^It was very common for random strangers to ask for our autograph or ask to get a picture with us. We ran into these guys on the Bund.

GuiLin is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We took a boat ride down the Li River and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous.

^On one of the stops the boat made, I found this yak and tried to get as close as I could to take a picture. The old guy on the right was yelling something incoherent at me the whole time.

^We had the opportunity of visiting Shaolin, which is close to Xi'an. Shaolin is the martial arts school where Jackie Chan and Jet Li trained. These are a few Shaolin students stretching and getting ready for class. I decided to join them.

^Hangzhou, a smaller city close to Beijing.

^This is what the Wuhan locals call "Walking Street," a strip of amazing places to shop for pedestrians only.

^Overnight train was the most popular way of transportation across the country. These beds were stacked three-high and it could take 20+ hours to get to wherever it is you were going. And as if that's not bad enough, nobody changes the sheets or pillowcases between trips.

^Tienanmen Square in Beijing.

^These cute little vans were everywhere. I wanted one so bad.

^Every major city had a KFC on every corner.

^Coke and Oreos.

^Our last day of class. It was SO hard to say goodbye to these kids! The Chinese are some of the sweetest and most caring people that I've ever met (and some of them have very sticky fingers, but that's another story). I would go back in a heartbeat, and I would love to have the chance to take my family with me.

Ok, there are my ramblings for the week.

Picture Of The Day

2009-02-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

I came home from work one night and found her like this. It's funny how dads have such a different idea of what an appropriate and sanitary place for bedtime is than moms do.

Confirming the Rumors

2009-01-28T16:39:00.000-08:00

I'm sure everyone and their dog knows about this by now, thanks mostly to my mother and my wonderful husband, but I feel now is as good a time as any to make the official announcement. Ty and I are expecting our second child this August! We are very excited to be adding another baby to our family and we can't believe that our little monster is going to be a big sister so soon. I am almost 12 weeks now and am so relieved to finally be feeling better. I was nowhere near as sick with this one as I was with Kaelyn, thankfully, but still it has been difficult trying to keep up with such a busy little girl when all I really want to do is lay in bed. Here are a few pictures of our little fetus (or is he still an embryo?). I hope you can tell what you're looking at, cause I sure can't.
I'm pretty sure this is a face shot. He looks like an alien.

Obsessive & Compulsive

2009-01-27T12:11:00.000-08:00

I really hate my job. Running around every night like a chicken with my head cut off for cheap, picky people for just over three dollars an hour is nowhere near worth it. But unfortunately, not working is not an option right now. However, it's not always all bad. I get to meet some really amazing/influential/interesting people once in a while. The other night I had the opportunity of meeting a particularly bad case of OCD, a disorder that everyone claims or likes to think they have, when in reality they are mistaking their petty quirks for a medical condition. True OCD is a disability and I can't imagine what it must be like having to live with it. Anyway, this middle-aged gentleman came in by himself the other night and sat in my section. When I made my way to his table, he immediately started running his mouth a mile a minute, and I stood there for several minutes before I could get so much as one word in. "I came here from Cheney. Everyone in Cheney is an a**hole. I don't like a**holes. How old do I look to you? I'm 50. Do I look 50? I feel pretty good for 50. So any hot chicks come by here in the summer? I've been married and divorced twice. I have two multi-million dollar lawsuits pending and I'm gonna go buy me a sweet bike when I get my money. I'll have the 14 oz. prime rib well done with mashed potatoes and vegetables and a side of fries and I want a Pepsi, an iced tea and a coffee. Oh and I'll have a loaf of garlic bread if you have it. Can I have my coffee now? I want my Pepsi and iced tea right now too, but can I have my coffee now? Do I really look 50? Yeah make that prime rib well done. Do you know any hot chicks around here? I like younger women but all they want from older men is money. Can I have my birthday party here? How much are those sunglasses? Do I look like the Terminator? Make that prime rib well done." Seriously, it never stopped. He just kept on talking, and repeated just about everything he said more than once. My first instinct was that he was clearly high as a kite and had a serious case of the munchies. Not only did his words lack any direction and make very little sense, but he polished off every single crumb of food I served to him, including a giant piece of chocolate cake for dessert. It was insane. Really. But he later explained to me that he has a terrible case of OCD that has disabled him in many ways. He told me he was a compulsive buyer, and how could I not believe him? Aside from his huge food bill, he bought three t-shirts, two coffee mugs, sunglasses, a hat, and a stuffed dog from our wall of merchandise. His total bill was $153 and some change. When I brought him the bill, he told me that he needed to be able to swipe his own credit card. That's probably one of the weirdest requests I've gotten at that place, but I led him back to the computer and pulled up the credit card authorization screen for him. He held up his card at the top of the monitor to swipe it, then did a little flick with his wrist (his other hand was also in the air, doing the same thing), and did it again, and again, and again, then finally swiped his card. I handed him his receipt and he said to me, "I'm going back to my table. Come check on me in ten minutes." Well, a few minutes later, I walked over to his table. He was standing next to it and quickly alternating putting his hand from his front pocket to his back pocket, over and over and over again. I guessed he had to make sure his keys were in his front pocket and his wallet was in his back pocket. But he was obviously in the middle of an episode, so I left. When I came back several minutes later, he was sitting again, and immediately started blabbering on again about most of the same things he had already told me, including his supposed multi-million dollar lawsuits. "Do you ever go to Starbucks?" he asked me. "They discriminated against me and they're gonna pay for it." I never asked him what exactly Starbucks had done to him because I didn't feel like it was any of my business, but I'm guessing he sued them because he went there and they wouldn't let him swipe his own credit card. Or something. What an interesting character. I've seen extreme people like this guy on tv and in movies, but I've never met one in the flesh. And I'm positive that he does plenty of other strange things that I never got to see. The copy of his credit card receipt that he signed and left on the table was pretty weird too. He drew all these crazy voodoo symbols all over it, drew arrows pointing to every number, and circled some letters and numbers while leaving the others blank. Strange. So I don't get why everybody claims to have OCD, because they just don't. Most of us are simply quirky, and nothing more. For example, every time before I brush my teeth, I have to run my thumb over the bristles and then blow on them. Every time. But this by no means is grounds for me to self-diagnose a disorder. Needless to say, I left work that night feeling pretty normal, and have felt rather normal ever since. No craziness here. Meeting people like him makes me grateful for my sanity and rationality.

Just Experimenting

2009-01-16T10:50:00.000-08:00

Please work please work!

I'm not quite sure what I'm doing here. I shot this video of Kaelyn probably a week and a half ago with the sweet new video camera my parents got us for Christmas, and I've just now uploaded it to my computer, installed the software, created my youtube account, and all that fun stuff. This was Kaelyn eating breakfast one morning. It's not all too exciting, but she was being pretty silly. Just ignore my messy house in the background. I'm happy to say that I've cleaned it since then.

Another Doctor Visit

2009-01-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

And another boring post from me. Sorry, not much else to talk about. Kaelyn had her 9-month checkup today. She now weighs 17 lbs. 5 oz. and is 29" long, which keeps her in the 20th percentile for weight and bumps her up to the 90th percentile for height. She's still just as much a string bean as ever. Doctor said she's very social for a baby her age (she gets that from Ty), and also smart (she gets that from me)! Here's what she's been up to these days:

She's officially crawling and is getting pretty good at it
She still has NO teeth
She pulls herself up on people and furniture
She has gotten very good at posing for the camera
She gives big, wet, open-mouthed kisses
She claps and waves at everybody
Her favorite shows are Clifford, Sesame Street and Judge Judy
She still takes a solid 2+ hour nap every afternoon
She says "mama," "dada," "hey ma," and "hey da" and talks about her dada constantly
She loves to fake-cough and loves it even more when you copy her
She loves to pull hair and scratch faces
She cannot sit still! This girl has to constantly be moving and getting into something

She is such a sweet little girl and has the funniest little personality. She is my favorite person in the whole wide world! We just love spending time with her and can't imagine life without her.

Christmas

2008-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas this year with the Jackson family in Moses Lake. Kaelyn and I were there for a week, and Ty came over Tuesday night. It went by really fast for me though because I had so much to do to keep me busy (making our stockings, sewing Kaelyn's jammies, etc. All stuff I didn't even try to find time for beforehand). But it was nice to see everybody and it was especially nice to have so many people to help me out with my little monster! This is Kaelyn in her Christmas Eve jammies that my mom and I made for her. It fit her more like a tent than a nightgown, but she looked so cute!

Santa brought Kaelyn a stroller that she can push with a dolly in it. It's hilarious watching her try to push that thing around. But I'm glad she hasn't figured out this whole walking thing yet. My house still isn't ready! While we were opening presents, all she was interested in were the bows, ribbons, tags and boxes. And I thought she would definitely be a natural at opening presents since she destroys any kind of paper she finds on the floor at our house, but all she would do that day was pull off the bows and then scratch the paper with her pointer finger. It was so silly. So we had to help her out a ton in that department.

(Above) Here is Kaelyn with Uncle Kyle. He flew in from Salt Lake on Christmas Eve and almost didn't make it because of the weather. It was so fun to see him! He made it in really late so Kaelyn and I didn't even get to see him til Christmas morning.

Auntie Mayg got Guitar Hero so I played it that day for the very first time (and I totally rocked, might I add), and it's been about the only thing I can think about ever since. Seriously, it was the highlight of my week. Anyone reading this who has played, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I'm almost as addicted as I was when Mario Kart for N-64 first came out. Anyways. The next couple pictures are from Saturday night when we got back to Post Falls. We had prime rib with Ty's parents at their house and then opened presents with them. My camera died on me so these were the only shots I could get. Kaelyn loved all her fun presents and still has more to open! It's unbelievable how many presents that child got.
Thanks to both of our families for an amazing holiday!

Ok the next few pictures are from a couple of weeks ago. I decided to add them since I haven't posted anything in a while. Kaelyn let me bury her in Beanie Babies one day. She laid there perfectly still for the longest time! It was cute.
We've been getting SO MUCH FREAKING SNOW up here. The snow in our front yard is as tall as me, and there have been days when Ty has spent hours upon hours shoveling our driveway. This picture was taken on one of those days when we decided to go out and play in the snow with Daddy. I laughed so hard when I put Kaelyn in this thing. She was not a huge fan at first.

And here's my cute little nakey girl! She has all of the sudden lost her desire to hold still for me while I either change her diaper or get her dressed. So after almost every bath she takes, I let her roll around on the floor naked until she decides she's cold enough to let me put some clothes on her.
The End.

Sick & Tired

2008-12-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

My baby is very tired and desperately needs a nap. She also came down with her first cold a few days ago and hasn't been sleeping well since. She's been an angel all day up to this point and was very quick to tell everyone in the grocery store who made eye contact with her about her "dadada." But now that we are home, she doesn't want to cooperate. She usually goes right down for a nap on the first try, but I've been in and out of her room several times now trying to make her happy. I've been letting her cry it out for about a half hour now, but I've never had to do this before, so how far am I supposed to let it go?
I hope she doesn't make throwing tantrums a regular occurence. At the store today, she just had to be holding Mrs. Butterworth the whole time and would start throwing a fit everytime I tried to take it from her. So I just let her have it and she was absolutely perfect from then on. Hopefully she's just clingy and cranky from being sick. Poor thing.

At least she always has time for a smile, though. Sure makes me feel better, but I wish I could do the same for her.

In Loving Memory

2008-12-05T17:59:00.000-08:00

My sweet puppy dog Sadie died Wednesday night in her sleep. She is the first and only dog that my family has ever had, which makes this a little harder than normal for us. I miss her SO much. We got her in Spokane when I was 12. She threw up on my lap on the car ride home, and I've been crazy about her ever since. I remember when I graduated from high school and left for college, I always missed Sadie more than anybody else (sorry Mom and Dad). She was such a nice doggy and never hurt a fly. She was always nice to the cats and let them cuddle with her, and I know she loved my dad more than anyone. He's the only one she would ever listen to! All he would have to do is look at her wrong and she would drop whatever she was doing and go lay down in the corner.

This is one of my favorite pictures of her as a puppy. She was so fluffy and cute!
I always wanted a puppy just like her for my own house. But it's so hard getting so attached to an animal and then eventually losing them. Sadie lived longer than most dogs her breed do, but it's still sad. I'm just SO glad she went peacefully, and I'm sure she knew how much we all loved her.

Our First Christmas Tree

2008-12-03T18:12:00.000-08:00

We chopped down our Christmas tree today! We went out to the woods as a family and found the perfect one. It's just the right size and looks great in our house. This is the first Christmas since living on my own that I've had a Christmas tree. In previous years, I never cared to have one and I never cared to decorate for Christmas in any way whatsoever. But now that I have my own family, I couldn't WAIT to start decorating. Yesterday I had so much fun hanging up lights and setting out all the other cool stuff we have. And today we had fun decorating the tree. We're a little short on ornaments, so it's not all that impressive, but I just love having a tree! I'll post pictures of the final result as soon as I can get all the pine needles and the other wreckage from decorating out of my living room. Here's our tree after we loaded it into the truck:

And since we drove all the way out there, we had to make a little time for target practice.
It was a fun day and I think this is what we're going to do every year!

And while I'm at it, I think I'll take a few minutes to catch up on the last couple of weeks. First of all, Thanksgiving. We spent it with Ty's family this year, and it was a lot of fun! We had a big cribbage tournament, and there was lots of amazing food to eat and cute babies to play with. Sadly, I forgot my camera so I didn't take any pictures. So you'll just have to take my word for it that it was a good time. The next day I drove to Moses Lake for like, a day, so I could be reunited with my awesome friends Kelly and Sara. We did a lot of reminiscing and it made me miss the days when we did everything together! I wish we could see each other more. It had been a year and a half since I'd seen Kelly last! That is just ridiculous and entirely unacceptable.

Oh, and one more thing. I know pretty much everybody has said something about this on their blog by now, and I can't help but talk about it as well: Twilight. I had been looking forward to seeing this movie for months and months since reading the book, so I dragged Ty to the midnight premiere with me. I bought tickets earlier in the week and everything. Ty complained the whole week about not wanting to see a stupid vampire movie, so I talked it up to him as much as I could. The theater we went to in Coeur d'Alene was showing it on SIX screens that night. I mean, the place was just flooded with teenagers. I was so excited for the movie to start that I was practically SHAKING. But I think I expected a little too much out of it, because I was really disappointed! I was expecting something amazing like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, with convincing special effects and good--if not great--acting. But this movie came no where close. The characters were all so...awkward. The way they interacted with each other, the way they looked, the bland and monotonous dialogue...it was all too weird for me. AND, I would have done everybody's hair for FREE and it would've looked better. Everybody's hair was just awful. And that's not something I tend to notice. But I just never like movies much when I've already read the book. Books just always do a better job at telling a story. So I don't care if they had to make this movie 5 hours long to get in all the good stuff--I still would have sat through it--and it just could have been SO much better. I sure hope they have enough money to make the next one better, or they can count me out. That's all I'm going to let myself say for now. Just thinking about it again is getting me all worked up. But at least Ty liked it, so the night wasn't a total failure right?

Busted!

2008-11-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

the culprit

So last night our friends Christian and Codey and their one-year old son, Skky, came over to play. The adults were trying to play a game of Phase 10, and the babies were a little restless and out of control (especially Skky, since he walks. Kaelyn still can't move around much). And whenever I'm trying to do something and Kaelyn won't just sit there and look pretty, I lock my phone (a Razr that I've had for almost 2 years) and give it to her to play with. So I did the same for Skky last night while we were playing cards. He started sucking on it and chewing on it, and Christian was worried he would ruin it. I just brushed it off and said, "that's ok, I'm just waiting for it to get ruined so I'll have an excuse to go buy a new phone." Well, I spoke too soon. He didn't end up hurting my phone one bit, but a couple of hours ago, I was standing at the bathroom sink making Kaelyn a bottle. I had Kaelyn in one arm, the bottle in the other, and my phone held up to my face with my shoulder. All of a sudden, Kaelyn decided she didn't want me on the phone anymore so she grabbed it away from my ear and threw it into the sink, with the hot water running full force. I couldn't get it out right away since both of my hands were full, but once I did I was able to finish my conversation, but now the phone doesn't work at all. The screen light is frozen on, most of the buttons don't work, and the other buttons don't do what they're supposed to. I can't make ANY calls, the screen light won't stop flickering, and it's making funny noises. So I deemed it a total loss and dug my old prehistoric LG out of a box in our closet and plugged it in. I was able to call Sprint customer service with it and I asked them if they could switch my service over. Well, turns out they CAN'T, because I would have had to take the battery out of the phone I was on and reprogram it while talking to the representative at the same time. Not gonna work, since I'm home alone tonight and don't have another phone to call from. Ty won't be home til at least 10:30 or so, so I'm FREAKING OUT that I have no way of getting ahold of anybody until he gets home! Most likely I won't need to make any calls for the rest of the night, but just knowing that I can't--even if I wanted to--is driving me nuts.

Why can't mothers have more than two arms?

Ty's "Monster Buck"

2008-11-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

11-11-08

Ty shot his first deer! This is only his third year hunting, and I'll admit, I had very little faith that he'd bring anything home this year. But I'm glad he did, because now he has no excuse for leaving me at home by myself so much! I've decided I'm going with him next year, and I'm gonna get that buck before he does.

Not much else to talk about, sorry. Kaelyn is getting bigger and smarter and more like her daddy every day. She's so close to crawling, and so frustrated when she can't do it. My house is definitely not ready for a mobile baby!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T13:39:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year, we dressed Kaelyn up as a giraffe. She got this costume from her Great-Grandma Dottie, who bought it for her last year before we even knew if we were having a boy or a girl. I've been waiting SO long for her to be able to wear it! Ty and I didn't dress up though because we are squares. I wish I could have taken Kaelyn trick-or-treating, but I had to work that night. Lame.

Ty's Birthday

2008-10-29T22:37:00.000-07:00

Ty turned 26 yesterday. He was out golfing all day, so while he was gone Kaelyn and I made him a nice dinner. It was my first attempt at cooking something elaborate. We made Chicken Cordon Bleu, monster baked potatoes and green beans. I lit a million candles all over the living room. And no, we don't have a dining room table. But we do have 2 coffee tables and some TV trays. Heck yeah.I really wasn't expecting the chicken to look so nice when it came out of the oven. I'm not very neat when it comes to anything, especially cooking. I was quite impressed with myself, if I'm being honest.Here are his presents. Kaelyn and I got him a Fossil watch, and he got a new hunting knife from my parents. He was a lot more interested in the knife, go figure. We also baked him a cake, and as I was lighting the candles I thought to myself, "I should really get a picture of him blowing out the candles," and the thought never crossed my mind again. So sorry, no pictures of the birthday boy, but I promise to get some really great black-mail pics for later. Ty never fails to disappoint in that category.

And no party is complete without Miss Kaelyn!
She's just getting more and more fun! Today we practiced "sharing." She was sitting on the floor playing with a teething ring, and I sat down beside her, held my hand out and said, "Can I have it?" She then placed it in my hand and I proceeded to say thank you and give it back to her. We did this over and over again, and now everytime I hand her something she just sticks her arm straight out with a huge grin on her face and gives it right back to me. She's hilarious.

I Can't Stop Laughing

2008-10-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

23

2008-10-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

I turned 23 today. I decided to spend it with my family in Moses Lake, since my husband is on a hunting trip. Apparently cow season runs from October 15-22 each year, so it looks like I'll be spending every birthday in Moses Lake for the rest of my life. It's cool though, it's not like he's my other half or anything.

My party consisted of myself, Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa H., Julianne, Meg and Kaelyn. It was nice and low-key and there was really nothing else I would have rather done. Julianne was the photographer--she's pretty good. So good, in fact, that I'm pretty positive she should make a living out of it. All the pictures she took of me were super-flattering. Here's an example.
My cake was hilarious. It's called Kitty Litter Cake, complete with fresh Tootsie Roll droppings and served in a litter box with a pooper scooper. A little disturbing, but pretty good.
Kaelyn was totally obsessed with the ice cream the entire time. She pitched a fit the whole time we were eating it. She has only had little tastes of it twice in her entire life, but apparently that's all it took.
Here's Kaelyn posing with her Auntie Mayg. Notice how she's only interested in the ice cream sitting next to her.
Ty got me a gorgeous necklace, so he's not all that bad. Maybe I'll post a picture of it later. I'm just too tired right now.

Party!

2008-10-13T23:56:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn went to her first birthday party on Saturday. Her friend Brenna turned 1. There were tons of babies and little kids everywhere, and it was fun to watch Kaelyn interact with them. She got knocked over a few times, bonked her head a few times, and even got decked in the face with a Glo Worm (remember those things??). She pretty much turned into a little beast after the initial blow, and it only got worse from then. But her bad mood was mostly due to the fact that the party ran right in the middle of her usual naptime. However, she still made lots of new friends and we all had a good time. Here we are eating cake and ice cream:

And here's Birthday Girl Brenna eating her cake.
It makes me sick to my stomach to think that I, too, will be throwing a birthday party for my baby soon. Well, somewhat soon. It'll come long before I'm ready, I'm sure. Babies just grow up too fast.

Checkup

2008-10-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn had her 6-month checkup yesterday. She weighed in at 14 lbs. 11 oz. (20th percentile) and is 26 3/4 inches long (75th percentile). Her weight to height ratio has gotten a little smaller since her last checkup (25:85), which her doctor said was a good thing. So I guess she's finally starting to chunk up a bit. Everything else looked good; she has yet to get sick or get an ear infection, which I am extremely grateful for. And of course she had to get a few vaccinations, including a flu shot. She cried a little bit, but it took her a whole 20 seconds to forget about the pokes. I'm so proud of her! Next step: ear piercing!

6 Months!

2008-09-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is six months old today! Crazy. I know every mother says it, but I really cannot believe how fast she is growing and how fast time is going by. It makes me so sad! She is still the best thing that has ever happened to me (which is unlikely to change) and she has reached an age where she is learning and progressing very quickly. It is so strange to me to see babies that are younger than her, because it feels like she's still brand new! And it is equally as strange to see pregnant women who are about to pop, because I can still so vividly remember that feeling, and it doesn't feel like it was very long ago at all. I miss it sometimes and almost feel ready to do it all over again (but not really)! But Kaelyn is such a blessing and I wouldn't trade her for anything. At six months, she:

can sit up on her own
rolls over (she was a little late with this one)
eats fruits, veggies and cereal
loves peekaboo
grabs and claws noses and any other facial features she can get to
is constantly kicking her legs furiously
tries to crawl but can't hold up her body with her arms
is a fantastic sleeper
loves to play with other babies
blows raspberries practically nonstop

And so many other things. She will have her six-month checkup the first week in October, so I'm excited to see how much bigger she has gotten. Happy half-birthday Kaelyn!

Fashion Statement

2008-09-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

Fierce!

Yeah, that's right.

New Toy

2008-09-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

I bought this doorway jumper on ebay for what I thought was a great deal, but I looked on the manufacturer's website afterwards to find out that I didn't really get a deal at all. Oh well. Kaelyn seems to like it. She chokes herself on the front of it sometimes since she's not quite big enough for it yet, so it isn't quite the babysitter that I intended it to be.

This Week

2008-09-05T11:00:00.001-07:00

Nothing terribly exciting has happened this week. I had three days off from work in a row and it was SO incredibly nice. I'm trying to push my hours back to only 3-4 days a week, because I miss my baby way too much when I'm gone. There's nothing I love more than spending the day, just me and my girl. She's so much fun to be around and is quite easy to take care of. A couple of weeks ago we started her on rice cereal and stage 1 baby foods, and she seems to like them. I'm definitely not a fan of what comes out the other end, though. Anyway, she is a compulsive hand-chewer (we suspect she'll be getting her first tooth within the next month or so), so she tends to make a mess when I'm trying to feed her. Hence, the cereal on the forehead as pictured below. I prefer the cereal over the other baby foods because it doesn't stain. It just makes me sick to see so many of her clothes getting stained with peas, carrots and the like. The bibs can only help so much! I'm going to have to start feeding her in just her diaper and start strapping her hands down.

Prunes!

Playing in her new toy.
Here she is in her new shoes. You can't see them too well here but they are just ADORABLE. She looks so grown up in them. I'm pretty sure they're big enough for a 1-year old, though. That girl has some big feet.

Last-Minute Trip to Seattle

2008-08-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

On Monday afternoon, my dad called me and asked if I wanted to go to a Mariners game the next day. I'd been dying to go all summer but we always had too much going on, and since I had Tuesday off and nothing planned, I packed us up and we drove over to Moses Lake that night. I was beyond excited about spending the day in Seattle. I've always been in love with that city, and I hadn't been there since January of '05. It was so much fun! Getting there was fun too.

Dad

Mom
Me
Ty
and Kaelyn.
I had forgotten how gorgeous it is in that area!

Ty carried Kaelyn around the city in the Snugli. She loved it! There were so many things to see and interesting people to look at. She was such a good girl the whole time and hardly made a peep despite the cold wind, rain and loud noises.

We spent the afternoon at Pike Place Market. It was crowded, but a good time nonetheless.

Kaelyn entertaining us at the bus stop.

Kaelyn was wearing the most adorable pink Mariners dress that my dad bought her before she was born. Everyone made comments on how she was the cutest Mariners fan they'd seen. We'd been waiting all summer for her to be able to wear it and I'm so glad we finally got to go! We managed to get seats right behind home plate, but I guess it's easier to get good seats this season. We didn't have very high hopes for the actual game, since the M's have the worst record in baseball this season, but they surprised us and beat Minnesota 3-2. There were a lot of newbies getting in some play time that day since the season is pretty much over and the team is so far behind .500 they can't even see it. But they played really well and beat a good team, and I was very proud of them. I desperately miss my 2001 Mariners and hope that next season will be a little better! I have yet to attend a losing game at Safeco Field. Thanks, Mom & Dad, for such a fun day!

Wedding Pictures

2008-08-22T13:11:00.001-07:00

We had Julie Waites as our photographer and the pictures turned out beautiful! I can't wait to see the rest of them!

Official

2008-08-16T23:50:00.000-07:00

I really wish I had pictures to show for this. I had every intention of taking as many pictures as possible with my own camera, but things were just too hectic. I cannot wait to see how the professional photos turned out, though. We finally tied the knot! Planning a wedding was the single most stressful and excruciating thing I've ever had to do, but I made it out alive and I'm so glad it's over and done with. It all went down on August 8th (we picked this date on purpose, so that Ty will have no excuse for ever forgetting our anniversary; how hard could it be to remember one number?), and we had the majority of my mom's side of the family there to witness it, since the Holmes family reunion took place in Moses Lake that same weekend. It was so nice to see some family members that I haven't seen in YEARS. I wish I could have had more time to catch up with all of them, though. Anyway, I loved my dress, I loved my hair, I loved our cake, I loved our colors, and it feels so good to finally be married to the man I love (Ty and I try to avoid sappiness at all costs, but I just had to say it). Yay.

This picture really doesn't have much to do with anything, but I think it's funny. Ty and Kaelyn have a very specific morning routine. She wakes up, comes and lays in bed with us while she eats breakfast, and then she plays with Daddy. Ty likes to bounce her and twirl her around, which she loves, but it's not always the best idea right after she eats. Enough said.
I just love the looks on both of their faces. Too funny.

4 Months!

2008-07-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

Little Girl is 4 months old today! I can hardly believe it. I'm dying to know how much bigger she's gotten since her last doctor visit, but her next appointment isn't until August 4th. I know she's grown quite a bit, so we'll see. She's finally starting to fit into some of her 3-6 month clothes. She's still sleeping through the night and her appetite gets a little bigger every day. I'm afraid we're nearing the end of the road with breastfeeding, though. I'm way bummed, but I did what I could to make it last. I just don't produce enough for her. We've been supplementing formula since she was 3 weeks old because she just wasn't gaining enough weight, and now it seems that she prefers the bottle. I try to pump as much as I can, but I've reached a point where I can only get about 1.5 ounces, if that. I take my vitamins every day and drink tons of water, but it doesn't seem to be helping. And she refuses to nurse at night; she'll pretty much only do it in the morning. So, I'm definitely sad, because I had originally planned to nurse her for at least 6 months. I'm not giving up just yet, but I don't know how much good I'm doing her by only nursing her once a day. Anyway, as you can see below, Kaelyn is getting some pretty strong little legs. She's growing up WAY too fast.

Well, we're still practicing.

And here, she spit up on the bed in the shape of a heart. Pretty talented, I know.

Independence Day

2008-07-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July is typically my favorite holiday. This was mine and Ty's second "4th" together. Last year, we tubed down the Spokane river and went to a bbq with friends. It was two tons of fun. This year, we couldn't agree on what we wanted to do. We both wanted to do something completely different, but it ended up being a good holiday for all of us. I got to spend the majority of my day at work. While there, I had the privilege of shooting the breeze with a poor fellow who drove all the way up from Kennewick to go on the Lake Coeur d'Alene cruise, only to find out it was completely booked. He then proceeded to tell me all about the complications of his love life, including the fact that he had just found out that his girlfriend of 2 years had resorted to bachelor party "entertainment" as a way to make ends meet. He cried and I felt incredibly awkward.

Later in the evening, I went to a bbq with the in-laws. I was dying to see the city fireworks, so we didn't stay for long. When we left, I learned that Coeur d'Alene is not a good place to be on the 4th of July. All the roads were closed off, with police trafficking cars away from the general direction we were trying to go. So we went home. Some of our neighbors were standing out in their driveways and could see firework shows on all sides of them. We stayed outside with them and visited for a couple hours, and I wished we had just stayed home in the first place. It was a beautiful night, and a good ending to an honestly crappy day.

What I learned: everything needs to be planned in advance. Neither Ty or myself are known for our fabulous planning and communication skills. Now that we are a family, we can't be living spur-of-the-moment anymore. It just doesn't work, and I now know that being single was just too easy. And, I realized how nice it is to be able to talk to other moms my age, or other women my age, for that matter, since I lost practically all my friends when I got pregnant. I had almost forgotten how to be social in the midst of it all. But I love my family, and I know we are going to be just fine.

Growing

2008-06-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know everyone is probably beyond sick of seeing so many pictures of nothing but Kaelyn, but I simply can't help but post them. She's basically the only thing worth talking about in my life, so I suppose that's what I'll use this for. She officially turned 3 months old on Wednesday and has come to a point where she's learning something new every day. She has taken her first step toward becoming mobile by scooting around on her back. It's cute, but it sure isn't helping the bald spot on the back of her head. This morning we woke up to find her completely turned around in her crib with her feet propped up on the head board. There have been so many times lately where I have put her in one spot, left the room for a minute, and come back to find her in a completely different spot. I'm kind of nervous leaving her alone on my bed now. Her other favorite things to do are read stories and pull hair. Anyway, this first picture is Kaelyn in her "cowgirl" outfit. Ty thinks she needs to be a cowgirl when she grows up, so his cousin and aunt got her this outfit. I don't think it's quite what he had in mind, but I think it's adorable.

Sporting the Dairy Queen hairdo in the tub.

As much as I hate being away from my baby, I've had to get a job waitressing a few nights a week since everything is oh-so-conveniently overpriced these days. I want nothing more than to just be a mom, but our sluggish economy won't allow it. Oh well. I'm sure I'll get used to being away from her, and I know it's good for both of us, but it's hard.

About Time

2008-06-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

I took Kaelyn on a walk today. I thought it was going to be a really nice day so we planned to go to the park, which is about 2.5 miles away. But once we got outside, it turned out to be really windy so we just looped around the block a few times. But I finally got a decent smile out of her with a camera in front of her face. She smiles all the time, I promise, but she's not the most photogenic baby I know. Her face goes blank every time there's a camera around. I just love this picture, though. I think she's so gorgeous. She has the biggest, prettiest blue eyes I've ever seen. She sure is a sweetheart, too. She's very mild-tempered and so easy to take care of. I find it extremely hard to get my chores done--we just play all day. She is my most favorite person in the whole world and I hate imagining where I would be without her.

I just love being a mom.

The Cake Is a Liar

2008-06-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

Bad Day

2008-06-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took Kaelyn to Spokane. My parents were there doing some errands and we met them at Costco. Well, when they took us back to my car in the Costco parking lot around 8pm, we got caught in a huge hail storm. Once we got into the car, I hauled towards the gas station on the other side of the lot (and when I say hauled, I mean inched forward at the rate of half a mile per hour, since I couldn't see anything). When we made it to the gas station, there were already a ton of cars taking shelter under it, so I squeezed myself inbetween two cars and waited for the hail to let up. I took these pictures after the hail had stopped. By this time, the parking lot was totally flooded and the hail was flowing in currents all over the place. I wish I could have taken more pictures while I was driving back to the freeway. It was insane. There were piles of hail everywhere and puddles so deep and wide that some cars couldn't even get across. I have never seen anything like this before, let alone in the middle of JUNE. These pictures don't even come close to portraying the worst of it. It was only pouring rain all the way home, with lightning on all sides of us. My legs were shaking like mad by the time we got there.

Poor Baby

2008-06-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn had her 2-month checkup yesterday. She now weighs 10 lbs. 6 oz. and is 23.5" long. She's in the 25th percentile for weight and 80th for height. Long and skinny! She also had to get her first set of vaccinations, which was no fun at all. I told her I'd buy her a Happy Meal if she was a good girl, and she was very good (I, on the other hand, was more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers). She cried a little bit, but it didn't take long for her to calm down. I just wish I was prepared for what the rest of the day would be like. Doc said it would be normal for her to have a fever for up to 48 hours afterwards, and that if she cried inconsolably for more than 3 hours, she would have to go to the emergency room. Well, she never developed a fever, but the crying started around 3pm. Kaelyn rarely cries, so I was a bit startled when she wouldn't stop. She finally fell asleep after about an hour, but then Ty called and wanted me to wake her up at 5:00 so she could come watch the hockey game at her Grandma & Grandpa's. So I woke her up at 5 and was immediately sorry. She started screaming bloody murder and I absolutely could NOT get her to calm down. So I called the hospital and started bawling to one of the nurses about how something was wrong with my baby. I was on and off the phone with her the rest of the evening. She gave me a few tips, and explained to me that the hospital gets a lot of calls about 2-month-olds who have just had their shots. She said that vaccinations can give babies flu-like symptoms and make their whole body ache. So I figured if that was the case with Kaelyn, then she probably didn't want to be touched. I laid her in her changing table, gave her some Tylenol, put wet wash cloths on her legs over the injection site, and just left her alone. She slept for almost the rest of the evening, and slept all night after I put her in her crib. She's still pretty irritated today but I think she's feeling a lot better. It was really a horrible day, probably worse for me than it was for Kaelyn. I'm just glad we both got through it, and I probably couldn't have done it without the nurse's and my mom's help. Anyway, here are some pictures from last weekend. This first one is at my parents' car wash. My mom was holding Kaelyn and she started throwing up so my mom put her in her car seat. She sat here like this for several minutes--puke everywhere, sitting sideways, and a smile on her face. What a goof.

Asleep in her swing.
This was her blessing day. I love that dress!
Us with my grandparents.
And the mandatory 4-generation picture.

Recently

2008-05-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have a few pictures from the last week or so that I don't have enough to say about each of them to have their own post, so I'm just throwing them all in together. These first two are of Kaelyn playing on the afghan I just finished. I didn't make it for her, but I just wanted to see what it looked like with a baby on it. She's getting bigger and more interactive every day. She just passed the two-month mark on Sunday, and she'll have her two-month checkup next Wednesday. She sure is a funny girl and I'm so glad I get to spend all day with her.

Yesterday Kaelyn and I went to Coeur d'Alene to eat lunch with Daddy at work. He just started his new job as a breakdown technician for CDA Structures. He seems to like it better than his old job, and Kaelyn and I are very proud of him.
This little number that Kaelyn is wearing here is one that Ty insisted on buying for her before she was even born. I only agreed to it as long as she wears bows in her hair everytime she wears it. She wore it to Grandma & Grandpa C.'s over the weekend to root for "Dad's Team" while watching the hockey game (Ty and his dad are huge Detroit Red Wings fans). She did look very cute in this outfit, but all day I couldn't help feeling like I was carrying around a boy with a pink bow in his hair. Well, I guess it worked, because the Red Wings are ahead in the Stanley Cup Finals.
This is Kaelyn with her Great-Grandma Donna, who came to visit her all the way from Florida last week. She came up with Ty's aunt Barb. It was the first time I had met either of them, and it was a lot of fun getting to know them and spending time with them. They left on Monday, and we all miss them! We can't wait to go visit them in a couple years and take Kaelyn to Disney World.

All Better

2008-05-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, frustrating task but I think I finally got my layout figured out! I'm still not completely satisfied with how it's put together but it looks SO much better than it did yesterday. Yay.

Oops

2008-05-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

So, I am currently in the process of changing my blog layout. The only online instructions I could find make it SO much more complicated than it needs to be. It looks horrible! Everything is the wrong size and part of my old layout is still there and I can't get rid of it. Anyone have any suggestions? I can read html about as good as I can read Arabic. I'm SO frustrated. So for now, it will remain as is until I can gather up the energy to try again or until someone who knows a thing or two can help me out.

Cousins

2008-05-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to a barbeque at Ty's parents' house. Kaelyn's second cousin Wyatt was there. It was so fun to watch them play together! Wyatt is five months older than Kaelyn, so he was able to roll around, give her kisses, and hold her hand while she just laid there and kicked her legs. So cute! He even pulled her hair a couple times, but she didn't mind a bit.

Smiley Smilerson

2008-05-15T10:24:00.001-07:00

That's what her dad calls her when she smiles. Kaelyn smiles all the time now, but it's hard to get one on camera. And she's always happiest when she wakes up in the morning, a quality she definitely didn't get from either of us. Well, here are a couple of her half-smiles and some other random pictures I just thought were cute.

She's getting so BIG.
I swear, she's looking more like her daddy everyday.

Bloomsday

2008-05-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

Me and Kaelyn did Bloomsday this year with my mom, dad and sister. It was her first time and my fifth. The weather was SO nice that day and it felt SO good to finally get outside and get some exercise. We were pretty tired afterwards though, and I'm still suffering from some pretty gnarly blisters on my feet. Ty didn't come with us because he's a party pooper but I'm sure we'll coax him into doing it with us in a year or two.

The starting line.
The finish line.
Us crossing the finish line.
Wearing her finisher shirt. It was the smallest one they had!

In her new hat. It's a little big so she looks like a lamp.
We had a lot of fun and can't wait til next year!

More Pics

2008-05-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Taking a nap with Poppy at the Volvo dealership in Spokane.

Wearing her new headband that Ashley made for her.

In her Richard Simmons get-up.
Check out her moves.
Oh yeah, work it.

Everything is still going quite well for us. Kaelyn is eating like a horse and growing like a weed. She's also coming down with a mild case of baby acne. The other day I tried to pop a zit on her forehead. She wasn't too happy with me after that. As for me, I am almost fully adjusted to my new sleeping and eating schedule and am anxious to get rid of my baby weight. I really can't believe it's been almost SIX weeks since Kaelyn was born!

My Little Sleepyhead

2008-04-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

I love this baby! She makes me laugh everyday. She already makes a million different faces and is just so cute when she sleeps. I think we'll keep her after all.

Grandma/Mommy/Daughter Lunch

2008-04-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Kaelyn went out to lunch with her new friends Ali and Grace. She and I spent a few days in Moses Lake last week because Ty was violently ill and we didn't want her to catch anything. We had lots of fun and it was nice to be able to catch up with everybody. All our babies are about a month apart from each other.

I love her face in this one. She doesn't like cooperating with the camera. Neither do I apparently.

Cute Shoes

2008-04-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

So Kaelyn has huge feet. She gets it from her dad. The shoes she has on in these pictures should fit babies much older than her, but her heels already hang over the edges. I'm trying to make her wear them as much as possible before they really don't fit her anymore. They're my favorite.

I love this picture of her. She may just have been in the middle of blinking, but she looks so sleepy and I think it's just ADORABLE.

2 Weeks

2008-04-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn had her 2-week check up yesterday. She's finally almost back up to her birth weight. She weighs 7 lbs. 3 oz. and is 20.5 inches long. I thought for sure she would weigh at least 8 pounds by now. She feels like she's getting heavier and is starting to look a little chubby as well. She is in the 25th percentile for weight and 60th for height.

I think I can say I'm starting to get more accustomed to the mommy lifestyle. I'm learning things from experience, and it's a good feeling. For instance, right after we brought Kaelyn home from the hospital, my mom mentioned to me that I shouldn't eat chocolate because it supposedly makes babies gassy. Well, I decided not to believe her and a few days ago I ate like half a bag of chocolate eggs. Needless to say I was up all night with a screaming baby. The next day was the same story. The chocolate eggs were just calling out to me, and I couldn't resist (I blame my dad for buying them for me). Two nights in a row without sleep were reason enough for me to seriously consider changing my diet. Initially I was afraid that Kaelyn was becoming colicky, but I am proud to say that I have successfully cut chocolate from my daily intake and Kaelyn is back to sleeping like a rock. I don't think I'll take my chances with broccoli or cauliflower. Lucky for me, those are a lot easier to turn down.

8 Days Old

2008-04-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

My parents came up for the day yesterday to see Kaelyn. It was good to see them and I wish they could have stayed longer. She has already changed so much and it really depresses me. I want her to stay small forever! She's probably not even back up to her birth weight yet, but some of her clothes are actually starting to fit her and her diapers don't look so big on her anymore. I really wish the newborn stage could last longer. I am LOVING being a mom though.

First Doctor Visit

2008-03-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

Kaelyn had her first doctor appointment yesterday. She now weighs 6 lbs. 8 oz. and is doing very well. We are having so much fun with her! She's really good at sleeping all day but likes to party all night, which is the only downfall for us.

First family picture.

Right after a bath.

She's here!

2008-03-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

Kaelyn Christine Campbell was born March 25, 2008 at 6:12pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measured 20" long. She's healthy and beautiful and absolutely PERFECT. She really is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen, and I can't take my eyes off of her! I had a fairly easy labor and delivery (compared to the horror stories I've heard from other mothers) and I can't believe how smooth everything went.

I had been debating for a while on whether or not to try castor oil, and on Monday night (3/24) around 9:30, I took some with Pepsi. I honestly didn't think it was going to work, since I had been making no progress at my doctor appointments the last couple of times, so I did nothing to prepare myself for labor. 2 hours later I still wasn't feeling anything, so I took another dose. I immediately started getting mild contractions and by 2:30am they were becoming painful. They gradually got worse from there and were spaced 3-4 minutes apart, but I decided I was going to wait until at least 6am to wake up Ty. But he woke up around 4:30 from me writhing around so much and decided we needed to head to the hospital. We got there around 5:30 but they sent us home an hour later because I wasn't dilating. I was SO frustrated because by this time, the contractions had become borderline unbearable. To make a long story short, we were back at the hospital by noon because I thought for sure I was going to DIE if something wasn't done about my contractions. I had finally started dilating, so they started me on some pain killers. The doctor broke my water at 1:40pm, I received an epidural shortly after that, then laid there and waited, completely hopped up and elated, until Kaelyn was born at 6:12. The three of us are doing very well and are so glad to be home from the hospital!

Minutes after being born.
With Grandma J.

Plenty more pictures to come. Some lady at the hospital took some shots of Kaelyn and they are posted at http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=db4207b5-ed59-4649-980d-ae2a07d3673d&babyid=cb339d68-193a-4dd7-989c-c18199f4f262

Baby Shower

2008-03-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

My baby had her shower over the weekend. It was at her Grandma Campbell (or G-G, as I believe she wants to be called)'s house. Kaelyn got some amazing stuff and we're so lucky to have such awesome friends and family. She's definitely going to be the best dressed baby in town! These pics all got posted in an order other than what I was going for. Maybe someday I'll learn how to use this.

They made me hold the cake. I didn't want to.

The BEAUTIFUL quilt my mom made for Kaelyn. I'll get a close-up on here later.
The shirt I'm wearing makes me look like a tent.

Me and my sisters.