2009

This year came and went. It's amazing how fast it can do that. I have no regrets, and I definitely made the most of it!  I want to look back at each month of this year and see what point of my life I was at in that month.

January- We moved in to our new home New Years Eve. The only thing that we set up was the bed so we would have a place to sleep. We were asleep in our new bed by 10 pm. We were both so tired from a whole day of buying a house, moving and me being 7 months pregnant. We only had my mother in law, myself and baby, Scott and Stephen to help. But none the less we got everything moved in the freezing cold weather. I spent the next week getting everything un packed and put away. It was the early stages of my nesting so it worked out well for organizing a new house! The house was in such great shape that we didn't have to do any modifications to it. We got a brand new roof the day we moved in, and everything else from here on out will just be personal preferences to change. So as of now we still have not really decorated the house with pictures, or curtains or anything like that.
We bought a new washer and dryer, and a new living room set. We have yet to put it in the real order in which we'd like still. Slowly but surely!
Also that first week of moving in was the first time I felt the baby do like elbows and knees movement. It was more than just kicking and punching.  Such a great thing!! 

This is my Baby belly in the month of January. Week 27. I'm finally starting to feel like I look pregnant. This was the 1st picture i took and felt like a pregnant women!

 @ 29 weeks, a bare belly shot, in my new house!

February-  in  this month it was getting closer to D day! We started to think about the babies room, and slowly started to work on it little at a time. We decided to go with a bright color. Lime green. We accented it with big black and pink polka dots.

The wall before we painted.

 This is how bright it is comparing to what it used to be!

 This is it finished.

Scott worked so hard painting, where as I was pretty much usless in this department!.... He painted the walls with 2 coats, did all the vinyl polka dots by hand one at a time, and painted the trip on the doors. Amazing.

In Febuary we also celebrated Scotts 25th birthday. :-)

We had our first baby shower, which was OUTSTANDINGLY done by my  family!!!

We also had our maternity ( the first set) pictures done in this month. My photographer said that she likes to do them at 28 weeks, but I wasn't large enough yet so we had to wait a little until I was 31 weeks.

I would DEFINITELY say that in Febuary ( especially the end of it) is when I POPPED!!!!

This was around 31 weeks

 34 weeks, the end of Feb!! Whoa, BABY!!

March- March was a great month. I began to get un comfortable being in the last month of my pregnancy! But I had another GREAT shower put together by some of my besties! Melissa, Amy and Amberlynn. These girls did a fantastic job and throwing me a shower! It was towards the beginning of the month. 

 

Not much went on in March, except, my stomach grew very very large towards the end of the month before I popped!

I also had some more maternity pictures done. A friend at work's brother in law saw me at work one day and wanted to know if I'd do a few pics for his portfolio and baby fest. I agreed. He is now our regular photographer! They were done at 36 weeks. 36 WEEKS PEOPLE that's 9 months pregnant!!!!!! Ah. Very large belly to work with!

APRIL!!!!!!!!!!-  Of course April was the most EXCITING month of all! We awaited the arrival of my baby girl. Her orginal due date was April 6th, and her ultra sound due date was April 4th ( Which I didn't know until the Thursday before she was born which was the 2nd of April)

This was taken on April 5th. One day late for her due date, and one day early. The day before she came in to this world!!

 omg, this is what an 8lb baby and 50lbs will do to you!! 

We checked in to the hospital at 5:30 pm. 

 

Our baby girl arrived at 10:40 pm.

Happy birthday baby girl!!!!

She completed our lives!!!

 

We wobbled our way through this new journey of the un known. No book, tv show, or person can tell you what you are really about to embark on when you have a child. Your built in gut instinct is the best radar when your a (new) parent. We were sleepy, grumpy and jacked up on caffine, but we wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

May- By the time may came around everything was kind of getting a little settled.... we were getting used to the idea that we had a baby, and that mom didn't get more than 3 hours of sleep! May was wonderful b/c it was my very first mothers day. It was the first time I had left my baby with anyone while I wasn't there. That was harder than labor! LOL. But it got easier with time. It had to ( like everything else) a transition. The baby started growing and becoming more responsive and staying awake a little longer at a time, more expressive. Fun. We also got to take our first little trip to the lake at the end of May. That was a nice little get away and the baby by that time was pretty much sleeping though the night.

June-  In June, I returned to work a few days a week.

Scott had his FIRST father's day. What a special day!!

Scottie also got his new " dad " mobile!

Exciting month for him!!! 

And of course our sweet baby girl was just growing and growing!

 

July-   We celebrated my 24th birthday at the lake on the 4th. I couldn't have been happier to spend it with my little family and my big family. We had such  a great time. The baby was well on a schedule, so that worked out nice for us. We had a little more liberty at this time. 

 

We had Anisten dedicated. This was a special day for us.

We took a road trip to Branson.

By July we were extremely comfortable with parent-hood. And OVER joyed. We had a bright eyed bright smile beautiful baby. She began to get really fun around this time!

August-  in August we found out that Jonathan and Melissa are going to be expecting a baby! He will be here  in April!

Other than that nothing too too exciting happened in this month.

September - Earlier in the year Scott and I decided that we wanted to run the race for the cure this year. I had been working on getting ready for it last year but I was 12 weeks pregnant and extrememly sick last year. I still went, but I only walked. So it was fun to go this year!

 

October-  BOO!!!  October marks the beginning of the holidays. While I know that halloween isn't really a " holiday" it's still a festivities and we have fun with the pumpkins and costumes. And boy, did we enjoy them ( ALL) this year!

In this month we also excitingly introduced our baby to real food! She took to it like a champ, and to this day is still a great eater. She'll eat any vegetable or fruit we offer her, and loves them.

 

November-   We celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary this month. What a great memory. This was the first year we decided to stay in and make dinner. Over the last year we have started cooking lots of things, fresh bread, new meals, desserts etc.... we wanted to try our hand at sushi! We had a blast, and made a memorable anniversary for sure.

We also took our first long road trip since having the baby. We made the trip to Louisiana for Thanksgiving. The first day was rough, but after that, we got adjusted and did just fine! We had a good time with all of the family. It was their first time to meet Anisten!

December  Probably my favorite month next to the birth of our daughter. I know there are tons of blogs from the month of December. ( so for that reason I wont repeat myself for the millionTH time! hehe) This is why! I just loved this month this year! I will anticipate it every year.

2009 is coming to an END!!

What a wonderful year it has been! We have been though so much change, and have changed ourselves. We are more and more in love with the life that we lead every day. By al means it's not always easy. But that's life. Who said it would be easy? It's worth it. 

We hope that you all had a great year like we did. And more so, that you have much happiness, prosperity, and an abundance of blessings to come in 2010!!!!! Welcome that fresh start in your life.

THE CAMPBELLS

 

  

GOOD BYE 2009!!

My new years resolutions.

To quit smoking, and lose weight....  What?  that's everyone else's every year! HAHA. Jk...

So through out the Holidays I always begin to think about things I would like for the up coming new year. I think the beginning of the year is a perfect time to think about " new beginnings" and " goals" you would like to have. I think that it's important that we always push ourselves to achieve greater. Through out our entire life. Getting stuck in a rut, or a place where change is not accepted is bad. Very bad. We have to be mold-able, we have to have goals, and inspiration for our lives.

So, that's just what I've done. I don't say vague things like " I'm going to start running" or " I wanna start reading more" I set small goals, and climb from there so it's not easy to fail, or just forget about. Achievable.
Some of them are extremely petty, and some are challenging things that I will have to work hard on and make an effort to achieve!

-- I first off would like to take more time for myself. Alone.  I would like to have 2 hours a week to myself. Without anyone else, and not working. I get out of the house often, but it's usually just to work and back. But since i'm getting anatomically less " in demand" I will be able to have some more free range to do things on my own. So whether I take 2 hours all at one time, or 30 mins here and there, I feel like I need this time to myself to stay sane!

-- I would like to pick my exercise program back up. Since I'm still nursing, I'm probably too thin. I haven't been doing much working out, I don't want to get any thinner. It makes it very hard to nurse when you have no fat on your body. So therefore I have been eating whatever I want ,with no exercise. This will come to an end in April. So slowly once or twice a week, I'm going to get in the habit of working out again. I love working out, again it kind of goes along with that " alone time",   " healthy mental state" type of thing. So I'll be happy to work on this one. Especially when it's warming back up and I can go outside. It's my favorite.

-- I would like to set goals  as a family. ( Finance, vacation, children etc.....)
-- Also, I'd like to set goals as a spouse. We have already kind of done this. And we like it. We set out about 7 challanges or things we do a month together, and we LOVE it. with the holidays and new schedules and everything we didn't get to continue it. So we're going to implement these back in to our relationship.

-- I want to send out birthday cards every month to the people that I know having a birthday in that month. They may be simple. But I want to atleast send it out to say " I'm thinking of you on your birthday!" I realized this month with Christmas cards how exciting it was to get mail that wasn't bills. I want to share that excitement with other friends and family! So I want to make that a goal of mine for the year. It will take a little pre planning and dedication on my part, but I can do it!!

-- I'd like to focus more on my business. The last 10 months or so I have not.  I would say the last few weeks of my pregnancy I slacked, and staying home with Anisten until about now, I have slacked. So I want to put more time, organization, marketing, etc in to my business. I think I will benefit from this greatly!

-- Education. I would like to learn new things. I want to try and take atleast 2 new classes this year. I know it doesn't sound like much. But compared to the amount that I've taken in the last year, it's more! Whether it's professional ( like color or cutting classes) or personal ( like cooking or running ) I want to do this just to learn something new! I want to ALWAYS learn.

-- I want to develop my new interests in hobbies. I am becoming very interested in cake baking ( really decorating) So maybe I can TAKE a CLASS for this! :-) Hopefully with in the next few weeks I can get the stuff and start working on this!

-- Take more pictures. I have decided that you can't take enough pictures! -- that moment will never ever come back. So why not have a picture of it?

-- Work on decorating my home, little at a time. I've been a little hard on myself for not doing this. But I havee to sit back and realize that this is my first " home " and I'm a home owner. Most of the people that are my age are in the same situation, or havent' even purchased their own home yet. So I am going to take it one room at a time and have fun with it.

-- Be nice to the dogs. By all means I don't abuse them or anything! But I have to remember that before the baby was here, they were the center of our attention! So even though I get mad at them for making a ton of noise or barking when the baby is napping, Or bringing mud in the house, or throwing up the sponge mop they ate, that they are still part of our family. I love them, and would be very sad if anything happened to them. So I just want to work on my attitude towards them.

-- I have alot of expectations from myself. I want to learn to not be so hard on myself  and learn that it's ok if I don't have a perfect spotless house with an 8 month old ALL THE TIME. Or it's ok if I didn't cook tonight, or that sometimes things just happen. So I'd like to start learning to be a little lighter on myself. I think once I have more time for me, I will learn these things.

-- Blog more. I've already started to, and have noticed a difference. Just putting my thoughts in front of my eyes helps me to disect them and realize " whatever " it is I need to realize.

-- Print out a list of my goals and hang them where I can see them.

-- So this is my GOAL OF GOALS...... Have Anisten's scrapbook done for her 1 year old birthday party!  I can do it!!!

Blogging more = Emotional freedom?

I have been on the verge of a mental explosion! No, I'm not crazy, nor do I need to be admitted..... But I a just such a deep thinker, and I see past the masks that people wear. I take everything in, and I assess it.... I can size up a person with in 2 minutes of speaking to them what kind of person they are. I defintely don't give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but I also don't waste my time on unnecessary people( or things) that will take away from the ones and things I truly love. I love hard. I'm straight forward. I have definitely  learned through time to keep my mouth shut and keep my battles. But I have no problem addressing things. I was raised a little conservative. " Don't say anything to offend them"  " Dont hurt their feelings" and sure, I need to be considerate of feelings of other people, but I don't feel like its fair to walk around all HUFFY and expect the other person to know why I'm mad. Or make them feel bad b/c they have made me mad even if I haven't told them why. I'm working on this balance of " speaking up and saying how you feel" and " just running your mouth everytime you are upset etc"

So, I am completely burnt out on facebook. The whole thing wears me out now. I am so sick of people complaing about everything. BLOG IT if you need to release! -- So that's where I am now. I am done doing the whole " well on face book you said " and " I saw on facebook" stuff... So if you want to know something about me, you can now find it here, or simply pick up the phone to call and find out how I am and how things are.
I will be updating lots. Hopefully daily, or several times a day.  I am trying to get my feelings out. I am a " Jounal-er" and I love to write out my feelings, but I have not taken the time to do it in a while, and I'm really feeling the effects of it now. Like I said, I am feeling the emotional over load of LIFE. I'm not stressed, or a freak or anything I just need some where that I can put down my feelings with out the response.

So that being said, if you plan on judging me or using my blog to talk about me then please click the X at the top of the screen. If you are reading this, that means that I have trusted you enough to invite you to share my thoughts. If I say something to offend you, tell me and don't hold it against me. I will try to keep those blogs " private" so that you won't have to read them. But if it's offensive, then again click the X and that will take care of your problems.

I used to just use this blog as an " update on baby" type thing. I still fully intend to do that. And if I need to I will make a seperate one for her. But since she is a big part of my life, I don't feel like I should have to. I just need this space to have the more personal intimate place to share my feelings. ( With out the judgment of others)

Right now I'm making a BIG blog of the highlights of my wonderful 2009 year! I will also be working on my new years ( life)  resolutions! I'm so excited about this, there is always room for change! I will accept it fully and take the challange!

Growing up.

When did I grow up?
What's the appropriate age to grow up from child hood to adulthood...
What's the healthy transition and preperation for the adult life?

I wonder about these things. Like, one day i'm young and careless, and the next I'm a home owner, wife, mommy, business owner...... What qualifies me as grown up and when did it happen?

Did it happen when I started driving? Was I an adult then? Or when I graduated? Or when I began paying for my own things like gas, cell phone, food, clothes? Was it the first time I bought my own car?  My  first full time job? Wedding? The day I became a mother? When did it happen, and how was I so prepared for this life as an adult?

I remember being a kid and the simplicity of it. I had a normal childhood. I was the kid in the trees, riding go carts, had a horse, played until the sun went down. I had 2 parents my whole life. I had wonderful influences of how a " lady " should act. I feel like I was raised to make good decisions and to reap what I sew. I was given responsibility at a very young age, which is hard, but I can survive if I need to.

Responsibility is another thing I think about. I think it's essential to a persons growth as an adult.
If we don't teach our kids ( a healthy balanced dose of) responsibility at  a young age, how can we expect them to know it as an adult.

By expecting them to do things for them selves we are saying " I believe you can do this " So not only are you giving them the confidence to do the skill, but they are gratified by doing it and pleasing you.

I am starting with Anisten NOW in being responsible. I know. YOu think, she's 8 months old, why would you expect her to do anything. DRILL SARGENT ALERT?!? No no, but I am teaching her things like, before we leave this rooom we're going to clean up your toys up. So we gather them all up and put them in the basket. We even have a song.
I also started at a young age letting her (finger) feed herself. Of course I still nursed her, and fed her the main part of her food, but I gave her the oppertunity to do it for herself, and she is filled with gratification ( as are we as parents) when she does it herself and mommy and daddy get so excited!! Instead of wafting her hand away when she grabs the spoon from me and tries to feed herself with the spoon, I give her her own spoon so she can help me.  I was told by a pediatric physical therapist that she was SUPER young to be doing certain things with her hands and motor skills and I explained to her that i've let her do these things and she says that's very wise on my part. Now, I have an 8 month old that is trying to walk b/c i'm allowing her to do things for herself and learn them.

It's not always easy to sit back and watch her grow up. In this I have to see her fall several times before she learns that she can't climb on something or to learn her balance. I'm there to help her, and comfort her when she needs me, but I am letting her grow. I feel like if I'm not, then I will fail at being a parent. Being a parent is nurturing, protecting. But it's also to teach and set bounderies. I don't want her to grow up and be angry with me b/c I didn't teach her or expect certain things from her, or equipt her for adulthood.

I dont know as a kid, but as a parent it's hard to let you baby grow up. But there is no stopping it. So instead of wasting time trying, I want to constantly be proactive in making sure that she is healthy and well rounded. Emotionally, Physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially. I want to get her ready to take on anything in the world, b/c I know and have the faith that she can do it!!!

So these are just some things on my mind. I don't know if they go hand in hand or not. But I was just wondering at what point does one grow up? And at what point will my child grow up and will she be ready. I will NEVER be ready for her to grow up---- But it's only fair to make sure she is. Right?

Christmas Day with my family

Of course we woke up to a wonderful white Christmas! The only down side to that was, I was afraid I might have to spend Christmas Day alone since Scott was working. We had our families to visit, and I had planned to go to mine and when he was off we would go to his Aunt's house afterwards. Well with the snow, I was a little hesitant to go anywhere. I must say that I am very proud of the dodge. She got me there very safely. It took me about 40 minutes to get to Leonard. But we made it safely!!

As soon as we got there, we felt the excitement of Christmas day. Being there with my little cousins and the baby, everyone was just so excited!
Anisten's parent was almost immediately putting together toys ( tickle me elmo) when we walked in the door. And he also found all the little nut cracker singing toys ( really like 5 of them) and sat them down in front of her and they all played and sang together. Over. And over.

Uncle Wayne was smoking the ham and frying the turkey ( which both came out soooooo yummy!) and Blaise was buzzing to open gifts! .... So we let him and A open a few before we all exchanged gifts.

Her co coa got her a See and Say like I had when I was a little girl! And she LOVES it!!!!

 Had to take a break to eat!! 

 

We had some delicious food!!! Baked mac and cheese, candied yams, green bean casserole, GUMBO, turkey, ham, rolls, oyster dressing.  This is my families version of a LIGHT meal. And I LOVE IT!!! It was great! The baby had her own food. Some sweet potatoes and pears. A little bread and ham. Later she had a banana for a snack. So needless to say she didn't go with out! Well maybe with out a nap. But considering that she didn't get one all day she did amazing.

So we went ahead later and exchanged gifts.

Her rocking/rolling horse from her Nanny and Parent'

 she decidedd that she would like to just open gifts from her HORSEY. ( with her OSU beanie on hehe)

 

We had such a great day. Even though we were " snowed in" and didn't make it to our other family Christmas, we had a great time. I don't know how long it's been since I've went to my family's house and just spent the day out there.

Anisten was WAYYYYY tuckered out! We put her in her pj's before coming home so that she could just go straight to bed! And that she did!

I'm a little sad for Christmas to be over. Yesterday as I was cleaning up, I didn't want to pick up the stockings, or any decorations. I guess you know it was such a great thing when you don't want it to end! But none the less we have plenty more to look forward too. And I have a feeling it's only going to get better!

Christmas Eve with the Campbells.

I decided that I would love to make a tradition to have Christmas Eve dinner with my in-laws. This year I decided that I'd try my hand at cooking and we could do the Christmas celebration at our house!

I woke up early with the baby that morning, and began immediately in the kitchen. 7 am I was whipping up some cheesecakes. We had one that was with cherries, and and oreo cheese cake too.... I made oreo balls, salsa ( Which I was just making for my self, but we ended up having it as an " appetizer" ), I began to work on the ham, and got it in the oven around 11 to cook through out the day. My house smelled divine as it cooked though out the day! I also made some candied yams to serve with our ham. Jan brought some broccoli and cheese casserole to make it just perfect! I literally spent my entire day in the kitchen! I love it though. I had a wonderful time cooking and learning new things. My mother is my SAVING grace when it comes to cooking! If she would just make me up a recipe book, i'd buy it!! Thank you mom for all of your help. Really.

We enjoyed our meal, as the snow fell harder and harder creating that Christmas feel.  Which my puppy loves!

We finished our meal and had champagne and dessert and just relaxed before the gift chaos began!

Playing with her uncle Stevo

 Anisten and Sara

 Anisten and Grandma, she would love to have that phone!

 Anisten with her Grandad! Being the wiggle worm that she is!

Mommy and Anisten!

And the the gifts begin!

We had a great time! We all got so much! The baby got some great things. Her grandpa got her a great standing playing station that has lots o things that can be done. And a blow up horsey ( for when she's a bit older). Grandma got her some osu onsies, a toy to help her learrn tto walk, some other great little things! , Stephen got her an eskimo joe shirt of course! She had a great time opening them! and Dad even had to put together one of them right away b/c she wanted it!

I got my KINDLE! I'm so excited, I was led to believe that they weren't even shipping until Febuary b/c they were on back order. I also got the perfume I wanted Chanel Chance, and another beautiful willow tree figure. Sara hooked me up with a great pair of candy read heels! Scott surprised me with my net book ( mini lap top) that I'm using now. I was beyond SHOCKED when I realized he had gotten me this.... I am more than grateful for everything that I've recieved. I'm so blessed! Thank you everyone!

Scotty got some great things too. A few clothes, some money, of course gift card from starbucks! And some money!

Well thank you again for everyone's help! It was a lot of fun. Even if I do get stressed out when things are running behind, and people forget to bring something, it's still all so worth it and it's all about the memories we're creating! I'm looking forward to lots more get togethers!!