Monday, November 12, 2012

November 6th, 2012

 

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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!!

Oh My!!!… Has it really been a whole month since I last wrote??? Shame on me!
Seriously though, things have been busy and packed and nuts! Here are some tid bits from the last month.
  • The Yankees(AKA my northern family) came for a visit and we had a wonderful time! I think they finally realized the benefit of NOT visiting Alabama in August ;)
  • We seemed to have settled into our new normal. The boys and I have our routine going pretty well now and we are working with the same three nurses each nurses each week which is nice.
  • Little Man has started to have spells and we are pretty sure he is having seizures but we are awaiting his 24 video EEG to be sure. SO not happy about this. I don’t like dealing with neurologists. They never have anything nice to say at least in my experience and they scare me. I am just praying  that this is just a tiny bump in the road and these seizures are not causing any permanent damage to his brain.
  • Grayson has been an absolute riot lately. When I do something he does not like, he will hang his head and pretend to cry. To much drama from a toddler!
  • Little Man is rolling all over the place lately and he gets really angry if you try to contain him to the play mat. So he has free range of the house now.
  • Grayson is loving giving kisses to people right now…granted it has to be on his terms  but it is still very cute.
  • Little Man has started the Bell Center and he really seems to be enjoying it.
  • Little Man can now sit up on his own!
  • Grayson is Mr. Independent now and walks up and down the steps by himself.
  • I found out Friday that our nursing agency is closing down so now I have to find a new one.  I was very disappointed and I am not looking forward to having to change to another agency. In fact it makes me very anxious to think about .
  • Unfortunately, even though my kids don’t attend daycare, they still get sick like they do  for some reason so we have had to endure some more sickie bugs this month as well. This time it even got me which was no fun. Mommy can’t afford to be down and out!
  • The kids are getting heavy… I know this because I have been having constant pain in my left hand and wrist. I tend to rely on my left side since the stroke and I hold the kids on that side. I am wearing a brace every now and then but I am thinking I may need to wear it more full time until the pain goes away.
  • I managed to get the boys to a pumpkin patch. Even though I got 5 phone calls while we were there, we had a great time!
  • I really wish we had the money to someone to answer the phone for me. One week I am going to actually count how many phone calls I get. You will be shocked.
  • Tonight, to hopefully avoid more sick bugs, we are keeping  it low key and only treat or tricking at a few houses. Little Man is going to be a pumpkin and Grayson is going to be a Dragon.

Searching for the best pumpkin!
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Just being cute.
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Face Painting
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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Weekly Happenings

  • On Sunday we had planned to have a relaxing day at the park with my father in law and his wife. Grayson had fun but was a bit of a crab apple and Little Man was having some issues with some coughing.
  • On Monday I got to go and show off Little Man to all of his friends at the hospital. His social worker was doing a presentation about him and it was great to be able to show everyone how great he was doing!
  • Little Man got the cold that Grayson and hubby had. He went down hill very quickly Monday night and was on 3.5 liters of O2. He is on a round of steroids and I hope after this round that he continues to fight this thing off.
  • We really had a quiet week this week. We only had one appointment  and that went well for Little Man and the rest of the time we got to stay home and do normal things.
  • I didn’t have a nurse on Friday so I packed up the kids for my 8:00am doctor’s appointment. After that, we went to the park, then the library( which both boys loved), then we walked around Trussville. We are LOVING this weather!
  • I am, however, not loving my kids behavior. All the fit throwing is wearing on my nerves and the two of them feed off of each other! Sometimes it is very entertaining to watch, most times it is not. Don’t let Little Man fool you, he is very aware and very smart, he can throw a fit with the best of them.
  • I got two blissful days of sleeping in courtesy of my wonderful mommy and daddy and sister who gave up her room for him two days in a row!! They  kept Grayson  overnight and we had a nurse for Little Man so hubby and I could get some rest. God Bless family!
  • I’m thinking of dressing the boys up as smurfs for Halloween, or monsters, or thing one and thing two. I just can’t make up my mind!!
  • Grayson got some big boy sneakers.
  • I’m really excited for the coming week because we have family coming to town!!!
  • I am redoing my laundry room a little bit to make it more functional. If anyone has been to my home, I have a laundry room that was previously a bedroom.  Usually I just wash and dry the clothes and throw them  on our bed to fold but I am so tired of trying to keep up with that. So, I have bought I garment rack from Aldi’s for $9.99 and now I am looking for a small table to fold on. So far everything is working a lot better and I am actually keeping all the laundry in the laundry room. Which, by definition, where the laundry should be.
  • My blue kitchen has come together quite nicely.
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I must go to bed because we have a very early morning ahead of us tomorrow. Little Man has an IVIG infusion that will last all day and we have to be there at 8:o0am. Until next time…

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Friday Fun at the Zoo!!

Caution!!! Picture heavy post but comes with super cute kiddies!!
Recently the boys and I got to spend some time with my cousin and her little one, Silas, at the zoo. We all needed a fun day after all the sickness that passed through the house. I feel so blessed  that my cousin and I get along so well and our children are so close in age. It is so wonderful to share this season of life with someone. Here is some pictures of our trip. I apologize for the quality of the photos , these kids move really quickly and it was hard to capture that Kodak moment.
***Just a little side note. Little Man  was there on this trip to the zoo. I just can’t show his picture online and it kills me because you are missing out on some serious cuteness.
Our first stop, trying to find the fishies or the Nemo’s as Grayson calls them.
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I tried to convince the boys that the Anaconda could eat them but they didn’t seemed convinced or scared for that matter.
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We had fun on the carousal and the train ride!!007
Our little diggers!! I swear they would have stayed there all day if we let them.
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     The Red Panda was a big hit! I love this age, they loved to watch the animals move around.
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We had such a fun time and can’t wait to do it again!!!
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Monday, September 17, 2012

Weekly Happenings

I meant to post yesterday but the toddlers got the best of me. Surely you can forgive me!
  • We started off the week on Sunday with  a trip to the park with Nana and Grandpa. Grayson enjoyed the slide and Little Man enjoyed the swings. Then we had lunch with GG and Granddaddy where Grayson found a new love for ranch dressing. Lord help me he will want to dip everything now.
  • We started the week with a promise that we weren’t going to watch any movies unless it was 30 minutes before naptime or 30 minutes before bedtime ( or any other time deemed fit by mommy).
  • On Monday Little Man laid on his play mat and cried about it and Grayson kept getting Finding Nemo out of the DVD case and trying to stick it in the Playstation while handing me the remote and yelling Nemo Nemo!! The poor kids. Unfortunately the fit throwing about the movies continued throughout the week, even more so when the Playstation quit working and they couldn’t watch their 30 minutes before naptime.
  • Little Man had a visit from his EI therapist this week and he decided throw one heck of a toddler tantrum. Since there was nothing wrong with him, I just let him do it and when he was done,(or when he realized that she wasn’t going to leave) he finally played with Ms. Megan. 
  • Little Man also had  Physical Therapy this week and he rocked it!! Ms. Laurel was so impressed!
  • Little Man has been my little clingy monkey this week and I am loving it.
  • Grayson and I got to get out of the house and do some shopping this week. We like to take our time and I love that one on one time I get with him.
  • We got to go on  a play date this week to the zoo and we had a great time! Pictures to follow on a different post.
  • Little Man’s social worker came out to the house on Saturday for a few minutes. Literally just a few minutes so I have nothing else to add.
  • Grayson has a cold again the poor thing! I just hope we can keep it contained and Little Man doesn’t get it. We will see…

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Shopping List

This morning, after making Grayson his waffle, I started a shopping list. The only thing on there was butter. I had intended to go out tomorrow morning to pick up a few things and as the day went on the list grew.
This evening Hubby and I were discussing options for dinner. I was voting for frozen pizza because I’m lazy like that but he didn’t want that.
I suggested tacos but we were lacking in the correct tortillas, seasonings and lettuce so I added it to the list
He suggested breakfast for dinner but we were lacking eggs so I added it to the list.
Running out of feasible options, we decided on sandwiches and wouldn’t you know it we were out of bread! My quick trip to the store has now turned into a full out shopping trip  for tomorrow. UGGHHH!  But we did have a very a nice dinner of pasta and homemade Italian sausage.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Weekly Happenings

  • We were supposed to travel to see family on Labor Day but Little Man ended up being admitted to the hospital due to a fever. I think we lucked out because it rained anyway and little man and I had a fantastic view of Birmingham on the 9th floor of the new  hospital at Children’s.
  • Little Man fared pretty well at the hospital and he was diagnosed with something viral (mostly likely Roseola from his brother) but  we had to stay an extra day so he can get a blood transfusion. He was really happy to come home on Wednesday and was even more happy to see his daddy walk through the hospital room door that afternoon. So wonderful to see…
  • I did my best to bite my tongue when I had to deal with two medical residents on two separate occasions that seemed hell bent on irritating the stew out of me. I behaved myself and smiled.
  • I came home on Wednesday to see my Grayson and his runny nose. The circle of germs is complete.
  • On Monday I came home shortly to get some things for myself and little man and I started some laundry. On Wednesday I came home again and started some laundry. On Thursday I started the laundry. On Friday I started the laundry…..It is Saturday and I can officially say that I have washed, dried,  folded, and put away everything.
  • Grayson has taken to carrying his cell phone everywhere (an old flip phone that we pulled out for him). He loves to talk on it and his favorite person to talk to is Jesus! It  goes something like this… He puts the phone to his ear  and says “Hello, Jesus?”  The funniest thing I have ever seen. I wonder if I get roaming charges for that?? Surely phone calls to Jesus are toll free?
  • Little man has found a new love for his tongue and loves to stick it out! SO cute!
  • It has become painfully obvious that I have to get the boys away from watching  so much movies. And before I get people telling me that it not appropriate for toddlers to be watching television, save it.  Trust me, I am aware. That is all Little Man could do while he sat in the hospital for 14 months so it has taken him some time to get adjusted.  It has been his comfort for so long so we needed to take it slow on weaning him off the videos.
  • So Grayson knows how to say please and thank you but apparently we need to work on keeping  feet off of the table.
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  • Little man pooped on one of our nurses today.
  • I bought bell peppers today and I decided to make fajitas for dinner. Good thing because after I cleaned out the fridge this afternoon I realized I had a ridiculous amount of tortillas. Hubby said that dinner was very good and he will  no longer make fun of my cooking abilities. I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not?007
  • After several days of trying, I was finally able to take a nap today. It felt good to finally catch up on some of the sleep that I lost at the hospital. Little Man has been sleeping a lot too.
  • I let the boys experiment with bell peppers today. Grayson tasted an orange one, made a face and then put it on the couch. Little man held it for a minute and let me put it to his lips. After that he swatted it away and no longer wanted to play. Ha!
Until next time!

Friday, September 7, 2012

Second Blessing

September 7th of 2010 , two years ago, we discovered that we were expecting our second blessing. I was driving home from an appointment and I had an overwhelming urge to be sick in the car. I walked into the house, said hello to my husband, and went straight into the bathroom and took a pregnancy test. Minutes later, I asked my husband to come to the bathroom and he asked what I wanted. I told him that he was going to be a daddy again.

God was giving us another chance to parent an angel.
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Quiet

Quiet …rarely happens around here. Right now I am enjoying the quiet before the boys get up and before the nurse gets here.  I broke out the hot tea this morning since the morning have been cooling down. I do think I may have to put a few a of these of these tea bags into the diaper bag for those very early morning trips to the Children’s ER when they happen. They cater to coffee drinkers which I am not. I was finding it hard pressed to get some unsweet tea at 1:00am in the morning at Children’s.  I just can’t drink coffee, I tried. I even got those really fancy flavored creamers. No sale. It smells great but tastes bad  and no amount of sweet n low is going to fix that.
You know that longer I look at this picture the more I see the unopened mail, trash, toys, unpaid bills, and other things that don’t belong. This is not my desk but is in fact our kitchen table. Oh well…
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The kids are stirring so quiet time is over.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Circle of Germs

Little Man gets a cold---gives it to daddy--- Grayson gets Roseola---gives it to Little Man---Little Man winds up in the hospital…
So is my life right now.

Monday, September 3, 2012

October 15th

It is nearing that time of year again. I am getting emails and notices on facebook. October 15th, National Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day is approaching. Last year, I wasn’t able to do much but to light my candle but this year I would love to do something more or at least different. The problem is that there are no scheduled walks or candle lighting ceremonies in my area. I don’t really  have the time to devote to organizing anything but would love to see if anyone is interested in meeting at a local park and lighting our candles together to remember our babies. Please message me if you are interested.
Remembering October 15, 2011
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Saturday, September 1, 2012

New Name

The blog name has changed. Why? Because I can and because I don’t think it is safe to assume how many children there are going to be in our family. God laughs at me when I do that. I have very little control in that timing as I have to two wonderful toddlers that are two months apart. Adoption has captured our hearts! So I figure it is best not to poke the bear and change things up a bit. ;)
The name has some meaning for me. During the last few years I have gone through some darker times dealing with grief and PTSD.  During my time while dealing with this, my therapist and I have always made it a point to make sure that I always have something to  look forward to. It could be a birthday or a holiday, but since night time sometimes makes me anxious, I could always look forward to the mornings.
There is a always a new morning and a chance to begin again.

Blue

Before we moved into this house I wanted to decorate my kitchen with blue accents. The inspiration came from a dear friend that has a beautiful blue glass collection in her home. So I went to work (almost two years ago) and was able to find some blue glass of my own. Finally I have been able to start incorporating my blue glass into my home. I am very pleased so far. I plan to keep my eyes open for more authentic blue glass on my junkin trips but here are my favorite pieces. 
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Weekly Happenings

  • Things have been stressful these last few weeks…that is putting it nicely.
  • I got to go out by myself Monday morning for several hours. It was fantastic! The weather was nice, the sun was out and I cranked the music up in the car. I can’t think of a better way to start the week. I needed that.
  • Little Man is now the proud owner of his own handicap place card for the car. His momma sure is happy!
  • Grayson has had his first fever  this past Monday at 16 months! (Yay for momma’s milk!!) Turns out his has Roseola.
  • Little Man has a cold that has kept him in his bed connected to his oxygen since last Tuesday. He has finally turned the corner we think after having to do nebulizer treatments around the clock and antibiotics. At least we managed to keep him out of the hospital.
  • I let go ( or fired) an entire pharmacy this week. Among many issues, they tried to convince me that I could substitute one drug for another one for little man. I am not stupid…I can read. We are writing a complaint to the company. I feel so much better since we made this decision.
  • Little Man sat up for 10-15 seconds yesterday by himself!!!
  • Grayson is talking up a storm. His favorite words this week; no, Nemo, turtle, thank you, and Jesus.
  • We  only had to go  the hospital once this week!! Amazing! We have been averaging at least 2-3 visits per week for a few months.
  • I had no nurse on Thursday and Friday of this week. Me and the boys managed just fine. I actually liked the time alone with them. While I do love the nursing help(Little Man’s care is quite daunting at times ), it can get draining having someone if your house all the time. 
  • Last Sunday, we as a family, took the day off.  We cancelled the nurse, and just spent time with the kids. We went to the zoo and spent time together as a family. We needed that. We have had to many stresses and challenges thrown at us this past month.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Friday Review

A Friday review of the week...

  • Grayson loves fried rice and will shovel it into his mouth by the handful.
  • Due to the summer heat, our house is heating up in the late afternoon and not cooling off until late in the evening making it very difficult for Little Man to exist outside the confines of his room.
  • Due to the summer heat, it looks like Little Man's social worker is going to help us out with a new window unit to help cool the house down. Yay!!
  • I am officially tired of training home health nurses...enough said.
  • Grayson and Little Man had a great play date today.
  • We found out that Little Man had three different types of bacteria growing in his ear. Poor boy! We finally got it under control and he is able to wear his hearing aids again since his ear infection has cleared up.
  • I learned that anytime Little Man needs an infusion, I should plan for an all day stay at the hospital. Goodness!! What a long day that was. 
  • I actually made dinner everyday this week except for today(don't judge, it's Friday and pizza night).
  • Our social worker paid a visit to us this morning and declared that Little Man is doing great.
  • Grayson is absolutely in love with his mommy lately and wants to be close to her at all times. God bless that boy!
  • I was pleasantly surprised to find Little Man sleeping on his stomach  on Tuesday morning. We officially have a rolling boy in the house!
Until  next week..

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Crying and Cuteness

Grayson is going through a phase right now that any time I step out of his sight he screams and cries for me. By the end of the day I feel completely touched out and so tired of hearing any type of screaming. But, I do take secret pleasure in knowing that he needs his mommy...although I don't know how long that great pleasure will last ;)

In other cuteness news...I am watching little man on his video monitor and instead of sleeping as he should be, he is playing peek a boo with  his blanket while smiling away. Goodness he is way to cute for his own good.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Here...

Recently I saw an old high school classmate of mine. I don't remember her name but I did recognize her face and I saw that she had three children. Her children looked to be school and preschool age. And then it hit me, here I am standing around with my two beautiful boys and I am so happy, but my school age little one is not with me. I should be like her. All three of my kids here and healthy. It hit me like a ton of bricks...how did I get here???

Faith.



Well....

I have finally figured out what has kept me away from this blog for so long. I feel like I need to backtrack and get everyone updated on our current daily doings but to be honest I just don't have the time...hence the disbandment of the blog. So  from here on out I am not going to worry about that and just post about topics floating around in my brain. Here goes nothing....

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Here I sit…

At the top floor of Children’s Hospital enjoying the view and the lights of the new hospital. I am listening to Little Man’s current DVD of Monsters Inc. and waiting patiently for his trach supplies to arrive.

We have had Little Man home for one month now and we are doing well. We are at the hospital right  now to get his central line replaced with a port. A port will be much easier to manage at  home and have less of a risk for infection. So far everyone at the hospital keeps commenting on how great Little Man looks. It is amazing what a family can do for a child and he has brought some wonderful blessings to us too. We really are doing well. He has gained around a pound since he has been home which is great because weight gain and growth is paramount for him and his diagnosis. He is also getting stronger everyday and we are enjoying watching him grow his developmental skills.

Grayson is doing ok with all the changes but he has become a big momma’s boy lately. He is usually attached to my hip. Thank goodness for my sling otherwise my back would be seriously hurting! (Shhh!I am secretly enjoying his need to be a mommas boy right now) He has decided to start walking lately. He has been fully capable for awhile but he has been taking his time and that’s ok. I am also not pushing him to get on a sippy cup right now due to all the changes in his little world lately. His bottle and his pup pup are his comfort so we won’t wean him off the bottle until things calm down some. We celebrated his first birthday a few weeks ago. I can’t believe he is a year old!! He is truly a miracle. He is so healthy and developing so well.

So right now, here I sit enjoying and loving this season of  life and the new experiences that have come from being a stay at home mom. I apologize for doing such a bad job on keeping the blog updated. I am have been very busy with my babies!!!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Changes

Currently changing the blog around....bear with me.

Our lives lately…

Our lives lately have been chaotic to say the least. BJ and I spend alternate nights spending time with our little man at the hospital getting to know him better and bonding with him.  The rest of the time we spend trying to keep Grayson’s schedule and routine as close to normal as possible. We are tired, but happy.

I have had several people ask for more details about the little man but to be perfectly honest…I don’t feel comfortable sharing these details on a public blog. Please feel free to contact me personally though if you want to know more. Sorry!!  What I can tell you is that little man and Grayson are VERY close in age. Little man has some medical issues and is developmentally delayed. Once he is legally in our care I will consider sharing more but I don’t want to jeopardize the process of bringing him home.

Speaking of! We are hoping for a discharge date in  the next 3-4 weeks and we are trying to plan it to correspond with my last day of work. Yep you heard me right! I put my notice in at my job so that I can spend all my time and energy raising my little men. I am so excited about this new season of life. I do plan to try and do some contract work on the side during the times that BJ is not working but my official title will be stay at home mommy.

Wish me luck on this new adventure…staying home requires me to cook more…you might want to say a prayer for my husband    ;)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

We are proud to announce….

That we are adding a new little one to our family!!!
I know what you are thinking! NO! I am not pregnant! ;)
For those that don’t see us often, BJ and I have started the process to bring our new little one home soon. God has decided to bless us and allow us to become foster parents to our a very special little boy. Due to privacy reasons, I can not share his name or pictures of him but if I see you in person, I will be happy to tell you all about his cuteness ;)
Hopefully now that I have spilled the beans, I can start to blog more often. Stay tuned…

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Changes

There are a lot of changes going on right  now in the Campbell house...all good changes. Stick with me because I will be back but right now I need to have my focus elsewhere.


P.S. Grayson is doing so great!!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I tried to be a good wife and...

I tried to be a good wife and cook dinner last night. In fact I had it all planned out and even went to the store the day before. I put the chicken in the crock pot before I went to work and really looked forward to the chicken tacos that we were going to have that night. Except I forgot some really essential things for our meal...lettuce, tomatoes, onions...and of course...we had no taco seasoning. Epic FAIL on trying to be super wife and mom. We ate lean gourmet meals from the freezer. My husband never complained about it...and that's why I love him so much.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Things that I need to remember…

  • Grayson started commando crawling on Thanksgiving
  • He started crawling on all fours two days before Christmas
  • He pulled up on  the couch on Christmas day
  • He started cruising a week after that
Boy are we in for some trouble now…

Godzilla Grayson

Godzilla Grayson has come to destroy the  town. He has taken down the city’s tower in a single bound!
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No one is safe!
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He laughs in spite of it all…
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Uh Oh! He is on the move!
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AAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
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Now changed and freshly diapered, he is ready to ride out of town on his dragon…
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Baby’s First Christmas

We had a great and wonderful Christmas at our home this year! Here are some pictures from Grayson’s first Christmas…Enjoy!
Baby’s first meatball! Meatballs and stuffing are now his favorite foods…
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Grayson enjoying his loot!!!  This child is beyond loved and we are so incredibly blessed to have him and our family.
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Merry Christmas from Grayson!