I hope they'll stay this way!

It's been way too long since I posted. I just haven't had anything blogworthy lately. Don't get me wrong, we've been very busy, just nothing out of the ordinary or interesting going on!

My mom's birthday is today - Happy Birthday Mom! We got to celebrate it over the weekend. The entire family was there (minus my nephew Steven - we missed you). It was so fun to get to eat dinner all together. Los Cabos - yum! After dinner, my 2 sisters and I took my mom to see the movie, "Taken". It was a great movie and such fun to have a girl's night!

Since then, I've been thinking a lot about what a blessing it is to have siblings. Teen and I were talking the other day about this very thing. I told her that I watch Karson and Campbell and already see a friendship forming. I so hope their sister relationship/friendship continues, grows, and ends up being as special as the relationship I have with my own!

I keep looking at pictures of my 2 doodlebugs and feeling a bit nostalgic. The very 1st thing I ever posted was about my girls being best friends. I'm so glad it stayed that way!!! I thought I would post a few from the past, very special year!

This was taken the day we found out Campbell was a girl! We told Karson by giving her a pink doll that she picked out. Oh my goodness, she was excited!

Campbell had only been home a few days when we took this...the start of something great!

All dressed up and headed to church for Easter (Campbell's first church day) Little did they know this would be the first of MANY matching/coordinating outfits!

Supporting Daddy during the Regionals and State Finals - Go Trojan Baseball!!!!

A good snuggle always makes everyone feel better!

My 2 favorite trick-or-treaters!

The Christmas card photo shoot was lasting a bit too long...Campbell was worn out!

Best friends!

Expect the Unexpected

WARNING - This post contains some descriptive details of childhood illness involving the stomach. Read at your own risk!

Although "Expect the Unexpected" is the theme of one of my favorite summertime shows, Big Brother (gasp, I know it's trashy...but I do love it), I do not prefer this theme in my own life. And I feel as if my life has been full of the it lately. I'm not good with unexpected. I like routine, order, and knowing what is coming next.

Unexpected Event #1 - Friday was Campbell's birthday. We had a great day together. She had her doctor's appointment in the morning (she's doing VERY well), we took Sissy to school, ran to Wal-Mart, and also got to spend a fun evening at Chick-Fil-A with my sister and her boys. While at CFA, I was relishing in the fact that Campbell was 1! After I fed her the normal baby food she eats, I thought she might enjoy a few bites of chicken. She did. So I thought she might enjoy a few more bites. She did. Then, I thought she might enjoy a few bites of my yummy shake. She did. We left CFA and came home for baths and bed. About 3 am Saturday morning I heard her crying on the monitor. I went in her room and found that she had thrown up ALL in her bed. NOT FUN! I'm not a good throw-up mommy. Thankfully Rus dealt with most of the clean-up, and I just helped Baby Girl settle back down. With her birthday party happening later that day, we decided to see how she felt when she woke up. Thankfully (or so we thought), she woke up feeling fine and we decided to go ahead with the party. We credited the throwing up to her crazy mommy that over-fed her at Chick-Fil-A. She had a terrific time at the party and the big kids had even more fun playing outside for a solid 3 hours! We even let her eat her birthday cake. Stellar move, guys!

Unexpected Event #2 - By Saturday night, Campbell had blessed us with some super, terrific diapers. We were beginning to realize that this might be some sort of bug we were dealing with. Karson was battling a cold, so we decided it would be best to keep the whole family home from church on Sunday. Sunday morning arrived and we settled into a slow, restful day at home. Both girls seemed to be feeling good, and we were glad for the chance to rest. Rus decided to meet some friends to play basketball that afternoon, when, wouldn't you know it...Campbell decided to throw up again! Okay, so now we KNEW we were dealing with a stomach bug. I called the doctor who prescribed some medicine that would help with the nausea. Rus came home and we prayed no one else would get it...

Unexpected Event #3 - Around 10 pm Sunday night, Rus was not feeling well and suddenly began...I'm going to leave that alone. Let's just say that he had caught the bug. If I'm not a good throw-up mommy, then I'm an even worse throw-up wife. I felt so bad for him, and there was really nothing I could do.

Unexpected Event #4 - At about 5 am Monday morning, Karson came stumbling into our bedroom and said, "I need a bowl. I don't feel good." She then proceeded to throw-up! At this point all I'm thinking was, "Please don't let me get it. I don't know what we'll do if I get it. Please don't let me get it." I spent the day on Monday nursing everyone at my house. Rus slept most of the day, Karson laid on the couch, and Campbell crawled around like everything was great...and then filled some more super, terrific diapers for me!

Unexpected Event #5 - I called a friend of mine to get her to cover the preschool on Tuesday. I knew I couldn't take the girls and Rus had to go back to work. She said she could and I thought everything was good to go. I then got calls from 3 different teachers saying that they had sick children and wouldn't be at work. I worked out the substitute situation and tried to not worry about it. At 10:30, I got a call from my friend that was covering for me to let me know of a "situation" going on with 2 of my teachers...let's just say, drama. I HATE DRAMA. How do these things happen on the one day you aren't there?

Unexpected Event #6 - Tuesday morning Rus went back to work, neither of the girls had thrown up in almost 24 hours, and I was really feeling like we were on the mend. I knew Karson had not eaten much the day before, so she was feeling pretty weak. I knew I needed to get her to eat something, so I offered her a scrambled egg...which she accepted pretty easily. I kept encouraging her to drink, but noticed as the day went on that she was getting paler and paler. Her eyes were very glassy and she wasn't speaking at all. I called my mom who suggested I let the doctor's office know what was going on. When I called my sister (who is also the nurse at the pediatrician) and told her how Karson was acting, she immediately said I needed to bring her in. I quickly got the 3 of us dressed and headed to the doctor. Dr. Boyd said Karson was severely dehydrated and gave her 2 bags of IV fluids. Poor baby. I hated having to hold her down while they put it in. She cried and cried. I will take her back tomorrow to see if she's better, if not, they'll have to run another IV. Thankfully, they left the central line in so they won't have to stick her again if that's the case!

It's almost midnight, and I'm crossing my fingers that we are FINISHED with all of this. But...nothing could shock me at this point. Lord, are you trying to teach me something through all of this? I know I'm a slow learner, but really, I think I get it!

On a happier note, I'll leave you with a few pictures from Campbell's party.

The birthday girl and her sissy! See her cute "1" onesie I found!

Another unexpected...the cake! It turned out cute in the end, but when Rus went to pick it up, it was lime green with a brown bow and purple flowers! I should have known it was foreshadowing!

Can you guess the color scheme for the party? I thought it turned out really cute, if I do say so myself!

Here's the birthday girl with her cake! She was hilarious! She kept trying to pick the pink dots off. Maybe she was just taking her time because she knew it was going to make her sick.

I Can't Believe She's One!!!

Marion Campbell,

One year ago...how can I be saying that? How can it possibly have been a year? Already?...

One year ago today I started feeling a bit strange around my very large, pregnant tummy. It took me a few minutes, but after a quick call to Nana, I soon figured out that I was having contractions! Contractions?? I never felt a single one when your sister was born. They induced my labor and I got my epidural before I felt anything (the perfect way to have a 1st baby, by the way). Anyway, I started timing these contractions and realized I might better call Daddy and head to the hospital. I will spare you all of the details, but let's just say that it made for a LONG night! Because you were not yet to 37 weeks (we were short by a day), they couldn't do anything to help me along. My water WOULD NOT BREAK!!! So....after arriving at the hospital around 6:30 pm, we were not blessed with your presence until 9:24 am the next morning.

Girlie, you were worth the wait! All 6 pounds 10 ounces of you! You had a head full of black hair just like your sissy did when she was born. You seemed so tiny to us, and yet you were so alert and curious about everything. My heart was instantly expanded, and if I had ever worried "how can I love 2?" (which I don't remember worrying about), then that worry faded immediately! I laid in that bed looking into your sweet, fresh from God face and knew that you had made our family complete!

I'm having such a hard time trying to find the words to say to you. You only have one first birthday. Your Mommy should have something profound and meaningful to say to you. It should be heart-felt and inspiring. But the words aren't coming. As I'm sitting here staring at the computer screen, I realize that it's just perfect that I can't find the words because that's what you do to me. You make me speechless. I sit and look at you and know, more than ever, what God's love is. I see you crawling or playing and want to throw my arms in the air to praise our incredible Father for the miracle of life. I watch you sleeping at night and know what it feels like to love something so much that I truly would give up my own life to save another. There are NO words to express how much I love you. So again, you make me speechless.

Tomorrow morning we will go to the doctor for your 12 month check-up. While we are there, you will officially turn 1! I don't remember what life was like before you were here, but I cannot believe it's already been a year. Maybe that doesn't make any sense to anyone else, but it makes sense to me.

You are MUCH loved, my precious baby girl! Thank you for making my already terrific world an even better one. Happy Birthday!!!

I Love You, Mommy

She Cracks Me Up!

At school, Karson has been working on learning to spell and write her last name. Today she came home with this paper. As you can see, she has been doing very well! See the "wow" sticker?

When I pulled the paper out of her folder I was bragging on what a great job she did...

Me - Karson Elaine, look at your neat writing!!! Did you do this in a free center, or did Mrs. Kendall ask you to do it?

Karson - She asked us to do it. We had to write it 3 times.

Me - Did you do it all by yourself (which she can), or were you looking at something?

Karson - I was looking at a card with my name on it.

Me - Well, you did an awesome job! I'm so proud of you!!

Karson - I know...hold the applause.

Oh my goodness. I had to leave the room to keep from bursting out laughing. I guess at parent/teacher conferences next week I won't be asking if we have a confidence issue! :)