Love them

'tis the Season!



Merry Christmas!!
with love-
Bryan, Jenny, Sam and Campbell



sweet smile... better than stone cold in the family picture above!

for you mom

Christmas red

so happy with my dad in Ames

ready to get to work

no pants, new boots, diaper and his shirt is on backwards to top this look off!

Flashback Friday

December 16th of 2010...

two weeks old

happy big time trouble

chubby baby face

look how Campbell is looking at him



cute leggings and socks

she's awake!

Happy 1st birthday Campbell Jean!!

What a difference a year makes!

xoxoxo   We couldn't love you more!   xoxoxo

Campbell's Arrival

It's fun to think back to the day of her delivery and talk about the details and timeline. I could listen to friends tell the birth stories of their children all day long! I love being a mom. I love being pregnant. I love those exciting last few days of pregnancy/first few days as a new family. I love hearing similarities and differences in the way these miracles come into the world. Here's Campbell's story as I remember it today....


I was scheduled to be induced Wednesday, December 1st. I had been measuring a good two weeks ahead the second half of my pregnancy and my doctor thought she may be 9ish pounds so I was all for being induced. Our instructions were to call Mercy that morning at 6:00 and make sure they had a bed open for me. They did not... I had been preparing myself for such news... I sometimes have that kind of luck. The nurse said call back in an hour to check again. Karen had already arrived to be with Sam so the four of us sat and watched tv (well, the clock really) and played with Sam while we waited. I called again at 7:00 and this time the nurse told me they were really hoping to get me in before lunch but she wasn't certain things would go that way. Ahhh! Not the best news to hear when you are packed and ready to walk out the door! I held it together for a while and thankfully she called back just after 8:00 and said come on in... then the dam broke, you know me! I was pretty ready to meet our babe. By 9:00 I was hooked up to the monitors and comfy in bed. When Dr. Wenzel broke my water at 9:35 I was 3cm and 50% effaced. I started pitocin just after 10:00, got a dose of nubain at 12:45 (my doctor had just headed into another c section and my nurses didn't want me to be in freak out mode wanting an epidural since I was so close to that point if that surgery took a little longer than anticipated--- good idea ladies!) and at 1:40 I was happily, perfectly epiduraled! : ) Side note- this time they had me lay down on my side while they did it and with Sam they had me sit up hunched over- interesting to me at the time. I'm thankful for great doctors and two amazing epidurals! Anyways, the mid part of our day was a little tougher on me than I anticipated. I got stuck at 4cm and then again at 5cm for a long time. With Sam I was so out of it during this part of labor due to the medicine I was on for my blood pressure that I really didn't have the chance to worry or think ahead. I just assumed since it was my second time around that things would move at least a little quicker and I'd have a babe by supper. The nurses started to say things about not progressing much and if things kept up at this rate and blah blah blah. I had a hard time for a bit not getting nervous that we were going to stall out and have to have a c section. Dr. Wenzel assured me this wasn't going to be the case and Bryan pulled me through yet again and helped me get my head straight so I could do what I needed to do. It was a weird part of the experience that I didn't expect... just different physically and emotionally than I anticipated so I was a bit thrown. Anyways... they checked me again at 6:35 and said I was ready to have a baby! Three pushes and out she came! 6:49pm 7lbs 12oz and 20in long! She was perfect! Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck so tightly that Dr. Wenzel had to cut it (vs. unwrap as they so regularly do during deliverly) before she was all the way out. This was a large part of the reason we were stuck for that bit mid-dialation. They cleaned her up and gave her back to Bryan and I. For kind of a long day, the last few minutes sure went quickly! Campbell was here and all was well. We couldn't have been more in love with our second miracle.

A Year Ago

We were a family of three...

I put this boy to bed for the last time as only his momma...

I was swollen (quite literally) with child and very ready to meet her...

I knew all would be well as this man would be holding my hand the whole time...

We couldn't wait to meet you Campbell Jean!!!  More to come tomorrow--- the big 1st birthday!!!

Purple

I have been getting my haircut at a place in North Liberty for a little over  year.  I really like my lady although she's younger and in a totally different world than me.  Two chairs down from her station hangs a thing with color samples... not shades of blonde or brown but shades of the rainbow.  I have been eyeing it for a long time thinking a tiny bit of color might be fun.  I almost pulled the trigger the end of August at my last haircut but chickened out.  Last week I decided to do it.  Purple.  Ellen was already drying my hair when I asked if she had time to do it that night and she, the trooper, said yes!  She pulled the rest of my hair out of the way and first dyed it bleach blonde (yuck!) and then put in 3 foils of purple.  Really purple.  Like the Crayola purple marker you color with purple!  Ellen said it took really well since I don't highlight or dye my hair.  We had to wash that chunk twice and sit under the dryer twice and 15ish minutes later I had a silly purple section of hair!  I know it's not that big of a deal but that's about as wild as I get folks!  It makes me smile and 8 times out of 10 people haven't noticed, which is the way I wanted it.  It will slowly fade out over the next several weeks and be back to brown sooner than later.  The pictures below were from my phone that night and aren't great.  Look at my birthday post below and see if you now notice that little section on my left side.  I'm glad I did it.  I think it's fun!  And PS- a few people have asked if I did it as a freaking out cause I'm turning thirty thing and I did not.  Just something fun for me.  It's only silly hair and will be back to normal soon.  : )      



THIRTIES here I come!

Today I turned 30 which is kind of weird for sure.  30 means officially grown up in my opinion.  In your twenties you are looked at as young, fresh out of college, new to the working world, new to the parenting world, not far removed from young and foolish.  Thirty to me means the next chapter... college days were a little longer ago, been married for a while now, second kiddo came along to further our parenting adventure...  I feel like I accomplished a lot in my twenties--- Met my love.  Graduated college. Became an aunt. Taught in Cedar Rapids. Got married. Moved to FL. Became an aunt again. Taught in FL. Became an aunt again.  Became a mother.  Moved to Colorado.  Lived in the same city as my siblings. Became a stay at home mom. Moved back to Iowa. Became an aunt again. Had a second baby. Became an aunt again.  All the while working to be a better daughter, sister, friend.  Celebrating and comforting the ones I love through good times and bad.  Turning 30 today feels kind of weird... but not bad.  I'm looking forward to my thirties.  Bryan and I continue to grow closer and smarter in our marriage and I could not imagine a more perfect man to share these fast-moving years with.  I feel these will be some of the best with our own children as they become little people so very quickly.  I am one lucky lady.  And I am thankful.  So THIRTIES... here I come!! 

A good picture of Sam!!!!

A normal sight around our house in the evenings...  nudie, well shirtless kiddos just out of the tub!  The real shocker is that I was able to get several pictures of Sam smiling and looking at the camera!!!!!!  He is such a sweet boy and uses this lovey, totally happy smile often but has been such a stink lately as soon as the camera comes out.  I'm so glad he cooperated... kind of wish he had a shirt on but thankful for the good pictures of him none the less!

he's such a nice boy

two cheeseballs



funny because they are both looking up at their tall dad




not lucky enough to get a good one of them together too that night



Campbell tried to stand up using a chair from the kiddy table and her little hand missed- ouch!  here's the start of her black eye... the above pictures were taken a couple days after this 



handsome Sam one more time <3

PS- doesn't he he look totally different from his picture above in our header?!  Working to get that updated sooner than later... we do have two children now you know... : )



Sam last year on November 16th...

Sweet boy  : )

Recently

Nothing wild happening at our house recently but I thought I'd share a few pictures and videos of the kids.  Campbell will be ONE in a couple of weeks... shortly after her mom turns THIRTY!!!!!!  Ahhhhhhhhh!  Weird.  Both kiddos are doing welll--- she's walking more and more, they are playing better together all of the time and our evenings are so much fun as the four of us hang out and goof around.  Sam refuses to take a decent picture so pay attention to his sweet smiles on video when he's not looking away on purpose!  : )  Bryan and I are so thankful for these two joyful children!



she loves to be in the tub


 

happy in the picnic basket



cheesey

scrunched up nose cheesey

cute

almost tricked him into looking back at me!

trying not to look



pretty blues