A Big Whole Much Prayers for Nanny

My niece Taylor uses the cutest phrase, "a big whole much." It is obviously used to describe anything you want a lot of. That's why it's so appropriate here, because I really want a lot of prayers for Nanny. A big whole much, to be exact.

Nanny is Travis' grandmother and a very important part of our lives. Travis has always been extremely close to Nanny. Growing up, she was ever-present and a huge influence on Travis and his brothers. In his adult life, Travis' relationship with his grandmother did not weaken. He talks to Nanny on his drive home from work every night. There's probably not a lot to talk about each day - the weather, something funny Campbell did, any upcoming plans - but still...they talk. They have a very special relationship. I too have become close to Nanny over the years, and now Campbell is too! Without going on and on any more, just trust me, she's part of the glue that holds our family together.

A few weeks ago, we found out that Nanny has bone cancer. Five years ago, she underwent chemo for breast cancer and has been doing well ever since. Over the last few months, she's had a nagging backache which turned into severe back pain. Apparently the doctors don't think the two cancers are related. In other words, bone cancer usually starts somewhere else and spreads to the bones. They haven't yet determined where this cancer started. The worst part of this terrible news is the amount of pain Nanny's in. She is in a tremendous amount of pain, and painkillers are not able to make her more comfortable. She is in week two of a two-week radiation treatment for her tumors. They continue to run all sorts of tests, scans, MRI's, etc. to learn more about her cancer and how to best treat her. Our prayer is simple - we just don't want her to be in this pain!! Of course part two is that we want her body to heal and strengthen and recover. But first and foremost, we just can't stand to see her hurt like this. She is such a strong woman and never quick to complain. If she says it hurts, boy, it really hurts.

We are trying to get to Marion often to spend time with her and to let Campbell brighten her day by saying her name, blowing her kisses and showing off her dancing skills. It may not cure the cancer, but it sure is good medicine! I'll update the blog with her progress as we learn more, but for now, we just really appreciate your big whole much prayers.

Meeting Baby Leif

Last week, Campbell and I journeyed to Virginia to meet my nephew, Baby Leif. (I will explain below why all these pictures are in no order and not moved to the bottom like I usually do). I took Campbell to the pediatrician on Monday and got a pretty clean bill of health. She just had a minor cold and my sister and brother-in-law told me to 'bring it'! Tuesday we drove to Roanoke and spent the night with my parents, giving Campbell another day to shake the cold before meeting the baby. Wednesday we headed up to Northern Virginia. Somehow I survived all these roadtrips, each leg being about 3-4 hours, with Campbell by myself. She did amazing in the car and I was so proud of her.

My sister and I thought Campbell would not even notice Baby Leif. Wrong! She was OBSESSED with him. She was constantly saying 'baby, baby' and would light up every time he made a noise or moved. We often caught her perched on the edge of his pack-n-play, trying to climb the side to see in and look for the baby. Knowing there's going to be a baby at our house this fall, it was interesting to see that she was already so into babies!

It was kind of a crash course for me in dealing with more than one child. I tried on several occasions to manage all three - Taylor, age 3, Campbell, age 14 months, and Baby Leif, age 2.5 weeks. It was far from easy, but not impossible. Campbell was definitely the most difficult of the three. Baby Leif just lays there and looks cute, and Taylor is old enough to follow directions and listen. And then there's Campbell - who just walks around and destroys things! :) Snuggling with Baby Leif was heavenly! You forget how tiny they are, you really do. Just to have a tiny baby laying on my chest, asleep most of the time, inching up higher and higher until his little warm head rested under my chin...ah...perfection!

Taylor and Campbell played REALLY well together. I was super impressed with Taylor. She not only has a new baby brother getting a lot of her parents' attention, but she then had to share all her toys with Campbell. She liked helping me "babysit." One of my favorite quotes of the week came when I asked Taylor to watch Campbell for a minute. They have bookshelves with a sharp corner and I was very paranoid Campbell would fall into the corner. I guess Campbell approached the shelves because I heard Taylor say, "Campbell...that's not a good idea! You are going to bust your head, get a bleed, and then you won't have a brain!" Well said, Taylor! Another favorite memory came one morning when Campbell had woken up early so I brought her into my bed. We were both dozing again when I heard the door to my room open. I kept my eyes closed pretending to be asleep so Taylor would maybe sneak back out and let us sleep some more. Wrong. First she started opening and closing the door, a little louder each time. Then she got on Campbell's side of the bed and started whispering, "Campbell, Campbell!" I was trying so hard not to laugh. I can see these two cousins getting into trouble together later on, and thought it was so cute that Taylor came to get Campbell up. I put Taylor to bed each night I was there and completely choked when it came time to say prayers. I thought, I can handle this, I pray. What I wasn't prepared for were the questions about who is God?!??!?!? Based on my terrible answers, Taylor probably thinks God is some man who lives in her room and "will never leave her." hahahaha I need to read up on teaching my own kids about God!! I realize Baby Leif isn't getting much airtime here, but it's a lot easier to tell stories about the ones who can talk! I truly enjoyed my time with both of them, and of course loved the time with my sister and Big Leif too.

We had a fantastic trip, complete with some great quality time with my parents in Roanoke. Campbell LOVED both of my parents, and was especially clingy with GrandDad. I was pleased she remembered them and was so fun at their house so they got to see my crazy baby!

We were so ready to get home, we drove 130 mph the whole way. No joke. Sort of. Leaving Northern Virginia, I looked down to see my speedometer say 130 mph. What? Traffic was flying past me, and I thought, man they really do drive fast up north! Then I stopped at a stoplight and it said 60 mph at a dead stop. Great, a broken speedometer! Thankfully, I have a GPS that I could use as my speedometer, but it sure is weird to look down when you're cruising through a residential area and it tells you that you are driving 90mph! The problem seems to be correcting itself, each day it gets a little closer to being accurate. This morning it was down to 2 mph when I was stopped, so maybe I won't have to pay to get it fixed?

Campbell and I were pumped to see Travis because we REALLY missed him. Little did I know he had a surprise waiting for me! He got me a new computer! This post is coming to you from my new MacBook Pro, which is why my pictures are at the top and unorganized. :) There is a bit of a learning curve when switching to a Mac, but I'm learning and will hopefully get better soon. I am so in love with this computer! Not only does it have a "k" key, but it does so many cool things with pictures and video. Travis wrote me a really sweet letter about why he got it for me. Let's just say I was reduced to a crying mess from all the sweet things he said. This blog may get fancier now that I have the capability to do so! I just have to make sure Campbell doesn't get a hold of this keyboard. Thanks, Travis, I really, really love my new toy. And the amazing man who bought it for me.

Justice, Party of...FOUR

It's time to make the official announcement! Sometime around September 5th, we will be growing from a party of three to a party of four! In case you didn't get that, yes, I am pregnant and we are expecting Baby #2. I will go ahead and answer the question that seems to be on most people's minds when we share the news. Yes, it was on purpose! Travis and I have always said we wanted our kids to be close together in age. There are many reasons for this. He grew up being only 15 months younger than his brother Alex. They were, and still are, the best of friends and I think he recognizes the special bond between siblings so close in age. Travis and I aren't old - but we aren't in our twenties anymore either. Considering we aren't sure how large of a family we want to have, we decided we wanted to go ahead and grow to a family of four and go from there! We were very blessed to find out on December 23rd that we were in fact expecting this New Baby!

We have been calling he/she just New Baby. Real creative, huh? We called Campbell "Baby J" until we met her. I kinda thought we'd call this baby the same thing, but it hasn't stuck! It's like Baby J was Campbell's name, so we needed a new nickname for this kiddo. New Baby is all that we came up with!

I am now 13 weeks along, happy to be finishing up the last week of my first trimester. I have been much sicker this go round, which is quite challenging when you are home with a 14 month old! Campbell has spent many mornings leaning over the toilet with me. It has also been very challenging NOT to blog about this! I am not the best secret keeper in the world. And this is BIG news! I have been sick and tired, literally, and wanted so badly to complain to all my blog readers. :) I also wanted to share when I went grocery shopping in a snowstorm and came home with $165 worth of groceries, consisting mostly of things like guacamole and Cocoa Pebbles.

Campbell and her new little brother or sister will be about 21 months apart. We will have 'two under two' for a short time. I am very excited to have a fall baby. The summer may be a bit miserable being so big when it's so hot outside. But it will be worth it to have a newborn in a mild season. It was no fun being trapped inside during the cold winter months when Campbell was itty bitty. Hoping that this fall, we'll be able to take walks or at least sit outside a little when New Baby joins us.

Last Monday was our first ultrasound and our first opportunity to hear the heartbeat. I was so nervous, going 12 weeks without any confirmation that my belly was in fact growing because of a baby, and not just because of the guacamole and Cocoa Pebbles! Travis and Campbell came to the appointment and we were all thrilled and amazed to see a perfect, tiny baby moving around. There was a perfect heartbeat at 162 beats per minute. We were shocked at the 4d pictures of the baby - even at 12 weeks, the features were so clear and we could see our sweet baby.

Life is going to be wild and crazy and wonderful at our house and Travis and I could not be more excited to become parents of two. Thanks for sharing in our excitement!

I spent last week in Virginia with my family so there will be a big post to come with many pictures of my new nephew and our trip!

Freedom!

Last night, Travis and I did something we never do! We went out without Campbell! The night was made possible by Travis' parents. We took Campbell to Marion to spend the night with her Gangy, PawPaw Butch and Nanny for the first time. Then we headed uptown for a night out with friends to celebrate Holly's 30th birthday! Campbell did amazingly well. She didn't even cry when we left - just a little whimper as we waved goodbye and that was it. They said she never fussed, didn't get into anything, and just played sweetly all evening. She went to bed right at her bedtime without a struggle, and they had to WAKE her up a little after 7. WHAT? Lately, we've been doing everything in our power to get her to stay in her bed past 6. I guess grandparents have the magic touch! We had a great time getting out, having a nice grown up dinner in a restaurant that likely doesn't even have high chairs. We left our table without a collage of green beans, bread and cheerios strewn about the floor below us. It was really, really nice. Then we stuck around for a while and hung out, but by 11:30 we were feeling our age and decided to call it a night. Coming home to a house without a baby was weird! Without the monitors on, our bedroom was completely silent. There was no need to go check on her in the night, and we woke up from the sunlight in our room, not her little cries! I must admit that I was awake at 6, laying in bed counting the minutes until we could go get her. I tried my best to take advantage of our ONE morning to sleep in, but I didn't do a very good job. I missed my little alarm clock! There's just something about waking up to that little voice saying "mama" that makes me not care that it's so early. Our reunion with her today was super sweet and she went nuts for Travis. I barely got any attention for the first five minutes because she had her face buried on his shoulder in a huge hug. I waited my turn and got plenty of snuggling in shortly thereafter. We took Nanny out to lunch for her birthday, and then headed home to enjoy a long walk outside on the first warm and sunny day we've had in ages! It was a great weekend, and a nice treat for all of us to switch it up and have a little freedom.

We weren't the only ones to experience freedom this weekend. This afternoon, I let Harley out of the garage for about a half hour and let her explore the backyard! She's been living in the garage for about a month now since we were having so many issues with her inside. She has seemed complete content out there which has definitely made it easier on me and my conscience. After she got used to living out there, I wanted to introduce her to the outdoors. She just turned 9 years old in January, and I adopted Harley when she was only 5 weeks old. She has lived strictly indoors that entire time, only setting foot outside the one or two times she escaped onto the back porch. She was definitely hesitant at first, not so sure about the grass. But she eventually got up the courage to walk the perimeter of our fence and check it all out. The fence runs along the ground and is six feet high, so it should, in theory, keep her in the backyard. After about 30 minutes, she was hanging out on the back porch by the back door which made me sad. So we took her back to the garage and fed her which always improves her mood. Eventually we hope to be able to open the window in the garage, and let that serve as her kitty door so she can come and go as she pleases. Also, she could escape to the garage when we let Lexi out back, and obviously Lexi can't jump in the window. I hope that Harley learns to like it outside, enjoys time to explore nature, and will enjoy some spring days with the sun beating on her back. I want the best for her. I know we made the right decision moving her to the garage because she was destroying our things and making it unsafe and unclean in our house. But that doesn't mean I don't love her and want to find a way for us all to live in harmony! I hope we are on the way to that solution.

The plan for tomorrow is for Campbell and I to head to Roanoke for a night before making the trek up to Northern Virginia to meet Baby Leif and spend some time with his family!! The only problem is Campbell doesn't seem to be 100% well. She's acting just fine, but has had some tummy issues for a few days now, flushed cheeks that won't go away, and now a bit of a runny nose. I'm going to take her to the pediatrician tomorrow and hope for a clean bill of health so we can go to Virginia as planned! I really don't want to postpone going to see my family any more, so let's hope all these little symptoms are nothing and the doc says she's free to go meet her new cousin!!! If so, we'll be up there all week and I'll try to capture a lot of our time on film so I can share it here when we return. Wish me luck in the car alone with Campbell for all those roadtrips!!

Campell is fourteen months old!! She has been since Friday, but Mommy is a little behind on this post. I always start these updates about Campbell with then intention of being brief, and then by the time I've written out all her new tricks, I am halfway through writing my first novel! I'll attempt once more to be brief, but you know me well enough by now to know that won't happen...

Chatty Chatterson...that's Campbell! She is talking up a storm. I wonder where she gets it from?? :) Only Travis and I really speak her language. She has words that she definitely uses in the right context and says them the same everytime. But it will take a while for the general public to understand these words. The current list includes Mama, Daddy (those two are spot on, said perfectly every time!), Baby, snack, turkey, chicken, cracker, juice, toast, bye bye, paci, moo, Nanny, Lexi, kit kat (for Harley), Elmo (pronounced Elbow), belly button, all done. She understands so much more than she says! I can tell her to go upstairs, and she runs to the foot of the stairs and waits at the gate. I can tell her to go look out the window and she runs to the front hall and pulls back the blinds to look for Daddy. She definitely knows what a diaper change is because now she runs like the wind in the opposite direction! In addition to speaking, she signs 'more' and 'please' like it's her job. The please one is new, and so adorable. You're supposed to rub your palm on your chest in a circle. Half the time, Campbell's 'please' is a very frantic belly rub. She is so polite, signing please ALL the time. Not quite sure she totally gets the concept, but she is catching on that in order to get us to do something for her, she needs to sign it first. Sometimes she uses more and please interchangeably, but I guess they are sort of similar concepts, one is just more demanding than the other.

Notice I just said she runs. Yes, she runs. Her fast walk has become a nicely paced jog. It still often ends in a crash and maybe a new bruise, but nothing slows her down! In the mornings, Campbell is stuck to her Daddy like white on rice. While he's getting ready for work, she won't leave his side. He is usually juggling Campbell while he tries to shave, brush his teeth, put on his tie. She knows that he's leaving I guess, and she won't even come to me. I have to pry her out of his arms so he can leave for work and she sadly waves to him as he goes down the sidewalk each morning. It is pretty cute, though.

Campbell is still a dancing fool, starting to bounce everytime she hears some music. Her favorite toys this month are probably her Baby and her ball. She carries her baby doll all over the place, puts her in the stroller, puts her in the chair and sits on top of her, and asks us to 'please' put her hat on Baby quite often. The ball is new and she LOVES playing ball with Daddy. Books are still of course a favorite and she's becoming a little more interested in slightly longer stories. We're still not ready for paragraphs yet, but she can sit still through a sentence or two per page and is completely engrossed in the story. Her other favorite pastime is playing with Lexi's dog bowls which I'm not a fan of. Luckily Lexi eats all her food at one sitting, so there is only some occasional water to splash in. We weren't so fortunate at a playgroup one Friday when we caught Campbell and her friend at the dog's bowls, with handfuls and cheekfuls of dog food. HAHAHA Oops. Bad Mommy. In addition to dog food...Campbell enjoys singing songs and playing games like pattycake and other little rhymes. This is starting to sound like a singles ad...long walks on the beach, candlelit dinners, I should move on.

This month Campbell has been super busy with playgroups, storytimes, going to church on Thursdays and Sundays, and spending a LOT of rainy and snowy days trapped inside with me. Cabin fever has been in full effect around here for both of us! We did get to go to a nature museum with our playgroup, something I thought would be totally over her head. Not at all! Don't get me wrong, she wasn't studying the exhibits or anything, but had an absolute blast running around. The nature museum was totally geared towards little ones and she had tons of things to touch, water to splash in (the biggest hit of all), and things to climb on. Travis and I took her to the community arts center before Valentine's Day to make Valentines for the family. She was most interested in the water bucket used for clean up, but we managed to get some handprints made and glued them on hearts to send out.

And last but far from least, she got a new baby cousin this month who she'll get to meet next week when she and I go to Virginia to meet Baby Leif! It's been a fun, full month and she is still growing up at the speed of light.

Below are some favorites of the past couple of weeks, showing Campbell and all her favorite things. Somehow I caught her in a few posed pictures, a rarity these days! These first two are of her playing with her Valentine's card from her grandparents that makes jungle noises. She thought it was hysterical!!

Look how TALL she is!!

Giving Baby a "kiss." This picture won't rotate for some reason, but I still had to share the kiss.

Happy Valentine's Day 2010!!!

Baby Leif

On Friday, February 5, 2010 at 2:09pm, my nephew Leif Egon Hansen III made his grand entrance into this world! My sister and brother-in law, Leif, have been through so much over the years when it comes to having babies. Now they are the proud parents of not one, but two, perfect little sweeties. Baby Leif, as we've been calling him, weighed a hefty 8 lbs 4 oz and was 21. 25 inches long. I think he knew he'd have to be big and tough to be able to keep up with his big sister, Taylor! My sister was a trooper throughout the whole process. She didn't have the easiest of pregnancies, not to mention all the drama associated with getting pregnant in the first place! Then when the time finally came for him to arrive, her first epidural didn't work. WHAT? Didn't work??? Are you kidding me??? That just seems so cruel! So poor thing had to have a second epidural!!! Luckily it worked and helped her out a little in the process. He was born during the biggest snowstorm in the history of Northern Virginia. They got about 33 inches of snow over the weekend! Their kind neighbors shoveled the driveway so they could bring him home Sunday night. There's nothing in the world like good neighbors, is there? He was greeted by my mom and his proud big sister who continues to proclaim just how happy she is. Adorable!! They are settling in and attempting to teach the little guy the difference between day and night. I think he's got a lot to learn still in that department, but he'll get there. They are still trying to decide if they will call him Leif (for those of you that don't know my family, that is pronounced like the word "life" - it's Danish) or some other nickname. The other one on the table right now is LT, short for Leif the Third. Call him whatever you want, I call him adorable, sweet, precious, perfect...and my nephew. And I love him! Counting the days until I get to go meet him in a couple of weeks. Welcome to the family, Baby Leif!!!!!!!!!

K-tastrophe

First, let me say that I hope you truly appreciate all the k's in this post. Why, you ask? I'm not sure who is responsible this time, Lexi or Campbell. But someone has taken the k off of my keyboard. It is currently resting on the spot where the k belongs, and if I very deliberately push on it, I can get it to work. Campbell has previously picked off the F8 and one of the shift keys. I don't even know what F8 does, so I haven't missed it. The shift is kinda like the k key at this point - it works if you really push it. I left my computer on the couch, I think out of Campbell's reach. I was dumb enough to leave it right where Lexi launches off when she's making a mad dash for the front of the house to scare off a UPS truck or school bus. I found j and k laying on the couch. J was an easy fix, k continues to be a work in process. So far it's working, I just hope you appreciate all the time and effort that has gone into each k in this paragraph!! As I typed this, Campbell approached and popped the b off with little effort. I think we have identified our culprit...

On to more exciting things. You may have noticed the decline in pictures recently. No, they didn't rip the lens off the camera (not yet at least). The issue is me! I used to hear parents say that it was hard to take pictures of a toddler because they were too fast. I thought that was an excuse lazy picture takers used. Nope, it's legit. Either my camera got slower, or Campbell got faster. I think it's the latter. I keep capturing the back of her head, or that moment right after she was doing something cute! I'm telling you, it was a LOT easier to stage photo shoots with a baby who wasn't mobile! I know, we need a new computer and a new camera, but neither is happening anytime soon. I did get a few pictures of some funny stuff over the past couple of weeks which I'll post below.

I also want to share another little milestone. Campbell is now signing 'more'!!!! We have been signing 'all done' and 'more' since she was about six months old. For about a month or two, Campbell has been signing her version of all done, and has now progressed to saying it. She only says it when prompted, like if we ask her is she's all done. Believe you me, she'll let you know if she's not! But last week, we were floored when Travis gave her a bite of his banana, and completely umprompted by us, she looked up at him and signed more. We both had the same reaction - oh my gosh, get the child a banana quick! We need to reward her for asking for it! After a few days, she's gotten a little confused and now signs more quite often. I think for Campbell, it means "give me some food." We've noticed she does it when she's hungry or frustrated. So cool to watch her try to communicate with us! She definitely uses it appropriately as well, and will ask for more when she's in her high chair and runs out of food. The people keeping the nursery at church got a laugh out of her frantically signing more when her Cheerios were all gone. That's my girl!! I'm trying to use 'more' when we're singing a song or playing a little game that she likes. Like, do you want to sing some more? I think she's catching on that you can have 'more' of things other than just food!

Enjoy the pictures below that I've been able to catch in the last few weeks. I'll keep trying, but get used to seeing the back of her head until she is old enough to learn how to pose!!

She's learning to follow simple directions like, put your blocks in the box! She LOVES to drop them in and make a loud sound.

Campbell LOVES to wear Daddy's hats.

There's something about my little girl in her Daddy's hat that melts me everytime!

Background for this next pic: Lexi was in a "time out" on her doggie bed for following Campbell around and stealing her snack. So what does Campbell do? Plop right down on the doggie bed with Lexi to have her snack. Lexi was upset about being sent to her bed, so she didn't even try to eat a Cheerio from this point forward. Campbell was happy as could be sitting with her pal Lexi for snacktime.

Keep in mind, this is the child who is supposedly very allergic to dogs. Riiiiiiight...

Crazy Baby before bedtime!