Oops! I did it, again!

So it's now been pointed out to me that I am starting to make my very OWN Christmas Tradition! Breaking my toe. The same toe, same foot. EVERY Christmas. Well this is only the second Christmas in a row, but what kind of crappy luck is that?

Kasen and I were in the shower and we were kicking water at each other splashing each other when we decided it would be fun to kick each other. Thankfully Kasen wasn't hurt in the process and I would much rather it that way. I fell to the ground screaming it hurt so bad! Kasen felt AWFUL and once I could actually breathe again after crying so hard I assured him it WAS NOT his fault and he apologized a few more times and then was over it. I on the other hand am still suffering. Sad thing is, the way that I am walking to prevent pain on my left foot is really starting to hurt my belly. I see my OB tomorrow and I will ask him about it, but I am sure things are fine.

Here is my toe from LAST YEAR:

Here is my toe from THIS YEAR:

Even my ring toe is turning black and blue! Last years break looks worse, but I am banking on the blue and black getting worse and larger. We will see!

I am determined now that this WILL NOT be a tradition I carry on for the 3rd year in a row! WILL NOT!

The stockings were hung....

On Christmas Eve, Kasen sprinkled his reindeer food out in the yard. Oatmeal and glitter. Reindeers eat oatmeal and the glitter would shine off the moonlight attracting the reindeer. He REALLY believed this was for real. Of course we left Santa some cookies and Kasen wrote him a letter too. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see what he wrote.

When he woke up in the morning, he was SO patient! Jeremy and I were up late wrapping presents and getting things ready the night before. Kasen watched the WHOLE movie of Polar Express before he made us wake up and get out of bed. We woke up, got ready and went downstairs around 9:30! Sweet!!!

He of course went for his stocking and started unwrapping all the presents in there. Asking to eat his candy.

He did really well and seemed genuinely excited about all his gifts! I was happy about that.

Later that afternoon all the family came over and we opened more presents, ate dinner and played the Right Family game. Everyone LOVED it, so I think it will be a tradition from now on in the Campbell family as well as the Bruce family.

I received my favorite gift from Kasen this year. He got me a necklace, see picture above. The looks on his face when he gave it to me were priceless. He was so excited and was so proud for picking something out that made me cry! It was so sweet and tender! I am in LOVE with my necklace and wear it everyday. You can tell Kasen is so proud of it because he asks me everyday, Do you like your necklace mommy? I tell him yes, I love it, it's very special to me! And he gets the biggest grin on his face!

The secret is out....

Kasen wasn't too happy. He is slowly starting to accept the fact that Heavenly Father sent him a little brother. When we told him, he rolled his eyes and started to walk off while saying "I said I wanted a sister!" I continued to tell him that we are blessed to have a baby, boy or girl and that we will take what Heavenly Father gives us. That this little boy is meant to be part of our family. He is finally becoming excited about it.

I on the other hand am SO HAPPY...Sad I wont be dressing in pink or brushing pigtails, but I am excited to have another boy. I know boy. I love boy. I have boy clothing and toys. It will be good to have 2 sons. Brothers. Im really happy! Really happy! It just feels so right. We are blessed.

Click on picture to enlarge

Kasen and Santa

Today Jeremy, Kasen and I went to the Carlsbad Outlets to do a little last minute shopping. While we were there, we decided to stop in and see Santa. It was about 12:15 and a friend told me that he took a lunch break around 12. We were just going to go get in line and wait. Turns out they cut the line off completely and said "after this person, we aren't taking anymore in line and then santa will go to lunch" so we thought, bummer, but ok we will go to lunch too and then come back.

We chose to go to Dennys. They have lots of breakfast items (eggs) that I can eat. While we were there, they have a claw machine where you can get stuffed animals if the claw goes down and grabs it. Does that make sense? Hopefully you know what I am talking about. Well we told Kasen that if he was a good boy during lunch, I would try and win him a christmas stuffed animal. He wasn't a good boy, but I tried to win him one anyway. In comes "Elfie"....this is the stuffed animal I won for him on my second try. He loved it! I thought, why not try again and get one for the baby. I put in 50 cents more and picked up this cute snowman duo. The claw grabbed it and carried it over to the hole to drop it. I had won again!!!! BUT....right before it got to the hole, it hit another animal and dropped from the claw! I was so upset! I had to win that duo! So I put in another 50 cents and missed. That was all I had and Kasen Jeremy and I left Dennys sad. While Jeremy was getting strapped in, I was watching the other men try at the machine. They stepped to the side and another man tried. IN ONE try he picked up the snowman! I was even more upset! I wish I hadn't even watched! That was supposed to be MY snowman! BUT THEN....I saw the man look out the window, and then come running! He ran out to our car and gave it to us and then went back inside to sit down at this table! OMG! What a good samaritan! That is what the Christmas Season is all about. I couldn't believe it. This selfless truck driver, spent his own money, tried to win, and won and gave it to Kasen! Kasen immediately handed it to me and said "here mommy! It's for the baby!" I don't know if the guy was watching us and saw me make the effort to get that snowman or what, but it was the nicest thing that a stranger has done for me in a LONG time. Tears are not hard to come by these days, so of course I cried. I was so happy and so in awe of this man probably around Jeremy's age, who was a truck driver. A usual at Dennys. What an angel!

So anyway, we drove back to the outlets and learned that Santa had only left 5 minutes prior. Blah! It was 145 and he left at 140. Wouldn't be back til 240. So we couldn't not let Kasen see santa, so we waited in line for an hour before he came back. Once he came back, he spent about 5 minutes with each family, which in turn made us wait about 35 more minutes. It was a long hour and a half, but it was so worth it. The smiles and laughter with Santa were so sweet. Such a tender exchange. Santa was very authentic and asked what Kasen wanted. He told him a Mickey race track, and a robot dinosaur. We took a couple pictures (with my own camera) and got a Santa lollipop and then we were on our way! It was really nice, and Kasen was happy.

Happy 7 Years!

December 22, 2001

I honestly cannot believe I have been married 7 years now. Yesterday Jeremy and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. We just hung out during the day because Jeremy had to work from home, and then went out after he got off work!

We started our evening going over to see my good friend Michelles new baby! OH! She is so sweet and adorable! She didn't like me holding her though, but thats ok, I did for about 1 minute and just seeing her made me cry. Babies are such miracles!

We then headed off to Costa Mesa. We went to a place called Ultrasound Me. They do 3-4D ultrasounds and even just 2D to find out the gender of your baby. They do early gender detection( as early as 13 weeks) for only $25! I couldn't pass that up! I was patient enough in trying to get pregnant, I wanted to know what kind of little baby I was carrying. When we got there, the girl was in training and had a REALLY hard time trying to find the babys legs. After trying for about 10 minutes, she turned the machine over to the more experienced lady. She was able to find legs in about 3 minutes. The only problem was, the baby was NOT cooperating and had it's legs crossed. After poking and prodding and shaking my belly, the baby moved it's legs and it's gender was revealed. No, sorry, I am not going to tell you yet, I am waiting til Christmas day to tell my family. I want them to know first!

After our glee and excitement filled ultrasound, we went to dinner. We went to our favorite place in Tustin called Roma De Italia. The BEST italian food EVER! I haven't eaten pasta in months because of my pregnancy and I decided to splurge! It was the tastiest thing I have eaten since being pregnant! OH TASTY!

Then we went to babies r us to buy an outfit for our baby...we had fun! It was such a good way to spend our anniversary!

Tears, love, and tasty food!

I love you Jeremy. I am such a lucky person to be married to you. I wouldn't want to be with anyone else. You are my other half. I know that sounds cheesey, but you really are. You make me whole. We have had our ups and downs in the past 7 years but we have learned, forgiven, and come out of those trials stronger and more in love than I ever could have imagined. I am so happy with our life. We truly have been blessed. Our love for each other is all that matters. Thank you for all you do for our family. Thank you for taking care of us. Thank you for being the best daddy I know. We love you with all our hearts!

Nellie Gail

There is a really nice neighborhood in Laguna Hills called Nellie Gail. My brother and his family lives there. On Sunday night we went up there to look at some Christmas lights because apparently they go ALL OUT. I never could have imagined how ALL OUT they really went. I took a ton of pictures but not a single one turned out. They were all blurry. Sorry.

Anyway, my brother was telling us that he doesn't know a single person other than himself who actually hung their own lights. Everyone hired someone to do it for them. They are extravagant! Totally worth the drive. It was free, (minues the gas) and we were able to do it together as a family. We had a 4 car caravan going, and even a few others who decided we knew where all the hot spots were and followed us for a while.

I wish I would have taken a picture of my brothers house. It was so awesome. He had Christmas music playing and the lights were blinking to the beat of the music. He had lights EVERYWHERE. It was so fun! He had a big inflatable train on the roof, two stands with rotating decorated christmas trees in the driveway. It was quite impressive, especially for doing it himself!

I am glad we went! It was so much fun! If you know where Nellie Gail is, I encourage you to go see the best Christmas lights you will ever see! Ever!

Snow Day in Julian

On Saturday, spur of the moment, we went to Julian with some of my family to hang out in the snow! Of course while we were there we had to get some pie. I got a piece of NO SUGAR ADDED that I have taken one bite out of and its still in the fridge awaiting more bites. Kasen was so excited when we neared the mountains that you could see snow on. His last experience with snow wasn't that fun for him so I wasn't sure how he would handle it this time, but he LOVED it. He kept yelling out "I LOVE the snow! I LOVE the snow!" It made me smile. When we left I was SO happy he had that experience. It was so worth the drive. It was worth the cold. Worth the slipping on the ice. Worth it all to see him SO happy!

Here are just a few pictures I took of the scenery on the way up there. So pretty.

Grandpa throwin the first snowball at Kasen. He laughed and laughed and then threw one back at grandpa.

Jeremy and Kasen.

The Fam. All with red noses.

Kasen and Brielle. They had so much fun playing together and throwing snow at each other.

Kneeling in front of the huge snow pile!

Kasen and his crazy gloves we had to buy him there. That was the ONLY pair of somewhat BOY looking gloves they had. Kasen was playing with the snow way more than I anticipated and within MINUTES his hands were numb and freezing! He was preparing a snowball, just for a special someone....

Guess who was the recipient? ME! His mother! Can you believe that?! lol...

I don't know how you are supposed to eat popcorn with gloves, but he stuffed it and managed it just fine!

My sweet rudolph! I love you Kase!

On the way out of town we stopped by our favorite bakery....Dudleys. Kasen chose a brownie and finished it in record time! Of course he wasn't clean about it AT ALL. It was all over his face, his napkin was covered in frosting, his hangs were covered, it was on his sleeves, wrists, in his nose. I don't get it, but he enjoyed it and luckily I had some wipes in the car to clean him up cause napkins totally wouldn't have helped.

My Eggo is Preggo

For those who don't already know, Jeremy and I are expecting our second baby! We waited a while to tell people just to make sure things stayed safe. We had an appt today and really feel that things will be ok. I am 11 weeks along and am due June 22nd. Forever away, but worth the wait! I've waited this long, whats a few more months?

It's been a long trying 3 years. Jeremy and I have learned a lot and KNOW that this baby is a blessing from our Heavenly Father. It's not always been easy to stay positive, I've had my times of discouragement, loss of faith, and trials. I found that with the happier I was in other aspects of my life, the easier it was to rely on the Lord that much more. The Lord saw that we were ready, and I am grateful for that. Forever grateful. Our prayers continued, and STILL continue, that things will work out and in just 6 short months we will have another little one to bless our family.
I have had about 3 appts now. My pregnancy is high risk. I am a Type 2 Diabetic, for those who didn't know. It's rough. My diet is very strict and I am not able to splurge. (although I did a little on Thanksgiving, but just went for a walk afterwards), its trying. Honestly though? It's all so worth it. I feel so blessed that I don't even feel like I have room to complain. My mom keeps telling me that it's ok to complain. It doesn't mean I am not grateful. I still have a hard time. I am tired, I am sick, ALWAYS hungry, but am SO happy with all of it. I look forward to feeling the POSITIVE benefits of being pregnant. But for now? I am grateful to feel anything at all!

I am trying to be brave and strong, but naturally because of my past, I am scared as well. I have had my fair share or crying out of worry, or just plain being afraid. I have learned and am still learning that the Lord will bless me if I let him. In the over 3 years we have been trying to have another baby, I really feel that is something that I needed to learn. Along with patience obviously. That no matter what, good or bad, the Lord has his best interest out for me and I need to realize that and appreciate it and trust him. It's funny. Ever since I started going to Seminary (a morning church class before high school) my favorite scripture has always been Proverbs 3:5-6.
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

If only I had remembered this scripture and let myself apply it throughout all these years. It's so hard to just let go and turn it over. I am so grateful I did.

I had an appt today and everything is still look great. It's amazing how much your baby grows in just 4 weeks.

The first is a picture of the baby. Head down.



The second is a video of the baby. My Dr is talking in the background. You can hear me a little, and Kasen a little as well. This was the first appt Jeremy was able to attend and my mom was there as well.



The third is a video of the babys heartbeat. You might have to watch it more than once to be able to focus in on the heart and see the heartbeat. It's a little flutter in the middle of the body. Look close.



Thank you to all of you for your LOVE, SUPPORT and most of all, PRAYERS. Please continue will all of these.

Just a cute story to end my post:
At my first appt (5wks) my mom and Kasen came with me. We didn't mention to Kasen what was going on, we didn't want to tell him just in case things didn't work out. Well we went to lunch afterwards and I drank a lot of water. I always do. I went potty before we left the restaurant then went straight to wal mart only for me to go potty again. My mom waited outside with Kasen in the cart and the conversation went like this:

Kasen: mommy has to go potty AGAIN because she is PREGNANT by JEREMY!
My mom: what? How do you know that? You don't even know what that means do you?
Kasen: I do too! It means mommy has a baby in her tummy and she got pregnant, by Jeremy, her husband!

HILARIOUS. I guess I don't give my 4 year old enough credit. He cracks me up! He is really excited to be a big brother and really wants to have a little sister. He insists its a girl. I don't know what we/he will do if its a boy!

November Heat

Tell me how it is NOVEMBER and the weather was 95! Warm enough to pull out the sprinklers and let the kids play. We didn't know we were going to play in the water so Brielle borrowed some clothes from Kasen. Anyway...this WAS last weekend. It has actually cooled down a little bit the past couple days, but I am sure next week it will be 90 again. Irritating. I guess that's all part of living in So Cal, right? "Perfect" weather all year round! ;)

Seaworld

While Jeremy's parents were here, they took us all to Seaworld to celebrate Kasen's birthday. I am ashamed to admit that I have lived here my whole life and never been, so it was a treat to get to go! Kasen loved it and had a total blast! Here are some pictures:

On some of the Bay of Play rides:

Dolphin Show:

Kase and Uncle Cam

The Shamu Show:

Having a popcorn snack while waiting for Shamu

The Penguin Exhibit:

The last ride of the day: Journey to Atlantis

This rollercoaster is all Kasen could talk about for days!!! He loved it! The kid has no fear and I am so grateful for that!

The night before Gramie and Papa went home! :(

We are so lucky that Jeremy's family came to visit us. It was so nice for them to see Kasen in his own element and atmosphere. He was more at home, more himself, and loved having all of them around. We hope you can come visit us every other year Gramie and Papa!! Thanks for coming this year! We love and miss you!