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My second son, Nicholas, is home from college for Christmas break. He recently became engaged to Staci Kok and the wedding date has been set for August 6th. This is a bittersweet time for me because I know I am starting all the “last times.” This is the last Christmas break that he will be spending at home with us… As I was cleaning out a drawer I ran across one of my many old journal/prayer logs/sermon notes books. This particular one contains some entries about Nicholas.
- 4/25/89 Nicholas Joel Campbell was born 2/13/89. This week he has started to put his thumb in his mouth from a face forward position, rub his eyes when tired, roll onto his side. He sleeps about seven hours at night and takes a three hour daytime nap. Other times he sleeps from 15 minutes to one hour. He smiles and coos so beautifully and we all love him very much. Alicia and Jeremy got bikes last week and love to ride them with their friends.
- 4/30/89 Nicholas drooling a lot – cutting teeth?
- 5/1/89 Nicholas slept 10:30-7:15
- 7/1/89 Nicholas turned over from back to stomach -now he rolls over. He hadn’t been sleeping through the night recently. Still chewing and drooling but no teeth yet. Alicia and Jeremy love to play with him. Nicholas uses a pacifier occasionally and sucks his thumb off and on. He’s babbling at us and loves to ride in his stroller. He’s a great shopper in his stroller or his carrier and never fusses. His car seat is a different story. He does fine in it some times but other times he screams the whole time. This is rather stressful for all of us. After stopping nursing with Nicholas I am wondering if this is my last baby, it makes me sad to think so because baby hood last such a short time. He has already grown so much and is doing so many things.
- 8/13/89 Nicholas Joel Campbell is doing fine in his car seat now. He is the most mobile baby you could find. Already he is crawling perfectly and pulling up to anything including climbing up and down our legs. Nicholas is crazy about his brother and sister, his face lights up and he starts to laugh when they come in. Today Nicholas is 1/2 a year old. Time is going by too fast. No teeth yet. Nicholas is eating cereals, fruits, and vegies and drinking water and Isomil with occasional iced tea from Grandma.
I did it again, let the whole month go by without posting the monthly “update.” Here you go!
Outside in Kansas City~It is an absolutely incredible autumn day in the 70’s with the leaves falling like crazy!
I am thinking~That it is getting dark way too early, and my husband must have gotten lost on the way home from picking up Taylor from work.
I am thankful for~The opportunity to spend the day with family at my house after church and have lots of baby holding time. I am also thankful for my mom who cooked a turkey breast and stuffing for us all to enjoy.
In my kitchen~All the dishes from lunch are clean and ready to be put away!
I am wearing~Jeans, floral shirt and socks.
Last creative endeavor~ No time!
I am going~To go grocery shopping as soon as possible, refrigerator is getting bare.
Can’t wait for~ Completion of our Home Study for Foster Care.
Family News~Taylor turns 16 on the 16th and he is very excited about that.
Current Read~ Parenting the Hurt Child by Keck and Kupecky, The Connected Child by Karyn Purvis, David Cross and Wendy Lyons Sunshine, and lots of books about making the most of the space in small homes, storage ideas, children’s rooms, etc…
I am hearing~The sound of the ceiling fan and the computer. I guess you can tell there is no one at home right now besides me. In a few months I may dream of these quiet times.
I am hoping~To prepare for the holidays in a low stress manner keeping the “reason for the season” and proper priorities at the forefront. While surfing for some tools I found: Happy Holiday Planner, Ann’s Amazing Holiday Planner, Household Notebook, Big Holiday Planner from FlyLady.
Around the house~I am very excited about all that Brent and Taylor accomplished on Saturday. They set up a captain’s bed downstairs in Taylor’s new room, tore out the “wet bar” that was in there taking up space, installed another light in my sub-basement laundry room, installed a big shelf in the garage, went to the store and got a piece of plywood cut for one of the bunks so now we have one complete bunk bed ready. We still need another set of bunk beds and bunk bed mattresses for the other bedroom so please keep your eyes open for someone getting rid of a set.
Simple pleasure~I saw Fireproof with Brent and Taylor on Friday night and then went out to dinner, it was very enjoyable. I won’t say who but at least two of us cried at this movie, it is a good one to go support.
Plans for the weekend~More projects around the house. Missions Emphasis Month starts at FCC.
What a nice visit with Jeremy, Ginny, Libby, and Luca tonight. We had a yummy, simple dinner of sausage, potatoes, peppers and onions followed by some candy I had stocked up by using The Grocery Game. Here we are showing off the grandkids to the neighbors.
Grandchildren, what a blessing!
Outside in Kansas City~It is an absolutely beautiful autumn day!
I am thinking~That it has been a long time since I last posted and how to best catch everyone up on the many things that have been going on.
I am thankful for~The great opportunities Taylor had to learn skills this week while helping the Hallams move into their home in the Northeast. He was able to help lay laminate flooring and is now excited about replacing the flooring at our house. Nicholas and Jeremy were both blessed to be able to learn valuable skills while serving the church too.
In my kitchen~All is clean and quiet and I love my new kitchen faucet!
I am wearing~Black knit shirt and teal skirt.
Last creative endeavor~ No time!
I am going~With Brent to Sioux Falls, SD next weekend for a workshop about starting an Orphan’s Ministry at your church.
Can’t wait for~ Spending time with my husband next weekend. We have reservations at a B&B.
Family News~Luca Ethan was born Tuesday, September 16th, at 1:52 p.m. Luca weighed 8 lb. 8 oz. and measured in at 21 inches.
Current Read~Attaching in Adoption by Deborah D. Gray, Parenting the Hurt Child by Keck and Kupecky.
I am hearing~Insects in the backyard. I guess you can tell there are no kids at home right now.
I am hoping~To get the house cleaned and in order in time for another case study visit and Nicholas’ coming home on Wednesday and bringing along a friend to stay for the weekend.
Around the house~I am trying to get home repairs caught up before we receive our first foster children. I started a plumbing project last week to repair the leaky faucet and leaky sink. We ended up having to replace the faucet and the sink basket. Of course none of the old stuff wanted to come off and we did not have the best tools for the jobs…First I sent out the emergency call to my brother, Brad, who came over to help me when I still thought I could repair the faucet. He injured himself in the meantime, so sorry Brad. Later after I found that everything would have to be replaced Jeremy took pity on me and came over to help (ie do most of the job) his temperment, skills, interests, match up to this a lot better than his dad or youngest sibling. Yay! Jeremy to the rescue again.
Simple pleasure~Painted my toenails with new red polish that my mom bought me called I’m Not Really a Waitress.
Plans for the weekend~This weekend Brendan came home with grandpa and spent the night on Friday. We met with his mom and dad at the City Market Saturday morning to hang out and return him. It was a beautiful day and we came home with spices from Planters, pumpkins for the porch, and ground chuck from Pleasant Pasture Farms. Brent is replacing all the guts in one of the toilets today and treated the yard to try to get rid of our mole infestation. Next weekend is the trip to South Dakota.
What an incredibly beautiful time of year this is! The short, dark, days of winter are forgotten and we can feel the heat to our bones. I know some would say too much heat, but even without a/c in my van which can get very hot and draining I would not trade for winter cold.
Taylor’s tournament last weekend in Springfield ended on a low note. They lost their game on Friday in a pretty ugly manner and when storms came in that night it was a rain out for the rest of the weekend. Oh well, they have the opportunity to shake it off and start over in the Baker Tournament starting today, Tuesday @ 5PM, Rockhurst University Field.
We were able to get home Saturday evening, pick up Ruby from my mom’s house and take a quick nap before Jeremy and Ginny invited us over for dinner. We enjoyed salad, grilled chicken, and garlic bread and then Joe and Kate Bancks surprised all of us with root beer floats, mmmm….
Sunday morning I snuck into the early service at FCC and was able to enjoy Sunday school too. It was great to be back and Tim preached a wonderful sermon, as usual. Sunday school was very informative and interesting. Wow, early service, sunday school and off to take advantage of the day, I could get used to that. We were able to have lunch, naps, and got lots of work done on the garage and sub-basement, two of the major projects on my wish list.
I am heading out to put another coat of paint on the picnic table. I will post pictures soon of some of the completed projects.
I finished reading the book- The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town by John Grisham. I really would recommend it if you are interested in crime stories. It is very interesting and thought provoking. I am really questioning my views on capital punishment, the fallibility of the justice system, local law enforcement, etc…
The last few days are kind of a blur, I know there was a Thursday but cannot tell you exactly what happened. The usual, driving everyone to work, picking them up, laundry. That evening my mother and I went out to eat at Panera which was wonderful as usual and then to a chick flick, Made of Honor, we had a great time.
Friday, Taylor did not work and Nicholas drove himself so no delivery service that morning. Taylor and I stayed home and got ready to go out of town. I tried to work on a project which was spray painting our old lawn chairs and tables with this special spray paint called “Fusion” that is made to paint plastics. It has a picture of lawn furniture on the can. It works great, if you can keep the can working. I bought two cans and neither would stay unclogged for long enough to use half the can so the project is half done and I need to go exchange them for new ones. I tried cleaning out the lids but that did not help. It is amazing how much better they will look after the face lift. Not a great idea to do a project like this when you have plans though I started the weekend with forest green fingertips and nails.
After Nicholas and Brent got off work we dropped one of Nicholas’ BMW’s off at Tires Plus for an alignment and then headed to Oklahoma to see Brent’s mom and other assorted family members. Ginny, Jeremy, and Libby went from their house too. We had a low key family weekend mostly eating and hanging out. Brent, Nicholas, Taylor, and Brent’s oldest brother, Dwayne went to see Get Smart on Saturday night and thought it was very funny. I have been out of the loop of all the jokes ever since.
We got to Kansas City about 7:30 Sunday night, picked up Taco Bueno for dinner and retrieved our dog, Ruby, from my mom’s then headed home.
Lists
The lists I have included seem to be popular and I wanted to share a site I found that has a lot of them. Check out: www.printablechecklists.com.
Budgeting Recommendation
If the cash in assorted envelopes has never quite worked for you check this out: http://www.mvelopes.com/
My husband and son are highly recommending it. Here is the introduction-
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Yesterday was Father’s Day and we have several fathers in our Kansas City family right now Brent, Chad, and Jeremy. Brent was able to spend his morning at church then on to the ball park with his two youngest sons. Hey, good times, Father’s Day at the baseball park what could be better? The game was rained out but that did not stop them from going to lunch with old baseball buddies and glorying over old times. Taylor was amazed at the detail they could all remember from games years ago.
I was grocery shopping for the ingredients for our “Greek” meal and trying to make some hard copies of pictures from the recent trip to Greece. I will post some soon, I made a slideshow with slide.com and could not figure out how to imbed it. I made Gyro’s, Pita Bread, and Greek Salad. Alicia made the best Baklava I have ever had, it was delicious, oh why did I send it all home with her?
Who was here? Brent, Shelly, Nicholas, Taylor, Alicia, Chad, Brendan, Lillian, Jeremy, Ginny, Libby, Barbara and Brad.
Let’s just say that as far as household progress I am now two steps back after the family invasion but it was worth it.
