The terrible two's... Need I say more?!?

I can start by saying that Caden is (most of the time), so much fun to be with. But when things do not go his way, he seems to turn into this child that I do not know! There are times that I can't believe I am already fighting with my child!? I know it's "his age" but I have recently been seeking out every resource I can find on toddler discipline, and strategies... I am a teacher for crying out loud! I have a degree in elementary education and early childhood development. But nothing can prepare you for a 2 year old. We have also ventured into potty training. Not much success, but I am not going to push the issue in fear of making him afraid of using the potty. Right now I know is one of the most difficult times in raising a child, but there are days when I wonder if I am doing the right thing... We can only do the best we can. Luckily, Chris and I were raised to be productive members of society so we do our best to raise Caden the same way. Nobody is going to be a perfect parent, however I was so embarrassed yesterday when I picked Caden up from school! He had two notes sent home : / one was for hitting his teacher during his tantrum after I dropped him off. (he hates when I leave every day). The other was for scratching another child on the face. When I mentioned it to Caden when I picked him up, he started crying. I made him apologize and talked to him about it. Wow, I never dreamed that I would be dealing with behavior issues this early! It caught me off guard and I was not prepared to handle it. I know he is only 2, but I want to be able to handle things without losing it or yelling. That is one of my biggest goals as a parent, which is not to be a "screamer"... But sometimes my emotions get the best of me. I am going to continue to take these challenges as they come and I am thankful I have my mom to go to for advice!

Caden The 2 year old- how time flies...

Wow! I cannot believe all that has happened since I began my blog when I was pregnant with Caden! He is now 2 years old! It goes to show that with a toddler, there hasn't been much time for blogging! I have decided I needed to pick up from this point and keep my friends and family updated. What started out as a way to battle the oh-so-common roller coaster of emotions while I was pregnant, has now become something I can fondly look back on as a great memory for Chris and I. Since Caden is my first child, I was so bored when I was pregnant and my blog was one thing I could do to occupy my time since I was too tired (and fat! Haha) to feel like doing much else. I hope to keep it more up to date and hopefully one day have it printed into a book like my friend, Maggie did. Such a cool idea! I am going to try to go back and add some pictures between my last post way back in April 2010 to now. But for now, Caden is an active, growin toddler. He weighs about 25 lbs.height is 2ft. 8 in. His language has expanded tremendously! He can say sentences and phrases and name almost everyone in our family and a lot of our friends! He loves to paint and draw (like me)!
He has a friend at school, named Charley, who he has played with since he turned 1. I have posted a pic below of him and charley. Before he could say his name very well, he called him cha-chi! Haha

Caden ~ 3 months

It is hard to believe that Caden is 3 months old already! He is 13 lbs and 2 oz. now~! He loves to be talked to and sung to...He loves music and toys. I never get tired of talking to him and playing with him!

Caden's birth- January 23, 2010

Well, my water broke at 3:30 a.m. on January 23, 2010. I woke up and had to run to the shower! I was in shock, but knew I needed to wake Chris up. When I finally woke him up, he was like, "are you sure??" about 3 times!I finally shower him that my water was running down my legs and he realized this was the real thing! He decided to take a shower! haha! And i was busy getting dressed and grabbing my bags. We called our parents on the way to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital about 4:00a.m. They got me a room and I knew it was going to be a little while. I was dilating, but slowly, so began giving me pitocin. After that, I was given my epidural because my contractions were starting to hurt a little. I was so relaxed after that, and talked to Chris and our families. Also, Brittany and Lindsey came and lexi was the most wonderful nurse! After I finally was dialted to 10 cm, it was time to start pushing...We then realized that Caden was still "sunny side up" and Dr. Barron had to turn him. I pushed for about 1 1/2 hours, and at 5:51 p.m. Caden Sanders Campbell was born! The feeling is indescribable and he was more adorable than I ever could have imagined. He was 7 lbs. and 10 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long. He was perfectly healthy and let out some very loud screams, although I was glad that he was healthy and screaming is a good sign! : )

Our families, who had been waiting all day, came in and were as excited as we were. I think that overall I had a great labor and delivery and it went very smoothly. After I was able to get some warm blankets and a sprite, they rolled me up to the 2nd floor and Chris and Caden and i could chill out for a little while. We all went right to sleep!

The next day, we had visitors non-stop and everyone could not get over all of Caden's hair and of course how cute he was!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - 37 weeks

Well the "being uncomfortable" part is well underway...I have terrible indigestion/reflux every day! Today was my first day back at work and it really wore me out. I get tired so easily and have never wanted to sleep so much in my life. I went to the doctor today, and everything was great. He is approx. 6.5 lbs! He is gaining weight steadily, and has chubby cheeks! She said he is going to be a husky baby! haha! I am so glad this is almost over, but at the same time, am very unsure of the unknown that is a few weeks away. I know there is no preparing yourself for it. Chris and I talk about it every day, about how we are going to handle all the loss of sleep and changing diapers, but we are as excited as we are scared. I know its normal. We will figure it out!

32 Weeks...he is almost here!

Baby Shower Invitation

Jeannie did such a great job with my invitations!! I love them!!

27 Weeks Belly picture

27 Weeks- Doctor Visit

I went to the doctor today for my monthly visit. It was very routine and uneventful, but that is fine with me! She said I am measuring perfectly and Caden's heartbeat sounded good. She said that I am now in my 3rd trimester! yay! She wants me to come back every 2 weeks now so that they can more closely monitor my blood pressure and weight and Caden's size. She told me about how different the third trimester was going to be and that I needed to prepare myself to be really tired all over again and to be uncomfortable. I know that it is coming, but I have had such a smooth pregnancy so far, I am sure I will be fine. Chris has been great and helped me keep our house from being a disaster.
Well thanks to Brittany and Chris, we are almost done with the nursery! Britt and I painted last weekend and the green color turned out great! It is just like the green in the picture I have on here of the bedding. Now all we have to do is put up the beadboard around the lower half of the wall. Chris said we would do that during Thanksgiving holidays!

Caden's bedding and today's doctor visit!

Caden's bedding has finally arrived! It is even cuter than it is in the pictures online! I love it! His crib should be in sometime soon, so I cannot wait to get it all put together....even though it won't be used for awhile. It is just so exciting!

Also, today was my 22 weeks appointment. Everything was great, and they checked my blood sugar. This may sound like no big deal, but I had to go in with an empty stomach and drink this stuff that tasted like syrup-ish hawaiian punch...ugh! It was some type of sugar/glucose stuff and it made Caden move around a lot! Then they checked my iron level which was fine too. I am so thankful for how smooth everything is going. I also got to hear his heartbeat, which was perfect! He is growing and progressing just like they want him to! I have only gained 10 lbs. as of now, but the number on the scale is still scary to see! : ) I am not used to seeing these numbers on the scale. But I know this weight is not permanent, I am under the amount of weight right now that you are allowed to gain at 23 weeks, so that is great. I hoep to stay that way, but sometimes swelling towards the end can cause your weight to go up. Oh well! Chris is so excited too and he cannot wait until he can feel Caden kicking!

22 weeks belly picture

I am definetly looking larger these days....I have really grown in the last couple weeks, hence all the pain I have been going through! I have had a lot of muscle/ligament pain, but I will take that any day over being nauseated!!! Chris has been sweet though and rubbed my back for me. It is really hard teaching all day and trying to do everything I can while sitting down. I am learning as I go. Thanks to Tylenol, I am able to get through the day! Caden must like Saturdays as much as I do, b/c he moved/kicked a lot today. I still have to pinch myself and say "Is this really real?" Its so wierd feeling him now, The kicks aren't little flutters anymore, but "pokes" from within....oh well I still like being pregnant minus the terrible back pain and lovely acne on my face now!

baby clothes and more baby clothes.....

Well, now that we know we are having a boy, I understand how people go broke buying all this stuff. I am trying to restrain myself though.... : ) I am however, focusing on how I am going to decorate the nursery. We are going to bo bead board around the room around the lower half of the room. I am going to paint the walls green above that. The bedding is adorable (see pic above). We are doing a jungle theme, and the main colors are red, brown, green, yellow and blue. I really think it is going to be cute! I cannot wait to start decorating. We did put up a new ceiling fan in Caden's room. It looks much better than the 1980's one that was there. Well, I will update again when I go to the doctor on September 24th!

18 weeks belly picture

Well, we found out we are having a BOY!!!!

We are so excited! I think Chris about jumped up and down when she told us!

We bought him an outfit last night and my mom headed straight to belk, of course!

My mom and Chris's mom came in to see the ultrasound with us! I was so glad they got to come.

We are going to name him Caden Sanders Campbell. We have had this name picked out for a

long time. Sanders is Chris's middle name and his mom's maiden name. We cannot wait until he

is here!! I will upload sonogram pics soon!

14 1/2 week belly picture

14 1/2 week doctor visit

Today was my 14 1/2 week doctor visit. It went very well! I got to hear the baby's heartbeat and it was perfect! DR. Tamucci said that everything was normal and I should not have any problems. I was excited to find out that we will be able to find out if the baby is a boy or girl on August 24th! We cannot wait!
As far as the way I have been feeling, it has been great! I am not at all nauseated, and I have my appetite and energy back. My biggest craving though is fried shrimp! : ) I could eat them for every meal. Overall my cravings have been salty and carbs! I have gotten a belly but have only gained 4 lbs. so far!

10 Week sonogram picture

This is me at 10 1/2 weeks! I am showing just a little bit!

Also here is the baby! When the doctor began the ultrasound he/she was moving their arms and legs! It was so cool!!

10 Week appointment

Today was our 10 week appointment and we got to have another ultrsound! It was even better because the baby now has a distinct head, body, arms and legs. It looks like an alien with its big head! haha! Dr. Tamucci said that I looked great and the baby was perfect in its size and the heart rate was great! They had to take 5 tubes of blood which I hated but it wasn't that bad! The best part of the ultrasound was that when we first saw the baby on the screen they were kicking and moving their arms and legs! It was so funny. My mom came with us because I wanted her to get to see it. She will go with us again at our 20 week appointment to find out if it is a boy or girl!!
We recently returned from Ft. Lauderdale last week and had a great time. Grandmother Betty and Kelly got the baby their first outfits, which are some really cute Carter's onesies which I call the "bag outfits" that dont have any snaps they just cinch up like a bag at the bottom. They are so cute and of course I had to get the burp cloths to match!!!! haha! They are yellow green and orange so they are neutral for a boy or a girl! Well I will scan and upload the picture of the ultrasound soon!

Post Doctor Visit 6-5-09

Well, we went to the doctor and there is only 1 baby!! WE are still excited and luckily everything was very normal and we got to hear the heart beat! That was amazing! I go back on June 30th for another ultrasound and get to give blood which I am not thrilled about...They figured out by the baby's size that I am 6 weeks 5 days today and My new Due date is January 24, 2010.

Nausea and highlights...

Well, my hair did have bonde highlights, but since my prenatal vitamins made my hair grow like a weed, I decided to just color it a light brown all over. It looks much better! Chris was actually who highlighted my hair and he did a good job of it! : ) Well, I already cannot button or zip most of my pants...so I am getting more and more anxious about how many babies we are going to see tommorow!! Whatever God has in store for us is fine with me...It is scary/exciting about having 2 babies.
I have still been nauseated except at night. Hopefully it will not last too much longer though!

Well, there's not much to see yet, but I am definetly feeling the sypmtoms!! The morning sickness is creeping in on me more and more each day. I go to the doctor this Friday for my 8 weeks appointment, so I will have a lot more to write about once I go. I am going to Dr. Tammucci at Brookwood.