Week 119

Getting adjusted to our growing family

Jack has been home from the hospital for a week now and we're all getting used to the change around the house.  Ryan and Julia love having Jack around but it did take some time to get them back into a routine.  I'm grateful it is summer time and our days are more relaxed and laid back as we aim to get into a routine that works for all of us. And we are so appreciative for all of the help we received these past 10 days from our family and friends, from keeping Ryan and Julia busy to bringing us food and also visiting to keep us company.

 Here are a few photos from the week and a video of Ryan singing Jack his version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Jack, one week old

Our first family photo

DC

Baby Jack

Jack Philip Campbell was born on Thursday, July 19, 2012 at 1:58 pm.  He weighed 8 pounds and 4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

When I look at this picture it is difficult to hold back the tears.  It touches my heart to see how proud Ryan is to be a big brother.  I've never seen him smile so much and so genuinely like when he looks at and talks about Jack.

Proud Big Brother

I think it was tough on Ryan these past few days not having Phil and I home.  Phil is the one who I can rely on, and Ryan relies on, to bring him out of a meltdown.  He had a few while we weren't home and also our first day back.  Even though he was mostly around close family members, he acted up more than usual, probably because of the changes going on around him and being a little off schedule.  He worries so much about things that his nerves got the better of him.

But at the same time, Ryan has also matured so much over the past four days.  His conversations with me are unlike any I've had with him.  He asks all sorts of mature questions about Jack and about my experience in the hospital.  For example, one morning when we called home to see how things were going he asked me if I slept well the night before.  Caring about someone else's feelings, and asking them about them, is a big step for Ryan.  

The kids were very excited to welcome their little brother home and made him special cards.  Video: 
Welcome Home Baby Jack

Julia, Alyssa, Amelia, Jack, and Ryan

DC

Week 118 - Get ready for baby!!!

This is the blog entry I started for week 118.  I added a little to it each day, ready to post this weekend.  Since we've had some major developments today, I'm posting this early.  Our next blog will be a baby update!  

Over 39 weeks pregnant and no baby yet!  If there isn't any action in the next couple of days it looks like I will be induced in the middle of this upcoming week.  My good camera has been packed away in my hospital luggage for the past two weeks so I haven't been taking many pictures.  But I have taken my old camera out and am forcing myself to capture some of these pre-baby moments and do have a couple to share this week.

First, we'll start with the baby bump at 39 weeks:

And now for a super cute story about Ryan.  With Julia at dance camp during the day all of this week, it has been just Ryan and I hanging around the house, trying to keep busy.  It was so hot and humid outside, and I was happy that Ryan was okay with staying indoors and keeping occupied.  We did manage to get out a little bit with a play date with a friend, a visit to the library, and some grocery shopping.  On one of our outings I took Ryan to a store where we usually buy a lot of his GFCF food.  While I was packing the groceries he asked if he could swipe my credit card.  He then proceeded to pick up the electronic pen, and asked, "Do I write your name or mine?"  I told him that it was my name and the lady at the counter told him that he could write it for me.  I asked him if he needed me to spell "Dawn" for him and he said no.  Here's the picture of the credit card terminal screen and the receipt that printed out.  The cashier and I both had a good chuckle when we saw them!

I think I'm getting bigger each day! 

Photo taken by Ryan, who kisses my belly everyday and says he loves me and the baby!

The above photo was taken just about 2 hours before my water broke at home.  Within an hour, and with the help of amazing family and friends, I was transported to the doctor's office to meet Phil, and the kids were taken care of with food and babysitters for the remainder of the day.

At the office it was confirmed that my water had broken and I had begun early stages of labor.  I was admitted into the hospital to spend the night where my contractions can be monitored.  They were very irregular through the night and I didn't sleep much.  But my pain was manageable without pain meds but I was given something to sleep.  I took it at 11 and was up at 1:30.  Hmm...  The doctor will be here to check me in the morning to see if it is necessary to help the contractions along so that this baby comes within the 24 hour window of my water breaking.  That is all of the news I have for now.  It looks like July 19, 2012 will be our new baby's birth date!

We called home to Face Time with the kids before they went to bed and the first words out of Julia's mouth: "Did you have the baby?  What does it look like?"  I think I am most looking forward to Ryan and Julia putting on their special shirts and coming to visit me and meet the new baby tomorrow!

Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!  Check back in a day or two for a full update on Baby Campbell!

DC

Week 117

No baby yet!  My pelvis has tilted, causing me extreme back pain.  It is very difficult to get up out of bed, rise from a seated position, sit for too long, and just move around in general.  Something similar happened when I was pregnant with Julia, however when my pelvis tilted, it also separated and I was placed on pain killers for two weeks prior to being induced a couple of weeks early.  Xrays after Julia was born showed that the pelvis did fuse back together, but crooked, and I knew getting into this that I would again run into complications during the last couple months of the pregnancy. The fact that my pelvis has not separated yet, at 38.5 weeks pregnant, in my eyes, is short of a miracle.  Not that having it tilted, pressing up into my lower back is pleasant, but I know all too well how much worse this can get.

My parents have been watching Ryan and Julia the past four days.  I miss them tremendously but I know that  they are having much more fun running around and going in the pool than they would have had being stuck at home, indoors, with a mom who is waddling around in pain.  This is their summer vacation too, and they deserve to enjoy it.  It is amazing that my mom has used her four days off in a row, something that happens rarely, to take on the challenges of watching my children.  My dad is a trooper too.  It is he who patiently includes Julia in everything he does outside since she is our little farmer girl, and gets up early with the kids to prepare them breakfast, taking extra care to follow Ryan's diet.

On the day they left I asked Ryan if he was going to miss me.  He immediately replied, "No", and after thinking about it for a second said, "There are pictures of you up there that I can look at."  He was obviously saying it to convince himself of this rather than for my benefit, because halfway through the sentence is lips started to quiver and his eyes welled up with tears.  He brought his arm up to his eyes so that I wouldn't see him cry.  I hugged him tightly and told him I would call him everyday.  "Mama, can you call me four times a day?"  I love how he still often calls me "Mama".  So precious!

One of Julia's favorite activities up at nonna's and papa's house is to go outside on their swing.  Here is a picture of her at Easter time during one of her many visits to the swing:

 Knowing how much Julia loves the swing, my dad spent all of last week building another one from scratch!  Amazing!!!  Now we just have to figure out how to get it transported to our house.  Julia can't wait to help paint it and she is so excited that she has her very own swing now.

Our new swing!

Earlier in the week Ryan was playing with his trains and while doing so put on a video about trains.  At the beginning of the video there was a phone number that you can call to request a catalog of videos and train toys from the company out in Michigan.  Ryan repeatedly asked me if we could call, so I dialed the number and asked the person who answered if she could mail us a catalog.  I gave her Ryan's name and address and his face was beaming the entire time.  However, after I got off the phone, waiting for a catalog did not seem to be enough for Ryan.  He wanted to know if we could go visit the place.  I explained to him that it is far away and we have to take an airplane there and would need to save our money for the tickets.  He said, "Money, no problem, I will share from my wallet."  About 10 minutes later I hear him pick up the phone and press redial to get the lady back on the phone.  Normally I would make him hang up the phone, but I was curious as to what he would say.  When the lady answered the phone I hear him say, "Hi, this is Ryan again.  When we come visit there, will you show me around?"  He then tells her a quick story, which I couldn't understand half of what he was saying.  I then hear him thank the lady and say bye.  When he gets off the phone I asked him what her response to his question was and she said, "Sure, of course".   I've noticed that Ryan has been a lot less shy talking to strangers.  Phil and I couldn't believe how many conversations he started with our server at a restaurant last week, I was shocked that he would pick up the phone and call a stranger, and my mom says that he was telling all sorts of stories to a nurse in the hospital where she works.  I'm glad he is becoming less shy, and also more confident in his speech.  I think there were times where he would shy away from conversations because not everyone would understand what he was trying to say.  Sometimes that still happens when he gets overly excited and tries to tell a story too fast, but for the most part you can carry on a conversation with him and he really enjoys it!


DC

Week 116

As most pregnant women just days from delivery do, I got up in the early morning hours to use the bathroom.  I returned to my cozy bed to find...

Poor mommy- kicked out of her own spot!  It's not evident in the picture, but Julia is down at the foot of the bed sleeping horizontally across where Phil and I would have had our feet had she not pushed them out of the way in the middle of the night to make her own cozy sleeping area.

Hot weather means time for a haircut.  Ryan was very willing to sit still while I gave him a haircut (for a lollipop of course!)  This wasn't an ordinary haircut... it was a semi-buzz.  His hair hasn't been this short in a long time.  He loved how it looked and had a huge smile on his face when he looked in the mirror.  When I asked him how he wanted it he said, "flat".  I'm assuming this is what he meant since he dislikes having his hair stick up all over the place when he wakes up in the morning.  Here's the new look:

DC

Week 115

First week of summer vacation.  Ryan spent a few days at camp with Julia as she finished up her last week at Young Hearts.  It gave me a chance to get things ready for the baby.  Clothes are washed, nursery is ready, baby products are out of storage and set up.  We are ready!

We ended the week with a few days up at nonna's and papa's house since we'll need to stay close to home for most of July in anticipation of the baby coming.  The kids, as always, had a lot of fun:

DC

Week 114

Ryan is now a first grader!  On his last day of school we took him out for a special dinner and dessert to celebrate.  Not only did he have 100% attendance, but his 4th quarter report card was the best he's had so far!  He came home with his notebooks of work he did throughout the year.  I was happy to see how many times he drew pictures of, and wrote about our cat Helen.  I miss her so much and sometimes catch myself thinking that any moment she is going to jump on my lap.

During the week the school mailed Ryan a Perfect Attendance certificate.

Although it took Ryan some time in the beginning of the year to get into the swing of things, overall he made some great improvements with his writing, reading, and math (especially math which seems to be his top strength!)  Hmm....do you think with two math teachers as parents that he was destined to be a strong math student???

Here is one of the projects that Ryan came home with on his last day of school.  It says:

My name is Ryan and I look just like my mommy.  I am now finishing kindergarten and boy, am I good at math.  Do you know my parents are teachers?  I may do that when I grow up, but I really want to be a police officer.  I can't wait to eat lunch in 1st grade, but nothing will be as good as dad's chicken.  When I am in high school I am going to be great at reading, just like my mommy.  I am going to study hard and make everyone proud!  But for now I am going to enjoy vacation with my family, it's my favorite thing to do!

One of my students gave me a special gift this week.  It is a bracelet that was made by someone with autism and it is called the Lucas Works Autism Awareness Bracelet.  It has silver and pewter charms on it, and features beads of glass, moonstone, hematite and gold.  The charms stand for different things and it came with an explanation card describing what each part of the bracelet means to help spread awareness.

Children with autism (puzzle piece charm) are found all over the world (blue bead).  Here are some of the keys (key charm) to helping them:  Autistic children thrive on a schedule to keep their world ordered (1,2,3 charm) and calm (clear bead).  Visual cues (easel with picture on it) help them to navigate the waters of life (aqua bead) and the helping hands and loving hearts (hand charm with heart shape in center) of special teachers and therapists can mean the difference between night (black bead) and day (white bead) to them, along with a good (gold bead) school program (school bus charm).  And like all children, they need lots and lots of love! (double heart charm).

Here is a picture of the bracelet.  It is one of the most special gifts I've ever received and to receive it from one of my students was a truly touching moment.

Ryan attended his sister's dance recital this weekend.  Last year he barely made it five minutes before we gave in and let him play games on the Ipad because he was so bored and disruptive.  This year he played a game during intermission only; during the rest of the recital he sat and watched.  He was bored at times, but he made it through the whole thing!

Julia is tall for her age (almost 5), so this picture shows you how tall Ryan is compared to other 5/6 year old children.  It is difficult to believe that they are only 1 year apart. 

DC

Week 113

Happy Father's Day!  Another busy weekend for us.  A big thank you to Phil for all he does for our family.  We love you!

Ryan with his participation trophy after his last game this season.

Phil and Ryan with this year's soccer team.  As much as Phil complained about getting roped into coaching, he is doing it again next year!

Julia at her dress rehearsal for next weekend's recital.

Tomorrow is Ryan's last day of Kindergarten.  Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will attend his last day and end the year with perfect attendance!  I don't think they give awards or recognize students for that accomplishment anymore, and that is unfortunate.  It is a big accomplishment and especially for Ryan who typically doesn't receive any awards during the year, we are making a big deal about it at home.

Ryan's kindergarten class did a trial run in the cafeteria.  We could choose to send him with money to buy lunch or send him in with a bagged lunch.  We sent him in with lunch, and when he came home that afternoon we asked him all about it, curious as to whether most kids purchased lunch or brought their own.  I didn't want him to be the only one who has to bring his lunch everyday to keep him on his diet.  Here's how part of our conversation went when we asked him who he sat with in the cafeteria:

Me: Ryan, who did you sit with in the cafeteria?
Ryan: My girlfriend, Ava.
Phil: Did you sit with anyone else at the table?
Ryan: No, it was just the two of us.

We got such a good chuckle out of the entire conversation.  For those of you who may have missed it, here is the picture of the artwork we found in his backpack about a couple of weeks ago, given to him and made by above mentioned Ava.

By the way, Ryan has been doing a great job getting up in the morning and making his bed.  He does it everyday without us asking!

DC

Week 112

Ryan went to his follow up with the pediatrician and the fluid in his ears has cleared up.  The Claritan worked and we are grateful.  He will stay on it through the rest of June just to be sure he gets through the allergy season.  Next spring we will be better prepared to watch for signs of allergies and start him on the medicine earlier to avoid any fluid build up.

Julia lost her first tooth on Friday night and she was thrilled, especially since the tooth fairy brought her $5 just like Ryan got for his first tooth.

It's been a long and exhausting week with evening school events for both of us, and of course the travelling and emotions associated with the funeral for Uncle Tony.  I still can't believe that he is gone!  We received a lot of condolences and many people attended the services, both upstate and the memorial mass held in Westchester.  We greatly appreciate all of the support my family received this week!

One more week of Kindergarten left for Ryan.  Two more weeks of school left for me.  A little more than six weeks left until my due date.  The weekend events continue as we are still attending soccer games and ballet, but both of those are coming to an end over the next two weeks.  We attended a Christening this weekend and still have some other events in June like a baby shower and Julia's recital before we can have some care free weekends to spend up at nonna's and papa's pool before the baby arrives.

I'm chalking it up to "pregnancy brain" that I've been forgetful lately and unfortunately forgot my camera for the Christening we went to today.  Ryan had a great time playing with his cousins, but strayed terribly off of his diet. I hope we don't pay for it tomorrow!

We'll be sure to post pictures next week of Father's Day Weekend.

DC

Week 111

This week we had Ryan's CSE meeting.  At this point we are pro's at these meetings and yet we are still amazed at how our district runs them.  First the good news.  They are not taking anything away from Ryan.  This is the first time that this has happened.  They recommended that he enters an Inclusion Model for first grade.  This is similar  to what he was doing last year when he was at the PARC program.  There will be a regular education teacher, a special education teacher, a teaching assistant, and no more than 12 special education students with 12 regular education students.  We are hopeful that he will make more progress in this program than he did in Kindergarten.  While it was great that he entered our local elementary school, we felt that he did not make as much progress as he did last year.  Now for the bad news, they did not feel that he needed summer services.  For those that know Ryan he is all about routine.  He is in the routine of school and once summer hits it is going to take us a long time to get him back into the school mode when he enters first grade.  While he did well entering kindergarten, it is a worry.  Other than that the meeting went well and there were no surprises.  At this point they know that both Dawn and I are educators and we know how this game is played.  We just feel badly for those parents that do not know the system and do not know how to properly advocate for their child.  Maybe Dawn and I should volunteer to be parent advocates!

Autism Walk

This weekend was the Autism Speaks Walk and The Ryan Express was there!  While it was our smallest group we all had a great time.  One of the biggest reasons for the small turnout (15 people) was the fact that Dawn's Uncle (and Godfather) Uncle Tony passed away this past Friday.  This is someone that we had seen the weekend before and we were all surprised at his passing.  Over Memorial Weekend he had brought over a train whistle to Dawn's parents' house for Ryan to test out.  He is someone that was great with Ryan and he will be missed greatly.

Uncle Tony 10/24/52 - 6/1/12

Those that went to the walk had a great time and the weather was perfect.  The only bad part was the field that they used to set up the huge jumpy houses was completely soaked from all the rain.  The kids took their shoes off to go jump and their socks were instantly soaked!  The jumpy houses were full of water and Ryan and Julia did not even want to go in them.  The rest of the walk went great and both Ryan and Julia walked the entire 2 miles!  Below are a few pictures of the day!

PC