on the way home

Jenna's drive home from the hospital (May 2009)

Tyler's drive home from the hospital (Nov. 2006)

mama's house

This morning Tyler was upset because he wanted to see Mommy and Jenna. He told Alex that he wanted to "go to Mama's house" to see us. Funny how four or five days in the hospital equates to ownership in the mind of a two year old. Time for me to come home!

two days old

one day old

welcome jenna to the family

After many delays before my surgery, the actual procedure performed by Dr. Yadav, my OB/GYN, went smoothly. Jenna had some minor troubles expelling all of the fluid in her lungs, but that issue was soon resolved.

Immediately following the surgery, while still in the post-op room, Jenna was showing signs of hunger and popped onto my breast without hesitation. This was a bit unexpected since Tyler needed more help to really latch well the first few times.

Eventually Tyler and Oma were able to join us in the post-op room as well, but Jenna had already gone for her bath and checkup. Tyler didn't seem overwhelmed by the equipment or potentially scary location. He asked to see Mommy's boo boo (an IV in my hand) and otherwise enjoyed checking out the new place. He got really excited to see Jenna through the glass of the baby nursery while on our way to our room.

happy birthday jenna!

After several delays and an anesthesiologist who mistook me for a pin cushion, we finally got the show on the road and Miss Jenna Marie Campbell joined us at 3:28 pm. She weighed 7 pounds, 7.8 ounces and measured 19.5 inches.

She looks very similar to the way Tyler did but she is much smaller, blonde and has very long slender fingers and toes. Her ears are also much more petite and her mouth and chin look similar to mine as a baby.

She's been a great breastfeeder from the start and has such a sweet and pensive personality. Oh, and at delivery we discovered she was head down. Figures! We didn't check prior to surgery.

one day to go

Jenna is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I can hardly believe the time has come. The entire family is excited. Tyler says, "I so ess-cited! Mommy, clap your hands!" I'm both excited and a tad nervous to see how he will respond to seeing Mommy in the hospital and having a new sibling. To ensure that he is not overshadowed by the attention going to his baby sister, he will soon receive a bike as a big brother gift!

2 1/2 already

What a big boy! At 2 and a half years, Tyler is full of stories; he's a comedian; he's a good helper; and he's a curious and happy boy. He loves to help put the groceries away and he scoops up the plastic bags and rushes them into the hall closet organizer. He'll rush back and yell, "I did it!"

39 weeks, 1 day

Four days until D-day!

mother's day

This was a really special Mother's Day. In addition to Jenna's upcoming arrival (less than a week away), Tyler understood the holiday and gave me lots of hugs. He and Daddy also came up with some great surprises. Not only did I get a pretty birthstone necklace, but Tyler picked out a frame for me, with Daddy's assistance, and painted it all by himself. Love it!

silly Tyler

This is Tyler helping me organize Jenna's room and taking a closer look at a few items from his past.

sprinkle

My friends threw me a "surprise" shower (a.k.a. a sprinkle for a second child) today. What a treat! Good food, good times and good friends. Thank you so much to all of my friends for helping me celebrate Jenna's near arrival.

cool dude

Look mommy, I have your sunglasses!

montana grizzlies

Alex returned from visiting the Univ. of Montana for work. He said everyone there was SO friendly and his rapport with his potential clients was so positive that upon returning from a break, a gentleman gave Alex a toy bear for Tyler! Can you imagine, how absolutely thoughtful?!!

sorry jenna

There have been a few times when Tyler gets overly excited and accidentally kicks my belly. I've paused and told him that he cannot kick my belly and without skipping a beat he says, "Sorry Jenna!"

smanuth

My dad always used the word "smanuth" to indicate a spill. It may be one of several Welsh words he used - but regardless it became ingrained in my vocabulary. I was so proud at dinner when Tyler spilled some applesauce and pointed it out with a clear, "smanuth!" So cute!

set a date

Baby Jenna has adjusted herself into a breech position again after weeks head down (an amazing feat since I'm over 38 weeks and there can't be a lot of room in there). I didn't feel her rotate this time, so she must have done it in my sleep. But I did notice that between this weekend and Monday morning, the kicks moved south.

So we scheduled a cesarean section for Friday, May 15 at Howard County General Hospital! After scheduling it, I found out that my grandmother's birthday was May 14 (Jenna's middle name, Marie, came from her). Happy coincidence.

more room prep

I spent some time this weekend painting and organizing details for Jenna's room. The vine artwork was a design from some wallpaper that was in the background of a photo in a magazine. I recreated it and then added a big J in the center just above her bed. And the bears are back from Tyler's nursery!

may day

The beginning of May was marked by the downpour of cherry blossoms from our frontyard tree. Each year Jenna's birthday will be ushered in by the pink flowers - a nice way to celebrate our baby girl! (until they are tracked into the house and turn brown)

potty try

Tyler sat on the potty at daycare today and waited for a pending poop. He commentated, "Not coming... not coming." So no luck on pooping on the pot, but I was amazed he even tried it since he rarely shows any interest in potty activities. Ms. Debbie agreed he wasn't quite ready for potty training which I am not even entertaining the idea of until we are set with our new routine with a new baby in the house.

hitting no no

While huddled with his playmates at daycare waiting for the mommies and daddies, Tyler hit his buddy. According to Ms. Debbie, Tyler's most feared punishment is being separated from his buddies. So when I arrived he was seated on the other side of Ms. Debbie and his eyes were red and still welling with tears. Thankfully, Tyler is very good about apologizing and has not continued the bad practice!

filling daddy's shoes (uh, shirt)

Alex bought some new shirts and Tyler was so pleased to model them! Maybe a tad big.

drink my finger

Sometimes moms just gotta use what they have on hand to solve some of the most simple, but sticky, situations. In a bind I've sucked on Tyler's fingers to rid them of stickiness when we didn't have a sink or wipes nearby.

This evening I gave Tyler a lollipop for dessert. When finished I was inspecting his fingers to make sure the sugary concoction remained in his mouth rather than on his hands. I'm sure referencing the finger-licking practice, Tyler offered his finger and said, "Drink it!" Better than "pull my finger," right?

creative truck

Tyler has a MegaBloks dump truck that he was pushing around. At a certain point he opened his MegaBlok bag and pulled out a red block and affixed it to the top of the dump truck. Then he pointed out to me that his dump truck was now a FIRE TRUCK and fire truck noises ensued!

sing song

Tyler loves to sing songs. Recently he has started with "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "Happy Birthday," and "Turn Around." Not sure where he got that last one!

bunny borrower

A colleague at work gave me an adorable pink bunny for Jenna. I asked Tyler to care for it until Jenna arrives. He kept hugging the bunny and saying, "Oh, bunny!"

daddy go to mommy

We always encourage Tyler to be affectionate but he seems to be a natural love bug all on his own. He showers Mommy and Daddy with hugs and kisses, he has his "baby" cars and stuffed animals kiss "the mommies," and he shares loving with the sweetest "ohh Mommy," or "ohh Daddy."

Lots of times we have family hugs. And as if Alex and I needed any help, recently after we went in to get Tyler up to start his day and gave him kisses and hugs, he pushed Daddy toward me and said, "Daddy go to Mommy," inferring Daddy needed to hug me too.

happy easter

I'm not sure if he liked the candy or car better!

first movie at the theater

Tyler's attention span has expanded and he has been able to sit still to watch nearly an entire movie recently. So we decided to bite the bullet and take him to see Monsters vs. Aliens. He was very excited by the theater and was treated to a pretzel and Reese's pieces. He was too small to sit in the seat by himself (he was not heavy enough to keep the bottom of the seat from folding up), but he was happy to join the laps of Mommy and Daddy. And twice during the movie he wanted to hop down and dance. And in true Mommy fashion, he dozed off toward the end only missing the last ten or fifteen minutes.

sticks and slides

Tyler loves to walk Daisy because he knows that almost always entails a trip to the playground on the bike path just beyond our property. Lately Tyler has shown a big interest in sticks. He likes to dig holes and use them as props in imaginary games (they become hot dogs, etc.).

cheese!

Tyler was having a particularly great morning and was thrilled with his "baby newts." Do you like his cheese face? (that is the last image where he makes a funny face as he exclaims, "CHEESE!" just prior to the photograph being taken).

justin and zach

Tyler really enjoyed having his Florida cousins come for a nearly week-long visit. He had a great time running around with "Zachy" and often asked Justin to "come with me" while curling his fingers up in a follow me motion. Each morning he'd ask, "Where did Justin/Zach go?" and I'd have to assure him that the boys were still here and just sleeping. Tyler also loved trying on Zach's soccer flip flops.



And the oversized sweatshirts on the cousins, you ask? They forgot that Maryland is not Florida, didn't pack accordingly so they spent the week in Alex's sweatshirts!

34 weeks, 3 days

Jenna is situated much more like a ball in my belly, whereas Tyler was a little more spread left to right. Thankfully I've had little back pain since I started taking some precautions a couple of months ago. But I have started to get a little tired some evenings late in pregnancy which I didn't have with Tyler. Guess it is flip flopped since I was exhausted in early pregnancy with Tyler and not so with Jenna.

34 weeks

We are back at the doctor for another checkup. We got another peek at Jenna with new sonogram images. She has flipped and is now head down. We were also able to see her give us a big yawn while we were looking at the profile view. It is so amazing to see those little details and cute baby qualities prior to her arrival.

Columbia egg hunt

We took advantage of a free egg hunt for Columbia residents. There was a four-egg limit per child, so Tyler's hunt ended in about a minute and a half. But thankfully there was a great jungle gym with several slides. Tyler loved it despite the windy and chilly day.

baking cookies

A lesson for all bakers with small children: check that you have all the ingredients prior to promising your two-year-old that you will bake cookies! No eggs!? An unintentional April Fool's joke on myself. Not knowing my new neighbors' phone numbers and not interested in loading Tyler up in the car for a trip to the grocery store, Tyler and I walked to a neighbor's house (did I mention it was raining?) and borrowed an egg. Saved! We were successful at producing yummy cookies with minimal contamination from Tyler!

boo boos and smiles

Tyler was running too fast and fell on the sidewalk. Of course he skins his knee in the one place that was exposed because of the hole in his jeans. When we got home I cleaned it and put some medicine on with a bandage. I told him that he'd feel better by tomorrow morning.

The next morning he was very interested to see his wound and he declared, "I feel better Mommy!"

no tear driving

Tyler LIVES to pretend to drive real cars. Upon occasion we let him sit in the driver seat of our cars while in the garage and let him play. He tries to move the steering wheel back and forth, turns on the flashers and presses all the buttons despite them all being off!

Unfortunately, this fun play doesn't usually end well. He never wants to stop and bursts into tears when play time is over. This time he asked to only drive for a couple of minutes which caught my attention. I decided to give it a try and talked to him beforehand about the time limit. Amazingly, it worked! When it was time to go inside, he hopped out and said bye bye to the car. This was a big moment for us!!

heaven

We got together with my high school friends and our kids for some weekend fun at a kids playcenter. This was SO fun for Tyler and Dad especially got a good workout trying to keep up with Tyler as he sprinted from station to station. Of particular interest to Tyler was a real fire engine, the ball pit and a music station.

It was also great to catch up with my friends despite the many distractions of kids running all over the place. Baby Max who was born in February was a nice preview to the new addition headed our way. I'm still in denial that a baby will be here soon!

imaginary play

Tyler had developed a new type of play: imaginary! He makes little scenarios for his cars and then has them talk to each other doing voices for each. His stuffed animals play the same games. And he also makes lots of imaginary food. We pretend to eat what he "cooks" and sticks and dominos magically become phones.

another Grampy sighting

Alex took Tyler to Laurel Mill Playhouse where Alex has directed several shows. As they drove toward the theater Tyler started to yell that he could see Grampy and Grampy is happy.

baby newts

Tyler, like Mommy, calls smaller items, "baby" items. An extra small button is a "baby button."

Recently we found that Tyler liked fig newtons. So when Daddy got Tyler some small packages of mini fig newtons, Tyler started to call them "baby newts."

penis (part two)

While lying down on the changing table during a diaper change, Tyler exclaimed to Daddy, "I want to see it! I want to see it!" Alex realized Tyler was referring to the new found penis. Alex helped Tyler bend up so he could investigate. Then Tyler said, "Ohh, I like it Daddy!"