Enjoy Now.

To all of the people who said that you need to take in every day with your baby because 'they grow up so fast', you were right. I had no idea it would be like this. 4.5 months doesn't seem like much but I already feel like so much has happened. About Miss O now:

-Weighs 15 lbs, 24 in long.

-Has the best little laugh.

-Has mastered the grab. She has a great grip on must about everything (Even my hair!)

-Can roll, but doesn't like to. ha

-Instead, she likes to stand and take assisted steps. There is nothing more fun for her than that. We like to call it QWOP. This is why.

-Olive can stand and hold herself up for a few seconds on something close to her arm level.

-She is dying to sit up. She is working feverishly on it too. This girl cannot wait to do bigger and better things. She gets so frustrated when she can't.

-We started her on rice cereal. She likes it ok, it will be a fun process for all of us to get used to.

-She still talks and babbles all the time. She loves to talk to Cody.

-Has found her feet and loves to play with them.

I'm sure there are more things, but that's the gist.

Last month we spent a few days in San Diego. It was such a fun trip! We went for Cody and I's 5 year wedding anniversary, Cody's birthday, and to show Olive around :)

Olive was SO good too! I was kind of nervous about it but she traveled really well and slept when she needed to instead of fighting it. She was a good sport about being packed all over town and to the beach at the end of the trip. She fell asleep, but I promise she was there! haha As always, it was sad to leave, but also was nice to get home and chill out.

We spent Labor day weekend with my family laughing and eating and checking out the Iron county fair. In addition to that, my dear brave brother Ryan shipped off to basic training a week ago. He's in the Navy now and we are so excited for him. We know he will do well and be honorable like our father and grandfather.

Besides that, life has been the same. Olive and I have fun everyday and it's exciting to see her reach all of these milestones. Our 'hobby' right now is LOST. haha, sounds lame but we are hooked! Cody's job is going well and it keeps him pretty busy. I'm sure the next time will showcase so much more.

Moral of the story: Enjoy right now, no matter what's going on, for it will never be back again. I know I'm going to try more than ever.

"I Can Do Hard Things"

I'd like to mention something that's impacted me over the last 3+ months. I have a very inspiring friend that also blogs and dedicated a post to doing 'hard things'. The post talked about my friend working on habits and things she wasn't very good at, that were hard for her, and cultivate them into possible talents, such as taking pictures and like things. I made a mental note to think of something I thought would be hard or not very good at, and then do the same. It wasn't a few weeks later that I was in labor and undertaking the hardest thing ever (for me at least).
As the labor wore on, my mindframe became "I can do hard things" and so on it went. I can't even articulate how helpful, inspiring, and humbling this simple phrase was for me. I would sometimes think of my friend and her simple post and the monumental effect it had on me; About how strong she is all the time and how I could be like her and survive. Anyway, Olive was finally born and the weeks that followed heavily incorporated me repeating over and over that I can do hard things, (to myself, that is) until I felt that I could truly take on the role like I was meant to. I absolutely recommend thinking in your lives about 'hard things' and working on them, big or small.

3.5 months - Update

Golly, I need to get better at this. Anyway, it is now the middle of August and for some reason I seriously felt like I wouldn't live to see this month. haha, Really. It just seemed eons and eons away. But, here we are and life is good.

I suppose I should start at around eight weeks, or the 4th of July. Like I hind before, I we blessed Olive in the great little town of Blanding, Cody's hometown. He gave her a wonderful blessing and we were fortunate to have a lot of family come over in support. My best friend Erin made Olive's blessing outfit and it came out quite near perfect. We dressed her in traditional navajo dress for the occasion. It was beautiful.

We spent the rest of the holiday watching the parade and taking it easy. At night we set off fireworks and watched the neighborhood go hog wild on the festivities. To give you an idea, every night sounded like a war zone that married a Star Wars movie. haha. No, really.

After that adventure, the next week we went to Cody's family reunion in Marysvale, UT. It was a fun day to spend with more of his family and for them to love on Olive. She actually did ok on both of these occasions. We definitely need to get her more used to more people though. She can get pretty freaked out sometimes.

In the last 6+ weeks, Olive has learned/developed so much. She can now:

-Stand with help and bear her own weight. (This is actually her favorite thing to do. Anything else is just boring and limiting to her.)

- Smile more and more. She's a really happy baby and even if she's tired or mad at something, we can usually get her to smile anyway. haha

- Grasp and hold on to objects. We're getting better and better with that all the time.

- Drool like it's going out of style.

- We can hold on to her hands and pull her to a sitting and then standing position with no problems. Her head keeps level and steady.

- Tummy time is getting better and better. She can hold her head up for a long time. Not her favorite, but she'll thank us for it later. :)

- Talk and babble ALL THE TIME. She is so funny and makes the cutest sounds and gurgles. Imagine a little kitty talking to you all day long.

- This has been a normal thing this whole time, but she sleeps at night in good eight hour stretches. It's a beautiful thing.

- She naps in 30 minute intervals every two hours. I've adjusted accordingly. Whatever works.

- Olive has remained on the 30% track of the growth chart and weighs about 12 pounds now.

- Loves to be read to. (And add her two cents as well)

- Likes to see everything that's going on. Seriously.

- Can nearly hold her bottle all by herself. It's cute.

She's a funny little baby and we love her so much. It's fun to see what she'll do next.

In other news, the 12th week of my maternity leave came around and I had to make a tough choice. I decided to leave LearnKey and stay home with Olive. It wasn't so much that it was hard to decide, I, like always, wanted to somehow do both. It wasn't meant to be. There is no way I could bring Olive in (something they offered) and make the work fair and also fair to Olive. Since she naps in such short times as well, it would be impossible to get anything done there, or at home. (another thing they offered). I barely get normal things done at home. haha. Anyway, it was with mixed emotions that I left. I think that era is over and now I need to focus on Olive and making sure she gets what she needs. I'm up for it. :) Besides it all, I have been getting a steady stream of freelance work to keep me content. There is indeed a plan for everyone.

6 weeks

It's been a whirlwind of a strange time for us in the last little bit. Much of our time, of course has been dedicated to Olive in learning about her and how to best make her happy and feel loved. I'll be honest and say that the first month was HARD. I don't mean that in a bad way. It just was. Adjusting to a new baby and then trying to recover in every way possible didn't make it easier either. Thank goodness for mothers and mothers-in-law and champion husbands to help me though it. I knew going into this adventure that it would not be all happy all the time and I definitely knew what I would not know what to do 90% of the time, but the Lord has a perfect way of making us better. He knew I was 'special' when it came to baby/childcare. It's just not a natural thing for me--so I thought. He blessed Cody and I with a mellow, happy baby. Really and truly, but it also did not come without some important lessons too.

Anyway, a lot of that now is just a memory. At 6 weeks, we're still learning but Cody and I (and Olive!) have a far better grasp on how things work for us. I think we'll emerge triumphant after all.

Olive is a great sleeper -- at night. She wakes up once or twice a night to eat and even then she's sleep-eating and then goes back to bed ok.

She is a smiley baby. Ever since 3 weeks she's been smiling up a storm and in turn making us smile too. There is nothing more rewarding than that. :)

She doesn't want to miss a thing -- already. So, she doesn't like to take long naps. An hour at a time, at best. I guess that is ok, as long as her night time sleeping is uninterrupted. I don't get a lot done ever, but that's alright.

All in all, we can't believe she is ours and to have gotten so lucky.

About a month ago, our awesome friend took some pictures for us. Here are some favorites:






Just before Olive came, I was commissioned to make a book. Not just any old book, but a very special book. I figured I had a month or so to do it, but O had other plans for me by coming two weeks early. Anyway, the SLC Parade of Homes contacted me and told me one of the builders was making a replica of the house from the Pixar movie Up.



They wanted me to make a replica of this:



So I did, all during this time of adjustment. I still need to bind it, but that's about all I have left to go.






It feels good to take on a project like this.

Life is good, all in all. We will be blessing Olive in Blanding over the 4th of July holiday. I can't wait!

Olive Lynne Campbell

Our content bundle of joy came 10 days early on Sunday, May 1st at 11:03 pm. It started out I think on the previous Friday and Saturday. I was feeling strange and was wondering if labor was really coming on, or if it was false. Sunday morning came and it was undeniable. I was having regular contractions throughout the day and my dear Mom came up to help us out that day and the two weeks following. We walked and walked to keep the labor going and even ventured to wal*mart for the hundreds of laps that would semi-progress the labor. Finally, around 4:30 pm the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. We went to the hospital to learn that I was fully effaced but 5 cm dilated. So, Cody and I walked some more and some more, I guess like pioneer children... But we weren't singing, that's for sure. After a couple more hours of this, I was checked again and I was a 6. Very disappointing. (I was planning and did carry out an unmedicated birth, so that might explain the long way of doing things.) around 9 pm or so my doc (Laurie Hansen!) came in to check on me. The labor was going longer than it should. As she checked me my water broke an that kicked everything into high gear. I automatically went into transition labor and it got hard. I dilated quickly after that but Olive's head wasn't quite turned in the right direction, so we had to try some different positions to get her the right way. As soon as she turned, it was one pushing contraction after another. I was so tired and done with it all. She started to crown and I tore inside in two places. My body didn't have the proper time to prepare, so a lot of damage was done. A few hard pushes later she was out but not without another major tear. She was placed on me and was a welcome distraction while Laurie and a surgeon proceeded to quickly sew me back together. After everything was said and done, we were able to rest around 3 am. It was a long, long day with a beautiful result.

We spent a good part of the first week still at the hospital for me to heal and because Olive's bilirubin levels were closely being watched. She ended up having to have a lot of UV light treatment to get her levels down and everything broken up. It was a long, hard week on many levels.

Despite it all, Olive is such a sweet, calm baby. This is especially good with me trying to heal these last two weeks and just getting used to the new life. It's hard work, but worth it and rewarding in it's own ways. There are no raises, no keeping track of hours worked, and no boss to answer to. It's just me and O most of the time, trying to learn how/what to do with eachother. I know I'll get better with it over time. She is now 2 weeks old and it feels like more than that, in a good way. Cody and I can't imagine life without her now.

Now, for what you really came for:

One day old


Under the lights


Still brand new


At home with Daddy


Gas... and the best-timed picture ever


One week old


Cody's graduation, first real family picture.



Not to have Olive overshadow everything, but we are really proud of Cody for graduating from SUU. It's been a long time coming, and the big day came. He's now a somewhat free bird and can spend more of his time working and playing with his little girl :)

We will see what the coming hours, days and weeks bring for us.