Best Christmas present ever!!!

It is Christmas Eve here in Salt Lake City and Catie has given us the best present ever. She is walking 100% on her own. She gets shaky and falls a bit more freuqently when she is tired, but gets back up and keeps going. When you pick her up to carry her to the car, or in a store, she immediately asks for whom ever is holding her to walk. What a wonderful time!!! her determination and love of life, no matter what has been given to her has really opened my eyes to show how blessed we truely are. It testitifes to me that there really is Jesus Christ, that he was born, that he loves each and everyone of us. It shows me to never give up on prayer, that Heavenly Father always listens to us and always blesses us. I hope everyone has the most wonderful Christmas!!! Love to all!

Welcome Baby Campbell #2

It is official!!! We are expecting our second little angel April 1st. No joke intended. As of today we are 16.5 weeks. I have been peeking the past few weeks to see if I could make out the sex early. I peeked yesterday in hopes to find out and surprise Barrie for his birthday today. The verdict is either it has mutated a third leg or it is a little boy!!! Barrie was excited.

And we're walking!!

Catie is finally doing it. For about 50% of the time she is walking on her own. We have stopped taking her walker to daycare and she isnt using it in the house. If we catch her trying to crawl, we ask her to stand up and come to us. And she does. She is doing great an getting more confident with every step. Our hopes are that by Christmas time, she will be walking everywhere. Go Catie!!

Neuro Update

We met with a neurologist on Friday, 7/17, while Catie had her appointments in the Spina Bifida clinic. He said we are kind of in the middle on what to do with Catie. He said he wasnt sure if the first seizure she had was a fever seizure or not. The second definitely was not. He was treating with medication was up to us at this point. If we did treat, then it would be a 2 year commitment with giving medications, which might have to be changed up. With the medications come various side effects. Barrie and I both decided that we will watch and track her seizures, meaning that we wont give medications now. If her seizures become more frequent, say every month/more than that, then we will start medications. But if she is having a seizure once every six months, or longer than we will just get her through them. Kind of scary when she has one, but I dont want to give her unneccessary medications that don't have the nicest side effects for just one or two seizures. So we will keep saying our prayers, make sure Catie is well rested, well hydrated, and stress-free - all things that help.

We'll be coming down the mountain....

This past weekend was so much fun. My baby brother turned 26 on Sunday and came out for his birthday with his girlfriend Shannon. We had a blast. Saturday evening, we went to Seven Peaks waterpark for a few hours. Catie LOVED the water. The wave pool was her favorite. We walk in and all she kept shreeking was "wawa, wawa!!" After the park we introduced Chris and Shannon to our favorite ice cream shoppe - Leatherby's. Sunday, we skipped church to keep playing. Chris and Shannon wanted to see the mountains and maybe do a little hiking. And we did both, with emphasis on " a little hiking". We went to Snowbird Ski resort and took the Arial tram up to the top on Hiden Peak which is 11,000 feet. We were told that we can hike a short distance down to a chair lift and take that back to the resort. Well, we got to the lift and looked down. I think I was the one with the bright idea that it doesn't look too steep to hike down. RIGHT!!! About 4 hours later, 3 falls for me, one for Shannon and an hour nap while hiking for Catie, we made it to the bottom. We were exhausted. Back at the resort, Chris and Shannon took a ride on the Zip line. Barrie, Catie and I went down the alpine slide. I was so sick from the sun and heat that we had to go home after that. I will post pics shortly. We would so do it again, but just take the tram up, then take the chair lift or tram back down. I can at least say I hiked in the mountains!

Sadness, Struggling, and Answers

This past week has been one long happy yet extremely devestating week. Last Thursday, Catie stood up on her own, in the middle of the room and on a few occasions, walked to me or Barrie. We are so proud of her! Then Saturday sent us on a whirl wind downhill. Saturday morning, we awoke to Catie having another seizure. She had one about 2 months ago when she had a high fever. Her doctor told us that she more than likely wont have another one because it was high fever related. Well, yeah. Saturday morning she just started seizing. It went on for 2-2 1/2 minutes. She was cool as can be, so we called the paramedics. She stopped seizing just before they got there. They checked her out, noticed that she did spike a fever after. We took her to Primary Children's hospital to have her checked out. Her urine and other testing for viruses/flu/ect all came back normal. Her pediatritian on call said for us to have a brain MRI and an EEG, then to see a Neurologist. The MRI and EEg will tell us if she is having fever related seizures which she would grow out of about the age of 5, or if there is in fact a problem to where she has a seizure disorder. Ok, so we went Tuesday am to have her MRI. She came out of the test fine, Barrie kissed her and went off to work. I was hanging out with her untul the anesthesia wore off then we could go home. The radiologist came to talk to me about her scan. He said that it was a good thing that we were sent in to get her tested as soon as we did. There were some brain abnormalities that were found some relating to her having seizures. He said that these seizures wont go away, and that the neurologist will discuss things with us about her being on medication. Next he said that her corpus calllosum, an area of the brain that helps sends messages back and forth to each side of the brain was abnormally small - that it probably didnt completely form when she was in-utero. This can cause lack of coordination (which she has), developemental delays (which she has), impaired vision (which she has), facial/head abnormalities (which she does a small bit - her eyes are wider apart - the upper limit of normal), and mental retardation (which thankfully she doesnt show any signs of ).
I am doing better with all this right now. We see the neurologist on Monday. We will know more. I am having my good moments and bad moments. At times I feel like what did I do wrong when I was pregnant or what should I have done differently? I know I am not the cause of any of this, but I feel this way at times. I look at my little princess and constatnly question why this has to be her, why doe sshe have to be given so much at such a tiny stage in her life.Is it going to stop for her. Will she be ok, will she ever be able to run and jump like other children. Will she excell in school, will she be able to be in a "normal" school if there is such a thing. I hate having people stare at me and be the center of attention. I dont want people doing that to her. Kids are mean.
PLease please dont get me wrong here. I am so in love with my little bug. I wouldnt trade her for anything in or out of this world. I would never trade her for a little on with out problems. I think I am the most luckiest person in the world to be blessed with Catie. She is the most amazing little one I think I have ever met.
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I had to take a few minutes away. I didnt want Catie seeing me cry. Ok, I am doing good now. The past few days, I have been really thinking about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have been feeling really close to Heavenly Father in the fact that my heart breaks thinking of Cate and all that she has gone through and what she will go through. I look at Jesus Christ and see only a glimps of what Heavenly Father must have felt to see his most beloved son go through all the pain, torture, sadness, loneliness that he did. To think that Jesus went though so much more than Catie, that he went through exactly what she is and will go though and that if he can do it she can too.

Happy 2nd Birthday Miss Catherine!!

Yesterday our little bug turned the big 2. We can't believe just how time has flown. The fun day started with special instruction therapy at 9, then off to Shopko to get new frames for Cate's glasses. Yes, they broke again. We then had lunch at Jason's Deli with Barrie. Cate took a nap. Yesterday evening we had a BBQ with some good friends. Catie and her BFF Millie tore it up with the sandbox that Barrie build for a birthday present. Here are some pics to show off the fun!!

Cute cousin Ashley and Tia MaricelaBFF Millie and her daddy

I made an "Itsy Bitsy Spider" cup cake.A Pyro just like her daddy - "oooooo"

MMMMMMMMMM, Like it!!MMMMMMMM, Love it!!!!
And the best picture yet....

Happy Birthday Miss Catherine Jane!!!!

She finally walked!!

Catie took her first steps tonight! It is 4 days before her second birthday and we are blessed with steps. Barrie and I we getting her into her pj's tonight and both sat down with her to say our family prayer. Catie slid down Barrie's lap and started to reach for me. He guided her towards me and she took 2 steps - without help- to me. I picked her up kissed her and she said "walk". So I put her down and she walked 3 steps to Barrie. So for about 10 minutes she kept walking between the 2 of us. She was so proud of herself (not as proud as we are :) ). Everytime she get to one of us, she would say "walk" and turn around and start to go the other way. So amazing. It is making her 2 yr birthday that much older now that she is starting to walk. Barrie and I decided to practice this walk between every night till she is doing it all the time and everywhere. Yaaaaaaa Catie!!!

Quilt time

So I made a rag quilt for Catie when she was born. I fits her crib just perfectly. I then made a rag quilt for our bed - king size. That was some work. I had lots of fun with that. I bought the fabric from WalMart - their $1/$2 fabrics. I thought since I was learning, if I screwed up, then I wouldnt have spent lots of money doing it. Well I have had the erge to make another quilt. This time I want to make a real quilt. My coworker brought in a box of some FUN scraps. She said that she saves the all the scraps from whatever she is sewing/making and some day she would use them. She gave me almost an entire box of scraps. So I have been making 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 in squares and am going to make a "crazy" quilt. It has all colors, paterns, sizes and shapes. So far the squares are awesome. In this process of making my squares, I wanted(and still do) to make Catie a new quilt for her big girl bed (twin - which has not happened yet, she is still in the toddler bed/crib). I was back at Wally-world today and they had precut fabric in strips. The bundle I picked up is so much fun. It has cartoon bugs and bright colors on it. Prefect!!!! now I just have to decide how I want to play the quilt out. I am so excited!!!! It will be awhile but I will post a picture once I get it assembled/or partially assembled.

Any yet another surgery :(

Little Miss Cate is keeping us on our toes. She is going to have eye muscle surgery June 19th. She has been crossing her eyes and having even more trouble looking at objects. Her doctor tried strengthening the prescription of her little glasses, but no dice. Talking to many friends, I guess the eye muscle surgery is very easy and they go back to their normal routine the next day. To top things off, Catie failed her hearing test the beginning of April. We took her to her pediatrician who looked in her ears. She has fluid in both of them and as of a week ago -it is still there. We have an appointment with a pediatric ENT next week to see about putting tubes in her ears to help with draining the fluid and in hopes that will be the cause of her hearing test failure. Her Optomologist said that both surgeries could be done the same day. So that is what we are looking at going through now.

Mother's Day Weekend recap

This weekend had been, by far, the best Mother's day weekend. I felt totally lost. I woke up early Saturday am and went with a great friend to the Jordan River temple for a 6am session. It was super early but totally worth it. I got home at about 830 and noticed the living and kitchen were massively cleaned!!! The laundry was started, and my peanut was still sleeping soundly. Barrie was so good to me.

We got Catie up and spent the morning at Wheeler farm, for a PIP(vision) activity. It was a hoot. Cate started off calling all the animals "dogs". She signed dog and "woofed" at everything. When we corrected her, she would look at the animal, look at us, then look back at the animal and make their respected sound. We went over to the sheep and told her is sad "baa". She made then sound, then the sheep did. She looked so startled as if to say - " what the heck was that?"
It was so funny. We took a wagon ride and had a great picnic lunch in the shade.
After the farm, we went and bought plants for our garden - carrot seeds, 4 kinds of bell peppers, cilantro, onions, scallions, pea seedlings, zucchini, yellow and butternut squash, and lots of tomato seedlings!!! Cate played in her rice box and little tykes jungle gym while Barrie and I transplanted plants, planted, fertilized, and spread mulch on the garden. It looks so good!!
Sunday is where I felt lost. Barrie made us breakfast and grilled an awesome dinner. I stood around asking for things to do and was told to "relax, go take a nap or sit down." I finally was able to slie up strawberries. Barrie and Catie gave me a BEAUTIFUL necklace with a heart shaped pendant, that had diamonds around the outside. Inside the heart is a figure of a mother holding a baby/child. Oh, it is so gorgeous!!!! I also got new head phones for my IPOD where they are really soft and sit inside your ear verses the hard plastic ones that usually come with players.
We took a 1 1/2 mile walk that evening. What a wonderful weekend, just spending time with my Heavenly Father and my family. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and daughter. My heart is so full!

Weight Loss Journey

So, my journey to becoming a lighter, healthier me is progressing. I need to seriously get back into the gym. Vacations really screw things up. I went to weigh in last Thursday, not expecting to have lost anything. I was shocked. I lost 2 more pounds putting at my 5% body mass loss goal for a grand total of 14.8 pounds since January 1st. I am stoked!!! This Thursday will not be so positive. I have to admit, I have been on a serious chocolate bindge, along with pizza. I did not get my water in nor was I very careful with watching my points. I am going to start over again tomorrow once I weigh in. Hopefully, tomorrow wont be too bad :)

New York 2009

I can't believe that it is the middle of the month already and I have written nothing since the beginning of February. Catie, Barrie and I went to New York to visit our families and have a little R&R. We took a red eye to JFK. Catie did not do well at all. We put her down for a nap at 7pm, which is usually her bed time. We woke her up at 9 and got to the airport. She walked all over with her walker (we thought it was great-she will konk out on the plane). Wrong!!! She was up the entire flight. I was besides myself - I do not do well without sleep. Catie slept amost all day trying to catch up on sleep. My aunts, uncles, and cousins came into town for a pizza gathering. My brother Chris and his girlfriend Shannon, my sister Paula and Mom all joined us as well. My mom didnt get into town till later that day, missing my extended family due to her plane hitting a bird upon take off from Orlando - scary!!!

We introduced Cate to AHL/NHL hockey. She didnt know what to do when the fog horn blew anouncing a goal scored for the home team. She clapped endlessly when kids were dancing and everyone else was clapping. She sat in our laps and just watched the players slam opponents into the glass(fiberglass). She was even clapping when fights erupted (girl after my heart!!)

We got together with may of our friends/coworkers that we havent seen for 3 1/2 - 4 yrs. It was so good to see everyone and catch up on missed events. Cate went with me to the hopsitals that I worked for to visit good friends. Everyone was amazed at how well she is doing, how big she is getting, and loved her walking with her walker.

Paula, Chris and Shannon had horrible times trying to get back to North Carolina. There was a big snow storm the rolled through part of the east coast. Philly airport was cancelling/ delaying flights left and right. Chris, Shannon and Paula all left a day later than they should have. I didnt mind. I loved spending the time with them, but they were a bit ticked. (I would be too.)

Barrie's mom took Cate (Barrie and myself, too) to the Poughkeepsie Children's museum. Oh she had so much fun!!! We did too watching her. The museum was a dicovery museum. They had a infant toddler area where they have a little tikes tree house. She kept climbing in and out of it. She rode on a mini cow. They had a child size firestation, school room, bakery, grocery, farm house with garden. Upstairs was more for older children. They had hands on science activites, a giant jungle gym that traced the human heart, a news station, and so on. It was really cool.

We got together with my girlfriend from high school (Andrea Magacs Eisley) who is living down near Poughkeepsie. Her little boy turned one that weekend we were leaving. We took Cate to his birthday party. It was so much fun seeing her and her family again and also meeting little Nathaniel.

Our journey ended with it's usual drama. On our way back to the JFK airport, Barrie's father's car ran out of gas. It was never filled up before we left. We sat on the side of the 684 just outside the city for an hour. Barrie's brothers came and brought us gas. We got to the airport in just enough time to check in, get through secruity, grab a sandwich/bananas and get to our gate to find out we didnt have a plane yet. We finally got one, left about 40 minutes later than expected, and got home close to on time. Cate did sleep 4 1/2 out of the 5 hours of flight.
All in all it was so wonderful. It was great to see our families, friends, and just get away from our daily routine.

Happy Birthday to me!!

Well I didn't do too bad this week on the scale. I really wasn't watching my points/what I was eating (it was my birthday week). I didn't lose any thing but the cool side is, I didn't gain anything either. Pretty good present I must say. This week will be a even better week. I have a new yoga mat and dvd. I also received a free personal trainer session from the gym as a thank you for being with them for the past year. I am excited to get going!!
Barrie (and Catie) bought me a new bed for a birthday present. It is a king size. So super nice!!!! I love it. I dread the mornings, because I just want to sleep in. We went out to eat at Bonsai, Japanese habatchi grill. Oh it was so yummy. Cate loved the chef and the tricks he was doing with the utensils and lighting the smiley face made out of oil on fire. She clapped when he was tossing the eggs in the air. We had so much fun!!

Walkers were made for walking. And that's just what she'll do

Catie had her biweekly physical therapy today, the first time since Christmas (due to sicknesses on our side and her therapist's side). Anyway, Lisa ( her Therapist) said that she has made great progress since she last saw us. She said her cruising along furnature has greatly improved and we decided that the goal for cruising would be passed off today. We did set another goal in that Catie would walk, confidently, using a walker. Cate was not too sure on that idea. She is used to her little shopping cart that Santa brought her. The walker is used backwards to the shopping cart. Cate has to pull it long in stead of push it like the cart. We aren't able to use the walker in our house, right now, (the house is too small and the walker is quite clunky), so we will use it everywhere else. She can use it at church where there is the cultural hall to walk through from nursery to Sacrament meeting. She can use it when we wait for her daddy - there is a smooth sidewalk and a great waiting area. I am excited. This year is the year for meeting goals. I am almost to my first goal in my weight loss exhibition. Walking with a walker, to eventually walking unassisted will be Cate's.

Week Five

I was quite crazy last week and didn't get a chance to write. I lost 0.4 lbs last week. Nothing to crazy but it was still a loss. I went this a.m. for this week's weigh in. The verdict is - 2.8lbs this past week giving me a grande total of 10.2 lbs since January 1st. I am so excited. I did some Yoga this week, mixed in with Cardio and Ab workouts. I can not believe how hard the yoga is, but so relaxing. The stretching feels so good, especially at night after a long day of either work, or chasing Caite around. My pants are getting much baggier - yeaaaa!!! (Please don't be mad Jessica - I still haven't measured myself - I guess lazy is the key work here.) I have been feeling great. I am 2.8 pints away from losing 5% of my body weight. Oh I am so excited :) Tune in same time, same website for next week's adventure. I will see how I do with treating myself to whatever I want to eat for a "special occasion" some time next week....To be continued.

Another successful week on the scale

Good news good news!!!!! I had my weekly weigh in today. Yes, I did it again. I lost 2.4 pounds this week for a grand total of 7 pounds since the New Year. I am stoked!!!!!!!! I was a bit worried this week. I had used up all of my weekly (extra) points last weekend. I had such the cravings for chocolate( and I did eat them). I did great though. I planned everyday and watched what I was snacking on, making for lunch and dinner, and made sure I ate my oatmeat every morning. I made it to the gym a few days this week.
I was talking to Ben (or Barrie for those I am confusing) this morning. I was sharing on how good I have been feeling every day. I have been satisfied with meals and snacks and not sick from over eatting. I said the gym has been great too. Last night I worked on the Elliptical machine for 45 minutes. The first 10 were the worst. The success was I brought our travel DVD player watched a movie. I covered the time indicator for I didnt keep looking at it every 2 minutes and try to psych myself out.
I need to go to a WW meeting tonight. I get a "5 pound" sticker - yeaaaaaa. I am 1/4 of the way to reaching my 10% body weight loss goal!!!!!!!! Thanks for everyones suppose and encouragement!!!! You are all awesome!!!!

WK 2 Weigh In

My second weigh in of the year was very successful!!! I am down 4.6 pounds. So exciting. I have felt full all week, eatting tons more fruits and veggies - which Catie loves both. It was nice to go to meeting today; they have 3 meetings where you can take your little ones with you. It was nice to have Cate with me. She is my inspiration and motivation to go and change my life. What an example she is at 19 months old. I am stoked to see what this next week brings. Going to work hard, work out more and keep soaking in the great feeling of being 4.6 pounds lighter!!

New Year's Goal

Ok, I have done it. I signed up with Weight Watchers on January 2nd. After having my doctor share with me that due to one blood test last year, where the results were 2-3 points over normal, she has to technically consider me a diabetic. I am not happy - not with her, but with myself. Oh well, 'tis a new year and I am going to take this seriously. I did well when I was on Weight Watchers in New York. My mom did exceptionally well on it. I dont want Catie in the same boat when she gets older. I dont want problems when we start looking at another little Campbell - no I am not pregnant, but if it were to happen... I have also set up a gym routine. I will be going to the gym super early in the a.m. before work for about 40 minutes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I dont want to over do it gym wise because my back has still been bothering me. I am hoping that getting in shape and some weight loss will help my back tremendously. So here it is. Goal number one, for the healthier me - I am wanting to loss 10% of my body weight in the next 6 months. I wont tell you what that is...then you can guess my weight. I will keep everyone posted on how I am doing and when I reach the goal. So everyone go eat 3 cups of air poped popcorn (only 1 point) and stay tuned for an update!! Happy New Year Everyone!!! :)