Ahh! It's been so long!

Hello everyone. I'm sure grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends alike have been wondering why the delay in pictures. We apologize, it's simply difficult to get a few minutes to do this these days. But, we are back and just in time for the holidays :) This time I will try to include all those wonderful pictures with those in the Campbell family who have come to visit.

So, in terms of an update, the internship process has gone well for me. I did not receive an interview offer at every site, but those that I wanted the most (in terms of "best-fit") I got. In total, I got 6 interviews and they happen to be in 6 different states. Idaho, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. Therefore, I will be traveling a lot in the month of January... something that I am feeling ambivalent about. For the Idaho visit there is no ambivalence as Christian and Will will be joining me AND we get to see all of you out there!! :) But, for the other trips I am both excited and worried. I'm excited to see the sites and meet the people and I am really excited to be able to stay the night in a hotel and get a whole night's sleep! ... but, I am also quite hesitant, worried, .... and, can I say, feeling a little guilty? I've never been gone from Will over night [except once with grandparents] and he's begun this thing where he refuses now to take a bottle and will only be nursed (yeah, wonderful weaning months ahead :). This is probably because he hasn't had to have a bottle in a couple months now, but we're going to try putting formula in a sippy cup/nubby cup to see if that will make a difference as he does drink water from those. And, I must admit that this hesitancy is not simply due to my worry that Will will miss me, but that I will miss him... yes, even miss (in an odd, disturbing way) those middle of the night feedings. Of course, last night he slept 9.5 hours straight for the first time in months, so may be he'll be fine?... ahhh... the joys and worries of motherhood.

William took a break there for while in saying 'dada' and 'mommom,' but he's beginning again and he's now a bit more discriminant in saying them! I must say, it's a lot easier to get out of bed to pick him up when he says, "mamom" than when he's just babbering about something else unknown. :) Also, he's still cruising and not yet standing on his own or walking, but we are constantly amazed at how mobile he's become and how interactive he is. Over the Thanksgiving holiday Will began teaching his parents a new game. He'd flash a silly mychievious smile, crawl quickly toward us, and break off at the last minute... laughing all the way. It took Aunt Kathy to point out to us that he was probably wanting us to chase him and tackle him with tickles, but sure enough we wisened up and the rest was blissful, exhausting fun. This game of William's now includes a crawling chase between us as we take turns with either him chasing us or us chasing him. The fun parts of parenthood have truly begun. :)

And now we begin preparing for the holidays and a new chapter in our year (plus) of transition. I will take a couple classes in the spring to finish out my academic life (which will be weird, as aside from a couple week-long intensives, I haven't been a fulltime student since Spring 2007!), and I will be working on finishing my dissertation in the midst of interviews, planning to move, classes, and any domestic, child-training-figuring-out-a-good-schedule-overall-parenting stuff too. Whoo... good thing we can sit back and have a good humor about it all, right? :)

Anyway, can't wait to see all of you in Nebraska and Idaho! We love and miss you all.

A visit from William's Aunt Bridget:

In October we got to spend a lot of time with William's grandparents, Jody and Esther:

Okay, here's a sequence that PROVES my claim to have a 'ham' on my hands...

Over Thanksgiving, we saw family in Omaha. Did I mention that Will found his new love? Aunt Kathy, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Kathy...

Here's Uncle Jeff:

And Uncle Peter:

And Granddad Lane:

And a little friend, Henry:

William's latest preoccupations:

Door Stop

Bookcase
(throwing books off it, that is)

Eating
(anything he can get his hands on)

Merry Christmas!!

Election day and Autumn is in the air

Hello :) Has everyone voted? I hope so. I was so excited to be able to vote early last week and I am so amazingly ecstatic about the possibilities to come from this election. As everyone has been saying, history will be made, no matter the outcome. I don't really want to profess my presidential preference here, but I cannot resist from making one brief comment about the campaign process. Does anyone else join me in finding it incredibly sad how some people have been vilifying one side or the other? As in, one vote is the "Christian" vote and the other is not? There are actually devote Christians who have looked at the same issues, policies, etc, are well-informed, and have come to different conclusions about who would be the best leader and what policies would be the most responsible. Again, I'm not going to go into my own soapbox here of who I voted for and why, (as I do, actually, respect the different opinions of some of my very dear family and friends), it just makes me very, very sad that this has divided so many Christians.

Anyway, go out and vote, and let's get on with some cute baby photos, shall we? :) Life has been good here for Christian, Will, and I. I finished my application, have sent off about 5 of them (including the ones to Idaho and Nebraska, family!!), and am working on finishing the cover letters for the next 8 or 9. Will has been getting a lot of colds still, but we've been taking him out for walks and trying to distract him as he loves the outdoors... we'll have to figure something else out when winter hits.


Love is in the air and I am absolutely loving being Will's mother. He's such a joyous, content, curious, and sociable boy... I don't know how I could have been as happy without him. It's still difficult, to be sure, from time to time. And, I still think I have a long way to go to be an efficient mother who responsibly uses each moment of each day to the fullest advantage... but, I'm taking it a step at a time. That's all we can ask of ourselves, isn't it? Although I still get caught up in my own issues and stressful events, I still think life is filled with opportunities for us to care for, love, and advocate for others. Isn't that the mark of a Christian? Love. In my field, and in my position as a therapist, I'm often placed in front of a person or family or couple who are going through some of the most challenging situations I can imagine... addiction to heroin, surviving hurricanes and seeing loved ones die, having children taken away from them, infidelity, etc, etc, etc... what do the little annoyances and stressors in my life amount to? Not much, I can tell you that. I am so grateful that my Lord is a Lord of redemption and healing. That is the hope that I cling to.


The many smiles and faces of Will...

Yep! He's not only crawling like crazy, he's also pulling himself up to standing and barely starting to 'cruise'! Exciting :)

...okay, I ran out of time to post more photos...I'll try to do that tonight!

Okay, okay, I'm back .... for now

Hello everyone! I know it's been too long. I finished my first draft of my essays a couple weeks ago, but I've been spending my time trying to refine them and finish other aspects of my applications. The first ones are due at the end of this month and that means that the majority of my application (minus varients like cover letters and specific information requested by particular sites) needs to be complete. It's a lot of material (26+ pg application, 4 concise essays that explain who I am as a person and professional, transcripts, evaluations, sample psychological reports, vita/resume, etc., etc.) and it's a little difficult to explain how stressful and anxiety-provoking the process is, but every other doctoral candidate in clinical psychology in the nation (at my level) is applying for a limited number of positions... some of which are more competitive than others... and there aren't enough for everyone to get one. I think the latest stats say that 85% of people match with (or obtain) an internship. Most of the sites I'm applying to have a 1-10% chance of acceptance (when you look at their number of slots and people applying), so.... yeah, it challenges one's sense of "control" and my fragile ego as I rarely feel that I am quite good enough.

Fortunately, God blessed me with a wonderful mother, sisters, husband, and friends who have been giving me a lot of support and comfort. The first thing I had to remember (and continue to remember) is that God is still good and He's brought Christian and I this far. Even if the 'worst' scenario were to occur and I didn't get matched, and therefore didn't graduate, my life is still worth something and God still loves me. And that's enough.

Okay, enough with that. Will is doing really well. I wish I had the latest stats on his weight but I haven't accurately measured him lately. My guess is around 23-24 lbs. He's 30" tall. So, all in all, he's stayed in the normal range for his big self. :) Developmentally, he's been saying "mommom" alot and it's simply music to my ears. From time to time we've noticed that Will is in a "mommy's boy" stage, as he completely lights up when I come home from work or an errand. He sees me and all his limbs start banging back and forth and he giggles incessantly, then he'll stop to look back at me, get a smile from me, then continue wagging his limbs all over the place. It's hilarious and heart-warming all at once. He's also begun kissing. ... Well, I should say the baby-like kiss where he reaches out, grabs my hair to pull me toward his face, and, with his mouth open wide, he begins to slobber, suck, bite, etc whatever area of my face he was able to bring toward him. It may be slobbery-wet mess, but it is simply the most beautiful, loving gift I could ever ask for.

In regard to sleep and all that, this month has had its ups and downs. The great and wonderful thing is that since we've been back from visiting Ruth and Matt Will has been on a bedtime routine that includes a bath at 7:30pm and a sleeping baby by 8/8:15pm. We were struggling with that before, but Ruth and Matt gave us some great ideas and that, in combination with the trip shocking his sleep cycle in general, allowed us to put him on a routine that we have been able to keep it up. Okay, now, the hard thing about this month is that he is waking up WAY more often in the middle of the night than before. Now, part of that is because he reaches his usual 6-7 hours straight by 2-3am instead of 7-8am, but the other part is a little more complicated. He's begun to teethe like crazy (I've counted six teeth out so far) and he's also maintained one cold or another since before we left for vacation at the end of August. ... So, with a stuffy nose and hurting gums it's no wonder he can't sleep well, but, man, is it exhausting! I'm just so thankful that he's a pretty joyful and content boy overall.

Oh, and he's begun to crawl! Well, sorta. So far he's only been able to move forward one or two steps at a time, but he's gotten really good at moving backward and in a circular fashion. :) It's so fun to see him aware of his surroundings and deciding where he would like to move toward and taking action in that direction. It's just seeing that development... it's just so cool. We've also been able to experiment with a lot of different solid foods, but so far his favorites are bananas, carrots, oatmeal, and cheerios. I thought it would be fun to let him try some of the more sweeter fruits from time to time, but he really didn't like them... as I've heard quite a few babies don't... and that's really okay with me. In fact, making sure that he eats a healthy, well-rounded diet has helped Christian and I be more mindful of eating well ourselves... course, we have a long road ahead of us for that, but hopefully we'll at least continue moving in that direction!

Okay!! Now for the pictures! We do have video capability now, so hopefully I'll be able to load one or two up soon... I know you've been asking for them, Sharon! :) But, for now, pictures will have to do. :) I've tried to put them in chronological order...

TRIP TO KY:

(Will with his cousin, Aidan)










We went out to a nice restaurant with my parents who had just come in town and the boys decided they would prefer to play on the ground. :) Thankfully, we got a room off to the side.




William having a good time joking with his dad.


I don't know, but for some reason Will likes to do this...



Will and his aunt Ruth.



Aidan, Ruth, Dad, Me, Will, Mom


... just trying to get a picture with his teeth.








That's it for now! Hope I satisfied your hunger for photos for a while. :)