Finally!!!

My first post on my first blog! Where do I begin? This is something that I have been thinking about doing for a while now and finally have time so here we go. I will give a quick recap of this past year to lead up to where we are now. I began an accelerated nursing school program in January of 2009 and graduated in December of 2009. It was extremely fast, busy, and very stressful at times. But I made it to the end with the help and support of Brett, my parents, and many other family and friends. We found out this past May (on my birthday actually!) that we were expecting our first child! It made for an interesting and at times stressful experience finishing nursing school while pregnant. I made it though! I graduated from school on December 12. Campbell Lowrey Soldevila was born on January 6, 2010, at 12:58 pm. He was 7 pounds 4 ounces. It was truly an amazing experience. The delivery was quick and easy. Well, the easy part came after the epidural! He was born a short 4 1/2 hours after we arrived at the hospital. Brett, my mom, and Brett's mom were all in the room to be a part of this miracle. Seeing him for the first time was true love at first sight. He has big brown eyes and a head full of dark hair that stays in a mohawk. I love it! It was the most wonderful moment to have Brett, Campbell, and myself together for the first time. We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights before coming home with our new family member for the first time. It was snowing the day we brought him home. I thought it would be a good idea for our first night at home to be just the three of us. Well, needless to say after a night of no sleep I called my mom crying first thing the next morning and said it was time for her to come! She came right away as well as Mrs. Anne. Brett was and still is an amazing help! It was nice to have some experienced help for something so foreign to us though. The first couple of weeks were very exhausting to say the least. Campbell definitely had his days and nights mixed up. Mom and I would take turns staying awake with him the first few nights since he would not sleep one bit. I tried to let Brett get as much sleep as possible through the night since he had to go to work in the morning. Campbell didn't give us much of a break during the day either. He wanted to nurse what felt like constantly and if he wasn't nursing, he was crying. I felt totally helpless not knowing what to do to calm him down. We finally found something that would calm him down though. He loves for us to sit with him on my exercise ball and bounce. I have spent many many hours bouncing on that ball now. It has gotten a little deflated from all the bouncing. After 4 weeks of this, we finally took him to the doctor to seek any advice on how to make our little guy happy. His weight gain was not very good so we were told to continue nursing and offer a bottle of formula afterwards. He has been a totally different baby since then. Poor thing just wasn't getting his tummy completely full! He gained over a pound in 4 days! Brett has been a wonderful father. It melts my heart each time I see them together. Brett loves to kiss on Campbell's sweet cheeks. One night while kissing Campbell, Brett said, "I wonder how long he will let me kiss on him like this." I thought about that that night while I was awake feeding him and cried. Up until that point I had not thought about him growing up and getting to a point where he does not want his Mom and Dad to kiss and love on him. I want him to stay my little boy forever! I know each stage of his life will be wonderful. I just want to cherish and remember each second I have with him. On top of all the sleepless nights and exhaustion that comes along with a newborn, I have had to prepare to take boards to get my nursing license. I took the test this past Friday, February 12. I found out yesterday that I passed!! So now that that is behind me, I have time to start my blog I have been wanting to do! The purpose of this blog is for me to keep track of my experiences as a new mom and all our wonderful memories as a family.