Happy Holidays!

I cannot believe Christmas has come and gone. I sadly put up the Christmas tree today and packed away all the decorations. This year, the holidays seemed like a whirlwind. Where do I start? Well on Sunday before Christmas, Lyle woke up in the middle of the night sicker than I have ever seen him in the ten years we have been together. I woke up about two in the morning to find him curled up on the bathroom floor in fetal position. I had went to bed with a sore throat and didn't think much of it. By 7 o'clock the next morning, I was sicker than a dog. I frantically called my dad to swing by and take Hudson out to Gordon. I didn't want him to get sick with the stomach bug. Lyle and I were sick for three days. Lets just say that I lost so much weight, that I am now back to my pre-baby size and Lyle lost a whopping 15 pounds. Best diet I have been on in quite a while!!! Thank goodness for my mom and dad who took Hudson and looked after him during our sickness. I was literally unable to take care of him.

On Christmas Eve, we muddled up the strength to make it to Lyle's family Christmas. I called my doctor, as well as our pediatrician, to make sure that we were no longer contagious. After we got the green light, we had a great time at Aunt Karla's. I wasn't able to eat a drop of food, but we had a fun time playing Chinese Christmas with all our cousins. Hudson opened his first presents and had fun playing with the paper rather than the presents. Our plan was to return to Weatherford so we could have our first Christmas at home. We were so weak and tired from our day's adventure, that we decided to stay in Gordon at my parents house.

Lyle spent the night assembling Hudson's Santa present. I have never seen so many twisty ties and pieces to one little toy in my whole life. After about an hour of laughing and some not so nice exchange of words, we finally got the little jungle gym toy together. It is really hard for me to just sit back and not be bossy, but Lyle let me know that he had it under control. After all the trouble, it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. We had fun playing with it ourselves. Lesson learned: Never wait till Christmas Eve to put together Santa's present. I could see where that could go badly if you can't get the thing put together in time!

The next morning we woke up early and went to Lyle's parents house and had Christmas with them and our niece, Anna. She met us in the driveway telling us to hurry up that "Santa had came." It was fun to watch her open her presents with that look of surprise each time. Hudson watched us open his presents and seemed to like the whole idea of unwrapping.

On Friday, my brother and sister-in-law came down and we had our family Christmas with my side. Hudson was sure glad to see them. It took him a while to warm up to them again, but after about five minutes, he was uncle Blake's best bud. He loved all his presents! Thank you uncle Blake and Aunt Lauren.

Despite me and my mom's efforts of degerming her house and mine, my dad got sick, as well as Blake and Lauren. It was one mean stomach bug. I just thank the good Lord above that Hudson never got sick. God is so good!

Christmas was almost ruined, but we have never enjoyed the season due to our special addition this year. What a blessing he is our life. I can't imagine life without him.

We are all now well, healthy, and a little bit skinnier. (Bring on the food for New Years!)

Here are some of Hudson's Christmas pics. Thanks to Eric and Denise Nowak. We love Natural Shots Photography!

Happy New Year to our family and friends! We love you!

Sleep Is Way Overrated!

What a week it has been. I went back to work this week after twelve weeks of maternity leave and I am completely and utterly exhausted. After a week of tearful goodbyes and crying myself to sleep at nights, I hoped this process would get a little easier. I had mixed emotions about returning to work. I love my job as an instructional specialist in Granbury, but I never knew it would be this hard to leave my baby. Even though he is staying with my mom and I completely trust her and know he is getting all the love in the world, I just feel so guilty sending him off in the mornings. I feel like I am missing out on so much of his life. I just don't want to miss a thing. My worst fear is that my exhaustion will get the best of me and when I get home in the evenings, Hudson will not have his mommy at her best. My round trip daily drive equals 115 miles. Thank goodness gas went down when it did!! My day starts at 5:00 a.m. and we pull in our driveway in the evenings about 6:00 p.m. What a day! I am ever so grateful we have family close by b/c this would be almost near impossible for me to go back to work.

My first day back was a little rough b/c a storm came through right when school let out, so I had to stay an extra 45 minutes to let it pass. Literally, Lipan was in a tornado warning and I drive right through Lipan to go pick up Hudson. I was itchin' in my britches to get home to see my baby, so when I thought the coast was clear, I took off...only to run into hail and high winds near Lipan. I had to pull over on the side of the road and wait another 15 minutes just praying that my car wasn't damaged.
My third day back I had to leave work early and make a mad dash to the doctor. For some crazy reason, I developed a bladder infection. Wow, those hurt! I woke up perfectly healthy and my lunch time I was in pain. My doctor said it is pretty normal for women after having babies. I'm telling you, pains from having a baby just never end! I am still recovering as of today, but I think I have it about whooped.

I hope next week is a little more routine. My mom and I went shopping in Ft. Worth on Saturday for me some new clothes to wear to work. I needed a pick-me-up after last week.
Hudson got to take his 1st picture with Santa in the mall and tell him what all he wanted for Christmas. I bought him a new outfit for Christmas pictures next weekend. New pictures coming soon. And the craziest thing of all, while I was out with a friend today, my husband surprised me by putting up the Christmas tree!!! It's not even Thanksgiving yet! Oh how the Campbell's love Christmas time!

Hudson's First Halloween!

Since my last blog, we have been super busy. We have had two weeks of fun and family! WARNING!!! This will be a little long and consist of lots of pictures!


Last weekend we went home for the Gordon Fall Festival. Lyle and I have been attending this festival for the past three years and have made it a tradition to go and win candles at Mrs. Charles booth (our 6th grade teacher). Hudson got to wear his costume and walk the cake/candle walk all night. Unfortunately, Lyle and I did not win one time, but thanks to Grammy and Grandpa, we were able to bring home four Morenci candles. (They would win and let me pick out the candles!) We got a scent for each season of the year! Here a few pics from the festival.

On Wednesday, Hudson and I went back to Gordon for his first trick-or-treating experience at his great grandparents' houses. While at Great Grannie and Grandpa's, Hudson met the colt that was born the day after him. We then enjoyed the evening passing out candy to all the kids on mom's front porch.

Great Grannie and Great Grandpa

Grammy introducing Hudson to the baby colt

born the day after him.

Great Pa-Paw

Anna and Hudson on Trick-or-Treat night.

This past weekend we had the pleasure of celebrating my mom's 50th birthday and my dad's birthday as well. Hudson's Uncle Blake and Aunt Lauren came all the way down from Arkansas to join in on the celebration. We started out the weekend with a good old Texas football rivalry, Gordon vs. Strawn. This was the game of the season. Fun was had by all, well, excluding Hudson. Within the first 30 seconds of the game, the Gordon Longhorns scored a touchdown and the crowd went wild, along with their blow horns. It scared Hudson to death. I looked over at him to see him screaming his head off. During all the chaos, the Strawn Greyhounds then scored and off went their celebratory horn that sounds just like a train horn. If you could have only seen the look in my little boys eyes...it went from being scared to pure fear! I ran out of the stadium as fast as I could. (Thank goodness my parents live right down the road from the football field.) I felt like a horrible mommy! After listening to the game on my parents front porch and missing the half-time performances (my favorite part), I was able to calm him down and we returned for the last half. The Gordon Longhorns were victorious 60-30 and my family had a fun night of celebrating afterwards.

On Saturday, we went to Noah's first birthday party, Hudson's best friend. We had hot dogs and cake and opened lots of presents. After the party, we met up with my family and did a little shopping and went to eat at the Mesquite Pit to celebrate their birthdays. It was so yummy. When we got home, it was more football with the Texas vs. Tech game. Hudson sported his first Texas t-shirt, only to bring them bad luck.

Noah's 1st birthday. (Hudson, Sidney, Noah, and Anna)

Hudson and Uncle Blake...cheering on the Longhorns!

We had a nice visit with Blake and Lauren this weekend. Hudson wishes they lived closer so he could see them more often. We all cried when they had to leave. We miss them terribly.

Uncle Blake and Aunt Lauren

Needless to say, we had a fantastic last two weeks. October has been a busy month. On a sad note, this is the last week of my maternity leave. We have cried many tears already and Hudson and I are just soaking up our last few moments at home together. I read in one of my baby magazines that the United States is one of only five countries in the world that does not give new mothers paid maternity leave. Some countries give up to a year of paid leave from the job. I told Lyle that I am looking into moving to one of those countries. Come next Monday, I know it is going to be the hardest day of my life. I am just blessed that I have had twelve weeks to bond with Hudson and get to know him. How amazing life it now! So pray for us this week. Sorry this was so long, but we had lots to share.

Inspired

I have to admit that for the past year, I have been addicted to the daily delights of the Dawson's. You would think that we would be close friends and I would have reason to read their blog on a daily basis. But the truth to the matter is that I hardly know them at all! Let me explain.

My husband played football with Mr. Dawson "back in the days." They were all-stars. :-) I have met Mrs. Dawson just a few times at football games, but we just said our hello's and went about our business. We are simply acquaintances. However, over the past year, I have come to know the Dawson's quite well, through their blog of course. I am almost certain, we could be best couple friends. Lyle and I both enjoy reading their blog and often have dinner conversations about the Dawson's and their daily insights. We truly enjoy them. I did have to confess to her a few months ago that I was secretly a fan of her blog. (My husband shamed me to do so. He said that if I was going to be snooping on their blog, the right thing to do was let them know.) Funny thing is, he reads it as much as I do.

So the point of the whole thing is that I have been inspired. Mrs. Dawson has inspired me to cross over to the world of blogging. We have family members that live out of state, and with the new addition to our family, I thought this would be the perfect way to keep them in the know. We live a pretty simple life, so I'm not promising it will be quite so interesting.

So here is a little background. Lyle and I were high school sweethearts and married in December of 2006. Lyle works as a chief compliance officer for an investment company in Ft. Worth and I work as an instructional specialist for Granbury I.S.D. The newest addition to our family, Hudson McCray, arrived in August of this year and we feel so blessed. We also have a dog named Mason. We enjoy living so close to where we grew up and are surrounded by a loving family. We spend most of our weekends going to the "country" and hanging with out with our families.

Hudson is now 10 weeks old and it has been the best ten weeks ever. So I will end my first blog with some pictures of him and our happy little family.

Thanks to Mrs. Dawson for her inspiration. Maybe one day we can actually hang out and become great friends!!!

One day old! He loves his daddy.

I love that forehead!

You can't get enough kisses!