My Baby Boy is 1!!!

This is what I posted on Cam's site 3 days after he was born & only 1 day after he was home with us...

Labor Day

Cameron decided to come into the world with a vengeance! I was scheduled to be induced Thursday morning, 9/25 at 6:30 a.m., but apparently he didn't want to wait that long. Wednesday morning went on as a normal day until about noon or so when I started to feel cramping. I didn't think much of it since I had been having pre-labor pains for a while. I visited with my friend, Lisa until about 1:30 when she left and headed home. My cramping started to get more intense and I had a strange feeling Cameron wasn't going to wait until the morning. So, I quickly ate a PB&J sandwich just in case I went into labor. Then I grabbed the laundry from the dryer and started to fold it around 2:30 pm, when GUSH, my water broke! So, I quickly called Mike and told him to come home. Then I called the dr's office where they told me to come into the office vs. the hospital. I sensed that things were going to progress really quickly so I grabbed everything I needed and left for the dr's office with Mike. As we were driving, my contractions were getting more and more intense, so I didn't understand why I had to waste time going to the dr's office. Apparently some women aren't sure if they're in actual labor, so they make you go to the office first. I thought I might die at the office as I huffed and puffed in the waiting area as other patients stared at me. Finally the dr took me back where she told me that I was 100% effaced and the baby's head was right there... I was 4cm at this time which I had been since at least Monday, the 22nd.

As we took the 5 minute drive to the hospital, I seriously thought that I just might die from the intense contractions. Somehow I made it into the hospital where they made me wait in the lobby for at least 10-12 minutes. I'm not sure how I survived. All I wanted was an epidural and I was terrified that it was too late. FINALLY a woman came back and took us to our delivery room. As soon as the nurse saw me, she new she had to hurry. When she checked me, I was 7 cm. So, I had progressed from 4 to 7 cm in the matter of 20 minutes. So, thank goodness my nurse decided to fly around the room, getting me ready for my epidural. She pumped IV fluids into me faster than I thought possible. The epidural was an absolute savior, and kicked in within about 10 minutes of being started. About an hour later, I began to push and Cameron came bolting out about 20 minutes later.

The entire labor was everything I never expected. I never in a million years thought that I would deliver from start to finish in about 4 hours. It was the most intense experience of my lifetime and probably will remain that way forever. But, we have a beautiful, sweet, adorable little boy that we created and I couldn't ask for more. It's been very overwhelming and tiring at times, but Cameron is well worth it. We look forward to sharing our pictures and thoughts with you all!

Lots of love,

Allison



And this is us one year later, right around the exact time Cam was born. So much has changed over the past year that it's all too much for me to wrap my head around. At this time last year, I was still in the labor & delivery room, in an insane amount of pain & facing so many unknowns.

There have been many ups & downs over the past year, but mostly ups. Becoming a mom was a tough adjustment for me, as I'm sure it is for many new moms, but I went through a major emotional roller coaster when Cam was first born. Still, as I type this tonight, I wouldn't choose any other life in the world. I am blessed & honored to be Cam's mom & I don't take it for granted for one moment.

As I say to Cam each night as he drinks his bottle & drifts off to sleep in our arms, "Thank you God for our BB, God bless our BB."

Happy 1st Birthday, Cameron! I love you more than anything in the world & it's my goal in life to give you the best life in the world... the life you deserve!

Time. Or lack thereof.

As thoughts were racing through my head this morning as I sat at my desk at work, one of them included the fact that I haven't blogged in quite some time. Which brings me to the idea of this post! The series we're currently discussing at church is called "Living on the Edge" which discusses the idea that we are basically pushed to the edge in many aspects of our lives. This series came at a perfect time for me, as I'm sure it has for many, many other people, as I feel as I'm being pulled in a million different directions and stretched so thin. Most weeks I feel as if I'm just trying to survive and that is NOT how I want to live my life.

The point of Sunday's message was that God gives us our time & is the only one who knows how much we have left. With that said, many of us don't make time in our lives to put God as one of our priorities. I know that I am one of those people. As I mentioned before, so much of my day feels like survival mode that I'm not able to see things clearly or to gain perspective on what's actually important. As our Pastor, Brian said, we have such a go, go, go mentality that we fear that we may "fall behind." But, fall behind what?? We also discussed "type A" personality which category I surely fall into, where I feel like I ALWAYS have to be productive, I ALWAYS have to be multitasking. It gets so tiring sometimes & when my brain is so tired, my focus is so distorted & the things that should be important in my life go to the wayside.

Lately I really am trying to relax and be more present for my family. As I sat at the dinner table with Mike & Cameron last week & noticed the fifty things that needed to be done in the house, I continued to talk, laugh & sit because I know that Cameron will only be eleven & a half months old once & we don't have endless time to enjoy him at this stage. For all I know, I could be gone from this Earth tomorrow.

I just have to keep reminding myself to stop, take a deep breath & gain a bit of perspective. Brian suggested that we take a small amount of time each day to read a chapter, or even less, of the Bible & this is exactly what I plan to do. Hopefully this will help remind me that life is so much more than struggling to "make it through" each day.

Family

This is the three of us hanging out at Kristen & Steve's house on Saturday night. Yes, they have an indoor basketball court; pretty cool!



It's amazing how, well, amazing, a long weekend can be the perfect attitude booster. Even though it's only one extra day off from work, it makes all the difference in the world; extra time with family & friends, less rushing around & more time to catch up on household chores.

As I sit here writing this, it's Monday morning & I should be thinking about getting ready for work, but I'm not! Even though Cam did get up much earlier than I would have liked (6am!), I'm lounging on the couch in my jammies as he watches an Einstein video with my only plans being which type of cereal I may choose for breakfast! Tomorrow it will be back to the grind, but today I will enjoy the luxury of spending extra time with my family!

Perno Pizza Friday

After a two-week hiatus from Perno Pizza Friday (because of other obliagtions), we were ready to get back into the swing of things! While I formulated the recipe, Mike gets the rest of the credit as he did all the cooking.

Both Mike & I would have to say that this has been our favorite pizza yet! Since Mike did the cooking, I'll let him fill you in on the details. Mike, take it away!

--Hey everyone Mike Pernecky here, Founder and Purveyor of Perno Pizza Fridays. Here's how it went down: I rolled out a wheat pizza dough ball from our local grocery store and slapped it onto a pizza pan, the kind with holes in it so the crust cooks on the top and bottom (airbake). Next I used Ragu brand alfredo as our sauce, and spread that deliciousness all around the dough. Then, added a thin layer of shredded mozzarella cheese, followed by the toppings. The toppings included sliced black olives, chopped sun dried tomatoes, and some pre-cooked spicy turkey Italian sausage.

I noticed some of the dough was overlapping the pizza pan, so I figured I'd take a page out of Pizza Hut's book and make a little cheese-stuffed crust...so when I added a bunch more mozzarella and "Italian 5-cheese" shredded cheese, I made sure to put extra cheese in the spots that had excess dough hanging over, and folded the dough over those spots. Then I simply painted the crust with some olive oil and slid the pie into a 400 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes. One thing I forgot was the feta cheese hunks, so I added those and popped the pizza in for another minute or two. It was awesome. I tend to get wordy so here's a quick run down of what the pizza had:

• Alfredo sauce
• Shredded mozzarella and "Italian 5 cheese blend" cheeses
• Spicy Italian turkey sausage (casing removed, and browned in chunks)
• Sliced black olives (canned)
• Chopped sun dried tomatoes (or SDTs) as we refer to them in these parts
• Wheat dough ball

I really believe the wheat dough ball made it better than if we had just a simple white dough ball, but everyone is different. Enjoy!

It's Bliss!

Since moving into our house years ago, I spend a lot of my downtime sitting on the patio, reading & enjoying the fresh air & sounds of nature. The only problem? We've never had a patio set, so we've been using hand-me-down chairs from my parent's old set or camping chairs. I not-so-fondly referred to our patio as the ghetto.

As I was outside, trying to wind-down, I found my self getting wound-up as I looked at the ugly scene around me. With Cameron's first birthday party coming up in a few weeks, it proved to be the perfect opportunity to bite the bullet & invest in a patio set. Hip-hip-horray! I eagerly left work last Friday & spent a tedious few hours power washing the patio in preparation for Mike putting the patio set together. Last Saturday, after taking a trip to the local nursery, we replaced the hibiscus that died in the cold with a plumeria in hopes of it blooming a beautiful flower that we hear smells delightful. And viola, we went from ghetto to gorgeous!


Here's the finished product! Perfect for me to sip wine while catching up on some magazines.


Our Plumeria. I'll name her Mary.

Big Day!

It seems as if Cam has been saying "Da Da" for ages now, with no signs of even being close to uttering, "Mama." We keep working on him by saying, "mmmm" and then "mama" to get used to the sound of the "M." This past weekend, he may have said it, but we weren't 100% certain. Until tonight, that is!

As we finished dinner, we were cleaning the kitchen as Cam crawled around the floor & played with his toys. As he was sitting, he clearly said, "mama, mama, mama"! Mike and I froze and just looked at each other with our eyes the size of saucers & our mouths just about hitting the floor.

Our hearts were absolutely bursting with love as we heard him say that for the first time! I'll always remember this day; it's the first day of the month Cam was born. It only took 11 months & 8 days to feel the satisfaction of my baby boy saying Mama!