Life as a Lewis

I'm sure I say this every week, but I'm so happy it's Friday! My 3-day weekends are always a great break! I'm proud of myself for finally getting back on the exercise wagon this week after taking off, oh about 3 weeks! I worked out at Curves twice and then last night took a 50 minute walk with two of my friends. A walk that included the mother of all hills! My ankle is killing me this morning - seriously, it hurts to walk! I've got a doctor's appointment this morning. Hoping to get something that will help me sleep. I'm just sick of being tired all the time. I go to bed every night and lay there for hours. Maybe I'll come home with a miracle drug! Camden has soccer practice tonight, then we're going to just have a family weekend. We're going to eat out, grocery shop. Tomorrow, we're headed into Nashville to take Camden to a park (I've got an ulterior motive here - pictures!). We're returning the some of the Pottery Barn crib set I bo...

We've finally had some rain the last couple of days!! Not enough I'm sure, but several hard downpours. It's so funny, but after 2-3 months with no rain, having an overcast day feels a little weird! My newest obsession is Adobe Lightroom. It's a wonderful program that allows you to edit pictures and gives you a ton more options than my Photoshop Elements. And, can I just say it is very expensive to take good pictures. First you've got your SLR camera. Then you add in the lens (which are still on my wish list). Add in photo editing software, maybe some backdrops (also on my wishlist), and the list goes on and on! Here are a few pictures that I've edited recently. Some of them had issues to begin with, and some of them were pretty good pictures that I just added cool effects to.

Today is Becky's last chemo treatment!! It's easy to get overwhelmed with what she still has to go through, but today should be celebrated! Her tumor shrunk and is inactive - that's the best results she could have gotten through her treatments, and I am so happy for her! Camden learned 2 new songs this week at school and asked to sing them for Aunt Becky - so here they are! Oh, and when we were talking about this being her last treatment, he looked at me with a little grin and said, "Soooo, is her hair going to be all grown back now?"

I'm getting complaints from family members that I'm not blogging enough, so here's a post just for you! Brian and I both took Camden to soccer practice this evening. It is so funny to watch these 4 year olds running around, not knowing what they're doing, but having a blast anyway. Camden is doing really well listening to the coach and getting right in there and playing. He made 2 really good goals tonight. . . . . unfortunately for the wrong team! Hopefully we'll get that worked out before his games start. So, pretty sure I figured out that I did not have the stomach bug yesterday. My friend, who is also a nurse, recommended Melatonin (an over the counter herbal sleep supplement) to help me with my sleep issues. I took it Friday night and woke up Saturday not feeling well, but thought it was because I didn't fall asleep until 2:00. So I doubled the dose and took it Saturday night. Sunday morning I woke up feeling awful, and I'm pretty sure my body was tryin...

I had lots of shopping success on Friday - I cannot believe how many good sales are out there right now! Brian was happy to discover, however, that I refrained from buying any baby girl items! I took Camden to soccer practice Friday night. Poor thing was not really in the mood. Who can blame him - Friday night, 104 degrees, outside. Need I say more? He wanted nothing to do with the stretching and jumping jacks the coach was telling them to do. I got to meet a couple of the other soccer moms. I discovered I'm the oldest one there (since when is 31 old?), and apparently black is a soccer mom's uniform. Out of the 5 moms, I was the only one not wearing black. :) Saturday was good. Camden and I spent lots of time playing while Brian was gone to his seminar. Today started off not so good. I have been sick to my stomach throwing up multiple times this morning. I just ate my first meal of the day and so far so good. I know anyone reading this is going to think I'm nuts, but while ...

So, I'm kinda neglecting the ole blog these days. I can't seem to find the energy to type up what's going on in our busy, but fairly boring life! Work has been pretty crazy this week. Students arrived back on campus, so everything feels like it's in fast forward. For Brian, the reality of being a teacher and a full-time youth pastor is settling in, and it's a pretty busy reality! Camden is discovering that being in K-4 is fun, but a little tough. He comes home from school exhausted! We've had to wake him up every morning this week, and he's going to bed at 7:30 so it's not like we're keeping him up late. Mornings are rushed, evenings are busy, and we're going to bring another baby into this family? Sometimes I wonder what the heck we're doing! I used to blog to keep up with Camden stories. Then I blogged because it was sort of a habit, and a little therapeutic to write down what was in my head. Now I'm blogging because when we...

Camden's first soccer practice was tonight. Here's a little glimpse of the video we took. If you want to see the full-length 6 minute version, click here . Unfortunately, the quality isn't that great, but you'll get the general idea (he's the one in the green shirt). Short version:

Wow! Our weekend flew by. Camden had a blast at the football game Friday night. Saturday, we shopped for cleats for him. Sunday was church, and I had to work for several hours during the afternoon/evening, and now it's Monday morning and another week begins! We're all swamped this week. Brian is teaching two classes a day, so that means lots of preparation every night; he's got a college class that begins this Tuesday evening. Then he has a seminar to attend Friday night and all day Saturday (makes for a fun weekend, doesn't it). Camden starts soccer practice this week, so he'll be gone Monday and Friday night. I'm working registration today and tomorrow, which makes for very long days! This is the first official week of school so it will be quite busy! Maybe I shouldn't have written all this out - it's making me tired before we even begin! Here are 3 pages I finished up over the weekend. I didn't realize it, but 2 out of the 3 are with Grandpa! I...

One of the perks of living in a small town is that when you go to the bank to make a deposit, the teller notices your address, asks if you might be missing a cat, and voila - Ruby is back! Camden was very excited and spent about an hour last night laying on the deck playing with her. This is the end of Camden and Brian's second week of school, and everything is good. Brian has taught a couple of classes every day, and his load will continue to increase until he's finished up 7 weeks at this school; then he'll move to another school for the next 7 weeks. Camden seems to really be learning alot - even after only 2 weeks. He comes home and recites his letters to us, tells us stories, colors pictures, etc. It is sort of strange that we can see a big change in him after only 2 weeks, but it's true. He's also been playacting quite a bit. His new favorite past-time is to get the McDonald's American Idol microphone out (thanks, mom) and "teach." It's hila...

Blogging at work while I take a little break. I've got a lunch meeting so I'm entitled to a break, right? I think poor Ruby has kicked the bucket (or someone kicked it for her). She's completely disappeared. Camden keeps saying, "yep, she's gone." Brian and Camden formed a little search party and looked for her last night, but there is no sign of her since Sunday night. Camden doesn't seem too upset so I'm glad about that! I keep thinking there's going to come a time when I'm not so tired all the time, but I'm just not so sure about that. Work and my commute are just exhausting, and then when I get home there's Camden and the house and Brian, etc. I do have the best husband in the world, and he helps out so much, not just with Camden but with the house, but I'm still tired! I think I must be getting old. I have trouble sleeping, my back hurts every morning when I wake up, and I keep finding these darn gray hairs. I think I'm up ...

Whew! What a day this has been! Sat through many hours of faculty/staff in-service at school today, tried to stay on top of my regular work, and shopped in preparation for the big faculty/staff dinner I’m responsible for tomorrow night! I have a feeling this is how the next couple of weeks will go – busy! Our weekend was nice, just gone too soon as always. I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but Camden was Star of the Week last week at school, and of course I've scrapped it!

Just a quick post to show off our new crib! I still can't believe we have exactly what I wanted and we paid $40 for it! I'm still not completely decided on the bedding (but don't tell Brian!). Just not sure I've got the right mix of things yet.

Our date last night was fun! We ate at Chilis, which seems to be my new favorite place to eat. I had the southwestern cobb salad and Brian had the chipotle chicken fingers. And I would highly recommend the Bourne Ultimatum - it was really great! We stopped by Starbucks on our way home, which is always a good way to end an evening! Brian has been off this morning helping Michael and Liz move, and then he was stopping by to look at a crib. I really hope he comes home with it! A few new things about Becky. First, her MRI results this week showed it is basically inactive, which is very good. However, because of her age and the kind of cancer, she will have to have radiation, which will add 6-8 months onto her total treatment time. I think it was quite a shock to them, and I know the added treatment time has to be very discouraging. Here is one layout I finished up yesterday.

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have a Friday home alone! Brian is at school; Camden is at school; I'm still in my p.j.'s just camped out in front of the computer! Kim Christensen asked me to be on her CT for the weekend and she's got like 15 new products coming out so I've got plenty to scrap with and hope to get lots of pages done! Camden is spending the night with his Gram and Gramps tonight so Brian and I are going out. Probably grab something to eat and then we're going to see the Bourne Ultimatum. I'm ready for a little bit of down time! A few Camden funnies from his first couple of days at school: 1. He loves that he gets to use hand tires (hand sanitizer) instead of soap 2. He says he's got the coolest shoes in all of K-4 (since when does a 4 year old start comparing shoes??) 3. His favorite thing so far is when his teacher told them the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk before naptime yesterday, and you should see him tell it. First, I can't...

Camden and Brian both had good first days at school. Camden was excited to go back today. Here is a layout with pictures from yesterday.

Well, I’ve had quite an exciting morning! I actually got to sleep in a bit today because I was taking Camden to his first day of K-4 so I was planning to sleep until 6:00, but Camden woke up at 5:45 very excited about school! I did have a more relaxing morning since we didn’t have to be there until 8:00. I arrived at the school and then made a complete fool out of myself not once but twice as I tried to parallel park in a spot close to the door. I finally gave up and just drove out to the parking lot! Thankfully, I don’t think anyone noticed since they were all too busy crying over leaving their babies at school. Camden walked right into his class and sat down and was perfectly content! I did manage to snap a few pictures and I’ll try to post those tomorrow. After dropping him off at school, I headed into Nashville for my appointment with the breast specialist. First, the instructions they faxed me were to their OTHER office so I braved downtown and the parking garage, crosswalk, e...

I'm eating lunch at my desk today because it is just too hot to run around! 99 yesterday and 100 today. Tomorrow is supposed to be 102! And I'm basically just posting today so I can share this layout I finished last night.

I've spent the last 24 hours getting Camden ready for school. There were solid color shorts to be bought (I'm partial to plaid myself), striped and solid polos with no logo, tennis shoes, and socks, notebooks and folders, crayons, markers, and wet wipes. Well, you get the picture. I even managed to get the cutest white sandals for $1.98 and seriously the cutest pink Mary Janes you've ever seen for $3.24! Gotta love Target! Camden threw the mother of all fits tonight. It was pretty horrible. Thank goodness we haven't had one of those in quite a while. I thought we were going to miss out on the whole adjustment after a trip now that he's 4 years old, but I guess not. He's still tired, but hopefully after tonight he'll be all caught up. He's been asking us where he was before he started moving. I think he means before he was born. He doesn't seem to understand that he hasn't always existed. Well, tonight at supper he asked again, and I think we fina...

Okay, just a little P.S. here - seriously, Kansas City must be the worst airport in the world! Although there is seriously a Starbucks at almost every gate, everything closed at 8:00! Many things were closed at 7 when we arrived. Good thing I've got Camden shimmying and shaking his way up and down the hallway to keep me entertained. He thinks this trip is the best thing that's ever happened to him. You know how they repeat the whole "no smoking" paragraph over and over again, well Camden keeps saying, I guess we can smoke outside, though. (of course, there is no smoking going on in our family!). He also keeps saying, "why do they keep telling us that!" when we hear all the repeated statements telling us that flight 1608, etc. is now boarding. Oh, and isn't it comforting that they actually have real tornado shelters here. One more thing, picture this: one adult, one 4 year old, two large backpacks, and one VERY small bathroom stall with a door that doesn...

So, I'm back in the Kansas City airport after 4 days with Micah, Becky, William, and Xavier. It was wonderful to see them and to spend time with Becky especially. It's always good to see the boys and to see how they've grown and just to spend time watching them play and giving them lots of love. They're adorable! They seem to adore Camden (for the most part). Much of the time they spent following him around just giggling at his every move. Camden did pretty well enduring their 18-month old antics of taking his toys and my constantly telling him to be careful around them. Becky and I got to spend quite a bit of time scrapping (she is doing really well!) and I won't even hesitate to admit that we propped the boys up in front of Veggie Tales and the Incredibles in order to get in some good scrapping time. Hey, they loved it and we got alot done! I think Becky felt pretty good for most of the visit. I mean, not exactly wonderful, but pretty good for her new cancer way o...

Can I just say that wireless internet at airports is a wonderful thing! I'm sitting here with Camden in Kansas City, MO, checking email and browsing the Internet!! A few facts about our trip so far: Time I got up: 3:55 a.m. Number of times I woke up thinking I had overslept: 4 Number of times Camden asked if was time to go yet: 647 Number of times he asked if it was time to go: too many to count! He is being so good, and is so excited about being on a trip. We bought him a Leapster with his birthday money, and it's pretty much worth its weight in gold! He played with that thing for almost an hour and a half during our first flight. He's currently sitting next to me eating a snack. I've also discovered that he thought the pilot was actually flying us to Micah and Becky's house. He was quite concerned that the pilot might not know the way to their house and that they might not have a big enough runway. After we arrive, I'm headed to the cancer center to sit with...