Time

The past two weeks have been such great highs and then such pitiful freak outs. The highs were highhh. Danno registered for his very last class at UVU, we actually weren't so dirt poor we had to use the credit card (holla!), we went on a real date with PLANS and everything (dinner, movie, and a hot tub?! It was like we were 17 again), and Corbin snuggles me real tight every day. Lately I feel obsessed with time and the fact I'm running short on it. I miss Danno and having real conversations that don't focus on when he can be home so I can leave. Our date was much needed.  I feel so very stretched thin. I don't have enough time with Corbs, I don't get to work as much as I need, I don't get to see my husband except for Thursday and Saturday, and I don't have time to keep my house clean. But with all this focus on my lack of time, I love the things I get to do with the time I have. Corbin is 20 months! I love that I get to be here for his nonsense conversations about blocks and his mild freak outs watching Color Crew. We are busy- but busy is good.  We are busy with important things: family, baby, work, school, church, and Netflix (because it's good for our sanity).  I have drama-mama freak outs and lists and lists of to-do items and somehow still survive, despite what I think.

It is September and so very nearly October.  Remember when you were a kid and it took forever for your birthday, Christmas, Halloween, show and tell day to come?  Now I feel like an old bird because I say things like, "I remember when you were born," or "I can't believe it is already (insert current month."  I'm 26 peeps.  You round those digits up and I'm 30.  Let's not be dramatic, I know I'm not old.  But sometimes I feel it when I look at what kids are wearing these days and thing "uggggggggg."  We even have life insurance for heavens sake.  Why the age rant? Well, because my husband now has a light at the end of the tunnel for school.  It is going to be the May.  May will be the month when we both shout from the rooftops of our independence from more tuition/student loans/ and H-work.  You can substitute hell for the H if you want.  I know we do.  Then we won't be students anymore (you know, if he doesn't get a masters).  I am happy to grow up to that.  I'm happy with all the progress we have made in the last year.  I'm proud of HIM for all he does ALL the time.  In the midst of working full time/ full time student, he has managed to get 2 jobs offers, 2 raises, and real buff.  I love seeing where we take our little life every day.  I love seeing our boy grow up.  Life is really good, even when it is really stressful and hard, it is happy.  And that is just pure awesomeness.

Love, Corbin

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4 years down celebrated downtown

My husband is the king of one uppers when it comes to special events.  You think he is just a cool reserved guy who likes to keep things simple and then BAM! it is your birthday, anniversary, Christmas (for Pete's sake do you remember last year?), and he has the most thoughtful, fun, and totally unexpected thing planned.  This year for our anniversary we decided to keep it pretty low key due to the baby and financial circumstances changing (me not working).  So I wake up on our anniversary and he hands me a card. It is a sweet little card with one of our inside jokes in it (everyday? everyday.) and tells me that he has had a reservation at the Peery hotel in SLC booked for months and we are spending Friday, Saturday, and Sunday there.  He has lined up a sitter for Friday night and then we will go pick up Corb and make it a family vaca for the rest.  He even knows that I would die without my baby for too long.  What a guy. We kicked it off going to City Creek and eating at Cheesecake factory.  We walked around the shops ( holy expensive) and enjoyed holding hands and not talking about nursing or diaper changes.  Then we went and saw Moonrise Kingdom.  It was fun walking everywhere we went.  We both agreed that we love SLC and it would be fun to live there for a bit if we didnt have a dog/child.  We leisurely watched the Olympics and just hung out with each other.  It was needed.  Oh my it was needed.  The next day we saw The Dark Knight Rises (we miss going to movies) and then picked up our boy and went swimming.  We then went to dinner and walked around City Creek's kids stores with the babe.  Sunday rolled around and we enjoyed lounging in a bed, a huge temperpedic bed, we didn't have to make.  We went to Solitute and walked around the lake.  I love me some husband/family time.

Hello.

Daniel informed me he likes it when I blog.  I suppose I should do this more.  Life as a momma leaves the moments I'm not working, cooking, cleaning, feeding, or changing, into moments where I stare at the wall or purusing pinterest. Let's be real though, it is usually pinterest.  Life recap ready go!
 July: I stopped working full time and started being a substitute teacher. I also spent a lot of time looking at this face.

 We took Corbin swimming for the first time and he loved it!  So much he pooped in the pool.  Good thing for diapers.  He thought he was pretty boss splashing around like a champ. Ha.  That is his name. Anyway..

 Corb learned to roll over and Guido photo bombed our special moment.

 Corbin also got his first little cold and gave momma a heart attack thinking he had whooping cough.  He didn't.  Thankfully our sweet pediatrician calmed a cray-cray Nellie.

 Enter August: Sweet bebe turned 5 months and weighed in at a mighty 12 lbs 4 ounces.  He is in the 4th percentile for weight and 2nd for height.  Watch out Yao Ming.

 Mainly I'm just enjoying a lot of these moments.  Sloppy kisses, high pitched squeals, and flappy arms when I walk in the room.  I was made to be a momma.

 There are some key events that deserve a blog post all their own.  Hopefully I'll get it done before 2012 is over.

Seriously! This guy...

Corbin kills me.  I seriously can't handle how sweet his little mug is.  I love his spastic arms, short birdie legs, big eyes, squeaky voice, and crazy cute dimples.  He is the best boy ever.  I should be blogging more about all his milestones, funny stories, tired nights, etc.  Instead, I take a million phone pictures and snuggle this little guy.  Time well wasted I say.

Perfection

 This little boy is perfect.  Here he is swinging in his swing next to me and looking at these pictures makes me miss him.  So tiny.  So sweet.

A big thank you to Hollie Hanson owner/photographer at Cherry Tree Photography

becoming a momma

I have neglected my blogging since...well-I have never been diligent...but I thought my little babe would inspire me.  Sadly, with so many social media things-my blog took the back burner.  So here is my recap/journal entry of the birth and a photo recap of the last four weeks.  This may be lengthy.
Birth Story:
  On Thursday the doctor checked my progress and confirmed that I was 100% effaced and 1.5 cm. dilated.  But he said Corbin wasn't completely dropped and estimated that we still had a week at least.  I told Danno and we decided to go out on our last date as a family of two the next day.  Ian was working so we decided to go to Red Lobster, walk around H&M, then go to see "The Muppets." I finished Corbin's curtains and was having some contractions but wasn't worried because I had been having random strong contractions for about a week. We embarked on our little date excited to get out and spend some time together since school/work had been hectic that week.  During dinner I asked Danno to start timing my contractions because they were getting closer together.  This completely freaked Ian out but we assured him we weren't in labor-just timing them just in case.  Then it happened.  I was pretty sure I had just peed my pants a little...or something.  I told Danno and he and I brushed it off pretty non-nonchalantly after a quick trip to the restroom.  We finished dinner and were on our way to the mall but I told him I felt funny and we should just go home until the movie just to rule out any worries I had.  We got home and I paced back and forth trying to figure out what my lil' body was up to.  I looked up a bunch of pregnancy websites, read all my books and magazines, and finally decided to call the hospital.  They informed me that the only way to tell was to come in and check.  Danno was ready to go-but I didn't want to be that girl.  So I refused to go to the hospital until I was sure we were in labor.  Standing in my bedroom, my water broke.  Excitement and fear rushed through me as I screamed for Danno.  We scrambled around house grabbing our go-bag, getting Yuki settled, etc.  We got in the car and giggled like 5 year olds.  As soon as we got on the freeway I started screaming excited/nervously and Danno thought it was a pain scream.  Nope.

  We got settled in our room and hooked up to all the monitors and such.  By now it was 11ish at night.  I was progressing along great and painfully so I opted for the epidural.  Shortly after, my labor slowed way down.  They gave me pitocin but that made baby's heart rate drop into the scary zone so they took me off and waited until he was stable again.  A few hours later we tried pitocin again, but a lower dose.  Same results.  So we waited and waited...and waited until my body did its thing.  I got to a 10 at about noon the next day but Dr. Terry was at a funeral and our on call Dr had 3 other women all reach a 10 within an hour of one another.  Since I was the only first time momma-I was last in line.  The cute nurse had me do some practice pushes but I was really good at those and they made me stop because he was almost here.  I sat for about 2 hours just chillin. By the time Dr. Barton came in, I pushed for 5 minutes and my sweet little boy was here!  Danno and I just stared at him amazed at his realness.  We looked at each other and decided he was definitely a Corbin.  This was probably one of the funnest 15 hours we have ever spent.  Hands down.

The men in my life

I realize that many of my posts start out with "Daniel Alan Champion is amazing..."
This is no different.
He really, really is.
Seeing this man as a father has only made me realize how crazy awesome he is.  This past week we have all been able to stay home as a family and I have gotten the chance to see these two dudes have long conversations about hockey, family, and life in general.
I love my boys.

Corbin Alan Champion

I'm in love with this little 5 lb. 13 oz., 18 in. long little boy.  Daniel and I have spent the last 6 days just in awe of this little one.  He is perfect and we are so grateful.  There is nothing more amazing than holding your child.  This is bliss.

Hello baby!

We really want this little guy to be here soon.  We are 38 weeks along and really hoping he makes his entrance into this crazy world soon-like today.  It isn't even that we are too uncomfortable yet, we just really want to meet this little one.

Soon to be padres.

Wonderful Carla took these pictures.  Hooray for generous family members.  Only a truly talented person could make the dead gully look sunny and great.  These are just a few of my favorites.  Little man will be here in approximately 3.2 weeks.  We are sure ready to meet him!

Baby Got Back

I am in the terminal stages of my pregnancy.  I am 34.9 weeks along now and baby and I are as healthy as can be.  That being said, yesterday was a dark day.  
I found stretch marks.  
I have gone through this pregnancy so gradually with slow growth and I haven't felt "whale-ish."  Welcome 34 weeks and BAM-suddenly I hear lovely comments like, "Man, you are going to pop aren't you?" or "It seems like you get bigger every minute!" or "Please tell me you are due soon."  Thank you to all who point out my rotund shape and grand size.  But here is the plus side to my weight gain:  I am having a baby.  Plus, this baby is probably going to be the coolest baby ever.  I have known all along one day I would feel all biggie and such- but a girl always hopes.  Bring it on baby.

Merry Christmas!

Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh....

Perhaps you have noticed that all my post titles are songs/lyrics with "baby" in them.  Perhaps you haven't. Either way, I have baby on the brain all the time.  Mostly because it's the biggest thing to happen to me since my marriage (screaming:  MAJOR LIFE CHANGE). Also, I can't ignore the fact that Baby C calls all the shots when it comes to my daily activities and consequently I am very aware of his presence. I have 84 days until my due date.  I have less than 100 days until my due date.  I am in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy.  I have 12 weeks until this little man gets to join the rockin' party at the Champ house. Bring it on little man-we can't wait to hang with you.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Merry Christmas to all!

Another 12 months has passed since our last 12 month recap and we cannot believe how many things can happen in one tiny year.  Daniel and I have been so blessed.  We love this time of year as we celebrate the birth and life of our Savior as we enjoy time with friends and family.

January was pretty much just there. We lived and loved, and most likely laughed.

February was fantastic as we discovered Matt and Carla were pregnant.  Danno got a raise at Moss and surprised me with a new purse for V-day since Yuki ate mine.

March was a sad month as Yuki had her everlasting accident.  We did finally get air conditioning for our upcoming summer.

April was a much better month than the latter as we met Brad and Tiana our new ward friends.  Evonne flew into SLC and ran a marathon and Danno started to become a regular at the Thorup boys' Man Night.

May was a big month for our friamily (friend family)!  Ian got a girlfriend.

June was a monumental month as Scott and RoquesAnn got married and we apparently got pregnant! Ian and Lindsay also decided they were getting married.

July is our favorite month since we found out on the 13th that we are expecting a lil' baby!  We also celebrated our 3 year anniversary.  My sister Julie had her sweet baby Andrew and Evonne and family made their yearly trek to Utah.

August brought wonderful friends and memories.  Danno turned the big TWO-FIVE and we had an awesome weekend when some converts from his mission surprised us.  We love the Cookes.  They are our heroes. We told our families we were pregnant and the Cookes were able to share that experience with us.  We also found out that Rand and Kim are expecting baby #4.  We also finally found Dr. Nebeker to fix Yuki. We also got to meet our baby doctor- Dr. Terry and were able to see baby and baby's heartbeat.  So sweet. Also, baby EZ was born-surprise!

September made us realize how old we are.  Danno had been home from his mission for four years, it was the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.

October was lovely as Ian and Lindsay got married.  I was a bridesmaid and barely fit my four-month belly into the bridesmaids dress. We also found out that baby is a BOY and we went to St. George with the Champs as our anniversary present.  We saw The Little Mermaid at Tuachaun and it was awesome!

November was humbling as we joined together as a family.  Jonelle found some lumps and causes for concern but thankfully we found out they are not cancerous.  Phew!

And now here we are in December, 28 weeks pregnant, Yuki's leg is finally healed, many friends married, many babies on the way in our family, we have our health, and we feel so grateful for the ways the Lord has blessed our little family.  Sending much love!

Love,

Daniel, Janelle, Yuki and baby boy

"Hit Me Baby One More Time" -Britney Spears

26 weeks.
I'm feeling very pregnant these days.  This morning I realized touching my toes is harder than it once was.  Luckily, I'm in the great part of my pregnancy.  My emotions are fairly leveled off, I'm not swollen yet, I feel like myself, I can eat, and things aren't too smelly.  Also, baby is so very wiggly.  Two days ago I was worried because I hadn't really felt him move much.  I told Danno I was worried and he consoled my poor little heart and we included baby C in our prayers that night.  Twas' not hours later that baby C was kicking up a storm.  Since then, he has not stopped moving and has taken to kicking my bladder as a fun little game. (I'm glad you are okay in there lil' guy-but ease up on that new game) I'm also fairly sure that he had hiccups too.  So fun, so freaky, so soon.  14 more weeks until we are legit padres.  That's cray-cray (reference taken from Penny on "Happy Endings."  Great show.  Watch it.)

Announcing...

a sweet little baby boy.

we love our little man.

we are so happy you are coming in 20 more weeks.

D.A.C

I love this boy.
Seriously.

Good looking, hard working, understanding, loving, manly man- you are the bomb.