What's Been happening with the California Camplese Family?

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May 2008 - September 2008

No Updates

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April 2008

21 April 2008

The Family - We've had alot going on over the past few months. We had visits from Grandma Ella Camplese, Our friend Brian Miller, My Ashtabula Harbor High School classmate Andrea (Culver) Johnson and her family, and my niece Stacey with her daughter Aleah. We've had some good times with good friends and great times with family but it's been in the middle of alot of hard work. That's the reason the web page doesn't get updated as regularly as it used to. It's hard to make time to write about life when you're busy living it. Now it's time for our family updates:

Anthony - He's been starting to put complete sentences together. He's also starting to defend himself. Warning: Watch out for his big right hook. He's a big boy for 2 1/2 years and is now tall enough to ride some of the roller coasters at Disneyland. He's such a sweet kid and loves his chocolate milk. He probably has 3 glasses of chocolate milk each day. Some of his favorite sayings are...."Look at this mess!", "Mommy, Monster House!" (asking to have his favorite movie Monster House played), "Ashley hurt me....kiss it." and of course when asking him to say sorry to anyone, no matter who it is, he states, "Sorry Ashley." He is attending a class called Messy Muddy Hands & Toes every Friday with our good friend Miss Shannon and is really getting into doing the craft projects. This is a class that Ashley did before she started Pre-School and Lori did it when she was this age too! Anthony's starting to find interest in potty training and is starting to get on the toilet and try. We're hoping for this to come quickly as his diapers have increased faster than the inflation rate!

Ashley - She's in preschool and is still using her sweet little smile to warm her daddy's heart. She could probably get just about anything she wants with the right smile. Ashley's now 4 1/2 years old but we decided it's best to wait another year before starting her in kindergarten. She's been having fun laying out in the sun with Lori as they're working on their California girl tans. According to Lori it's all about who can be tanner faster. Fortunately with that Italian blood, Ashley's always going to win - but shhhhh, don't tell Lori because she keeps trying. Ashley's had TONS of fun this spring with her cousin Aleah here. (That's her new name, because Ashley never called her Aleah, always called her "Cousin Leah".) Anyway, they played the whole time and had alot of fun! Ashley was really sad to see her leave.

Lori - Sophomore Lori has been havng fun with school, church, and friends. She's a texting champion on her Razor phone. Betwen her phone, her myspace web page, her friends, and hobbies she keeps busy. Now if we could just find a few minutes to do our chores!

Shannon - Super mom! She's still helping out in Ashley's class at school (it's a co-op, parent participation pre-school) and helping out in Anthony's class at church. She now has over 7 customers she's selling items on eBay for; every little bit helps with our monthly bills. She's still hosting Monday night bible study in our home with our church, Creekside Christain Fellowship, having Bunco parties every month and running two different book clubs. Outside of all the this, she tries to keep the kids busy every day, attempts to go to Disneyland once a week or so, cleans the house, gardens in our yard, etc., etc., She's wondering how she ever found time before to get anything done....Oh and she's constantly looking around for her head because it's fallen off and she can't seem to find where she put it! If you can help with ideas on where to look, please let us know!

Charles - I've been bowling my head off! Maybe my head has landed next to Shannon's. I shot a 714 (238 average) and a 734 (244 average) this past weekend. I can't put a finger on why I'm bowling better these days but maybe my wisdom is catching up with my beauty. I've been exercising consistently for over a month now and getting the body back in shape. I'm motivated by the TV show "The Biggest Loser Couples". I'm running 2 or 3 times a week and averaging about 10 to 15 miles per week. I've also been doing some light weight lifting and basketball about once a week.

I've also been working around the yard for the past few weekends. With the help of some friends (Brian, Andy, and Joel) I poured over 50 feet of concrete and the following 2 weeks with the help of my kids I installed a brick sidewalk on the other side of our home. I also am still putting in time working on computers that need repaired and I currently have a stack of them under my desk. Not to mention this web page! I have one more 2008 family photo page to make and a dedication page for Rylee. I'll have those up in the next couple weekends.

The best news we received this past week was that I was offered a job by W.L. Ross to continue employment with Option One. Our new company name will be AHMSI. American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. (Servicing at a higher power)

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February 2008 - March 2008

No Update

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January 2008

Would you please pray for our Ohio family as our niece Stacey’s daughter was found passed away in her crib January 30th. Her name was Rylee and she was 5 months old. We’re asking for prayers for Rylee, Stacey, and our entire family during this difficult time.

This precious baby girl is now safe in the loving arms of our Father in heaven!

Click here for Rylee's Picture!

We love you Rylee,

Charles, Shannon, Lori, Ashley, & Anthony Camplese

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December 2007

9 December 2007

The Camplese family has been very busy over the past few months. We've settled into our new home in Tustin very nicely. We've done a few minor upgrades here and there but really it's been a "move-in-ready" home for us. We've already celebrated 4 birthdays here too. Lori is now 15, Ashley 4, Anthony 2, and Charles 39. We'd love to be updating this web page more but we've been really busy living life rather than writing about it. I knew we had to have a holiday/Christmas update though.

Anthony - He's been a blast as he learns about and explores our world. He's talking up a storm and enjoys his pre-preschool classes. He's turning out to be a tough little kid since his bigger sister Ashley pushes him around a bit. I keep warning her that one day he'll be bigger than her. He loves to climb on everything and then falls off too. He got a real kick out of his 2nd birthday when everyone was singing to him and looking at him. He's now 30 pounds and growing like a weed. Lately he's been punishing Lori. He likes to tell her to get off the computer and go to her room. He then starts counting, "1---, 2---, 3---!"

Ashley - She turned 4 in August and loves dressing up as a princess. She's now 40 pounds and tall enough to ride most of the roller coasters at Disneyland. She loves Splash Mountain and the Matterhorn the most. She's in preschool but still a couple years away from Kindergarten. She had her first holiday program last week and was really cute singing Christmas songs with the other kids. She got a Disney princess Bicycle for her 4th Birthday and loves riding it around. Before we know it the training wheels will come off. Ashley's still Daddy's little girl and loves playing the part as she can turn a smile into a frown in a simple second. She also loves going to church and playing with her "My Little Pony's". She can't wait for Santa to come to our home and she wants every toy she sees on TV.

Lori - She's now 15 and getting way to close to driving age. We're trying to figure out a way to slow her aging down but she'll be 16 before we know it. She's now a Sophomore and spends alot of time with her youth group at Creekside Church. She's also got A's & B's in all of her classes so far this year. Great Job Lori!

Shannon - Super mom! She's been helping out in Ashley's class at school and helping out in Anthony's class at church. She's now got 5 customers she's selling eBay items for and has our entire home decorated for Christmas. Next week she'll be making our annual holiday sugar cookies and her Dad and brothers are coming to town for the holidays. It's gonna get crowded around here but it's all for the family. On top of all of that she's in 2 book clubs and has read over 50 books this year. Shannon did however decide to stop selling jewelry so now we're wiping out her jewelry stock. She's also hosting her weekly Bible Study in our home every Monday night and doing BUNCO every month.

Charles - I've been spending every single minute I can with my family but have been working alot to try and keep the family budget in line. It's not fun but it seems no one is willing to pay my bills for me. :) I still enjoy bowling every week and am currently averaging 197. My PC Doctor business has been doing pretty good and I'm starting to get alot of referrals. I'm still working at Option One Mortgage in the IT department but it's been a tough year. We've laid off alot of good people and I've seen friends an coworkers I've known for years get released. It's one of the toughest things I've ever been through.

Click here to see a new Video of Pumpkin scratching her back outside from October 2002.

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August 2007 - November 2007

No Updates

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July 2007

We've been a busy family over the past few months. The item that's kept us busiest is that we finally located a home we liked enough AND that we fit into. So we're back in Tustin, CA again. We found a great 4 bedroom ranch style home just 2.5 miles away from where we lived in Irvine and very close to the old Marine Corp Air Station Tustin I was stationed on for 5 years. We think we've finally found a place we can call home for many years to come. Here's a quick picture of our new home and click here to see a tour of our new pad!

Family Updates:

Anthony - He's been having a blast in our new home. He has lots of new rooms to explore, a yard to play in, and lots of trouble to find. His biggest news is that he's out of the crib and into a bed with the move into his new room. He's on the bottom Bunk while Ashley moved to the top bunk. Believe it or not Anthony will be 2 years old already on August 20th! Time Flies!!!

Ashley - She's been such a great little helper with our new home. She's always willing to go outside with Daddy to do yard work, sweep the side walk, or wash the cars! She especially likes sweeping the side walk because she loves to race down the driveway in her big wheel motorcycle and across the front sidewalk.
Ashley loves sleeping on the top bunk of her bed and tells everyone she has a new home and says she's 3 or 4 years old, depending on her mood.
Ashley is also about to start pre-school in September.

Lori - She's on summer vacation and has been in Louisiana for the past week with our church group repairing a damaged home from the Katrina floods. She's also been having a good time and creating life long memories down there. We also received word that she gave her life to Christ and became a believer while down there. Helping people thru GOD can be a life changer!
Click here to read the latest on Lori's trips and the Katrina team's efforts. (Katrina Team Updates!)

Shannon - eBay queen A.K.A. Power seller with 100% positive feedback - look her up on ebay, her seller name is shannon192618. Shannon's been extremely busy around the house. She's reorganized and packed us in without skipping a beat. She says she has four big boxes of things to sell on eBay thanks to our move and we've had more friends bring stuff for her to sell for them. Remember, "Your trash is another man's treasure!" and now sing, "E-B-A-Y-Dot-Com"

Charles: I've been so busy I can't find time to update this web site. Shannon thinks I play too many games! Maybe I do! :) I've been having a blast and enjoying life! Work! Work! Work! Raise Kids! Move House! Bowl (Now averaging 200) and fix computers. It's a cycle that's non stop and I love every second of it. Now, if I could just find a way to sleep more than 3.5 hours in a row!

Extended Family Updates:

Ella Camplese: Grandma Ella had another back surgery and is recovering well.

Lois Hayes: Grandma Lois retired from Nutrilite and is enjoying her freedom to do as she chooses. Congrats on your retirement Lois!

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May 2007 - June 2007

No Updates

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April 2007

April 1, 2006

Time for a family update! We've been really busy with day to day stuff. Alot has happened but I'll try to catch you up to date on each of us!

Anthony - He's 20 months old now and growing molars. We know because they're piercing threw his mouth and he's been really irritable lately.

Anthony is such a funny kid. He loves to play "Peek-A-Boo", play in water, and playing with his trains. He especially likes to climb on the play ground toys, tables, and the air conditioning unit. I guess you could say he likes to climb on anything he can! He runs around saying, "What you do?" It rolls out as one word spoken, "Whatchoodo? I think he learned this from us! We're always trying to figure out what he's guilty of! He is also singing "It's a small world" all the time! He's such a good natured kid and can bring a smile to anyone's face. Click here to see a video of Anthony destroying our 100 story tower!

Ashley - She's 3 1/2 years old now. She enjoys taking toys from her brother, manipulating her father, and driving her mother nuts! She is such a cutey! She regularly uses her facial expressions to emphasize her point.

Ashley has been going to speech classes and other hobby, craft, and athletic classes. She's been active on the computer and loves to do just about anything fun. She especially loves Disneyland. Mommy takes Ashley and Anthony to Disneyland every week to ride a couple rides! She potty trained herself overnight. She said to Shannon, "No more diapers!" and just quit wearing them immediately. So far she's been accident free!

Lori - She's been active in her church group and making a bunch of new friends. She's joined a group with the church that's planning a trip in July to New Orleans to help rebuild a damaged home from Hurricane Katrina. She's trying to raise $1,350 to go. If you'd like to donate and help her cause please e-mail me here for our address so you can send a check! I think she's raised close to $800 so far! Aside from church Lori's been adapting to high school life and the changes that come with it!

Uncle Mike -We sent him a picture of the warm palm trees in California to brag about the heat wave we were having and he sent this picture back from Ohio saying it wasn't that cold there either! Heck, he didn't even need a shirt!

Shannon - Happy Birthday Shannon! She's no fool but April 1st is her birthday. She's a happy 29 again! I won't tell you how old she really is but I will tell you she's a happy 29 + 6. Shannon's been extremely busy with her LBD business (LBD = Little Black Dress) It's a jewelry multi-level and she's been pretty successful with it so far. If you'd like to check out the web site click here but then you'll need to e-mail Shannon (Here) so she can forward the log on information to browse the catalog. She's also been busy selling almost everything we own on ebay. She's now a powerseller! Click here to browse to her eBay account and bookmark her as your favorite seller! :) No one is allowed to get mad at us if you see any gifts you gave us selling on eBay. Especially if we get more for it than you originally paid! Shannon's also been busy just being mom! She spends her days taking the kids to various classes, play dates, & church activities. She's also running a monthly book club and a Bunco club. When they get together they go nuts and all I hear is women screaming "BUNCO!"

Charles - I've been busy doing just about everything under the sun. I was just promoted to team lead of the Build & Deploy Team at work and have been pushing hard to balance (work, life, physical fitness, spirituality, & family) I'm always trying to do as much as I can during each day and then play my games at night! I'm still addicted to Age of Empires - War Chiefs. I play it with my brother Mike (in Ohio) and my friend Deron (in Iowa.) My bowling team "Rolling Thunder" won the last season of bowling in a 34 team league and I've been averaging about 200 for the past couple months. One of my hidden passions in life is wood working. I've always loved cutting and making things out of boards. I took (4) 8' 4X1 boards and made the kids 200 building blocks to play with. (200 to match my bowling) They have a blast building little structures and knocking down the big ones I build for them. We just can't have enough toys. Everyone thinks I'm spoiling the kids with these toys but I'm just getting more for me to play with! :) Below are some pictures of me cutting the blocks and then the kids playing with them. I hope to update this web page more often but it seems to be more of a quarterly thing these days! Hope to hear from you all soon!

Click here to see a video of Anthony destroying this 100 story tower!

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January 2007 - March 2007

No Updates

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December 2006

December 17, 2006

Merry Christmas from the California Camplese Family! We wanted to take a moment to share happy season's greetings to you and your family. We finally got around to taking our annual Christmas photo yesterday so I wanted to post it and share it with you as soon as possible. We'll be sending our Christmas cards this week too. Unusual for us to wait so long but we've been really busy this year!

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November 2006

Ashley - Ashley's growing like a weed. She's 3 years old now and loves getting into everything. She's becoming a very polite little girl. She always says, "Please & Thank You & You're Welcome!"

Lori - Lori's in high school and has already adjusted to the change from Jr. High. She has a bunch of new friends at school and at the new church we've been going to the past 6 months. It's called Creekside church in Irvine, CA. She's also been attending the Dynasty Cheer Academy to gain experience so she can qualify for the cheer squad at her high school. (Tryouts are in March 2007!)

Charles - I've been keeping busy from one project to another. I've taken on more responsibilities at Option One which has redirected my professional life dramatically. I've become the team lead for the Hardware Build & Deploy team. We're basically responsible for deploying and moving all laptops, PC's, Printers, and Scanners for the whole company. It's my understanding we'll be deploying the servers soon too. Then in the evening I'm either being Super Dad or I'm working as the PC Doctor! The hours tick by so fast and I try to cram in as much as I can. When I have a moment for myself I've been Playing Microsoft's Age of Empires III - War Chiefs!

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July 2006 - October 2006

No Updates

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June 2006

Ashley - Ashley is such a good big sister. She plays with Anthony, bathes with Anthony, and watches after Anthony. (For the most part) She is talking more than ever and amazes us with her growing vocabulary. She just tear my heart up when I tell her I have to go to work and she looks at me, grabs my leg, and says, "No Work! - No Work!"

Lori - She has graduated middle school and will be a freshman in just a couple months! She usually doesn't like the pictures I put up here of her but she finally gave me clearance to share her "my space" web site. If you'd like to view it click here (Lori's My Space) If you have a site and want to add her as one of your friends you can find her via her email address. Send an email to me first (Click Here), and I'll send her email address to you. We just want to be sure you are a friend or family member before we give out her email address.

Shannon - She's been taking the kids out to all the Irvine parks and walking about 4 miles a day. She's lost nearly 10 lbs. over the past month and is really motivated to keep exercising. All this hot California weather helps because you don't want to be cooped up in a house during it. She found a pre-school for Ashley and we'll probably start using it in a few months.

Charles - I've been working on web pages. :) Pretty much doing my normal list of things. Work, computers, basketball, bowling, and playing with the kids. It's all part of my life balance plan. I just wish I didn't have to sleep so I could get more done. I finally took the time to generate a new picture page. (Click here to see it.) I'm planning on taking a few days off (here and there) so I can spend some extra time with the kids over the summer.

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May 2006

May 21,2006

Anthony - He's growing like a weed and starting to say "Momma" and "Da Da". He can crawl at over 40 MPH and pulls himself up on everything. I'm sure by my next update he'll be walking. He turned 9 Months old today and has his 2 bottom middle teeth poking out about an eighth of an inch now. He is such a cutie, errr, I mean stud! With those blue eyes and blonde hair he'll fit in to California with ease.

Ashley - She's been so much fun! We take her to church on Sunday and then go straight to Disneyland for a couple hours. She rides Daddy's shoulders and sings, "It's a small world after all!" Every evening after work we all go for a walk around the complex and Ashley knows where every Spider, Cat, Dog, Kid, Toy, and Household is that offers a free sucker. After dinner we all go outside to play for about 30 minutes. She's been riding her tricycle but doesn't like to use her feet on it. I bought her a big wheel type toy and myself a Green Machine so we can drive around and race. HAAA! I finally got a Green Machine! My parents would never get me one as a kid!

Okay, so Ashley comes wondering in the room complaining of having a dirty diaper! After further inspection it wasn't poop in her diaper it was this lizard. It might look small in the picture but with the tail included it was over 12" long! Now that's some scary poop!

Lori - She's all about fashion and friends. She's all signed up for High School! Sniff Sniff! She'll be a freshman at Irvine High School in just a few months. She's about to graduate middle school next month and then its summer vacation. She'll be turning 14 in August. She's been working on her tan now that the days are getting long and hot. We're all getting a bit darker but no one can keep up with Ashley. Ashley's all Italian!

Shannon - Shannon is the vice president of membership for an Irvine area Mom's Club and has been getting to know alot of ladies with children our age in the area. They all get together just about every day and do long walks for exercise in the mornings and then finish up at one of the local play grounds so all the kids can play together. Irvine just revamped all the play grounds so they are really awesome to play on now. I remember being excited when I was a kid because we got a set of monkey bars at the grade school. Man these kids are lucky!

Charles - I've been one busy dude! Let me count the stays! Have you wondered why I haven't updated the web page lately? Because I've been busy! Here's where I've been over the past 2 months:
1) Sterling, VA
2) Columbus, OH
3) Pittsburgh, PA
4) Atlanta, GA
5) Frisco, TX (Dallas)
6) Bellevue, WA (Seattle)

I did all this travel for my company OOMC as we were merging branches around the nation. I averaged 12 to 16 hour days at each of these locations and hardly got to see the sun! It was tiring in alot of ways but it was exciting to be a part of making so many locations better. My company really took the time to not just merge these area branches with other branches but to make them better technology wise.

OK, so outside of work for Option One I've been working on the side for Calico. It's a company that provides building services for other companies. I've been acting as their IT guy and bringing them up to date with today's technologies. It's been neat doing this work because I'm getting exposed to areas of IT I don't normally get exposed to like installing surveillance systems and hub closet work. It's just a short term gig but it's opened my eyes that there is more work out there for me and alot of small companies that can benefit from my skills. We just need to find each other.

Personal life, hmmmm, that's a tough one because I haven't had it. I invest just about every free moment I have to my kids and Shannon. We try to stay busy with every chance we have. With every hole in the calendar there is Disneyland to fill the void. We try to keep busy doing something for someone all the time. It can be stressful sometimes but when I have all my kids in my arms I'm the happiest guy on earth. We were leaving Disney the other night and I had Anthony in the baby carrier on my chest and Ashley on my shoulders. We were walking really fast, sometimes jogging as we left the park and went to the car. As I passed by people they would be dragging their feet and look at me like I was sick but I had the biggest smile on my face because both of my kids were giggling and we were having fun! I think I seriously could type a book right now of all things we've said and done over the past couple months. I want to put a picture page together so you can see it all. I'll try to find time to do it.

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April 2006

No Updates

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March 2006

March 19, 2006

The big news is over due but Anthony started crawling about 2 weeks ago. He's anxious to get around the house and get into everything he can. Now the cats are freaking out because they have to avoid both him and Ashley. We also have to put the cat food up because Anthony has become a magnet for it. Don't even think about leaving the cat food out when he's crawling around!

Click here for a new picture gallery!

Anthony - He's crawling all over and fighting off the flu everyone got in the house over the past 2 weeks! He's also started pulling himself up on things and standing on his feet. He'll be walking all over before we know it!

Ashley - She's learning how to use the computer now. We've started to fight for time on the PC because she wants to play her games. She's also been sick. She sounds like a dog barking when she coughs. She also surprised us by saying a few complete sentences. The other day she looked at me and clear as day said, "I love you Daddy!" Wow! Caught me off guard but I liked it!

Lori - It turned out she didn't join softball and so far it's paid off as most of the season has been rained out. It just seems to rain on Saturdays around this time of year. She also joined musical theater at her school and is in the Cinderella play this week. This ought to be fun after she missed all of the practices this past week. She had walking pneumonia and was running 102 degrees for 5 days.

Shannon - Shannon says there is nothing new going on for her but I know she's been working her but off with 3 sick kids. I've tried to help her as much as I can but it's not easy when little ones are fussing around.

Charles - I went to Las Vegas to bowl and did average so there were no winnings there. I've also got more travel for my company over the next month with trips to Columbus, OH; Pittsburgh, PA; and Atlanta, GA. I also found a $10 bill on the ground earlier today! Whooo Hooo!

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January & February 2006

No Updates

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December 2006

January 1, 2006

Happy New Year! We had a great Holiday season and a very happy new year too. It's been 2 months since I've updated so I have lots to add to this months entry.

Anthony - He's now over 4 months old (Dec 20th) and is growing like a weed. The doctor told us his size is off the charts for kids his age. He's now 27 1/4" tall and 18 lbs. He started rolling over last week and has now wiggled himself forward about a foot or so. He'll be crawling before we know it and walking in talking too. He is so good natured and kicked back. He barely ever cries or makes a whimper. He is now taking a bottle on occaisions and had his first baby food yesterday.

Ashley - She's been so much fun for us lately. She was witch for Halloween and had alot of fun trick or treating. She would ring people's doorbells and scream, "Come In!" Then after people gave her some candy she would hold up her bucket higher and say, "More!". It was pretty embarrassing but I have to give her credit because it worked. Everyone would say "Ahh, How cute! I have to give her more now!" Hee Hee Hee! I trained her well. Christmas was fun too! She was really in to opening gifts this year but only for a few items and then she would wonder off to play. A few minutes later she would return to open more gifts. She cleaned up on "Winnie The Poo" items and is really into the "Pooster" now.

Lori - She's all signed up for another season of softball. The 13 and older league is a traveling league. She'll play against teams in other cities around the southern California area. It'll be a tough season since she's at the bottom of the age group. I believe they accept all the way up to 16 year olds. Good thing for Lori that she has a great arm and a real hard swing. Lori is into The Sims 2, her new iPod nano, talking on the phone, and her web page on my space dot com. Lori also had a major make over by cutting her hair shoulder length. (You can see it in the 2005 Christmas picture above.)

Shannon - She's been busy with everything (What's new?) She's been taking Ashley to all her pre-pre school classes, raising Anthony (Intermittant sleep), baking holiday goods, throwing Christmas and New Years parties, and played host for 10 days to her dad while he was in town for the holidays. It was good having Grand Pa around for the kids since he lives out of state.

Charles - I've been enjoying the holidays and taking a bit of time off from work. It's been alot of soul searching for me lately wondering where to move forward with my career. It's difficult to make decisions when I know I need to have a career I enjoy and that takes care of my family. I'm still with Option One Mortgage (10 1/2 years now) and I primarily support IT hardware devices. (PC's, Printers, and whatever) I've been managing the national branch and local department moves for 4 years now. This leads me to consider Project management as a future. (We'll see!) My new skill is Mr. Sand Man as I'm the one to get Anthony to sleep all the time. He especially like to fall asleep to the game Red Alert. I still baby Ashley all the time and I've voluntered to be a softball coach for Lori's new softball team if they need me. (I'm sure they probably will) If I coach it will be my 5th season and I'm just a couple years away from Ashley starting the whole cycle again! Whooo Hooo! Oh, by the way, I guess I should mention that I shaved my head to just a quarter inch of hair. Just enjoying short hair for a while.

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November 2005

No Updates

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October 2005

October 30, 2005

Time fly's when it comes to updating this web page! Seems like I just did it. At the same time alot has happened since I updated it. Here's the family updates.

Anthony - He's now over 9 weeks old and starting to show real signs of life. He can hold his head up and look around. He also has the cutest smile when you make him laugh. He likes it when Lori and Ashley dance around in front of him or when ever he see's his mommy or daddy he brightens up with happiness.

Ashley - She turned 2 on October 8th and she gets smarter every day. I can place all the animals in front of her and say where's the "Camel" Ashley and she knows which is which. She likes to Dance to the song "Axel F" from the Beverly Hills Cop movies.

Lori - She's been wrapped up in all of her school work and has been trying harder to get better grades this year. (So far so good!) She just got an A++ her book jacket for English. Sometimes she gets overwhelmed with all of her friends but is getting really good at balancing it all out. She's also about to start Cheer Leading classes in her P.E. class in preparation to become a High School cheer leader. She says she wants to take interior designing at school with her friend and wants to become an interior designer for homes.

Shannon - She's been enjoying being a mother and per the usual is doing a great job in keeping our home and family clean and happy. She's happy not being pregnant and has started walking and exercizing again. The kids keep her busy all the time though.

Charles - I've been filling in the blanks. I try to help out as much as I can when I'm home. The routine doesn't give many breaks. I think Shannon and I do a pretty good job at keeping balance for all of our children and some time for ourselves in there occaisionally. We have decided that in 4 1/2 years on our 10 year wedding anniversary we're going to take a 1 week vacation some where without the kids. I'm leaning towards Tahiti. :) Anyway, I spend my day working, my evening helping with the kids, and my night playing on the computer.

Web Site - I plan on making a picture page but there are tons of pictures to sort though. I may just make a small one and then add another after Halloween. I'm not sure what I'll do but all 3 kids have costumes so I know I'll want to get pictures of them up here.

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September 2005

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August 2005

August 23, 2005

We're excited to announce the birth of Anthony Charles Camplese. Here's his full story! At the end of last year we decided we better move soon because we wanted to have one more child. In January of this year we were moving into our new home when Shannon kept complaining about not feeling well. We didn't really think it was possible but she was already pregnant. We spent that last 6 months preparing and once again with this child as with Lori and Ashley the doctor couldn't tell what sex the baby was. Since we've heard this story before we just assumed it must be another girl. (Story continued below...)

Friday night August 19th we were invited to attend the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim game VS the Boston Red Sox. The Angels took the game into extra innings but lost it in the top of the 10th inning. We enjoyed the after game fire works show and walked to our car. All that booming and then all of that walking must have had an affect on Anthony because a few hours later (2:38 AM to be exact) I was awaken by Shannon saying my water just broke. After a bizarre twist of tests (They claimed that Shannon's water hadn't broke yet). They made Shannon walk around the hospital at 4 in the morning in total pain to see if anything changed. They finally admitted her after she nearly colapsed in pain and they had determined that her water had indeed broke. That the entire time she was walking around she no longer had that water cushion in her to buffer the baby and the pain. Alot of pain and a few hours later they finally gave Shannon the epidural. (Story continued below...)

At 10:36 AM August 20th Anthony was confirmed born. Anthony shares the same birth date as former 23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison born in 1833. He is named after my father (Anthony Carmen Camplese) that passed away in December of 2001. Here's the name link, all with my dad's initials of A.C.C.
Anthony Carmen Camplese (my father)
Ashley Carmen Camplese (my 2nd daughter)
Anthony Charles Camplese (my 1st and only son named after my dad and me)

Anthony has been getting used to his new surroundings and his 2 sisters that can't get enough of him. Ashley keeps screaming "BABY!", then goes up to him and gives him hugs and kisses.

We're all happy to have Anthony here now and our family is complete. No more kids for us. We're going to spend the next 18 years raising these 3 beautiful children. And they can keep the California Camplese name and family growing!

Click here for a picture page of Anthony after being born.

August 7, 2005

We've had a really busy and fun month. After out trip to Hawaii we went to Ohio for Jill's wedding. It was great seeing all of our east coast family.

While in Ohio we went to Niagara Falls and then the next day we went down to Kings Island Amusement Park. As usual we brought cousin Stephanie with us. Lori and Stephanie had alot of fun together. The theme of the day was NO FEAR!

Ashley is enjoying her final days as the baby in the family. She is officially in her terrible two's even though she hasn't reached two yet. She likes to climb on everything and she does whatever she can to make sure no one realaxes too much.

This will be my last update with out the new baby included. Shannon is due in the next 2 to 3 weeks. It's a good thing for us that Ashley has kept us in shape for the sleepless nights! It doesn't matter though, we are excited to have another new baby in our lives. We don't know the sex of the baby yet but here are the names we selected unless we have a last minute change of mind. Boy - Anthony Charles Camplese | Girl - Emily Rose Camplese. As much as I fought with Shannon she won't let me name the baby Charles Version 1.3. Can't wait to post the next update with new baby pictures!

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July 2005

July 4, 2005

OK, for everyone that's always saying where are the updates? They're here, they're just on vacation. We rescently went to Hawaii on a business trip and I have tons of new pictures to post from Hawaii but I'm about to leave for Ohio for my niece Jill's wedding. I'll have a bunch more pictures from there too. Anyway, I'll try to put some sort of an update on the page when I return from Ohio and I'll make a new picture page sometime in July. I've got vacationing to do now! :)

Ashley is speaking combo words, is forming her last set of teeth for a complete set of teeth, and starts a swimming class in a couple weeks. She's as cute as ever.

Lori's enjoying summer vacation and making plans for her Birthday Party. I guess we're celebrating it a month early so her best friend Allysa can attend it. Her best friend is moving to Texas this summer so she's really upset about that. Her former best friend moved to Oklahoma a couple years ago. :(

Shannon is now 8 months pregnant and is ready to pop. She's still on bed rest but we have a hard time keeping her down. She's always got an agenda and is always up to something productive.

I've been focusing on work alot lately. We've realligned our team which is slightly modifying the type of work and the way I work. I also had to go to Hawaii to move the branch. Everyone says, "Poor You!" :) But considering I really didn't want to go it was kinda bogus but we did have a good time out there. That's the 4th time I've gone to Hawaii for free. Pretty cool eh! Now I'm finally taking a vacation and I'm headed to Ohio with Lori to attend Jill's wedding. Lori and I are planning on going to Niagara Falls and down to Kings Island Amusement Park. We ought to have fun out there. Lori can't wait to see all of her cousins again. Oh and my new toy is a nice new Canon Digital camera the Canon Powershot S2 IS. Here's some info on it from DPReview.com. I recommend this site if your're ever in the market for a new digital camera or camcorder. One last note, it's about bowling, I shot a 653 last week and have moved my average to 190. I've been on a nice little hot streak lately! :)

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June 2005

No Updates

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May 2005

May 2, 2005

Wow, The Long Awaited Update! Do I have alot to share this month? Sure do! We've done so much it's hard to figure where to start. I guess by saying I finally took a vacation. It was nice to get a week off over spring break and spend more time with my family. My mom (Ella Camplese) came out to California to spend the week with us too. We all had a great time together and did alot of things but in order for it all to happen we had to go out and buy a new car. We traded in out 2000 Honda Accord and purchased the new 2005 Ford Freestyle. It's a beautiful car that seats seven. We went all out on this car (Kinda by accident) I wanted a silver colored car. Shannon wanted a moon roof, Lori wanted leather seats, and Ashley wanted a DVD player with wireless headsets. Mix it all together with the Volvo frame having a 5 star safety rating and a family that needed more space to hold all the kids and grandmas and you have our new Freestyle. Pictures of our new car and much more are included within the new April picture page I made. Enjoy!

This month's family updates:
Guest Family Update - Grandma Ella had a fun time with us in California, she spent alot of time just hanging out with us, playing cards, or enjoying the great California weather. She also enjoyed going to San Diego Sea World, the Orange County Swap Meet, and attending the theatrical version of The Lion King with Lori and Lois (California Grandma) All pictured below. Ashley was so upset she wasn't in the picture we had to take another with her in it.

Ashley has been so much fun for us while being a huge bundle to handle. She was getting so spoiled having 2 grandmas around for 10 days, seeing all the animals and sites, and watch DVD's in the new car. It's amazing how a simple hypnotic device (DVD Player) hooked up in the back of a vehicle can make a long trip seem so short for the kids. (And Me) :) Right after Grand Ella left we bought Ashley an outdoor play-house. She has so much fun playing in there and talking on her very own phone. We even catch Lori playing in there every once in a while! It doesn't matter how much she plays or what she's doing these days every other word from her mouth is "Daddy" or "Da Da" She has been such a daddy's girl lately. Here's a picture of her sneaking in to my arms and sneaking a little nap. She small, cute, and cuddly and is full or kisses and hugs. You're a lucky person if she gives you one!

Lori has been enjoying her 2005 softball season. There are only a couple weeks left and her team is in the running to win it all. We have 3 games to play this week that decide their fate. No matter where they finish the season they'll be in the playoffs and have a good enough team to win it all. I'm just lucky enough to be her coach. It's such a pleasure getting to share this with her. I've also found out she plays better with bribes. I offered to her the chance to go to Hawaii with me in June if my company sends me as long as she keeps playing hard and has a good attitude through the rest of the season. Ever since that bribe she's been an MVP. There are some funny pictures of Lori and her friend Alyssa from our Lancaster trip. The wind was so bad when we got to Lancaster that Shannon, Ashley and the Grandmas wouldn't get out of the car but we went running up the hill and took some Super Girl pictures! All in the April picture page. We went up to Lancaster to see the Poppy fields. It was too bad the winds ruined the trip but it wouldn't have mattered much because it turned out the poppy fields weren't that impressive.

Shannon has been enjoying her new Freestyle. Look up in the sky! It's not a car! It's not a mini-van! It's The Ford Freestyle. It kind of looks like a super station wagon. We call it the family Truckster from the movie Vacation. Ok so it's not as ugly as the truckster but it sure is big. The darn thing barely fits in our garage. Shannon misses her old car but loves this new one too. Shannon has been busy taking Ashley to her 2 college courses and teaching Ashley all kinds of new tricks. She is 5 months pregnant now and having alot of pain from this pregnancy. I keep telling her, "Just think, only 4 more months and 8 more babies to go!" : ) It never seems to make her smile. She's going to be happy to get this baby out her because it really has been a painful pregnancy. We still don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl. I guess we'll know at the end of August!

I have been having a blast doing all the things I love the most. Spending time with Shannon and the kids, playing sports and playing computer games. My bowling team took 9th in the Storm National Team Tournament for the Orange County area and my basketball team plays for the league championship next Tuesday night. That would be neat to win because I've never won a basketball trophy. I think I'd trade a few of my bowling trophies for a basketball trophy. Two week s ago we were short handed against another team and we had no substitutions for the entire game. It was 5 vs. 9 and I won the game for our team with a Buzzer Beater. With one second left on the clock I tipped in a missed shot to win the game 53 to 51. I call it the Miracle shot. : ) My favorite time though is just doing things with our kids. Lori and I get to go to the ball park 2 or 3 times a week. It works out good for Ashley because the playground here is about the size of a 4 basketball courts side-by-side. She gets to go play on the playground during our softball games. My time with Ashley is amazing. She's probably the main reason it took me so long to update this page. She is on or around me every single minute I'm in the house. Well I hope you enjoyed this months update. Be sure you've looked at our April picture page and I'll see you in a month!

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April 2005

No Updates

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March 2005

Another month bites the dust and the family keeps on keeping on! Ashley has a mouth full of teeth coming in and some are actually straight. She's also got enough hair that she can wear pigtails (Pictured Below) and she can wear a pony tail and other cute pin up hair things.

Ashley has been really getting spoiled lately. Now that we know we have another child coming we're a bit more open to buying a few things. Helps to know that the small fortune you are spending will be used by more than one of your kids before you give it away for free. With that being said, Ashley has got a new tricycle, a new basketball hoop, and a few new miscellaneous toys. (Especially the ones that dad wants to play with.) Here's a picture of Ashley playing on her new bike. (She loves the bell...., Me too!)

Lori has started playing softball again. This will be her fourth season. She's starting to play alot more positions than in the past. Her team is looking really good and came back from being down 4 to nothing in there first game last week to winning 8 to 6. The girls are really motivated and are having fun playing. Their uniform color is Green and their new team name is Killer Kiwis. Anyway, Lori is playing 1st base, 3rd base, and all over the outfield and she's on a team that's gonna win alot of games this year. If you ever want to track her team and their progress here's the link to their league web page. Also, below is a picture of Lori in her new uniform on the field of dreams! I think this would make a great background for your PC.

Shannon is 4 months pregnant now and starting to show in the belly. She's signed up with Ashley for Ashley's first 2 college courses next semester at Irvine Valley College in which I hope Ashley will start gaining credits towards her Bachelors Degree in Art. Shannon has transposed our house into our home and has started gardening and decorating our mini backyard. It's looking really nice.

I have been busy doing just about everything so where do I start. I went to Las Vegas last weekend for our league bowling sweeps. I didn't bowl bad but I didn't bowl good enough to make a bunch of money. My last game got kind of exciting because I had a Dutch 200 going in to the 10th frame. I blew it though as I struck out for a 220 game. (For those of you that don't know what a Dutch 200 is...) A Dutch 200 is a bowling game where you've thrown alternating strikes and spares all the way across the sheet adding up to 200 pins on the nose.

I'm also coaching Lori's new softball team which take about 3 or 4 nights a week out of my schedule. We have alot of fun out there and it's nice to be able to help these girls get better every day. I really think this team is good enough to make a good playoff run.

My other passion is Basketball, (Gee, Sports are fun!) I'm on the Irvine Mens Basketball league. We have a pretty descent team (3 - 1) and could be headed to the playoffs if we keep this up. It's just a 10 week league but it's fun to get out there and stay in shape while competing with other teams.

I've started construction on Brian Miller's web site for his company called Quality Construction located in Ashtabula, OH. Although I'm gonna give his web site a complete make over, you're very willing to go out there and check it out. Who knows? Maybe he'll build a house for you some day! http://www.qconline.biz/ Enjoy!

As you can see by this web site I'm working on converting it over with a slightly new look. I don't know if I like it but give me an email if you have any opinions.

Before I close out let's talk computers for a minute. I bought and built my new gaming PC. It's a sleek and fast machine that I'll enjoy for at least 3 or 4 years. I have an AMD Athlon 64 4000+ Speed Processor with (2) 34 Gig 10,000 rpm Western Digital Raptor hard drives running in a striped RAID. While the processor and hard drives are impressive, it's the 256mb NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra video card with a gig of Corsair DDR400 3200 RAM (Two 512mb sticks) that makes this PC really rock! I'm gonna have fun with this one. So now that the new PC is built, I can rebuild this web designing PC so I can work on the web page more. I hope you enjoyed this update and I'll see ya in a month!

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February 2005

February 14, 2005

Finally some new home pictures! I had alot of fun putting this photo page together because I took alot of before and after pictures of the different rooms as we upgraded and moved in. It's kind of cool to see the differences and evolutions. Click here to see the latest pictures.

Ashley put us through a scare last week. One night while she was sick her temperature hit 105.1 degrees and we had to call the doctor. A nurse on the phone (at 2:00 AM) walked us through the steps needed to bring her temperature down. It took about 45 minutes for her temp to come down to 103 degrees and we were about 20 minutes from loading her into the car and racing over to the E.R. if her temperature hadn't dropped. Fortunately the next day the Amoxicillin she had been taking for a couple days finally kicked in and she was back to her normal self again. Ashley has been alot of fun lately, she's got a couple new upper teeth and is starting to say some new words and expressions. The funny thing she'll do now is throw something she's holding in her hand onto the ground and then look at us and say, "Ut ooooh!" She's got us all saying , "Ut ooooh!" all day long.

This weekend I'll start as assistant coach again for Lori's new softball team. This will be my 4th year of coaching and Lori's 4th year of softball. Lori is actually getting excited to play again. This past weekend Lori had a fun and extended weekend thanks to another school day off. (She has so many off days) Lori and her best friend Alyssa decided to have roaming sleep-overs. Friday night at Alyssa's and Saturday night here. As you can see by the wacky photo below, those two can be a riot when they get together.

Lori's friends came over to see Lori's new bedroom and home. Maureen (Pictured all the way to the right) brought Chocolate Chip Pie which the girls all got to enjoy.

Shannon and I are still recovering from the ill effects of working too hard after the move. Shannon spent alot of time making our place beautiful and converting it from just being a house to being "Our Home!" She did all this while not feeling well. She's such a trooper! When the kids got sick Shannon and I got to enjoy the post affects of it all. Unfortunately for Shannon, since she's pregnant she's not allowed to have any medications so she had to suffer during her whole sickness. She's not fully recovered yet but she is slowly getting better every day.

Most of my more serious projects around the house are completed now but I still have alot of work to do out in the garage. It's one of my lower priority projects so it'll probably drag out over the next few weeks but I'll get to it. One big project for me was getting this web page updated with the move photos. Nice to have this done now! This past Sunday I spent a couple of hours ripping out a palm tree from the back patio area. (I don't recommend anyone do that!) It was hell getting that thing out of the ground and getting all the roots to let go. After all of that I still managed to get my first 600 series of the season at Tustin Lanes that evening. (This was my first 600 since injuring my thumb playing basketball over 4 or 5 months ago) I had games of 204, 193, & 214 for a 611 series (203 average). My team, Rolling Thunder, has been on a tear lately just mowing over every team we bowl against. If we would've had a better start to the season we might have had a chance to compete for the championship. In any case, you can always see how we're doing by hitting this link. We're Team #7 Rolling Thunder and we're off to Las Vegas the first weekend of March to bowl our leagues sweeps for the season. Maybe I can make some money out there this time! I only made $200 last trip.

If you didn't know, it seemed like owning two homes was just not working for us so we put our Christamon home on the market this past weekend. We had multiple offers proposed to us and are still in negotiations but it looks like we're gonna sell it after only one weekend of being on the market. Our sales rep said our timing was perfect because the supply and demand in the area for homes under 500k is at the highest it's been in over a year. We'll update this story later.

February 6, 2005

Alot has been going on. We'll have to catch everyone up on what they've missed. On January 15th we moved to our new home. We have a new phone number and address, send me an email if you need our updated info pvcamp@cox.net I'll be posting all of our move photos and pictures of our new home as soon as I can.

We found out last week that Shannon is pregnant again. Our family grows. We moved to this home to make room for another baby and wasted no time in filling it. This ought to get interesting this winter. Shannon's is due in the last week of August.

Ashley has been sick all week and had 103 degree temperature today so we'll be taking her to the doctor in the morning. Outside of the current temp she running she has been doing really good. She enjoys her new home and has started to impress us with her brain as she is starting to do and say more things.

Lori starts softball season in 2 weeks and seems really excited about it this season. I'm not sure if I'll be coaching this year but I should know soon.

I traveled to Bellevue, WA for work and then out to Tampa, FL. My company has been keeping me busy. Then we moved out of our old house and I've been working in both the old house and the new house. Funny thing, there always seems to be work for me in one of these houses. Looks like we're going to end up selling the old place though. Finding a renter hasn't happened and we can't afford 2 places without a renter.

Anyway, I have the last set of pictures for 2004 posted here. They're from Christmas day 2004. We'll also have more pictures up as soon as we can. We've got all kinds of pictures of our new home we want to share them with everyone!

February 2, 2005

HELLO! It took us a few weeks to settle in but I'm expecting to have some time to update the web page this weekend. We have a zillion new photos to share of our new home and the experience we went thru moving into it!

Also, for those of you that didn't know.... Shannon has popped positive on the pregnancy test. We're gonna be a mommy & daddy again! : )

Watch for an update email to come!

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January 2005

January 13, 2005

We're moving! Saturday the 15th is the big day. I'll be updating the web site with some of our move pictures, new house pictures, and Christmas pictures once we get settled in. It's been tough to find time to update our web site with all the travel I've done over the past few weeks. I was up in Bellevue, WA for a couple days and I just got back from a five daytrip to Tampa, FL. Hope you're all having a Happy New Year!

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December 2004

December 12, 2004

November was a terrific month. Our new home cleared escrow and we are now proud new owners of this nice 3 bedroom condo/town home. Ashley & Lori will finally have their own rooms until we have the next baby but most importantly we now have the room for the next baby. We move in on Jan 8th!

Grandma Camplese (Ella) came out to California and brought Cousin Stephanie Camplese with her for a Thanksgiving vacation. Lori and Stephanie had a blast all week long. We tried to do as much as we could in one week to show Stephanie around California. The Pacific Ocean, Disneyland, and the shopping malls! : ) Click here for pictures!

Thanks for coming out to California Mom! We all loved seeing you again! Ashley blows you kisses!

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November 2004

November 9, 2004

As usual I have waited until there were tons of new pictures before updating the web page. I've made 1 big picture page with 55 new pictures to enjoy. There are pictures from Lori's Birthday party & Ashley's Birthday Party. There are also some pictures of some of the projects Shannon and I have done around the house. Click here for the new pictures!

The Camplese Family at Knott's Berry Farm

So here's some of the news I teased about. Shannon is off the pill! That's right, allowing nature to take it's course we are opening up for child #3 (The Final Chapter) 3's company and we can't, wait to send out news of a pregnancy in the months to come. More news to read down the page!

Ashley with remote control rocking in her new rocking chair! (Click here to see Ashley rocking out!)

This rocking chair was given to Charles when he was a baby from his Great Aunt Alma. (Grandma Ella Camplese's, Uncle Charles's wife) She was given it when she was a little girl back in the 1910 - 1920 time frame. Jim Whalen, (As in Toni Lou & Jim) refurbed it for me when I was a kid and now Ashley loves it! She sits and climbs in it every day. Rocking back and forth while enjoying an icy cold bottle of whole milk.

So, you want more news! Here goes! Shannon and I have placed an offer on a second home. If everything goes well in escrow we will be moving a couple miles down the road into a 3 bedroom townhome just after the New Year! I'll post some pictures of it when I get some. : )

The girls had a good October! Ashley really enjoyed exploring this large pumpkin patch with her sister and trick-or-treating was a blast walking up to all the doors and grabbing their candy! Be sure to see our latest pictures and see their scary costumes.

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October 2004

Lori officially confirmed to me the other day that I am getting old! We were watching TV when we saw that "Rocky 3" was on. I said to Lori,"This is a good movie, he's fighting Mr. T."

Lori saw Mr. T and said, "You mean the 1-800 C-O-L-L-E-C-T dude?"

OUCH!

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September 2004

September 26, 2004

Every few days or so I get more pictures ready to post. Here's the next set of pictures from our vacation to the east coast. The first set is from the Causeway in Pymatuning, PA & the second set is from our King Family Reunion in Ashtabula, Ohio.

The Causeway, located in Pymatuning, PA, is a breeding ground for fish & game. There are several wild life recovery centers, museums, and preserves. When you visit the Causewway there are so many *Carp that you could walk on them. I have a video of us feeding the Carp (Click Here) and a set of pictures from the Causeway (Click Here.)

*Carp - Pronunciation (kärp) n. pl. carp or carps
1. An edible freshwater fish (Cyprinus carpio) of Europe and Asia that is frequently bred in ponds and lakes.
2. Any of various fishes of the family Cyprinidae.

King Family Reunion

This is my last picture posting from our trip to the east coast and it's from my mom's side of the family. The King family Reunion. For all of you reading this and that attended the reunion we were really happy to see you. Since the reunion I've had time to reflect on it all and I can't believe how much time has past since I moved to California. We certainly don't get to see each other enough. In the future, we'll do our best to make it to the reunions but it's likely to be every other year or two. I hope that our families continue to grow and stay close with each other. (Click Here) to enjoy the 45 pictures I've posted from The King Family Reunion.

September 21, 2004

Just a quick note to say hi to everyone! I'm now posting the bulk of our Ohio pictures here. I still have pictures to add from our trip to Pymatuning OH/PA and all of our family pictures from the King family reunion.

September 16, 2004

Yes it's true, I knew I had to get some pictures done. I literally have about 300 pictures to go thru and prep for this web page. I'll filter it down but it's still gonna take some time. Anyway, I've got a batch ready to hit the web page now. I'm starting with our Florida trip pictures. Before we went to Ohio last month we spent 5 days in Florida. Here are some of the pictures! Thank God we left before Hurricane Charlie hit town!

September 7, 2004

WOW! I am over due for an update or what?! Sorry for the long time off. We took vacation and then I took vacation from the website. I have a zillion photos to go thru and will create a couple more photo albums. I want to knock this all off this week. In the mean time here is a text update of the past month.

1) We all went to Florida where I had to move one of my company's branches. (Click here for all the Florida Pictures) Over the weekend we went to Wonderworks. It was an interactive discovery science center type place. It had a few neat attractions inside. Lori enjoyed the virtual roller coaster ride. The place is not worth the money though. Speaking of not worth the money. : ) We spent a day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. It lightning and rained most of the day which you wouldn't figure to be a big deal since it's a walk around park but they closed everything down. We couldn't even walk around through the zoo areas. At one point we decided to see an inside show and waiting over a half hour in the rain. After we got in we got some great front row seats and waited another 30 minutes for the show to start. Ashley was dancing and happy watching the show when just minutes into the show it shut down and they made everyone leave with no explanation. People were actually "Boo'ing" in a Disney park. Over an hour of waiting for a 2 minute teaser. We have since renamed it Disney's Animal Rip-off! That was around a $200 day with very little to brag about. Aside from all the attraction rip-offs out there we had a good time as a family and really enjoyed the weather. Rain is a rare occurence in California.

2) We drove from Orlando, through Jacksonville (We almost moved there last year). We kept going through Savannah, GA. and all the way up to Raleigh, NC. We stayed the night in Raleigh without even realizing that where my Niece, Jill, moved to and lives in now. (Sorry Jill! We could have seen you!) So our first day of driving went pretty well. We made it all the way from Orlando to Raleigh in one day. Ashley handled the drive quite well and Lori did a good job riding with her all that way.
The next morning we headed out of N. Carolina and drove through Virginia and W.Virginia. We had a one hour detour in W. Virginia because a truck got stuck in a bridge over-pass and then saw a bunch of state troopers in Marietta, OH. Apparently there was a bank robber hiding in the woods just off the freeway. (I thought that was one serious speed trap!) We arrived to Ashtabula, OH around 10 PM that night. Enough driving for us!

3) We had the chance to spend quality time with alot of family on this trip. We managed to spend a few hours at each of my brother and sisters homes. Not only did everyone get to see our new baby but they got their computers worked on for free! : )

4) We made it to our King family reunion! It was great seeing all of our King family members again. There were a few people we haven't seen in years. Ashley had a rough day though. She fell and smacked her lip on a fold up table. Any pictures from that day will look like we beat her. Our family had dual baby shower, One for Paul & Dee Dee that are expecting and the other was a delayed shower for Ashley since we were out of state and never had one for her. Thanks for all the gifts for Ashley! She certainly uses it all!

5) We never made it to Niagara Falls, I guess we'll head out there on our next trip. Anyway, we all made it back to Cali and enjoyed our east coast vacation. Watch for photos of our trip and photos of Lori's California birthday party. I'll also have a couple pictures of some of the upgrades Shannon and I have made to our home since returning to Cali.

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August 2004

August 1, 2004

Ashley Walks! We have new video footage of Ashley taking some of her first steps today. Click here to see the video of Ashley walking on her own. She'll be bugging me for car keys before I know it. We have an exciting week ahead of us. We're all off to Orlando, FL this weekend and then up to Ashtabula, OH for a few days. Thanks to Lois for spending time in our home and keeping Pepper & Pumpkin happy! We're all excited to see everyone in Ohio on this trip and we can't wait to attend the King Family Reunion and see all of our Ohio relatives. I'm sure after this trip we'll have plenty of pictures for the web site! We're also planning a ride up to Niagra Falls. Wait til Lori sees all of that water. She flip out! I'll try to send a speedy update to the web page after this trip.

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July 2004

July 18, 2004

We have lots of new pictures from the past month. Click here for pictures from the past month or click here to see our camping pictures from last weekend. Both of these photo galleries will remain available under our photo page listed at the left.

July 17, 2004

Camplese family update. The last month went by so quickly. We went the Angels 4th of July game "California Camplese family Tradition" It was a good game but the Angels lost. We all enjoyed the fireworks though. Well all of us but Ashley, she couldn't hang and fell asleep just as the fireworks were starting. Amazing she could sleep through all of that.

Now for all the fun to start. This past weekend we all went camping down at the Pinezanita Camp Grounds in Julian, CA. That's about 20 to 30 miles east of San Diego, CA. We all had such a good time down in Julian. The camp grounds were nice but the company was great. Here's a list of our camping party and their relationship to us.
Lois- California Mom - She was always trying to get someone to eat something. I think we all added 10 pounds! (Thanks Lois!)
Sherry- Shannon's Sister - Seemed to enjoy the family time. Ashley couldn't get enough of her. She helped out so much with Ashley! (Thanks Sherry!)
Tom- Brother-In-Law - A.K.A., The Wish Master - Your wish is his command. It seemed like anything you could ever need on a trip he had in pack. (Where's the kitchen sink?)
Maureen- Lori's Friend from school. We call her the energy girl! She became one with nature. We taught her and Lori many new skills like how to fish in the pond but never catch a thing and how to get stung by the local bees without crying! Those pesky bees wouldn't leave her alone! (Thanks for getting bit so we didn't have to Maureen!) Here's a video interview with her just 10 minutes after being bit. (Requires Flash Player - Click here - if you need to install it.) Watch Lori in the background after I say Maureen's name. Lori does her best impression of a freak out! Funny Lori!
Ashley- She had such a good time. She got to sleep in a tent and stay up at night by the camp fire. We have tons of pictures of her but here's a video of her a couple days before leaving to camp. It's her first time wearing shoes and we took video of her walking outside wearing an outfit Grandma Ella Camplese got her. (The video requires Flash Player - Click here - if you need to install it.)
Lori- She was the adventurer, exploring, pyro of the camping trip. She enjoyed telling us scary camp fire stories. Lori was a good friend to Maureen as they spent the entire weekend together and she was a great big sister to Ashley helping out whenever we needed her to. Just for fun, look at this video of Lori from last year. She is so crazy!
Shannon- She had a nice relaxing trip. It was good to have everyone around to pass Ashley around to and give mommy a break from her everyday routines. Her and I had fun at night making sheep and fart noises to make Lori and Maureen laugh!
Charles- I had a great time being around the family, getting away from work, helping to set up the camp site, teaching the girls to fish, watching Ashley get exposed to the great outdoors, and helping Lori be a Pyro! It was also fun sharing a tent with Shannon! : ) I've always enjoyed camping I just think it's a lot of work to set it all up for just a night or two. I wish the camping trips were a day or two longer.

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June 2004

June 10, 2004

If you haven't heard the story, - I WON! - I WON!! - I WON!!! - I WON!!!! I went into a furniture store Memorial Day weekend with a friend from work. He was looking into purchasing a new leather couch for his home. While he was checking things out I entered a drawing the store was running for the holiday weekend. My entry was selected and we won $1000 worth of free furniture from the store. Shannon was so happy because we were able to purchase a new china cabinet . It's the matching piece to our dining room table set and it fits so nicely into our home.

So, with all of that excitement we've actually had alot going on. We've started to look for a new home. The crunch of having Ashley with us is starting to make us want some elbow room. Plus, if you didn't know, we are planning to have another baby in about a year or two.

This past Sunday I was bowling in a fund raiser for Jr. Achievement and nearly bowled a 300 game. It was the first time I've taken one into the 10th frame. After hitting the first 8 strikes my 9th shot came in a little lite but I had a lucky roll from one of the pins that came over and took out the #2 pin which fell back on the #4 pin to give me the 9th strike. Knowing my last shot almost slid by the head pin I took a tiny bit off the next shot which lead to my un-doing. The ball rolled high leaving the 4-7-10 split. My final score was a 265. Maybe next time I'll get it! : )

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May 2004

May 28, 2004

I've added a few photos from my last trip to Ohio. I was fortunate enough to get the chance to head up to Ashtabula and see my Ohio family. While I was there I went to see Stephanie play a baseball game. Click here to see her hit a home run! Then click here for a few pictures from my Ohio trip. I also went to a Cincinnati Reds game and took some pictures while in their brand new ball park. That's a pretty nice place!

May 26, 2004

We all lost a few nights of sleep and had an interesting week. Ashley was fighting a minor sickness and didn't want to sleep or eat at all. We took her to the doctor Monday and found out she had contracted "hand-foot-mouth disease" So after a week of not being so happy she is doing well. We knew something was up but she had no visual problems like the link describes. Anyway she is fine now and she loves to be pushed around on her crazy car!

Ashley is growing up. She said her first words this week as she did a small wave and mutter "Bye-Bye" We have to acknowledge it as her first words since she was waving at the same time.

Lori has less than a month of school left.

Shannon has been making new friends with Ashley.

I bowled a 603 Sunday. I'm on a mini streak lately. My last 3 series scores are 650,597,& 603. If I keep this up I'll wind up with a 200 average.

May 16, 2004

Time fly's when you're having fun! Since the last time I updated alot has happened. I guess I'll go thru the whole family shuffle

Ashley - Has impressed us all. She is now 7 months old and is crawling all over the place. She didn't wait to pull herself up and now she can walk along wherever she wants while holding onto things. She's got the good life going though. Lots of toys and clothes and a family that can't get enough of her. Grandma Ella came to California to see her again while Daddy was out of town. She loves attention and has a strong voice box to get it.

Lori - Is about to graduate the 6th grade and is happy to have summer vacation coming up. Her softball season just ended and she did the same thing as last year, started slow and got mean towards the end. She finished the season with several hits and a couple doubles not to mention her all-star-like defense at third base. The Blue Fusion ended the season 3-9-2. Next week she gets to party with her team at the season ending fiesta. Click here to see their season final scoreboard.

Shannon - Has been all wrapped up with Ashley, being the team mom for the Blue Fusion, and helping to organize the 6th grade graduation party. The school hired our friend Julio "Tony" Zambrana to be the DJ for their party.

Charles - After traveling to Las Vegas I made a trip to Tampa Florida to move our retail branch down there. That was alot of work. Our branch is just a couple miles away from the Buccaneers football stadium. I didn't know this but right across the street from the Buccaneers stadium is the New York Yankees spring training Ballpark. It was a neat looking minature of a real stadium. After a week back in California I headed to Ohio to move our Cleveland branch. I then headed down to Cincinnati to close our retail branch and back up to Columbus to move our Columbus branch. Alot of travel these past few weeks but its all done now. It's good to be back with my family now and enjoying California's great weather!

One final note: I bowled a nice 233 + 203 +214 = 650 series 5/9/04 Wish I could always shoot a 216 average : )

 

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April 2004

April 29, 2004

All travel and no play, I spent most of the month in Tampa, FL and all over Ohio. Ashley started crawling and holding onto things as she walks around and Lori is finishing up elementary school.

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March 2004

March 31, 2004

"Las Vegas"
Alot has happened since my last update. It's tough to keep this web site updated when you're traveling alot. My last trip was to Las Vegas, NV. I went out to bowl with my bowling league The 4 Aces. My team took 2nd on the season and then took 2nd for team sweeps in Vegas. We've added Jeffery Bergeron to our team and are now called Rolling Thunder. I think we've got a strong team for this season. Anyway, I stayed in Vegas the following week for Microsoft's Management Seminar (MMS 2004). Shannon and the girls came out to Las Vegas to spend the week with me so I have a bunch of photos to add to the web page. I figured I'd update today with text info and add some pictures from the trip when I have time.

Gambling
So I had an interesting week. I won $80 bowling but lost $140 gambling. That is until the night before I left. I went down to the Stratosphere. My buddy Chris and I hit a hot table and a game called Crapless Craps. We started with just $20 and left 3 hours later with him up $600 while I was up $700. We had such a good time and enjoyed leaving the casino with their money in our pockets.

Have you seen the new roller coaster called X Scream on the top of the Stratosphere? Talk about a scary ride! Click on the X Scream link for pictures. Here's a statement fro the web page.

"Simply being perched atop the observation deck on the Stratosphere Tower, the eighth-tallest building in the world, is intimidating enough. But the one minute ride takes it a little bit further. The arm of X Scream stretches out 27 feet over the edge of the tower.
Passengers are loaded into an eight-seat car on the high-tech teeter-totter and hoisted high into the air before the track dives at a 30-degree angle, taking the car and your nerves with it. After reaching speeds of 30 mph, the car jerks to a sudden halt at the end of the track, with nothing but 900 feet of air between you and the ground.

The Family in Vegas
We had a good time walking up and down the strip and watching all the free shows at The Mirage, Treasure Island, and The Bellagio. Las Vegas is a crowded place these days. It's almost to the point that you can't even walk the strip anymore just because of the crowds.

We stayed at Harrah's the first couple days we were in Vegas and then we spent the rest of the week at The Venetian. All of these hotels are very nice hotels but The Venetian is such a beautiful and classy hotel.

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February 2004

February 19, 2004

We are all having so much fun with Ashley but she is growing so fast. This photo was taken today at 19 weeks old. (4 months) She was giving a pretty smile to the camera and showing off her new hat. I'm attaching a video of her laughing the other day. She is such a crack up! Click here to see the video.

Lori is in her last few months of grade school and starts up softball this weekend. She is growing like mad too. She's going to outdoor education in April. At outdoor education her entire 6th grade class will go up to the mountains to live and learn about nature for 5 days.

Shannon is still busy being a mom. She said if anyone wants to mail her a donation to help pay for Lori's outdoor education camp she'd be open to it : ) That darn camp is going to cost us $350 for 5 days! Ouch!

I've started studying for my next Microsoft test. 70-216 Implementing and Administering a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure I want to take this test and one other to obtain my MCSA. I'll also be one of the assistant coaches for Lori's softball team this year. I plan on making a new softball stat page for this season. Click here to see Lori's stats from last season. Also my bowling team is having a pretty good season this year. We have 5 weeks to go and are tied for 4th place and are 4 1/2 wins out of first. Click here to see our standings chart. Our team is called Option One. I hope to update this webpage again before I take my next trip to Las Vegas. I'll be out there for our final week of bowling and staying the following week for the Microsoft Management Seminar 2004. One really nice thing is I'll be staying at the Venetian Hotel & Casino courtesy of Option One Mortgage.

February 2, 2004

Wow! Alot of typing here so be sure you scroll down the page and read everything! Alot can happen in just a couple weeks! Ashley's been growing so fast. She weighes about 16.5 lbs. & is 24 inches long. She now knows she has a pair of feet and won't stop grabbing at them. She's just about 4 months old now and can almost stand on her own. I think she'll be walking before she starts to crawl. She doesn't have alot of interest in crawling but when it comes to walking she just perks right up. Click here to see a video of her walking.(Please give it time to upload!) On top of all this walking she is just a silly laughing wiggle worm. She loves it when I fly her around in the sky and bounce her around the room. You should hear her giggle.

Lori went skiing for her first time a couple weeks ago. She did pretty good for a first timer. After her second run down the hill she hardly fell again. She did fly down a huge hill and wipe out going about 20 MPH. When I caught up with her I thought she'd be crying but instead I found her laughing so hard. She now knows the excitement of down-hill skiing "Big Bear Style" at Snow Summit.

Shannon's been busy keeping up the house and keeping everything in order. It seems like there is so much to do around here. Ashley keeps her busy every day and Lori hasn't let up at all. It's nice to have a full time mommy around the house. Since she's been doing such a good job being a mom over the past year I had to reward her with something that makes her look like a mommy. A new 2004 Silver Ford Escape XLS.

I've been busy trying to keep my head on straight. I think I've been trying to find the perfect balance in my life between Family, Work, Fun, Health, and Spirit. I think it's amazing the way you start to focus on one of these items and the others start to go down. Can you ever truely put an equal amount out there and have the energy not to fall back in any one area? In any case I've been doing pretty good and am striving to do better. With God's help I will! : ) Speaking of God, I'm passing the message of my church and Pastor to go and see the new movie directed by Mel Gibson called, "The Passion" This is to be the most graphic and realistic version of the persecution of Christ ever made for film. Please pass the word and go see this movie.

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January 2004

January 21, 2004

Ashley - Has been rolling thunder. I think she might get into NASCAR cause she loves to roll to her left but she doesn't roll to the right. Just like NASCAR (Left Hand Turning Circuit) She's still a blast to spend time with. I look forward to every moment with her. She's getting big enough that I can start to play with her and not worry about breaking her. She loves to hold my hands and walk around the house. (Not bad for a 3 1/2 month old!) She just gets the biggest smiles when daddy takes her for a walk.

Lori - Is back into school and working hard. She plays her flute for 20 minutes and reads her books for 45 minutes every night. We just signed her up for softball for this season which starts in March. (I've volunteered to coach again.) In her free time she's been having alot of fun playing her new game on the computer. The Sims - Deluxe Edition. Boy do they have a racket going on there with all the expansion packs going for $20 bucks each.

Shannon - Is hard at work with her Weight Watchers. She's been very diligent about keeping within the parameters of her diet. It's tough when Lori and I are running around all day eating whatever we want in front of her. I think we're all eating better with her on this diet though.

Charles - I've been busy being a new dad. Ashley and I certainly have a bond I've never felt before. Work all day, play basketball every Tuesday and Thursday and running for 25 minutes on Sundays. I've also been bowling much better lately (Sunday Nights - 4 Aces - Team 7 - Rolling Thunder). I shot a 652 last Sunday (217 average) It was the first time I've ever bowled a whole night without a single open frame. During the week I've been watching the stock market and adjusting my 401k. We're doing alright these days. Finally making some cash. We've also been considering moving into a new home now that we'll need more space for Ashley. It's tough around here when the average 3 bedroom house is going for $489,000.

January 4, 2004

We had a great Christmas and are ready for a great new year. Everyone seemed to enjoy all their new presents and the relaxing time of the holiday season. Click here for pictures from Christmas.

Here's some family updates.

Ashley - 13 weeks old in a couple days. She has started rolling over now. She thinks shes funny getting put to bed on her stomach then we find her on her back.

Lori - Has been enjoying her time off from school (2 weeks) and starts back Monday Jan 5th. She'll have to get back into the habit of reading every night and doing home work. She is also signed up for the 2004 Girls softball league. I think it starts in March.

Shannon - She's been busy keeping this family going. She spends most of her time taking care of Ashley and keeping everyone happy. I got her a nice pair of ear rings for Christmas but the prong broke when she took them out of the case so they are off for repair already.

Charles - I've been relaxing mostly these past 2 weeks. Work was kinda slow and I had back to back long weekends. The Jacksonville job was cancelled so we won't be moving out there. I've been playing my new Christmas present. Microsoft's Dungeon Seige "Legends of Aranna". Time for me to buckle down and start working towards that MCSE. I'm predicting the Packers to beat the colts in the Super Bowl. Let's see if I'm right!

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December 2003

December 14, 2003

Everyone has been so busy with Christmas. We just took our Christmas 2003 photos today. So I'll post those later. Lori had that bad flu and hit temperatures of 103. She also missed 3 days of school. Then Shannon got sick and she's just now starting to come out of it. Ashley and I have managed to avoid the flu so far so maybe we'll be Lucky!

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November 2003

November 26, 2003

Ashley is growing so fast. We've been enjoying so many first time things with her. To the right you can see how excited she is to start standing. She just turned 7 weeks old today. In the picture down and right you can see Grandma Camplese has been in town and has been enjoying her time with all of us. Grandma and Ashley have grown very close over the past week. Anyway, if you click on the picture to the right or click here you can see more new pictures or click here for last months set of pictures.

I wanted to say sorry to everyone that's been checking the page daily for updates. I've been spending most of my time hosting my mom on her visit here or just being with my family during Ashley's first days with us. I'll continue to update the text on this page but probably won't have any new pics up until after Christmas.

November 8, 2003

1 month old already! : ) Ashley is already a month old. How time flies! She is so much fun. She has been such a good girl too. Between meals she likes to take 3 hour naps. When night time hits her natural vampiral skills kick in and she can stay awake as much as she wants to. Shannon especially enjoys those evenings. Thank God I sleep thru it all!

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October 2003

October 27, 2003

I haven't had much time to update the web page. I've been busy helping out with the baby and dealing with PC issues. All the computers decided to have their issues at the same time. Just a quick update that everyone is doing fine and doing good. Ashley has adjusted well to her home. Thanks to everyone for their gifts and letters.

October 9th, 2003

We would like to welcome to this world our new daughter Ashley Carmen Camplese. She was born at 6:54 PM on October 8th at Irvine Regional Center and Memorial Hospital after 20 hours of labor. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 8 Oz. and 22" long.

She is named after my father Anthony Carmen Camplese. When he passed away we decided to have a child in his memory. In my heart, his spirit is alive in her. We are so excited to have her home now.

Lori still can't believe she finally has a little sister after waiting 11 years. She just wants to hold Ashley and cuddle her all the time. She was outside the delivery room listening through the wall with Grandma Lois and Andrea when she heard them scream, "It's a girl!" Lori jumped up and down with excitement!

Shannon is understandably sore after a long 20 hours of labor. When she was finally ready to deliver and the baby dropped to position it actually only took 24 minutes to push the baby out. She did such a good job and was so strong throughout the whole labor. After they took the baby of