It's Transition Week

We go through this with most of our kids. Alex was the worst so far... he loved his Nuk. (Pacifier, binky, plug, whatever you call it...) But he only took a few days of screaming and he was free of it. It's definitely hard work, and takes perseverance by us, the parents... and lots of love, hugs, and reassuring... but in the end it's worth it.

Well, it's Julia's turn. She has gotten very whiny if her Nuk is not in sight, and we just felt like it was a good time to wean her of it... and actually, she's doing pretty well so far!! She wants to "be a big girl" and is excited to show her Grandma this weekend that she can sleep (and go all day, too) without a Nuk! We'll see if she can do it! So far two nights down, and she's getting the hang of it!

It will be better for her, and all of us when the Nuk is gone... but...

She is pretty cute with it, no? :-)

Just What I Needed

After a frustrating morning (perhaps nearly entirely self-inflicted - at least, maybe it didn't need to be as frustrating as it was) and a frustrating lunch, I reluctantly decided that I should take our two-year-old Julia on her OK Night. She's been waiting for quite a while (I've been busy) and there's an eager queue behind her, of course.

We gathered everything together for a walk. I had planned some fun things for her, but also was going to make efficient use of my time and make the post office our destination on the walk, so I could pick up my mail. Gotta multi-task, right?

Nope. And it took a beautiful little two year old to remind me of that.

As we embarked on our walk (under the windy, rainy, overcast skies) we were chatting. Julia is a wonderful talker. She has a lot to say, and mostly I know what she's talking about. :-) As she was talking, she would just throw in a happy, sing-songy refrain of "OK Night" every once in a while. :-)

She definitely began to melt my heart.

As we walked - not really all that far yet - I saw some flowers, and we crossed the road to go see them up close. She was very excited, and loved everything her Daddy suggested they do. At this point, she started helping me to enjoy the moment, and I cancelled all plans for multi-tasking on the trip and decided to just enjoy each moment of this short hour or so with my little Julia.

We ended up walking to a store to get some baseballs for the boys and to get a fun snack to eat at the park. Except, when we left the store, she said she wanted to see the water... so, we headed up to the Erie Canal marina not too far from that store. We sat on the bench eating iced animal crackers (she loved the pink ones!) and just had fun time looking at the water.

The rain brought us home, but we still enjoyed every moment along the way. Stopped to smell every flower. Listened to every word. Breathed every breath.

I am pretty sure that is all I need right now. For whatever reason, my work, and my life have become "pressure" to me. I have had a hard time recently just stopping to relax and enjoy. Julia knows how to do that well, and helped me to do that today. I thanked her for it when we got home as I laid her down for her nap. :-)

There's good reason for the pressure I think. The bills still need to be paid. The work still needs to be done. Raising kids is hard work. When will I ever get to enjoy a nice evening out with my wife again? (Without the attached baby?) :-)

This too shall pass. But hopefully not too quickly. I'd like to enjoy the moments along the way.

Big Family Shortcuts

I have noticed that with so many children around here, I am needing shortcuts when referring to them every now and again.

We already had "the boys" and "the girls" before for easy pairings. We also call Kirsten & Alex, "The Twins" because they really look a lot alike, and are similar in other ways, and are the two in the middle. Well, they were.

Now are getting even more creative.

First there's Mom & Emma, who spend a lot of time together these days. We call them either "Momemma" or "Emmamom". Both are equally fun to say.

Then we have, "The Oldies". These are the three oldest kids, who are not our babies.

Then I came up with a clever way of referring to two kids at a time using former (or current) Buffalo Bills players' numbers. For instance, Ian and Julia are "Frank Reich". This is because Ian is the first born (#1) and Julia is fourth (#4), so together they are 14, which is Frank Reich's number.

The combinations are pretty fun.

Ian and Alex? Jim Kelly. Kirsten & Alex (if we're bored with "The Twins") are Beast Mode (nickname for Marshawn Lynch, #23). Ian and Emma? Todd Collins. (I know! Good one!) :-) Alex & Julia? Terrence McGee.

Pretty good system, I think. :-)

So, life as a big family continues to be very interesting, and tons of fun. More stories to come, I'm certain of it!

Shorties

Since computer (and especially blogging) time is limited... please allow me to share some fun stories/thoughts using another list-style post...

• Julia just turned two, but she is the smartest cookie in the bunch sometimes. This week she has been really helpful with the laundry. I don't always know whose clothes are whose, but she does! Seriously funny. And helpful! Also, she is a great talker (though sometimes hard to understand). Maybe one of the cutest things she says is when she's really excited about something, she says, "Yay-uh". (Pronounced like a souther gospel preacher, which I'm pretty sure she's never heard...) :-) Hilarious!
  
  
• The Sabres won tonight. They keep stringing me along. They sit 5 points out of the final playoff spot with only 12 possible points remaining. Thanks to some good scheduling, the team we are chasing (Boston) is our opponent for two of those games, so we can possibly make up 4 points in those two games. There's still a very outside chance they can make the playoffs, but I'm really not optimistic about any chance of advancing if they do. We shall see...
  
  
• Michigan State has worked their way into the sweet sixteen in the NCAA tournament. (Which is now only the terrific twelve or something after last night's games...) They really have a good team this year. Solid rebounding (as always) from our big guys, Namick & Suton, and a stellar freshman Kalin Lucas, as well as solid scoring threats in Morgan, Allen, & Gray. Ohh yeah... we also have that guy Drew Neitzel... he's pretty good. (If you don't know him, he's a senior, and he was fanastic as a sophomore at least, and has only kept getting better.) :-) They play Friday (and hopefully Sunday). Friday's game is against the #1 seed in the South region, Memphis. 9:57pm tip off on CBS. Well worth watching!
  
  
• Kirstie just oozes nice. It's incredible. If there is ever any "not-niceness" between anyone in the family, Kirstie steps in to the edification of the one not-niced. Every time. She's so great! Such a gentle heart. She's my little lover. She often tells me, "I just love you, Dad!" And then gives me a big hug, and often a big kiss. Well, as you can guess... I just love her, too. :-)
  
  
• Sometimes I really can't believe how old Ian is. He is nine, and definitely becoming his own person. We can see the things he really likes to do. He even talks about it. He's starting to figure it out too. He's very creative. He too is a gentle spirit. (Sometimes too gentle. :-( Easily crushed.) He's an artist. He's such a people person. Loves people. Could be his weakness actually (people pleasing) but it will also be a great strength. I'm honestly a little nervous about this transitional stage. Will I(we) handle it well? Will we be able to encourage Ian as he really begins becoming a unique individual? It's a very interesting stage for all of us. I think we are merely on the cusp, but we're definitely there. All we can do is just love him, train him best we know how, and live out what we say. And overall, make sure he knows that he is completely safe with us any time and always. That may be harder than it sounds - or I may just think too much. :-)
  
  
• Alex is TOO picky! Argh. It's been quite a struggle with people bringing us food (a bunch of new stuff he hasn't really seen before) and getting him to eat. Not to mention the great Easter candy he knows we have... that's quite a distraction as well. :-) It was funny today when we were dealing with all that again for the 17,000th time that I actually thought of "the kids in India" when I was so mad at his pickiness. "You know, the kids in India don't have any food! They just eat rice, if they can find any!!!" (Not sure on the accuracy of that statement... but thought it was funny that I actually thought it, and sorta used it. I am truly a dad, and truly old.) :-)
  
  
• Emma Caroline couldn't be cuter. :-) Funny story from today... we got a new monitor so Jen can be down here and Emma can sleep upstairs. All of a sudden we heard a screaming baby in the monitor! Yikes! What happened?? That was not normal. (Although, she has had a tendency to "freak out" at times...) So, Jen went to help her - but she was sound asleep. Completely still. Weird. When Jen came back down, Emma started freaking out again! Worse than before! Very, very strange... Jen went back up... Emma was completely still!!!! Finally, we sent Ian up to check while we stayed down to listen... you guessed it.. we were picking up someone else's baby!!!! Ha! Very weird. Kinda funny... very weird.

Much more to tell, but no time, and no energy with which to tell it. Must sleep.

No... ME!

Today Julia was not being very nice to her brothers, so Jen said, "Julia, that's not how you'd want them to treat you. You need to treat them how you want them to treat you." Then Jen added, "Because you love them!"

Without hesitation, in a very whiny voice, Julia insisted, "No... ME!"

If that's not a perfect picture that we are born selfish, not sure what is. :-)

Grateful For Washing Machines

It was not a good night in the Campbell house. Perhaps it even goes back most of a week now.

I think I told the story here of coming home with Emma. The night before we came home, our six year old Alex threw up eight times! He was better (mostly) by the time we got home, but we were certainly leery. Ian was next. That night he threw up just once, but it was gross... and it was on the bed I had just put new sheets on for him! :-)

Well, thankfully, we have a washing machine.

This week has seen its share of laundry loads. Normal loads, sick loads, many loads. We do have seven people in this house now. We also did a load or two of clothes for Jen and the new baby to wear, brought out from their cold, dark storage containers.

Well, last night was a doozy.

First, I fell asleep on the couch watching the hockey highlights from the night (seriously... they were almost over...) and was awoken by an angry Jen's voice, "Greg... Greg!... GREG!!" That's not pleasant. Nor is the reason she was calling me. First, she was hurting for some unknown reason, and Emma was not wanting to sleep, which made it worse. But the reason I was summoned? Julia had thrown up. Time for Dad to clean up!

I cleaned her up and was going to deal with the rest in the morning. Went straight to bed and Jen was in and out with Emma, and I noticed that my stomach really did not feel very good. I don't usually throw up, so I wasn't worried about that, but it was sort of difficult to go to sleep.

Within half an hour, Julia was back. She had thrown up again. This all started at 12:30am or so, and continued until I think 3:33am. Probably four or five times I went in, cleaned up the baby, and got new sheets, towels, blankets, sleeping bags... whatever I could find! Meanwhile, at about 2:30, I felt awful and spent some time in the bathroom myself. (Strangely, I did not throw up, but I thought I was going to... and when I "tried"... nothing happened but I felt amazingly better!)

Well after all of this, we have discovered that our tummy troubles are not gone... Julia, Kirsten, and Dad all have... ya know. The other side. Yeah. Not pretty.

I also came to find out that Jen slept downstairs much of the night, trying to get comfortable... didn't really sleep much at all. Still very sore, but also had the chills. :-( What's going on??!?!

Jen just left for the doctor - for the regular one week check up for her and baby. Should be interesting... :-)

I just finished cleaning up all the throw up covered clothing (I am very thankful for washing machines...) and doing the dishes from the night before so we could do the dishes from breakfast after I gave Julia a bath because she had gotten throw up in her hair after I folded the laundry I already had done yesterday to make room for the laundry I needed to do today and now the kids are done with breakfast and waiting for the next event of the day...

Did I mention that I am grateful for washing machines?

(Trying to keep a positive outlook here...) ;-)

Julia's Birthday Fun!

Little Julia is TWO today!!! She has gotten card and calls from family far away, and started the day out with a BIG fun BIRTHDAY BREAKFAST! Including our family, we had four two year olds (two of them turning two today!!) and their four moms, as well as a few extra siblings... and me making a big fun breakfast of waffles, French Toast (on fresh baked bread I made this morning!) and Dad's special breakfast potatoes! Fun!

In the afternoon, after the party died down, we made chocolate cupcakes (with yellow buttercream frosting, and some chocolate sprinkles!!) and then ate a few after singing to Julia with the whole birthday candles thing!

This all wore Julia out a lot... so she took a nap. :-)

Now we're getting ready to head out for our more traditional birthday celebration of Red Robin for dinner, and Chuck E. Cheese for games afterwards! Tonight, Grandma & Grandpa Walker will be joining us too! (And perhaps more friends) :-)

The poster above is Julia's birthday poster... I just loved her "pose" in this shot, and used it to remember that she often will say now, "Me? Song?" and then sing us a song which is most often "Hoooooooly night!" (Her own version of Silent Night) :-)

She's beautiful, and awesome, and lots of fun. And we're glad she's two!

Love you, Julia! :-)

OK Night

I can't remember now if I have posted this here or not, but it's worth of a post (or two) for sure.

A while back (I think it was for Kirsten the first time) we thought it would be a good idea for one on one outings with the kids. Usually it would be Dad (since they all get more time with Mom usually) but it could be with Mom sometimes, too. We had heard the idea a time or two from other families, and liked it, and it seemed like little Kirstie was getting lost in the shuffle a bit. So, we did it.

Well, after a long break, we started it up again... but this time we thought Ian needed a little alone time with Dad. So we decided to go in descending age order. Well, after the first time, all the other kids were very much looking forward to their turn with Dad. :-) Somehow along those various conversations, we started calling it the One Kid Night... which I shortened to "OK Night." And it stuck. :-)

Last night was Julia's turn (our 4th, and almost 2 year old) and we had a blast. It's pretty funny when a 33 year old and an almost 2-year-old are out for an evening together. The conversation can be ... intriguing, as well as... difficult to understand at times. :-) She's a cutie! Was so fun to hear her starting conversations with Dad! We sang songs, we rode the carousel at the mall, we shared some ice cream, we visited our favorite stores... it was a blast! Can't wait for the next one!

It's pretty cool to see what comes out of one-on-one time with the kids. We love being a big family, and we love being together, but sometimes some pretty cool stuff happens when you just get one kid with one parent.

Like I said... can't wait for the next one!

Simple But Hard

Quick story before bed...

Tonight I was talking to Julia (our almost two-year-old) about an event at lunch today. The lady behind the cash register thought Julia was a very cute baby (turns out she has a two-year-old of her own) and just gave her a friendly greeting. Well, Julia who is normally very friendly decided to not reply to this person, and hid her head in Dad's shoulder. A few attempts to get a response from her were in vain.

Finally, as we were leaving, she mustered a smile. (Maybe it was the free toy [read:bribe] that the lady handed out...)

That was the end of that, and I apologized for Julia, but of course the cashier thought nothing of it. "I have a two year old, also!"

So fast forward to the dinner table. I told Mom the story, half re-telling it to Joodles. She was listening intently (people don't give two year olds enough credit!) and finally I repeated what had happened (acted it out) and Julia sort of laughed, but then I asked her if she would like it if someone did that to her? Surprisingly, she immediately said, "Nooooooo!" I think she really did understand (though I know there will be PLENTY more training to come...) :-)

It was pretty amazing to see how even at not-quite-two, Julia understood the concept of, "Treat other people the way you want to be treated." And right there I said, "It's so crazy how simple the idea is... every thing is better when we think of other people that way... but how hard it is to actually do it."

Even when you're one.

Sickness Invades The Campbell Home

Jen (the pregnant one) has been sick (on top of the discomfort of pregnancy) over the past couple weeks with a few various ailments, but it didn't stay with her. Kirstie has been complaining of ear/head/neck pain off and on for almost a week now. This morning, Kirstie was still very lethargic, and her oldest brother Ian joined her in her illness-induced lethargy.

The sickness canceled our plans for today. Which were quite plentiful.

Well, the two other kids and myself were not feeling sick at all - in fact quite the opposite for the "evens" (kids #2 and #4...). They were quite loud, boisterous, and generally making life more miserable for their sick siblings.

I decided to take the healthies out to Wendy's where a group of friends generally gather every Sunday afternoon. Was even hoping to catch our nephew there who turned 20 today! (Yes... I am old...) :-) No luck there, but there were about 6 or 7 families represented, so it was definitely a nice visit for Dad who is a "people person." :-)

Untill...

Half way through our time there, Alex started showing signs of lethargy as well, and even ended up laying his head down on the table at one point. :-( He removed himself from the group (sat at a nearby table, not very like Alex with his friends) and just seemed to be getting exactly what everyone else had.

Scary thing? So did I.

As we were leaving, all of a sudden, my neck started aching, and I just felt very weird... maybe light-headed, but not that bad. Just tingly all over. Made it through that, enjoyed lunch, but felt a little strange all the way home. When we got home we put the new sickie in bed, and that's when it hit me.

COLD!!! I could not have been colder! I got under 6 or 7 blankets, all the way under, and turned the heat up! If you know me, you KNOW that something is wrong! :-) I really didn't feel lethargic, but still had an achy body all over, and had the chills som'n fierce!

So, I had some tea, put on my warmest sweatshirt, and took the rest of the day a bit easier.

Dinner was funny. I just reheated some leftovers for all the sickies (which is all but Julia!) and no one really wanted much of anything. :-) I still ate a decent amount, but definitely didn't taste right.

Right now, at a VERY early hour for me, I'm gonna down some NyQuil® and hit the sack! Might not wake up till 10 tomorrow! :-)

Here's hopin'!

Can't Sleep

Not sure what it was about last night, but it was not our night to sleep :-)

First, we got our Mac Mini back from the Apple store (replacing a defective hard drive) and hooked it up right away, even used it. But then, not-so-smart, plays-with-too-many-settings Dad tinkered with the display resolution one too many times and the TV just started flickering. A LOT. Could barely see anything... couldn't find the cursor well enough to get it back to the right resolution. I tried everything, but to no avail.

So, since it was essentially a brand new drive with brand new settings - I reinstalled the OS. :-) (That takes a long time...)

As I was installing it, I watched a TV show I had downloaded from iTunes, and then put in Star Trek Insurrection which I had been wanting to watch for a long time.

The update was going along just fine, even downloaded all of the software updates from the internet once the original OS was on the disk. And all the while, Jen must have woken up a good three or four times. I had to go upstairs one time to find out why Alex was kicking the bar that keeps him from falling out of bed. Jen told me then that both boys had been talking and/or moaning in their sleep. Pretty funny.

I finally went to bed at 4am. (Later than usual...) and Jen was up again. Not long after that, the girls were needing help. I'm not sure if Julia did, but Kirstie wasn't feeling that great, so she came in a few times. Jen got her a drink around 7:15? and then I did around 7:30. At that point, Julia was awake as well.

I finally just got up and took a shower at 8:30, and Alex wandered in the bathroom somewhere around 8:50 or so. Everyone is sorta/kinda awake right now (which is early for everyone else) and I can't wait to see what kind of day we have... :-)

So... perhaps naps are in order, and an early bed time!

OH! Funniest part? Around 8am I did go back to sleep, only to dream that all six of us were in a tiny two room place ... NOT SLEEPING! It was 6am or so in my dream, and everyone was awake!! I was thinking - we all need to be sleeping!!! And Jen (in the dream) was just fine with everyone being awake.

I was awoken by Kirstie needing more help (around 8:30) and just had to chuckle. Dream was imitating reality, or vice versa.

I think we just need some sleep. :-)

My Favorite

Last night we were leaving our friends’ house pretty late after another fun evening together, and as we were saying good bye I noticed our son Alex running in circles in their front yard. He’s usually one of the first out of the house when we’re leaving (and one of the first ones in as well) so I guess that’s how he was passing the time. Everyone else had made their way to the van and to where they needed to be, but Alex just needed to run around.

And somehow, in that moment, it just reminded me of how much I love him. In fact, my actual thoughts were, “He’s my favorite!”

At first I reacted to that thinking, “Of course, so are the rest...” That’s when I realized... they are. Alex is my favorite, and so are Ian, Kirsten, and Julia. Even the next baby that we haven’t met yet. I guaranteed he or she will be my favorite, too. :-)

There’s a cool book I have mentioned here a time or two before called, The Shack. In this book, a guy has an in-person encounter with God and many times when God refers to any person this guy brings up, God says, “Oh, he’s my favorite.” (Or, one of my favorites, or something.)

Last night, I really understood that. It’s completely true of my and my kids. They really are my favorites. My favorite people. I love them more than they can know, or than I can probably express. But I’ll keep trying anyway. :-)

[As a footnote to this whole story, I was re-telling the events to Jen as we were pulling in our driveway. When I said the part about thinking Alex is my favorite, it wasn't long before Jen noticed him running circles around our yard, too. Guess he likes being "the favorite"...] :-)

Woo Moode Oop Oo Noo Loongooge

The other night when we were having dinner, we decided to invent a new language. I can't remember exactly how it started, but somehow I posed the question, "What if every vowel was a 'oo' sound?" And then I proceeded to try it out.

"Hooloo, Ooloox. Hoo oor yoo? Hoo woos yoor doonoor?"

There was much laughter and everyone kept trying it for a while that night. It was quite fun. You should give it a go right now. Go ahead and talk to the person next to you in Oovoon. See? Fun isn't it?

Well, our one-year-old is learning to talk - and doing quite well - so she may have been laughing with the rest of us, but when I was talking to her, she felt the need to correct me.

"Oos thoot yoor booboo?" I asked.

"No. ba-by," she said distinctly. "Booboo?" I replied. "No. No. BA-BY," she insisted. This went back and forth for a while till I dropped it. She was certainly not going to. :-)

We tried doing everything with a rolled 'r' last night, but that didn't work as well. For now, we'll stick with Oovoon as our family's second language. :-)

Caught In A Snow Storm!

Last night I took our four kids up to the library to return some books, and to pick up a few new ones. The library is only half-way around the block, so we bundled up for a nice winter walk. It was even lightly snowing, so it was more fun than usual!

We even sang a song on the way there:

"Going for a walk in the snow to the library,
Going for a walk in the snow
Going for a walk in the snow to the library,
Going for a walk in the snow!"

It was perfect, and the kids did pretty well in the library. We got the books we wanted, and some stamps from the nice librarian. We bundled back up and headed out the door.

What we discovered was astonishing.

Swirling, blowing, blinding SNOW! Where did this come from?!? I just laughed! It was like a joke! What happened to our light flurries??? Well, we had no other way home, so I made sure faces were as covered as they could be and we set out into the storm.

And this was a storm! The wind was a constant 10-15 mph I'd guess, with stronger gusts. And the snow was collecting on the ground - and on us! - at an alarming rate. The worst part was, a third of our trip was heading west, directly into the wind! At one point during that stretch I turned around and pulled Julia in the stroller backwards (which helped a lot I think) and saw poor little Kirstie just closing her eyes and leaning into the wind as she pressed ahead into the blizzard!

It was crazy!!

Once we were able to turn south, and find a bit of shelter behind a giant brick church building, it got a little better. We laughed all the way home through the still rapidly falling snow.

Red cheeks, faces, and other exposed skin greeted Mom when we got home. Mom actually met us in the driveway, as she had seen the fierce winter storm and was coming to get us. But we managed to brave the elements and make it back home safely.

I told the kids as we were fighting the storm that we'd have hot cocoa and hot baths when we got home! And we'd also read a couple of the library books we just worked so hard to get.

And we did. :-)

Lesson Learned?

I was observing my three-year-old daughter and her one-year-old sister today as they tried to play together. They were just a few feet in front of me, and truthfully, it was not going well.

Julia, the younger, was taking things from Kirstie, the older, and this was not a welcome action. Kirstie was just whining about it, and then taking matters into her own hand, retrieving what had been taken. Of course, this only exacerbated the situation, so I decided to step in.

"Kirstie," I said in my most parental, instructional tone of voice, "That is just not going to work. You can't whine, and you can't just take the blocks back from her. How would you like it if she did that to you? This is a good chance for you to practice 'Treat others the way you want to be treated.' Why don't you ask her for what you want, instead of just take it?"

She followed my instructions and her younger sister gladly gave up her blocks (which were stolen in the first place...) and everyone was smiling. For about two seconds. That's when older sister decided to just take some more of what younger sister had. This resulted in very loud, shrill screaming.

Again... not going to fly with Dad.

Since this didn't seem to be getting through, so I said to the perpetrator Julia, "Julia, why don't you show Kirstie what it feels like. Take that yellow block on the top of her tower." Julia was happy to oblige. She reached over and grabbed three blocks from the top of Kirsten's tower. (She was probably pretty amazed I was letting her do this!)

Once the blocks were safely in Julia's possession, I asked Kirstie, "Now how do you feel?"

To my surprise, the first response came from Julia who said, "Good!"

Haha! That was too funny. Kind of ruined the moment, and taught the wrong lesson, but... at least we know that when you're allowed to do whatever you want... it feels good. :-)

Post-Thanksgiving Thoughts

We had a marvelous time with family in Ohio over the past several days. Besides my parents and my sister and her family of six, we also got to spend some time with my grandparents, two aunts, one uncle, three cousins (and one first cousin once removed). That was all topped with the news this morning that another cousin had delivered healthy TWINS the night before. (Funny part was, twin #1 was born at 11:52pm Nov 24th, while twin #2 entered breathable air at 12:03 Nov 25th! These twins have different birthdays!! Ha!!)

All in all, it was a wonderful trip, and a great time with family.

Tonight, reflecting on all of it (and troubled a bit by our current financial standings) I was truly thankful. Not some cheesy kind of Hallmarky thankful induced by an annual over-commercialized holiday. I mean really thankful. It was kind of a neat feeling. I was looking around me at all the stuff that we do have and enjoy. Much of which has been given to us by our generous family. And I was thinking about my four kids and my wife, along with the other tot on the way. All of these that God has given me.

Money may be an ever-present pressure, cause of stress, and the lack thereof a source of fear, but really... in the important things, I'm set. Life could not be better.

A few stories for tonight.

First, at one point on our trip a random file came up in our iPod song shuffling, and it was just precious. It was a little audio clip I had recorded of Ian and Alex for our now stagnant basicmm radio show. Man, I forgot how cute the three-year-old Alex was! The kids all wanted to hear that one several times.

But, speaking of cute three-year-olds, our current three-year-old, Kirstie, was dishing out her own cuteness throughout the weekend. She had plenty of classic lines all weekend, some of which I won't repeat here, but one particularly cute moment was when I offered to lay down with her when she was supposed to be taking a nap. Unfortunately, at the moment, I forget what it was! :-) (I'll add it tomorrow if I can remember it!)

Other cuteness came from little Julia this weekend. She doesn't say much, but over the holiday at Grammy's house - which is well-stocked with chocolate - she learned to use the word "Choc-latt" well, and OFTEN. AND, the best part was the true, deep sadness that followed any time she uttered the new word, without the appropriate results! :-) If we ever said no to choc-latt, the tears flowed freely!

Pretty cute, and apparently she has a sweet tooth like her dad!!

There's a bunch more obviously, but as my sleeping time is quickly dwindling, I think I will head to my bed to get what I still can. (Yes, I really do sleep!)

Hope you are aware of and enjoying the blessings in your life, as God has reminded me of mine tonight.

Not A Creature Was Stirring...

There is still a whole 24 hours of quiet to come. I really can't believe it. The onslaught of this silence was so quick, so unexpected. It's eerie... unwanted. Disturbing. And yet... glorious. ;-)

The kids are at Grandma & Grandpa's! They have been since Tuesday evening. The will be until tomorrow, probably around lunch time!!! Holy cow! Do you know how crazy that is??? My mother-in-law is a fantastic lover of children - and subsequently, of us!

In the interrim, we have gone out to dinner twice on a couple cash gifts given to us by each of our fathers. Nothing too fancy, but just a nice bonus to this strange yet wonderful quietness. We're going out one more time tonight, at our friends' request and treat. (That one has been planned for a while now.)

It has been wonderful for Jen, for sure, and I've enjoyed it as well. Some for me, but mostly I have enjoyed having a happier, less burdened wife. That's been nice. :-)

So, I miss my kids a lot. Can't wait to see them tomorrow. But, thankful that we have parents who are so willing to take them - not just so we get a break, but because they love having them around, and to themselves. I don't think a lot of people have that. It's a very nice gift, to be sure. :-)

Right now I must run a few errands... and JEN is coming with me! Sweet!

If This Doesn't Make You Smile...

Julia's Perspective

We met some new friends last night when we went to the Apple CIDER picnic (an Apple User's Group in Rochester) on our way to the Monroe County Fair. Both of those events were quite fun, but one of our new friends had a keen observation of our youngest daughter after only knowing her for... less than an hour?

She said of Julia, "She doesn't know she's not big."

Julia was keeping up with all the big kids. Ian (8), their daughter Katrina (11), Alex (5), and a couple other kids we didn't know (probably around 7-9). She was doing the things they were doing, just a little slower... since she actually is small...

Even if she doesn't know it.

Very cute. :-)

Smoke On The Water... Sort Of.

Tonight on the way home from our Wal-Mart Supercenter, there was the normal amount of noise coming from our very full back seats, but I noticed a recognizable melody rising over the din. It was our one-year old, singing the famous guitar riff to "Smoke On The Water", correct rhythm and melody!

A little background.

During the hockey playoffs, there was an automobile commercial that featured that song, and the boys picked up on it and really liked it. So I bought it for them from iTunes, and they always love when it comes up in the shuffle of the day.

Well, recently, after a picnic lunch outside, we were cleaning up and heard Ian singing the tune with a variation on the name of a friend of ours:

Mis-sus Shimp, Mis-sus uh-Shimp...
Mis-sus Shimp, Mis-sus...

Of course we were laughing, and then complimented our boys on their creativity, and then e-mailed our friend to let her know she was the source of inspiration for a new song. She loved it!

Well the song has not stopped. A few other people have crept into the lyrics...

Mis-ter Tones, Mis-ter uh-Tones....
Mis-ter Tones, Mis-ter...

But the melody remains the same.

Fast forward again to the ride home tonight. All the kids are talking, singing, playing in the back. Jen and I are talking in the front. In the middle of a conversation with Jen I clearly hear, "Uh, uh, UH-uh..." FROM OUR ONE-YEAR-OLD! I immediately interrupted Jen and said, "Did she just sing Smoke On The Water??!?!" Jen asked her to sing it again, and sure enough... SHE DID!

HILARIOUS!!!!

So, as the bedtime routine has been underway tonight, every once in a while, Julia busts out that famous riff, in her cutest one-year-old voice...

"Uh, uh, uhhh... uh, uh, UH-uh..." :-)

SHE CAN'T EVEN TALK YET!

Oh my goodness. Had to share that one!
Friends coming to spend the day with us tomorrow... eating chicken wings, hamburgers, lots of sweet tea, and even making home made ice cream! Should be a blast!

Wonder if Joodles will sing her song? :-)

Cute Girls

Last week our girls had their first official modeling session, and today I posted the photos our friends (a client of mine) chose to use on their website. Click Kirstie's photo above and see if you can find the various photos. Julia is in there too :-) So cute!

Feel free to check out the rest of the site, too. The Taylors make good stuff. :-)

Julia Gayle... is ONE!

I make a "birthday poster" for each of our kids on their birthdays, then we put them on the birthday poster well. :-) So, I just finished Julia's, and thought I'd share it here. She's ONE today! (March 11). We'll have a fun day today celebrating her first year of life!

We love our little Julia Gayle! She's awesome! :-)

Year's End

Well, we have 30 minutes of this year left, and I just wanted to write a quick post to the ol' blog... for no particular reason. I hope to post a few more things once the family is in bed and the house is quiet. We're just having a fairly "quiet" New Year's celebration here at the Campbell home tonight (but you know how that goes with two boys ages 8 and 5...) :-)

We got to watch FOOTBALL all day today. That was fun. Our Bills lost, which is never fun, but we're already looking forward to next season! They should be a pretty fun team next year. And in the meantime, we've got the Sabres! Whoohooo!

It's been an interesting year. Perhaps more interesting in this final month which saw a return to full-time singing (if only for a week), the loss of another baby (this time a little farther along, and quite unexpected), and some major pressure with an overload of business all at once (And somehow, a simultaneous bottom-dropping-out of the cashflow?) It's been a rather long, hard month... which is a funny way to end a year.

Best thing about 2006? Has to be Julia Gayle. Born March 11, 2006... she's just awesome. I love her a ton, and I feel like I barely know her. :-)

I'll see if I can put a little list of good (and bad?) things from 2006 up here in the next 24 hours or so. Seems the end-of-the-year sort of thing to do. :-)

Hope you had a great 2006, and that you're looking forward to 2007. It's only 27 minutes away now... :-)