Tag / Julia

by Greg

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. 🙂

by Greg

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? 🙂

by Greg

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… 🙂

by Greg

Oh, To Be Noticed

Julia & DadA few times today I noticed my infant daughter, and recognized her with a smile or just by saying her name. Obviously it was just a small gesture of kindness, but for some reason, it means the world to her. Maybe especially from Dad? But regardless of the one who is noticing, it was very easy to see that she enjoys being noticed.

Don’t we all? Even from such an early age, to be recognized just for being… it can be a lonely world inside yourself. So, to have another person stop what they are doing and focus their attention on you, even if only for a moment… it stirs up some pretty exciting emotions in my daughter, let me tell you! 🙂 She starts bouncing, and smiling so hard it seems her mouth might expand right off her face! It makes her day when you just notice her.

I thought that was cute. I hope to have many chances to “notice” her tomorrow. You should try it, too. I’m sure there’s someone tomorrow whom you will come across that you could “notice” with a smile, or a greeting, or even a conversation. I don’t know if it will make their day like it does Julia’s, but I’m sure it will be appreciated.

That’s why there are books about purpose and significance and all that jazz… it’s what we want. Maybe what we were made for. The cool thing is, we are noticed. Our Father notices everything about us. Our first, our last, and every moment in between. It’s easy to miss that sometimes. We feel unnoticed. Unimportant. Not sure if that’s what my 8 month old daughter feels, but it sure lights up her world – and her face! – when she does realize that she is significant enough to draw my attention, even for only a few seconds.

It does make a difference. It will be noticed.