Year / 2008

by Greg

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…) 😉

by Greg

Lucky Seven

Being that it’s the last few moments of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day, I figured that was a fitting title. And really, it’s very appropriate.

We are now a family of seven, and learning what that means day by day. Of course, our seventh member is not really contributing all that much these days. She has managed to bring quite an influx of visitors through our humble abode – something her dad very much appreciates – but other than that she’s almost hard to notice! She’s doing everything a 4-day-old person should be doing, and doing it quite well, thank you very much!

Mom is doing fantastically. Never been better following the birth of our babies. Seriously. On Sunday, we went out for a birthday lunch for my dad (since she was feeling up to it) and on the way there, we stopped at the Walmart Super Center for diapers and other things babies need. Well, if you’ve been to one of these gigantic establishments you know that there is a LOT of walking involved! And Jen walked it all! Pretty quickly!! Amazing! She could have never(in a million years!) done that following any of our other babies.

Superb.

So this morning, in addition to our lucky green shamrock-shaped pancakes, I was feeling quite lucky to be part of this great family that God continues to build and grow together. From my favorite person on the planet (Jen) to my next five favorites (Ian, Alex, Kirsten, Julia, and now Emma) I couldn’t be luckier.

And I’m not even Irish. I’m Scottish. And a bit Welsh. Maybe some German. But I digress…

On top of that we have some great friends who helped when the baby was coming, and more who are dropping by to meet the baby and calling to check on us and share in our joy, and more still who will be bringing some meals this week and next.

Ya can’t get any luckier. 🙂

So on this day associated with luck, I just wanted to count – and publicly proclaim – my many blessings.

I’m one lucky dude.

by Greg

Which Way Did They Go?


One of the stranger things from our three days here at the hospital has been watching the migration of the Canadian geese. Thousands – definitely tens of thousands – of these cool birds (that resemble Klingon birds of prey as they descend to the water) have been flying past the big windows in the room where Emma was born.

Oddly enough, though in March geese should be flying north, it sure seemed like they were flying south. We figured they knew what they were doing… so we accepted the direction of their giant goose arrows as north, against our better judgment.

Even more oddly…

This morning when we woke up, the geese were all flying back the other direction! Ha! And, that direction was what I originally thought was north. Sweet vindication! 🙂

A nurse (who seemed equally fascinated by them) reminded us that the lake is maybe just a mile south of us, and that was their southerly destination.

It all makes sense now. And it’s still incredibly cool! Just watching SO many animals working in concert toward the same goal, same destination. Watching what God has designed into His creation is just a reminder of how beautifully simple and complex it all is. I won’t elaborate now, but there have been many reminders through the whole process of the birth of Emma at how simply mind-blowing God’s creation is, and how evident it is that he made it, and holds it all together.

Even the Klingon geese. 🙂

by Greg

Emma Caroline Campbell Is Here!

Emma Caroline Campbell
Meet our newest family member, Emma Caroline Campbell! She was born at 8:29pm on Thursday, March 13th. She weighed in at 7lbs 14 oz, and is an uncertain length. (We still don’t know! The little card on her baby cart has a field for the length… but it’s BLANK!)

Mom and baby are doing great! Jen seems the healthiest, the strongest she’s ever been right after delivering a baby! Everything went perfectly!

Mostly. 🙂

It was definitely a very different experience this time. It all began when Jen started feeling pretty normal beginning stage contractions around 5am on Thursday morning. She let me know that there were some regular contractions – about 15 minutes apart, so not that close – around 7 or 8 in the morning. Because of the regularity, and because Jen has never had “false labor”, I got up around 8 and started getting ready to head to the hospital!

But not only were they far apart, they were not very intense. Jen was perplexed, but for some reason, I had a hunch we needed to get to the hospital anyway.

I started calling around to the various folks who had offered to help with our four kids already on the outside once the birthing process began. The funny thing about when these contractions started was that two out of our top three options could not do Thursday morning. 🙂 But thankfully the third was available.

Emma Caroline Campbell
Meanwhile, Jen’s contractions had really slowed in frequency and intensity. So she was starting to doubt if this was really going to happen, and didn’t want to inconvenience our friends if this was just a fire drill instead of the real thing. I was convinced it was time, though, so I was still preparing to head to the hospital.

We went for a walk to see if we could get things moving along a little faster. It did help a bit, but still, Jen’s contractions were lessening, so she still had big reservations about heading to the hospital. (It didn’t help that I had spoken with a friend earlier today who reminded me the story of their third baby that started out just about as this labor day was for us. Far apart, low intensity contractions, and then BLAMMO! They barely got her into the hospital room to deliver the baby!!)

I thought it would be good to get the doctor in on the conversation – and Jen agreed – so I called up our doctor and she agreed that it would be good to come in and check her out. That was a good in between option for Jen, so I called up our neighbor and she came to watch the kids for either a quick trip to the doctors and back home… OR… on to the hospital!! (I made sure we packed for a hospital stay!) 🙂

The doctor confirmed what I was thinking, with the 5th baby, and with some definite movement since the day before, she advised us to get to the hospital within the hour. So we made the appropriate calls and set the final stage of the plan in motion. Grandma & Grandpa were on their way from Buffalo, the second shift of kid watching was in place, and we were going to get some lunch before getting to the hospital!

I was still thinking that we would have a very fast overall process as we were on our fifth baby, and the rumor is the more babies you have had, the faster the delivery goes… BUT… not so!

Emma Caroline Campbell
Jen was still having very slight contractions. In fact, after they hooked her up to the monitor that showed contractions, the machine showed that she had had two contractions, but she didn’t feel any! Pretty funny. The odd part was that Jen had been reading some books about how God designed labor to work and to even be potentially pain free. Lots of testimonies from ladies who had experienced it, and Jen knew anything is possible with God… but… well, it still seemed too good to be true!

And, indeed it probably was. There was not much progress with these “phantom” contractions. But, still, there was. Jen was moving along, and baby was definitely coming. So the doctor helped it along by breaking the water and things progressed from there. Contractions definitely got more intense after that and Jen definitely got more tired! Very long day!

There are many more stories, but suffice it to say, Emma Caroline is here, and she was a surprise! It was the first time Jen guessed wrong on the gender of our babies 🙂 Our nurse friend Sarah was working that night and so she was in the room helping and she correctly predicted a girl, as did the doctor and her assistant. Surprising!

We’re so glad she’s here!!!

Emma Caroline Campbell
A little about the name. The first name is just a nice name. We just liked the sound of it. Emma. Nice. 🙂 The middle name is Jen’s Dad’s nickname for her Mom. Her given name is Carolyn, but he often calls her Caroline. We toyed with the idea of working in Mom & Grandma’s spelling in there (Carolyn and Lyn) to be “Carolyne”, but decided on the more common spelling. (Which is what Jen’s Dad uses if he is writing out the nickname.)

Interestingly, we found out later that the name “Emma” means “Complete.” Hmmm… is God telling us something about our family? 🙂

Ya never know! Only He does. 🙂

So we are all happy, healthy, and doing quite well! We’ll be home tomorrow and look forward to introducing more friends and family to our newest family member, Emma Caroline Campbell!

by Greg

Julia’s Birthday Fun!

Julia Gayle is 2!
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! 🙂

by Greg

Breaking News!

Apple online store down!
There are some advantages to staying up super late. I had some stuff to do tonight, and kind of randomly pulled up the Apple online store when lo and behold, I have a scoop! The Apple Store is currently down… and today (tomorrow for me) is Tuesday, which is when Apple typically releases new products.

I don’t know what it will be. BUT… I’ve been telling folks for a couple weeks that I think Apple will be updating the iMac soon. They had a “limited time offer” on refurbs of the current generation listed at the online store for just about two weeks now, and to me that meant that at least an updated iMac is coming, if not a bigger revision of the best computer on the planet! 🙂

So anyway. Now that I’ve broken the story…

I’m going to bed. 🙂

Check the apple store for what the actual news is tomorrow. 😉

by Greg

Big Fun Food Day

For a little while now our friend Leah and I have been trying to plan a time for she and Scott and Jen & I to have a fun food extravaganza as a sort of “last hurrah” before they move to Maryland. Many obstacles have delayed the outing, and even made it seem impossible. But yesterday… we finally made it happen!! It was tons of fun! And tons of FOOD!

I shall henceforth refer it to as the Big Fun Food Day. 🙂

See, it all started with an idea in my head. We thought it would be fun to get babysitters for all our kids and go out on a “double date” with Scott & Leah before they leave, and I was trying to think of a fun place that they like to make it extra special. Well, the first one that came to mind is one that Leah likes, but Scott… hates. 🙂 (Funnier still, I also am a fan, but Jen is really not.) So, that wouldn’t work… unless…

I thought we could try a “progressive dinner” style outing. Leah and I could eat our fill at the Indian buffet, and then we’d go straight to a place that Scott (& Jen) like to eat. I ran the idea by Jen, and she thought it was fun, and then by Leah, and she too thought it a fun plan… She ran it by Scott, who added his consent and then Leah added Coldstone to the mix for dessert! Ha! Three places in one outing! Fun stuff!

After a few failed attempts at finding a day that worked for all (schedule conflicts) and then finding willing babysitters for our four and their three kids, we finally made it work yesterday!

It all started at about 12:45pm or so. We met up at Willowbrook where we dropped our van and carpooled with them in their (very tiny!) car to the India House buffet. (Photo below… Jen took it, so … she’s not in it.) 🙂

India House Buffet in Victor, NY

We had a crazy waiter here named Dave. He hit it off with Scott as they are both UFC (Ultimate Fight Challenge?) fans. He also introduced himself as Ravi and said he hates Indian food, music, and Indian people. That was awesome. 🙂 (We learned that the first thing he said was always false.) 🙂

The food was awesome, and as I didn’t plan on eating Indian food again for quite some time… I ate… three plates full. 🙂

I was full.

Carrabba's in Henrietta, NY

Next we decided to head to a town about 20 minutes west where Scott’s favorite restaurant resides. We had never been, so I made sure to sample some stuff, but MAN there was VERY little room for the samples! Scott & Jen feasted here. Leah did “sample” as well, of course… 🙂

Funny story was… we got out there about 2:40 or so… and they didn’t open till three!! So we went to Land’s End next door for a bathroom for the pregnant lady and some clothes shopping for Leah (and Jen enjoyed looking at the kids stuff as well) 🙂

Our waiter at Carrabba’s was very good as well. And strangely reminded us of a friend of ours (all of us). They have different names though, so we think they are different people… 🙂

Coldstone Creamery in Pittsford, NY

It was super late when we left Carrabba’s (we were having a great time!) so we didn’t get to stay and eat at Coldstone, but we did swing by there on the way home, and three of us got SMALL ice creams. 🙂 (Actually, Leah got a medium sized one…) 🙂

It was fantastic, but at that point, there was very little room for any more food, no matter how good it was! 🙂

We finally got back to our kids at 6pm, and once we collected them and all their stuff, we went over to the Vs house for a little extra hang out (and our kids all got to see each other and play then, too). That actually ended with Jen making a quick run to McDonald’s to round out the Big Fun Food Day (at least for the kids) with some burgers, fries, chicken nuggets and a snack wrap or two. 🙂

It was certainly a memory, and a great, big, fun, day of food! 🙂

More photos here.

by Greg

[Things That Are Weird] Waking Up In A Dream

Continuing the “Things That Are Weird” theme…

It can’t get much weirder than going through some sort of wake up routine, going about your daily business after turning off your alarm and getting out of bed… only to have the alarm go off again, and you find yourself STILL in bed!

Perhaps it gets weirder when the “regular morning routine” was actually not regular at all, and was in a completely different (fabricated) house and geographic location.

Wonder what I ate last night?