by Greg

Progress Report

Well, it’s been a little over a week now that we have been home from the hospital with our newest family member, and it’s even been a couple days since any of us has been sick. (Not sure which one of those bits of news is more welcome at this point…) 😉

Today was a fun day, actually. There were no scheduled visits, which although greatly appreciated and enjoyed, do not really allow for any sort of a schedule to the day. Not so this day. We got a lot of cleaning done (even finally vacuumed) and finished 4 or 5 loads of laundry (and a few loads of dishes). We read library books in the morning before taking a walk up to the library (all seven of us!) and getting some more books! (We read some of those upon our return home!) We even had time to run some errands (the four older kids and me) which included a stop at our favorite ice cream place – CHILL & GRILL – for an end of the day treat!

It was a really fun day. 🙂

We also took a break in the middle of the day (after lots of serious house cleaning) to play a game, just Dad and the three oldest kids. That was fun. I am thoroughly enjoying spending so much time with my kids. I love this part of having a new baby 🙂

There have been a few fun kid moments over the past couple days…

Last night, after a looong day of fun on Easter Sunday (which included your normal easter fun as well as a visit from our friends the Chis and two trips to Chill & Grill!) Alex snuck upstairs to get ready for bed and as I was coming up to put the boys in bed, Alex said, “Wait, Dad! I’m almost done!” He was very happy about it, so I let him finish what he was scheming. When I got up there, I saw Alex putting the finishing touches on cleaning the bathroom for Mom & Dad. 🙂 He said he knew we were tired, and he wanted to do that for us. He cleaned the sink, and even used “just a washcloth and some water” to clean our toilet. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Very cute… a little gross… but very cute.

Tonight as I was bathing the girls (which I remembered that I needed to do after I had already gotten the girls in the jammies for the night…) Kirstie was almost done and she said as I was washing her off, “Dad, when you need me to wash you off I’ll just do it for you, OK?” 🙂 Again… very cute.

There have been many cute moments like that this last week or so, and I am so thankful that though it’s been super hard work (lack of sleep, lots of extra sickness, lots of extra visits, and just being behind already from the 3 days at the hospital) it’s so totally worth it, and there are many fun/amazing moments with my kids that I am definitely blessed to have.

That said… there’s not much time to do the stuff I’m wanting to do (or needing to do!) as is evidenced by a blog post at 1:00am 🙂

Tomorrow we have a visit from some friends in the morning, and then in the afternoon we’ll hopefully be getting our new van seat, which will allow us all to (legally) go somewhere as a family of seven! (Right now, our van only seats six.) 🙂 Oh, and then another friend will be bringing us dinner. Probably a good day for that!

At least we’re not still sick! 🙂

Oh, and Jen and Emma are doing great. Jen was feeling pretty bad at the end of last week (which is why I am still not back in my office officially) but feeling lots better now. Things are definitely progressing.

I may have to post some more Emma photos here pretty soon… Still working on the video, too. 🙂

by Greg

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. 🙂

by Greg

Die Hard Fans

Chill and Grill is OPEN!
Neither snow, nor sickness, nor brand new baby, nor rain and 30 degree temps could keep us from being at our favorite ice cream spot on Wednesday! Chill & Grill opened on March 19th, and though we didn’t get to take Emma there (nor did I have my traditional one-pound Monster Burger!) we did manage two visits on opening day. 🙂

My favorite part is eating ice cream in the snow. 🙂

We’ll probably go another time or two this weekend. Today it’s 30 degrees… might be up to about 36 by Sunday… we’ll see…

Time for some ice cream!!

Chill and Grill is OPEN!

by Greg

March Madness

I may have mentioned this in years past, but I must say… 18 March Madnesses ago, my friend Adam invited me to his house, and he invited Jen Walker. And that night, a friendship began that is still going strong, and only getting better. I sure love my Jen, and in a strange way, March Madness reminds me of that. 🙂

The tourney is also fun when my team (Michigan State) advances. They did that today with a pretty easy win over #12 Temple. #4 Pittsburgh is next. Bring ’em on! 🙂

by Greg

Just When We Thought They Were Finished…

The Sabres continue to surprise us. This team has been very streaky in 2007-2008, and thought replete with talent, they seem to lose to teams they should not lose to.

Partially that is due to an amazing season of equality in the NHL. Every team can beat any other team on any night. Pretty amazing. There are 6-7 teams fighting for the final few playoff spots in each conference, separated by only a handful of points. Pretty spectacular for the fans, for the most part.

But also very frustrating.

Wednesday night the Sabres were hosting the last place Tampa Bay Lightning, very much needing to win due to the teams closest to them in the standings winning the night before. Seemed a perfect opportunity, being on a bit of a winning streak, and playing at home against a seemingly easy opponent. But don’t forget what I said above. This season, every team in the league can beat any other team on any night. The Lightning apparently knew that.

Leading 2-1 after one period, and 4-1 after two (with the Sabres mustering only 2 shots in the second period) the Lightning seemed in complete control, and Sabres’ fans booed their team off the ice into the intermission.

Perhaps that had the desired affect. In the third period, the Sabres looked like the team they really are capable of being (super-talented, high-scoring, fast, aggressive, fun-to-watch, young team) and posted their second and third goals within 16 seconds of each other, then once they tied it, didn’t stop till they tallied six altogether in the third period! Thomas Vanek even had a natural hat trick, scoring the tying goal, the go-ahead goal, and the clincher! Fantastic.

Tonight (Friday) the Sabres host the Toronto Maple Leafs who are closer in the standings to the Sabres, but whom the Sabres have recently had a pretty easy time with. This is a game the Sabres should win, and need to win. Two points are a must.

After the second period Wednesday it seemed the team had given up, and with only 8 games to go, it seemed time for me to face the non-playoff reality. BUT, after that third period… perhaps we are seeing the final streak for our boys in Blue and Gold? A good streak in the final eight games could conceivably get them as high as sixth place. That would pit them against the Southeast division champ (likely Carolina) whom the Sabres have had a pretty good time with this year!

They’re still sitting in a very precarious 9th place for the time being, but this team has a good chance to land a playoff spot, as long as they can be the team that we saw in that third period last night.

Here’s hoping they’ve got one more good streak in them this year! 🙂

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!