Feven Fosts for Friday

Hard to believe it's Friday, but as the great Rebecca Black once say, yesterday was Thursday, so today is Friday...  Anyway, this is John and these are Feven Fosts.

1. Pretty crazy to think that tomorrow is the last day of 2011.  2012 just sounds like it's in the future, like it's for future people with cool future gadgets.  Do we have cool enough gadgets right now to be 2012?  Not sure... 2011 was a crazy year for the Campbells.  Jack turned 1 and began walking, talking, and now says "wa - yooooo"  (love you).   We invited Megan into our home.  We thought Molly would be blind by now and she's not, so that's good.  I moved into a new job at work.  It's all been a crazy time, but I gotta say that I love my life.

2.  I just spent a ridiculously long time reading about this thing called "Up".  It's a wristband you wear that gives you constant feedback on your fitness life.  It also tells you how you slept last night.  Anyway, I don't think I want one... but I spent a long time looking at it knowing I didn't want one.  .. end pointless second fost..

3.  I can't decide if this week is a good one to take vacation on or if it is a bad one.  I have never taken vacation over this time, because there's so little going on at work that it's almost a vacation to be there (yesterday's day was a complete exception).  However, I've been able to leave a bit early almost every day.  On the other hand, wouldn't it be nice to take four days off of ETO and get a total of 10 days?  And nothing is happening a work, so it's not like you come back to craziness.  Can't decide...

4.  Seriously.. did you watch Jack's video?  He slams himself into the crib while being ridiculous.  It's gold people.

5. To spend our last evening of 2011, we plan to be gluttonous and eat pretty much everything in sight.  Unless it is not edible, then we probably won't eat it.

Shhhh My Loved Ones Say

By now, I assume you have all seen the these videos. If you haven’t, you should…they are kind of funny in how accurate they are. 

I was talking to Megan (my sister wife/buddy old pal/roomie—keep up here people!) the other day when this conversation happened:

HER: “When is dinner?”    ME: “Ten minutes or so.”   HER: “Uggghhhh! TEN MINUTES?”    ME: “Are you hungry?”    HER: “No…I just want to get it over with.”

Then I was reminded of this charm: HER: I haven’t had real macaroni and cheese in forever…you know, like Kraft.    ME: So pretty much the exact opposite of “real” macaroni and cheese?

I decided that I could make an entire video on the things that she says:

“He’s gorgeous!”       “It was only [insert monetary amount here]!!!”         “You need to [insert task here] immediately, if not sooner.”                  “Mmm…I want sushi!”

But Megan’s not the only one in my life who gives me material.

(while discussing Heaven) ME: I’m sad if we’re not married in Heaven. Russ was adamant that we aren’t married in Heaven, you know. (anyone from our former Bible Study group will get this reference)     John: Eh, I think it will be okay.           ME: So you’re okay with us not being married for eternity?       John: Well, I’m sure we’d still get together like once a week!

John: If this light doesn’t turn green in the next five seconds, I am going to pull your hair out!      ME: Mine? How did I get dragged into this?     John: Because, I can’t pull out my own! I need to preserve it. And Jack doesn’t have enough. It’s all you, baby.

ME: Ok. I'll see you Thursday        Mom: Fah Shah          ME: Fo' Sho;        Mom: Fa-wuh Sha-wuh    ME: Ha ha. Close.      Mom: Foo Shoo. You say it.         ME: Fo Sho      Mom: (very slowly and deliberately) Fooawww Shoooawww     ME: like "snow" Fo' Sho'     Mom: Fo Snow      ME: No, don't say Snow. It rhymes with snow. Snow Show. Fo' sho'      Mom: Fo Snow. Okay!! Got it!  Love you hon. Bye!!

And don’t even get me started on the phone conversation I had with Bridget (little sister, come on people. KEEP UP!) on her first solo grocery shopping trip of her adult life…at the age of 24. It’s a wonder she didn’t starve before now. But trust me, that’s a post of its own. Just know that when a conversation starts with, “One DOLLAR for a box of pasta? I can’t afford that!?!?!” and ends with, “Well if I buy a twenty four pack of Sierra Nevada, it’s cheaper per bottle than if I only buy twelve”, it’s gotta be good.

The Christmas Post

Is it any surprise that Jack was spoiled rotten for Christmas? And not by us, mind you. Last year, we bought Jack a train set that we got at TJ Maxx for $15. He was 10 months old—no 10 month old has use for a wooden train set. So we shoved it under his crib and waited to get it out when it was actually interesting to him. Then we forgot about it…until it came time to decide what to get him for Christmas. The unopened box beckoned me…and I rewrapped it and gave it to him for Christmas. Again. But before you start thinking I’m a terrible mom for getting him a leftover gift, just know that I got him a second present: a coloring book. With markers. Yep, this is what my big time fancy lawyer salary provides for ya, kid. Oh, and I also stuffed his stocking with some of the small toys he had scattered around our living room. You’re welcome, son. Santa loves you.

Luckily, our family and friends weren’t as stingy as we were. Jack is now the proud owner of a robot, a Rock & Roll Elmo, a Chuck the Talking Truck, a homemade skull/crossbones blanket, not one but two talking puzzles, a ride-on truck complete with a smaller truck and tool box and giant lego things (this toy is a behemoth), a safari truck with animals, tons of hip new clothes and a plethora of never-before-read books. Oh, and a wooden train.

John and I were also spoiled rotten. Aside from tons of presents (my favorite is probably the garden stone Jack made with my mom) that we adore, we got to spend a glorious long weekend with this kiddo that involved naps together and tons of playtime.

And it didn’t hurt that his identical cousin was also thrown in the mix:

I was too sick to think to take a picture of John’s matching red bowtie on Christmas day or of John & Jack’s matching grey cardigan/red tie combo on Christmas Eve. Just trust me when I say that it was adorable.

To top things off, my two sisters are in town so it was an almost complete McCartney family Christmas—only missing my brother…who is a lame-o and should really get his hiney back to Texas soon!

Anyway, Jack was so hyped up on Christmas that that night, he kept running around his room like a crazy man. If you can only watch one video, please watch the 2nd one…even if you don’t have sound…just picture him running around saying, “aghagharreahagha!”

Yeah, I’m a 27 year old woman wearing footie pajamas. What of it?

Yep, parents of the year, folks. Parents of the year.

Post Christmas Haze

Good Morning, friends! Welcome back to Considering Campbell. We’ve been on a bit of a hiatus here for the Holidays. Christmas was fantastic—Jack had a ball! I, unfortunately, have been sick the past two days and missed the best 2 eating days of the year (fondue on Christmas eve and fried turkey on Christmas day). Apparently it’s good to remember to take your meds when your electrolytes are so out of whack that your body cannot function without them lest it decide to be a pukey mess all day, all night.

Yeah, so I went two days without taking my magnesium pills (or was it three?) like a big old idiot. Not sure what happened…I just plum forgot. By the third day, I was a gross ball of nauseousness. Hey Molly: the reason why you have to take these supplements is because your stupid kidneys can’t keep enough of this crap in your body on its own—why don’t you go ahead and remember to take them? Yeah, I’m a bit peeved at myself. I remembered to take them on Christmas Eve after leaving church during “Silent Night” and sitting in the car by myself chanting, “Don’t puke, don’t puke!” But by then, I hadn’t eaten much for the previous 24 hours due to the whole nausea thing. So magnesium on an empty stomach made Christmas day a bit less than ideal. Sooo moral of the story: I will not forget to take these stupid pills ever again. ALSO MORAL: even when you feel like crap, you can still have one of the best days of your life. I had an absolute glorious time watching Jack open his presents—he was in pure heaven. I think these past two days have been the happiest I’ve ever seen him. Everything was so exciting to him! He woke up yesterday saying, “Santa?” No kid, Santa won’t come again until next year…but go check out what he brought you yesterday.

I’ll post some more on Jack’s delightful Christmas tomorrow. I didn’t draft any posts for this week what with the going to bed at 8 every night the past 3 nights. Hopefully today I’ll finally feel better (especially since I go back to work…blech) and I can get some good quality stuff on this here blog for tomorrow. Eh, who are we kidding? This is Considering Campbell….mediocre quality is all you’re ever gonna get. 

From Coffee to Salsa to Acorn Pediatrics

This is John.

The other night we discovered Jack LOVES coffee.  In truth, he likes to drink stuff out a of a coffee cup.  In truth, the coffee cup is just small plastic mug with a handle like a coffee cup.  He drinks milk or water out of it and loves every sip.  Routinely giving a ::gulp:: “ahhh” like out of some Folger’s commercial. 

Well, on Saturday night, he was drinking his “coffee” and decided to spill it on the floor.  He was told not to spill it and if he did, we were going to take it away.  He likes to do it on purpose.  Anyway, he spills it.  I take it away.  Then this happens. 

That happened for about 30 minutes.  Non-stop…this is toward the end of it, so hence the coughing.  I’d cough too if I cried that hard about my coffee being taking away.

Then we asked him if he wanted some salsa.  He loves salsa, so we thought this might settle him down without giving into his demands.

Well, shortly after we gave him salsa, but he didn’t eat it he started tugging at his ear.  We figured out it was an ear ache and nothing is more frustrating than an ear ache on the weekend when the only choice is a doc in the box and possibly a long wait.

We recently switched our pediatrician to a place called Acorn Pediatrics.  It’s a new practice run by Dr. Sarah Bourland and it was the best decision we have made in a long time.  (The investment in Greek bonds didn’t turn out like I thought it would.)

Jack had been in to see her a week before for a rash. This was on a Friday and she said to Molly, “If it looks bad tomorrow, then call me and we’ll get him on a prescription.”  It didn’t look any worse, but the fact she told us to call her on the weekend we thought was strange.  Well, now we actually had an issue a doctor would need to help with, so Molly called the doctors office.

The voicemail was the doctor’s voice and it ended,  “Leave me a message and I’ll return your call in 20 minutes or less.”  20 Minutes?  On a weekend?  We thought it was a mistake… then 10 minutes later our phone rang. 

It was Dr. Bourland.  Molly explained what was going on.  She said Jack needed to see someone, that the doc in the box she worked at that weekend had a 3 hour wait, so “I’m going up to my office right now, so why don’t you meet me there and I’ll take a look at him?” 

Ok.  So the following things happened:

• The week before she asked us to call HER on the weekend.
• The next week we call her on a Saturday evening and its her voice on the answering machine saying she’ll return the call within 20 minutes.
• She returned the call in 10 minutes.
• She had us come to her office on a Saturday night to check up on him for an ear ache.

This was incredible.  We liked our previous doctor, but this customer service was out of control.  Something about doctors offices and their staff and they attitude they have with you.  It’s seriously 1) The DMV, 2) Airline Employees 3) Doctor Office Staffs… so we just figured it was all like this.  We were wrong.

Acorn Pediatrics and Dr. Bourland are out of this world awesome.  She’s new, so she is working with a smaller patient base, but my goodness she has our kids in her care for as long as their kids… that’s a guarantee. 

Give a Girl a Break

Listen friends, it’s the week before Christmas and I just got back from a business trip. I’m tired, I have lots of holiday baking to do, and I have no blog material. So forgive me for being a little MIA on Monday and again today. I just don’t have much to talk about.

Just know that if you could smell my house right now, you’d probably gain about 15 pounds from the smell of chocolate and cinnamon alone. And I don’t even like baking. Imagine how crazy it’d be if I actually enjoyed doing this.

So thanks for the “hey, I miss your posts” messages (Nicola, you’re my favorite) but forgive me for giving you nothing on Monday and crap today.

I’ll make up for it tomorrow with tales of my crazy flight home.

Ten on Tuesday

This is John.  Molly is out of town hanging out in Dallas.  You know when she goes out of town all she does is party and then she sticks me with the blogging. 

1 What is your favorite online-only store?
Amazon because is amazoning.  Get it?  It’s a play on amazing and Amazon.  It actually pains me to say that because Amazon is a direct competitor of Rackspace (my company).  However, their store rocks.  If you have to use their Cloud services, then you should use Rackspace.  We get our diapers for Jack from Amazon… it’s the cheapest and they’re actually name brand.

2. Do you enjoy wrapping gifts?
I don’t mind it on the first one and then by the last one I want to take my head and slam it into the fireplace. That’s not true. Molly wrapped about a bajillion presents this year and I didn’t wrap one.  It’s not that I wasn’t willing.. it just didn’t happen.

3. What is the temperature in your city today?
287.4 Degrees Kelvin

4. What time do you eat dinner?
We at dinner quite late tonight.. like 7pm.  I know.  You’re thinking how crazy we are to wait that long for dinner.  It was crazy.  Jack was delirious by the time I put him to bed … repeating every word he knows and pointing to items on the wall telling me what they were.  Between it all he would ask for his “meh” which is his paci.

5. Will you be making New Years Resolutions?
Nope.  Well, probably yes… but the answer just ends up being no.

6. How old is your oldest pair of shoes that you still wear?
That’s a strange question.  I have absolutely no idea.  I’m tired of talking about shoes.

7. Do you have any restaurant phone numbers saved in your phone?
No.  Are you calling me fat?

8. What is your favorite and least favorite letter to write in cursive?
These questions really went downhill fast.  They were all cool at the beginning and now we’re talking about cursive?  When I sign my name, I cursive out the J, but I do it backwards… it is kind of my trademark.  Otherwise, does anyone else think an uppercase Q is just wicked?!?

9. Do you know any good riddles?
What’s black and white and read all over?  A NEWSPAPER!  badabing.

10. How do you feel about snow?
Love to watch it snow.  Love the anticipation of snow.  Love standing outside when it’s snowing really hard and everything is super quiet and all the sounds are muffled.  Love the day right after a big snow.  Dislike all of the days after the day right after a big snow.

Feven Fosts for Friday

This is John.

1.  As a follow-up to yesterday’s post o Advent calendars:  Molly failed to mention that Megan actually hates her advent calendar.  Why?  Because the dates are not listed in order.  Like many good calendars, they’re all out of order and it makes it fun to hunt for it.  However, it drives Megan CRAZY.  She gets legitimately angry that the 1 is next to the 16 and that the 24 is sandwiched between 3 and 19.

2. Our nephew (Jack’s identical cousin) is in the hospital, so lots of prayers are appreciated.  He’s got a bad case of pneumonia and has spent two nights there trying to get it all figured out.  Poor little man.  Please say some prayers for him and his family.  Molly went to visit him at the hospital yesterday and he is being such a trooper but aside from being sick, imagine how tough it is to keep a 21 month old in a hospital crib—he’s hooked up to a ton of monitors and can’t really move around. Needless to say, he gets pretty frustrated about not being able to get down and run around and play.

Now this is Molly.

3. I had my little procedure done yesterday. I couldn’t eat for 48 hours prior to it. I felt like my body was probably going, “Oh hell, not this again.” It really wasn’t as terrible as I expected it to be…mostly because they gave me some rockstar anesthesia basically the moment I got into my hospital gown…so I have no recollection of anything—just a bit of a sore throat from the endoscopy they also did. All I know is that my guts are all okay and they found nothing troubling. So it looks like the only issue is a bit of a weak kidney…and we’re hoping all the horsepills I’m taking will fix that sooner rather than later so I can make Jack a big brother.

4. Jack saw Santa at Rackspace the other day. As you may recall, Jack was not a fan of the jolly guy last year. We saw a Santa a couple weeks ago up at a neighborhood event and it looked like his second experience with Santa would be a repeat. Jack has been reading books about Santa and always points out the decorations that involve St Nick…yet he was not a fan when he saw him “in real life”. The neighborhood Santa wasn’t a good Santa (just a dude with a fake beard and a crappy santa outfit) so we weren’t too disappointed when Jack freaked the heck out the moment we tried to get him close to his lap. We figured we’d hold off on pictures until we saw the “good” Santa at Rackspace. We were fully prepared for Jack to freak out with the Rack Santa but we were going to do it anyway…because we have to get a picture with him and Santa, right? While we were standing in line, I showed him the slide he got to go down after he saw Santa (what, your place of business doesn’t have a loopy slide for you to use to get from one floor to another? Clearly you don’t work at Rackspace). That must have done the trick because he was so excited to get on Santa’s lap…all so he could get off Santa’s lap and go down the slide.

Last Year

“My mommy hates me! She made me sit on this creeper’s lap and she dresses me like a little girl!”

This Year

I learned my lesson from last year and decided to dress my little boy like a boy…rather than in the sissy little romper I put him in last year (sorry Jack! It seemed like a good idea at the time).

“Okay, hurry up with the pictures guys. I need to get my cute little butt on that slide tout suite.”

5. That’s all I got. Happy weekend!!!

24 Days of Advent

I’m big on advent calendars. Not sure if I’ve ever mentioned that before, but I am. I love the idea of homemade, unique advent calendars with little daily reminders of the gift that is about to come on December 25th. 

We always had advent calendars growing up. I remember there was one that was little books, each day told a little bit of the Nutcracker story. We also had the chocolate ones and various other ones through the years. John and I have stuck with the plain jane chocolate advent calendars for the past 5 years. This year, however, everyone has their own advent calendar.

John

Old habits die hard. John is sticking with his beloved one-chocolate-a-day advent ritual. Megan has also has one—we couldn’t leave out our newest family member, now could we? She has been sharing her chocolate with Jack though—he’s got a rough little infection on his nose and as we clean it out every night and he screams in pain, Megan rushes over to retain her title as “fun and cool Aunt Megan” and shoves chocolate in his mouth in an effort to calm him down and ease his pain. Yesterday, Jack tried to get into Megan’s room while saying, “Chocla?” over and over. The kid is going to be disappointed come Christmas when there is no longer chocolate all over this casa.

Jack

As you know from the Pinterest Challenge, this year I decided to change it up a bit with a fun advent calendar for Jack.

He loves getting down a bag each day for the “peasants”. They are mostly filled with little cars, mini rubber duckies, or those punching balloon things. But each weekend day has a special treat—some of them include “driving the car” (his new favorite activity where he sits in the front seat of my car and says “Vroom vroom!” while pretending to drive for an hour or so), “making cookies with mommy”, “going to look at Christmas light”, “playing tag with Daddy” and some of his other favorite activities.

Molly

On the right side of the fireplace, there’s another advent calendar: Mine. This is the second year that I’ve participated in Astrid's annual Tea Swap. She assigns groups of 5 and we each send 5 bags of tea to everyone in our group. Eventually, you will have unique bags of tea—it’s neat because you can buy 5 boxes of tea rather than 25 and still get the neat “every day is different!” feel. Unfortunately, I only received tea from 2 other swappers this year—not sure if the other bags got lost in the mail or if Christmas season just snuck up on a few of the swappers. But that’s okay, I just added a few more bags of green tea and called it good. Here’s what my advent tea calendar/advent tea wreath looked like yesterday, halfway through my tea-a-day advent.

It was quite an easy calendar to make. I simply cut a donut shape out of an old cardboard diaper box, then hotglued silver wrapping paper to it, wrapping the edges around the back. Then I hotglued some ribbon onto clothespins and then the clothespins onto the ring. Add a ribbon for hanging, a few numbers onto some of the clothespins so I know what day I’m on, and 24 bags of tea. But, if you’re not up for making your own advent tea wreath (though I am sure if could hold other cute little items as well), Astrid has some super cute ones in her Etsy Shop (she has tons of other cute items too…but I’m talking calendars today).

Happy Advent to you! I hope you’re taking the time to enjoy a special treat every day to remind you of the magic of this holiday season and to keep you mindful that each day of Advent, we inch closer to the wonderful day of Christ’s birth. Man, I get giddy this time of year. Between the Christmas carols, daily presents, special bags of tea, and the spirit of the season, you can just call me Mrs. Bing Crosby.

So, I’m curious…anyone else out there kind of obsessed with advent calendars? Do you guys have one? Two? Three? Or are you a 4 calendar family like we are? I wonder if Truman feels left out…perhaps I should fashion a milkbone-a-day calendar for him next year?

Korean Beef Tacos

I made these for dinner the other night and thought they were awesome. So now I share the recipe with you. Because I'm a giver.

Bulgogi (Korean Marinated Beef) Tacos

3 T. soy sauce

1 T. sesame oil

1 T. minced garlic

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 lb thinly sliced steak (I used strip steak)

Slice the beef into strips and place in a large ziploc bag. Mix all ingredients together and pour into bag. Let out the excess air and seal, being sure to coat all the meat with the marinade. I let mine marinate for about 24 hours but I am sure you could do a bit less.

Turn griddle (I used a grill pan) on very high heat and spray with nonstick spray. Grill until cooked through, about 10 minutes--flipping halfway through the cooking process.

Serve with warm tortillas (I preferred corn, John preferred flour), cilantro, and white rice (I used basmati). I also whipped up a little sauce to go on top...because I'm a saucy girl.

Sauce

4 T. soy sauce

1 T. sesame oil

1 T. rice vinegar

And a word of advice: don’t let your kid hold the package of tortillas. Even if you think he’s not yet capable of finding out how to open it, he will improvise. I looked over to see Jack chewing on something and kind of freaked out seeing as how the bag was unopened. And then I realized he’d used his chompers to tear through the bag and take 2 adorable bites out of half the stack of tortillas. So if you come to my house for dinner, hope you don’t mind that someone taste-tested the tortillas first.

Ten on Tuesday

1. How do you eat your eggs? Over easy. I love the runniness and dipping my toast in the yolk. I was very sad when I was pregnant and couldn't eat runny eggs.
2. Do you volunteer? Not like I should. I will volunteer if someone else organizes it but I don't really go out of my way to volunteer. That is terrible of me, isn't it?
3. What’s your favorite brand of jeans? BDG from Urban Outfitters. I've tried lots of jeans: Joe's, Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, etc. But BDGs are the best of all worlds: not $100 and they fit great.
4. What was your child’s first word? Or what was your first word? "Argh" when we asked him what a pirate said. 
5. Can you french braid? Nope. I have NO hair skills.
6. Do you prefer wide rule, college rule, or blank paper? College ruled. 
7. Is there a specific treat do you always make during the holidays? I make truffles every Christmas season to give to coworkers, etc. They are the most annoyingly time consuming thing in the world but they really are quite good. 
8. Do you have a KitchenAid mixer? Do you want one? Yes. I didn't use it for about a year but now I'm in love with it. And it was a lifesaver when I was making Jack's baby food.
9. What kind of computer do you use? I honestly have no idea what kind of computer we have. It's a big old screen so I can see it...and it's a touchscreen which is kind of unnecessary but it's fun for Jack to play with the paint application.
10. Favorite Christmas movie? Elf. I know that is blasphemy to the It's a Wonderful LIfe crew but I feel like Elf is a movie you can watch over and over and not have your heart break. Some holiday movies are rough on the old soul. 

The Bass Pro Shop

On Friday Sunday, Molly went to do some routine shopping with Megan and Haley (a friend of ours).  It wasn’t anything special, so Haley’s husband and I decided to run away with Jack and their daughter and spend some time at the Bass Pro Shop.  I thought he would think the “agua” and the stuffed animals we’re pretty cool.  Well, I was kind of right, but the reaction I got from Jack was not expected.

First, he loved the water, the waterfalls, and the fish.  I think we could have stood there for a few hours just with those attractions.

Not going to lie though, he did want to to get in with the fish.  He kept asking me to “uh-pin” (open) the glass. 

Then we headed upstairs, where he had fun “duh-iving” (driving) a “duck” (truck), which was actually a 4x4.

  That’s definitely an action shot.  He was going about 35 MPH at that time.

Of course, after the water, I thought the coolest thing for him would be to see and touch some of the stuffed animals they have available there.  If you’ve ever been to Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shop, you know they have everything from deer, to ducks, to crazy African game on display.  I thought getting up close to these things would really excite Jack.

Instead they just freaked him out beyond belief.

Here were approaching a stuffed duck.

Here we’re approaching a stuffed turkey.

Here we’re approaching a stuffed lion.

By that time, we was getting brave enough to tell the lion “no”.  Not sure to what, but I’m guessing for the lion not to scare him anymore.

So, that was our time at Bass Pro Shop.  Wanting to see animals and then once within 10 feet, freaking out about them. 

We ended it on a high note though.

We bought a $9000 vehicle for Jack to ride around town.  He loves it.

Feven Fosts

1. I feel like my business trips are something out of an Apple commercial. I have memorized a few of Jack's favorite books (Happy Hippo, Angry Duck; Goodnight Moon; But Not The Hippopotamus). On Tuesday night, I was in Atlanta for work and I FaceTimed John and Jack. We chatted a bit and then John took me (via phone) and Jack to the nursery where John held the phone so Jack and I could see each other. He held the book in the other hand and I recited the books while staring at my boy from hundreds of miles away. Really, Steve Jobs, thank you. Your innovations make my heart hurt a wee bit less when I am away.

2. I'm trying to be patient and grateful for good doctors who take care of me and are trying to get my electrolyte levels where they need to be. But I'm frustrated with the lack of communication between all my doctors. Why can't they all order labs at the same time so I only have to give blood once rather than a few times a week every time one of the doctors decides they want to see something else? Also, why can't I do ONE appointment and they can all share notes? Or hell, why can't they all work on the same days so I can knock out multiple appointments in one day rather than taking multiple afternoons off each week for all these appointments? My boss is going to lose her patience soon. And I am following suit.

3. I went to a fun party last Saturday. A girly white elephant gift exchange with 35 or so other ladies. It was super fun. But nearly every woman I talked to who had kids either stayed at home with them or only worked part time or from home. Y'all, my heart aches for that. It makes me sad that I am so quick to throw my career path out the window for something I never wanted, being a stay at home mom was NEVER appealing to me. In fact, John and I even planned for him to be the Stay at Home parent. And yet now I ache for it. I need a resolution...this either needs to happen, needs to stop tugging at my heart every day, or I need to stop meeting women who have made it doable so I can stop being reminded of what I want but can't have.

4. I love my husband. I just think people should know that. Because I really REALLY do.

5. I had caviar at a wine tasting last weekend at World Market. I forgot how much I love that crap.

6. We have a super busy weekend planned. I kind of want to take a day off soon just to RELAX. Is that super lame?

7. I don’t know why the spacing on this post is all messed up.

Memories...

Molly asked me to blog today and I even had a good topic to talk about, but I'll be honest with you... I'm dog tired and I would rather not write one more word.  Therefore, I will cut and paste something from memory lane.

It's our first post on this blog ever!  I kindly informed Molly after this was published that it was time to use capital letters.  Aren't you glad I did that?

April 6, 2009
this is our first post. we don't have any idea what we are doing.

many of our friends have blogs that are oh so hip and with it. we wanted to be hip and with it too. granted, most of those friends have children so their blogs tend to have more of a...well, purpose...but our blog is all about us. we're kind of narcissitic....but since we love each other, it's really one of us talking about the other person and not us talking about ourselves at all. in fact, we're about the most humble people you'd ever meet. fair to say THE humblest...so humble we shouldn't even really dwell on how humble we are. just trust us, we're humble.

love,

the campbells

 

Joy to World!

For the first time in my life, I put up lights on the house for Christmas.  Last year we didn’t and then came to find out that we almost cost the culdesac their annual “Best Decorated Group” award.  We were the only house that didn’t have up a single light.  Listen, we had a wreath on the door and some nice stuff inside.  That was it though.  Luckily, they still won and luckily they don’t hate us too much.

Well, this time around we didn’t want to risk it on the behalf of our neighbors, so a couple weeks ago I began to line the house with lights. 

Now, here’s a piece of advice for you… check the lights that they work before hanging them.  We got two strands that only half worked.  Therefore, I was kept busy checking every light bulb.

It reminded of a little scene:

Yes.  That is one of the greatest movies ever made and yes it is the greatest Christmas movie ever created.  I felt like Mr. Griswald.

Then, the lights were on the house, so I forced Molly, Megan, and Jack out on the front lawn for the great reveal.  And just like my idol, I started the Campbell Family Tradition.  We had a drum roll,we had an announcement of the family tradition, and we had me singing “Joy to the World” at the top of my lungs.  That’s right… at the top of my lungs.  It was fantastic.  The best part is that after that troubleshooting, all the lights came on!

Simple lights.  Nothing fancy.  But at least we’re not “that” house this time around.

Ten on Tuesday

For more Ten on Tuesday action, check out www.rootsandrings.com

1. What are 3 things that are on your Christmas wishlist?
To have my student loans paid off, to win the lottery, to have $100,000 sitting around to give to Aqua-Africa.  Really though, I don't have much on my Christmas list. My in-laws sent me the one thing I REALLY wanted (a jewelry box) and I am so greedy that I already opened it and set it up in my bathroom. I love it!! So I'm a happy camper. Maybe to have the backyard all finished with the new patio laid? Yeah, that's on my list.

2. What’s your favorite Christmas song?
Oh Holy Night, We Three Kings (that last line about myrrh gets me every time) and I Celebrate the Day.

3. Do you have a favorite band or singer that sings it especially awesome?
Well I Celebrate the Day is by Reliant K and I think they are kind of the only ones who can sing that song. And they do it awesome.

4. Have you heard about the website goodreads?
I have not.

5. What are 3 books you want to read?
The Bible. I need to read it more. And I'd like someone to give me a very detailed synopsis of the Hunger Games without me having to read it.

6. Do you hunt deer?
No. I don't hunt anything. Except bargains.

7. Have you started Christmas shopping? Are you completely finished?
I am finished except for one person.

8. Did you shop on Black Friday? What was the best deal you got?
I did! See here:
http://www.consideringcampbell.com/2011/12/black-friday.html

9. What’s one holiday tradition your family has?
Fondue on Christmas eve.

10. How many blogs do you read? Do you subscribe/unsubscribe often or do you purge every once in a while?
I read Roots & Rings every single day and Lauren from Texas and Flabourg as they update.Oh, and Young House Love and Bower Power.  I also have about 3 or 4 that I read when they post to Twitter or on FB.

Randomness

1. I bought this stocking in red for Jack’s first Christmas last year:

When I pulled out the Christmas decorations this year, I decided that it was probably not a bad idea to buy 3 more stockings so that all the kids can have matching ones. If we don’t have 3 more kids, oh well…at least we’d have them for guests or something. And I really like the idea of all our children having matching stockings AND I love this one. Anyway, I went to the Land’s End website, where I saw the bad news: they don’t carry it anymore. Check out those reviews! Everyone loved it. So why did they stop carrying it now? Lamesauce. It’s my own fault…not sure why I thought a company would sell the same product year after year but man! I am so bummed out. LAND’S END! Please let me buy 3 more red ones. I promise I won’t tell anyone. Or I’ll tell the entire Social Media world, whatever you want. JUST LET ME GET SOME!

2. John and I did our monthly grocery shopping at a different HEB this month. Big mistake. HUGE! They didn’t carry half the products we buy, I didn’t know where anything was, and they put their breakfast sausage in one of those freezers that lay flat that you reach into…not the door freezers. So when I opened my 10 packages of pre-cooked sausage to make the kolaches this weekend, each package was covered in ice/freezer burn. Stupid.

3. Gap changed the fit on their Always Skinny jeans. I don’t care what the chicks in the store say, they totally changed it. I used to wear the regular denim colored ones. Then I decided I needed a darker color for more “dressy” looks. So I went and got the EXACT same pair in a different color. And the size I normally wear (the size I was wearing at that very moment) didn’t fit right at all. So I went a size up. Still too tight. The legs are too loose while the waistband is super tight…no give whatsoever like my other pair. The waist is loosey goosey, doesn’t hold my postpartum tummy it and all and them WHAM! Hello super tight waistband! So I asked if they’d changed their fit: “Nope.” A few weeks later, my beloved jeans got a hole in the knee so I went back to Gap to buy a new pair. I figured that my bad luck with the dark color was just because dark washes fit differently sometimes. So I went to get my regular denim colored pair. I would have just walked right out with them except they didn’t have my size. No ankle length. I asked the lady and she said that they’d never made them in ankle length. Wait, what? How come I’ve been wearing them for the past year then? I tried on the regular length and lo and behold, they fit like crap too. So after many years, I’m no longer a gap jeans buyer. I am not sure WHO would want that kind of a fit but it’s not me. Who wants loose legs in skinny jeans with super tight waistband? Anyway, I went to Urban Outfitters yesterday and got some BDG skinny jeans instead. Cheaper and a much better fit…exactly the same as the way Gap jeans used to fit. I know, I know…according to the lady at Gap, they NEVER fit like that. Apparently I just sewed my own jeans and affixed an “ankle length” label to the back of them.

4. We are all done with Christmas shopping. I still have to do bread/truffles for the neighbors and a few other random people but I can’t do that for a couple weeks. As far as actual gifts, we are done. And it feels gooooood. It also feels expensive.

 

Crap. I just remembered someone we haven’t bought a gift for yet. There goes my feeling of satisfaction.

Feven Fosts for Friday

1. We put out Christmas lights for the first time this year. Last year, we were the only house in the cul-de-sac that didn't put lights on our house. This not only made us look like scrooges, it also made us jeopordize our neighors' chances of winning "Best Group Lighting" for the eleventeenth year in a row. Luckily, they still won...even with our dark corner of the group. But this year we finally put up some white lights lining the house and a beautiful Bethlehem star. I love the idea of having the star out and then on Christmas day, turning off all lights except the star. On Epiphany (Jan 6, the day the Wise Men found Jesus), we turn off the star. Anyway, I scoured the interwebs to find the PERFECT star for our Bethlehem star. On Tuesday morning, I woke up and went to go look outside to admire our pretty lights...and noticed that the Bethlehem star wasn't brightly shining like it should be. In fact, the star was nowhere to be found. I ran into the bedroom and told John, "Baby! Someone STOLE our star!" He responded, "What? Who would do that?" " I don't know but it's gone! It's just GONE!" "Where's the Christmas spirit?" I toddled back into the entryway and looked out the window again. I may have to play the blind card here but there was the star...right there...in front of me. I went back into the bedroom and told John not to worry, that the Christmas spirit was intact...but apparently my sanity was not.

2. I bought edamame from Costco for lunches. $8 for 12 packets that you steam yourself...decent servings too...a whole plate of perfectly steamed edamame. By 10 am every day, I am angry that it's not time for me to go warm up my delicious snack. Edamame seems like an afternoon snack, not a morning nosh.

3. John and I have a sitter for Jack tonight (THANKS MEGGIE!) and we are going to have a real, grown up dinner at a restaurant. One without crayons or veggies being thrown across the table. And what's better than a grown up dinner? A grown up dinner with Chelsea and Stephen! Woo hoo! I am excited!

4. Next Friday, John and I are having our annual "fancy date night" that we do as a Christmas present to each other. We don't really give gifts, we just try to make a point to do a really nice night together close to the Holidays. Last year we went to Ounce and this year is The Lodge. I am so excited. Though I might cry when we leave the restaurant since the Lodge is closing on Dec 31. San Antonio is definitely losing the best restaurant in the city. I just regret that I never got rich enough to eat there on a regular basis before it closed its doors.

5. I have been listening to Christmas music so much lately! I have it going in my office all day long. I can't tell you how happy it makes me!!

6. My little sister is very obsessed with Christmas decor, music, etc. One time she saw a Christmas display in IKEA in November or so and started geeking out over it. There were these two girls nearby who saw her all but faint over the display and how excited she was about Christmas approaching. I thought Bridget was about to punch them in their jaws for making fun of her Christmas obsession. Don't mess with baby girl's love of navidad...she'll shank you.

7. I don't know if it's because I have been given the redlight on babymaking or what but I've been having lots of baby dreams lately. Last night, the dream was that I had just given birth to a daughter and John kept calling her Ava. I had to tell him that no, her name was Christine...it was always planned to be Christine so stop calling her Ava. Plus, we already have a niece with that name. She was beautiful and had tons of light brown hair. And she was crawling a few hours after she was born. I kept telling dream John, "I don't remember Jack crawling this early!" Oh, and when I left the hospital, I got into a fight with some guy at one of those "vend a snack" machines over chocolate-covered pretzels. Dream Molly is bonkers.

8. To the peeps who feel bad about the post on Wednesday, ain't no thing but a chicken wing! Low potassium and low magnesium is sooo not a big deal (okay, it is if you're my sister and have REALLLLLLY low levels). Think about how incredible and intricate our bodies are. It's pretty foreseeable that every once in a while, a few of those bodies will be a little wonky. There are just so many things that can go wrong in these amazing bodies of ours so this seems like a pretty darn small thing as far as I'm concerned. No need for pity on this girl. Unless pity means you'll send me money...in which case: OH WOE IS ME!!!! Honestly though, the only thing that bums me out is waiting on baby #2. BUT for those of you who laughed through that post, you get me...I was hoping to elicit a few chuckles.

9. You need to watch this video. No, seriously. You need to. My little Texan--already with a love of Tex-Mex.  

10. We need some serious parenting advice here, folks. Please do away with all notions that new parents dont want your advice and let it flow for us here! We need help! Okay, so here's the deal: the littlest Campbell has never been a good sleeper. I think we've made that clear, no? He's always fussed in the middle of the night and it wasn't uncommon for him to wake up altogether a few times a week and cry for 10 minutes or so before falling back asleep. And don't even get me started on the sickening hour he thinks is acceptable for wake-up time. But lately, it's gotten so much worse. I told you a couple weeks ago that Jack seems to be having nightmares. He wakes up and just sounds scared. He cries for mommy over and over and so long as I am nearby, he is calm. But if I leave the room, he freaks the eff out. So now every single night, he wakes up. It's not always that terrified cry but it's always for mommy. We tried to let him cry it out but kiddo doesn't stop. He'll cry for 2 hours straight...which isn't helping ANYONE get sleep. So what do we do? We don't want to bring him into bed with us and start that bad habit but we also want to teach him that night time is sleepy time. PLEASE give us suggestions on what to do here. Cry it out for hours on end? Leave his door open so he doesn't feel so enclosed? Take shots before bed so we are out so cold that we don't even hear him cry? Seriously. You. Me. Advice. Now.

Black Friday

Hey people.  This is John. Molly wanted me to tell you about our Black Friday/Thanksgiving experience.  Therefore, you’re getting this post for me.  Anyway, the week before Thanksgiving I saw an ad in the Target “circular” for a big TV at a small price. 

What this tv required was to:

• Stand in line before the store open.
• Go to Target early enough to get a good spot in line.
• The store opened at Midnight, so to stand in line on Thanksgiving.
• Risk being trampled in the mad rush to the TVs.

Therefore, since Molly thought there was a risk that I would die in some freak Black Friday craziness she said she was going. She wanted to be with me for one of two reasons, a) she felt I was safer with her muscles by me or b) she wanted to die with me and we’d clasp hands together as people ran over our lifeless bodies.  Listen… I have no idea why Molly wanted to come, but in her mind it was necessary.  Anyway, we arrived at 8pm.  There were already quite a few people there, so it was iffy that we’d get the TV.  However, I decided to take the chance.

I get in line at 8.  Molly goes home to put Jack in bed and then comes back to stand with me.  It’s about 8:30 by that time (I didn’t die in the time she wasn’t there…) and by the time 8:50 rolls around, there’s already “Why are we doing this?” 

8:56PM: “This might be the dumbest thing we’ve ever done.”
9:02PM: “Could I be any more uncomfortable?”
9:04PM:  “It’s getting cold.”
9:13PM: “Really?  Another 3 hours?”

By this time, I tell Molly that she was never required to come and that it was her decision.  Then I informed her that she could never use this in the future, “Well, remember that time I stood in line with you for four hours to get a TV?” as a way to get her way .  When I told her that, she got a little smile on her face.  It became clear this was her motive the whole time.  She was using this experience to gain the upper hand in future requests and disagreements.

9:21PM:”Can I go sit in the car?”

By 9:30, I was getting tired myself (tryptophan or something), so I had Molly wait in the line so I could walk over and get a pop and use the restroom at the convenience store.  The men’s bathroom was closed because as a store clerk stated, “Some dude got a little crazy with his pee in there.”  So that was awesome. 

10:03PM: “The battery on my iPhone better not run out.”

The clock ticked by.  At 11, the crowd started getting restless.  A girl shows up wearing some type of high-heel furry foot slipper hybrid shoe..I can’t even explain them, but they were like a furry hello kitty high heel boot.  This is to show you the crazies were started to come out as the clock approached midnight. 

At 11:30, I decided to go throw away my cup.  I walked away from the line, threw the cup away, turned around and noticed my wife was gone.  Actually, the whole line had moved and the store doors hadn’t even opened.

Me:What happened?
Molly: I don’t know.. all of a sudden people started moving and cutting.. and I was like “No… nah-uh… no way”, so I pushed through and got back to where we were.  John, I’ve sat here for 3.5 hours… I’m not missing out on this TV.

There we go folks!  It took 3.5 hours, but I got Molly in the game.  For all the complaining and scheming to use this in the future to get her way, she saved our spot in line like a champion. 

Though… surprise surprise… the crazy boot girl was ahead of us.  She found her way to the front of the line by cheating in the pandemonium of the line move.  Then the Target lady came out and was handing out TV vouchers.  And they ran out with the person in front of us.

That’s right… the crazy boot girl cut in line and after four hours we were one person away from getting the TV.  Then we noticed.. like a shining beacon on a foggy night…

The people in front of us were hoarding.  They had TWO vouchers, but we quickly found out that they only wanted one TV.  Then Molly went into sweet talking mode.  They agreed that we’d follow them in and get their second voucher after they made sure they had their TV secured. 

11:55PM:  “I’m so nervous.  We better get this TV John… I’m nervous.”

We go in the store… almost getting separated from our new “friends”… and we secure our TV.  We didn’t do any other shopping.  In fact, our receipt has "12:01am”. 

As we approached the exit with our TV (!!!) they literally had to unlock the doors for us because we were the first people to leave the store with a purchase and as we walked out a small crowd that had gathered at the entrance began clapping. 

They were clapping for us people.  We were victorious.  We had a TV and we were the first ones to exit.  The world was right.

And while she won’t admit it… and while she’ll never do it again… I know Molly loved the experience. 

1:14AM: “I can’t fall asleep.  Too much adrenaline… I’m too excited.”