The Campbell Adventures

Summer fun

2011-08-23T13:04:00.021-05:00

We've had a fantastic summer, and I can't believe it is winding down. Last week, Katherine started preschool, two mornings a week, so we're pretty much in autumn mode. We're already nostalgic about the fun times we've had this summer.

Katherine turned 2 on July 5th, and celebrated like every two-year old would want...a day of new toys, balloons, and cake. And some attention too. Katherine had two sets of grandparents in town to celebrate, and we all enjoyed great meals together and a trip to the blueberry farm down the street. Katherine never was able to keep any of the blueberries in her own bucket...they all were gobbled up instantly.

Katherine's cake-eating technique is consistent.

Our big family vacation was in Stone Harbor, NJ. It's been a few years since we've been to the Jersey shore, so it was especially great to have my huge extended family meet Katherine for the first time. She had a great time, and loved that ice cream was a nearly nightly treat.

Katherine and Daddy getting a kick out the monkeys at the (free!) Cape May Zoo...highly recommended!

Chocolate chip pancakes at the famous Uncle Bill's.

Family photo op at the beach pavilion where John and I tied the knot almost 7 years ago.

On the drive back home, we stopped at the National Zoo to feed Katherine's elephant obsession.

Katherine likes to line up her car collection in a very specific way.
Pants - NO!
Galoshes - YES!!

First day of preschool, with lunchbox in hand!

Spring fever!

2011-06-07T14:43:00.011-05:00

Spring has sprung right into summer, hasn't it?! Although we had to battle strep throat for a SECOND time in our house, we've had a great few weeks. We've made our own clay (messy), made Rice Krispy treats (tasty throughout the whole process, says Katherine), attended the local Strawberry Festival, and even coined the name "Bubbowww" for Uncle Brian. Brian and Katherine had fun blowing tons of bubbles together, and somehow she got "bubbles" and "Brian" mixed up...how freaking cute is that?!

Strep throat, part 2

Strep throat PSA

2011-04-19T19:44:00.002-05:00

Right now, Katherine is healthy and running around like a toddler should be doing. This was not the case for several days earlier this month, and this is my official PSA. Out of nowhere, Katherine got really sick (tops and tails). Her doctor's office assured me that there was a nasty stomach bug going around, so we should just wait it out. After 5 terrible days, Katherine's doctor found that Katherine had strep throat. It's not terribly common in tiny kids like Katherine, and it's not diagnosed early on because babies don't tell you that their throat hurts. Parents see that something is wrong when baby has spewing issues. Between an unrelated cold, then strep, and then the not-so-pleasant side effects of the antibiotics, we all camped out in the house for about 2 weeks straight (that's K and W camping out on a big blanket up top). Thankfully, we're back to normal/crazy!

We're so lucky that a bout of strep throat has been our major illness with Katherine so far. Still, I've learned several things:
-Strep throat looks like a stomach bug when your tiny kid can't talk yet (and we're way behind on this front).
-Even little kids realize that Shrek 3 sucks (and the original Shrek is best)
-Toy Story 3 is still good after the 50th viewing
-Cleaning vomit out of a car seat's many crevices and buckles takes a strong gag reflex, time, and several good scrub brushes (Where were you on that information, Baby 411?!)

Taste-testing

2011-04-11T19:54:00.002-05:00

'Did I eat the clay outside? Why do you ask?"

"Did I taste the finger paint? No, Mommy, that must have been somebody else."

Fun fun fun!

2011-04-07T13:34:00.003-05:00

Since last week, Katherine has been suffering from terrible symptoms due to strep throat and some nasty side effects of the antibiotics. So, I am happily posting a video of various fun moments from the last month. Katherine loves "cooking" with me, which means that while I cook dinner she has a bowl of ice cubes to stir/eat/splash around. And of course, she still loves dancing and tormenting poor Winston.

Uncle Brian and Aunt Heather visit

2011-03-20T19:03:00.009-05:00

One of the highlights this year has been an awesome visit with Uncle Brian and Aunt Heather. We didn't get to see them over Christmas, so I was beyond excited to see them. Brian and Katherine became best buds...she would clutch onto Brian like there was no tomorrow. When I dropped Brian and Heather off at the airport, Katherine screamed loudly enough for eeeevvveryone at the airport to hear. And she kept screaming...after they went inside, they could still hear her. Katherine, I felt the same way...I miss them already!

Legos!

Botanical Garden of Georgia

Clutching onto Uncle Brian and her stick

All dolled up for a night on the town in downtown Athens

Sharing some apples with Aunt Heather

Brian, Katherine, and Erin learnin' accounting from Dr. Campbell in his classroom (yup, Erin is still a brown-noser)

Lovely ladies in front of the UGA arches

Ish ish

2011-03-20T07:18:00.011-05:00

My last post was about....Thanksgiving. Whoooops!

This winter, we actually got quite a bit of snow here in Athens. One storm was bad enough to cancel school for the entire week. There was over an inch of ice sitting on top of several inches of snow, and I felt bad for (laughing at) Winston. He would go outside and skate on top of the ice...not sure how to get around the yard.

John is busy busy teaching this semester, and he's had a great time with it. His students are great, which always makes it fun. Katherine has been busy running around, dancing, growing crazy curly hair, drumming, and attempting to talk. She says only a few words (although inconsistently), but she is sure able to communicate with plenty of points and "Ish ish," which seems to be her catch phrase. And, that catch phrase has caught on...Brian greets me on the phone these days with an "Ish ish."

Enough ish, ish....time for some pictures, in order of increasing curls (okay, it's chronological).

playing piano at Grandma Johnnie's house

First time playing in the snow...not a fan!

What kid doesn't like stickers?!

Katherine was suffering through her first ear infection in this picture, but she still perched on her chair like a little lady.

Holidays - part 1

2010-12-19T14:51:00.003-05:00

Better late than never...here are pictures from our Thanksgiving in SC/NC. We visited Rock Hill and Raleigh, and even got to visit friends in Chapel Hill. We also went to Discovery Place Kids in Huntersville, the new kid-centric addition to the Discovery Place Museum in downtown Charlotte...I highly recommend it! Katherine loved it, especially the very extensive water play area. Good thing I always have a change of clothes for her...she was soaked!

I have a bunch of other pictures of Katherine going about our normal daily routine and adding her own crazy, silly flair to it. I'll post those soon too (Hint...her hair has exploded the last month or so...longer and curlier).

This smitten Grandpa can't keep his eyes off of her!

Beautiful Peacock!

2010-11-01T06:29:00.008-05:00

Happy Halloween! Katherine went as a peacock and went trick-or-treating to a few houses. She seemed more confused by all of the festivities in the neighborhood, but I think she liked answering our door to see the big kids dressed up.

Catching up....

2010-10-20T11:15:00.015-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since I posted some pictures of Katherine. We've been chasing her around the house, so we've been exhausted. Here's an update on the adventures of Katherine (and her parents and pooch):

We went to the WFU Homecoming weekend a few weeks ago and despite the horrible loss to Navy, Katherine had a great time at the game.

Katherine had a great time walking around the campus, too. We got her a WFU bear backpack that she refused to take off, even though it is just as big as her.

We went to the beach for a few days with Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Carol in Isle of Palms near Charleston. Katherine was totally fearless in the water, and loved every second of her time on the beach (especially chasing the seagulls).

Finally, our new porch is complete and the weather is beautiful these days...Katherine and I have nightly dance-offs on the porch.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Winston (4 years old! Big man!)

As for John and I, things are fantastic. John is working like crazy on his research, and has 10 projects "in the pipeline"...ranging from papers he just re-submitted to journals, to projects still developing. For tenure, John needs 4 publications in accounting journals...he just needs a few of these projects to stick, and he's got a great shot at tenure. My science writing has taken a turn for the better...I've been asked by two different sites to become a contributor. These folks have seen (and presumably liked) my imaging blog (www.highmagblog.blogspot.com, of course), so they want me to write about some eye-catching images for their sites. It'll be a while before I can call this gig a career with a big "C," but I'm having fun on this road. I miss bench research sometimes, but 99.9% of the time I love the balance I've achieved between being a stay-at-home mom and writing.

BONUS: KATHERINE'S "BUBBLE WRAP STOMP"

I can do it myself!

2010-08-09T12:08:00.009-05:00

Katherine has been walking everywhere, bringing toys to Winston, dancing up a storm, and making us laugh all the time. Here are some recent pictures of Katherine....

Katherine "helping" with our deck renovation. We are in the middle of fixing, extending, and screening-in our porch and we went outside to check out the demolition of the busted deck we are replacing. (Note our brand new fence in the background.)

John is playing more tennis these days, and Katherine wants to join in.

Double trouble!

Self-feeding is the only option these days...this girlie is independent (and messy)!

WWWD: What Would Winston Do?

Katherine's birthday

2010-07-12T19:03:00.003-05:00

As promised, I'm finally posting pictures and video from Katherine's first birthday. She had such a great time with everyone, and we all had fun watching Katherine soak it all in.

Here is the Picasa web album of pictures:

And, here is the edited movie of Katherine eating her birthday cake:

Birthday girl!

2010-07-05T09:08:00.003-05:00

Today marks Katherine's first birthday, and I'm not sure who is most excited. We have had grandparents galore here to visit, as well as a visit with Aunt Mary Mitchell and a virtual visit with Uncle Brian. We had a wonderful party for Katherine, and we have been thinking about how wonderful the last year has been. We are the luckiest parents! I'll be sure to post more pictures of her birthday festivities soon.

She's on the go!

2010-06-27T21:10:00.005-05:00

I was finally able to capture a movie of Katherine walking! She's still figuring out the whole balance thing, but her Frankenstein walk is so adorable...and she is clearly proud of herself!

Time to catch up!

2010-06-16T15:32:00.006-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. We are now settled into our new home in Georgia, and are slowly exploring Athens. We've had grandparents come to visit... John has also started his position at UGA, working on his research projects until he teaches next spring.

We've also had few dozen contractors to work on the house. That's right...our new 5-year old home has thrown us quite a few surprises in the 4 weeks since we've moved in, and all I want to do is call the landlord. For the first time, we are the owners and are more than acquainted with the Lowe's up the road from us. We are about to begin installation of a huge fence around our 0.8 acre property, have a designer work on the blank canvas that is our backyard, replace our rotting master shower and chimney, clean up a small lake in our crawl space, and transform our sagging, splintering, not up-to-code deck into a lovely screened-in porch. We have had our frustrating moments, from when we first stepped into the house the day of the closing to find that it was totally filthy, to our visits from contractors giving us the bad news about the molding shower that wasn't waterproofed/rotting chimney/etc. But, when the renovations are done, the home and yard will be amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing the transformation, and I'll be sure to post pictures.

Katherine has handled the transition well, and absolutely loves the stairs in the house (our house in Tucson had none). She climbs up them, screeching at the top of her lungs, totally thrilled with herself. I'm terrified! AND...on Friday afternoon, she took her first steps by herself! She and I were playing in her room and she walked over to me from a box of diapers I was unloading. We got a repeat performance on Saturday, but so far nothing on camera. She will be walking before I know it, and again...I'm terrified!

Awesome week!

2010-05-10T17:23:00.009-05:00

As we gear up to say goodbye to Tucson, we've been packing in as much as possible. We had an amazing visit from Brian, one last visit before we are on the other side of country. We went to the zoo, where Katherine and I fed a beautiful giraffe, and Katherine got to play on real grass (we've told her about this green stuff, but now she believes us). We also hosted a big BBQ at our house...one last opportunity to see all of our friends. Brian was a grill-master-champ, while John and I soaked up as much of our friends as possible.

Winston must have taught her this trick.

The Cheerios flow freely at our house--thankfully, Winston has been a good vacuum.

April happenings

2010-04-29T18:14:00.007-05:00

Hey everyone! Here are some pictures and a video from the last few weeks. Katherine is so much fun these days....learning learning learning. Katherine will dance to music (more of a bop, but practice makes perfect), shake her toys, and make kissing sounds back at us. This week she waved goodbye for the first time, which will serve her well as we move away from Tucson next month. That's right, East Coast, we're coming back! It is a very bittersweet time, as we say goodbye to all of the wonderful people we love in Tucson, but get to enjoy being closer to family once again. We'll be moving to Athens, GA, where John (now Dr. John!) will start on the faculty of the accounting department at UGA. Go Dawgs!

9 months old!

2010-04-03T09:16:00.006-05:00

On Monday, Katherine will be 9 months old! It has been the absolute best 9 months of our lives, and it keeps getting better. I figured I would share a video mash-up from the last few weeks, showing her crawling, standing, playing, and eating like a piggy (with Chaka Khan in the background...she is Every Woman, for sure).

March Madness!

2010-03-20T17:30:00.004-05:00

Go Deacs!

Katherine's happy no matter what happens to the Deacs. Hint, hint, Daddy!

Daddy's home!

2010-03-08T13:53:00.003-05:00

A lot of you already knew this, but John was on the road the last 5 weeks, going on all of his faculty interviews. He was in and out of town for the first three weeks, then completely gone for the last two. To say that we're happy he is home is an understatement! John so far has two offers, and hopefully by the end of this week we'll know where we are headed this summer. Very exciting!

While John was gone, Katherine learned how to pull herself up to stand. She's had a great time standing (and staying) up and watching everything from up there (all 2 feet of her). She also has a tooth that is just under her gums, and ready to poke through at any moment. So much growing to do....

Winston and Katherine waiting for John to come home.

Sometimes I see a little kid more than a baby...this picture is one instance.

I can stand!

On the move!

2010-02-22T14:39:00.012-05:00

It has been a few weeks since our last post...I've been running around the house chasing after Katherine! She is now crawling everywhere, with her favorite targets being Winston, Winston's food, Winston's toys, and the wine bottles on our wine rack (hmmmm). It is so much fun to watch Katherine explore around the house.

Katherine has grown and changed so much, and it feels like every week there is something new. Last week, she learned how to give raspberries with a mouthful of pureed peas...lovely! She is amazing to watch grow, and I find myself falling in love with Katherine a little bit more every day. I know that is cliche, but it is so ridiculously true!

Katherine kept crawling towards and grabbing at her shadow.

I was in the kitchen and heard Katherine giggling...I looked in the family room to see her laughing at the monkey picture in this book. Who doesn't find a monkey funny?!

I have some old kitchenware out for Katherine to play with while I'm cooking. Winston was not amused with her banging on the pots.

At the zoo!

Katherine and Eleanora at the zoo together.

Seen from our back patio...I bet it's peaceful up there.

7 months old!!

2010-02-05T17:51:00.003-05:00

We can't believe that our little peanut is 7 months old today! I know it is cliche, but the time has gone by so quickly. To slow this down, we are not allowing Katherine to drive, date, or cross the street without holding our hands....forever.

San Diego

2010-01-28T13:34:00.013-05:00

Early this week, we returned from a trip to San Diego. John gave a presentation on his dissertation at an accounting meeting (craaaaazy time!), and Katherine and I enjoyed San Diego and La Jolla. Once John's meeting was over, we all went to the aquarium at Scripps and enjoyed the sun.

Seal pups!

John and Katherine taking in the kelp forest exhibit.

Chomp!

We had some rain in San Diego, so Katherine and I played in the hotel room for a while. I was able to sneak a rare video of her "talking". Whenever she sees the camera, she stops talking and guns for the camera for a nibble, which you'll see here too.

6 months!

2010-01-11T22:58:00.008-05:00

Hey everyone!
Last week, Katherine celebrated her 1/2 birthday. I can't believe that she is already 6 months old!! Katherine is now able to sit up on her own for extended periods of time. We think she'll start crawling soon, too...she can get up on her knees, but ends up pushing herself backwards. We can see the frustration on Katherine's face...instead of moving towards the toy she wants (or Winston), she ends up going the wrong way. This past weekend, we reached a big milestone for Katherine...solids! (Up until now she's only worn stripes...I crack myself up!) Here are a few pictures of the fun and mess....

Winston already knows that treats will eventually fall from the highchair...I bet his buddy Charlie told him.

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-25T00:26:00.009-05:00

Merry Christmas! We have had the best Christmas ever so far, and it will continue for many days as we see our families and friends. I hope that everyone has a great holiday season!

Katherine opened one of her gifts last night.

John wondering why the characters in Katherine's new book all look like Cartman.

Winston "opening" his gift from Santa.

Katherine loved the swing that Santa brought her!

She's a big girl now!

2009-12-15T22:16:00.004-05:00

Katherine is over 5 months old now, and she can (almost) sit up by herself. We can see her soaking up all of the world around her every single day, and her total enjoyment of it all is totally contagious! The Campbell household is a very happy household!

Santa!!

2009-12-07T09:23:00.005-05:00

This past week, John and I took Katherine to see Santa. Santa looks fantastic...it's been so many years since either John or I sat in his lap, so it was good to see that he doesn't age much. Katherine wasn't too impressed...after three seconds in his lap, her "early warning system" (big pouty-shrimp-lip) appeared. In a few years, she'll be begging for his approval and forgiveness for any mischief.

Close-up of the pout from my camera:

So much to be thankful for!

2009-12-01T13:44:00.008-05:00

Katherine's first Thanksgiving was great, and we were so lucky to able to share it with Brian, Heather, and the now-huge Togi.

Here's a time-lapse of me cooking (please excuse the PJs...it was still early!), and Brian helping.

4 months old today!!

2009-11-05T16:24:00.005-05:00

I can't believe that time has gone by so quickly...it feels like just yesterday that Katherine was a tiny newborn. Now, she's a super interactive baby....lots of smiles and giggles. She babbles a lot, and although most can't understand what she's saying, I can...she's already explained to me her campaign platform for her first Senate race.

Workin' it!

2009-10-26T16:36:00.008-05:00

Just because I can't put the camera down.....

She's on the move!

2009-10-16T19:49:00.005-05:00

This past Wednesday, Katherine entertained us by rolling over for the first time. Yay! Here is a movie of her performing this monumental feat. I think she looks proud of herself!

I am so ridiculously smitten with this beautiful girl. She giggles all the time, and has started squealing too. She'll be in stitches over our impressions of Ernie (or Bert, I forget which) laughing. She's already shown a preference for certain songs - she'll immediately quiet and smile as soon as her favorite plays. Of course I took more pictures of Katherine. Here are a few of my new favorites....

Katherine + Winston

2009-10-09T18:34:00.006-05:00

I figured I would post some newer pictures of Katherine that I took this week. Up until a few days ago, she hated "tummy time." Now, she's actually enjoying it...especially with Winston in front of her.

Desert fun

2009-10-01T13:32:00.012-05:00

If anyone has talked to me since we've moved into the new house, I've likely listed the amazing creatures I've spotted that week. Now that we live on the outskirts of Tucson, we get to have the Sonoran Desert as our backyard. I figured you guys might like to see some pictures of what we've seen so far.

Many white-tailed deer sightings, several times a week

Many hummingbirds - you can see a bit of the desert in this picture

Meep! Meep! This roadrunner hung out on our patio for a while.

Coyote - Sorry the coyote is so far away--they are skittish and fast. One night I caught a few coyotes checking out me and Winston when I let him out for a bathroom break - I always make sure to watch over him, even though he is likely too big to tempt a coyote.

My favorite - a javelina! Although they look like wild hogs, they are technically peccaries. Apparently they aren't friendly and they smell funky, but I think they are kind of cute.

This is the view from our kitchen and living room!

I don't have pictures of everything we've seen, unfortunately. Of course we have a ton of lizards running around, including one lacking a tail thanks to Winston's hunting skills (he brought him to me as a present, then finally let the poor thing go when I told him to). As for birds, we have tons of quail around here, and the other day some sort of raptor landed on our patio railing (the bird flew away before I could snap a picture). There are also plenty of adorable bunnies with huge ears, and although it is tempting to feed them, it is a bad idea to bring coyotes and bobcats closer to our house. In terms of creepy-crawlies, we saw a snake on our walk. We've seen a few tarantulas, too, which are welcome visitors - they are harmless, quite pretty, and they eat scorpions. We did get one scorpion in the house, and have used our blacklight to spot them outside - they are my least favorite creature out here. Finally....depending on who you are, you may be happy or bummed that we haven't seen any bobcats yet.

This place is truly amazing. It is a shame that Katherine won't remember seeing the Sonoran Desert so close!

5 years!!

2009-09-25T14:21:00.004-05:00

Five years ago today, John and I exchanged our vows to each other at the 88th Street Beach Pavilion in Stone Harbor, NJ. It has been an amazing five years, and when we got married we hoped that one day we'd be able to add to our family. One adorable dog and one magnificent Katherine later, we can't imagine being any more lucky. To celebrate, the three of us went to Cafe Jasper for brunch....so good!

And, today we also celebrate Winston's 3rd birthday! He'll blow out three candles on his peanut-butter puppy ice cream treat later today. Happy Birthday, old man!

Katherine's Paparazzi

2009-09-13T13:02:00.008-05:00

Ever since Katherine came home from the hospital, she's been lucky enough to have many visits from her adoring extended family. I wanted to post some picture now that all of our parents and siblings have been able to come and spoil, I mean see, her. We are so lucky!!

Dad and Carol - Dad is known as "The Baby Whisperer" in this house...as the second oldest of 7 kids, he's amazing with babies and kids!

Johnnie and Colon - Johnnie loved rocking Katherine...I think it brought back the days when she rocked John.

Vann - Vann would lull Katherine into a trance with his booming singing voice.

Mary-Mitchell - MM took Katherine and I out on our first adventure to the mall!!

Brian and Heather - Brian may have taken more pictures of Katherine than I did...he's clearly smitten.

Togi, the Alaskan Prince - Togi was Winston's favorite visitor.

Happy girl!

2009-08-26T20:12:00.007-05:00

Katherine really is amazing! It is so much fun to watch her develop and learn something new, every single day. These days, she totally gets a kick out of talking with John. She and her Daddy will go back and forth, saying "Hey" until she breaks out into a huge grin and makes some adorable noise/squeak that must be the beginnings of a laugh. I become more smitten with her every single day.

This is her "I will NOT poop on the new couch, I promise" face.

Smiling for Daddy!

Talking with Daddy!

Katherine chillin' with her BFF Winston.

Smiles smiles smiles!

2009-08-09T22:11:00.002-05:00

We have been so happy to see some smiles from Katherine!! It's great to finally get some sort of feedback from Katherine that she either likes us or finds our silly faces entertaining enough to humor us. There are so many milestones that she'll be starting to reach, and I'm so excited to watch her go through them and learn about the world around her. I'm so in love! As for John and I, we're a bit pooped out now and then, but we're managing to keep our heads above water. As for Winston, he's been a good buddy and always accompanying Katherine around the house.

4 weeks old!

2009-08-02T20:23:00.002-05:00

Katherine is 4 weeks old....our little girl is growing up!

Daddy's little girl

2009-07-23T17:12:00.002-05:00

Who wants more Katherine? I do!

2009-07-16T21:08:00.005-05:00

The magnificent Katherine!

Now that we've all been home a while, and trying to get settled into some sort of "normal" routine, I figured I'd post an update on our lives with Katherine. First of all, many kudos to John for a great post about my labor and delivery. It really was an amazing experience, so much less terrifying than I expected. Sure, there was a lot of pain for many many hours before the epidural, and a lot of work during delivery, but I truly had fun getting this little bundle into this world. I owe a lot to 1)John, for his amazing support, 2)Dr. Coppola, for her mellow and encouraging manner, and 3)luck, that things went smoothly and my body worked the way I hoped it would. Katherine deserves a lot of credit too...that couldn't have been easy for her!

Our first few days with Katherine all sort of blur together from the sleep deprivation and excitement. We had some great nurses at the hospital who helped both me and Katherine adjust, and get started on breastfeeding (a two-step-forward-one-step-back adventure, but so worth the effort now). Katherine is amazing, and we are so blessed to have such a sweet girl in our lives. We've also been lucky to have help at home...we've had shifts of several proud grandparents helping us keep the house in order. Not to be forgotten, Winston has also been great...he shows interest in Katherine to the point of sniffing her or curling up at my feet during feedings, but not so much interest that we are worried at all. All in all, the Campbell household has been a very happy household!

More to come...

Katherine's first day

2009-07-07T00:51:00.013-05:00

Ok, this is John writing for my first ever blog post. Wish me luck because I don't always understand how HTML-converting software works and so the formatting may be off.

I'm going to narrate the story of how Katherine Janice was born while it's fresh in my mind. So we checked into the hospital at 2AM on July 5, 2009. We got the penthouse delivery room with a view of the Tucson mountains:

Erin did an amazing job during early labor, making tons of progress without needing any medical intervention whatsoever. As a testament to her abilities to smile despite excruciating pain, she forced the following smile at 4:45AM:

I'm guessing she has honed the ability to smile through pain by being at public sporting events with me where Wake Forest is losing. Then, she had made such good progress we were certain this labor was past the point of no return. Pain medication ensued at 6:30AM. Things became much more enjoyable for Erin, as evidenced by this shot of her at 9AM:

Erin never needed any inducement whatsoever from the doctors throughout the labor. We think that is rare these days, because all the nurses were gathering around discussing how she was doing this without needing any pitocin. Anyway, Erin worked hard and finished dilation. Then it was time to push at 2:15pm. Our doctor (whom we loved) forced us to take a minute just before this milestone in labor to take a picture:

The nurses and doctor were very patient as labor progressed another 2.5 hours. Finally, at 4:51 PM on July 5, 2009, Katherine Janice Campbell decided to grace us with her presence. The following picture was taken at 4:53PM (the first time mother and daughter met):

They took her from mom, weighed her in at 7lbs. 5oz. (get it - 7 lbs 5 oz on 7/5), and then allowed me to meet my daughter for the first time in this picture at 5:01PM:

Yes, I'm wearing a Wake Forest hat backwards. I recognize that most Wake fans aren't so "bad", but lets keep in mind that neither of us had slept since late Friday night (2AM) and it was now Sunday afternoon...so cut me a break. Ok, so then we got the first family portrait:

Everyone was so friendly, they let us keep Katherine with us for a couple of hours before taking her away to the nursery for measurements. She came in at 20 inches in length, and then they gave Katherine her first bath (this was at 8PM):

She was flailing her arms and crying hysterically throughout her sponge bath. She must take after mom, because we all know full well how I love a good bath! Then mom and dad went to bed, and slept for a bit...and the next morning at 8:30AM Katherine was seen by the pediatricians. She passed all tests with flying colors. She was also starting to be very responsive, opening her eyes and investigating the world all around her. To celebrate her first passing grade, we brought her back to our room for a photo shoot with mom. This one was the winner:

Thats all for now. We'll post more later.

Any day now....

2009-06-24T10:19:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone!
There is no baby announcement yet, just an update on what has been going on while we wait for 'Lil Peanut's arrival. I am just about 39 weeks along, which means that the baby can make her appearance any day now. I still feel really great, even if I'm in a constant state of exhaustion (good practice for life with a newborn, I assume). Last week, Johnnie and Colon were here to help us prepare the house and ourselves for the baby, so now we have a room that is just adorable and waiting for a little occupant. Johnnie and Colon were so terrific, and we are so thankful for their help! It was fun, too, to hear about John's arrival into this world...apparently he was indecisive and kept throwing Johnnie into and out of labor. I think he ought to apologize for that! I'll be sure to post some pictures soon of the baby's room and the rest of the new house, but for now you'll have to settle on a belly shot taken a week ago by Johnnie.

Spoiled rotten!

2009-06-09T18:28:00.011-05:00

This weekend we were totally spoiled rotten by friends and family, and we are so ridiculously grateful for everyone. We moved into the new house two Saturdays ago, and Dad and Carol came in on Thursday night to help us get the house in working order. They helped us put together furniture, unpack boxes, hang pictures, and many other things....the house is about 99% done! It was such an accomplishment, and we even threw in some car drama for kicks. Despite all of the hard work, we ate some amazing meals together and relaxed outside on the patio.

Dad-to-be and Grandpa-to-be made a great team!

Then, on Saturday, Kara threw me an absolutely beautiful baby shower. Kara really has a knack for hosting amazing parties, and she went all-out with a creative "Bedtime Stories" theme. Tables were set like a bed, complete with pillow, book, and teddy bear on one end. She asked guests to all bring their favorite childhood book with an inscription for Baby Campbell, who now has an amazing library of classics. We also received so many essentials for the baby, that I feel so much more prepared...like I said, we are so spoiled by our friends! It was so touching to see how much thought and care Kara put in for a really special day for me, and I teared up every time I tried to thank her. Yeah, my hormones fly everywhere now, but I can't blame my blubbering completely on pregnancy. I'm just a big softie, like Dad.

The amazing Kara!

Here's a link to more fantastic pictures that Lindsay and Kara took of the shower.

On the move

2009-05-29T12:04:00.004-05:00

This weekend we are moving!! We'll still be in Tucson, but in an area referred to as the "Foothills"...named so because the area is much closer to the beautiful mountain range just north of Tucson. Because of the beautiful desert location, we'll share our surroundings with scorpions, rattlesnakes, coyotes, javelinas (stinky wild hogs), and bobcats--a threat I'm far more willing to deal with than the threat of gangs and break-ins at our current house. Last weekend we started packing for a June 12th move-in date, to keep a calm and steady pace. Then we looked up and realized we packed the entire house, and decided to change the move-in date to this Saturday. It's been a little hectic, but John is the perfect antidote for my anxiety. I'll get overwhelmed and panicked about how much there is to pack, and in the meantime John has packed the whole kitchen. In his efficiency, John even tried to pack Winston, who was less than amused.

Winston

2009-05-21T18:41:00.003-05:00

This is the face Winston makes when I try to explain what is about to happen to our family...it looks no different from the face that he makes when John explains his dissertation topic (which, by the way, was just approved....yay, John!). Winston is not sure what is going on in our household, but I'm certain he knows that I'm somehow different. As I've mentioned before, he was never ever a cuddly dog...even as a puppy, he would let us hold him for a few seconds then get up and plop down two feet away, heaving a big sigh. These days, Winston wants to curl up in my lap, or lay down against my belly if I happen to be laying down. It really is amazing to think that his powerful little nose senses something different about me, and that it is something he wants to be near. I know that the transition he'll go through will be a little rocky, since he's had full attention for 2 1/2 years, but I just know he'll be the best-est friend our little girl will have.

Just to keep everyone up to speed, we are moving in a few weeks to a bigger house in a safer neighborhood. We are very excited about this, even if the next few weeks will be a little hectic. And, as mentioned, John just got his dissertation topic approved by his advisor/chair of the department. This is a big deal, and he is such a hard worker...if you see him and he looks a bit stressed, feel free to encourage him to take a day off and relax.

Showered!

2009-05-13T17:58:00.005-05:00

Hey everyone,
Last Thursday my lab threw a baby shower luncheon for John and I, with labmates and and a few friends from the university attending. Our lab's manager, Hope, went above and beyond in organizing the entire thing....there was more than enough food and cake to go around, and we all played some fun games. The baby gifts were beyond generous, and I can confidently say that our little girl is already very stylish with all of the adorable clothes she already has. She will look awesome in her little Hawaiian-print halter dress, even if she doesn't know it yet!

This week we started our weekly childbirth class. This comes as no surprise to anyone, but I've been very committed to reading all of the pregnancy books (and now baby books!) so a lot of the information wasn't new to me. Still, I think it will be a good experience for John and I to hear the instructor's take on a lot of things, as she has many years' experience as a doula and childbirth and childcare instructor.

Enough about us....our little peanut now is about 4 1/2 pounds and she is kicking/jabbing with a ferocity that I love. According to the doctor, everything is in fantastic shape and even she said that the baby looks perfect. Like we needed confirmation! A lot of people are asking about her name...John and I have a front-runner that we really like, as well as some very close second place options, but we're going to wait until we meet her to make a final decision. So, keep the guessing games going (right, Ellen Margaret?)!

2009-05-08T12:56:00.006-05:00

Hi Everyone!!
Last weekend was Brian and Heather's wedding. It was amazing...the wedding was beautiful and so much fun. The exchanged vows on the beach in Malibu, and the reception was also on the beach a few feet from the water. There were dolphins jumping out of the water during the ceremony and reception...surely that is good luck on top of being a beautiful sight. Brian and Heather looked amazing, and I think they had a good time too despite the stress of planning such an amazing weekend for everyone. It was great to see my whole extended family and close family friends, and I think they got a kick out of seeing me while I'm cookin' up the next addition to the clan. Thanks to Aunt Ellen and Willer for some of the pictures!

Rehearsal at the beach

At the rehearsal, down the stairs to where Brian and Heather would exchange vows.

Brian and Heather tie the knot!! I'm off to the left, but I can promise you I was verklempt.

The McCarthy clan with the new Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy.

Brian and Heather at the reception.

Nice shot of the reception in full swing.

Belly Update

2009-04-23T18:36:00.004-05:00

Hey folks,
I just wanted to update everyone on everything going on in the Campbell household in Tucson. Right now I am 30 weeks along, meaning I have about 10 more to go!! I feel fantastic, with the exception of a few third-trimester aches and pains. In a few weeks we start our childbirth classes at the hospital, and it is a bit scary to be talking so seriously about labor and delivery. Our little girl is kicking like crazy, which I absolutely love. A recent ultrasound by the doctor (since we happened to be in the exam room with the ultrasound machine--a nice surprise!) revealed that she was wiggling her tongue out. You folks know that between John and I, and the whole McCarthy clan on my side, we all like to ham it up anytime there is a picture being taken. The apple doesn't fall far...

We have such an exciting summer with the baby arriving. We also are moving into a larger house about a month before my due date (July 3), which will add to the stress and excitement. Even sooner than that, Brian and Heather are getting married!! This is truly going to be a memorable summer, and I'm sure it'll go by way too quickly.

Here's a picture of me from yesterday, for those interested in seeing my belly.

Hawaii

2009-03-24T14:30:00.007-05:00

Hey everyone!

John and I just got back from a wonderful vacation in Hawaii. It was our "BabyMoon"...one last adventure before we are buried in diapers. We stayed in Maui most of the time, then one night in Honolulu before flying back to LA. In LA, we got to hang out with Brian and Heather, whose wedding is coming up very soon....so exciting!

Here are some pictures from the trip....

Pearl Harbor (please no jokes about fatherhood about to "weigh" John down)

Great view from one of the hotels in Maui....and a decent shot of my expanding belly.

We had quite a bit of rain, so we went to the Maui Ocean Center to stay dry.

Iao Needle.

A lovely dinner at Mama's Fish House in Maui...we had a great table overlooking the water.

One of hotels in Maui was right on this beach...so amazing.

John checking March Madness scores.

Growing and growing and growing

2009-02-25T17:33:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone....
I figured I would leave a quick update on our little peanut. Right now I'm 22 weeks along, which means she is about 7 1/2 inches long and about 12 ounces. She is moving around a lot, especially at night...either because my movement during the day lulls her to sleep or because she is taking after her night-owl dad. She can also hear the outside world by now, so I have been sure to indoctrinate her to the joys of Motown the way a proper McCarthy should be raised. While I'm cooking, I'll get down to some Aretha or Stevie....I just know she enjoys it. Bruce has also been on the playlist, of course.

I've gotten a lot of help and advice from my two new-mom girl friends, Jessica and Kara. Jessica's peanut is about 10 months old, and Kara's is 4 months. They've been great about giving me the honest truth about what John and I are about to experience, while still enjoying watching me marinate in the total happiness I am in over this pregnancy. They have been great new-moms and I appreciate it so much. Kara told me about a moment she had in which she realized the amazing/terrifying physics of pregnancy and birth....I had one of those recently, but it was more a picture that just popped into my head while looking at my belly in the mirror. Here is that picture:

Appropriate name for the boat, coincidentally.

Not to be ignored, John has had his own dad-things to think about during the pregnancy. I can't always read his mind, but I do see a lot of head scratching when he looks at my belly. Importantly, he's kept his distance from the many many boxes of Girl Scout cookies that I've attacked in the last week, which may be more self-preservation than will-power. If I give birth to a 7-pound Thin Mint, I accept all of the blame.

It's a....

2009-02-09T14:35:00.002-05:00

It's a girl!! John and I had a wonderful time today getting our 20-week ultrasound. We are very excited about our little girl, and cannot wait to meet her. Everything looked great, and it is clear that she is already very advanced. Her mouth was open, which I assume means she is already either talking (if she takes after me) or singing (taking after John). I think the idea of a daughter may scare John a bit more than a son, but as Brian pointed out today, she will have John wrapped around her little finger within minutes of her arrival.

I'll update everyone on anything else, once I get down off of Cloud 9.

Baby update

2009-02-05T12:18:00.010-05:00

I'm 19 weeks along, and feeling fantastic. Up until recently, all of this baby business has been a very abstract thing to wrap my head around. But now, I'm starting to feel little kicks and movements of our little peanut. This has not only been amazing to feel, but also makes this whole transition that much more real. And, on Monday, we find out if I'm cooking up a little boy or little girl in my belly. I think that will give John and I an actual baby to picture in our heads (sort of), as we start to think of names and our life with a little girl or boy. We are so excited to find out, and know that you guys might be too. We'll be sure to post Monday or Tuesday.

And, not to be ignored, Winston appears clueless about it all. He does seem to want to cuddle in my lap more than ever, but I don't know if that is because he senses something different about me. He did extremely well when sweet Eleanora came over to watch the Super Bowl with us...he was curious about this 4-month old little girl at our house but kept his distance and his cool.

I figured that I would post a few baby pictures of John and I. Feel free to picture your own Campbell-mashup.

John (maybe about 18 months or so?) and Mary-Mitchell

Me on my first birthday with Mom and Dad

He's a "Sheep-zu"

2009-01-24T15:14:00.006-05:00

A few posts ago I wrote about a dog breed analysis test that we were doing for Winston. Well, now we are even more stumped about his background, as is the vet. It could not detect dominant breeds in his background, but did identify two breeds that are somewhere in his genetics. (As a side note for my biology friends out there, it looks for SNP variants between breeds.) So, based on the results, Winston's background says he is part Shitzu and part Old English Sheepdog! We hadn't even imagined that he could have either of these backgrounds, so we were totally surprised. Here are pictures from Wikipedia of each:

While I have to admit that the Shitzu part threw me off (I mean, they're nice and all...they're just yippy and little), I know that Winston is still the coolest dog in the world. So, it's likely that he has other breeds in his background that the test didn't identify....a true mutt. While this doesn't completely stop the speculation of his background, friends have enjoyed trying to picture a 10-lb Shitzu running off with a 75-lb Old English Sheepdog.

Mary-Mitchell takes Tucson

2009-01-19T12:01:00.007-05:00

I wanted to post a few pictures from our visit with John's sister Mary-Mitchell. We haven't seen her since the summer we moved to Tucson, so it was wonderful having her here. And, MM brought her great friend Heather, who we've been lucky enough to know for several years. We ate lots of Mexican food, visited the Desert Museum, and took a road trip to the Grand Canyon. All four of us (plus Winston) drove up there and went to bed early, planning on waking up nice and early to watch the sun rise over the Grand Canyon. As residents of Tucson, we're accustomed to not relying on the weather forecast, so we were surprised to wake up to several inches of snow. After waiting a few hours for visibility to improve, we finally did make it to see the amazing view. And, Clark Griswold-style, we got back in the car and drove back. We did stop in Sedona, which is absolutely beautiful, for some lunch, coffee, fudge, and sunshine. It was great to see MM, and we can't wait to see her again!!

Yes, John wore shorts. Raise your hand if you're surprised. Anyone? Anyone?

Baby love!

2009-01-13T15:38:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone!!

By now everyone around us has heard, but I will announce it here on the blog anyway....we are having a baby! John and I are completely over the moon and excited about our little peanut. I am in my 16th week, and feeling wonderful. In the first trimester I was queasy at times and extremely exhausted...I seem to be in the lucky minority of women who don't have to live with their heads in the toilet. I have managed to sprout a wee Buddha belly, and am wearing it proudly. John is also feeling wonderful (I'm sure you were wondering), and keeping pace with my voracious reading of pregnancy- and baby-related books. Winston is of course clueless, but will no doubt have the shock of his little life when he realizes (1) that he has to share attention, and (2) that he was adopted (ha!). The baby has already been exposed to all sorts of Demon Deacon sports, as well as cell biology from a big meeting in San Francisco that I attended. The holidays in NC were fantastic, and it was really touching to see how excited our families are for the first grand-baby on either side.

I'll be posting some pictures from the past few weeks soon, but in the meantime, below is a picture of a baby at 16 weeks. I'd like to think it is from a webcam installed in my uterus, but that baby doesn't look like a ginger to me (you'll have see John's very cute baby pictures).

Stuffed turkeys, and stuffed bellies

2008-12-01T19:07:00.008-05:00

Last night we arrived back home from a great trip out to L.A. to visit Brian and Heather. They just moved into their beautiful new house a week ago, and were still willing to have some company. The house was built in the 1920s, and has a lot of the original charm mixed in with modern updates. For Thanksgiving, Brian got a deep-fried turkey that had a great Cajun seasoning (according to the meat-eaters), and I cooked the side dishes (just the basics).

On Friday, Brian, John, and I went to see Wake Forest play in the 76 Classic in Anaheim. Since there aren't too many Wake fans out there, we got seats right behind the Wake bench. We felt like we were part of the huddle, and could hear everything the coach was saying. John did have to watch his mouth (oh the pain!), since we knew the players could hear us too. We even made a bunch of the close-ups on ESPN2.

Anybody else like the guy right behind me? Doh!

The rest of the weekend was spent napping, unpacking, eating Yummy Cupcakes (which will make an appearance as Brian and Heather's wedding cake), and just hanging out. Loads of fun! Many thanks to Brian and Heather!

Big news, everyone!

2008-11-19T18:05:00.003-05:00

Hey folks,
We've got some fun news. After two years with Winston as our best four-legged friend, we're putting an end to all of the speculation about who his parents were. He knows what his mother was, but he's not telling. As for his father, we don't know...I'm not sure if his mother was the type to "associate" with basset hounds or cairn terriers. As a goofy holiday gift to us, we have sent away Winston's blood to determine his breed make-up. We're using a test through our vet, called the Wisdom Panel that will test for over 150 different breeds. A lot of people do this to get an idea of potential health issues that go hand-in-hand with some breeds, but we're just curious about our little buddy. We'll get the results in a few weeks, so until then, feel free to comment with what you think he is. And, although the "Winston" breed would make the best breed ever, his kind begins and ends with him (snip, snip). To be continued....

The air is cooler....time for Election Day!

2008-10-21T18:56:00.004-05:00

John and I just couldn't wait until November 4th to vote, so today we went together at lunch to participate in early voting. I know that McCain will likely win Arizona big-time, but I am so excited about Obama that I couldn't help feeling big and powerful filling in the bubble next to his name. There were several propositions that we had to read up on, ranging from eliminating payday loan practices to defining marriage as between a man and woman (which is ridiculous discrimination in my book, and redundant, as same-sex marriage is already prohibited...don't get me started!). Whatever your views, make sure to go out and vote!! You'll look as happy as me this afternoon (and get a sticker).

Birthday dog!

2008-09-28T12:52:00.009-05:00

This past week we had a lot to celebrate. John and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary with a nice dinner out last night. To celebrate Winston's 2nd birthday, we invited our friends and their dogs to come play at the dog park. I made tasty "pup-cakes" for the dogs, and provided party hats for the dogs and plenty of tennis balls. It was a great time seeing all of the dogs play, even if Winston had no clue it was for his birthday. Here are some pictures:

The birthday dog!

Charlie with a party hat and a smile.

Buster was clueless about the hat.

Winston thanking me for a fun day.

Ripley, Winston, and Cooper sitting for Somer (or the cupcake in her hand).

Here are all of the pictures from the day:

Anniversary

2008-08-01T17:39:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow marks the One Year Anniversary of our arrival into Tucson. While missing home and family a ton, we've carved out a nice little life for the Campbell Clan here. We've had our ups (kick-ass Europe trip, Winston's growing CV, my growing CV) and a few downs (ugh). Not much else to say, except that we are thankful to have friends and family back home that are wonderful enough to trigger such homesickness (so bittersweet), and thankful to have such wonderful friends, and each other, here to ease the homesickness. Paging Dr. Phil!

New photo found!

2008-07-12T11:21:00.002-05:00

Brian looked at the pictures I posted yesterday, and realized one of them looked like a very old war photo he recently saw. Look carefully....

Summer of family!

2008-07-11T18:35:00.007-05:00

Throughout this summer, we've had the fortune of having our parents all visit us in shifts. It was fun showing everyone around Tucson and spending some QT with everyone.

Johnnie and Colon stayed around after watching the house and Winston while we were in Europe. We celebrated Colon's birthday with a selection of tasty deserts (I liked the mini-tart you see me trying to inhale).

When Dad and Carol came, we went to the Air and Space Museum and the Desert Museum. Dad can never resist taking an opportunity to ham it up for the camera.

When Vann came out, we took him to Pheonix to watch the Diamondbacks play. It was cool watching Randy Johnson pitch for 6 innings.

Something in the air....

2008-06-26T11:36:00.003-05:00

Last night was a very bizarre night, and it still has me scratching my head. The Sonoran Desert where we are experiences a "monsoon season" starting around mid-July for several weeks...these monsoons are pretty much a storm with crazy rainfall, lightning, thunder, etc for a few minutes. Last night there was what looked like an early monsoon rolling through Tucson...you can see them for miles, just sheets of dark clouds and rain, and try to brace yourself. The agility class that Winston is enrolled in at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona takes place every Wednesday night. We all got to the agility field ready to go last night, and were just going to chance it that the storm would blow by west of us, which it mostly did. Still, we could see tons of lightning on the other side of town, and feel a lot of wind blowing. I don't know what this kind of atmosphere does to the dogs, but it was very noticeable. Winston isn't perfect, I can admit that, but last night he was baaaaad. He couldn't focus on us...we would try to start a run on a few pieces of equipment laid out on a small course and he would just take off and do laps around the entire field of equipment, people, and dogs. Once we had him more under control, I took a breath and looked around. All of the dogs were going nuts. None of the dogs, including Winston, were scared or mean....just nutty, like they all sat down for some coffee right before class. So, I don't know what was in the air from the storm, but the instructor said that this happens every time there is a monsoon nearby. Very bizarre. Then I looked around and saw John doing laps and going nutty too (well, not really, but that would be funny).

Tim Russert

2008-06-17T17:55:00.002-05:00

Tim Russert has always been one of my favorite journalists and interviewers. I know, join the club...this guy was loved by many. I'm sure a lot of you have seen this clip from Daily Show, but just in case you haven't, enjoy. (Thanks to Kara for sharing.)

Happy Belated Father's Day!

2008-06-17T15:41:00.007-05:00

I know this is late, but I wanted to post some pictures of the wonderful fathers that are in our lives. I would have done this on Sunday, but I was celebrating Father's Day by asking Dad for money...just $20 to see a movie and get a sundae at Friendly's. John wanted some baseball cards.

My handsome Dad. Notice the keys in his hand...couldn't wait for the party to start!

John's Dad on his 35th (ha!) birthday last year, full of Vann's punny jokes.

John's stepdad Colon, a world traveler and best friend to Winston.

Happy Piglet

2008-06-11T18:33:00.005-05:00

This has nothing to do with us, but this surely made me laugh. I mean, how could you look at this little piggie above and not smile?! In this report from BBC News, this piglet was afraid of the mud, so the farmers put little wellies on her feet.

Europe trip 2008

2008-06-05T15:47:00.008-05:00

Hey everyone!

John and I arrived home last Friday from a whirlwind trip to Europe. We went to Paris, London, Interlaken (Switzerland), Cinque Terre (Italy), and the French Riviera (Antibes and Nice). It was wonderful, and it is always nice to come back home. We have been settling into our routines, enjoying time with Johnnie and Colon (here to watch the house and Winston while we were away, and visit), and starting another round of Agility class with Winston. Finally, I've posted some pictures for everyone to see...click on the picture below to get the slideshow.

Europe

Also, here are a few movies that we made along the way.

Here we are going up to the top of the Eiffel Tower while it was sparkling (which it does on the hour):

Up top (well, not tippy-top, but it was good enough!):

Here is the "ferry" we were in to get through a mountain in the Alps:

John being cheeky:

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T11:29:00.011-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful mothers in our lives!

Johnnie

Janice

Carol

Grandma Campbell

Grandma Lamm and Johnnie

Aunt Lib (and Tom)

McCarthy moms (Aunts Ann Marie, Ellen, Jean, Marian, Teresa, and Cousin Megan)

Aunt Catherine (and MM)

Best Week Ever

2008-04-17T11:27:00.002-05:00

I don't know if you guys remember VH1's "Best Week Ever" show. Well, they now have a daily blog of pop culture happenings, and Brian's short made it up there for today (4/17). Check it out at http://www.bestweekever.tv/.

Yay, Brian!

Los Angeles or bust!

2008-04-16T16:33:00.005-05:00

This past weekend I went to L.A. to visit Brian and Heather. We had a great time together, and attended a premier party for a comedy short that Brian made (starring Heather, more on that in a minute). We also walked around a Thai street festival and watched some sort of Thai-style kick boxing, which looked quite painful. John and Winston had a bachelor weekend at home, and I'm sure they missed me between the beer and Taco Bell they consumed.

For several weeks now, Brian has been polishing up a comedy short that he wrote and directed, called "Behind the Fake Music." I'm posting two versions of it (the first is higher quality). If you like it (and you should!!), feel free to share it...the more hits the better. And, as Brian warns: "Beware, there is some salty language and situations that may be slightly NSFW (aka, Not Safe For Work)."

Behind the Fake Music from Brian McCarthy on Vimeo.

Happy Easter weekend!

2008-03-23T23:28:00.003-05:00

This weekend has been an exhausting, wonderful weekend. Winston graduated from his Agility Foundations class on Saturday (yes, there was a ceremony). After all of the dogs did their last run-through on a sequence of equipment and received their certificates, they were all free to play and romp around in a little pool they set up to cool the dogs off. Winston typically doesn't volunteer to go in the water, but after a fun day in the sun he was ready to splash around, and he did. We also signed up for the next level of Agility, starting in June. All of these classes are through the Humane Society to help fund their shelter and clinic, so if anyone is interested see their website.

Today has been a quieter day, and a great way to celebrate Easter. I cooked a big brunch for John and I, and was the first time I made a ham (thanks to Johnnie's help). To keep with Easter tradition, Winston and I indulged in a little nap! Lovely.

Mazel Tov!

2008-03-17T19:15:00.005-05:00

This past weekend was packed with festivities to celebrate Julie and Ronen's wedding. Saturday night was a rehearsal dinner, and Sunday was the wedding. It included a touching ceremony, a kick-ass reception, and a wonderful and happy couple......Mazel Tov!

John with several of the other accounting grad students.

Me with said students' wives. I just realized that accountants must not like blondes.

Agility class

2008-03-09T17:01:00.005-05:00

Here are a few videos of Winston on the agility equipment today. Enjoy!

WinstonWear

2008-03-06T12:05:00.004-05:00

Many of you have seen this shirt already, but I figured it deserved a blog post. At Christmas, I opened up a gift from Brian that at first looked like a pink shirt. Then I took a careful look at the shirt and realized it was the Best Gift Ever. I think a whole clothing line of WinstonWear would sell off the racks, don't you?

Update

2008-02-25T18:40:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone,

Figured we should post an update about our lives, but I do apologize for the lack of pictures. Sure, I can always post pictures of the famous Winston, but I get enough grief from a certain fellow blogger in LA for my ridiculous obsession with my 4-legged best buddy.

John is going through what is likely the busiest semester, between overloading himself with classes and seminars, teaching, and research. He is an overachiever, but he plays that role so well. He has also found some time for Wake and UofA basketball, which is a good opportunity for him to relax. You guys know him, though...this doesn't really relax him.

Winston is doing really well at agility so far. He has mastered the tunnel, which is stretched out to about 15 feet. For whatever reason, this was scary for some dogs...not for Winston. Once he would reach one end, he was ready to run back the other way without any prodding from me. And, he liked to stop in the middle to sniff out any treats that were left as bait for some of the more timid dogs. To see the entire tunnel from the outside, wobbling and rocking around from him investigating, was pretty funny.

As for me, I'm keeping busy with my new lab and various things. I'm at the animal shelter most weekends, which I love, but this weekend was a really tough time to be there. After several months of investigation, a very large dog fighting ring was busted last week in Tucson. Two of the many news stories on it is here and here. Officials seized about 150 dogs (mostly pit bulls), loads of firearms, and God-awful equipment used in breeding fighting dogs (treadmills, rape stands for unwilling female dogs, etc). Most of these dogs ended up at our shelter.

To accommodate the 150 dogs at the shelter (side note: pit bulls are kenneled separately since they will kill each other if kept together), most of the regular dogs up for adoption were moved to the Humane Society shelter across town. So, my job of finding homes for the remaining adoptable dogs was a tough one on Saturday. It was a bit jarring for my little protected soul to see the pictures of everyone arrested in this bust scattered around "backstage," as warning should we see any of them lurking around. During the slow times, I poked around the closed-off and very secure part of the shelter to see all of these fighting dogs. Many came up to meet me right away, some were unsocial, and some were downright irritable. There were so many puppies, too. After hearing that some of these fighters were from such good "breeding stock" to cost thousands of dollars each, I wasn't too surprised to see that they were in good shape and healthy-looking. Still, I couldn't help but feel a lump in my throat walking around back there, thinking about what each of these dogs may have already gone through.

These dogs will all very likely be humanely euthanized...these dogs do well what their jerk-face owners bred them to do. It is controversial to put these dogs down, as many of Michael Vick's dogs are currently being rehabilitated. So, with the large number of dogs seized here in town, their "good" breeding line, the cost to rehabilitate these dogs, and the small funding our shelter gets, the reality is grim. Any thoughts?

I'm realizing what a "Debbie Downer" post this is, but I just can't seem to get these dogs out of my head. It amazes me to realize that Winston is the same species as these fighters. As my dad says of Winston's ability to protect us against another burglar, "He would serve them cocktails before he would ever stop them." While that doesn't serve my paranoia over home intruders well, it does make Happy Hour at our house very nice. He makes a good vodka tonic.

Dawg House

2008-02-15T10:58:00.003-05:00

Here is just a goofy little thing some of you might get a kick out of. Today, Winston is at dog daycare. You read that correctly. Over the next few days, we are hosting Cooper (a very sweet Doberman-lab mix) while James and Somer are away. Every Friday, Cooper and his dog-sis Ripley go to the Dawg House Daycare service to burn some energy. So, to keep with Cooper's routine and help Winston burn some of his energy, we took both of them over there this morning. The website is http://www.dawghouse.biz/, and if you click on Dawgie Cam on the bottom, you will likely see a blur of stocky, shaggy Winston. They will have fun playing with dogs all day, and hopefully come home tired.

Winston 4 Prez

2008-02-05T17:30:00.000-05:00

Winston's support of Hillary made his favorite website, www.luvmutt.com!! I hope that everyone in a Super Tuesday state voted today. When I showed up to vote, it only took 2 minutes....so no excuses, people!

Fun weekend

2008-02-04T11:49:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone,

First of all, GO GIANTS!! John and I had such a fantastic time last night watching the Super Bowl at Linsday and Brent's house. I even made Giants cookies and brought out my 1986 Giants Super Bowl victory shirt for the occasion (it fits better now than it did in 1986). Then we went home and I watched Puppy Bowl IV for an embarrassing amount of time.

The rest of the weekend was pretty awesome too. On Saturday, Kara and I went to hear Hillary speak on the UofA campus. To be up front, I'm still undecided between her and Obama so I thought hearing her speak might help. I need to figure it out before tomorrow's primary. Chelsea was there too, but my fantasy of inviting her out for drinks and Mexican food to become buddies never really came to fruition. When I got home, though, it was clear Winston was jealous of my Hillary sticker, so I gave it to him. If you remember, he has always been a Hillary supporter.

Sunday afternoon we also had our first Agility class with Winston. We hope to have pictures of him on some of the fun equipment at some point, but our first class included obedience basics (which Winston nailed, of course!). Some people get really competitive about Agility, but our primary goal is just to have fun with him at the class and let him learn some new things.

It's been a while....

2008-01-24T19:15:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

It has taken us (me) a long time to get organized to post up some goodies. John and I had a great time in NC for the holidays, and we even got to see Wake Forest play in the bowl game in Charlotte. Check out Brian's blog entry about John's wonderful time watching the game. I stayed in NC for two more weeks to chill with the Goldstein Lab and to do some experiments that will hopefully help the paper Bob and I are writing find a nice home in a journal.

The last few weeks in AZ have been my Return To Routine. If anyone knows me well, this RTR is an exciting time for me; my obsession with my red daily planner and pages of to-do lists comfort me, while the chaos around holidays keeps me a bit unsettled (even if I am having an awesome time). I've heard that this part of me stems from my early childhood problems with potty training. Happy New Year, everyone!

I do want to share a bit of my joy with everyone. You may remember, a few posts back, that our house was burglarized. When talking with our landlord about making the house more secure, I mentioned the doggie-door in the back possibly needing to be closed off. This was sad to imagine Winston running into a wall where the door used to be, but I felt that someone could crawl through pretty easily (especially in the likelihood that would-be robbers could be thin from all the meth around Tucson). John quickly said, "That's ridiculous. Nobody could fit through there." I could smell the challenge before he finished his sentence. Some of you may have even weighed in on our bet over whether or not I could fit through there. Some thought my head too big (wrong! quite the opposite, folks), my shoulders too broad (really?!), or even my hips too wide (thanks very much, jerks). I'm writing about this, because you can only imagine the outcome......Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T09:11:00.000-05:00

Christmas spirit

2007-12-17T23:29:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

We've had quite an adventure the last few days. We had a fantastic weekend up until late Sunday night. Sunday morning we had brunch with Somer and James at the very classy La Paloma resort, and Sunday night we did a 5k fun run with friends (and Winston) through Winterhaven's Festival of Lights where the houses completely deck out their houses for the holidays. Ben was even brave enough to wear a sparkly Christmas vest, which turned out to be a great way for us walkers to know where the runners in our pack were.

After having some snacks and drinks at Ben and Kara's house after the run, we got back home to find out we were burglarized sometime in the 4 hours we were gone...the front door totally kicked in. Fortunately, they didn't take everything....just things that could fit into my Jansport backpack. This included John's laptop (with all of his research), my Ipod, the Metamorph key from UNC (you science geeks will know how painful that is), and every single piece of jewelry I own(ed). The jewelry part stings a lot, partly because there were some very valuable pieces from John ever since we first started dating, and partly because all of Mom's jewelry was in there too....nice stuff as well as sterling/costume stuff that I would wear to channel Mom's good taste. Grandma's crystal necklace is gone too...fortunately, I got to wear that out on the town not too long ago. I'm devastated about the jewelry, and even more devastated about feeling so violated. These jerk-faces were in our home, snooping, touching everything.

The Tucson Police were fantastic, and given the dollar value of things stolen reached a certain limit, the Crime Scene Unit came out and were fingerprinting the whole house until 1:30 in the morning. They were terrific, and humored me every time I pointed to something and said, "They had to touch that! I didn't put that there." If you know me at all, you won't be surprised to know that when the Crime Scene Unit people commented on how spotless our house was underneath the mess of the burglars, I had a little moment of celebration inside. As mentioned before, Winston was with us while the burglars were here, so he was neither hurt physically or traumatized.

So, we've spent the day cleaning from the burglars and the fingerprinting dust that's everywhere, and dealing with police and insurance report stuff. We are totally spooked, and it will take me a glass of wine (or two) before bed to settle down, but I know that soon we'll be more confident about our safety. I should also say that our landlord has been super....he stayed with us the entire time cops were here, and was here again at 7am with a contractor to discuss the best options for a new front door, and he's now considering a security system. He's owned this house since 1971 and lived in the house the majority of the time since then, and this is the first break-in. Between those comfortable 36 years and the fact that we live on a busy, well-lit road in a house with a well-lit exterior, he's a bit shocked about this incident too....which means he is taking it very seriously.

I also want to mention that Ben and Kara have been so generous....when we told them what happened, within 15 minutes they called and insisted on bringing dinner for us tonight. So, Kara made her family's classic pasta comfort food (with extra for leftovers) and brought a bottle of wine for the four of us to enjoy together. I am so thankful that we have such terrific friends, and hope that they know how much it meant to us.

Here is our bedroom, where most of the mess was:

Sniff, sniff:
Fingerprint dust on cabinets:

Thanksgiving fun

2007-11-25T21:40:00.000-05:00

Brian and Heather left our house a few hours ago, and all three of us at home are exhausted and already nostalgic about the awesome visit with them. We watched Dad carve their turkey via webcam, cooked a huge Thanksgiving dinner, played around Mt. Lemmon (very cold up at 8,000 ft), saw some great desert critters at the Desert Museum, drank prickly pear margaritas, and played Rock Band on Xbox360. It was so much fun having them here, and great to finally celebrate Thanksgiving with Brian!

Go Cats!

2007-11-20T12:40:00.000-05:00

We went to our first UofA basketball game with Tim, Ben, and Kara, and it was against the ACC's own Virginia. It was a great game, even if the Wildcats lost. I meant to post this earlier, but things have been busy between preparing for Thanksgiving at our house, work in my lab, and an unhealthy obsession with the dog posted below.

I saw her while volunteering at the shelter, and her cute little face was screaming for a new home with us. Don't worry...we haven't adopted her (yet), but the inner debate between head and heart has been troubling. I mean, we want Winston to be our best buddy....we don't need to become a zoo. She is adorable, and her personality is sweet and calm....she is still available at PACC if anyone is interested in giving her a good home.

Fun Week in the AZ Autumn

2007-11-10T17:21:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!
This was an awesome week. It started with a fun visit with Zach. We showed him our favorite Mexican restaurants in town and between the three of us, drained the Tucson supply of margaritas. It was wonderful to see a familiar face, and to show him our new home. And the week's fun continued with the annual CATwalk, a 5K walk on the UofA campus to benefit women's cancer research. The Hoffmans met us for a brunch at our house, and all four of us (along with Winston and Charlie) did the walk together. You can tell from the picture how excited Winston was for company.

Killer Bees

2007-11-02T01:02:00.000-05:00

These vintage images of Saturday Night Live's "Killer Bees" are courtesy of Brian.

A message from Winston...

2007-10-31T08:58:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!

Home Sweet Home

2007-10-28T18:03:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

I am finally posting a bunch of pictures of our house. We've been more than settled in for a while, but I really didn't want to post pictures until the last curtain was hung. I'm not sure why.

And, because visitors are always welcome (cough, cough) I'm posting some pics of the guest room.
Although it looks like we have many versions of Winston (5 based on these pics), there really can only be one dog like him. Finally, here is a video of one of Winston's favorite features of the house:

Congrats to Brian and Heather!

2007-10-22T15:24:00.000-05:00

On Thursday night, Brian and Heather got engaged! I am ridiculously happy for them. To read about Brian's proposal, check out his blog's post at http://livefromrodneydrive.blogspot.com/2007/10/eight-years-in-making.html.

Self-reflection

2007-10-12T11:36:00.002-05:00

Anniversary dinner

2007-10-11T13:47:00.001-05:00

John and I were apart for our anniversary on the 25th, so we didn't get a chance to go out until last weekend. The traditional gift for the third anniversary is leather (hey now!), but for us nothing could honor three wonderful years better than a bubbling pot of cheese. We have always enjoyed fondue, so we had a great dinner at the Melting Pot. For the McCarthy Clan out there, that is Grandma's necklace (thankfully repaired) that Dad used as a weapon against her lounge chair, many years ago.

All done!

2007-10-05T16:35:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post some more pictures from our big weekend in Chapel Hill. My defense (successful, by the way) was on Friday, as well as a celebratory happy hour and party at Bob's. At the party, the new Dr. Willow and I received fantastic, personal gifts from both Bob and the lab. Bob gave me an 1898 book on microscopy that he found in Cambridge...this may be why I'm reading it with a British accent. The lab gave me an antique microscope, and I'm currently trying to figure out more about it. The rest of the weekend included the stuffing of faces at Foster's Market, Mama Dip's, Southern Season's Weathervane, and Carolina Inn. I think the entire family had a wonderful time, and I know that the weekend was so memorable and fun for me. I am so lucky to have such an awesome husband, family, advisor, and lab!

Goldstein lab lunch

My defense begins....

One of my favorite traditions after a defense....defacing university property with a popped champagne cork and signing the damage as a new doc.

Bob, like any great advisor, helped me deface university property.

In Duncan and Connor's absence, Heather tests their playground.

Brian found that Chapel Hill residents renamed these toilet seat covers. Only Brian would have his camera in a public toilet.

Big Week!

2007-09-28T08:15:00.000-05:00

This past week John and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary and Winston's 1st birthday. Now, we are in NC for my Defense, which is today. I'm feeling good about things, but feeling the jitters from all of the anticipation. I mean, I remember when I was a first-year seeing the more senior graduate students go through this and it felt so far away for me. Now it is hours away. Yikes! Well, everyone is here and John and I had dinner with Dad and Carol, and Brian and Heather. Happy Birthday to Brian....yesterday he turned 31! Also, many congratulations to the new Dr. Willow Gabriel!

Weekend fun

2007-09-17T21:52:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was fantastic! Now that my dissertation is in to my committee members, I feel very excited about the defense coming up, and way more relaxed than I've felt in a long time. Friday night we had an unintentional "puppy party." We had invited James and Somer over for drinks and appetizers, so our dogs could meet since their dogs are staying with us next weekend. Well, word got out to some of the other dog owners that we're friends with and we ended up inviting them too. The pictures are a bit chaotic, but so was the evening....it was great. On Saturday, John and I drove up to Mt. Lemmon to cool off and walk around some trails. Finally, on Sunday I volunteered at an adoption event where we had puppies from the Pima Animal Care Center ready to find new homes....I came home stinking of pound puppies and totally happy.

(I know I have a small head, but is it really smaller than the head of my 36-pound dog?!)

The Campbells go to Hollywood!

2007-09-04T15:43:00.000-05:00

This weekend we drove to L.A. to visit Brian and Heather for Labor Day. It is great to be able to hop in a car to see my brother, and I love that they are so much closer to us now. L.A. is going through a pretty nasty heat wave, which comes with daily blackouts....bring out the candles and board games! Queen Heather found the baby in the King Cake at a Mardi Gras-themed party, while Winston got to romp under the Hollywood sign and face-off with Winnie the cat.

Even more fame!

2007-08-27T23:29:00.002-05:00

If you guys remember, a few weeks ago I submitted Winston's picture into a "Dog Days of Summer" contest. Well, the website that ran that contest emailed and asked me for more pictures of Winston, so he could be featured on their website. So, head over here to see Winston in all of his glory on www.luvmutt.com! The description of Winston, as well as the captions, were written by the people that run the site, based on my email about Winston (just in case people were wondering).

Oh, by the way, I realized that this is turning into Winston's blog. Winston just happens to be the one that keeps track of me all day while I'm at home, and I can't help his puppy-dog trance. I promise to post some non-Winston material soon!

LOLWinston

2007-08-20T17:04:00.000-05:00

Many thanks to Brian for making this LOLWinston!

Winston's been busy....

2007-08-19T01:38:00.000-05:00

These days Winston has been busy helping me write my dissertation. When he finished helping today, he found some time to sneak away for a little misbehaving.

Celebrity in the family

2007-08-17T11:12:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to quickly let everyone know that Winston is famous. Check out http://www.luvmutt.com/blog/ for his picture that I submitted into a contest. The blog is a cute blog where they have people submit pictures of their mutts (no purebreds allowed!), and they are having a "Dog Days of Summer" contest. We're crossing our fingers that he wins....it would be a gift certificate for treats and toys.

Settling In....

2007-08-13T13:27:00.000-05:00

Now that our stuff has arrived, as well as Johnnie and Colon, we are starting to settle in. Johnnie and Colon have been a huge help unpacking, as we are almost all done. John took Winston and his parents up to Mt. Lemmon, where it was a cool 70 degrees. All four of us went to the Desert Museum Saturday night, which included a spectacular sunset amidst the cactus scenery. Last night, I cooked a meal for the first time in the house. I was so happy to finally cook, that I even broke out the nice table cloth for the dining room.

Winston looking for grass:

Winston and Pumpkin

2007-08-07T19:37:00.001-05:00

As we are settling in, all three of us are making new friends. Winston had a great time playing with Pumpkin, Rohit's St. Bernard puppy. I think Winston looks like he is grinning for the camera....what a ham!

Tomorrow morning the moving truck comes, so we can finally have our stuff. John and I are through with air mattresses for a while.