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

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

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

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....

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

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"

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:

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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.