Those Three Campbells

Four eyes.

2011-11-24T19:17:00.007-07:00

Olivia's wandering eye was beginning to scare the other children...so we got her some glasses. She absolutely loves them and pushes them up her nose every 15 seconds, in true dork fashion. We stinkin' love this kid.

Spooky...

I'm ready, I'm ready!

Perfect fit!

Livie G.

2011-10-23T14:45:00.004-06:00

A Year in Pictures

2011-06-23T17:05:00.008-06:00

These pictures detail Olivia's year in Virginia, through all of her adventures and crazy antics! (Posted by Lizzy because she knows people want an Olivia update!)

Olivia hit many of her milestones while in Virginia; crawling, walking, talking and finally...drum roll please...eating! She has come so far from her days spent in the NICU, as you can obviously see.

Olivia's spends her days cuddling her babies, making salads in her play kitchen, taking her babies for walks, having her toenails painted pink, swimming in the bathtub, putting on and taking off her shoes, saying Hi! to strangers in the store, making people laugh, eating her "candy" (pureed veggies...) and cycling through all of her family members names (Daddy, Mommy, Mama, Izzy, Aggie, Mamon, Ana, Inny)

Let's just put it this way, Olivia is one busy little girl!

Use your imagination

2010-09-27T10:01:00.003-06:00

And just pretend I wrote an update when I promised I would. No fancy excuses here, just life.

and as long as we're pretending, just imagine that Olivia's pants match her shirt today. They matched when I got her dressed in the dark this morning. It's magic.

We're making incredible progress. Olivia is averaging about 3 ounces per feed these days, up from zero. And she's taking pediasure (her big girl formula), fruits (peaches, bananas, applesauce, strawberries, "fruit cocktail," etc), and a few veggies (sweet potatoes, carrots) in the form of a puree from a squeeze bottles and sometimes spoons. Cec, if you're reading this, I'd love to see a sentence diagram of that sentence. It could take two pages if we did it right.

There's a really wonderful, unforseen benefit to bringing your child to the hospital and forcing her to interact with nice people even though she's terrified of them- Olivia is now much more sociable. She no longer goes into hysterics the first, second, or third time she meets someone. In fact, she actually waves at strangers from her stroller as we walk through the hospital or the park. I love it!

She's also learned to stand up on her own, without even using furniture. No independent steps yet, but they've got to be just around the corner. I'm interested to see what Olivia's PT says when she gets home- we've been working towards this for a long time. We've talked about ankle support braces, at least temporarily, so I'd really like to have him look at her stance and see what he says. In the meantime, Olivia's favorite pasttime is climbing on top of anything and everything, and then standing on it. Dogs, furniture, toys, laundry baskets, wagons. Olivia thinks she's king of them all.

Also, spending so much time with older kids, and especially sharing toys with them in an enclosed space has, ahem, encouraged Olivia to try interracting more often. We've noticed that she's learned three new oral words (baby, ball, fish) since coming here. That brings her to a grand total of... four! She's also learned and uses the signs for papa, all done, and more.

More is my favorite right now. Today, when Olivia's timer went off and she turned it off, she refused to do the all done sign. Usually she can't wait! But today she looked her therapist in the face, and signed more. Then she did it again. Charles and I were watching from the other room, and we were speechless. Kacie held up a cup of yogurt and a cup of carrots, and asked which one Olivia wanted more of. Olivia pointed to the carrots, so she got a spoonful of carrots, and then we got to go pick her up for playtime. I never thought this day would come, but it's here! Olivia is having fun taking her bites!

She's not just learning how to eat!

2010-09-17T16:13:00.002-06:00

Olivia's really catching up quick, now that she's learning to use her oral muscles and watching big kids play all day. This is her new trick- as you can see, she's pretty proud of herself! We can't get her to take any steps yet, but we've seen her balance herself for over a minute in the same spot. This isn't really her best work, but it's funny. She's very into babbling and blowing raspberries these days. I'll be writing a real update sometime this weekend, I promise!

Day 3

2010-09-01T21:23:00.003-06:00

Day 3 was pretty good!

Our morning starts at sevenish, when we wake up Babyface and get her dressed and pack our bags for the day. We pack her backpack with a fresh Zevex bag, two cold cans of formula, two extra outfits in case of vomiting, and enough diapers and wipes to get through a hurricane. You never know. Then there are the things that are always in there, like medical tape and scissors, a spare button, and a bolus extension tube in case... I don't know. In case she chews through the one she's using.

We get to the hospital at eight, when Kacie (Livie's feeding therapist) comes and takes her to the octopus room for her first session. All the rooms are sea creature themed. There are tv screens in the cafeteria with aquarium footage that Livie loves. She's a water baby for sure. That should make Grandma Jean happy!

Right now in therapy we're changing gears from just accepting bites to actually swallowing them. Olivia exhibits "pocketing,"which means she keeps food in her mouth until she gets a chance to spit it out or just explodes. Her therapy is all positive reinforcement for desired behaviors (taking her bites, swallowing them) and ignoring or preventing negative behaviors (swatting the spoon away, crying, vomiting, gagging, refusing to swallow.) If she spits out her food, she has to take another bite and swallow before she gets to watch her video or play with the toys she picked out. She starts her own timer at the beginning of the session, has her lip, gum, and cheek "stretches," chewing practice, and then takes as many bites and drinks as Kacie can get into her before her timer goes off. Then Livie turns it off, and once she's swallowed her last bite, she gets brought back to us.

Meanwhile, we're watching on a closed circuit on a tv right underneath a little wooden octopus. We record the sessions for us to take home to train other caregivers, like aunts and grandmas. And also because someday we want Olivia to realize how much progress she's made, and how proud she should be of herself. As soon as we finish filling up the first DVD, we'll probably post it to YouTube and post a link, in case any of you are interested in what feeding therapy looks like.

For some reason, blogger won't let me post my pictures right now. I'll try again soon. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I'll try to address them in my next post! I know there are a lot of families out there thinking about feeding therapy for their own kids, and I'd love to be able to help if I can.

Children's Hospital Feeding Program, Day 1

2010-08-31T07:15:00.002-06:00

In the coming days and weeks, I'll be posting more about Livie's daily sessions and schedules, and letting you keep up with her progress. For now, I'm just filling you in on the basics. I'll also be posting pictures of Livie here in the hospital, at home in the play room, at recreational therapy, etc. And if her friend's parents are ok with it, pictures of Livie and her friends.

Yesterday was day one of Olivia's intensive feeding program here in Richmond. We've decided to stay down here for the duration (two months) since we got a spot at the Ronald McDonald house, and because Livie's having anywhere from 3 to 5 different therapy sessions per weekday. We hated to have to wake her up any earlier than we already are to get her to therapy at 8 am. She's not a morning person. No idea where she got that from. Ahem.

So, we drove down Sunday night to get checked in and ready for therapy the next day. I don't know what I was expecting the Ronald McDonald house to be... I guess kind of like a hostel, or something. Just a bed and a crib to sleep in, and maybe some dishes to cook with. I was so wrong! They let us in, got us oriented with their policies, and then gave us the tour- there's a lounge on the main floor, and a library lounge on the third. There's a kid's play room in the basement across from the complimentary laundry room (they even provide detergent. WHAT?!). The playroom has Shel Silverstein illustrations all over the walls, and so many toys for so many age ranges. Some of them haven't even been opened yet. And some really awesome kid books. Everything from Harry Potter, to Ramona, to baby Einstein. I'm so in love with that playroom. They just ask that you sanitize and put back any toys you get out. After that, we were shown into the feeding room just for kids in Olivia's feeding program- can you believe that?! There are only two families, including ours, who are in Livie's program and staying at the Ronald McDonald House, and we're becoming good friends already. So I don't forsee any problems getting time in that room. It's so thoughtful of them to realize that the feeding process is very tenuous and stressful, and removing every possible distraction goes a long way towards producing a productive feeding time. Then we were shown in the fenced in backyard- where they have a tiny real-life house for kids to play in. It even has flower beds in the window sills! That made my heart melt. I can't wait to let Olivia discover that gem.

Our bedroom is nice and comfy, with a soft bed for us, a nice safe crib for Livie, a closet, a ceiling fan, a dresser, and a little desk/vanity. All our stuff fits in there fine, even with all of our feeding supplies and medications. We supposedly share a bathroom with the other people on our floor, but so far the rooms we would share with are not full. As far as I can tell, we only have three or four families staying right now, but they can have up to nine.

There's also a fully stocked kitchen- pots, pans, silverware, etc. Even table linens. And They must have people donating food all the time, because there are several foods in the pantry and fridge that are for general consumption- cans of soup, tupperwares of casserole and sliced up fruit, a cherry cobbler, etc. I cannot believe the generosity of these people. We went and bought some personal frozen meals, like broccoli and cheese sauce, mac and cheese, spinach souffle, etc. Just healthy, frozen, fast meals since we seem to be on the run all the time, and we're not sure how predictable the food supply will be there. We also...drumroll please...bought a teeny tiny backpack (smaller than the one she has from the health care company) that is insulated and small enough for Livie to actually wear around, while she's still pump fed. It was really cheap in the lunchbox section at Walmart. My mom and I have been looking for months for one this small, since she refuses to wear the one she has, and won't crawl or move around if we get her into it. She seemed to really like this one, though. I'm way pumped.

Yesterday was just a baseline day, so Charles and I fed her the first two sessions, and the therapist fed her the last one. We didn't use any special techniques, just fed her as we would a typically-eating child. She did about as well as we expected, if not better. She was actually comfortable with her therapist by the end of the day, which took weeks with her home therapist. She still cries every time we walk through a new door, because she's still petrified of hospitals, but today was noticably better in that regard. I'm so impressed.

There are naprooms available to the program patients, and Liv's had no problems falling asleep in there yet. We change the sheets every time, but we don't have to wash them. There's a rocking chair and a nightlight in there for us to accompany Livie on her sleeping endeavors. I love rocking chairs. I just do.

The main thing for me was putting my baby through something this stressful for two months. But so far, I have much more hope that she can get through this and it will be beneficial to our family, especially to her. I've received whispers from the Spirit that we're doing the right thing, and in a blessing Olivia was told that she would not lose any bit of the personality we've seen her grow and have come to love so much. I have faith that she can do this, and that we can, too.

belated (adjusted) birthday post

2010-07-12T21:43:00.012-06:00

Note to blog readers: This is a long post mostly written for me and for Olivia. You're welcome to read, but don't feel like you have to! Our main update is that Olivia is a year old, she's crawling, she's happy, and we love her guts! If you would like, I've included some pictures from her first year that I've had fun seeing again- you can look through them, too. I've included a long, boring post about my feelings about my daughter. And finally, at the end, I'll have a list of her favorites, and some typical Livieisms. Enjoy!

One year ago, today, our baby girl came home from the hospital for the first time. We were on our own with her for the first time, she met her cousins for the first time, she had her first car ride, her first night in her bassinet, her first time in her bouncy chair, met Wilson for the first time, and for the first time since she was born, our family was all together. That was such an awesome day.

It was also a nerve-wracking day. It was her first day without a pulse-oximeter and blood pressure cuff. I sat in the backseat with her on the way home from Primary Children's Hospital with my finger under her nose to make sure I could feel her breaths. I washed my hands about sixty times that day, to prevent introducing any germs into her fragile system. And even though we were very sleep deprived from pumping all the time and driving back and forth in the night when I just had to see my baby and tuck her in again, we both kept one eye open that night. We couldn't believe our little fighter was actually home.

Olivia has brought so much to our family in her first year and two months. She's humbled us, and taught us to rely on our Heavenly Father. She's illustrated our need to invite the Holy Ghost into our home. When she caught MRSA as a newborn with a fragile immune system, we found out before it was a scary hospitalization. Because we felt prompted to have her pediatrician look at her surgical site- she said it was "beautiful," but took a culture because we'd taken the time to drive to American Fork to see her. We caught it in time to sterilize everything in our house and warn off her therapist, who might have taken it to other fragile kids.

Olivia's brought so many smiles and giggles into our home. We will do anything to make that kid smile, because she is so good at it! I'm kind of a shy, reserved person with new people, but Olivia has pulled me out of my shell on more than one occasion. The other day at the play place at the mall, Olivia made "friends" with another girl her age... then climbed into the lap of that girl's mom and looked through her diaper bag! So obviously, I needed to make friends, too. That was new for me, and surprisingly really fun!

Olivia's wreaked havoc on my nerves. But in some ways she's also chilled me out. I have anxiety about her feedings, her vomits, her behaviors. I'm afraid I'm going to do something wrong with her and make her life something that it shouldn't be. But I no longer freak out about dog hair in her mouth. I'm not really phased by piles of laundry like I used to be. I'm grateful that she's exploring and finding dog hair (and adventures) on her own. I'm excited that we get to put her in all the adorable outfits her aunts and grandmas have made/sent her. She takes full advantage of her wardrobe.

I'm starting to get in touch with my inner toddler again, and it's fun. Pink is funny. Sunglasses are hilarious. Blankets are so cozy and kittens are intriguing. I can't wait to put her in her first tutu. I love seeing her light up when she experiences something and loves it or hates it so dramatically. Swimming pools make her shriek with laughter from the parking lot to the actual pool. Ice cream is decidedly yucky. Even Ben and Jerry's. Even Dippin'Dots. Even creamsicles.

Olivia's special needs have opened up a whole new world to me that previously, I'm ashamed to say, would have gone unnoticed. I've joined an online support network of friends with kids like mine, and I'm learning patience and humility along with all the research and feeding tips they provide. When we were first told that Livie's lack of oxygen at birth may result in some real problems for her, we were completely out of our element. But they prepared us for the worst, and Olivia wasn't listening. She's faced developmental delays, but she has therapists and doctors working with us to help her find her way. She's crawling now, and just this week she learned to climb the staircase (yay?). She's babbling all day long, and she says nigh-nigh to us at bedtime. She may take longer than others to learn to eat, learn to talk, learn to read... she may not. Only time will tell. But either way, our home is filled with love and silliness, and she will grow up in a gospel-centered family.

Olivia, I'm so grateful you came into our lives, and I'm so grateful you decided to stay. I love you more than I knew I could love!

Typical Livie:

-we go to physical/speech therapy on Tuesday, and occupational therapy on Wednesdays. You hated this at first, but now when we pick you up at the end, you wave and try to get back to playing. Ryan and Allison are your favorites!

-We babysit our friend from the ward on Thursdays and Fridays. We usually head straight to the pool, which you love! You can recognize the parking lot, and start giggling and dancing from the time we park until we put you in the water. You are part fish. Koi, I think. Something big and floppy, anyway.

-Saturdays and Mondays are our fun family days. We usually have Papa home to ourselves, and we play with him. Papa is your favorite person in the whole world. You call his name "Ahpa!" first thing in the morning, because you know he'll come running to squeeze you and start your day. We like to take him to the mall play place, because he chases you around and keeps you safe from the bigger kids would have tried to crush you. Thank you, Papa!

-Sundays are hard for you. Church is during your naptime, and you will not sleep anywhere but your crib. No matter how much cuddling, coercing, swaddling, etc is involved. I teach relief society once a month, and Papa teaches the youth sunday school, but you have no end of baby-sitters who are aching to take you off our hands at church. Thank you, Grandma, Tantes, and Grumpa.

-you wake up happy, every morning around ten. We couldn't ask for a better kid. You sing in your crib until you're ready to get up, and then you stand up and call your papa over.

-you sleep through the night when you're feeling good. You have since the first night you were home. If you're not feeling good, you wake up around one, and shriek until you barf. Then you feel better, and we play until your pj's are changed, your sheets are changed, and maybe you've had a bath. Then you happily go back to sleep. Until it's time to barf again.

-We feed you every 3 hours, except from 1-6 am. We give your tummy a break. Lately, you've been barfing upon waking, so we're trying out a new schedule that will feed you more late at night, and less in the morning while you're groggy. We'll see how it goes. Every day is a struggle to get the alloted number of calories into you, but you don't seem to notice either way, and your dietician is always impressed with your weight, so we try not to stress. (well, I try not to. Papa medicates me, and then puts me to bed when you insist on regurgitating your calories and fluids. Thank you, Papa.)

-You LOVE your puppies and kitties. You squeal and go nuts whenever you see them. There are four in our house, so you are often nutty and silly. Grant likes to hang out under your spot at the table, and he trials foods right along with us. So far, you haven't taken to purees, strawberries, ice cream, cookies, chocolate bunny, bananas, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas, toast, or much of anything. Grant has, though. You are making him fat. You tend to prefer crunchy, salty foods. You like sun chips, baby carrots, string cheese (in the package only. Not opened) and you don't swallow those. You LOVE ice cold water from your bunny cup with a straw, though. And you like when we give you Mylanta- you suck it from the syringe.

-When we ask where your belly button is, you point to your tube button. I think that's hilarious, and so do you.

-You are a crawling maniac. You love to pull yourself up on things, but you don't trust gravity. You bend your knees almost till you're down, but then get nervous and stand back up. You usually need a pep talk to get down, and sometimes some help. We try not to do it for you, though.

-Your blanket is your favorite item in the house. When you get sleepy, we hand you your blanket and you bury your face in it and moan. That's called "passing the tired test" according to your Aunt Lizzy. It means you're a goner, and you tell us "nigh-nigh."

Olivia's Dance Moves

2010-05-28T19:31:00.003-06:00

Olivia loves music of any kind. Her favorites are Shakira, the Black Eyed Peas, and hymns in church. Don't mind the wading pool in the front room- it hasn't been used yet, so she's having fun using it for climbing experiments. for her birthday, if the weather cooperates, we're going to fill it up in the backyard and stick her in her new (spf 50) swimsuit. With some (spf 50) baby sunscreen and sunglasses. She's definitely my daughter when it comes to skin- I just know she'll fry if we let her.

Olivia is Scooting

2010-05-21T22:28:00.002-06:00

She's growing at an alarming rate!

2010-03-11T13:53:00.003-07:00

meal time=play time

2010-01-31T19:16:00.002-07:00

At least, that's what Olivia seems to think these days. And it's hard to argue with her once she starts giggling! Man, I love this kid.

exciting new changes!

2010-01-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

I bet at least two of my readers didn't believe me when I said I wasn't pregnant. Sorry, still not. I'll be sure to let ya know.

Our exciting news is that Anna and I have started our own crafting business online! It's called LiviesWhimsies, after our mascot, Olivia. Oh, livia. We've been busy creating tons of whimsical accessories. I've learned how to crochet, and we've taught ourselves how to make singed organza flowers. It's been really fun for me to feel like I'm actually doing something. I haven't been able to get excited about anything lately, but this is one thing that makes me giddy.

Anyway, we have a blog where we show our projects in progress, and we'll also be highlighting some of our favorite undiscovered shops from etsy once a week on Saturdays. Starting today! Livieswhimsies.blogspot.com is the blog address if you want to check us out.
We have a fan group on facebook where we'll also make announcements about upcoming products and when we've updated the blog and shop. The name is Livieswhimsies, and everyone is welcome to join!
And last but not least, our shop is livieswhimsies.etsy.com. Feel free to stop by and see what we're offering! We'll be adding to it every few days, so there should be new stuff to see pretty often.

I'm so excited about this. It's been a real family effort over the past month or two. Charles and Cam are doing photography, Maggie's a model, my mom is our... ahem, main investor. Anna and I are full of ideas, and I can't wait to get them online for you!

ok, ok, ok

2010-01-21T12:13:00.005-07:00

I know it's been forever since I posted, and I'm getting an earful from my sister every few hours about how she needs to see her niece, so I'm going to post a few pictures of her while I work on my next post. We've got some exciting changes (no job, sorry) coming up that I want to share! (also not pregnant. I'll just tell you right now.)

Olivia's recent developments: crying for no reason. It's so weird. She's never been a fusser, but now she whines at the drop of a hat. It's not a very cute development. But she's got a tooth to show for it, and one about to burst through, so I guess it's understandable. Considering she uses her mouth for everything. Except eating, that is.

Another recent development is that she's figured out how to close her mouth, twist her head away, push things away from herself, and throw herself backwards to get away from something. All these things add up to one thing: Olivia eats hardly anything by mouth. BUT she seems to have outgrown her habit of violently vomiting everything we painstakingly put into her, meaning we have much more play time these days. Since instead of taking two and a half hours to feed her while we try to keep her very still, we can take a half hour and play with her the whole time now.

She's such a tiny little person. We've become good friends, even though we have quite an age difference. She's just very easy to love and get along with, and I couldn't ask for a more perfect addition to our family. I'm so grateful that we have her.

You'll be home for Christmas

2009-12-19T17:43:00.003-07:00

This is for Lizzy and Emile- stuck in Salt Lake because all flights to DC have been cancelled until at least Monday morning. Because we're having record-breaking snow here. Never mind that we didn't want snow, didn't dance for snow, and actually prayed really hard not to have snow, because we really want our sisters home!

But since we have it now, we're making the best of things. Cam's built an igloo, Maggie's contracted strep, Mom made taco soup, and Olivia's learned to wave at people. And cats and dogs and sippy cups.

Lizzy, here are the pictures you asked for. We can't wait for you to get here!

2009-12-13T14:20:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

2009-12-13T14:10:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

2009-12-13T07:38:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Merry Christmas from VA

2009-12-08T11:29:00.005-07:00

So... we moved to VA last month. It was pretty spur of the moment, and whirlwindy and stuff. Things have been really busy, obviously, so I'm sorry for my absence, but I think we'll finally be able to get back to normal soon. Hopefully.

Olivia's six months old, now! I swear she's grown up so much in the last month. She's sitting really well now, and she's been trying some baby food- and liking it! Bananas are her favorite so far. She's also really taking off with her babbling. She talks all day long. This morning when I was changing a really stinky diaper, I asked if she'd been eating tuna. She looked kind of guilty, so I asked who gave her tuna, and she distinctly said "Gramma." My mom heard from upstairs and yelled down that she did not! I don't know who to believe.

Here are some pictures from the last month. Her sunglasses finally fit her, and she can hold up her head to wear them. She's actually pretty good about keeping them on when I put them on her.

She's finally learned she can use her thumb independently from her fingers, which means she's now a thumb-sucking fiend. It's nice that we don't have to keep putting her binky back in her mouth all the time. She's also getting really good at that, too. In fact, she's getting good at putting everything into her mouth. See the picture with her toes in her mouth? Even things that she can't pick up yet. She just leans forward until she can lick them. Like her toy piano from Grandma Jean. She loves that toy. And I'll admit, I dance like a fool to the music to see if she'll laugh at me. I find myself doing the goofiest stuff to get reactions from her. It's nice to have an excuse to dance and be silly.

more sleeping pictures.

2009-10-22T13:28:00.006-06:00

I can't help it. I'm a total sleeping baby picture junkie. To be honest, I'm an anything sleeping junkie. I'd love to get my sleep on. A little sleep fix. mmmm, yeah. Anyway, these are my current favorites. She may hate me for posting these to the world wide web before she was old enough to tell me not to, but even if she was old enough, I'd be posting them. That's an indication of the mother I'll become, so hold on to your hats. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.
She's finally started noticing and playing with her toys, and she fell asleep playing with her keys the other night. She put them on her wrist herself, although I don't think she knows that. Everything she does seems to be a surprise to her at first. "Who's poking me in the eye?" She sleeps through most of her tube feeds at night, but we obviously don't, so she's totally wearing us into the ground. The reason I mention this is because the keys reminded me of how the other day I was so tired that I tried to start the car with a binky instead of my keys. I kept thinking, "That doesn't feel right." I hope nobody saw me, because I probably had a very dumb look on my face

If you haven't noticed, I adore her dinosaur pj's. She looks like such a baby in them.

This one's the reason I decided it was time for another sleeping baby post. This is how I found her this morning when it was time to leave for work.

She's usually up by then, but she woke herself up at the crack of dawn this morning talking in her sleep! She woke me up, too. Charles had had her all night, so we switched places, and he was finally able to get about three or four (more like three, though) hours of sleep. And I just watched her and giggled. She was waxing eloquent about something, but she was fast asleep. I'll get a video if it happens again.

First Word!

2009-10-20T15:49:00.003-06:00

Olivia officially said "Mama" today! It wasn't her first word, though. She said "mundane" a week ago. Ironically, a very unusual and un-mundane first word. Yeah. It really happened.

Also, Livie and Lynny are finally old enough to actually notice each other. It was funny at the baby blessing when Olivia wouldn't stop staring at her cousin long enough for a picture.

this is for the grandmas

2009-10-17T23:18:00.003-06:00

I told my mom I'd post these, and I think Grandma Jean would probably appreciate these, too. Eat your hearts out, grandmas!

Fall family pictures

2009-10-17T21:48:00.005-06:00

My old friend Cate Sheffer has started her own photography business called CiaoBellaPhotography. I was looking through her portfolio blog and I couldn't resist booking a session- she's so talented! Make sure you check out her blog at CiaoBellaPhotography.blogspot.com. She's also got some really fabulous introductory rates. I'm so glad she was able to do pictures for us. I love these pictures, even the ones with me in them! It's nice to have some family pictures without nurses and tubes and IV's and stuff. I love having my baby home!

one down, three million to go

2009-09-22T16:26:00.005-06:00

So, when Olivia was released from the hospital, it was on the condition that we'd take her to several doctors to check up on stuff that was worrying the neonatologists at Primary. They referred us to Kids on the Move, an early intervention, Headstartish place that found us an occupational therapist that we really like. He helps with motor skills and feedings (although so far, the feedings have remained problematic.) and basically reassures us every other week that Olivia's meeting milestones. We have met with her pediatrician several times, of course. We really like Dr. Conner, from Utah Valley Pediatrics in American Fork. She kind of specializes in g-tube kids and neurologically challenged kids, which is why we chose her. She can always find an appointment for us when we need one, which seems to happen to us a lot as new parents! We have an appointment in January at the dysphagia clinic at Primary, to see why Olivia doesn't eat. Funny, I thought that should be one of the first appointments we had, but they're booked out until January. The last one we had to schedule was an opthalmology appointment, to see what was up with Olivia's eyes. She had a lazy eye for quite some time, and we were of course concerned about neurological damage from the lack of oxygen when Olivia was born, so we've kind of been on pins and needles until this appointment to find out if her symptoms were just normal baby stuff, or signs of something more serious.

We had the appointment last week, and I am happy to report that Olivia passed with flying colors! She's exactly as far-sighted as she's supposed to be at her age, she tracks objects enthusiastically (the doctor had some really fun light-up toys for her to track), and she seems to be doing normal baby stuff. We thought so, but we were relieved to hear it from a professional, of course.

Olivia can't seem to fall asleep unless she's swaddled and has her sucker, but I forgot her blanket in the car at the hospital, so I wrapped her up in my sweater. She was way too distracted to eat right in the waiting room, so we ended up having to tube her. I hope we didn't scar any young children's minds or anything. Anyway, she finally was full and wrapped up and happy so she fell asleep, and woke up just in time for her appointment. Look how happy she is to be awake and playing opthalmology!

Also, for a long time, my mom had a file that she kept of pictures of her sleeping kids. She had some pretty funny ones in there, and they always seemed to be her favorite. I've noticed that I'm kind of a sleeping baby picture junkie, and I thought my mom would appreciate some of these. Sorry if they're boring to the rest of the reading audience

Also, no idea why that text is a link. I didn't do anything but cut and paste it, so whatever. Stupid blogger.

Dear Santa Claus

2009-09-14T01:18:00.002-06:00

I hope you notice that I am writing you nice and early, before all the other little girls and boys have a chance to hog all your time. I am very considerate.

I have been a very good girl this year. I am learning to sit up straight and I'm learning to eat my food when I'm supposed to. I try so hard to eat as much as I should, even though my parents still have to help me a lot. My occupational therapist says I'm ahead for my age except for my feeding issues, and he doesn't really have an explanation for those. I poop everyday, sometimes twice, and I try to take out an entire outfit and set of bedding every time. That's just common courtesy. I still sleep through the night, every night, even though my parents are always up. You should talk to them about that. I am very polite and snuggly, just like a good baby girl should be.

If you have time before Christmas, I would like to ask you for a stuffed dinosaur like the one my mom had when she was a good little girl. She had a combination between a stegosaurus and a triceratops- it was pastel yellow and pink and green flannel, and it had horns and scales and a long tail. I think Kipper would appreciate the company, as well. Plus, my new dinosaur pj's are just asking for a stuffed dinosaur.

Thank you very much, Santa Baby. You are very handsome.

Olivia.

PS. Kipper has been a very good boy, too.

your mom goes to college

2009-09-03T22:34:00.004-06:00

Ok, This is a little late, but my mom needs to see it, so here goes. This week was Lizzy's first week of college, and we got to move her in to her dorm! It was a pretty big deal, I'm not gonna lie. You have to be pretty cool to be asked to do something like that. Or live really close to campus or something.

Anyway, It was Olivia's first time going to college too, so we made sure to take lots of pictures of both of them. Here's Olivia all ready to go and waiting for mom to hurry up and put her in the car already. It seems like I'm always holding someone up these days.

Lizzy listening to her RA's orientation speech, ethernet cables, visiting hours, cannon center info, etc. It was about as fascinating as Lizzy's making it look, but she was a good girl and listened to the whole thing.

So did Olivia.

Moving her in was a little difficult since we had a clunky carseat/stroller combo, until we turned the stroller into a dolley and carried Olivia. We like to think outside the box, as college graduates.

Calling mom to say she's moved in.

Lizzy's floor theme is Seussville, this year. I'm enthusiastic about that. There's all these Seuss quotes on the walls, and of course I read each of them. I'm a sucker for quotes on walls. Charles got really frustrated with me when Olivia was in the NICU because I had to stop and read all the directions and updates and info and nonsense that was plastered on the walls. After I'd finally finished Timp's walls, we started all over at Primary's, and Charles got tired of having to steer me away to the elevators when I got sucked in by the walls. I am also a voracious shampoo bottle reader. Herbal Essences are the best reading, by the way.

Since Lizzy's gone to college, she's spent a total of three nights at our house. And hopefully she's spending the night Saturday, since our poker night is sure to last far into the morning, and I'm not driving her home, that's for sure. This week's theme is Ocean's Eleven poker. We're having sushi and mocktails and dressing up in our Brad Pittiest. And I am going to wipe the floor with them.

Olivia's happy place

2009-09-03T22:08:00.003-06:00

So, Olivia seems to have caught a bug, and was very fussy last night. She kept spitting up after her feedings, and she had the sniffles and sneezes and an excess of boogers and snot. There's no polite way to say that. They were healthy and clear boogers and snot, but there was too much for me to be happy with. Bulb syringes (George, in our house. He's a regular member of the fam) are not my favorite, even though Olivia's fairly patient with me when I have to include George. Apologies in advance to my future nephew who will be named George. But my George was here first. Em, you're naming your kid after our bulb syringe.

Anyway, after Olivia went through her third pair of pj's last night, I decided to just leave her naked under her blanket, so I just diapered her and tucked her in the best I could so she couldn't grab her tube.

Outfit number 1.

Outfit number 2.

Ouftit number 3.

She finally fell asleep after she was swaddled with three different blankets, a hat, and a pacifier (sucker, in our house. It's a member of the fam, too) and even though she'd been kind of stressful for me all night, I had to capture the moment because it melted my heart.

For someone who's never had much patience with kids, I think I'm doing fairly well with Livie. I can't get enough time with her, even when she's being more difficult. I hate leaving her to go to work, and I love love love our feeding times, now that she's doing so well and seems to enjoy them, too. I guess it's a good thing that we get along so well, because Charles has a yucky case of walking pneumonia and isn't allowed to come near Olivia. Poor guy's been coughing and fighting so hard, and it's exhausting him. And he really misses his little girl, too. I hate being the mean one to say he can't sleep in the same room as us, but he understands. I just can't wait till he's better and we can all be a cuddly family again!

milk maid

2009-08-30T01:54:00.002-06:00

Today, for the first time, I went out with my sisters and my baby, and we stayed out for several hours. We took Lizzy out to show her around the funner parts of Provo and Orem, and when it was time to feed Olivia, I didn't rush home to do so. I borrowed my sister's nursing cover, and nursed Olivia right where I was. I love having a wireless, portable kid. I am so grateful that she's been able to learn to nurse, and that she actually seems to prefer it to any other form of eating. Including her tube.

But since I have never before allowed myself or my daughter to be in this situation before (previously, I had rigorously planned outings for days when I knew precisely how much Livie had ingested, at precisely what time she would need to eat again, and even then only at times when we'd be sure to return home for the next feeding) I had yet to closely examine my feelings about breastfeeding in public.

My first memory of breastfeeding in public isn't really all that public. It was my friend Timmy's mom, in her own living room, talking with my mom while I played with Timmy and his little brother. I remember being somewhat shocked that other moms did this, too. I guess I thought Lizzy was the only baby who was ever breastfed. Like my mom had a special power that others did not possess. Years later, I learned that Timmy's mom had fought and won a battle with breast cancer. I don't know why, but the two images have always been connected in my mind: breastfeeding in public, and breast cancer. Can anyone explain that one for me?

Anyway, I've never really had a problem with breastfeeding in public. It's always been a very natural process in my mind, and while my own mom was very discreet about breastfeeding, I did not mind other women being less discreet.

Which is why I was a little suprised at how shy I was about breastfeeding in public today. I knew it was natural, I knew I was in a place inhabited only by women, I knew my baby girl was hungry and depending on me for sustenance, and I knew I had deliberately not packed any milk because it was time to do this. Yet when the time came, I hesitated. This bothers me, because as a mother and as a foodie, breastfeeding should totally delight me. It's gourmet motherhood at it's best.

I have since resolved to conquer any misgivings I have because I know that I am doing the right thing. While I will be careful to be discreet and respectful of others (who may not be as open-minded as I would hope) I will not be banished to a back room. Nor will I be confined to my home. How can I be expected to be a good mother, to teach my daughter about the world, if I cannot take her into it?

I am happy to report that I did not receive a single dirty look or rude comment while I fed Livie. I am also happy to report that she did a great job of eating on the run, and I'm so stinking proud of all the progress she's made. It seems a shame to waste it by not showing off her new skills, eh?

I'd like to hear what others have to say on the subject. I've posted a poll on the right, but please leave a comment as well, because I'm really interested to see what the consensus is among my friends and family.

sorry, grandma

2009-08-27T00:47:00.006-06:00

I've been meaning to post this stuff for ages, but haven't really had much time to do so! My mom's dying for pictures and videos, though, so here you go, mom. This stuff may be boring to anyone without a vested interest in my baby, so you've been warned.

I however, think she's perfect. I could look at this stuff forever if I wasn't so busy with the real thing!

Three months old on Saturday, and this is what's new with Olivia:

1. She's a pro at holding her head up. Her occupational therapist was really impressed with the improvement from just two weeks ago. In fact, he says she's advanced for her age at sitting up. Boo ya.

2. She's cooing and talking non-stop. Especially for Aunt Lizzy, as you can see in the video. She just loved conversing with her. She's still not much of a crier. She can definitely express dissatisfaction, but just seems to be mostly satisfied with her life.

3. This is my favorite bit of news. She really only needs her tube for night time feedings these days. She's breastfeeding during the day, and does really well at it. It's turned into our favorite thing- not just my favorite, but hers, too! She stops every now and then to smile and coo, then gets back to business.

4. Still sleeping through the night! We have a perfect baby. She did wake us us the other morning at six, an hour before her feeding, by smacking her lips really loudly. She seems to have discovered her lips and tongue, because she just loves to lick and smack. lick and smack, lick and smack. Every time I pick her up, she licks my shoulder and smacks my shirt. I rather enjoy it!

5. Eyes still blue, but the red hair seems to be taming and turning brown. She still looks remarkably like her daddy, but a few people swear she sometimes resembles me when you squint. I still don't see it, but it's nice of them to say. Good thing Charles is so good-looking!

6. We were bored of Settlers the other night, because Charles kept winning. So we pulled up Texas Hold 'Em on wikipedia and taught ourselves to play. It's actually pretty fun! Mostly a psychological game, from what I can tell. We don't play for money or anything, obviously, but we've decided (we being Charles, Lizzy and I) that there are very many genres of poker that we need to explore. There's Ocean's Eleven style poker, Richard Gilmore style poker, boys night out style poker, smoky backroom in chinatown style poker, etc. We are slowly working our way through them. These are our poker faces. And yes, we wear hats and sunglasses. We're that serious about the game.

bleh

2009-08-08T21:15:00.002-06:00

I've lost my muse. Ever since the first bout of morning sickness, I haven't felt like cooking. Someone please remind me how fun it used to be. What did I ever see in it? If I don't figure it out soon, I'm going to have to find a new hobby.

Dear Aunt Lizzy

2009-08-05T14:46:00.005-06:00

Your computer is here. I had to throw myself in front of it to keep my mom and dad from opening it. My dad almost lost a hand, as you can see from the video, but your computer is safe for the time being. I got your back.

Love,

Livie G

The many faces of Miss Olivia Grace

2009-08-05T14:13:00.005-06:00

So on Sunday, we decided to host a little photo shoot to see if we could get a good picture for Olivia's birth announcement. The ones from her birth, such as the ones where she's being intubated or where she's hypothermic, are a little morbid and I don't like to look at them anymore. So we dressed her up in the cute little yellow sundress Ben and Ashley gave us, put some giant gerbera daisies around her, and started clicking.

This is the one we got for her announcement. I love this picture. This picture shows off what a sweet and amiable kid she is. She's generally a pretty happy and inquisitive little girl. She fusses for about five minutes before she falls asleep, just to let us know that she's not happy to be awake. And she gets mad if you let her go too long without food. But the rest of the time she's content to lay in your arms, on the floor, in her swing, in her bouncy chair, in her bed, or wherever, and just talk and watch the goings-on around her.

That's why I love these other pictures more than that picture. These pictures show the true, interactive, inquisitive and entertaining sides of my daughter. She cracks me up 24-7. Maybe it's not healthy for her self-esteem to laugh at everything she does, but I just can't help it when she sneezes and farts at the same time. Or when she burps and startles herself. Or when she laughs out loud in her sleep. Yesterday when she laughed in her sleep, Charles and I laughed out loud, and she thought that was funny and kept laughing. I stinking can't get enough of this baby.

Free at last!

2009-07-23T22:41:00.003-06:00

Olivia's been home for a week and half today! I didn't post right away because things have been, as I'm sure you can imagine, slightly hectic. There's the usual new baby stuff: sleep schedules, feedings, burpings, diapers, tummy time, milestones, etc. Add to that the newness of her feeding tube, a brand new case of reflux, and a delightful case of MRSA, and you've got a recipe for sleep-deprived parents!

We went to the doctor about every day Olivia's first week home. We had her first "normal" doctor's appointment, where we learned that in some circles, Olivia's problems are considered easy. The occupational therapist and the family coordinator that were sent to our home from early intervention also seemed to think that she's doing ok. We were feeling pretty proud of ourselves for impressing them all when the doctor called to tell us that Olivia's bandage dressing, which she had cultured two days previously "just in case" had come back positive for MRSA. One look at what webMD.com had to say about MRSA had me in almost in hysterics.

Luckily, Olivia's brand of MRSA seems to be isolated to her surgical site, and has not yet entered her bloodstream or spread to other parts of her body. She is on a ten day course of antibiotics to be completed on Tuesday, and we are now using gloves when we clean her wound site. Considering that Charles and I are both uninsured, we really can't afford another case of MRSA in the family. We are so grateful that our doctor had the foresight to randomly culture Olivia's dressing so we were able to catch this before it spread to her lungs or her bloodstream. She seems to be responding to her antibiotics, so we're praying that it just stays contained and that she keeps fighting it.

On a lighter note, Olivia's kicking butt on this feeding thing. She pretty much sleeps through the night, and we have yet to be able to wake her up to eat, so the tube comes in pretty handy for keeping her hydrated and nourished. But during the day she's wide awake and seems to be really enjoying eating these days. Today she nursed for a whole feed- something she's never done before. When we nursed in the hospital, we always weighed her before and after, and I was always shocked at how little she got into her system for how long she sucked. So when she fell asleep after nursing today, we went ahead and "topped off" with her tube; we were shocked when she woke up suddenly and spit up about as much as we had just put in her tube. Apparently she had eaten an entire feeding for the first time in her life, and she was completely full! I can't even tell you how happy that made us- I had only thought to try nursing today to see if she even remembered how to do it, since we haven't done it for weeks. She latched on like she'd been doing it for months, and didn't let go until she was full and asleep.

I'm beginning to think everything they told us in the hospital was a lie, and they just wanted to keep her there because she's so cute. Selfish jerks.

Since I know you're all here for the pictures, I'll stop rambling and get to the good stuff. Enjoy!

home cookin'

2009-07-02T19:02:00.004-06:00

My mom's staying with us until Saturday, which means a delicious home cooked meal of my choice every night until then. My mom is the world's best cook. I'm admittedly second best, but I would never challenge my mom to a cook-off. She tends to crush her competition under the weight of chocolate chip cookies and other homemade delicacies.

It's been really fun to see my mom and my baby together. My mom reminds me so much of my own grandma when she's with them; I've caught myself impersonating my own mom to my daughter, too. I guess it's a good thing I like my mom and grandma so much, because it looks like I'm destined to turn into them. Albeit a little ruder. I tend to shock my mom and grandma with my antics and shenanigans.

Olivia's still working on the eating thing. We're going to reevaluate with her occupational therapist and her neonatologist on Monday, and decide whether she's ready to go home without a feeding tube, or if she needs to have a feeding tube surgically installed in her tummy. The thought of that breaks our hearts, but it would be temporary, and it would at least mean she could come home. I really think that if we could get her home and start teaching her about her family and about how parents are always there for you, she'd do better. Her nurses all love her to death, and we really really are grateful for them, but they still change out every twelve hours with the shift change, and I think consistency is going to prove beneficial for Olivia.

This kid has my heart in her tiny little palm. It hurts when she cries, and I can't help but laugh out loud when she smiles. I find myself doing everything in my power to get her to smile, and it's so worth the effort for her gummy little grin. turns out she loves bathtime. She just revels in the shampooing experience, with her eyes and mouth wide open, grinning every few minutes. My daughter is so stinking cool.

whipped

2009-06-24T00:45:00.003-06:00

that's us. Whoopah. We'll do anything she wants.

Charles had kind of a frustrating Father's Day. We'd been hoping Olivia would be home by Father's Day, but no such luck. She was, however, breathing on her own, and beating her own heart and pumping her own blood and even eating from a bottle. She just doesn't get very far before she poops out and falls fast asleep. And when she's out, she's out for the count. There's nothing you can do to wake her up. We've tried. Her aunt Chris tried for two and a half hours straight the other day. To no avail. She's kind of stubborn, we're finding out.

They're saying she'll probably be there two or three more weeks, just regaining her stamina so she can eat enough to thrive. I'm kind of impatient, I'm finding out.

Charles walked in to the living room tonight to find me pumping milk while drinking a glass of milk. He thought it was ironic. I assure you, I was drinking cow's milk. With a straw, of course. But I'm glad he could see the humor of the situation. I think we'll make it.

Olivia's birth story

2009-06-20T13:15:00.000-06:00

I know we totally owe you guys an update. Sorry to keep you hanging for so long, and you've all been very patient with us, so thank you!!

Now that the dust has settled a little, and things are looking so good, I'm finally feeling up to writing about this experience.

Friday morning, the 29th, at 5:3o I woke up to go to the bathroom. I got back to bed, and ten minutes later I woke feeling like I had just wet my pants, but I knew I had emptied my bladder just minutes before, so my heart skipped a beat, and I thought maybe my water just broke? So I stood up to go to the bathroom, and all of a sudden my pants and legs were completely drenched. Even though I was completely alone in the room, I was really embarrassed because it really looked like I'd wet my pants. Just for the record, I hadn't. I was in labor!

I yelled at Charles that my water had broken, and called my mom, who of course reminded me that I had an OB and should probably let her know. By the way, this post is a birth story as well as a post-birth story, so of course it'll be TMI for my dad and anyone like him. He knows this all already, but he's going to mortified that I'm putting it on the internet for all the world to see. So, I called my OB and told her that my water was broken, and it was definitely still coming! I told her also that it seemed to be kind of green, which I hadn't expected. She said it probably meant there was meconium in the fluid, which meant I needed to be checked out. I was a little disappointed, because I was planning on going all natural, and had counted on being able to labor at home for the most part. But I took my seat on the birthing ball and directed traffic while Charles packed us a hospital bag. Don't judge, we'd done all the laundry in anticipation of packing that morning, so there. Charles carried it all out to the car, with the carseat and birthing ball, and we headed on our way. The hospital is about ten blocks away, and it was a quick ride, and we got there at about 6. I had started feeling contractions every four minutes or so, but they were totally manageable. I knew that if labor stayed that way, I was going to kick labor butt.

They checked me right into the room with the laboring tub because I was hoping to go unmedicated. They held a lithmus strip up to me and announced there was meconium and that I was there for the duration, so we hunkered down and got down to business. I was breathing through contractions and staying pretty relaxed. We walked around and kept moving into new positions to see what worked, and then the contractions started lasting two minutes and coming one right after the other without a break in between. I got to the point that I couldn't stand through the contractions, and sitting was excrutiating, and I was stuck laying on my side just wanting to die. I said the secret password Charles and I had worked out to let him know I was serious when I told him I wanted the epidural. I wanted it. I said the word, he passed it on, and it took a matter of five minutes for the anesthesiologist to show up and do his job. In that five minutes, I broke down and told the midwife to just get a knife and cut the kid out of me. She didn't, but she did give me some morphine. That was totally against my birth plan, and I didn't even remember that at the time. This was seven hours into my labor, so I feel like I put up a good show at least before the epidural. And nobody can tell me I chose poorly, because the rest of my labor was a breeze, and I was a happy camper.

I took a nap for an hour or two, along with Charles, who was pretty worn out by my antics up until that point. The nurse came in about five and told me she'd get the midwife cuz I was ready to push. I stopped pushing the epidural button, and let the epidural wear off as much as possible before I got to work. I pushed for two hours, pretty much falling asleep between each contraction, but it really helped to be able to feel the contractions, so I'm glad I stopped the epidural when I did. Charles, by the way was really helpful during the pushing stage. He held his breath and pushed with me each time, and his muscles were probably as tired as mine the next day! I would have laughed at him if I wasn't otherwise occupied. Alas, I really was.

Because there was meconiom in the amniotif fluid, they decided to have the nursery nurse and the respiratory therapist in the room as a precaution, and it turned out to be necessary, unfortunately.

Olivia (who was still unnamed at the time, and for a few days afterward) had swallowed and aspirated the amniotic fluid, and her lungs were actually coated in the meconium. It was counteracting the natural lining of her lungs, and while she was definitely able to breathe on her own, she was not able to oxygenate any blood. As a result, her lungs were under immense pressure, her heart was weakened by the lack of oxygen, and they were concerned that her brain had sustained permanent damage.

Charles followed Livie to the nursery, where she was sent before they determined how serious her condition was. She was then sent to the NICU, where they started a brand new treatment where they cooled down her core temperature to about 92 degrees in order to keep her brain from swelling from any damage she had received. This is a treatment that has only been available in this state for about eight months, and has only been at our hospital since December. It has to be begun within six hours of birth, and it was begun pretty quickly after Olivia was born.

About forty five minutes after I gave birth (at 7:36 pm, by the way) Charles came in with the doctor to hold my hand while he gave us the news.

There should be a legal limit to the number of times a neonatologist can say "life-threatening" and "the odds are not good" in one conversation. I'm going to be lobbying for that in the future. Really, he was not sounding hopeful that my baby would make it through the night, and he was telling me that he was purposely inducing a hypothermic state in my newborn infant, who I had yet to touch.

This all came as such a shock to me that I was able to completely hold it together while he delivered the news. That was just because it didn't seem real, and I was pretty sure I was being falsely punked or something. When the doctor left and Charles and I were alone, he asked how I was doing, and I realized I wasn't doing too great. "I want my mommy" was all I could get out before I started bawling. We had a few minutes to cry together, before I insisted on being wheeled to the NICU and seeing my baby.

That was when they told us that in addition to the possible brain damage and the fact that her heart wasn't doing too great, Livie had meningitis and pneumonia, so she was on antibiotics. A 21 day round of IV antibiotics, meaning she'd be there at least three weeks. Well, three weeks is up today, and she's beaten the pneumonia, meningitis, heart problems, breathing problems, and proven that her brain is top-notch. She just needs to learn how to eat!

Because she was on respirators and stuff for so long, she just barely started being fed by mouth a week ago. She's learned how to latch, suck, swallow and breathe at the same time, which is pretty incredible for a kid who's had tubes shoved down her throat most of her life. She just doesn't have much stamina yet, because she's been fighting so hard, so we still have to use her feeding tube to finish off her feeds when she poops out.

In order to come home, Livie must take all of her feeds by mouth and gain weight for two days in a row. Who knows when that's going to happen, but she's doing her best. Everyday she gets more milk in her tummy through her mouth, and that what we need. It'll probably be another week before we can take her home, though.

It's strange how sometimes I can feel so maternal to Olivia, and then I can come home and live my life like usual with Charles and Wilson. It hurts every time we leave her in the hospital, and come home like we never even had a baby. I feel like a bad mom, leaving her there with nurses who occasionally call her a "him" or put her in newborn diapers (she needs a size 1, now). But I also hate going there and trying to feed her with all those nurses popping their heads around the silly privacy screen and offering "helpful" advice.

Last week I showed up at the special care nursery that Livie had been in for the last few days, and nobody answered the door. Apparently they had moved her and the other babies to the regular special care nursery, but hadn't called to tell us. So I was freaking out that I couldn't get in to see my baby and that nobody was in there watching her monitors. Or that someone was in there, but they were trying to resuscitate my kid and couldn't answer the door. I don't appreciate being this emotionally vulnerable. By the time I found Olivia, I was totally panicked and ready to break down. I did, that night. I cried for an hour on Charles' shoulder, then took an Ambien and stayed asleep as long as I could. I think it helped to be able to get some rest, because I'm doing much better now, but I'm still not crazy about the situation.

We've picked out her coming home outfit and it's laid out and ready. Her carseat is installed, her cradle and crib are both set up and have clean bedding, and we're just waiting for Olivia to be strong enough to come home forever. Patience is a virtue, but it's definitely not my strongest suit, so I'm learning a lot right now.

reality check

2009-06-16T21:23:00.003-06:00

So, I'm supposed to be headed back to work on Monday. Not sure how that's gonna work out.

on a side note, it's been kind of a blessing for Charles not to have a job right now. He hasn't had to ask for time off, and he's been with me the whole ordeal. I couldn't do this without his constant hugs and reassurances. He's still looking, though, if you know of any openings in the area. Or in Florida. We'd settle for Florida.

Adventures in Lactation: Eat like a troll

2009-06-15T22:44:00.003-06:00

My new theme song is "Pump it" by the Black-eyed Peas. At or around the hours of 1, 4, 7 and 10 (am AND pm) I am to be found in the baby's room. That's where we keep the pump. My visiting teacher generously offered to loan me her pump while Olivia's in the hospital. And while I love my visiting teacher, and my baby, and the fact that I have milk and can pump, I have grown to hate that pump.

It's not the pump's fault. It's a very nice double electric, and without it I would long ago have opted for a double mastectomy. But I still hate that pump.

For one thing, I've practically had to devote my life to it, and it's not a very interesting companion. It has one thing to say, over and over and over: "Eat like a troll, eat like a troll, eat like a troll." I swear that's what it's saying to me. It never changes it's mantra. Just once I'd like to hear it say to eat the troll. Instead, I just remind myself that I'm doing this for my baby, and I congratulate myself on my freezer full of milk for when she comes home. And I take fresh milk in to her everyday, too. In the long run, it's going to be worth it.

And it's not like I can just pump and go back to sleep. You have to be sitting up, or the milk won't go down into the bottle. And you have to hold the pumps to your chest, or they'll lose suction and either fall off and spill or make a really loud farting sound (Charles loves that part. It's lost it's charm for me.) Then, when you've pumped two minutes past any milk flow, you have to label the milk and either freeze or refrigerate. Luckily, the hospital provides labels with Olivia's name and birthday and medical record number, but I still have to figure out what day and time it is everytime I pump. It's not as easy as it sounds when all your days are running together in a blur of pumping and hospital-going.

Then comes my favorite part. You have to wash the pump parts and put them out to dry for the next time you pump in two and a half hours. Yes, they are dishwasher safe, but you can't justify running the dishwasher four times in a night for four little parts. I just wish they had disposable pump parts because I'd be filling landfills with them, and getting fifteen extra minutes of sleep every three hours, and while that doesn't sound like a lot, it would be, ok?

And lest any of my readers fear that I've lost my good attitude and healthy perspective, I'm trying to make the best of it. Pumping has created a most insatiable thirst in me, and I've had fun trying millions of beverages to quench it. Right now, as I lay out all my pumping supplies for the night, I am also putting out a thermos of water, a thermos of lemon lime kool-aid (my mom never let us have it when I was a kid because of the staining risks. The sugar wasn't an issue.) and a plate of purple grapes, which, interestingly enough, seem to take the edge off the thirst at least temporarily. I also have a bag full of fruit snacks (snoot fracks, as Charles calls them), granola bars, and other such delicious and nutritious midnight snacks. Last but not least, I have a fully charged ipod so I can while away the hours playing solitaire and furthering my music education.

And in the morning, I get to take all the fruits of my labor to the hospital where my daughter smiles at me as she digests them, and that makes it worthwhile. But I really can't wait to bring her home and have a more amiable companion for my late-night lactation adventures. Of all the noises and sounds I've heard Livie make, "Eat like a troll" is not one of them.

Her eyes are open!

2009-06-11T21:21:00.002-06:00

(this is a post by Charles)

Olivia is doing so much better. It truly has been a miracle. Thank you for fasting and for your prayers and support. She has been moved from the NICU to the Special Care Nursery; the next step is out the door. She no longer has a ventilator, but is getting a little help through a nasal canula. She still has a feeding tube going into her tummy through her nose, but no more lines in her belly button. The only medicine she is on are antibiotics. We are so proud of her! The doctor is letting Molly try and feed her twice a day. Since she is no longer on sedatives she is awake and alert sometimes, and is starting to do baby things. We were even able to get a couple pictures with her eyes open. The earliest she could come home is 9 days from now, but that's not set in stone. We're really grateful we get to hold her in our arms finally, and can't wait to bring her home.

our latest addiction

2009-06-11T10:41:00.002-06:00

It's official

2009-06-08T06:50:00.003-06:00

She's off the respirator! She hated having that tube down her throat, and now it's gone! Her voice is still very hoarse, but we got to hear it for the first time yesterday. She is really exceeding expectations left and right; we couldn't be prouder of the fight she's putting up. Thank you all for your prayers!

Charles gets his turn tonight!

2009-06-06T19:34:00.001-06:00

one more thing

2009-06-05T11:26:00.001-06:00

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Livie was 9 pounds 4 ounces when she was born. I think that qualifies me as an amazon woman. I am hereby demanding a trip to the amazon.

VERY quick update

2009-06-05T08:53:00.004-06:00

I know I owe you all a real update, but this will just have to do for now, because I haven't finished writing the whole story yet.

For now:

Olivia is impressing her doctors everyday, and is making progress slowly but surely. She's been able to ween off of her heart medications and keep her heart pumping enthusiastically all by herself. Her brainwaves have been satisfactory for the whole week, so her forehead electrodes are all gone, and my baby has a forehead! She still continues to run a fever with the pneumonia and meningitis, but her bloodwork shows us that she's fighting those infections and they seem to be responding to the antibiotics.

We've gotten to see her eyes, and they're a dark, dark, dark blue. And the most beautiful baby eyes I've ever seen. I can't believe how much emotion she evokes in me already; I've never even held her, but I feel like her mommy. I can't get enough of her! The nurses have to keep reminding us to go home every now and then for some sleep, but I'm up pumping every three hours anyway, so I might as well be hanging out with my girl.

We feel incredibly blessed to have such a great support system in our family and friends. Thank you so much for all you do! The prayers, fasting, food, visits and love have been overwhelming, and I know Livie is being blessed by your faith.

We have faith that Heavenly Father is taking good care of our baby in the ways that we can't; We can't hold her, but I know that Heavenly Father is sending his spirit to be with her so she doesn't feel alone. And I know that she was meant to come to our family at this time, and that things are going according to his plan. That gives me peace, even if I can't tell what's to come.

Baby Olivia

2009-05-31T15:28:00.004-06:00

Here are some more baby photos. She still hasn't had a bath yet, so we're not sure what color of hair she has. We still don't know what color her eyes are either.

Here She Is

2009-05-29T19:48:00.003-06:00

yes, I'm still pregnant.

2009-05-21T22:41:00.004-06:00

Sometimes you need a prompt to be able to find something to write about. Emile had this survey on her blog, so I thought I'd fill it out. I was kind of shocked at how different our experiences at Massaponax were. I moved senior year, so I was the weird new kid that year. I loved being able to come to college and start fresh with people who were also new. I feel like I am much more defined by my college and post-college experiences than I am by my high school experiences. I'm sure my parents told me I would feel this way, but I wish my silly high-schooler self had listened! It would have been much less stressful if I'd known how little I'd remember of that year, and how I'd be able to laugh about it and about myself later.

Think about your senior year as you fill out the answers to this survey.

1. Did you date someone from your school? Not senior year, but junior year I did.
2. Did you marry someone from your high school? Nope!
3. Did you carpool to school? Yep. Allison or Becca usually took me. I still couldn't drive back then. That was a real self-esteem booster! Then I made sure I had tons of after school stuff so my mom would have to come get me, or else I'd have to take the bus.
4. What kind of car did you have? an imaginary one. It could fly, too.
5. What kind of car do you have now? ’91 Mazda 323. Ruby Eleanor. And I haven't had to fill her tank in ONE MONTH! I think it's karma for being so patient to get my own car.
6. Its Saturday night in HS...where are you? Either at work at the bowling alley, or at home reading a book. I read a lot of books senior year.
7. It is Saturday night now...where are you? Chillin' with Charles. Usually we go see a movie or go looking for an adventure.
8. What kind of job did you have in high school? baby-sitting, and then I got a job as a waitress at a bowling alley. Klassy, I know!
9. What kind of job do you do now? Secretary for a doctor's office. Soon to be a stay at home mom for three weeks!
10. Were you a party animal? Nope. I went to a lot of parties my junior year, but I was still more of an observer than a participant. I enjoyed myself, though. Senior year I didn't really get asked to a lot of parties, but my mom made me go to all the church dances, and that always made me cry.
11. Were you considered a flirt? Not really. I was usually more of a background person.
12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Nope, but I lettered in drama. Didn't know you could do that until they handed me the letter. I was invited to the senior awards thing, and I thought maybe I'd gotten a scholarship or something, and they handed me a letter and told me I'd lettered in drama and academics. That was kind of a funny shock!
13. Were you a nerd? oh, yeah.
14. Did you get suspended or expelled? Nope. There was an issue with my attendance, since I was so sick, but we eventually worked that out.
15. Can you sing the fight song? Nope! I attended my first athletic event a year after I graduated because my sister took me to a soccer game she had to write about or something.
16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)? I really like Frau Kelly. German was my favorite class.
17. Where did you sit during lunch? In the senior courtyard whenever it was warm enough, and inside when it wasn't. I used to love the salads they had at that school!
18. What was your school's full name? Massaponax High School
20. What was your school mascot? Panther
21. If you could go back and do it again, would you? You couldn't pay me enough or find something scandalous enough to blackmail me with. I really like my life right now, actually.
22. Did you have fun at Prom? Well, I loved my dress and my shoes and my hair, but I didn't realize how ridiculous it was not to have a date to prom, so my friend Nilo and I showed up and looked pretty silly together. But I still had a good time. We went to the cracker barrel beforehand because she had an employee discount there!
23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? The weirdo with no date....
24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? Thinking about it. Mostly because I'd like to show off Charles and Tiny, but I doubt I'd recognize anyone I didn't also go to church with, so it'd be a short reunion for us.

In other news, I'm so ready to be un-pregnant! I just can't wait to see my little girl and bring her home to her room that's all ready for her. Charles and I have been so impatient the last two weeks. I keep calling him during the day to tell him to get ready because I'm having the baby TODAY. This is everyday, folks. I have yet to feel an unmistakable contraction, but tomorrow's Charles' birthday and we're hoping for a miracle! It would only be a week early, but I know that's asking a lot for a first kid. As of last week, I was 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced, with Tiny in a -2 position. Same as the week before. I have an appt tomorrow, though, so hopefully I'll have made some progress, and my late-night chats with Tiny will have made an impact on her desire to come join us.

Even while I complain about how uncomfortable I am, I know I'll miss having Tiny with me at all times, and feeling her tiny little kicks. I know I'm going to worry my brains out about every little thing she does, whether or not she's breathing, whether or not we're teaching her the right things at the right times, whether or not I'm turning her into a tiny me. So I take time to remind myself of how lucky I am every day to be having this little girl, and tell myself to just take each day as it comes.

But seriously, how soon after delivering can I expect this heartburn to subside? Other than having the coolest kid ever in my house, that's going to be my favorite result of birth.

and I do mean the coolest kid EVER!

Remember me?

2009-04-15T22:43:00.002-06:00

In response to everyone's very kind emails and voicemails, yes. I am alive. Charles, Wilson, and Tiny are, too. I've just been on kind of a writer's block lately. And the longer I wait, the blockier my writing gets, so I'm just writing to give you all a calm assurance that you are not rid of me yet. Nor can you get rid of me so easily. You'll have to try much harder.

A few headlines from our day to day existence here in Orem:

1. Charles leaves tomorrow morning for our niece's wedding in CA! I can't believe Charles has a niece that old, but we're both really happy for them, and I can't wait to see the pictures. I can't go because at this point in Tiny's life, travelling so far could become very stressful very fast. And I don't think I can take any time off of work since I'm taking a maternity leave so soon (yay!) so I'm content to stay home and make Willy love me more than he loves Charles. It'll take at least the whole week of Charles' absence to make that happen, though. Charles and Willy are a match made in Heaven.

2. Tiny wants OUT! She reminds me everyday by sticking her toes between my ribs and break dancing on my bladder. To be honest, most of the time it just makes me laugh. I can already tell she's gonna be fun to hang out with. And that she doesn't have her daddy's tiny hobbit toes. Those toes mean business. They are not to be underestimated.

3. Still craving pineapple and peaches. Don't get between me and my topical fruit, man. This elefantine woman will bowl you over.

4. It was so nice and sunny for a few days, and then we had a freaking blizzard today. It made me so grumpy that I honked at a reckless driver. I am so anti-honking because you can never tell who it's directed at, and while I'm the world's most cautious and law-abiding driver, I'm always convinced that they're honking at me. And it infuriates me because I don't do anything wrong. But the snow made me so grumpy that I honked HARD at a really reckless, non-blinker using, lane swerving and lane-inventing jerk. I still don't feel bad. He was a jerk. He obviously didn't care about the safety of me or Tiny, because he tried several times to run us into on-coming traffic. Honk if you hate bad drivers.

5. I'm still working at Orem Internal Medicine. Charles is still looking hard for employment, and it's kind of easy to see how the economy has taken a toll on our area. There are not very many jobs to be had. But there should be a migration of students leaving in a week or two, so hopefully they're leaving perfectly good jobs behind for people like us to scoop up. I have to admit it's been really good for our family to have so much time together, and I feel like this time has really been a blessing. We both felt pretty strongly about Charles taking the semester off, but it's becoming a little more stressful every time Tiny threatens to kick her way out of my innards. I'm very grateful for my job, needless to say.

6. Wilson has taught himself to play fetch. He especially loves things he shouldn't play with, like my ponytail holders and his dad's earphones. But it's so cute that we just indulge him. I love when he runs up to us at six (yes, six) in the morning and drops something into my hand for me to throw. And I don't even wake up at six for Charles. So this is love.

Look what I can do

2009-02-23T19:20:00.003-07:00

Yeah, I've been sooooo naughty, and Ive avoided cameras for the past five months. Since I started looking pregnant, anyway, which I swear was at least a few years ago.Anyway, here are some belly pictures for those who can stomach them. He, he. Stomach the belly pictures. I crack myself up. As you can see from these pictures. I realized that when I button all the buttons that can still reach on my black sweater, I resemble a penguin.

I think that this probably bodes well for our daughter, since penguins are terribly devoted parents. Don't believe me? Ask Morgan Freeman.

In case you thought we were up to no good

2009-02-16T21:31:00.004-07:00

We've actually been very busy lately. Doing very important things, ok?

For one, our family handed down a whole bunch of baby stuff for Tiny Campbell. She now has a swing that can go front to back and side to side. And she has a cradle that was handmade for Charles before he was born. It can swing from side to side, too. I love it. It's bigger than I imagined it would be, too, so I think we'll be able to use it longer than we planned. They even gave us bedding and a mobile to go with it, along with a mobile and crib toy for the crib Tiny will eventually graduate into.

Charles insisted on setting it all up right away, even though we haven't really cleared a spot in Tiny's room for it all yet. He's a little excited. I kinda like it. I can't believe how blessed we are to have all this stuff handed down to us.

I finally tried out my sister-in-law's recipe for blueberry bread pudding the other day, because there were fresh blueberries for sale at Target, and it was more than I could resist. I think it turned out pretty, don't you? And more importantly, it was stinking delicious. It just may become a Christmas tradition in our house.

And finally, to prove to you that we'e been very busy and haven't had any time at all to play, we have a video for your viewing entertainment.

I love you too

2009-01-20T19:45:00.004-07:00

Yeah, I know. I've been a very naughty girl, and I should have updated weeks ago. But there's been so much to say that I'm a little overwhelmed! So I've decided to break it down into list form, just for now, and maybe I'll go back and explain things better later.
1. I am large with child. I dread what I'll look like in four months. And I don't know how much more my poor hips can take.
2. I am loving this pregnancy thing, hip pain and all. It's so worth it whenever I feel the baby move. I have an anterior placenta, which seems to absorb most of the movements, but every now and then I get lucky and get a little reminder that Tiny Campbell is thriving. So worth it.
3. Tiny Campbell is a GIRL!!! a thousand points to me for being right, although I'm not surprised. I'm always right.
4. I'm always right.
5. Santa Claus came late just for my family this year! The reason my family wouldn't tell me anything they got for Christmas was because they hadn't had Christmas yet. They saved it for Emile and Daniel and Charles and me, so we could all celebrate together. That was decided after reading Emile's heart-wrenching post on how homesick she was. I'm going to make her write that every year, because it was so awesome to have Christmas Eve with the whole family! Well, Emile and Daniel had to stay at a hotel because of cat allergies, but we still had the dinner and grab bag together, and the reading and stuff. It was stinking awesome. I love love love Christmas.
6. I love Christmas.
7. Emile's pregnant, too! She only three weeks behind me, due June 21. I'm due June 3. But she's having a boy, so my mom gets the best of both worlds with her first grandchildren. She's coming out to visit when the babies (babies- weird!!!) are born, so we'll each get some personal grandma time. (grandma- weird!)
8. I still love my apartment.
9. My Christmas tree isn't ready to be taken down yet. There are no immediate plans to take it down, either, so stop asking.
10. I cut my hair. I like it. I had to explain to Charles that while he dated and married a girl with long hair, I was never a long hair kind of girl. I'm a short hair girl who just happens to also be an extreme procrastinator.

Also, I've had tons of people ask me what we're naming Tiny Campbell now that we know she's a girl. Her name is Tiny, duh. Actually, we have lots of names that we love, but we want to meet her in person before we decide who she is. For now, though, some of our favorites are Norah, Olivia, Lily, Grace, Liesl, Laurelei, Ruby Eleanor, and Babette.
PS. One of those names is just a joke. Can you guess which one?

Christmas is coming, Tra la tra la!

2008-12-14T21:37:00.002-07:00

The sky finally broke and poured snow all over us. Luckily, it was almost all gone by the time we had to leave for 2:00 church. When I woke up this morning and saw the sidewalks covered, I told Charles we were snowed in and not to wake me until spring. He did his best. He thought I was sick, so he didn't wake me up from my nap and was walking out the door to church when I realized it was time to get ready! He would have been mighty lonely without me and my bag full of chocolate chip cookies to keep him company. Today was the Christmas program by the ward choir, and it was so beautiful. I've never heard a better ward choir. I love musical sacrament meetings. I love talks, too, but I love reading the songs along with the singing. Christmas carols are the best.

And we finally came home and set up our Christmas tree. We've been meaning to do it since before Halloween, but we kept putting it off because we always have something to do, or I'd rather go to bed. But I love our pretty little colored lights.

There are two new members of our family, just in time for Christmas. Charles' mom has a brand new baby maltese named Boo, and she is a stinking cutie. And my parents just got a baby golden retreiver (my dad's always wanted one of his own) named Grant. I think they've taken to calling him Bozo, though. So now our house is positively crawling with animals. Two cats, two dogs, a guinea pig, and whatever insects Maggie and Cam are working on collecting right now. I can't wait to go home!

Speaking of animals, Anna (whose nickname is animal) accidentally found my dad's grizzly bear pepper spray and the house had to be evacuated for a few hours for the fumes to clear out. I'm told Lizzy heroically braved the fumes to save my lazy cat Moose from a terrible fate. I wonder how effective that spray can be if it can't even get rid of a moose?

I think I have a tapeworm for a fetus.

2008-11-30T21:04:00.002-07:00

I am constantly hungry. And now that most of my food aversions are gone (grilled cheese is still a no-no) I don't even care what I'm eating, as long as I am getting food into my belly. It's become a little ridiculous, with me waking up several times in the night with a very full bladder and an alarmingly empty belly. Every time I wake up and realize I'm going to have to eat something before I can fall asleep again, I'm faced with the same dilemma: what do I have the energy to make and eat that is healthy for Tiny Campbell? I try to choose the healthiest thing I have energy for, but when I only have energy for fruit snacks I don't think the difference between Welch's or Walmart brand makes that much of a difference. This kid's gonna come out looking like Jared before Subway got to him. And I'll still be hungry.
Speaking of, I bought my first maternity pants this week. Scrubs were about the only thing that fit me, and I wasn't about to spend my days off of work in my work uniform, so Charles and I stopped at Target for some much needed jeans. They fit nicely around my tummy, with room to grow, but they're still kind of big around my hips. That's saying something. Up until I met these pants, I was convinced the only thing wider than my hips was a yellow school bus. The long way. But I guess these pants were bigger, and I think that's what's so endearing about them.
Charles bought a new book (ok, I bought it for him) about pregnancy for dads-to-be. I like it alot. It's always telling him to rub lotion on my tummy or do my chores for me. And telling him that it's ok for me to cry if I want, although I don't believe I have since we found out we were with child. He even diagnosed this pain I've been having in my left side, right next to the baby. It's round ligament pain, he says, and he's supposed to make sure I don't make any sudden movements because that's what causes the ligaments to stretch and hurt. I could get used to this. I just wish they wrote books like this for non-pregnant women. I don't want this to end just because I give birth, you know.

Hello, food? It's me, Molly.

2008-11-19T18:22:00.002-07:00

I'm baaaaaack! I feel like I'm finally myself again. I love food again, and I have at least enough energy to get me through a workday. For my whole first trimester, I slept through my lunch breaks because food was gross and sleep was good. It still is good, but so is food again.
I had my first real craving today, I think. At least my first weird one. Mashed potatoes, mixed with peas, on whole wheat toast. Sorry to anyone reading this who's still in their first trimester, but it was soooooo satisfying. Charles, who hates peas, was happy for me, but still a little grossed out.
And I think I might be showing today. I'm a little excited about it, but also feeling kind of like I wish I could put it off for a while longer. I know I'm gonna be really sick of my belly by the end. Charles is happy for me that I'm excited, but I think also a little grossed out. He'll be sick of my belly by the end, too, I'm sure.
Tonight he went out and bought me a turkey to cook, because we can never get enough of turkey leftovers. And rye bread. I forgot all about thawing it, so I'm gonna be done cooking it around one in the morning, but that turkey is calling me.
It's good to be back.

The End of Life as We Know It

2008-11-15T22:39:00.004-07:00

I've begun a new blog, so feel free to check it out.
I'm pregnant, and I'm so pumped about it. And we're finally telling people! We had our first appointment this week, and we heard the heartbeat. It was cute, if you can say that about a heartbeat. Just to show everyone how naiive I am, I almost got teary when I heard my heartbeat, thinking it was Tiny Campbell's. But his/hers turned out to be much cuter.
Charles is reading this over my shoulder, and he said, "Oh, yeah. Sometimes I forget that we don't really know the gender yet. I just assume it's a boy." Funny, I just assumed it's a girl. Any wagers, out there? Do we have any friends of the wagering persuasion? I'm not talking money, just head shaving or something cool like that.
Anyway, we're thrilled to announce that as of May 31, 2009, we will be parents. If we get lucky and I deliver by my due date, anyway.

Here's the new blog address: http://wefourcampbells.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Shame on me

2008-10-21T21:36:00.002-06:00

I went to Taco Bell tonight. And I liked it. Remember that time in my life when I lived on Taco Bell because I didn't have a car, and didn't have the time to bus all the way to Walmart to get real food?
There was a guy who worked there named Dave, and he was kind of a vagrant. He just went from town to town getting odd jobs until he was either fired or he got bored and decided to move on to a new town. Somehow he ended up in Provo, working my night shift. One time I mentioned to him as we were all cleaning up after work that I'd only eaten Taco Bell for the past two weeks. I guess he assumed it was because I couldn't afford to buy food, because he later pulled me aside and said that when he'd first gotten to Provo he'd been so taken care of by "the Mormons" that he would never stand by and let one of them go hungry. He tried to give me a ten dollar bill, but I explained that I was getting by just fine, but I never had any time to shop during store business hours! But I was really touched at his generosity. Especially because he could be a very manly, sometimes crude/brash man. But he was a really good man. I have no idea where he is, because he got bored with Provo soon after this incident. But I have no doubt that he still eats Taco Bell food.
And apparently, so do I.

I'm weening, I'm weening! It's a race!

2008-10-12T19:44:00.003-06:00

I'm the official winner of the Campbell family Who-Can-Keep-Their-Fish-Alive-Longer contest! This afternoon when we came home from church, Charlemaigne was looking a little under the weather in his little tank. Upon further inspection, he was found to be dead.
Of course we'll still need to get Brian's test results back and make sure he's not on any illegal steroids, but it looks like I've tentatively got a blue ribbon for my blue little finned friend.
In other news, I got to start my new calling today in the enrichment committee. This may sound a little foreign to all my LDS readers out there, but I've never really served on a committee. So far so good, though. I get to head up a relief society book club! I can see myself really getting into this. I need to pick a book by next Sunday though, because I need to announce the selection in Relief Society. I'm already trying to figure out what refreshments would be awesome enough that people will appreciate them, but not so awesome that they distract from the awesome literature. How about some humble pie? Nah.
Also, I'm sure you will all be happy to know that we greeted the snow this morning by turning on some good old fashioned Meppen-style Christmas music. Doc Severinson and the Tonight Show Band. Charles played his imaginary trumpet along to the CD, and it was joyous.
And I'll have you know, by the time I woke up from my after church nap, Charles had already made (and eaten) dinner, cleaned up the living room for the home teacher, and gotten rid of the snow for me. Maybe he had a little help with that last one, but he's taking the credit, so there you have it.
Merry Christmas, everyone! I'm so excited for Christmas with a new and improved and enlarged Campbell family. I'm sure Brian will be thrilled, if I can keep him alive long enough.

ho hum

2008-10-10T13:44:00.002-06:00

So, I'm sorry I haven't been a ery prolific poster lately. I've just been so tired! I'm sleeping ok, but my dreams are filled with medical charts that all need five referals. I've never seen one that needed so many in real life, but when I'm asleep they all come out of nowhere.
I also had a weird dream that I discovered some long lost Scottish grandparents. They ran a boarding school, and all the students thought of them as their own grandparents. That was a actually a very good dream, but it's in the minority right now.
Everytime I start a new job, I do this. I always stress myself out trying to make sure I don't get fired right away, because I still remember how much I hate job-hunting. But this is a little ridiculous.
In happier news, I've stopped needing sleeping aids to get any sleep! I'm able to fall asleep within twenty minutes (sometimes even much less) of going to bed, and that's something I haven't been able to say for years! I'm loving this two bedroom thing.
Ok, so I've got to head back to work after my lunch, but thanks for reading about my sleeping habits. It's very flattering.
Maybe I'll post something interesting eventually, who knows!

Officially old as dirt

2008-10-03T22:28:00.002-06:00

Today, Charles went completely out of his way to woo me, because he just likes to keep me on my toes. He brought me a midnight milky way and a gatorade rain (flavor of the week) while I was at work. The girls thought that was adorable (so did I).He got a haircut, but he only got a trim, so I still get to play with his rebelliously long hair. Har. He created a playlist on my ipod so we could listen to only Molly-style music when he took me on a date tonight. And then, to top it off, he went and bought me some fudge. With toffee bits and caramel.
But by the time I got home from work we were both so exhausted that we chilled on the couch and decided to turn in early so we could be awake through (most of) conference this weekend.
I think that makes us officially old and boring.
But the fudge was still really good.

Thinking Pink!

2008-10-02T20:45:00.002-06:00

Sorry folks... just me being me. And the shrimp thing is so over. Now I'm on to pb&j. Make that PB&J!! I never do things in moderation, apparently. Charles tells me I'm always obsessed with something.
And today it's scrubs. I love that my new job (Susu's dad's office) has me wearing scrubs everyday! I need to find some cute ones, though, because I only have two pairs, and the laundry's getting a little silly.
I wear hot pink ones, btw. Thought you could all be a little happy for me on that front! Even if I'm not announcing a baby.

2008-09-30T21:13:00.001-06:00

I hate seafood. Can anyone explain to me my sudden obsession with Cafe Rio shrimp tacos? Beuller?

I'm it.

2008-09-24T06:10:00.002-06:00

Six random things about me, courtesy of me.
1. Forks are my favorite. Spoons are not. But I do like wooden spoons for cooking. I hate those Chinese soup spoons that don't really fit in your mouth. I prefer a straw.
2. I LOVE the sound of my washer and dryer. Sometimes I have to move to the couch at night so I can hear them, and fall asleep.
3. I have cravings like thirteen pregnant women combined. It can get ugly. Tonight it was cream corn at 11:30 pm, and Charles was thanking his lucky stars that Walmart carries it. I've been known to crave sushi, duck a'l'orange (never had it), goose (he offered to shoot me one, and that almost killed the craving...almost.), lamb (not to be found in Utah County. I've checked.), mashed potatoes, toast, Cafe Rio, pumpkin pue, and lobster (I HATE seafood.)
4. I've resolved every year for the past, oh, decade, to give up Diet Coke. It just tastes so good, though. And it's diet, so sue me. I will be making resolutions worth keeping this year.
5. I have no will power. Self-control? What's that? I have to trick myself into getting up on time, because sleeping in is my second best friend. After Charles. But sometimes tied with him.
6. I have yet to go to bed today. Ok, I've actually tried twice, but it doesn't seem to be sticking. Tonight as I was snuggled between Charles and Wilson, Charles asked me if I liked being sandwiched between two boys. I said I was completely happy being an open-faced sandwich, but that this was better. I rethunk that when I had to sneak out of bed without waking either of them up. Ok, without waking Charles up. I got a few angry comments from Wilson, but he's just a baby and still learning his manners.

Remember that time

2008-09-13T01:02:00.002-06:00

that I said I'd post pictures of our babies so you could all see them? Well, I lied, because they're all dead. And yes, they were goldfish. And yes, I know they're like, impossible to keep alive, but come on. We tried so hard. We sang them songs, and talked to them, and carried them from room to room with us so they wouldn't be lonely. Nobody has ever loved a fish so bad.
So, of course I'm trying to talk Charles into a more substantial pet, but I have yet to get him to agree to so much as a guinea pig. Snake yes, pig no. Where's the logic in that? We've already had scaley pets and they're dead. I think we shouldn't push our luck with them. So, what I really need all our readers to do is call Charles' phone tomorrow and push the baby dachshund idea. Preferably before the adoption event at Petsmart at 1 pm tomorrow. I'm counting on you, people. Help Charles see the light.

It's that time of year again!

2008-09-04T21:51:00.005-06:00

Job hunting time. The time of year when I am glued to the computer, and my phone is always in my hand or my lap, so I know when it vibrates. I've sent out roughly a trazillion applications, and so far I've had only one interview. Which seemed to go pretty well, but I haven't heard back from them, and tomorrow's the last day that I would expect to. So keep me in your prayers if you don't mind!
So since I've been looking at sooo many opportunities lately, I've come up with a list of priorities so I can narrow down the search a little. Here they are, for your reading entertainment.
1. the ability to work from home if I want, but not if I don't want.
2. the right to wear scrubs, whether I decide to work from home or not. Hot pink scrubs, to be exact.
3. a six figure salary. I'm being modest, but a little scrimping never hurt anyone.
4. a personal assistant who will talk to any mean people for me. S/he will be paid handsomely, of course, and will therefore become a valuable friend.
5. I want to be the boss, but I don't want to make the decisions.

I don't see why I'm having such a hard time finding a job, but at least it's teaching me a little humility.

In other news, Charles is back to school. And already he wants to pull his hair out. He'd pull out his professors' hair, but they're all bald. I'm so proud of him for working hard and pushing through.
Our new apartment is still making me giddy. When I lay in bed at night, waiting to fall asleep, and the AC suddenly kicks on to lull me into dreamland, I sometimes giggle. I'm already sleeping much better. Who knew air conditioning was the cure to insomnia? Well, air conditioning coupled with the "no-books-or-computers-or-unrestful-objects-or-stuff-in-the-bedroom rule." Works wonders.
I made a beautiful cake. Chocolate fudge with chocolate frosting. The filling is orange marmalade, and I candied some orange slices for decoration. It was so pretty, I've had a hard time eating it. But I will prevail.
My new car is my second best friend after Charles. Well, currently tied with Charles, to be precise. Her name is Ruby Eleanor, and she's a '92 Mazda 323. Red. We're currently looking into how to put ladybug spot on her without permanently disfiguring her. I think magnets are the way to go.
And last but far from least, Charles and I are very happy to announce that we are adding to our family of two. We're upgrading to a family of five, with three new babies. Their names are Reba, Oscar, and Simon, and there will be pictures to post soon. We're new to this parenting thing, so we're pretty tired and all. But I swear we'll post some forthwith! Feel free to stop by in the meantime and get to know them personally.
Thanks for stopping by! Stay classy, Provo/Orem area!

another one!

2008-08-13T10:51:00.002-06:00

McKenna's one word tag

1. Where is your cell phone?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carryon

2. Your significant other? . . . . . . . .. .. . . . .cuddlesome

3. Your hair? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . meh

4. Your mother? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Мать Героиня

5. Your father? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dedicated

6. Your favorite thing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . underwear

7. Your dream last night? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lunar

8. Your favorite drink? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dietcokewithlime

9. Your dream/goal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . novel

10. The room you're in? . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . .multipurpose

11. Your hobby? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chef-ing

12. Your fear? . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dentists

13. Where do you want to be in six years? . . . . . Jamaica

14. Where were you last night? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . playground

15. What you're not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . brave

16. Muffins? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . chocolate

17. One of your wish list items? . . . . . . . . . . . . job

18. Where you grew up? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . around

19. The last thing you did? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shower

20. What are you wearing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeans

21. Your tv? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . olympic

22. Your pets? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hypoallergenic (as in, they are imaginary.)

23. Your computer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .friendly

24. Your life? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .blurry

25. Your mood? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .frantic

26. Missing someone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . mom

27. Your car? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . used

28. Something you're not wearing? . . . . . . . . . . shoes

29. Favorite store? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . gap

30. Your summer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Russian

31. Like someone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . charliebear

32. Your favorite color? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ballerina

33. When was the last time you laughed?. . . . . . . recently

34. Last time you cried? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May

35. Who will do this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . everyone

I tag the former and current Meppen ladies.

wheels up party, anyone?

2008-08-12T13:30:00.002-06:00

Well, tomorrow's our last day in Russia, and it's really too bad, because we just found THE COOLEST swing in a nearby playground. And we're going back in the morning to make a video of ourselves on it, because it is that cool.
Charles has this theory that the playgrounds in Russia are created with a purely Darwinian theme in mind. Survival of the fittest kid. The one who doesn't knock his own head off on a playground swing (like the aforementioned) is the one who survives to maturity and the rest... well, they had it coming.
There was this swing in Turkmenistan that was actually created for just this purpose. They would light a fire underneath it, and pile their kids on it, and if their kids fell into the fire, that kid wasn't meant to grow old.
you'll see what I'm talking about when we post the video. For now, I hope you're satisfied knowing that we lived through it tonight, and we're coming home tomorrow!

During the Olympics?

2008-08-10T15:44:00.002-06:00

So, we found out this morning that Russia has declared war on Georgia. It shouldn't be a problem as far as being deported or losing our visas or anything. We're leaving on Thursday, anyway. I'm just a little shocked that we didn't even know for a few days, because we haven't had internet and we don't watch tv here.
Rather, we thought we didn't have internet. At least, we didn't pay for internet for August, so it should have been cut off on the first of August. So we've been eating a lot of McDonalds, and checking our email and stuff every night at McDonald's. Tonight when we were watching the Olympics, however, we realized that Russia had declared war, and since we didn't want to go to McDonald's on a Sunday, we plugged in the internet cord just to see what would happen. And we've had internet all along. Duh.
So, we've had a nice relaxing sabbath afternoon, applying for jobs and checking the news. I have now applied to approximately a zillion jobs. No offers yet. No interviews, even. Maybe I was overly optimistic when I started this search. I'm applying for everything I'm qualified for. I even applied for a cooking job for a women's shelter. I'd actually really like to get that one, except that it's part time, so I'd need to find a job that would let me have funky hours for the rest of the time. Not likely.
Anyway, if any of you Utah people hear of any receptionist, editing, writing, cooking, whatever jobs, let me know! I want to work!

no place like home

2008-08-08T10:29:00.002-06:00

Just a quick note for our moms and fans. We're home safe, and we're well rested and happy and healthy. And we have an apartment to come home to, and from the sounds of it, it's awesome. Only four more days in Russia. Tomorrow's our last shot at the market!

i.love.st.petersburg.

2008-08-05T13:42:00.008-06:00

My favorite thing about Russia:

ST. PETERSBURG. I love it here.

Moscow's ok. It's a little scarier than I thought it would be, and lots dirtier. But St. Petersburg is so relaxed and peaceful, even in the crowded places. It's just cleaner, slower, and friendlier. I love it here.

We arrived at 8 this morning, and then walked all of a block from the train station to our hotel. It was a very good night's rest. I recommend traveling by train at night! So comfy. We were supposed to be sharing a compartment with two other people, but we got the handicap compartment instead, so we had it all to ourselves. We were totally spoiled. Trains are much quieter than planes, and the attendants don't wake you up every twenty minutes to ask if you want three potato chips or a half sip of coke.

This looks so Hogwarts Express to me. I couldn't help but yell out "Alohamora!" at our door. But it wasn't locked, so who knows if it would have worked.

We were a little worried about our hotel, because it was a last minute deal, and it's cheaper than the hostel where our friends are staying, but I don't know why it's so cheap. It's so nice. Free wireless, a real bed (the first we've slept on this summer) and a whole living room and bathroom to ourselves. I didn't realize how tired we were of living with someone else until we got here and we could adjust the temperature (nice and chilly.) and walk around in our underwear and take a nap in the middle of the day and go outside without a coat.

Speaking of coats, it's chilly here. It feels like Yellowstone in the summer, but it's at sea level. It's really nice. I. love. st. petersburg.

So, we got to our hotel, and they told us to drop off our bags until checkin time, and we went out for some hot chocolate for breakfast. There's a coffee house right across the street from our hotel, so we got fresh squeezed orange juice, hot chocolate, and some croissantwiches. It was a little early for me to be alive and I was a little jealous of all the coffee drinkers, but it was nice and warm and relaxed in there, so we hung out there until checkin time.

Then we took a little nap, and then met up with our friends for food. We went to a brewery, which was a little silly for us, because the only "beer" we ordered was nonalcoholic. The waitress didn't seem too impressed with us. But I wasn't impressed by her either. Her shirt kept popping open when she reached across our table to take our plates. How embarrassing for her. Anyway, Charles and I had some pretty good soups, and I was jealous that his came with sour cream, but mine was already cream of mushroom, so I guess I had enough cream.

Then Charles and I took a short "night tour" around the center of town, following the map the hotel gave us. I. love. st. petersburg.

It's so pretty here. And they have canals all over the place because they use the river as transportation too. It reminds me of Venice, but not so dirty. It was funny that we were technically taking a night tour, but the sun stayed up for us. All of these pictures were taken around ten pm, and the sky was gorgeous. That's something I've really appreciated about Russia this summer. The sky is so...huge. It's vast. I don't know why it doesn't look this big in Utah. The mountains? Anyway, I love the sky here the most. These pictures don't do it justice.

So, now we're just taking it easy for the night. Charles is taking a bath in our (personal! very own!) jetted tub, and I'm blogging in our (personal! very own!) bed. I. love. st. petersburg.

And Dad, this is for you. I thought you'd get a kick out of it.

Oh, and tomorrow we're going to the ballet. And yes I'm giddy about it!

The Importance of Appearing Earnest

2008-08-04T07:11:00.003-06:00

So, this week we're taking off to St. Petersburg! As Charles put it this morning, "You realize that if we go to St. Petersburg, I'll have seen all there is to see in Russia, and we may never come back?" I think I'm willing to take that risk. Although I do find it a little disconcerting that the guidebook we're using takes care to warn travelers not to linger under unstable, child-size icicles. Since we are traveling in the month of August, though, I think we'll be ok.
Our train (yes, train!) leaves at midnight tonight, and I've been packing and repacking all afternoon. I even ironed my shorts. But then I thought that was silly and crumpled them up again. Ok, I didn't even iron them to begin with, but that would have been very silly of me, eh?
I just have to say that I love the idea of traveling through the night by train. It's very victorian sounding to me, and I shall be sure to drink loads of (herbal) tea and remember to follow Maggie's example: "Pinkiezh up, ladiezh!"

(for those of you who care to know, we'll be back in Moscow on Friday morning, and we're traveling with another mormon family, and we'll be sure to remember who we are. That's for you, mom.)

insomnia sleeps for no man...or woman.

2008-07-29T20:56:00.003-06:00

I wonder how many of my blog posts have been written during the wee hours of mornings because I haven't been able to fall asleep? I'm willing to bet at least half, if you include the ones from my first blog. This one is read more frequently by family members, so I try not to post anything that would alarm my mother, and it seems that I have my most alarming thoughts in wee hours. So I try not to post here without a good night's sleep.

Obviously, this is an exception.

I've been online looking at job prospects and housing prospects, and I have to say, things are looking much better for me as a college graduate than they did when I got married two years ago. I'm sending out resumes right and left. And up and down. I'm only worried that I'll miss deadlines, because I'm sending them out for job listings right now, but I'm not getting back until late August. And I've found some very charming looking apartments, but I know from experience that apartments look much different in real life than they look on ksl.com. And I hate finding good ones and then having to wait until night time to call about them, so I'm not waking home owners in wee hours. But I'm up anyway, so I might as well.

The cool thing about insomnia is that I have dirt on everyone I've ever shared a room with. People do strange things in their sleep. I love collecting quotes in wee hours. Here are some of my favorites:

"GOLLYGEEWILLIKERS!" (this was shouted, nay, screamed. It was alarming, to say the least.)

"Please pass the chicken salt." (as opposed to the turkey salt?)

and my all time favorite:

"We were going to storm the castle, but Mika was already there!"

That's what happens when you fall asleep with headphones on, I guess.

Sweet dreams to all our readers.

Oh good laugh, there was sing.

2008-07-23T20:03:00.002-06:00

Such a poetic line, from "Suessical the Musical." At least, that's what I thought the line was. And I was so jealous that somebody else had thought it up before I did. I didn't know what it meant, but it sounded so cool to me. Then Cecily told me that the real line was "Oh, could that fella sing."
I am just that cool.
Charles had a similar experience as a teenager when he mistook the words "dangerous liason" for "dangerously hazel." He felt silly for telling me my eyes were dangerously hazel, because, he admitted, he'd heard that phrase in a song and thought it was cool. But he really didn't. He made it up all by himself, and it still makes me feel giddy. Teehee.
He is just that cool.

Thank goodness for fuzzy speakers and bad listening skills.

A Dangerous Pasttime

2008-07-18T06:12:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Charles' professor was in town to check up on everyone's internships and host family situations and everything. He took us all out to dinner (including the wives, which I thought was very nice) and asked us for stories and for recommendations for the future. Everyone had a lot in insight to share, and I thought the professor was pretty good at taking it all in stride, and not becoming defensive, as I think this program is kind of his baby.

After dinner, on the ride home, I started making a mental list of the things I've learned over here. I've learned more about myself, my marriage, my husband, and my parents than I think I've actually learned about Russia, but I think that's to be expected.

I've learned that I'm more of a scaredy-cat than I thought I was, but that I can learn to be brave. I just have to force myself to try new things, and fix problems as they come up, instead of trying to think of any possible dilemma and solving it before it before it happens. Chances are, it won't even happen, and if it does, I'm not actually more prepared for it by worrying about it beforehand.

I've learned that my husband is more patient than even I give him credit for. I knew when I married him that he was very easy to get along with, and very difficult to offend, but I'm learning that those are very greivous understatements. I'm continually impressed by how much he looks out for me, and how much he doesn't mind translating and explaining things. Especially advertisements in the metros. They always look so intriguing, and it's frustrating not to know what they're about. He went out of his way to find the website for one of the more interesting ads, and translate and explain it to me. That was when we both realized that we were looking at an ad for yeast infection medicine. It claims to work in just one day.

I've learned that I didn't give my parents enough credit. In my childish ignorance, I always interpreted moving as their way of punishing us kids for making good friends quickly. I never stopped to think that they were leaving friends, too, and that it hurt them to see us say our good byes. I never thought about my mom showing up in relief society as "the new kid" that I always resented being, and never thought about having to be the new kid with six of her own new kids. And I never had any sympathy for my dad, because he was always very optimistic and upbeat about our moves, so I just figured he was never sad to leave places that we loved. But now I'm realizing that was just so stupid of me. I don't know how my parents did it, but I'm in awe.

Sitting on the metro, thinking all of these thoughts, and having so many new and sudden insights into my own life, I naturally wanted to share them with my best friend. So I looked over to see if he was still awake, and this is what I found:

He had gotten his tongue stuck in his water bottle. What a cute little boy I married.

Alright, alright.

2008-07-16T09:50:00.003-06:00

So, Starla tagged me, and said that if I wish to remain friends with her, I would complete her tag.
Six random facts about me.
1. I love thunderstorms. Especially summer thunderstorms. Just wild about thunderstorms.
2. My favorite color this year is ballerina pink. Hasn't been pink since I was like, two. My favorite color changes about once a year.
3. I tend to obsess. My obsessions change about every three or four months. I won't tell you what my current obsession is, but my most recent one was buying a puppy.
4. I collect jokers from packs of playing cards. I have them from all over the world! I haven't found one here, yet, but I will. If you go on a trip, bring me a pack of cards! I'll pay you back.
5. I have recently rediscovered a love for strawberry yoghurt. Don't worry, mom. I only buy refridgerated brands that I recognize, like Yoplait and Activia.
6. I don't really like to eat meat in foreign countries. It's very scaredy-cat of me, and I'm sure the bugs I might get wouldn't be that bad, but I still can't really bring myself to do it.
7. I hate nickels and I don't like to use spoons unless I have to. Charles and I have this really old, banged up, and ugly nickel that we keep in a ring box, and we pass it back and forth in silly ways. Charles has custody of it currently, and there's no telling where it will end up. He found it in his pillow case the other night when he smacked his head down on it too fast. haha. It's called "the dirty nickel."
I hereby tag Alistor, Leam, Alicia, Candace, Gwen, and Rufus.

Pregnant Lady Duty

2008-07-15T08:45:00.006-06:00

So, Mike and Sarah had some exciting news when they got to our house last week. They're having a baby in November! Charles and I were actually pretty relieved to hear this, because as their tour guides, it meant we would now be moving the pace of a pregnant woman. We could take it easier, we thought. Nope. We have now learned that a pregnant woman's pace is about two hundred miles per hour more than our usual pace. Those two have lots of energy. We do not.

We started things off on the wrong foot by picking them up at the wrong airport. Rather, Charles got to the wrong airport, and began to suspect something was wrong because their flight wasn't listed on the incoming flights. Meanwhile, Mike and Sarah found an internet cafe in their airport, and I was able to let them know to stay put, because Charles had figured out his mistake and was on his way. If anyone else wants to come visit us, I promise we'll go to the right airport this time.

We gave Mike and Sarah our bed, and we moved our bedding to the balcony. That was a very smart move at first, because it's the coolest place in the apartment at night. But then the sun comes up at 4:00 am, and changes everything. It's a really good view, though! This is the sunrise from our balcony.

The next morning we headed to Red Square, of course! That's where you have to start when you come here, I've decided. St. Basil's Cathedral, right outside the Kremlin and Lenin's Tomb.

Russia's National History Museum, which was closed while we were there, but still really cool to look at. It's made all of brick, even with all the intricate designs on the outside.

The Kremlin wall. We got to go inside and see all the churches, and one of them even had the Romanov's pew in it and stuff.

The fanciest shopping mall I've ever seen. We couldn't afford to buy gum there. But we could afford to use the "toilet," which is where the rest of the story begins. While we were at Red Square, Sarah started having some pain in her kidney, and was worried that her kidney infection was back. We took her home, called her doctor, and bought the antibioitics they told us to buy. Russian pharmacies don't require prescriptions for anything. It's kind of weird. Especially since you can't just self medicate with antibiotics. But we weren't, because we were following Sarah's doctor's instructions. Meanwhile, we started having to carry toilet paper with us, and make sure to find bathrooms in every place we visited, because a pregnant woman with a kidney infection= a tour of Russia's bathrooms. This is how the tour started to look:This is the boys reading their map books outside the lady's room in the Pushkin art museum. If I'd known how attached they were going to get to these books, I'd have taken over touring duties. These boys loved those map books. We were sitting in the middle of a really cool art museum, and they both had their noses in their books. Silly boys. However, Mike's sense of direction was pretty obvious. He was helping us figure out what metro exits we needed to take by the end of the trip. He's got me beat. Pretty good for someone who doesn't even read Cyrillic!

This is the Russian Orthodox Temple, which we took Mike and Sarah to. Charles couldn't go inside because he wore shorts that day, but he's seen it several times, so he sat outside and read his map book while I took them inside. I love that temple. It's really cool. It's got a museum in the bottom that shows exhibits about how the temple was built, and stuff. It was destroyed during communism, and when Stalin tried to build a giant statue of Lenin there, they discovered that nothing could be built on the foundation. Not even a one story house. The water table was too high, or something. So they turned it into the world's largest public swimming pool, and called it good. Then in 1995 the government decided to rebuild the temple, and strangely enough, didn't encounter any problems with the foundation. Mike didn't seem too impressed, though.

Eventually Sarah's pain became very severe, and we ended up rushing her to the American hospital on the other side of town at two in the morning, where we were told that she could only take tylenol and continue taking her antibiotics. And they upped her dosage of antibiotics. They told us to watch her over the course of the day, and if she worsened or didn't improve, to bring her back, and she'd have an ultrasound. We got her home, and put her to bed, but could not get her comfortable. She was in an unreal amount of pain. I was afraid it was early labor or something, because I've never seen anyone in that much pain when they weren't about to deliver a baby. So we took her back in, and this time they were able to tell us that she not only had a kidney infection, but a kidney stone. So, I wasn't too far off. I've heard kidney stones can be compared to labor, anyway.

Charles and I took off to get some food for all of us while they were busy with doctors, and found a really good shashlik place pretty close to the hospital. There was a tree growing in the middle of the restaurant, but nobody else seemed to notice it. It was raining buckets outside, so it was nice to get inside and smell good shashlik smells. We remembered at that point that we hadn't eaten or slept since dinner the night before, and it was now close to bedtime again!

They wanted to check her into a women's hospital for a week, but Sarah would have none of it. They upped her dosage, and gave her extra strength tylenol (remind me never to have any kind of pain while I'm pregnant. Tylenol is a joke.) and sent her home for some rest. Mike wanted to get her on a plane the next morning, but Sarah told him that she was not going home until we took her to the market we'd been telling her so much about. Oops. The antibiotics and Tylenol seemed to be doing their job, though, so we agreed to take her if she promised to take it easy. She loved the market so much that we went back the next day, and I just have to tell you that Charles is going to get a really cool Christmas present this year! But I won't tell you what it is. We did get some really cool mittens, a faberge egg, and a wooden santa that I've been wanting to buy since I saw it weeks ago at the market. I LOVE my santa! Mike and Sarah left yesterday morning, and we took the rest of the day to just chillax and recuperate from an exhausting week!

been tagged.

2008-07-08T11:31:00.005-06:00

20 years ago:
1. I hated Disney movies that didn't have enough color variety, like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and Sword in the Stone. I hated "real people movies." If they weren't cartoon, I'd have none of it.
2. I called Nesquik "bunny juice." My family still calls it that.
3. I loved when my dresses twirled with me. My mom made a lot of my clothes, and she was good with twirly dresses.

10 years ago:
1. I lived in Turkmenistan.
2. I dreamed of being a famous filmstar.
3. I became the first female student body president in my school.
4. I hated dresses. All dresses, all the time.
5. I wrote poetry.

5 years ago:
1. I moved into DT and met all the girls I'd be living with for the next few years.
2. I had a crush on a guy in my German class.
3. I was stalked by a weirdo in my ward.
4. I realized that I didn't really want to be a filmstar, or even be in the film industry at all. That was quite a shock, and I spent the next five years wondering what I wanted to be.
5. Started my first blog. Quite ahead of the times, eh?

3 years ago:
1. I figured out what I wanted to be, and changed my major, but I didn't tell anyone what it was. I wanted to keep it a secret so it would still be fun to me.
2. Found out that Cecily had the same secret major, and blabbed my secret. We took classes together for the rest of our collegiate careers.
3. I was working at Taco Bell, and dating a sourpuss of a Texan.
4. Broke up with the sourpuss, and spent the summer managing Taco Bell Nights.
5. Met that Campbell kid, and had my last first date!

1 year ago:
1. Went to school all summer, and got burnt out.
2. Went to school in the fall, anyway.
3. Read Like Water for Chocolate and realized my calling in life.
4. Celebrated my first wedding anniversary with Charles! But not my first anniversary, because we celebrate every month that we're together, and we'd been dating for two years by then.
5. Was working for Public Policy as the secretary.

This year:
1. Finally became an editor! And I loved it!
2. Got really really really extremely ridiculously puppy hungry.
3. Learned how to make creme brulee, and learned how not to make creme brulee.
4. Graduated with Cecily!
5. Moved to Russia with my husband, like grown ups do!

Yesterday:
1. Stayed awake for over 24 hours, because my insomnia has struck again.
2. Went to the dentist that Charles went to on his mission, to get my tooth fixed.
3. Got my tooth fixed.
4. Broke my tooth again, on bread, again.
5. Took half of Charles' sleeping pill before bed last night.

Today:
1. Woke up 18 hours after the sleeping pill, and wondered why Charles hadn't woken me up. Oh. Because he couldn't.
2. Realized I was having an allergic reaction to something (sleeping pill is the main suspect) and took some benedryl. My rash went away and my breathing returned to normal about ten minutes afterward!
3. Went to Ikea for some sheets, because we realized that we didn't have enough for Mike and Sarah when they get here. That was the fastest Ikea trip of my life, because I didn't have time to sit in all the couches or admire the pink kitchen. But I did find the most adorable (and freaking cheap!!) sheets. I am in love.
4. Ate the most delicious orange I have ever tasted. And then ate a delicious banana.
5. Waiting at home for the pizza delivery guy that Charles called, because we figured Mike and Sarah would probably like something quick and easy for dinner. And I'm waiting for Charles to bring them home, too!

Tomorrow:
1. We will take Mike and Sarah to some cool historical sites, like the Kremlin.
2. We will take Mike and Sarah to the delicious pastry shop in Chinatown that I posted pictures of before.
3. We will let Mike and Sarah take a nap if they need one because of the jetlag.
4. We will probably take a nap if they do.
5. We will have a fun night out on the town.

Next year:
1. Charles will graduate with his Master's in Public Policy.
2. I will have a full-time job somewhere between Springville and Salt Lake, hopefully doing something related to my degree.
3. We will have a puppy. Albeit a hypoallergenic one.
4. Charles will take the Foreign Service entrance exam.
5. We will all pray and fast that he gets in, or finds something else he can be happy doing, or both.

I tag Lyle, Suzette, and Elmer.

make me. I dare you times infinity.

2008-07-06T20:07:00.004-06:00

So, you may have noticed that I'm currently experiencing a slight writer's block. And at 4 this morning when I was telling myself that I had to write something because that's what I do, I realized that my writer's block probably stems from my baker's block.
In fact, yesterday, when we got home from church and broke our fast with reheated double cheeseburgers from Mcdonalds, Charles remarked that we had gotten as low as it gets as far as dinner goes. I had to agree, although we both concluded that the reheated burgers tasted more American than the fresh ones. Charles was sick, unfortunately, so we had to turn down two lovely dinner propositions with members of our branch, because he really needed to get to bed before school today. I promised him I would make him the most amazing food when we get home to America, but I just have no inspiration or energy to cook here. And there are so many good places to eat here that it'd be a waste not to. It actually ends up being cheaper eating out, too, ironically.
But I really do have great plans for when we get home and I have my fancy nonstick pots and pans, and reliable ingredients and measuring cups that I can comprehend. I found this thing called the Daring Bakers online. http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com/2007/07/welcome.html
I am so joining in September. You've got to check out some of their blogs. It's an entire network of food bloggers, and I am delighted that such a thing exists. When I started my senior thesis class last fall (a feast of foodways: food in literature), I was a little skeptical that we'd be able to find enough to discuss, much less write our senior papers on. That's when I met and fell in love with the foodways movement. So much food writing! And I've discovered my calling.
Sorry if this is boring to you, but it was thrilling to me, and I'm the boss of this blog. If you want me to write something else, you'll have to make me. I stick my tongue in your general direction.

Success

2008-06-29T14:54:00.003-06:00

Since I know you were all so worried about our tummies being empty, I wanted to let you know that I have found something cheap and easy and Russian that I like to eat. Pyroshky. I haven't tried any of the meat-filled ones yet (pigs will fly the day I do) but I like the ones with fruit inside. And the ones with mashed potatoes. Strangely delicious.

So, we did all kinds of fun things this week, and we had so many opportunities for good pictures, but we keep forgetting to charge our camera batteries! So you'll just have to trust me when I say that I saw Tolstoy's winter home, and it was very cool. Apparently he didn't normally live in Moscow, but when his older kids started going to university in Moscow, he had this home built so he could move the whole family out during the school year, and they could all still be together. I'm planning to suggest this to my parents, so anyone who's reading this from Utah, can you look around for a place for my family? I know they miss me terribly, but they absolutely pine for Charles.

Since we don't have any pictures of our own to post this week, I'm going to leave you with this one because it's really funny. Watch out for Maggie's evil eye, and don't tell Lizzy that life vest makes her look fat, because I'm pretty sure that's what she's already telling my mom as she took the picture.

Meh

2008-06-25T03:18:00.002-06:00

We're in a food rut. I'm usually a pretty good cook, according to the people I've fed. But I seem to botch everything I try here. Charles eats it anyway, because he's hungry and because it doesn't bother him that things never taste the same here. But I'm very sensitive to how much my food tastes like it's supposed to, and how much it doesn't. Remember that mac and cheese we bought when we first got here? I kept it in our little cupboard for weeks, as a backup to every meal I planned. It was really good to have around, because I was certain that if we were just dying for a taste of home, we could make that in ten minutes and feel American again.
We finally hit that point, and we made the mac and cheese, and it tasted funny. But it didn't make me laugh. I feel very out of my element here, because I am a feeder. I live to feed people, and I love making food that people love. Here, even my mac and cheese and my brownies from a box taste weird, and it makes me want to avoid the kitchen. Which I do, now. We eat a lot of pizza. A lot of pizza. I desperately want to make a meal that both of us can enjoy, and I'm totally out of ideas and inspiration. And I'm kind of homesick.
Ok, a lot homesick.

I'm IT

2008-06-17T13:30:00.002-06:00

I've been tagged. Six random facts about me...
1. I have a titanium tooth. I can bite through anything. Except bread, apparently.
2. My favorite punctuation mark is the period. Followed closely by the semicolon. You may think they are the most boring ones, but they are not; they can be used to quite comical effect when used correctly and respectfully.
3. I shave my legs everyday.
4. If I can't sleep, I get up and change my clothes. Underwear especially. I don't know why, but it sometimes really helps.
5. I am allergic to the sun, even though I love the sun so much! If I get too much sun, I break out in a VERY itchy rash, like hives.
6. I can eat a dozen glazed original Krispie Kreme donuts in one sitting. Most of me is not proud of that, but part of me is.

And just for fun, six random facts about Charles!

1. He likes watching golf on TV.
2. He has seen President Putin in person (on Easter). He has seen President Bush in person (in Lithuania).
3. He does not like hot fudge on his ice cream, because if his ice cream melts even a little bit before he eats it, he won't eat it at all.
4. He is a news junkie. He regularly reads six newspapers everyday. He also reads Scientific American, Christian Science Monitor, and the Financial Times everyday. He also listens to NPR everyday. How he accomplishes anything else is beyond me. But his accomplishments are prolific, so I don't have an issue with his papers!
5. He likes to climb trees.
6. He doesn't like pickles. He doesn't like to eat things that have been close proximity to pickles. He doesn't like living in apartments where other people eat pickles, or where other people regulary pickle things for no apparent reason. He does like garlic and basil and oregano and he thinks he would like to try saffron someday. He likes paprika and pumpernikel. He doesn't like too much cilantro on his food. These are a few of his favorite things. He likes redvines and firecrackers and fireworks are his favorite and the fourth of July is his very favorite holiday. He enjoys 19th century French literature. He thinks platinum is a very pretty color. He believes in art. He believes my face is a work of art. He also believes that the past fifty years have trivialized the art that is music. He believes that good music is still made today, but that most people don't appreciate good music. Too many people say that they are music lovers when in fact music is just a backdrop in their lives, not a main event. He loves Papa John's. He has many leatherbound books. His apartment smells of rich mahogany. He is done with this speech.

I asked him for some random facts, and this is what I got. He was interesting to listen to, once he got started, so I just let him dictate. So my seventh fact is that I am a good typist.

New Phone Number

2008-06-14T14:01:00.003-06:00

We set up an internet phone number so anybody can call us and talk to us without having to pay long distance to Russia. Our new number is (801)542-9891. Feel free to call us, we would love to hear from you. Just remember that we are 10 hours ahead of Utah time. If we don't answer, leave us a message!

Independence Day

2008-06-13T10:27:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was Russia's Independence Day. At least, that's what they called it when Charles was here seven years ago. (Man, my husband is old. He was leaving on his mission as I went on my first date.) But eventually enough people pointed out that they were technically celebrating independence from themselves, so now it's just called Russia Day.

Charles and I decided to head into town to see all the action, and we had the best night ever! We got Mcdonald's for dinner, which was very nice. I don't eat Mcdonald's very often in America, but every now and then it's very comforting to me here in Russia. The funny thing about ordering a double cheeseburger without onions or pickles here is that it's considered unusual. As soon as we order it, the cashier runs from the cash register to the back to tell them to get ready, because she's got a special order coming. So when she gets back to the cash register, and Charles tells her he wants a double cheeseburger with no pickles, onions, ketchup, or mustard, she nearly fainted. Having worked in fast food, I know it's not as big a deal as they make of it, so sometimes I like to watch them gape at our orders.

After dinner, we started walking around downtown, looking for a good fireworks show. Charles told me they'd be happening all over the city, so we just wanted to find a comfy spot to watch from. And as we were walking down into the Metro to head to the university, there was a really amazing show right in front of us. I got some of it on video, because it was really spectacular. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as cool on our camera, so just take my word for it.

If the fireworks weren't cool enough, it was also snowing!Not really. But there was cotton blowing around in the air from all the cottonwood trees, and when we walked out of the Metro station Charles nearly threw a hissy fit until he discovered that it wasn't actually snowing. He made the funniest face! He howled in rage for a second, and then realized that it was still plenty warm and he got happy again. The sound was something like "WHAAAAAAT-hey! It's still summer!" Anyway, it was kind of cool, so we got some pictures and videos of the "snow" so you could see what we were talking about.

We were still really having a good time, and weren't ready to go home, so we decided to get dessert somewhere. We found the coolest little confectioner's shop and decided to stop in. It was all dark wood and peacock blue and magenta and turquoise, with tiffany lampshades above the tables, and some of the tables were pulled up to the window seats, which were full of cushions and pillows and silky blankets and stuff. It was the sort of place I would want to take a Jane Austen novel and curl up in forever. I am so in love with this place. And it did my heart good to know that it existed. Charles ordered a hot chocolate and an apple custard tart thing, and I ordered fresh squeezed apple juice (I'm so serious.) and chocolate mousse. We probably looked ridiculous, just ordering dessert, and then taking pictures of our dessert, and then I hate to think what we looked like actually eating the dessert, because it was so good! Charles' apple thing was a tart on the bottom, with kind of a pie crust outer layer, and apple slices with spices inside, and the top was a custard thing with caramelized sugar on top. From just looking at it, you couldn't tell where the tart started and the custard ended, which I thought was really clever. You don't bake custards and tarts at the same temperature, so from all I can figure out they had to put the two together after they were baked, so how did they make it so beautiful? The chocolate mousse I ordered was divine. As in, it was made by heavenly hands. It had a slight orangey taste, like maybe there was a little bit of orange zest mixed in. And it was so light and airy. Oh my gosh.

Part of my world

2008-06-08T13:57:00.004-06:00

Back by popular demand, pictures of Russia.First off, we have the demonic duo: the scary looking bear and rabbit team who greets us every morning. Say goodbye to them, because they're being moved into a box on our balcony for the duration of our stay. No offense, Valya.

Second, we have our friendly neighborhood power plant. When I told Cecily I thought I'd be grateful for even a four-legged child after all the weird places Charles and I have lived, she said, "Well, the easiest thing to do is to line all of your clothes with lead." That's why she's my best friend.

We recently found a little pizzeria on the other side of the building behind ours, and we quite like it. The waitress recognizes us when we walk in, and knows automatically that Charles will have a Coke and I'll have a Fanta. The first time we went there, she complimented Charles on his Russian after she heard us speaking English and realized that he was actually American. That made me very proud!

They don't have American style pizza; they have more Italian style pizza, and it's good. Very thin crust and sweet tomato sauce. I really want to try their pork chops next. They're pretty cheap, and they haven't made us sick yet, so we're very optimistic! They're such a cute little family that runs the place.

This car says "Sputnik" on it in Cyrillic if you look closely. Makes me laugh everytime I see it. Charles just finished reading a very interesting book about the space race and the cold war. It was called Red Moon Rising. Sounds pretty funny, from what he's told me about it.

There are all these aluminum storage units around the apartment buildings here, and they almost all have murals on them. Some of them have summer scenes and some of them have winter scenes. I personally would want a summer scene so that I can have a bit of summer during the long, cold, dark, Russian winters. I always long for summer, but I detest winter at all times. Everyone always seems to talk about how dark Russian winters are, because they hardly get any sunlight at all here during the winters. But nobody told me to expect so much sunlight during the summer! The sun goes down around midnight, and it comes up around four or five am. I'm loving all the sunshine! Sometimes it makes me grumpy to be woken up so early, but it's really nice to go for late walks with Charles while the sun is still up.

There is a really nice playground right outside our building. Actually, all the buildings around here have big playgrounds. This is a newer area, and it's pretty spread out, so I don't know if this is the norm, but it's cool! The sad thing is, the baboushkas are still bundling the babies so warmly that I'm always afraid they're going to overheat! It's JUNE for crying out loud! It makes me kind of mad, but I've never seen any of them faint or anything.

This picture has a better view of our building. We're the big skyscraper behind the playground. On the other side of the playground there's an auto repair place. I wonder if that's why we hear car alarms all hours of the day. It's just background noise to us now, so we don't really notice it except at four am when it's the only sound!

Charles and I are feeling tons better, minus a migraine this morning, so we're going to be out and about more, and you can expect more pictures soon! We'll leave you with our beautiful self-portaits from when we went to dinner the other night. Don't be jealous of our beauty. Some get brains, some get talent, some get beauty, and some get it all. What can I say?

goofiness

2008-06-05T23:19:00.001-06:00

This is one of my favorite pictures from Emile's wedding. It's so us.

ThisoneguythatIlove

2008-06-05T13:56:00.002-06:00

So, for anyone who didn't know, Charles' birthday was on the 22nd. We didn't have internet access at the time, but I'd like to create a retroactive post on his behalf. Happy Birthday, Charles! Charles wanted to go to TGI Friday's for his birthday, and luckily he remembered where it was! All these years later. Anyone else think that's admirable? I really do mean all these years later. He's pretty old, now. He's 26 now.
So in honor of Charles turning so incredibly old, I decided to make a list of 26 things I love about him. You don't have to read them, because they might be mushy, but you might learn some things about him, too. Oh, and these aren't in order of importance. Remember that when you read the first one.
1. His tiny toes. Charles has hobbit toes. He doesn't really like them, but I hope our kids inherit them.
2. His sense of humor. That guy is hilarious. I really just married him for the free entertainment.
3. His crazy dreams. When we were dating, I couldn't wait to see him first thing in the morning and hear all about his adventures the night before. He still has mission dreams and river guiding dreams. I think he's dreamt about us being called on missions like three or four times since we've been together.
4. His sense of style. I love the way he dresses. And I love that my favorite shirts of his are his favorites, too. And he has such a good eye. I prefer to send him shopping for clothes for me, because he tends to pick better clothes than I do.
5. He is a good boy. He really wants to do what's right. I know he will always encourage me to get my lazy butt out of bed even when we have 9:00 church, and he's always been ready to give me a blessing when I've needed one.
6. He wets his toothbrush before and after he put toothpaste on it.
7. He challenges me to learn and do new things. Like Russia.
8. His sweet tooth. That boy loves his chocolate. I never have to convince him that it's time for a Ben&Jerry's run.
9. His smell. He likes to be clean and to smell good, and he does a really good job of it.
10. He does the laundry. I don't think we ever meant for it to be his chore, but it's kind of become his thing, and I'm very grateful for the times he's done all the laundry.
11. He's good at math and science. He's willing to cover all the math and science homework issues our kids will eventually have, and he's willing to let me have the language arts and art projects. And he doesn't make fun of my pathetic attempts at math.
12. He's sweet to his mom and my mom.
13. He likes to analyze movies with me when they're over.
14. He cuddles me whenever I want. He even reaches for me in his sleep.
15. He's such a good cook. Especially when it comes to grilling, but also when it comes to breads.
16. His laughs. He has a few, but they're all contagious!
17. He likes to learn.
18. He likes excuses to take homework breaks.
19. He really really really encouraged me to finish school even though I really really really didn't want to at times.
20. He's good with money. He's smart about our finances, luckily.
21. He thinks raw onions are yucky.
22. He is a summer man. He lives for summer.
23. He can name songs from the first beats. Every song, every time. This man has two external hard drives just to hold all his music.
24. He plays the bass.
25. He has profound respect for women. Even when he doesn't understand us.
26. His belly button and his earlobes. They're just funny.

These aren't the only things I love about him. As I was making this list, I came up with dozens more things to love about him, so Charles, you're going to have to live a VERY long time to get the whole list. I love you, CharlesCampbell!

Save it for a rainy day

2008-06-03T07:34:00.004-06:00

Today's a rainy day, and Charles stayed home sick. He caught my version of the plague, unfortunately. This is him on our balcony, next to our laundry that somehow manages to dry amidst all this humidity. Luckily, last night before we went to bed we went on a candy run and bought all kinds of different chocolate. So we're well stocked for a rainy day. We also have my homemade potato soup in the fridge, and the ingredients for my homemade tomato soup. Too bad Charles eventually has to go back to work, because we're having a lovely day laying around and fighting internal battles against our germs.

So, Charles decided on his internship, and he's going to be working for a capitol investment firm. There aren't very many in Russia, because they're just now redeveloping an upper class who has capitol to invest. This particular firm has only been in business for about six months. It's more than doubled its funds since then, so they seem to be doing pretty well. Charles' job there is to research various commodities and services to invest in. He may even be doing some pitches to companies when he finishes researching. It's very exciting to him, and the job's pretty much tailored just to him. He may even be paid to fly to America a few times! He actually won't be speaking too much Russian, which ironically is a selling point for him. He wanted to spend time in Moscow, but he wasn't as thrilled with the Russian speaking aspect as the rest of the people who are in his program. They're all Russian majors, and he's a public policy major.

For now, though, we're just trying to survive this evil bug, and having internet in our house is helping alot!

Oh, I forgot to mention that we don't have any hot water yet. Most of Moscow doesn't have hot water right now, actually. Apartment buildings don't have their own water heaters here, because the city heats water and pumps it directly into the buildings from central heating plants. That means you never run out of hot water, except for during the summer when they shut down the plants for maintainence and stuff. Then you don't have water for anywhere from two weeks to a month! Luckily, we're in a very new area, and all of our pipes are very up to date, so it's just two weeks for us. And it turns back on tomorrow, thank goodness! Charles has been heating up water for me in the mornings for my shower, because Valya has this electric teapot thing that heats your water to boiling in less than two minutes. I heat water for him, too. We take turns doing it. A couple teapotfulls is good for a semi-cleansing shower, but I always use the actual shower head with cold water for my hair, because I need that water pressure to get all the shampoo out of my hair. Shaving is a nightmare. I can't wait for my hot shower tomorrow!

You are what you eat.

2008-05-29T05:33:00.001-06:00

Whew. Sorry it’s been so long since I posted, but there’s been a lot going on here! Charles and I finally made it to Ikea and purchased some basics. Some plastic cups and bowls, and some silverware. The main reason we went, though, was for a mattress. Not a whole big mattress, though. We just needed something to make our bed softer. It’s a pull-out couch, but it’s basically just a wooden frame with some quilting batting and velvet upholstering. Velvet and I do not agree. And even after we piled all of our bedding on the bed and then slept on top, I was waking up with tender places on my hips and shoulders, from sleeping on my side. I told Charles we were either moving to an apartment with a real bed, or we were making a trip to Ikea. And I’m very happy with the results! The only sad thing about Ikea was that they didn’t have macaroni and cheese. What kind of Ikea doesn’t have macaroni and cheese? But they had meatballs, so Charles was happy. We got a roll-up mattress thingy that’s very comfy, and we got a pair of sheets with pillow cases and a duvet cover. It feels like it’s our bed, now.
And just in time! I got an amazing night’s sleep that night, and then woke up sick as a dog the next day. Charles has already made a couple runs to the Aptyeka (apothecary. One might call it a pharmacy.) for the Russian equivalents of Dayquil, Tums, Sucrets and Theraflu. He’s had to learn some new words in Russian, like “heartburn.” The cool thing about Russia is its bountiful opportunities for hydration. Every kind of juice you could ever crave. I drink about 2 liters of water everyday, in addition to all the grape, strawberry, and pineapple juice I want. And I’m spending a lot of time in our newly softened bed. Thank goodness for Ikea.
Yesterday we made it to Stockman’s, which is a department store that caters mostly to foreigners, and they have a grocery store inside. They had some of the staples we were dying for, like soy sauce and skim milk. Skim milk! Can you believe it? It comes from Italy, if you can believe that. And even though it’s a pretty expensive store, sometimes mac and cheese is worth paying three dollars for. I’ve been feeling very much like a fish out of water lately because I haven’t been able to cook much. I suppose this sounds very silly and petty, but it’s true so I’ll say it. I treat homesickness with food. Now that I know I have a box of mac and cheese in our cabinet, I can make whatever I want, and be happy with it. For the first week or so of being here, I was tempted to not eat rather than face the disappointment of something being really gross. I ate a lot of bread and cheese. Anyway, tonight I’m making my potato soup, and whether or not it tastes as good as it usually does, I can be happy.
Oh, I mentioned the things I wanted to talk about last time. So, the first thing is, I lost my tooth again. I went to the dentist the day before we left, just to have him check up on me and he cleared me for a summer in Russia, and said my tooth would be fine. So I went crazy in Germany. They have such good bread. Even German airline food is good. So I just finished my bread and butter on the airplane, and I was eyeing Charles’. He finally consented to trade his bread and butter for my dessert, so I took a giant bite, and as soon as I bit into the bread, I felt my tooth snap out. It took everything I had not to cry or throw a hissy fit on the plane, because I already hadn’t slept for over 24 hours and I had whiplash and all I wanted was to eat some bread and butter. So I took some deep breaths and told myself to behave, and meanwhile the bread was still hanging out of my mouth. Charles thought I was being a little absurd about the bread, so he turned to me and said “Make sure you savor that bread. Yeah, don’t worry about chewing, just suck on it for awhile.” If looks could kill, I’d be a widow. Luckily, Charles knows a really good dentist here in Moscow, so he’s got me an appointment tomorrow for a new tooth. I’m going to start naming them, because I’ve had so many that I’m having a hard time keeping track of them all. This will be Lucy IV.
Charles took me to one of his old favorite restaurants. It looked exactly like I imagined The Molly Campbell looking, which was pretty cool. The menu was kind of weird. Charles ordered “Beeznas Lanch,” which means business lunch. I was very interested in the part of the menu labeled “Myeksikyen.” Mexican food in Moscow? What’s sketchy about that? I ordered something that Charles said translated literally into “the warm heart of the muchacho.” It just sounded promising. The menu labeled it as a burrito, so I was kind of surprised when they brought it out. It was an eggplant. Personally, I’ve never trusted eggplants. Very dishonest vegetables. For one thing, they’re really fruit, not vegetable. Also, when you pick them up, they feel completely different from what you think they’ll feel like. So I generally avoid eggplants. But I was a big girl and I tried it, and it wasn’t great, but it was not the death of me. They basically sliced the eggplant like a fan, and then grilled/fried/baked (who can tell with eggplant?) it and put some tomato slices and cheese between each slice to melt. I added sour cream, much to the waitress’ bewilderment, and the result was not bad. Russians love sour cream. I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship.
This has very quickly turned into a very long post, so I think I’ll call it quits here and just close by saying happy birthday to my sister Emile! Who’s turning 21 tomorrow! Good grief. Em, you’re so stinking old. I love you!

Odd one out

2008-05-23T05:27:00.001-06:00

This place is a whole other world. I think I must have known that before signing up, but I’d forgotten the feelings associated with being the alien. They started coming back before we even left the airport in Moscow. First of all, we came into the airport that the Central Asians tend to use, so it was filled with strange yet familiar faces and smells. Second of all, while I remember the Cyrillic alphabet, I’m still a very slow reader. I have to sound things out. The whole ride home, I kept trying to figure out what the billboards were saying, and I’d get about halfway through reading the words and then we’d be moving past it. That was actually the hard part for me. I’m a reader, and it was very unnerving to me not to be able to read the signs around me. Even if I made my way through the words, I wouldn’t know what they meant, and I actually got a slight stomachache trying to figure it all out. That’s when I started to panic a little. What had I signed up for?
So I said a prayer and asked for help to calm down, and I reminded myself that I had been wide awake for the past 48 hours, and that I was being irrational. That helped. I think I forgot to mention that with the accident before we left, we didn’t have time to start packing until around midnight, and we left for the airport as soon as we were done packing, at five am. So, we didn’t sleep that night. Charles fell asleep before we even took off from Salt Lake, and stayed that way. For some reason, I couldn’t fall asleep the whole way, but I had a great book to read, and interesting foods to eat. I finally fell asleep in the van that the academy sent for us on the way to our apartment, and I only vaguely remember making it into our apartment, meeting our landlords, and plopping into bed. Jetlag never felt so good. Charles went out with Totya Valya, our landlady, to get some groceries and check the place out while I was asleep. He brought me some juice, water, coca-cola light, and two beautiful oranges.
I have to say right now, that I have never been more in love with my husband. He’s been so careful about making me feel safe and loved, and he’s so good at it! And he’s the handsomest man in Russia, by far. The metro, which we take everywhere, is often very crowded and there isn’t always something to hold on to. Charles does his best to make sure I have something to hold on to, or even get a seat, but if I can’t, then he plants his feet and keeps his hand on my back to make sure I don’t topple over. I don’t know how he doesn’t fall over, but he’s always been the coordinated one in the family. He’s very good about translating for me, and tries to include me in all the conversations. I’m really impressed with his Russian!
I’ve decided that I will include a few things that I have learned in Russia every time I post, so that you can see Russia through my eyes. I know that's just what you’ve always wanted.

1. Russian escalators are very long. I mean VERY long. Really, really, ridiculously long. I think in America that if an escalator goes more than one or two flights, they cut it into a few different escalators with a landing between them, but here, your escalator ride could last as long as three or four stories. This is not an exaggeration. Also, the escalators move very quickly. I applaud Russia for that, because I’ve always hated how long escalators take, but I wonder how all the little old babuskas are able to move fast enough to get on and off, because I have a hard time in my young and spry state.

2. Russians carry flowers upside-down. Especially the men. Occasionally, you’ll see a woman carrying her flowers with the blooms up, but it seems to be the exception. The reason I’ve noticed this is that Russians buy a lot of flowers! There are flower vendors on every corner, and sometimes in between. Mostly roses, but also a lot of tulips, and I have to say that I have never seen such beautiful tulips in all my life. Charles bought me some pink ones yesterday, and the pinkness of them made me want to cry. (That one’s for you, Mollie!) I think this is a custom I want to bring home to America. It’s very romantic, wouldn’t you say?

3. Borscht is yucky. I hate cabbage. I hate beets.

Home. Ish.

2008-05-20T08:02:00.002-06:00

We're here in Russia. I'm borrowing internet from the other married couple in our program, and Charles needs it after me, so I'm going to write a very rushed entry. I just wanted to let our family and friends know that we are alive and well. Our landlady wants us to call her Aunt Valya, and she's so sweet. She took us all the way into town yesterday to make sure we got on all the right trains, and this morning she chewed Charles out for not making me eat. I haven't been too hungry lately, and she was worried because she hadn't seen me eat. She's funny. I really like her.
I'm compiling a list of my first impressions, and I'll post them later. Russia is very entertaining to a people-watcher like myself. And my husband is by far the handsomest man in Russia.
And I just want to let my family know that I ordered lunch in German in Germany for my husband and myself, after I asked directions in German to a cafe that could sell me some Apfelschorle. and I didn't ask for any any Apfelschnitzel. After that, we stocked up on Rittersports, in the most wonderful flavors, as well as paprika pringles, and kinder eggs. I soooooo pitched a fit when it was time to leave Germany. But Charles slept the whole way to Russia, so I don't think he even noticed.

And to those who care, Russia is like Turkmenistan on steroids. Neon steroids. It smells the same, but they have Mcdonalds with free wifi. and their mcdonalds also has chocolate croissants. In conclusion, I'm learning tons and I'm having quite an adventure, and we're both really happy to be here.
And I have some funny stories about bread and cheese, losing teeth, and meksiken food.

on a lighter note

2008-05-16T18:23:00.004-06:00

So, the last post was kind of dramatic, so now I'm just going to post pictures of our trip to DC, which was, fortunately, very undramatic, even with the wedding. That's saying something for Meppen reunions, as some of you already know. We didn't even have any hospital trips, although there was a funny incident involving Charles taking his allergy medicine in the dark and accidentally ingesting a sleeping pill instead of a Claritin. We didn't see him much that day. The doseage for those sleeping pills is normally a quarter of the pill, but Charles took a whole one. Bless his heart.

Cooking in my mom's kitchen is really fun, because she has ingredients that I would never think to buy, but that turn out really good. Maggie and I did some experimenting, and we ended up with a really recipe for a strawberry pie! Unfortunately, I didn't write it down, but it did involve craizins, cooking sherry, and pineapple topping. It was pretty amazing. And Maggie was a very smart little sous chef. I'm going to have to hire her when I open my restaurant!

Other than strawberry pie, we pretty much chowed down on Emile's wedding leftovers. Baked beans, Texas sheet cake, pulled pork and mac and cheese. Did I mention her reception was in a renovated BARN? Because I wouldn't be lying if I did say that. Because it's true.

Charles and I went to the zoo. It was free, because it's the national zoo, and it's owned by the smithsonian institute. Aweseome! They have a panda, and some hippos, and some very large elephants. I love hippos and elephants and flamingoes and I had such a fun date with the love of my life! But I have to say that the otters were by far my favorite of the whole trip. I LOVE LOVE LOVE otters! I want everyone to know that about me, because it's integral to who I am as a person.

Of course, my family does a pretty good job of providing a zoo atmosphere for free, too. Maggie was occupied with capturing caterpillars the whole time I was home, and them feeding them and watching them make cocoons. It was actually really cool. And who knew we had so many caterpillars?

Maggie is no comparison to Lizzy though. That girl's wild! She went out to lunch with my mom and Charles and I, and I think she was having a hard time figuring out where the chopsticks go. So, Charles and I leave for Russia tomorrow. I'll blog asap when we get there, but until then, I love you all. And I can't wait to get back and hear about your summers, too! Please keep blogging, everyone! And mom, have Lizzy start a blog for you, because I really want a family blog.

going out with a bang.

2008-05-16T17:41:00.004-06:00

Literally. I'm sorry to any of you who are reading this and have not yet had a chance to say goodbye to our firstborn, CJ, but he now lies on the top of a junkpile waiting for our insurance agency to total him and sell him for parts. And while the police have determined it wasn't my fault, I can't help but feel guilty that Charles no longer has his Jeep. He loves that Jeep so much. And he will hate me for saying this, but the next car we buy will have to be a little more practical. Better gas mileage and more room for rear-facing carseats. But he's insisting on a stick shift, and I'm feeling just guilty enough to grant him that much. He may have changed his mind by the time we get back from Russia and I really hope that's the case.

So, last night, I was driving home from Provo after getting my hair cut and all taken care of for Russia, and I decided to stop at McDonald's on the way. I stopped in Lehi, which was kind of dumb because I don't really know my way around there, but I was starving for a double cheeseburger. and I got one. and a diet coke. But as I was heading across the intersection to get back on the freeway, and a silver car with two teenage girls in it slammed into my right side. I'm really glad I didn't have someone sitting on that side. So then my car tipped over and slid down the road. This is the weird part: even though I was slammed by a car and then slammed onto the road, I never hit my head on anything. I didn't even bump it once. Cool, huh? the other kind of cool part was that there was an EMT already on the site. He was off duty, but he must have been just coming home from work, because he already had his EMT shirt on, and he ran over wearing rubber gloves and telling me not to move. Not that I was hurt. I have a bruise on my elbow. That's it, pretty much. So I was laying there on my window, which miraculously was NOT broken, and checking to make sure I could wiggle my toes and stuff, and I even thought to turn the car off. I didn't bother putting it in park, though. So some guy came over and climbed on top of the car to pry open some doors and windows and get me out. I had to climb out in a white skirt, which I realized now had diet coke all over it. I'm glad I didn't wet myself, and that it was just coke! Nobody else in the other car was hurt, either. I love seatbelts. Everybody needs to wear them.

They put me in an ambulance to take my vitals and info and stuff, and they decided to take them twice because I was so shaky and nervous that my pulse was way wack. But there was nothing else wrong with me. I can't get over that!

There was this woman there named Brenda, and she was so nice to me. As soon as I realized there was a car coming at me, I slammed on the brakes and squeezed my eyes shut, and I didn't open them until all the slamming and banging and tipping were over. And as soon as I opened them, the EMT guy was telling me not to move, and Brenda was there telling me that it was ok, that everyone in the other car was fine, and that she would find me a phone. And she did, but not before she gave me a really long hug that felt really good, even though she was a stranger. I felt like we'd been friends forever. She's about my mom's age and build, too, so it kind of felt like a hug from my mom. Which I needed really badly! After that I figured out that I wasn't wearing shoes or glasses, and I was sure that I had been before the accident. Doy. I must have looked like a drunk driver. they of course had to ask me if I was, and I said no. I wasn't even using my phone, and the radio wasn't even on. I was concentrating as hard as I could on finding my way home.

Looking back, I'm realizing that this is really all a big blessing. Our car was completely covered under insurance, even if it HAD been my fault. Even though it's totaled, we still have another car that was just randomly given to us by a family in Jean's ward. And now we'll have enough money for a down payment on a more family-friendly car, and we'll for sure have enough money to pay rent this summer in Russia. And that accident could have been SO much worse. I was planning on driving Jean's car, because it's safer, gets better gas mileage, and it's an automatic, so I'm more comfortable driving it. But I had a feeling I should take the Jeep instead, which I didn't understand at the time. But because the Jeep is so boxy, it only tipped over instead of rolling all around the street like the Outback would have. I ultimately ended up without injuring myself or anyone else. That's such an incredible blessing. I was really afraid I'd find out it was my fault after all, and that I'd hurt someone, and I'm so grateful that the other girls were fine. and that we didn't have a pile-up. and that we're not buying Jean a new car. And that my insurance agent is so nice to talk to. He told me to tell my husband that my "therapist" at USAA told him he needs to wine and dine me, take me to Tucano's, draw me a hot bath, and rub my shoulders. He said he wanted to have a little fun with Charles, since nobody was injured. I told him I'd pass it on to him, but I'm feeling so guilty about totaling CJ that I'll just take myself to Tucano's, instead.

That was a joke. But I could really go for some grilled pineapple and fried bananas.

Here are some pictures of the car.

This one's my favorite. This metal box was our car's 72 hour kit, and it was kept under the driver's seat. The car doesn't look that bad for a totaled car, but that box is for sure totaled. how did it get that mangled?

news

2008-04-21T10:59:00.003-06:00

so this will be a very lame post. It's all updates.

1. we moved over the weekend. we now live in West Valley with Charles' mom until we leave for Russia next month.

2. My mom is flying in for Emile's wedding today. the wedding's not today. Just the flying. And I'm going to go get her!

3. Emile's going through the temple tomorrow and getting married on Saturday.

4. I'm graduating on Friday.

5. Charles is a very good packer. I'm glad I had him while we were moving, because I'm such a spaz, and he's so calm and collected. I just love that guy!

I'll get to the tags as soon as possible, but internet is kind of hard at Jean's. Not sure it'll be that great in Moscow either, but where there's a will there's a way. That's what I've heard, anyway.

Something besides a snowflake

2008-04-17T16:01:00.003-06:00

Molly Meppen

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Molly Campbell

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
125
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Charles Campbell

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
3,461
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

I used to be unique, until I got married and sold out (literally) and changed my name. I never planned to change my last name, but we ended up having the same last name because of all the checks we got for the wedding written out to "Charles and Molly Campbell." That makes me a sellout. Recently I've begun to wonder if there is a way to change it back, and while Charles is supportive of the idea, I have also become very attached to the name Campbell. I want to have the same last name as my kids, too. Can you just give kids whatever last name you want? Then I could choose one for me and for my kids. Or maybe they can be Meppen-Campbells. I don't see either of our families being very enthusiastic about that idea. Mostly I'm writing this entry to freak my mom out. Got ya!

Conspiracy Theory

2008-04-10T22:59:00.005-06:00

PeterPanism of the day.

2008-04-10T16:48:00.003-06:00

So, with all of our friends suddenly growing up, getting married, and having babies, Charles and I have started talking about the next phase in our lives, and we have ultimately decided that we will never grow up.
We have instituted a few new rules to make sure that we are never tempted to grow up:
1. Ice cream is a nutritional choice for dinner at least once a week. We reccommend Ben and Jerry's cream cheese brownie, chocolate fudge brownie, or creme bruleee. These flavors have the most nutrients, and the most chunks of delicious gooey brownie.
2. Sleepovers are a nightly occurrence. Flashlights and all.
3. Always observe the golden rule, unless the other person started it. Then get even. For example, if your husband uses your toothbrush, it is only fair that you wear his favorite socks the next day. They need not fit, but he must not know they are missing until he sees them in the laundry basket the next night. Bear in mind, however, he will be free to get even after that. So make sure you hide your Easter candy.
With these rules in mind, you too can be a perpetual kid. Join us if you dare!

Shannon's getting married!

2008-04-04T14:39:00.003-06:00

Shannon's getting married on August 8, 2008 in the San Diego temple! She came up for conference with the love of her life and we got to hang out with them and get to know Keith. I totally approve of him, and I can't wait to see their babies! Shannon and I had a bet going over who would get married first. I defied all odds, and had to pay her $20 because of it. But I'm going to get it back when she has babies first. So the sooner the better!

My hero.

2008-03-27T12:37:00.002-06:00

Here to restore our family honor, Charles has an announcement. He can take 28 five year olds! That's more than any of you! Thank goodness for his lack of moral scruples. I'm a little too squeamish about morals, but Charles thought it was a brilliant idea to use one kid as a weapon against the other 27. I love this man!
28

I'm that good.

2008-03-26T12:56:00.005-06:00

I could take 12 five-year-olds in a fight. I saw Natalie's post with her survey results. I think we all know that I'm at least 100% addicted to blogging, so I skipped that survey and took a funner one. 12 Yeah, I'm that good.

Today's Booty

2008-03-20T21:41:00.004-06:00

I did pretty well today. I got my wedding ring back from Wilson's, where it was being rhodium plated. It's so nice and shiny now. I love my engagement ring, and I love wearing it, but it's become a right hand ring, and I feel naked without my wedding ring. Charles designed it, and he did such a nice job! I always thought I didn't want a big diamond, and I would have been happy with a cubic zirconium even a quarter of the size of my diamond now. But I love love love my ring! I'm so vain about it. I'm always staring at it and seeing if I can get it to sparkle different colors and I know how silly that sounds. When people see me doing that, they probably assume I got engaged the night before or something. But I'll be doing that when I'm ninety. Charles is always saying that if I want, I can get a different setting someday. He is under the impression that I can ever get sick of my ring. Silly boy.

In addition to my ring, I got fudge and a Jamba and 72 hour kit supplies! Charles went to Cabela's with his brother to see if he could find something to beef up our 72 hour kits with his gift card, and while he was there he picked up all kinds of fudge! He knows what he's getting into when he does that. But nobody warned him about it before our first date, for which he brought me raspberry fudge. It was all over for him at that point, unbeknownst to him. I've since confessed to him that the fudge was the first reason I fell for him. The second reason was that he took me to a Christian Bale movie. The third reason was that after I told him what my favorite books were, he went and read them. But the first reason was the fudge, and it makes me happy that even though he knows he's stuck with me forever, he still wants to bring me fudge! He got some "afternoon delight" fudge, which is chocolate, divinity, and caramel. He got orange cream, raspberry swirl (like the kind from our first date), and cookies and cream cheesecake. I love that boy. And his taste in fudge.

And then he called on the way home to tell me he would be home soon, and when I asked him what he wanted for dinner so I could get it started, and he offered to bring me home a peach p-word Jamba instead. Am I spoiled or what?

Kodak Moments

2008-03-19T22:39:00.006-06:00

We don't have Kodak moments anymore. Charles still has film from his mission that he has yet to get developed, because he hasn't finished the roll. Digital cameras are the best.
I've decided to start taking my camera with me everywhere I go. I have it in my purse right now, and it's ready to go to school with me in the morning. I've caught quite a few fun moments with it, such as the St. Parakeet's Day picture from my previous post.
While I've vowed not to miss Kodak moments anymore, this decision, I'm afraid, has come far too late in my life to catch some of my most beloved Kodak moments. For example, in the spring of 2006, while I was on my daily mail route for OIT, in a light and chilly drizzling rain, I noticed what looked like a tiny studio apartment set up between the library and the HRCB. There was a bed, neatly made, with a small wooden nightstand, and a lamp with a crooked shade. There was an armchair that looked like it came from DI, and a closet. Actually, the closet was just a makeshift bar from which hangers were hung with all black and white clothes. The studio apartment was outdoors, in the rain. It was uninhabited. I stared at it for awhile, trying to figure out if there was some geurilla theater going on or something that I was missing, until I realized I needed to get back to work. On the way back from my route, the entire studio was gone. I never saw it again, and to this day I have no idea what it was about. I just wish I had a picture of it.

Here are a few of the Kodak moments I have been able to catch since my decision to carry a camera with me at all times.

The flowers Charles sent me at work when I was having a rough day.

And how I looked after trying to transport them home on my lap.

And how I finally resorted to transporting them home.

And how Charles looked upon seeing me arrive home with his flowers.

And my nephew dressed as Napoleon Dynamite. Random, but so worth having a picture of. Thanks to me and my camera, he will have this picture in the slide show at his wedding. That's a promise.