New Year's Resolutions

I'm especially excited about Advent this year -- a new Church year, a new mass translation, and all the new adventures we have to look forward to in MD.  At the same time, I miss our family and friends and I am trying to think of ways for us to stay connected on a day-to-day basis. 

So, I've decided to make a new year's resolution that I hope will bridge the gap a bit.  I plan to post a new picture each day in Advent.  I can't guarantee that I'll be able to post much more than a caption for each picture, but I hope the pictures themselves will tell the story of our daily adventures.

With that, here is the first one:

"All I Want for Christmas" -- Jack just lost one of his top teeth and the other one isn't far behind.  You can already see the permanent tooth coming in.  Jack was very pretty brave when David extraced the loose tooth with a floss lasso (the tooth had started to turn a creepy shade of blue-gray, so we all agreed it had to go!). 

Speed of life

We all continue to do well here at the Campbell household.  We've been healthy, the number of cardboard boxes in the house is slowly decreasing, and life is moving forward.  We've registered at what seems to be a lovely parish here, and we are starting to meet people and put down roots.  It is such a relief to know that we can get involved and become invested in this community beyond just 6 months!

There is definitely less free time now than there used to be (at least for me), but I can say that although I am busier and more tired than I would like, I am very happy.  It seems like I literally have to move very quickly during the day to get things done in a timely manner, i.e. dashing between the fridge and pantry for speed cooking, hussle cleaning, running up and down the stairs for items, etc. but it works and by the grace of God I have the energy for it.

Davy is charming us all with his big smiles and adorable coos.  His smiles are hard to capture on camera, but one of these days I'll get a good shot and post it.  The boys love making him smile!  I am so grateful for the gift of siblings (well, except for when they try and kill each other, but you get the idea).

The older boys entertain me with their boyness.  A continuing mealtime debate here is who is the better superhero -- Spiderman or Superman?  And what would happen if Superman and Darth Vader fought each other?  The boys don't help cook, they excavate the flour and sugar with the measuring cups.  They don't draw pictures of people and houses and flowers -- they draw tank fights and fighter jet battles.  They don't play house -- they invent a land called Janada (Japan + Canada) that grows kryptonite and makes it into sandwiches in case Superman comes around (they are decidedly anti-Superman in Janada).  It's all a little foreign to me, but I am greatly amused by the way their minds work!

Anyway, my time on the computer is up, but I hope to post more pictures of all the boys soon!

More photos

I owe this blog a meaty update post, but it will have to wait until my brain cells have recovered from the move and the sleep deprivation a little bit :).  In the mean time, here are some recent photos of the kids.  Jack was Black Spiderman for Halloween, Thomas was a Scary Skeleton, and Peter was a Phoebe Giraffe.  They had lots of fun wearing their costumes (Peter is actually wearing his right now!) and getting lots of candy.  We're all doing well, but are still unpacking and trying to get a routine back in the midst of it all.  Thankfully, we're all healthy and are enjoying our new home and neighborhood.

Photos

Apologies for taking so long to get these posted!  We're all doing well, but I seem to start a project or task and then get distracted and it takes forever to get back around to it.

Baby David has arrived!

Baby David arrived at 11:34AM this morning and weighed 8lb 8oz, and was 21.75 inches long. It was a quick and easy delivery, and both of us are doing very well. I could not have asked for a smoother or more peaceful delivery, and I feel great! Little David is very cute and strongly resembles his brothers. He wins the "hair of the month" according to the delivery nurses. It is quite the impresive mop. And he does have eyebrows :) (Peter had big hair, but was severely eyebrow deficient for a long time!).

If all continues to go well, I should get to go home from the hospital sometime on Friday. They do have free Wi-Fi here, so hopefully I can post a picture of him soon.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers!

Practicing Patience

Baby Davey (Or Davy?  I'm not even sure how we're going to spell that!) seems to be very comfortable right where he is, despite numerous signs that labor is supposedly just around the corner.  Today I'm 3 days late, which isn't too bad, but it feels like an eternity!  I am trying hard to be in good spirits, but I'm getting a little discouraged and more than a little uncomfortable.  My mom, David's mom, and David have all been very good about helping out with the kids, the house chores, encouraging me to take long walks, etc. but I feel like we're all waiting for this big event which could happen at any given moment.  There's sort of a palpable tension in the air, and it's starting to wear on me.

The good news is that the end is in sight --- my doctor won't let me go overdue past Saturday, so I just have to endure the rest of this week, at worst.

Today is the feast day of St. Francis, who I chose as my confirmation saint.  It would be a good day to go into labor, right?  :).  Or at least a good day to have an extra treat.  As always, your prayers are appreciated and we'll update you when there's more news.