Summer is here!

School ended June 17. Yay!

Brandon got a kindergarten diploma and graduate's cap on the last day of school.

The day after that, we headed for the beach!

The next day was really hot, too, so the kids cooled off in the back yard.

Emily asked me to help her decorate her scripture case to look more girly. Think we succeeded?

Baby GIRL Campbell

So, I never posted on this blog that our new baby is a GIRL. We found out on May 12. Emily and Brandon were pretty excited to hear the news. They'd both been praying that it would be a girl--especially Brandon, who said there were already too many boys and that Emily needed a sister. :)

Since we found out it was a girl, we've begun the task of searching for a name. I got a bigger baby name book this time--The Complete Book of Baby Names. It claims to have the "100,001 best baby names." Well, it seems to me that a bigger book of baby names just has that many more RIDICULOUS names for a child! I think choosing another girl name is a harder task than I'd assumed! If you have any good name ideas, feel free to comment.

For a while after I got pregnant, I felt pretty nervous to have another baby. I thought, if only I had boundless energy and never needed any sleep, I'd do fine! I wouldn't be cranky, I'd meet all my kids' needs... but alas, I'm human. It comforted me a bit to read in my 2008 journal that I was scared before I had Jacob. I didn't know how I'd handle four kids. (And now look at what a pro I've become! Eh, heh...) I do remember being really tired sometimes when Jacob was still really little.

But back to the more recent past. My nervousness mounted and I really wanted relief. I knew if I talked to Paul about my fears that I would be strengthened. So, the other night I told him all about how worried I was that I would be irritable with the kids and be generally unhappy for a while, and I didn't know how I'd get them all ready for the bus stop in the morning, etc. And he did strengthen me. In fact, from then on, I've felt really different about it all. Now I feel I can just wait and see how it'll be without stressing over it beforehand; I feel even more grateful for this amazing gift of another child that God is giving to us; I trust that God is the best helper and that if I ask, He will help me do this! I know that things will be okay. And who knows how many more babies, if any, we'll be blessed with after this. So after she's born, I want to try to relax and soak in the joy of having a newborn. And another GIRL! (I'm so glad I saved a few of Emily's baby clothes! It'll be so fun to use them again!)

Negative!

From time to time, Jacob still gets liquid-filled bumps. When he was 12 months, the doc assumed they were still MRSA. She figured he was a constant carrier of the bacteria. But at his 18-month checkup, the doctor (a different lady) took three skin tests to see if Jacob was a MRSA carrier, and all came back NEGATIVE. Now that is good news!

More Spring Happenings

Jacob signs "more" over and over when he sees food on the dinner table. It's a definite improvement over the screaming he used to do when he wanted food!


June 5, Paul made this lovely Japanese ensemble called mosubi: rice, fried spam, and eggs wrapped in seaweed. Everyone liked it.

On April 10, Paul ran the Ie Island half marathon. What a stud.


On May 25, Emily's 2nd grade class performed a hula dance for the Asian Pacific Heritage Month assembly. She's on the right. They made their own yarn leis in class.

For the past few months, Emily has participated in Taiko drum club (see last month's post). The girls in the club also learned a Japanese girls' dance and performed it at the Asian-Pacific Heritiage Month assembly. They were so cute in their kimonos!

Emily also participated in Music Club this year. Here she is during a performance for parents.

Nathan's preschool class had an end-of-year program. They sang songs and received certificates. He didn't feel like singing the songs for the parents, but he didn't mind posing for this picture with his teacher, Ms. Melina (right), and Ryoko-san, the teacher's assistant, who also taught them monthly lessons on Japanese culture.

The kids love seeing big bugs.

On Saturday, June 5, Brandon lost his second front tooth!

The same day, I gave Brandon a shorter haircut than he's had before. He initially was asking me to shave his head (no need to comb!). I showed him pictures online of kids with really short buzz cuts to be sure he knew what he was getting into, and he changed his mind and asked me just to give him a trim, but Paul and I talked him into getting a shorter cut. We all love it, including Brandon. (And it is easier for him to comb.)

Lots of pictures

Tooth Fairy season for Brandon! He's lost three teeth now.

Here he is after the 3rd tooth came out. It was already a bit loose when he bumped it on the playground and it loosened up enough for him to pull it out! He'd been asking for apples in his lunch to hurry up the process, so he was glad to get it out! Now he lisps more--and it looks like the other top front will come out before it comes in!

When one kid is on the computer they all gather around.

All of our kids love books! This is our "library."

We attended the Cherry Blossom Festival in Naha in February.


In March, Emily and Brandon's school had a "Character Parade." Emily dressed up as Pinkalicious from one of her books.


Brandon's class coordinated their costumes with a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme. Brandon was excited about holding the sign.



Jacob LOVES his puppy. He loves to bite its nose (and ears and tail). He got it for his birthday and a month or so later started chewing it a lot. Ever since then, he has stopped biting us! (Thanks, Mom Finlayson!) He's gotten LOTS of new teeth during that time, too. The puppy must soothe his gums a lot!



In April, Emily participated in a "Show and Share" talent show for the District Activity Days girls in our church. She showed this beautiful painting she made.

It's election season in Okinawa. Candidates ride around in these vans with speakers so they drive through the streets and thus force the public to hear them. The kids like waving to them because they always wave back.

Jacob is gaining lots of new abilities! He's pretty good at pushing himself around in his baby car now.

Last week I went with Emily's Gifted Ed. class to the Cryogenics Lab on Kadena Air Base. They put some rubber balls in liquid nitrogen and the kids broke them on the pavement.

Emily had hard time breaking it!

They also used the liquid nitrogen to make ice cream! Yum!

Emily performed with her Taiko Drum Club on May 3 for her school's Asian Pacific Heritage assembly.

On the dresser you'll see all the great cards and things the kids gave me for Mother's Day! I love you, kiddies!

Dates

Last Saturday Paul and I went out for my birthday (although my birthday was 2 months ago, due to a combination of laziness and babysitter difficulties). We went to Chili’s and then went and walked by the seawall. Good eats at Chili's--especially the molten lava chocolate cake! And it was great to talk and walk by the ocean.

Then the following Friday we went out with our friends, Ron and Carolyn Gibb, to a Thai restaurant. The owner is Thai but was raised in Canada and speaks English with a perfect accent, and he greeted Ron and Carolyn by name when we all walked in! They go there pretty often. And wow, it was really good food! I had coconut milk soup and some fried noodle stuff with peanut sauce. YUM. Then we went to Yogurtland for frozen yogurt. They have lots of flavors to choose from (you Utahns, think Maverick, only bigger, and cuter) and lots of toppings. Then you pay by the weight. It was good. Then we walked over to Chula-U, a spa where they have a foot bath outside, and we soaked our feet and talked. It was a good time, and we came home to find that our babysitter had cleaned up the living room with the kids. Very nice! We saved the pink and green plastic spoons for the kids. Sounds silly, but they were excited about them in the morning and wanted to use them right away for breakfast.

New Baby Campbell

A new baby Campbell is coming to our family around September 28, 2010. Today I am 12 weeks along and the pregnancy is going well--least amount of sickness I've ever had in my first trimester. Yesterday during an ultrasound I got a pretty good look at the cute little guy/gal, who was very active. It's so amazing to see such a complete little body in such a small size. The image was a little too fuzzy to be sure of the baby's sex, so hopefully next ultrasound we'll be able to tell. We'll keep you posted.

My doctor, (the same one who delivered Brandon, Nathan, and Jacob), said our summer travel plans should be unaffected by the pregnancy. I can travel up until the end of August, he said. We usually return to Okinawa at the beginning of August.

Yesterday the kids got the news. Nathan and Jacob came along with me to my doctor's appointment, so I told Nathan what was going on. He took it in stride. Interestingly, he had already guessed one day when he was next to me on the couch and he used my belly as leverage to boost himself up higher. Noticing the difference, he exclaimed, "There's a baby in your tummy!" I told him, "Not yet..." It wasn't time to tell him. Yesterday was. Now he likes to come up with names for the new baby. His favorite sounds something like, "Ooowitt" with a silly growl in his voice. (And when he says it, Jacob makes a cute little baby growl noise. Love it.)

Soon after the other kids got off the school bus, Nathan said to Brandon, "Mom has a baby in her tummy!" Brandon asked me if I really did, and I said yes, and he grinned--BIG! I was going to wait until Paul got home to tell Emily and Brandon so he could see their reactions, but since Nathan was blabbing, I figured Emily would rather hear it from me than the others, so I told her. It took a little time for her to adjust to the news. She felt uneasy about it and I think she was trying to put her finger on why. She said she was worried she'd have to share her room (which is pretty impossible, at least while we're here, seeing as her room is TI-NY!), and she said Jacob was too young to have a little brother or sister. Anyway, after a few hours of processing it, she felt better.

Paul and I are excited to welcome another little one into our family. Life isn't going to get any easier anytime soon, but as I remember reading from Elder Robert D. Hales (and I hope I'm remembering the source correctly): "I wasn't looking for easy." (Those who know me know that that's not always true about me, but I'm working on it.)

Emily got glasses

Emily's vision screening at school showed that she needed glasses. She's nearsighted. She picked out some light pink glasses. While we shopped, she admired the fancy glasses cases at a couple of the stores, but it turned out that she got a free (and pretty plain) plastic case with her glasses, which was a little disappointing. So I bought her some jewel stickers to dress up her case.

We don't see her glasses on her much, because the optometrist told her she didn't have to wear them all the time--just for school. She can take them off for reading, recess, P.E., and home.

Happy 8th Birthday, Emily

Jacob's 1st birthday

Cake with a "J"

Yummy stuff!



Plush dog from Paul's mom. She even did surgery to remove its bark!


Dinosaur bath toys from my mom.

Jacob with all his opened presents.

I'll post videos soon!