camera frustrations.

let me just say that i love my camera.  

but last night i almost threw it against the wall.  

maybe it is the crazy pregnancy hormones (the hubs can attest to those).  

but it could also be because my camera would not obey me last night no matter what i did.   

i think the problem was with my flash but i am not sure.  i have had the camera for almost a year and have yet to take a class or something to really learn about it.  

anyway, here are the less than perfect, but still cute, photos i took my my little man.

this one was totally underexposed and by lightening and adding highlights, it looks kind of vintage. 

this one was over exposed.  and i could do nothing to fix it really. 

this picture overexposed his face a little.  but the black and white effect makes it look better.  

all of these photos were taken in the same room on the same setting.  so why all the different outcomes i don't know.  i will figure my camera out one of these days.  but at least i have a good subject to work with!

baby bump.

this is really pathetic, but i took my first real pregnancy picture today.  and i am 17 weeks.  

i never got into the whole taking your picture every week thing mostly because i was just lazy and would forget but i definitely want to have some pictures.  

so here is 17 weeks.
and it is not so much a bump anymore as much as it is a ball.  

(ignore my stupid expression.  i was trying to hurry and keep cole out of the picture)

babies update.

i just realized that i never posted my most recent ultrasound pictures.  when i went in for my appointment at  14 weeks, i thought that it would be like my normal appointments with cole, where i heard the heartbeat and asked questions.  but when i got there, i had a nice surprise of getting another ultrasound since with twins, they were still too small to hear separate heart beats without an ultrasound.  

so here are the pictures i got.  and they are kind of fuzzy since i was too lazy to scan them in and i just snapped photos of the photos with my phone and emailed them to myself!

 one baby was up front and the other was further back and we couldn't get a solo picture. 

so far babies are doing great.  they both had strong heartbeats and are measuring the same size right now.  we will get another ultrasound on october 4th to find out the sex! 

and yesterday i felt a baby kick for the first time!  that is my favorite part of pregnancy!  it almost makes up for all the sickness during the first trimester.  almost. 

campbell happenings.

so here are the things that have been happening in our life recently.

1.  brenner left yesterday for zimbabwe, africa.  he will be gone for 10 days.  once again, i missed my opportunity to go since i am pregnant.  but we got a nice surprise this morning.  after arriving in harare (capitol), he found that they now have broadband internet in zimbabwe.  we were able to sykpe for 10 minutes!  the wonders of technology never cease to amaze me.  

2.  we are potty training.  i can't believe that we are in that phase already but cole has been doing really well over the last month and is making steady progress.  my goal?  get this child trained by February!  

but i am already learning about the inconveniences of this stage.  having to go in the grocery store?  and mcalisters deli?  and the cupcake place?  all within 2 hours?  not fun for mama.  (and yes, life revolves around food around here these days.) 

3.  i threw a baby shower for my good friend blanche this morning.  

i am thankful for the internet for the many ideas i found to make this shower come together.  isn't it nice when others are creative for you???

the shower was great and i can't wait for baby londyn to arrive!  

4.  i have a bug bite inside my belly button.  just thought i'd share. 

5.  my belly button is already starting to pop out.  

6.  i made homemade spaghetti and meatballs this week from a cookbook my sister gave me about feeding hungry boys.  they were delicious and cole has since been asking for 'beballs'.   

7.  i have started re-reading a book i read over 10 years ago, the winds of war by herman wouk.  great book and i better read now since i won't have time to read a book for the next 10 years.

8.  football.  we watch football, we throw the football, we are reading football books to cole (who loves to say 'tadown!' and throw his hands in the air).  and i am loving baylor and their undefeated record so far.  hoping they can keep it up a little while longer!  

here is cole at the bu game last week, saying 'loud' and covering his ears at the loudspeaker.  

9.  i am anxiously awaiting oct 3, brenner's return, and oct 4, the day we find out the sex of the babies! 

10.  we started going to bible study fellowship on wednesday mornings.  cole loves it and says 'bible?' the whole way over there (which was one of his first words he said really clearly).  i am SO glad to get back into a bible study and thankful that cole is getting to learn more about the bible.  

so there is a glimpse into the campbell house!  

safe driving.

cole wanted to remind everyone what NOT to do when operating a vehicle.  

no talking on your cell phone.

 and absolutely no texting.

safety is a priority 

(which he is learning as he drove off that there step from the living room to the back room and fell out of his car....while on the phone).   

our final swim days.

we are trying to take advantage of a few more swim days. 
the water has finally cooled down enough that it feels refreshing again.   during july and august it felt like we were being parboiled.   

reflections on the summer.

i finally found the rest of my summer pictures from my vacation in new york.  

we had such a good time and i miss that wonderful place, those wonderful temperatures, and those wonderful people.

our lovely group.  look for this picture in the next camp brochure :)  

 the kids.
we have similar pictures from 15+ years ago.  minus a bunch of kids who couldn't come this summer.
how fun it is to see us all grown up (well most of us!)
also notice how i am obviously not part of the o'dell family.  the foot height difference should be your first clue.  i much resemble a midget in this photo.

cole at the beach for the first time. 

staring me down after a battle for the camera.

cutie.

funny picture. 

 hanging with the boys.

cole has never had so much rough housing in his life.  he loved it.  anything to play with the big boys.
here he is being spun in circles on stephen's head.

 best bud nate.

swimming with poppy.

 the beginning of the baby bump.  little did i know then the surprise of twins!

the dining hall.  which i would have enjoyed more if every single meal had not made me run to the bathroom.  good times. 

i was relieved one evening to go and enjoy a concert and here were cole's babysitters.
it takes a team, i tell ya.
not really, they were all just too sweet not to help!

 not sure where he picked up this lovely habit.

we had so much fun.  and it was so memorable for cole.  he still asks about emily, nate, josh, courtney and stephen EVERY SINGLE DAY.  i kid you not. he doesn't need a picture or prompting, just random times he looks at me and says "nate?" "no, honey, we are not going to see nate today, he is in maryland." 

"dosh?"  "no, honey, we are not going to see josh today, he is in maryland." and it goes through all 5 o'dell siblings.  seriously, almost 2 months later, EVERY SINGLE DAY.  it cracks me up.  

we love our friends (who are always welcome to fly to texas to babysit by the way) and we look forward to vacationing with them again soon!

p.s. many photos courtesy of emily o'dell!

love. this. picture.

i snapped this photo of cole and brenner last week when we went swimming.  correction.  they went swimming.  i cannot fit into my bathing suit anymore.  at least not that anyone should be forced to see.

anyways,   

i. love. this. picture. 

totally captures how my boy feels about hanging with his dad. 

break from the heat.

last week the weather cooled down here so much.  it was such a change after 3 horrible summer months.  

i have decided that i officially hate summer.  

anyway, labor kicked off a week of amazingly cool temperatures, and by cool, i mean in the mid-80s, so not cool for most, but almost cold for us.

we spent SO much of the week outside.  especially in the morning and evening.

cole LOVES to play in the water, like most kids, especially the water hose.  

brenner has somehow revived our grass in the back yard and has been trying to keep it watered, which cole insists on helping with

he doesn't love it when it isn't his turn, though

i am so sad that the temperatures are already climbing back up, but at least last week gave me hope that fall will eventually come.  or the slight dip in temperatures and few falling leaves that texas calls fall.  

My Chaplain

as you know, brenner spent 5 weeks up in boston this summer for air force duty.  

it was a really great experience in so many ways.  

about a week after he was back, he got a call from a friend on the base telling him there was an article in the paper about him.  he had given an interview before he left and thought that it would be a small little blurb about the guest chaplain on base.  it turned out it was an entire page!  it was a great article and i thought you might want to read it!

read it here:

Chaplain candidate tests the waters

happy weekend!

our friday started off rough, cole was crabby from the moment he got up, so the game plan for friday was simple: have a day of fun.  

after 10 weeks of feeling HORRIBLE, i am finally feeling better and i decided that we needed to have a fun day.  

cole and i went to the mayborn museum, we ate pancakes for lunch, took a three hour nap (i only slept two), ate subway for dinner, played with bubbles and then in the water hose.  

it was fun.  

here was my partner in crime.

he was giving me his stinky face.