Where to begin...

My once-a-month posts are going to devolve into once-a-quarter if I don't watch it! It's been a crazy month. Between Campbell crawling and all the holiday celebrations, there hasn't been much time for sitting down and reflecting. Thank goodness for Flickr and YouTube, so even if I don't get updates done here as often as I'd like, it's not like I have to dig out the camera when I do make it on - just have to drop in a couple of embedded images/video/links.
Like this:

Or this (sorry for the dark video. We were trying to keep the lights low to encourage her to settle down for bedtime. ha.):

In addition to crawling and clapping, Campbell is starting to "cruise". She can walk her way down a piece of furniture, but is seldom brave enough to let go of one as she makes her way to another without first getting all the way down.

We had a rough couple of weeks where she decided sleeping was for the weak and refused to go down at bedtime, then refused to go back down when she woke up during the night. G had the magic touch and often ended up being the one who finally got her settled down. This last week, though, she's pretty much returned to normal. The key at this point is making sure she's truly ready for bed - if she's not wound all the way down, there's no hope.

She'll be nine months on Saturday and G got a fancy new camera, so we're planning on taking our own 'milestone' shots this time around, then taking it back to the pro (Emily Melson) for one-year pics. One-year. How is that already even a consideration?!

Stat update: Campbell was an even 19 lbs. at her 8-month weight check. She's eating three meals a day - one jar (fruit) and cereal mid-morning, one jar (veggie) and cereal around lunchtime, and one or two jars with a protein included at dinner. She started Cheerios a couple of weeks ago and is now a pro. We've tried cooked carrots one time, and if I wasn't so lazy, we'd probably have started a few other finger foods, too. We bought her kiwi, mango, broccoli, more carrots and a couple other fruits that I can't think of just now this weekend, so hopefully soon I'll have a chance to try and broaden her horizons even further.

All in all, I continue to be amazed at how blessed we are to have such a laid back, happy, beautiful little girl.

Here Comes Trouble

It's been a big week for baby girl. We picked her up in OKC after a birthday party for my nephew Hudson on Sunday then swung by our friends Vicki and Jason's on the way home for the BCS Bowl Announcement. (Go Frogs!)

While there, Campbell decided it was about time to learn to crawl already. Now, there's no stopping her. (Pay no attention to me making bowl trip plans in the background.)






All that crawling must have done something to her immune system, because she also had her first official illness (assuming you don't count the jaundice at birth) this week. A yucky virus that causes throat ulcers. She was running a 102 fever after day care on Monday. We already had a doc appt. scheduled because she has some dry skin we were concerned about (eczema) and they diagnosed the virus as well. We had to keep her out of day care for a few days - not a huge deal since G's mom watches her two days a week anyway. The doc had warned us we might have to syringe fluids if Campbell wouldn't eat, but the virus hardly slowed her down at all. We gave Tylenol to control the fever and today it was gone completely. Yay!

And also BIG news this week - she's done with her DOC Band. Woo Hoo!!! At her first appointment, they measure her asymmetry as 10 mm. At this last one, it was 2.6 - better than 97% of the population. We have one more session of physical therapy scheduled, and hopefully that will be the end of that as well. What a relief!

Giving Thanks

I have so much to be thankful for this year, I really don't even know where to begin. But, this seems like the obvious choice:

That's from Campbell's 6-month photos. So sad that I'm just now posting these, and she's already seven months! That milestone was met with a little less fanfare...

That sheet says "I'm seven months old today!", but Campbell was much more interested in eating it than showing it to the camera. Eating is one of the things she does really, really well. G took her in for a weight check on Monday, and she tipped the scales at 18 lbs. 11.2 oz. She's taking a fruit and 1/4 cup cereal in the morning, a veggie and 1/4 cup cereal in the afternoon, and we just started doing dinner this week - some days she's in to it, some days she's not. All that, plus four or five 6-oz. bottles, depending on the day.

She babbles a lot, and we're pretty sure she's associated Dada with Garett, even though she's not been too consistent with it. We're starting baby sign language, and I'm really excited about her being able to communicate what she wants with us in more ways besides just crying. Not that she cries all that often - really, still only when she's tired, hungry or bored. She's pretty much past her short bout of separation anxiety, which is a relief. The worst part was bedtime, but she's back to going down with hardly a fuss. Tonight, for instance, we put her down around 7 p.m., she talked and sang to herself for about 15 minutes, then fell asleep all on her own.

She's still very much Daddy's girl. I usually give her the first bottle of the day, then take her in to our room. As soon as she see Garett, she lights up. Also, looks like she's going to take after his early passion for computers.


I don't know how we got so lucky, but I truly am thankful for such a beautiful, healthy, joyful, inquisitive, intelligent, special baby girl.

Aquaphor Contest

I know I've been a complete blog failure recently, and now I'm only popping up for the self-serving reason of earning another entry into a contest for free Aquaphor, but I hope you'll forgive me as it will benefit Campbell in the end. Also, if I promise to post pictures soon!!

She Just Reviews It reviews Aquaphor.

Growing Like a Weed

Campbell won't officially be six months until this Friday, but we jumped the gun and got her six month vaccinations and check-up last Friday. We have her six month pictures scheduled for this weekend, and in case she had any related fussiness after the shots, we figured it was better to get them out of the way. She took them like a champ, though - even better than her three month shots.

And, her updated height/weight info.... drum roll please...
26.5" and 17.05 lbs - 80th percentile for both.

We also noticed yesterday that her first tooth has come through - and we didn't even realize she was full on teething! She's always been a bit of a drooler, and she never got especially fussy, so it came without incident. So hoping the rest of teething goes so easily. I Facebooked that it was her lower left, but it was actually her lower right. You'd think by now I could tell the difference.

We also went and prettied up her DOC Band, thanks to the good folks at 36o Wraps. The owner will be setting up a foundation soon to help offset the cost of the wraps, which he does for free, so if you have some extra money to throw at charity, consider throwing some their way.


We wanted to do the Dallas Stars logo in pink and white, but the guy has to worry about copyright/use problems, so we went with this flower instead.


Look ma - sitting all on my own!


Big fan of the Glo-Worm.


Don't mess with me. Seriously. Don't. Unless it involves getting my belly, in that case, mess away.

G won tickets to the World Series, so we'll be leaving Campbell in the capable hands of my parents next week. I've become a Yankees fan, in hopes that we'll be visiting New York. And when we get back - Halloween and TCU Homecoming. Campbell was going to be a monkey, but the costume we bought is too big (6 - 18 months should not be a size) so I'm working on something else - that's a little teaser for the next update. :)

Even though it was completely floppy, it's still super cute, so I thought I'd share what she would have looked like as a monkey (and this may be a preview for next year if she doesn't outgrow it!)


Yes, yes I'm adorable...


and precious...


but deep inside I'm plotting to take you all over with my cuteness.

Oh, and for the record, she's now eating solids twice a day - fruit in morning, sometimes with cereal, sometimes without, and a veggie in the afternoon - and taking four 7 oz. bottles, plus another 5 or so oz. at bedtime. And, I must just say again, she is a dream baby. She's so good at amusing herself, but also loves getting hugs and kisses. I can already tell she's going to be a daddy's girl - she keys in on G whenever he's around, and saves her biggest smiles and laughs for him. :)

The Only Thing that Separates Us from the Animals is Our Ability to Accessorize

We picked up Campbell's DOC Band last Monday and after a week long 'break-in' period, she's now in it 23 hours a day - one hour off during bath time before bed.



Right now she's just sporting some flower stickers, but we'll take her in to 360 wraps a week from Tuesday to get it done up right. Since she'll likely be in the helmet two to three months, we at least want to make it something special to look at and not just orthotic.

For those who think she was just perfect without the band, here's a shot to show why we went ahead and elected to get it:



The hope is after a few weeks in the band, the back of her head will even out to a round shape.

Moving on to even cuter accessories, I somehow stumbled across the pettiskirt a while back (that link is the one I was trying to recreate) and decided Campbell had to have one. But, I wasn't about to pay the $85 that well-made ones retail for. I found a few on etsy.com for less, but I still thought I could probably make it for cheaper. So, I bought the fabric, and I think it turned out pretty darn well, if I do so say myself. Campbell didn't give an opinion, but she did put it in her mouth, which I choose to take as a sign of approval.




That's a lot of ruffle fluff!


More pics of the pettiskirt construction and Campbell modeling on Flickr.

And, as always, every time I update my blog, I'm updating the Campbell at Home set on Flickr (link on the right).

Because I'm sure inquiring minds want to know, Campbell is fond of sweet potatoes, squash and bananas, and has so far tolerated carrots, green beans and green peas. On the list: applesauce, peaches, prunes and avocado. I love watching her reactions the first time she gets to try something new.

Of Rice Cereal and Sweet Potatoes

Campbell wasn't such a big fan of the rice cereal, but she did much better on sweet potatoes. G videotaped both adventures, presented here for your viewing enjoyment:
Rice cereal attempt (pretty much an exercise in futility):


First taste of sweet potatoes (yum!):