9 steps.

On Friday night February 12, 2010....Campbell took 9 steps in a row! 9 steps! Then she sat down hard, and hit herself in the mouth with the toy she was trying to dismantle. The end result was a busted lip. Tears. Very little blood. More tears.

So--the score for Friday night was: Gravity: 1, Campbell: 0

The belly mould is unveiled.

About a week before Campbell's birth, we made a plaster mould of my torso..which was mostly giant belly at that point. Our doctor described this practice as "pretty granola", and laughed hysterically when we told him that I stood on a shower curtain in the kitchen wearing a string bikini top and short shorts while Kyle laid plaster strips all over me. This was apparently, highly amusing.

Anyway, Mary-Charlotte agreed to paint and decorate the dried mould and her boyfriend Jay built us a frame for it. The frame is from pieces of the coffee table built 33 years ago by Kyle's dad. So--the entire project has been a work of love. Here are the pictures of the finished product. For anyone out there that is considering having a baby, let me encourage you to do a belly mould. Don't buy a kit, just do the plaster of paris and strips of gauze method. You won't be sorry you did!

Uh-oh. We have a climber

Campbell learned a valuable lesson today.
I as putting up the dishes from breakfast and she was getting out her books from under the coffee table. We have a glasstop table with a raised shelf underneath...and there is maybe an 12-14 inch gap between shelf and the top. Apparently, she didn't want to get her books out--instead she wanted to get herself in with the books. She climbed up on the shelf and then got stuck. She couldn't get flat enough to get out and she couldn't turn around because she had her feet stuck under her.

I didn't get a picture because she was screaming so loud I just wanted to get her out. But I couldn't help from smiling at her...she just looked so worried and all I had to do was grab her little legs and straighten them out. :-). I am currently trying to figure out if it is a bad idea to tether a child to the ground.....I am not prepared for a climber.

Kick and stretch and kick and squat.

Campbell is getting revved up to walk. She could totally do it now, but she seems to get freaked out everytime she takes a step....like it scares her. We are ok with her waiting a little longer since walking adds a whole new layer of complexity to the child-in-the-house issue. Here are some pictures of Campbell on Saturday morning going through her repertoire:


Here are a couple of her just standing....she likes to go from the table to the couch and back again. We have started putting her snacks in little piles around the table top and she just walks around picking up finger foods and munching away. This greatly reduced the freakouts around snacktime. This lady does not like to be restrained.

First Shiner

Here are some pictures of Campbell's first "shiner". These are a couple of weeks old, but she was healing from her altercation with the dog. They are now permanently separated (to both of their dismays), but that is going to have to be the case until Campbell is less unpredictable and a little steadier on her feet. She had a tiny mark under her eye (turned into a nice shiner) and a little cut on her forehead (you can see it here). The one on her forehead may leave a small scar, but hopefully her hair will cover it one day. We are doing our best to work with the dog but he is on double secret probation....and he knows it so he is very cooperative.

Campbell's 9 month checkup

Campbell stats for her 9 month check up are as follows:
Height: 29 inches (still under the limit for the car seat!)
Weight: 20 lbs, 4 oz (ditto!)

The doctor said that she was doing really well....still active. We got extra encouragement to give her meat so that she doesn't get anemic (I guess not uncommon in babies and can be made worse if they are active like Campbell).

The doctor asked if she was "pulling up" and I started laughing. She has been pulling herself up to stand since 7 months (and earlier she was using the living room table exclusively). She stands by herself and can squat and go back up to standing. She has taken a couple of steps but hasn't done that in a couple of weeks. She is babbling and really likes to have you read her books. It is hilarious because she totally has some quirks. She won't hold her own bottle if I am feeding her. She insists on me doing it....this is not the case with Mary-Charlotte. She also has decided that food is stupid sometimes....she will barely eat some days and other days you can't keep her full. I guess the pickiness is starting.

Though some folks will say that she is too young, we have started letting her watch Dora and Diego cartoons in the morning. This is helpful because she watches that while we lay down for her morning nap. It seems to be something that she likes because she starts laughing as soon as it comes on.

One last thing. Campbell has started to "dance" if you play music. Charlotte was playing her new dulcimer and Campbell started flapping her left arm and smiling and laughing. So--legs aren't involved yet but she is getting the arms down. She kind of looks like Karen-O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for those fans out there. :)

Naps and Walking the Dog

Some totally cute pictures of Campbell using Kyle as a napping arena. She loves to take a nap on Kyle. He has turned into the go-to guy for getting her to relax and lay down on the couch for a nap.

This hat was made by my Aunt (Campbell's great-aunt, who BTW was very helpful in getting a list of family names to go through to pick her name). Anyway, it has been super-handy on our winter walks with the dog. It was the only hat that she would wear without yanking it off for one entire week. This one is of us about to go out the door for the evening dog walk.