Standing. She's got it down.

This is Campbell's new favorite place to hang out....no, not the kitchen. I mean hanging onto my pants. If I move very slowly, she will shuffle along with me, but mostly she just wants to hang on my pants. My legs are covered in tiny bruises from her tiny raptor claws digging into my thighs.....she's strong! Also, she is totally pulling herself up on everything and does laps around the coffee table all day long. We have a mover and shaker on our hands.

Preparing for Christmas. She wore this hat for 30 seconds and then acted like we were trying to kill her with it. She does not like hats for some reason....maybe it's her giant melon. She gets self-conscious perhaps?

5K November 2009 pictures.

Ready to cheer Dad on. YAY for exercise at 8am! Go TEAM KYLE. Check out those gams.....I love baby legs. CamySue and Mom. Hanging out while Kyle runs the 5K. She got so exhausted from her cheering that a snack was in order. We had puffs and crunchies and some peaches. Yum.

Dad finished with the race....cheered on by the big lady. Feeling good and ran in a time of 27 minutes!

6 month checkup

Campbell had her 6 month check up, complete with 5 vaccines and the flu shot (boo hiss) on November 3rd. She is such a big lady! Here are her stats for her 6 month check up (2 weeks late):

Height: 28 inches (95 percentile)

Weight: 17 lbs, 9 oz (70 percentile)

She is doing really well. Funny story....when we were at the doctor's office, she asked us some questions about Campbell's activity levels and her progress with motor coordination. Then she leaned back and said "You have what we call an "active baby". How's that working out for you two?". I almost laughed. It was great to hear someone tell us that we are not crazy....our child really is on the move constantly and that is likely to be just part of who she is as a kid. Whew. I thought we were just whiners.

October trip to Philly.

So--I am behind on my blog posts....this parenting thing takes it out of you. Where has the time gone? :-)

Here are some pictures of Campbell taken during our trip to visit friends (and Kyle gave a talk at Rowan University) in NJ, just outside Philly.

Here is a picture of Campbell with Miss Alice. Though it looks like Campbell is copping a feel of Alice, I don't think she was being inappropriate.

This was a momentous trip for Campbell since she not only got to meet new friends, but she also got to have her first cheesesteak and french fry experience!

at Geno's eating cheesesteak and fries. Notice the cheesesteak bits in her hair courtesy of dad.

Another couple threw a Halloween party while we were in town (also friends from grad school) and we all dressed up. I was a cowgirl, Kyle was a mad scientist, Campbell was a hodge-podge with devil horns (see here being thrown off and eaten), a skeleton onesie, and leg bone baby legs.

Blueberries and Smurf-babies.

On Wednesday of last week, we tried yogurt with Campbell. She loved it but was super cranky all day. I think we will try again in a couple of weeks.....this is the only dairy she can have until she is at least a year...so it will be a bummer if she can't have it. Plus, my mom broke the seal on the peanut butter for Campbell while we were in Chicago. No ill effects, and she LOVED it. No surprise there since I can't live without my PB. FYI-for the next few months, we are going to be making our own baby cereals in addition to the fruits and veggies. Can't wait!

Today, we tried blueberries. This was a natural progression....and we had a ton of them in the freezer. I cooked the blueberries and threw them in the grinder (BTW--Campbell is totally conditioned to the sound of the grinder. She stops what she is doing and stares into the kitchen when it is being used. Smart kid) with some oatmeal and milk. It made waaaayyyy more than I thought it would. Luckily, I made what I did. She ate everything....and then wore the last 2 tablespoons. Here is the progression of lunch. We ended up having to hose down her bumbo and scrape blueberries off of her legs, face, and even her ears! Oh, and blueberries stain skin in case you didn't know. We now have a blue-faced baby asleep in her room. I am hoping the stain comes out before she has to go out in public again.

Chicago and the Nerdoscience Meeting.

A week ago, we went to Chicago for a conference. Grammy (Erin's mom) met us up there and we had a big ole time with the baby in the city. Campbell was EXCELLENT on the plane..on all the planes. She was amazing and we could not have asked for a better experience. The first couple of days, it was cold and rainy, but we got out and explored a little. Most of the rest of the time, Campbell kept Grammy on house arrest in the room (at least the view was nice....see the picture below from our window at the hotel). Apparently, Camysue used up all of her patience and good behavior on the plane ride. We had a great time and we could not have done the trip without having my mom there with us. Campbell would not have tolerated all the nerdiness at the conference.
Here is a pic of Campbell in her winter-wear.

Catching up a little.

So--the month of October is almost over and I feel like a bad blogger. Going to try to do better and catch up today. Here's what we have been up to:
1. Campbell got two teeth at the end of September and beginning of October. No more teeth since then...and for anyone that is interested, they are both on the bottom. We are still breastfeeding until she gets an upper tooth and then we will be weaning. Everyone seems to want to know what the deal is with that, so I thought I would just put it out there. :-)

2. Campbell started trying a new food on Thursdays and Sundays. Everything has gone really well...the only thing she hasn't LOVED was butternut squash, but we are going to try again with that one. So far she is up to carrots, peaches (#1 all time favorite), peas, green beans, plums, apricots, plumcots (hybrid of the two), squash, apples, pears, oatmeal, rice cereal, avocado, and banana. I think that is where the list left off prior to our trip to Chicago. More progress has been made, but you will have to see the next couple of posts for those.

3. She is "swimming" which is what we call the scooting she does to get everywhere...she lays on her belly and moves her arms and legs alternating as fast as she can go. She is getting some speed and agility and we are in big time trouble once she gets up on all fours consistently. Now, it is just practice. She is in love with the dog, his water bowl, eating cat fur off the floor (I am a terrible mother, I know, there is cat fur on the floor), tearing up magazines (#1 all time favorite activity), and generally touching anything and everything she can get her hands on. I can not turn my back for a second....the dog just looks at us like "are you going to let her touch MY BOWL???". Charlotte is going to baby-proof the house while we are at work the first week of November. Thank goodness for Auntie Cha Cha.

4. We started applying for jobs. This process is going to be going on all winter. We are not applying to as many jobs as we did last time. Hopefully, we will hit on something wonderful. The market isn't as strong as it was a couple of years ago, but it is WAY better than last year. We'll keep you posted.

I think that is about it....we have been working, trying to get home to see the baby before the witching hour (7-8 is rough around here), and then getting back to work after the baby is in bed. She is doing great. We are exhausted, but managing to be as productive as possible.

See the next post for the details of our trip to Chicago.