Team Campbell

Got It!

Katie — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:48:00 GMT

We finally have video of Bethany walking. Enjoy!

Hiking at Twin Falls State Park

Katie — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:55:00 GMT

Since we celebrated the first anniversary of our move to the Seattle area last week, we decided it was time for us to start enjoying the greatness of the outdoors here! We joined what seemed like every other young family in Western Washington to hike at Twin Falls State Park on Memorial Day. The highlight of the hike is a pair of waterfalls with lookout points between them. We stopped for a rest and some photos at the higher of the two falls.

I uploaded more pictures from the hike to my Shutterfly share site, Team Campbell Pictures. Go ahead and check them out, no password necessary.

It was the first time I’d ever hiked anywhere with an elevation gain, and Dustin carried Bethany in our frame backpack carrier the whole way. After a 500 foot elevation change over a 4 mile roundtrip distance, we were tired and sore, but it was worth it! (Or at least I think so.)

Cheap Flights!

Katie — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:53:00 GMT

Southwest airlines is offering reduced fare rates. One-way flights from Chicago, Detroit and Columbus to Seattle are as low as $99!

Purchase your tickets by April 6, 2009 for travel through August 14, 2009. The airline requires that tickets be purchased 14 before travel for any day except Friday and Sunday, and there are blackout dates around Memorial Day and Independence Day. Check it out.

Summer is absolutely gorgeous here. The guest room is ready. We’d love to see you!

When Bethany Skips Her Naptime...

Dustin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:51:00 GMT

Bethany Turns Fifteen…Months, That Is

Katie — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:23:00 GMT

Bethany keeps growing and learning. It’s amazing to see. She has a very strong little personality, giving hugs and kisses freely when she’s content and expressing her increasingly stronger opinions when she has them. She’s very attached to her blanket, and always makes little question sounds as she looks around her world. Her car seat faces forward now, and she likes to ride the city bus. She loves reading books, singing and dancing, playing with toys and swinging at the park. This is an exciting time to be a parent.

And now for those “How is your kid?” FAQs.

Q: How big is Bethany?

A: At her 9 month well visit, she was 19 lbs, 5 oz and 27-1/2 inches tall. At her 12 month visit, she was 20 lbs, 11 oz and 29-1/4 inches tall. And at her 15 month appointment, she was 22 lbs, 10 oz and 30 inches tall. Whew! And for those of you who wonder, that means she grew 10 inches in her first year of life. What’s even more amazing are her head measurements. Her height and weight have been about average for her age, but are currently a little less than average. On the other hand, her head measurement has continued to surpass the average so that she’s in the 75th-90th percentile range.

Quite the melon head.

Q: Does she walk?

A: Sort of. As it turns out, Bethany is very cautious about letting go. We can coax her to take about two unassisted steps at a time before she drops to a crawl or lunges to grab a support. She will, however, push furniture and her toy shopping cart around the room to allow her to cruise where she doesn’t have handholds. Most frustrating for me, though, is her refusal to take any steps when I have the camera at the ready. Switching the camera on seems to be the most reliable way to ensure that she immediately stops what she’s doing and crawls directly toward the camera’s pretty red light.

I’ll catch her someday. And when I do, I’ll post it for you. I promise.

Q: Can she talk?

A: YES! What Bethany lacks in the walking department, she makes up for in the talking department. She’s a real chatterbox, with her vocabulary growing by the day. She started by saying Dadadada when she was happy and Mamamama when she was upset, but those definitely became our names by 10 months. Around that time, she also started to woof when she saw a dog. Now she has a considerable repertoire of animal sounds (dog, cow, chicken, monkey, fish, lion, owl, bear, elephant…). She can ask (and demand) to be picked “up” and put “down.” At night she takes a “bath” where she plays with “bubble” and then tells her daddy “night-night.” She’ll talk on the phone and say “hello, hello, hello,” unless the phone talks back to her, in which case she is too surprised to say anything. When we pass the kitchen counter she tells me that she wants a “nana". She can name eyes, nose, ears, heh, muth and toes. In fact she even sings “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” omitting all references to shoulders and knees. One of her favorite activities is to read a buh. Her current favorite is One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Last week, it was Go, Dog, Go!

Oh-and when Bethany needs to tell me something but doesn’t know the words, she just makes them up.

Q: Does she sleep through the night?

A: You had to ask this one, didn’t you? No, she doesn’t sleep through the night yet, but we’re working on it. Things are improving a lot.

Q: What does she like to eat?

A: Right now, I think Bethany’s favorite food is the banana because she asks for it by name. She’s eating mostly table food, but she doesn’t quite eat what Dustin and I do. Back in January, she was tested for food allergies, because she’d had a few reactions. The tests turned up eggs, wheat and peanuts as offenders. The doctor we saw said that she’d probably outgrow the allergies in a few years, but for now, we’re avoiding these foods entirely. On the bright side, there are a lot of creative alternatives she can eat, including alfredo sauce on rice noodles. She’s also learning how to eat with a spoon and spork. Mealtimes are a bit messy, but fun.

Q: Has she had a haircut yet?

A: We’ve had her bangs trimmed twice. She is very cooperative at the kids’ hair salon and likes to sit in the fire engine chair. They gave me a little baggie of the first locks they trimmed.

Q: Who’s her favorite?

A: Da-daddy. She asks about him frequently while he’s at work, looks out the window for his car, and wiggles like crazy when she greets him after a long day of work. When she plays with the socks on laundry day, she also asks if each one is his—“Da-daddy’s?” And while that last part is a little odd, I’m glad she loves him so much. Especially now that she doesn’t cry whenever I leave the room.

What else would you like to know? Just ask, and I’ll give you an answer!

Breaking the Silence

Katie — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:20:00 GMT

OK. So it’s been a while since I wrote on the blog. Too long. I’m not going to try to go through everything that’s happened since I wrote last. Please be satisfied with knowing that we’ve encountered a lot of laughs and plenty of joy. Last October, we even had some tears when we had to put our beloved companion Foster down. If you don’t already know the stories and want details, feel free to call and ask. We’ll be glad to hear from you. Otherwise, we’re just picking things up from here. And you’ll be hearing from us a lot more often.

Pebbles or Bam-Bam?

Katie — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 03:34:00 GMT

You be the judge.

The Creepy Crawlies

Katie — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:55:00 GMT

Look out world! Bethany can crawl! That’s right, folks. She’s mobile.

She’d been able to roll in both directions and sit up on her own for a few weeks. She could even spin herself end for end during tummy time. Then all of a sudden, she managed to scoot backwards. It wasn’t quite intentional. Not only did it move her away from the toy she was trying to reach, but it put her in an awkward position.

But one day, all of that changed. I wish I could say that Bethany crawled to me first because she loves her mommy so much, but it just wasn’t the case. She didn’t crawl toward her daddy, either. She did, however, crawl to the dog’s ball, grab it and promptly put it in her mouth before her flabbergasted mother could stop her. After I hid the ball and slathered her with kisses for crawling, she tried again. The new object of Bethany’s attention was the dog’s rawhide bone. That time I was ready and foiled her plan. The third attempt was for the dog himself. Sorry, Foster. Little girls love puppies.

Needless to say, I didn’t catch video of the first crawl. But I did take some the next day. Enjoy!

Mondays Stink

Katie — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:39:00 GMT

Poor Foster.

He’s always been a little high strung: refusing to go outside on Independence Day, hiding under the bed when a three year old girl visits, climbing into our arms during a thunderstorm. You know, the usual. Those things come and go, and we’ve taken them all in stride.

Until Monday.

Apparently, Foster has a new phobia: ochophobia, the fear of vehicles. In Foster’s case, it’s a little more specific.

Garbage trucks.

Each time one of the trucks passes our house, he quakes with fear and wants to be held until he can’t hear it anymore. As you picture this, consider that no fewer than SIX garbage trucks pass our house each Monday¹. To make matters worse, he can hear the trucks going down the adjacent streets.

Let’s see… Foster’s a little dog. He could live another ten years. That’s 520 more Mondays. Only 3120 more garbage trucks to go!

Sigh.

Never a dull moment.

¹We have three garbage cans, one for recycling, one for yard waste and one for actual trash. They only collect from one side of the street at a time. Three cans times two sides of the street equals six garbage trucks.

Keep Wildlife Wild

Katie — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 05:21:00 GMT

I saw this sign on a trail less than a half a mile from our house...

Allow me to draw your attention to the very bottom:

Gulp! I didn't sign up for this.