sorry for the absence!

Well, it seems that I took a blogging sabbatical. I'm back now but in order to put up more pictures I  need to find my camera chord which I put somewhere to try and remember it, but now I can't find it! Seriously...that's how my brain works almost all the time now. Not so conducive to writing papers. :)

We had Campbell's 15 month appointment today (she's actually 16 months old today, we're just off on our timing). Here are her stats:

• 21.6 lbs - 25% on the weight chart
  
• 32 inches tall - 75% on the height chart
  
• her speech is still way ahead of the curve - she's talking in small phrases sometimes and starting to try bigger words. She doesn't always get them right but she tries. The latest big word she's trying in elephant. Kinda crazy! She's also telling us things, pointing at pictures and telling us what they are and remembering people and their names.
  
• Campbell is sleeping through the night now about 98% of the time - we are so thankful! Her naps are better now too - just one a day so that she sleeps through the night.
  
• favorite foods are spaghetti, yogurt, any fruit, meat (ham, chicken, etc.) and apple juice. Not a fan of veggies anymore which is making things interesting!

Speaking of food, we need to go eat lunch! I'll look for my camera chords tonight and hopefully get a 16 month old teddy bear pic up really soon,

Pumpkinville

While Grammy & Grandpa Welstad were here we took a trip to Pumpkinville farms -it was a hit! Campbell is so independent - the moment we got there she wanted to run around and do her own thing. They had a petting zoo and she LOVED that because she loves animals so much. She fed some goats and it was fun to see how she & Jeff are alike that way. 

It was hard to get Campbell to sit still for a picture (no surprise there :) ) but we also had a hard time getting her to smile which is a bit unusual for her. We didn't realize that she was catching a cold - that night she had a horse little voice and was so very tired. We did have a fun day though. 

Campbell could have listened to this talking pumpkin all day. She was mesmerized by it and kept coming back to it.

Family picture attempt. As you can see our happy little girl was feeling very done with pictures at this point.

Maybe the ultimate highlight of the trip was the pumpkin donuts we got! They were incredible, and I don't normally love anything pumpkin other than pie. Well, this picture is funny because as we were talking Campbell reached right over and took a huge bite of my Dad's donut! So he had to share the rest of it! :) 

Fun fall day! Now we just have to get Campbell to call her pumpkin a pumpkin...she points to it everyday and says "apple". 

I am SO cute!

I put this pot down on the floor for Campbell to drum on. I turned around and found her inside of it! :) So I made her stay there for a picture. Too cute!

Apple

Fall day at Houghton with Bappa & Grammy

Grammy & Grandpa Welstad are here to visit and it's been so much fun! Campbell feels so loved and I'm loving extra hands to take care of her and the house. Last weekend we took a walk up to campus to show my folks and our friend Kaylee who was visiting around. 

(side-note: Campbell has trouble saying Grandpa so she calls my Dad "Bappa" and Grammy sounds like Mammy or sometimes more like Maaama.)

Loving on her Bappa and Mammy.

Campbell & Bappa are getting very close! She wakes up and asks for him first now. :) So we go wake him up early to play. Hee hee. 

The girls.

Our wonderful friend Kaylee who we love so much! :) Kaylee is a student at Geneva and came up to visit us on her fall break. Kaylee really helped us with Campbell a lot in the first months of figuring out how to work and do school with an infant. She's see us at our best and worse and still loves us! :) We love her and were blessed to spend some time with her last weekend!

Our little family.

Campbell & Daddy - two peas in a pod. And two of my favorite people!

Grammy and Campbell having fun

All dressed up for Church.

We have pictures from the Pumpkin patch and other adventures coming soon!

Doggy kisses, snow and books in the kitchen

Aunt Traci got this little boston doggy for Campbell on her birthday and Campbell loves it! She's very much an animal person and just squeals any time we ask her to get her doggy. I thought this was cute...she's giving him kisses. 

smiles

We got about 2 inches of snow on October 16th - crazieness! It was beautiful and made our house seem very cozy. I even noticed a calmness in how Campbell acted that day. It was nice. This picture is of our back yard from my kitchen window.

Campbell seeing the snow for the first time. She said, "Wow!" really quietly. It was precious and reminded me of the awesomeness that God places in front of us every day.

Campbell, on her own, brought her baylor pillow and a book into the kitchen and sat there and read while I did dishes. I felt blessed by her sweetness that day!

more pictures to come...

October has been busy!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long blog silence...we've been busy! We've been down to PA for Geneva's homecoming, seen great friends, finished unpacking our house, enjoying my (Sarah's) parents visiting and just loving life with Campbell. Here are some pictures from our last few weeks.

Our dear friends from Geneva and our good friend Missy who just moved to PA and is now working at Geneva! :) We love that we get to live close enough to see her now. From L-R : Sarah, Jeff, Missy, Ryan, Campbell, Joanna & Taylor. We so deeply miss these people - they are truly the kind of friends that change you for the better and love you with a love that can only come through Christ. We have so much fun with them and they love Campbell so much. It was just a refreshing time to get to spend a few days with them! Thanks friends - we love you!!!

This picture is entitled : The Campbell Kirksey Lecture Series 101. Our daughter likes to move her stool to different spots in the living room and lecture to us (yes, really) for a few minutes up to 1/2 hour! She's very animated and uses her hands and all her words. It's hysterical and keeps us very entertained in the evenings right now! :)
This was a fun night. We were having a new co worker of Jeff's over for dinner and I had worked really hard that day to get the house clean and a pot roast done, etc. I fed Campbell dinner and was cooking and looking to check on how she was doing every few minutes. Well, one minute was good and the next I looked over and there were refried beans and cheese EVERYWHERE. The bowl was across the dining room and food all over the floor as well as ALL over Campbell. Now we had about 15 minutes until company was to arrive and Jeff was running late and wouldn't be home for about 20 minutes....so we had to quickly take a bath to get the globs of food out of her hair and clean up. We did it with about 30 seconds to spare! whew! (this picture doesn't do the messiness justice, but it's super cute :) ).

14 Months old

Okay, well...we're a few weeks past the official 14 month day but here are the teddy bear pictures! She was in a good mood and being goofy. It was fun!

strike a pose.

Playing dress up. We're really into putting hats on, as well and necklaces and bracelets.

Hugging a mound of her favorite stuffed animals. And yes, she did that all on her own.

I love this picture! I took it today and I feel like it shows you the heart of who Campbell is. She's so full of energy and love - and strong will. :) 

We're doing really well tonight. Jeff being home is a huge blessing! Campbell is in love with her Daddy and wanted to play with him and follow him around all evening. She's still struggling pretty good with her cold so continued prayer for her little body to heal is very appreciated. We're hoping we all get some good sleep tonight because last night was a little rough. 

Have a great weekend!

We miss Daddy!

Jeff has been gone for almost 2 weeks on a business trip to Colorado and is coming home today! We are SO ready for him to be home. We missed him tremendously and the house has felt so empty without him here. I know Campbell has missed him because she goes looking for him sometimes. I'm so thankful for the things he does to take care of us - even the small things like squishing spiders and taking out the trash. We miss his hugs a ton! I'm also ready to have a little help with the kiddo. Campbell and I both got sick a few days ago and we've been up a lot at night and during the day because its hard to breath with all the congestion. It will be nice to have someone to take turns with at night instead of being sick and trying to take care of a sick baby alone. 

Here are a few pictures of Campbell's favorite thing to do with Daddy, read! :)

Lately Campbell has been trying to dress herself - and for being 14 mo. old, I think she's doing ok. :) She knows where things go and sometimes gets them on the right way. Socks, pants and shirts are what she's trying to help with lately.

Can't wait for my husband to come home! It's going to be a good day - despite the colds! :)

Campbell's new word of the day: apple and this morning she asked for the phone by saying phone (sorry Mom & Dad for your 4 am wake up call...that was Campbell's finger on the speed dial after I handed her my phone. I promise to quit doing that! :) I was just so impressed that she said phone that I thought I'd give it to her for a second.! It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have that 3 hour time difference! :)*)