Campbell Nicole Brandt

Campbell was born at 7:43pm on May 22 after about 11 hours in labor.  She was 7 lbs. 7 oz and 20 inches long. She and momma are doing great.

She has taken to nursing very well, contrary to her big sister. Also unlike her sister, she loves being wrapped up and loves being bounced and rocked. She also does love to sleep, which though is normal for most babies, Bethany liked to be awake.

Big sister is very excited and interested in the new addition. SHe does “Yuv her”. She loves holding her and giving her kisses.

Mom is doing very well. She is up and mobile and in very little discomfort for giving birth less than 15 hours ago.

Dad of course is taking one million zillion pictures. The new one is getting used to the flash, she just closes her eyes.

Here are some. Of course more to come.

Babies Day

Mother’s day makes me think about my babies.   I’ve been especially reflective because the time is fast approaching when my 2nd baby will be much more present than kicks and pregnancy symptoms.  It’s definitely made me think about how much I love my little Bethany.  She is my little friend, helper, encourager and crazy entertainment.  So, this Mother’s Day with only about 11 days until my lady is a big sister, I decided to put together a list of my current top 11 favorite things about my firstborn.  I say current because things change daily around here and in my opinion, she gets cuter and crazier by the day.  I truly can’t wait to find out the interesting little quirks my second-born will possess!  

Momma’s Top Eleven Favorite Bethany Quirks/Habits/Qualities/Etc.

(In no particular order)

1.  I LOVE getting little encouraging words from Bethany.  She is a tender-hearted little thing and she is always loving and concerned.  She tells me “Job Mom!” for so many things I do (even going potty which is probably a result of the heaps of encouragement we give her when she tries to go!) and says things like “lookin good Mom” when I do my hair or put an outfit on.  She rubs my back in the morning when I’m sleepy and if she thinks I’m sad or concerned she comes right up to my face and says “Ok Mom? You ok?”  

2.  Bethany is a helper.  She takes helping to new levels.  Recently she’s even begun taking things out of our hands and handing them back to us in an effort to be “nice and kind.”  She loves doing dishes, helping me with laundry and other cleaning.  She tries to find us clothes to wear when we’re getting ready (unfortunately the accessible ones for her are usually in the laundry pile so we’re often having to switch out dirty clothes for clean).  She is truly a servant hearted little one.  

3.  She loves her dad.  Bethany is so crazy about her dad.  She wants more than anything to make him happy.  She is thrilled when she hears his car door close every night.  She needs tons of kisses before he leaves for work.  And she is very sensitive to his approval/happiness with her.  He can make her cry in a second if she thinks he’s not happy with something she’s done (I hope this lasts into being a teen!).  A stern word from Dad will make her eyes bow and her little lip stick out.  Tears and running for mom immediately follow.  She just hates thinking she’s upset him.  I supposed since Mom corrects her all day it just rolls off her back. But Dad is always fun and tickles and games and love.

4.  She is so girly.  Bethany loves just about all things stereotypically girl.  She loves dressing up, playing babies, pretending to cook. Bugs freak her out.  She loves “readies” with Mom.  I refer to putting on makeup/doing hair as “getting ready” so she’s taken to calling makeup “readies.”  She CANNOT be left out of this process.  She usually uses my old containers/products and gets ready right along side me.  It’s hilarious to see her when I pull out eyeliner and rest my elbows on the counter to put it on.  She stands on her stool and as precisely as she can, copies my every move.  She ends up looking pretty crazy by the end, but it’s nothing a wipe can’t fix and I love those little moments together (even though sometimes it really takes me much longer to get ready when I’m supervising as well).

5.  She has an independent spirit, but balances it with a bit of being shy.  At home, Bethany is fearless and challenges things around her.  She’s always trying new things and trying to conquer things around her.  But in public she stays close and relies on Mom and Dad.  I like this balance.  It keeps her close to me when I need to watch her, but still lets her explore and learn in safe environments.  I really kind of like that she doesn’t want to be far from Mom or Dad and is most comfortable with us and at home.  She’s probably not going to be like that forever, so I’m taking advantage while I can.

6.  She’s on a Pooh kick.  Bethany loves “My Friends Tigger & Pooh” on the Disney channel.  She watches an episode or two while I’m in the shower every day and she’s been saying and doing the cutest things after watching.  Just ask her about Tigger and she goes into long stories that are indecipherable but obviously exciting.  She is a “Super Sleuth” just like them and looks at things through little telescopes and says their phrases like “Anytime, Anyplace, the Super Sleuths are on the case!”.  When she goes outside it’s like she’s exploring her own Hundred Acre Wood.  She brings us “Pooh sticks” and looks for bees and honey pots.  It’s the cutest.

7.  She loves her sister.  Even though I’m sure she doesn’t grasp the change that’s about to happen in her life, she kisses my belly, brings Campbell toys to “play” with and always tells me “Baby Campbell is kickin around.”  She was SO excited when Dad built a crib for Campbell.  She kept exclaiming “Dad, a crib, you DID IT!”  I can’t wait to see what a great sister she is going to be.

8.  She is a crazy singer/dancer.  She’s always been a dancer and her love seems to be growing all the time.  She loves singing and playing family band.  She hands Dad a percussion instrument, Mom a toy microphone, and she plays recorder.  We usually perform the My Friends Tigger & Pooh theme song.  

9.  She’s easily excited.  She sucks in her breath and exclaims “Mom, look!  You see it?!” when she sees something exciting or familiar.  Whether it’s a bird in the back yard or seeing one of her toys in the store, she is constantly getting excited.  It’s been making me laugh like crazy lately because she can be pretty loud when she sees a princess or Pooh something in the store.   Shopping with her is a trip.  Fruit she recognizes gets a “You see it!?!”  She seems so thrilled to know things or see something familiar it gets her crazy.   Oh and I can’t forget when she gets something in the potty.  This is cause for close up looking, pointing, and “You see it” yelling.

10.  I love that she calls herself “CC”.  Since I was little, I’ve always made up crazy nicknames for things.  They’re always developing, changing, fluid names for people, pets, etc.  I call my dog Kirby “Dermathiz”.  All I can say is that it is a derivative of Kirby.  Really.  Other than that, I can’t explain.  Ask my Dad what I called my brother when we were little.  I have vague memories of this, can barely pronounce it and there is no way it could be typed.  Bethany might eventually have this quality since she derived her own nickname from one of my derived nicknames.  Gives me great pleasure.

11.  She is a gift to me.  I can’t believe she was given to me.  I feel (like any Mom does) that my lady is such a special little thing.  It’s overwhelming to see the crazy mix she is of Mom and Dad’s traits.  She’s constantly surprising us by showing us things about ourselves.  It’s such a blessing to have the opportunity to teach her and watch her grow.  I love taking care of her so much and take my job very seriously.  I love seeing her change (even though it happens WAY too fast) and do new things.  She is one of the best things in my life and I’m so thrilled to get to spend every day with her.  And soon enough to double the blessing!

Easter Activities

Here are a few pictures of the activities we had going on over Easter weekend.  Bethany was totally into egg hunting, decorating, and all of the fun things we did!  We wanted to make Easter about a little more than eggs and bunnies so we talked about Easter being “Jesus loves us day.”  She took right to that concept and sang “Jesus loves Bubs” any time we mentioned Easter.  For now, we think that’s a good concept for her 2 year old understanding.  

Saturday we had an egg hunt near where we go to church.  Here she is in her sweet little dress all ready to go.

She took home a LOT more eggs this year and even felt like being generous and stuck a few eggs in other kids’ baskets!

Saturday after naptime we got ready to dye eggs!  Here she is getting things set up with Dad.

She worked really hard and was very intense about this process!

Here are the finished eggs!  Adding the princess stickers was her favorite part.  And she loved when Dad made one of the pink eggs purple.  After that, she wanted all the eggs to turn purple.  Mom made her a Tigger egg for her latest obsession!

All of her Easter goodies!  She loved getting “special candy” (chocolate).  My friend Becky made her an AWESOME Piglet clippie, and a Super Sleuth clippie.  She’s so obsessed with wearing them now!

Her favorite was definitely her recorder!  She marches around the house and makes us sing while she plays!

This is such a sweet picture of something she enjoys every Sunday…listening to the band practice.  She loves to dance along!

Brandy took some great pics of the whole family for us!

Campbell only six weeks or less from arrival!

The little lady in her sweet Easter dress!

Campbell in 3D

We got to see our little lady in 3D!  We were anticipating wonderful pictures of her we could ooh and aah over.  And while we got a couple of great pictures, she was once again, as stubborn as she could possibly be.  She was using her hands, her feet, and the umbilical cord to cover her face.  When we started getting peeks through all of that, she tightened up and put her knee in her face.  Everything looks good.  She is currently breech, so we definitely need to pray she turns around.  I still feel major flipping motions, and she still has room, so we’re hopeful by the end she settles in head down.  Here are some pictures, plus a bonus picture of the big sis just after she was born.  It looks to me like there might be a strong resemblance!

Basically the left side of this picture/right side of her face is leg/foot.  That’s a toe where her right eye should be.  When the different parts get too close on these 3D scans, they tend to meld together.  But you get a pretty good view of her little nose and mouth.

Here’s another similar view.  More toes in the eyes.

I definitely see a resemblance to this sweet face!

Bethany Goes to Chuck E Cheese

We took Bethany for an outing to Chuck E Cheese this past weekend.  She LOVED it.  We were definitely unsure because she generally doesn’t like masses of people and kids running everywhere. But I guess that’s not a problem where there are rides, games, and a giant mouse.  Here are some of the highlights!  

Here she is SUPER excited about seeing Chuck E and loving their little dance show.

Here’s Little Miss playing Skee Ball.  She is dangerous with the skee balls.

This was one of her favorite games.  And she was GOOD.  She won a couple hundred tickets playing this game.  You drop a coin in (which she is in love with) and the ball drops and you get the number of tickets that it says on the hole it drops in.  She was hitting the big time.

Dropping coins in the slot was second only to getting to pull the tickets out.  She loved collecting these and making her friend Jason hold all of them for her!

Enjoying a ride with her new friend.

We got something like 320 tickets and the only thing she’d pick out was this lollipop that cost 10 tickets.  We chose a bracelet and some other accessories for her.

And last and maybe cutest, here’s her little face saying “chuchhee cheese”

Thanks to Brandy and Jason for going with us, holding our coins and tickets and taking pictures!  We had a great time but foresee problems…when Bethany saw me uploading pictures she insisted that we were going to Chuck E Cheese “in minutes” and was pretty mad when I informed her it wasn’t in today’s plans.  

Sweet little song

Here’s a video (ok, not so much a video as it is an audio clip…) of Bethany singing with her dad before bed.  She LOVES singing Jesus loves me and loves to insert different names/animals for anything that is going to sleep.  Excuse Tommy’s singing.  You also may have to turn the audio up quite a bit.

Meet Miss Campbell

I’m finally getting around to posting the ultrasound pics we got at the beginning of the month.  So, here she is, Miss Campbell Nicole Brandt!  The ultrasound tech called her “stink butt” the entire time we were there because she was SO uncooperative and continually did the opposite of what we needed her to do.  She also threw little baby fits when we pushed too hard on her territory.  She’d arch her back and throw her head back.  It was crazy, we could see her little attitude right there on the screen.  So far, we’re seeing a carbon copy of big sister Bethany (who incidentally has a personality that is a carbon copy of her dad…at least the stubborn, anti-authority parts).  We’re hoping for a more subdued, chilled out infant than we had with Bethany!

Ok, enough talk, here she is!

Here’s her little profile!  We never got a profile pic of Bethany, so we’re not sure if they look alike yet…

Here’s a big yawn.  No doubt letting us know she’s tired of us poking around!

One thing we saw that is for sure looking like Big Sis…bear paw feet!  Bethany was born almost ready for a size 3 shoe.  Looks like Campbell is going to fill those shoes!

It’s a…

Watch the video…

Whistling…sort of

We were having lunch last week sometime and Tommy came into the kitchen whistling.  Bethany started cracking up hearing us whistle so we told her to try it and showed her how to shape her lips.  Here’s a little video of the results taken by my awesome Christmas present: a Flip Mino HD!  Hopefully that will mean many more blog videos!

Boy or Girl

Well we find out tomorrow but we were wondering what you think?

Not to influence but Bethany votes “Boy”….at least she has for the past 4 days.

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