Introducing the 3rd Campbell Brother!

Travis Cameron arrived on Sunday March 2 at 6:16pm. His birth weight was right in the middle of his brothers, at 9 lbs 2.6 oz, and his length was 21.5 inches.  He is adorable and perfect and has a dimple in each cheek. So far we think he looks more like Wesley than JJ but it's probably too soon to tell.

Here is a really nice video that Nana put together. All the footage is from March 3rd, when Travis was 1 day old.

Indoor Soccer - Winter 2014

Here is a video of JJ at his 3rd Saturday of indoor soccer.  They don't play actual games but have a lot of fun running around doing drills, like chasing the "fox tail" and "Red Light, Green Light."
(Thanks to Nana for taking the video)

T-ball, Fall 2013

JJ played his first season of T-ball this fall. The coaches were great and the emphasis was definitely on building confidence and teamwork (not on competition). JJ had fun at first, and he seemed to enjoy some components of the game week after week, but he was definitely not into playing the outfield.  When a ball would come rolling in, most of his teammates would race toward it while JJ stayed put and played with his glove.  But he learned how to hit the ball and run the bases and he especially enjoyed the snack and drink at the end of each game!  This winter we're going to mix it up and try indoor soccer instead.

Team huddle (They named their own team; half the team wanted to be called the Yankees and the other half voted for the Tigers, so their official name was The Yankee-Tigers.)

Playing in the outfield, with encouragement from Daddo

Running to 3rd

Mulling over his game strategy

Base hit!

Making it to 1st

Halloween

Halloween preparations included some pumpkin-carving, of course.  JJ was slightly more hands-on this year than last year but still left most of the scooping and carving to Daddo.

 When we asked JJ what he wanted to be for Halloween, he answered "a taco."  After getting this response multiple times, Nana set to work making a taco costume, which turned out great!  She even made an adult-sized one for Daddo (and surprisingly, he wore it!).

Wesley wore JJ's gnome costume from two years ago.  I can't get enough of kids in beards and expect to use this costume one more time still!

JJ was very into trick-or-treating this year.  The four of us all went out together to several houses, and then Wesley and I went home to hand out candy while Daddo and JJ hit a bunch more houses and filled up JJ's pumpkin bucket.  Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Farms!

This month we visited two different pumpkin farms.  On one warm October weekend we headed east to Barton Hill Farms.  They had a huge Willie Nelson-themed corn maze and some activities for the kids.  It was fun but HOT! We couldn't take the sun very long.

A couple weeks later we went to Sweet Berry Farm, accompanied by Nana & Pop-Pop.  The weather was much more seasonal but the place was just teeming with families!  Still a fun experience.

Wesley couldn't get enough of feeding the goats!

Kiddie train ride

Wesley loved crawling all over the pumpkin pile.

JJ successfully made it through the Candy Cornfield Maze and rang the bell at the end.

We all did the hay ride and then picked some flowers to cap off the outing.

These dudes were completely tuckered out after all their adventures.

Wesley's 15-month checkup

Wesley visited the pediatrician for his 15-month well check today. We learned the doctor is retiring soon, so this might be the last time we get to see her. Too bad - she's a great doctor!

As soon as we walked into the building Wesley started to get fussy. My theory is that taking him to get his hair cut last week (think flailing, screaming toddler pinned down in my lap while nervous stylist came at him with scissors) scarred him and left him extra wary of unfamiliar situations. He screamed his head off while said head was getting measured, cried and fought the weigh-in, and continued to sob while the doctor examined him. Our poor little sensitive boy. He did recover quite quickly after his 3 vaccines, though.

The important thing is that he is healthy and developing on track. Here are his growth stats:

Length - 33 inches (98th percentile) - this measurement is totally wrong, due to the wiggling
Weight - 23 lbs 12 ounces (50-75th percentile)
Head Circumference - 48.9 cm (95th percentile)

I'll include a few notes on what Wesley is into these days:

• Cars. He loves to watch people drive away in their cars and to point at cars and trucks in books, saying "ca".
• Saying goodbye. He is quite enthusiastic about parting ways. He says "ba" and flaps his hand in a wave.
• Water play. The little troublemaker will climb the stool in the bathroom and turn on the faucet to play with the water. And I've figured out the best way to occupy him while I put on my makeup in the morning is to turn on the bath faucet so he can stick his fingers in it. He also loves the water table outside, and if the hose is on, you can be sure he's heading straight for it.
• Books. He doesn't often let us read a whole story to him, but he loves to thumb through books and point things out - mainly cars, cats, dogs and elephants. He does a great elephant noise. If I am sitting on the floor, he will often grab a book and plop right down in my lap. I love that.
• Light switches. He could flip light switches all day (see photo below).
• Climbing. This kid has no fear. He's been climbing the ladder of the playscape for quite awhile (always with a spotter right behind him). He is just figuring out he can climb onto the couch and is an accident waiting to happen once he's up there.
• Biting. This one is unfortunate. He is in a biting phase, and the target is usually his brother.

He's slowly adding words to his vocabulary. He can say mom ("ma") (and he uses this word to refer to Mom, Dad and Miss Ana; so much for me getting excited about him saying ma before dada), car ("ca"), bye ("ba"), kitty ("keh"), down ("da"), shoes, cow ("moo"), JJ (we've only heard this one a few times), banana ("nana"), and water  ("wa").

Finally, here are some recent Wesley pics:

Family hike in Circle C

Obligatory spring bluebonnet photo shoot

Shirtless goofball

At Children's Museum Houston in early May

Uh-oh! The museum police got him!

Peekaboo with Nana in the toddler section of the museum

Unrestricted access to a light switch = best thing ever for Wesley

Wesley twins

Joking around with Pop-Pop at Hermann Park in Houston

Butterfly Center at Museum of Natural Science in Houston

Just hanging around at Circle C Park

Naked brother bath hugs