I can’t believe it has been since Valentine’s Day that I last wrote to you. I just got done reading some letters from a year ago and you are hardly recognizable as the same person-granted some traits are still there. You are still smart and a stinker, but you have grown into a child recently. You are no longer a baby.

You speak in full, run-on sentences. I have stopped trying to count how many words you string together. You have inherited my loud, cutting voice (I am so sorry!) and I constantly go between loving the fact you are so verbal and just wanting a bit of peace.

Right now you love Legos and Little People. When playing you often demand that Daddy and I stay with you, but rarely do you let us play.

You still LOVE people, regularly thanking God for those in our house church and your family. You have a close attachment to Lisa and it is so fun to see your face light up when she walks into the house. We have decided to have Daniel be your Godparent and couldn’t be more encouraged in this decision when we see his love for you. Lorelei often becomes your scapegoat. This morning when you wanted popcorn for breakfast and we told you “no” you claimed it was because it was Lorelei’s.

You are gearing up to be a big sister. You often talk about “brothersister” without really understand what it is going to be to have a little sibling or siblings. I am quite nervous about how it will be when their are multiple children in our home, but know that humanity has survived this long and find great comfort in that.

There is often confusion between wants and needs. You often “NEED” something like ice cream…we are working on this.

You still love swimming and recently acquired a suit that enables you to swim independently in the pool. You love this.

Hopefully I will soon get an opportunity to write more specific stories and embrace it!

Love you!

It is 9:01 PM on Valentine’s Day. You have been in bed for 29 minutes and you are still talking. I think you are sugared up and on a high from such a wonderful night.

When I got home from work today we read books on the bed for many minutes…you requested (demanded) to sit on my lap and I was only too happy to oblige. Then we did the dishes together-which you surprisingly love to do, baked cookies, ate lots of frosting and chocolate chips, and took a bath.

And now you are still up at 9:05 PM and Daddy is going to check on you. Never a dully moment.

love, mommy

Here are a few facts about you:
-You are 18 months old.
-You love dogs, your parents, your grandparents, swimming, painting, and baths.
-You know more words than I can count and yell the ones you like the best.
-You are not a doormat and stand up for what you want-which isn’t always what I want.
-You know how to use the Wii and TV remotes to watch the shows you like.
-You are small/average for your size, but have a very big belly with little junk in your trunk.

Right now you are in Auburn staying with Grammie and Grampa. Daddy and I have the flu (which you seemed to avoid by getting your flu shot, we’ll follow your lead next year) and couldn’t possibly keep up with you. When I asked you yesterday if you wanted to see Grammie, you said “yeaahhh!” excitedly, thought for a moment, then shouted “YEAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!” So I know you are having a good time right now while we miss you. But we did get to sleep in until 11 AM this morning, which was kind of crazy.

I imagine I could write paragraphs every night of your antics, but you’ll just have to settle for my cloudy memory for today.

You have developed quite the imagination. Legos and food often become dog-dogs. It brings such joy to my heart to see you crawling around the house with something you made from duplos and hearing you “woof-woof.” You also did this recently with a piece of pizza in your high chair. You took a bit out of the middle of the square then had it tromp around the tray while you voiced its adventures.

Your baby Jesus Little Person often finds his way into adventures as well. I believe he has been pushed in a swing, gone on bus and plane rides, and lived during the Jurassic time period. I love watching you play with your Little People and hearing you narrate their experiences.

You love Inu. You follow her around the house, sit with her, read books to her, and give her loads upon load of affection. She remains patient while “getting you back” by hip bumping you when she walks by. This greatly hurts your feelings and you cry every time. Though as soon as your tears are dry, you are ready to love on her again.

We try to take you swimming relatively often and I think you would stay in the water all day if possible. Your lips can be blue and you can be shivering, but you still protest getting out of the pool. You are learning to jump in the pool and can hang independently on to the side of the pool. The last time we went swimming as a family, you learned the Jaws theme song and would sing it while “sneaking” up on one of us.

You also love to paint. You enjoy color and using as much of it as possible. My favorite vision from a recent experience is watching you look down at your belly while smearing orange and blue paint all over it. You have the funniest belly, it’s not chubby, but definitely protrudes over your diaper.

Campbell, you are a good girl. Your grandparents describe you as being a pure joy. Daddy and I agree, but you definitely know how to put on the charms for them. You are smart, funny, and will never be a doormat. While we definitely needed the rest, we miss you dearly and can’t wait until we have the energy to play with you again!

love, mommy

Daddy described you perfectly tonight. You are a parent testing savant. I really have no idea how you learned to be so difficult, but we are exhausted. Completely wiped. And it’s all your fault.

You are a complete terror. Today I picked up the living room and within 30 seconds you made it worse than it had been. The only thing you ate for dinner was sour cream. When I told you you couldn’t have anymore you tried to stand in your high chair and screamed.

Speaking of screaming, earlier this week I was holding you and asked for a kiss. You took your chubby hands and grabbed my chubby cheeks. You put your face close to mine, opened your mouth, and yelled in my face.

We found 6 apples with tiny bites taken out of them hidden around the house yesterday. And these were no ordinary apples, they were honeycrisp apples. We believe that there are probably more around the house given that we only have 4 of the 12 Daddy bought Monday left. I think we are so tired that we are just going to wait until the fruit flies show and just see where they congregate.

I can tell you that, while we are tried and super tired, I don’t think we would want it any other way. I mean, you are super funny, adorable, have a great personality, and give us great stories to tell others.

Lots has happened in the past 2 months. Mostly you have gotten bigger, said a ton of new words, started throwing doozies of tantrums, and do exactly the opposite of what ask or tell you to. We went trick or treating. It was awesome, you would put down your bucket every time you got a new piece of candy. We learned the hard way that if we give you candy in the morning, you’ll refuse to eat anything else for the rest of the day.

You had your 15 month appointment. You are in the 50th percentile for height and 30th for weight. You weighed 21.8 pounds.

You love shoes and say “shuse” often. I got you a pair of light up shoes that you love. You also ask to have your hair brushed and for barrettes on a regular basis.

While Daddy was in India, you had your first overnight with Mamabeth and Grandpa. When Mamabeth brought you back to Indy, she told me that she had lost a bunch of hair ties. When I changed you out of your pjs the next morning, I found 14 of them on your arm. They are a super great, cheap toy.

We found out that you are going to have a new cousin! Uncle Paul and Aunt Devon are adopting Song, their daughter, from china. We are so excited to meet her and to see the 2 of you play together!

I think those are some highlights from the last 2 months. I am so excited for the upcoming holidays. Yay!

love, mommy

I’m sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. I think about writing often, but get distracted. Sometimes it is good distractions like playing with you or spending time with God. Other times it is not very productive distractions like farmville. Daddy used to make fun of me for playing farmville, but then he realized his game-minecraft-isn’t really any better than what I play.

What prompted this letter to you was the sermon I heard on Sunday. It was about sex. Depending when you read this you may or may not know what that means. And I certainly don’t mean to embarrass you. Your daddy and I want discussions about intimacy to be as open as you are comfortable. We won’t force them on you, but we hope you come to us with your questions.

The sermon basically encouraged married couples to be open with each other about sex and their thoughts on it throughout the day. It was a call for all of us to be open and vulnerable with each other. Light was shed that in being transparent life may get harder for a bit, but to persevere.

While listening to the sermon both your daddy and I had the same thought: I am so happy to be raising Campbell in a community where sex is discussed healthily.

Campbell, I am thankful that you will always know that you are loved by not only us and your grandparents, but a a multitude of people. And all of those people are safe in that they will love you no matter what choices you make…and you can trust them if you need a mentor or friend. We are so blessed to be a part of this community.

We love you, baby Campbell (even if you aren’t really a baby anymore).

love, mommy

Being back to work full time makes writing you letters difficult! My hope is to get a couple a month from here on out…it’s amazing what happens as you get older!

You started walking on Wednesday. I got this e mail from Daddy:

Campbell just took like 6 steps!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!! Sent from my iPad

So then I asked him to take a video and he posted it on facebook. I got to watch it while one of my classes took a quiz. I teared up as soon as I saw you toddle toward the camera. Then Daddy one upped himself by bringing you to school 91 so that I could see you walk while on my lunch! You would only walk towards your push toy. But it was awesome to see you none the less! I even got to show you off to a few people.

Now that you’ve been walking for 2 whole days you are a pro. You walked to me when I got home yesterday and do your best to keep up with Inu around the house. You LOVE walking and get so excited while you are doing it. You laugh and do your silly, excited breathing.

I continue to be amazed and blessed by being your mother. I can’t believe this little life that God has given us.

love, mommy

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to write you.  Life has been incredibly busy, but at least three times a day you do something and I think, “I really need to record what just happened.”  You are constantly changing, growing, developing new habits, and getting older.  It is simultaneously wonderful and difficult.

I am exhausted and will be getting up shortly to try to run a half mile (or 3 in 30 minutes).  I am back to work, and though I am fine while I there, I mourn when I realize how much of your life I am missing.  But I am so thankful that you are home with Daddy and not at childcare.  (Though I know you would be fine if you were at childcare as well.)  You are thriving getting to spend so much time with your daddy.  It has been so fun to see the two of you grow closer over this last week.

In the past month we have gone to the Children’s Museum, cleaned the house, flown to California, and I have started back to work.  You have been a trooper through it all and I have so many stories to share about each.  I may be caught up on the past month by Christmas. 

The storytelling will have to wait, though.  Instead, let me make a list of what you have been doing recently.

• Whenever you get really excited, you pant like a dog.  If something makes you even happier while you are panting, you squeal.
• You talk constantly, seriously-except when you are being “bad.”  Then you don’t make a peep.
• While in California, you fell in LOVE with your aunts and uncles.  It was so wonderful to see you attach to them.
• When on a ride, you say “Whoa!”
• You are hugging constantly.  It is incredibly cute and sweet.
• You hate when we hold you down in any way.  You want to be with us, but you don’t want us to keep you from getting places.  If you sit next to us and we put our hand on your shoulder, you will physically move it.
• You recently started to willingly sit in my lap whenever I take a moment of rest.
• Whenever there is music, you move your booty back and forth to the beat.
• Whenever you met someone new at church today, you would give them the stink eye.

That covers about 1% of life currently. 

love, mommy

I have started to experience true summer break…at least what I expect summer break to be.  You know, lots of family time, adventures, running errands, naps, riding bikes, leisurely doing chores, etc.  It is completely wonderful!

Today you got up around 7 and we ate breakfast, played, read books, put your presents in your room, then watched an episode of Super Why before putting you down for your nap.  Initially I was not a huge fan of you watching TV.  The first time I put you in front of the tube last week, you completely zoned out and didn’t move for 15 minutes.  While it was a nice break and an opportunity to get a few things done without interruption, it was really upsetting to see you act like a zombie.

Today started out about the same…but 5 minutes into Super Why you started interacting with the television.  If Super Why broke the 4th wall, you would respond to him with one of your many sounds.  You would also look to me for approval from time to time and “ask” me questions.  Eventually you climbed onto my lap, and, really, what parent can resist their child when that happens?

After Super Why I made home made whip cream and we ate it together with strawberries.  My favorite part was when all the strawberries were gone (together we ate a pint!) and you stuck your hand into the whip cream.

While you took a nap, I went to school to work for a bit and towards the end I video chatted with you and Daddy.    I rode my bike home from work to make us grilled cheese sandwiches and fresh fruit for lunch.  We played and then took a 2 hour nap together. 

When we awoke, we ran a few errands including going to the park to swing and slide.  Then we came home, ate dinner, went out to the front lawn where you watched Daddy and me play cornhole.  After this, we got your bike helmet and let you ride your trike around the driveway.  Daddy got some great pictures and I can’t wait to post them for you!

I put you to bed about 2 hours ago after a snack and some reading.

Today not a spectacular day, but definitely what I expected from summer.  I am excited for the rest of the week…we have rooms to clean, the Children’s Museum to visit with Ben, Mr. Aaron, and Mrs. Liz, good food to eat, and swimming ahead for us.

The sad news is that summer (for me) ends in less than 2 weeks.  But until then, we will enjoy this time while it lasts!  And have many breaks to look forward to (but not rush…I don’t want you to grow up too quickly)!

love, mommy

PS You did have a gigantic birthday bash on Saturday.  There will be storytelling and pictures to come.  love you!

You are currently one year and 3 days old.  I believe that we brought you home on July 21st a year ago, so a year ago today would have been when the reality that we are parents hit.  I can’t believe how much has changed in a year. You used to be so tiny in your crib and no you stand in it!  Every picture we have of you from the first 2 weeks, your eyes are closed…and now you fight sleep with the fiery passion of 10,000 suns.  You have developed an AMAZING (and challenging) personality.

Pardon my language, but last night you pissed me off.  I don’t know if there is any other word to accurately describe my feeling in the moment.  While the girls were praying together at house church you decided that sticking your fingers in an outlet was THE thing to do.  Every time I told you “no” you would laugh. in. my. face.  I even pinched your hand to detour you from the outlet and you still laughed.

Speaking of prayer, you have brought a whole new meaning to the word.  As if I was reliant upon the Lord as a single person, then a wife, I feel as though He is carrying me most of the day.  I feel like I am being kept in check constantly.  Every emotion I feel toward you is amplified by infinity.  I recently read an article that discussed how children aren’t meant to make us happy, they are gifts from God to make us holy.  Now, I know I am far from holy, but I definitely see His logic in all of this.  The wonderful suffering that you bring is what sanctifies us, my darling.

And it is truly wonderful suffering…the same way it is to be a wife.  Some day you will understand that not all blessings in life are there to make us happy.  Many are present to refine us and draw us closer to God.  They are there to shape our hearts to be like Jesus so that we may walk alongside the hurting and let them know that they are our friends and they are loved.

But it is through suffering that we, as children of God, find immense joy.  And joy you have brought me, Campbell.

love, mommy

PS On a funny note, every time I pray over you at bedtime the moment I ask God for wisdom and discernment you throw a tantrum.