Blabbermouth!

Time is going so fast these days! We're settling back into a routine now with school and daycare and having lots of fun on our "down time" Ken reports that when he picks her up from daycare, he sees all sorts of cute things... some days she's playing by herself, other days she's goofing around with other kids. Most times, she sees him and gets excited and crawls right over to him!! Sometimes she's standing at the gate that separates her room from the "big kid" room and she's talking with the kids in the other room (they were mostly all in her room last year). Apparently sometimes she finds a corner spot where she can see clearly into the other room and just sits right down and watches the big kids. I think it's hilarious!

For those of you who haven't seen it (or heard it on the phone), Callie's becoming a real "blabbermouth!" She's VERY social and she loves to chat the day away. Below are some videos of her talking and of this new trick she's so excited about (balancing a ring on her thumb - seriously, she does it ALL the time now).

Anyway... enjoy...

standing

This girl went from crawling to pulling up to her knees to pulling up to a full-fledged stand in just a couple of days... this was from a couple of days ago, and she's even better at it now. She pretty much spends most of her playtime crawling around looking for places to practice standing. It still blows me away every time... how is it possible that she's growing up so fast?!

Back to School, and other things...

Well, Callie went "back to school" today. Ken and I had "teacher days" and the students come tomorrow. I may or may not have cried a little, but I tried to be a big girl about it... I took my cues from Calista who LOVES being back at TotSpot. It seems impossible that summer is already over, but we had such a carefree and peaceful time together so we made lots of memories. Check out our photo site to see lots of updated pictures! http://albums.phanfare.com/lumblove

Well, since the last semi-crawling video I posted, Callie is a FULL-FLEDGED crawler! In fact, her teacher today told us she's the "fastest crawler she's ever seen." It's hard to keep up with her these days, and now she's started pulling herself up! She mostly just does it to her knees, but the other day I walked in and she was STANDING UP in her crib! I couldn't believe it, and of course, before I got the camera, she was plopped back down. :)


Here are a couple fun videos for you:

*playing in her crib and a little more "mama"

* more playing/banging in the crib (with a little coughing for dramatic effect)

Bouncing and Talking??

After months of playing in her jumper, she's finally JUMPING in it! She has spent so much time playing with the toys and hanging out, but now she finally figured out the bouncing part! This video does not do it justice... she can really take off, but you'll get the idea!



AND if you listen carefully at the end, you'll hear one of my favorite sounds in the world: "mamamama." I know it doesn't ACTUALLY mean she's talking to me, but we can pretend. Again, it's not the best example (sometimes she says it SO clearly), but it's a little sample. :)

Big happenings for Calista!

This little kid had a big night last night! Now that Calista's sitting up so well, she took her first bath without the baby tub... such a big girl!! She loved splashing around and was so proud of herself! Such fun!!

THEN.... after her bath, she was "air drying" and decided it was the time to crawl! She's been moving for a while now (able to get across the room by scooting or rolling or whatever it took), but watching her up on her hands and knees (with a few flops here and there) was awesome!

Slow down, summer!

Summer has gone way too quickly... I go back to school on August 28th (yes, I said August - the earliest we've ever gone back) and Ken starts right after Labor Day. We are just trying to soak in these remaining days and have some fun. We're visiting friends, playing outside, watching the Olympics, swimming in our little kiddie pool (okay, we only did that once - it was kind of a disaster), and snuggling as much as possible! Today Ken came to school to help me get started setting up and Callie got to stay home with Baba.

Calista weighs 16 and a half pounds now - such a big girl! She's working on some more teeth, and the high chair is becoming an increasingly more interesting place to be... between the finger foods she's trying (the puffs are not a hit, but the biter biscuits ARE) and the self-feeding she's learning (slowly) to do with her little baby fork and sippy cup, there's a lot going on (and Cammie loves to clean up Callie's messes)!

Well, as I'm sure many of you understand, the Olympics have once again kept me up too late (wow, how does Michael Phelps do this again and again?!), so I better go get some sleep. Be sure to check our latest pictures on Phanfare. :)

My New Teeth

Hi Everyone! Well, I'm officially seven months old... woah! I am getting pretty good at sitting up and I'm super close to crawling. The big news is that I have two bottom teeth! Mom says she'll help me attach a picture so you can see.

We're enjoying the final days of summer vacation, and Mom and Dad can't believe it's almost time to go back to school. I'm back to sleeping through the night (phew!) and I have finally decided not to boycott veggies.

That's all for now... Mom let me type this one, but my fingers are tired. Don't forget to check out our family pictures... http://albums.phanfare.com/lumblove

By the way, it's my parents' Wedding Anniversary today! They tell me life sure has changed over the last three years (for the better of course)! They're going out tonight to celebrate while Uncle Doug and Aunt Sarah play with me!

XOXO
Calista

Half-Birthday on the Fourth of July!

Happy Half-Birthday, Callie!! Can you believe our little munchkin is six months old today?! Would you believe all the surrounding towns are having parades in fireworks in her honor?? Okay, okay, maybe not, but we'll let her think that for now. :P

This morning we went to a parade and Calista LOVED it. She liked the bands the best, but I think she mostly loved people watching and seeing all the kids scramble for the candy. :) This afternoon we went to a picnic and there were TONS of babies there, so she had a fun time playing with them. Thanks to a bit of an incline in their backyard and some dips in the yard, Calista had her first experiences sitting up all by herself!! I was totally excited, but I don't think it made much of a difference to her.

Callie had her six month check-up earlier in the week... her stats are in: 14 lbs 9 oz, 25.5 in. She's doing really well, and now she gets to eat fruits and vegetables, AND she eats solids three times a day, so she's really becoming a "big girl."

We have a new website for photo sharing... It's really easy... you just have to sign up with your name and email address and then we "connect" as either friends or family and you can see all our photos. You can automatically get notified when we add a new album. I am working on adding music to it, but having some trouble... ANYWAY, apparently, it's the new "cool" thing to do, so we're trying it out. I signed up about a month ago to view someone else's photos and I have ONLY ever received emails notifiying me of her pictures, nothing else! Check it out: http://albums.phanfare.com/lumblove (by the way, when you're there, click to "start slideshow...")

I'm including a couple videos... one is her first time in the pool, and the other is of her playing.

There are more videos on our Phanfare site, but here are a couple from today:

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! It's Ken's first and Callie is so excited! She got him a gift certificate to golf, a poem with her handprints and footprints, and she's most excited about the "Guys' Night" we arranged for him this upcoming weekend. :)

Things here are going well... Calista's been sick on and off now for about 6 weeks (belly problems, then a cold, then an ear infection), but it looks like she's finally healthy again! During her "sick time" she forgot how to sleep through the night, so we're hoping to refresh her memory sometime soon....

She's eating like a champ, weighing in at about 14 pounds, and she is TEETHING. The doctor thinks we'll see teeth any day now, and you can tell they're getting close to coming out. She's handling it pretty well, but does enjoy her teethers.

We have her six month check-up coming soon, so we'll update you more after that... for now, here are some videos...

This one is her talking away this morning... she does this all the time now,
and we get such a kick out of it!

This one is from dinner the other night. She is really wanting to be more involved, and she constantly grabs her spoon, so Daddy had the smart idea to give her her own spoon to keep her happy while we feed her. Good thinking! (I have no idea why this is showing up sideways)

This was the other morning while we were getting ready for work. She was rolling around and having a grand old time. She rolls both ways now, sometimes doing a complete 360. She has so much fun... it's so cute... crawling will be here before we know it!

She LOVES to "talk" and discover all noises her mouth can make... even when it's full of food!

Below are some Father's Day Pictures! :)

Covered in grossness!

So Callie barfed her brains out at the end of her feeding today... something just went down the wrong pipe... ANYWAY, it didn't phase her one bit... check out how gross she is! hahaha

Giggles!

So Callie's been giggling for a few days now, but only here and there, and we haven't been able to get it on video... until today! We are enjoying my day off together and we got a little silly. :)

Oh, AND... she also rolled today from her back to her belly for the first time! Okay, so it was more like her side to her belly, but it was very exciting! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! We celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday with all six grandparents, Aunt Kristyn, and Uncle Doug... today, we relaxed as a little family of three and enjoyed each other's company. If you'll believe it, Callie let out her very first giggle this morning - it was amazingly cute - Happy Mother's Day to me! Ken and Kristyn were both in the room, but neither of them heard it and I'm pretty sure they think I'm making it up.

It's been a while since our last post. Apparently, being a working mom keeps you busy. Who knew? :-P Our little munchkin turned four months old last week (5/4). She celebrated by getting sick and staying sick for four days! Looks like we finally have a handle on it, but it's been hard on her! She's officially weighing in at 12 lbs 14 oz (as of last week) and she's finally starting to enjoy her cereal (especially oatmeal)! Here's proof:

How can you not start your day with a smile when you wake up to this cuteness??

This is what happens when Ken is left alone with the camera... he teaches Calista how to crawl... or something...

And this is what happens when Ken and Kristyn are left alone with the camera... they teach her how to walk... and how to DUNK herself like a basketball (AKA how to give Mom a heart attack when they later show her the video and she's certain Callie's head is going to split open):

Mother's Day Photo Shoot (just pictires, no video):

A New Normal

Well, here we are at the end of our first week of day care for CallieBug and back to work for me. It was so hard to leave her and I cried like no one should ever cry in front of people. Here's us leaving her for the first time (yeahh, I know, I'm a puffy-eyed mom):

It's a challenge juggling the new life of being a "working mom," but so many people do it, so I know we will, too. I returned to my classroom to see total cuteness:

So for now, we're going to just enjoy EVERY second of our weekends and count down to summer! Here are a couple fun videos of Callie learning some independent play:

Sunny Days Sweeping the Clouds Away

Callie had her first trip to the park! In reality, it lasted about 4 minutes because it was SOOO hot and sunny (it got to 85 degrees here yesterday!!), but we played a little and had a good time... here's a video and some photos.

In other news, we had our first video request... for some dancing... the details were that it had to involve some kicking and silliness... so this one's for you, Michael. ;)




Tomorrow is the big day... I go back to work and Calista starts at Day Care. I'm sure you can imagine how I feel about all of that, but such is life, and now we'll just count down until our time together this summer!!

Photo Shoot!

Callie got all "summered" up for a photo shoot in her nursery last week! I happen to think she looks pretttttty cute. Our friend Morgan is starting her own photography business. She's really fantastic and captures perfect little moments... If you go to her website and click on "Client Gallery" you can look at Calista's pictures at your own pace. You should totally call Morgan to take pictures for you so you can brag about it when she becomes rich and famous.
http://www.morgandawson.com/

daddy makes an appearance

Don't get your hopes up, it's still me writing the post, but Ken has been caught on video and I thought I should pass it along to everyone who's been requesting some daddy time on the blog! :) I'll do my best to catch Ken more often so you can see his daddy skills!

Soooo, first, Daddy battles Callie in the "Rice Cereal War of 2008."

THEN, Ken has no idea I have the camera on him and starts singing to Callie... I wish I hadn't stopped it... it got WAY funnier after the camera stopped rolling!

In other news, Callie had a photo shoot today with Morgan... you all know how fabulous Morgan's work is, so you can imagine how excited we are to see how they turned out! I'll be sure to post some for you all to see!

Oh - one more thing... has anyone been able to "subscribe" and get updates from this blog? I've had a hard time figuring that all out...

spring break should last forever

Ken's been home on Spring Break this week and it's been soooo nice to all be home together. It's hard to imagine that when school starts back up on Monday I won't be a "stay at home Mom" anymore... I went to school today to get myself organized and Callie had some daddy time. I can't believe it's already time to send our little Bug to daycare. Here's some of today's cuteness.

Apple Juice

Don't worry, we DO know we're only supposed to introduce a new food every five days. We know we just started the rice cereal yesterday, but because she's been having it in her bottles for a long time now, the doctor said we already know she isn't allergic to it, so she told us to try infant apple juice. Soooo, check out her hilarious little face:

rollllllllllllling.....

Our little munchkin is learning to roll from her belly to her back...

such a rookie!

Okay, so the doctor tells us yesterday to start rice cereal. I have been waiting for this and couldn't wait to try it!! Soooo, instead of waiting until the morning, I decide we simply must try it at her next feeding. BIG mistake. She was crabby and screaming before we even started, so what reasonable person tries something new (and difficult) with a baby who is already freaking out? Anyway, it was a huge disaster and we gave up.

Today... take two. It was again, a total failure... at first. THEN we decided to do her bottle first (we're supposed to still do bottles in addition to the rice cereal). MUUUCH better. She was full and happy and more ready for the challenge.

So we went from this:


... to this:


And in the end... maybe 75% of it ended up on her bibs (yes, bibS - plural), but for now...
job well done, Calista!