Saturday, December 19, 2009

Non-snow Day

Today I mourned the lack of snow in Hampton Roads while regularly viewing facebook pictures of Roanoke and Blacksburg's 15-20 inches. I would have loved to have had some snow to watch fall but I can't complain too much. I had Winter Storm Callie to watch instead and she was very entertaining, plus, she doesn't melt or get slushy and brown. (Enter your own diaper joke here.) She finally decided today that she couldn't wait anymore to get her hands on her Christmas gifts.There have been presents under the tree for weeks but I moved them out closer to her today and she was happy to get her hands on them.




Rudolph with your nose so bright...




Looking for trouble...



and I found it!



Oh, was I supposed to wait on these?



You won't tell Santa will you?



The family room tree and a little elf (imp).



The living room/study tree. It has all our really nice ornaments on it. Here is a close-up. This tree is full thanks to Matt's aunt Lynn who has given us all the beautiful Lenox ornaments over the years.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Cuz I Know Grammy Can't Wait!

Matt, Callie and I went to the gallery Christmas party tonight. Callie got to wear her special fancy Christmas dress that her Grammy had bought for her. I know that Grammy is very anxious to see how it looked so here are some pictures. I am also throwing in one from this weekend. Janice came to visit, along with Dreama and Steve. They all stayed here and we really enjoyed the visit with Janice. She hadn't seen Callie since early fall.








Watching Polar Express with Grammy and staying up WAY past her new bedtime.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Cat Water, Crib Wedgies and Reindeer Butts

I think the title is pretty self-explanatory. Enjoy the pics of Callie's latest antics!



(look closely at the amount of water on the floor that wasn't absorbed by her jeans)




If you click on the photos to enlarge them, you can see the water all over her face.



I had removed the crib bumpers because she kept getting stuck under them. After finding her like this I quickly put them back on and tucked them in as much as I could!



No Christmas tree is safe this year!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Deja Vu and Thanksgiving and Deja Vu

It has been a while since my last post and there are two reason - one being Thanksgiving and the other being that I have a very mischievous crawler on my hands now and have had no time to blog! Matt has been out of town all this week and I have spent almost every second with Callie. She has even slept with me most nights. I am eager for him to get home today so that I can have one complete thought and maybe even sit at my art table for more than five minutes. Callie is crawling and pulling up and she has amazing stamina. She barely naps unless I nap with her, adding to the issue of me not getting anything accomplished. I feel like my day is full of lapses of deja vu. She is a very determined kid so I am constantly pulling her down from one precarious position, removing her little hands from the cat water, pulling her back down from the previous precarious position, pulling her little hands out of the cat water, and so on. I can't wait until Christmas for new and bigger toys! I think I am just about as excited for her to get some new things as I was about getting new things as a child. I just hope that at least one of her presents can guarantee to occupy her in one spot long enough for me to run to the bathroom or check email!

She is still working on those bottom teeth. One is popping through a small amount and I can see the impression of the other one. She is eating much better, preferring her strawberry yogurt and puffs at every meal. We are working on expanding that menu. She even got to have Thanksgiving dinner at the table when we went to Grammy and Grampy's house. She was very good throughout the entire meal and was all smiles the whole holiday. It is important to mention that part of the table decorations were the plastic pumpkins from last Thanksgiving that I wrote her name on to surprise everyone with news that we were having a girl. We all had a great time but were very sad that Nana and Papa couldn't join us as we had planned. Nana has not been feeling well so we are praying that she heals up quickly and can enjoy Christmas with her littlest granbaby. Here are some pics of Thanksgiving at Grammy and Gramps.


Center of the table and the thing we are all most thankful for this year!




Drooling all over Grampy's head!



Helping in the kitchen




Jaw exercises!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Wonder Baby!

Callie and I made it back safe and sound from our trip and we are settling back into our routine as much as she will let us. Matt was very happy to have his girls home and Callie squealed with delight when she saw him. I was excited to see him too, but after nine years of marriage, I don't squeal as much. Since we have been back, Callie has been trying to take on several major baby stages at once. She is still working on her first teeth and there is finally one making an appearance. She is regularly feeling it with her tongue, sucking on her lips and drooling profusely. Her other adventures include trying to stand and crawl. She can now pull herself up using her crib bars and would love nothing better than to be able to stand right up and walk around at will. But since she is not stable enough for that, she has relented and is giving crawling a chance. She only crawls selectively right now. It has to be something really worth the effort, like an unsuspecting, sleeping cat or a TV remote or cell phone left on the floor.




Crawling and showing off the adorable hat that one of Aunt Michelle's co-workers made her (THANK YOU!)






Some of her crib antics.




Daddy's buddies!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Adventures in NOLA: Day Five and Six


Friday and Saturday were spent mostly around the house. It was difficult to stick with any kind of agenda with three different nap times going on. Sometimes they would all sleep at the same time and sometimes they were down at completely different times. We did get to the neighborhood park on Friday, to Will's t-ball game Saturday morning and then out to tour downtown Covington that evening. We really enjoyed watching Will's game. He is one of the youngest on the team and doesn't completely understand that it is a team sport. He gets upset if the ball isn't hit to him when he is fielding. And until today, he would only run to first base on his own. But having a larger cheering section seemed to make a difference. On his last at bat, he ran, completely by himself, to all the bases and proudly home.


We are very sad to leave tomorrow morning. It will be a long drive back and even longer for Callie and I since we have to go back to Va Beach from the lake. But we have throroughly enjoyed our visit. We have some great memories and stories to remind the kids of later.

One more bath picture.

T-ball is a "family" sport.




Instead of throwing to first, he is examining the ball.



at bat...



...running to first...



...redirecting the wayward base runner from the outfield...



...arriving at home plate.


Finally running all by himself and VERY proud!


The cheering section.








Callie loves Will...


...and Will loves Callie.


Papa's Daycare!