New Stuff!

Callie is now wearing all new clothes and is playing with new toys. The new clothes are her 3-6 month wardrobe. I might have waited a bit too long to switch her over to the new size. She was busting out of her jammies and all her pants were riding up. She was definitely showing off her "curvacious" figure (all diaper and belly). But now she has an entirely new wardrobe to show off in. I would love to get a new wardrobe every several months, but not because I had grown even bigger! In the toy department, Callie is just starting to reach out and touch. Playing consists mostly of grabbing, holding and shaking rings. Since her neck is so strong and she seems to want to play, I decided it was time to put together her activity table. It has a seat that connects to the table's pedestal and it orbits the table so that she can move from one station to another once she can reach the floor. Right now she just hangs out, literally, and we move her around to something new once she seems to be glazing over. I attached linking rings to everything so that she has something to grab since she can't really reach much else. We call it our coffee table. It is just easier to leave it out in the middle of the floor than to keep dragging it out of the corner. It has a snack tray (perfect for the remote) and a cup holder and we can pass Callie back and forth by way of the seat if we don't feel like getting up. If it had arms to pet cats we would be set! Here are some pictures of Callie's new toy and in her final 0-3 outfit. It is one of my favorites and is a little big for its size so she can still wear it a few more times for me.

My little big girl!

Callie had her eight week doctors visit today (a week late). The doctor was very pleased with her development. And, just as we suspected, she weighs well over 13 pounds--13 lbs, 9 oz to be exact and is 24 1/4 inches long now. She is in the 96% in height and weight. She also had a big round of vaccinations which was heart-breaking for me to watch. She has been sleeping since and will probably be pretty out of it tomorrow too. Here are this week's pictures. She is sitting in her bumbo seat a little each day now. And, as you can see from the playmat picture, her neck is getting very strong. She is starting to giggle and loves to great her "friends" on her swing with a big smile.

This is Callie's impersonation of Alfred Hitchcock (notice the shadow!)

"Hi, Friends!"

Tummy Time

Bumbo Time

Art Update

I originally created this blog to compliment my webpage by blogging about any art I was working on. That was weeks before I found out I was pregnant and that this blog would have much more interesting content! But I do have an art update to write about. Callie was sweet enough to allow me some time to paint the last two weeks and I got a number of paintings completed. I entered the beach scenery paintings in the Summerscapes show at my gallery and the other paintings I created mostly to show at a church art show that was held Saturday night. The church show didn't turn out to be a very profitable opportunity but I did meet some very nice people and got an invitation to a Christian mommy group. I sold enough to get my entry fee back and to buy Matt a milk shake! I did have a few people take my card and info on name plaques, so hopefully something will come of that. Here are the latest works. The scenic painting are my usual mixed media of watercolor, pastel and pen. The others are acrylic over collage, like my latest name plaques and florals. I am quite the schizophrenic artist. I have several things I enjoy doing equally. I guess that comes from being an art teacher--an interest in exploring new ideas and materials and the need to mix it up regularly.

The Wharf

Shastas

Pink Beach

Japanese Maple

Charity Palm

Gerbera Daisies

Playing on the Beach

Busy Day on the Beach

Moonlight

Two Month Fiesta!

Callie is two months old today and we have seen a drastic difference in her development over the last week. She now "talks" with her favorite word being "hi" or maybe it is "aaeey" but it sounds like hi to us and she repeats it if we say hi back. She also occupies herself in her crib more once she wakes up by stretching and making noise. Yesterday, she played on her playmat for over twenty minutes without getting overstimulated. She is batting at objects now so she had a great time hitting things with both hands while making faces at her octopus. Matt weighed her this morning on our scales and he said she was 13 -1/2 lbs. but that is with clothes and a diaper. She goes to the doctor next Monday so we are anxious to see what she really weighs. Here are some pictures of the events of this past week. Overall, it was a quiet week. Matt worked from home most of it because he has been very sick with a cold/sinus infection and pink eye. (Not sure where he got that.) He is still coughing and sounds pretty bad but is feeling better today. Callie and I worked the gallery desk on Friday for a few hours. She did very well. She loves being at the gallery because she loves staring at pictures on walls. We had hoped that Sunday would be her first day of church but Matt was way too sick yesterday morning to go. Michelle had a surprise fiesta for Scott last night at a Mexican restaurant in Norfolk. We had already called to say we would not be able to go because of Matt's bad cough, but after an afternoon walk to get some fresh air in his lungs, he decided he felt well enough to go for a short time. I think he was motivated mostly by the free taco bar! Plus, we figured it was a party full of med-students with good immune systems who wouldn't be afraid of a grown man with pink-eye. We had a very nice time and Callie enjoyed watching the at least twenty black ceiling fans overhead. Happy Birthday Scott!

Playmat fun!

Ready for a ride in her jogging stroller. (more appropriately called a "fast walking stroller"--I don't jog!)

Fiesta Time!

Two Big Weekends!

Callie had two exciting weekends these past two weeks. She had visitors over Memorial weekend (her Grammie and Grampie and Aunt Michelle) and then on that Sunday evening, she got to go to her first wedding. One of Matt's coworkers got married in the rose garden of the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful evening and Callie was hit (second to the bride, of course). She had on an adorable little dress with pink ribbons and pink gingham bloomers and black patent-leather shoes. She was an angel, sleeping peacefully through most of the wedding and the reception. And she loved looking around at all the faces when she wasn't asleep.





There were two cute couples with their babies at the wedding...






Callie is still recovering from her other exciting weekend. We left last Wednesday night for my parent's house at the lake. She visited her Grannyroo (my grandmother) on Thursday for the first time. Grandma loved meeting her and was able to hold her and coo at her for a while.




Here is a picture of the fog on the lake at dawn. It made those 5 am feedings more enjoyable!

Then, on Friday, we drove up to Blacksburg and spent the day with various friends before heading up to the mountain (Giles Co.) to stay with family until Sunday. Callie was very worn out Friday night from all her adventures. She went to BMS to visit (and poop on) some of my teacher friends, then to Julie's to visit her and the kids. Then she had all her new family members to meet and cuddle with on the mountain. Saturday was a much calmer day. The highlight for her, I think, was meeting her second cousin Hunter. They really hit it off. He tickled her and sang to her and she would smile back, fascinated by this new face. They are going to be close, you can just tell!