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!

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!

Adventures in NOLA: Day Four

Thursday was birthday day for Nana and Brighton. Brighton turned one and Nana turned 45, I think. That is the story I am sticking to anyway. I have a two day ride back with her coming up soon so I better not tell the the world wide web her actual age. Not that it is old...Anyway, I won't be covering Brighton's big day in this blog because I don't want to steal Becky's thunder. She will post pictures and write about it on her own blog later. I might come back and add pictures to this post next week after she has had a chance to put some on. The big events of the day were shopping at ToysRUs for the kids (I got some more shopping done for Callie's first Christmas) and then we went out for a great dinner and then came home for cake. Callie had a rough day because of teething. Thanks to Nana's persistence, she is finally eating certain things. At the restaurant, she pigged out on baby puffs but wasn't content with just those. I gave her a saltine and she immediately started biting off bits, chewing and swallowing. All without gagging or making the "grodey" face. She finished off two whole crackers before she was content to just play with the crinkly wrappers. Here are some pictures from the day.

The floor on this side of the table was an absolute disaster by the time we left!

The floor on this side was slightly cleaner!

Will decided he needed to take some pictures of the birthday celebrations. It is very difficult to get a good picture of him lately, which is why I don't have many posted from this week. He is a bit stubborn about posing for the camera.

And what first birthday would be complete without some pics of the birthday suit. We have been bathing the girls together every night. They seem to enjoy it!

While Brighton was playing with the spigot, Callie thought it would be appropriate to try and bite her butt. Unfortunately, I didn't get it on camera, but you can just imagine the scene!

Adventures in NOLA: Day Three

Today we went to the city to have binets at Cafe Du Monde, site-see, and then go to the zoo. It was an exciting day for all. Mom wore her camera out taking pictures of every balcony with pretty plants and every animal at the zoo. Will had a nice conversation with a strange bird that was "hanging out with the giraffes" (at least that is what the bird told him) and Brighton got to eat her first binet and make a great sugar mess all over the floor. Callie had a great time too. She sang and cooed all the way through the French Market and then was thoroughly ammused by all the kids at the zoo. But she didn't seem to get very excited about the animals. She liked the pictures of the animals at each exhibit more than the animal itself. The two things that she seemed to get very excited about were the giraffes, because we were very close to them and they were moving around, and the elephant water fountain at the center of the zoo. Here are some pictures from the day.

Vest girls - the morning started cool but warmed up quickly.

Looking out at the Cafe.

Brighton enjoying her binet with one bare foot.


Mom bought us scarves at the market.

Callie on the baby elephant at the zoo.

Here is Callie's favorite part - the fountain!

Here is her reaction to it!

The big guy was one of my favorites. I just wanted to curl up next to him like I do with Ollie.

They had a really interesting Lousianna swamp section with great displays. This is a replica of a campboat. People used to live on these and pull them around the swamp with their little jon-boats. Sometimes they had toilets on the back porch. The green surface underneath looks like a solid floor but it was solid algae pond water.

Adventures in NOLA: Day Two

Today was a stay at home day. Becky had to teach her co-op class this afternoon for a few hours so we decided just to stick around the house and play. We went on a nice long walk/bike ride together. The girls rode together in the wagon, Will (or "Blue Gloves", one of his aliases) rode in the stroller. Mom and Dad did all the hard work while Becky and I rode bikes around the neighborhood, just like old times (but without the neighbors' german shepherds chasing us!) We enjoyed the tour of the neighborhood. The houses are all beautiful and each one is unique. The outing took us by the river which looked more like a stagnant pond to me. But Becky said it was actually deep despite being so windy, and that it was not an unusual site to see someone on a sea-doo or boat riding around on it. This afternoon was spent playing in the yard and Callie got to swing in a "big girl" swing for the first time. She loved it as you can see from the pictures. Tomorrow we are going into the city. Jon is taking the day off and we are all going to Cafe Du Monde for breakfast and then to the zoo.

Spending quality time with her aunt and uncle.

Callie is borrowing Brighton's walker for the week.

Will trying to hold Callie's hand while Nana reads a story.




(crawling lessons)

Big girl Brighton standing and eating. Notice Boo under the table waiting for bites.

"Blue Gloves Schumacher"

Callie was completely pooped after the ride around the neighborhood.

This is blurry but I couldn't resist this joyous face!