Spring Cleaning in Summer Weather

Callie is quickly leaving her baby year behind her as she streaks into toddlerdom.  She is a complete ball of giggly, squealing energy.  She had her one year check-up and, even though she has barely grown, dropping to 50% in height and 40% in weight (29-1/4 inches and 19.8 lbs) since her last visit, she has grown by leaps and bounds in her motor skills and intellect.  She is now saying "Dad -dee" and has called me "mumma" a few times.  Usually I am "baabaa" which I am not suspecting is her way of saying "booba".  She is weened now to nursing just at night so hopefully I will get a new identity soon!  She has done so many new things, it is hard to recall them all.  Matt is proud of how she will walk herself to her crib when it is nap time and I love how she runs "nakey" to the tub at night for a bath.  She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and giggles with glee when she hears it come on.  We have some footage of her doing the "hot dog: dance that I will post soon.  I am finding it increasingly difficult to keep the house even close to clean because she is runs right behind me and messes up everything I just straightened.  And when I have painting deadlines to meet, I might as well just give up.  Our little house can barely contain our little monster.  The other day, Matt found some of her toys in the garage making the cat door just another place she likes to stash things.  We have been taking the fun and destruction outside whenever possible.  It has been very hot already and so we introduced Callie to what Matt calls the "redneck pool" - running through the sprinkler in just a diaper.  She is a huge fan of this new activity and wasn't fazed by the cold water.  We have pictures and video and I hope to get the videos posted soon.  Here is a sampling of our little princess' not so lady-like adventures.

One last Sunday in a winter outfit that I love.  We had to take her tights off so she wouldn't burn up in the corduroy jumper.  Rarely is she this still in her chair.  It has become a jungle gym.

She has the run of the house now and she surprised me one day by walking into the art room wearing this hat backwards and carrying my yellow shoe--a treasure she found in our closet, one of her favorite places to "tear it up!"

I think she will eventually become a great helper.  She got this floor mop out completely on her own and when I came to check on her, she met me in the hall like this.  She loves watching me clean, so I guess she is learning what to do from watching!

This is her new toy that Daddy picked out for her.  It connects to the TV and is like a little video game for babies.  She loves riding it, even when it is not hooked up.  It plays music when she bounces on it.  She thinks it is a good place to just sit and watch Mickey Mouse too!

 Another great way to beat the heat is to take a trip to Tropical Smoothie for lunch.  Callie got to experience her first Mango Magic and she loved it!  Look how cold her little nose is from slurping it so fast!


And finally, our pastey-white princess in her finest bloomers:

Birthday Bash

The birthday blog is finally here!  Sorry for the delay!  We had a great birthday week with Callie.  Nana and Papa arrived Tuesday night and we enjoyed the day together on Wednesday.  Grammie and Grampie drove down on Thursday (her birthday) and we all worked to get the party started.  Michelle and Scott and our dear friends Ginny and Harry were also there for the festivities.  We all waited patiently for Callie to get up from her afternoon nap, which took much longer than usual.  Once she was up, we stayed busy opening presents, eating hamburgers that Daddy cooked on the grill, and finally, eating cake and ice cream.  It was a great day followed by two more days of family fun as we all shopped, ate out, went to the beach and the park, and attended the gallery's art opening for the Bloom exhibit.  It was such a fun week but it really took its toll on our sleep schedule.  We are back to "sleep learning" because I have finally gotten to the point of admitting that Callie is not a little baby anymore and should be sleeping through the night.  Besides all-night parties, Callie is doing some really neat things now that she is a big one year old.  She has a lot more freedom to roam about the house so she is enjoying raiding cabinets, my shoe shelves in the closet and trash cans (if I don't catch her first!).  She loves her baths again and is getting two new teeth on the bottom.  She is still not saying much more than Dadda and an occasional Momma or Ya-ya (a nickname she seems to have given me) but she babbles so much that I think real words are soon to come.   She is now weened to just nursing in the morning and night (with one feed during the night that is soon to go!)  She is still a big fruit eater and will eat chicken and some cheese and maybe some bread or crackers and yogurt.  No veggies yet, but I will be making some purees soon to sneak into recipes.  She also drinks cow's milk pretty well which has helped in the weening process.  I can't complain about much.  She is such a good natured baby-big girl.  She loves to laugh, takes great naps, entertains herself well, eats well, nurses well and keeps a constant smile on our faces.  We love our Callie Mae.  We can't believe it has been a whole year already and what a great year it has been!  Thank you God for our precious baby girl!

Enjoying Grampie's bubble machine.

Auntie Michelle teaching her how to catch bubbles.

Standing and climbing on everything.

The Schumachers were in attendance as well (via Skype).

She enjoyed being sung too.  Auntie Michelle made the birthday hat for her.

She did not enjoy the cake as much.

More fun to feed it to Daddy.

Everyone worked together to figure out her new chair from Grammie and Grampie.  She was perfectly content with just the box.

They finally figured out how it went together...

...and Callie finally figured out it wasn't for climbing!

It's great for Saturday morning cartoon watching.

Playing in the tutu that Auntie gave her.

 We made time for a trip to the park and Grampie got to go down the slide with her.

On the beach in her birthday dress (also Brighton's birthday dress).  She refused to put her toes in the sand.  It was too chilly for her I think.

What a pretty girl in her dress and new sandals.

Our always super-smiley birthday girl!

A Silk Dress and a Yankees Jersey - Easter 2010

I am very behind on blogging due to all the visitors and festivities of the last few weeks.  But I promise to make it up to everyone by posting TONS of new pictures!  We celebrated Matt's birthday one weekend, Easter the next and then, of course, Callie's first birthday this past week.  On Easter Sunday (April 5th), Callie looked like a porcelain doll in her silk dress.  But that didn't stop her from acting like a tomboy as we took pictures outside.  She quickly traded plastic eggs for sticks and rocks.  Fortunately for her, we had another special outfit for the day.  It was the first baseball game of the season, and a Yankees game at that, so Callie got to "sport" her pin-striped jersey for Daddy.  She looked just as adorable in the jersey with her pink shoes finishing off the look.  I just need to find her a baseball bow!

(I've been getting artsy with my new photoshop program)

Outside our church

Playing with sticks instead!  Mommy just cringes when she picks up a stick.  The scar above my lip from my childhood stick accident starts to burn like Harry Potter's forehead scar!  Will could tell her all about Aunnie's stick accident!

Picking up rocks that ended up in her mouth instead of the basket!

Practicing her catchers stance.

Grampie waiting for attention.

Callie decided to close him up in the box.

But she eventually went back to rescue him!

Exploring...

...and discovering...prickly!

A musical easter card --her favorite kind.

Our precious, pretty girl...

...and our silly little tomboy!