Yay for Auntie Cathleen!

We're so glad she's back! We had a fun day with her and Grandma and Grandpa- and Nana and Papa too!





Checking out the 30 things for turning 30!


Matching Cal(l)i(e) shirts that Cathleen and I (and her other 2 aunts) have!


Presents from Cathleen from abroad...Digestives (delicious cookies from England!)


As you probably noticed, Chris wasn't around. He had an all day bachelor party for his friend Bill who is getting married in Duluth in 2 weeks. Chris and Dan are both in the wedding and we're looking forward to it!

Yesterday Callie got to meet a few more great-aunts. Mary's sisters Jan and Terese came to town and had fun playing with Callie. Her brother Mark was there too. (He met Callie in March for her baptism).

Happy Birthday Auntie Cat!

We're so glad we get to spend this special day with you!

Whew!

I'm thrilled to report an almost 2 hour nap and a happy baby the rest of the night!

On to some recent pictures:

Callie and Calvin at Wabun Park


Chris with Callie and Charlie


Surrounded by fun baby toys and all she wants are Mommy's keys!


We have a fun weekend ahead! Auntie Cathleen is coming home tomorrow...on her birthday!

It's On

The nap battle is raging right now. RAGING.

****Side note- this whole post was written in the midst of dealing with a screaming baby for an hour and a half so if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, that is why******

Normally Callie does pretty well with naptime. I know the signs of when she is tired (crankiness, eye rubbing, etc.) so I put her up in her bed, shut the shades, turn on the white noise and crib music, give her her little burp rag to hold, and within a few minutes she is down for the count (sometimes she protests a little bit, but nothing more than letting her last bit of energy out).

This afternoon...not so much.

Approximately 70 minutes ago I saw the signs. Crabby. Tired eyes. And with a full belly and fresh diaper, all signs pointed towards a quick and easy transition to naptime. That is SO not what happened.

After about 10 minutes of blood-curdling screaming Chris picked her up for a bit. But he had to go run so I came up and took over. I moved her to her crib so she could look at the mobile (yes, she still sleeps in the the pack-n-play in our room). She seemed to calm down a bit- at least not as intense screaming- and I had positioned myself behind the crib so she couldn't see me. So I got on the floor and crawled out of the room to keep it that way. Came downstairs. The blood-curdling screams began again. I went upstairs and picked her up. Silence for about 15 seconds and then blood-curdling screams in my arms.

At this point I KNOW she's exhausted. I just wish SHE knew she is exhausted. So I put her back in her normal bed again and listened to blood-curdling screams again. What do I do? She screams in my arms too. I'm hoping she'll tire herself out, but it wasn't sounding that way.

After an hour of listening to screaming no matter what I did I tried to nurse her but she was too wound up for that. So I made a 2 ounce bottle figuring it had already been an hour since her normal bottle and she'd burned off so much energy that maybe she was hungry. She screamed as soon as the bottle was done but I brought her back to her bed with a renewed determination.

Now, 1 hour and 20 minutes later, I think she is down. {KNOCK ON WOOD}

At this point I am praying for a 1+ hour nap, and her usual post-nap happy face when she wakes up:

GO AUNTIE LAURA!!!

At this very moment my sister Laura is taking the Illinois Bar Exam. She does the essay part today and the multiple choice part tomorrow. She has worked SOOOOO hard and I know she'll do great! Good Luck Auntie Laura!!!!





You're #1!!!

4 New Things, Urban Baby, Picnic and Meeting more Cousins!

#1:Baby Bjorn to the park- facing forward and laughing at Kona (for most of the walk)!

Baby Bjorn-ing from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

#2:Yelling- whenever she feels she isn't getting enough attention.

Yelling from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

#3: Waving- at random times and to random things.

Waving from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

#4: Reading- a month ago she would sit still for a second to read a book. Now she looks at them on her own!

Reading from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Yesterday Callie and I spent the morning/afternoon downtown at the condo (I ran the 9 miles there while Chris dropped her off!). it was beautiful out so we spent some time watching the farmer's market from the balcony.




Last night we picnicked with our neighbors- so Callie got to hang out with Wes!


This afternoon Callie met some more of her 1st cousins once removed! We met Chris' Uncle Rich and Aunt Stacy and their 4 kids for lunch. We played a little at Grandma and Grandpa's house before lunch too.

Waving to Alex


Hangin out with Arieanna and Annelise


Playing with Andrew


Charming Stacy and Rich


All in all, a fun weekend!

A Canon and a 3rd Cousin!

Like I said last night, I went out this morning and purchased a camera. A Canon SX210 to be exact- the best point-and-shoot camera Best Buy sells according to the Best Buy guy. I forgot to mention Beth who steered me in the direction of Canons because she has two and always takes gorgeous pictures of her kids- thanks Beth!

Anyway, I took it out for a photo session to the park with the girls and it is great! Here are a sampling of the pics...







This week we learned very exciting news. My (2nd) cousin Andy and his wife Beth are expecting a baby in early March! So that means Callie will be getting a 3rd cousin! Woohoo!!!!!

CAMERA

Our camera broke! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! I seriously feel like I'm missing a limb.

To help explain why I feel this way I decided to go through my picture folders and count all of the pictures I/we (but mostly I!) have taken since December 22nd.

There are:
2842 pics total (not including the 1 month/3 month/6 month pictures)
Which averages out to:
406 pics per month
Which averages out to:
14 pics per day

---AND---

222 videos!

Now do you understand my reason for panic? As my mom said, one camera can only hold so much cuteness, so our camera must have reached its cuteness quota. :)

And of course, a wonderful photo-op happened today that I couldn't do anything about. Callie and I were over visiting Grandma today, and their neighbor Kim came over with little 4-month-old George. It was HORRIBLE not having a camera to document more baby cuteness!

But I think it will ultimately be a good thing because I'm ready to get a better camera that takes higher quality pictures and video. Thanks to our friend Nik, I have narrowed my options down to two different cameras and will call around to Best Buys in the morning and hope that one of the stores in the cities has both models for me to go look at and test out. I have been doing tons of research online- price comparisons, reading reviews, etc. I normally NEVER do that stuff...I just jump on the bandwagon of something I want to buy and don't look at other options. So I feel well educated and hopefully that will come in handy tomorrow so I can actually buy a really good camera ASAP!!!!!

Anyway, good thing I got some adorable bath pictures this morning BEFORE the camera crapped out on me.

Splashing around

I love baths!

The cutest flower EVER

7 Months Old!

What a big girl!

Minneapolis and Teeth!

Though we now live in St. Paul, yesterday Callie and I went back to my roots and were total Minneapolitans (Minneapolites?). We walked around the Sculpture Garden and Loring Park with Kylie and Calvin and took a quick photo break (of course!) on a bench in beautiful walkway surrounded by flowers and greens.



It is ridiculous how cute they are! :)

Last night we had a picnic at Lake Harriet with Grandma and Grandpa. We found a great shady spot right by the water. Callie had fun playing and looking around. And Kona had fun too!



So all in all, it was another wonderful day of summer.

Callie's two bottom teeth are really starting to become more visible. I tried to get a picture and this was the best I got.



I got a video too where you see flashes of the the teeth...and hear her latest noise- a weird grunting kind of sound...haha.

Teeth! from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Yep. GOOD JOB. Again.
I realize the bow is a tad over the top, but now that she's growing more hair, I can't help it!

And finally, a picture that I took a couple mornings ago. Nothing is cuter than a baby in pajamas!

New Look!

As you probably noticed, the blog has a new look! I've been wanting one for awhile but didn't know how (and couldn't really put the time in) to make it what I wanted. Then I stumbled across Nikki who designs blogs for people for a fee, all of which goes to her humanitarian work and charity. So I jumped at the chance, and I love the outcome!

And on to Baby Goose...

Here are a couple of videos from the past few days:

Tolerant Boxer Part 2 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Toys from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

It has come to my attention (from a few different people) that I always say "good job" in the videos. I can't help it- it just pops out of my mouth. So I'll probably continue to say "good job" until I find something better to say! :)

This afternoon we went over to Nana and Papa's house. Callie showed them how well she can sit up and was a smiley, happy baby!

So busy!

We've had a full few days! Here are some pictures that capture the fun:

Thursday- Hanging out with Grandma!


Friday- Hanging out with Charlie!

Charlie- 10 weeks old



Saturday- Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house with Uncle Dan and then hanging out with Wes!



Wes- 4 months old


Sunday- Hanging out at MorMor and Bops' condo with Auntie Mari!


Because of the severe storms on Saturday night (the sirens went off, strong winds and rain, etc.) we did not put Callie to bed upstairs at her 8:00 bedtime...instead she sacked out in the basement with us. And for those of you who know Callie well, you know that she isn't a cuddler. When you hold her her back is arched,her arms go up and she looks at everyone and everything around EXCEPT the person holding her.

Like this:



There are just too many exciting things going on in the world for her to nestle in with anybody! So I have to take what I can get. On Saturday night, amidst the crazy storms and being hunkered down in the basement, I got to cuddle with my (deeply sleeping) baby!

Where'd the baby go?

This summer is flying by and I'm getting a little sappy. But I have noticed that somehow we don't really have a little baby anymore; we have a big girl! She seems to grow up every second and it is thrilling and a little sad at the same time.

Gone are the days that she would lay in your arms and sleep like this:



She'd much rather be on her own and active like this:



Gone are the days where 1 breastfeeding session would last her 3 hours. Now she needs 1 breast feeding session, this:



And sometimes this:



Gone are the days where she'd lay in her play gym and just stare at the toys:



Now she sits up and interacts with them and so many other toys (and can wear a BOW in her hair!)



Gone are the days when she was just a little peanut in her car seat:



Now her legs are almost as long as her car seat:



Gone are the days when she'd sleep through meals at restaurants:



Now she sits in a high chair:



Gone are the days when she could barely lift her head up:



Now she's able to hold her whole body up:



There are so many other ways that she has grown and changed in the past 6 months and it has been amazing to see. All I know is that I have enjoyed every single second we've been given with her.

From this:



To this:



And I can't wait to continue to watch her grow!