New Tricks

How is it Friday already? Not that I'm complaining...but the week went by really fast. I guess that seems to be happening in general as it is the middle of November and the holidays are right around the corner. Which means...

...a certain Punkin Head's 1st birthday is right around the corner!

And I can't even fathom that right now. So while I'm trying to ignore the fact that my baby is growing up, she is making it nearly impossible.

In the past week she learned to:
I) crawl...officially (see video from last weekend in Chicago).
II) pull herself up.

Because of I and II, we:
A) had to put her crib mattress lower to the ground.
B) have to put her in her sleep sacks for nap times (along with bed time) so she can't pull herself up in the crib.

Yesterday we:
1) bought a new convertible car seat that we'll start using tomorrow!!!! No more lugging a baby around in an infant carrier.

And along with all these big milestones, she's just so stinking smart! You can just see the neurons firing away in her brain. (I hope that is the right use of biology vocabulary. I watched "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader" tonight and am feeling rather dumb.)

Here are a couple videos of our little genius from this past week:

Dancing...? from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Curious Cat from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Not quite ready for steps from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And a couple of pictures:

Chicago Pics

Thankfully I took the day off today so I could:

1)recover from the weekend, and
2)get some stuff done!

And now I get to add to the list:

3)chase around a baby that is SERIOUSLY on the move.

No more sitting nicely and playing...she is EVERYWHERE. So #1 and #2 will really only happen during nap time. :)

Here are some pictures from Chicago. We hung out in Laura's apartment, went to watch Laura play flag football, went to the zoo, went to a park, and did a lot of eating.













Thanks to Laura for a wonderful trip!

Never Grow Up

We're home! I'll post pics tomorrow, I'm super tired right now. But I want to share a story from the airplane.

We had walked a lot. We had taken two different trains. We had been through the security line (me juggling a baby, two bags and a very large stroller). We had sat at the gate for a half hour (chasing around a crawling baby). We had gotten on the airplane first and settled into our seat. The flight attendant told us we could move to the last row with two empty seats if we wanted. We moved all our stuff to the back. We entertained a crazy baby and made small talk with the flight attendant during take-off. We stood up when the crabby baby started fussing. We sat down when she actually calmed down while snuggling into and falling asleep in my arms. We were exhausted.

So I quickly got my iPod out, put my earbuds in, and settled in to listen to the new Taylor Swift album. The third song, "Never Grow Up", came on.

And the tears started flowing and didn't stop for about 20 minutes.

Here is a sample of the lyrics to the song:

"Your little hand's wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light
To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that

Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple
I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart
And no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up, never grow up..."

Do you understand why I was just a puddle sitting in the back row of the dark airplane holding my sweet sleeping 10-month-old baby?

So tired. So happy. So peaceful. So thankful.

Crawling in Chicago

Callie FINALLY figured out real crawling this week! And face planting as well. Here she is on the move in Laura's apartment:

Crawling Baby from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

We made it to Chicago and the plane ride went fairly well. She was pretty squirrelly at first but then ended up falling asleep half way through the flight while eating puffs.

More on our trip later, but I wanted to share this picture from the zoo...my little monkey hanging with the monkeys!

Happy Birthday Nana!

We love you!

Chicago Bound...SOLO+1!

So Callie and I are heading to Chicago for the weekend to visit my (NEWLY SWORN IN AND OFFICIAL LAWYER!) sister Laura. I'm EXTREMELY excited about a sister weekend (minus the youngest...sad) but I'm also a little ANXIOUS about flying with Callie by myself. Chris is dropping us off and helping get the pack-n-play checked, and Laura is picking us up at the airport in Chicago, so really it should just be a few hours of actual solo parenting in an intense situation. And by intense I mean keeping a 10-month-old entertained by holding her down in a very narrow airplane seat. Thank God it isn't a longer flight! I'm sure it will all be fine since she is an awesome baby and so used to being carted around to different places. But, alas, I am my mother's daughter and therefore a worrier. :)

Anyway, Laura is ready for us as evidenced by the picture she posted on Facebook yesterday:



And I am ready to pack the lightest I have ever packed for a trip EVER. Seriously. I'm hoping to fit all of our stuff into our new backpack/diaper bag:



We'll see how that goes! But anyway, send Happy Baby thoughts at about 3:30 tomorrow. :)

Vote Vote Vote!

It is well past the voting window, but I wanted to write a GO VOTE post nonetheless.

Chris and I planned to go vote after work. While driving home, Callie fell fast asleep. And this girl needs her sleep, so we didn't want to wake her up. Therefore, we multi-tasked. We still drove to the voting place, but Chris voted first while I stayed in the car with Callie. Then when he was done I went in. It took a little longer than it would have if we went at the same time, but our baby got her nap in.



And that is what mattered to us voting parents. :)