Happy Birthday Grandma!

Callie Joy is a lucky baby and gets to spend the day with the birthday girl!


This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them, taken this summer at Camp du Nord. It also reminds me of summer, which, in this dead of winter we're in right now, is a wonderful thing. Any reminders I have that life in Minnesota isn't always snowsuit wearing-start the car 15 minutes before leaving-walk carefully so as not to wipe out while carrying a 22 pound baby weather is good.

Anyways, have a wonderful birthday Grandma!

Weekend Wrap-Up

**Tupperware in the condo**

Exploration of cabinets and drawers has become SUPER fun!

**Pajama party with Charlie**

Nothing beats babies in jammies.


**Lunch and doggy playtime at the Johnson-Knapp's**


Andy and Beth found out this week that their little Donald, due early March, has a few heart abnormalities that will require surgery after birth. They'll be getting check-ups weekly and hope to make it to at least 38 weeks. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers! They set up a CaringBridge site that you can find here.

**Welcoming Auntie Cathleen home from Israel**


She had a wonderful trip and we got to see lots of amazing pictures.

And tomorrow...another full week starts!

Gerber Baby

I met my friend Libby for lunch today, and it is always a little extra crazy going out and doing things with Callie on my own. She does fine, but I'm always a little more...harried...I guess that's a good word. And people usually aren't shy about staring when there is a cute baby around, so the microscope of my motherhood sometimes seems a little stronger than usual. :)

Anyway, we had a great lunch and then I began the process of packing up all of the stuff and putting her snowsuit on so we could go. As I was standing up and trying to manage her while putting my coat on, etc., I could tell the people at the table behind us were fairly amused. I had Callie standing up holding on to my chair, but she kept pushing it so it was moving, so I was ramming my arms in my coat trying to get myself ready, trying to do it before she wanted to go down and crawl around (which was literally seconds away). I managed to scoop her up before her hands hit the ground, but not gracefully. With the backpack on, holding a 22 pounder in a cramped little restaurant, I just wanted to beeline out of there. But as we made our way out, someone at another table told me I forgot her bottle top. So I thanked her, turned around and grabbed it, and as I turned back to leave she said:

"You're baby is SO cute. Seriously, she could be in commercials!"





We've been told a number of times that she is a "Gerber Baby"...I guess we missed the boat on that one! :)

Close but no Cigar

Callie is seriously ridiculously close to taking off on her own. She has done 4-5 steps at a time going in between us, but she'll only do it once or twice before she just starts falling forward instead of walking. Thus, we don't have much for video, but we were able to get this when we stopped by the Gosselins this evening:

Almost!! from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Just before this she did about 5 steps on her own, but then just started being a chicken butt and stopped trying. But I assume that she'll get there in the very near future, and then our lives will change once again! :)

Last night Dave, Cherilyn and Sydney came over to hang out. I hadn't seen Sydney for a few weeks and she's already so much stronger! Here are a few pictures of the girls (these are especially for you Pat, Lynette, Kathy and Al (Sydney's grandparents and our loyal blog readers!))





Tonight we went over to hang out with the Koch family. It was GREAT because Chris and I were able to relax while their kids (Anthony, Jacob, Michael and our Goddaughter Christine) took on Callie duty. They followed her around everywhere while she explored their house! Here are a few pictures:


The close-to-Christmas Birthday girls!


We have a busy and fun weekend ahead! Enjoy yours!

Random Stuff

I got nothing more creative for a title for this post.

Callie is good. You know how I was so concerned that she was getting a cold? Turns out she's a big faker. Over the weekend Chris had a little congestion and was coughing and clearing his throat a lot. We were concerned because Callie was coughing some too. Then Monday came and she spent the day with MorMor and Mari, both of whom are healthy. And surprise surprise, no coughing from Callie all day. Now I have a cough. We noticed tonight that every once in a while, as soon as I cough, Callie coughs. She's totally copying me! :)

Faker from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Tonight we had a family dinner at Champps. What we didn't know beforehand was that Tuesday nights are "Kids Eat Free" nights, as well as "Kids Bingo Night." It was actually pretty fun, though my sisters would have hated it seeing as there were TONS of kids around being loud. Haha. Anyway, we ordered Cal mac & cheese and she had fun eating it. She also gnawed on a cucumber slice and ate lots of melon.

Mac&Cheese from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Lastly, you may have been wondering about or waiting for the "SHE CAN WALK!" post. I really don't feel like it is gonna happen very soon. We still can't get her calm enough to stand on her own, not to mention WALK on her own! For example:

Spaz from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Yikes

Hmmm...having a fairly rough evening, which could make this coming week a little rough because:

A) Both Callie and I seem to be getting colds,
B) Callie is doing some SERIOUS teething...at least one top one is cutting through,
C) Because of A and B, it took 1.5 hours to get Callie to sleep,
D) Winter break is over and I'm back at work tomorrow.

So I'm going to wallow in self pity and my sore throat for the next half hour, then set my alarm to get up in the morning, hopefully sleep well (Callie too!) and be just fine come 6am.

Because, really, what do I have to complain about when I get to wake up and see this face?

2011 and 1-Year Pictures!

Happy New Year!

Here are some pictures from the last day of 2010...

Bedhead:



Hanging out with Ciri:



Hanging out with Daddy:



Playing with Charlie:



Last Wednesday, our favorite photographer (and good friend!) Nik took 1-year pictures of Callie. Here are a couple of my favorites:





The rest can be found here:1-Year Pics

or here: 1-Year Pics

If you don't have or want to make an account on Snapfish, you can view the Shutterfly album. There are just a few pictures that were too big to upload into that one.