Post #450

That's a lot of posts! Lots of times I've gotten comments about how surprised people are that I can blog so much, but I truly enjoy being able to share our little Callie Joy with everyone who cares to read about her! Plus, she has been (for the most part) a ROCK-STAR sleeper, which makes it much easier to have time to blog. :)

This post will be super random...I apologize in advance.

First up, the disaster that is our house.

It is a clutter-tastrophy. Like my made-up word? And I can't make myself do much about it. Thankfully, this weekend we're getting a roommate for a couple of months (Uncle Dan!) so that will force me to get some things done that I've wanted to do for awhile. But in the reality of day-to-day life (being a full-time WoMOM), if I get time to myself, I want to spend it blogging, chilling out, or pretty much anything else besides dealing with our crap. So I don't really know how to solve that problem, but I'm not too concerned.

Next up, we've learned a new sign: drink!

Drink from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

So "more", "all done", "please", and "drink" have all been mastered. Now we're working on "thank you."

Lastly, the amount of drool that has been pouring out of Punkin's mouth has been out of control because the number of teeth she now has is numbering more than 8! Here are a few pictures that Grandpa took during meal time today that showcase the mouth full of pearly whites:

Hmmm...anything else? Not too much that I can think of. I am doing pretty good with my half marathon training, and am looking forward to it getting warmer, the snow melting, and daylight past 5:30.

Have a great weekend!

Great Day!

Today was fabulous.

Donald's surgery went as best as it possibly could and he's now in recovery.

I had the day off.

Callie and I went to a big indoor play area with our friends Kylie and Calvin and had a blast! Those toddlers were all over the place and having so much fun. Here are some pictures:

Warming up to all the stuff they can do:

On the move!

The first thing she found in the gym area:

Pushing Calvin into a wall:

She only lasted pushing Calvin around for a minute, but Calvin had fun pushing her around!

Getting a Ride from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Back to reality tomorrow!

Prayers Please

Callie's new little cousin Donald has been doing great since arriving in the world last Thursday. Today is the day of his heart surgery. In a half hour to be exact.

Andy and Beth are my new heroes.

I can't imagine how difficult it must be to see your itty bitty baby attached to so many tubes and monitors ready to go into heart surgery.

So please please please keep them, Donald, his doctors, and his grandparents (Amy, Peter and Bonnie) in your prayers today. It's going to be a long long long day for all of them.

Beth has written some wonderful entries on their CaringBridge site. Check it out (along with pictures!) if you get a chance.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/donaldjohnsonknapp

Weekend Wrap-Up

As I alluded to on Friday, we had a fairly big weekend. Chris and I escaped the cities for a few days with friends in the snow, while Callie made the grandparent/auntie rounds. It was the first time we have been away from her for so long. We've done the 1-night thing maybe twice, but the two-night/three-day thing was a new experience.

It was both awesome and heartbreaking.

The Awesome (Okay, I don't want to sound like a horrible Mom...I'm just a Mom that is thankful for Grandparents/Aunties to pick up my slack for the weekend):
1) Not needing to get out of bed until 8:30am (though my internal/maternal clock woke me up both mornings by 6:30 wishing I had a toddler to feed a bottle to). But then after a little reading, I managed to fall asleep again. Both mornings.
2) Not needing to worry about being the constant shadow of a toddler who is everywhere. We sat in a hot tub. We read. We drank wine.
3) Quality time with old friends and new friends.
4) Going out to dinner without needing a high chair and a big backpack of tricks to keep a certain little crazy girl entertained long enough for us to shove our food in our faces.

The Heartbreaking (If you've judged me for my previous list, hopefully I'll redeem myself here):
1) Not being able to wake up and kiss cutest face on the planet.
2) Not being able to watch my little one toddle around, fall on her butt, and laugh a big toothy-grinned laugh.
3) Not being able to read my little smartie books or put on music and watch her groove.
4) Getting updates from the grandparents/aunties and feeling both homesick for her and grateful for time away at the same time. It was a weird weird feeling.

Despite all of the crazy emotions, we had a fantastic time kicking back in a beautiful villa, skiing/snowshoeing, and being able to truly relax knowing that Callie was having a fabulous time with so many people who love her.

Here are a couple of pictures from our weekend:

The guys heading out to go skiing:

Me and Bethany heading out to go snowshoeing:

The Post-Skiing/Snowshoeing/Hottubbing Dinner in the Villa:

And a couple of pictures from Callie's weekend (via cell phone pics):

Auntie Mari came home on Friday:

Snuggles with Auntie Cathleen

And the best part of the weekend is knowing that it isn't over yet. I took tomorrow off knowing full well that after a weekend away from my Punkin Head, I would NOT be ready to go back to work.

Mystery Sovled

I figured it out. The reason why our crazy toddler doesn't like to eat vegetables is because she likes to watch and listen to them too much!

She. Loves. Veggietales.

We tried showing it to her a while ago (thanks Netflix!) and, while she doesn't actually watch very long, she FREAKS OUT when the theme song comes on. Like FREAKS OUT. Arms flapping. Intense happy face. Hilarious.

So then I decided to download some Veggietales music. Here is the reaction I got:

Veggietales! from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

She's learned some new moves!

Clearly she can't stand the thought of eating Bob the Tomato or Junior Asparagus. Larry the Cucumber must not be too special to her, though, because cucumbers are one vegetable that she'll sometimes eat suck on.

As for the weekend plans, Callie will be spending some very quality time with her four grandparents and a couple of aunties while Chris and I spend some time in the snow. I'll post on Sunday to share how it went...

Another Boy Cousin!

Callie already has 4 boy second cousins (Seamus, Everett, Liam and Wakelyn in Madison) and now she gets another boy cousin! Her third cousin Donald arrived today at 1:01 pm weighing in at 8 pounds 11 ounces! Everything went well! He's now being monitored at Children's. I don't know the details about the heart surgery yet so please continue to keep him, Andy and Beth in your thoughts and prayers!

Here's the "Yay I have another boy cousin" face!

Vegetables and Monkeys

The Vegetable Saga Continues:

Remember when I had to hide carrots in mac & cheese?

A little background information: So until I was 25 my Subway sandwich order was a veggie on wheat with cheese, lettuce and mayo. Yes the sandwich was called a "veggie" but, really, it was all about the cheese and mayo with a little added lettuce crunch. During my freshman year of college I ate cheese, lettuce, mayo and potato chip sandwiches pretty much every day. My point is that I have never been a big vegetable lover, though I'm slowly but surely broadening my vegetable horizons as I near my thirties (I'm proud to report my Subway sandwich order is now a veggie with cheese, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, banana peppers and mayo!).

Anyway, the point of this random fact about me is that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Notice how I used a fruit idiom? Little Miss Punkin Head
L-O-V-E-LOVES fruit. Pretty much any kind. Canned fruit. Fresh fruit. Fruit flavored stuff. You get the point. She can pound down the fruit in large portions in one sitting.

Vegetables? Not so much. No matter what vegetable we try (even the "normal" veggies like carrots and corn), it is either spit out immediately or thrown on the floor. And we get faces like this:

The happy face after spitting the veggies out

I guess it is time to buy the kids recipe book about hiding vegetables in normal foods...and I just did- downloaded it to my kindle!

Oooh Oooh Aaaah Aaaah:

We're still working on having Callie recognize more letter books...besides the "Snowman" and "Ladybug" books she was able to pick out a few days ago, she can now find the "Wolf" and "Monkey" books. And the "Monkey" book is especially fun because we're trying to teach her that a monkey says "oooh oooh aaaah aaaah!" She ALMOST has it!

Monkey from Baby Goose on Vimeo.