My Favorites This Year

A writer of another blog I read did something really cool to wrap up the year, and I had to copy her. She went through the past year of her blog and chose one favorite entry from each month, so I spent some time a couple of days ago going through January through December blog entries looking for MY favorites.

2010 will always be a special year for us, because we got our little baby just before New Year's last year, and got to see her turn one just before New Year's this year. All of you blog followers know how incredibly blessed we feel, how amazingly happy we are, and how wonderfully awesome Callie is.

So if you have some time and would like to go back through 2010 with me, click on the link next to each month. It will take you to my favorite blog post of that month. Enjoy!

January: Sleepy
February:7-Weeks-Old
March: Easter Bunny
April: Brilliant
May: Doggies
June: What's So Funny?
July: 6-Month Pictures
August: Nicknames
September: So Happy Together
October: Return of the Mad Bee
November: Blankie
December: Happy Birthday Callie Joy

Have a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve!

MORE?

This past week has been a big one for Callie in terms of big people food- she is now showing interest, actually consuming it, and communicating her wants and needs.

Here is where we were at about a week ago: Eating baby food, cheerios, and not listening to me at all when I was trying to get her to sign "More".

More?...Take 1 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Fast forward to today. Her meals consisted of the following:

Breakfast- Milk (sort of- we're still working on that one), cottage cheese, apples, cheerios

Lunch- Milk (see above about milk!), mac and cheese, cheese and ham slices, wheat cracker, apples

Snacks- Yogurt, Gerber cheese munchies (her favorite!)

Dinner- Half Water/Half Juice, crackers and peanut butter, cous cous

And, she finally learned "More"!

More- Take 2 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

It's not the exact sign for "More" but she's at the point now where she claps her hands a couple of times to indicate that she wants more, so it is good enough for me!

The tricky part is going to be totally ditching the bottles. She still has bottles right away in the morning, before naps and bed time...though the bottles are half formula and half milk. I think I'm going to have as hard of a time as she is phasing them out and moving to just sippy cups because it means the baby days really are behind us.

But we're having SO MUCH FUN with her right now, I'm very excited for what lies ahead of us!

I Can Do It!

Last night our little Punkin Head decided that SHE could feed herself yogurt. The result was pretty hilarious:

I can do it! from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

1 Year Stats

Callie had her 1 year check-up today and here are her stats:

Weight: 21 pounds 11 ounces (60th %ile)
Length: 29 1/4 Inches (54th %ile)
Head Circumference: 47.9 centimeters (staying strong in the 98th %ile!)

We got the official go ahead for whole milk and any kind of food, as long as it is mushed up. We got a food grinder for Christmas, so we'll have fun with that!

She got a finger prick this time so that they could check her lead levels and hemoglobin, and that was NOT a fun experience for anyone involved. The lab tech put an adult sized band-aid on her itty bitty finger. After we left, every time she looked at the band-aid she started crying again, so I took it off pretty quickly!

All in all she is a perfect baby...I mean 1-year-old...in excellent health.

Here are a couple of random pictures that I haven't posted yet from the past week.

Play-date with Calvin:


On a walk in the new snowsuit:


With the Henderson Aunties:

Mobility = Ouch

Well, we are learning very quickly that having an almost toddler (still not walking on her own quite yet!) means we have to be MORE vigilant than we have already been when it comes to play time and exploration.

Unfortunately we learned that the hard way yesterday, when she fell down and hit her head not once, but twice! Luckily, neither fall was too bad and she settled down quickly after each incident, but still...poor baby...she had a goose egg last night after the 2nd one:



Thankfully it healed up nicely overnight to just a little bruise. I suppose I should be thankful that this is only the second time she has had a visible injury from something (I count the first time as her first couple days of life and the awful cone head she got coming out!).

And now on to something a little more fun. My parents got her a trendy tricycle for Christmas. There are 3 different ways to ride, and the first one is perfect for her now- she gets to just sit while other people push her. She LOVES it! Here are a couple of videos of her tooling around the condo like a little princess...

New Trike from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Hallway Trike from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

This week will be much calmer than last week...though I'm sure it will go by just as fast! I love being home and hanging out with Callie all day. I'm thankful I have a job where I get a lot of breaks!

Christmas in Pictures

4 generations:

Present opening on Christmas Eve:

Santa came to our house:

Christmas Day:

Future golfer:

2nd Cousins:

New trike at the condo:


And, as usual, many many more!

http://babygoose806.shutterfly.com/pictures/2841

Merry Christmas!!!

We've had a busy couple of days filled with lots of family, laughter and love! We'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from our family, especially our funny little Punkin Head!



(Now that she is moving around ALL the time, getting a good smiling/sitting still picture is nearly impossible...so this is the best of what I got!)

Birthday Festivities

We had a WONDERFUL day yesterday celebrating Callie Joy's birthday. It must have been a good day, because she didn't wake up to eat until 6:30 this morning, and went back down and is STILL sleeping at 8:15am!

Our families came over last night for a sandwich dinner, cupcakes and presents. Callie was a little overwhelmed at first having most of her favorite people all together (we missed you Auntie Laura!), but she quickly warmed up and had fun seeing everyone.

She (maybe) enjoyed her cupcake (made by MorMor)...it was hard to tell. She seemed rather passe about the whole thing, but did end up eating a few little bites on her own. The rest of us devoured them, though! Yum!

What she L-O-V-E-D were the presents! She got quite a nice haul and immediately started playing with everything. Chris and I got her a push toy for our house, and Grandma and Grandpa got her a push toy for their house. She tried both of them out, and boy was she cruising!

Push Toy #1! from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Push Toy #2! from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And after walking with the push toys, she seemed a little more willing to try it on her own.

Walking with 2 Aunties from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Here are a couple of pictures from the night, and then the link to all of the pictures on our Shutterfly site.

My Mom's cupcakes and pictures of me and Chris at our first birthday parties.


With Auntie Cathleen and Papa.


Mommy and Daddy!


At 7:55pm...the exact time she was born a year ago.


The rest of the pictures can be found at Shutterfly. For some reason when I loaded the pictures this morning they were put in to 2 different albums, so here are the links for both:

http://babygoose806.shutterfly.com/pictures/2750

http://babygoose806.shutterfly.com/pictures/2789


Thanks to everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and birthday greetings! Now, as you can see from the updated blog header, we're ready for life with a 1-year-old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALLIE JOY!

I've been thinking about this post in my head for a week now. How can I possibly sum up everything I'm feeling? How can simple words do justice to the emotions I feel thinking back on the past year?

They can't. So I'll be brief.

Callie Joy,

One year ago today you came into so many people's lives. And you brought with you your middle name...Joy.

Know that you are loved beyond what words can say. Know that you are adorable, intelligent, loving, sweet, happy, silly, precious, curious, awesome, fabulous and just the most perfect baby any Mommy and Daddy could ask for.

We love you little Punkin Head and Monster,
Mommy and Daddy

December 22nd, 2009




December 22, 2010

Philly!

Reasons why I'm thankful:
1) Cal and I are home safe from a wonderful trip with my fabulous mother-in-law and sister-in-law,
2) I took a shower a little nap after a long travel day,
3) Currently, I'm hanging out with Chris, Callie and Kona,
4) I'm watching crazy people on T.V. at the Vikings game while cozy in my own home,
5) I get to spend the next 13 days with my family and friends while on Christmas Break,
6) My baby turns 1-year-old in 2 days!!!

Mary, Cathleen and I had a blast in PA (and NJ and NY)! We got to see Cathleen graduate (well, Mary did...Callie Joy wasn't too into the idea of sitting quietly during a graduation ceremony, so we watched part of it on a video screen in another room and then slept during the other part of it).

We also got to hang out in the hotel and swim, exploring New Jersey and a cute town in Pennsylvania, Cathleen and I got to go to New York City, and we all got to spend good quality time together!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures, and then a link to the rest of them if you're interested.

One of us was sleeping on the plane

Swimming with Grandma

So proud of Auntie Cathleen!

Times Square!

Lunch in Newtown, PA

That baby is here again!


The rest of the pictures from the weekend can be found on our shutterfly site

http://babygoose806.shutterfly.com

or directly at

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1DcN3Llizct

And now for a couple of videos from the weekend:

An example of what pretty much every meal was like!

Silly in Philly from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Playing with that baby

Who that baby? from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

HOME!

We made it home before the snow got too bad and I will post later after I'm out of the up at 3:45am, long flight with a semi-crabby baby fog.

Philly Bound!

The Gosselin girls are hitting the road (and the skies!) for Philadelphia. Cathleen is graduating with her Masters so we're going out there for the ceremony and to celebrate all of her hard work!

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll post all the fun pics and stories when we get back!

Cuddlebug and Big Girl Jammies

Today Callie didn't really take an afternoon nap for Grandma, so we put her down at 6:00 because she was C-R-A-B-B-Y CRABBY! She slept for 1.5 hours and I ended up getting her up so that she wouldn't keep sleeping and ready to play at 3am.

As she slowly woke up, she was a total cuddlebug and I ATE IT UP!!!! She is not one to sit still and cuddle...hardly ever...so this was a rare blessing.


Then I put her in her biggest jammies. The 12-monthers are getting a little small, so 18-monthers are in now! And she only has 1 pair, so we'll need to stock up.

I remember when she got these jammies. They were a gift from one of my relatives and I remember thinking at the time (she was brand new and tiny) that it would be FOREVER until she fit into them.

Forever is now:

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MARI!!!

OH MY GOSH- I just realized that I missed posting on Mari's birthday! She turned 22 on Friday, December 10th.



Happy Birthday Auntie Mari! We can't wait to see you!

9,000 Page Visits!

Sometime in the past 24 hours we went over the 9,000 mark for how many times people have visited the site! Thanks to everyone for stopping by! :)

Yesterday I actually DID have a snow day! So we went out to lunch with my Mom...and Callie enjoyed reading her Animals book while we were eating.



The condo has been Christmas-ified! It looks awesome. And Callie didn't even get in to the presents under the tree. But she did have fun zooming around in her walker and playing with the musical stocking she got from my Grandma.



Three more days until I'm officially on winter break!!! So many things are going through my head: I can NOT believe how fast the fall went. I can NOT believe that Callie is going to be 1 in 8 days...um...yeah. That's all I got- some denial mixed in with excitement and a helping of Oreo Balls that I can't stop eating. :)

Three Questions

Where's the Acura?


Why's the boxer so mad?


What happened to the roof?


I'll give you one guess to answer all of these questions.

Snow day = Fun day!

Silly from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Glee Dancer from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Snow Day!

If it was a week day, I really think it would be a snow day. But, alas, it is Saturday. The Twin Cities are experiencing a snow storm reminiscent of the Halloween of '91...as in, we haven't seen something like this since then! I've been taking pictures of the growing snow. The first is a picture pre-storm (last night, 10:00pm). The second is a picture from this morning of Chris shoveling (about 9am) and lastly, a picture from this afternoon (2:00pm). You'll notice that I couldn't even really open the door all the way to get the picture because of all of the snow on the stoop. Crazy!





So we've had a lovely day holed up in our house. We've been really productive, actually, working on making our basement more pleasant. My next task is to make my usual holiday Oreo Balls (once again, thank you Casey- for getting me hooked on them for me SO many years ago! hee hee).

This Morning Callie was playing in the living room, so I thought I'd snap a picture highlighting our Christmas decorations.


We haven't gotten a real tree yet since we've been in our house, and this isn't the year to start. Maybe next year when we have a child who understands the word "no". (I realize that in the future she may not LISTEN when we say no, but hopefully next year she won't laugh in our faces when we say it like she does now!)

Mickey Cake

We went out for a family dinner tonight to a great local place and decided to order something for Callie off the kids menu (for the first time!). We went with the "Mickey Cake." I figured it was a pancake and I assumed that "Mickey" was code for "little" since it was $2.95.

I was mistaken.



After taking all the fun stuff off and ripping it up into little pieces, this is about the only bite Punkin Head ate.



We got the rest of it boxed up so I guess I have breakfast for tomorrow!

I thought that a pancake was our best bet to get her to eat something since a certain almost-1-year-old is still only rockin' 2 bottom teeth. She's been eating less the past few days though, which I hope is because of teething. But because she has been eating less during the day, she wakes up in the middle of the night hungry. So, after being spoiled for months with having a baby who sleeps from 8:00pm to 6:00am, we're taking a step back and doing the 1am feeding again. Hopefully it won't last too long, because I had forgotten what it was like to groggily make my way to the nursery to feed her...and while I love the extra 15 minutes of time I get to spend with her, I wouldn't consider it quality time. :)

And now to gloat- in exactly a week from tonight, I'll be officially on a 17 day break and busily getting ready to head to Philly with Callie, Mary and Cathleen. Woo hoo!

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had another busy weekend! Here are the highlights:

*Callie learned that it is really fun to feed Kona, though hard to actually manage to do it. Once she figures the logistics out, I have a feeling Kona's life is going to change for the better...

Giggles and Kona from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

*We had another play date with Baby Sydney. She is still so tiny and holding her feels like nothing compared to our little chunker!



*We visited Great-Grandma in Eau Claire and got to meet Great-Uncle Larry and Great-Aunt Mary! Callie was a little unsure of Frosty the Snowman, but warmed up to him eventually.




*We went to a "Baby's First Christmas" party at church. Even though, technically this is Callie's 2nd Christmas, she wasn't around yet last year at this time, so we got to go this year. Callie's friends Charlie and Harper were there too! And Callie got to lay down in the manger in the sanctuary...and then had fun crawling down the aisle. We also made an Advent Wreath and a hand print ornament. It was so fun and so great to see lots of other babies!




*We went to Harper's parents Alyssa and Josh's house for dinner and to watch the babies play.


*Callie learned a new trick.

So big! from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Amidst all the fun stuff we did, I managed to do some laundry, put up our (fake) Christmas tree and order our Christmas cards. I'm starting to really get into the season and can't wait for the busy-ness and joy that the next month with bring.