Under the Sea!

I had a great day off yesterday. Lots of play time with my baby toddler. Then, Auntie Mari came over in the evening and we headed to the MOA to go to Underwater Adventures. Callie, being a veteran of the place since she goes with her Daddy a lot, was very excited. Mari, who hates fish more than I do, spent most of the time saying "SICK" or "GROSS" when ugly fish swam by. All in all it was fun.

And, in keeping with the "Under the Sea" theme, we can't seem escape the excitement of Baby Beluga...it seems to be the BEST surprise EVERY time I turn it on! And there are some fishy faces going on in the video too...silly girl!

Baby Beluga...Again!!! from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

I Really Need It to Be February

January is getting pretty brutal. February come now...please?

Maybe it is just this week. This week has been rough. Kids at school are crazy and I'm just DONE with the crazy. Conferences this week (two 12-hour days). Trying my darndest to do my "30 Day Shred" workout DVD daily, however I failed tonight (it would have been day #13 in a row...but I walked at the MOA after work, so at least that was some form of exercise...still gotta get rid of the last 10 pounds!). Can't seem to make myself go to bed when I know I should. Tired. Not using full sentences.

On the plus side, Auntie Mari came home from her j-term abroad, so we went to dinner with her and MorMor tonight! Daddy and Bops are at the T-Woves game, which is currently in overtime. Crap, never mind. They just lost by 1 point.

Anyway, here are Mari and Callie at dinner:

The other plus of the week is that we got our house cleaned yesterday! It was my Christmas present from my mom...she found a great local company that uses natural cleaning products. I'm reveling in the awesomeness that is a clean house.

One more 12-hour day and then I get a fun 3-day weekend.

Okay, I'm done whining. Thanks for listening!

Some New Tricks

We were over at the Gosselin's yesterday and Callie was the BEST entertainment!

First, she and Cathleen wowed us with their new trick:

Marker Trick from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Apparently, highlighters are the COOLEST toy ever.





Then, after an hour-and-then-some long, three adults vs. one baby nap battle that I alluded to having started yesterday, she slept for over an hour to rev herself up for 15 minutes of this:

Watch for the Arabesque from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

She was a one-toddler show last night and kept us entertained for a long time!

13 Months Old!

Here it is, the 22nd, and Punkin Head is another month older!

And here is her picture for today. It is a picture of a tired toddler who should be sleeping but is not.



And pretty darn happy about it. Little does she know, her Daddy and I are willing to do the car ride thing to make this nap happen ASAP. :)

She Can, In Fact, Listen...and Read the Bible

Video #1 shows that Callie does know where her nose is, despite my previous post.

Nose from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

She can also point to other family members' noses, Kona's nose, Mr. Bear's nose, and her baby's nose when asked. We didn't explicitly teach it to her, so I'm assuming she learned it from her "So Big" Elmo book. When I was reading it to her awhile ago, I noticed her touch her nose when we got to the part of the book when Elmo touches his nose. Ever since then, she has pointed to noses. Smart baby!

The following pictures and Video #2 show Callie "reading" Auntie Cathleen's Bible. It was ADORABLE. She went over to the table and started paging through it...and quite unlike any other book she "reads", she was calm and gentle. Until it falls on the floor...but before that- totally gentle!

Bible from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

I'm thinking that means she is ready to read her Spark Bible (an awesome kids Bible we got from our friend Bethany) without wrecking the pages. Fun!

Happy Tuesday

We had a fun family day yesterday! We went out to lunch, went to play at Edinborough, stopped by to see Grandma and Auntie Cathleen, and hung out at home. And of course I had the camera handy:






And to make you laugh:

Baby Baluga from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Tonight we went to see our former neighbors' new house. Callie and Wes had a lot of fun playing together! Wes is 11 months old and TOTALLY showed Callie up by walking. He's super mobile and Callie showed how NOT interested in walking she still is. Here she is holding on to the fireplace, while Wes is moving all over the place.


Gotta love short weeks- tomorrow is already Wednesday!

A Lengthy Weekend Wrap-Up

We're starting to really get into this "toddler" thing, even though Callie still is not technically toddling. She is CONSTANTLY on the go and has gotten really good at ignoring us. Case in point:

Ignoring Mommy from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

We've also noticed a couple of other fun new...uh...traits popping up:
*Being shy- She was in a few situations this weekend with lots of unknown people, and she was adorably clingy to those of us that she did know. Because of the amount of waving that she has been doing (for months!) at total strangers, I figured she was going to be more outgoing like her daddy. But, unless it is just a phase, it seems that she is taking after her mommy and Henderson aunties.
*Temper tantrums- The arching of the back. The screeching. Enough said.
*Being a chicken-butt- Seriously...she is totally refusing to walk more than 6 or 7 steps. We'll get her going back and forth between us a couple of times, and then she'll start either falling forward, putting her legs up to just sit, or basically just refuse to do anything else. I know that we'll be remembering these days fondly once she really is off and running...
*The most amazing smile- I just can't even handle how cute it is.



Anyway, we had a fun weekend!

I'll once again let the pictures do most of the talking.

**Friday Night...Celebrating Grandma's birthday!***




***Saturday Afternoon...Hanging out at the condo with the Suurmeyers!***



***Saturday Evening...Hanging out with college friends (and kids)***
This is our friends Jed and Theresa's older boy, Dominic. He was the kid that Chris talked about in his blog post here. It was fun to be able to hang out with Jed and Dominic again with our little one around!

Nik and the girls- hard to tell who is more excited.

Callie helping change Sydney!


***Sunday afternoon- Condo House Blessing!***




As usual, I uploaded a bunch more pictures that you can find right here.
And the best part of the weekend...? The fact that it is not over yet! Chris and I both have the day off tomorrow, so we're going to find some fun family activity to do.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Toddler Attack!

Signs of a good night:

The basement was attacked by a toddler tonight. (Yes, we still have birthday balloons up.)

A speedy, short attention spanned, and adorably happy toddler blew through her toys like a tornado, leaving brightly colored plastic destruction in her wake.

I was attacked by a toddler tonight.

A slobbery, loving, and a little bit crazy toddler headbutted me and crawled all over my back showing me just how big she really is getting.

And then, though there is no photographic evidence, the sweet little toddler crawled up into my lap. She sprawled herself out with our tummies touching and her head on my chest, and listened to me sing while occasionally throwing her head up to look at me and smile.

Melt my heart, little toddler, melt my heart.

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.