Mid-Last-Week Update

We've continued to stay busy on our last week of summer vacation. Yesterday my mom and I went to a big garage sale and found tons of winter stuff for Callie for super cheap. It was brand name stuff like Carter's, Baby Gap and Gymboree...score! I had a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I had to totally ignore the 0-3, 3-6 and 6-9 month tables and focus on buying the 12-18 month sized stuff. WHAT?????? Oh well. I'm over it.

Yesterday afternoon someone finally figured out the Jenny Jump-Up!

Jenny Jump-Up from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Last night was a family night at home watching the Twins and playing on the floor.




Today we went downtown with Kylie and Calvin and hung out at the condo and went for a nice long walk.





This afternoon Casey and Ciri came over. Ciri was such a good helper!

Welcome to Chaos

That is what I would say if you came over to our house. It is a disaster. And I don't care. I am not going to spend my last week of freedom doing mundane tasks like putting laundry away (I think everything that Chris and I own is in a pile up to my knees at the top of our stairs...but it is clean so I should get some credit for that, right?) or doing dishes (except bottles...those are a must). Or vacuuming. Or dusting. Or cleaning the bathroom. Nope. I'm just focusing on having fun with my baby. And when she naps, I nap. Or watch TV or relax. And I eat. A lot. I'm giving myself to the end of August to not worry about calories (or the extra 5-7 pounds that have crept up on me this summer). Come September 1st I'll be calorie counting again and attempting some exercise. But until then, bring on the yummy food!

Anyway, this week is filled with fun activities. Yesterday we went with my friend Kylie and Callie's friend Calvin to the zoo to see a Barney sing-a-long. Barney was not a hit.


Well, he was with everyone else's children, but not my child. This is as excited as her face got, and for most of the 20 minutes she wanted to face me and whimper.

Oh well, I tried.

Today my friend Jenna and Callie's friend Charlie came over and we walked to Highland and ate lunch at Chipotle, browsed Barnes and Noble, and got a coffee treat from Starbucks (remember I said I wasn't worrying about calories?). Then this afternoon we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to see them and Cathleen. It is Grandma and Grandpa's 37th Wedding Anniversary today! Happy Anniversary G & G! Callie went "swimming" in the rubber ducky. It was adorable.

Baby Goose in the Rubber Duck.

Rubber Ducky from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

She also spent some time reading with Daddy earlier today(the new book Mommy bought at Barnes and Noble!) and playing with Grandpa tonight.

A Big Week

I remember last Sunday thinking "A week from now our vacation will be over." And sadly, here we are...a week later, after a wonderfully fantastic week, we are home with the end of summer approaching way too quickly.

As I blogged earlier, our time at du Nord was fabulous. We had an equally fun time in Duluth for our friends' wedding. Chris and Dan were both in the wedding and we got to hang out with friends we don't see often, as well as reconnect with good friends we lost touch with and hadn't seen for a couple of years! So it was great. Here are a few pics:

Rehearsal dinner




A perfect day!


Family picture


A double rainbow during the reception- beautiful!


Hanging out with Uncle Dan


The guys looking sharp


The ladies


Callie fell asleep and let us stay at the reception until 10:45pm!


This week also marked an ending and some new beginnings.

Some background information: The past month I have really only nursed Callie once or twice a day. Not because I wanted to wean her, but because she is way too interested in what is going on in the world. I was really only able to get her to nurse early in the morning when she was still groggy. Basically, she has NO time for having to be held like a baby facing me in order to eat. She'd much rather sit up and face the world. She also has discovered biting with her lovely little bottom teeth. After my yelps of "ouch" (which Callie finds hilarious), she looks up at me and just giggles. Little stinker.

So I think this past Wednesday morning at 6am was our last nursing session together.

Thankfully, she was able to redeem herself by starting to do a few new things. This week she really started reaching for me...both from the floor or other places that she is sitting, and from other people. She is becoming a total Mommy's girl. I know that stranger anxiety will soon follow, but right now, I am LOVING the fact that she reaches for me on her own because she knows I'm her Mama.

And as of today, she can now say "ma-ma-ma-ma". Yay! I've been working on it all summer and usually our conversation goes like this:

Me: Callie can you say mama? MA-MA???
Callie: Da-da-da-da-da
Me: No. Not Dada. MAMA. MA-MA-MA-MA.
Callie: Da-da-di-di-da-da.

And so on.

But this morning, I got my "Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma" and she's been saying it ever since.

What Baby Learned on Summer Vacation from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

All of this comes at the end of the most wonderful summer vacation I've ever had. On our drive back from Duluth I started feeling really sorry for myself. I was sitting in the back listening to my silly baby babble and blow spit bubbles and being all around adorable. And I felt my heart breaking thinking about going back to work in a week...going back to the crazy stress of 8-5 workdays. But I know that I need to have a serious attitude check because I am amazingly lucky. I'm amazingly lucky because:

1) I have a happy, beautiful and healthy baby to come home to every night (and a wonderful husband too!).
2) I have a job that allows for summers off, winter and spring breaks, random days off throughout the year, and flexibility for other time off I need to take. I am also fortunate to work with wonderful people who I consider dear friends and are a wonderful support system.
3) Callie gets to spend her days away from me with the best possible people she could spend them with. Our same daycare schedule with the Grandparents we had in the spring is continuing and we're so blessed.
4) I had a wonderful summer with the best baby in the world. I have lots of pictures and memories to cherish. And I am so thankful.

As I was typing this, Callie was on the floor with Chris saying "Ma-ma-ma-ma" and Chris said "Um, Daddy?" to which she had no response.

Hahahaha.

Camp du Nord

The Gosselin family spent about 3 days together at Camp du Nord. This camp is north of Ely on Burnside Lake. It is the camp that Chris and his family went to for many years growing up. We also know a few other families who go there every year. Chris and I were there on our 1st wedding anniversary and haven't gotten to go back since then, so we were very excited about this trip. And it didn't disappoint. Especially since we got to bring Callie Joy, and spend lots of time with her Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Cathleen and Uncle Dan (who works up there this summer as program director).

We stayed with Dan in his cabin, which was lovely for me seeing as I really am more of an indoor girl. We got a bed AND a bathroom right in the cabin...as well as a spectacular view of the lake. We spent our days swimming, canoeing (some of us- not the baby!), hiking, playing games, eating at the dining hall, reading, relaxing, and having campfires. Callie was a true camper- she loved being in the lake, hanging out with her grandparents, aunt and uncle, and going with the flow. She was pretty good about taking naps, though sometimes she got mad knowing that there was action going on and she was missing it. But all in all, she was a wonderful baby, and as Grandma says, "has Camp du Nord in her blood!"

Here is a sampling of pictures from our trip:


Swimming in the lake


Lake time with Grandma


Hanging out with Uncle Dan


Campfire with Grandpa


Morning reading time in the swing chair


Hanging out with the Kochs


Beach time with Daddy


On a walk around camp in the jogging stroller with mosquito netting


Family Picture


Hiking with Auntie Cathleen


Dining Hall


Triathlon Team: Chris- Swimmer; Kati- Runner; Dave and Bob- Paddlers; Callie- Cheerleader!


Welcome sign


As usual, there were many more pictures taken (including shots of the beautiful outdoors!) that can be found at our Shutterfly site:

http://babygoose806.shutterfly.com

I just started uploading them all so they'll be up shortly!

As I mentioned earlier, we have a wedding this weekend that Chris and Dan are both in. Life continues to be busy as summer winds down!

We're ba-ack...

...in civilization that is. Had a WONDERFUL Gosselin family trip up at du Nord.

More pictures and stories to follow either later tonight or tomorrow.

But here is one of my favorites from the week:



Now off to get ready for the 2nd part of vacation...Bill and Donna's wedding!

Is she gloating?

Mommy lost, Baby won from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

See my previous post as to WHY I have a gloater on my hands.

Chris got home at 8:15, put her in bed, and she was quiet (if not asleep) immediately.

Sigh.

I'm ready for vacation!

Naptime Play-by-Play

The Challengers: Mommy vs. Baby
The Playing Field: Baby Bed
Equipment: Baby--> Pacifier, Screaming, Whining, Groaning, and Babbling;
Mommy--> Strong Will, Patience, and Teething Gel


6:01pm: Mommy puts Baby down for a nap...baby screaming commences.
6:04pm: Mommy goes up and puts pacifier back in Baby's mouth...screaming continues.
6:05-6:14pm: Periods of quiet followed by periods of screaming.
6:15pm: Mommy goes up and puts pacifier back in Baby's mouth again...screaming continues.
***Mommy is making a valiant effort to win this battle.***
6:19pm: Period of quiet...did Mommy win???
6:25pm: NOPE. Periods of screaming followed by periods of quiet.
6:28pm: Period of quiet...did Mommy win???
6:30pm: NOPE. Brief whine from Baby.
6:32pm: A little longer whine from Baby.
6:33pm: More periods of whining followed by periods of quiet.
***Baby is really making a valiant effort to win this battle.***
6:36pm: Baby is back to screaming. Mommy goes up and switches Baby from her back to her side.
6:37pm: Baby groaning commences.
6:38-6:42pm: Period of constant Baby groaning/babbling.
6:43pm: Mommy goes up and applies Teething Gel to Baby's gums.
6:43-6:45pm: Bad Move. Baby starts screaming after Mommy leaves.
***Mommy thinks this is getting ridiculous. Baby is SO tired.***
6:46pm: The pacifier is clearly out of the mouth so Mommy decides to go up and put it in again, hoping that will help.
6:47pm: DUMB MOMMY. Screaming continues.
6:50pm: Yep. Still screaming. And doing some sort of yodel screaming to boot.
6:51-6:53pm: Mommy goes upstairs, turns on the music and rubs Baby's back.
6:54-6:56pm: Periods of Baby whines followed by periods of quiet.
***Mommy is worn down. Why do these battles always occur when there is no reserve player (aka Daddy???)***
6:57pm: Period of quiet...nope. Never mind. Baby whining.
***This is freaking ridiculous. Now it is just an hour away from bedtime and Baby is going to get hungry.***
7:01pm: Battle going strong at 1 hour with no timeouts, quarter or halftime breaks. Mommy is THISCLOSE to giving up.
7:02pm: Mommy gives up. Baby wins.
7:03-7:23pm Baby eats, sees Grandma and Grandpa when they stop by, and plays on the floor.






Mommy is...done. Clearly my supposed strong will and patience disappeared.

Anyway, on to the packing that should have gotten done in the last hour. Bed time in T-37 minutes and Daddy BETTER BE HOME for that battle. His turn!

Du Nord and Duluth, here we come!