New Years Resolution

In case anyone is keeping tabs...I MASTERED one of my New Years Resolutions :)

I saved $54.00 at the grocery store last night :) WOOT WOOT!!!!

Callie's New Trick!

When I picked Callie up from day care today, Jessica informed me that Callie has a new trick :) When she was eating her cookie after lunch, Jessica asked Callie if her cookies was good. Callie responded by nodding her head :)

So during dinner tonight, Josh and I kept asking Callie questions! She really responds to her daddy (who of which she often shows favoritism too...but I'm not jealous - we both love her daddy...and she's a daddy's girl!)

Enjoy :)

Oh and if you are wondering, she ate BBQ Chicken, green beans, tried broccoli and liked it, and strawberries :)

A Day in the Life of Callie!

We realize how difficult it can be for family when they cannot see Callie for long periods of time. With Josh and I always being busy (especially during basketball season), and the three of us always being sick :( We decided we would dedicate one of our days to snap pictures of Callie throughout her day! Josh agreed to helping out and captured her first "morning picture" to start out our day!

It was Saturday, February 12th - and it was Josh's day to get up with Callie (we rotate weekend days so one of us always gets to sleep in!). Here Callie is, bright eyed and bushy tailed :)

Her morning starts out with a diaper change and a bottle in the living room :) I believe Callie and daddy spend their mornings like this watching Sports Center! Right after her bottle, it's play time - and boy does this girl play :)

She likes to start her days out with some good books! You can't tell in this picture, but she likes to go to her basket (walk or crawl), pick up a book, throw it on the ground, pick up a new one-throw it on the ground. She will do this until she finds her "favorite book"-which happens to be a small blue board book titled, "Words". It's a book of babies first words and the illustrations are amazing! I don't blame her for liking it! The book she is reading here is included in the set (4 books: Words, Colors, Shapes & Animals). She has gotten really good at crawling into this chair herself. She can get up and down -with the occasional tumble, but for the most part, she's really good at it :)

After Callie played for a little bit, it was time to sit down for breakfast! If you will notice the nice shiner on her forehead, that happened this morning! (go ahead - scroll back up to the first picture of her waking up)...

Callie's breakfast consisted of: Strawberry yogurt (with strawberry chunks), applesauce, and cheerios! Callie has really started liking cheerios! I think she feels like Miss Independent when she gets to feed herself! We still don't let her eat the liquid type foods alone (i.e. yogurt, applesauce!)
By this time, Mommy woke up and was ready to play :) Callie wanted to give Kix her daily dose of loving! Here is looks like she was asking Daddy for permission...but let me tell you - that was not the case...
She just dove right in and gave Kixie some loving :) Kix takes it too - which is surprising! He has no claws in the front or the back. Yes, he has bit her before, but it has never been hard enough to hurt her. It scared her more than anything...but nothing serious! He has learned that she is our golden child and he can't do that :)

Since mommy was now up - daddy wanted to go back to bed...haha! So Callie and I got dressed and started to play :) She loves sitting on her car and digging into her train, or sitting on her train and playing with the legos in the seat of her car! She's really particular about the way she plays. She loves "sitting" on things while she plays - you can see a sense of pride in her face!

Yes, she has created this mess-all by herself! That little body has created this :) She will pull down a bin (nothing too heavy or harmful in them...) she'll pull it down, pull it all out, and move onto the next one! Leaving a mess for mommy and daddy to clean up! She does enjoy putting different things back into the bins! So when we have missing balls to toys - chances are -they're in a bin :) At first I wanted to make sure that everything was put back nice and neat - but I was doing that for me. I quickly learned that Callie doesn't care - it's like a fun surprise to her to find her legos in her Little People Farm :)

Today was also the first day that she held her toy phone up to her ear :) She was playing with it, and I said, "Hello" - and she held it up to her ear (like the picture below) and made babbling noises!
She played so hard for a good 2 hours that she wore herself out! It was soon nap time! Callie is pretty amazing! You see, we give her a bottle (we feed her in her glider, because we don't want her to get into the habit of drinking in her crib) and the lay her down - she falls asleep on her own :) GOOD GIRL! There is nothing better in this world than a sleeping baby!

After an hour - I heard some talking on the monitor - who do you suppose it was! That's right, daddy was up :) Haha-just kidding...Callie woke up :)

We do the same routine every time we take Callie out of her crib: Hugs and kisses, change the diaper, and have something to drink :) You can see that having her diaper changed is NOT her favorite thing. Honestly, I think it is the fact that she still has ear infections and it hurts to lay down :(
After we were all ready, we packed up and headed out into the BEAUTIFUL weather! Yes - no coat :) We did put a hat on her head before going outside, but it was gorgeous outside! She does not like getting into her car seat, so when she can get in without her coat on, you can see her excitement!! Still bundled up though :)
Daddy took his girls out on a lunch date to Applebees :) We don't want Callie eating the restaurant food yet, so we brought her own meal from home :) It consisted of "left over" Hamburger Helper (Four Cheese Lasagna) plus we added corn to it, string cheese, an apple, and Jello. This picture below is Callie waiting for the Jello - SHE LOVES IT!

Haha - I'm going to play with Daddy here...I'm not going to let go of my spoon :) Stinker!

After Applebees, we headed over to the Austin Mall to do some shopping - real busy, I know :) There are literally 3 stores and a movie theater. We needed to go to Yonkers and ShopKo - which are on the opposite ends of the mall. Time for some Valentine's Day shopping!

Unfortunately we didn't find what we needed, so we went to Target as well ;) Luckily - we found EVERYTHING we were looking for - and Callie's FIRST BIRTHDAY present from her Mommy and Daddy :) :)
After dropping a pretty penny at Target, we headed over to JoAnn Fabrics so I could purchase the ribbon I needed for my latest project :) Callie LOVED pushing the cart, and it was a nice change from sitting in it at Target!

She was looking at the fabric, trying to convince me to buy it all - but that didn't work, because I didn't need fabric this trip ;)

"Fine - I'll just walk away and find something else that I want!"

She found our cart again - but this time was pushing from the other end! It was rather comical to see her pushing the cart this way. She was pushing very quickly and it kept going in large circles! It was so funny to see :)

On our way home from JoAnn's, Callie fell asleep in the car! Lucky for Callie, I am Super Mom, and was able to change her diaper, take off her vest and lay her down for her nap - all without her waking up ;) I didn't take this nap picture, because the camera was buried under everything from our shopping trip :) But a good hour later, Miss Callie was talking for us to come get her :) Man she's a pretty girl!

By this time, it was getting late, and Josh and I needed to be at Torge's by a certain time, because we were celebrating our friend Lisa Denzer's 30th Birthday Party! That meant - Feed Callie, drop her off at Joyce's house, and get to Torge's - all in 45 min :)

Not a problem for SUPER MOM :)

Oh no - "Where's Callie!"

"There she is!"
Callie ate a quick dinner, but it sure filled her up! She had chicken and the rest of the corn. She was pretty full, so she finished her meal with a wagon wheel treat!

Sad to say, we had to pack Callie up and head over to Joyce's house (if we wanted to arrive at Torge's before the Denzer's arrived!

Joyce was so excited to take Callie for a couple hours :) They always have so much fun together!

Daddy stayed at Torges, and Mommy headed over to Joyce's to pick up Callie! I wanted to get her so it was still early enough that she was awake ;) Here she is playing and having a fun time :)

Callie isn't too sure about her dogs though. I think if Joyce had cats - Callie would be totally excited!! She had a great couple of hours and Joyce's house, but now it's time to head home and go to bed :)
Oh wait - It's bath night :) We strip Callie down in her bedroom (which is right across the hall from the bathroom) and she walks into the bathroom :) I love her little naked butt! I also love how her hair sticks up from having her hair in a pony tail :)

We brush Callie's teeth every morning and every night before bed; however, on bath nights - we brush her teeth in the tub. Mommy brushes first, and then Callie does the final "suck" of the brush :) She does such an awesome job at having her teeth brushed :) She loves playing in the tub as well!

:) Crazy hair! I wonder who she sees peeking over the tub???

KIX! You came to say Hi to Callie :) Are you going to go in?? Haha - no...he realized that Callie and water were in the tub, so he jumped back down!!!

After her bath, we bundle her up in her towel and bring her back into her bedroom. We put lotion on her (Lavender lotion to help her sleep well!), her diaper and a clean pair of pajamas. Then we sit in the glider together :) Blankie in one hand, bottle in the other...and she's SET!

Mommy reads this book to Callie almost every night. Some nights I change it up, but I try to be consistent with the same bedtime story. Daddy reads a different book to her before bed!

When our book and bottle are finished, Callie and I say a little prayer, give kisses, and I lay her in her crib. You'll notice from this picture that she is still awake - Yes, we lay her down awake...and then close her door! Our pretty princess goes to sleep on her own :)

Soon, Callie is dreaming of running around with Kix at the Blankie Fair :)

I hope you enjoyed "The day in the life of Callie". I will try and do a post like this once a month - we'll see how successful we are...but it is fun, and it will be nice for family to see Callie throughout the day :)

Baby William came to visit :)

Oh yeah, his parents came to visit too!

Blake & Britt were driving through, and I have to tell you - I LOVE being at the south end of MN! It is for reasons like this...we get to see MN visitors first :) Josh and I have been wanting to get out to Chicago, but with this unpredictable weather, we just couldn't chance it. And every long weekend was indeed a snow storm.

Lucky for us, Blake, Britt & William were coming to MN and they stopped to visit the McRae family :)

William is SO HANDSOME! Josh and I forgot how small a 3 month old baby is! He was so sweet and delicate! It was fun to listen to his sweet sounds, kick his little legs, and smile constantly :) He is one happy baby with two AMAZING parents :)

I don't know what Callie was thinking of him, but she definitely wanted to be all up in his face!

We wish you guys lived closer, but we are coming to Chicago this summer and CAN'T WAIT!

Callie is WALKING!

If you guessed February as your "Callie will start walking date" - you were correct! If you guessed February, leave a comment below so I can know who guessed what date (even if you guessed incorrectly, it'd be fun to see your guesses!).

I came home from work today and she was taking a few more solid steps, but then the light bulb went on and she was walking ALL over the living room :) With several tumbles of course, but SO exciting for her :)

She also loves her rocking chair, so I had a fun video going of her dancing in the chair (tilted the wrong way - sorry), but then she decided it was time to read books :) This video has quickly become one of my favorites :) Enjoy!

10 1/2 months - and growing so fast!

I apologize for it taking me awhile to blog! I have been keeping very busy. Callie and I go to every home basketball game, which are usually Tuesday or Friday nights. If the away game is close, we go to those too! Callie and I go watch daddy coach at 4:45 PM. Then we all eat dinner together (if it's a home game, I feed Callie before we leave...then she eats a snack with us) during the JV game - 6 PM, and then we watch the varsity game at 7:30 PM. We usually get home anytime after 9:00 PM. I know it's late, but we are trying to instill the love of basketball at an early age :)

On January 21st, we brought Callie back into the Dr.'s office. When we were there, I openly admitted to her Dr. that we were probably wasting her time and that I was over reacting for bringing her in, but something just wasn't right. After weighing Callie and finding out that she was still 20 lbs. (has been 20 lbs. for 2 months now), the Dr. told us that Callie had a double ear infection, and that one of them was REALLY bad :( Our poor girl. I wish I had the ability to know what was bothering her, when it was hurting, and that I could fix it. I hate seeing her in pain.

It has been more than 10 days since her appointment, and I think she is finally starting to feel better. If you have been keeping track, that is 3 ear infections in her left ear in like 4 months. The Dr. said when she has 6 ear infections in one ear in one year (tricky sentence!) that is something we will have to worry about - I think that would be when they consider tubes :(

Callie has been doing A LOT of walking around. She pushes her toys around the living room, and she is starting to take some independent steps! We had a snow day today and have a 2-hour late start tomorrow (which is why I'm taking the time to blog), so being able to spend MORE time with her has been amazing for both Josh and I :) Today we were able to watch start walking, catch herself from falling and continue to hold herself up-all while trying to take more and more steps!

She is an eating machine! She is 100% eating anything and everything that we eat (except for the few foods she can't have yet: peanut butter, eggs, honey, etc..). She LOVES Jell-O. I always have some made and ready for her to eat :) When she was eating baby food, I saved all of the plastic "Gerber" containers. Now I just reuse them for her Jell-O (great for small portion size) and all of her other foods! She isn't too messy of an eater-which is very nice :)

She goes to bed very nicely for us! We give her a bottle, read her books, sometimes I sing to her if she's restless, and then lay her in her crib with her blankie, puppy & dolly!

Josh and I are also working on some projects :) He is building a shelf to house all of his components for the TV downstairs! I'm proud of him for working on this by himself :) So far, I think it looks really nice!

As for me, I am finally painting "Callie's Corner"! For the longest time, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do, but now I know :) I'm not telling how I'm painting it all, but I will tell you this: there is magnetic paint and chalkboard paint involved :) SWEET! I'm also getting ready for Callie's FIRST Birthday Party :) It's crazy to think that my baby girl is almost 1! Her party is going to be spectacular...at least I think so :)