Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Christmas Traditions

One of our Christmas traditions when we are in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas at my parents' house is to take a Christmas day walk on the golf course. We get all bundled up and we all head out for a walk.

In the past, "all" included us and our dog(s).
Dad and Courtney and Lambeau in 2006

 Dad, Courtney, William, and Lambeau in 2006

Now "all of us" includes two sweet babies. Callie and my sister's little boy, Will.
 Dad, Courtney, and Callie in 2010

 Dad, William, Courtney, Callie and Will in 2010

I love seeing the difference and seeing the guys push the strollers on the walk. It will be even more interesting as the years go on to see how our Christmas day walks change.

Us girls, following behind. Enjoying some girl time and chatting and laughing on the way.

I love Christmas traditions!!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

3 month pictures

We took Callie to take her 3 month pictures on Saturday. We went to Picture People and I was actually quite happy with how they turned out.

Our little girl smiles ALL the time now. Except when you try to take her picture in a studio apparently. She wouldn't smile at all. They still caught some great picture nonetheless.

I absolutely love how she is holding herself up in some of these shots. She's getting so big!!









 She was hacked over that bow so we decided to lose it.
We love her wild and crazy hair anyway, so we are happy to show it off. ;)




Friday, December 17, 2010

3 Months Old

Callie is 3 months old today.
Here are a few things about her and what she's doing now.

She rarely cries just to cry anymore.
I said rarely. It still happens some. Like when I try to pose her for her 3 month picture when she is tired. But, I guess that technically isn't crying just to cry...that's crying cause she's mad and doesn't want her picture taken. Haha













And she loves her pacifier. Her paci, as I call it. But her daddy insists we use the whole word 'pacifier' when we speak of this jewel. Either way, she loves it.


 She's developing her own little personality. Which a friend recently described as "spicy" after she saw this arms crossed picture. She really is very sweet.


She recently discovered her hands. She sucks on them a lot and spends time watching them open and shut. She also grabs things around her now, like her blankets and toys. It's so cute to watch her discover them and what she can do with them. 
View IMAG0854.jpg in slide show

She has started sleeping through the night. I still get up once a night to pump, but she is sleeping straight through. She goes to bed about 8:30 and sleeps until 5:30 usually. She slept as late as 7am a few times.

She will no longer nurse off of me for some reason. Maybe because she is so used to a bottle since she gets 3 bottles at daycare. So, I just pump and feed her breastmilk from a bottle at every feeding. She eats 5 ounces every 3 hours. Except overnight of course.

She smiles all the time at people when they talk to her. It's so sweet!! Her daddy and I LOVE getting her to smile at us. The very best is when I get her up in the morning to leave for school and she gives me a big smile. It melts me. I love those moments so much.

She laughs at her daddy and me but no sound comes out yet. Just a big ole open mouth smile really. I cannot wait until we can hear her laugh!

She weights 12lbs 12.8oz. I know this because we had to take her to her first sick baby doctor appointment. She's had a snotty nose for a few days and then the congestion got much worse and she started to cough. She was coughing so hard she would gag and throw up so I took her to the doctor. She had one infected ear, but he said it was just starting. So she is on an antibiotic.

We are going to Hot Springs Village for Callie's first Christmas in just a few days. We are so excited to spend that time with my family and our sweet 3 month old girl!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

I want to never forget...

.the smell of her little head

.the way her little chunky thighs feel

.how sweet she looks when she sleeps

.how I could literally burst open with happiness when she smiles at me in the mornings

.how she opens her mouth to laugh but no sound comes out yet

.how every day is a new discovery...for her...and for me as a mommy

.how proud it makes me when she is crying and I pick her up and she stops

.that she has some wild and crazy hair that is the softest hair I've ever felt

.how she loves music to play in her room

.that she was born with almost no eyelashes and they have grown in day by day

.how she stares at me when I am feeding her

.how fun it is to have her to sit on my lap and listen as I read her stories

.that as we near 3 months of her life, she seems to be growing too fast

Friday, December 3, 2010

Nakedness

Nothing

better

than

our

naked

baby

girl


Thursday, December 2, 2010

Gazing...

at her mobile

 has become

one of her

 most favorite things
to do.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

First Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful first Thanksgiving with Callie!
We always spend thanksgivng with Courtney's mom and his family. This year we spent it at Uncle Brandon's house in Edmond.

Callie had an adorable turkey shirt I ordered off etsy for her. Here she is showing it off.

Her cousins Cale and Azure were there for the fun and festivities.

Uncle Brandon, carving the turkey. It was his first Thanksgiving at his house, so he did the honors.

Cha Cha gave Callie a sink bath one night. We love our little duckie.

All bathed and adorable.

Hanging out with Uncle Brandon

The brothers and their babies.
Daddy and Callie and Uncle Brandon and Cale.

Showing off how well she can hold up her head now. Those are daddy's hands. He's not in many pictures, because he was only there for a short while.

Courtney was only able to come spend about 12 hours with everyone for Thanksgiving because the Muenster Hornet football team is in the state play-offs and they had practice on Thanksgiving day! It's a very exciting time in Muenster right now!

This year we are so thankful for many blessings!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

2 Months Old

Callie is 2 months old now!

November 17, 2010

We had her 2 month appointment on Friday. You know, the one where she gets all her shots.
It was a sad time. You can’t tell by this picture because I had gotten her all calmed down by then, but she screamed her little heart out. It broke my heart. She had big, real tears for the first time actually. Running down her face. Add that to a runny nose and you’ve got my sad girl after her shots. After holding her tight and swaying around and offering her pacifier, she finally calmed down. Then she was completely fine and we headed to the Muenster playoff game where we enjoyed the game from the press box. Perks of being a coaches’ wife.

Callie is 11 lbs, 6.4 oz and 23 inches long now. In case anyone cares about the percentiles, that puts her at 66% for weight and 73% for height. She is growing great!

A few things about her:

• She is holding her head up better and better. She consistently holds it up when we hold her. She still has trouble holding it up when she is laying on her belly. Still working on that.

• She is smiling more and more. I have trouble catching them on camera, but her daddy and I love to get her to smile in response to us. Still waiting on giggles. She smiles at me a lot in the mornings and it just makes.my.day.

•She is wearing size 1 diapers and 3 month or 3-6 month onesies, depending on the brand and you know, if she's wearing one at all. :)


• She likes to take baths now. She does NOT like getting out of the bath and getting dried off.












• When she is trying to fall asleep or is tired or is nursing, she rubs her ear and the hair above her ear. It’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.

• She has slept through the night two times. She consistently sleeps 6 hours, then gets up to nurse, then sleeps another 3 hours. I just get up with her once at night and it is typically at 3am.

• She has had only breastmilk and when we are home, she is breastfed. She has 5 ounces each time she drinks from a bottle. She usually eats every 3 hours except overnight when she goes for 6+ hours.

• She is awake for longer and longer periods of time now. Sometimes after we get home from school, she will stay awake until time for bed. On those days, if she doesn’t nap well after we get home, she will go to bed for the night at about 8.

• Her most favorite thing to do is lay on her back and play with the toys on her playmat or lay on her back on a blanket and just look around. In fact, we were at dinner and she was fussy in my arms and didn't want to eat, so I laid her on her changing mat on the top of a table (see her in the picture below? Don't worry, we really did watch her to make sure she was okay! I promise...I sat in that empty seat right in front of her) and she was perfectly content the rest of the time. Whatever works, right?

• She sleeps in her bouncy seat in her crib. Yep, I put the bouncy seat in the crib because it makes me feel better! Ha! And I want her sleeping in her own room. But she sleeps so well in the bouncy seat. So, there you have it. Don’t judge! ;)

• The screaming/crying fits for no reason where she can’t be consoled are happening less and less nowadays. In fact, it’s quite rare to for her to cry that way anymore. She is becoming much more content. Thank you Lord.

• She is on Zantac twice a day for reflux. The doctor said we will re-evaluate if this is still necessary at her 4 month appointment.

• She enjoys riding in the car. She sleeps (she is my child!) or just looks around.

We just love our sweet 2 month old!

 


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Road Trip!

Callie and I took our first road trip. We made the 2 ½ hr drive to my parents house in Holdenville, OK. Callie is definitely my child because she loves to sleep in the car. I fed her right before we left in the loaded down car (who knew such a tiny human would require so many things for a weekend getaway?) and she didn’t make so much as a peep the whole trip. I stopped off to get a gigantic starbucks drink and we enjoyed ourselves very much in the car. ;)

On Saturday, we got up and around and my mom and I took Callie to Tulsa to meet the extended family. I was so excited for Callie to meet her great-grandparents! She has both sets of great-grandparents, which is such a blessing. Unfortunately, my dad’s dad was not feeling well and he didn’t want to risk getting Callie sick, so we will have to visit them another time. But she got to meet my grandma and grandpa, my mom’s parents.

I love how my grandpa is playing with her in this one.

4 Generations. Greatness.

I was also so very excited about Callie meeting her third cousins. My cousin Michelle had her baby girl Breckyn in August, then I had Callie in September, and then my other cousin Brent and his wife Lori had a baby girl Lydia in October. So much fun with three baby girls!!

Lydia, Breckyn, Callie

With their great-grandparents

The moms and our girls

Callie and Breckyn enjoyed their first play date very much. Can’t you tell?

It was such a wonderful time with family! I am so glad that we made the trip so that the little girls could meet each other. I wish we lived closer to them. What fun!