Pink Converse All-Stars

When my best friend became pregnant 11 years ago, I bought her daughter-to-be a pair of Converse All-Star shoes. Pink ones. As a kid, I had pink converses and I loved them so much. I wore them all the time! My dad still wears his black converses. I remember loving my pink converses because they were like my dad's shoes. But mine were pink. And adorable. Of course, mine were much bigger than the tiny baby shoes I bought for Becky's daughter-to-be Taylan so many years ago.

Becky hung onto those shoes. Then she gave them to me at my baby shower.

And now Callie is wearing them.

Sweet little pink shoes.

Love you Becky and Taylan and thanks for passing them on!!

Changing diapers

A big part of having a baby is changing diapers. And changing diapers A LOT. And changing diapers in a lot of places.

I've changed many diapers in my baby's 4 months of life. I've changed diapers when there were no places to change diapers (which brings me to a big complaint about how EVERY place that has a bathroom should have a changing station in their bathroom. Come on! Can it really be that expensive to add to a bathroom?? But that's a whole 'nother blog post.). I've changed diapers in the back of a car, on my lap, on tabletops (when the bathroom with no changing station was just too disgusting to even think about changing my baby in it), outside, on beds, and now....

...now I've changed her at a basketball game. In the stands.

At least I was in good company!! :)

Oh the life of a coach's wife!

all the new things...

Callie is getting to be more and more fun every day!

You may remember that our sweet girl did her fair share of crying screaming for a good part of her early days. Starting at 3 weeks and continuing until she was well into her 2nd month of life. As I type that I think that surely doesn't seem like a very long time, but it was when we were all up in the middle of it. And when you don't know if it's going to last 3 months or 13 months, it can make new parents quite anxious. I thought we would never have a content, happy baby again. I say again because she was so content for the first 2 weeks after we brought her home. But she is back and we are loving every minute!!

Now, back to the FUN part. She is now quite easy to entertain and keep happy. She is much more predictable. She is much more interactive. She is much more concerned about the things around her.

She has started to notice the dogs so much! She is constantly watching them and turning so she can see them. It's neat to watch. She even reaches out and touches them now. Look at her with her hand back on him. Awwww...

She is a busy raspberry blowing thing! She loves to make noises with her mouth. It's just the cutest thing!

She loves to have her blankets up near her face. If she's in her carseat or swing, you can guarantee she's got ahold of the blanket and has it up around her face, most all the time it is in her mouth.

She has FINALLY giggled. Not a big belly laugh. Yet. But a sweet little sound. She used to just open her mouth really wide like she wanted to laugh, but no sound would come out. Yesterday, sound came out! Courtney and I were both home during Snowpallooza to hear it! :)

(please disregard how stupid I sound in the backgroud...anything for a laugh, I guess...)

She has great neck control and likes being on her belly more and more...

...sort of.

She is figuring out how to roll from back to front. If she has enough momentum she can do it. Otherwise, she gets stuck like this:

...and has no idea what to do with that silly arm.

She is quickly losing her hair. Which bums me out because our baby girl is supposed to have wild and crazy hair. I don't want it all to fall out!! I find her hair everywhere! In her carseat and swings...in her bouncy seat...on her clothes. *sigh*

She's getting big enough to play in some of her "big baby" toys...like her Jenny Jump Up.

Well, almost. ;)

We got her a new bath seat. We were using a fisherprice bathtub, which was great when she was tiny and could fit in the sling part, but now she can't and she was not a fan of the seat in that tub. So I got her something new! It sits in the tub and you fill the actual bath tub up and the seat becomes immersed in the water. She really loves it! She kicks her legs out over the side and just hangs out.

This is such a FUN age! Can we just go ahead and freeze time??

Go Pack Go!!

We are pretty excited that our Green Bay Packers are going to the Super Bowl!! I married into being a Packers fan, but I now love to watch the Packers too! In fact, we've  been to Green Bay twice.

The first time was over Christmas in 2005...the game we went to was on Christmas day.

It was cold and I loved every second of that trip!!

The second time was for the first regular season game in September of 2006.

So it just makes sense that we would get Callie in on some Packer fun!

She had a great time watching the ballgame with us and some friends.

We will be cheering loud on Sunday for the Packers in the Super Bowl. Wish Courtney could have gotten tickets since the SB is in Arlington. Oh well, it'll be fun watching it with friends and our sweet girl!

4 Months Old

Little Miss Callie Tate is a whopping 4 months old!

A few things about our girl...

*She weighs14 lbs even and is 25 inches long. That puts her in the 60% for weight and 78% for height.

*She "talks" to us all the time. Lots of babbling going on. Right now, she doesn't really make letter sound (no ddddd or mmmmm, more like awwww or ahhhhhh) but she does her share of communicating. :)

*She constantly puts her fingers in her mouth now. All.the.time. See?

*She grabs for objects all around her...whether it's a toy or mommy's shopping list...

*She has started noticing the dogs. This happened for the first time after we got home from Christmas in Arkansas.

*She holds her head up very well now and doesn't mind tummy time nearly as much...

...of course that is mostly because she can just roll right over onto her back anytime she wants to now. You want proof? Well, you better believe I have proof! HA!

*She got to see her first snow. Big, fantastic flakes.

*She can (sometimes) put her pacifier back in her mouth on her own...she does it quite frequently when she's in her swing. She sure can't do it in the night when she wakes up and wants it though!

Here she is...I caught her in the act! :)

*She sleeps from 8:30pm to 5:30am on most nights.

*She eats 5-6 ounces every 3 hours except overnight when she goes 9 hours.

*She is in size 2 diapers now. We just started those over the weekend. After she pooped out of her 1's quite a few times, I decided it might be time to go up a size!

*She loves to stand up, with assistance of course.

*She loves to look at herself in the mirror. She gives us an all-out gummy grin when she sees herself. It's so stinking cute!
*She still has yet to laugh out loud. She opens her mouth so big like she wants to laugh but no sound comes out. She does shriek a lot when she's excited, but no giggles yet. We CANNOT wait to hear her laugh!!
*She loves to sit in her bumbo seat and check out what we're doing. (This would be one of those shrieking moments...)

*Speaking of checking out what we're doing...she is so aware of everything going on around her. She was playing on her play mat on Friday and I sat down and when I started talking to her she twisted around to be able to look at me.

I love all the new things she does every day!

My favorite things - new mom version

Here are a few of my most favorite things as a new mom. Must haves, if you will.

Lansinoh nursing pads
-if you're breastfeeding, nursing pads are a must. But I tried out a few brands and these are definitely the BEST! No leaking. None. For real.


Summer Video Monitor
-this is by far my most favorite thing we have for Callie. Peace.of.mind. Enough said.


The First Years drying rack
-love this thing! I use it every single day. Thinking about buying one for school and just using the bottom half of it for my office.




Colic Calm
-this is a homeopathic gripe water. It says on their website that it works instantly and that babies love the taste. I'm gonna go ahead and agree with both statements. It works instantly. Don't believe me? You could ask my mom and my pastor's wife. Both have seen Callie screaming and I give her this and she is instantly calmer. Yes, instantly. It's nuts! And she loves the taste. Which is weird because it is charcoal black. But she sucks it out of that syringe. It's for gas, reflux, colic, you name it. In fact, after I got this I stopped using her gas drops and just used this as needed.

 


My breast pump - Medela
-Callie is only 3 months old and this thing has made many trips with me. It has a car adapter so I can even use it in the car. I have used it driving home from a dinner date with my hubby (that's romance, people!), in the backseat after the Rangers playoff game, in my office three times daily, at my parent's house, and at home each night. It's wonderful! And borrowed...thanks Harrison!!

Nursing tanks
-when I get home each day, I immediately change in to my nursing tank. It's just so easy and comfy! I sleep in them as well. I wore it every single day I was on maternity leave. The part that covers your boob clips and unclips so easily for nursing. I love these so much! Mine is a bit different than the one pictured, but the best part is the clip. Also borrowed...thanks Keysha!!


What are your favorites?

Me and my girl

I am usually behind the lense taking pictures of my sweet girl, but as I was browsing pictures, I came across a few recent pictures of Callie and me. It's obvious they are all from the month of December by her Christmas-y attire. :)

I love this sweet girl so very much. I am so proud to be her mommy.