Back at home!

We had such a great time in Texas, but it sure is good to be home! Callie and Chile did great in the car much to our surprise! Since we've been home we celebrated Matt's 27th birthday! Yikes! I can't believe that he's 27! Seems like only yesterday that we were just getting our driver's license! We had a good little family celebration for Matt's birthday, and we also took some time to reminisce about my Dad. I think it is so awesome that they shared the same birthday! We grilled out some turkey burgers and brats and it was gooood! Instead of a birthday cake, I got Matt some cupcakes from a Bakery close by. It was fun to try a bunch of weird flavors! I really liked the Maple Bacon cupcake to my surprise! We even let Callie have her first bite of cupcake. We thought it would be a good little preview for her birthday coming up next month! She like the cupcake, but we didn't give her any icing, so I'm sure she'll like it more when she can dig into a cake!

Callie is such a busy bee these days! She is literally ALL over the place! Callie's main goal in life right now is to get her hands on some dog food! Any chance that she gets she is crawling as fast as she can toward it. Our house has a pretty open floor plan and it makes it impossible to keep her in one room. She pretty much had free reign over the whole downstairs. I'm still trying to think of a way to section her off in the living room.... but that would take some really long gates!

Callie is done with baby food now. She much prefers table food. She especially loves bananas. The other day I was sharing a banana with her and Chile, and as soon as it was gone I told her all done. She then throws herself to the floor in pure outrage! Haha. She loves bananas! Callie is still doing great with her signing. She signs "more" and "all done" pretty consistently now! Callie is getting better with walking with assistance. She really likes to push her walker toys around. More and more she lets go of things for a few seconds. Her balance is getting much better, and I know it wont be long until she starts walking. Her favorite word right now is Dada! She says it all the time! She also likes "hi" and "uh-oh"! She really only says Mama when she's tired. Booo!! Oh well, I know she will say it more soon enough! I love seeing her face when Matt gets home from work. She gets a huge smile on her face and says Dada while frantically waving at him. It is pure sweetness! Well here are some pictures from the past few weeks! Hope you enjoy. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Callie trying her first bite of cupcake!

Not too sure at first, but she loved it after a few seconds!

Matt on his 27th bday! Callie enjoying Daddy's birthday dinner! Yum!

Happy girl!

Cookies and cream yum!

Callie playing in the kitchen!

Callie getting into diapers... so fun!

What a fun game! It's tiring helping with laundry!

I'm glad one of us thinks laundry is fun....

Sweetie pie!

Trip to Fort Worth Zoo!

Well while we were in Texas we thought it would be fun to take Callie to the zoo. Grammie and Aunt Lindsey took the day off so that we could all take Callie to the Fort Worth Zoo. It was so much fun! I loved watching Callie discover all of the animals. She definitely showed a lot of interest. I can't wait to take her back when she is a little older! Callie really loved the lions, tigers, leopards... anything that resembled a kitty cat! She would point and wave to the animals and say hi! It was precious! One of her other favorites of the day were the turtles. She loved looking at them swimming around! I want to take her to an aquarium because she really seemed to love all of the bright colors. Callie saw giraffes, hippos, monkeys, elephants, flamingos, kangaroos and many fish and bugs! Nothing is better than watching her experience new things. She was a real trooper! It was a long day but she did great! She had an adorable little hat that matched her outfit, but of course she didn't want to keep it on! She pulls off all of her bows and hats nowadays... I can't wait until she lets me put bows in her hair again! Of course it wouldn't be a zoo trip without a stop at the gift shop! Callie got a stuffed animal lion cub and tiger, as well as a Fort Worth Zoo sippy cup and t-shirt! Callie got spoiled by Mommy and Grammie... Oh Well! What else is new?! Well here are some pictures from our outing, hope you enjoy!

Callie and Grammie checking out the monkeys!

"Look at the fish Aunt Lindsey"! Adorable of them both!

Cool picture!

She loved the aquarium!

Callie and Mommy!

Another Trip to Texas!

Wow! It's already May! I can't believe it. Callie is going to be 11 months old in a few days... which means I'm about to have a one year old. It is absolutely insane how quickly the time is going by. I remember seeing babies that were around 11 months old when Callie was a newborn and I always thought that baby is soo much older. It seemed so far away to me, but here we are! Well we are in Texas for Matt's sisters wedding. We actually decided to drive this time. We took 2 days to make the drive, and it actually went a lot better than I thought it would. The first day was our long day of traveling. We drove for 13 hours and would you believe that Callie didn't cry the whole way? I was shocked because we NEVER go that long without crying. Matt thought it was funny because I had be dreading the long drive and had been trying to convince him that it was worth it to fly. But Callie proved me wrong. Haha. The second day we only had about 7 hours in the car and she got a little fussy a few times but was still great overall. I guess we owe most of the peaceful trip to the DVD player that we bought before we left. It kept her entertained very well when she was tired of her books and toys. She took great naps while we were on the road so that was nice!

On the way to Texas we stopped in New Mexico to visit our good friends Dan and Amanda. We had so much fun catching up with them! We got to see their lovely new house and I got to see Amanda's cute baby belly. She's due in about 4 and 1/2 weeks! Can't wait to meet their little boy!!! It was so nice of them to let us stay the night during our travels, and it was a great excuse to see them! Chile used to play with their dogs when we lived in Del Rio, so he was excited to see Annie (his first girlfriend... well Chile wanted her to be his girlfriend...) and his buddy Nicky!

Unfortunately Mother's Day was spent in the car traveling. But it was still a great day! We stopped in Lubbock for some Taco Bueno since I miss that place so much. I also got a new camera! I absolutely love it!

Callie has adjusted pretty well and is loving the time with all of her Grandparents! Callie already went up to Keller High School to see Grandma at work. She got lots of attention that's for sure! Tomorrow Callie is going to go see Grammie at work!

She loves to crawl around and explore. She is pulling up on everything and is cruising on furniture. It wont be long until she's walking. Callie also has cut both of her top front teeth! Yay! She is no longer a vampire baby! Haha! So now she has 8 teeth! Wow! She is starting to get tired of pretty much all baby foods. Callie likes the baby fruits, but usually spits out the meats/veggies. Now if I give Callie table food she will eat it no matter what! I have not found one thing that she wont eat. Callie is also working a lot on her talking. She says Mama, Dada and Uh-Oh! Its sooo cute. Callie also tries to make the woof woof and meow meow sound. It's not quite there but she sure is close. She loves puppies and kitties! She always points out the kitties in her books.

I really love seeing her grow up! She has a little temper when she doesn't get her way though... so that's not too much fun. Well here are some new pictures with my new camera! Hope you enjoy them!! Have a great rest of the week!

Callie loves watermelon and cookies... even if they aren't real!

Aunt Lindsey thought it was pretty funny! Callie just woke up and is ready for some breakfast! Callie loved looking at this picture of Mommy and Daddy! Look at all of my teeth!! What a sweetie! Callie's Great Uncle Doug sure is fun! So glad we got to see him!

Aw!! Callie and Great Uncle Doug. How sweet!

Silly face!

Look at her eyes! What a sweetie!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! This is such a wonderful time of the year. I am so thankful that Jesus died on the cross and conquered the grave to save us! What a wonderful gift. It's easy to get caught up in "Easter" with the bunnies, eggs, candy etc., but its so important to take some time to reflect on the true meaning of Easter. As Callie grows up I want to make sure that she knows what Easter is all about. Well we had a great Easter this year. We all went to church together and then came home and relaxed! I must say that Callie looked so sweet in her little Easter dress. We took her outside and let her "hunt eggs"... haha. She just crawled around and picked the eggs up, put them in her mouth and was done. She really got excited when she got her Easter basket! She really loved the grass in her Easter basket. It took a while for her to get over that and pay attention to her toys! She got 3 new dresses from her Grandparents, lots of books, some cute stuffed animals, some sandals and a few toys of course! Poor thing, she just doesn't have enough toys.... haha! Callie also got some really sweet Easter cards from Great Grandparents! Callie is such a blessing and we are so thankful that she is our daughter! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Callie trying on her Easter dress to make sure it fits! What a sweetie!

Callie with her Daddy on Easter! :)

Callie getting ready to check out her Easter basket!

Callie and Mommy! I love her! Yum! Callie likes the Easter eggs!

But Callie LOVES new shoes! haha Callie gives her new bunny hugs and kisses everyday! It's so sweet!

Callie checking out her loot!

"What do I do with these"?

Happy baby! Callie "hunting" eggs! I thought this was a sweet view! :)

Callie is 10 months old!

Happy 10 month birthday to my sweet little Callie Michelle! Two more months and she'll be one! Yikes! Time is passing by really really fast already. I love my sweet girl so very much. She truly is a blessing from God and I am extremely thankful for her. Thank you Jesus for such a beautiful, sweet little girl. Callie's personality is really starting to show full force these days. It's amazing to watch her act like a little person! Callie is really observing everything around her and is becoming really interested in talking more. She is babbling all the time and continues to favor the word Mama! She is really starting to take everything in. She likes to point at kitty cats and the babies in the books. Just today she really started looking at all of the objects on each page and pointing to them. So we are working on learning the names of all of the pictures. I can really see the wheels turning and its so exciting to watch! Every now and then she will try to make a meow sound when she sees a cat. She has a book that has animal sounds and she loves imitating the sound of the cat and parrot. She also likes to repeat the moo sound. So much fun! Callie is just about an expert at crawling now. She loves to go into the kitchen and crawl and she also still really likes playing with the doggie door. Every time Chile goes in or out of the doggie door she crawls over there to see whats going on. She is still pulling up on everything that she can and prefers standing most of the time now. Sometimes when she is on the floor she acts like shes trying to stand up, which is funny because she is no where near ready to do that yet! She still needs something close by to hold on to. Her balance is improving more and more each day. I'm sure it wont be long before she is walking. Her desire for independence is also starting to show. She is starting to get quite agitated when things aren't going exactly how she wants.... oh dear, let the fun begin! Callie is a sweet little girl. She continues to kiss her baby dolls, Mommy and Daddy and even some of the characters in her books. I love it when she gives kisses on her own, without being asked for one! Its pure sweetness. I am honored to be Callie's Mommy and I can't wait to see what the Lord has is store for her life. Happy 10 months baby! Mommy and Daddy love you as big as the sky!

Haha.. this pic is a little scary... but she was sooo excited!

Callie and Mommy reading her favorite book!

Sweet kisses.

Can't forget about Chile!!

I included this pic because its one of the only ones I have where you can see her little fangs ha!

Callie LOVES bathtime!

Fun in the tub!!

9 month check up!

Callie finally had her 9 month well check up yesterday! They were really backed up, so we were a few weeks late getting her in. Everything went well at her appointment! The doctor said that it looks like she is eating well... haha, I wonder how she knew that?! Haha, her chubbiness is adorable and the doctor said that she was doing great and looked very healthy! Callie was in the 50th percentile for her weight (18 1/2 pounds), she was between 75-90% for length and 55% for her head circumference. Callie did not enjoy her doctor visit this time. I guess its that stranger anxiety thing. She protested through the whole thing! Callie is getting better and better at crawling. She is becoming more fearless, which is quite scary for me. She is brave enough to crawl on the hardwood floors and tries to get on the tile in the kitchen. I try to keep her off of that because she still falls on her face every once in a while. But overall she is a pretty good crawler now. Since my last post she has starting pulling herself up. It started out pretty slow, but then she just got it! Now that's all she wants to do. The girl has no fear of falling. She's not good enough to pull up on walls and doors, but she sure tries. I basically just follow her around all day so that she doesn't fall. I guess this is the age of bumps and bruises, and I hate that! Callie is starting to try new foods now too. She is eating shredded chicken, small pieces of veggies, pasta, fruit... the list goes on. She loves food and will eat just about anything that we are having. It's so crazy to me that I have a baby who is eating some table food! She's really growing up fast. I just love her so so much and I am really enjoying this cute stage! God has really blessed me with her. The best thing of all is that she gives kisses now. I absolutely love that!!!! (She even kisses her baby dolls!) I sure do love my little sweetie. Chile has fully recovered from his surgery and is doing great! I'm so glad that he doesn't have to wear that cone anymore! We recently got our backyard landscaped so Chile is outside enjoying the yard a lot! Callie likes it too! We put some synthetic grass back there so that she could have a place to play. I love that Spring is here and the weather is nice! Well I hope you enjoy the new pictures and have a great weekend!! Erin

Getting ready for bed!

Kisses for the baby!

More kisses for another baby! (I played with this doll when I was little!)

Chile's toys are much more fun!

Sweet, sweet kisses for Daddy!

Callie loves her new backyard!

Crawling crawling!

Callie just chillin in her pack-n-play! This is the back view...

This is the front.... hahahahah!

She is so proud that she can pull herself up! (Ok... I'm proud too!)

Callie and Chile playing tug of war!! haha