Merry Christmas!

We have had a very busy, fun, and exciting Christmas in 2008.  It was our first Christmas spent in Texas in two years and it was nice to be home.  The last two years we have been in Vancouver, WA with my parents.  We missed spending the holiday with them, but were very glad that we didn't have to deal with the record amount of snow they received.  Christmas weather of 60+ degrees and sunny was just great!  

We stayed busy with lots of family activities and get togethers.  On Monday we met with Scott's sister and cousin so we could get the yearly great grand kids picture.  We headed to the local Kiddie Kandids and managed, with some creative cropping, to get a good picture of all four kids together.  We have two three year olds, Callie who is 14 months, and the youngest who is eight months old.  After a couple of meltdowns at the picture place we headed to the food court for dinner and all the kids were much happier :)  Then we all took a ride on the carousel.  We also took Callie to see Santa.  We hadn't planned on doing Santa this year since Callie is still very cautious of strangers, but her cousin wanted to go so we tried it out.  She did great standing in line, but once we got to Santa the tears started!  I'll have to scan the picture and upload it in the next couple of days.

Callie excited for the ride to start

Callie and her cousin Haley

Tuesday we made a trip to Dallas to have Callie's Doc Band readjusted.  We go every two weeks and the appointment is really easy and fast, they just make the band a little bigger each time to allow for growth.  The Doc Band has been working really well and we are able to see a big difference so far!  

After the appointment we headed over to the mall in Dallas to waste some time before a family dinner that was also in Dallas.  Callie had a great time playing at the play area and spending some extra time with her Match & Patch (Scott's parents).

Checking out a Christmas tree with Patch

Wednesday was Christmas Eve and we headed over to Scott's Grandma's house for her annual Christmas Eve lunch.  Callie had a great time playing with her cousins and opening presents.  She can't quite tear into presents yet, but she definitely knows what they are and is excited to see what is inside :)

playing with Daddy

Posing with Mommy

Callie's toy was the hit of the party.  All the kids wanted to play with it!

Christmas morning we spent at home and then headed over to Scott's parents house for lunch.  Callie had a great time opening all her presents and playing with her new toys.  Ozzie was a little confused about everything that was going on.  He thought a couple of Callie's toys should be his toys :)

These little stuffed animals were the first thing that Callie opened.  It was tough to get her to put them down to open the other presents.  She played with them all day long!

Callie showing Ozzie one of the many Elmos she got for Christmas.

Ozzie checking out yet another Elmo.  He's not too sure what to think about this one . . .

After all the Christmas activities Callie just want to sit and play with her Little People farm set.  She loved it!

Is the food strike over???

Callie has been on a food strike for over a month now.  About a week before she got sick she stopped eating baby food, which she had been really enjoying.  Then she got sick and since then she was on strike!  We have been offering her baby food at least once a day, but she would just shake her head, turn away and start to fuss.  She still doesn't like to put any sort of table food in her mouth, but that's another hurdle to get over . . .

So tonight at dinner we had some carrots ready for Callie to eat and when I offered her the spoon she turned her head like before and I thought it would be hopeless.  Well, she started to sort of cry and had her mouth open and eyes closed, so I got sneaky and put the spoon in.  She wasn't too sure about it at first, but then it was like she remembered the taste and started opening her mouth for more!  We did some singing and cheering to keep her excited about the food and she ate almost the entire container!!!  Hopefully she will be ready for breakfast tomorrow :)

  

Only in Texas, part two

So the weather in Texas can be kinda crazy . . .  Yesterday it was a beautiful day with a high of 77 degrees and a little bit of wind.  We took a nice walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed the great weather.  We even had to turn on the AC because the house got so warm.  

At about 9pm last night we could hear the wind start to pick up and could tell it was getting colder outside.  When we got up this morning the temperature was around 27 degrees with a wind chill somewhere in the teens!  So, in the short time of about 12 hours the temperature dropped 50 degrees!!!  I guess that means Scott will have to wait another couple of days to put up the rest of the Christmas lights on the house, he's so dissapointed :)

Only in Texas . . .

This morning we did some shopping at Super Target.  We were picking up some Christmas gifts and a couple of other things, plus a few groceries.  Last night I had a craving for beer so we put a six-pack of Corona in the cart.  We went to check out and when the checker got to the beer he informed me that he can not sell alcohol before Noon on Sunday, it was 11:45am!  Only in Texas would there be a rule for when you could buy alcohol on Sunday!  I guess I'll just have to go back to the grocery store later today . . .

The rest of our Thanksgiving week . . .

We also spent some time in Tacoma the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It had been almost a year since I had seen my girlfriends from college and so we made the drive up from Vancouver to visit.  We stayed at a hotel on the Tacoma waterfront and Callie loved it.  We were on the first floor and could see right onto the water and Callie had a great time watching the water and the birds from our window.  

posing with Mommy & Daddy at Commencement Bay in Tacoma, WA

We went to Megan's house on Saturday night and Callie enjoyed meeting her "aunties" again, and her "cousins", Becca's twins Ben & Abby.  It took her a little while to get used to all the people but she calmed down and was right at home gossiping with all of us :)  

On Sunday we were able to have dinner at Scott's cousin Grant's house.  If you remember he is the pastor that married us and his daughter Mckinzie was the flower girl in our wedding.  We had a great time visiting and catching up, as well as a delicious meal.

You would think that after our busy trip things would calm down a little bit, but we will still be busy with holiday events.  We still need to decorate the house for Christmas and even got lights to put on the house this year!  It should be an exciting holiday season and we are excited to share it with Callie.

Busy Thanksgiving week

Well, we have been busy with holiday travels the last week, so I apologize for not posting sooner . . .

We were fortunate enough to be able to travel to Vancouver, WA to visit with my parents for Thanksgiving.  Callie had been out of the hospital for almost a week and was feeling pretty good.  Our flight out wasn't too bad.  Callie was really excited about the airplane and wanted to touch everything, which really made me nervous since I am now a germaphobe mom!  She also enjoyed the attention from the flight attendants who were right across the aisle from us for most of the trip.  She eventually fell asleep for about the last hour of the flight, so that was nice.

On Wednesday we made a trip to the Jantzen Beach Shopping Center, which is right across the river in Portland, OR, to ride the carosel.  According a sign posted at the entrance it is the fastest moving, at 10 mph, and longest ride, 4 minutes, in the world.  I wasn't too sure if Callie would like riding on a horse for that long so we took the safe route and sat on one of the benches.  She loved it!

Callie made sure that we were first in line :)

Testing out the horse . . .

Callie decided the bench would be more fun :)

We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving lunch/dinner with just my parents and it was great.  My Dad smoked the turkey and it was delicious!  Callie had a good time but decided to continue her food strike.  For the last couple of weeks she has decided that she only wants formula and no baby food or table food.  She missed out on a delicious meal, but had a good time sitting at the table playing while we ate.

Waiting for all of us to sit down and eat.

After dinner Scott and I were able to get away for a night.  My parents so nicely agreed to watch Callie and we stayed in a nice hotel in Portland for the night.  It was great to get a good night's sleep and relax.  Callie did great with my parents and even slept the whole night, which was great because she had been waking up in the middle of the night since we arrived.  

Even though we had a busy week we still had time to be thankful.  First of all we were so thankful that Callie was healthy, finally, and we were able to make the trip to visit family and friends.  Not only was she over the stomach virus, but while she was sick her platelets jumped to an amazing 280,000!  We are thankful for all the great care that Callie receives and her amazing doctors and nurses, not to mention the great health insurance coverage that we are fortunate to have.  And above all we are extremely thankful for our family and friends.  We would not be able to do this without you!