Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone is having a great Valentine's Day.  Callie and I enjoyed a very exciting trip to Target this morning and right before we left we had a wonderful delivery of flowers.  Thanks babe, we love you and miss you!!  We can't wait to see you, only 24 more days to go!

Our beautiful flowers from Daddy!

Callie really liked the bear!

Here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon.  It was a gorgeous day and Callie was having a great time blowing bubble for Ozzie!

Posing for the camera.  This is one of the few shots I got where she actually looked at the camera.  The bubbles were too fun to be distracted by a crazy Mommy trying to take pictures :)

Blowing bubbles!  She is pretty good at it, she only put the wand in her mouth a couple of times :)

Ozzie trying to lick the bubble off the wand!

Sitting in her Callie sized rocking chair, she loves it!

Crawling!!!

Here is Callie doing her little inch worm crawl and then getting back up into a sitting position.  I call this her yoga baby move.  She is so flexible, I can only hope she continues to stay that way, because I certainly am not.  I can't even touch my toes!

Only in Texas

Last week Callie, Ozzie and I went for a walk in our neighborhood.  Only in Texas could we walk for half a mile and end up next to grazing cows!  We live in a huge neighborhood and this is just right down the street, next to a pediatrician's office.  Callie loves all animals, but cows have to be one of her favorites.  She sat in the stroller and pointed and mooed while Ozzie barked and pretty much freaked out :)

This may not be the best picture since I took it with my cell phone, but Callie's stroller is on the left and the cows are in the background with their heads down eating :)

Platelets

I haven't posted about Callie's platelet count for awhile and it is because it has been so great lately!  In October her count was 141,000!!  This is almost at a normal level, which is 150,000 to 300,000.  We were shocked they were so high, since her count in July was around 60,000.  It is typical with TAR for the platelets to level out close to a normal range around one to two years of age, but even our doctor was impressed with Callie's numbers.  The even better news is that three months later in January her platelets were 145,000.  This is such great news for us and helps us breathe much easier.  

Finally, a new post!

I've been a bad blogger lately and I apologize to all our loyal readers :)  

Things have been busy lately.  Scott left for Japan last week and Callie and I are slowly adjusting to life with just the two of us again.  Callie has been taking it easy on me and even started sleeping through the night again, after a three month stint of waking up every night!  Scott's a little jealous, but I think she must know that I need my rest :)

Since my last post we had a great visit from my parents.  Callie really enjoyed her time with her grandparents and can't wait for them to move to Texas, which should happen Sept. 2010.  After they left I finally hung a picture of them in her room (a present from last Christmas) and she wants to look at it every day, today she even gave it a kiss :)  

Playing at the park by my parents new house

With Grandma & Grandpa Kohn at the lake house

Hanging out with Grandma Kohn on the dock

Callie has also been on whole milk since January and she is showing no allergy!!!  This is such great news and a relief to us.  We had her tested for a milk allergy in October and it was negative, but our doctor was concerned that it may have been a false reading since she had never had any milk product in her system, and because she was on such a specialized formula.  Well, the test was correct and Callie has really been enjoying her milk.  She is also having fun exploring all new sorts of foods.  She already loves mac & cheese!

Callie has also been busy with two thirty minute sessions of occupational & physical therapy a week.  All the hard work she does every week is already paying off.  She is army crawling now, which is great, and standing so much better.  She has been taking some steps, with help, behind a push toy and her physical therapist said today that she is making progress very quickly!  Callie also has some braces for her feet now.  They are to help stabilize her ankles

 and keep her feet from turning in.  The seem to be making a big difference already!

Callie and I will be leaving to go to Japan on March 9th, so I am trying to get us ready for that.  I still haven't packed anything yet, but need to get started soon so our boxes will make it there before we do :)

Not too much else to report.  Here are a couple of cute pictures from the last month :

Callie really excited about the cool stroller at the mall!

Hanging out with Zeke, the Ortmeiers' huge dog!  He is so big I couldn't even get a picture with his whole body!  We went to their house for dinner and Callie spent most of the evening "woofing" at their two dogs.  It was hard to get a good picture because they all kept moving around so much.

Getting ready for bed with Daddy the night before he left for Japan

Falling asleep while standing up after a hard day at therapy

Lake House

Scott and I are now proud owners of a Lake house!  We closed about a month ago and spent our first night there on New Year's Eve with some friends.  The house is on Lake Kiowa, a small private lake about one hour north of our home in Keller.  We are so excited to be able to spend time there, not only is there a lake which is stocked with fish, but there is a golf course too.  We are excited to be able to enjoy this home with our families for years to come.  Hopefully Callie likes it too, since it will probably be the site for most of her birthday parties!  

Here are a couple of pictures:

Our present from Santa on the mantel

Front of the house.  The house was built in 1970 and is in great condition, just needs some exterior and interior paint.  Oh, and all the carpet upstairs is different shades of blue.  That will need to be replaced eventually . . .

Back of the house.  It has a screened in porch that runs the length of the house.  It stays shady in the afternoon and is a great place to sit and look at the lake.

View of the 13th green from the boat dock.

Living area.  Not a great shot of the house, just showing off the Ikea furniture we got.  The coffee table came with the house.

Dining room looking out onto the lake.  The table and chairs also came with the house.  The previous owners wanted to leave everything that was in the house, but we decided to just keep a couple pieces of furniture and all the kitchen stuff.  Which means the kitchen came stocked with plates, cups, silverware, pots and pans . . .  The freezer even had ice cream in it, which we decided not to eat :)

Congrats Grandpa Kohn!!

We would just like to give a big huge shout out to Grandpa Kohn who is retiring today after 25+ years of loyal service to United Parcel Service (UPS).  He worked as a delivery driver and a supervisor and was a model employee.  

The Portland weather during the last week made it very easy for him to leave.  It was one of the hardest holiday delivery seasons, since the Portland area had over 12" of snow, the most since the 1960's.  We are very proud of Grandpa Kohn and hope he can keep himself busy with all his newfound free time :)  Now I guess I don't have to be a loyal UPS shipper anymore . . .  Congrats Dad!!!