January 2014

The holidays were cuh-razy. Crazy fun! Crazy busy! Crazy cold!
I worked on Christmas eve until about noon and then we headed out to my sister's house for dinner. We had a great time eating and celebrating and opening gifts. Calli got the hang of it real quick! She really loved all the activity and always loves spending time with her cousins.Christmas morning was very special although I'm not sure that she understood that so much. At daycare she did an impression of her hand and her daycare provider gave us two of them. It was such a special gift. We feel so lucky to have found someone so special to care for Calli.
Later that day we ventured to my mother in law's house for lunch and more gifts. She got all kinds of gifts and really enjoyed playing with them. She got a baby doll and the first thing she did was give it a kiss. It was so sweet. We had a great time and got home fairly early.
The rest of break was spent enjoying each other and doing family things. We visited the NewBritainMuseum of AmericanArt to see the Maurice Sendak exhibit. It was very cool and I would recommend it to everyone. We also picked up my bridesmaid dress for the wedding in a few weeks. We also picked a dress for Calli. It is so cute.
We didn't do anything for NYE or day. We stayed home and stayed warm and got ready for the snow storm that rendered us homebound Thursday and Friday, Jan 2 & 3. Nice way to end my vacation.
It was great while it lasted and of course went by way too quickly.

Here it is January 14 and I am still writing this post!!! As soon as I got back to work, this month got really busy. Hubby has after-school stuff almost every day, I have a couple of evening events and my bestie is getting married later this month. Wow!

I will post some pics later but for now here is Calli in the tub!

Calli's first visit with Santa

8 months

Today Calli is 8 months old. We are having a BLAST.

She is crawling so fast, EVERYWHERE! She is eating just about everything. Mostly pureed but recently we tried chunks of chicken and some veggies. Last night we had pastina and she LOVED it. Lately she has had some trouble sleeping through the night. I figure it is because she is so mobile and learning so many things. I hope it ends soon; mama needs some sleep. She has pretty much grown out of the 9 month clothes and I need to start to incorporate the 12month stuff. That is blowing my mind! Every day she looks bigger! She loves to play and listen to music and spends a lot of time babbling, screeching and and laughing. We are having so much fun! She really loves the Christmas tree.

Can't wait for the break so we can have some fun!

Ciao for now peeps!!

xxoo

S

Christmas fever!!!

I have a fever.... a CHRISTMAS fever.
It all started Friday night when we went to get our Christmas tree. Even though it was SO COLD and the traffic was a nightmare and Calli probably shouldn't have been out we braved it all and went out to pick a tree. Growing up we always got a real tree; it smells amazing and is so festive. In the past couple of years I have secretly considered getting a fake tree; get rid of the cost of tree ever year, the needles everywhere, remembering to water it, having the tree sit on the lawn for a couple of months before it got thrown out... Then Friday happened... Hubby let baby girl pick out the tree.
It was adorable. I double dressed her because it was really cold and she wasn't really in the mood to be out there. Hubby walked her around the lot and let her look at every tree. She finally grunted when she got to one and that is the one we bought. It was really sweet. It is really crooked and short and fat but it is the MOST BEAUTIFUL tree we have ever had. And to see her face every time we walk in the room... here comes the fever. Saturday afternoon we blasted the Christmas Carols and hauled out the bins of ornaments and trimmed the tree. Usually it is hubby and I and we get it done as fast as possible. This year was super special to share with baby girl and my mom. We talked about all the ornaments and told my mom stories of trees past. It was so fun. Then I spent a long time working on Christmas cards. Usually (and I hate to admit this) this is a total after thought. I used to only send cards to people that sent them to me... if that! This year I photographed Calli and went on to a website and designed the card myself. And even though it didn't turn out like I wanted (and this would have been the kicker for me... I definitely would not have sent them) I am so excited to send them out!! Wahoo the fever is coming! Then to top off the weekend we brought Calli to meet Santa. It was a small "family" type party with about 15 kids visiting Santa... who was a close friend ;) and it was GREAT. Although Calli seemed to like the postcard from Santa more than the gift, we still had a GREAT time. Bring on the cheer and fa la la la la! I'm ready!
Merry happy y'all!
xo
S

All I Want for Christmas...

• is Calli's tooth to come in
• my MBA program to be over
• enough hours in the day to get it all done
• an automatic washing/dryer/folder/putsitaway machine
• new wardrobe THAT FITS!
• is to never rush anything/anyone again
• a FABULOUS/ EXOTIC vacation
• a house that stays cleaner longer or one that self cleans... like an oven.
• more time to read all the gifted magazine subscriptions that I have gotten this year
• is not to have to have handed in a paper that I know was not my best work
• is to be able to drink regularly caffeinated coffee again
• and never to have to clean a breast pump flange or bottle again

Happy Merry!!
xo
S

Lists....

To do...
-write this paper
- christmas shopping
- get a tree
- decorate the tree and the house
- christmas cards
- clean
- return the baby gate and get a new one
- get the dress
- figure out what to make for office party
- buy and make stuff for office party
- WRITE THE DAMN PAPER
- countdown to vacation (15 days! then 13 days off!!! whoa!)

To do on vacation...
- wrap presents
- daytrip with the family
- get school books for next semester
- visit friends
- buy shoes, and hose for wedding
- get the dress altered
- clean the car
- get Calli's clothes in order (store and donate)
- clean, clean, clean!
- go through the piles of paper on the desk and file
- start reading more to Calli
- get Calli on a good eating schedule with more protein
- go to the library and get some good books to read especially in a snow storm
- go to the gym!

To do this week
- lunch with friends x2
- hand in paper (after you write it dummy)
- lots of meetings
- DMV try #2
- get a christmas tree
- buy stamps for christmas cards
- make lists of christmas gifts
- write this paper.
- you can start anytime now
- probably don't need to add to the list because you should already be working on it.

 I'm a procrastinator forever!!!

xo
S

Teeth

Calli has her two bottom teeth and about two weeks ago got a tooth on top. Yesterday I noticed that the other front top tooth is just about to break through. Teething is probably the hardest thing that we have had to deal with. She doesn't have any way of telling us that something hurts or that she is uncomfortable. She is usually such a happy go lucky baby, that when she does start to whine because of the teething or from her shots, my heart breaks for her. Tonight was exactly one of those. She was super happy when I got home from work. She ate her dinner really well and ate a lot. Afterwards we sat and were playing a bit and she started to whine. She usually does at about 6pm so I thought she wanted to nurse a bit, which she did, and fell asleep for about 40 minutes. She woke up really cranky and not able to be soothed or distracted by anything. I finally took her upstairs to get ready for bed and it took me almost 45 minutes to get her to relax and go to sleep. Mind you 10 or so minutes were spent trying to get the massive boogers out of her nose. She hates when I clean her nose and the boogers just sit there and get really hard and difficult to get out. That was probably TMI, but if you are still reading then maybe not!  In any case it was a tough night for Calli girl. I sense that she won't sleep all night and may need some acetaminophen to help her sleep later. She fights me on that too... she's a tough one this one!! Ok. Enough about boogers and teething...

Hope you are enjoying your Friday night!

Calli's teething

ciao,
s

PS. I think she looks like me in the top right hand pic. :)