Four Calling Birds...

It's tempting to say that Christmas has come and gone already... but we're only in the fourth day of Christmas today, so why rush it? With no child care this coming week, and no work expected from Joe, we're at a loss for what to do with ourselves on our at-home vacation. Yesterday the bank sign said the temp reached as high as 75-degrees, and it might have been right, with about 100 % humidity too. But last night a windy cold front moved through and the weather is just a little chilly, dry and sunny. Maybe a good day for a walk in the afternoon, but this morning we're hibernating with our coffees and milk sippy cup.

This has been Calla's second Christmas, but the first where she had some recognition of what's going on. She points to the Christmas tree and says something that sounds like "angel" when we find those ornaments. And by the time we opened up the last of our gifts, she was understanding that there were fun things under all that pretty paper.

One of her early presents - a new nature photograph book from her dad. It's a story about the coming of winter, but in far too many words for a toddler's attention span. So for now, we page through and look at the deer and the birds and the squirrels.... all animals we have in our own little backyard habitat.

Since I had wrapped the gifts, I gave them to Calla to open in a very strategic order. Books first, then toys, then the ultimate new toy. A new doll ("Baby!" said Calla when she opened the gift) complete with her own stroller and diaper bag. Not sure where the bag is now, but Calla's been driving that stroller around our house non-stop. Sometimes there's a baby in the stroller, and sometimes it's just the stroller going for a walk. Either way, it's a big hit. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Cheatwood!

We have many more merry Christmas 2008 memories... most, but not all, include a fun little girl growing up before our eyes. On this fourth day of Christmas, we wish you all the calling birds, french hens, turtle doves and partridges your holiday aviary can handle.

Silent night...and Joy to the World!

Whew! Well, it's not even Christmas yet, but I feel like the holidays have already come and gone. We had a fun and eventful weekend with my sisters and families. Highlights? Jess and I made lefse, Carrie & Jess & I danced with our babies to our favorite Christmas song ("Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus"), Baby Julia laughing at Chloe, and the weekend's culmination of a rousing game of Farm Game. Start to finish, a good weekend. The only down-side was that for most of the weekend, Calla was dealing with Mystery Fever Virus... you know, that high fever that won't go away until I finally break down and take her to the doctor. Well, now I know how urgent care works in Carbondale.

We had early Christmas presents Saturday night. The second-best gifts (in my opinion) were a hand-knit sweater for Calla in Saluki burgundy with snowflake buttons (thanks, Aunt Jess) and a "Free to Be You and Me" CD and book - I love it! I mean, Calla will love it! Brings back memories... "William wants a Doll"..."Parents are People".... "Free to be You and Me." It's so dated, it's back in style. Sure-fire way to turn Calla into a flaming liberal feminist, just like her mom.

But the hands-down, no contest, top gift given in our little pre-Christmas gift exchange was Ben's gift to Jess... an engagement ring. Gotta give the guy props for proposing to a girl in front of her sisters! Not that he was worried about the answer. We laughed, we cried, we drank champagne.

The weekend prior to our big family weekend was Calla's Wiggles and Tunes recital. Basically, we sat on stage, while dads and grandparents all tried to take photos and videos at the same time. Calla was mesmorized by the audience, the big room, the new kids singing along. She paid attention to everything... that is, everything except for the songs we've been singing once a week and daily in the car for the past four months. I thought about posting a video, but it's basically Calla standing or sitting with me, not singing or dancing, then occasionally seeing Joe in the audience and running off the stage to find him. The entire first row kept lunging to keep her from falling headfirst to the floor. Joe did catch a sweet moment on video when I'm trying to discreetly sniff Calla's diaper to discern if that odor was coming from her (it was). Good times.

We have quiet Christmas plans this week - although it will be nice to stop hearing Joe whine about wanting to open his presents early - and then head to Lexington for a visit with Jeri and Josh around new year's. We had such a big dinner last Saturday - still dealing with leftovers - that I think our big Christmas eve dinner just might be Turkey Pot Pie. We love it. I have the ingredients. It makes us happy. Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus.

Calla sharing her new Christmas book with Baby Julia. She did have several lovely moments where she gave Julia (without prompting) a sweet cousin hug, but of course, no cameras were available at that moment.

Getting ready for our big recital to start.

The happy couple - Jess and Ben - and the sparkly ring! We wish them much fun in wedding planning, limited stress with the details, and the patience and humor to know it's just one day. Day 2 starts the real fun.

Merry Christmas to all... and best wishes for peace throughout our world in the new year.

A Rite of Passage

We'd really been lucking out for too long. And last week when sister Carrie asked about Calla's vomiting experiences, I really should have knocked on wood, thrown salt over my shoulder and rubbed a rabbit's foot before I said so confidently that Calla's never really had a stomach virus.

Aah, well, see that was last week. 11:15 last night our world changed, poor little thing. No need for details, you've been there. Such a mess. And then 30 minutes later, freshly out of the bath, cleaned up, rocking on Mom's lap... all over me. We all slept finally from about 3 until 6 this morning.... Calla still moaned a little until the clock hit 7:30 and then something clicked and she started to say/sign "Milk?" "Eat?" "Milk?" And she's been a toast/rice/applesauce eating machine ever since. Still has a little fever, and took a lovely 3 hour nap and fell asleep easily tonight. She's on the mend; all's right with the world.

All of this is to say... we were due. But it didn't help that I taunted fate. I'll think twice next time before dismissing another common childhood illness/injury so easily. Things they don't teach you in that two-hour parenting class we took.

Fa-la-la-la-la...

So, in spite of our better judgment, we put our tree up Friday night. It was a little more complicated than it should have been because of operator error. First, we had the lights strung oh-so-nicely, only to realize that "someone" had started at the wrong end and had neatly nestled the plug at the very tip-top of the tree (he was quite embarrassed). Next time, we got the right end at the bottom, but just hadn't checked the bulbs first and the middle third of our tree wouldn't light. Third time's a charm, though.

After all of that, Calla had the bottom 3.5 feet emptied in about two minutes the next morning. Our concession to life with a toddler and pets is that it's a fake tree, which I'm a little sad about, but not so sad when I see Calla splashing in the pet's water bowl and realize that could certainly be the tree water instead. Maybe next year.

Caught in the act.

Calla's favorite tree toys are the pretty glittery bulbs that, thankfully, aren't glass since she calls them "balls" and expects them to bounce. They've all been relocated to the top half of the tree now.

I really love this picture - in spite of, or perhaps because of - the drool dripping down her chin. That 8th tooth has to come in some time, and between a minor cold and the constant teething these days, there's just a lot of drool everywhere.

Busy week this week - last music class tomorrow morning and then her school's holiday party Wednesday night. Apparently, the toddler class has a song to sing. Ri-ight. I predict we're going to learn which of the toddler teachers can sing. But we'll dress Calla up in her red Christmas dress again and have fun with it.

Have a good week!

Let it snow, let it snow...

We had so many people tell us when we first moved here that the winters were mild that I wondered if it would feel like winter at all without snow. No worries on that point. We awoke this morning to the sight of big puffy flakes falling down. They didn't stick, so we don't have nearly the hassle that I'm hearing our Chicago friends are dealing with during this morning's commute, but since my work commute just takes me to the guest bedroom/office, mine would have been stress-free even with a blizzard.

Such a wonderful Thanksgiving we had here. Since I had barely gotten the laundry done and beds made from my parents' visit, it was nice that we had such easy and fun guests - Joe's sister Jeri and her son Josh, or as Calla calls him "Johhh" (emphasis on the breathy "h" at the end). We love having Jeri visit, because she's great, but mostly because her hospitality expectations of us are already so low, I can't disappoint. She first visited us in Oak Park the weekend after Calla was born. She tackled a mountain of laundry and cleaned my house top to bottom, all while I stared adoringly at my new baby. Then she visited us right after we moved here, and lived for a week amid boxes on an air mattress and only one towel since the towel box hadn't surfaced. Last visit this fall she didn't have to clean or unpack boxes, but she did get the most uncomfortable bed in the house, and she had to make it up herself at that. So now, if she just gets a made-up bed and clean towels and doesn't have to iron and starch Joe's shirts, she thinks we rolled out the red carpet. Everyone should have such a house guest!

The big dinner was fun and stress-free also. The stuffing came out of a package, the pumpkin pie from a box and the rolls from the freezer section. But we brined a big turkey breast, and I made a chocolate cake, enough wild rice for a small country, and the ubiquitous green bean casserole that didn't disappoint.


Calla and Josh - who is such a fun cousin for Calla. He gets on the floor with her and chases, reads books, rides her on his back and generally runs her around so she collapses at night. Such a trooper.

I'm always a little sad when house guests leave, and yesterday morning was no exception. I love having a busy and full house (as long as they don't get my kitchen too messy) and everything seems so quiet and empty when guests leave. As I wave good-bye, I'm always hoping that they reach the end of the driveway and then put it in reverse to stay just one more day. I know there are those house guests who you love to have visit and then love to have leave, but we don't get those folks around these parts. Just those whom we want to come back again.

But then there's laundry to do again and work to finish... and parenting strategies to implement. Currently, we're on the "get Calla back on track" strategy. After traveling to DC, then returning home to a solid stream of visitors, my sleep-through-the-night tot has become a wake-up-Mom-and-Dad-through-the-night tot. With just us to disturb last night, we started the painful process of reminding Calla she really can put herself back to sleep when she wakes up. Joe and I are groggy and grumpy this morning... Calla woke up in a fabulous mood, proving that babies really have no memory of those night time scream fests.

If you're living in a snow-covered place now, I hope you commute safely and face minimal shoveling. As for me, I'm putting on water for tea and snuggling into a blanket at my desk for a good day's work. Warm and cozy wishes for a good week for you all...