16 Things I Love About Callie After Two Months

Something I have come to realize about myself is that I love making lists.  To-do lists are an obvious favorite, but I also love making "thankful lists" in my journal and I've been known to fill whole birthday cards just with lists of things I love about a person (just ask Gregg about that last one).  When I saw this book on Amazon a few months ago, it made me realize that maybe I'm not too weird - that there are other people out there making random lists, and lots of them.  I sometimes feel overwhelmed about blogging or journaling because there is just too much to say and I never know how to begin, so I don't write at all and my list of stories or events I'd like to record just grows.  I can certainly embrace creating a quick, tidy list that can be as detailed (or not) as I need/want it to be that tells the story instead.  And I love the idea of these lists becoming a sort of biography for me and my baby.  So, inspired by the "listography" idea, and in the spirit of all those "Some Random Number of Things About Something" type posts that are flooding the internet these days, I give you my 16 Things I Love About Callie After Two Months list:

1) Her "Thumper"-like leg kicking when she's especially excited or mad.

2) Her huge, gummy smiles.

3) The cooing conversations we have every morning.  (That seems to be when she is the chattiest).

4) When she kind of flails or thrashes about, trying to get comfy as she's falling asleep - we call this action "turtle-ing".  It's especially cute when it happens in your arms.

5) Sleepy smiles that happen just as she falls asleep.

6) The Z-Shape stretch. (She can contort her body in quite a number of letter shapes, but this one is her - and my - favorite.)

7) The Power-Fist stretch.

8) The Spring-Loaded-Arms stretch.  (We see this one every time we unwrap her swaddle as her arms automatically pop up from their pinned position at her sides up over her head.)

9) This face:

10) The feel of her oh-so-soft little head nuzzling into my neck after she burps.

11) The contented part purr, part sigh, part grunt sounds she makes while eating.

12) When her cheek squishes up against my bicep while she sleeps.

13) The pitiful sad face she makes while tired crying.  (There's definitely a difference between tired crying and mad crying.)

14) Her open mouth while sleeping.

15) The tiny little O-face she makes that is a dead giveaway for what is happening at that moment in her diaper.

16) Her scrunched forehead wrinkles.

Watch Callie grow: birth

Crazy for Cousins

We had a very fun visit from the Wihongi cousins (and Auntie Heather, of course) from August 7th-10th.  It was supposed to be, and actually started out as, a trip for all the Utah cousins and their moms.  Unfortunately, after traveling most of the day (they had made it to Grand Junction for lunch), they discovered that Miss Melia had a very high fever (she had already thrown up in the car early into the trip, but they thought it was just car sickness - turns out it wasn't).  So as not to infect Baby Cal, they decided it would be best for Laurel and her two kiddos to head back home.  So Heather and the boys turned the van around and headed back to Utah, where they met Bret in Green River to pick up Laurel and Cohen and Melia..  Then the Wihongis headed back our direction, arriving much later than anticipated, but not any worse for the wear.  We then proceeded to spend a couple of rather simple, lazy, but fun-filled, days together.  The boys adored their newest cousin and Callie was quite taken with her two handsome admirers. (Again, I've been less than stellar at photo-taking while visitors are around, so I'm glad Heather snapped a few for me to steal and post.)

Dray would jump up periodically throughout the day to check
on Cal, announcing to everyone whether she was awake,
asleep, making a face, etc, etc.

Callie loved watching Kage - wherever he was and whatever
he was doing, her eyes were on him.

Charming Miss Callie - showing off for her audience.

Snuggles with Auntie Heather.

I call this photo "Wake Up Cal" since Callie and Gregg were
enlisted to wake the boys up early Saturday morning
to head back home.  They jumped right out of bed when
they heard Callie was in the room.

We Are So Blessed

Callie June was blessed by her daddy on Sunday, August 4th at our branch in Vail.  She cried through the whole thing, and again when we tried to take pictures after church.  Apparently her father did the same thing during his blessing - chip off the ol' block, I guess.  Oh well.  She did look like a little angel in her long, white dress (the same one her momma wore 28 years ago) despite all the tears.  What a blessing Callie is in our lives! (I had to steal some of these pics off Gregg's mom's blog - so thanks, Kim, for taking and posting them so I can use them here!)

Cal captivated all of her grandparents on Saturday afternoon.

Four generations right there.  And as a bonus, there are three
generations (Cal, Kim and Richard) who are all the first
child and first grandchild in their respective families.

Meeting Uncle Nate.  She doesn't look amused, but they
really were pals.

Aunt Shelly's turn for some snuggles.

Tubby time for the little one - she had quite the audience.

Proud papa.  The framed sampler was a gift from his mom,
 Kim, and says "Callie is a Child of God" surrounded by
photos of Cal taken in her first month of life.

We are a happy family.  Well, 2/3 of us are in this photo.

Blanchards

Elwoods

In her pretty dress - vintage really.  ;)
(Taken Monday afternoon, when she was
a little more cooperative for a photo shoot.)

Though this accurately shows what she
really thought of the whole matter.

Darling satin and lace booties from Grandma Blanchard.

Sans dress she was much more comfortable and calm.

There's a hint of a smile that she has been flashing as of late.
Hearts are melted daily around here.

The Aunts Come Marching Three By Three

For my birthday present this year Gregg secretly arranged with my sisters for a week of girl time after Toasty was born.  That week finally came on July 25th when the aunts converged on Edwards.  We had great fun together and Callie wasn't put down pretty much the whole time they were here.  The days flew by, though, and I'm already wishing for another visit.  Be prepared for a giant photo dump to follow (and I must thank Heath, Ky and Mugs for taking photos while they were here so I could steal them and create this post - most of what you see here came from them.).

They texted me this pic as they left Logan early Thursday morning:

First time holding Cal - of course she had to be held on the big red ball:

A little dress-up time trying various headbands on Cal:

The goils after church on Sunday:

Gregg came home for lunch on Monday so we sisters could get out for a couple of hours sans Callie.  We explored Beaver Creek, ate some yummy lunch at a restaurant there, and even went on a "hike":

Our Monday night FHE in the mountains, complete with roasted mallows and hot dogs:

Beautiful setting up Homestake.

The clouds were magnificent!

The marshmallow queen with her masterpiece.

Yep - the big red ball even goes on
campfire adventures!

While she was here, Mugs turned 17.  We ate dinner at Larkburger and later that evening enjoyed some Texas Sheet Cake and ice cream.  Once again we had to use some creative candle math to get the right age:

That's 8 + 9 to equal 17.

Best.  Birthday.  Ever.  (I'm talking about mine, though maybe Megan would agree, too?)  Thanks to Gregg for arranging this thoughtful gift and to Heather, Kylie, and Megan for getting off work and driving all this way to make it happen.