Christmas!

Whew, we had a super fun and action-packed Christmas week! In fact, it's taken me 2 days to recover enough to write a post about it. It started on the 21st, when Santa arrived early at our house. Erin got a V-Reader, puzzle, and sit and spin, and Anna got a tricycle, tea set, and a set of cars. We had lots of fun checking everything out, even though Santa didn't go all out this year! Santa figures he has to save up for next year when they will understand more :)

We left for Concord the afternoon of the 22nd with cookies and gifts in tow. On the morning of the 23rd, we got to meet baby Reese and visit Mommy's friend Whitney, then met cousin Jimmy, Aunt Pam, and Uncle Tom at a park in Monroe. It was lots of fun!

We also had a yummy Mexican lunch with them. That evening, Grandma and Grandpa babysat while Mommy and Daddy went to see baby Cole in Charlotte. The 24th, we visited Great Gramma and played at a park in Concord and got ready for the big lasagna dinner that evening with all of Mommy's family. It was so much fun, and Erin learned that she loves mozzarella cheese sticks. We opened presents and had lots of fun!

The 25th, we went to church in the morning, then played at Logan, Ansley, and Ben's house with all their Christmas loot and had a super yummy lunch of ham and sausage dip there. The dollhouse and a rousing game of Ring around the Rosie were the highlights there.

That night, we hung out at Grandma and Grandpa A.'s and got to play with our new stuff. Then, on the 26th, we played outside in the morning and had Pizza Hut buffet for lunch with Logan, Ansley, and Ben. After naptime, we went to see Grandma Pam and Grandpa John, and Jimmy, Aunt Pam, and Uncle Tom at the Embassy Suites in Concord. We had a great time there too, and had a delicious dinner! Anna would like to apologize for her terrible behavior there.

We came back yesterday morning with a car full of wonderful presents. What a great Christmas! We hope you all had a great one too. Thanks to all our family for everything!

19 Months!

Guess who is 19 months old now? Oh yes, Anna Kathryn Callaway the First, as we like to call her. She is full of energy and fun and loves getting into trouble! She is Mommy's little shadow, always right near me, and wanting to do everything I do. I love it! She is getting her bottom two canine teeth in right now (got the top two a month or two ago), so she is a little grumpy about that. Otherwise, she continues to be our picky eater but chunky girl! She knows all the signs that Erin uses and uses them herself. She also has lots to say, and isn't shy about speaking up! "Ball" is her favorite word, and anything resembling a ball is called one. She also says "daddy", "mommy", "bella", "dog", "baby", "car", "truck", "hi", "bye-bye", most of the Sesame Street characters, and lots of other words. She pretends to be shy, but is really a big social butterfly, especially with boys. Daddy is concerned about that. She is also in a "Mommy" phase right now and only wants Mommy to hold her or do anything with her. Mommy isn't complaining :) She is finally able to walk places holding my hand instead of being carried, including down the stairs, which is great. Being bossy seems to come naturally to Anna, and we definitely use that to force Erin to interact with her!

Anyway, that's Anna in a nutshell right now. She is at such a fun age, and we love her so much!

One Weekend, Two Babies!

Well, talk about a great weekend! We had 2 nephews born almost exactly 36 hours apart! First, Benjamin Stephen Summer, born on Saturday 12/10 at 2:57pm, weighing 8 lbs. 7 oz. and 21.5" long. He was a week early, but planned to be born on Saturday, so his arrival was expected. He is doing great and big brother and sister adore him! His cousins, not so sure (actually, Anna is sure how she feels about him):

Then, on Sunday night, Aunt Maria went into labor! She was not due for 2 more weeks and was totally surprised, but Cole Joseph Ambrosini was born on Monday 12/12 at 3:33am, weighing 6 lbs. 10 oz. and 21" long and perfectly healthy. He too is doing great, and happy to be home today!

So, that meant 2 trips to Concord/Charlotte in 2 days, since we had already seen Ben on Sunday and come back before Dale and Maria went in to the hospital to have Cole that night. Throw a stomach bug in the mix, and it was a wild few days! We are so excited and happy for everyone. They are both super adorable and so sweet!

Decked out

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Bob has decided to reverse his normal Scrooge role this year and pressured me to get going on decorations early. So, after some struggling and grumbling from me, we got all the decorations done! And I must say, I'm glad they are up. Enjoy!

Food Lion special:

Tree branch advent wreath:
The village:

Stockings:

Outside (bonus room will have a wreath shortly):
Garland with fancy new LED lights since the old ones stopped working:

And...the big finale...our new addition this year:

18 months old!

THIS:

is 18 months old today! Our baby, sweet little Anna, is a year and a half. She went to the doctor this morning for her checkup and weighed in at an approximate 24 lb. 10 oz. (55th percentile), 34" long (97th percentile), and 19.25" head (95th percentile). She's our big girl. Everything checked out good, especially, ahem, her lungs. She was NOT happy to see the nurse or Dr. Bowman and made sure they knew it! She had to get the hepatitis A vaccine (well, it isn't required at a specific age, but they offered to give the first dose now), and luckily she has plenty of thigh to handle it. He didn't have much to say because he couldn't get a word in edgewise, but basically other than some keratosis (skin rash), she looks great. I do worry about her not eating as much as the human trash compactor that Erin is, but he said it sounds like she is eating fine and just keep offering a variety of healthy foods. Her growth and appetite will slow down and speed up and that is normal. She has almost got her top 2 canine teeth in, so we'll all be happier when that happens. Hopefully the bottom 2 will be quick and easy after that.

What else about Anna? She is an opinionated, talkative, bossy, adorable little girl. She is a climber and a reader and LOVES balls, cars, bubbles, playing outside, and Elmo. She can't stand to have her hair in a ponytail, hence the comb-over. She has definite opinions about everything and really does boss us all around, including Bella. She is already proving to be a "discipline challenge". She now runs and can walk up and down stairs while holding our hands. She can throw and kick a ball and find a picture of one in almost any children's book. I am starting to think that she was meant to be a boy! Oh yeah, she's also a huge help around the house. We've got to make her earn her keep!

We love you, Anna! We are so excited to watch you continue to grow and develop into a sweet little girl!

October!

Well, apparently this is turning into a once-monthly-updated blog. October was a busy, fun, and exciting month for us! We started off the month at the pumpkin patch, which was a huge hit.

The next day, Bella got blessed for the feast of St. Francis...we will be needing a booster or something, because the initial dose did not take!

The girls made their first and second trips to Marbles museum in Raleigh this month, and had a blast both times.

We had our yard sale on the 8th and netted $112, plus $50 for the double stroller via Craigslist this week. The remainder of the stuff went to Erin's old preschool's yard sale the following weekend, where they made over $900 for the playground project. And we got to clean out some stuff!

We had a fun trip to Concord on the weekend of the 15th where the boys took Logan camping, and they all had a great time, and we did a dry-run Halloween there. Erin had her last day at White Plains part-time preschool on the 20th, and got a week and a half off around her birthday before starting at her new school on November 1st.

We went to the State Fair on the 21st and they both enjoyed the animals and mini-donuts.

Her big ABC birthday bash was the 23rd, and she had so much fun with her family and friends at Crowder Park!


Despite her wishes, Erin had her 3-year checkup on the 28th. She weighs in at 32 lbs. 6 oz. (69th percentile) and is 39" tall (91st percentile). I wish I could tell you her blood pressure or vision screening results, but she, ah, declined those! She checked out good otherwise and got the good ol' flu shot.

We had a rainy Halloween here, but Erin (flower) really enjoyed going to the 4 houses that we did get to...Anna (bumblebee), however, cried the entire time!

We've also enjoyed a mediocre season of Wolfpack football so far:

So, it was a fun and busy month! Everyone is happy and healthy, not counting Anna's possible teething and a couple of little runny noses. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and more fun this month!

Erin is 3!

Our little baby turned 3 today! We are so proud of the big girl she has become. I'll write another post about all of her accomplishments, but today we partied! All the pictures are HERE. We had so much fun with lots of friends and family at Crowder Park for her very first big birthday party. We had chips, pizza, salad, fruit, and a cookie cake with letter sugar cookies too!



The party theme was ABCs, and Elmo and Abby balloons made a surprise appearance!

Erin had a great time, and we are so happy that everyone could make it!

Done!

The great decorating project of 2011 has finally been completed! 3 months of working an hour or less a day has finally yielded 11 window treatments. Some turned out better than others, but they are all presentable enough that I don't feel like I have to fix or redo them right now. So, without further ado:

Laundry room:
Half bath:
Top of stairs:

Bottom of stairs:
Office:
Erin's room:
Anna's room (awaiting hooks to hang the tiebacks):
Bonus room:
(the pink lining is BRIGHT when the sun comes in)
Master bath toilet room:
Master bath around the tub:
Perhaps my next endeavor should be photography. It is tough (for me) to get good pictures of windows! There is a story behind each one that I will not bore you with...but if you ever want to hear, just ask! I had a lot of fun making them, and if anyone is looking for the "homemade look", I would be happy to make some for anyone! You just can't be on a strict timeline :)

Oh, and our office has a new item, courtesy of Craigslist and Josh's truck (and Josh):

September!

We've had a nice month - it's been less hectic than August, which has been great! No traveling all month! Let's see...we've been working on lots of little house projects, including fall-izing the yard, painting the bonus room (maybe that was last month), and hanging pictures. I continue to harass Bob about getting his office set up, which may be starting to work a little bit. All but 1 room now has window treatments...I've made 10 and just have Anna's room to go. They have mostly turned out pretty well, but you can tell they are homemade. Oh well!

We checked out the monthly free "concert" over Labor Day weekend, which ended up being a magic show. Anna was mesmerized, but Erin opted to take a nature walk around Bass Lake with Daddy instead. The following weekend, Daddy went to see friends in Washington DC, and we girls hung out and took it easy. We discovered what may be our favorite new park, Macdonald Woods, in Cary. Anna and I frequent it now while Erin is at preschool during the week.

The next weekend was the birthday party weekend - 2 in one day! The girls enjoyed them, and the biggest hit was the life-size Elmo balloon at Hanna's birthday.

This past weekend, Erin and I went to the Kids Together Family Fun Walk that invited her preschool to attend for free. It was fun, and she won a t-shirt for the snazziest (only) wheels! It was a rainy morning, so the attendance was low, but it cleared up and we had a great time.

Pottying is going ok. 6 weeks in, and she will go in the potty if she has to, but will still just go in her pants if she doesn't happen to be sitting on the potty. We will continue and hope it clicks soon! We now own a steam cleaner as a result of the pottying debacle.

So, it's been a great month, and we're enjoying the cooler weather. October looks to be a little more busy with Grandma A. visiting, yard sale, trip to Concord, the big preschool switch, the fair, Halloween, and of course, the big #3 birthday for Erin! We are excited about it all!

Pottying

So we really don't write much on here, and I am not sure if anyone really reads it...BUT we are having a bit of a dilemma at our house and I am looking for any advice I can find. We are trying some potty training with Erin. I wouldn't say she is super excited about it, so we are having trouble getting off the ground (literally - she is having accidents on the floor!). She knows when she is going and will keep going if I catch her in the act and plop her on the potty (little plastic potty for now...the big one is terrifying to her). She will sit on the potty if I ask her to, and will stay there if we read books or sing songs, but won't actually start going when she's sitting there or voluntarily go sit on it. We have been at it for 3 weeks, stuck in the same stage.

She won't wear underwear and I am anti-pullup (for now) due to their cost and I cannot see much difference between those and diapers...so we end up only trying at home and I let her go bare-bottomed. She loves it, but it is a huge mess! I am going to get some cloth training pants tomorrow and try those, just to hopefully help contain the mess.

So, if anyone out there reads this and has any helpful pointers, we would love to hear them! I am not ready to give up yet! I think she is capable of doing it, but just doesn't seem to care enough to try.

15 Months Old!

Our baby is 15 months old! She went to the doctor for her checkup on Friday and weighed in at 23 lbs. 14 oz. (approximate), which is the 66th percentile. She is 31-3/4" tall (86th percentile), and her big ol' head is 19" around (96th percentile). She is our big girl! Everything checked out good, and she got 3 shots, which she was NOT happy about. She was also generally not happy to be there, but cooperated the bare minimum.

So, what's the latest with Anna Kathryn? She is now a walking pro. She has not crawled in over 3 weeks and rarely falls anymore. She is into everything, and we lovingly call her our terror. She really is...loud, opinionated, bold, and curious! We love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. She is the polar opposite of her sister, which is lots of fun, and challenging at times! She is saying a few things - dada, mama, yogurt, go, again, bye-bye, and elmo. We love it! She is not afraid to tell you what she wants, and there is usually no question about it. She has 12 teeth, a molar on each side. She drinks like crazy - milk, water, juice boxes, whatever she can get her hands on. She eats ok - definitely more picky than Erin, but she will eat well if she likes what she has. And she's a serious snacker! I often feel bad because Erin gets a lot of attention, but Anna makes sure that she gets what she needs too. I love having time alone with her now that Erin is in preschool 2 mornings a week.

Anyway, that's our little big girl in a nutshell! We love her so much!

Bonus Room Redo

Those of you who have been to our house know the beauty that was our bonus room. Here is a reminder of the brown and orange sponge paint. Try to ignore the adorable (much younger-looking) kid in the foreground:

Yesterday, we (mostly Bob while I watched the kids) repainted the whole room a lovely light green. It is MUCH better! We are glad to have that crossed off our list!

This picture gets the color most right. It is ironically very close to the background of this blog:

And I found this cute tree decal at Target:

I might want to get another one or something similar...maybe we'll have a forest someday!