A Joyous Sound

Yesterday I heard a joyous sound...Callum's first laugh! It was so adorable! My dad was playing with him and blowing raspberries on Cal's belly and Callum LAUGHED! Logan was very sad that he missed it, but today Callum gave an even longer laughing repeat-performance when a family friend (Brenda Campbell) was making him "dance." So far Logan and I have not been able to make him laugh at us. Maybe it only works for middle-aged people. His other grandparents will be thrilled! :)

Best Thing Since I Last Blogged: I finally got to meet my dear friend Lauren's serious boyfriend, Josh. I am so thrilled that she has found such a wonderful man! She is happier than I have ever seen her before. Ever.

Buddy Man is Here!

"Buddy Man" and Gramps...Best Buddies All the Way!

When we arrived in Colorado two weeks ago we found several signs hung around the house, one of which reads "Buddy Man is Here!" in colorful, if sloppy, block letters. It was made by my dad. He is OBSESSED!!! (Aren't we all?!) He bought a Pack n Play before we came, and then he had Laura get on Craigslist and get a stroller, car seat with bases, and a swing all in preparation for our arrival. Think he's a proud grandpa? Wow. Logan and his sister Elise are here studying for their first medical licensing exam, and Cal and I are hanging out. We have been busy seeing old friends, playing with Aunt Laura, making dinner each night, and a whole host of other fun activities. (Along with the more mundane, and surprisingly more time-consuming, activities that come along with having a baby...such as feeding and changing diapers. So many diapers.) I am LOVING being here! The weather is amazing (and so not humid!), I have a big kitchen, decent oven, and a dishwasher to make mealtime prep much more enjoyable, and I adore having all of this space! No more crammed little apartment that looks cluttered and dirty the instant Callum and I begin our day. The best part is that my youngest sister Laura and her husband Sam were here for our first week and a half, and Callum and I were in heaven! Laura spent every day with us, often doing dull things such as errands and cooking dinner, but EVERYTHING is more fun when you have a sister with you! I am so lucky to have the sisters that I have. They are by far my best friends in the world, and they are SO MUCH FUN!!! Laura and Sam left two days ago and I have been in a funk ever since. At night "Mister C" gets lots of quality time with Grandpa, which they both love. In addition, he has now met his Great Grandma and Grandpa Westover several times. Last weekend was a fun madhouse when the whole McKenna clan joined us for the weekend of Callum's blessing in church. That will get its own entry once I have a copy of the pictures from that weekend that Callum's Aunt Taren took. Below are a few picture highlights from the trip so far. I am going to take Callum on a nice stroll around the neighborhood without having to try to single-handedly get a stroller out of the apartment building which has no handicapped entrance, only stairs and a revolving door. Oh, and did I mention it will be in the perfectly warm, NOT HUMID air?! It will be.

Callum loved meeting his Great Grandparents!

Bonding with Great Grandma Elaine

This is how Callum has to sleep in Grandpa's freezing cold basement. Cutest!

On one of Aunt Laura's last days with Callum she couldn't bear to put him down...even while she vacuumed!

Callum and Uncle Sam were both enthralled by the Nuggets game. Looks like I'm in trouble! Yikes!

Aunt Laura and her little Cal Pal loved playing together. We miss her!


Best Thing Since I Last Blogged: Callum's blessing. It was beautiful and the weekend was so much fun with so many relatives around. More on that during a later post.

Worst Thing Since I Last Blogged: Callum's nap schedule and general temperament is being majorly thrown off by all of the visitors and excitement. He is already going through withdrawals now that the McKennas and Laura and Sam are gone. Going home to Saint Louis is going to be fairly miserable. For both of us.

Mobile Madness

Callum has a new favorite toy. It is his flashy new mobile! There is a little windup mobile on his Pack 'n Play, and he loves it. However, I do not love winding it every minute or so, so I thought I'd look into getting him a real mobile for his crib. I researched on the internet and found the one that I wanted. Then I saw that it was sold out all over, so I found it on Craigslist. I drove a long way to pick it up, and I was thrilled with how adorable, bright, and colorful it was. So was Callum. It ran on batteries for 20 minutes straight, and I was able to take a long shower and get ready for the day all in one uninterrupted period of time while he gaped at it intently. Score! However, the afternoon after I bought it....it stopped turning. I have no idea why, and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. I was so despondent about it that Logan finally just stuck me in the car and we drove all the way to Babies R Us to buy a brand new mobile (of a different model). I was a little taken aback by how expensive those mobiles are, but it was WORTH EVERY PENNY!!! He is completely enthralled by his new mobile. It is colorful, it has music, and it runs for about 15 minutes without me even having to push a button to keep it going. He loves to lie in his crib and grin up at it, kicking his legs furiously and cooing at it the whole time. Hooray for anything that buys me a little free time each day! Hooray, Hooray, Hooray!!!

Best Thing Since I Last Blogged: We are in Colorado visiting my dad while Logan studies for his Step One Boards exam. Laura and Sam are also here for a couple of weeks, and it has been so fun to spend time with family and friends that we never get to see!!! More blog entries on that to come later.

Whoa . . . That is One Fat Baby!!!

Well, folks, I have a FIFTEEN POUND TWO MONTH OLD!!! Yes, you read that correctly. He is in the 60th percentile for height, but the 97th percentile for weight! Holy cow. His father was a rather corpulent baby, and it appears that Callum is following right along in his footsteps. The doctor was in awe at his rapid growth. He has already doubled his birth weight, and he hasn't even had any formula. I must say, his cute little fat rolls make me feel much more gratified about the pain and suffering that I have gone through to breastfeed him. The picture you see below that shows off his excellent fat rolls....it was taken three weeks ago. Yeah.

Best Thing Since I Last Blogged: I had my very first Mother's Day. It was actually a little dull and uneventful because I was feeling sick and Logan was busy preparing for tests, but it was a milestone nonetheless. I love my sweet little boy!!!

Worst Thing Since I Last Blogged: Logan has been studying NON-STOP! First it was his final test week of the year and then he went straight into studying 10 hours a day (Seriously!) for his Boards Step I test (his first licensing exam). I miss him! And so does his little Cal-Pal!

Three Cheers for Callum...

HIP, HIP, HOORAY!!!!

This week is a momentous one. Callum has slept through the night three times in a row. AND, most importantly, I have not gotten any plugged ducts or infections as a result. MIRACLE! You see, we have been actually waking him up for middle-of-the-night feedings because of all of the plugged ducts and breastfeeding complications that I have been having. Seems ridiculous, I know. I was getting really frustrated with it, because, not only can I not skip a feeding and give him a bottle if we're out during the day (even though he is great about taking a bottle), but I couldn't even allow myself a halfway decent night's sleep without getting a plugged duct. Or worse. But three nights ago Logan set the alarm wrong and we accidentally slept until he woke us up crying at 6:30 a.m. (The feeding before that was at 11:30 p.m.) I was overjoyed, especially when I didn't feel any pain coming on later in the day. This has now repeated itself three times, so I am one happy mama! About six hours straight three nights in a row (Plus he goes back down for a little bit after the 6/6:30 feeding!) has made me a much happier camper. Still a tired one, but much better. I'm hoping that his bedtime will eventually get earlier than 11 or so (working on it!), but for now I am just counting my many blessings. We are heading in the right direction!

Best Thing Since I Last Blogged: The weather has been really lovely here. I need to make more of an effort to get out and about in it with Callum!

Worst Thing Since I Last Blogged: Callum has an eye infection. Poor little sweet pea!

If This Doesn't Melt Your Heart...

...then you must be made of STONE!!!

Our Own Little Animal Kingdom

Animals, animals everywhere! This week was animal filled. First of all, on Saturday we took Callum on his first trip to the zoo. It was the first day all week that wasn't rainy and muggy. Naturally, Callum was completely unaware of where he was and didn't care a bit about the animals, but he loves his stroller and enjoyed the fresh air while Logan and I enjoyed being out and about and chatting while we saw some pretty cool animals. The Saint Louis Zoo is right by our apartment and it is totally FREE for everyone, so I see many outings to the zoo in Callum's future! We both look exhausted in the picture of he and I (um, probably because we ARE), but if you look closely in the background you can see a baby giraffe with its parents. Cutest! Another animal themed bit of excitement happened when the animal kingdom came even closer to our home to roost. For weeks we've seen two pigeons coming and going on our air conditioning units. I try to show these cute little "Pigeon Friends" to Callum every morning as they coo outside our bedroom window, but he couldn't care any less. Some day he will be fascinated by them, I'm sure, but for now he doesn't give a rip. Well, last week the pigeon friends chose our air conditioner with some nasty old insulation on the top of it to build a nest! Funnest! We now have pigeon friends nesting just outside. We see Mr. and Mrs. Pigeon taking turns sitting on the nest all day, and there is usually one brief moment each day when neither is there, which is how I got a picture of the two cute eggs. They are so perfect they look fake! Maybe Callum will be old enough to notice the pigeons by the time the pigeon babies arrive!

Best Thing Since I Last Blogged: When Rachel was here visiting we went to Companion Bakery for lunch and had a cheesecake brownie. Oh. My. Gosh. I am not a big cheesecake person, but I like a little cheesecakey taste with a mainly chocolate base, so this was ideal. I have been craving one ever since and I used part of a recipe that I found to figure out how to quickly and easily make cheesecake brownies using a brownie mix. Yum!

Worst Thing Since I Last Blogged: Callum got sick! Poor little fella! Logan has a mild cold, and Cal seems to have caught it. He was a little stuffy, but it mostly manifested itself in poor sleeping and eating habits and a small fever that lingered for a few days. Poor baby! He seems to be feeling better now. At least he loves the taste of infant Tylenol! Last week we gave him a little taste of Ted Drewes frozen custard, and that he was totally unimpressed with. But Tylenol...oh baby! There is no accounting for taste. :)