The Nursery

Today was the first day that Cali went to our church's nursery by herself. For the past year Nick and I have taken turns entertaining Cali during church. We have been "those parents" that didn't put their baby in the nursery that I used to judge so much. Recently Cali and I have been playing in the nursery to build up to this point.

Why no nursery? Two reasons, since Cali hasn't been to daycare we have been afraid of how she would do in the nursery. She has had limited alone time with anyone besides Nick or I.

Second, we want to keep Cali healthy. Most of the kids in the nursery are in daycare and are exposed to tons of germs. We have been super afraid the other kids would want to "share" these germs with Cali.

So I dropped Cali off this morning and walked away. She did great! Her number did come up on the screen with about 10 minutes left in the service. I left the service and found her in the arms of the volunteer with red eyes. They said she did really great playing and even ate the snacks I packed for her. But toward the end she was done and started to cry. I got her calmed down and we went back into the nursery to play until the end of service.

I think she did fabulous for her first time in the nursery!

What did you do today?

Since the end of January Nick has been home full time with Cali during the day. When I get home from work, we eat and then he heads out to work. It means a really long day for him, but it is the best situation for Cali right now. As Cali got more active and mobile it was clear I wasn't going to be able to have her at work anymore.

Nick is AMAZING with Cali! They have their routine down and even have their first play date scheduled.

When I come home we have the "What did you do today?" talk. I tell him about my day at the office and then he shares the adventures that he and Cali went on.

Here are some photos of how they entertain each other while I'm at work.

They put the beach tent up in the living room and have playtime in it. It apparently took some effort from Nick to help Cali not be scared of the tent.

They play guitar! If she grows up to be a singer they could start a band!

If you had a 1 year old to entertain all day what would you do?

One Year Well Baby Dr. Visit

Nick took Cali to her 1 year Dr. visit today. She got 3 shots and a pricked finger.

Her stats:

19 lbs 10 ozs

29.5 inches long

She looks so excited as she waited for the Dr.

Nick said she did great and didn't fuss until the shots!

One Year Old

Cali Maple is officially one year old today! WOW!! Praise the Lord we made it a year as parents!

It is crazy to think where we were a year ago today, so naive and rested! Parenting has been our biggest challenge and greatest joy as a married couple.

Birth Story

On Monday February 23, 2009 Nick and I went to work like normal. I was 38 weeks pregnant and had a c-section scheduled for Thursday of that week because Cali was breach. We had a 3pm Dr. appointment to go over everything before the c-section. During the day I noticed that Cali hadn't been moving a lot. During our Dr. appointment I mentioned the lack of activity. She sent us over to the hospital to get checked out. We already had our bags with us, so we headed over to Duke. Once I was on the monitors it was determined that I was having contractions and there were putting stress on the baby. The Dr. on call said there really wasn't any reason to wait until Thursday so if we were ready to be parents we could have her that night. We said yes and made phone calls to the family to let everyone know what was going on. At 9:01pm Cali Maple entered the world changing our lives forever!

It truly is amazing how much we loved her from the beginning. She was perfect and she was ours.

Our first family photo.

Our little angel.

12 months later we are blessed to have this...

I love this face!
12 Months Stats:

• 6 teeth, 2 on top and 4 on bottom
• Sleeps from 6:30 pm-6:00 am, waking up once
• Takes 1-2 naps, 1-2 hours each
• Crawls super fast anywhere we will let her
• Is "cruising" on furniture, so walking is coming soon
• Loves to feed herself!
• Favorite foods: cheerios, sweet potatoes, carrots, crackers, cheese, pancakes, and cake!
• Is almost weaned - only 3 feedings a day!
• Loves to play! Her favorite activity is putting things in and out of a container; like blocks
• She has the sweetest smile and laugh
• She is ticklish on her feet
• She is learning to feed herself with a spoon and fork
• She is babbling, no recognizable words yet
• Likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny
• Loves to play with other kids
• She loves Jack and Harley and thinks they are hilarious

Happy 1st Birthday Cali!!

We love you more than you will ever know!

Birthday Party

Today was Cali's first Birthday Party! We had friends and family join us for a wonderful party! It was great to enjoy time with all the people who love Cali and who will invest in her life over the years.

Some of the party guests enjoying lunch.

This is Cali's cute cupcake dress! She was playing with a balloon and "Uncle" Jon.

Cali received a ton of adorable gifts! She helped open the bags and tried to eat the tissue paper! Her wardrobe and toy collection have both increased. We plan to stagger the introduction of the new toys so the fun will last a few days.
This is Cali checking out her gifts.

The birthday girl with Grandma Jordan

Cali with Grandma Kerry

Cali's cake before. Our awesome friend Abby and her friend Kathryn were nice enough to make it for Cali. It looked perfect and just like the birthday invitation!
This is Cali's first taste of cake. Trying to figure out what she thinks...

She liked it! I helped break off some of it but she did most of the damage.


The cake after!

This were the treats for everyone. I stamped them with cupcakes and Cali's initials then filled them with candy. Since Cali's birthday is just after Valentines Day and she is a girl, I got great deals of the paper products and candy for the party. All the pink stuff I wanted for 50% off!

Since Cali is one years old, we decided it was time for a high chair. Thanks to Grandma Jordan, here it is! She seemed to like it.

Cali was a rock star at the party! She was social and let people hold her. She played well with the other kids and shared her toys. I was so pleased with how well she did and hope everyone had a great time.

Thank you all for being a part of our lives and helping us make it through our first year of parenthood! We are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Happy Birthday Party Day Cali!

Happy Valentines Day!

Bonnie

Saturday Nick helped a family in our small group move so Cali and I went off to the Grandparents house to play. Mom and dad recently got a new puppy, Bonnie! She is a 15 week old West Highland Terrier. We had a Westie for 13 years who past away in October. Now that dad is doing so much better they decided it was time for a new dog. Enter Bonnie...

Cali and Bonnie didn't know what to do with each other. Cali is used to our 80 pound retrievers and Bonnie had never met a baby before. All of their interactions were controlled with one party on the floor and the other in someone's arms. It was hugely entertaining to watch them investigate each other. This picture kills me, Cali has her head tilted as she looks at Bonnie. Overall they played nicely and no one got hurt.

Cali also had fun playing with Grandma Kerry and Grandpa Ray. They took turns following Cali as she crawled around the house. Cali ate their magazines and pushed their laundry basket around the living room.

This is Mom and Cali playing with Grandpa Ray's Indiana Jones hat.

We had a fun day!

Milk!

We are introducing Cali to cow's milk and starting the transition away from nursing. Here are some cute pictures of her enjoying her first official cow's milk.

She was drinking from Nick's cup.


She liked it so much she was reaching for more!


Her milk mustache is so adorable!

Cali Noises

Enjoy some of Cali's wonderful noises! She is talking up a storm but none of it is recognizable yet. And yes she is in her Merry Christmas shirt - I know, sorry.

Birthday Preparations

February is Cali's Birthday Month! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Birthdays! Nick never lets me make a fuss about his so now that I have Cali - it's on! I haven't gone too crazy yet but I am going to make Cali's first Birthday a big deal. And yes I realize she won't remember it.

Birthday preparations so far:

Changed the blog background to a birthday theme. I ordered really cute invitations that just come yesterday (see below). I ordered an adorable birthday cupcake dress for Cali to wear at her party with a special birthday bib. We even scoped out a bakery today that is going to make the cakes for her party. We did a little tasting of the cake and shared some with Cali. Nick gave her a small piece of cake and once she realized it was yummy she quickly opened her mouth for more! I can't wait for her to dig into her birthday cake at the party!

Still to do:

Work on decorations, finalize the menu and decide if and what to do about party favors. I have dreams of being "that" mom that makes the cute monogramed little gift bags for all the kids, but I don't have the talent or time to make that happen. So we'll see what we come up with!

Happy Birthday Month Cali! I can't believe you are almost 1 years old!

Dinner Parties

Cali is getting much better at dinner parties and going out to eat. We have figured out that if we want to have people over for dinner it is best if they come over around 5. That way they can see Cali awake and happy. We serve some appetizers and hang out. Around 6:30 I put Cali to bed and we enjoy a nice, quiet dinner with our friends. We pulled this off last weekend with our friends Jon and Cory. And again this past Friday night when we had our friends Alex and Sam over.

Dinner's out are best if they start at 4:30 and end around 6:30. That way we can get Cali in bed around her normal time. Tonight we meet Nick's family for dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate Jennifer's Birthday (sister-in-law). Cali did a great job of being sociable and playing on everyone's lap. We brought some food and snacks for her to eat but she was mostly interested in playing with people and her new toy from Grandma!

Tonight was the first time that we have eaten out where I didn't have to nurse her in a ladies restroom! Which takes talent and balance, by the way! She was so focused on people and the food that I didn't need to nurse her.

Some photos from our dinner.

Leigha and me playing with my phone. She wanted to see all the pictures of Cali I had on my phone. So fun!

Cali playing in Grandma's lap before dinner. She loves using a sippy cup.

Somehow Cali was able to grab an entire breadstick out of the bread basket. She did pretty well eating off of it. Here she is watching Leigha.

It's back!

Poor Cali's cold/virus/infection is back:( She has not been feeling well since Saturday. It started with a cough then yesterday she had a runny nose and yucky stuff coming out her eyes! We still had some of the eye drops left from 2 weeks ago and they seem to be helping. Her attitude is pretty good so I don't think she feels as bad as last time.

The saddest part is she can't cry! Whenever she tries to cry her voice gets really raspy. It is just pitiful. If she isn't better tomorrow we'll call the Dr. I just feel so helpless when she is sick!