Where does the time go??

These past two months have flown by so quickly! On my last post, I noted I was home with the girls on a snow day. That trend has continued as we've had an unusual winter. Last week the girls had two snow days and another early dismissal due to ice. In one week there was a snow day and school was delayed every other day that week due to snow or severely cold temperatures. We've been cooped up a lot this year and if Mia didn't have gymnastics, I think she'd be losing her mind!

Looking back to December, Callie turned 8 months and started eating table food. She gobbled up everything we tried, including edamame, which she loved. She saw Santa Claus twice. She saw him when he visited her classroom. Mommy, Daddy, Nana and Papa came to take pictures of the big event. She also saw him with her sissy at a Christmas party with Nana, Cara and Ramsey. She also became very sick. The night of Mia's Christmas play we ended up in the Emergency Room and she was diagnosed with the flu. Two days later, we were back and added RSV. She was one sick little baby. But she made it through in time to enjoy her first Christmas. I can't even begin to describe how overcome with happiness I was on Christmas morning, as we sat there opening presents with our two beautiful girls. It was a whirlwind of visits, since we had so many places to go, but that didn't mean I wasn't silently giving thanks all day for the blessings of our family.

When she turned 9 months, Callie began using a "big girl" sippy cup at school and at home. She also got her two bottom teeth and began crawling, pulling up and clapping her hands. She always has that big beautiful smile on her face through it all. She's such a happy girl and we can't get enough of her. Other adorable things about Callie:

• She loves to grab onto her diaper when she's being changed. If I don't watch it, she'll grab ahold of the front, yank down then pull up, ripping it off. This seems to happen most often when the diaper is full of poop.
• She hates just laying on her changing table. She likes to roll side to side, put her legs up on the wall, hang her head off the side, or use her feet to push herself backward until her head and neck are hanging off. She thinks these things are hilarious.
• She loves the dogs! She's constantly crawling to them, trying to grab their hair and "pet" (hit) them. The other day she crawled up to Grace and layed across her neck, petting her and squealing. I guess all the squealing was too much for Grace because she stood up and Callie's feet went flying into the air and she flipped right over onto her back. It was so unexpected and funny that Mia and I began laughing, so Callie did too. She always follows her sister's lead. :-)
• As much as she is crazy about her mommy, she's even more enthralled with her daddy. She gets so excited to see him, kicking her legs, squealing and now clapping her hands.
• She is now saying "bye bye," "dada" and "mama." She's also saying "dada" for the dogs.

Mia is doing great in school and in gymnastics. She's reading up a storm and does great with art, writing and math too. We're signing her up for soccer tonight so she'll have that and gymnastics going on. It's difficult for her to walk around the house without incorporating a cartwheel or handstand into her movements.