NYC

Ferry Ride across the Hudson

I love New York, but not the Yankees!

Abigail and Declan

Wheeeeee

Tired Bubba

Turkey Day

Sitting on Declan's chair/stool

Calia was OBSESSED with it!

Throwing balls down the stairs with Abigail
Hanging with Declan
Three peanuts at bed time
Calia and Abigail in matching PJs

Well, another Turkey Day come and gone. This year we spent in in New York with Kevin's family. Calia loved the turkey, stuffing, and all things pumpkin! She also had fun playing with her cousins...Jeremy, Abigail and Declan. On Black Friday, Shelly and I headed out to the mall without kids and got some great bargains! On Saturday, we headed in to NYC. We took the ferry in from Jersey. Calia's first ferry ride! We ate pizza on Broadway at Mariella (big sign about Oprah proclaiming it best pizza), went to Central Park, Kevin took Calia on the Central Park Carousel (goes a lot faster than the one at the fair!), walked through the zoo, walked up 5th Ave (way, too crowded), walked by Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, then back up 49th to wait for the bus. Calia fell asleep around Rockefeller Center and slept through the bus, and ferry ride back. Poor Bubba in the big city!

Coda and her new furry friend

Coda and Jackie the kitty

Colorful girl a walkin'

15 month wellness visit

Yestrerday, Calia had her 15 month well check. Here are her specs...

Weight: 19 lbs 9 oz (10%)
Height: 30" (40%)
Head 18" (50%)

We couldn't believe she still has not hit20 lbs! Our peanut.

She got 3 shots and with the exception of a second flu shot in a month is DONE until kindergarten! Woot!

Punk Rock Girl??

Welcome new Kitty

Hmmm..this is a new box and there's something furry inside!

Kisses for Kitty

If I could just reach...

"I think Kitty likes me"

Classic Calia

Having a Diva-moment about getting ready in the morning

Doing her daily stretches

New teeth, walking, and doggies

Calia and "Tada"

Best of Friends

Yo Coda, why are you outside?
Belly flop
Where are we going now???
I love raw hide!

Today Calia popped through her 5th tooth, her top right lateral incisor. Also this weekend, she has really kicked it up a notch with the walking and I would now count her among the bipeds. Not just with prompting to walk to one of us or a toy, she'll walk across the room just for the sake of walking. Similar to her transition from commando crawl to classic crawl, she has realized that it's faster to walk, or run for that matter.

We have also been dog stting for Gabbro (aka Gaby) for Andrew, Deb, and Eli. Gaby is a 8 1/2 year old yellow lab. Calia had been trilled to have 2 "tadas" round. I think Gaby is liking it here, Eli isn't quite on full table food and Calia loves to feed her 4 legged friends. I think Kevin has enjoyed having 2 dogs around this weekend, too. I'm not quite sure how Coda has felt, apparently Gaby outran Coda at the park yesterday, and has been receiving a lot of attention from Kevin, Calia and myself. Tonight, things will get back to normal, and I won't have to vacuum twice a day!

Last night while watching LSU beat Tennessee (Geaux Tigers!), we had walking bootcamp. When she'd get too tired, Calia would play with her Mickey Mouse push/ride toy. She kept trying to slide over it, but she'd open the seat; therefore, making a hole in the center which her big belly would get caught in. Quickly, she'd give up, only to go back and try it again...and again...and again, opening the lid everytime. Calia loves to go over or under things, anything. It must be more fun to make a jungle gym out of every obstacle in your path.

It's fun to watch how her mind processes things. And how she plays when she doesn't know we are watching, talking to herself, very animated. I've loved every stage, but this one is extremely fun, watching her personality develop. Like today, Coda and Gaby were outside with Kevin, so Calia decided it would be fun to make fish faces at them on the glass door that Mommy had just Windexed. She was giggling the whole time, too cute!

Piggies

Besides the fact that she's chewing on a Velveeta box, you can see Calia's hair is getting long enough in the back for pig tails or a pony tail. She looks like such a big girl.

Boston, cont...

Boston Commons

In China??
Making wishes

On Saturday, it was rainy and windy, so they stayed in while I went to the conference. We met up with our friends Chris and Jessica for dinner in the North End, yummy italian. Calia loved the calamari and of course nice bread. On Sunday, we walked over to the Commons despite the wind. We then headed home, stopping to eat lunch at Jin (that big place on the hill on Rt 1 in Massachusetts). We felt like we were in China. Anyway, it was good to get away, but better to get home. After 3 out of 4 weekends in October spent away from home, we are looking forward to November.

Boston

Who me??

Who are those dolphins??
Posing with the walrus
Looking at the big fish
Ready for dinner at Abe and Louie's

We arrived in Boston for PriMed last Thursday night. After dinner and Calia's flirting with all the men at Jose McIntyres, we called it a late night. Friday, I went to the conference in the am, met up with Kevin, Calia, and George Zourdos (a friend of Kev's from college that works in Boston) at the Purple Shamrock for lunch. Kev, Calia and I then headed to the Aquarium. Calia loved it! From her perch on Kevin's back, she took in the fish and spent a considerable amoutn of time waving at the penguins. She took a late afternoon nap before we headed to Abe and Louie's for dinner with a Pharm Rep friend (hey, he picked up the $420 tab!) Calia dined on crab cakes, their signature bone in filet, spinach, mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries and creme brule, not too bad for an almost 15 month old! We gave her a dessert menu to look at and asked her what she'd like and she pointed to a $225 cognac, yeah maybe in 20 years!

Happy Halloween

Calia and Ben

Eli, Calia and Ben crammed in a chair.

Calia had a melt down because both of her arms were pinned behind the boys.

Yesterday, after stopping to trick or treat at Calia's 2 Yiayia's house, we headed over to her Yiayia and Papa's house. Two of my coworkers...Amy and Andrew, their spouses, Josh and Deb, and their little boys, Ben and Eli (ages 10 mo next week and 9 months)...joined us. After eating some chili, the kids played for a bit, then we took them trick or treating. My mom's neighbor, Kathie, is also a nurse at our Pediatics office, so she had baby food for the little ones. Otherwise, it was 6 adults using their 3 little ones for candy. My parents neighborhood is filled with kids, so most houses had buckets sitting outside in a "help yourself" fashion. It was fun. Calia enjoyed it much more than last year, beign stuck in a chilipepper bunting wasn't as much fun as being a busy bee. Here are some of Amy's pictures. I still have to down load mine, and all of our pictures from our weekend in Boston...

no more shaggy 'do

Last night during dinner, I'd had it with Calia's hair always in her eyes. She won't keep anything in to kepp her hair back (elastic/clip/barette). In fact, she rips at her hair if she suspects we've snuck something pretty into her hair. So, I got out the scissors, held the top part of her hair to the side and snip...bangs, well, kind of. At least her hair isn't in her eyes anymore!

Playing dress-up

Last Sunday, while at my mom's, she found a mitten/headband set she had bought a while back for Calia. We were laughing at how tacky the headband was (more like an Olivia NewtonJohn workout sweatband. We thought it would make a cute tube top, then my mom remembered she had bought a princess/ballerina skirt. Oh, and just happened to have a Calia sized tiara...and so the fun began...

The face...

Also, here is a quick video of Calia laughing...

"Pineland Farms Heritage Festival"

Pick this one Daddy!!

Calia and Ben with the pumpkin

(check out how red Calia's hands were!)

Busy Bee

Yesterday, we ventured out to Pineland Farms for their heritage festival...Maybe it was because we got there at 4pm (it ran from 1-6pm), but man was it horrible. Not worth the $8 a person, thank goodness Calia was free. My friend Amy and her little boy Ben (9 1/2 months old) met us there. The kids got to wear their costumes, so that was cool. We took a hay ride out to the enchanted forest (actually, 20 feet of trail with some paper fairies hanging from trees and one girl handing out candy), then rode the hay ride back to the pumpkin patch (actually, a bunch of pumpkins in the field). At least we got 2 pumpkins for our $$. To top it all off , it was freezing...Maybe 45 degrees and blustery wind. Calia had 5 layers on, as did Mommy and Daddy, but Calia had no mittens. We didn't have any that fit...Sad with a yiayia who knits and all (just kidding mom). Anyway, so much for the campfire they had advertised :(

Kevin's off biking in NH today with the guys. I'm getting caught up on household stuff, since this is our only weekend this month in Maine (off to Bean Town next weekend for PriMed (big conference)). Then it will be Halloween, and then Novemeber...Where did fall go??

Calia's new face

Maybe it's because she spent the weekend with my mom who takes a picture of Calia every minute, but last night everytime Calia saw the camera she made this new funny face. Even her drumsticks could not distract her from making the new face. Gorgeous!

Calle de Bourbon

Dinner at NOLA

Kevin in front of Ricks...and no we didn't go in.

Yeah, Philly Fans!!
I'm so glad the drunk guy behind us got in the picture