Belated Christmas pictures...

I know its already the middle of January, but I still wanted to post some pictures from our first Christmas with Callie. Although she had no idea what all the fuss was about, it was still fun to watch her stare at the Christmas tree, help unwrap the presents & watch her cousins in total amazement, as they got excited about their gifts. We thought that Christmas would feel chaotic this year, considering we only arrived home from Thailand a couple of days before, but it actually ended up being one of our nicest Christmases yet, and was surprisingly relaxing.

First up, Glen family Christmas (Dec. 23)...

Lounging on her Auntie & cousin-to-be...

(Dec. 24) Christmas Eve with Grammy Glen...

Callie's Christmas Eve outfit was pretty special.

The dress is hand-smocked & came from Callie's Great-Great Aunt Norma in South Africa. The booties were the ones I wore as a baby...

(Dec. 25) Christmas morning at home...

VERY excited about her breakfast...

"Cheeeeese!"

Opening her very first present with Daddy...

Christmas afternoon nap...

Sporting one of her Christmas presents from Mommy & Daddy...

Christmas afternoon at Auntie Naomi & Uncle Erich's house.

Opening gifts from U. Erich, A. Naomi, Konrad, Ava & Calvin...

Sitting with Auntie Susie before bed time...

Our little card shark...

She really thought through her game strategy...

Esau family Christmas (Dec. 31).

Opening her stocking from Grandma & Grandpa E...

(* note: do not be fooled...

Callie doesn't & has never, sucked on a soother.

She just uses them as teething toys & chews them to death.)

"Aww thanks! Its what I've always wanted!"

A common sight over the Christmas holidays...

Callie & Uncle Juergen spending some quality time together.

She loves him, and I'm pretty sure the feelings are reciprocated... :)

Checking out the snow with Grandpa...

All in all a fairly busy Christmas, but none the less, relaxing and enjoyable!

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And a quick update on Callie...

She turned 6 months on Dec. 30 and weighed in at 18 lbs. 11 oz. at her 6 mth. check-up. They didn't measure her but I know she's grown a lot in length too. She's officially outgrown her infant car seat now, which was sad & great all at the same time. The pro is that I don't have to lug her around in the bucket seat anymore and put my back out doing so. But the con is that its just more proof that my baby is growing up!

She is changing at a rapid pace and is now sitting on her own, clapping her hands (though she claps on the back of her hand rather than her palms together :)), and has proven to LOVE swimming. We took her to the pool for the first time last Friday, and it was as if she had been swimming a thousand times before. She kept trying to get onto her belly and kept her legs kicking and hands splashing, the whole time. I had a feeling she would enjoy the pool, as bath time is her absolute favorite time of the day, but it was really exciting to see just how much she loved swimming. We're going to try to take her on a regular basis now and I might even join a Mom & Tot swim class at the leisure centre.

She's been on solids since we got home from Thailand and has yet to reject any type of food. She has never once spit anything out (even the first time we gave her cereal, she took to it instantly) and gets extremely excited every time its time to eat. So far, her taste buds have responded wonderfully to rice cereal, oatmeal cereal w/ apples, peas, green beans, squash, mixed veggies w/ chicken, mixed veggies w/ rice & chicken, carrots, sweet potatoes & pears. In fact, I'm pretty sure she would eat all day long if I let her :)

The other big milestone for the 6 month mark is that she's finally sleeping through the night again. Last night was another glorious gift when she slept from 7:30pm til 7:40am (and then went back down til 9:30am after a quick feed). I can't believe how much of a difference uninterrupted sleep makes for me! Its been awesome and I've been extremely thankful. Other than that, we're just soaking in the time we have with our baby and praying that she'll stop growing up so fast. She is truly the light of our lives & each new stage with her is even more fun than the last.