Christmas in Connecticut (Madtown)

On Christmas morning, 2007, we greeted our first Christmas as a family. We flew into Connecticut a few days before and had a schedule packed with visits with family and friends. It was Callie's first trip to the East Coast, and her first visit to Madison, aka Madtown, the location of so many stories her dad likes to tell and her mom has heard too many times. This trip also added to Callie's impressive travel experience. By 12 weeks she has visited both coasts and spent time in seven states.



Here we are on Christmas morning. Although you may not be able to tell, Callie gave us a wonderful Christmas present by sleeping for eight hours straight on Christmas Eve. This is something she had never done before, and something she hasn't done since. It was a Christmas miracle!


It had been at least 4-5 weeks since she had seen her Conntecticut relatives, and a lot about her had changed since their visits to Kentucky. Everyone had a lot of catching up to do. Here, Aunt Katie spends some time with Callie as other folks decorate the tree. Callie has become a lot more interactive with smiles, sounds, and movements aplenty.

Speaking of Madtown, we had the opportunity to get together for a couple of hours with many of John's high school friends, their spouses, and their kids. Thanks to Pete, Kim, Noah, and Aden Chorney for opening their house to the madness that ensued. The picture below captures just a small slice of the afternoon. All of the adults pictured are proud products of Madison. It was so great to see everybody and it was exciting to get all of the families together.



Among those in attendance but missing from the picture was Bill Woods and his wife Negin. But six days after this picture was taken Negin gave birth to their daughter Roshan, who will be a smiling face in the next gathering like this one. We are also expecting to add another girl friend for Callie when Michelle and Jason greet their daughter in February.


The Chorney open house was one of many surreal moments, as we now spend a lot of time with friends and their children. Pictured here is another example of that. Mike Skonieczny and John grew up together and now get to spend time watching their families grow up knowing each other. It's wonderful beyond words. Here Mike and his daughter Ella hang out with John and Callie.

A Christmas tradition for the Bowes family for the last ten years or so has been a dinner out with Grandpa Jay's brother Tommy and Tommy's wife Terry. Uncle Tommy and Aunt Terry always make it a fun outing, and the night is all about good food and good converstaion. And as the years go by the size of the table grows.



We were very excited to introduce Callie to her Great Uncle and Great Aunt. Pictured above is the whole gang in Tarrytown, New York. As a note, we did not eat in a restaurant with short ceilings. For some reason the fine woman taking the picture was not willing to back up a little bit to make sure people did not have to bend down to get in the frame.

Callie loves to spend time with Nana Taffy and her aunts. She gets so much attention, love, and care from all of them. Indeed, now that we have returned to Lexington I think she's a bit bummed that she only has her parents around to entertain her. Last night I caught her looking on Expedia for cheap tickets.


On her last full day in the Northeast, Callie hopped in the car with us and headed to Massachusetts. Over a very good meal at Mandarin, a Chinese restaurant in Sharon, Callie met her Great Aunt Mary Damon. They got along very well, to say the least. Callie also spent some time with her Great Grandmother, Nana Peltier. It was a full day and completed Callie's tour of the northeast for the present.




And now we have all returned to Lexington and are trying to get back on our own schedule. The next big step will be when Callie starts day care. We know that 2008 is going to be great and wish all of our family and friends the best in the new year!

Twas the week before Christmas

It is the week before Christmas, and although all is not completely quiet, it's actually pretty peaceful around the Bowes household. Callie is doing very well. She is not sleeping through the night, but has started hitting some 5-6 hour stretches which has made a world of difference. We are also happy to say that smiling is now one of her favorite things to do. In fact, sometimes it is accompanied by her version of a laugh. The picture below shows off one of her more subtle smiles.



All in all, she is growing and eating, sleeping and growing. Earlier this month she had her two-month appointment with her favorite pediatrician. On the plus side, she was weighed and measured. Unfortunately she was also given three shots. No fun for anyone involved.


Here's Callie getting weighed. Two months after birth she weighed in at a healthy 9lbs 9oz. She also measured 23". All told, she was in the 75th percentile for height and the 20th percentile for weight. So far she definitely takes after her dad in terms of body type.




You might remember that we mentioned Callie was not a big fan of bath time. We are happy to report that she is starting to enjoy it...or at the very least she no longer screams all the way through it. Here we have Callie preparing to do a cannon ball into the deep end of the tub.



Callie is an October baby, and in Lexington, October represents more than just Halloween. It is one of the two months for the races at Keeneland. Although she was not able to make any of the races this year, we made a visit to the track so she could size up the jockeys. We can't wait to take her there in April so she can place her very first bet.



Her Mom will pass along all the good advice she received from Grandma Nice on betting on the ponies. For example, always bet on the gray horse. And never bet on the horse that just peed, because he has nothing to run home for. Feel free to take that advice on your next trip to the track.


Yes, it is the Christmas season, and Christmas is a time for placing your children on the laps of strangers. Sarah and Callie went with Gretchen to visit good old St. Nick at the Fayette Mall. As you can tell, this particular Santa is remarkably photogenic, and Callie is happy to be in his presence. She asked him for a pony and world peace.






In just two days Callie makes her first visit to the East Coast to spend the holidays with Nana Taffy, Grandpa Jay, Aunt Suzy, Aunt Katie, Uncle Chris, and her cousins Michael and Brendan. She is very excited and is particularly pleased with the non-stop flight her parents got.



Our last picture above is of our little family in front of our little tree. This has been an incredible year and it is hard to believe it is almost over. We are looking forward to Christmas and all of the good times ahead in 2008. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Has it really been two months????

We often find ourselves looking at Callie in contradictory ways these days. At times she is so small and cute. And at other times she is getting bigger by the minute and cannot be contained. Still cute, but getting bigger. It's all a bit crazy, and it is hard to believe that we brought her home from the hospital a little over eight weeks ago. And we have been taking pictures galore during that entire time. So here's a few additional pictures of Callie and what she has been up to.

Clearly she continues to be a bit of a fashion plate. Here she sits in an adorable white hat made by her Great Great Aunt Lorraine. She's in her car seat, ready for one of the many trips her parents make her endure. She's pretty much been on the go since she was born.



Callie does try to reserve a part of her day for tummy time. Apparently it's good to get babies used to lying on their stomachs to improve their neck strength and teach them the proper form for push-ups. Who knows. In any case, Callie spends some time on her stomach. What is also evident in this picture is another of her favorite pastimes - staring. She enjoys staring at people, objects, and empty space. No navel gazing yet, but most likely that is only because she's not clear on its existence yet.



The staring has been a relatively recent development. It has been accompanied by a slow move to smiling. At this point it is clear that the smiles are not always related to gas. However, they are not so long lasting that we have been able to capture it on film.

Next up we have another prop picture of sorts. Nothing cuter/funnier than a tiny baby in a big hat. Or at least that is the mindset of her parents. And who can blame them, because it is a bit of a cute picture.




This post ends with Callie admiring perhaps the most important entity in her life. For reasons we won't go into right now, a big wall in our den is adorned only with a small painting we bought on our honeymoon in Costa Rica. Callie has taken an extreme liking to "Timmy the Turtle." Cries of frustration are soon soothed when she is given the opportunity to gaze at the shell of her beloved. She could stare at him for days.

Hopefully the above gives a little more insight to what little Callie is up to these days. She is pretty amazing from our incredibly biased perspective. And now that we are in December she is getting revved up for the next batch of holidays.

Gobble, Gobble

Although we all enjoy our turkey and stuffing, Thanksgiving week is definitely about family. And we were fortunate that the week brought us visitors from Connecticut and Denver. It was a great week.

We start off with a picture that will surely be appreciated in the homes of at least two families in Connecticut. The Balestraccis will surely enjoy seeing their two boys, Michael and Brendan, with their new cousin. And Grandpa Jay and Nana Taffy might tear up a bit seeing a picture of all three of their grandchildren. We could be wrong, but we don't think so.



It was great seeing how good both Michael and Brendan were with Callie. She loved being held by them and can't wait until she's old enough to play Balestracci rules rugby in the backyard. Although the boys are getting older by the minute, they did not travel alone. Their mom, John's sister Katie, came to Lexington as well.

Here is Aunt Katie spending some quality time with Callie. Because Michael and Brendan are 10 and 7 respectively, it has been a while since Katie has had a baby in the house. But here we see her perfectly demonstrating the football hold, one of the few holds that effectively calms Callie...most of the time.





During the three days they were in town, Katie and the boys got to see some of the sights in the area. They visited the Southern Lights display at the Kentucky Horse Park where we all were introduced to a holiday lights display that included an homage to Star Wars. Michael and Brendan also took Callie to the moon. Unfortunately the trip wore her out.



All good things must come to an end...at least that is what some people say. And so after a brief visit the Balestraccis boarded their plane and headed back to Connecticut. Can't wait to see you at Christmas!

But good fortune smiled upon us and our home was soon brightened by yet another visitor. John's sister Suzy arrived in Lexington two days before Thanksgiving, ready and eager to spend the holiday with her niece.

Here are Suzy and Callie hanging out together on the couch. Perhaps it is because she deals with 25 fourth graders on a daily basis, but Suzy showed us up in the soothing department. We should have her number on speed dial. She also gave us our first outing and babysat while we ventured down the road to Rupp Arena and took in the University of Kentucky Wildcats game against Liberty. Next time John promises the outing will have a better dinner than nachos.

In a blog like this, how does one best capture the day, the food, the company? We took pictures of our plates and pictures of Suzy and Sarah preparing the turkey. But while they are good pictures, they don't truly capture the spirit of it all. Nothing says Thanksgiving like a comparison picture of your 7 week old daughter and an eleven pound turkey.



So that was Thanksgiving in Lexington. Not pictured as well - John and Suzy running a 5K on Thanksgiving morning in rainy 50 degree weather. Amazing that Suzy traveled over a thousand miles for an experience like that.


As we all know, the eating does not end once Thanksgiving day has come and gone. Suzy also got to meet and hang out with our friends Fiona and Charles. Good food and good times really capped off a fine Thanksgiving week.





All told, we have been fortunate that Callie has met so many friends and family in the first weeks of life. As we sit here writing this she is now eight and a half weeks old. And she has met her family on both coasts! It is not easily done, and we thank all of you who made the effort to personally welcome her into the world. Stay tuned for more pictures - and yes, some will most likely include props.

Sacramento Where You At?

Before we made it from Carmel to Sacramento, we made a stop in Santa Cruz so Callie could meet not only the Nice family but also two of her great great aunts. For the record, all of these pictures and the good times captured below occurred while John was back in Lexington teaching. Because pictures of John sitting home watching TV don't make for good blogging, he will not appear in this episode.

Here is Callie with her Great Great Aunt Mary and Great Great Aunt Lorraine. Both Mary and Lorraine went out of their way to meet Callie and showered her with love during their visit. You might also notice that Callie is wearing the handknitted hat that Lorraine made. It will come in handy as the Kentucky fall turns to winter. Callie's parents only wish the hat was big enough to fit one of them.


Santa Cruz, or La Selva to be specific, is home to Callie's Great Uncle Tommy, Great Aunt Isabel, and her cousins Sophie and Brian. Unfortunately the time together was too short. But this will be the first of many visits she will have with the Nice family because she will get to see them at either Thanksgiving or Christmas every year.


Once we finally got to Sacramento we had our first dinner at Uncle Zac's place. Callie was excited to hang out with Zac and her cousins Keith and RJ. They boys couldn't stop oohing and aahing over Callie and she didn't mind it one bit. Meanwhile, Sarah and Gayle were excited to sit down and eat Zac's tasty chicken tacos.




This is a great picture of Callie with the guys. She got a chance to spend a lot of time with them over the course of the week or so she was in Sacramento and can't wait to see them all again. Hopefully she will be able to give them a tour of Lexington soon.


Although Callie and Sarah spent a lot of time running around and visiting family and friends, some of the best time was spent just hanging out with Grandma Gayle. Here Grandma and Callie take a break from Snood to point out to the world who the Snood champ of the family is. For those of you who don't get the reference to Snood, it may be one of the most addictive computer games ever. Whenever we are in Sacramento there is always a competition over access to the computer and Snood.



And if time with Grandma was fun, time spent on the couch was even better. Everyone does say that you should take advantage of the opportunity and sleep whenever the baby sleeps. Indeed, the only one with eyes open in this picture is Cheyenne.





Grandma Gayle, Sarah, and Callie. These are the best kind of pictures. Hopefully Callie will cherish images like these as she grows older. It can be a bit tough having Grandma Gayle so far away, but everyone is doing their best to make it all work. In fact, Grandma Gayle made the trip back to Lexington with Sarah and Callie and the three of them got to spend more time together...oh yeah, John was there too.


Auntie Lauren flew up from LA to be able to meet Callie and spend the weekend with her. It was a wonderful weekend filled with great conversation, coffee, and diaper changes galore. And it's only going to get better since Lauren and her husband JP are expecting their first child in April.





Speaking of children, here's a picture with a few of them. On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Sarah and Callie went to a get together that truly showed how times have changed. All of the fine women below were friends at UC-Santa Barbara, and I'm sure there are pictures somewhere that might provide a contrast to what we see below. Callie got to meet all of the following: Rachel with her son Braden and daugher Simone, Jen and her daughter Zoe, Jenny and her son Jack and daughter Megan, and of course Lauren. Not pictured are the wonderful fathers - Kent, Anil, and Brian - JP and John were not in attendance.





The above brings the blog almost up to date. Sarah, Callie, and Gayle arrived back in Kentucky on November 5th. Needless to say, John was extremely excited to see all three of them. Eight days of separation doesn't work well with the psyche of a new dad.

Stay tuned for more to come...in only two days Callie gets to meet more cousins as Aunt Katie, Michael, and Brendan hit town. The fun never stops!!!

Haley and Ryan's big day!

On October 25th, a mere three weeks and one day after birth, Callie made her first of what will be many flights to California. And she behaved so well, only melting down while in line to get on the plane. She had the other passengers thinking twice about their seat selection.

More important than all of that, however, was the reason for the trip. Callie made her first public appearance in California at the wedding of Sarah's cousin Haley. It was such an amazing celebration and one that we would not have missed for the world. Callie hasn't stopped talking about it ever since she got back. One of her favorite moments was when she got to have her picture taken with the beautiful bride.




You might notice in the picture above that Callie's dress is not only cute, but also matches the bridesmaid dress worn by her mother. This was all due to the amazing handiwork of Sarah's Aunt Teri, who is officially Callie's great aunt. Unfortunately Teri is not featured in this blog update since she was moving around too much that weekend and cameras couldn't capture her. We'll get her with Callie sooner or later.

And for the record, there are also no pictures of what happened shortly after the picture above. Long story short it involved Dad and what was supposed to be a routine diaper change. Callie and her father were lucky to make it to the ceremony.


It's not every day that a girl gets to meet her great grandmother. Great Grandma Hazel had quite a weekend as she celebrated the marriage of her granddaughter and spent time with her new great granddaughter. They make quite a cute couple.





And now we have four generations of strong, beautiful and witty women. Here they sit, relaxing and enjoying the wonderful Hawaiian themed evening that was all part of Haley and Ryan's rehearsal dinner. The food was delicious and the setting was gorgeous at Holly Farms in Carmel Valley.



The rehearsal dinner was a good warmup for Callie as she was passed around all evening. She met many of her relatives, but it was only the beginning. The day of the wedding would only bring dozens more into her life.



One person who could not keep his eyes off of Callie throughout the weekend was proud Grandpa Dan. He held her every chance he could get, and she loved every minute of it. And he lived up to a promise made to his daughter, and refrained from pinching his granddaughter's cheeks.





A wedding just wouldn't be a wedding without seeing the bride and groom gazing into each other's eyes. For all that Callie made a splash, Haley and Ryan were truly the stars of the weekend. All of their planning and efforts paid off in a big way. The weekend was beautiful, and as everyone present can attest, there were tears of joy aplenty. (Mainly shed by the groom) We cannot thank Haley and Ryan enough for allowing the three of us to be part of their special day.




More to come...Callie hangs out with Grandma Gayle, Uncle Zac, and countless other aunts, uncles, and cousins in northern California.

Fall is here

Sorry it has been so long since our last update. We promise that this post will be the first of many we write this week in order to catch up. Callie changes so quickly and it is tough to keep up with her.

So where were we? When last we saw Callie, she was hanging out with some of her first visitors. This post captures the last part of the first visit of Nana Taffy and Grandpa Jay. We'll start with a new baby/fall tradition - the pumpkin patch. Below we see the happy family hanging out with a mess of pumpkins at Evans Orchard. Doesn't Callie look cute in her pumpkin hat? Thanks to Hannah Flynn for that seasonal accessory.




Well, the family may be happy overall, but the picture below indicates that Callie does not like to be sized up with a pumpkin. There may be other explanations for her demeanor, but who knows at that age?


If you have spent any time with Callie, you may recognize this face. Fortunately she only resorts to this face rarely. But it happens often enough that it has its own name. We refer to it as "The Alien" and we have learned to recognize when Callie is about to bring the Alien out for a visit.




Not appearing in the above pictures are Nana Taffy and Grandpa Jay. They were in town together for about 4-5 days, and they could not get enough of their granddaughter. We took lots of walks, got a new water heater, and just enjoyed our time together.

And it's clear from this picture that Callie was quite happy to hang out with her East Coast grandparents. It is only a matter of time before she will start learning Nana Taffy's fun little songs and will start undergoing Grandpa Jay's rice puff versus Cheerios breakfast table experiment. It was great to have them here and Callie can't wait to see them at Christmas.



As we have mentioned before, Sarah and I are pretty competitive people. Although we try not to put too many expectations on our daughter, there are certain things that needs to start working on before her peers. We fully expect that she will know more about Black Hawk and all other aspects of Native American history before too long.




Stay tuned for the next post where Callie takes her first flight to California and wins over her West Coast family at Haley and Ryan's wedding.

First Visits

Well it did not take long for Callie to feel at home. Within a few days of departing the hospital she was ready to kick her feet up and relax on the couch with her parents. We thought the couch got a lot of use before, but now we don't ever seem to leave it. So here she is, ready to greet her first visitors.




The first visitor arrived all the way from Hermosa Beach, California. In fact, her bags were packed before Callie was even born. We were all so happy to have Gretchen fly in and spend time with all of us.


Of course, as you can see from this picture, Gretchen was focused on one little person in particular. She and Callie got to know each other through long naps on the couch. Here Callie demonstrates one of her favorite napping positions that we have dubbed The Frog. Somehow this is comfortable for her. Go figure.


Although our world has changed, we have not given up our devotion to College Gameday on Saturday morning. Especially now, since for the first time ever, Chris, Lee, and Kirk will be spending their Saturday only a mile or so from our house in Lexington. C'mon Cats!! (University of Kentucky is currently ranked 7th in the BCS standings, for anyone who is interested) Who knew we would become such huge fans of UK sports? In honor of Gameday, John decided to strike a Heisman pose with Callie.


Apparently, Callie is not ready to shower by herself. And from what this picture tells you, she isn't all that excited about her first bath either. In fact, we have noticed two things in particular that Callie does not like. Baths and sleeping through the night. But really, doesn't she look cute here?






This past Saturday, Callie's Nana Taffy flew into Lexington Bluegrass Airport to meet her first granddaughter. We are fortunate to have her in town for over a week to help us out as we get used to life with a newborn. And Nana Taffy is getting the chance to spend some quality time with little Callie. They make a great couple, that's for sure.



As we write this, Callie is now over 12 days old. She seems to be handling the double digits well. The picture below shows her chilling in her hip seat that vibrates, plays music, or vibrates AND plays music. Clearly a must have for any newborn.



Stay tuned for more pictures as Grandpa Jay rolls into town and Callie prepares for her first trip to the West Coast. Oh, and if you tune in College Gameday on Saturday morning, it's possible she will be the little baby in the front row with the face paint and a huge foam finger, yelling, "C'mon Cats!"

From Hospital to Home

So here we are with the second installation in the life of Callie. The following photos will give you a glimpse into her first few days at the hospital and her venture home.

As you can imagine, being in a cramped space for nine months would give anyone a good reason to stretch out. You can see how long she is...and there is a definite resemblance between her long skinny legs and those of her father. Hopefully she'll be able to put them to use on a soccer one day.



There was a lot of time to get acquainted during our stay in the hospital. Callie stared at us when she was awake, and we stared at her just about the entire time. An incredible experience through and through. What's nice is that John looks somewhat okay in this picture despite the fact that he had not showered in a while.


Well, we had to stay in the hospital an extra day because Callie had jaundice. We decided to spare you the pictures of her yellow skin, but we had to show you what she did during that last day at Central Baptist. This was a long night because she is definitely a wiggle worm, and the mask she had to wear to protect her eyes continuously fell off. It also lit up the entire room like a Christmas tree. But all in all, it was worth it. Just so you know, the pediatrician stated that her response to the treatment "exceeded expectations." Callie's competitive parents were quite pleased.


With the blue light treatment complete, it was time to head home. We are obviously biased, but this is a pretty cute picture of a baby in a car seat. Really.









Being at home made all the difference. We were able to get more rest and the environment made it easier to address Callie's needs. And now that we are home we can introduce Callie to some of our little traditions. Here are John and Callie on the first official outing of the Bowes family on a hot Sunday morning in Lexington.


Believe it or not, this is only day 4 of Callie's life. It is hard for us to believe that it has only been 4 days. She is sleeping quite a bit, but when she is awake she has her eyes opened wide and is full of expressions. We constantly watch her in amazement.







As we mentioned earlier, she spends a lot of her time sleeping. And one of her favorite sleeping spots is the beautiful Moses basket made for her by Grandma Gayle. Although she is quite long, as you can see she still takes up barely half of it.




The final picture shows Callie at her most casual. When she's not sleeping, feeding, or getting her diapers changed, Callie likes to chill with her pacifier on the couch. Clearly she takes after her parents in this regard.



Stay tuned for more pictures to come. We are less than a week into this wonderful new life and can't wait to share more of the adventure with you.