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.