Thanksgiving in Kentucky

For the first time since Callie was born, we did not travel for Thanksgiving. Instead, we played host for the Bowes, Balestracci, and Hannen families from the great states of Connecticut and Colorado. Who knew that our house could hold eleven people for an extended weekend? Callie was beside herself to have non-stop attention for four days straight. It took a couple of days for her to readjust to life with only Mom and Dad.

Thanksgiving Day started for some of us with a 5K race at Keeneland. John, Suzy, and Brian were fortunate that the morning turned out to be sunny and in the low 60s. It was a great day for a run - as opposed to the following day which was in the low 30s and brought a little bit of snow. But the three intrepid runners were just happy that they managed to outrun the folks dressed as the turkey and the pilgrim.


Meanwhile, back at home, the master chef was dressed for the part. Sarah was extremely proud of her purchase and had planned out the menu to the last detail. With a host of potential sous chefs in the house, Sarah directed a magnificent effort that resulted in an amazing meal. It worked well in part because no one was going to say no or mess with a woman who was 38 weeks pregnant and holding a carving knife.



As the gang sat down for dinner, we all had good reason to be thankful. It is a rare event these days for all of us to be in one place for a few days, so it meant a lot to share some good food and good times together.



Thanksgiving Day was not only full of food, but also watching the Macy's Parade on TV, playing a few hands of Texas Hold-Em, and taking in a few football games here and there. And even though the two days after Thanksgiving were definitely on the chilly side we managed to take a couple of walks and watched the Lexington Christmas Parade. And of course we fit in the annual sibling dinner, which this year took place at Dudleys.




The above picture is the whole crew sitting on one of the focal points of the weekend - the couch in the den. Shortly after this picture was taken, Suzy and Brian left to catch their plane to Denver and the Connecticut contingent headed off to the Lexington airport. The house has seemed just a bit empty since...of course, we plan on changing that soon. It all depends on when Baby Peanut decides to make her grand entrance. Stay tuned...

Fun Fall Festivities

October was filled with what have become traditional events - Keeneland, Evan's Orchard, and trick-or-treating. Although we did not get any pictures at Keeneland, Callie continues to enjoy watching the early morning training sessions. And John continues to enjoy the post-Keeneland breakfast at the Coffee Pub. So let's take a look at some of those fine fall memories.


Our journey begins at Evan's Orchard, where every year they appear to add another layer of activities focused on kids. Here John and Callie are sitting in one of the windows of a large straw castle. It was one of many structures built of straw, plastic tubing, or old tires that kids could climb on, over, and around.



Next up we have Callie and Sarah hanging out in what the folks at the orchard have lovingly titled, "The Rat Race." It's an activity where kids race each other in large plastic tubes - just think of a hamster on an exercise wheel. This year Sarah and Callie were able to gain some skills that will allow them to race each other in the years to come.



The afternoon continued with a couple of adventures through the different mazes they have on site, a request from Callie to ride the camel (yes, they do have a camel, and no, we didn't give in to her request), and a nice picnic lunch.



And Callie was quite cooperative with our ongoing efforts to capture her in cute and artistic poses with pumpkins. It's funny to think that three years ago these attempts were met with red-faced screams. Seriously, check out the post from November 2007 titled "Fall is Here". Same child, same orchard, different results.


In the spirit of fall, we made a point of adding some autumnal flair to our front porch. If you can take your eyes off of the magnificent skull t-shirt Callie is wearing you will notice a wonderful display of pumpkins, gourds, and mums that Sarah and Callie arranged earlier that day. And such preparations are important not only for our standing in the neighborhood but also as part of our preparations for the impending visit of the Bowes, Balestracci, and Hannen families. We are crossing our fingers that everything stays alive. And with the possibility of a snowfall tonight, you just never know.


But as anyone with a sweet tooth knows, the real highlight of October comes at the end of the month with a little thing called Halloween. And we are happy to report that this year Callie was both healthy and old enough to be an active participant in the festivities.



The above is only one of many pictures from the Great Pumpkin Photoshoot of October 2010. With the promise of candy in the future, Callie was once again very cooperative. She really enjoyed her costume and impressively wore her hat throughout the entire trick-or-treating extravaganza.


The weather was perfect, and we have a great trick-or-treating neighborhood just blocks away. It was definitely a bit surreal, however, to be trick-or-treating right across the street from Ashland, the historic home of Kentucky's own Henry Clay. Although we brought the stroller, Callie earned her night's haul by walking just about the entire time. She loved seeing all the different kids in costume and was very polite to all of those who gave her candy.


And here is the end result of all of that work. She was so excited to have all of that candy. And the best part for her parents? She had some M&Ms on the way home that night and has not had a piece or even asked for a piece of candy since. It's fantastic. Even better, every night since then John has had a bowl of vanilla ice cream with crushed candy mixed in. Night one, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Night two, Nestle Crunch Bars. Night three, Kit Kats. What will tonight bring?

Callie's Third Year Evaluation

Turning three was not only a big deal for us, but also for Callie. She knew the exact date of her birthday and knew that she was turning three. She had no problem sharing that information with anyone who asked. And she was more than happy to select her monkey birthday cake and enjoyed opening her multitude of presents. Perhaps she wouldn't have been so enthusiastic if she realized that with age comes responsibility. We(and by we, we mean John) would like to say that Callie's annual review is occurring later than normal because she turned in her materials late. But who are we kidding. Things are a bit crazy around here, so the blame for the delayed paperwork starts with us.

We start with the official picture of the candidate in question. We are happy to report that this year's photo shoot did not involve any tears. Although she was timid and shy, she warmed up relatively quickly and we managed to get some good shots. She is getting so much older, it is kind of crazy. But we can't let emotions interfere with our objective evaluation, so let's continue.



The evaluation begins with cold, hard facts, otherwise known as the numbers from her annual check-up. Her height is 36 3/4 inches and her weight is 27 lbs. That means in the past year she has grown about 2 1/2 inches and gained 3lbs. Here's an interesting fact: this was the first year that Callie was measured standing up and not lying down. Callie was proud to show what a big girl she was. It is also important to note that no tears came with the measurements, scale, or even the finger prick. The flu shot caused some problems, but that's fully understandable. All in all, it was a very good visit. And it was great to see Dr. Warner, because Callie has been so healthy that we have only seen him twice since her two year check-up. Not too shabby.

This past year also marked Callie's first two visits to the dentist. The first visit brought many tears even though the dentist only counted her tooth and didn't bring any sharp metal objects into the room. During her second visit Callie was a star for both the hygienist and the dentist as they cleaned, flossed, and applied a fluoride treatment. However, we must admit that the dentist visits are a lot easier when they have cookie dough flavored fluoride and bubble gum flavored floss. Callie also received a prize or two for good behavior, which never hurts.

Of course, the biggest health issue covered in this particular review is Callie's ongoing good kidney health. Today marks ten months to the day since Callie had her surgery. And it is almost exactly five months since she stopped taking a daily dose of antibiotics. Looking back it is amazing how resilient she was throughout the entire process. Her parents had a lot of issues, but she was incredible. And there hasn't been a single problem or hint of a problem since January 3.

Now that we have addressed the various health updates we can get into the heart of the review process. As always we emphasize three particular categories: daycare, development, and social skills. Let the review begin.

Callie has truly grown to enjoy the time she spends at daycare. The morning drop-off remains a somewhat difficult process, but we believe that has more to do with the fact she is not much of a morning person than anything else. Over the summer and into late October she became accustomed to traveling to daycare in style, a.k.a. John pushing her in the jogging stroller. They had a fine time pointing out the bumps in the sidewalk and saying hello and good morning to everyone they passed along the way. At daycare, Callie has a good group of friends. Although she shares stories about all of them, her favorite is clearly Maddie. They are quite a pair, and the two have been together all three years. By the end of the month, Maddie and Callie will also be moving together into the next room. Slowly but surely we are making our way through all the rooms in the facility. This will in fact mark her fifth classroom. Naps remain a touch and go issue, and unfortunately when she doesn't nap the teachers, her parents, and her classmates suffer. Overall, however, Callie continues to learn a great deal from the fine folks at daycare. She sings a number of different songs, can identify her letters and numbers well, and has even started writing some letters.

Most of the key moments of Callie's development over the past year have been noted in previous posts, but it is worthwhile to highlight them again. She has been potty trained now for five months and the accidents have been very few and far between. And we have basked in the wonder of a diaper free household, happy to know that there will be no overlap with the little one due to arrive in about a month. (Yikes!) The big girl bed is still a point of pride for Callie, even though it has made bedtime a bit more challenging for her parents, who often lie down and fall asleep before she does. For the most part, the other aspects of her development are not flashy breakthroughs, but simply growing comfort with running, throwing, jumping, dancing, climbing, and playing independently. She is fun to watch.

Last, but not least, we need to address Callie's social skills. Perhaps the best way to describe her at this point is that socializing has to occur on her terms. She is usually shy at first and then warms up quickly, but there may be times when she jumps right in to social situations. She keeps us on her toes because we never know which road she'll take in any given situation. For example, she had a blast trick or treating, which was somewhat surprising. Yet, she wouldn't say trick or treat. She did say thank you every time. Then there was the night Sarah hosted one of her book clubs at our house. Callie didn't hesitate but jumped right into the mix and didn't want to leave the room full of women to go up to bed.

There is one group of folks who never catch a shy Callie. And their names are Bear, Mouse, Elephant, and Bunny. These are the imaginary friends who have become important members of our household. Callie is particularly fond of Mouse. For the most part, so are her parents, since Mouse can often be counted on to help us get Callie to brush her teeth or take a bath. It is pretty amazing how often she will talk about them or remind us that they have joined us at the restaurant.

And of course, Callie is growing very excited about the impending arrival of Baby Peanut. She loves to talk about how she is going to hold her and feed her a bottle. Hopefully the excitement will survive the initial shock of what having a newborn in the house truly means. It is quite cute that she wants to kiss Sarah's belly and tickle Baby Peanut whenever she gets the chance.

When all is said and done, Callie has had a remarkable year. She came through her surgery with flying colors and manages to thrive in our household that is always on the move. We offer our highest recommendation that she advance into the three-year class.

Is there a 3 year-old in the house?

On Sunday, October 3, 2010, Callie turned 3. And this year, she not only knew it was her birthday, but she was also very excited. For the last four months she was willing to tell everyone and anyone that she was going to be three years old on October 3. She was also quick to point out that she shared her birthday with Uncle Chris.

We started the festivities on the first day of October, the Friday before her big day. We felt like official parents when we met up at the daycare with cupcakes and a camera. Callie insisted on having pink cupcakes with sprinkles on top and they were a hit. Callie and her friends assembled at the table for snack time and John passed out the goodies.


Ever since the "Tony Penza" incident of Memorial Day 2010, John has been banned from camera duties in key situations. Sarah was on the mark, however, and captured Callie enjoying her cupcake. However, the best part of the experience was when one little boy asked John to help him with the wrapper, which then snowballed into five little kids holding up their cupcakes in a silent request for similar assistance. It is important to note that John successfully handled the requests without anyone, including himself, getting too frazzled.


Later that night the real birthday surprise arrived when Nana Banana and Sport got off the plane from Connecticut and prepared to celebrate all weekend with their granddaughter. It was great to have them in town and we certainly squeezed a lot in during the time they were here. Fortunately the weather cooperated for the most part on Saturday, and after a walk through the Farmer's Market we headed to good old Reed Valley Orchard for their Fall Festival.



Callie loved picking apples, listening to music, and spending time with her grandparents. We love the above picture and it is just a glimpse into the fun the three of them had over the weekend. Callie was a particularly big fan of Nana Banana's bedtime reading and she thought Sport was, and we quote, "pretty silly." All in all, it was clearly a good time.


As we mentioned earlier, Callie was very aware that it was her birthday. Apparently so were our respective families and friends. Day after day packages streamed into our house and Callie's was ready to burst from excitement. She could barely contain herself when the time came to sit down and open up some of the boxes. The smile in this picture says it all.


Her excitement only grew when she spotted her monkey cake. This is the first year that Sarah made the cake instead of buying it, and boy did she set a high standard for the years to come. It took a lot of time and effort, but Callie's response to it made the whole thing worthwhile.





The video was a bit too long to put on the blog, so we'll have to describe the actual presentation of the cake and Callie's response to the traditional birthday song. This has never been Callie's forte, and last year she cried when we sang to her while bringing out the cake. This year was an improvement, because there were no tears. But she did not want to blow out the candles and clearly was less than enthusiastic about the singing. One step at a time. Of course, once the singing stopped her smile returned, as you can see below. Then she was more than ready to sit down and dig in.



And just like that, Callie turned three. It happened so fast. But we all know that a birthday in the Bowes house means two things. First, in two days we head to John's favorite destination, Portrait Innovations. Get ready for some cute pictures. Second, Callie better have her file ready for her annual review. Based on what we've been dealing with over the past couple of months, this could be a tough one. (Note to other young children, limit the whining if you want good marks on your evaluation)

And yes, we only have two months before we really have to shift gears and welcome the fourth member of Team Bowes.

Girls Weekend

This Labor Day weekend was different than it has been over the past couple of years. John went off to Cape Cod for the annual reunion by himself while Sarah and Callie stayed back in Kentucky. But they were not alone. Indeed, the same day John left a plane from Los Angeles brought Lauren and Ashlyn in for a visit. Unfortunately, Kate, Lauren's oldest daughter, didn't make the trip. Understandably, Lauren is not ready to travel cross country with two little ones just yet.




The weekend was exactly what everyone needed. Not only did we see the sights throughout Lexington, but the two moms also had the chance to sit around and talk for hours after the girls went to sleep. The only missing element was the wine - most likely next time both moms will really need it if they have all four little girls in one place.


One day we went to Henry Clay's estate, also known as Ashland, to picnic and listen to jazz. Callie loved hanging out with Ashlyn. She was very attentive to her needs and especially enjoyed feeding her little puffs. Everything was going so well...



Then Callie learned some of the risks of feeding a young child. In this picture we witness the aftermath of Ashlyn literally biting the hand that was feeding her. Although Callie was pretty upset, she got over it relatively quickly, and soon renewed her efforts to help Ashlyn eat the puffs. At the very least, this was good training for when she has to deal with her soon to arrive little sister.


It was great to get to know Ashlyn a little better. Not only is she adorable like her sister, but she also has a personality bigger than life. And she is not even a year old yet. The combination of Kate and Ashlyn is sure to keep Lauren and JP busy in the years to come.



In the picture above you can see Callie sporting her new California t-shirt. She is always ready to tell you that she got this shirt from Kate and she loves to wear it. You also will see that Ashlyn has a matching onesie. But what you don't see is that Kate and Auntie Lo also have matching shirts. So if you see a bunch of flowers walking your way, you'll have a pretty good idea of who it is.


As with all visits, this one was too short and on Monday Lauren and Ashlyn took off for Los Angeles even as John flew back from the Cape. Hopefully next time we will be able to get the entire families together. There will be four girls three and under, two moms, and two very outnumbered dudes. Sounds like fun!

Baby Girl: The Sequel

What's better than one cute little daughter? Two cute little daughters! At least that is what we are hoping, because we are having another little girl. In this post we have three relatively recent ultrasound pictures of Baby Peanut. We decided to have Callie join us for the ultrasound experience so that she could get a first hand look at what was really going on in Sarah's belly. More than anything, we were hoping she would impress the doctors and technicians with her bone-identification skills.



This first shot definitely gave her an opportunity to talk about vertebrae and femurs. It was cool because the doctor who reviewed the ultrasound was the same one who had diagnosed Callie's kidney reflux three years ago. So we got to thank him and show off Callie in all of her healthy glory. But the real star of the show was Baby Peanut, and the doctor gave positive reviews of her development so far. Everything is where it should be and growing appropriately.




If the pictures were any indication, Peanut is not at all shy. The tech had no problem finding things like the foot you see above, and also found it quite easy to identify her gender. it is important for us to note that Callie was the only one of Team Bowes and others who correctly predicted that Peanut was a girl. Because she was spot on with that prediction we capitalized on her knowledge and asked what we should name her sister. Callie quickly replied, "Brother Bowes." Of course, since that time her desired name is Miss Donna Bowes, after her favorite teacher at daycare. We can confirm that neither of these names has made the short list.




It appears that Peanut is just as excited to meet Callie as Callie is to be her big sister. The tech was kind enough to point out that Peanut was waving hello and we all thought that was really cool. Our next ultrasound is in October, and at that point preparations for the arrival should be in high gear. Preparations should actually be in higher gear right now, but we have been a little slow to get moving. Overall, the excitement level is building, and Team Bowes can't wait to welcome our fourth teammate to the world. Three months and counting - almost to the day.

Visit from Grammy

Last year we met Grammy Gayle for a fun weekend in Chicago. This year we cut out the middle city and she flew out to visit us right here. It should come as no surprise that we managed to pack quite a few things into her visit/birthday weekend.

The first order of business was taking the birthday girl out on the town for a good meal. We all got dressed up and headed to Merrick Inn.



We had a great evening and enjoyed far too much tasty food. It was the perfect way to kick off the visit.


Because of the upcoming World Equestrian Games, Horse Mania 2010 has hit Lexington. Sidewalks and parks throughout the city are covered in horses painted by a variety of local artists. Although we saw several horses throughout Grammy Gayle's visit, we have a lot more to see because there are nearly one hundred throughout Lexington.


Everyone has their favorite, and this horse hits John's newfound sweetspot. Who knew that John would one day be a man who enjoyed the finer pleasures of a good Kentucky bourbon. Now he's just saving his pennies to try and buy this horse when it is auctioned off. Indeed, John is working hard to convince Sarah that it would look great in the front yard.


Callie was very excited to have Grammy in town, and the two of them spent nearly three whole days together while John and Sarah were at work.



Here the two of them pose in front of the Triangle Park water fountain, which is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in downtown Lexington. The whole morning was a whole lot of fun, looking at the horses, checking out the fountain, and visiting the farmer's market. But we were on a tight schedule and had to hop in the car to head to Paris and Reed Valley Orchard.


Blueberry season has long since passed, but the trees at Reed Valley are overflowing with a variety of very tasty apples. Callie's apple picking skills have also blossomed over the course of the past year. She was eager to get involved in the process, and it was good to have her around to get at the best apples near the tops of the trees. But the clock kept ticking, so we grabbed a few berry slushies and hit the road. We had other places to go and people to see.



For the third year in a row we had a table for Picnic with the Pops. This year was slightly different because it was held at Keeneland instead of the Kentucky Horse Park. The location may have been different, but the entertainment continued to exceed expectations.



None of our group pictures worked out quite right, but the above photo of Gayle, Tommy, Chad, and Rebecca captures the spirit of the night and our fancy table. This event yet again proved that we can get out and enjoy ourselves without our dear daughter. We can't wait for next year!


The next day we invited the Richters to join us for the Woodland Arts and Crafts Fair. Like us, Lynda and Stephen are preparing to welcome a new addition to their family. The two ever growing women decided to embrace the moment and compare bellies during some down time at the fair. The next few months should be fun because the two babies will be born just about a month apart.




No arts and crafts fair is complete without an opportunity to show off your own skills. Here Grammy Gayle checks out Callie's work with a paint brush on a community canvas. Callie seemed to really enjoy it. We just had to encourage her to avoid painting all over other people's art work. Respect for other people's art is one more lesson Callie is in the process of learning.




The final stop on the tour was the Slushie Factory, otherwise known as every little kid's dream. Callie had a mix of Orange and Cherry, which she just about inhaled. But here was another lesson to be learned. As Jackson and Eli Richter demonstrate in the photo, drinking slushies too quickly can lead to brain freeze.





As with any visit, Grammy Gayle's trip to Lexington was a lot of fun and went by far too fast. We can't wait until we get to see her again at Christmas. Not only is that less than four months away, but when she returns she'll have another granddaughter to play with.