Spring has sprung!

We are barely on track to make an entry a month. Looks like this one is coming in just under the wire. Hopefully spring has arrived in your locale. We did have some snow flurries today, but it does appear that spring is on the doorstep. The birds are chirping, the daffodils are blooming, and Callie is making some crazy faces. Wouldn't you love to know what is going through her mind in the picture below?




Tough not to start out with that picture. But we have a whole host of pictures to show how much our little monster is developing. Seems like something new happens every day.


This photo is courtesy of Sarah "Ansel Adams" Bowes. Notice the use of shade and light to capture the wonder of a little girl looking at the snow falling outside her back door. And yes, Callie is standing up and holding herself up by grabbing the door frame. Pretty crazy.







This should give you some idea of what Callie was looking at in the previous picture. About 5 inches fell in Lexington a few weeks ago. John dutifully shoveled the driveway, because anyone who grows up in New England knows you have to shovel it quick before the snow can turn to packed ice and make your life miserable. If he had grown up in Lexington he would have known there was no need to shovel because it would all melt in a couple of days. All the neighbors knew this. Interesting.




Two weeks ago we drove to Dublin, Virginia to hang out with some friends at a state park. Three couples and four kids ages five months to 4 years. Definitely a different kind of vacation. This picture shows Callie and her new friend, Ella Skonieczny. Ella was a big help all weekend and she did everything she could to make Callie's visit fun.






And now for an incredibly important picture. This is an action shot of John and his friend Mike playing a board game called Pro Conference Football. It came out in the 1970s and the two of them used to play it for hours on end when they were kids. It has been twenty years and they still have the same passion. Sarah was a bit frightened at this glimpse into John's childhood. John, on the other hand, was bummed that he and Mike were only allowed to play one game.




You might be asking yourself, why a picture of food? Well, Callie is starting to eat solids, and her tastes are moving beyond the simple rice cereal we started with last month. Pictured here is the vast array of delectable foods that will be pureed for her culinary pleasure. Sarah is on the ball with this and is doing a fantastic job making sure Callie is eating well. Soon she will be eating far more veggies than her parents.



Everyone needs to pitch in if the household is going to work like a well oiled machine. And you are never to young to start.



Unfortunately, Callie has yet to learn to fold properly. The creases aren't perfect. So we just have her sit in the basket and hand us the clothes. Okay, so she can't do that either. But seriously, how do you not include a picture like this. We are so unbelievably biased, but her cuteness is dangerous.


Although Callie has grown quite a bit in the past five months, there is still some room for improvement. So far she has only made it to John's knee. We are hoping for big things in the near future and are tempted to sit her down in front of the NCAA Women's basketball games so that she can get a sense of how big she can grow if she eats all of the veggies Sarah purees for her. It's worth a try.





Who's that cute kid in the bunny ears? This past Easter Sunday we were fortunate to be invited to lunch at our neighbors. Both Sarah and Callie were dressed for the occasion and we were able to take the first of many Easter-mother-daughter pictures. They make quite a couple.



We end with another picture of Callie in bunny ears. Again, the cuteness is dangerous. What is also cool here is that she is sitting up on her own. That is another recent development. Although every once in a while she tumbles over and makes a thumping noise, we think she should move beyond that pretty soon.




So from all of us here in Lexington we hope you have a wonderful spring. In just about a week the horses start racing at Keeneland, which means the Derby is right around the corner. You can smell the excitement in the air...it's mixed in with the bourbon. Hope to see many of you this summer!

A long awaited post...

Clearly we have had some trouble getting pictures up on the blog. Indeed, it is unclear if anyone ever really checks it anymore because they don't believe we will ever put up a picture again. Well here I am to say that we are back. For the first time, this is a solo post. I, John, am sitting at home watching the Oscars while Sarah and Callie are in California having fun with all the California aunties. Truth be told, fun apparently has not been the order of the weekend, since everyone has somehow caught what has been dubbed, "the Kentucky Plague" that I gave to Sarah and she has passed along to the Hermosa Beach Crew. If any of them will ever want to see me again I hope to be able to make up for the chain reaction of illness I set off.

In any case, the true focus needs to get back to Callie. I am sure most of you have been wondering what she looks like and what she has been up to. Hopefully the below photo array will help slake your thirst for all things Callie.


We start with a classic pose. Callie is nothing if not graceful. This is a move she is looking to incorporate into a future beam routine. Unfortunately, the beam will have to wait for the whole balance part of her development to work out. She may be graceful, but she has yet to stand independently. No rush I guess.





Callie knows that accessories make the young girl, and nothing screams accessory like a good hat. At the same time, Callie is a mellow child, and nothing says mellow like some good reggae music and a good rasta hat. She wears it well, don't you think?





Callie does enjoy a good bath every now and then. Here you can get a sense of how she relaxes as she is pampered through and through. She has yet to understand the joy of a splashing while in the bath, that is sure to change in the not too distant future.






What's that, you say? Something other than breast milk? Could it be? Here we have photographic evidence of Callie's first rice cereal adventure. It gives you a sense of how delicate the young digestive system must be if rice cereal has to wait until about 4 months of age. I mean rice cereal does not seem to have any substance. And yet it has seemed to help her sleep a little longer during the night. So I have no reason to criticize it.


In a scary sign of the future, Callie's daycare had a Valentine's Day party. Nothing like having to get little cards for infants. Sarah had a great time writing phrases like, "Can't wait to see you by the swings later," and so on. Much to my surprise, this card exchange really did occur. Here Callie tries to gnaw on her favorite card. I'm still coming to grips with the whole experience. I had to run to the store at 8pm at night to get Valentine's Day cards for 6 month old children. Wow.


This picture illustrates a current problem of ours. Callie has a wonderful smile. It is one of the greatest parts of my day to see her smile. And since she smiles often I have a lot of great moments. Interestingly enough, the smile tends to disappear when the camera comes around. We think the flash gives her a bit of a deer in the headlights look. This picture is exhibit A. Another cute outfit, by the way. She definitely wears stripes well.


Tummy time is seen as an important thing. One way to fight the bald spot on the back of the head that comes from so much time on the back, I guess. And it should theoretically encourage some time of crawling or perhaps rolling over. No such luck so far. Callie has become a bit more content with tummy time, but rolling over has only happened twice accidentally. And I am convinced she will walk before she crawls. She seems to enjoy being on her foot more than anything. I guess time will tell.


What do you think is going through her mind here? That is truly the most important question. These exersaucer contraptions of craziness are something to behold. We are so thankful to our friends Stephen and Lynda who were generous enough to lend us this and other fine toys. But wow, Callie is just sitting there wondering what to do with it all. Which button provides the rice cereal?


And we end with a picture that I think is absolutely adorable. I miss these two so much at the moment and can't wait to get them back to Lexington.





Oops, forgot a thing or two. Just some basic stats from Callie's latest doctor's appointment. 12 lbs 4 oz and 25 1/4 inches. That is correct, she is maintaining the Bowes body type with the 85th percentile in height and 20th in weight. And I really don't think the rice cereal is going to alter that too much. It won't be until the Cheerios start entering the diet. Then we will see the ratio shift a bit. Until next time...

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!!!