Cole Darby Hughes

Something happened to my baby girl.  It happened in the blink of an eye.  All of a sudden, her feet are huge.  Her hands seem like monster hands.  And she is heavy!
  

 It's all about perspective - she suddenly has seemed to have grown, because we are now getting accustomed to tiny little newborn feet, hands, and what seems like negative weight in our arms.

 On February 19, 2011 at 7ish pm, we welcomed our sweet baby boy Cole Darby Hughes into the world.  He weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long.

Calla has been the primary subject of this blog for 21 months, and now it's time for her to share the throne!  She is now a Big Sister.
 
When she first met Cole, she looked at him with curiosity...

After a few minutes, she said, "Bye Bye, baby brother."  Since then, her affection toward him has grown.

 We got to bring Cole home 2 days after he was born.

Despite Calla's double ear infection and having had to endure separation from Mommy and Daddy for a couple of nights, she adjusted to her new baby brother pretty quickly.  She initially called him "Baby Coke," but now says "Cole" quite well.  She has tried to smush his face, give him chips, and shove the pacifier into his mouth.  She gives him lots of kisses and loves to play with his toys.

I have more to say about the last couple of weeks, but for now, enjoy some pictures of our sweet little guy.

Catching up: Trip to California

We were blessed to have a wonderful time visiting family for Thanksgiving and the week after.  Thinking we'd just miss Thanksgiving due to expensive fares, we were excited to find that flying on the actual holiday meant cheaper tickets.  So, we spent a long day traveling, but were rewarded with being with family for one of our favorite family days.  Our prayer was that Calla, being 18 months at this point, would do well on the airplane.  This was our last chance for her to fly free, so we didn't get her her own seat.  I was upset the night before when we found out that the airlines had to separate Darby and me due to not having enough air masks over the seats we chose.  They were able to seat us togetherish, with just an aisle between us.  It turned out to be a big blessing, because Calla was able to stand in the aisle more and cruise back and forth between us.  The flight was perfect (well, after she threw up). 

We spent Thanksgiving with the Hughes side of the family. The highlight of that day for me was meeting my nephew Tatum for the first time!! Also, seeing our dear friends Tim and Isabel after so long.  Calla had a very difficult time adjusting to being with such a big family, as well as being very tired and wanting to sleep.  She did play some with her cousins, though.

 

During the week, Calla spent a lot of time with her cousins Silas and Tatum, because they aren't in school yet.  It was so cute how Calla woke up one morning saying, "Silas?"  In the video below, Silas and Calla are feeding the fishies in Grandad and Grammy's pond.  

 

With the Hauptman side, we had a special Thanksgiving celebration on Friday.  Highlights from our visit with them was seeing our cousins who visited us.  My cousin Christie is pregnant, as well as my sister-in-law Shannon (for a few more days anyways!) and I.  

 

 The picture below is Calla with some of her cousins.  This is unfortunately how Calla looked for most of our trip to California.  Here, she's upset because we turned the tv off, but she was often like this just because someone talked to her or came too close.

 

Calla had a lot of fun at the park with her cousin Luc.  She hates to swing now for some reason, but likes to slide!

 

Luc was full of love and kisses for Calla.  So sweet!

 

The best part of being out in California was timing it just right to be there for the birth of my newest nephew, my brother's son Brayden.  This picture is Nana, Calla, and Luc awaiting Brayden.

Here he is!  Brayden Richard Hauptman, born December 3, 2010. 

After spending time with family at the hospital, we went to a very special early-Christmas party with the Hughes side of the family.  Darby's sister was so sweet after a crazy-busy month to also plan a party to celebrate Christmas with us, complete with activities like a family stroll to look at Christmas lights and a project for the family to hand-make Christmas decorations for our new home.  Sadly, I kept forgetting to take pictures! 

If you made it to the end of this post, then you get to see the absolute best part of the trip (for Calla and me, anyways!).  Calla was finally brave enough to try her hand at walking more than a random step or two.  We had the video camera close at hand, so here is one of her first efforts.  Go Calla, go!!!  I'm so proud of her! Sorry the video was turned to the side, not sure how to edit that on here.

Catching up: Family Photos

In November, we were able to get some great pictures taken by a professional photographer at Clear Creek Images.  This is the same photographer that took Calla's ladybug pictures in October.  Thought we would upload some of them for you to see!

 

 

 

What a week!

Yesterday, Calla came with me to my o.b. appt.  She cried as soon as the nurse walked in the room wearing  scrubs.  She'd never done this before.  Why the sudden fear?  Let's review the week.  Wednesday, Calla had an appointment with a pediatric ENT.  Why?  Well, Darby and I have decided that we want to just get things checked out as far as Calla still not walking.  She is now 18-months old, and still has never even let go of the furniture to try to stand on her own.  She still will not let go of the couch to sit down from a standing position.  We practice walking with her, and she is fine with one or two hands held, but becomes terrified when we encourage her to do it on her own.  I just started thinking back to kids I've known who had delays, and the first thought was to get her ears checked for fluid and to have her vision checked.  I started worrying (what, me worry?!? No way!) that maybe something is throwing her balance off and feeling bad for her if that were the case.  So, trip to the ENT.  All clear - yay!  But the ENT wants us to see a pediatric orthopaedic specialist due to the turning outward of her legs (already saw one almost a year ago, but maybe it's worth a re-check).  Calla cried everytime the ENT did anything - a test for fluid and looking in her ears.  Then Thursday, we see an eye doctor.  This doctor does not specialize in kids, but I decided to go with him anyways because he was a lot cheaper under my insurance plan, and I wanted more of a screening than anything.  Of course, Calla screams when the doctor tries to look at her eyes.  And forget them getting measurements of her eyes or her being cooperative with the different-sized pictures on the wall!  The doctor decided that the only way to accurately assess her vision would be to dilate her eyes and then he could tell by just looking.  That would take a while, so we had to come back in a few hours.  I left with Calla, and though she was happy to be leaving, I was on the verge of tears, knowing how much she would scream through drops being put in her eyes (several sets, one that would sting) and then forcing her to hold still while the doctor could look into her eyes.  I called Darby, and he volunteered to come on his lunch break and be the strong one!  We figured that it was worth it, because my eyes were horrible growing up until Lasik, and she had high risk factors of poor vision.  Plus, it was no added cost.  Well, Calla did scream through most of it.  But it really wasn't that bad.  She is near-sighted.  Right now her vision is at about 20/80 (most children her age do not have 20/20 vision but more like 20/40 or20/60 until they get a little older).  The doctor doesn't think she needs glasses yet, but he said it's not a matter of "will she," but "when will she."  Maybe I'll start saving now for Lasik for her!
So, Calla has Mommy's eyes and probably Mommy's feet and ankles.  I am hoping that at least she will have Darby's teeth, but so far it's not looking promising in that arena!  So, in the end - if you wear scrubs, expect my baby to scream when you come close!
We are praying for the next steps - just let time go by and wait for her to walk on her own, consult a PT for the second time, or consult an orthopaedic specialist for the second time. Please pray for wisdom!

Calla at the eye doctor after her eyes being dilated.  Getting ready to walk into the bright sunshine!  Below is a video of Calla the next day - insisting to wear the glasses still! 

24 weeks

Why have I posted a picture on an ear of corn?  Hmm... well, because that's about how big my baby is supposed to be at 24-weeks. About a foot long and about 1 pound.  I had my o.b. appointment yesterday and surprise surprise, I'm measuring bigger than I should - I asked the doctor what that means, and she said, "big baby and extra fluid."  Sounds familiar!!!  Calla was 8 1/2 pounds and 3 weeks early and I had lots of amniotic fluid and also everything was just swollen.  The doctor is wanting to see me a little sooner than usual for my next appt (3 wks rather than 4) to measure again and possibly do a sonogram.  This could mean being induced early if the baby is big - which I don't mind at all, except that I haven't started thinking about getting ready yet or naming this little guy!!

Leaf Looking

We're loving Georgia in the fall! Here are some pictures of Calla on our back deck. Hope to take other pictures of leaf-looking soon!

Use Shutterfly for Your Christmas Cards (And if you're a blogger, find out how you can get 50 free)!

Most of my family is very familiar with my love for and use of Shutterfly.  I have given lots of gifts that originated from Shutterfly.  Once you start having kids, ideas of gifts to give family is pretty endless!  I have given Shutterfly pictures, calendars, birthday cards, thank you cards, holiday cards, coffee mugs, birthday invitations, and photo books (I love love love their photo books!!!).  I usually pick Shutterfly over other photo service companies because the quality for the price is hard to beat.  Now that it's November, I'm starting to think about getting a family photo that would look great on a Christmas card.  And, I'm starting to think about which one to choose from!  You can browse their selection of Christmas cards here and if you're late to send out Christmas cards, they have a great selection of New Year's cards that you can find here.

This is one of my favorite Christmas cards.  I like the brown, red, and green colors, as well as the simplicity of one family photo and room for a message.  Or since this is the last year we will have only one child on Christmas, maybe Calla will take up the photo slot!   Since we've recently moved into a new house, we might be able to use this as a new address announcement as well!  You can view this card on Shutterfly's site by clicking here. You can also check out address labels to go on your cards.  These always add a nice touch! 

Part of why I love Shutterfly is that they have great promotions, sales, and often offer free stuff.  You know how much I like free stuff!  Right now, cards are 25% off.  Also, if you are a blogger, they are doing a promotion where you write up a post and you can get 50 free Shutterfly holiday cards.  I heard about this and didn't think they meant it for a family blog like mine, but I applied anyways and got an email the next day asking me to write up this post and get 50 free cards.  So you should apply, too!  If you're an interested blogger, fill out the form at this link. 

*This post reflects my true opinion and love for Shutterfly, but was written for Shutterfly as a promotion of their holiday cards for an incentive of 50 free cards.

My sweet little Callabug

Remember some of those past posts where I tell you about some cool giveaways? Well, I've won some in the past few weeks: a $75 gift card to Zutano for Calla or baby boy clothing, a $25 gift card to The Chic Monkey for something cute and handmade, something I won't name here because it would make a great Christmas gift for someone special, a $20 gift card to The Baby Store Plus with a Medela gift set, a hands-free nursing bra from The Baby Store Plus, a $40 gift card to Studio JK Vinyl for some fun house decor, and definitely my favorite - a Doodlebug Boutique ladybug costume for Calla with a free photo shoot from Clear Creek Images. My Callabug got all dressed up last week for a photo shoot, and here are some of the adorable pictures that resulted. Lots of credit to Linda @ Clear Creek for taking these pictures - a 17-month old is not easy! Calla started off crying, then when she was finally happy, she just wanted to crawl and move and wouldn't sit still! I'm impressed that so many good pictures were taken!