The Booker Post

It has been one crazy week. We got back from Chicago and launched into holiday mode. My Uncle Myron and his family arrived from MA the same day we got back . Saturday, we had our first meal together, the traditional before-the-holiday jambalaya. Unfortunately, Callie wasn't able to try it this year since it has shrimp in it. Maybe next year she'll be ready for shellfish. On Sunday, my parents went to see a house that's going up for auction in December. It wasn't exactly what they're looking for, so we're all still living here at the farm, wondering when things are going to come together. Tuesday morning Callie and I went to the doctor to get our flu shots. Callie handled it well. We checked her weight while we were there. She is now 19lbs 2.5oz! Tuesday was also Cedric's 4th birthday party at Granny and Paw-Paw's house. Callie was able to enjoy this meal with us. She is definitely all about her food. Callie also decided to show off for everybody, pullin...

Our week here is coming to an end. We've had a lot of fun while we've been here. On Tuesday, we stayed in the hotel for most of the day until Philip got back to try and get back to a normal nap schedule. Tuesday night we ate at Red Robin for dinner. It's a gourmet burger place that has all the fries you can eat. Unfortunately, I didn't even make it through the first batch. They were really good and we had some of the best spinach and artichoke dip we've ever eaten. Wednesday, Callie and I checked out IKEA after our morning nap. I decided I could probably furnish our whole house from there which really surprised me because I had always thought their stuff was way too modern for my style. Granted, Pottery Barn or Home Decorators would probably suit me better, but not at IKEA prices! Wednesday night we ate at Rainforest Cafe which was really fun. Callie had a lot of fun looking in the fish tanks and got quite a show since two men in scuba gear were in there cleaning th...

Today, we went shopping all day with Granny Great and Grammy.  It was great fun!  I just wanted everyone to know that we have the smartest baby in the world! I was waiting in Borders for the Grands to arrive and Callie was looking out the window. Out one window there were bushes losing their leaves and out the other window were evergreen bushes. I was telling Callie about the seasons and how some plants lose their leaves and others stay green all winter. I told her how pretty the snow looked on the evergreens and how the other bushes would get their leaves back in the spring.  Then I asked her, if she was a bunny, which bush would she hide under during the winter.  And she pointed out the window at the evergreens!  She's a child genius! 

So it's our first night in Chicago and it's snowing! Callie didn't seemed phased at all by the snow. She's enjoying the hotel room, however, because there's a full length mirror down at her level. She's been playing with the baby in the mirror most of the time we've been here.  We ate at a place called Cajun Connection up near Starved Rock today. (Really good!) It put us up about halfway to Chicago. We arrived at our hotel at 4:00. It's so near all the shopping centers -- we're going to have so much fun! There's a free shuttle anywhere within 5 miles of the hotel so we're going to be off and running tomorrow! :) The only problem thus far has been that they messed up our reservation. They put us down for October instead of November so they already charged us a no show. We managed to get a room anyway; it just took a little more time to check in. They've promised refund our charges from October,  so hopefully we'll get everything cleare...

Ok, so I did miss every three days this week. Maybe if I explain the week I had, everyone will understand. It has been absolutely crazy! Philip and I are getting ready to go to Chicago this next week. The week after that our family is coming in and we're having Thanksgiving/Christmas/Birthday Party. So I've been Christmas shopping twice this week and birthday present hunting. This is probably the latest I have ever been Christmas shopping -- I'm usually done by August. Of course, this August was spent getting ready to move to IL . . . maybe I should give myself a break, but it's definitely been a stress since I'm not used to it. On top of that stress, Callie's been a little bit of a fussy teether lately (or at least that's the only thing I can think of that would make her this fussy). Not only does she want to be with me every minute, sometimes she can't decide what she wants. So we play the up, down, play, no play, sit, stand, rock, swing, etc, etc, etc...

So our local news here in Illinois said it was a new trend for mom's to be blogging in their spare time. As I'm sitting there thinking, "What spare time?" -- I eventually decided it would be in everyone's best interest if I was consistent in my updates. So, hopefully this is a new trend for this mom, I'm going to try and update our blog at least every 3 days if not more. Since my last post, Callie has started eating some of our meal with us since she has teeth to do it. She really enjoyed her pasta yesterday as you can see from our latest pictures. She's also begun pulling herself up to a standing position. She climbs up on everything and anyone she can. The only problem is she gets up and stands for a long time but then when she gets tired, she's not quite sure how to get down. Needless to say, we've been getting a lot of little bumps these past few days. The crying is mostly caused by hurt pride however, because none of the falls have been to tra...

Good grief!! How does time keep getting away from me? I know I should update more often, but I keep thinking once I get this done, then I'll be ready to blog. But then I think of something else and something else. Alright, I will try to update at least once a week from now on. There's just too much going on with Callie if I don't that it's easy to forget to add things! Ok, since last time, Callie has been crawling faster, but still not the traditional hands and knees crawling. She gets up there and rocks back and forth, but then it's like she says 'Forget it, my old way is working for me!' and collapses back down to her belly and crawls that way. She's been pulling up onto her knees and sometimes even to standing, so I'm not really worried that she hasn't mastered traditional crawling. She sits up on her own and can get into sitting position. All this new movement has made us realize we really need to get baby proofing! In big, big news, Callie ...