October Update

Jees, now it's really almost the middle of November....where is the time going? I can't get a grasp on how fast it's really flying by.

October was a super busy month. In an effort to suppliment the slow swimming seasion I have officially become a consultant for a company called Thirty One. They sell all kinds of cute stuff, and for a momma who's as organized as I am, thier stuff is RIGHT up my ally.

Swimming is still going great! It's just slower in the fall and winter, however we are still going strong and we have just passed our 250th student. Actually I think we are closer to 300 now. It's been a wonderful year and I'm blessed to have things turning out this way! (Now if only I could find a way to have my own pool, I'd be set)

On to the babies....

Aiden is c-r-a-z-y BIG. He's talking all the time and he's such a great help when it comes to his little sister. He still has his moments but for the most part he's doing such a good job! He's learning so much at school and he has now mastered his new bike with training wheels. He's swimming once a week with one of my other instructors and he's doing such a great job. He's almost swimming on his own (CRAZY I KNOW).

Avery has been another story. Since my return from Florida our nights have been really difficult. She was waking every hour or every other hour. Basically she was using me as a pacifier and soother. We took her to her 6 month checkup (AGAIN, I KNOW....the time thing, RIGHT??) and she's growing beautifully. During our appointment I asked the doctor about letting her cry it out. We didn't let Aiden cry it out until he was 9 months old, but then again, we didn't need to either. He slept very well at day one. The doc basically told me that when I'm ready to get sleep, she's ready to cry it out. Needless to say, "operation Ferber" began that evening and so far SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD!! The last three nights she's slept for almost 12 hours. Oh, and we also stop swaddling her which I'm assuming has helped too. YAY AVERY!!

She's an eating machine too. I don't know how she's still so tiny because the girl will put down some serious food. She'll eat two stage 1 foods a meal and then down a bottle of milk. She's definitely my daughter..hehe!

Halloween was a blast. This year the Callas family dressed up as Toy Story 3. The photo speaks for itself:

We had a blast and I'm already planning next year's costumes!!

Better Late than Never

May 8, 2010: this is the day my life changed forever....AGAIN!

Avery Mae Callas was born at 3:40am. She weighed in at [a whopping] 8lbs, 3oz (BIGGER than her brother I might add too).

I couldn't be happier that she's here, partly because I was the most misearble preggo in the world there at the end, but more because I finally get to hold her little body to mine and snuggle with her! She's precious (of course I'm biased) but we are all so happy! Aiden love his little sister. He wants to hold her and carry her around (and wishes mommy would just let him do it). He showers her with kisses everyday and my heart just melts every time he does it.

She's already got daddy wrapped around her little finger, well and mommy too!

I'm so blessed!

A Perfect Weekend!!

What a weekend it has been!!

It started on Friday. Luke and I weren't supposed to find out the sex of the baby until this coming Monday. However, we were fortunate to be able to find out early, 11:00 am on Friday to be exact. Turns out, the Callas boys are capable of producing little girls!! I am absolutely thrilled!! We are stopping at two, so finding out this time was a little more special. We were hoping for a little girl. Having one of each makes things just perfect!

It was such a pleasant surprise to wake up to snow falling on Saturday. I love a GOOD snow. It turns out Aiden does too. He couldn't stay away from the window! He walked back and forth between the window and front door all morning pointing and saying "noooow". Last year he was still a little small to really appreciate/understand the snow.

This Saturday was special for another reason too. It was my BIG 3-0! Yes, I have finally caught up with the rest of my friends and have entered the dreaded thirties. I welcome this next chapter of my life with open arms. It can only get better! To celebrate the big day, Luke and I headed down to DC with my Aunt Cyndi. We went out on a boat to watch the Festival of Lights boat parade in old town Alexandria. Afterwards we got dropped off in Georgetown where we had an awesome dinner. It was such an awesome day (despite driving in the snow)!
What a truly perfect weekend!!

Thanksgiving 2009

We had an amazing Thanksgiving this year. Luke and I had dinner at our house (I cooked my first turkey) and it all turned out very well! Here are some of the pictures we took!

Enjoy...

The Things I'm Thankful For!

I can't even begin to name all the things I'm thankful for! Here are the most important things:


1. My wonderful husband. I don't know if there is a greater man on the Earth. He loves his family with all his heart and I can't imagine this life without him. On top of it all, he puts his life on the line everyday for complete strangers. He is a GREAT man!


2. My beautiful Aiden. Where oh where would I be without him? I can't even imagine it. He has brought so much happiness to me and my heart is full of love. It's making my tear up just talkinig about it.


3. My current pregnancy. I'm so very thankful for the ability to have children and with the new addition coming to us, I couldn't be happier. While our family is wonderful now, another little one will only make things bigger and better!


4. My Family. Spending time with them is precious.

5. My friends. It's rare to go through life an have someone whom you can rely on when you need them. I have MANY people like that. I love all of my friends and feel truly blessed to have each and every one of them in my life!

Three weeks past!

Busy, Busy

I've been very MIA lately. Not because I don't LOVE to blog about my life, but because we have just been so busy with life. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind, literally.

Two weekends ago Aiden's cousing Teaghan turned one. It's so hard to believe, really. My sis and her husband had a really nice picnic for T at the park and all the kids just had a blast, running all over the place together. We had a great time.

This past weekend, Luke and I were actually able to get out together for a concert with some friends. We had the greatest time. He's been working so much lately that I feel like I never see him, so it was nice to get out together! Luckily, we have a great babysitter in Luke's mom!!

I too have been extremely busy with things. During these last few months I have been giving life lots of thought. What do I REALLY want to do with my life?? I thought about possibly doing some teaching (I've always thought about it). Maybe I will get back into marketing/web design. Maybe I'll go back to school and finish out what I started 9 years ago (going the medical route). Well after much thought, I have decided to take my aquatics training to the next level. I am starting my own business, and I will be offering lessons/fitness training out of a facility in Winchester!!! I am SUPER excited about it. I can make my own hours and most importantly, spend more time with my family!!! I still have lots to do, but it's moving forward nicely!! I'll keep you updated!

Now...with regards to our little man. BOY OH BOY...he's a little parrot! He repeats (or at least tries to repeat) everything you say. His vocabulary grows by the day and it's truly amazing to witness. He's learning so much and we are really having a great time together. I have been busier lately with lessons than I was early in the summer so we don't get to spend as much time together. The time we do get to spend together is precious, especially when daddy's home too!!

I'm learning not to sweat the small stuff....Life is good!

Grammy's Visit

October 2008.....this is the last time I saw my mom. That's WAY too long if you ask me, but due to circumstances beyond our control we couldn't make it happen any sooner. She came for a week. Last time she saw Aiden he was just crawling around and now he's walking, running, babbling, AND SAYING NO ;(

We had the best time with her. We did a lot of relaxing in the back yard and on Friday before the 4th, we had a little birthday party for Aiden and Teagahn. Mom missed Aiden's first birthday and she isn't going to be here for T's so we decided to have a little party for both of them while she was here. We had some friends over and cooked out and Aiden and T got to open some gifts and have some cake! We had a great time.

We did a lot of swimming and Danielle and T hung out almost everyday. Aiden LOVES his cousing T. They are so funny together and they are growing closer and closer everyday.

I miss mom tons already. Aiden loves his grammy and I can't wait until October when we will be able to see her again. Until then we will spend lots of time on Skype talking to Grammy & Grampy James!

Happy Fathers Day (Bilated, that is)

Another Fathers day under Luke's belt!! It was a good day. We started off the day hanging out at home. Luke worked Saturday night so he was a little tired when he got home. After resting for a bit, we headed up to watch Luke's flag football game. Aiden was surprisingly well behaved. He's usually trying to run around and play all the little games (he LOVES the dance dance revolution game). Instead of the usual, he sat right next to me and snacked on the goodies I brought for him. He did a little climbing on the bleachers but stayed close by!! On top of it all Luke's team WON!!



Later Sunday afternoon we took Pops out for dinner at Houlihans. That restaurant is very good. Luke and I have been there twice now and the food is delicious. After stuffing our bellies, we came home, layed around some, played in the backyard and ended our day with some yummy ice cream from Baskin Robbins (Luke's favorite)!!


It was a great Fathers Day!

A silly Aiden sitting and eating his din din!

Mommy and Aiden being silly!

The Callas Men

Aiden being a goofball (AGAIN) for daddy!!

I LOVE my life

I SHOULD say this more often!

I am so very lucky. I have the greatest family and friends but most importantly, I have the most wonderful husband and he gave me the best thing that someone could have given me....our Aiden! Sometimes I take things for granted, but after spending these last two months home, I sort of look at things a little differently.

Times can be hard, but at the end of the day, we have each other, and the time that we spend together is far better than anyTHING we have!

Aiden and I spent the afternoon out back last night after Luke went to work and we just had the best time. My heart melts every time he smiles at me, or says "mamma". On several occasions he walked up to me with BIG open arms and gave me the biggest bear hug he could muster (of course he immediately runs away to play some more).

For these simplicities, I'll say it again....I LOVE MY LIFE!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Congrats to Nanna!!

Aiden's Nanna, Robyn retired today! We are so happy for her and now that she's done working, Aiden is going to have his Nanna around SO MUCH MORE! She's already been there for us so much and we couldn't be more grateful. We feel so lucky to have her around.

Thursday they had a retirement celebration for her so Luke, Aiden and I headed down to take part in the festivities. We had great time. I think Aiden was a little overwhelmed at the number of strange women coming up to him telling him how cute he was, but he enjoyed himself, none the less.

Congrats Nanna on all your years of service and welcome to retirement!!

Picnic at the Park

My lil' sis Danielle has been trying to get me to come to the park and motivate her to walk and get some exercise. Yesterday we finally got the chance to meet up! We packed up the kiddies and the strollers and we headed to Jim Barnette for some exercise and fun.

We walked around the park while Aiden and Teagahn chatted it up. The humidity killed though. Good thing is was cloudy because had the sun been out we would have been drenched. Once we were done walking we took the kids to the playground.

Aiden has really come a long way on the playground. JBP has a great one for smaller children. Round and round we went....up the ramp...down the slide...up the ramp...down the slide. After about 100 rounds of this Aiden decided that it was time to swing. For those who have never been to JBP...they have the COOLEST swings. The are these big chairs and they seem very comfortable for the kids to sit in and enjoy the ride. Aiden was pretty content for a while. So much in fact that, when it was time to go, he threw ANOTHER tantrem (HAHA).

By this time it was almost noon and Dan and I were getting hungry. She recommended salads from Martins (YUM!). We went and picked our salads and some goodies for the kids and headed back to the park for a picnic lunch. We had a really great time. I love that she's living here and that A and T will grow to be so close. They love each other so much already, you can tell. I cherish this time that I get to spend with my little sister as well! She's a wonderful mother!

I can't wait for all the times to come that we will get to hang out again!!

BTW: I really need to get better at taking my camera with me....I forgot it AGAIN so I didn't get any pictures (AARRRGG)!

LOVING Cousins!

Can you tell how much Aiden doesn't want to share his chair. At first it's smooth sailing, but not so much in the end...

Major Career Change

So for those of you who don't know, I was layed off last week. Now I'm home with Aiden and I have to say, it's everything I thought it would be!! I am obviously looking for work but I am going to take my time and make this move be something I truly love!!

As for our days together (it's been a week now), we are having so much fun. Although the weather has been so crappy (sort of chilly and rainy), we have still found ways to play. Last weekend we took Aiden to the park and Monday he and I went shopping! Wednesday, his cousin Teaghan came over and the three of us had so much fun!!

Aiden has changed so much, even in this past week. He can now point to different parts of his body when asked and his signing is getting so good. He's been saying please for some time now, but he will also do, done, eat, more and drink. We've been working on most of those FOREVER and it seems that lately they have all just clicked. He's dancing more too. He used to just twirl about in circles, but now, he bounces and flails his arms as if he's trying to take off like a bird. It's very comical.

Today is supposed to be gorgeous so I can't wait to get outside and plant some flowers and hang on the playground with my babe!!

Breakfast time and Aiden is trying to share with Teaghan

Watching a movie together

Teasing Kenzie

Easter Weekend

Wow...Easter has come and gone already. It's hard to belive how fast the time is going by. We had a really nice weekend despite the fact that Aiden was sick again. Let me tell you....he is a really BAD teether. Not only does he get in like three at a time but he seems to get a double ear infection after each one of them. In addition to the teething he also started a new daycare last week so all of those things combined made for a sick little one.

Saturday we headed to my dad's house. Aiden got to visit with his cousins that we don't see very often. The day started off sort of iffy but the weather cleared and we were able to get the kiddies outside for thier egg hunt! Aiden isn't really into the whole thing yet so Luke and I would throw and egg behind him, he'd spot it, pick it up, place it in his basket, and then we'd take the egg and start the whole process over again. He ended up "picking up" about 20 eggs, but there were only 5 in his basket..hehe...ah the trickery! Aiden hung in there for most of the day, although I couldn't be more than 10 feet away from him b/c if so, he threw a fit.

Sunday were were going to head to the Leesburg flower show but unfortunately Aiden was a clinger all weekend and we didn't want to keep him out in the cold for that long so we ditched it and went over to the Hornbakers for dinner instead. It's been a while since we have seen them so we thought it would be nice to visit!

All in all it was a good weekend!