Happy 7 months!

Today Callie turned 7 months old! The months seem to be going by faster now. This month Callie has done the following:
1. Improved fine motor skills- bangs two blocks together
2. Finger feeds chunks of food
3. Learned to drink out of a sippy cup and hold it for herself
4. Crawl faster- although it's still very one sided using just the left arm and right leg.
5. Pivot on a dime- she can spin around on her rally in a second and does this the most when you put we down in her rib and walk away. It's really sad because she is looking for you and crying for you not to walk away.
6. Sits indefinitely- you can just plop her on the floor and walk away, she can sit more than 30 min or get down and crawl away if she wants
7. Got into sitting by herself one time- she keeps trying but this still is not a skill she has mastered.
8. Wave hello/bye bye- I'm still trying to get her on video doing this but she does do it. Mostly she waves her fingers and just facing herself so not really the right way but its do darn cute. Ill keep trying to catch it on video.
9. Recognizes people in photos- she loves looking at photos and recognizes herself and family for sure. She also loves the mirror ;)
10. Object permanence- she knows when we have something she wants and we take it away, for example she likes the dog bowl and if I move it or put it somewhere else she goes looking for it because even though she can't see it she still knows its there.

We never cease to be amazed by this child. She wants constant attention and someone to interact with her but I think it makes her very smart. She really seems to understand and get the games we play with her. She of course continues to get cuter by the day and her eyes are still blue! I'm wondering if that's just the way they will be?
We forgot our 7 month sticker so ill take official photos this weekend when we get home but here's a few from today anyways.

You can ride in my little red wagon

My mom bought Callie this wagon. We weren't sure if she was big and strong enough to sit in it but figured we would try. We went out for a walk today and its was pretty cold, just below 40, so we bundled up. Thanks Tia Nena for my cute and warm snow suit :)
Callie enjoyed it a lot. It was a bumpy ride but she liked that. She was making noises like long oooooooo and then over the bumps for oo oo oo. It's tough to describe that in words. Hope that makes sense.
We went up to visit the neighbors but he wasn't home. It was still a fun wagon ride and there is a lot to look at in the woods here. It's a bit different than our usual walk around the neighborhood in Chula Vista. On the way back I got in the wagon with Callie and Juan pulled us up the big hill of the driveway. Poor Juan, it's a big hill and I'm not that light, he he.
I think these are my favorite photos so far from our trip. So cute.
Also tonight Cindy came over to see Callie and played for a bit. Callie was wearing her awesome sweater that Estella made her for my shower. It fits prefect and is so adorable .

Drumming with Grandpa

Callie got to play with her first set of musical instruments. She really liked it and was very focused on figuring out how it works. She especially liked the drum with beads in it that makes quite a bit of noise. She also tried shaking the bells too. She was focused on playing this for over a half an hour. Here she is showing off her skills with Grandpa. She got even better after I took the video and knows how to make it work with we hand right away. She still is working on the coordination with the drum stick but pretty good if you ask me!

EST vs PST

So we survived day one and 2 in CT with Callie. We decided to stick with our pacific time zone schedule since Callie doesn't do well with change. She doesn't have a watch so she doesn't know what time it is. We keep her room dark all the time so it's not a tell tale sign either. So far it's working! She went to bed at 9 last night and got up a little before 9. We also adjusted nap times, feeding times, etc. tonight she had dinner at 8:30 and went to bed at 9:30. We are hoping for another good night of sleep. Today we took Callie out to lunch at Panera and she sat in her first wood standard high chair at the table. She did surprisingly well and had a grand time making a big mess of her food.
Also today we tried a baby walker. Her little feet couldn't reach on the lowest setting so we got to work taking it apart and creating a lower setting. A little trial and error and we figured it out. Callie however was not too fond of the walker. She would stand up and put her arms up to Grandpa to save her and pick her up.

My Bud Griffin

I messed up the day I was coming and so we only got limited time to see my best friend Taylor and her baby Griffin. We saw them yesterday for a few hours and this morning before they flew home. Callie just watches Griffin in amazement. He is a pretty active little guy and quite a good dancer! Callie really enjoyed him even if he didn't want to share his toys with her. Taylor and I grew up together and have photos of us together starting at birth so we try to get some photos of our kids together too even though we live 3000 miles away from each other and don't get a lot of chances to catch up.
Here are some photos of the two buds over the last 2 days.
In one photo he is trying to give her a kiss and she just turns her head to give him the cold shoulder! Ha ha already a heart breaker.
It was great to see them as we are already planning our next visit for March.

Made it to CT

Well we made it through the flight to CT. It wasn't easy considering we had no power and packed in the dark. We ended up going to have dinner with Christian and Eliana to put Callie to bed there since it was so hard with no electricity. Then the transfers to carseat then to carrier then to plane were tough. Callie was awake for a few hours. When we were on the plane she was way overtired and acting all crazy. She was fidgeting and squirming all over like a fish out of water and screeching and complaining. Luckily once we were airborne she fell asleep. It was tough to manage holding her while she was sleeping for almost 5 hours. She did cry twice but not for long so I have to say she did pretty good. I was so tired I fell asleep holding her in the most awkward positions. Then she slept the whole car ride home. She must have been really tired as she napped for 5 hours today ! We are sticking with CA time as much as possible so she doesn't get out if sync or her routine so bed time was 9 pm tonight. Crossing my fingers it works.
My college PT friends Kyle and Blair came over with their wives Meaghan and Riles and baby Emma to watch football. Callie and Emma were having a great time playing together and were very interactive. Last time they met they were only 1 month and 3 months but now at 5 and almost 7 they were all grown up. Here they are playing together and even watching football together! It was great to see my friends and catch up but now I am exhausted. Thanks to the MacDonalds and Blair's for making the last minute trip to see us.
Night night.

Snack time

We are hanging around the house today packing and getting ready for our trip tonight, all with no power. Something happened with the power lines on our street and after a huge explosion we have been left in the dark. Well not literally because its the daytime but you know.
Callie just had her lunchtime snack, which was quite a variety today as we are trying to eat what will go bad. She has apple pieces, mango and puffs. She is getting really good at feeding herself and ate almost all of it. Mango is one of the few things that is slimy that she will eat. She will not eat bananas, squash, avocado, but she loves mango.
We are so excited to get on the plane and go already since I thought we would be there by now... But tomorrow it is. So Bon voyage for now ill post from CT tomorrow.