Merry Christmas 2009!

Making Calan's stocking

Decorating our Gingerbread House

Christmas morning at home

Christmas in Carpinteria

Ho,ho,ho

Boxes are the most fun!

Playing peek a boo!

Grandma bought me a Dodgers top!

Out for an after Christmas dinner walk

Phew, Christmas is tiring!

Calan's 1st steps caught on video, on Boxing day!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76508739@N00/4217367026/

Calan's 1st Halloween Party!

Deep in conversation with Olivia the witch!

Hannah, as a Princess and Pamela as a witch.

Allison as the Goddess that she is!

Lindy, Brody, Caelen and Calan

Brody unwraps a layer in the "Pass the Parcel" game

The music stops and it's Olivia's turn.

Did Lily get the final layer of paper?

Nope, Caelen's next.....

Seth won the prize!

Katie and me.

Daddy's turn for "Pin the Tail on the Witches Cat".

Lily did a great job!

Seth's effort was inspected by Lily!

Olivia got the closest!

Geeeeez mom!

Caelen in his Monkey hat!

Happy Halloween everyone!

We had such a fun morning, thank you to all of our wonderful friends!

Our trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Calan is 8 months old!

Hi all, here we are in the lovely Fall season, with pumpkin patches and the delicious fruits of the Harvest. We have been so busy with our little guy, visiting old friends, making new friends, joining a mamas walking group and enjoying Parent Participation classes. Calan is thriving in his little community here and what a wonderful welcome it has extended to us. We began feeding Calan solids at 7 months and he LOVED them! His favourites are Sweet Potato and Winter Squash and he eats along with us at breakfast and dinner times. I am giving him little tastes of whatever I am eating, within reason (!) and he loves Banana Bread and sucking on Apples. He is yet to master the art of sucking water from a sippy cup, but he certainly enjoys chewing on the spout! (No teeth yet.) Calan loves his walker, (which we carefully "ration" to avoid hampering his crawling efforts) it has really opened up his little world and he zooms around the entire house eagerly seeking out new things to look at. Now that Calan is almost 8 months old, Kevin and I have seen some great new developments. This week, Calan has found the joy of emptying items from large mixing bowls etc! Proceeding this was the fun of banging a lid against said bowl and before that he delighted in shaking a baby bottle full of Tortellini's, aaah, simple pleasures! He is desperately trying to crawl and is almost there, just gotta keep those hips up and he'll be off like a rocket! He is really giggling and enjoying us, playing "Peek a Boo" and little word games such as "Round and Round the Garden." Calan seems to have a wonderfully silly sense of humour....just like his parents! He is beginning to use lots of baba/mama/nana/wawa sounds, even seeming to converse with his buddy Atticus-very cute! Coming up this month is a luncheon with Kevin's Godparents and a visit to the Pumpkin Patch with Grandma and a little Halloween party, we promise to post pictures! We hope this finds you all well as we are here, happy Fall, Bryony, Kevin and Calan xoxoxo

6 months old, posing for Grandad's photo shoot.

Enjoying a wee drive in Grandma's yard.

On the beach in Carpinteria.

In his kilt!

Calan loves to chew EVERYTHING!

Family fun in Carpinteria!

To celebrate Patti and Tod's 45th wedding anniversary, Kevin, Calan and I went to Carpinteria for a long weekend. It was great to catch up with Uncle Scott and family from Oregon and his girls came up from LA too, which was a lot of fun. We also saw aunt Patty and cousin Dena with her lovely children, who I met for the first time. They had a wonderful time playing on the beach with Taryn, Peyton and Chase. Aunty Whitney struck up a great friendship with our little guy, who was more than happy to be cuddling with her!

Back here in Baywood Park, Calan and I have been out walking with our new friend Lindy, mama to 5 month old Brody. It's great to have another mummy/baby pal, especially as our little buddy Atticus has been in LA with his mum for the last week or so. We have also been out for another North Coast Mommies event at the local coffee shop, and we will be meeting again on Monday. Calan and I are building a great community for ourselves here, we love it!

Calan had his 6 month check at the pediatricians on Thursday. He now weighs 16.5 (25%), up from 13.15 (24%) from his 4 month check. His height shot up from 24 inches (22%) to 27 inches (75%!!) which is an amzing growth spurt and his wee head is still on the 10 percentile range but is growing consistently and we think perfectly in proportion to his little body!

Now that Calan is 27 weeks old, we see excellent sitting for long periods and some more rolling over. He particularly loves his new vocal range, squealing and trying out new sounds all of the time. He is using toys like his "gumball" machine with purpose, hitting the lever specifically and I have introduced him to his spoon and Nuby net to chew on in preparation for feeding times. He seems to enjoy looking at his hands, holding them up high and gazing at them in front of his face. He shows a real interest in other babies and reaches out to touch them (and eat their toys!). We haven't seen any sign of teeth yet, but he is certainly chewing on everything he can get his wee hands on, particularly pushing things to the rear of his gums to gnaw on. He has added a morning stroll to his daily requirements, fussing and letting me know when it is time to get out and about, usually around 8 a.m! He now "encourages" us to walk at least twice daily, and this from a boy who used to really dislike his stroller!

And finally, Many Happy returns to Kevin who celebrates his birthday on Sunday.