Sweet little Calah Girl

The phases of "crawling"

Phase 1: Ok. I'm going to try crawling. Ready...go!









Phase 2: SQUACK!! I'm frustrated!! They make this look a lot easier than it is!







Phase 3: Yep, look at me! I'm going to crawl. *sigh* Nope...back to phase 1.

7 Months Old

7 months old? Is that possible? Calah is closer to being 1 than being a newborn. Crazy!! She turned 7 months on December 15th...so yes, I am a little bit behind (So much so that I have decided to send out our Christmas letter in June. Yep, June.). Calah continues to be our calm (for the most part) and smiley girl. She sits and smiles as Lilija runs around.

Here are highlights from the last month

• Saying "Mama" and "Dada"
• Can do the splits (her flexibility is astounding)
• Gets really mad if sister takes her toy away
• Is still working on crawling
• Loves carrots, peas, pears, and sweet potatoes
• Can stand for long amounts of time with minimal support from Mama or Daddy

That's the scoop for now!

Much love,
Carl "Chip", Kysa, Lilija and Calah

Sisters

Monster Cookies

Lilija and I had so much fun making Monster Cookies. This is a tradition that Auntie Trish and her Mom have been doing since she was little, and I wanted to start it with the girls. By the end of the afternoon there was sprinkles all over the kitchen, food coloring on the counter, a messy child pumped with sugar, and I LOVED every moment of it!

Quick! It's raining!!

I got this pop-up caterpillar from one of my coworkers, and it has been a constant source of entertainment from the moment I brought it home. Lilija calls it her "tent" and she likes to pretend that it's raining out, so you need to run and hide in the tent. This goes on, and on, and on. Here are some shots of her playing the game with Bapa.

Nana and Calah

Sitting up

Calah has been sitting up on her own for a while, but this was the night that she was finally able to sit on her own for an extended amount of time. Way to go Calah girl!

Bath time!

I want to go fast

Liliija - The Update

Since I did an update on Calah, I thought I should do an update on Lilija. Here it goes!

Lilija is 2 1/2 (does that tell you anything?!) and is too smart for her own good. We are in the days of training with her. Jesus gave her a strong willed personality, a hilarious sense of humor, and an incredible thirst for adventure. Mix that with a force of constant energy, no fear, and the cutest little singing voice, and you've got our Lilija!

Her favorite things are reading, running ("I run really fast"), and building things. Right now she's on a towers and puzzles kick. Oh, and she runs really fast, as in faster than Mama. Yeah, I know...I'm not the fastest runner, but seriously she loves to get on the treadmill, and has gone as fast as 6 miles an hour. Mind you, it was only for a moment, and YES, Carl holds her hand the entire time so she's safe, but 6 miles an hour?! I think my top is 5. Goodness, I really need to step up the cardio!

She loves to "read" to you. The book Going to the Zoo is a daily must read, and Lilija likes to tell you what all the animals are doing. The other day she told me that "snakes are very snakey." I wasn't aware of that. Good to know.

Finally, my favorite, she loves to sing "Oh how I love Jesus." You'll hear her precious little voice out of the blue just singing along...or in the monitor at night as she's going to sleep (immediately followed by the Dinosaur song).

Love,
Corbett Family

6 Months Old

The second child syndrome has started. I missed Calah's 6 month "posed" picture with her puppy and sign. Whoops. At least I got the professional ones done. Right? Right. Even thought I missed the official picture I can still loop you in with her 6 month accomplishments and highlights, so here's the scoop!

• Can roll over front to back and back to front...and crawl backwards. (She's still working on getting herself going forwards and gets REALLY frustrated when she's getting further and further away from her nuk or toy of choice.)
• Is FINALLY sleeping consistently through the night. Whew! She was doing that at about 8 weeks old and then our camping trip to Grand Marais threw the routine off. We've been trying to get her back on it ever since. Yippee!
• Is eating solid foods. I don't know why I didn't make my own with Lilija, but that is one think that I'm doing with Calah. She loves sweet potatoes, peas, squash, and is not quite sure what to think about applesauce. This weekend I'm going to make peaches and pears for her to try. Yum!
• If she drops something she realizes that it's gone...or if Mama and Daddy go into the other room she misses us. Very cute.
• Calah is starting to babble, and I've heard the occasional "dada" or "baba" followed or proceeded by a lot of other random noises.
  
• Likes to scream. Still calling her the Calahdactyl. It fits. Really.

She is such a happy, smiley, baby girl. I know I say that at every update (now I'm going to have to go back and check) but it's so true. She's just a joy to be around. *awe*

Love,
Carl "Chip", Kysa, Lilija, and Calah

Birthday Flowers

Carl surprised me with a bouquet of beautiful flowers for my birthday. Way to go Babe!

Thanksgiving

This year marked our 5th or 6th year having Friends Thanksgiving. It started a few years back when one particular Thanksgiving, our parents were out of town. And by "our" parents, I mean almost all of the parents of our group (SMACK MR. T, LJC!). So, we decided to have Thanksgiving as a group and the tradition stuck. It was such a relaxing and wonderful day!

6 Months Old

Family Pictures

Round 1: Calah

So here is the story. Yes, Calah put me in urgent care over the weekend. And yes, you read that right. Calah put ME in urgent care.

The girls and were having a great time Saturday morning. I had just told Lilija that we could go play in the snow later on that morning. I was holding Calah on my hip when POW, she swung around and her thumb made direct contact with my left eye.

At first I thought that it was just a finger to the eye, but then the pain hit and I realized I was in serious trouble. First call was to my Mama, and second call was to my Mom (Carl's Mama, Sherri) and Robert. They both were on the way in moments.

Mom and Robert watched the girls while Mama took me to urgent care. Diagnosis: severe corneal abrasion that damaged about 25% of my eye. What a blessing that I had cut her nails the night before, or it could have been a lot worse!

Thank you to Carl, Mama, Sherri, and Robert for taking such good care of me. I also got some sweet hugs and cuddle time from Calah and Lilija. Oh, and Lilija thought I was a pirate so she was walking around saying, "RRRR, Matey!" but then she would come over to me, put her head on my lap, and say, "You all better now, Mama?" Yes, sweetie, I'm all better now.

Trick-or-Treat

Lilija was a horse...or a cowgirl and a horse. I found the outfit at a garage sale a month ago and she's been playing with it ever since. ("Horse goes really fast!" "Whoa horsey!" "Faster, horse, faster!") I'm going to have to try to get another picture of her in the getup because these pictures don't do it justice. Since Lilija was a horse, I was set on having Calah be a cow. Many of you know that we call her Calahdactyl...so for the night she was Cowadactyl. :)

Our first stop was to see Grandma Sherri and Robert. They gave Lilija a cute treat bag and Calah a little bear. Funny because Lilija has to sleep with that bear now every night. Let's pause for a moment and cover the items that Lilija need to go to sleep:

1. Blanket
2. Dolly
3. Bear (pink)
4. Fish
5. Dolphin from Bapa (mind you, it's plastic)
6. 2 nuks
7. water
8. Singing bear

That was fun! So anyways...back to our story. Lilija is just in love with this singing bear but kept pushing the button, so I had to tell her that the bear was tired and needed to go to sleep. She didn't hit the button again...until the next morning when she said, "Yea! The bear isn't tired anymore!"

Next stop was to Nana and Bapa's. GG's, Andy, Trish, and Doolie were over at Mom and Dad's. Nana and Bapa got Lilija a puzzle (that she has mastered) and book. Our little Calah got a really cool teething toy. Those teeth should be coming in any day now!

After hanging out with family we took the girls trick-or-treating. Lilija absolutely loved it! And for us, it brought back fun memories of when we were kids and our parents were the ones reminding us to say "thank you." What a great night!

Halloween - Prep and Pumpkins

Lilija was interested in watching us carve the pumpkins, but had no interest in helping. We tried to get her to help "get the ickies out" but she was content watching. She did like the pumpkins when they were lit...but not quite as much as the image of the ghost or witch that was projected on the garage of the house across the street from us. "Hey Mama, I found the witch. High five!"