Visits to MN

The hardest part about moving back to Minnesota from Arizona was leaving our friends there. Luckily, we have a couple of friends who visit Minnesota at least once a year thanks to having family that lives out here.

Janice was the first friend that I made when I moved to Arizona back in 2000. We became fast friends and even though we don't talk as often as I'd like (we both have two kids.....phone conversations are rarities for both of us!) we always pick up where we left off when we do talk or see each other. She is absolutely the sweetest person I know. She was out here visiting family a couple of weeks ago, so we met her, her kids A and J, her sister-in-law K, and K's kids L and G at the Mall of America for rides and lunch.

L and Audia

Audia, A, and L

Chaos

The girls

Chris met Brian when Chris first moved to AZ in 1998. Chris lived with Brian for a while when Chris and I were first dating, and I spent a lot of Wednesday nights bowling and drinking with them and a bunch of other friends back in 'the good old days.' Brian married Sarah, who has family that lives about 15 minutes from Chris' family's cottage in Wisconsin. We went up to the cottage this past weekend and met up with Brian, Sarah, and their two girls E and S.

S, Audia, and E

E and Audia hit it off pretty quickly :-)

Ice Cream!

It is so fun to be able to see some of our AZ friends at least once a year, and to watch the kids grow up!

1 Month

One month. Really?! Where it felt like time flew before, it now feels like it's going so fast that I must be missing something. Like maybe I've suddenly developed narcolepsy and am sleeping through half the day and not realizing it. Time is being sucked into some vacuum somewhere, I swear.

The first couple of weeks of Chris being back at work have been quite a roller coaster ride. There are days where it's a breeze; Callen wakes to feed and for a little playtime, but other than that sleeps a lot in his basinette. Other days, he's awake quite a bit more, and refuses to sleep anywhere but on my shoulder. These days are rough. Imagine trying to do everything with one hand. Or setting down a sleeping baby only to rush to get as much as you possibly can done before he wakes up screaming again. Ahh, life with an infant. The good news is that regardless of how the day has gone, Callen sleeps in his basinette just fine at nighttime. He still is waking every 2-3 hours to feed, but when he's full, he sleeps. So we are getting a decent amount of sleep, albeit in 2 to 3 hour spurts.

Callen is still pretty laid back overall, regardless of his clingy days. And, I of course do not blame him for having days where he wants to be held all day. They call it the fourth trimester for a reason! I just wish he would take a bit more liking to being in his sling and/or moby wrap. Or that I could grow a third (and maybe fourth) arm.

Callen is taking bottles without any problems whatsoever, which is HUGE for us (Audia took one. Once. And that was it.)  That combined with his still being 'carseat friendly' makes him a lot easier to get out and about with. I even was able to leave for a few hours this weekend to get manicures with my mom! It was wonderful :-)

As Callen gets older, I think he is looking less and less like his sister did. Here are some photos for comparison. What do you think?

Audia at 1 month

Callen at 1 month

Audia's still adjusting suprisingly well to having a brother. She is still so sweet with him. If he starts crying and I'm in the middle of making lunch or doing dishes or whathaveyou, she will, on her own, go to him and sing him a song or talk to him until I can get to him to pick him up. She still has her moments of wanting me to put Callen down right now so that I can play with her or hold her or help her with something, but the vast majority of the time she is very good about waiting until I can set him down to do what she wants. I am so excited for them to start being able to interact more.