Thanksgiving 2008

Calah's 1st Thanksgiving was spent with Steve's family. We got to meet Aunt Jolie and Uncle Brian and their new baby, Anna. There was plenty of great food and great fun. We drove to Winchester for the holiday and spent the night and then had a full day of shopping to follow! Cousin Anna was so interested in Calah. She wanted to give Calah kisses all day and I actually got a couple of photos of it. Hope everyone else had a nice Thanksgiving!!

November 15, 2008

This week Calah has been trying to roll over and has accomplished it a couple of times to her own surprise. I got so excited that I kept rolling her back onto her stomach until she got so fed up with me that she just started fussing loudly! She is becoming so much more aware of EVERYTHING!! I can no longer have the TV on while she is nursing because she has become totally obsessed with that box that has pictures coming out of it. It just amazes me daily that little person I am responsible for is a little sponge looking for knowledge and I am the one she is looking for to give it to her.....SCARY!!!

Chip's old roommate from college, Nate, and his girlfriend, Carrie came to meet Calah last weekend. And leave it to Nate to put a durag on my daughter's head! It was hilarious! She looks like a gangster baby!

The Beginning

To start at the beginning would mean to tell the back story of how Calah got here. I have always wanted to be a mom, but always have thought I would do it the old fashioned way, marry the man of my dreams and start a family. But obviously that is not the way it happened. Steve and I had just met and I ended up pregnant so we decided to stop dating and just figure out how to be great friends and raise Calah together. So far, we are still working on the friends part, but we have a beautiful little girl!
Calah was born on August 2, 2008 at 1:01 pm in Fredericksburg, VA.
She weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 inches long.
It is almost impossible to wrap my head around how much I love this little person. It amazes me everytime I look into her eyes that she is a part of me. I really can not believe that I waited so long to become a mother and experience this part of my life. I can not wait to share in all of her experiences!!

Halloween 2008

Calah's 1st Halloween was spent on the Eastern Shore. She went trick or treating with Walt, Justin, and Corbin. She was dressed as a little kitty cat, but mommy did not let anyone give her any candy because mommy knew who would eat it all!!
She did great! She stayed awake the whole time we were out. She was busy checking out all the other little trick or treaters! But as soon as I put her in her car seat, she was out! Then it was off to her Nanie and PopPop's for dinner and a visit from Aunt Barbara. She had a BIG day!!

Calah's 1st week was a tough one emotionally for me. I was ecstatic over her birth, but 2 days afterwards my grandmother passed away. She was one of my best friends and confidants. She had been progressively getting weaker for months, but wanted so badly to see Calah that I believe her will held on just long enough. My parents came out to Fredericksburg the day Calah was born, dad left the following day and went back to the shore. On Monday he visited my grandmother and showed her photos of Calah and she passed away that morning at 6am. It was devestating to me and my family. Calah had just been sent home from the hospital and had jaundice so they were making me take her to the lab for her heel to be pricked and then to the doctor's office EVERYDAY!! I was not sure if I was going to get the go ahead for travel back home for my grandmother's funeral. We did not find out until Thursday afternoon, the day before the funeral, that the doctor's were going to let Calah and I travel. So these are a couple of photos from that trip. It's amazing how much she had changed in just a couple of months!!