And a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, all! We are finally wrapping up the holiday season, the tree and trimmings are packed away to be brought out again for next Christmas day! The holidays brought a lot of memories, gatherings with Christian's family, my family members that are local, and lots of friends. There were dozens of cookies, cups of cocoa and coffee, snowflakes, songs, and always a camera near by to capture every moment.

West enjoyed being the center of attention at the Calkins Family Holiday Open-house, and put on quite a sweet show in his new (to him) Antique Amish Rocking chair.

The snow started to fall mid-day on Christmas and the family took a walk in the snow and we broke in West's new ATW (All-Terrain Wagon!). It was a great time to look at the twinkling lights and work off a few of those inevitable Christmas calories.

Santa, along with help from family and friends, was very good to all of us and we're looking forward to putting their generous gifts, like a new canning set, a cordless drill, and lots of books and toys for West, to great use. I was also given, in addition to a few other goodies, a beautiful Silver Shamrock necklace from Christian. It was a delightful surprise! West received a Megablocks Bulldozer and driver, blue fuzzy slippers, books, a Playmobile 1-2-3 Airplane with pilot and bubbles, and he actually wanted to play with the toys more than their packaging. I was shocked!

New Years eve was quiet and fairly unremarkable. I worked most of the day and when I arrived home we settled in with a great movie, "Stardust", and some yummy pizza. At midnight with eyes only half opened and ready to hit the hay, we toasted with a bottle of Sparkling Apple-Grape juice, to a 2008 full of adventure, memories and lots of love and laughter. And I was that horrible Mom who poses her son for a picture making him completely miserable. In this moment we discovered he has a very bizarre fear of glittery garland causing him to whimper like a frightened puppy and rub his hands together, so it was removed from his sight as soon as the photo session was over! I think it was worth all it, though....we got one with a smile! (And he'll never have to see purple and silver garland again. We just hope he gets over the fear before it becomes one of those irrational things that will follow him into adulthood!)

We wish you and all your loved ones an amazing 2008 full of togetherness, loads of laughter, adventures galore and, most importantly, sharing the health and good fortune each of us has with those who have not.
Cheers!

Merry, Merry!

Christmas spirit has finally arrived here in Seattle and certainly in the Calkins Homes. Mom and Dad Calkins have decked the halls, covered the walls and set up the trees with twinkling white lights, and all the beauty of the Winter. Here at our place in West Seattle, the oven's been working overtime baking triple espresso peppermint brownies, sugar cookies ready for icing, and loads of other treats. The gifts are getting made, bought and wrapped and we've finally started our Holiday Film viewing with "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!". The joy of the season was really impressed upon us when we took West for his first Santa Photo! He was completely indifferent to the fact that this Old, hairy stranger in a big red-suit was talking to him, let alone holding onto him, as you can see in the photo,
and we had a great time watching him interact and try to figure
out just what St. Nick is all about.

In other news, we are getting over the last of our various illnesses, planning for Westley's first birthday (Wow!) as well as a few other events coming in the beginning of the new year, and trying our best to enjoy the season, family, friends and watching Westley do and say new things all the time. Lately his word of choice is "up" and he's enjoying a couple of new foods, testing his limits when it comes to standing alone and cruising, and he is, as always, so very entertaining to anyone he encounters. I am especially in love with his gorgeous head full of curly blond hair!

Here are a couple of photographs from
our recent trip to the Ballard Locks,
a landmark water-passage way here in Seattle.
They have beautiful gardens there and
it's the perfect place for a
nice quiet walk, and to get a little
nature fix inside the bustling city.

Let it snow...

Everyone is finally getting over the various illnesses running throughout the family, and we are all feeling a thousand percent better. We really enjoyed having Kaijsa here for Thanksgiving and are looking forward to her return very soon! There are parties, open-houses, lots of baking time, and the magic of Christmas coming our way in full force the next few weeks. We've gotten the lights up , the tree sparkling beautifully with visions of Bedford Falls, snowflakes, stars, Superman, and Friends from the Hundred-acre wood, and a few precious pictures. We are still on the hunt for the perfect "Baby's first Christmas" Ornament, but it's likely I'll end up making one instead. Everyone is looking forward to West's first Christmas and though I wish my family could be up here in Seattle to share it with us, I know we'll all be thinking of one another, sharing lots of pictures, phone calls, holiday cards and making the best of the season and all it brings.

Seattle had its' first snow of the winter a few days ago, which was beautiful. Westley wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He seemed very suspicious of all this white fluff swirling around him, falling out of nowhere. Sadly, the loveliness of snow has been followed by a continuing rainstorm that has caused major flooding, mudslides, road closures, power outages, some injuries, and a few fatalities. Hopefully, the rain will let up a bit and people will soon be able to enjoy the winter, instead of having to fear it and wonder what will happen next.

And now for the latest West report! Lately, he's had a fascination with standing with his head and one, if not both, hands on the floor, butt in the air and usually he's either playing with a toy in the free hand or he's spanking himself and has Neal, his blue giraffe, under his head so he can snuggle. He's quite the multi-tasker already!
Well, today as I was listening to him play in his baby jail while I wrote a couple of emails, West proceeded to pull himself up to stand! After a few quiet moments (a little too quiet) I turned to see him pushing Cd's around on the one shelf he could now reach. In my haste to stop him I didn't realize he was standing alone with a firm one-handed grip on the baby jail wall! As soon as I did realize what had happened, as most moms do with milestones, I got a little teary, then gave him tons of kisses, and of course, tried to get him to do it again for a picture to no avail.
He decided to sit down as soon as I noticed he was standing by himself. (This picture is a photographic reenactment of actual events!)
He just looked at me, smiled, and gave me a few nana-nana-na sounds accompanied by a some good juicy "raspberries".
It was a very proud moment indeed!

The first Thanksgiving

We have had quite a holiday week around here! Things are gearing up in the world of retail where Christian and I both spend a good amount of time, catering to the masses, doling out advice for the computer illiterate, and kitchen illiterate, alike. We got a welcome break for the growing chaos last weekend, however, when we met up with our dear friends Lyra and Jen at Country Village in Bothell, WA for the annual Holiday open house. Country Village is a delightful little cluster of shops and cafes right in the middle of a very busy area. Since this is the second year we've made this a priority it is now deemed tradition. We meet for breakfast at the Country Cafe then move on to the scavenger hunt, with which we rarely follow through. Then it's time to shop, maybe get some Ultimate Hot Chocolate and make a stop at the kettle corn stand to watch and taste the warm salty sweet goodness! It was a great day and had I not been going in to work that evening we'd have had an early Thanksgiving Dinner at Jen's. The few days following were fairly uneventful, but that was soon to change for the worse...

On Tuesday evening this week, Christian wasn't feeling too well and had been fighting a cough for weeks. He started to have some back pain and was running a fever. No good could come from any of this. Christian's dad took him to the ER while I stayed home with West and I soon got a call from Christian telling me he had bacterial pneumonia! So...he was given IV antibiotics and a prescription and sent on his way with instructions to rest, load up on fluids, avoid breathing directly on anyone and wear a mask around us at home for the next couple of days. Needless to say, Thanksgiving was postponed. We decided to move the family dinner to Saturday and hopefully by then we'd all be able to have dinner together and relax, and all of us being together was especially important since Christian's sister, Kaijsa was in town for a short visit. Next? We get a call about my father-in-law having to go in to the doctor for a fever, chills, etc. He ended up at the ER with other symptoms but was told with rest and lots of fluids, he'd be fine in a day or two. What was up with this holiday!???

In the End, Westley's first Thanksgiving was held on a Saturday minus his Grandpa, among others we missed, the turkey took longer than expected to cook, and everyone was exhausted, but in the end the food was delicious, the company delightful and the day itself, just one more thing to be thankful for.


Hopefully, all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving filled with variety, fun
and much to be thankful for.








Oh, another first...West finally got the real crawling thing down!
He's a little wonky yet, but he's so adorable while he's learning, so determined too,
and watching him is always good for a lot of laughs!

Bad Auntie Yoki!

My nephew, Alex, turns 3 years old today.
Guess who forgot to get his
card in the mail?
Bad Auntie Yoki!
It's a nickname I've
had since my niece, now almost 10,
could speak. She couldn't get
Auntie Courtney out very easily,
and I am so glad.
I love being Auntie Yoki!

9 months old!

On October 30th, Westley had his 9 month check up. Dr. Malliris, our wonderful pediatrician, said he's doing great and is right on track. He's recently discovered the joys of Ritz crackers, drinking from a cup with our help, and having imaginary friends like Ed and Bart. As of appointment day, he's 25.5 lbs, 31.5" long, is still in the 95th percentile and has his own curve going on all of his charts. As we were dressing him after his weigh-in, he was a bit fussy and while he was crying we saw that he has a total of 4 teeth coming in on the top row. He got his first two on the bottom after 7 months, and his first two uppers shown at about 8 months.
We had no idea they would all come in so quickly
and within mere weeks of each other!

As sort of a 9 month birthday/early Christmas/saving

Mom and Dad's sanity type of gift,
we got Westley the Little Playzone with
lights and sounds. He really
enjoys playing the lighted music
buttons with his feet while clicking
together shapes from his
shape-sorter, another favorite toy.
We call him "Monkey Toes"
because he's always
picking things up or pinching
things with his toes. Lately, he's
started moving toys to
just the right spot so he's
able to lift them
with his feet and toes
just because he can.
It's pretty entertaining!

West's First Halloween

We recently joined a couple of Seattle
meet-up groups for families with
young children and have
really enjoyed socializing
with other families in our area.
It's been so fun introducing
West to some new friends and seeing
him interact with kids his age.
To celebrate his first
Halloween we went to
a couple of costume parties
in the area and had
a blast meeting
lots of great people.
Watching the kids grow
and play together is
a wonderful time we're
really look forward to.
And everyone was safe from harm since
Superman was on the scene!

Our year at a glance

What a year we've had! It started out with My mom coming into Seattle and staying with us for a while, as we all awaited the birth of our son, Westley (West). She was here for a few weeks and got to spend a few days with all three of us together after West was born on January 25th. So far, though, she's the only family member on my side to have met him. We're hoping to get the rest of the family up for a visit at some point so they all get to know him and we can have some quality family time. In the meantime, we have had lots of time with friends and Christian's side of the family and we are all enjoying watching Westley grow and develop. It seems every day he's more active, more vocal and incredibly entertaining! Favorite toys include the "first blocks" shapes and bucket, Teal Neal the giraffe, and the light/sound board on the wall of his baby jail.

Aside from being new parents, which is still so strange and amazing, we had a busy spring with me going back to work for Williams-Sonoma part time and Christian at the Apple Store full time, West and I are on our own until 6 or 7 most evenings. We usually have a good time. but it's always a great relief when Christian gets home. He's an amazing father and I know when I'm at work he and West have a great time together. We are so lucky though, since West is a very mellow, though sometimes very loud, baby. He's really only grumpy when it's past feeding time, he's over-tired or he has a "treasure" for us....

The summer was also filled with weddings, birthdays,
anniversaries and visits with family and friends. Aunt Kaijsa came to visit from Wyoming, we went up to Arlington to spend time with Great Uncle Chris, and we've had lots of people over to play at our house. Christian also went out of town for 6 days to take part in some training for work, which was a little scary, and sometimes tough, but we survived the week and ended up having a pretty good time.

In August we relocated to West Seattle from Ballard. We are in a much bigger place now. It's another apartment, and we have had a few issues with our neighbors that continue to frustrate us, but overall we're happy. West has his own room and there are lots of big windows to let the sunshine in. I've really been utilizing the extra space in the kitchen area and doing a ton of baking and creating new recipes.

The coming months will be busy, as winter months tend to be, and we are looking forward to all the chaos and insanity the holidays always bring. We'll be hosting Thanksgiving this year and have a wonderful menu planned as well as some great ways to enjoy the day. For West's first Christmas we'll be sharing our time between our home and Grandpa Bill and Grandma Karen's house, and making the rounds to deliver lots of treats to friends and relatives. I'll soon be busying myself with candy making, cookie baking, card crafting and gift gathering.

And as soon as you can say "Winter Wonderland" the Holiday Season will be over, and the preparations for West's First Birthday Party will begin! Stay tuned...

Westley's Here!

On January 25th, 2007,
at 2:40am
Westley Christian Calkins
finally arrived!

(All 10 pounds, 12 ounces
and 22.5 inches of him!)