I am a slacker!!!

I realize it has been WAAAAY too long since I've updated the blog. I am really, really, bad at keeping up with these things! Here are some fun pics of Annie over the last few months. Also, she started crawling this week on her Dad's birthday! So exciting. She is VERY thrilled that she can move around now. Her favorite activity is to crawl to our ottoman and pull herself up to stand and look out the window. She's also learned how to stand up in her crib this past week so her Dad had to adjust the mattress lower so she doesn't catapult herself out of the bed in the morning. This morning we woke up to her standing there holding the side of the crib and staring at us squeaking. We love her!
This is Annie watching general conference last October.


Here's a picture of Annie in her Halloween costume. She was a strawberry! (Thanks, Alicia :))

This is Annie's first encounter with rice cereal. It's funny, this picture resembles the look she sported this morning after breakfast, as well. Not much has changed. In fact, I think that she's managing to get more food on herself instead of less.

This is Annie after her "nightcap" bottle. She always falls asleep right after and it's so fun to cuddle with her. She's getting very active so these moments usually only take place now when she is sleeping. (note the dried milk on my shoulder :))

This is a more recent video of Daddy doing his "cirque du soleil" routine with her (I try not to watch these things most of the time because it scares me!)

Some More Pics of Annie and Update

I'm starting to try to get used to having small bits of time between naps and feedings. Hopefully I can be better at updating the blog. Usually, right now, sleep wins out most of the time. Here are a few more pics of the little bug. She's going on four weeks on Friday. Time flies! She went to her pediatrician appointment today and weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz. She's now 20 and a half inches long.

One day kind of rolls into the other right now, too. I realized yesterday when I went out to mail a letter that I hadn't been outside for four days. I had friends tell me how that happened to them and I could never imagine how it was possible. Now I know.

Here are some picture updates of the last week or two:


Annie cuddling with my Mom. My mom was a lifesaver for the 2 weeks after Annie was born. :)

Annie cuddline with Aunt Jen. Jen and Jeremy have been out here for the past week. They've been using their precious vacation to help us paint, clean, and install flooring in the place where we are moving. Bless them!

Annie tried out "tummy time" this week. She's going to be crawling soon! :) Ha! She just needs to figure out the pushing up with her hands part. Since that requires not sucking her thumb or fist, it may be a while.

Three weeks old. I just loved this pic. She is always so alert.

Assuming the burp position. She leans her cheek over to the right and sticks out her right arm and half closes her eyes. I'm not sure this picture quite does it justice. . .

Handsome pop modeling the stylish carrier he sported to take Annie for a walk along the Charles River esplanade a week ago. Annie slept most of the time. When she woke up, Derrick told her stories on the way home and she tilted her head back and stared at him, listening, the whole time. (one story was about a baby that was a princess most of the time, but when she was hungry she turned into a crocodile. . . sounds like someone I know)

This is Annie after her bath the other day. It's the first time she actually enjoyed bath time and she's been loving it ever since. It's fascinating to watch her go through "firsts" as a newborn and kind of hate it and then once she get used to things she starts enjoying them. This happened with Annie's first walk in the stroller. We made it one block and every bump, her little arms would fly up in the air and she was scared. Her dad had to carry her home because she was so upset and she sucked on his pinky the whole way. Now we put her in the stroller and hit potholes and she'll sleep through it. :)

Annie Elizabeth Call

Annie Elizabeth joined us two weeks ago on Friday, June 25th. She was 8 lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long. Mel had to push for a little while because Annie's head was at an angle, but Annie was patient through the whole ordeal and finally arrived! She has such a sweet disposition. She loves to cuddle and often smiles and laughs, especially while she is asleep. We feel so blessed to have her. Here are a few of our favorite pictures: (if someone wants to fill me in on how to do a slide show, I'll post some more :)).

Stranded and No Church Today

It's a snow emergency today in Boston so I have nothing to do but update the blog and sit inside and sip hot cocoa. It's rough.

Much has been going on in the Call world. In October, we had a fun visit from Nick and Natalie Gottwald. It was great to spend time with them and show them some of the sites. On Halloween, we had friends over for scones and cider. Afterwards, we walked around the neighborhood with some of the kiddos for trick-or-treating. The area where we are living is a lot of fun on Halloween--everyone decorates the front of their home and sits outside handing out candy. Very festive. We also celebrated by going to the BU Hockey game and to a Halloween party. We had a great time.

In November, my parents stopped by on their way home from their mission in Ohio. We loved having them for a few days and were glad they could pop in before they headed home. We enjoyed Thanksgiving here in Boston with friends. The weather (until recently) was unseasonably warm. The fall here is so spectacular and it lasts a lot longer than out west. I feel like we really got a chance to soak it in and enjoy it.

In December we met up with Nick and Natalie on a last "east coast" hoorah in New York before they went back home. Poor Derrick wore himself out playing football and basketball in the 64 degree weather the day before we left and got super sick on Friday. He was a trooper, though as I dragged him through the Guggenheim, Central Park, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, and the Empire State Building. It was a quick trip, and fun to hang with the Gottwalds.

Derrick finished his finals last Wednesday and is loving his freedom (and gets to now start studying for the boards--yay!). I'm loving my cute English classes and my work at the NDEC. I'm excited to come home and see everyone over the holiday!

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God
It was never between you and them, anyway.

--Mother Theresa (written on the wall in her home)

The Move and Other News

We recently relocated from Cambridge to downtown Boston. It has been a whirlwind! Thanks to all those who have helped out. We had several friends who were lifesavers on moving day and we couldn't have done it without them. We are now (a month later) feeling like we are almost moved in.

Just a run-down on the moving experience: Mel reserved the moving van for 2 days because we had to be out of our place in Cambridge by midnight on August 31st, but we couldn't move into the new place until 10 a.m. on September 1st. When Derrick went to pick up the UHaul, they told him they didn't have our reservation in the system for 2 days and that we couldn't get the size of moving van we had reserved. As a result, we were fortunately able to get the key early from the landlord and move in early. However, the landlord wasn't able to go in and clear out everything beforehand. When we arrived, the apartment was full of old furniture, food, clothing, etc. that we had to clear out. In addition, the landlord wanted to paint the place, but wouldn't do it before we moved in, so we had to leave all of our things in boxes and cover it with plastic. The painters couldn't come during the day, so we couldn't sleep at our place for 3 days and had to live out of suitcases and stay with friends.

To make things even more exciting, apparently the 2 girls that were living in the apartment when we looked at it several months ago, had sublet it to 5 guys for the past 5-6 months and it was a HUGE mess. Mel has literally spent 15 hours on the bathroom, alone (you don't even want to know. . . ). The carpets were totally disgusting. We cleaned them twice with a steamer and then had a professional carpet cleaner come in as well. Anyway, enough of the not so positive details. :) Long story short, our move was horrible, but now we are loving where we live and our apartment is clean. Yay!

We took a trip two weeks ago to Baltimore area to visit Nick and Natalie Gottwald. It was great to catch up and spend some time with good friends. Last weekend Derrick went to Hartford, Connecticut for an American Student Dental Association conference (aka a huge party). Derrick came home with no voice from going out and having a great time. Highlights: dancing with his friend on his shoulders at a club with a guy dressed as uncle sam who was standing on stilts; eating at Buffalo wild wings; going to great meetings; and eating big breakfasts every day.

Derrick threw a surprise birthday party for Mel on Monday night. She was totally shocked. He made a 4 layer chocolate cake by himself. Super impressive! (Derrick has always held out that he is only capable of cooking things that require a spatula- - - he has now proven otherwise).

We LOVED conference this weekend and enjoyed listening to the sessions with friends and eating yummy food at the same time. Life is good in beantown.

Go Sox!

We finally made it to a Red Sox game! They played the Orioles and we won by 5 runs. It was so much fun to see a major league game! I realized that the two major league games I've seen in my life have been the White Sox and the Red Sox. :) We saw two home runs (one by David Ortiz, who unfortunately admitted to steriod use only a few days after the game we watched--he said it was in 2003, but it sort of puts a shadow on the experience. Gotta love reality!) Semi- taintedness aside, it was so fun to watch a game in Fenway Park, eat a hot dog and watch some great ball.