Christmas "Card"

Merry Christmas Loved Ones!

The beginning months of 2010 were spent on last minute preparations for baby! Dave finished up her room and putting together furniture, stroller, high chair etc. I did the baby registry and baby showers and did my best to find a comfortable sleeping position (yeah, right!) and together we went to regular doctor appts. and looked into life insurance. AND THEN, Callie Sue arrived bright and early Tuesday morning, March 30^th, and our lives were changed forever!

I spent the spring and summer months transitioning into motherhood and wondering how my mom made it look so easy! Along with adjusting to being a father, Dave also took several seminary courses over the summer, wrapped up 6 years of full-time youth ministry and began his new job as Associate Pastor. If change equals stress, you could say we were basket cases! We are so thankful for the Lord giving us the strength for each day and all the prayers from family and friends.

Other noteworthy news this year:

• My parents celebrated their 30^th wedding anniversary on March 15^th!
• Dave led a group of 20 teens on a mission trip to Alaska this July, along with our new youth pastor and some wonderful adult helpers!
• Brother-in-law, Josh, was hired as the Children’s Pastor at Skyline Baptist in North Bend.
• Josh and Anna received an offer on their home just days before moving to North Bend after a long 11 months on the market. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness!
• While this year has been grueling on my parents with my mom’s health issues and business challenges, we praise God that the cancer has not spread, and she has not needed chemo or radiation. We greatly appreciate your continued prayer for my Mom and Dad.
• Dave was able to arrange his work schedule to have “Daddy/Callie time” while I’m at work two mornings a week.
• We celebrated our 6^th wedding anniversary on December 18^th.

We are so excited to share Christmas traditions and began to explain the meaning of Christmas with Callie. Having it be Callie’s first Christmas has made us step back to evaluate what Christmas is all about to us as a family and what we want Callie to grow up remembering and prioritizing. It's not about all the presents under the tree but the true GIFT of Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers us!

A few thoughts about Callie: She’s pretty much adorable all the time. She has the most kissable little cheeks. She loves to make funny faces and does an awesome snort. She loves to blow bubbles with her saliva-very attractive on a girl! She has the sweetest giggle that is awfully contagious. She adores her daddy and gets so excited whenever she sees him-her whole body shakes and she breaks into a huge grin and chatter. She thinks cats and small dogs are hilarious. She loves playing patty cake. She enjoys “Skyping” relatives. She started crawling as soon as we got out the Christmas lights and is now pulling herself up on anything and everything!

We hope this holiday season leads you to be more in love with our Savior, Jesus Christ and brings you blessed times with family and friends!

With love, Dave, Amy, & Callie Bertolini

8 Months!

Well, this picture pretty much captures Callie's entire personality-fun-loving, happy, playful and spoiled little Diva :-)! Each month she is developing more and more of her own personality, which is so cute and exciting some days and entirely frustrating others! Normally, she sleeps well in her crib but occasionally (and unfortunately seeming to be more often) she throws tantrums when we put her down. I have watched her from her door as she screams and then puts her pacifier back into her mouth to see if I respond. If I don't in the allotted amount of time (about 3 seconds), she whips it back out and screams again, only to repeat the process! We had some exciting "firsts" this month. Callie's first word was "Mama"-cried out in the middle of the night on November 19th. It has since been the go-to word whenever she needs something-whether that's me, food, sleep, etc. I was a little concerned, though when she saw a hippopotamus on the t.v. and said "Mama!"

The second exciting first occurred when I was putting the lights on the Christmas tree this past weekend. There was still a pile of lights on the floor and it didn't take long before Callie figured out how to crawl over to them! We were suspecting Christmas decorations of some kind would do the trick, as she'd been VERY close to crawling for about 3 weeks now.

I would love to report that Callie enjoyed her first Thanksgiving and tried mashed potatoes and green beans. Unfortunately, eating is still giving us fits. She really doesn't seem to like any baby foods, so we think it's a texture thing. As one friend said, "She just has refined taste buds!" So far, we have tried sweet potato, squash, pear, applesauce, and peaches (along with rice cereal and oatmeal), but all have been met with the same disgusted reaction. She does enjoy "Puffs" and Rice Wafer crackers.

It seems she is working very hard to get her first top tooth. I'm praying it will break through soon, so I can trade in the tantrum baby for my sweet girl! In the meantime, I'm off to call Dave to bring home more infant Tylenol!

November 2010 in Pics!

Ready for a walk outside to admire the Christmas lights Daddy just put up!

Here we are with our tree!

There were some sheep at the tree farm, too!

Callie and cousin Sophie at Davis Family Thanksgiving

Callie's first Thanksgiving!

One of our Christmas presents arrived in a box that was just the right size for Callie and Daddy to play Box Racer all around the living room!

Possibly the Best Deal of the Season!

Well, yesterday was Black Friday, so I'm in a money-saving kind of mood. And, since Thanksgiving's over, it's that time of year, when I begin to think about Christmas cards. I LOVE receiving Christmas cards and hearing what all our friends and family have been up to the past year! Most of all, though, I LOVE the photo cards-getting a glimpse of this year's vacation spot and how children have changed! Photo cards can get expensive, which is why I am SO excited about this awesome deal from Shutterfly! Shutterfly is a great site for designing your Christmas cards with lots of fun holiday backgrounds and templates to choose from! And right now, they're running an awesome deal! Get 50 free holiday cards when you write about Shutterfly on your blog! These aren't just your run-of-the-mill cards, either! They have so many great designs to choose from-whether you have that one perfect picture, or can't decide so you want to do a collage of best shots from 2010! Check out their holiday cards here! I'm so excited to put our Christmas picture card together-but looking through all the options on Shutterfly, it's going to be a tough decision-there are so many to choose from!

So, if you're like me and want quality photo cards at a great deal, check out this link for Shutterfly's 50 free Holiday Cards promo deal! Happy Christmas card writing!

Callie's First Snow!!!!

Possibly the Best Deal of the Season!

Well, yesterday was Black Friday, so I'm in a money-saving kind of mood. And, since Thanksgiving's over, it's that time of year, when I begin to think about Christmas cards. I LOVE receiving Christmas cards and hearing what all our friends and family have been up to the past year! Most of all, though, I LOVE the photo cards-getting a glimpse of this year's vacation spot and how children have changed! Photo cards can get expensive, which is why I am SO excited about this awesome deal from Shutterfly! Shutterfly is a great site for designing your Christmas cards with lots of fun holiday backgrounds and templates to choose from! And right now, they're running an awesome deal! Get 50 free holiday cards when you write about Shutterfly on your blog! These aren't just your run-of-the-mill cards, either! They have so many great designs to choose from-whether you have that one perfect picture, or can't decide so you want to do a collage of best shots from 2010! Check out their holiday cards here! I'm so excited to put our Christmas picture card together-but looking through all the options on Shutterfly, it's going to be a tough decision-there are so many to choose from!

So, if you're like me and want quality photo cards at a great deal, check out this link for Shutterfly's 50 free Holiday Cards promo deal! Happy Christmas card writing!

7 months

So, this month has been a fast paced and exhausting 2 steps forward and one step back kind of month! Callie started eating rice cereal-wasn't sure about it, couldn't get enough of it, ate it well some days and others not so much, wasn't sure about it, and now, won't eat it at all. Tried sweet potatoes. Let's just say she feels the same way about them that her parents do. Following the last few days of rice cereal and the days we tried sweet potatoes, she got a tummy ache and ever since then, we have been going through SOOO many diapers; I will be forever grateful to the person that invented disposables! (After all, I'm having to pre-treat half her clothes; I don't have time to wash diapers, too!)

Therefore, we are taking a break from solids (since I can't get her to open her mouth anymore). Next week we are going to the doctor to get her weighed and measured, so hopefully, they will have some good advice-or maybe by then she'll be ready to eat them again anyway.

She is trying very hard to become more mobile. She's working on going from sitting Indian style to rocking forward to put herself into a crawl-like position. Daddy has been practicing crawling with her by moving her legs while she does the arms. He's very excited about this new stage (clearly not realizing how much child-proofing we have to do!) Meanwhile, Callie does a mean "back scoot" to try to get where she wants to go. It's very obnoxious when she's on the changing table doing this! I think Callie is frustrated at not being able to move like she wants to or talk like she wants to-she tries very hard and then starts crying when it doesn't work.

She must be growing because I had to mover her jumperoo up to the next level again. (We're on 3 out of 4 now!) She's also been taking better naps most days, so that's a plus! We are seeing a lot of her tongue again, as she's pretty impressed with how far she can stick it out! She's also been exploring new things she can do with her hands, such as: exploring mommy and daddy's faces and hair (sometimes a rather painful experience), knocking over towers that we build for her, turning pages in books, doing her best to hold her sippy cup and pulling the pommel part off of her bumbo seat! Well, she's about to wake up from a nap, so I better get some pictures in this post!

Our Little Monkey!

Our little monkey ready for Harvest Town!

Both my monkeys :-)

Trying to steal Parker's banana, as monkeys do ;-)!

Happy Harvest!

Purple Polka Dots!

Love this outfit!

Pumpkin Patch!

Yesterday, Callie had her first Pumpkin Patch experience! She was very intrigued by all that was going on but thought that she might have just preferred to be in her warm bed instead! We finally got a good smile after SEVERAL tries. This Mama figured that since we had already gone to the trouble of getting there, it was at least going to look good in the photo album :-)!

6 Months!

Well, Callie is 6 months old! I find myself watching her when I feed her at night (the only time she's not wiggling constantly) and thinking of those first days when her body only took up half the Boppy! She's in the 78% for height now! We are working to fatten her up but think she's pretty adorable just the way she is!

New this month!

• She sits on her own unsupported for quite a while!
• She is eating rice cereal each day and LOVING it!
• She now takes a bottle every day without fighting it and will take it from me, Dave, or Grammy (so hopefully others, too)!
• She tries to hold the bottle/the cereal spoon by herself.
• She takes good naps about 3 days a week :-).
• She wants to go to bed closer to 7pm than 8pm (Mommy is rather worried about Daylight Savings Time coming up!)
• She's taken a couple of long car rides without crying!
• She loves sitting up to play with toys and is really enjoying toys that make sounds!
• She takes her binki out of her mouth and can put it back in herself.
• She enjoys "Skyping" relatives.
• She pants like a dog whenever she gets excited--not sure where she got this!
• She loves watching the neighborhood cats when we go on walks and giggles and coos whenever we see one.
• She "sings" a lot.
• She splashes and kicks in the bath and wants to stay in longer.

Still the same!

• She still loves to be outside!
• She sleeps through the night with the exception of one feeding (unless we're away from home)
• Naps longer than 45 minutes are a struggle and something Mommy gets very excited about!
• She's a good roller all 4 ways
• Still has beautiful very blue eyes!
• Has only one tooth but drools constantly!
• Has a delightful disposition most of the time with a temper that can turn on instantaneously!
• Thinks her hands and feet are amazing and at least one (sometimes tries all 4) should be in her mouth pretty much always! She also enjoys holding up her hands and just marveling at God's creation :-)!
• Melts Mommy and Daddy's hearts (and her grandparents, and aunts/uncles as well!)

For All YOU Busy Moms!

This Blog has been such a blessing to me! Check it out! It's a daily devotional for moms, specifically for moms with young children! It's such an encouragement and has the Bible passages linked so they're just one click away in case your kids are in the computer room and Bible is in another room. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.dropsoflivingwater.com

Finally, some real food!

This big girl just had her first serving of Rice cereal (as you can see, she enjoyed it-the little she got in her mouth anyway!). I think she was most impressed with the spoon! She's working very hard on getting her second tooth! Lots of drool and lots of fussing has been the routine at our house lately. She wasn't wanting to take a bottle today so with her 6 month checkup this Thursday, I decided we'd try some cereal! Sorry the first picture's a little blurry!

Other events this week included...

Callie and Mommy right before Parker Pearce's one-year-old b-day party.

Still in her party dress! Showing off her sitting skills!

We enjoyed the beautiful weather and moved the jumperoo outside today!

Oh, and here's some recent playtime with Daddy!

New Accomplishments

Callie has one tooth (it came in a week ago Sunday) and is working on more! The rubber spatula is a favorite teething toy right now.

She is now sitting up on her own for sometimes up to a minute! In the below pictures, she is modeling a sweater that my grandma made for me when I was a baby!

How We Spend Our Days

"Helping" Mommy with laundry and other household chores. (As you can see, she is quite pleased to be Mommy's helper!)

And jumping! in her Jumperoo!

The 2 sides of Callie

Sweet princess :-)

Spunky attitude!

What a Month!

What a crazy month this has been! On one hand, it felt like it flew by-on the other, I really thought we’d never get through it. It’s been full of fun firsts like our trip to the beach and Callie’s first camping trip (Church family camp-we stayed in a little room connected to the bathroom…about as rustic as I’m willing to get, especially with a baby!). Callie turned 5 months old! Now, I understand why people say it goes by quickly! I’m trying to make sure I get her into as many of her cute outfits as possible before she grows out of them! Now, if only the weather would cooperate; we have far too many unworn summer clothes! We have been working every day to get her to take a bottle; what a challenge! She’s been doing well the last couple of days, taking a little bit from Dave. Hopefully, it will be old hat soon! In other Callie news, her hair is getting longer, which means she’s losing her spiky Woodstock look, as it now lies down much better. This is a bittersweet thing for Mom and Dad. She’s also on a pretty good schedule now with regular feedings, and mostly regular sleeping times (afternoon naps vary but she goes sleeps from 8pm-5am, eats and sleeps again til 8:30am then goes down for morning nap at 10am). Her favorite toy is the straw she likes to steal from my water bottle (I think it feels good on her gums). She is also very interested in Daddy's watch and looks longingly at whatever we're eating! We are excited to start feeding her food probably next month after her doctor okays it!

Snuggling with Daddy on our camping trip! Note that Callie is already dressed for the day as she had been up for quite some time already!

Loving being outside most of the day while camping!

Trying out the "Jumperoo" for the first time!

Enjoying her evening massage/play time without clothes before jammies :-)

Our little cutie pie! She's such a happy girl!

The month has been full of other changes as well. My sister and her family moved to North Bend (Oregon Coast) after almost a year's job search and trying to sell their home. The end of July, Josh was offered the position of children's pastor at a wonderful church there. However, they still had their house in Eugene to sell. God is so good-just 2 days before they were scheduled to move to North Bend, they accepted a solid offer on their home in Eugene! Praise the Lord, they will not have to stress about 2 house payments or figure out how to manage a rental 3 hours away! The really exciting thing was that Josh and Anna had requested that all their friends come to their home or pray where they were the Saturday morning before they were to move for the sale of their home. While we were praying, Anna missed a call from their realtor saying they had a showing the next day. That showing ended up being the people who would buy the house! We are continuing to pray for a good home inspection and a successful closing, and of course for Josh, Anna and the kids as they adjust to their new job/home in North Bend.

We would also greatly appreciate prayer for my parents. They are going through some really difficult circumstances (outside circumstances, not their marriage) right now and my mom's health has really been suffering as a result. Please pray for righteousness to win out and for my dad's wisdom in knowing how to deal with the circumstances and for both of their health (especially my mom) as it's a lot of stress on them. They know that God is in control and that He is good, but it's very hard to feel His peace in the midst of attacks and trials.

One final note and prayer request: Dave just finished an almost 7 year career as a full time youth pastor and is now the associate pastor for our church. Please pray for his wisdom as he begins this new position and for our hearts to be right and useful for God's plans. Please also pray for time management as he will now be preaching for 7 weeks this fall along with the new job, going to school, and being a husband and father.

First Trip to the Beach!

Okay, Mom-I'm ready to go! Yes, she did this all herself!

Umm, yeah-why did we come here? It's cold!

Not quite impressed :-)

Mommy and sleeping Callie

Lots of seals! They were noisy!

Dave playing the invisible stringed harp at Ripley's.

We ran into Johnny Depp!

Outside some kind of ancient ruin on a wobbly bridge! We had a fun day and look forward to taking Callie back to the beach when she's a little older and perhaps it's a bit warmer, so she can appreciate it more!