Why don't mine turn out like this?

We had another round of professional pics of Calum done on Jan. 17th (he was just a week shy of 21 months). For those of you who have had professional pictures done you probably know they cost a small fortune. The reason we keep going back for more is because as you've probably noticed from my posts over the last 6 months or so, I just can't seem to get a good picture of Calum. They are either blurry, make Calum look massive, contain 1/3 of his body (as he's constantly moving and just the reminants of an arm or leg show up in our "action shots") or feature him making one of his many faces (which mostly involve looking angry instead of smiling, we're going through the terrible 2s a little early here at the Verghese household).

When we got to the shoot I told the young girl (obv not a Mom) that there was probably no chance we would be able to get him to sit still for any pictures. What we didn't expect (Mark came along for moral support) was that Calum would be so camera shy, hence the box of raisins we conned him with about 10 minutes in. Even though we only had about 20 quality minutes of taking photos, I'm pleased with the results. Can't believe how much he's changed from the previous two sessions (below).

21 months

8 months

2 months

It's a good thing I keep the floors clean...

It's a good thing I keep the floors clean...

Because Calum seems to think it's perfectly okay to eat off the floor. In fact, I think he prefers to judging by the fact that he choses to throw at least 1/2 of every meal he eats on the floor and loves nothing more then taking a bag of (insert whatever your little heart desires here: Cheerios, chips, cookies, etc.) and emptying it on the floor. Oh, and he doesn't discriminate-he gets just as much enjoyment from throwing stuff on the carpet as he does the tile, and Mom gets to have even more fun trying to get ground up bits of (Cheerios, chips, cookies, etc.) off of our berber carpet.

Calum's New Room

Hard to believe we've lived in our "new" house for 9 months now. When I look around there are still a million little things I want to do but it just seems like all of that energy we had when we moved in to make it how we wanted it has faded and things seem to happen slowly but surely now. My "honey to do list" is more imaginary then real as our weekends seem to go by in the blink of an eye and the enthusiasm Mark showed for his tool box has also waned.

Anyway, I digress.


Calum's room had been a little neglected so a few weeks ago we finally got around to updating it. He's at a hard age where he's not quite ready for "big boy" stuff but then he's not really a baby anymore, either. We found this retro German print from the 70s and liked the way it kind of funked up his room without being too cutesy/predictable (read: airplanes, cars, sports, etc.). I think the pattern kind of freaked him out for awhile because the first few nights he didn't sleep so great but now every morning when I go in to his room he is so excited to point out to me the colours he knows (blue and yellow at the moment) and the pictures he recognises (ducks, trains, cars, etc.).


Yeah, the nursing chair is still in there. We still use it every once in awhile (not for nursing obv!) but are going to take it out in April when we move his beloved teepee from his downstairs playroom into his room to be replaced with the table and chairs we got him for his birthday.

US

Yeah, we've been a little MIA lately. Under the radar. Seems like every time I sit down to write a post, I feel as if I've not got anything very exciting to write about. Oh, and it doesn't help that since we got back in January I've taken all total of about 10 pictures of Calum. Hoping he doesn't notice this neglect when he gets older and looks back at his old photo books. Oh, that's right-I stopped updating those about a year ago. Ooops.

Calum has settled into nursery really well-today he ran up to the front door with a big smile on his face so I think it's safe to say he likes it. I still look forward to the end of my working days when I get to go pick him up, the smile I get is the best reward a Mom could ask for.

Calum being at nursery has also been better for me work wise. This month I've billed as much as I did for the whole of last year! I'm really pleased that my hard work has paid off and the "target" Mark has set for me to pay off our new Audi Q5 which will be ready in June/July has been achieved so at least I've kept "the boss" (AKA MARK) happy (for now!).

Bye bye, Range-so excited!

We've decided we're definitely coming back in May for my cousin's WSU graduation and might take a side trip this time to San Francisco which is a place both Mark and I have yet to see-let's just hope it's manageable with a toddler!

My Mom has booked a trip to visit in April, I'm counting the days and can't wait for her to come. She's even extended her trip so she can stay for the royal wedding so that should be fun. She will also be here for Calum's 2nd birthday on April 24th (Easter!), this year I've decided to throw him a proper party so will be looking for ideas from you Moms out there soon. On April 23rd I'm going to be confirmed and christened into the Catholic church, going to finally make it official so will be a really nice visit and I can't wait to have her here.

Yesterday we had one of those rare sunny, winter days and I met my friend Zoe and her son Sean for a walk around a local nature trail and lunch. Calum loved every second of being free to roam in the woods which I realised was his first real experience in the woods. The look on his face when he bit it in the dirt was priceless-definitely Mommy's boy (not pleased at all with the dirt on his hands!). In fact, 'mess' is one of his favourite words. Ha!

Calum and Sean (and a bunch of smelly piglets!)
My little piglet

Also thought I would include a few pics from when my Mom's Xmas presents arrived last month. My Mom went nuts like she always does and bought us far too much for Xmas. Since we were limited on luggage space when coming back home she decided she would mail most of it back. In total there were 5 boxes and she spent something like $500 in postage!!! Calum has come to know that good things come in brown cardboard boxes and loved "helping" me open them as they arrived-particularly the one with his new lawnmower which happens to be the loudest/most annoying toy ever.

Getting into Mommy's treats!

In action
Doing a bit of maintenance

Have a great week, more updates soon x