November!

Matt keeps saying that we need to update our blog....the operative word is "we"....Matt doesn't update our blog so when he says that, he is really trying to tell me to do it. Why, you may wonder? He likes reading everyone's comments. Seriously. He doesn't check other people's blogs (don't be offended) unless I tell him to look at something and he rarely looks at ours, except to read the comments. He will refer to things people have "said" as if he had a conversation with them but it is only from blog comments, like Sean, he always tells me what you "said" to him. Don't get me wrong, I love the comments too. (you all love your comments, admit it) Lately I have had a lot of things to blog about, but I have been thinking a lot about the anonymous readers. You know, the ones that read but DON'T comment. I have no problem with this, except you essentially have to assume that everyone is reading your blog and you may or may not know it. This prevents me from writing about certain stories, this is what stopped me from blogging about the MOST bizarre wedding that Matt and I attended an unspecified amount of time ago....what if these people read this blog. You never know!


We blessed Ryan at the beginning of the month and loved having Uncle Ross and Aunt Karen out here for the blessing. We hope that they come to visit again soon!!

Ryan had his two month check-up and he is growing a ton. He is only in the 50th percentile for weight but the 75th for height. He took his shots like a champ and barely cried at all. Matt was nervous that he was going to be cranky after but he was just sleepy for the rest of the day and then he was back to his regular self. I have had to pack away an entire bin of clothes already. Ryan was given an exorbitant amount of clothes from 0-3m all the way to 3T, but managing his clothes is practically a full time job. He only has a chance to wear most things once and by the time he was worn the other stuff in that size, he is moving up the next, so there is a full rotation going on. Hopefully as he slows down growing, he will get to wear things more than once...or in some cases at least once.

We had Thanksgiving at my parents house this year. We all have figured out my mom's trick of saying every October since we moved to Georgia that "when in Rome" and since we aren't living in Canada we will celebrate in November with everyone else, and then in November saying that since we aren't American, we don't need to have American Thanksgiving. I think she has avoided making Thanksgiving dinner for 7 years, but this year she caved! About time! Dinner was FANTASTIC. This picture was taken right as we were heading home. Matt said that we hadn't gotten a picture on Ryan's first Thanksgiving, I said we could take one tomorrow, he said that it wouldn't be Thanksgiving anymore, details, details! Whatever, if I look tired, its because I was!

On the day after Thanksgiving we went out for breakfast with John, Lindy and Anya and my parents and Nathan. Breakfast was good, Ryan slept so Anya had to keep everyone entertained which she did a great job of.

Matt attended the Georgia vs Georgia Tech game with John last Saturday. This was probably the highlight of the year for him. Although when I asked how it was all he could talk about was how cold it was. Maybe a t-shirt isn't appropriate for a November night game....it also rained that night. But Georgia won and that was all that mattered.

We are getting ready for Christmas and we got our tree today. We get a real tree every year, if you remember the Christmas tree post from last year and the quest for the Fraser Fir from North Carolina. We got a Fraser Fir again this year, because they had them at Home Depot. We didn't want to drive all the way out to the tree farm this year. So when we bought the tree Matt thought I was reading the price wrong....evidently we've been getting majorly ripped off every year, but this year we actually got a good deal. We haven't decorated it yet, we will post some pictures once we do.

Go Dawgs!

Matt insisted that the title of this post be "Go Dawgs." In case you weren't aware, it was the big game between Georgia and Florida last weekend. Georgia won 42-30, the third win in the last 17 years, so clearly a pretty big deal. Earlier in the week Matt made sure that Ryan had his appropriate fanwear so that they could watch the game and cheer on the bulldogs. As you can see, Ryan wasn't overly interested in the TV, but Matt isn't discouraged and will continue to groom him into a real fan. I was at a baby shower for my friend Amy while the game was going on, so Matt had to watch Ryan and the game. Matt is now pretty certain that Ryan is a good luck charm and he will likely have to watch the rest of the games this season.

Later than night we went to the ward trunk or treat. Ryan was dressed up as a pumpkin, and really seemed to enjoy his costume as he promptly fell asleep. There were some good costumes, and some of the trunks were pretty decked out. One family turned their truck into a pirate ship and the whole family was dressed as pirates.


My favorite costume was Sarah, she was dressed as a dentist. This is funny because she has pulled about 5 teeth, NOT her own. Kids in her class have had wiggly teeth and she has taken them out for them. Her little name tag has her name followed by D.D.S. it was pretty cute.

On Halloween Ryan and I participated in the office costume contest. If you remember, last year I won 1st place and $100. I had a great costume this year, but I only took second and only won $50, I lost to Katie who was dressed as a renaissance chick. I think I was totally robbed. Ryan dropped out of the competition because he couldn't keep his costume on throughout the judging, he was too hot! I'm dressed as a mime, in case you couldn't tell. Thanks for the idea Sara

Picture Time

Things have been slow the past little while...I find myself tired from being up in the night, and yet the pace is really slow since I"m not working. I'm finding the best thing so far is that I am no longer pregnant. Someone told me I'm just glowing from being a mother, uhhh no, I'm glowing because I'm not pregnant anymore. I wasn't pregnant for 23 years but I didn't appreciate it until now! Not being pregnant is the best thing ever, I can eat what I want, when I want. Not to mention, it's been so long since I wore most of my clothes, I've forgotten what is in my closet and I feel no need to go shopping because it's like all new clothes again.

Speaking of clothes, I've found that the sizes in baby clothes can only be called a loose guideline, a REALLY loose guideline. Ryan is still almost too little for some of his NEWBORN sizes but he is ready to wear some of his 9m clothes, you'd think there would be a little consistency.

Ryan just began sleeping in 5 hour stretches, this makes for an easier night and I'm hoping it continues, or becomes longer. He is a pretty mellow baby, must get that from his dad. I wish I could say something really exciting had happened. Ryan had his one month birthday, we took a picture to mark the occasion. Doesn't he look thrilled!!

On Saturday we went to have some pictures taken. We were nervous that he would get all fussy once the camera started going, because we have heard so many people complain about this. The girl that took the photos was fantastic, she wasn't all obnoxious in his face and he did great. We got some great pictures. They took some of him naked and we thought he would pee on the photographer like he always does on us, but he didn't...until she lifted up the black sheet and there was a big fat wet spot on the thing underneath!! I guess it happens all the time, but we know we can always count on Ryan to pee as soon as his diaper is removed, and to poop as soon as he has a clean diaper on. Here are some of my favorites from Saturday. We had our favorites framed and haven't decided where to hang them all...

(yes that is Matt's hand, isn't that cute!)

The pictures in frames aren't as gigantic as they look, I took them from a funny angle to avoid the glare from the glass! We thought we would get some sleeping pics but he was alert and happy the whole time, the photographer even caught him smiling even though he still does it kind of involuntarily.

This is his hand and foot print that I took, posted as promised. I have to choose a picture to go in the middle but I was pretty impressed with my craftiness....being that I am not at all crafty ;) The little plaque has his name and birthday on it.

Now that this is the LONGEST post ever filled with nothing of much importance, hopefully we will have something really exciting to post next time! Hope you enjoy all the pics sis!

The End of Summer?

It has been hot here and tomorrow is the first day that the temperature is not expected to break 80. I am excited about this, as family members may recall the time I cried in Idaho Falls because it was SO hot (I was maybe 12 years old and I'm pretty sure it was like 85 degrees) Hopefully the cooler weather stays...but by the end of the week it is expected to return to the low 80's so we shall see, I like going for walks but I get hot by the time I return home.

Nothing too exciting has happened since our last post...which is fine with us! Ryan is getting bigger everyday and seems to look more and more like Matt. We thought that he really looked like me, but his face seems to change all the time. I have yet to get a picture of his funniest face, he puckers his lips and looks like that freaky kid from the movie Zoolander (you know at the end?!) that is my goal and as soon as I get it, I will post it. I don't seem to have my camera ready whenever he does it....

I took his hand and foot print today, you know for those frame things...once it is assembled I will post a pic, but I have to say that getting the prints was much more challenging than I thought it would be. The putty stuff only looks good when you press down nice and hard. I did it when he was sleeping but it seemed as though he was trying to sabotage me in his sleep. I finally got some good prints but it took over an hour! HA! Luckily he continued to sleep through the whole thing. And here are some pictures.

2 Weeks Old

Ryan is now 2 weeks and 2 days old. And he has already visited the emergency room more times than his mom (well at least to admit herself, I was there with him both times he had to go!) Last Saturday we went to my mom's house and she promptly informed us that he was really yellow and we needed to take him to see someone. He had been slightly jaundice at birth but not enough for them to treat it. Of course it is Saturday at like 6:00 in the evening, so when I call the pediatrician, he tells me to go and get his bilirubin levels checked at the hospital. The doctor called us that night to let us know that his levels were REALLY high and that he would call us in the morning to see how many times he pooped during the night. In the morning we had to go back to the emergency room to have his levels checked again and then over to our pediatrician's office to have him checked out. At the office our doctor told us that he would be going on the lights and he was really excited because he had worked the whole thing out himself!! This was Sunday so his office was closed but he managed to get the lights set up through the home health people and to have it through the proper insurance and everything all without any staff (this is a major accomplishment for most doctors) So we went home and these people came and delivered the lights. And then our baby became a glow worm!

He pretty much hated the bilibed (yes it has a real name!) But after two full days of it, he was discharged and the people came to pick up the bed. He was happy to see it go, as was I because no one was getting very good sleep with it here!

On Friday, Ryan developed some weird thing in his eye, so yes, we went to the doctor. By this time I am feeling like some idiot first time mom. Most people just leave the hospital and see their doctor for the two week visit -- I've already been there three times and my two week visit is on Tuesday! Anyway, turns out he has conjunctivitis (not sure if I'm spelling that right) and now he has drops. Which he also hates. We really like our doctor, and he reassured me that at least every time we have come in, it has been for a real issue. I'll be glad to just see him at our scheduled appointment though!

Ryan has also been getting a lot of packages. We really appreciate all of the gifts that have been sent to him. The funniest one by far is this

UPS sent us this blanket with all of Ryan's info and their logo on it. We love UPS and we always laugh so hard at them, of course they would put their logo on a gift for a baby. It's a really nice blanket but we still think it's funny.

This pic is for Tara, this was the day after we got back from the hospital so we didn't really go very far. But we did use the mosquito net accessory and the breezy sun canopy so that he could get a little sun on his face. (That was because of the mild jaundice, but clearly it did nothing to help and he had to be treated later!)

We will post more pics later, and hopefully we won't have anymore stories involving sickness!

Ryan Matthew Calloway

Well, I had the baby! I had to be induced due to low amniotic fluid. There were no signs that I was having a problem, my OB ordered an ultrasound to estimate the size of the baby on Wednesday. I went in and by the time I left their office I was told that I needed to stop working (I had been at work that morning and was planning on returning) and that I needed to rest, come back on Friday and see if things had improved or else I would need to be induced. These instructions were given by a doctor in the practice but not my actual doctor as she was on call in the hospital that day. I returned home and I was not happy about staying home sitting around for two weeks, when my OB called from the hospital, she said that after reviewing the information, she determined that I needed to be induced, THAT DAY. Sheesh!

So Matt and I went down to the hospital Wednesday night, I had to be given some medicine to get things ready for the next morning when I would begin my pitocin at 6:00am.

The baby was born Thursday evening at 6:53, after less than an hour of pushing, weighing in at 6 lbs, 13 oz. Smaller than most people were expecting. He is 20 inches long and has a head full of black hair (as pictured). We named him Ryan Matthew Calloway (hope you don't mind Ryan Salmon).

The hospital stay was long because I was there for a night before and then two nights after. John and Lindy came to visit and John did a great blog which makes me feel as though I shouldn't complain about my stay that much ;) It really wasn't that bad but we were looking forward to coming home.

Our first family picture taken right after Ryan was born.


Being weighed and measured.


At the hospital

So, Rob, yes you are an uncle, and you can be an uncle for your friends kids!! I will post some more pictures later because I know that is all everyone wants anyway!

In Summary

Well it is most definately time for a new post. We try to be more up to date, and I even think at times that I will blog about a particular thing, but then when I don't I want to catch up and it gets so overwhelming with all of the things that I would like to blog about....Now I am sitting here after a month and a half and I can't seem to remember anything that I wanted to say.

Hmmm, here are some of the pics I took in the last little while, hopefully this will jog my memory.

This picture is from the Faith Hill Tim McGraw concert that Matt and I went to. I took this picture for a few reasons. FIRST OF ALL, just because your famous doesn't mean that you can wear a unitard. She was wearing a ONEPIECE white outfit, it was NOT flattering. Ummm hello, isn't there someone whose entire job it is to pick out outfits for her to wear. AND she didn't do a costume change, SHE JUST KEPT WEARING IT. WHAT??? Then, in this picture you will notice that there are two people on stage, Faith and oh wait, what's that guys name that is NOT Tim. It seems as though all of their family and friends live here in Atlanta. Faith was talking to her brother and a bunch of her friends during the concert, which is FINE, but then she called this dude up on stage with her to sing...what a way to ruin the song. I guess he is some friend of hers from Atlanta, first of all he is a shrimp (see the photo) and HE CAN'T SING. To say the least the concert was good, not great, but good. Tim was MUCH better than Faith, which I was surprised by because I really like her...hmmm. Anyways, moving on.

I had two baby showers this month. These are some pictures from one of them. That cake was cute and also totally delicious!! Both showers were very fun and the baby got a TON of stuff. We still haven't unpacked all of it, as we are still trying to figure out where to put it all even though it is weeks later.



This picture is taken a week later after we had put tons of stuff away...as you can see we are still struggling to get everything put away. The funniest story is this. My boss gave us this very fancy stroller, it does everything. It has all of these features and it comes with a 44 page instruction manual and a DVD on how to use it....She put it together and gave it to me assembled, so I made Matt bring it in assembled because I didn't know how to fold it down and obviously we wanted to bring it inside. Well lets just say that during the course of trying to learn how to fold it down, I learned how to adjust the suspension, inflate the tires, change position of the handlebar and extend the handlebar....but I still couldn't collapse the thing. FINALLY, after reading almost the entire manual and watching the DVD, I figure it out. In my defense the manual begins assuming that the stroller isn't already put together, so I don't think I am a total idiot. My boss also gave us almost all of the accessories that you can get, they each come with their own manual...haven't read any of those yet. The manual also encourages you to practice each feature so that you will easily be able to do it when the time comes. Seems as though I need more practice because when I tried to show John how it works (I knew he would like it, as it is an engineering masterpiece) I was unable to get it from collapsed to open. How embarrassing. He wanted to help me, but we both figured that I should be able to do it on my own. I finally got it and this time it only took a minute or two, but I will be practicing more...

Not too much else is going on, yesterday John and Lindy and Anya came over as well as my parents and Sara. We were doing some work on the baby's room and John and Lindy somehow were roped into helping, they really came up to have lunch with us but we put them to work. We also had Anya take some of the toys for a test drive. She seems to like them and played with them for a fair amount of time...hopefully we will be so lucky with our own child.

We ate lunch at Carribean Feista, this is Sara's FAVORITE restuarant and it is authentic...which is code for kind of weird food. They serve ox tail soup and other delights. The food is really spicy, it isn't toned down for American's. Lindy enjoyed some goat, which the guy sold to her as lamb, but after we realized he probably didn't know what mutton meant. I didn't eat any of the food because it was a little too spicy for me right now...so if you want a review you'll have to wait and hope that John and Lindy post one, or possibly Sara but she loves that place so her review may be biased. We did think that our cousin JASON should come a visit us and that we would take him there...this is a hint to Jason and Shannon to bring their cute daughter with them and come and visit us...we will make it a fun trip!

Well this blog is long enough, it makes up for the few that I have been missing though. I will try to post again soon, but I make no promises!

By Popular Demand

Okay so we bought this new chair for the baby's room. We got quite the steal on it so we were really excited and because you can't tell from the picture...it is the MOST comfortable chair ever. Matt sits in it all the time. I just noticed that the tags are still on in this picture but I am not about to go take another one, but if you were wondering what that was....yeah.

And here you go people. This is a picture just past 29 weeks, I am now 30 weeks so it is a little old but Matt was actually home at the same to take it. I tried to take one myself and I couldn't back up far enough so, this is the picture you get. Hopefully this is satifying for all those that have been asking.

Nothing else too exciting has been going on. I saw Harry Potter with Nathan this last week and I have to say it really wasn't my favorite. They cut out my favorite parts from the book and the fight scene that we were both looking forward to was WAY to short. I think Nathan liked it more than I did. It was okay, just definately not the best Potter movie ever. I am, however, getting very excited for Saturday when the final book comes out!

Independence Day

We have had a lot going on lately but still the month of June has seemed to drag on forever. Work has been crazy and each week has been so packed that they seem really long. Usually when you're busy time goes by quickly...hmmm...not so much as of late. I thought I better get in a pre-4th of July post since I can't seem to sleep past 6 and I will being seeing John and Lindy today. I don't want John to make good on his threat to remove us from his links if we don't update (This is a threat to everyone and John is serious!!;)


Since our last post we bought a new car. Yes scroll WAY back to when Matt's car got hit by a landscaping truck and you will know that we have been looking for a L-O-N-G time. The problem has been that Matt seems to think that "regular" cars are not big enough for him. Whatever, he test drove a TON of SUVs and they just didn't seem to have the space he needed (This was surely an effort on his part to get me to relent and allow him to buy a pickup truck, I didn't budge) Finally he settled on a Honda Accord. This car somehow has enough room for the driver which is the all important issue. As you can see, it took a LONG time to come to this decision. But we are happy, and Matt has the head room that he feels he needs, so all is well. I don't have picture of the car but it looks like the ones that you are seeing on the road wherever you live HA! We picked the same color as Jason and Shannon.


A week and a half ago we went to the Braves game with the Hamilton's. Matt's favorite thing about going with the Hamilton's is that they have a Lexus and therefore can park in the Lexus lot directly across the street from the stadium. This is very convienent and we appreciated the invite.

Here is Madi at the game. It was free hat day so we all got Braves hats as we came into the stadium. (This is why Madi wanted to go so badly) The Braves lost by one run but Chipper Jones did hit a homerun and was able to end the shut out run that they had going. It was an afternoon game so it was pretty hot but we made it all the way to the end of the game.

Not much else is going on, somehow we seems so busy but now that I am sitting here it seems that not that much has really happened. Hopefully I will have a new 4th of July post soon. I can hear fireworks outside (no I am not kidding and yes it is 8:30 AM)

We're Back!

We got back from vacation about a week ago (it seems like we have been home for much longer). We had a really fun time, it was our first cruise and we would definitely go again, however, I don't think we would do another 7 day, we would probably be able to do only a 4 day. I guess being pregnant didn't help but by the seventh day I was really ready to get off the ship.

I could detail our trip here but if I did that it would take a long time and then I would save this as a draft and not finish for an even longer time. So very quickly, here are some pics, they hopefully speak for themselves.

These are the towel animals that they left in our rooms. These were our two favorites, except for the swans but I couldn't find the camera for those ones.

These are all in Puerto Rico, we weren't scheduled to go there, but we had to reroute due to rough seas. We went to this cool fort and then walked through old town San Juan back to our ship.

This is Matt in St. Thomas, pretty sure he didn't know I was taking the picture, I still don't think he knows I have this picture. If he knew how to blog he might take it down, but he doesn't so you all get to see it.

I didn't take any pictures in St. Maarten's I was too busy losing my lunch. We went on a catamaran trip and I got totally sick. It was not pretty. We docked on the dutch side and our boat took us to the french side (St. Martin's) to a NUDE beach, and there were a bunch of old french nudies!! hahaha. Then Matt snorkled around, not so much for me because I wasn't feeling so well.

For everyone, I am almost 26 weeks along. I am due September 22nd. We don't know what we are going to name the boy. And yes, as of last post I have only been able to gain a pound. Good news I have packed on another 5, for a grand total of 6. Surely I will stop keeping everyone posted once I start to gain weight in leaps and bounds (hopefully) . The problem is that I have been so sick so it has been pathetically hard to gain, but the baby is still measuring on schedule so that's good.

New Post

If I try to go back and catch up on all the time in between posts....I never will. So basically you get it as is, or not at all. I realize it has been a really long time...Funny when other people don't update their blogs regularly, I get annoyed and still I don't update ours. I still spend a huge amount of time on the computer so I don't enjoy being on that much at home. The main reason however is that I have been sick. I keep waiting for when I finally feel good for 2 days straight (not sure why 2 days will be such a big deal) I have had a couple of days where I have felt okay, but not in a row. For those that don't know, I'm pregnant and sick. It is getting better though but I have stopped waiting for 2 days of relief because I am not certain that it will ever happen.

In more exciting news, the baby is a boy! We had an ultrasound and the tech said it was a boy. This child has the longest legs you have ever seen, we have a picture that is nothing but legs. (I could've waited to post until I scanned said photo in, but then who knows how long it would have been till I posted.) Anyway, I took my pictures to work, where everyone was questioning the gender picture, basically saying that it really wasn't clear enough to tell. So, when I saw my doctor later last week, I asked her if she could tell from this picture. She is friends with my boss so while she was pretty sure, she wanted to get a picture that would convince my boss. we got one and we are SURE that it is a BOY.

This will be a short post, but I have to say, MY PHONE GOT EATEN. Not phone per se, it broke but it ate all my numbers, they are trapped in a phone that will not turn on. Don't get me started on why the phone is so stupid in the first place because WHY DON'T THE NUMBERS save to a SIM card...it's in there doing nothing apparently. Anyways, I need people's numbers. I used to have everyone's number now I have like 5. This is annoying ALL THE TIME as I would like to call people. SO please send me your number or call so that I can have your number...thanks!!!

No pictures today, I have some good ones that I will hopefully post soon. We will try to be more regular posters. I PROMISE!

Catch up

Well, sorry I haven't blogged in so long. It is not for lack of material as much as motivation. I literally spend all day on the computer and truly the last thing I want to do is come home and get on the computer again. Also, now that it has been so long it feels like there would be so much to post about that it would take forever....I think I will just post some pics.

This is Matt in front of the UPS stuff at the aquarium...we take a picture everytime we see UPS stuff and we always laugh so hard because it is stupid but we think its funny!

This is Aaron, Stacey and Dahl touching the sting rays at the aquarium.

And everyone else reaching in the sting ray pool You can see Matt wondering around in the background.

We also got some new stuff. We bought a new King sized bed. All I can say is that I can't believe we didn't get one sooner. It is fantastic. Like sleeping on a cloud!! I bought some new bedding, which I love, and even more since I got it on a big sale!! I made the bed just for this picture and did a kind of crappy job but you get the idea. The colors are eucalyptus and chocolate brown. I ordered other stuff like pillows and a bedskirt but they are on backorder till MARCH, can you believe it. Only two more months...

I also got some new lips. Yes, in my face. I got Juvederm, which is a like Restylane but it is a newer product that has more hylauronic acid in it so it lasts longer. It also goes in smoother so you get a more natural look. I don't know if you can tell the difference in this picture. I was going for subtle, not Angelina Jolie, but you can definately tell the difference in real life!

I think that's it. I will try to post more regularly then I won't feel so far behind and have such lame posts. Also - I got my tree skirt at Pottery Barn, on sale, glad so many of you liked it!