Our Princess is 3!

Can you believe our little miracle is 3?!?!?!?

We had an incredible Birthday weekend! On Saturday, Mommy and Callie went to Disney on Ice! Callie had a great time! She especially loved seeing Micky and Minnie and all of the Princesses. And Mommy definitely cried tears of joy watching Callie react to seeing her favorite characters.

On Sunday, we enjoyed our first St. Joe's NICU reunion! It was great to catch up with the wonderful Doctors, Nurses and families that have shared our journey with us. We still don't know how we can ever express enough thanks for all that they have done for our family and especially our Callie May! The picture above is of Callie and her NICU friend Ailyn...it is always great to get our girls together!

After the NICU reunion, we went back to our pool for Callie's Birthday party! Of course, our little fish wanted a pool party!!

We were so happy that so many of our friends and family were able to make it to her party!

Callie and her goggles!!

Callie had a lot of fun with Leah! Callie really looks up to her and likes copying her every move!

Aunt Brenna's coworker made an amazing cake, that if you can imagine, tasted better than it looked!!

Callie sang Happy Birthday to herself...SO cute!!

And on her actual Birthday, Grammi came to join us for Callie's favorite food-Chicken Wings!!! And then Aunt Calise came over for cake!!

It is hard to believe it has already been 3 years since our little fighter made her entrance into this world. It was the most terrifying and yet happiest day of my life. Every day we are amazed by Callie and so thankful she has more strength than the rest of us combined!

Big Girl

Everyday Callie amazes us!! Her newest accomplishment is being potty trained! She has been working on this for awhile now, but we have now gone several days without an accident both at home and at school! We are SOOO proud of her!!

Swimming lessons have been going really well! She loves her teacher, Miss Danni, and her new friend Joey (who is 4 1/2).

For the most part, she follows directions and the teacher is very pleased! The best part is Callie LOVES it. As soon as her lesson ends, she asks if she can go in again. She is starting to understand her schedule and will actually ask, "can I go to swimming lessons on Thursday?" So cute!!

Christmas Joy

What a difference a year makes! This year Callie seemed to understand Christmas, at least the Santa and presents part. We kept trying to explain and read to her about Baby Jesus, but I think it is a little over her head still. We did manage to get her to sing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus though!

December was filled with many Christmas' with different family members. Callie loves being with her family and talks about them all of the time when they aren't here!

We made the trip up to Canton for Christmas itself. It was so nice to be home for 10 days!!

We had just been home in November, but even in one short month, Cal had changed quite a bit. Her conversations are getting more advanced. Full sentences and never ending questions are a daily part of life-which is SO much fun!!

Callie spent most of her break playing with her cousin Jack and Auntie Kim!!

Callie was so excited that Santa came and brought her presents. She really got into opening presents. The problem was, once she opened a fun present she didn't want to open any more. She kept saying, "I don't want to open more presents, I want to play!"

Grammi and Papa Mike stayed at the Best Western, so Callie was able to enjoy time in the indoor pool. We were anxious to see if Callie would still love the water, and she certainly did!

We were contemplating doing another session of "Mommy and Me" swim lessons, but after seeing her comfort in the pool, we decided to enroll her in actual small group lessons. Callie started her lessons on Thursday. She is in a group with a 4 1/2 year old boy, and within 5 minutes of class starting, she was keeping up and doing everything the little boy was doing! It is so exciting to watch her do so well in the pool!

Kisses from cousin Jack!

Snuggling with Ma!

Happy time with Auntie Kim!!

Canton was FREEZING cold! One morning it was actually -12!! We did have snow and a white Christmas! Callie got to go sledding with Grampi, but actually had more fun on the snow covered slides at the school playground!

Dancing with Auntie Kim!

Kisses with Pa!

So now we are back to our routine! Callie is back to school and having fun with her friends. She keeps asking when we are going back to Canton! Hopefully soon!!

It has been awhile, so here is a picture post!

As always, life is crazy at the Costello house. Before the Holidays officially start, we wanted to update the blog with some recent pictures of Callie. We were lucky to have a lot of family time in Novemeber, so here are pictures from our trips to Canton, Burlington and Thanksgiving weekend!

Fall school picture!

Cal playing with Grandpa!

Cal with her Grams!

Cal and Pa snuggling!

Kisses with Great Grandpa Jones!

Great Grandma Jones and Callie!

Kisses with Grampi!

Puzzletime with Jack!

Watching Mickey Mouse with Auntie Kim!

Riding her horse Callamia!

Meeting Callamia!

Cal and her Grandma!

Cal and Pa!

Callie meeting Asher for the first time!

Cal reading to Ash!

and holding Ash! (he wasn't too thrilled!)

Callie playing outside with Uncle Alex!

Fishy faces with Mommom!

Cal and her Poppop!

Costello girls!

Callie and Oma walking Riley!

Playing with Aunt Brenna!

Upside down Callie!

Big girl Callie!!

World Prematurity Day

Today is the first ever World Prematurity Day. It is a day to raise awareness to the many babies around the world that are born too early. Lately, I have found myself reflecting more and more on how truly blessed we are to have Callie in our life. I keep searching for the strength to write about the emotions that were involved in her birth and the first year of her life, but I am not quite ready yet. I do know that she has defied the odds and continues to amaze everyone that knows her and her story. When Callie was born, she weighed only 1 lb 5.3 oz. She was so sick that the NICU didn't think she would make it through the night and we were brought in to say good-bye to our little girl. Then a few weeks later, after she suffered the worse grade brain bleed a baby can have, they said the likelihood of her ever walking or functioning normally were slim. We asked if we could have hope and they said "you can always have hope". Callie has endured 6 surgeries and has faught through more health scares then most people face in a lifetime. The strength she has shown amazes me.

Callie is now coming up on her third birthday in February and is thriving. She is doing well at school. Learning to be more assertive and communicate more effectively. Over the weekend, she was putting together a puzzle with her cousin Jack, and Jack kept trying to help her with the pieces. Callie leaned across, put her hand over the puzzle and said "Jack, I told you NO...I can do it myself." The clarity and tone in which she spoke was so appropriate and bold, that my Grandmother and I actually took a step back. She is doing the things a two year old should be doing and we couldn't be any more proud. Cal is a determined little girl and knows what she wants. I tell everyone I know this is why she survived. She is our little fighter through and through.