I'm Even Cool When I Sleep

Pizza Party

We met our friends Mike and Sarah (a/k/a Birdie and Zinn) and their two boys, Zach and Drew, for pizza last night at Boston's. Charlie isn't quite old enough yet to really engage with Zach and Drew, but we're excited for him to already have some friends with these two sweet little boys.

Charlie is doing better sitting up, but has a tendency to lean forward or to one side.  With cheeks like that - who can blame him!

Hope that you all had a great weekend.

I Can Still Taste Sweet Potatoes

So Charlie Boy found me absolutely hilarious tonight as I was trying to feed him some sweet potatoes. He would happily open his mouth for a spoonful and then promptly start to blow raspberries and giggle. At one point, I also started laughing and before I knew it, some of his sweet potatoe-laced "raspberry" (i.e. spit) went flying into my mouth. It was both disgusting and hilarious at the same time.

When I picked Charlie up from daycare, he was in his THIRD outfit of the day.  Apparently it was "Blowout Poop Day" on Charlie's calendar, much to the chagrin of Miss Debbie and Miss Anel.  As I was setting him in his car seat, we heard another eruption and he immediately began to coo and giggle.  The only option after changing his diaper was to drive the mile back to our apartment with Charlie only wearing a diaper.  The weather was beautiful so I had the windows down and was singing along with the radio (Lynrd Skynrd's "Free Bird") when I realized that we were stopped at a stoplight and the mom and kids to my left in the fancy SUV were peering into my little Honda civic.  Baby in a diaper?  Check.  Lynrd Skynrd on the radio?  Check.  Missouri license plates?  Check.  Cue the hillbilly music.   

For Pete's Sake...

what a cute puppy!  My sister and her family adopted a little Yorkie puppy last weekend and named him Pete.  He weighs a whopping two pounds and is currently the cutest puppy alive.   

We were able to head to the Quad Cities this weekend to get to meet Charlie's newest cousin (puppy Pete) and hang out with Mike, Molly, Emma, Hannah and Claire.  The girls were great with Charlie and he loved all of the extra attention!

Charlie also got to see both sets of grandparents this weekend and Grandma Kathy watched him on Saturday night so that BJ and I could catch a movie.  Thanks again mom! 

Cuddlebugs

Mother's Day 2010 started off with a bang on Thursday when Charlie's daycare hosted a special luncheon for the moms.  I didn't know any of the other moms before the lunch and I'm pretty sure that I've been branded as the resident idiot after the lunch.  When I got there, Charlie and I mingled around the food table, trying to make small talk with a roomful of strangers.  Despite being chubby and cute, Charlie isn't great for starting conversations yet, so the bulk of the work fell to me.  Anyway, when talking to two different moms during two different conversations, I was asked if Charlie was a ladybug or a grasshopper.  I thought that the conversation was really bizarre each time and just smiled and said, "oh, he's neither - he's a cuddlebug."  I should have known by the blank stares from the moms that I was missing something.  It was only after I was leaving Charlie's room that I noticed the sign above the door that read "Grasshoppers".  Oops - I'm sure the two other moms thought that I was an idiot.

The "teachers" helped all of the babies make gifts and it is ...(gulp) beautiful.  A homemade kleenex box cover, complete with a quote, a picture of Charlie and a smudged footprint on the one side.

While this gift has special meaning for me and I will cherish it always, I had to laugh thinking about how everything comes full circle.  I remember picking dandelions for my mom (which she proudly displayed on the kitchen counter as if they were roses) and even going as far as wrapping a pair of earrings that she already owned for her birthday or Mother's Day.  She told me that she loved the earrings and I remember thinking that of course she loved the earrings - she wore them all the time.  Needless to say, I'm sure that this is the first of many gifts that I will proudly display that will be considered works of art in our house only.

We had a great weekend - we met  our friends Arch and Jenn for dinner on Friday night, a friend of mine from law school on Saturday for lunch, and our friend Zinn and her boys for dinner on Saturday night.  Today was pretty low key.  I slept in for a few hours while BJ and Charlie had some bonding time starting around 5:45 am and then we went out for lunch and ran some errands.  Charlie was in a great mood while we were at the mall and was laughing and smiling most of the day.  It was one of those afternoons that I didn't want to end.  

Charlie is apparently a genius and read on the blog how much I hated my digital camera so he, Copper and BJ surprised me with a new digital camera.   

Me and my two boys.  Charlie was too busy polishing off a bottle to look at the camera.  Please note that Charlie didn't realize that most gifts are specially wrapped and not in a brown paper bag.  It's ok Charlie Boy - it was your first time giving me a gift.  Please ignore the fact that Copper looks like he is homeless.  He is going in for a much-needed hair cut tomorrow morning.  Even he thinks that he stinks. 

The actual camera, which I can't wait to use (it's currently charging).  BJ said "milk" and Charlie looked in his direction (just kidding).  Thanks Charlie for a wonderful first Mother's Day  - you've made me smile more than I thought was possible and my heart happier than its ever been.  Just imagine how much I'll love you when you start sleeping through the night.  I kid, I kid.

BJ and I are really lucky to have grown up with the moms that we have and it really makes us appreciate that we get to see them more often now that we've moved back to Iowa.

5 Month Update and Other Tidbits

Happy "five month" birthday Charlie Boy!

When we took you to the pediatrician's office last week for your cold/cough, you weighed a whopping 16 pounds and 6 ounces.  You have started to zone in on Copper and love watching him!  We're sure that you're excited to grab onto him too, but that will have to wait.  You're little personality is emerging everyday and most days, you are a happy little boy.  You love laying on the floor and kicking your feet, being talked to, being read to, going for walks, splashing during bathtime and eating continues to be a favorite hobby.  So far you've pretty much rejected rice cereal, carrots and sweet potatoes, but we plan to try baby food again next week with the hopes that it may lead to some longer sleep sessions at night - a girl can dream, right?

It's been a busy couple of days with a somewhat unexpected trip back to Cascade for the weekend, but it was great to get to see some family.  On Friday night, Charlie got to hang out with his cousin Max for a little while.  Then it was on to see Uncle Randy, Aunt Carrie and his cousins Anna, Lauren and Julia (I failed to snap a picture which drives me nuts).  Finally, we stopped by Troy and Jen's house to meet their beautiful new little girl, Paige.  Paige is absolutely beautiful and Charlie looked like he could have eaten her.

On Saturday, we were able to spend some time at my mom and dad's house with my nieces Emma, Claire and Hannah. 

On Saturday night, we enjoyed a great dinner with Steve, Jan, Jenn, Sam and Max.  Jan had graciously offered to watch Charlie if BJ and I wanted to go out and do something Saturday night.  We must have talked about it a dozen times on Saturday - we could go to a movie!  Out for a drink!  Shopping!  The possibilities seemed endless.  Then, after getting Charlie to sleep around 8:30, BJ and I were too tired to do anything but watch TV...which should have been a sign for how the rest of the evening was going to go.  I woke up at about 2:30am with the flu and realized that BJ had the same thing.  We proceeded to have the chills, a headache, throw up and nap from 2:30 in the morning until about 5:00 Sunday night.  It wasn't pretty and thank God that Steve and Jan came down and swooped Charlie away from our makeshift sick bay in their basement.  We don't know what we would have done without them and as BJ pointed out between Tylenol and a Sprite, "at least we got to spend some time together."  Not exactly the stuff found in romance novels, but oh well. 

Finally, we were able to capture a few pictures of Charlie smiling courtesy of our Blackberries.  Proof that the child isn't as stoic as previous blog pictures have indicated.

Hope that you all had a puke-free weekend!