First Father's Day

Happy Father's Day BJ!  Minus some interesting techniques (i.e. your refusal to pull any shirt or outfit over Charlie's head), you are a great dad and Charlie is loved.  You are great at getting Charlie to smile, patient with him when he is crabbing and have been pretty tolerant of some of my "I'm an idiot first time mom moments".  Charlie picked out a new Cubs t-shirt for BJ (pictured above) to wear when we goes to a Cubs game in August with Grandpa Steve.  Hopefully we (along with SPF 70) can go to a Cubs game as a family next summer.

Besides this weekend being BJ's first Father's Day, it was also the Heart Walk in Des Moines, which BJ has been busy preparing/planning for since taking his new position in March.  The weather and crowd was great and although I'm a little partial, I think BJ did a great job.  Steve, Jan, Jenn, Sam and Max came down on  Friday night and it was great to have their support and help on Saturday.  Charlie and I mostly stayed in the shade since I'm pessimistic about the ability of SPF 70 to fully protect my fair-skinned boy from a sunburn.  I helplessly watched as Steve and Sam carried load of load after water past me.  I felt like I should do something - anything, to help.  Much to Steve's chagrin, I decided that posting a picture of him in the midst of said-water-run would be a good move on my part.  You probably can't tell, but Steve is scowling at me and my camera. 

Thanks to Birdie, Zinn, Zach and Drew for coming as well!  I tried to snap a picture of Zach and Drew in front of the State Capitol, but didn't realize until much later that I zoomed out too much.   Oh digital cameras, why do you continue to taunt me?

We were all pretty tucked out after a busy weekend so we took a "family" nap.  BJ managed to snap this picture of Charlie, Copper (by my feet) and me napping before I woke up.  I'm pretty sure that I'm breaking a bunch of parenting rules by letting him nap in bed with me within the potential threatening reach of a blanket, but I guess we were living life on the edge earlier today.

  

Little Bookworm

Here's to hoping that Charlie becomes a bookworm and never wants to play video games...probably a little too optimistic. 

Burning Up Interstate 80

Charlie is a lucky little boy - he's been able to see family or friends almost every weekend since we moved back to Iowa.  While BJ went back to Cascade to spend some time with his extended family golfing and playing poker (i.e. non-Carey/Charlie activities), my sister Molly, brother-in-law Mike and their three girls (Emma, Claire and Hannah) and their little puppy Pete came for a slumber party on Saturday night.  Charlie enjoyed "entertaining the ladies" - something that I stressed is cute now but needs to go on hiatus until he is 22. 

We had to get a picture of the plaid-short-wearin' Claire and Charlie.  Hannah and Emma also held Charlie and were able to make him giggle quite a bit.  The quote of the weekend came from three-year-old Hannah who (after "holding" Charlie for a few minutes) said, "He sure does have a big body."  Yes Hannah, yes he does.

As if a visit with some of his cousins wasn't enough fun, Charlie also received a visit from Uncle Marty earlier today.  We forgot to ask, but we might need Uncle Marty to teach Charlie how to fish in the pond behind our soon-to-be house!

I can't tell you how many times we've said how nice it is to be 3 hours or so from our families - we feel like Charlie will really get to know his grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins now that we've moved closer and we think that makes him one lucky little boy.

As Good As It Gets

Trying to put jammies on a very giggly baby after his bath. He was making so much noise giggling that BJ came in to see what was going on.

Go Cubs Go!

We had a pretty quiet weekend and thankfully, Charlie seems to be feeling a lot better.  It just so happens that the Cubbies got a "W" yesterday when Charlie was wearing his new Cubs outfit so BJ would like me to point out that the Cubs are undefeated when Charlie wears his Cubs gear.  Oh my - it looks like I need to find some more Cubs gear right away or the poor kid will be wearing the same thing for the rest of the summer.

Six Month Update

Charlie Boy turned six months old today and I need to figure out how to make time stand still.  I love that he is reaching new milestones on a regular basis, but it makes me sad to think of how fast his "baby" days are passing.

I take Charlie tomorrow for his six month check-up, but when he was at the pediatrician's office last Friday, he weighed a whopping 18 pounds and 12 ounces.  Needless to say, Charlie is a fan of eating.  We've mastered sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas and applesauce.  He never did care for cereal, so I guess we're going to skip that phase.  I tried to feed him sweet peas the other night and it was as if I was abusing him - who can blame him, the peas looked an awful lot like the contents of some of his dirty diapers.

Despite being sick for the last few weeks,  Charlie continues to be a pretty happy baby.  He usually falls asleep around 7:30 or 8:00 and still has a tendency to wake around 3:00...sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for more than hour.  I'm hopeful that once he is feeling 100% that he will start sleeping through the night, but we'll get there. 

Charlie continues to love being read to, go for walks and just generally being talked to.  He loves to add his two cents - especially when I read him some of our more common books.  He has also started smiling at Copper and it makes me sad that he won't get a smile in return.  Speaking of Copper, he continues to tolerate Charlie, but has also started to "cough" on a regular basis, which I believe is a sad attempt at getting more attention.

BJ tends to get huge smiles out of Charlie whenever he walks into the room and when Charlie is really excited, he starts to kick his legs excitedly.  Specifically his right leg so Michael Flahery/Lord of the Dance - look out!  He has also rolled from his tummy to his back and is very close to rolling from his back to his tummy.

Below are a few pictures that I tried to snap this morning so he looks a little sleepy.  I realized that Charlie is very easily distracted so I finally gave up and handed him his basketball rattle.

  
I feel like I could go on and on about the "little" things.  How I love that he crosses his feet when he is drinking a bottle or laying in his crib.  How I love that he will roll on his side while we are reading books in bed to give me a smile and touch my cheek.  How his entire face lights up when we pick him up out of his crib or pick him up from daycare.  How he loves to whip his paci back in forth in front of his face.  How he is so proud of himself when he rolls over.  How he laughs when he sneezes or smiles after he finishes a coughing fit.  I guess it is the "little" things that mean the most and I'm just trying my best to make a mental note everyday so that when he is 12 (or 10 or 8) and refuses to be seen with me, I'll have memories to comfort me.

First (and hopefully last) ER Visit

So it's no secret that Charlie Boy has had a nagging cough/cold for the last few weeks.  In fact, I feel like he became sick the week that we moved and never fully recovered.  We figured out that we'd been in Des Moines for 7 weeks and Charlie had been to a pediatrician's office (we switched offices a few weeks ago) 5 separate times.  We tried everything from Amoxicillin, nebulizer treatments, augmentin, etc.  Nothing seemed to really work, but Charlie was pretty happy and seemed to get used to coughing.  BJ and I were frustrated, but felt like we were following all of the doctor's orders and kept being assured that it could take Charlie awhile to get rid of his cough.

Flash forward to this weekend in Cascade.  I should have known that something was up since Charlie didn't have much of an appetite on Saturday which is the first time in his entire little life that he refused to finish a bottle.  He started to get a fever, so we started the Tylenol ritual, giving him some every 4 hours.  On Sunday morning, he still had a fever and just wasn't himself, so after a phone call with our personal health care provider (shout out to Jenn Archer) we took him into Finley Hospital and were seen in the ER. 

I had reached my limit, especially since Charlie had been seen by his pediatrician on Friday, just two days earlier.  As I did my best to summarize Charlie's medical records to the front desk clerk, nurse and physician assistant, I very firmly stated that we wouldn't be leaving the ER without a blood test and chest x-ray.  Each time they smiled politely in return and I calmly told them that I was serious, that I was demanding a chest x-ray.  I felt a little bit like Denzel Washington in "John Q" with the exception that Charlie wasn't in need (thankfully) of a heart transplant and I didn't hold anyone hostage.

I'm not sure if it was the fact that our intake records listed lawyer as my profession, the fact that I had a crazy look in my eye or the fact that I was wearing one of BJ's Cubs t-shirt that was covered in spit up and other nastiness, but the Finley ER staff happily obliged.  A few hours later, we left with a very lethargic baby, a diagnosis of pneumonia and a prescription for a super duper antibiotic.  BJ snapped the below picture after we made it through a blood draw, nasal swab and x-ray.

I am happy to report that after having taken 3 of his 5 doses of the new antibiotic, Charlie seems to be almost back to his old self.  His appetite is slowly returning (good thing he had some in reserves) and he's back to playing and smiling.  I tried to get him to look at the camera tonight, but he was too busy greeting all of his exersaucer friends to pay any attention to me.

On a random note, I now know why so many kids are diagnosed with ADHD each year - Charlie's exersaucer makes no less than 12 different noises and lights up.  Evenflo - promoting overstimulation on a daily basis.

We hope that you all had a great holiday weekend!