Just Pictures

Charlie is changing so fast! Here are a few pictures taken this weekend. Jeff's brother Ryan (Uncle Ya-Ya) and his girlfriend Lindsay came over on Saturday. Ryan brought his Wii game, "Guitar Hero", and Grace had a great time playing the guitar and dancing to the music. We also got to play outside for awhile. It was really fun having them over!

Little Chef

A couple days ago I came downstairs from putting Charlie down for a nap and found Grace sitting on the kitchen floor eating a sandwich. My own little Holly Homemaker had gotten out the bread, opened the tub of cream cheese, found a spoon, spread the cream cheese on the bread, and put her spoon neatly in the dishwasher! ( I could tell it was her spoon in the dishwasher because it was covered in cream cheese!) She had such a proud grin on her face and really enjoyed eating her creation.

She has heard me tell this story a couple times since it happened and apparently decided to make another sandwich this morning. Only this time she made a sour cream sandwich (yummy!), and I had my camera ready to capture her handy work.

(I realize it's a little odd to take a picture of your dirty dishes, but I'm just so impressed that she knew to put her spoon in the dishwasher not one time, but twice!!)She knew we were on our way out the door, so as I put Charlie in his carseat, Grace got a plastic baggie out of the drawer (I'm still not sure how she got past the "childproof" lock!) and attempted to put her sandwich inside so she could bring it with her to eat later. I guess I'm going to have to start keeping my floors cleaner if she's going to be cooking on them!

Picture Day

I took Grace and Charlie to have their pictures taken today. I knew the outing had potential for being a challenge, so my mom came along for reinforcement. That ended up being a very good thing because it was quite an adventure. Getting two kids out of the house is still a challenge for me, but getting two kids out of the house looking picture ready was even harder. Luckily everyone was quite cooperative at this point and we only left a little later than I had planned. Grace had perfect pigtales, the clothes were ironed and ready to be changed into once we got there, and everyone was still in a good mood. We ended up arriving a few minutes late, the pigtales were no longer in tact, the bows were lost, and I was starting to feel a little frazzled. My mom took Grace in while I got Charlie out of the car, and as soon as she walked through the door she went into total meltdown. I'm not sure what caused it, but the tears came and did not stop. I quickly got Charlie changed, my mom somehow managed to put Gracie's shirt on, and I attempted to put her pigtails back in. Unfortunately, I underestimated my brute strength and broke one of the ponytail holders in the process. So now Gracie's face is bright red, she's still crying hysterically, her hair is a mess and has one bow barrette in (which I later realized I put in upside down!), and the photographer has just a few minutes left for our session. She took a few shots of just Charlie and we were done. We're going to attempt a reshoot next week.

When we got back to my mom's house, I thought I'd at least try and get a snapshot of the kids. After all, I had put a lot of work into getting them ready! However by this point Charlie was hungry and tired, so this is the one and only photo taken of them today.

My mom also took this picture of Grace which I think is really cute. (Please notice the upside down bow!)

All About Grace

I realize that much of the "blog spotlight" has been on Charlie lately, so I thought I'd share some recent stories about Grace today. She has become quite the mischief maker these days with a keen sense of the best times to find something new to get into. One of her new favorite phrases is "right back!" She seems to think this is an adequate answer when I'm sitting on the couch nursing Charlie and she suddenly jumps up and runs out of the room with me asking, "Where are you headed?" Luckily, she usually finds a minor form of destruction like shutting the computer off, emptying out drawers, or taking food out of the refrigerator. (She is strangely drawn to the jar of pickles.) I've learned putting the baby gate up at times like these helps contain our wild little one.

Grace has also become an escape artist. I was quite surprised the other day when I came down from putting Charlie in his crib to find Grace in the backyard! Evidently, she's figured out the sliding glass door! Not only that, she's mastered the child-proof door knob handles. A few days ago I went upstairs while she was "napping" (aka playing in her room) and found her door open and her room empty. I turned around and looked down the hall to see a completely naked Grace standing on my bed, arms reached to the sky, squealing in delight at her great escape.



She is really doing a good job trying to be gentle with Charlie. She loves to sing to him when he cries or else she says "Okay Baby Brother. Gracie here." What a sweetheart!



Well, most of the time. Two days ago she threw an empty toy bin at his head. (She can't be perfect all the time!) When her time out ended we had the same conversation we always have.


"Why are you in time out"


"I hit Baby Brother in the head."


"Was that a good choice?"


"No"


"What would you like to say?"


Normally she says "Sorry Mama."


This time she started" No more..." and I thought she was going to say "No more hitting Baby Brother."


Oh no! Instead she says, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" and gave me a big smile.

She's a handful, but I sure love this girl!

Four Weeks Old

Charlie celebrated his one month birthday today! It's amazing how fast the time has gone. Just for fun, let's look back at the month in numbers:

416-the number of pictures we've taken since Charlie was born





18-the number of hours Charlie sleeps each day


7-the number of hours Brooke sleeps each day (not bad!!)





17-the average number of diapers used each day in our house (potty training...here we come!)


2800-the number of kisses Charlie has been given since birth (This is just an estimate, but Gracie gives LOTS of kisses!)

0-the number of times I've wished I was still pregnant

4-the average number of outfits Charlie wears in a 24 hour period

3-the number of times I've cooked dinner (does baking a pizza count?)

11-the number of pounds Charlie weighs now

24-the number of inches he is long

Out and About

Since moving here a little over a year ago, I have been heavily recruiting friends to come join our neighborhood. If hearing about our morning doesn't convince you to get your current house on the market, then I'm about out of ideas!

Grace woke up with a very strong desire to go to one of her favorite places, the library. (Her reading teacher mama is so proud!!) After a loooong wait, the library was open, so we bundled up Charlie in the cutest bear outfit ever, hopped into our BUS of a stroller, and headed out into the sunshine. On our way to the library, we passed one of the many toddler parks in our neighborhood, so we stopped and played for awhile. Then we made our way to the library where Grace picked out some books, found a new Wiggles movie (yipee!), and checked them out by herself. (Yes, we go there that often!) Our next stop was Starbucks (now you're jealous!) where we had a snack. Then we headed by Grandma and Boppo's house for a short visit before returning home. On our way we passed 3 more parks, basketball courts, and a pond where we often stop to feed the ducks. All in all, we were out for about an hour and half enjoying the sunshine, fresh air, gorgeous views of the mountains all around us. Well, Grace and I did. Charlie slept most of the time. I'm telling you, there is no better place to live!

Charlie's cozy bear outfit.

Grace and Charlie riding in total comfort. This thing is a beast, but at least I got a good workout!

Parenthood

I went to bed last night so thankful to be a mom. This is not that unusual, but considering the circumstances, it surprised me a little that I was enjoying it so much. It's been an interesting few days. Jeff traveled last week for work. Evidently that put Grace over her limit for the amount of change she was able to handle at one time because she found a new alter ego...cranky girl. (I MUCH prefer her "nakey girl" alter ego!) It was a tough few days, but mostly because I felt badly for her. It must be really hard to have so many emotions and not have the words to express them. I'm happy to say that once Jeff returned home, sweet spunky Grace returned and things were back to normal.

Then Charlie woke up with one eye completely glued shut...pink eye had struck!! How does a two week old get pink eye? Well, my best guess is that it could have been connected to the several times that "cranky girl" poked him in the eye. Or, it could be from the fact that he spits up through his nose and somehow bacteria got into his tear duct. I'm not sure, but it's cleared up now and so far the rest of us have managed to keep infection free. Well, mostly.

Yesterday Grace woke up with a nasty cold and fever. By late afternoon, she was throwing up and completely miserable. So, as I went to bed last night, I was completely exhausted and sure that the night would hold many hours of comforting Grace, cleaning up vomit, and feeding Charlie every few hours. This is why my feelings of being so thankful to be a mom surprised me a little. I LOVE taking care of my kids no matter how challenging or exhausting it may get.

I am happy to report that Grace was not up all night. In fact, she slept all night long and woke up feeling much better, and Charlie woke to eat only once for the third night in a row! God is good!! =)




Okay, that was a lot of writing. I know you're here for the pictures, so here are a few random ones.

This is NOT cranky girl.