Atlanta Adventure - Day 1 (seeing the sights)

Well, I guess I should say seeing the sight, since I really only have pictures of one place! After we got our rental car (actually a minivan which my Dad had to drive...funny!), we headed downtown to our hotel. Luckily when we arrived our rooms were ready so we could get settled in because we were hoping that Charlotte would want to take a nap. Mom, Dad and Steve headed down the block to grab lunch at Johnny Rockets (not that good by the way - don't waste your money) while Charlotte and I stayed back and played. The nap was attempted but did not happen! I crossed my fingers that she would sleep ok in the hotel crib that night.

After lunch Steve and I decided to take Charlotte out for a walk to pass the time. Dad had gone over to the arena to catch the 2:30 game, but we were going to wait and head over for the evening session after getting Charlotte settled in bed, so we had some free time to explore. Our hotel was right next to Centennial Olympic Park so that is where we headed.

A few views of downtown...




Charlotte in the park looking at the fountains...





We didn't get many more pictures of Charlotte in the park, but here are a few highlights of what we saw while we were there:
-a cute dog playing frisbee
-lots of kids playing in the fountains
-an awesome playground designed for kids with special needs
-a potentially homeless man sleeping under a tree (I say potentially b/c I guess it could have just been a person taking a snooze under a tree on a nice day, but I have a feeling it was the former)
-a REALLY sketchy looking dude in dark jeans and dark hooded sweatshirt wandering through the playground mumbling to himself (this was our cue to head back to the hotel)
-oh, and there were lots of bicycle cops (perhaps because of the person mentioned above?!?!

Charlotte was ready for dinner, bath and bed a bit earlier than usual because of her action packed day. We got her fed, cleaned and in bed and she fell asleep like it was her own crib at home. We are so blessed to have such an adaptable little girl!

Atlanta Adventure - Day 1 (the airplane)

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:44 on Thursday morning so we set the alarm for 5:30 (ugh!). I haven't set an alarm clock in about 10 months since I have my very own (aka Charlotte), so this was not a pleasant sound to hear. I'd much rather wake up to a cute little voice saying 'da-da' or 'ma-ma' or even a cry than an obnoxious beep! Anyways, we made it out of bed, got ourselves ready and then woke Charlotte up about 6:30 to get her bottle and ready to go. Mom and Dad showed up a little before 7, we loaded up the car (until it was about to pop) and then headed to the airport.

Luckily the Delta counter was not crowded at all and we were able to check in and drop off our bags without much of a circus. Then came the security line! No matter how many times you have traveled with a baby (our count so far was 1), the security process is never that easy. You just don't have enough arms to get everything on the belt, and more importantly off of the belt once it has gone through. Thank goodness we had my Mom and Dad along to help out. They had purposefully brought small bags and fewer carry-ons so we could distribute all of our stuff amongst 4 adults instead of just 2.

Of course we played by the "rules" and arrived at least 2 hours early to the airport so we really didn't have to rush. In fact by the time we got on the little tram thing and made it to the gate, we still had over an hour until the plane would even board. This gave us a chance to regroup, grab breakfast and feed Charlotte her solid breakfast. She was getting pretty tired and ready for a nap so we took turns wandering around the terminal with her. They finally called our zone to board, and it didn't take long once we got Charlotte's car seat strapped in that she was dozing off to sleep just as we were taking off.

We were on a relatively new plane that had little TV screens at each seat with shows, movies and games. Pretty much everything cost money, but we found a trivia game that was free. You play against other people on the plane and it shows your name and what seat you are in so everyone is looking around to see the people who are getting the questions right and wrong. Pretty fun and a good way to pass the time. The flight was only about an hour and 20 minutes, and it went by in a flash.

Here is a clip of my traveling companions (and the trivia game that helped us pass the time)!

Snow in March?!

I thought my post about Charlotte's first snow would be the last post about snow this season! Turns out her first snow was not much of anything...today we were hit with about 6 or so inches of the fluffy white stuff. This meant that Steve got to work from home and was able to get some cute pics of Charlotte out in the snow. It was a much better photo shoot than when I tried to tackle the snow on my own last time!

A few cute ones...

No real story behind these ones other than another cute outfit!




Now there is a little bit of a story behind these ones! There was a bit of a diaper malfunction but since it was so close to bath time we didn't bother putting on a new outfit.



Playing in just a diaper is pretty fun!




My thumb is telling me it is time for bed!

Dinner Out

We had planned to meet some friends for happy hour/dinner at Rio Grande/Uncle Julio's this afternoon. Luckily our friends are willing to be early birds to accomodate Charlotte's schedule, and also luckily, Charlotte took a nice long afternoon nap so she would be in a good mood while we were out.

I had the diaper bag loaded with all of the necessary distractions - book, stuffed toy, rings, puffs, oatmeal and veggies. Even though I had brought Charlotte's dinner with me, I decided to order her something from the kids's menu since we are trying to incorporate more finger foods. So I ordered her a kid's quesadilla! This was Charlotte's very first time with real restaurant food!! Exciting, right? The quesadilla also came with a little cup of fruit - cantaloupe, pineapple and grapes. We steered clear of the pineapple and grapes, but cut up the cantaloupe and she seemed to like it. Although when I picked her up at the end of the meal a lot of cantaloupe (along with puffs and a wagon wheel) fell to the floor. I'm guessing she got at least a few pieces! She also seemed to really like the quesadilla - pulled apart into the tiniest pieces - I am so paranoid about choking. She can probably barely taste them they are so small!

I took a picture of Charlotte's first kid's menu order -


And here she is at the restaurant!




Charlotte was such a good girl at the restaurant. We were there for nearly 2 hours and she was just great the whole time. She enjoyed looking at everyone and interacting with our friends. I think she is finally opening up to them - it takes her a few times seeing someone before she will really smile and play. Oh, and as usual everyone and everything she looked at was "da-da" :)

Portrait Innovations

Since Charlotte is now 9 months old, it was time to head back to Portrait Innovations! Well, it's not like we HAD to go back for 9 month pictures, but 3 month intervals seemed like the thing to do as a first time Mom :) Last time we went it was for 6 month/Christmas pictures and Charlotte wasn't able to sit up on her own, so I thought this time it would be easier. Hmmm...think again!

I thought I had the perfect timing for our appointment - after morning nap and before lunch. The studio was surprisingly not busy so we got started pretty much right away - that is after I had to change a dirty diaper. Charlotte always has the best timing with these things! I sat her down on the first backdrop and she was not very happy to be there. The photographer, Steve and I went through all of our "get the baby to smile" tricks with not a whole lot of success. We tried to get her to stand up holding onto one of their many props...that didn't work at all (we are still very shaky with this skill anyway). We had one outfit and background change, but not much change in mood. We decided to just stop and see what we had because at this point we were creeping towards lunch time and I knew that Charlotte's mood would only get worse!

So, they loaded up the pictures on the screen. Surprisingly the photographer had managed to get over 50 shots, and there were actually some pretty darn cute ones! Steve made Charlotte's bottle and fed her while we were looking and making our choices. We managed to spend less than we did during our Christmas visit, but not dramatically less! We scheduled this session on a weekend because Steve wanted to come along and "keep costs down," but we all knew that he would have just as hard of a time turning down pictures of our beautiful little girl!!

Here are a few of the poses that we ended up choosing. There are much cuter ones, but for some reason blogger is posting them sideways and I can't figure out why.





And here are a few of the ones we didn't...but of course we purchased enough to get the CD so we can have all the pics :)

This girl looks pretty pitiful huh?




"Didn't you get the hint...I am NOT happy!"

Big Laughs

Apparently Charlotte was in the mood to laugh today! I opened a "new" toy for her. We have been rationing her Christmas toys and open a new one every now and then. Today it was the Busy Ball Popper. Thanks Marie, Martin and Jack!! Take a look at this video and let me know if you think Charlotte likes her new toy...


Charlotte was also very amused by Peyton the Cat today for some reason. He wasn't doing anything in particular, just doing what he does best - sitting around and being lazy.