A Fun Visit

We knew this would be an exciting weekend because our friend Chris and his son Ethan (you've seen this name on the blog many times before) were coming into town to visit! We had planned to meet them over at my brother's house for lunch on Saturday so all the kids and adults could see each other. Another surprise was waiting for us when we arrived at the house - Alison had flown in the night before to surprise Chris! It was a great surprise as we didn't think we'd get to see her this trip.

Charlotte was dressed in her finest argyle giraffe ensemble for the occasion!



The kids spent a little while playing and exploring. Well, Ethan was the only one able to explore this time around, but it won't be long until Charlotte and Gabriel are on the move. Then i'm sure it will be a much different experience when we all get together!

Gabriel and Ethan taking it all in. Love the sweater vest Ethan!

Ethan and Charlotte playing "together"

Ethan on the move!

This Elmo balloon is fascinating...

Where do you think you're going?

Charlotte going for the horse collar

Madeline having fun with her Daddy

Gabriel taking a bite of his toy

Mommy and Charlotte


After some play time we enjoyed lunch from Panera (aka St. Louis Bread) then chatted and played some more. Everyone was getting tired and it was about time for naps, but before we parted ways I wanted to get some pictures of all the "babies" together. They just don't sit as still as they used to...

This might be the best we can do


Gabriel looking at Ethan, Ethan looking at me, and Charlotte looking at Alison


Ethan lounging on Charlotte

Charlotte looking a bit concerned

Ethan says "I'm outta here!"


It was quite an overwhelming day for all the kids. This was our signal it was probably time to wrap it up for the day...



It was so fun to see Chris, Alison and Ethan during their visit. We hope to be able to visit them in St. Louis in the next few months.

Mommy Group Fun

After a long hiatus from mommy group over the holidays (we hadn't seen each other in 3 weeks!), everyone came over to our house for some fun. It is always fun to see and hear what everyone is doing and the milestones that have been reached since the last time we've seen each other. Charlotte was napping when our first guests arrived - Brayden and his Mom Julie! Brayden was taking a little rest in his car seat when they arrived. After only a few minutes both Charlotte and Brayden were awake and ready to play. Brayden showed off his developing sitting skills. He is also getting really good at grabbing and grasping things and was practicing with some of Charlotte's roll-a-round balls. These are also Charlotte's latest favorite toy. It is really cute to see her pick them up and palm them like mini basketballs. She is also really good at passing them back and forth between her hands. Yeah...so many things to check off the milestone list the next time we go to the doctor!!

After a bit the rest of the crew arrived - Jen and Grayson and Andrea and Jack.
Now it was time for everyone to show off their tricks - rocking, rolling, sitting up...we are quite a group! Oh...and our eldest member Jack is now on Stage 3 foods and is eating cheerios and puffs. My how far we've come!

The camera was acting up so I didn't get too many shots, but here are a few cute ones.

I love your track suit, Jack!

Charlotte and her crew

Come on Brayden, tummy time is fun...I promise!

Face to face with Grayson during the few seconds he'd stay on his tummy! :)

After our friends left we had some fun in our rocking chair.

I love my Ethan

I first have to say that this was in no way staged. I was walking around in the kitchen holding Charlotte and we were looking at all the stuff we have on the refrigerator. I saw her staring at a picture of none other than Mr. Ethan! I took it off the fridge and handed it to her.

Wow, this guy is pretty cute!


Chomp!


Ethan's picture is now safely back on the fridge, hopefully with minimal drool damage!

A Fun Filled Saturday

Today was a fun stay at home day. No random outings to Babies R Us, or trips to Target, just family time at home. In fact I think we were all in pajamas until about lunch time!

After Charlotte's nap I decided to dress her in a new outfit for the day. I can't believe that this child has gone nearly 8 months and not worn a single pair of overalls until today. They were so cute I might just have to venture out this week in search of a few more :)




Unfortunately the striped turtleneck onesie had to be replaced by a plain white turtleneck later in the day because of a diaper's inability to contain, but that was super cute too! She was also pretty darn cute in just her onesie and socks. Look at the size of those legs!!





My friend Amie called and said she was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by. Yeah...we are in a cute outfit and have visitors to see it...what a great day! Amie hasn't seen Charlotte since she was only a few months old and she was sleeping the whole time, so this visit was quite different.




We also had another fun visitor today...Kathleen! She was coming over for dinner and so she could watch Charlotte open her Christmas gifts from her which we had saved. Kathleen got her tons of great Sandra Boynton books, a cool "dashboard" toy for the car and a Baby Einstein Tummy Tickler Dragon who when you squeeze his tummy says "bleh" in varying tones. Kathleen said it was more for Steve than for Charlotte, and that proved true as I have heard "bleh, bleh, bleh" since about 6:30pm (and Charlotte goes to bed at 6:15!).

Here are a few more cute pics of the last day or so...




This pic was taken after Charlotte ate her dinner. I had taken her sweatshirt off so she wouldn't get green beans all over it so that is why she is rocking the white undershirt look. Just thought it was cute seeing her all strapped in to the seat with her full belly sticking out. Steve says she looks a bit redneckish in the plain white onesies. At least it doesn't have a barbeque stain!

There's a fine line between being nice and being creepy...

And that line was crossed today, twice!

Incident #1, Location: Pei Wei Asian Diner

We decided to venture out of the house on this fine New Year's Day, and as luck would have it most everything was open and not that crowded. I guess everyone was still recovering from their wild nights out. Needless to say, we did not have such a wild night out, in fact, I barely stayed up past 10! Anyways, back to the story. We took Charlotte into the restaurant, ordered and then got her all set up in her high chair (yes, we are a big girl now and sitting in public high chairs!).

I spotted the food runner bringing our spring rolls over to the table, and as people usually do he looked at Charlotte, smiled and starting talking to her. He got down on her level pretty much right in her face. She gave a blank, but not yet petrified stare. She kept looking at us for reassurance and we tried our best to get her to warm up, but she wasn't having it...no smiling. He walked away.

That was all fine and good, until he came back with our entrees and proceeded to get all up in her face again. This time the staring turned into full fledged crying. He walked away.

I thought that would be the end of his visits, but then he comes strolling back over, grabs a napkin from our table and starts dabbing at her tears. Steve and I were taken aback but weren't sure what to do. I didn't want to be mean and tell this guy to scram, but looking back I guess we should have. Anyways, she started to get fussy again and he retreated. He did steer clear from our table after that, but geez it took a lot of hints! I was hoping for a leisurely meal with Charlotte in the high chair but instead I held her while I ate, quickly, then we left.

Incident #2, Location: Kohl's

Our next stop was Kohl's to take a look at all the post holiday deals! We found a few things for Charlotte, a couple of t-shirts for me and then headed to the check-out. There are always at least a few strange people working at Kohl's and this experience was no different. There was a line at the regular check out so the lady at the "fine jewelry" counter called us over to her register.

The conversation went something like this...
Kohl's Lady - "OOh, look at the baby...how old is she?"
Us - almost 8 months
Kohl's Lady - "Does she sleep well for ya? I have a grandaughter who is almost a year, she is blah blah blah...oh look at these cute pants with the ruffles on the hiney I need to get some...my daughter and son-in-law are moving to Colorado and taking my baby away, I need to find another one to adopt..."
Us - random head nods and obligatory chuckles
Kohl's Lady- "There was a lady in here the other day who had adopted a baby, she was a single mother, I didn't think single people could adopt I thought you had to be like married or something"
Us - stunned silence
Kohl's Lady - "So yea, I need to find a baby to adopt. She is so cute (referring to Charlotte who was blessedly sleeping during this time and luckily had the jewelry counter between her and this lady) maybe i'll just get her"
Us - a few apprehensive chuckles, grab receipt and walk away
Kohl's Lady - "Oh, do you have an email address I can sign you up for special offers"
Me - "I think i'm already on the list" and continue to walk away

As we were walking out the door and into the parking lot I turned to Steve and said "Hmm, I wonder why her kids are moving to Colorado?!"

Phew! What an interesting adventure out of the house today. Sorry I have no pictures that actually go along with these stories, but here are a few cute ones from the last couple of days.

New Year's Resolution

Charlotte has decided on her New Year's Resolution(s)...

1. Hold my own bottle (well, only if it is almost empty and not too heavy for me to handle, and also only if I really feel like it).



2. Spend more quality time with my monkey friend, Rolo.



3. Be the cutest darn baby my parents (and the world) have ever seen! Well, ok, there are tons of other cute babies out there, but i'm probably in the top 10!

Christmas Part 3

Since all of Sarah's family was in from out of town for the holidays, they spent Christmas Day at her parent's house. So, we had Christmas Part 3 with Madeline and Gabriel this weekend! We picked up a very traditional Christmas lunch on the way over - Chipotle. Madeline was patient (sort of) while we ate and then it was time to open presents.

She sang a little tune while grasping one of her gifts. I believe it went something like "I love presents, I love presents." She was very amusing as always.




Madeline seemed to like all of her gifts, especially her Tinkerbell sticker book and the Critter Corner set that we gave her. As soon as she unwrapped it she would look at Sarah and ask if she could play with it now. We ended up opening everything right then and there!




The babies didn't take much interest in the gift opening, but here are a few of Charlotte observing the festivities.




Charlotte got a great Leap Frog musical learning table, a handheld music player, a new pair of Robeez shoes and some really cute spring outfits from Baby Gap! I can't wait to wash all of her new clothes and dress her up :)

After the gift opening festivities and naps for Gabriel and Madeline, we took a few pictures of the babies playing together (well, staring at each other).



Here is a cute one of Gabriel during some tummy time. He is really pushing up with his arms and is able to get his knees up a little bit. Plus he has 2 teeth already! We have a lot of catching up to do Miss Charlotte!!



Of course I forgot to bring one of Gabriel's presents over on this trip, so there will be at least one more mini-phase of Christmas at some point. Stay tuned...