On Boots and Puddles

Rarely does a day go by where Charlie does not, at some point in the day, bring me his boots, hat, coat or some combination of all three. He then hopefully quips, "Outside?" It doesn't matter what the weather is outside and no matter how logically I explain that it is unseasonably cold, raining very hard, etc. he inevitably listens and promptly replies in the same tone, "Outside?"

It was one such typical day when there was just a slight drizzle outdoors and Amelia was settled down for her am nap that I took Charlie outside. For some reason, on this day, he insisted on wearing the boots that he'd gotten from Grandma. These are a little big on him and thus slightly awkward especially in slippery weather. As he ran around yelling, "Puddle!" and performing the obligatory jump and splash, he kept tripping on his boots and falling. In the picture above, I had just snapped the shutter when Charlie started to take a dive. I love how this picture turned out though (and injuries were minimal).

Amelia and Charlie try some cereal

We gave Amelia her first bites of rice cereal the other day. She seemed rather ambivalent about it and most dribbled down her chin, but the whole time we were feeding her Charlie was saying "Cereal, Cereal" in increasingly demanding tones. Finally to quiet the kid, we gave him a bite. I don't think it was quite what he expected. Ah, Charlie will you ever learn?

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Happy Gal

Amelia is almost five months old. Some recent accomplishments include: giggling, slouching up (not quite sitting up), using the upright bath seat instead of the baby lounger because she kept scooching out of it, smiling even more often and holding on to toys. Exciting huh? At her four-month doctor's visit, she weighed 15 1/2 pounds so she's a chunky one, but not as much so as her darling bro who weighed 18 lbs at the same age! She is solidly in 6-9 mo. clothes now and thanks to her pals, Violet, Mallory and Maddie, she has a great selection! Amelia and Charlie are having a great time together. She loves to watch Charlie do absolutely anything. It will be so helpful when she can finally start doing one of those things that girls do best--tattling on her brother.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tools glorious tools!

Does anyone love tools as much as our kid? Nearly every morning after breakfast, Charlie jumps down and says, "Downstairs." If this is after Mom and/or Dad's am cup of java, we dutifully take him down to the basement and let him get to it. Lately, he's been into his goggles and will insist that I find him when he begins working on a project. Some day, he wants to put them on one of his stuffed animals instead. Safety first!

Charlie will often tote around this little step ladder. He'll drag it up to a wall, climb up with his "equipment" and begin to babble to himself. Here he is with a full belt of supplies. I swear "pliers" "chisel" and "wrench" were some of Charlie's first words--after hammer of course. He may be one of a select few his age who know the difference between a nail and a screw. We get such a kick out of our little handyman.

Warm hearts, cold temps down South

In late January, we braved the skies with two under two in tow (say that three times fast). We went down to SC to visit Bob's parents. The trip down went super because the plane was almost empty. Charlie had his own seat and enjoyed the trip immensely (as did his pet dinosaur, "Chops")

Amelia's first flight. We found out that they do still give out "wings" to kids on the airlines, but they were out...Amelia was a great passenger. There were a few stressful moments on the way back due to various factors: a sippy cup rolling down the center aisle during take off, running out of infant diapers after 2 diaper changes in the tiny airplane bathroom (who knew we'd go through more than 4 diapers in as many hours?), unison crying from both kids for about ten minutes, an overbooked flight...but we successfully took advantage of flying our two kids for free. We also agreed, we would never do it again.

It was wonderful to get to share Amelia with her grandparents who hadn't seen her since she was just a month old. Mia was a little under the weather all week with a very bad cold, but still found plenty of time to snuggle with Grandma and Gramps.

Charlie and Grandpa...and Chops.

The weather wasn't quite what we expected. Let's just say "unseasonably cold" down there isn't much warmer than the Rochester winter we left behind!

Charlie and Grandma had "picnics" almost every day. Charlie's favorite part was the cookie at the end! He had a lot of fun with Grandma.


We were so glad it worked out to meet up with some pals down South. Mark and Jenni Wright met us in Charlotte at Jill's house. Jill was my college roommate at RWC. She's an elementary school teacher, so she figured Amelia had time to fit in a story with Aunt Jill.


Here's Mark with his birthday girl who just turned one, Alexis.

A spoonful of flour

Charlie is always interested in what's going on in the kitchen. In other words, Charlie is always hungry and looking for something to eat! If it looks edible, he'll give it a try. Well, I shouldn't say that because it's not really that he's curious-- it's that he's actually hungry and on the prowl for a snack. This is proven by the fact that I've caught him taking a bite of a bar of butter not once, not twice, but three times. That is so gross!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

PS- This video was pre hair-cut. Poor kid; I hope no one was teasing him at playgroup!