How to Cook Dinner!

Here are a few easy steps to help dinner made, they seem to work at our house when I am trying to cook dinner and Josh is doing the yard. Someone has to entertain CP during this time and usually pots, pans and spoons help the situation.

Step One: Find Baby getting in to trouble.

Step two: After you remove baby from trouble find something constructive for Baby to do.

Step Three: Make sure baby is occupied and having fun.

Step Four: Start cooking while Baby is occupied because you have a limited time to get things done before they move on to something new.

Tip: Make sure you periodically check on baby to see that they haven't crawled off and found some more trouble to get in too.

HATS!

We thought we should get Charlie a hat for when we went to the beach so that he didn't burn his little head. The hat (bucket) he picked out wasn't the best choice so Josh and I decided to find him a more suitable hat for his beach trip. Chances are pretty good that when we do head to the beach in five weeks he will have a bucket on his head as a hat at some point so stay tuned because if he does there will be pictures.

Guys this is the hat (bucket) I like!

I guess this one will work if I can't wear the bucket!
It's a lot softer so I guess you guys did a good job!

Pink Eye!

Our poor little guy has had his first and hopefully last go with Pink Eye. We don't know where he got it but he woke up Tuesday morning with a very red and goopy eye. So what a mom to do, well this mom called the Doctor expecting them to have us come in so Dr. Joe could look at it. That is not what happened, I told the wonderful nurse on the phone that I thought he had Pink Eye, she in turn asked what it looked like. After a few back and forhts she confirmed what I thought and said there was no need to come in that she would just call in a antibiotic for him. This was the best news because after his last two visits to the doctor he might not have been a happy camper going back and we saved a chunk of change in the meantime by not having to pay for a sick visit all we had to pay for was the generic antibiotics.

Charlie is now on the mend and by Wednesday you couldn't even tell that he had Pink Eye. We are still putting drops in his eyes, which in his view is pure torture. We keep telling him it is for his own good, and ours, but as soon as we both walk into his room and lay him on the changing table he screams bloody murder. This should only last for 7 more days so I think he will survive, it is so much better then the alternative but alas he is just a little to young to understand that right now.

On another note, we are still waiting on one test result to come back and of course when I spoke with the nurse on Tuesday she said this one was the one that took the most time. I am hoping we hear something before the end of this week.

Sorry mom no pictures today maybe I will get some loaded tonight!

Droopy Drawers, an Ode to Great Grandpa Mac!

As everyone knows Charlie is a little small for his age and therefore many of his pants are to big in the waist for him. I would buy them smaller but if I did this then they are a little to short so we just go for the big in the waist in order to accommodate the length.

Well today we were just hanging around the house and playing and Charlie's pants kept falling down. It really didn't seem to bother him, they would fall down and I would pull them back up. This went on for a while when I decided I needed to capture this on camera.

I know that PePa will enjoy this very much as it is quit reminiscent of his Father, Grandpa Mac. He was known to have pants that were always to loose in the waist and on one occasion he actually lost his pants in Wal-Mart while he was reaching for a bike for my cousin. It looks like CP is trying to keep his great grandfathers memory alive, I just hope he never looses his drawers in public while wearing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles boxers.

My pants are a little big!

But really it isn't a big deal I can still play.
No worries they still haven't fallen yet

Oh darn they fell down and now everyone can see my diaper!

Cruising!

Charlie is still not walking on his own but give him something to push and he is off! Once he does get the courage up to do it on his own we are definitely in trouble. Dixie was feeling left out when we shot this video so she thought she would show her stuff at the end!

Uptown Boy!

Josh and I have always been pretty big Billy Joel fans, we still talk to this day about how great he was in concert. It appears that Mr. Charlie is fond of Billy Joel as well, the other day I was getting dinner ready and had the Ipod going. Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" came on and he started to dance and laugh. Enjoy the video!

Test Results!

We have gotten most of CP's test results in and so far every thing has come back negative including the test for cystic fibrosis. Dr. Joe is still running a few more tests and we should have those results back in the next few days. We are continuing to pray that the remainder of the tests come back negative and the verdict is that we just have a small fry and he may need a few pediasure shakes to help him add the pounds on.

And just because I can, here is my little boy helping me empty the dishwasher. He was such a big help pulling out the silver wear basket after it was empty of course. Notice Dixie in the background just watching and wondering why he can play in the dishwasher and she can't.

Let Them Eat Cake!

CP had his birthday party on Sunday and we would like to thank all our family and friends for loving our little boy so much and coming to celebrate his big day with him. Not only was this CP's first birthday but this was his first opportunity to eat some cake. The pictures below are in reverse order and you can tell by the first picture that he loves hims some cupcake.

CP did not dive in like we thought he would, it took him a few minutes to warm up to the idea. I attribute this to the fact that everyone was staring at him and he wasn't quit sure how to pick it up. After we all left him alone he tore into his own little cupcake, I think he is an icing kid just like his mom since he kept grabbing some and licking his fingers. He will have to opportunity to have some more cake in about 10 days when he goes to his cousins first birthday party, I am sure he will know what to do with it then.

Yummy!

This is pretty tasty mom!
If I pick it up it is easier!

I think I should try to pick it up

Okay guys can I really eat this?

Playing with PePa.

1 Year Checkup!

Today was CP's one year check up and needless to say it did not go as smoothly as Josh and I would have liked. Our little guy just can't seem to gain weight, he isn't loosing any he just can't seem to put the pounds on like he should be. Aside from that Dr. Joe thought he looked like and acted like a very happy and healthy one year old who is meeting all the correct milestones for his age.

That being said the weight did concern Dr. Joe, Charlie has only gained 1 oz from his 9 month check up. You read that correct he still has yet to break the 17lb marker, which means he will still be facing backward in his car seat and won't be turning around any time soon. Because of the "Failure to Thrive" as they call it, we are running a battery of test to rule out any and everything that may be causing his inability to gain weight. Because we all know from watching the video it isn't because he doesn't eat, this kid can eat better then most grown ups I know.

So today while we were at the office Charlie had some blood drawn along with his immunizations. We will also be collecting "samples" from our little guy at home and bringing them back to be tested for a possible kidney infect. At some point next week we will be heading over to Children's Hospital to have a sweat test to rule out cystic fibrosis, this was not of major concern for Dr. Joe he would just feel better if it is one more thing he can rule out. Dr. Joe also said that this could be due to malabsorption (sp), meaning he is eating but all his food is being digested without being absorbed. I am sure once we find out if anything is wrong with him Dr. Joe will give us a plan of action. As for now we are to continue to feed him like we have been but we are changing from 2% to Whole Milk for the calories. I will keep everyone updated as we find out some information.

As we venture into the unknown, we ask that everyone please say a prayer that our little guy starts to gain weight and that all the test come back negative and he is just a small fry!

Length at Birth: 20 1/4"
Length at 2 months: 23"
Length at 4 months: 25 1/8"
Length at 6 months: 26"
Length at 9 months: 28 7/8"(50%)
Length at 12 months: 29 5/8" (50%)

Weight at Birth: 6.5lbs
Weight at 2 months: 10lbs
Weight at 4 months: 10lbs12oz (as you can see not a lot of weight gain)
Weight at 6 months: 13lbs5oz (still 5% but he is gaining)
Weight at 9 months: 16lbs11oz (still 5%)
Weight at 12 months: 16lbs12oz (dropped below 5%, weight stalled out again)

Head circumference: 15"
Head circumference: 16"
Head circumference: 17"
Head circumference: 18"(I think)

Happy 1st Birthday CP!

Today we wish our little guy a Very Happy 1st Birthday! It is still hard to believe that a year ago we were heading to the hospital full of anticipation and a little fear and a few short hours after we arrived we were holding our little miracle from God. He has truly been the best blessing that we have ever received and we continue to feel so happy that God chosen us to be his parents.

As today approached I wasn't sure how I would feel, if I would be excited or sad and today I am feeling both emotions. Excited because we have made it through a year and our little guy is doing great and a little sad because he is no longer a baby, he is turning into a big boy. Last night as I was finishing up our last late evening feeding (that I am sure we could have dropped for months now), I realized that I would never nurse CP again and I got pretty sad but then I thought about all the new things we would get to experience together. So in closing this chapter of our life we our just opening a new one that will be just as exciting and filled with just as much love.

In this past year our little guy has changed so much and it seems like it all happened in the blink of an eye. One day he was very needy and couldn't do anything for himself and the next he was sitting up on his own, crawling, standing, using a sippy cup and eating by himself. He truly has become a very independent little boy, but at times he still will let mommy and daddy help which makes us very happy. We still don't have a walker yet but I think that is soon to come as well and with that will come new challenges for us and more Independence for CP.

May 14, 2008, minutes old

May 14, 2009 waking upShoveling that food in on my Birthday!

SHOVEL!!!!!!!!

There is only one word to describe how Charlie eats and that is a "shovel". From the video below you can see how I came to this conclusion while he was eating his spaghetti tonight. Suprisingly there was only 2 pieces that didn't make it into his mouth!

Sleepy Saturday with Daddy!

My Boys snoozing together!

I HATE GRASS!!!!!!!!

As you can see from the picture CP really doesn't like the grass. This is what happens every time we have ever put him down in the grass. I hope that he learns one day soon that it really isn't that bad!

I HATE THE GRASS!

Fun Outside!

The last couple of nights we have spent some time outside playing while daddy gets some work done. On Monday night Charlie was in a pretty crabby mode from his top teeth cutting through so needless to say he didn't have much fun. Even though he was crabby we still got some pictures outside.

Sitting with Daddy

Mommy had me flying
Hanging out with Mommy

Much happy now that I am watching Mom and Dad plant flowers

Dixie wishes she was outside

Tonight Charlie had more fun playing outside in his car, I attribute to this to the fact that one of the 4 pesky teeth he has coming in finally broke through the skin.

Sweet Boy playing outside

I love my Car

Happy Mothers Day!

Yesterday was my first Mothers Day with my little boy here, last year as everyone know we were anxiously awaiting his arrival and he graced us with his presence three days after Mothers Day so I didn't officially get to celebrate. This last year with Charlie here in our lives has been so amazing and I never could fully comprehend what being a mother was all about until the day I set my eyes on that little boy of ours. I always loved my mom and had great admiration and respect for her but now being a mother myself I realize how much she has sacrificed to give my brothers and I such a wonderful life. I am also grateful for my mother-in-law for the sacrifices she made to raise such a wonderful son and I hope that like both my mom and my mother-in-law that my little boy will grow to be a wonderful man someday.

As for my first Mothers Day, it was wonderful, I would have liked to sleep in a little later then normal but waking up early is part of the sacrifices we make so we can spend time with our children. Yesterday morning I was woken up at about 6:30, Charlie was so excited he couldn't wait any longer to give me my Mothers Day gift. With his Daddy's help Charlie colored me a picture and he also gave me 2 Cards one from him and Dixie and one he made at school with his little feet stamped on it. After I opened my cards Josh gave me the gift that he and CP had made, it was a picture frame. On one side was a picture of CP and on the other were his tiny little hands imprinted in clay with dirt specks and all. This is definitely a gift I will cherish as he gets older and those little hands get bigger, I will be able to look back and remember just how tiny he once was.

Josh and Charlie took me out for lunch after church, we went to eat Japanese and I don't know if we will take Charlie back for a while, he was not a fan of the fire at all. After lunch we had to run errand, one of which was to Bed Bath and Beyond where I got my new Dyson Pet vacuum, this was my gift to myself on Mothers Day and I am so excited about it. Of course I ended up not getting the right one at first so once we got home Josh called the BB&B by us to see if they had the Dyson Ball pet and they did so being the good husband that he is he went back out for me so that I could vacuum. For all those wondering why he didn't vacuum for me on Mothers Day, it is because I wanted to, yes you read that right, I wanted to take my new vacuum for its inaugural run and man did it do the job.

This was by far a wonderful day and I feel so lucky and blessed to be Charlie's mom and can't wait to see what future has in store for him and our family.

Attack PePa!

These are a few cute pictures when we were at my parents house a few weeks ago. The dogs, especially Major, are definitely jealous of all the babies as is evidence by the picture below. PePa was trying to get some good quality time with CP when Major decided he needed to get in his lap as well and then Dixie wanted to get in on the action.

Charlie was trying to get Dixie she wanted to go outside and when CP discovered that she was outside he tried to get to her. He stayed at the door watching her for a good while before we let her in.

Uh Oh Spaghetti O's!

We decided to give Charlie Spaghetti the other night and he sure did love it. He started out pretty clean but that soon changed when he started shoving the lovely tomato sauce into his face. I am anxious to see what happens when we put cake in front of him for his birthday, I am pretty sure he will be a chocolate disaster.

It all stared out pretty clean.

Which quickly changed when he started shoveling it in his mouth.
This stuff is great and it is pretty fun to get messy!

He was trying to get the noodle off his hand so he could eat it!

Sick Day!

Charlie was sick on Friday with the stomach bug that has been going around. I got tasked with staying home with him since Josh had to go out of town for the day. For the most part Charlie did not act sick but he did get a few really good naps in, which proved to me he wasn't feeling his best. I am so glad he took those naps too since I still had to get some work done.

While he was up he did enjoy a little play time and a little one on one with mommy and he even helped me get a few e-mails out and update some reports for work. We had a fun day even though he was sick. I would like to say he is back to his same happy go lucky self but he is still a little cranky and clingy which I am thinking may be indicative of top teeth that are about to poke through. I guess everyone will have to stay tuned to find out if that is the case, I really hope so and that his clingy and cranky attitude isn't a new trend.

I haven't seen this in a while!

Hanging out and watching some noggin!
Even when I'm sick I still like to eat

Helping mom do some work