Happy Halloween!

Elmo Derek, Hula girl Charlotte, and cowboy Ozzy (one of Charlotte's best friends)

All the daddies lined up trying to get the perfect pic. I obviously did not zoom in enough!

Trick or treating!

This is a couple weeks old, but I just wanted to show what a ham Charlotte has become. As soon as she sees the camera in my hand, she runs up and says "cheeeeese." Please disregard the naked apple-eating. These are the kinds of crazy things that happen by the end of the day when you are home alone with a toddler all week!

Pictures

A few pictures from our trip to Orlando. In 5 days we hit Universal Studios, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach. Thank goodness Meemo came with us! I could not have managed both kids without her.

Universal Studios

In line for our first ride at Magic Kingdom

Sitting in Minnie's chair

Train ride

Petting zoo at Animal Kingdom

We are still alive

Hi! Remember us? We do still exist and a lot has been going on in the last 3 months. We wrapped up our summer of first birthday parties and now it seems like Fall has gone by in a flash. Sam has started kindergarten and is loving it, Charlotte took swimming lessons (in addition to all her many other activities!), we spent a weekend in Baton Rouge, a weekend in Chicago, and 5 days at DisneyWorld. One of the biggest accomplishments came in August when we finally got a babysitter (not until after everyone was asleep of course :)) and Derek and I WENT OUT for our anniversary. I think it was the first time in over a year that I'd been out of the house after dark. Also, Charlotte has gone to Mom's Morning Out at the YMCA a few times and is doing...okay. It is her first time to be apart from me and some days she loves it and some days...well, some days she doesn't end up staying for more than 5 minutes :)

Charlotte is in such a cute phase right now as she is picking up new words nearly everyday and is mimicking everything we do. If I am sweeping the floor...Charlotte is sweeping the floor, if I am cooking dinner...Charlotte is stirring imaginary bowls with wooden utensils, when I say "okay, it's time to go"...she grabs her purse and baby doll and runs for the garage door. One of the cutest new things that she says is a word she learned in DisneyWorld--"wow!" She also loves to say "woof" and "quack." She is really good at spotting dogs and ducks and will let you know as soon as she sees one! Our favorite outings right now are probably to the zoo where she loves to chase the birds and peacocks and to the mall where we ride the carousel and the train. It seems like she has also really started to recognize her friends. We hang out with the same few people nearly everyday of the week, but just this past week when we met up at the park, she ran right up to her friends and gave them hugs. So cute...especially because they all happen to be boys :)

1st Birthday Party

Twelve of Charlotte's closest friends and their parents came over to celebrate her birthday last Sunday. It was quite a full house, but we had a great time!

Very excited to greet all the friends

Gorgeous cake made by a friend of mine complete with a fondant replica of Charlotte from the picture on the invitation

Happy birthday to you...

Third birthday cake. YUM.

After everyone left and Charlotte had a good nap, she finally got to bust into all her presents.

I realized tonight that maybe I need to make friends with some women whose babies are NOT the same age as Charlotte. We are heading into our 3rd of 5 weekends in a row of birthday parties!

Birthday Girl!

Playing in her new ball tent/tunnel

Cake face

Hard to believe it's been a whole year! It was just the four of us on Charlotte's actual birthday, but she was able to celebrate with my side of the family the week before in Utah and we will have her birthday party with all her friends this weekend. At her 12 month check-up she measured 29.5 inches long and weighed 18 lbs. 8.5 ounces. The doctor said she is still a little skinny for her height, but as she was spinning circles and jumping up and down, he said that he could understand why! She had to get three shots in her arms and one fingerprick which she did not like. Her latest favorite thing is her blankets and stuffed animals. Whenever I pick her up from the crib, she reaches down to get blankets and/or animals in each hand and then drags them around the house all day. She also loves saying "bye bye." I didn't realize how much I say it to her during the day, but now she says "bye bye" not only whenever we leave a store, but also whenever I flush the toilet, throw something away, close the refrigerator, close the pantry, etc. This afternoon she picked up my purse, said "bye bye" to me, and walked to the garage door. Then leaned her head around the corner, waved, and said "bye bye" again. I guess just to make sure I really knew she was outta there. She's a trip!

The past few weeks

It's been hard finding time to blog the past few weeks because I literally spend all day chasing Charlotte around. We also moved to a new house last week--not easy with Charlotte running around everywhere! She spent about four weeks taking 5-10 steps and then overnight she started walking/running everywhere. There is no containing her now. It has always been difficult to keep her in the stroller or shopping cart, but now it is impossible. She has discovered that it is really funny to run away from me at the store. We were at Target a few days ago and she kept running away and hiding around the corner. As soon as I reached to pick her up, she'd drop to the ground and roll away...giggling the whole time of course. I was simultaneously delighted by her happiness and terrified of what's to come with the rambunxious child. She has also started doing tricks on command which is fun. She can do "where's your fingers?" (waves her hands), "kisses," "stomp your feet," " high five," and "where's your tongue?" And, boy oh boy, does she love to dance. She has been nicknamed "DJ Charlotte" at Little Gym because she dances every single time the music starts. Even when the teacher is just singing the hello song, she bops her head back and forth. I think Derek is really horrified by how much she loves to dance and show off ;) She has also turned into quite the climber. She climbs on top of her exersaucer, the dog crate, the TV cabinet....I have my hands full!

Sam officially graduated from Pre-K last month and will start kindergarden in the Fall. He is all energy, all the time but so sweet with Charlotte. Everything she does he says, "awww she's so cute."

Sam and Charlotte were also very excited to welcome their new cousin into the world. Benjamin Elijah Boulware was born on May 22 and we can't wait to meet him in a few weeks!

Our new house has a big backyard and a pool so hopefully we can keep these kids busy (and worn out) all summer...which lasts about 8 months here!

Ready to try out the pool

Refused to ever sit in the swing but will play in the dog crate
Lunch and shopping. Daddy wanted to buy her all the princess dolls at the Disney store but she only had eyes for Ariel! You can see her red hair by Charlotte's hip.

Looking for alligators

New Dance Moves

Charlotte has been doing the classic baby bop up and down dance for awhile, but she also debuted some new moves earlier this week.

A few videos

Having video capability on my cell phone is the best thing ever when you sit at home with a baby all day. We have tons of little videos of her! Here are a few of my favorites from the past month...

She didn't even give me a chance to post this one of her using the push walker before she started walking on her own! She took her first few steps this past weekend!

Sam and Charlotte

I feel so blessed that not only do I get to experience the joy of my first child, but I also already get to experience the love of siblings. Sam and Charlotte are the best of friends and it makes me teary just thinking about how their faces light up when they see each other. Now, I'm sure this will change throughout the years, but we will enjoy the happiness as long as it lasts. I wish everyone could have seen them together a couple nights ago. After dinner, they had the best time chasing each other around the living room. Sam had Charlotte cracking up as she was SO determined to catch him. Sam takes his big brother role very seriously. He has always loved picking out her clothes and giving her the pacifier in the car. Now that she is eating solids, he also wants to help feed her all the time. Yesterday morning we stopped at Dunkin Donuts after taking Derek to the airport. While I was in the kitchen I looked over at the breakfast table and Sam was tearing up tiny pieces of his donut to share with Charlotte. Unlike everything else she eats, she did not spill one bite of that glazed donut!

Charlotte watches as Sam works on some sort of intricate project involving dish soap. I think he said he was making honey ;)

Sharing shave ice. I'm sure the pediatrician would be pleased.

She was not actually having as much fun as it looks like she is, but it was still a nice moment.

Play, Play, Play

Nine Months Old & First Easter

Charlotte had her nine month check-up yesterday and the doctor was very impressed with her development. He said she has already met most of the milestones that he would be asking about at her 12 month visit! She is 28 inches long (75th percentile) and 16 pounds 7 ounces (15th percentile). Long and skinny! I have been tasked with her getting her to eat more food so we can get her weight up a bit.

Sam was not with us for Easter and by the time he came over to get his basket, Charlotte's was completely dismantled so I wasn't able to get a picture of them together. Also, he "HATES" pictures. Just want to make sure everyone knows that is why they are not a lot of pictures of him on here :)

First Easter egg hunt

Didn't take her long to figure out how to open up her eggs and get the "candy"

New Teeth

Apparently new teeth make you do strange things with your mouth...




By the way, she is getting more hair...it is just VERY blonde!

The past month

Charlotte is changing at such a rapid pace now that I don't even know where to start with updates. She is crawling all over, standing, walking with assistance, and has just started "cruising" along the furniture. She loves to dance and go to the beach or play outside. She has recently learned how to shake her head "no", wave "hello" or "goodbye", and cluck her tongue/smack her lips. She now does these things obsessively. I have even seen her smacking her lips in her sleep! She has her two bottom teeth and based on her behavior the last couple of days, I expect another one to make an appearance any day now. Despite only having two teeth, she prefers finger foods to purees these days and of course, prefers to do it herself rather than have me feed her. She took her first first-class trip when she and I went to Hawaii a couple weeks ago to visit the family. She is in a really fun stage right now, and we are loving (almost) every minute of it.

First day of standing

At Kindermusik hogging all the toys. Typical. Seriously, she is always taking toys away from other babies. We went to the beach last Saturday and she kept taking her friend's hat off too. I told her that just because she hates a hat, doesn't mean everyone does!

The one and only time she's worn that hat. It lasted about 10 seconds. Consequently, I have to sunblock her head everytime we go out. Not pretty, although it does make her hair a little more obvious.

Hanging out with Uncle Jake

With two of her biggest fans, Meemo and Debo

Best video ever!

As you can tell from Charlotte's infectious laughter, she LOVES playing with Sam and Meemo!

Not that anyone cares about these people anymore, but here's a pic (probably the only one of us from the past 8 months :)) from the Superbowl festivities.

Crazy baby

I've read that a baby's personality will really start to shine between 6 and 8 months. The theme of Charlotte's personality must be all energy, all the time. Seriously, she never stops moving ever. We have had to sign up for lots of classes in order to keep her entertained. We are now quite busy with Little Gym, Kindermusik and two mommy and me groups. Of course, she is the star in all of her classes...mostly because she will laugh, smile and shriek until everyone is paying attention to her! She babbles constantly, crawls, pulls up and thinks she can stand up and walk by herself.

Excited about her LSU "sneakers"

Don't worry--we are safely parked on the side of the road!

With Meemo on her first trip to South Beach

Sam's super hero birthday party. Hard to see, but Charlotte is wearing a very cute homemade batgirl onesie complete with a cape.