tickle claw

charlie enjoying his favorite part of the day. when daddy gets home and plays tickle claw with him. he just giggles like crazy.

ahhing and squealing

recently, charlie has started ahhing and squealing. it is so cute to see him try to work his mouth, tongue and voice to make sounds. the funny thing is that when we try to video tape him with our camera he stops and looks at the camera so we don't really capture how cute it is, but it is a taste.

squealing...

ahhing...

the beach

a few weeks ago - i met my friend kacie and her son sam in hudson at bill's parents house for an afternoon of catching up. it was a perfect day and we hung out on the beach where sam had a blast and charlie got to feel the sand beneath his toes.

charlie - stunned by watching the sand fall
cute little feet in the sand.
kacie's adorable sam - almost a year old - wow time flies!

even the pumpkin got to enjoy the beach - playing catch into the water is her favorite!

charlie and pumpkin - 14 weeks

growth update: here is charlie at 14 weeks with lily. i think we will need to switch to a bigger chair next time.

charlie at 3 weeks - what a difference!

reunion in geebs

this past weekend we went to green bay to visit my family and some of the out of town butz fam who were in town so everyone gathered for a mini reunion. it was a beautiful afternoon and so fun to see some of my cousins who live out of the midwest and have the kiddos meet.

spending some quality time with aunt suzanne and uncle danny.

angie, me and charlie

finally a picture of me and my littlest! i feel like i rarely see pictures of just us.

meeting aunt debbie and aunt kay

hanging out with jake

meeting ella - it was so cute to see them attack each other in the bjorns.

there will be 4 great grandchildren born this year in the butz fam! here is a picture of all of the great grandchildren with my grandma - charlie was at the end of his rope and would not smile for the camera.

his fussiness turned into this - perfect!bill loves this picture - we were hanging out in the morning at my parents house and charlie was just chillin' with his dad.

king in the castle!

do we have a dentist on our hands????

charlie is now honing in on his grasping skills and his current obsession is grabbing my toothbrush and tongue scraper from their holder. even if he is fussy, when we go into the bathroom he brightens up. here is a clip of him grabbing at them (he is usually a little faster than this, but at least we have it recorded).

charlie melting down...

right around 8:45-9pm charlie starts fussing. after he gets his bath he is happy as can be until nighttime snack and bedtime. here is a little video clip of him in his meltdown stage.

a schmitt rite of passage

in the schmitt household, it is a rite of passage to get measured on their wood trim next to the pantry. so of course charlie had to get measured. here he is at 11 weeks standing tall for his measurement.

charlie - focusing on standing. he is so serious.

he was so proud!

charlie's photo shoot

one night when we returned from a walk the sky was perfect for picture taking so we had a charlie photo shoot. here are some of the best shots we got.

lily my lil' pumpkin

i love my lil' pumpkin lily. so i could not wait until lily could meet charlie. i decided to dedicate a post to what a great dog she is. i don't think we could ask for her to be better with charlie or other kids. we do think she is a little depressed that we are not always talking about her, but she gets over it when we take her and charlie to the park to play catch. she really can't wait until he gets a bit bigger and can throw the ball for her and play with her. i also decided to take a picture of charlie and her about every week so you can see him growing up with her.

lily first meeting charlie when he was coming home from the hospital. i cried. it was so awesome.

charlie a week old with lily

charlie 2 weeks old - how good is she!

charlie 3 weeks old - she doesn't move when he is on her

lily's favorite - playing catch at the park. yes-bill put lily on the picnic table so she could be in the picture.

she isn't just nice with charlie, but with her BFF khaki too

scarlet and khaki like charlie too, but they can't resist giving charlie kisses so they need a bit of help when they are so close to him

charlie 6 weeks old enjoying some family time

charlie 10 weeks chillin with lil lil

charlie 12 weeks old. lily is so patient. we took a billion of these to catch him smiling.

occasionally charlie wants to ride lily and she is ok with that

ok - you get it. i love lily, but i love her more now because she is so good with my precious littlest charlie.

what a talker

charlie is finally finding his voice. he has been so observant and not really talkative, but these past few days he has started to express himself a little more and with a bit more volume. he still is picky about when he starts chatting and he prefers it when you "talk" with him. here is a clip of his latest convo.

charlie taking his vitamins like a champ

the recommendation at Mayo is that all infants take vitamin drops to get their vitamin D (i add that just so you know i am not the psycho mom giving my baby extra vitamins). the vitamins smell horrible (like really strong flintstones vitamins) and they stain. so we give them to charlie while he is having his bath. we had to video tape when he takes the vitamins because every night he has the same response. it is hysterical!