if you watch these - you can't think less of me...

i cannot believe i am going to post these videos of myself, but oh well. i think they are too funny not to.

i burped today by accident and charlie burst out laughing. i couldn't help myself - i had to burp a few more times to see if he thought the burp was that funny. so i just start making little burping noises and he was dying laughing. i tried to catch them on video (2 attempts below). nothing quite captured his deep belly laughs, but they are close. he is 100% boy.

he is a bit distracted by the video in this one, but oh well.

cookie monster!

lately charlie just has to have whatever we have in our hands or near us. this especially applies to anything we are eating or drinking. here is some proof.

here is he just wishing for a taste.

he was not happy when he wasn't allowed to continue this activity.

5 month changes

charlie is interacting and communicating with us more and more every day. here are a few things that have happened lately that i had to record.

**charlie now leans towards me and puts his arms out to have me hold him. it is so wonderful to be wanted by him and really makes me feel like a mom to see little arms reaching out to me!

** charlie used to wake up from naps crying and upset and we would pick him right out of his crib. when he woke up crying, it took him a bit before he was happy. so a couple weeks ago, i decided to try a few different things - when i heard him waking up upset i would go in his room and put my head next to him and comfort him. i would wait for him to calm down a bit before taking him out of his crib. after a handful of times doing this he now almost always wakes up calmly and just talks to himself in his crib until i come get him. who knows if what we did made a real difference, but it is great not hearing him cry every time he gets up. listening to him talking to himself is too cute.

**i have started using some baby sign language (food, milk, all done) when feeding him. when i ask him if he wants food (i use the sign of putting my fingers to my mouth) when he is hungry - he gets a big smile and starts flapping his arms. it is too cute!

**his favorite book right now is "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see??". you can tell it is his favorite because when you start reading it he starts making "happy noises". he does not do it for every book. i could be reading other books, but once i start with "brown bear" he gets so happy. it is also the only book that he consistently "turns the pages" on (if you pop the next page kind of up - he grabs it and moves it to the left). i think that is why he likes that book.

**charlie is almost sleeping through the night. he goes to sleep between 7:30-8 and wakes up around 3-4 am for a little snack and then if i am lucky will sleep until 7:30 am. if he does wake up between bedtime and his first meal - i just go in and give him his pacifier and he usually goes right back to sleep.

ride 'em cowboy!

bill just started having charlie ride his knee like a pony. charlie loves it. here are 2 videos that barely capture his joy! what a great dad.

oh madison how i missed you...and lindsay too!

at the end of august - bill, charlie and i went back to madison for the first time as a family. we went there to visit lindsay (my soul mate) and rob (her boyfriend) who were home for 2 weeks from New Zealand! it was wonderful to spend time with lindsay and rob and see madison again. man i love that city! we enjoyed quivey grove's onion rings, went to the farmers market, walked monroe street, visited the zoo, ate at Lao Laan, and went to Blackhawk. what a great weekend. here are some of the highlights. oh and it was FREEZING (60 degrees!) at the end of august, which is why we look so bundled up.

we left for madison on bill's post call day. he only had 2 hours of sleep during the night (so he had been up since 5am thursday morning and this was at 3 pm on friday when we left). as you can see - he was exhausted. here he was sleeping against charlie's car seat because he was not happy during the ride (don't ask me why he didn't sleep!) and bill was supposed to be entertaining him.

we stayed with lindsay at her parent's house and because charlie woke up before the others bill had some extra time on his hands. he found a pair of boot slippers and had charlie try them on. he thought it was awesome.

at the farmer's market - about to get some hot spicy cheese bread!

at the zoo - bill had to see the penguins. they were doing what they always do...waiting by the door for some food! so boring.

the crew - this is right before we all went home and crashed. good thing we had charlie there for an excuse to take naps.

the end of an era - lindsay has done a lot of eating with just bill and i. but here she is introducing rob to the best food on earth! - laotian!

lucky for us - auntie suzanne watched charlie while we all got to eat together without the little guy grabbing our plates.

just like my daddy.

bill came home from a post call day sipping a starbucks coffee cup from the mayo cafeteria. charlie had to have it.

trying so hard to be just like his daddy.

he asks to wear a tie every day now.

09.09.09 - 5 Months!

charlie is 5 months today - time is flying by. he is such a joy and is loving life. he is sitting up on his own now and able to roll from his back to his front alone. to encourage him to roll over more i have taunted him with toys, blocks, me, etc and he barely makes an effort. if i get lily to lay near him then he instantly tries to make an attempt to roll over - too cute. i am not sure she thinks it is that great, but she puts up with it.

i am amazed at how his communication has transformed over these past few weeks. he is making a ton of different sounds and definitely has a "i am not liking this current situation" sound, which he uses liberally. when we bring out food - his arms start flapping and he smiles (except when he finds out it is peas or beans!). when we stand him up to let him "walk" - he starts squealing. when he sees lily - he starts squealing. when i lay him on the bed and bounce the bed and tickle him - he starts giggling and laughing. when charlie and i sing our daddy is walking through the door fight song "let's get fired up, we are fired up" - he starts squealing, smiling and is the happiest he has been all day to see daddy.

here are some pics from the last month.

he receives more of these than i want to know each day from lily

he is obsessed with our watches!

auntie suzanne came to visit.

we were letting him practice standing on his own :)

it didn't go so well - don't worry - i caught him.

i love this picture. man he is getting chubby from the supplemental 3 solid meals a day!
this picture is from earlier in the month and he is definitely skinnier.

charlie is into having his fingers in his own mouth all of the time. so i couldn't believe when he was hanging out with his bud addison and had addison sucking/chewing on his fingers too! too funny.
just some guy time.