Charlie- 18 weeks

Charlie had his 4-month checkup on Monday. He received his second round of immunizations. Having learned from my experience last time, where I dissolved into a puddle of tears after my baby looked at me like I had betrayed him, I had both my mom AND John come as moral support during the injections. I sat across the room on a little kid stool while John held Charlie and mom sat nearby. I couldn't actually see Charlie's face because the nurse was standing between us and that made it slightly easier. He cried for less time than he did at 2 months and I'm happy to report that so did I. :)

Charlie is now 27.5 inches long, which is the 99th percentile for height. He's a little under 18 lbs (I guess my home scale isn't THAT accurate) putting him in the 94th percentile for weight. His head is in the 83rd percentile. We still have a big guy on our hands!!

We've been taking it easy the last few days and I've been enjoying my extra snuggly and sleepy little baby. He is so wonderful.

We've been enjoying every minute with Grandma and Grandpa while they are still here. Including playing in the backyard with Sam and Lily. My parents bought a giant kiddie pool and they love it!




Here's Charlie being loved on by Uncle Steve and his cousins. Lily is getting especially good at posing for the camera. She does a new pose for every shot. She could be a contestant on American's Next Top Model: Preschooler Edition.



In other news, John surprised me with an iPhone! What a lucky girl I am. All these photos came from the iPhone and I'm pretty happy with the quality. The 3G iPhone can also take videos, which I am way excited about!

Charlie & James

Chelsea reminded me that this is the last time that Charlie will be twice as old as James. We had a little photo shoot to commemorate the occasion!

Charlie- 4 months



James- 2 months

Charlie- 4 months old (17 weeks)

Today, Charlie is 4 months old! I can hardly believe it! I still remember the details of his birth vividly and how it felt to hold him in my arms for the first time (he felt so heavy! And solid!) and how I recognized him as soon as I saw him. I still feel like I am on a high from his birth- I felt empowered and strong- and from bringing home my baby and from taking on this new mantle called "Mother".

I am so proud to be his mother and I relish the motherly instincts that I can feel steering my decisions. I am Charlie's mom and I am finding that I really DO know what is best for him. I need to remind myself of that truth more, especially in those moments when I find myself second guessing my mother's intuition (usually after reading a parenting book of some sort).

I am really enjoying parenthood and I really get a kick out of watching John as a dad. He is alternately so tender and fun with Charlie. I love watching him soothe him when he cries- he holds Charlie close to his chest and bends his face down to Charlie's face until they are nose-to-nose. He also makes Charlie laugh and squeal with delight by almost, but not quite tossing him in the air (not quite tossing, because he knows Charlie isn't ready for that). No matter how hard I try, I can't elicit that same response when I do it- I guess it's Daddy's special touch that makes it so fun!

I even got a glimpse of John as the disciplinarian yesterday when he put a misbehaving Lily on time-out. He was stern and firm and did it just right and I was really surprised to see him do it! I didn't know he had it in him! Normally he lets that job fall to someone else and rightly so, but I was proud of him and confidant in his future role as a firm but loving father.

Charlie is the best thing in our lives and we thank Heavenly Father for sending him to us in every moment.

(Charlie's shirt reads, "I'm a really big deal." We tend to agree.)

Daddy's Haircut

Before:


After:

Charlie- 16 weeks

Charlie at 16 weeks:

-Working on grabbing his feet
-Putting everything he can into his mouth



-Enjoying the last few weeks of Grandma and Grandpa's visit





-Still really enjoying blowing raspberries and spit bubbles



-Felt grass on his feet for the first time and didn't seem to mind it at all




-Getting almost too big for his bouncy seat



-Still the smiling-est baby ever!!

Grandpa Mark is Back!

We've been excitedly awaiting my dad's arrival from the United Arab Emirates for his month-long visit home. He arrived last week and we've been enjoying every minute!!

July recap

I'm a little behind on blogging. We've been very busy having fun! We also finally moved ahead on repairing the master bathroom shower that has had a leak since I was 8 months pregnant. Of course, once we got into demolishing, the ideas started flowing and my mom (aka The Boss) decided that this was her opportunity to fix some of the things she disliked about the bathroom. So what started as a repair of the shower turned into an entire bathroom remodel. We moved our bed into the living room to avoid some of the dust and our clothes are on hanging racks in the nursery. It isn't so bad- I can watch TV from my bed now- but late night trips to the guest bathroom four rooms away are a little inconvenient.

Here's some of what we've been up to:

We found a perfectly round bird's nest in our backyard, complete with one little egg. (I think it's a dud).




We enjoyed a visit to Timpine, the family cabin. It was built by Charlie's great-great grandfather, Howard Layton. It's amazing to think of the history and memories of that great place. I hope Charlie will have memories of spending time there, just like his dad and Grandpa T.






We went on Charlie's first family camping trip. It was more like "camping" than actual camping because we were realistic about sleeping outside with two infants. Instead, we stayed at Chelsea's family's ranch. It was so much fun to relax and spend time together. We read, put together a maddening puzzle, played with the babies, took walks, played games, ate good food, played croquet and badminton, and enjoyed the beautiful mountains. We saw quite a bit of wildlife, including an owl, a beaver dam, deer, and a large porcupine (with whom Zoe, Kate and Jeff's dog, had an unfortunate encounter.)
















Up Next: Grandpa Mark arrives!

What's your sign?

Check out these cute zodiac onesies on sale at the Gap for only $4.99!

I picked one up for Charlie and it's super soft, too!