Charlie- 8 months

Charlie, John and I have been sick for two months forever. Between the two of us we've had colds, sinus infections, and croup. YUCK. This has been Charlie's first bout with illness in his young life and he's been such a trouper. He's finally coming out of it but now I think his teeth are coming in- AAAAHHHH!

So I've been a little lax with updating the blog and taking photos (as in I've fallen off the weekly photo wagon. Oh well, it was bound to end sometime). We've been in survival mode.

Here's some of our recent hightlights:

-Charlie's First Thanksgiving- We spent Thanksgiving Day with John's aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and siblings in Logan and Aunt Ann and Uncle John's house. Charlie tried his first taste of mashed potatoes and loved it!




-My parents arrived for a visit! We had another Thanksgiving celebration at our house to celebrate with them. My mom and I acted as co-hostesses and I was so grateful not to have to do it on my own (and to not have to tackle the turkey). Everyone contributed a dish or two and we had a grand feast!



-Charlie mastered the army crawl and has now moved to working on the hands and knees crawl.



-Charlie received his first goose egg from a header into the shower curb. His little eyebrow was purple and swollen but almost completely unnoticeable by the time I took these pictures.




-We decorated gingerbread houses with Sam and Lily. My dad created a fire station, Mom made a train, Lily and Sam decorated houses, and I made an ice rink. (Charlie was an excellent audience).






-Madelyn and Cody stopped by for a visit while they were in town. We also went to lunch one day and Charlie screamed his head off in the car seat the whole way to the restaurant. Overtired baby + stranger anxiety = complete meltdown.




-Charlie was mesmerized by another snowfall



-Playing dress up with Grandma




-Grandma and Grandpa building a fort for the grandkids

Believe it or not, this was the best photo I got of Grandpa with all his grandchildren

Charlie loved crawling around in the tent

How many college degrees does it take to set up the tent? (I count 9.5)

Love these two cuties

-Mom surprised Dad with an early birthday party and Christmas, too!







My dad had to go back to the UAE for work but we really enjoyed having him here for a week and half. Charlie loved having some bonding time with Grandpa Mark. My mom is here through Christmas and I feel so lucky to have her here!