Football + Family + Food = FUN

Granddad, Auntie Dani, Auntie Vicki, Uncle Justin, Auntie M, and Neil came over on Saturday to help us cheer for the Dawgs as they played LSU. We grilled out at half-time and had a lot of fun watching the game together. Charlie enjoyed visiting with everyone, but he was especially fond of spending time with the boys. Look at how relaxed he is in the pictures below. Charlie is so lucky to have so many people who love him. We had a great time, and it was made even better when UGA won!!! GO DAWGS!!!

Granddaddy, you wore me out!

These toys are a little bit more interesting than the game.

Uncle Justin has me in a trance.

Aren't Neil and my Auntie M a cute couple?!?

On the Move

Charlie has been showing us that he is ready to crawl over the past few days. He saw his friend, Mackenzie, crawling at play group on Monday and decided that he was sick and tired or just rolling all over the place. He isn't quite up on his hands and knees just yet. Instead, he sort of pulls his body forward using his hands and elbows. Every now and then, he will propel forward with a big push from his legs. Samson is a great motivator for him. As soon as Charlie gets close enough to touch him, Samson scoots away. That poor dog doesn't know what he is in for in a couple more months! I will post a video of the wiggle worm as soon as I can.

As promised, here is a video of our little guy on the move. He decided to add something special at the end of the clip.

Adventures in Babysitting

Charlie's friend, Matney, stayed with us on Saturday while her mommy and daddy went to see Wicked. Grandma helped out with babysitting duties which was a huge help since Nick was in North Georgia camping. Matney and Charlie play together every week at play group, but they were much more aware of each other since it was just the two of them this time. We sang songs together and had a lot of fun playing with Charlie's musical puppy and bear. I have been around a lot of babies in my day, but it was really neat caring for Matney now that I have my own baby. She was so different from Charlie. She is quieter, more gentle, and seemed to analyze things much more than the Little Guy does. One thing that Charlie and Matney have in common is the fact that they like to give their mommies a run for their money when it comes to sleep. Here are some pics of our fun day together.

This puppy is GREAT!

Matney loved playing with Charlie's toes...TOO FUNNY!

Big blue eyes and a big brown bow. What a beautiful girl!

Rubber Ducky, You're the One...

You make bath time so much fun!!!

Sweet Dreams

I am thrilled to announce that our son fell asleep on his own tonight for the first time in 7 months, 1 week, and 1 day. Yes, you heard me correctly...he fell asleep ON HIS OWN! As many of you know, Charlie is not the easiest child when it comes to sleep. We have tried every trick and technique in the books and followed everyone's advice but to no avail. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been leaving Charlie awake in his bed for naps. Sometimes it would take him well over 30 minutes, but he would eventually fall asleep. He has become so accustomed to his crib, that he never even cried when I left him. Tonight, I decided to try it out for bedtime. We did our normal night time routine: bath, lotion, PJs, reading, and rocking. Instead of rocking him to sleep, I put him down in his bed and kissed him goodnight while still awake. After a few minutes of baby talk and some grumbling, he fell fast asleep.

Who knows if this will be the end of our sleep struggles. All I know is that I am so proud of my little man tonight. I am also happy that he knows that we are there and that he doesn't have to be upset when we leave him alone. I like to think that he knows we will be there for him if he really needs us and that was what allowed him to fall asleep peacefully tonight.

You might think I am totally crazy for tempting fate, but I had to take a picture of how sweet he looked in his crib tonight. Are we lucky parents, or what?

Date Night with Daddy

My boys were on their own this past Thursday. Nick was in charge of putting Charlie to bed while I was at Wicked with some of my close girlfriends. This was only the second time that Nick has put the little man to sleep, so I was a bit worried that I was going to come home at midnight to a very awake baby. It took three tries and almost two hours, but Charlie finally gave in and went to sleep for his daddy. He must have been very worn out, because he slept straight through until 5:00 a.m. This would have been great except for the fact that he was so excited to see me that he stayed up until 6:30 a.m. Let's just say I was a bit tired that day!

I am so happy that things went okay on my "Mommy's Night Out". Hopefully I will be able to do it more often. Nick has another chance to showcase his baby skills next Thursday when I am out again. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well!

For all the moms out there, I will have you know that Nick called me the next day from work to tell me how worn out he was from spending 4 hours with Charlie. That's right...pat yourselves on the back for being able to spend a lot more than just 4 hours a day feeding, bathing, comforting, entertaining, and loving your little ones!

Seven Month Update

Seven Months Old

The Little Guy is seven months old today. Hard for his mommy and daddy to believe! He has grown and changed so much over the last seven months, and it has been such a joy to see it all. At the same time, it is sad because our little mushy baby is gone. He has become such a big boy!

Since we started solid foods last month, Charlie has been packing on the pounds. We haven't weighed him, but you can see him getting chunkier every day. He has rolls and dimples everywhere. His little face has really filled out a lot. And boy, does this kid love to eat! He is eating twice a day, and still loves everything that we give him. He recognizes his spoon and bowl when I take them out. He starts to wiggle in his high chair because he is so excited to eat. It is too cute. Charlie has four teeth to help him eat his solid food. He has the two bottom middle teeth and two fangs on the top. Normally a baby gets the two top middle teeth first, but Charlie decided he wants to look like a vampire for Halloween!

Charlie is sitting like a pro these days. He still has the occasional fall when he leans too far to one side, but all in all he is really stable. He now sits in the grocery cart when we go shopping and in a high chair at a restaurant. He loves it because he can look everywhere. He is still rolling and turning all over the place, and he gets frustrated when he can't get somewhere that he wants to go. He will flop on his belly and you can tell he just wants to take off. He is so ready to crawl, but Nick and I hope that we still have a few months before that happens.

Charlie's memory has really improved. I try to hide the remote, cell phone, and other grown-up toys from him, but he remembers where they are. He will bend and twist to try to get to them. We bought him his own toy remote control and he has a play cell phone and I-pod at grandma and grandpa's house. Another sign of improved cognitive development has been the arrival of separation anxiety. Charlie is very cautious of other people now. He had a full on hissy fit in the store the other day when a sales person touched his arm. I was shocked because he is normally all smiles when someone pays attention to him.

I am sad to say that we are still having big issues with sleep. Apparently Nick and I are paying for the sleepless nights that we gave our parents. Charlie has a horrible time staying asleep. It isn't nearly as bad as it was a few months ago, but he is still waking up at least twice during the night. Some nights he will wake multiple times before Nick and I have gone to bed. I now understand why sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture. It is just such a blessing that I am able to stay at home this year and that we have so much help from family.

Check out the photo gallery for more recent pictures as well as Charlie's Stats on the side of the blog.