The Polls are Closed

The votes are in, and it looks like Nick is the big winner! According to 50% of you out there (and there are 30 of you that voted), Charlie looks more like Nick than me. I came in with a measly 20% of the votes...thanks to those of you who credited the woman who carried Charlie for 9(10) months and gave birth to him. I have to admit, Charlie does take after his daddy. I pulled out an old baby picture of Nick the other day and was taken aback by the resemblance. Even so, I still think I deserve more than 20%! Thanks for taking part in our poll. It was fun to see what everyone thought.

Who Does Charlie Look Like?

Poll Results

Nick - 50%

Lindsay - 20%

Both - 30%

Pictures

Charlie's 9 month pictures are on-line until the 21st. We love our photographer, Amy Jackson, and would recommend her to all of our friends. Charlie looks like such a little man in these new pictures. Go to the link below:

www.amyjacksonphoto.com/order

Here is my account information. If you want to order pictures, you will need to create your own account.

e-mail address: lindsayuga2@aol.com

password: lindsay

access code: dcd4281c

Perfect 10

Trying to climb into the dishwasher

My friends at play group

My friend's horse

Cheerios and pears are delicious!

Charlie turned 10 months old on the 7th (yes, I am late posting). He had just started pulling up at 9 months, and now he is cruising around the whole house. He will pull up on anything and everything and cruise along the edge while holding on. Occasionally, he will let go and stand on his own for a couple of seconds before plopping onto the ground. He got a walker for Christmas, and he loves to show us how he can push it and take a few steps. What a big boy! Right around the same time that he started to pull up, Charlie realized that crawling on his hands and knees is much easier that army crawling. And man, is this kid quick now!

Another big development this month is the fact that Charlie is sleeping straight through the night. It only took 10 months, but my child is now sleeping 12 hours. I don't know what to do with myself now that I don't have to get up in the middle of the night. Charlie is also on a pretty good nap schedule. He takes two naps a day that are usually an hour each. I couldn't be happier about his progress with sleep.

Eating has become the center of Charlie's little world. We have switched over to finger foods completely, and he is eating three meals a day. He LOVES the Independence of feeding himself. I made a list of all of the foods that he has tried the other day, and I came up with over 30 foods. The crazy thing is that he has devoured everything that we have given him. He doesn't even seem to notice a new food when it is placed on his tray. It just gets shoveled in with everything else. He does have some favorites however: cheese, peas, green beans, and chicken. I am so thrilled that he is a good eater, and I pray that he continues to eat so well. Nick and I were both very picky eaters as kids, and I know that it drove our parents nuts.

Happy Birthday, Samson!

Our baby is five years old! Our first baby, Samson, is celebrating a birthday today. The weather wasn't good enough for a trip to the park, so instead Charlie and I took Samson to Pets Mart for a little shopping. We picked up a new toy, collar, and puppy water bottle for Samson. He even had a special birthday dinner tonight.

Samson has had a lot of adjusting to do since Charlie came home in March. He went from being the center of attention to having to share the spot light with his brother. Instead of showing any signs of jealousy, Samson has taken it all in stride. He leaves all of Charlie's toys alone and is very gentle with him. If Charlie is getting too rough with him, Samson will just walk away. Nick and I hope that as Charlie grows up he and Samson will become buddies.

Samson has been such a happy addition to our family. It is hard to believe it has been five years already. We feel very fortunate to have him in our lives and hope that he knows just how much we love him.

Samson always rested his head on my pregnant belly.

Meeting Charlie for the first time

My boys!

He may not be a lap dog, but he sure does LOVE to cuddle.

Samson's first Christmas

Preggers

Something must be in the water because two of my best friends are expecting their first babies this summer. Nicole shared her big news with me a few weeks ago. My other friend, who shall remain nameless because I am not so sure she wants the world to know yet, just found out she is expecting a few weeks ago. I am so thrilled for both of them, and I can't wait to share the joys of motherhood with them.

Check out Nicole's blog to see how she shared the news with her friends.

The Sheffield Family Blog

Charlie's First Sleepover

Grandma and Grandpa have the greatest toys at their house!!!

Even Samson gets special treats!

If you have been keeping up with this blog, then you are well aware of my son's poor sleep habits. For this very reason, Nick and I have always been hesitant to leave him over night with any of our family members. Well, on New Year's Eve we decided to give it a shot. Nick and I had plans to got to a party in Marietta, and we decided to stay in a hotel near the party instead of driving home afterwards. My parents have everything from a pack-and-play to diapers and formula at their house for Charlie, so we decided to let him spend the night over there.

Nick and I were able to have a wonderful time at the party, and it was so nice being able to sleep in at the hotel. Charlie did great on his sleepover and even slept an entire eleven hours that night.

Gifts from Alex

Let's see what's in here!

Look at all this stuff

Neat ball!

In an attempt to save money this year, my best friend, Lisa, and I decided to set a $10 spending limit on the holiday gift exchange between our children. At first, I was totally stumped as to what we could buy for her daughter, Alex, for just $10. After some searching, I found a great apron set to go along with the brand new kitchen that she got for Hanukkah. We got Charlie's gifts in the mail a couple days ago, and we were shocked to see that Auntie Pooh and Al got Charlie six different gifts! What bargain shoppers! Alex gave Charlie four Elmo books, a toy camcorder, and a very nifty light-up bouncy ball. Thank you for our great gifts!!!

Merry Christmas!

I L-O-V-E my big, blue car!

My Uncle Bud

Mommy and the cutest reindeer

Daddy helping me play with my new toys

Grandma's little elf

Riding my big lion with Uncle Walker

Christmas breakfast

Talking on my new phone in my new kitchen

Reading Twas' the Night Before Christmas

I know this post is a little late, but we hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday! We certainly did. Charlie's first Christmas was filled with a flurry of activity. We started our Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve by letting Charlie open one gift and reading Twas' the Night Before Christmas to him as a family. Nick and I read the story to my bulging belly last year, and it was a surreal experience sitting with Charlie one year later reading the story again.

Christmas morning began at 8:00. Nick and I took turns helping Charlie rip into his presents, but we quickly realized that he was not a big fan of the sound of the paper being torn off. What a funny kid! After presents, Nick and Charlie played with all of his new loot while I prepared a yummy breakfast. We sat down to eat as a family, and shortly after it was time for Charlie's morning nap. However, no one informed Charlie that we had a tight schedule that day, because he decided he really didn't want to take his nap. Instead of taking a nap at home, Charlie passed out in the car on the way over to the Shaw's house.

We ate and opened presents at the Shaw's, and of course Charlie made out like a bandit in the gift department. He got toys, clothes, and the biggest stuffed lion I have ever seen from Granddaddy and Oma. Nick used to have a stuffed lion when he was little. He loved that thing and thought that it could fly. Now Charlie has his very own lion just like Daddy.

Charlie took nap number two on the car ride back to our place. Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Bud came over shortly after we got home to have Christmas dinner with us. We opened gifts first. In typical grandparent fashion, Grandma and Grandpa totally over did it in the toy department. Charlie's little eyes didn't know what to look at first. Uncle Bud, the avid reader, gave Charlie a great book to help him become a great reader too. After gift giving, we all enjoyed the roast that I made and the delicious deserts that my parents brought.

Uncle JP

Our good friend, JP, was in town from Boston for the holidays, and he made a trip to our neck of the woods just to meet Charlie. We felt special that JP took the time to come and see us, and we had a wonderful time catching up and having dinner with him. We are sad that we didn't get to see JP's fiance, Lauren, but hopefully we will get a chance to see her soon.