Charlotte Loves Crayons

Ooops...I mean Charlotte loves to eat crayons! At Ryder's 6th birthday party today Charlotte had a lot of fun playing with the art supplies. Each cup had something different to color with. Charlotte had the best time mixing the markers and crayons all up. She would put the thick markers with the thin crayons and the thick crayons with the colored pencils and so on. Her organization skills definitely have not been developed yet! After she mixed up all the cups to her satisfaction she decided it would be more fun to dump each cup on the grass and then pick them up and do it again and again. When she was done with that she finally decided that it would be a good time to eat the crayons. Jimmy and I might have a blue poop waiting for us soon!

Attention All Party Hosts: Don't worry! I picked up and organized all the crayons, markers and colored pencils before we left the art area! You would never even of known Charlie made such a mess, except for the bite mark left in the blue thick crayon!

Spaghetti Mess

Tonight Charlie and I babysat Adelyn while her mommy and daddy went to Benihana for a late Valentine's dinner. After the girls ate bits of every snack in the cupboard I made them noodles for dinner. It's a good thing I did not put any sauce on them. There was spaghetti everywhere. It was on the rug, floor, wall, hair, etc. They had so much fun slurping them into their mouths and playing with them though. And I had so much fun watching them giggle and laugh! It's also a good thing I have two hungry beasts that live in my backyard to clean that mess up...

Daddy's First Pony

Today while I was at work working hard I received a picture/text message from Jimmy. If you were wondering Jimmy works for 48 hours and then comes home for 4 days. He is the one who takes care of Charlotte most of the time when I am at work. He is like "Mr. Mom" for real. He knows so much about his little girl. I think he is the best daddy out there! Anyway, the message stated he had just accomplished his first successful pony tail! For the past few weeks he has been trying with no success. Finally, today he figured it out! Go Daddy!

Great Gramma

This rainy morning we went to visit Great Gramma. Charlotte discovered two new things today. First, she discovered the Snoopy tent that Gramma has had since we were little. She loved going in and then playing peek a boo with Gramma. She thought it was so funny. Second, she discovered rice krispy treats. That was a bad idea! She gobbled and gobbled until she was a marshmallow mess! Thanks Gramma for the great morning. I'm sure Charlie can't wait to see you again...

First Kiss

Today something amazing happened...Charlotte gave me a kiss ALL on her own! It all started when I gave her a lollipop. This is the first time I have ever given her one - not even at Halloween did I let her lick one! She was so excited to hold it. She would suck on it, say "MMMMMMMMMM" and then a whole bunch of saliva would come out of her mouth. She was drooling like a puppy she loved it so much. Then all of a sudden she tilted her head toward my face and gave me a big, wet, sticky kiss right on the lips, again and again. My heart practically melted.

After a few minutes of heaven I took the lollipop away from Charlotte. For the next half hour she proceeded to walk around the house signing more with her hands, saying "Yah, yah, yah!" and shaking her head up and down. Have I created a candy monster at the age of 14 months? Yikes!

Olympic Winners

Today we enjoyed our day at an Olympic event in La Mirada with activities from every country. The best part was all the free food. Charlotte loved the keish, raisin cookie thing, snow cone, hamburger and the one bite of chip I let her have. Today was the first day I let her jump in a bouncy house by herself. She lasted a few minutes. She also got to ride on a sled down a snowy hill (with me of course). She loved to play on Nolan's preschool playground too. Of course, she found the dinosaur and said, "Rrrrrroooaaarrr!" We had a great time. The best part was that it only cost $2 all day long. I love the Olympics...can't wait until the next Olympic season 2014.

Tea Party for Princesses

Charlotte attended her first real life tea party on Friday night. My friend Joy from work had a tea party for her daughter Janelle. Eight little princesses were there drinking sparkling cider out of little tea cups, eating muffins, playing "Find My Lost Slipper" and running all around. Charlotte had more fun playing with Janelle's little brother Jonas. She loved his corn popper toy, going down his slide and stealing all the pieces to his "boy" game that he was trying to play with his daddy. Thanks for the good time Janelle and Jonas.

We Are Bloggers!

One day old in the hospital - Charlotte already had enough hair to hold a bow!

Charlotte was our "Special Delivery" right before Christmas. We came home on Christmas Eve with her. She came just in time for Santa to come!

The little stuffed zebra came with love from Grandpa in the hospital. It matched Charlie's jungle themed room.

Charlotte did a lot of sleeping, eating and pooping those first few weeks. She started sleeping through the night at 7 1/2 weeks old. That all changed when she got her first tooth at 6 months old!

It took Charlie five months to roll over because I never put her down. I would hold her for hours and hours at a time.

Why is this picture sideways? Uncle Kevin and Auntie Katie got married. Adelyn made the cutest flower girl and Charlotte made the cutest baby at the wedding.

Charlotte enjoyed her first swimming experience with Grandpa. She liked to take floating naps around the pool all summer long. I think she gets that from Grandpa!

Another sideways one...Jimmy and I liked taking Charlie to the beach. Jimmy would bodyboard and we would watch him from the shore. One day we even saw a family of dolphins swim by.

Grandma, Auntie Nicole, and I liked taking Charlie and Adelyn to Sea World on the train. What an adventure it was!

Charlotte got her first tooth on Fourth of July. What a rough night that was!

We visited Daddy and his firetruck often. Most times she fell asleep in the car right before we got there.

We spent a lot of time in Grandma and Grandpa's pool.

Daddy loves this picture.

Charlotte had a great time at the river all summer. She especially liked to eat Otter Pops and take naps in the tent that Auntie Nicole brought. When Charlotte wasn't taking a nap in it, we would always find Smokey in there snoozing away!

Charlotte didn't really care for the life vest. I don't blame her.

Charlotte learned to do many things at the river this summer. One thing she did best was play in (or eat) the sand and splash in the water.

This swing in the backyard has gotten a lot of use!

Charlotte made the perfect bumblebee for Halloween. Round and chubby!

One day Charlotte discovered the dogs' water bowl. Now it is her favorite outside activity!

I love to put piggy tails in her hair.

Today Charlotte is 1 year, 1 month and 29 days old. I have finally given in to Nicole's constant harassment to start a blog...so here today I begin the blogging adventure! Wish me luck!

On Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 Jimmy and I welcomed our little girl Charlotte Irene into the world. She was born at 8:23 pm, was 21 1/2 inches long and weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces. She has filled our lives with lots of joy and fun moments. It is the best feeling in the world to watch my daughter grow up and watch my husband transform into the most amazing father. Charlotte has accomplished many milestones in her life already. She learned to smile at 1 month, laugh at 1 1/2 months, sit up at 5 months, roll over at 5 1/2 months, crawl and stand at 7 1/2 months, cruise at 8 1/2 months, walk at 9 1/2 months and talk at 10 1/2 months old. Her first word was "do" for dog. Now she has about 14 words so far. To this day, she still wakes up every morning and says "dog" while pointing to her two fur brothers, Smokey and the Bandit. She loves her dogs. She has many other interests as well. She has a great love for balls, books, dinosaurs, Adelyn, Auntie Darlene, stuffed animals, cars she can ride in or on, bouncing in her crib, playing Patty Cake, hiding in her closet, eating yogurt, cheese and chicken and being outside. Of course, anyone who knows Charlie they would know her most favorite thing in the whole world is her PACIFIER. Yes, one day we will have to give it to the paci fairy! It will be a very sad day!

Charlie has grown up so fast. I can't believe how fast the time goes by...