Charlotte Round-up

Wow! I have really gotten bad at this blogging thing.

Last I posted, I mentioned Charlotte would be graduating from preschool. Well, this happened on June 6.

The kids all entered wearing adorable red graduation gowns and caps to the first song from Frozen. Then they changed into handmade shirts with each of their hand prints on them and proceeded to sing "Let it Go". So cute.

Here's Charlotte (and Phoebe) with her teacher, Ms. Kim.

And with her former teacher, Ms. Cheryl.

Then Charlotte got sick. Right after this happened. And she remained sick for over two weeks. It seems that every time she gets sick it goes straight to her lungs so that she hacks and coughs like crazy. We spent the next couple weeks with her home a bunch. This included a trip to San Diego. Anyway, after going to the doctor three times over two weeks, we got it under control. Unfortunately, all signs point to asthma. She's currently on the allergy medicine Singulair, which is a pill she takes daily before bedtime. She also has two inhalers, but we're waiting to see if she really needs the steroid one on a twice daily basis. (Her doctor takes very conservative approach and doesn't want her on all sorts of medication unless really necessary).

We even had to go to the doctor's on her birthday. They gave her oral steroids for the wheezing, which made her a little loopy at her birthday dinner.

My parents got her a pink digital camera for her birthday. These are some of my favorite shots that she took.

Learning to take a selfie

 

 

 

 

More selfies

This creepy turtle in some movie at my parents' house

Her leg - very abstract

Phoebe legs and a goat at the San Diego Zoo

There are about 5 of these - Chris didn't know she'd taken them until later

There are a bunch more, including ones of a cable, ducks, a piano, and the floor. Hilarious.

I took Charlotte to her 5 year well child visit yesterday. She is now 42.75 inches (that's 3 inches taller than a year ago), and 39.3 pounds. She's a wee skinny thing. To put it in some perspective, she was 28 pounds at her 2 year visit, so it's taken her three years to gain 11 pounds.

4th of July. We went to my co-worker's in-laws' house in Corning, California, which is northwest of Chico. Apparently, it's where most of the olives and olive oil come from in California. My co-worker's in-laws have a large property covered with olive trees and plum trees. Charlotte loved picking plums straight from the tree. She must have eaten five at least. There was a bounce house water slide, a tractor/quad parade, quad rides, and (illegal) fire works. We didn't stay for the fire works, but both girls got a ride on the quad. We had a fantastic time.

Unbelievably, Charlotte starts Kindergarten five weeks from today!

Hoose Foose and Reggie

We have been steeped in Christmas activities over the past week. I have a lot of cute pictures to upload, but for now a cute story.

When we picked Charlotte up at school last Wednesday, before going to the Polar Express, her teacher, Ms. Kim, ran up to us and said: "I'm so glad I caught you. I have to tell you something!" My initial thought was to worry what Charlotte had done - she's had some issues with not listening at school lately. Thankfully, it was a super cute story.

One of Charlotte's friends was telling her about the Elf on the Shelf. She explained that the Elf was named Hoose Foose (?) and that he was fragile and you couldn't touch him at all. Also, apparently every wish they made to Hoose Foose each night came true. Then Charlotte said, very seriously, with her hands clasped together like she was praying, "Can you please tell Hoose Foose to bring me an elf?" Ms. Kim told us that, laughing, we should be prepared if Charlotte mentions Hoose Foose. I can't stop laughing when I think about Hoose Foose because that name!

I was hesitant to get our very own elf, even though Chris was very much for it. It seems like a lot of work when you look on Pinterest. People show the elf moving all around and rearranging things and leaving little presents. I just don't have that kind of time (or creativity!), even though I admit it's a cute idea. Chris says that I'm missing the point - the elf is supposed to encourage good behavior.

On Friday I was at Costco picking up about five pounds of cheese in advance of making the world's best macaroni and cheese. (Side note: because of picky eaters in this household (ahem, Chris and Phoebe), I omit the mushrooms and grilled onions. Also, I use Gruyere, Parmesan, aged white cheddar, and goat cheese as my four cheese choices. You can really taste the goat cheese. The bacon fat roux makes it incredible. Seriously. This is what bacon was made for). Anyway, I noticed a whole bunch of Elves on the Shelf for sale. These aren't the plastic, pliable guys. They're plush dolls and a lot less expensive.

To say that Charlotte was excited was an understatement. She could not believe that Hoose Foose told us to get an elf! "How did he do that, Mommy?" Magic, obviously, is the answer. She immediately named him Reggie, and ever since, she cannot stop talking to him and about him. She runs over to him and says things like: "Reggie, Phoebe pushed me! Go tell Santa!" and she'll make me take things to show him. Each morning, she cannot wait to find out where he moved to during the night while she was sleeping. Sunday morning he was hanging out on our fruit bowl's banana hook. This morning, he had found Charlotte's The Wonderful House plane and decided to ride it. (Side note: If you don't know The Wonderful House, it's a delightful story by the author of Goodnight, Moon about a house that flies through the air. It has wings, pontoons to float on, and animals that live in it. You can't see below but a Duplo Snow White is piloting the plane, it's really cute).

And Chris is right about Reggie. Charlotte does think about her behavior and whether or not Santa would think she's being a good girl. Thanks, Reggie!

Gobble Gobble

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was fabulous - spent with good friends, delicious food, and excellent wine.

Last Wednesday, I took Phoebe in for her monthly weight check. She weighed in at 17lbs 11.6 oz - she gained nearly two pounds in a month! She went from around the 25th percentile at seven months to the 50th percentile at eight months. Her doctor was very happy to see the upward tick, instead of the downward tick that had happened for three months (she was always gaining weight, it had just slowed considerably).

But it's really not a surprise, considering the gusto with which Phoebe eats solid foods. She is a little bird, opening her mouth eagerly for more food and squawking impatiently if I'm not there to shovel more in. She also is really good at picking up pieces of food and getting them in her mouth. Suffice it to say Phoebe thoroughly enjoyed her first Thanksgiving, eating bread, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, turkey, and pumpkin cheesecake. She has also already started signing. She makes the sign for milk (opening and closing her right hand), but she seems to mean it in the context of more, as in give me more food NOW. I am relishing having this baby who loves to eat - she slurped down some homemade French onion soup last night - especially in comparison with her older sister.

Charlotte, on the other hand, continues to pick at food, even foods that should be winners like turkey and mashed potatoes. She ate about two bites of Thanksgiving dinner before declaring emphatically that she was "all done." When I tell her what we're having for dinner she almost always says: "I don't very much like green beans/mashed potatoes/whatever I've spent hours slaving over." She did, of course, scarf down a very large piece of pumpkin cheesecake and then had the audacity to ask for more (she didn't get anymore, of course, and normally, she doesn't get dessert if she doesn't eat enough dinner, but I was willing to make an exception for Thanksgiving).

What I'm saying is that I'm living in this strange family where on the one end of the spectrum I have one, stubborn daughter refusing pretty much anything that isn't macaroni and cheese or dessert and throwing an epic tantrum because she was served Thanksgiving leftovers last night instead of quiche, and on the other end, a stubborn baby who has a tantrum if I don't shovel in the food fast enough. It's exhausting, kind of like this...

Bunnies, Eggs and Overdoing It

Although I have all these stories I want to capture, I don't have the time nor the energy, so I'm collapsing what should be two posts into one.

We had a great Easter. Charlotte's daycare was closed on Friday and Monday, so on Friday, I decided to have her decorate Easter eggs. One of my playgroup moms and her son came over and helped, and it was a lot of (messy) fun.  Charlotte apparently loves hard boiled eggs and would eat multiple ones in one sitting if I'd let her.

On Saturday, we took Charlotte to the Easter egg hunt in nearby El Dorado Hills (I heard that the Folsom one had something like 5,000 kids and was crazy).  Charlotte participated in the two and under hunt.  Since she's almost three, she basically ruled the Easter egg hunt, and collected a lot of eggs.  Two of her eggs had special certificates for prizes in them - an Easter cookie "pop" and a little Easter bunny stuffed animal.  She kept the cookie pop and gave the stuffed animal to Phoebe. (such a good sharer!)

This girl needs no parental help like all of the other toddlers!

On Easter Sunday, we had two families over for Easter brunch.  Charlotte and her birthday buddy Samantha (Sam is exactly one year younger than Charlotte) had their own Easter egg hunt in our backyard. 

Samantha's basket was quickly overflowing with brightly colored eggs

Charlotte wore this adorable dress I ordered on Zulily.  When I put it on her, she twirled around and said "I'm a ballerina!"

Demonstrating her "Ballerina" moves

Chris' mom sent Phoebe an adorable Easter bunny outfit, which she wore most of the day, even if I didn't take a picture of her until the end of the night.

Check out the cute bunny slippers and bunny hat

All this to say, we had a very eventful weekend. So eventful in fact, that I noticed that my incision site was beginning to hurt quite a bit on Saturday and Sunday.  Up until this point, the pain was lessening each day and barely noticeable. I went to the doctor on Monday to make sure that the incision wasn't infected. The doctor said it looked "beautiful" but that I was clearly overdoing it given that I explained that the pain increased as the day wore on.  She said that I need to take it easy for at least the next three weeks.  Now, silly me, I thought I was taking it easy - I mean, it's not like I'm trying to run a 5K or lift weights or anything. I guess the simple act of just going about my day like normal is getting to be too much.  It's frustrating because I desperately want to feel normal again and start going on long walks during the day. I've lost 30 of the nearly 50 pounds I've gained, but it's going to be hard to continue that weight loss when I basically shouldn't be doing anything but sitting around.  In the meantime, it's back to round-the-clock Ibuprofen and making sure I don't lift our 30 pound preschooler.

In Honor of Valentine's Day, a Story

I'm posting this not because I really want to win a $100 Visa Gift Card, although that would be nice, but because one of my favorite bloggers posted something today that struck pretty close to home.

http://www.jennepper.com/2012/02/i-am-sooo-excited-that-i-get-to-be-part.html

It's part of a promotion for eHarmony, which I admit I've never visited before and kind of find the commercials pretty cheesy.

But I will tell the story of how Chris and I met, which was online.

It was way back in June 2003. I had just graduated from college and knew I'd be moving to Sacramento to get my Master's there.  I knew nothing about Sacramento, other than visiting it all of twice -- once when my mother was attending a conference and the other time to meet friends in Old Sacramento to have lunch and then go on to their parents' house in Oroville -- so I was curious as to what there was to do there (it was nothing like Berkeley or San Francisco).

I put a profile on Yahoo! Personals, but didn't include my photo. I didn't want any creepy people choosing me simply based on a picture. Plus, it was in the old days before digital cameras were ubiquitous and I had all of one picture online and it was for my aunt's friend's Internet endeavor of selling shirts to women NASCAR fans (how unlike me is that?! I laugh just thinking about it).  The endeavor ended quite abruptly by the way, because they tried selling them at NASCAR races, which was a big no-no for those NASCAR staff.  Anyway, I don't remember what I put on my profile, but I know that I put something about checking the "News" at The Onion because sometime after I posted my profile, I got an IM on my Yahoo! Messenger from some guy named Chris saying "thanks for reminding me to check The Onion today."  We chatted for a bit about ourselves, about Sacramento, and that was about it. I thought he was nice. A few days later the law firm I was working at removed Yahoo! Messenger from my work computer and that was that.

Flash forward a few months later and I had moved to Sacramento, started classes, and was working part-time at a job downtown. I liked my job, but I was miserable in Sacramento.  I didn't know anyone, my roommate was less than ideal, and more importantly, I didn't know what to do in Sacramento at all. I was, in short, super lonely.

I decided to try my hand at online dating in earnest, but I was way too cheap (and poor) to actually pay to contact someone, so I waited to see who would contact me. I had several guys email me, but none that piqued my interest enough to respond to them. I, did, however, come across Chris' profile again. I extrapolated his email address based on his Yahoo! ID, asked him for some help with things to do in Sacramento, and a few days later he got back to me. We chatted online and soon after, on the phone.  And when he suggested meeting up to play Pub Trivia on a Sunday night at a local English Pub, I was hooked. What better way to this girl's heart than trivia! (I had played some pub trivia back in Berkeley, but it had been several months, so I was itching to play some more).  So I plucked up my courage and went to meet him.  Apparently, he didn't need as much courage as his two good friends were there with him (if I had known anyone to be a wing man or woman, I would have brought them, but I didn't).  I impressed them by figuring out an anagram that spelled out Melissa Joan Hart (I'm pretty sure part of that anagram was @$$), helped answer some other questions and sipped on some hard cider.  I had the first fun night since moving to Sacramento five weeks prior.

We went on our first official date, without his friends, three days later.  It's not a classic online dating story. I didn't meet up with anyone else. But it's a good story, and it's our story. And 8 and a half years later, we still chat online everyday, but not with Yahoo! Messenger of course. Oh no, Google Chat is so much better and doesn't require installing any pesky software that your employer might decide to delete. :)

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

A Spooktacular Halloween

The weeks and days leading up to Halloween have been so much fun.  Charlotte has loved seeing all the pumpkins everywhere.  When we asked her what she wanted to be, she always resoundingly said "Pumpkin!" We did get her a cute pumpkin shirt and some black leggings, so she got plenty of use out of those. She's also asked to watch "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin" every single day. 

But first, to get us even more in the mood for Halloween, we visited a pumpkin patch a few weeks ago.

She insisted on sitting on the pumpkins, which of course makes it look like she's sitting on something else

Driving an old tractor

Sitting on an old truck

And of course there was Halloween.  We never did find a pumpkin costume that we really liked, so when I saw a hula girl costume while we were in Hawaii, it seemed like a great option. It was also nearly 80 degrees yesterday, so it was the perfect outfit to wear on an unseasonably warm Halloween night.

Obviously it would be a tad risque to let her out with a thin fabric bikini top, so I put the top on underneath.

As I mentioned, Charlotte has loved Halloween, and we were confident that she thought everything was great and not scary.  She loved all the spiders and spider webs we used to decorate our entryway. When we carved our pumpkin, Chris asked if she wanted a funny face or scary face. Charlotte replied "Scary face!" and pointed to the scariest face in our series of templates.

Our scary Jack-O-Lantern!

So we were super excited to take her out Trick-Or-Treating.  We went to the house adjacent to ours, and Charlotte loved the decorations - orange twinkle lights - and the neighbors' calico cat. Then we went across the street to one of the homes that was very well decorated for Halloween, and there were moving ghouls, goblins and monsters everywhere.  We did not anticipate her response to animatronics. Poor Charlotte froze, and ran behind my leg. She was visibly frightened and would not let go of me.

Luckily, we went across the street from the "scary" house to the home where we met all our neighbors last year.  Unbelievably, we have not talked to these great neighbors since the day that Santa came through the neighborhood.  It's just that with our house on the side of theirs, and on a different street, we just never see them.  But they all remembered Charlotte.  And since their house is where all the neighbors congregate before Trick-Or-Treating, we were invited inside for drinks and food. So neighborly!  Once again, we admired their amazing kitchen remodel and know exactly what we'll do when we save the money up for our own (it's quite an endeavor and requires some new construction).  Anyway, Charlotte was regaining her confidence by going down their awesome backyard slide and eating apple slices with caramel sauce, until it was time to head back out into the neighborhood. Two of the boys were dressed in these crazy Roman centurion costumes with a skeleton mask, and they freaked Charlotte out.  She clung to my leg once again.

Ultimately, we did end up making it to about 10 houses, although I had to nudge her to go to each door.  We would have gone to more, but Charlotte wanted me to carry her from house to house, and I just can't do that anymore.  One high school girl who answered the door was so smitten by Charlotte that she asked her to do a little hula dance, and Charlotte happily obliged.  I'll have to seek her out to see if she does babysitting. :) I think Charlotte had much more fun being at home and answering the door for our meager amount of Trick-Or-Treaters. She would shout "People are coming! People are coming!"  We had to shut down the Trick-Or-Treating at around 8:45 because Charlotte would not calm down and go to sleep. She jumped out of bed every time the doorbell rang.

All in all, a pretty fun evening.  And we have to find a way to hang out with those neighbors again.  They're so fun.  Maybe we just shout at them from the backyard??  Now to move on to getting Charlotte excited about turkeys and Thanksgiving.  I love this time of year!

Five Little Pumpkins

We'll be back tomorrow with all the fun Charlotte's had this year for Halloween, but in the meantime, here's a short video of Charlotte reciting the poem "Five Little Pumpkins." When we were in Hawaii last week, my mom told it to Charlotte over and over again while we were driving around, so that now, she's completely memorized it!



(And the translation, in case you can't understand her)
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "My it's getting late!"
The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"
The third one said, "We don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run, let's run!"
The fifth one said, "Oh, it's just Halloween fun."
Then ooooh went the wind,
And out went the light!
And five little pumpkins rolled fast out of sight.

Christmas and Family Matters

Well hello there.

I haven't really been all that great at blogging recently.  I hope you'll forgive the insanity that's ensued over the past two weeks.

We've had Christmas Eve through today off from work, and it's been a whirlwind.  Christmas was just so great.  I was so excited for Charlotte that I woke up at 6:30 that morning, even though she didn't wake up until almost 8!  It just gave me a flashback to all of those Christmases during my childhood when I could barely sleep the night before because I was so excited.  I remember reading in bed, doing anything to pass the time until I couldn't wait any longer and would rush downstairs to see what Santa brought.

Charlotte doesn't quite get the concept of Christmas yet, but when she saw all the presents downstairs, she just got so excited. 

The Cozy Coupe was a hit, even though it was a major pain to assemble.  In fact, it was so ridiculously hard (mostly because it was poorly designed, with imprecise plastic molding that made it impossible for the various plastic pieces to snap together) that I returned a half-built one.  But Charlotte loves it so much, that it just makes the hour-long assembly (and the broken blood vessels in Chris's hand) worth it.  She hops in, she puts her stuffed animals in for a ride.

My parents got Charlotte a really great play kitchen (which was shipped to us and had about a thousand different pieces, but was still easier to put together than the Cozy Coupe), and Chris's sister got Charlotte a bouncy turtle.  There were also at least a dozen other gifts.  Chris looked at the living room and said that it looked like a "toy-nado" had hit.

Charlotte only had one day to enjoy the onslaught of new toys and then we were off.  Off to South Carolina to celebrate my grandparents' 60th anniversary and their 80th birthdays (in fact, my grandpa's birthday is today).  We booked our tickets using frequent flier miles, but to buy Charlotte's ticket would have been over a thousand dollars, which was way too much, so we did the whole lap child thing.  It was a very different experience from when we went to Maui and bought Charlotte a seat.  She's not used to sitting on our laps, and even though we had a super early flight, it took a long time for her to stop fidgeting and fall asleep.  Luckily, she did fall asleep during both legs of the flight.  We had a three hour layover in Dallas, which was also tough; there was a toddler play area thankfully.

We flew into Charleston a day before my mom did, so we had a chance to explore the city before making the two hour drive north to Myrtle Beach, where my grandparents live.  Charlotte did pretty well on the flight, but she absolutely did not want to sleep in the Pack N Play at the hotel.  She also did not want to go to sleep, even though we had all woken up at 3 AM.  Because my mom didn't fly in until 6 PM, we had the whole day.  The weather was freezing, but sunny.

The gorgeous homes of historic Charleston, and the horse that Charlotte love

Snack time

We walked all over the city.  Charlotte actually fell asleep in her stroller, despite the 40 degree weather.  We took the opportunity to warm up in a really cool wine bar with an Irish name, run by a German guy. After Charlotte woke up we visited the Children's Museum of the Low Country to pass the time before my mom arrived.  Charlotte really enjoyed the grocery store, where she stocked up on loaf after loaf of bread.

After that it was time to drive to Myrtle Beach.  We were there for three full days and they were jam-packed with family time. My mom and her two brothers and their families were all there to celebrate my grandparents' anniversary.

All the grandkids (and great-grandkid) and my grandparents, who look really great for being 80!

 Charlotte had so much fun getting to know her cousins.  My cousin, Ellie, who's 12, spent a lot of time entertaining her, which was great for us. It was so nice to play board games with my cousins, without having to worry about keeping a perpetual eye on Charlotte.

In honor of my grandparents' 60th anniversary, my mom and uncles created a Jeopardy! game with questions about the town in Michigan they grew up in and other family-related trivia.  My mom and uncles took turn playing Alex Trebek.

Even though we didn't have very much down time, we did get a chance to walk along the beach.  It was cold, but Charlotte loved chasing the seagulls and picking up seashells.

The trip was pretty short and not exactly what you would call restful, but it was so great to visit with my family.  We are all so scattered throughout the country, so the last time we were all in one place was at my wedding, four and a half years ago.  Charlotte did really well, even though she had some issues acclimating ot the time change and sleeping in a different place.  Traveling was exhausting, especially yesterday, since we had to drive two hours to the airport (it ended up being a total of 16 hours before we got home) and I think we've learned our lesson about not buying a seat for Charlotte.  And of course, I now have a cold from all the traveling and sleep deprivation.  I'm just hoping it's all cleared up soon, so I can enjoy my 30th birthday in just 4 days!

You Decide if It's Worthy

So we went on Saturday to get Charlotte's picture taken with Santa.  I got this deal on Groupon for three pictures for $10, so I thought why not?  Chris and I quasi-dressed up, in case Charlotte got scared and needed us within grabbing distance. We dressed Charlotte in her pretty red dress, put white butterfly clips in her hair, and we hit the road.

The mall was busy, but not exceedingly so.  I guess it's not quite the official start of Christmas shopping.  In fact, only a few families were ahead of us in line.  Charlotte was enthralled by the beautiful lime and turquoise colored ornaments and the huge dragonflies placed in the three story Christmas tree. 

When it was finally time for our picture, we approached Santa.  He told us to "back her in," suggesting that throwing her at him would not endear him to her.  Chris and I tried to get out of the picture, but she immediately started crying, so we jumped in.  Still, she was visibly shaking the entire time.  This is the only "good" picture we got.

She looks absolutely terrified.

So...

Christmas Card-worthy? Or blackmail-worthy for when she's a teenager and brings a boy over (despite her dad's threats of no boys until she's 30)?

(Still, I'm pretty impressed by how her dress is the exact same shade of red as Santa's suit.)

The Killer Bee

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

We had a great weekend, although I have to tell you, I'm exhausted!  On Friday night, we went over to a co-worker's house for a happy hour of sorts.  They have a young Golden Retriever with a lot of energy and another co-worker brought over her French Bulldog puppy.  Charlotte adores all animals, but has a bit of an obsession for dogs these days (or, as she calls them, pup-pehs!).  These two dogs were rough housing together and at one point, they knocked Charlotte clean on her back.  Her head hit the pavement, everyone gasped audibly, and I think I was more upset than Charlotte.  Soon enough, thankfully, her sobs subsided and she went back to dancing around the living room (apparently she loves dancing to Metallica, who knew?).

Last night, we went to another co-worker's house for a housewarming/Halloween party.  Chris and I did not dress up because I couldn't convince him that he'd have made a great Will Schuester. Charlotte made a killer bumble bee though.  She even won two votes for best costume.  We had a fun time, and I won the Human Bingo because I'm uber-competitive and had no shame asking young children to sign my Bingo card: Ever danced to the Monster Mash? Great, sign my card!  Have you ever wanted to be a Ghostbuster?  Please initial here.

Today, the weather was perfect.  It has been raining the past few days, but today it was warm and sunny.  Charlotte had another tumble though.  She fell down our steep driveway and scraped up her nose, lip, and chin.  Poor thing.  She was happy and ready for Halloween after her nap though.  And I had an evil plan in mind.  We've lived in our house for 5 months, but we haven't really met any neighbors with kids yet, although I knew they lived behind and on the side of our house.  So I decided I would go Trick-or-treating with Charlotte and meet some neighbors at the same time.

Well, we hit the jackpot.  It turned out, the neighbors directly behind us were having a get-together of sorts with all of their neighbors -- we could hear the kids playing in the backyard.  The wife invited Charlotte and me inside, and we got to meet a bunch of new people.  They have two kids - 9 and 5; the neighbors next door to them (whose house also backs up against ours) have an almost-4 year old boy and 3 week old girl; the neighbor across the street from them have a young boy.  It was great.  And this house was drop-dead gorgeous.  It's the same model as ours, but they completely remodeled it two years ago and my mouth dropped seeing their amazing new kitchen.  I quickly called Chris over, and he headed over to see the really cool covered patio they installed complete with canned lights and a ceiling fan.  At that point, the kids were getting ready to trick-or-treat, but the neighbors were so nice, they let Charlotte be in their little picture of all the kids in their costumes.

It was a lot of fun, but chaotic to actually get know everyone given that the kids were itching to start their nights.  So we all said we should get together again soon.

Okay, so enough about me. Here are the pictures you've been waiting for!  Our little honey bee, who never stops moving to get a decent picture.

The little bee on the attack

Trying to pick up the Pumpkie, as she calls it

Backside view, complete with a stinger

The toddler bee

Walking down the steps

This video was taken on my phone, and isn't very good, but you can clearly see how much fun Charlotte had tonight!  The neighbors were nice enough to give Charlotte a glowing necklace, which she then used to torment Tandy.

I Need Some Bunny to Love...

Both of Charlotte's grandmothers asked if the Easter Bunny visited her this year.  Sadly, he did not.  He knew that she doesn't need anymore stuff, especially after said grandmothers mailed her Easter packages, including the bunny ears!  Instead, the Easter Bunny will make an appearance next Spring, when Charlotte is old enough to hunt for Easter eggs and hold on to her own Easter basket.

We made a trip to rainy Oakland to spend Easter with my bestie, K. and her husband.  The meal: a ham, lovely sides of mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, delicious wine, and strawberry shortcake (I made the dessert, in honor of "Charlotte aux fraises").  The game: Trivial Pursuit. Guys vs. Girls.  The girls won, naturally.

Despite our best attempts, Charlotte is now refusing to take more than one nap a day.  I'm not sure why.  She also has gone from one tooth broken through at 9 months to three more, in a matter of two weeks.  In any case, she's been a bit grumpy at times.  I'm blaming the teeth.

 She also has had a nasty cold, as witnessed by the snot running down her face.  Oops!  And she will not stop wanting to climb on everything.  Chris lowered her crib mattress as far as it would go this weekend because she kept standing up in her crib and giving us enough worry that she'll climb right out of it.  Oh and today? She started climbing up the stairs (supervised, but still!).  Chris and I can barely keep up with how fast she's growing and changing...

Welcome to the Teens!

So this is my obligatory Happy New Year post (or Bonne Annee en francais).  2009 was a wonderful year, in so many ways. I spent six months pregnant and six months with an absolutely amazing baby girl.  Our lives have changed in so many ways.  I think you don't realize how self-absorbed you are until you have a helpless baby who needs you for the most basic things in life -- nourishment, shelter, clothing, and love.  And I think I finally understand what all those cliches are about when they say that you will never be the same again, that a baby will change you, that it's the hardest job you'll ever do but the most rewarding, that you'll never love anything or anyone more.  And those cliches are all true.

Oh and apparently, we have just started a new decade. The way I see it, 2010 is the end of the first decade of the 21st century (we didn't start with a ZERO year did we? when we count we go 1 to 10, 11 to 20, etc.), but I guess no one else sees it that way.  What did I do to ring in 2000? I was 18, almost 19 and was home from my first semester of college at UC Berkeley.  I'm pretty sure I spent the night over at my friend Ilene's, but I can't for the life of me remember what we did that night.  We may have watched Beaches.  I do know that I had a job during my five weeks off from school at the Hallmark in the mall.  The only time I've ever had a minimum wage job.  I truly believe it was the most exhausting job I've had.  Standing up all day, smiling at harried Christmas shoppers, and organizing greeting cards.  All for $5.25 an hour.

What did we do to ring in 2010?  Chris, Charlotte and I went over to our friend Robbie's new house.  Charlotte slept in the Pack N Play in the bedroom, Chris fell asleep on the couch, and the rest of us ate food, played games and drank champagne.  Very low key, but fun regardless.

I was just thinking over the past ten years and all the amazing things that have happened.  I started college (in 1999), I traveled (to Italy! to France! to Spain! to Canada!), I graduated college, I moved to Sacramento, I met Chris, I got my first job, I lost my first job, I moved into my first apartment by myself, I moved in with Chris, I got a Master's Degree, I worked for a Member of Congress, we bought a house, we got engaged, we got married, we learned how to Scuba Dive, we traveled (to Australia! and France! and St. Lucia!), I quit a job I hated, I started a job I love, we became a family.

The "oughts" were pretty great.  Of course, there were definitely some pretty low points, but overall, I'd say it's my best decade to date.  Then again, I don't have that many decades with which to compare it, seeing as how I'm turning 29 on Wednesday.  Here's to the "teens" being even better!

Charlotte's First Christmas - Part One and Part Deux

Hi Friends!

Charlotte had a great First Christmas.  We spent last week in Chicago with Chris' family.  The flight was so much better than the last one that I took with Charlotte (I still haven't finished that post, but plan to, some day).  We were able to get an extra seat for Charlotte on Southwest both ways, which was so helpful.  Even though we held her for most of the time, it was nice to have the extra space and be able to put her in her car seat if we needed to.  The only issue on the way there was a mid-flight diaper outfit change.  But yay for Southwest actually have a changing table in the lavatory!  That was sooo helpful.

The weather was very wintry while we were there -- either snowing or freezing rain.  Charlotte had her worst cold yet, and being the germ factory she is, gave it to everyone, including her grandparents.  Chris and I are still getting over it (this time Chris had it much worse than I).  Still, we managed to enjoy a really nice day at the Museum of Science and Industry, a really fun and interesting museum.  Charlotte loved seeing the newborn chicks in the hatchery.

Christmas morning Charlotte got so many new clothes and toys, but mainly, she was just interested in the wrapping paper and sticking it in her mouth.  Later that morning, Chris' cousin Nicole, who lives in Florida, came by with her nine month old daughter, Olivia.  Olivia was so excited to see a younger baby that she literally shrieked with delight. It was cute to see the two of them together.

We flew back home the day after Christmas, and Charlotte did really well, considering that the poor thing is constipated from all the new solids she's been eating.  She makes the funniest face when she's straining, so we can't help but laugh, but still, we feel so bad for her!*  My parents drove over from their condo in Mammoth and we celebrated Christmas again.  Charlotte received even more fun toys, including a "Giraffe Band" (a giraffe-shaped guitar so she can play Guitar Hero with her daddy), but she won't be able to play with that one for a few months.

All in all, a pretty good first Christmas for our little Charlotte.

Getting ready for the snow in her new outfit from her Auntie Christina.

In the snow and loving it.  Mommy loves Charlotte's mittens because they don't have any thumbs!

I want those chickies!

In front of the huge tree at the Museum of Science & Industry

Charlotte and Mommy break the world record for the fastest moving train.

 

Checking out her Christmas stocking.

Fourth cousins, Charlotte and Olivia.

Sizing each other up.

All tired out.

*By the way, after consulting with the advice nurse, we gave Charlotte some full-strength prune juice and pureed prunes.  It took until yesterday, but finally did the trick!  Poor little baby.