Charlotte and Halloween

I'm not sure what we're going to do about trick or treating if it storms tomorrow but Charlotte does have a costume. She is going to be a giraffe.
I hope she gets to wear it for something other than mom's photo shoots.

In the spirit of Halloween, here's a pic of her sleeping in her candy corn sleeper. So sweet.

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Charlotte's First Basketball Game

We are nuts. We decided to take our family of four to the Purdue game tonight. What were we thinking?? But actually it turned out pretty well.
Charlotte got all dolled up for her first game.

There was trick or treating with the athletes before the game so Tommy wore his lion costume.

He was very shy asking for candy from strangers but he was still a cute little charmer.

Then we went to the game. Tommy started to dig in the candy loot. Dumdum suckers are his fave!

He wore his costume to the game!! (For a few minutes then he wanted out.)

Charlotte rode along in the Moby and was fairly well behaved. She didn't want to sit still though, of course.

This is how most of the game went. Just kidding. Caught a bad moment. It actually went surprisingly well. Tommy was squirmy. But he was a trooper!! So was Charlotte!

We made it to the end of the game! Holy moly! We all look exhausted.

On the way through campus as we walked to the car, we stopped at what I think was called the Purdue flame monument or something. Tommy loved it because it looked like lava.

Then Andrew showed Tommy where he played basketball with Mr. Cardinal. Speaking of Brian, how often do you get to kick an NBA player out of your seat? I got to do that tonight!! Hey that's my seat, buddy! I wish I would have taken a picture. Charlotte had many firsts tonight! Meeting BC, kicking him out of our seat, going to a Purdue game, nursing in a bathroom stall... The list goes on and on.

We all had an exhaustingly awesome time. Tommy got a ball that they threw out at the game. You can see he likes it so much, he's sleeping with it!

Happy First Purdue B-ball game, Charlotte!
(Do you remember Tommy's first b-ball game? Got started a little earlier this time.)
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Boo at the Zoo 2013

It took quite some time but we convinced Tommy to go to Boo at the Zoo (we had to wear costumes too).
This is Mufasa!

Roar! Actually I think he's flying like a big jet in this picture.

We headed off to the zoo. Not many animals are available at this time of year but the goats were able to handle the weather.

Tommy is doing his Miley impression.

You can see the massive amount of people in the back playing all the games. Tommy had no interest when there was a tractor to drive...

...and a picnic table to sit on...

...don't forget the playground equipment!

Tommy's signature belly-down slide move!


There were plenty of photo opportunities but Tommy still dislikes having his picture taken, plus taking iPhone pictures in the dark takes even longer. But we got a few pics much to Tommy's dismay.

Most of the pics I took were of Tommy's backside.

We took a selfie in our costumes.

We also got the obligatory Boo at the Zoo pic. This year they had you get your picture taken with a "Zoo Friend". That snake was mega creepy. Blech!

Here's Tommy's first Boo at the Zoo from last year.  Next year will be Charlotte's first.  Can't wait!

Happy Halloween!


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Charlotte is One Month Old!

Boy, one month has really blown by. Miss Charlotte is growing like the most adorable weed in the world! I'm going to try to do something new with the milestone posts. We'll see how this goes.
So to touch on what is mentioned in the picture...

Charlotte is starting to stretch out her night time sleeping habits a bit. Once she even gave us a 7 hour break. But that has been only once. Hopefully those will happen more often! She loves to be swaddled, like most babies. If she's not, she really gets to moving around. She has rolled on to her side every once in awhile (with a little help).

She usually screams bloody murder through her baths but I brought a heater into the bathroom and she only screamed through the last half of her bath. Progress!

Crossing her legs like such a lady.

I don't have any pictures of her standing but she loves to do it. Her legs are getting just strong enough to support herself. It will often stop her from crying.

A week or so ago, she started to try to talk. She will coo and gurgle and make funny noises. You can tell she really wants to talk to us. Usually late at night when we want to go to sleep.


She loves her big brother. He can usually stop her crying with just his voice.
She took to a bottle really well. So well, that Tommy got to feed her for a little bit. He loved it but got bored like any 2 and 5/6ths year old would do.

Happy One Month Birthday, Charlotte!

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Family of Four

My Aunt Shiela came to visit and we had her take some family pictures.  Here is a mini preview.

 I think it went well.  Charlotte loved it. :-)

Actually we got a few good ones.  You'll just have to wait and see! :-)
(PS- Could Charlotte's feet be any bigger with those booties on???)

Harvest Time 2013

Sunday was the first chance we've been able to make the road trip to Renssy for harvest.  Tommy was so excited to ride in the combine.  He got a real treat that day.

 He went in the combine without mom or dad.  Just Tommy and Grandpa!

 He told us before we left, "Charlotte can't go in the combine.  She is not big like Tommy." He was absolutely adamant.

 So when he got to go by himself and have the side seat all to himself, well... he was ecstatic.  You can't tell from his face because he's very serious but he was (McDonald's theme- ba da ba ba baaah) LOVIN' IT.

It was a beautiful day too.  One of the last days we didn't need jackets.  

Then we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Grandpa finally got to hold Charlotte.  We had so many visitors at the hospital that he never got to hold her.  Then he was so busy with harvest that it just never happened.  So finally Charlotte 'officially' meets Grandpa.  :-) She's lovin' it too!

Bedtime With Two

Bedtime is interesting these days.
Tommy likes to set Charlotte up for the night. She needs to have all her buddies, just like he does.

Then it's time for Tommy to tell tall tales of the term. (Term? Yeah I ran out of T words.)
Charlotte is astounded. (Or she's saying, "lol, wut?")

Then Tommy wanted to read her one of his favorite books. Again, she's enthralled.


Then it's time for Tommy to turn in. If you look closely, you might be able to count at least 7 lumps of stuffed animal friends who are all under the covers with him.
Nighty night!

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Fat Lip

Tommy was involved in a scuffle today at school. There was hitting (which might have been started by our son) and then he got pushed down. Tommy hit his mouth on the floor and he ended up with a busted lip. Poor kiddo. It was definitely swollen and bothering him. Hopefully it's a lesson learned in some way, shape, or form.

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Home Alone

Andrew had a late meeting in Illinois today and wasn't going to be home until dinner time or later. That meant it was up to me to pick up Tommy from school. This would be my first adventure out of the house with just Charlotte and Tommy. I wasn't really worried about it. But it was definitely going to be a first for me so I knew to be prepared.

Picking up Tommy went really well. I brought Charlotte into Tommy's classroom. It was story time. Tommy jumped up and ran over and so did Landon. Tommy swung out his hand like a school bus stop arm and said "That's MY baby sister!" Then he said to him, "You're going to wake her up!!" It was so funny and sweet at the same time. Tommy really loves his little sis. Adorable.

I took this pic on the way home feeling like superwoman! I just had my first milestone. I showered, blow dried my hair, got the baby packed up and ready, and picked up Tommy all by myself. (Baby steps, people. Don't judge!)

#momselfie

You can actually see Charlotte in the mirror in this one.


Look at her cute pink hat from Gaga. Awww.

But anyway I felt like superwoman until we got home. Then Charlotte was screaming. Tommy needed to go potty.
Convincing him to go potty took some effort. That's why I have these rando pictures above.
Then we had discussions (all through the screaming) about how Charlotte needed to wait her turn to go on the potty (#conversationswitha3yearold). But Tommy peed (after what seemed like I was negotiating with a terrorist). Then I was able to feed baby girl. After that Tommy was jumping on the couch and knocked a vase over. (Why do I even own a vase with 2 little kids?) Charlotte was again screaming while I cleaned gross plant water out of the carpet. But I was able to get Tommyhawk a snack and feed the babe all thanks to Mulan (his new fave disney movie) and Little Einsteins.

Then Andrew brought dinner home and everything was easy when it's man-on-man defense.
This was only a few hours, not even a full day!!! Like I said before, baby steps. But I can do this. It just takes incredible feats of multi-tasking and intense negotiation skills. I can do this!!! There will be crazy days but nothing I can't handle. #crossingmyfingers

 So worth it.
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Charlotte is 2 Weeks Old

Charlotte turned 2 weeks old Saturday evening. I can't believe she's been ours for 2 whole weeks! Time flew right by.

She had a doctors appointment on Monday morning. They weighed her.
She was 7 pounds 12 ounces! Milestone! She's over her birth weight! Great news! She is 21.5 inches long. She's 80th percentile in length and 40th in weight. Her head is also 80th percentile. She's long and skinny.

Our pediatrician was running behind that day and Charlotte was getting mighty hungry. We waited for quite awhile and finally after enough crying, I told Andrew to go ask how much longer it might be just in case I had time to feed her. He happened to run right into our doc and he came right in. But Charlotte was past the point of being okay with not eating. She screamed through the entire appointment. We have found out that Charlotte is not a lady who likes to wait. Our doctor said she looks (and sounds) great and has beautiful skin! We agree. We talked a little about our concerns with food allergies/asthma/eczema etc. But really there's nothing we can do or tell at this point but we think things are already in a better place than we were before just from her skin. So that's a plus!
This is Charlotte on her way home from the appointment. Well-fed and about to nod off. Much, much happier. Cute as a button.

Happy two weeks, Miss Charlotte!


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Tommy Loves His Little Sis

Tommy really likes his baby sister.  He loves to get super close to her and just stare at her face.  He always says, "She's so little!" 

He wanted to hold her again and we said ok put out your arms.  He didn't quite understand and he just held his hands in the air.  We laughed.  So that's why she's just laying in his lap.

Charlotte then promptly laid a big deuce in his lap (in her diaper, of course).  Teehee! Even Tommy laughed at that one.