Grab a cup of coffee

This is going to be a long one.

It all started Thanksgiving day. Bennington Vermont. A cold and rainy day. The smell of turkey wafting in the air. Toys strewn about the living room. Cousin Liam doing his best not to beat Charlotte up. Dogs running in and out of the house. It happened. 22 steps. Charlotte had taken steps before. But 5 or 6 here and there. This was a walk. There was no denying it. She has grown up so much.


Thanksgiving in Vermont was very nice. On top of the standard turkey celebration, we also celebrated Charlotte's Birthday with a little party (the first of what will be 3 parties...watch out Paris and Britney). She wore her birthday hat for all of 15 seconds. However she did love opening her presents and did love to eat cake. She also loved playing in the sea of bubbles that Grandpa made for her and Liam.





The thanksgiving festivities were short lived as we had to head home early to finish packing for our trip to Myrtle Beach. We packed up the car early on Friday morning and headed to Logan airport in Boston for our 10am flight. It was delayed. Dad and Charlotte walked up and down the terminal (dad was hoping she would be so exhausted from all the walking that she would sleep on the plane). Not a chance. Once on the plane, Charlotte wanted to play the open and close the window game. An hour and a half flight can seem very long.

Charlotte was very happy to see Pappa and Grammy in Myrtle beach. She also loved the warm weather. When we arrived Pappa, Julie, and Caitey picked us up in the airport. We had rented a car seat from a local childrens equipment rental store. For the weekly charge of $35 you too can rent a car seat circa 1979. The straps dug into her neck and the base of the seat slid from side to side of the backseat of the car. The whole trip Shelby just kept saying "don't get into an accident". Knock on wood we didnt. Thank you very much Childrens Horrible Equipment Rental. We will make sure to utilize your service again. Maybe next time you can rent to us an unsafe crib made of rickety broken wood duct taped together.

Day one of vacation was spent having quality time with aunt Julie, cousin Caitey, Grammy, and Pappa. Charlotte loved Caitey and wanted to do nothing but play with her. She would smile and laugh with her and point at her. Charlotte walked around pointing smiling and playing with anything she could get her hands on.





Day two was Saturday. Grammy and Caitey went shopping with us at Barefoot landing. They took Charlotte for a while and let Mom and Dad do some Christmas shopping. It was another beautiful day and as always Charlotte loved the fresh air. Charlotte really loved her cousin Caitey.


Day three Dad went sailing with Pappa on his new sailboat. Sailboats are a lot of work. Half of the time was spent getting the sails on the mast and ready to sail. The other half was just as much work. Once out in the open water dad started getting a little seasick. It didn't help that the swells were 4-6 feet. It was also very nice to see a sharkfin just off the side of the boat. Ok, we can end the sailing lesson now, thank you very much.

After sailing we took Charlotte to the Aquarium. Friday night we had dinner at an Italian Restaurant that had a huge fish tank. It kept Charlotte busy while we waited for our table. So we figured the Aquarium would really be a treat for her. It was. She just smiled and pointed at all of the fish and sharkts. She loved being in there. I think we are going to have to buy season passes to the Boston Aquarium!



Sunday night Julie and Caitey babysat Charlotte so that mom and dad could go out to dinner. It was great being able to eat dinner at a nice restaurant. Thank you very much girls.

Monday we did more shopping in the morning then headed over to Nanny and Pappa's house for dinner and birthday party number two. Charlotte had her own mylar balloon (she loves balloons) and a cake. Great Aunts Colleen and Sharon came over to join in the fun.







Tuesday we flew home. Uneventful with the exception of being delayed in Myrtle Beach and being delayed in the air to land at Logan. Charlotte was super tired on the plane and didn't want anything to do with dad. She did really enjoy making noises and annoying the guy in the seat infront of her who was trying to sleep (I wonder where she gets that from). Hello Mr.?? You are on a flight from Myrtle Beach. There are going to be kids on it. Sometimes kids make noise especially when they need to sit on their mom's lap for 2 hours. Deal with it, dont get all huffy because YOU cant sleep. Jerk.

Something happened on this trip with Charlotte. Im not sure if its the walking that makes her seem older, or that she understands what we are saying to her. We can point at objects and she looks at them. She now babbles away about everything. Her expressions are more like an adult then a child. She has grown up just before our eyes.

Happy Thanksgiving

We off for a whirlwind trip. We are headed to Vermont today to celebrate Thanksgiving with Nanny, Grampa, Liam, Auntie Tiff and Uncle Ian. Then we head back to New Hampshire Thursday night b/c we have to catch and early Friday morning plane ride out of Boston into South Carolina. We are going to visit Grammy, Pappa, Aunt Julie and Caitey. We are very excited. We can't wait to see them it's been too long. We won't be back till Tuesday so you'll have to check back for pictures of our South Carolina adventure.

Photo Shoot

Saturday was photo shoot day for Lottie. Dad had the house to himself as mom was out shopping. The living room quickly became a mock studio as soon as the minivan pulled out of the driveway. Tripod up. Backdrop up. Digital camera ready. 35mm camera ready. Flashes ready. All we needed now was a cooperative child.

Im not sure if all babies enjoy eating cameras as much as ours. As soon as she sees a camera she heads straight to it. "Ah ha!" dad thought! I have two cameras. While she is eating one I will take her picture with the other. This worked for about 10 shots. Then she figured out I was taking pictures with the other one. She would then come crawling over. Not to mention having picutres of her eating a camera was not the type of photo he was going for.

After about 30 minutes dad was exhausted. The black backdrop was useless. She crawled and tugged at it until it came crashing down. The tripod was even more useless. She would use it to stand up then push it over and start laughing. 100 digital shots and two rolls of film later dad was done. All of this for one Christmas card photo! And yes you will have to wait for your Christmas cards to see the final photo. However, here are a couple of random candid shots dad took. If you like these you will love the Christmas shots!

Love Thursday

Love is watching your baby grow into a child. It was hard to believe how small Charlotte was when she was born. It goes by so fast. Everyone tried to warn us and explain how fast it goes by...but it is something you have to experience for yourself.

The things that Charlotte has learned

Yesterday Charlotte walked 5 steps! Of course mom couldn't verify because she was in the shower. Today Mom finally caught Charlotte walking! It wasn't far but it was more than two steps in a row. Hard to believe in the next couple of weeks she is going to be more and more mobile!!

Those of you who have had the dis-pleasure of seeing Shelby mad know the look she gives. She carries her expressions in her face and mostly in her eyebrows. It's very easy to tell when mom is happy, mad, or sad, just by looking at her.

For some reason over the past week, Charlotte has been shooting dad (and everyone else for that matter) these terrible angry looks. Mom of course trying not to encourge it has been telling dad to just smile and give a happy look. Tonight he caught mom telling Charlotte "No" for ripping up magazines and realized the look she was giving was that same exact angry look they are trying to discourage.

Happy Birthday Brodie

Saturday was a beautiful day. Mom was already walking on her foot (with the air cast on). Dad washed moms car. Mom and dad went for a drive to Nashua to do a little window shopping for Christmas presents. And they went to Starbucks. It was a great day.

Saturday afternoon Brodie celebrated his 1st Birthday. There were a lot of kids but it was actually very tame. Everyone had a great time and for the first time dad wasn't so overstimulated that he wanted to hide out in a dark child-less room.

Charlotte loved having all the kids around and was very happy to play with all the toys. Brodie doesn't like having a ton of people in his house but really seemed to enjoy his cake!! The Theme for the party? Happy Feet. We haven't seen the movie and probably won't be going to the movies anytime soon. But it has something to do with penguins. Some people think Penguins are cute. Dad knows they are not cute. They smell horrible and make a lot of noise. Regardless they made a movie about them and how happy their feet are?? Thank you Kelly and Dave for the Happy Feet soundtrack. We are listening to it as we type. Its great for kids and parents!






At the end of the party Dave lit a bonfire. The warm air outside made it that much more enjoyable. Charlotte loved sitting on Dad's lap to watch the fire.







Yes that is Dave burning the Penguin pinata on a stake in the fire. The kids really enjoyed watching it go up in flames. Dad has a feeling Dave doesn't think penguins are cute either.

How to entertain a child

-Spend countless hours making funny noises with your mouth.
-Hang child upside down by her feet and swing her back and forth.
-Get on all fours and chase child around the house making growling noises and saying, "I'm going to catch you!"
-Take her for a walk outside with the dogs.
-Put child on your shoulders and walk around the house.
-Squeak lots of dog toys any chance you get.
-Pick up child and show her random things around the house like the pumpkins on the mantle.
-Let her play with mom's old cell phone.
-Make beeping noises with your mouth while she plays with the phone.
-Blocks.
-Pull out every single stuffed animal she has and come up with name for them.
-Read "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can you?" over and over and over again.
-Feed her grapes. Feed her cheese. Feed her prunes.
-Let her play with above food throwing it as far as she can.
-Play Baby Einstein video on the television while you hold her in your lap explaining to her exactly what she is seeing.
-Dance with her to any music you can find.
-Sing Itsy Bitsy Spider 10 times in a row.
-Tickle her belly while she laughs uncontrollably.
-Take her to see mom who is resting in bed.
-Let her play with pots and pans.
-Make a top out of the salad spinner.
-Add items such as a hairclip and a pacifier with flashing lights to the salad spinner.
-Let her play with the bowl.
-Give her a bath.
-Read to her again.
-Give her a bottle and rock her to sleep.

REPEAT TOMORROW.

Post Op

Shelby's surgery went very well. She is recovering and trying to adapt to not walking again. By early next week she should be up and around but for now it keeping her foot elevated to get the swelling back down. Hard to believe that Charlotte was only 5 months old when mom first had surgery. Charlotte wasn't even crawling! We thought it was tough then....now it's a whole different story. Gone are the days of Charlotte just sitting on your lap content with looking around. Now she wants to play.

Luckily the surgery went by very fast today. We were in at 10am and out by 1:30. This time Charlotte was big enough to play in the childrens area (of course after dad disinfected all the toys with antibacterial wipes). She was the only one in there and it seemed like a very quiet day at the hospital. Dad pushed Charlotte around the halls of the hospital in her stroller while she ate mini-goldfish. Dad says she is better than having a GPS system because everywhere Charlotte goes she leaves a trail of goldfish behind. It made it very easy to explore the hospital without getting lost. We just followed the goldfish on the floors back to mom.

While in recovery Charlotte played with anything she could find. Yes she is wearing a surgical bootie on her head. Its sort of like a hat. Anything to keep her occupied.






Here are the screws they took out of moms foot. Yes we asked for them and yes they gave them to us. They are probably 2.5" long and they are hollow...and super sharp. No the penny didnt come out of mom (although dad did swallow a penny once when he was a kid). We just wanted to give some perspective to the size of the screws.



When we returned home mom retired to bed and dad and Charlotte had the run of the house. No mom to tell US what to do! We played and played and played. Then played some more. Dad decided it would be fun to finger paint with Charlotte. Charlotte thought it would be fun to eat the paint. And then paint her face. And everything else within hands reach. Then she decided it would be fun to paint using her face and mouth instead of her hands. Dad of course let her do whatever she wanted. So after the paint came a bath, then dinner, mixed in with playing and fussing. He has a new appreciation for the amount of work mom does during the day!