The way we like it.

Nice Shot of Mom's fashion cast...black.


Uneventful. Just the way we like it. Saturday we spent the day doing things around the house. Dad moved the bed from downstairs onto the first floor for mom's upcoming "vacation at home". We figure after surgery mom is not going to want to try and make it up the stairs. So dad installed some blinds and got the room ready. Charlotte will be camping out in her pack-and-play in the dining room to be close by. Surgery is scheduled for Thursday so we still have a few more days to prep the house. Not only will it be baby friendly but crutches friendly as well. We should have bought a one floor ranch.

Sunday morning Paul and Jena came over and we all went to the Fireman's Breakfast. We love the breakfast. $6 for all you can eat. Plus its only a 30 second walk for us....ok, today it took a little longer becuase of the one foot wonder but it is still close. The rest of the day dad finished installing the blinds, mowed the lawn, fertizled the lawn, put lime on the lawn, went to the grocery store, helped bathe Charlotte, and just did more stuff around the house. Nanny and Shelby were busy keeping Charlotte occupied. Thank God we have the help...Dad and Mom could not do it alone. That much is for sure. It's going to be sad to see her go and it's going to be a long hard road to recovery.



Dad Chillin out with Ollie

Do you really want to know?

Mom and dad went to the appointment today and the news isn't good. Yes Shelby needs surgery. According to the doc it is a textbook case of a Lisfank fracture. He was pretty excited about it. We were not so excited. He gets to teach his assistant all about it. I guess if your job is to deal with feet all day, seeing something like this is much better than dealing with bunions and smelly feet.

So the surgery will last two hours. Mom will get three screws in her foot. She hopefully will be able to go home the same day. He is also hoping to do a minimally invasive surgery (not have to slice her foot open). But it all depends on how it goes.

After the surgery Mom has to keep off her feet at least 6 weeks. After that they will put her in a walking cast for who knows how long. 6 -8 months later she will go through it all again when they take the screws out. Its back into surgery, back to a cast, back to a walking cast...then she is done. It's going to be a long year.

Mom goes in this Thursday for the surgery. Dad is going to tie ribbons and a note around the foot to make sure the docs work on the right one. He already questioned the doctor with how many of these surgeries he has done and he said one a month. Lets hope it all goes well. Now that mom will be getting screws put into her...when she does something loopy Dad can really say Shelby you have some Screws loose!!

Haaaa...not funny.





See below:
Ty Law had this injury if you know who he is.
The Lisfranc injury is an injury to one of the small joints of the midfoot. The injury occurs when there is a dislocation or fracture and dislocation between the forefoot and midfoot joints.

Today.....

Mom has a doctors appointment today at 3pm with the Orthopedic surgeon to read her CT scan. We will find out her fate. We are hoping they just take off her cast and she walks out of the office with a bone bruise. Our fears are that it could be torn ligaments or the lisfranc fracture. Keep your fingers crossed for the bone bruise as she will then have a speedy recovery.
Check back tomorrow for the results...and please keep your fingers crossed.

The good, the bad, the ugly

So Mom went to the Orthopedist today....what kind of news do you want to here? Good, bad, ugly?

The good news is it isn't broken.

The bad news is she may need surgery, she will find out more after her CT scan which will take place hopefully by Thursday. Ever heard of a Lisfranc injury? that is what she might have. She is going to need screws in her foot if the CT scan isn't PERFECT the doctor said.
If the CT scan is perfect then she will just have to let it heal and it shouldn't take too long......hopefully.

The ugly news..well there really isn't any ugly news. I guess mom would say that the ugly news is that dad thinks I am going to daycare if mom has to have surgery. I refuse to go and I know mom will as well.

As far as I go I cut my first tooth today! I guess that is why I have been a bit more grumpy than usual. You can hardly see it but I can feel it. It's a very small hard dot of white coming through my gum. When it really shows I will have mom or dad take a picture because I am sure I will look very cute with teeth. I don't think mom is looking forward to teeth :( can you say ouch?

tata for now

I will keep you posted when we know more about mom.

The Savior

Nanny arrived today around 3pm to help out mom. By the time dad got home the dishes were put away and the kitchen was cleaned. Mom was resting comfortably on her duff, foot elevated and iced. Charlotte was ready for bed. Oliver and Abigail had worn themselves out. Dad even had enough "free time" to update the blog. Thank you Nanny. Thank you.

Mom needs to see the orthopedist tomorrow....Doctor Wang. It's the same doc that fixed her finger...which turned out pretty damn good considering the mess it was in. We can't wait to see what he can do with her foot! We are also taking wagers to see what body part is next for mom. I have a feeling it will be her elbow. Twenty bucks...any takers?

Nanny goes back on Friday. Mom won't be walking by Friday. If anyone wants to come help out next week please let us know. We will need it. Dad was even thinking about finding a day-care for a couple of days to make life a little easier. We know he is dreaming.

The Foot

It hit dad tonight how horrible this is. Mom is really in a lot of pain and it is going to be VERY difficult for her to take care of Charlotte. Dad spent the day doing what mom would usually do (which is a hell of a lot) and doing other things to help mom out. Not a fun Sunday. Grocery shopping, putting groceries away, changing diapers, letting the dogs in and out, cooking lunch, doing dishes, putting Charlotte down for a nap, getting mom water, cooking dinner....it was just exhausting. Its hard enough just trying to do things with a 4 month old...now doing anything has become extremely difficult.

Nanny is flying in Monday afternoon. Dad is very worried with how mom will do in the morning with no help.

It's not Broken

Mom's spirit is a little broken but her foot isn't. She needs to call the doctor on Monday to follow up with what we should do. She did get some crutches and is learning how to use them. Of course having a beautiful sunny weekend and not being able to get up and around very easily makes it a little tough. We are hoping that she will at least be able to stand on it in a week or so. For now its going to be a struggle with a 4 month old.

Nanny is hopefully going to fly up for the week to help out. I don't know what we would have done if she couldn't make it.

Another wonderful sleeping night for little Charlotte. She went to sleep around 8pm, fed her again at 11pm...then she slept all night!! She finally woke up at 5:30 to eat then went back to sleep until 8am!!!We don't really know what happened, but Dad thinks it's his special sleep technique.

Saturday April 29th The good and the Bad

Ok, so Dad did not take the new job at the new company. He was just not ready to leave the only company he knows for a lateral move. Hard to walk away from 4 weeks vacation and knowing so many people. The company has always done right by dad and he has been there for 12 years, has been able to provide well for his family. He is just not ready to risk that. Having a baby changes ALL of your views on careers, work, life, and jobs in general. It took dad a while but he realized that he is not much of a risk taker.

So now onto the good news and bad news. Charlotte slept from 7pm until 5am!!!! That is the good news!! The bad news is at 5:30am when she was done feeding from mom, dad was returning her to her room and crib....mom was heading downstairs in the dark to get some water and suddenly ....thump thump CRASH. What the hell was that dad though? He ran to the stairs, flipped on the light switch....and there was mom laying at the bottom of the stairs all balled up.

After about 3-4 minutes he was able to get her up...although she is not able to stand on her foot. We think its broken or pretty damn close. We will find out in a few hours when we visit the doctor and get some x-rays done. This will be interesting...mom on crutches with a 4 month old. Not sure how this will work out. Luckily mom has plenty of pain killers left from the c section. Dad will have to take some.

Our House

Well Sunday we had College Painting come out to take a look at our house for a quote. We desperately need the outside of our house painted. We had another company come earlier in the week...their quote was $7800. Dad freaked. Dad figured he was better off buying a $20 brush, a few hundred bucks in paint, and finding a rickety old ladder at the dump. But to appease mom he got another quote. The kid was in college and gave us a quote for HALF of the price, but to top things off detailed all that he was going to have done for us...caulking cracks, sanding rusty nails, and priming boards that were bare. Yes it seems too good to be true, but hey they are the 2nd largest painting company in the US. We will see how it comes out and provide pictures. ETA is end of June. Mom is VERY happy dad will not be spending any time in the emergency room now and is also happy he will not be teaching any swear words to Charlotte this summer. Who knows, he still has plenty of other work to do around the house. Ohh the woes of owning a house that's 106 years old!

Dad has also been in turmoil regarding work. He has accepted an offer with a new company...but is petrified of leaving the safety and security of a company he has been with for 12 years. Hey at 33 he can't see being with the same company for another 15 or 20 years without experiencing some other places. Time to see what life is like with other companies! It's either a really good or really bad decision. Let's hope it's for the best.

Could it still be a fluke?

Success again!
Charlotte got a bath last night, from there a massage, bottle, book, then bed at 6:30. We didn't hear from her again till 3:30am....this is still success. We hope she keeps this up. Mom has gotten so much sleep, more than she has in 4 1/2 months but she feels more tired than usual..hopefully she will adjust. We have our fingers crossed for another wonderful night of sleep.
We'll keep you posted.

Dr. Jeckyl and Ms. Charlotte

Topsy turvey week. Let's start by telling you dad yet again argued with the pediatrician. Hard to believe. It was Charlottes 4 month follow up visit. Shots were due. Dad of course thinks they are nuts to give her immunization for things such as Polio (the last polio case in the US was in 1979). Any cases of polio since then have come from kids contracting the disease from the vaccine. Seems dumb to me. Oh and then there is the DTaP shot. Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis. Dad was reading Parenting magazine and there was an ad for it and all the wonderful benefits of the shot. Then dad read the back side of the ad, you know, the side affect side, etc that no one reads? We he read it. The side effects didn't look too bad...the usual...death, shock, seizures, and brain damage. What really got dad was one of the ingredients was formaldehyde. Hello?? One of the WORST substances you could put in your body.

So dad expressed his concerns with the doc. I am not against inoculation. Im against doing so much at once. Why not spread it out? Let her little body deal with one shot at a time?? Of course the doc talked about the benefits of inoculation. Dad kept on him about how we can't possibly know all of the effects of putting this crap in kids all at once. Finally the doc broke down and explained to dad it was more "work" for him to separate out the shots. And get this...the insurance company RATES the doctor by the number of children he inoculates. He could get a bad rating by them if he didn't give the shots. Truth at last!! Not only was it more work but it made him look bad. Needless to say we spread out the shots and actually refused one of them that we didn't think we needed. Damn insurance companies controlling our doctors. This is an issue.

Moving on.

Upon return from our vacation we decided to put Charlotte in her own room. Such a wonderful idea:
Night 1 - Charlotte unswaddled.In her crib. Flailed all night. Cried nonstop. Total sleep roughly 2 hours for mom, dad, and baby.
Night 2 - Charlotte unswaddled. In her bassinet in her crib. Same as above. Only difference is she was so exhausted during the day that she was miserable at night and at day.
Night 3 - Charlotte swaddled. In bassinet in her crib. Slept all night.
Night 4- to be determined tonight. We think night 3 was a fluke.

Children are exhausting. Our Saturday was spent being half awake. Our Sunday so far we have been great since Charlotte slept from 7pm to 5:30am, then went back to sleep until 8:30. Mom's bags under her eyes are now gone.

We Have Returned!

Well the vacation was great. We got off to a bit of a rough start but in the end it turned out perfect. Saturday we all piled into the Mini-Van and headed to Long Island to stay with Aunt Tiff, Uncle Ian, and Cousin Liam. Every inch and crevice of the van was packed with stuff. Abigail and Oliver in the far back, Charlotte in the middle row, and mom and dad upfront. After about 3 hours mom was in the middle with Charlotte who was crying, Abigail was in the front seat petrified of something that made noise in the back, and Oliver was still in the back panting because he gets car sick. Then the rain started. Then the accidents backed up the roads in Connecticut. What should take 5 hours took more like 8. Of course it felt like 10. Dad and Mom were starting to really DREAD the 10 hour ride the following day to North Carolina.

We had a great nights sleep and at 5am we awoke to pile in the car yet again. Tiff in one car with Liam, the rest of us in the minivan trying to keep up with her. And we thought people in Boston drove fast?? Long island has to have the worst and fastest drivers in the world. It started at 5:30am with Tiff blowing a red light because it was taking too long. We followed of course.

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. It was really not bad. We stopped a few times to eat, let the dogs pee, change diapers, etc. Dad was able to take a bottle with frozen milk in it and sit it on the dashboard defroster and BAM instant thawed and heated milk! He is so smart! We did break the law a few times by pulling Charlotte out of her car seat and holding her for 10 minutes or so while we drove.Let me change that Dad didn't do it while he drove, mom did it while Dad drove. We only did it a couple of times and dad was VERY careful. It did give Charlotte a needed stretch to keep going.
GET ME OUT OF THIS CAR!

At about 4:30pm on Sunday we arrived at Nanny and Grampys house in NC. Their new house is absolutely beautiful and they thought of every little detail. It's right on the creek and has amazing views. The sunset pictures below are from their backyard.
On Monday we went into "town" in Oriental to have lunch and walk around. Dad and Grampy got the boat ready and put it in the water and took a little cruise on the water. Then dad and Grampy went for a little spin on the ATV to see the rest of the new property.




Tuesday morning Mom and Dad piled back into the minivan again. This time to drive the 4 hours south to Myrtle Beach. Actually Surfside beach but its next to Myrtle Beach so we will leave it at that. This drive went really well and once we got there we went straight to the beach! Charlotte's first beach visit! She didn't get to see too much of it since she was in her stroller most of the time. After the beach we hit one of the outdoor malls in Myrtle Beach for a little shopping. We bought Charlotte a spider that plays "itsy bitsy spider". Silly but we had to buy her something fun for being so good.

Pappa cooked dinner and had it ready for us when we got back. We had homemade tacos. They were amazing as usual. Dad ate 7 of them. I wont tell you how many mom ate but it was more than 2. She loves them. After dinner Caitey read Charlotte a bedtime story. She even held her by herself! Caitey is getting so big. Dad remembers holding her when she was just a baby. To think they grow that fast is really sad. After Charlotte was sleeping, Caitey showed Mom her Hermit Crab collection. She has 15. Mom didn't like any of them. Mom does not like Hermit Crabs. Mom is PETRIFIED of Hermit Crabs.

Wednesday morning we left to drive back to NC. Again, uneventful car ride. Although Mom and Dad did find out that there are two Route 17's in Wilmington NC. One is for trucks and one is not. We thought the "truck" route would be shorter. It was not. Once we got back to NC we did a whole lot of relaxing in the sun. It was very nice.

Thursday we did more relaxing. We also went out on the boat with Abigail and Oliver. As usual Abigail was a chicken. Oliver LOVED it.

Friday morning Ian flew in from NY and then we all went out on the boat. He actually flew in on Thursday night but got stuck in Charlotte NC (no relation). Damn US AIR. Charlotte loved the boat ride. She even got to drive the boat!!

Saturday we all went to Beaufort NC on the water. Us boys went into New Bern first and had breakfast together while the girls got ready at home with the kids. Once we got to Beaufort the guys took care of the kids while the girls ate lunch. We did a little shopping and just had a great time.
When we got back the boys went out again to hit the local raw bar for some beer and oysters.

Sunday was Easter. More sun. More fun...and of course Easter Baskets!!!! Thank you for our Easter baskets! Abigail and Oliver went swimming. Up and down the property they would run...just chasing each other....around and around until they got too hot then they would run into the river and swim! then back out to do it all again. They did this almost every day but on Sunday we really let them run and run and run to wear them out.

Monday we left to head home!

Ready for Vacation

Only one more day. Mom, Dad, Charlotte, Abigail, & Oliver are all going to get packed in the car for a little trip to the South. Saturday morning we are leaving at 6am to hit Long Island and Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Ian. Sunday morning 6 AM we are all leaving to drive down to North Carolina to see Nanny and Grampa! Yeee Haaaa! Hopefully the car ride will be smooth and peaceful. Chances of that happening? Slim to none. We are going to take PLENTY of pictures and dad is going to do his best to not yell.."DONT MAKE ME PULL OVER!". Should be hours upon hours upon hours of fun.

Tuesday we are going to make the 4 hour trek from NC to SC to visit Grammy and Pappa. We are going to spend a day there and then drive back to NC on Wednesday.

We are so looking forward to our vacation!

GROUNDED

I am now grounded.

Dad wanted mom to take pictures of what she teaches me everyday...what kind of request is that? So she taught me how to drink a beer and she e-mailed him the pictures. Now I'm grounded. I seem to be the scapegoat here...help!

Tongue Twisted

Charlotte found her tongue this week. She looks like a lizard...sticking it out of her mouth all the time and twisting it around. She also found her hands and has learned how to hold things!

Return from Vermont - posted by Oliver

Despite mom bringing baby Charlotte to Vermont with us, I still had fun. I ran around in the back yard, barked at all the dogs in the neighborhood, and just had fun playing with Abigail.

Charlotte and her cousin Liam went for daily strolls with mom and aunt Tiffany. You can see by the pictures how serious she is. I don't think it's that tough being a baby, so Im not sure what her issue is.

Dad and uncle Ian came in on Friday night. By the time dad arrived on Friday night he was starving. Mom didn't have dinner ready for him as she promised. He angrily grabbed the frozen pizza from her and put it in the oven. About 30 minutes later when trying to cut through the pizza he realized he left the cardboard on the bottom! The pizza stuck to the whole cardboard and just made a mess. HAAA!! That's what he gets for being impatient!

Saturday it rained. Not a whole lot of fun. Mom and dad had to wipe my feet every time I came into the house. Charlotte got very fussy around dinner time. Mom and dad couldn't take her out in that condition. Tiffany and Ian went to dinner with cousin Liam. Mom and dad stayed in and ordered take out food.

Sunday morning we left to come home. We were home by 11am. Vacation sure didn't last long.

When we got home Mom and Dad took all of us on a walk around the neighborhood. I had a hard time at first barking at everyone, other dogs and cars, but by the end of the walk dad said I was being a "good boy". He even took us to swim in the river, I went in further than abigail. Maybe I'll be a better swimmer than her this summer. We'll have to wait and see.

Deceived - Posted by Oliver

Mom got all of my stuff and Abigails stuff ready for our vacation in Vermont. She packed our portable water dish, packed some treats, even threw some toys in a bag! I was so excited to head to the Green Mountain State for a little R&R from the baby! I have been running around the house and yard all week anticipating the trip.

Mom threw our dog bed in the back of the car. We watched her pack the car up from the living room window. I kept crying for her to come back in and get us. Finally she came back into the house, grabbed my leash (Abigail doesn't need a leash) and took us outside!! Wooo HOOO!! Finally!!! She opened the back of the SUV and in I jumped with Abigial right behind me. Lets go Mom!! We are ready! Mom shuts the back of the SUV.

Mom turns away and walks back to the house. Wait....Where is she going? Why is she going back in the house? She already packed it for our trip away! She must have forgot to leave a note for dad on how to care for the baby.

Then...I saw it. Out strolls mom carrying the car seat...Charlotte smiling away. NO PLEASE LEAVE HER!! It was no use. She packed Charlotte up and locked her in the back in her car seat. Betrayed. Deceived. Devastated.

Charlotte cried most of the three hour trip. I was crying inside. All I wanted was a little attention, a little love. Not to be last behind dad, Charlotte, and Abigail. I thought Mom wanted some quality time with just her dogs. I was wrong. I was deceived.

-Oliver

I'm Leaving this week! posted by Oliver

Thats right, I have had enough. This baby crying thing is getting to me. Its not easy being a dog in this family right now. I am low man on the totem pole. Baby needs to eat, I get no attention. Mom needs to eat, I get no attention. Baby is crying, no attention. Baby is playing and laughing still no attention. I just can't take it any longer! Im backing my bones and my dog bed and heading to Vermont for a little R&R away from it all!

Sunday dad put some wood lattice up in the back yard to prevent me from escaping under the porch. He also removed all of my chew toys out of the back yard. I had a couple of nice 2 liter bottles back there that I loved to chew on and run around with. They are gone. All of the sticks in the yard...they are also gone. The weeds that I love to run through in the flowerbeds....gone. Dad was on a spring cleaning kick and boy did he clean up the yard!

Saturday dad and I took a nap on the couch. It was so nice to get a little quality time with him. Charlotte was hanging on mom and Abigail was sleeping upstairs.

I over heard mom and dad talking about driving me to Vermont. I think mom is taking me on Wednesday. I can't wait to run around in the yard there and get dangerously close to the pool. It will be so nice to get away from hearing all about the "baby this and the baby that". Finally I will get some time alone with mom and Abigail!

Nanny's visit

Nanny's was here...we had fun. She likes to shop. Have you ever been shopping with my Nanny? It's an all day event, and at the end of the day you have lots of bags to show for it. She bought me a new exsersaucer and clothes..I can't even tell you how many outifts... She really likes baby girl clothing, so does mom. We also had a visit from Aunt Wendy, Cousin Megan and Emilia. That was fun..Liam was the odd one he was the only boy. But he had fun. He and Emilia played with my excersaucer. I'm still little for it. I just like sucking my fingers right now, sometimes I like looking at the flashing lights. It was a great week with lots of fun, can't wait to do it again..in Long Island next time. And I here that my Auntie has lots of shops in her town...sound like mom better bring her sneakers.
My nanny was a little disheveled after her visit..she had her hands full with Liam and I...just check out that hair to prove it.
See the way my cousin Liam sleeps in his swing..he pulls the blankets up over his head all by HIMSELF, I thinks it's silly, but maybe I'll try it.

Nannys in town!

Liam chugging a Pint a some random bar in Boston. Ian you let him leave with Tiffany??




Reading fashion magazines with Nanny.


I love my new hat!

Bono has nothing on me!

Nanny came to visit for the week with Aunt Tiffany and Cousin Liam. So nice to have some extra hands helping out during the week! Charlotte and Mom took a litte trip to the bright lights and big city of Boston to pick Nanny up. They didn't get a whole lot of shopping done but they did get to pick up some burrito's from Anna's Taqueria! Our Favorite!

Charlotte got some sexy new sunglasses from Tiffany today. PERFECT for the upcoming trip to North Carolina in a few weeks! Dad thinks Charlotte looks like Bono in the glasses. Mom thinks she looks like Ray Charles. None the less she is way too damn cute!

Bono Who?

weekend2

Weekend

Somebody's got to use it

Mom just happened to look at ollie and he had the pacifier in his mouth..she had plenty of time to get the camera since he really enjoyed it. Oliver felt he should be able to use the pacifier since Charlotte doesn't.....why let it go to waste.

Please Don't Laugh

Tonight is Thursday. We all know that Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti day. Thursday is Turkey Day....or it least it should have been Turkey day in our household.

As we noted in a previous post, Dad was supposed to cook at Turkey last weekend, however, due to technical difficulties it was not thawed in time. So mom and dad decided to cook it this week so they would have leftover for the weekend. Well we should say mom decided to cook it.

Dad should have known from the beginning it would not be good when mom called him at work and asked to start the turkey. He agreed and told her what to set the oven at and how to cook it. Take it out of the fridge, remove the giblets and neck and put it in the oven at 350 degrees. Mom said she found the neck but not the giblets. Dad then told her to put her hand in the turkey. She refused. He told her to check the other end of the turkey and luckily she found the giblets. This was at 3:00 pm. By the way, the turkey was only 10 lbs.

Dad got home at 6:30 to the lovely smell of turkey cooking in the oven. Wait a minute...turkey still cooking in the oven?? 3 1/2 hours later? Dad immediately checked on it and found it was covered and any juice from the turkey had dried into a burnt black mess. Mom still had it cooking away, not a single drop of liquid in the pan. She decided "checking" on the turkey wasn't needed.

Attached are some pictures of the turkey. Please do not laugh since mom did try very hard. We did eat the turkey and it was pretty tasty....a little dry, but very tasty. Very dry but very tasty. This is why they invented gravy.


ps. Mom also tried making coffee using the automatic coffee maker yesterday. Dad was so excited last night that mom got the coffee ready for this morning. Although this morning when he woke up and went downstairs for a cup of coffee....he found the coffee maker on..but not a single drop of coffee. Mom forgot to add the water!!!
God help us.

BBQ, Babies, Boobs, & Beer

We all survived the weekend. Mom & Dad with Charlotee, Kelly & Dave with Brodie and Mason, Lisa & Ryan with Colin, Chris & Amy with Hunter and baby to be, Janet & Chris with Emma and Sarah, Danielle with Isabel & Wyatt but without husband Bert who was stuck in NJ. The best way to describe the weekend was organized chaos but very fun none the less. It wasn't quiet, but it was fun.

Charlotte did pretty well although she was definitely over stimulated. As was dad. Especially since dad already thinks the house is cluttered....imagine toys for all the kids, drinks for all the adults, food, dogs, shoes, more food, more toys and never ending children. The dogs were great with the kids and we think they got over being scared of loud noises.

Saturday was a beautiful day. Everyone went to the park while dad made mashed potatoes. He has to apologize for the false advertising around the "turkey dinner" that was promised for Saturday. Unfortunately the turkey didn't thaw out in time so he had to hit the store for some chicken breasts to cook on the grill. So the guys hung outside on the deck and had beer and grilled while the moms stayed inside and played with the kids.

By 9 pm on Saturday night most of the little babies were asleep. Of course the parents were just as tired. Mom was happy because she felt very comfortable nursing Charlotte anywhere she wanted to since most of the other moms were nursing too. Everywhere you turned there was moms feeding babies. Two boobs on every mom and that is a lot of boobs everywhere!

Sunday dad made eggs, bacon, & pancakes. He should have make just bacon and chicken due to the amount of leftover chicken we have left. He thought about sending people home with chicken by hiding it in their diaper bags.....he wonders if anyone has found any yet??

Thank you again for a great weekend. Danielle should get the badge of honor for driving the furthest....alone.....with two children! Burt she needs at least two weeks off of taking care of the kids....and you should have sent her with a flourless chocolate cake...Shelby is very upset!

Hopefully in July we can all get together again somewhere in Maine!

Charlotte in the exersaucer!
Babies!
Everyone
This about sums up how everyone felt Sunday

Wacky Wednesday Night

Tonight Dad did not have the touch. He followed his regular routine with putting Miss Charlotte to bed, however, she decided not to take the bottle from dad. He tried. She would cry. He would try again. She would cry louder. Again and again he kept trying and she kept crying. Eventually he had to call mom up to nurse her until her belly was full. This is now 3 nights without dad being able to feed her a bottle. :(

Dad WAS successful with giving the dogs a bath tonight. Of course Oliver soaked dad and kept trying to jump out of the tub. He hates baths. Abigail was not much better. In the end the floor was soaked, the dogs were soaked, and dad was soaked. Glutton for punishment I guess.

Did you hear there are going to be NINE children under the age of 3 this weekend at our house? Yes, NINE CHILDREN. God help us.

My first playgroup

Mom took me to my first playgroup today. I had a great time I was the youngest baby there and of course the cutest at least that's what mom tells me. I watched the kids play for awhile then i decided it was nap time and just put my head on mom's shoulder and went to sleep till the end. Mom talked to all the grown ups, they were very welcoming and made us feel very comfortable. She is planning on taking me back next week...yipee. I have more friends!
And hopefully mom does too. There were 12 adults and twice as many kids...that's alot of people.

Dad's birthday evening

We had a fun evening. Jon and Tracey came over with dinner. They brought steak tips, asparagus and macaroni salad. It was delicious! They also brought a big bottle of tequila and margarita mix. Needless to say there is not much mix left and they finished half the bottle of tequila. Fun was had by everyone.
Dad enjoyed his birthday hat and Key Lime Cheesecake.
Thank you Jon and Tracey for dinner and drinks.

Happy Birthday Daddy

It's dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! Mom and I got up early today to wish Dad a happy birthday and to spend a little time with him before he heads off to work. I was going to wear my birthday suit but I if my mom takes pictures I want to look like a lady.....of course she put me in blue and green so now I just look like a boy:(
Anyway we can't wait for dad to get home from work so we can celebrate some more.
We love you dad, Happy Birthday

Weekend Update

Friday night dad was very happy to be home after a long week of work. Mom and dad had thought about going out but then realized how much progress they had made with creating a sleeping routine for Charlotte. So they decided to stay in and just relax. Dad followed his usual schedule with Charlotte and she was asleep by 7:30pm. Mom and dad were asleep by 10pm. Exciting life of parents.

Saturday the family went shopping. Well everyone except the dogs. We hit Sam's Club, then the grocery store. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to hit Target. We bought an 8lb bag of Tater Tots. Why you ask? Because the only size Sam's Club sells is Super Size. So we now have enough Tater Tots, Chicken nuggets, tissues, dish detergent, and paper towels to last a solid 3 months. Ok the Tater Tots I'm sure will last us a good 6 months.

Saturday night was "movie night" for mom and dad. Once again, dad followed the in bed by 7:30pm routine for Charlotte. Mom and Dad hung out on the couch, watched a movie, and ate popcorn. It was very nice to spend some quality "date" time together.

Sunday morning. Charlotte slept through the night Saturday night!! Unfortunately she was very grumpy all day on Sunday. Dad cleaned his office and the bathroom upstairs. Mom cleaned the kitchen and dining room and the rest of the bedrooms. Dad also made a lovely Pot Roast. We invited Paul and Jena over. Just before then arrived, Charlotte finally took a nap. She slept all through dinner! Must have been EXHAUSTED from all the crying during the day. :)

It is completely incredible how fast she is growing. She keeps doing little things like sitting up in bed, and babbling that make her look like a little kid instead of a baby. Everyone says ENJOY the time you have with her as a baby because it goes by so fast. I totally understand now what they mean.