North Carolina vs. New Hampshire

Charlotte trying to put her socks on in the carseat in NC

Who is the Captain??

I love the open water!

I've got my eye on you Clowns!

Growing every day!

NH:
Today dad had on a t-shirt, over that long sleeve shirt, over that a sweatshirt, over that a light jacket.
NC:
Mom wore a long sleeve shirt.

NH: Dad raked the leaves up. Then took the dogs for a fall walk in the woods. It was cold and winter is coming.
NC: Mom, Nanny, Grampa, and Charlotte went out on the boat.

NH: Tonight dad turned the heat on.
NC: No need for heat.

Luckily mom sent dad some pictures of Charlotte. He was missing her a lot today.
Click here for the full set.

New Design

We hope everyone likes the new design of the blog. Thank you Bluebird Blogs. We are still trying to get Charlottesweb for our address. Until that happens, this is what we got. We like it.

Dad is counting down the days until Mom and Charlotte come home. He talked to Charlotte this morning on the phone and she said she is having fun. Yesterday she went to the Mum Festival in New Bern NC. Mom got some pictures of her with some clowns. I guess she would not take her eyes off the clowns. She didn't cry, didn't smile, just stared at the clowns. If you ask me clowns are scary.

Today Charlotte is going to brunch. Dad will be tackling the list of chores on the fridge. He even added to the list a few items so it will be a busy day for him.

Sorry there are no pics. Dad is hoping mom can upload some in NC?? Right mom??

Weekend Alone

Dad flew back from Dallas on Thursday as Mom and Charlotte were flying to North Carolina. They literally missed each other by only hours. This I think made it worse for dad. He just wanted to come home to see Mom and Charlotte. Now he has to wait.

We he arrived home the house was empty with the exception of two dogs that were VERY happy to see him. Abigail and Oliver were beyond excited. Dad quickly found the long list of chores to do on the fridge and a little note left from Mom and Charlotte telling him how much they missed him and loved him.

Friday night dad spent installing the new door knobs on the new french door he installed. Dad didnt realize how crooked the house was until he installed the door. It took a lot of work to get it in and even more cutting. It fits...although it looks crooked. Oh well.

Saturday dad is going to take the dogs for a walk in the woods and let them run around like crazy. They were stuck in the house alone all day Friday and are going to be alone tonight. Dad is going out with his friends to a haunted hay ride. Tomorrow he needs to finish his list of chores!

So since this was dad first trip away since Charlotte has been born...he realized the incredible power that Charlotte has on him. Yes it sucks waking up in the middle of the night and at 6 am....but seeing her smile and play and giggle and sleep really completes his day.

Love Thursday

Happy Love Thursday

This post is about being thankful for having these woman in my life. Love is having friends from college that you remain close with. Although we all live in different states we continue to get together at least twice a year (more if we are lucky). It has been such a joy to be a part of each other's lives as we have traveled the road to marriage and now motherhood.

A face only a mother could love

Charlotte is enjoying a "Maple Biscuit for Teethers" What a mess! Did you check out the shirt? Clean-up will not be fun

while dad is away..she will play

Dad is away and Charlotte will play! Dad promises that he will put the locks on the cabinets while mom and Charlotte are away in NC. Until then mom gets to pick up all the food from the lazy Susan at least 4 times a day. Oh what fun!

Believe it or not

We have run out of things to tell you. Charlotte has diarreah. Tonight we cooked on the grill. Dad went to the ice cream store but it was closed (bitches). Ahh, as I am sitting here telling you thing Shelby reminded me....Saturday we went to Portsmouth. It was a beautiful fall day. Clear blue sky. Warm weather. We hadn't been back since Charlotte came out of moms belly (4 days before Charlottes birth). So we strolled around and shopped. Then shopped some more. We did go to the wine and cheese store. The owner picked out the perfect bottle of wine for mom...Muscato d'Asti. Mom wants a case of it now. She was ready to chug the whole bottle she loved it so much. Then he let us sample cheese. So we bought some of that too. Strange cheese, but very delicious.

Jon and Tracey met us for lunch at the brewery. It was not very good but it was nice to see them. After lunch we headed home.

Saturday afternoon took Charlotte and the dogs for a walk in the woods. Abigail loved being off her leash and ran and ran and swam and ran. Oliver didn't enjoy beng on his leash but enjoyed it none the less. It was a nice "family" afternoon.

Sunday Dad spent the day with Charlotte. Dad is going to Dallas for the week. The day dad flies back, mom flies out to visit Nanny and Grampa in North Carolina. She is going to be gone from Thursday till Tuesday. Thats over 8 days of dad not seeing his daughter and wife. He is not too excited about this. Maybe dad will pick up a cowboy hat for charlotte and some boots for mom while he is in Dallas!

Thats about it for excitement around here. Expect the blog to be pretty quiet for the next week.

Love Is

Love is .... Your neice holding a bug in her hands so it doesn't get hurt.











Love is ... Renovating your first bathroom together over Easter weekend.













Love is .... Having patience with your puppy while potty training.











Love is ... pregnant pumpkins at Halloween time.












Love is ..... Holding your daughter in your hands.











Love is .... Dogs sleeping with thier suffed animals.










Love is .... Butter Crunch Ice Cream








Love is ... missing your best friend.

It goes by quick

I have made similar posts in the past but I have to do it again. I can not believe how fast time is flying by with Charlotte. She is going to be 10 months old this weekend. She can now walk behind her wagon full of blocks, using it to hold herself up. Today she just chatted and mumbled until she fell asleep. She smiles and she laughs when being tickled or when you do something funny. She is a little person, growing in capability every day.

Weekend

A few months ago, Mom and Dad invested in the new town playground. Their donation bought them a "picket on the fence" with their family name on it. As usual, dad just expected the playground would be built on its own, and mom, dad, and Charlotte would be able to ejoy it for years to come. That was not the case. A couple of weeks ago mom signed dad up for a few hours of "community service" to help build the playground. Dad was not so excited but figured he could help out for a few hours in the morning then work on his own projects.

Saturday was the day. Dad lugged his toolbox down the street to where they were building. He had told mom he was only going to be TWO HOURS and not a minute more. This was at 8am. At 10:30 mom took a walk over to check on dad. He was still working. At 11:30 she came back. He was still working. Finally at 1:30 one of the wifes of the other guys helping build asked, "weren't you susposed to be home by now?". So dad packed up his tools and headed home with the playground only 3/4 built.


Saturday night Jasmine came over to babysit so Mom and Dad could go to dinner in celebration of Jena's birthday. She fed and even bathed Charlotte while mom and dad got ready. So nice to have an extra set of hands! Thank you Jasmine.

We had dinner at Unwined in Manchester and it was very nice. Mom didn't get her chocolate fondue though, instead she had chocalate mousse birthday cake. We will be going back to get desert some time next week.

On Sunday, Kelly, Dave, Mason, and Brodie came over so we could all walk over to the Fireman's breakfast. Dad was excited Mason was there so he had an excuse to climb all over the fire trucks.

Pictures

You want pictures? You got them.

Neurotic

Tonight dad realized how neurotic he is with his daughter. In his mind he is always planning for her future. With that planning comes teaching. He reads to her the science encyclopedia, shows her and explains to her how to cook, explains to her how the vacuum works (he isn't 100% sure but figures she is learning something), tells her about electricity, talks to her about never jumping on a bed with pennies in her mouth because she might swallow one like dad did when he was younger, and last but not least, reading to her bedtime books written in spanish.



Dad took 6 years of Spanish. He can not speak fluently despite taking "Conversational Spanish". He can pick out words here and there if someone is speaking spanish, but wishes they would speak s l o w e r. Some days he greets her with "Hola Senorita Charlotte". He is confident Charlotte will be bi-lingual if he reads to her the spanish book once a week. He even tries to mimic the accent when he reads it to her so she might speak it better than he doess (then there are other nights he reads to her with a southern drawl because he thinks it sounds so cute when kids talk with a southern accent). He thinks about all of the damage he has already done to her by speaking English this whole time. Then he thinks maybe he should talk to her in sign language. He does not know sign language except for a few choice dirty phrases. Maybe he should be teaching her latin? or binary code? These are the thoughts and ramblings of a neurotic father.

Coming Home

Tonight when dad came home Charlotte, Abigail, & Oliver were all waiting for him.
This is what they saw:





















This is what dad saw:

To show or not to show

Due to the rain on Saturday, we did not go apple picking. We went apple shopping. We still went to the farm, but picked our apples out of bins instead of off the trees. We managed to load up on two bags of Honey Crisp apples. If you have never had one you must try one. Simple the best apple for eating imaginable. Since it was raining we stayed in the rest of the day and cooked.

Sunday Nicole Siciliano came to visit mom. Dad was busy out side doing yardwork, driving back and forth from home to Lowes, and eating raw cheeseburgers from McDonalds (yes one of his cheeseburgers was RAW in the middle. Mark these words if he gets sick). Nicole spent a few hours with mom and Charlotte. Dad was so busy outside he didn't get much of a chance to talk with her. So later on Sunday night after she left while eating dinner with mom, dad asks mom "How did Nicole like the house?"
Mom "The house? Oh she didn't see it."
Dad "What do you mean she didn't see it?"
Mom "She never asked."
Dad "You are suposed to offer. What did you do sit in one room the whole time?"
Mom "Yes. I thought it would be rude if I asked her if she wanted to see the house."
Dad "Rude? How is that rude?"
Mom "Well what if she said no I dont want to see it?"
Dad "Would you say no? Of course not, you would want to see the rest of the house"
Mom "So I should have offered?"
Dad "Yes"

So Nicole, we are sorry Shelby didn't offer to take you around the rest of the house. Since you are going to be staying here on weekends to babysit and take care of the dogs (the offer is open for you) we figured it would be nice for you to at least see where your room was.

Friday Night Lights

Friday nights used to mean we could stay up late going out. When we were living in Boston Friday nights were about dinner and sangria at Tasca . After dinner we would catch a 9 or 10 pm movie or meet friends out downtown. Friday nights truly started the weekend. It was a night to go out. It meant Saturday mornings we could sleep in.

Maybe it was moving to a small town that changed that. Going to a movie now entails a 30 minute drive. Tapas and Sangria where we live? I'd love to just ask someone where there is a good place to get Tapas. I could see the response now "Topless? You are looking for a strip club?" No....Im looking for Tapas. "Topless?....well you have to go into the city for that".

Maybe it was having a baby that changed things. Gone are the days of sleeping in on Saturday mornings. They are like every other day of the week. Up when the baby is up. 6am or earlier. There is no sleeping in. Not to mention going out on a Friday night to rip it up in town with a 9 month old doesn't go over so well. It just doesn't happen.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I would not trade my lifestyle now for the world. It's just different. Somehow the weekends are shorter. Life passes by faster. Now Friday nights we are both so exhausted from the week that an exciting night is staying up until 11pm to watch a rented movie (and usually we both fall alseep before it's finished). It means a glass of wine at home instead of pitchers of Sangria. It means eating dinner at home quickly, just to eat so you aren't hungry, before Charlotte goes to bed. Fridays just are not the same as the once were. They are different.

Sisterly love

You know the drill. Spread the love. Visit Chookooloonks

Charlotte using her dogster Abigail to stand up. Abigail loves Charlotte. Charlotte loves Abigail.

Hey Abigail, Can you help me??


Sure Charlotte, hop on!


Yipeee!! I'm Standing!!

Lack of Post = Lack of Sleep

8 hours of sleep over two days might not sound all that bad when you are 21 and in college...but when you are in your 30's, slightly overweight, and losing your hair, every minute of beauty rest is necessary just to function as a human.

Last night both mom and dad struggled to get Charlie to sleep. She couldn't breathe which meant she couldn't eat much. No eating means no sleeping. After an hour of wrestling her to bed, she was out. It was short lived. As mom and dad were tip-toeing past her bedroom we heard her crying. Crying turned quickly to screaming. Screaming turned quickly into wailing. There was no putting her back down now. It was into bed with us.

Tossing and turning all night. Waking up at 12pm for a feeding crying. Charlotte wouldnt take the bottle becuase she couldn't breathe. Mom yelling to dad "dont you dare turn on that light to suction her nose!". Dad poking her in the face with the aspirator trying to find the source of the snots to suck it out of her head while in the dark, while she struggled, while she cried, making more snots, making more work for dad. Finally he had to turn on the light to see what the hell he was doing, thus waking her up even more, thus making it that much harder for her to go back to sleep. Multiply that fiasco by 3 times and you have our night last night. And our night on Sunday night. 8 hours of sleep in two nights is not as fun as it used to be in college.

Wetnose

There was no apple picking today. Instead Charlotte ended up with a cough, vomiting, runny nose, and 102.8 fever. What do you do when your daughter has all of the above?
a. Nothing, it will hopefully go away.
b. Immerse her in an icewater bath to bring the fever down.
c. Make the pediatritian open the office on a Sunday.
d. Go shopping, it cures everything.

Well we actually called "Nurse on Call" and well...they wanted to see her so they paged the pediatritian who was on call and she went and opened the office which is closed on Sunday for us. On the way there, Mom and Dad both looked at each other and said, "Are we over reacting?" Dad said, "Hey, they wanted to see us, we just called them to see what we should do". In the end the doctor said Charlotte has a cold. Give her Tylenol every four hours and hopefully the fever should break in the next 3 days. If not come back in. Hey, what do you know? It's exactly what the book said.

Then we went shopping. It makes Charlotte AND mom feel better.

Magic Words

She did it. She finally said the magic word to dad while at dinner last night. The word that will get her whatever she wants. The word that will get him to shell out $100 for a pair of jeans. The word that will prevent her from getting seriously grounded when she gets caught taking the car when she is 15 years old. The word that will melt his heart when she tells him she is getting married.

There she was sitting across from him at dinner last night. Mom by her side. Handfull of puffs on her tray infront of her. She look up at him, wide eyed, smiled, and slowly said "Dahh Dahh". She smiled wider when she saw dad's face light up and concentrating intently said it again softly... "dahh dahh".

This morning she woke up proud of the fact she finally said it. Again, it was Dahh Dahh....Dahh Dahh...over and over. Unfortunately she has a cold. Our apple picking trip that we had planned is now on hold. She woke up coughing, nose running. At breakfast she vomited. Then coughed some more and vomited some more all over dad. Its going to be a long day, even when you are woken up by the soft words of Dahh Dahh at 5am.