Milestones

Charlie is going through a crazy developmental period right now where I swear he is growing by leaps and bounds every day.  It's almost too much to keep up with!  Here's what's going on with him, I hope to update with some photos this weekend when I have a minute to catch his antics on film.

Waving - We have been teaching Charlie to wave, and he is finally waving back! He doesn't yet associate the waving with bye bye, or hello, so it's not a greeting exactly. But he will often wave back when we wave at him! So cute, he can't wave his hand really, so he waves his whole arm.  Trying to get this on video.

Pulling Up - The boy loves to stand.  He is not content to pull up on furniture like most babies. He likes to pull up by clutching onto poor Junebug's fur. Or the diaper caddy (clearly not tall enough or heavy enough to pull up on).  Or his play gym (ditto).  His favorite thing to pull up on is a grown up though, and if you sit him on his bottom, he will immediately try to reach out, grab your hands and stand up.  Once he's up he will wiggle, fall, or take a few little supported steps.  I really do think he might skip crawling!

Tooth #3 - I've been talking about it for months, but it is finally arriving. I got a visual on it this afternoon and Linda confirmed that she also could see the little white tooth bud coming through on the top.  He soaked 3 bibs with drool today, so that might explain why.  He still is liking to use those little teeth to bite!  My shoulder is his favorite target.

Little Quarterback - Or I should say Little Pitcher, because he will not be playing football :-)  He chucks everything he grabs, and sometimes pretty far! Dude's got a good arm for such a little guy and likes to throw things a lot. Especially from the high chair - he will throw his toys down, then peer over the side and laugh when he spots his toy. So cute!

Just wanted to give these updates so I can keep track of little man's accomplishments.  He seems like such a little boy now, where has the time gone?

At least your mommy doesn't feed you spinach nuggets...

 Tonight, Charlie tried some shredded cheese and a spinach nugget for dinner.  A narrated progression of photos is worth a thousand words...

Hmm, this looks yummy, not sure how to eat it

Oh, thanks for the help Junebuggy

Not sure about this "nugget"

What do you think June, should we eat it?

I'll give it a try

Aaaaah! Yuck! Spinach grossness MOMMY.

Why would you do this to me?

Mmmkay, I will try some more

Deeeelish

 

 

 

I also had some random pictures on my camera that I hadn't gotten around to uploading.

Jumperoo!

Junebug is such a sweet babysitter

Aaron visited and tried to kick Charlie back

Talk to the hand

Weekly Menu

We have a busy week, so quite an abbreviated weekly menu:

Monday - Freschetta Spinach and Mushroom Pizza (don't judge, we are meeting the contractors at Linda's house at 6pm! We also had this last week, no excuse except that it is yummy...)
Tuesday - Braves game, so probably hot dogs
Wednesday - Roasted Whole Chicken and Root Vegetables
Thursday - Probably eating at Emily's, my parents will be in town
Friday - Something delicious at La Pietra Cucina with my parents

Charlie is trying a whole host of new foods these days as we get him started on table foods.  So far he has enjoyed a wheat bagel, a wheat english muffin, a banana, scrambled eggs and some cheese.  This week I also plan to try a peach, a plum and some spinach nuggets.  He is mostly just exploring the food right now, and I am always 8 inches from his face making sure he doesn't choke (he hasn't), but we will get the hang of it.  He is liking sitting with the grown-ups at our dining room table, I will have to take some pictures tonight!

Low Key Weekend

We had a pretty low key weekend. I went to Stephanie's bachelorette party last night, which was fun!  I am too old to stay out so late though, I was dragging all day today.  It was gray and rainy, and a perfect day to lounge around the house watching football.  At one point, it thundered, and Junebug jumped up on the couch with me, Cody and Charlie, so we got some cute pictures that I am posting despite my lack of make-up and blow drying this morning.

posing

Not posing - wishing Auntie Em a happy birthday on the phone - Happy Birthday Emily!

Sweet, tolerant, put-upon Junebug

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my 29th birthday.  I like to celebrate birthdays and holidays generally, but I noticed this year that I was much less into celebrating my own birthday.  I didn't tell anyone at work and the day passed quietly.  Cody gave me an awesome little point and shoot camera for my diaper bag, so that was exciting (he gave it to me a couple weeks ago so I could start using it) and I am also in receipt of a Kindle (love it, thanks Mom and Dad!) and a massage gift certificate that I plan to use as soon as humanly possible (thanks Linda!).  I think my birthday excitement has all been transferred to little Charlie because I am already thinking about how to celebrate his first birthday in February.

We hadn't planned anything for this evening, so Cody asked what I felt like eating for dinner.  I initially chose Chipotle, but then Cody suggested we go to our favorite little sushi place.  We took Charlie and had a nice family dinner at 5:30pm.  Ha!  A lot has changed since my sophisticated, 8pm Woodfire Grill birthday dinner last year.  We will be having a grown-up dinner with Emily and Chris tomorrow, Em's birthday is Sunday.  I think Charlie enjoyed his first sushi experience.  He tried some tofu and avocado from my plate, and also ate the pureed spinach and apples we brought for him.  Check him out!

yummy chopsticks!

Reaching straight for the wasabi

Happy boy!

Little family photo op

It was a fun little impromptu birthday dinner - the waitresses couldn't get enough of Charlie and the restaurant was empty, so nobody was bothered by the occasional baby holler.  Charlie was just fascinated watching us eat, and it prompted us to think we ought to try to eat dinner with him more regularly - so I will be trying to prepare dinners in advance, and Linda will help prep, so that we can try to all eat together at 6.  Should be fun!

On the Move?

Charlie has thus far seemed perfectly content to sit and observe the world without moving through it.  Up until recently, Charlie has had little tricks - he will sit on a blanket, and instead of trying to move toward a toy, he would grab onto the blanket and pull it toward him, pulling whatever toy he wanted along with the blanket.  Pretty smart!  Other tricks include whining and/or crying until we move him where he wants to be, or give him the toy he wants.  Annoying, yet effective.  Our friends with mobile babes have all mentioned that their little ones would get mad that they couldn't crawl to get something.  Not Charlie!  The lazy little dude has shown no frustration whatsoever, and if something is too far for him to reach, he would just give up and play with his toes instead.

All that may be about to change!  In the past few days, Charlie has taken a definite interest in getting from Point A to Point B.  He goes from sitting to lunging forward to scooting onto his belly. He also rotates while sitting and reaches out toward us to pick him up.  He will grab onto anything he can reach and try (unsuccessfully so far) to pull up to a standing position.  He will also scooch around a little on his bottom.  As for crawling....not so much.  He hasn't gotten up on his hands and knees yet and really does not love being on his stomach.  I wonder if he will be one of those babies who skips crawling and goes straight to walking.   He seems *much* more interested in pulling up and standing than in attempting to move in any horizontal fashion.  I don't think mobility is imminent, but we are certainly seeing signs that our little guy has at least a little interest in moving.    While this approaching milestone is exciting, it is also a little scary - I know a mobile babe is a whole new ball game!

Seven Months Old!

Charlie is seven months old today!  Lots has changed in our lives in the past month, the main things being my return to work and Linda's move to Atlanta, both of which have been great.  Charlie is still a happy guy and we love him more than ever.  I do think he is getting pretty spoiled from having the constant attention of 3 grown-ups, but that's okay.  At seven months, Charlie:

Weighs a little over 17 lbs.
Sleeps about 12 hours straight every night
Is moving into 6-12m clothes
Eats 8 times a day, 5 milk meals and 3 solid meals (fruit/oatmeal for breakfast, fruit/yogurt for lunch, veg/rice for dinner)
Has eyes that definitely look like they will be brown like mommy's
Has two teeth....still.  And I swear two top ones have to be coming any day now, but I've been saying that for a month
Takes 2 naps per day, lasting between 45 and 90 minutes

New Skills:

Leaning in all directions while sitting without falling
Transferring toys from one hand to the other
Biting
Babbling more consonants - Da! seems to be a favorite
Pre-talking - no he's obviously not chatting it up yet, but I feel like this month he has really gotten a feel for conversations without real words.  For example, we say "Hi!" and he replies "Aaah!" in the same tone we used.  He uses his verbal skills when he wants something. Instead of crying when he wants attention or to be fed, he mutters and squeals and yells. It's hard to put a finger on the new "skill" - it's more that I can see him developing his understanding of verbal communication - pretty cool!
Hoisting himself over the boppy
Waving? We are teaching him to wave, and sometimes when we wave bye-bye he will lift his hand up - still could be a coincidence and he doesn't do it consistently
Rolls a ball back and forth on the floor with us

Loves:

Squealing
Swinging in the baby swing at the park
Biting
"Reading" - i.e. watching us read to him while desperately trying to eat the book
Wrestling with his big soft blue elephant
Playing with his toys
Junebug
Music - especially Mommy, Daddy, or Gram singing
Music class with Gram
Yogurt
Standing up holding onto one of us
Throwing himself backward from a sitting position (scary)
Being held, bounced, and walked around
Being tossed around and "wrestled" with - in a very safe way of course
Playing his favorite game - Mommy or Daddy holds him and runs away from the other parent while the other parents does a whole big "I'm gonna get you" show all around the house until he finally gets "caught" - he laughs hysterically

Not a fan of:

Riding alone in the back seat of the car, but getting better
Being patient when it's meal time
Playing by himself

Some funny things I want to remember:

When Charlie takes his first bite of every meal, he screws up his face like it is disgusting, even if he loves it and subsequently eats it all up
He reserves most of his sweet baby kisses for mommy
He kicks in the bath tub like a maniac and soaks me every time - now that he sits up for part of the bath, he is also splashing with his hands - he loooooves the water
Gross baby thing - he is always trying to eat the washcloth in the bath! Ew!
When he hollers to be picked up, he does this angry fake cry, but the instant someone picks him up, he gives this satisfied little grin like he is thinking "Suckers!"
He will do tummy time and put his head down on the floor to rest.  Then, all of a sudden, his head will pop up with his bib in his mouth.  Hard to picture without seeing it I'm sure, but it is so cute!

Since last month, Charlie has moved from the infant seat to the convertible car seat.  We still throw the infant seat in the trunk sometimes to use at restaurants, but Charlie is also trying out the world of restaurant high chairs and facing forward in his big boy stroller.  He is drooling up a storm, so he can usually be found wearing a bib.  He's gaining weight, but is still a string bean - pants are either fitted at the waist and flood length, or the right length but sagging.  Sitting up by himself has opened up a whole new world for him, as we can just tote him around and plop him down to sit.  He continues to be an excellent sleeper, even if he is an early riser like his Daddy.  The transition of going back to work has been really great, and Charlie is clearly enjoying himself hanging with Gram Monday through Thursday.  He is in his first organized class, where he enjoys eating most of the instruments and banging on the drums while he watches everyone else.  He gets the hugest grin on his face when someone he knows walks in, but I like to think he saves the biggest smile for when I get home from work.

Our biggest challenge right now is that Charlie really loves to be held, and he is getting heavy!  He is outgrowing the sling I use around the house and the Ergo just seems pretty bulky to wear at home to hang out, so Linda and I are trying to decide on a new carrier we can both use - maybe a ring sling or a mei tei.  The cooler weather (so like 88 degrees, but cooler in the morning/evening) means more walks, more park time and more meandering around our yard.  I sense that Charlie is getting old enough where he might be entertained by the zoo or the aquarium (for a short period of time), so we may try one of those options soon.  Seven months is an awesome time, I have to say.  Filled with smiles, laughs and squeals, and the emergence of little man's personality - which is I think equal parts sweetness and mischief.  He knows how to get what he wants!  It is hard to believe that we are more than half way through his first year. We love you Charlie!


New bath photo - he loves it!

Biter Beware

Charlie has turned into a biting little rat!  He bites me all the time, and hard!  He leaves tiny tooth marks on whatever bare skin he can sink his teeth into - my hands, shoulders, even my cheek.  Not to mention that the instant he is done nursing he lets me know by chomping down. Ouch!

On that note, we are in the process of slowly weaning Charlie from nursing.  Not because he's biting, but the whole biting thing does make me a little less sad to bring this chapter to a close. There are lots of reasons I am deciding to wean, and lots of reasons I have been wavering about it.  My mind is still sort of a muddle about it, but as we have started the process I definitely feel more at peace with it.

Charlie will be 7 months old on Thursday, and he is a super distracted little nurser.  Basically he will no longer nurse under a nursing cover in public.  If I try to nurse discreetly without a cover, he pulls off to look around, exposing me to whoever happens to be around.  If I try to take him to a private place to nurse, he is all worked up because he wants to be where the action is.  So...basically nursing him in public is out.  This is very limiting, because to keep up a good milk supply, I either need to be feeding Charlie whenever he is hungry, or pumping him a bottle at those times.  Between needing to be home for nap time and needing to be home every 3 hours to nurse/pump, we would never leave the house on the days I am home.

Add that to the fact that Charlie hasn't gained weight super well (which makes me anxious, even though he is fine), and the pediatrician's advice to feed some formula so he at least doesn't reject it if we try to wean later on, and I decided to try partial weaning.  Basically, feeding Charlie a combination of breast milk and formula.  This has worked very well for us since I went back to work.  I nurse Charlie in the morning and then he gets 4 bottles composed of half breast milk and half formula each day.  So he takes about 18oz of breast milk and 12oz of formula each day.

I was pumping twice at work and once at home in the evening.  I cut the evening pumping session two weeks ago, and I am on day three of only pumping once at work.  I get about 8-10oz from that one session.  In a few more weeks, maybe when Charlie hits the 8 month mark, I will probably stop pumping at work altogether.  I want to wean very slowly so that I don't have any duct infections that can be associated with weaning. 

Fortunately, I have hundreds of ounces of frozen breast milk, so I think I should be able to keep Charlie on the combination for quite a while.  Also, I will continue to keep the morning nursing session if my supply can handle having just one feeding per day.  For some women, milk production is an all or nothing proposition - you either nurse full time or lose your milk entirely.  Luckily, I have not had a problem so far in reducing my pumping and keeping the amount of milk I choose.  The human body is really amazing when it comes to this supply and demand stuff!

Even though it was a hard decision, I am comfortable with it.  Charlie was exclusively breast fed for 6 months, which is not only the most critical time for immunities, etc., but also longer than I thought I would make it!  I am pretty sure based on my weaning plans, that he will get some combination of breast milk and formula until he is at least 10 months, if not longer.  He has adjusted to the combo feeding very easily and is putting on some weight now as well.  Even if he continues to be a skinny string bean, I feel better knowing that I am feeding him enough and that if he's skinny it is just his body type and not underfeeding.

It's a little sad to be wrapping up this part of Charlie's babyhood.  I really did enjoy nursing for those few months in between when it hurt like the devil and when Charlie decided he's just not that into it.  It was convenient, cheap, and a nice way to bond with my little guy.  I will not lie though, it was also difficult and isolating at times, being the only one who could feed him for so long.  There is really nothing sweeter than when your little baby looks up at you after nursing and gives you a huge grin, and I am glad that we had that experience together.  Unsurprisingly though, Charlie cuddles me and hugs me and loves me just as much when I give him a bottle, and I really don't think he cares one bit that we are weaning.

So for now, I am still nursing and pumping each day, but we will be moving away from that in the upcoming weeks.  Bottom Line - I will miss the closeness of a nursing relationship with my babe (but not the biting), and I will be *so* happy to hang up the pump.  Here's to hoping that Cody can find a better nickname than "Mad Cow" (all in good fun of course).

Big Boy Sleep Schedule

All the sleep books and websites seem to think babies take two naps after they reach 3 or 4 months old- one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Now I'm not a super scheduler or anything, so I guess I can't say that I've tried very hard, but Charlie took 3 naps a day until recently.  But over the past few weeks, he has moved toward a two nap schedule. He will still occasionally take 3 if he wakes up super early, but two is more standard.  He wakes up between 6am and 7am (or today a little earlier!), naps at 9:30 or 10am, and again around 2 or 2:30pm. He is still sleeping about 11-12 hours straight at night (7pm to 6 -7am), so we are getting to a really nice and regular place with the sleeping.

The two naps per day makes him seem less like a tiny infant to me, and more like an older baby.  With his set naps though, comes a certain degree of inflexibility.  He really prefers to sleep in his crib, and taking a ride in the car right before nap time is a ticket to an abbreviated car nap and a refusal to go back to sleep once we get home.  So there are a couple of "sweet spots" where Charlie is well-rested and we can go out and about.  Between waking up and his morning nap, it is best to take him out in the stroller or to play outside. He is just generally kind of sleepy in the morning, so any car ride could make him conk out.  He wakes up around 11am, so leaving the house right then is really the best bet.  But you have to make sure to get him back home by around 1pm, otherwise you risk the car nap!  Perfectly, his little music class is from 11:30am-12:15pm.  After his afternoon nap, around 4pm, he could go out as long as we are heading home by 5:30 or so - we don't usually go out during this time though, because it is a nasty traffic time in Atlanta. 

I really think that Charlie is just now able to take longer naps and stay awake for longer periods between them.  Aside from his upper teeth that are hurting him sometimes, he is generally a very well-rested and happy baby.  He was also happy and well-rested when he was taking three naps per day.  Could we have forced him into a two-nap schedule earlier? Maybe. But I think we would have had to deal with a lot more cranky episodes because he would have been overtired.  One thing I keep learning as a mom is that babies seem to do things when they are ready to do them.  You can nudge a little, guide them in the direction you want them to go.  But trying to get them to do something when they are not ready is fruitless and frustrating. 

We are going through this right now with Charlie and his sippy cup.  The pediatrician said to practice with it at every meal, so we do.  But the child clearly isn't ready for it yet.  He knows he is supposed to drink out of it, and puts it in his mouth.  But he just doesn't have the coordination to grab both handles, lift it, tip it, and drink all at the same time.  Now, don't get me wrong, if he could drink out of a sippy at this age, it would be very surprising.  But I can't help feeling that we are just wasting time practicing right now.  I have no doubt that if we give Charlie the sippy every day, he will learn how to use it when he is around 10 or 11 months old, right on time.  I also have the feeling, though, that if we handed him the sippy for the very first time at 11 months, he would figure it out in a couple days...because he will be ready to do it then.

I don't want to write too much about Charlie's various milestones because I will include those in his 7 month post on Thursday, but I will say that time is flying by since I went back to work.  Little man is growing and growing, and so is his hair!  Fall is historically a busy time for us - football, my birthday and Cody's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving.  We try to go up to North Georgia for a weekend with friends each year (2 babies added to the mix this year!), I want to take Charlie to the pumpkin patch, maybe apple picking and to Boo at the Zoo for Halloween festivities.  Our great friends are getting married in October, so I have the bachelorette party coming up, and then the wedding, in which Cody is a groomsman.  We're hosting Emily and Chris' baby shower in early October, and my parents will be coming out for that.  We will be having Charlie's photos taken by our lovely friend Amy before she takes maternity leave to have her little girl in December.  Right now I have more things I want to do than we have weekends to do them! 

Then the month of December will be devoted to my little nephew's arrival and all the attendant family visiting - not to mention holiday preparation! I'm sure there will be many more holiday posts to come, but I am seriously excited for Charlie's first Christmas.  My sister's due date is December 1, so rather than traveling to California for Christmas, I will be hosting our families at our house.  Okay, this post is getting rambly and disjointed, so I will wrap it up.  I just wanted to give an update - things are going smoothly here, with lots of exciting things to come!

Weekly Menu

No menu last week - our house was invaded by the HVAC people, so cooking wasn't really an easy option.  We had some take out and make shift meals, but we are back to the plan this week.  I have to say, if I didn't do this there is just NO WAY I would ever cook.  I get home from work right at 5 and usually focus all of my energy on Charlie until he takes his good night bottle with Daddy at 7pm.  I go downstairs while that's happening and start dinner.  I am usually pretty tired, and if I had to think of what to have or run to the store to get something, it just wouldn't happen.  I am also usually *starving* by that time, so we couldn't wait to eat any later.  Here's what's up for this week.  Let me tell you, I am desperate to make a stew, meatballs, lasagna, chili, and all those other delicious fall meals.  The forecast is high 80s (like 89) all week and into next week, so we're just not there yet, unfortunately.

Monday - Roasted pork tenderloin, asparagus, quinoa pilaf
Tuesday - Cody's out (Braves game, poor guy) so Linda and I will eat soup or frozen something most likely
Wednesday - Italian breaded chicken cutlets, creamy sage polenta, green salad
Thursday - Cuban flank steak, black beans and rice
Friday - Rotisserie chicken, broccoli and mashed sweet potatoes
Saturday - Out
Sunday - Herb lemon shrimp orzo

Game Day

Today was Cody's favorite day of this year - Titans Season Opener.  The Titans looked good, they won, and we spent most of our day in front of the television cheering them on.  It was Charlie's first regular season game, so he got to hang out and watch with us for parts of it. He also took a nap during it, and played with me in the other room.  Of course, we took some photos to share...

Charlie's Third Braves Game

We took Charlie to see the Braves play St. Louis yesterday and had a great time.  We had tickets to the Suntrust Club, which are the seats right behind home plate that are attached to a fancy indoor area with food and beverages galore.  It's the perfect way to see a game with a baby because you can just duck inside if it gets hot or cold or noisy, or if the babe just gets cranky.  Charlie alternated between enjoying himself and getting a little scared when the crowd would cheer - a Braves home run early on really freaked him out!  Emily and I spent the latter part of the game down in the club with him so he could relax - not to mention it was 96 degrees (unacceptable) so we didn't mind retreating to the air conditioning.

We left when the Braves were up in the 7th as it was getting close to Charlie's bed time.  Glad we didn't try to stay til the end since it went into extras.  Luckily the Braves pulled it out after 12 innings - we never would have made it to the end!  Here are some pics of the game.

Hanging with Gram before the game

Play Ball!

Little worried about the crowd cheering

Settling in to watch with Daddy

Very serious baby Brave

Eventually he needed to go inside and take a little rest

Weekend Blogger

It seems like now that I am back at work, I do most of my blog posts on the weekends.  We are in a really great routine on the days I work...but it is just that, a routine.  So I don't want to bore anyone with the same old - woke up, fed Charlie, played with Charlie, went to work, came home, played with Charlie, fed Charlie, bath time, bed time, good night routine.  It is going really well and I think Charlie, like most children, really does well with consistency and routine. 

He's also having a super fun time with his Gram.  It's still in the 90s here (ridiculous), but at least our mornings have been a little cooler (70s), so they have been heading down to the park to do some swinging in the mornings this week.  Charlie is also still enjoying his music class - due to a scheduling issue with the class, he switched into a different class and Linda says it is way better than their original class. More kids close to Charlie's age and a better instructor - also there are 3 mommies, 3 nannies and 3 grandmas with the babies! Pretty cool.  According to Linda, he watches everything in class very closely and is starting to bang his hands along to certain songs.

Yesterday, we went to the ophthalmologist appointment we had to schedule after Charlie failed his infant eye screening.  As anticipated, his vision is perfectly fine, his eyes are perfectly straight and perfectly healthy.  I understand that screening tests are designed to catch any baby who might have a problem and in the process they often catch those who don't. But still!  The appointment lasted nearly two hours and they had to dilate the little man's eyes.  He was pretty good and never really cried, but the appointment spanned his morning nap time and so he was pretty fussy for parts of it.  Luckily he was very good for all the various tests they did and only fussed in the waiting room between tests. 

In the waiting room - using his lovey as a teething toy

We are supposed to go back for a check in one to two years.  Charlie was a little farsighted, but all babies are farsighted in infancy.  The doctor said it goes away by toddlerhood in the vast majority of babies, but they will check when he's around 2 years old.  Cody and I are both a little nearsighted, so my guess is that he will be in that majority.  I took a cute picture of C in the waiting room chewing on his lovey, so I will add that when I have a chance to upload.  Today we are headed to Turner Field for the Braves game - it will be Charlie's third game.  It's supposed to be hot, muggy and rainy, so we'll see how that goes.  Luckily we have the fancy seats today, so there is an indoor respite we can go to in the event it does get uncomfortable.  We'll be in the second row behind home plate, so look for us on tv.  Go Braves!

Holiday Wrap-Up and Joys of Home Ownership

We had a good end to the holiday weekend, despite some joys of home ownership.  For 4 years we have lived in this house. And for 4 years we have sweated through the summer and shivered through the winter in our family room.  The family room, where we spend the majority of our time at home, was an addition to our original home - it was added by a previous owner and originally housed a full sized jacuzzi hot tub, tons of salmon colored tile and 27 huge uncovered windows.  I think the neighbors got quite a show! 

Anyway, we ripped out the tub, put in wood floors, got some plantation shutters and made it into a beautiful (in my opinion!) and comfortable great room.  While the previous owner apparently put lots of thought into her party room, she did not seem to consider the fact that adding on the huge room increased the size of the house by about 30% at the time, and did not upgrade the HVAC system so that it could effectively heat and cool the newly added space.  When we did our big addition upstairs we put a new system up there, but have continued to be pretty hot or cold when hanging in the family room area.

This is a very long introduction, but basically, we finally decided to replace the HVAC system downstairs.  It is 18 years old and our electricity bills have been through the roof, in part because the system is not big enough and so it runs constantly (also in part because it has been over 90 degrees for like 98 of the past 100 days - have I mentioned this before?).  Why didn't we do it before? It's really expensive! So we decided last week to bite the bullet and do it so that poor little Charlie wouldn't be chattering his two little teeth all football season long.  We scheduled the installation for today.

Any idea where this is going?  Well, on Thursday our master bathroom toilet tank started leaking water. Clean water. But still.  Plumber came and fixed it on Friday to the tune of $350.  On Saturday, the toilet clogged, and backed up into our shower drain. Not clean water. Lovely.  The immediate solution was to take the cap off the sewer line in our front yard so that everything we flushed or put down the drain would end up in the yard. Also lovely. Then they roto-rooted it so we could flush normally until they could perform what I like to call a sewer-oscopy to see what was blocking the sewer line, which was also scheduled for....today.  The holiday weekend emergency "sewage in the yard" call only cost an additional $350. 

When I got home from work today, the HVAC peeps were installing our fabulous new system.  The plumber was also there to talk to me. Tree roots blocking the sewer line, as expected.  So more roto-rooting, I asked? Nope.  Too blocked, won't work.  Will need to dig up the sewer line and replace it. Doesn't that just sound expensive?  We haven't gotten the estimate yet, but it's not like we really have an option. I'm not down with sewage in the front yard AT ALL.  So yeah.  Of course, the very minute we decide to voluntarily put some money into the house, the house demands more.  This is why Suze Orman is always talking about emergency savings. Sewer issues = emergency!

Anyway, we didn't let the plumbing issues ruin the last day of our three day weekend.  We were all up at 7am to meet with the plumber yesterday, so after he left we headed to J. Christopher's for breakfast.

Big boy in the booth

English muffin = better than a teether

Then, Auntie Emily and Uncle Chris stopped by for a little visit.  They wanted to see the little dude and test drive our strollers. 

Checking out Uncle Chris

Hanging out with Auntie and Uncle down at the park

Pretending to be a good photographer for a little portrait session

Of course, since we walked the stroller down to the park, we had to stop at the swings for my little swinging maniac.  He totally loves to swing! And I love to swing him and take pictures of the little monkey.

Brave boy

Looking around, just swinging like big kid

It's more fun when Daddy swings too

Funny faces while swinging is the best though!

Fall is in the Air

It's been an absolutely beautiful weekend, with high temps in the eighties and nice cool mornings.  We've gone on walks, gone to the park and hung out on the deck, just enjoying the ability to be outside without sweating or getting heat exhaustion.  Last night we even ate out on the deck.  This morning we took Charlie to the park, which is literally a three minute walk from our house.  I thought he might be ready to swing in the baby swing, and he was; he loved it!  I see a lot of swinging in our future, and a lot of time spent at our neighborhood park.  It was crawling with neighbors and little ones - so fun.

Driving the playground "firetruck"

On the deck with Gram

Play Date!

We had a fun play date with Owen and Aaron this weekend.  The babies were so cute!  Owen is crawling around, Aaron is rolling around and Charlie is sitting taking it all in.  I got some cute shots of each of the boys, but not of them together.  By the time it occurred to me that we should sit them all next to each other, we'd started a nap cycle, and there was never a time when all three were awake.  They were all such happy, sweet babies, and I am amazed they all managed to nap in different areas of our house.  Owen snoozed in his car seat tucked up in C's nursery; Aaron took a nap or two in the pack n play; Charlie predictably slept in his crib.  The dads watched college football off and on and we did a lot of playing on the floor.  I think a fun time was had by all!

Charlie is playing with Owen's toy - I think he wants it back! 

Got it - and it's yummy!

Aaron reaching for his own toy

This boy loves to bounce!

I wish I had taken more pictures - Melissa and Camille had their cameras out too, so I may post some more if they got some cute shots.  Hard to believe that just a few short months ago, they looked like this:

Here are a couple of Charlie enjoying the first weekend of his first football season.  Go Bears!