It's Finally Summer When...

...you no longer have time to keep up on your blog. Here's a list of what we've been doing instead:

Enjoying a delicious beverage in the pool.


Picnicking outside.


Planting a garden. We've even had swiss chard out of the garden
twice, mmmmm, it's delicious. This was our 'small garden' we were
going to make, because we had a lot going on this year.
When we got to the garden center we couldn't help ourselves
it was like, Oooo, cucumbers, we have to do those,
Ooooo, beans, we have to have beans, CORN, I need corn
and so on. :) Currently I know, our garden is equal
parts veggies and weeds. But weeding is not
as fun as harvesting.


Laundry.


Observing summer holidays.


Just recently we started feeding Charlie some baby food.
He'd been getting very interested in what we
were eating. If you had him on your lap during a meal
he'd try to grab the spoon out of your hand
or your plate (ask daddy, he got a bowl of
soup on his lap caused by this little guy).
So we decided he might have fun trying some new
food of his own. It doesn't go well!!!
He certainly spits a lot of it back out at me, but it's
entertaining seeing his funny/messy faces. He
still seems to prefer his original method of eating,
which is fine by me since nursing is free and easy,
but it's been fun to see what happens when we
branch out a little!

Party

So we made our friends Dallon and Reed help us put up our pool. (It was compulsory, we didn't actually ask, we told.)

Also Dallon and Reed were going to leave and spend their summers (and beyond) in Hawaii, so we thought it would be fun to have a going away party, since we owed them dinner anyway. So we did, and it was really fun!





We invited a lot of the guys' friends from High School, a few friends from college, and a random assortment of other people we've picked up along the way. And nearly everyone was able to make it which is rare. Some of these guys don't see each other, well like ever.

(Almost all the guys - one is MIA here.)

Almost all the guys in the picture above are married, and almost all of the married ones have kids, which makes for this...

(Crazy as this is, there are 4 kids missing, just among the boys pictured
above, that are not sitting on that couch!!! WOWSA!!!)

"Ladies..."
These two cute little girls were having a photo-op together, and I decided to plop Charlie down in the middle of them, so he could have a couple of cute little girlfriends. The things we do to our children, haha.

Fun times, thanks to everyone who came, we should do such things more often!

John Completes a Triathlon

Yep, that's right. A triathlon. I'm very proud of him. John decided he really needed to get back into shape, hadn't worked out in way too long, and my little sister threw out the idea of training for a triathlon as a goal for working out. Well he accepted the challenge, with the idea being to be ready at the beginning of June, his friends however decided they were going to do a a different triathlon a month earlier and last minute peer pressured him into doing this one with them. He was nervous as he didn't know if he was ready, but he did just fine. He actually came across the finish line like he was jogging in the park, didn't look distressed at all. He plans to do another one in a few weeks! GO BABBBBYYY!

Ah Oh, Better Start Child Proofing!

Charlie started rolling back to tummy at the beginning of this month, and now he's a pro. I actually missed it the first time. I left him playing on his back on the blanket, walked to a different room and walked back in just a few seconds later. He was on his tummy. I sat there thinking....'I left him on his back? Didn't I? Maybe I didn't? No, I KNOW I left him on his back.' So I flipped him to his back again, and sat there for a second, and he obligingly showed me how he did it. It was amazing, but it feels too early, I don't think it should be allowed at 4 months.

4 Months Old!

4 Months!

Charlie had his 4 month doctor visit and the doctor said he was 'perfect'. Of course he was referring to size, but we like to think in general.

16.1 lb ~ 75% for Weight
25.25 Inches ~ 70% for Height

What a good boy! He smiles and laughs a lot and has the cutest dimples.

He's a great sleeper, as good as I could ask for. Just after 9pm we do our bedtime routine. We read a story and get our jammies on, and then wrap up in our blanket and by that time Charlie's eyes are drooping, sometimes we rock a little and sometimes we go straight into bed. He looks around for a few seconds and then goes right to sleep all by himself!

When it comes to naps though... he's a dinkus. You never know what he's going to do, which makes it pretty hard to make plans for the day ~ It could be five 20 minute naps, one for 2.5 hours, and then sometimes he decides he's too big and important to take naps at all... ha. On a day by day basis we have almost no luck getting him to adhere to any type of routine. I suppose if I had to choose between him doing this during the day or during the night... I'd chose day - so I feel lucky.

We set up Charlie's jumper. He's figuring it out... we'll see how he feels about it for real. The first time it seemed like he was really getting it, but then the next couple he just sat in it and pulled up his feet and was real lazy about it and then would get off balance and start swinging around.

Charlie has started to figure out toys and be more purposeful with his hands. If he wants something he can reach out and grab it and feel it out. He always seems to find hoodie strings. If you're wearing a hood it's almost a guarantee that if you look down he will have one or both in his hands.

Charlie has a great tempermant. Really if there's not something wrong like he's sleepy or hungry he's pretty good. He can get a little over stimulated or a little needy, but typically he's just veeeerrrry chill.

And seriously, how cute is he?

Take Me out to the Soccer Game...

Hey Mom and Dad, thanks for taking me to this sweet game. To show my appreciation why don't I poo all the way up my back and down my leg while you're about to get me in the car to go home. Then I can poo on both of you, and we can all try to figure out how to keep the poo damage to a minimum in a parking garage.

Love, Charlie

A Little Plug for Business

I finished a new layout on my photography website & my friend Jeff (a great freelancer, if anyone wants) coded it for me.
Yay! So go look!

www.christieheywoodphotography.com

There is also a give away in honor of my sweet new website.
It's a very large discount and it's up for grabs. So check that out.

Spread the word, this is a potentially huge opportunity for a prospective bride who wants a lot of shooting at basement prices, so if you know anyone like that you may want to pass on the news.