Catching some ZZZZZZs

January 5, 2010

Charlotte is pretty good about napping, though she tends to skip some afternoon naps these days. I put her in her crib around 3:00 yesterday, hoping she would fall asleep within a half an hour or so. She moved around a bit - (she loves to now that she can, and I usually have to go up and move her head off the top of the crib a few times or flip her back over after she rolls into the side) - but settled into what I guess was a comfortable position for her to relax and stare into the monitor camera.

Here is what I saw on my monitor:

And this is what I saw by the time I got up to her room:

And a view from the top:


She also likes to play on a blanket on the floor with lots of toys so she can move around and discover. I walked out of the room the other day for about 1 minute and when I came back, she was a bit nervous about what she had done:
She had pulled her Merry Monkey mat right over her head!

She's our silly girl!!!

Happy New Year to you all!!

There's a First Time For Everything!

January 3, 2010

When you buy a house, there are many necessary purchases to follow. An awesome neighbor who mows your lawn through the end of summer into fall helps to put off the lawn mower purchase. After a few big snowfalls and watching that neighbor plow out 7 driveways including your own starts to make you feel bad about putting off the snow blower purchase.

We did talk to our neighbor about it ad he said "I have a spare snow blower" - Aaron and I laughed a bit to think someone would have a "spare". He said it works great and during a snow storm one year, it stopped working and he didn't have the time to fix it and just bought a new one instead . He later bought the needed part and fixed the old one and said he would sell it to us.

The New Year brought along some snow - Ken was out snow blowing a slew of driveways with the old snow blower to make sure it was ready for us! The next day, he brought it over, ready to give Aaron, the Texas boy, a lesson.




Ken says he'll miss this snow blower - we'll let him come visit it any time he wants!!

Charlotte's First Christmas - 2009

December 18, 2009

We were heading to Vermont to begin Christmas festivities and were packed up and ready to make the trip. We did want Charlotte to have a little Christmas here at our new house in NH, so we set her up and let her open all of her stocking gifts. She actually got into it and enjoyed ripping the paper (she looked like she was concentrating hard) - she liked that after the paper was ripped, she could see something inside. She has no clue about what some of the things were, but we loved watching her open them.





The next day, we enjoyed time with the Bowler family at our annual Christmas gathering. Charlie ... not so much. She was very scared of all the noise at the party - there were a lot of people and a lot of kids running around and she is more of a quiet type. Poor girl had a rough night but was fine after a good night's sleep and morning mass with Nanny and Papa!

Charlie and I stayed in Vermont for the whole week while Aaron headed back to NH to work on the house some more. We hung out around the house, did some shopping with Selena and helped Cathryn, Anna and Matthew decorate cookies with their friends!


December 24, 2009

Charlie had to leave her cookies and note to Santa ... she did help me write it!



December 25, 2009

On Christmas Day, Nanny, Papa, Spuds, Ashley, Aaron, Charlie and I lounged around the house while the others all visited in-laws houses.

When everyone got there, we ate and got into the gifts. Charlie was right into it again and was very spoiled with her first pearl and her stocking stuffers.

And then Nanny and Papa brought her the big gift which she'll enjoy sooner than we realize.

It was a great night and we always enjoy seeing all the kids open their gifts. Having the family together doesn't happen every day and is always a fun and crazy time!!

O Christmas Trees, O Christmas Trees ...

December 13, 2009

Well, the first Christmas Season is here and it's our first in the new house as parents! We know Charlie doesn't know what's going on and can't wait until the years she does - but for this year, we've put up a couple of trees and she enjoys looking at all the lights on them.

For the past 10 Christmases, Aaron and I have always put up our mini-tree. This year, we've passed that one down to Charlotte and set it up in her room with what else but pink bulbs!!


Since we've passed down our mini tree, we went out to purchase our first real tree!! We weren't sure if we would end up with one since we couldn't find a tree stand - they were sold out EVERYWHERE we went in search of one. I thought it was odd considering most people shouldn't have to buy a new stand every year. We gave up on Saturday and headed out again on Sunday, determined to find one. We ended up at Agway, who had stands and then hit the road for the tree. Charlotte was sleeping, so I stayed in the car and trusted Aaron to do a good job in choosing. After the tree was tied onto the Pilot, we dropped it at home and once again headed out for lights and ornaments. We went with red, white and snowflakes and are still in search for a topper. I'd say we did pretty good for first-timers!

We're still finishing up some projects around the house - so next year, the photos will be a bit more "complete". We're excited to head to Vermont for Charlotte's first Christmas and know that each year it will only get better!

Thanksgiving 2009

November 26, 2009

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and Aaron and I have so much to be thankful for this past year. We have finally settled into New Hampshire in our new home, with our new baby. The house is still a work in progress, but we're getting there. And we have been so lucky with Charlotte - she is a very sweet, beautiful and healthy baby and we couldn't have asked for more.

We headed up to Vermont bright and early on Wednesday - we left after Charlie's morning feeding. She was up at 4:45am, I fed her while Aaron packed the car, and we were on the road at 5:45!! Doing it this way was great - Charlotte slept the entire way up there and didn't wake up until we pulled into Nanny & Papa's driveway!

Wednesday night, we hit up Shawn & Kristy's Annual Thanksgiving Eve party. It was great as always and we all had some good laughs. This year, Kristy did not try to kill me with her cocktails!! :) I had a hard time being "away" from Charlie all evening as Nanny and Papa stayed home with her. But she was a good girl and sang herself to sleep for them and stayed asleep the whole time we were gone.

For Charlotte's first Thanksgiving, she was thankful for some 'firsts' but not for others. She did not enjoy her first bath in Nanny's kitchen sink - she definitely prefers her pretty pink tub at home!
After her bath, we got her gussied up in a cute little dress from Selena that she hadn't worn yet. Nanny decided it was perfect for a mini photo-session - very cute pictures:

She DID enjoy her own Thanksgiving feast - her first try at rice cereal!!! She was wondering what the heck we were doing lifting a spoon to her mouth, and it took her a little time to realize what she was supposed to do, but she got it and enjoyed eating like a big girl. She got so excited at one point, that she kicked the bowl right out of Nanny's hands!!

Charlotte has become very excited to see Daddy every morning and evening (I think she gets sick of Mommy all day). They've bonded well with their Saturday morning errand-runs together. She is quickly becoming a "Daddy's Girl" and is very thankful for him!!

And what is Thanksgiving without the Black Friday that follows?! My mom, Shawn, Kristy and Shawn are always the first ones up to stand in the cold for the stores to open. But first, they need to come up with the game plan and scope out the best deals. Free after rebate ... after rebate ... (*apply the dance here*).

The whole family was here - all 19 of us!! - and it was as hectic as always, but we all enjoy the time together. (The group shot will be revealed on Mom & Dad's Christmas cards).

Christmas, here we come ...

Charlie's Big Weekend

November 7, 2009

This past weekend was a busy one, but a good one - shopping season has arrived! It started on Friday when Selena and Shelley stopped in on their way into NH and MA for their shopping weekend. We spent some time with them here at the house and a good amount of time at Target. After we left them, Nanny and Aunt Jane arrived for their tax-free shopping weekend.

Saturday morning, the day started like any normal Saturday - Charlie went on her coffee run with Daddy ... it's after this that her day became something she did not expect! We headed into nashua with Nanny and Jane with a goal to do some shopping and be home by 6pm - (this is when Charlotte lets us know she wants to be home and getting ready for bed). When we got to the mall, we saw that Santa was already visiting from the North Pole - so we decided to beat the lines and have Charlie give him a little visit. I told her NOT to ask for a baby brother or sister! :) She did great and Santa enjoyed holding her. He even gave her some hugs and said "I can hold her for a few more minutes" when Nanny went to take her back - and there was a line! We did get some pictures - since the next few years may be the screaming photos with him.



After Santa, we all split to do some shopping on our own. As I strolled Charlie by the Piercing Pagoda, a thought popped into my head - maybe I should get her ears pierced and surprise Aaron. I went back and forth over this through lunch and I got nervous every time I thought about it. Aunt Jane was good at lightly pushing me to do it, and Mom was excited but didn't want to be anywhere near there when we had it done. We watched another baby cry through her piercings and I figured I should just get it over with. Charlotte did a great job and did cause a little scene in the middle of the mall with her wail after the first ear. But the girl was good and got her other ear done during the crying. And just like that, it was done. Charlotte cried for a couple of minutes before she turned them into her fake feel-bad-for-me cries. She looks so cute and Aaron was surprised and loves them too.

Here's a good shot of how proud Charlie is of her new bling:

And she sure knows she's cute!!

Halloween!

October 31, 2009

This year, we were going to stay in NH to hand out candy and meet more neighbors. We got our pumpkins for the walkway, the big pumpkin to carve, bought all kinds of candy ... and then decided to head to Vermont to see family since it had been a while and Charlie is growing so fast.

She had a long day getting in and out of her costume for the carseat and visiting relatives, but I think she enjoyed seeing people other than Mommy and Daddy for a change!

So here it is, the Charlie costume debut:

Charlotte as Charlotte! (with Wilbur)

She was Charlotte, I was Charlotte's web

Walking around the corner to trick-or-treat at Uncle Spuds and Ashleys ...

she had no idea what was going on and why we were walking the rain!