Moms Club

When we moved into our house, I was very excited when a woman from our circle on our door knocked to let me know that she is the President of our town's Moms Club. I was so very excited to join and start attending the play groups with Charlotte ... and then the Swine Flu hit. Since she was so little and too young for the vaccine, her and I hibernated through the winter and we were both close to losing our sanity until spring hit.

About a month and a half ago, I asked to finally join and we were welcomed by all. We have attended a handful of play groups at the other's homes, went to a spring party at the public library, went on an educational tour of the Stonyfield Yogurt plant down the road and are looking forward to a Cinco De Mayo party this Wednesday along with many more play groups and events this month!

Charlotte has definitely enjoyed meeting and playing with the other kids - we even think she has a little baby crush on a 11-month-old, Aamir, and vice-versa. I am also happy to have a few girls around my age to talk to! We are hosting our first play group on May 17th, which should be fun!!

Girls Trip to Vermont

April 14th-18th 2010

Charlotte and I headed up to Vermont on our first girls-only trip last Wednesday. I was hoping she would sleep most of the 2.5 hours to Burlington and she was indeed asleep within 5 minutes of leaving the house. We stopped at McDonalds in Randolph for a stretch and a diaper change and were on our way again. We made it to Shelley's where we got to hang out a bit alone (and I slid down a few stairs with Charlotte - SHE was okay!)

We spent a few days at Shelley's since Tyler was away for a couple of weeks - we hung out and played with Tori and Trey; got to shop with Selena, Matthew and Luke; Charlotte had a photo session with Beltrami Burlington (they take AMAZING photos); and we ended up staying over night at Nanny & Papa's house on Saturday. We had a great time seeing everyone, including Shawn and Spuds and were glad we spent that extra day up there.

While we were gone, Aaron, Uncle Pete and our neighbor Ken worked on finishing our fireplace project and getting the trim up in Charlie's room. It was awesome to come home and see the progress (a new post with before/after pics to come).

Shelley and Charlotte at Tori's softball practice - it was c-c-cold!

Goofballs

Fun in the tub

Group hug

QT with Papa

Easter Weekend 2010

April 1st - 4th 2010

We were heading up to Vermont on Thursday evening for Easter weekend this year. We had some Easter goodies for her, so gave them to her here before leaving.


Of all the gifts in the basket, she loved her new rubber ducky the most - I think she knows it's for her bath and we all know she LOVES her baths.


We drove up to Vermont and Charlie slept the whole way since we didn't get on the road until 9pm! She did wake up to visit with Nanny and Pap when we got there at midnight - but after everyone else went to bed, Mommy was up with her until 2am!

On Easter Sunday, we got Charlie in her pretty dress and had a little photo shoot - such a ham, she is!



The whole family was there and Charlotte had fun with all of her cousins. She didn't understand why she was walking around looking for eggs, but she enjoyed them once they were in her hands.



Selena, Shelley and I got our annual Easter photo taken - drinks for all this year!! (No pregnancies this year)


We attempted to get a photo of all the cousins - this is always tough with the little ones. This is the best shot:
Still cute!!!

And we didn't want Shawn and Spuds to be left out of any photos since they love them SO much, so here's a picture of the 5 of us kids.

Another great weekend - we got to see friends and family and had wonderful weather too.

Charlotte's Big Cruise

February 26th - March 7th

Well, vacation has happened and I will of course say it went too fast. The trip started out on a rainy Thursday for our drive down to Connecticut to meet my parents at Eileen's house. We stayed overnight there and loaded up the Pilot with all of the luggage we were all bringing for 9 days - I think Charlotte had the most ... seriously. The snow started spitting as we were leaving and after some not-so-bad roads, some unplowed roads, some fallen trees, and one of our highway choices closed down completely, we made it to about a mile from the ship and came to a stop. It was a long wait in line to get there, but we did, and the adventures began at sea!

We were so excited to see our California friends Christine, Joyce and Nancy and our NH friends Chris and Robin (the couple getting married in St. Thomas). They all got to meet Charlie even though she is never too sure of new people. She had so much to look at and take in, and so many people approaching her - she was loving it.

Well, Aaron ended up with the dreaded stomach bug on day two - not so fun, but at least we were still on our sea days.

Since Charlotte is a passenger who costs full price (nope, no baby/kid discount for a baby who doesn't eat ANY of their food and is not allowed in ANY of their pools) we wanted to take advantage of the Fisher Price Royal Babies play time every morning for her. On the first morning, I wasn't ready, so I had Aaron take her up to play. He was back within 15 minutes because she would cry every time he put her on the play mat to play. The next day, I took her up and she played, but wouldn't leave my side at all.

She got better as the days went on and had fun with all of the great toys.

She made some friends, one being the very adorable Norwegian girl, Lanita. By the last day of play group, she let me hand her to Yoyo where she played amongst the kids and didn't even look around to see if Aaron and I were there!

And here's the big story - on night three, Charlie woke up for a feeding at 3:30am. I fed her, and the ship seemed to be moving a lot. My dad woke up and I tried to put Charlotte back in her pack n' play but she was a bit fussy. I picked her up and decided to look out the sliding doors to see what the crazy winds and rough seas were about - big mistake. I looked out as my mom woke up and wished I hadn't - the white caps were crazy, the wind was nuts, there was water and fog flying by our balcony and lightening all over. This is the point where the ship began tilting in one direction without going back the other way as it normally would - and kept going - the divider curtain flew across the room (which woke Aaron up) and some items on the bar flew into Charlotte's pack n' play with great force. So, if I hadn't picked her up not even a minute before this, she would have been hurt for sure. The ship corrected itself and I was shaking and scared - I think Charlie felt this as she proceeded to be sick all over our bed a couple of times (and not the baby spit-up kind). The Captain came on the intercom to explain that we were in 45 mph winds on autopilot when within seconds, the winds changed to 100 mph and the autopilot couldn't turn us toward it, so we were sideways to the wind direction and it just kind of *pushed* us a bit. They had to take it out of autopilot and steer us back into the wind and they "gained control of the ship again" - his words, I swear. UGH. I did not sleep the rest of that morning AT ALL ... or the next night ... or the last two nights at sea. (The next day, he announced it was a 10-12 degree list!!)

We finally hit land in Puerto Rico and since it was so late and we had to get back for dinner, we all walked around a bit. We were all happy just to have our feet on solid ground for a short time.


The next stop was St. Thomas - and this was the day I woke up with the stomach bug and I quarantined myself to our room for the entire day. Unfortunately, it was also the day our friends were getting married on Emerald Beach. Aaron was about to back out of it with Charlotte, but I forced him to bring her since we were 3 of their 10 guests. He brought her and is very happy he did - she had a great day and he had a great time spending the day with her on the beautiful island. Her first wedding ... and in a place like this!

Next up was the Domincan Republic. Mom had read that this was a poor area to walk around in, so we decided to book the excursion out to a little island called Cayo Levantado. This was an amazing and beautiful beach and was just what we were hoping for since since we all finally felt better - white sand, beach, and lounge chairs. What a day!

Charlotte was a bit afraid of the ocean at first, but after we told her it was a BIG bath, she loved it.



The last stop was Labadee, Haiti. This was once our favorite places though it's been built up A LOT since our first time there. Used to be just beach and sand and lounge chairs, but now it's so much more. (I think that island in DR has it beat for me now!) The beach we usually lounge on is now closed to all except for suite guests - we were still able to be there since we were in a suite - and they've now built a bunch of cabanas there, so we rented one for the day. We sure are glad we did since it was a cloudy and rainy day on the island. Such a bummer at this place, but we just lounged in the cabana and had a great lunch with a wonderful view.

On top of all this, we enjoyed so many great meals; Charlotte loved the Beatles cover band one night; sat entranced through an hourlong ice show; we got to go to the bridge and sit in the Captain's chair; hang out a bit with all of our friends and most of all see so many changes in Charlotte over just 9 days - sitting up completely on her own, creeping across an entire room, feeling more comfortable with people holding her, and just enjoying the warm weather and all of the wonderful views around the Caribbean!

And lastly, we came home with some great photos - Charlotte enjoyed the cameras and was such a ham.

We are so happy we had our first great vacation together as a family of three!!

Sun, Sun, Sun ... Here We Come!

Our cruise is coming up on us quickly and we are SO ready for a vacation. Aaron and I haven't had a vacation since our honeymoon in February 2008 and we've been so busy since then with the new job for Aaron; the move to NH; me being pregnant for 9 months; buying a house and doing much work on it; and raising Charlie for 6 months so far. Whew - it's definitely time for some relaxation.

Also on this cruise are the people we met on our honeymoon cruise: Nancy, Christine and Joyce from California, and Chris from here in NH - who is engaged to Robin and getting married on this trip!!

Many say we're crazy for bringing such a young baby on the trip with us, but we're smart cookies - we're also having my parents come along to help out! We are leaving from NJ once again, which I love - being able to stay out of the sky before and after a trip.

Our stops are:
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas - where Charlie, Aaron and I will be attending Chris & Robin's wedding!
Samana, Domincan Republic - none of us have ever been!
Labadee, Haiti - my FAVORITE!

We have had this trip planned for over a year now and I must say, Charlie has the best vacation wardrobe since I've been shopping for her since we found out she was a girl!! But, recently I found sunglasses small enough for her little noggin and she actually loves wearing them. She played in her exersaucer one day with them on for about 15 minutes!

I'd say she's as excited as we are!!!

Warm weather, here we come!!!!!!!!

Charlie's First Word!

February 4, 2009

I must say I'm excited that Charlie can say "Mama". Here's a video of her saying it the first day I heard it - at exactly 6 months! The fish face was a new thing after I got the camera out; she's a character!!

6 Months Old!!

That's right, Charlotte is officially a half a year old!!! It's crazy how fast time has flown by and how quickly she is growing up.


She is now eating solids three times a day, rolls all over the floor to get to where she wants (we prefer the rug, she prefers the hardwoods!), and can sit up on her own with us close by. She is trying so hard to crawl, but manages to cruise backwards instead of forward. She smiles and laughs all the time and reacts to most of the routine things we mention - eating, bath, jumperoo, etc. She LOVES her bath (had gone through a short phase a while back where she didn't) and splashes water all over - and it doesn't phase her when water gets in her eyes and face. I can't wait to see her on the beaches in the Caribbean in a couple of weeks!

Of course, there are still some things we're working on with her - getting her to enjoy her vegetables as much as her fruits; not to whine like a puppy when we walk out of the room for a minute or two; she is still scared of people coughing/sneezing/laughing/sniffling/blowing their nose ... sometimes it makes us laugh, and then that scares her too; she enjoys quietly lying down on the couch with Tigger and Pooh on the tv for her naps ... which means she hates going down in her crib when I try and usually ends up back on the couch.

They say you can't spoil a baby this age - I disagree. I shower her with songs, dance, and attention ALL day every day, so if she isn't entertained for a few minutes - she lets me know she's not happy about it! She is a character and we love all of it as she forms her own personality.