The Blatchly Wedding Week

June 25th - July 2nd

Dave & Colleen's wedding day was finally coming! It was time to get ready for the festivities - and being a bridesmaid means painted toenails, a rehearsal dinner and getting dressed up. We headed up to Vermont to get started. Friday, a week before the wedding, Colleen treated us bridesmaids to a pedicure ... I'm not one for these things, but enjoyed the girl time (and the surprise birthday ice cream cake!) at her camp.

Ready for those red shoes!

Charlie and I stayed in Vermont the whole next week while Aaron headed back to NH to work. I got a hair cut, had a birthday, a dress fitting/hemming, some tanning appointments, did some garage saling with Shelley and Mom and had a nice dinner with Kristy during that week! We also enjoyed the park one afternoon with Shelley, Tori and Trey. It was hot, but fun.

Charlie in action on the swing!

Three little monkeys - Tori, Trey & Charlie

Giving Aunt Shelley BIG hugs

Aaron came back just in time for the rehearsal and dinner for the wedding. The rehearsal was a wet one, and the dinner was good (unlimited lobster for anyone ... I even took one of my own and ate a bit before I realized I don't really like it much).

Dave & Colleen

The wedding day brought perfect weather. Us girls tied each other into our corset dresses while the men were outside sweating as they greeted guests. The ceremony was perfect and then it was time to celebrate!

Charlie LOVED the band and couldn't contain herself - this is her crawling around with her bread because she just couldn't wait to hit that dance floor!

The ALLARD girls (of course, we didn't know Kristy was going to be one at that time)

Family photo in the big chair

Having fun with Daddy

Dancing with Mommy

She fell asleep on the dance floor with Nanny and was OUT for the last few hours, even with the loud music!

The beaming bride!

Friends, always, no matter what

(Me, Shelley, Colleen & Angi)

Sisters for life

Thanks to "Nanny & Papa" for helping with Charlie so we could have a good time at the rehearsal and wedding!!

Our Star!

We are so excited - we got a sneak-peek photo sent to us from Charlotte's Robeez photo shoot last month! They said this is one they have chosen to use on their website for their new shoes coming out for the fall - these are their new reversible ones. It may be on the site as early as July sometime! We're so proud of her and love the photo (and that is a real freshly-steamed cashmere sweater she is wearing, along with makeup ... we still laugh).

And here it is - on the site early! I got an email stating that they had new arrivals and thought I'd check it out. I did NOT expect to see her on the main "Girls" page!!! I thought I would see her as a little thumbnail you can click on when you view an actual pair of shoes, so you could see a child wearing them. I was so proud of her when I saw this. And we're still waiting to see some of the friends she met on the photo shoot be put up on the site too.

Fun Stuff

June 2010

Charlotte likes to eat, especially now that she can eat more "big girl" foods. She loves blueberry waffles, pizza, any type of pasta (even if it's a bit spicy), and pretty much anything that we eat. Though with this newfound love of foods, she also gets more messy with the independence of feeding herself. Her favorite is to run her sticky hands through her growing hair - this makes for some crazy hair, which she thinks is hilarious.

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Bumpin' Up and Down in Her Little Red Wagon - we got her a new wagon as an early birthday present. We knew we wanted this souped up one with a sun shade and seats that can lay flat or be open for bigger kids. The side also flips up so I can sit on it with her as a bench. So cool - and she LOVES it. She was so excited to wake up one morning and see it in our living room.

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We used a Target gift card Charlotte received from some Syracuse friends to buy her a water table for the hot summer days. We set it up on the deck with some cold water and some toys and she enjoys playing and splashing around. She even lets me spray her in the face with the squirt toys! It's lots of fun.

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We finally headed out to Hampton Beach to bring Charlie for the first time. Now, keep in mind that she's been on a cruise and to some wonderful beaches in the Caribbean, so this wasn't going to be as great as that. But we avoided the long line into the Beach and the raised parking prices and headed just north to where we could easily park at a meter and have some space on the beach. We set up a little sun shade for her that the wind immediately blew over. And as soon as we set her down, she picked up a handful of sand and tasted it. She didn't like it much, but continued to play with the sand in her hands with a look of disgust the whole time we were there. Though the water was too cold for us, she enjoyed sitting as the waves came in. It was a fun afternoon of family time.

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On Father's Day, we decided to lay low and just spend more time together since it was another free weekend. We decided to go and enjoy some creemees at a local spot. I thought Aaron was crazy to try their two flavors of the week together - maple and peppermint twist! I stuck with the maple alone, but Aaron and Charlotte loved the mix. She loves her some creemees!

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Every Friday, Charlie and I head to the public library for infant lap-sit storytime. (Don't let the name fool you - there is never much sitting on the lap!) There's a bunch of under-2 kiddos and their Mommies who sing songs and listen to stories. Charlie enjoys this a lot since she loves both books and music. She sometimes even crawls up to the librarian as she reads and gets to sit on her lap. And she uses the little chairs in the room as a walker as she uses the space of the room. It's something we look forward to whenever we're actually still here in town. We also check out some board books each week so Charlie can enjoy some new ones at home. What better way to wind down at night than some stories read by Mommy or Daddy?

Summer is fun!

Cruising Friends

June 5th

Our friends, Chris and Robin got married in St. Thomas back in March on the cruise we went on - they just held a celebration here in New Hampshire for their friends and family. (Chris is one of the friends we met on our honeymoon cruise in 2008). Two of our three friends from California (whom we also met on our honeymoon cruise) came up for the party - Nancy and Christine. We sure missed Joyce.

The party was a good time and the rain held off for the festivities, wine and food. We also got to see Chris' parents for the first time since our honeymoon too.

Cutting the cake Chris' mom Janet made - yum!

"Auntie Christine" and "Grandma Nancy"

Almost the original honeymoon gang - minus Joyce; plus Sam (Robin's Dad) ... well, plus Charlie too!

[and the Hanson's dog, Max, who passed away 2 days later :( ]

On Sunday evening, the crew came down to our place for a great dinner, drinks and a dip in the hot tub. We had a great time and plenty of laughs - Christine was overtired and hilarious!!

Group Shot

Cheers! ... until next time

Good friends, good times!

A New Week of Firsts

June 8, 2010

Over the past couple of weeks, we've enjoyed watching Charlotte discover and try new things - can't say it enough: "she's growing up way too fast!"

A couple of weeks ago, she rented Avatar on our DVR box using the remote! This consisted of pressing the OnDemand button, selecting the Movies category, into New Movies, and selecting Avatar and confirming the purchase for $4.99!!! She can unlock my cell phone as soon as it's in her hands, and also loves to turn on her baby monitor (I find it hours later with a dead battery). I guess kids are born knowing how to use technology these days.

She carries this little Dora the Explorer figurine around the house with her ALL OF THE TIME. She got 4 character figurines in an Easter egg and only carries this one. I hide it amongst her toys each night when I clean up and it's the first thing she looks for each morning. If it isn't in her hand and you ask her where Dora is, she goes around the house until she finds her again.

(Notice it in the waffle photo below as well).

We now brush her two teeth (and gums) at night - she laughs.

We switched from sippy cups to straw cups and she's doing well - she now drinks more juice and I hope that she will drink enough milk this way in a month and a half so we can begin weaning off of nursing.

Her favorite breakfast is blueberry waffles.

She already takes bribes! If she doesn't want to get in her high chair and arches her back, I can bribe her by telling her that she can watch Yo Gabba Gabba on my computer - she then lets me strap her in! On a good day, just telling her she can have her favorite snack works too.

She LOVES Ramen Noodles - it started with me sharing bites when I ate it and now I put lots on her tray and she loves to pick them up to eat them. I taught her to slurp them into her mouth when they're hanging out - it's SO cute.

We bought her some slow-melt baby popsicles. She wasn't sure what to think at first, but loved the taste so began eating them too fast and kept getting mad at the brain freeze. One day, I gave her a yellow one and thought the lemon might be too sour so I tried to switch with a green watermelon one. She wouldn't taste it and waited until I switched back and happily sucked the yellow one down. Too smart.

(brain freeze!)

This past weekend, she decided she wanted to see what was outside so she climbed onto the baseboard heaters to look out the windows - we can't keep the monkey down now.

She loves to walk around the house pushing her baby stroller, though she doesn't like the baby to be in it when she does. Even if we put the baby in the stroller while she's walking, she stops, removes the baby - and continues on her way. Safety first (for the doll), I guess!

The other day, I was picking up the master bedroom and wondered where Charlie went - she had been crawling around playing with her toys seconds before. Then, I heard a noise under the bed ... she had crawled in one side and was doing the army crawl to get out the other side.

She now smacks her lips to blow kisses. We've been blowing kisses to everyone for "goodbyes" since she was born. She now gets the kiss part, but hasn't yet mastered the hand motion part of it.

She loves to point at everything now - if you ask her where the fan is, she points to it. Same with lights. If you ask her where Charlie is, she points to pictures of herself on the walls. haha

We love seeing her change so quickly, but it also makes us a bit sad to see her grow up so fast.