Blowing Raspberries

Charlie's newest thing...Blowing Raspberries! Well this is kind of a new thing. He's been working on this for awhile but I think he has the hang of it now! He does this constantly! It's really quite funny! I think I captured it pretty good on the camera...I almost said on FILM! (How long since that's the term we've used!!!!) Anyways...gotta love the slobber all over his face!!!!

Just a few cute photos!!!!

Swimming!

We spent the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's pool. it was so hot out...and the pool sooo refreshing! Charlie loves being in the water! The little boat we have for him is great! His feet stick out the bottom so he just kicks away! And the shade cover is great too!

Been sooo long!

I've been bad! It's been a whole week since an update!!!! We've been busy! Charlie is 7 months old! We went to baby Time this morning and he weighed in at 18lbs 7 oz! that's up 4 oz since last monday!

It was a hot weekend so we spent most of the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's pool! Charlie loves the water - which is very cool! (I have photos - just have to download them from the camera - will post those soon!)

Last weekend Charlie and Mommy went to the fair with Grandma, Aunty Selena, Trent and Kayla. Charlie had lots of fun looking at the animals (Trent was scared of the cows!). No rides for Charlie - he was too little (had to be 2yrs to ride!). But Charlie was just fine watching all the rides and people! I even got Charlie Dave Dickenson from the BC Lions autograph! Couldn't get a picture as it was in the Poker tent and they weren't allowing minors! Too bad!

Charlie and Trent

Thought I should include a picture of Charlie and his other cousin. Here's Charlie and Trent sitting together. Trent is pointing out Mickey Mouse. (Like Charlie will ever have a problem knowing who Mickey is!)

Native Ceremony

Charlie was lucky to witness a very special ceremony yesterday. Mommy's work had a Ceremony to celebrate the regaining of some important land for the Sto:lo People. Before Charlie was born I worked on a project to have the residential school property in Mission (St. Mary's) be added to the 21 First Nations (Sto:lo Nation) land base. This was a big accomplishment as the land had been taken away from the First Nations back in the late 1800's. Finally in 2005 it was officially added back to the First Nations. It had taken about 25 years of work for this to happen and on Friday there was a special ceremony to take back the original name. It is now known as Pekw'xe:yles. This is the original name.

Charlie watched so intently the drummers and singers. And when the mask dancers came out...he was amazed! He sat so still just staring! Eventually he fell asleep - from the rhythmic beating of the drums!

Unfortunately I have no pictures...this was a very sacred ceremony and no pictures are allowed.

Later that night, Charlie had a toy and he started to beat it like a drum....I think he wants to be a drummer!!!

Charlie with his Cousins...

This past weekend we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Honeyman and Aunty Teresa and Uncle Joe camping in Maple Ridge. We took the opportunity having all the Grandkids in one place for a few photo ops. Here's a good one that turned out! (Charlie usually smiles so good for the camera...not sure why he looks sooo grumpy! Oh well...he's still cute to me!)

Fun at Dino Town

Mommy and Charlie joined our cousins at Dino Town last week. It was a beautiful day...not to hot. It was weird going back to Dino Town...I used to work there when it was Flintstones (back in high school) and haven't been there since Grade 11 (1991)! Not too much has changed - well it's no longer Flintstones- so none of the characters are there...but the houses and cars and things are still there!

Charlie didn't really no what was going on...he did like the characters and the singing! (The last picture is of Charlie watching intently the Dinosaur Sing-A-Long!)

Broccoli

Last week I tried giving Charlie brocoli...he was not into this! He actually gagged!!! I never knew a baby would actually gag! But he did! (Not that I blame him...it smelled pretty bad! I mean, I like steamed broccoli...but I like it to still have a bit of crunch to it. Of course with Charlie's I had to cook it till it was very cooked!) However, the book I've been getting recipes from to make my own baby food said that Broccoli was very good for babies and to start with it early and serve it often! So I tried. Two spoons...then gagging. I first mixed it with Rice Cereal...then I tried mashed potatoes....Nope. So I figued no use forcing the issue....I gave him carrots for dinner that night. I decided to wait a bit before trying again. So I tried last night. I tricked him by mixing half a cube of broccoli with a whole cube of Yams. (Charlie loves Yams!) Success! Charlie ate it. He had a bit of a weird look on his face with each spoonful but he ate it all! No gagging! I tried again tonight for dinner (half a cube of broccoli to a whole cube of Yams plus some rice cereal). He ate it all up - he was eating very slowly...but he ate it non-the-less.

Ring Bearer...

This past Saturday Charlie was RingBearer at our Friend's Andre and Sonia's wedding. Daddy was Best Man as well. Charlie was sooo cute being wheeled down the aisle in a wagon by Sonia's daughter. The look on Charlie's face was just priceless....wondering where am I...why is everyone looking at me!

Unfortunately I don't have pics of him coming down the aisle (I took a video instead). I'm hoping to get copies of some pics from the Photographer.

- I think this is such an awesome picture of Ben and Charlie!






And a nice picture of Ben and I.





Here's the wedding party.

Getting sooo big!!!!

This is Charlie's 6 month photo shoot picture~ How cute is he!!!! Every month I do my own photo shoot with Charlie. Usually I do silly dress up ones...but this time I decided to just go outside and see what I came with! I think it turned out great! (Don't worry Grandparents...I have copies for you!)

Charlie and I went to Baby time on Monday. He weighed in at 17lbs 15 oz! His length is 25 3/4 cm and Head circumfrence is 43.5cm. (2 weeks ago - he weighed 16 lbs 12oz) I guess all that Cereal and fruits and Veggies really pay off!

Golden Mickey Ears!

Had to take a picture of Charlie in his Golden Mickey Ears! And his "First Trip to Disneyland" T-shirt! Isn't he adorable!!!!

Jump - Jump - Sleep!!!!

Charlie's been enjoying jumping in his Jolly Jumper. We realized we should have introduced him to it much sooner! but really we had no room. Now that he's outgrown his swing - we put together this jolly jumper contraption. Charlie loves it!!!!!

Daddy recently put a mirror against the wall - this was brilliance! Now Charlie jumps and stares at himself for hours...ok not quite hours...but a long time!!!







Loving the jumping!!!











Too much jumping! He fell asleep! Too cute! I had to snap a picture before taking him out!!!

Mmmm mmmm good!

We gave Charlie his first taste of food on Thursday July 6. Just a bit of Rice Cereal. Well he gobbled it right up! So after a few days of plain rice cereal - I tried a mashed banana. Success with this too.

My good friend Lisa gave loaned me her book called "A Baby's Table". It has recipes and meal ideas for babies. (Pretty neat book) So I tried my hand at making some baby food. First I steamed some carrots - put it in the food processor and then put the mixture into an ice cube tray. Then I peeled and steamed some apples. Mushed them all up and put them in the ice cube tray. Once frozen I put them in baggies for later use. Pretty easy. I will definatly try some more fruits and veggies.



Not too bad!













Messy face!

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!!!!

OK - it has been waaaayyy to hot to do any updates! Our computer is in our kitchen and our kitchen has been about a million degrees!!! Finally a cooler day!!!! Not that I'm complaining! Poor Charlie and the heat! He already is such a hot baby and this weather he's even hotter! Thursday night - the first of the hot nights! We put him down for the night...well 20 min. later he was crying...so I settled him down again....and 15 min later he was crying...we realized that he was tooo hot in his room! So we made a makeshift bed in our room (at the base of our bed) and he fell asleep instantly and slept the whole night thru! Oh yeah - we have A/C in our room! Should have thought - too hot for us to sleep without A/C - way to hot for Charlie. So the next night we brought his crib mattress in and he's been there since. He'll go back to his room when it cools down!

Our old house sure keeps the heat in! Friday morning - around 7:30 - I check the thermostat - it read almost 90 degrees!!!! yikes!!!! At one point the three of us - just hung out in our cool bedroom!!!! Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's Pool. Another way to cool off!!!!

Charlie's 6 months old!

Well today Charlie turns 6months old! How crazy...where did the time go!!! I saw a brand new baby at Baby Time yesterday...I can hardly remember when Charlie was sooo little! The time has flown by!

Last week we went to get his third set of shots. Not quite as tramatic for me as the last two! I only had the tears well up in my eyes...they didn't actually come down!!! I think those shots are worse for the mom's than they are for the babies!

We are continuing to have success with the rice cereal for lunch...I think tomorrow we will introduce some banana. Charlie is also continuing to sleep through the night! I no longer wake up in the middle of the night to check on him. I know he is OK and just sleeping soundly! He still goes to sleep around 10 or 10:30 and will sleep til 9am. Although last night he changed it up a bit and went to sleep at 9pm! and woke up a bit at 3:30am - I just left him and he fell back asleep after about 15minutes. He is soo smart he can turn the music on his projector/mobile thingy! So all of a sudden we hear music! Ben said to me "did you turn that on?" Nope - Charlie did!!!! Guess he wanted some music! Charlie then woke up to eat around 7am. then went back down - I had to wake him at 9:30 as I had a dentist appt and Grandma was babysitting.

We're also getting better at the afternoon naps as well. No real schedule but at least there is some actual napping happening!

Tummy Time

This is one of Ben's and mine favourite pictures of Charlie...so far! Such a cutie!

Here Charlie is doing Tummy Time. He used to hate tummy time! He would only stay down for a few minutes at a time. Didn't matter how many toys there were or me being right down with him...He hated it! Then all of a sudden one day (the last week of June) he rolled over and tummy time became OK! Now he holds himself up high and is even moving around on his blanket. This morning he did a complete 360!

When he first rolled over...he also did this in his crib...and decided to sleep on his tummy! Well this freaked Mommy out! We are told that they sleep on their back! (Gotta love those health nurses - their job to keep us freaked out constantly!) So I kept going in to check on Charlie - is he still breathing?!?!?! This only lasted the first night! Then I realized that he would be fine...his neck is strong enough to lift up and change postions if needed! Argh! Will there ever be a time I don't worry...NOPE!!!!!

Meeting Mickey

As some of you may or may not know...Charlie was a very lucky baby getting to go to Disneyland when he was just 5 months old! Daddy stayed home and Charlie went with his Mommy, Grandma, Aunty Selena, Cousin Trent and Great Granny. We had a great time! Charlie wasn't even afraid of the characters. He loved the Electrical Light Parade - the music and the lights were facinating to him! He even didn't mind the fire works! (which were amazing by the way)

We had beautiful weather - but it was HOT HOT HOT! It was pretty busy - so there were some long lines. We didn't get to see everything - but we saw what we saw! Charlie even went on some rides. Alice in Wonderland, Roger Rabbit Cartoon Spin, Casey Jr, and It's a Small World to name a few!

Next time Daddy will come too...maybe when Charlie's four! We'll start saving our pennies now!!!!

Charlie's Blog!

Hello!
Charlie has a Blog! What's a Blog? Well its a place that I can write my thoughts and goings on in Charlie's World! This allows friends and family to check in from time to time to see how he is growing! And he is growing!

I can hardly believe that next week he will be 6months old! This just blows my mind.
Last Thursday we started him on Rice Cereal for Lunch. Its going very well! This also seems to coincide with him sleeping better at night. Not sure if its a coincidence or what - but he was going to sleep at 10:30 or 11pm and waking at 3am...now he's going until 5 or 6am! This has been great! He'll then eat and then go back to sleep until 10am!!! Of course for some reason this means he doesn't have an afternoon sleep...we're working on this! It would also be nice if he went to bed earlier - but I can't ask for too much! We are so lucky to have such a happy baby!