Life As My Phone Sees It 5/18/12 - 5/30/12

I got a little behind on my pictures again, but I'm just so glad I'm doing this to document what my life is like these days. One day I really think I'm going to be exceptionally glad I did these posts :)

 5/18/12 Friday and 5/19/12 Saturday - These pictures are a great example of "cause and effect". Above picture was Friday night late, when the hubby was getting excited for the round of golf he was going to play early the next morning. Below picture is Saturday afternoon after golf, when he was passed out on the floor from golf exhaustion :)

5/19/12 and 5/21/12 - That same Saturday the 19th, we found Charlie hanging out in his crib during naptime, SITTING UP all by himself. He had been doing this for about a day... and so we knew it was time to lower the crib. So, the next picture (taken on the 21st) is Charlie in his new lowered crib for safety!

5/22/12 - A closeup of the flowers I planted on my porch this season. Adds some color to our life!

5/23/12 - T's youngest brother, Trent, graduated from high school! So, we went down to Salem that evening for the ceremony, which was held on the football field. Despite the fact that it was late May, it was sort of rainy, very windy, and cold!! Brr! But we survived, and it was fun :) Congrats Trent! Charlie got to stay up late that night, and he wasn't even too cranky about it! Plus, I captured this awesome picture of the sun getting ready to go down - clouds above and mountains below.

5/26/12 - Shopping spree day! I worked really hard helping build websites, so I won a $250.00 shopping spree. I was able to purchase 5 shirts, 2 skirts, 2 pairs of colorful skinny jeans, 2 pairs of shoes, 1 pair of denim knee-length shorts, and a set of sunglasses! That's an average of $20/item, so I'm pretty happy with my finds :)

5/29/12 - Charlie and I went to Seven Peaks Water Park in Provo for the first time this season! We hung out with Jenny and Henry for a while. The first pictures were taken at home before we left, and the second set of pictures were taken at Seven Peaks. He LOVED the water. He splashed, crawled around, played with some toys, and tried to climb onto Henry. This summer is going to be a BLAST!

5/29/12 - And, in fact, Charlie had so much fun that he was passed out COLD before we got to the car. He even stayed asleep while I transferred him from stroller to car seat. That's a first for him! Sweet sleeping boy:

5/30/12 - Charlie is getting better at crawling by the day! He finally figured it out a few days ago and now he can quickly (awkwardly) crawl across the room and get to what he wants. I left the door open outside while I was watering my flowers and look who came to say hello :)

Shortly after that last picture was taken, Charlie got more daring and tried to climb down the 2 inch drop, lost his balance, and landed on his forehead. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy about that, but I picked him up, kissed it, and made it all better :) I guess he's going to have to learn the hard way, and until then I'll be watching him really closely!

7 Months Old

I can't believe how grown up my little boy is starting to look! He is still a baby, but he's slowly making his way from little baby to little boy and I can't stand how fast it's going! Although, it is really fun at the same time! Here is the picture I got today of him at 7 Months:

And here is the comparison. Yes, I know that the 4 month picture repeats, but this is a combination of 2 pictures because it's really hard to collage 7 pictures and make it look okay... Soooo yeah. :)

Some stats about Charlie at 7 Months:

• Size 3 diapers
• Size 6 and 6-9 and 6-12 month clothes
• Eating lots of solid foods and likes most of them: peas, green beans, carrots, pears, peaches, prunes, squash, oatmeal cereal, rice cereal. Not very keen on sweet potatoes or bananas, but we'll keep trying. Also will be introducing meat this month!
• Has "real person" poop now because of all the solid foods. Which means it's brown and smelly, but fortunately he doesn't go quite as often. On average about once per day. Prunes have been a lifesaver for moments when you can tell he's having a hard time getting it out! 
• Laughs, smiles, and giggles so much. He is a very happy little boy!
• About a week ago he learned how to SIT UP! Yay! And he sits up on his own from the hands and knees position.
• Can stand very well with support, and is able to easily hold up all his weight, now we just need to work on balance.
• Starting to get a little hair... just a little... but it's something! :) (See pic below)
• Excellent with his hands. He can do almost anything he wants to with them now - grab, twist, feel, touch, shake, reach, pull, make messes, etc :)
• Still puts his paci in upside down. I'm pretty sure he does it on purpose...
• Great napper (2-3 naps per day) and great sleeper (12 hrs at night)
• And as of today, he's started to CRAWL a little!! I am so proud and a little sad at how much he's changing! I'll try to get a video of him crawling when he's ready to show it off.

Wearing Dad's hat today... so cute :)

In this next picture you can kind of see how he's getting some hair on top. I'm so excited. Grow grow grow hair!! :D I also like how he's playing with his bear's foot.

And finally, no post would be complete without a video. Since he's becoming more mobile, he can sit up, and he's really good with his hands, he's able to start making messes. Like the one time I turned my back for one minute while he was in his eating chair on the kitchen table and I guess I left the open packet of pears too close to him because he leaned over, picked it up, and dumped half of it out! <Sigh>... It has begun! But anyway, right now it's cute that he's making mischief. I'm sure it won't be "cute" forever. But until then, enjoy this video:


I just love my sweet little bug. He really is the main source of happiness, light, and joy in my life, and I hope he spreads some to you too! :)

Discovering Grass

Since today was a gorgeous day AND Charlie is now able to sit up on his own, I took him outside to play and explore the grass for the first time. It was a pretty good photo op, too. He was giving me huge grins...

And in fact, he got so into it that he started "fake cheesing" when I smiled at him, thus resulting in this adorable face (bahahaha):

But then he gave me another real one. Love love love this happy boy:

And it wouldn't be true grass discovery without a video to document the moment, right!? Enjoy! (I also love the moment where it seriously looks like he's meditating... Where better to meditate than under a shady tree on a beautiful spring day, eh?)

Life As My Phone Sees It 5/8/12 - 5/17/12

I've been slacking a little on my blog posting... sorry! Anyway, here are the phone pictures from the last week and a half:

5/9 Wednesday - We went to the duck pond (south part of BYU campus) with Nicole and Tyler. We hadn't been since Easter Sunday... so I was so excited to see all of the adorable little ducklings that had been born!! There were TONS! This is just one little group that I found near the side of the walkway. They were cuddling :)

5/9 Charlie didn't take a morning nap, so I was shocked that he was doing so well at the park/pond. Well, around 1pm he FINALLY conked out, sleepy boy. Those cheeks are insane!

5/10 - Charlie and I took a shopping trip to Target and I found these mini baby "Ray-Bans"... ok they were really just Circo brand but HOW CUTE!! I ended up getting some sunglasses for him, but not these. I got some that are more sporty looking and black, with an elastic strap that can go around his head so they stay on better. Summertime here we come!!

5/10 - I got tagged in a "What you're doing right now" Instagram post. And I was rocking Charlie to sleep and took a picture. These are the moments you never want to forget.

5/12 - I got tagged in another "What you're doing right now" Instagram post. This time I was trying to feed Charlie some carrots, but he seemed far more interested in checking out the warning label on the side of his high chair. Haha. Can you tell my whole day revolves around this little cutie?

5/13 - Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mom! She taught me so much and loved me despite my weaknesses. What a sweet picture this is... and a sweet memory for her.

5/14 - Charlie loves to play in his Bumbo until he drops his toys and can't reach them. That makes him pretty cranky. So I came up with a solution to the problem - a breakfast tray!! Now he can play with lots of toys, they are less likely to fall on the ground, and he can bang the toys on the tray and make fun noises! Win-win-win!

5/15 - My happy boy with a toothless grin!! "Eat you!!!!"

5/17 - Went back to the BYU duck pond again, this time with Jenny and Henry! We loved looking at all the ducks, baby ducks, turtles and baby turtles. I swear. Anything baby is adorable!! :) Before we went for a walk, Charlie ate some lunch, and big-brother-to-be Henry helped out. So sweet!!

5/17 - After hanging out with Jenny, I was very curious to see how far we walked (especially because I'm going to be running/walking in the 5.5 mile Dirty Dash in a couple of weeks!) so I mapped it! Almost 3 miles! We left Jenny's house, went west a couple blocks to water her garden, then walked to the duck pond, then along the path south of campus, then up to campus and to the Wilk for lunch, then all the way back to Jenny's house! Woo hoo! Go us. But mostly go Jenny because she's 6 months pregnant! Super woman :)

Lots of fun things going on around here - and lots of fun things coming up as well :) Stay tuned!

Giggles and Kicks - Videos 5/9/12

Charlie was being extra fun yesterday, 5/9. And I really felt like it was important to video document some of the "everyday" happenings, just so I can remember one day how fun it was to just play with him, or bathe him, etc. I have a feeling that one day I'm going to think back and wish I could do it all again, and what better way to remember than videos? (Or time travel machines... but I doubt that will ever actually happen!)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these two videos as much as I do. The first is of Charlie's little giggle. He's becoming more and more reactive to T and me when we smile and giggle; he'll catch on and start giggling too. It's so darling!! Here's an idea of what that's like:

This second video shows Charlie's new love of water and splish splashing during bathtime! And you have to watch until the very last second!! He (almost) gives you a show!! Hehe...

Now I need to just get a picture of his pouty lip!! :D

Anniversary #4!

My how time flies! I can't believe I've been married for 4 years already. But in some ways I can. For example, I just can't quite remember life before marriage. I mean, I know it happened, but it's that moment where you look back on your "past life" and it feels like you are just watching a movie. You can't quite wrap your mind around the fact that you actually lived that life, more like you're just watching someone else. Maybe I'm crazy and no one else feels that way, but that's how it feels for me.

But anyway! Anniversaries are very different when you have a little one. A lot more planning is involved. But, luckily, we have T's parents who live really close and they offered to watch Charlie on Saturday night May 5th while we went out.

But first! Our anniversary day was on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012. T worked in the office ALL day (from before I woke up until about 11pm), but he was sweet enough to find time to come home for lunch! :) So that was really nice. An hour or so after he went back to work, the doorbell rang (this was before I put up my ghetto doorbell note [see previous post]...) and there was a flower delivery for me! WHAT A SWEET HUSBAND! I loved the flowers - a combination of light green hydrangias (like we had at our wedding) and coral roses. So different and lovely. Here's a picture:

The rest of our actual anniversary was spend running errands, tending to Charlie, and trying to do laundry and realizing that our washer was broken. Blah. It was definitely just a normal day, but I knew I had Saturday to look forward to!

Finally Saturday night came, and after an hour trip as a family to T's work BBQ at 4pm, we came home and got ready to go out. I was SO excited. Don't get me wrong... I love being a Mom, but the prospect of having a night out and someone else putting Charlie to bed is like a dream come true every once in a while!

It was a little chilly outside with the wind, so we donned our jackets and headed out for our date. We hadn't really decided what we wanted to do, but we knew we wanted "putt putt" to be involved somehow. So we started heading over to Cascade golf course to play a round. On the way, we spontaneously decided to get some GIANT gas station sodas as a treat. And I got crunchy Cheetos too. Oh yum. Totally reminds me of middle school for some reason. I felt like a little kid in a candy shop. It's not every day I just treat myself to soda and Cheetos :)

Mini golf was a blast! It wasn't very busy, so we played each hole twice while we were at the hole and combined the score to make it more competitive. My talented mini-golfing husband KILLED me so bad that we had to start over scoring on the second half so I would care again :)

Afterward, we decided to go down the street to the Riverwoods shopping center to get some sushi and dessert at Happy Sumo. Before going in, I begged T to let me look around the fairly new Provo Beach Resort since I'd never been in it. Once again, I felt like such a kid! This place was awesome!!!! It had an arcade, ropes course, mini croquet course (what!?!? so cool!), bowling alley, surf wave pool, spa, and MORE! While we didn't participate because it was starting to get late, we decided we'd definitely come back one day soon and partake in the awesomeness! On the way out, by the surf shop, they have this little photo op, and I begged T to take a picture of me, and somehow convinced him to get up there too :)

Thanks for playing along, sweet hubby! The sushi at Happy Sumo was excellent, as usual (although a bit overpriced in our opinion). To top off the night, we got a sweet surprise: the MOUNT FUJI chocolate cake was BACK!!! A few years ago, shortly after we got married, they took this amazing dessert off their menu and replaced it with a sub-par fluffy chocolate cake. We were so devastated. We used to frequent Happy Sumo for the Mount Fuji ALL THE TIME when we were dating... so it felt like a little part of us died that day. (Ok, ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was awful!). So, how appropriate that we rediscovered our favorite dessert to share in the whole world on our anniversary! Ooohh it was amazing. It's a little round morsel of thick, dense, warm chocolate wonderfulness, oozing in the middle. MMmmm heaven!

So, despite the fact that our date wasn't necessarily extravangant, it was SO fun! We both decided that we fully enjoyed how it wasn't planned down to the minute, so we could take time to just enjoy the journey. Maybe life is trying to tell us something ;)

Life As My Phone Sees It 5/1/12 - 5/7/12

Lots of fun new photos to show you from last week!

5/1/12 - On the way home from yoga last Tuesday, I picked up some Mexican food and these sweet morsels from The Sweet Tooth Fairy for dinner and dessert (talk about undoing the workout I just did--whoops!). They were delicious. Mine is on the right (Salted Caramel frosting on a chocolate cupcake) and T's was on the left (Cookies N Cream frosting on a choc cupcake). YUM!

5/2/12 - Tried out those vitamins that the doctor prescribed for the first time. And the last. They are just PUTRID! You can see in the picture below that they are this dark orange/brown thick drops. The smell made me gag, but I tried giving them to him anyway (between sips of a bottle). He made an awful face and spit them all right out all over his clothes and the floor mat... thanks for the extra laundry. Not. So I asked friends for advice and most of them said that they never even needed vitamins and never ended up using them if they were advised to give them to their children. And all of their kids are fine. :) So, for now at least, until he can chew up Fred Flinstone gummies, I'm not going to force these down his throat. Especially so I don't have to smell that awfully gaggy smell on him all day. Yuk.

5/2/12: When Charlie and I got home from running errands that evening, I took off his jeans and left them on the floor. Then, when T got home, he took off his jeans and dropped them on the floor in exchange for some comfy basketball shorts. I couldn't help but laugh when I walked in the room and realized that both of my men had decided to "leave" their jeans on the floor. So I took a picture of them to compare the sizes, because I think it's adorable. I LOVE my men!

5/3/12 - I finally had ENOUGH of solicitors and people ringing my doorbell while Charlie was napping, so I put up this lovely sign. Yes, it's ghetto. But so far it's worked spendidly!! :)

5/3/12 - Mmmmmm carrots! I finally just let him go at it, since he gets pretty messy when he eats and I normally try to control it. And I let him hold the spoon. He seemed pretty happy. A bath soon followed :)

5/4/12: The new "complete sheet" for Charlie's crib came! It's cute because the big design is on the sides of the mattress, so they show through the sides of the crib, and the smaller pattern is like a normal sheet pattern on top. It's made so you don't need crib bumpers to show the cute pattern on the side. However, I will be keeping my crib bumpers because Charlie really needs them... he's always swimming around the sides of his crib, and I just want to make it soft for him (even though he's discovered how to pull them down and sometimes gets his arm stuck over the top of them haha).

5/7/12 - T ordered some golf clubs off of eBay. This is how the 4 Iron arrived... Errrmmm THANKS, Postal Service, for your LOVELY handling of our item. Now, granted, the seller also should have packaged it better, but SERIOUSLY... what did that golf club have to go through to be snapped IN HALF on the handle?! Of course USPS takes no responsibility. Hopefully the eBay seller will make it right!

5/7/12 - My little bug is getting pretty good at sitting on his own! And on Sunday 5/6 we found him sitting up and we didn't put him there! I think he got there from being on hands and knees. I am SO proud! :D

Such a Trooper! (and Phone Photos this Week)

Ahh. I have the sweetest little man! Today was Charlie's 6 month checkup at the doctor. And you know what that means... shots! He's always done fairly well after shots, but I am seriously amazed at how much of a trooper he was today! The three pokes were NOT fun... and he definitely let us know (you know, the "I can't breathe and my face is red and my mouth is as wide as it gets and I'm bleating like a little lamb" cry). But as soon as the mean nurse was done, I sat down with him and let him enjoy 6 ounces of delicious milk. That seemed to help a ton, and by the end of the bottle he was no longer sad and he even gave me a little smile! And on the way home he fell asleep in his car seat and I transferred him into his crib. Such a trooper. I'm so lucky. I guess we'll just see how the next few days go with his sore upper legs (that's always the worst part!).

On another note, here are his stats for today (6 mos and 6 days):

• Weight: 16lbs 7oz - about the 25th percentile
• Height: 26.25 inches - about the 20-something-th percentile (can't remember)
• Head Circumference: In about the 36th percentile, which is bigger than it's ever been, so I'm proud :)

Also, I really think he is starting to grow some hair. Or maybe I'm crazy. We'll see!

Also also, the doctor prescribed a daily vitamin with fluoride that he's going to start getting every day for a healthy boy with strong teeth (when they come in)!

And finally, here are the three pictures for my "Life As My Phone Sees It" for the last few days (4/26 to 4/30):

4/26 - Nap time is by far the best time of day! Ahh.... :) And he's sooo peaceful!

 4/26 - Went to the grocery store and let Charlie sit up in the cart like a big boy for the first time. He LOVED it! So many fun things to look at!! In fact, he was so enthralled by everything/everyone around him that I couldn't even get him to look at the camera to take this picture... :D

 4/30 - Just chilling around the house. Today was a "giraffes and elephants" kind of day, I guess... since both his shirt AND his little soft discovery book had them :) That little book was actually hand made by African ladies using their talents to help provide wealth for their families and communities. And it's so cute!!