Excited!

This morning I saw two exciting things on the Starbucks menu: New Toffee Mocha and the seasonal Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

Has anyone tried the new mocha? If so, tell me its bad so I'm not tempted to get one.

I don't really like the pumpkin spice lattes but I'm super excited because this means we are 1 drink closer to eggnog lattes! I love that time of year! Bring on the cool days so I can wrap myself up in a sweater and drink my weight in eggnog lattes. I'm ready.

Spit Up.

I just added to the 8-month post that Charlie spit up seems to be getting a lot better. This is huge for us. He still spits up but not nearly as much as he used to. We even went to a birthday party yesterday and he didn't wear a bib! And no spit ups. I really hope he is growing out of that phase!

Happy 8 Months, Chicken.

Today is Charlie's 8th month birthday. Charlie started the day off proper with a pedicure.
Charlie keeps amazing us. He is always on the go. You can't take your eyes off of him or else you may find him tring to squeeze behind the washing machine.

He says Dadda, Mumma and Mum.

He has tried some new foods this month: carrots, turkey, chicken, apples, butternut squash. He will eat it all.





We used the BOB stroller for the first time this month when we went on Charlie's first hike. He also went down his first slide and swung his first swing this month.






He's over the pacifier. He has no interest in it. That's for babies, says Charlie.







His sleep leaves something to be desired. His naps are not good and he's still getting used to the idea of putting himself to sleep on his own. He's gotten better but we aren't 100% there yet.

We are convinced he is going to be an early walker but he has not sprouted any teeth yet. We also gave Charlie a sippy cup this month but he doesn't really know what it is yet.

We love you Monkey!

*I'd also like to add that his spit up seems to be getting a lot better!

Charlie's New Favorite Game.

Goodbye Old Phone and Hello Blackberry.

My phone used to work, before this:

Charlie likes to chew on my phone. My phone isn't fancy or delicate so I didn't care. I started to care when I realized he killed my phone. When I answered the phone, it was stuck on mute. I couldn't check voicemail or text messages. I couldn't navigate to my contacts. When I went to type a phone number, it would get stuck on 7's and other signs like 7777777777*****##### and tell me that I'm pressing too many keys (no sh*t!).

I was always anti smart phones. I didn't like the idea of having access to the internet all the time. I have access at home and at work. If I'm not at either of those two places, I'm likely in my car. If I need directions, I can use my navigation. I'm also with Rob a lot who has a smart phone so if we are really in a bind, we can use his phone. I don't think its a bad idea to have a break from technology. Plus I always thought I was so smart by saving us $30 a month on not having a data package. I realize its weird I didn't have a smart phone especially living in silicon valley. Oh and I work for a WIRELESS software company. Granted, I don't do the coding but still. It was time for me to join in on the smart phone fun. I had actually called Verizon a month ago to see if I could upgrade to a smart phone and they said no, not until March so I decided to wait and not pay full retail. I do not want to pay 100's of dollars for a cell phone.

I called Verizon and they told me I could buy a pre-owned phone for about $150. I couldn't buy a new phone because my contract wasn't up until March. After a couple calls to Verizon, I spoke to someone who was able to move up my contract from March 2011 to August 2010 so I was able to get 1.) a brand new phone and 2.) for about $20 (plus tax and accessories). Score! I really like verizon. I've always received good customer service plus you can't beat their reception. I remember when Rob and I started dating, we were in his room and my phone rang and he said "what is that?!" I told him it was my cell phone. I think we went to Verizon that day so he can switch carriers. He never got reception in his room (and its not like he grew up in the boondocks either).

I was out of a phone for 3 days which wasn't fun but it had a happy ending. I now have my blackberry but I have no idea how to use it. It took me forever to figure out how to change the time on it. I like to think of myself as pretty tech savvy but I have a lot to learn about this stuff.

If you have any hints/tricks/etc. send them my way!

Park Fun.

Rob and I took Charlie to the little park by our house and went down a slide,

sat on a faux fire truck

and played on the swings for the first time. His favorite was the swing.

And when we got back, he shared a moment with Buddy.

Reasons to Breastfeed.

1.) Provides your baby with immunities
2.) You get additional weight watcher points (this doesn't matter though if you have fallen off the bandwagon, not that I'd know, I'm just sayin')
3.) You get off of having to do jury duty**

**this came in handy yesterday

Hair.

I noticed the other day that Charlie has tiny, very short, blonde arm and leg hair. You can see it when the sun shines on it. Its so stinkin' cute. I wish I could take a picture. You will just have to take my word for it.

Playdate with Cousin Carla.

Last weekend we went to my sister/brother in laws house to have lunch and visit. Nonni was there too and she did what she does best (well, one of the things she does best): spoiled her grandbabies! She bought Charlie and Carla fun toys and very cute books. One of Charlie's books was called "My Little Monkey" by Sandra Magsamen. It is super cute, here are the words...

My little monkey, I love you -

for all that you are and all that you do.

You're magical...and sweet.

Your smile makes life a treat.

You're playful and such a delight.

You make me laugh all day and night.

Whether you're glad, sad, silly or spunky...

You will always be my little monkey.

Charlie checking out his uncle Michael and cousin Carla.

Rob decided to provide some background music.
Then Carla and Charlie tried to one up Rob with their piano duet.

Carla is hoping this doesn't mess up her manicure.

Nonni and Carla.

Ooooh, slippers!


And we finished our playdate with a fun read from Auntie Kathy!

Thanks everyone for a great day!

That's Random.

Someone needs to go back to Photoshop College.

Below is from a Burke Williams spa ad I recieved. Really, I expect better from you BW! Why are there long flowing lock's of woman's hair on this man's head?


And my personal favorite, this girl. I'm not sure what the equipment is that she is selling, but I can't get past the white cloud coming out of her lady parts and her left armpit.

A Visit to Nonni & Grandpas.

My mother in law has been feeling under the weather, but luckily, things are looking a little more sunny these days.

We took a trip to my in-laws house for a visit. Nonni and Grandpa had not seen Charlie in a month! Rob and I both felt bad for not visiting sooner. We need to get better about that.

Here we are in Nonni's office. Charlie looks like a lump on a log here but he did quite a bit of exploring.

Charlie's grandpa usually likes to love him from a distance. He talks to Charlie but is not typically one of those types that will just go and pick up your baby. Well I guess a month was too long for this grandpa because he reached down and picked up his grandson - this was a first and surprised us all. Charlie loves his grandpa!

Getting loves from Nonni and Grandpa makes for one sleepy baby.

Crying it Out Update.

The next day, my mom got Charlie to sleep on his own. He cried on and off for 30 minutes then slept for 30 minutes. In the morning he fell asleep on Rob so that didn't really count.

Tuesday was bad. Charlie had slept for 12 hours the night before and woke up at 7:00 am. Rob called me at work at 8:20 am telling me he was rubbing his eyes and what should he do (my mom gets to my house to watch Charlie around 9:00 am). I said "I guess put him down if he is rubbing his eyes." Rob put him in the pack n play and he cried for I believe about an hour and my mom and Rob decided to take him out. I noticed Rob had rsvp'd to an evite a couple minutes before calling me to tell me he was rubbing his eyes. This tells me he was in the office holding Charlie and not downstairs playing with Charlie. My guess is with a 12 hour night of sleeping, he was rubbing his eyes because he was still waking up or bored. So putting him down was the wrong decision. FAIL. Bummer. That afternoon my mom let Charlie sleep on her because she felt bad from his bad morning. That night he went down by sleeping on the bottle again, and got another twelve hours of sleep.

This morning it was my turn because I don't work Wednesdays. Charlie woke up at 6:40 am. I was determined to not put him down until at least 9:30 am. I wanted to make sure he was tired before putting him down. I started feeding him around 9:45 am and put him down in his pack n play at 10:05 am. He was content until 10:18 am - then the crying started. He cried on and off and I never went into the room. I've heard that some moms think going in makes the crying worse so I wanted to try this technique. Plus he wasn't wailing or crying really hard (or else I would have gone in there for sure). After a long 57 minutes (3 minutes before I was going to give up), he fell asleep on his own! Victory. He only slept for 30 minutes. Not great but he fell asleep on his own so I'm happy about that.

Then round 2 came - the afternoon nap. I started feeding him at 1:35 pm. He fell asleep on the bottle, I tried to put him down and he woke up. I picked him up, let him finish the bottle then put him in the pack n play. I put the fan on, gave him his seahorse and told him g'nite. He was crying. :( This time he cried on and off for 32 minutes - MUCH better! He slept again for only 30 minutes but again, he got to sleep on his own.

Rob is upstairs now giving him a bottle before bed. I fully expect him to pass out again and have a good nights sleep. Now the pressure is on for Mimi to not surrender to her cutie pie grandson's cries. You can do it, Mimi!

That's Random.

When I was little, I had the mantra of if it looks or smells like _____ it probably tastes like _____.

I remember having a chocolate scented ink pad. I licked it because I thought it might taste like chocolate. It didn't.

And one time when we were on vacation, I saw my mom packed the country time lemonade canister (score!). I licked my finger, stuck it in the lemonade powder and licked my finger again. Just so y'all know, Tide laundry detergent does not taste like country time lemonade.

If You Don't Have Kids Yet...

and you say things like "When I have kids, I won't let my house look like toys r us barfed all over it", just you wait...

And just so we're clear, we clean up every night before bed. Somehow a 7 month old is able to make this mess very quickly.

Weekends.

My favorite part of the weekends is in the mornings right after Charlie gets up. After I get him out of his crib, give him a big hug and change his diaper, we go cuddle in bed. The morning ritual involves some monitor and Mortimer the Mouse munching, body parts crawling and big wet slobbery kissies. Oh and we try to wake up daddy during the process.

Crying it Out.

Rob and I are not big fans of the whole "let your baby cry themselves to sleep" thing. We've been very lucky in that Charlie has been sleeping through the night for many months. He sleeps a good 10-11 hours each night. But, he hasn't been a great napper. He'll do ok once asleep but its the getting him to sleep that is hard.

We don't just put him down awake. He either falls asleep on the bottle (bad, I know) or we rock him/sing him Steve Miller Band (Rob) or Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Happy Birthday To You song (Alyssa) for a good hour until he passes out and we slloooowwly lower him into his crib and tip toe out of the room and give each other a (quiet) high five. By the way, I realized after having a baby that I am not good at singing songs if there is no music, I forget the words and have to resort to the few random songs I do know the words to, like the Barney song.

This was working ok for us. The longest it takes us to get him down is an hour but I'd say 80% of the time he falls asleep on the bottle or it takes us (us meaning Rob) less than 30 minutes to get him to sleep. The shitty part has been naps. 1.) getting him down and 2.) knowing when his nap was going to happen. We have no schedule. The straw that broke the camel's back was Friday when Charlie only napped for 30 minutes for Mimi even though he was TIRED. The other crappy part of all of this is making plans. Sure we can make plans to have a playdate or go to lunch but we always disclose to who we are hanging out with that we will be there within +-2 hours from the time we are supposed to meet because when he takes his naps depends on when he gets up and how long it takes to put him down for naps. This is no way to live. That might sound selfish that I don't want to live my life like that but a routine and schedule is good for Charlie too.

So last night was night #1 of letting Charlie cry. We put him down to sleep in his crib and he immediately stood up. He was content for ten minutes. Just standing and looking around, not crying. Then the crying started. We waited 5 minutes then I went in there, rubbed his back and head, kissed his forehead and tried to put him down on the mattress (instead of standing). I stayed in there for about 30-45 seconds, didn't pick him up or talk to him. Then Rob went in 6 minutes later and did the same thing. Then he went in again 7 minutes later while I pumped. Rob had a few drinks earlier and lost track of time. Instead of being in there for 30 seconds, he was hanging out for 3 minutes. I was yelling "Rob!!" for him to come back but he couldn't hear me over the sound machine and I couldn't get up because I was pumping. Finally he came back and he said he didn't realize how long he was gone for. We were going to go back in at 8 minutes but after 6 minutes, he fell asleep!

So in summary, he was content for 10 minutes and cried for about 22 minutes. This was shorter than it would have taken Rob to rock him to sleep. We were happy that it didn't take too long.

This morning when I got him out of his crib, I felt like a huge jerk because he had a poop in his diaper. I smelled it when I went in his room which is saying something because I haven't been able to smell anything out of my stuffed up nose for a week now. He never poos at night and he woke up with a fresh poo on Sunday morning, too. I felt bad but there was a possibility that he had just pooped so I got over it. But this mornings poop was totally dry and crusty and stuck to his butt. I felt awful. What if he had poop during those 20 mins? Poor baby. :( I hope he gets back on his normal pooping during the day schedule.

Wish us luck this week - we hear its a week process of teaching baby that we aren't going to rescue him anymore if he cries and that he needs to put himself to sleep. I feel like an a-hole but I know its best for Charlie.

Its so hard hearing him cry....just look at this sweet face.

That's Random.

If you accidentally kept the pizza cardboard under the pizza when you put it in the oven, don't freak out, it probably won't catch on fire.

Charlie Laughing.

I've mentioned this before, but man does Charlie love this toy. I caught him smiling at himself in the mirror so I grabbed my camera..



then something happened that REALLY made him laugh - I love this one:

Which Do You Fancy?

My wallet is dying a slow and painful death. I had bought it at Urban Outfitters oh about 3+ years ago. I got it for when I "go out" but I do not "go out." So for the past year, I've been using the clutch as my wallet. In the past week or so, its slowly coming apart. I'm actually impressed this $20 clutch lasted so long.

So now I need a new wallet, bad. I've been wanting to get a Tory Burch wallet for awhile and found a couple on Nordstroms.com that I dig.

I like this one. I first thought for sure I'd want the pink one but then the brown grew on me, and even the green. I typically don't like that color green but it's growing on me.

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3122807/0~2376779~6008000~6024190~6024333~6024531?mediumthumbnail=Y&origin=category&searchtype=&pbo=6024531&P=1

Or there is this one that is a bit funky. If I choose this one, I'd get the green/blue one.

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3101084/0~2376779~6008000~6024190~6024333~6024531?mediumthumbnail=Y&origin=category&searchtype=&pbo=6024531&P=1

If you don't hate these wallets, would you mind telling me which one you like best?

Rob - I know for days I've been asking you to buy me a wallet online with no direction - no request for brands or colors so, if you have already bought one let me know.

Ghetto Coffee.

I thought I was very clever to use a paper towell as a coffee filter when I ran out of filters. Rob quickly rained on my parade when he referred to it as ghetto coffee. I wanted to figure out how much it cost for 1 square of paper towell and 1 filter because I'm sort of thrify. I am also lazy and lazy won this fight so I guess I'll never know which is cheaper but I'm going to put money on the paper towell.

That's Random.

Sometimes when I read something and it doesn't make sense, I make up a story so what I'm reading makes sense to me. This happens a lot and often times I don't admit this because I will soon realize I read what I was reading incorrectly.

The first time I did this in front of Rob, we were very early into our relationship. We were driving around with our friends Keith and Dorothy, looking for a place to eat. We drive by this:



In 2 seconds, my brain thinks "wait - what does that say? Oh, I get it, clever!!"

I say out loud: "Want to go to unanimous?"

Someone says "You mean, una mas?"

See in the 2 seconds, my brain came up with this image...

There is a family of four, at home, trying to think of what to have for dinner. They all decide Mexican sounds excellent and they all yell "it's unanimous!" (they yell because of the exclamation point in una mas!).