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.