During Peach Pie's last visit, Charlie was treated to a bath in the sink -- he just loves that! He is definitely a water baby . . . he has always loved splashing and kicking in the tub, and now he enjoys playing with bath toys as well. With Summer time right around the corner, it will be swimming pool time before we know it. I can't wait to see Charlie's reaction to all of that water!
Hill gets Charlie ready for his bath.
Peach Pie puts Charlie in the "tub".
Squeaky clean!
Hill took this shot of us near the finish line . . . we're in the middle of the photo.
Stacey, Charlie, Hill, Heather & Ellery at the "Race for the Cure" 5K
My first Mother's Day was wonderful! When I got up, Charlie & Hill had flowers, a balloon, cards and a gift for me downstairs. I got to open those while having my morning coffee. I'm now the proud owner of a "Cricut Machine," which is an amazing machine that cuts paper into all kinds of shapes, letters, numbers, etc. I saw this at a scrapbooking event that my friend (& neighbor) Katie and I went to a couple of months ago and had commented on how cool it was. Hill must've committed my comment to memory! I was really surprised with this gift and am looking forward to using it to make Charlie's baby book snazzy.
Charlie helped me open my Mother's Day gift. Please ignore my rough appearance . . . I had just gotten up & was NOT ready for my close-up!
After church, the boys treated me to lunch. Then, we came home where Hill proceeded to straighten up the house while I got to relax and catch up on all of the celebrity gossip (he gave me "Us Weekly" and "People" magazines to peruse). We also had a little photo shoot in our front yard. It was a really nice day. I can't wait to return the favor on Father's Day!
Charlie is happy to be celebrating Mother's Day!
Look who can sit up all by himself!! And, he's so proud of himself, too!
Mommy & Charlie
Cowboy & Ruby get in on the photo shoot, as well.
Our neighborhood association hosted a childrens' event last week, complete with sno-cones and a moon-walk bouncy thing! Even though Charlie is too young for the moon-walk and sno-cones (Mommy was happy to partake in the sno-cones for us), we went to visit with the other children and mommies and we had a great time.
Charlie plays with Harper Teilhet, who is one of his buddies from our regular playgroup.
One of my favorite times of the day has been meal time. Charlie has been such a good little eater . . . as soon as he takes a bite, he opens his mouth wide for the next bite. I always tell him he's just like a little baby bird -- a little baby bird saying "where's my worm? tweet! tweet! tweet!". This always illicits a big laugh from him. That is, until about a week or so ago. With NO warning and seemingly no reason at all, Charlie went on a hunger strike. Fortunately, he was only boycotting solid food; he still took his bottle, though sometimes that required a little coaxing. First, I thought he just didn't like what I was serving him. But, after a few (failed) attempts at another "entree," I realized he just wanted nothing to do with anything solid. He would clamp his lips together as tight as they would go and turn his head away from the spoon. It would take the jaws of life to get his mouth open to put food in there! I called the doctor and they suggested that I feed him an ounce or two from his bottle before trying to feed him solids. Perhaps he was just too hungry. So, I tried that, but to no avail. I read everything I could find on this topic in books I have and online. Some suggested he might be teething and the spoon was hurting his tender gums. Others suggested he wanted finger foods (but, he has no teeth!). Everything I found suggested I keep trying to give him the food at least once per day to see if he would take it. I thought the teething thing sounded like a viable diagnosis, though I couldn't find any teeth coming in anywhere. I even shared my popcicle with him (see photo below), thinking that would feel good on tender gums. He had me convinced that this was the situation, especially with the way he kept pulling that popcicle into his mouth. It turns out that he just really liked the popcicle. After taking him to the doctor this week, I found out that there's absolutely nothing wrong -- he's not teething, he's gaining weight (up to 18 pounds, 1 ounce), so he's not malnourished, he doesn't have any ulcers in his mouth or throat, there's no ear infection. She told me that basically, he's just asserting his own personality and independence. At 7 months!? Wait!! I thought I had about 12 or 13 more years to go before THAT happened!! Apparently not. She said he's probably just got a stubborn streak in him (where could THAT have come from?), and to try the solid foods again in a few days. She said he's really getting all of the nourishment he needs from his bottle, so there's no cause for alarm. She told me when I re-introduced the solid food, to do so in a room where there are NO distractions. Nothing to look at (aside from the wall), no music, no TV, no animals traipsing through the room. So, yesterday evening, we tried that. I took him to the dining room, kicked the dogs outside, and fed him his supper. And, he ate it. Hooray! Crisis averted! One new development is that he likes to "help" feed himself. He likes to have his hand on the handle of the spoon -- only then will he open his mouth. Believe me, it's not a quick or clean experience, but at the end of the day, that's okay. We're all happy.
Charlie tricks Mommy into thinking that he needs a cold popcicle on his tender gums.
Well, the holiday weekend is nearly here. Daddy will be at the ball park for most of it, but we will find a way to celebrate, nonetheless. Hope our family & friends have a wonderful, safe Memorial Day weekend!
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