Charlie's First Cardinals Game

A couple of weeks ago we loaded up the car and headed to St Louis for Charlie's first Cardinals game. It was John's dream to take each of the boys to Busch Stadium for a game the year they were born. Since Charlie was originally due September 9, then scheduled for September 1, we decided he would be too young to make the voyage in time for the last regular season home games September 24/25.


Since he was born so much earlier, I figured he would be old enough to make it for at least one game that weekend. That's right, I was the one that approached John about going to a game. Most people think he totally pressured me into going, but he had actually moved on. I figured that even if it was a terrible experience, at least we tried and we made one of John's dreams come true. And if we never try to do anything with our boys, we'll never have any stories to tell..........good or bad. :)

In the end, it. was. awesome. Seriously. We normally can't say that about taking Harvey out in public, not even factoring in a five week old baby. We went up on Friday night, stayed in a hotel (ummm, not exactly the highlight of my trip, trying to get everyone to sleep in one room and keep big Harv asleep as Charlie woke up every 2 1/2 hours), then got up and headed to the stadium Saturday morning. I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story.




Do you think Harvey likes waking up in a hotel? Especially when we're going to see "De arch!! And Fweebird!!!". Oh yeah!!






Charlie was equally pumped up.




What you guys fink? You fink I wooks good in red? Yeah, I fink so too. And you fink Fwedbirwd is gonna be scary?? Yeah, me too..........



Again, super pumped.




But what Charlie lacks in excitement...........



Harvey makes up for it with his over the top excitement.




And here's what he is truly excited about:

OMG!! It's Fredbird y'all!!



Where'd he go??? I can't see Fwed through all dem guys dressed in white uniforms!!!



This was our boy at the end of the game. Screaming, yelling (like he was being chased by an axe murderer, but that's ok), clapping. So excited.







So excited about this:

Yup, Fredbird again. I told John, Harvey thought Fredbird just won the Fredbird game in Fredbird Stadium. That's what Harvey was there to see anyway.







This is SO Harvey these days.













Check out that hottie!!



Shielding him from the fireworks and cheering at the end.



Looks like someone ate a few too many nachos and passed out.....




And of course, daddy and his littlest boy at his first game. Such a fun day. I love experiencing things with my boys and seeing things through their eyes. Baseball games, hotel rooms, seeing the Arch are all fun things for us as adults, but to Harvey it's all so magical. He could not have been cuter if he tried. And Charlie was a perfect baby all weekend. I can't wait to make many many more memories with both of our boys in St Louis.

A Stroll and Some Harvey Stories

I decided to take the boys out for a walk last week. We had been cooped up in the house all day and I wanted to get out, and I wanted to get some use out of our double stroller. I wanted to get some photos of the boys while I had some good lighting and while they were (strapped in and held captive) sitting so nicely. These kids were giving me some strange looks. The obviously were feeling a little skeptical about my abilities to push a stroller around.


Harv: I don't know bouts you and dis stwoller............where's my daddy? he knows how dis fing works.
Charlie: Hey.



For real........



Ehhhhh..........


Mom totally doesn't has a clue bouts pushin dis big fing, right Chorlie?



Heh heh heh heh..........


What the heck are you laughing at?



Heh he heh heh...............


Chuckle, chuckle snort...............



Oh snap!! People still says dat, right?


Seriously, those were the best photos from our walk. They didn't give me much to work with. Regardless, they're a cute little pair.





Now onto some updates about this guy. I want to make sure this doesn't become all about Charlie. Harvey is becoming quite hilarious in his old age.

*He calls Charlie "Chore-lie".

*When Charlie is crying and he's laying on the floor or somewhere where Harvey can reach him, Harv will walk over and sit next to him, put his hands around Charlie's hips and start dragging him onto his lap while saying "Come on Chorelie, don't cry". Such a good big brother. And, fortunately he's never fully picked him up. :)

*Harvey does know how to count, but he's changed it up recently. He walks around saying "1, 2, 5" quickly, all the time. And the more you try to correct him, the faster and louder he gets. So, 1,2,5 it is buddy, Preschool should be a rude awakening.

*He repeats EVERYTHING we say. There's a lot of "It's ok buddy", "Yeah man", "Good job buddy". He really makes me evaluate some of my bizarre phrases.

*Another favorite: "Ok fine" said very monotone and under his breath.Hilarious!

*He's become very independent since Charlie arrived. Out of necessity, of course. He wants milk, he can go to the refrigerator and get his own sippy cup. He climbs into his chair at the table, his car seat in the van. He can undress himself and he does it all. the. time. He can go fetch most anything I ask him to. He knows how to turn almost all of the lights in the house off and on.


*He now calls me mom and John dad. I try to correct him and make him call me "mommy" and John "daddy" because he sounds just too old. He won't do it.


*When he's feeling extra Jersey Shore he calls me "ma". Definitely not acceptable.


He's growing up so fast. Such a sweet, sensitive, caring little guy, So glad he's ours.

One Month

It's that time again. Time to start another round of monthly birthday photos. Not gonna lie, I really like doing these. This time around, instead of making up a sign and trying to force him to sit patiently with it, I'm going to use a calendar (and try to make him sit patiently with that). Don't worry, I'm not suddenly creative. I think this idea came from Ashley Ann.



How he spends a lot of his time these days. Well, the crying part. Not so much the laying naked on a calendar part.



So big!! I need to see if they make XXL calendars for big babies. I'm sure it's a common request.








One month stats........and other news.

*I weighed him yesterday at home----a little over 10lbs. At his two week checkup he was 8 lbs 2 oz-----up from 7lbs 2 oz at his one week dr visit. So, looks like he's following in big brother's footsteps with the pound-a-week plan.


*Right now he wears 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. I stuffed him in a newborn outfit today so I could feel like he was still teeny. I wonder when I'll stop doing that..............


*Charlie mostly keeps a 3 hour eating schedule. Sometimes, especially in the middle of the night, he tricks us and starts crying after 2ish hours. We're not so good at math at 2am, so he gets to eat early. But for the most part, he makes sure his meals are right.on.time. And, no wonder home boy is gaining weight like it's nobody's business.


*He is pretty needy these days. Lots of crying, so lots of holding. He hates the Moby, so no breaks for me during the day. I get almost nothing done everyday. Pretty amazing. In fact, I hold him and hangout with him so much, this morning when John took over at 3am and I didn't hold him again until 9am, I was starting to feel a little weird. No baby in my arms, so much "free time" to take Harvey to breakfast and even take a shower. I almost didn't know what to do. Almost.


*A funny story I shared on facebook. The other night I was giving him a bath and I was using the cradle cap brush on his head. All of the sudden, I realized I had rubbed a giant bald spot right on the front of his head. Lots of flaky dead skin came off, but so did all of his fine baby hair. His hairline is awesome now. There are so many times a day I wonder who in the world left me in charge.

Three Weeks

Our big little guy is three weeks old today. I took a few photos in honor of being not quite a month old. Like I really need a reason other than his sweet little face to get my camera out.











And here are a few from waaaay back when he was a newborn. I still haven't gotten shots that I love thanks to the yucky natural lighting. Guess I'll just have to keep trying. :)







This is how he was in utero. His little feet were hooked together like this when he was born.

Ah, Sleep Deprivation

I've decided I no longer need to sleep. Good thing, because I'm not going to be doing much of that anytime soon anyway . Charlie has entered into a new phase: the baby sads. He now cries anytime of the day or night (uh, mostly night) about anything, everything and nothing all at the same time. The only cure for the baby sads? Someone has to stay awake with him all night long and watch him sleep. Heaven help you if you *accidentally* fall asleep. He always finds out.

When we're not up helping Charlie work through all of his sadness and troubles that come along with being a newborn, he's eating. Every two hours. And that's two hours from the start of a feeding. So if he starts eating at 2am (a popular feeding time), then he takes 30-45 minutes, you then have about an hour and fifteen minutes to sleep before his little baby stop watch goes off and its time to feed again. Seriously, last night (aka this morning) he ate at 2:10, 4:10, and 6:15 (he accidentally hit snooze at 6:10).


Wow, I sound a little whiney. Not trying to be Debbie Downer, just sharing and documenting. Even though it's a bit exhausting, this is such a sweet time and I'm sure we're going to want to remember all of this (like we'll be able to forget this :) ).

And here are a million more photos. Some more of big brother and Charlie. He's always telling Charlie he'll "hep" him. Hep him get out of bed, hep him by picking him up, hep him by giving him a hug. Such a big "heper". Hey, maybe I should just go put Charlie in Harvey's bed around 2:30am so he can really hep him!










And some bath time photos. His cord stump is still hangin tough, so last week I decided we can't wait forever. I'll be glad when that thing is gone.






Oh yeah, he loves it!

And here is his wonderful hair. Somehow I managed to cover the baby mull. We'll get some clear photos of that soon. Before it falls out.





He looks just like his daddy............