What we like to call "huggling"

The wave

This is Charlotte's latest trick. She enjoys the response so much that all afternoon she's been waving at us whenever we enter the room. And just to clarify from the last post, she's not walking yet. She just randomly stands up a lot and thinks about walking. Between that and cruising along the edges of things it won't be long. I also appreciate that Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock is dressed as Thomas Jefferson in the background of this video :)

Girlie things

My mom gave Charlotte these shoes before she was born. I just had to get a shot of them. These are just one of the things that make having girls way too much fun.

Ashton Farm

I thought this was so cute. The only horses Lily Kate has seen in person are the ones that the policemen ride downtown and those frighten her so I didn't know how she would react to the horses at the farm but she was clearly pleased.

Yesterday we took a trip to Ashton Farms, thanks to my friend Lisa, who organized a pre-school aged field trip. You should click on the collage above to see the pics a little larger. Lily Kate fed chickens, goats, & ducks. She pet dogs, rabbits, & even a huge black hog. She rode a horse (twice because she asked the farmer ever-so-persistently) and a tractor. My girl had a blast! The only thing that bothered her was the fact that the animals were dirty, what a priss. Little Charlotte had fun too, just eating her pears and smiling.

around here princess dresses are the new everyday outfit...... literally.... everyday

These are 2 other funny shots from the weekend around here. Char has been feeding herself cut up fruits and veggies lately and in between bites she likes to smear the food on her tummy and her cheeks. Meanwhile, Lily Kate made a block tower that she named Ernie. She kept asking if he could go see her room. I'm afraid he can't walk. Just a normal Saturday afternoon.

Here is my princess. Lily Kate is very into dress up these days and watching Angelina Ballerina and doing ballet in the living room. These are some shots of her taking a break. She is so girlie it's unbelievable. She takes a purse everywhere she goes, she likes to choose her own clothes, she often tells me how she likes my hair best, a couple of times while Parks is changing after work she has told him which shirt he should wear - all unsolicited advice of course. I love this child's heart. She was praying last night at dinner and she prayed for our dear friend Shelley's pregnancy, for God to help her "never, never, never hit her sister anymore", and then thanked God for Charlotte and for Parks and me and that we would always obey God even when we don't want to. How great is that?! Unlike her sister, this child is not laid back, not "go with the flow" - but she is quite a kid. I love who she is becoming.

Our sweet Charlotte is so wonderful. She is 8 1/2 months. Parks and I were discussing her over dinner tonight saying that she is always so happy and giggly. She still seems to adore Lily Kate - she is easily her favorite family member, she starts bouncing and grinning when Kate enters the room. she is crawling all over the place and eating a ton. Some of you have heard me talk about how she has not under any circumstances taken a bottle in the last 6 months. Well, I gave her some "Very Vanilla" soymilk this week and she guzzled it! Silk Soymilk was 22c with coupon during triples this week at Harris Teeter so I bought 9 cartons to freeze - I though you couponers would appreciate that. So, that has been a little triumph for us. Charlotte has been cruising around the coffee table for a couple weeks and has just started to randomly stand up in the room but that always ends with sitting back down or falling. I am predicting a laid back disposition with lots of goofyness - in other words - a mini Parks :)

Comparison

Couldn't resist posting some pictures of Lily Kate 2 Septembers ago when she was 8 months old. Such a charmer, even at that age. I can't believe how grown up she is now. She has become such a helper to me. One of my favorite things to do lately is to ask her on our drive home from wherever we are if I should turn left or right and she tells me the right answer 95% of the time. Sometimes she will tell me the wrong answer and look at me with a twinkle in her eye and then tell me "Noooo" at the last second just to see if she can trick me. Smart girl.

Happy Birthday, Parks

We had a people over to watch the first Titans game and celebrate Parks' birthday. I'm terribly at remembering to take pictures throughout events but I got a few. We have great friends and I had a wonderful husband. It was perfect for him to have some men to enjoy the game with. I'm a good wife but we don't share the love of football :) I think I could have a future in making children's birthday cakes.

Pancakes

Just some shots from breakfast the other day... the girls are growing up quickly

Char

So, I have noticed that when both girls are awake together in the early morning and late afternoon I don't take a single picture. I think it's because I don't have a free hand and because it's risky to take my eyes off of Lily Kate when Char is around. She still treats her like her baby doll. That results in all of my pictures being of Charlotte alone - when the pace of the day is a lot slower.
Trash shredding is her latest hobby.
The picture below is really just because I think baby jeans are really funny & cute. Charlotte is blossoming, she still seems laid back and very entertained by her dancing, singing, ever talking sister.

Fairies

We went to a Fairy party last weekend - a very cool fairy party, I might add. There was a girl dressed up like a fairy and she was passing out fairy dust and other goodies to the kids throughout the party and LK is still talking about her. She left quite an impression.
PS. Something strange is going on with my pictures. It seems that when I upload them they suddenly look grainy. If you click on them (to enlarge them) they are back to being crisp....hmm??

Look who's Standing!

Walking into a room and seeing Charlotte standing is becoming a regular sight around here. She's not so good at getting back down just yet. It's a good thing that diaper gives her bottom a little padding.

Mom & Dad just left this morning. They were here for a week long visit. My mom has gotten pretty good at dodging the camera so we hardly have any pictures of my parents & since Charlotte is the child of ours who can't run away (plus, she's a cutie!) most of the pictures are of her.

So, Charlotte started crawling this week and she's all over the place. I looked in LK's baby book and she crawled on the first day of her 7th month and Char crawled on the last day of her 6th month - isn't that funny. Kate also did this - we put Char down to sleep the other night and shortly after we heard crying. She doesn't often cry at night so I went in there and she was standing in the bed holding on to the railing. She stood up and could hold on but she didn't know how to "get down". Notice the teary eyes and the smile. She's done this many time since then, it's really funny. (Oh, and the lower pic is her blowing zerberts on the crib)

Future Singer?

Sweet Pea

I can't get enough of this girl these days. She is so fun. She could roll and scoot around the floor with Lily Kate all over her and be content all day. Charlotte has finally started eating baby food, which makes life a little easier for me because she can survive without me for a meal now!! Speaking of food - we learned tonight that Charlotte is allergic to strawberries. Parks gave her some really yummy pound cake (thank you, Grace!) that had been soaked in strawberry juice and shortly after her skin was "polka dotted" (according to Lily Kate). The nurse had us watch her for the next 2 hours to make sure she didn't stop breathing because that is common in strawberry allergies (how's that to make a mama a little nervous). She's was just fine and happy the whole time. What a sweetie.

Play date with Oliver

Here's our buddy, Oliver. He's our sweet friend who is 16 days older than Char. This picture makes them look serious but they were all smiles all night but, of course, I couldn't get a picture of them both smiling and still enough not to blur the picture.

Both of the babies are on the verge of crawling. We find Charlotte rocking on her hands and knees all the time. She can sort of launch herself forward but so far no legitimate crawling.

Baking & Bath Time

Lily Kate and I made brownies the other night. "Cooking" together has become really fun. Baking is especially great because she can dump in ingredients and mix things. She and I ate about 1/3 of the batter before we made them. Notice there are sunglasses in her hand because she wore them the during the whole process :) After baking we headed to the bath to join Charlotte. I don't know if you can tell by clicking on the picture (to enlarge it) but Charlotte's eyes are almost completely green now, like mine.

Babbling at 6 months

Big girl is growing up