Charlie is 8 Months!

Look at the happy little darling!

Our sweet little Charlie bear is 8 months old! The time is going by so fast and he is doing new things all of the time. At his 6 month check up (yeah a while ago, I know), Charlie was 16 lbs 5 oz (30th percentile) and 26.5 in long (50th percentile) and his head is 17.5 in (50th percentile). I've never tracked my children's head size before but I was curious because Charlie's head always seems HUGE compared to most kids his age. But it didn't really show up on the percentile ranking as being big I guess because his head is really taller than most, not really wide, as would be measured.

Charlie always has the biggest and brightest smiles for everyone. His personality just draws you in. He is cuddly and sure loves his Mommy. I guess I should say that he has bright smiles for everyone so long as he is giving them from Mommy's arms. He's really funny about going to people - some people he screams every time they hold him and others he is fine with. There are a couple ladies at church who he always screams when they hold him. Last week one was laughing as he would

Charlie got his bottom two teeth in at 5 months and two more on the top at 7 that are still descending. It looks like one of his top incisors is about to pop through any day now. Teething has been quite difficult for us around here and always sets us back greatly with sleeping patterns, eating patterns and his willingness to be happy playing on his own.

Charlie-goo (as Davey nick-named him) is sitting well now on his own and has always loved to arch his back, doing it very notably from the womb. A couple months ago he began arching his back and lifting his belly off the floor to let me know he wanted to be picked up. It was kind of a funny little motion, his belly pumping up and down so quickly. Then it turned into this...

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Needless to say, I found it entertaining, but didn't want this to be his primary mode of transportation. I was relieved when soon thereafter he started doing a real scoot on his belly. Here's a capture of his second attempt...

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Now he has mastered it and gets around rather handily. He is just now starting to pick his belly up and try to move on his knees/feet. He also loves to stand, often refusing to sit, and since he has no balance at all, it is funny to see him wobble all around.

And that is most of what Charlie is up to these days! We love you Charlie!

August 17th

August 17, 2006. The day I became a mother. Mother to a difficult though darling infant and now a delightful little three year old. Motherhood has been a challenging journey, but such a rewarding one as well. Every day that passes I love my children more and more and love to witness every little thing they do as they grow and develop. I revel in their happiness and can't get enough of watching them at play. It is so cute to watch Davey interact with his friends and listen to them have conversations and imagine little scenarios.

Call me indulgent, but since the actual day of Davey's birthday wasn't busy with preparations for a party, I asked Dave to stay home from work so we could spend the day with Davey doing the things he loves.

First, I took Davey to Panera Bread for breakfast. He picked out a poppy seed muffin/cake and couldn't resist just picking up the whole thing and diving in...

... and had no idea how silly and cute he looked with a face full

of powdered sugar :)

Next, Dave took him to jump at Pump It Up (the other thing he asked to do for his birthday party that I chose not to do). They invited MacKenzie and her mom since they weren't able to make it to the party.

Not a great picture, but the two had a grand time jumping around.

Next, Charlie and I met them at Chick-fil-A for lunch and then it was home to open more presents!

Davey loves his Home Depot tool box and tools.

He always wants to "fix someping."

He was sooo excited to get the movie Cars.

Showing it off to MacKenzie.

He got so many fun and cool toys from all of his loving family that he has been so happily playing with ever since. The one we were most excited to give him, however, was... a bike!

He loved his first bike ride!

(Dave has since fixed the seat so he doesn't have to ride so funny.)

After a rest (naps are scarce these days), it was off to another party, but not for him. Our good friends' son Jared has the same birthday as Davey.

Happy Birthday boys!!

Happy Birthday to Davey!!

David Paul Adams III turned three on August 17th (if you've been around us at all in the last several months, you were well aware of that fact; he let no one escape that knowledge). We were all excited for his birthday, really, mostly because he was so excited. It was fun to plan a party and try to help him feel special.

His party was on the Saturday before, the 15th, and when I tried to explain that the party wouldn't actually be on his birthday, he screamed and cried, "No! My birthday is August 17!!" So I didn't broach that subject again.

If you can read the invitation at all, you'll see it invites guests to a BLUE party. What is a blue party you may ask? We didn't have the easiest time figuring out what to do with that theme, but Davey loves everything to be blue, so that's what we went for.

The house decorated with blue balloons and streamers.

Ready for the party!

We had what Dave and I consider to be an old-fashioned party with games for the kids, lunch, cake and ice-cream and present opening.

First, we read one of Davey's favorite books, Blue Train Green Train, a book full of colors about none other than Thomas and Percy.

Ready for the story.

The kids were supposed to cheer and be crazy every time they heard me say blue, though that didn't work too well...

Lena and Sammy getting into it a little.

Then we played a version of Duck, Duck, Goose!, using Red, Red, Blue! Again, only a couple of the kids got into it...

Same story with playing Hullabaloo...

I guess kids this age just mostly like to make their own fun. Or maybe I just tried to do too many things. But it was worth the try!

Then Dave took the kids out back to play with some water balloons.

Attempting a toss.

The kids had fun rolling the balloons down the slide.

M&Ms are Davey's favorite candy, so I used them to decorate the cake. I took care to make sure all of the Ms were facing up since that's what Davey does before he will ever eat any...

The cake. 

Davey helped me sort out all the blue M&Ms for it.

The birthday boy loved being sung to.

The big wish!

Then, the best part... presents! The kids all had fun helping Davey open them.

A big pause took place when he opened a gift with 

some gummy bears inside. No one moved on to another

gift until the bag was empty!

Last of all, the kids got to go fishing in the "big blue" for their treat bags...

Avery and Roberto

Lena, Davey, Lauren, Sammy

Once the dust settled and everyone was gone, Charlie enjoyed the spoils...

... and Davey was ready for another part of the day, just as exciting for him... popping the balloons!

Gathered up the balloons and ready to go!

After trying to step on them, they realized popping with

a stick was the way to go.

Luckily the sound of the popping didn't register nearly as loud on this video as it really sounded...

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All in all, a very fun day! 

Back in Texas

Since we've been home, we've had a lot of fun reconnecting with all the friends we'd missed.

It's been fun to get back into the pools and nice that Charlie enjoys it more now too. We swim 2-3 days per week...

Davey and his nursery buds

Does this not just look like summer? Ahhh...

It's so nice to have Mendy and Ryan just down the street. We often fill the late afternoon hours when kids are getting cranky and husbands aren't home yet with visits back and forth to each others' homes. Davey loves it when Ryan comes over and brings his wagon.

He also loves to share his "yum-yums" (puffs)

I love my double stroller and so do the kids!

Davey and Ryan have mostly been the ones to interact since we've known them, but now that Charlie's getting a little older, its fun to see him interacting with Ryan more...

Ryan checking out Charlie playing

Charlie checking out Ryan

Davey has been able to attend some church camps with MacKenzie this summer, which he's really enjoyed (except an over-zealous tiger during a play that scared him terribly). One day we got to have MacKenzie hang out with us all day...

I thought they just looked so cute in their pjs

(hers were so cute and girlie - I hope I get to dress a girl someday...)

After I picked them up from the camp we met 

Laetitia and Lena at Chick-fil-A for lunch

It's been so fun hanging out more with Charlotte and MacKenzie with them home for the summer; we're going to miss them when school starts again!

We also finally returned the favor from way back before Charlie was born and watch the Griffeth kids for a morning. Everything went very well, but boy was it exhausting watching 4 kids! I have a new appreciation for the effort of mothers of 4!

Charlie and Jared really enjoyed each others' company

And Lauren and Davey had a blast (though by the end

they needed a little down-time)

They were so funny while they were eating lunch, trying to entertain Jared...

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We're so grateful to have so many good friends!