can't wait

No pictures til I get home and can post a longer post, but I couldn't wait to put this up.

Yesterday I stood Charli on her feet, and she stood there unsupported for about 3 seconds! Yay! I was shocked. Brian and Jerry and Kelly were all in attendance!

Also, Charli is getting her first top tooth. I think it's the top right, but it's kind of hard to tell exactly where my finger is getting bit when she won't stay still for more than a second.

the silver and black

Charli attended her first football game today - the Oakland Raiders vs. the San Diego Chargers. Unfortunately, we lost (everything fell apart in the fourth quarter), but Charli showed good sportsmanship throughout. She helped us boo when the Raiders got penalties, and we practiced one-finger hi-fives with the neighboring fans when they scored. She didn't comprehend the one-finger hi-five, but she wouldn't open her hand for a regular hi-five, so we did the best we could. She stayed awake for the whole game (and for the entire ride home after the game, and then for the entire evening until bedtime) and hardly fussed at all. This time we managed to bring enough food, and we remembered both sunscreen and a hat. Hooray! We'll make good parents yet.


Check out the fan in the left of this picture. Next year, we're getting Charli an outfit like that.

unfettered joy

Here's my beautiful girl with the bubble maker that Mom brought for my birthday. Charli LOVES my birthday. :)








I love these pictures. She looks so happy and innocent. *sniff*

She has no idea what the world is really like! She thinks everyone loves her and wants her to be happy! She has no idea she is going to be a teenager!

surprise!

Well. Turns out Brian had ALL KINDS of plans for my birthday...

As I was putting the baby to bed, I heard the doorbell ring. It seemed Brian was expecting someone, so I wasn't too surprised about that, but I didn't know who it was. Boy was I flabbergasted when MY MOM came into Charli's room! And then MY DAD came in, too! And Daisy! And Jim! Well, those last two weren't such a shock, but my parents... Good thing I had a shirt on! :) *sniff* I almost cried. I'm totally turning into my mom.

Charli started crying, what with the sudden invasion of her room right at bedtime, so everyone left and I put her down and everything was fine. We ordered yummy pizza, and Mom kept talking about babysitting, and I kept thinking "Wow, that's a long ways to come just to babysit for an evening, unless... they are babysitting for more than an evening?" And so I finally figured out that Brian had gotten us reservations to the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, so we could make use of the gift certificates my wonderful team at work had given us as a wedding present. And he kept this secret for weeks. And my parents (and Sam, I'm sure) kept it secret for weeks. And Daisy kept it secret for weeks (she picked up my parents at the airport). As a matter of fact, even some people at work knew (I don't know for how long), and they kept it quiet. I'm sure it helps that I am completely thick about these things, and probably wouldn't figure out a suprise if it bit me on the butt, but that sure was a lot of people who knew and who didn't tell me. I think even Kim and Brent knew, out there on the Pacific Crest Trail...

Mom was hilarious. She brought me some gifts for my birthday - a beautiful handmade cloth activity book (for Charli), and a bubblemaker (for Charli). She also brought Charli a couple of toys and some new clothes and shoes. And she also had a few more things for Charli in her suitcase. :)

So on Saturday, Brian and I left Charli overnight for the first time, and headed for Half Moon Bay. The Ritz is pretty swank. They asked our names at the gatehouse on the way in, stuck something on our windshield, and after that, everyone greeted us by name, and at reception, they gave us a couple of glasses of wine. We got a room with a little firepit and looking out over the ocean (all the rooms might do this) and a really nice tv. You can enjoy the whole room with us via pictures!

We saw whales (but I didn't bring my long lens, so my pictures aren't very good)! There is a bath menu in the bathroom, where you can order a fancy butler drawn bath in your extra deep extra fancy marble bathtub (minimum $45, for a kids' bubblebath including hot chocolate and cookies). At 6:30 in the evening, a guy in a kilt walks around the property playing bagpipes! There is a catalog in the room that sells a sweater for $2500 (yes, that's two zeros before the decimal point)!

We had dinner and breakfast in the hotel, and they were quite acceptable. Dinner was not as good as the dinner at the Ritz in the city, but it was still pretty good. The chef might have been trying a little too hard - I thought there was often an ingredient in the dishes that didn't quite go, and there was one that was a frankly terrible combination (foie gras and peanut butter shortbread?! Don't try this one at home, folks!), but then you just eat the bits separately and they taste quite good - but the location is gorgeous and the service was good, so overall things were quite lovely. Breakfast the next morning was very tasty, but the service was terrible (very unexpected). Nothing that would prevent me from staying there again, should the (free) occasion arise...

Overall, we (I) had a great time! I highly recommend it to anyone who has way too much disposable income, or alternatively who has a really, really generous entity of some type (like, say, a team at work) who gives you lovely gift certificates, and a really, really great daflink who plans big secret things.

37

*gasp* I am 37 today! That is 444 months, Charli!

To celebrate my birthday, I tried putting Charli in her first cloth diaper. See how cute it is? And now I have put one less diaper in the landfill. Of course, it cost me about half as much as a whole case of disposables, so it will take me a while to recoup my investment. But my CONSCIENCE is worth ANY price, right? And they're so cute...

So Charli liked it fine, and she took a big poo in it. It plopped right off into the toilet, no trauma there, and I just put the diaper in a bag. Charli's trying out our second cloth diaper overnight, so tomorrow I'll wash them both, and I'll consider this a pretty good test!

the end of an era

I have stopped pumping milk for Charli. We will use up our frozen stash with evening feedings, and during the day she will be 100% formula from now on.

I feel both relieved and sort of let down, but definitely more relieved. :)

fishies!

Today Maria took Charli to the aquarium, and she LOVED it. My whole family loves aquariums, and it's lovely to know that Charli is following in our footsteps. I think we'll get a membership to the California Academy of Science, which has an aquarium, a planetarium, and a natural history museum (complete with rainforest)! Who could ask for anything more?

bathing in the toilet?

Today Charli pooped in the bathtub. Yuck!

give her a hand!

One of the things I like when we go for Charli's checkups is that Dr. Rostek checks to make sure she's developing normally by asking "Does she do this? Does she do that?" And I always get to say, "Oh yes, she does that all the time, blah blah blah", and then I feel like we're getting A's. Last time we went, he asked if Charli was clapping her hands, and I had to say, very let down, "Oh. No, she doesn't do that at all..." Waaah!

Just a week later though, and she started - in the car after Kelly picked us up in Memphis for the family reunion. At this point, she's an expert. See?

stairs

Woohoo! Charli climbed up the stairs for the first time today! Maria and I supervised closely. She has no idea how to go down, and cries if we try to show her.

meeting the family

Well, we've certainly had a whirlwind weekend!


Every Labor Day weekend is the Lawler family reunion, and this Labor Day was no exception. On Saturday morning at o'early thirty, we headed for the airport (late), and flew to Phoenix and then on to Memphis, where Kelly and Katy picked us up at the airport and off we went to introduce Charli to the extended (and extensive) family! It was very exciting, if a bit stressful. Charli suddenly started eating more (like just this past week), and I don't think I ever once packed enough food for her at any point during the trip. Of course, there was food all around, so it wasn't a matter of her starving - just of me being unprepared.

The reunion was at Pat and Jan's house, and they've added on a huge new room since the last time we were there, which is about as big as half of our entire first floor. I tell you, you leave San Francisco and you remember what big houses are actually like. They also have dogs (spaniels), which were a new source of interest to Charli. She followed them around a lot, completely disregarding whether or not she could see me or Brian. They also have grandson Cooper, who is almost a year and a half, and therefore they had lots of toys Charli has never played with, too. She hardly napped all day, but with the time change, she went to bed quite early.

On Sunday we had brunch at Pat and Jan's, and then everyone left for their respective homes. Brian's family drove an extra car down to Memphis so we would have one to drive back to St. Louis in, so we all headed back in the early afternoon. It's about a 5 hour drive, and Katy came with us so she could hang out with Charli. And it's a good thing she did, too - she was great, keeping Charli occupied and feeding her and finding all the things that I had thrown haphazardly into Charli's bag (which, of course, didn't include enough food). When we got to St. Louis, we had to make a stop at the St. John's emergency room, because I thought I might have a retinal tear (false alarm, totally paranoid). Very nice hospital, St. John's. I thought I could be in and out, thus breaking my streak of going to the hospital on holidays, but instead I was in and out and had to go back the next day, too, to see the eye doctor, so there was still the holiday hospital visit.

When we got back to Jerry and Donna's house, Charli ate dinner in Brian's old highchair - can you believe that? I think she played with one of Brian's old toys too, and some that Kelly brought over. And then she slept in Kelly's kids' old crib! We had a lovely relaxed meal, ate Ted Drewe's frozen custard for dessert, and played with dry ice.

On Monday, I had my eye appointment. Brian came with me and everyone else took care of Charli. It was like going out for fun! After we got back, Charli got to meet great grandma Shane! So exciting! I wish I had better pictures. I took the camera, but just didn't have time to use it at all.

Jim, Max and Madeleine also came over to meet Charli (and for lunch, I guess), but she slept most of the time (she passed out in the high chair at the table) and also had the worst bout of constipation she's ever had, during which we stayed upstairs while she was uncomfortable and cried for about 45 minutes, so they didn't get to spend much time with her. We'll be back for Thanksgiving, though, so everyone can see her again in short order.

After that, it was time to come home - at least it was a direct flight this time. So we flew to Memphis on Saturday (with stopover), drove to St. Louis on Sunday, and flew home on Monday. The car ride was a little hard on Charli. She just doesn't like to sit still for very long. The plane rides were hard on me. Charli didn't cry very much, but she didn't sleep very much either, and as I said, she really doesn't like to sit still... Good thing she's cute as a button, or our neighbors might have been irate. :)