Charlie and His Pumpkins

Charlie is loving the crisp fall weather, so we've been spending lots of time outside enjoying it. Since it's October, lots of our outside time has also been spent with pumpkins. Charlie loves patting pumpkins, exploring pumpkins, and--when I look away--licking pumpkins. How lovely! :)

Like everyone else in the Metroplex, we've spent lots of time this month at the Arboretum. I love their fall display of flowers and pumpkins--and their pumpkin patch is such a fun place for pictures! Here we are on our way to the patch...

And at the patch! Here's Charlie in Halloween Costume #1 (which has since been returned to the seller). This lion costume looked like a great idea, but was NOT so great in reality. It was way too big (I think the little shoes would still fit him in 2 years), way too hot, and the headpiece was just too tempting for our little teether. So after we took these pics, off it went.

Here's Charlie, thinking that we're having fun.

Now he realizes that pumpkin patch pictures aren't as fun as they look.

Ok, guys, if I give you good roar, can we get out of here??

Very skeptical of all of this...

A parting shot of the little lion...going back to his den. :)

Charlie Attacks Solid Foods

A little rice cereal is no match for Charlie. We started him on "solids" (actually, just some organic brown rice cereal :) on Sunday and Charlie is LOVING it. His first experience with real food was just too funny. He was slightly confused about the first bite or two, but after he got the hang of it, he was on fire. He was grabbing at the bowl and lunging at the spoon, trying desperately to get the cereal in his little mouth. At one point, he lunged forward so quickly that the rice cereal went right in his eye. That didn't stop Charlie--he did NOT want me to stop feeding him to clean the rice cereal out of his eyelashes--he much preferred to keep on eating! Clint was videotaping the whole debacle and we laughed the entire time. We've been doing rice cereal for a few nights now, and it really is so fun feeding dinner to Charlie. I had been holding off on solids because I had read that there are health advantages to exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, and, honestly, because I was nervous about introducing another step in our already crowded days, but I am so glad that I did. As with everything else, Charlie makes every little task so much fun!

Here's the little eater sitting in his high chair before the "meal." He was so excited--he was banging on his tray and seemed to sense something great was coming. I cannot believe how big he looks when he's sitting in his chair!!

Cautious first bite...
Now he's liking it!

Yum!

This is only the beginning of the mess...unfortunately, we didn't get pictures of the very messy ending!

Charlie Meets Cousin Charlotte

Charlie (and Clint and I) was lucky enough to meet his littlest cousin last weekend--the beautiful Miss Charlotte. She came into town with her parents (my cousin Amy and her husband Jack) on Friday and we just had the best time. Clint and I are good friends with Jack's brother Edward, his wife Abbey, and their son George, and so the Grays came over as well to join in on the fun. All 3 kids behaved beautifully, went to bed promptly at 7:15, and allowed us to have a wonderful "adult" evening. AND, the Rangers won the ALCS that night, making the evening even sweeter. :) All in all, we had a great time with the Skaggs and the Grays, and SO enjoyed meeting little Miss Charlotte. She is a sweet, beautiful, TINY baby!

Here is sweet little Charlotte. I do not think Charlie was ever this tiny and delicate.

We tried very hard to get a good picture of all 3 kids together, but due to Charlie's sub-par sitting skills, we failed miserably. Here's Charlie trying to stay upright long enough for George to get in the picture...
...but to no avail. It looks like George is looking sternly at Charlotte, but I think he's really chastizing Charlie for not having enough core body strength to stay upright for a decent period of time. :)

And this picture is from the baptism weekend, but I just had to include it. George has the cutest little straight-leg walk--I just love watching him toddle around. You can get the gist of it here...

Thanks Skaggs and Grays for a wonderful evening!

Charlie Gets Baptized

Charlie was baptized at our church in Dallas last weekend (on October 17, 2010), and it was such a special ceremony, celebration and weekend. As I said in my last post, some of Charlie's favorite people came up for the occassion--my parents (Papa and Ali), my aunt (Dede), Clint's parents (Pawpaw and Mimi), my sister and brother-in-law (and Charlie's godparents) (Meg and Graeme), and my brother and future sister-in-law (Sam and Audra). We also had some of Charlie's favorite Dallas friends (Edward, Abbey, George, Ann, and Brad) join us for lunch after the baptism. Charlie felt so loved and so lucky to have so many of his favorite people gathered in one place--and to honor him! The weather was beautiful, the day was wonderful, and I so enjoyed all the smiles and laughs over the course of the weekend. Charlie enjoyed getting to be a part of the gathering and got in quite a few laughs of his own--this little one loves a party!

Here's Charlie in his baptism hat. I think he looks like a precious little Colonial boy, but Pawpaw was horrified. :)

My only regret is that we didn't get a big family picture in the church. When you see the picture below (Charlie with Clint, me, and his beloved godparents), you will see why. :)

A group picture before the ceremony...

Little Colonial boy joins the Kirkendall kids for a picture.

Charlie got in some good laughs with the group after his nap...

And then on to presents! Charlie loved his little lamb...

And was particularly excited about his silver spoon.

Proof that Charlie was born with a silver spoon in his mouth (or born trying desperately to get it in there :).

Relaxing with Uncle Graeme and his new dinosaur while Mom finishes opening...

And on to pictures outside! Here's Charlie with Papa and Ali...

and with Mimi and Pawpaw...

and with Sam and Audra.

After all that fun, Charlie was spent!

Charlie Goes to the Texas State Fair

Charlie was baptized last weekend (details to come in an upcoming post :), and we were lucky enough to have some of Charlie's favorite people come into town for the occasion. Papa, Ali, and Dede came from Seguin, Uncle Graeme and Aunt Meg came from Austin, Uncle Sam and future-Aunt Audra came from Houston, and Pawpaw and Mimi came all the way from Bronco! We spent Saturday morning (before the football games started, of course) at the Texas State Fair and had so much fun. We were definitely glad we got there early--it was packed by the time we left!

Here's Charlie eagerly anticipating his big day at the fair...

Our first glimpse of the ferris wheel--of course, we had to try it.

Here's Charlie waiting in line for the ferris wheel with Uncle Graeme. Don't they look happy???

Here's Charlie about to board the ferris wheel with me and Clint. He's still looking a bit shell-shocked. :)

Graeme, Meg, Sam and Audra taking off (Ali, Dede, Clint, Charlie and I followed behind in the next car).

Aside from the ferris wheel (which really was pretty great), the petting zoo was our other favorite part of the fair. The animals in there were incredible! I'm used to small town fairs where we'd get really excited about some baby chicks and a lamb (and I still love those animals :), but this was a whole different experience altogether--we even got to pet a zebra and a giraffe!

You can just barely see a glimpse of the zebra in the background here...

Although he enjoyed the fair, Charlie was VERY happy to get home and stretch out on the floor with his adoring public around him. His favorite part of the day was spent rolling around on a blanket talking to all of us and cracking us up with his screeches and his giggles. Here he is at his most excited (heading home :).

We have a tooth!

We have had some painfully long, restless nights recently, so I was so excited to feel Charlie's first little tooth (bottom left) poking through yesterday! The other bottom tooth looks like it's close behind, so I don't think we're through with the sleepless nights (or the refrigerated teethers, Oragel, or teething tablets...) quite yet. Although I will miss that adorable gummy smile, I am excited about this new development--and ready to get some sleep!! :) We are so proud of you Charlie and ready for you to start feeling better again!

Charlie Goes to Day Care

I left my camera at the daycare the other day just to see what materialized. It was so fun to see all the photos of Charlie's day when I arrived to get him. He really seems to have so much fun there and the 3 ladies who take care of him (Nicole, Crystal, and Blanca) could not be sweeter. It is still really hard for me to leave him, but it helps to see Charlie so happy and content every morning when I leave and every afternoon when I get there to pick him up.

Here is Charlie on a buggy ride--one of his very favorite activities (hard to tell from the serious face, I know).Here is Charlie posing suggestively next to his Whoozit.


And here's how I learned Charlie could sit... (I know, worstmotherintheworld)

This is how Charlie looked one morning when I left. He was WAY too busy "working" to say goodbye to me. :)

And finally, Charlie's first art project! In addition to these very scary Ghost Feet, Charlie has also been finger painting! Hard to believe, but he loves it! And we are SO proud of our budding artist. :)