8 months old

I cannot believe our sweet bear is already 8 months old!!! He brings us so much joy every single day. I seriously cannot get enough of him and still try to kiss him about 500 times a day! He's just so yummy and sweet.

Height: about 28 inches

Weight: about 17 pounds

As you can see above, he is starting to eat a few table foods. He especially loves Mom A's (his great-grandmother's) green beans. Mom A, be sure to save us some yummy canned foods for Charlie! He has finally figured out how to put the food from the table into his mouth, yay!!! At first, he would discretely throw them on the floor but then he realized it was food and not toys. He likes green beans, pasta, little meat pieces, fruits, and those little puffs (see below). The peas were causing him to choke a little so maybe I'll try those again in a week or two. I just weaned him off breastmilk too. I was pretty sad thinking about him not being a little baby anymore and I've been a little emotional about it too. (but on a personal note, he started to bite so no more of that mister!)

This was his first "bobo". I think he hit his head on the media cabinet when he was Mr. Rolly-Polly on the the floor one day. Poor guy! He cried for about 30 seconds and then got over it.

As you probably saw from the video I posted a few days ago, he is not too interested in crawling. Some may consider this to be a little "delayed" but actually it's not at all. He's scooting on his tummy backwards, army crawls a little and then rolls everywhere else. If he sees a toy that he wants, it may take awhile, but he figures out a way to get to it. Like my friend Karie said the other day... "enjoy every minute that they aren't mobile"... so I am!! :) Pretty soon he's going to be into EVERYTHING! Yikes!
Can you say bed-head? :)
No it's not a growth, no it's not a tumor, it's a puff. I've heard its the latest fashion for little ones, available at your local grocery store. Ironic that he missed his mouth with it wide open like that...
He was feeding himself and missed.... he'll eventually figure it out.

Happy 8 month old birthday Charlie! We love you so much little bear!!!!

Little friends

IS THAT NOT PRECIOUS?!!?!?

Our sweet friends had us all over for some yummy fajitas one night, so after dinner we piled the kids all on the couch for this adorable picture.

Featured from left to right: Kate, Livy Anne, Charlie, Jovie, Benjamin, John Reid, and B

(we missed you Hank)

Someone told me we should take another picture of them in the same order when they're in high school!! Wouldn't that be fun to see?

After about 100 pictures our little "sensitive" child had enough of the paparazzi and started crying. I don't know why he's so upset... he has two cute girls beside him!! Silly boy, he'll regret that some day.

I love these two boys so much!!!!!!!!!!!

Charlie & Lilla

Charlie and Lilla sounds like that Disney show "Charlie and Lola"

Well, these two were so cute together after Mac's birthday party and 100% not interested in having their picture taken together.
This was the best I could do :)
Here they are both talking to me, Charlie is probably trying to say "Geez Mom, enough with the pictures... you have 100s of pictures of me. I know I'm cute but put the camera away, Lilla and I are playing right now... you're embarrassing me." :)

My buddy Tucker

About a week ago, Tucker came over for the night while his big brother, mom and dad went to Concert in the Gardens.... so of course I whipped out the camera and took pictures of them together!
Carson and I were laughing so hard because this looks like an old school Olan Mills picture from the early 90s!!! They're probably going to hate this picture when they're older... but I don't care cause it makes me laugh. Maybe they'll be on the same soccer or baseball team together some day... I hope they will always be friends! :)
Tucker is not a fan of the tummy time and Charlie is showing off his mad skills
BFFs
Debbie, remember this pic when they were in our bellies? And then this pic on the day Tucker was born?
Tucker looks bored
Oh no, now Charlie is abusing Tucker... I better put the camera down!

Visit from Ava & Izzie

My mom (Gigi), Laura (sister-in-law), Ava and Izzie (my nieces) came to visit June 12th for the night. We had so much fun and really enjoyed their quick visit! We even made a quick trip to the zoo before they left town (sorry these pics are a little out of order). Ava wanted to see the snakes for some reason. Seriously?? I think she forgot that she lives in East Texas and can probably find one of those in her backyard :)
Izzie and Charlie swimming together. I wonder if these two are going to get into trouble together when they're older???

By the way these are the best pjs EVER!! Organic cotton, so soft and one long zipper... I'm a huge fan. We didn't pay that much for them 'cause you know I love a good deal.... from Costco of course at half the price!
Laura and I decided this is what it would be like to have twins.... whoa, they sure are cute but I don't know if I could do it!
Sweet smiles before bedtime

Our 5th Anniversary

June 11th we celebrated our 5th anniversary!!!!! I was not looking forward to being away from Charlie and we were trying to save some money so our sweet friends, the McLeans, let us stay at their ranch for the night. Isn't it just beautiful there? We had so much fun just riding around the ranch, fishing, and then Carson cooked a wonderful dinner and we opened a bottle of wine from our Napa trip that we took on our 3rd anniversary. We even slept in until 8:30am!! Haha!!
It was a fun time together and we enjoyed every minute. I only called the babysitter once to check on Charlie... we were only gone 22 hours!! :) Thanks again, McLeans, it was a wonderful get away.... we love y'all!!
Happy 5th, Carson! I love you and look forward to many, many more wonderful years together!! Thanks for being such a great dad to Charlie and fantastic husband to me. I'm so blessed!!

7 1/2 months old

Charlie laughs a lot these days, especially at his silly Daddy. (All of these pictures make him look like he has an orange nose... don't worry, he eats a variety of food! But his nose really only looks orange in pictures)
He was intrigued by Daddy's tongue!
This picture makes Carson and me laugh every time we see it! Is that not the funniest little expression?!?!
Super excited!!
Sweet happy boy!!
I think he does this because he's copying our faces!! :)
Big boy at 7 1/2 months
Playing with all of his toys
Some of my friends think I'm a little granola for using cloth diapers, but these are awesome! We use the cloth at home at the disposable when we're out and about. If you're thinking about using cloth, these gDiapers are really not bad at all.
He loves to sit up and play with his plethora of toys!
Charlie wearing his hat from Uncle Andrew
Uncle Andrew is Baylor's class of 2013 hince the 13 on the cap! :)

(still loves that left thumb)

Caroline & Charlie

Our sweet friends, the Armstrongs, came over for dinner a couple weeks ago and I said "We need to get some pictures of Charlie and Caroline together in case they get married some day!" (she's his "older" girlfriend)

Aren't these two so cute?!?!
What's even more cute is that she calls him Char-Char.
Sweet babies

Alissa's shower

Our sweet friends Alissa and Matt are expecting the arrival of little Preston anyday now!! These are a few shots of them at his baby shower a couple weeks ago. It was so pretty outside at her parents' house and lots of fun! (Alissa and I went to nursing school together at TCU, we were bridesmaids in each other's weddings, we work together at Cook Children's and now we will both have little boys!! We are truly blessed!)

Labor Day Visit to Kerrville

Sorry all of these pictures are about a month late. This one was just too cute not to share! This is the excitement little Bear gets on his face when he sees his bottle. He doesn't care if it's milk or water... just give it to me! :)
Charlie loves his little swimming pool in our backyard. Copper is not so sure about it, but he comes over for a drink every once and awhile... and to check on C.
We went to Kerrville for a fun relaxing weekend over Labor day. Here he is cooling off in the shade with his Noni in a pastic bucket... naked! He's a boy, who needs clothes?? I think this picture is so sweet! We went the next day to get him a plastic pool! :)
Chewing on his airplane
With Daddy
I just can't get enough of those blue eyes!
Swimming with his buddy Blake
Taking a bath in Noni and Boppa's sink

(nice comb over Charlie)
Boppa got this John Deer gator for Charlie before he was even born!! These are just some cute pics of the boys playing outside on it. (Don't worry, the battery is out so they didn't really "go" anywhere.) Charlie looks a little nervous in the back!!
And they're off...
Brotherly love :)
This one is my favorite!
Now Charlie is in charge... look at Blake's face!! :)