Noodles

If you can't tell, yes, those are noodles all over my CARPETED floor! Enough said.

Build-A-Bear

Grandma and Grandpa Hansen got Charlie this Build-A-Bear for her Birthday. We had fun going to the store and picking out an outfit and getting the dog stuffed. Charlie really liked walking around the store and taking all of the clothes off of the shelves (much like she does when I am trying to fold laundry!). She likes to cart the dog around the house even though it is almost the same size as she is. She is particularly interested in the little purse it has! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!

One Year STATS!

12 Month STATS:

Weight: 21 lbs 2 oz (52%)

Height: 30 1/2 inches (89%)

LOVE HER!!

Up until about a month ago, Charlie HAD to be rocked to sleep. I was convinced that she would NEVER learn to get herself to sleep. Now, she gets to sleep like a pro. All of a sudden one day she just wouldn't settle down when I was rocking her, so I decided to put her in her crib to see what she would do. I never thought she would actually go to sleep, but she did! Ever since then she has like to roll around in her crib and look at books and play with stuffed animals to get herself to sleep. (Honestly, I am kind of sad now that I CAN'T rock her to sleep...every once in a while she will let me, but nothing like it use to be).

So, today this is how I found her in her crib. I usually wait 10 minutes or so after putting her down to go check to see if she is sleeping. She is usually laying on a book or still has one in her hands, so I try and move books and put a blanket on her. Today, she was using her animals as a pillow. So sweet. The books are also helpful for when she wakes up because she likes to look at them. Sometimes I go check her thinking she is still asleep and she is up and looking at books. I am not sure how long she naps sometimes because she is so quiet when she is in her crib. I am so glad she is content in her crib becuase it lets her wake up gracefully and not be so cranky! On the weekends, she even lets us sleep in until 8:00. We usually go to check on her and she is up playing with her animals. She is such a good girl! (I really hope I didn't jinx myself?!)

On a side note.....she is kind of in between wanting two naps during the day and only taking one. Any advice on when your kids stopped taking two naps and just went to one?? I would like to milk the two naps as long as I can!!!

THE CAKE!

The CAKE deserves it's own post.........

My sister and I made and decorated this cake for Charlie. We thought it turned out pretty cute. It was fun to do, but it took a lot of time. But as you will see below....Charlie LOVED it!!!!

BIRTHDAY TIME!

Charlie had a wonderful Birthday! She actually got two Birthday parties. It started Sunday at Nana and Pop's house where she got this cute Dora car. She loves riding it and making it play music.This was the first present of the day on her actual Birthday (Nov 25) She LOVES books. Good thing she got several for her Birthday.

Charlie in her cute party dress and headband

After the party with Mom and Dad (is it bedtime yet?!?!)


Charlie's first Birthday party was so much fun! Thank you everyone for coming to help us celebrate and for the fun gifts. Charlie loves them all.

WE LOVE YOU CHARLIE!!!!!!

A Walk

Charlie and I went for a walk this afternoon. As I was pushing the stroller I began to think of what I was doing exactly one year ago at this time. I was walking, or rather, attempting to jog, in order to help get her born! Little did I know that in spite of the walking NOT causing ANY cramps, discomfort, or contractions, my Charlie girl would be born the next morning! It is amazing what has happened to our little family in one short year. I can't believe my baby is going to be ONE tomorrow. We are so lucky that she is ours!!! We love you Charlie!

Here she is getting ready to go walking/strolling!

"What is it?"

Charlie likes to as "What is it?" and put her arms like this. I guess this is what we do and she has picked up on it. It is so cute when she does it. I love her!

"I Can't Put My Arms Down"

In honor of "A Christmas Story" I had to post this. I found this cute snowsuit at the secondhand baby clothing store. Can't wait for some snow, or at least to go cut Christmas trees in the snow!

Big Girl Seat

We got Charlie a new car seat this weekend. I am loving that she is facing forward now! I can't believe how big she is getting.

Look Whose Walking!

Charlie started walking like this a couple of days ago. She is getting more adventerous with it. It is so neat to watch her figure it out. She can actually walk longer distances than this video shows, but it is hard to do the recording and set her up to walk at the same time. Maybe I can get some better video once Bodie gets home.

Happy Halloween!

Charlie as a cute little sheep! Baaaa.... Trick-or-treating at Great Grandma's house!

Backpack

We got a backpack for Charlie and she loves it!

ART 101

Charlie likes to play with her food and smear it around her highchair table, so I thought....why not??? I mixed flour with water and added a drop of food coloring. She didn't get as excited about it as I thought she might. She just wanted to eat it more than anything. It made for some cute artwork though ;)

Saturday Family Outing

We attempted to take Charlie to a pumpkin patch for something fun to do (During the summer she LOVED watermelon...both to eat and to "pat". When we would go to the store I would pick out a watermelon and put it in the cart next to her. She would touch and pat the melon all throughout the store. Well, now that it is fall, she enjoys doing this with pumpkins. She gets VERY excited when we walk into a store that has a display of pumpkins out front. I love her!). We were not impressed with the farm because it was dusty and full of weeds (yes, I realize this is the definition of a farm, but when you advertize a pumpkin patch and expect people to pay $9 for one, you could at least try to control the dust and make the pumpkin patch look at least a little more appealing). We took advantage of the free tractor/hay ride and toured the farm anyway. We didn't bother buying a pumpkin, but Charlie sure liked looking at all of them as we drove by.

Spoonin'

Trick of the Week

Charlie has decided that she would like to crawl in and out of baskets this week. She then play with each of the toys in the basket. When she is done with one toy she throw it out and grabs another until the basket is empty. Then we start over!

Dress Up or Trucks?!?!

We got these cute dress up clothes as "party favors" for Piper's second Birthday! I put them on Charlie at home and she proceeded to go play with her truck. She makes the "bbbbbbrrrrrr" sound when she scoots the truck along the ground. It was so funny to see her doing this in her girly dress up clothes. I think it delights her daddy that she can play with trucks even when she is all dolled up.

HUNGRY!!

I think her eyes are a little bigger than her tummy. Pop is so fun!!!!!!!

Fun Around The House

Things Charlie can find to play with...

Potato Yarn
Rubber ring off the bottom of a bowl

These are just the items I happened to catch on camera. Some other favorite "toys" include...toilet paper, shoes, plastic tupperwear, door stops (you know, the ones that vibrate when you hit them), magazines, dried up leaves, an dryer sheets. I am sure this is one of those "to be continued" posts. Stay tuned...

Cousins, Cousins and More Cousins!

Bodie's brother, Luke, and his wife Briget, welcomed TWIN boys yesterday (my Birthday!). Briget had been in the hospital for nearly 8 weeks on bedrest. She was finally able to go home on Tuesday for a few days and then the twins were born yesterday. Myles (4 lbs 7 oz) and Will (5 lbs 5 oz) are doing well. We went to visit Briget an the babies (who are in the NICU) yesterday. We are so excited for Luke and Briget (and Kylee, Tiler and Jeb) and so thankful that everyone is healthy and doing well. I am also in awe of Briget and the time she was able to keep the babies from being born in spite of preterm labor and hospitalization at 26 weeks. She is awesome and the health of her babies shows it. Way to go!!!!!!

MylesWill (Luke said he didn't like the light in his eyes)

Family Pictures

Thanks Cinda for taking our family pictures! Charlie didn't want to smile much, but we still got some good ones!

Playdate! and Wild Child??????

Charlie and I met some other moms that I work with and their babies at a park. It was nice to get our girls together since we were pregnant together for so long at work! Charlie (9 1/2 months) Makena (7 1/2 months) and Abbey (11 1/2 months). Charlie was very "active" during this outing and was into everything (my diaper bag, back and forth between her bottle and sippy, getting into toys, trying to get into other diaper bags...etc). Abbey just sat there the entire time and was as calm as can be and Makena isn't quite crawling yet, so she was also stationary, making Charlie look a little wild. I kind of felt like Charlie was out of control compared to these girls. Aren't babies supposed to be into everything???????????? Or is mine just too wild??? Charlie's first swing ride. She liked it!

Football

Bodie had his first football game last week. He is coaching the 7th/8th grade lightweight football team. Charlie also made a new friend at the football game....a two year old named Livia. It was cute to watch them together. Maybe next time I will get a picture of the two of them.

Headbands

Bodie hates headbands......but I had to post this picture anyway because I think it is cute. We went to Art In The Park and Grammy bought Charlie a new headband.

Lost Camera

We went on a fishing trip this weekend I lost the camera, hence, no new posts lately. I am so upset about it, but hopefully we will get a new one soon.

Big Girl

Sitting in Great Grandma Shirley's chair (at Grammy's house).

Baby Einstein

Thanks Aunt Deeda for the Baby Einstein DVD! Charlie loves watching it!

Fair Time

We went to the fair one night to walk around and see the animals. Charlie had fun looking at all of the animals. Unfortulately, my camera went dead after one picture. Eventhough this isn't a good picture, I have to post it since it is the only one I have. Sad, I know....I can't even document her first fair experience. But, she did really like petting the goat :)

More Cousins!

My cousins, Ian and Heidi, were in town from Colorado with their two kids and my cousin, Heather, was also there with her two boys. We went to visit with them one night and attempted to get a pictures of all of the kids together (yes, this picture was the "best" we got ;)). Tristan is holding Charlie, Avery and Connor in the middle and Dion (with his transformers ring he is showing off) is on the right. It was so good to see them since we don't get to very often. It is aso fun to see the kids all together. Charlie was down romping around with the toys just like one of the big kids.