lalalaweenaweena's vist

This is my sister Laura. Laura visits often. I think she's visited at least 6 times in the three years we've lived in Chicago. A few weeks ago she came on business and stayed with us for the weekend. It's hard to find new things for her to do while she's here... she's kind of done it all.

We went to a new Thai restaurant we had never tried right off of Michigan Ave. It was pretty good.

Charlotte drooled over our food.

Don't they look like a happy family? Let's be honest... she looks more like her mother than I do... whatever...

Thank you, Lalalaweenaweena, for visiting us so much! We only have one year left, so you better get your bum out here!

Utah

Ben's Grandpa in Utah passed away two weeks ago so he took Charlotte to the funeral and was able to stay for a few days to visit family. It was so weird to have her gone. I'm used to not seeing Ben (as unfortunate as that sounds), but not waking up to her babbling and sucking on her foot in the morning was awfully lonely. BUT they both had a great time with Ben's family. I told him to take a ton of pictures and video and he came back with like 15... men...

It all started with Ben missing his flight and having to fly to Las Vegas, sleep in that airport for a few hours, and then fly to Salt Lake City the next morning... apparently Charlotte was a little trooper.

If any of you are Little Chocolatier's fans then you recognize the store behind Ben. I had him go to get chocolate and meet the owners, but unfortunately they left a few hours before he got there. Luckily the chocolate was dang fine.

with her Grandad

He also happened to be in town for his cousin Alan's baby girl's birth.

Margaret is her name and she is adorable.

Thank you, Caitlin, for teaching Charlotte what a phone is and how to text.

with her Auntie Jenna

I love these girls.

Okay, so neither kid looks very happy, but whatever.

The siblings and niece... can't ya tell she's from this family or what?!

(sorry, Marci, but Ben didn't take one picture of you with your grandbaby!)

and just being stinkin cute on the airplane

but of course she missed her Mama... check out the video below... I think I've watched it several times every day since they got back =)

littlest Cubs fan...

last week Charlotte went to her first ball game

Ben taught her the finer points of the game

then she got tuckered out and slept most of the time

she didn't freak out at all of the screaming or obnoxious drunks... just people watched and soaked up some attention

i gave in...

Ben and I saw this mobile at a Cub's game last year that plays "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and he begged... actually begged to get it. There was no way these little primary colored teddy bears were going in her pink and green vintage nursery rhyme room. A year later and I was a shmuck and gave in.

but she loves them so I guess it's okay

man handling the bottle

She's been holding her bottle for the past few weeks... it's awesome.

And here she is conquering the sippy cup... she's growing up too fast!

school days

Charlotte has come to my school a couple of times and is everyone's buddy. Here she is with Mary Lou Byrne who has also babysat her so Ben and I could go on a date. They'll be hanging out again shortly =) This is also about a month old...

I love how happy she is with anyone... as long as they look at her and perhaps smile.

(the picture is super grainy from a school camera that had this as a huge file... and I don't know how to fix it...)

this girl can eat

Loves: carrots, squash, apples, bananas, green beans, sweet potatoes

So-So: peas

She started out eating a third of one container, then it quickly (like two days later) went to half of a container, now the entire container. Sometimes a tiny less and sometimes a tiny more. Only a few more to try and she's absolutely lovin it.

what do i have to complain about..?

my friend Shareka shared this and I had to pass it on

just because...

she got bored waiting for me

this was the last time she got to wear this teddy outfit =(

this is Eli, Ben's friend from med school, he loves Charlotte - here we are at a race track teaching her the finer points of betting... hehe...

lovin' the carrots

"talking" to her grandad online

go cougs!

this little stink holds her own bottle now so once in awhile we'll give it to her and find her full and passed out like this

thank you, Kristen, for this adorable outfit... if it were huge I'd wear it =) okay maybe not the giraffe shirt...

i have to see it...

... because every time I've seen an add for it I cry - it's called Babies and it comes out this weekend for Mother's Day.

mini ben

{his glasses are ridiculously strong hence the dazed look on her face}

EVERYONE I meet tells me that Charlotte looks exactly like Ben... which is true. She's got his lips, eyes, shape of fingernails (we checked this morning), elf ears, pokey brown hair, eyelashes... all we can identify that are mine are her feet, nose, and shape of eyebrows... awesome.