8 months young

*she crawls after you wherever you go in the house

*pulls herself up and cruises along the couch

*after she's up she'll let go to see how long she can stand without tipping over

*hates getting her diaper changed now - she rolls over and screams bloody murder until the second you're done and she's all smiles

*she stares and drools at what you're eating until you give her some

*smiles when you say 'NO!'

*still has zero teeth

*yesterday I happened to flip past Sesame Street and left it on to see if Charlotte would notice. Bert and Ernie came on and she was glued for a minute or two and then went about her business. Then Elmo came on and she looooved him. Here she is watching and eventually pulling up to be right in front of the television when Elmo was on. After his three minute segment she went back to ignoring the t.v. and playing. If she grew up loving Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, Smurfs, Jetsons, Scooby Doo, and the Gummi Bears, I would be one happy mama. Luckily Ben and I have been collecting old school cartoons that we grew up with.

i needed to hear this...

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

Disneyland 2010

A few weeks ago we went with my family to Disneyland. Ben finally had 10 wonderful days to spend with us after he finished his third year of medical school. Only one year left to go, thank heavens. Okay, so this is a HUGE post. I couldn't decide which pictures to post so I posted a ton. Most are of Charlotte ... give us a break, she's our first child! =) We had an amazing time. The weather was a perfect 75 degrees and the park wasn't too crowded. I love Disneyland and almost got teary on the last day even though we had a 6 day pass... good thing we're going to DisneyWorld in September... =)

This little trooper loved D-land. She'd stay up late with us and snooze in the stroller. Obviously her sleep schedule got screwed, but we had so much fun. Here she is snuggling with my sister Laura on the way home from vacation. Beat.

Laura and Emma on the Dumbo ride. Their faces pretty much sum up how we all felt... maybe minus my brother-in-law Dave =)

Charlotte snuggling with her favorite person in the world.

Claire Bear got to ride with me - oh yeah!

My nieces and brother-in-law.

Her usual face anytime you whip a camera out.

Ben's buddy Hallie. Even though they don't get to see their uncle very often, these girls love Ben when he's around =)

Alright... so kind of a random picture.

She still had her cold here... hence the snot bubble.

Ben, my dad, Laura, and her bestie Crystal on the California Screamin' rollercoaster. I've been on it a few times and it makes me want to vomit... I'm a wuss...

We always get matching shirts and wear them together... yes, we're one of those families.

Don't hate.

Charlotte, the Toy Story action figure.

Thank heavens these two have each other. They go on all of the fast/scary rides together. They're on the Maliboomer that shoots you straight up... yuck.

They even had a small shirt so Charlotte could match us all. These two were the only two to wear Mickey ears... they wore them with pride.

With Auntie Laura on the Toy Story arcade game.

Eating some type of gross looking vegetable while the rest of us ate pizza... poor kid.

scrumptious

This was the day we took her to the ER because her temp was 103... hence her dazed/swollen eyed look. But this girl was tugging on the sword and trying to lick it to death despite feeling gross.

Soooo tiny.

Her new smile (picture heavily breathing coming out of that little nose at the same time)

Claire and her papa on the Jungle Cruise ride.

The dorky twins on the Grizzly River ride. Laura looks like she may have wet her pants in this pic.

We got soaked and it wasn't exactly the hottest of days.

I love Em in this picture. She's so cool.

Claire loved this ride but kept saying over and over when she got wet "my mom's gonna kill me, she loves this outfit" hahahaha...

Emma was sweatin' this ride until the end where she couldn't stop giggling from the rush. These two are buds.

We are so dang attractive it sucks for anyone who is in our presence.

Miss Hallie waiting ever so patiently in line.

Alright, I couldn't pick which one I liked best so I chose all three.

Enjoying the little rides in the Bug's Land.

Crystal, Ben, and a tiny pirate.

Chillaxing with Hallie... I wish I could fit into a stroller...

Cracking up while on the Jungle Cruise ride. I think she enjoys life.

The cousins. I wish these four could grow up closer together. It's fun watching them all play together... until the baby cries from too much lovin'. Thanks, Mom, for the matching outfits!

The two pals checking out all of the tiny people on It's A Small World.

*sorry, Carrie, for not having a single picture of you! I didn't even have an ugly picture of you... nothing... nada... zilch... sorry...

*enjoy the SIX videos below

Happy 27th Birthday, Ben!

Today is Ben's 27th birthday and he's working in a psych ward... fun! In tribute I've made a list of 27 things you may or may not know about him:

* he sleeps with his mouth open and yet doesn't snore, loves Disneyland as much as me, is legally blind without his glasses/contacts, gets really annoyed/sickened when I put country music on, would love to live in Alaska, would love to live in Hawaii, stinks at flossing yet NEVER gets cavities, rides his bike to school through every type of Chicago weather, grows a beard during the winter for warmth, has lived in the Philippines/India/Ireland (come this spring), has lost 3 out of 5 times when we bet each other during March Madness, keeps score at every Cub's game, makes me pay him a dollar if I call him a name when we argue, loves to cook, makes me bake his birthday cakes from scratch, loves snowshoeing, always sleeps way past his alarm, is uber picky about clothing, wants a border terrier and will name him Herman, named our daughter Charlotte, will go on any scary ride (and has to go with my sister Laura who is the only other one with guts to do it), taught me how to waltz, always orders an appetizer and usually a dessert, could drink Dr. Pepper all day every day, has really long eyelashes and elf ears that our daughter inherited, and will be an OB/GYN in less than a year.

Happy Birthday, Ben! We love you!

7 months young

This little girl turned 7 months while we were in Disneyland last week. The past month she's changed so much.

She...

*crawls (as of last week)

*climbs over everything

*pulls herself up to stand (which has resulted in her first lump/bruise on her forehead)

*says hiiiii over and over

*growls

*is a ham when the camera is pulled out

*puts her hands up when she's on a ride

*had her first ER visit last week (yes, while in Anaheim) with a 103 temp and an eye infection

*loves a thrill

*still has zero teeth

*still licks your shoulder if she's happy to be held by you

*scrunches up her nose and breathes out of it really fast when she's excited

*talks a lot when her mouth is closed

*high fives like a champ

*claps

*is pretty much awesome all around =)

*Ben and I saw Toy Story 3 a few days ago and both cried and cried about her growing up - if you've seen the movie you'd understand why we started thinking about it =(

ridiculously late

So a few weeks ago Charlotte wanted to wish her Auntie Jenna a happy birthday and her dad/papa/grandad/great grandad a happy day as well. Her lame mother didn't post the pictures until today though. Sorry.

Happy Father's Day!

and

Happy Birthday, Jenna!

*she's a bit obsessed with paper right now.