A visit from Aiden

Charlotte's favorite (and only) cousin came to visit this weekend for the first time. She was beside herself  with happiness when she saw him. I think he must have been just as happy to see her - he grabbed her hand and they were off to play outside.  Eventually, we corraled them inside the house, where they loaded Oma up with all the toys Aiden brought to show Charlotte, then splashed their way through bathtime.

Despite staying up late the night before, they both woke up bright and early, ready to play.  And teach, as it turns out.  Aiden taught Charlotte all about whales while I cooked breakfast.  For the rest of the weekend, Charlotte happily repeated (and yelled) "Hum-ba!", which translates to "humpback" for those who don't speak Charlottese.

After a delicious pancake breakfast, we headed to the park.

He even shared his new tricycle with Charlotte.  He takes such good care of her!



We pretty much wore ourselves out.  Well, everyone but Aiden.  He was still going strong long after the rest of us were begging for a nap.  Luckily, the afternoon was full of sitting for the adults - sandbox, water table, and toddler-sized swing set.

And then Charlotte found a ball. And then my poor mom ran around like crazy while I sat in the "cool" shade, taking pictures.  Aiden and Charlotte had lots of fun wearing Oma out!

The rest of the visit we spent swimming at the pool, taking walks, riding the "cicles" (tricycles), swinging in the front yard, eating, and watching a great video on sea life that Aiden brought to show Charlotte. It was great fun, and Charlotte has been "talking" about it ever since.



Back to normal

Wow.  I knew I had not been keeping up with the blog lately, but I was surprised (and  little embarrassed) to see my last entry was about Easter.  Sheesh!

So much has been going on.  About a month ago I kinda woke up and realized, oh my goodness, I really am having another baby.  Since then, most of the little bit of energy I have left has gone to starting and sometimes finishing projects around the house.  With the help of Koby and my mom, I've: finished painting and wallpapering Charlotte's big girl room, although it has not a stitch of decoration yet.  Once it's actually done, I'll post pictures.  Until then, well... We've also made two small rose beds, laid a short brick path, put together a second crib for Charlotte, redecorated the "master" bedroom, planted and weeded the garden, filled the freezer full of food, cleaned random parts of the house, and other such things that struck me as necessary due to wonderful pregnancy nesting.

I'm slowly starting to feel ready-ish for the upcoming birth a couple-few weeks from now, which is why I'm here to play catch-up with Charlotte's development.  She has been growing like crazy.  I wish yall could hear her talk.  It's non-stop now.  Alot of it is still jibberish, especially when she walks around with a "phone" (aka: remote, keychain, hairbrush, iphone, etc.), but she has mastered so many words and is quite the communicator now.  Two days ago, she found a fruit cup that she wanted to eat, so she brought it to me to open.  I was changing laundry from the washer to the dryer, so I told her, "Wait for mama." Then I went inside to grab the next load of laundry and stuff it in the washer.  All the while, she's following me, repeating, "Fruit...fruit..."  which sounds along the lines of fwoot. So I repeat to her a couple more times, "Ok, we'll have fruit.  Wait for mama." Finally, she looks at me and says, clear as day, "Hurry!" 

I would list out the words she knows now, but there's no way I'd get all of them.  She also parrots a ton.  Her cousin Aiden has taught her to say "humpback", as in humpback whale. It's her new favorite word apparently, because she has been repeating it ALL DAY LONG. Yay.

Anyways, she's growing and just brilliant, and such a happy girl.  She's showing so much personality and is just a fun little person to be around.  Some things never change, though - she still smiles biggest for her daddy - see the picture below.  So sweet!