Four Years!

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."

I can't believe it's already been FOUR years! Everyone who thought we were crazy for getting married less than 8 months after we met, look at us now!

Dennis surprised me today with a bouquet of beautiful red roses. He's given me flowers only one other time since we've been married and that was a couple years ago.... I guess it took birthing his child to finally change that! (Totally kidding!)

On a completely serious note, four years ago I married my best friend and soul mate and I absolutely could not be happier.
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In Charlie news:

Charlie smiles more than any other baby I've ever seen... and I may be a little biased but he's seriously got the best smile ever. Over the last couple of weeks he has transformed into such a happy baby....so completely different than the inconsolable baby I wrote about a few weeks ago. I'm so proud of every decision we've made so far... from our choice to have a non-medicated child birth to how we've chosen to parent our child. Not worrying about putting him on a 'schedule' or letting him 'cry it out' like so many have suggested is obviously working for us.

Our trip to the Botanical Garden

Today we went to Fosters Botanical Garden in downtown Honolulu. It had some of the most beautiful tropical flowers and plants I've ever seen. We had a great time just walking around and hanging out with Charlie. Here are some pictures from our day:

The Bird of Paradise was the first flower that Dennis sent me 3 days after we met in February 2006.... Who sends those flowers to someone he just met and how could he possibly have known that they were one of my favorites?! I like to think that it was a foreshadowing of our future.... I never would have guessed that 4.5 years later we'd be living in Hawaii with a beautiful baby boy, about to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary in 3 days.

We also got Charlie's bumbo seat in the mail today and he loves it!

Hawaiian Pumpkin Patch

Even though we are stuck on a tropical rock where it's summer everyday, I'm trying to make the best of October in Hawaii. Last year didn't bother me so much because I was so concentrated on Dennis returning home from Afghanistan at the end of the month that I didn't have time to think about much else. This year is different. I absolutely want nothing more than to be home and feel the weather changing, see the leaves changing, drink hot coffee without having to sit in the air conditioning, go shopping for new fall clothes, throw an LSU hoodie on for gameday, put a halloween costume on my child that won't make him incredibly overheated, go to a real pumpkin patch with tons of pumpkins, and just about everything else that this amazing month has to offer... on the mainland. In a nutshell, I'm homesick.

Yesterday we took Charlie to a pumpkin patch.... ok, ok, Dennis took ME to the pumpkin patch. While it's a bit strange to see aqua water behind a field of pumpkins, I'll take what I can get. Charlie slept the whole time, while Dennis and I walked around and picked our pumpkins. Dennis got one, I got one, we got a baby one for Charlie, and a pretty little white one for decoration. We had a good time and it will be fun to go back next year when Charlie is walking and take him on the "hayride", walk through the cornfield maze, and let him pick his own pumpkin. Here are some pictures from our day:

Baby Smiles

I didn't realize just how much Charlie had changed until I went back and looked at pictures from when he was born. He's gotten SO big! At birth he weighed 7lbs11oz and was 20 inches long. At 9 weeks, he is 11lbs11oz and 23 inches long! He is starting to develop a fun little personality and smiles all the time. There is absolutely nothing better in life than seeing Charlie's face light up and smile at me just because I look at him. He's become so vocal and coos and "talks" so much. He loves the word "Hi!" Anytime we say "hi" to him he responds to us. Charlie has also started laughing! He's been giggling in his sleep since he was born but recently has started to laugh at Dennis and I, but mostly at the ceiling. I like to think he's talking to angels. They're telling him to be nice to mom and he just laughs and says "oh, yeah right!" Over the past couple of weeks he has become such a fun, enjoyable little baby and definitely keeps Dennis and I entertained.

2 month photos

Charlie is 9 weeks old today! Yesterday we had his 8 week well-baby appointment and he now weighs 11 lbs 11 oz...
Our little man is getting chunky!

8 weeks

7 weeks