We finally left the rock!

SOOOO much has happened in the last month!
Threw weeks ago, we FINALLY left Hawaii and are back on the mainland and it is absolutely wonderful! There was a surprise waiting for him in the backyard when we got to Virginia...
Grandpa had built him a swing set with his name on it!

Charlie LOVES swinging!






We took Charlie to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time where we met his friends Mikey and Gunnar. Three year old Mikey who is OBSESSED with Spiderman, came dressed in none other than a spiderman costume... Charlie hung out with Gunnar at the table and played with balloons, lollypops, and each others faces.




































The next day Mikey had a Spiderman themed third birthday party where the "real spiderman" made a guest appearance and Charlie got to take a picture with him!



We just got back to Virginia after visiting Charlie's Mimi and PawPaw (Dennis' parents) in Louisiana (I'll post about that later) and in the past 2 days, Charlie has been walking like crazy! He was taking steps here and there before we left, but now stands up on his own without holding onto anything and walks all over the place. His PawPaw said it must be from all that cajun food he ate down there.

He's also got 2 molars that have broken through on top and 2 molars that are about to break through on the bottom... that definitely makes for a grumpy little dude (but his mouth full of teeth is really cute!)

...coming up, our trip to Louisiana to visit Mimi and PawPaw!!!

Family Photos

As promised, here are few of our photos that we had taken in Kaneohe a few weeks ago.
I'm so surprised that there were so many with Charlie looking at the camera considering he was so all over the place that day! I can't wait to get settled into our home in Connecticut so I can frame some!

3 more weeks left!

Holy crap! We have just over THREE WEEKS left on the island! I seriously can't believe it...even more so I can't believe just how much we still have to do to prepare. Moving was so much easier before a baby was involved. I think my biggest anxiety comes from trying to figure out how I'm going to entertain Charlie our last week on the island while stuck in a hotel room without the help of Yo Gabba Gabba and all of his toys...and a baby gate to contain him! Not to mention, we just FINALLY got him in a routine of sleeping in his room by himself, now after the movers come, we're going to have to go at least a month and a half before we get his crib back! But, if we were able to survive dealing with crazy Charlie up until this point, we can survive anything...even a move across an entire ocean and continent!

Charlie has a mouth full of teeth now! I think 5 broke through in a matter of a week. I hope that when the time comes that we decide we want another child, God helps me to forget this teething process.

He's still not walking, although he's been cruising for a couple of months now. I honestly don't think he'll ever walk...as soon as he figures it out, he's just going to start running. Even when he's pushing his walker, he takes off like he's starting off in a marathon. But... he's never done anything slow so why am I even surprised?

We had family photos taken by another photographer on the island. I figured that maybe someone else would be able to grab his attention long enough for us to get a decent family photo. Who was I kidding? Charlie was all over the place looking everywhere but the camera. Here's a sneak peek of our session:




I've also started obsessively planning Charlie's first birthday party. I kept going back and forth about whether or not we'd even have one because we will just be settling in Connecticut and not knowing anyone. Ultimately, I decided that we've already missed entirely too much this last year (baby showers, friends and family meeting Charlie, etc) that we need to have a party, if anything just for Dennis and I to celebrate that we survived. That being said, what better theme to celebrate Charlie turning one than to have a monster-themed first birthday party! Our plan is to drive down to Virginia Beach on a Friday night when Dennis finishes at work, have the party that Saturday afternoon, and head back to Connecticut on Sunday morning. It's going to be crazy, and we're going to be exhausted...but he'll only turn one once!

Here are a few photos of Charlie I took a few of weeks ago..




and one that Dennis took:

wow... it's been AWHILE!

I apologize for my lack of posting... I've been SOOOO busy with my photography business and I've neglected taking any pictures of my own child! Here's a quick recap of our last 2 and a half months:

Charlie is now 8 and a half months old!
He's crawling all over the place, standing up and cruising everywhere! I've gotten him to balance without holding onto anything for a couple seconds here and there but otherwise he's pretty content just holding onto the couch or our hands.


He's got 4 teeth and 2 more on the way!

He acknowledges me as mama and Dennis as dada.

We've finally transitioned him to his crib and what a huge relief that has been. I actually get some alone time now!

Last month he took his very first plane ride when he and I went home to Virginia for 2 weeks. The flight to Virginia was complete hell. He was that baby that I had always rolled my eyes at when flying previously. I would like to take this moment to apologize to every mother I've ever thought wasn't doing enough to quiet their child on the plane. Our flight back to Hawaii was MUCH better.

We had a great time in Virginia, Charlie got to meet my brother, and so many other people who have been waiting to meet him! He even went to his first birthday party for Gunnar, his future best friend and partner in crime.



We FINALLY received our orders for Connecticut! In less than 8 weeks we will be getting on a plane (thank God Dennis will be there this time) and leaving this island FOR GOOD! I absolutely cannot wait to start this new chapter in our lives and to be back on the same body of land that the rest of our family and friends are on! We've missed out on WAY too much living here in Hawaii.

Swinging, Cars, and Monsters!

Tonight we decided to take Charlie over to the park to see if we could get some of his energy out on the swing. He LOVED it.

The other day, we bought Charlie his first car. Only 6 months old and the proud owner of a bright yellow mustang GT. What a spoiled baby!

Don't forget the helmet!

We've been mildly obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba ever since we learned that it had magical powers to keep Charlie quiet when he was 2 months old. Since then, DJ Lance Rock, Brobee, Muno, Plex, Foofa, and Todee have become regulars in our house. After crocheting the owl hat that I posted about previously, I decided to attempt some Yo Gabba Gabba hats and they turned out SO cute! From left to right we have Brobee, Muno, and Plex.

Happy Valentine's Day!

6 months!!!

I'm a few days late but....

HOLY CRAP WE'VE SURVIVED THE FIRST SIX MONTHS!!!!!!


On January 31st we reached the halfway point of Charlie's first year.
Have things been easy?
No.
Has he kept things interesting for us?
Absolutely.

So here's a run down of what we've been up lately:

A couple of weeks ago, he got his first two teeth and judging by his (psychotic, screaming, makes you wanna pull your hair out and wish you were deaf) behavior the last few days, I think there are even more about to break through!



Charlie has been sitting up for a couple months now but a week ago he decided that he could sit up on his own.

He's been ready to crawl for a few weeks now...always up on his knees and rocking back and forth. Crawling backwards has been easy but today he finally mastered the forward crawl!

...and Standing.
Yep, I said it. Last week our 6 month old started pulling himself up to stand. I was sitting on the couch and he was on the floor. Next thing I knew, he was grabbing onto my leg and pulling himself up to stand in front of me.

He is definitely our little monster and is always keeping us on our toes! Before we know it, he'll be running all over the place! It really seems like just yesterday that he made his crazy entrance into our lives!



In the last week I've found a new hobby... crocheting! If I'd known that all it would take was a pattern and a youtube video to teach me how, I would have started a long time ago! Here is a hat I made for Charlie: