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

Who Dat Baby- then and now

7 months ago in anticipation of the super bowl, this was our little who dat baby:

and this is him now:

Charlie will be 6 weeks old on Saturday and I can't believe how fast he's growing! We've been getting little smiles here and there but yesterday was a day full of smiles! We definitely have our hard days but when he gives me a big gummy grin, it definitely makes it all worth while. We had a really really difficult day earlier this week. Charlie refuses to sleep sometimes and after 13 hours of barely napping for more than 5 minutes at a time, he was a complete miserable little screaming monster. There was absolutely nothing that Dennis or I could do to console him and we both felt defeated. A friend recommended 2 songs to me that she used to listen to during the hard nights. One was "It won't be like this for long" by Darius Rucker. It is such a sweet song and so true but it's about a father and his newborn little girl so it didn't hit home quite as well as the 2nd song.... "If he's anything like me" by Brad Paisley. All I have to say is, holy crap I'm glad I didn't hear that song while pregnant. I don't think my crazy, insane pregnancy hormones could have handled it. I can barely handle hearing it now! I listened to it first thing in the morning laying there with Charlie and looking at him sleeping so peacefully after the exhausting day we had before and just cried my eyes out. Never has a song had more meaning than that one and I knew Dennis just had to hear it. Anyone who knows Dennis, knows that he was definitely a troublemaker growing up and it has definitely crossed our minds many times about what kind of craziness we will have to look forward to with Charlie.

I figured the best way for Dennis to hear the song was to make a little video to go with it.

Here it is:

and so it begins...

Charlie's first official football season!