Fishies, Swimming and Eye Surgery

Just a few sweet pictures of my sweet boys!

Big boy Charlie playing with his gravity stick. Charlie walking more and more everyday! He knows 80% of the motions to Itsy-Bitsy Spider and will eat almost anything you put in front of him...ok, except gardenburgers or eggs...but do you blame him? Charlie loves pointing at everything and asking "dat?"

This is both Henry & Charlie's favorite sitting position...ouch!

"Hieee!" as Charlie says. "Mom, when you gonna fix my eye?" As a matter of fact, we met with the eye doctor this week and Charlie will be having eye surgery this month (date tbd). We are very excited to fix his "broken" eye, but also very, very nervous for the procedure.I cannot wait for it all to be over. More info to follow... Funny story though, I was bringing Charlie downstairs from his room and his eye was glued shut and Henry tells Charlie..."Tarley, say 'argh', like a pirate"..So funny, yet sad all at once.

Meet our new family pet members (ok, this is just their home) Henry now takes care of 4 fish: Nemo, Dory, Frank and Lola (Henry named them). He is a very good fish owner and both boys squeal freakishly when we feed them. 

Swimming! Saturday, we took the boys to the new pool which had a baby pool, a lazy river, a very big curly slide and 2 normal pools. Henry was fully dooded in his swimwear. He really didn't need the swim shirt seeing how the pool was a sweaty 88 degrees!

Snack-time!

How cute are you??

Henry's version of giving Tarley a hug..

Hmmm mommy, what is this curious large orange item??

Acht! Nasty.

I like to drink my bottles all by myself now...and no more formula! 

Daddy and Henry "getting the bad guys". Oh yea Uncle T - Henry has been working on his hoops game - watch out!!! He was 7 for 10 on his shots tonight. You better start practicing!

oh...so precious!

Lazy bones drunk on his ba!

Henry has been having great days at school and using the potty more and more - we are very proud of him! He loves playing the "drum game" (rock band) 

Happy 1st Birthday Charlie!!!!

On February 11, 2008, daddy and I dropped Henry off at Grandma & Grandpa’s house to spend the night since we knew we needed to leave for the hospital early, early the next morning. I remember trying to keep my mind occupied later that night by watching sitcoms, but instead, I sat on the couch, holding my very large tummy, imaging what our next year was going to be like. Of course, I had these same thoughts repeated throughout the previous 38 weeks that I knew you would be coming, but that night, I just sat there thinking that 11 hours from that moment, I’d actually get to see you, hear you and hold you. You were so still and quiet. Ten hours later, I lay in the surgery suite, shaking from nerves and lord knows what else, knowing that within the next hour, I’d get to see you, hear you and hold you. As every parent does, I wondered what would happen if you weren’t perfect, or if you were sick and I cried at the thought. The anesthesiologist tried to comfort me with awfully silly jokes and stories and I politely tried to giggle and banter back. The room was moving so fast, I had a hard time keeping up with what was happening, but then daddy showed up and before I could process what had actually happened, I heard Nate saying “he’s perfect, he’s perfect, he’s beautiful and perfect!”. Which were the exact words I needed to hear until I could see you for myself. You were born with a knot in your umbilical cord and you had been using the cord as a scarf. Little did we know, that was the very moment you told us what your personality was like!
You are an amazing little human, who has the undeniable ability to capture the attention of everyone in the room, if not for your personality, for your wonderful hair which stands almost straight up. You feel the beat when music is played and have been dancing (or more like grooving) for months now. When you play on your piano, your crazy hair flies around like Mozart’s did. You were born with certain intensity which translates today to your amazing attention to detail and observation. We cannot get you to sit still for a mere photo, but you study someone’s snapping fingers for a few moments and can immediately imitate it perfectly. Sometimes I feel like I need to remind you that you are only ONE, little man, only one. To put it mildly, you blow our minds. You are so unbelievably sweet and always willing to give a hug or a really wet kiss (or bite, but we aren’t picky!) and you love to pick out a grumpy stranger in public and turn their day around with your wonderfully contagious smile and wild hair.
You have added so much to our family in this past year and perfectly fill that space that we had. Though I often fear to see what you will learn to do or say next (i.e., climb over the baby gate, or climb into the bathtub, etc.), I am unbelievably excited to see where you go and what you do and I am forever grateful and honored to be your mommy. Happy birthday baby Charlie! We love you so much.

Here are a few of my favorite photos over the past year:

Love, B