Bananas!

I have been trying to wait until Charlotte is 6 months to feed her anything besides breastmilk, but she has been so interested in food, and grabbing things and putting them in her mouth, that I decided we would try to give her some food. She will be 23 weeks tomorrow, and has been nursing a lot more frequently and I just felt she was ready! We were at Amy and Jim's tonight for ChickIN Patty night and she was trying to put EVERYTHING in her mouth, so we put her in Rosie's high chair and Amy brought out a banana!I gave half of it to her so she could grab it herself and gnaw on it. She did great! After she got down about halfway I got a little nervous she might choke on the remainder so I mashed it up and fed it to her. She ate most of it, got some on her hands and dress, but for the most part it went into her mouth! Maggie thought this was great!
MMM.... Bananas!
Chris is going to wonder what happened to his baby when he gets home!
I wasn't really prepared for a mess, but there was very little to clean up once I got her dress off her. She did really great for her first time eating!!!!
(Lisa, I promise I will get the banana out of the dress!!!!)

Charlotte and Kobi

Mimi and I have been trying to spend time with all the doggies, since Baylie occupies the basement, and Kobi and Lucie the upstairs.... Mom was working downstairs most of the day so Baylie had lots of company. Kobi and Lu on the other hand were feeling a bit neglected, so when Charlotte woke up from her nap we decided to play on the floor in the living room for a while. Lucie does not like Charlotte. She wants to be the queen of the house and doesn't like a little baby taking away her attention. Kobi on the other hand is often found sleeping under my bed while Charlotte is napping... just to make sure she is ok! Kobi hasn't gotten too close to her since we have been home, but today he was in rare form. He was licking her nose and wagging his tail like crazy! I tried to get a picture but of course he didn't cooperate!
Charlotte thinks all the dogs are so funny! She laughs whenever they come near her!
She has also been quite the drama queen today! She has been hysterically crying for about 10 seconds to see if she will get a reaction out of whoever is around... then calms right down and starts smiling again. Can't wait for her to be a teenager! She calmed down right after I took this ridiculous picture of her screaming...

Playing outside!

This afternoon Charlotte and I took a nap! When she woke up we went and joined Mimi who was working in the garden, and Baylie, who was on the tie line outside. 

Baylie came back from Grandma and Grandpas and is staying at Mimi's house until we go home. Kobi and Lucie are living upstairs, and Baylie downstairs, to keep the peace! Baylie enjoyed being outside today!
We tried really hard to get a picture of the two of them but Baylie was very focused on the ball!
Charlotte discovered how to blow raspberries with her mouth today! It was very amusing and she just spent the last 2o minutes in bed blowing raspberries instead of going to sleep. What a silly girl!

Playground and Colors!

Charlotte and I went to meet Amy, Maggie and Rosie this morning to go for a walk/jog while Molly and Rory were at camp. As soon as Charlotte got in the stroller she passed out and slept for about an hour until we stopped and she woke up! After our walk, instead of going home, we waited for the kids to be finished at camp, so Maggie and Rosie got in the swings! 

I brought Charlotte over to watch Rosie and she started going bananas! She was laughing and squealing! She thought Rosie was so funny swinging!

So I took her on the swings too! I can't wait until she is big enough to sit in a swing herself! She does sleep in a hammock so I know she loves the motion!

This afternoon while Charlotte was napping, Grandma and I fininshed her color book! I get ideas in my head and then boss Grandma around until she sews for me! This project actually took some time, but we finished it tonight. 
Grandma's neighbor has an embroidery machine and sewed "Charlotte's Colors" on the cover!
So many colors she just doesn't know what to do!!!
I think she is getting a bit sick of the camera though!!!!

Grandma Great's and Chickin Patties!

Yesterday we had lunch with Grandma Great and Great Grandma Great! (They always strive to be better than the other!) Grandma Great's gardens were beautiful as always, and I tried very hard to get Great Grandma Great and Charlotte to both cooperate. Charlotte had other plans!

Her hands were much more interesting!
Grandma's went through hoops to try to get her to smile!
She gave us a little grin from time to time, and kept on chewing on her hands, or watching what Baylie was up to!
We gave up and the Grandma's took Charlotte for a walk in her "buggy" as Grandma Great calls it!
Tonight we went to the Funny Farm for Chickin Patty Night as usual. Poor Charlotte was not very happy and I think I know why. She is not used to having older babies steal her toys!!! Rosie loved Charlotte's toy's and had to have them both in her hands! I think she was happy to not be the baby in the house!
She did try to get Charlotte to talk on the phone! It ended with the phone on top of Charlotte's face followed by some tears.
Amy took Charlotte for a bit and of course gave her whatever was right in front of her to play with, which happend to be a paper plate! Charlotte loved it! Who needs toys! Before we know it she will be playing alongside Maggie and Rosie in the spices!
As I was gathering our stuff to get ready to leave, I was searching everywhere for Sophie. I could not find her!!! Finally I made some comment about the giraffe and Jim said "Ohhh... there is a Giraffe in the little fridge in the kitchen"... I wonder how Sophie got there??? (She was sleeping on top of a paper towel and a lime!)

Sophie

This morning we went to Grandma's and Charlotte was so excited to see Grandma Great...
...And then she started to gnaw on Grandma so we brought out Sophie the Giraffe. Charlotte has been trying to put EVERYTHING in her mouth, and she really loves Sophie. She is getting really good at picking things up, and grabbing them, then shoving them into her mouth!The designers of Sophie decided that it was necessary to put a squeaker inside. While this may be intriguing to a baby, those families with dogs have to take extra measures to make sure this glorified version of a doggie chew toy doesn't end up ripped to shreds by the dog. Baylie was totally uninterested in Sophie previously, but now that Charlotte can really grab it, and make it squeak, Baylie is beside herself. She just doesn't understand why the baby has it and she doesn't!
Charlotte would drop Sophie causing Baylie to get all excited, then she would kick her feet and hit poor Baylie in the face!
Baylie pawed at Sophie a couple of times after Charlotte would squeak her...
...but then decided if she didn't want to get in trouble she better obey. 
Poor Baylie just sat on the pillow and watched Charlotte, wondering why I was being so mean and not letting her rip it apart!
Once Grandma came in Baylie started to get really annoyed and jumped up on the couch in an effort to steal Sophie. Grandma quickly made her get down and I am happy to report that Sophie is still in one piece. I guess tomorrow I need to buy Baylie a squeaky toy of her own to rip apart!

Saratoga!

Yesterday was a beautiful day! It was sunny, warm and not very humid! We put Charlotte down for an early nap and then headed up to Saratoga Race Track, since Judith and Fred had never been! Charlotte wore Joli's old dress and was all set in her track attire! 

She was in the best mood!
We saw our friends the Smith's at the track and Jen tried to steal her. Grammy watched on carefully to make sure Jen didn't run off with her!
We went up to the fence to watch the horses! Charlotte was so excited!



In between races, Grampy and Mr. Smith decided to give Charlotte a lemon to chew on. She actually loved it until Grampy got some of the juice in her mouth and she realized it was pretty sour!

After the races, we went to have dinner and then walk around downtown Saratoga. It was opening weekend at the track, so they had a festival downtown with lots of different bands playing on the streets. Most of them were too loud but we found one guy that was playing a guitar and it was great music and not too loud! Charlotte and I danced and then she got very sleepy and rested with Grammy. 
This morning Grammy and Grampy left to go home. Charlotte was very sad but we had a great visit!