Oh Charlie

Sweet little Charlie has decided that he is no longer happy with sitting still:) In the last 2 days, against all of Mommy and Daddy's attempts to stop him, he has started crawling. 5 1/2 months seems insanely early to me for a baby to crawl, but he has always spent so much time on his tummy that I suppose it was inevitable. His crawl isn't pretty, he gets up on all fours and then lunges himself forward (he kind of hops) and then does it again, but it is a crawl nonetheless, and he can move pretty far pretty fast. I think within a week or two he will have really mastered it and have it down. I've tried to get a few videos, but he of course won't cooperate when I get out the camera, so for now here are some pics. He was loving crawling around in the freshly cut lawn last night. While I'm proud of his new accomplishment, I'm also really sad about it. Why is my baby growing up so fast?

I think this one is hilarious, can you tell how proud of himself he is?



Excuse the grass on his face that is in all of these pics




He's also figuring out how to go from all fours to a sitting position



and sampling some of the lawn in the meantime.

Random

Just a few random pics from the last week. We've been enjoying the wonderful weather, yes, I did say wonderful weather in reference to Illinois in August:) It's been low 80's for the last few weeks, so we've been enjoying spending a lot of time outside, and just hanging around. Alec has gotten so good at riding his bike and I love all the freedom the new skill gives us. We ride all over the place; to the store, the library, to lunch. It's a great activity for all of us, Charlie also loves to ride behind me in the Chariot, and it helps to use up some of the insane amounts of energy that Alec has every day.

Charlie idolizing Alec

Practicing sitting up

Alec is no longer satisfied with just pushing his own mower behind Matt, now he gets to help push the big mower when they do the front yard.



We had painters here to do some touch-up work and Alec was fascinated. He kept opening the door to tell them things, and then he would run up to me and say things like, "Wow Mom, those painters are sure nice."

Videos

Just a few cute videos. Alec made amazing progress swimming this summer, and since Sunday was the last day that the pool by our house was open, we decided to let him try the diving board, which he has had his eye on all summer. We weren't allowed to be in the water, or to help catch him at all, so he had to be able to swim to the side from the deep end all on his own. Matt was a little hesitant, but after seeing Alec in the water all summer long, I knew he could do it. We let him try, and he did AWESOME! He swam better than he ever has and he had no fear on the diving board what so ever. He was running off, doing cannon balls - it was hilarious, and by the end he had an audience b/c everyone around us was so impressed with how small he was. Only bad thing about it was that I didn't have my camera or video camera with me. The big pool that's a few miles away was open yesterday and is open for the next 2 weekends, so we are determined to get some video before pool season is officially over. Of course, the diving board was closed yesterday, so I didn't get any video then, but I did manage to get a video of Alec practicing his diving board jumps off the side of the pool. You can see what a great little swimmer he's become. We're both so proud of how determined and athletic he is.

Just a funny video I found when uploading . Love the little voice, and Retta, the fake laugh at the end is just for you:)


Not to be forgotten, here is little Charlie following in his big brother's footsteps. This was at the good old Meadowglen pool while we were back in CO.

The Market

Kids are so funny...this morning Alec and I were up together eating breakfast and I asked him if he wanted to walk down to the Saturday market. He looked at me very seriously and said, "No mom, Daddy told me the market crashed." :)

We LOVE Colorado!

We just got back from a wonderful trip to CO. Nothing will make you appreciate the beautiful CO mountains and sunshine like being away from it for 6 months. Just landing at DIA and walking out into the fresh, dry air has such an awesome impact on me now. Anyway, the boys and I were there for almost 3 weeks, and Matt joined us for about 10 days. It was a really wonderful trip and we got to catch up with lots of friends and family, while also managing to relax and just enjoy CO a little bit. I have so, so many pics that I was kind of overwhelmed by where to start with this blog, so here is a bit of a hodgepodge of them all. Some highlights of the trip were 2 trips up to Beaver Creek, 4 hikes that Alec did all on his own, tons of swimming, lots of biking (Alec got his own bike for Grammy's house,) a ride on the Georgetown steam train for Alec, paddle boat riding, homemade popsicle making, putt-putt and go-carts, sleepovers with cousins and Abby Root and Tuncle Toss, several play dates with some of our best friends, lots of adult lunch and dinner play dates, and lots of time with family. We truly love CO and are reminded when we are there why we miss it so much. Thanks to everyone for making it such an awesome trip, and be forewarned, here are a ton of pics.

Charlie came with my mom, sister and I for our annual girls' weekend with my Aunt and cousins up in Avon. He loved socializing with all the ladies.


He and his cousin Emma joined us for vino

and pedicures


Dinner with cousins Rodney, Kara and Tyler

The pool with Bub

Alec has been dying to go on the diving board at our pool, but I've told him he has to be able to swim across the pool in the deep end to do it. We went to the Splash pool in Golden one morning and they would let me wade in the water below the diving board to help him out, so he finally got to test out the diving board, even though he is still not quite able to swim totally by himself. He was the littlest one in line (darling) and he LOVED it. He went about 15 times, and I had to drag him away. He also did a great job swimming to the side on his own.

mid jump

swimming to the side

Charlie opted for some snuggles

Play date at our friend Hollands' pool. Here are Alec and Charlie with the Nichols' boys.

We got to meet one of my childhood friends, Tonia, and her son Kellen:)

Putt-putt, no joke, Alec got a hold in one on the first hole.

My mom bought Alec a popsicle cookbook before we came and it was a huge hit. Alec wanted to read it every night before bed (literally we would read the ingredients and steps of the recipes) and they also made several different kinds of popsicles. This also prompted Alec to want to go through my mom's cookbooks, and occasionally read them aloud to his brother.

Making homemade caramel corn for a movie night

His new bike


At the top of Rattlesnake Gulch in Eldorado Canyon. This was Alec's first 3 mile hike and he loved it. He didn't complain at all, and made it to the top w/o any breaks. His performance was far superior to Miles'.

With Papa Ross

Also Charlie's first real hike


Popsicle making

At the pool with cousin Reid

Alec, Reid, Quinn and Charlie

More posicles


Charlie showing off his smile with Grandma Susan

On the Georgetown train

An attempt at a Sungy family pic, can you tell it was past bedtime?

Sharing his hard work with his cousins

At Chautauqua


Hiking with the Stewart family

Charlie snoozing

Making homemade pizzas with his CO BFF James

James, Cormac, Alec and Charlie

A bike ride to DQ for ice cream

Alec was so worn out everyday he couldn't make it through a movie

Charlie joining us for cards

Alec with Amelia Smetzer

even more popsicles

Hiking at Piney Lake above Vail

It was spectacular, everything we love about CO. We nick named Alec "rockhopper" after this 6 mile hike b/c of what an awesome job he did on the trail.


Some snuggles with Grammy

and go carts with Tuncle Toss!!