Settling in for the winter

It's that time of the year again, the days are shorter, the air is colder, and the snow is here.  We are getting all settled in for the winter in our house, but Charlie still enjoys spending time outside whenever possible.  It was pretty fun to watch him experience the snow for the first time last weekend, thought I'd share a few of our favorite pics so far this season!

Fall Update

      Sorry that it's been so long since I've last posted, but the past couple of months have been a complete whirlwind!  Many of you already know that I have been working hard to get into the Fairview system as a medical social worker for some time now, even took a casual position with their hospice program on the weekend just to be able to become an internal candidate for other positions as they opened up.  Well at the end of August I was offered a position at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview on the east bank of the University campus!  And lucky me, within my first few weeks there I was offered another new opportunity as a full time (benefit earning!) pediatric hematology/oncology social worker!!  When the new Amplatz Children's Hospital opens on the west bank in March I will move over to that facility with the rest of the pediatric department, which is pretty cool too!  I have been training into my new role for the past couple of weeks and am really enjoying these new challenges.  I plan to take my clinical exam before the end of the year and will then be so proud to say that I have accomplished all of the career goals I had set for myself so far.
      As a result of this schedule change, Charlie will soon be attending daycare full time during the week.  We have been able to swing a part time schedule for him until now, but he will be turning one on Friday and just loves being there with all the other kids so much that it should be a pretty easy transition.

      That's right, I just said that Charlie will be ONE YEAR OLD in less than a week!  I cannot believe it!!  He is so much fun to be around and appears to learn something new every day!  He likes to walk with his baby walker or by holding onto your fingers and is taking some steps between people when you encourage him to do so.  He likes to dance and sing, play outside, helps dress himself, says mama and dada, has eight teeth, is learning how to eat with utensils, can show you where his belly button is, and still LOVES his puppy, Abby!  Things sure are very different than they were for us one year ago, but we wouldn't have it any other way, we couldn't be happier.

Grandparents

After much anticipation, we are so happy to finally have all of Charlie's grandparents in town!  Last week Grandma Patti and Grandpa John moved from Mondovi, WI, where Aaron grew up and they have lived for the past 25 years, to the Como Park neighborhood of St. Paul.  They purchased a beautiful two story cape cod style home just blocks from Como Lake, the zoo, and Snuffy's Malt Shop, all things I know we will have many fun times at with Charlie as he continues to grow.  Grandma Linda welcomed them to Minnesota with an invitation to Sunday night dinner their first weekend in town and I took the opportunity to snap a picture of Charlie with all of his grandparents, what a lucky boy!

Water Baby

One of Charlie's favorite things right now is playing in the water, whether it's in the bath tub, kitchen sink, at the beach or in a pool, he just gets so excited about it!  He has recently splashed around in the zero-depth pool in Highland Park, a Minneapolis community pool with daycare, and twice this summer we have had the opportunity to swim at Aunt Carol and Uncle Dave's house.  This last time was a family party with cousins, aunts, and Great Grandma Pete!  We had a beautiful day filled with lots of sunshine, food, and happy kids!!

Motor boat with Daddy

The whole gang

Break time in the shade with Mommy

What is that hairy thing on your lip, Uncle Dave?

First Hair Cut

At eight and a half months old, Charlie's beautiful head of hair was already in need of a little sprucing up!  Not all of his newborn hair fell out so it was growing very unevenly, hanging over his ears and down his forehead.  So I called up my friend Laura who has been doing my hair for me for many, many years and scheduled his first appointment at the salon.  He was such a good little boy for the trim while she cleaned him all up just in time for his nine month pictures next week!

A movin' and a shakin'

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, life has been a little crazy these past couple of months to say the least!  And Charlie sure is keeping us on our toes!!  He's been creeping all around the house for a good month or so now by way of the "army crawl" (pulling himself across the floor with only the use of his arms).  He can get up on all fours but then doesn't really know what to do from there quite yet.  It's pretty cute, actually, he'll either freeze like a deer in headlights or rock a bit back and forth trying to figure it all out!  He sure does enjoy this new found mobility, was getting a little frustrated with not being able to do much for awhile there.  He's bored with all the activities that he used to enjoy, now he just wants to move around and explore everything he can get his little hands on!  His fine motor skills have really improved as well, he can pick out the tiniest little detail on a toy, the eyes on an animal in a picture book, or speck of dirt on the floor and spends a significant amount of time using the tip of his finger to explore it.  He also loves to be outside on a walk or in the grass and to socialize with others, although he definitely still prefers his mommy and daddy when feeling a little shy around a new person . . . here's to hoping that his desire for snuggle time never disappears!  He's learning to like lots of new (pureed) foods and seems to prefer the vegetables of all things!  He's also gets very excited about the novelty of drinking water out of a "big person" glass, oh it's the little things in life!! 

But his most recent accomplishment was finally sprouting his first tooth on Memorial Day at seven and a half months old!  While out on the town with Grandma and Grandpa Berglund, Charlie started to gnaw on my finger when I felt a very different sharp sensation in his mouth!  His first tooth!!  After months of what seemed like teething type symptoms, and little white caps that would appear and then disappear again and again, one finally broke through and he is now he is well on his way to an even greater array of meal options!

Aaron and I are enjoying the experience of parenthood more and more everyday.  The reward of seeing his beautiful little face light up with a smile that seems to go from ear to ear is enough to just melt your heart.  He is such a happy little boy all the time, we feel so lucky to have been blessed with our little baby Charlie.  Here are some of our more recent goofy pictures to share with you . . .

                                               Best buds

Going for a ride

                                          Gimme that camera!

Six Months

It's really hard for me to believe, but today my baby is SIX MONTHS OLD!  Had his check up this morning and he's in the 84th percentile for height and 29th for weight . . . gonna be tall and skinny just like his Daddy, Uncle Matthew, and Grandpa Charlie.  Wow, time has just flown by, and Charlie is getting more and more fun every day!  He now loves jumping around in his exer-sauser and doing "EXER-SLAMS!" as Daddy calls them.  We've started rice cereal and he gets really excited when he sees the bowl come out of the microwave and knows that it's meal time!  But what he loves the most is his dog, Abby.  His face lights up like a Christmas tree when she comes into view!  He lifts up his little arms and grabs a handful of hair when she gets close, she'll then turn around and drag her tongue across his face a couple of times causing him to grin from ear to ear!  The other day she stood at the front door barking to come back in and he laughed louder than I had ever heard before!!  We go on walks almost every evening and he loves watching her fetch the ball or a stick at the park.  It's so cute watching him watch her, how fearless he is with her, and how good she is with him.  Growing up with a dog is one of my fondest childhood memories and I hope Charlie will one day look back on his time with Abby with the same nostalgia. 

We're Rolling Now!

After spending lots of time practicing with Daddy this weekend, Charlie is now officially able to roll over all on his own! He did it for the first time after dinner on Valentine's Day at Grandma Linda's house. Even Great Grandma Pete was there to witness the magic! It sure has been fun watching him put so much effort into it. While laying on his back he tightens up his little baby abs of steel, swings his legs up in the air, and crunches over hoping to have gained enough momentum to follow through with a roll! We lay down on the floor right in front of him with lot of smiles and enthusiastic words to encourage him to keep trying. He seems to really enjoy it, smiling himself the whole way through! And when he's able to tuck that arm just right and flip over to his stomach, he looks up at his very proud parents with a smile that says, "Look Mom and Dad, I did it!" We couldn't be more excited for this milestone on the path to mobility!!

Family Resemblance

I've had several people tell me that they can see a lot of my side of the family in Charlie. Some say that they can see my features, Grandma Patti swears she sees Grandma Linda in his pretty little face, and I really saw Matthew when Charlie was first born (the baby picture comparisons were actually quite striking)! But now all I see when I look at him is Aaron, it might have a lot to do with his beautiful blue eyes. I know that all babies are born with bluish colored eyes and they could change to something else as late as six months of age, but I am convinced that Charlie will be keeping his gorgeous baby blues courtesy of his handsome Daddy! It wasn't until I paused in the middle of a paparazzi-like photo shoot with Charlie this evening to review my work that I saw what others have seen for some time now . . . ME! I have to say that this latest picture does remind me a lot of a few of my pics when I was just a babe myself!! He's sitting in his Bumbo on the kitchen counter while I was getting dinner ready. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this amazing gadget, it's a cool little seat that helps babies sit up, has a tray that attaches on the front high chair style, and Charlie loves to sit in it while playing with his rings. And we can't do much of anything now without a bib attached or burp rag in hand because he is drooling like it's going out of style!

We survived!

Well, we survived our first week of life back to normal! Charlie had a great time at daycare, and did much better than mommy did, of course! ;) Actually, I think I did pretty well, I only cried on the first day and called to check in once over lunch. Each day I dropped him off it was easier and easier to leave him. It helps that we are so happy with the daycare provider we chose, she is so nice and since he is the only infant she has right now he gets lots of hands on attention! She sends him home each night with a progress report of the day and it helps me to see that he eats and sleeps the same as he would if he were home with us. She tells me everyday about what a good baby he is . . . but we already knew that, right?! We are also lucky to have been able to work it out so that he is only in daycare three days a week. Aaron and I have arranged our work schedules so that he is home with us Thursday and Friday, with Grandma Linda as a back up if ever necessary! I am really happy to only work four days a week now (Monday-Thursday), it feels like a nice compromise between being a mommy and a social worker. Everyone at work was so nice all week, checking in with me everyday about how we were adjusting. I feel so blessed that this has turned out to be such a smooth transition and thank everyone for all their support!

Last Days of Freedom

So after twelve long weeks of maternity leave, my gig being a full time stay at home mom is quickly coming to an end. This weekend consists of my last two days of freedom . . . I go back to work on Monday morning. It is a bittersweet time for me, I love being with Charlie and these past three months off have been such an amazing time, but I also love being a social worker. I do look forward to working again, but I know leaving him at daycare that first day will be really hard. Thankfully we found a daycare provider (after a long and arduous search!) who we are very happy with. Her name is Kim and she only lives a few blocks away from us. While visiting with her earlier this week she invited me to call as many times as I wanted to during his first few days there! Thank you, Kim, I just might take you up on that!! So wish me luck on Monday morning, and feel free to give me a hug if you see me around that day . . . but don't be surprised if it's followed with some tears!

Also, today we celebrate Charlie's grandfather's birthday! My father Charlie would have been 60 years old today! It's really hard to believe . . . please keep us in your hearts as we all think of our lost loved one on his special day today.