Water Baby :)

Charlie LOVES anything having to do with H₂0. That includes Bath time (she cries when I take her out), drinking it (don't you dare bring a Poland Spring bottle near the child without offering her a sip) and of course sitting in her baby pool!!  

Eska wanted to take a dip too! Charlie is a good sharer as you can see...

I did discover ONE form of water she doesn't like... I accidently sprayed her with the sprinkler while watering the sod... yea, she wasn't a fan of that!!

Gorton's Fisherman

Charlie didn't like the grass at first...

Then she realized it's not so bad... She had fun pulling it out and feeding it to Eska!

Strike a pose there's nothing to it... Vogue!

I love this little outfit! My girlfriends mom bought it for her :) She has the best taste!! I think I was obsessed with everything she has ever picked out for her!! Dan says Charlie looks like the Gorton's fisherman in this outfit, which I guess she kinda does, BUT I will say she is the cutest 'Gorton's fisherman' I've ever seen!!!

Pink

For those of you who have met me in the last 3 years, my hair is naturally blonde and by blonde I mean not a pretty blonde, but an ashy, mousy blonde that as I am told is the 'perfect base for highlights'. For just about 23 years of my life, I've been blonde and it wasn't until more recently that I moved to the dark side... well, after consulting with many of my longtime friends WE decided it would be a good idea to return to blonde, as the brunette phase has expired. So the big day was June 23rd, yesterday! When I got to the appointment with my good friend and fav stylist, Laura, I told her I was nervous, to which she responded, 'Why? I'm not', ladies and gentlemen, this was the kiss of death!! haha In the past years Laura has done my hair, she is ALWAYS nervous, with the exception of one time... and on that one time my hair turned PINK! You know how history has a tendency to repeat itself... well it did! I guess when you bleach semi-permanent color it turns pink, who knew?!?!?! Now the ONLY reason I had remnants of semi-permanent color in my hair is because when I was pregnant, they say its safer to use that. I'll just add 'turning my hair pink' to my list of how having a baby ruins you! (really, I'm j/k, I would take every stretch mark and pink strand on my head a hundred times over again to get my baby Charlie!) But seriously, I'm compiling a list!  So my appointment was at 6:15 pm, we left the salon at 11:45 pm.  Laura slaved away fixing my fluorescent hair in quite literally a sweat shop, as they turned off the A/C at 9:00! I can't say my hair is BLONDE... but it's not really brown either... it's somewhere in limbo, maybe a brownde? At least it isn't pink!! It is a step in the right direction that is for sure!!!

Water baby

Charlie LOVES water! This video is from yesterday... it was SWELTERING in our house when I got home from work, so Charlie wanted to go in her pool for a bit :) Note: is it weird that I can put my 9-month old's hair in a pony tail??

Playing or Fighting?

Can you imagine what the inside of my house looks like??

The yard is prepped for the sod to come, and Eska & Finn are loving every minute of it!! They wrestle in it, then dig holes to lay in so they can cool down! As if my vacuum hasn't already been in overdrive from the shedding that is taking place!!! UGH! It just never ends... they are lucky they're cute :) Oh and that squealing in the background is Miss Charlie... She LOVES when they play!! In fact, the first time we ever heard her laugh was at Eska and Finn playing in the living room! She loves her puppies :)

I'm 9 months!!

This sweater is handmade! My boss' wife made it for her when I was preggers... I love it!! I'm so glad it finally fits her!!

I can't believe my Charlie Grace is already 9 months! 

(she is starting to wave... it is seriously too cute!)

Work in progress...

Here are some pics of the other side of the patio that is still being worked on...

The flower bed Dan and my father-in-law built... It took them almost 12 hours (after Dan dug the trench for the stone) and there was only a minor casualty! (Dad Russell was severely burned from the cement! OUCH!!) I think they did a really nice job! I can't wait to add some flowers :)

From were the patio ends to the end of the fence will be grass. You can tell the condition of the soil is not conducive to growing grass, hence the expected delivery of sod... which is now coming next week.
And of course a few pics of my babe...
These toes are scrumptious!

Patio pics

Here are a few pics of our patio...

Our neighbors refer to our retaining wall as "The Great Wall of Russell"! haha It is quite large! Each wall is 4 feet and extend past our house on either side... You can kinda get an idea of the size by comparing it to Eska (she is to the right of the tiki torch!)

The patio is done... and I have the blisters to prove it!

AHHH... the patio is done!!
• stone for patio (check!)
• table and chair set complete with a huge umbrella (check!)
• chiminea (check!)
• tiki torches to keep the skeeters away (check!)
• grill (check!)
• an alcoholic beverage garnished with an umbrella in my hand (let's not push it!)

We still have some more work to do... Dan is building me a flower bed as we speak and the sod is getting delivered on Tues but it is getting closer to BBQ ready!! YAY!!

One highlight from the above process:
Matt (the very talented, jack of all trades carpenter/mason) measured the future patio to be 40' x 47' (which was an over estimate, but not by all that much). The day we went to go order the stone, Dan couldn't get in touch with Matt so he over estimated, giving Meier Stone the measurements of 50' x 50'. Well after all is said and done, of the 22 pallets ordered and delivered... we had 13 left over. That's right, 13! What are we going to do with 13 pallets?!?!?!?!?! O and did I mention there are signs all over the store in large bold letters 'NO RETURNS. All SALES ARE FINAL'. O boy! I figured I would give them a call, using my maiden name because my cousin's office is right above them and he has a great working relationship with them. After selling my soul and offering up my first born, he said he would come pick them up and just charge a restocking fee!! THANK GOODNESS!! He thought it was hilarious that we (ah-hem Dan) made this blunder... saying I quote "Ya know, 30 years I have owned this company... and in those 30 years NO ONE has over ordered this much!" haha Leave it to my hubs! The owner is a great guy! We had a few laughs (at Dan's expense) and he came and picked them up, freeing up oodles of space :) Did I mention Dan had to go there today to get some other stone to make my flower bed?? hehehe

I am out of the running for the Mother of the Year award for 2010

I took Charlie to see Dr. Chi yesterday for her 9 month check up (a little early) and the poor baby has an ear infection in her right ear! I took her about a month ago because she was pulling on her ears, but they were clear... this time there was NO pulling, but an infection, go figure! Clearly, I have no idea how to read this kid... Dr. Chi said when babies under 1 year old get an ear infection it is due to either environment (daycare, etc) or genetics... in this case it is the latter... THANK YOU DADDY! Dan had such bad ear infections as a baby he had to get tubes :( I hope this is a one time only event, but according to Dr. Chi (a wealth of statistics) 90% of babies under 12 months that get ear infections will get another in the next 3 months... YIKES! In the meantime, Charlie is on Augmentin 2x a day and must take a probiotic 3 times a day (the same probiotic I took 1 x a day when I had thrush). I feel so bad for her, but she is a little trouper! You would never know her inner ear looks like a 'dunkin donut's bagel' (Dr. Chi's words!!) O and today my good friend Kristen is watching Charlie to help out because my mom is out of town... Kristen is almost 8 months preggers!! Of all the days for Charlie to be sick (and most likely miserable)!!! btw, it is supposed to be 88 degrees today and we have no A/C! Kristen may die!

O and side note... charlie is a bobble head! She was in the 10th percentile for weight, 75% for height and 95% for the size of her head!! haha That is one big brain in there :)

Jolly jumper 2

She means business people...

Jollyjumper1.MP4

Charlie loves her Jolly jumper!!!

Dadadada.MP4

Uploading this video has been the bane of my existence!!

lets try this again!!