So Piggle, what do you think of your carseat?

Rockin' & rollin' in the play pen

Piggle is getting better and better at entertaining herself for longer and longer periods of time. My buddy Alan was just asking me about whether Charlotte could entertain herself and I replied that she couldn't do it for long. Lo and behold, she made me a liar this afternoon when she spent a good 15 minutes sitting alone in the play pen without fussing. I put so many toys in with her that it looked like I was making toy soup, but that's beside the point. Here's the little goofball getting her groove on in the play pen.

Quadra-Piggle

Ever wonder what Piggle would be like if she were quadruplets? Check it out!

The week so far

Piggle and I have had a full week so far. Monday morning, we went to Stroller Strides indoors because it was threatening to rain. We shopped a little in the afternoon. That evening, team Big Love won first prize at Trivia Night! It was only Rich, Dawn and me, but we kicked butt and took names. The best part was when Piggle fell asleep in Dawn's arms. This was most amazing because babies all over the world sometimes don't exactly take to Dawn. Looks like Piggle has decided that she likes her though.




Tuesday morning, Alicia took care of Piggle while I had my first three potential cavities filled at the dentist. The dentist refused to say conclusively whether they were cavities, but I got some fillings anyway. The shots didn't hurt a bit, and the drilling wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I recovered so quickly from the ordeal that Piggle and I then trekked out to the outlets in Lebanon (about 45 minutes away or so from our house) to buy some more jammies at Carters. Piggle is growing out of her clothes so fast! After supper last night, we celebrated the fact that Faith Carol made the school's bowling team with a little dessert.

Today, Piggle and I went to Stroller Strides in Brentwood because the Franklin class was cancelled. After a quick pit stop at home to feed Piggle some carrots (her first!), we headed back out to Brentwood to take Alicia to lunch to thank her for baby-sitting yesterday. The meatloaf and the grilled shrimp on fried green tomatoes were both to die for. Piggle, as usual, charmed everyone with her toothless, crinkled nose smile. After lunch, we went shopping at the mall and are now back at home resting.

Thursday and Friday will be spent preparing for a visit from NanaB and Granddad. We have a full weekend of activities planned. More on that later!

Oh great.

And now Piggle apparently knows how to make those funny noises on her own.  There go our hopes for Piggle turning out to be a graceful, delicate child.  (Like that would even be possible with us as her parents.)

Squashing and whining

After the spectacular second-place finish at the Rib Cook-off, we celebrated by feeding Miss Charlie Jo her first taste of squash.  

Despite the look on her face, she really did like it!  I tasted a little and it reminded me of unspiced pumpkin pie.

The next day, we showed Erin and Andrew a typical weekend in Franklin -- lunch at Blue Coast Burrito and a jaunt out to the winery.  

Charlie snoozed for most of it, then woke up and grinned.

I'd like to sample some of that wine right there!

Erin and Andrew found a friendly cat out on the deck.  He was a sweetie!

Then, we had to Erin and Andrew to the airport.  We miss them already!  We're hoping they can come back for the Cook-off in '09!

Rib-Olympics weekend with the Malahowskis

Erin and Andrew flew down for the most exciting weekend of the year for our neighborhood -- the annual Rib Cook-off.  Corey has competed in the past and the results were less than stellar.  Having watched many episodes of "Boy Meets Grill" and "Grill It!", Andrew thought he might be able to help.  The day of our "Rib-Olympics" (as I named them), Andrew warmed up by feeding Piggle her oatmeal cereal breakfast of champions.

And then he tried to eat some of it himself to give him a little boost before grilling.  But it was too gross.

Andrew liked that the white onion I bought him for the sauce was nearly as big as Piggle's head.

Excellent Food Network slicing technique!

The teriyaki-based sauce simmered for hours to reduce.  We thought it was cool how you could watch the oil cook out of the sesame seeds.

We headed across the street to the site of the Cook-off (the Ballentines' backyard) and gawked at the hilarious water slide rented to entertain the kids.

Corey and Andrew made a great grilling team.  Andrew did all the heavy lifting and Corey drank beer.

The ribs were a spectacular sight to behold after slow-grilling in foil for several hours.

They submitted the required five ribs for judging and then we ate dinner while waiting for the results.

It was fun to try the ribs grilled by the other competitors.  Finger-lickin' (and teeth-pickin') good!

The boys won second place out of 14 competitors!  Not bad for a Yankee and a New Yorker-turned-Texan.  Erin, Charlotte and I were so proud.

Such a good influence

We strive on a daily basis to raise Charlotte to be the quintessential little lady with all the poise and grace expected of a Southern Belle. And then her Auntie Erin comes to visit and teaches her stuff like this:

Just reviewing a survey

Piggle and I visited Corey at his office today after lunch with the Vandy Aunties. Corey was struggling with his work, so Piggle helped him out by reviewing a survey for him. Her little eagle eyes spotted some unacceptable encroachments. Good thing we stopped by!

Accessorizing

Little Charlie Jo is tired of having no hairstyle, so she has requested some accessories for her mohawk. In Arizona, Grandma Jo and I bought her some little barrettes. They didn't work so well though. Here's a shot of the only time we really got one to work:

Alicia then gave Lil' CJ some special barrettes for the "hair impaired". They have sort of a rubbery foam on one side of the clip and it really grips those fine baby hairs. Even CJ was surprised it stayed in so well!

Unfortunately, Corey then decided I needed to wear one as well.

Go West, young Charlotte

Charlie Jo slept super late this morning, so I had time to upload some photos. Here's a picture share of Charlie Jo's adventures in the California part of our trip!

Little Miss Sunshine

Charlotte's Great Granny T sent the coolest bib. It buttons up into the kind that has the pocket to catch all of the dribbles, but then it unbuttons to make it way easier to clean. It's absolutely awesome. We tested it out this morning, and it caught all sorts of things. It's also great because it has a very wide neck part. When Charlie gets oatmeal all over her face and then turns to watch the dogs (who circle like sharks while she eats), she usually gets oatmeal all over her shoulder. Not with this new bib! Thanks Granny!

Great Aunt Sibyl

Our trip to California was tacked on to our Arizona trip at the last minute, so we were thrilled Corey's Aunt Sibyl, who lives very close to my parents, was available for lunch to meet her grand niece with almost no advance notice. Charlie warmed up to her great aunt immediately and Sibyl was terrific with her. We'll be back in California for Christmas and hopefully will be able to spend a little more time with Sibyl then.

Back in action

Miss Charlie Jo and I flew home from California yesterday and are back in the swing of things. Our flight home was great, but the end was the best. When we were on our initial descent, two goofy guys sitting in the row behind us made puppets out of their barf bags and put on a little puppet show for Charlie! It was absolutely hilarious, and I'm kicking myself for having packed my camera in checked luggage and failing to get a picture of it. The nice lady sitting next to me figured out that the guys were in a band, and she asked them about it. They were members of the band Storyside:B, which is a Christian rock band. If you click on the link, you get to their homepage. It was the two guys on the left who took it upon themselves to entertain Charlie. Such a crackup.

I'll post some of my favorite California pictures later, but here's one I took this afternoon of Charlie in an outfit given to her by family friends Greg & Susan Lowe. That smile kills me.

Beach bum

Since today was our last full day in California, Grandma Jo, Grandpa Spike and I decided we needed to take little Piggle to see the Pacific Ocean. We basically did an extended photo shoot at Zuma Beach in Malibu, then stopped to have lunch in Oxnard with Piggle's Great Aunt Sibyl, and then finished up by taking a few more pictures at a beach across from Sycamore Canyon in Ventura County. Did our little beach bum like the ocean? Watch the "movie" Grandma Jo made of the photos set to music and decide for yourself!

Sun Devil baby with her monkey

Here are two videos of Charlie in California, playing with the monkey her Auntie Ernie gave her that afternoon. Charlie is also wearing her new Arizona State University Sun Devils dress that Grandpa Spike bought her in Tempe a few days earlier. She is so good at sitting up now that she can even get rowdy and stay upright without help!

Picture share from Arizona part of the trip

Click here to see a fairly long picture share from the Arizona part of our trip!

California dreamin'

Charlie Jo and I are in California now after a long weekend that included Corey in Arizona. We are having a blast, but we are sad Corey had to return to Tennessee to work. Highlights of the trip so far have included Charlotte meeting two sets of her great grandparents, visiting a brand-new second cousin, and shopping with Grandma Jo and Auntie Ernie.

I'm uploading photos for a picture share and will write an entry to that link once that site finishes its "temporary maintenance" and allows me to complete writing captions. In the meantime, here is a goofy little video of Charlotte playing with her favorite toy on the airplane on the flight from Nashville to Phoenix.

Piggle at the polls

Charlie Jo and I had a great morning. First, we practiced playing while sitting up. She is really improving her balance! Next, we got dressed and went to coffee with a group of moms and babies from my moms' group. Charlie charmed everyone with her smiles and her amazing sitting-up ability. And her spitting-up ability. But I digress.

On our way home, we swung by the gargantuan church that serves as our area's polling station to vote in the local election and state primary election. We were very excited to vote for a Bob Tuke to be the party's nominee for US senator, because I got to know him pretty well through my work with Vanderbilt Law alumni. Charlotte was pronounced the cutest voter of the day by the poll workers, and a sweet old man put an "I voted!" sticker on Charlie's infant carrier. I have one question though -- is it bad that I wrote in Charlotte JoAnn Stringer as a write-in-candidate for an uncontested election?

Now we're packing for our big trip to Arizona and California. Corey informed me that it is going to be too hot for clothing and says he plans to be nude most of the time. Well, I guess that leaves more room in the suitcase for Charlie and me.

Some random photos

Taken at one of Piggle's doctor appointment. We need a big mirror like this to put down at Piggle's level so she can play with her "twin"!

The President and Vice-President of the Piggle Fan Club (aka Alicia and Faith Carol) snagged this lovely tutu for Piggle out of the bargain bin at Target. Doesn't she look elegant? It was a little hot that night, so she was cruising around in just her diaper.

Granny T made Piggle this full-body bib. Such a great idea!

Oatmeal cereal can get a little messy.

Especially when the eater of the cereal likes to stick her fingers in her mouth in between bites.

Piggle took Daddy and me to lunch for our 5th wedding anniversary on Saturday. She was a very good girl sitting in her highchair.

I love this shot I took while getting Piggle dressed one morning. She is turning into such a ham whenever we pull a camera (or camera phone!) out.

Shorter Charlotte video

And here's Charlie Jo bopping around in her highchair.

Looooooong Charlotte video

Corey's mom took a nice long video of Charlie sitting up (mostly) on her own. It features lots of sitting, falling, and getting put back upright. Enjoy!

NanaB and Charlie's Tennessee adventures - day 3

The third day of NanaB's visit found us bathing Miss Charlie Jo and lunching in downtown Franklin with Alicia and Steffen (the Marshall's new German exchange student!) at the Franklin Mercantile. None of the bath photos turned out to be suitable for posting and we somehow failed to snap a single shot at lunch, but here are some of the results of the fashion shoot we took that afternoon of Charlie in a pretty outfit (a gift from our neighbors, the Hoeksemas), previously worn at Uncle Jordan & Aunt Jessica's wedding.




We had such a fun time with NanaB and can't wait for her to bring Granddad back for Labor Day!

NanaB and Charlie's Tennessee adventures - day 2

On Monday morning, NanaB and Charlie went along with Niki to Stroller Strides. Even though it was one of the hottest days of the year, they all managed to make it back to the house without suffering heat exhaustion.

Can you believe Charlie already fits into this adorable 6-9 month sized outfit (a gift from Larry's cousin Dick and his wife Pam, who live in the "thumb" of Michigan)?!?! She's not quite five months old yet!

After a quick shopping trip, Charlie arrived home with a new toy. It fills with water and has "sea creatures" floating around inside. Charlie liked to lick it, of course.

Being the modern baby that she is, Charlie had a special high-tech dinner with her Granddad Larry. We Skyped him in on the computer while NanaB fed Charlie her oatmeal cereal.

Monday night is Trivia Night, so NanaB helped wrangle Charlie while team Big Love competed. Fourth place was not what we had hoped for, but it was better than we had done in a while. Charlie had a great time chewing on her new toy (won for her by our buddy David in one of those claw machine things) and then fell asleep in NanaB's arms.

NanaB and Charlie's Tennessee adventures - day 1

Charlie's NanaB escaped the dreadfully mild climate of Michigan and fled to the deliciously steamy Tennessee for a few days' respite with her granddaughter. She flew in Sunday just in time for breakfast.

After a leisurely morning, we headed out to Leiper's Fork and took lunch at Puckett's Grocery. Charlie did well in her highchair for a while. She's strapped into the shopping cart cover (previously pictured in the blog), which doubles as a highchair cover.

Charlie looked so sweet sitting at the table with us like a big girl.

After lunch, we headed over to (where else?) Arrington Vineyards to partake of the spirits and to scout out our competition in the Arrington Tablegating Competition. We will refrain from discussing the Arrington Tablegating Competition until such time as we have registered our appearance and vanquished all other comers.

Outside Arrintgon Vineyards, McGee the bear and Charlie had their picture made.

After the winery, we journeyed back to Franklin for some serious playtime. Charlie put on a little show and entertained NanaB for hours.

Please don't call the Department of Children's Services on us because we allow our daughter to nap on a dog bed.