Pizza and vultures

We had pizza at Mellow Mushroom (YUUUUUUUUM!) last night with Joslyne, Demetri & Zoey. Somehow I forgot to take pictures of anything but Charlotte toddling around before dinner.



Anyway, afterward we headed back to Zozo's pad for some brownies. As soon as each adult got a slice, CJ and Zozo turned into rabid vultures. Actually, they were more like zombies seeking brains (there was a lot of grunting and zombie-like noises while they grabbed aimlessly in the general direction of the chocolate treats). First they attacked me.



Then, they went after Joslyne's slice.



Thwarted, Zozo decided to chomp on an elephant instead.



It was a great night with delicious food and terrific friends!

After the whale spout hairdo was taken out...

...we learned that CJ's hair has an AMAZING memory!

Stringer Baby 2.0

We fully intend to find out the gender of our second child, but will not have that appointment until July.

If we have another girl, Niki and I are 95% sure that we will name her Elizabeth Jane Stringer (I, in particular, would probably just call her "Lizzie").

If we have a boy - well - (as you may remember from our blog posts when we were pregnant with Charlie) we still have not settled on a boy name.

We need your help.

Here are the rules:

1. Middle name should be James.
2. First name cannot start with an "O" (we do not want an "OJ").
3. First name cannot start with a "B" (we do not want a "BJ").
4. We may, or may not use initials as a nickname ("PJ", "AJ", etc.)
5. The last syllable of the first name cannot be "-er".

Do you have any thoughts? Propose a name, and tell us why you think we should use it!

CHALLENGE!!

I think Quinn wants to challenge Charlie Jo to a dance off... Click here to watch his moves!

Shake that booty

Warning - this video is quite long (over 4 minutes), but until I learn more about editing with our movie program you're going to just have to suffer through it to see all of Charlie Jo's hot dance moves. She's a dance machine.

Movie time!

They may not exactly be Annette and Frankie, but check out the bathing beauties in action:

Beach blanket bingo

CJ and Zozo took advantage of the gorgeous weather to splash around in the back yard. After they had enough of the sun, they continued the playdate inside. Joslyne and I were too lazy to get them dressed again, so they romped around in diapers. It didn't slow them down a bit!

Not sure I can deliver with that kind of build-up!

I wracked my brain all day for a creative and exciting way to announce it, but nothing came to me. So I'll just get to the point. Charlotte will no longer be an only child in December! I'm 10 weeks pregnant, which means Charlotte will be a little over 21 months old when her sibling is born.

Corey and his sister are about that same distance apart, and I am only 23 months older than my little brother. So, this seems like good timing for us. Most people seem to think we may have rushed things a bit and they warn me how difficult it's going to be. I see plusses and minuses to any age difference, and we're happy with our choice.

There has been a distinct lack of blogging over the past couple of months because I have been suffering from much more morning sickness than when I was pregnant with Charlotte. It's hard to be creative when you feel like hurling. Or when you ARE literally hurling in the front yard and ruining your poor neighbors' dinners. Sorry about that, Alicia and Faith Carol.

So, 10 weeks down and 30 to go. Man, it sounds like an awfully long time when you put it that way!

Watch this space . . .

Now that Niki is 500 posts in, there is about to be a plot twist!

What will it be?

Keep a close watch on this space . . .

Not exactly an Olympic-sized pool

This evening, we had a little time before dinner to test out the new pool. It was a hit!

Are you kidding me? 500?!?!

This marks the 500th post on Stringer Family Antics. Who knew there was that much to report about Charlotte's life? Who knew there were so many photos to post? Who knew this blog would hold my interest for so long?



Lil' CJ is rocking a "whale spout" hairdo today and wearing a super cute new outfit courtesy of her Great Granny and Great Grandpa Taylor, so of course I had to post a picture of it. She's in her signature "found my belly button and soon to be sucking my thumb as well" pose. Not the most lady-like pose, but it gets the job done. We're both wiped out from lunch with Alicia, Faith Carol, Joslyne, and Zoey in addition to a visit to the park (sans Alicia and FC), so we're headed for napville sometime soon. It's my favorite place to visit.

On the cusp?

Are we on the cusp of a major breakthrough? Charlie has been showing increasing interest in talking to us. She looks us in the eyes and explains just about everything that she can. She is showing a quicker and quicker ability to repeat certain words and use them correctly, such as "cat" and "no", and an increasing ability to recognize words we use, such as Mommy, Daddy.

Maybe soon?

Corey