Picnic in the park

On Tuesday we had a picnic in the park with the Marshalls. Charlotte loves to dip things into condiments, so I got her some mozzarella sticks and spaghetti sauce. She took dipping to a whole new level -- basically she dove in head first.



The wind kicked up a bit and Charlotte froze with a goofy look on her face while her hair blew in the breeze. It was hysterical.



Alicia made me promise to post this photo. Please do yourself a favor and click on it to view it larger.



Faithy taught CJ to play the bongo drums.



If it hadn't felt like 400 degrees outside, we could have stayed there all day!

A gorilla in the mist (in our midst?)

Thank you to Faith Carol and Alicia for teaching my daughter this valuable skill!!

Shear Genius

Let's just say I should NEVER be a contestant on "Shear Genius". My hair styling skills leave quite a bit to be desired. I just had to try pigtails though. Then again, putting teeny tiny rubber bands in the hair of a squirmy 15-month-old is pretty darn near impossible.

I didn't exactly use a comb to part the hair.



You can hardly see the pigtails from the front.



Ooh! There's one!



Don't pull them out already!!!

Lazy summer

I have absolutely no excuses for failing to post anything for the past week. None. I think the heat is finally getting to me or something. I finally had enough energy to take some photos of CJ's sprinkler extravaganza with the Marshalls. They have a very fancy sprinkler thingy!



Taking a break and sitting in a big girl chair.



She loved being swung through the water streams.



But the most fun of all was to be found in the muddy puddles created by the water.



She's still learning about the consequences of splashing in the mud. A good hosing down was needed prior to naptime.

Wild times with Grandma Jo and Cousin Abbey

Piglet and her daddy

Before I post some of the 8,000,000 photos we took while my mom and Abbey were visiting, here are a few shots of Piglet (aka Charlie Jo) celebrating Father's Day with her beloved daddy ("Dah!") at Montgomery Bell State Park. They went swimming and played in the sand after it became apparent that Piglet is a landlubber.

Piglet is always getting dressed in such public places.



We tried on her life vest in advance of our upcoming sailing trip just to give it a water test. Piglet was NOT a big fan of it.



The first foray into the water lasted about two minutes.



The state park looks very beautiful and the swimming area had an artificially-created beach that was actually kind of cool.



Piglet most enjoyed digging in the sand and wrecking all of the sand structures her daddy made.



Asleep before we even left the parking lot...



Happy Father's Day, Corey! We love you!!

More strange antics of the goofy toddler

The most entertaining parts of my day are the times when Charlie Jo grabs some random household object and just starts going to town with it. Today, oven mitts were the items of choice. I have no further explanation for this video.

CJ's first ice cream cone

Charlie Jo was so proud of her first ice cream cone! She slurped and slurped with gusto.



Want some, Poly?



She spilled some on her leg and then dipped her finger in it to make sure she got every last drop.



Thank you for my ice cream cone, Auntie LiLi!

What game is that supposed to be?

CJ and Zozo are just plain goofy.

Typical evening

Spaghetti is on the menu, so my clothes have been spirited away. There's still a few minutes before dinner, so I'm still wearing a tutu just for fun.



Gotta dance! I'll dance to any music.



What's that I see out the front door? All of the Marshalls and Ballentines having fun without me?



Awwwwwww... Wish I was out there with them.



I can still put on a show from behind glass though! I even clap for myself. Forget dinner - it's show time!

Disco party at the doctor's office

I took Charlie Jo Jo in for her 15-month well-baby appointment this morning and she obviously thought she was there to put on a dance exhibition for the nurse and the doctor. She showed off darn near all her tricks and danced up a storm on the exam table. She didn't flinch during the anemia test but the shots in her legs elicited some very bitter crying. She recovered fast though.

CJ now weighs 22 pounds (the 25th - 50th percentile) and measures 31 inches (the 75th percentile). She has consistently been in those percentiles at virtually all of her checkups. Boy, I sure wish I was in the 75th percentile for height and the 25th-50th for weight. I think I'm the opposite.

Other than recommending we start the vegetable-hater on a multi-vitamin, Dr. Hood had nothing but great things to say about CJ's overall health. We're going to try to cut down to one nap per day since CJ has been still so darn wide awake at 8:00 pm when we try to put her down each night, and we're going to try to sneak veggies and meat into every darn thing that kid actually WILL eat. Cross your fingers...

I'm just a DANCE machine!



Please please please stop licking the exam table, you nutburger.



Downward-facing dog!



Who IS that beautiful baby in the mirror?

13 weeks and blah blah blah

Today I am 13 weeks pregnant. According to the weekly pregnancy update e-mail I received, the baby in my belly is about the size of a medium shrimp (3 inches long and weighing about an ounce). Really? A shrimp? What happened to comparing the baby to nice piece of fruit or a tasty vegetable? Odd.

Anyway, luckily I am starting to feel an end to the nausea. I'm still tired all the time (I definitely look forward to Charlie Jo's naps much more than she does) but I'm hoping that will also wane over the next few weeks. This pregnancy has felt so different than the last one (which some people claim means I am having a boy this time), but Charlie Jo has kept me distracted from my misery with her goofy antics. She's really becoming quite a silly little girl.

We have two long weeks without Joslyne and Zoey to play with, but we're excited that Grandma Jo and my cousin Abbey will be coming for a visit a week from today. After that, Great Granny and Great Grandpa Taylor are scheduled to arrive. Soon after, we will be heading up to Ohio for a sailing weekend for NanaB and Granddad. Whew! We had better rest up!