Happy 2nd Birthday Charlie!

Today is Charlie's 2nd Birthday and we have been celebrating his birthday over the course of 10 days with 2 parties, a dinner out, and 4 different birthday deserts - he is one lucky little boy!  During Charlie's epic long birthday celebration, we learned he loves anything sweet and balloons are by far, the best gift.

Cheers to being 2 buddy!  We love you lots-
m & d
3.26.13

Family Birthday Party for Maelin & Charlie

Who needs a fork or spoon?  I will just stick my face in my cupcake (desert #1)

Cakeballs (desert # 2) served at Charlie's birthday party with his friends

Birthday Party with Charlie's friends
(poor Luella just got kicked by the birthday boy - you can see her crying on the floor)

Balloons = best gift ever!

Birthday dinner with Mom, Dad & Luella (Ice Cream - desert #3)

2 Years Old!  (Confetti Cake - desert #4)

Winter 2013

I can't believe it is the first day of spring (of course it still feels like winter!) Although we had a great winter, we are super excited for the warm weather to arrive.   I am done pushing a double stroller through snow, slush, wind, etc.  And I am so over putting on jackets, hats and boots.  It takes us 20 minutes to get out the door by the time we are all bundled up! Here are some pictures of our winter fun;  Charlie was a wild man in the snow and could not get enough of it.  He loved sledding and trying out his skis.  Luella enjoyed being along for the ride and liked to watch Charlie play in the snow :)

Happy Spring!

Sledding through the park (Luella is in the stroller way back there!)

Heading downhill

Playing in the park

Walking back from some outside fun and grocery shopping

Matching coats ;)

Walking to try out the skis

Snowplow!

Hello from Luella (finally)

Hey!  It's me, Luella.  I am already 6 1/2 months old and I have only had one and half blog entries so I have decided to give myself a little shout out.  I know my Mommy thinks about her lack of blogging about me; at least once a day I hear her say, "holy crap! I need to do the blog, poor Luella is going to think I forgot about her" So, I thought I would be nice and help her out.

Let's see,  I noticed the last entry was in October and I have changed a lot since then: I can sit up by myself, I am starting to eat solids, the bath is my happy place, I am a super-loud talker, and I love to jump (just to name a few) For the most part, I am very relaxed and I love to hang out and watch everything/everyone around me.  Recently, I have developed a little attitude with people I do not know or do not see on an a daily basis.  I get super annoyed when these people try to get in my face or hold me.  Ever hear of 'stranger-danger'?  Well, I have it in a major way - just let me be by my Mommy and Daddy and I will judge you from their arms.  Other than my recent stranger-danger attitude, I am a very easy going baby.  I love to give hugs and cuddles to my Mommy and Daddy and sometimes my brother.

Speaking of Charlie, he is my favorite person.  I can be in the worst mood and if Charlie comes along, I am all smiles.  All he has to do is look at me or try to make me laugh by making ridiculous sounds.  He likes yelling my name at the top of his lungs - "WA-WA"  (I know one day he will say my name correctly)  But I am not always a fan of Charlie for 2 reasons: 1) He is obsessed with my head and loves to hit it - not cool.   2) He thinks I am a bowling pin; when I am sitting up minding my own business, he will come along and push me over and yell "Mommy-Mama, Wa-Wa down"  Translation:  "Mommy, I knocked Luella down"  Mommy saves me every time by picking me up and making sure I am OK.  Then Charlie has to give me a hug and kiss and we are all good.  But he better stop these shenanigans soon - rumor has it 'time outs' are about to begin for Charlie.

I must get going now.  I am glad I was able to squeeze a blog entry in on behalf of my Mommy, she is going to be so excited :)

xo.
Luella

My Baptism

Stocking Stuffer

Love my feet!

Bath time = Happy time

Funny face!  (Obsessed with looking at myself in the mirror)

Yummy!

Snow Day!

Love to jump :)

Boo!

Happy Halloween 2012!

We had a great time gearing up for Halloween this year!!  It started with picking our pumpkins at a pumpkin patch, (then getting some more pumpkins from the grocery store because a squirrel chewed holes through the ones we picked) and ended with Boo-Palooza where Charlie and Luella celebrated Halloween with all their friends.  Charlie was Bam-Bam this year (very fitting considering all he does is walk around and bang things as loud as he can) and Luella was our 'little pumpkin' 

Charlie in the pumpkin patch

Charlie and I on a camel named Nacho
(who knew they would have camels at the pumpkin patch!)

Our Little Pumpkin
(inside her pumpkin) 

Bam-Bam

Charlie and his buddies at Boo-Palooza

Mr. Crabby Pants and Luella at Boo-Palooza

There is that smile!  

Baby Luella

1 Day New

Luella Marie Hamilton 

Arrived August 20, 2012 at 9:19am ~ 8 lbs 3 oz ~ 20 1/4 in

Welcome Baby Luella!  Obviously I am a little late in updating our blog considering Luella is already 8 weeks old - where does the time go?  The last few weeks have been filled with a lot of new adventures and special moments as we have welcomed our precious baby girl into our family.  She is loved in so many ways by her big brother and mommy and daddy.  

Luella has been a wonderful baby so far, despite a "witching period" where she would cry for almost 3 hours straight in the early evening.  That is over now and was short-lived and we consider ourselves lucky!  She has been sleeping through the night for over a week (we are talking from about 9:30pm - 6:30am) and that has been amazing for all of us ;)  Luella has such a sweet disposition and we are enjoying watching her grow and change each day.   

She loves to hanging out with her family, especially Charlie. Watching him run around is great entertainment for her.  He makes her smile and do her "baby giggle" as I call it.  And now that Luella is making noises, Charlie pays more attention to her.  Sometimes I catch him giving her little tickles on her toes and tummy, which is adorable.  And sometimes I catch him slapping her head or trying to roll her over, which is not adorable. For the most part, he is very good with her and loves to help with Luella in anyway that he can - putting the pacifier in her mouth (and then yanking it out) throwing her dirty diapers away, sharing all his toys with her, and always saying 'ewww' when it is time to change her diaper.  The best is when Charlie wakes up and he wants to see Luella first thing.   He points towards our room until we bring him to her and then he says 'baby' when he sees her (he can't say her name yet, but we are trying)  This morning she gave him a big smile to help start his day!  

We can't believe it has been 8 weeks since Luella has been with us - we have adjusted to 2 kids pretty quickly and we are loving every moment.  Yes, it is super busy and chaotic but we would not have it any other way!  

12 days ( 0 sticker means less than 1 month old?? I think that is how it works :) )

Where's Luella?  Charlie shared a lot of toys with her!

Going to the park with Mommy & Charlie

Leaving the hospital

Big kiss! (not sure what to think?!)

Oh Charlie!

Yesterday afternoon Charlie decided Mommy needed a little adventure, so he decided to lock her out of the house... (Yes, you are reading that correctly, my 16 month old son locked me out of the house!) Never would I have imagined being locked out of the house by Charlie at this age - maybe when he is 2 or 3 years old??

I went out the back door to set the garbage on the deck (the distance from the door to where I set the garbage is about 3 feet; the time I was outside was about 10 seconds).    I turned around to come back in and turned the handle on the door and the door would not open.  I wiggled the handle and pushed on the door and it is not opening, it is locked.  Awesome!   I look through the door and see Charlie looking at me and smiling.  I smile back but I am swearing under my breath and wondering what to do.  My phone is inside, Steve is at work, Crissy and Brett are at work (they have our extra key), and I can't leave Charlie's sight.  I am trying to remain calm as Charlie is running from his toys to the door waving  and smiling.   I think he is wondering why I am not coming in the house but thinking it is the best game ever, he continues to run back and forth from his toys to the door.  I need to get inside and my only option is to break a small window next to our back door.  Never having broken a window, I have no clue what to use so I am thinking my fist but in the movies people wrap their fists with a towel or something.  I don't have a towel outside so then I thought, a chair.   I grab a chair and look at the window to figure out the best spot to smash the glass and then I realize the window is too small for my 9 month pregnant body to fit thru...  As I am trying to come up with Plan B and making sure Charlie is ok, Kenadee is staring at me from inside most likely wondering why I am still outside and just wants me to get inside and give her dinner.

I start calling Charlie's name, knocking on the door and motioning for him to come by the door.  Plan B is to get him to unlock the door because since he was smart enough to know how to lock it, I thought I could show him how to unlock it by going through the motions while he watched through the window.   No such luck.  At this point I am old news to Charlie and he is running laps around the living room  laughing away while Bosee is chasing him.  I continue to try and get Charlie's attention and while he is not listening to me, Kenadee (the dog who never listens) is paying attention.   She comes towards the back door, swats the lock with her paw and by some miracle, the door is unlocked!!!!  Am I dreaming???  Do I have the smartest dog ever???  I was not dreaming because I was now inside the house and everyone was safe and sound and I was hugging Charlie.  As far as Kenadee being the smartest dog ever, she sure is!

Steve and I decided Charlie did not lock the lock as far as it could go (making it easier for Kenadee to unlock), but just enough for it to catch causing me not to be able to open the door from the outside. Either way, I was locked out and no amount of force or wiggling of the handle was letting me back in.  Since Charlie is watching and imitating EVERYTHING we do these days and he sees us lock the back lock, we think Charlie thought he was doing a really good thing by locking the door because Mommy was not in the house to to lock it herself :)

Charlie and Kenadee the Wonder Dog

Besides getting locked out of the house, I have been busy getting ready for Baby Girl.  She is due to arrive in 3 days but like her big brother, I am sure she will be late.  Everything is all set to go: clothes are washed, the swings and newborn items have been pulled out of storage and put back together (I feel like I just took them all apart and packed them away!) and tiny diapers have once again made an appearance in our house.   Steve put together the new crib and the double stroller and Charlie has been the product tester for everything.  We are so excited to meet our little girl and very excited to watch Charlie grow into his new role as a big brother.  Stay tuned for her arrival!

Where is my single stroller?  I don't want to share...

Did I really used to fit in this?

Putting the Mama-Roo together with Mommy

I did good!  All the screws are tight in the Mama-Roo  (I found my winter hat in the process and thought it would be fun to wear - I didn't care it was 100 degrees outside)

The crib is all set -  Good job Daddy :) 

Come on Baby Sister!  I am waiting to meet you...

The Tray

Recently, I have noticed Charlie is very adamant about fitting himself into the smallest spaces possible.  Is he remembering his days in the womb?  Does he feel more secure in a tiny space?  I am not sure...

The other morning he and I were at a coffee shop and while I was paying for my coffee, I noticed he crawled into a crawl space under the coffee bar.  One minute he is standing next to me, the next minute he is a foot away from me sitting in the smallest space only he could find.  (of course I could not get my phone out in time to snap a picture because he was already onto his next adventure)

But the best small space he sits in is a tray we have on our ottoman in the living room.  (Let me just tell you that this tray is 12"x12") He loves to take it to random spots in the house and just hang out in the tray.  I die laughing every time he does it.  It is the little things, right?!  (no pun intended)

The Tray

Getting in position

What?  I just want to be in my tray in the kitchen

I know I can fit the ball in the tray with me...