New Sheetz!

Last weekend, we procured a twin bed from Tiffany and Mark, who recently decided to live together in sin (finally!) and are in the process of combing two households. Lucky for us, this means getting rid of several items, two of which the Professor and I have gladly agreed to take off their hands.

On Saturday, the Professor picked up the bed in exchange for helping move some of Tiffany’s furniture to her new residence. After we reconfigured Charlie’s room for a couple of what felt like hours, we decided on the best layout for the furniture, which turned out to be the only way the furniture would fit in his tiny room without blocking any necessary doorways to the closet and um, the rest of the house. We still have the crib in there because a) we are prolonging the time when we will have to move it in our already cramped room when baby #2 arrives, and b) we wanted to give Charlie the opportunity to make an easy transition from crib to bed.

On that first day, we decided to buy some new sheets for his “new” bed (I think Mark actually slept on it as a child). During our shopping excursion to buy the sheet set, he excitedly remarked during the entire trip, “New sheets!” Even when I later asked him if he liked his new bed, he screamed, “new sheets!” and proceeded to do a belly flop on the new bed.

As it turns out, Charlie immediately fell in love with his new bed. From the first night, he has slept mostly peacefully in hit, and the Professor and I enjoy being able to stretch out on it with him and read at night. We also enjoy watching him practice his flying leaps and acrobat skills on the new bed. The crib has instantly become storage and a “bed” for his stuffed animals, Kitty, Tiger, Elmo, Baby Elmo, and Dog. He’s so creative with the names, isn’t he?

More party pics

Charlie's party

(Photos complements of Chip)

It was so nice having friends and family over to celebrate Charlie’s 2nd birthday. I was totally impressed at how easy it was to entertain 7 children with only a large backyard and a bunch of plastic toys. We set up the tent in hopes of drawing some sort of curiosity, thinking that the kids would at least think it was cool to hang out in a tent for a while. No dice. Most only stepped into the tent to sit for about 3 minutes before fleeing, realizing they might miss their turn with the toy lawn mower or Fred Flintstone car. The best part was watching Charlie lick the icing off of his monkey cupcake. Second to that was spending the afternoon in the backyard and realizing how great our backyard can be when there is a group of people enjoying it together. It was a glorious day and it was especially nice spending it with friends and family in celebration of Charlie.

Thanks to everyone who came by to enjoy the day with us. We are truly privileged to have so many wonderful people in our lives!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Yesterday was Charlie’s second birthday. My baby is growing up. Actually, I hardly feel like he’s a baby anymore. Each and every day I notice how he’s evolving into a little boy, and it breaks my heart just a little. I love watching him grow up but I hold those baby days very close. There’s a certain kind of sadness in this passage of time because I know that one day, I won’t be able to cradle him in my arms and cuddle with him like I can now. The funny thing is that now that he is getting bigger, he’s reverted to a constant desire to be held and cuddled like a baby. When he gets out of the tub and I wrap him in a towel, he crawls in my lap and says, “baby,” letting me know he wants me to baby him a little bit. He also does it in the mornings when I spend 5 minutes cuddling with him before getting up for the day. It is sweet but I hope it doesn’t cause problems when his little brother comes along.

For Charlie’s birthday, we had a short celebration at his school. After Charlie and his schoolmates completed the earth around the sun ceremony, we had cupcakes. The kids were so excited and I was surprised at how sweet the older kids were with Charlie. They gave him hugs and told him “happy birthday.” I think they were all excited to see pictures of him as a newborn.

Next, we were off to the zoo to check out the farm animals. We got a chance to pet the baby lambs. They were so sweet and gentle. I think Charlie could have stayed there all afternoon, but we eventually moved on to the cows, goats, and pigs. After our short trip to the zoo, we had dinner and celebrated again with ice cream and a present.

Happy birthday my sweet boy!