I call him Charles

While feeding Charlie the other morning Oliver looked down and said, "I call him Charles."  Which he doesn't, but I still thought it was hysterical.  And right now one has to laugh.  Charlie loves playing outside with the kids and then coming inside and going to the bathroom - usually timed with the same time I am changing Henni's diaper and so the only thing I can do is watch from afar and then go and clean up the mess.  At times I feel I am just waste management.  

The waste management piece aside, Charlie is pretty darn cute.  The little guy tuckers out pretty quickly and so walks generally consist of snuggling.

Although Henni, Charlie and I did manage to make it two houses down yesterday morning.

Charlie has found the key to Davis' heart though.  The number of pictures of Charlie on Davis' phone now far exceed the number of pictures of Henni or Oliver (or me).  Davis also continues to sneak Charlie in to bed with him and continues to send messages throughout the day asking how the little guy is doing.  I need to sort through the bazillion pictures Davis has taken and also upload pictures from my camera, but here are a few more...as I said, he is pretty darn cute.

Bubblicious

Bath time is a much anticipated event every night.  The flotsam in the tub has gotten a bit out of hand - the sharks, boats, turtles, rays...are (seriously) two deep.  We've suggested culling, but Oliver and Henni say they prefer their crowded bath.

The other night Henni went to sleep early and missed bath time.  Oliver decided to use his solo bath time to see how bubblicious he could make the bath - it was pretty spectacular.  The bubbles were so out of control that Davis ended up having to scoop up the overflowing bubbles and fill both the toilet and the shower.  While I am not normally a fan of baths, I have to admit that this bath did look quite fun.   

A man's best friend

We have a new family member!  Charlie is 8 weeks old, 8 pounds, and ridiculously cute.  While Oliver, Henni and I are smitten, Davis is bananas about Charlie.  From the moment Davis laid eyes on Charlie he has had a grin on his face and a spring in his step.  And last night - well, last night Davis ignored all conversations we had had and ignored all reason  - Davis and Charlie spent the night curled up together in the guest bed (mind you Charlie is going to weigh in the 100 pound range when he is full-grown).

Given my inbox is full of pictures Davis has taken of Charlie, and that I have already had several inquires from Davis as to how Charlie is doing (and Davis has been gone for just a couple hours), I am guessing Davis won't be able to make it a whole 8 hours at work today.  And really, I can't blame him - I was totally unprepared for how cute Charlie is.

Look how tiny!

Playing with Henni

A happy boy (and dog)

A lovely life list

The purpose of the blog, or at least what I intended the purpose to be when I started writing, was to document what the wee crowd was doing; the blog was to serve as their baby book since.  While it does serve that purpose it also has become a place for me to share, vent, and ramble about being a mom.  In many ways a baby book would be much more accessible - Oliver and Henni could pick up their book and flip through the pages and quickly find when they got their first tooth, when they crawled... Although they can find this in the blog they will need to dig and, somewhere amongst the clutter of their mom's babble they will find whatever milestone it was they were looking for.  And who knows, maybe they will find the tales of their adventures and my chatter interesting as well.

All of this to say - this post is about me.


I have lists upon lists.  In fact, I even have lists of lists.  Almost every list contains the following line items: do laundry, put away laundry, groceries, and de-clutter (Davis has actually suggested just not putting these items on the list since they are just givens - givens like going to the bathroom (one would not put that on a to do list)).  On one of these lists is "write a list of things I would love love love to do."  The other night while reading one of my favorite blogs (www.makingitlovely.com) I saw that Nicole, the blogger, had posted her "lovely life list" there.  She described her list as follows:

This isn’t a bucket list. These aren’t things I need to cross off before I die. Will I ever accomplish everything here? Probably not, but that’s not the goal. This list exists simply as a collection of things I would like to do in my lifetime. If writing them down helps me focus, and in turn helps me achieve some of them, the list has served its purpose.  A life list should never make you feel guilty for not accomplishing something! It should serve as a compass, opening you up to experiences that you may have discounted otherwise.

Nicole inspired me to write my own lovely life list and thus be able to, finally, cross writing that list of my list of lists.  So, here it is - my lovely life list in no particular order (and with the caveat that the list will change over time):

1. Become fluent in a language
2. Have a clutter-free house
3. Run 10 miles
4. Swim 5 miles
5. Take an EMT course
6. Have an art studio 
7. Do art in said studio
8. Start something really fantastic
9. Hike to the top of something really beautiful (peak to be determined)
10. Live in a "Dwell" house
11. Spend a day at the spa and enjoy it (I spent a half day at a spa about 8 years ago and went crazy - I couldn't relax enough to enjoy it)
12. Write letters to everyone I adore and tell them why they are so special to me
13. Go to Tahiti
14. Go to St. Lucia and stay at either Jade Mountain or Asne Chasenet
15. Become awesome at merengue 
16. Become awesome at salsa
17. Get my captain's license, or at least become better versed at boating
18. Sleep an entire night (or at least more than 3 hours at a stretch)
19. Go on our honeymoon
20. Write a book
21. Become good at carpentry
22. Learn how to dress myself (as in put together an outfit (I do know how to put clothes on all by myself))

So why share the list here?  For one, research has shown when one publicly acknowledges goals one is more likely to achieve them (and hell yes I'd love to sleep more than 3 hours at a time while at the same time partaking in a spa day at the Jade Mountain resort while on my honeymoon).  The other reason is that the list can provide Oliver and Henni (and me) with a snap shot of who their mommy is and what she likes. (Being a kid myself and having a mom of my own, I know that sometimes this can get lost amist the chaos).

And here, just so there is a picture to this rambling, an oh so lovely place...

Four generations, an orca, and a sword wielding otter

Oliver and Henni have just one great grandparent - my grandmother.  Unfortunately, we don't get to spend as much time with GG (as the little ones call her) as we would like.  Therefore when I heard my mom was heading to Florida to visit GG I made the mad suggestion that the kiddos and I tag along for the ride -- we won't be too much trouble...


Our trip was quick -- too quick.  We arrived mid-day on Saturday and left on Monday morning.  It was just enough time to say a quick hello and just enough time for a freak cold snap to, well, snap in and out.  It was also just enough time for a visit to Sea World.  Now, I am not a big fan of amusement parks and the kids seem to be even less of a fan than me (see previous post where a couple hours into Story Land Oliver asked to leave), I was therefore not looking forward to a day at Sea World.  I envisioned lines, hoopla, lots of knick-knacks, and spending a large sum of money only to have the kids beg to leave an hour in.  I was also a bit worried about turning into a freezer ball as it was 36 degrees when we woke up on Sunday morning; when we pulled into Sea World at 10:30 the temperature was 41 degrees.  (A freezer ball is a term Oliver made up and it is what you turn into when you are really really cold.  The layers are: ice, snow, and then a rainbow core.)   Apparently others were worried about turning into freezer balls as well because Sea World was empty.  The empty park combined with the just plain awesomeness of the whole place was a fantastic surprise.  The day was so much fun that I was shocked when I looked at my mom's watch when we were leaving and it said 6:15 (our usual bath time).  I freely admit I was wrong- that I pre-judged Sea World.

Given the park was empty we got front row "soak zone" seats at each of the three shows we went to.  The shows were incredible.  Oliver's favorite was the orca show (thankfully none of the orca's lived up to their more common name - killer whale).  This was the first thing we did on arrival to the park and the smile on his face when the orcas did their thing - it was clear he was one happy little boy.

Henni's favorite show was one which involved sea lions, a walrus, pirates, and a sword wielding otter.  She was mesmerized for the entire show.  Her other favorite exhibit was the ray tank.  Henni is a huge fan of rays and would spend her entire visit to our acquarium at the ray and shark touch tank.  She was therefore ecstatic when she learned there was a ray touch tank at Sea World.  When she gets older we are going to have to do a Discovery Cove trip so she can swim with real rays (right now she has 4 rays she bathes with at night -- every time she has the opporunity to get a special toy at the acquarium she chooses a ray and she did the same at Sea World  -- the girl is a ray fanatic).

While everything at Sea World was pretty special, the most special thing about the day was that we were four generations spending the day together -- each one of us enjoying the day and enjoying each other.  The kids loved sharing the time with GG and she loved being able to share in their joy and to be able to watch their crazy funny little selves.  

A huge thanks to my mom who let us tag along on the adventure.  While the kids were incredibly good,  traveling with kids (and their accompanying junk and colds) is just not the same as traveling solo.  Mom was invaluable throughout the trip and I can not thank her enough for all of her help with the kids, directions, and putting up with me and my band of crazies.