Now Mommy Makes Him Laugh

And the hits keep coming...

Katie was playing a little peek-a-boo with Charlie after a recent bottle and really got him to loosen up and start laughing again! Enjoy!

FINALLY! He Laughs!

Ever since Charlie cracked his first smile, there has been an unofficial competition to see who would be the first to get the little Tink to laugh out loud. Over the past few months he has uttered a number of different grunts and throaty coughs that have resembled a laugh - but he has yet to produce an outright belly laugh.

Until today.

Some have claimed to have gotten him to laugh while alone with him, but the unwritten rule is that...

a) there had to be a witness other than yourself, and/or
b) you had to have incontrovertible audio/video proof

You'd think we were looking for Sasquatch or something.


This morning just before the three of us were going to take a quick jaunt down the block to pick up a package from the post office, I began dancing (some might call it that) with Charlie and peppering him with some dorky baby talk. It seems the right combination of jostling and idiotic singing on my part did the trick.

I'll admit it is a bit risky publicizing myself blabbering away in high pitched baby talk like a nancy-boy (no offense to my sister or aunt who are both named Nancy), but I'll take a chink in my manhood armor to share with you our little boy laughing for the first time.

Here it is in all its glory...

Exploiting Our Child for Your Amusement (and ours!)

Who said burp cloths were only used for catching spit up?

more pics....

everyday life....

charlie continues to bless us with his smile, his sweet disposition and even with his dirty diapers!! he is almost 4 months old, and the time is flying past us. he is almost laughing out loud. every now and then, we'll get a glimmer of his little laugh, but as quickly as he turns it on, he turns it right back off again! he has rolled over twice, and can hold his head up like a big boy! he doesn't really enjoy tummy time, but we try to keep him off of his back during the day b/c he has developed a little bit of, well, um, i'll go ahead and say it......A FLAT HEAD! i don't know what to do about it, and the doctor says it goes away with time, but since he spends 12 hours of his day on his back (he sleeps through the night now!!), it's bound to be somewhat flat. i worry myself sick over it....chris says that it will work itself out. so, if the next time you see charlie with a little blue helmet on, it's b/c i'm trying to un-flatten his head! he loves to be read too, talked too (he can talk back, yes, he can), and sung too. he continues to love to eat, although he is a pure formula baby now.......my milk came to a screeching halt about 3 days ago, so he eats all formula. honestly, it broke my heart. i have been somewhat emotional about it. the women in my family are breast feeding queens, and i thought for SURE i would fall right in line. but at 6 weeks, little charlie just wasn't getting enough via breast, so we started him on breast milk bottles. we quickly ran through the milk supply that i had stored up in the freezer, and then started to supplement with formula. and then it happened. i went to pump and nothing...nada, negative! nothing came out! i am forgiving myself for it, and moving on. he loves the formula (it's darn near PRICEY!!), and moving on. while he goes to bed between 7:30-8 p.m., and sleeps about 11-12 hours, he doesn't enjoy napping in his own bed. he has learned that screaming his face off gets him far...with me that is! but, if i pick him up, calm him down, and put him in our bed to nap, or on the couch, he sleeps like a little baby!! he loves bath time, and i must admit, it's one of my favorite times of the day too!!

we also got to meet chris's sister, nancy's, newest little one - tommy. we went to kansas city for a family friend's wedding, and the 2 babies met for the first time! the babies are 6 weeks apart and i can already see fun times ahead. he is blessed with many fun cousins on both sides of our families!!

we enjoy keeping in touch with everyone, and we thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and emails. we promise to do a better job of keeping up the blog.

WE LOVE YOU ALL!
katie, chris and charlie

Holy Baby!!

charlie finally got baptised!! he was baptised on july 13th, at st. henry's church, by father mike johnston. his God parents are my brother, jimmy, and my cousin julia morgan. we celebrated his holy day at mom and dad's house afterwards, with a yummy lunch and family time! chris's mom, dad and grandma came all the way from texas to be with us! it was great grandma veit's first time to meet the cha cha (one of his many nick names). we told charlie that he can become a priest and live here with his mommy and daddy for the rest of his life! the first pic below is his response pose....

the 4th of july beach trip

finally, the beach trip was here!! after chris's surgery, it was a much needed escape from life and all that it has to offer us sometimes. we rode down with mom and dad and charlie did great in the car trip! we left early enough that he was sleeping most of the first leg of the trip, and we had to stop 4 times to feed him. (mom thought we could just feed him in the car seat but i informed her that this was NOT a safe thing to do....HA!!) but all in all, it was a great trip down.

everyone from my whole entire dad's family made it down to the beach at some point in the week. it was so great to be together for that length of time, b/c holidays tend to be short and sweet and hurried. mel, david, john and mary would set up camp each day pitching tents for everyone to be under. the first day, there was a HUGE storm, and mom got caught in it. she had gone to publix to get food for us, and the rain was pouring down. with our luck lately, it was just fitting! when it got really bad, laurie, ann noble and i joked that she was probably on the floor at publix in the cereal isle! mom called a few moments later, and said, "it's a tornado here! and i am sitting in the cereal isle!" she is predictable, and also smart for sitting among items that wouldn't crush her if she got hit! we told her she better not come home empty handed!

the rest of the week shaped up as far as weather goes. we had a yummy shrimp boil one night, and just spent time hanging out - talking, laughing and running around having a good time.

the men in my family call chris by his last name, only they pronounce it "veet"...with a redbeck accent. chris had brought down our favorite game, "ladder golf", which quickly got changed to "veet ball". and thus the tournament began! we had a grand tourney the last day of the trip, and the winner was......john dorough! chris and i got beat out at our own game!

charlie loved the beach! he said so actually. no, we would typically feed him in the morning, and then haul him to the beach for a little nap time. then when he would wake up, we'd feed him again, make him sit on the side of the pool for 30 minutes, and go swimming! he really enjoys the water, he said so!

the week ended with another cook out and fireworks on the beach. it couldn't have been more perfect. thanks to granddaddy dorough for taking us all down there!

the ride home was not NEAR as successful as the ride down. charlie developed an aversion to his car seat, and thus cried the last 2 hours of the trip..........can we say, NOT FUN?!?! but since he did so well the rest of the week, we decided to let him off the hook this time!