What I'm Looking at These Days

A lot of this

and this

and this!

We just got back from a week in Michigan and before we left Charlie was able to pull up but mostly just in his crib and on his lower toys (like that little piano in the background of the last picture). I guess he got stronger over the week because he is on all our big furniture now! He can even hold onto the couch and shimmy on down that thing. I think I am going to have an early walker on my hands! I absolutely LOVE having a crawler/stander. I love that he can go wherever he wants! Well, maybe not love it so much when he repeatedly goes where he is not supposed to :)

Here's a few more pictures just cause I am obsessed with taking pictures of this kid!

And He's Off!

Remember just a few days ago when Charlie was learning to crawl? Well, I'd say he pretty much knows how to now! He's not totally great at it yet, but he can definitely go when he wants to.  This little boy is growing up!

Learning to Crawl

Charlie is trying SO HARD to crawl. He hasn't mastered it yet but I am wishing he would soon because every time I put him on the floor he gets into the crawling position and then gets upset that he can't do it. Thought I would share this very cute video of Mickey showing Charlie how it's done. 

Charlie at 6 Months!

Half a year old already! Time really does fly by. I look at my sweet little boy growing up and changing every day and I just want time to slow down. It wasn't that long ago that he was just this little blob of newness.

Look at that cute newborn picture! Is it wrong that I have baby fever when I have a 6 month old?! I must have already forgotten what those sleepless nights were like :) 

Charlie is so much fun and brings so much joy into our lives! He loves smiling and laughing and is really enjoying his new trick, sitting up!

In the spirit of the olympics he has also been working out.

And rolling himself into a baby burrito.

He absolutely LOVES to eat and has yet to try a food he doesn't like. He is now eating solid food 3 times a day.

Have you noticed that the mohawk is gone?! I think his hair finally got long enough to sit flat. 

Love this kid!!

Charlie Update!

Charlie is about 5 and a half months now and boy is he fun!! He is getting more and more of a little personality every day and I love getting to watch him soak up everything around him. Also, he is really cute. 

Likes:

Rolling around (all over the house)

Putting everything in his mouth

EATING, especially real food

Being outside

Funny noises

Laughing at Daddy

Taking naps (PTL)

Trying to sit up

Dislikes:

Mosquitos 

Not having your undivided attention

Being tired

We are having so much fun with this little guy. He especially loves it when we are both playing with him at the same time. He just looks back and forth between us over and over. 

Our little mountain baby at Sacred Rim. He LOVES being on Mickey's back while we hike.

Working on sitting up

Hanging out with Daddy

Charlie is the best! 

For anyone who wants to see more pictures of Charlie they are at http://charliebohn.shutterfly.com

(warning--there are over 400 pictures. You are probably only interested if you are a grandparent or are really bored:)

On The Move

We have a roller! Charlie has started rolling in the last few weeks. At first we called him a phantom roller because I would put him on his stomach to sleep and when he would wake up from his nap he would be in his back. I never saw it so I didn't really count it as a real roll :) He has gotten pretty good at it now! As you see in the video, he can do it in no time at all!

 

Side note--I am glad he is rolling over and getting bigger (13 pounds, 11 ounces at his last check up) BUT it's not that great that he only likes to sleep on his stomach yet rolls to his back sometimes in bed. Then he wakes up and protests loudly that he can't fall back asleep. He sure is keeping me on my toes! Hopefully he learns to roll himself from his back to tummy soon! 

And another video just because its cute: 

Charlie 2.0

There's a new kid in town...and his name is Charlie 2.0. 

Charlie previously looked like this: 

But now he looks like this:

What's the difference you may be asking (besides the fact that he has obviously shaved)? NO MORE PACIFIER!!!!

We took the pacifier away on Thursday and Charlie has been a completely different kid since then. It has been amazing! 

Let me back up a bit... We started giving C a pacifier when he was pretty young and it worked great...it was able to calm him down and soothe him to sleep no problem! Well, as he has gotten bigger he has started to rely on it more and more and more. It got to the point where he was waking up 4-5 times a night wanting it back in his mouth. For a few weeks I could just walk like a zombie into his room, pop it in and he would fall right back asleep. But for the last few weeks he was getting so worked up about not having it that even having it wouldn't help. 

In fact, every night this week he was waking up during the night and crying for an HOUR or more and completely could not be consoled. Did I also mention he was having problems eating? This kid was just having issues all over the place. 

Thursday morning I basically had a complete meltdown because he had been awake in the night screaming from 2:30-3:30 and then from 4:30 on. I could not get him to calm down, to eat, to sleep, ANYTHING. He was crying, I was crying, it was just not a happy time. I knew something had to give.

I've been doing a Bible study on "Becoming a Woman of Faith". I've been learning about what faith really is and what it means to have faith in the Lord, in all things. Does God really care that I have a screaming baby? The answer is YES! Thursday morning through my tears I finally looked up and said Lord I just can not do this on my own anymore (I have a tendency to think I never need anyone's help...) I asked for wisdom beyond my own understanding and sure enough I got it! 

After consulting with some other momma's and Godly women, I decided I should try taking the pacifier away. If he was going to cry all night, he might as well cry with a purpose! My sister prepared me that when she took the pacifier away from her youngest it took about 3 nights for him to adjust. I warned Mickey and prepared for the worst! (Not only were we taking his pacifier away, we were also going to unswaddle his arms and have him sleep on his stomach, so a lot of changes!) But did God give me the worst?? NO, he let my child adjust to his new sleeping arrangement in ONE NAP! 

I can not even tell you how amazing life is now. If Charlie wakes up during the night, he can now soothe himself back to sleep. He is more well rested and happier during the day. He eats better and he doesn't even mind riding in the car now! We are calling our new child Charlie 2.0! 

Oh, did I mention he slept through the night for the first time on Friday night?!

Praise the Lord for his faithfulness and for caring about all things, even the ones we think are small.

Trip to Houston

6 hours in the car and 4 plane trips later we are back from Texas! Charlie survived all the travel and did about as well as could be expected for a 3 month old! We had a whirlwind of a trip and it seemed like every minute was jam packed with activities. I need a vacation from our vacation!

We arrived late on Saturday night and went straight to bed. Sunday was Mother's Day (my first!) and we got to go to CEPC and see Elise getting baptized! Charlie even wore a tie for the occasion.

Sunday was also his first time to meet his Aunt Ashley, Uncle James and cousin Elise. He also got to meet his Aunt Allison, Uncle Robert, and cousins Audrey, James, Caroline and Henry (but I don't have a picture of that from Sunday)

Sunday night I got a nice surprise when I found out Charlie was going to stay home with Mimi and Papa while Mickey and I got to go to dinner! We went to Mark's which is the restaurant we went to the night we got engaged. Then afterwards we went and had some dessert at The Chocolate Bar. Man I sure do miss Houston food!!! (however my waist does not)

Mimi even gave Charlie a bath! (actually she gave him 3 baths because they babysat for us 3 nights.) It was soooooooooooo nice!

Monday we hung out at the Finches and went to Horn in the afternoon to see all our teacher friends. Then Monday night we had a dinner with the whole family. Here's Henry, Elise and Charlie in their "Fruit of the Womb" shirts Ashley gave us! 

The best one:

The outtakes: 

Tuesday we hung out at Ashley's all day and got to know cousin Elise a little better:

Wednesday Charlie got to stay with Mimi and Papa again while I went to dinner with my girlfriends and Mickey had dinner with a friend! Charlie also got to hang with the ladies before dinner.

On Thursday Audrey came over to play and Laura and Bennett came too! (Laura, I need a photo!)

Thursday afternoon Becca and Allie came by to meet Charlie and then Thursday night the Stablers and Kables came over for dinner. Charlie did his best to convince those couples to make friends for him..I hope it worked! 

On Friday Michelle came over all day to hang out with us! It was super fun. The only picture I have from this is from my mom and Michelle isn't wearing any makeup so I know she would NOT approve of that picture going on this blog. We also stopped by the Finches one last time to see everyone before we left. (James was boycotting all pictures during our trip!)

Friday night Mickey and I got to go out AGAIN! (Thanks Mom and Dad!) Our trip would not have been complete without a little Lupe Tortilla!

On Saturday we had to head out for the airport really early and Charlie was dressed in his Michigan best.

And of course we were in line for security right in front of some Ohio State fans. They said Charlie was the cutest little Wolverine they had ever seen (I agree!)

I learned my lesson from the way up here that C did NOT like being held the whole time so I gave him some alone time at the airport. He chilled on the floor while we ate lunch! 

We had a great time in Texas but are happy to be home! 

You Aren't Cool....

Unless you have your name on your wall!

Once we figured out we were having a boy and decided to name him Charlie I knew I wanted a name sign for him in his room. I kind of kept putting it off and figured I would just buy one. I got to looking on Etsy and Holy Moly those things can be expensive! That's when I decided HEY! I can probably just make one. However, the nearest Walmart is 2 hours away and there's no Hobby Lobby in sight so what did I do? Call my sweet sister in Houston of course! Ashley went out that day and got me a sweet deal on some letters at Michaels for half off! The whole project cost less than 15 dollars.

Thanks to my other sister, Allison, who knows a thing or two about painting letters herself, I got some good ideas on how to make those polka dots come out so great. First, I painted all the letters white. Then, I put down round stickers where I wanted the dots to be. Next I painted them all blue and then once it dried I took the stickers off and I was left with perfect, round, white dots! It actually turned out way better than I expected! I added a coat of modge podge and they were ready to be hung. We used velcro hanging strips to get them on the wall.

Charlie loves his sign and likes looking at those polka dots while he lays in bed. Isn't he cute?

He's turning into quite the chunker and now weighs almost 12 pounds. Look at those chubby little cheeks and fat creases on his arms!











And just because its hilarious..... My friend Deanna's sister makes adorable hats and crocheted items (you can see her website here: Addi and Morgan) and she made a Texas Flag hat for Charlie. Unfortunately, he really HATES wearing hats and has a meltdown every time I try to get one on him. The hat is so cute!!! Sorry his face is not....

Wait, what?? What are you putting on my head?!?!

Not cool Mom GET IT OFF!!!!

Spring Has Sprung!

It's spring here in Pinedale! You may be wondering what spring in Wyoming feels like. Well, it feels like winter in Texas. Highs in the 40s and 50s and TONS of sunshine--it is absolutely beautiful outside!

You may be wondering why I haven't written on the blog for awhile. It's because I used to look like this

And then we had this guy!

And now he's already all grown up and looks like this!

He's just so darn cute!

The story of his birth is that I was all set to be induced in Jackson Hole on February 10th (my due date). We had to go up on the 9th because I needed to be at the hospital at 5AM on Friday. We planned to go stop at Kmart (yes, those still exist) on the way in and get some things and then go to a nice dinner for the last time as the two of us. We left Pinedale around 3:30 on the 9th and as we were about 15 minutes down the road I realized I was having contractions. After about 10 more minutes I thought hmmm maybe I should be timing these things. Come to find out they were already 5 minutes apart! I was still convinced that we could go to Kmart and dinner and then just go to the hospital afterwards. Mickey, on the other hand was freaking out and made me call the doctor. The doctor said I had to go to the hospital as soon as we got there so needless to say we didn't get our nice dinner that night!!

We made it to the hospital and I got all hooked up to the monitors and stuff. The contractions were hurting but not unbearable (I was only about 3cm dilated). We pretty much hung out in the room all night, roamed the halls and watched some Hillybilly Handfishin'. The contractions were getting worse so the nurse gave me some medicine that was supposed to help me sleep through them so I could save energy for the next day. I said supposed to because it did nothing and all I felt was the contractions getting worse and worse all night! Around 1AM the nurse came in and told me the anesthesiologist was down the hall if I wanted to get the epidural. I told her no, no I am doing this naturally (big mistake).

Morning came around and my contractions were getting worse and worse. I was only 5cms dilated so I still had a ways to go. By about 6am my contractions were AWFUL. I knew they were getting really bad because every time I had one I wanted to punch Mickey in the face. So, I figured forget the natural thing and get the epidural ASAP. I told the nurse I wanted one and then I had to wait FOREVER for the guy to get there. I really don't know how long I waited but it sure did seem like forever! Anyways, he finally got there and I got the thing and instantly felt better.

After I got the epidural things progressed rather quickly. The doctor was coming to check on me at 8:30 and by the time she got there I was already 9cms dilated. By the time she came back it was time to have him! He was born at 10:40am on 2/10/12!

Everyone at St. Johns Hospital in Jackson was so nice! We got to have the same 2 nurses the whole time we were there which made me feel really comfortable (even though one of them kept calling Charlie a she...I mean she would say Charlie and she in the same sentence. I was so confused) They even do a candlelight steak dinner where they watch the baby for you while the hospital restaurant comes and sets up a table for dinner in your room! It was pretty good for hospital food!

And thats the story of how Charlie made it into the world. This blog is probably just going to be all about him from now on, so I hope you like babies.....

The Igloo

It's been snowing a lot here the last week so yesterday on Mickey and John's day off they decided to go outside and have a snowball fight. About 20 minutes after they went out I looked outside and noticed there were no snowballs flying, there was just some huge mound of snow being built up in our front lawn. (Obviously I was not out there with them, I'm 9 months pregnant) Then about 15 minutes later Mickey comes in and tells me to get the camera and come outside. This is what I came out to:

Yes, that's Mickey laying in an igloo they made. He was apparently trying to scrape more snow out of the inside. The best was when I told him to turn around so I could get his face...he couldn't get out so this had to happen:

I went back inside and they continued working on it. About an hour later I was asked to come out with the camera again.

At this point the thing was pretty roomy inside. Both guys are inside. Then...mass destruction!

Apparently they were nervous a small child or dog would be trapped in the thing and we would be responsible so they decided to smash it.