sunday mornings in bed

 

As we head into the long holiday weekend, we look forward to some lazy days!

zum zähne ausbeissen

Na, zum Glück haben wir ja (noch...) keine! :-)

holy water!

On October 23, Charlotte took the plunge...
Luckily, the priest used warm water ;-)

Here is a little recount of her christening:

Contemplative right before church...
"Am I really making the right decision?!"

Mama telling Charlotte "It'll be all right, if not fun...!"

"Well, ok then, let's get going!"

Beautiful Mary, Star of the Sea church

Oma & Opa brought a baptism candle for Charlotte from Germany

Nanny and godmother-for-the-day Marie also telling Charlotte that
"It will be fun ;-)"

"See, not so bad - the water is warm, yay!"

"Well then, bring on more!"

Godfather Tom keeping Charlotte safe while Father Rafferty is
anointing her with blessed oil.

"You guys were right, getting baptized was quite fun actually."

Charlotte with godfather Tom and Marie -
godmother Kati was with us in thoughts from Germany!

Grandparents are great, Nana brought my christening gown -
which Daddy, Aunt Amy, Uncle Brett and cousins Nola and Fin
were already baptized in!

Family shot with Mama and Daddy

"The best thing about gifts is the wrapping paper - yum!"

Penny thought so too ... and was quite nosy ;-)
"Maybe there are also some treats in there for me?!"

Celebration flowers

"Getting baptized is great - 
especially if you get such a cool title afterwards!"

"What a wonderful day!"

...

"Now I can rest on the pillow that Mama and Uncle Marcel 

were baptized with."

showered with "love"

The events that we're going to describe today unfolded so quickly this morning that we could not capture any photographic evidence of it
(and you'll probably be glad for it ;-)

Charlotte was excited to demonstrate that she can pee like the boys!

After all, a far reaching stream is just so much more fun than a
boring little trickle...

[Luckily, Mama was quick enough to step aside.]

better than cake

For Charlotte's six months birthday, we celebrated with some 

carrot mash this weekend. 

She sure liked her first culinary adventure into the world of solid foods!

geburtstagsoma

Als Oma & Opa zu Besuch waren haben wir einen grossen Geburtstag gefeiert: Oma's 60ten!

Zur Feier des Tages sind wir mit dem Schiff in der San Diego Bucht gefahren. 

Das hat viel Spass gemacht: wir haben Seelöwen gesehen und Möwen, eine Menge Segelboote und grosse Marineschiffe.

A propos, Opa und Daddy meinten ich hatte den coolen Kampfpiloten-Look, mit Sauerstoffmaske :-)

great dog? or the greatest?

On the 31st we celebrated at a Halloween party. The guests of honor were a collection of babies ranging from three to fifteen months. Fittingly, Charlotte went as a cow; other costumes included a monster and a tiger. Also apropos, Charlotte managed to trick-or-treat at a grand total of one-half a house. (I'm rounding up here.) Upon leaving the host's house and beginning the twenty meter walk to the next one, Charlotte decided she was hungry again. She didn't even make it to her first doorbell. 

Dogs were also welcome at the party. Penny played nicely with the other two hounds. When Charlotte finally went to sleep upstairs, Penny played guardian. (It must be said that the dog whose house Penny had invaded was as gracious a host as his parents.) As Charlotte dozed off Penny laid beneath her. Here and there Penny would hear the commotion downstairs and walk to the banister, but she didn't often leave her self-appointed post. It's clear already that Penny loves her little sister. 

Post trick-or-treating but pre-sleep, Charlotte and Penny were both at the party downstairs. They managed to play together a little, with play here meaning Charlotte laying on top of Penny. Penny didn't seem to think that she was getting a raw deal and happily provided some hair for Charlotte to grab. The other guests were impressed with how gentle and peaceful Penny was as Charlotte, whose dexterity is not the most well-developed, petted her. As we notice every night on the beach: Charlotte loves Penny. She truly is a big goofy teddy-bear. 

happy halloween!

with greetings

from the

milk monster!

we're back!

We've had too much grandparent fun to blog over the past two weeks... but we're back!

So stay tuned for lots of birthday and baptism stories.

Oh, and in this photo, Troy and Penny wanted to join the picture too... but as you can see:

Coordinating a self-timed shot with the whole family is nearly impossible ;-)

sleepy head

We have been wondering about the expression "sleeping like a baby" since we've had one - because it does not mean just one thing... Sometimes, Charlotte sleeps so deeply that no barking Penny or concert in the park can wake her. But other times, she is restless and easily woken once, twice, three times in a row. Yesterday was such a night... so we're hopeful that we will all sleep like a (good ;-) baby tonight! 

love at first sight

Another anniversary: Today a year ago we saw Charlotte for the first time. 

On October 6, 2010, we had our first ultrasound and there she was with a healthy baby heartbeat of 174! 

When trying to picture Charlotte's size, the ultrasound technician said we should think of a Teddy Graham cracker. Quite the cute thought! Although, Daddy told Mama that she could not possibly call her lovingly our "little cracker" ... Well, what do foreigners know! We agreed on Keks [= German for cookie] for the rest of the pregnancy ;-)

And Charlotte sure was a sweet thing already: that day she waved her hand at us - saying hello to her new parents. But the coolest, according to Daddy, was the sight of her tiny brain!

our favorite

Today, we have another "birthday" - hard to believe that our little girl is already 5 months now...

And she has been the best gift.  
Charlotte, we love you!

happy birthday, dad!

Here we were hanging out for your first Father's Day... 

Waking up next to you this morning and giving you a big birthday smile (ok, together with a full diaper... ;-) was great fun.

I hope I've been
a good present so far. 

I LOVE YOU!

bottle shock, revisited

Charlotte has changed her mind on the bottle... again.

After her 3 months old strike, she had happily returned to the bottle once a day for all of August - and enjoyed many fun meals with Daddy and at Oma & Opa's house. But in September, the bottle was met again with protest.

Charlotte seems to be a connoisseur already. [Mama says that's a person with very good taste. Daddy says it's the French euphemism for being judgmental!]

In any case, we'll see how Charlotte's taste buds develop over the next month. Her bottle shock might dissipate again within a few weeks. If not, Mama will just take it as a big compliment - and good excuse to spend even more quality time with her little one.

And introducing solids will be a whole new culinary adventure...
so stay tuned!

footsies

einer zu wenig

Daddy war dieses Wochenende auf einer Konferenz in Washington. Wir Mädels waren also allein... und können es kaum noch abwarten, dass wir heute abend wieder zu viert* sind!


*  Penny schläft zwar nicht mit uns im Bett liegt aber immer wachsam am Fussende :-)

hundemüde

rosenkavalier

[Troy hat unsere weiblichen Hochzeitsgäste aber letztendlich
den Brautstrauss fangen lassen...]

everything is illuminated

Charlotte loves the glow of the illuminated flowers on her play mat.




It captures her attention (and imagination?!)
for quite a long time.





She is usually so fascinated by the alternating lights that even a passing Penny rarely gets noticed ;-)