Precious

Even when I spend a half hour scrubbing the carpet on her account, I don't love anything in this whole world better than this tiny, precious little dolly.

Holy ****

Fleeing from the Scene of the Crime

Yep, that is exactly what you think it is on the carpet. The nanny had to leave early today so I brought my laptop into the front room thinking I could continue to work on my dissertation while Charlotte played by herself on the floor. Unfortunately, I was sitting on the couch on the other side of the ottoman so though I could hear her and see her head, I couldn't see what she was playing with. Imagine my horror when I looked up to see her bringing her tiny hand to her mouth with a piece of poopy in it! Blech. And Adam is out of town so he can't be here to help me scrub this out of the carpet or to hose down our precious little offender. Miss you lots, honey!

Of course, this occurrence is karmic. Yesterday, I was laughing when I saw on my friend's blog that her baby had done something similar in his crib. Never, ever laugh at the misfortune of other people!

Baby Pool

Feeling hot this summer? Well, so are we, so we got the little baby pool out on Wednesday and blew it up for the first time. If I would have known how much fun Charlotte was going to have with it even without the water, I would've blown it up a long time ago.

I love this picture--pure, uninhibited joy! It brings back all the good memories of my summers as a child for me, but now I get to relive them all in my baby as she discovers the simple joy of being wet when it is really hot.

"Stop splashin' me, Charlotte!" Damon was done with the little pool in about 30 minutes, but Charlotte continued to splash herself for another half hour. I finally had to take her out when her diaper started disintegrating.

The Only Room in Our House with Curtains

Look, Grammy, they're finally up! My mom made these curtains for Charlotte's room at least a month ago but we just got around to putting them up this last weekend. The only way I was able to convince Adam to put them up last Friday night was by telling him that Charlotte would probably sleep in Saturday if her room was darker. Adam hopped to it, but unfortunately she was still up at 7 the next morning. Oh well!

A Late Daddy's Day Post

Mommy isn't Daddy's only girl anymore. This year, Charlotte helped Adam celebrate his first real Father's Day in a number of special ways. She gave him five poopy diapers, spit up large quantities of orange food twice while he was playing with her, cried a lot on account of her teeth, and made such a fuss when we had guests over that we finally had to put her to bed early. Adam remarked, "If this is all I get from her for Father's Day, I'm not sure I want to celebrate it again next year." Of course you do! :)

As part of the festivities, we decided to go downtown and walk around Hermann Park ... in the lovely 98 degree weather. Yeah, I don't know what we were thinking either.

The only good part about the steamy weather was that Charlotte was relatively good ... since she was on the verge of heat stroke.

No, she wasn't really this red with heat, but she definitely turned pink, went limp, and clung to her sippy cup during our little jaunt through the park.

I'll be better next year, Daddy, I promise ... ;)

Charlotte's First Pedi (and the Rest of Our Trip)

A few pictures left over from the rest of our Utah/Hurricane/Las Vegas trip ...

Charlotte enjoyed her first balloon at Zylie's wedding. Woohoo!

Splashing in Aunt Margie's pool.

Being doodled on the knee of the Original Doodler himself, my Grandad Jensen.

Mommy wasn't the only one who got treated to a pedicure by Aunt Ashley ...

Yes, it did take three of us to restrain her, but it was worth it when it was all done!

Charlotte and Aunt Lolly (Lauren)

My Friend's New Blog

My friend Katrina has been taking pictures for some time now but has just got her own website and blog running:

http://redbeanphotography.blogspot.com/

She has a really good eye for pictures, as you can see from her website, and is very good with children especially. (Her little boy Asher is almost the exact age of Charlotte.) I wish I could say that I was promoting my friend solely out of the goodness of my heart, but she's having a contest and I want to WIN it. Charlotte will be one in August and I want some very cute pictures of her ... since the thousands I have posted here are just not enough ...

Hello From Utah, Daddy!

While Adam is hard at work in Houston, Charlotte and I have come to Utah for some R&R with Grammy and family. Some of the highlights for Charlotte have been morning walks on the trail with Grammy and the aunts, swinging at the park, going to our friend Zaily's wedding, and meeting Caroline's new boyfriend, Ty. (Actually, Charlotte hasn't really enjoyed any of that stuff except the swings.)

My First Agricultural Product

Maybe not as pretty as the ones you buy in the store, but infinitely more delicious ...

Sippy

Charlotte has a new friend. Binkie and Bottle, meet Sippy!

Streetfighter

Poor Charlotte has been taking on the ground, the walls, the coffee table, and just about everything else and losing terribly. Boo!

Mimi and Papi Come to Town

On Memorial Day weekend, Adam's parents came to town for a short visit. Although they were mostly here to see Charlotte, we saw some neat stuff in Houston too, including the San Jacinto National Monument and the Discovery Green downtown. Come back soon, Mimi and Papi!

We got caught in a downpour when visiting the Discovery Green and took refuge under a tent. Even though we were all huddled around Charlotte trying to keep her dry, she was only happy as long as she could see the rain coming down around her.