Little Surfer Girl

Of all of the things that I have looked forward to about being a mom, taking my kids to the beach has to be on the top of my list. When I was growing up, my family went every single summer to the beach and enjoyed hours of just laying around, swimming, and playing in the sand. I was so happy to find out that Charlotte has inherited my love of the sand, sun, and water!

"Mom, where's my boogie board?"

Taking the requisite taste of the sand ...

... And figuring out that yeah, it's about that good!

Sheer joy!

Mommy loves her little water baby! xoxoxo

Charlotte Catches a Wave

Beaufort, Pt. 1

We went to North Carolina for a week in July to visit Adam's family and so Adam could attend his 10th high school reunion. We hadn't been back to NC since we moved from Durham in September, so it was really fun to see some family we hadn't seen in a while and also to renew our acquaintance with some of our old haunts. (Our time in Durham will be featured in a future post.)

Above, Charlotte enjoys some Baby Einstein in a rocker that belonged to her daddy when he was a little boy. Pretty darn cute.

Charlotte's Nana and Grandaddy (her great-grandparents) had not seen her since she was a week old.

One of the first things we did in Beaufort was visit the NC Aquarium. This was Charlotte's first time seeing live fish and she really enjoyed it, even though the sea otters were her favorite thing there.

A rare photo on our camera not featuring Charlotte ...

An even rarer photo featuring Charlotte and Mama.

It was hard to get good pictures at the aquarium because it was dark inside, but this is pretty much what Charlotte looked like the entire time anyway. We couldn't get her to look away for a picture.

What, me worry?

Rub-a-Dub-Dub ...

...three kids in a tub. This past week, I got to try out what it would be like to be a mother of three (if the youngest two were a scant 11 months apart). My cousin Shelly went to San Francisco for an operation (a saga that will have to wait for another post) and we inherited her kids, Damon (almost 4) and Audrey (almost 2) for a few days. Although we had a lot of fun with the kids, I was so exhausted I wanted to die at night. I definitely don't have the stamina for this yet. When I mentioned this to my aunt, she said, "That's why God sends them one at a time."

Bathtime was an adventure. I thought it would be fun to make some bubbles in the tub for the kids but must have put a little too much soap in because before I knew it, they were all slipping all over the place, wacking into each other and crying. Not good. And I got soaked. Still, it was a good feeling to have everyone clean and in their pajamas when it was all over.

Audrey has lovely hair that was incredibly hard for me to maintain since she doesn't like to get it brushed.

I love this picture of Damon because I think it really shows the enthusiasm with which this little boy approaches everything in life. He made me laugh all of the time. And taught me that you never ask a child what they want for lunch; you just put it in front of them and walk away, or you will inevitably be told that that isn't what they wanted at all.

So, so cute ... Audrey looked like a little dolly sitting on our huge sofa watching the Backyardigans.

Yeah, so this hairdo is all my fault. It was about all I could manage. Good thing she is so cute no matter how her hair looks!

Charlotte had a great time hangin' with her older, cooler cousins!

Best belly shirt I've seen since the 80s, Damon!

The more things change...

It seems like our little Charlotte changes every single day. Recently, Charlotte has become interested in her little baby lamb. She likes to hold him and pull on his ears.

She is also exhibiting a newfound cuddliness. She lets us hold her more and will put her head down on Mommy's shoulder or Daddy's knee.

But she is as precocious and curious as ever, always finding new places to hide and more trouble to get into.

And now, all of a sudden she is very interested in her old bouncy chair, which she has not sat in for three or four months.

Pavlov's Charlotte