Grammy's Brown Bread!!! First...I can't believe I'm posting photos that have nothing to do with Charlie!! Second...I can't believe that just 2 hours ago I was outside shovelling mulch off the back of the truck all alone!!! and third.....I was shovelling all alone because my husband was inside making bread!!! YES....I said "MAKING BREAD!!!!!!!" David is hosting NFL Sunday Football tomorrow and he wanted brown bread to go with the stew he's making....so....thank God Mindy was here to help him along and I came in just in time for some GREAT photos!!! It's Delicious!!! Enjoy!!!

Too Cute! Hi there....just a quick post today to say hello to you all and send some more "too cute" photos. Last week Charlie had some family come to visit all the way from NB. Aunt Mary and Uncle Al, Cousin Amanda, Smitty and little cousin Max. We had a great visit with them and they brought Charlie a gift. I thought that it would be a month or so before he fit into it...but...he "IS" advanced and growing like a weed....so....here he is today in his big boy outfit smiling for the camera!

Trip to Salt Spring Island! On Sunday, we all went to Salt Spring Island for the day....We just went over, had a wonderful lunch, walked on the boardwalk, drove around site-seeing, then came back home.... it was a beautiful day...about 23 degrees and very sunny!!! Here are a few photos from our trip for your viewing pleasure....

First, Charlie's very first ferry ride!!!! He ate in the van on the way over and again on the way back...he's such a good traveller.


Here he is at his first playground on the horsey!!!

3 generations of handsome men!!!

and here are some VERY proud Grandparents with their first Grandchild....and a very proud Daddy holding little Charlie too!!!!

Oh...this was tooo cute....here's Daddy showing little Charlie where his thumb is!!!!!

Finally, here is our little angel sound asleep after a long day (notice his "body pillow")

Take care and keep in touch! We love to hear that you love to hear from us!!!!

5 weeks!!! I wonder just how long one continues to count ones life in weeks??? I'm sure at some point, I'll change over to months and then years, but For now, it's fun and gives me an excuse to post! Charlie is growing too quickly (as everyone warned us he would). He now smiles (and it's not just when he has to fart!!) and giggles (especially when his Daddy comes home from work and whistles at him....it's quite hilarious!!!) and makes some great cooing noises too. He's had a bit of a cold this past week - David brought it home, then Charlie got it and now I'm suffering slightly....should be gone soon! It's amazing though how you don't feel as bad as you would have had you not had a beautiful baby to preoccupy yourselves! (does that make ANY sense at all??) Anyway, what I'm trying to say is....when you have such a "beautiful baby boy" to focus all your attention on, you just don't seem to notice the cold symptoms as much! OK...maybe my head still is a bit foggy.....So, here are a few photos taken this week for your viewing pleasure...

How many of you have a beautiful hand made cashmere sweater? Well, Sir Charles does! THANKS to Great Auntie Nancy, he's looking beautiful in Blue....just look at how those big blue eyes pop!!!

Charlie LOVES to cuddle and when you pick him up like this he curls his little feet right up under his belly and settles right in....just makes you melt! So, here's our little "snuggle bug" with his Dad! This one's a keeper!!!

Charlie's Biker Buddy, Corey, gave him his very first baseball and glove....what do you think...should we send this off to an agent yet????....."my boy's gonna play in the big league, my boy's gonna turn some heads!!!!"

Finally, here's another bath photo....he's just TOOO much fun in the tub! On a sunny day, the sun shines right in on him and he practically goes to sleep. Here, he was a little more alert because it was raining out that day. I must say though, he sure does LOVE bath time! He's now starting to kick in the water and he makes lots of cooing noises too...only seems to get upset when I take him out!

That's it for today! Nana and Papa only have a few days left here, so we're all going on a road trip to Salt Spring Island tomorrow...I'm sure we'll have some photos to post from there so keep checking! Hope you all have a great weekend.

It's my 1 month-iversary!!!!! Charlie writes: Hello all! Today I celebrate being here for one whole month....wow...how time flies! It seems like only yesterday I was waking Mom up to head to the hospital! So far I am really enjoying life! Mom and Dad are taking VERY good care of me, I'm eating LOTS (got weighed today and I'm 10 lbs 15.4 ozs) and growing really tall (22.5 inches today)!!! I thought I'd post a couple of photos to tell you all how I celebrated today. Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed my day!!!!!

Oh...this first photo was actually taken yesterday, Mom and I had just returned from a shower some wonderful ladies at the church had for us....Auntie Aly wanted to see me in my cookie monster suit...so...here I am!



OK....so, back to today...I thought I would celebrate with some afternoon booby-juice cocktails! Man were they good! Before I knew it one lead to another and next thing I knew I was bit milk drunk: as you can see below!! ...."wasn't that a party!!!!"....

I thought Mom would have grounded me for getting so intoxicated ....but...I just gave her this smile and she was putty in my little hands....she just said "Oh, Charlie....what AM I going to do with you?" ....my punishment was a million kisses....rough eh??

Hope you all had a wonderful day! I just can't wait to see what life will bring on my 2 month-iversary!!!!!!!!

4 Weeks old!!! Hello all, just thought I would fill you in on what's been happening around here with our little bundle of joy. Yesterday marked Charlie's 4 week-iversary and those of you who have commented on how "time flies" are absolutely right! David just came upstairs to tell me that he went to put Charlie down in the bassinet and he "doesn't fit! He's HUGE" I know that it will be hard to control yourselves when you see a couple of these photos....but....I've given you some notice, and hopefully you'll be OK....he's just toooo adorable to handle sometimes!

Here's Charlie with his "Biker Buddy". He was quite mesmerizes (I think I spelled that wrong, but you know what I mean) by Corey's voice and beard! Charlie was very easily soothed when Corey held him...quite hilarious!!! Corey thinks he should take Charlie for a ride on his Harley...says he would fit nicely in the saddle bags! I'm not so sure?????


Auntie Aly sent him this cute little onesie for when he feels like "horsing around"! He's quite the little cowboy! He DID receive a pair of cowboy boots as a gift too, but they're still a little big or I would have included them in this photos....there's always next time.

Sorry, I can't seem to turn this one around...but...here's Charlie today watching Football with his Dad wearing his KC Chiefs (Priest Holmes) jersey! David says he's the best teammate you could ever have - except that David doesn't usually kiss his teammates as much as this one!!!!


Last night, David and I ventured out for the first time together and left Charlie at home with Nana and Papa (we were gone for a total of 1.5 hours - but nevertheless...we were gone!!!!) Charlie was a little angel, of course, and never said boo! His big brother, Schooner, seen below, stayed in to help babysit too!!!! This photo is really on here for my Dad...he always asks if I'm taking care of Schooner too so he doesnt' feel neglected! YES Dad, I am taking care of him and he takes care of Charlie when we go out in return!

Finally....here is the "piece de resistance"! Our beautiful little angel!!!!! This was taken yesterday here at home to mark his 4 week-iversary.....who needs a professional photographer when you have a wonderful model like this to work with!!!!! Now.....dry those eyes folks!

Love you all! Don't forget to comment and let me know what you think! Oh....someone did ask....how do you comment??? Just click on the word "comment" below and voila!

More "too cute" photos! It's been several days since my last post...wow, how time flies with a newborn! Everything is going well here; Mom only has 2 days left with Charlie (and us) and she can't get over how much he's changed in the 4 weeks she's been here! He's still as good as ever - sleeping 2 hours between feedings in the day and 3 hours between at night! Such a good little angel! Papa Vance (the name has been officially selected as "papa") has quite a nack for putting Charlie at ease. Every day now he has some Papa time and settles very well while Mom runs out to do a few things. Anyway, hope all is well with all of you...thank you very much to those of you who have sent cards, flowers, gifts, etc.....Charlie appreciates EVERYTHING!!!!

Here's our little charmer wearing his special shirt he got to wear on David's birthday! David was very excited to get his first "Happy Birthday Dad" card (although I think I was probably more excited picking it out!!!)

Grampy Leslie sent out a special parcel with Grammy just for Charlie. Here he is sporting his Harley Davidson wear - complete with baby "doo-rag"! He looks sooooo cute in this; can't wait to sit on Grampy's Harley at Christmas!!! Lookin' pretty cool, eh?

Just want to finish by asking you to "please comment!" Just take a quick minute to comment when you've browsed our blog so I know that I'm not just humoring myself with posting. It's nice to know that someone is actually looking at my handsome little man! Otherwise.....I will just have to keep all these photos to myself!!!!!!!!!

TTFN

They're Here!!!!! Just wanted to send you some GREAT photos taken today of Charlie with his Grampa Vance and Nana MaryAnne! They arrived safe and sound from all the way across the country late last night very eager to meet their first grandchild! Of course...they agree...he is absolutely beautiful and looks just like his mother!!! hee!hee! (once David figures out just how to blog I won't be able to say things like that anymore!) Anyway, here he is with Grampa and Nana....

Oh...here's another "too cute" photo taken a couple days ago of Charlie in his NBA training suit (thanks Mike and Anna!) David keeps telling him he's going to be 6'4"... at his rapid growth rate (he was 9lbs 10 ozs) on Wednesday!) he's probably right!

A Big Day! Hello everyone! Just thought we would write about the FULL day that little Charlie had yesterday! It all started with a wonderful bath in the sun around 9am. He LOVES the bath....here he is looking totally relaxed having his back scrubbed.

LOVE the hooded towels....Charlie could sit wrapped up in one of these all day in the sun if we'd let him! So here he is all cleaned up and ready to take on the world.

He's definately looking brighter and more alert every day. Grammy was having a little chat with him in this photo and I guess the conversation went a little serious for Charlie as you can see here with his "OK...let's get serious" look!

My work had a wonderful barbeque get-together last night and Charlie was a trooper! He was passed around for about 2 hours and never said "Boo!" Just slept and kept everyone warm "oohing" and "aahing" over him! He's quite the charmer already! He got some VERY nice gifts from some VERY nice people! THANKS!!!!!

We returned home after the party, Charlie had something to eat and here he is looking very satisfied. He was also very handsomely dressed....seen here sporting his "surf's up" shirt! Such a little man!!!!

Our Story! It just occurred to me (after telling the whole story once again) that many of you may not have yet heard about just how little Charlie arrived 2 weeks ago tomorrow....so....here is our story......

I had it all planned.... my sister, Bev, was here visitting from Aug 10-15th before moving to Scotland...so, Charlie would come 2 weeks before his due date while Bev was here! Well, that trip came and went and no Charlie!

Then, David had it all planned....Mom would be arriving on tuesday, just one week after Bev left, Aug 22nd, so, Charlie would wait the week in between and arrive after Mom got here!

On August 19th, Charlie had it all planned...he decided to come when HE was ready...imagine that??? I repacked my hospital bag before going to bed that Friday night and said to David: "don't stay up too late, you may be needing your rest...we COULD have a baby tonight you know!" His response was..."NO, you're waiting until Tuesday, remember?" So, off to bed I went only to wake up at 1:30am with a usual trip to the washroom; however, when I came back to bed I felt a little trickle and thought I just still had to "go". So, back to the bathroom I went, but nothing. I did this 3 times, finally I thought "OH...this could be my water breaking! But...no BIG production! Just little trickles! I called the hospital, told them what was happening and they told me to get a shower, something to eat and then come in. I woke David up and his response (once again) was...."NO, it's not tuesday!" Then, he cooked me some pasta, grabbed the bag and at about 2:30am we went to the hospital. So, here I am just before leaving the house....WOW....I WAS looking VERY pregnant!

Here I am in the hospital (the first time) looking mighty fine!!! The nurse confirmed that YES, my water had broken and I was in fact in labour; however, I was feeling nothing....yet....

So, we decided to go home and get some sleep. We returned home at about 4am and started calling people back east to let them know that we were having a baby TODAY!!!! Slept for a few hours until about 8am. Then, I got up, walked around a bit, talked on the phone some more, David watched golf until about 10am when things started getting a bit more intense. We called the hospital as I was then feeling pretty strong contractions every 3 minutes lasting about 1 minute each. Then, I got a bit shakey, the chills and then threw up! AHHH!!! that's when David said "OK....we're going back to the hospital!"

We arrived back at the hospital just after 11am - at 12pm I was 3 cent dialated - got in the tub to help me "relax"as I didn't want to take any morphine (for those of you who have experienced labour, I'm sure you're all laughing right now at how the word relax really doesn't fit into one's labour stories very often) - but...it worked! I dozed off in between contractions for about an hour - tried some laughing gas at about 2pm - told the nurse I thought she forgot to turn on the gas because it wasn't working so I threw the mask to the side - was 10 cent dialated by about 2:30pm - got wheeled into the "C-Section room" because they didn't have a birthing room for me (they thought I would be the last one to deliver that day as it was my first baby and there were a bunch of 2nd time Mom's there who they thought would be much faster than me) HA!HA! We showed them!!!! Pushed for about an hour and 15 mins....at one point I did tell David that I didn't think I could do it anymore as I was too tired, his response "Well, I don't think you have a choice!" Obviously I did NOT like David's response as I got just wound up enough to finish the job because about 10 minutes later Charlie was born (3:44pm) , as shown below!

Our regular doctor wasn't working that day, so here is a photo of the wonderful doctor who delivered our beloved Charlie....she was GREAT! She asked us where we were from as she knew David's accent was somewhere from the east coast...she had spent alot of time in Nova Scotia a few years back. She came to see us on Monday as we were leaving to tell us how much of a pleasure it was being part of the birth of our son! The nurse, Pat, was fantastic as well!

Here is the official weigh in! This is taken about 45 minutes after Charlie was born and he did have a full belly (he nursed within 10 minutes of being born and for about a half hour!!! Such a good boy!!!)

We were in our room by about 5:00pm, called Mindy to bring us some Pizza and come visit Charlie! So, that's it....now you know the rest of the story!