Have you ever seen paralyzing fear?

It's still better than our experience with the Easter Bunny.



I'd feel bad watching it if it weren't so darn funny. She's a good sport.

Two years old

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Last weekend we had Charlotte's 2nd birthday party. Although she didn't say it, Charlotte really appreciated so many family members traveling to celebrate with her. We also celebrated her cousin Matthew's b'day the night before, so I'm fairly certain that she now believes that the song "Happy Birthday" was specifically written for her and Matthew.

On Monday we also went to have her picture taken with Santa. The line to see him was about an hour long and circled around the children's play area in the mall. So, needless to say, it was bedlam in playland. There even came a point when Kaye had to lay down the law with a couple boys who were roughhousing and knocked Charlotte down. That moment made the hour plus wait worth every minute.

Regardless, this picture went a little better than our experience with the Easter Bunny. I will say, however, that this picture doesn't really do justice to Charlotte's obvious aprehension when she was placed on Santa's knee. But, she managed to hold it together, smile, and take a fairly good picture.

From Christmas08

I do have video of her B'day and the picture with Santa. Unfortunately, my USB cable for my camera seems to have been lost in our move to Madison. I've ordered a new one and hope to have some video up ASAP.

I'm not very good at this...

It has been a very long time since my last post.

Well, we're settling into Madison fairly nicely. Charlotte seems to really enjoy her new day care. She's counting to 10, saying her ABC's, singing songs [some of which I actually know] and learning Spanish. The Spanish thing is a little scary because sometimes I have a hard time understanding her and now I have to figure out which language she's speaking...and I only know one of them. Long story short, she's becoming a little person. It's been great.

We've been trying to take in as much of Madison as possible, when we have time. In fact, last weekend to celebrate our anniversary, we went to a Badger football game, out to dinner, and went to an off off broadway show featuring a cross-dressing Tupperware sales person, "Dixie's Tupperware Party". Very funny...and you could actually buy Tupperware.

My job continues to be fairly interesting. It's never the same thing from day to day and it's been a huge learning experience. Kaye seems to be enjoying her job. Our house in La Crosse [aka our "Summer Home"] hasn't sold yet....so if you're looking for a house in La Crosse, WI, don't be afraid to drop us a note.

This past weekend, we took Charlotte Trick or Treating for the first time. I think she understood the premise, for the most part. I don't think she ever said "Trick or Treat, but she did enjoy the part where people gave her candy. Matthew and Brianna joined us and Matthew actually dressed for the occasion. Last night, Kaye Charlotte and I went to the Badger men's basketball game. Charlotte had a great time, but got a little tired. I don't think she had a lot of interest in the game, but enjoyed watching all the people, especially Bucky. She entertained some of the people around her too.

Halloween08

Again, my apologies for the lack of posts. It's been a very interesting couple months, but we've also been very busy. And when we aren't busy, I'm much happier playing with Charlotte. When I'm not playing with Charlotte, the couch is a wonderful place.

More slacking...

...except this time I had the pics, I just never posted them.

We took some pictures over the 4th of July. Most of them are at Kaye's parents playing with bubbles and her cousins, who were patiently trying to teach her to blow bubbles. She wanted to kiss/eat them. With Charlotte, it's a very fine line between kisses and eating. They both involve an open mouth and lots of drool.



There are also a few pics of Kaye's birthday dinner at Outback. Shut up! It was her choice. I didn't even have to brainwash her. The last few pics are of Charlotte on one of the weekend mornings while eating breakfast. She's very ladylike.

Oh, and I also included this year's obligatory pics of the Charlotte in the bikini my sister bought her. Happy now Chris?

Catching up...

I admit, I'm a slacker. It's been way too long since my last post. Or...maybe not that much is happening. Well, let me catch you up.

This wasn't Charlotte's first Easter, but it was the first one where she's been able to take part in some of the activities. It was my mom's spring break, so she was able to spend a long weekend with us. We had an Easter egg hunt at our church. I was a little afraid of how this might go because, in the weeks leading up to Easter, Charlotte had been pointing at Easter Eggs and saying [or sometimes yelling], "Balls!!". Luckily, that was kept to a minimum at church.

After the Easter egg hunt, we went to the mall for the obligatory picture with the Easter Bunny, or as he's known to Charlotte, "that large furry thing that I like to look at from far away, but not so much close up" There are several parts in the video where, if you watch real closely, you can see small moments of panic. The real terror is not capture on video because I bailed on the video taping duties as soon as I saw her start to lose it. Let's face it, I'm not good at watching my daughter freak out. As you can see above, we did manage to snap one pic.

Like last year, we visited my cousin Sue for Easter Sunday. And, again, she fed us way better than we deserve. Other than a brief choking episode by Charlotte on the way down and a crying/screaming fit for the last 20 minutes of the ride back, it was well worth the trip. I can't thank Sue, and everyone who helps her, enough.

Charlotte is developing her own little personality. She has a fondness for the word "no". She likes to say it to the dog, her parents, a grilled cheese...it really doesn't matter. It's been a long winter, so she's been cooped up in the house for a long time. Let's face it, when there's 3 feet of snow in the yard and you're only 2 feet tall, playing in the yard isn't an option. So, when the weather warmed up, I decided we'd start taking more walks around the block, playing in the yard, going to parks.

The first time I had her in the yard, I set her down in the grass and she just stood there. She seemed afraid to move. I slowly came to realize that she was afraid of the grass. Granted, last summer when she was just learning to sit up/crawl, she wasn't a fan of the feeling of the grass, but I've heard that's fairly normal. However, this seemed to be more of an outright fear...not screaming in fear [ala the Easter Bunny], just kind of afraid to move fear. Nonetheless, we have been able to get her out more. A couple weeks ago we took her to "Kids Coulee", a giant playground/castle/jungle gym in one of our local parks. This was her first time on a big swing set. Yes, I shot video of it. Don't judge me.

Last weekend we payed a visit to my grandma Erickson [my mom's side]. While it's always nice to see her, Charlotte was more interested in her walker. The better photos are courtesy of my Uncle Gary.

Ok, maybe stuff has been happening. Apparently, I am a slacker.

Valentine's Day is for...

...grandmas?



Apparently it is in our house.

Christmas 07

Christmas is like getting a part time job that involves travel, manual labor [ie "Some assembly required"], over eating, and late nights. Last Saturday, we drove to Waupaca. Christmas Eve we drove to Oxford, WI for the Erickson family Christmas [my mother's side]...and then back to Waupaca. Christmas day, we drove to La Crosse to and enjoyed another huge meal with Kaye's family. My mom visited us from Thursday to Sunday. She and Charlotte got lots of quality time. I don't know who ran who more ragged...but I think they both enjoyed it. Lastly, we had Christmas with Kaye's immediate family on Sunday afternoon and watched the Packers.

On Saturday, Santa visited my mom's house. It was the first time Charlotte had any clue of what was going on [unlike the first time]. She had mixed emotions.


[Hat tip to Dick Cook]

Then it was off to the Erickson Family Christmas



Then back to Grandma Michael's for more gifts.



Then on to Kaye's family...



...and more presents.




Just in case that's not enough, we also have pictures.

Our first Halloween...

So, we were going to keep it pretty low key for Halloween, but since they were having a party at her daycare, we thought we'd at least Charlotte wear a costume. You know, just so she didn't feel left out.

I think she would have been fine with "left out".

Daddy's favorite time of year...

...and it's not just because of Oktoberfest. Charlotte got in on the raking action yesterday. Ok, maybe it was just to pose for a few pics, but she was there.




The posts have been few and far between lately, so I apologize. With the holidays and her birthday coming up, I'm sure things will pick up. In general things have been pretty quiet. The walking thing is coming around, with help. She's standing on her own, even without anything to hang on to. However, she's not taking any steps on her own.

First Father's Day

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We had our first Father's this Weekend. We spent Saturday night with Kaye's family...grilled out at our house and went to a Loggers Game. As I've mentioned before, she's a people watcher so she loved it, other than the 1 or 2 innings she slept through. Sunday morning we went to Old Country Buffet for breakfast. Only the best for daddy. Then, Charlotte and I spent most of the afternoon in a recliner napping the afternoon away.

The above pics were taken this afternoon after said nap.

Mother's Day

Kaye had her first mother's day this weekend [more pics here]. We had a little brunch at Forest Hills on Sunday. Ok, I had a lot of brunch. For the most part, Charlotte and I tried to make it a fairly restful and relaxing weekend for Kaye. It didn't turn out that way, but we tried.

I learned that Mother's Day creates yet another one of those Fatherhood Inferiority Moments [FIM]. FIMs are those moments, as a man, where you are trying to do the right thing...trying to do right by your wife and family...and things just don't live up to what you had hoped for. Let's face it, by marrying me, we hope that Kaye has some pretty low expectations. We don't buy each other a lot of expensive gifts [if any at all]. But, there are moments where I try to do little things to make things special for Kaye. Typically, they don't work out.

Long story short, making breakfast in bed for mommy is hard to do with a kid that is making enough noise to wake mommy up. When mommy gets a cold-a really bad cold-even a restful weekend turns into an unpleasant experience. Maybe next year we'll try a trip to the races.

First Easter...no pictures.

Apparently we were too busy eating to take any pictures of Charlotte enjoying her first Easter. We spent Saturday night with Kaye's family and Sunday at my cousin Sue's home in Lomira. Charlotte slept the whole way down. Let's hope she keeps that habit up for future travels. Sue put on a HUGE spread-a Big thank you to her and everyone who helped her. I ate entirely too much.

My uncle Gerry commented that Charlotte seemed to be a fairly easygoing and quiet child. I thanked him for jinxing us. Like clockwork, about an hour later Charlotte entered into a screaming fit rivaling only those she had the first night she was home when she wasn't getting enough to eat. We're assuming [read: hoping] it was gas. After about an hour [may have been more like 1/2 hour...but seemed like an eternity], Kaye got her settled down and sleeping. So, we said our good-byes and ran out the door while she was in a good mood. Thankfully, she slept the whole way home.

Lastly, I'd be remissed if I didn't send a "shout-out" [yea, that's right, I said "shout-out"] to my cousin Marnie who got engaged last week. Congratulations!

That's the lucky girl in the middle.