Several months ago we discovered we were expecting another child in January [11th to be exact]. For several reasons, we've kept it to ourselves. But, after 3 ultra sounds and everything progressing nicely...we finally feel comfortable putting the news out there. On Thursday, we found out "it's a girl".
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| From Baby Girl Michael |
Several Oktoberfests ago, every picture anyone took of me I looked like this. For some reason I thought it was funny. It's bad enough that I've apparently dragged Kaye down to my level. But, it's very sad that I couldn't shield my daughter from such behavior. Next thing you know, she'll be wearing a German alpine hat and yelling "This hat is makin' me hot!!". [That one's for you, "M-Lo"]
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| From Christmas08 |
Yea...and tomorrow we have our first parent/teacher conferences. Here's how I see this going.
Teacher: Ok, Mr. and Mrs. Michael. Charlotte is doing well developmentally. Her language is ahead of schedule. She's learning her alphabet, numbers [Spanish and English], colors, and several songs. Um, we were just wondering. Who taught her the "Butt Dance"?
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| From School Pics |
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.
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| Halloween08 |
...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?
Last week Wednesday, I got a call from our day care letting me know that they suspected that Charlotte had "hand, foot, and mouth disease". I had heard of this, but didn't know much about it. Come to find out, neither did our day care. When they called, they told me that they had her quarantined in an office. So, of course, I'm imagining guys in white hazmat suits carrying my daughter into a sealed room [ala ET].
When I went to pick her up, one of the workers walked down the hall with her in her arms. She informed me that they were looking into how long she'd need to be out, but they'd definitely need a doctors note to get back in. So, I took her to the doctor.
Now, I've been through this before with pink-eye. They called me, told me she had pink eye, I took her to the doctor, and the doctor told me she didn't have it. So, I went back to day care...all cocky, of course...and told them she didn't have it. Of course, the next day her eyes were all gunked up and pink.
So, this time, I brought her back and gave them the doctors note saying she didn't have it. Interestingly, in the time it took me to take her to the doctor, they discovered that it didn't matter if she had it or not, she could say as long as she didn't have a fever. However, I planned to keep her out that day just to be safe [in case she did or didn't have it and could catch it]. Apparently there's nothing saying kids with this stuff need to be removed.
Thursday we took her back to daycare and all was fine. Early Friday afternoon, I got a call letting me know she was running a fever. As Friday and Saturday rolled along she started to get more and more blisters on her face.
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| From More gifts fr... |
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| From More gifts fr... |
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.
Tonight, I picked Charlotte up from day care and they had her hair back in little tiny pony tails. That doesn't mean much to some people, but for a long time, she barely had hair. Unless she was wearing the brightest, pinkest outfit, people would say "What a cute little boy". Then again, when you dress her in a Packer sweatshirt like this, it doesn't help.
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| From Game Day |
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| Click on pic to view entire album |
As you can see, Charlotte was focused and ready for todays game. Unfortunately for her, she's inherited her father's huge head. The hat she's wearing fit her this fall. No so much any more. Oh and, no, we don't always dress her like a boy. On Friday, she went to school in her pink Packer outfit. So, quit judging us!!
Oh, and Charlotte and I also want it duly noted that we both agreed last January that Favre shouldn't retire. Of course, I didn't see them going to the NFC Championship...but Charlotte knew it all along.
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.
It took two tries to get these pictures. Round one was an attempt to get pictures with her cousin, Matthew, as well as her 1 year pics. She was in no mood for this. We managed to get the picture with Matthew [even though it looks a little like a church directory picture]. We went back a week later and finally got her 1 year pictures done.
Christmas "Round One" pics & video coming soon
The other big event last weekend was my nephew's graduation from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with degrees in Sociology and Political Science. We are all very proud of him and know he'll do good things. Dale and Chris took us all out for dinner that night. The cake he's holding was his extra special "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cake. It was friggin' awesome.
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| Matthew's Graduation [click to view album] |
I was going to write a heartfelt post about how amazing the past year has been, but decided I'd just let it be what it is-a kid's first birthday. Unfortunately, the clowns, ponies, and carnie rides didn't show up. So we had lunch, cake, and presents.
We had lots of family around this weekend because of her B'day and Matthew's Graduation from UW-L [more on that in a post to follow]. Charlotte got plenty of cake, as you can see...plenty of presents, as you can see...and entirely too much attention. Between the attention and a few late night meals [and maybe some teething], she was awake every 30 minutes to an hour both nights. We're not the best at letting her cry it out anyway, but when you've got people staying at your house, it makes it even harder because you don't want them to have to endure it too.
Regardless, it's been a great year with her. She's taught me a lot about myself that I never knew. It's only been a year, but I don't remember what life was like without her, nor would I want to [or maybe I'm just blocking it out for the sake of my own sanity].
...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.
So it's been a while since I posted last. I'd say we've been busy [and I think we have], but I'm hard pressed to make a list of stuff we've been doing that might have kept me from posting anything. I suppose between ramping up for start of the school year, which is our busiest time at work, and various other stuff, I guess I've neglected this form of communication.
We had some pics taken last week. Check them out.
I also shot some video today that isn't all that eventful.
It does, however, show that her crawling has improved immensely...and, God help us all, she's standing. Sometimes she's able to stand on her own without holding on to anything and some of those are incidents might even be on purpose. As you can see from the pictures, she's getting her teeth.
Update: Remember my plans for retirement? Well, one of my nephew's roommates works at a local Quillins grocery store and also knows the gentleman that I mentioned in that post. Want to guess how he knows him? That's right, he does the same stuff at Quillins...apparently for hours at a time. So, now I'm starting think he may be a slightly past "a little eclectic" and maybe a little closer to goofy. I must admit though, it doesn't make it less funny.
I'm not necessarily one of those parents who takes pictures of his child for no reason. This week, I became one of those parents momentarily.
Grandma Michael came into town this past week for a little extended stay. She and I did the fireworks while Kaye and Charlotte stayed home. After our Airfest trauma, we decided that fireworks probably wasn't a good idea yet.
Since we skipped that trauma, we thought we'd throw Charlotte into her new pool, just to keep her on her toes. She didn't seem to enjoy it and she let all the neighbors know. I'm waiting for the visit from Child Protective Services on Monday.
I forgot to mention; After being sent home last monday with Pink Eye, Charlotte was sent home with a fever on Friday. A little Tylenol and all was well. Does this kid look sick to you?
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