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.

It ain't pretty

but it's walking...sort of.

New pics, video...and look out, she's getting more mobile

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.

How I want to spend my retirement

This weekend, Kaye, Charlotte and I visited a few rummage sales. Yea...we go to rummage sales. Once again, don't judge me!! WE visited one a few blocks from our house. While we were there, a older gentleman was letting us all know about the deals we could get. In fairly deep and loud but monotone voice he would say, "Here's a star shaped basket for only 25 cents!" Or, "Here's ten or twelve afghans for five dollars! These would make great Christmas gifts!" At first, I thought, "Enough already. It's a rummage sale. I don't need the hard sell." However, as time went by [maybe 2 minutes], I slowly realized that this wasn't his rummage sale. He was a mere customer, just like us. It was at that point where his antics became funny to me. He didn't stop. "Here's a TV for five dollars! And it works!".

Luckily, there was another sale two doors down. Kaye and decided to check it out. Just as we were getting ready to leave, the same gentleman was walking his bike up to the second rummage sale. We watched him walking up to the driveway, already letting everyone know about the table that was available. There were people leaving who stopped because they thought he was talking to them. It was at this point, that it became downright hilarious to me.

We moved onto a third sale several blocks away where Kaye knew the owners. Just as we were about to leave, I spotted an older gentleman approaching on his bike. In my head I'm thinking, "Please let it be him. Please let it be him" The comedy gods were smiling down upon me this day. I turned to Kaye and said, "Kaye, it's him." Please understand, that while Kaye does tolerate my sense of humor, she doesn't always agree. Sometimes, it becomes necessary for her to explain or translate to friends and family why I'm laughing. So, she began to explain to the owners of the house why I was so excited. To which, they replied, "Oh, Mr. Anderson" [names changed to protect the comical]. They knew the guy. Unfortunately, I didn't stick around to learn more.

Fast forward to today. One of my coworkers frequents rummage sales more than I do. Occasionally, we discuss our experiences. Yes, we're that boring. Of course, I started telling her this story. She immediately asked, "Was he riding a bike?...Oh, that's Dave Hanson." Apparently, he's a retired guy who does this because he thinks it's funny. He's in on the joke. It was at this point that his antics became comic gold. To me, it's even funnier now that I've learned that he's doing it on purpose...because he thinks its funny. She confirmed that, while he may be a little eclectic, he's certainly not the nutty old man I thought he was. Come to find out, he's a comic genius.

That, my friends, is how I want to spend my retirement.

Deep in the groove...

Hopefully Charlotte's a better dancer than her father. By the way, did I ever mention that Kaye was a Pom Pon girl. Anyway...it's subtle, but the video below shows that Charlotte has some sort of rhythm. Check her out, right after the change from reggae to a more bluesy feel.



Oh, and here's more video of her crawling. Yes, it's that important.

She's on the move...but we're not sure about her motivation.

For a couple weeks, Charlotte has been able to move around the room a little at a time, but it was more a product of changing positions. Look out!! She's learned to crawl. Granted, it's not the most coordinated crawl in the world, but she's moving.

Just a few notes on the video below:

• The warbling music in the background is not poor audio/video quality, nor has anyone slipped you some sort of psychedelic drugs. It's low batteries in a really loud toy.
• I thought I had better footage of her crawling, but apparently there were technical difficulties [ie the idiot holding the camera didn't push the "record" button"]. I'll put some better stuff up later. It's that important.
  
• Her original motivation for crawling was to get to the TV remote control. It's like she's obsessed with it. Fortunately, in this video, she's crawling toward a toy. There's still hope for her.

10"+ of rain....and mom and dad take turns getting sick

I don't know how much coverage it's getting outside the area, but we got hit pretty hard on Saturday with anywhere from 5 to 10 inches or more of rain. Here are some pretty amazing pictures of some of the damage. Luckily, we only had a little water coming in through what appears to be an old chimney pipe in our basement. As soon as things dry out, I'll need to do a little more checking into it. All kidding aside, there's a lot of people in a very bad situation right now. Unfortunately, there' s more rain coming.

Meanwhile, on Saturday both Kaye and I got fairly ill. Charlotte has had a bit of a "digestive problem" for a few days, but seemed to be feeling fine and wasn't running a fever. The same can't be said for Kaye and I. On Sunday, we ended up tag teaming with Charlotte allowing each other time to nap and take care of assorted problems in the bathroom [sparing you the gory details]. Fortunately, Charlotte was fairly content playing by herself and/or napping most of the day, making it a little easier on both of us. By about 4 pm yesterday, my fever was breaking. Kaye, on the other hand, is still home.

She isn't alone, unfortunately. The daycare called this morning. Charlotte is still dealing with the aforementioned "digestive problem". She apparently had a major "blowout" at about 9 AM this morning. So, they sent her home. They claim it's because she may be contagious...and it probably didn't help that I mentioned that she may have given it to Kaye and I. In the end, I wouldn't blame them it they sent her home just because it's so unpleasant.

If camping is so relaxing...

why am I so tired today? Sheesh.

We took Charlotte on her first camping trip this weekend with a group of "friends" from Waupaca. I'll explain the "quotes" later. Charlotte was really only there for one night and did fairly well. We brought along a Pack 'n Play for her to sleep in. She was having none of that. She ended up sleeping with Kaye. She could sleep with me, but I get the jimmy arms so I'm not sure she would have survived the night. When I was a kid, my sister and I used to sleep in the same bunk. I think she was the recipient of a few shots to the head back then. For now, Charlotte can't defend herself, so it's best that she sleeps with Kaye.

Since we were only about 30 minutes from my mom's house, we went in to Waupaca on Saturday to spend some time with her. We ended up spending all of the afternoon there and Charlotte spent the night with her. On our way back, I received a call from a friend who was camping with us. He informed me that they had a storm blow threw the campground and our camper was now laying on its side. I repeatedly asked if he was just messing with me. He said that he was walking around my camper as we spoke. It looked like it was ok, it just needed to be righted. When I hung up the phone, I told Kaye what he had told me...but also informed her that there was a 50/50 chance he was just screwing with me. Worse yet, he'd leave me hanging for the entire drive there thinking my camper was laying on it's side. Either way, I was not happy. Meanwhile I'm going through insurance, photos, repairs bla bla bla in my head.

As we drove into the campground, Kaye noted that nothing else seemed to be wrong. Kids were swimming. There wasn't even a twig out of place. Approaching our campsite, I could see that nothing was wrong with my camper. Apparently somebody felt neglected by our absence. Everyone else seemed to think it was hilarious. Hence the "friends". Friends like these make you appreciate your proctologist.

Great time...looking forward to next year.

Things Charlotte [or her mere presence] has taught me- #1-5

1. It is perfectly acceptable to walk up to a stranger's child and play with her feet. I don't really mind and I'm by no means a germaphobe or so protective that I don't want strangers touching my child. I find her feet fascinating too. In fact, I think they're hillarious. Maybe it's because I easily scare small children, but I've never just walked up to a stranger's child and started touching them. Then again, I found out a long time ago that having a child really warps people's boundaries in several areas.
   
2. Babies are "Chick Magnets". This is something I've always known, but never fully realized. Recently Charlotte and I went out to dinner at Hooters with my friend Tim. I should explain that, although I don't dine there very often, I don't see anything all that wrong with Hooters and neither does Kaye [at least not that she admits]. Don't judge me!! In fact, Kaye was invited but couldn't make it due to work. I would have preferred that she was there so I didn't look like that guy who would bring his baby to Hooters in an effort to garner more attention from Hooters Girls. Regardless, that was the effect. She got a balloon. I've been there a few times...never got a balloon.
3. Baby spit-up doesn't taste good. Not that I thought it would, but hold a kid above your head long enough...it's bound to happen.
4. There's a huge difference between waking up at 5:30 AM and waking up at 6:00 AM. Maybe it's psychological...maybe it's physiological. Regardless, it matters. When I hear that first cry at 6 AM or later, I feel like I've won the lottery.
   
5. Traveling with a baby is like touring with a rock band. First, everybody's happy to see you. Ok, they aren't happy to see me, but it's still a lot warmer welcome than I normally get. Second, there's the equipment/logistics. It's all about packing and scheduling around naps and meals.
   

Daddy's bored...

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's first babysitting gig

We made the trip back to Waupaca for my class reunion this past weekend. At a picnic on Saturday, Charlotte got to meet some of my class mates. She likes to work a crowd, so she had a good time. She also got a tour of my old high school which has been renovated and is now the middle school. She was so impressed, she slept through 90% of it. Saturday night was my class reunion so she stayed home with Grandma. According to my mom, all went well. Mom got to soak up some more time with her favorite granddaughter.

Class reunions are always fun and interesting. This year it was on the Chief Waupaca. Being on a boat for 3 hours is great for those of us who grew up together. In fact, my theory has always been that it kind of forces people to mingle a little more than they might it were on land. There's not a lot of places to hide on that boat. However, Kaye said that by the end of the night you could pick out the significant others because they seemed to be checking their watches a lot more than everyone else. Regardless, we had a great time and got to see some friends that I haven't seen in 10 or 15 years.

Next up: Charlotte's first camping trip.

Fourth of July Weekend...

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.

Surprise Surprise Surprise

Charlotte had her 6 month visit to the doctor on Wednesday. She's over the 100th percentile in weight and around 95 in height. I know, I know, those numbers don't mean anything. Yea...if your kid isn't measuring up!! At this rate, we're pretty sure she's going to be around 9 feet tall.

Also, she's sitting up on her own. She doesn't roll over very often...mainly because she can "bridge" like a wrestler in order to see behind her. The last doctor that saw her for pink eye said it's a sign of advanced cognitive skills. I'm going to stick with that theory...because before she said that, I thought Charlotte was just lazy.

Who had "Bad Cold" in the pool?

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?