Hip Hip Hooray!

We are deep in the trenches of potty training and are having some great success.

Feel free to cheer Stella and the rest of us on!

Cheese!

In the past week, we've been starting to get our first few real smiles out of Charlie. He's even starting to coo to us a bit!

Censored so that he can't get mad at me for this someday!

An Extra Set of Hands

We had the pleasure of hosting our nephew, Jim for a few days at the beginning of the week. What a treat for all of us! He helped with Stella and Charlie every minute he was here. He snuggled, rocked, and fed Charlie and while he wasn't doing that, he was entertaining Stella with creative games, forts, peek-a-boo, sidewalk chalk, etc...

Here's a few highlights:

(Jim, come back anytime and THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! We miss you already!)

The 4th

We actually didn't travel for the 4th...we stayed home, enjoyed the neighborhood parade (which was pretty impressive), joined friends for a backyard BBQ and had some family time. Hope you had a WONDERFUL 4th of July!

One Month!

Wow! Where did June go? Does anyone have an idea??? Seriously, I know everyone ALWAYS talks about how fast time goes...this is different. I lost a whole month and I was conscious, healthy, and mostly awake. It just vanished. I am amazed at how truly busy we've become. I thought one child was time consuming...yeah, right! We continue to have a lot of fun, to feel overwhelmed and a bit unsure at times, to be very thankful and to attempt to "figure it all out."
This first month of life with Charlie has been great. He took his first airplane ride to MN last week. We saw the MD for his one month check up today. There's just so much to report!
Stella, Charlie and I flew solo to MN for a dear friend's wedding last Saturday and for another friend's bridal shower on Sunday. I spent a week there with the kids, while Nick joined us on the weekend. (I must say that I am bit jealous that he got to fly alone...oh the peace and quiet and chance to nap...anyway, I digress). The trip was 100 times easier than I expected. Both kids were great. Stella is becoming a pro at air travel. She even took her shoes off at security before I asked her to! We got to introduce Charlie to all sorts of friends and family members. He had his first baby-sitters (who were SO GREAT that he slept until 5am for us)!!! Thanks again Mike and Julia! We can't wait to meet your little one in Sept!
Charlie's "stats" as of today's check up are 11 lb. 3 oz. and 22 1/2 inches long. He's a big, strong boy, growing fast! He's already holding his head up a bit too.
Highlights from our trip:

Stella was diligent in her efforts to help keep Grandma Freeman's flowers well watered.

We were able to take a dip in Great-Grandpa's pool!

Charlie joined us for a trip to the park.

See how big sister is a bit overly affectionate?

Starting to smile!

Taking Keisha for a walk

Taking Uncle Jimmy for a walk...

Ahhh vacation!

Lots of snuggle time with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma!

4 generations!

Grandma Freeman, Stella, Great Grandpa, Charlie, Great Grandma and me