Happy Birthday!

Last night we celebrated my brother Will's 24th birthday. We also added Amanda into the mix since her birthday is June 11. We ate dinner at Wildwood and then went to Will and Amanda's house for DQ cake and presents.

Here are our June birthday kids.

The 2 birthday boys: 3 months and 24 years. 

I just thought this picture was funny...

Amanda's grandpa got Will this cool new hat! He wasn't too impressed, but we made him put it on. 

Then we made Dad put it on too! 

 Grandpa Arnie spent a little time with Charlie.

It was a fun night! Happy birthday again!

A Tippy Toe Thursday

Yesterday, Meg's dance company kicked off Thursdays on First. She ended up doing all the dances with the littler dancers as well. The music was a little loud for Charlie, so Tony stood way at the back and watched. Then we got a little lunch and walked around the vendors for a bit. It was a little chilly and windy, but overall a fun time! Here are some pictures of Meg doing her thang...

Doesn't she look like she's having a fun time?

This was kind of a silly dance. They had plastic turtles they were dancing with. Here's Lorelie and Meg with their turtles on their head. 

Another turtle shot!

3 months already!

Where has the time gone? Today would end my maternity leave, but it's also the last day of school for teachers in Austin! What's even bigger than my maternity leave being over, is my little guy is 3 months old!

Tony and I have learned so much in those 3 months, but we continue to learn and grow as parents every day. I've learned it's basically a big game of trial and error! One main thing I have learned is that I never knew how much I could love another person. Don't get me wrong, I love Tony VERY much, but the love for your own son is an incredibly different kind of love.

To celebrate Charlie's three months on the outside, we'll be hitting up Thursdays on First if it doesn't rain. My cousin Megan might be dancing there for a few minutes with Tippey Toes Dance. Tony gets out of a meeting at 11, so we'll get him for the rest of the day too! Tonight we are going to Wildwood to celebrate my brother Will turning 24 and my soon to be sister in law Amanda also turning 24.

I'm sure I'll have more photos to post later today, but I wanted to give you a side by side comparison of Charlie's growth over the last 3 months.With the photo editor I used to put this collage together, I couldn't quite get both entire pictures on there, but you can get the idea.

Charlie's First Overnight

Saturday morning we hit the road by 7:40 to our first mini vacation as a family of 3 to the Madison, WI area. Tony originally started the "what to pack" list, and it included EVERYTHING we own for Charlie. I made that list quite a bit smaller, and we had plenty of room in the car. I'd have to say, since I'm pumping exclusively, it is difficult to travel. Luckily I have some excellent coolers from Thirty-One that kept the milk nice and frozen on our trip.

We made our first stop in the Dells so we could feed Charlie. He sat on a bench at the Tanger Outlet Mall with Tony and ate happily while I looked around at the shops. An elderly woman stopped and sat with them for a while. She really enjoyed Charlie's smiles.

We landed in Edgerton, WI at Ali and Jared's house around 12:45. We visited for a bit while Charlie snoozed in Ali's arms. When he woke up, we headed to a local park to take Charlie's 3-month pictures. It was a little breezy, making it hard to get good smiles from him. I'm hoping we got a few. Ali has posted 2 pictures on Facebook, and they're pretty cute! I'll post some when I get the CD.

We headed to Janesville to meet my friend Kelly for supper. She lives in Milwaukee, so we don't get to see her much!

We then went back to Jared and Ali's for the night. Charlie slept GREAT! I was a little nervous, but he went through the whole night. Jared was so kind and bought New Glarus Spotted Cow. It's my absolute favorite beverage.

We took off Sunday morning to meet Heidi and Raegan in Madison for brunch. We went to THE BIGGEST and BEST brunch buffet ever. I was so impressed. I cannot wait to go back again! It was at a restaurant called the Nauti-Gal. Ha, try explaining that to miss Raegan...

Raegan and Heidi got Charlie the If you give a mouse a cookie board book. I bought Raegan that book for Christmas several years ago, and she loves it. She thought Charlie would too! Raegan also read some out of her chapter book to Charlie. I was impressed with her reading skills. She's just finishing up kindergarten.

After brunch Raegan thought we needed to head to the zoo. We were all in! I did manage to get a few pictures from our trip to the zoo.

This lion came right up to the observation glass and talked to us. It was a little creepy considering what a large guy he is. I didn't get my camera out in time.

Here are my 2 girls! Nice tongue Raegan...

 Charlie napped for a good chunk of our trip to the zoo.

They just opened a state of the art animal hospital at the zoo. When they aren't working on animals, they stage stuffed animals so people can see them. Cute!

They also have this neat exhibit where you get clues and you try to diagnose the animal. 

The zoo has a great big playground. Raegan had to show off her monkey bar skills. She informed me she has 11 blisters from doing monkey bars at recess. 

On our way home, we stopped in LaCrosse and had a delicious brat grill out at Liv and Torben's house. What a fun unexpected dinner!

Charlie's schedule got changed quite a bit for the weekend, so Monday was a little rough. He seems to be back on schedule today though!

Silly Daddy

Whenever I leave Tony and Charlie alone, I return to find something giggle worthy. This is what I found the other day...

Tony will do whatever it takes to make Charlie smile. Even if that means putting this strange little ball on his ear.

Here you can see it better. Yes, it did make Charlie smile, but it made me laugh out loud. 

Tony also likes to attach toys to Charlie's arms and legs...for example:

It's so much fun to watch Tony interact with Charlie!

Proud

Tonight, Tony, Charlie and I headed over to Byron to the school I worked at last year. They were having their annual art auction. The proceeds go to Starry Night Collective which is a non-profit organization that funds arts for students who have emotional and behavioral disabilities. One such program it funded was sending our students to The Lion King on Broadway last year. This was an experience these students would never be able to experience with their families due mainly to socio-economic hardships. The kids were truly amazed at being in the presence of such wonderful music and entertainment. 

Kids with emotional and behavioral disabilities are able to use art as an outlet for anger and sadness that many of them are incredibly burdened with. Unfortunately many of them have seen and felt things I could never think possible. I don't understand why I was lucky enough to grow up in a home with two very loving and caring parents, but since I did, I feel I can give some of that love and caring back to children living without it. 

After the auction, there is an awards ceremony. We were going to leave before it to get Charlie to bed, but my friend Carrie said one of my former students was getting student of the year. It is a huge honor that the entire staff has to agree on. I HAD to stay and watch. I worked so hard trying to connect with this little guy last year when he was a third grader. I've never seen such a young child have so much anger. He was the student who cried last year when he found out I was leaving ZED. There is a special place in my heart for him.

This year, this student has grown immensely. His anger is getting under control, and he is growing academically. He smiles daily! You'd be surprised at what a huge accomplishment that is. When my friend Sarah gave the speech about how much he's grown, tears were running down my cheek. I looked over at him and he was grinning from ear to ear! Once he had the trophy in his hands, the smile never faded. 

I'm so glad we made the trip over there tonight. It made me realize I'm in the right field for sure. Those kids need caring adults in their lives, and I'm so proud to be one of those adults. 

Congrats G! 

It's Official!

It's official! We have daycare secured starting mid-August! Woo hoo! This has been a stressful search for me, but it is now over.

I know I posted last week about finding a daycare, but we had to pay a deposit and she had to decide if she could take us part-time. It's a go!

Tony works on average a 3 day week. About once a month he works a 4 day week. When that happens, we may be calling on our families to help out a bit, but it is so much easier financially for us to go with 3 days a week. Wow is daycare ever expensive these days...

Thanks again to Pastor Wahl for sending us to this daycare mom! We're very grateful!