Memorial Day weekend

Happy Birthday to Uncle Paul!!


We had a very busy Memorial Day weekend. Saturday and Sunday we were at the lake house with friends, including the Cavanaughs and 6-month old Whitney (or "Windy," as Jack says). Here are some cute pictures of Whitney and Charlotte getting reacquainted since the first time they met a few weeks ago.

Apparently getting reacquainted involves a little catfighting.

The kids and I drove home Sunday afternoon--unexpectedly through a huge storm that tore through the Midwest. That was FUN. Power was knocked out at the lake house, so Andy and the remaining guests had a dark night. At least our only casualty for damage was a tear in the boat canopy. Some people lost parts of their docks.

On Monday, Andy's company hosted its usual family Cubs game outing at one of the Wrigley rooftops. We left Charlotte at home with Elif so Jack could get some much needed quality alone time with Mom and Dad. Plus it was blisteringly hot, so I don't think Charlotte would have lasted long.

Here's Jack with Andy and me.


Poor Lou. I bought him a new dog bed yesterday, and this is what happened. Lou was resigned to the floor and only getting to eye the bed longingly.

Last day of playschool

Our little rock star had his last day of playschool today. Hard to believe it's been almost 4 months since he started in February! We are so glad we decided to enroll Jack in playschool. Even though school was only for 1.5 hours, 2 times a week, it was a great learning experience for him.

When he first started, he wouldn't talk at all--the first day he refused to even move from his chair! But the teachers were wonderful and really put a lot of effort into working with him. As Miss Sheila told me, it was their job to make him comfortable enough to want to talk, not to force him to adjust to everyone else's comfort level. I think especially after they introduced some show-and-tell a few weeks ago, he really opened up.

Here he is with his first report card (all A+'s).

The kids have to sit and be still while they're waiting for parents to pick them up. You can see Jack was wiggling a bit because he had just caught sight of me. I love how the little girl is oblivious and poking her butt up in the air--so 3-year old!

Miss Sheila and Miss Julie. They kept gushing over how sweet and smart Jack is, and how much they're going to miss him. Thanks to them, Jack will be in great shape to start preschool in August!

8 Months Old

Hey there, it's me Charlotte. I turned 8 months old today. I've accomplished a lot this past month. As you can see, I'm really starting to enjoy food. Last night I was very excited about peas and spinach. I like Cheerios too, but I have yet to master the whole hand-to-mouth thing. I'm getting better at picking up the Cheerios, but I can't always figure out how to let go of them.

Mom says I'm getting very close to crawling. I lunge forward all the time, but one leg stays stuck under me.

This is usually how I end up.

I think Lou is pretty tasty.


I've also been talking, screaming, and squealing a lot. I started off saying "ba-ba", then said "ma-ma" quite a bit around Mother's Day, and now I've tired of that and am back to "ba-ba" and sometimes "ga-ga".

I've also realized that I can get reactions out of people with my antics. As long as Mom laughs, I'll keep making funny faces over and over again. I also like to do "Superbaby," where I stick my arms out in front of me like I'm flying. I'll occasionally do it on command, but only if I'm in the mood. I sort of did it for Mom here. You can also see me doing my favorite hand-in-mouth babble toward the end.

Randoms

Here are some miscellaneous older pictures that I never got around to posting. Charlotte is fascinated by Lou, and he puts up with her abuse as well as he did with Jack's.

Where I found Jack one night (that's the floor).

Jack after eating something yummy and blue. I can't even remember what it was.

Andy and me dressed up for a wedding (our good friend Johnny Golis from IU).

Everyone loves laying in the sun spot we get in the late afternoon.

Charlotte is ticklish under her chin. She normally giggles more than this, but of course she always tones down her behavior when I've got the video camera out.

Funny face

Charlotte has started making one of my favorite funny faces that Jack used to do, also around this age. Is this something all babies do, or just some weird inherited trait from the Nold-Fields families?

She actually does the face better in the second video, but I wanted to include the first one also so Jack could make an appearance.


(That is Jack making all the ma-ma sounds; at first Charlotte's mouth is strangely moving in sync to his words. She CAN say ma-ma, and does quite often, but the wiley little rascal absolutely refuses to do it for the video camera.)

GOD, is that woman taking another picture of me?

Mothers' Day

Happy Mothers' Day to all you wonderful moms out there! We had a great weekend--Kentucky Derby and friends over on Saturday (will post pictures from that later), and then brunch and fun at the park with Grandma and Grandpa.

As you can see, Jack got a great new toy today--his first tricycle! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Nold for such a great gift. They arrived back in town for the season a few days ago, so we look forward to seeing more of them. Here's Aunt Lisa with Charlotte.

Trying out the tricycle with Ty from across the street. Jack took a spill shortly after this picture was taken and got a nice bump on his head, but he got back on after a little while and rode it to the park.



Charlotte loved the swings!


We were able to catch a few chuckles on film.

Jack and Charlotte swinging together.

Getting some trike-riding pointers from Grandpa.

By the time we left the park, Jack was starting to get the hang of pedaling!

Conference

Happy Birthday to Grandma Nold yesterday!

Charlotte and I attended a conference in Springfield last Wednesday and Thursday. She behaved incredibly well at the conference, and people couldn't get enough of her (who can blame them?).

A lot of staff from my agency went to the conference, and Charlotte was a hot commodity as she was passed around like a hot potato!


She slept for the whole 3-hour drive down to Springfield, and for about 2 hours on the way back. The last hour she screamed the entire time. Oh well!