First Thanksgiving!

Charlie's first Thanksgiving was full of family fun all week!  First, Grandma and Grandpa Grover come up and stayed Sunday-Wednesday with us.  Charlie's sitter took off for the whole week so they stayed with Charlie all day while we went at work (Thanks!).  They had a great time snuggling with the little guy (pretty sure he took every nap in their arms) and getting to feed and change him all day... typically the diapers are reserved strictly for mom and dad.  They made some great dinners each night too which was appreciated by James who is typically our nightly chef.  Below are a couple of sweet pictures I took while they were here.

Charlie's new favorite face, the turned-in-lip-smile

Playtime with Grandpa

Whew... they must've played too hard!

On Wednesday evening we headed down to the Lane's in Cary, NC for a few days.  It was full of new things to look at with 7 little doggies and there were also plenty of laps to check out with Granny, Grandpa, Uncle Todd, Aunt Allison and Uncle Phil all around.  Fred and Ann made a delicious dinner on Thursday and our days were filled with good eating, playing with Charlie and evening movies (a Lane tradition).

Mmm... turkey

Fun with Granny

How Granny said all the Lane kids napped... same couch and everything!

Fun with Grandpa

Chillin' with Grandpa

Snoozing with Todd

Playing with Allison

Before heading back to Richmond on Saturday, we stopped by Katie's house to see Sam and Jake and attempt to take a picture with Grandpa and Grandma Grover and their boys.  The photo shoot went better than last time and after about a thousand shots, we got a couple of cute ones :)

My best shot... three out of five looking at the camera was great!

Check out the matching mullets

Charlie checking Sam out

Back at home on Sunday, we relaxed and got back into our routine.  Charlie was especially sweet and animated so I snapped some pictures of us just doing what we do :)

Just chillin'

"Whoa"

Laughing at Dad

Not feeling tummy time... this is usually the case these days

Helping with laundry

"I think we should fold the green one next"

"I give up"

Visit to Raleigh

Last weekend we made the trek down to Raleigh for Charlie to attend his first Carolina football tailgate... we'll save the actual game for when he is a little bigger.... breastfeeding in the bathroom at Kenan Stadium sounds pretty unappealing :)  He had a good time meeting some of our friends then he and I headed over to the Tweedy's while James went to the football game.  My mom was in town helping out Katie since Kevin was travelling for work all week.  Charlie and Sam had fun "playing"... seems like they at least noticed each other this time which is a step in the right direction for being best buds someday.

I left my camera in the car unfortunately so this graining cell phone picture is all I got.  It is of Charlie hanging with Eric, James, Dave and Kevin.

Grandma and her boys.

Checking each other out.

Sam's shirt says it all :)

Fun with Grandpa and Grandma Lane

As I mentioned below, James' parents came up for Halloween weekend.  Before leaving on Sunday with had a nice brunch and a good time playing with Charlie.  He was all smiles wearing his "I Love Grandma" t-shirt :)

3-Month Photos

We had some pictures made today at a local studio for the first time.  I wasn't so sure how Charlie would "perform" after they made us wait a really long time but he turned on the smiles like a champ and we got some cute shoots.  Below are some of my favorites.

First Halloween!

Charlie's first Halloween has come and gone and it was a fun one!  We started the day getting his 3-month pictures made at a local studio... he did such a great job and the pictures turned out really well (I'll post some of them in a separate post).  Then we headed home to greet Granny and Grandpa Lane and get dressed up for the big night. Charlie wasn't so sure of dressing up as a monkey at first but then seemed fine with it once we "ohh'd and ahh'd" over him a little.  We strapped him up in his stroller and headed over to Hanover Ave. for the annual Halloween extravaganza (the street is blocked off and all the houses go crazy with decorations).  He was asleep from the long walk when we got there and even slept through his first peice of candy (Granny ate it but you can see it in his hand in a picture below)!  He woke up after a little bit then had fun riding with Dad in the Bjorn.  He was quite the center of attention as everyone stopped to take a look at the little monkey.  We got home for a late bedtime which I'm hoping will make for an easy time-change adjustment but we'll see!

(sleeping through his first ever piece of candy)

(some ladies gave him some gold beeds)

(the crew from CarMax)

Fall Photo Shoot

This has been the first of my two part-time weeks at work which has been a nice way to ease into the seemingly difficult world of a working mom. It was tough emotionally but wasn't as bad as I expected (I expected to be in tears all day every day) so I think we'll be okay.  Charlie was PERFECT as he slept 11 hours each night and woke up at exactly 7AM after I was showered and ready for work so we could spend an hour together before heading out the door.  Then in the evenings he was alert from 5 until bedtime at 8 so I'm encouraged about the amount of "quality" time we will still have each day.

Today I left work a little early since I had put in some extra hours for meetings earlier in the week.  Since Charlie was in one of my favorite outfits (it is a Snugglesaurus, not an alligator or lizard), we decided to have an impromptu Fall photo shoot.  First, I dragged him out to the front street and plopped him in the leaves.  It was overcast but for some reason he still squinted his eyes so I couldn't get any shots with open eyes... Tyra would have something to say about that.  Next we headed inside and posed with some pumpkins.  I actually hollowed out a big one and tried to stick him in it but he wasn't feeling my artistic vision on that one.  We wrapped the shoot posing with big sis.  She is so careful around him you can see her paw hanging in the air... cute.  Tuckered out from being a Top Model, Charlie got a good snooze in afterwards on my lap.  Didn't get many smiles because that is a two-person job... one with the camera, one making funny faces...but these are still cute.  Below are some of our best shots.

Tomorrow is another big day for pictures so stay tuned...