Naked Baby!!

Early Birthday Party

I seriously can't believe that it's March and that Charlie's birthday is just days away. I'm feeling bittersweet about it! We had an early birthday party while Grandma and Grandpa were out here last weekend. It was a great time! I just can't believe he's going to be ONE... (Doesn't every mom out there say that?!)

A pop-up book (along with a pair of shoes, a stack of summer clothes, a Wheel Pals set, a baby gertie ball, new socks,and I probably forgot something) from Grandpa and Grandma! He also got a book called Jesus is With Me and it's the CUTEST little book ever. You read/sing the book to the tune of Jingle Bells and we can't stop singing it around here. "In a Jeep, beep, beep, beep, Jesus is with me..." Try it. I dare you to not sing it the rest of the day!! :)

A phone (and some clothes) from Uncle Jason, Auntie Kathy and Kemper. As he usually does with our cell phones, he stuck it right in his mouth.
Charlie did ok at unwrapping the presents, but after each one, he really just wanted to play with his new thing as opposed to keep opening up new gifts. This one is a set of keys from Grandma and Grandpa.

He was TICKLED with those keys!!!
See? Keys in hand, attempting to open the next gift without putting those things down. Hilarious!
We finally had to swipe the keys and hide them for a few minutes so he could focus!

No-mess finger painting easel from Uncle Brady, Auntie Jill, Drew and Tanna! It looks awesome - stamps and finger paints on one side and a water pen on the other.
Back to those keys....
What's next? Another new phone! He now has two - an iPhone from Edwards' and a flip-phone from Grandma and Grandpa. If he opens a baby wallet next, I might have a breakdown.
Oooo! His texting thumbs got right to work. :) It was so fun to see his smile after opening each of his gifts!

Can we really be the parents of a 1-year-old?! (And notice the keys?!)

Grandma, Grandpa, and Charlie. How fun!

(Side story: We went to Matt's office on Friday to show Mom and Dad Matt's cube, and Matt's coworker said something to Dad about "you're not retired yet?" Matt's coworker is in his 50's with an 11-year-old daughter whereas Dad is in his 50's with a 30-year-old daughter (28 and almost 26) and 4 grandchildren with Kathy and Jason's newest one on the way!)

I scored this Melissa and Doug stacking train from Amazon for practically nothing. It's not how much you spend, right?
Cake time! We sang Happy Birthday and lit the candle - which he did not blow out. I did. And quickly! Charlie is fast and I didn't want anything traumatic to happen.
Turns out he just wanted to touch the frosting.
Which he did, and then proceeded to shake his hand as if he was trying to get the frosting off! Maybe he didn't like the stickiness on his fingers...
But he promptly got over that! Dig in, Baby!
Is that sugar in Charlie's eyes? Probably. He's loaded up. I didn't make regular sized cupccakes, either. I made the Texas-sized jumbo cupcakes! If you're gonna go, go all out!! He's had sugar before (fig newtowns, graham crackers, pudding), but not like this!
The birthday party!

The side view. Kinda looks like a moustache and beard.

Charlie and Mommy. Pure love. What goes better with cake than milk? His sippy cup was almost unrecognizable. But you HAVE to have milk with sweets!
He really didn't get too messy. The bib caught a bunch and he didn't throw it on the ground at all. I think there were only two crumbs on the floor. We scrubbed his hands, changed his clothes, wiped in his neck folds, and called it good. It was quite the experience!

We'll have another party for Charlie on his realy birthday (19th) but it will be just Matt and me. We did let him open two presents last weekend (Twins onesies and the train) just for fun. And fun it was. Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma for making it such a memorable party! All those gifts for a 1-year-old... yikes. I hope we're not setting him up for higher expectations each year. Then again, it's not like we had a three-ring circus $20k party for him or anything. You've heard of that, right? People who spend thousands of dollars on first birthday parties? Crazy. And wrong. We won't be doing that. Just family, gifts, and cake. Simple but heartfelt. Happy early Birthday, Charlie Baby. Boy do we love you!

A Visit From Grandpa and Grandma Legge

What a fun, fun time we had together last weekend! It was so nice to have my parents all to ourselves, and for Charlie to have Grandpa and Grandma all to himself! Mostly, we hung around and played and talked, and played and talked... but we did go to the Royal Gorge on Thursday, out for lunch on Friday, out for supper on Saturday, and to church on Sunday morning. We went for walks to check out the town, too. It was so nice! We always love visitors - especially family!

Charlie was getting such a kick out of knocking over the blocks. Grandma and Grandpa stacked em', Charlie knocked em'.

He totally flinched when he knocked them over! His eyes would flutter and close for a tiny bit, then open and he'd smile. So cute!