Too hot to post!

After reading that title I see how you could get the wrong idea about what this post is about! What I mean is - it is literally too hot to post. My car read 89 on the way home! Yuck! Charlie seems a little worn out by the heat too. I haven't posted in awhile because it's hard to find time to sit down and type when I get home from work and just want to hang out with Charlie but I promise to do better! This week is easy because we have another post from our guest writer that I have approved... :)


I would love to post some pictures here like Charlie's 3 month pictures or some from this weekend but I can't find where Brian put the camera battery and I'm trying not to freak out that he might have left it at the hotel in Des Moines. Hope he answers my nasty text messages soon.


Charlie is concerned for his daddy's welfare right now...




Onto Brian's post. This really could be his last if he lost that camera battery!

Editor's note for Brian's post - Grandma Paxil is my mom.

_______________________

“Surly, you can’t be Serious”

And now it’s time for another installment of ‘Surly, you can’t be serious’ where I dole out nuggets of sage fatherly advice to my now 13 week-old son about how I just made it up as I went along. This week’s column is subtitled:

“Oh, no….OK GO??!”

Charlie –

My how time flies. It’s been 13 weeks since you arrived and you are already in daycare (or school as your mom likes to call it for some reason). These past couple of days, as your old man struggles to spend time indoors studying instead of outdoors enjoying the 4 months of nice weather we get a year, I notice that you get a little cranky when I am not paying 100% attention to you when you are getting tired. Sometimes, you just want to be held and I get that. Sometimes I just need to finish one more paragraph but, as you have figured out, crying trumps school. Every time.
However, yesterday when we were waiting for your mom to feed you (side note: get used to waiting for women, we will have another LONG talk on that one later) I discovered that you enjoy music! I am not talking about “Wheels on the Bus” or anything like that, I am talking about the music I listen to. When I brought you downstairs into the office to turn off the computer, your head snapped around and eyes found the screen as you began watching your first ever music video! You were sucked into a vortex of fun where indeed anything IS possible, as you watched the 4 man band who call themselves OK GO! dance back and forth on treadmills to your utter amazement!
Today, while babysit…..er… parenting, while your mom was out running errands, you started to get fussy and tired and wanted to be held. As I just had to finish one more paragraph I thought to myself ”Oh, no.. WAIT! OK GO!” Thanks to the fine folks at YouTube, their latest video to the song This Too Shall Pass is now one of my favorites. The links to both versions of the video are below but you clearly like the Notre Dame Marching Band one better (especially the large white hat), and I don’t know if I should be happy that you like music and are interested in being in a band like your uncles, or a little nervous that you want to be in marching band and wear the big white hat (like one of your aunts (AMY)….. I won’t name which one (AMY)… because that would be mean (AMY) to call her out on your blog. (IT WAS AMY, I HAVE PICTURES!!!)

The ‘Mouse Trap’ version of the song also entertains you but not like the marching band version where you start to sway back and forth and move your hands as you eyes get big and wide. Grandma Paxil is going to be so excited.


Here are the links:

Marching Band Version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EltW4w2W_Ys

Mouse Trap Version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w&feature=related

Thanks for every smile, especially when I need them!

Love, Dad

P.S. – This is proof that way before you get hooked on whatever new sound is going to be next, you and I liked the same music.

Back to the real world...

Sadly...last week marked my last week on maternity leave. Everyone told me how fast 12 weeks go by but I never quite understood until I was sitting back at my desk last Thursday. I had such an amazing time with Charlie and all of our friends, it was VERY SAD to go back. Luckily, my Mom came up and watched Charlie on Thursday and then Friday was "daddy daycare" and Brian stayed home with Charlie. Even though he was with family, I cried all the way to work and for pretty much the first 1/2 hour at my desk. Brian was very sweet and sent flowers from him and Charlie - which of course made me cry even harder. I definitely had the Oprah "ugly cry" going!! Today was his first official day at daycare so of course I had to take a picture.

Here he is with his "lunchbag" full of bags of milk!


Charlie looks a little sleepy. Usually we head back to bed after our breakfast feeding but now we both have to stay up!


Of course he needed a bath when he got home from daycare. I cried a little to Brian that I thought he didn't smell like us anymore - he smelled like daycare. Not bad..just different.


It made it just a little harder on my first day back to work that we also had Twins tickets that night. Since we already had a babysitter with my Mom in town, we decided to go. Brian realized that I am literally a fair weather fan. It was cold and rainy so when we got there, I grabbed the first vendor with a hot dog and told him to send the gang to section 126. We were going to eat and get out of there. By the time I finished my cheese curds and nachos at the end of the 3rd...I was ready to go!! Poor Brian, I think he would have stayed longer but I was full, cold and ready to get home to my baby!

And I can never resist coming home to this guy!



I also got to celebrate my first Mother's Day as a Mom. Last Mother's Day I wasn't even pregnant so a lot can change in a year! We spent it with Brian's entire family and Charlie did great - just one meltdown when he got a little overtired but otherwise he was great. Charlie and Brian spoiled me and I came downstairs on Sunday morning to see a Wii with all the Wii fit accessories. Some people might be offended by the not so hidden message but Brian convinced me that Charlie wanted to get the Wii fit while the Top Chef cookbook was from him :) Regardless, I love it and I can't wait to start working my chubby little Wii character out.

Here we are on Mother's Day next to the flowers Brian sent me at work.




Another smile - he just gives them away these days!

Brian's dream also came true a few weeks ago. His son attended his first softball game. Brian was pretty excited we braved the wind to watch his double header. "Some people" would think that Brian would cut down on softball now that we have a newborn. "Some people" would be dead wrong. I actually didn't mind tonight because I realized that now I'm back to work, I really don't want to share holding him at night!

Sadly, we had our very last playdate last week as well. I'm sad to be the first of us to go back to work and it's really going to stink knowing that the girls are still getting together without me! We took one last photo shoot of the kiddos and they just happen to be in coordinating outfits.

That Eloise sure has a thing for Charlie!

Yes, that is Ellie's hand Charlie is sucking on!

As Rachel Zoe would say..."I die."

The night after our last playdate, our friend Corissa was in town for work so we got together at Mindy's for dinner. Charlie got to play with "the guys!" He just watched them with wide eyes as they played with toys and Henry showed Charlie all of the tools in a Farm and Fleet catalogue! Who needs toys and books when there is Farm and Fleet??!!

I had the camera in the bathroom tonight because Charlie was being so smiley before I put him in the bath. I took a quick video with a strategically placed "mankini" washcloth and couldn't resist posting. Brian didn't want me to until he saw the special guest. Enjoy!