Charlie - 5 months old

A little late because of our move, but as of July 24th, Charlie is 5 months old!

 He doesn't go to the doctor again until he's 6 months, so I don't have new stats for you.  But CQ is rolling over all the time now and he definitely prefers to sleep on his tummy now (he rolls over when we put him down on his back).  He occasionally gulps down 9 ounces of formula in one feeding. 

Sleeping in his pack n play at his grandparents. :o)

Checking In

We made it to Nashville and have been very busy the past 9 days.  Our time here has just flown by! 

Charlie did alright on his first plane ride - here he is waiting to go through security. 

Pat drove down to Nashville in one of our cars with some of our valuables/breakables that same day.  Father-in-Law of the Year Paul drove down our second car a couple days later (the same days our movers arrived with our stuff).  Here's a picture of him and Charlie at dinner the other night.  He was hard at work the rest of his time here - either in the basement or the yard.  He was a HUGE help, thank you thank you thank you.  Paul, I promise your next trip will be a little more fun.

Some of his hard work, accomplished with Pat...

1. Digging trenches so our rain runoff would be taken away from the house.  They put in those black pipe things (can you tell I had nothing to do with this task?)

 The 95+ degree heat meant they more than earned their cold drinks!

2. They did some major tree trimming: cut down a dead tree and cut down limbs that were close to or touching our roof.  You can see our house a lot better from the street now too.

 Some of the limbs, we have quite a pile in the front ditch now.

3. We bought a fridge!  We hit up the Sears Outlet and got one with some very minor scratches and dents. And we avoided the delivery fee by getting it home ourselves (somewhat tricky).

 Had to take the doors off to get it through our dining room door...

 Setting up the ice maker (yay!)

So much has been happening, we also bought a washer and dryer and got set up for wifi, got land line phones, and more.  So, I'm back online and have plenty of posts for you! 

Lastly, a couple pictures of CQ:

Move - it's really happening now

 Lunch time - we made up some steak sandwiches for our movers.

Farewell BBQ

We wanted to make sure we saw our friends one last time before we move - so right in the middle of packing, we decided to host a cookout! On Saturday we had a great turnout...lots of friends and lots of great food. Pat put on 4 pork butts the night before and we did hotdogs and hamburgers and I made a broccoli slaw. Friends also brought pasta salads, tomato and mozzarella, pickles, cookies, brownies, and lots of drinks (and even some gifts for CQ). It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast.

I would have taken more pictures but it was a little hectic trying to talk to everyone and keep the food available and do a couple pick ups at the train station.  But here are the pictures I got...

Some of the Oppenheimer people that Pat used to work with: Cynthea, Stephanie, Sean, Jay, Jon, Scott, and Gena:

 Krista and Connor

 Brutus (we actually had 3 dog guests!)

 Leah, Rachel, Lacie

 Me and Lisa (we worked together at my most recent job - she was the best part of working there)

 Lisa and her boyfriend Mike

Sitting around the table: Laurisa, Sarah, Leah, Rachel, Lacie, Andrea

 Lacie, Leah, Andrea, Suz, Sarah, Laurisa (and Ralphie), Ginny, and Rachel:

 Laurisa and her adorable new puppy Ralphie (she just got him on Thursday)

Charlie got passed around to lots of friends.  He also napped a lot during the party which worked out pretty well.

 Lacie, Rachel, Suz, Leah

----and the packing continues.  Movers come tomorrow!

Surprisingly Charlie is not too helpful...but he was "born cute" - indeed!

Video - CQ's Reaction to Clapping

Prepping for BBQ

We're hosting a "Farewell BBQ" today so Pat put on 4 pork butts last night.  We're excited to spend this gorgeous afternoon with friends!

 And since I can't leave you with just one CQ picture...

Warren and Alyssa's Wedding Weekend

Our good friends tied the knot in Skytop, PA over the weekend at the Skytop Lodge.  They had gotten engaged over a year and a half ago, so this day was a long time coming.  :o)  Since we had been in Cape Cod, we were able to leave Charlie with his grandparents for the weekend.  (thank you, thank you)

With Alyssa's help, I found a great house to rent within walking distance of where they got married.  (side note: It's on VRBO.com, listing #323288 - I will definitely think about using this site for future vacations) We stayed there for two nights along with 3 other couples (Dave and Dia, Jeff and Candi, and Evan and Elysa).  It worked out great because it was way cheaper than the hotel and had a kitchen, screened in porch, pool, and an awesome collection of VHS tapes.  Ha!  It's amazing how just a couple hours from NYC feels so remote.  The Poconos is a gorgeous area. 

We got there on Friday just in time for a huge downpour. We sat in the screened in porch overlooking the pool and played Jenga (borrowed from their game closet)

The rehearsal dinner was held at a little "cabin by the lake" and was full of some great speeches and lots of laughs.

Anne and Dia

 Dave and Connor (brother of groom)

 Pat, Rob, Denis

 Pat and me

 Pat, Rob, Warren, Denis, Dave, Ryan (brother of groom)

 Anne, Leanne (sister of groom), Suz, Dia

 After the rehearsal dinner was over, everyone headed over to the Lodge's Tap Room.  Alyssa and Me:

We spent all of Saturday lounging by the pool.  It was a perfect and beautiful day!  We walked over to the ceremony that evening.  Candi and Jeff:

 Pat was a groomsman.  Oh, Dia did my hair! :)

 Jason, Courtney, Ashley, Mike, Jeff

 Anne and Dia

Here she is!  I LOVED her dress.

Our friend Rob made a great speech during the ceremony. 

 Yay!

 After the ceremony, we all walked over to have an outdoor cocktail hour.

 Jeff, Chris, Denis, Pat, Ryan, Jason, Dave, Jay, Evan, Rob

 Julie, Lisa (adorably pregnant), Suz, Dia, Courtney, Elysa

 I always love to get a cake shot:

 The tables were all named after movies (Warren is obsessed with movies)

 Alyssa dancing with her brother Ryan.

 The dancing was a blast!!  Rob, Pat, Denis, Dave

Courtney and Jason just got married at the end of April down in Florida.  (we had to miss it since CQ was so young)  Great to see them!

And after midnight Chris brought Julie a couple glasses of champagne since it was their 1 year anniversary.  Very sweet. (they got married down in Florida Keys last year)

Pat and Chris

 Ryan and his new fiance Kyle

The married couple hung around to the very end of the after party.

Love them.  We hugged them goodbye on Sunday since they are off to Spain for their honeymoon (and they'll miss our farewell BBQ this weekend)  What a perfect wedding - love both of their families and we're just so happy for them!

We drove from PA to MA to get CQ on Sunday.  :) We sure were anxious to see him!  We returned to NJ on Monday for tons of packing.