Charlie - 9 months old

Charlie turned 9 months old on Thanksgiving.  A couple days before that we took him to his pediatrician for his wellness visit.  He got his first flu shot and will have to return for the second one in a month (evidently babies get 2).

The new stats:
Weight 23 lb. 2 oz. (85%)
Height 29 1/4 in. (80%)
Head Circumference 18 in. (65%)

 Above - our little sumo wrestler. :)

We got the go ahead for eating anything that doesn't pose a choking hazard (except for stuff like peanuts and honey).  So here he is having some Cheerios when we got home.  He LOVES them.

The little guy is napping now so I'm going back to my Cyber Monday shopping.  Hope everyone has a good week!

Thanksgiving & Bolt 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!  As with most years, I've started off the day with the Boulevard Bolt.  A 5 mile race that benefits Nashville area homeless.  It was a beautiful morning for it and we had our best turnout ever:
Caroline, Peter Jr., Paul, Elizabeth, Pat, Mark, Peter Sr. and me.

(Kate stayed home to babysit Charlie) 

 Gobble Gobble!

Jack Daniels

Yesterday we took a little road trip south of Nashville to Lynchburg, Tennessee.  It's about 60 miles away and of course we wanted to take a tour of the famous Distillery.  Pat and I did the same tour about 7 years ago but this time we got to take his parents, and oh yeah, CHARLIE!

Here is the Rickyard.

And where they get their water...it's always 56 degrees. 

 Says our tour guide Mark.

Since it's a dry county, they like to say this is our "free shot of Jack on the rocks" haha. 

It was really interesting! 

And here we are at my parent's house on Sunday night for a family dinner.  Charlie joined us at the table. :o) 

Mark, E, Kate, Paul, CQ, Pat, Suz, Marty, Quick 

How fun!  Sorry I'm not writing more about the tour but I am rushing off to see the Twilight Breaking Dawn movie.  ha!

Grandparents and Cheekwood

Paul and Kate arrived in Nashville early Friday evening.  Charlie is getting plenty of attention, don't worry about that.  We had dinner and drinks at home that night.

(look, we finally got the picture hung) 

Yesterday we met my parents for a lovely lunch at Cheekwood's Pineapple Room restaurant.  We were even able to eat outside on the patio.  Afterwards we walked over to check out their cool train display.

The Parthenon above, The Ryman below. 

The State Capitol below. 

Charlie was interested but a little too young to really appreciate the trains I think. 

Perfect for this little guy. 

 Family shot!

Cheekwood is special to us because it's where we got married, in case you forgot. ;) 

Grandma and Grandson 

The Grandmothers 

The same spot as many of our posed wedding photos. 

 A neat little "Frame your photo" spot.

Up here is where our wedding ceremony took place. 

Right about the spot where we stood for our vows. 

My Dad brought his mini wedding album to remember it all. 

What a wonderful afternoon!!  A fun trip down memory lane.  And we are just having the best time with Pat's parents.

Several Videos

These are all worth a watch, in my opinion. :o)

Crib Standing

I hardly got any sleep last night.  I was so worried every time I heard the slightest noise that it was going to be Charlie falling out of his crib.  You see yesterday afternoon I found CQ proud as can be standing tall in his crib.  It was exciting that he was able to pull himself up like that, but a little scary.  Pat was at Vandy pretty late so I let Charlie fall asleep in my arms at bedtime (normally we let him fuss in his crib for 10 or so minutes if needed).  This morning before Pat left for campus we lowered the mattress so that there is no longer a falling danger.

 Here he is looking over the edge, just what I was afraid of...

We can still lower the crib mattress one more time, so we'll see when we need to do that.  Wild to think that he's almost 9 months, then it will be 10, then a year, then a year and a half....EEEEK!!

He can be so silly and happy or so serious.   

 He's had some fussy moments the past couple days since he's working on his third and fourth teeth.

 Love him so!!

I'll post some recent videos tomorrow. :o)