Nels and Charlie

Nels brought his mom all the way to Iowa for a little visit! It was so much fun to see these two playing together. They really like each other! There isn't much that makes me happier than seeing my sister's baby love on my baby. They were here for five days and it seriously felt like five seconds.

^^ Their flight got in late so we stayed in Des Moines and went shopping the next day. They have the best playground at the mall and Nels was in heaven!

^^ The weather was so good to us! We took a walk to the park and the boys were loving it.

^^ "Look Charlie, sticks are so yummy. Why don't you get a big handful of dirt to eat?"  ;)

^^ I think Charlie was a little excited to have someone to share his toys with, what do you think?

^^ Nels is actually giving Charlie the ball here. Melt my heart why don't you?

^^ Took a little trip to the urgent care with two sick boys. That part wasn't very fun.

^^ We took Katie to the best (only) restaurant in town, Bubba Q's. The boys were not sure about it until our food came and they could steal bites off our plates!

^^ Some of my very favorite people all on the same couch!

^^ Travis reading the boys a story.

^^ Somehow this is the only photo we took of the four of us. Fail! We need to do better at Christmas!

^^ (Charlie's sippy.)  ;)

^^ I loved getting some snuggle time in with this cutie pie. He is the sweetest boy.

^^ Nels was so sweet with Charlie. I thought he might be a little rough with him just because he's a little tough kid but he really knew Charlie is a baby and he was so soft and nice to him. Going in for the hand hold above.

I was so glad they got to come and see where we live and what our life is like here. I'm especially glad these little cuzzies got to spend some time together. Some of my favorite memories as a kid are with my cousins and I've been really sad that Charlie is missing out on that. I can't wait until we go to Idaho for Christmas and they get to spend more time together! Thanks for coming guys! We love you!!

Charlie: Nine Months

^^ Our little Charlie Brown is nine months! He was not interested in laying there for a picture. He is definitely on the move these days.

^^ I wish you could hear this little squeal of joy. Can you see his little scrunched face? He's just the happiest.

^^ Just clapping away.

^^ One of my favorite things about Charlie is he always likes to be kicking or pushing on something with his toes. Maybe he will be a dancer.

I figured I would do his nine month photos in his Halloween costume because it's just too cute to not take a million photos!

Sleep: Pretty much the same as eight months. He is a really good napper-he's taking two naps and for the most part just goes right to sleep without any crying. It is so much better now that he's napping in his crib! Sleeping about 12 hours at night, although the time change last weekend kind of threw us for a loop.

Eat: Eating quite a lot of solid food these days. Still nursing just as much as he used to though. He just loves food! I have a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast most days and lately he wants to share it every day and it is the cutest thing ever. His favorites are sweet potatoes, crackers, and anything he can steal off our plates. ;)

Wear: He is still pretty much the same size he was last month. This is pretty nice since he was just flying through clothes for the first few months of his life! I like being able to put him in clothes more than once. Haha.

Play: He is so fun! He just wants to play all day. Some of his favorite toys are balls and blocks. His favorite time of day is when Trav gets home and rough houses with him a little bit. He has the cutest sense of humor and has learned what will get us laughing.

• At his nine month checkup on Monday he was 21 lbs 4 oz and 28 1/2 inches. Last month we had just weighed and measured him ourselves and we got 21 1/2 lbs and 30 inches (to be fair though we only did this about three weeks ago). He's not shrinking so one of us is not measuring correctly! Haha. I measured him again after the appointment and got 30 inches again so who knows. It's pretty hard to measure a wiggly baby though!
• He is a good little assistant at the grocery store. Now that he is sitting up in the cart he likes to look around and check out all the walmart goers. ;) 
• His teeth are really coming in and they are so cute! We brush them twice a day and the only way to do this without Charlie fighting me is if I do it in the mirror so he can see. Little punk.
• He loves bath time and especially with his new tub. He's starting to explore more and more and wants to play with all the shampoo bottles in the tub.
• We moved his mattress down because he is starting to pull himself up. He doesn't do it that often but I knew it was only a matter of time and better to be safe than sorry!
• He is rocking on his knees! He's going to be cruising around soon and I hate to say it but I am not ready for it!