Yes, Charlie is all boy...

Nice, eh?

Hello to 6 mths, and good-bye to...

1. Mr. Boppy Lounger... Now that Charlie is wanting to be "on the go" he no longer just lounges. What starts out like this:

Ends up like this:

2. Wubbanubs and paci's... What once used to calm Charlie down, make him go to sleep and help quiet him in public... now makes him scream and cry if I try to put it in his mouth.

3. My BFF for the last 6 mths... the Pump! This is one "friend" I am not sad to say good-bye to (at least until #2 comes around). This "friend" and I have been attached between 2-6 times daily for the last 6 mths. I am ready to give our friendship a break!

4. Charlie's first sleep sac. At 18 lbs and 12 oz, Charlie has grown out of it. But, that's OK- we will just move up a size for now!

5. And last, the swing. This is where Charlie lived for the first 4-5 mths. of life. Now, we are on to bigger and better adventures like the exersaucer and the jumperoo. Plus, with Baby Lukowski coming, he (at least, I think it's a he) will need somewhere to lay his little head!

Charlie's 1/2 today!!

Can you believe it?!?!?! Six months ago at 7:30pm on Feb. 25, 2009 Charles Patrick Allen came into our lives. It was such an amazing day.... and every day since then has been amazing.

What Charlie is up to at 6 mths:
-sleeping 12-13 hrs.
-taking 2-3 naps (I really think he is trying to drop the afternoon nap)
-has 1 tooth (bottom, left)
-eating solids (still on Stage 1's)
-started daycare
-sitting up (a little bit more each day)
-rolling everywhere
-first stomach bug....6 poos today and counting :(


We'll go to the doctor on Thursday for his 6 mth. check-up. I'm curious to know how much he weighs these days!

One week of daycare down!

Which means that Charlie has a very snotty nose now. He hasn't run any fever or anything, just gobs of snot. Other than this, daycare has gone really well. Most days, Patrick drops him off and I pick him up. We both have loved all of the teachers that we have met and Charlie seems to love them too! Despite the runny nose, he seems like his normal, happy self:

If you scream, I'll scream

Charlie taking notes from Dean

Charlie on his own

Daycare days

Both Patrick and I brought Charlie to his first day of daycare. My plan was for one of us to feed him while the other unpacked his stuff. One of his "teachers" immediately said that she would feed him... I think they like to make it a clean break for the parents. I couldn't really even look at Patrick or talk to him when we left for fear of bawling and then proceeded to tear up my whole way to Mesquite. I called during lunch and they said that Charlie had been smiling and laughing and having lots of fun. He was in his little crib when I went to pick him up, playing with a toy. One of the ladies said that he stared at her all day and when she would look at him he would just smile and start to giggle. Cute man! His "report card" said that he slept off and on for a total of 2 hrs (he usually sleeps about 3 hrs. at home), so he started to get fussy and rubbing his eyes at 6:15pm. I gave him his bottle at 6:30pm and he immediately crashed onto my chest as I pulled it out of his mouth. I've never seen him so tired!

Bless his heart! I'm glad daycare was such a success. I guess we'll be back tomorrow!

Back to School...

means back to work for me. Tomorrow my stint as a full-time mom is officially over. I have mixed emotions about it. I can't believe that the last (almost) 6 mths have flown by so quickly. I have LOVED being able to stay home with Charlie and getting to see him grow. On one hand, I'm excited to go back to doing my job... something that I know I am good at and makes me feel like I am contributing to society and our family. I am lucky and blessed that I get to go back part-time. And, I am excited for Charlie to start daycare... he'll socialize with a lot of kiddos, be introduced to things that I don't even think to do with him at home and have a lot more toys to play with. On the other hand, I'm sad about it. Will he miss me? Will I miss important milestones by being at work? What if he has an allergic reaction to something and I'm not there? I mean, you'd think he was getting shipped off to Kindergarten! Thank God we're not there yet!

Beach baby!

We are back from our trip to Seaside. We had wonderful weather, great food, and fabulous company. Charlie did GREAT on the plane rides. He played and slept mostly. Just once did he tug on his ear and start to whimper. I just gave him lots of milk to help him out. The boys drove the 13 hr. treck so that we would have all of the baby gear on hand and the girls flew with the babies. (Pretty good deal for the girls, right?)
Allen beach pic (Charlie- 5.5 mths)

Jeff and Claudia Williams, Dean (8.5 mths)

Deren and Laura Wilcox, Natalie (3 yrs) and J.P. (4 mths)

The Gang



Once there, we hung out at the beach or at the pool. Charlie loved the beach! He played in the sand and the ocean, ate a lot of sand and ocean water and even did a face plant into the sand at one point.
We ate out at 2 restaurants (we had a sitter for 2 nights). For those who are interested, we went to Fire (my favorite!) and Cafe 30-A and hit up Red Bar and Rendeveux for drinks. The girls had a spa day while the boys had a fishing excursion one day. We shopped around Seaside and had some great meals at the house. It was a very relaxing and fun trip!

On the plane ride there I discovered that Charlie had gotten his first tooth! It's barely noticeable to the eye, but you can definitely feel it. I also think he is going through a growth spurt. He lost it about 3 times over the week and the only thing that would calm him down was a bottle. Yesterday he got 5 1/2 bottles (44 oz.), where as he usually gets 4 bottles/day (32 oz)! Between the tooth and the growth spurt I think he still did pretty good on vacation.

Here are some more pics:
Napping on daddy
Loungin in the beach chair

The beach set-up

Crazy about carrots

Because Charlie really does try and feed himself...

he ends up looking like this:

(He tries to yank the spoon out of my hand, which means that his hand goes around the food and then he rubs his eyes and food gets everywhere! It's pretty cute!)

Peas, please

A Little Bit Obsessed

My good friend, Molly, sent us our "Charlie" bag as a baby present and ever since then I have been obsessed with the fun "totes" (please excuse the mom expression) from Lands End. They are functional, durable, washable, inexpensive and good-looking! Even Hank got one. My new diaper bag is the "Charlie" backpack you see pictured... it is much more functional than my last diaper bag... easier to carry and more places to put things (I think there are seven zippers and that doesn't include the pockets within the pockets). I am looking forward to packing up all of our totes for our up-coming week in Seaside!

I love Capn Crunch!