Charlotte has decided that when we tell her she can't do something or tell her "no" that this means it is up for debate. We try very hard not to laugh as it would decrease our standing in this matter but it is very very hard to do when every time we say "no" she says "yes" and gives us her cute little smile or if that doesn't work she will debate with us using the strange little language of hers.
It is always so much fun seeing what new quirk of personality shows up in Charlotte. I can honestly say that she keeps us on our toes!

Almost Walking :)

Today, November 13th, Charlotte decided to practice standing up and taking a step. Charlotte spent the entire day trying out different floors and objects to see how well she could stand up on her own. Never once did she grab the couch or anything else; she merely stood up. Our Charlotte is very stubborn about learning to do this and it is so heartwarming to watch her growing up so fast.
I tried to get her on video, but unfortunately I have taken so many videos evidently because I am all out of battery power :(. I will get some more batteries and get them on the blog as soon as I can, hopefully she won't be to fully walking by then.
I would have to say that Charlotte took her very first steps on Sunday the 9th when we were at Lindsey and Kimmi's house. Kimmi was holding up a toy and Charlotte tried to walk from me to Kimmi. She made it about one and a half steps before she decided it was easier to crawl for the toy.
It is so hard to believe this almost toddler was such a tiny little thing such a very short time ago.

Charlotte is growing up

Sorry I haven't written in a while or posted any new pictures but my computer has been out of commission so I haven't been able to. Right now I am using Erik's computer so unfortunately there still are no new pictures for you.

Update though on our little Charlotte. Charlotte is now trying to walk. She hasn't yet taken that first all important step but she is starting to stand up for a little bit longer now on her own. She hasn't learned to walk but boy has she learned to climb though!!!!! Charlotte can almost get herself up on to the couch and is able to climb up on most of the furniture, I have even caught her climbing out of her crib already. (right now she's busy trying to eat her crib so......well....) hehe. Our little girl has no fear of anything, we are constantly trying to keep her from landing head first off of the couch or any other object she is trying to get down from. She has a tendency to just decide to go down no matter which end of her is facing the floor :) I can't wait until she is walking, hehe (I'm going to have to go buy some new running shoes for the occasion I think).

Charlotte is talking more and more now with many more recognizable words in her vocabulary. She can say Daddy, Mama, Ba (Ball), BaBAAAA (bottle), Katy, Kitty, and the cutest is "Oh, Well" when she gets in to trouble. She is still mostly talking to herself and making up cute words like her most recent of D'Yoy but we are starting to figure out what she is saying some of the time.

Charlotte has also finally gotten her first tooth in :) She promptly bit her Aunt Lindsey with it to show it off :)

Big changes have also occured in the adult world at our house! Erik has been hired at Yahoo and has just completed his first week there. He is loving it if his smile and happy attitude is any indication :) I swear he comes home dancing on the clouds :) Things are going great for him in that regard. I am so very happy to see him finally working somewhere that he feels appreciated able to accomplish what he needs to too be happy.

The only dull spot on us right now is we are passing around a cold. Thankfully Charlotte seems to be no worse for the wear of having the cold. The only thing that seems to be wrong is a stuffy nose for her. I seem to have gotten the brunt of it. Erik has felt a little icky too but is soldiering on and says he doesn't feel it has hit him all that hard yet. (finger's crossed that it doesn't hit him harder later).

So things are going well on our end of the world, I hope things are going well on every one elses ends as well. Write back and let us all know.

P.S.

Good Luck in Germany to my Bestest Friend Rebekah!!!! And come home safe and sound soon.

Nine Months Old Today

So much change in just thirty days. Our little girl is crawling and standing up on her own now, she isn't walking yet but I can see it won't be long before that happens.

Charlotte is getting so big. Her personality is growing as well; she is one very stubborn little girl for such a sweet temperament :) Now that Charlotte is crawling and can climb on everything she is into everything she can reach. We are working on training her that No means No but it is slow going, especially when she turns and gives the cutes little look like she is saying "who, me?".

I am so thankful everyday to have her in my life and I know Erik feels the same way. She is the brightness in our day :)

I haven't written in a while and I do apologize. I can't really say things have been hectic or busy around here; I can only say that I haven't gotten to the computer to do any blogging.

Charlotte, Erik and I are all doing well. We survived the horrible heat wave that hit Portland last week. I so hate being to hot :(. I much prefer the temperate climate that we usually have. I love the rain and just a little bit cold, not to much though. We hid out in the bedroom with the air conditioner running for the few days it was over one hundred degrees.

Even the snakes felt it was too hot. Poor Rosa just wound herself around the icepack I had in there trying to stay cool. We put ice in with all of our reptiles and with Sasha, Dutch and Ralphie. Dutch of course merely tried to eat his ice rather than cooling off with it.

Charlotte did fairly well with only a little crankiness during the worst of it. I let her swim in the bathtub to keep her cool. She decided she loves to float. Charlotte will lean her head back into my hand and kick her feet up until she is floating in the water and just smile.

On another note, it looks like Erik didn't get the position he had applied for at Yahoo. Not because they didn't want him but because Yahoo decided that the position wasn't needed. Of course the news isn't all bad as just recently he was notified that Yahoo had placed him in the running for a different position. It sounds like it actually might even be better suited for him too. I can't really tell you all to much about it as I don't know enough myself but I guess in this position he would be working on the FAQ's? I'll have to get back to you all once I make sure I am accurate. Erik had a phone interview yesterday and hopefully will get the final interview soon. I will be so happy once Erik is away from Stream. Maybe he will be healthier and happier then.

However, things aren't all bad at Stream....We had a wonderful thing happen to us. Erik's manager and some of her friends surprised Erik and I the other day by filling our car with groceries. I was so shocked and amazed! His manager was worried about Erik and said that friends help friends. I, of course, cried. hehe. The job may be stressful but it seems that at least some of the people there are pretty awesome.

This last week Erik was also moved to a different client. He is actually much happier there as he gets to work with "Techs" rather than "smiley happy shiny people" who can't figure out how to work themselves out of a paperbag. Ok, ok he never actually said it like that but from some of the stories he has told me.........

Charlotte as you know is crawling now. She is also trying really really hard to figure out how to stand up. She can stand on her own if she holds on the the couch so far, but she doesn't really know what to do with her feet yet once she gets up there.

Charlotte is also having a blast terrifying the animals, hehe. Now that she can crawl she chases after the cats or tries to sneak up on them and grab their fur. The cutest thing though is Charlotte and Sasha. Those two are practically inseparable, Sasha will even let Charlotte drag her around by the tail! The only time our little ferret got upset about being pulled around was when Erik had some chocolate that Sasha was sure she could beg off of him and Charlotte dragged her away right when she was about to take a bite :) Even then she didn't try to bite or scratch, she just pulled herself away and ran from our Charlotte.

Well, I suppose this post is long enough that you are all thoroughly bored so I will sign off. I will try to remember to get on and blab more often so you won't have paragraph after paragraph next time :)

Take care to all of you.

Yuk! Green Beans!

So I can safely say that Charlotte absolutely, positively HATES green beans.

This is the second time I have tried to feed her the green bean baby food and both times she has stated her dislike. The first time she refused to open her mouth or would push it back out at me when I finally got it inside her; this time she one upped her dislike by making herself PUKE when I finally got some down her. YUKKKK!

Well, I guess a bath after eating is always a good thing, hehe.

Lots happening!

Lots happening, lots happening!!!
Charlotte has STARTED CRAWLING!!!!!! On Friday the twenty fifth she started crawling, just up and decided to start, no if's, and's or maybe's about it. I do have video, just having trouble getting on which is why it is so late blogging about this big event!

Video coming soon, also, of Charlotte's first trip to the Oregon Coast! Took her to D River in Lincoln City and let her play in the sand. Nope, she didn't eat any, but she thought it was pretty cool and fun. She loved the kites people were flying the best of everything.
Charlotte wasn't too interested in the ocean though, she might still be a little young to figure that part out. She looked like "yeah, so? its just a big bathtub..." hehe.

Anyway, sorry I haven't kept all informed but been really busy lately. I will get those video's up as soon as I possibly can.

Hope everyone is doing great and oh, P.S.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD, ED! He is in Peru working, check out his blog at Ed and Carol's blog to see the wonderful pictures of Peru that they took and read about the great things they have been doing there.