Max and Charlotte Get Cold-Blooded

Charlotte and Max (and Jenn and I) attended a birthday party thrown for the son of one of Jenn's girlfriends last Saturday.  The party was a hit, with not one but several highlights.  Among them were some special guests escorted by a local reptile wrangler.


Charlotte made a new friend, an African spurred tortoise.

19 November 2011

And Max met a Chinese water dragon.

19 November 2011

Personally, I was much more comfortable with Max and Charlotte hanging out with this guy than with the Burmese python.

19 November 2011

They both liked the reptiles.  But I couldn't help noticing that Max seemed more intrigued by the trees.  He's fascinated by the plants outside our home, too.  Is my son perhaps destined to be a botanist?  More importantly, why do I feel compelled to make such wild extrapolations and to try to see the future?


--- Shawn (for Jenn and Charlotte and Max and Lucy and Rufus)

Birthdays #1

Last weekend Charlotte and Max celebrated their first birthday!  So much has happened to us in the past year that it seems hard to believe that Jenn, Rufus, Lucy and I welcomed Max and Charlotte into our lives just 12 months ago.  And we're not just happy but proud that we have made it this far.  So it seemed appropriate to throw a big party to celebrate!  Grandma Judy and Grandma Cheryl came to celebrate with us, as well as Aunt Pat and my sister Lauren, among so many others.

Charlotte and Max get in the party mood (and learn to use a toothbrush).

7 November 2011

 
Max gets his first taste of birthday cake ...

12 November 2011

... and Charlotte gets hers.

12 November 2011

People often ask about the differences in Max' and Charlotte's personalities.  Well, to answer that I draw your attention to the difference between Charlotte's piece of cake and Max' piece of cake (or what was a piece of cake).  I don't know exactly what that says, but I think it says something.  And you've heard of milk mustaches?  Well, all on his own Max has invented the icing mustache at the tender young age of one.

12 November 2011

We hung a few old photographs of Max and Charlotte around our living to decorate for the party.  They're still up.  Here are a couple of those old photographs:

A happy Charlotte when her hairline was at its nadir.

1 April 2011

Max after one of his first meals of solid food.

15 April 2011

That blue spoon is history, having been stolen and chewed into many tiny pieces by one of the terriers (my money is on Lucy, but we'll never know).

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us.  And thank you for all of the gifts they received!  (Max and Charlotte are now the proud owners of the wheelie featured in this post, as well as one that is shaped like a tiger.)  Charlotte, Max, we love you so much already and look forward to years and years of fun birthday parties.

--- Shawn (for Jenn and Charlotte and Max and Lucy and Rufus)

All Hallow's Eve

So what did Max and Charlotte dress up as for their very first Halloween?

GNOMES!

31 October 2011

Jenn made their costumes, of course.  Charlotte loved wearing her gnome hat.  Max ... not so much.  (Hmmm ... I wonder where he gets that?)  And I, for one, am so excited for them that they have such an artistically inclined mother who will help them with oodles of fun art projects as they get older!  (The previous comment is meant in no way to be taken as an indictment of any mothers with whom I might have grown up.)

We hope y'all had a Happy Halloween!

--- Shawn (for Jenn and Charlotte and Max and Lucy and Rufus)

Max and Charlotte on the Road Again (Again)

We were accompanied by Max and Charlotte on our recent trip up to Chico, California, to visit their new baby cousin Natalie, who was born earlier this month, and her older brother Patrick.  This was their second trip to Chico and their third plane trip; they're becoming pretty seasoned travelers (for 11-month-old babies, anyway).  As you can see, Max is a pretty cool flyer.

20 October 2011

But Charlotte is even cooler.

20 October 2011

Actually, poor Max had a pretty hard time on the final leg of the trip home.  (While Charlotte slept soundly in my arms during the entirety of that flight.)  But it was understandable; plane travel is pretty hard, seeing as how they don't let you crawl with impunity all over the cabin.

While we were up in Chico Charlotte and Max got to play in Grandma Judy's kitchen, 

21 October 2011

Charlotte went shopping for a new set of wheels (as Max napped in their stroller),

22 October 2011

and they hung out with Tio Johnny.

23 October 2011

We also picked pumpkins and visited the animals at a local farm.  Max loved hanging out with the donkeys and the calves; it was a little tough getting him away.  I think we're looking forward to all four cousins being able to have fun together in the future, to say nothing of when their cousins from Indiana can come visit!

And, no, Charlotte and Max don't have frequent flyer accounts ... yet.  But if you know me, you should be confident that they will as soon as we have to start paying for their tickets.  I definitely plan on giving them a leg up on their million-mile status!

--- Shawn (for Jenn and Charlotte and Max and Lucy and Rufus)

Games People Play Charlotte Plays

Charlotte and Max have this funny habit of waving their arms somewhat ... er, spastically when they get excited.  So when Charlotte starts flapping her arms in this video, you can interpret that as her being very excited and very amused!

Max plays this game, too.  (You can hear him "talking" and banging his spoon on his tray in the background while Charlotte plays peek-a-boo.)  I think their particular twist on peek-a-boo got its start as a result of our cleaning their faces with a wet washcloth following meals in their high chairs.  And it's still a lot of fun.  I love the fact that Charlotte has started covering her own head with the washcloth!

(This would be another example of a large file that was too large to share over e-mail, but which can be shared via a blog!)

--- Shawn (for Jenn and Charlotte and Max and Lucy and Rufus)

Reminiscing

Once upon a time our babies were very young ...

13 November 2010

 ... and so were our puppies.

9 May 2009

--- Shawn (for Jenn and Charlotte and Max and Lucy and Rufus)

An Unforeseen Development

Getting used to Max and Charlotte being mobile was one thing.  Their talent for crawling has us worried about how chaotic things will be when they starting walking (and running).  What we hadn't considered was their developing ability to climb.  It is now clear that we're just going to have to get used to falls and the attendant bumps, bruises and crying.  Sigh.

Max and Charlotte love to climb into their toy boxes baskets.

14 October 2011

Getting in is easy.  Climbing out is hard.  It is also when heads tend to hit the floor.  You'd think this would dissuade them from climbing in in the first place, but …

15 October 2011

 And they're getting pretty good at standing up unassisted.  Walking can't be far behind.


--- Shawn (for Jenn and Charlotte and Max and Lucy and Rufus)