German Invasion

The weekend before Charlie's birthday, the German half of my family came to town for an early birthday party. Aunt Moni had come over for my cousin's college graduation, and we were glad to have some time with her.

Out on the town, waiting for the Raleigh trolley


Opening presents


Thanking Aunt Moni for his presents - which included DVDs of my favorite German children's show, Sandmannchen (Sandman)


Checking out the sticker book from Aunt Niki


Playing t-ball and golf with Omi & Opu, and occasionally letting them have a turn




Ginormous chocolate cake

March for Babies

Each year, March of Dimes holds March for Babies all over the country. Shana & Chris invited us to walk with them this year. We had a great weekend catching up with them and remembering Abby's life.

On the road, in the new booster seat


Surprise! Chris & Shana had a birthday cake waiting for Charlie




And presents, too!


Helping Shana water the flowers


Saturday morning, checking out downtown Leesburg


Inside a super-cool train store


We spent Saturday afternoon at a farm near Leesburg. They had all kinds of cool stuff - a giant jumping pad, a corn bin, go-karts, along with the usual farm animals. It was a beautiful afternoon, which we finished off by sipping cold drinks on the porch of the general store [insert bluegrass music here].













The walk was Sunday morning, and we started off in a beautiful community park in Leesburg. The route was 5 miles, and it was about 90 degrees, so I was starting to regret not bringing a stroller for Charlie. But he was a rock star and probably walked 3 1/2 miles by himself.

Along the route were signs that told stories of babies who spent much of their early lives in the NICU. There were many sad stories, but just as many with happy endings. Hopefully, someday, there will only be happy endings.







After the walk, we were all ready for nap - except for Charlie, of course. Shana graciously bore the brunt of his energy.

Butterfly Bash

Today we met our friends Leigh and Ashleigh at the Museum of Life & Science for Butterfly Bash. It was a gorgeous day, and the kiddos had a great time painting . . .



riding the train . . .





chasing their shadows . . .



and eating popsicles . . .

Big Boy Bed

You may recall our earlier failed attempt to transition Charlie out of this crib. When we got ready to move into the rental house, we realized we had to take the crib apart to get it out of his room. We figured this was as good a time as any to give it another try. So we asked him if he wanted to sleep in a big boy bed in the new house. His answer: "Yes, but I will need a dinosaur blanket."



Aside from falling out of the bed twice on his first night, he has done a great job with the big boy bed. Unless he's operating in stealth mode, we haven't had any trouble with him getting up in the middle of the night and wandering around. And it is pretty cute when he runs into our room in the morning to tell us, "I'm awake now, guys!" (provided this occurs after 7 am).

Easter Recap

We spent Good Friday with Charlie's buddies, Isabel & Zayveon. The kids had a great time making cotton ball Easter bunnies and coloring eggs.





The rest of Easter weekend was kind of a doozy. We spent all of Saturday moving into the rental house, so by Sunday we were out of steam. I usually get so excited about Easter dinner, but we ended up having BLTs . . . I figured, if we weren't having ham, bacon was a good second. We did have an egg hunt, though. Charlie was hilarious, basically standing right on top of the eggs and and yelling "I don't see anymore eggs!"

Catching Up

I'm about a month behind, so here's a recap of the end of March. Evan's parents came for a visit, and then Charlie went home with them to Birmingham. He then went to Omi & Opu's house, and then drove with them back to Raleigh. A little weird not having him around, but we had a great time - saw a few movies, had meals that involved conversation and much less ketchup, and slept in. That being said, it was great to have him back at the end of the week.

At the Birmingham Zoo with Grandma


At Omi & Opu's, where every day is St. Patrick's Day


Hanging out in Heidi's cage - I'm assured this was his idea!


The "fearsome allosaurus" nibbles on Opu (and this is why grandparents are better than real parents)


Back in town, and off to Gabriel's birthday party


A visit to the Museum of Natural Science, one of his favorite places, complete with turtle viewing


Blowing dandelions with Omi

CLOSED

Well, we did it. We signed many, many times on the dotted line and will shortly be elbow deep in home remodeling shenanigans and much more debt. Now that the closing is behind us, here's our to-do list:

1. Move all worldly goods out of house so roof can be ripped off
2. Move all worldly goods into rental house
3. Spend next 6-8 months agonizing over fixtures, tiles, paint colors, etc. while trying not to go over budget
4. Move all worldly goods back into the "new" house

All in all we are really excited about the pending transformation, except for steps 1,2 and 4.

We are signing our lease tomorrow, and Charlie has already declared which room in the rental is "his." He also loves to talk about how Mr. Craven is going to make his house bigger, and then he can get a yellow doggie. He's got an agenda, no doubt.

I've decided to start a separate blog just for the renovation (not entirely sure why this is necessary, but it seemed like a good idea earlier this afternoon). Check out www.miraclerenovation.blogspot.com in a few days for some before pictures and the plans for our new nest.