Update

So Charlie didn't win the contest. :( Boo! But that's ok. We still think he is super cute!

We went to Destin, Florida a couple of weeks ago on a family vacation. We had a great time and got to relax and get away from it all for a week. We took a ton of pictures and I'm still trying to figure out how to import them from iphoto to picasaweb. Bear with me. My picasaweb account is almost full, so I need to find somewhere else to post my pictures. This will take some time as I have a 10 month old that is very mobile and doesn't stay still! Speaking of Charlie (again), I believe he has had a growth spurt. He has been sleeping a ton (which I love!), taking 1.5 to 2 hour naps, twice a day. Sleeping 12-14 hours a night, only waking up once to eat. I hope this trend continues. The past two days he's slept until 9:15am! Awesome! He know weighs 20 pounds and is 29.5 inches long. SO he has grown 2 pounds and 2 inches in about a month and a half! If I have done my interpretation of the growth chart correctly, he is still in the 25% for weight but has jumped to the 75% for height! I have noticed he has gotten taller lately. He is crawling around like a madman, pulling up on everything and getting more steady standing while holding on with only one hand. We are practicing walking around the house, although he doesn't seem too interested in that all the time. We will keep working on that. So I guess that's it for now. I'll leave you with a picture...

Cutest Baby Contest

My friend is a photographer in Covington and is running a cutest baby contest on facebook. Of course I entered Charlie, since I think he IS the cutest baby! : ) The winner receives a free photo session and $100 of photos from the shoot. I want to win but I need your help! Those of you that have a facebook page, all you have to do is become a "fan" of Mindy Rathe Photography, find Charlie's picture and "like" it. Comments do not count, only "likes". The voting ends this weekend, but we are already way behind!

http://www.facebook.com/MindyRathePhotography

More recent pics...

Helping Jeff with the laundry:

Drying off after swimming:

Random

Fun with photoshop

We recently got photoshop so I've been playing with it a little to try and decipher the program. I ordered a few books to help me out and they will be here in a few days. I can't wait to learn how to use it! Here is one picture I doctored (thanks to my friend Shea for walking me through it). It's not perfect, but I just love this effect.

From photoshop

New Pictures

Just wanted to post a few pictures we took. This weekend we gave Charlie his first bath in the big bathtub. I know, I know, its about time. It was just so much easier to put him on the counter in the baby bathtub, but he was starting to make a mess with the splashing, so here we are.

Sunday was July 4 and it was finally sunny! We went to our friend's house for a pool party and had a great time. No pictures from the party :( but I took a few before we left.

9 months old

Charlie is 9 months old today and I just can't believe it! He's growing so fast! I took him to the pedi today and here are his stats:

Weight 18.4 pounds (25%)
Height 27.5 inches (20%)

So he's still short and skinny! Oh well, at least he's staying on the same growth curve. It will be hard to fatten him up since he's mobile now. He's crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything. He has 3 teeth (two on the bottom and one on the top). I'm attempting to teach him sign language and I think he has started doing the sign for "milk". The problem is, he doesn't really do it when it's appropriate so I'm not sure he's gotten the concept just yet. I'm going to keep working at it and introduce more signs when he's gotten the hang of it better. He's babbling up a storm and can say baa, mama, lala and occasionally dada. He doesn't know what he's saying, so it's kinda hard to get excited when he says mama, since he's not associating it with me. But that comes with time. Anyway, he's doing great and I can't wait to see what he's going to do next!