Lazy Days of Summer (Yeah right!)

Where does the time go? It's summer time so we've been outside working on our tans rather than chiming away on our laptops so we've got a lot of catching up to do since our last update!

Soooo on April 25th Charlie celebrated his very first birthday! It was quite the joyous occasion with cake, ice cream and of course margaritas! The theme was "Anchors Away" to honor Charlie's Pap Pap who passed away in March and also because Charlie's nursery is Nautical-themed. A few of our close family and friends showered Charlie with gifts and then we took a trip to the beautiful Maymont park for some family photos. What a splendid day it was!

So now that Charlie is an old man, let me brag about all of his new skills:

1. Speedy Gonzales: Charlie started crawling (finally) around 10 months old. It started out as this strange, army crawl slither but then very quickly he advanced to the hand and knee crawl and after that it was all over. He turned into this crazy fast superhero speeding baby! Everyone tells you to enjoy the time before they start crawling and everyone is right. The other day I was in the kitchen making breakfast with Charlie right at my side when suddenly I realize that Charlie is gone. I found him halfway up the stairs! I didn't even know he could do that! So we no longer have a stationary baby and it's a bit frightening b/c he we've learned he can be very sneaky. He isn't walking yet but god help us when he does.

2. Chatty Charlie: Charlie now has an array of advanced words and phrases in his vocabulary. They include the following:

• Momma
• Dadda
• Uh Oh
• Guh Gye (Bye Bye)
• Hot Dog
• Duece (Juice)
• "Do you like it?" (ok maybe he wasn't really saying that but it really sounded like it so we'll take it!)
  

3. Gestures: Charlie's been very good at mocking momma and dadda. When we take our index fingers to our lips to make the "underwater bubbles" sound he will do the same - only he does it with his tongue. And he will wave hi and bye - this one actually happened as a fluke when Mom was attempting to teach him the sign for "milk" - it's very similar to a wave. He will also pick up one of our phones or a remote control and put it behind his ear to pretend he's on the phone. And finally, he's clapping. This was the one thing momma has been trying to teach him for a while and he picked it up recently! When he gets excited he claps and it's adorable!

4. Phobias, Teething and Separation Anxiety Oh My! It's become apparent that Charlie is in a weird phase right now where he'll, out of nowhere, become terrified of the things he once loved. For example, bath-time: Our once favorite nighttime ritual has now become a dreaded chore. Charlie will scream his head off if even his feet touch the water to the point that I worry our neighbors will think we are beating him. We were so concerned but our Doctor assures us it's just a phase and will pass. We also learned of another irrational fear when my mother brought out an awesome bubble machine she bought. We thought he would just love it but no, he cried until we turned the machine off. Yes that's right, my son is afraid of bubbles. Daddy's so proud. As for teething, right now Charlie almost has all of his front teeth and we hardly noticed any discomfort from Charlie when those little guys came in. The 12 month molars, however, are quite a different story. His symptoms have included fevers, earaches, extreme moodiness and monster-like tantrums (I'm exagerating a bit but it hasn't been fun). This teething started a month ago and the molars have still not broken skin - please dear god - how much longer?? Around a year old or so most babies go through a little bit of separation anxiety from their parents and Charlie is no exception. As a younger baby Charlie would go to anyone but now he is glued to momma. It's kind of sweet at times but sometimes momma needs some time to get things done. So I guess with the good comes the not always so good. So far though - nothing has been too terrible - we still adore the crap out of that little boy!

Well we hope you guys our enjoying your summer! Pray for us that we survive ours!

Anchors Aweigh

On March 17, 2010, our Pap Pap (Jacob's Grandfather and Charlie's Great Grandfather) left the earth to be with the lord. Pap suffered for many many years from cancer and COPD but today he is at peace. Though we are unable to put into words the pain we feel knowing we will never see him again on this earth, we smile knowing we will see him again one day.

Pap (aka William "Billy" L. Bauckman) led a fulfilling life filled with many wonderful memories and people who loved him. Many of those people spoke at his funeral which was held on this past Saturday, including Jacob. Jacob told stories of his favorite memories of Pap including fishing blunders, Reskins disappointments, and how he used to tell Pap he was a "pretty old man." Pap was like a father to Jacob and he is going to be missed deeply. It is not going to be easy to take a ride down to Mamau's house and not see him there.

"Anchors Aweigh" was the theme of the service because Pap was a sailor in the Navy when he was a young man. To honor him, we dressed Charlie up in an adorable sailor suit. It was the cutest thing ever! And of course I didn't take one picture of him - but I will!

All of Pap's great grandbabies attended the service. The newer ones were actually very vocal which made the mommas nervous but Mamau insisted on letting them stay for the ceremony b/c Pap would have wanted it that way. Really they were just chatting it up with Pap the whole time!

We love you Papmeister and will see you again one day! Breath free.

We also recently lost another loved one a little while before we lost Pap. Meme Madeliene, Becky's Great Grandmother and Charlie's Great Great Grandmother (WOW!) passed away at the ripe old age of 100!!! Now that's impressive! It's all the wine and cheese I tell ya! (She was french and my family consumes ALOT of wine and cheese!) We are always said when a loved one departs our earth but we also celebrate her long and fulfilling life. Bisous Meme! We love you.

9 Months Old!

Our tiny, little peanut is now a hefty little chunk. When Charlie was about a month old I can remember thinking to myself how I couldn't wait until he had nice, fat legs (at the time he had these scrawny little chicken legs). Well now he is nice and plump with what we like to call "the rubber band effect." His arms and legs are so chubby that his wrists and ankles look as if he has rubber bands wrapped around them. So cute - I love the chub!

So let's see what have we been up to....

Recently we celebrated Charlie's first Christmas! And Santa did not disappoint! Charlie got sooooo many toys! We have a pretty decent sized Chevy Tahoe and had a hard time fitting all the gifts in it. He's a spoiled little stinker but that's what Grandparents are for right? I think Charlie really enjoyed all of his presents but what I think he liked even more was eating the wrapping paper! This kid is a human shredding machine I tell ya! We were super blessed this Christmas b/c two of our family members, both battling deteriorating health prior to the holidays, took a turn for the better right around Christmas! Meme Madeliene (Charlie's 100 year old Great Great Grandmother!!) and Pap Pap (Charlie's Great Grandfather) are both doing much better at the moment and we were so thankful that they were here with us for the holidays!

Other happenings: In mid-January the Gardner family took a ski trip to Snowshoe - Charlie's first ski trip! Next year he'll actually be up on ski's - oy. This was Mom's first trip in two years and we all had a blast! Charlie got to stay indoors with Auntie Lin Lin Darling (aka Titi) and Uncle Adam while the rest of the fam tore up the slopes. This was good practice for them b/c they have a little one on the way! Adam said Charlie melted his heart every time he smiled - awwww!

Charlie turned 9 months old on January 25th (my goodness is his first year just flying! ) He is still not crawling but we're thinking he might just skip the whole crawling thing and move right into walking! His legs are strong and he loves when we take his hands and let him walk! His personality has really changed over the last couple of months. He giggles all the time at things we don't quite understand. For example, he can take one look at our dog Billie and just erupt into a 5 minute giggle fest! Billie is hilarious apparently. He also thinks Mom and Dad are pretty stinkin funny too (yessss!). Moreso Dad than Mom but mom tries the hardest to make him laugh. His eating habbits have really improved! He's graduated from pureed mush to little bites of food that he has to chew. So glad that he can finally eat some real food - so much better than that rice cereal business. His favorite foods include sweet potatoes, biter biscuits (aka cookies), fully loaded mashed potatoes (aka fully loaded with butter and sour cream - before you judge we only gave him a couple of bites but he LOVED it!), pasta, turkey, peas and apple oatmeal! Yum - this kid has good taste! What helps is he now has 2 teefers! Yay! And the teething wasn't even all that terrible! Charlie's fine motor skills are getting better too - he loves to stick his his fingers in our eyes and up our noses - it's not going to be adorable for much longer - haha. He also, kind of, er, we think has maybe said his first two words - he has babbled Mamamama and Daddadadada! Pretty sure he has no idea who or what he is talking about but we'll take it!

So that's all for now. In 3 short months Charlie will be a year old and he'll have a brand new baby cousin! Lots of excitement to come! Stay tuned!

6 Month Photos

Right before Thanksgiving we had the pleasure of spending the day with our favorite photog Liz Cook! Liz did such a fabulous job with Charlie's newborn pictures that we didn't want anyone else taking his 6 month pictures. Most of the pictures were taken at Maymont Park in Richmond and we were actually fortunate because most of the leaves were still on the trees which made for some beautiful foliage shots! Liz did a wonderful job as usual - see for yourselves!

Giving Thanks for Our Many Blessings!

And we're back! So Thanksgiving 2009 was a very special holiday to the Bauckman family in that we have been blessed in so many ways and therefore have some wonderful things to be thankful for. To quote Jacob's mom Carol: "In one year, [Jacob and I] became a husband and wife, pooper scoopers (the adoption of our dog Billie) and a mom and dad!" Whew! That is alot of new responsibility! But even though this new responsibility may not let us be as selfish as we were a year ago - we couldn't imagine it any different! Even our dog Billie, who has destroyed almost every belonging we own, has enriched our lives with so much love. Don't even get us started with our main man Charlie boy - Jacob and I have smiled more in the 8 months he's been here with us than we have in our whole lives! We are truly BLESSED with these new changes that have wandered into our lives!

So to celebrate this special day we headed on down to Clarksville, Tennesee to spend some time with our Meme and Pepe along with Deb, Phill, Lindsay and Adam! We had a great time and spent most of our time eating, shopping and playing 'Hand and Foot' my new favorite card game! Another celebration took place while we were in Tennessee. Jacob and I celebrated our first anniversary! Can you believe it's already been a year? Jacob surprised me with a dinner cruise on the good ol' General Jackson paddle boat! It was fabulous! The dinner was great and the entertainment (which comprised of some absolutely breathtaking country western stars in the making) was fabulous! I gotta give Jacob some props on making our first anniversary one to remember for sure! Love you babe! Now we are looking forward to celebrating Charlie's first Christmas!

Halloween and Other Happenings!

Happy Halloween! Charlie celebrated his first ever Halloween sporting a very chic caterpillar costume while mom and dad went as a flapper girl and a Richmond Flying squirrel (new baseball team in Richmond)! Since it was an unseasonably warm this Halloween, I don't think Charlie cared too much for his costume that resembled a thermal sleeping bag - but we were able to snap a few shots before he couldn't bare it much longer! Charlie was very intrigued with all of the trick-or-treaters! He is definitely a people-watcher just like his mom! Since mom and dad had plans that evening - Charlie got to spend some quality time with Grandpa Bill and Grandma Karen! Thanks so much you guys!

In other news, Charlie turned 6 months old on October 25th! He is now beginning to eat solid foods aka liquid oatmeal and other pureed mush! So far it's going ok but it's pretty messy and sometimes we wonder if any of the food actually ends up in his tummy! We've also learned that what goes in must come out! Since introducing real-people food into Charlie's menu, his diaper changes have become somewhat less pleasant! Is that TMI? :)

Also - the dreaded flu season is here! Dun dun dun! I feel like I've never experienced a scarier flu season than this year with the media-frenzied H1N1 virus lurking about. But having a baby to care for makes it so much more scarier! We are doing everything we can to keep the little booger germ free b/c there is nothing more terrifying than the thought of caring for a 6 month old with the flu! Unfortunately the swine flu has already plagued Charlie's babysitter and a couple of other children she watches. Mom and Dad have had to work from home to take care of him and thankfully Jacob's mom has also graciously agreed to help us out on days we can't stay home. Needless to say we are gritting our teeth to get through this flu season!

Naked Time!

Every baby book I've read on the topic of sleeping has enforced one common principle - follow a nightly routine. Our nightly routine consists of the following: dinner, jumperoo, bath and then most importantly NAKED TIME! Naked time means letting Charlie play for a half hour or so completely sans clothing and boy does he love it! When Charlie is naked he squels and shrieks with utter glee! Hopefully he will grow out of this phase when it's not so cute anymore! But for now - we'll keep it part of the routine!
Look at those little butt cheeks!