Jedi in Training Pants

These pictures are long overdue seeing as how he's had his Jedi onesie since 4 months before he was born and his very own light-saber since a couple of weeks after he was born.

If the camo didn't convince you he's becoming Matt Ring Jr. these photos surely will.

Camping with Charlie

This weekend we took Charlie on his 1st camping trip. We took him up to Evans Campground just north of Kettle Falls along the Columbia River.

Since he's a Ring we figured he should be in full camo for the event.

Matt and Charlie, probably the only non-camo camping shot you'll ever see of the pair.

Me and Charlie.

Sunset along the river.

Charlie slept great in the fresh outdoor air, this was definitely the first of many times we'll be taking this little baby camping. Our only mishap was trying to change his diaper at 2 am on the air mattress in the tent. Every time I put any weight on the mattress he'd roll, which meant he managed to pee on my sleeping bag and there was nothing I could do but lay back down on it. All in all, things went very well though.

Final Sears Story

We went in to Sears today to log our official complaint about Charlie's photos and let me tell you, for being as fired up as I was it was very anti-climatic. I went in there and told them about my hand being in one photo and the photographer's arm being in another and their response was that I bought the 'raw image' when I purchased the CD. It's supposedly up to the customer to clean it up before making reprints. I pointed out that I bought a professional service and expected the product they sold me to be free from errors and she attempted (successfully) to make me feel stupid and asked if I knew how to use the software on my computer to resize and crop photos.

Bottom line: no money back but lots of condescending sympathy. The one good thing is that we got our 8x10's back today and they actually cleaned them up before printing so the photos are free of excess body parts. Oh and they gave me a coupon for 1 free picture next time we come in. They even offered to set the appointment up today so I don't have to spend the time calling in 3 months when we want to come back. Now that's some serious customer service!

6.95 Ounces Per Week

That's how much Charlie has gained on average per week. He's 20 weeks old tomorrow and he weighed in today at 12 pounds 14 ounces. If you subtract out his birthweight of 4 pounds 3 ounces from today's weight and divide by 20 you get 6.95. Which, if you're an accountant and you think math is fun, you will think that fact is cool. When we were discharged from the NICU they told me to shoot for about an ounce a day. I took them as literally as I possibly could.

Caught Sleeping Again

I'm pretty sure we don't have a single picture of Uncle Cage holding Charlie awake. They seem to have that effect on each other.

He has that effect on Grandpa Ken and Patsy as well.
It's getting harder and harder to find good, free, awake baby-sitters these days.

1st Wedding

Charlie attended his first wedding this weekend. Matt's cousin Jessica got married in Deer Park and held the reception up at Deer Lake Resort. Below are a few photos of the big event, and a few pre-event photos.

Practicing holding his head up so he can attempt to steal the show with his new tricks.

Charlie and Hercules ready to go.

Charlie and Aunt Katie at the reception.

The Bride and Groom having cake.

Cousin Alanna 'helping' Charlie put his pacifier back in.

Aunt Katie, Dad, and Cousin Alexis.

Dad pretending to karaoke and Grandma getting down.

All in all it was a very fun evening and a great experience for little Charlie!

The Truth About Sears Photography

I know I've been talking a lot about Sears lately, most of it in a positive light. I've got a few things to say, however, that aren't exactly positive. Take this next photo for example:

That's my hand in the photo. They assured me it wouldn't show up, they just wanted me to stabilize Charlie in case he fell off the 4 foot high prop they had him on. Why did it need to be so high? Wouldn't it be safer to move the camera and use a prop not so high off the ground? They offered to crop my hand out of the photo for an additional charge. That's right, they wanted to charge me to fix their photographer's mistake. They consider this an 'enhancment'. Not on my watch will we be paying for something like that. I'll crop it out myself and it will look really shabby, but at least I'll still have that $7 in my pocket.

My other beef is that I brought in an ad saying I could buy all the photos from the session on a CD for $25. I should have known this was too good to be true since the regular price is $150. Sure enough, they let you buy the CD for $25 if you spend $130 on photos.

The other strange part of this deal was they actually negotiated with me on the price. Apparently not only can you haggle for cars and furniture in this country but you can haggle for photos. They said if I bought 4 pictures at regular price (which was about $30) they'd throw in the CD for an additional $30. At the time this sounded like a great deal so I went for it. Then I got home and realized I only wanted 4 of the 9 pictures anyways.

Bottom line is that you have to be smarter than the Sears Photo Team, which I've proved recently I'm not. Maybe when I bring him in for Christmas pictures we'll get it right.

Grandpa and Me

Here's another shot from Charlie's trip to Sears. Grandpa Anda was with us and happened to be sporting a Cougar shirt. Charlie had his WSU onsie in his backpack so we dressed them up as twins and took a picture. We couldn't get Charlie to smile but contrary to what Grandpa Ken may say I don't think it had anything to do with his love, or lack of love, for the Cougars.

Rings: the gantlet has been thrown. Produce a Husky onsie and a Husky shirt for Grandpa and we'll go back down to Sears for a rival picture.

Charlie's Mastercard Commercial

33 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit:
$76,100

3 months on a home apnea monitor:
$1,185

C-section for mom since I was breach and only 4 pounds:
$13,900

Having Premera insurance and parents with jobs:
Priceless


Not exactly priceless, we still have to pay about $5,000, but in the grand scheme of things its still pretty priceless.

Business Casual

As promised here's another photo from Charlie's most recent photo shoot. Thanks Brenda for the professional looking shirt and Kelly for the essential khaki shorts!

PG-13

This is what 12 pounds 5 ounces looks like!

Charlie got weighed today and we took him to Sears for more pictures. I'll try and post 1 a day to keep things exciting here on littlecharliering.blogspot.

Reunion

This weekend was Matt's big 10 year reunion. Not only was it a great chance for Matt to catch up with old classmates but it was a great opportunity for me and Charlie to see the self-proclaimed 'hometown hero' in action. One thing I learned this weekend that turns out was no exaggeration was that he really was friends with everyone in his class. I think he was one of the few people there that tried to talk to everyone in attendance at least once. Hopefully Charlie will inherit his social skills and be just as outgoing as his dad someday.

Happy Baby

WSU onsies and Chick Magnet onsies make for one happy baby.

Uncle Cage

Uncle Cage is staying with us for a few days. Below is Cage after a few beers and Charlie after a little breastmilk. Good times.

Charlie Unplugged

The doctor called yesterday and told Matt we can take Charlie off his apnea monitor. Matt's thrilled, I'm freaked out. I'm trying to trust that the doctor knows what he's talking about but its hard when just 2 weeks ago Charlie set it off 5 times. We made it through the night though so maybe things are going to be ok.

4 Month Birthday

Today was Charlie's 4 month birthday. We're pretty sure he's a genius because he can already sit-up...assuming someone is there to support his increasingly big head. The smile is genuine though, he does that totally on his own.

By the way, just Matt and I were home when I took this picture. Whose foot is behind Charlie?

Better Late Than Never

Julie and Jason were over last weekend and I should have put this up after they left on Sunday. It was their 1 year anniversay on Sunday and Matt and I were laying it on pretty thick that it's about time for them to start procreating. I don't think they were buying into it but we forced Charlie on them every time he was being good so they'd get a false sense of how easy it is. Time will tell if it worked or not.

4 hours later...

Charlie got 5 shots on Friday and cried at the time but then calmed down once we got him in the car. About 4 hours later we went over to Grandma Anda's house and ended up giving him some saline solution in his nose to clear up his congestion. This threw him way over the top and he cried off and on for about 3 hours. Please note the color of his face, it stayed this shade of red all night. When he was born he was in the hospital for 5 weeks with a tube in his nose, an IV rotating from his arm to his leg, and had blood drawn almost every day. Now we can't even get his immunization shots without him going totally insane on us.

Today's Weight

The 3 of us just got back from the doctor. Charlie weighs 11 pounds 9 ounces and is in the 20th percentile for weight. He's 23 3/4 inches long and in the 10th percentile for height. I found out today that they'd never told me the percentile before because he wasn't even on the chart...so we're making progress.

He got 5 shots in the thigh for various things and cried some very serious real tears. Matt and I cried a couple as well.

Still no monitor update. Sounds like either the neonatal doctor is on vacation or the monthly download never made it from his office to our pediatrician. Hopefully we'll have an update next week.

Feeding the Ducks

Charlie and I just got back from walking with some mommies around Manito. One of the mommies brought bread to feed the ducks with. Charlie wasn't really into it. Weird, I know.


I met a mommy on the walk who might be married to my husband as well. I'm going to have to start following Matt around to be sure he doesn't have another family somewhere. Everything she said from how she sleeps on the couch with her baby so her husband can have a good nights rest to how her husband comes home from work and asks what's for dinner while she's un-showered, un-fed, and covered in spit-up. Either she's been spying on us or we're married to the same person.

1st Plane Ride

Charlie had his first plane ride on Tuesday and he did awesome. I fed him a little on the way up to help with the pressure in his ears. After that he passed out and slept the rest of the way to Seattle. Our only mishap was the cords to his apnea monitor got caught on one of the arm rests while we were getting into our seats so the alarm went off. People were looking around all big eyed thinking there was a problem with the plane. Good times.



I don't have a photo of the ride, too many accoutrements on the plane to manage a camera as well. The purpose of our trip was to attend a funeral in Bellingham for my cousin Robby who was in a motorcycle accident last week. The photo is Uncle Pete and Aunt Vanessa holding Charlie at the funeral reception.