Little Charlie

Look how much fun Shutterfly is!

2010-11-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

Joy And Happiness Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Can't wait for our cards to arrive!

We've Moved!

2007-12-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

We haven't moved our physical location, just our cyberspace location. We'll leave this site up for those of you who don't know about the bookmark function on your toolbar.

4 Ring Circus

Enjoy the new site!

1st Snow of the Season

2007-11-29T18:08:00.001-08:00

We got about 3 inches on Monday night and another 2-3 on Wednesday night. Made for some great sledding for little C!

On a side note: the bun I'm cooking in my human oven kicks a lot! Charlie barely kicked at all so I feel like I'm experiencing something totally new. People always say every pregnancy is different, guess there's truth to that!

Cruise to the North Pole

2007-11-29T17:54:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we took Charlie on a 'cruise to the North Pole'. Apparently the north pole is at the far end of Lake Coeur d'Alene. The 2 hour boat ride included hot cocoa and unlimited cookies (a fat pregnant girl's dream!). After about an hour of cruising the captain comes over the speaker and tells everyone to go outside on the bow. Once we get close to the 'Pole' the tree and house light up.

Then Santa and Mrs. Claus appear in a boat house off to the left. They have the 'nice list' and read off all the names of the kids on the boat. The kids all around us went nuts for this.

Charlie looks upset here but he was eating all this up.

Definitely a new Ring Family tradition.

Apple Cup

2007-11-25T13:32:00.000-08:00

The Finnegan's and the Anda's came over to watch the big game with us yesterday. Since Charlie's currently out of Cougar gear that fits him he was forced to wear his vintage Huskies shirt (I believe it was Matt's? Cheryl correct me if I'm wrong). Charlie's face is priceless in this photo. If he knew how to form sentences I'm sure Caden would be getting an earful. Instead he just sat there and looked pissed.

This was taken in the 4th quarter and Matt was all smiles thinking the game was locked up. Sorry Huskies, not this time!

Matt Jr.

2007-11-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

Back when we were choosing names I suggested Junior. Matt said he didn't want a junior though. This holiday season though it seems like we may have made a mistake.

Matt loves everything about Christmas and it appears that its in Charlie's blood because he is crazy about it. We've been reading Christmas books now for about a month. Charlie can say ho ho, pretty (whenever he sees lights), candy cane, nut (odd I know, but there are a lot of nuts in holiday books), tree, frosty and coal. I'm sure I'm forgetting some of his other holiday words but these are the ones we hear the most.

Yesterday we took him out to Greenbluff and we cut down a tree. He loved trudging through the tree farm in his Napoleon boots with dad looking for the perfect tree.

When we got home he went down for a nap and Matt and I got out all the decorations. We left the finishing touches for Charlie. When he got up his head pretty much exploded. The tree was up with lights on it, decorations were everywhere, Christmas music was playing.

He spent about 10 minutes just walking around the house pointing at everything saying 'pretty...ho ho...pretty...tree'.

He helped us put up the ornaments so beware if you come by in the next month or so. He'll want to show you where every Santa, snowman, moose, etc. is on our tree.

Matt keeps asking Charlie if this is his best Christmas ever, however I think its Charlie that should be asking Matt. He's seriously so happy that his mini-me is following in his footsteps its ridiculous!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T20:30:00.000-08:00

I managed to take only 1 picture the whole day. Maybe it was because I felt like the day was total chaos. Maybe I just didn't think of it. Who knows.

We had the entire Anda crew (pictured below) as well as the entire Ring clan (not pictured below) over at our house for the big day. I managed to not burn the turkey so I felt like the dinner was a success. Everyone pitched in and brought something to share so I was actually responsible for very little, which was kind of my condition for hosting.

I thought I'd throw this picture on for Aunt Katie and Uncle Cage. Thanks for the early Christmas present! It fits great and Charlie loves the dog on the inside of the coat. He doesn't really love the dog hat but if you hold a regular hat and then pull a switch-a-roo as you're putting it on his head he's none the wiser. Now we just need some snow so we can try the whole outfit out - thank you!

Naming Poll

2007-11-17T09:43:00.001-08:00

Update: So far the 'other' write-ins are: 4 Ring Circus and Ring A Ding Ding. Both are very strong possibilities right now.

Bathing Buddies

2007-11-15T19:58:00.000-08:00

While my sister's in Milwaukee on a business trip we're watching little Caden in the evenings. Matt suggested we bathe them together and it actually worked out really well. They got along great and when we asked Charlie if he liked having a friend in the bath tub with him he replied with a very definite 'YES'.

A Tree House of His Own

2007-11-13T14:30:00.001-08:00

Last Christmas Charlie got a Tree House of his very own. Matt set it up the other night and decorated it with Christmas lights so Charlie could have his own private reading spot. This morning he spent about an hour in there alone with his books. I'm not sure who was happier with the arrangement - me or him. I actually got to unload the dishwasher without fighting him for the silverware and I got to read a few pages of my own book!

This Has Got to Stop

2007-11-09T19:42:00.001-08:00

This has gone on long enough. Charlie's book obsession has turned into all night book-fests. Last night around 3:30 a.m. through the baby-monitor I heard Charlie's talking Nemo book. My first thought was that I was dreaming it, not too hard to do considering I read every book he owns at least 3 times a day. However, it wasn't a dream. I went into Charlie's room to find him sitting in the pitch dark, surrounded by about 10 books that he had pulled off his window sill, reading Nemo.

I took the books away and tried to explain that it was still night time and that it wasn't good for his eyes anyways to be reading in the dark. I'm assuming he understood because he didn't fight me too bad.

Then at about 5 a.m. I hear his little voice through the monitor "book...book...book". Since it didn't sound like the chant was going to stop anytime soon I went in and gave in to his request. I turned on a night light and gave him a stack of books to peruse. I then turned off the baby-monitor so we couldn't hear Charlie making his animal sounds to the pictures in the books and Matt and I got about 2 more hours of sleep before the alarm went off.

So the reason this needs to stop is not because I'm against learning. Oh I'm all for that. I'm just more for sleeping these days. The above picture is Charlie passing out in his car seat this morning at about 9:45. I would have loved to have done the same had I not been the one behind the wheel.

So the internal dilemma I'm struggling with is do I just let the kid read all night and sleep during the day and become wierd? Or do I insist he sleeps at night and save his reading for the day time?

Then and Now

2007-11-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

Then (1978).

Little Matt reading.
Now.

Little Charlie reading.

Then (2000).
Dave and Matt not quite grown up.

Now.
Matt, (Krusty), and Dave all grown up.

Then (1977).
Grandma Cheryl (Matt's mom) sporting a hot maternity swimsuit.

Now.

Me sporting the very literally same maternity swimsuit.

Now (if only we were past this and I could call it a then) 2007.

Matt wearing his Xbox headset.

Now.

Charlie wearing the Xbox headset.

Then (1996).

Posing for and buying cheesy photos of friends.

Now.

Posing for and buying cheesy photos of friends.

Hope you enjoyed my random oldies post!

Cuttin' A Rug Little Ring Style

2007-11-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

Charlie ripped up the dance floor last night at his Great Grandpa's 80th birthday party. He had a handful of the guests captivated all night with his sweet moves (which mostly consisted of bending his knees to the beat and looking ridiculously cute in his party pants).

The Truth About the Rings

2007-11-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

We're huge dorks. This was confirmed at the Halloween party on Saturday. The truth is finally coming out and it feels good. We dressed up for a Halloween party and there were probably only 5 other adults dressed up out of about 30. Not only did we dress up but we had good costumes. Costumes that took effort.

Matt went as Obi Wan, as I mentioned in a previous post. However his original idea was to go as Luke and wear Charlie on his back so they could re-enact a famous training scene from The Empire Strikes Back. The only difference between the Luke costume and the Obi Wan costume is the rat tail. And at the end of the day Matt really just wanted to wear the rat tail (you can see the rat tail in all its glory hanging down the right side of Matt's head in the pic below).

I went as Darth Vader but the second I walked into the party I realized my mask was not only scaring my own child, but most of the other children in the room. So for the rest of the night I was just a girl, dressed in black, wearing a cape.

It feels good to get all of this off my chest. I'm finding peace in my dorkiness. These are our friends the Patches. They stopped by on Sunday so little Samee could show off her bee costume. Charlie welcomed her in his Batman pajamas and was actually nice to her for a change (he managed to let her read his books and held back his tears!).

Charlie on actual Halloween.

On Halloween we took Charlie around to some friends and family's houses. Below is Charlie as Yoda, Caden as Pooh Bear/Bee, and Aunt Char as a Chef/Uncle Justin.

Thank goodness this holiday is over!

My Fetus is a Girl!

2007-10-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

We found out this morning that we're having a baby girl! They couldn't tell at first so the Radiologist tipped the bed so I was practically on my head. Then she had me lay on my side. Finally she rolled around and we were able to get a good look.

When I got home from my ultrasound my home nurse came over to give me my first of many weekly doses of progesterone. She told me the shot would go in my hip. Which to me meant my spare tire. To her it meant butt. So now not only do I get to deal with all the regular fun that goes along with being pregnant but I get to look forward to a sore butt once a week. Hope this little girl is worth all this hassle!

A Little Halloween Preview

2007-10-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Matt, Charlie and I went to a little Halloween party put on by a mommy group I'm a member of. Matt said he'd only go if I agreed to dress up. So since Charlie was Yoda and Matt was Obi-Wan Kenobi...I agreed to be Darth Vader. Funny, no pictures Darth have surfaced, not an accident. This is Charlie hiding from the other kids. We got in the car and Matt asked Charlie if he hated other kids and he said 'YES!' Not sure how we're going to fix this but I think more mandatory play dates are in our future.

We came back!

2007-10-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

We made it back from our trip safe and sound last night. Hurricane Kiko and the city of San Diego being engulfed in flames didn't slow us down a bit. On the second day of the cruise they informed us we might not make it to La Paz because of Kiko. Which was pretty standard because 2 years ago when we tried to take a cruise Katrina and Rita showed up and derailed our plans entirely.

Kiko ended up turning a little so we went to La Paz and spent a very stormy day on shore eating fish tacos and strolling the boardwalk. Below are some random photos from the trip.

This is me and Matt on formal night at the Captain's Party. This is 'the crew' on our booze/snorkel cruise in Cabo San Lucas.

As you disembark the ship there are signs everywhere that say 'do not rent Mopeds'. So what does our friend Dave do in La Paz? He managed to stay safe though, even though he didn't understand what '4 Alto' meant until the next day.

This is a photo from our day in Ensenada. There were fire there as well and it was so smokey that it looked like dusk basically all day.

Those are the highlights. Charlie did great without us and probably was a little more sad to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa last night than he was when we left. They taught him to say 'I love you' while we were gone and he taught himself to say 'Matt' which is kind of fun.

And, he may have gotten over his fear of costumes. They got him Batman pajamas, complete with a cape, and he wore them very proudly through the airport. Hopefully he'll remember how fun this outfit was so that when we go to put on the Halloween costume he'll go along with it.

We're Off!

2007-10-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

We couldn't convince Charlie to look at the camera here, he'd say cheese but he'd be starring at the pumpkins the whole time.

Matt and I leave tomorrow morning for our cruise so there won't be any posts for a week or so. We'll be sure and update everyone on Charlie's week at Grandma's when we get back!

A Fantastic Fall Weekend

2007-10-14T16:46:00.001-07:00

This weekend our friends Danielle and Brenda came over from the Seattle area to visit us. This is us eating doughnuts in the park before swim class. I kind of wish I hadn't discovered the mini-doughnut stand right by the Y. It's going to be hard to stay away. Here's we're doing another standard fall activity, carving pumpkins.

Matt and Charlie and the Raccoon puppet. The Raccoon puppet show, put on by Matt, has gotten so out of control that it woke Brenda up Saturday morning (keep in mind she was sleeping a floor below not necessarily below the show, its that crazy).

Saying goodbye to Little Charlie.

Thanks for coming over ladies!

I had to throw this picture in for fun. Caden will wear Charlie's helmet but Charlie is still afraid of it. Maybe we should have pushed it on him before he developed his little defiant personality...

Who says you can't swim in October?

2007-10-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

Since I'm banned from the hot tub for a few more months due to the growing fetus in my belly Grandma Cheryl steps in for me occasionally. You're looking at 3 generations of hot tub loving fools. It seems like they're out there forever sometimes.

This is me and my sister at our last Shrimp/Kippers class on Saturday. I don't know about Caden but I can read Charlie's mind and he's going to miss all the cheesy games and songs (serioulsy though, he loves the Y).

Tagged?

2007-10-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Amy, I'm supposed to answer a bunch of random questions and put them on my blog. If you find reading about my first job interesting, read on...thanks Amy.

Where I've worked (none are current)
1-Camp Firwood
2-Taco Bell
3-Bagel Factory
4-CWU Dining Services

Movies I can watch over and over
1-Tommy Boy
2-Girls Just Want to Have Fun
3-Anchorman
4-Wedding Singer

Places I've lived
1-Bellingham, WA
2-Ellensburg, WA
3-St Mary's, MT
4-Redmond, WA

Favorite tv shows
1-Biggest Loser
2-the Office
3-Dancing with the Stars
4-How I Met Your Mother

Places I've been
1-Nashville, TN
2-Orlando, FL
3-Cancun, Mexico
4-Las Vegas

Favorite foods
1-the entire Taco Bell menu
2-bagels and cream cheese (bagels are viewed as a vessel to get the cream cheese into my mouth, I should have really just listed cream cheese)
3-cheesecake
4-cheese (see a theme?)

Places I'd rather be
1-Mexico (I'll be there in 6 days!)
2-sleeping
3-at Taco Bell
4-somewhere warm

Weird things about me
1-I like milk with pizza
2-I have a lazy eye that only makes an appearance in pictures (so I'm told)
3-I took a hip hop dance class when I was 25 (and my friends insisted on calling me 'Hip Hop' for a very long time after that)
4-I don't know how to play basketball but I love watching Gonzaga play

I tag Lori because I feel like the world wants to know what her favorite foods are.

Cheeeeese!

2007-10-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

The cheesiness runs in the family...

Trick Pony

2007-10-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

My sister has a fancy camera with sound so we got some of Charlie's tricks on film. The first one is brand new and you have to listen carefully. It's a little something special that will make 1 Grandpa really proud and 1 Grandpa really upset...

BOOKS!

2007-10-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Charlie's been sick the last few days and the only thing that seems to make him happy is reading his books. Thankfully Grandma Cheryl has been hitting the thrift shops and stocking us up on new stuff. His books are officially taking over the living room...I guess the kid could have worse bad habits though.

He Saw Dad Do It

2007-09-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

Whatever Matt does Charlie emulates. Dad put stacking cups on his feet so sure enough, Charlie had to put stacking cups on his feet. It went on forever, which is why it ended up on film. He'd put one on then bend down to reach a second one and the first one would fall off. It took him a few tries to realize he need to hold the second one in his hand while he placed the first one on his foot. Its so fun to watch them figure this stuff out sometimes.

Got it! Man that was worth the effort!

Quick Pregnancy Update

2007-09-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. I went to the doctor yesterday and everything is progressing just fine with the baby. I'm at week 14 and starting at week 16 a home care company is going to come to my house once a week and give me a shot of progesterone. The idea is that the shot will help keep the baby in longer (Charlie was only in for 33 weeks). So I'll get the shot every week from week 16 to 37. After week 37 they're fine with me going into labor whenever.

The other big news is we scheduled the ultrasound to find out the sex. It's scheduled for October 30 so stay tuned for that piece of info!

Our Saturday in a Nutshell

2007-09-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

Matt managed to get a picture of Charlie smiling (sort of a fake smile though, I believe he's saying 'eese for cheese right at that moment).Charlie still loves his new car toy Grandma dropped by yesterday.
We went to swim class.
I apparently looked like a crazy person.
We got a bike trailer/double stroller at a garage sale.
Charlie instantly decided to hate it. That was $50 well spent. Hopefully by spring when he has a new little baby to ride next to him he'll change his tune.
We're working on getting him a helmet, don't report us, Matt didn't take him very far.
We went to lunch with some friends (sorry, no pictures) and that's been about it.

Look Alikes

2007-09-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

A friend put this on her website and it inspired me to see who they thought I looked like. I don't see the resemblance with any of these people except Jason Biggs. Damn.

How they think Charlie looks like Missy Elliott is way beyond me. I may have to run it again with a different photo.

Now they're just being rediculous. I think they're just picking people out of thin air.

A Few More Apple Festival Photos

2007-09-19T08:37:00.001-07:00

My friend Rikki sent me these and I thought they were kind of funny because Charlie's throwing a fit in all of them.

This is him hating the tractor ride to the orchard. Trying to escape.

Hating just sitting in the wagon with the other babies.

I don't know what this kid has against wagons and tractors but its getting ridiculous.

Apple Festival

2007-09-16T13:11:00.001-07:00

We finally made it up to Greenbluff yesterday to the Apple Festival. Greenbluff is a community of local farmers who open up their farms and let you pick their fruit as well as all sorts of other farm related activities (i.e. pet and feed their goats).

This is the Rings picking 27 pounds of apples. What was I thinking? I've spent all day making 1 pie, 2 apple pie fillings (which I froze for later), and a batch of applesauce. The box is only about 1/2 gone. I'm seriously going to be baking all night.

So after we picked our apples instead of waiting for the little tractor to come pick us up I suggested we put the apples and the Charlie in a little cart and walk back to the store area. Charlie hated the cart so I ended up carrying him through the orchard. So Matt gets to pull the cart with the apples and I get to carry the 25 pound kid. Looking back I think I got the short end of the stick considering my fetus makes me winded just carrying my own body weight let alone carrying another person.

We got back and Charlie quickly got over his fear of the cart once he figured out how fun it was to push around.

My pie. Might not look all that impressive but hopefully it will taste impressive.

Well. Gotta get back to the kitchen. I've got more apple products to create.

When Daddy's Away...

2007-09-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

...the boy plays with his shoes.

He can actually walk surprisingly well in size 12 shoes. He made it all the way from the kitchen to our bedroom without falling. I think it helped that he was wearing Matt's shoes along with his own Pumas on the inside.

Not Using the Toilet Correctly, Again

2007-09-13T17:45:00.001-07:00

Can you envision a situation where you would drink water out of a toilet? What if the water were in a sippy cup and the toilet was made of plastic and had never been used for its intended purpose? (having technical problems again, not sure why this is underlined)

Yeah, I can't imagine it either. Charlie can though. He has no problem with grabbing his cup right out of the toilet and taking a big swig. Oh to be 1 1/2 again....

Fun Times at the Fair

2007-09-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

We took Charlie to the fair the other day. Being the planner that I am I bought all these discounted ride tickets in advance, only to find out when we got there that Charlie was too short to go on any of the rides.

We sweet talked the lady running the car ride and she let him on as long as Alanna promised to keep an eye on him (she's 2). He got in the car and had the biggest grin on his face.... ...until the ride actually started.

This is Matt showing the Army what he's made of. When I climbed a rock wall about a year ago he gave me a hard time for not making it to the top. For the record...he didn't make it to the top either.

He made it further than the kid on the easy side next to him though so that's important.

Charlie and Grandpa meeting a real horse. Charlie likes to neigh like a horse and look at them in books but it turns out the real deal is big and scary (I could have told him that).

Looking convincingly to Grandma for more elephant ear.

Hey, I've got my new shoes on...

2007-09-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to get Charlie to wear regular shoes for a while now (as opposed to soft soled shoes like Roobez). We put them on him though and he won't take any steps. He acts like we've cemented his feet to the ground. So yesterday Matt put his Pumas on (thanks Brenda by the way!) and took him outside to his favorite place on our property. Charlie couldn't resist getting out there and chasing the b-ball so he had no choice but to walk in his real shoes.

Hopefully next time I put them on him he'll think back to how fun it was to wear them while shooting hoops and he won't put up such a fight.

He Slides Like a Big Boy Now

2007-09-08T14:20:00.001-07:00

Charlie can go down the big slide all by himself now. It may not sound like a big deal but it actually takes a lot of coordination to stay in the seated position when you have no core muscles. Oh and trying to stick the landing when you're shooting off a slide 3 times your length is no easy task either.

The Little Tykes set is now reserved for Cousin Caden.

I tried to get a shot of them together last night while I was babysitting Caden. I know it looks like Charlie's kicking Caden over but I swear it didn't go down like that. Caden's still mastering sitting so I'm pretty sure he was tipping over all on his own.

Drum Roll Please!

2007-09-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

My posts have been a little sporadic lately and probably a little dry. There's a reason though. There's something big going on that I haven't been able to write about until now. I'm guessing you've already guessed where I'm going...

I'm growing another human!

I'm about 11 weeks along. Due 3/27/08. We'll find out the sex in November after our cruise.

This pregnancy has already been way different than with Charlie. For starters my hair is falling out big time. Every morning in the shower I have to clean out the drain when I'm done. Second off I wasn't really sick with Charlie until the last 2 months. This time around I'm feeling nauseous all the time. The only time I don't is when I'm eating...so guess what? I eat all the time. And not just during the day either. I'm talking applesauce at 11 pm, cereal at 3 am. Oh and dinner never sounds good. Last night Matt had a steak, baked potato and salad. I had cereal. Cereal seems to always sound good.

So that's the scoop...look forward to many more posts on the topic!

Stick a Fork In It

2007-09-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

We're officially calling it. Summer's over. Below are some friends taking their final swim of the summer. Me and Charlie enjoying the view from the dry, warm dock.

This is Lotion Boy sneaking off to hide Grandma's lotion. Amazing that those little hands can hold 3 bottles at once.

A little update on Charlie's skills if you're interested (if you're not into hearing my motherly bragging stop reading here): he signs "more", "please", "thank-you", "all done" and "eat".

He's got a crazy routine of animal noises and motions including his latest: "Charlie, what does a skunk do?" When you ask he wrinkles his nose and waves his hands to fan off the stench. He's also recently added a hiss for a snake, a quack quack (which sounds very similar to "duck duck") for a duck, and a ooh ooh for a monkey.

Another good one is if you ask "Charlie, what does Joey Lawrence say?" He'll respond with a "whoa". This makes a mom raised on early 90s sitcoms ridiculously proud.

He's really into blowing kisses as well. We were getting some deli meat the other day at Fred Meyer and he blew a kiss to the deli lady. She instantly fell in love with him and offered him a piece of cheese (cheese = love (obviously)). He was so thrilled with his cheese he kept blowing her kisses as we walked away.

I think that's the latest. He's also big on telling us when he poops. We got out the training toilet thinking we could get him to use it since he obviously understands what's happening but all he wants to do is play with the lid or put his toys in it. It's probably a little early for potty training but we thought we'd at least get him used to seeing it so it's not such a foreign concept when it really is time.

Pigging Out in the Park

2007-08-31T20:30:00.000-07:00

Every Labor Day Weekend Spokane puts on a food and music festival called Pig Out in the Park. They have about 60 different food booths for you to choose from and bands playing all day/night long. I have to report that Matt did much better this year (last year he had Zips and Papa Johns). He actually ventured out on his own and came back with a chimichanga with black beans and rice.Above is Matt sharing his cheesecake on a stick with Charlie. Oh and that's our friend Anthony giving Charlie bunny ears.

Is it just me or do Matt and I look alike in this picture? I heard somewhere that you tend to pick a mate that looks something like you because whether you want to admit it or not you find yourself attractive. I'm just realizing right now that I may have done that.

Finally a Little Help

2007-08-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

I guess the key to getting Charlie to pitch in was to actually get the broom out. Once I started sweeping this afternoon Charlie immediately tried to grab the broom from me and take over. I tried to think back to last time I swept to try to remember if he acted that way and I realized...it's been a while since I've actually gotten the broom out.

Guess it's time to negotiate an allowance for this kid.

He's a Ring

2007-08-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

Charlie's definitely a Ring. He went crazy when he saw Matt shooting hoops this evening. I took a little video on my camera so you could see how happy he was to be out there with his dad. There's no sound so just imagine a baby laughing and giggling throughout the whole video.

Reconsidering

2007-08-28T08:44:00.001-07:00

I popped into Charlie's room this morning to find him emptying his dresser and interviewing other blankies for the position of first mate. The white one, made by a friend's mom's neighbor, has been the only one in his eyes since about his 1st birthday. (By the way, I don't know why all this is underlined and blue, I could use some tech support right about now.)

We Camp

2007-08-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

We're Rings, we camp. Having an infant with a cold, slight temperature, and occasional diarrhea doesn't stop us. We're going for the Parent's of the Year award this year and we thought taking our sick 16 month old out in the woods for the weekend would help get us some votes.

We just ended up staying 1 night and for the record we think the mountain air helped clear up his congestion. We got home around 6 on Saturday night and by 8 he was playing, eating, and laughing like his usual non-sick self.

No Real Topic...

2007-08-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a non-topic post. It's just some random photos from the past week or so.

Charlie charging for the camera.

Photo of Charlie's foot, taken by Charlie.

Escaping from a diaper change mid-change.

Note to Grandma Cheryl: if you're reading this you might want to wipe down the seat of the car before any other kids stop by to ride it. I don't think we remembered to do that before we left.

Playing Wii with Dad.

The Finnegans Have Arrived!

2007-08-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

My sister, her husband, and their little baby Caden have officially moved to Spokane. As of today they're both gainfully employed and have a place to live (Grandma's condo) until their house in Phoenix sells. We're so excited that our little guys will get to grow up together! The picture makes it look like the boys are not so happy about it but I think the problem had to do more with Charlie's obsession with grabbing the camera than anything else.

Charlie's Dad the Officiant

2007-08-13T20:59:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Matt performed the ceremony for his buddy Ryan's wedding. I was able to snap 1 quick picture before Charlie stood up, pointed, and said duck! Da Da would have made more sense but I think he saw a picture of a duck before he saw Matt. After that we made a dash for the door -we spent the entire ceremony outside. I'm not sure why I was expecting him to stay quiet, he's become quite the constant talker lately. Matt got lots of compliments though so it sounds like everything went smoothly. If I remember correctly Charlie's crying because he saw the camera and wanted to play with it. Except for a few small outbursts like this one he was pretty good for the 5 hours we were there.

Some of the bride's cousin's really wanted Charlie to hook up with this other little girl and shake his booty. He wasn't into it though - I think he still prefers to dance with silverware.

Greatest Day of Charlie's Life

2007-08-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went over to the west side of the state for a friend's wedding. Our friends the Booths were kind enough to let us crash at their house which was perfect for Charlie because their son Logan has some pretty great toys.

Below is a modern day Radio Flyer. Complete with 2 drink holders per seat - and we're not just talking about regular drink holders - these fancy holders could hold juice boxes or cups. After we discovered Charlie hated the Radio Flyer Kerri brought out a new toy for him (we're pretty sure he only hated it because it semi-involved sharing). The second Matt started pushing him in the little car below he went crazy with joy. We seriously couldn't get him out.

Even Logan was forced to take a turn pushing him. When we tried to take him out so Logan could have a turn he'd throw the biggest tantrum. Thankfully Logan kind of enjoyed pushing so Charlie got to ride in the car pretty much all afternoon.

This is just a random picture of Matt playing in Logan's fort...the biggest kid of all right?

A Game of Mini-Golf

2007-08-04T20:35:00.000-07:00

By mini I'm of course referring to Charlie and the size of his clubs.

Matt and I both demonstrated how to hit the ball for Charlie. He could do it, however he preferred to just swing the clubs around. He hits the ball pretty well in the house though. He does little laps around the living room hitting and chasing his ball. It seems to keep him entertained which I guess is what's important at this age right?

Charlie's Fortress is Finished!

2007-08-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Matt spent the day finishing off Charlie's swing-set. To get up to the platform part Charlie has to figure out how to climb either the rock wall or the rope ladder. He's only 16 months old but I think by Fall he'll be scaling the rock wall no problem.

Thanks Husband for building Charlie such a great playground!

Charl'dini

2007-08-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little funny story. I was sitting in my computer room this morning reading emails semi-ignoring Charlie who was playing behind me. When I was done I turned around and he was playing with a diaper. My first thought was that he took it out of the garbage by the bar area (yes, we have a bar in our basement). Then I started thinking 'why would there be a diaper in the garbage by the bar? We never change him down here.'

So I reached up his shorts just out of curiosity and I hit bare skin! He somehow managed to take off his diaper by reaching up his shorts. The leg snaps weren't even undone.

Now that's something I'd like to see Houdini pull off!

Fancy Pants

2007-08-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

We went to another wedding last weekend and Charlie mixed up his outfit a bit. He chose to go with the plaid pants instead of the conservative brown cords. We received so many compliments on his pants it was just ridiculous. He was seriously fighting the ladies off left and right.

No family photo this time, picture the last one though but with Matt and Charlie in the outfits above and me in the standard blue polka dot dress.

Yes, We're Saving Money on Swim Diapers

2007-07-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

My logic lately is that Charlie can go naked in his pool if no one else is around so that we save a little money on swim diapers. The only problem with my logic is I can't resist posting the pictures on the Internet...so it doesn't really matter if any one's around or not...the world is still going to see my cute naked baby!

Denise's Wedding

2007-07-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to Matt's cousin Denise's wedding. Charlie stole the dance floor with his moves.

He took a spoon off a table and danced the night away, just him and his spoon.

By the end of the night the pants and shoes were long gone. As long as he still had his spoon though he still wanted to dance.

Updated Stats

2007-07-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

We just returned from Charlie's 15-month check up and here's where he's at:

height: 30 1/4 inches 25% percentile

weight: 23 lbs 2 oz 30% percentile

...and our favorite

head: 20 cm 95% percentile

The only thing he's not really doing on their developmental checklist is pointing to pictures in books when we name specific objects. He'll point to his own hair, eyes, ears if you ask him to but he won't point to them in books...so we'll be working on that.

He nailed the talking questions on the checklist. I think he's only supposed to know 4-5 words and he knows ma ma, da da, boom, bump, up, Grandma, Grandpa, duck, uh oh and woof woof.

Now if we could just get him to grow a little and put on a couple more pounds we'd be right on track!

Brilliancy Update (7/24/07): Charlie just learned the ASL sign for "more"! He taps his fingers together when he needs more food or drink. I'm going to start working on his Harvard app right now, clearly he's a shoe-in.

Seriously?

2007-07-16T19:45:00.001-07:00

We came home this weekend and found the world's largest hornet's nest right outside Charlie's window. No exaggeration, it's about the size of a basketball. I'm so afraid of it I won't even leave the house to mow the yard, which is normally one of my favorite chores.I guess when it gets dark tonight Matt's going to climb up on a ladder and try to knock it down. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post about our inevitable trip to the ER for Matt's swollen face.

Gettin' Betta'

2007-07-16T19:36:00.001-07:00

Charlie spent the weekend recovering from his little bout with croup. By Sunday he was basically back to his old self.

We were at the lake so we had the baby monitor set up for him. I thought I heard him in the monitor Saturday morning so I went down to check on him and this is what I found. Grandma and little Charlie cuddling...very sweet.This is him playing in the sandbox turned pool that Grandma bought for him.

Grandpa and Charlie.

Croup?

2007-07-11T17:37:00.001-07:00

Last night around 10:30 Charlie woke himself up with a crazy seal-sounding cough. His breathing was really labored and every breath sounded like his last (terrible thing to say but it's the best way to describe it). Not knowing what else to do I brought him into our bed, sent Matt to the guest room, and made Charlie sleep with me so I could keep an eye on him. I think I maybe got 2 hours of sleep last night, I spent the rest of the night staring at him.

So this morning I took him down to the Urgent Care Center and their diagnosis was he either has croup or he swallowed a toy. Apparently based on his breathing patterns either option was equally viable.

For those of you who don't know croup is an infection of the larger breathing tubes of the lungs and windpipe. It's caused by the same virus that produces laryngitis in adults. The swelling that occurs in the trachea produces narrowing of the air passages and thus the harsh, dry, bark-like cough.

I did my best to convince the doctor we don't let Charlie swallow his toys so we could get the shot of cortisone (which would cure him assuming he had croup). When we left the doctor told us to come back in 24 hours if he's not showing significant signs of improvement and they'd do some chest x-rays and look for a toy in his chest.

Thankfully throughout the day today he's been acting more and more like his old self so I think the croup is clearing up and we won't have to go shopping to replace any lost toys.

Orcas in July

2007-07-09T19:14:00.001-07:00

Matt, Charlie and I spent the week of the 4th on Orcas Island where my parents live and have a vacation cabin. My siblings and their spouses were there as well. For the last part of the week Anna, Brenda, Danielle, and Derek joined us.

I mention our bad luck with crabs in the photo captions quite a bit. Over the 6 days we were there we caught 15 total I believe which isn't very many considering we made about 6 boat trips out to check the pots. Justin and my dad were the only ones with licenses so there was a little competition going on there. I'm not sure how it shook out in the end but I know Justin won.

2007-07-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

We went over to Orcas last week. When I have time I'll post more pictures. This is just my favorite one so I had to put it up really quick.

Deer Lake in June

2007-07-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Below are a few pictures of our weekend up at Deer Lake. Our friends Rikki and Anthony brought their 3 month old little baby up for the first time.

None of the adults were willing to swim, still too cold for us, but Charlie loved having his feet dipped. Next time we go up we'll have to let him get all the way in.

Grandpa Ken and Grandma Cheryl.

This is my favorite picture from the weekend. I went in to the house to get something and this is what I came back to. I may have to get it made into a tee shirt with the words 'father of the year' below it.

Even though there really aren't any pictures as proof Charlie is walking all over the place now. He does about 8 steps and then sits down for a rest. Slowly but surely we're getting there.

Landscaping

2007-06-29T15:37:00.000-07:00

Our landscaping project is finally completed. The swing-set now has a permanent home on a nice little bed of pea-gravel. We moved the plastic swing-set outside too so Charlie would have something to climb on until he's big enough to climb on the big one.

I didn't take pictures of the rest of the project but we now have some nice little flower beds, complete with concrete edging, in the front. We've also added a "pie garden" area in the back - which means we planted a peach tree, apple tree, rhubarb and we're planning on adding strawberries...everything you need for all Matt's favorite desserts. Now if we could just figure out how to plant ice cream for me and pudding for Charlie we'd be set...

We Were Warned

2007-06-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

About a month ago Charlie's Great-Grandma Nancy warned us that Charlie was going to push over our lamp in the living room and break it. It's not that we didn't believe her, it was more that we were too lazy to find a safer place for it. Today her prediction came true and oh man what a horrible mess it made. Thankfully Matt was home so one of us could take the baby outside while the other one picked up the glass shards.

No one got hurt in the disaster, however Charlie's piggy bank is going to be hurting when we empty it to buy a new piece for our lamp.

The Week Thus Far

2007-06-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

The week's been busy so far and sadly I have very few pictures to show for it. Below are the flowers Matt sent me at the office for our 3rd Anniversary. I was so surprised when they brought them to me that I was convinced they had the wrong office (read cubicle).

Our other excitement this week is that we signed up for Kindermusik. Before signing up I had to get over how much I hate it when places spell words wrong just to be cute. I have a hard enough time with spelling. It doesn't make it any easier when places try to confuse me by using k's when they should be using c's.

Anyways, Kindermusik is a little music class for babies/toddlers. We sing songs, dance around, and play with little instruments. Charlie seemed to enjoy his first class today and I noticed he didn't steal anyones rice shakers so we're making some progress on the bullying front.

Today we also went down to Eastern Washington University's campus and volunteered in a physical therapy class. A mommy that I walk with asked me if I'd bring Charlie down because a class taught by one of her husband's colleagues was looking for premature babies to observe. So we went down and about 14 college kids played with him and observed his movements for about an hour. I, in turn, observed them and realized how funny it is to be a student sometimes. They had names for the way he was sitting on his knees and they were fascinated with how he moved his body to a sitting position from laying down. They quickly wrote stuff on their pads of paper every time he reached for a toy and leaned his body using his core muscles.

I got a little laugh out of them trying to figure out how old he would be if he was born on his due date. They wrote all these numbers down and tried to do the math really quick in their heads. The girl who shouted out the answer first added 7 weeks to today, instead of subtracting 7 weeks. It took some real convincing to get her on board with the fact that he should be 13 months old not 16 months. It was kind of comical to me to watch them learn from a real life situation and not just from a textbook.

So that's been our week so far. We go back to Eastern again on Friday for some more observation - hopefully Charlie will continue to wow them with his sitting and leaning skills!

Teen (no wait) Baby Wolf

2007-06-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

These are really poor quality pictures (I was trying out different settings on my camera) but the gist of it is that Charlie has discovered how to surf on his little push cart.

We're just waiting for him to push the cart over to the stove and reach his hand up onto the gas flame or something else really clever like that.

Standing Like It's No Big Thing

2007-06-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

Charlie's standing on his own now and already acting like it's not even hard (hence the annoyed look on his face when I asked for a smile).

He's been walking a little more this weekend as well. He's comfortable walking from mom to dad, and occasionally to the toy box, but that's about as far as he's willing to go so far. We'll keep you posted on when he leaves the mom, dad, toy box circle.

Introducing...

2007-06-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Walker Texas Ranger! That's right. On Thursday Charlie took about 5 steps. I didn't post it and put it on the record (this blog is the official Charlie record by the way) because we weren't sure if he'd do it again any time soon. But tonight he took another 5 steps so we're putting it on the record.

Now we can finally quit worrying about his development and get him all signed up for kindergarten!

Like Father Like Son

2007-06-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

He loves the light saber, just like his dad. And he loves to read the paper in the morning, just like his dad.
Anything Matt does these days Charlie wants to do too, it's pretty cute to watch.

Self Regulating Baby

2007-06-19T19:51:00.001-07:00

This is Charlie's new trick. When his body is ready for a rest he just pulls his blanket out of his crib and lays down and waits for someone to come pick him up and put him in the crib. Our baby may not walk yet but at least he puts himself to bed!

A Morning Trip to the Park

2007-06-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've written this post before so I'll spare the details about how we live by this great park and Charlie and I like to go there to play and walk. It's starting to get hot over here in Spokane though so now we have to get up and go as early as we can (which is only like 8:30, early doesn't mean what it used to now that I have someone else to dress, feed and take care of).

Charlie has been getting pretty antsy in his stroller lately. He doesn't seem to like confinement. He did OK for me today though. I'm thinking it's because I let him play before we walked as well as half way through. He's learning early about compromise.

PS Re: Father's Day

Yes we did celebrate it, contrary to what Matt likes to tell people. I just failed to take any pictures of it. Charlie got Matt a mousepad with his face on it and a new outfit for work. We also made him breakfast and cookies just for the record.

A Carousel Experience

2007-06-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight we took Charlie on his first carousel ride. Before they would start the ride though the operator came over to Matt and had to tell him that the straps were for the kids not the adults. From where I was standing I got the impression Matt strapped himself in and was going to let Charlie fend for himself. However, the pictures show that he simply strapped himself to Charlie. Anyways, once that was all settled they started the ride.

This is our friend Anthony on the tiger and Rikki with baby Samee on the bench. They managed to follow the rules and not get yelled at.

Charlie didn't exactly love his first carousel ride. He didn't really cry but he did have a frightened look on his face the whole time and he let our a few concerned moans as the ride went round and round. Guess we'll hold off on the season pass for now.

Strolling with the Big Boys

2007-06-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

Charlie's still not walking on his own so tonight Matt took him outside with his walker and made him walk down the to the corner and back. I watched them from our driveway and when they got to the end of our street I saw Matt bend down and pick him up. So I assumed he was going to carry Charlie home. Not the case. Matt carried him across the street and made him walk home on the other side. Poor little guy, that's a pretty long distance when your legs are only about 18 inches long.

He didn't seem to mind the new torture technique though. He just babbled and walked along like it was no big thing.

Mr. Cuddles

2007-06-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight Charlie was actually willing to cuddle for a few minutes before bed, something that hasn't really happened for about 10 months. He's usually too busy with his routine of emptying the Tupperware lids onto the floor, throwing the refrigerator magnets down the stairs, and dumping the Q-tips out to lay down and relax with mom so I was totally savoring our time together.

So a few minutes go by and Matt must have noticed it was quiet in the house for once because he immediately came looking for us. He walks in and says something to the effect of 'is there a baby in here that wants to wrestle?' To which Charlie responds by jumping up and yelling 'da da!' So much for cuddle time...

crawling away from me...
laughin' it up with dad...

(Sorry about the pictures of me in my weird pajamas. Matt refers to my funny robe thing as my mu mu. It's comfortable and not as hot as a real robe so it works for Spokane, I'm not apologizing for it, just explaining why it's great.)

Ghost in the Garage

2007-06-07T14:17:00.001-07:00

Today Charlie and I are home alone. Nothing unusual about this really, we're home alone all the time. We went out to get the mail through the garage, like we do all the time. I left the door up just in case we decided to go somewhere later this afternoon. So we're inside for a few minutes and I'm paging through the Land's End catalog when I hear the other garage door go up. I go out to the garage expecting to see Matt's truck pulling in when instead I see nothing.

So I'm a little freaked out. I shut both doors and then lock the door leading into the house, hoping this will keep out whatever ghost or pervert is sneaking into our garage.

A few minutes go by and I hear the garage door again. So now I'm really freaked out. I head to the phone to call Matt to tell him to come home right away because Charlie and I are probably about to get murdered. On my way to the phone I look down at Charlie and see him playing on the floor with my mail key, which happens to have my garage door opener on the same key chain.

Whew. No ghost or pervert. Just a clever kid (who cried a lot when I took his makeshift toy away from him!) and a dumb mom.

Another Haircut

2007-06-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

Taken yesterday, before his haircut. Taken today, after his haircut.

Charlie just had a haircut a month ago and I had really hoped it would last longer than 1 month. However, after a hot weekend trying to make long, sweaty hair look cute we gave up and went back to Kids Kuts. This time I told them to cut it really short so I wouldn't have to give them another 10-spot for at least 2 months this time. Made me feel a little better about the situation.

Weekend in the Greater Tumwater Area.

2007-06-04T15:09:00.001-07:00

Since we took so many pictures I thought a slide show would be appropriate. If you aren't seeing captions with the pictures hold your cursor over the picture it should show you one. Basically we spent the weekend visiting friends and family on the west side of the state. These are pictures of our adventures...and by pictures of adventures I mean pictures of Charlie playing on various playgrounds and posing with various friends and family.

A Day of Discoveries

2007-05-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today Charlie discovered that if the slider is unlocked he can slide it open by himself. Then once it's opened he discovered he could access the entire backyard.

He discovered that if he turns his crawl into a bear-crawl then his knees don't have to touch the prickly grass.And finally, he discovered he could ride the Daddle without a second adult hanging onto him.

As promised...

2007-05-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

In a previous post I promised to keep our faithful readers updated on any more weird things we think up for Charlie to do. Tonight pants-free time turned into full on naked crawling. Matt's determined to make it painful for Charlie to continue to crawl. He sort of outsmarted us though when he grabbed his walker and just scooted around the house - I think his knees only hit the ground for about 2 seconds.

Charlie's New Friend

2007-05-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

Charlie's been kind of weird lately about letting people he doesn't know very well hold him. Our friend Alyssa was in town this weekend and when she first got here Charlie wouldn't get very close to her. By the end of her visit though he had warmed up to her and was all about posing for pics in her arms.

Thanks for coming by Alyssa - it was great to see you!

Hershey's Presents...

2007-05-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

Me, Brad & Cheryl. I know this is supposed to be Charlie's website, not mine, but stay with me and I'll show you how I can make this about him. Charlie's Grandma Cheryl, Charlie's Great-Aunt Teresa, and Charlie's 1st Cousin once removed (impressed that I figured that out?) Denise and I went to the Brad Paisley concert last week. It was a fantastic concert and we got to see it from about the 12th row! Thanks Charlie for the Mother's Day present!

View From the Horse

2007-05-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Part of Charlie's routine each day is to climb up on his horse and gaze out the window at his new swing-set. Uncle Pete and Aunt Vanessa bought Charlie this horse so I wanted them to be able to see that it gets used everyday, just not necessarily for its intended purpose.

It's Called Pants Free Time

2007-05-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

Our new obsession these days is trying to get Charlie walking on his own. For a while we thought the walker was the answer, hoping that he would eventually let go and walk alone. So far that hasn't worked.

Last week Matt decided Charlie needed to walk the equivalent of 5 laps around the living room, each day, holding our hands for support. So far that hasn't gotten him any closer to walking either.

So tonight Matt invented Pants Free Time. He's hoping rug burn will motivate Charlie to get off his knees and start using his feet. Each night after his bath he has to go pants-less until bedtime. I'll keep you posted on his progress...and on any other weird things we think up for him to do.

This is him being sad about being pant-less.

This is him being indifferent 30 seconds later.
This is him moving on with his life and having a good laugh at something really funny his mom probably said.

Batbaby

2007-05-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

Grandma Cheryl bought Charlie a Batman mask. Matt put it on first to show him how it's done. Charlie left it on for about 1 millisecond before he ripped it off.

According to Matt if Charlie's anything like his dad in about 2 years from now we won't be able to get it off of him...

Secret Mother's Day Omelet Ingredient

2007-05-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

Matt says it's love, however I think it may have been salt. Matt, Charlie and I spent the night with Matt's parents at the lake last night. Matt, Charlie and Grandpa got up early and made me and Grandma a special breakfast.

Matt knows how much I love omelets so he gave it his best shot. Despite its appearance it actually tasted pretty good.
On the way home our fancy monitoring system in the van alerted us to the fact that we had low pressure in one of our tires. Sure enough, we pulled over and could hear the air gushing out.

Unfortunately the fancy system only alerts us to problems, it doesn't fix them. Thankfully my husband is handy and had members of his equally handy family following us. They supplied the tools and a blanket and Matt supplied the manual labor and we were back on the road in no time (I supplied nothing...unless you count the wet wipes we used to clean our hands with).

Things Not to Give Your Baby When He's On Your Back

2007-05-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

Apple juice. Don't give your baby anything sticky, like apple juice. It will end up on his hands, which end up in your hair. It will end up running down your back. And eventually, the cup will end up being dropped and you're left with the task of bending down with a 21 pound child strapped to your back.

Charlie and I went on an hour long hike today along the Spokane river. We have no pictures to prove it but we have very sticky clothes to show for it.

Every time we've ever put Charlie in his backpack he's loved it. Today was the first time he hated it. We got about 15 minutes into the hike and he started wailing (which is when I gave him the juice). He made it about 15 minutes more and then the wailing started again. Luckily the other mom I was with was having similar issues so she was cool with turning back early. We were shooting for 5 miles but I think we only made it about 2.

Once I got him back in the car and home and on his swing-set again life was fine. Sometimes I just don't get this guy.

Very Much Not Afraid of the Dark

2007-05-10T15:15:00.000-07:00

One of Charlie's new tricks is to go into a room and push the door closed behind him. He especially loves the laundry room for whatever reason. There's no window in there so when the lights are off it's pitch black. Charlie has no fear though, he'd play in there all day if we let him. The other day Matt handed him a flashlight so he could see what he was doing.

These pictures were taken in the dark but my flash is so bright it looks like the lights are on.

This kid has tons of toys but all he wants to do is sit in a dark room and play with a flashlight. Crazy.

The Reconcilers (said in a monster truck like voice)

2007-05-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today was Bloomsday over here in Spokane. The firm I work for sponsored our team, The Reconcilers (if you speak accounting you'll agree our name is pretty clever). After today we might have to rename ourselves to the Wreckoncilers though. Rikki and I rammed our strollers into each other about 900 times. I included this picture because I thought it looked kind of cool. Hard core people, not us, discard their sweatshirts right before they start. Apparently the Goodwill comes along and collects them after the race. We were equipped with strollers and backpacks though so there was no need for us to help decorate the Spokane streets with our clothes.

This is me at mile 4. Even though there's no photographic proof, Charlie and I made it the entire 7.46 miles. We have shirts to prove it.

Charlie did really well and didn't fuss or cry until about mile 7. I just handed him his apple juice though and he was good for the last .46.

Where was Matt during all this you ask? He was at home with Rikki's husband playing the new Wii. They actually tried to convince us they got just as much exercise with all the virtual boxing, golf and tennis they were doing. Though I agree you do work up a sweat boxing I still find it hard to believe.

Update: Our times are in. I finished in 2 hours and 21 minutes. That's 30,745th place out of a possible 39,382. Not too impressive if you look at it that way but how about this way: I placed 6th out of people with the same last name. Now that's impressive. I mean Charlie only placed 7th (somehow he registered 1 second after me).

Stats aren't available for kids under 13 but I do know that Charlie and I averaged 19 minutes a mile and the average for 1 year olds was 20 minutes 6 seconds. I guess I have a pretty fast 1 year old! Oh wait, I think what it really means is the mommy behind the stroller is slightly faster than other mommies of 1 year olds...

Oh and for the record, you're not allowed to run with a stroller. If you're caught you get banned from Bloomsday for 5 years. So I think we did OK for just being a couple of walkers.

1st Professional Styling

2007-05-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

I took Charlie in for his first professional hair-cut today. He's had it cut by me and his great aunt Claudine before but this was the first official time by a stranger.
He was pretty good, however he did keep leaning away from the woman cutting his hair. Must have thought if he moved 2 inches to the left or looked in the other direction she'd give up. She didn't though.

This is the after shot. Or maybe I took it before? Hard to say, he kind of looks the same.
This is him waiting patiently for me to pay. I just wanted to include it because I think he's looking especially cute today in his new sweater (which was hand-knit by our friend Maleah!).

And this is the after-after shot of him playing at home. His bangs look crooked but I'm hoping its just the way they're lying on his head in this picture.

1 Year Photo Shoot

2007-04-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

Below are the pictures from Charlie's 1 year photo shoot at Sears. I only ordered a couple of pictures because when you go to pick up the pictures they always have 4 extras printed up that they'll sell you for $20 (which is a tremendous deal). So I was hoping they'd print up 4 different poses and offer to sell them to me at their rock bottom price.

My plan sort of backfired. They printed up 2 of Charlie and Caden (my sister's baby) - 1 in black and white and 1 in sepia. Since I was already buying the color one of this pose these didn't really appeal to me. Then I'm thinking they were on to me because the other 2 were just of Caden. Which makes no sense because in our session they took like 20 pictures of Charlie and about 2 of Caden (he was a bit on the hungry side and wouldn't stop crying so Char carted him away pretty quickly).

So we left with the 3 pictures we originally ordered and nothing more. Oh well, at least the ones we originally ordered turned out good.

Tired Kitty

2007-04-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

The firm I work for adopted a mile of the Centennial Trail. Yesterday Charlie and I went out and helped clean it up. I'm not sure how much help we were, we were basically just there to support the cause. We did manage to pull several weeds though that were growing too close to the trail. Without us in several years those 10 weeds could have spread their roots and caused the trail to crack a little. You're welcome Spokane. We got home and all I wanted to do was take a nap. Something about weeding nature really wipes me out. So Matt offered to take Charlie on a long walk so the house would be quiet for me.

They managed to walk around the neighborhood for at least an hour. Such a nice treat for mom!

Limbo Dance Elmo

2007-04-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

So Charlie's Great-Grandma Nancy told me today that Charlie is afraid of his Limbo Dance Elmo. I didn't believe it (not that I would think she would lie to me, I just couldn't picture it). Charlie's had this doll since Christmas (thanks VanSlykes!) and I've never seen him act afraid of it. In fact, I've never really seen him act afraid of anything.

Turns out she was absolutely right. As soon as Elmo powered up and started his limbo song Charlie's eyes got really big and he slowly started to back away from it.

He crawled up onto my lap and started whimpering. Matt and I got the giggles (that's right, I said giggles), which didn't really help calm him down. We had to shut Elmo off to get Charlie to cheer up.

Hopefully this will blow over soon because I kind of like the way Elmo sings and dances when he's limboing.

Update: I forgot that Charlie's afraid of my mom's dog Quincy and our vacuum. Guess he's not as fearless as I was thinking.

Inappropriate Reading Material?

2007-04-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

More images for our 'parenting at it's best' file.
Nothing like reading lingerie ads to get a Sunday morning started off right.

Construction Still in Progress

2007-04-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

The swing-set is still under construction. The instructions said to estimate 6-10 hours to put it together. We've blown that estimate way out of the water, we figure we've got about 32 hours into it so far with at least 10 to go.

It's been well worth the work to see little Charlie have so much fun with it though. Worth the work from my end at least (my contribution consisted of staining some of the wood and volunteering my dad to help).

Wheel Watching Baby

2007-04-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

So, as many of my friends and family already know, I'm a Wheel Watcher. So, naturally, I'm raising a Wheel Watching Baby. Tonight we were watching the show and Charlie was sitting in front of me reading the latest Baby Bug (thanks Pete and Vanessa for renewing his subscription!). Without looking up from his book he set the book down and clapped after the contestant spun the wheel. It was genius. He actually did it twice in a row. At the exact time that the contestants clapped, he clapped. I couldn't have been more proud.

Anna - go ahead and add this to your list of reasons why I'm really cool (my friend Anna has a running list of cool things I've done in my past...including Stitch and Stir 4-H, giving myself a black eye with an alarm clock and, of course, joining the Wheel of Fortune fan club in middle school and proudly wearing the pin on my coat). Be sure to make a special note that it's a Friday night.

View From the Stroller

2007-04-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

It feels like its been forever since I've put up new pictures. Charlie's grandparents left this morning so life is getting back to normal now. Below are just some random pics of Matt playing b-ball and Charlie watching from his stroller.

Charlie Meets His Cousin

2007-04-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

Charlotte and Caden just left after a whirlwind of a visit from Phoenix. Hard to say how Charlie felt about his new cousin. He spent most of his energy trying to get close to the baby so he could poke at his eyes and bite his feet.

This is Charlie salivating over Caden's bottle. We're trying to convince Charlie that moving on to a cup is a wise move, however once he saw Caden's bottle got really upset and crawled as fast as he could over to Caden. We made him his own cup of milk but it just wasn't the same and he continued to cry until Caden's bottle was out of sight.

Grandpa Anda and his 2 little grand kids. A side note on Grandpa: this is the first time he's left his tax cave before April 15 in about 30 years. Progress towards retirement is finally being made.

Construction in Progress

2007-04-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend Matt, his dad, my dad, and our brother in law Cage set out to build Charlie a fortress of a swing-set. It's still in progress but they got the base built and the swings installed. I believe it just needs a roof, a slide, a rock wall and a few finishing touches and it will be good to go.

As you can see, swing-sets have changed over the years. I remember having a tire swing and an old metal structure with a few swings and maybe an aluminum slide. This kid is so spoiled and he's barely 1 year old!

Things I Loved About Easter 2007

2007-04-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

By Charlie Ryan Ring

I loved getting 2 Easter baskets full of snacks, cups, books and toys.I loved riding in the van facing forward for the first time.

I loved hunting for eggs filled with quarters and treats.

I loved spending time with my mom (don't laugh, she's very cool).

I loved swinging on Great-Grandma's porch.

I loved swinging into Alanna's head (OK, I didn't actually love that, but it happened and I laughed because I wasn't sure how else to react).

The End.

Fun Dad

2007-04-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

So I work 8 hours a week from home in my little office downstairs. Yesterday I hear Charlie in the monitor waking up from his nap. By the time I could wrap up what I was doing Matt had scooped him up out of bed and was running around upstairs with him on his shoulders. It's becoming more and more clear every day which one of us is the fun parent.

This is Matt and Charlie taking a hot tub this morning. It was a beautiful and very sunny morning over here in Spokane.

Thanks Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Ken for the sunglasses. I promise he didn't open the rest of his Easter basket, we know the rules.

Egg Hunt at Shadle Park

2007-04-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today our playgroup had a little Easter Egg Hunt at the park. The mom's that organized it filled plastic eggs with goldfish crackers and cheerios and we made the kids crawl around for them.

Charlie's got a new reputation as a chow hound. He was caught drinking another kid's bottle, eating grass, eating leaves and eating some kind of nut that had fallen from the tree. I had to keep filling his cup to keep him occupied.

This is our attempt at a group photo. Basically the two babies who don't crawl or walk yet were the only ones that would hold still for the picture.

We finally decided if we wanted them all in 1 picture we were going to have to hold them and actually be in it ourselves.

From left to right is: Charlie, Austin, Lily, Jace, Blake and Cameron.

All in all it was a great way to spend Charlie's birthday. We also met a couple of our other friends, Michelle and Rikki, and their babies for a walk this morning so Charlie was able to see basically every Spokane baby he knows on his birthday.

Welcome Sunshine!

2007-04-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

In honor of the sun coming out Charlie and I went to the park for a walk and a play. Below is him being unhappy about being confined to his stroller. I love the bored look on his face in the first one. It's like he's thinking 'fine, go ahead and walk mom, I'll just sit here and read if you don't mind'.

He didn't turn his frown upside down until we made it to the slides.

After we played for a while it was back in the stroller and back to the car. He was so upset about leaving the slides that he ripped his moccasin off and threw it out of the stroller. Of course I didn't notice until we were about 10 steps from the car. Don't worry though mom, we went back for it.

Here Comes Charlie!

2007-04-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

Mark it on your calendars, Sunday night Charlie learned how to walk with his scooter! Just shy of his 1st birthday Charlie's walking with assistance.

We'll let you know when he ditches the walker and takes off on his own!