Baby #2, Name in the Making

I had an in depth ultrasound today with a pretty nice machine so that they can check to see if baby #2 has any heart problems or other such problems.  They wanted to make sure that this baby won't have to go through what Charlie did.  Everything all checked out great.  Even with their amazing equipment they can't always tell if the heart and other things look perfect, but the baby was in the PERFECT position.  They could see everything wonderfully.  They were quite surprised that they could see the entire aortic arch VERY clearly.  In about two months there will be another high tech ultrasound to double check everything.
The baby is a little bit smaller than the doctors had guessed so my official due date is November 23rd.  And of course the gender of this baby is a BOY!  The funny thing is that finding out the gender was a little more difficult than finding the aorta :)  The baby's legs were really scrunched up tightly, but after a little prodding the baby gave us a peak.
If this baby were to be a girl, I already had the named picked out, but now that it is not we don't have any official names yet.  But, I have promised myself this time that the baby will have a name before it is born.  It was just too confusing being in the hospital with Charlie being named Boy Martin before he had a name.  If you have any suggestions I am willing to entertain them, but I am very much a traditionalist when it comes to names.  Nothing too weird.  A name that everyone knows how to say and pronounce without having it explained ten times.  Spelling is hard for me and I really just don't want to make it harder on my kids by giving them a funny spelt name.

** I usually have Charles proof read all blog posts before being sent out to make sure spelling, grammar, and flow of the post is good, but Charles is at a city league softball team and didn't check this.  So, if there are mistakes, ... well, maybe next time will be better.

Charlie's Cheery Charming Challenges

Charlie has finally learned to feed himself for the most part.  This is a REALLY BIG accomplishment for us.  Most kids eat everything; Charlie refused to feed himself everything.  Cheering for every bite was the only way we got him to finally feed himself.  He still refuses to feed himself Cheerios, but he has learned to eat his little foam letters.  

Charlie is sporting his foam letters here in his hair-"DO."

This is the way Charlie "cleans up" his toys.  As long as you can't see them then they must be put away :)  That's how Mommy used to do it, too.

Charlie loves Mondays because it means it is laundry day.  He loves playing in the laundry room since his voice makes funny sounds in the machine and there are pretty lights on the display.  And the spinning of the machine is just so fun.

 We went on a ward campout.  The campsite was more of a manicured park than a campsite, but it was good for a large group of people with kids.  Charlie had fun playing with other people's toys.

 Meeting all of the kids in the ward and hanging out with them instead of his parents.

 And playing with the dog that was there.

It was pretty fun and Charlie sure enjoyed it.  We did have a pretty rough night though since Charlie went to bed at 11ish (4 hours late) and then kept randomly crying until 2 in the morning for one reason or another.  It was a definite learning experience for us to figure out how to camp with a little kid. 

Gaining Weight?

Yes!  I am gaining weight, thank you.  I am pregnant with baby #2!  No gender yet.  The due date is approximately around Thanksgiving.  The doctors aren't super sure how far along I am.

Additions to the Family

Charles and I both wanted birds as children but we weren't allowed to for different reasons.  Now that Charles and I are adults and have a place for birds we got some.  We really enjoy listening to them and they are quite low maintenance.

 The whiter one is possibly male.  We don't know the gender of the blue one.

We don't have names for either of them so if you have any good ideas we are more than willing to consider them.

Charles and I also got a cat to kill voles, gophers, and mice.  Charles' sister started taking care of three abandoned kittens and so we volunteered to take one.  The kitten lives in the garage but we let her in the kitchen a few times a day to entertain Charlie while I get things done.  It is pretty cute to watch them chase each other.

She is pretty cute but we don't really have a good name for her yet.  She was temporarily named leopard because of her spots, but we don't find that it rolls off the tongue and it is a little too manly for a girl cat.  If you have any name suggestions, we are open to ideas. 

 Our cat has discovered that we have birds :)

Cutie Charlie and Our Day Trip to Salt Lake

Charlie has been getting into a lot of stuff lately since he crawls at high speeds and is getting pretty good at standing next to things.  He has been getting into cabinets and drawers.  Most of the time he just enjoys banging them open and close but at times he takes stuff out for entertainment sake.

Charlie has zero stomach, hips, or thighs, so his pants don't stay on too well.  When they start coming down he then gets his feet caught in the pant leg and slowly pulls them off.  Whenever this happens he always looks at his pants trying to figure out why they just came off.  We try to wear lots of shorts since they usually stay on better.

 My friend Rose has been at the U of U hospital with her pregnancy because of complications.  I watched her little boy Isaac for a little bit until I got terribly sick.  Charlie and Isaac had lots of fun together.  It was funny to see how Charlie knew that these were his toys.  He didn't want to share with Isaac.  If he is any where else he knows that the toys aren't his and he won't steal toys too bad thankfully.

Charlie and I took a little day trip to Salt Lake to take a few photos of Rose, once she could leave the hospital, before the baby came.

 By the end of the photo shoot Charlie was DONE!

 After photos Charlie and I explored Temple Square in Salt Lake.  Here we are next to the Salt Lake Temple.

 We went to the reflection pond where Charlie dabbled his feet in the water since it was a hot day.  We had our little lunch in a shady grassy area.

 After that we went to the new City Creek Mall.  After looking through a few stores we rested on the over pass between the west and east side where there were benches.  Charlie liked being out of the stroller and crawled around watching people.  He also enjoyed figuring out his new stroller from a different angle.

At the end of our fun Salt Lake day trip we met Charles and his German coworker at Siegfried's Delicatessen, a German Restaurant.  We had lots of fun!

Future Email of One of Charlie's Many Future Girlfriends :)

Dear Mom,

     So, I am dating this guy named Charlie Martin who is the BEST!  He is so smart...

(Charlie uses his feet for a ton of stuff besides crawling.  He puts them on books, uses them to bring toys closer to him, and uses them on his toys to push buttons to make the toy play its song.)

(Charlie also knows exactly which button to push on the radio in his room to turn it on.  He has it on within a second of crawling over to it and never accidentally turns it off.)

After he studies for a long time he likes to take a nap, 

 When he gets tired he holds his ears; it is pretty darn cute.

 But even though he is tired he is still super funny and has a great smile!

 Charlie can always make me laugh.  He can make some of the funniest faces.

 Although comical, Charlie is a great businessman.  Look at that cute pen in his shirt!

 Charlie plays just as hard as he works.  He enjoys the digging in the sand at the beach.

 Charlie also loves spending time with his parents.

 (This isn't the greatest photo of Charlie, but I like the way I look so the picture went up.)

Charlie is so good at being patient while I pose him for pictures.

 And of course Charlie is so laid back.  He is just so darn adorable.

Love,

         (Charlie's Girlfriend)