A short (but typical) naptime clip...

Listen carefully for the banging - it usually goes on for a good 10 min (he stops here, because I get caught filming).

"Washington is broken," "Change," "Blah blah blah"

Charles is practicing his presidential acceptance speech...oddly, it sounds similiar to the real thing.

Trying to get Charles to talk

Keep in mind that this video session started by trying to get him to say the word "cheese" (since its pretty dang cute when he does), but it didn't really happen until the very end (when Ansley actually gives him some cheese).

Saturday Night Fever

Charles loves a beat.

It could be because Ansley played the jimbee and I the guitar while he was cooking in the womb...

The first clip demonstrates how quickly he can go from anger to instant joy at the sound of a groove (thanks to a little Radiohead)

The second, doing a little dance w/ Abba...American Idol, here he comes

Welcome to a new phase in Charles-ine entertainment

Here's our first attempt at video. One problem w/ the iSight camera - you see on the computer screen what's being filmed...and Charles adores looking at himself being filmed...

Coming soon...video

So, it seems that after Charles hit one, nothing terribly exciting is going on from a picture-only perspective. Sure, he's growing up and it's fun to see, but it's hard to show the good stuff with still shot (and it's hard to keep the ol' Charles blog interesting unless we mix it up a bit). Although we don't own a proper video recorder, Mac computers come w/ the ability to capture video through their i-Sight. I haven't the foggiest idea how good the quality will be, but we've got some footage that should be heading your way soon. For those who have never seen Charles in action, you won't be disappointed.

Executive Editor of "We Said We'd Never Do This" (a title, by the way, that refers to making a blog, not making a baby)

Whew - it's been a while...

After the big "1" post, we lost some blogging steam for a bit...but the little man is back, sporting one of his b'day gifts straight from Scotland (thanks Derek and Katie :).




Hm...so even after the age of 1, they still cry. Just thought it all just fell into place after that. To give the boy some credit, he can now communicate "more" using sign language, he's almost walking full-time, he changes his own diaper, parallel parks our car, drinks Miller High Life on Saturdays...



Amazon box, book shelf, Charles on a climbing adventure.

CHARLES' FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

The party was a barrel of monkeys for Charles...monkey invitations, monkey cake, monkey outfit. It suited our little monkey well.


(this is before Charles wore his monkey shirt, being totally stoked about his helium balloon)


(this is Charles with his monkey shirt - and with cousin Ashlynn)


toys, toys, toys. And mommy's and daddy's nightmare - Charles got one of those tickle-me Elmo demon-possessed toys.







this was supposed to be his new pool, but as you can see, mommy and daddy misjudged the size. does anyone have a newborn that wants a pool out there?



and here we go...what everyone waits to see.


it starts a bit slow...


but let's watch what unfolds. keep your eye on the state of the cake...poor cake.












(and here we go)....































(at this point, Charles discovers you can actually eat this stuff...)



















Happy Birthday, Little Man!!!!

Answer to the pic...

Not many guesses out there, but the answer is...

It's the "I'm trying to make a dirty diaper" push face. Hilarious to see it live.

Can you guess what this face means? (seriously, take a guess)

.....answer to be announced soon

cute pics of the three grandchildren (on Chad's side)

Uncle Lee - making sure Addie didn't drop Charles on his head....and Ellee thrilled about taking pics...






nice kiss on nose - I think she managed to get the whole nose in her mouth.

Charles' first pool experience

although we've managed to warm charles up to the ocean (a bit), the pool was a hit! he's got to be part fish - and he's also got to be the best tanned 10 mnth old around...it's a farmer's tan, but a tan nonetheless...




even outside the floaty thing, charles managed well...although managing charles didn't always go well - charles received a good mouth-full of pool water on more than one occasion ...





the grandparents put in a small waterfall, which was much fun for the kids (and pretty, too).




but he could never figure out why he couldn't grab on to it...

more pool shots

It deserved a post of its own....

(check out the teeth)

Charles' iPod, walking, and peek-a-boo

how fast they grow up...but no worries - we only let him listen to Gansta Rap during dinner.




New toy from Gran - and one more step toward walking.



only problem is he hasn't quite figured out the whole "go around objects" concept...it's a trip - he'll fly across the room with this thing, hit the wall, and keep pushing until he tips the whole thing over and crashes to the ground, ticked off that the wall didn't give way.




and he's discovered the curtains and peek-a-boo around the curtains with mamma....



"peek-a-boo"

about 10 months old shots...

G. Q. shot