Open Present, Open Present

Michelle has finally learned the concept of opening gifts even if it took several days. As I was washing dishes this morning I heard from the living room "open present" and then the rustling/tearing of wrapping paper. She quickly tore through the remaining gifts under the tree, good thing they were hers and her brothers.





And I of course could just eat Charlie up these days....

Merry Christmas to All !!!!

Santa was really good to us this year! Michelle wasn't quite sure what to make of it all so we let her slowly warm up to the idea of presents. She quickly became attached to her set of figurines from the Hundred Acre Woods and then put Darby and Eeyore to work in the kitchen.



Charlie thought he'd work in the kitchen a bit too, before riding his Zebra from Mimi and Grampy:





As suspected Michelle turned to the books under the tree and thought reading would be just as exciting as her new toys.

"It's Broken"

Michelle has been amusing us so much lately with her thoughts and subsequent speech. The other day she got her finger stuck in the refrigerator door and I was forced to pull it out causing a big old scrap and some swelling. Well, the following night we were are dinner with the Gangells and Mike told the story of how I "broke" Michelle's finger. She immediately looked down at her finger and started crying as if the story had made it start to hurt again. A short while later as the conversation had moved on and the boys were up at the salad bar, she looked down again at her finger, her lip began to quiver and then she burst out crying "it's broken." It was one of the funniest moments of her life so far!!!

Then last night while being watched by her Mimi, Grampy and awesome Godfather Tommy, she woke up due to Charlie's crying. When it was time to put her back to bed she told everyone "no, I'm fine." She is a fool, ha ha.

First Snow of 2007

We've had quite the busy day today. After some shopping the snow started to come down quite heavily. As I type Mike is out blowing the snow off the driveway. Michelle was apprehensive of the snow but she did manage to walk out in it for a few moments.



Although Charlie did not enjoy the snow, he'd like to share his newest trick, clapping.

Charlie is pulling up on things!

We are officially entering the "into everything" stage. Charlie has learned to pull up on the coffee table, get up the bottom 2-3 stairs, and particularly loves examining the Christmas tree and lights. We'd love to share some of his latest photos but I'm having trouble accessing them on the new memory stick I bought, :-).

I've switched back over so here are some photos of Michelle and Charlie enjoying Keephers new dog bed, who knew?








And just because I think he is so cute!!

Tis the Season

We've had a very busy couple of weeks around here. Most of them centering on trying to get Charlie to sleep at night. Other than that we are having a blast watching the kids interact with each other. Who knew it was actually possible to get stuff done during the day too. We've had many sitting sessions for our Christmas cards and still did not get anything we loved but we had fun trying. There are many pictures we'd like to share but we'll spare you and just share the pictures from today's Christmas party. Michelle made a mess of herself within the first 5 minutes with a lollipop and then proceeded to get cookies and pizza sauce all over herself as well. Charlie didn't seem to mind Santa one bit although he did give him a sideways glance at first.


He did quickly warm up to him though.


Michelle however wanted to keep her distance, she wanted nothing to do with sitting on his lap but was happy to wave at Santa or dance with Nani's lifesize Santa who although intimidating in the living room of Nani and Bop-Bop's house is not so scary in a conference room setting.

Hello from Florida!!

It is our last day in this beautiful weather, so sad. We've had a wonderful time courtesy of Mimi and Grampy even if it took Michelle and Charlie four nights to get accustomed to their new beds.

The trip down was great. Michelle had a bit of a meltdown in security screening when we had to dispose of her juice but she quickly recovered. She was rather amused looking at all the planes with her Dad.



Charlie enjoyed some apples in his mesh bag, messy yes, but it did keep him quiet.


They both did great on the plane. We didn't hear a peep from Michelle as she just watched her tv with no sound. We did bring out the DVD at one point but only because we felt bad she was watching and not listening to her tv.

I couldn't get over the two high chairs next to each other. It is commonplace for the Kramer family but it made me chuckle seeing my two children sittting next to each other snacking on Cherrios.



Michelle loved "cleaning up" after herself while Charlie was able to play on the floor with his new toys.





The beach was so much fun. Michelle is addicted to the "sand" and wants to go there every day. She particularly has been enjoying destroying the sand castles Mike makes for her. Charlie on the other hand just likes to eat the sand.




For Thanksgiving we went to Mimi and Grampy's golf club, boy was it yummy!!! We learned how much Charlie can really eat. I think I've been starving the poor boy. Someone even came over and said she thought Charlie ate more than her, ha ha. Guess I should start saving for groceries now.




PS: If anyone has any ideas of how to get a toddler and "infant" to sit still and both look at you at the same time I'd appreciate it. My time is up for today.

Learning to share

I have been trying to teach Michelle that she must share with her brother. She seems to think it is appropriate to rip toys, books or even food out of his hands for her own use. So imagine how happy I was when I "thought" she was going to share her prized Cherrios with her brother.

They started out so happy together:


Then Michelle began to get a bit wary of Charlie actually eating her Cherrios


She then started to tell him "no Charleeee"


Starting to plan her escape:


Sucess!!

The joys of a cat door

When life finds you with no pressing errands why not allow your children to explore the cat door, I did not know its entertainment value until this evening. Of course I was on standby should anyone try to put a body part through the door.

Camera Shy

I've been trying for days to get a picture of the two kids together to no avail, guess I should try to do this when Mike is home. At any rate I did get a few cute ones of that I thought I'd share.

Michelle and Charlie would like you to meet their newest cousin!!

Shawn Michael came into this world on Sunday, November 4. He is adorable and so far very well behaved, how do the Fredo's get so lucky?


News from the Kramers:

It took a Comcast repairman to get Charlie fully up on all fours crawling!! He has been doing the army crawl or even a few, maybe one or two, formward movements on all fours but he saw that repairman and crawled right into the office!!!! I could not believe it, go figure. I'll try to get a video to share this evening. He is just so darn cute with all of his crooked teeth.

Lesson Learned

Never disturb two children who are playing independently for a picture, chaos very well may be the result.

Note: No children were injuried in the taking of these photographs. Although it looks as if tears were coming, I assure you all of the crazy faces being made were a result of laughter.










And Charlie wanted to be sure you all saw his new teeth!

Another Day Another Tooth

We were wondering why Mr. Charlie-Pants was SO fussy the past couple of days, in addition to his first cold which of course he got after going to the pediatrician for a "well visit" I found his third tooth on Saturday! It is his upper left "fang", I think, only time will tell as it comes down further. He is becoming cuter every day. He loves to laugh and smile when someone is speaking to him, he just always wants someone talking to him, :-)

Well, of course someone interupted me and I was never able to finish this post last week. Charlie's teeth have continued to show their heads, he now appears to be getting a third bottom tooth along with the 2-3 that are pushing through the top as well. He has even started to do the "army crawl" and is very close the more traditional crawling!



I have also learned that it is next to impossible to get a toddler to stay still for a picture let alone smile, that is unless you let them paint in their highchair.