More Milestones

This one is a Daddy milestone rather than a Charlie milestone...

Last night, our friends (and neighbors) Jeff and Lori came down to visit while Charlie watched me wash my truck. They brought their 2 month old Andrew, who is nothing but smiles these days. Can you believe he is catching up to Charlie very quickly in weight and height?

They were going to go to the Italian Market for dinner and asked if we wanted to go. When I told them Rebecca wouldn't be home until about 7:30, I then thought, "well, Charlie and I could go on our own."

I know you're thinking, "you do everything with your baby girl, what's the big deal?" But this was the first time ever that I'd considered taking her out to a restaraunt without her Mommy. Talk about being nervous. Fortunately, Mommy has her broken in pretty well already, so I wasn't too worried.

I had to pack some baby food, milk, toys, burp cloth, a spoon, the Bumbo, a bib... you see how hectic this is getting already?

We got there and found that the chairs at the place weren't real safe to sit a Bumbo on, so Lori brought us over a high chair. I was worried about it. Just a wooden chair, not real comfy or even safe looking. So I had to rig it up with some padding. You see, Charlie sits up really well on her own, but she does like to throw herself around a bit.

I had to position the chair perfectly. Not too close to the brick wall. Not facing the door to the outside patio (she gets distracted easily). Not in the sun. Not too close to the table so she could tip my drink or steal the stack of napkins... you get the scene, right?

No sooner had I set all that up to get ready to feed her dinner, when my dinner came to the table. How does Mommy do this? And then I realized...

I was just going to have to eat my dinner cold, after Charlie was fed and content.

She did great. She ate full containers (3 oz.) of sweet potatoes and pears and only made a minimal mess that Daddy easily cleaned up with her bib.

After we cleaned her up, Charlie hung out at the table with us and played with her teething toy while we finished our dinners. Baby Andrew woke up near the end of the meal to join the fun.

Here's what I learned from my first meal out on my own with my baby girl:

1) Don't order much food for yourself
2) Fettucini Alfredo isn't so good luke warm and half coagulated from cold grease
3) Appetizers aren't so appetizing when you have to eat them after the main course
4) We are very lucky to have a girl so easy going and flexible

Thanks to Jeff and Lori who helped me carry in all the "stuff" I thought I'd need, and also played with Charlie while I went to pick up Mommy's carry-out order.

I get so worked up and anxious when I do new things with her. I'm not sure why I always think things will turn out badly when I take her out. You'd think I'd learned after 6 months that Charlie is as patient with her Daddy as her Mom is with him!!

What a lucky guy I am to have two of the best girls around on my side!

Little Ms. Giggles

Now all of you that read this blog regularly know that I've had a real eye-opening time becoming a father. I just never even imagined how much it completely changes your life. People try to tell you, but you just don't know until it happens to you.

What I really wasn't prepared for is how Charlie would so quickly develop her little personality. From her most recent giggling spells, to her HUGE smiles when she sees people she knows, it's just amazing to me how she is such a little individual. Such a CUTE little individual.

No one could have ever explained sufficiently to me how my heart melts when I come home, walk into the kitchen and she gives me that big smile. I'm telling you; I stand NO chance down the road resisting her smiles. I am in big trouble!

Now that she is giggling more regularly and more heartily, I find myself even more taken in by her. The smiles were enough for me, but the giggles push me over the edge!

Charlie will be crawling soon and I'll never stop being awed by how quickly she's developing new skills. From her discoveries of daily "noises," to learning to roll over and over and over in a matter of a few days, it's just an amazing time in the Davis household.

We're so proud of our baby girl!

She Can't Possibly Be a Toddler Already?

Where did the time go? Already Charlie is only a few days away from being 6-months old. Beck and I are now giving her multiple (small) servings of rice cereal, vegetables, and fruits... in addition to her milk. Beck told me this morning, "in another couple months, she'll be eating some of our food."

I almost fell to the floor! "No way," I told her. And then I read the Gerber website and the Baby Center website. What do you know?

A couple weeks ago, she was rolling over every few days. Now, she rolls over every couple of minutes. Front to back, back to front, side to side. You name it.

She is pushing herself backwards very slightly now, when she's on her tummy. I'm sure it'll be just a few weeks before she's crawling full speed. Hoepfully, she not near as quick as her cousin Maddie (from Oregon). Now she was like a little race car when she crawled. I'm sure my old bones won't be able to keep up with Charlie if she's half as fast as Maddie was!

We were looking at pictures last night of one of Charlie's other cousins Kate when she was a baby and a toddler. It was like seeing time-lapse photography! I'm going to scan one of my favorite Kate pics in just so every can see how similar they look.

My sister-in-law's Mom told me when she saw Charlotte for the first time, "She sure is a Davis girl!" When you see the picture, you'll know what she meant.

I'm sure the resemblance has more to do with the fact that my brother and I look almost like twins. Years ago, we were golfing together and a guy in our foursome asked if we were twins, and Jim said, "We are, just had a 5 year justation period for Ed!"

So much fun to see those pictures though... We even saw some resemblance between Charlie and her cousin Micah!