Christmas and New Years 2010

It has been a little while since our last posting... but what a great holiday season!!

Charlie was baptized at Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago on December 12th- his 3 month birthday. He was a grinning baby throughout the ceremony and smiled broadly at Fr.Hurley right after he poured the water on his head!! We had a great party afterwards at Dugan's- an Irish pub not far from the church. With all the snow that day, we were blessed that so many of our family and friends could attend.

Charlie seemed to love every minute of the Christmas parties, and didn't shy away from being held by anyone. He's such a little socialite. ;) It was pretty exciting that Santa was able to make an appearance at both the Velleman family party and at the O'Neill party. All the kids must have been extra good this year to get Santa's attention!!

Eddie put together Charlie's crib for him for Christmas... it only took him an hour!

The week between Christmas and New Year's we spent down in Florida with most of the Hamilton family. We stayed on Sanibel Island and soaked in as much sunshine as we could! It was really great to be able to take Charlie outside without bundling him up like crazy.

He is really starting to show alot more personality. He's still not quite sleeping through the night, but surprises us with 6 and 7 hour stretches a few nights a week. He is completely fascinated with the bright christmas lights and loves reading the paper with Daddy on Sunday mornings. Charlie and I have a great time during the day, too! He comes with me to most of my client meetings and is a very quiet business partner. (so far)

Singing Charlie to sleep is easy... he is starting to recognize the bedtime song

Does he look like his mommy?



This morning, in the 30 seconds of tummy time by himself, Charlie flipped himself over!!! I guess I'll have to strart keeping a closer eye on him! At Charlie's 4 month doctor's appointment, he weighed in at 14lbs and measured 24 inches long. He's in the 25th percentile for his age and he is growing at a really good rate. He was a champ with his shots and is a really healthy kid! After such a rough start, he is doing really well. I will be scheduling a follow up appointment with Children's Memorial for a specialist to check his heart one last time in March. Then he'll be cleared for life!



Weekend with friends and the Hawks game

This past weekend, Becca, our friend from Purdue, came to visit with her boyfriend Julien. We had a great time in the snow with Charlie showing him all the christmas lights on Michigan avenue and at Chriskindlemarket in Daley Plaza. He got a big kick out of the tree at Marshall Field's!


Family photo op in front of the tree in Daley Plaza




 

Fiberoptic tree in the Walnut Room at Marshall Field's (..Macys)

 

Charlie's reaction to that tree. He couldn't take his eyes off it!



Charlie even wrote a letter to Santa - can you read it? ;)



On Sunday afternoon, we went to the Field Museum. I don't think Charlie learned anything.
We'll try again in a few years. ;)

On Sunday night, Charlie got a real treat- and so did Eddie and I! Our friend Mike Large invited us to join him at the Blackhawks game. The seats were absolutely amazing and we had a great time! Charlie loved it. I think he's going to be a big hockey fan. The noise didn't seem to bother him at all- in fact, he fell asleep in the third period.



The full spectrum

As many of you know (since you were there), Charlie slept through most of Thanksgiving. It was really great to see everyone in Mishawaka! I can't wait until Christmas! The day after Thanksgiving, we drove down to Purdue with the other Hamilton siblings for the PU vs IU game. Charlie loved tailgating, but we didn't go to the game. Maybe if he would have gone, they could have won in overtime... oh well.

Sleeping on Grandma Linda after Thanksgiving

Boiler Baby through and through!

Perfect bib from Auntie Becca!

We've been practicing holding our head up and sitting up, and Charlie is getting stronger and stronger. He is hitting some kind of growth spurt right now, and he seems to be hungry every 2 hours and gets really random cranky spurts. Pretty soon we will be putting the 0-3 sizes into storage along with all the NB stuff. He still makes me laugh all day long with his smiles and quirky expressions. I just wish he would grow some more hair to fill in the goofy widows peak thing he has going on.

New favorite color!

Charlie got this gorgeous quilt as a gift a few days ago and he can't seem to get enough of the bright colors! It's the first thing he's tried to reach for- and successfully grabbed! (YAY Charlie!!) Actually, he's starting to take swings at the rattle, the duck we have attached to his crib, and my hair and glasses (unfortunately for me). According to the development books, Charlie is really only about 7 weeks old even though the c-section was 10 weeks ago. That's why he's only recently started to understand social smiling and getting the hang of day vs. night. He's getting pretty good at both though! Although you could still set a clock by his hunger schedule every 3 hours on the dot, he goes right back to sleep at night rather than staying awake to play like during the day.

This is Charlie all bundled up in his teddybear suit in the Baby Bijorn carrier inside Eddies jacket, watching the fireworks for the Lights Festival last weekend on the Magnificent Mile. He LOVED them!!

Typical morning at 9 weeks old

This video is a great example of how Charlie and I spend most of our mornings after Eddie heads off to work. We have a great morning routine where Charlie gets to be Eddie's alarm clock "snooze button" (I take the baby in to snuggle with daddy between 6am and 7am until Eddie has to get up for work- Charlie is usually already asleep by the time he gets home from work). After that, Charlie is awake and wiggley- as you can see. His smiles are becoming second nature to him and they pop up on his face more and more often. He loves that bouncey chair!! You might also notice that his little outfit is getting a bit tight- he will very soon be too pudgy for 0 to 3 month size and will be in full 3 month size. It feels strange to already be putting a box of clothes aside that are too small for him.

We had a great visit to Mishawaka this past weekend too! Charlie got a little over stimulated by all the people and needed to take a time out at one point, but other than that he fit into the party beautifully!

4 generations on one couch!

Weather

This unseasonably warm November weather has given Charlie a great opportunity to get to know the city a little better! We've been going on long walks every day out in the fresh air. Has anyone ever been out onto Northerly Island? It's where the old lake front airport used to be before Mayor Daley had a buldozer destroy it in the middle of the night. (yes.. quite the bold move... ask Eddie about it. It's a great story!) The old watchtower is still there, as is the old airport building, but the runway has become a beautiful natural prairie with trails through it. Anyway, we walked out there yesterday and the day before to enjoy the sunshine!! Charlie still falls asleep real quick in the stroller. I give him a constant commentary anyway just in case he can hear me in his sleep. I tell him about everything we see, and I'm sure people think I'm totally crazy to be talking to myself. ;)

I think it looks farther away than it actually is...

He's getting bigger!

We are looking forward to going to Mishawaka again this weekend. Charlie is starting to get some chunkiness all over, and I can almost tell he's getting bigger on a daily basis! Crazy.

E2 + C weekend

We put Charlie in his big, fluffy winter onesie (that happens to make him look like a little bear... ears and all!) for a walk on Saturday late afternoon. He was so cuddley!!