"Hey, I can use these things"

A few weeks ago Charlotte "found" her hands. It was a darling discovery that I was privileged to witness. She was waving her arms around, as she often does, when suddenly her hand flew into her line of sight. She stopped the hand right there in front of her eyes and studied it as if it were an artifact from an archaeological dig. Since that first discovery, she's been studying these things at the end of her arms constantly (mostly be sucking on them!). She hadn't quite figured out that she could actually DO things with them......until today.

Charlotte was laying on her playmat, which she likes to do. She usually does a lot of kicking and chatting and watching all the toys. This morning she did something new.....she reached up and grabbed the little parrot that was hanging down. This was no accident, she did it again and again and had such an intense and proud look on her face, it was priceless!

I was lucky enough to catch a few great shots of this discovery.

Happy Three Month Birthday, Charlotte!

A little late....but here's our girl on her three month birthday!

(We love her special giraffe dress from Aunt Kelley!)

Maryland Blue Crabs.....yum!

While Dallas and Mikaela were visiting we took a drive over the Bay Bridge to Kent Island. We ate at a great place called the Crab Deck. We couldn't resist getting a dozen blue crabs to pick and enjoy. This was the first of many crab picking experiences for Charlotte! The setting was perfect and we had a blast eating yummy crabs!

Uncle Dallas visits!

Chuck's brother Dallas came with his girlfriend, Mikaela, to visit us and meet his new niece. Charlotte and her Uncle Dallas became great buddies. We were so happy to have them here for four nights. We basically just hung out and tried a few yummy spots for lunch and dinner. Dallas made us some AWESOME fish on the grill one night too.

Thanks for visiting us, Dallas and Mikaela....we love you!

Dallas and Mikaela brought Charlotte a goody bag of awesome gifts. This little glow seahorse is so cute and Charlotte seems to love it. It lights up and plays lullaby's. It has a new special spot in her crib :)

A New Seat!

Charlotte has added another seat to her collection (Chuck is always commenting and laughing about how many "chairs" she has). She seems to like her new Bumbo seat!

Blue Angels

Each Spring the Blue Angels fly over Annapolis as they put on one of their famous shows for the Naval Academy commencement. I went downtown with my friend Angela and Charlotte to watch the show. It was pretty amazing. And even though it was a bit loud, Charlotte managed to sleep through the whole show!

First cookout at our community beach

Our community beach is the perfect spot for a summer cookout. We headed down to the beach one evening last week for the first cookout of the summer season. Chuck fired up the grill, while Charlotte and I enjoyed the warm Bay breeze. Charlotte enjoyed sitting in her rocking chair, she even took a little nap :) We're looking forward to many more cookouts this summer!

Meeting Sophia

The third of four babies has joined us (the fourth, Angelica's little girl will be here June 5th!)! My friend, Nikki, delivered a super cute little girl on May 8th. Little Sophia has a full head of hair! We brought Charlotte by to meet her and Heather stopped by with her daughter, Kate.

Nikki & Sophia, me & Charlotte, and Heather & Kate New Mommy, Nikki, and little Sophia.
Sophia has long arms, legs and fingers...she's going to be TALL!
Charlotte wore her new purple dress to meet Sophia.