October 15, 2012!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

It seems like just yesterday we were at the Minnesota Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Distad, but no, that is only in blog land. The lack of blog posts has not been because we've been sitting around doing nothing. Rather, we have been go-go-go busy. Generally we post to our blog after Charlotte is in bed, but since the semester started that time has been used for work-related activities and trying to prevent our home from becoming a complete disaster area. During Charlotte's awake hours we have been having a blast!

Of course, in late August we took our annual trip to the Great Minnesota Get Together (the Minnesota State Fair).

This year was special because Charlotte was able to join in on the eating. She ate most of my favorite fair treat, the corn dog. I will admit, I was a little bummed to share. :)

We were also excited because the day we attended the fair was also the all of Charlotte's Grandparents were there! We saw Grandma and Grandpa Distad for a short while and spent much of the day with Grandma and Grandpa Russell. Above is a photo of Charlotte and Grandma Russell riding the carousel.

Charlotte's favorite part of the fair is the animals. Here she is up close and personal with a sheep. I wish I could remember the sheep's name...it may have been Dolly but more likely I'm confusing her with her famously cloned distant relative.

We spent about 9-10 hours at the fair and we were all exhausted by the end of the day. Biking seemed like a great idea in the morning, but the trip home was a rough one.

The next weekend we went to Como Town with our friends, the Behlings!

Charlotte and I were both very excited about the great weather and a fun day of riding rides!

Charlotte and Broden rode many rides, but this is my favorite photo. They each fit in one of the fire fighter boot molds.

And fall has arrived. We had to break out the warm PJs. We laughed when we realized that all of her footie PJs have holes in the legs where last winter we needed to thread her feeding tube. Oh well, they are still warm.

In September we went to the Renaissance Festival for Grandpa Russell's birthday. It was fun to spend the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Russell and Kelly and Tim. Kelly was 9 months pregnant and it may have been slightly less fun for her...

Charlotte rode and elephant! She wasn't interested until we walked away from the elephants and then the tears started flowing. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Russell were willing to take her back and ride with her.

Welcome Baby Molly! We were very excited to meet Charlotte's first cousin, Molly Morrell on September 30th. Congrats to Kelly and Tim who seem to be loving being parents to this adorable baby girl.

Charlotte was excited to see her, but she was soon ready to go for a walk. In a few months Molly might be more fun to play with, but for now she is very fun to hold and snuggle.

Grandma and Grandpa Russell with baby Molly. They were up all night at the hospital while Kelly was in labor. Pretty dedicated grandparents!

And now we're caught up to October. Last weekend Charlotte once again ran the Toddler Trot at the Twin Cities Marathon Weekend Family Events. It was a windy, chilly day, and Charlotte tried to stay warm by bundling up and staying close to mom and dad. The two photos below are pre-race photos while we waited at the starting line.

And she's off...

She ran all by herself! I followed a few feet behind to make sure she didn't get scared, but she was very confident and ran the entire way by herself.

Here she is running by her fans: Dad, Grandmas and Grandpas Russell and Distad, and Kelly, Tim, and Molly Morrell. She may be destined for distance running - she paced herself rather than sprinted.

Sporting her new medal.

Check it out, Dad!

Here are a few random shots from the past week or so:

Our wonderful neighbors and landlords gave Charlotte some hand-me-downs this week. I love this coat and hat.

Charlotte now likes to brush her own hair. Soon she won't need our help getting ready in the morning at all! That is a little sad, but it is fun seeing her grow into such a self-sufficient little girl.

This past Saturday we spent at Grandma and Grandpa Distad's house. Charlotte loves being around dogs and here she is with Kira Bear.

We picked pumpkins out of Grandma and Grandpa Distad's gardent! Unfortunately it was rainy on Saturday, but Charlotte stayed clean and dry and enjoyed the pumpkins from the back of the truck.

Awwww...Lucy Lou and Charlotte watching the rain fall outside. I know Charlotte was wishing she could be outside playing with Lucy Lou and Kira Bear.

The rain let up in the afternoon and Charlotte finally agreed to take a 4-wheeler ride. She enjoyed the ride, but was ready to get off. Grandpa went very slow with Charlotte, thank goodness, and then drove away recklessly on his own. Someone needs to get that guy a helmet.

August 17, 2012

Charlotte's birthday weekend (last weekend) extended into 4 days of fun!

On Saturday Katie and Charlotte went to a baby shower for Katie's cousin Marty and his wife Kelly. Here is a super cute picture of Charlotte with second/third cousins Faith and Beth.

Charlotte has been giving her birthday balloons lots of hugs!

Sunday was our 6th wedding anniversary and we had a great day. In the morning we cleaned (woo fun), then headed off to the Children's Museum for the afternoon (this photo is Charlotte very excited to be arriving at the museum), and the highlight was the evening when Grandma and Grandpa Russell babysat so we could go out for dinner and a movie. Thanks G&G Russell!

More museum photos! Here's Charlotte with Curious George. She is so tight with this famous monkey that she refers to him as just George. 

Here I am passing on my golf skills.

In keeping with 4 days of fun, Grandma and Grandpa Distad took Charlotte (and Katie) to the Minnesota Zoo on Monday. 

Pretty sure we took this picture last summer when we visited the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Distad. It's a classic.

Real, live dinosaurs! Well, ok, maybe not exactly but pretty close. Charlotte loved the Dinos and "roared" throughout the exhibit. Here she is with Grandpa in front of the Gigantosaurus (pretty sure I could have come up with that name).

Here is Charlotte petting the baby T-Rex.

"Well, if Daddy is allergic to dogs can we get a dinosaur?"

She tamed tigers.

And made friends with penguins.

We were all home on Tuesday! Charlotte and I started the day with some stretching...

...followed by push-ups.

Hydration is important. Tip: make sure your water bottle is as big as you are.

Tuesday we checked out the Minnesota Science Museum. It was fun! On Tuesday mornings they offer "Preschool Playdates" and admission is free with a Children's Museum Membership. Hopefully we'll get to take advantage of this perk again in a few months! Charlotte was near frantic running from exhibit to exhibit and she enjoyed the shows about making sound and monkeys. She soaks in everything and keeps reminding us that she does not have a tail, so she is not a monkey (we learned that Apes do not have tails and they are not monkeys).

In other Charlotte quotes of late: "I have sand in my nose, there is sand in my nose!" - it was a booger.

August 10, 2012

Today we celebrated Charlotte's 3rd birthday! She has been looking forward to her birthday ever since attending a friend's birthday a couple of weeks ago, and she had loads of fun today. When she woke up she discovered a doll house had appeared in her toy area:

 This is the doll house my parents made me when I was a little girl and it is fun to give it to Charlotte. She was a bit thrown off by the door that doesn't actually open..."pretend" can be a difficult concept.

This lucky little girl had 2 gifts that arrived before her birthday to open. Here she is opening a game from the Morrell's, she was more than a little excited. 

Check out this book, Dad! What a cute bag from Aunt Jocelyn, it even says Charlotte on it. 

Charlotte went to school today while Patrick and I worked in the morning. In the afternoon she celebrated her birthday with her school friends while we prepped for her party. Her school did a great job of making her feel special. When we arrived this morning she was greeted with a big round of "Happy Birthdays" and she got to wear a special birthday vest. In the afternoon all the kids had popsicles to celebrate and the kids made Charlotte a "birthday book" of drawings and messages. Then, it was time for the party...

Charlotte's birthday cake! This is the first cake I have ever made from scratch and frosted. I'm quite proud of this attempt and I now understand why I often hear people wish they could open a bakery. I don't want to get up at 3 a.m. everyday, but cake decorating would be fun!

Charlotte's party all ready at Van Cleve Park in Minneapolis, just waiting for the guests. The park is great with 2 playgrounds and a wading pool.

She had fun playing with the kids and seeing family and friends. Here she is posing with her cake, which she patiently waited to eat. 

Leading up to Charlotte's birthday anytime I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she said candles. Here she is basking in the glory of her birthday candles with this fantastic candle-blowing-out face. 

Patrick helped her get a better angle and she blew her candles out all by herself! At bedtime tonight I asked her what the best part of her birthday was and she said "my candles" - aww. :)

Not sure how many more years we'll do this, but here she is in September, 2009, less than one month old.

And here is our happy, healthy, growing 3-year-old. So much to be grateful for.

Speaking of 3-year-old, how does that whole fingers thing work? Mom, Dad, a little help please?

That's it, got it.

It's fun to post some patch-free photos. Charlotte is still patching, but we gave her a little extra time off for her birthday. She wore it all day at school. She had an eye appointment yesterday and we learned that her eyes haven't changed since her last appointment. We go in every three months and if there is no change for three appointments we may be done patching. While I'd like to be done patching, it will mean her eyes are as good as they'll get and I'd love to see some more improvement. Time will tell! 

August 6, 2012

And another weekend has flown by! We had a nice time at Patrick's family reunion on Saturday.

Charlotte enjoyed playing catch with the football. 

And this girl always knows there's reason to celebrate!

She got to try out her fishing skills again. Only this time, instead of slimy fish, she caught a bracelet and magnifying glass!

Family photo time! 

Patrick let loose with some mad hula-hooping skills.

Charlotte braved the inflatable water slide. This climb was successful, but she slipped backwards on her second attempt and decided to stick to jumping in the water closer to ground level for the rest of the afternoon.

That one trip down the slide was a big drop! She looks a bit nervous here, but she was all smiles at the bottom.  

Fun photo op with Grandpa and Grandma Russell!

Here is Charlotte all ready for school this morning. She was very excited to wear the t-shirt she tie-dyed at the Family Reunion. She picked out the design and colors: blue, green, red, and pink.

The latest tube-free adjustment has been Patrick and my blood pressure not increasing everytime Charlotte goes down a slide on her tummy or climbs in any way using her tummy for leverage. I still get a little nervous and then I remember that there is no tube to pull out and she can play on her tummy all she wants!

July 28, 2012

We had a pretty exciting week, which you may have gathered from our previous post. At Monday's speech therapy appointment Charlotte's therapist said she was doing well and didn't need any additional therapy (woohoo!). This made us even more confident going into her 3-year well-child appointment on Wednesday with the goal of having her tube removed.

She gained about 4 oz from her previous appointment (however, this time they weighed her with her clothes on), but our pediatrician agreed that it was time to remove the tube because she has not lost weight.

Here she is showing off her tube one last time!

And Dr. Borman-Shoap removing the saline from the Mic-key button...

Ta-da! Just a teeny tiny hole that is already closed up. Charlotte was pretty mellow throughout this process while Patrick and I were elated. Once the initial excitement wore off I was surprised to find that I felt a little sad. Her tube was a part of her and it's hard to let go of something that we considered special about her (I might be insane, right?!?!). This morning she broke my heart when she was touching her healing scar and said she wanted her tube back. Obviously this is a great step for her future, and we're all excited. It is a transition, though, and one we welcome.

She will be 3 on August 10, but her 3-year well-child appointment stats are:
Weight: 24lbs 12oz (3rd percentile)
Height: 35.75" (6th percentile)

We met a little girl at a b-day party on Friday who is 16 months and already wearing 3T clothes. She's in the 99th percentile for her weight. It was fun to see the spectrum and hard to imagine Charlotte outgrowing her 2T clothes. Her waist is tiny, but she does keep growing taller. I noticed yesterday that one of her dresses was getting scandalously short. :)

Speaking of yesterday, we had a great day with Grandma and Grandpa Distad. We traveled down south to check out the Olmsted County Fair and just visit.

Grandma Distad has flowers as big as Charlotte's head! I love love love this photo.

The fair was a blast! Here is a photo of Charlotte "milking" a plastic cow. The fair had a great petting zoo, Charlotte really enjoyed all of the animal barns, and they even had their own version of the Miracle of Life barn we've seen at the State Fair. Only this Miracle of Life barn was not nearly as full as the State Fair barn and we actually got close to the animals.

Charlotte pet a newborn piglet and duckling, saw a baby chick hatching, and also saw a very newly born calf.

Thanks to Grandpa Distad she also discovered a love of mini-donuts. I think she ate 5-6 of them!

She enjoyed her first corn-on-the-cob at lunch and dinner yesterday! Here she is trying to pose with her corn (and wondering why her mother thinks mealtime is a photo op).

Charlotte is a toddler, which means she can be described as independent, free-willed, impatient, and easily frustrated. She is also incredibly sweet. As we were leaving Grandma and Grandpa's last night Charlotte said "Goodbye Grandma and Grandpa! Thank you for sharing your home with us!" - so, so adorable and unprompted.