Charlie is 1!

I keep asking myself where the year went. As his birthday approached, I kept thinking back to the year before...one year ago, Ava and I were getting together with Angie and the boys at a park, not knowing Charlie would arrive in two days...one year ago, Ava and Joe and I were having lunch at the Olive Garden, not knowing Charlie would be coming the next day...one year ago, I called in to work to tell them I wasn't coming, because my water broke!...one year ago, the labor was getting super painful...one year ago, on Sunday, June 7, Charlie was born at 7:44 p.m.

Now, Charlie is our super-active, super-happy, super-drooly baby boy. :) Okay, he's a toddler, and truth be told, he's been toddling for three months now, but darn it, he's still our baby.

Some of the things our one-year-old has been up to lately: making animal sounds (he is good at the growly ones...tigers, bears and lions), "so big!," hugs and kisses, his first words have been "hi," "more," "hi kitty," "yeah," "mama," "dada," "oma," "chug chug" and some form of sounds meant to be "Ava." :) Charlie likes to head for the kitchen cupboard when I ask him if he wants a snack, head for the stairs when I ask him if he wants a bath, and he'll throw his diapers (and anything else he can get his hands on, including a baby monitor that went missing for a few days) into the diaper pail. He is a handful, but a happy handful.

We spent his birthday on Monday with friends at a train store in St. Paul, which Charlie absolutely loved, followed by a celebratory ice cream cone.






We had a family party for him on Saturday, the 12th. All of his grandparents and great-grandparents made it, and he loved the attention and presents but was not so into the cake.

Here he is with his new Cozy Coupe, complete with his chauffeur, Ava.






Look at these pretty grandmas!


The cake doesn't look so threatening, does it?


But Charlie was not a happy camper after plunging his little hands into the frosting and finding it stuck to his fingers. He might have had a little taste of it, but he had no interest in eating it until the next day, when I thought I'd have a slice in peace, and he ended up eating half of it...


Happy First Birthday, Charlie. We LOVE you!!!!