More Cougar Mountain

We spent a pleasant morning yesterday at the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah. Heidi posted a video, but here's some more photos I took.



Typical cougar, still asleep at 10:30 am on a Saturday!

The "Tiger Tunnel" was open, so we got up close and personal with a couple pretty tigers.



The zoo has a great bird area.





Santa's helpers hang out here during the summer.

Cougar Mountain Zoo

Here's a video Heidi put together:

Playday at Supermall

Charlotte, Eleanor and I spent some time at the Supermall with Holly and Austin this morning. Here's some clips... the shot at Eleanor at the end was from a couple days ago, she slept through most of the morning.

At the playground

We all enjoyed some Vitamin D today as we went for a walk to the market and then stopped at the park. I'm trying to do my own editing/posting/etc. of video (Pat usually does all video), so this is a first attempt of a quick little video at the park taken with my digital camera. I'll get better! :)

Cousins!

The newest generation of cousins in the Brown family... Evan, Eleanor and Charlotte!

Minnie Mouse is bigger than Eleanor!

When Charlotte was born, we had this picture showing her smaller than Cougar the cat. This time, I thought I'd take a picture of Eleanor with her big sister's Minnie Mouse. She'll be big enough to carry Minnie around soon enough! Seriously though, Eleanor had her two week checkup yesterday and she's back to birth weight right on time. She's growing like a weed already!

Everyone Home

So we're all home tonight, and so far so good. Charlotte spent a bunch of time today playing with her Mickey Mouse Surprise Clubhouse that Eleanor was nice enough to "bring" with her and give to Charlotte as a gift! Charlotte was very cute when she opened the present and immediately went over and said "Thank You Eleanor" before playing with it.

Later Charlotte got to sit on the couch and hold her baby sister on her lap for the first time. Charlotte is having a little trouble understanding that mommy is fragile right now and can't roughhouse, but she seems to get that Eleanor needs to be treated gently.

Yesterday at the hospital, we were happily surprised to find that our regular pediatrician, Dr. Sinfuego, was doing his monthly two-day hospital rotation on the two days we were there! Heidi got this great picture today. As he left he told Heidi to give Charlotte a kiss for him. He's a great doc.

So now Heidi will be resting for a couple weeks recovering from her surgery, while Eleanor's job will be to eat, poop, and sleep. Charlotte and I will be in charge of the household for now, so we'll be lucky if we still have power and water after the next few weeks. Anyway, we're looking forward to a quiet weekend, and seeing what Eleanor will do next!

The Big Meeting: Charlotte Hearts Eleanor

This afternoon was the big meeting between big and little sisters, setting what will hopefully be a loving relationship that will last a lifetime.

Charlotte had been staying with our dear freinds in Auburn, so I left the hospital around 1:00 to go get her and bring her to the hospital. We needed to go pickup Murphy dog from the kennel too, so we ran home, then to the hospital. Charlotte seemed a litte nervous as we got to the hospital, but when we got to the hotel room, she was really excited just to see Mommy. There were obviously a lot of emotions on Charlotte's part, and it was very hard to help her understand that Mommy couldn't pick her up or help her on to the bed, but I think in the end she had a good time and at least understands that Eleanor is her sister and is coming home tomorrow. Charlotte kept saying that Eleanor looks like a doll, which may be my fault since I think I used that analogy at one point. In any case, we'll be spending a lot of time in the next couple weeks helping Charlotte to understand how fragile a new baby is!

Later on the Andrew family dropped by for a visit and a hearty laugh! Charlotte was being silly at one point and Heidi was worried because she was laughing so much it hurt.

And finally a little surprise for anyone who made it down this far, a picture of the new girl without her hat on! Tomorrow is the day she gets to come home, so the real challenge begins then.

Day two begins

After a fairly sleepless night, day two in the life of Eleanor is going well. She's eating really well, and doing all the things in her diaper that make doctors and nurses happy. Heidi just got disconnected from all the IV's and other tubes, and was able to take a shower. She can now eat whatever she wants (that is, if it's available at the hospital!) and can go for walks around the hospital floor.
Big Sis Charlotte gets to come for her visit this afternoon, I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures later after that big event!

Thanks Eric and Enga!

Charlotte is rocking this awesome dress that our friend Enga found in Spokane. I had to spend a night in Spokane on my trip over the weekend, so Eric delivered it when we met up Friday night. I have to admit, if I had known we wouldn't be able to get great kids clothes like this in Seattle, we may not have made the move!

Making cookies

Charlotte and I made cookies this morning, her proof of "helping" is below! :)

Birthday party

We were at friends daughter's, Kennedy, 6th birthday party at an art studio yesterday. Charlotte and I painted but she especially loved the cupcake. Her inhalation of the cupcake (see below) was a little different from her first introduction to cake (her first birthday party), here's a pix, when she hardly touched it.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing our #1 Valentine a Happy Valentine's Day, miss you Dad/Pat! Thanks for the flowers. Also hope all our friends and family are having a happy, loving day.

Haircut day

Took Charlotte in for a haircut this morning. Up until today, she's only tolerated a haircut if she was sitting on my lap. Not today! The little girl is growing up, she say in the chair herself and even tolerated the wrap around her and the hairdry. She did fantastic, and of course, now looks fantastic!

Thank you Grandma

Dear Grandma,
I got my new blanket/Christmas gift in the mail today and love it. In fact, it replaced the baby quilt you made me on my bed and I was so excited to sleep with it tonight. It's very pretty and matches my room great! Thank you.
Love, Charlotte

Toy Box Explosion

A minor toy box explosion marks Christmas 2008 with Charlotte. Merry Christmas!

The Frozen Tundra of Renton

The view out our garage.
It's been an interesting week since we returned from California last week. I'm not sure that's been over 32 degrees here in the Seattle area. I'm sure our Spokane freinds are laughing, since they've been slammed with more snow and lower temps then us every day. Anyway, people on this side of the state aren't used to living with this kind of weather for such a prolonged amount of time. Last night's snow dump was the biggest so far, adding a couple inches to what we already had along with heavy winds. The snow is so fine and powdery that it really drifts around.
Anyway, so today we tried going out in the snow with Charlotte, and she won't have anything to do with it. She has a panic attack everytime we try to get her to stand in the stuff, and don't even think about trying to get her to walk in it!
I tried half-heartedly to make a snowman, but the snow is so dry it's not very good for packing. So we went back inside to drink hot chocolate, eat popcorn, and watch Elf.

Fun with gingerbread house

While Pat was at work today, Charlotte and I made a gingerbread house. While she was napping, I baked the house and got everything ready, I used this recipe and instructions. After she woke up, we began our assembly. Charlotte 'helped', and I mean that term in the loosest way possible! You'll notice her face has traces of candy, she was helping eat most of the decorations.

We then watched the classic and one my favorites, the Sound of Music. She especially loved "So Long, Farewell" song when everyone says "Cuckoo".

Now, I'm just hoping Pat gets home safe and sound, a storm is rolling in.
Happy holidays everyone!

Disney Day

On Saturday we spent the afternoon at the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland. Charlotte was predictably overwhelmed by the whole thing, but she seemed to have a good time. Heidi and I spent most of our time wondering how so many people can fit into a space that seems so small. We only visited about 20 percent of the park (Main Street, Fantasyland, and Toon Town). Charlotte went on two rides with mixed reactions, and we got front row seats on Main Street for the Christmas parade. Another long day for the girl, but we all had a great time.
The weather Saturday was starting to turn, and the wind was really blowing!
The first ride Charlotte went on was King Arthur's Carrousel. This ride was mostly selected for it's relatively short line, and the fact that Charlotte has previous experience on Carrousels. She was kind of freaked out about the whole thing, but liked riding on a horse.
Our second ride for the day was on "its a small world" which was totally decked out for Christmas. Charlotte's reaction to this one was definitely not fear, but she seemed totally overwhelmed by the sights and sounds. This ride is the subject of one of the most vivid Disneyland memories of my childhood, because the ride broke and our family got stuck inside for about 45 minutes. Fortunately that didn't happen this time!
The biggest event of the day by far for Charlotte was getting to meet Minnie Mouse. Charlotte has never shown any interest in costumed characters (see Butch the Cougar, or Zoe from Sesame Street, or even Santa). Anyway, after checking out Toon Town for a while Minnie Mouse came walking by and setup shop for people to get in line to have their picture taken with her.
We got in line thinking that if Charlotte freaked out we'd just walk away. Instead, she was mesmerized by Minnie, and we got a couple of great pictures!
We ended the day with the "Christmas Fantasy" Parade. We got to Main Street about an hour and a half before the parade and managed to snag front row seats along the parade route. At one point during the build up they even had snow machines blow snow on the street!
Charlotte LOVED the parade. All the characters came by and she got to see them all from a safe distance. Santa ended the parade and we made a quick retreat to the car. Charlotte was asleep within 5 minutes of leaving the park, and she slept well as we got ready to fly home on Sunday. (Note the new plush Minnie with Charlotte!)

The Wedding

I had planned to update the blog more during the trip, but since our hotel had limited internet access I had to wait until we got home. The wedding was a great event, held at the Tivoli Terrace in Laguna Beach. Charlotte did a great job of staying up late, outlasting the four-year-old flower girl by a few hours. If the party is any indication, Jon and Erin are off to a tremendous future together. After staying for a few dances, we had to leave the reception with a very tired girl, so she could get her rest for her big next day at Disneyland.
The happy couple during toasts after the wedding.
Charlotte and "Nana" before the ceremony.

Goodbye Nasty Weather

We left cooling Seattle on Thursday to travel to my brother Jon's wedding in Californa. Charlotte was loving the whole air travel thing, and still managed to get a decent nap on the plane. We had one of the most pleasant and uneventful days of travel we've ever had together as a family as we flew into Orange County Airport. By the time the sun was going down we were soaking up the last few moments of daylight on the boardwalk at Laguna Beach, and enjoying the unique Chrismas dolphin lights. The wedding is Friday night, then on Saturday we're going to go spend the day at Disneyland. Not too bad, considering the forecast for Seattle is for snow. Too bad we have to go back on Sunday. More pictures soon.

Christmas Lights, 2008 Style

Heidi, Charlotte and I spent most of the day setting up our Christmas light display. It's not much different from last year, but we have big ideas for next year. This was the first time Charlotte has "helped" us with this project, and she is in love with all things Christmas. When it got dark tonight Charlotte and I went for a walk around the neighborhood to "ooh" and "ahh" over the other lights around the block. She gets extra excited about snowmen right now for some reason. Whenever we're driving around town and we see Christmas lights, she demands to be taken to see more.
PHOTO GEEKERY AHEAD: I had fun making this photo... I was playing around with time exposures but the Santa kept coming out overexposed compared to the rest of the lights. For this shot I used a 20 second exposure at f/22, but I started the shot with Santa unplugged. After I hit the shutter, I counted off 10 seconds then plugged him in so he was only in the shot for half the time. I probably should have tried eight or even five seconds on Santa, but I was getting tired so I decided this was good enough.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from our little cheerleader! (UPDATED: Better picture of the girl!)

Mom's note: A new development with her is that she won't wear dresses. Skirts only OK if worn over pants or stretch pants (tights are also a no-go!). This skirt was OK since I found a pair lightweight stretch pants. Funny....

Almost Ready

Charlotte's new room is just about done! Now we just have to figure out how to get her to move into it...

Happy 94th birthday Grandma!

It was my Grandma's 94th birthday today and we celebrated down near Olympia with her along with aunts, an uncle and a cousin. Charlotte enjoyed seeing "MY great-grandma" and especially enjoyed helping her blow candles out.

Charlotte's New Room

In preparation for the new one, we dismantled the guest room and I've been transforming it to a little girl room. Here's the new paint, light green walls with pink accents:

Two: The Party

We hosted Charlotte's second birthday party yesterday, and had a great time. Lots of family and freinds on hand to celebrate our little girl's special day.
Charlotte is in love with Sesame Street these days, and Heidi outdid herself with these great Elmo and Cookie Monster cakes!
We had all of our parents and a great assortment of aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters at the house. Thanks to everyone who came!

Two: The Video

Continuing what I hope will be an annual tradition, I present the highlights of Charlotte's second year. YouTube doesn't offer the greatest quality, but you get the idea. You can always come see it in HD at our house!

Golf and girl

I've been meaning to post... so here's two in one. On the 11th, I spent the day with 10 2-year olds and other parents, I volunteered with Charlotte's school on a field trip to the aquarium. We had a blast! Here's a beautiful picture I caught of Charlotte.

This past weekend, we spent it at the family cabin with family, celebrating Grammudder's 80th birthday. We also played a round of golf at the neighbor's house, he has built a beautiful 3-hole course in his backyard. It's amazing!

Miss Charlotte

Some of her favorite new words: Mine, Mine and Mine. She is actually getting Charlotte down, it comes out 'arlotte' mostly, but she'll get there. There's the cute, shoulder shrug with "what happened". "Yellow" which she overly pronounces and there's always a little attitude with it. She knows 'shoes' which she tried on each of her few pairs of shoes today multiple times... a girl's gotta find the right shoe with the outfit, no doubt! ;) And Mommy's favorite, we were working on "i love you" today, which she's getting down!

Fun Father's Day

We finally broke out of our "June-uary" weather Sunday, just in time to have a perfect Father's day. We started out in the morning with a trip to the park up the street.




Charlotte loves the swings, especially when she can ride with Mom!



After the park, we met up with my Dad and Step-mom and went to the Mariners game.


Heidi and Charlotte got me an awesome new lens for my camera for Father's day, so I got to try it out with some pictures of the action from our seats.




Even though the Mariners lost (like they seem to do all the time now!) we had a really good time. Charlotte was amazingly good, and really seemed to enjoy herself just hanging out watching people. Even after having a short, early nap before the game, she didn't cry once during the whole 9 innings. It was the perfect Father's day!

Charlotte's first doo (hair that is)

Her hair was looking a little ratty so we took her in for her first haircut. She got lots of compliments today at school, the teachers think she looks even more like me. How could I resist a little baby bob! Perfect cut for kids!

As she's getting older and showing more of her personality, she's also showing some tendencies like me... hello OCD (yep, Eric, she's mini-OCD-Heidi)!
When I picked her at school tonight, she was putting away the books. Normally she stops what she's doing to give me a hug and kiss and then we are on our way. Tonight, she had to finish putting each book in its special place, then she'd give me a hug. For Charlotte, everything has it's place (and if it's in the wrong place, TROUBLE!). Haven't seen her lock the car door 3 times, but that might come later.

Rewards of motherhood

I enjoyed a nice weekend with Charlotte, Pat and the Brown family for Mother's Day. I am rewarded every day of being Charlotte's Mom!

Happy Easter

Charlotte gets to visit the greatest place on earth!

I'm working in Pullman this weekend, so Heidi and Charlotte thought it would be fun to tag along. Heidi hasn't been to Pullman in over four years, and Charlotte hasn't ever been before!After a quick stop by the espresso stand at the airport, we were off.
Once we got to Pullman, we visited the Murrow Center, next to the iconic Bryan Tower.
Then we walked over to the roof of the library to get a view of the work being done to remodel Martin Stadium.
A quick look down into the atrium of the library.
We capped off the day by visiting our friend Scott at the Bailey/Brayton Stadium for a few innings of Cougar baseball.

We miss you Dad

Hi Dad,
Just wanted to let you know that Mommy and I miss you and looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Mommy now has me in pigtails, check me out! :)

Charlotte Learns How to Bounce

We took the kiddo to a birthday party for her friend Kenna at a place called "Pump It Up" tonight. It's a ginormous warehouse full of inflatable toys to jump and slide on. It took her a few minutes to warm up to the place, but she eventually started having such a great time we had to tear her away from it to go eat cake. Heidi's camera makes videos, so here's a little of the action:

She Walks!

We finally found time tonight to shoot some video of our dear daughter performing her newest trick: walking. Today was a big day for her since it was her first day in a new class at school. She has officially graduated from the infant room to the toddler room. She'll be with this new class until she's about two and a half. Her teachers in the old classroom are sad that she's gone, but her new classroom is right next door to the old one. (And to answer some questions you may have: She loves to carry around one of dad's t-shirts [preferably worn], and even though you can't hear it on the video, she loves to say her first two syllable word, "Cougar", as she terrorizes our cat).

Christmas 2007 Wrap Up

What was quite possibly the longest Christmas day I can remember is starting to come to a close, so here's some pictures of the girl with her favorite new toys! Why longest? Mostly because she decided she was ready to get up at 4:45. We thought we'd have at least one more year before the daughter woke up in the wee hours crazy with anticipation of what Santa had brought, but today she is teething and was just kind of grumpy. So we stumbled down the stairs, and began our Christmas about three hours before the sun joined us.

Charlotte loved the doll given to her from Grandma Robbins (left). She also got a cool ride on airplane (above), a book about the ABC's with pictures of her in it, and an awesome IKEA play tunnel she can crawl through (below).

As for mom and dad, I've been jamming on the new fake guitar I got as part of the game "Rock Band" all day, and Heidi's been trying to figure out her new GPS unit that should help her navigate around the worst of the traffic around Seattle. The best part of the day, though, has been hanging out as a family, with no where to be and no worries in the world. It's been a terrific Christmas.

Just like her parents

I popped the lenses out of an old pair of plastic glasses and gave them to Charlotte. She loves taking them on and off. :)
She's working on tooth #12, and wasn't feeling that great today, although you wouldn't know it from this picture.

Charlotte and the dishwasher

Our daughter has a fascination for many things, including the dishwasher. As I was unloading the dishwasher, I watched her climb in it. She would have played all night in there if I let her.

Birthday Party

Since we were out of the house all day yesterday, we had a few frends over today to help celebrate Charlotte's birthday. Predictably, she was more interested in the tissue surrounding most of her gifts then the actual gifts themselves. Her present from us was a rocking horse.
Can't wait to see what another year will bring!

The Video

After poring through hours of video and hundreds of photos, I created this video to celebrate Charlotte's first year of life. Enjoy!

You really should see it in HDTV!

One Year Old!

We took our birthday girl to the WSU game in Seattle today, where we got this picture, the second in a series we're calling "Giant Baby Hanging Out at Seattle Sports Venues" (See previous picture at Safeco Field). I actually didn't get to the game until the second quarter, because I was directing the UW game across town (between the two games, over 115,000 people paid to see college football in Seattle today. Crazy!). Anyway, our friends Ryan and Tori helped Heidi and Charlotte get to the game, so I figured we should show this great picture of them! (Actually, they were there when the Safeco picture was taken.)
More birthday stuff coming tomorrow.

Matching shoes

I could not resist getting shoes that match Charlotte's!

Enjoying a Sunday afternoon

We spent the afternoon with friends Jim, Holly, Grace and Austin.

Charlotte gets a ride on Dad's shoulders.
The girl enjoys her first taste of ice cream, and is as messy as her Mom when eating ice cream.

Like mother, like daughter

As the girl is getting more mobile, she's showing an interest in shoes. Of course, that is no surprise, look at the influence she has...

More Mariners Coverage

Our daughter apparently can't step out of the house without getting on TV. Nice comments from Dave Niehaus!

First M's game

We took Charlotte to her first M's game today. She got to see Ken Griffey, Jr. hit 2 homeruns and the home team won 3-2.


With Pat, wearing her new Raul Ibanez cap she got free at the game.

It's All Over Now

Charlotte got her first taste of a french fry over the weekend, when we stopped by Burgerville on the way to Vancouver. After the usual confused face that she gives when she tries something new, she seemed to enjoy it. Somehow I doubt this will be her last fry.

Beautiful Saturday

Charlotte got to go play on the lawn for the first time Saturday, she didn't really seem too concerned about that stuff called grass. Later she sat in her bouncer in the shade while we washed our cars. Isn't summer great?

Rollover!

Charlotte started an exciting new trick, rolling over! Teaching our dog Murphy how to do it didn't give us any real clue as to how to help her, but she's been getting better and better every day. Check it out!

Toothday (On Monday)

We captured a rare glimpse of Charlotte's first tooth today. We noticed it Saturday morning, and it doesn't seem to be bothering her too much. Only 19 or so more to go!

The (Least) Deadliest Catch

We spent a wonderful weekend at the Brown family cabin on Hood Canal. The highlight was a boat trip to Dabob Bay to fish for shrimp.
Charlotte wasn't so sure about the life vest, but she had a great time on her first boat ride!

After pulling up 300 feet of rope, you get a pot full of creeping, crawling little shrimp.

A bucketful of shrimp waiting to be beheaded and eaten!

A great view of the cabin from the water.

On our way to the fishing grounds, we pass the Bangor nuclear submarine base, home to the world's largest concentration of nuclear weapons.

Easter Dress

Charlotte got to wear her Easter dress that Grandma and Grandpa Wesolowski bought for her today. How cute is she?! We had a great time today with the Robbins family.

Charlotte with Carmen

Pat and Charlotte came to the Times yesterday for a visit. Lots of people got to hold and play with her, including Carmen, my good friend and manager. Charlotte loves her!
Carmen is my manager for just one more week, she accepted a position at the Houston Chronicle. When I told Charlotte we'll have to visit Houston to see Carmen, she gave a squeal of joy! :)

Selection Sunday!

The Cougs got a number 3 seed into the NCAA Men's Basketball tourney today, and Charlotte was dressed for the occasion in her WSU cheerleading uniform. Thanks Scott and Tami, and Go Cougs!

Eating like a champ!

Charlotte gobbled up her rice cereal tonight! She was a little hesitant at first (that's when I shot this picture) but was so excited for it I had to make her a second bowl. I even got some of the food in her mouth! :)

Six month checkup

I took Charlotte to her six month checkup today. The pediatrician is so wonderful with her, and Charlotte loves Dr. Sinfuego. Charlotte laughed for him, talked and smiled and she doesn't do that for just anyone--although pretty close! :)
She's now 14 lbs 10 1/2 oz and 26 1/4" tall. She's got a "stork's bite" on the nape of her neck that looks normal (a funny little rash many babies get), and looks like a couple teeth will be breaking through in the next month or so. She's in great health and is doing fantastic.
She's in the 75th percentile for length, 50th percentile for head circumference and 25th percentile for weight. So, she's got an average brain size, tall and skinny, not too bad!
I gave her her very first solid (rice cereal) tonight and she took to it pretty well. I'm so excited to see how she reacts to different food! All the faces I got tonight were precious! We've got a lot to do around the house now for baby proofing and getting ready for mobility.

Getting ready for food!

We let Charlotte try out her high chair tonight, but when we told her she was going to get to eat in it soon, she thought we said she was going to eat IT!