Charlie is 5 months old

Another month has gone by... wow!  Let's see what our little Charlie has been up to lately. He's started to try and sit up more - with the help of his Boppy pillow.

Occasionally, we'll let big brother Graham push him around:

Charlie started eating cereal earlier this month. We also added some butternut squash to the menu. Here's his first taste of it:

But most recently, Charlie is practicing a lot of his jumping skills lately on the Jumperoo.

Look at him go!

He is our cutie-pie!

Big brother Graham, by the way is still working out the kinks in all the new toys before Charlie gets them :-)

He's our cutie pie too (but definitely testing Mommy and Daddy a lot lately!)

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas eve! We had a fun day tracking Santa before naptime.  Funny enough, Santa was actually in Malaysia when we turned on the Santa Tracker:

And while Graham was napping, we decided to put all the Christmas gifts under the tree. Look at all those presents!

Mommy decided to cook Christmas dinner on the eve.  It was great, by the way, putting all the leftovers into a pie the next day. Definitely a must-do for all other Christmases!

Charlie was "supervising" as usual:

Finally, after dinner - we let Graham open up some presents.  But first, the Christmas sock...

These little wind-up toys make great stocking stuffers!

Finally, Christmas day! Graham wasted no time to open up presents:

A little boy can never have too many construction trucks! 

The excavator even helped open some presents: 

Charlie, on the other hand, was more interested in munching on his fingers:

We also got Graham his very own camera:

Kids are so lucky these days! 

Well, we know which was Graham's favorite toy this Christmas this year!

As for Mommy, I got mostly coldwear... new gloves, flannel-lined pants (love these!), and not one but two sweaters! Thankfully it hasn't been too cold here (YET) but these gifts will definitely come in handy. Thank you, Santa! :-)

Personalized gifts for Grandma and Pop-pop

With all the gifts that Grandma and Pop-pop were sending over for Christmas, we decided to do a little bit more in return.  So we went to visit a pottery painting studio. It was a first for me as well as for the boys.  Graham got into it pretty quickly and was so focused on the task at hand:

 So was Daddy, while Charlie "supervised".

 Once Graham colored both plates, it was time for the hand stamp:

 Thankfully, Graham was very cooperative:

 He truly enjoyed himself!

 After the hand prints, it was now time to get Charlie's foot prints:

 Thankfully Charlie didn't complain too much either.  I suppose he can't really say much at this point :-)

Once the prints were done, it was Mommy's turn to paint.  As Graham and Daddy went to get some ice-cream, Mommy somehow was able to paint and finish up the plates with one hand while trying to hold and keep Charlie from crying/being cranky in the other arm.  It wasn't easy but phew - we got it done!

Here's one plate for Grandma (Graham actually took the next 2 pictures)...

 ... and one plate for Pop-pop!

We left it at the store for it to be glazed and picked it up in 3 days.  And when we got it back, it looked awesome!  I was so excited to have it mailed to Grandma and Pop-pop (and so glad they arrived in one piece and on time for Christmas!).

Graham has been quite the artist lately with all the other projects at school for Christmas:

 And oh, Mommy got her new mug/gift from Daddy too...

 ... with a little surprise on the inside.

It makes all my drinks taste a little better. True story! ;-)

Luncheon at the golf club

Last Sunday, we decided to have lunch at the golf club.  It was also a chance for Graham to see Santa.  And that was exactly what he said the minute we stepped into the clubhouse.

"It's Santa Clause! It's Santa Clause!"

But when it came time to actually get close, Graham decided to hide behind daddy instead!

He did finally warm up to Santa...

And eventually did sit on Santa's lap.  They talked about what Graham liked and wanted for Christmas:

Then, it was lunch time - strawberries and croutons. No wonder this kid is not gaining any weight!

Meanwhile, Daddy and Charlie were just chillin':

After lunch, it was time to just run around the clubhouse.  Peek-a-boo!

Graham has SO much energy!

Family winter poncho

A couple of years ago, we started the tradition of making family outfits.  So, we had the winter pants...

... and the summer shorts.  Graham was too cute then!

And now with Charlie's arrival and the arrival of winter, Bobby and I agreed on making family ponchos.  The idea came about from one of the moms at Graham's school.  The ponchos are a lot easier in the car - you don't have to buckle the kids in their heavy bulky coat.  All you need to do is put those ponchos over their heads after they are buckled in. Just genius!
And the theme this year... dinosaurs!

First, we cut out the semi-circles:

 Then, the fitting to see if the head fits through the hole:

 For Charlie, we decided to put a hoodie on it but for Graham, since he doesn't like hoodies, I just stitched along the neckline:

 Too cute! Bobby said that Charlie's poncho looks like a squid :-)

 Daddy's poncho got a high-neck/collar with a button for the ease of putting it on and off:

And Mommy got a collar too and 2 layers of fleece since I'm always cold!

But gosh, it was a pain in the butt to cut and tie up the bottom of the poncho!

  Tada!

 Perhaps this model is cuter ;-)

I haven't been able to get Graham to wear his poncho yet. Perhaps when he is buckled in his carseat, he won't be able to complain as much!  

Update on Charlie

Up until 19 weeks old, Charlie had been sleeping so well until just a couple of nights ago, he has started to wake up at least twice in the mornings.  He has also been quite fussy during nursing, drooling a lot, and sucking on his fingers a lot.  He's probably going to cut a tooth soon!

He is also an expert roller now, but so far still only from his belly to back:

Thankfully, when he does roll over first thing in the morning, Charlie would just lay there and coo occasionally (so Mommy can catch a few more zzzz's) - at least for now. But even so, how can you not love my little elf?! :-)

"Who you calling elf?"

We also started Charlie on cereal.  It's funny how they have to learn everything - even how to eat/swallow!

And then a few minutes later, he figured it out!

But then, it only lasted a few more minutes and Charlie was done!

Did I mention how much he likes to munch on his fingers lately?

Charlie is definitely going through a growth spurt - our chubby bundle of joy!