San Francisco

Life in California has been fun and busy. Max has been working really hard and tons of hours but all his hard work is really paying off. The team has been having a lot of success and when they meet their goals the company sponsors fun trips like a day in San Francisco. We were able to spend an afternoon and visit the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, the Crazy Mirror Maze, and the Aquarium on the Bay.

Charlie's checking out the creepy wax man.

The mirrored disco room. Max is in the middle, his cousin Jeff on the left and nephew Lance on the right.

The reason I absolutely loved this museum was the unique art. There was artwork made from nails, toothpicks, matchsticks, coffee, shoes, camel bones, spider webs, pennies, corks, nail polish, lottery tickets, chicken wire etc. Also there was a painting that an armless woman made with her feet and chin that looked like a photograph and a sculpture that a blind man made that is a perfect likeness of Mr. Ripley. There were tons of other exhibits but the art is what got me. I wish I took more pictures but here are a couple.

This is a full size moose made from rusty nails. 

This was my ABSOLUTE favorite, this is made entirely of primary colored pushpins.

At the end of the museum tour we went to the crazy mirror maze, it was so fun. there was loud music and flashing lights so Charlie got a little overwhelmed but luckily we were near the end.

After the museum we headed across the street to eat our packed lunches and give Charlie a much needed meal.

It was then time to visit the Aquarium. We were kind of excited to go to this aquarium again, we went for our first anniversary  2 years ago so it was fun to go as  a family of three.

Pictures on the pier

Charlie was fascinated by the fish.
(he wore his whale shirt to the aquarium)

"Mom, do you see how big this guy is?"

After the aquarium Charlie got to eat, and get ready for bed. Then we just hopped through the gift shops. The Krazy Kaps store was a fun favorite we enjoyed a couple years ago so we took Charlie there for some fun!

We are the Baertlein-avengers

This one wasn't really his color

He makes anything look good

Bat boy

I loved this one but would never spend the money.

We then ate a bit of late dinner, we decided on sea food and checked out Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. I can't say I was overly impressed with the shrimp dish we ordered but the clam chowder was exceptional

It was getting really late, far past Charlie's bed time, so he zonked out just as we arrived at the restaurant. Max was kind of happy about this because he doesn't get to have his baby boy fall asleep in his arms very often these days.

He was resting his cheek on his foot...hehe

Anyway, that is my quick run down of our super fun day in San Francisco. I love spending time with my family!

8 months

And our baby boy is officially 8 months. Time is flying. That is basically "big kid" status and boy does he think he's a big kid. It seems that he is learning something new everyday and he is really enjoying it. 

Last we checked he weighed 21 pounds on our home scale.

Still no teeth and no signs of them coming

Still going strong with his army crawl and each day he does more steps on his knees. Soon to be a full on crawler

Tries to pull up on furniture, usually only gets up to his knees on his own. 

Can stand for awhile while holding onto furniture or bed. 

Climbing on mom seems to be his favorite 

Follows mom around the house.

Still very giggly and cheerful

Charlie has decided over the last month or so that he doesn't want to sleep through the night anymore. He was really good at being set down in his pack n play and falling asleep on his own, then sleeping through the night. But now he has been getting so excited about his mobility that he will roll onto his stomach, either while falling asleep or in the middle of the night. Then stresses out and starts crying. It's like he has forgotten that he can roll back onto his back . We hope he remembers soon because he hasn't slept through the night in quite some time. It's also been a challenge somewhat to have him sleeping in our room which he will be doing for the rest of the summer. His momma is a light sleeper and apparently can only sleep 2-3 hours before waking up now.  Hopefully this will get better soon as Charlie learns how to make himself comfortable. 

Any parenting suggestions are welcome...

In the meantime here are some pictures of the little guy..

Trying out his new pool toy on the carpet. 

I've been taking so many picture of him that he starts to make these faces in anticipation of the flash. 

Preparing himself for the flash....

He just gets so excited learning all the new things he can do with his body.

He also tries to be my little helper.

I don't know if this video will work but it's worth a try.

He sure love our little guy, even in our exhausted state. He is a joy to have in our family.

The Red, White, and Blue.

Another holiday celebrated in a new place. We were just discussing how it will be fun to settle somewhere so we can have some consistent traditions for the summer holidays. However, it has been kind of exciting trying something new each year. I just can't get over the uber lame firework show of 2010 in Merced. But this year was much better and it was definitely fun to celebrate as a family of three. 

Charlie and I started the day early while Max got to sleep in a bit. Charlie has been perfecting hs Army crawl so this is what he practiced all morning. He thought it would be a great idea to crawl under the exersaucer. It turns out that he had a great time and played there for awhile, even rested his little head a bit. It's crazy that just a couple days ago he couldn't get around at all and now he goes wherever he wants. 

Max went to work in the morning to see if he could catch more people home in need of pest control. People turned out to not be very receptive so he came home around noon!!

When Max got home we all took a little nap. Then woke up and exercised. Yes, Max will do post natal Boot camp home work outs with his wife. He's a good man. After showering we went out to eat at Red Robin. We needed some good American food but weren't willing to cook it. It was delicious and Charlie enjoyed playing with his french fry and napkin the whole time. 

We came home with just enough time to get ready for the fireworks show and for Charlie to scoot around some more. 

This kid has been learning so much so fast. I can't keep up with him. 

 We found a good fireworks show at a park not too far from home. We parked a couple blocks away hoping to avoid crowds when leaving the park. Charlie fell asleep on the drive seeing as it was two hours passed his bed time. He woke up just as we got to the park and the fire work show was about to begin. 

Charlie seemed to enjoy the fireworks mostly, there were a couple long loud ones that made him fuss a bit but he got used to them pretty quick. 

Love these wonderful boys!

Love this face

I love my little family!

I guess that's it.

And just for fun. here is a tradition we started last year. We watch this clip. Enjoy. 

My favorite is how they portray "the pursuit of happiness"

Oh the awkwardness

So, my computer died a couple months ago and one of the perks of using Max's computer is to see all the really old awkward pictures we have together. In a weird way it makes me realize we must really be in love because we knew each other during those weird braces, unibrow days and we were still into each other. (I never doubted we were in love this just really emphasizes the factr :)) Haha, So here are some of those pictures that have never been shared over the internet.

June 2003

June 2003

April 2003

May 2003

Spring 2004

February 2004

Well, That was a good use of my baby's nap time. 

I like to think we have progressed in our appearance haha. 

I'm sure I probably enjoyed looking at these more than anyone else but i hope you enjoy too!

 

7 month stats

Charlie finally had his 6 month appointment now that he is 7 months. Hehe, that is just how it worked out with getting to my Dr in Oregon. And this is what we found out...Charlie is a big boy. 

7 month stats

Weight 19.8 Lbs 75 percentile

Height 28.5 inches 90 percentile (enjoy that height while you can kid, it probably wont last!)

Weight to Height ratio is 50% so Charlie is very proportional. 

Then came the shots which he did relatively well with. He did cry it out a bit but was fine the rest of the day. 

 And here are some of the very few pictures I took on our Oregon trip.

Utah

I took a bit of a spontaneous trip last week. My old mission companion and room mate got married. I didn't think I would be able to go but the stars aligned and I was able to fly out with my baby boy to attend the sealing and reception. Noelle played a huge part in our wedding plus she was my room mate while we were engaged and let's just say it, that's a tough role for anyone. Anyway, shortly after purchasing my tickets I started having a bit of anxiety knowing that I would be flying alone with my baby and I had no idea how he would react on the plane. Also, because I got the cheapest tickets and I had a layover going to and from Utah (both which made me switch planes and were way off course) I was extra worried with an extra landing and take off in the mix. I am happy to say that my little Charlie pleasantly surprised me again, even after we woke him up at 4:45 am. He slept through both take offs and giggled through both landings. The hardest part if the flight was lugging everything around including two bags, a car seat and a baby.

We arrived in Utah close to 1 pm and Anna and June were there ready to pick us up. We hopped in the car and went on our way to have a picnic with another one of our mission companions, Kenzi, and then took a tour of the Sweets Candy Factory in Salt Lake. It was a free tour and something random and exciting to do. I was a little disappointed that we didn't see any oompa loompas or a wonkavator but it was still interesting. The best part was that we all got to wear hair nets, even the mostly bald babies. Charlie was worn out by the end of the tour and couldn't keep his eyes open to check out the savory treats in the candy store.


So, I went to Utah for a wedding but I spent the majority of my time there playing matchmaker with Charlie and his future wife, June. This was the third time they met and they seemed to get along better than ever.


Here are some playtime pictures...This made me happy because since we moved Charlie hasn't been able to interact with babies much at all.

 He seemed to really like giving back rubs and she seemed to really like receiving them because she kept sitting down right in front of him. Or maybe she was just trying to block him from her toys.

They are just so cute...Think of the wedding slideshow possibilities!

Then, that evening, Anna had planned a Family Home evening with one of our favorite Armenian families that have recently moved to Utah. The parents, Hrach and Donara moved to Salt Lake a year ago and their kids moved there just a couple of months ago so I hadn't seen the kids since I was in Armenia. It was wonderful even if my Armenian is pretty much gone. Charlie really liked Hrach and Narine.

 This is such a fun family. we spent time in the backyard roasting marshmallows in the fire pit. 

And then the babies played more. 

And they got to go on a hot date in a bike drawn carriage. 

That's Charlie's "How did I get this cute girl to go out with me?" face

 It was fun to see Charlie try to keep up with June. He already is showing improvements towards crawling and pulling himself up. I think he's even a little more boisterous too.

And the real reason I traveled to Utah was for these two lovebirds. Hooray for Noelle and Dane. It was so fun to see them in the temple and how happy they are. Marriage is the best. Thanks to Melissa for watching Charlie while I was able to attend the sealing. It was wonderful to know that I could leave him with someone I trust. (Yup, I still have a bit of an iron grip when it comes to babysitters.)

 We also got to spend time with a bunch of other queers. Leah, Jodi, Maggie, Laura, Megan, and with Anna and Kenzi there it was a pretty big queer party! We were able to attend Noelle's beautiful reception and the luncheon after the temple. Max was bummed he couldn't make it but he stayed behind working hard to support his family specifically his wife and her spontaneous trips. :) We missed him too!

Then the flight home was not nearly as wonderful as the flight to Utah. I just needed to get from SLC to Sacramento it should take 2 hours tops but of course I had an extra layover in Portland. and what do you know?...my flight from Portland to Sacramento was delayed 4 hours! blah. That would technically mean that our flight shouldn't have left until after midnight. That's what I love to hear when I'm traveling alone with a baby. I technically could have met up with some family or friends during the delay but remember how much stuff I was hauling?.. Yeah, I wasn't going to take all that through security again. So we sat by the gate for hours. Charlie was whinny but finally fell asleep around 9. (2 hours after his bedtime) And luckily, I was able to get onto an earlier flight that left shortly after 11. Still a couple hours delayed but it definitely could have been worse. We got into Sacramento around 1:30am exhausted. Charlie stayed asleep the whole flight. I was thrilled to see that handsome husband of mine at the airport ready to take us home. And to make the night even better I came home to flowers and a sweet little love note. It was good taking that trip to support Noelle and spend time with wonderful friends but there is nothing like being home together with your family.