Baby Blog!

And just like that we have an 8 month old!

2011-08-06T14:25:00.001-07:00

What have we been up to you ask? Well let me tell you! (This might take a while)

Well first off we celebrated our 5 year anniversary with a San Francisco Bay cruise (very fancy);

Chloe started using a sippy cup (and shows off);

The kiddos took over our bed;

We rode on a carousel (Charlie was not impressed, neither was Chloe, maybe next time);

We explored bugs;

We swung (Chloe's first time!);

We played with bubbles (a lot!);

We swam (at a friend's birthday party);

We got school pictures done;

We explored the Exploratorium;

We visited with Uncle Alex;

We went to the county fair and watched rides, belly dancers (Chloe danced with them), and saw a train exhibit (Charlie never wanted to leave!);

We went to another friend's birthday party and socialized, swang, saw butterflies, and learned how to play fetch with a dog;

We swam in our own kiddie pool;

We celebrated the 4th of July with bubbles (of course!) and a fireworks show at the Embarcadero;

Chloe got much better with solid food;

We went to yet another friend's birthday party!

We had fun at hotels;

We went to a wedding;

We stayed up past our bedtimes;

We explored Balboa Park with Auntie Rachel;

We went to Legoland (and Charlie LOVED the rides! He's so tall that he can ride almost all of them!);

We went to Comic Con with Grammy (we tried costumes but the kids didn't keep them on for long, oh well, at least we got pictures!);

We saw Deloreans (Time traveling ones to be exact);

We got tuckered out;

We saw Rufio (or our old co-worker Ramon if you want to be technical);

We caught aliens lounging;

And got really really big bags!

Chloe learned how to love the camera;

And she practiced her Yoga;

And we went to a garlic festival in Gilroy!

We tried garlic ice cream, and liked it!

Charlie didn't like it as much as we did;

But he still had a lot of fun;

Because they had bubbles (garlic scented ones!);

We hung out in the shade;

And had some lunch;

And got sleepy;

And goofy;

And explored the grass;

So as you can tell, we've been busy!! Chloe is a big baby girl babbling and eating solids like a champ and trying to stand up every chance she can get! She's almost ready to start crawling but all she does is get on all fours, then rock back and forth, and then face plant and get angry. Keep practicing Chloe!! She'd much rather grab onto the nearest thing and try to pull herself up! Will she crawl or stand first? Time will tell!

Charlie is also growing by leaps and bounds! His talking has exploded! He's now saying sentences like "Go get Chloe!" "Bye bye! See you later" "Big bubble!" and "Where are you?" and he surprises us with new words and phrases everyday! He even has his own Charlie-Speak like how he calls the bunny "Bubby" and his favorite show "Dinosaur Train" is now "DaDa Tee!" and he loves to sing the theme song. He's also gained a fondness for the adorable show "Peep and the Big Wide World" which he calls "Peep Peep" Charlie's also gotten very good at sharing his toys with Chloe and giving her hugs and kisses. He's also doing really well with potty training too! He's still in a diaper at nap time and at night and also when we go out for a long time because public potties are still intimidating (I don't blame him, I hate public bathrooms too!). He's growing by leaps and bounds and who knows what he'll be doing tomorrow! Probably driving and shaving :)

Hope you enjoy all the pictures! Until next time!

~Karen

A 6 month old Chloe and a 2 1/2 year old Charlie?!?! For real?!?!

2011-05-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

My goodness has it been 3 months since I updated already? Oops!! I guess I have a lot to catch up on!

Sadly though we started out things with the news that my Grandma Brugmann had passed away. So that started a whirlwind trip down to San Diego for her memorial and also for Easter. It was a beautiful memorial and a great way to say goodbye.

Then it was time for Easter with the family, and Chloe got to meet her cousin Maggie!

It's so cute to see Charlie play with Maggie too. They had a great time, especially with the Easter eggs!

And then Charlie learned that the eggs are filled with candy! Holy cow!! :) They hunted eggs at the Church we went to and then they got to hunt a TON more eggs over at Joys house. So many Easter eggs!! Charlie and Chloe loved it!

We also squeezed in celebrating Bill's birthday during all this crazyness! I'm exhausted again just thinking about it! And we got home just in time for us all to share a cold :P Oye

Well Chloe just had her 6 month checkup and Chloe is doing great!

She's now in the 90th percentile in height and weight and still the happiest baby girl you've ever seen! She greeted the doctor with big smiles and barely cried at all when she got her shots. She's a tough little girl that's for sure! And a couple of weeks ago Chloe even started sitting up all on her own!

Now she gets to sit and play with toys with Charlie and she LOVES it! They even play peek-a-boo together and it's SO cute to hear them laugh and have so much fun :)
Chloe has even started eating solids!

She loves her rice cereal SO much! The first time we fed it to her she was acting like "Well it's about time!" She's been grabbing at our own food whenever we try to eat and even once when I turned my back to a second Charlie gave her a taste of his cheese rice cake. I found her with cheese all over face and a big smile. Charlie just loves to share with his baby sister :) When they're in the car together and she drops her toy Charlie makes sure to let us know or tries to get the toy back to her. He's such a sweet big brother!

Charlie is doing great as well! He's really opening up with his talking, and now his singing! He loves to serenade us with his two favorites; Twinkle Twinkle and Old MacDonald (where apparently there's bugs and trains and ducks hahahaha) and tonight he even started singing some sort of clean up song which I don't even know! He's teaching us now :) Charlie has also gained a new love of bugs, all kinds of bugs, and also squishing said bugs while screaming with laughter! He also pretends to play with bugs when there aren't any around, grabbing the imaginary bugs and coming to show me and then saying "eww eww" before squishing them or throwing them away. It cracks me up every time! Also now whenever he eats something particularly yummy he will let us know by saying "mmm delicious" and I die laughing!! It's not just yummy, it's delicious :) I love it! He's also doing fantastic with drawing and has almost mastered drawing circles, his triangles and squares still need some practice but he's giving them a great try! He still loves to paint and has now begun making really cool patterns with stickers. Charlie still loves his trains and will make anything into a pretend train including his blocks and even our ipad covers. He's also doing really great at school too, he's such a good little guy and is learning so much, like how if he runs after the girls it makes them scream :) He even had his first field trip to the San Francisco Zoo!

Even Chloe got to join in on the fun and we all had a great time! Charlie even got to ride the little train they have going there.

But we really tuckered Chloe out :)

So the cuteness around here is really going through the roof!

Until next time!

~Karen

3 Months!

2011-03-09T21:20:00.001-08:00

Our little girl is already 3 months old and is melting our hearts left and right! Chloe is such a little sweetie and getting so big! She's now into the 3 month old clothes and getting so strong too! She can sit up (with help) and loves to play with her stuffed animal friends. Her favorite friends are a stuffed monkey, a pink hippo, and a soft baby doll. It's so cute to see her grab at them and chew on them. She also loves to lay in her travel crib and kick at these dangly lions that jingle when you shake them. Chloe is also quickly learning that if she smiles at everyone she gets all kinds of attention and smiles! She's still such a snuggle bug and her favorite place to nap is on Daddy's shoulder (she's such a Daddy's girl!)

The picture above is Charlie saying "Cheese" for the camera! Now when he wants to eat cheese he goes "say cheese!"

As for Charlie he's being the best little guy ever! He's still doing fantastic at pre-school and loves to play with all of his friends there! He's also doing really great at his speech therapy that he started recently! Since he started he's begun saying bye-bye to everything and everyone! He also is doing great at saying "I want" and a ton of other things like "num-num" when he's hungry and babbling sentences in his own Charlie language. The speech therapist said that Charlie is advanced in his comprehension and problem solving skills! Charlie tackles puzzles that he said some 4 and 5 year olds have trouble with! Go Charlie :) Some of Charlie's favorite things are still singing songs, drawing & painting, playing with his Hotwheels cars, making animals sounds (his favorite is the chomping sound and alligator makes), and sliding down the stairs on his behind :) Charlie has really started enjoying looking at animals since we took our trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the San Francisco Zoo. I don't blame him, animals are mighty fun to see :)

The past month has been a fun and crazy one for our little family! Sadly we got struck with the stomach flu and Charlie had a pretty hard time with it :( After the initial flu his poor tummy got all upset so he was having trouble for a good couple of weeks afterward! We thought things were fine but then Bill got hit and we thought it was food poisoning at first...until I got it a couple days later! Ack! Bill was a trooper though and took good care of us sickies :) Chloe was just fine through all of this though! She's such a good baby!! We also found out that Charlie is quite a bed hog HAHAHA He'd have a rough night so we'd bring him in our bed but then he'd promptly start kicking me or Bill out. Literally he'd kick us out! Well thank goodness we're all well again! But just in time for me to start work again! My maternity leave went by super fast and it's been tough trying to figure out our new routines! But thank goodness Chloe is doing SO well at her daycare! She really loves the wonderful teachers at her daycare (and I think they're taking a liking to her too! HAHAHA) We were really lucky to find such a great place for her to go! She's all smiles when we drop her off and they even have her napping really well during the day! So she's all smiles and happy when we pick her up too! It's so cute she really seems to love watching other babies! She'll sit and stare at whatever any nearby baby is doing and she's happy as a clam just watching them play! She's such a social butterfly :)

So after a rough time with stomach flus and lots of new changes things are settling down nicely and we couldn't be happier!!

Until next month!!

~Karen

2 Months for Chloe!

2011-01-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

It's amazing to think that our little Chloe is already 2 months old! And in 2 short months she has already completely stolen our hearts! Just one little smile or "coo" and we're putty!

She's smiling like a pro now and such a cutie! She's so alert and loves to look out the windows or even bat around her little toys that hang over her on the crib or her floor mat. She also sleeps like a pro too!!

Believe it or not Chloe is already practically sleeping through the night! It's not always consistent but some nights she'll sleep from about 10pm - 12am through to 6am-8 am!! It's been soooo nice to get some sleep, but I wasn't expecting her to sleep so well so soon! I was used to the night owl that Charlie was at this age. He used to looove to stay up until the wee hours like 2 - 3 am and sleep in until noon with a couple of times of waking up in-between. Maybe Chloe won't be as much of a night owl. Also Chloe still loves to be cuddled!

If we try to put her down and she wants to be held she lets us know until we pick her up again and then she dozes right off. It makes it hard to get things done but it's so cute to have a snoozing Chloe on our shoulder that we couldn't possibly be mad about it :) She did great at her 2 month appointment, she's now 12 pounds! She's growing great and the doctor said she gets an "A" We did have a tough time this past month because Chloe caught RSV (a virus that causes crud in the lungs) so we had to give Chloe some medicine through a nebulizer machine that takes the medicine and vaporizes it so she breathed it in. It was actually pretty nice because the hummm of the machine would put Chloe right to sleep every time! But Chloe is all better now like a champ! We only had 1 or two nights of extra fussiness and that's all! She's such a sweet baby and a strong girl! :)

Now for news on the rest of the family. Other than feeling like we're constantly battling the sniffles (ugh!) things have been great! We had a great time on New Year's by heading to the Snoopy Museum! They were having a special New Year's count down for kids at noon complete with a balloon drop, Root beer toast, and Snoopy dressed in his finest!! We had a blast!! Sorry some of the pictures are fuzzy, the camera had a smudge on it and I didn't realize it :P

Charlie has been constantly surprising us and making us so proud! He's getting so good at identifying colors and all the letters of the alphabet! He also loves to sing songs (more like hum, or his form of singing) It kind of sounds like he's singing either the ABC song or Old Mac Donald, or Twinkle Twinkle (or all three! Who knows? ) but we're not sure at the moment. He just loves to play and march around the house humming and singing. He's doing fantastic at Pre-School they absolutely love him there! He's even making friends and learning SO much! He even gets excited whenever we drop him off. He doesn't get mad at all anymore he just runs straight in and starts playing! He's gotten so good at following directions and doing things for himself like putting his toys away and throwing away his own trash! Love it!

We also went in this past month for a speech evaluation for Charlie because he does talk sometimes, but he's a bit behind where he could be at his age. So his pediatrician said it wouldn't hurt to get him evaluated and it's free since Charlie isn't 3 years old yet. So the lady asked him questions and watched him play and after a little bit of time for him to warm up (Charlie is always shy around new people) he aced all her questions like a pro! We were so proud! There were even some questions that I thought "I don't think Charlie knows that yet" but answered right! Questions like "Where's the sleeping baby?" on a sheet of different kids doing different activities or "Where's the flying plane?" and he pointed them all out! We were both blown away by how much he really knows! So all in all it boiled down to that he wasn't diagnosed with anything because he did so well. Basically he's just a late talker which they determined has everything to do with Charlie's personality and nothing to do with how we've been parenting or how we've been talking to him or anything like that. He's just quiet. But we still signed up for speech therapy to help Charlie along to open up.

We've also started on the long fun road of potty training for Charlie. This last weekend we bit the bullet and put him in big boy underwear to see how he'd do. Well after a long and accident filled weekend he's started to get it! He'll now tell us before (or while) he goes! We don't always make it to the bathroom but he's getting there! So hopefully with more practice he'll be a full blown big boy! I know he can do it!

So looking back this has been one crazy month! And I know next month will be even crazier because sadly Bill's leave is ending soon :( Boo. And not long after I'm going back to work too! We found an amazing day care for Chloe that's even in the same building that we work in! We just need to figure out schedules and all that. But I'll save that for next month :)

Until then!!

~Karen

Happy 1 month Chloe and Happy Holidays to all!

2010-12-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

Time flies doesn't even begin to describe how fast this first month has gone! What a crazy, busy and fun month it was been too! Chloe is an adorable little baby and such a good girl! We went to her 1 month checkup and she is now 9 pounds and 15 ounces and has grown an inch and a half since she was born! She's in the 75 percentile for her age and overall is a healthy happy baby girl! She's a great little sleeper and such a laid back baby. While she doesn't sleep through the night yet she seems to really know when it's night time because she wakes up, eats, and then goes right back to sleep again. She loves to be held and cuddled and has been known to take people hostage once they get a hold of her. She's also quite a delicate little peach because she hates to be cold and loves to get all wrapped up and cuddly. And she's such a strong girl too! She holds up her head and pushes up looks around all the time!

Charlie has been such a great big brother too! Every time he sees Chloe he smiles all big and does these adorable little giggles it's so sweet!! Charlie is also doing great! He's talking a bit more now, sometimes words (his newest words have been, bye-bye, go, that, num-nums and a couple of times we've sworn Charlie has said "I got it"), and sometimes he has full conversations in some sort of Charlie language which cracks me up! Charlie's also been doing SO good in pre-school! He's making friends (he loves to give hugs to all of his buddies!) and learning new things, and following directions so well! He even participated in his school's holiday sing-a-long, and though he was nervous at first he stayed up there the whole time like such a good boy!

He's mastering how to use a big boy cup rather than a sippy cup (although we still use the sippy cup when we're in the car or he's running around, he hasn't mastered how not to spill yet hahaha), and just a couple days ago he showed us how he knows how to use the trash can to throw trash away! He still also loves to turn light switches on and off and his day can't begin without brushing his teeth. Charlie also knows his shapes, colors, and we were surprised to see that he even knows a couple of letters! Such a great little guy!

We had a great Christmas too! Charlie and Chloe must have been very good because Santa was good to them! Charlie got a bunch of Hot Wheel cars, and even a track to launch his cars (he was having so much fun with it he was screaming with laughter!) and a big truck to hold all his new cars, and some new clothes, and art supplies, and a Zhu zhu pet with a car, and an RC car, and candy, and I'm sure there's more that I'm not thinking of! Charlie was having so much fun because there were toys all over the place! Chloe got some adorable outfits, and shoes, and some fun hanging toys that jingle and vibrate (her favorite!). Even the Boy Bunny got some carrots from Santa!

The best present though was a gift we got from Charlie! An adorable hand print that Charlie made for us at pre-school :) We LOVE it!

Then later on we had Christmas dinner with Grandma Carol-Anne and Stephen who came up for a visit. And we were very proud to put on our very first Christmas dinner that we made ourselves!! And it all turned out great!! We tried a ham with gravy and apples recipe that we found online and it turned out SO good!!! How did I survive without ham gravy all my life?!? Then we had cranberry bars and apple pie that Carol-Anne made with that new sugar substitute stuff I think it's called Stevia, and it was really good! I am very sensitive to all those sugar substitutes but this one I couldn't tell the difference! Who would of thought? We even got to try out our new Kinnect that we got from Grandpa John and we had a great time jumping around the living room HAHAHA That thing really gets you moving! Charlie even got into the fun by coaching us and being our cheerleader :) It was raining most for Christmas but the next day it was beautiful and sunny so we headed to the park to try out Charlie's new tricycle that he got from Grandpa John and Charlie had a blast!

It was a very merry Christmas at the Drastals and now we're all tuckered out! We hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a happy New Year!!

Lots of love,

Karen, Bill, Charlie and Chloe

Welcome Chloe!!!

2010-11-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

She's here!! Chloe has arrived! She came on November 22nd, at 11:46am and was 8 pounds, 20 inches long and just perfect! Everyone is home now and happy and healthy and doing great.

It all started last Sunday night when I was trying to go to bed I started feeling all crampy. But I'd been feeling cramps for a few weeks before and the Dr. said it was no big deal so I just figured it was nothing and tried to go to sleep. But those stupid cramps wouldn't let me go to sleep. So at 1am I called the nurses line for my doctor and asked if I should be worried. They wanted to make sure it wasn't false labor and suggested that I take a hot shower, relax, and see if they get worse or go away and if the pain got worse then to come in. By this time everyone was sound asleep and I was wide awake. I tried the hot shower which felt very nice but didn't relieve the pain. I then lied down and watched TV a while, I tried to hold out until the morning so that Charlie could go to PreSchool while we went to the hospital but at 4am I couldn't take it anymore and I woke Bill up and told him I think it's time to go in. So we woke up poor Charlie and threw him in the car and drove to the hospital at 5am. Bill dropped me off and then headed home to get Charlie to school and then he'd come right back to the hospital. So I got all checked in and am trying to keep it together through all the pain and they find out that I'm dilated to about 3 or 4 and that I should stay. They then ask if I want any pain medication and I say "YES PLEASE!" It was then that the nurse said that she thinks I'll have a baby by noon that day. So I got all medicated up and was starting to feel MUCH better and then Bill calls and the nurse answers my phone for me and tells Bill that if he wants to be there for the birth then he better get to the hospital sooner rather than later! So Bill books it down to the hospital and gets there by about 8:30am. I then find out that he was taking his time to get to the hospital! He even let Charlie go back to bed when he got back home! He thought he had plenty of time before the baby would come because he was used to when Charlie was born and we had hours and hours to kill before anything started really happening. But this time things seemed to be going in fast forward!! So after many apologies everything was good. Bill was there, Charlie was happy in PreSchool and I was heavily medicated :)

Then at around 11ish or so I started feeling a bit funny. But not "haha" funny. So we get the nurse and she checks me out and come to find out it's show time!! Then it's chaos as the doctor comes in and they get all the bells and whistles and machines ready and before we know it Chloe is born at 11:46am!! And she immediately starts crying the most adorable little squeaky cry and Bill got to cut the cord :) And thus starts our adventures with an adorable little Chloe girl!

And she's such a good baby! Sweet and a good sleeper and a lover of pacifiers! Even when she cries it's a cute little cry that just melts our hearts. We just had her 1 week checkup and the Doctor said she's looking fantastic! She's regained her birth weight and is very strong. She's also a little snorter it's so cute! When she gets all riled up she starts snorting like crazy and it cracks us up :) She's also a fantastic little sleeper. She even gave me a break one night and slept from 12 - 4! Such a good
girl!

As for me I'm doing great! The labor went so smoothly and afterward I wasn't in nearly as much pain as I thought I was going to have! I'm still a bit achey and my feet are still a bit swollen but I'm slowly getting back to normal. I've got a ton of great help thanks to Grandma, and Grammie, and Great Aunt Carol all coming to help us out :)

And Charlie is being a great big brother! At first he was a bit shy when he saw Chloe but slowly he's warming up to her. He's even patted her head and touched her hands and he loves playing with her toys. He's even had a couple times when he gets concerned when she cries and comes to see what's wrong. Such a good big brother! :)

So we couldn't be happier with such great kiddos and such a great family coming to lend a hand! Thanks to everyone for your help and the well wishes!!

Lots of love,

Karen, Bill, Charlie and now Chloe! :)

Charlie's 2 year checkup and Chloe's 39th week!!

2010-11-15T15:03:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

So this morning Charlie had his 2 year old appointment and he was such a good boy! He loved all of the fun decorations at his new pediatricians office. I've never seen someone have so much fun in a doctor's office before! The doctor was very nice and fun with Charlie too. She made sure to show Charlie what she was going to do by demonstrating on Charlie's Olaf doll (Olaf as in Snoopy's chubby brother) before she'd do it on him. Charlie looked great all over and the doctor was even impressed by how well Charlie understood her and took directions :) By the end of the appointment Charlie was checking our throats with the tongue depressor and checking his own heart beat. He's a natural :) We did though sign up for a speech evaluation for Charlie because he's not really talking as many words as he could be at this age. It's free if he's under 3 so it wouldn't hurt and the Doctor is not worried about his speech at all because Charlie is so good at understanding us and all. She says it won't hurt and can only help and sometimes all kids this age need is just a little boost to get him jabbering it up. Also she said it's great that Charlie is starting preschool because sometimes just being around other kids his age will help get him to start talking it up. Yup you heard right Charlie is starting preschool! He starts tomorrow actually! He's all set with his very own lunch box and everything :) It's a great little school, Charlie even made a friend while we were taking a tour of the place so I know he'll have a great time :)

As for Chloe we're still waiting! Apparently she's a very happy baby but that doesn't mean I'm a comfortable mama :P I'm sooooo done! I want to meet this baby already! I'm doing weekly appointments now and so far nothing yet so who knows when we'll finally meet this little baby! I'm just hanging in there dealing with being super tired, having migraines, and being uncomfortable and all that fun stuff that comes with these last weeks that seem to go on forever! Keep your fingers crossed for soon because I'm officially done! Done done done!

~Karen

My little guy is already 2!!

2010-11-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Charlie!!!

I know I'm late with this update but I had to make a special post for Charlie! Yup, he turned the big 2 and boy was it a big weekend!!!

Let's see first there was Friday the 29th which was his actual birthday day. They were having a Halloween party at work so we got Charlie all dressed up as Robin (as in Batman and Robin) and we went and had a great time at the office! Seeing all the costumes and having all kinds of candy and treats. And Charlie enjoyed cruising around the office to see all the decorations and getting all kinds of attention.

Then we came home and had ice cream and cake and had a great time playing with all of his new toys! Our favorite being the awesome new art easel complete with chalk board! Awesome!!!

Charlie also loves his big truck tent that he got from Grammie and Grampie. He loves to climb in and then wave at us from the window. So cute!!!

So then on Saturday the 30th we headed to the San Francisco Zoo for their Halloween Party or "Boo at the Zoo" as they called it.

At first Charlie was more interested in the puddles left from the rain but after he got himself thoroughly soaked he was ready to check out the festivities! They had crafts, and candy, and special animal exhibits (I never knew an alligator could feel so soft!) and Charlie loved hanging out with Spencer (my friend Kim's son) and Charlie even learned how to tell knock knock jokes! He gets a kick out of them! And we never knew until Charlie busted up laughing while Bill and Spencer were telling some classic Knock Knocks :)

Charlie did so well that we ended up staying a lot longer then we thought we would and Charlie got to skip his nap (lucky boy!)

So then on Sunday it was Halloween!! We started the day off with some pumpkin painting and carving and last minute decorations.

Then we got Charlie in his costume and couldn't wait to take him out for his first time Trick or Treating!! So finally the sun went down and we headed out! Charlie had no idea what was going on at first, he was just excited to be heading outside so late in the day!!

We went to the first house and Charlie was all nervous. But with a little help from Daddy he saw how awesome Trick or Treating really is! He was so excited about the candy that after he would get some candy he'd want to stop and eat it :)

We went all over the neighborhood and when it started to get too chilly we headed on home to greet our own trick or treaters and it was SO much fun! Spooking the trick or treaters and seeing all of the fun costumes was great! It was a little slow at first but as the night went on (and once the Giants game was over) it started to pick up and we all had a great time!

So then by Monday we were all super tired from such a fun weekend :) Happy Birthday to my little guy!!! I can't believe it's been 2 years already!!!

A little side note on the news for Chloe....there's no news yet it's just me waiting and being uncomfortable and ready for her to come already!!

Until next time!

~Karen

Happy Birthday to Charlie (almost!)

2010-10-27T13:27:00.001-07:00

Yup, can you believe it? Charlie is already just days away from being the big 2! How time flies!! And Charlie is such a big boy now too! He's still on that potty training road, far from accident free but he's making progress. We had a little snag when he suddenly wanted nothing to do with the potty, but with a little encouragement he's back in the saddle again (so to speak). Charlie also LOVES drawing now-a-days. He got into my art supplies boxes and loves to draw with everything he can get his hands on! He makes some pretty fun drawings too! I'll have to get some framed :) Charlie is also my big helper he's so good at helping me put away his toys and crayons. He's also found a new love for the show Blue's Clues! If it ever gets mentioned then you better be prepared to turn on an episode! HAHAHAHA It's such a cute show I don't mind at all watching it with him! So for his birthday we've planned to go to the Halloween party at the San Francisco Zoo! Charlie has his Robin costume (as in Batman and Robin) all ready to go! And we also have some fun presents waiting for him! But shhhh it's a secret :) I'll have to tell you what they are later ;)

As for Chloe news things are still going great! ....well not great great but overall good.....ok I'm miserable, she's good :) I've hit that not so fun last month like a brick wall! The migraines are back, and I'm SO tired but I can't get comfortable to sleep anymore! I think it's setup this way so that you really look forward to the baby getting here! Which I am SO ready!! I want to meet her already and be done with all these aches and pains and headaches! Blech! But through all the complaints my doctor says this is all normal and everything else health wise is absolutely wonderful so there's nothing wrong. I'm also still doing the weekly testing which monitors Chloe's heart rate and movement and all that and she's still doing so well that I'm in and out of there in 20 minutes! And they also do a quick ultrasound to check the fluid levels in there and usually it's just a quick look, nothing really special, until last week when without even trying the nurse got an AMAZING view of Chloe's face!! Even the nurse was surprised! She also said that she thinks Chloe already looks like me. Well she definitely has the chin! I think she looks like Charlie personally :) The pictures aren't nearly as clear as the screen was, but you can still get a good look!

if you still can't tell what you're looking at, it's just her face here in the picture, off to the left. And her mouth at the time was this adorable little pouty mouth, for some reason it came out as a big shadow on the picture. Really when I saw this my mind immediately said "Alright! She looks like a baby! I'm done! Let's get this over with!" But sadly no, I still have about another month to go! It'll be the longest (and shortest) month EVER I'm sure!

~Karen

Baby Shower and Reunion Fun!

2010-10-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

Hello!!!

So last weekend was the much anticipated Baby Shower and Family Reunion in Reno!! It was put on by Fabulous Aunt Cathy and Uncle Paul and we had SO much fun!!! From gabbing it up with the family, to tasty food, and goofy nights gambling on Wheel of Fortune and Indiana Jones slot machines, to an RC car derby, HUGE bubbles, cake cake and more cake, adorable baby stuff, exploring Virginia City and it's crazy graveyard, and SO much more!! We had so much fun that I didn't want to come back to real life! Charlie also had so much fun that he was talking talking talking after we got home! I have no idea what he was saying but I'm sure it was all about how much fun he had in Reno. He was a little overwhelmed with all the new people when we first got there, and he had a couple of rough nights due to the elevation difference, but after a little time warming up to everyone then he couldn't get enough! He loves playing with his cousin (and second cousins, and third cousins, and second uncles once removed etc etc etc) Charlie was also a hugging machine, everyone got hugs :) It was adorable! He also showed off his skills saying "I'm Charlie" or something to that effect. He was a great little guy and he did great on the drive which was beautiful! A little creepy though when we went over Donner Pass (we'll have to stop and check it out next time we go out there). Overall we had an amazing weekend and we can't thank Aunt Cathy and Uncle Paul enough for putting on such a fun party!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!! And thanks to everyone that came out it was great to catch up with everyone, I just wish I had more time to talk with everyone individually. And the gifts were SO cute! Chloe will have the most adorable outfits (especially her feet!) and it looks like we're going with a ladybug theme for her room (adorable!) I can't say enough good things about the whole weekend!

As for an update on day to day life the weekly monitoring at my Dr's office has been going great!! Chloe has been moving and kicking like crazy which is what they're looking for. At one appointment they used a small buzzer like thing (like a back massager that buzzes) to wake her up and it worked like a charm! They buzzed my tummy once and she jumped like crazy and kept kicking! And last week they didn't have to do anything at all Chloe was a mover and a shaker and I was done in no time! Go Chloe go! This weekend we plan on going and getting the last of the baby stuff that we need and finally get Chloe's room setup (I hope!)

And Charlie is officially on the road to becoming a Big Boy! We've started planning for potty training and next weekend we're dedicating the whole weekend to potty training and get the whole process kicked off! We've already got the toddler potty and he does sit on it but he doesn't really know how to tell us before he goes, he just gets angry once he has gone so hopefully everything will click soon and he can start sporting his awesome super hero underpants!

Well that's all the updates for now! Here's some pictures from the Reno trip! If you have any I would LOVE to get some more!

32 Weeks! Woot woot!!

2010-09-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

The baby train is coming down the tracks! Woot woooooot!!

Anyways, I had a Dr. appointment today and everything is great! My blood pressure is fantastic, and things are coming right along. After my regular appointment though I headed over to the hospital for a neonatal non stress test. Which basically means I got to hang out for 20 minutes while they recorded Chloe's heart beat to see how she's doing. And she did perfectly! I guess they wanted to see her heart rate spike 3 times within that 20 minutes which means she's moving around. At one point she was just hanging out and got quiet (they think she fell asleep! Cute!) so the nurse started yelling and clapping to "wake her up" I thought she was just being funny, but it worked! Chloe started moving and a shaking shortly after that! Who would of thought that even before she's born Chloe takes naps :) They also did a short ultrasound and found that her feet are in my ribs and her head is down by my bladder. Yeah that sounds about right by how I've been feeling lately. Those jabs in the ribs and head butts to my bladder make for some restless nights :P But overall things look great! I actually do one of these once a week for the next few weeks to keep tabs on everything.

As for me I'm feeling pretty gosh darn uncomfortable all around :P You know, the usual, tired, aches & pains, constantly hungry. I swear some days it feels like food just evaporates once it hits my stomach :) And the recent heat wave has not helped much. I've had some swelling in my ankles but nothing that bad. It's supposed to cool down tomorrow and I can't wait!!

In Charlie news he's getting bigger and cuter everyday! And recently he has made it quite clear how much he hates his diapers. So we've gotten him his very own pottys and we've started potty training! It's slow going, but so far he sits on the potty, but we just haven't gotten him to "go" in the potty yet. But we'll be patient and hopefully soon it'll all make sense to him. He's also graduated out of his cradle and into a toddler bed! He loves being able to hop in and out of his own bed! He even loves to just grab a book and hop up on his bed and hang out a while. He's only fallen out of his bed once where we found his sleeping on the floor, so he's taken right to the big boy bed! It's just been hard to get him to nap now because he can hop out of bed and play instead of sleep. He also points out every time a plane goes overhead, and I mean EVERY time a plane goes overhead HAHAHAHA His favorite things to do are color (he recently learned how to draw zig-zag lines and can't get enough!) and count things (even though he only counts to one which sounds more like an "oh") and kick the ball around outside.

We're also all super excited for the upcoming Family Reunion and Baby Shower in Reno!! I can't wait!! It'll be so nice to get away from it all and have some fun :) Thanks Aunt Cathy and Uncle Paul for being SO generous and putting this on for us!!!! You guys are amazing!!!

Until next time!!

~Karen

A little excitement

2010-09-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

A little update to fill you in on the excitement we had yesterday. Well I'd been feeling pretty cruddy (mainly a headache) for the past 3 days or so and yesterday we were all packed up and ready to spend a day at the Snoopy Museum for their 60 year anniversary celebration! But on our way I kept feeling worse and worse, until suddenly, I started throwing up. Which really put a damper in our day :P So we started to head back home and it happened again! Sheesh! So once we got home and I was thrown into bed Bill called the Dr. and they told us to come right in to get checked out. So after some last minute help from our awesome friend Johnny who came to watch Charlie for us we went in to the hospital which is also where the Dr. Office is and the maternity ward and all that. It's conveniently in one place (so handy!) They got me right in and it was pretty clear that it wasn't Preeclampsia (which is bad) which they thought it might be. My blood pressure is great, and the baby's heart beat is fantastic (the nurse saw the printout and said "now THAT'S a happy baby!") but after the urine test it became obvious that I was very dehydrated. So to make things go faster they hooked me up to an IV with some sugar water type stuff and I got to catch up on my magazine reading. Then after a while I was feeling MUCH better and I got to come home (hooray!) So I'm fine and the nurses told me that this happens a lot, especially to women that have young kiddos at home, and with all that's been going on with me lately it's no surprise at all. So things are good, baby is just fine, and I'm fine, just tired. But thank goodness I have an awesome hubby that took very good care of me all weekend :)

~Karen

29 Weeks! Are we there yet?

2010-09-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

So things have been quite busy for the Drastal Family over the last few weeks. In a nutshell we have;
1. Become Google employees
2. Changed work offices
3. Moved

So busy is really an understatement for all that we've done in such a short time! But here's the long story for you;

First we heard the FABULOUS news that the company we work for got bought by Google! So we are now Google employees! Which is AWESOME! We get a ton of new perks including free breakfast and lunch (and the food amazing!) We also moved our offices into the San Francisco Google office which isn't that far away from where we were working. I really like our new office and me and Bill get to share a cubicle (they call them "pods") which comes complete with a huge bean bag! I still do the same schedule as I used to where I go into the office on Tuesdays but other than that I stay home with Charlie and work in the evening once Bill gets home. It works out really well for everyone. Although for a few days Charlie did have to go into daycare (which was free through Google, SCORE!) when we were doing Google orientations and Charlie LOVED it there! The first day when we came to pick him up he was sad to leave, and the second day he had a little buddy that was all excited that Charlie was there :) We thought about the idea of part time daycare for Charlie but it is quite expensive :P We only get a few free "drop in" days for daycare for free so it's not a regular thing. That's ok though because our usual schedule still works really well.

So during all this we got a weird notice posted to our front door saying that the house we were renting was in foreclosure and the bank was going to auction it off on Sept. 2. Well long story short we decided that that was motivation enough to get the heck out of dodge! We had options to see what the new owners, or the bank would do and wait until we got an eviction notice...or just move. So we moved. And the weekend we found out we went house hunting and found this great new place that we're now living in! It's not that far from our old place and it's in Daly City and it's literally down the street from the city of Brisbane, and San Francisco. So we didn't really move far at all. And there's FAR less fog! We can see the fog come rolling in and it goes right past us while we have blue skies! Yay!! It's also cheaper in rent than our old place, AND it has a yard! Charlie LOVES the yard he wants to go out there alllllll the time! We also have a small balcony upstairs that Charlie loves to hang out on. We really love it. And thanks to our awesome work friends, a Uhaul, and a couple of moving helpers we hired it was the easiest move we've ever done! Now we just have to unpack....ugh.

Then during everything I also had a Dr. appointment. And everything is wonderful! The Dr. says I'm as healthy as a horse and everything is normal! Chloe is kicking up a storm now-a-days and I'm now entering that crazy uncomfortable time again :P but the heartburn isn't nearly as bad as when I had Charlie, but she really loves to sit on my bladder which isn't so fun. And I think she's either got her feet or her arms by my ribs because she really kicks me far up there in my rib cage which is a crazy feeling. And I'm always tired. I feel like I can't sleep enough! But there's only 75 days to go!! Hooray!!! And right around the corner is the baby shower/family reunion is Reno!!! Can't wait!!!

Until next time!

~Karen

24 weeks going strong!

2010-08-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hi all!!

So I just had a doctor's appointment and everything is great! My doctor refers to the baby's heart beat as a good "gallop" :) and things are progressing well! I've officially reached the comfortable (if you can call it that) part now so I'm relatively not that uncomfortable! I'm enjoying it while I can. I've also began feeling some pretty good kicking now! It started as small little kicks at about 18 weeks and now it's progressed to some good jabs :) And while with Charlie his kicks were mostly at night and fairly low, her kicks are all over the place and any time of day! The heartburn has subsided and I haven't had any headaches for a while now. Things are good :)

We just got back from a fun vacation down to San Diego for Comic Con! We all had a fantastic time! Charlie had a great time running around the floor and getting his very own badge! He also loved exploring a new place and having some good Grandma times :) The day we arrived he got to see both Grandma's and he got SO excited he could hardly contain himself!! It was adorable :) I also enjoyed the sunny warm weather which was GREAT! Except I found out that the heat also triggered my ankles to swell (boo!) but since we've returned to cold and foggy San Francisco my ankles have returned to normal. So I'm trying to see the bright side of a sun-free summer :P

Sadly though we brought back a cold from San Diego too :P But it's just a standard cold and we're all sniffly around here but otherwise doing good :) Hopefully soon the snotty noses will clear up and we can get back to having more adventures.
Charlie is really growing up fast and some of his favorite things to do are draw (he's even starting to hold crayons the right way like a big boy!) playing with his toys (he loves to figure out how things work!) and spinning around on his bouncy pony toy until he gets dizzy (it's so cute to see him get off the pony and try to keep his balance! I guess he thinks it's fun because he keeps doing it!) and he also loves to sing now too! Although he doesn't sing the words right he loves to try to do the motions to "Itsy bitsy spider" and other songs we sing at story time :) Sometimes he even enjoys "Charlie time" where he sits and plays in his room and doesn't want to be bugged. And when I call to him and ask "Are you ok?" He calls back with an "OK!" to let me know things are good :) I love it!!

So other than the collection of snot rags we have hanging out around here things are great!! Here's some pictures from our recent Comic Con trip!

Charlie being a big boy with his own Comic Con badge!

It's us :)

Charlie has discovered the amazing fun that comes with an empty box!

Charlie being a panda :)

Until next time!

~Karen, Bill and Charlie

Some more updates!

2010-06-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

So after talking with some people I realize I haven't really updated everything :) So here we go, a little Q&A about how things are going on with Baby #2

Q. How do you feel about having a girl?
A. Excited! This will be a fun experience :) Both Bill and I are super excited to try things out with a girl this time. And we're sure that Charlie will be a GREAT big brother to a little sister :) And we have a ton of girl clothes from my sister when she had Maggie so either way we were set!

Q. How are you feeling?
A. MUCH better than I was! I'm so glad the morning sickness has passed! But now I'm hungry like crazy and SO tired, and my back hurts too!! It's either one extreme or another it seems. I have had some bouts with heartburn though, which isn't fun at all. But what is fun is that my ankles aren't swelling like they did with Charlie! Woohoo! But I know the swelling may come later. But I'm enjoying it for now :)

Q. Are you showing?
A. Not much really. Bill says I'm showing more than when I had Charlie. But I'm still at that stage where unless I'm wearing a maternity shirt then someone just looking at me wouldn't really know if I was pregnant or just ate a lot at lunch ;)

Q. How's Charlie doing?
A. GREAT! He's such a great little guy :) He loves to draw and to run around and kick or throw the ball around. But his biggest love is with books, either looking at them himself or having us reading to him he loves books of all kinds. He's also doing great with pointing to different things when we ask. We finally got all of his space stuff put up in his room and he loves to point out the planets and the rocket ship :) It's so much fun :)

So there you go! An update to an update :D

Until next time!

~Karen

IT'S A GIRL!!

2010-06-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

That's right! We found out that Charlie is going to have a little sister!! We're so excited! And our appointment today makes for a pretty good story :)

So we get to the place where they do the ultrasounds and I'm an anxious wreck. Not nervous but the kind of anxious where you know something exciting is coming and you don't like to wait. Like on Christmas Eve or the night before going to Disneyland. Well they take us back and the technician starts doing his thing looking at the baby, measuring the head and taking different pictures and all that standard stuff. The whole time I'm trying to get a look and see if there's any "goods" or not :) And no dice. She's being shy. Apparently she was all curled up in a corner with her legs crossed and her arms over her face. The technician tried different angles and gives it a few goes and he says he has no idea because she's just too curled up. So he says he'll show the Doctor his pictures and then maybe the Dr. will give it a go and see if he can find out. So we wait....what felt like an eternity....and the Doctor came in and said everything health and size wise on the baby looks great and he says he'll try to see the gender. I've already given up on finding out this visit and in my mind I'm planning one of those 4D ultrasounds because I'm finding out dang it!! Well low and behold he turns on the machine and he says "Oop! You ready to find out?" And I do everything I can not to explode "YES!!! TELL ME ALREADY!" And he says we're having a girl! And then I did explode because I finally knew! And for the rest of the day we've been soaking the news in. And the more we think about it the more excited we get because we think Charlie is going to be a great big brother to a little sister :) Good times are ahead for sure!!! As for names we're throwing around some possibilities but our favorite so far is Chloe Elizabeth. Here's some ultrasound pictures to check out;

Thumbs up!

Crazy view of her skull and hand

Her leg!

Until next time!!

~Karen, Bill & Charlie

Almost 16 weeks. Chugging right along!

2010-06-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So things are still moving right along. I had a doctor appointment about a week ago. Everything looks great! The heart rate sounds perfect although when the doctor was trying to listen the baby rolled over which made it like a scavenger hunt to find the heart beat again. Such a shy baby :) As for me I've been feeling better than I was before, but still not great :P During the day I feel pretty good but at night I get all tired and gross feeling and usually camp out on the couch. But I can eat more now and don't feel as nauseous as before. Hooray! And for more exciting news we have the ultrasound scheduled to find out if we're having a boy or a girl! We couldn't wait, we want to find out :) So stay tuned because on June 29th we'll find out!

As for Charlie he's such a great little buddy :) He's really getting good at pointing things out when we ask, I was especially surprised when we asked "where's the ceiling?" And he pointed right up! Such a smart boy! :)

Until next time!

~Karen, Bill and Charlie

Ultrasound take 2!

2010-05-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

So since we were off with the due date at the first time around, they wanted to take a look again 2 weeks later when the baby was bigger. So this morning we got even more ultrasound pictures! Yay! And it's crazy how much bigger the baby has gotten in only a couple of weeks! From 1.5 inches to 4 inches! And the baby was bouncing around and moving and it even swallowed! Bill thinks the baby already looks like me and he thinks he or she might have the signature big bottom lip :) As for the baby everything looks wonderful! Things are formed like they should and nothing looks out of the ordinary at all! We'll get another ultrasound around 20 weeks or so (and I think that's when we find out if it's a boy or a girl!)

Hello baby Drastal! Look at those tiny arms and legs!

A tiny little foot!

They even took a 3D picture! The head is on the top there at a 3/4 view. And you can see the torso and arms!

The due date is still at November 19th for now! And I'm still feeling pretty sick a lot. It seems like every evening I feel awful and I even still have whole days when I feel gross :P I won't miss this stage at all!!

Well I have a doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks so I'll be sure to update you then!!

~Karen

It's true! We're doing it again!!

2010-04-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

So here we go again, baby #2 is on its way! Charlie's going to get a new brother or sister sometime around November 19th! Our little peanut is 10 weeks and 3 days old and got its first pictures!

You can see the little arms and legs and head. And this little baby is just as much of a mover and a shaker as Charlie was! Rolling around and getting it's little arm in the way when they were trying to take head measurements :) Little wiggle worm!

As for us we're super excited! We were hoping we could have them close together so we can get all this baby stuff out of the way in one shot and so they can be buddies together :) But aside from being excited I've been feeling sick like crazy! It's been worse than the first time around and I've also been getting migraines (not fun!) which is nothing more than hormone stuff so nothing to worry about.

So in 2 weeks I get to go back for another ultrasound because we were a bit off with the dates and this baby is a tad too small to see everything they're looking at. So we're going to try again when this baby is a bit bigger.

As for Charlie he's getting SO big! He loves to run around like crazy and go on adventures, especially to the Zoo. He does say some words but only when he's in the mood. His favorites are "tickle tickle" and "uh-oh" so far :)

So I'll probably update again in two weeks with more info!

~Karen :)

2009-09-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

So little Charlie has now hit 11 months! I guess it's time to start planning that first birthday (which is going to be on Halloween, how cool is THAT?!) And our little buddy is growing by leaps and bounds too! He can now stand all by himself (not for very long but he does it!) and he crawls like a pro all over the place. He even chases the bunny around whenever we let the bunny out.

September also brought a lot of adventures too. First we headed down to Oceanside on a whim because we were just so dang sick of all the smoke from the fires! So we went to a fun little Labor Day celebration at Great Grandma Holly's where Charlie had fun in the sun dancing, playing in the grass, and hanging out with Grammy;

We then went down to the Oceanside pier so Charlie could see the beach for the very first time!

Here comes the water!!

He was not amused...maybe next time!

Then we had Charlie dedicated at our Church over at the First Christian Church of North Hollywood! A dedication isn't a baptism really. At our Church it's more like a chance to introduce Charlie to the rest of the Church. And he did so good! Charlie was adorable with his little zebra buddy (the zebra is his new travel buddy, he loves to take him everywhere!) He charmed everybody in his handsome little sweater. How dapper :)

Then Charlie became Bat Man...just had to add that one in here :)

And last but certainly not least! We headed down to Knott's Berry Farm to meet up with Aunt Tami, Uncle Chris, Cousin Maggie, and Grammy and Grampy for Knott's Chicken Dinner! Yum!! Charlie always loves hanging out with his cousin but he was also getting impatient for his chicken dinner! Well for the part of a biscuit and a little bit of chicken soup that he had ;)

Here we all are;

Except Maggie was too busy waiting for the roller coasters to go by so I had to ambush her for a picture :)

Then it was time for some Maggie and Unkie Bill fun time!!

So that's all the excitement and adventures that came with September, who knows what milestones October will bring! Time to get that first birthday planned though, where did the time go?!?!

Lots of love,

Karen, Bill, & Charlie

Standing, Smiling, Uncles and Fires...

2009-08-30T12:32:00.001-07:00

Well our little buddy is now 10 months old! Such a big boy! The month of August brought us a lot of surprises, such as Charlie pulling himself up to stand on his own! He is quite proud of himself for this, as you can see;

We're so proud of our little guy! Except this really puts a damper on bed time seeing as he never wants to lay down anymore. :)

Charlie also crawls now too! Finally! Well, he crawls in order to get to a place where he can stand up :) He also loves to hide under his Jumparoo, like it's some little fortress or something. I was going to take a video but the camera's battery died! Boooooo!!!

August also came with the arrival of many many new teeth! He has four top teeth and three bottom teeth (and probably more that we haven't noticed yet!) Which Charlie loves to show off with cheesy grin, I love that face!

And Charlie finally got to meet his Uncle Alex for the very first time! Alex was in town on vacation for the month of August all the way from Japan, and he came up for a BBQ with us;

We had a great time hanging out, having BBQ and swimming. Charlie is still a little timid of the pool, not so much of being scared, he just hates being cold.

But on another note Charlie has made amends with the bunny and they're friends now! Hooray! Instead of crying whenever the bunny gets near he giggles. But he doesn't giggle nearly as much as when there's a puppy nearby! Even if there's a dog food commercial on TV Charlie will laugh! He also loves whenever the Backyardigans comes on (that's a kids TV show on Noggin) Thank goodness because that's a show that we all enjoy to watch. We've also found that Charlie loves to play with pillows. He's a little daredevil and plows right into them and laughs and laughs! We got Charlie one of those kid sized bean bags and it's shaped like a bird and Charlie will go to town smashing it and bopping it around. It's so adorable! I'm hoping Charlie will be my roller coaster buddy when he gets big enough (which at the rate he's growing should be in a couple of weeks now).

August for us parents was very busy too. The company I do work for told me they needed more help, so I dropped Bill's name and they sent him an art test to take and he got the job! Hooray!! Bill is still working his full time job too because we need the benefits, so he'll be doing this on the side. Also this month Bill has been helping out a studio that we found at Comic Con. He had to cut back on that though because he got the Slide job (it's a very small studio and currently they can't pay until their show gets picked up) but we might be able to participate in their art show coming up in September here in LA! I'll let you know if we get in! Overall August has been very exciting but also a lot of hard work. *whew* And I'm sure you've also heard about the fires going on practically EVERYWHERE. Well they're a bit of a ways away from us but last night the wind changed and we woke up to smokey air! Normally I love a good BBQ but having it smell like the world's biggest BBQ is a bit much. So we have the AC on and we're staying inside until this all blows over. Keep a good thought towards everyone that is being affected and let's hope the firefighters get it all under control soon!

Until next month!

~Karen, Bill, and Charlie

A month of adventures!

2009-07-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

So now we have a 9 month old baby on our hands! And he's ADORABLE! And he is working the room wherever we go! Everyone told us that he'd get stranger anxiety and really the only time he does is when he gets into a new loud situation but it only lasts a couple of minutes and then he's smiling and talking and melting hearts again!! He loves the ladies and is always a big flirt :) He has his top teeth coming in and teething has not been fun. But those teeny tiny teeth are so cute! He's still not a full blown crawler but he scoots, rolls and shakes his way to wherever he wants to go. He also now grabs our hands and pulls himself up to stand! Walking here we come! He's also quite a big boy now too weighing in at 23 pounds and wearing 12 month clothes! A lot of people are surprised to find out that he's so young yet so big! But then again, look at Bill...are you surprised? :)

Our first big adventure this month was our trip to Vegas for July 4th when we visited Uncle Chris, Auntie Tami and cousin Maggie! We had a great time! Except for when it came to the fireworks. It was past Charlie's bedtime and they were awfully loud so that equaled one fussy baby. But he came around in the end and got into the spirit;

Charlie also enjoyed visiting with their dog Scooby. He's such a dog lover, and we don't even have a dog!

One major event from this month was Charlie's first Comic Con! We headed down to San Diego and Charlie was ready to roll in his costume!

Everyone adored baby Yoda! And the highlight of his Con was when he got to meet Snoopy!
Charlie LOVED Snoopy! He laughed and hugged Snoopy and loved him so much! I was so proud! That's my boy!

On a not so fun note Charlie did come back from San Diego with a virus :( He's ok though, he got tested up and down and there's no infection. So we're giving him Pedialite and baby Tylenol and a lot of cuddles and he is slowly getting better. There's just a lot of fussing and a lot of sleeping going on. Poor little guy. But while we were at the ER when he had a fever we were waiting for the Doctor to come and I guess the Motrin they gave Charlie kicked in and Charlie was ready to party! He was playing and laughing and while he was laughing up a storm he even got the guy in the next room laughing with him! Charlie is a born healer ;)

Believe it or not Charlie's 1st birthday is just a few months away! And because his birthday falls on a Thursday we've decided to throw his party that following Saturday...which is Halloween!! Woohoo!! But when it comes to dressing up, Charlie is an old pro;

Until next month!

~Karen, Bill and Charlie

8 months! Woohoo!!

2009-06-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

So Charlie's 8 month birthday is upon us ALREADY!!! What is that all about?!?!? But with the new month comes a new level of cuteness!!! See for youself;
We also celebrated Bill's first Father's day! Charlie got him a card, which he ate...of course...
And here's Charlies little chompers! He's had them for a while but I finally got a picture!
He's getting more and more character every day! He also LOVES to be on the move! While he still isn't crawling he's scooting, rolling, and rocking like a madman! He's also getting much better at feeding himself, and sometimes even prefers doing it himself than having us feed him!
He is all about doing things his own way and hates whenever anyone tries to tell him otherwise! He's definitely our baby alright. We go for walks every morning and he loves getting out and seeing the world! He's a huge flirt and smiles at anyone that'll look at him! He's melting hearts left and right! We've also found that he loves balloons! It's so cute because while he puts everything in his mouth he will hold onto a balloon and bop it around rather than try to eat it. I think he likes how it bounces. I'll have to get a picture sometime. It's adorable!

So our big boy is getting bigger everyday! His newest babbling includes the ever famous "Na Na Na Na." He loves to be a part of the conversation as long as the conversation is all about Na Na Na. Currently everything is a Na Na. I'm a Na Na, you're a Na Na, wouldn't you like to be a Na Na too?

Anyway, that's all for now! This weekend we plan to visit scorching hot Vegas for the 4th to visit Tami, Chris and Maggie. Happy 4th of July everybody!!

~Karen

Baby Train 080

2009-06-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

Ahh the magic, it was there, until Charlie pooped.

That's it for Baby Train, thank you all for your support and wonderful comments. We plan on doing more of these types of stories in the future so stay tuned. Right now though, we're going to to be putting together the Baby Train book if any of you would like to get updates and be the first to know when its out, send me an e-mail at billdrastal@hotmail.com and I'll put together a mailing list with updates on our progress. Thank you

Baby Train 079

2009-06-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Oh man we don't have nearly the space available to go over the stuff that happened during the delivery. Needless to say I was a little to camera happy at Karen's expense. Check in on Thursday for the last strip!!

Baby Train 078

2009-06-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

Let the craziness commence!!

Baby Train 077

2009-06-16T10:35:00.001-07:00

The horror, the horror!!!

Baby Train 076

2009-06-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

All this cleaning, it's becoming a problem

Baby Train 075

2009-06-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

Charlie has gone mobile!!

2009-06-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

But he doesn't crawl..oh no! See for yourself how he plans to get around :)

I giggle every time I watch this :) Charlie does things his own way! Oh yeah!

Baby Train 074

2009-06-04T15:44:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lateness of today's strip! But as a bonus it's a double strip for your enjoyment! I swear this makes the process of getting leave and disability easy compared to the hoops we had to jump through! Sheesh!!

Baby Train 073

2009-06-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Ahh the Truth....

Could it possibly be 7 months?

2009-05-29T08:13:00.001-07:00

Yes! Yes it could!! Happy 7 month birthday Charlie! He's getting to be such a big boy! Check him out over Memorial Day weekend when he hung out with his cousin Maggie;
He was so excited to be able to sit in the wagon like a big boy! And he would hold onto the sides and sit there all good just looking around. And Maggie was being such a helpful cousin! Whenever Charlie would start to drool like crazy she would reach over and dab his face with his bib! So cute!! Memorial Day weekend was a very busy weekend and so much fun! We started it out with a BBQ and swimming with relatives from Bill's side of the family. Charlie also got to hang out with his cousin Hugo (2nd cousin? Distant cousin? Once removed? Anyway it's Bill's cousin Anna's baby). Let's just say Charlie enjoyed the swimming, but not nearly as much as Hugo did! That little polliwog! HAHAHAHAHA

Charlie was happier sitting on the step and splashing;So we got out and warmed up and hung out on the grass, what a couple of adorable mugs!The next day we headed to the highland games! Charlie got in touch with his Scottish roots;
Then on Monday it was off to the LA Zoo! Where Charlie and Maggie got to cruise around in the little red wagon. So stylish! You think Charlie enjoyed himself?He's such a big boy! As for milestone news Charlie now has two little teeth! And I think more are coming because the fussyness has returned! Poor little guy. But he has been sleeping a lot better lately! We were having so much trouble getting him to sleep during the night, he would sleep good from about 2am and wake up at noon for the longest time and it was driving me crazy!! And we tried EVERYTHING! Putting him to a night time schedule, not letting him nap later in the day, letting him cry for a little bit before going to get him...NOTHING would work! But now we get him up earlier in the morning and so far so good! It's just now we have to get used to getting up early again! Ack! I don't know how some parents say they go by "schedules" to keep them on track. With Charlie it's a new adventure everyday! We can barely plan let alone set a schedule! He's just his own baby and no one's going to tell him what to do :) Usually he tells us what to do with all of his babbles! It's so cute!! Melts our hearts :) He'll be on the move any time now, he has all of the crawling motions down he just needs to learn how to do it at the same time so he can stop being a beached whale whenever he gets on his tummy. He's also been practicing with his finger foods and sippy cup too. He's getting there, he just needs more practice because most of it is getting everywhere but in his mouth.

So until next month!!

~Karen, Bill, and Charlie

Baby Train 072

2009-05-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Accepting the truth is one thing to know all the details is another.

Baby Train 071

2009-05-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

Haha Normal.

Baby Train 070

2009-05-21T03:12:00.000-07:00

Actually it was saving and a bit of dumb luck. In our house problems like this will usually be solved by one of us having the problem which we will talk about,receive advice from the other, hug and be on our merry way.A few hours later, it will be the other persons turn to have the same problem and the cycle will continue where we each offer each others' own advice.

Baby Train 069

2009-05-19T02:25:00.001-07:00

What do we give up indeed. Hmmm.....for anyone that ever finds themselves in this situation, don't panic. Just know where your towel is.

Baby Train 068

2009-05-14T02:53:00.000-07:00

Well its 3 am now so yes we should've relaxed and got as much sleep then when we could. *sigh* Wow its Strip 68 already? 12 more to go!!

Baby Train 067

2009-05-12T03:16:00.000-07:00

Putting baby things together is harder than you think. Especially when its hand me down items and the instructions have been lost. Like reverse engineering a flying saucer.

Mother's Day!

2009-05-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

So this last Sunday was our very first Mother's Day! And I must say it was AWESOME. We hung out, had brunch, poked around downtown Burbank, and had a very relaxing day. I LOVED it! And Charlie got me a Nintendo DSI! What a smart baby ;) He also got me a card, which he thought was delicious;
and here we are at brunch;

Charlie thought the table was delicious as well;
In other Charlie news he has officially cut his first tooth! There's no pictures because you can barely see it but it's there! The poor little guy has been having a lot of trouble with teething..hopefully things will get better now. He's also got his own crib all set up and so far he seems to like it! Now let's see if Bill and I can handle not having him sleeping in our room anymore :( HAHAHAHHA

Until next time!

~Karen, Bill & Charlie

Baby Train 066

2009-05-07T02:06:00.001-07:00

You'd think you'd get a manual or something.

Baby Train 065

2009-05-05T02:07:00.000-07:00

Who has time to decorate a Room when your pregnant? Who I tells yah who??

Baby Train 064

2009-04-30T01:17:00.001-07:00

It was serious freak out town those last couple of weeks. Now that the baby's here I look and think, boy what was I worried about? Then he poops and I remember.

6 months!!!

2009-04-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Happy half birthday Charlie!! It's blowing my mind that my little guy is 6 months old!!

What is Charlie up to these days? Well I'm glad you asked! He's now sitting up all by himself, he's still a little wobbly but he loves to sit on the ground and play with his toys. He's all about toys that make noise when he shakes them even though sometimes he gets a bit ahead of himself and throws his toys all over the place! He's still teething like crazy, no teeth yet though but I'm sure any day now (I hope!!). Everything goes into Charlies' mouth, and I mean everything! That's the first thing he does whenever he gets anything into his adorable little hands. He's also starting to love blankies and playing peekaboo, it makes him laugh like crazy! Charlie used to look into the mirror and smile and laugh like crazy, but I think he's catching on that it's not another baby but actually him because he reaches out and tries to touch the baby but ends up touching the mirror. He's onto us :)

Let's see what else...oh yes he's still growing like a weed! It seems like overnight he couldn't fit into any of his clothes anymore! So I'm just putting him into 12 month onesies and PJ's because I was tired of getting him half into something and finding out it's too short for him! He still fits into 6 month pants though thank goodness :) Overall he's still a great baby and such a cuddly little guy! It melts my heart everytime I pick him up and he gives me a "baby hug" and snuggles up :) Who knows any day now he might be on the move! He is doing better at tummy time (he used to hate it) and has managed to roll over a few times, but usually he just pushes his little baby butt in the air and kick around. But we know he wants to be on the move because when he's sitting on our laps he tries to scoot away.

As for us we're all moved into our new place and we LOVE it!! Just a few more things to unpack and we're good!!

Pictures coming soon!

~Karen, Bill & Charlie

Baby Train 063

2009-04-28T03:06:00.000-07:00

Well we finally got ourselves all moved in and set up in our new apartment. And here's a Baby Train for yah!!

Guest Strip By Lindsay

2009-04-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

Another awesome thanks to our friend Lindsay Smith for today's strip. Go check out her awesome artwork at http://cozmictwinkie.deviantart.com/ Thanks Lindsay!

Baby Train Guest Strip by Kyle

2009-04-13T23:19:00.001-07:00

A Big thanks to our good Friend Kyle Carroza for today's strip. You might know him as TVsKyle, go check out his awesome art work at http://tvskyle.deviantart.com/.

Baby Train Guest Strip

2009-04-09T09:34:00.001-07:00

A BIG thanks to Joey Mason for his fantabulous guest strip!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!! This is such a huge help during a crazy crazy week. Be sure to check out all of Joey's work at http://mr-representational.deviantart.com/

Woot woot!

Baby Train 063

2009-04-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

Due to moving and boxes and all that instead of a strip this week we have a Charlie collage! Regular strips will return next week!!

All the drawings were drawn by Bill except for the purple one which was done by our friend Lindsay! Isn't it adorable?!?! Find more of the adorableness at http://cozmictwinkie.deviantart.com/ Thanks Lindsay!!!!

We still need more guest strips for Baby Train and Good Times so keep 'em commin'!

Baby Train 062

2009-04-02T02:50:00.000-07:00

Doh

5 whole months!

2009-04-01T23:33:00.000-07:00

Wow so it's already been 5 whole months!! Charlie is doing great and as adorable as EVER! He now babbles all the time and melts our hearts with little coo's and ga's where he acts like he's talking right to us. He's also growing like a weed! He's already into the 6 month clothes and can even fit into some 9 month outfits! He loves to bounce in his little jumparoo we got for him and he's really mastering this whole eating thing and has added rice cereal, carrots, and sweat potatoes to his baby diet :) He's also in full blown teething as he's drooling like crazy and chewing on anything he can get his cute little hands on. Overall he's really melting our hearts and we love taking him places because he makes friends wherever he goes and loves meeting new people. Such a social bug! We recently went to the Zoo and Charlie LOVED it! He loved looking at the animals and was such a good baby!Until next month!

~Karen, Bill & Charlie

Baby Train 061

2009-03-31T02:21:00.000-07:00

But they're sooo Adorable!!

Baby Train 060

2009-03-26T00:51:00.001-07:00

EAT!!!

Baby Train 059

2009-03-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

Baby Shower, it a taboo word for guys.

Baby Train 058

2009-03-19T02:06:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness it's nothing but craziness here. We're busy packing and moving and there's so much stuff to think about about. So apologies in advance if some Baby Trains are late in being updated.

Baby Train 057

2009-03-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

Good old Brooklyn....heck of a guy...

Baby Train 056

2009-03-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

With just a dash of salt and a squeeze of lemon you'll have yourself a whole lot of yuck!

Baby Train 055

2009-03-10T01:41:00.000-07:00

Seriously, they need to teach a lamaze class to high school kids, that will scare them into celibacy.

Baby Train 054

2009-03-05T10:25:00.001-08:00

The horror! The horror!!

4 Months old!

2009-03-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

Can you believe Charlie is already 4 months old!? I can't. Wow does time fly! So here's an update for everyone!

We just got back from Charlie's first trip on a airplane! We went to Bill's cousin Jeremy's wedding out in Alabama and Charlie is a great travel buddy! He slept on the plane almost the entire way which was great and he had a great time meeting everyone in the family including baby Hugo who is only about a month and a half older than him.
He also enjoyed chewing on him as you can see :) The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we all had a great time.Doesn't he look dapper in his coat and hat? HAHAHA Here's a better look at his outfit;On another note Charlie's getting so big! At the last Dr. Appt he had he was 16 pounds but we know he's gotten bigger since then. He's got another appt. on the 10th so we'll see then. He does baby talk all the time now. He loves to talk it up! He's also learned how to do raspberries which is adorable! We do one to him and he tries to mimick us, it's SO cute!!

I hope you are enjoying the Baby Trains! We're thinking of putting them alltogether into a book once we're done. We'll keep you posted!

~Karen

Baby Train 053

2009-03-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

All these classes we went to made it seem like if we gave our baby formula we would hurting him. Of course he drinks mainly formula anyways

Baby Train 052

2009-02-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

Its Lamaze 101 with crazy aged hippie lady.

Baby Train 051

2009-02-24T04:24:00.000-08:00

Baby wonderland indeed

Baby Train 050

2009-02-19T02:48:00.001-08:00

Seriously, kids should be placed in protective bubbles till they're 5

Baby Train 049

2009-02-17T01:11:00.000-08:00

Ahh Family

2009-02-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

My mom is a nurse and god bless her some times she gives us waaaay too much information

Baby Train 047

2009-02-10T03:37:00.000-08:00

Its funny how when you have a completely different experience with something people seem to want to fit you into their anecdotes. Hey hey baby humor!!

*Edit* alright fixed the typo, back to your lives people, back to your lives.

Baby Train 046

2009-02-05T01:51:00.000-08:00

Ahh the best jokes always come from true stories. We just couldn't resist using this one.

Baby Train 045

2009-02-03T03:08:00.000-08:00

Ahh the irrational fears of knowing a baby's coming.

Baby Train 044

2009-01-29T00:54:00.000-08:00

How about a large portion of shut up, work's wonders

Baby Train 043

2009-01-29T00:53:00.000-08:00

Opps missed one so here's Tuesday's if you missed it.

2009-01-22T02:46:00.000-08:00

Those pregnancy help books and advice websites are both confusing and infuriating sometimes. They give you too much information if anything.

Baby Train 041

2009-01-19T23:01:00.001-08:00

I personally think Linguini is quite a distinguished name...

Baby Train 040

2009-01-14T22:43:00.001-08:00

It's a boy! But you already know that :)

Charlie's Sad Face

2009-01-13T01:36:00.001-08:00

This face is an instant tell that Charlie's about to do some fussin'

Baby Train 039

2009-01-13T01:29:00.000-08:00

This Strip makes me hungry.

Charlie sketch

2009-01-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a little sketch I did of Charlie. Unfortunately its more like him a few weeks ago, he's grown so much since I first started working on this, he looks completely different.

2009-01-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

We have survived the Holidays!!

2009-01-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Sorry I haven't updated in a while! It has been a crazy holiday season I tell you what! Poor Charlie got a bladder infection, but after a night at the ER and some antibiotics he's doing much better. We have a follow up appointment on Friday. Charlie really loves to take his medicine which is nice. I think it's because it's some new taste other than formula and milk :) So here's some pictures! We have a ton of great pictures so feel free to click on any of these pics and it should take you to my photobucket album and you can see alllll the pictures! Here's the highlights though, and check out the last link, it's a video of Charlie's first smiles! The video was taken a few weeks ago and I just now took the time to upload it...oops!!

Charlie's Smiling Video!!

Baby Train 037

2009-01-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

Huzzah finally got this done. An extra fussy baby was keeping daddy from getting his work done. But he's so cute I can't help but forgive him.

Baby Train 036

2008-12-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everybody, here's an early Baby Train for our Baby Blog followers, so we can go party with the Char meister.

Baby Train 035

2008-12-30T13:50:00.000-08:00

Whew a sick and gassy baby was making this one hard to finish.

Baby Train 034

2008-12-25T01:41:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas folks!! Now go open some presents!!!

2008-12-23T03:41:00.000-08:00

Whole lotta lame.

Baby Train 032

2008-12-18T01:01:00.000-08:00

I can't speak for Karen but honestly, I swear that's how it happened

Baby Train 031

2008-12-16T11:58:00.000-08:00

Boy did this get up late. The real baby was awake all night and making it hard to get anything done.

Baby Train 030

2008-12-11T04:16:00.000-08:00

This joke is making a killing among ultra-sound technicians ehh ehh? Seriously though what the heck is going on in one of those?

Baby Train 029

2008-12-09T02:57:00.001-08:00

Do the baby kick!!

Baby Train 028

2008-12-04T05:03:00.000-08:00

For everyone that says having children is magical, there's like 10 people that have nothing but doom and gloom to tell you.

Baby Train 027

2008-12-02T03:42:00.001-08:00

Pugs are cute. In their own squished face bugged eyed way.

2008-11-27T03:59:00.000-08:00

Nothing like family to help you "Relax" during the holidays. Happy Thanksgiving Folks!!

4 weeks old!

2008-11-26T17:41:00.000-08:00

Has it been a month already?!? Wow, how time flies when you're having fun :)

I adore this picture, and Charlie adores tummy time!

Baby Train 025

2008-11-25T02:44:00.000-08:00

We got this so much, everyone was like "hey you're like 6-6 you're baby should be huge!!!" And we'd be like "whatev's"

Baby Train 024

2008-11-20T02:35:00.000-08:00

Totally based of true event. It a while before Karen started showing.

Time for a doctor appointment!

2008-11-18T16:27:00.000-08:00

So Charlie went in for his check-up today and he looks great!! He's 21 1/2 inches long now and about 8.5 pounds! He's average in both height and weight which is fantastic! And there's no more jaundice at all. Woohoo!! Here's some pictures for ya;

We set up his bouncy chair which we got at the Baby Bash and Charlie LOVES it! Whenever he's up we put him in it and he hangs out and loves to look at the floral pattern. Then he usually goes right to sleep!

This is me trying to be creative :)

2008-11-18T01:46:00.001-08:00

Those kids are quick learners.

Baby Train 022

2008-11-13T00:33:00.000-08:00

Its a sad sad cycle.

Happy 2 week birthday Charlie!!

2008-11-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

2 weeks have really flown by! Charlie is already growing so fast!

We're starting to get the hang of the new baby schedule. And Charlie is being such a laid back baby. He can sleep through anything! Thank goodness!! Things are crazy but we're loving every minute!!

Proud Grammies!!

Baby Train 021

2008-11-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

When your pregnant, its a great excuse for anything. But its also a big pain in the butt.

Baby Train 020

2008-11-06T00:06:00.000-08:00

Honestly, I was a funny looking baby.

-Bill