Workin it at Dad's Work

I took the boys to visit John-Paul at work yesterday, because some of his co-workers had been wanting to meet Miles, and also because we really needed to get out of the house :) Charley made himself at home right away, running into people's offices and taking things, and Miles hung out in his carseat most of the time until he decided to cry really loudly while John-Paul was on a business call.

Mr. Miles Daniel Nelson, the youngest Versatables employee ever.

Charley working so hard at Dad's computer that he needed a snack.

Stormer was a good sport and let C. run around his office and touch everything.

Charley decided he was a little chilly, so he put on John-Paul's co-worker Vy's leopard print Snuggie :)

Charley speaking to some important clients for John-Paul's co-worker Sam.

C. hard at work "measuring" his little brother.

The Nelson Household

Here's a little glimpse of whats been going on with the Nelson family lately...

Charley got a handsome haircut from Dad. Here he is in the mohawk phase of the haircut process.

And Miles has been snoozing....well and crying and eating a lot too, but he looks the cutest when he's snoozing :)

Visitors for Mister Miles

Here are a few pics from some of the first visitors Miles got when we were home from the hospital.
Miles' cousin Braden, Aunt Angela, Aunt Maria, and his Grandad came to meet him for the first time, and they all thought he was pretty darn cute :) There are also pics from this day on Braden's blog.


Then, later on in the day Miles got even more visitors when his Grammie and Pops, G.G.(great grammie) and John, Jennie and Jonathan and Matt came over. It was a big day for him!

Happy Halloween!

Luckily, we got home from the hospital with Miles just in time to celebrate Halloween! With a five-day-old, a sixteen-month-old, and an exhausted mom and dad, we didn't do anything too wild and crazy, but Charley did dress up and go trick-or-treating for the first time. He didn't really care about the candy, but he did love running around the neighborhood and inspecting everyone's decorations. And Miles slept through the whole thing :)

A cute but naughty zebra, playing with his Dad's computer which he knows is a "no-no."


Trying to get a pic of Charley and Miles together wasn't the easiest thing to do...


John-Paul is thinking, "What did I just get myself into?!?" :)


Checking out some spooky skulls


Looking at more scary decorations with Dad.


Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

The Newest Nelson Has Arrived!!

Miles Daniel Nelson was born last night, October 26th, 2009 at 9:46pm at Glendale Adventist Hospital. He weighed in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and is 20 inches long and turned out just right!

He was not supposed to be born until next Monday at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, but he decided that he wanted to meet his big brother Charley so bad that he decided to give us all a major scare and throw Kristen into labor while she was up in La Crescenta visiting her parents.

Kristen's dad Dan, was going to drive Krissy down to Hoag but Miles could not wait any longer and Glendale Adventist was the closest hospital so that's where he was born.

Kristen & Miles are doing great (and so am I), and here is a picture to enjoy...many, many more will follow!

Watch out animals....

When Charley enters the petting zoo, you can almost see the animals thinking, "oh great. Not him!" Charley does a lot more chasing than petting, and to the animals' dismay, he doesn't seem to really get tired of it. He loves it! We'll probably have to make a few more trips here before the fair leaves :)

C. chatting with a baby goat.

Luckily the llamas are pretty nice, because Charley has no fear and puts his hands right in their faces.

Doing a little goat chasing...

A young sheep herder in training.

Taking a little break from all the running around to check out the cute bunnies.

Pa's Pumpkin Patch

We've made a few trips to the pumpkin patch by our house this month, and Charley loves it. He could just run around picking up pumpkins for hours, and he is also a big fan of chasing the animals around the petting zoo.

Dad and C.

C.'s first pony ride

C. and Dad on the train ride

C. and Pops on the train ride, Charley takes the rides very seriously :)

Happy Autumn!!

Time for a Haircut

Last week I took Charley to get his hair cut at the barber shop on Main St. John-Paul has cut his hair before, but this was his first "professional" haircut. I don't know if the barbers had much experience with cutting the hair of very active one-year-olds, but it was an adventure.

C. sat in my lap so I could try to hold him still and bribe him with snacks.

C. showing the barber how he can comb his own hair :)



C. with his official "haircut certificate."

Shaving already?!

Since Matt practically lives at our house as our other child, it's not out of the ordinary for him to be over here before he goes to work doing laundry, shaving, getting ready, etc. And Charley, who has taken to carrying around Matt's senior portrait when he's not here, wants to do everything his uncle is doing. So today when I noticed that the house was a little too quiet, I went and discovered that Charley was practicing "shaving" with Matt. Charley took the whole shaving thing very seriously and I couldn't even get him to crack a smile for pictures. What a little grown-up!

C.'s new favorite toy... not annoying at all

A big thank you to Aunt Lisa for this nice and quiet new toy :)

Family Reunion in San Antonio Part 1

This past week Charley took his first airplane ride and his first trip out of California to attend a family reunion for my Nonna's side of the family in San Antonio, Texas. Charley kept us on our toes, and made sure my mom, dad, and I didn't try to do anything crazy like read or relax on the plane. Overall, he did pretty well, and we didn't get too many dirty looks from the other passengers :)

Charley traveled through airport in style, riding on my dad's carry-on bag.

Charley has his Grampie wrapped around his finger!

Really happy to be on his first airplane ride ever :) Luckily, a nice little boy sat in front of us on the way there who didn't mind Charley's amusing game of slamming his tray table up and down over 500 times...

We were off to the family reunion dinner shortly after arriving in San Antonio. Charley was a big hit with the Porterfield side of the family. This is the four generation picture: My Nonna, my Dad, me, and Charley.

Immediately after arriving at our hotel, Charley made a beeline for the bathroom. I knew he was being too quiet!

Strolling with Grammie and Julie on the Riverwalk.

Check back for Family Reunion trip Part 2: the Alamo!

July is flying by!

It seems like July just got here, and now it's almost August! Where is the summer going? We've been keeping busy with beaching, birthdays, weddings, and a whole lot of Charley chasing :) Here's a little slide show of what Charley has been up to lately:

Getting ready for the beach.

Happy Birthday Grammie!

Some pool time with Dad and Uncle Matt.

Good thing Charley left the pool before things got crazy...

Getting a horsey ride in Montrose

Charley snacking on his toes...


Charley was my pre-wedding date while John-Paul was hanging out with Eric and the groomsmen.

John-Paul and I on the way to Eric and Rose's wedding.

Announcing A Newer Nelson

When we started this blog, we called it The Newest Nelson instead of Charley's Blog because we had a strong feeling he wasn't always going to be the newest Nelson in our family. Although Charley James has held the title of The Newest Nelson for just over one year (his 1st birthday was on June 22nd), as many of you may already know, Charley is going to have a sibling in late October or early November. We decided to find out if it is a boy or a girl this time since it will make proper planning a lot easier, so without further ado, we'd like to present the first official photos of Charley's soon-to-be little brother! We will refer to him as Baby Bean from now on since we have no idea what we're going to name him yet.

Yes, we're sure he's a boy!

His "cute" little face

In the meantime, since Charley James is technically still the boy of the household and we don't want him to feel left out, here are some pictures from his 1st birthday party and his first vacation with Aunt Angela, Uncle Matt, Cousin Braden, Aunt Maria, and Uncle Billy. We stole these pictures from Braden's blog because Braden's Mom is such a talented photographer!

Happy Graduation Betsy!

Last weekend we took a day trip to Santa Barbara for my cousin Betsy's graduation from UCSB. We all had a delicious brunch at the Bacara and celebrated Betsy's big accomplishment :) The highlight of the day was getting to meet a hawk and two baby owls that the resort uses as "pest control" to keep away seagulls. The owls were only three weeks old and already huge!

Charley petting his owl buddies


Charley is always happy when he's with his Grampie, because he does whatever Charley wants him too!

Getting in some walking practice...he's so close! He'll take a step on his own every once in a while, and I think he's going to be walking all over the place pretty soon...

Checking out the hawk with Grampie.

Haircut + chocolate pudding = a big mess!

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John-Paul gave Charley his first haircut last week! It was a very messy endeavor, but it looks really cute :)

Water Baby

Charley has been preparing for summer by playing in the water every chance he gets!

C. trying out his floaty for the first time. He only liked it if Matt would pull him around the pool super fast :)

Swimming with Sofia, Ava, and Auntie Jennie. Jennie had her hands full!

All decked out in his beach gear from grammie.

Hanging out in his hippo pool.

Mind Your Peas & Blues

For the last few days, it's just been Charley James and me hanging out in Seal Beach because Kristen and the rest of the family is in Arkansas for JD & Rachel's wedding (CONGRATULATIONS!). I decided it would be a good idea to show some proof that I'm doing a stellar job acting as a temporary single dad by posting some pictures of Charley eating a couple of his favorite foods. It's a little hard to see in the picture because I'm a better father than I am a photographer, but here's a picture of CJ enjoying some frozen peas and blueberries and then a picture of the 2 men of the Nelson household.

It's been a while but we're back!

We took a little blog break but now we're back with a vengeance!

Charley's been keeping busy doing some modeling work for our friend Danielle's new baby clothes business. She makes and sells super cute monster onesies, and you can go check them out at her website mylilmonsters.

It's hard work being this cute :)

My Two Favorite Guys

Charley hanging out at the beach with his favorite guy in the whole world, his Dad :)

Going Swinging

Today Charley and I hit the beach playground to check out the swings. Even though he's still a little small for them, Charley liked hanging out and swinging. He was especially fascinated by the big kids at the playground, and would just sit and stare at them climbing on the play equipment and going down the slides. I think he was a little jealous :) It's hard to imagine that one day soon Charley will be the one running around and jumping all over the playground!

Happy Valentines Day!

It's been pretty cold and rainy here the past few days and Charley was getting pretty tired of staying inside all cooped up. I had the idea of bringing out some Valentines supplies to make Valentines cards for our friends and relatives. We did have a lot of fun, but between making sure Charley didn't ingest any heart doilies or red glitter and trying to not get smacked by paint brushes (which Charley thought made great drum sticks), we didn't actually get around to making any real Valentines. We just decorated Charley instead! So consider this a virtual Valentine to you from Charley with lots of love!!! XOXO

Thanks for the Valentine Auntie Robyn!!

Thats my Valentine. Yup, the guy with the hearts on his face :)

Charley giving his serious pose.

Charley's version of arts and crafts:

mmmm! Valentine hearts taste pretty good!

Rockin out with the Boys

On Thursday, Charley got a visit from his cousin Braden and we all had so much fun! Charley couldn't get enough of his cool, older cousin and tried to climb all over him. Braden thought Charley's toys were pretty fun and he can't wait until Charley gets older and can keep up with him. John-Paul got his guitar out, and Braden and Charley loved rocking out to the classics like "twinkle twinkle little star" and "itsy bitsy spider." They both tried out strumming the guitar a little too (well Charley mostly hit it). I'm thinking maybe a family band is in their future?? :)
B. and C. checking out the guitar.

Braden's favs were "the wheels on the bus" and the ABC's. He was rocking out!

Jennie and I told John-Paul he should start a career as the next Raffi :)

Charley and Uncle Matt, or "Hunkle Matt" as Matt likes to call himself

Braden tore himself away from singing long enough to give Angela a kiss good-bye.

Hanging out with the girls

Charley loved hanging out with Sofia and Ava at Sofia's 5th birthday party. Ava couldn't get enough of "baby charley" and was very excited to hold him :) We want Sofia and Ava to get a blog soon, so we can see all the exciting things they are up to in Shanghai.

We also loved getting a visit from cousins Ari and Maddie a few weeks ago. Charley was a big flirt, and he hopes they can come back for a visit soon, now that Ari has her license and a car! woo hoo!

Charley "Danger" Nelson

In most cases, the sight of a fire truck conjures up feelings of safety and security...in our house, it represents risky, dangerous, unacceptable behavior, courtesy of Charley James.

How unsafe can a brightly colored playpen be anyway? After all, we use this area to contain the C-Man so he doesn't hurt himself in other areas of our home. Well, thanks to his wonderful Aunt Maria & Uncle Billy, and the addition of a toy fire truck that he loves (and his parents want to throw out of the window due to the cacophony of sounds it produces), Charley discovered a way to use his new toy as a step stool to climb out of his enclosure.

As displayed by the incriminating photos below, our barely 7 month old stuntman figured out a way to climb on the seat of his truck, stand up, and reach for the adjacent desk as a means of escape or other form of mischief. This was accomplished in literally under one minute of silent determination while both of his attentive parents sat oblivious approximately 5 feet away.

Part of me was overflowing with pride as I witnessed my son's ingenuity, while the other part of me was simply horrified...

Beach Day in January!?!

It has been beautiful, warm, and sunny here in Seal Beach for the past few days...perfect beach weather. It's kinda weird weather for January, but we're not complaining :) We decided to take advantage of this crazy winter weather, so we walked across the street and had a Mommy and Charley beach day (well it was more like a beach 20 minutes until C. started trying to eat the sand and the trip ended). Charley seemed to like putting his toes in the sand and the ocean, and he also loved watching seagulls and pelicans.


Sandy Feet!!

Just hanging out :)

Hello 2009!

We took a little blog break over the holidays, and are back to report that we had a great time and that Charley loved every minute of his first Christmas and got super spoiled with presents :) Lately, he has been crawling everywhere and pulling himself up on all the furniture. We can't keep up with him! Here are some pictures of Charley enjoying his first holiday season:
Visiting Nana on Christmas with Aunt Maria. Charley had fun showing off and crawling for Nana. Charley also loves the firetruck he got from Aunt Maria and Uncle Billy :)

















Charley modeling his new beanie from Grammie











Charley loved his new rocking horse from Auntie Jennie












C. and I loved getting a visit from my old roomies from college Jessie and Jen. Charley can't take his eyes off Jessie in this pic, what a flirt!













Charley out with Grammie on January 1st wishing all the neighbors Happy New Years!

Only 8 Days Until Charley's First Christmas!

Charley caught wind about all of the gifts he's getting for Christmas and got super excited! The only thing that kind of freaks him out are all of the weird teddy bear ornaments hanging from our Christmas tree. Maybe by next year he'll understand that his Dad had nothing to do with it...




<-----(weird bear alert)

Piano Man

Charley was getting musical with his dad on Thanksgiving while they were waiting for the girls to get ready. He loved playing the piano, well it can't really be called playing yet, more like pounding, but musical talents do run in the family so we'll see... :-)

Charley the piano prodigy?? Well, at least Grampie thinks so! :)

More Peas Please!

Charley tried out a little bit of real food on Monday for the first time. The doctor told us we could start him on baby food, so we gave him some peas with his rice cereal and he loved it!

Charley finished his peas and he liked eating so much that he wanted to eat everything in sight...

He tried to eat his spoon,

he tried to eat his pacifier,

he even tried to eat his own fingers!

This is a picture from a book that we read to Charley that Aunt Theresa gave him. I hope Charley doesn't get any ideas!!!

Charley James the Jumping Boy

Charley has been trying out his jumper the past few days and he likes being in it for about 5 minutes. He hasn't quite figured out the jumping part, but he likes hanging out and playing with the toys.

Just a handsome picture :-)

Little Bat Boy

Charley was a baby bat for his very first Halloween. In the picture below, he's showing off his new favorite trick, sticking out his tongue. He thinks it's hilarious and he will do this over and over again.
FYI: John-Paul isn't really growing a moustache, it was for his costume :)

Happy Halloween!!

Charley and I are getting ready to get his costume on and go visit Jessica at her firm where they are letting friends and family come trick or treating in the office. Charley won't be trick or treating quite yet, he'll just be looking super cute. I will post pictures of his real Halloween costume soon, but until then here are a few pics of when Charley was trying on part of his dad's costume...this is what happens when John-Paul and Matt get a hold of Charley :)

charley "the cave-baby" nelson

charley has a couple halloween engagements to attend this year so he needs a variety of costumes to display. he went for the cave-baby look this saturday at his aunt jennie's party to match his cave-woman mom, but he has a surprise costume to debut this friday night!

peek a boo!

no, that's not the cutest muslim woman in the world wearing a burka, that's charley james peeking out of his towel after a nice relaxing bath. we've found that charley actually loves taking baths and he's also taking a liking to nudism, so since he already runs the house, we let him frolick around in no more than a skimp towel as much as he pleases. his aunt jennifer's halloween party is in a few days and we still haven't decided what charley james should be for his very first halloween...any ideas??

Happy October Everyone!!!

Charley is getting excited early about his first Halloween ever. Right on October 1st he started wearing his all his cute Halloween gear, but we're still deciding what Charley should dress up as for Halloween.

Cutest little pumpkin ever

Charley's mummy outfit :)

charley james is cute...here is the footage to prove it

Charley's first trip to kindergarten!!

On Friday Charley visited his Grammie's kindergarten class at St. Ignatius School, and boy was he a hit!! Grammie brought him in for show and tell and the students and teachers all loved him. He especially loved flirting with the girls and showing off his cute smiles as you can see in these pictures :)

:)

Aunty Jennie has once again been working hard on her "Charley impression"...

The Many Moods of Charley James

Happy

Surprised

Relaxed

Thoughtful

Scared

Angry!

Yay Peter!!

We've all been watching the olympics for the last two weeks and we were so proud to see Peter get a silver medal last night. Charley was extra proud to be related not only to one of the "sexiest olympians" but also a silver medal winning water polo champion! So proud in fact, that he decided to make sure he and his mom and dad were awake to watch all the games live, especially the 4:40 am and 12:40 am ones :-) What a good boy! Here are some pics of him wearing his USA onesie to cheer Pete on.

Charley and Dad time

Charley loves hanging out with his dad :)

there's a new sheriff in town...

due to the fact that charley james runs the nelson home like an outlaw sheriff from the wild wild west, we figured it was time to make it official so that nobody makes the mistake of accidentally crossing him. not only does he look like a natural in his newest gear, he seems to thoroughly enjoy wearing his stetson and hollerin' yeeeeeehaaaaaaa! now all he needs is a pistol, some boots, spurs, and a small dog to ride...

the longest, i mean best month ever!

the newest nelson isn't so new anymore as charley james turned 1 month old today! charley insisted on party favors and a cake, and since he is rapidly becoming a spoiled little man, we complied. he also insists that we all sit in the rocking chair when it's time for him to be rocked, so of course we do that too. happy 1 month birthday charley james nelson!!

beanie babies are back

charley james seems to like most of the beanies that people bought him as gifts, so his dad (that's me) crocheted him one! no, you didn't read that incorrectly, kristen doesn't actually know how to crochet, but i do thanks to my wonderful nana who taught me when i was a kid. charley is already incredibly handsome, and i think his new beanie really brings out his best features. we'll try to update this page more than once every week or so, but for now, enjoy the new pictures!

independence day had a new meaning this year

as a 4th of july present this year, kristen's parents offered to keep charley in their room overnight so we could attempt to achieve a few consecutive hours of sleep for the first time in almost 2 weeks. we considered the offer for approximately 1.5 seconds and gladly accepted. they claim he wasn't too mischievous during the night but i think they were just being nice :) charley got accustomed to wearing shades during his stay in the hospital so we gave him some patriotic star sunglasses to help celebrate the fourth. we returned home today and all charley wanted to do was kick back on the couch with his favorite "i love bob marley" one piece that his uncle matt bought him and watch some tv.

intensity runs in the family

For some reason Charley seems to behave way better for other people than his mom and dad lately, but he's pretty cute so we'll let it slide.... When his Aunt Jennie comes over he's always a little angel, but Jennie finally got to see his intense side the other day and she sympathized with him :)

summertime and the livin's easy...well sort of

now that we are back at home in seal beach, charley is getting more accustomed to life with krissy and me. that's not to say that he is making life a walk in the park, but he is the most fabulous addition to our home that i can ever imagine. i always wondered what was going on in the middle of the night when most people are sound asleep in this town, and now i know! after hangin' out with the local owls and other nocturnal creatures in the area, we took charley on a walk down main street and made a few stops in some of the local shops today. as i suspected, he was a big hit with the people who got to see him in his stroller and of course, some of the other parents around here got a little jealous when they saw just how cute he is. here are a few of the photos we took of charley at home doing what he does best...being a handsome little man.

back home

after 4 very long days in the hospital, we are back home in seal beach with our new addition. let's see how much the neighbors like the sound of the loudest baby in the universe!

charley and the jaundice factory

charley and kristen both got a little sick with a fever yesterday and charley had to take it one step further and get a moderate case of jaundice. our room got a little more crowded with his new tanning salon, which he absolutely hates, but things are looking a lot better today. enjoy a picture of the most beautiful mother and son combo in the world and a few pics of charley in his tanning bed wearing some sweet shades!