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"...