Sickies

We have the sickies slash teething slash allergies going on here at the Charlton's. Seth and I took a trip to the docs yesterday because after multiple nights up screaming I wanted to know what was up. I thought possibly he might have an ear infection, but luckily they said it was a combo of teeth/allergies/cold! Fun fun! So we have been trying to keep Mr. Seth busy by taking walks, going to Super Walmart, and resting. He doesn't want to play too much.

This picture was an exception to the tears we have been facing in the past few days!

Today I have to head to work at 11am to attend a mentor workshop/lunch. I have been asked to be a mentor to a new teacher. I felt like that was an honor after only teaching a few years so I happily aggreed. Tomorrow back to the real grind. Superintendents Day starts at 7:35am this year. OUCH! So Ro will be gettng Seth up and out on his own for the first time.

This weekend Ro and I are going on a date and have a small cookout on Sunday. Just basically wrapping up the summer. It sure feels like fall here this week. It has been down right chilly! Well, I have to go and iron and shower before I head out! Happy weekend to all!

A Trip to Low-ville!

Yesterday we took a flying mini trip to visit my grandparents, Seth's GREAT-grandparents in Lowville. We stayed long enough to play a little, have some lunch, and take a walk. It was quite a productive morning.

Then Seth took a nice long nap and then we were off for a walk since we missed our daily walk in the morning. Ro called to inform me that he will be super late from work so in turn I rangled an invite to mom's for dinner. I love not having to cook and especially for one person. So that is what we had on the adgenda last night.

Today I am taking my mom out for lunch to say a great BIG thank you to her for all of her help this summer. I couldn't have made it through without her. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE (T/TH/SU) because Big Brother is on and I'm totally addicted to it this summer. I can't miss it and things are really heating up each passing week!

Forest Therapy (As Nina Calls It)!

Seth and I took my Mom, Stepdad Tom, and Justin on their first letterboxing experience and we had a blast. It was such a perfect day, cool and breezing, perfect day to walk in the woods. I have to first say that at the beginning of our walk we saw an animal in the distance and as we got closer and closer we noticed that it was a German Shepherd, so of course were scared to death. My Stepdad says, we'll go ahead, Justin you go first! So we got a good laugh out of that. Come to find out the owner was farther ahead so we felt much better. A German Shephard isn't something to mess around with and especially with a baby in a stroller.

Reaching in for the Box

Signing the Logbook

Chilling out and Taking it All In

Our Tough Men Taking Charge

So that was our afternoon of forest fun in a nutshell. My mom absolutely loved it and can't wait to do it again! Today we are laying pretty low. Ro golfed in the morning and Seth, Grammy, and I walked. My friend Ginger stopped by and we chatted for a while. Now Seth is napping and we are headed to church at 5pm. This will be Seth's third time to church so pray that he is good. If not oh well, I'll stand in the back and sway back and forth with him while my arms fall off!!!

Good Luck and Good Bye Uncle J

This has been a week full of last meals with Uncle J! My brother Justin is returning to college on Saturday morning so we have basically been eating our way through the week, lunches, dinners, snacks, you name it!

Last night we had our good bye dinner, Justin requested take out chinese and I made him his fav dessert, pistacchio torte (recipe stolen from Nina and John).

Seth is so so so ready to crawl, any day now!

Today we went down to Sackets to walk by the water and then have some sweet treats at Chrissy Beanz. It was an amazing day. The weather was cooler, breezy, and just gorgeous. You couldn't have picked a better day to sit and have some sweet treats in a picture perfect village.

My Uncle J and "The Godfather"

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To Uncle J: We wanted to say that we have all enjoyed seeing you and spending time with you this summer. You are going to do great this year at Colgate and we promise to come and visit you in October. We all need some winter Colgate gear. Work hard and play hard, enjoy every minute. We will miss you, but email and call anytime. We love you tons!

Random-ness!

Basically a little bit of nothing has been going on, but yet time keeps on passing by. Monday Seth, Grammy, and I went to story time for the last time this summer. I think that everyone assumes that we are all stay at home moms and they only schedule fun things like that during the week day. Story time and swim lessons are during the week day this fall so we aren't able to participate. Bummer!
Monday afternoon Seth and I headed up to my Dad's so that Seth could meet his Aunt Katie for the first time and play with his cousins Elise and Gwen. Of course he had a blast and he is so funny, he watched them and wants wants wants to chase and move after them, but isn't able to yet. I said that we better watch out this Christmas, it ought to be super crazy once he is mobile!

Monday night Uncle Justin came over and per his request we had quesadilla's, now called 'dillas in our house. Then we walked to get make your own sundaes.

Today I worked in the morning on my classroom and then Mom and Justin came down to Clayton to meet me for lunch and see my classroom. We stuffed ourselves, but we need to make room for homemade yummy meatloaf which my mom is making for dinner tonight. Basically it has been 2 days of eating in our family. Off for more food!

Surf and Turf Sunday

For Christmas, Pepsi sent us a Maine Lobster Direct surf and turf dinner for two as a gift. In the white cooler there were two lobster tails, two filet minons, clam chowder, seafood stuffing, and cheesecake. We just thought that this was the most amazing gift anyone had given us. Well, we basically forgot about it since Seth's arrival, but today we were riding in the car and I asked Ro what he'd like for our Sunday dinner and he said why don't we make our surf and turf meal! I thought that was a fabulous idea so here is a pictoral view of our meal! It was out of this world!

Roland's grill view!

Me pigging out!

The sweet taste of lobster in melted butter....AHH!!!

Other then our feast this evening we haven't been doing too much this weekend. Saturday was the Pepsi Clam Bake and it was fun. We ate tons of clams and other foods and tried to stay dry. Unfortunately it was a little bit of a rainy day, BUT we made the most of it! Seth also tried out a new sitter. Our next door neighbor watched Seth for the first time and they both did wonderful, granted she is in her 30's, but none the less all went well and we now have another sitter option!

Before I go I wanted to wish a belated (from Friday) HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Nina! We hope that you had a great day and we love you!

Farmer's Market

Well, we are halfway through the week, the teething week that is. Today we walked down to the Farmer's Market. We got some home grown cukes, my favorite, chatted with half of Watertown, and hung out on the grass while we ate our lunch. What a perfect summer morning!

Seth was fascinated by the turtles. We also learned an interesting tidbit, turtles love to eat anything red, they were eating cherry tomatoes!

Yes, I finally broke out the "Vote for Baby Pedro" T-shirt, I got tons of compliments on it!

Tonight I am going out to dinner with my friend Katie from high school. I should say, Dr. Clough. Katie just graduated from NYU and she is a dentist. She just got home from spending a month in Europe. So we are going to eat some good food and I can't wait to hear about all of her adventures. She went to 10 countries in a month! WOW! It will also be a Daddy and Seth bonding evening.

Nothing else much new to report, Seth's 2 bottom teeth are coming in slowly and he seems much better natured for the past 2 days. When you feel them they are super sharp, but when he smiles you really can't see them too well. Give them time, I can't wait though!

My brother Justin leaves to go back to college in about a week so we have been hanging out quite a bit. He wants to play beer pong with us before he leaves so we'll have to see what we can do. Too funny, I remember when we used to play all the time and now we are in bed by 10pm at the latest! Times are a changing!

The Weekend in Pictures

We have had a semi busy weekend, busy but not too busy. We had an amazing time with our friends Rich and Lori on Friday night. Our fondue feast was out of this world and I can't wait to do it again soon. We were completely stuffed, but somehow made room for the chocolate fondue dessert. Here are a few pics of our feast!

Rich and Lori fonduing away!

You almost missed your mouth there Ro!

This pic looks totally disgusting, but it had all sorts of yummies in the pot; shrimp, steak, zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms, you name it!

Saturday night Ro and I went out to dinner on Welsley Island and had a delicious meal. I had something called Tortellaci, it was shrimp and lobster stuffed tortellini with a creamy red sauce. SO GOOD! Ro had something called the catch of the day pot. It was a combo of clams, shrimp, scallops, and salmon all cooked together over linguini. It looked gross to me, but he loved it! Then we went mini golfing, we had fun, but we were super dissapointed. We went to the Bonnie Castle Greens mini golf and it has an American and Canadian side. It has always been a really nice place to go. Well, it is super ghetto now. The owner is too cheap to maintain it and he even shut off the water running through it so all you see is weeds and rocks where the water used to flow. We were bummed, but made the most of it!

Today Ro is in a golf tournament and Seth and I went to church and we have been relaxing this afternoon. Two of Seth's teeth are poking through so he has been in some pain today, luckily he took a nap this morning and he is napping still now this afternoon. When he awakens we are going to walk over to my moms for a bit and then come home and make dinner. Just your typical Sunday!

T.G.I> Fondue Fun!

I think that we might be becoming obsessed with fondue. Tonight we are having our second fondue party of the summer, but we are branching out tonight. We are not just having dessert fondue, but all of the courses of the meal will be fondue. I can't wait. For our main course we will be having two kinds of steak and shrimp, stuffed mushrooms, zucchini, and broccoli in tempura, and fruit with chocolate for dessert. Makes your mouth water doesn't it! I'll be sure to take pictures.

So here is my latest quandery, not even sure if that is the right spelling, but what the heck. My 6 1/2 month old son is a large boy, everyone who has seen pictures or seen him in person will agree. Well, he is becoming too heavy for the swing and basically it won't move. So why hasn't someone invented a swing for meatier boys yet! He loves it and will chill out while we eat dinner, but not for long. So I guess we will go back to screaming meal times! The trials and tribulations we face as parents.

I'm taking one of my closest friends, whom is also 8 months pregnant, to get a spa pedicure today. She has not idea, I just told her to come wearing capri pants and to be ready for anything. of course I'll treat myself as well, so tomorrow I will have pretty feet for at least a day!

I feel like I have ADD today, I'm writing all over the place about random things. I guess there is nothing really exciting going on right now. 3 weeks until school starts and it actually feels like fall today. Strange to go from 90 degrees to 60 in a week!

Well, I promise to have some fondue pics up this weekend for all to view!

Story time

I was a bad mom and forgot to take my camera to story time yesterday. It was our second time and Seth was so good. He actually paid attention to one of the books, he looked so deep in thought, it was hysterical. It is so need, they sing, read books, and do little finger puppet skits. Most of all, he is able to interact with other little guys and he loves just checking everyone out. The scary thing is that I was talking to some of the other moms and asking them the ages of their little ones, 8 months, 10 months... Scary thing... Seth was just as big if not bigger then them and he is 6 1/2 months!!!!!

Three and a half weeks until school starts and I'm thinking, where did the summer go because it is kind of a blur of emotions. We have lots of fun activities planned for the next few weeks before reality sets back in.

The big Charlton announcement, NO I'm not pregnant. We have purchased an older Jeep to have not only for the winter, but because we are on the lookout for a boat for next summer. It is something we have always talked about, but we now want to make that reality. You only live once, what the heck be happy!

This week is our 4 year anniversary so Ro is taking me out on Saturday night for dinner. He is planning the whole thing so it ought to be fun! Grandma and Papa Charlton are watching Seth while we go to dinner! We are also having a 3 course fondue dinner at our house with friends on Friday night so that will be fun! Pics to come!

IHC Class of '96: 10 Year Reunion!

What a busy busy weekend, but what fun. We had our ups, downs, sick times, and healthy times. This weekend will definately be remembered.
Friday night was the first night of my ten year reunion and we went out to the bars for the first time in literally 15 months so needless to say we didn't think with our heads too much. I caught up with some old high school friends, sang, danced and drank WAY too much and paid for it in the morning. We needed to remind ourselves that we are not 21 any longer, but it was fun to think we were for one night!

Saturday I went to my girlffriend Erin's baby shower and I have never seen someone so appreciative in all my life. She is sooooo excited to have this baby and this baby is so lucky to have his/her new parents.

When I got home from the baby shower we packed up ourselves and the baby and we were off. My mom offered to keep Seth overnight so that we could have a mini get-a-way. We booked a room at the Riveredge, it was the most amazing room overlooking the river with all the boats surrounding us, it was perfect. So perfect that I wanted to skip my reunion and sit out on the balcony all night!

I want to say a very special thank you to my mom for taking on the task of keeping Seth over night, along with Seth for being such a great baby for Grammy!! We were so appreciative for a night with the two of us! It was great!

Here are some reunion pics of my closest friends!

This is mny best guy friend from high school, Alex. He and his girlfriend Laura drove in from D.C. and we were so happy to see them and catch up. Alex was a Capitol Police Officer in D.C. and has just taken a job at the Capitol building doing security clearance for members of Congress. I try to understand it, but it is above my head. They even stopped over to meet Seth on Sunday!

This is Katie, my maid of honor, and now Dr. Clough, she just graduated from NYU Dental School and she has moved back to good old Watertown to work for 2 years and is getting married in '08.

Saturday night was fun, but a little overwelming at the same time. It was fun to see some old faces and catch up, but even more interesting to see how some people grew up and others were the same. It was also interesting to see the same old cliques sticking together. I guess we will now wait another 5 years to see what happens at our 15th!

This is Ro with my 2 bestest friends from high school Katie and Alex. If you can believe it, Alex used to have long curly hair and I used to put it up in pig tails, he hates it when I tell people that, but hey it's memories!!

I hope that this catches everyone up to speed on our lives for the past week. Today Seth and I went to story time at the library and then for breakfast at Chessy (Nin, I had a bagel for you!!). Now he is napping and I'm getting some little things done for myself!!

Wine Tasting in 100 Degree Heat are We Crazy?

Tuesday morning I had to get part one of my crown for my tooth at 8am. I sat in the dentist chair for 2 hours, the only good part of that was that it was about 100 degrees outside and air conditioned inside. That was the only perk to the 2 hours of drilling, impressions, and gook in my mouth! Seth went to Pat's for the day so my mom and I made arrangements to go wine tasting at the T.I. Winery and then to go to lunch in Clayton. We had such a great time despite the hot hot temps and I was also able to show her my new classroom. After I picked up Seth we went to Kmart to get a few more little gifts for my friend Erin's baby shower basket. I thought, let's waste some time in an air conditioned building before we head over to Grammies pool. WRONG! It was so hot in Kmart that I literally came out dripping sweat. Bad idea, but good intentions! So then we headed to the pool to cool down and home for some cool bath time, bottle and bed in a/c rooms. I can only imagine what our electric bill will be this month, but at this point I don't care as long as I'm cool.

Today is supposed to be another killer day so I'm not sure what we will do to get through it, but we will find something.