Meeting Great-Grandpa Cecil

Last weekend was a very special weekend for our family. Charlotte is named after my dear grandmother, Charlotte Rita Bosworth. Grandma Charlotte was quite an amazing woman who passed away shortly before I found out I was pregnant. She and Grandpa Cecil have quite a story to tell, they lived a life that all of us should aspire to follow. They fell in love before Grandpa left for World War 2 and spent almost 4 years apart awaiting his return. One of my favorite stories about them is that they both joined the Catholic church during that time without knowing that the other one had done the same. (Clearly no i-phones or facebook!!) I believe that God brought them to each other and to Him and had an amazing plan for their life. They were married for almost 63 years before Grandma passed away last spring. They had 8 children in 11 years and raised them on what He provided. Their priorities were God, family and work. They sent them all to Catholic school and went to church every Sunday. They had 2 bedrooms for their kids, one for the 4 boys and one for the 4 girls. They eventually had 19 grandchildren and now have 12 great-grandchildren with 3 more on the way (if I am counting right)! They lost one of their babies to cancer at the age of 30, my Uncle Steve. They were never quite the same again, always missing a piece of their heart. But they picked themselves up, knew that they would see him again someday and carried on. They are proud of their family and they should be. Everytime I call Grandpa I get the update on what everyone is doing these days. He always says, "We've had a good life, just a few bumps along the way." I love spending time with Grandpa and would give anything to do it more often. It is hard for me to see him without Grandma, it is easy to see that another piece of his heart is missing. He has a great sense of humor at 86, is always offering everyone else a hand and has great stories to tell if you have time to listen. I am so thankful that Charlotte got to meet her great-grandpa Cecil. By the way, he keeps on mentioning that the name Cecil is still available. It cracks me up. Grandpa has an extra soft spot for little Miss Charlotte. He said that she is the prettiest little girl he has ever seen before (which made her mama cry). Quite a compliment coming from someone who has been around for 86 years. I wonder if her name makes him a little biased... Here are some pics of the fun:


We got to spend the weekend at our favorite spot, the lake!!!!

Lotte is finally big enough for her little turtle!

First fish!! The boys had a big fishing trip Saturday morning and fried us up some yummy dinner that night!!

Playing with Pops after he got in from work

Playin' in her pool

Playtime with Dada (which isn't too often right now during football season, they both enjoyed their time together!)

Swimming with Nana

Happy 26th birthday Uncle Vinny!!! We are so happy that we got to spend it with you! (Note... can of beer, kethcup bottle and single match in the cake... so Gun Barrel City and soooo Vinny's b-day!!)

Fisherman coming in from an evening troll

Watchin' for the boys to come in... love it.

Playing with Dada before bed

One of my favorite pics - Grandpa and Charlotte

And then she decided to chew on the oxygen...

Family pic with the celebrity

3 generations

Do you think they're related at all?!?!

Love my Grandpa Cecil!!

Milestones

I have not been good at all about documenting Charlotte's milestones so before I forget them all, I decided to get them written down!!

First smile - 5 weeks
Rolled over - 4 1/2 months
Sat up - 6 months
First 2 teeth - 6 1/2 months
Army crawl - 6 1/2 months
Real crawl - 8 months (last weekend at Nana's!!)
Pulling up - 8 months
Push up to hands and feet - 8 months
Waved bye bye - today!!! (8 1/2 months) - fyi... other firsts today, first yogurt, first chick-fil-a chicken and the first time I brushed her HAIR after her bath!!! Yay!!!!!

My sweet girl is learning new things everyday, I think this is my favorite age so far (although I say that every month!) She "talks" all day long and she is so happy. The temper is much better and she only cries if she wants to go to bed or wants out of the car seat. She understands "no" and stops what she is doing when I say it, but turns to me and cracks up... uh oh. She has this new shy face where she puts her bottom lip out and puts her head down when somebody new says hi to her, it is sooooooo adorable. Macy is still her favorite and her dad comes in a close second for getting smiles. She loves Miss Martha and never cries when Mommy leaves for work which makes Mommy's life soooo much better. Her favorite toys are her leap frog table and her books - she turns the pages herself, so cute. She loves attention from her grandpas and loves watching big kids play. She has become a total food snob and only eats her homemade food from Martha, no gerber for her. And there is one person's arms who are still the absolute best for holding and those are her mama's. I dread the day that she wants me to put her down and "do it herself"... I know it won't be long. For now I will just continue to spoil her :)

8 month pic

Labor Day Fun

After a rough Thursday for both of us, I sent Lauren a few texts joking that her and Owen should come visit and she would write back, "ha ha I wish". Finally I called her that night and convinced her to change her weekend plans and by Friday at noon they were southbound on 35!!! I was so excited to spend the weekend with them!! We had so much fun as usual. The kids are starting to interact more which was soooo adorable. My favorite part was when Charlotte would go crazy with her carseat toy, then Owen would laugh hysterically at her, and then she would stop and look over at him and crack up. It was so cute to see them make each other laugh. We had plenty of fun and some much needed rest for all of us. Thank you so much Lauren and O for driving down to see us, we are already looking forward to the next trip!

We started the weekend out with dinner at Waterloo so Owen could get all of his energy out on the playground after being in the car all afternoon, he loved it! Then we headed to watch the Knight's play some football! The kids loved being outside and playing on the field. Owen is ready to be one of the big boys and play some football - we will have to bring him a ball to play with next time! These pics are terrible (taken with the iphone) but I had to include them!

Owen with Uncle/Coach Sammie at halftime

Charlotte's 3rd quarter nap with Aunt Em - she also came in town to visit Jeanne Ann for the weekend, we decided it was sister's weekend!!

Saturday morning we headed to Zilker Park and played on the playground, rode the train, played in the water and had a picnic lunch. Charlotte slept through her very first train ride!!

Playing in the rocks

Watching O's every move... and ready to be a big girl so she can play in the water too!

Playing in Barton Springs - Owen is a true Austinite now!!

It is totally impossible to get a picture of these 2 both looking at the camera (and yes, Charlotte is eating rocks!)

Owen's first (and only) bite of a snowcone!!

Playing at JaJa and Papaws - thanks to them and Aunt Em for the wonderful surf and turf dinner and swim, we had fun!

Running in the fountains at the Hill Country Galleria

Favorite weekend pic on the swing

Go Knights!!!!

Charlotte's first Regents football game was a success!! She loved being her daddy's cheerleader and clearly a good luck charm as they kicked some St. Stephens bootie! Thanks to Aunt Lauren for the precious little dress for her first season, I think we will have to have one made for all of her sisters! She slept on my shoulder for most of the first half then woke up just in time to watch the cheerleaders. She was mesmerized by all of the dancing and shiny pom pom's!! We stayed until the end of the game (10:15!) and she was still as happy as can be, but we weren't even out of the parking lot and she was passed out in her seat. It took 5 hours of napping to recuperate on Saturday! Looking forward to another win tomorrow night against St. Andrews!