Cut it!

Is 25 months a long time to wait to get your daughter's first hair cut? Because that's how long it took before Avery got hers. Given, she didn't have hair until she was about 6 months, but still it was time. Just look at this rats nest!

I knew that this day was coming soon as every morning Avery would have screaming fests as I tried to rake through her snarles. I decided to talk to her about a possible hair cut. She shut it down immediately. I kept mentioning it to her, and little by little she decided it would be OK. I'm not going to lie, I had to convince myself as well because I didn't want to cut her first little baby hair off, but we were both just gonna have to do it!

Jen, our neighbor across the street, has a little studio in her basement. We walked over there with bribes of suckers if she was a good girl. And a good girl she was! I have never seen her sit so still in my life. Maybe she should get a hair cut every Sunday at church?

Here are the after pics

A well deserved sucker (for both of us!)

Twas the nightmare before Christmas...

And a nightmare it was!







This is the dog...



Kijo



This is the friend who asked me to watch her beloved dog while she underwent labor

A little background:

Alisha and Orson have been our really good friends throughout medical school. They are amazing people. They have had Kijo since 1st year of school and honestly, they probably treat that dog better than most people treat their kids.

Back to the story:

I was happy to help when she asked if I'd be on call for when she went into labor. Kijo is the easiest dog on the planet to watch, she's almost like a cat (I'm sure Alisha would kill me if she reads this comparison). She never barks, she is calm and is content to just be. She is a little on the shy side though, and a couple of times Kijo would go up to my bedroom and hide under the end table by our bed. So when the call came from Alisha I was ready for the easy task.

Sunday night:

Travis was working that day so it was just Kijo, Avery and me. It was getting close to dinner time and also close to walking Kijo time. I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and put dinner on the stove then take Kijo for a walk. I know you are probably thinking what is coming next, but you are wrong. No, a fire didn't start in my house. But yes, when we got back, I had burned the noodles that had been cooking on low. It stunk pretty bad so I had to open all the doors and windows (they all had screens mind you.) I think you can see where this story is going. Travis gets home from work, we eat dinner (don't worry, I didn't serve burnt noodles). We hang out for a couple of hours, go visit neighbors, etc. When we get back to our house I decide to take Kijo out for a walk. Kijo is not in the living room. Kijo is not in her usual hiding spot in our bedroom. Kijo is nowhere to be found. We search the house for several minutes. I start getting a panicky feeling.

I have to start telling this story in 3rd person perspective because I felt like I was having an out of body experience:

Travis points out that the screen door was open. Milli really starts to panic, she hadn't seen Kijo since Travis came home 2 hours earlier and it was about 3o degrees outside. Travis walks down to the Bangert's house to see if Kijo is there. Kijo isn't there. Travis comes back. Milli breaks down and starts to sob. They search the house again. Travis leaves to go and look for Kijo. Milli stays and puts Avery to bed. Avery keeps asking why Mama is so sad. Mama and Avery say a tearful prayer on Avery's little toddler bed.They pray that they can find Kijo. Milli shuts the door and asks Jana to monitor while she goes out to help Travis. Brandi and Jim join the search party, along with Chris. Travis borrows their dog and brings her into our house to see if he can smell Kijo hiding somewhere. They search the perimeter twice and nothing.

Brandi and sobbing Milli get in Brandi's car and drive around the small town of Riverside. They don't see Kijo. They do see a police car at the gas station and get them involved in the search for Kijo. They drive back into the neighborhood and Brandi does a double take. "Is that Orson's car that just pulled into their driveway?" She asks. Milli gets a sinking feeling in her gut. "Oh crap, now I have to tell him the news, wait, why is he here, isn't his wife in labor?" They pull up to Orson and Milli tells Orson everything. Orson just looks at Milli and says, "yeah Travis called me so I thought I'd come and help search." Ummm....... he left his laboring wife to find their dog that Milli had lost. Milli has another breakdown, this was supposed to be the best day of the Bangert's life, and now she has not only lost their dog, but she is going to make the husband miss his wife's labor! Orson reasurres unstable Milli that he is only 6 minutes from the hospital and his wife is only at a 5.

The search goes on for another 45 minutes. Finally, everyone meets back inside the Charles household. Orson decides to look around the house because Kijo is an amazing hider. Orson searches for about 15 minutes and nothing. He goes upstairs and comes back down and asks if Kijo could possibly be in Avery's room. "Its not likely, we searched the closet and behind the armchair, there is no other place that dog could hide, but do what you need to do." We open the door, and excuse my language, but that damn dog walks out of her room.

Back to 1st person point of view:

What the crap Kijo!!! That dog had scrunched into a little ball and was hiding under Avery's toddler bed. Look how little the bed is...



There are about 6 inches between the floor and the bed. I about killed that dog after we found her, but the relief was amazing! The crazy thing about this story is, remember that part where I had said a prayer on the bed to find Kijo, she was probably licking my feet!

Orson's job was done and he made it back to the hospital to witness the birth of his first born (he had plenty of time, his wife was in labor for 30 hours!) Congrats to them for having a beautiful baby boy!

I fully recovered and slept very well that night.

This is what I found the next morning


Maybe this is why Kijo felt the need to really hide?

We love you Kijo!

Oh and thanks to all of my good friends who helped with the search! You all were lifesavers!

Some thoughts, turkey and naked bums

There is a shmorgishborg (I had to look that one up) of stuff that has been going on that I must post... I've also been having some thoughts, so I will just cram it all into one post like I usually do!

A. I'm thrilled that he is back.

I still maintain that he is the funniest man on earth. I pray that his show is successful because he really does bring me joy; along with my husband and daughter that is.

B. Thanksgiving

Travis was lucky enough to be able to enjoy his Thanksgiving in the gallows of Research hospital. He was on a 24 hour call at the hospital, so Avery and I were invited to eat at the Hastings for Thanksgiving. She was a good date.

Here are some of the other kiddos

We all chipped in and helped out with the cooking, and it was really good food! I'm sure everyone has this conversation once Thanksgiving dinner is over, "man, all that time and effort and the food is gone so fast." So worth it though!

Here are the hosts... Brandi is around one week behind me in gestation (Remember our cruise back in May, well this was an outcome of it... ha ha that's another funny story though)

Here are the McCools

And here we are

This is after the damage

Don't feel to bad for Travis though, we went and visited him after our dinner. Check out what we swindled for him

After our visit, I put Avery to bed and went back to the Hastings for pie

This is how we all felt afterwards

Blah! (A good blah though)

C. Black Friday

So we did make an appearance on Black Friday, but not till the evening, so it wasn't too crazy. Be prepared to see tons of videos on our blog because we bought one of those little video recorders for ourselves for Christmas. Travis has documented the last 24 hours of our exciting life. Just wait! One thought I had as I was out though was that I can't believe that Black Friday is still PC. I bet in two years the name will be changed.

D. You are probably wondering about the naked bum... here it is

I'm not trying to be perverted but this girl loves being naked, but she also loves accessorising so its hard to take pictures without showing bum. Maybe its good that we went private awhile ago!

This picture is of her friend Jude and Adelyn and it was weeks after Halloween

D) No name Jane

I am now 32 weeks along. Its going really fast. We have NO IDEA what we are going to name this little one. I have a million boy names, but we will probably never need one (I didn't mean that Trav). So if you aren't going to use a really cute name please lend it to us!

30 weeks

Should I be worried that this baby is more active in my tummy than I remember Avery being? Pray for me.

E) A little update on Travis.

He is alive and doing well if you have been wondering where he has been. Residency has been tough, but not as tough as I thought it would be. He has had his 100 plus hour weeks, but besides those weeks, I think we will make it. Avery is funny with him though. She gets really mad when he has a 24 plus hour shift. She will not go to him and will be really grumpy to him. Don't get on this girl's bad side I guess.

F) Christmas

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a total 4Th of July girl. I love Christmas, but I don't get all frantic about it like a lot of people do. Having a two-year-old has changed me I think. We put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving (maybe it had to do with the fact that we bought a new one after Christmas last year and it had been sitting in our basement for a year). I may have been guilty of singing some Christmas songs to Avery before Thanksgiving as well. I'm a huge hypocrite I guess. I still think we should respect Thanksgiving though, and I think I did. But we are so excited this year for Christmas. The awesome thing is that Avery understands that Santa only brings presents to good girls, so every time she is being naughty I pull out the Santa card, and it really works. Beautiful!

Well that's it. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Cute Face

ABC's

Smooth in San Fran

Last weekend, I took a "holiday" for myself and went to San Fransisco with the coolest people ever. One of my BFF's and college roommates, Erin, lives out there, and Allie, our other BFF and former roommate met us there. Our friend Britney just moved out there too, so we got to hang out with her as well. It was what the doctor ordered.

I flew in before Allie on Friday and Erin picked me up and took me to frozen yogurt. That girl knows how to win me over. I think I have found my dream place to live. Palo Alto California, home of Steve Young, Steve Jobbs and I'm sure more. Too bad the smallest house possible goes for 1 billion dollars, real estate is crazy expensive there.

That night, Erin again won me over with food by making me fajitas (Erin, you know how to pronounce that word). After dinner, we picked up Allie and little Zack from the airport.

You know you are great friends when 3 grown women, one grown man (Erin's husband) and two babies share a one bedroom apartment for a weekend and you don't go nuts. I didn't go nuts.

On Saturday, we went to the big city, San Fransisco. We had all pretty much been there, so we kept it low key, and found a way nice place near the bridge to walk around. Then we went a restaurant called, "Mama's." Allie and I shared the most amazing sandwich. Its called a Monte Cristo. Its a turkey and cheese sandwich, rolled in eggs and fried and you dip it in raspberry jam. Its kind of embarrassing, because when people ask me what I did in San Fransisco, I tell them all about this sandwich. Sad.

We did a lot of gabbing, laughing, eating and reminiscing about the same stories over and over (they never get old) for the rest of the trip.

I sure love you girls. I love how we don't really even talk on the phone that much, but when we are together, its just like the old times. Thanks for the great trip!

Oh and thanks to Travis for letting me get a break for the weekend. It felt great.

Oh and the title of this post is called smooth because everything from people babysitting Avery to flying standby went 100% perfect (I didn't even get held up in Denver). It was a very stress free weekend.

We went clubbing on this street... ha ha, funny joke

Lombard street

Our awesome hosts (in the restauraunt with the amazing sandwich)

View of Allie and Erin from the top of the bridge

View of the ocean from the bridge

View of the belly of the bridge

Erin and me

Just takin' a walk

All of us gals with the city in the back (oh and baby Zack)

Stanford campus (we took a walk on Sunday afternoon)

Oh October!

As I said in my last post, I'm usually about a week behind. I would say that I will try to do better, but I'm pretty sure I won't, so here comes another extremely long post from the Charles clan.

October is probably my most favorite month in Kansas city. The weather is amazing, the leaves are a dream come true and of course the festivities start. We did a ton and we took advantage of all the things we could. Here they are...

1) Our neighborhood Halloween progressive dinner

Every year our street does this. The torch was passed on to me this year from Ruth, who moved to Hawaii... we miss you Ruth! The party was no Ruth Kau caliber, but it was a grade A Milli Charles attempt, and it turned out just fine!

Here is the food, lets be honest, this is the reason we even do this, right?

This is the appetizer table in the Johnson's backyard... yummy!

Here is the entree table, we had taco soup in the Hendrick's backyard

And of course, the dessert table. We ate in the Hasting's front yard

Here are some of the ghost's and goblins...

Here is costume #1, the kitty. I didn't even think that Travis would get so much crap for dressing up like a kitty, but he did. Way to be a real man Trav.

We had a lot of fun, and I was so relieved that it turned out, until one of the kids asked me where the pinata was. Oops, I guess Ruth did a pinata every year and I totally forgot. Sorry kids !

2) A Halloween get together

A bunch of us couples got together and celebrated the great Holiday. Can I just say, we may not have a lot of money, but we sure know how to party!

Exhibit A) The food

Exhibit B) The costumes

The Taylor's were old people

We were Skinny Kenny and Carol (its a Riverside town home inside joke, they are just some awesome characters we get to live by)

The Romney's were a bee and honey

The McCools were a witch and a broomstick

The Johnson's were the famous Red X (another Riverside wonder) and a bottle of beer (which the Red X has an abundance of)

The Church's were dice

And the Hastings were Juno and her boyfriend

Exhibit C) The Walk off

Since we were all decked out, we decided to vamp up the music and have an official walk off. Pretty sure the Taylor's won that one. Those old people had some moves!!!

Exhibit D) The bobbing for apple tournament

I suck at this event, and was out the first round

Travis was a little better

The McCools were amazing. They both made it to the championship round (I bet they practice in their house all the time)

Derek was the winner, but Trish put up a good fight!

And lastly Exhibit D) Karaoke

Don't think I even need to explain this one. We are pretty much awesome.

(that's my rapping hand)

Trent gives it his all.

(Oh I forgot to get pictures, but we also played Mafia)

That was a really fun night!

3) A local carnival

Scary houses, fun games and treats; we had to check it out

Costume #2- the duck

My parents were here during this one

They had this booth set up with the new PlayStation dance game, and so we of course had to try it. Who do you think won?

Travis kicked our fannies. That white boy can move.

4) The library

We have been going to story time at the library. This time, they got to dress up. I think Avery was checking out that monkey back there. She loves Jude.

Costume #3- A tiger

5) Pumpkin patch

It was a farm, we took a hayride, we bought some pumpkins. That's just what ya do.

5) Pumpkin carving

Travis and I take pumpkin carving pretty seriously. This year, we kind of procrastinated so had to figure something out at the last second. I think they turned out decent. We went over to the Romney's for some "witches brew" and pumpkin cookies.

We gutted the pumpkins together. Jen's and Jared's was rotten, and we all about vomited.

Jen is probably trying everything in her power to smile and not gag in this picture

Here is the outcome:

Jen and Jared's

Here is ours

Can you see it? Travis did Dr. Gregory House and I did the Mona Lisa. I think he won this year.

5) YMCA Trunk or treat

Costume #3- A tiger is back

There was a "Fire big truck" there and they asked if she wanted to go inside. She took one look at the truck and said, "its too big."

But then she went down this big slide

We LOVE our YMCA

And finally 6) Halloween night (or the Saturday before)

What costume did Avery go with... .... ...

Looks like costume #1, the kitty

Look at all of these little girls!

The kitty family is back, seriously, good sport Trav (I secretly think he likes it)

We ran into Indiana Jones and the "womb" raider (she's pregnant, get it)

Then we ran into Bam Bam. Apparantly the kitty has something for cavemen.

Avery was so good. She learned that you say, "trick or treat" and then "thank you." She didn't learn that you pass up the dum dum suckers and go for the chocolate. Maybe next year?

This is a clip of her showing off her trick or treating skills to our neighbor, Penny

Well, the month of October is over, and the the real Holidays are coming. Pretty soon we will be having turkey, and then Christmas and then baby will be here! I'm really excited, because she is all up in my ribs, maybe that is where the saying, "all up in my grill", came from because she really is.

THE END