Baby...baby...baby?

Charlie's really been into babies lately. He spots babies out and about - "baby?!" He sees them on the television, in books or on the internet - "baby?!" When he wants to see pictures or video of himself, he repeats "baby...baby...baby?!". Not until we go to his blog or pull up a picture of him is he satisfied. So, I decided it was time to get him his very own. I announced to KC today that we would be making a trip to the toy store to pick out a baby doll for Charlie. I didn't give a thought to how my husband would react to this as he's a progressive kind of guy. A smart man with great taste, an open mind with skills in the kitchen, garden and doing laundry. He's sensitive to boot. God I'm a lucky woman. So why did he immediately roll his eyes and say "What?, No we're not. You're joking". As if he was in disbelief or he thought I was trying to be funny. The man struggled with the idea the entire time we searched two stores and then didn't want Charlie to take it out of the car when we went to dinner and Barnes and Noble. What is wrong with him? Where did my liberal, easy-going, non judgemental husband go?

We went to two stores before I found the perfect one. I didn't want it too small as I want Charlie to also be able to grow into it. I wanted it to have a soft body so he could snuggle with it and I was open to looking at both pink and blue dolls. They have a shockingly limited selection for boy dolls, by the way. Really so sad. So, the best one happened to be a Corolle Bebe Do doll with cute pink jammies on. At the first store, they had a few display dolls that Charlie went crazy over. At the second store, KC and Charlie stayed in the car. When I returned to the car, I couldn't get that thing out of the packaging fast enough. Charlie was going wild in the back. "BABY?!, BABY?!, BABY?!". He loves it and even uses the tiny bottle to feed it. I totally forgot how baby dolls are infused with a slight vanilla scent. Dreamy and darling.

Closet Idea

Charlie's closet is long and narrow. Martha features this closet from her home in this months Martha Stewart Living. I think it's a great solution...but where can I place a rod for hanging clothes?

Busy Bees and Bookshelves

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial weekend. The weather in Seattle was amazing on Saturday and Sunday and the members of the Morgan family were busy little bees. On Saturday we headed over to Swanson's, which is an amazing nursery in our neighborhood. They have it all. A koi pond, cafe, gift shop and oh ya...plants. Our goal was to find veggies for our raised bed that KC's dad gave us. We purchased lettuce, carrots, beets, artichokes, sweet and hot peppers, sweet peas, pumpkins, winter squash, two types of melons, and a bunch of herbs. Charlie and Dada did the digging, Charlie ate dirt and now knows how to say "Arugula". Pictures below are of Charlie at the nursery.

Another family outing this weekend was to Ikea. What the heck were we thinking!? Ikea on memorial day weekend? We planned to get there right when it opened and unfortunately I misread the website and thought it opened at 9am. Well, the restaurant opened at 9am and the store at 10am. So we had an hour to kill, which is really difficult with a 16 month old. We made it into the store with about 100 other people (it was tax free weekend at Ikea - who knew!?). Charlie got a bee in his bonnet right around the sofa area and didn't stop having a tantrum until we reached the cashiers. That place is a maze and takes forever to get through normally. With a screaming child, it's even longer and more agonizing. I wanted to take the little shortcuts but feared we would miss something. We talked of just dropping everything and going to the car, but decided we weren't bothering anyone as it's quite loud in there and people were hustling through. Had we been someplace that Charlie would normally be enjoying, we would have left in a second. Our goal for this whole trip was to buy shelves for both Charlie's room and the bathroom. KC spent most of Monday installing them. Thank you Honey, I think they look great! We hung the first shelf at a level where Charlie could get to his books all on his own.


Now, how do I go about arranging the shelves? Any suggestions?

Evidence

Video: Charlie Wakling