I admit, I have been waiting a year for Charlie to wear this sweet hand-me-down from her cousin Dali. It’s Mulberry St. and I love it so much.

Charlie is getting braver and braver as each day passes. Lately when she gets really excited she’ll sit on her knees and bounce up and down….and even propel herself into a standing position. She is into EVERYTHING and is so curious and purposeful. She loves interacting with other kids, especially little boys (uh oh) and squeals with laughter at the sight of any cat (sissss-ee!) or dog (DO-geeee!)…our little girlie is fast becoming a person in her own right.

On Friday we journey to Mimi and Poppy’s house, in good ole Tyler, Texas. Dali and Owen will be there, as well as most of the Archilla family, so it promises to be a very rowdy time. Word has it that the Archilla/Bischoff grandchildren are going for a ride on the Polar Express. I’m quite sure that Poppy has a few things up his sleeve….

Remember my post awhile back about seasonal clothes? Well, I’m afraid Valentine’s Day is no exception. As it turns out, Mommy and Daddy are fortunate enough to be going to Hawaii again in February, so Charlie will be celebrating a Texas V-Day at Mimi and Poppy’s house!

Not to worry, friends….despite Mommy’s absence from said holiday, Charlie’s arsenal of Valentine’s Day “purties” will be placed in the capable hands of Mimi.

Maybe these will make an appearance….I think I’m in love.

Our visit to Ethan & Henry’s was cut short due to Charlie’s second meltdown of the day. Poor little girl! We’ll try again next week!

Despite Charlie’s cranky mood post-shots (she had her flu vaccine yesterday), we decided to visit some friends this morning. Unfortunately, poor Charlie just wasn’t her happy-go-lucky self. At any rate, I did get a shot of sweet little Miss Olivia.

Charlie had her 15 month appointment today. Here are her stats:

Weight: 19 Pounds, 11 Ounces
Height: 30 Inches

She is in the 10th percentile for her weight and the 30th percentile for her height. I think that means she is longer than she is wide! Here are some pics of Charlie, just being cute.

I forgot, there was one thing that happened today.

Charlie likes to pull things off the bookshelves in the office. There is a little Pottery Barn Kids booklet (must have been left over from when I registered) that she finds especially interesting. Comfortable in the fact that she had played with said booklet numerous times, I left the room briefly to vacuum the living room rug.

After a couple minutes I came back into the office to find the booklet streaked with what looked like red magic marker. Strange, I thought…What is that?? After closer inspection I realized that it was not magic marker but Charlie’s blood.

Don’t worry….she’s fine, just a small paper cut….but it took me some time to get it to stop bleeding…possibly because she would not sit still and was wiping it all over her face and clothes. I took her to the bathroom sink, washed her finger with soap and water, and haphazardly got a band-aid on her slippery little hand. Not an easy task!!!

All of that to say, the sight of your child bleeding truly gives meaning to the word “scary”…..

Here are some more pictures of Miss C on her afternoon jaunt….

Today was a quiet day at the Bischoff house. What with Christmas shopping 95% done, the apartment vacuumed, and the Christmas card strike in affect, Mommy is kind of BORED!! Charlie put her new Bundleme to use (thanks for paving the way, Emilyn) and got outside for a quick spin around the square.

By the way, you won’t be receiving a Christmas card from us this year, a.k.a. “The Strike”. We figure this blog is our way of letting you all know how we are doing. It’s kind of freeing, saying no to something for a change….

As it turns out, we didn’t end up going to the Walnut Room because the line was too long when we returned from the North Pole. Instead, we enjoyed a nice lunch in the fancy food court. Mommy had a salad nicoise and it was sooo yummy. Here’s a pic of Charlie and Little Miss O getting acquainted…

We paid a visit to the Big Man today….that’s right, Santa Claus. Emilyn, Olivia, and Charlie all made the trek down to the Washington Street Macy’s for a little one-on-one time with jolly Ole St. Nick.

We thought we’d eat brunch at the Walnut Room afterwards, and got right in line and had pictures taken with no problem. I was SHOCKED that Charlie did not melt down the second I placed her in his arms! She did not seem impressed, and never even took her thumb out of her mouth. Hmmm. I took Santa aside and explained to him that she was just contemplative and I hoped it had nothing to do with his “list” this year.

We’ll see if he believed me. Until then, here’s a little memento from our trip to the North Pole…..