Happy (adjusted) birthday Charlie!

Most kids get a birthday celebration when they turn 1. Our little guy has already had two celebrations, and today we'll be casually celebrating his adjusted first birthday. I was due to deliver him on July 3rd, so today he's adjusted age 1! Since this weekend is busy with the holiday and George and I BOTH have to work tomorrow, we had a birthday party for Charlie last weekend. It was so fun - his Nana and cousin Ben came down from Philly, and his Pop and Libbie drove all the way up from New Bern, NC to help him celebrate! We had a moon bounce (thanks Lauren!!), a pinata (thanks to super-strong Ben for busting it when none of the kids could, blindfolded or not), cupcake decorating, and delicious grill food from Rocklands catering. After this one, we joked that he's not getting another birthday party until his next decade! It was great to have lots of kids over, and we had a beautiful day for it - sunny and hot but unusually dry for this swampland we live in. And it was just neat to reflect on how far he's come and how well he's doing. The people who hadn't seen him in a while were amazed at how big and healthy he is.

We managed to take NO photos at his party - we were too busy visiting with our guests and watching the kids have fun. But here's a few photos the day after - you can see Charlie opening one of his cards and enjoying a few of his new gifts!

Please note the adorable little-old-man outfit he's wearing - thanks Auntie! He looks SO cute in his plaid pants and sweater vest! What a big boy.

Speaking of which, we went to the pediatrician last Friday for Charlie's 15 month appointment. He gained FIVE POUNDS in the 3 months since his last checkup, and now weighs in at 23 pounds. We were so excited to see he is now on the normal growth chart for a 15 month old baby! He's in the 25th percentile for weight and the 20th for height! It's so great to have him growing and thriving. The doctor did suggest we see a speech therapist since he doesn't say any words yet, but we're not too worried about that. He's consistently shown us that he will do everything we expect of him, just at his own pace. Here's a quick video of him from this morning, crawling to me:


And just happy to be enjoying the morning with mom and dad:


He is such a happy kid - here's another quick video of him, thrilled to be standing up. He thinks it is so fun now that he can pull up to his feet.


Charlie's got a top tooth coming - it's just barely cut through the gums, but I'm sure it'll be fully visible very soon. He's been better with this tooth than the first two - a little fussy, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him as much as the others did.

Happy Independence Day everyone! We hope you have a wonderful 4th of July.