Chris’ video of his and Charlotte’s nightly after-bath routine has gone viral.
I’m not completely surprised – Chris and I watched it about 5 times before we even posted it; we could not stop laughing. I guess I always just assumed we think she’s hilarious because she is ours and we made her; I don’t really expect others to adore her since they don’t have the same ‘parent goggles’ we do (making everything she does awesome).
The internet is an amazing place. I, too, am a little famous in my own way. The pregnancy announcement I made when we first announced we were expecting Charlotte 2.5 years ago has been featured on Parents.com and will be featured on another site next week!
http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/signs/breaking-the-news/valentines-day-pregnancy-announcements/#page=6
What a week for our family’s celebrity status. Please, no autographs.
Charlotte
An update on Charlie Grace
Before Charlotte was born I purchased an adorable baby book. She is now 2 years, 3 months and there are exactly 2 lines of the entire book filled out. That really hurts my heart. I loved looking at my baby book growing up. It’s so special to me that my mom would take the time to write those things down and I want Charlotte to have the same. I’m thankful that I have at least recorded her biggest moments here on the blog, but I’d still love to get those words and pictures into her book. Maybe one day. I so wish I could record every single one of our moments together, because she’s pretty special and my memory is just not reliable.
On a slightly related note, Charlie can’t seem to remember Jack-Jack’s name. She refers to him as ‘that one’ (“mommy, that one smiling at me”) or ‘neighbor’ (“mommy, neighbor miss his mommy maybe”). In other language development news, her new favorite words to throw into conversation are ‘also’, ‘but’, and ‘maybe’:
“we doing that also, but…… he not got a cheese stick, so…. neighbor go night-night upstairs maybe.”
There are always a lot of pauses for effect and to allow for more words to be added to the run-on sentence. She is quite opinionated. and dramatic.
Since I’ve already turned this into an update on Charlotte, here are some of the photographic gems you didn’t get to see while I was on my month-long Facebook hiatus. Prepare yourself for Charlotte overload.
Emotions were high on the way home from school. I only brought 2 crackers for the ride home.
Bed head.
Reading bibles with a buddy.
Meeting her newest obsession in cardboard-cutout form.
Getting her wiggles out.
Helping grocery shop. Peanut butter always gets a place of honor next to her.
Ready for her preschool Thanksgiving party!
She’s been such a trooper with all of the crazy things we’ve had going on this month and I can see so much growth in her since beginning her preschool class. A little lady.
Charlie Grace turns 2!
To say that I’m a little late with this post is an understatement. I’ve been dying to put my thoughts to paper for a long while but have been so busy with my new business adventure.
From my journal 2.5 months ago:
“Today is Charlotte’s 2nd birthday. I’ve been pretty weepy all week with anticipation. Somehow ‘2 years old’ seems infinitely older than ‘1 year, 11 months, and 30 days’. It’s just excessive.”
Can we say dramatic?! Oy. Though in this moment right now I am wishing even more for my 1 year, 11 month, 30 day old child back because this 2 year old is currently weeping and wailing because the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she begged for had a bite taken out of it. a bite she just took.
Sometimes you can’t win with them. but in the end we are her parents and not her best friends. She doesn’t have to be pleased with us every moment of the day, and I know this is just preparing us for the parenting woes of later years, like when she hits double digits. Am I right?! All you parents out there parenting a tween or teen give me an AMEN!
Back to Charlotte. She’s 2 now and I’m beginning to regret unleashing my ‘speech therapy’ self on her at such a young age. She absolutely knows the power of words and uses them to her advantage. Example:
After angrily crying in her crib for 2 or 3 minutes because we had the audacity to enforce a nap she began shouting “Mama, I crying!”. Oh, that’s what you were doing? I wasn’t quite sure, but now that you’ve announced it…
I love hearing how she learns and uses the rules of our language to create new things to say, things she’s never heard anyone say before. You guys… I know this seems like a ‘duh’ moment, but for serious, not every child does this. Our ability to speak is a MIRACLE!
Ok, mama-speech-therapist rant aside, I am so proud of the little lady Charlotte is becoming. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get any good 2 year photos of her, what with her aversion of the camera and my not-so-professional photography skills but I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I decided to use the picnic theme we were planning for her party and the doll is one my mom made her for her 1st birthday. precious.
We continued the theme from her pictures into her party and had a picnic party with family and friends. The weather was beautiful and we had tons of fun. Charlotte is very blessed.
I am so thankful for cameras and photographs. A luxury some people today still don’t experience, but I am forever grateful for the times I’ve remembered to pull out my camera and capture a few moment’s in time.
Too busy for words lately.
Well, not necessarily too busy for all words, but too busy to put words on the internet, that’s for sure. I know I’m not the only one, either. Spring never fails to bring with it a crazy, busy, never-ending schedule. This spring has brought along a lot of changes. I’m not so big on things changing, so it has been difficult for me.
Just to do a brief recap of our year so far:
- I started imitating Jen Hatmaker’s experiment in self reduction {2 months focused on limiting our possessions, 1 month reducing our spending habits}. I’m taking April off to give myself time to form a plan for the next few months…. also, I just didn’t feel like battling excess this month {see #2 for the most likely reason why I just can’t fit 1 more thing in}.
- I started a community garden. Prodded along by God, in what I can only express as an act of obedience… just followin’ along in his plan for my life and my family and changing my life’s direction along the way… no big deal. It is pretty much taking up all my time since I’m basically learning gardening 101 {and 201 and 301} in crash course form.
- A few calls for foster kiddos, though none had to be removed and placed in our home. For that, I am grateful. Better for them and better for us {at this moment in life}.
- This past week I started watching my bestie Tiffany’s little squish on my days off. We are swapping child care so that also meant a change for Charlotte. She had previously been doted on by my sister on the 2 days I worked each week. Things can’t stay the same forever, though, so we had to change gears. We dropped off a special gift for Auntie Mel last week as a thank you for being so awesome. I’m cracking up about Charlie’s expression in this photos… too cool for school! Thank you sis, for dealing with my baby’s cloth diapers, putting up with her dramatic theatrical performances when you tell her no, and wiping her banana residue face. We love you so much!
- Work has been pretty much on auto-pilot, which has been great. I never thought I’d say that, but it’s nice to be in a position to leave work at work when I head home. I still love my job and my patients to pieces and find great satisfaction in each little miracle I see in their lives.
- We have been hosting a community group in our home on Friday nights and hosting lunch with friends {and anyone who wants to stop by} on Sunday afternoons. We love it, but it was getting to be a bit much {though my kitchen has never been cleaner because there are always a few thoughtful kitchen fairies who would tidy up after a meal}. Chris and I decided to cut our big Sunday lunches down to 1 Sunday a month for now. We can’t go a week without seeing our community group family so that will stay as a priority on our Friday nights {If you aren’t in a community group/small group I’d say it’s imperative that you find one. I don’t think I’d make it through life without mine. Everyone needs a support system. If you feel like something’s missing in your life then my guess would be that close, meaningful relationships may be it}.
- My kidney function has remained stable {not declined since my biopsy in November}. I am currently still in stage III kidney failure due to Medullary Cystic Kidney Disease; I hope to stay at this stage for a long time. My kidney function will be tested every 6 months in order to gauge any decline. Once my kidney function declines to a certain point, I will have a transplant. For now it’s just a waiting game and I hope to be waiting as long as my mom did before she needed a transplant. This Friday marks my mom’s 3 year transplant anniversary. She is rockin’ and rollin’ with her borrowed organ and I am so thankful to Cathy for her gift of life to my mom.
- Probably the biggest news of all this Spring: I said no. To a friend. When I didn’t have an actual “well I can’t because” excuse. As I think about it, I don’t remember the last time I said ‘no’ simply because I needed to put myself first and not really because I had a valid reason for not being available. If it is possible at all for me to do it, I say ‘yes’. That’s not a bad thing, but I need to remember to also say ‘yes’ to my time and my needs.
Here’s to saying ‘no’ sometimes.
Also…. visit the garden website: www.DigGrowEat.com
and the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DigGrowEat
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