11 Months

Another month has come and gone in the life of Charlotte. My mom always said that time goes by faster when you have children. It's true. I know I'm going to wake up tomorrow, and Charlotte is going to be 16. Yikes! She's already becoming interested in clothes and jewelry. The other day I found her trying to put on my flip flops, and she wasn't happy until I put them on her feet. She could play the "take them off and put them back on" game all day.This next video makes me laugh because she'll sit for quite a while just trying to get the necklace around her neck, but she always seems to lose it.

This past weekend we got Charlotte a convertable carseat. Her infant one was getting a little too snug, and she would cry everytime we'd go somewhere in the car. She's all smiles with her new one!

Charlotte now has eight teeth, and she's more than willing to show off her pearly whites if you tell her "cheese!" At Mimi and Poppie's she figured out how to cruise along the furniture. She also figured out a couple days ago how to go down the stairs. She loves to play hide and go seek games, epsecially anything that involves hiding her toys behind furniture or blankets. She likes to hide herself.

And she's a climber. Her favorite toy is my laundry baskets.

Just one more month until this one is a year old! How fun!

Charlotte's First Fourth of July

I LOVE Independence Day! It is my favorite holiday by far (Yes, even more than Christmas). I've always held a special place in my heart for the liberty that I've been blessed with. I always get choked up during the fireworks scene in The Sandlot with "America the Beautiful" playing in the background, when we sing patriotic hymns at church, etc. One of my first fights with Adam was on the 4th of July, and it was about how we were going to spend the 4th. I wanted a full day of celebrating, and well...he didn't. He learned pretty quickly how important the holiday is for me and has happily celebrated ever since.

This year our friends, Seth and Emily, hosted a cookout. We had a wonderful time there eating hotdogs, salad, fruit and the cookie pizza/cake thing pictured above. It was my first time making a cookie sheet sized cookie. It was pretty tasty. There was good company and fun games!

Later that night we got together with some of our friends to watch the fireworks.

Emily and Seth

Matt, Kaia, Sarah, Gatlin and Gabriel (Sorry Sarah if I got the twins wrong!)
Brian, Ryker and Stephanie
And, as usual, I couldn't get Adam to make a normal face for any of the pictures.

Charlotte had a lot of fun until the fireworks actually started. Then she spent the rest of the night with her head buried in Adam's shoulder.
She wanted nothing to do with the fireworks! Hopefully she'll enjoy them more next year...

No, it's not weird to visit my in-laws without my husband...

Adam has been preparing like crazy for boards this past month. My wonderful in-laws were kind enough to save me from ten days of being ignored by my better half (Bless you!). I am happy to report that Adam has made it through boards and the cloud of stress has been lifted (until mid-terms). Anyways, I went down to Houston right before the major studying began and had a wonderful time while Adam stayed here and studied (and played XBOX and softball). A lot of people asked me if it would be strange to visit my in-laws without Adam. It wasn't! I have great in-laws who always make me feel like I'm part of the family.
I really have a lot of pictures from the trip. I narrowed it down to my favorites, and I still have a lot to share.

Charlotte loved playing with Poppi. He's so much fun!
Aunt Cassie and Hailey came from California to play too!We went to eat at Gringo's and the babies loved the black beans!Charlotte and Hailey spent most of their time at this window watching Shadow, the dog. Hailey was so cute and would bark at Shadow everytime she barked. Charlotte just liked following Hailey around.

We spent an afternoon at the beach in Galvestion. The salt water and waves where a whole new experience for Charlotte. She really loved it and kept licking her hands.

I've always wanted to go to a butterfly center. It was so neat to have all the butterflies landing on us and flying arou Hailey and Charlotte almost had matching outfits one day...little twins!

Little birds drinking from Mimi's cup.

Playing with the uncles.

Laura and Charlotte have been in Houston now for about a week, leaving me here to hold up the fort and try to remember how to take care of myself. I have found that I take my wife for granted for more than just the good food and the clean laundry that she stockpiles in the fridge and in the drawers. I know she just barely made a video last week, and this is not original at all, but I wanted to post a video up here for her and anyone else to see too. I might get in trouble for a couple of the pictures, but hey, they were too funny to pass up. Sometimes pictures speak louder than words and I hope that these pictures can demonstrate just how special Laura is too me. I love you babe and I look forward to you coming home here in a few days.

For Adam

Adam has been studying like crazy for boards. I don't think I've ever seen him so stressed. I made this video for him as a "thank you." He's still super supportive despite all he has on his plate right now. I couldn't have asked for a better husband. I love you babe!

Frantic

On Thursday and Friday of this week I am going to Youth Conference to chaperon and teach. Early Saturday morning I leave to go to Houston until the end of the month. I have approximately1 1/2 days to pack, shop, tweak my lesson and make sure that Adam is on the same page (i.e. bills, food, scheduling) before I leave...all while taking care of a very active and curious 10 month old. I'm not complaining, just thought that writing it down might relieve a little stress.

It didn't.

Luckily, the rest of the month will be very stress free down in Houston!

10 Months

I'm a few days late with this post, but I wanted to wait until after Charlotte's doctor appointment so that I could post accurate information. So, I happy to report that after 10 months I still want to keep this fun girl! She brings so much joy to my life. I have already posted about her accomplishments from this past month in other posts so I'll leave that out this time.

I guess my scale here at home must be off because her weight at the doctor's office was different than what I've been measuring here. It turns out that she actually only weighs 15 lbs. 15oz. So, that places her in the 10th percentile for weight, but on the flip end she's in the 75th percentile for height at 28 inches. She's long and lean.

Under the Weather

I know there's been a lack of pictures lately. Charlotte has been a little under the weather. I soon joined her. Probably because I've become a moving snot rag. Ah, the joys of motherhood! We haven't gone on many adventures lately, and while we've still been playing here at the house it hasn't been very joyous. On the bright side, Charlotte has become very cuddly.
I can't be selfish forever though. We're going to the doctor tomorrow to see if he can make things go back to normal.