Ten Months Old and Not Afraid of Anything!

            Changes, changes every day!  Charlie Kate is walking more and speaking so much jibber jabber.  It is so funny to watch her sit and play, making all kinds of noises, having full conversations with her toys!  She has started pulling pillows off the couch to sit and bounce on them.  She is super picky about food right now.  I think it is the different textures being introduced.  She loves avocado, sweet potato, carrots and corn mixture, and all fruits especially chopped prunes!  She hates green beans and English peas.  She likes bananas when I put them in the blender, but hates them just chopped.  She is definitely like her daddy with textures.  I have been experimenting with everything and using my little Magic Bullet.  It is a “must have” in my opinion, and I would have registered for that or the Ninja if I had known how much I use it.  I got mine at Bargain Hunt… actually my father-in-law picked it up for me:).

Trying Oatmeal Pineapple Mango Creation By Mommy

          We have a real dare devil on our hands!  She lunges toward objects and people without any fear of smacking her face, and she definitely has had some hard smacks.  She dives for toys on the floor when she is in my lap, chases after innocent dogs to grab their ears and tales, and tries to pull very heavy furniture across the floor and down on top of her!  AGH! 

Sitting in her toy bag with the toys

Driving Sam's Car

          We just cleaned her clothes out and filled her closet and drawers with her 12 month clothes.  Don’t worry, we didn’t go out and buy all new clothes.  We have been very fortunate to have several ladies that have had little girls that took care of their clothes before us!  We also attend the semi- annual Wee Swap Consignment Sale.  I’m looking forward to the next one!

          I am starting to think about and plan for her 1^st birthday.  I’m thinking about using the book we bought her for Christmas as a theme, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”.  I have been scoping out Pinterest and found a ton of cute ideas.  The question for now is invitations.  Who, and how many do I invite?  Should I keep it to just family, or should I invite all friends, or just the friends with kids her age?  Agh!  Who would have thought this would be so tough?!  The amount of people will definitely affect the place too!  Bah!  This might be the time to call on my Amazing in-laws :)  Love them! 

          Mom has been keeping Charlie Kate while I sub a few days a week, and is starting to get attached to her.  When she sees her she smiles, lunges for her, and claps her hands.  It’s sweet!  Jon’s mom was a super brave woman and took on keeping Charlie Kate and our three nieces while we had a girl day at the movies.  Jon’s brother, Matt, came to help and said that Charlie Kate was jealous of Nora.  Debbie was feeding Nora in the highchair and Charlie Kate crawled to her and climbed her leg.  Sounds like we have some ownership issues. :)

          Charlie Kate had her first night away from home without us!  My sister, Katy, watched her one night while we went to a benefit concert, and decided to keep her overnight… She had an eventful night of Ms. Charlie Kate waking up Every time she tried to put her down.  So they ended up sleeping on the couch together all night :)  I felt awful!  Katy went through a lot of trouble to get a pack-n-play, and a sound machine, and all the little “must haves” so she would feel at home. Ha!  I guess she just knew that Aunt Katy needed a reminder of life with a baby!

So sleepy after a night sleeping on the couch

Time for a nap...2 seconds later she's pulling that frame down!

          We are so blessed to have so many people helping us out with Charlie Kate anytime we need.  We are definitely using our “village” to raise our daughter!  She loves spending time with each of them, and we are comforted knowing that she is in such great care of those that love her dearly. 

Silly Girl

Loves Books

Grocery Shopping with Mommy

Night Night Daddy

Visiting Daddy at Work

Dear Sweet Charlie Kate,

          You are blessed above and beyond anything that we could ever be responsible for giving you.  Our Heavenly Father has put amazing people in your life to help us teach you, mold you, and protect you in this life on earth.  We pray that you understand that we are not only preparing you for this life of trials, but way beyond that we are striving to prepare you for your life in eternity.  We love you forever and ever!- Mommy and Daddy

Call 911!

Charlie Kate turned 9 months old, had her 1^st Christmas, and celebrated her 1^st New Year!

Our baby is vastly becoming a toddler!  I know my title is a bit corny, but I feel as though we are in a state of emergency!  We have to find a way to keep her small and immobile!  Of course I’m kidding, but I will miss this “little” age.  I do look forward to the milestones ahead.  I’m especially excited to hear her speaking words to explain what she is thinking.  I just know that she has hilarious jokes and profound thoughts that can only be expressed through silly facial expressions, noises, and squeals. 

Look at my top teeth!

Charlie Kate Loves Patty-Cake

This last month and a half she has began to stand for long periods of time without props!  She is playing patty cake ALL of the time!  She challenges herself to stand without help and clap.  She will clap and clap until she loses balance.  She has two of the cutest little top teeth now, so that makes four teeth total.  She loves knocking down towers we build with blocks or cups… She laughs and scrunches up waiting to be tickledJ.  We are trying all kinds of food, and have experienced some enormously stinky diapers, yucky!  She is giving really slobbery kisses and patting my back when she hugs me…Sweetest thing ever!  We are just now transitioning to 12 month clothes.  She naps twice a day and plays so hard the rest of the day. 

Alex and Charlie Kate love the dresses Grandma made them!

Charlie Kate Loves Wrapping Paper

        Charlie Kate’s first Christmas was such fun!  We had several Christmas’s to attend with our extended family. It started in Birmingham with my dad’s side of the family.  Charlie Kate slept through Santa, but woke in time to play with Trip.  We travelled back home to have Christmas with Nana and Poppa’s crew.  On Christmas Eve we had family time at home that morning and went to Jon’s Maw Maw’s. Christmas morning Jon manned our new Christmas camera as Charlie Kate watched me open her gifts.  She finally got into it when she figured out that it was okay to rip the paper.  We were off to Katy’s for brunch for my immediate family Christmas.  Grandma helped Charlie Kate open gifts, and again she was all about the paper!  The rest of the day she carried wrapping paper and Christmas bows around :).     

"I LOVE SANTA!"

"Christmas makes me tired"

\

Silly

She wants to put everything in her mouth

:)

Christmas Challenge

Several of our friends have gotten together on the issue of competing with all of the HUGE Christmas’s that kids have.  We, for one, can’t afford it financially, but also can’t afford it consciously.  We are going to try very hard to stick to getting Charlie Kate reasonable gifts, and really include her in the giving of gifts.  We would like to hear from you if you have a neat way of doing Christmas with your kids to ensure that they don’t develop a high expectation or sense of entitlement. 

She loves her daddy

Trip just kissed her! Sweet!

Ava is her buddy

Nana loving on Charlie Kate at Maw Maw's

Big Mama and Charlie Kate

Love this face

Christmas morning

She likes the bows the best

Grandma helping Charlie Kate open presents

This is what happens when Nahoko watches Charlie Kate!  So funny!

Happy 2013!

        We had a blast with Lee, Magen, and baby Sam Medley; Adam, Ashley, and Gracie Rutledge; and Eric, Melissa, and baby Molly Morris.  Lee and Magen hosted a spend-the- night party!  “Who says adult can’t have sleep overs?” was Lee’s argument.  So we did, and it was great! The kids played and played until it was bed time.  Then we all put them to sleep in our pack-n-plays.  The adults stayed up, talked, snacked, and played games to bring in the New Year.  It was so much fun! 

We are starting our 2013 celebrating our gifts from God, and are striving to better ourselves as we live by His example.  We wish you a great 2013!