Keep Rollin'! (week 9)

So, I feel the need to re-state the way my blog is working these days. You see, I am sooo behind at life right now. So, even though the date I post this will say one thing, it really happened WEEKS ago. Just when I think I will finally be caught up...two weeks pass and I'm behind again :( So, I am hoping to hammer out a few blogs this week and be caught up and then we'll move to monthly updates instead...unless I feel like updating more than that, but we'll make that the rule anyway. Yay!

Alright, week 9 of Charleigh's little life was full of excitment. First off, we celebrated Veteran's Day. Our family is so thankful for the selfless people in this country who serve in the military for us. I know it is something I could never do and would be incredibly HARD to let my children do it as well. So brave...

So, some new things going on at our household...Charleigh LOVES to kick her Daddy's face when he has his beard a little grown out, she just smiles every time she does it. So, he, of course, let's her do it over and over again :) Also, I'm starting P90X this week...pray for me. I know that I can dedicate myself to doing it, but I just don't know if I can find an whole HOUR in my day to devote to it...everyday. Well see, I guess some working out is better than none at all right?

Speaking of working out, I was doing the ab workout the other day so I laid Charleigh on her Tummy time mat right beside me. As I was staring up at the screen doing my crunches, I noticed Charleigh out of the corner of my eye...she was on her BACK...she rolled over! I couldn't believe it, so I stopped the video and but her on her tummy again and grabbed the video camera. Sure, enough, she did it again! I was so excited I called Justin and promised to send him the video. One problem...in my excitement I guess I didn't hit record! All I have on video is the very last part where she is laying on her back screaming...crud! It will be my goal to get it on tape.

We had quite a few vistors this week, as usual. Every Monday night when I go out to lead my high school girls' ministry. Charleigh and Justin have Daddy/Daughter Date night. Well, it wasn't long before Big Mama got in on this action, Justin just feels better when she's there :) So, here she is with Char...check out Prissy trying to get in on the action (which she ALWAYS does) and then check out the look Charleigh is giving her! haha!
Then Granmama and Paw Paw stopped by to visit too! Charleigh just loves them. Granmama was playing pat-a-cake with her and she was cracking up.
And Paw Paw almost never got back up with he decided to do tummy time with her...
Aww, such a sweet picture.
Then my baby Tia came by to visit on her weekend home from college. It was so good to see her and hear all of her adventures and revelations you get when you first step out into the real world. I hope one day she can mentor Charleigh to be a great Godly little girl like her :) P.S. Charleigh thought she was pretty funny too.
Here is one of the latest crafts I've been doing a lot of, appliquéd hoodies. This one was for my other sweetie Weston who went off to college and joined the Kappa Delta sorority. It's damask fabric with hot pink thread, way cuter in person!
Oh and, I totally "blinged" Charleigh's bottle. I know the picture is upside down, but Daddy didn't know that when he was showing me the bottle. Oh well. I also decided to start making tutu's! They are so darn cute. Here is an Auburn one I made for Charleigh to wear during the Auburn/Alabama game in a couple weeks.
And I made this little purple and pink pettiskirt for little Vivian for her one year old birthday! It took FOREVER and was very tedious but, sooo cute. I can't wait to get pictures of her wearing it!Saturday night we went to the "baby's club". Which is just a group of new parents who all decided to get together and force our children to like each other. Right now, Charleigh is the only girl, but we are hoping Jeremy and Whitney will be joining our club when there little princess gets here! But for now, here's Charleigh with all her MEN:So, other developments on the Charleigh front...she laughs SO much now. I know that if she is content and I talk to her in a high pitched voice, or smile at her...that I am guaranteed a smile back these days. I so love that.

She is also doing so well on the sleeping. She slept until 6:30 thursday night, with not so much as a peep throughout the night :) Woo Hoo! Then Sunday night, she slept until 7:00! Just keeps getting better :) Okay, and another thing she started doing, which may be totally inappropriate to talk about, is, pooting. I mean, she has been pooting since she was born, but it always came with she actually pooed. Now, she just poots with no poo. I am not sure if that is a milestone or anything, but, it's different!

It takes some serious planning for us to get out and about these days, but we still do! Our favorite place to visit is the fabric store. This week we went with Whitney to help her pick out fabrics for her little baby's nursery. Oh and, I got a few things for myself as well...

I think that is it for this week's update. If I get a few more minutes today I'll post what I have for week 10 too!

Births, and Baptisms, and Baldness, OH MY! (week 8)

Tuesday afternoon Charleigh had a doctor's appointment..not her two month checkup, this was just an appointment I scheduled because I'm paranoid and wanted her to get checked out. Turns out, she was almost 10 pounds! Holy Mackrel! Doc said she should be eating about 3 oz and she is definitely eating about 5 during the day and 6 at night! PIGGY! As a matter of fact, we moved her up to a BIG bottle this week, you can only fit 4 ounces in the small one. It looks so much bigger than her! She does NOT have thrush, we aren't sure she really ever had it (her gums are just lighter, which looks like thrush!), her lungs sound good, explosive poos are okay apparently and she DOES indeed have some serious reflux. So she is now on Zantac (liquid version). Poor baby.

Developmentally she is changing too. This week Jus and I noticed that she tries to watch TV. haha, she just ignored it before and now, she turns her head to look at the light box! She can totally get her thumb in her mouth to suck but it doesn't satisfy her (too small I think), she has much better control of her hands and sucks on them to soothe herself (gave one hand a hickey the other day), and she laughs at things that I say to her. She is laughing all the time now, I love knowing that she is a happy baby...all is right in my world as long as that girl is smiling :) On a not so good note, Charls is loosing her hair up front! Much like a receeding hairline. She's still adorable but it's quite noticable now. I am pretty sure it is coming back blonde under there.

As for sleeping patterns, here is her sleep schedule as of now:bottle at 8:00, lay her down at 9 or 9:30 (swaddled of course), she wakes at about 4:30 or 5 (at times even 6!) to eat, and then goes back to sleep until 8 or 9. Such a good little newborn :) I'm thankful for her.

Charleigh is also wearing size one diapers now, not because newborns don't fit, but because I ran out of Newborn diapers...haha, instead of buying a whole nother pack...we'll just go with what we've got! She's growing so fast these days that I know they won't be too big for long :)

Oh, for the first time, I fed her in public! Don't worry, I was quite covered (I'm pretty modest). But, I was visiting with my family and refused to spend the last 30 minutes I had with them in the bathroom! So, I slouched in the back corner booth of tropical smoothie and used my hooter hider! Mission accomplished, my mom was proud.

This week Charleigh and I traveled up to Bama to visit with my family. Mainly because two big events where happening...her cousin Camden was being born and my Grannie, who is 76, was being baptized after accepting Jesus as her savior just a few weeks earlier :) So we had to get ready for our big trip, which means, BATH TIME! I have to cutest video of her taking a bath but I didn't want her to hate me when she gets older because I posted her lady parts online for the whole world to see...so, we just have pictures for now :)

Look at her posing.



And she can find a camera ANYWHERE...she loves them.

I just love this picture because I never want to forget how little and sweet she is, and I adore when she looks up at me with those big blue eyes :)

So, once we made it to Bama we went straight to the hospital where Lindsay and Camden where...yes, Camden is a little girl, apparently in our family we are all about the boy names on girls ;)


Granny with her two newest Grandbabies!
Charleigh and Camden

Charleigh loves my family. Here is picture of her playing with Aunt Jessica...I mean cracking up!
And Aunt Brandy LOVES to hold Charleigh the most!

Saturday morning me, Granny, and Sharry (and Charleigh of course), got up early and went to Santuck, which is a craft festival type thing they have once a month. We stopped at just about every booth and got some good stuff, well, i just spent money on food mostly :) Charleigh was such a good girl, her only mishap was when Sharry was holding her and she explosive pooped all over her (and the display we were standing next too...but we quickly walked away, sorry lady). Other than that, the day went smoothly.


Probably the sweetest part of the weekend was Sunday night when my Grannie got baptized! She is 76 and has been a practicing Mormon for 46 years...Right before my pastor put her under she proclaimed from the baptismal..."I found the WAY". She was so cute. She just accepted Jesus as her Savior a couple weeks ago. Pray for her discipleship and growth!
The worst part of this weekend was missing Daddy so much :( We couldn't wait to get home to him.

Trick or Treat! (7 weeks)

Happy Halloween!

Charleigh had fun these last few weeks dressing up in her Halloween themed apparel...well, mommy had fun...
This week started out with our Chosen (Olive Baptist Girls' Ministry) Halloween Costume Party. I love those girls, they were all so cute in their thoughtful little costumes.
We had a blast just eating and dancing and of course...giving away PRIZES! The Prissy Pink Polka Dot donated a snazzy purple sweatshirt with our Greek Letters (Apha Omega) appliquéd on it in zebra print with lime green outline, and an adorable little embroidered polka dot Chosen travel mug! I forgot to take pictures...boo.Well, before I get on to the good stuff...AKA: Halloween, I must give you an update on our family, especially our cute little kumquat. Charleigh weighed 9 lbs 4 oz this week...yay, she's finally packing on the pounds! And I'll tell you why: GROWTH SPURT...you ask how I know? She is little Miss Piggy these days. She used to go three hours between feedings with no problem but now, she is rooting and crying by 2! So, I just feed her and, well, she grows!

Also, I had my 6 week doctor's appointment on Thursday and he said everything looks great. He released me to do all physical activity...so here comes the workout which I must admit is SO hard to get motivated over :( But, at least I won't have to see my OB again until my check up in ONE YEAR. That is so weird to think about after getting used to seeing a doctor for pretty much every other week during my pregnancy. A welcome change. Although, I will say that my husband has other plans...he came to me the other day with the "best" idea (he proclaimed it as the best idea, not me). "Baby, do you realize that if we got pregnant again right now, our kids would be in the same grade?!? Let's do it!" Don't worry, after I picked myself off the floor from laughing hysterically, I smacked him :) But I know that secretly, the boy is serious!

For now, I'll just enjoy the sweet angel I have already. Here she is loving her striped wall. She used to scream and cry when we would change her and now, she wants to lay on her changing table all day. She cracks up! This video was taken after she was already laughing pretty good, so you are just getting the tail end of our changing table time:


Also, this week, Dan and Brandi Findley came to meet baby Charleigh...they had sweet little twin boys...that's also on Justin's list of things to do.
Anyway, on to the fun Halloween pictures!
We went to the Olive Baptist Fall Festival early in the day and got to see lots of friends! Here is a pic of Charleigh and her friend Lyla, just a few month apart but it was fun to see that while Charleigh still just lays there, Lyla was crawling and picking things up! Charleigh will be there in no time :)

Our mad pumkin carving skills...mine is the little traditional one, Justin's in the elaborate BOO ghost, and Charleigh's is the Ms. PotatoHead pumkin (she can't handle sharp objects yet). Thanks Big Mama for the PotatoHead kit :)
Which one is Charleigh?
She looks scared right!?

Kurt, Toby (hippies), and sweet little Cooper (mouse, not bear) came to trick or treat at our house! He is so stinkin' cute I tell ya.

You know how I am with themes...Since Charleigh was a quite adorable little sunflower, the rest of the family had to dress around her. Justin and I were gardeners (he was not included in the pictures because he kept taking off his hat and gloves and just looked like a slob instead..haha, instead he was taking the picture), and Prissy was a Bumble Bee (I figured that bumble bees LOVE flowers so, it fit)

She apparently felt that her costume was comfy as she napped most of the time.

What a cutie!

Brrrr....(week 6)

Well, it officially got cold this weekend, BOO! I am a warm weather kind of girl, but I will say that all these hormones are making me more hot natured and I actually don't mind the cool snap we're having :) The weather getting colder is not helping motivate me to lose the rest of my baby weight. If I am just going to have to cover up all of my hard work with big sweaters, I might as well wait until summer to work out right?!? haha. Nah, P90X is about to be my best friend :(


Well, this weekend we went up to Camden, Alabama with Ben and Ashley Nelson and their little cutey, Emorie, to "enjoy" the wilderness...AKA: our husbands really wanted to hunt so they coaxed us into coming along with the babies so they didn't feel so guilty about leaving us at home ;) But we won't let them know we are in on their strategy. It was fun to sit and talk to someone else who had a child the same age...get tips and pointers from each other. Ashley and I laid a guilt trip on the boys everyday for fun :) We're evil, we know.

Onto other news this week, Charleigh broke the 8lb mark...woo hoo! She's getting a tiny bit of rolls here and there. But, she is so long that it all kind of spreads out.

Here she is doing some Tummy Time...I believe we will have a crawler sooner rather than later, Oh boy...

And lastly, at 6 weeks old we decided to try Charleigh in her crib at night, all alone in her very own room without us...I felt so sad about this. I loved having her so close to me in her little Bassinet but as a mother, my success is determined by the fact that I raise my children to be independent of me. I hate that though, I want her to NEED me. But, I know she will be better off if she can survive on her own. Plus I figured it would be less tramatic to her if she got used to sleeping in her own room and bed while she is still young and doesn't know any better...it would be SO hard to put a 1 year old in her room and here her cry and call my name...it just wouldn't EVER happen at that point...

Turns out, she did great! We have the sound monitor, the video monitor AND the breathing monitor all hooked up in there so you would think I would just relax and get some sleep. But, I was just so frazzled that first night without her. I just stared at the video monitor all night long and kept going in there to check on her. But each night since then has gotten soooo much easier. She loves her crib and I LOVE that little girl! Plus I don't have to worry about the noise Justin and I make disturbing her any more :)

Well, that is all for now, Halloween is in next week's update so that will be a FUN one!

Projectile vomitting anyone?

Well, I have to stop labeling these blogs by weeks because now everyone uses months to describe how old a baby is...so confusing. Anyway, here is what happened during Charleigh's 5th week on this earth :)

Things I've noticed about Charleigh this week: She now follows us with her eyes. Even from birth this girl has been nosey. If someone was in our hospital room talking, she would turn her head toward them, as if she was eavesdropping on their convo. But now, I can tell she SEES us. It's almost heartbreaking when I lay her down in her crib and she keeps her eyes on me the whole time as I'm walking away...it's like her little eyes are saying, "Mommy, don't leave me here!" But she doesn't cry so, I keep walking, I know it's better for her to not be dependent on me so, I just go into the other room and cry...haha! Also, she definitely recognizes our voices over everyone else. If someone is holding her, talking and playing with her and I say something across the room....she breaks focus and finds me! I love it! Is that selfish to say?

This week we made a lunch date with daddy and headed up to his office to show Charleigh off to all his co-workers. Although, they didn't seem too over-excited to meet her. Justin says he forces them to look at pictures of her all day long so they are kind of over it...:( But, they did like her and visited with her a bit. We will have to make weekly lunch dates with daddy a regular thing!

Charleigh also started laughing at ME when I do pat-a-cake with her! She would only laugh at my mom (Granny) when she did it, but would cry when anyone else tried. But now...she like when I do it too! Still cries when Daddy tries :(


We found out this week that Charleigh has thrush. Babies get this when their mother is given antibiotics during labor...anyone who has a c-section gets tons of antibiotics, and some mothers who deliver naturally do as well. Anyway, apparently the antibiotics get into the baby's system as well and kill all the bacteria, even the good stuff, which throws off thier balance of bacteria vs. yeast. Then, the yeast multiplies and creates a yeast infection in the baby's mouth. It shows up like a white film in her mouth. Anyway, she apparently had this for a long time before I knew it and while breastfeeding she passed the infection to me! Oh no! so we are both on meds :(

So, remember I talked about how I got scared that Charleigh might not be gaining enough weight?? So, my solution was to feed her until she could eat no more. Oh and I did. But this night my little darling decided to give a little bit back to me. We fed her her last feeding of the night, the only bottle she has during her day and the little piggy ate 6 ounces (that's a lot for a newborn) but, she just kept eating....So, about an hour later I go to laid her down for the night. She was still awake when I put her down so about 15 minutes later I decided to go check to see if she had fallen asleep, right when I walked in and peeped into her bassinet, I saw her gag and then projectile vomit spewed from every orface! Even her little nose. I sat her up ASAP as I didn't want her to choke and then hollared for Justin because I was scared to death. Coming from a baby that NEVER spits up, I couldn't fathom how she could throw up SO much at one time. So, we cleaned up her bassinet and changed her clothes and I just held her for a little while. I was shaken up but she was smiling...must have been a relief to her?? So, I finally got the courage to lay her back down and BAM, she did it again. The one seemed as if it shot across the room! I was frantic and called my mom to make sure she wasn't dying! For the next few hours I refused to lay her down, I held her upright in my arms and let her go to sleep that way...I just knew she was going to be hungry soon since she just disposed of all her dinner. Finally, Justin convinced me to lay her down again for the night and she did just fine. And she didn't want to eat again for another 7 hours! I guess all that was just extra that we fed her :( It was scary none-the-less.

Speaking of feeding, she has really started to put on the weight now! She's finally around the 8 lb mark...newborn clothes here we come!


We've gotten on a pretty good schedule these days. Every three hours we Eat, Play, Sleep nd then start all over again :) Then a night her sleep schedule is: bottle @ 8, put down at 9, asleep by 9:30, wakes to eat at 3 or 4, wake at 8. I can live with that schedule for now :)

Alright, so the one exciting thing that happened this week was MY BIRTHDAY! Charleigh and I met Auntie Audrey for lunch (at La Hacienda). It was there first meeting and I brought a bottle along so Audge could feed her! So cute!

So, I asked Jus if we could take Charleigh to a pumpkin patch to pick out a carving pumpkin or 3! So we did, I dressed Charleigh up in a homemade Halloween outfit and it was so fun to be able to be all kiddish during a holiday, we needed Charleigh to give us that excuse again :)

They had the cutest scene set up for picture-taking so we took advantage of it.

And you KNOW I had to include my favorite picture from the night...Charleigh's rebelious behavior has begun! Hehe! I love her anyway!

Then we headed to La Ha for my birthday dinner...we talked about somewhere nicer but...who am I kidding, I stinkin' LOVE La Ha! (Yes, I went to the same place for lunch and dinner, it was a GOOD birthday)

Justin thought it was SO funny to get them to sing to me with the funny hat...hilarious Jus, hilarious!

And I'll leave you with one more festive picture of my darling....ARG!