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Monday, December 14, 2009

3 months old!


With this blog I will officially be CAUGHT UP! Yes, Charleigh is 3 months old...right NOW! Can you believe it?? The date on this post is correct December 14th was her 3 month birthday (if you call that a birthday??)So, this week started off pretty low key. As I rushed to finish my Prissy Pink Polka Dot orders and get my own gifts together as well. Luckily, Charleigh was willing to cooperate with Mommy and was happy to sit in her fortress of pillows :)
On Tuesday we ventured out to the Pace High SGA Christmas party. Celene invited us to come back so that all the kids could meet Charleigh. I've wanted to bring her up to the school so many times but I am sooo scared she will catch something up there! So, I was glad to go to their Christmas party. I whipped up this little dress for Charleigh so that she could be festive :) We didn't end up wearing that headband because the feathers kept getting in her face :(
Then, this weekend we headed to BAMA! My mom's side of the family had their annual Christmas get-together. We got there late Friday night so it was just us and Papa and Granny (and Aunt Jessica). Everyone just kept laughing at how fat she had gotten and wanted to see her naked sooo, here she is in all her glory :) So cute!My parents have 14 grandchildren so, they started a tradition long ago of going to each grandkid's house and giving them their presents early. That way they got to see each of them open their gifts instead of mad chaos on Christmas morning. So, it was Charleigh's turn Friday night.Here she is with all her presents, staring intently.If I got them going, whe would grab the paper and fling her arms, so she totally helped open them.This was my favorite gift...Granny and Papa gave Charleigh her ear piercing!!
So, the next day was the family get-together, which I didn't take any pictures at. Sorry. I wasn't thinking "blog" at the moment. But afterwards Me, Charleigh, Brandy, Jessica, Tatum, and Granny all loaded up and went to EastChase in Montgomery to get Tatum's and Charleigh's ears pierced. Tatum was so cute, she's 5 now but she had her ears pierced at Charleigh's age (she accidentally let her holes grow up). She had been too scared to get them pierced again until we told her that baby Charleigh was getting hers done. She said she would go first to show baby Chaw-lee how to do it without crying. And she did! She didn't cry at all. So she totally got a princess doll as a prize for being strong. Here is Tatum before:
And here she is after: (you can't see her earrings really well, but she was tucking her hair behind her ears so that you could)
Then it was Charleigh's turn. I was sooo nervous. Here was Charleigh before:
And here she is after: (she did cry but as you can see, she calmed down once I gave her the bottle. It wasn't half as bad as her shots!)

The next morning we all headed off to church and afterwards wanted to take Charleigh to the Bass Pro Shop to meet Santa. They really do it up for Christmas. They had a whole village set up where kids can decorate cookies and play with toy cars and shoot little guns...and it was all free. They even gave us pictures with Santa...we took our own as well.
Here we are waiting in line on our way to the North Pole.
She looked so little compared to Santa. And best thing, she didn't cry!

Some crafts I've been up to:
Here are some of the aqua/pink ornaments I've been making for our tree. Some have stripes, some have little dots, but the ones that look the cutest are the big polka dot ones :)
Also, I made us all new stocking, in the fabric of my choosing. The girls are embroidered in pink and the boys (Daddy) are embroidered in green. We need to add more boys to the crowd.


Anyway, this week is CHRISTMAS. We will definitely update after we finish our christmas festivities! Merry Christmas to you all!

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

So, we're overflowing here. (week 12)


Christmas is finally here...well, coming fast! I have been sooo busy with Christmas gifts and The Prissy Pink Polka Dot that I haven't had as much time to take pictures and videos so this post may be shorter than most :)

I'll start with the few pictures I did take of my angel this week:

Tatum LOVES holding baby Chaw-lee!

I made this picture the backdrop on my cell phone. It just makes me happy ;)
Charleigh wore her first pair of jeans this week:
Has a daddy ever loved a baby this much? I don't think so.
Charleigh is doing cute things like giggling now. She loves to be on her changing table and we just talk and she giggles. I can poke her right under her chin and she does one of those cute baby belling laughs. I can't keep myself from cracking up when that happens.
She is still doing great on sleeping. Her bedtime is 9pm and she is sleeping till 7 most days. Some days she wants to get up at 6 but either way, I get to sleep!
I am still debating the cereal issue. I do want her reflux to stop but...I just don't feel good about it. I'm going to hold off for now ;)

Oh, one things she started doing recently is fighting sleep. I hate this! Most times she lays down for her naps with no problem, just stares off until she drifts to sleep but once or twice a day she will just be fussy when I lay her down. I can tell she is sooo tired but she just won't let herself go to sleep. If I spend a few minutes with her she is asleep in no time but...is this gonna get worse?? I hope not.
This week we met up with our good friend Audrey again. I love when she sees Charleigh because she notices all the changes she is making physically. It cool to hear another perspective since I see her everyday.

And now to refer to the title of this post. We're overflowing! Out of our house that is. We have too much stuff. Let me re-phrase that...Charleigh has too much stuff. And having my own small business in a tiny room isn't helping either. So we are looking at building again. I am super excited and I think it will be a great move for us financially. We don't want to jump into it but maybe in the next few months we will get something going. yay!
Charleigh is 3 months next week!

Boy am I thankful! (week 11)

Look how big those cheeks are getting!
We had a lazy day at home so we decided to dress up a bit and play. She looks like a little ballerina so I put her ballet shoes on her (she kicked them right off).
This little chick is so stinkin' happy. I am so thankful for that, her smile is what I LIVE for these days!
Alrighty, on with the post....

This week was Thanksgiving week! Oh, how thankful I am for my sweet family. Of course I am thankful for all the blessings that the Lord has given us, the struggles he has kept us from but I'd be crazy not to focus on our biggest blessing this year...Charleigh. I think back to this time last year and wow, I couldn't have imagined we'd be spending the next Thanksgiving with our own little 2 months old bundle of JOY! We hadn't even gone through out 3rd miscarriage yet. There is no way I could predict how happy I am with the way things turned out. I love her. More than stupid petty words can ever express.

So, we spent Turkey Day with Paw Paw and Granmama. Have I ever mentioned that she is THE BEST cook on the planet! Stinks for me because nothing I make will ever compare to Granmama... but, the good news is, I get to EAT it! I'll take that deal any day :)
Paw Paw helped with the cooking as well, but he can never resist playing with Jus for a bit :)
Charleigh and I were eagerly awaiting the dinner bell.And we even brought Prissy along. Cause we knew Granmama wouldn't mind (she loves Prissy). The poor thing gets left at home so much now :( I wanted her to know we were thankful for her sweet self too.
After we eat, this is ALWAYS were Justin ends up!


That weekend it was off to Bama to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family! We were traveling during the Alabama/Auburn game so I made sure Charleigh was all Tiger-ed out for the ride (don't worry the tutu was soft and comfy).We almost pulled out a win but...oh well. At least we looked cute rooting for our team ;) The next day it was time to EAT. So Charleigh put on her Thanksgiving dress and got to see all her aunts and uncles again. And of course, Granny and Papa.
Here is Sharry holding Charleigh and me holding Camden. They wore matching dresses! So cute.
Speaking of Sharry. I posted a while ago about the ordeal she is going through to have a child. After being diagnosed with Stage 4 endometriosis and being forced into menopause for 4 months now. She had her BIG surgery Dec 10th. Things looked a little better in there and the doc thinks he got most of it. Her left ovary was attached to her colon which he fixed and drained everything (tubes and all). She is recovering now from this surgery which is hard, and will have to be on menopause for a couple more months but then....things are hopeful. Please pray for her, I want her to have a baby so BAD!

Well, during Turkey Day FSU and Florida played. Soooo, we of course had to show our support. This game wasn't so close but again...fashion won overall! And you might notice something quite disappointing...no earrings :( We had planned to get her little ears pierced over Thanksgiving weekend while we were up in Bama but sure enough, when we actually set out to do it, Justin put a stop to it. He wasn't against her ears being pierced, he was having a hard time knowing that we would be causing her to cry. To be honest, that is the part that broke my heart too. But I knew it was something she would love in the future (I did) and I wanted to do it while she was young and couldn't pull at them. So, he agreed to make it one of her Christmas presents.
Before we left Bama I had to priviledge of spending some one-on-one time with my baby sister Jessica. She is tired of living away from God, and she desperately wants to return to her first love for him. She knows how she wants to live, how she is supposed to live, but it's just hard to start all over. To have to give up your friends, your weekends, your hangout and turn to "nothing" so it seems. But I've never seen her more passionate about it. I know Satan will attack and attack hard so PLEASE say a little prayer for her as well. Pray for strength in the hard times, and pray for Godly friends to jump into her life.
Soo, after all the excitement of Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree, and Charleigh's of course.
Here is the problem with our tree so far. See that dark spot in the middle?? That would be a strand of the pre-lit lights that isn't working. I tried to replace them but every single bulb on that strand was blown and I ran out of replacements! Ahhhh, oh, and I still need to put ornaments up. Justin accidentally broke most my ornaments from last year so I decided to make some news ones for this year. I think I am going with pink and aqua. We have more estrogen in this house anyway so, too bad Justin :)
Here is Charleigh's tree (taken with my iPhone, sorry for the picture quality). It matches her black/white/hotpink room!

Now on to some crafting I've done...I made all new stockings for Granmama's house. I think they turned out just adorable. I tried to match everyone's personality. He's a big Tennessee fan.
I loved how Angie's turned out so I decided I am going to make new stockings for my little family too. They will all look like this one :)
I don't feel the need to explain Justin's.
I friggin' LOVED this retro print fabric soooo...
This one looks way cuter in person I think.
FSU fan.
This one is for Nuggette (Joanna's baby girl) who does not have a name yet!
This one was made to match those fish/deer shirts he wears all the time...hahaha!
I love these flowers!


I have also been BUSY with the Prissy Pink Polka Dot. I won't be posting EVERYTHING I'm making, that would take days. But I will post some of it that I find especially cute. Some of my favorite things to make these days are appliquéd onesies.
These are for twin girls.
Here is an Alabama tutu complete with houndstooth ribbon and all.
And here is the little onesie I made to go with it. I wanted to use the houndstooth fabric for the Alabama A but all the craft stores were sold out!

Here are some bibs and burp cloths I made for my mom. They are cowboy and cowgirl themed.
Some new stuff going on with Charleigh during her 11th week: she is eating like crazy, eating me out of house and home I tell ya! And you can definitely tell. She is starting to pack on the pounds finally. I will not be surprised if her 4 month doctor's visit shows her in the upper percentiles on weight. Also, I think she is at the beginning stage of teething. She slobbers over everything, and she chews her pacy rather than sucking it. She likes when I rub her gums, thinks it's funny. She only wants to sit up now. When you lay her in your lap she strains to lift her head up and sits like that until you sit her up yourself. It's adorable but just another reminder that she is growing up too fast. She also LOVES to stand on her legs. According to my "milestone chart" she isn't supposed to do that until 4 months! But she loves it I tell ya, I guess it makes her feel grown?? She also watched her first Baby Einstein video. She cried at first, then started laughing at the TV, too funny. I don't let her watch too much (because I heard it rots their brains) but I figure 30 minutes won't hurt. She has gotten very good at squealing. When she gets really excited she stiffens her arms and legs and lets out a big "AHHHHH"! And, I finally caught her rolling over on video! yay:

We also found out that she loves it when Justin whistles to her (which you'd be surprised how much he whistles). She would smile and take a deep breath every time he whistled, it was so cute.
I later realized that when Justin whistles, he blows really hard. So I started thinking that maybe he was blowing in her face. Sure enough, that little smile she was making, was really Daddy taking her breath away. I feel horrible for letting this go on!! Poor baby!