5 months

Well, a month later...Since my last post a lot of things have changed on the Charleigh front. She is growing up and learning so fast that it actually scares me. I look at her newborn pictures now and get very sad because it is extremely obvious that she is NOT that little any more and never will be. Those are days we will never get back. Just memories now, but it all went so fast that it is hard to remember...ahhhh, it only reminds me to cherish the moment she is in right now, because it too will be gone soon. We got a few of our newborn pictures from our photographer this week (Rae Leytham). Here are the ones we have for now, I may post more later :)

She definitely takes up the WHOLE changing table now :(

Well, she is growing up so I will embrace it and tell you about all the cool new things she is doing. So, she just recently started "sucking" her thumb. She doesn't really suck it though, just chews on it (for teething purposes I'm sure). She is eating so much that I was certain at 4 months that I was running out of milk. When I would try to pump at night, I would only get a few ounces, when I had been getting 6 or 7! Turns out, she was just eating that much more all of a sudden. She has been showing signs of readiness for cereal but her stubborn mommy really wanted to wait until she hit the 6 month mark to start that ordeal. Our pediatrician said she was at a good weight to start cereal and that we should start looking out for the "warning signs". She showed all of them: She started watching us intently as we ate every bite of our meals, she stopped having the thruch reflex when I would put something in her mouth, and she was eating over 32 ounces in a day. So, when she hit 5 months....we decided to try rice cereal! Here she is the first day.

By the second day she was cracking up at each bite, and now, a week later, she says "Ah" and opens her mouth wide for me to put the spoon in! she didn't poop for 2.5 days after starting her cereal but I'm proud to say, she is back to a normal pooping regimen now. She is also doing really cute things now like, trying to pick the pictures off of fabrics...she doesn't realize that they are stuck. poor baby. She has also started playing with her bottle at her 8pm feeding, that is the only time of day she gets a bottle. She used to gulp it down and now, she piddles and gets distracted with it. She acts like she isn't that hungry anymore, but a few minutes later she gulps it down...crazy girl.

Another milestone she hit accidentally at about 4.5 months...she said mama! Well, I was in her face one day saying MA-MA...over and over like I do every day :) and I said, "Charleigh say, Ma-Ma". Right afte which she said, "Ma.....Ma". It was totally an accident and she was suprised by my outburst of screaming laughter afterwards but, it was my moment I tell ya! It has been a month and she has yet to say it again :) I'll just keep brainwashing her for now. She has also learned that she can actually bounce in her exersaucer. Up until now she just sat in it and played with the toys, now, she gets her little legs going and bounces a bit, it's cute! She still has a long way to go until she gets to the bouncing capabilities of Lucas! She has become quite the talk-a-holic. She just sits there and jabbers away to herself. The ladies in the church nursery are constantly telling me stories of how, 'No, she didn't take her nap this morning because she was too busy talking to everyone who came in"...she has a little of her daddy in her I'd say. Okay, and she started doing this really weird thing on her changing table (started at about 4.5 months), BACKBENDS! She pushes her little heels into the table and balances herself on her head. It actually helps me change her diaper, as she lifts up her butt so, I'm not complaining. And she laughs while she is doing it. So, I guess I won't worry but, it's just weird and I haven't seen any other babies do it.

Well, the last thing I posted about a month ago was her 4 month checkup so, I'll start from there. The next day my sweet babies Caroline and Kathryn came to visit us and meet Charleigh for the first time. These are two college girls that I mentored way back when they were in 7th grade! They will always be my first little babies that I loved like a mother. We chatted it up and I made sure to get the dish on their current lives...they're gonna be okay! haha. One reward to working with the youth is that one day you get to talk to them as an "adult" and realize that, they're okay. I just worry about all of them so much, you know, like, you can't control what any of your "children" do, so you just worry. I love them ;)

The month of January has been sad for me, a little. January is the last month of hunting season and also the month that Justin's company does their inventory so...needless to say, we missed Daddy a lot this month. I know he has cut his hunting down a lot from the days of old but, I HATE when he is gone even one day. I think I must be extra needy, oh well, since I am writing this in Feburary...he's back! yay!

Also happening this month, we celebrated Prissy's 5th birthday! I cannot believe it. We actually forgot it was her birthday until that night...so I gave her like 5 treats to make up for it. She had no idea what she did to get all those treats! haha We also threw Joanna and Nuggette (no they STILL have not picked out a name) a baby shower. I made her a basket full of sewn and monogrammed goodies (which is hard to do with NO NAME) but I forgot to take pictures of all of this. Well, one thing I did make her was her own hospital gown :)She is not as over-the-top with the pink and sparkly as me so I made her a more "sophisticated" gown. It turned out sooo cute. It's a green on green damask print with green binding to match and a chocolate brown ribbon. This picture was taken with her phone so may not be the best quality ;) Just know, it was CUTE! And we celebrated our 5 year anniversary! Woo hoo! Best 5 years of my entire life, and I mean that with all my heart. I have many epiphanies a day realizing that I am very lucky, that God hand-built this man for me, and that I am so thankful that he dances with me in the kitchen :) We decided to re-live our first date and go to Tokyo! Not the nicest place ever but, I've learned that sentimenal is better than "nice". We were looking forward to making out in Jill's parents garage too but, decided that would just be weird (haha). Don't worry, it wasn't the same kind of "making out" that folks do today...just a little VERTICAL kissing! (I felt the need to explain that in case some of you pictured a dusted spot on the top of Dennis's car). Anyway, I feel I have divuldged too much information...The next morning we headed out to Stillwater Spa for a couples massage. Justin schedules these things solely for me I know. I LOVE going to the spa and sipping their flavored hot teas and nibbling their dried fruits, wearing their robes and flip flops...I just love the experience. I make Justin sit in the "realaxation room" for such a long time when he is just ready to go...haha, but he does it and he giggles (and makes fun of me) because he knows how much I love it. This was our first time at Stillwater spa and they had couples' changing and shower rooms...Justin was impressed by that :)

Okay, so in case you weren't uncomfortable yet, I'll change the subject. Also at the end of january Charleigh and I made a trip up to Bama, my little sister Jessica was having her gallbladder removed. Everything went well and she gave birth to a 2 ounce gallstone...yay! I'm knitting him a toboggan. just know.

So, at the beginning of feburary I had the pleasure of MCing the Miss PHS pageant. It was fun to see all my students again and some fellow teachers. The pageant was GREAT and we ran out of seats for all the guests! It was a fun night but I was REALLY ready to get home to my Charleigh girl :)

Later that week we threw Whitney and baby Isabella a baby shower too! We had it at the church and had such a great turn-out!I also made her a basket of goodies. This onesie and burp cloth are my favorites:

I also made her a hospital gown out of the fabric below so that she could match baby Isabella's burp cloth in the hospital :)

That night we raced to Ben and Sam's house for a big bash they were throwing to celebrate Ben finishing school and getting a promotion! Everyone was so proud of him and even gave him sweet little tearful speeches...so cute! Justin joined in the fun by starting "He's a Jolly Good Fellow" like 20 times. As soon as the room would get quiet, he's start it again.

Speaking of parties, we've been animals lately. We had a superbowl party at our house on Sunday (which squeezed one MILLION people into our house!) and that Friday we all met back up again at Jaime and Adams for some Rockband, Trivial Pursuit, dinner and discussion. I LOVE our SS parties (which consists of tons of folks who don't even go to our SS class...haha, that's the way we like it!)

Oh, Valentines Day has also been celebrated since I last updated (I'm posting this on Feburary 22nd even though the date up top says the 6th...I started writing on the 6th). We tried to keep V-Day low key this year, since we just celebrated our anniversary AND we are on a major budget!

We had heart shaped pancakes that morning, we all wore our red to church that morning (Charleigh in her v-day dress I made her).Funny story. I told Justin, "Hey babe, Charleigh and I are wearing black and red this morning for valentines day. Why don't you match us too?" So he went to get dressed and came out with khakis and a blue pullover..."Did you not want to match us today? We're wearing red for Valentine's Day" To which he replied, "Uh, I made sure the little horseman on my pullover was red..." hahahaha....at least he tried. He went back and put on a red shirt after that. I helped Charleigh make her daddy a V-day card.

That's her actual traced hand (hard to get from a 5 month old), and while I was gone that day, Justin had Prissy make me a card...it was hilarious because he tried to draw her paw print on there and use the hot glue gun...totally worth it!

The next day a bunch of us mommy's and babies were supposed to have a play date at Solutia park but, it started raining and one of the babes had a fever so, we cancelled it :( Instead Charleigh and I met Kennedy and Jill for chik-fil-a and Target. I bring my camera with me always, but NEVER get any pictures...aghhh!

This week we got to meet Audrey's boyfriend Jarred! they are so cute and I can tell they adore each other. They are SOOO getting married! One day of course!

Now onto some CRAFTS I've been doing. I've worked on several dresses and bows for little Charleigh (I basically make her a bow every day, I'm obsessed). But, I do not want to upload all those pictures so, here's what I already have uploaded:

I stinkin' LOVE appliquéd shirts and onesies!I'm also loving to coordinate burp cloths with the appliquéd onesies.

Here are the pettiskirt and tutu I made for Rae Leytham's little girl. I cannot wait to see them on her (get to it Rae, I hear you are pretty good at the picture taking thing...)

So, some cool things God has done for us this last month...So, as I mentioned above, we are on a major budget! We are doing very good because my husband is a heck of a salesman, but, there are some months that the ecomony just keeps people from buying from him. So, those months are the major budget months. One of those was January (I guess after Christmas no one can buy anything) so as I am paying all our bills and working out our budget, I realized that we WILL NOT have enough to pay our tithe or 10%. Now, this is just not an option, we HAVE to tithe. How dare we keep that money for ourselves, God gave us what we have and all he asks is to give back 10%, we get to keep 90% so what do we have to complain about right?? Well, we decided that it was just not an option, we prayed for God to come through in a big way and we dropped our offering in the plate. That Sunday Paster Ted said from the pulpit, "Is there anything in your life that you are trusting God for? Anything that, if he doesn't come through, then your're sunk?" I thought to myself, "Oh yeah, if he doesn't come through for our bills this month...we're sunk!" The next day, THE NEXT DAY I tell ya...we recieved an overpayment check for the EXACT amount! He provided, we weren't sunk! I don't know why this always suprises me, that he keeps his promises, that he WANTS to give us good things. After that, we had more good news. We own one credit card. It is only used for Justin to put his business expenses on and then his company pays him back every month. So, by using this card and paying it off every month, we have been earning World points...who knew? So, the credit card company calls and tells us that we have over 62,000 world points and should use them. I start looking up what this means and it turns out that 50,000 points translates into $500...sweet! In the bible Jesus quotes the scripture, "You should not put the Lord, your God, to the test". But, there is one topic that God says he wishes we WOULD test him on, it's finances! He says give and I will give to you immeasurably more...he says, 'Test me in this!' Well, we tested this month and wow, he wasn't lying :)

So, speaking of finances, we are back on the house building kick. We had put it on the backburner for the last month because some changes were happening and we didn't want to throw moving in with that. But now, we THINK someone may be interested in our house :) and that means, we'd need a new one. So, depending on if we sell ours, we may be moving soon. We are soooo still gonna be in Pace, just a little nicer place I hope. It is actually a great financial move for us since we have sooo much equity in our house that we are in now, it would actually put some money in our pocket to upgrade...is that not so strange.

Well, I know I will take forever to update again so, here is what the Tyner clan will be up to this coming month:

This weekend we are headed off to the woods with The Nelson's (Ben, Ashley and baby Emorie).Justin took some hunting-inspired pictures.

She loves to play with her feet.

Then we have Justin's birthday and the Purity Ball (Girls' Ministry Father/Daughter Ball). I am so excited about all the hard work we've but into this ball, it is going to be awesome! I am also entering The Prissy Pink Polka Dot in the Mom2Mom sale at the Pensacola Fairgrounds (Mar 9-13th)...so come see me! We will be visiting fam in Bama mid-march and then Baby Nuggette, and Baby Isabella will be here at the end of the month! Busy month to come!

My two girls:

Alright, so when my family left last month after Charleigh's dedication. I found this post it note in our office:

hahahhhaha, I think one of my nephews wrote it! They always wrestle with Justin, he beats them (because he doesn't know that he is supposed to let them win), they get mad at him (and write notes like this), and then they wrestle again. It's a vicious cycle.

The last month!

Holy Cow! I feel overwhelmed just thinking about all the information I am about to lay on you blog readers out there (kind of like Charleigh in this picture)....last month in a nutshell...

I'll pick up where I left off. Charleigh turned three months on December 14th. She is hitting all her milestones perfectly and I continue to be amazed at how she just knows things and all the stuff she is "supposed" to do...like, I didn't teach her to roll over, she just did, and...I didn't show her how to hold onto things but she does (especially my hair these days...haha, and Prissy's tongue once). She is kicking up a storm now, and grabbing for her feet. She stares at them intently until her body falls forward and she almost gets them in her mouth. Fun to watch. My favorite is when she grabs the bottom of her little dresses, which she always does. It looks like she is doing a little curtsey. I love that. She also has become much more interested in Prissy, whom she used to ignore or get annoyed with. Now she watches her. Justin said she is learning how to stalk her prey..and will some day be a hunter like him...I'm hoping not. She also is on more of a regular napping schedule now, and boy I like schedules. One BAD development...she is SO teething already. I tried to live in denial at first but everyone has pointed it out. She drools like do other, rubs her gums with her hands, and chews on her pacy instead of sucking it. She also....BITES while nursing!!! AHHH, Luckily she has no teeth and I plan to put an end to that ASAP. So, anyway, that was all happening over the last month. She is still developing more things daily...I'll write about more of her newest developments later.

So, what has the Tyner family been up to lately you ask? Well, I'd be glad to tell you:

First came the Fuller Christmas Reunion back in Bama. (the weekend before Christmas) I wrote about this in my last post...this was the weekend we got her ears pierced and she met Santa.

So, I'll pick up from there. That week a LOT of friends from out of town came in town...so we had a girls' brunch to be able to see each other before we all ran frantically in our separate directions. Charleigh got to meet all these girls for the first time! She acted fine but the brunch was right in the middle of one of her naptimes...so she wasn't her usual bubbly self. Oh well, so life goes with babies! I miss our college times with these girls but, we will always stay as connected as possible :)

That night was the Christmas Eve service at our church, which I love. I get chill bumps when they turn out all the lights and thousands of people hold candles...just something about that gets me every time. And I tear up when all the little kiddies take offering up and lay it in the manger. Unfortunately, Justin was sick that night so Charleigh and I headed out without him. But we met up with Big Mama, Jo and James. Big Mama made Charleigh's outfit in this picture, too cute :)So, we headed home on that rainy night and were so glad to get back to our sick Daddy. Justin and I wasted no time putting her to bed and filling each other's stockings. It was SOOO fun to fill Charleigh's stocking this year. I literally could not have shoved one more thing inside of it. Here is a video of her waking up for her first Christmas! We literally had to wake her up an hour earlier than usual so that is why she is a bit out of it.

Here we are doing our family tradition that Jus and I have done every Christmas since we've been married. Underwear hats! We always put underwear in each other's stockings and then have to wear them on your head while you open your presents...our kids will hate us one day, but for now...

(Charleigh looks somewhat like a KKK member, oops)

And here is the hoodie I made for Jus...I digitized his hunting club logo and appliquéd it on a hoodie with Mossy Oak camo fabric. He loved it!

Another tradition on Christmas morning is to pack up our things and head to Bama. Our goal is to get there in time for the family breakfast around 10am. I'm afraid this is going to get EXTREMELY hard to do the bigger our family grows :( But this year, we made it!I let Charleigh wear her pajamas all day because it's Christmas, and you should be able to wear your PJs all day if you want to!Here is the hoodie I made for my mom and my sister. They loved thier's too. I am so glad because I worked hard on those :) That day we participated in another Shirley family tradition which is MOVIES on Christmas! We took all the bazillion kids with us so we opted for Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was Charleigh's first cinema experience and she sat in my lap and actually watched the movie! She even let out a laugh every once in a while. Too cute!

So, if that week couldn't have been any busier...we rushed home the next day to do Christmas with Paw Paw and Granmama.They got her this cool exersaucer. She is too short for it so I put a box underneath and it seems to work just fine! She stares at that frog on there and now (closer to 4 months) has started yelling at it. I don't know what Mr. Froggie did, but she is NOT happy with him. We got to see Jo and James (and Nuggette...no they have not picked a name and I am mad about it frankly).And Bubba, Angie, and Jackson!
She felt very loved it seems...

Here we are about to open her presents.

And with Paw Paw...
And sleeping with Granmama...

That night we headed over to Big Mama's house to celebrate some more!!
We had fun opening all our presents...especially Charleigh's (the toy Justin is playing with is Charleigh's in case you were confused).
And these are the matching PJs Big Mama made us for Christmas...we wore them that night.

So, all in all, this Christmas was the best one yet :)

On to New Year's Eve. Oh my, I could (and probably should) write a whole post on this topic. But...

New Year's Eve we had the whole crew over to our house for a rock band show down. We haven't played in forever so it was fun to dust off the old drums and get down with some new faces who have now joined our group (by group, I am mostly talking about couples from our SS class or from the "baby club") We ended up ringing in the new year by playing Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit...boys against girls of course. And for once, we let the boys win...We all got our new year kisses and went to BED!

I took the next day to reflect on the year past. We started off last year with a hard hit...the news of our 3rd miscarriage (Biscuit). We were just crushed and so glad to get that year behind us. Little did we know that we were already pregnant with my sweet Charleigh angel. It would be a couple more weeks until we would find out :) I remember thinking that this year was going to be different for us. I dug back in my blog to last year and here is what I wrote:

A double portion.
Isaiah 61:7 (New International Version)7 Instead of their shame, my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

As we reflect on all that God has done in our lives over the past year, we look forward to an even greater level of the promises of God in the year to come! Isaiah 61:7 promises that instead of shame and trouble, God will double the inheritance of His people and they'll be filled with everlasting joy. This is God's promise to me: double for your trouble! A "double portion" of God's goodness, a "double portion" of His favor and wisdom on my life. That is our prayer for 2009. It's time for me to trust God for the destiny that the enemy has tried so hard to convince me was impossible. It's time to believe God for the unimaginable. It's time to move beyond my past. I've been hurt, it's time to forgive. I've been discouraged, it's time to put on a garment of praise and experience the joy of the Lord. I've been worried and afraid, it's time to have faith like never before in the provision and purposes of God. It's time to live with confidence that God wants to give me a blessed and prosperous future in every area of my life! The power of God's promises and His love for me is so much stronger than the pain of my past. We know this in our hearts. God wants us to use our troubles as a springboard into our future. Our troubles are what God often uses to take us to a new, higher level of living. This is what is so great about our God. He takes any trouble we have and says, "I will give you double the inheritance for your trouble." Twice the joy, twice the fulfillment, twice the impact . . . twice the life!" We're believing for twice the life. We're asking God to open twice as many doors this year for hope to find its home in twice as many places. With all of the challenges in the world today, what we have done in the past won't be able to take us to where God is calling us to go in the future. We need God to multiply us — He's the source of every blessing, every gift and every hope for tomorrow. As we were getting ready for church last Sunday morning (just a few days after we found out that we lost our third baby) Justin was getting ready and singing "God is Good, All the Time". I just stopped what I was doing (in the other room) and sat there and listened. It was very sweet. Sweet for my soul. He is good...all the time. Throughout the last week, I've asked Justin to sing that song periodically...songs mean a lot to me, they are so full of expression and emotion. I cling to songs when I'm happy and when I'm sad. To hear this song come from the ONE person on this earth that I KNOW is going through the same emotions and hurts that I am...was so very sweet.

God is good

all the time

He put a song of praise

in this heart of mine

God is good

all the time

Through the darkest night,

His light will shine

God is good,

God is good

all the time

If you're walking

through the valley

And there are shadows all around

Do not fear,

He will guide you

He will keep you safe and sound

'Cause He's promised

to never leave you

Nor forsake you

and His Word is true

God is good

all the time

He put a song of praise

in this heart of mine

God is good

all the time

Through the darkest night,

His light will shine

God is good,

God is good

all the time

We were sinners

-so unworthy

Still for us He chose to die

Filled us with His

Holy Spirit

Now we can stand and testify

That His love is everlasting

And His mercies

-they will never end

God is good

all the time

He put a song of praise

in this heart of mine

God is good

all the time

Through the darkest night,

His light will shine

God is good,

God is good

all the time

Though I may not understand

all the plans you have for me

my life is in your hands

and through the eyes of faith I can clearly see...

God is good

all the time

He put a song of praise

in this heart of mine

God is good

all the time

Through the darkest night,

His light will shine

God is good,

God is good

all the time

Okay, so, going back and reading that post was sobbering to me. It brought back all those emotions like it was yesterday. When I read it, I ran to Charleigh's room (while she is sleeping) and had to look at her precious face. Oh how Good he has been to us THIS year! I am interested to reach this point next year and see how far God has taken me from this point now. He is so fun, how he works and all. And from that heartache, this my friends, is how I spent my new year's day this year:

Praise the Lord!

Whew, that afternoon we went to eat our black eyed peas at lunch with Big Mama. And just a few days later we got this video of Charleigh laughing at ME:

She is such a giggle box and I LOVE it!

And after we rang in the new year we had to get started living life as usual. My Girls' Ministry (Chosen) started back up. And we are returning to our roots. We are going back to the Song of Solomon to study purity and the dating relationship. Such a great topic for these younguns...so far, our room has been PACKED out every Monday night. These girls give me joy.

Another big event, my husband was voted to become at deacon at our church. We were beyond shocked when he was picked because that church is HUGE and he's so young. But he was very honored to accept the position and has used it to motivate him to grow even more spiritually so he can live up to the title. He's so cute. My mom and dad came in town to watch the ordination that Sunday night. We planned to get some pictures afterwards (I even coordinated our outfits) but, the pastor invited everyone to greet us after the shindig was over and marms and pops had to hit the road before we could snap any pictures :( Boo. I am SOOO proud of the man I married though. Just know that.

While mom and dad where here Charleigh showed off her favorite thing to do...SQUEAL! Check out the video of her Squealling with Granny on my facebook (I didn't want to upload ANOTHER video on this one post).

And then, on the 14th of this month, Charleigh turned 4 months! She is talking like crazy now. Not making any words of course but just babbling at any and everything she sees. She LOVES the tv and talks to it regularly. Even though I try not to let her watch it too much, it is quite hilarious to see her yelling at the characters.

Okay, so onto Charleigh's dedication at church. She was just precious. As a Baptist Christian we do not believe in baptizing babies. According to the bible, baptism is the outward illustration of what happens inside of you when you get saved. It's a choice YOU have to make, not your parents. So, in our opinion, it is pointless to baptize someone until they are saved. So, what we do instead is dedicate our child to the Lord. Which is just a fancy way of saying, we commit to raising her in a Godly home. Teaching her the Bible and living our lives as REAL christians. That is very important to us. I pray daily that God will keep me from myself. That my daughter will look at me and say, "My mom is real...she REALLY loves God and lives every day for him". I want that so badly. So, here she was, being dedicated to the Lord.

My parents came down AGAIN for the second weekend in a row to be there for it. Plus, Jessica, Sharry, Brandy and her kids too.

And, to TRY to wrap up this post. Charleigh had her 4 month checkup on Tuesday (the 19th) and here are her stats: weight-70th percentile, height-95th percentile, and head circumference-85th percentile. I swear I am only feeding her breastmilk, but she weighed 14 lbs and 7 oz (and she has slowed down tremendously over the last month...thank goodness).

Oh well...if you got this far in your reading, congratulations...post the words "I DID IT!" as a comment. I have the strange feeling I won't get many of those....