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Monday, September 7, 2015

Happy Birthday, Charlotte!


Today, Charlotte turns three. Three years old. Three years ago today, mine and Josh's life changed forever. I do not want to go over my pregnancy and delivery, as you can read it here, but it was all wonderful and all a miracle. MIRACLE. That is the word I would use to describe Charlotte. This is not just another child's birthday, but a day to celebrate having a successful pregnancy and delivery. There were many teams of doctors with plans to help me deliver so there wouldn't be stress on my heart. Luckily for all of us, Charlotte popped out after twenty minutes of pushing. No complications, just pure bliss. We recognize this as a huge blessing in our lives and we don't take any of the situation lightly or for granted.


 Fast forward three years later and we have a very active toddler. She has more personality than I know what to do with and has at-ti-TUDE! She is like a little woman! We will run errands and she'll talk to me like she is my height and knows exactly what is going on. She keeps josh and I laughing all the time! She has the sharpest memory. When something is familiar or we go to the same place we've been too or whatever sparks her memory, she always will tell me and say, "member mom? Last time?" When things are reoccurring, she says is, "all the time!" And we have started saying it too! Haha. Every time we do something, she always says, "that was fun, mom." Even though sometimes it really isn't. She always looks on the positive side of things.


Until we moved to Atlanta, she loved hanging out with her friends and still talks about them DAILY! She asked to go Carowinds "all the time." 


Charlotte loves babies and dogs. She is excited to start gymnastics this week. She loves going to the doctor's office (thanks Doc McStuffins), although she rarely has to go! She's been into posing for pictures with a very cheesy smile. She talks about her cousins and loves them. She loves to FaceTime. She has gotten very into clothes and will pull something off the rack and hold it up to herself and tel me to look. Oh my my!!  Charlotte has also been potty-trained since February and it has been HEAVEN!!


There are a lot of great qualities Charlotte has like sharing, being kind to other kids, wanting to always please me (she asks me daily, "you happy mom?"), and is social. She is smart and totally understands what is going on around here.


Even though she is my baby girl and I love her more than anything I could ever imagine, she has a couple of things we are working on. And I only write them so they are documented. She is three, so we have just gone through the "terrible twos." I don't know what it is, but she can be thrown off by the slightest thing and have a little mini fit or whine. Ugh! Not the whining!!! She is, however, very good at taking a deep breath (literally) and slowing down and being calm again. She knows to tell me when she's done crying and for that I am grateful. She also has a hard time cleaning up...I wonder where she gets that from! ;) I'm sure I'll think of some other things, but that's what sticks out. I know everyone else goes through these ages with their children and totally understands what I'm dealing with. 


Charlotte has changed me. She made me a mother, she has made me less selfish, she has made me more patient, she has done all those things that only your own child can do. She is seriously my BFF and I hate to think what life would be like without her. She is my miracle baby. Today Josh and I will celebrate her little life and count our blessings and remember how grateful we are for modern medicine, great doctors and a healthy daughter.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Charlotte!! 

Her dress was made by my maternal grandmother and my grandparents and aunt Robyn also gave her the umbrella.  She insisted on bringing it to church, though we left it in the car.  She has been walking around with it since she opened it!  A big thank you to my Grandma Sheila who has made Charlotte four dresses. She loves them!!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Easter Weekend

This weekend has been so relaxing! Josh was off Friday and we have spent the last three days just hanging around the house with an occasional trip out!

Friday we ran some errands in the morning and then shopping at the outlets and tried a new restaurant, Mac's BBQ. Charlotte was quite the hit at Michael Kors. She is a girly girl to the extreme!





The employees got a kick out of giving Charlotte the smallest purse.

Saturday we tried to watch General Conference. Twice a year, the leaders of our church speak to us. This year it happened to be Easter weekend which made it more special. I say tried because trying to watch four hours of TV that isn't Disney Junior is not going to fly with Charlotte! (Not that she watches four hours, but you know what I mean!) She kept asking us to play or go outside...anything but sit and watch our "show." Luckily, we recorded it and it gets published to read! 

In between sessions, we tried another new restaurant, Mellow Mushroom. The best pizza we've had since being in Charlotte! 



Sunday was of course was Easter.  I got up early (big surprise) and set out all the Easter bunny goodies. 



I also started putting together our Easter brunch. Something I don't normally do, but wanted to make today more special. 



I told Charlotte she couldn't see what the Easter bunny brought until daddy was awake. So she put on her ears and hopped into his room. It was pretty cute! 



Once he was up, we all went downstairs, opened baskets, ate and then talked about Easter! 

The night before I had seen a Facebook post from a friend who was a litte confused with why we celebrate Easter...Jesus Christ or Easter baskets? She talked about how her and her husband didn't give their children Easter baskets because they wanted to concentrate on why we celebrate Easter. I thought it was a great point to bring up and I wanted to refrain from posting pictures that distracted about what Easter is all about. I commented and said that I am guilty of doing baskets. I do like the tradition but I had also been thinking all week before how I'm going to talk to Charlotte about Easter.   Of course I have been trying to explain already but wanted something different on Sunday.  She is so young but it has to start sometime!!  Luckily the "Friend" had a great little Easter activity that I pulled out and put together. We read the description and had her match the picture. She did all of them perfectly! 



In between conference sessions, we went to the park to enjoy then ice weather. We have been spoiled by these amazing sunny days! Charlotte loved the swings a lot these days and then we went on a walk on s trail around the park. It was perfect!





We came back and again, tried to watch Conference. Today was more successful ;) After GC, I cleaned up (all the chocolate wrappers) and Easter decorations. Back to the grind on Monday and hitting the after Easter sale at Target!! 


I couldn't help but snap a photo of her first Barbies ;)

Right before I started taking Easter decorations down.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Easter Festivities

Today we went with our friends, the Alvarez family and Mullis family, to Belmont, NC for lunch and an Easter egg hunt on Main Street. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we can find time to all hang out. It has been so gorgeous, a little chilly, but sunny and clear skies! 

We ate at the Soda Fountain and walked down the street to the park for the egg hunt. There were a ton of people!! Luckily they separated the ages so the big kids weren't dominating the little kids! Charlotte really didn't get the point at first but we tried to help her understand what to do (see video). 







After the egg hunt, we checkout an old train and walked through a couple of shops and ate ice cream at a general store! I love days like this where we do new things. I love the small town feel of Belmont. I'll be returning for more ice cream! 





Friday, March 27, 2015

A Royal Brunch

Charlotte attended her first party today! The theme: mother/daughter Royal brunch. All the girls were requested to wear their princess attire. It was perfect and Charlotte was so excited! She had been looking forward to this all week. When it came time to leave, she got very sad, well had a break down! Other than that, I thought she did really well at the party, considering she was the youngest princess there! We ate brunch, the girls played, cake was served, there was story time and, of course, opening presents!!

Carina the Birthday princess! 

When did she get so big??

All the princesses ready to eat!

About to sing "Happy Birthday!"

A Rapunzel sandwich!

The girls loved the Princess story time


Happy Birthday Carina and thank you for inviting Charlotte to your party!



Monday, March 23, 2015

Grandma's In Town

My mom recently came to visit us in Charlotte.  It was nice not have to go so long in between visits (we just saw her last month in CA).  She was supposed to go with my dad to Nashville, but last minute came to Charlotte!  Charlotte loves her grandma and can now say "Grandma" and "Grandpa" and pretty much everyone's names!!  And anytime she sees an airplane, she thinks Grandma is on it.  

I hardly got any pictures while she was here, but it was a relaxing week (a.k.a. boring) from what she's used too.  The weather was gloomy and rainy, which is always a bummer.  Of course the day after she left was like 70 degrees!  She was able to sleep in each morning and we found a good donut shop in Charlotte!  We ate lots of good food and took Charlotte to an indoor waterpark one day.  My family needs to come visit in the summer!!  We have so much fun in the warmer days of the year!!

The first night we went to Baskin Robbins.  My mom doesn't have one close to her so it's a good excuse to go here!




  Both are in heaven!

Shopping before the waterpark opened.





We took my mom to the American Girl doll store.  She had never been!

Charlotte is getting good at taking pictures ;)

Charlotte got to stay up late every night Grandma was in town.  She knew there was a party going on and had to be apart of it!