Miss Non-Cooperation

Those of you who have followed Charlotte over her little life have noticed she does not like to cooperate with the camera.  She is her father's child ;)  I tried to get some pictures of her and her brand new car!  Yes, we got her a Cozy Coupe.  I've wanted to get her one for a while now and with the bad weather, it just seemed like the right time.  They are a lot smaller than the original, at least I feel like they are.   Breaing News: Charlotte JUST put two words together.  She said, "Hi Daddy."  This is huge!!!!  OK Here are some pics.  

Smelling the fake flowers

Not another picture, Mom!

Drama Queen

18 Months Ago...

Eighteen months ago, I was sitting in a beautiful, newly renovated hospital room at UCI in Orange, CA, meeting teams of doctors and waiting for the next chapter of my life to open...Parenthood.  I was so excited.  Josh and I were both very surprised when I found out I was pregnant and each day, we got more and more excited to welcome our baby girl into this world.  

Josh had arrived at the hospital after work, purchasing a camera on the way.  From what I remember, I was pretty calm, I think it was just too surreal.  And because of my early epidural, I never felt one contraction (sorry).  I kept thinking, labor is a piece of cake.  Right after I had dilated to a nine, I felt the need to push.  I told the doctors several times before they finally check and said, "you're at a ten.  This baby is coming!"  Josh stayed up by my head the whole time and his voice was the only one I listened too.  Twenty minutes later, our sweet, unnamed baby girl was out and VERY alert!

When they were cleaning her up I remember my mom said, "she has a little bit of a cone head, but don't worry, that will go away" and "she has your nose!"  Something I was a bit worried about (love Josh's nose, don't get me wrong).  Josh did the first skin-on-skin, which I am so glad he was able to have that experience.  

 

Every time they needed to take Charlotte for tests or she needed a diaper change, Josh was right there by her side. We both loved her so much from the second she arrived.  We had her sleep in our room and we never were away from her. 

You would think it was an actual birthday she was having but I need this post for me.  I need to remember the quiet times, because it's anything but quiet these days.  Everyone wants to say they have the perfect baby, and I was convinced that Charlotte was the PERFECT baby.  But lately, it's been kind of hard; I need to write this post to keep everything in perspective.  Josh always teases me that I have such a rough life, that I get to stay home with Charlotte and we play all day.  There are plenty of days were all we did was play, but recently, I am just trying to get through each day.  I think the "terrible two's" have a come a little early.  She cries and whines a lot, she has a hard time sitting still (in strollers and shopping carts), most days she just wants to watch "Finding Nemo" ALL DAY, and when we are out in public she just wants to run.  I have never been one that is great with kids and honestly, having your own is nothing like dealing with other people's kids, but it's emotionally draining when I have gone from one extreme to the next.  I know this is totally normal, that every kid goes through this.  In no way do I think she is bad or naughty, I know she is only a baby still and learning each day.  And then she gives me kisses and hugs, it reminds me what a special relationship we have.  I love this little girl more than anything.  Like I've said before and will say it until she thinks I'm not cool anymore, she is my BFF.  No matter what she puts me through, at whatever age, I will always love and support her.  I made her.  How beautiful is that? 

This is the first time I have written my frustrations down, but there are, of course, some fun things she is doing that make each day so great!  She is getting more animal noises under her belt.  At first, she barked for every animal.  I would always do the correct animal noises and just a couple weeks ago when I asked her what a kitty cat says, she responded "neow" in a high-pitch voice (yes there is an "n" sound).  She also does an elephant, with her arm as the trunk and a monkey while it looks as if she is tickling herself.  She is feeding herself, with utensils.  She has been doing this for a couple months.  I didn't give her utensils for a while because I didn't know if I should, but since we have moved I started giving them to her and now she is a pro!  She says "MOMMY!" all day long.  When she sees a picture of Josh she says "Daddy?" She has several facial expressions that just kill me.   Her favorite thing (besides Nemo) would have to be taking showers.  We started doing this at Christmastime in Newtown.  We both loved it so much that we really haven't gone back to baths.  If I am already done getting ready before she wakes up, she'll take one on her own.  I don't have a shower curtain and have a clear liner, so it works perfectly.  Maybe I'll keep it that way for a while.  If she wakes up early enough, we will just take a shower together.  Sundays, I have to wake her up at the same time Josh wakes up, so I throw her in the shower with him.  She never wants to get out.  

I take pictures of her almost everytime...it cracks me up.

 Another thing we've been working on is calming herself down.  Like I said, she's been crying and whining a lot, and I tell her to relax and she will put her finger up to her mouth and do the "shh" sound to calm her down.  It's cute but I'm glad that she is learning to self-sooth (if that's what you want to call it).  She loves playing on our bed, especially after I've made it!  She will just lay on the pillows or climb on whoever is laying down with her.  Another thing I am trying to do with her is bake.  I got a KitchenAid and was a little intimidated to use it for a while, but now I am using it more often.  I have Charlotte stand up on a chair next to me and pour in the ingredients.  She loves it and loves the finished product!

           

Today we had her 18-month check-up with our new peditrican.  I really liked him.  Everything he said, I agreed with.  Charlotte on the other hand was all over the place.  THEN we had trouble with our insurance, so I had to call Josh at work, he had to call HR...we finally got it worked out but that was just more time in a tiny room with a naked toddler who wanted to get into everything.  And then came the dreaded shots.  Oh she was screaming and it was a nightmare, but we eventually got out of there.

I would take some pictures of her, but she is not a happy camper.  I will just let her be and do her own thing for right now.  Maybe I'll be able to capture a few pictures and post them later :) 

Sorry this post is so long.  There were a lot of things I needed to say and document.  If you're still reading this, you must love us haha!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all.  It takes on a new meaning when you become a parent.  It really becomes about those who love and not so much in love with.  Don't take that the wrong way, I still celebrate Josh and the love that we share, but I love my Charlotte Lyn and want to celebrate that too.  I can't believe how fast time flies.  It feels like yesterday was last Valentines (you can read here and here.)  As you can tell from past holiday posts, I like Charlotte to have a holiday outfit.  Call me crazy!  Since we have been "snowed in" I never got around to an actual outfit, so we found some things already in her closet, put them together and Bibidi-Bobidi-Bo!  Naturally, I had to take a ton of photos of her cuteness :)
 

This one is for Grandma Sheila...her rocking chair and quilt!

Once we got ready (and after the above photos), Charlotte and I ran to vacuum out the car and went to Target for some much needed food, dinner and snacks for the babysitter.

We finally got to leave the house!

After Charlotte's nap, we opened presents!  Josh and I gave Charlotte light-up rings and rubber duckies.  My grandparents and Aunt Robyn gave her a Minnie Mouse purse filled with hair accessories and a card with their voices recorded on it!  Thank you!!

Decorations...

The only reason I care about having a fireplace mantle.

Found a free banner off Pinterest and printed it.  Maybe next year I'll have a non-paper banner.

 Tonight we went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen at SouthPark Mall.   They were having a great deal going for V-day... 1 appetizer + 2 entrees + dessert for $30!  Can't beat that.  And the wait was only 15 minutes (opposed to Cheesecake Factory's 2 1/2 hour wait, where we tried going first)!

Red Velvet cake

 For my bouquet of flowers, I get a Rocky Mountain Chocolate carmel apple instead.  I can't keep flowers alive to save my life.   For my gift, I was to pick out something at the mall (due to the "snowed in" situation, Josh had a good excuse of not getting me anything); but it was too much pressure and we only had about 20 minutes until the mall closed, so we'll worry about my gift later.  It was such a nice evening with my hubby.  I love him so much and appreciate everything he does for me and Charlotte.  He is a great father and husband.  I have been so blessed to have found him and, somehow, convinced him to marry me :)  I realized on the way home we didn't get a picture together...and then forgot to ask the babysitter, so we took some selfies after I took her home!

#familyselfie

#wrappedaroundherfinger

#vdayselfie

In the morning, the Valentine's day plans continue as I get to Target first thing in the morning to get all the 50% off merchandise! 

 

Snowed In

I have said it before and I'll say it again...when we decided to move to Charlotte, NC, my husband told me it snowed maybe once a year and even that was just like dust.  I'll never have to shovel my driveway or anything like I would in places like Utah!  Well, my husband obviously tricked me (or lied to me, however you want to look at it) because we haven't left the house pretty much all week.  Right now I am watching a PRESS CONFERENCE about the snow!!  The Carolinas are not equipped for snow; they are talking about having more salt shipped in.  There are apparently no plows around us because Josh and I have been watching people throughout the day attempt to get out of our neighborhood.  We have a little hill that you have to drive up to get out of our neighborhood and everyone gets stuck in the same spot.  It's kind of sad because you know they have somewhere important to be...I mean, NOBODY is leaving, NOTHING is open...so to have to actually leave the house, it's got to be important.  They also just said that the southwest of the city got hit the worst...folks, that's us!  All this leads me to BE PREPARED!  I have heard this my whole life, but since I've been on my own, I never had the room to hold extra food or extra stuff (emergency preparedness, flashlights, candles, etc.) or I never thought I needed it at the time.  But ever since we bought our house, Josh and I have been talking about getting food storage.  On Monday, on our way home from the indoor waterpark, I stopped by Target (where I do all my grocery shopping), and stocked up on food for Charlotte, milk, and a few other things.  I'm so glad I did because already we are almost out of milk (we still have a ton of Charlotte's whole milk--so if I get fat, you know why) and the power has been going out throughout the state and we are not equipped with any portable lighting.  I guess we have some decorative candles I can always light if it comes down to it.  Luckily, our water pipes have not frozen and our lights are still on.  This is just so crazy!!  I am hoping the worst that happens is that we have to cancel our babysitter tomorrow.  After this snow storm is over, we are going to stock up on a LOT of things!     Moral of the story: BE PREPARED! You never know when you're going to need it.