Chucktown Trip

Donald had a meeting in Myrtle Beach for a few days, so he dropped Charley and I off to spend some time with my folks in Charleston. We had a great time...it went by too quickly...didn't get to see everyone that we wanted to see or spend enough time with the grandparents. Thanks to the Edmonds for watching our Sadie even though it meant they had up to four dogs at their house over the weekend.

Kisses from Daddy

"What is that, Aunt Robin?!"

Granddaddy's birthday! (with cousin, Lexie)

Smiles with Mema

Meeting Frenchiemama's co-workers

Helping Frenchiemama type

Snugglin' with Auntie MJ

Cousin, Jrew!! (they were in Charleston too!)

Housekeeping Woes

So this morning I made my list of things to do. Yes, I'm a list person. So, I set off to vacuum the house, which is a twice-weekly ritual (Donald is a huge help with this). Vacuuming a house with a black lab any less than twice a week results in black tumble-weeds rolling down the hallway. So, I couldn't find the vacuum. It's normally in the laundry room. I searched everywhere, every room. Just before calling my husband to ask him where it was (like he hid it or something), I found it under a pile of shirts that are waiting to be ironed. Also on my list. Wonderful reminder. So here I go. Off to vacuum. Charley is playing safely, contently in her crib under the mobile. Okay, one room down, two rooms...okay, Charley is screaming. Screaming! All of our attempts to create an immunity with her and the vacuum cleaner by running it in close proximity since she was a newborn have proved futile, because now it scares her. Turn it on. Screaming. Turn it off. Stop screaming. Hmmm. So I comforted her for a second, placed her back in the crib, on her tummy this time with toys, and quickly vacuumed the remainder of the house, with the dog who created most of the mess trailing behind me, getting tangled in the cord or standing in the very spot that needs to be vacuumed. Okay.... Vacuum... Check.
Earlier this morning, I spent what seemed like an hour making up Charley's crib. I had to change the mattress pad and sheet, which had been peed on while the sheet savers (ultimate crib sheets) were in the wash, becoming free of their sweet potato stains and drool spots. Normally I keep a clean one on hand, but somehow the rotation got screwed up. So here I go, putting on the sheet. It is like putting panty hose on an elephant. Miserable. I literally was out of breath by the end of it. And then there's putting the sheet saver back on. Are all of those snaps really necessary? But, of course, I snap them all, because if I don't, my child might choke on them, strangle herself, or worse yet, consume the entire thing, and then I'd go to jail for negligence and my cellmate, Myrtle the Murderer, would ask me, "what you in for?" and to that I would sadly reply, "I failed to snap all of the snaps." So, now, Charley is napping in her all-snapped-up crib, and I can breathe easy. Although, being a mom, there's rarely ever room for breathing easy. So...Crib Sheets.... Check. (actually I just added that to the list so I could have the pleasure of checking it off).

It's Been Five Months!

Charley has been with us for five months now!! Crazy! She has grown leaps and bounds this past month. She is now grabbing everything in sight and sticking it in her mouth. She doesn't have total control of her arms yet, so when she goes to grab things while sitting in our lap, it's in Whack-a-Mole fashion. She will see something she wants and then her arm will go whack, whack, whack until her little hand successfully grabs the desired object. She will then swing her arm like a crane and drop the object on the floor.
Charley began eating vegetables this month. We haven't moved past sweet potatoes yet... she dogs them as well as her oatmeal. She continues to drink her bottle like we haven't fed her in days. Not to mention she recognizes her bottle now, so if she sees it and we don't give it to her instantly, she will scream. I mean, scream. Therefore, we either hide her bottle or let her scream. We're not sure if you can teach a five-month-old that "screaming is not an appropriate behavior" and "we will not reward you with your bottle if you scream," so the lesson on "don't manipulate mommy and daddy" is on standby. Scriptures say that we are supposed to crave the Bible like a baby craves milk...something we've heard at church and Wafuasi lately... So this morning, when Charley was crying a desperate cry for her bottle while I was searching for a burp cloth, it made me think about this verse... If the Bible was taken away from me or withheld from me, how would I react? Would I be so desperate for it that I would weep like my hungry child? ...Something to think about.

Random Mobile Pics

Pictures that I took from my phone in the last month or so...

Shop 'til you drop. Maggie and Charley take a snooze at the outlets in Gaffney.

Yes, we still have Sadie. Yes, she's still an inside dog. Yes, she still gets lovin' (sometimes).
An icky bug that was crawling on a flower stem in our yard. It was white and spikey.

My D-group singing a Christmas carol to a random couple at Chick-fil-A (long story).

Charley and her bow-band. Full of smiles!!

In 40 Days...

Finally an Update

Things are going well here... Fall is here and life is busy. Our little girl is growing so fast! She's now into oatmeal (think extra-fine-baby-kind not instant-maple-and-brown-sugar), and as you can see, it's going pretty well (when it actually stays in her mouth). We tried rice cereal for awhile first, but she prefers the oatmeal.
Donald had his first football game last night (little league), and they won 22 - 0. Yay!
Over the last few weeks, I have been very passionate about several things. 1. Politics. I have discovered that Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham get me too fired up for my own good. I love listening to them, but I seriously want to go pick a fight with someone once I'm through. And that's exhausting. Not that I actually pick a fight, it's just exhausting being fired up enough to want to pick a fight 2. Football. Need I say more?? 3. My faith and my time...how those two things should be united, but somehow end up being worlds apart sometimes. Okay, so this is completely random in regards to this post, but I just have to share with you the following excerpt from a sermon by Matt Chandler. I love it.

"Christians are no better than non Christians. In fact, the believer in Christ who's actually been converted and understands the scriptures, doesn't see himself as morally fit for God at all. In fact, he sees himself as so desperately broken that unless God sends Jesus to become a wrath-absorbing sacrifice for our lives, that we have no chance at ever being restored. ...Christians continually show that they don't understand the Gospel by pretending they are more moral and more devoted than everyone else...That's not the Gospel. In fact, it's the enemy of the Gospel. The Gospel's not for the "more" moral and the "more" devoted...the Gospel of Jesus saves. Saves us from what? From us. Our inability to be as devoted as we need to be, Our inability to be as moral as he's commanded us to be."

4-Months-Old!

Charley with my sister, Stephanie, and her family

Charley turned four-months-old on Saturday, Aug 30th. Wow. Time flies. We went to the doctor today and she is 26.25 inches long and 14 lbs 4 oz. Here is what's going on in her sweet little life...

During her third month she...

• Started looking at the pictures while we read to her.
• Started smiling on demand.
• Started giggling...kinda.
• Rolled over twice... unintentionally.
• Mastered the bottle after three months of trying nearly every day. Finally! Yay for Charley!
• Began sucking on her bottom lip if she is tired and doesn't have a paci.
  

Recent developments...

• One of my favorite things to do with her has been to put her in my lap facing me, with her back propped up against my knees and read, sing, or have a "conversation" with her. She doesn't like this anymore. She'd prefer to be sitting up, so when I lay her back on my knees, she strains her neck forward as to say, "let me sit up!!"
• She now will look at me from across the room and smile if I acknowledge her. I love this! Previously, she really had no awareness of what was going on in the room. She still doesn't really notice Sadie much.
  
• Charley used to go down for naps pretty easily... She has very clear "I'm tired" signs, and when they turn on, I put her down in her crib and she normally falls asleep after about 5 - 10 min of fighting it by flailing her arms around, grabbing her face, and pulling her hair. Well, starting last week or so, she started propping herself up on her arms and looking around the room as soon as I put her down. Like so: She will then proceed to grunt and drool for about 10 minutes until her neck gets tired and then face-plant into her paci, onto the now wet-with-drool mattress. She then whines for her paci, which at this point, is jammed up under her neck. Yeah, this pretty much drives me crazy. I usually will dislodge the paci, give it to her, and then she's usually out.
• We lowered her crib Monday night because of the above head-bobbing ritual. We're afraid she would tumble out one day. Anyways, the bumper and mobile actually fit right now, which is great, but now it's harder to lean in and kiss her at night, which is a bummer.
  
• Charley started using her hands recently. She will play with the toys on her [borrowed] exersaucer as well as the toucan and monkey that hang on her bouncy seat.
• She found her feet Labor Day Weekend! She now will grab her toes and play with her feet. They haven't made it to her mouth yet, although I'm sure that will happen soon.
• Charley now likes to talk to herself....loudly. Very loudly. I know this is a normal baby thing, but I usually don't need earplugs around other babies. Here's a clip from a car ride (sorry it's sideways).