The one where I get mushy

Four years ago at almost this exact time I walked down the aisle in an empty sanctuary to Jason.  We met at the front and I'm sure that he told me how beautiful I looked and we talked about how excited we were to get married in a few hours.  And we prayed for God to bless our marriage.

Four years later God definitely has blessed us.  More than we could have ever imagined.  Marriage is a lot harder than we thought it would be, but the rewards are also much greater than we thought.  I am so thankful that God brought such a man into my life that I can grow with.  Someone that I love unconditionally.  Someone that I want to talk to all the time to find out about his day and tell him about mine.  Someone who is my favorite person to hang out with and who is a true partner in our relationship. 

I learned a lot about Jason in the first (almost) three years of our marriage before Charlotte arrived.  But I've learned so much more about him since her birth.  He is such a selfless man who works so hard for us and with us.  He loves spending time with us and is so sad when he doesn't get to spend as much time with us as he wants.  He gladly helps out around the house and with Charlotte and does so much to help me out.  Charlotte is a very blessed little girl to have him as her Daddy.  Just like I am very blessed to have him as my husband.

Happy Anniversary Jason! Here's to many, many more years full of God's abundant blessings! I love you!

And in honor of marriage here's an awesome song that BooMama shared today that's appropriate. Enjoy!

Gardens

On Thursday I was still recovering and didn't feel good enough to go to Mom and Dad's company picnic.  But they asked if they could take Charlotte anyway and since we knew Charlotte would have so much fun we told them sure!  They came back saying that C wanted to walk the WHOLE time in the heat and never so much as batted an eyelash that she might be too hot or tired.  I think she had a great time but she was definitely exhausted when she got home because she slept until 8:45 on Friday morning!

Charlotte looooves flowers!

We were told that she got to pick some.  I'm guessing that the picking was unsanctioned. :)

She got brownie for dinner! Can't beat that!

Checking out her monkey.  Mom and Dad said that she kept walking around to all the monkey's making her monkey sound ("ahh ahh ahh ahh") and pointing at them.  Let me tell you, the monkey's aren't close together! That's quite a walk in and of itself!

Checking out the butterfly house with Memma

Can you see her face?? Priceless!

Thanks Mom and Dad for taking Charlotte on an adventure that she loved and for giving Jason a night off from taking care of C by himself while I recuperated!

Charlotte at 14 months

Last Thursday Charlotte turned 14 months.  I still am having a hard time figuring out how that is even possible!  Wasn't she just an itty bitty baby wearing newborn sized clothes that were still too big for her?!?  So in order to remember what days were like at this time here's what C is up to these days.

Walking.  Everywhere.

All of a sudden C decided that walking behind something was not an option anymore and she just took off.  Now she walks proudly pretty much anywhere and isn't scared to try stepping up small steps or down hills.  She will lean forward out of our arms when she wants down and we had better comply or she's going to try to go head first!  She is getting better about getting herself back up and can now go from standing to squating back to standing but still can't get herself from sitting on the floor to standing without help or pulling up.  When she's not around something and she falls she immediately throws her hands up and starts saying, "Up! Up!" for us to help her.  She definitely gets around quicker now and that's really making us keep a closer eye on her but it's also pretty fun having her walk and explore things more independently these days.  Let's just pray that it takes a long time for her to learn to run!

She's quite a jabberer.

This child talks....all the time!  Sometimes it's still in her own little language but we are so amazed at how quickly she picks up new words and starts saying them.  She is learning animal sounds at an amazing rate (turkey - ga ga, Big Al/Elephant - ti! (you know, Roll Tide!), puppy dog - arf/woof, bee - bzzzz) and her favorite books right now are those where there are animals and animal sounds.  I love hearing her chatter and it's so fun to see her learn!

Some recent funny stories....

On Saturday morning we were playing and around 9:45 she come over and laid her head down on my leg.  I asked her if she was ready to go take a nap and she sat up and looked at me.  I expected her to sign "nap" but instead she turned around and walked to the other side of the room to her stroller.  She threw down the rubber duck that she was holding and picked Elmo up from where she had placed him in her stroller.  Then she walked over to the stairs and stood there until I came to take her upstairs for her nap!

The other night we changed Charlotte's sheet and put the sheet with the elephants on it on her bed.  She has just recently learned what an elephant is and the past two mornings when I've gotten her up she's sat up in her bed, pointed to the elephant on the sheet, and said, "Ti!"  As a sidenote in our defense, we originally started teaching her that Big Al says "Roll Tide" but then she started getting confused and it just naturally morphed into elephant's say "Roll Tide."  She mostly just says "Ti!" but occasionally she'll get a "Ro" out before the "Ti".  We're hoping to finesse that a little in the next month before football season starts.

Charlotte is all about dogs right now.  I guess it's because she just learned to say what they say but the first thing she says (most days) when we get her out of bed is "woof! woof!"  She loves walking around Luca and woofing at him.  And she especially loves seeing dogs when we are outside.  Mom and Dad said the other night when they took her to their picnic that they told her that a couple had dogs and so all night when Charlotte would see this couple she would woof at them.  I have the Just Ducky sample trunk right now and the clothes are hanging up in our house and they have some cute dog appliques.  As soon as Charlotte sees one she starts woofing.  We've decided to get her a dress with the dog just because she loves it so much!

C is pretty good with her signs which is so helpful.  One that cracks me up is "please."  The sign for "please" is to run the top of your chest.  But it appears that I'm the only one who ever signs that for her when I say it because when we ask her to say please she leans over and rubs the top of my chest instead of hers!  It cracks me up! She knows what the sign is but she thinks that it's unique to me I guess.  She hasn't done that with any other signs so I guess we just need everyone else to get on the please bandwagon!

It's really interesting to see how the things that we've been doing with Charlotte for so long have become a part of her routine and now she loves doing them herself.  For instance, she has learned how to stack her blocks and now as soon as she stacks one she will sit back and clap at herself.  She also now loves books and we spend most of our day reading books to her and she's started reading some herself! Since both Jason and I love reading we hope that she'll continue to develop that love!

Overall our days and hearts are very full.  Charlotte is a precious baby who is sooo good.  We're starting to see some toddler like behavior (throwing food at dinner, getting upset if she doesn't get what she wants, etc) but those meltdowns are still few and far between.  This is a really fun age! (I know, I say that every month, but it's so true!)

Back Porch Photo Shoot

On Monday, before the plague of New York set in, I took Charlotte out back to take some pictures.  I love this little peasant top and blue jean capri's (all from Baby Gap).  I think it's an adorable outfit that looks so cute on her.  I love some of these pictures!

For some of the photo tips that I used for these photo's check out Erin's Mama (With a Camera) Monday's series. 

Going Home

On Sunday we woke up early to pack and head to Norma's for brunch.  We had checked in for our flight on Saturday afternoon and thought everything was good there.  Until we got a call from Jason's dad saying that US Air had just called our house and left a message that our flight was cancelled.  What was going to be a nice morning to say goodbye to New York became a frantic morning trying to figure out how we were going to get home. 

Thankfully since we were in New York there were lots of flights during the day to Washington and so we called and they put us on an earlier flight.  We had to cancel our brunch though which was really sad and instead ate breakfast at the food court at the airport.  So not the New York goodbye that I was planning!  But as long as we got home on time I was willing to miss anything we had planned.

We ended up with a ridiculously long layover in Washington but made it back to Alabama right on time which was perfect for us.  It was a great trip and I am so thankful that we got to get away just the two of us but we were definitely ready to see Charlotte!  When we got home Uncle Kevin was here with Charlotte too!  I know that she had such a good time with her grandparents and her uncle!  But I was glad to see her (and I know Jason was too!)!

Charlotte didn't start crying or anything when we got home which I was afraid of.  She does that when we pick her up from the nursery but I know she had so much fun she didn't really mind that we were gone!

Like playing peek-a-boo with GrandDavid

And smelling the flowers on the porch

After everyone left we gave Charlotte a bath and played some more.  We had a mini meltdown though when I wouldn't give her my bracelet...

But it was soon better when I caved...

And then we pulled out presents from our trip like farm finger crayons and this fun 123 New York book!

New York City, Day 3

On Saturday, let me tell you, this momma was tired.  I knew our trip wasn't going to be a nice, relaxing weekend but I think I forgot how much walking you do in New York.  I was TIRED from all the walking and ball game on Friday and was kind of reaching the point where I just wanted to get home to my baby.  Because of that it was good thinking to plan our big event -- the Harry Connick Jr show -- for Saturday night!

On Saturday morning we slept even later (10 am eastern....we are so old that that is late!) and then got up and got breakfast and walked through Central Park.  We got a kick out of seeing so many people (girls especially) laying out in their bathing suits on the grass.  It seems so weird to lay out when there isn't any water anywhere near!  We did see a lot of families playing and even saw a kids birthday party.  It made us realize just how different raising Charlotte would be if we lived in New York.  I know some people love it and there are a lot of cool things you would get to do, but I'm very glad that we live in Alabama!

We then went back down to the SoHo/Lolita area to shop some more.  We went back to get a shirt that Jason had seen on Thursday but not bought and were told there were a couple more blocks of shopping towards Lolita and a whole lot of shopping towards SoHo.  I wanted to see SoHo and was hoping to see some stars so we went that way.  I think that was our mistake because most of the places that we saw in SoHo were just another store of places we had see on Friday on Madison Avenue.  I got discouraged quickly and so we sat down to have dinner at a little sidewalk cafe which was pretty nice.  The only problem was they just had the walls open and no air conditioner so it wasn't really a break from the heat.

We did find a few gems in SoHo like Kate's Paperie and Julian and Sara where the owner told us about some of the A-list clients that shop there.  She had a list behind the counter showing the celebrities that have shopped there and pretty much every big name that you know of has shopped there!  We got Charlotte two cute outfits from there so we'll be checking the magazines to see if she's dressed like any celebrities children!  And to end our shopping extravaganza we stopped and got wonderful ice cream from a vendor!  And then headed back to the hotel to get ready to see Harry!

I have a pledge sister that lives in New York (hey Lindsay!) and have become friends in blog world with Magnolias, Marriage, and Manhattan.  They both gave us great restaurant suggestions and we tried out one from each of their lists on Saturday!

Before we left we asked the concierge at the hotel to take some pictures of us all dressed up!

In the lobby

Out front

We made reservations at Wolfgang's Steakhouse for our dinner before the show.  It was an early dinner and the place was practically empty when we got there (only one other table had patrons).  But by the time we left there were other diners also.  We got the Steak for Two but we barely ate half of it! It was really good though!  Another interesting tidbit about the restaurant, I ordered my standard chocolate martini which usually is a pretty slushy/creamy drink but it came with aboslutely no cream in it or ice bits.  It looked kind of like a really dark beer in a martini glass! It was still good though but it's funny how different parts of the country (or maybe just this restaurant) make drinks differently.

We then headed over to the concert which was on Broadway.  It was neat seeing Broadway in all of it's glory -- people were out and about waiting on shows and we could see Times Square all lit up.  We were glad we got to the theater early (7 for an 8 pm show) because there was already a line! So we got in line to wait and people watch!

When we got in to the theater I wanted to take more pictures but they kept saying no pictures and (being the rule-follower that I am) I even asked if I could take one of the two of us before the show started and was told no.  So, we didn't take any pictures.  But the theater was good sized (sat around 750) and very beautiful.  One thing that cracked me up was that they had a bar downstairs but they put people's drinks in cups with sippy cup lids so they wouldn't spill! So there were all these adults drinking out of what looked like Charlotte's sippy cups!

Let me tell you that Harry did not disappoint!  He was hilarious when he talked and chatted up the audience and his voice....so, so good!  His first act was what we expected -- classic Harry Connick, Jr singing songs like Smile and The Way You Look Tonight.  I loved it and it was exactly what I was wanting.  Then there was a short intermission and the second act started. 

The second act wasn't at all what I was expecting but it was also soooo good!  Harry's whole family was in the audience that night and he pulled his middle daughter, Kate, up to sing Let's Call The Whole Thing Off with him which was so sweet.  Then he asked his Dad to come up and his Dad sang a song and also sounded fantastic!  A few minutes later Harry's best friend came on and continued to play the trombone with him the rest of the evening.  And it was his best friend's birthday so he got all three of his girls up to sing him Happy Birthday and then had the girls pass cake out to audience members (Harry asked them to pass the cake out to the rich people so that they might ask him to sing at their party so the girls could continue to go shopping!).  Then Harry's youngest daughter, Charlotte (!!!), came up and told a joke.  It was such a family affair and it was so sweet to see him with his family.  The second act consisted of mostly jazz music and it was really great also.  Overall, it was a fantastic show and I am so glad that we got to see it! 

Once the show was over we had a plan to walk to The Monkey Bar for dessert.  It ended up being a pretty far walk (4 1/2 long blocks instead of short ones) and we got there about 10:45 or 11.  We walked in and asked them if they would seat us for dessert and the hostess had to call the kitchen to see if they were still serving dessert.  Apparently they usually close for dinner at 10 pm on Saturday nights! I never would have thought we would have a problem and we were so releaved when she said that they would serve us!  We got the chocolate chocolate chip cake and the red velvet cake and they were both so rich and good.  And the restaurant was so neat! I'm going to take Mom back there in September when we go because it was a really neat atmosphere.  Such a fun night!

Charlotte had a fun Saturday too! She woke up at Memma and Papa G's and played with Memma until right before naptime when they returned to our house.  When Charlotte woke up from her nap KayKay and GrandDavid were there to play with her!!

If you look closely you'll see that she is standing on her toes on one foot...the other is still in motion from her soccer kick!

New York City, Day 2

On Friday we slept late (at least we thought we did since we slept until about 9 am but then I realized that that's 8 am in AL so we actually got up at the same time!) and then walked a few blocks over to see Central Park and grab a healthy breakfast.  We had planned on walking downtown on 5th but we found that we were almost mid-way in the park and so the other side of the street was mostly residences so we headed back to walk down Madison and that's where the fun began!

We started going in some shops and found the Ralph Lauren store that was age appropriate for Charlotte.  We thought that it was so interesting that Ralph Lauren had a totally separate store for each age range.  The first one we walked in was children's clothes for elementary age kids.  But we eventually found the younger kids clothes and walked away with some great sale items for Charlotte!  In case you're keeping count with me the tally is now, Jason - 1 purchase, Charlotte - 1 purchase, me - no purchases. :)

We kept walking and saw some more shops like Cartier, Dolce and Gabbanna, and Versace but, don't worry, we didn't even go in any of them!  Then we found Joseph where I bought my first purchase -- a beautiful blue cocktail dress that was majorly on sale!  And then the day got even better when I saw Jimmy Choo was having a sale!  My sweet husband won my heart even more by buying me an early anniversary present of some adorable red flats!  One of the things that I LOVED was that everywhere was having end of season sales so we got some great deals on high end products.  Even though it was sooo hot this was a great time to come to New York if we wanted to shop -- which we did!

We continued to shop as we kept walking downtown towards Rockefeller Center.  When we got there we were so hot and tired so we sat down to eat at the Rock City Cafe in the bottom of Rockefeller Center.  It was a neat restaurant and we enjoyed getting to see the inside of the building.  We then went upstairs to look over what, in the winter, is the ice skating rink.

At that point we were at a point where we had to decide what to do.  Jason really wanted to see some of the building's in the city as well as shop on Friday and his two requested buildings were Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building.  We made it to Rockefeller Center and then decided that we were only about 10 blocks away from the Empire State Building and I felt like I could make it.  So he chose to also see Grand Central Station on our way so we headed out to Grand Central Station.  We made it there and went in and Jason was impressed but at this point I was regretting my fortitude and just wanted to make it to the end and go back to the hotel.  So after a brief stop we walked down to the Empire State Building and walked in to the lobby.  It was packed so we quickly exited and grabbed a taxi back to our hotel.

We rested at the hotel for a little bit and cooled back down to a normal temperature before getting ready to enjoy Jason's Father's Day gift -- tickets to the Yankees!  Some of you might be wondering why the Yankees since you know that Jason is a die-hard Braves fan.  Really we didn't go for the Yankees, we went for the stadium and because I wanted to do something on the trip that I knew Jason would love.  Jason hadn't given me any Father's Day ideas but a few weeks after we booked our trip he mentioned that the Yankees would be in town.  In my typical fashion I immediately said no (due to some bad experiences like missed prom's and graduations I tend to be very jealous of baseball and the time it has stolen from our relationship) but I only said it so fast because now I knew what to get him for Father's Day.  When he opened the tickets he was shocked and I was really happy that he was so happy!

We had talked about taking a taxi or even getting a car to take us to the stadium because I really didn't want to get on the subway but the concierge at the hotel basically told us that the traffic would take forever and that it was very safe and much smarter to take the subway.  So we treked over to the nearest stop and changed trains once before making it to Yankee Stadium.  I have to say that the new stadium was beautiful and so nice.  Everything was brand new and clean and there were so many food options.  It was really a nice place.  We got to our seats which were AWESOME and enjoyed some pre-game food.  It was also an interesting night to be there because it was their first game back since Steinbrenner and Bob Shepperd had died so they had a big tribute for them before the game and there was no announcer for the game in memory of Bob Shepperd.  Jason really enjoyed the game and he made the call to leave once the game got tied in the 8th.  I really appreciated that because while I was keeping myself happy reading a book on my iPhone it was still miserably hot and I knew we had to take the subway back.  We ended up missing some of the craziness that went on in the 9th inning but we made it to the hotel in time for Jason to see it on tv so I think that was ok.

Inside Yankee Stadium

The view from our seats

In our seats

The front of the stadium as we left

Charlotte had another exciting Friday with Memme and Papa G.  We heard that there was lots of reading books and lots and lots of walking!