Momma's Jewelry

Wednesday was a break from Thanksgiving's for us and so we spent the night packing for our trip to Tuscaloosa.  Whenever we're packing or are back in our closet Charlotte's favorite thing to do is to pull out any of my jewelry that she can get her hands on and play with it.  After walking around holding this necklace for a while she decided she wanted to wear it and sure hammed it up while she did!

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Our Thanksgiving week was busy starting off on Monday night with our dinner with Jason's parents.  Tuesday was another Thanksgiving with my Dad's parents.  The night was topped off with Charlotte's continuing her new love affair with ice cream.  She had eaten it over the summer once and loved it but every time since then when we had tried to give it to her she would refuse to even try it.  So last week Mom and Dad gave her some and after she refused to let them feed it to her they gave her the spoon and soon she was spooning it into her mouth as soon as she could.  After dinner on Tuesday she was getting antsy and so we brought her a small bowl of ice cream and a spoon.  She wanted nothing to do with the spoon though and started eating it by dipping one finger in to it and licking it off of her finger.  Soon that was given up in favor of her new favorite method of eating ice cream....

Dancing Fool

Charlotte had a big day scheduled for her 18 month birthday.  After she got up and we waited on Jason to get home she watched some Elmo in her chair.

The she got up and did a little dancing.....

Then we headed out to meet KayKay and GrandDavid for dinner and a look at the big Christmas tree at the outdoor shopping center!

C was really impressed with the big tree and the larger than life ornaments!

She loves KayKay and GrandDavid!

And then she sat down in front of the fountain and the street performer (who was behind me) and started to entertain everyone with more dancing!

Overall it was a very busy but very fun half birthday for Charlotte! Thanks KayKay and GrandDavid for a fun night seeing the Christmas tree!

Doctor's Visit

Last Monday was Charlotte's 18 month birthday and it just so happened that we scheduled her 18 month checkup that day also.  So after Jason and I got her up from bed we headed straight to the doctor.  We had a full arsenal of snacks and drinks to try and keep her happy but as probably any 18 month old does at the doctor, she was fine until she saw the nurse.

Content in Daddy's lap with her milk and a mouth full of biscuit

The appointment itself was quite an experience.  C started crying when we started to take her clothes off so that they could weigh her and didn't really stop crying until we left.  She didn't want to stand on the scale to be weighed and tried her very hardest to wiggle away while the nurse was measuring her height and her head.  The nurse actually said that she had never had a baby this age be this strong fighting against her!  Thankfully it was an almost pain free visit (her flu shot was the only shot she got) but that didn't stop her from screaming her little head off and trying to get away.  We knew she had grown but it was nice to get confirmation that she jumped 50 percentile points in height in the last three months!  I had also been worried because she is very pigeon toed and was worried about her needing corrective items or something but for the umpteenth time our pediatrician just told me that it will make her run fast and be good at sports.  I think her Daddy is honestly kind of jealous.  :)

Jason had to go straight to work after our appointment but I was so thankful that he came with us because with all the tears and writhing around as if we were hurting her I couldn't have gotten through that appointment by myself.  Charlotte and I progressed on to the cupcake store for our now traditional post-doctor's visit cupcake.  Before Charlotte could eat cupcakes Jason and I would just treat ourselves to a cupcake after her doctor's visits but after her last appointment Charlotte and I started the tradition of going on our way  home from the doctor.  While we were there I was just overcome with gratitude.  So grateful that my baby girl is happy and healthy and that the worst that we are having to deal with is tears over getting her flu shot.  And so very grateful that I get to stay home with her and make fun traditions like sharing a cupcake after the doctor.  I just sat and watched her dancing along to Taylor Swift on the radio while eating her cupcake and asking for more after each bite and was just floored.  I am so very, very blessed and I am so excited to watch this precious little girl grow up and continue to make memories like that with me.

The cupcake eating started off kind of slow since C was still sniffling and upset.  Here she is half-pouting even with cupcake all over her face!

But then she got more into the spirit and started picking up pieces of cupcake!

I was surprised that she would spit out any piece with icing on it! So funny, that's the best part!

And then the sugar started to kick in and she got HAPPY!

How do you get an 18 mo old to eat veggies?

Eat them yourself as a snack before dinner time and don't offer them to her!  Guaranteed to get her to want one and then knaw on it even while she makes faces about how much she doesn't like it!

Better Late Than Never

In finally getting my camera back and uploading the pictures I found these from the Miss State football weekend.  Now that our fall time in Tuscaloosa has come to an end we're going to miss some things about it!

Like date nights out while Memma and Papa G kept C....

And Charlotte's favorite pasttime of looking for and waving to puppy dogs from the balcony!

While we were in town for the Miss State game Charlotte also learned how to stand on one leg and loved showing off her new trick!

Thankful

I am so thankful for so many things this year but just to name a few, I am thankful for:

- Jesus - Thank you Lord for coming down and saving me from my ever present sins!
- Jason - for the wonderful husband and fantastic father that he is
- Charlotte - she is our joy and makes life so much better just by being in it!
- Our families - we are so thankful to have our families nearby and their help and support and encouragement means so much
- Our friends - we have THE BEST friends and I couldn't get by without having wonderful women to turn to!
- Jason's job - Jason is still working at his new job and it is stable so we are so thankful for him having a job that he likes and not having to worry about job security
- This blog - Tales of a Peanut is such an outlet for me and I am so blessed to have people who care about us reading it and encouraging us.  I've made so many blog friends that have made such a difference in my life.  Thank you!
- Our country - I am so thankful that we live in a land where we can express our opinions and change the course of the country with our vote.  I'm thankful for those settlers who came over so many years ago looking for something new and for starting something that is powerful and continues today.
- Ingabire - I'm so thankful for our Compassion child, Ingabire, who lives in Rowanda.  I'm thankful that we get to make a difference and her life and she gets to make a difference in ours.

I hope that you have a wonderful holiday spent with family and friends! Happy Thanksgiving!

One and a half

Somehow the last 18 months have passed and all of a sudden we have a full blown walking, talking, running toddler on our hands.  I am in shock that Charlotte is already 18 months old! I want time to slow down because if it continues at this speed she'll be all grown up in no time!

I haven't done a full recount of what Charlotte's up to in a while so I thought I'd do one here. 

C's doctor's appointment this morning showed lots of growth! Compared to our last visit she was huge!  Charlotte weighed 21.8 pounds (15%), was 31 3/4 inches tall (65%), and had a head circumfrence of 17 1/2 inches (55%).  That's a lot of growth for three months!  She is currently wearing 18 month clothes but is wearing some 2 t-shirts and jackets.  She is growing out of her size 5 Angel shoes and growing into her size 6 ones.  (Sidenote, I found a sandal from the summer last week and it looks tiny compared to her shoes now!)  She's still in a size 4 diaper during the day and at night.

Eating

C you are so funny about your eating.  You (most of the time) like anything with cheese.  Grilled Cheese and Mac and Cheese are your absolute favorites.  You would probably drink 6 sippy cup's full of milk each day if I let you also.  You definitely get your dairy!  You love almost every kind of fruit and gobble it up.  You have learned to say "NAN-A!" and you yell it loudly whenever you see one -- you definitely love banana's!  However, we still can't really get you to eat veggies.  You will eat a couple carrot sticks occasionally but that's about it.  You turn your nose up at baked potatoes now but will still eat fries if we'll give them to you.  You love snacks ("nack-nack") and especially crackers("cwack-er").  You are a really good eater and will tell us if you want more (you just learned to say it so now you sign it and say it) or are all done.  You are great sitting at the table and eating dinner with us and will even sit there for a while once you're finished eating while we finish.

Talking

You are learning at least one new word to speak a day right now.  This picture is of you saying "cheeeee-se" for the camera.  You have also gotten better about stringing words together.  A week or so ago after we got your Biscuit dog I wanted to wash him while you were napping so I made you leave him downstairs.  You were not happy and when I laid you down on your changing table you just kept crying, "DaDa! MaMa! Ruff-Ruff!" which is how you tell on one of us.  So even though you didn't have all the small words in the sentence I felt like that was great to be stringing together that you were telling Daddy that Mommy took away your puppy dog.  (In my defense, after that I did go and get Biscuit and let her sleep with him.)  You say "Roll Tide Roll" a lot and we notice you saying "To-Down" during football games.  You love "Bisc" both in his stuffed animal form and in the books and any time you see Elmo you shout, "Mel-Mo!"  We love conversing with you and can't wait for you to continue talking and transitioning some more of your signs into words.  We're waiting on that first spoken "I Love you" but you are sweet to sign it to us a lot which we appreciate!

Movement

Charlotte, you go all the time! You are constantly on the move and only sit down to read books or when you're tired.  The other day we were Skyping with Memma and Papa G and they said it's no wonder you're so skinny because you never stopped moving the entire time we talking! In this picture you are dancing and my do you love to shake it.  :)  You are the cutest ever dancing around!  You definitely have favorite songs like the birthday song on the Blues Clues boom box and the Wonder Pets song but if you hear a song elsewhere (tv, a random toy, etc) you will usually start dancing at least for a little while! As you've gotten older you've gotten a little more careless with your walking/running and you slip and fall more often than I would like but it usually doesn't faze you at all and you just get right back up and do whatever you were doing before.  You are seriously running all over the place now and it makes me want to stop time! You have been reaching for door handles also which is making us deadbolt the back door but is also making me nervous for when you can actually open the pantry door and go get your snacks when you want them!

Recognition

You definitely are all about your people and the things that we regularly do now.  You know and call Memma, Papa, and Char Char by name and KayKay said that you clearly said her name last week also!  When we were in Tuscaloosa for the Miss State game you kept saying, "Mare! Mare!" because you wanted to go see cousin Mary which is funny because you don't see her that often but you knew right away who she was.  You know exactly where everything is at home, in Tuscaloosa, and at Memma and Papa G's and aren't afraid to go straight for the toys wherever you are.  It also cracks us up that if we turn on the tv to watch football you immediately start clapping whenever anyone on tv is and dance when the band plays and yell touchdown a lot.  You also love school and know exactly where we're going when I tell you that it's time for school.  I am so glad that you love school and your friends so much and hope that continues as you get older!

Playing

Your play has gotten much more literal in the past few months.   You will now regularly sit down by yourself and flip through a book or start rocking your baby side to side when you pick her up.  You know that you speak into the microphone on your boom box and can put your coins in your piggy bank.  It's precious to see you become more of a little girl and know what your "supposed" to do with each of your toys. 

Your Great Love

The thing that you probably love most in the world is puppy dogs.  Doesn't matter what kind -- real, stuffed, pictures, barking -- you love it!  You "ruff! ruff!" for a few minutes any time you hear any dog bark and always get so excited.  It is funny though that you continue to refer to all dogs as "ruff ruff's" instead of by name.  You won't say Luca even if we beg you but you say "ruff ruff."  You are really trying to be sweet to Luca even though you want to pet him and give him kisses a lot. 

Sleeping

Charlotte you have always been Mommy's little sleeper and I am so thankful for that.  You still sleep very good from 8 pm - 8 am.  Most times when I go in to get you up you are already awake but you are perfectly content to hang out in your crib with your stuffed animals until we come and get you.  You usually don't even make any noise!  The naptime situation has been trickier for us recently.  You are probably at a time where you can go to one longer nap a day but we are (until Saturday) keeping you on two two hour naps a day (10-12, 2:30 - 4:30).  Some days you sleep the entire time both naps, some days you only sleep the entire nap time once and catnap the other time, other days you catnap both naps -- it varies.  Back when you started school we thought about moving you to one nap but you would get so tired and cranky by 9:30 if we were at home (however you did fine with one nap if we were out doing something in the morning).  Since you did so good then and have stayed content to play quietly in your crib during nap time even if you didn't sleep I have not wanted to give up those four hours a day.  But in the past week or so you've started going to sleep 30 minutes or so before nap time is over which means waking you from a deep sleep leaving your grumpy for a little while while you wake up.  So after our last football game on Friday when we need you to take a morning nap we'll switch to one nap from 12-3 like we do on school days already.  I've got to come up with something to keep us busy in the morning's now!

Sweet Girl

While you aren't really a cuddler you have started giving hugs and kisses a lot which is sweet.  You will give kisses to basically anything that isn't a person (including Luca) but will only let people kiss you, not kiss us.  But you are so sweet to hug us and come sit on our laps.  You also love playing on our king sized bed and are sweet to snuggle up with my while I rub your back and hair which makes my heart melt.  We love that you are so sweet and have such a beautiful, open heart.  I hope you keep that for the rest of your life!

Charlotte Lee,
You are 18 months old and are running Daddy and I ragged right now.  It's hard to keep up with you because you have SO MUCH energy.  Despite that we love running around after you and watching you explore and discover new things each and every day.  When you smile at us or run into our laps or give us hugs and kisses we just can't believe that we are so blessed to have you in our lives.  You were an answer to prayer and we love you so, so much.  We love watching you learn more about Jesus and I have to catch my breath every time when we pray and say Amen and you clasp your hands together and say, "Men!"  I hope your love for God continues to grow deeper and deeper as you grow older.  Daddy and I will do everything we can to teach you about him because we want nothing more than for you to follow him your entire life and love him with your entire heart.

You are our precious baby girl and we love you so much! 
love Mommy and Daddy

UA vs Miss State

Last weekend we spent a long weekend in Tuscaloosa due to Jason's holiday on Veteran's Day and the football game.  The only damper on the weekend was the horrible cough/sinus junk that I came down with on Wednesday and kept thinking would go away by the next day!  (I didn't end up feeling better until this past Wednesday after I got three days of antibiotics and steriods in me.)  We managed to have a fun time despite my sickness though!

On Friday we took C to Zoe's for her first time and she thought their grilled cheese was the best!

Then Jason and I got the chance to tour the stadium.  Jason had been on the tour when I had my board meeting's but he gladly went back with me so I could get the full effect.  I have to say that our stadium is beautiful and so impressive!  I enjoyed checking everything out and especially walking down the tunnel just like the players do! 

Saturday was another fun day since the game wasn't until 6:30.  We managed to make it over to the President's Mansion and met up with lots of family and friends!  Charlotte has developed a distinct love for all things related to Uncle Charlie (or "tar-tar" as C says!).  She kept wanting to go to him before the game!

We did manage to get a family picture too!

Once we got in to the stadium C went with Mom, Dad, and Charlie so that Jason and I could eat in peace in the Zone.  When I loaded the pictures from the weekend onto the computer I found quite a few from their time with her! It looks like they had fun!

C isn't quite as enthused about this picture with Charlie!

While we were by ourselves in the Zone we took this picture and I love it! It reminds me of all of the pictures that we have of us from college in the student section! While the student section is fun I'm definitely glad to have the luxury to go inside and get food and drinks whenever we want now!

Despite the Dayquil/Nyquil induced stupor that I was in for much of the weekend we enjoyed getting away from town for a little while and having lots of extra hands to help with Charlotte.  It was also nice that we enjoyed a nice, big win to help reenergize us.  We're looking forward to our last home game next week with Auburn and counting on our boys to show up big!