All About Eyes

This morning we headed down to Birmingham to meet with a pediatric opthamologist about Charlotte's eyes.  At her two year checkup our pediatrician did a preliminary eye exam with a pretty cool device that "read" her eyes and it indicated that her eyes might being seeing things with two different visions.  So he wanted us to see a specialist because there might be something that he could do now that would help her not have to wear glasses/contacts throughout her life.  So we headed out this morning and Charlotte was pretty content during the car ride with her animals, her burp cloth (to wipe hers and her animals noses), snacks, and Mickey.

We got to the office without any problems and waited what I guess was a fairly short amount of time for a mid-morning appointment at a doctor's office and then went in to see the nurse.  After checking C's eyes out initially she put numbing drops in and then dilated her eyes.  That was definitely the not fun part!  We then had to go back out to the waiting room to wait for her eyes to dilate.

Thankfully, Charlotte's a good waiter as long as we have the iPad so that made the wait fairly bearable.  She was not happy with the dilation of her eyes and occasionally rubbed her forehead and said, "That hurts me" but other than that it was pretty drama free.

The doctor eventually called us back and he did an exam manually on Charlotte.  Instead of having her put her head in the contraption and doing the different lenses on her eyes he held the lenses up manually, which seemed very tedious to me but I guess that's the only way to do it with kids.  In the end he told us that Charlotte does have some vision discrepancies but that they are currently balancing each other out which allows her to see fine.  He left the decision on whether to fill the glasses prescription or not to us since he said that he wasn't sure that they would really allow her to see any better or not.  

It was nice to know that medically there was nothing wrong other than normal vision issues which we would expect since Jason and I both wear contacts.  And other than some crying when the dilation drops went in the appointment was very pain and drama free which was definitely an answered prayer.

We had decided to set up lunch with Miss Lindsey after our appointment since we were going to be in Birmingham and I'm so glad that we did.  It let us have a break from the stress of the morning and enjoy a fun Mexican lunch with a good friend that we don't get to see nearly often enough.  Thanks Miss Lindsey for meeting us!  You were such a hit with Charlotte that for a lot of the ride home she kept saying, "Go Miss Lindsey's house!"  We're both hoping that you make it up to visit with us before you start seminary!

Since lunch was in the same shopping center as Edgar's Bakery we had to stop for some sweets on our way home!  We didn't have Charlotte's sunglasses with us because we didn't foresee her getting her eyes dilated so we got some disposable ones at the office.  Charlotte loved them and enjoyed wearing them and eating her sugar cookie from Edgar's on the way home!

We appreciate the thoughts and prayers that were with us today.  We are very thankful that this is all that we have had to deal with health wise and know that there are so many dealing with so much more with their children.  It helps to have friends who text and tweet and call with their encouragement and I really appreciate it!  All in all it was a good visit with a positive outcome and we're thankful for the ability to help Charlotte in any way that we can.

Now we've just got to make it to bedtime since we're back home now and currently going on no nap which is a very, very rare occurrence for us!  I'm not going to go as far as to say that things are going good now because I don't want to jinx us but so far the sugar from her sugar cookie hasn't worn off!

Reading Thursday - Toddler Must Reads

*We are on our way to the eye doctor today to get Charlotte's eyes checked.  If you could pray for a good appointment, a good trip, and a good day today we would appreciate it!

As you know, we're a very reading centric family and Charlotte is no exception.  The books that she is most taken with changes pretty regularly but some that she is currently in love with are....

Harry the Dirty Dog Board Book

Charlie and I had this book growing up and Mom found it recently and got it out for Charlotte and she loves it!  Anything about pets is good for her but she loves Harry!

Where Is the Green Sheep?

This book would be good for kids much younger also because Charlotte can basically read this one to herself but she loves looking for the green sheep and even when we're not reading it she sometimes goes around the house asking where the green sheep is!

Dimity Duck

Dimity has been a favorite of C's for months now and she's very good at finishing the sentences in it.  She has even mastered the word "eiderdown" thanks to this book!

Charlie the Ranch Dog

The cover bills this book as for 4-8 year olds but I can't emphasize enough how much Charlotte loves Charlie and Suzie and Daisy the Cow.  Ree has a new, young fan in Charlotte!

And one's that she loves and that we have but I don't have pictures of....

Biscuit Storybook Collection

This has some of her favorite Biscuit books but she loves ALL Biscuit books!

Little Golden Book Collection: Sleepytime Tales (Little Golden Book Treasury)

While we never read these at bedtime, Charlotte loves reading the stories in this book over and over and over again!

Recipe Wednesday (sort of) - This Preggo's Favorites

This isn't so much a true Recipe Wednesday (sorry, cooking is a lot of times out of my ability right now!) but is more a list of some foods that I'm loving right now!  Just wanted to share in case you need any shortcut ideas!

We recently cooked this turkey tenderloin in the oven and it was SO GOOD! They're so easy to cook because they're already marinated and we just put it on a broiler pan (so any fat and grease could drip through) and baked it.  Pork one's are great also, but I liked this turkey one also.  It was nice to have this in the freezer and be able to just pull it out the day before to thaw and then stick it in the oven and have a good meal with little prep!

I bought these for Charlotte because she pretty much loves all dried fruit (including figs which kind of grosses me out), but honestly Jason and I are eating more of these than Charlotte! They're sweet and a good pick me up snack which doesn't make me feel bad for eating more chocolate!

Another quick dinner favorite around our house.  The Buitoni tortellini pastas are basically getting us through dinner time these days!  We get a family size pasta with two marinara sauces and eat the pasta usually by itself.  We typically have enough left over for me to eat it for lunch the next day too!

I've found that these mini cookies are my current obsessions.  I don't even like regular Chips Ahoy's but the mini one's are pure heaven!

I've found this summer that Blue Bell Cookies and Cream milkshakes are wonderful!  Scoop some ice cream in a mug and add some milk and stir it up and you've got a great milkshake!

For some reason, I've recently been craving cheesecake so I bought one of these the other day and made it.  It was so good and really hit the spot!  Very little effort and by buying the plain one Jason could add whatever toppings he wanted (i.e. caramel and chocolate) and I could add strawberry and cherry topping!  There's definitely another one of these soon on our horizon!

Tomato Sandwiches.  Yum!  (At least until I decided to cut out tomatoes to try and reduce my heartburn.)  I make them on white bread with mayo and seasoned salt...so good!

These are something that we bought for Charlotte that she exclusively eats.  I know they're not making a huge dent in her lack of veggie eating, but they make me feel a little better about the fact that the only veggie she eats really are potatoes!  And she likes them so no harm, no foul!

I strongly hope to have a new recipe next week!  But...we'll see how that goes! :)

What we're up to these days....

Wearing all three of her new bows from She Sells Details in her hair almost every day because she loves them so much!

Finishing up Charlotte's big girl room! (Pictures, etc to come soon---I promise!)

Doing lots of reading in "Charlotte's Car" with Daddy and Mommy.

Snuggling up with a pillow and her blanket on the floor to watch Mickey...or golf...or U2...or really whatever is on!

Enjoying gymnastics and not taking her leotard off all day!

Still doing lots of eating on the back porch! (One of C's current favorite breakfast foods is Apple Jacks -- specifically the green ones in Apple Jacks.)

Baking and "eating" cookies.  She loves pushing the cookies into the "oven" i.e. under the couch!

Doing lots of coloring at her coloring table, even though she's having a hard time deciding whether she wants to be right handed or left handed (one of each in the above pictures).  Her sports habits (throws mostly lefty, grips the golf club lefty but swings mostly righty, etc) aren't really helping her decide either!

We are definitely enjoying our summer even if it is HOT, HOT, HOT!

Date night!

In order to take control of some of my OCD craziness that's taken over during this pregnancy I have created an excel sheet entitled 'Things to do Before James' Birth.'  (Those who know me, please quit rolling your eyes!)  One of the items on that list was to go and see at least one movie.  Jason and I used to go to the movies all the time before Charlotte arrived and recently we've had a really long stretch of no movie-going that's been driving me kind of crazy.

So when everyone in Supper Club was busy for our June meeting and we already had Jason's parents set up to come and keep Charlotte we decided to make a date night of it!  We were joined by Charlie and his date and enjoyed a great dinner and a movie.  We started out at a preview of a brand new steak restaurant in town (it's fantastic so if you live here let me know and I'll clue you in on my favorites!) and then went to (gasp!) the late movie to see "Midnight in Paris."  I was a little unsure about seeing a Woody Allen film but it was really the only thing on so we went anyway and I was so pleasantly surprised at it.  The movie was very good and I highly recommend it, especially if you like twenties-era writers and celebrities and Paris.

It was a fun night out and allowed me to cross something off of my checklist which gives me a great feeling! :)  We're hoping that we might get to squeeze one more movie in before James arrives, but at least now the pressure's off and if it doesn't work out we still got to see one this summer -- and a good one at that!

Her new role

Ever since January we've been talking with C about becoming a big sister.  Early on she acknowledged that I had a baby in my tummy but the concept that the baby was her little brother didn't really stick.  Then at Easter she got her first big sister book and a few weeks ago I bought another one.

Through reading those books the concept has started to become a little more real.  She now can tell you (sometimes) that babies can't eat pizza and ice cream and she proudly reads the books that she's a "Big Sister Now!"  She will even occasionally tell you that baby J is the baby in my tummy.  But she still wasn't really showing an affinity for her baby dolls.

Up until now she has been one of those little girls that wasn't really interested in them.  She had them and she'd sometimes play with them, but she preferred to play with her stuffed animals instead.  She would tuck her stuffed animals into her cradle upstairs and would push her animals around in her stroller.  We have never really cared about this and also haven't pushed baby dolls on her.  I figured that she'd eventually start to like them but until then stuffed animals are cheaper than baby dolls and we already had a plethora of them! :)

But apparently all of the big sister and baby talk has gotten in to her head and last week she picked up and started playing with the first baby doll that wasn't completely stuffed that we ever gave her.  One afternoon she asked to watch Mickey on "Mommy's Daddy's Bed" and carried her doll to watch with her.  She sat her doll next to her on the bed propped up against the pillows and made sure that her doll had "covers" just like she did.

After Mickey was over and Daddy got home we were just sitting on the bed playing.  She then picked up her doll and started rocking her in her arms which was really a first for her to initiate herself.  Since all of her animals have names I asked her what her baby's name was and when she just looked at me I asked if her name was Baby Chloe (pick a random name, it's hard coming up with names for all of these stuffed things!).  She shook her head and said, "No, Baby Clarabelle!" and the name stuck.  (In case you don't know, Clarabelle is the cow on Mickey Mouse and C loves her!)

Maybe more of this big sister/new baby stuff is sinking in after all.  C and Baby Clarabelle have been pretty inseparable since that day and C loves pushing her in her stroller and sleeping with her.  I have always known that she'll be a great big sister.  I'm under no illusions that the transition won't be difficult -- she'll only be 27 months old after all -- but she's such a people pleaser and someone who loves to help so I knew that she'd step up to the plate and excel at her new role.  But I have still loved watching her embrace her baby and take care of her.  I can't wait to watch her take on the role of J's big sister!

Recipe Wednesday - Salsa Chicken

Does anyone else have a recipe folder on their email like I do?  Mine has emails all the way back since we got married and I've only cooked maybe a third of them.  So when I'm tired of cooking what feels like the same old, same old, I go search that folder to find something that I want to make.

Recently I found this Salsa Chicken recipe.  I haven't made it before since it asks you to marinate the chicken in the salsa for at least two hours or overnight and I rarely have my act together enough time to do that.  But now that C is taking an afternoon nap I prefer to get dinner ready during her nap so that when it's time to cook all I have to do is stick it in the oven.  So I found that this recipe worked for me where I am right now.

It ended up being a pretty light recipe that didn't take an inordinate amount of time of prep work although all the chopping did eat up some of nap time.  Be prepared that this is not a tomato based salsa recipe, it's a green pepper salsa recipe so if you're looking for a traditional salsa dish this is not one to try.  But it was very good and pretty easy.

Salsa Chicken
From Dinner by Design

• 11/2 cups diced green pepper (about 2 medium)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped cilantro (about 1 bunch)
• 1 cup diced onion
• 3 Tbl chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tbl red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken brea sts

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients, except chicken. Reserve 1 1/2 cups salsa (to serve with chicken), cover and refrigerate. Place chicken in a large resealable bag. Add remaining salsa to the chicken. Seal bag and marinate at least 2 hours or overnight.


Drain and discard chicken marinade. Grill chicken over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes, when a thermometer reads 170°, turning once. OR bake chicken at 400° on a broiler pan for 20-25 min. Serve chicken topped with reserved salsa.

Motherhood as a Mission Field

I am blessed to have some very supportive friends who encourage me and help me -- if I'm being honest -- survive the every-day-ness that is being a stay at home Mom.  One of those sweet friends, Natalie, forwarded a blog post to me today entitled "Motherhood as a Mission Field."  If you are a Mom, you should go and read it.  If you're going to be a Mom one day, you should bookmark it so that you can go back and it read it when you're in the trenches.

It's easy for me to get bogged down in the seemingly never ending tasks that go with having children.  Laundry is never done.  I can't seem to get a sink without dirty dishes in it without the dishwasher needing to be unloaded and another meal looming.  Kids, remarkably, expect to eat three meals a day and I'm expected to provide them.  For the foreseeable future, diapers have to be changed many times during the day.  And little people will begin to assert their independence by testing your limits.

We've had an interesting morning at our house.  C woke up early before dozing off and on until it was time to get up and because of that was very touchy this morning.  In the midst of her crying because I was pretending to eat off of her play spoon instead of "put all the way in" my mouth like she wanted and her chasing after Luca crying because he wouldn't play with her Minnie doll, I received this post from Natalie.  Such a perfect moment to be reminded that the little things matter.

Some of my favorite parts of the post were:

"If you are a Christian woman who loves the Lord, the gospel is important to you. It is easy to become discouraged, thinking that the work you are doing does not matter much. If you were really doing something for Christ you would be out there, somewhere else, doing it. Even if you have a great perspective on your role in the kingdom, it is easy to lose sight of it in the mismatched socks, in the morning sickness, in the dirty dishes. It is easy to confuse intrigue with value, and begin viewing yourself as the least valuable part of the Church."


"Think about the feeding of the five thousand when the disciples went out and rounded up the food that was available. It wasn’t much. Some loaves. Some fish. Think of some woman pulling her fish out and handing it to one of the disciples. That had to have felt like a small offering. But the important thing about those loaves and those fishes was not how big they were when they were given, it was about whose hands they were given into. In the hands of the Lord, that offering was sufficient. It was more than sufficient. There were leftovers. Given in faith, even a small offering becomes great."


"God loves the little offerings. Given in faith, that plate of PB&J’s will feed thousands. Given in faith, those presents on Christmas morning will bring delight to more children than you can count. Offered with thankfulness, your work at home is only the beginning. Your laundry pile, selflessly tackled daily, will be used in the hands of God to clothe many. Do not think that your work does not matter. In God’s hands, it will be broken, and broken, and broken again, until all who have need of it have eaten and are satisfied. And even then, there will be leftovers."


You should really go and read the post because it is powerful and these small quotes don't give it justice. But while the post itself spoke to me, Natalie's forwarding of it also spoke to me.  Because while, I'm guessing, it was a small thing to her -- to send a quick email with a note of encouragement and this post -- it meant a lot to me.  And I think that was the whole point of the post in the first place.  That the small measures that we make, the off handed kind words and the quick call or text to check on someone, are actually big measures when used in the hands of God.  


It's easy for me to sinfully forget that God is guiding even the most mundane tasks that I do.  But the reality is that He is constantly in control and as long as I stay focused on Him, He is going to exponentially increase the small amount that I can give.  And if I focus on that truth, hopefully days at home won't be quite as long and I'll have even more energy and time to devote to other areas that I feel that God's called me to as well as the mission field of my home.

Mommy love

C has become really affectionate lately.  She's started wrapping her arms really tight around my neck and giving me big hugs.  If you give her a hug she also wants a kiss.  She will (sometimes) come up and say "Love you Mommy!".  And just this weekend she came up to me and said, "Mommy, you are nice!"

This feedback is so special and sometimes is all that gets me through the day when she's being, well, two.  I love these sweet pictures that we got one night before a Father's Day/Mom's birthday dinner with my family!

Gym-nastics-is

I wanted to sign C up for a gym class this summer but was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to sit through a parent child class throughout the summer.  So when a friend told me about a place in town that offers a class for 2 and 3 years old without their parents I was so excited to sign C up!

Her first class was the Monday after Memorial Day and it was pretty much a disaster which is putting it nicely.  The long story is that she was put in a class full of kids that were about to turn 4 with a teacher that is suited for those age kids that have been taking gym for two years but not for someone who just turned two and is just starting out.  This meant that she didn't even introduce herself to the kids and took them into the big gym as opposed to the little gym that was made for the 2/3 class and C cried and wouldn't go by herself and pretty much refused to participate.  (Honestly, I didn't blame her! The teacher scared and intimidated me too!)  Thankfully, the desk staff was very helpful and switched us into a class with some other two year  olds that we went to last week.

This class was night and day from the other and was a HUGE success!  All morning we had talked about C going into the gym "all by self" and that Mommy was going to stay "behind glass" and watch so when the time came for her to follow her teacher in she walked in and didn't look back!  At the beginning of class she really just watched what the other kids were doing (stretches/back bends/etc) but sat right there with them and paid attention.  She followed the instructions and went from activity to activity and started to participate once she got a little comfortable with the class.

It was a great experience and she is still talking about it and can't wait to go back today!

Waiting to go in...

So excited!

Working on the rings!

Learning the gym's way to walk to different stations

Bounce! Bounce! Bounce! She LOVED the trampoline!

Once she learned to hang on and not let go she loved swinging from a tall mat and then dropping into a pit!

A sucker for all of her hard work!

The only downside is that class is an hour which, for her, is super long and she started to wilt between and 30 and 45 minutes in.  But she pushed through and never got upset which I was very proud of her for.  Even when another little girl kept coming to the door for her Mommy, C didn't do anything other than look at me occasionally to see if I was still there.

She is going to learn so much from this class -- independence, beginning gymnastics moves, more coordination -- and I am so excited to see how much she improves and changes over the course of the summer!

In case you want to watch some of C in action...here's a little iPhone video for you!

Charlotte at Gymnastics from Talesofa Peanut on Vimeo.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to.....

the best husband and Daddy in the world!

Photo by Erin Cobb

the best Daddy I could have ever asked for!

and the most wonderful Father-in-law!

Splish Splash

We've had lots of pool fun already this summer!  Charlotte is getting braver and braver each time we go out!

She likes the baby pool, but only occasionally.  Her favorite thing to do in the baby pool is to jump  off the side to Memma or to have Memma swing her around!

Charlotte likes to sit on her own towel on the side of the pool, just like Mommy!

She's finally tried her duck float and has kicked around in it a little bit.

She likes sitting on the big top shelf of the big pool.  This is where we spend most of our time!

Charlotte has also become an expert at telling time.  She even looks at her wrist for her imaginary watch before telling you (100% of the time) that it's 5:28!

She's also started wanting to wear her sunglasses on her head like Mommy and has decided that she doesn't ever want to wear a cover up to the pool (unlike Mommy).

She loves jumping off the steps to whoever will catch her and has even jumped off the side of the big pool to Memma once!

She also likes to go to the other side of the big pool where there's a shelf around that half circle behind Dad and C.  However she gets there including on shoulders doesn't matter as long as she gets to play over there!

Charlotte even let Dad let go of her and she floated in her swimmies some last week for the first time!  Other than her constantly sticking her tongue out with her mouth wide open she's getting closer and closer to being able to move herself around the pool!