Resurrection Day!

I just looked back at last years post from Easter. I had to laugh....Charlotte was soooo little & looks totally different : ) 1 year makes quite the difference! Next years pictures will include two little bitty Valentine girls (and no pregnant belly... unless the Lord decides to surprise us).

Robby was out of town until Friday night & I had my mom in from Kingwood to join in the fun of taking care of Charlotte, Bennett & Bella. She & I took Charlotte to the Maundy Thursday service with Celebration Community Church. We met at an outdoor pavilion in Celebration & had perfect weather. There was a little breeze that we all enjoyed as we are headed into the HOT summer here. This was one of the first hour long services that Charlotte has been with me & it was a challenge! She did great until her snacks ran out then she got a little crazy. We did some walking & then would return to listen to Gregg speak for a few more minutes. It is SO easy to be frustrated with not being able to fully pay attention with the responsibility of caring for a little one. I do have to remind myself that the phase we are in is very short in the long run & that right now, it is important to love Charlotte by helping her learn how to sit still & listen to someone as they teach us about Jesus. She did not have any problem during the music because she absolutely loves Luke who leads our worship team. She would point at him & clap (even if no one else was clapping) & enjoyed bobbing her head to the music.

Even with the distraction, the service was wonderful. We sang a favorite song of mine called How Deep the Father's Love For Us. God continually uses these lyrics to reach into my heart & remind me of how great the sacrifice for my sin really was & how deeply I am loved by Jesus. This service has only had about 20-30 people each year for the past 3 years which really surprises me. It is such an important time to prepare my heart to accurately reflect on the death of Jesus. I do pray that more people will join us in the coming years.

Robby got home late Friday night & it was great to see him! We spent all of Saturday as family & really enjoyed some relaxing. Throughout the day I was so thankful for the conversations we were having. It was mostly sharing things we had learned in reading over the previous week & brainstorming ideas about how to teach Charlotte about the death & resurrection of Christ.

Sunday morning, we headed to church at CCC & got to serve in the nursery. It was busy & entertaining, as usual : )

Here are a few pictures:

The fam.....with the growing belly!

Char & Mommy

Daddy & Char

Sweet Charlotte Grace

We have been reading Charlotte's bible with her in the evening and had gone from Jesus riding into town on a donkey through his Crucifixion. There was a picture of him on the cross where you could just see his feet & Mary was crying & holding onto the base of the cross. Charlotte could not get past the page! It said, "the people who loved Jesus were very sad." She kept touching her face where tears would go & saying "uh, uh, uh" in a really sad voice, with an extremely sad face. It was exciting to read the story of his resurrection & say, "Jesus has risen! He is alive !" We pray that the Lord would help her grasp whatever she can of what we are teaching her & that it would be the beginning of a strong foundation. It will be neat to see the change in her awareness & understanding from this year to next year as she is able to communicate more clearly with us.

As far as how adorable we thought she looked, we loved her sweet little dress! I got some beautiful hand me down clothes from a friend at work that has 2 girls so this dress was in Charlotte's size & Karis's size! We decided to dress them alike.....they were too cute but were difficult to photograph together : ) I decided to add in a family photo of Rob's brother Steve, his wife Jenny & Karis.

Celebrating that Jesus has risen & is alive doesn't have to be celebrated only on this weekend each year. I am praying that I would recognize daily that He has overcome sin & death, He is ALIVE & is the reigning King over all creation for now & forever! What comfort to believe that as we face each day of our lives.

32 weeks, feeling large & in charge

"Flying through each day, yet enjoying every minute." This is the phrase I would use to describe this pregnancy. I will be 33 weeks tomorrow & the due date seems to be just around the corner!

We read a lot of Berenstain Bears growing up & I happened to get the Ellis family copy of The Berenstain Bears' New Baby. This has become one of Charlotte's favorite books lately. I actually haven't gotten tired of it....yet ; ) The page pictured below makes me laugh. It is SO accurate!

I definitely do not have much of a lap left for her to sit on but she desperately tries everyday. Charlotte smushes Eloise very frequently. It is a gentle smush but causes little sister to fight back! She kicked hard enough a couple weeks ago that Charlotte actually noticed. I am not quite sure if she realized what was actually happening but she did say "baby" with a smile on her face.

So the update for 32 weeks:

• After bragging about how I was gaining weight slowly while still consuming massive quantities of white sprinkle donuts & ordering late night pizzas, I almost had a heart attack when I gained 7 pounds in 2 1/2 weeks. It was actually pretty funny....Rob was like, "what do you expect?" He is the one who sees me fill my appetite most often. Still, I am thinking I will be at least a bit less than I was with Charlotte in the final days of pregnancy.



• Her heart rate is usually around 140 at each visit



• She moves like a dancing queen after I eat even 1 M&M



• She also moves for the first hour after I lay down to go to bed making it nearly impossible to fall asleep....I really love this time because I have zero distractions & can just enjoy it



• I am measuring a week & a half to 2 weeks ahead according to fundal height. This is not surprising after already having one baby on the larger side & because we chose the name "Eloise" meaning healthy & wide ; )



• We have an ultrasound scheduled for May 11th to get a more accurate idea of how chubby her cheeks & thighs are...did I mention I love chubby babies?



• My ankles started swelling this week- same exact week as last time



• People that don't know me are frequently saying, "Wow, that baby looks like it's going to come out any day!" What a nice comment. I try not to make them feel bad when I tell them the honest truth.."Well, actually I have nearly 2 months to go & I get WAY bigger than this!"

Here I am at 32 weeks

After much debate (with myself), I shared all the information I had gathered about double strollers with my decision making husband & we officially upgraded to a two seater! We decided on the Baby Jogger City Mini Double. It was super easy to put together, it is lightweight, it has the best canopy, it folds without barely any effort & 2 girlies fit in it perfectly! Also, it represents our Texas Tech Alma Mater well : )

Here are Char & Cousin Karis on their first ride...don't they look happy? ; )

It has actually been used quite a bit. Anytime Jenny & I are out with both girls, we load up this stroller instead of two. Charlotte prefers it over the single stroller when we go for walks. She puts Libby & London on the little baby side. I am sure I look a little crazy but oh well!

Over all, we are doing great & looking forward to meeting sweet Eloise. Every time Charlotte is super giggly we say, "what are we going to do with 2 giggly girls in this house?" I know exactly what we will do.....giggle along with them & remain thankful for the Lord's provision in filling our home with silly girls.

Our bedroom is all set up to accompany the new roomie in June. Her cradle sheet is washed & on the mattress. The chair that I can sit in all night long while nursing a newborn is perfectly positioned next to a lamp & a place to keep my gallon of water. The "projects for girls room" list is almost complete & will require its' own post to feature the cuteness. Plane tickets have been purchased & dates for driving to Orlando have been selected by both sets of grandparents as well as Uncle Scott & Uncle Kyle. All we need is baby Eloise! Eloise & maybe a little more rest in the coming weeks to prepare ourselves ; )

The countdown is on! Come on June!

Charlotte at 21 months

We are a mere 3 months away from a 2nd birthday for Charlotte Grace! She has continued to bring great joy into our home along with new challenges each day. She is looking more like a little girl as she grows SO quickly.

21 facts about the little lady:

1. She weighs in at about 27 lbs.


2. She wakes up delighted to start the day. If I am still in bed, Robby brings her into our room & she snuggles up while I scratch her back. She pats the pillow next to mine until her Daddy submits to the request to snuggle with us : )


3. She is absolutely addicted to working puzzles! She has 3 animal puzzles, a number puzzle & one with the entire alphabet. She can work them all ridiculously fast yet they keep her entertained for quite some time.


4. She can identify the letters: C, K, S, X, O & Q (Super random grouping of letters)


5. She can identify a circle, square, diamond, heart & star


6. She is beginning to talk more & has added some new words to her vocabulary. To name a few.... daddy, mommy, keys, cow, go, teetee, poopoo, yes (sounds like "yeshhh"), hi, bow, baby, boo, diamond, hola, agua & gracias- thanks to our sweet neighbors from Colombia : )


7. When playing by herself we frequently hear her saying "dada, mama, mama, dada, dama, mada" or, "yesh, no, no yesh, yo, nes" or (our favorite) "teetee, poopoo, poopoo, teetee"


8. She likes for me to count to 3 & she imitates the sound while she holds up 1 finger for 1, then 5 fingers for 2 & 3.


9. She can't get enough of the park or pool lately. She has gotten extremely confident climbing onto the playground equipment & going down the slide without any help. She will jump into the water about a million times in a row at the pool then throws a fit when it is time to leave.


10. She is still enjoying books. Her favorites right now are: Ten Little Fingers & Ten Little Toes, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, The Little Engine that Could, The Berenstain Bears & The New Baby & I'm Going to be a Big Sister.


11. She sleeps for 2-3 hours in the afternoon & 12 at night. She eats great 90% of the time.


12. She likes watching a Veggie Tales movie called "Josh & The Big Wall" & requests it by pointing at the TV & saying "boo?" This comes from a song in the movie about a Cebu, which is like a water buffalo. They sing "Cebu" & Charlotte responds with "boooooo."


13. She LOVES her cousin Karis & any other baby she can get her hands and/or lips on. I am praying she will feel the same love for baby Eloise : )


14. She takes good care of her baby dolls. Right now, they are the only ones who are using the big girl bed. I figure eventually if the bed is good enough for Libby & London, she will decide it is good enough for her too.


15. She has about 20-30 different grocery items she carries in her shopping cart. We can request each by name & she brings the correct one to us on the first try.


16. She has the most adorable giggle & asks to be tickled by lifting her chin up over & over while you tickle or kiss on her neck.


17. She likes to feed her bows to Bennett (this is starting to spark a little frustration in my life)


18. She is really good at making a happy face or a sad face on command. Anytime she sees a tear drop shape in a picture in a book, she gets her super sad face going & just can't seem to move past the page.


19. She has an intense fear of bugs if they happen to land on her. Today, she was VERY bothered that there was a ladybug on my arm. She is also really sensitive to hearing the noise of a large truck outside, or the air conditioner coming on.


20. She loves to carry her dirty clothes & put them in the hamper after her bath.


21. She is a little sweetheart that has endless amounts of kisses to give & is always looking for a smile from Mommy or Daddy

Here are some photos from the past couple weeks.... First is Charlotte playing the drum in Daddy's office. She wears these headbands & hair clips for as long as we will allow her to during the day. Also, I have to hide my undies from her or she wants to wear about 9 pairs at the same time : ) She prefers them around her neck but this day I convinced her to put them where they belong.

One exciting thing from the past week is that Charlotte can now wear her hair in pig tails!! They look adorable & she really doesn't seem to mind. We have waited & waited for her beautiful hair to keep on growing & the day finally came to pull out the miniature hair ties : )

We are definitely spending more time these days disciplining our sweet but disobedient child. As any parent knows, each day is different so, it is fair to say she is occasionally or frequently disobedient. Her frequent offenses are: throwing her food or cup off the table while staring you down, feeding her food to the dogs, telling mommy "no" when asked to do something, opening cabinet doors that she knows are off limits. On occasion, she is disciplined for pushing Karis over repeatedly or trying to bite her finger. She spends a full minute in time out without trying to run away about 80 % of the time. This picture cracks me up. She looks pitiful waiting the longest 60 seconds of the day : )

Charlotte has been cracking us up lately with her obsession with motorcycles. Every time she sees one while we are in the car, she screams with excitement. She says "vroom vroom" until we get home, busts into Robby's office & says "vroom vroom" while moving her arms like she is revving a double engine (she gets that from me). This is how she requests for her Daddy to put her on his motorcycle, turn it on & rev the engine. After he revs it once, she continually does the sign for "more" & says ma-ma-ma-ma. Every time I tell her that Daddy is gone for a little bit she says "vroom vroom?" I answer with "yes, Daddy went vroom vroom on his motorcycle to a meeting." Soooo cute!

We went out on a family date tonight to celebrate 21 months of loving life with Charlotte. We went over to Celebration to let her run in the fountain then got some dinner before heading home.

RUNNING fast to get to the fountain once she spotted it.

The sweet smile that makes us smile even more : )

Strike a pose Miss Charlotte!

I honestly could go on for hours about how much we love her & all of the funny things this girl does but, I will bring this post to a close.

Oh little Charlotte, you are precious. We know your life is about to change come another 8 weeks but believe that the Lord chose the perfect time to give you a baby sister! We are praying for your little heart to love Jesus & others. We are praying that you would learn to obey mommy & daddy all the way, right away & with a happy heart. This is how Jesus wants you to obey Him too. We are praying that God is preparing your heart to love & accept Eloise into our family. We are praying that you & Eloise would share a special friendship as you grow up together.

We love YOU sweet girl, just the way God made you. We love watching you learn new things & delight in the world around you. We look forward to sharing the celebration of your special day in just 3 more months!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Big Girl Bed - Part 2 - failure

Well well, we have attempted & failed, miserably. Every book I have read & parent I have talked to stated that the number one problem with a "big bed" is that the child will not stay in it. They want to be up & playing & find it amusing to stretch their parents to the limit. I will start with saying that we have one special little girl whose response was quite opposite : ) One week ago, we really talked up the big girl bed with Charlotte. We spent time reading in it & playing with puzzles on it. She seemed excited to say the least. We made sure we stuck with our usual bedtime routine & then laid her down, gave her bear & blankie then left the room. I turned around & snapped a picture on our way out to commemorate her first night in a big girl bed. I did not look at it until the following day....which made it even funnier. So, we exit the room & she went crazy screaming & crying like it was the worst thing that could ever happen to her! We walked her back to her bed, calmed her down & talked to her about sleeping in the bed. Exit number 2 went about the same as number 1. This went on for about an hour & I would have to use the word "terrified" to describe her. I sat down on the couch with Rob & he brought up the point that we really didn't have a game plan for this scenario. We decided to put her in her crib....she fell asleep before he was out of the room. The next morning, I looked at the picture we took & zoomed in on her face. I could not stop laughing....she looks horrified! It's like she is thinking "what on earth are they doing to me??"

All that to say, we have not had an official attempt since then but would like to try again soon. We are not in a hurry to get her transitioned before Eloise, this brings me comfort : )

Also since then, we have started doing independent playtime in her room (instead of the crib) with a baby gate up. She cried the first 2 days & now she is comfortable for 30-45 minutes until we come get her. Hopefully this will help when we try out that adorable bed again!

Once again, I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on how to handle this situation!

Grandpa & Grandma in town!

My mom and dad came into town last week and spent Sunday-Friday with us. Yes, we (especially Charlotte) were super spoiled with all the time spent with moms, dads, grandmas & grandpas in the month of March! It was sad to see them go after such a lovely visit. We had some bright sunny weather coupled with a few MAJOR storms. It was perfect though to be out & about enjoying central Florida & then being forced to relax : )

On Monday, we headed up to a store called the Sewing Studio. I have lived here for nearly 3 years & known about this place but never made the effort to go. WOW! I have been missing out on the best fabric selection around. My mom & I could have spent hours wandering around letting our minds go crazy with prject ideas but since Grandpa was chasing Charlotte around the store, we moved quick. I picked up some fat quarters of Amy Butler fabric (one of my favs) to use on some matching outfits for my girlie pies. They are still in process & I will be excited to share a photo of the finished product sometime very soon! We continued the shopping trip at Stride Rite where Charlotte got a couple new pairs of shoes. I will say, it will be a shame if Eloise doesn't live up to the meaning of her name, "healthy & wide" in the foot department. We have a bin full of wide width shoes for big sister that are in pristine condition because her little tootsies grow so fast! Anyway, it was great to get some new shoes for Char! Thanks Mom & Dad!

Tuesday, I went to work. I was bummed to not get to spend the day with the family but my parents loved having Charlotte all to themselves. They spent the morning at a Butterfly Garden & said it was really enjoyable to walk around. Charlotte had fun looking at caterpillars & butterflies along with birds & even leaves. So easy to entertain : )

Here she is when she spotted a butterfly

looking at what Grandpa was pointing out for her to see

Grandma & Char during their trip around the butterfly garden

On Wednesday, we took the advice from some of my friends at work and headed to Green Meadows Petting Farm. Apparently it has been around for quite some time as many of them went on field trips there as children. There were lots of animals to look at & pet. We had so much fun! It was like Charlotte's farm book & puzzle had come to life...I think she was kind of in shock at the beginning. She got used to it though & by the end was definitely into getting up close & personal with the animals : )

Here is the day in pictures:

Our primary mode of transportation offered to Charlotte. I say "offered" because for a portion of the day Charlotte refused very loudly to have anything to do with the wagon. She was cute while she was in it though!

Grandma, Grandpa & Char on the hayride

This made us laugh. It was like she couldn't believe a duckling was real. She stared it down for awhile then stood up & started flapping her arms and saying "cack cack." Grandma helped her feed a couple goats Here she is contemplating whether or not to pull the pot bellied pigs' tail

I was the one in shock in the picture below. I thought for sure she would freak out & try to jump off the pony. Instead, she bounced herself up & down with the pony & did not want to get off. Grandpa followed the tour guides instruction & caught Charlotte a duck to pet. Petting for Charlotte consists of a quick poke with her pointer finger.

We will end with this picture of my pretty little girl. I love that you can see her crazy hair....we can't believe she finally has hair...and that it is curly! I have to add that the part of the day that made me laugh the hardest was while we were in the pen with the goats. She was petting one & it started pooping. She was leaned around watching it come out and saying "uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh." Hilarious!

I would venture to say that we will return to the farm. It was a fun place!

Thursday was the rainy day so we made use of our time & pulled out all the baby clothes for Eloise & re-organized the closet & drawers to work for 2 little girls! It was SO nice to have one assistant (Grandpa) playing with Charlotte & another assistant (Grandma) in the closet with me!

On top of taking us to some neat places, my parents would: instruct me to lay on the couch & rest after dinner while they did all the cleaning, offer time for me to take nap each afternoon, & did most of the cooking. It would be an understatement to say it has been difficult to adjust back to normal life around here : )

Thanks for a fun filled week! Can't wait to see you again!