Adios, 2011!

I was going to write a long, reflective post about the year, but honestly, I don't have the energy for that. In addition, it's pretty obvious what the highlight of my year was. Stumped? Let me give you a few photographic clues:

Yeah, I'd say 2011 was pretty fantastic. I can't wait to see what 2012 holds. Happy New Year!

Charlotte's First Christmas-In Pictures

Our Christmas was wonderful. I hope yours was, too!

Merry Christmas!

Blessed Family Religious Christmas Card

Don't send boring Christmas cards , personalize them at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Friday Five: Favorite Classic Christmas Songs (Updated)

I realized as I was getting ready to post this that I'd already done this very topic back in 2009! However, I think I would change the list a little bit now. Here are my current favorite Christmas classics:

1.  "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."  Still my favorite, and SCC's version is still my favorite.

2.  "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." I just started to fully appreciate the words of this song this year. I love Bethany Dillon's version of this song. It has a jazzy flair.

3.  "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Still love MercyMe's version of this one, but Casting Crowns has a nice interpretation as well.

4.  "O Holy Night."

5.  "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."


What are your favorite Christmas classics?

Don't Get Sad, Get Fit!

Confession: I only worked out TWICE in November. 65 minutes total. Pitiful, right? I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I think I can blame laziness and exhaustion for the bulk of it. It's been hard to find a good routine that allows me optimal time with Charlotte and Stephen and also time to workout, read my Bible, and oh yeah, work full time. I haven't figured it out yet, but the most logical of solutions is the one I'm least fond of: waking up early. When I wake up at 5:30 or 5:40, like I did this morning, I can get things accomplished. Charlotte and Stephen are both still sleeping then, so I'm not missing out on time with either of them, and I enjoy the time to myself. Unfortunately, more often than not I end up setting my alarm for 5:30, hitting it when it goes off, and then going back to sleep for another hour.

This was not always the case. Early on in my first attempt to lose weight, back in 2008 and 2009, I routinely woke up at 5:30 or 6:00 to exercise. It was just a matter of routine. I rarely skipped, rarely overslept my alarm. So what's different now? The obvious difference is that I now have a 9-month-old who still enjoys the occasional crack-of-dawn wake-up call. However, while the early days of Charlotte's life resulted in some serious sleep deprivation, the truth is I'm FAR more rested than I was when she was a newborn, so the baby excuse really doesn't fly.

Perhaps if I were gaining weight from the lack of exercise, I'd be more motivated, but I managed to lose 4 pounds in November. 4 pounds isn't stellar, but it's pretty typical weight loss for me, and I'm happy about it. Of course, who knows what I would have lost if I had exercised!

Ultimately I think it comes down to the fact that I don't want weight loss badly enough to get up early. I'd rather sleep in than exercise. I'd rather succumb to laziness than chase after fitness. I may have run 4 miles back in October, but I'm fairly certain there's no way I could do that right now, and that makes me sad. But more than making me sad, it's making me motivated. Motivated to make a concerted effort to take care of myself and my body so I can be a good example for Charlotte and a good steward of this body that God has given me.

Do you have any good tips for waking up earlier?

On Paint Colors and Toddler Hats

Thanks for all of the concern/support on my last post! Apparently I need to write about fainting and holes in the wall more often, huh? :) Fortunately, we are all doing well (aside from a cold that Charlotte has, poor baby) and have been vomit-free! And my sweet daddy has already patched the hole in the wall! Now I have an excuse to pick out a new paint color. I'm considering a chocolate brown, but I don't know if that would be too dark for such a small space. Any thoughts?

While you're pondering the pros and cons of chocolate brown paint, enjoy this picture of Charlotte in her cute winter hat (I won't mention the fact that her hat is a size 2T because her head is so big.):

This past weekend I participated in my church's presentation of the Living Christmas Tree and succeeded in getting not a single picture of the event, despite the fact that we performed 3 times on 3 different days. I'm quite the documentarian. (Is "documentarian" a word? I'm declaring it a word.) We have a large tree that all of the singers actually sing in. (Now is the time when a picture would be helpful, right?) Anyway, it was my first time to be in the program, and I had so much fun singing and being in the tree, and it was a great way to celebrate the miracle of Christ coming to earth to rescue us.

I can't believe Christmas is almost here! I can't wait to celebrate with my family. What are you looking forward to?

The Story of the Hole

If you remember my post from last week, Charlotte caught a stomach bug. Tuesday night was the worst in terms of amount of times she vomited, but she also threw up on Wednesday a few times and was rather pitiful. She did not sleep well on Wednesday night, and neither did I. I felt as though I couldn't get warm and never really felt comfortable. I also had an upset stomach of my own, although I never threw up.

Thursday morning I woke up feeling pretty queasy, and I thought, "Oh no, please oh please don't let me get sick!" But sure enough, I felt worse and worse as the day progressed. Charlotte seemed to be doing better, however, although she only wanted to sleep snuggled up to me, which I happily allowed her to do since she doesn't sit still much these days. Stephen came home around 1:45 to take his lunch break, and it wasn't a moment too soon. I felt as though all the energy had been slowly draining from my body all day long, so the minute he got home, I went to bed and slept until he had to go back to work at 4:15 (he obviously took an extended lunch break, haha). Charlotte had done well the whole day, so we were hopeful she'd be able to go to daycare. I continued to feel poorly and ended up going to sleep at 8:30.

Around 11:00 or 11:15 I awoke to the sounds of Charlotte crying screaming. Stephen got up to check on her, and after realizing that her screams had not quieted down after a few minutes, I pulled myself out of bed to see if I needed to help Stephen. He met me at the bedroom door and then promptly sat down on the floor, telling me he felt like he was going to pass out and that Charlotte had thrown up in her crib. I rushed to her and saw her covered in throw up and screaming in misery. I quickly picked her up and went to the guest bathroom, where I started the bath and then set her on the counter so I could wipe off her face while the tub filled.

The last thing I remember is reaching to get a washcloth.

Next thing I know, Stephen was gently shaking me and calling my name over and over. I looked around and found myself on the floor of the bathroom. I was completely confused, having no idea what had happened. Then I looked behind me and saw the hole in our bathroom wall.

 

Immediately I said, "What happened? Did I do that?" I was in complete disbelief, but Stephen told me he'd been lying on the floor by our bedroom when he heard a loud thump. He came into the bathroom to find me unresponsive and slumped against the wall. Later he said initially he didn't even realize that I had passed out but just though that I was resting for a minute, until I didn't respond to him calling my name. Then as he was talking to me, he started looking really pale and said he felt faint. We're both a little fuzzy on the details, but I think I told him to sit down. Meanwhile, at some point I realized that Charlotte remarkably ended up in the bathroom sink, when she could have easily crawled right off the edge of the bathroom counter! She had gotten over her initial displeasure and waved at me as I went to pick her up out of the sink and set her on the floor.

Then I realized that Stephen was being very still.

When I tried calling his name, I got no answer. I was freaking out at this point because his eyes were open but he was not responding, Charlotte was still covered in puke, and I still felt very lightheaded and had a throbbing headache. I had no idea what to do since it was approaching midnight at this point. Stephen eventually roused, but we were both practically incapacitated and just sat on the bathroom floor with Charlotte in between us, not knowing what we were going to do. I decided to call my parents, who live in Memphis (just an hour away from us). I'm sure I sounded barely comprehensible to them, but they told me to calm down and that they would be on their way as soon as they could but that I needed to call someone in Jackson in the meantime to come over and help. I called my wonderful friend and former college roommate, Marya, and she didn't hesitate to come over.

I'm so thankful that Marya was able to come and help because I have no idea what Stephen and I would have done. Charlotte still needed a bath, and her crib sheet needed to be changed, but neither of us had the energy for anything. I sent Stephen to bed, where he ended up emptying the contents of his stomach, and after Marya and I determined that I was not bleeding anywhere, I sat in the recliner while she took the sheets off the crib, started a load of laundry, got Charlotte bathed and changed into fresh pjs, and held her. She stayed with me until my parents arrived at 1:30. They watched Charlotte and eventually soothed her back to sleep. I think I fell asleep somewhere around 3:30 or 4:00.

Thus concluded the worst night I remember experiencing. There is nothing so terrible as having a sick child and then being incapable of caring for her. I am beyond grateful to God for protecting Charlotte when I passed out, and I am forever indebted to Marya for coming over at such a late hour. And my sweet, fabulous parents ended up staying until Saturday so they could help us with Charlotte. They put themselves at risk of getting sick because they love us. Just when I thought my parents couldn't be more awesome, they surprised me again. I am so blessed.

But I still have a hole in my bathroom wall.

Maybe She'll Inherit My Supreme Musical Ability

Charlotte's 9 month checkup went well! Here are her current stats:

Weight: 18 pounds, 14 ounces (I am sure it would have been more if she hadn't had the stomach virus last week)-50th percentile
Height: 28.5 inches-75th percentile
Head: 46 cm-90th percentile (I still maintain her large head contains a large genius brain)

And now for your viewing pleasure, a video in which Charlotte reacts to my beautifully operatic singing voice:





How cute is she??? (And please know I don't really sing like that.)

Charlotte at 9 Months

Is my baby really 3/4 of a year old?? Say it ain't so! When I look back at what Charlotte was up to just three months ago, I am amazed at how much babies learn in a short amount of time. At 6 months, Charlotte had just learned to sit unsupported. Now at 9 months, Charlotte:

• Crawls all over the place and can be quite fast. This development happened over Thanksgiving break. Before then she was mostly still army crawling with the occasional slow crawl thrown in. Then all of a sudden, she was on all fours and moving everywhere!
• Can pull herself up. She discovered this fun trick the weekend before Thanksgiving, and now she tries to pull up on anything she can put her hands on, including my pants legs and her toy bin and even the little reindeer I have in front of the Christmas tree. She's obviously still a bit unsteady on her feet, which has resulted in some tumbles. She usually recovers pretty quickly, however.   

   

• Can cruise while holding onto something, like the couch or her crib rails. 

• Has 4 teeth, and I just love her toothy grin! I think she must be working on some more because the drool is simply out of control.
• Squeals with delight whenever she gets near Bailey. Bailey just runs away. Char also gets super excited when she sees us, and now that she can crawl, she'll speed up to get to us.
• Loves to eat pretty much whatever we give her.
• Is eating some food that is not pureed, like bread and puffs and Cheerios and the occasional pieces of fruit or veggies that we happen to be eating. She even had a bit of turkey on Thanksgiving! It's so fun to watch her little mouth figure out how to eat these foods that don't just slide right down.
  
• Loves to clap and wave. Sometimes when we say hi, she claps instead of waves.
  
• Takes a bath without a baby bathtub. 

• Goes to bed around 6:30 and sleeps until 6 or 6:30 (or 7 if we're really lucky). She is great about going to sleep without a fight at night.  
• Is an unpredictable napper. Some days she'll have one short nap in the morning and then a two hour nap in the afternoon, other days she'll have 45-minute naps in the morning and afternoon, and other days she hardly naps at all.  She's never been a very reliable napper, and while she has improved considerably, I think she'd just prefer to be awake and not miss anything.

She has her 9 month checkup tomorrow, so I'll update with her stats then. I'm sure she weighs at least 20 pounds!  Here are some pictures I took yesterday to commemorate her 9 months of life!

And coming soon to the blog: the story of how this hole appeared in our bathroom. It's quite a story, let me tell ya.

Poor Baby

Yesterday when I picked up Charlotte from daycare, her teacher informed me that two kids from her class were sent home because they were throwing up. Great, I thought. I prayed as I drove home that she wouldn't get it, but about 5 minutes before we got home, I heard the unmistakeable sound of vomiting from the backseat. Sure enough, when I got home and opened the back door of the car, I saw poor Charlotte absolutely covered in puke. And bless her heart, she SMILED at me when I opened the door just because she was happy to see me! She continued to throw up every 30-45 minutes until around 9:30. Those were some long, stressful (and messy!) hours. IT is awful to see my baby sick and hurting and be helpless to make it stop. Finally, it seemed as though her tummy had calmed down, and she fell asleep for the night a little before 11:00.

She ended up sleeping until almost 6, and since she'd gone all night without getting sick again, we decided to try giving her a bottle. She kept it down, and I went to work while Stephen stayed home with her. She kept down a second bottle as well, and we were hopeful that all was well. But then she threw up the third bottle in the afternoon, and she's been pretty unhappy since then, except for the nap she took.  We've been giving her a teaspoon of Pedialyte every 30ish minutes per our doctor's instructions, and I hope that keeps her from being too dehydrated. She's sleeping now, and I can only pray that she gets some rest and wakes up feeling better. 

The bright side of this is that I get to stay home with her tomorrow and snuggle! I hope all of you are feeling well!

How to Gain Weight Over Thanksgiving Break

1. Go off your no sweets challenge. Multiple times.
2. Don't exercise.
3. Repeat. Multiple times.

That's how I gained 1.6 pounds. How about you?

I think I knew on Wednesday that I was going to blow it with my no sweets challenge. Wednesday at work we had a Thanksgiving potluck, and there were several yummy looking confections that I was longing to eat. People were gushing over them, and it killed me that I couldn't have any of it. Instead of feeling proud of my resolve, I felt sorry for myself that I couldn't be a person like my husband, who can eat whatever he wants and not gain weight. Poor me and my first world problems. Even though I didn't eat any sweets that day, I thought about them all. day. long. Just ask Stephen. That night it was all I thought about. So when Thanksgiving rolled around, and I was confronted with my most favorite of desserts, carrot cake, I gave in. Or gave up, rather. I threw caution to the wind and ate that carrot cake. Was it good? Yes.

But the real question: Was it worth it?

No.

No, it wasn't. It wasn't worth it because eating that one piece of cake only led me to eat some chocolate chip cookies later, and then pumpkin pie and cookie cake and a few fun size Snickers over the span of the weekend. I knew what I was doing when I chose to eat each of those things, knew that I was willfully eating more than I needed, but I chose to ignore the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit and let gluttony win. Again.

Please know that I don't think it's always a sin to eat sweets. It's not. But for me, in those moments, eating those sweets was a sin because I was looking to that food to satisfy a craving I'd had since I had stopped eating sweets. I was looking to that food to do what only God can do--fill me up. And just like every other time, I found the food wanting. I didn't feel satisfied. Only guilty. Defeated.

Oh, but thanks be to God that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! I must remember that it is for freedom that He has set me free. I want to stand firm and not be burdened.

Lord, help me stand firm.

Making Memories

Saturday marked another first for Charlotte: her first trip to the park! First Stephen and I took her for a stroller ride around the park's loop and then introduced her to my favorite thing about parks: the swings! And boy oh boy was she a fan! She was a little nervous at first:

But she quickly realized that swinging is a BLAST. 

      

It was so fun to watch her have fun. She just smiled and giggled and squealed with delight and stole my heart all over again. We also let her explore some of the playground equipment:

 

and Stephen took her down the slide: 

  

She was slightly underwhelmed by that experience, but I think it's because the slide wasn't straight and therefore it was hard to get any kind of momentum as Stephen slid down. The trip to the park was definitely a success, and we'll have to take her back when we have another beautiful, sunny Saturday!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

Christmas! This weekend I did this:

Yes, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I was afraid that once December rolled around I wouldn't have time to put up the tree. I love our tree and will continue to love it every day through Christmas!

When do you put up your Christmas tree?

Friday Five: Things I'm Celebrating

 (I realize I haven't done a Friday Five in approximately 1.5 years or some such ridiculous time span, but it's never too late to begin again!)

1. I'm wearing pants I haven't worn since being pregnant.

2. I'm at 183.2 pounds.

3. My baby girl has 2 more teeth, making the total teeth count 4. She currently has 1 on top and 3 on the bottom, and I hope she gets another on top soon so she won't look goofy. Not that she could ever look goofy because obviously she is the cutest thing ever. Here she is attempting to leap off the recliner. (No worries, Stephen was holding her).

4. It's payday.  As Stephen said this morning, "Payday is yay day." :)

5. It's almost Thanksgiving, which means time with Stephen's family in Illinois and time off work!

What are you celebrating?

Charlotte's First Surgery

I am pleased to report that Charlotte's ear tube surgery went really well! We had to be at the surgery center Tuesday morning at 7:30.  Charlotte could not have anything to eat after midnight, and I was dreading having to face the morning with Charlotte hungry and not eating. I had hoped that Charlotte would sleep well and that we could just wake her up a little before 7, change her diaper and her clothes and be on our way, but no such luck. She woke up around 5:45 (about 5 minutes after we ourselves had woken up) and showed no signs of going back to sleep, so we got her up. She wasn't cranky at all and contented herself with playing with her toys.

My mom arrived around 7, and we were out the door by 7:10. Once we arrived at the surgery center, Stephen and I were taken back to the pre-op area with Charlotte. They gave her a gown to wear and a cute little monkey that Charlotte immediately started playing with. We were able to stay back there with her until it was time for her to be taken for surgery. She did really well for not having eaten and for having woken up so early. She started getting fussy toward the end of our wait time, but that was mainly because she was sleepy. Her surgery was scheduled for 8:30, and the anesthesia staff came and got her right before then. We watched them take her away as we headed back to the waiting room, and I was surprised to find tears in my eyes. It was just so strange to see her taken away like that, and I wanted to go with her.

I recovered quickly, however, and we weren't in the waiting room long before we were led to a private room to talk to the doctor. He said everything went really well and that she was waking up from the anesthesia and that we would be able to see her after 10 or 15 minutes. So back to the waiting room we went for a little bit longer before going back to the area where we had waited with Charlotte before the surgery.  It wasn't long before they brought her to us, and I was so happy to hold her! I was anxious to see what kind of mood she would be in because several of my friends talked about how cranky and even angry their children were after the surgery, but Charlotte wasn't like that at all. She was drinking a little bottle of apple juice they had given her and was quite calm. The nurses even said they wanted to keep her and asked us if she was always this content. (If only they could have seen her the first 3 months of her life when she never slept and fussed the majority of the time!) We snuggled with her and fed her a bottle, which she happily downed, and after waiting about 45 minutes, we were free to go!

We got home a little after 10 a.m. and put Charlotte right in her crib, where she slept for a little over an hour. She had a few fussy periods during the day, mostly due to some mild discomfort with her ears and sleepiness, but overall we had a really great day. She took another nap in the afternoon, and though she woke up from that nap acting really upset, she was fine once she ate. I am so thankful that everything went smoothly and that Charlotte even got to have some fun today. God has been good to us!

Bullet Posts Are Lame

But I'm giving you one anyway! :)

• Yesterday I weighed in and was 184.4, which means that I am officially out of the "obese" BMI category! I'm now just "overweight." (Yay?)
• With yesterday's weigh-in, my weight loss since June 1 totals 12 pounds. Yes, it has taken me 5 months to lose 12 pounds. And I'm okay with that. Who knows how heavy I'd be right now had I not been trying to lose weight?
• I have done really well with my no sweets challenge. I did have a milkshake last Monday, but I was sick with a nasty cough, and it was the only thing that felt good on my throat, so no guilt for me over that! 
• Tomorrow Charlotte is having surgery to get tubes put in her ears. Charlotte had 3 ear infections in 4 months, and our pediatrician referred us to an ENT who recommended that she get tubes, and we agreed. I am surprisingly not all that nervous about the surgery but am just ready to get it over with. I don't look forward to having Charlotte be under anesthesia, but if this minor procedure can keep her ears clear, it is worth it.
• I am camping out in one of my favorite Bible passages this week: Philippians 4:6-9, and it was just the reminder I needed this morning to be anxious for nothing but to trust Him for everything. 

Have a great week, everyone! I will post an update after Charlotte's surgery. Prayers are appreciated.

Charlotte at 8 Months

Charlotte turned 8 months old on Friday! I just took her 8 month pictures on Sunday, and it is getting trickier and trickier to 1) keep her still long enough for a photo and 2) keep her from eating the photo props. I gave up on the blocks altogether because she just kept lunging at them and trying to devour them, and while it was completely hilarious and adorable, it didn't make for cute pictures. I even went with 2 different outfits this time, in the hopes that I would get at least one PERFECT shot out of the bunch. The ones I like best aren't perfect, but they're still pretty adorable because my girl? She's got cuteness in spades. See?

At 8 months, Charlotte:

1. Is *so close* to crawling. She army crawls like a pro, and she spends a good bit of time on all fours, rocking back and forth.

2. Can stand up if holding onto something else. To get photographic proof, I stuck her in the empty diaper box:

She had great fun standing in there. Her open mouth smile is my favorite.

3. Gets tickled every time she looks in a mirror. She will spend many minutes in front of one, giggling or babbling to herself. She even has banged her head against the mirror in her attempts to get super close to her mirror image.

4. Has learned to clap. She finds great amusement in doing this multiple times a day and can do it on command if we mimic the movement. It's what she's doing in the following picture:

And a more composed version:

5. Is becoming more attached to certain toys. Sometimes she gets upset when we take certain toys away, although she soon moves on to something else.

6. Giggles and grins when we play peekaboo.

7.  Loves to be held upside down by her daddy.

8.  Loves to take a bath. She can be in a terrible mood, but put her in a bath and she's a new girl. She will splash and gum her bath toys and have a merry time in her infant tub. It's so fun.

9. Eats like a champ. I have thus far made all of her baby food and hope to continue doing so.

10. Is working on mastering the sippy cup. She is able to get some liquid out, but I think at this point she prefers to simply chew on the handle and spout.

11. Can pick up little Gerber puffs with her fingers. She even manages to get some in her mouth every now and then!

12. Bears a striking resemblance to Jackie O:

I am not sure exactly what she weighs, but she definitely weighs at least 20 pounds, since she was 19-something when we took her to the doctor a few weeks back. She is scheduled to get tubes in her ears on November 15, about which I am both sad and relieved. She had 3 ear infections in the span of 4 months, and one lasted the entire month and required 4 different rounds of antibiotics. I am dreading the actual procedure because she has to have anesthesia, but I've heard from so many people what a difference it made for their children, so I'm hopeful it will help Charlotte and allow her to have a healthy and happy winter. I really can't believe I have an 8-month-old. It will be time for her first birthday before I know it!