Where did she go?
Bruce called me into my parent's bedroom the other day because he had lost Charlotte? Confused as could be, I ran in. This is what I saw: He thought it was hilarious that Charlotte matched their bedspread.
Toy Box
We are blessed to have so many toys that Charlotte can keep some at both our home and her grandparents. I just can't believe I didn't think of this sooner!
Happy Father's Day Bruce
This is my husband's first Father's Day. We won't be at church today for me to get pictures of lots of great dads and it took me a long time to figure out what Charlotte and I could get her daddy for Father's Day.
I don't have a picture of it, and as a matter of fact, Bruce hasn't even received it yet. (I'm writing this on Saturday and scheduling it to post tomorrow morning.) I'll try to remember to post pictures later on Sunday.
Also, (I'm just full of excuses!) Bruce and I have to finish packing up our house because we are moving. I know... big news... I haven't had time to blog about that part of my life recently. Maybe I'll catch you up after we are settled into our new place. So... my blog might be a little quiet for the next week or so.
Anyway... I want to talk about Bruce. Bruce is a wonderful daddy. He loves his daughter and is happy and glad to let her know it frequently. Hearing him say, "I love you," to our daughter makes my heart swell with pride in how precious she is to him. Just as we are precious to our Heavenly Father. I wanted to find a special verse for him, and am cheating a little by sharing these I found at Christianity.About.com.
Bruce is a man of integrity. He stands for the truth and will not back down from it.
1 Chronicles 29:17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity ... (NIV)
Bruce is rarely discouraged. He leans on God. Joshua 1:9 ...Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (NIV)
Bruce's heart is definitely turned towards not just Charlotte, but unborn children, and orphans. Malachi 4:6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers... (NIV)
Bruce demonstrates compassion in the most literal sense. He is not afraid to stand up for children, including standing up for what he believes is best for Charlotte. Psalm 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; (NIV)
Bruce is a discerning man who always researches what is best, not relying on hearsay or rumor. Proverbs 17:24 A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth. (NIV)
Bruce doesn't generally lose his temper. I can't remember the last time he said a cross word to anyone, even when I thought they deserved it. Proverbs 17:27 A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. (NIV)
Bruce is going to learn this one, and I know his heart is in it. Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (NIV)
Bruce, let me end by saying I love you and I love the father you are becoming to our sweet Charlotte. I can't wait to see what other children the Lord brings us!
Grandma 101
I only know of one grandma who reads my blog and I hope she likes what I am going to share... but it was so moving to me personally, I think she will. Girl Talk, a blog featured in my sidebar, recently posted a series on grandmothers. Women wrote short essays about the Christian heritage they received from their own grandmothers and I had the privilege of crying through most of them. I want to encourage all of you to head over and read these essays. Though they are in reverse order, you can read all of them here. Click here to read my favorite one. More than anything, reading these stories inspires me to be a better mother, so that one day, Charlotte's children will write essays like this about me. One thing I want to add about Mother's Day... since this was my first one, I really didn't know what to expect. What surprised me more than anything (yes, even more than the Nintendo DS Lite I got as a gift), was that I spent a lot of time just thinking about what kind of mom I wanted to be. While I enjoyed being honored by my husband and daughter with a special lunch at Red Lobster, and a nearly 2-hour nap, I also enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on what I can do in the next 12 months to be a better mother and a better example to Charlotte Moon. These posts at Girl Talk really informed those reflections too. Go read them! But grab a box of tissues first! Labels: family
Picture Pages...
"Picture pages, time to get your crayons and your pencils." Does anyone else remember that song from Bill Cosby's* show in the 80's? I used to LOVE it. And for some reason when I was trying to think of a title of this page full of pictures I have for you, it came to mind. You can keep your crayons and pencils in the drawer though. I don't recommend trying to color these pictures (you might ruin your monitor). Our poor Charlotte has her first crawling injury. Apparently, she crawled so much at daycare that she gave herself a blister on her big toe. On the bright side, she no longer crawls knee-toe. Instead it is knee-foot. Tonight it looked kind of yucky so we put some neosporin-type stuff on it and covered it with a Ban d-Aid before bed. I am sure it will heal up just fine. She loves bath time! Normally bath time is done with Momma, but Daddy came in the other night and had a little fun with her hair... so of course, we had to take a picture for you! To celebrate Mother's Day, we met my family for breakfast at Golden Corral. Might not sound too fancy to some, but we all enjoy it. Charlotte had fun playing with her puffs and smearing banana all over the table. We had fun too hanging out with my family. They really are super-cool! *Okay, I just looked up more about the show, and learned it originally aired as part of Captain Kangaroo until Nickelodeon picked it up, which is where I watched it.
Disney Superstar
Haha! My daughter made it onto the Disney homepage! Below is a screen shot showing off a picture of her with her Grandpa Sabin taken in March during her first trip to Disney! He works for Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (DAK) and is the one who submitted the photo.
You can relive her trip by visiting Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3!
Charlotte's First Trip to Disney - Part 3
On Mothers and Daughters
Recently, I've become better friends with another mother. She is a great woman to bounce ideas off of and will just let me ramble until the answer comes to me, kind of like you, my blog readers. I am blessed to have her in my life because Lord knows Bruce doesn't have a lot of patience for rambling and will just jump in with the answer if I don't get to it quick enough. This relationship is a double blessing though because I also get to be friends with her teenage daughter. She and I hang out after school a few days a week and she is smitten with Charlotte - which makes her A-OK in my book. Labels: family
As is only natural in this season of my life, I've been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between a mother and her daughter. Watching my 2 friends has given me an opportunity to reflect on what happens when 2 women in the same house disagree about something. Now that I am experiencing the mother side of the relationship, I realize that the responsiblity for 'doing it right' is in my hands now. I have to be the grown up. I am now the example to my daughter of what a woman should be in this world. Geez, isn't that a sobering thought?!
DISCLAIMER NOTICE: My intent in this musing isn't to give a complete biographical sketch of my own relationship with my mother, so many, many details wills be left out. I'll just share the pertinent ones for the ideas I am pondering today. And before I go on, no mom, I'm not trying to vent or air our dirty laundry. I love you and think you are great! This is my perspective as the daugther...
Thankfully, the fighting with my own mother ended about 10 years ago. We were trying to plan my wedding while living in different cities and it seemed to be making both of us miserable. My mom remembers this time differently than I do, but she didn't see my roommates faces when I came out of my bedroom after one of our blowouts on the phone. I can honestly say though, I have no memory of what we were fighting about. Wait, I do remember one of the topics - what kind of salad we would serve at the reception, caesar or garden. I also remember that I felt helpless to change the situation we were in. It left me both mentally and physically exhausted. Regretfully, what should have been one of our happiest times, was probably the worst time in our relationship. (And really though, even then, it wasn't that bad.)
As I watched my two friends fight recently, I was struck by how it seems every mother and daughter must go through some strife before they make it to a place of peace in their relationship. It made me take a step back and look at my own daughter and wonder what our relationship will be like when she becomes a teenager. Is it truly inevitable? Will she look at me one day, with hate in her eyes, and use all of her self-control to NOT tell me how much she hates me in that moment?
When I was talking to the daughter-friend about what was going on with her own mom, I implored her to NOT tell her mom that she hated her. I knew her mom already felt it and that saying it wouldn't actually make the daughter feel better. In the end, she didn't say those awful words to her mother and things seemed to have settled down between them. Gratefully, I can't recall ever saying, "I hate you," to my own mother. I think I instinctively knew as a young woman that those words were too hurtful to speak. (Mom, feel free to correct me if I am wrong and did utter those words. I do wear rose-colored glasses you know.)
Why do women have to go through this rite of passage with their mothers? Is it hormonal? Does the mother feel threatened by her daughter? Are there jealousies at play here? Are expectations too high? I have never seen a mother-daughter relationship that didn't at least have a season or phase similar to what I experienced with my own mother or what I see in my friends' lives now.
What I want to know is, how do I prevent this tension in the mother-daughter relationship? How do I teach her to be a lady and to not resent the expectations her father and I have of her? How do I encourage her to be her best without being a nag? How do I help her understand a social situation from another person's perspective when hers is perfectly legitimate as well?
After a brief search of the Bible (because I think the answers to all of life's questions are found in it), I didn't find a manual for how to be a good mother (but that doesn't mean the answer I am looking for isn't there). There are even lots of mothers in the Bible who set not so great examples (Rebekah, Maacah, Mother of Herodias's daughter) of how to handle a child. Even after re-reading Proverbs 31, I feel as if that speaks more as to how to just be a Godly woman than how to be a good mother.
Maybe though, that is where the answer lies. In authenticity.
Maybe striving to be the best daughter of the King I can possibly be is enough.
Maybe if I model how to properly handle emotions and hormones I can show her that God is in control of our bodies.
Maybe if I strive to be my best I won't demonstrate jealous behavior when my daughter does something I can't or couldn't do and she will learn to rejoice in the success of others.
Maybe if I base my expectations in the reality of my daughter's strengths and not in my unfulfilled dreams, she will gracefully grow into them, possibly even surpass them.
Maybe if I use reason and patience, my encouragement won't sound like nagging.
Maybe if I model consideration of other people's feelings and needs she will naturally follow suit.
It is a big task, but just maybe I can do this...
Pictures Again?
Here, we have a picture of Charlotte in her carseat. She has a fun mirror like toy that helps me see her while I am in the driver's seat. The toy used to light up and play music, but the battery died soon after we installed it. Since you need a screwdriver to get to the battery case the batteries have remained unreplaced for about 4 months now. Sad isn't it? Charlotte has this cool looking Baby Einstein toy and she can only look at it and wonder how cool it might be. Maybe her daddy will read this post and replace the batteries for her sooner rather than later. Of course, now that she is tall enough to kick it, she might not like it anymore.
We have been working on Charlotte's relationship with her Grumpy's dog, Mickie. Everytime Mickie gets close to her, momma freaks out. At first, it was because I was worried that Mickie might hurt her since he has never been around children, much less babies. Now though, I am worried about Charlotte hurting him. She has a death grip when she gets hair in her hand. Trust me, I know from experience and have taken to wearing my on hair up everyday to avoid it. As it stands now, Mickie loves to lick Charlotte's face and hands, which she doesn't seem to mind. Momma on the other hand...
And here is the happy trio! Grumpy was so proud of himself for being able to hold Mickie and Charlotte at the same time. As a matter of fact, he exclaimed, "I need a picture of this! Someone get the camera quick!" Come to think of it... he says this practically EVERY TIME Charlotte is in his lap. I never knew him to be a camera hog until he got a granddaughter. You really never know how babies can change people!
Did you know that babies can drool a lot? I thought I knew how much they could drool until 
Charlotte had to have a change of clothes today because her shirt was SOAKED! I don't mean just a little wet, I mean so wet it comes up when you take a picture of it wet! When I picked her up and noticed her in a onesie and her shorts instead of her t-shirt and shorts, I was confused. She has had her fair share of diaper blowouts so it wasn't unusual to see her in a different outfit, but she couldn't have gotten her t-shirt dirty and not her shorts, could she? Not unless she becam a drool monster that is!
Pottery Pictures
As mentioned earlier, we spent some time at the Art Cafe in Hilton Head, SC. Here are pictures of some of the pieces that we made. At the top is the piggy bank that Grumpy painted for Charlotte. I must say it is most adorable! What makes this bank even sweeter is that it continues a legacy. You see, Grumpy's grandmother painted him a piggy bank for him when he was about Charlotte's age. I'll have to ask Grumpy for a picture of it to share someday. Next, is the cross that Bruce painted for Charlotte. He choose Heavenly Blue as the background as a reminder to stay focused on the reward and he chose Red as the color for the letters as a reminder of the blood of Jesus. Labels: family, picture, vacation
Finally, my mom made the most awesome Christmas ornament to commemorate our vacation. Alas, I neglected to take a picture of it before we left it with them.
Thanksgiving & Relatives
You are probably wondering why my post is titled 'Thanksgiving.' Well, you see, things got a little busy and either Charlotte or I have been sick for the last couple of weeks so I only realized last night that I never posted any Thanksgiving pictures. We also got to spend some time with my Aunt Terry. Some Christ-mas presents were exchanged then we went to lunch together. Here is Charlotte with her Great-Aunt Terry. Terry had a brain injury from a lack of oxygen shortly after she was born resulting in some mental issues. She hadn't been part of the family life for several years (I don't remember her from my growing up years). Then, recently, she has been coming back into our lives and is a joy to talk to. Charlotte is cranky in this picture because she was ready to nurse.
I've Been Elfed
My sister-in-law, Michelle, just elfed me... and it was pretty elfin' funny! Plus, she made me look skinny!
You've lost that lovin' feeling...
Okay, I haven’t lost the lovin’ feeling, but I have misplaced my bloggin’ feeling recently. I have lots of ideas about things to write about, but the time to do so just never materializes. In the few days before Thanksgiving, I’ll try to post some pictures from the holiday soon. But before I do, I want to give a shout out to my little brother and his wife Michelle. They did a wonderful job hosting us while we stayed at their place and our meal and together time on Thanksgiving Day was great! Kudos to both of you!
First Virus Times Three!
Yep! That's right. Sweet, little, darling Charlotte gave her Mommy and Daddy the gift that keeps on giving - her virus. I woke up Saturday morning with awful, horrible stomach cramps and by the end of the day her daddy had them too. I spent most of the day laying down and sleeping. Daddy was a super-trooper and took care of Charlotte all day. I didn't change a single diaper Saturday. I was so dizzy I was scared to pick her up to do anything with her. Fortunately, around 9 pm, relief came for both of us, but not in any way that you would want me to describe to you (think cookies).
Labels: breastfeeding, dad, family, picture, video
Now though, on Sunday evening, we are all feeling better though we don't have any appetite. I think I ate less than 1,000 calories today. Not good for keeping up my milk production, but I think one day like this won't be the end of the world. I'll be keeping a close eye on that this week.
In more fun news... I was telling my mom tonight about Charlotte being all grabby lately. This is a new thing to her and she grabs everything. She grabs Mrs. Wooten's pinky when taking a bottle at day care. She grabs my shirts while nursing. She will be content to hold onto to a finger if she is fussy. She grabs Daddy's chest hair when he holds her up right (I'm told that is painful). She will even keep a grasp on a rattle for quite a long time. She is starting to realize that she can make things happen, as in, make the rattle make noise. Here is a short video of her grabbing something else... we've got to get this worked out of her system before she gets much older. :-)
I also have a cute picture of Charlotte with her Grumpy taken a week or so ago that I forgot to post. Here you go Grumpy! (You should be able to click on it for a larger resolution one you can save.)
Blogger Coffee - Part 3
From Like Merchant Ships: As we swept up the crumbs in the post-party quiet, Christy wondered if more bloggers are introverts than extroverts. If so, are the most popular bloggers also the extroverts among us? Or do you think the Internet enables even the shyest to adopt a more outgoing personality? I'm a little behind on adding my comment to the 'coffee' but if you read my post below I have a good excuse. I really don't think introverts or extroverts are attracted to blogging in greater numbers than the other. Personally, I'm an extrovert (ESTJ) and blog in part because I like the feedback and attention I get from family and friends. Of course, I also blog to keep a record of Charlotte's life for her to enjoy reading some day. There are so many stories from my own childhood I don't know and am only just learning. For example, my mom and I just got off the phone and as we were discussing Charlotte's trip to the ER my mom told me I was in the hospital at 5 months for bronchitis. She told me how awful it was to walk in and see the respiratory therapist beating on my back to break things up in my chest. As for the more popular bloggers... it is hard to know if those are the extroverts among us. The fact that they put themselves out there might lead one to believe they are extroverts, but on the other hand... the fact that they might be anonymous might lead one to believe they are introverts. Overall, I don't think one's I or E status has an affect on one's likelihood to blog, or to have a large reader base. Ultimately, it is the content and whether or not it meets a felt need of people browsing around blog land who stumble upon our musings that matters the most.
Blogger Coffee - Part 1
Since I don't have many real life friends who blog (okay, none really), I decided to make some blog friends by participating in an on-line coffee party. Today, the conversation turned to who reads our blogs.
Does your husband read your blog? Does your family know about it? If so, does it cause problems or keep you real?
My husband does read my blog. As a matter of fact, he usually proofs my posts for me. By that I mean, when I am done with a post that I think is grammatically perfect with no typos I announce that I am done and he is the first to read it. Then, he lets me know what I missed so I can really perfect for the rest of the world. This is important because I am an English teacher and need to have as few mistakes as possible in order to maintain my reliability. :-)
My family knows about it also. I figured since I call my blog Family Musings it would be a good idea to let them in on my bloggy ideas. Also, one of the reasons I originally started blogging was to help my family, who doesn't live terribly near us, keep up with the progress of my pregnancy. I have continued to keep my blog to share the growth of our baby girl with them and whomever else happens upon us.
So far, there haven't been any issues with my family knowing about my blog. Except my brother. He won't read it. I wish he would, but only in a vain, I want attention sort of way. Besides we both know that his lovely bride reads it very faithfully and she tells him the good stuff and shows him the pictures of their niece.
I enjoy having my blog so much and often tell my family, in response to questions about Charlotte, "well, if you'd have read my blog..." They are starting to get the hang of it. I even made it easier for them by creating a subscription service they can use to be e-mailed all blog posts. Pretty nice of me, eh?
[EDIT: My 'real life' friend Rebecca pointed out that she blogs also. You can check out her adorable new bouncing boy here. I hope she gets into blogging more, I think she must have lots of wonderful stories with her big, busy family!]
Visitors
Labels: family, house, picture
Grumpy, click on the picture for a larger version you can save to your hard drive.
Video & Picture Fest
I thought it would be fun to lead with that! Exciting isn't... and on her 12 week birthday. Yep, that's right, our baby girl is 12 weeks old today. My how time flies. When I put her down for tummy time this afternoon she was trying to flip herself over almost before I let go of her. She was definitely showing off for Mommy and her company this afternoon. She also knew when I had the camera because this was the last time she flipped over today. Once I put the camera in front of her she just did a lot of kicking.
Since I had the camera turned to video mode this afternoon, I decided to fulfill my curious desire to see what Charlotte sees when she is lying in her crib watching her new mobile. Because I don't believe it would be prudent to actually crawl up in there, I shot this footage. How long do you think you could watch this without getting board?
And now for some photos... Labels: family, milestone, picture, video
Charlotte's Picture Picks
Enjoy!
So this is my other grandpa? I was wondering when my mom and dad would get around to letting me see him again. They took us all to this place called "Chili's" that they seemed to really enjoy. I wasn't too crazy about the french fry that Grandpa tried to give me though. Daddy had to explain that babies like me aren't too crazy about salt yet.
Special Quilt
Charlotte recieved a most special gift yesterday... a quilt handmade by her Great-Aunt Susan. It would have been precious all by itself, but she made it so much more with the personalization shown in the photo below.
Thank you Great-Aunt Susan for showing so much love to our daughter. We look forward to meeting you again someday.
