Siblings

As a mother, I was a little worried about how Madeleine and Harrison would react when Charlotte joined our family. They have had to adjust to having much much MUCH less of my time and attention. And, while I know that eventually it will even out, for now Charlotte gets more than her fair share of my time. And, so I was concerned with how that was going to work out.

I always knew that I had amazing children. I knew that they were loving, sweet, caring kids. But, after these past few weeks I'm even more in awe of them! They have welcomed her into our home and into their hearts fully. They were instantly protective of her. They wanted to hold her, love on her, kiss her all the time. And, while some of the newness of having a baby has worn off, I am proud to say that never, not one single time, have I heard or seen any type of jealousy. In fact, it's been much the opposite. Madeleine went through a period of NOT wanting to go to school because she wanted to be home with me and Charlotte. Harrison cannot stand for her to cry. The first couple of weeks he would cry when she cried because he was so bothered by it! He'd keep asking me over and over to fix it....how sweet! (Thankfully, he' finally realized that that's just how she "talks" and now I only have one crying baby at a time). :) And while there hasn't been any jealousy of Charlotte, they have had their moments when learning that I can't do "that" "right now!" is hard. It's especially been challenging on those nights when Matt's not home until after bedtime. I think it's probably harder on me than them, though! :)

The times that I love the most are when the three of them are "playing." They love to watch her smile and talk to them. They fight over who she's smiling at and who gets to be right in front of her. I love it! Ohh, how it warms this mother's heart.

One night last week, we spent some time playing before bedtime. I tried out putting Charlotte in the bumbo since her head control is just amazing! She loooooved it! She thought she was hot stuff sitting up like her big brother and sister. Ha!

I love how Charlotte is looking at Madeleine! It's like she's already looking up to her. One thing I've noticed about miss Charlotte recently is that she only smiles for people she recognizes. She will not smile for strange faces, which makes it even more special, I think.

Potty Training 101

I've been afraid to post that Harrison is officially potty trained, but I truly believe that we're there. Harrison has actually been pretty easy to potty train; I've just been lazy about doing it. He started using the potty early last fall and you'd often find him like this:

Whatever works, right??? I kept putting him in a pullup or diaper because I wasn't ready to deal with accidents and having to carry an extra change of close everywhere just yet. Madeleine was an amazing potty-trainer and really never had an accident. Amazing. And, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get that lucky a second time. So, I put it off. We actually got to the point where Harrison would ask me if he was wearing a diaper and if I said yes, he'd go on and go in it. If I said NO he'd use the potty. He would BEG me to put him in a diaper because he's a crazy-lazy boy and didn't want to stop to potty. Ha!

I'd decided beforehand that I was going to buckle down and get serious about potty training when Charlotte was born and we had those first few weeks with her where we wouldn't be getting out much. I thought that might be a good time to work with him. It didn't even take a week! He's never had an accident at home (although I'm sure as soon as I publish this post he will). And he looks so stinkin' cute in his little undies. His biggest holdup was going poopoo. I had a friend suggest that we "name" our poopoo based on what it looked like. I was willing to try anything and that worked! He still runs to tell me that he poopooed a Thomas, or a Percy or sometimes it's even a Dinosuar. HA!

He started waking up dry during naps and in the morning right away. A couple of mornings ago he even crawled into bed with me wearing only a shirt....he'd gone potty by himself and didn't want to bother putting his undies back on. :) The one drawback at the moment of the potty training is that Harrison will only go in his froggy potty. I've toted that potty many a places. I know, it's gross. But the alternative of cleaning up after an accident is grosser. (is that a word -- grosser?). And, I have taught him to go in a cup. So, I'm now carrying Solo cups in Charlotte's diaper bag for emergancy purposes. Laugh if you may, but I know that secretly, deep down, you're thinking "WOW. So smart. I might just have to teach my kid to go in a cup. Much more sanitary that public toilets." :)

For now, my next task is weaning him off the candy he gets every time he goes. That may prove to be more difficult than the actual potty-training.

Persuasion

I'm trying to remind myself that one day I'll look back on this time in my life and probably be willing to trade a limb just to relive one day. One day with my babies at home. Even a bad day, a terrible day like today. I'm trying desperately to convince myself of that.

It's not working.

It's been a long, tough day. And while these days don't happen very often, they seem to occur just often enough to make me appreciate the normal, good days.

Today just started out not so good. Madeleine decided at the last minute that she didn't like her shirt -- even though we'd agreed on it the night before. There wasn't time to change. We almost got in the car with her shirtless. One point for mom -- she put it on. This was my morning to take her to school -- every other Wednesday Matt has a faculty meeting & I'm responsible for getting her to school.....with 2 other kiddos in tow. Not an easy task. By the time we park, I manage to tote a carseat and Harrison up a tall flight of stairs, kiss Madeleine goodbye, convince Harrison that he CANNOT go to Kindergarden yet, and haul us back down the stairs and rebuckle everyone in, I'm actually sweating. Never a great start, but it could be worse.

Next we headed home to dress Harrison and get him ready for preschool. As I was packing his potty -- since he still refuses to use a real toilet -- I discovered the great toothpase explosion of 2010. Not good, but pretty since it occured with pink toothpaste. I made a mental note to better monitor Madeleine's tooth brushing and head off any more "fun" with her toothpaste.

I dropped Harrison off and headed home hoping to put Charlotte down for a nap and get in a good workout. Thankfully she'd fallen asleep in the car and stayed asleep long enough for me to finish which is a good thing since she woke up super-fussy. I didn't get anything done the rest of the morning.

We picked up Harrison where I was told that he'd been kissing a little girl in his class. I think we must just be an extremely affectionate family since Madeleine was seen kissing a little boy in her preschool class last year, too. Although Harrison has denied that he started it -- he says that SHE kissed HIM. Hmmmm. I rushed home to try and finish a load of laundry and finish picking up the kids rooms before we had to head back out to get Madeleine. Unfortunatly I didn't get either of those things accomplished since Charlotte wasn't sleeping and was cranky.

We picked up Madeleine and came home with both Harrison and Charlotte asleep in the car. Sigh of relief....now I could hopefully finish some housework and spend some time with Madeleine. As soon as I set Charlotte's car seat down she woke up, so we did have a little girl time. Soon, Harrison woke up too -- in a not-so-happy mood. I was counting the minutes till Matt got home. However on Wednesdays and Thursdays he stays late for tutoring so it was going to be at least 6 before he got home. We'd planned to send the big kids with Matt to church and let me stay home with Charlotte, but just as we sat down for dinner a MASSIVE storm passed over our house and we decided to stay in. Great. I actually NEEDED my family to go to church and leave me at home with Charlotte and, hopefully, some quiet time. I needed time to sit and just read my Bible and refuel. Not going to happen tonight. So, I ate ice cream instead. Bad choice, I know, since I'm still trying to shed those last few baby pounds.

Did I mention that Madeleine learned a new song today. I can thank her friends KeNya (pronounced "ke-ni-ah") and Keziah for teaching her "BOOM. Fire, Fire." Which is sung "BOOM...Fiya, Fiya. And which she sang over and over and over and over. Probably 500 times in an hour. With the hand motions. It might have been cuter if she wasn't trying to sing OVER Charlotte's crying.

All of these things together don't usually equal a rough day. However, add in Charlotte crying all day long. ALL. DAY. LONG. Well, not really all day long. All day long except when I was holding her. If I even leaned down like I was going to put her in her bouncy seat/swing/crib she'd SCREAM. My nerves are beyond frazzled. Tomorrow can only be better.

And if it's not....well I might just go to Bunco and come home via California. Just kidding.

Maybe. :)

Celebrating Baby Charlotte

Yesterday my sweet WONDERFUL friends from church hosted a shower for Charlotte. It was so nice to have a little party to celebrate just her. I really can't say enough how much it meant to me to have them do this for Charlotte.

Here's the guest of honor. She was a perfect doll during the party! She slept for just a bit then woke up to take it all in and soak up all the attention.

These girls did such a great job of planning a fun, special morning.

The food was FANTASTIC! We had a delicious quiche, yummy cheese grits, sausage rolls and fruit. And there were strawberry cupcakes for dessert along with nuts and mints! I'm so thankful they sent leftovers home with me for dinner -- we ate every yummy bit that night!

And, what a cute idea for a centerpiece -- one I'll be stealing in the future, I'm sure! Each rose was in it's own vase. Loved it!

After brunch, all the guests filled out a little quiz about Charlotte and it gave everyone there a chance to get to know a little more about her. What a neat idea -- isn't my friend AJ clever???

One of the hostesses was Ms. Joyce -- she was a hostess at MY baby shower and my mom even brought a picture of that to show! How special that she'd be a hostess at Charlotte's shower as well.

Here's my sweet friend AJ who -- bravely -- had the shower at her house! She's pregnant with her third little boy and they just sold their house and are getting ready to move! I still don't know how she does all that she does!

It was such a special day for us! I am so thankful to have these girls in my life -- they have been such a blessing to me since moving here. With Matt gone so much, I have a lot of LOOOONG days and playdates/bunco nights/girls nights out have helped me survive! I really believe that God answered a prayer with these friends!

Hello Again

It's been a busy couple of weeks around our house! Matt finished teaching his Harding class this past week, so hopefully things will start slowing down a little bit! We've kept busy with some fun times, so here's what we've been up to....

Playing some serious dress up. Madeleine is really into role-play right now. Her favorite thing to play is school and she has to be the teacher & Harrison the student. Well, last week he decided he'd had enough of being the student and INSISTED that he have a turn being Ms. Simpson. Madeleine nicely agreed to be Ms. Putnam (the principal) and Harrison got his turn at being Ms. Simpson! Ha! He went to Madeleine's room and returned wearing one of her "dresses" which was actually a nightgown, but the only thing he could reach! :) He added high heels and a hat to complete the look. He was HILARIOUS as he "taugh" class using his high-pitched voice.
Last weekend I braved my first out-of-town trip alone to go to Little Rock. The trip down there was wonderful -- Charlotte slept the entire time and we made it without stopping. The trip home....not as good. She screamed the last 30 minutes. Needless to say, it's going to be awhile before I attemp that trip again.

While we were there, Charlotte had her first playdate with Miss Caroline. I had the BEST morning getting to visit with my college roomate Carrie and love on her sweet Caroline. We've been praying for Caroline and it's amazing to see how wonderful she's doing! She is such a cutie! And, I'm amazed by the strength and faith that Carrie has had the past 4 months. We had fun swapping birth stories and mommy stories and I'm looking forward to more playdates to come! Of course, we had to get a picture of the girls for one day when they're roomies (hopefully!). I love the look on Caroline's face....like why is there a baby on me???? Charlotte slept through the entire thing!

Sometime in the past weeks Madeleine hijacked my camera and took this picture. Not sure when that happened...

This week we all got up early one day to see Madeleine's class sing at the monthly assemble at her school. They sang a song about "caring and sharing" since Caring is their word of the month. It was cute and Madeleine just sang her little heart out!

Of course, we've done some good lovin' on baby Charlotte. She's still such a good baby! She sleeps great at night -- just wakes to eat and right back to sleep -- and has even started sleeping some 6 hour stretches at night. :) I feel so good on those nights!

We celebrated Matt's birthday with a fun family party! The kids were so excited to give him his gifts they'd picked out. Madeleine got him a new cap for when they play golf and Harrison got him a new BIG flashlight. They both sang so sweetly during the birthday song -- I loved listening to them! I think they were more excited about this birthday than Matt was. Hehehe!

We've also spent some good ol' quality family time this weekend. Last night Charlotte even got to participate in bedtime stories. :)

Which didn't help her sleep any since she didn't go to sleep for the night until almost 11pm! Yikes!

Today Matt put the kids new bikes together! Madeleine thought she was hot-stuff on her big bike and I was impressed by how fast she got the hang of it. Before we knew it she was whizzing by our house and begging us to walk around the neighborhood with her.

Harrison, on the other hand, was more interested in helping Daddy put the bikes together than actually riding his bike. :) As soon as Matt pulled out his tools to work on the bikes, Harrison ran inside to get his tools as well. I think it probably took Matt twice as long to put them together thanks to his little "helper." But, they had fun in the process, and that's what counts, right??

A Decade

10 years ago today....
Matt and I went on our first date! Here's a picture of us that night. It's been a wonderful 10 years and I can't imagine having spent them with anyone other than Matt. I'm looking forward to what the next 10 bring!

Videos

This is a video I took tonight after Charlotte's bath. She was smiling and cooing -- unfortunately I grabbed my camera at the end of her performance. Please ignore my voice since I was trying to keep her "talking" and smiling. :) Enjoy!