Exciting news!

Well, it's been nearly a month since I blogged. I just haven't had the motivation. But, today I have some exciting news to share. No, I am not pregnant, so go ahead and erase that thought from your mind!

 

After praying about it, talking about it, hashing out our budget, praying about it some more, talking about it some more, etc. etc. etc., WEG and I have decided that the best thing for our family right now is for me to be a stay-at-home/work-from-home mom.

I have the opportunity to do the accounting for the family business from a home office a few hours each day, which will enable me to stay at home with Charlotte. I am over the moon excited. I have missed so much the past 8 months since she has been in daycare, and seeing her 2 hours each day has been stressful, to say the least. We love our daycare, don't get me wrong, and Charlotte has thrived there, but it's time we took a different route.

I wasn't ever sure if I could stay at home without doing something....and please, don't take that the wrong way. In no way, shape, or form do I think that stay at home mothers do nothing. Raising children is an enormous task, but for me personally, I need to have an outlet. So, being to work with the family business will give me that outlet while still allowing me to be there for Charlotte and her major milestones.

I am excited to begin this journey. I will work through the end of August. I know that the transition will not be without its own share of obstacles and stresses, and because of that, we covet your prayers as we embark on this phase of our lives.

Let the fun begin!

Perfect weekend

Well, it seems that time got away from me and life got hectic, and I've done a horrible job updating my blog.

This weekend we had a great time as a little family, besides WEG having the no good, very bad, horrible, nasty stomach bug on Friday and much of Saturday..

 

On Saturday morning, I enjoyed some quiet time with my girl playing in her room while we let Daddy sleep in.

I just love this little picture of Charlotte playing and how she has her hand protectively on her dolly. So sweet!

 

Once daddy got up, we went and picked up our farm share box and then took it to our friends, the Pennys, to split the contents with them. I didn't get a picture, but we loved visiting with sweet Walker and Mrs. Cynthia for a bit.

Around lunch time, Charlotte's cousin Lily came to visit. Oh what sweet cousins they are! My pictures of them are on my big camera, so I have nothing to share on here, but I think I got some good ones. Also at lunch, Charlotte tried blueberries for the first time. She was a fan!

 

That evening, WEG and I had popcorn for dinner in bed while watching The Trouble with the Curve. What a good movie!

On Sunday, we woke up and went to early church and then to breakfast with my parents, who were in town to pick up Charlotte to spend Sunday and Monday with them. This gave WEG and I time to have a "Sunday Funday." We got the boat back in the water (we pulled it out while we were on vacation), and putted around the lake for a little while, just enjoying each other's company. Then last night, we had a date night. Tried to ride the boat to the restaurant, but that was a fiasco because of the iffy weather.

 

And this morning, because Charlotte was at MeMa and Poppy's, I was able to sleep an hour later. Now, THAT'S what I call a great weekend!

Charlotte's first beach trip

 

We spent the week of the 4th at Fripp Island for Charlotte's very first beach trip. It's safe to say that she is definitely a water baby. She loved, loved, loved the beach and playing in the sand and surf. She probably consumed her weight in sand and salt water, but I guess that goes with the territory.

We had various groups of friends down throughout the week. The first weekend, a couple friend of ours was there and they had their two boys, ages 6 and 4. The boys were so good with Charlotte and helped with her. She adored them, especially the older one. I think she experienced her first "crush," although don't mention that word to her daddy! She giggled at him and just smiled adoringly when he was around.

Charlotte also had her first trip to the Shrimp Shack, a St. Helena Island institution that was featured in Southern Living. Although she did not partake in one of their famous shrimp burgers, we did get pictures with her by the sign! If you're ever down that way, check out the Shrimp Shack and try their crab cake sandwich and shrimp burgers. Yummm! You can thank me later!

 

It was really hard to come back to work on Monday, but we're getting back in the groove, and WEG and I are counting down the days until our 4 day getaway to Florida for a convention for his work.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July celebrating our country's independence. I know we did!

From a lamb to a turtle

We are counting down the days until our beach vacation! It can't get here soon enough. WEG and I are both burnt out with work right now and desperately need some time away from the office to recharge!

 

We are excited to see how Charlotte likes the beach. I can't believe that my baby is already almost 8 months old. She is getting around so well on her own and has started to show interest in walking. She pulls up on her own and will take a few steps while holding on to someone's hands.

 

This week, she is transitioning to the turtles room at daycare. Currently, she is a lamb, but it is time for her to move to a class that will allow for more interaction. Most of the children in her lambs class are little babies that can't sit up on their own, and all of the kids she started with have moved up to turtles. So it is time, but still a little sad. I love her teachers in the lambs room, but I know we will love the turtles teachers.

 

I posted on Facebook yesterday that almost six months ago I dropped her off at daycare for the first time and cried all the way to work. And then yesterday we started her transition, and I had to fight back tears all the way in because of how quickly my little girl is growing.

She's at the stage where she wants to be on the go all the time. She doesn't like to just be held unless she is super tired, and even then, she fights it a bit. Her daddy and I miss cuddling with her. This is such a cute age, though. She babbles and plays and giggles. Melts my heart to hear that little laugh. Her teachers tell us how smart and independent she is, and WEG and I often wonder if that's what they tell all of the parents, but we know Charlotte is smart. Of course she is, she's ours, right? Haha.

 

Hopefully this transition to the turtles room will help her nap better. In her other room, there was no set naptime, and the lights were never off for napping. Charlotte has always been one to fight sleep and naps, especially when she thinks she is missing something. In the turtles room, there are two set nap times per day, and they turn the lights off for them. So, I hope that this will mean that she will actually rest, at least, during those times since she knows that her friends are not out of their cribs playing. We will see!

The other night, after napping pitifully all day, Charlotte was just not having it at about 6:00. Nothing suited her and she was whining incessantly, so I fixed her dinner. While fixing her dinner, she put her head down on WEG's lap and was fighting to stay awake. The whole time in her high chair eating she was about to nod off, and the minute she finished the last bite, this is what happened!

 

I'd say she was tired, wouldn't you?

Sorry for the random, rambling blog post, but these are moments I want to remember as I look back!

Father's Day Weekend

Well, it's Wednesday and I am just now getting around to re-capping our Father's Day weekend!  Better late than never, huh?

We had a great weekend at home for once!  On Saturday, we went to the little Farmer's Market in our town. Got some fresh veggies, fresh shrimp, boiled peanuts, and hot dogs. That's a good round-up, right? After that, it was off to Babies 'R' Us to stock up on baby-proofing supplies. Now that we have a little crawler, it won't be long before she figures out how to open cabinets. Best to be proactive!

On Saturday night, our friends, the Pennys, came over for dinner. I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but my friend Holly recently had a baby boy. Walker and Charlotte are exactly 6 months to the day apart in age. It is going to be so much fun raising them together! Charlotte decided she wanted to hold Walker's hand...so sweet!

Until, she went in for the kiss. Ahem, Daddy was NOT happy about this one. No kissing boys, Charlotte Ruth!

On Sunday we went to early church and then out on the lake. Charlotte went swimming for the first time in her new float, and she LOVED it!

My parents came for dinner and WEG cooked shrimp and grits (yum!) and we went out on the boat to see the purple martins at sunset.  Lake Murray has the largest migration of purple martins in the world, and between June and September, they come in to roost on one of the islands on the lake. Right at sunset, they all descend on this island. It is quite the show!

Such a great weekend as we celebrated WEG's very first Father's Day! He has been the very best daddy I could have ever asked for to Charlotte. The adoration is mutual between those two. It warms my heart that she has a daddy that she will love and adore as much as I love and adore my own.

Beach essentials for baby?

We're heading to the beach in a couple of weeks for a ten-day vacation. (I CAN'T WAIT, btw) Seeing as how this is our first big trip with our precious baby girl in tow, I'd like to know if anybody has any suggestions of what works well and what does not work well for the beach.

I am hoping Charlotte will tolerate the sand. We took her in the lake for the first time yesterday in her little float, and she absolutely loved it. She splashed and even stuck her face in the water, which scared me but did not phase her.

So, anybody braved the beach with an 8 month old? How did it go? What are our "must-takes" and what can we leave at home?

I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully) with a recap of our weekend and Father's Day, but I need to download the pictures from my camera.

A sticky (or should I say stinky?) situation

Disclaimer: If talk of bodily waste bothers you, you might want to skip this post.

So, picture the scene. It's Sunday night. I feed Charlotte her dinner, go upstairs and make her bath. By the time I get back downstairs, WEG has stripped her down to her diaper, so we're ready to go. As I do every night, I get to the bathroom, pull off her diaper and toss it in the trash, and turn to put her in the tub. Only on this particular night, my foot squishes as I step towards the tub. Looking down, I see it....poop all over my foot, in the rug, and on the floor.

Um, GROSS. Obviously when I pulled off her diaper, I did not realize that she had left a prize for me, and when I tossed it in the trash, out flew a bit of poop. So, I did what any sane mother would do....started yelling for my husband. He ran up the stairs to my rescue- probably thinking something was wrong with Charlotte. As I handed her off, he proclaimed how gross the whole scene was and didn't stick around to watch me scrape the poop off my foot. The rug went immediately in the wash, and nobody is worse for the wear. But, I've gotta tell you. This thing called motherhood...at times, it ain't glamorous!

In other news, my Gamecock baseball team claimed the Regional, and we're headed to Chapel Hill for a battle of the Carolinas. Charlotte's ready, and pulling for a South Carolina victory. On to Omaha!

The Watermelon Crawl

Does anybody remember that song? "She rocked back on her heels, dropped down to her knees, crawled across the floor, and then jumped back to her feet. She wiggled and she giggled, beat all you ever saw. Said this is how you do the watermelon crawl."

I don't have a picture or a video because when my child sees a camera, she immediately goes all serious or quits what she was doing. It's as if she's telling me, "Mommy, I am not a trained monkey and will not do ______ on command." Haha. She's quite the little stubborn one when she wants to be. Her daycare teacher told me it wasn't being stubborn, it was knowing what she wants. Okay, Mrs. Ann...if you say so! (wink, wink)

But, in any case, Charlotte crawled for her daddy and me last night! And speaking of monkies, her little crawl looks just like one! It is the cutest thing.  She's certainly not going to win any races right now, but I know she'll be zooming all over the place soon. And I better get things baby-proofed!

Charlotte's been crawling at daycare for a week now, but just would not do it at home, so I was completely surprised last night when I put her on her rug in her room to play and started putting her clothes away and looked down to find her crawling.  I clapped for her and then scooped her up and ran to get daddy so she could show him. And, luckily, she did it again for him.

So, at just shy of 7 months, my baby is crawling! And she is also showing interest in pulling up on the couch, she just can't get a good grip on the leather. It won't be long before we have to put her crib down. 

I'm loving watching Charlotte grow and learn new things, but there is this twinge of sadness in me that time is moving so quickly. Where did my little tiny baby go? She'll be 7 months last week and it still feels like yesterday when we were headed to the hospital to have her.  Time marches on, I guess!

We're headed to MeMa and Poppy's for the weekend.  Hope everyone has a good one!

And just because she's so cute, I'll leave you with a picture

Memorial Day weekend

I know I'm a little tardy on my Memorial Day Weekend update, but oh well...here goes!

 

We had a great weekend, that kicked off with an early dismissal from work on Friday. I never complain about that! Since I got off early and so did WEG, we decided to go for a boat ride. Yikes, it was windy! But nice to be out for a little bit. The boat puts Charlotte right to sleep and she naps pretty well. That's a major score since she is not the best napper in the world.

Saturday WEG went down to the coast so he could offshore fish on Sunday, and Cha and I headed to the park where my friend Holly took some pictures of her. They turned out so cute. Surprising since it was VERY hard to get her to crack a smile. That is one serious girl when a camera appears.

 

MeMa and Poppy met us at the park and then we went to eat at Atlanta Bread. Charlotte LOVES a restaurant. She looks around at all the people...quite the nosey child. Can't imagine where she got that trait! After ABC, it was home for a nap and then to the roadside stand for fresh produce, followed by a quick trip to the mall. Saturday evening finished up with take out dinner from Alodia's...yum!

 

On Sunday we headed to the early service at church and then to Cracker Barrel for brunch, followed by the zoo. This was Cha's first trip to the zoo.  It was crowded and she had just awakened from a nap, so at first she was a little unsure.  However, by the middle and end she was having the best time.  She was able to see some of the animals, and she loved riding in the stroller. All in all, a great first trip!

 

 

My mom and dad left on Sunday afternoon and Cha and I got a little run in. WEG made it home late that night, exhausted from a successful fishing trip. On Monday, he went in to work for a little bit, and because Cha's daycare was closed, I took the day off. She and I went on a Sam's trip- again, the child loves to ride on anything...the boat, stroller, car, shopping cart. She played in the shopping cart while I shopped in Sam's. She laughed, babbled, kicked her legs. I even had one shopper comment on what a content baby she was while I was checking out.

 

When we got home, WEG was back from work and he and Cha took a nap while I laid out a little on the dock. Then we went over to my friend Julie's for a cookout.  Charlotte got to see her new friend Walker who is 6 months to the day younger than her.

 

It was a great weekend filled with good friends, family, food, and fun. I wish we had more like that! And I could always use a 3 day weekend. As a working mom, working 4 days instead of 5 would make such a big difference!