A day in the life...

Anyone that knows me knows I love routine. I try not to get too rigid, but I've found that Charis definitely focuses better, has a happier disposition, has less behavior issues, and sleeps better when we stick to our basic routine. During the day we have certain activities that happen around the same time. It's made life a lot more simple when balancing nursing and a new baby, being a good wife and friend, chores, and a busy almost-2 year old. You know, life. :)

Charis gets up each morning around 7:30. That gives me time to feed Atalie and get her situated before I get started with Charis. If she wakes before 7:30, she plays in her crib until I come and get her. We then start the day with milk and pack-n-play time. She plays with a few toys and reads some books for about an hour. If pack-n-play time is skipped in the morning, she usually asks for it later in the day. This gives me time to get myself together, drink some coffee, and get a few things done around the house. She's getting a bit big for the pack-n-play, but she seems to like it!

Later in the day we have "table time." Sometimes we do a craft, sometimes she paints or colors. Before breakfast she has a few minutes of table time. Here she was listening to Down By the Cool of the Pool, a listening center book and tape I had from my teaching days. She got a kick out of the frog's voice.





Naptime is at 1:00. She gathers her friends Bunny, and Pink, and it's off to la-la land!

Then there is always free play. Today she chose to play with her Cozy Coupe ball pit. She had so much fun.

I can't remember the last time I just sprawled out on the floor, laughing my head off like she did here.

She also has blanket play. No pics of that yet, but that's when I put a blanket on the floor and some special toys and she plays on the blanket while I'm getting something done, but still need her in sight (like cooking dinner). Sometimes I'll give her some water, beans, and other goodies to "cook" while I'm cooking. It's so nice to have an energetic toddler in your line of sight when you are in the middle of dinner, the phone is ringing, there's a new baby needing to be fed, and a family that is getting hungry. It's hilarious to see her do her "happy dance" when I pull the blanket out. It's like she knows the fun is coming! She gets to play and mommy gets to stay sane.

Momentarily.

Attie-bean

Yes...that is my underwear (AKA the "hat" Charis put on Atalie).

Atalie is one happy little chick-a-dee. She has recently found her voice. She loves to sit in her bouncy seat; it's not uncommon to see her chatting away with the dangling sheep on the toy bar. She happy-squeaks when you swaddle her---she knows nap time (her favorite time) is coming! I've walked into her room on a number of occasions to find her awake from her nap, just smiling at the wall, crib, and anything she can find to look at.

She loves to multi-task, too. It's very normal for her to poop and eat at the same time. Which means that I get to enjoy the fruit of her labor. All over my clothes. If only I could go one day without getting pooped on! You think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. She somehow manages to get very little in her diaper and most of it, well...everywhere else. I've even had to scrub walls.

She makes all kinds of crazy faces. She sleeps double the amount that Charis did at her age, though she slept through the night later than Charis (12 weeks for Atalie, 7 for Charis). I notice, too, that she really smiles with her eyes a lot. It's almost like she's amused with what is going on around her. Though with the chaos of having me for a mom, Charis in her face saying "A-dee-dee!!!" and Major, our 100 lb. doberman pacing back and forth, who can blame her?

She turned 4 months old Sunday. Now weighing in at 16 pounds 2 oz (90%ile) and 25 inches long (75th%).

Winning the Battle, but losing the war?

Charis has quite the head of hair. She was born with a mohawk. A black mohawk. (This is Charis and Ava when Charis was just a week old.)









Her hair seems to be a combination of everyone in our family. :) Literally. It's fine like Brian's, curly like my mom's, easy to manipulate like mine, and the color of, well, her own.







The top continued to grow and the bottom continued balding. She had a nice bald spot for a long time. This is Charis, her long comb-over blowing in the wind.










The Mohawk continued to grow and the sides continued to...not grow.






















Finally, we were able to put a bow in. Yay! Girly hair-do!















We went from headbands....
















To sprouts....












To pig-tails! Cute right? But that's when the "lion hair" (as we call it) began to take form. It came suddenly. We didn't even see it sneaking up, slowly stalking, ready to take over when we least expected it. It came with a vengeance.


















I'm thankful she never noticed the raging battleground on her head. She was a happy in her ignorance.













Or was she?





So the battles raged on. Some days we won.



























Some days we lost.




(We even tried containing it, using all the latest techniques and calling in reinforcements.) No, it would not be contained.







































And some days, hair was the least of our worries.

















To this day the war continues.









Small gains have been made, new skills have been learned that have helped make the terrain more manageable, and experts are being consulted. We are doing all we can to make sure that younger generations learn from our experiences and are better equipped to handle such obstacles.

Twilight

I recently watched the movie Twilight with my husband. I have to admit that the books and movie make me giddy. Not just happy... giddy. I feel all giggly and get butterflies. After talking about the movie and books with a friend it hit me why I feel that way...




It reminds me of that first-love feeling. I get that way when I watched The Notebook, Pride and Prejudice, and any number of drama-filled love stories. Oddly enough I don't usually see a movie preview for a romance and think, "I gotta see that!" But after reading the Twilight series, I definitely wanted to see the movie.




So all the giddy, lovey-dovey-ness got me thinking. And thinking. I found myself thinking about the movie while watching TV, reading, fixing dinner, etc. And the parts that kept running through my head were the sweet yet passionate scenes where Bella and Edward are proclaiming their love for one another.




It reminded me of something I read in Captivating by John and Stacy Eldredge. " [E]very woman in her heart of hearts longs...to be romanced" (8). So true!




I think I love those movies because of the romance and it reminds me of a time when I first met Brian and he was all I could think about. Not that I don't think about him often, because I do. I've been learning a lot lately about what it really means to love someone. And though it's not always butterflies and passion, why not want that in your marriage? I'm learning that it can be that way. And sometimes, it's not about the other person. It's about me. I choose what I think about. I choose where I allow my thoughts to go. I choose to dwell on something frustrating or to dwell on something uplifting. So can I choose to swoon over my husband? Yes! I love Brian but sometimes I need to swoon too.



For me, I have to make it a mental priority. Almost to a point where it goes on my "to-do" list.

• Change a diaper (check!)
• Think about Brian (check!)
• What's for dinner? (check!)
• Laundry (check!)

And so on. I get so busy. Busy with kids, busy with life, and busy with me. That's right. I said it. I think about what I want way too much. And marriage is important to me. Brian is the love of my life. He's what I've been waiting for since I was a little girl. So it's time I start acting that way, right?

I do long to be romanced. But sometimes I need to put aside my "need-to" list and work on the "want to" list. I want to spend time with my husband. I want to have a butterfly-tummy, giggly school girl crush on him. And I want him to know that I still get all warm and fuzzy when I think about him. He's amazing.

"Love is a decision and not just a feeling. It is selfless, sacrificial, and transformational...God uses marriage to help us eliminate loneliness, multiply our effectiveness, establish families, raise children, enjoy life, and bless us with relational intimacy. But beyond this, marriage also shows us our need to grow and deal with our own issues of self-centeredness through the help of a lifelong partner" (The Love Dare).

I know it won't always be silliness and warm fuzzies, but I think God gets a kick out of seeing couples that still get them.

The cuter side of cellulite!

To quote the girls' pediatrician, "Atalie is not gaining weight at the normal rate. She is gaining weight at a rapid rate." Or how about, "I think you were meant to have twins." Hmmm....chunky babies? Atalie is in the 90th % and Charis was in the 97th %ile for weight for a loooong time.




Exhibit A: Atalie's legs. Not too chunk-o-rific. But getting there!























Exhibit B: Atalie's chin. Well, her 2 chins. As I like to call it, her "dubba-dubba."


















Exhibit C: Charis at 4 months. Reminds me a bit of a Shar Pei, I think.
















Exhibit D: One of my favs of Charis. She's sitting in a bumbo seat. Yes, a bumbo seat that neither of my girls could sit in longer than 60 seconds. That was due to the leg chunks getting stuck and causing loss of circulation.
Lovely.












Ah...my little Sumo. And Exhibit E.
















Lastly, examine the bulging biceps and rippling pectorals.



I just love me some chunky babies!!!


Atalie's 4 month visit is next week so we'll see if the flubiness continues.

C'mon in!

We went to eat dinner at Bean and Paw Paw's house (Raegan's parents) with Jason and Kristan. Atalie slept while Jason and Charis played in the pool.

Jason jumped in the pool to entice Charis to swim. All night she said, "Untee Jashee dumpee in poo." No, no...she's not being vulgar. That's Charis-talk for "Uncle Jason jumping in pool."

It didn't take much convincing for Charis to get in the freezing water (ok, 79 is freezing to me). She then proceeded to try to convince Keekee (Kristan) to join her. Unfortunately for her, no one else was ready to brave the water.

It's a good thing we have Jason around. He doesn't mind the cold water at all. As a matter of fact, he's been known to go swimming at the most unusual times. Like, say, during Hurricane Isabel. Or in December during the Christmas party.

I'm so glad warmer weather is here!