Florida

It's exciting when you realize you are about to embark on a new adventure in your life. Being able to share these adventures with your soul mate make them even more exciting. Craig has officially accepted a position with Bayer CropScience in Florida. We're not sure when we'll be moving, but we believe it will be some time in April. Depending on where we live in Florida, we could be just a short drive from a beach and Disney World! Also, there is a threat of Alligators in Florida, but for Craig, that's an opportunity to make alligator-skin boots for his lovely wife!

We're going to be farther from our family members, and miss the friends we've made here in Mississippi, but we'll be able to provide a vacation spot for family and friends when they come to visit us. And who knows, Craig might be able to make alligator-skin boots for them, too! There are a lot of unknown factors that we face. But we face them together as a family and with open arms and uplifted spirits, we're ready to make the next big step for our family. 

So here's to tans, mild winters, sand-dollar collections and Disney World!

Rice Cereal

Saturday, February 13, 2010, Charlotte attempted to eat her first solid food! I read the directions on the box to discover that mixing one tablespoon of rice cereal with 4-5 tablespoons breast milk should create the perfect consistency of cereal for Charlotte's inexperienced digestive system. Craig the scientist felt otherwise. He felt it was too soupy and so added about 2 extra tablespoons of rice cereal to the bowl. Oh Boy! It was still a lot of fun. Charlotte did a good job eating what she could of the cereal and we could tell that it's going to become something she enjoys. She made some faces but loved eating like a big girl from the spoon. 

She is currently trying to help me edit this blog, so I'm going to add some pictures and then go buy a King Cake for Mardi Gras! Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday! Craig will be at Boy Scouts so Charlotte and I are going to go to the nearby Catholic Church and get our Ashes! Then is 40 days and 40 nights of lent ending with Easter! This is one of my favorites because not only does it signify so much of what Christ has done for us but we get to eat chocolate left by the Easter Bunny! It doesn't get much better than that! In addition to chocolate, this year the Easter Bunny should bring some family members Charlotte has yet to meet. Enter Uncle Ryan, Aunt Shelby and hopefully Great Uncle Jim! Can't wait for the quasi-family reunion I have been for so long waiting!

Baby Got Shots

(Charlotte sleeping after her shots)

 

Today Charlotte had another Well Baby Check up where she attained 2 more shots and ingested the Rotateq vaccine. She thought the Rotateq vaccine tasted funny sometimes, and others she felt it tasted good. It was really funny watching her trying to figure out whether she liked it or not. She was cracking up about it, too. The nurse gave her shots in her leg after that and the first one didn't bother her, but the second one made her kind of unhappy. Probably because we stuck her twice, but she let out a little cry and then was done! She's so brave! I'm so proud of her.

 (Charlotte is just so cute!)

She is in the 90th percentile for weight and height being 26.75 inches tall and weighs 16 lbs. and 14 ozs. She's a big girl! But she's only in the 75% for her head size! She has a little peanut head! She's so cute.

 

 (Charlotte looks like she's working on those teeth!)

Of everything I've read and heard about so far, I think Craig and I are going to try to give her some rice cereal soon. Tonight we're feeding the missionaries, tomorrow night is a Valentine's Dinner at the church, Saturday night I'll be attending a close friends birthday party so Sunday we might give it a try. I'll post pictures of the first attempt once we try it out. I've heard to wait until they are 6 months old so as to prevent any food allergies but I've also heard to start them at 4 months.  Charlotte is just about 5 months at 19 weeks and has doubled her birth weight and sits pretty well. These are other factors Doctors suggests for the baby before starting them on rice cereal and so has given me conviction to begin her new diet. So we'll see!

Guess Who Rolled Over...

Charlotte Frances Shelton did! Because I can't attach video, I took a lot of pictures. What she does is while she's on her belly she brings her legs to her butt. She sticks her butt in the air, and brings her left foot to her side and kicks over. She's a smarty-pants! Hope it's graphic enough to get the picture...

My little baby is getting so big. :(

Baby Charlotte

So I haven't posted any new photo's of Charlotte, but here are a couple from the other day. Yes, it's basically the same thing, but there is a funny story behind it:

I went to the bathroom, and since it's only Charlotte and I in the house, I leave the door open so I can lean over and check on her every so often. Well, I clipped her in the baby bouncer and headed for the restroom. While in there, I ritualistically leaned over to check on her only to find her getting ready to roll out of the bouncer. It was positioned on the coffee table so that had I not buckled her in, she would have surely toppled onto her delicate baby head. Luckily, I was already on the toilet.  ...

Turns out she was just playing with her feet. She's such a cutie pie!

Craig finally comes home tonight! It's been a long week without him.

All Alone

Well my darling husband ventured to Dallas, TX this week for work. I got to stay home with Charlotte. I was really my choice, though. I could have gone back home and spent time with our family, but I thought I would try out some independence. So last night was my first night to stay by myself in a REALLY long time... and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I hosted a Family Home Evening and all of our friends came over. We played Cranium, but we didn't end up finishing. After everybody left it was 10:00 already, so I put Charlotte to bed (after she finished screaming...) and called Craig. I went to bed myself shortly after that and so didn't have time to imagine all the ghouls and monsters hiding under my bed or in my closet (plus I have a night light...). So it was easier than I expected.

Tonight I'm going to have a bit of a girls night and roast a hog shoulder that Craig killed. Two of my friends are going to spend the night and help me battle the ghosts that roam my old home. And we're going to watch 3 FULL HOURS OF THE OFFICE! Craig and I love to do that on Tuesday's.

Wednesday I'm going to try to have some friends over and then brave another night alone. But then Thursday night my mother-in-law is going to come spend a few days with me and keep me company until Craig comes back home. I really miss him already even though it's only been a day. But he'll be back Friday night so I really look forward to that.

Charlotte is getting so big. She's been a real wierdo lately with her screaming. She just screams for no reason at the top of her lungs over and over again. She thinks it's funny how it stresses mommy out, I guess. Speaking of, she just woke up in time for mommy to take a shower after my work out...that Jillian Michaels is really making me work. I don't know if I've shaped up much but the next time I get around a scale I'll report what weightloss I may have so far achieved.

We hope everybody is doing well. Especially our family that we don't get to see very much. I look forward to Easter when my family might be having a bit of a reunion. My older brother and is girlfriend will be coming down finally as well as my aunts and hopefully Uncle Jim from NY. My fingers are crossed. Unfortunately my little brother Brendan will be in the Air Force, so I might miss out. But I can't wait to see him again. Charlotte and I write him as often as we can hoping he stays safe and uplifted. I'm sure he's doing well. Our last report of him was that he was the pace setter for the fast runners. Sounds like he's finding good favor!

We love everybody and can't wait 'til we can spend some time with everybody again!

Doe, Hoo-Ray, and Me Baby

(Craig and his Doe, December 31, 2009)

Doe

My Darling husband killed another deer. This one was a little doe and good for eating. That brings his deer kill up to 2 and he's still only provided the two hogs. I've tried several recipes with all of his kills now and my favorite wild meats are as follows: Turkey - this is actually delicious and versatile. I've turned it into enchiladas and turkey nuggets. Hog - it doesn't cook like the store bought hams, but it's good all the same. I wouldn't spring for it over the store bought stuff, but it does save us from buying it and it's quite edible. I've turned it into roast loin, and a ham stew. The stew I ended up burning but the roast loin was quite good. And then deer - my least favorite because it's gross. I don't know what it is exactly about deer, but no matter how I cook it, I know what it is and I taste the rancid deer blood. Craig has tried frying it, stir frying it, roasting it and even turning it into patties. The roast is the best by far, but I could definitely still taste it! But I'll eat it.

(Brother Matt Buckley loves babies!)

(Sister Tina Buckley throws the best parties!)

(Forest and Kevin are playing Sorry Sliders)

Hoo-Ray

New Years Eve was quite fun. We went to The Buckley's where they threw a party. They grilled up some burgers for everybody and we all enjoyed hanging out. Bro. Buckley loves babies - maybe he loves ours in particular, but I don't blame him, she's very cool. Craig and I didn't stay up until midnight though - well, we did New York time! Charlotte certainly didn't make it, but she did try again around 3. She's beginning to teethe and so she's been a little fussier than normal, but she's still just an angel! She's starting to do the most fun stuff! The other night, and I hate myself for not capturing it on video, she laughed! It was little and low and quite unsure, but definitely a laugh! Also, she's gotten very grabby - when she's tired and I lift her to my shoulder she throws her hands around my neck and grabs on to my hair and yells in my ear - as if I wasn't getting the picture. Sweety pie!

Me Baby

I know it's not proper English - my headings that is - but I was trying to go with a Doe, Ray, Me theme. We finally got her blessed. Sunday, January 3 at the Lonoke branch, Billy, Brad, Craig and Ross gave Charlotte a Father's Blessing and it was beautiful. Many people came just to see her get blessed, but I didn't bring my camera and so have no pictures of the occasion to share. I know my mother and mother-in-law were smart enough to do so, I'll have to get pictures from them and then get them on here to show off. She wore my dress from my baptism 23 years ago. It was in perfect condition thanks to my mom. She let Michelle and Rachel wear it for their baptisms and now it's truly a family heirloom. I gave it back to my mom to preserve - she knows what she's doing and that way it's in a central location for whoever has the next baby girl. Could be me, but wouldn't it be nice if Charlotte had cousins on her mothers side? Like from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Shelby? No pressure guys.

We hope everybody had a wonderful New Years and stayed safe. As soon as I get all this technology figured out, I'm going to be uploading some video's of Charlotte and Family, and friends and hopefully capture that silly laugh that she does. I can't believe how much she's growing!