MAYhaps

Motes Aquarium

     Craig and I finally got the opportunity to take Charlotte somewhere particularly interesting. Mote's Aquarium near Bradenton offered many exciting aspects for play. We got to watch dolphins do tricks, rescued sea birds get force-fed fish, look at the best preserved giant squid in North America, almost got splashed by a sting ray and viewed hundreds of species of Floridian marine life. Anybody that comes to visit us should prepare to visit this aquarium; however, make sure you bring a camera. I, of course, forgot mine at home and had to purchase a twenty dollar disposable. Ah, how we take things for granted! I was able to salvage only a couple photo's and they're not of the best quality. Charlotte had a blast, but I think Craig and I enjoyed it the most! My pictures are temporarily unavailable, but as soon as I figure out how to get PDF to let me do anything else with them, I'll have them all posted.

Mother's Day

     As Mother's Day past me by, I realized how fortunate I am to be the mother of a beautiful, flawless baby girl and the wife of an amazing, caring, devoted husband. Craig did everything in his power to make the day special for me, including cleaning out my car. He gave me a beautiful apron that we're going to have embroidered to mark the occasion as well as a glass water pitcher that we'll have etched (and I'll use at every tea party I host). Even though I have these two items to remember my first mother's day, they'll never out-do my memories. Craig took me to the beach where we enjoyed the waves crashing in around us and then to an amazing restaurant. The fish was so fresh and delicous and I ordered an orange creamsicle cake for dessert - which was so good! The next day Craig and I took Charlotte to the Highlands Hammock State Park where we hiked on two boardwalks and Craig saw some wild piglets! While on the boardwalk we were practically guaranteed to see at least one alligator, alas, there were none! It was still a lot of fun other than the Amazon-like mosquito's who made meals of us.

Moving

     Craig and I have finally left the hotel! After a months stay we found a wonderful little rent house while our offer on a home is pending. We love this little house and are even considering staying here for our stay in Florida, just because it's perfect and our neighbors seem really nice. There are two small children who live across the street who love Charlotte and Shiner and they're pretty silly. The only problem with it is it's a little far away from the town we originally intended to move to. So it's a bit of a distance from the YMCA and the church we attend, as well as the friends we've so far made.

Walking?

     Charlotte is getting to be quite the big girl. She's not quite crawling, not quite walking, but instead motors about in a half-stint of either. It's pretty adorable and not extremely effective, but when she's close enough to a table, she'll scoot from one end to the other. She doesn't have much patience for it, and neither do I when she starts screeching, but hopefully we'll both endure to the end and she'll become mobile. My sweet girl is also completely sleeping through the night, and I pray it's not just a temporary trend, from around 9:30p until 7:30 in the morning. She doesn't say any real words yet, except sometimes she'll scream for her daddy, but she babbles almost non-stop so pretty soon I imagine she'll come out with something truly amazing to hear.  

     I'm glad I finally got the opportunity to udate my blog. In the move and craziness, I haven't had much access to the internet and time to compose anything. Things aren't going to calm down over the next few weeks as we've got many big things coming up, including: Craig's birthday, my birthday, my cousin's birthday, Charlotte's cousin - Reagan's birthday, my Aunt Cathy's birthday, Father's Day and Memorial Day (not in this order!). There will be plenty of things to add to my next set of updates.

     We are hoping everybody is well and knows we love them!

Up to Speed

Branson

In late March, 2010 we ventured to Branson as a farewell get together for Ross. Ross is going to go on his mission to Tampico, Mexico in May and because we'll all deeply miss him, we had to say goodbye in Branson. He and Oma went before the rest of us, but when we got there Charlotte and Hailey didn't hesitate to make a play pen of Oma's bed! They looked so cute playing together and were so happy to be out of their carseats after the 4 hour car ride from Lonoke.  We were so happy Aunt Rachel was able to come with us to Branson, she was on Spring Break, too and was so deserving of some fun with Kayla!  While we were in Branson, the girls got to go to build-a-bear and create some stuffed animals. Although that store is a little pricey, it's kind of worth it because there is so much variety that everybody can find something they love and personalize it which makes it even better. The girls were able to get on Debbie's lap top at the condo and play games that corresponded with their personal animals.

Even though everybody got sick (probably from the crazy amounts of pollen in the air) we all had a great time. On the last day there, Uncle Brad, Aunt Nina, Craig, Cory, Ross, myself and the girls all went around Branson having a lot of fun. We played mini-golf on an inside course and it was really cool. We also went to an outside park where the Shelton Men raced on a Go-Kart track. It seemed like it would have been a lot of fun and they looked like they had a blast. Callie made a friend on the choo-choo train and Rachel and Kayla rode the tea cups until they almost puked. These are great memories!

Pictures from Branson:

(Hailey and Charlotte pose together)

(Aunt Nina, Kayla and Callie show off their 'Build-A-Bear's')

(Aunt Rachel models her new dog)

(All the Girls Sit Pretty at the Outside Mall)

(Uncle Ross sits with Charlotte on the Balcony)

(Uncle Ross Turned the Master Bath into a Jacuzzi for the Girls)

(Oma Teaches Charlotte and Hailey Words)

(Craig Performs a Surgery on Cory - I hope Cory has good insurance!)

(Craig and Uncle Ross at the Mini-Golf Course)

(The Shelton Men Together Again)

(Only Craig could make Go-Karts Romatic)

Good Bye

Before we left Mississippi, The Buckley's gave us a good farewell dinner at their house. They served a delicous taco salad and Tina made homemade blue-berry tarts that were to die for. So good. We're really going to miss all the friends we made while we were in Mississippi. Even though that area is kind of crazy, we met true individuals we will never forget and hope to always stay in touch with.

(Charlotte and Melissa)

(Aunt Cristi and Charlotte mirroring one another)

Easter

Charlotte got to enjoy two Easter's to start off her Easter celebrations. The first was at Aunt Mary's. They fried up some fish for everybody and had an Easter Egg Hunt as well as a birthday celebration for Kennedi who spent the winter in Utah (Kennedi's little sister, Reagan, is a few months older than Charlotte). We had a lot of fun, and the food was delicious. Charlotte's second Easter was the following morning. We dressed her up pretty for church and let her stay all dolled up for everybody to enjoy. She was so sweet and Craig took her to hunt some more Easter eggs (and yes, I ate all the chocoloate...muah ha ha ha!). Gramma got her a fun toy that she's played with on long car trips every since - it's been REALLY nice to give her something she likes to play with when she gets cranky.

(My Beautiful Charlotte has found an egg!)

(Aunt Cathy loves Charlotte)

(Gramma and Charlotte sort eggs and give Mommy the Chocolate)

The Beach

One of the perks of living in Florida is the easy access to some of the most beautiful white sand beaches the world has to offer. While we've been exploring the state of Florida to find a city in which we would like to settle, we discovered a beautiful beach off an island in Bradenton. We thought it would be great to live there after we had the most delicous turkey sandwiches a sunset has to offer. We luckily had a blanket with us and some goodies and laid out on the beach and watched the stars come out. Charlotte loved dipping her little toes in the water when it came in but was slightly concerned about all the birds. She is such a cutie! We had to drive several hours back to our hotel afterwards and we were exhausted, but it was so worth it. We enjoyed another beach in Melbourne, but there were slightly more people there. The waves were amazing though and you could tell it was going to storm shortly which just made it all that much more magnanimous. It is insane to think the force behind a storm when you can feel the pressure of it on your skin.

(Me and Charlotte on the Beach at Sunset)

(Charlotte dips her feet in the ocean for her first time)

(Craig and Charlotte admire the Gulf Coast)

(Craig and Charlotte enjoy a dip in the hot tub!)

(An Alligator!!!! We saw this big guy hanging out on the side of the

road on our way to Melbourne.)

(Charlotte dips her feet in the Ocean with daddy)

(A Storm's a Brewin' but you can't tell by these lovely faces)

(God's power is emphasized through the crashing waves and rolling clouds)

Homeless

It's been a long time since I've had access to a computer to record the fact that we're homeless.  I know it sounds horrible, but it's not! Craig and I have packed up our house and are on our way to Florida, but first: a quick stop to Arkansas for Easter with the families!

I have a ton of stuff I need to record that has happened since my last post, but until we complete our move to Florida and get all settled, it will just have to wait.  Luckily, we've got great families that are willing to put us up. Unfortunately, we've been staying with my grandma, and sweet Charlotte has been very sick!

While we were in Branson, we ALL got sick. That's right, all of us. Charlotte's little cold, however; turned into a sinus infection - you can thank Craig for that! So she's been up night after night after night coughing to the point of vomiting. POOR BABY! She's been feeling a little better, so maybe tonight I'll get some sleep! I can only hope so because tomorrow after we hunt for easter eggs, we're going to hit the road in search of our new life together as Floridians!

I'll post all the missing stories and information just as soon as we get settled. Lots of love to all our family members we won't be seeing this Easter! We hope you all have a blessed holiday!

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. :(