Where to begin...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:19:59 -0500

Since I last posted A LOT has happened in our lives. My Grandfather, Peaw as we called him, passed away last Wednesday. He suffered from Alzheimers and got pneumonia and went downhill from there. Since 1991, he and my Grandmother have lived across the street from us and have been in our lives so much. My Mom always said that Auntie and I were his pride and joy and you can imagine how he loved Charlie too (I think that he replaced us!). I have never seen so many people at a visitation or funeral. He was such a people person and genuinely cared about everyone. We are so thankful that he is in a better place now and not suffering from such a horrible illness anymore. We will miss him each and every day.

On a second bad note, when Peaw was in the hospital last week, Charlie was also diagnosed with viral and bacterial pneumonia. He ended up on two different antibiotics (one administered three times a day), an oral steroid and breathing treatments every 3-4 hours. Let me tell you, it was a nightmare! This was by far the sickest that he has ever been. He was on the strongest out-patient antibiotics that they make so our next option would have been the hospital. To top it all off, he had a major roller coaster of emotions on the steroids. One minute he would be running around the house and the next he would be screaming crying at the top of his lungs and totally unconsolable. I am glad to report that he is MUCH better this week and actually went back to his preschool today after being out for a week and a half.

The silver lining of last week was that we accepted an offer on our house Sunday night. The buyers are already pre-approved for a loan and don’t have to sell their house. Did I also mention that they want to close three weeks from last Monday. Yikes!!! The thought of packing this house up makes me ill. The worst part is going to be disassembling the big swing set that we bought Charlie for his birthday last year. It is a true blessing though that this opportunity came along because we have been planning this move for quite sometime. We almost had our minds set on building but I have been eyeing a new construction that is in foreclosure. It is in a well established neighborhood on the other side of town and is three minutes from Pops and Mimi’s house and one minute to the elementary school. We made an offer on it last night so we will see. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed!!

If you don’t hear from us much over the next few weeks, you will know why. I am hoping by Charlie’s birthday, we will be settled!

Sorry for the lack of pictures!

-Jess

Our Little Valentine

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:23:42 -0500

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I have always loved Valentine’s Day...I would say that it is my third favorite holiday next to Christmas and Easter. We’ve had a great weekend of celebrating it too! Mark took me out on a lovely date Friday night, we took our little man out last night and tonight we are going to get take-out and I am making a special dessert. I love when a holiday falls on a weekend so we can spend it together.

Charlie also had his Valentine’s party at his preschool on Friday and he came home with a bag full of treats and Valentine cards from his little friends. How adorable! That night Auntie and Uncle brought him some special gifts too. We of course got him a few treats as well and Pops and Mimi are coming over for dinner with a few surprises for him also. It is good being Charlie!

The worst...

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 17:04:52 -0500

Charlie and I are slowly but surely getting over the worst stomach virus ever!!! Charlie has been off and on sick since Friday and it hit me Saturday night. I honestly was the sickest that I have ever been in my whole life. At about 10:00 pm Saturday night, I thought that Mark was going to have to take me to the ER. I still don’t feel normal. Charlie woke up at 1:30 last night screaming and I went into his room and he was covered in throw-up. Awful! Awful! Awful! It was my first experience with that. I felt so bad for him! Somehow we have missed all of the stomach viruses, until now. My Mom talked to Charlie’s Pediatrician and he said there is a very violent stomach bug going around that can last up to 7 days. Mark was feeling a little ill last night but is doing better today.

Before I got deathly ill, we took little man sledding in Wilson Park on Saturday afternoon. We had a blast! Pops brought his heavy-duty sleds and they went so fast. Charlie was a little unsure at first but then after a few times down, he would go “again!”.

Just a lovely day at the beach ;)

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:40:13 -0500

If only the snow was warm sand and the temp was about 60 degrees warmer...we can pretend, right?!? We got Charlie’s beach toys out of the attic and he played in the snow just like he played on the beach last year. Auntie and Uncle also came over to help him build his first snowman.

Two big trips!

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:43:29 -0500

Big trip #1 was Charlie’s first trip to the Dentist. On the way there he kept saying, “going to dentist...get a free toothbrush!”. He acted like such a big boy while we were there. He played around in their fun waiting room and had x-rays taken of his teeth. He then had fluoride brushed on his teeth and the dentist then did his exam. She said that everything looked great! He has 16 teeth right now and she said that he will get another set of molars around his second birthday.

Charlie’s New Year’s Resolution

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:39:46 -0500

We think that Charlie had a New Year’s Resolution that he didn’t fill us in on....to be a big boy! It seems like literally overnight he has gone from a baby to a miniature man. He is talking almost in full sentences and has almost mastered counting to ten! His teacher said that she was counting off kids and was like, “5, 6, 7” and Charlie goes, “8!”. I really need to start documenting things that he does and says because we just sit there and shake our heads and say, how does he know that! I captured a few “big boy” items tonight that he has recently started doing.

Things I Love, Love, Love

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:55:18 -0500

Since it is boring January and we haven’t been up to anything but working, eating, sleeping and playing inside with Charlie man, I thought that I would do a post on some items that make me happy. Sometimes it is the little things in life that put a smile on your face in the middle of the long, cold winter. Enjoy!

It’s Official!

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:08:21 -0500

The Hall House is for sale!

We have been wanting to move on the other side of town closer to Pops and Mimi for a little while and we decided, now is the time! It is probably the worst time actually to sell a house, given the state of the current economy, but it never hurts to try. The last time that we moved, we sold our house in two days. I have a feeling that we won’t be that lucky this time. We are going to try and sell our house first and then either buy an existing house or build one. We have house plans that we love but if we can find a good deal on a house then we might go for that. Our plans are kind of up in the air. The thought of packing up this house with a toddler running around makes me a little ill but we decided that it will never be easy to do. As Pops always says...anything worth having is never easy to get!

If you know of anyone that is looking for a newer home close to I-540, off of Wedington in Fayetteville, send them our way!!!

Three years ago, we moved into this house, I started a new job and we got pregnant so there is no telling what 2010 could hold!

-Jess

P.S. Mark took this video of Charlie perfecting his dance moves this weekend. He got this toy for Christmas and the music that it plays just overcomes him!

Our Snow Angel

Sun, 3 Jan 2010 21:52:48 -0500

Charlie was able to play in the snow again today! He loved it and I think that he would stay outside all day if we would let him. We had to bring him inside to thaw out and I made him some lukewarm hot chocolate. He then proceeded to throw a fit at the front door and was yelling “play in snowwww!”. It was pitiful!

We have been busy ALL day preparing for re-entry into the real world. We have been on vacation for 12 days so I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be difficult for everyone. Charlie keeps going into his room and shaking his head and saying, “Christmas tree all gone” in this very sad voice. We have tried to tell him that we put it in the attic for next year but we don’t think that he understands. We might have to get it back down and decorate it with snowmen or something.

Hope that everyone had a great holiday break!

-Jess

Happy Hall-idays!

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:21:11 -0500

We had such a fabulous Christmas this year! Here is a quick recap...

We went to our favorite Christmas Eve, Eve party at the Shireman’s house. They said that we all couldn’t come unless we brought Charlie man. He had a great time! Whenever someone would come in with a gift, he would take it and put it under the tree. He was the hired elf for the evening. We started off Christmas Eve morning at Rick’s Bakery and then headed out to Pops and Mimi’s. We went to the Christmas Eve Children’s Mass and then had a huge feast afterwards. We stayed up “helping Santa” assemble gifts until midnight. On Christmas morning, we opened gifts, played in the snow, had a very yummy breakfast and then got on the road to Malvern. When we got to Malvern, we went to Mark’s Granny Hall’s house for a little bit and then on to Mark’s parent’s house for our second Christmas. What a day!! Charlie loved every second of it!

We returned home on Monday and Mark and I took this entire week off. It has been so nice to just get things done around the house and play in our PJ’s with the little man. It is going to be hard to return to our busy lives next week. I am looking forward to 2010 though and a new decade! My resolutions for 2010 are: start working out, cook more homemade (and organic) meals, grow my hair out and learn to sew. Pops and Mimi bought Auntie and I fabulous machines for Christmas since it has been something that we’ve always wanted to know how to do. We even had a lesson yesterday! I also look forward to some changes in 2010...maybe a new house?...Charlie will start his private preschool in the Fall...I have some exciting new developments with my work... maybe a new baby or two for friends or family members...I will turn 30 and Mark and I have a big trip planned...big weddings for my two childhood friends...and planning a big 2nd birthday party for the king of castle. I love being a planner and a dreamer so the thought of a new year just really excites me! I hope that this new year holds something exciting and special for everyone out there. Cheers to 2010!!!!!!

-Jess

Some of our holiday favorites:

A Grand Escape

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:17:50 -0500

Well, one of my Motherly fears was realized yesterday...Charlie climbed out of his bed! Here’s what happened....

Charlie and I have a routine in the evening before Mark gets home...he plays in the kitchen while I enter my calls for work. Sometimes when he hasn’t taken a long enough nap during the day or is a little out of sorts, he takes a “cat nap” from 5:00-6:00. Well, yesterday was one of those days. He started throwing a fit over nothing so I was like, come on, lets take a cat nap before Daddy gets home. I went in his room, gave him his paci, and put him in his crib. He usually cries for about 10 seconds and then he is out. Well, I heard a velcro sound and I thought that he was just mad and pulled his teething guard off of his bed. Right after that, I heard his crying getting closer and closer and I thought, did I not close his door all of the way? Then it hit me that he had crawled out! Sure enough when I rounded the corner to his hallway, he was standing there. I totally freaked out, scooped him up and ran into his room. By examining the jail break scene, he used the teething guard to pull himself up, climbed over the side of the crib and landed in his basket of stuffed animals. The basket was turned on its side and a few had spilled out. He didn’t seem to have any ill effect from it. When Mark got home, we put our engineering minds together and lowered his mattress down to the floor because luckily his crib is solid all the way to the ground. It probably lowered it about 3 feet and will give us a peace of mind for a few more months. I am just so hesitant to convert his crib to a toddler bed because I still feel like he is a baby. We really wanted to wait until he was two to do that so I think that this is a good fix for now. There is no way that he could get out now unless he has a hidden climbing rope stashed away (I wouldn’t put it past him though!). I am just so thankful that he wasn’t hurt!

I have also included some pics that Auntie took of Charlie this week at her house. She said that she would ask him to pose and he would go, “Ok, Auntie...Cheesburger!”. What a stinker. I also put some random pics from my iphone on here too!

This will probably be my last post until after Christmas. We have our favorite Christmas Eve, Eve party tonight at our fabulous friends’s house. Then off we go to Mimi and Pops for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and then down to Malvern for the rest of the weekend. I am looking forward to a fun Christmas with Charlie. He gets so excited about gifts and all of the Christmas activities. We all love seeing it through his eyes. He has been telling everyone Merry Christmas this week and saying Happy Birthday Jesus. He just makes everything extra special!

Merry, Merry Christmas!!!

-Jess

Pony Ride and Christmas Card

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:37:08 -0500

We took Charlie to ride the ponies on the square last night. He was a little hesitant at first but once we started going, he loved it. He was making his “horsey noise” the whole time. It was hilarious!

I also put some pics on here from when we took the Christmas card photo and also our Christmas card for this year. We took it in this beautiful field by Pops and Mimi’s house. I kept praying that they wouldn’t mow it before we could take his picture and they didn’t. It worked out so well. We literally snapped about 10 pics and then we were done!

I am looking forward to 12 days off of work starting next week!!!

Hope that everyone has a great weekend!

-Jess

P.S. Look at all of the goodies that Charlie has been hard at work on at his school. He had his Christmas party today complete with Christmas tree cookies and a visit from Santa. I almost started crying when I saw this plate. How precious!!!

Santa is Charlie’s Homeboy

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:17:42 -0500

Charlie utterly surprised me tonight!

We have been building up the Santa visit for several days now. Mimi even bought him a “Santa Spud” (Mr. Potato Head in a Santa suit) to talk about how fun and nice Santa is. When we arrived at the mall tonight, he was playing around in line and watching the other kids see Santa. When it was our turn, he went right up and hopped up on his lap. Not only did he sit there and smile, he laughed with him, let him tickle his chin with his white gloves, and he also told him what he wanted for Christmas....”cake!” of course. I just knew that he would throw a screaming fit when it was his turn but instead it looked like a scene out of a happy Christmas movie. The only bad part was, they absolutely wouldn’t let you take any of your own photos. The guy taking them was a total moron and whenever Charlie would smile, he would take it right after. I think that it turned out cute though. The funniest part about the event was after Charlie saw Santa, he came out and high-fived the whole family!

-Jess

P.S. A few Charlie-isms:
-Last night while I was ironing a few of his dress shirts in the hall by the dining room, he started pulling out each chair and saying whose chair it was. Whenever we have a family dinner, everyone always sits in the same place and he has memorized the seating arrangement.
-Mimi called me today and said that she put new batteries in a flashlight that Charlie was playing with and he looked up at her and said, “Good job Mimi!”.
-When I am about to put him in his crib at bedtime, I rock him around his room with the light on dim. He lists off, in a very soft voice, all of his classmates and says that they are going night-night...”Grayson, night-night, Cambell, night-night” etc. It is so sweet.
-He loves to tell you the color of things and knows about 8 colors now. He also likes “counting” things. He pulled his socks of the other day and starting “counting” his toes. It was something like, “three..five...two...six”. I am sure that one day he will count in order. :)

Charlie’s new mode of transportation

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:12:08 -0500

By camel!!

I took Charlie to a live nativity scene tonight at the local church where he and Mimi took Kindermusik. Poor Mark has a bad sore throat and fever so he had to stay home on the couch. Charlie was totally mesmerized by the sheep, donkeys, and camel. He kept saying “he-haw”! There was also a real baby for baby Jesus too. The camel rides were free so I thought, what the heck! I thought that Charlie would be scared to death but he hopped right on with me. He laughed the whole time! They also had cookies and lemonade inside the church. What a fun little event. Afterwards, I drove him down to the square and we lucked out on a parking spot so we got out and walked around. He just walked around the square, holding my hand, and acted like a perfect little gentleman. What a honey!

I told Charlie to get ready for Christmas activity week! We are going to go and see Santa one night after work, ride the ponies and the horse-drawn carriage on the square and see the reindeer! Christmas is so fun this year with a toddler!

-Jess

Busy Little Elves

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 21:18:17 -0500

Wow have the days been flying by. Tis the season to be busy! I am happy to report that it is Dec. 8 and we only lack one person to buy for. We have done the majority of our shopping online this year and it has been A LOT less stressful. We have also been getting ready for Mark’s work party that we are having at our house on Friday night. The last tally was 35 people. Thank goodness for catering!!

Charlie has also had this weird fever virus this week. He acts completely normal but his fever has been anywhere from 100 to 102 degrees. Viruses are such an oddity.

Hope that everyone is having fun preparing for Christmas!

-Jess

P.S. Charlie has been calling us by our real names lately (don’t ask me why but it is pretty funny!). We captured him saying it tonight in the bath. Check it out!

So much to be thankful for

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:39:41 -0500

We’ve had such a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. We had a big dinner at our house on Wednesday night. Charlie’s Great-Grandparents were even able to come. He loved having everyone at our house. My Dad also deep fried a turkey. It was his first time to attempt this and it came out perfect! Mark said that there were also two casseroles per person that night. We then headed to Malvern early Thursday morning and absolutely over-ate there too. Everyone couldn’t believe how big Charlie was. He ran around the backyard and played with all of his second cousins. The next night we took him to Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs to see the Christmas lights. He had such a fabulous time. He kept going, “oohhh” and “ahhh” and my favorite one “neat-o”. We headed back on Saturday in time to see the Hogs get beat :(

We had such a great Thanksgiving and are just so thankful for everyone and everything in our lives. I am reminded of a saying that I once read and think about often...love everyone with all your heart and be thankful for all that you share because you never know when someone might be called home.

-Jess

P.S. Charlie has been working on his counting (1-5) and last week he was playing with a flashlight at Mimi’s house and she handed him another one. He held both of them out in front of him and goes, “two flashlights!”. It is amazing what he retains!

P.P.S. I asked Charlie what he wanted for Christmas this week and he sat there for a minute and then said, “Mickey Mouse and cake!”. I guess that we know what to have waiting under the tree! What a silly.

Decking the Hall House

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:30:18 -0500

Boy oh boy am I tired! Let me do a quick recap of the weekend:
-Mark and I stayed up until 12:30 on Friday night getting all of the Christmas decorations out of the attic and we also decorated the tree
-Decorated the inside of the house and hung lights on the outside and Mark even decorated Charlie’s big swing set (such a good Daddy)
-Took Charlie to the Lighting of the Ozarks ceremony and the Christmas parade. He had the best time and just sat in his stroller and waved to all of the floats. We could not believe how many people were on the square. What a fun family activity!
-We also helped take care of Pops and Mimi’s dogs because they were out of town and Charlie’s Granny also came to visit for the weekend

It is amazing how different the holidays are going to be with Charlie this year. He woke up on Saturday and was running through the house yelling “Christmas lights!” He will walk up to the tree and shake his head and say “breakable” to the ornaments. Auntie came over tonight to see the decorations and Charlie led her into his room to show her his tree and you could tell that he was so proud of it.

Here are also some pics of the fruits of our labor this weekend. I think that everything turned out fabulous and more importantly, Charlie loves all of the decorations!

Hope that everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving this week. We are having a big dinner with my family on Wednesday night and then we are driving to Malvern to have Thanksgiving with Mark’s family. I am sure that we will all gain 10 lbs....but it will be worth it!

-Jess

P.S. We gave Charlie one of his Christmas presents early because it wouldn’t be very fun to open a bookshelf. We are hoping that he will learn that the books need to stay on the shelves! Too funny!

The last home game

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:21:16 -0500

We took Charlie up to the stadium on Saturday to tailgate since it was the last home game. How is that possible!?! Where did Fall go? He had a great time running around and seeing Big Red again. Mark and Uncle went to the game and of course Charlie, Auntie and I went shopping.

We’ve had a pretty low key weekend and all of the pics have been taken with the iphone again (we keep forgetting to take the camera with us). There are several random pics of Charlie but I love capturing all of the funny things that he does.

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Hope that everyone had a great weekend!

-Jess

P.S. We are going to decorate for Christmas next weekend and I can’t wait. I figure that it takes a lot of work so we might as well enjoy it for several weeks. Plus it is my favorite holiday! I am however a little worried how Charlie is going to do with a fully decorated Christmas tree. Mimi said that Auntie turned ours over one year when she was about three!

19 Months old

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:05:27 -0500

Our wild man is 19 months old today! Before long, I guess that I will have to stop saying how old he is in months, and go to years! There are a bunch of random pics of Charlie man on this post. We haven’t been up up to anything major lately, just trying to get ready for the holidays!

Charlie has turned into quite the chatterbox lately and it makes for some very entertaining moments. I wanted to document some of them so we wouldn’t forget.

Charlie-isms:
-The other morning, I served him his breakfast before school, and he looked up at me and said, “Who brought this?” It floored me. I asked him what he said and he said it again and I replied with, “well, I made it for you” and he was content and started eating. So random!
-Last night, he pointed to the window and said very seriously, “dark outside.”
-He knows the names of all of his classmates and on the way to school, he likes to rattle them all off. His favorite little girlfriend’s name is Campbell. Mimi asked him the other day if he was Mimi’s baby and he replied, “no, Campbell’s baby.” Mimi called me and said that he couldn’t go to school anymore :)
-He has learned his first and last name and on occasion when you ask him his name he will loudly shout, “Charlie Hall!”
-He likes for you to kiss his boo-boo’s and after you do, he will say “all done” and run off.
-The other night he had his whole hand in his mouth and I asked him what was wrong and he replied with, “teeth hurt, Tylenol.” Simple responses like this make a world of difference.
-Whenever he spills something or makes a mess, he will say “uh oh, Toni clean.” (Toni is the name of our cleaning lady)
-Last night I was bathing him and Mark walked into the bathroom and said “hello, gorgeous” to me and Charlie looked at me and said “hello, gorgeous!” I love having two lovely gentleman in the house!!

That is all that I can think of for now. That little Charlie man keeps us entertained everyday! We just love him to pieces! Happy 19 months light of my life!

-Jess

P.S. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” lives at the Hall House. We spotted him when were playing on Charlie’s fort last weekend. He was the largest caterpillar that I have ever seen. I know that he is going to turn into a beautiful butterfly.

P.S.S. Auntie sent me some pics of the little man that she took over the summer. I just adore this one. What a little stinker!

Our Little Trick-or-Treater

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:03:00 -0400

We went over to our friends Brian and Kris’ house tonight for a fabulous Halloween party. They made a ton of yummy Fall food (2 kinds of chili, dips, a carmel apple station and homemade apple cider). They also live in a very popular neighborhood for trick-or-treaters so we saw hundreds of kiddos. We decided to load up their daughter, Gretchen, Charlie and their new baby, Ella Kate, and let them go to a few houses. I honestly thought that Charlie was too young and wouldn’t know what to do. Boy was I wrong! He toddled down the sidewalk, candy bucket in hand and went right up to the doors with everyone. At one of the houses, there were about 7 kids in line for the door and Charlie maneuvered his way to the front. It was like he was thinking, “excuse me, cute spiders are first!”

We had a blast! They always have such fun parties!

Happy Halloween everyone!!

-Jess

P.S. Just when we thought that we were getting everyone well, Mimi woke up with 101 degree fever this morning. Looks like she caught the flu from Charlie and I :( Luckily she has started on Tamiflu and an antibiotic. Poor Mimi, she took such good care of us all week and then she gets sick. Get well soon Mimi!!!!

We’ve survived H1N1

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:27:12 -0400

What a week! I have been the sickest that I’ve been in a LONG time.

It all started on Sunday morning when Charlie slept in until 10:30 and woke up screaming with a fever of 102 degrees. He got worse throughout the day and our good doctor friend of the family started him on Tamiflu Sunday night. He also started Charlie and I on antibiotics for upper respiratory infections. Sunday night, Charlie woke up crying at 2:30 in the morning and he had a 102.7 degree fever. I got back in bed about 3:30 after I rocked him for a while and got his fever down. I woke up at 5:00 and told Mark that I wasn’t feeling well and we took my temp and it was 101.5. It went down hill from there. I started on Tamiflu on Monday morning and basically slept through all of Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday. I had the worst body aches and felt like someone had beaten me. Mark stayed home from work and took care of Charlie and I Monday and Tuesday and Mimi has helped the rest of the week. Charlie started feeling better by Wednesday but I have been down all week. I read some reports that the H1N1 flu is hitting our age group the hardest (20-30 year olds). Plus, I had an underlying condition of still recovering from a surgery. What a nasty illness this has been! Hopefully we will all be back to normal by the end of the weekend. Luckily no one else in the family caught it. This is my first time to get the flu and I never want to get it again!

Mark captured these pics of the silly man playing in the dryer last night. He said that it looks like Charlie’s own space shuttle. I am so glad that the little guy is feeling better. It totally freaks me out when he gets sick especially with a high fever. Luckily he is well just in time for Halloween! Auntie and Uncle took him to a carnival for a local charity last night that Auntie’s friend was the chair of. They said that Charlie did the bean bag toss, won a cupcake at the cupcake walk, dug for dinosaur eggs, and of course socialized.

Hope that everyone has a great Halloween!

-Jess

The picture of Fall

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:41:12 -0400

What a gorgeous Fall weekend it has been in NWA. Mark went to Ole Miss with his friend, Seth, and Uncle and Auntie and I stayed home with Charlie. Mimi, Pops and I decided to take the little man up to the U of A campus yesterday afternoon to let him run through the leaves and explore. We weren’t the only ones with that idea! It was so beautiful up there.
Enjoy the pics!

After our lovely day yesterday, Charlie and I both woke up sick today. He slept in until 10:00 and when he woke up, he had 101.5 degree fever. He is already back to sleep now. Our good doctor friend of the family is going to make a house call this afternoon so hopefully we can start on some meds.

Hope that everyone had a fabulous weekend!

-Jess

Happy Big 3-0 Mark!

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:05:21 -0400

Mark and I have been in Chicago for a long weekend celebrating his 30th birthday!! My best friend, Sara, and her husband, Justin, live there so we stayed with them. We had a blast! We shopped, toured the city, ate WAY too much and even watched the Razorback game with the Alumni Club of Chicago. They meet at a local sports bar each week to watch the Hogs play.

Mark’s actual birthday was on Saturday and his brother, Mike, and our sister-in-law, Heather, drove up from Indy to Chicago and hung out with us for the day and went to dinner with us. We ate at a restaurant called Carnivale Saturday night and it was the best food that I have had in years.

We also had a pre-birthday dinner with the family on Wednesday night before we left. Charlie thoroughly enjoyed the petit fours. By the time that Mark blew out his candles, we had eaten half of them. Yum!

We missed the little man terribly this weekend but I think that he had a fabulous weekend with Pops and Mimi. A huge thanks to them for keeping him for us!!!!!

Tomorrow is also Pops‘ birthday!! I am sure that we will have some pics from that celebration posted this week. Tomorrow is also my first day back to work after being off for two weeks because of my surgery. Wow, October is a busy month!

Hope that everyone had a great weekend!

-Jess

P.S. Mark woke me up on his birthday to show me what Mimi had emailed him that morning. It made his day!

Charlie’s 18 month stats

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:47:57 -0400

It was a day for doctors appointments...Charlie had his 18 month checkup, I had my post-surgery follow-up, both of my Grandparents had appointments and Pops had one too! Thankfully, everyone is doing well!

Here are Charlie’s 18 month stats for the record book:

Height: 34.53 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 24.96 lbs (35th percentile)
Head circumference: 19.06 inches (70th percentile)

Basically he is tall and skinny. Dr. Payton wasn’t worried about his weight at all. He said that he was the picture of health. I guess that we are still on track to have the next NBA star!

I am slowly getting stronger by the day from my gallbladder surgery. Hopefully I will be in tip-top shape by Thursday night because Mark and I are going to Chicago to celebrate his 30th birthday!!! We can’t wait!

Enjoy the pics of little man...I love how something as random as Mommy’s umbrella can bring him pure joy!

-Jess

P.S. Little man has discovered how wonderful everything tastes with ketchup on it. We put a little bit of it on his highchair tray and he will dip his chicken, potatoes, etc. in it. He definitely inherited this one from his Pops and Auntie. When we were kids, our family dinners consisted of passing the ketchup between Dad and Sarah.

Happy Half Birthday Charlie!

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:22:34 -0400

Charlie turned a year and a half old today and of course we had to celebrate. We decided last year to start a tradition of celebrating his half birthday because, hey, why not?

To start out the day, Mark made Charlie and I homemade waffles and bacon for breakfast. Yum, yum! Then Mimi stayed with Charlie and I so Mark could go to the game (thanks so much Mimi!!). I am still pretty sore from my surgery but am getting better by the day. After the game, Mark and I took the little man up to Dickey Farms in Tontitown so Charlie could see a pumpkin patch and pick out his pumpkins. We had such a fun time! There were pumpkins already picked or you could go to the patch and cut your own. Charlie had a blast. We will definitely be making a trip next year. Then tonight, Auntie and Uncle had a big chili dinner at their house and Charlie got to open his gifts. The rule for our half birthday celebration is one gift but of course everyone couldn’t buy just one! Thanks for everything fam!

Enjoy the pics from the day!

As I have been sitting here putting the pics on this post, I have been thinking about what to put for his 18 month update. The crazy thing is, it doesn’t feel like we have a baby in the house anymore. He walks around, talks, eats what we do, sleeps through the night (thank heaven!) but he is just pint size. It amazes us how fast he can soak in information and how he can easily follow directions and figure things out. People always think that he is so much older than he is because he is so tall and talks so much. He has even started putting 2 and 3 word phrases together!

We love this little man so much and I think that it deepens by the day. There is nothing in the world that touches my heart more than when I hear that little voice say “Mommy.” I thank the Lord everyday for our Charlie. We are truly blessed!

Happy 18 months Charlie man!!!! We love you!

xoxo,
Mommy and Daddy