8 Months

8/13/2012

Oh Charlotte,

I can't believe you are 8 months old. Every month that goes by, I'm even more shocked when the thirteenth hits than I was the month before. I can't even believe you have been with us as long as you have. It feels like you were just born, but then other days we can't remember what it was like without you. Parenthood is a strange thing babycakes. You'll understand that one day.

You are a crawling fiend! You finally figured it out, and now we can't contain you! You just want to be everywhere at once! You used to want to be held at all times, and now you squirm and fuss until we put you on the ground, and then you take off. You are all over the place! 

People love you. Everywhere we go, people stop me to talk to you and tell me how cute/beautiful/sweet etc. you are. Daddy and I obviously think you're stunning, but it's very nice and humbling to hear that other people think so too. You're such a ham when we get stopped too. You smile, and stick your hand out, and talk. You are very wary of some people though. I'm glad "stranger danger" has kicked in.

We had lots of visitors this past month, and you were a trooper the whole time. First Aunt Heather came to visit for a week, and you had a ball. You love her, and she just adores you. Then Mitch and Mari came to visit. You were kinda iffy about them the first few hours they were here, but then you opened up and were a doll. Mari loved holding you, and you made sure to behave when Mitch got his turn with you. Then Granpa and GK (Daddy's mommy and daddy) came, and oh man did they eat you up. You showed off your crawling skills, and talked their ears off. They loved being with you, and you loved having them here too. To round out our whirlwind of visitors, Uncle Jake and Josh came to visit. You had a blast with them, and they ate you up. It was funny to see those big, tough boys talk in baby voices and fall over themselves trying to hold or play with you. 

You love to read! You are always climbing on your book shelves, and pulling books off and looking at them. You're very gentle with your pages, which is amazing for your age. Half the time you prefer to "read" by yourself, so we let you. You'd spend forever reading if we'd let you. 

Yes, her shirt says "The bigger the bow, the better the moma" I couldn't agree more :)

Bath tome continues to be your favorite thing ever. You sit in your duck, and play with your toys, and you could care less about anything else going on. I usually let you play until the water gets cool, but I don't think the temperature bothers you one bit. You love family baths. Moma and Daddy have a jacuzzi tub, so when we all get in there together you splash around and have a good time. You love when we turn the jets on. You find them totally fascinating. 

You've taken every nap in your crib without issue for the last month. I'm trying to get you used to sleeping in it, b/c Daddy is ready to kick you out of our bed. I'd like for you stay, but I also know that it's time. I think you'll sleep better in your own space too. You've outgrown the middle it seems.

You pull up on EVERYTHING.  Your bookshelf, Moma, Daddy, Keech, the couch, the ottoman. You name it, you wanna see the top of it. You have always been a nosy rosy, and you continue to find ways to "know" what's going on around you.

You talk all of the time! "Dada" Mama" "Bleh" "Tshh" Ok it isn't actual words except two, but girlfriend you don't care. You talk and talk and talk! Your favorite person to talk to is Keech. And he'll just sit and listen to you, and throw in the occasional lick on your face or arms. I think you like talking to him b/c he doesn't interrupt you. 

You're getting so big! We love you so much, and can't wait to see what this new month brings our way! But slow down just a smidge, k? We love love love you Chickapea!

XOXO,

Moma & Daddy

First Spaghetti

We had spaghetti the other night for dinner, and decided to give Charlotte her own small bowl of it. She loved it. And it was a complete disaster of course! Ha! A good disaster, but a disaster nonetheless. I'm always so hesitant to give her real food. Not because I don't think she can handle it, but because it makes me sad that my baby isn't so small anymore. I realize this is irrational, and I have a lifetime of feeling this way. I just hate that this first year is going to quickly! If it could slow down just a smidge, I'd be good :)

Pretty pleased with her supper

This one is my favorite. Haha She's so into it :)

I apologize for some of the pictures being turned sideways. I'm working on fixing this.

New house!

Written July 7th, 2012

We moved about 2 1/2 weeks ago. When we first got to GA I was newly pregnant, it was a bazillion degrees outside, and no one knew we had sneaked down to the courthouse and gotten married before we left NC. So this meant that no one knew I was pregnant yet, and that if we had applied for on-post housing people would know we had gotten married. (If you aren't married, you don't qualify for on-post housing. Being engaged doesn't count.) That meant that when we did arrive in GA, we didn't have a lot of time to find someplace to live. This was a challenge for us. Our house in NC that we bought the year prior is enormous! It's 2200 square feet, with both formal living and dining rooms, great built ins, a back deck/porch to die for, and a fenced in backyard. Finding something that we would be equally happy in was hard. We found an apartment that was great. 1645 square feet, 2 bedrooms, granite counter tops, and on the terrace level. Things were great until Miss Charlotte came around. Just a month after she was born, we realized we were busting at the seams. Between her and all her stuff, us and our stuff, and the dog, we simply just didn't fit. And having to take the dog out 3 times a day no matter the weather was HORRIBLE. Our lease was just about up, so we decided to apply for on-post housing. It made sense. All of our friends live on post, we use on-post doctors and the hospital, and the commissary and PX would be minutes away. So we applied. And waited. And waited. And waited. We finally hear from the housing office... the day our lease was up. We had made it very clear that we needed to know 30 days prior b/c we had to give our current place a 30 days notice. (Families living in on-post housing are also required to give a 30 days notice when they receive orders to leave, so the housing knows what houses will be available when months in advanced. Most people give a 60 to 90 days notice b/c we all know how housing works. They suck btw.) So we go back on the list. Except this time, we looked other places around town as well. I just had a feeling the housing office was going to screw us again. We looked all over Columbus, and decided to venture into Phenix City, Alabama. (Columbus and Phenix City are minutes from each other. Many people stationed at Ft. Benning choose to live in PC.) I have a few friends that live here as well, and they love it so we figured why not.

And then we found it. THE house.

Oh my gosh it's amazing. We called the same day and had a tour set up for the coming weekend. We saw it and loved everything about it. The fireplace, the backyard, the master bedroom, the hardwood floors, the fenced in backyard! We applied for, and then signed a lease within 2 days of seeing the place.  We've now been in the house 2 weeks, and it's amazing. Being able to just open the door and let the dog out is probably the best part. I'll never take having a backyard for granted again. We're slowly but surely getting everything unpacked, and it's starting to feel like "home". For the next year at least :)

I finally get to use my lawn flag again. Excited doesn't even begin to cover it...

Any self-respecting NC State fan needs an NC State lawn knome

Fat baby toes and grass :)

Oh and we did eventually hear from the housing office again. Three days after the date we said we absolutely had to have a house, or we'd be homeless. Apparently they couldn't be bothered to make sure we had someplace to live. It's ok though, the house we have is WAY better than anything on post :)

We can crawl!

Charlotte crawled today for the first time! She's been doing a lot of Army crawling, but today was the first time she did actual hands and knees crawling. I was so excited (obvious in the video. don't judge me) that she looked at me like I was crazy while I was trying to coax her to do it again so I could get it on video. I thought she'd never crawl!

Please ignore the stained onsie. It's a bum day in our house, so we've been hanging out in yoga pants and onsies. No judgies :)

Chick Fil-A

I've debated whether or not I wanted to even share this with anybody other than my husband and family. My Facebook feed as been blowing up with the Chick Fil-A drama, and half of it is in support of the chain, and the other is not in support, but 100% of it is angry and hateful and it's got me kinda irked. Here's my take on it. I support gay rights, and I truly believe they should have the right to get married, and all the rights that come along with being married and having a spouse. But I also support the right of free speech, and the owner of this food establishment to voice his beliefs without having to worry about being attacked simply b/c his opinion isn't popular. Last time I checked, we lived in America, and the right of free speech is a constitutionally protected right. And the argument of "Well I don't want MY money going to support someone who gives it to anti-gay groups" is crap too. Once you spend it, that money is no longer "yours". You gave it away, and it now belongs to wherever you spent it. Does your place of employment call you dictating where you can spend your paycheck? I didn't think so.  Also, don't quote the Bible to me. I am a God fearing christian woman, who attends church every Sunday, says my prayers every night before bed, and I still think gay mean and women should have the same rights as I do. God and Jesus taught us to love each other unconditionally, so that's what I choose to do. Do I agree with the owners of Chick Fil-A? Nope. Do I support their right to their opinion and to support it anyway they deem appropriate? Yep. Does that make me a bad person? Hell no.

I realize that this is a hot topic, and it gets a lot of people riled up. That's not what I'm trying to do. I do truly believe that we can all have differing opinions and still respect one another's right to have that opinion, without fear of being attacked for it. My husband and I disagree strongly about this, and that's ok. It's not like this is something that's just now coming to light for us either. We've always know each other's stance on gay rights, and we still chose to see, love, and then marry one another, and do you know why? B/c we respect one another and each other's beliefs. This does not make my husband a bad person, or make me a bad person, it's just simply the way it is in out world. Oh and we're both conservative Republicans. So how bout that. 

I'm not writing any of this to offend anyone, or set off some great debate. I just wanted to voice my frustration with the whole "You disagree with me, therefore I'm going to attack you" mentality our country has adopted. I just wish everyone would respect that we're all different, and that's ok.