Baby Steps

The Little Guy took his first wobbly steps yesterday...sniff, sniff. Talk about a mix of emotions. On one hand, I am so proud of his strength and determination, and I know how happy it will make him to discover the world of walking. But, on the other hand, I am terrified of losing my baby. Between this and his 1st birthday, I am not sure I can handle all of this growing up.

Mr. Big

Nick and I are constantly amazed by how fast Charlie is growing physically and mentally. Today we saw an example of his mental growth that wowed both of us. We were all playing in the family room together after grocery shopping. I decided to take Charlie's socks off so that he could move around easily. After a few minutes of playing, Charlie noticed his socks on the couch and crawled over to get them. While babbling to himself, he began to put one and then the other sock on top of both of his feet. He moved both socks around trying to get them to go onto his feet. Of course, his fine motor skills were not good enough to get the socks on, but he definitely knew that they went on his feet. We handed him the socks a few more times and asked, "Charlie, where do socks go?" Each time, he placed them on his feet. Watch out...our Mr. Big is going places!

Tantrum???

I read through one of my parenting magazines last night before going to sleep. I love reading all of the little tidbits of advice. Often, I skip over the articles that relate to older children. There is only so much information that my brain can file away these days! Last night I happened upon an article that gave advice for how to handle toddler meltdowns. As I assessed my need for this information, I was suddenly struck with the fact that in less than two weeks, I will be the mother of a toddler...deep breath. I decided to read the article, and as always, found some great strategies.

Fast forward to this morning.

Nick and I are cuddling in bed with Charlie. This is something that we do often on a lazy Sunday morning. As Charlie was rolling around between us, I saw a different expression form on his face as he attempted to move me out of his way. I tried to analyze the expression, but before I could, Charlie smacked me. It was suddenly very apparent that Charlie was upset with the fact that I wasn't moving out of his way fast enough. He decided to vent by letting me have it. Nick and I were shocked. I have a feeling that we are in for a big adventure in the coming years!

A New Find

I have used this site a few times now to find promotional codes and coupons when I am ordering on-line. Give it a try the next time you are ordering something off of the internet.

http://www.retailmenot.com/

I just saved $10, got free shipping, and was subscribed to a magazine for free when I ordered some things for our family tonight.

Jazz Hands

Charlie loves to shake his booty with Elmo.

Tagged by a Blogger

I have been tagged, and the rule is that I have to show you the 6th picture in the 6th folder on my computer, and tag 6 more people. Here is my picture.

I am very pregnant in this photo. The picture was taken at 8.5 months. We always took pictures half way through the month, because I had just started to get a bump at 4.5 months. I can remember looking at this picture after Nick had taken it. I had a moment of panic when I saw just how big my belly was. All sorts of questions and concerns ran through my head: How much bigger could I possibly get? Would my stomach ever look the same after I gave birth? Would my belly button really pop out? The human body is an amazing thing. Even after getting bigger and having my belly button pop out, my stomach looks pretty much the same. Don't get me wrong, things are much mushier and I have the stretch marks to remind me of just how big I got. In the end, I would do it a million times over just to be Charlie's mommy.

Here are the people that I am tagging: Nicole, Erika, Shay, Elizabeth, Staci, and Amy

What a face!

A friend of mine from playgroup, Patti, took this picture of Charlie today. She used a site called Picnik to add the text and graphics. Very fun and free!

Be Mine

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Here are some pictures of Charlie opening his Valentine's gifts. He was so excited about the books he got, that I couldn't get him to look at the camera. So, I am including a shot taken of his gorgeous face on his 11 month b-day.

11 Months Old Today

I LOVE BOOKS!!!


Opening my Valentine from Mommy and Daddy

We hope that all of you are with the ones you love and that your are having a fantastic Valentine's Day!

XOXO,

It's a GIRL!!!

Nicole, one of my BEST friends, just found out that she will be welcoming a little girl to the family in July. Charlie and I are so excited to meet Miss Sawyer, and we can't wait to go shopping for dresses and bows and everything girly. Congratulations Sheffield Family! We love you!

Eleven Months and Counting

I can not believe that Charlie is only ONE month away from his first birthday! I saw a picture of him tonight at my in-laws' house, and I hardly recognized the squishy little face that was in the frame. He has changed so much over the past eleven months that it is hard for me to keep track of it all. I love how independent he has become, but at the same time I miss being able to sit and hold him in my arms for as long as I want. Nick said something about him being a toddler the other day, and it brought me to tears. I couldn't stop crying once I was suddenly hit with the realization that MY baby isn't going to be a baby much longer.

Charlie has been quite the handful this month. He has become so strong and is cruising all around the house while holding on to furniture. He can stand on his own for about 10 seconds at at time, but as soon as he notices that he isn't holding onto something, he quickly plops down on the ground. He has really enjoyed learning to climb the stairs in our home. He can go up the entire flight of stairs without taking a break...no wonder he is so skinny. Charlie is tough as nails too. All of this new found mobility has led to many falls, bumps, and scrapes. For the most part, it doesn't seem to bother him. He keeps right on going!

The little guy got his first taste of being really sick this month. He had a small cold a few months ago, but it paled in comparison to this one. He had a fever, cough, runny nose, soar throat, and an ear infection this time. The poor thing was pretty miserable. The nights were the worst. The fluids in his ears caused him a lot of pain when he would lay down, and he woke up screaming a few nights in a row. It was awful not being able to console him on those nights, so I ended up sleeping on his floor so that he would at least know that I was near by if he needed me. After a trip to the doctor, Charlie was prescribed his first antibiotic. It may as well have been candy the way he sucked it down.

Charlie is talking up a storm. There's a lot of da-da and ma-ma being said, but neither of us think he associates it with us just yet. We shall see soon enough. Charlie has really become quite the little parrot these days. He loves to mock the sounds that we make, and his new favorite thing is to fake laugh.

Mealtime is still an exciting event in our home. Charlie continues to amaze us with the large amounts of food that he consumes. Nick and I just commented today that we think he just went through a big growth spurt. He seems thicker and taller, and I have noticed that his clothes are getting tight. I started to wean Charlie to formula this month. He now gets his noon feeding from a sippy cup and really seems to enjoy it. In another week, he will be getting his late afternoon feeding dropped as well. My goal is to have him fully weaned to a sippy cup shortly after his birthday.

We have been getting some comments about Charlie's mohawk, so Nick and I decided it was time for a haircut. We decided to do it at home with Nick's electric clippers. It turned out so well, that we actually got a request to cut a playgroup pal's hair. I brought my clippers to playgroup, and Tate got his first haircut complements of Miss Lindsay's Traveling Salon.

Charlie climbed to the top of our tub while I was getting ready. It was scary how quick he was!

Relaxing with my lion and some formula

Taking my big blue car out for a spin

Visiting Daddy at his office...don't we look alike???

Birthday Boy

No, not Charlie...Daddy is the birthday boy this month. Nick turned 29 on the 5th. I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, and he told me that he would love to have beer and pizza...what an easy man to please! So, we ordered from our favorite pizza place and enjoyed some cold beer. Nick has been on such a health kick, so I didn't want to ruin his diet with a whole cake. Instead, I bought a slice of cake from the Publix bakery...yummy! Charlie and I lit a candle and sang "Happy Birthday" to him after dinner.



Tonight, we went over to Nick's parents' house to celebrate with his whole family. We enjoyed a great steak dinner and cake, and Nick got a lot of mountain biking gear from the fam. Happy Birthday, Nick/Daddy!!!!

Better Late Than Never!

I apologize for keeping everyone hanging! I know that it has been a LONG time since our last post. Really, I have just been in a blogging rut, but I promise to be better. Things are about to get busy here at Casa de Shaw, so stay tuned for some fun posts.


Here is a video of Charlie to make up for my bad blogging manners :o)