pumpkin-patching

We took Charli to Shenot's Farm to get a pumpkin this year.  We asked Nana & Opa to come with us!  We took a hayride out to the pumpkins & enjoyed an apple on the way!  It was a beautiful day for pumpkin-patching!

trick-or-treating

Bert & I took Charli up to Nana & Opa's camp again this year for some pre-Halloween trick-or-treating.  She made out very well!  She was dressed up as a butterfly princess, & did a very good job keeping her tiara on her head.  She was such a cutie, & got many compliments along with her treats.

kitchen

Just a little update on the kitchen project.  I scheduled our countertop to be installed Tuesday, September 20th!  Things are moving right along!

 new pantry shelves

 temporary sink & countertop

cabinet doors are on!

my big girl

Charli is officially a walker!  I was so happy today, I cried!  She has been receiving physical therapy for not even two months yet, and she's walking!  She wasn't moving at all two months ago.  One thing I think God has been teaching me throughout the difficulties I've been experiencing with Charli is just to love her for who she is.  She is her own little person, that He created.  She isn't going to be who I think she should be, so I need to love her as she is.  As a teacher, I knew every child in my classroom was different.  They learned differently, had different gifts and abilities, and even looked different!  As a mom, though, I expected Charli to be just like every other baby.  So many times this year I have been brought to tears because Charli wasn't where I thought she should be physically, but it's a blessing to be able to look back and see God's hand working in every situation to bring me closer to my little girl throughout all we've been through together.  I want to thank everyone who has been praying for us and thinking about us.  God is good!

kitchen update

I wanted to add some pics to this blog to show how our kitchen remodel is going.  It's still a long way from done, but it's coming together piece by piece!

 our kitchen before demo

 cabinets & countertops are out!

 goodbye walls & ceiling!

 hello new walls & ceiling!

microwave installed

north park

After our walking class at North Park, I usually take Charli over to the playground so that she can swing.  Today, I let her walk around and play on the playground.  She had a blast being about to move around & actually play with something other than just the swing!  We did swing before we went home, though.  I'm excited that Charli's finally starting to walk!

my chair

We're going to be redoing our kitchen soon, and we're adding a desk space in our kitchen layout.  I needed a chair that wouldn't take up too much space to put there.  Instead of buying a new chair, I decided to refinish a chair we already had.  Here's the chair:

I took off the cushion to take it apart so I could reupholster it.  After that, I did three rounds of stripping the chair, sanded it with rough, medium, fine and then extra fine sandpaper, then wiped it with denatured alcohol & tack cloth.  This is what it looked like after that:

After that, I spray painted it with a black satin spray paint.

I reupholstered the cushion with a soft, tan upholstery fabric.  Here's the final result:

I'm pretty happy with my "new" chair!

charli's stats

Charli had her 12 month check up.  Here are her stats:

weight: 23.2 pounds (78%)
length: 30 3/4 inches (90%)

She's a big girl!

mommy knows best

I had heard of mother's intuition, but only recently have been able to say that I understand what it is.  I had posted a month or so ago about my concerns & discouragement about Charli not moving around like she should be.  She was finally able to be evaluated today, and just as I had expected, her gross motor skills are way below where they should be.  She does qualify for services and will be seeing a physical therapist once a week.  I feel relieved to know that I wasn't crazy.  Everybody kept telling me that she was fine, but I knew she wasn't.  Now I feel like with the help of the pt, she will be fine.  I feel very encouraged.  On a more positive note, they did find her personal-social score to be very high!  This is not a surprise at all!  This sweet little girl is such a social butterfly! 

charli's 1st birthday party!

After spending the last six months preparing and creating, the day finally came for Charli's first birthday party!  The day could not have gone any better.  We woke up, had breakfast, did some yard-saling to keep Charli awake, she took a nap while we set up, she woke up at 1:30, we got her fed & dressed, & her party started at 2!  She was a pleasant little girl considering the amount of people that were in our backyard!  Thank you everyone who helped to make her day so special!

 charli's one-year photos displayed in my spray-painted frames!

 butterfly crayons

 build-your-own-butterflies for the kids

 tissue paper poms

 yummy cupcakes

 cake

 charli's high chair

 monthly photos with her bear

 our family

 yum!

playing in the sand with opa

bert's windigo lake trip

If you'd like to see some pics & vids of Bert's fishing trip, click here.

memorial day weekend

Charli & I had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with Nana & Opa!  We were up at their camp most of the time, but unfortunately, were unable to sleep over.  Someone didn't want to fall asleep!  Monday was a lot of fun.  Charli went into a swimming pool for the first time!  She didn't like the cold water at first, but once she got used to it, she enjoyed splashing & kicking.  Nana bought her a nice swim tube that has a canopy to keep the sun off of her.  She also had fun riding in her brand new jogging stroller.  Why did I not get one of those sooner??  Of course, she loved swinging & we found out that she love, love, LOVES watermelon!  Thanks Nana & Opa for a fun weekend!  And thank you to all the men & women, past & present, serving our country & keeping us safe.

 twins

 yum!

whee!

tutu tulle

I found raspberry-colored tulle at Pat Catan's!  I think I need to make more tutus...

my little girl

When I was pregnant, I was so excited to welcome a healthy baby girl into the world.  I didn't have the slightest inclination that anything would ever be wrong with her, in fact, while reading, I skipped over the chapters discussing colic, GERD, etc.  I shouldn't have done that.  Anyway, we're dealing with those issues, no big deal.  She should outgrow the GERD any day now. 

As she's grown, it's been difficult for me not to compare her with other babies.  We are blessed with so many friends, family & church family members who have had babies around the time we had Charli.  I'm excited that she will be surrounded by so many friends, but I have also seen these other babies learn to roll, sit, crawl, pull up, stand, even walk before Charli.  She was almost 7 months old before she rolled for the first time on her own.  I cried.  I even had to stop reading books & weekly emails about what my baby should/could be doing because I was becoming so discouraged.  Everyone continues to tell me that it's a good thing that she just sits still because I don't have to chase her around or worry about baby-proofing everything.  Maybe I wouldn't mind her just sitting if she was content while she sat.  She seems to have little patience for anything.  All that being said, I called the Alliance for Infants and Toddlers to schedule an appointment to have Charli evaluated to see if she will qualify for services from Early Intervention.  She is 11 months old today & still does not do very much, but I feel encouraged that through Early Intervention Services, she will someday!

two tutus

My most recent Charli's-first-birthday project was making a tutu.  Unfortunately, I had two ideas of what I wanted to do.  Even more unfortunately, 2 Michael's stores did not have what I needed, so I had to reform my ideas.  For the first tutu, I cut a 17" strip of 3/4" no-roll elastic & stitched the ends together.  I read that you should use 4 strips of tulle for every inch of elastic, so i cut 68 18" pieces of tulle.  My pattern was fuschia, light pink, fuschia, lime green.  I didn't feel like that was enough, so I cut an extra 4 pieces.  I tied them onto the elastic using a slip knot, & this is how it turned out:

My next idea for a tutu was to make it mostly lime green & tie fuschia pieces of tulle around the ends of the lime green.  I measured the same length of elastic, but this is where Michael's disappointed me.  The two stores I went to were out of more fuschia tulle, & Walmart didn't have it, either.  So I bought the light pink & my pattern for this tutu was lime green, light pink, lime green, light pink.  Because I didn't have enough fuschia, I only used 52 strips of tulle.  Each of these strips were 20" long, & I used the slip knot for these, also.  I tied 6" strips of fuschia onto the lime green pieces of tulle only.  This is how this tutu turned out:

I don't think I like the second tutu as much as the first.  It's not as full as I would like for it to be.  I will probably use the first tutu for Charli's birthday party, but maybe she'll enjoy playing dress-up in the second one, too!

camping with charli

When my mom asked me how our weekend was, I said, "It could have been much worse!"  Camping with a kid is definitely much more difficult than camping without one, but all in all, it wasn't too bad!  Earlier in the week, Charli had two nights with episodes of night terrors, so I was concerned about taking her camping when we would be separated from our neighbors by a thin layer of canvas & 20 feet.  As it turns out, she did very well at night. She even slept in later than she does at home!  Must be all that fresh mountain air!  She loved our 10 mile bike ride on Saturday & enjoyed going down to see the water at Ohiopyle.  She had her first taste of ice cream, but wasn't too crazy about it.  She'll learn!  Late Saturday afternoon, we all got a much-needed nap & then walked down to the dam before dinner.  I don't know when we'll go camping just the three of us again, but it was a good experience. 

 Charli & Mommy's bed