Reunited And It Feels So Good!!

These are actually 2 different pictures but I wanted to put both on here because I love how neither one of them even moved between shots. They were so excited to see each other, they stayed the same for the pictures. SO CUTE.

Charlotte and I flew to Atlanta, GA, on Friday March 30th. Alex met us at the earliest point he could meet us :) He was pacing by the little separators that keep the common folk back from the arriving peeps. (I can't think of a better way to describe it.) But as soon as we saw him, we started trucking towards him, PUSHING people out of our way, knocking down the elderly, kicking small children. No one was going to stand in our way! It brought tears to my eyes. I kept saying, "Look! There's daddy. Look!" Once she saw him, her face just LIT up. She went right to him. Like the last time we saw him, she was quiet for a few minutes and would just look at him wondering if he was real.  Then she started talking... NON STOP.

YAY! Here's to a weekend of fun with the one we love!

Cue the band... "Reunited and it feels so good!!"

A Few More Days With Gigi...

On Wednesday, March 28th, Charlotte, Mom and I went to Mount Pleasant to their new-ish Waterfront Park. We were going to meet Niki and the boys but they had had a rough night so she opted to stay home with them for the day. Oh, what we have to look forward to in a few months!

The park in Mt Pleasant is great. It's a big, long, really sturdy, cement fishing pier. No one was fishing but we were able to see big  boats, lots of birds, and some tourists with fanny packs on. It was awesome weather.

Charlotte loved the swing with Gigi.

She was loving it all...

Squealing, shouting, screaming.

Her facial expressions completely crack me up!

Kisses from Gigi.

She was looking for "ish". (Fish)

It's so crazy seeing her walking around by herself. It's a sight that is so hard to get used to. She just looks so grown up.

Such a beauty.

Big and small.

After walking along the pier, we went to the playground so Charlotte could swing and play.

Charlotte: "Hey, who are those kids? Do you think they'd play with me?"

Charlotte: "This is so much fun!!! I LOVE swinging!! Now, do you think those kids would play me?"

Charlotte: "Ok, I'm done. Let's go eat."

After Waterfront Park, we went to lunch with Diane at Easy Bay Deli (yummmm) and then went to find a few special things for Easter from Gigi and Papa. I spent Thursday having a "Mommy Day". I went to the beach by myself and I went out with the girls for dinner and dancing. Mom and Charlotte played and played and played ALL DAY LONG. They loved their day together. 

Friday it was time for the fun to end. We got up and took Mom to get her hair did at the lady who did our hair for my wedding while Charlotte and I met up with Amelia and her friend for breakfast. It was really good to see her! It was then time to fly to Atlanta to see Alex and then time for mom to fly home. 

Thank you, Mom, for coming out here for the week. Thanks for all of the cleaning, packing, playing, and taking care of both of us that you did. Thank you for getting up with Charlotte EVERY morning so I could sleep as long as I wanted to (even though I felt guilty so I got up with the first waking instead of falling back asleep.) Thank you for letting Max and I get some quality time together in. And Charlotte loved every minute of her time with you...so did Max. It was a perfect week. We are excited for the weeks to come :) 

Skinned Knee... The First of Many

You know, I think back to the first real skinned knee that I can remember having. I was 5 or 6 years old and I was riding my bicycle. My family has lived on a cul-de-sac our entire lives so we were always able to just ride and ride and ride. I had gotten a "big girl" bike for Christmas when I was 5 and that's what I was riding. I remember driving down toward my best friend's house. I fell over on my bike, fell off, and skinned my knee. So sad. I screamed. Stacey's dad heard me crying hysterically so he ran down to me and picked me up and carried me home. So crazy that I remember it in such detail.

Charlotte had her first official skinned knee on March 28, 2012. I know that she will not remember this skinned knee, but I will. It really broke my heart. We were down at Waterfront Park in Mt Pleasant checking out the "wah wah" and the "ish" and she got pretty excited. She started running and lost her balance. 

BOOM!!!

There was even a sprinkling of blood....

...and a few beautiful tears.

She got over it very quickly and moved on with life. She got down and started all over again... a bit more careful for the first few minutes she was down and moving. I fast forward in my head to her first broken heart and the thought of it makes me want to cry. I remember my first broken heart and I have no desire for my child to have to go through that. Oh the joy... 

Charlotte, this was your first official skinned knee.

And On To The Next Visitor...

Mom ("Gigi") came to visit us for 6 days! It was a perfect 6 days. Mom flew in on Sunday March 25th. She got in nice and early  in the day so we could do lunch and run a few errands. Charlotte was so excited to see Gigi and have some more one on one attention.

On Monday morning, we got up and got moving. We wanted to get some sun but not deal with the beach so we went downtown to enjoy the view of dowtown... we are really really going to miss the beauty of downtown Charleston. We went to eat lunch at Wild Wing, one of my all time favorite places to eat, then we headed down to Waterfront Park.

We went down to the pier part.. love that majestic bridge.

Charlotte was able to see dolphins for the first time. We don't actually know if she saw what we were talking about but she seemed to think she knew.

She wanted to try to jump into the water...notice mom is pulling on the back of her shirt. She started crying when she wasn't allowed to jump into the water.

Charlotte is always so happy to be outside. She doesn't really even care where she is outside, as long as she's outside.

Look at those teeth.

She was choosing to walk like a big girl. She really thought she was something cool walking in a big girl area.

One more picture of the bridge. 

No, you aren't imaging it, this really is a picture of Charlotte and I together. I know, I'm shocked too! We actually have a recent picture together :) We got some of our wedding pictures taken in front of this same fountain. Love this fountain.

After hanging out at Waterfront Park, we went to see Mr. Paul. It's not a complete trip for Mom unless she gets to see Mr. Paul. We headed to see him and Aunt Caroline on James Island. Aunt Caroline is 95 years old and she is still the oldest person that has held Charlotte and the oldest that Charlotte knows.

Love this picture. She loves her Uncle Paul.

We went down to the water behind their house and the mosquitoes down there were the size of small cats. They were HUGE. And man they were biting big time.

Charlotte had never seen a pine cone before. This was her first time figuring it out :)

On our way home from seeing Mr. Paul, we went to Ye Olde Fashion Ice Cream. YUMM. We got some of the most fattening ice cream I have ever tasted. Charlotte was in loooooove. She also got her first strawberry milk shake ever.

It was a successful day!!!

We spent all of Tuesday running errands, shopping, etc. We went to the mall, Target, Walmart. It was a good day as well! And naturally, there was LOTS of playing involved. 

I love Charlotte and Max's relationship...or lack there of. I think deep down he loves her a little bit. He acts like he hates her...and there are times I am sure he does. But he is finally starting to warm up to her and the fact that she moves around now. To her, he is her best friend. All day long, she will look for him, or yell for him while shaking a bag of treats. When we get home from anywhere, she comes through the door in my arms yelling "MAAAA". One of my favorite things that she does is when she doesn't know he's in the room and she looks over to see him and she smiles and says, "Maaa" in the sweetest tone. She loves him

He's finally started letting her chase him. He will let her get close enough to touch him before he runs from her. However, he won't let her pet him. But I am starting to see little moments that he does interact with her...but only if he doesn't know I am watching. But these two are my world. I do love them so very much... regardless of how crazy they both are...individually and together. Here is a normal few minutes of them together at our house.

Charlotte had been walking around yelling for him shaking the treat bag. He was standing at the garage door meowing to get out there to get away from her. Take note of the treat bag on the floor.

She went to touch him... check out how he crouched his back side down and started to run. She's like, "Max where are you going?"

He hid under her school bus... which means he really wasn't trying to get too far away from her... he just wanted to pretend.

She's like, "Mom, he won't come out!" And he's like, "Haha, you're too big for under here."

I love my two crazy kids (Yes, Max is my kid.) They make my days so exciting.

One. Last. Bottle.

On March 24, 2012, at 13 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days old, Charlotte had her last bottle. It such a bittersweet moment.We had been over at the Price's house for dinner and on the way home, I handed it to drink while we drove home. I had been weaning her off of the formula and onto the whole milk since February 10th. She's had multiple bottles since then that were all whole milk and she didn't seem to mind. So with this last bottle, we used the last scoop of formula. 

It was so bittersweet. I mean, I hate cleaning the bottles and sterilizing them. BUT this is just more proof that my baby is growing up. No more bottles, now, just big girl cups (well, sippy cups.) I wish she understood when I told her this would be her last one so that I know she enjoyed it. Now let the new bedtime routine start. Oh joy, we finally had something that was working and now we have to change it.

Bye, bye, formula.

Playdate in the Sun

Oh how we love our play dates with the Midgetts! We love all of our time that we spend with them. Niki brought Gavin and Parker over to visit us on a nice hot March day when the best place to be is near water. So instead of going to the beach, out on a boat, or illegally swimming in the neighborhood pool, we decided to hang out in our backyard with a little bit of water fun. There's a nice size pond behind us for a "water view" but we also got out the $3 Dollar General pool that I bought a few years ago with the intent of filling it with ice and alcohol. My how the times have changed!

Charlotte loves Miss Niki. And Niki looks AMAZING. She had a baby 4 weeks ago at this point. You can't even tell!!!! 

Parker is the MOST chill baby! He just hung out in the somewhat girly bouncy seat.

Gavin is a WATER baby. As the pool was filling, he was out there in the FREEZING hose water just going crazy. 

Charlotte is more of an in and out of the water baby. She LOVES the water but she loves to explore other things too.

I love 2 things about this picture. I love that Gavin put all of the toys in the ginormous pool with him. And I love love LOVE how Charlotte is crouched down in the background looking at Parker. She's so intrigued and so in love with him. She looks so sweet in this picture.

"Hey guys, did you need anything for inside the pool? An oversized beach ball or a bucket?"

Best Friends

Gavin: "You've got a nice view here. Are those ducks yours?"

Charlotte: "Thanks and yeah, those are mine. Their names are "DUH". Do I have a wedgie?"

"Mom, I love these ducks."

Gavin: "I think I'm bored with this. I'm headed back to the pool."

Charlotte: "I'm going to hang here and see if these ducks will quack with me."

He wanted a picture. This is him saying "CHEESE" with the sun beaming in his face.

After all of the trips to the fence, it's time a last few dips in the pool. They both peed in it at some point and there was so much grass in it that we could have built another yard. But they were loving it...

...and Gavin was loving pouring water over Charlotte's head.

After too many water pours, Charlotte tried to escape the backyard. She had had enough. Their first fight. (Kidding. They didn't really fight.)

After our time in the pool and backyard, we had a delicious lunch of turkey sandwiches, grapes, and chips. So delicious. It was then decided to part ways for everyone to take naps. It was a wonderful day. We love our play dates with them and are going to miss having them every week to two weeks. Thanks for coming to visit, friends!!!

It's not goodbye, it's see you later...

It was such a great week with Aunt Kathy. Charlotte was able to have a playmate allll week. I was able to have a grown up to talk to as well as a built in babysitter. I got to run to Walmart by myself. I got to run into the grocery store while Charlotte was napping in the car and Aunt Kathy people watched all of the crazies at the Johns Island Publix. (And there are many. So many people come from the sticks bc this is their closest Publix.) I was able to mow the lawn and use the weedeater. I was able to mop the floor and take my time doing it. I was able to get all of my laundry caught up and spend time with my little kitty cat. I was able to talk on the phone to my friends that needed to talk without a crying child or a child just wanting attention in the background. I LOVE being a staying at home mom and I am definitly surviving being a single mom right now, but it was so awesome having someone I love and trust and have known my entire life there with me and Charlotte for 8 days.

Their last morning snuggles together.

Charlotte was so thankful Aunt Kathy brought her Ipad with tons of pictures and videos on it. How hilarious is this picture? She's totally got the nurse part down.

Every meal Aunt Kathy had, Charlotte had to have some too. This was their normal position, 2 times per day.

Before our trip to the airport... a few last pictures. I love Charlotte's thoughtful look.

Too cool for school :)

These two were a package deal all week. They were two of a kind.

"Kiss me and smile for me, tell me that you'll wait for me, hold me like you'll never let me go. 'Cause you're leaving on a jet plane..."

One last look for the alligator and point out all of the ducks session. They spent the entire week outside...why not spend the last few minutes together out there.

Thank you so much for coming to visit, Aunt Kathy. I know it's expensive to come out here and I know it's never easy with all of the airports and flights. Thank you for giving up 8 days of a normal life and coming out here to help chase Charlotte and keep me company. We loved all of it... the cartoons, the movies when we had grown up time, the "snacks", the cookies from Walmart, the trip to the beach, the walks, the talks... Thanks for giving up time with your beautiful new grandbaby to come out here and be with us. Thank you for coming with me to see my newest bundle of joy...via ultrasound. You are fabulous. We will see you VERY soon.

It's not goodbye, It's see you soon. WE LOVE YOU!