Furrowed

My baby turns two months old tomorrow. At six weeks he weighed 11 pounds 9 ounces, so I'm expecting him to be at least 12 pounds tomorrow. A chunker! My favorite roll of his is in the middle of his forearm. I think it kinda makes him look like Popeye. He also constantly is furrowing his brow, so if he learned to keep one eye closed and hold a pipe in his mouth, he really would look like the sailor man.

Speaking of furrowed brows Graham's is not going away. Everyone says babies start smiling at six weeks. Not my Grahammy. He is totally holding out on me. Smiles are the only payment a parent gets at this age in their life and I want to get paid! Cough it up buddy! I had better see him smile at me (not in his sleep or when he is tootin') in the next few weeks or he may just be outta here! I am starting to wonder if I am going to have a real serious, moody child on my hands. Only time will tell...

P.S. Seth's current favorite nickname for Graham is The Great Grambino!

Why?

Charlie is in the Why? phase right now. Every kid goes through it and I am just praying that Charlie's time in this phase is short. Tonight after answering several Why? questions Seth threw one back at her. "Why is the sky blue?" Charlie's answer:

"Because there are bad guys up there. And mountains. And horses that make us fly!" Who knew!

Graham's Monster Room

Here is a peek at Graham's monster bedroom. I still have a few details I need to finish...but who knows if they will ever actually get done, right?!?!



The monsters above the crib are printed from Costco's print gallery.

 



I made the monsters in these cages. If they do make it out of their cages I'm sure they are more likely to cuddle you than kill you.



 

 

This little frog monster is from Lowes. Who knew they had such cute decor?

The "details"that still need to be finished include a few pictures I want to print and put in frames.

Seth, Charlie, and I made these handprint monsters for FHE before Graham was here. Charlie added an extra hand print behind my handprint monster and we decided to keep it for the memories. :)

Seth and I (but mostly Seth at my insistance) made the frame for this mirror (that was left over from a bathroom remodel). I saw a big orange framed mirror at IKEA for $120 and I figured we could make one for much less. This one cost us around $40.

I fell in love with some bumpers on a deal website but they were sold out before I made up my mind to buy them. I keep waiting for them to sell them again...cross your fingers for me! So the crib will be bare until I figure something else out.

 

I LOVE my new rocker/recliner! Makes the multiple night feedings much more bearable. Also in this picture is the first quilt I have EVER made. I love it. I also made the pillow just because I had some extra material already sewed together from the quilt. And the curtains are black-out curtains that I sewed some orange material to. They make Graham's room nice and dark during the day.

 The end.

4!

Graham at four weeks exactly. He is getting some chubby cheekies!

Graham is four weeks old already! Time is flying. Seth's current favorite nicknames for him are (g)Ram-bo and Grahambunctious. I'm sure there are many, many more names to come from daddy. I do feel like his Beast nickname is slowly being used less and less, but it will never be completely forgotten.

The first three and a half weeks of his life Graham went to bed pretty early and woke up to eat a few times a night and then went right back to sleep. Lately he has decided he is a night owl and he stays up until midnight or one every night. But he sleeps pretty much all day until fiveish in the evening, so how can I complain?

I think one of Graham's favorite things to do is to cuddle with me. Sometimes in the afternoon he has a hard time sleeping but if I decide to take a nap with him he settles down and snuggles right up to me and sleeps soundly. His last "night" feeding is usually around six a.m. so I bring him in to my room to feed him and hopefully get another hour or two of sleep. He is so cute all cuddled up in my bed. He likes to sleep on his side with his hands under his head like he is in a posed sleep position. I need to get a picture! He always looks so calm and precious. (I do have a nice healthy dose of guilt going on because I hardly take any pictures of Graham right now and if I missed taking a picture of Charlie for one whole day the first six months of her life I felt like a failure. Hopefully he won't feel bad when he is older!)

Graham does have a pretty bad case of baby acne right now and I keep thinking that if this is a sign of what is to come when he is a teenager he is going to be in trouble! Charlie had some bad baby skin too but Cortizone 10 took it right away, whereas Graham's just keeps coming back no matter what I do. (I think Charlie's was more rashy and Graham's is more pimply.) Every now and then I think he is clearing up and then BAM! he has a huge flare up again. And the poor boy has a picker for a mother. Someone really needs to tell her to stop. (I always say either you are born a picker or you aren't and there is no hope for you to change either way.)

Every now and then there is a situation where I can't get to Graham to calm him down right away--in the car, for example. One day when Charlie was really concerned that Graham was crying, and I was doing nothing for him, I told her that maybe he would like her to sing him a song. So she sang him the "ABCDs" as Charlie calls them and he really did calm down. She was so proud of herself! Since then she starts to sing to him pretty much any time he starts crying. Today Charlie came into my bathroom while I was in the shower to inform me that Graham has started to cry. (Why while I am always in the shower?!?!?!) And so I rushed to finish and when I got into his room Graham was crying at the top of his lungs and Charlie was singing I'm A Child of God at the top of her lungs trying to calm him down.

Speaking of calming Graham down, it is so easy to do! A lot of times the sound of my voice calms him down, but if that isn't enough just picking him up immediately calms him down. We are so blessed to have such an easy going guy. However, he does seem to constantly have a scowl on his face when he is awake. His scowl is so expressive I swear I know what he is thinking. Usually I assume something like this, "What in the world is going on? Why am I being subjected to this? Ugg, life is hard." And I do tell him that all the time, "Life is hard, little guy! Get used to it." We love our Graham!

Life is hard!

Babysitting Already!

 

Charlie has already had her first taste of babysitting. She watched Graham for probably five whole minutes when he REALLY wanted to be held but I REALLY wanted to eat breakfast. Charlie was happy to "hold" the baby (while watching something on Netflix--already a multi-tasker!) and Graham was happy because he felt like someone was doting on him. I love seeing this beautiful relationship form. Hopefully Charlie is still willing to babysit when she is a teenager. I totally plan on exploiting the fact that my first child is a responsible girl!

How Beauty is Handling the Beast

Charlie made Beast hold Belle's hand the first night they were home together.

A lot of people have asked me how Charlie is handling the beast being at home. And I can honestly say she had been a real champ! The first day we brought him home from the hospital we asked Charlie if she loved him. She said in an incredulous tone, "NOOOOOOO!" And if you could read into that long, drawn-out NO you would have heard, "Love him? Why would I love him? I don't even know him! And he is a boy. EEEeew!"

But since that day she has learned to love him. Multiple times a day she will look at him and say, "He is SOOO cute!" and then honks his nose. But she mainly keeps her distance, which is perfect. She loves him, but doesn't smother him. Although she does ask to see his eyes EVERY SINGLE TIME he opens them. I'm not sure what she is looking for in them, but hopefully she finds it soon.

My whole pregnancy Charlie knew there was a baby in my belly that would be coming home with us. She also knew there was a baby (named Belle) in her belly, so I made sure there was a Belle doll to come home with her. When she saw it in the hospital she was so excited. When I told her it was her baby from her belly she looked at me and asked, "My belly is empty now?" When I confirmed it, she seemed to be ok with it. But when we came home with Beast she made it known that she was not happy that she didn't get to bring home a "real" baby, just a present. Poor thing. She quickly got over it though and loves her Belle doll almost as much as Beast, but he gets a majority of her affections.

Charlie's "before" picture.

The Beast Is here!

Our handsome little beast has arrived. We are so happy he is here and well and such a GOOD BOY! The long version is below (even though I am sure I am the only who cares for that much detail) but here is how it all went down short version:

4:30: I notice my first contraction. I'm in denial because 1) it is 10 days before my due date; 2) my family history is that we go late; 3) I have plans for the weekend!

5:00: We decide to get in the car and start driving to my grandma's reception in Provo. We needed to eat dinner on the way, and decided that we would reassess at the restaurant if the contractions were something to be worried about.

5:30: At a McDonalds down State Street we order dinner and let Charlie start playing in the play area. I have to start walking through my contractions and we decide to go home. We didn't want to get stuck in Provo in bad traffic if we needed to get to the hospital.

6:00: On the way home I decide I will take a bath. When I took a bath with Charlie it pretty much stopped my contraction for a few hours. This time the first two contractions felt better, but they were coming on strong after that. Charlie was trying to wash my hair and get me to play with her bath toys. Seth was running around packing my hospital bag and talking work on the phone to his brother Boyd. (I was kinda annoyed.)

6:30: I finally decide that it is serious enough to call my midwife. At this point my contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart and only 30 seconds long. Based on that my midwife would have suggested that I stay home a little longer, but when I told her I dilated from a 3 to a 10 in 40 minutes with Charlie she told me I should go get checked at the hospital. While getting dressed I realize that my contractions are now more like a minute apart.

7:00: We drop Charlie off at Boyd's house and rush to the hospital. They can tell I'm in a lot of pain and triage me immediately and tell me I'm dilated to a 7. They rush me to my room where they prepare me to get a spinal instead of an epidural because it "works faster." My spinal doesn't take any of the pain away from the contractions for at least 10 minutes and I was pretty upset. We debate about putting in an epidural, but once they check me and find out I'm a 9 we decide to just go with it because I realize I can't feel her checking me--which means I won't feel him come out and I won't feel stitches. I feel good enough about that to just keep the spinal.

7:45: While repositioning my legs my water breaks and on the next three contractions I push.

8:07: Bam! He is here and healthy. I'm a mother of two.

Long version:

We had been getting ready for an induction date of Monday, April 2. So we knew that the weekend of conference was our LAST CHANCE to get things done before baby arrived and changed our lives forever. On Friday I was feeling pretty lazy but I did manage to clean out the pantry and fridge so that when we went grocery shopping the next day there was room for all the food we were going to buy. We were also going to clean our bathroom and master bedroom. Alas, we came home on Sunday to bare cupboards and bathroom and bedroom that won't be cleaned for at least a year. Oh well!!

When Charlie woke up from her nap around 2:30 on Friday she wanted to "do something" and I agreed to go on a walk with her to a little park in the townhomes next to us. While we were over there I saw my friend and her daughter coloring with side walk chalk and she told me about a great deal on diapers at Walgreens. She offered to keep Charlie while I made a quick trip to pick some up. (I had no newborn diapers on hand, so this was a small miracle.) On my way back to pick Charlie up I noticed I was feeling a little crampy and mentioned to my friend that they may be my first contractions. It was about 4:30.

From there Charlie and I went home and Seth was waiting for us. We were planning on going to my Grandma's reception (she just got married last month) in Provo and knew traffic was going to be horrible. My contractions weren't horrible at this point so we decided to get on the road and that we would stop at a McDonald's so I could reassess at that point if we should still go to the reception. I'm pretty sure I was in denial that they were real contractions because 1) my family history is to go late, not early; 2) it was 10 days before my due date not just a couple; 3) from the first time I felt crampy with Charlie to when she was born was something like 30 hours, so I felt like I should have plenty of time; 4) the contractions were four to six minutes apart and only about 25 seconds long--pretty close together but really short; 5) I had plans! At McDonalds we quickly ordered and we were only there for about 20 minutes and I had to start walking through my contractions. At that point I decided I needed to not be in Provo or stuck in traffic if these contractions were the real thing.

So to Charlie's disappointment we were on our way home. I decided to take a bath to help stop the contractions. With Charlie I took a bath and my contractions pretty much stopped for a couple of hours. In this bath my first two contractions felt much better. After that they were full force again. At that point I decided to call my midwife. I told her that the contracts were short and still about four or five minutes apart, but that with Charlie I went from 3 cm to 10 cm in about 40 minutes. She told me that with most people she wouldn't have me go to the hospital yet, but with my history I should go and get checked--just in case. Seth was packing my hospital bag for me at this point. Charlie was in the bathroom with me kind of confused as to why she couldn't was my hair; whenever she is in the bath I get to wash her hair! She also made sure I had lots of toys with me. (She is going to be a good little second mommy, right?!?)

By the time I got dressed and got the last few things for my hospital bag I was mad at myself for telling the midwife that my contractions were four to five minutes apart. Now they were more like one minute apart--or so they felt. I wasn't really timing them; it was all I could do to breathe through them. We packed Charlie in the car and set off to Seth's brother's house to drop Charlie off. He lives 1.2 miles from our house, and the hospital is a midway point between our houses. She was soooo excited to be able to play with Carson and Joel! Who cares that a little brother was on his way! She got to play with her cousins! I was soooo excited they lived as close as they did.

On the way to the hospital Jared called me because he had just heard that I wasn't going to make it to Grandma's reception. In the middle of telling him I was on my way to the hospital I had a contraction and couldn't keep up the conversation. I answered that call at 7:05 p.m. At this point I just couldn't wait for my epidural, but I was concerned they were going to send me away because it had been such a short time since I had felt my first contraction.

Side note: Why do they not have "Woman in Labor" parking at the hospital? The walk in from the parking lot took way too long, even though I was speed walking like mad. (Seth did ask if I wanted him to drop me off, but I said no. I wanted him with me at all times.) I suffered through one contraction on the way in and one in the elevator. When we got to the labor floor I must have looked like I was in a lot of pain because the front counter attendant only asked for my name and birth date and showed me to the triage room, even though I was told multiple times that I would need to bring a photo ID and my insurance card.

While changing into my robe in the triage room I decided to use the restroom, and right when I was washing my hands I heard the nurse come in and say she would come back in a few minutes when I was out of the bathroom. I YELLED at her to WAIT! I AM ALMOST DONE! I didn't want to wait any more minutes let alone a nurse's "few" minutes. So she waited and then checked me and, low and behold, I was dilated to a 7. It wasn't until that moment that I realized I was for sure having a baby that day. She asked me if I wanted an epidural and I said YES! I think next time I have a baby I am going to wear a shirt that says "CALL THE ANESTHESIOLOGIST NOW. I WANT AN EPIDURAL."

At that point they pretty much ran me into my birthing room with two or three nurses following to get things ready. They assured me that they had called the anesthesiologist but a few things had to happen before he could give me drugs. I pretty much told them that I didn't care what had to happen: poke me, prod me, just make sure I am ready when he got there! They got my IV in quickly, took my vitals, and not soon enough the anesthesiologist was there. Another question: why do they not have someone explain about the risks of an epidural and have you sign for treatment BEFORE delivery day? He came up to me with pages and pages of things to read and sign. SERIOUSLY? I had no idea what I was signing; I'm pretty sure that signature wouldn't hold up in a court. Women in that state could be declared temporarily insane and not in control of their actions. I was pretty curt with him and he quickly got the point and went around to give me the epidural, but really he and my midwife decided to give me a spinal instead.

Why a spinal? Supposedly it is because it works quicker than an epidural. However, I remember with my epidural that I only had one more horrible contraction after getting it. With the spinal I had one after another after another (they were coming on very fast). I started getting upset and told the anesthesiologist that I wanted an epidural. The spinal WASN'T WORKING! He told me the place I was feeling the contractions would be the last place for the spinal to work. I just told him that my expectations weren’t being met. So we decided to check if I had made any progress and if I hadn’t then I would get an epidural. Low and behold I had progressed to a 9 and my midwife was sure that when my water broke I would be complete and ready to push. I realized that even though I could feel the contractions I couldn’t feel her checking me. Maybe I could actually push this baby out without feeling it and the stitches afterward! I also realized that the contractions were finally starting to stop hurting. So I excused the anesthesiologist and when he was leaving he gave me a great compliment. He said something like, “Call me if you decide you do want an epidural. I can do it really fast because you have great anatomy for an epidural.” I asked him what he meant—do I have a lot of space between my vertebrae or something? He said, “No. I mean you are skinny.” Awwwwwww. All bad feelings about him giving me a spinal instead of an epidural were gone. Even a 9 month pregnant woman in labor loves to hear that they are skinny.

While my midwife was preparing to break my water the nurse had me reposition myself on the bed and that is all it took to pop it. They checked me again and I was ready to push. Three pushes on each contraction and after only two contractions she told me to only do small pushes on the next one. Unfortunately she didn’t say small, wimpy pushes. I still pushed really hard for a short period of time and that was enough to make me need about four stitches. Next time I know they want wimpy pushes at the end.

And suddenly I was a mother of two. He was here and crying and slimy and swollen and cute. And I was so happy, and excited, and overwhelmed, and emotional. A whole new being had come into the world! And I was his mother. Wow.

He weighed 7 1b 9 oz and was 19.5 inches long and officially born at 8:07 p.m.—just three and a half hours after my contractions started. It was all such a whirlwind that we almost forgot to take pictures. I think a nurse reminded us.

We got to do skin to skin right when they were done rubbing him down. When he tried eating he was already a pro. I can’t even tell you the difference between him and Charlie in the eating department. I’m pretty sure that if Charlie had come second I would have thought she was defective. But with this little guy I have just been feeling spoiled with such a great eater.

We had Uncle Boyd bring Charlie over to the hospital so she could finally meat Baby Beast. She was a little excited to see him, but really excited to play in the really cool hospital room! She settled down enough to hold him and she looked him in the eyes and said, “He is SOOOOOO cute.” And was then promptly done holding him and ready to play some more. That first night Graham had a lot of visitors: Uncle Boyd, Cousin Carson, Grandma Karen and Papa, Uncle Danny, Uncle Jared and Aunt Kim and Cousins Addison and Paige, and Grandma Marcia.

Potty Training

Have I told you how well potty training has gone with Charlie? Santa took her diapers away (one of the things she was most excited about on Christmas morning) and left her underwear, suckers, prizes, and a sticker chart. Charlie was so proud of herself when she filled up her first sticker chart. Since the first few days accidents have been few and far between. Hopefully she doesn't regress once baby Beast arrives.

Jealousy

On the day we found out the baby in my belly is a boy we asked Charlie, "What is a good name for a baby boy?" Automatically, without any thinking about it or question in her voice, she said, "BEAST." So Beast he has been this whole time.

We are so comfortable with this name that with only seven weeks left Beast is still the only name Seth and I can agree on for the little guy. Charlie often talks to him, "Beast! Be nice to mommy!" "Beast! Good morning!" Etc, etc. And like many other kids with an imagination she has come to believe she too has a baby in her belly. Her baby's name is Belle. Surprise, surprise. If I ever try to tickle her in her belly, she'll say, "Don't hurt my baby!"

Over the past few months I've been getting ready for our little guy to come by buying clothes, making blankets, etc. And just about every time I buy a new little outfit Charlie will ask, "Who that for?" and I'll say, "Beast." She'll get an upset look on her face and say, "What 'bout Belle mom?!?" How dare I buy something for my baby and not hers! So even though we have two months until D-Day (delivery day) jealousy has already arrived. Sheesh!

Sorry Dragon. Charlie Can't Play Today

Charlie has a new pet. It is a "nice" dragon. It has been following us everywhere lately.

Dragon Story No. 1: Today I accidentally shut the car door on it and hurt it. In fact I hurt him so bad that he had to go to the doctor. My bad! Charlie could not believe I was so MEAN.And Charlie insisted on him going to the REAL doctor. It took everything I had in me to get her to agree to taking him to the doctor in our kitchen.

Dragon Story No. 2: For our after-nap snack today I cut Charlie some apples. At first I forgot to get Dragon (whose name was Harry at first but has since changed to Belle) her own apples but remembered just before Charlie could turn my mistake into a tantrum-worthy affair. When Charlie finished her apples I told her she could go ahead and eat the dragon's apples. She could not believe how RUDE I was being. But once I explained that the dragon didn't really like apples, and that he wanted to eat her baby doll for his snack, she was willing to eat his apples.

Dragon Story No. 3: In the car yesterday we were driving home from the store and Charlie was talking, and talking, and talking as usual. I was responding with "oh, really" and "yep" and such without really paying attention. All of a sudden I got, "MOM! I NOT talking to you. I talking to the dragon." She was totally offended that I wasn't following along enough to get that. (In my defense I didn't know the dragon was in the car with us at the time. She usually lets me know.)

This imaginary pet has way too much sway on my daughter's emotions! I think I may just have to get a pet mommy dragon to tell Charlie's pet dragon to GO HOME!

Santa!

Charlie lives in the middle of a world of fantasy. She is a princess and mean dragons, mean monsters, and mean polar bears are real threats. She has all the Disney princess and speed dial. Belle and Beast visit us frequently, and a trip to Disneyland for a tea party is a daily occurrence. You can see how Santa Clause fits perfectly into her daily routine.

The first time we talked about Santa this year is on Thanksgiving. We were listening to Christmas music and I said something like, "Charlie, did you know Santa says Ho, Ho, Ho.?" She responded, "No, Santa says Bwa, Ah, Ah, Ah! And has mean eyes and mean teeth." She obviously thought that Santa was a vampire...she had no idea who he was.

Fast forward to the Monday after Thanksgiving. We were at the mall and I decided to just point out Santa to Charlie. I didn't really want to stand in line or go into details on who he is. We hadn't really talked about him and I wasn't sure how much I wanted to tell her. But when she laid eyes on the pudgy old man she fell in love. "Santa! See him. See him!" I told Charlie that we were just about to leave and we would have to stand in line to see him. "Stand in line! Stand in line!" So we did. (There were only about three kids before us.) She waited patiently and then sprinted to him when it has her turn. She was in heaven. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She said, "presents." And right there and then she knew that Santa was real and he was bringing her presents. I mean, she believes in mean polar bears and she has never sat on one's lap. How could she not believe in Santa?

So I decided to use this belief to my advantage. Santa is taking Charlie's diapers when he comes to leave her presents. I think Santa is going to leave some panties and some potty treats in place of all those diapers. So I get to blame all the hard potty training on Santa! I think it is only fair he gets to be the mean guy this once since he takes so much credit for leaving presents. Don't you?

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Charlie is starting to get the concept of time. I can now ask her questions like "How long have you been awake?" or "How long have you had a poopy diaper?" and she will accurately tell me "long time" or "little time." (She is growing up so fast!) But in regards to time of day she still has no idea, but she doesn't like to admit she has no idea. If she hears me ask Seth a question dealing with the time of day she will positively answer, "Seven-eight."

"What time is it?" "Seven-eight."
"When will you be home?" "Seven-eight."
"What time did Charlie get up" "Seven-eight."

It is pretty much always seven-eight around here.

Liken

Charlie is very much into likening everything unto her own life. Here are my two favorite examples:

The other night we went to the Dinosaur Museum and there is a big Lizard in the foyer. I pointed at it and said, "Look how chubby that lizard is!" It had a big belly sticking out. Charlie said, "Just like baby Paige!" (Her six-month-old cousin.)

A few night ago we were reading the classic Christmas poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. When Seth got to the part that says he had a "little round belly that shook like a bowl full of jelly," she said, "Just like Mommy!"

Oh dear. Good thing she is so cute.

Compliment Game

The other evening Charlie and I were reading The Friend magazine before bedtime. I read her a story about a Sharing Time activity where kids told compliments to other kids. She quickly gets bored of stories that don't have enough pictures, so I had the idea to play the game ourselves. I told her that I would say something nice about her and then she would need to say something nice about me. She thought it was a great idea! It went something like this...

Me: Charlie, you are very smart.
Charlie: You go to Disneyland. (I really do think she thinks this is the nicest thing you could say to or about anyone.)

Me: You are nice to your friends.
Charlie: You put blanket on Belle.

Me: You have a beautiful smile.
Charlie: You turn on my fan.

And on and on. We probably did 20 rounds and she never said the same thing twice. My goal is to play the game again and remember everything she says. She is so creative!

Toddlers Are So Fun*strating!

Charlie has become so much fun lately! I just love her. And she has also become so frustrating! I just can't stand her! Here are some of the fun things she has done lately:

-The other morning she woke up and the first thing she said is "Mom, NEED watch Doya!" (As in Dora the Explorer, her new favorite show.) So I was trying to stall and asked her what her very favorite thing about Dora is. She said, "Doya NOT favorite. Ca-eee love ALLLLL princesses. And mean monsters. And mean dragons." She then proceeded to pester me until I would turn Dora on for her.

-We went to Cornbelly's Corn Maze the other Friday, and they have a bunch of playground areas and bounce houses and things that toddlers love. But it was starting to get dark so Seth was trying to talk Charlie into going over to the corn maze. She was NOT interested. He couldn't get her to put her shoes on and she could have easily gone into tantrum mode. But then he had the brilliant idea to tell Charlie that a corn maze is just like a scary forest! Woa! We couldn't get to that maze fast enough. And she just ran, and ran, and ran. Which is great because I never let her just run and run.

-Every now and then we stay out too late with Charlie and she had a complete fit in the car on the way home. One way we have found to calm her down is to sing songs. Wheels On Bus was the song of choice a few weeks ago. Seth went through the usual things on the bus like wipers and babies and started in on the not-so-usual things like dogs. Charlie started laughing and said, "No dogs on bus daddy! Hehe! Silly, silly daddy. No dogs on bus!" So then he continued on with cats, lions, bugs, etc. with Charlie laughing and calling him silly, silly daddy all the way home. So the last few days Charlie has been wanting to talk about the silly things that go on the bus. She'll ask, "Wheels On Bus, daddy! But just talk 'bout it. Just talk." The singing is out! And Seth has to keep talking, and talking, and talking about things on the bus for what feels like hours. You should hear some of the things that get on the bus! My favorite is when Charlie said God got on the bus. Seth wasn't sure what to say God did on the bus. I believe he just stayed for a little while and told the other passengers that they need to be nice to each other. Not too blasphemous, right?

-Charlie has to do everything by herself. If you pick her up to help her down the stairs she will walk back up those stairs so she can walk down them herself. If you take her shirt off for her she will put it back on so she can take it off herself. So I have to get her permission to do anything to her or I run the risk things taking an eternity to get done.