Hello, baby…

Growing up…I never really liked kids. Before I had Charley…and I openly admit this…I felt that once a toddler became a kid they started to become more annoying than cute.

Wow…that sounds harsh.

Let me start over. I was never the nurturing type.  I never really enjoyed babysitting…unless it was an actual baby.  Visiting my mom’s preschool classroom was the definition of uncomfortable to me.  And dolls…never played with them.

So it’s somewhat of a shock to people when they see me with Charley.  All the motherly instincts I thought I would never have came pouring out the moment I saw those two pink lines.

And these instincts have been rubbing off on Charley…

She has become extremely attached to her bitty baby…a present she got for Christmas and wanted nothing to do with. Now she takes her everywhere…

…even eats with her sometimes.

I have no clue where this has come from…I was so not a girly girl.  It figures that God would give me a sassy little thang. Watching her interact with her baby melts my heart…which is probably me already living vicariously through my child.

She grabs her doll every time she wakes up…brings her in the car, and at any stop we make, that baby is the first thing she grabs.

See that dirt under her nose? She face planted in the dirt…didn’t even cry. She’s a warrior…a girly warrior who loves her baby doll.

Such a little mama.

I’m gonna completely switch gears here…

While pregnant with Charley I frequented the website babycenter.com.  I joined the March 2011 group…which is comprised of over 13,000 members.  Through a series of events I found my way to their Facebook page…which then spawned off another (and way cooler) group made up of roughly 20 people.

And now I find myself calling these women my friends.  I chat with them every day…we support each other when we have rough days…encourage each other…make each another laugh.  It’s a beautiful thing.

One of these women happens to live in East TN.  So out of over 13,000 women…I find the one that lives where I grew up.  We have similar parenting styles and…both have a love of consignment clothing.  So what does a self-confessed consignment-aholic do?…snag deals for my new friend and meet up in TN to bring them to her.

So this past weekend I met Jennifer and her beautiful daughter Maci…although I feel like I already know them. The weather was crappy…but we found a church pavilion for the girls to run around under.  Consider this your warning…cuteness overload ahead.

I can already tell a lesson on sharing…even bitty baby…is in the near future.

I think the internet has pros and cons…but this right here is definitely one of the pros.  Without the internet I never would have met all these wonderful women…and never would have physically met Jennifer and Maci.  Many more play dates are in the future…not to mention I already found more clothes for her to buy.

It’s amazing…watching Charley grow and develop.  She’s on the verge of a verbal explosion, and before we know it…we’ll be having conversations with her.  Her little personality is still as spunky as ever…she’s got the same temper she did at 2 months old…but seeing her with her baby doll is heart warming.  I know that whenever we have another baby, Charley will be an awesome big sister.

Of course we’ll teach her the right way to hold a baby when that time comes.

It’s Mid May already…Charley is almost 14 months old.  Good Lord time is flying.

But flying has never been so fun.

Beachy…

Last year when we went to the beach Charley was barely able to sit up.  It was fun…but somewhat of a hassle…lugging all her ‘stuff’…having to hold her constantly.

Those days are gone…

‘

Charley’s first time walking on the beach.  Dear Lord…words can’t describe it.

I have never seen someone act so happy and free.  Sister ran down the beach with wild abandonment, and when we turned around against the blowing wind…she was determined to walk herself.  She puffed out her little belly and walked the entire way…falling every few steps because she was so tired…but still squealing with excitement.  Her reaction was just how I’d imagined it would be.

My little beach baby girl.

Yeah that’s sunscreen she’s playing with. She hated getting it sprayed on her, but it became her favorite toy once I was finished.

Not to mention she’s become a little social butterfly.  She sat in my mom’s beach chair (actually I was sitting in it, but lil’ bit came and pushed my arm for me to get up, then pointed to her bucket for me to give it to her)…she sat there and waved as people walked by.

She even met a little friend named Jacob.

It’s crazy.  Last year I wondered what it would be like to have a toddler at the beach…to watch her run in the sand…independent.

That time is now.

It was such a great trip…and somehow the sand stayed away from Charley’s mouth.

Taking a call on her shovel

I don’t think there was a time when this girl wasn’t smiling.

And she brought her busy self right down to the ocean…

It was sad leaving but good to be home…getting back into our normal routine.

And because I’ve slacked off with blogging…the past 2 weeks phone dumps.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Quickie…

I know I know…I’m supposed to blog every Sunday.

I’ll make up for it I promise.

In the meantime we’re just relaxing…

And enjoying life at the beach.

 

Expect a mega blog post in the near future.

 

Getting crafty…

I don’t know what is going on with me…call it nesting…crafting…whatever…but our house has been getting quite a few face lifts over the past few weeks.

From what I can understand it all traces back to buying consignment clothes for Charley.  That led to finding two afghans at Goodwill…which led to my obsession with quilts…which led to finding places for the quilts…which led to fixing up the rooms where I put the quilts/blankets.

See for yourself…

My favorite room. It used to be waisted space, and now...well It's my favorite. Plus it houses my quilt...that I'm still in love with.

Found this bad boy on etsy for less than $25.

I look forward to going to Goodwill way too much…but I can’t help it.  There are so many treasures there waiting to be discovered, spray-painted, re-used…or used as something completely different than it’s supposed to be.

Like this table cloth.

I had no idea what it was when I found it.  All I knew was it was white and lacy and cost $2.00.  Come to find out it’s a drape panel.  Oh well…it’s a table cloth in this house.

And this ‘blanket’…which may or may not actually be a blanket.

It’s green and matches our living room…so it’s blanket here.

A lot of the decorating in our house requires out of the box thinking…where drapes become table cloths and dollar bin Target wire mesh baskets become great wall art pieces.

Last week I made a quick visit to Tennessee to do a photo shoot and while I was there my mom gave me a beautiful handmade terrarium.  So of course I had to make more.

Now our house is full of little ecosystems…thriving all by themselves.  Which is a good thing because I have a horrible track record with indoor plants.

My mom's creation is the big one in the back. Thanks, mom!

Apparently I have a thing for toy dinosaurs.

Andy can thank my Moremama for feeding my quilt habit.  She gave me two beautiful gorgeous exquisite quilts made by women in our family.

The top one was pieced by my great-great grandmother…the bottom one by sweet Nonnie.

Which matches perfectly in Charley’s room.

And the last project we tackled this weekend…

I bought the gorgeous window for $18 through a Facebook buy/sell/trade group…the woman even delivered it.  When I bought it I wasn’t even sure where I wanted to hang it…but once I started thinking about taking down Charley’s birthday banner (it just came down TODAY) I realized how bare that wall was.

***

I’m getting all warm and fuzzy just thinking about all the crafty things around our house.  I’m sure I’ll find more things to do, but for now I think my craftiness thirst has been quenched.

Beach countdown–10 days.

Do something crafty this week…it feels good.  Trust me.

 

Independent strawberry girl…

Yesterday’s post was all infused with Easter goodness…our trip to the strawberry patch didn’t seem to fit in.

It’s hard to believe that it’s strawberry season already…it’s early this year.  But then again…we didn’t really have a Winter.  I kept waiting for us to get a cold blast…but Spring just couldn’t wait…and apparently wanted to prove that groundhog wrong.  Spring has been in South Carolina since the middle of February.

And we’re taking advantage of all it’s glory.

Charley is an independent little thing.  All she wanted to do was carry the cardboard container of strawberries…and the heavier it got the more she wanted to carry it.

And sister got it.  She was a pro at picking berries.

I remember seeing signs for pick your own strawberries last year…and I wanted to take Charley…but she was so little.  I told myself, “next year we’ll do it”.

Well it’s next year.

And we did it.  :)

Have a great week!

 

Easter best…

Today was great.

And we didn’t even plan anything.

Well I take that back.  A few weeks ago I was looking online for wooden baby carriages and came across this.

And I had to have it for Charley.

Fortunately for me I have a very crafty husband who loves to build things.  So I propositioned him…and since he loves a challenge it was game on.

I watched as he took pieces of wood and transformed them into a the most beautiful baby carriage I’ve ever seen.

It’s a little bigger than we had planned, but I don’t care.  She can use it until she’s five…longer if she wants to.

So for the past few weeks I’ve had baby carriage tunnel vision…baby carriage and waldorf baby tunnel vision.

I’ve imagined in my head how she’ll play with them…how she’ll pretend to be a little mama.

Sister didn’t let me down.

I adore this picture...she looks like a little mama.

Of course within 10 minutes she wanted nothing to do with them and started playing with the baby doll we got her for Christmas…which she wanted nothing to do with then.

I even brought the carriage outside.  It’s like she knew I wanted to take pictures because after a few photo ops…she was on her way to gather rocks and sticks.

She’ll appreciate it later.

We went to church this morning…finally.  I hate that it’s been so long and that it gives the illusion that we’re the type of people that only go to church on holidays.  I love our church so much and always feel renewed and refreshed after the service.  I think a big part of why we haven’t been in so long was because we were nervous about leaving Charley in the nursery.  Sister is very clingy to me, and I’m trying to get over being a slight germaphobe.  To my surprise Charley didn’t make a peep when I handed her off to the nursery worker.  I even stood there for a second…thinking, “that’s it?”  It was weird leaving her there…and I got a tiny glimpse of what it’s going to be like when I drop her off to kindergarten.

I don’t know what it is, but I probably tear up at least twice during church.  Every time.  Most of the time it’s during songs.  Today, however, was a little different.  At the end of the service Talbott asked if anyone who wanted to proclaim their new faith to stand up.  Within seconds a handful of people scattered throughout the crowd stood proudly…and everybody cheered.  I looked over to the man standing close to me.  He was probably in his 40s…and the look on his face.  He was at peace.  Tears welled in my eyes.  My faith has gotten me through some tough times, and I can’t imagine going through life and not believing in a greater power.  Whatever religion you choose to believe in.  It must be so lonely to live day to day and not know that you’re constantly being hugged by God…being pushed in the right direction.  I looked over at that man and was so thankful that I was brought up knowing God.  I can almost hear Charley’s sweet voice singing Jesus loves me…makes me warm and fuzzy.

So Easter church…check.

After Charley’s nap we didn’t have anything else planned for the day.  I felt bad for not having any kind of Easter activity for Charley to do.  Again, I blame the baby carriage.

After walking down the street I met up with my friend Cindy, where I basically invited my family over to her Easter egg hunt.  My reason, “I can take pictures”.  And Cindy, being the wonderful woman she is, got really excited and turned an egg hunt into a cookout.

Who needs planning?

These little girls crack me up.

It was a great day.

This conversation just happened:

Andy:  Charley was good this weekend…she’s turning into a little kid.

Me:  I know

Andy:  She’s not so scary anymore…now if she’d only learn to poop in the toilet.

 

And with that I’m heading to bed.

Surprise post tomorrow (although not a surprise now) along with phone dump.

Happy Easter!

{i heart faces}–happiness

Someone’s gonna be a big sister…

…and she couldn’t be more happy.

Check out more happiness at i heart faces.