Weekends

The weekends are supposed to be so restful, right?

Despite that, sometimes (okay, oftentimes), we make it to Sunday evening and breathe an exhausted sigh of relief cuz we're so dang tuckered out! And usually make expressions like this:


Mitch heads out for meetings at 9:30am. Charlotte and I follow at 10:45am. Meetings last till noon. We stay, because there is no point to head home. And then we usually get home by 4:45pm. It makes for a long (but of course, worthwhile) day! And who knew having a baby would make it that much more crazy? Whenever I feel frazzled at trying to make sure I've gotten copies made for my lesson, announcements written up for YW opening exercises, diaper changed, baby fed and burped, catching up with someone in the hall, checking in with my counselors quickly--and all in between classes!--I remind myself that I really have relatively so little on my plate....after all, I only have ONE child!

But I will admit, that after changing that diaper today, I did sit down in the rocking chair in the mother's room with Charlotte on my lap and eat the half of the chocolate muffin I had packed for my lunch. I just knew there had to have been a good reason for buying 6, large and deliciously bad-for-you chocolately Costco muffins, other than my out-of-control sweet-tooth that has been in full force lately. Inspiration, right? Now if only I can convince Mitch.

"But sweetie...I really think it is the right thing to do to buy these Little Debbies..."

I Heart Auntie

While going through holiday pictures, I noticed a trend...

But don't worry R., Charlotte told me that despite what it seems, you're still her favorite Auntie
(but, sshhh!!!! Don't tell the other girls! ;)

Happy Three Months!

Charlotte shared her 3-month birthday with her closest-in-age* cousin's 1-year birthday. Happy (belated) Birthday Isaac!

Among this past month's many milestones...

Charlotte had her first bath! (And no, that doesn't mean she was a stinky baby. We DID sponge-bathe! Her belly-button just hadn't completely healed up due to a small granuloma).

At first she wasn't quite sure what to think, but after the initial adjustment wore off, I'm just sure that she loved it. See for yourself...

If that isn't a look of giddy excitement, I don't know what is!

Judging from her overjoyed reaction in the sink, we decided to graduate to a larger space. The bath-tub, right?

NOPE!

The swimming pool!

My brother-in-law likes to go swimming near Christmas, so this year we decided to join in on the tradition. It was fun to see Charlotte's reaction to the pool. She was completely mellow the entire time--she didn't make a single peep. The water was a bit chilly, so we didn't keep her in for very long. But it was worth it to have the excuse to put her in that little swimsuit!

We had a wonderful Christmas season--complete with family visiting from North Carolina and Utah, lots of good food, and fun get-togethers.

On Christmas Eve, we watched The Nativity Story (our family tradition--we've watched it every Christmas we've had together) and I finished up Charlotte's stocking in the nick of time!


Christmas morning I woke up so excited I could hardly wait for Charlotte to wake up. But I did. Well, at least for a little while. Then I transferred her to her bouncy chair in the living room so we could see if Santa had come. And believe it or not...he HAD!

Charlotte was very thrilled by:

1. Her stocking

2. Opening presents
3. Wearing bows on her head

We all enjoyed dressing up for Christmas Sunday.

And had a very happy New Year, complete with party hats, Martinellis and poppers.

Charlotte continues to be a very sweet girl. She had some amazing 9-hour nights of sleep this month, but that is still the exception rather than the norm. When she gets tired her eyes get so red--her "raccoon eyes" as Mitch calls them. And she is quite the groggy one when she wakes up as well.


Charlotte continues to grow at an amazing rate (amazing to first-time parents, that is!). It is crazy to look back at her newborn pictures and compare how much she's grown.


She is getting a lot stronger and is able to hold her head up on her own now. She can grasp and hold little toys like her rattle and keys and is enjoying those more. She is very fun and interactive--we get many smiles and lots of cooing and talking.

And those big eyes, without fail, completely melt our hearts!

*At the time I started this post, Issac was the closest. Today, though, she has TWO new cousins!

This is what happens...

...when your coin-op dryer doesn't do the job in one cycle.

Grocery Adventures

This past September, the Carrs/Safeway in our neighborhood had a "Grand Re-Opening," for which we received different promotions and coupons in our mailbox in the weeks leading up to it. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to head out shopping--and luckily so was Mitch. We decided it would make an excellent "date-night"--and we were not disappointed.

There were tons of free samples, a live band (which according to Mitch, was "not that bad!"), and awesome deals. For most of the deals, there was a minimum purchase requirement of $25 for the coupons to work. We don't normally spend that much at Carrs, so Mitch and I sat down ahead of time and wrote up an entire purchase-plan-of-action. You should have seen us running around that store--talk about prepared!

Well at the end of the night, here is what we left the store with. Katherine, our poor tired cashier, was not as enthusiastic as we were about our awesome finds. Can you guess how much we spent?

2 gallons milk, 1 dozen eggs, 1 dozen fresh bagels, ice cream bars, french bread, several pounds of pork chops, peanut butter, apple juice, fresh pineappple, bananas, cantaloupe, apples, pack of bottled water, fresh deli black forest ham, cup of fresh coconut curry soup, box of cereal


Original price: $104.65
Our price: $25.94

Yess! Savings of $78.71.
Now THAT'S my kind of a party! :)

And now for my next grocery adventure...go back with me to October. October 2009 that is. (Better late than never, right?)

One morning I woke up early to get a crockpot stew in before I left for work. I pulled out the vegetables and started chopping them up. When I yanked off a stalk of celery, I noticed a big hunk of dirt in it, and was surprised because I had never seen celery that was quite so muddy before. But then, with a yelp, I noticed that this was in fact, definitely NOT dirt. No, instead, it was a huge, balled-up slug!

Eeeek! I flung the slug off the celery and into the sink. I was so grossed-out, but also slightly fascinated. Mostly, I thought, "I wish Mitch was here to see this!" In horror and amazement, I watched as the roly-poly slug streeeetched out and started climbing up the side of the sink. It was HUGE! I would say at least 2 inches long.

Well, I really wanted Mitch to be able to see the slug, so I took a few pictures, but then also tried to keep it contained in the sink. Unfortunately, when I turned on the water, it happened to be very hot....which meant this slug went the way of the Wicked Witch of the West.

I'm almost certain I heard it cry out in a high voice, "I'm meelllltiiiinnnnggg!!!"