Dancing Shoes

This is what was going on yesterday morning as we were getting ready for church...

Germs, Be Gone! (We mean it this time!)

Well, we had a stretch of about four days when we were all well. Then started Charlotte's runny nose. Then came the cough. Then came the fever... **sigh**

Thursday evening of last week her cough got pretty bad. She had trouble sleeping because she was coughing so much and despite the humidifier and sitting in a steamy bathroom, the coughing just didn't settle down until around 2:00 or 2:30 on Friday morning. I ended up sleeping in the recliner with her on my chest, to try to help ease the coughing some. On Friday I took her to the pediatrician just to make sure there wasn't anything down in her lungs that we needed to worry about and it turned out they were perfectly clear. She developed a fever that day and it continued over the weekend, getting up to 104, and after another phone call to the pediatrician to make sure we didn't need to start her on antibiotics (we didn't, but they had given me the prescription just in case we needed it over the weekend), several doses of Tylenol and Motrin, and several homeopathic remedies, she finally started to perk up and the fever went down. This cold season has just been a nightmare!

All ready to read some stories...


"Hey Dad, are you coming? I'm ready for my story!"


I let Charlotte try using the spoon to feed herself for the first time yesterday. Some of the applesauce actually made it into the mouth... though I think most of it was on the face, the shirt, or in the hair. You turn your back for just one minute, and this is what happens... And apparantly I am not a quick learner because I left her alone with oatmeal this morning. It didn't end up in the hair, but it was everywhere else. She especially enjoyed squishing the oatmeal between her fingers.


Daddy stealing some kisses


Charlotte found the heating pad that we used when we were sick and put it on her neck like she had seen us doing.


And this picture is from a few weeks ago. I went to a bridal shower for a friend of mine from high school, Brittany Hutchins, the soon-to-be Mrs. McCall. The shower was in Starke, and afterwards Charlotte and I met her Grammy and Grampy in the park. Grammy wanted a picture of her smelling the flowers. She didn't smell them so much as tear them to shreds. "He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me..."
Look at those big brown eyes!

Germs, Be Gone!

After a trip at the beginning of the week to the clinic at Walgreens (because although we've lived here for a year and a half, we don't yet have a primary care physician), some antibiotics, MucinexDM, and lots of Motrin later, Jared is finally on the upside... or is it downside?... he's on the side of getting better. He went back to work today, much to Charlotte's disappointment because she has had a great time with him spending so much time here. She continually amazes us with how much she is growing and changing. She has (finally) started to do some sign language. She's been doing "all done" for a while, but now she's doing "more" and "please". From the time she was about 6 months old, her pediatrician would ask me, "Are you teaching her any signs?" to which I would reply, "I'm not really consistent with it..." (while hanging my head in shame). So I'm thrilled that despite my lack of consistency, she is finally picking it up. She's gonna make it after all... [sung like the Mary Tyler Moore theme song].

Another Week's Review

It's closing in on one week since I last posted, but this post won't be nearly as long as the last review of a whole week.

We're all still sick around here. Charlotte has some congestion in her chest and is still coughing a little bit, but she doesn't seem to be bothered by it. Jared was feeling so bad that he stayed home from work on Monday and Tuesday, felt a little better yesterday and today, but said that if he doesn't feel any better in the morning he'll be skipping tomorrow as well. He loves his job, so for him to stay home, I know he doesn't feel well at all. He's asleep on the couch right now with four blankets on him. Poor guy. :( I haven't felt well since Saturday, but am now feeling much better than I was. I never before understood what my Mom meant when she said her "face hurt" from her sinuses. I now understand. Unfortunately.

I gave Jared a haircut for the first time on Saturday. Immediately after, he went up to the Hair Cuttery down the street to get it fixed. My bad...

On Sunday, we went to the memorial service for my stepmom, Bobbie's, mother. She had been sick for quite some time and it was an answer to prayer that she passed so she would no longer be in pain. The reason for everyone getting together was unfortunate, to say the least, but it was nice to see so much of the family, especially Aaron & Brittany and their twins, Benjamin and Micah. I hadn't seen them since Christmas of '07 so it was fun to see how much the boys have grown. We tried posing the babies for a picture and they surprised us and sat still for about a whole minute! Aren't they adorable?!


On Tuesday, Keystone Heights voted in two new councilmen, one of whom was Gavin! We're so excited for Gavin, but I know that our excitement cannot even compare to that of what the mayor must have (major sarcasm there). Gavin won the election by just three votes, so it goes to show that every vote does count! We heard Gavin share some stories of what he did to make sure people who promised him his vote got to the polls. To the lady with an infant in her arms: "I have women up there who can watch your baby for you!" :) When he is "President Rollins", I will be able to say that he is my brother-in-law and was my senior prom date!

Last night we were trying to get Charlotte to eat another bite of her soup, but she was refusing the soup and whining for a cracker instead. She started crying and making herself look all pitiful, which was cracking Jared and I up. She had the waterworks going, then looked at Jared and started pointing to him saying, "Da da da da da..." as if she were negotiating with him. When she realized that wasn't working, she told us she was "All done" using her baby sign language (quickly waving her hands in front of her). Then she used just one hand and put it up by her face, as if in a last effort to get out of having to take one more bite of that awful vegetable soup. Describing it may not convey how funny this was, but it was hilarious. Not the fact that she was being stubborn and strong-willed, but the tactics the little sinner tried to use were quite amusing.

So other than that, we've just been hanging out around the house, trying to get well, going a little insane without having television to watch. But Charlotte has been entertaining us quite well. We are constantly laughing and smiling at her in all of her cuteness. Today while I was scrubbing the toilet, I noticed that she was being rather quiet. I stepped out of the bathroom to see what she was doing, and I saw her sitting in the rocking chair in our bedroom, "talking" on the baby monitor like she would a phone. Then I just smiled and thanked God that I am able to stay home with her (and clean the toilets) and be there for all those sweet moments.

Look how cute she is in her little polo and khaki shorts!


"Hurry up with that Pedialyte, Daddy!"


This is what happens when you ask her Daddy to change the diaper...


Charlotte did some "organizing" by shoving a piece of paper into the spot where the external hard drive goes